Oscar Munoz was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison after accepting a plea deal that dropped a murder charge in the 2020 death of his stepson Moses Lopez.
The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office said the decision followed a 2022 trial that ended in a hung jury, with most jurors favoring acquittal. Munoz pleaded no contest to child abuse and willful cruelty to a child, plus a three-year enhancement for great bodily injury.
Felipe Lopez, the boy's father, protested the outcome outside the courthouse, saying prosecutors failed his son. He described Moses as a little 4-year-old who did not deserve the abuse that led to his death on November 16, 2020.
Moses' mother, Camila Pizarro-Vergara, remains charged in the case and was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for an arraignment. The district attorney stated the plea counts as a strike under California's Three Strikes Law.