SACRAMENTO—A South Natomas father was sentenced on Friday, May 1, to 26 years to life in prison for killing his nine-year-old son with a hatchet.
Phillip Raymond Hernandez, 38, was convicted in March by a Sacramento jury of first-degree murder and the use of a weapon in the February 26, 2013 slaying of Matthew Hernandez.
Prosecutors for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said Hernandez went into the backyard of his house on Atrisco Circle, retrieved a hatchet, broke through a sliding glass door and struck his son in the head with the hatchet while the boy slept on the couch. Matthew was already dead when police arrived. He had died from blunt force trauma.
Sacramento police then found the suspect walking on the street not long after the attack and he was taken into custody.
Hernandez was captured in the Atrisco Circle neighborhood after the murder.
“He was such a beautiful kid. He was going to do great things,” said Matthew’s grandfather James Finley. “My wife and I were more parents than grandparents to him.There’s been so much violence against Jessica and boys. I look at that face and I think, who could hate a child like that?”
Court documents reveal Matthew may have been the victim of a long custody battle between Hernandez and his ex-wife Jessica.
According to prosecutors, Hernandez and his wife had long-standing relationship issues that predated Matthew’s birth. After the two separated, Hernandez reportedly told his wife that Matthew, who looked more like his mother, “gets under my skin” because the boy reminded Hernandez of her.
Hernandez must also pay the family $14,000 in restitution.
