Man Remains in Prison for Beating Toddler to Death
In July of 2005, Pedro Navarro took 2-year-old Aiyana Cisneros, the daughter of his girlfriend, into an upstairs bedroom and beat her so badly that he broke many of her bones and damaged several internal organs. When Samantha Winkler, the child’s mother, heard her screaming for help she had wanted to call 911, but Navarro told her not to. And she obeyed him, for fear that it would reflect badly on her as a mother for allowing the abuse to happen.
Aiyana died two days later as a result of internal bleeding caused by her injuries. She had suffered blunt force injuries to her liver, lungs, chest and abdomen, and multiple broken bones, including 30 rib fractures. During the two days it took for Aiyana to die, her mother chose not to take her to a hospital for fear that the state would intervene and take Aiyana from her.
In 2006 Winkler pled guilty to second-degree murder, and was sentenced to 16 to 60 years in prison for her failure to protect her daughter. However Navarro did not face charges until 2012, when Winkler came forward and offered testimony against him. He was charged with felony murder because police say that the child’s death was the result of first-degree child-abuse. Navarro was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
But the case doesn’t end there. Navarro recently filed a series of petitions, seeking to have his conviction overturned. The Michigan Court of Appeals, however, does not agree. The three judge appeals panel rejected all of Navarro’s arguments.
In the appeal Navarro concluded that because Winkler had pled guilty to a second degree murder charge, her testimony was not credible and should not have been allowed in court. Also, he challenged the prosecution’s use of a letter he had written to his later girlfriend which clearly implied guilt.
Navarro also argued that the jury should not have been shown photographs of Aiyana’s body, as this was inflammatory and prejudiced them against him. He contended that a diagram should have been used instead. And finally, Navarro argued that his attorney did not provide an effective representation for a multitude of reasons, one of which was that he had refused to state in court that a CPS worker was falsifying evidence.
Navarro is currently serving his life sentence at the Alger Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula.