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BROWNSVILLE — A Willacy County man was sentenced to prison Wednesday for the death of a Sebastian teenager.
The jury convicted Ruben Gonzalez Cordoba on Tuesday afternoon of a lesser charge of criminal negligent homicide instead of murder. They also convicted him of injury to a child. The jury found him not guilty of the remaining counts of injury to a child.
The sentencing comes after more than a week of trial.
He received 30 years for injury to a child and two years on the criminal negligent homicide conviction.
The sentences will run concurrent.
He was also fined $6,000.
Gonzalez was accused of abuse, including starvation, that killed 13-year-old Jesse Harrison Jr. on Jan. 23, 2021.
Following the sentencing, Gonzalez heard victim impact statements.
Gloria C. Cortez, Willacy County District Attorney Office’s victim liaison read statements from Harrison’s siblings, whose names were withheld.
“This has changed my life in more ways than I could imagine. I’ve lost my lovely brother,” one sibling said. “I miss his lovely laugh. I know that he’s watching over me. I miss you brother every day.”
Jesse Harrison Sr., the boy’s father, stood directly in front of Gonzalez stating that “on Jan. 23, 2021 when I heard the news of little Jesse’s passing I wondered who could have done this horrible act. … During the short time we were together I felt love for my son. … Ruben, I hope that you get to know Christ.”
After the sentencing, his attorney, Nat Perez, who was accompanied by his son, attorney Noah Perez, told reporters that he was glad the jury had paid close attention to the facts and had excluded the murder charge.
“There’s no torture. There was no starvation,” he said. “The truth is that we don’t know the dynamics of the fall (alleged fall that caused Harrison’s broken arm). There was poverty in the home. Ruben had no other family to go to for help with Jesse. He had no authority to take Jesse to the hospital and he had no money to pay for a hospital bill.
“Although the Lyford school district had been leaving a lot of food in each student’s home … rumors that food had been sold was something he had never been told. That was a big problem in this case. There were so many rumors spreading around the community.”
Medical records show that Harrison had sepsis and the coronavirus just before he died.
Harrison did receive medical attention and the infection was why he was losing so much weight, not starvation, Perez said.
Harrison’s mother, Sabrina Loredo and his grandmother, Antonia Villarreal Gonzalez, are also charged in the case.
Both women are charged with murder and several counts of injury to a child.
Loredo was 33 at the time of the alleged crime while Villarreal was 56.
They have both pleaded not guilty and are scheduled for trial later this year.
Gonzalez will get credit for time served and an appeal is pending.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new information.
