SAN ANTONIO – A Bexar County judge found a man guilty Thursday of violently shaking his 2-month-old baby and sentenced him to 5 years in prison.
Ryan Daniel Herrera was found guilty of injury of a child-serious bodily injury with intent.
When Herrera was arrested in August 2022, an arrest affidavit said the defendant told San Antonio police that he violently shook his baby because he was “tired and frustrated.”
In court Thursday, Herrera got very emotional and pleaded with Judge Jennifer Peña for mercy.
“Every day, It breaks my heart,” he said while sobbing. “I’m completely shattered as a person, as a man.”
Herrera hoped the judge would give him deferred adjudication as punishment.
“I feel broken every day because I just wonder how could I just bring myself to do this to my son?” he said.
His attorney argued that Herrera and the baby’s mother weren’t ready to be parents, adding that Herrera got stressed.
“He lost control and he did something terrible,” Herrera’s attorney said. “And it’s a tragic situation, I mean it’s a tragedy for everyone.”
Peña pointed out that the baby’s injuries suggested he had two brain bleeds.
“Someone assaulted this baby,” she said. “And the assault resulted in injuries were very substantial.”
The baby’s grandmother told KSAT her grandson is still recovering and has started crawling.
Despite Herrera’s emotional plea for probation, Peña sentenced him to five years in prison and a $1,500 fine.
“You are lucky that your child survived this,” she told Herrera. “You are lucky that the baby lived through these injuries because more than not they don’t. So, you are lucky to still have a son.”
The baby’s mother also spoke in court. The judge asked her if Herrera was aggressive.
“It wasn’t bad, it was just -- I could tell we were pushing each other’s buttons,” the mother said.
The baby’s mother said she was in denial about Herrera’s role in her son’s injuries for a long time until recently.
“I don’t understand, I guess the openness you have to maintaining a relationship with him, the openness to have, to just being there for him when your 2-month-baby was assaulted by a man who, yeah, is his father, but you’ve only known less than a year,” Peña told the baby’s mother.
