A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge has sentenced Jesse Manuel Figueroa, 36, of San Jose, to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of his 8-month-old daughter, Raina. The sentencing follows a jury verdict earlier this year finding Figueroa guilty of murder for fatally striking the infant in 2020 while babysitting her.
According to prosecutors, Figueroa brought the unconscious baby to a Mountain View fire station on July 4, 2020, claiming she had suddenly lost consciousness and blood was coming from her nose while he was taking her to a family barbecue. The infant was rushed to Stanford's Lucille Packard Hospital, where doctors fought to save her life for several days before she succumbed to her injuries.
An autopsy revealed that Raina had suffered a severe blow to the face, causing brain damage so extensive that her brain shifted within her skull. A bruise on her left cheek matched the distinctive shape and size of an adult hand.
The medical examiner determined the force of the blow dislodged her brain, moving it to a different part of her head. The death was ruled a homicide.
During the trial, evidence showed Figueroa had a history of physical abuse against his girlfriend, Raina's mother, and their two other children, ages 2 and 3. He forced the older children to kneel on rice as punishment.
At the time of the murder, Figueroa was under a restraining order that prohibited unsupervised visits with Raina. District Attorney Jeff Rosen expressed the community's grief, stating, 'Raina would have been 6-years-old today instead of a name on a murder case.
These cases break our hearts, at the brutality, at the senselessness, at the sheer loss of an innocent child. Today, we can only feel some sense of justice that this man will never hurt another child.' Raina's grandfather wrote in a victim impact statement, 'Raina mattered.
She was not just a name in a case file. She was a baby who was deeply loved and who should still be here today.'