SAN ANTONIO — A man convicted by a jury last month of causing serious bodily injury to a 2-year-old girl, including internal bleeding and broken ribs, was sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison.
Jimmy Turner, 32, faced up to life in prison for the first-degree felony. After the guilty verdict, he opted to have state District Judge Maria Teresa Herr assess his punishment.
Prosecutor Karl Alexander asked the judge to give Turner 50 years in prison, while defense attorney Scott Simpson asked the judge for a sentence of less than 10 years.
Turner took the stand at one point and, while maintaining his innocence, asked the judge for a sentence that would allow him to see his 10-year-old son graduate from high school.
Witnesses outside a San Antonio meat market called police in May 2012 to report that Turner was repeatedly punching the girl in the stomach in the back seat of a car, court documents state.
The child's mother, Crystal Marie Apreciado, 21, is set to be sentenced next week for injury to a child by omission. She has applied for deferred adjudication probation.
In interviews with police, Apreciado confessed that Turner had hit the girl in the past and didn't like her because “she was not his biological daughter,” according to court documents.
Dr. John Doski, who performed emergency surgery on the girl, testified Friday that she had a total of nine broken ribs and internal injuries that, if left untreated, would have killed her.
The girl lost 20 percent of her blood during the three-hour operation and required a transfusion. She spent the next 10 days in the hospital.
Turner, formerly a known member of the Mexican Mafia, requested that he be placed in protective custody after his arrest for this crime, Bexar County Sheriff's Deputy Nick Rochatestified. While the exact reason wasn't documented, Rocha said the gang “doesn't look kindly” on those who commit crimes against children.
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