Man Receives Maximum Sentence For Daughter’s Murder

LAS CRUCES — The man convicted of killing his infant daughter received the maximum penalty for the crime Friday.

Eliazar Urrutia-Quinones, 35, was sentenced to 27 years in prison. He was convicted of child abuse thatresulted in the death of his 6-week-old daughter, Diana, in 2005.

Authorities saythe babyhad several injuries, including broken ribs, legs and brain damage. She died in an Albuquerque hospital shortly after crews retrieved her from her family.

Urrutia-Quinones told the court that he was falsely charged with his daughter’s death.

Before Judge Stephen Bridgforth readthe sentence, Urrutia-Quinones proclaimed his innocence. “Idid not hit my baby on the head,I did not shake my baby,I only said I squeezed her. That does not cause swelling of the brain. I was found guilty of somethingI didn’t do,” he said.

“If you look in the courtroom, no one is hear to speak for the child except the state – a stranger,” said District Attorney Susana Martinez. “This man needs to go to jail for 27 years.”