BOYFRIEND WHO BEAT, KILLED LAWRENCE TODDLER PLEADS GUILTY April 18, 2008 His head bowed, a 28-year-old Dorchester man today told a Suffolk Superior Court judge that he was pleading guilty to charges in connection with the death of his girlfriend’s baby two years ago “to get sentenced for my mistakes.” In an afternoon hearing in Suffolk Superior Court, DANIEL SANTANA (D.O.B. 11/26/79) pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for beating and ultimately killing 23-month-old Jaziel Ponce on the afternoon of June 26, 2006. In addition to the manslaughter charge, Santana also pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute a Class A substance, and unlawful possession of a Class B substance, for having eight individual bags of heroin and a smaller quantity of cocaine in his dresser drawer at the time of the offense. Prior to submitting a joint sentencing recommendation to the court, Assistant District Attorney David Deakin, chief of the Family Protection and Sexual Assault Unit, read a grief-stricken impact statement provided to the court from the child’s father, Miguel Ponce. “When I received the bad news that my baby was killed my heart just dropped, and ever since that day, I haven’t been able to pick it up,” he wrote. “I will never be the man I used to be. I have no life without my son.” Calling Jaziel’s death “tragic and wholly unnecessary” Deakin recommended that Santana serve an 18 to 20 year sentence in state prison for the toddler’s death, to be followed by two concurrent sentences of 30 months of probation for the drug offenses. As part of the conditions of the defendant’s probation upon release from prison, he must have no contact with a child under the age of 18 except with a parent or guardian present who has been informed of the nature of his conviction; he cannot work or volunteer where there are children under the age of 18; he cannot live in a residence where children under 18 live; he must refrain from direct or indirect contact with the mother and father of the victim and their families; he must refrain from using illegal substances; and he must submit to random drug testing. Noting the tragedy of the boy’s death before he was even two years old, Superior Court Judge Margaret Hinkle imposed Deakin’s recommendation. Had the case proceeded to trial, prosecutors would have proven that, three days before Jaziel died, his mother went to stay with Santana at his home in the Harbor Point Community Apartments in Dorchester. Evidence and witness testimony would have shown that Jaziel was in good health and had been napping in an upstairs bedroom when the mother told the defendant to watch after the child while she went to run errands. Less than two hours later, Santana came downstairs holding the child in his arms, who was described by witnesses as being blue or grey in appearance and struggling to breathe. Relatives who had just arrived at the home called emergency medical services, and also the mother of the child, urging her to return to the home immediately. Jaziel was rushed by ambulance to Boston Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 5:30 p.m. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that he died of blunt trauma to the abdomen and lacerations of the liver. Externally, the child also suffered fresh bruises in both ears, on the sternum, lower chest, abdomen, forearm, hand and back. Following an extensive investigation by Boston Police homicide detectives and Suffolk prosecutors in the Grand Jury, evidence emerged that pointed to the defendant as the perpetrator of the crime. In conversations with his family and friends after Jaziel’s death, Santana told witnesses that he “lost it” and “hit the baby too hard.” He told one witness that he “punched [the baby] in the stomach.” In a statement provided to the court, Santana asked the baby’s family for forgiveness “for all the harm I’ve caused.” Santana was represented by attorney Marcel J. Murad in courtroom 906 of the Suffolk Superior Court. Return to the Press Releases page.