Particle.news
Download on the App Store

San Jose Father Sentenced to 25 Years to Life for Killing Infant Daughter

Prosecutors said forensic evidence showed a single blunt-force blow that displaced the baby's brain, with trial testimony documenting repeated family abuse.

Overview

  • A jury convicted Jesse Manuel Figueroa earlier in 2026 and he was sentenced on Friday, May 29, 2026 to 25 years to life in prison for the 2020 death of his 8-month-old daughter, Raina.
  • The Santa Clara County medical examiner ruled Raina's death a homicide after an autopsy found brain hemorrhages from blunt-force trauma so severe the brain shifted inside her skull.
  • Figueroa brought an unconscious Raina to a Mountain View fire station on July 4, 2020 and she was taken to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford where doctors later pronounced her dead.
  • At trial prosecutors presented evidence that Figueroa had repeatedly abused Raina’s mother and the couple’s two other young children, and court records showed he was under a restraining order that barred unsupervised visits with the infant at the time.
  • Family members and the district attorney framed the sentence as partial justice for Raina, and the case raises questions about how protective orders and child-safety measures are enforced when domestic violence involves young children.