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| Livingston August 8, 2010: Vincent G. Sandoval pleads guilty in Judge Robert H. Trapp's District Court. |
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Polk County Man Gets 60 Years in Death of 4 Month Old Child, LIVINGSTON, August 4, 2010 - On August 4, 2010, a Polk County man was sentenced to sixty years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Judge Rober H. Trapp's 411th District Court for the November 13, 2009, death of four-month-old Adam Sandoval.
Vincent Sandoval, the infant’s step-father, admitted to injuring Adam. Adam suffered a blow to the head that dislodged a portion of his skull, causing the child to stop breathing. A neighbor called 911 and the child was rushed to Livingston Memorial Medical Center and then flown to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston where he died from the trauma inflicted by his step-father. Doctors at the hospital noticed signs of child abuse and contacted the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Captain Rickie Childers of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office initiated an investigation. After interviewing neighbors and the child’s mother it was determined that Vincent Sandoval was home alone with the child when the head injury occurred. Since the autopsy performed by the Harris County Medical Examiner showed the head injury occurred within minutes of any symptoms appearing, the investigation concluded the blow had to have been inflicted by Vincent Sandoval.
Vincent Sandoval claimed, during an interview with Captain Childers, that the child had stopped breathing and while he was leaving the home to seek help he dropped Adam possibly causing the head wound. The medical examiner’s office found this explanation not to be consistent with the injuries observed upon autopsy. In addition to the head wound, Adam also had fifteen broken ribs that had begun to heal. This indicated that the victim had received those injuries prior to the head wound and that the ribs had been broken at different times as they were not all at the same stage of healing. Further, Adam had a spiral fracture of his right leg. The medical examiner concluded these injuries were deliberately inflicted on the four-month-old infant.
On February 5, 2010, Assistant District Attorney, Kaycee Jones, presented the facts of Adam’s death to a Polk County Grand Jury which indicted Vincent Sandoval for Injury to a Child, a first degree felony. On August 4, Sandoval admitted he was the person who inflicted the injuries upon Adam and caused his death. The Polk County District Attorney’s Office offered a plea bargain of sixty years in prison. Sandoval was facing up to ninety-nine years in prison for the first degree felony charge. Because of the nature of the charge Sandoval will have to serve at least half of his sentence day for day before becoming eligible for parole.
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