Executive Summary
- Justin Golden appears in court for sentencing after pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter of a child.
- The charges stem from a January incident where Golden’s 8-month-old son was run over and killed.
- Golden faces a maximum of 30 years in prison; an original charge of vehicular homicide was dropped.
- In a letter to the judge, the defendant claims the death was an accident and requests probation.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Justin Golden, 20, is scheduled to appear in Duval County court on Monday morning for a sentencing hearing regarding the death of his 8-month-old son, Pablo Golden. The hearing follows Golden’s guilty plea in September to a charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child, stemming from an incident earlier this year.
According to reports from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO), the events unfolded in January near the intersection of Lenox and McDuff avenues. Investigators stated that during a dispute with the child’s mother, Golden stopped his vehicle, placed the infant on the ground, and subsequently struck the child while driving away from the scene. The injuries proved fatal for the 8-month-old.
Golden faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison under the terms of his plea agreement. Prosecutors originally filed an additional charge of vehicular homicide, which could have significantly increased the sentencing exposure to a combined 60 years, but that charge was dropped as part of the legal proceedings. During a hearing in November, Detective Justin Brown testified regarding Golden’s behavior after the incident, noting the defendant asked, “Am I going to get in trouble for this?” upon learning of his son’s death.
In a letter addressed to the presiding judge, Golden characterized the death as a “tragic accident” and requested leniency, specifically asking to avoid prison time. “Never in life would I have ever expected that I was going to take my own son’s life,” Golden wrote, asserting that the act was not intentional. Family members, including his mother and sister, have provided statements describing him as a caring father and attributing the event to a catastrophic mistake.
Judicial Sentencing Factors
This sentencing hearing serves as the final phase in the adjudication of the case, where the court must balance the punitive requirements of the law with the defendant’s request for mitigation. In sentencing for aggravated manslaughter of a child, judges typically weigh the extreme vulnerability of the victim against the defendant’s intent, age, and lack of prior criminal history. While the dropped vehicular homicide charge is no longer at issue, the court acts within the statutory guidelines to determine appropriate accountability. It is important to note that while the defendant has admitted guilt to manslaughter, the presumption of innocence remained applicable to the dismissed charges throughout the judicial process.
