Gerardo Chavarria Sentenced: Drunk Slammed 4-Year-Old Boy's Head On Floor, Killing Him

When his girlfriend's 4-year-old son knocked over his beer, Gerardo Chavarria snapped.

The 24-year-old Keizer, Ore. man was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Tuesday for the 2011 incident, in which he repeatedly slammed the boy's head into the ground, the Statesman Journal reports. The young boy, named Sebastian, stopped moving as Chavarria's horrified girlfriend looked on, and Chavarria put him to bed.

Marion County Judge Jamese Rhoades changed Chavarria's murder charge to a manslaughter charge earlier this month, and asked the killer directly what happened.

"The day this happened I had just gotten up. I was drinking beer, watching TV with Sebastian," Chavarria said at the time. "He did something, I don’t remember what, that knocked over the bottle of beer. For whatever reason I got angry, and I hit his head against the floor."

He reportedly took Sebastian to Salem Hospital several hours later, where the boy died on Nov. 6, 2011. Chavarria first told investigators that the boy fell and hit his head outside the family's basement, but an autopsy showed that Sebastian's injuries weren't consistent with a fall, Oregon Live reported.

At his sentencing, Chavarria also told the court that he'd hurt Sebastian on two other occasions, once by hitting with a belt and another time with a sandal, the Daily Mail reported.

The killer declined to comment to reporters on Tuesday, but his attorney said that he was genuinely remorseful.