Simi Father Sentenced for Fatally Shaking Son

A 26-year-old Simi Valley father who admitted shaking his infant son to death was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years to life in prison after a judge refused to allow him to take back his guilty plea.

An attorney representing Brian Trelatsky argued that his client did not know what he was doing when he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder two months ago.

The lawyer accused a public defender of failing to properly advise Trelatsky of the consequences of the plea--namely that he could be held in prison for the rest of his life.

But Ventura County Superior Court Judge Ken Riley rejected that argument, praising the public defender for his thoroughness and concluding that there was no evidence to suggest Trelatsky was poorly advised.

Riley then imposed the sentence negotiated two months ago in the death of Trelatsky’s 10-week-old son, Tyler.

Firefighters and police responding to a 911 call on March 28, 2000, found the child in cardiac arrest, lying on a coffee table in the family’s Simi Valley mobile home.

The infant was taken to Simi Valley Hospital for initial treatment, then transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where doctors determined that he had retinal hemorrhaging and brain swelling--symptoms consistent with shaken-baby syndrome.

The child died the next day. An autopsy showed that Tyler died from trauma from an impact, shaking, or a combination of the two.

Trelatsky was arrested six months later and charged with child abuse causing death, which carries a prison sentence of 25 years to life.

Prosecutors argued at a preliminary hearing last year that Trelatsky was to blame for the death because he was Tyler’s sole caregiver when the boy stopped breathing.

The defendant’s wife, Catherine Trelatsky, confirmed that her husband and their 3-year-old son, Scottie, were the only people with the baby between 7 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., when paramedics were summoned.

But she also hinted that the older son could have caused the injuries. She said the boy was jealous and sometimes hit the infant.

Catherine Trelatsky described her husband as a loving father--a stay-at-home dad who roamed their neighborhood so much with his children that he became known as “the man who walks the baby.”

In January, he offered to plead guilty to a lesser charge on the eve of trial, and prosecutors accepted.

In addition to the prison sentence, Trelatsky must pay for counseling for Scottie, who, prosecutors say, witnessed the fatal shaking.

The defendant, dressed in a blue jail uniform, said nothing during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing. His attorney, E.J. Montanez, gave no closing remarks.

But Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Dee Corona told the judge that the case has devastated the family. The emotional fallout was evident in court as the defendant’s wife wept in the back of the courtroomalongside her parents.

“The people have done their best to represent Tyler during these proceedings,” Corona said. “We cannot bring Tyler back. What we can do is make Brian Trelatsky accountable.”