Marlon Rabanales Pretzantzin, of Inwood, sentenced to 21 years to life for killing his infant daughter

An Inwood father was sentenced to 21 years to life in prison on Thursday in Nassau County Court for killing his 2-month-old daughter last year.

Marlon Rabanales Pretzantzin, 21, pleaded guilty this year to second-degree murder for slapping, punching, shaking and smothering the newborn after his wife left for work in the morning, prosecutors said.

Rabanales Pretzantzin, a house painter, had come home at 4 a.m. from a long work shift and at 11 a.m. was left to take care of baby Liseyda Rabanales-Barrios and the couple’s other child, a 14-month-old son, according to defense attorney Mindy Plotkin.

He picked up his daughter, frustrated that she would not stop crying and shook the child, prosecutors said. He also repeatedly punched the baby in the stomach, slapped her face and dropped her on the bed, then crushed her with his body weight, Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said.

“[He] basically was suffocating her with his weight,” she said. “Something no one should ever have to go through, never mind a 2-month-old.”

When Liseyda stopped moving, he took her to a neighbor who called 911.

Emergency medical workers took the baby to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital and later to Cohen Children’s Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Rabanales Pretzantzin had cracked several of the child’s ribs, dislocated two vertebrae and caused bruising and bleeding in the head and neck area, prosecutors said.

He was arrested and charged on March 12 last year.

The father had originally said Liseyda had suffered the injuries when she rolled off his lap, but later admitted beating the baby.

“I’m sorry, and I wish that this never happened,” he said in court.

Plotkin said his family told her he had always been a good caregiver up until then.

“He took responsibility and in that way he wanted to, at least in part, spare his family further anguish and pain,” Plotkin said.

Donnelly called it a crime of “unimaginable cruelty.”

“Little Liseyda represented the very essence of innocence, and she deserved nothing less than the protection of her father,” the district attorney said. “Instead, the defendant met her vulnerability with a level of violence that is difficult to put into words. He failed her and his duty as her father.”

Donnelly urged parents to pause if they’re frustrated or tired before picking up a crying child.

“It’s a parent coping skill,” she said. “You need to be able to say, 'I need a break.' It’s understandable, a baby won’t stop crying, but take a break. You don’t take it out on the child. Let the baby be in the crib and cry for a few minutes. To react any other way is unconscionable.”

Rabanales Pretzantzin, who is from Guatemala, is not in the United States legally. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued an immigration detainer on him, requesting that local law enforcement notify them if and when he will be released from lockup. He will likely be removed from the country during or after his prison term.