SAN DIEGO -- A University Heights man who admitted causing the death of his girlfriend's 20-month-old daughter was sentenced Thursday to 17 years in state prison.

Robert Michael Griffith, 20, pleaded guilty April 24 to voluntary manslaughter and two counts of felony child abuse causing great bodily injury in connection with the death of Ta'Niyah Carey.

A day before Griffith was taken into custody on May 7, 2006, authorities received a call at 7:52 a.m. about a child who had stopped breathing at a home in the 4500 block of Texas Street. The toddler, who was in cardiac arrest when paramedics arrived, was declared dead at Rady Children's Hospital later that day.

An autopsy showed the girl died of multiple blunt-force trauma to her head and body.

Deputy District Attorney Stacey McReynolds said at an earlier hearing that the child was "fine," except for a cold, when her mother left her with the defendant. When she came home around 4 a.m., Griffith told her that her daughter was non-responsive, McReynolds said.

The child suffered a skull fracture, injuries to the stomach, bruises to the cheek, mouth, ear and arms, two broken ribs, liver damage and a collapsed lung, the prosecutor said.

The head injuries were "very indicative" of shaken baby syndrome and consistent with the child being slammed against a hard surface, she said.

"My daughter Ta'Niyah did no ...harm to anybody," Aurene Carey said in court Thursday. "Ta'Niyah was my soulmate and my best friend. I trusted Robert to the fullest extent."

The mother said she was "physically hurting and dying on the inside" because her daughter was gone.

"She was dead when I got there," the mother told the defendant. "Why didn't you just call the police then?"

Carey told Judge David Danielsen that she left her daughter with Griffith because she thought "he wouldn't lay a finger on her."

The case was especially tough on the mother because it was hard for her to accept Griffith's plea bargain, the prosecutor said.

"She felt it wasn't enough," McReynolds told the judge.