El Cajon

An El Cajon man convicted of killing a 2-year-old girl was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in state prison.

Matthew LeSure, 29, was convicted Feb. 24 of first-degree murder in the June 13, 1988, slaying of Sara Toussant, whose beaten body was found in a trash bin near the apartment where the girl lived with her mother and LeSure, her mother’s boyfriend.

Superior Court Judge Terry O’Rourke added five years to LeSure’s sentence because LeSure was convicted of robbery in 1982. O’Rourke recommended that LeSure never be granted parole. A parole board could release him after 15 years.

The dead girl’s mother, Katherine Minnifield, told the judge at the sentencing that she would vigorously oppose LeSure’s release even after 15 or 20 years.

“I think he should have gotten the chair,” Minnifield said after the hearing. During the hearing, she said, “Matthew LeSure has murdered my little Sara. He has caused me unbearable pain.”

The girl’s natural father, Jeffrey Toussant, a sailor stationed in San Francisco, also appeared at the sentencing. “I think he should have gotten life,” he said afterward.

LeSure told police he and the girl went to a park, and he fell asleep, discovering when he awoke that Sara was gone. The girl’s body was found the next day by someone looking for cans in a trash bin. An autopsy showed that she had been beaten, although she was still apparently alive when LeSure put her in a plastic bag and left her.