A jury of seven women and five men took a little more than an hour Thursday to find Emmanuelle Vazquez, 33, guilty of first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse.
His son, Julius “JJ” Vazquez, was just shy of turning 3 months old when he died Nov. 15, 2018. At the time, Vazquez was living in Deltona; he was living in Orlando when he was arrested in 2020.
Circuit Judge Leah Case sentenced Vazquez to the mandatory life in prison on the first-degree felony murder charge. She then sentenced him to the maximum 30 years in prison on the aggravated child abuse charge. The judge said the 30-year sentence would be consecutive to the life sentence.
Case said that she did not find Vazquez’s testimony credible.
She noted that Vazquez had not said anything during police interviews after the child’s death accusing the mother’s ex-husband of posing a threat to the children.
Case said it was only at the trial that Vazquez had sought to place the blame on the ex-husband.
The judge noted that a medical expert had testified that the child had suffered injuries as if he had been flung off a speeding motorcycle in a crash. The child’s liver was nearly cut in half and his spleen was lacerated. The child also suffered a brain injury.
Vazquez in a statement before his sentencing denied harming the child and said that an unfair judicial system would send him to prison for life while the real killer remained free.
Vazquez’s mother, Lourdes Caballero, also spoke saying that while her son had made mistakes in life, he would have never harmed his son.
During closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak, who prosecuted the case along with Assistant State Attorney Sarah Thomas, said that investigators don't know how Julius suffered the deadly injuries. Urbanak also said that he didn't believe Vazquez meant to kill Julius. But he added that intent was not needed to show first-degree felony murder. What was needed and what the jury found was that Vazquez also committed aggravated child abuse.
Assistant Public Defender John Selden, who represented Vazquez along with Assistant Public Defender James Smith, argued that prosecutors had not shown beyond a reasonable doubt that Vazquez was responsible for his son's injuries. He said Vazquez had cooperated with investigators from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. Selden argued there was no proof that the injuries happened when the child was with Vazquez and they could have happened hours earlier.
Selden said that Vazquez and the mother, Stephanie Jones, had another child, a daughter, and there had been no problems involving her.
