| For Immediate Release Case # 10CF1076 February 24, 2012 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
MAN SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS TO LIFE FOR MURDERING GIRLFRIEND’S 9-MONTH-OLD SON WHILE BABYSITTING BY CRUSHING BABY’S HEAD AGAINST WALL
SANTA ANA – A man was sentenced today to 25 years to life in state prison for murdering his girlfriend’s 9-month-old son by causing fractures to the child’s skull to make him stop crying. Alexander Lucas Barnes, 20, Santa Ana, was found guilty by a jury Nov. 3, 2011, of one felony count of second degree murder and one felony count of child abuse resulting in death.
On Oct. 6, 2009, Barnes was babysitting his girlfriend’s 9-month-old baby Isaiah Prim-Ortiz for the first time while his girlfriend went to class at a nearby community college. Barnes was the primary caregiver for the victim while at the defendant’s mother’s house. The defendant was not baby Isaiah’s biological father.
Late that morning, the defendant became angry with the victim for crying. He abused the baby by crushing the victim’s head against a wall, causing blunt force trauma and multiple fractures to both sides of the head. The defendant then put the victim back in his crib. Baby Isaiah was fatally injured and stopped breathing.
Shortly after 1:00 p.m., the defendant’s mother went to check on baby Isaiah and discovered that he was not breathing. The victim was transported to the hospital and was pronounced dead at 4:07 p.m. as a result of multiple skull fractures.
The Santa Ana Police Department investigated and Senior Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy of the Homicide Unit prosecuted this case.
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