Zachary Brendemuhl, 34, a former Marine at the Twentynine Palms Combat Center, was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in state prison for voluntary manslaughter in the death of his infant son in Twentynine Palms 7 ½ years ago. Managing editor Tami Roleff was in the courtroom, and explains why the prosecution agreed to such a low sentence for the crime…
Zachary Brendemuhl says he lied to investigators in April 2013 when he told them that the baby had stopped breathing while he was giving him a bottle. What really happened, he later claimed, is that he was tossing the baby in the air and accidentally dropped him.
Medical experts—who took years to examine the medical reports, and only learned years after that that the baby may have been dropped—then changed their opinion concerning the cause and manner of death; there were too many indications, they said, that this was accidental trauma and not abuse.
One expert, identified as Dr. Sheridan, said if the claim of dropping a baby had been known at the time, he would not have given the opinion of abuse. None of the detectives or medical records indicated how far the baby may have been dropped. If the distance was one to two feet, the baby’s injuries would not have been caused by the drop. But if the baby had been dropped from a height of four feet or more, his injuries could definitely have been caused by the drop. In addition, the baby was a very large baby at birth, and the defense claimed the baby was born with a brain hematoma; the hematoma could have contributed to many of the infant’s bruises, injuries, and symptoms seen in the hospital.
Prosecutor David Foy told Judge Rodney Cortez that the change in opinion meant that there was maybe a 25 percent chance of a conviction during a trial. Rather than take the risk that Brendemuhl would go free, the prosecution agreed to a plea bargain with terms that were very generous to Brendemuhl.
With more than 7 ½ years spent in San Bernardino County jails (which bailiffs said set a record for longest time in a county jail), Zachary Brendemuhl will spend just under two years in state prison to serve out the remaining time of his sentence.
The infant’s mother, Sarah Wyss, submitted an impact statement, which was read in court by Foy. She objected to the lenient sentence, but agreed to it only because she wanted to close the case and have her son get justice. She said Brendemuhl should spend his life behind bars for the death of their son. She maintained that Brendemuhl had never apologized to her for the baby’s death.
