A Tucson man who killed an 18-day-old baby last year apologized for his "impatience" Tuesday morning before being sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Rene Barrios, 26, also said he prays every day that God will give the child's mother and her family "comfort and peace."
Barrios was living with the mother of 18-day-old Jaden Encinas on Oct. 26, 2007, when she left their apartment to run errands. She told police the baby was sleeping on their bed when she left, according to court documents.
Prosecutors allege that when the baby started to cry, Barrios paused his "assault-like" video game, went into the bedroom, shook the newborn and hit him in the head.
"Defendant's goal was to silence Jaden. He wanted the infant to stop crying so he could play his game. The impact was massive and global," Deputy Pima County Attorney Kristen Kelly wrote in court documents.
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Barrios left the baby comatose on the bed and spent the next five to 10 minutes finishing his game, Kelly wrote.
When Barrios went back into the bedroom, the baby was blue and he called 911, Kelly wrote.
Barrios pleaded guilty to manslaughter in August, admitting to shaking the baby only.
He could have been sentenced to as few as 10.5 years and to as many as 21 years.
In court Tuesday, Kelly asked Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard Fields to give Barrios an aggravated prison sentence, saying he continues to minimize his actions.
In a letter to Fields, Barrios said he wishes he hadn't left Jaden alone after he shook him. Perhaps if he'd stayed with the child, he would have noticed the baby had stopped breathing earlier and he could have started CPR sooner, Barrios said.
Kelly told Fields the injuries to the baby's brain were so massive that he died almost immediately.
Assistant Pima County Public Defender Darlene Edminson-O'Brien asked Fields for leniency in a sentencing memorandum filed before the hearing. While her client admitted to shaking the baby, there are many unanswered questions as to the baby's cause of death, she said.
The baby may have been suffering from a condition called cortical venous thrombosis, which is often confused with abuse, Edminson-O'Brien said in her sentencing memorandum.
Because no tissue samples were saved during the autopsy, no tests could be performed, O'Brien said.
In addition, there is a chance the baby suffered from a genetic problem since his older half-brother, Giovanni, died a couple of years before Jaden was born, O'Brien said.
According to court documents filed by O'Brien, Giovanni died of sudden infant death syndrome or asphyxia. Court documents filed by prosecutors say Giovanni died of SIDS.
In addition to letters from Barrios and the baby's mother, Erica Encinas, Fields received dozens of letters from family members on both sides.
Barrios' family members described him as a loving Christian man who hoped to one day join the Tucson Fire Department.
In her letters, Encinas said Barrios' family is acting as though they are the victims and treat her with hostility.
Encinas described her son as the "light" of her life and her "salvation."
"He helped me learn to accept and move on from previous hardships in my life," Encinas wrote.
She trusted Barrios with her son, in part, because he told her he wanted a better relationship with him than the one he had with his stepfather, Encinas wrote.
"I am not only unbelievably brokenhearted by what has happened, but I am also extremely angry that my sweet Jaden lost his life over a video game," Encinas wrote. "It kills me to know that is the reason why I no longer have Jaden in my life anymore."
