JAYDEN BELL - 14 months (2006) - San Bernadino CA

A man who killed the 14-month-old son of his
female companion was sentenced this morning to 25 years to life in state
prison, according to prosecutors.

Joseph Patrick Simon was sentenced before Judge Kyle Brodie in
San Bernardino Superior Court.

A jury found Simon, 26, guilty in July of murder and assault on a
child in the 2006 death. Jurors were unable to reach a unanimous
verdict on a third count of torture.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Simon and the child's mother,
24-year-old Aimee Lynn Bell, in November 2006 on suspicion of abusing
her son Jayden after authorities found him unconscious in the parking
lot of Inland Center, in San Bernardino.

Jayden died the next day at Loma Linda University Medical Center,
according to coroner's officials. Simon is not Jayden's father.

A preliminary coroner's report determined Jayden suffered a blow
to the head and to the abdomen. The child also had a lacerated liver and
was still healing from older injuries and bruises, sheriff's officials
said.

Bell took a plea bargain in March 2008 and pleaded guilty to one
felony count of willful cruelty to a child resulting in injury or death,
according to court records. She was sentenced to two years in state
prison and credited for 708 days already served plus good conduct
credits.