Jury weighs case against father charged with tossing baby son off bridge
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. --- A jury heard closing arguments on Tuesday in the trial of a man charged with throwing his 7-month-old son off a bridge to his death in Middletown, Connecticut, CBS affiliate WFSB reports.
Tony Moreno’s case is now in the hands of jurors. Moreno is charged with murdering his son Aaden in July of 2015.
Last week, Moreno testified that the boy slipped out of his arms by accident and that he fell off the 90-foot-high bridge into the Connecticut River.
Prosecutors argue that Moreno and the boy’s mother, Adrienne Oyola, had a strained relationship.
“He told Adrienne at one time ‘I could make you and your son disappear at any time’ and that’s what he did on July 5, 2015,” said Peter McShane, Middlesex state’s attorney.
Both the state and the defense rested on Friday.
The prosecution and defense made their case summations on Tuesday in Middletown Superior Court.
“The defendant only packed only a blanket, a pacifier, and iPod, his phone and a knife. He didn’t bring a diaper bag. He didn’t bring a bottle. He didn’t bring a change of clothes. He didn’t bring diapers. That’s because he knew him and Aaden weren’t coming back,” McShane said during closing arguments.
Moreno’s Attorney Norm Pattis said Moreno only wanted to harm himself that night, and the boy fell from his hands.
“He may have headed to the bridge with the intent or thought to kill, but when he stood at the railing, he couldn’t do it,” Pattis said.
Pattis pleaded with the jury to convict Moreno on the lesser charge of manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide, saying that while Moreno failed as a father, he didn’t commit murder.
Moreno was involved in a custody dispute with the boy’s mother when he sent her angry texts on the night on July 5, 2015. “Enjoy your new life without us. He’s dead,” he wrote in one of the messages.
Moreno faces 70 years in prison if he’s convicted.
The jury continues deliberations on Wednesday at 10 a.m.