Mt. Lebanon man sentenced for killing four-month-old daughter
A Mt. Lebanon man has been sentenced to 21 to 42 years in jail for killing his infant daughter.
Allegheny County Judge Randal Todd imposed the sentence July 31 on Joseph George Gazzam, 31, in connection with the Nov. 12, 2017, death of four-month-old Victoria Gazzam.
He pleaded guilty June 25 to third-degree murder, for which he drew a term of 20 to 40 years. He also entered a guilty plea to endangering the welfare of children, for which the sentence is an additional one to two years.
In 2017, Gazzam told investigators he was sleeping in a bed with the child at 587 Osage Road in Mt. Lebanon, and when he awoke, he found Victoria face down on the floor after she apparently fell out of bed, which was about two feet off the floor.
An autopsy by the county medical examiner’s office revealed that the infant had multiple injuries, including three broken ribs, bleeding on her brain, cuts to a heart vessel and kidney, a contusion to her liver and multiple bruises on her back and head, according to court documents. Investigators with the office told police injuries that severe could not have been caused by a fall from the bed.