James Bargnesi

Erie County Court Judge James Bargnesi told a Buffalo couple, in open court, that starving their two-and-a-half-month-old daughter to death was "absolutely outrageous" and "absolutely inexcusable." Then he sentenced them to five years of probation. Neither parent will serve any additional time in prison.

Londyn Gonzalez was born healthy on April 20, 2023, weighing 6 pounds 8 ounces. Over the following weeks, her parents, Luis Gonzalez Jr. and Kitrina Udrea, both of Buffalo, were told at two separate pediatric appointments that she wasn't gaining weight and needed more formula and more frequent feedings. By the time she died, on July 7, 2023, she weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces — barely more than at birth. The Erie County Medical Examiner's Office ruled her death a homicide, caused by malnutrition and dehydration.

"This crime was not a brief lapse in judgment or a single poor decision, but the intentional withholding of nutrition for several weeks from their own baby," Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane said after sentencing. "The cries of their hungry newborn and the advice of medical professionals fell on deaf ears." Gonzalez and Udrea each pleaded guilty in May 2026 to second-degree manslaughter, a Class C felony carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

At sentencing on July 29, 2026, Bargnesi told the couple their conduct was "absolutely outrageous" and "absolutely inexcusable" — and said he had considered a term of one to three years in prison. He imposed five years of probation instead, crediting each parent with the 45 days they had already spent in jail before their plea. No additional prison time followed.

Those words — outrageous, inexcusable — are Bargnesi's own, spoken at the moment he handed down the sentence, not a characterization added after the fact. What he did next is what's left unexplained: for a baby who starved to death over weeks of ignored medical warnings, the judge who used that language chose not to send anyone to prison for it.