Jurors were unable to reach verdicts in the murder trial of a man accused of causing fatal injuries to his girlfriend’s toddler son at a Bay Terraces home.
McArvin Sanchez Caringal, 22, is accused of fatally injuring Adrian Soto, who would have turned 2 years old about a week after his death on June 12, 2023. The boy sustained skull fractures and other blunt force injuries. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors allege Caringal, who was watching the boy at the home while the child’s mother was at work, provided various versions of the events to investigators, including that the boy inflicted the injuries to himself, before later telling investigators that he threw the child to the ground.
Caringal testified that he tripped and fell while holding the boy, causing his entire body weight to land on top of the child.
Deputy Public Defender Ryan Maguire-Fong told jurors his client’s initial admissions to police were a “false confession” spurred by detectives who prodded Caringal for hours with questions intended to steer him into claiming he intentionally hurt the boy.
The attorney also said the boy’s injuries were not consistent with being intentionally inflicted.
Caringal testified he wasn’t initially truthful about what happened because he feared being blamed for the boy’s death and how that might affect his relationship with Adrian’s mother.
Following a month-long trial and about two days of deliberations, a San Diego jury could not come to a consensus on charges of murder and assault on a child causing death, and a mistrial was declared on Friday. Caringal is due back in court in about two weeks for another hearing regarding the next steps in the case. He remains in custody without bail.
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