A state judge declared Matthew Higa guilty this afternoon of murder for throwing a toddler off a pedestrian overpass to his death on the H-1 freeway two years ago.

Higa, 25, faces a mandatory life prison term with the possibility for parole when Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario sentences him.

Del Rosario could impose the harsher life term without the opportunity for parole because the victim was younger than 8 years old.

During the non-jury trial, Higa did not dispute that a witness saw him toss 23-month-old Cyrus Belt off the pedestrian freeway overpass on Jan. 17, 2008. Nor did he challenge statements from police officers and detectives who said he admitted throwing the toddler off the overpass.

However, his lawyer claimed Higa did not cause Belt's death because the toddler was already dead before Higa tossed him.

One witness said he thought Higa threw a doll. Another witness said he thought the object he saw plunge onto the freeway was a dead baby.

Both witnesses said Belt was not moving during flight.

The medical examiner said Belt died from injuries he suffered in the fall and that there is no evidence that he was dead before then.

And Higa told detectives Belt was crying and moving his arms and legs. He also said a woman handed him the toddler on the overpass and told him to kill Belt before her husband does.

The witness who saw Higa toss Belt said there was nobody else on the overpass.

The case offered a chilling glimpse into a world of ice addiction and compulsive gambling that made for spotty child supervision. As shocking as Higa's actions were, the murder raised broader outrage in the community over the state's child welfare system.

A history of drug use had prevented Cyrus's mother, Nancy Chanco, from properly caring for the the toddler and two other, older sons on repeated occasions, according to records released in 2008 by the state Department of Human Services. Cyrus spent four days in foster care in 2006.

A trial, Chanco admitted that on the day of his death she was otherwise occupied with illegal gambling and methamphetamine use.

She had left Cyrus in the care of her 62-year-old father, Lilo Asiata, and 29-year-old boyfriend, Shane Misuzawa, but earlier that morning a police officer found the boy wandering the neighborhood alone and brought him back home. Apparently he slipped out while his while his grandfather was sleeping and Misuzawa was working on his car.

Misuzawa later left to pick up Chanco, but apparently didn't wake Asiata up.

How Higa, a neighbor, laid hands on the child was an issue at trial.