Jacqueline Bluth

Christian Moniz Rabino caused the death of 1-year-old Kai Tesoro through abuse so severe that one doctor called the boy's injuries "one of the worst he had seen" — a fractured leg, bruising, and head trauma from blunt force or violent shaking. A Clark County grand jury indicted Rabino on first-degree murder and child-abuse charges; he spent more than a year in jail before entering an Alford plea — accepting a conviction without formally admitting guilt — to voluntary manslaughter the week his trial was set to begin.

Judges are not bound to accept a plea deal they believe doesn't serve justice — they have the authority to reject one and send the case back. Judge Jacqueline Bluth had that option here: this deal only had prosecutors recommend probation, not guarantee it, leaving the actual sentence up to her. She used her own words to call the deal bad — "I do not like this deal" — and approved it anyway.

The sentence: a one-to-ten-year prison term suspended in favor of up to five years of probation, with conditions including anger management, a curfew, and no contact with minors other than his own child. She gave no explanation, on the record, for why she accepted a deal she had just told the courtroom she disliked, or what a better outcome would have looked like. And then she sentenced Rabino — the man prosecutors, the plea agreement, and the resulting conviction all identify as responsible for a 1-year-old's fatal injuries — to no prison time.