http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/01/baby-left-alone-while-caretaker-dad-is.html
Don't get me wrong. I certainly defend the right of anyone to defend their country--whether male, female, gay, or straight. But something is fundamentally wrong when the mothers of newborns are told they must leave their babies behind with party daddies while they serve in the military. Frankly, a lot of party daddies like this guy could really use a little military discipline and learn to grow up. And babies would certainly benefit from having a mother's care.http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/25217225/detail.html
Dead Infant's Father Admits Guilt In 'Left Alone' Death
Father Left Son Alone For 7 Hours To Drink, Play 'Beer Pong'
Written by Wayne Harrison, Web Editor
POSTED: 6:01 pm MDT September 29, 2010
DENVER -- The father of a 5-month-old boy who was found dead after the father went out to play "beer pong" has pleaded guilty in the child's death.
Joseph Trujillo, 23, entered his plea Tuesday in Jefferson County Court. He pleaded guilty to felony negligent child abuse causing death, according to Pam Russell, spokeswoman for the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office.
On Jan. 20, 2010, Trujillo put his 5-month-old son on a bed, wedged by pillows, with a bottle of formula on his chest, and then went out to drink shots at a bar and attend a house party, according to court records.
The 23-year-old father told investigators he finally returned home about midnight on Jan. 20 to find the baby's lifeless body on the bed where he left him, according to an investigator's statement supporting Trujillo's arrest.
Read Joseph Trujillo's Arrest Affidavit
While Jefferson County sheriff's investigators initially recommended a first-degree murder charge against Trujillo, prosecutors formally charged him with child abuse resulting in death, a Class III felony.
Investigators said Trujillo was initially adamant that he had only left home for "20 minutes" to "get a quick drink" with a woman friend. But the woman told investigators that Trujillo, whom she had met on Facebook, was out for at least 7 hours, the arrest affidavit stated.
Trujillo's mother, Gay Lujan, who lives with him at the West 10th Avenue apartment, told investigators she returned from work about 10:15 p.m. and found music blaring in her son's room and the baby's crib empty.
"She believed Joseph was at the bar because he has a drinking problem," the grandmother told investigators, according to the affidavit. "She was concerned he took (the baby) with him to the bar."
"She sent him a few text messages stating, 'Get the baby home' and 'Where are you?'" the arrest report stated. But her son did not respond.
The grandmother said she was awakened about 12:30 a.m. by the sound of Joseph crying on the phone to someone.
"She got up and saw Adrian lying on the couch. She touched him and felt he was stiff and cold," the affidavit stated. The woman called 911.
An arriving paramedic found the baby cold and pale with his arms raised up around his head. The paramedic noticed a one inch-wide discoloration on the dead infant's temple, the arrest affidavit said.
The young father was kneeling on the kitchen floor, crying and "mumbling incoherently," the arrest affidavit stated.
The woman friend told investigators how she and Trujillo left the bar to go to an apartment across the street and "played beer pong" for about an hour, the arrest affidavit stated. Beer pong is a drinking game where players toss a ping-pong ball into a beer glass to force an opponent to chug.
The couple then drove to Taco Bell for a meal before driving home and sitting in the car parked outside Trujillo's apartment until about 11:30 p.m., when the woman told investigators she went home.
After entering the apartment alone, Trujillo said he found his son was still on the bed on his back, but he "he was purple and blue with his hands up by his head," the affidavit stated. "He was cold and wouldn't move."
Trujillo will be sentenced on Oct. 13 at 8 a.m.
