2/14/18 – 5:35 A.M.

A Napoleon man won’t face a murder charge in Putnam County despite an alleged confession in the case. The Lima News reports the Ohio 3rd District Court of Appeals recently approved Travis Soto’s double jeopardy appeal. Soto served time in prison following the death of his 2-year-old son Julio Baldoza in 2006. At the time Soto said he accidentally hit the boy with an ATV.

As a result, prosecutors dropped an involuntary manslaughter charge when Soto pleaded guilty to child endangering.

But in 2016, Soto allegedly confessed he beat his son to death. He then argued the state couldn’t charge him with murder since it already dropped the involuntary manslaughter charge. His defense said that involuntary manslaughter is a lesser version of murder.

The appeals court reversed a previous decision and handed the case back to the Putnam County Common Pleas Court.

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