Man Sentenced to 25-Year-to-Life Term for Beating Death of Girlfriend's Toddler

COMPTON, CA - A Compton man was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years to life in state prison for the beating death of his girlfriend's 13-month-old son, who died after being hospitalized for nearly three weeks.

Rodrigo Hernandez, 24, was convicted March 28 of one count each of second-degree murder and assault on a child causing death.

Prosecutors said Hernandez was watching the boy on June 7, 2015, while the child's mother was in an another room in the apartment.

Family members told the woman at some point that her son was behaving strangely. When she went to check on him, the toddler began to have seizures and bruises began to develop on his body, according to prosecutors.

Paramedics were called and the boy was hospitalized.

A coroner's official testified that he died on June 26, 2015, from blunt force trauma to his abdomen.

Hernandez was arrested June 7 by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies. He has remained behind bars since then.

— City News Service, photo via Shutterstock