Dorchester man gets 18 to 20 years in death of toddler
A Dorchester man was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison yesterday after he pleaded guilty to beating his girlfriend's son to death, according to the Suffolk district attorney's office.
Daniel Santana, 28, pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to involuntary manslaughter in the 2006 death of 23-month-old Jaziel Ponce of Lawrence, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office announced.
The sentence was requested by the district attorney's office and imposed by Superior Court Judge Margaret Hinkle. Santana told the judge he was pleading guilty "to get sentenced for my mistakes," prosecutors said.
Jaziel was in good health when he was left alone with Santana in the man's Dorchester apartment June 26 while the child's mother ran errands, prosecutors said.
Less than two hours later, Santana took the child, who witnesses told prosecutors looked gray or blue, downstairs, where relatives who had just arrived called 911 and the baby's mother, according to the statement.
Jaziel was pronounced dead that afternoon at Boston Medical Center, prosecutors said. The chief medical examiner's office determined the cause of death was blunt trauma to the abdomen and lacerations of the liver, prosecutors said. The child also had fresh bruises in both ears and throughout his body, according to the statement.
Santana allegedly told witnesses he "lost it" and "hit the baby too hard," punching him in the stomach.
He also pleaded guilty to two drug charges for possessing eight bags of heroin and a smaller amount of cocaine during the offense, and he will serve two concurrent sentences of 30 months' probation for those charges after his release from prison.
During his probation, Santana will not have contact with children unless a parent or guardian who has been informed of his conviction is present, prosecutors said.
Santana also will not be allowed to work, volunteer, or live with children, and he must stay away from the victim's family, refrain from drug use, and submit to random drug testing. 