cruise ship baby death grandfather

Grandfather of toddler who fell out of cruise ship window sentenced to 3 years' probation

The grandfather who was with his 18-month-old granddaughter when she fell to her death from an open window on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship was sentenced Monday to three years of probation, according to Puerto Rico's Department of Justice .

Salvatore “Sam” Anello, of Valparaiso, Indiana, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide last year after his granddaughter, Chloe Wiegand, fell through an 11-story window from the ship docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in July 2019.

Anello had initially pleaded not guilty, but last February said that he was going to plead guilty so his family could begin to move on from the tragedy. The plea deal allowed Anello to avoid jail time and serve the probation in his home state, Michael Winkleman, an attorney for the Wiegand family, has said.

Chloe was with her mother in a children's water park area on the pool's 11th deck. Her mother had to tend to another matter and asked Anello to watch her, according to an ongoing lawsuit the family filed in December 2019 against Royal Caribbean Cruises.

The family alleges that the cruise ship company is at fault for Chloe's death, a claim the company has strongly denied . Royal Caribbean did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.

The lawsuit said that Anello was "closely supervising" his granddaughter "when Chloe walked over to a nearby wall of glass." Anello followed and put the girl up to the window so she could bang on the glass but she slipped from his hands and fell through the open window.

Anello has repeatedly said that he did not know the window was open, while the cruise company had released images they say prove Anello had leaned out the window and therefore knew it was open. Winkleman has said the pictures were "misleading."

In July 2019, Chloe's mother, Kimberly Wiegand, said it was confounding that there would be an open air window on an 11th-floor pool deck. "There are a million things that could've been done to make that safer," she said.

Elisha Fieldstadt is a breaking news editor for NBC News.

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Grandfather of Toddler Who Fell Out of Cruise Ship Window Sentenced to 3 Years Probation

Chloe Wiegand died in 2019 after falling through the window of a cruise ship docked in Puerto Rico

Salvatore "Sam" Anello , the man whose toddler granddaughter fell to her death out of a cruise ship window in July 2019, has been sentenced to three years of probation in his home state of Indiana, the Puerto Rico Department of Justice announced on Monday.

The sentence was passed down after Anello pleaded guilty to negligent homicide last year in connection with the death of his 18-month-old granddaughter Chloe Wiegand, who died after falling from the window in a children's play area of Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas while the ship docked in San Juan.

In response to his sentencing, Anello said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE, "After this sentencing, I feel a mixture of anger and relief. Relief that I will serve no jail time and that I did not have to admit any facts. Relief for my family so that we can close this chapter and move on together."

In a statement from the Puerto Rican Department of Justice previously obtained by PEOPLE, prosecutors alleged that Anello "negligently exposed the child to the abyss through a window on the 11th floor" of the cruise ship.

Anello and his family have long maintained that Chloe's fall was an accident and not a crime.

Following Anello's sentencing, the Anellos' attorney Michael Winkleman claimed in a statement obtained PEOPLE that "the genesis of the Puerto Rican authorities ultimately pressing criminal charges against Mr. Anello" was the ship's captain initially saying he saw Anello outside the window frame of the boat, before admitting under oath that Anello's body was never outside the window frame.

"The discovery phase in the family's civil case against Royal Caribbean has just completed and it bears noting that there is not a single piece of evidence to support the argument that Salvatore Anello was aware the window was open," Winkleman added. "Instead, the evidence is clear that Mr. Anello made an honest mistake, but because of Royal Caribbean's failure to take any steps to protect its youngest passengers, it turned into a fatal tragedy."

Anello took a plea deal with prosecutors last February "to try to help end part of this nightmare for my family ," he said in a previous statement posted on Winkleman's website.

According to Anello, he was holding Chloe against a railing next to what he thought was a bank of closed windows .

"I was focused on Chloe the whole time I was with her," he said in his statement. "As I walked with her I also saw that the ship deck was surrounded by a wall of glass. In my experience, any elevated public place I've been with that much glass has always been a protective barrier. …From my point of view, at the moment the accident happened, it was as if this wall of protective glass disappeared. I was in complete disbelief."

"It was a nightmare of the likes I could never have imagined before," he continued. "I wasn't drinking and I wasn't dangling her out of a window. I just wanted to knock on the glass with her as we did together so many times before. I was just so horribly wrong about our surroundings. I was placed in charge of keeping my beautiful granddaughter safe and I failed. It will always be a constant nightmare every day and every night for the rest of my life."

RELATED VIDEO: Family 'in Shock' After Baby Apparently Slips from Grandfather's Hands & Falls from Cruise Ship

Anello entered his guilty plea in October. In agreeing to the plea deal, he avoided jail time and agreed to serve probation in South Bend, Indiana, where he lives.

"This decision was an incredibly difficult one for Sam and the family, but because the plea agreement includes no jail time and no admission of facts, it was decided the plea deal is in the best interests of the family so that they can close this horrible chapter and turn their focus to mourning Chloe and fighting for cruise passenger safety by raising awareness about the need for all common carriers to adhere to window fall prevention laws designed to protect children from falling from windows," Winkleman said in a previous statement obtained by PEOPLE.

Since Chloe's fall, the family has filed a civil lawsuit against Royal Caribbean .

Winkleman added in his statement obtained by PEOPLE Monday that "the Wiegand family is seeking sanctions against Royal Caribbean for the destruction of critical CCTV footage" and has "also filed a Motion for summary judgment and asks the Court to find that Royal Caribbean is liable for this tragedy. As argued in said motion, the evidence is undisputed that Royal Caribbean was entirely aware of the precise risk that led to Chloe's preventable death and yet took no reasonable steps to prevent it."

"As to notice, a former Royal Caribbean Chief Security Officer testified that this railing and these windows were a well-known hazard for years," Winkleman added. "And a former passenger testified about a near fall incident that almost took the life of a small child just two years prior to Chloe's death. As to liability, the record evidence is similarly undisputed that Royal Caribbean failed to follow the universally followed industry-standard of abiding by window fall prevention codes."

"I feel angry at Royal Caribbean because it is clear that these windows never should have been allowed to have been opened in the first place," Anello added in his statement Monday. "You can't go into a single hotel or building anywhere in the United States where windows this high up would be allowed to be opened more than a few inches. Yet on this cruise ship, Royal Caribbean allowed this window to be opened by anyone, at any time, right next to a kid's water park."

Adding that he had "no indication to me that some of the glass panels in this wall of glass could even open," Anello said he knows he "committed no crime," but "decided not to contest these charges" in order to focus on the civil suit against Royal Caribbean.

"This is not case where an unknowing child approached an open window and fell out because the window was defective or improperly positioned," Royal Caribbean argued in their own filing submitted Jan. 2020 that also aimed to dismiss the case, according to The Miami Herald . "(The Wiegands' attorneys) do not dispute this fact. This is a case were an adult knowingly lifted a toddler over 4 feet from the ground and placed her into an open window frame 11 decks above a pier."

PEOPLE is out to Royal Caribbean for comment.

Related Articles

Royal Caribbean toddler death: Grandfather charged over cruise ship fall

• Published 29 October 2019

The grandfather of a toddler who fell to her death from an open window on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in July has been charged with negligent homicide.

Salvatore Anello, 50, was playing with one-year-old Chloe Wiegand while the ship was docked in Puerto Rico when she fell from the 11th floor.

The Indiana family blamed the cruise ship company for the accident.

But on Monday, San Juan authorities alleged Mr Anello was responsible for Chloe's death.

The family's attorney Michael Winkleman said the charges were "pouring salt on the open wounds of this grieving family".

He said the fall was "clearly a tragic accident" and that the family's goal is for something like this to never happen again.

Mr Winkleman is representing the family in a civil suit being prepared against Royal Caribbean.

Mr Anello is being held on $80,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on 20 November.

Chloe's parents are Kimberly and Alan Wiegand. Mr Wiegand is a South Bend, Indiana, police officer.

How did Chloe fall?

On 7 July, Chloe and her family were on vacation when the cruise ship was docked in San Juan.

Mr Anello put her on the railing of a children's play area, believing there was glass there, the family claims.

She fell through a large, open window, landing on the concrete dock below.

According to Mr Winkleman, "Chloe wanted to bang on the glass" as she did during her brother's hockey games.

He said "her grandfather thought there was glass just like everywhere else, but there was not, and she was gone in an instant".

He told the BBC in a statement at the time that Chloe's grandfather did not drop her, but she fell from an open pane that should have been closed securely.

"The family needs answers as to why there would be an open window in a wall full of fixed windows in a kids' play area? Why would you have the danger without any warning, sign, or notice?"

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Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis

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Grandfather Who Dropped Toddler Overboard On Cruise Ship To Plead Guilty

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana man charged in his young granddaughter’s fatal fall from a cruise ship’s open window in Puerto Rico agreed to plead guilty in her July 2019 death, explaining that he was doing so “to try to help end part of this nightmare for my family.”

Salvatore “Sam" Anello, who was holding Chloe Wiegand when she slipped from his grasp and fell about 150 feet to her death from an open 11th-floor window on Royal Caribbean Cruises ship, filed change of plea documents Monday in a Puerto Rico court in which he agreed to plead guilty to a negligent homicide charge in the 18-month-old's death, said the family's attorney, Michael Winkleman.

Under the plea agreement, Anello wouldn't serve time behind bars and would serve his probation in Indiana, Winkleman said Wednesday, adding that a hearing in which a judge would consider the plea hadn't been scheduled.

“I took a plea deal today to try to help end part of this nightmare for my family, if possible,” Anello, of Valparaiso, said in his statement. “The support they continue to give me has been beyond overwhelming and I can’t tell you how grateful I am for them.”

Chloe Wiegand fell to her July 8 death from Royal Caribbean Cruises' Freedom of the Seas ship, which was docked in Puerto Rico. Anello was charged last year in Puerto Rico with negligent homicide in her death and initially pleaded not guilty.

Anello, 51, has insisted that he did not know the window was open when he lifted Chloe up to it, saying he did so to allow her to bang on the glass like she did at her brother's hockey games. He told “CBS This Morning” in November that he was trying to stand Chloe on the window’s railing when she fell out of the window. He also said he is colorblind and that may be why he didn’t realize the tinted window was open.

“From my point of view, at the moment the accident happened, it was as if this wall of protective glass disappeared. I was in complete disbelief,” Anello said in Wednesday's statement. “It was a nightmare of the likes I could never have imagined before. I wasn’t drinking and I wasn’t dangling her out of a window. I just wanted to knock on the glass with her as we did together so many times before.”

Chloe Wiegand’s parents sued Royal Caribbean in December , accusing the operator of negligence in her death by allowing the 11th-floor window in the ship’s children's play area to be open.

Winkleman said Anello’s proposed guilty plea in Chloe’s death would have “little or no effect at all on the civil lawsuit,” noting that Anello is not a party to that case

“He’s not a party to that case and therefore it is not relevant,” Winkleman said.

Royal Caribbean Cruises has said in court filings that surveillance video shows that Anello leaned out an 11th-floor window in a children's play area on the ship for about eight seconds before he lifted his granddaughter to the window. Investigators say the girl slipped from Anello's hands and plummeted to her death.

The Granger girl's family, though, claimed in a January court filing responding to the cruise line's allegations that it would have been “physically impossible” for Anello to lean out of that window.

Winkleman said Anello's decision to agree to plea guilty “is in the best interests of the family so that they can close this horrible chapter and turn their focus to mourning Chloe.”

Winkleman said the family would also be focusing on “fighting for cruise passenger safety by raising awareness about the need for all common carriers to adhere to window fall prevention laws designed to protect children from falling from windows."

A message seeking comment on Anello's plea agreement was left Wednesday with a spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean Cruises.

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Video shows girl's final moments with grandfather before cruise ship death

November 21, 2019 / 7:26 AM EST / CBS News

New surveillance video shown to CBS News reveals the final moments before an 18-month-old girl fell to her death off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. Chloe Wiegand was being held by her grandfather Salvatore Anello while the ship was docked in Puerto Rico in July.

Prosecutors have charged Anello with negligent homicide. He appeared in court Wednesday and was expected back in court on Dec. 17.

The video, which has not been released publicly, will be a key piece of evidence in the criminal trial, CBS News correspondent David Begnaud reports. The video shows what appears to be 18-month-old Chloe cross over to the side of the ship and stand in front of a bank of windows. A man attorneys said is Anello is seen following her.

There was a railing about a foot from the windows, Michael Winkleman, the Wiegand family's attorney said. The surveillance video appears to show Anello look over the railing for one second.

He then reaches down, picks Chloe up and appears to hold her over the railing. Winkleman said Anello didn't realize there was no glass directly in front of him. Within five seconds Chloe falls more than 100 feet below.

"She's sitting on the wooden banister, why did he then lean forward with her?" Begnaud asked Winkleman.

"I think it's pretty obvious why they leaned forward, and that would be so that you could get a better view," Winkleman said.

"What do you say to the fact that he raised her and put her on this banister which the cruise line might argue was not meant for young children to be sitting on?" Begnaud asked.

"If that was the case and they want no one to sit on it, they should say no one should sit on it. … There's no sign that says that. There's no warning, no nothing," Winkleman said.

"It may be hard for some people to believe that the grandpa didn't know that that section of the window was open. … How did he know that there was glass?" Begnaud asked.

"The only way that you can prove or disprove anything that Sam said is based on the video and based on his testimony … Those are the only pieces of evidence you have," Winkleman said. "There were no eye witnesses. There's no one who's come forward to tell any different story. … So all you have is Sam's testimony, his story and the video."

After Chloe fell out of the window, Anello drops to his knees, according to Winkleman, and he yelled out loud, "I just dropped my child. I thought there was glass! I thought there was glass!"

Royal Caribbean did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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Grandfather sam anello, who dropped toddler from cruise ship, pleads guilty to homicide.

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The Indiana grandfather accused of fatally dropping his 18-month-old granddaughter from an 11th-floor cruise ship window pleaded guilty to negligent homicide.

Salvatore “Sam” Anello admitted blame in the July 2019 death of Chloe Wiegand after she fell roughly 150-feet from an open window as she slipped from his hands on a Royal Caribbean ship docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The 51-year-old grandpa said earlier this year that he planned to change his earlier not guilty plea to end “this nightmare” for his family.

His lawyer Michael Winkleman said that the plea would be made in exchange for a no-jail-time sentence. Anello — who is set to be sentenced on Dec. 10 — is expected to serve a term of probation from his South Bend, Indiana, home.

“We have found justice for Chloe,” Puerto Rico prosecutor Laura Hernández said.

“This decision was an incredibly difficult one for Sam and the family, but because the plea agreement includes no jail time and no admission of facts, it was decided the plea deal is in the best interests of the family so that they can close this horrible chapter and turn their focus to mourning Chloe and fighting for cruise passenger safety,” Winkleman said in a statement.

Anello has maintained that he didn’t realize the window was open when he raised Wiegand up inside a play area.

“I wasn’t drinking and I wasn’t dangling her out of a window,” he previously said.

The family filed a negligence lawsuit against the Royal Caribbean last year. That case is still ongoing.

“Why in the world did Royal Caribbean allow this window to be opened, without any warning, just steps from a children’s play area, 150 feet off the ground?” Winkleman said.

“Sadly, all of the discovery and evidence taken so far in the case confirms that this was a tragic, preventable accident and that there are absolutely no grounds to bring criminal charges against Sam Anello,” Winkleman’s statement continued.

But the cruise line has said that surveillance video showed Anello leaning out of the window before he lifted the tot for over 30 seconds. The family says Anello wouldn’t have been able to physically lean out that way.

A rep with Royal Caribbean deferred to the prosecutors’ comments adding, “Our thoughts are with the family during this difficult time.”

With Post wires

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Grandfather of toddler who died on cruise ship explains why he's pleading guilty

The grandfather of a 1-year-old girl who fell to her death from an open window on a cruise ship last year has spoken out about the "constant nightmare" he is experiencing, after announcing plans to plead guilty to a charge of negligent homicide in her death.

Salvatore "Sam" Anello issued a statement Tuesday describing his anguish after his 18-month-old granddaughter, Chloe Wiegand, fell through an open window on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in July.

"I was placed in charge of keeping my beautiful granddaughter safe and I failed,'' he said. "It will always be a constant nightmare every day and every night for the rest of my life.

"I took a plea deal today to try to help end part of this nightmare for my family, if possible."

Anello filed paperwork to change his plea in return for an agreement that included no jail time, according to Michael Winkleman, the attorney for the Wiegand family. Anello, who lives in South Bend, Indiana, will be able to serve his probation in Indiana, Winkleman told NBC News.

Anello also expressed his hope that precautions will be taken to prevent another tragedy. Wiegand fell out of an 11th-story window on July 7 after Anello placed her near an open window he thought was closed.

"Going forward, justice for Chloe must include attention being given to provide the safety measures so very needed on Freedom of the Sea,'' he said in his statement. "We need to make sure nothing like this will ever happen to another precious baby, or anyone else for that matter, ever again."

He also thanked the many strangers who have sent words of comfort from around the world and shared tragic stories of their own about losing a child in an accident.

Anello also recounted the sequence of events on that fatal day.

"As I walked with her I also saw that the ship deck was surrounded by a wall of glass,'' he said. "In my experience, any elevated public place I've been with that much glass has always been a protective barrier.

"... From my point of view, at the moment the accident happened, it was as if this wall of protective glass disappeared. I was in complete disbelief. It was a nightmare of the likes I could never have imagined before. I wasn't drinking and I wasn't dangling her out of a window. I just wanted to knock on the glass with her as we did together so many times before. I was just so horribly wrong about our surroundings."

He remains grateful for the support of Chloe's parents, saying it "has been beyond overwhelming." They said on TODAY in July that they do not blame him for what happened.

"He was extremely hysterical,'' Kimberly Wiegand said. "The thing that he has repeatedly told us is, 'I believed that there was glass.' He will cry over and over and over. At no point ever, ever has Sam ever put our kids in danger.

"(He's) very, very distraught. You can barely look at him without him crying. She was his best friend."

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Grandfather Charged in Toddler’s Fatal Fall From Cruise Ship

Salvatore Anello, who dropped his granddaughter from a cruise ship window in July, was charged with negligent homicide in Puerto Rico.

By Sandra E. Garcia

The grandfather of a child who fell to her death as he held her near a window on a cruise ship has been charged with negligent homicide, the Puerto Rico Department of Justice announced on Monday .

On July 7, the man, Salvatore Anello , dropped his 19- month-old granddaughter, Chloe Wiegand , from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship as it was docked in San Juan, the authorities said.

Mr. Anello, 51, “negligently exposed the child to the abyss through a window on the 11th floor of the cruise ship,” Dennise N. Longo Quiñones, the Puerto Rico attorney general, and other officials said in a statement. The child fell 115 feet off the cruise ship, called Freedom of the Seas.

“This was a tragic incident,” Royal Caribbean said in an email on Tuesday , referring additional questions to the authorities out of respect for the family’s privacy .

On Monday, Judge Jimmy Sepulveda of the San Juan Investigation Court set bail at $80,000 for Mr. Anello, who was charged with one count of negligent homicide . Mr. Anello, who lives in Indiana, was in the courtroom and posted bond, according to Michael Winkleman, a lawyer for the child’s parents . He is expected back in Puerto Rico for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 20.

The girl’s parents, Alan and Kimberly Wiegand, were trying to put their lives together after their daughter’s death and “the charges just shattered it,” Mr. Winkleman said in an interview on Tuesday .

“They are trying to keep it together for their 11-year-old son, and these charges are kicking them while they are down,” he said .

Mr. Wiegand is a police officer in South Bend, Ind. The South Bend chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police denounced the charges brought against Mr. Anello, saying that they should be dropped.

“The charges filed in Puerto Rico today are appalling and do nothing but revictimize a family who experienced a horrific loss,” Harvey Mills, the chapter president , said in a statement.

The Wiegands “stand completely behind” Mr. Anello, Mr. Winkleman said.

“They are confused as to why the focus is on Sal when the bigger question is why Royal Caribbean wasn’t following the standards for the windows that are designed specifically to prevent a child from falling ,” he said.

“We obviously blame them for not having a safer situation on the 11th floor of that cruise ship,” Ms. Wiegand said on “ Today ” in July.

The Wiegands said they planned to file a lawsuit against Royal Caribbean later this year.

“The first 30 seconds of the day I don’t remember what happened, and then it comes back and I relive what happened,” Ms. Wiegand said through tears in July.

“The thing I latch on to is her memory,” she said of Chloe . “She just exuded love.”

Video proves grandfather who dropped girl from cruise line knew window was open, cruise ship claims

PUERTO RICO — In response to a lawsuit filed by the family of an Indiana toddler who fell to her death from a cruise ship last year, Royal Caribbean Cruises claims security video shows that the girl's grandfather knew the window was open when he picked her up and dangled her out of it.

Chloe Wiegand fell to her death in July after her grandfather lifted her to the window on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas ship while the vessel docked.

Chloe's grandfather, Salvatore Anello, has been charged in Puerto Rico with negligent homicide. He insists he's colorblind and didn't know the 11th floor window in the children's play area was open. He said he believed he was lifting Chloe so that she could bang on the glass like at a hockey game.

Chloe's parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Royal Caribbean Cruises in December 2019, claiming the company violated industry standards by failing to provide reasonably safe windows in an area where children play on the ship.

The court documents filed on January 8, 2020, seek dismissal of the lawsuit filed by the toddler's family against Royal Caribbean Cruises that claims they were negligent.

The documents allege that Anello was 'unquestionably aware' that the window was open because video shows him leaning out of it right before he picked Chloe up and dangled her from it.

The documents filed by Royal Caribbean claim Anello's actions were captured on two separate video surveillance cameras, which were previously unreleased. The cruise ship has now submitted those videos to the court in response to the lawsuit filed against them.

“This is not a case of an unknowing child approaching an open window and falling out because the window was defective or improperly positioned," the court documents read. "Rather, this is a case about an adult man, Chloe’s step grandfather who, as surveillance footage unquestionably confirms: (1) walked up to a window he was aware was open; (2) leaned his upper body out the window for several seconds; (3) reached down and picked up Chloe; and (4) then held her by and out of the open window for thirty four seconds before he lost his grip and dropped Chloe out of the window. His actions, which no reasonable person could have foreseen, were reckless and irresponsible and the sole reason why Chloe is no longer with her parents.”

READ | Grandfather thought window was closed before Indiana toddler fell from cruise ship | Indiana toddler dies after falling from cruise ship

The following argument was filed by Royal Caribbean Cruises and comes directly from the court documents filed on January 8, 2020 in the United States District Court of Southern Florida.

There are two closed-circuit television cameras which captured the events leading to the fall.

The still shots taken from the videos show:

1. Mr. Salvatore Anello, wearing a dark short sleeve shirt (see red circle) following Chloe, wearing a white hat (see second red circle), towards the open window on Deck 11:

2. When he arrives at the open window, and while Chloe is on the floor, Mr. Anello leans his upper-torso over the wooden railing and out of the window frame for approximately eight seconds:

3. Because Mr. Anello had himself leaned out the window, he was well aware that the window was open. In addition, the windows in question consist of greenish-tinted glass making it open and obvious where a window is open versus closed.

4. And as these photographs and the photos included in the Complaint show, the window was several feet off the deck. Further, the photographs included in the Complaint also show the middle glass panes contain a handle to allow the operable windows to be slid open. (ECF No. 1, Compl. at ¶ 15).

5. Next, Mr. Anello leans down and picks Chloe up, lifting her over the wooden rail towards the open window located several feet off the deck:

6. Mr. Anello stays in front of the open window and exposes Chloe to the open window, which was 11 decks high off the ground, with nothing but a concrete pier below, for approximately 34 seconds at which time she unfortunately fell.

7. The only reasonable conclusion from the video is that Mr. Anello knew the window was open before picking up Chloe. He nonetheless lifted the child over the wooden rail and the open window for a considerable period, recklessly endangering her life. There was no “hidden danger” — Mr. Anello knew the window was open. The video contradicts Plaintiffs’ version of events and leaves no room to dispute any fact about the incident. Notwithstanding, for the reasons stated in this Motion, the Court need not consider the video to find the Complaint should be dismissed for failure to state a cause of action.

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Grandfather of child who plunged to death from cruise ship doesn't want plea deal

The family's lawyer says he maintains he is innocent.

Salvatore Anello, the grandfather who has been charged with negligent homicide in the death of his 18-month-old granddaughter after she fell from a cruise ship, appeared in a Puerto Rico courtroom Tuesday morning for a status hearing in the case against him.

Amid reports that the defense had rejected a plea deal from the prosecution that would allow Anello to avoid prison time, defense attorney Jose Perez told ABC News "the parties have talked about an agreement in general terms but nothing specific and nothing on paper."

Perez said that Anello does not want a plea deal: "He is firm that he is innocent."

MORE: Harrowing surveillance video captures 1-year-old's fatal fall off cruise ship

Prosecutor Ivette Nieves told reporters outside of the courtroom Tuesday that the prosecution had not contemplated a plea deal, but they have also not discarded the idea.

Anello’s defense told the court that they will be presenting experts that will analyze the scene and his medical records will be provided as well as testimony from his doctor. The defense is expected to provide the names of experts they plan to call to the court on Jan. 17.

Perez told reporters after court that he was still awaiting information and additional documents from the prosecution.

Chloe Wiegand, an 18-month-old from Indiana, was traveling with her grandparents and parents on the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas when she fell to her death in July as the ship was docked in San Juan.

Chloe was with her grandfather in the children's water park play area when her grandfather put her on a wood railing in front of a wall of glass windows, according to attorney Michael Winkleman.

Winkleman said the grandfather put Chloe on the railing thinking she'd bang on the glass. However, the window was open and she was "gone," Winkleman said in July, calling her death a "tragic accident that was preventable."

MORE: Parents sue Royal Caribbean for negligence after 1-year-old daughter falls to her death

The family has also filed suit against Royal Caribbean, alleging negligence in leaving the window open.

Speaking about Anello, Perez said that coming back to the island for each hearing is hard for him emotionally.

Nieves also said they are moving toward putting the case to trial.

Another status hearing in the case will be held on Jan. 27.

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