A state appeals court panel has upheld the conviction of a Whittier-area man for his 6-month-old daughter’s beating death.
The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that jurors in Eduardo Orozco’s trial should not have heard his confession to the baby’s mother, who had been told by a police officer that she could get a full explanation from her boyfriend after he maintained to investigators that he had not hurt the girl.
Orozco — who was convicted in a Norwalk courtroom just over a year ago of second-degree murder and assault on a child causing death — is serving a 25-year-to-life term in state prison for the May 2013 death of his daughter, Mia.
Orozco was home alone with his daughter, Mia, the night of May 10, 2013, and called the child’s mother at work to tell her the girl was not breathing, according to Deputy District Attorney Michael DeRose.
The baby’s mother rushed home, an ambulance was called and the girl was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, the prosecutor said.
The girl died from massive blunt force trauma to the abdomen, DeRose said.
An autopsy showed that she had suffered four broken ribs, two punctured lungs, a lacerated heart and internal bleeding, along with healed rib fractures, according to testimony during Orozco’s trial.
Orozco initially told his girlfriend that he “didn’t do anything,” but subsequently confessed to her that he had killed their baby after she asked him why he had refused to take a polygraph test, according to the 25-page ruling released late Thursday.