Carpentersville man gets life sentence for killing child

A Carpentersville man convicted of beating his ex-girlfriend's 2-year-old son to death was sentenced Thursday to life in prison.

Andres Velazquez, 28, was found guilty of first-degree murder in May by Kane County Judge Timothy Sheldon. The life sentence handed down by Sheldon on Thursday was mandatory because Velazquez was older than 17 and the victim was younger than 12 at the time of the toddler's killing.

Before he was sentenced, Velazquez told the judge he was sorry and that God changed him after the January 2006 death of Ernest LeFlore Jr.

"I'm sorry for what happened to little Ernest," said Velazquez, a father himself. "I just pray that one day I'll be able to come back and be with my family."

Ernest died Jan. 6, 2006, at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago of multiple skull fractures and bleeding in and around his brain. Prosecutors said the injuries were the result of a severe beating that took place about a week earlier, when Velazquez threw the boy across a room and dropped him on his head on a deflated air mattress.

Velazquez had claimed he was merely engaged in "rough play" with the child, though doctors testified at trial that the boy's injuries could not have been an accident.

"This may be the most heart-wrenching case I've had in this division," the judge said Thursday.

The victim's mother, Chanet Robinson, said after Velazquez's sentencing that she was relieved to put the ordeal behind her after more than two years. "It's finally over," she said.