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Fatal injuries to a 2-year-old boy in 2018 resulted in a sentence of life in prison for the child's father, the New Mexico Attorney General's Office said Monday.
Ricardo Soto, 38, was convicted Oct. 6 by a 12th Judicial District Court jury of child abuse resulting in the death of his son, Jeremiah Nevarez, in June 2018.
The conviction followed a three-week trial prosecuted by the 12th Judicial District Attorney's Office and the AG's office.
The sentence handed down Friday by District Judge Jared Kallunki requires Soto to serve at least 25 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
Soto's attorney, Judi Caruso, said in a written statement that she is appealing Soto's conviction on the grounds that no crime was committed and Soto was wrongly convicted.
The statement, released Monday by the Law Offices of the Public Defender, said “the evidence is strong that he is truly innocent and that the boy's death was likely from a combination of illness and an accidental fall at day care.”
“A wrongful conviction of an innocent man serves no one, especially not the memory of this little boy nor the pain that both families are suffering,” Caruso said in the statement.
Prosecutors called the conviction and sentence a just result for a heinous crime.
“Murdering a child is a horrific crime, and our just system must deliver the strongest justice under the law in order to protect children in New Mexico and hopefully begin the healing process for a grieving mother and family,” said Attorney General Hector Balderas.
Soto called 911 on June 7, 2018, and reported that his son was unresponsive and seizing at his residence in Ruidoso Downs. X-rays showed that the child's head was fractured, resulting in extensive brain injuries, New Mexico State Police said at the time.
The boy died in an El Paso hospital on June 10, 2018. Soto fled the area before police could interview him, police said.
State police obtained a warrant for his arrest and he was apprehended on June 9, 2018, by U.S. Customs officials in El Paso as he attempted to reenter the United States from Mexico.
