An Arizona man has received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of his 6-year-old son, who died due to starvation. Coconino County officials disclosed that Anthony Martinez, age 28, faced the court's decision last Friday, accumulating additional sentences for child abuse and kidnapping related to the mistreatment of the deceased and another child. In a report by the Arizona Daily Sun, it was shared that Martinez did not address the court during the hearing, choosing instead to express remorse through a letter meant for his children, stating, “for all the things I put you through.”

During sentencing, described as cruel by Presiding Judge Ted Reed, the defendant, Martinez, was credited with three years for two aggravated assault convictions, which he may serve concurrently or against time served. Notably, the judge pointed out Martinez's traumatic childhood alongside his lack of previous felony convictions during the ritual ordinarily reserved for contemplation of one's fate. As reported by 12 News, the young victim, Deshaun Martinez, suffered confinement in a small closet for extended hours daily over a month, a punishment for taking food at night.

An autopsy revealed that at his demise, Deshaun weighed a mere 18 pounds, a figure starkly lower than the norm for his age, and his death was ruled a homicide. The prosecution detailed how the young boy was kept with his older brother, locked away for approximately 16 hours each day, while his parents slept unaware of the food their children sought to tame hunger in the night. The mother of the boy, Elizabeth Archibeque, had previously pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced last year to life without parole.

Martinez, whose communication with the outside world is now severed by the bars of imprisonment, remained silent during his sentencing. The legal representative for Martinez has not yet responded publicly to requests for commentary following the sentencing.