Main: Kai Tesoro (GoFundMe). Inset: Christian M. Rabino appearing in court on Jan. 13 (KLAS).
A 29-year-old man who admitted to beating his girlfriend”s 17-month-old son to death last year — in what the medical examiner described as one of the worst cases of abuse he had ever seen — will not spend any time behind bars after reaching a plea deal that left the judge, prosecutors, and the victim’s family frustrated.
Nevada 8th District Judge Jacqueline Bluth on Tuesday ordered Christian Moniz Rabino to serve up to five years of probation after he entered an Alford plea to one count of voluntary manslaughter in the death of young Kai Tesoro, records show. The charge carries a sentence of one to 10 years which was suspended, per the agreement with prosecutors.
An Alford plea is functionally equivalent to a guilty plea in that it results in a conviction, but allows the defendant to maintain their claim of innocence while conceding that the state has sufficient evidence to convict them at trial.
Under the conditions of his probation, Rabino must complete a six-week anger management course, perform community service, and abide by a 10 p.m. curfew, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. He is also prohibited from having contact with minors, except his own son.
Prosecutors reportedly told the court that the lenient deal was necessary due to evidentiary issues that could have resulted in Rabino getting off with no punishment at all.
“The state believed it had some evidentiary issues if we had gone to trial,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Dena Rinetti told the court, per local CBS affiliate KLAS. “In these cases, typically there are no eyewitnesses, and so you’re relying upon caregivers to give the most accurate information.”
The state was reportedly concerned with the victim’s mother allegedly changing her story several times, initially claiming her son was injured after suffering a seizure and falling before later blaming Rabino.
“As I told the family, this is a rare negotiation for me as well. I take these cases very, very seriously, but I also have to live with the facts of the case and what I can prove at trial,” Rinetti said, according to the Review-Journal. “And there is, for both sides, a huge risk of going to trial — for the defendant, who could spend the rest of his life in prison, but also for the state that an individual who we believe killed a child walks out with no ramifications whatsoever.”
Bluth, who previously served as a prosecutor focusing on child-related homicides, similarly expressed her disappointment with the outcome, but warned Rabino what would happen if he stepped out of line during his probation.
“What happened to him should not have happened. I do not like this deal,” she reportedly said, before addressing Rabino directly. “I am going to give you probation like the deal calls for. You will get one shot. You step sideways on this, and I will not bat an eye at sending you away for the maximum.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on June 1, 2025, responded to a 911 call regarding a toddler who was not breathing. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders located the child — later identified as Kai — and immediately transported him to the Summerlin Pediatrics Emergency Room for treatment.
At the hospital, doctors reportedly found that Kai was suffering from bruising to his head and multiple brain bleeds believed to be caused by “non-accidental trauma,” likely due to violent shaking. One of the doctors told authorities that the abuse was “one of the worst cases he had seen” in his career.
The child had also suffered a broken leg that had likely been caused by “a large amount of force,” the station reported.
According to a report from local Fox affiliate KVVU, Rabino spoke to officers at the hospital, saying that he was watching Kai and decided to call 911 because the boy began having trouble breathing and then stopped breathing. He said that Kai had been sick for the past few days with a fever.
Kai’s mother reportedly told hospital staff that Kai had recently fallen off of the bed. However, medical personnel noted in their report that the boy’s injuries were not consistent with such a fall, per KVVU.
At the hospital on June 1, the child was placed on life support. He succumbed to his injuries and was taken off life support on June 6 and pronounced dead. His organs were donated to help other children in need, his family told news outlets.
KLAS reported that a witness spoke to police and told them Rabino was responsible for Kai’s injuries and that the boy’s mother lied about him falling from the bed. The witness added that Rabino also convinced Kai’s mother that her son did not need to go to the hospital for treatment.
During a subsequent interview, Kai’s mother reportedly admitted that she had seen Rabino physically abuse Kai on at least one occasion.
“(Rabino) became frustrated with (Kai’s) inability to walk on his own and planted (Kai’s) feet first on the floor,” police said, according to reports. The violent outburst resulted in both of Kai’s legs being broken, KVVU reported.
She also allegedly saw Rabino become frustrated with Kai’s crying and violently shake him at least once.
