Father Gets Prison Term in Death of Baby

A man was sentenced to prison and his common-law wife received probation Friday for their roles in the death of their Down’s syndrome daughter.

Oscar Aguilar Lezama, 24, of Orange, who pleaded guilty April 6 to voluntary manslaughter, was sentenced to 11 years in prison by Superior Court Judge David O. Carter. Lezama’s common-law wife, Rocio Huerta Cazares, 24, who also pleaded guilty, was sentenced to five years of probation for being an accessory to a felony after the fact.

On May 19, 1991, the couple told police that two masked kidnapers snatched their 3-month-old infant, named Jenny, from Cazares’ arms at knifepoint while she was walking near her apartment. She and Lezama told police that the kidnapers hit the infant on the head, threw her into the back of a car and sped off. The baby’s body was later found behind a beauty salon, wrapped in a pink blanket.

Prosecutors said the baby was actually killed in the couple’s apartment and then dumped behind the beauty salon.

The couple has another child, a 3-year-old daughter, who neighbors have said was never mistreated. Prosecutors said they believed the couple, who were unemployed at the time of the killing, may have been depressed because of the baby’s condition.