CARTER VETTER - 22 months (2010)- Lincoln NE

Lincoln police say they have identified a person of interest
in the recent death of a Lincoln baby.

Emergency crews were called to a home in the 3600 block of
Lewis Avenue around 9:45 p.m. on Tuesday, March 2nd. 22-month-old Carter Vetter
was found to be not breathing. Crews took the toddler to the hospital, where he
was pronounced death 45 minutes later.

Thursday, Lincoln police officer Katie Flood said
investigators are calling 23-year-old Micheal Wills a "person of interest" in
the case. Flood says Wills lived in the home, and was the last person to care
for Carter before his death.

Flood says Wills and his wife shared the home with Carter
Vetter and Carter's mom. Flood says the investigation is still underway.

Lancaster County court documents say today that medical evidence shows 23-month-old Carter Vetter died of nonaccidental trauma.

In an ongoing investigation of Vetter's death, a court record says his mother and her two adult roommates could not explain the cause of the child's fatal injuries. Lincoln police say he died March 2nd after he was found unresponsive in his home at 3601 Lewis Avenue.

Lancaster County Chief Deputy County Attorney Alicia B. Henderson says in a court petition that Vetter's death was caused by injuries he suffered from blunt-force trauma.

Henderson said that Vetter had bruising in December not common for a child his age in the absence of trauma. According to Henderson, Vetter's mother, Katrina Saltzman could not explain the bruising and did not take steps to prevent the child from further bruising.

Henderson asks in her petition that Vetter's five-year-old sister Andrea Saltzman remain in state custody, away from the home where she lived with Vetter, their mother and two adult roommates before Vetter's death. Lincoln Police Investigator Michael Barry advised a judge March 5th that Andrea Saltzman should be placed with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services because she was in a dangerous situation without proper parental care.

Court documents say that Katrina Saltzman allowed drug paraphernalia in areas of her home accessible to Andrea. Documents also show that she recently used illegal controlled substances in the home, admitting that she uses cocaine and marijuana with her roommates.

A person who lived in the home where two year old Carter Vetter died was involved in a high speed chase overnight. Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner says the chase started just before 1am Friday morning when deputies noticed a green Ford Explore make a stop sign violation.
Wagner says deputies pulled 23 year old Micheal Wills over near 27th street on Arbor Road and started to approach when it sped off.
The deputy rushed back to his vehicle and started the chase but ended the pursuit once the vehicle crossed Hwy 77.
Wagner says the State Patrol contacted them 20 minutes later to investigate a crash involving the same green explorer.
Wagner says Wills fled the scene of the accident. His wife and passenger in the vehicle was taken to Bryan west with severe injuries to her leg. The chase reached speeds up to 80 miles per hour.
Wills was arrested for fleeing to avoid arrest and traffic violations during the chase.
No charges have been filed in the death of Carter Vetter.

A Lincoln man has been arrested in connection with the death of a
22-month-old boy left in his care.Micheal Wills, 23, was taken
into custody about 10 a.m. Friday and jailed on suspicion of child abuse
resulting in the death of Carter Vetter in early March.According
to the Lincoln Police Department:Wills lived in a home on the
3600 block of Lewis Avenue, roughly two blocks west of Belmont
Elementary School, with Carter's mother at the time of the toddler's
death.Paramedics were sent to the home March 2 on a report of a child not
breathing. Attempts to revive Carter at the scene were unsuccessful. He
was taken to the hospital and there pronounced dead at 10:28 a.m.
An autopsy showed Carter did not die of natural causes, and the police
investigation revealed he died as a result of blunt-force trauma.
Wills also faces felony charges in an unrelated pursuit that occurred north
of Lincoln a few weeks after Carter's death.
According to court records, in the early morning hours of March 26 a Lancaster County
deputy attempted to pull over a Ford Explorer that Wills was driving
after it did not stop for a stop sign.
Wills would not pull over, and after a pursuit long enough to involve a State Patrol
helicopter, he crashed into a ditch and took off on foot, leaving his
female passenger in the vehicle with "severe" injuries.
State troopers nabbed Wills about 200 yards away and he was later charged with
operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest and failing to stop and
render aid. He pleaded not guilty earlier this month.

Micheal Wills was arraigned in Lancaster County Court Tuesday on
a charge of child abuse resulting in death in the March 2 death of
22-month-old Carter Vetter.



The prosecutor requested a $1 million bond, but Judge James
Foster set it at $750,000. Wills would have to pay 10 percent to
get out of jail.

Wills, arrested May 28, will use a public defender in the trial.
If convicted, he faces 20 years to life in prison.

Carter Vetter died of non-accidental blunt force trauma,
according to court documents. Police say Wills watched Carter the
day he died.

His next court appearance is set for June 15 at 10 a.m.

The defense argued Monday the state hadn't met its burden to
move forward with a child abuse case against Micheal Wills in the
death of a 23-month-old boy.
But, with family on both sides of the case watching, a Lancaster
County judge disagreed and sent the case to district court, where
Wills, 24, will be arraigned next month on a charge of child abuse
resulting in the March 2 death of Carter Vetter.
The boy's mother, Katrina Saltzman, was living with Wills and his
wife, Olivia, at the time of the baby's death.
In court Monday, Lincoln Police Investigator Troy Cockle said
Olivia Wills knew when she went to check on Carter that night that
something was wrong and screamed to Saltzman.
They called 911 and tried to perform CPR on the boy, but it was too
late. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
An autopsy found Carter died of blunt force trauma to his head.
Cockle said investigators learned Saltzman took her son and her
older daughter to a funeral in Nebraska City that day, returned to
Lincoln and stopped briefly at a friend's house before going home about 5 p.m.
Carter seemed fine and was being a normal 2-year-old that day, his
mother later told police. He threw a fit at the funeral and again
when they left her friend's house, where he had been playing on an indoor trampoline.
At home, Wills and his wife left for a birthday party, and Saltzman
cleaned up while the kids watched TV. When the couple returned, she
went grocery shopping with Olivia Wills, leaving Micheal Wills to
watch the kids for 45 minutes to an hour, Cockle said.
Saltzman told police it was pretty much a normal evening after they
returned from the store. She watched a movie, had some wine, did
some laundry and went to bed.
The next thing that came were the screams.
Later, Cockle said, Micheal Wills told police Carter had thrown up
pizza after his mom left, but that wasn't unusual. Then, he said,
the toddler threw a temper tantrum in the hallway after he helped
him get his pajamas on, threw himself back and hit his head on the hardwood floor.
Saltzman and Olivia Wills both told police Carter had been known to
throw tantrums that way, hitting his head.
Dr. Suzanne Haney, a pediatrician and child abuse expert in Omaha,
told police the boy's injury could not have been caused that way,
because he wouldn't have had enough force to hit his head that hard.
According to the state, something else must have happened, likely
during the time Saltzman and Olivia Wills were shopping based on
how the baby had been acting before they left.
Micheal Wills' attorney, Shawn Elliott, pointed out Carter had been
with his mother most of the day, including a period he spent
playing unattended on a trampoline.
Deputy County Attorney Amy Jacobsen noted Carter had some
suspicious, older injuries, beginning in December, a month after he
and his mom and sister moved in with Wills and his wife.
In the end, Elliott argued there wasn't probable cause to bind the
case over to district court, but Judge Laurie Yardley found the state had met its burden.

Updated: 3:41 PM Aug 4, 2010
September Hearing Set for Micheal Wills in Carter Vetter's Death
Lincoln, Neb.
24-year-old Micheal Wills, who has been charged in connection with the March death of 23-month old Carter Vetter in Lincoln, appeared in court Wednesday morning.



24-year-old Micheal Wills, who has been charged in connection with the March death of 23-month old Carter Vetter in Lincoln, appeared in court Wednesday morning.

Chief Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly said a plea in abatement was filed for Wills, challenging whether there was enough evidence to have the case bound over to District Court.

A hearing on that was then set for September 22. Wills remains lodged in the Lancaster County Jail.

http://www.1011now.com/news/headlines/99968009.html

Upcoming/Future Court Event(s) Date Room Description
7/5/2011 37 Jury Trial
http://lincoln.ne.gov/aspx/cnty/crimcase/detail.aspx?case_id=397637&docket=CR10-727&Court=District+Court

DateRoomDescription

10/3/2011	37	Jury Trial

http://lincoln.ne.gov/aspx/cnty/crimcase/detail.aspx?case_id=397637&docket=CR10-727&Court=District+Court

25-year-old on trial for toddler's death

By LORI PILGER / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, October 3, 2011 10:00 pm

In opening statements late Monday, the prosecutor told the jury the case they would hear was all about 23-month-old Carter Vetter.
His too-short life and his untimely death, Deputy County Attorney Holly Parsley said.
It will be about Micheal Wills, too, the man at the defense table who is accused of child abuse resulting in the toddler's death.
Wills had been watching Carter the night he died, while Wills' wife, Olivia, and Carter's mother, Katrina Saltzman, ran errands. They were gone for about 30 minutes from the house they all shared, along with Carter's sister and the Wills' two children.
At 9:45 p.m. March 2, rescue workers responded to a call from their home at 3601 Lewis Ave. and found Carter unresponsive.
He was pronounced dead at a Lincoln hospital less than an hour later.
In court Monday, attorneys on both sides called the little boy's death a tragedy, while at the same time drawing battle lines in a case that could come down to the testimony of disagreeing doctors.
Three for the state. Two for the defense.
Parsley said one of her experts, a pediatrician, will say that it's her medical opinion that the kind of injuries Carter suffered could not have happened the way that Wills told police they did -- as the result of a tantrum in which Carter threw his head back and thunked it on the floor.
She asked the jury to pay attention to his bruises, seen in pictures taken in the days and weeks before he died.
Carter had been full of life that day, running around and playing, Parsley said, but that night he lay lifeless, the result of a traumatic brain injury.
Wills' attorney, Shawn Elliott of the Lancaster County Public Defender's Office, argued there was insufficient medical evidence in the case.
"A perfectly innocent explanation is just as likely to be the cause of this child's death," he said.
Elliott said the bottom line was in the time Carter and his mother lived with the Wills family -- between Nov. 1, 2009, and his death March 2, 2010 -- Carter was growing up and starting to walk around in a house with three other young children, a large dog and toys all over.
He was known to throw tantrums and had earlier that day when he was out of town with his mother, Elliott said.
There was no question Carter's death was horrible, he said.
"But that doesn't mean that he was killed, and it certainly doesn't mean that Mr. Wills was responsible for his death," Elliott said.
The trial is expected to last into next week.


Read more: http://journalstar.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_35739c21-eb78-5c0e-83af-b500394931db.html#ixzz1Zptq3pOC

Trial Underway for Lincoln Man Charged with Child Abuse Resulting in Death
Lincoln, Neb.
The State called several witnesses Tuesday morning in the case of Micheal Wills, who has been charged with Child Abuse Resulting in Death.
Posted: 2:19 PM Oct 4, 2011

The State called several witnesses Tuesday morning in the case of Micheal Wills, who has been charged with Child Abuse Resulting in Death.

Lincoln Police Investigators said 23-month-old Carter Vetter died of blunt force trauma on March 2, 2010 in Lincoln. Police said Carter and his mother Katrina Saltzman were living with Micheal and his wife Olivia Wills at the time of the baby's death.


The State called Lincoln Fire and Rescue firefighter Trevis Schroedder to the stand in the Lancaster County District Courtroom. Schroedder said he got the emergency call on March 2 at 9:45 p.m. He said he performed CPR and mechanical ventilation on the toddler on the way to the hospital. While in the ambulance, Schroedder gave Carter oxygen, cardio observation, IV and heart stimulation drugs. He said he also listened to the child's lungs and observed sounds of bronchi or fluid. Schroedder said he was not able to resuscitate the child. Schroedder said authorities on the scene told him it may be an airway obstruction, possibly food. This was a preliminary observation. While being questioned by the defense, Schroedder said he initially did not see any injuries.

The State called Dr. Christopher Christensen with Nebraska Emergency Medicine. He has been privately contracted with BryanLGH West and East for the past 11 years. Christensen said he continued resuscitating and put another tube in Carter's leg bone. He said this was more successful but still there were no signs of life. Christensen said Carter had no pulse or heartbeat and was not breathing on his own. He pronounced him dead at 10:28 p.m. Christensen said Carter was likely already dead when medics got to the house.

Christensen said the left lung sounded problematic. He said he did not see food blocking anything and he can not determine the cause of death. Christensen said Carter's mother told him the child fell and hit his head earlier in the day. Christensen said there were no obvious signs of trauma but there was an abrasion on his forehead. He said he did not see any significant swelling.

The Prosecution asked Dr. Christensen for more details on the abrasion. Christensen said if the child would have had more injuries it would have raised a red flag. When talking to mother, he said the fall did not seem that bad. Christensen does not think the child suffered a head injury. The Defense asked if the fall could have caused the head injury and Dr. Christensen said it was humanely possible. The Prosecution asked 'How humanly possible?' Dr. Christensen said it is possible to not have lost consciousness and still die later on. However, this is usually associated with the elderly on blood thinners.

The State called Lincoln Police Officer Mario Robinson. Robinson has been with LPD since 1994. He was dispatched to the house at 9:44 p.m. Robinson said Carter had no signs of life but administered CPR anyway. He said paramedics looked at his lower body closely, but not head.

Robinson said he received a search and consent form from Carter's mother. Robinson told the Defense, while he was performing CPR he did not notice blood or vomit on Carter. Paramedics removed his pajama bottoms.

The Prosecution called Officer Joseph Kaufman of Carrolton, Texas. He belongs to the police department North of Dallas but previously worked with Lincoln Police. He was with the third unit to arrive on scene the night of Carter's death.

Kaufman said he first saw Carter's mom, Katrina Saltzman. He said she was very distraught and wanted to get to the hospital.

Secondly, he reported seeing Olivia Wills who was sitting on the couch with two children, Jennifer and Andrea. Jennifer is Olivia's daughter and Andrea is Katrina's daughter.

Thirdly, he reported seeing Micheal Wills. An officer Kaufman was training began recording an interview with Micheal. According to Micheal, Katrina and Olivia had gone to Wal-mart. Micheal reportedly told the officer he babysat the kids as they ate pizza. Katrina made the pizza. Micheal had said Carter was acting weird and even threw up a little. He reportedly told the kids they needed to head to bed. Micheal reportedly told the officer as Carter was headed to the bedroom through the hallway, he threw a fit and threw himself on the floor. Micheal had said in the past when Carter throws fits, he throws his arms in the air, get on his knees, then falls straight back and hits his head. Micheal did not say Carter had done that on March 2. Micheal reportedly said he'd just heard a thud because he was walking in front of Carter and that a bruise on his head was from an old wound.

Kaufman said Micheal and Olivia were upset after learning of Carter's death. He explained Micheal's Miranda rights weren't read because he wasn't under arrest. Micheal and Olivia agreed to go to the Lincoln Police station for further statements.

The defense asked Kaufman if there was any mention about Carter acting funny, because a police transcript from an interview with Micheal listed Carter's head was cocked to the side at dinner. Kaufman said he doesn't remember because he probably stepped out of the kitchen during that time.

The Prosecution asked Kaufman if Micheal thought the thud he heard was 'no big deal'. Kaufman said he did remember Micheal saying that and that Carter had 'a big noggin'. Kaufman noted that Carter did not finish his food that night.

http://www.1011now.com/home/headlines/131071703.html

Mother testifies about trying to save her son

A young Lincoln mother took the witness stand Wednesday to tell a heartbreaking story of the night her son died.
The state says the man at the counsel table, Micheal Wills, is responsible for Carter Vetter's death on March 2, 2010. It says Wills did something that left the boy with head trauma and bleeding on his brain.
Wills denies it.
A year and a half later, he is on trial on a charge of child abuse resulting in the little boy's death and faces 20 years to life, if convicted.
Jurors heard Tuesday from paramedics and police, plus the doctor who pronounced the not-yet-2-year-old dead at a Lincoln hospital.
On Wednesday, the case took a more personal turn when Carter's mother, Katrina Saltzman, took the stand.
She had taken Carter and her older daughter to a funeral in Nebraska City that day, she said. He threw a few fits, not wanting to get in the car seat, but seemed fine otherwise, said Saltzman, who is pregnant with another child.
That night, she said, Carter played in his room while she cleaned. When Wills and his wife, Olivia, and their two kids came home to the house they shared, Saltzman and Olivia Wills left for a quick trip to Walmart.
When she left, Micheal Wills was cutting up pizza for Carter. They left him with Carter, Carter's sister and one of Wills' own children for about an hour, she said. When they got home, she said, the kids were all in bed.
Saltzman said the adults watched a movie, drank a glass of wine and smoked marijuana. Then she finished up some laundry and went to bed.
She was on the phone when Olivia Wills came into her bedroom yelling that Carter wasn't breathing.
She said she dropped her phone, went to his room and found him lying in bed, his head to the side with vomit on his pillow and face. He looked purple and blue.
Saltzman started CPR right away, she said. Wills -- the man her son called dad -- was by the door on the phone with 911.
When she moved Carter to the floor to do CPR, he was dead weight, she said.
"I was yelling and screaming his name, hoping he'd wake up or something," Saltzman said.
But nothing changed.
When the paramedics came and took over, she sat on a bed, watching and crying.
They took him to the ambulance, then the hospital. A police officer drove her. By the time she got there, they had him hooked up to tubes and were working on him, she said.
Saltzman stood near the door with her mom and dad and watched, until the doctor came up to her and said they had done all they could.
Her voice broke and she wiped away tears, as did others in the courtroom.
She said they tried one more time and let her hold his hand. Then they started turning machines off.
"They said I could hold him," Saltzman said.
And she held Carter for the last time.


Read more: http://journalstar.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_25364177-3617-5654-8797-bc902f57b406.html#ixzz1a0P14XcB

Micheal Wills, the Lincoln man on trial for child abuse
resulting in a 23-month-old boy's death, took the stand Wednesday
to dispute the allegations and told the jury the child was like the son he never had.
Asked point blank if he had anything to do with Carter Vetter's
death, the 25-year-old answered curtly. "No, I did not," he said.
The state believes he did.
A week and a half ago, Deputy Lancaster County attorneys Holly
Parsley and Amy Jacobsen started building the case that Wills
inflicted injuries that led to bruises on the little boy's scalp and bleeding on his brain.
The night Carter died, March 2, 2010, Wills had been left alone
for about an hour to watch him and Wills' two daughters.
When Wills' wife, Olivia, and Carter's mother, Katrina Saltzman,
came home to the Belmont home they shared, the kids all were in bed.
It wasn't until about an hour later that Olivia Wills went to
check on Carter and found he wasn't breathing.
Saltzman ran to his room and tried to do CPR. Micheal Wills called 911.
The paramedics came, carried Carter out and took him to thehospital, but it was too late.
When his attorney, Deputy Lancaster County Public Defender Shawn
Elliott, asked about his relationship with Carter, Wills said he loved him.
"I felt like Carter was the son I never had. He was my little buddy," he said.
Sometimes Carter called him dad.
That night, Wills said Carter still was at the children's table,
his bowl of cut-up pizza in front of him, when he got the girls in
the shower. When he came back, Wills saw he'd thrown up a little
but didn't think much of it. He wiped it up and changed his diaper.
As he led Carter down the hall to bed, he said, he heard a thud,
looked back and saw Carter on the floor. He was crying a soft little cry.
Wills said he thought he had thrown himself down in a temper
tantrum, but he seemed fine. He got him to bed and laid him down.
On cross examination, Jacobsen confronted Wills with pictures
that Carter's grandmother had taken of bruises she noticed on weekend visits.
When she asked him if he knew who caused the bruises, he said no.
"Did you spank Carter to cause these bruises?" No, he said again.
There were other bruises he did remember. Like the time he
opened Saltzman's bedroom door, their dog rushed in and the door
hit Carter, who was standing just inside.
Or the time he found Carter in bed with blood on his lip, and he
thought it was chapped lips.
There are experts, too, on either side. Forensic pathologists
and pediatricians. One side says the impacts on Carter's head show
he died of blunt force trauma. The other side says there's not
enough information. While his brain was severely swollen, the
bruises on the back of his head could have been caused by banging
his head on the floor. Or he could have had a prior head injury, aggravated by a fall.
In closing arguments Thursday, both sides will get to have a say
before it is left for the jury to decide which side to believe.
If Wills is convicted, he'll face 20 years to life.

Read more: http://journalstar.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_752282ec-1805-5115-89f3-15a697ec3534.html#ixzz1adB57MvX

Jury deliberating fatal child abuse case

The case of a Lincoln man accused of inflicting injuries that led to a 23-month-old boy's death went to the jury late Thursday morning.
The seven women and five men will decide whether Micheal Wills is guilty of child abuse resulting in Carter Vetter's death March 2, 2010.
If they don't find he intentionally abused the boy, they could find him guilty of manslaughter or negligent child abuse, or they could find him not guilty.
In a nearly packed courtroom Thursday, the state said Wills slammed Carter's head against something, then put him to bed and left him to die in the hour he was left home alone with Carter, the toddler's sister and one of Wills' daughters.
Wills said Carter had been acting strangely that night, threw up some of his pizza and then threw himself to the floor and hit his head during a temper tantrum at bedtime.
Paramedics found him unresponsive at the home at 3601 Lewis Ave. at about 9:45 p.m., and he was pronounced dead at a Lincoln hospital about an hour later. An autopsy said he died of blunt force trauma.
Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Amy Jacobsen said jurors must decide whether Wills' story makes sense to decide whether the boy's death was accidental.
"It simply couldn't have happened the way Micheal Wills says it did," she said.
Children don't just die from bumping their heads, Jacobsen said. She theorized that when Carter, cranky after a long day, didn't want to go to bed, Wills slammed his head into something.
"I don't have to prove that Micheal Wills meant to kill Carter. I have to prove he intentionally did some act that resulted in the death," she said.
And, she said, tears and bruises documented by Carter's grandmother on weekend visits, were the best evidence. It all began after he and his mother, Katrina Saltzman, moved into a house in Belmont with Wills; his wife, Olivia; and their two kids.
The bruises added up to abuse that escalated to head injuries that led to Carter's death, Jacobsen said.
But Deputy Public Defender Shawn Elliott asked whether the pictures -- taken over four weekends in four months -- were evidence of a pattern of abuse or could be tied to Wills.
By most accounts, Carter appeared to be a happy, healthy child, he said.
Elliott argued the state hadn't proved any crime had occurred and that Carter's injuries could have been the result of a fall.
"The state really hasn't offered any proof this was an inflicted injury," he said.
Even if the state had, Elliott argued, the better suspect was Saltzman, who had been with her son all day as he threw fits at a funeral and who had been rough with her son.
He said the state was asking the jury to go out on a limb that the boy would have shown immediate signs of brain injury.
Elliott took issue with how the autopsy was done and said the medical evidence provided a muddy picture of how Carter died and when the injury occurred.
"It becomes cloudier and cloudier the deeper you dig into the cause of death of this child," he said.
What happened was a tragedy, Elliott said, but he admonished jurors to decide whether the state had met its burden. Elliott said it hadn't.


Read more: http://journalstar.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_24875ea3-8b18-5887-a007-5d3507cd9e6c.html#ixzz1ahiJ2s32

Lincoln man convicted in toddler's death

A Lancaster County District Court jury found Micheal Wills guilty of negligent child abuse Friday morning in the death of toddler Carter Vetter.
Wills, 25, faces up to a year in prison on the charge.
He was accused of inflicting injuries that led to the 23-month-old boy's death on March 2, 2010.
The seven women and five men in the jury got the case late Thursday morning and deliberated until about 8:30 p.m., then resumed their work Friday morning. The verdict was announced about 10:30 a.m.
They could have found him guilty of intentionally abusing the boy or of manslaughter, or they could have found him not guilty.
The state claimed Wills slammed Carter's head against something, then put him to bed and left him to die in the hour he was left home alone with Carter, the toddler's sister and one of Wills' daughters while Carter's mom, Katrina Saltzman ran errands.
An autopsy said he died of blunt force trauma.


Read more: http://journalstar.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_7ef247d7-53ff-5115-b021-ae61f9c96cd8.html#ixzz1am1v7VGx

Updated: 11:15 AM Oct 14, 2011
Update: Jury Finds Micheal Wills Guilty of Negligent Child Abuse
Lincoln, Neb.

After nearly 24 hours of deliberation, jurors found Micheal Wills Guilty of Negligent Child Abuse in the death of 23-month-old Carter Vetter.

Wills could have been found guilty of three charges. Child Abuse Resulting in Death, Manslaughter or Negligent Child Abuse. Wills received the lesser of the three charges. Negligent Child Abuse is a Class 1 Misdemeanor and carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison.

John Saltzman, Carter Vetter's maternal grandfather, has been at the trial everyday and was devastated with the verdict.

"It feels like we lost him all over again," said Saltzman.

http://www.1011now.com/news/headlines/Wells_Fate_is_in_the_Hands_of_the_Jury_131800243.html

Micheal Wills, the Lincoln man convicted of negligent child
abuse in connection with the death of a 23-month-old, has been
sentenced to one year in jail.

A Lancaster County jury last month acquitted Wills of child
abuse resulting in Carter Vetter's death, opting instead for the
misdemeanor. A year was the most Wills could get on the charge, and
he's already served more than that term while awaiting his trial.

While the courtroom had been nearly full for the trial and
verdict in October, it was almost empty for his sentencing
Wednesday -- likely because Wills' sentence was no surprise.

Still, his attorney argued for less than the maximum, saying
Wills had a fairly minimal record and hasn't been convicted of
allegations involving a chase with deputies.

The state asked for a year.

"The circumstances haven't changed," Deputy Lancaster County
Attorney Amy Jacobsen said. "We still have a dead child here."

Wills turned down a chance to say anything before District Judge
Jeffre Cheuvront gave the sentence, calling it "a very, very tragic matter."

"I don't know whether Mr. Wills was responsible for the death of
Carter Vetter," he said. "There's only one or two people who
probably know the answer to that."

But Cheuvront said the jury did find Wills not guilty of the
more serious offense. And of all the years he's been a judge, he
said it was probably the best group of jurors, who took their job
seriously and were emotionally drained at the end.

The one woman in the courtroom on Vetter's behalf was teary at
the end of the short hearing but said she couldn't comment.

Wills, who has been out of jail since the Monday after the
verdict, walked out of the third-floor courtroom.

"I feel sorry for Carter's family, about their loss," he said.
"But the fact of the matter is, I had nothing to do with it. But
it's definitely a very tragic event that happened."

Wills denied from the beginning that he did anything to cause
the boy's death, but prosecutors believed he had slammed the boy's
head against something, then put him to bed, where his wife later found him not breathing.

Wills spent almost 17 months in jail.

"It was a long, long wait," the 25-year-old said. "I just knew
it was coming. It was just a matter of time."

When asked how it felt to know some still think he caused
Carter's death, Wills said he thought they were hiding from the truth.

Carter's mother, Katrina Saltzman, and her family weren't in the
courtroom Wednesday but expressed frustration after the verdict.

"It feels like we lost him all over again," Carter's grandfather, John Saltzman, said then.

Wills became a suspect after police learned he was left alone to
care for Carter after Wills' wife and Carter's mother ran some
errands the night of March 2, 2010.

Carter was in bed when they came back to the home they shared.

Wills' wife later found Carter in his bed not breathing. And,
despite attempts to revive him, he died at a Lincoln hospital.

Read more: http://journalstar.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_266228cd-cd84-5a4c-9f91-89c6688d7272.html#ixzz1cfDhuM1M

Wow a poor baby boy was killed and all anyone got was one year. No justice for Carter.