An Inwood man was sentenced Thursday to 21 years to life in prison for murdering his 2-month-old daughter in a brutal 2025 assault inside the family’s home, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Marlon Rabanales Pretzantzin, 21, beat, shook, and dropped his infant daughter, Liseyda Rabanales-Barrios, at a residence on Maple Road in Inwood on March 7, 2025.
Rabanales Pretzantzin pleaded guilty on March 31, 2026, before Judge Robert Schwartz to Murder in the Second Degree, an A-I felony. He was sentenced Thursday to 21 years to life in prison. Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 24 years to life.
According to the district attorney’s office, the defendant was home alone with his 14-month-old son and 2-month-old daughter at approximately 11 a.m. when he slapped the infant in the face, punched her repeatedly in the stomach, and violently shook her.
Authorities said he also dropped the child from a standing position onto a bed and pressed his body weight down onto her.
After the infant became unresponsive, prosecutors said the defendant carried her to a neighboring apartment, where a resident called 911.
The child was first taken to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital and later transferred to Cohen Children’s Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Photo: Liseyda Rabanales-Barrios
According to prosecutors, the infant suffered contusions to the head, multiple rib fractures, severe hemorrhaging in the neck area, and dislocated C5 and C6 vertebrae.
“This sentencing is a somber conclusion to a case defined by unimaginable cruelty,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said in a statement. “Little Liseyda represented the very essence of innocence, and she deserved nothing less than the protection of her father.”
The defendant was arrested March 12, 2025, by members of the Nassau County Police Department.
The district attorney’s office said the prosecution received assistance from the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner and Babies and Toddlers Task Force Director Leigh Bishop.
Photos: NCPD/EHS
