Leo Cisneros was sentenced to 15 years in prison Thursday for selling marijuana out of his family’s Denver apartment, far less than he faced had a jury found him guilty of child abuse resulting in the death of his daughter, Auralia.
“I am really sorry for the decisions I’ve made in the past, and I am going to have to live with this nightmare the rest of my life and do my best to walk the path of God,” Cisneros said to Denver District Judge William Robbins.
Cisneros, 31, was convicted in September of possession with intent to distribute marijuana and sentenced as a special offender for having a gun while dealing drugs. The jury found him not guilty of child abuse resulting in death.
On Nov. 26, 2007, three men tried to barge into the Cisneros family home and exchanged gunfire with Leo Cisneros. Auralia was shot in the face in the crossfire and died on the living-room floor.
Although Cisneros escaped decades behind bars on abuse charges, he still faced a maximum of 48 years on the drug charge.
The intruders — Trivi Trujillo, Joshua Rojas and Juvencio Hernandez — all pleaded guilty in the case and are serving prison time ranging from 16 to 26 years.
“The guys who actually caused this incident — I don’t think they were punished properly,” said Cisneros’ cousin, Jonathan Davis.
Cisneros smiled at his family and said he loved them as he walked out of the courtroom. Davis said Cisneros mentally prepared himself for a lengthy prison term.
During sentencing, Robbins said he did not compare the sentences of the three men when deciding on a prison term for Cisneros because they are convicted of different crimes.
“I don’t think a minimum sentence is appropriate; however, he has no prior felony convictions, no significant misdemeanor convictions, obviously a sentence in the top range is not appropriate either,” the judge said.
Cisneros’ attorney, Laura Menninger, said she plans to appeal because a four-year prison term was the highest sentence handed down in Denver to a defendant charged with the same crimes.
“We were hoping for a different outcome,” she said.
Since the shooting, Cisneros’ wife, Amanda Salas, left him, and his three surviving children have been adopted by other families, Menninger said.
“No one has felt the devastation of this case more than Leo Cisneros himself,” she told the judge. “He has lost his entire life as he knew it.”
Cisneros believes Trujillo shot Auralia through a window of the family’s apartment and criticized Denver police for not testing the paths of the bullets. Denver police believe a bullet Cisneros fired at the robbers killed his daughter.
But the jury did not have to determine whose bullet killed the girl or decide whether Cisneros was allowed to shoot at the intruders because under Colorado’s “make my day” law, he had a right to defend his home.
Prosecutor George Poland argued Cisneros sold a pound of marijuana from the family apartment every 10 days, thereby placing his child in a dangerous environment that led to her death.
Poland declined comment through Lynn Kimbrough, a spokeswoman for the Denver district attorney.
When questioned by police, Auralia’s mother admitted that Cisneros occasionally allowed Auralia to hand over the marijuana to customers.
During the trial Poland told the jury that Auralia was holding a baggie of pot in her pants pocket when she died.
But Auralia’s mother, along with a neighbor and one of the first Denver officers at the scene, testified they saw Auralia’s hands across her chest at the time of her death.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
