Marlon Rabanales Pretzantzin pleads not guilty to second-degree murder in death of his 2-month-old daughter

An Inwood man charged in the death of his 2-month-old daughter pleaded not guilty Thursday to a grand jury’s indictment charging him with second-degree murder.

Marlon Rabanales Pretzantzin, 20, was charged with killing his daughter Liseyda after prosecutors said he slapped, beat and violently shook his baby daughter because she wouldn’t stop crying. Prosecutors said the defendant allegedly also dropped the child onto a bed and pressed his body weight onto the child, pushing her down.

"This child was handled with such force that her neck snapped," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said. "It is shocking. It is a heartless act by a man who should have been a source of strength for his young family. Instead, he broke his family."

Rabanales Pretzantzin appeared in a Mineola courtroom Thursday morning where a judge ordered him to continue to be remanded without bail.

His defense attorney, Mindy Plotkin, said she received evidence in the case Thursday morning and said her client was distraught.

"The allegations are obviously very sad," Plotkin said.

Nassau County police and paramedics were called to an Inwood apartment March 7 after the baby had stopped breathing, Donnelly said. Rabanales Pretzantzin had gone to a neighbor who called 911.

The baby was taken to Cohen Children's Medical Center in Queens where she was declared dead. A New York City medical examiner’s investigation found severe hemorrhaging in Liseyda’s neck and dislocated vertebrae in her spine, Donnelly said.

"I am horrified, heartbroken and angry at how this child suffered," Donnelly said. "Liseyda was crying, as babies do, and this defendant allegedly snapped. He slapped Liseyda on her face and punched her several times in the stomach and body. He picked her up and shook her violently. He dropped her from a standing position onto a bed and put his hands on her tiny chest and pressed his body weight down onto her."

Liseyda was also found with bruising to her head and rib fractures, including signs of previous injuries that were healing, police said.

When questioned by police, prosecutors said Rabanales Pretzantzin gave different stories of what happened to his daughter, claiming at first that she had choked on baby formula or that he had fallen asleep and she rolled off his lap onto the hardwood floor.

"As multiple hospitals were scrambling to revive Liseyda, he not once told any of these hospitals what he’d actually done," Assistant District  Attorney Daryl Levy said. "It wasn’t until the Nassau County Police Department received results of the autopsy and realized none of those stories could be true. When they interviewed the defendant again, he finally came forward and said what actually happened."

The suspect is due back in court on May 6. If convicted, Rabanales Pretzantzin faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.