SAN ANTONIO – A man convicted of beating his girlfriend’s son to death was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday afternoon.
Daniel Garcia had no reaction when 226th District Court Judge Velia Meza read his punishment, which she decided. Meza had a range of punishment from a minimum of five years to the maximum of life.
In May, a jury found Garcia guilty of injury to a child for causing the death of 5-year-old Domenic Aguilar-Acevedo.
Domenic is believed to have died in a San Antonio hotel in 2021 and then left in a ravine along a hillside in Colorado by Garcia and the boy’s mother, Nickolle Aguilar.
Last week, Aguilar was sentenced to 15 years in prison for her role in the crime. She got a plea deal for testifying against Garcia during his trial.
Aguilar testified in Garcia’s sentencing hearing, which was briefly interrupted when the victim’s father was escorted from the courtroom following an outburst.
Domenic’s father, David Engwiller, who had been staring at Garcia during the hearing, suddenly got out of his chair and lashed out at Garcia.
Engwiller had to be restrained by court bailiffs and was then led out of the courtroom.