No verdict yet in trial of father charged with throwing baby off bridge

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A jury heard closing arguments on Tuesday, in the trial of a man charged with throwing his 7-month-old son off a bridge in Middletown.

Tony Moreno's case is now in the hands of jurors who will be deciding his fate.

Moreno is charged with murdering his son Aaden.

Last week, Moreno testified that the boy slipped out of his arms by accident and that he fell off the 90-foot-high Arrigoni Bridge into the Connecticut River.

According to court records, however, Moreno and the boy's mother had a strained relationship.

"He told Adrienne at one time 'I could make you and your son disappear at any time' and that's what he did on July 5, 2015," said Peter McShane, Middlesex state's attorney.

Both the state and the defense rested on Friday.

The prosecution and defense made their summations on Tuesday in Middletown Superior Court.

"The defendant only packed only a blanket, a pacifier, and iPod, his phone and a knife. He didn't bring a diaper bag. He didn't bring a bottle. He didn't bring a change of clothes. He didn't bring diapers. That's because he knew him and Aaden weren't coming back," McShane said.

Moreno's Attorney Norm Pattis said "Moreno only wanted to harm himself that night. The defense maintaining that Aaden slipped out of Moreno’s hands.

"He may have headed to the bridge with the intent or thought to kill but when he stood at the railing, he couldn't do it,” Pattis said.

Pattis pleaded with the jury to convict Moreno on the lesser charge of manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide, saying that while Moreno failed as a father and that he didn't commit murder.  

"Don't be moved by passion, by sympathy, by anger. Don't do what the state did when they refused to consider the law,” Pattis said.

Moreno faces 70 years in prison if he's convicted.

The jury continues deliberations on Wednesday at 10 a.m.


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