A tearful Rena Santiago was in front of Manitowoc County Judge Mark Roher earlier today for her sentencing hearing after she was found guilty of three counts in relation to the death of her two year old child last year.
Judge Rohr, after hearing District Attorney Jaquelin LaBre and the Defense plead their cases, ruled that 28 year old Santiago will spend 20 years in prison followed by 15 years of extended supervision.
LaBre started the hearing out by recapping what happened on that fateful day last year. “Ms. Santiago, on this date, did not want to have to deal with the child and him not wanting to take a nap or his fussing,” LaBre stated. “So Mr. Heiden said he would go in there and take care of it. She said ‘Thank you for that.’ Well his idea of taking care of it was the extreme physical abuse which lead to the child’s death.”
While Santiago had previously admitted to abusing the child, including not taking him to the hospital when he suffered severe bruising, the defense claimed that Bianca Bush was more to blame than she was.
“Bianca’s statements, letters and influence is much more sophisticated and manipulative than Ms. Santiago’s subjectively low cognition,” he said. “I think that is very important in considering the extent of her culpability.”
LaBre suggested that Judge Rohr sentence Santiago to 20 in prison followed by 10 years of extended supervision, which the defense disagreed with, and continued to point to Bush’s role. He pointed to LaBre’s recommendation of three and a half years of prison time for Bush, calling it a possible “substantial injustice there in the discrepancy between Bianca’s recommendation in sentencing to Ms. Santiago’s recommendation in sentencing.”
Santiago wrote a statement to the court, which was read by one of her defense attorneys. She wrote, “I know that due to my choices, my son is no longer here, and I am not going to get him back. I should have been a better mom, and protected *name redacted*. I trusted someone I that shouldn’t have to watch *name redacted* that day. I never thought something this bad could happen. I am truly sorry for everything that has happened. I think about *name redacted* every day, and it’s very hard for me. I wish I could hold him, and tell him I love him again. I miss him so much.”
While Judge Roher admitted there is no sentence he could impose that would bring the child back, he can give one that, in his words “Ms. Santiago accountable…for her behavior.”
Santiago has been credited with 453 days served, which has been taken off of her 20 year total.
The other two people involved in the case have already been sentenced, those being 28 year old David Heiden who was sentenced to life imprisonment, and 26 year old Bianca Bush who received a 7 years in prison sentence, and 5 years of extended supervision.
