Inset: Joseph Bonito (Wood County Justice Center). Background: The block in Ohio where Bonito allegedly killed his infant son earlier this year (Google Maps).
A 25-year-old father in Ohio will spend more than two decades behind bars for killing his infant son, shaking and squeezing the 4-month-old to death earlier this year.
Wood County Common Pleas Judge Mary "Molly" L. Mack on Monday ordered Joseph D. Bonito to serve 25 to 31 1/2 years in a state correctional facility for the slaying of young Carson J. Bonito, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. Bonito, who had initially been charged with murder, reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of felonious assault. Mack sentenced him to 11 to 16 1/2 years on the manslaughter charge and seven years each on the assault charges, to be served consecutively, meaning one after the other.
Just before noon on Feb. 11, officers with the Fostoria Police Department and emergency medical personnel responded to a call regarding an unresponsive infant at a residence in the 1500 block of North Countyline Street, the Sentinel-Tribune reported, citing a prior news release.
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Bonito placed the 911 call, telling the emergency dispatcher that he had last checked on his son about three hours earlier to feed the boy, but the child now appeared "white" and was "not responding," Toledo ABC affiliate WTVG reported.
"I don't know what's wrong," he told the dispatcher.
Upon arriving, first responders immediately began lifesaving procedures and transported the victim to nearby Fostoria ProMedica Hospital for additional medical treatment. Carson succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead a short while later.
Investigators said Carson appeared to have suffered numerous injuries consistent with abuse and that when he was questioned by police, Bonito admitted to physically abusing the victim the previous day.
"It sounds like it was a shaking baby-type incident with possibly some squeezing of the baby," Chief Gabe Wedge reportedly said at a news conference the day after Carson's death.
Emma Shultz, the victim's mother, addressed the court during Monday's sentencing hearing, providing an emotional statement about her son.
"I will remember how happy he was and how his handsome smile would light up an entire room," she said, according to courtroom reporting from the Sentinel-Tribune. "He deserved a lot more time than he was given. I truly felt I lost everything I found beautiful in this world."
She went on to describe how her other son, parents, and siblings had all lost an irreplaceable part of their lives, which had been "turned upside down in the worst way."
"This feeling that a piece of me is missing will never go away," she reportedly said. "I don't understand and I likely never will."
Bonito declined to address the court when given the opportunity. His attorney reportedly told the judge that his client had accepted responsibility for his actions and shown remorse for the tragic outcome.
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