GREEN BAY (NBC 26) -- A Green Bay man was sentenced Friday for the 2017 death of his girlfriend's daughter.
Juan Maravilla, 33, was found guilty in February due to a no contest plea. On Friday, Brown County Circuit Court Judge John Zakowski sentenced Maravilla to 24 years in prison.
During Friday's sentencing, the judge showed photos provided by the grandmother of the 15-month-old girl who was killed. According to previous reports, Maravilla admitted to abusing the child.
The judge said the death of a 1-year-old is about the "worst possible crime" and called it a tragedy. Maravilla was also sentenced to 12 years of extended supervision, with credit for a little more than 2.5 years already served.
Green Bay Police called the child abuse case one of the worst they've ever seen. According to court documents, the investigation began in May 2017 when the child was brought to the hospital and was already dead. Police say she was "covered in bruises".
Court documents say at the hospital Maravilla told police the child was sick and had fallen down the stairs. Police also say they observed Maravilla was nervous and sweating at the hospital.
After further investigation and interviewing the suspects several times, Maravilla admitted to "accidentally making the child fall down the stairs", as well as hitting her other times.
In the criminal complaint, Maravilla told police, "I smacked her up because I got mad, I just got mad and I accidentally hit her".
According to autopsy results, the toddler died of blunt force injuries to the head and torso. There were also several internal injuries.
