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MANTI — A Utah mother will spend at least five years and up to life in prison after pleading guilty to causing the death of her young daughter through repeated child abuse.
The Moroni mother, who was handcuffed and dressed in a striped orange and white jumpsuit, chose not to say anything before being sentenced on Wednesday, although bailiffs handed her, along with a few others in the room, tissues to use for drying tears while the judge talked about the case.
"This case is really a tragedy," said 6th District Judge Mandy Larsen. "I see a mother who has limited education, who has mental health trauma that she needs treatment to address. A mother who didn't know how to parent and oftentimes her child paid the price."
Larsen said it is clear from the child's injuries, including scars and bones in various stages of healing, that she was abused for the two years she was alive. The judge said she was not just abused physically but was neglected as well and was not brought to any doctors, even when the mom had been connected with the Division of Child and Family Services and should have known she could reach out for help.
"There's a 2-year-old who's lost her life from the mistreatment of the person who should be loving and protecting her," she said.
Anyi Nicol Canales Cruz, 22, pleaded guilty on July 12 to reckless child abuse homicide, a first-degree felony, and aggravated child abuse injury, a third-degree felony.
Larsen sentenced Canales Cruz to at least five years and up to life in the Utah State prison for the homicide charge, and between zero and five years in prison for the other charge, and said the sentences will run concurrently.
Her attorney, David Angerhofer, said Canales Cruz is taking accountability for her actions. He said she was born in Honduras and came to the United States without any support system and no one to teach her how to be a good mom.
"She's kind of navigating these waters on her own as a non-U.S. citizen," he said.
The mother's boyfriend, 51-year-old Juan Castillo, was also sentenced on Wednesday after not reporting the abuse that he saw happening, or had reason to believe was happening. His sentencing was after the hearing for Canales Cruz, because she expressed that she did not want to be in the courtroom with him.
Castillo pleaded guilty to reckless child abuse, a third-degree felony, and also chose not to speak at his sentencing.
Larsen sentenced Castillo to between zero and five years in prison, but suspended that sentence in favor of one year in the county jail and three years of probation. Attorneys said likely he would be deported to Mexico after he is released from jail rather than beginning probation.
Sanpete County Attorney Kevin Daniels said this case is "burned in his mind" and many others' minds, including police officers who responded to the scene and found a lifeless young child. He said it is the first murder case he has seen have such an impact on the responding officers.
Charging documents said on Dec. 29, 2022, the girl was taken to the hospital and was pronounced dead a short time later.
"I hope she serves every day of that life sentence. It's beyond my control, but this is one that I will keep in contact with. This is a case that shook up a community," he said.
Daniels said because of Canales Cruz there is a 2-year-old girl who is dead, and it will never be known what that girl could have accomplished.
He said the girl also had a brother, now being cared for by other family members who are trying to get guardianship, who Daniels said are heroes.
"In life, there is no other relationship that is as long-lasting as a sibling," he said, noting that Canales Cruz took that sibling away from her son as she took her daughter's life.
Before Castillo was sentenced, Daniels stressed "fidelity to the facts;" he said defendants are not always equally culpable and in this case although Castillo "was certainly involved in the abuse" it was because he was seeing what happened and not intervening. He said the man was at work when the final abuse happened that caused the child's death.
He said the man was cooperative, and his willingness to testify meant they could have convicted Canales Cruz in a jury trial.
"Mr. Castillo was far more remorseful, far more distraught, than his co-defendant. We took that into account as well," Daniels said.
However, he did say Castillo could have saved the child's life, and understands that he could have saved her.
"He's going to have to live with that child's death every day for the rest of his life. And he should, he could have stopped it," Daniels said.
Castillo's attorney, Richard Gale, attended the sentencing remotely but shared that his client had little formal education and may have not known what to do.
"I think that Mr. Castillo was in a very difficult situation and he should have acted, and I think that he himself realizes that, but he certainly didn't know what the result of his inaction was going to be," he said.
Larsen told Castillo it was tragic that a girl living in his home for two years "only knew abuse and neglect." She said the facts in the case are "horrific."
"I cannot understand how you could live in the home and observe this abuse and not intervene, not take this child to a doctor, not report the mother. On the other hand, I recognize your accountability (and) your cooperation," she said.
Correction: This story previously stated Canales Cruz was sentenced to at least three years in prison and up to life, but the minimum sentence was five years in prison.
