Aurora father says he didn’t mean to kill infant

An Aurora man accused of murdering his infant daughter admitted from the witness stand Monday that he shook and threw the child but said he never intended to kill her.

Joel Z. Chavez, 28, testified 5-month-old Julyssa had refused a bottle and been crying uncontrollably for seven or eight minutes when he shook her against his chest and tossed her onto a bed.

He said he then realized the baby wasn’t breathing, pulled her up by an arm and began performing CPR compressions for which he wasn’t trained.

“I was desperate, but I was never angry,” Chavez said. “I loved my daughter. I never had any intentions of taking her life.”

Authorities said the Jan. 12, 2009, episode left Julyssa with severe head trauma, brain swelling and arm and rib fractures. She died the next day.

Taking the stand in his own defense, Chavez denied prosecutors’ theory that he intentionally killed the child so he would be free to leave an unhappy marriage and return to his native Mexico.

He noted he never attempted to flee after the child was hurt.

“I could have gone,” he said through a Spanish interpreter.

Pressed by prosecutors, Chavez admitted he didn’t initially tell investigators he threw the baby. He said he believed throwing her onto the bed might “make her comfortable” the way his other young daughter enjoyed being flopped down.

Chavez said he simply “wasn’t thinking” later when he pulled her back up by an arm.

“When people are scared, they don’t think,” he said. “I never thought … I was going to cause that damage.”

Chavez faces 20 to 60 years in prison if convicted of murder. His bench trial before Judge George Bakalis resumes Thursday.

Trial: Father faces 20 to 60 years if convicted of murder