Christian Moniz Rabino Case: Kai Tesoro Death, Probation Sentence

Christian Moniz Rabino is a Las Vegas man who was sentenced in January 2026 to up to five years of probation after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the death of his girlfriend’s 17-month-old son, Kai Tesoro. The sentencing judge told the courtroom she did “not like this deal” but honored it because prosecutors said contradictory statements from their key witness made a murder trial too risky.

What Happened to Kai Tesoro

On June 1, 2024, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police responded to a call about an unresponsive child at a home where Rabino, then 28, had been living with Kai’s mother for about six months. At Summerlin Hospital, doctors found bruising on the boy’s head, a fractured right leg, several brain bleeds, and non-accidental trauma to his eyes consistent with shaking.¹ One physician described the injuries as among the most severe he had ever seen and said the child had suffered a massive stroke.² Doctors determined the fatal injuries had been inflicted that same day.

Kai was placed on a ventilator and taken off life support on June 6, 2024. His family donated his organs.³

Rabino and Kai’s mother initially told police the injuries came from a seizure and a fall off a bed. Hospital staff rejected that explanation.² The mother eventually told investigators she had seen Rabino shake and abuse Kai before, and that Rabino, frustrated that the toddler could not walk on his own, had slammed the child feet-first onto the floor.⁴ An autopsy revealed older, unexplained abusive injuries as well.⁵

Rabino was arrested on June 25, 2024, held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center, and indicted by a Clark County grand jury on first-degree murder and child abuse charges.²⁶

Why the Murder Case Collapsed Into Manslaughter

The Clark County District Attorney’s office dropped the murder and child abuse counts and negotiated a plea to manslaughter. Chief Deputy District Attorney Dena Rinetti said the core problem was the reliability of the prosecution’s only real witness. Kai’s mother had given police three separate statements. In the first two she claimed nothing had happened, and she only changed her account in a third interview after police began treating her as a suspect.⁵ No one else had witnessed the fatal injuries, and the older injuries found on autopsy made pinpointing the timing of the fatal harm harder still.

Rinetti described the tradeoff plainly. A trial could send Rabino to prison for life, but an acquittal would mean “an individual who we believe killed a child walks out with no ramifications whatsoever.”⁷

Rabino entered an Alford plea, meaning he was convicted without admitting guilt while acknowledging the state’s evidence would likely be enough for a jury to convict him.⁶ Reports differ on the specifics: the Las Vegas Review-Journal describes an October 2025 plea to involuntary manslaughter, while 8 News Now and Law & Crime describe a November 2025 Alford plea to voluntary manslaughter.⁵

The Sentence

On January 13, 2026, Clark County District Judge Jacqueline Bluth sentenced Rabino to up to five years of probation, with a prison term of one to ten years suspended and triggered only by a probation violation.⁷ His probation conditions:

No contact with minors, except for his own child, who lives in Arizona.
Completion of a six-week anger management course.
A 10 p.m. nightly curfew.
Full-time employment, or community service if he could not find work.⁵

What the Judge and Prosecutor Said

Judge Bluth, a former prosecutor who had previously handled child homicide cases, said openly that she disagreed with the outcome. “I do not like this deal. I don’t like this negotiation,” she said, but told the courtroom she felt bound to honor the agreement given the state’s assessment of the evidence.⁶ She warned Rabino directly: “You will get one shot. You step sideways on this, and I will not bat an eye at sending you away for the maximum.”⁵

Rinetti became emotional while speaking to Kai’s family at the hearing. “This is a rare negotiation for me as well in this type of case. 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,” she said.⁶ She said she believed the mother had been “scared to speak out against Rabino,” which she suggested explained the initial false statements to police.⁵

The Family’s Response

Kai’s grandfather, Steven Tesoro, addressed the court at sentencing. “We’re talking a minuscule amount of time that he has to pay for taking the life of a 1½-year-old child,” he said. “He took Kai’s life with his own hands. I can’t even comprehend how that can be done.”⁵

1
8 News Now. Mother’s Boyfriend Accused of Murdering 1-Year-Old Las Vegas Boy
2
Fox 5 Vegas. Las Vegas Man Accused of Shaking, Killing Girlfriend’s 1-Year-Old
3
GoFundMe. Help Us Honor Kai Tesoro’s Memory
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Las Vegas Review-Journal. Man Accused of Killing His Girlfriend’s 1-Year-Old Son
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Las Vegas Review-Journal. Judge Orders Probation in Killing of 1-Year-Old
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8 News Now. Las Vegas Man Gets Probation for Killing Girlfriend’s 1-Year-Old
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Law & Crime. Frustrated Man Who Killed Girlfriend’s 1-Year-Old Gets Off Without Prison Time