Killer of Three-Year-Old Boy Gets 6-12 Year Sentence

A Philadelphia judge has ordered a 6 to 12 year jail sentence for a Roxborough man who pleaded guilty Monday to the third degree murder of his girlfriend’s three-year-old son, whom he beat to death in 2011 to stop his crying, according to Philly.com.

Joseph Zysk’s new sentence will run concurrently with the 5-10 year jail term he received last year after a jury found him guilty for the involuntary manslaughter of Jason Larkin Jr. Assistant District Attorney John O’Neill recommended a 12 and-a-half to 25 year sentence, but Judge J. Scott O’Keefe took into account Zysk’s service in the U.S. Navy and lack of a criminal record before the incident, philly.com reports.

Zysk, 31, took the guilty plea Monday prior to the start of a new trial over the murder charge. A jury found Zysk guilty of involuntary manslaughter in April 2014, but could not reach a verdict on the third degree murder charge.

According to CBS Philly, Zysk was arrested for the murder of three-year-old Jason Larkin Jr. in January 2011 after police found the boy’s mother performing CPR on the child at a home on the 4200 block of Houghton Street.

Zysk said during his trial that he was frustrated by Jason’s crying and struck him several times in the abdomen, Philly.com reports. Medical examiners showed that the strikes caused Jason to internally bleed to death.