California man sentenced for beating wife. Their 9-year-old caught it on video, prosecutors say
A Yuba County father was sentenced Friday to four years in prison after he repeatedly beat his wife for more than six minutes in an incident that was videotaped by the couple’s 9-year-old son, prosecutors said.
Miguel Lazaro-Castillo, 38, pleaded no contest to felony domestic violence, false imprisonment and a misdemeanor child abuse charge. His three children, ages 15, 14 and 9, were at home when deputies found Lazaro-Castillo sitting on his wife, surrounded by bloody tissues. Lazaro-Castilllo, his wife and a child were all intoxicated, a news release said from the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office.
Lazaro-Castillo initially denied beating his when questioned by sheriff’s deputies who were called by one of the children at about 2 a.m. Oct. 9, Yuba County prosecutors said.
Deputies then found the video. It showed one child trying to protect his mother before Lazaro-Castillo slapped the child on the leg and continued his assault, the news release said.
“Despite Lazaro-Castillo not having a prior criminal record, he received the maximum sentence for felony domestic violence based on the brutality of his actions and his utter disregard for his children,” prosecutors said in the news release.
