EMANUEL GONZALEZ - 2 yo - Hazleton PA

A surprise guilty plea came Tuesday morning
on the second day of jury selection for a murder trial in Luzerne
County.

Alexander Garcia of Hazleton admitted killing two-year-old
Emanuel Gonzalez.

"There's a little bit of justice for my son. He's not
here with me, so it's not 100 percent, but he's never going to hurt anyone else
and that's good," said Lillian Torres, mother of Emanuel Gonzalez.

Garcia
is headed to prison for life after pleading guilty to the first- degree murder
of the two-year-old boy. He admitted he became so angry with the boy in 2007
over potty training that he beat the child to death.

"I'm happy he's not
going to get away with it. I'm happy with that," Torres added.

She was
Garcia's girlfriend. She pleaded guilty in 2008 to involuntary manslaughter for
not stopping the beating and for not taking her son for treatment.

Torres
was going to testify against her former boyfriend in his trial but Garcia
suddenly decided to plead guilty and avoid a possible death penalty.

"Mr.
Garcia was at great risk of getting the death penalty in this case. They had a
very strong case against him and I think he came to realize it wasn't worth
taking the risk and that's why he did what he did," defense attorney John
Donovan.

Prosecutors are satisfied with the plea.

"Extremely
emotional case we saw that with many of the prospective jurors yesterday who
indicated that they could not sit and listen to the evidence that was going to
be presented. I can tell you we took this home with us. It kept me up at night,"
said District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll.

Garcia has been sentenced to
life in prison for the murder. The toddler's mother, Lillian Torres faces up to
seven years behind bars for the manslaughter charge.