CONCOURSE — A Bronx uncle who fatally crushed his baby nephew's skull two years ago was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison, the Bronx DA's office announced Friday.
Luis Cartagena, 34, pleaded guilty in April to killing his two-month-old step-nephew while babysitting in October 2014 because the child would not stop crying, prosecutors said.
"[Cartagena] brutally struck 2-month-old Joemill Greer because he was crying, and as the baby lay mortally injured, the defendant didn’t even call 911," DA Darcel Clark wrote in a statement.
"Now he will spend 18 years in prison for ending a life that had barely begun.”
Cartagena who lives on Walton Avenue, will also serve five years of post-release supervision for the crime, according to the statement.
Cartagena beat baby Joemill Greer in the head several times while he was taking care of him, prosecutors said.
Cartagena originally said that he had dropped Greer and the boy hit a bedpost, but he then confessed to beating the child in the head to stop him from crying, the DA's office said.
