Gateway Parents Sentenced for 3-Month-Old Baby's Death

NORWALK, CA -- A Downey woman convicted of second-degree murder and child abuse for her infant daughter's death was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years to life in state prison.

Superior Court Judge Raul A. Sahagun found Ashley Debra Jones, 26, guilty of the two charges Sept. 29 after she waived her right to a jury trial.

The baby's father, Johnathan Lucero, 26, also waived his right to a jury trial and was convicted of child abuse. He was ordered to serve 10 years in state prison.

The judge found true an allegation that Jones and Lucero willfully caused and permitted their daughter, Savannah, to be injured, resulting in her New Year's Eve 2013 death two days short of turning 4 months old.

The baby weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces when she was born and weighed 9 pounds and 11 ounces at the time of her death from blunt force trauma and malnutrition, authorities said.

She had skull fractures, cerebral contusions, multiple rib fractures, a lacerated liver, bruised lungs and contusions to her diaphragm, according to court testimony.

Downey police Lt. Mark McDaniel said authorities responded to a report of a medical emergency call at an apartment in the 8400 block of East Imperial Highway on New Year's Eve and found the infant non-responsive. Their efforts at CPR were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The child's parents were arrested the next morning and have remained jailed since then.

-- City News Service, photo via Shutterstock