Porterville Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murdering Baby Son

Today in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, Judge Gary Paden sentenced Joseph Ulloa, age 33, of Porterville, to 25 years-to-life in prison for murder. On October 17, 2018, a jury convicted Ulloa of the second-degree murder and assault on a child resulting in the death of his 3-month-old son Jackson.

In the morning hours of September 23, 2010, Joseph Ulloa, wanting to go back to bed after the baby’s mother went to work, shook the baby and threw him on the bed and couch in their apartment numerous times. Ulloa then strapped the baby in a bouncing chair and went back to sleep. During this time, the baby went into full cardiac arrest. After Ulloa awoke, he took the unresponsive baby to a neighbor, who called 911. The baby remained on a ventilator at Valley Children’s Hospital until he passed on October 14, 2010. Doctors discovered the infant had suffered severe bi-lateral retinal hemorrhages, subdural hemorrhages in the brain, a traumatic brain injury, and two posterior fractured ribs.

The case was prosecuted by Supervising Deputy District Attorney Brenda Broker with assistance from District Attorney Paralegal Patty Wagner and was investigated by former Detective Matthew Green the Porterville Police Department as well as Criminal Investigator Mario Martin of the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigations.

Media inquiries can be directed to the Office of the District Attorney, County of Tulare Assistant District Attorney David Alavezos (559) 636-5494