PROVO -- A man accused of beating his girlfriend's 2-year-old son pleaded guilty Monday in Provo's 4th District Court.

Jason Arias, 24, was originally charged with two counts of inflicting a serious physical injury on a child intentionally, a second-degree felony. He pleaded guilty to one count, and the second was dropped as part of a plea agreement. He faces one to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 16.

Arias's defense attorney, Mike Esplin, said prosecutors agreed to a two-step reduction in Arias's charge if he successfully completes probation, which would reduce the charge to a class A misdemeanor. Prosecutor Julia Thomas said she did agree to the reduction if the judge recommends probation, but she will not recommend probation herself. The seriousness of the charge warrants a one- to 15-year prison sentence, she said.

"I think that's an appropriate action," she said.

Arias was arrested Dec. 31, 2008, in Provo after his girlfriend's 23-month-old son was taken to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, lethargic and vomiting. According to a police affidavit, Arias was watching the boy Dec. 30 while his girlfriend was at work. He told his girlfriend the boy had fallen off the table and was not doing well. In the morning, he began vomiting and was taken to the hospital.

At the hospital, the child was examined and found to have multiple bruises on his head, stomach and buttocks. The bruises appeared to be at various stages of healing, including fresh bruising on his face, according to the report.

"The doctors believed these bruises were less than 24 hours old," an officer wrote in the report. "The marks appeared to be a hand print, as if he was struck in the head a couple of times."

Arias was interviewed at the Provo police station, where he reportedly told police he hit the child at least twice in the head. He also admitted punching the boy in the stomach at least twice a few days prior and spanking him hard enough to bruise him a week before.

Thomas said the boy's mother is very upset by the incident and would like to see Arias spend time in prison. Although Arias has no prior criminal history and has a very supportive family, Thomas said the brutality of the act warrants prison.

She said she intends to show the judge pictures of the handprint bruises on the boy's face and bruising on his body when Arias is sentenced.

"This is pretty egregious, to strike a 2-year-old, to cause that kind of injury," she said.

Thomas said one of the charges stemmed from the child's skull fractures, and the second charge was because of the multitude of injuries he sustained. One of the charges was dropped because the boy had holes placed in his skull when he was born to relieve pressure and his skull was already fragile.

"We could not prove that the skull fractures were caused by the defendant," she said.

Esplin said he believes Arias is a good candidate for probation, but the decision will ultimately be up to the judge. Arias has no prior record or issues with violence, he said. He does have some learning disabilities he has been dealing with and was not prepared to deal with children at the time, he said.

"He's a young person who had not been in a situation where he had to deal with children," Esplin said.

Arias has been in counseling since the incident and is in school and working, Esplin said. He is trying to make things right and even wrote a letter of apology to the child's mother at the police station when he was arrested, he said.

"He realizes that his reaction was inappropriate, obviously, and he feels really badly about it," Esplin said.

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