A Readsboro man has been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for the death of his toddler son last year, an incident that the judge said was fueled by alcohol and drugs.
Darel Galorenzo, 36, was sentenced in Massachusetts’ Berkshire County Superior Court on Monday, shortly after pleading guilty to manslaughter and three misdemeanor charges, according to court records.
Galorenzo’s sentence of nine to 15 years was three times the recommendation for him under state sentencing guidelines, which take into account the nature of the offense and the defendant’s criminal background. Judge John Agostini said the guidelines do not take into account such factors as the extent of the defendant’s recklessness and the victim’s suffering before death.
Police said Galorenzo’s vehicle rolled over as he was driving through the Vermont-Massachusetts border town of Clarksburg in the early hours of April 8. He’d been drinking with friends on Friday night, got into a fight with the child’s mother and left their home with his 2-year-old son to again meet up with his friends for a “boys’ night out,” District Attorney Timothy Shugrue earlier said.
The child managed to crawl out of the car wreck, investigators said, but Galorenzo lost him in a nearby brook, where Galorenzo fled in an attempt to evade authorities.
Police said they retrieved the boy’s body downstream. An autopsy found that he died from a combination of drowning and hypothermia.
Galorenzo’s actions were “cold, heartless and indifferent, bordering on cruelty,” Judge Agostini said in a written decision. “Fueled by alcohol, the insatiable search for cocaine and his ‘party time,’ an infant was dragged from his home at 11:00 p.m., involved in (and managed to survive) a very serious car accident and then lost his life by freezing and drowning alone.”
Galorenzo’s attorney had requested a sentence of four years in county jail or three-and-a-half years in state prison, saying Galorenzo was “taking full responsibility for the terrible decisions he made that night,” the Berkshire Eagle reported.
State prosecutors had asked for 12 to 15 years in state prison.
“This is one of the most tragic cases I have seen in my almost 40 years of practicing law,” the prosecutor, Shugrue, said in a statement. “I am certain that every person who dedicated themselves to this case will be haunted by it for the remainder of their lives.”
The judge said he didn’t issue a longer sentence because the child’s death was an accident, a byproduct of Galorenzo’s drug and alcohol abuse issue, and that he believed Galorenzo was remorseful in his son’s death. Manslaughter is punishable in Massachusetts by up to 20 years in prison.
Under a deal with prosecutors, Galorenzo had also pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charges of child endangerment while operating a vehicle under the influence, operating under the influence of liquor and negligent operation of a motor vehicle.
