Man found guilty in toddler’s death
After deliberating about three hours, jurors tonight convicted Abner A. Gomez of a felony of second-degree manslaughter and a misdemeanor of endangering the welfare of a child in the death last year of a 14-month-old Rochester girl.
Gomez, 30, faces a penalty ranging from probation to a prison term of five to 15 years when he’s sentenced Jan. 15.
Earlier today, testifying in Gomez’ trial in state Supreme Court, Dr. Caroline Dignan said Jasmine Velez suffered bleeding to her brain that killed her within hours of the time the injuries were inflicted.
“The most common cause I see for these type of injuries are…high-speed motor vehicle accidents,” said Dignan, chief medical examiner of Monroe County.
Dignan spent the morning testifying about Jasmine’s injuries, narrating graphic autopsy photos that depicted the girl’s internal injuries and external bruises and abrasions from the girl’s head to her shins.
In addition to the fatal head injuries, the girl also suffered from bruises to internal organs and a detached flap of skin that attaches the upper lip to the jaw.
Gomez, 30, was arrested after the girl was found dead Nov. 5 in a Locust Street apartment he shared with the girl’s mother, Carmen Cruz. He is not the girl’s father.
The mother testified that she left the girl alone with Gomez, her new boyfriend, while she shopped the afternoon and evening before.
In conversations with homicide investigators, Gomez denied hurting the girl and suggested she hurt herself when she fell from a bed onto a hard floor.
Dignan, however, said that explanation wasn’t consistent with the constellation and severity of the girl’s injuries.
“It does not fit with a simple fall off a bed,” she said.
