Man Given 15 Years to Life for Killing Baby

A 19-year-old house painter convicted of murdering his girlfriend’s baby girl apparently by throwing her against a wall was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life in prison.

Celerino Ochoa, who maintained his innocence, was convicted of second-degree murder and felony child abuse last October in connection with the death of 21-month-old Carina Ramirez last year in Santa Ana.

The toddler’s mother, Maria Delgado, insisted tearfully during the trial that Ochoa did not kill her daughter, recanting previous statements to police that incriminated the man she had met about three months earlier and was living with.

Her previous statements were the backbone of the prosecution’s contention that Ochoa killed the girl, who collapsed on the bedroom floor soon after her mother heard a thump on the wall. The girl, who also had bite marks on her chest, never regained consciousness and died the next day at a Fountain Valley hospital of trauma to the head.

The mother also had told police that when she once asked Ochoa why he had bitten her daughter, he said he didn’t like the girl.

Prosecutors said the woman changed her story at trial after Ochoa threatened her. The defense, however, suggested the child’s injuries may have come from a fall and contended the mother was pressured by police to back their hunch that her boyfriend was responsible.

Ochoa admitted to biting the girl “playfully,” but denied he didn’t like her, according to a pre-sentencing report.