Inset: Joseph Bonito (Wood County Justice Center). Background: The block in Ohio where Bonito allegedly killed his infant son earlier this year (Google Maps).
A 25-year-old Ohioan father has been sentenced to over 20 years in prison for the death of his infant son, whom he fatally shook and squeezed earlier this year.
On Monday, Wood County Common Pleas Judge Mary “Molly” L. Mack sentenced Joseph D. Bonito to a term ranging from 25 to 31 1/2 years in a state prison for the tragic death of his son, Carson J. Bonito. As detailed in court documents reviewed by Law&Crime, Bonito, initially facing murder charges, accepted a plea deal. He confessed to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of felonious assault. Judge Mack issued an 11 to 16 1/2 year sentence for the manslaughter charge, alongside two separate seven-year sentences for the assault charges, all to be served consecutively.
Late in the morning on February 11, officers from the Fostoria Police Department and emergency medical teams were called to a home on the 1500 block of North Countyline Street in response to an unresponsive infant, as reported by the Sentinel-Tribune in a previous news release.
Bonito was the one who dialed 911, informing the dispatcher that he had checked on his son approximately three hours earlier to feed him. However, the baby now appeared “white” and “unresponsive,” as reported by Toledo ABC affiliate WTVG reported.
Expressing confusion, he told the dispatcher, “I don’t know what’s wrong.”
First responders quickly initiated emergency procedures upon arrival and transported the infant to Fostoria ProMedica Hospital for further treatment. Tragically, Carson succumbed to his injuries shortly thereafter and was pronounced dead.
Investigators said Carson appeared to have suffered numerous injuries consistent with abuse and that when he was questioned by police, Bonito admitted to physically abusing the victim the previous day.
“It sounds like it was a shaking baby-type incident with possibly some squeezing of the baby,” Chief Gabe Wedge reportedly said at a news conference the day after Carson’s death.
Emma Shultz, the victim’s mother, addressed the court during Monday’s sentencing hearing, providing an emotional statement about her son.
“I will remember how happy he was and how his handsome smile would light up an entire room,” she said, according to courtroom reporting from the Sentinel-Tribune. “He deserved a lot more time than he was given. I truly felt I lost everything I found beautiful in this world.”
She went on to describe how her other son, parents, and siblings had all lost an irreplaceable part of their lives, which had been “turned upside down in the worst way.”
“This feeling that a piece of me is missing will never go away,” she reportedly said. “I don’t understand and I likely never will.”
Bonito declined to address the court when given the opportunity. His attorney reportedly told the judge that his client had accepted responsibility for his actions and shown remorse for the tragic outcome.
