JADA SANCHEZ - 5 Months (2008) - Martinsburg WV

A Martinsburg man who was convicted of child abuse and neglect charges stemming from the October 2008 fracture of his infant daughter’s skull was sentenced Thursday to serve a total of three to 15 years in a state prison.Alfonso F. Sanchez, 28, also was fined $2,000 by 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Gina M. Groh, who rejected a plea agreement earlier this year that would have allowed him to avoid time behind bars for the injury of his nearly 5-month-old daughter.Sanchez also is expected to pay restitution and must register as a child abuser with the West Virginia State Police after serving a two- to 10-year sentence for his conviction on one felony count of child abuse causing serious bodily injury and a one- to five-year sentence for one felony count of child neglect creating a substantial risk of bodily injury. Groh ordered Sanchez to serve the sentences consecutively.While Groh said she believes that Sanchez is remorseful, the judge noted a jury last month essentially found that he caused a “grave injury,” which caused a serious risk of death.Martinsburg Police Department Lt. George Swartwood, who investigated the case, told the court that Sanchez did not say what happened to his daughter, Jada, until Oct. 31, 2008, more than 10 days after the child was injured on Oct. 19.“Someone has to speak up for Jada. That is what the jury has done and that is what I hope the court will do,” Swartwood said before Groh announced her decision.In a lengthy police interview on Oct. 31, 2008, Sanchez initially denied knowing what happened to the child and then admitted that “he was asleep and heard one of his other daughters yell and when he jumped up, he tripped the rocker baby chair that Jada was in and she flipped over in it,” according to a complaint Swartwood filed in magistrate court.“After repeated questioning he then admitted that the metal bar on the chair struck the baby in the head when it flipped over,” Swartwood said in the complaint.The family’s fear that the child will suffer residual health problems has made her welfare worrisome for the family, Jada’s grandmother, Shelley Kister, told the court.“It’s been a horrible two years,” Kister said.Given the seriousness of the crime, Berkeley County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Gregory Jones told the judge that the state didn’t feel Sanchez was entitled to mercy, which could have taken the form of probation, home confinement or a lighter prison term.In February, Groh rejected a plea agreement that would have allowed Sanchez to plead guilty under an Alford plea to misdemeanor counts of domestic battery and contributing to the neglect of a child, according to court records.Under an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt, but acknowledges the state has sufficient evidence to gain a conviction.After reviewing a pre-plea report and considering objections to the proposed plea agreement by Swartwood and Jada’s mother, Groh concluded the plea deal was “not consistent with the public interest in the fair administration of justice,” according to court records.Jones on Thursday acknowledged the shortcomings of plea agreements, but countered they sometimes are made when obtaining a conviction if a case will be difficult.The jury deliberated for several hours before returning a guilty verdict, Jones said last month.Before hearing sentencing arguments, Groh denied post-trial motions, including one for a new trial by defense attorney Robin Skinner Prinz.Prinz renewed arguments that said the state should have tried Sanchez on the pending charges within three “unexcused” terms of circuit court as required by state code. Skinner had noted that three terms of court (May 2009, October 2009 and February 2010) passed since her client was indicted.Groh noted Thursday that the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals did not accept a writ that challenged her ruling.

A 28-year-old Martinsburg man convicted last month on child abuse and neglect charges following a jury trial in Berkeley County Circuit Court was sentenced Thursday to the maximum sentence allowable under the law.Alfonso F. Sanchez, of 120 Eclipse Court, was found guilty Aug. 27 on one count of child abuse causing serious bodily injury and one count of child neglect creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury, both felonies.The charges stem from an incident in October 2008 that resulted in Sanchez's infant daughter receiving a skull fracture.He was sentenced Thursday by West Virginia 23rd Judicial Circuit Court Judge Gina Groh to two to 10 years in prison on the child abuse conviction and one to five years in prison on the child neglect conviction. Groh also ordered that the convictions run consecutively, and she fined Sanchez $1,000 on each count. In addition, Sanchez will be required to register for life on West Virginia's child abuse registry upon release from prison."Somebody has to speak for (the victim). That's what the jury has done. I think that is what I'm hoping the court will do," Detective Lt. G.B. Swartwood of the Martinsburg City Police Department, the lead investigator in the case, told the court prior to sentencing. "The jury has spoken for the child victim and I hope that this court does also."Both Sanchez and his attorney, Robin Skinner-Prinz, maintain that the child's injury was accidental. Sanchez claims it was caused after he knocked over a chair the child was sitting in.Prior to sentencing, Skinner-Prinz presented post-trial motions to the court asking for an arrest of judgment and a new trial. Both motions were denied.Skinner-Prinz later renewed her motion for a new trial and asked that sentencing be continued after she told the court Thursday that she learned during a break in the proceedings that Sanchez had an e-mail statement from the victim's mother stating she didn't believe Sanchez was responsible for the child's injury.The motion to continue sentencing also was denied after the court heard from the victim's mother."I don't recall that specific e-mail at all," she said. "Even if there was ... it's not my my decision. The jury has already found him guilty."She also provided the court with a written victim impact statement, which was not read aloud into the record.The victim's grandmother also addressed the court."It has been a horrible two years," she said. "He knows exactly what he did to (the victim) and that's all I have to say."Skinner-Prinz, with her post-trial motions exhausted, asked the court to consider sentencing Sanchez to five years of probation in lieu of a penitentiary sentence, or, at the very least, a limited penitentiary sentence in addition to probation.Sanchez has no criminal history and witnesses on his behalf described him as a loving father. Skinner-Prinz also told the court that she believed testimony at trial from a medical expert indicated that the child's injury could have been the result of an accidental "tripping" as Sanchez described."The fact that this is a grave injury doesn't preclude the fact that it's an accidental injury," Skinner-Prinz said.Sanchez also addressed the court prior to sentencing."I feel terrible that my daughter was injured in the first place," Sanchez said. "I take responsibility for my actions. I want to continue to work and provide for my children as I have always have done. ... I love my girls and I want to be the best father I can be for them."Assistant Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney Greg Jones and Swartwood were granted the last words before sentencing.Swartwood said Sanchez's accident explanation came 10 days after he was questioned extensively by police and only after a warrant had been issued. Sanchez was asked repeatedly during questioning what might have caused the child's injury, but Swartwood said Sanchez initially told police he didn't know how it happened.Jones told the court that the jury didn't buy Sanchez's story that the chair the child was sitting in was accidentally flipped over and asked Groh not to grant probation."This is an injury to a helpless 4-month-old child. The jury found that he did it and he needs to be punished for it," Jones said. "The state doesn't feel the defendant is entitled to any mercy."When Groh finally weighed in, she said that, while she believed Sanchez was genuinely remorseful for the injury to his daughter, the jury's verdict required him to be punished in accordance with state statute."The findings by this jury require that a penalty be assessed and requires incarceration," she said.