The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office will seek a minimum 31-year sentence for Cabazon resident Jake Haro when he is sentenced Monday, Nov. 3, for murdering his 7-month-old son Emmanuel, while the Public Defender’s Office will argue for a term of 15 years to life, court documents filed Friday show.
Haro, 32, on Oct. 16 pleaded guilty at the Riverside Hall of Justice to second-degree murder, assault on a child under 8 causing death and filing a false police report.
“There is nothing in the law or before this court that should lead a sentencing judge to believe that this man deserves anything but the maximum sentence allowed by law,” Assistant District Attorney Brandon Smith wrote.
Second-degree murder carries a sentence of 15 years to life. The term for a child assault conviction is 25 years to life. The DA’s Office said that the murder and assault were part of the same act. Under California law, a defendant can be sentenced on only one charge if one act resulted in convictions on multiple charges.
Typically, a judge will sentence the defendant on the count that carries the longest prison sentence. But Superior Court Judge Gary Polk is not bound by that practice.
Smith proposed in his filing on Friday that Haro first be sentenced to six years for violating his probation.
Haro had pleaded guilty to the court in 2023 to child abuse causing great bodily injury after he and his wife abused their 10-week-old daughter, Carolina, in 2018 to the point where she cannot use her arms and legs and has cerebral palsy, Smith wrote. Haro was ordered to serve 180 days in custody, and a six-year prison term was suspended as long as Haro did not break more laws. But on the same day Haro admitted killing Emmanuel, he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition.
After Haro finishes that six-year term, Smith wrote, he should begin serving a sentence of 25 years to life for assaulting Emmanuel. A one-year sentence for a misdemeanor count of filing a false police report — Haro and wife Rebecca claimed that Emmanuel had been kidnapped — should run at the same time, Smith wrote.
“Jake Haro murdered seven-month-old Emmanuel, but in reality, he comes before the court having taken the lives of two young children,” Smith wrote. “If there are lower forms of evil in this world, I am not aware of them.”
A makeshift memorial for missing 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro is seen outside his Cabazon home on Oct 16, 2025. Prosecutors have proposed that his father, Jake Haro, be sentenced to a minimum of 31 years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to assaulting and killing the baby that Haro and his wife originally claimed was kidnapped. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Deputy Public Defender Allison Lowe, in a document also filed Friday, said Haro should receive credit for admitting his guilt and doing so at an early stage of the case. Because of that, Lowe wrote, Polk should sentence him on the lighter of the two felonies, the murder charge that carries a penalty of 15 years to life.
Lowe added that Haro does not have the ability to pay fines or fees.
“Prior to his arrest, Mr. Haro was not working and was on disability,” Lowe wrote.
Rebecca Haro, 41, is also due in court on Monday. Court records show that her attorney, Jeff Moore, plans to object to the judge’s order that made private a document related to a so-called Perkins operation in which a suspect is placed in a jail cell with an inmate who, being paid by law enforcement, attempts to elicit a confession.
No one has revealed which of the Haros was involved in that ruse.
Rebecca Haro has pleaded not guilty to the same charges to which her husband admitted.
The case has garnered national attention, with local residents building a makeshift memorial to the baby outside his home and going on impromptu, hopeful ground searches. Others, fluent in social media, have devoted hours of coverage to the case, in some instances breaking news ahead of the mainstream media but in others creating a burden for detectives who authorities said have had to devote time to investigating ultimately false claims.
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin announced Wednesday, Aug. 27, that a 7-month-old infant whose parents have been charged with his death is believed to have suffered prolonged physical abuse before he died.
“The filing in this case reflects our belief that Baby Emmanuel was the victim of child abuse over time, and that, eventually, because of that abuse, he succumbed to those injuries,” Hestrin said during a news conference at the District Attorney’s Office in Riverside.
Emmuel’s mother, Rebecca Haro, reported him abducted from a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in Yucaipa on Aug. 14. Investigators now believe the boy is dead, but his remains have not been located.
Hestrin also told a throng of reporters during the conference that investigators have some ideas of where Emmanuel’s remains are, but he declined to reveal specifics.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco speaks to the media while Riverside County Assistant District Attorney Brandon Smith, left, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin, second from left, San Bernardino County Sgt. Nicholas Clark, second from right, and San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus, right, listen in as they give an update on suspected murder of 7-month old Emmanuel Haro in downtown Riverside on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. The infant’s body has not been found. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin, left, speaks to the media as Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, San Bernardino County Sgt. Nicholas Clark and San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus listen in as they give an update on the suspected murder of 7-month old Emmanuel Haro in downtown Riverside on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. The child’s body has not been found. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco speaks to the media as they give an update on the murder case of 7-month old Emmanuel Haro in downtown Riverside on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. Jake and Rebecca Haro, of Cabazon, were each charged on Tuesday, Aug. 26 with one count of murder and one misdemeanor count of filing a false police report. Rebecca Haro reported that her child was kidnapped outside the Big 5 Sporting Good store in Yucaipa on Aug. 14. The child’s body has not been found. She stopped cooperating with investigators when confronted with inconsistencies in her initial account. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus, left, speaks to the media as Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, right, listens in as they give an update on the murder case of 7-month old Emmanuel Haro in downtown Riverside on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. Jake and Rebecca Haro, of Cabazon, were each charged on Tuesday, Aug. 26 with one count of murder and one misdemeanor count of filing a false police report. Rebecca Haro reported that her child was kidnapped outside the Big 5 Sporting Good store in Yucaipa on Aug. 14. The child’s body has not been found. She stopped cooperating with investigators when confronted with inconsistencies in her initial account. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin, left, speaks to the media as Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, right, listens in as they give an update on the murder case of 7-month old Emmanuel Haro in downtown Riverside on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. Jake and Rebecca Haro, of Cabazon, were each charged on Tuesday, Aug. 26 with one count of murder and one misdemeanor count of filing a false police report. Rebecca Haro reported that her child was kidnapped outside the Big 5 Sporting Good store in Yucaipa on Aug. 14. The child’s body has not been found. She stopped cooperating with investigators when confronted with inconsistencies in her initial account. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin, left, speaks to the media as Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, right, listens in as they give an update on the murder case of 7-month old Emmanuel Haro in downtown Riverside on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. Jake and Rebecca Haro, of Cabazon, were each charged on Tuesday, Aug. 26 with one count of murder and one misdemeanor count of filing a false police report. Rebecca Haro reported that her child was kidnapped outside the Big 5 Sporting Good store in Yucaipa on Aug. 14. The child’s body has not been found. She stopped cooperating with investigators when confronted with inconsistencies in her initial account. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus speaks to the media while Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin, San Bernardino County Sgt. Nicholas Clark and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco look on as they give an update on the murder case of 7-month old Emmanuel Haro in downtown Riverside on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. Jake and Rebecca Haro, of Cabazon, were each charged on Tuesday, Aug. 26 with one count of murder and one misdemeanor count of filing a false police report. Rebecca Haro reported that her child was kidnapped outside the Big 5 Sporting Good store in Yucaipa on Aug. 14. The child’s body has not been found. She stopped cooperating with investigators when confronted with inconsistencies in her initial account. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Jake and Rebecca Haro appear in court for their arraignment on Tuesday, Aug. 26 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. The couple were arrested Friday on suspicion of killing their son, Emmanuel Haro, who is 7 months old. The arraignment was continued to Sept. 4, 2025. Photo taken at the Riverside Hall of Justice in Riverside Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times / Pool)
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Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco speaks to the media while Riverside County Assistant District Attorney Brandon Smith, left, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin, second from left, San Bernardino County Sgt. Nicholas Clark, second from right, and San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus, right, listen in as they give an update on suspected murder of 7-month old Emmanuel Haro in downtown Riverside on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. The infant’s body has not been found. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
“We have a pretty strong indication of where the remains of Baby Emmanuel are, so that investigation is ongoing at this time,” said Hestrin, who also declined to elaborate on why investigators believe the boy had suffered prolonged physical abuse.
Rebecca Haro, 41, and Emmanuel’s father, Jake Haro, 32, both of Cabazon, were each charged on Tuesday, Aug. 26, with murder and a misdemeanor count of filing a false police report. They both appeared in court Tuesday at the Riverside County Hall of Justice for an arraignment, but did not enter pleas. They will next appear in court on Sept. 4.
Rebecca Haro told San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators on Aug. 14 that she was changing her son’s diaper outside the Big 5 store when she was assaulted and knocked unconscious by an unknown man. When she awoke, she told investigators, her child was gone.
But within 24 hours, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus, detectives found inconsistencies in Haro’s statements, prompting a massive joint investigation involving his department, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office’s High Tech Crimes Unit.
Investigators interviewed several people, including the Haros, but when confronted with inconsistencies in her initial account, Rebecca Haro declined to answer further questions. San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators later said her account was a lie — and the couple were arrested on Aug. 22.
The day before their arrest, Riverside County sheriff’s deputies were sent to the 23000 block of Cottonwood Avenue in Moreno Valley on a report of child abuse made by Jake Haro, Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco said.
In a jailhouse interview Wednesday at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, Jake Haro said his and Rebecca Haro’s 2-year-old daughter, McKenzie, was removed from their custody by Riverside County Child and Protective Services. He said their daughter was “fine” and there was “not a bruise on her” when she was removed from their home.
But when he subsequently visited McKenzie at the county children’s services office on Cottonwood Avenue in Moreno Valley, he said, “She looked like she got hit by a truck that then reversed and ran over her again.”
After the news conference Wednesday, Bianco said Jake Haro “was the reporting party alleging abuse allegations that were determined to be unfounded.” The sheriff considered that to be “possibly a deliberate attempt to distance himself from future abuse allegations.”
On Sunday, Haro, wearing a red jail jumpsuit, was accompanied by investigators as they looked for Emmanuel’s body in a brushy area off of the 60 Freeway near Gilman Springs Road in the Riverside County Badlands. It was unclear if Haro led investigators to that location or they wound up there based on other leads.
Dicus did, however, say during the news conference that investigators have been receiving “some level of cooperation with the suspects,” but it wasn’t clear if that cooperation was related to the Badlands area search.
Hestrin said Emmanuel’s suspected death was preventable. He cited Jake Haro’s 2023 guilty plea to charges of abusing his 10-week-old daughter by a previous marriage in 2018, leaving her permanently bedridden with cerebral palsy. Hestrin said his office pushed for mandatory prison time, but the judge instead cut Haro a “big break” and he received a suspended four-year sentence and 180 days of work release.
Hestrin said the girl’s extensive injuries — fractured ribs that were either fresh or in various stages of healing, a partial bone fracture of the skull, a brain hemorrhage and a healing leg fracture — were presented to the judge.
“This is severe abuse for an infant,” Hestrin said. “Someone who does that to a child belongs in prison, period.”
This time, Hestrin said, his office is not interested in any plea agreements with the Haros.
“We’re interested in a trial and getting justice,” he said.
