Boy's family weeps as his killer gets 6 to 12 years

In a decision that triggered tears and anger from the family of a dead 3-year-old boy, a Philadelphia judge Thursday sentenced a Roxborough man to six to 12 years in prison for beating his girlfriend's child to stop him from crying.

Joseph Zysk pleaded guilty Monday to third-degree murder in the Jan. 15, 2011, death of Jason Larkin Jr. Zysk, 31, was found guilty last April of involuntary manslaughter in the child's death, but the Common Pleas Court jury could not reach a verdict on third-degree murder.

When Zysk pleaded guilty rather than be retried on third-degree murder charges, the boy's family hoped a significant amount of prison time would be added to the five to 10 years Zysk is serving.

Judge J. Scott O'Keefe told Zysk that killing a crying child was "inhumane and barbaric," and said he should spend the rest of his life trying to atone for what he did.

But O'Keefe also noted that Zysk had no prior criminal record and had served in the Navy. He said he could not justify the 121/2- to 25-year sentence urged by Assistant District Attorney John O'Neill.

O'Keefe said he was required to make the new six- to 12-year term run concurrently to Zysk's current sentence.

Jason's mother, Daniela Gonzalez, and grandmother Mary Patricia Finn began weeping as they heard the sentence.

"It's an insult," said Finn, wiping away tears.

"Maybe he'll kill himself," said Jason Larkin Sr., the child's father, who was so distraught in court that O'Neill read his victim-impact statement.

At trial, Zysk tried to minimize his actions, saying he "thumped" Jason two or three times but did not realize how badly the child was injured. On Thursday, he sat dressed in blue prison clothes, hanging his head as Gonzalez and Finn excoriated him in statements to the judge.

"This has completely ripped out my heart and thrown it into a five-foot box that's buried underground," Gonzalez told O'Keefe, adding that she remains in therapy four years later.

Finn blamed herself for not recognizing signs that Zysk abused Jason when he lost his temper.

"I beg of you," Finn told O'Keefe, "make it a long, long time before we have to feel this again."

"I'm disgusted with myself," Zysk told the judge before he was sentenced. "It's tough to see firsthand how much destruction I've done in their lives."

"I just want to apologize to everybody," he said.

Zysk's parents and other relatives attended the hearing, but, unlike last year, none spoke.

Zysk's lawyer, Evan T.L. Hughes, called the case "very tragic and very difficult for both sides."

Jason's death occurred in the Roxborough home of Zysk's mother, where the railroad lineman then lived. That night, Zysk and his 3-year-old daughter and Gonzalez and Jason were staying over.

Gonzalez and Zysk were drug addicts and met in rehab, and earlier that day had used heroin.

Zysk testified at trial that he "thumped" Jason two or three times in the side some time between 2 and 3 a.m., frustrated because he was sleepless and Jason would not stop crying.

An autopsy showed the blows pushed Jason's liver against his spine, cutting the organ and causing him to bleed to death.

Zysk said he knew he hurt the 3-foot-tall, 40-pound boy but did not believe the injury was serious enough to warrant taking him to the hospital.

O'Neill, who choked up as he read Larkin's letter, argued that Zysk's mother lived across the street from Roxborough Memorial Hospital and Zysk's silence about what he did had ensured the child's death.

Both Zysk's mother and a police officer who responded to a 911 call tried chest compressions to revive the boy, "which was the opposite of what they should have done," O'Neill said.