Oceanside

A 19-year-old Oceanside woman was put on probation for five years Tuesday for beating her baby boy to death with a toilet plunger.

Josephine Mesa faced as much as 11 years in state prison, but Vista Superior Court Judge Donald Martinson ruled that she had already served enough time in jail.

Mesa had been jailed since she was arrested last May in the slaying of her 23-month-old child, Paul. Under her probation, Mesa must continue receiving counseling and live in a home for ex-offenders. A review hearing to determine when she can leave the halfway house is set for 60 days after her release.

Prosecutors had sought the maximum 11-year term, but Probation Department officials recommended that Mesa be jailed for six years.

Probation officials said in a report to the judge that Mesa’s troubled background of physical and mental abuses during her childhood and marriage did not outweigh the seriousness of the crime she committed.

John Jimenez, Mesa’s attorney, suggested that she be released so she could seek counseling and continue her education, which ended in the 10th grade.

Mesa and her husband, Marine Lance Cpl. Paul Mesa, were arrested after the battered body of their child was found in a dumpster May 29 behind the couple’s Oceanside apartment. Paul Mesa was recently released after serving 254 days in jail as an accessory after the crime.