Wednesday, April 20, 2005

D.A. BROWN: CORONA FATHER SENTENCED TO 22 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR MURDER IN HANGING DEATH OF BABY SON

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that a Corona, Queens father has been sentenced to 22 years to life in prison for murder for the July 2003 hanging of his two-year-old son whose body was found at an Elmhurst hotel.

District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant admitted that he committed a terrible and shocking crime –- the hanging of his baby son. The sentence imposed by the court is more than warranted for taking the life of an innocent and helpless victim.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Juan Batista, 28, of Corona, Queens, a personal trainer. The defendant pled guilty on March 21, 2005 to Murder in the Second Degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert J. Hanophy who earlier today imposed a sentence of 22 years to life in prison.

District Attorney Brown said that the defendant admitted in court that on July 26, 2003 about 1:35 a.m. inside the Crown Motor Inn at 74-01 Queens Boulevard he took an extension cord and hanged his son, Omar Arias, two, from a shower curtain rod in the bathroom and caused his death.

Assistant District Attorney Robert J. Masters, Bureau Chief, of the District Attorney’s Kew Gardens Trial Bureau I is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Senior Executive Assistant District Attorney for Trials James C. Quinn.