Sentenced for beating death of child
A state appeals court panel has ordered a new hearing for a Palmdale man seeking re-sentencing in connection with the beating death of his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter.
The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal found that a judge erred in denying Matthew Albert Worthen's petition for resentencing without holding an evidentiary hearing.
Worthen, now 34, pleaded no contest in August 2014 to second-degree murder for the death of the girl, identified in the criminal complaint as “Zanai N.''
He was sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison and waived credit for nearly a year he had already served behind bars since his September 2013 arrest.
The appellate court panel noted in its 14-page ruling that the girl's mother testified at a hearing that she left him alone in her home with her sleeping daughter for about 10 minutes and that she saw Worthen coming out of the bedroom as she returned home. The mother testified that the toddler almost immediately began moaning and became limp, according to the ruling.
The girl died at the hospital, and a deputy medical examiner testified that the girl's death was a homicide consistent with blunt force trauma, according to the ruling.
Worthen filed a petition for resentencing in October 2022 as a result of a change in state law that affects defendants in some murder cases, with a judge subsequently denying that request.
