SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - An Espanola-area man convicted of fatally shaking and slapping a 17-month-old girl is going to be re-sentenced.
Nathan Montoya of El Llano was sentenced to life in prison in in the March 2011 death of BreAndra Pena, but the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the sentencing judge failed to consider mitigating circumstances.
Now-retired District Judge Michael Vigil sentenced Montoya to life in prison minutes after a jury convicted him of child abuse resulting in death.
Montoya also appealed his conviction, but the Supreme Court upheld it.
Then 24 years -old, Montoya was babysitting the girl while his girlfriend was at work. The girlfriend was the child’s godmother, and the child’s parents had left her with the couple for the weekend.
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