Dangerous people have always existed in society. When someone’s known to be dangerous, a restraining order can be issued against them. Unfortunately, sometimes people slip through the cracks.

For example, roughly two years ago, a woman tried getting a restraining order against her son’s father but the judge denied her request. Shortly after, he killed their small child by throwing him off a 100-foot bridge. Thankfully, justice has been served. Earlier this week, he received the maximum sentence for his crime.

According to reports, Tony Moreno, a 23-year-old Connecticut father, was recently sentenced to 70 years in prison for killing Aedan Moreno, his 7-month-old son. To justify giving Moreno the maximum punishment, Superior Court Judge Elpedio Vitale cited, “the utter depravity of the crime, a father killing his infant son, speaks for itself.”

In the courtroom, the mother of the child, Adrianne Oyola, appeared noticeably relieved after Moreno was told that he would be getting 60 years for murder and 10 years for risk of injury. During the trial, she made it clear that she would never be able to forgive him for what he did. “Every time I wake up, I pray the nightmare will be over and my son will be in my arms,” she testified, adding, “I won’t see my son grow up. You took my whole world in front of me. You took my life.”

Back in 2015, Moreno allegedly took his son to a bridge approximately 100 feet in height and threw him off after the boy’s mother refused to marry him. While on his way, he called his own mother, Denise Moreno, and told her that he was going to jump and kill himself. She then alerted the police, who rushed to the scene.

After dropping the infant off the bridge, he received a text message from the mother of the child, who was unaware of what just happened. She wrote, “Tony I’m trying to make this co-parenting thing work!”

Moreno’s response was bloodcurdling. “Your [sic] not a parent anymore,” he replied, referring to what he had just done.

At first, Oyola didn’t take him seriously. “I’m trying to get along with you for [Aedan] and your guns [sic] do this?!” she wrote back, noting, “you can’t just up and leave with [Aedan].” After a minute of no response, she added, “where are you! Where’s [Aedan]?”

Moreno was cold and straightforward, responding, “he’s dead.” In a follow-up message, he added, “and soon I will be too,” letting her know that he planned on killing himself as well.

Understandably, his answer made Oyola panic. Her first message back read, “don’t [say] that!!!!” She followed that text up with another, which read, “your [sic] playing right now! Please tell me your [sic] playing right now!!!!!!!!” After two minutes without a response, she added, “Your [sic] f****** kidding me!!!!!!!” A minute later, she sent another message. “Don’t f****** talk like that,” she continued, unwilling to believe what he was saying. “You couldn’t kill your own son!” she reasoned, clearly struggling with the idea. “Tony…please don’t hurt [Aedan]…Please!!!!!!!!” she begged.

Unfortunately, it was too late. He had already hurled the child from the bridge. As he was preparing to jump, police officers arrived and tried unsuccessfully to stop him. While the officers approached, he leaped from the bridge and plummeted into the water below. The officers then scrambled down to the riverbank and pulled Moreno, who was still alive, out of the water. After taking him into custody, they searched the area and found his son’s lifeless body downstream.

While in custody, he allegedly confessed to deliberately throwing the child off the bridge. However, in court, his lawyer, Norman Pattis, tried to argue that the death was an accident. Specifically, both he and Moreno claimed that the boy had simply slipped from the hands of the father. Fortunately, the jurors didn’t believe him, which angered his lawyer. “Tony told you what happened,” he told reporters, adding, “the jury disregarded it. Aedan slipped from his grasp.”

Although some may argue that Moreno got off lightly, giving him 70 years was the best the judge could do. But he isn’t the only person responsible for the child’s death. Law enforcement officers should also consider putting the original judge who denied the restraining order on trial. If the request had been approved, it’s likely Aedan would still be alive. At the very least, they should investigate to determine whether the judge ignored any red flags.