CENTENNIAL, Colo. – A man who crashed his car with the intention of killing his unbuckled 2-year-old son was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison.
Nathan Weitzel, 31, will have to serve five years of parole after he completes his prison sentence. He pleaded guilty in February to one count of first-degree attempted murder after deliberation.
In August 2016, Weitzel slammed his car into several parked cars in Centennial at about 75 miles per hour, police said. He had buckled himself into the car but had left his young son unrestrained in the back seat.
Weitzel admitted to using cocaine beforehand, and said he wanted his son dead because “being a father was a big responsibility and he did not think he was man enough to raise a child,” according to court documents.
Weitzel also allegedly tried to slit his own throat with a shard of glass following the crash, but according to court documents, was stopped by a police officer.
The boy suffered a broken leg, concussion and some deep cuts in the crash, but has since recovered.
He had previously pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to seven charges he faced, which included child abuse and the attempted first-degree murder after deliberation counts before entering the guilty plea in February in exchange for most of the charges being dropped.
“This was a very serious crime in which an innocent child was hurt and very easily … could have been dead,” Judge Jeffrey Holmes said at Weitzel’s sentencing.
The boy’s mother also spoke at Weitzel’s sentencing.
“As a mother, this is one of the worst things anyone could go through. I don’t understand how he could hurt an innocent child, let alone his own flesh and blood. I don’t think he realizes how much pain he had caused,” she said. “I realized he had absolutely no remorse or sympathy for his son. He is a selfish human being who will do and say anything to get what he wants. I think he is only sorry that he has to stay in prison and deal with the consequences.”