BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
A jury Monday (April 15) convicted a North Fair Oaks man on two charges relating to the death of his girlfriend’s 18-month-old son, whose body was covered with human bite marks.
The jury found Marco Antonio Alvarado-Cisneros, 27, guilty of involuntary manslaughter and assault of a child resulting in death, but the panel rejected a charge of second-degree murder, according to District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
Still, he could get a sentence of as long as 29-years-to-life.
The charges stem from the grisly murder of Dante Nava on Aug. 12, 2014.
Alvarado-Cisneros was left in charge of Dante after his mother left for work around 2 p.m. that day.
Five hours later, Alvarado-Cisneros called 911 to report that Dante was unconscious and not breathing. He claimed to paramedics that he had turned away the toddler from a moment, and Dante must have fallen off the bed and appeared to have a seizure, Wagstaffe said.
Dante died shortly after paramedics arrived.
Bruising, bite marks
An autopsy report revealed that Dante had suffered many injuries, including: brain hemorrhaging, hemorrhages to his eyes, bruises that were both hours and days old and human bite marks from an adult.
Alvarado-Cisneros wasn’t immediately arrested. Instead, sheriff’s deputies investigated the death for over a year.
During that time, Alvarado-Cisneros’s relationship with Dante’s mother turned tumultuous, according to Wagstaffe. Deputies were called to their First Avenue home on complaints of domestic violence several times, the DA said.
However, the two conceived their first child and she gave birth in May 2015.
But in September 2015, she reported to deputies that Alvarado-Cisneros had attacked her multiple times, and that had he had kidnapped and robbed her.
He was arrested on Sept. 5, 2015.
19-day trial
The trial that ended yesterday in San Mateo County Superior Court took 19 days.
The jury was split 6-6 on Friday on whether to find Alvarado-Cisneros guilty of second-degree murder or the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, Wagstaffe said. Some jurors told prosecutors after the trial that they couldn’t be sure what was in Alvarado-Cisneros’ mind when he was attacking the child.
Wagstaffe said Alvarado-Cisneros had “zero reaction, totally flat” when the jury came back with the guilty verdicts Monday just after noon.
However, Alvarado-Cisneros had also pleaded no contest to a few domestic violence cases prior to the trial, which could add another 14 years on his sentence. Alvarado-Cisneros will be sentenced on June 4. He remains in jail without bail.
