Father sentenced after fatal blow killed 8-month-old daughter

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SAN JOSE, Calif. - A San Jose father was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison for killing his 8-month-old daughter with a blow to the head so severe that it caused her brain to shift inside her skull, authorities said.

Jesse Manuel Figueroa, 36, was convicted in the death of his daughter, Raina, in 2020 while he was caring for her, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.

"Raina would have been 6 years old today instead of a name on a murder case," District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. "These cases break our hearts, at the brutality, at the senselessness, at the sheer loss of an innocent child."

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Fatal injuries

What we know:

On July 4, 2020, Figueroa brought an unconscious Raina to a Mountain View fire station. She was transported to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, where doctors spent several days trying to save her life. She later died from her injuries.

According to prosecutors, Figueroa initially reported he was taking Raina to a family barbecue when she suddenly fell ill, and blood began seeping from her nose.

Baby Raina was killed in 2020 by her father who was babysitting her, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Offce.

While hospitalized, a bruise developed on the girl's left cheek that resembled the shape and size of an adult hand.

Figueroa told investigators he had not noticed anything wrong with his daughter before her collapse, but an autopsy determined otherwise.

The medical examiner found that Raina suffered brain hemorrhages caused by blunt-force trauma to the head and ruled her death a homicide.

The medical examiner revealed the blow to Raina "was so hard it caused her brain to dislodge and move to a different part of her head." 

History of abuse

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Evidence presented during the trial showed that Figueroa had physically abused his girlfriend, Raina's mother, along with the couple's two other children, who were 2 and 3 years old at the time. Prosecutors said the abuse included forcing the children to kneel on rice as punishment.

At the time of Raina's death, Figueroa was under a restraining order that prohibited him from having unsupervised visits with her.