Phoenix father gets 27 years for murder of 3-month-old girl
A Phoenix man was sentenced to 27 years in prison Thursday for the 2017 murder of his 3-month-old daughter after he threw her against a headboard when she wouldn’t stop crying, police said.
Jose Antonio Orellana-Ruiz, 30, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as part of a plea agreement in May, according to Maricopa County Superior Court officials.
On February 27, 2017, first responders were called at about 4:40 a.m. to a home near East Roosevelt and 14th streets on reports of a baby who wasn’t breathing. The baby was found unresponsive with obvious signs of head trauma, according to the court records.
The baby, Adrianna Aaliyah, was rushed to a hospital in critical condition but died two days later, on March 1.
Police reports said that OrellanaRuiz had begged the baby’s mother to let her stay with him overnight. He told police that he lost his temper after his daughter would not stop crying, causing him to throw a bottle full of formula at his daughter’s head twice and throw her against a wooden headboard, striking her in the head an additional two times.
Orellana-Ruiz said the baby was unconscious and breathing irregularly after he threw her in the air and let her land on the bed. He then woke up his mother who gave the 3-month-old CPR for a short time and told Orellana-Ruiz to call the police, police said.
Additional charges of child abuse against Orellana-Ruiz were dismissed after the plea deal, court records show.