Miguel Gutiérrez receives a life sentence for infant’s murder

Miguel Gutiérrez has been convicted of the murder of an 11-month-old baby.

Baby Xzavier Cortez was beaten to death.

The baby’s mother, Selena Gabriella Moya, has also been charged.

Miguel Gutiérrez was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of an infant, Xzavier Cortez, who was barely 11 months old. Judge Ron Rangel of the 379th Criminal District Court in Bexar County handed down the sentence to Miguel Gutiérrez on the morning of Monday, December 20, 2021 in San Antonio, Texas.

With the sentencing of 27-year-old Miguel Gutiérrez, a long trial is over. Xzavier Cortez’s mother left her son in Gutiérrez’s care on Friday, November 3, 2017, at 200 North San Ignacio in San Antonio, where the child was murdered.

Miguel Gutiérrez receives a life sentence for infant’s murder

Miguel Gutiérrez was sentenced to life in prison in Texas, when he was found guilty of the beating death of an 11-month-old baby in his charge. (PHOTO: Bexar County Sheriff’s Office)

Miguel Gutiérrez continues to be detained in the Bexar County jail awaiting transfer to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) where he will spend the rest of his life for the murder of Xzavier Cortez.

Judge Ron Rangel, of the 379th Criminal District Court, in Bexar County, stated that Miguel Gutiérrez will receive a life sentence, but with one exception. He may be eligible for parole if he maintains good behavior and acknowledges his guilt, the judge said.

Selena Gabriella Moya, the baby’s mother, also faces charges

PHOTO: Taken from Twitter

Selena Gabriella Moya, the mother of little Xzavier Cortez, is also being held in the Bexar County Jail. She is charged with the felony abandonment of a minor exposing him to danger. However, Montoya is being tried separately from Miguel Gutiérrez and that legal process is ongoing.

At 3:30 in the morning of that November 3, 2017, San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) 911 operators received a call from Moya, asking for assistance for her baby, Xzavier Cortez, who had been in the care of a man named Miguel Gutiérrez. At that time the baby was unconscious.

The 911 operator’s desperation

PHOTO: Taken from Twitter

The 911 operator sent help to 200 North San Ignacio, in the Loma Vista neighborhood, east of the San Antonio, Texas metropolitan area. Paramedics from the San Antonio Fire Department (SAFD) were first on the scene.

According to the documents of the case against Miguel Gutiérrez, consulted by MundoHispánico In Texas, there were other children belonging to Selena Gabriella Moya in the house. The older children went into a real panic just hearing the name of the man who cared for them.

Baby Xzavier Cortez had bruises all over his body

PHOTO: Taken from Twitter

Before SAFD paramedics arrived at the house, the emergency operator tried to instruct an older girl over the phone to give baby Xzavier Cortez first aid until help arrived. SAPD officers were also sent to investigate.

The testimony of the first paramedic who arrived at the scene detailed that the baby Xzavier Cortez had bruises on various parts of his body. He was unconscious but still breathing and someone had written the phrase ‘ Thug Life ‘ on his stomach.

«Please do something!»

PHOTO: Taken from Twitter

The emergency operator, remained on the line talking to other children that were in the house. She desperately asked her fellow SAFDs to, “please do something!” Paramedics transported baby Xzavier Cortez to the hospital.

SAPD officers discovered that, moments before, Miguel Gutiérrez himself had called Selena Gabriella Moya to tell her that her son Xzavier was unconscious. The relationship between Miguel Gutiérrez and Selena Gabriella Moya has not been defined.

Miguel Gutiérrez left before the police arrived

PHOTO: Taken from Facebook

However, when SAPD officers began to search the house, they discovered that Miguel Gutiérrez was no longer there. One of the older girls told authorities who arrived at the scene that the man had left them alone when they heard ambulance sirens in the distance.

Paramedics took baby Xzavier Cortez to Children’s Hospital in San Antonio, where doctors were unable to do anything to save his life. The baby was pronounced dead at 4:30 in the morning and the cause of death was due to internal bleeding from blunt force trauma.

A girl’s brave testimony against Miguel Gutiérrez

PHOTO: Taken from Facebook

The case was then taken up by the officers of the SAPD’s Homicide Division, who issued an order for presentation, not an arrest warrant, against Miguel Gutiérrez. They wanted his version of how baby Xzavier Cortez had been injured while in his care.

Detectives with the San Antonio Police Department’s Homicide Division interviewed the other children who were in the home when baby Xzavier Cortez died. The brave and shocking testimony of an older girl was fundamental to the sentence that Miguel Gutiérrez received.

«He beat me…»

PHOTO: Taken from Facebook

The girl’s name and age will not be revealed in this story to protect her identity and privacy. The brave girl told the authorities that she and her little brothers did not like her mother leaving them with Miguel Gutiérrez, because the man did not treat them well.

The little girl had the courage to testify at Miguel Gutiérrez’s trial and said on one occasion that, «he (pointing at him with a finger) beat me until he left me with bruises and cuts … then he left me lying on the ground alone,» she said. The girl never took her eyes off the accused.

Why were the children left with Miguel Gutiérrez?

PHOTO: Taken from Facebook

During the hearing against Miguel Gutiérrez, the girl maintained that the man treated little Xzavier Cortez very badly many times. She he beat him with his fists on various parts of his body and shook him violently, which ultimately led to his death.

The girl said that she and her little brothers slept in Miguel Gutiérrez’s bed when her mother left them in his care. The case documents do not detail why Selena Gabriella Moya left her children in Gutiérrez’s care at night, or where she went, but they do reveal that the woman is also being charged.

Selena Gabriella Moya’s case is ongoing

PHOTO: Taken from Facebook

On the night that Xzavier Cortez died, his sister recalled that the baby was asleep with them in Miguel Gutiérrez’s bed, but that he kept falling on the floor, yet did not cry. That was the last time the girl saw the man, because shortly afterwards he left the house.

The lawyers for Miguel Gutiérrez told the judge that it was the mother’s fault that Xavier Cortez died. They argued that a life sentence was not fair. The Selena Gabriella Moya trial will continue next year.