(NEW YORK) — A man has been sentenced to four years in prison after a 6-minute video that his 9-year-old child took of him beating and injuring his wife emerged, authorities said.
Miguel Lazaro-Castillo was sentenced to the maximum term allowed on his charges of four years in prison last Friday by Yuba County Judge Julia Scrogin after pleading no contest in October to charges of felony domestic violence, false imprisonment and misdemeanor child abuse, according to the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office, located north of the state capital of Sacramento.
Lazaro-Castillo’s sentencing stemmed from an incident that took place on Oct. 9 shortly before 2 a.m. when the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department received a 911 call from one of Lazaro-Castillo’s children.
“When deputies arrived six minutes later, they located Lazaro-Castillo’s wife lying face-down on the floor, surrounded by bloody napkins. Lazaro-Castillo was sitting on top of her, and their three minor children, ages 15, 14, and 9, were also present,” said the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office.
Lazaro-Castillo initially denied striking his wife and claimed he had no idea where all the blood had come from when police arrived on scene.
However, it didn’t take long for deputies to discover that his youngest child had actually filmed the attack in a video that lasted over six minutes.
“Deputies discovered that the youngest of the children had videotaped the beating,” said the district attorney’s office. “The video lasted over six minutes and showed Lazaro-Castillo repeatedly hitting his wife in the head and face. One of the children tried to protect her mother, shielding her with her hands. Lazaro-Castillo slapped the child on the leg and continued assaulting his wife. Lazaro-Castillo turned his wife onto her stomach and forced her face down into the carpet for an extended amount of time.”
Lazaro-Castillo, his wife and one of the minor children were intoxicated at the time of the incident, according to the district attorney’s office.
Yuba County Sheriff’s Deputy Bonifacio Paredes placed the children into protective custody and arrested Lazaro-Castillo at the time of the incident.
“Despite Lazaro-Castillo not having a prior criminal record, he received the maximum sentence for felony domestic violence based on the brutality of his actions and his utter disregard for his children,” the district attorney’s office said.
“Thank you to Deputies Paredes, Manion, and Jones, for you work to keep the victim and children safe,” the district attorney’s office continued. “Thank you to Yuba County Chief Deputy Shiloh Sorbello for prosecuting this case to the full extent of the law.
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