![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ERYDHEBYU5BJ7KMWTKLFN6SYZU.png\")
Michael Anthony Garcia(Telemundo Central Texas)<\/p>\nWACO, Texas (KWTX) – An Axtell man charged with seriously injuring his 19-week-old son in 2019 was placed on deferred probation Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Judge Susan Kelly of 54th State District Court approved the plea bargain between Michael Anthony Garcia, 26, and the McLennan County District Attorney\u2019s Office and sentenced Garcia to deferred probation for 10 years. She also fined him $1,000 and ordered him to perform 300 hours of community service.<\/p>\n
Kelly told Garcia that the slightest violation of his probation could result in him being found guilty of the offense and subject him to the full range of punishment – 20 years in prison. She also admonished him not to ever touch his children \u201cout of anger or frustration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Anthony Garcia(Telemundo Central Texas)<\/p>\n
In deferred probation cases, there is no finding of guilt and defendants can avoid felony convictions if they abide by the terms and conditions of probation.<\/p>\n
Garcia pleaded guilty in June to a reduced injury to a child charge on the day he was set for trial. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to reduce the charge from a first-degree felony, punishable by up to life in prison, to a second-degree felony.<\/p>\n
Kelly reviewed a background investigation before sentencing Garcia. Before accepting his plea last month, Kelly asked prosecutors Tara Avants and Luke McCowan to justify their recommendation for deferred probation.<\/p>\n
McCowan said the boy, who underwent surgery for head and retinal injuries, is doing well, although he still has eyesight deficiencies and other medical issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the state he is in, thankfully, we felt like deferred probation would give everyone in the case a chance to move on,\u201d McCowan said.<\/p>\n
Avants added that the boy has been adopted by the defendant\u2019s mother after he agreed to relinquish his parental rights. She said the boy\u2019s mother \u201cwas not very cooperative with our office\u201d and was unwilling to testify that Garcia caused her son\u2019s injuries.<\/p>\n
Garcia and the woman, who also relinquished her rights to the boy, have two other children together but are not together as a couple.<\/p>\n
Garcia\u2019s attorney, Abel Reyna, told the judge last month that Garcia spent Father\u2019s Day with his children and continues to have an active role in their lives.<\/p>\n
Reyna told the judge that had Garcia gone to trial, it would have been a \u201cvery, very contested case in terms of the science.\u201d He said existing science concerning abusive head trauma \u201chas already taken a hit\u201d through more-recent research, with some experts saying evidence of additional trauma must be present before a diagnosis of what formerly was known as shaken-baby syndrome is appropriate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defense had medical experts prepared to testify that evidence relied upon by law enforcement as well as the state\u2019s experts, that science has been called into question, and that the child actually suffered from a different type of disorder because of his brain and head size that made him more susceptible to injuries or other issues,\u201d Reyna told Judge Kelly.<\/p>\n
Reyna said after sentencing Tuesday that Garcia is glad to have the case resolved.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor seven years, my client has lived under an accusation built on contested scientific evidence,\u201d Reyna said. \u201cToday that case was resolved without a conviction to a lesser charge, and he remains what he has always been, a present, involved father to each of his kids, including the one at the center of these allegations. We are grateful this chapter is closed and that his family remains whole.\u201d <\/p>\n
According to arrest documents, the child\u2019s mother brought him to a Waco hospital emergency room because he was having seizures. The boy was airlifted to a children\u2019s hospital in Austin, where tests showed he had subdural hemorrhaging on both the left side and right side, \u201cincluding left-sided acute hemorrhage,\u201d an arrest affidavit alleged.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe victim had bilateral retinal hemorrhages too numerous to count,\u201d the affidavit states. \u201cThe doctors noted in their medical assessment\/conclusion that these constellation of findings are consistent with and highly concerning for abusive head trauma,\u201d according to arrest records.<\/p>\n
The detective noted that Garcia admitted \u201che would yank the victim up off the floor quickly in which his head would bobble after doing so.\u201d Garcia told the detective it happened \u201cseveral times on different occasions,\u201d most recently a few days before the boy\u2019s mother sought medical treatment.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KWTX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WACO, Texas (KWTX) – An Axtell man charged with seriously injuring his 19-week-old son in 2019 was placed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7515,137531,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-390361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-axtell","tag-michael-anthony-garcia","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}