HARTFORD, Conn. _ The Connecticut Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to reverse the murder conviction of a father who killed his 7-month-old son by throwing the child from the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown and into the Connecticut River.
The father, Tony Moreno, was 22 years old when the crime occurred in July 2015 and he jumped from the bridge himself, but survived. He was found guilty of murder in 2017 and sentenced to 70 years in prison.
He appealed on a variety of grounds, most of which turned on his claim that his rights were violated when police questioned him in a hospital room, where he was recovering from his injuries resulting from the fall. He claimed he was not was not properly informed of his right against self-incrimination and that the police violated a state law requiring them to record interrogations of suspects in custodial detention.
Justice Raheem L. Mullins, writing for the court, said Moreno voluntarily waived his rights and the court had no need to determine whether a hospital room amounted to detention because a confession he made in the hospital was overwhelmed by other admissions he made.
Prompted by the police, Moreno used a basketball analogy in the hospital when he said the motion he used to throw his child from the bridge was more like a free throw shot than a 3-point shot.
But before he even reached the bridge with the child, Moreno had implicated himself in a long exchange of telephone text messages and telephone conversations with his mother and the child's mother. He was estranged from the child's mother, but they shared custody.
While walking to the bridge, Moreno texted to the child's mother, "You won't talk to me tomorrow or any other day," "There (are) no more days," "Enjoy your new life without us," and that he would not be delivering the baby to her on her next scheduled visitation.
After Moreno arrived at the bridge, he called his own mother and told her to "tell everyone I'm sorry."
A few minutes later, he wrote and deleted a message on his phone that read: "To everyone, I'm sorry."
He then texted the child's mother: "Enjoy your life without us now," "You're not a parent anymore," and "(the baby) dead ... ."
When the police reached the he bridge, they found Moreno alone. When they approached, he jumped.
