A man who beat his 5-year-old son to death was sentenced Thursday to spend between 15 and 42 years in prison.
Gerald Oglesby, 36, pleaded guilty to counts of second-degree murder and child abuse, neglect or endangerment in April. The sentence ordered by District Judge Tierra Jones was negotiated by the prosecution and defense as part of the plea deal.
Oglesby was arrested in 2022 in connection with the death of General Oglesby. He admitted to striking his son with an electrical cord and dealing a fatal blow to his stomach, Henderson police said. The Clark County coroner’s office determined General died from multiple blunt force trauma.
The boy’s mother, Charlveena Veecee, sobbed and shook uncontrollably during Thursday’s hearing.
“I’m so heartbroken,” she said. “He took my baby away from me.”
Now, she said, she is in pain and feels guilty going on with life.
“I will never forgive you,” she told the child’s father.
When it was his turn to speak, Oglesby said he wanted to apologize to the child’s mother and family.
“I took my son away, and it hurts me,” he said.
He added: “It breaks my spirit. I lost my heart the day I lost my son.”
Previously, he told police he was upset because his son was watching a TV show with adult characters. A neighbor reported to police that she heard loud thumping for about two hours that she believed was the sound of a body being thrown.
During the beating, police said, Oglesby unintentionally made his son’s chin bleed. He gave the boy a shower, then continued to hit him.
After the child vomited and began to have trouble breathing, Oglesby did not call police immediately. Instead, he smoked marijuana before dialing 911, according to a police report.
Had he known he had inflicted an internal injury that would be fatal, he suggested in court that he would have taken his son to get treatment. He claimed he thought his son would feel better in the morning.
“I really didn’t know,” he said. “And I sat there until the end and I was scared to go in because I felt they’re going to take my son from me and he’s all I got.”
Defense attorney Arnold Weinstock said the case was tragic and asked Jones to follow the terms of the plea deal.
“I wish there was something I was going to say here today or something that I was going to do here today that was going to turn back the hands of time and something that was going to bring back the loss that has been suffered, but it’s just not (possible),” said the judge. “Nobody walks out of here winning today.”
Laglenda Martin, the victim’s aunt, complained about the sentence after the hearing.
“He killed his son, and all he got was 15 years,” she said.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.
