Skip to main content

We are urgently seeking 500 new Life Defenders (monthly supporters) before the end of October to help save babies from abortion 365 days a year. Your first gift as a Life Defender today will be DOUBLED. Click here to make your monthly commitment.

Live Action LogoLive Action
barreras

Man gets two life sentences for brutal murder of pregnant girlfriend and baby

Icon of a magnifying glassAnalysis·By Cassy Cooke

Man gets two life sentences for brutal murder of pregnant girlfriend and baby

A Florida man has received two life sentences for murdering his pregnant girlfriend and their preborn child during a horrific case in which the murderer tried to blame the victim for the crime.

Jay Leonard Rodriguez was accused of beating Jennifer Barreras to death; Barreras was six months pregnant. She was declared dead upon arrival at the hospital, and doctors tried frantically to keep her baby girl, named Aralynn, alive. Sadly, Aralynn also died just a few short minutes after birth.

According to the medical examiner, the beating was so vicious that Rodriguez left shoe tread marks on Barrera’s skull.

In October of 2020, Barreras’ roommate, Jessica Gonzalez heard her screaming and ran to help her. Gonzalez said she saw Rodriguez pinned against the bedroom wall, being punched repeatedly. She tried to intervene, but Rodriguez threatened her, too. She said that Rodriguez threw Barreras onto a tile floor and kicked her stomach before repeatedly stomping on her.

 

Dear Reader,

Every day in America, more than 2,800 preborn babies lose their lives to abortion.

That number should break our hearts and move us to action.

Ending this tragedy requires daily commitment from people like you who refuse to stay silent.

Millions read Live Action News each month — imagine the impact if each of us took a stand for life 365 days a year.

Right now, we’re urgently seeking 500 new Life Defenders (monthly donors) to join us before the end of October. And thanks to a generous $250,000 matching grant, your first monthly gift will be DOUBLED to help save lives and build a culture that protects the preborn.

Will you become one of the 500 today? Click here now to become a Live Action Life Defender and have your first gift doubled.

Together, we can end abortion and create a future where every child is cherished and every mother is supported.

“He was picking her up and slamming her to the ground at least four or five times,” Gonzalez testified. “Stomping on her and stomping on her stomach over and over again.”

Yet Rodriguez testified that Barreras was the aggressor, claiming that she slapped him first. “When I left that night she was alive, and she was cussing at me like she always do when you have little respect,” he said, adding, “I probably grabbed her from not hitting me no more. I was telling her I was about to leave ‘don’t hit me no more.'”

Man gets two life sentences for brutal murder of pregnant girlfriend and baby image
Jay Leonard Rodriguez (Screenshot)

After Rodriguez left, Gonzalez attempted to give Barreras CPR until paramedics arrived to take her to the hospital, where she was declared dead. Aralynn was born after doctors performed an emergency c-section, but was unable to be saved.

Ultimately, it took jurors less than one hour to return a verdict for two counts of murder in the second degree — one for Barreras, and one for Aralynn. Hillsborough Circuit Judge Samantha Ward then gave him two life sentences, so Rodriguez will spend the rest of his life in prison.

The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail this Christmas for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30-seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.

Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.

Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.

Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!

Read Next

Read NextWASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 10: U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy delivers remarks before administering the judicial oath to Judge Neil Gorsuch during a ceremony in the Rose Garden at the White House April 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. Earlier in the day Gorsuch, 49, was sworn in as the 113th Associate Justice in a private ceremony at the Supreme Court.
Politics

Retired Supreme Court Justice Kennedy, a Catholic, tries to justify upholding abortion

Cassy Cooke

·

Spotlight Articles