VINCENT HILL - 19 Months (2010) - North Newton KS

North Newton KS ---- Authorities said this morning they have arrested a man
on suspicion of murder in connection with the death of a 19-month-old boy.



Authorities stopped short of calling the death a homicide,
instead calling it a "suspicious death" at a news briefing today.
The boy had numerous injuries — old and new — throughout his
body, said Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton and North Newton Police Chief
Ray Classen. He also had at least two broken bones.
"Literally, the baby had bruising from its head to its toes,''
Walton said.
Classen said a neighbor told authorities after the boy died
Saturday that in the past she had heard noises, including shouting, from
the residence. But she did not report any of those incidents to local
authorities.
She told investigators that she did call a national exploited and
missing child hotline in the past to report her concerns about noises
from the residence.
Walton said the Newton office of Social and Rehabilitation
Services had not previously investigated the family.
"It's very upsetting. Had we been notified, we could have been
looking into these reports," Classen said.
Police said a 911 call to emergency dispatchers came from the man
now in custody at 3:15 p.m. Saturday. The nature of the call was a
report of a child not breathing.
The child was pronounced dead about an hour later at a local
hospital. When the call came in, the mother was at a baby shower in
Wichita, authorities said.
The boy's 6-week-old sister, who was with her mother at the baby
shower at the time of the 911 call, is now staying with a relative.
If the case is ruled a homicide, it would be the first in North
Newton since it was incorporated in 1938, Classen said. It would be the
first child homicide in Harvey County since 2001, Walton said.
About a dozen investigators from the Harvey County Sheriff's
Office, North Newton Police Department and Newton Police Department are
working the case. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is expected to join
the investigation.
An autopsy on the child has been completed and investigators are
awaiting a chance to study the results.
Walton said the mother told authorities the child had fallen down
four to five carpeted stairs the day before the 911 call. But that kind
of injury is not consistent with the injuries the child had when he was
taken to the hospital, Walton said.
He said the suspect had no explanation for the boy's injuries.
The family, from Peabody, had lived in the two-story duplex since
November or December. While executing a search warrant, investigators
seized marijuana and drug paraphernalia from the residence.
"It's not only a tragedy for this child's family, but a tragedy
for our community,'' Walton said.

Baby has now been identified as Vincent Hill. His mother now faces charges along with her boyfriend. It is alleged that she knew of the abuse by the boyfriend and participated herself in abusing Vincent.
Murder charges are likely against the boyfriend when the autopsy is completed. The BF was the last one with the child before he died.

http://www.ksn.com/news/local/story/Mom-charged-in-North-Newton-baby-death/PZv1ywPcG0KK17gAsfdNxw.cspx

At a news conference Wednesday, Harvey County Attorney David Yoder
did not gloss over the injuries suffered by 19-month-old Vincent Hill,
who died Saturday afternoon.
As the prosecutor, Yoder has the job of studying photos of the
injuries to help determine the charges.
Reflecting on it later Wednesday, Yoder said: "You're stunned.
You can't believe what you are seeing" — the worst injuries he has seen
on a child in decades as a prosecutor.



During the briefing — which included the announcement that
Vincent's 20-year-old mother and her 26-year-old boyfriend have been
charged with beating, abusing or endangering him — Yoder said there were
"very few parts on this child's body that were not injured in some grievous way."
Among the injuries were "terrible cuts" on the inside of the
boy's mouth, fingernails that had been ripped out, a leg that was
twisted in an "unnatural position" from a spiral fracture, a broken
collarbone and an eye swollen shut.
He said it was difficult for him to speak of the injuries at the
briefing.
"This is something that is not possible to talk about without
getting emotional, if you care at all about children,'' he said.
Evidence shows that the injuries "didn't just start recently,"
Yoder said.
Couple's charges
Vincent's mother, Katheryn Nycole Dale, 20, has been charged
with four counts: two counts of felony endangerment of a child, one
count of felony abuse of a child and one count of aggravated battery,
Yoder
said.
According to a copy of the abuse charge against her, among her
son's injuries were: "stabbed with a fork and cut mouth, bruises to
chin, struck across face."
Three of the charges against the mother were in connection with
alleged crimes on March 25 and one charge — aggravated endangering a
child — was in connection with an alleged crime Saturday, the day
Vincent was
pronounced dead at Newton Medical Center, according to a copy of the
charges.
Dale and her two small children, including a 6-week-old daughter
who has been placed in state custody pending an emergency hearing, had
been renting a two-story duplex in North Newton.
She was with her infant daughter at a baby shower in Wichita on
Saturday afternoon when her boyfriend, Chad Daniel Carr, called 911 to
report that Vincent was not breathing, authorities said.
The couple had lived together about four months and did not have
children together, authorities said.
Carr, 26, has been charged with two counts of aggravated battery
and two counts of child abuse. One of the crimes occurred Thursday, and
three of the crimes occurred Saturday, the charges state.
One of the battery charges accuses Carr of breaking Vincent's
left collar bone on Saturday. The other battery charge accuses him of
causing the spiral fracture of the boy's right lower leg that same day.
Yoder said more charges are possible, pending final results from
an autopsy and information from medical experts on timeframes for the
injuries.
Both Dale and Carr are being held in the Harvey County Jail: her
on a $50,000 bond, him on a $150,000 bond, Harvey County Sheriff T.
Walton said.
Dale is unemployed, according to a sheriff's document.
According to a financial affidavit that Carr filled out for the
court, he has been employed by a concrete business, making about $1,600 a
month. He listed monthly expenses of nearly that much, including $500
in child support for a 5-year-old
son and 3-year-old son.
Dale's attorney, Greg Barker, declined to comment. Carr's
attorney couldn't be reached for comment.
More details on report

At the briefing for reporters, Walton provided more details about
a neighbor who made a report to a toll-free state child-abuse call
center, telling them she heard a man next door yelling at the child and
the child
screaming in a way that told her something was wrong.
The neighbor made the report Jan. 20, but the report went no
further than the call center, which was in either Topeka or Wichita. As a
result, neither local law enforcement agencies nor the local office of
the Kansas Department of Social and
Rehabilitation Services (SRS) knew of the neighbor's concerns, Walton
said.
Within a day or so of getting the report, the SRS call center
decided no further action was needed because it found no indication of
physical or emotional harm, Walton said.
No one from SRS went to the home, he said.
If the local SRS office had been notified of the neighbor's
report, "they probably would have notified us" because the local SRS
office and local law enforcement agencies have a good working
relationship, Walton said. Yoder agreed.
Walton told The Eagle on Tuesday and repeated Wednesday that he
wished local police had been told about the report because it would have
prompted an officer to knock on the door of the duplex to check on any
children there. It would have
put anyone who might harm a child on notice that police had some
suspicion, he said.
A check on the child might have led officers to take the child
into protective custody, North Newton Police Chief Ray Classen said.
Classen described North Newton, which sits just north of the city
of Newton, as "a very quiet little town of mostly retired people."
A crime of "this magnitude" is shocking to the residents,
especially because the victim is a child, he said.

This was gut wrenching to read. The poor wee child. Yet again, we have a girl getting pregnant at 17 or 18 and again at 19 and living with another man who is not the father before her second baby to someone else was even born. The bloke became a father at 19 or 20 and had another one two years later. They abuse children but keep on having them. I guarantee they would have had a child together as well had they not killed poor Vincent. Look at the fact that there is also at least one another girl who bore his two children and at least one other boy who she had children to and you've got 4, probably 6, very stupid people and a lot of disadvantaged children with not much hope of a good safe life with 2 caring, hardworking parents and financial and emotional security. I'm so utterly sick to death of it.

Poster's Note: Here's a News-itorial from RightJuris.com

Chad D. Carr, 26, and Katheryn Nycole Dale, 20, both of North Newton,
Kansas , have been arrested and charged in the brutal death of Ms.
Dale’s toddler son, Vincent Hill, 19 moths old.
Vincent Hill was pronounced dead at a local hospital an hour after his
arrival on Saturday, March 27th,2010.
Chad D. Carr was arrested Tuesday and charged with two counts of
aggravated battery and two counts of child abuse.Those charges will be
upgraded to include homicide after the toddler’s autopsy is complete.
Carr is being held on a $150,000 bond.
Katheryn Nycole Dale, who goes by name Nycole, was arrested yesterday,
Wednesday march 31, 2010 and charged with two counts of felony child
endangerment, one count of felony child abuse and one count of
aggravated battery.
Her bail is set at $50,000.
Katheryn Nycole Dale, Chad D. Carr: Mom And Boyfriend Charged In
Brutal Death Of Toddler ( Video ) ( Graphic
content )
Prosecutor David Yoder said the boy’s injuries were the worst he had
seen in his near 30 years of practice.
The brutality inflicted on this baby was ongoing, according to reports.
Chad Carr and Katheryn Nycole Dale have been together about 4 months.
Last January, a neighbor concerned over yelling and a child’s unnatural
screaming called SRS ( Social and Rehabilitation Services ) to make a
report. That information was not handed over to law enforcement or the
local ( Newton ) SRS.
Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton explains with this statement:

“The report does not indicate harm to the child. There is nothing to
indicate that the child is being physically harmed by the father. No
indication the father yelling at the child is impairing or endangering
the child socially or intellectually, to the point that it is causing
the child to deteriorate and not being to function on a daily basis. Not
enough information to determine if the family has a history with the
agency. This completes the initial assessment with no further action
needed.”

Of the little toddlers injuries, Prosecutor Yoder stated there were numerous
injuries, “literally from head to toe on this infant, there
were very few parts on this child’s body that were not injured in some
grievous way.”
Little Vincent Hill’s fingernails and toenails had been ripped out, the
inside of his mouth had been brutally cut, his leg was deformed from a
recent spiral fracture. He also had an eye swollen shut and a fractured
clavicle ( collar bone ).
Yoder stated : “Evidence shows that the injuries didn’t just start
recently.”
Police are emphasizing that if you report child abuse to agencies
such as SRS, to follow up with a local 911 call so that authorities can
make a visit to the home and ascertain a child’s well being.
Have you been paying attention to the amount of children being
victimized by parents, step-patents, boyfriend’s or girlfriends’ lately?
It’s astronomical! Katheryn Nycole Dale, Chad D. Carr: Mom And
Boyfriend Charged In Brutal Death Of Toddler is just another
title to the same
story we see daily, all across America. Why? Has the nurturing gene
been bred completely out of us?
I am among the people that believe our society lost it’s moral fiber
when we took prayer, religion and respect out of our school system.
Our youth are being raised without a sense of responsibility or
consequences. The liberal trend is to coddle and excuse everything, and
it needs to stop.
Is there really an excuse or reason to beat a tiny, sweet, baby boy
to death? Should we keep making and excusing horrific acts like this and
go on avoiding the real issues? Or do we need to band together and
demand change—demand that parent’s put their children ahead of their
libido–insist on harsher penalties for those that prey on the weakest?
We need to get back to basics–family first. We need to instill morals
and self worth in this generation being raised today, or we as a
society are definitely a lost cause. Doomed.
If you have any thoughts on this avoidable tragedy, please share them
with us.

The man charged in connection with the death of a 19-month-old boy faces
charges of possession of child pornography.

Twenty-six-year-old Chad Carr faces 16 counts of sexual exploitation of a child after video
images, were allegedly found on his computer.

Harvey County Attorney David Yoder says that the investigation has been ongoing.

Carr has been charged with aggravated battery and child abuse in the death
of 19-month-old Vincent Hill. Hill’s mother, 20-year-old Katheryn Dale,
has also been charged with aggravated battery, child abuse and two
counts of child endangerment.

More serious charges could be filed once autopsy results are in.

The statement when SRS was called? That wasn't the father, that was Chad Carr.

There were not 4 to 6 "stupid" people. The REAL father did not want a separation. The father's side of the family are victims in this, too. And no, I am not a member of the father's family.

RIP Vincent, your safe in God's arms now.

Maybe the "real" father should've fought harder. There is no reason for a child to die in this manner--NONE! Yes, they are stupid people, just because the father didn't want a separation doesn't mean squat, they were separated-that's the fact. It's damn time these "real" father's started fighting harder or, quit getting women/girls pregnant because ultimately, the child pays the price.

Donna09 wrote:The statement when SRS was called? That wasn't the father, that was Chad Carr.

There were not 4 to 6 "stupid" people. The REAL father did not want a separation. The father's side of the family are victims in this, too. And no, I am not a member of the father's family.

I was referring to his and the others stupidity in having all these children in the first place at their age. She was already living with this creep before her second baby to the father was even born, so the decision to have the second child was stupid too as the relationship can't have been solid. I'm trying to raise awareness of the problem with all these babies born today to teenagers in unstable relationships who end up in harms way. I'm only interested in the real victims here. The children.

The mother of 19-month-old Vincent Hill, who died
March 27 allegedly from child abuse, appeared with her attorney Monday
morning in Harvey County District Court for a preliminary hearing.

Katheryn Nycole Dale is charged with two counts of
aggravated endangerment of a child and one count each of aggravated
battery and child abuse stemming from the death of her son.

Dale’s attorney, Gregory Barker, asked District
Court Judge Joe Dickinson for a continuance of the hearing because he
had not yet received a piece of discovery evidence he considered crucial
to Dale’s defense.

The law requires attorneys for both the prosecution
and defense to share certain evidence during what is known as
“discovery.” Although Harvey County Attorney David Yoder had mailed
copies of the evidence to Barker, Barker said his office had not
received it.

“The evidence is critical to the case and I cannot
go on without it,” he said. “I can’t prepare my client’s defense without
it.”

Barker asked for a continuance of the preliminary
trial until 2 p.m. June 16.

Barker then requested that Dale’s bond be reduced
from $50,000 and that she be released on her own recognizance with
electronic monitoring. Barker made a similar request to Dickinson on
April 30, which was denied.

“Katheryn Dale has been in jail an extraordinary
amount of time already, your honor — 52 days,” Barker said. “She is not
perceived as a threat to the community. This is not a safety issue, it
is a flight issue.”

Barker went on to explain that the
child-in-need-of-care issue that focuses on Dale’s infant daughter would
keep Dale in Harvey County.

“Also she has family here. She is not going
anywhere,” Barker added.

Harvey County Attorney David Yoder presented postal
receipts for records his office sent April 27 and copies of two DVDs
that were mailed to Barker’s office May 5 in Wichita.

“I don’t know what happened to the discovery
evidence,” Yoder said. “They are hung up in the mail somewhere. I
certainly have no issue with the continuance, your honor. Mr. Barker
needs the materials to prepare his case.”

However, Yoder argued against the bond reduction or
Dale’s release on her own recognizance.

“We believe she has made statements about her
involvement with the injuries to Vincent Hill that could prompt her to
flee,” he said. “She also has family in Texas, I believe.

“I would ask the court to deny the request related
to the bond,” Yoder said.

Dickinson denied the bond reduction, but approved
the continuance to June 16.

A new charge of first-degree murder has been
filed against a man accused in the abuse death of his girlfriend's
toddler son.

26-year-old
Chad Carr already had been charged with aggravated battery and child
abuse for injuries to 19-month-old Vincent Hill.

The boy died in late March, and the murder
charge was filed Friday after prosecutors received the results of
specialized testing on the boy's brain.

Harvey County Attorney David Yoder says he
believes the evidence will show that the cause of death was a
combination of injuries. He says it appears the boy was beaten and
suffocated.

The toddler's mother, Katheryn Nycole Dale,
previously was charged with child endangerment, child abuse and
aggravated battery over the injuries to her son.

The man accused of killing a North Newton toddler in March made a first
appearance on murder charges Tuesday in Harvey County District Court.
Chad Carr, 26, of North Newton is charged with felony murder, two
counts of aggravated battery and two counts of abuse of child in
connection with the death of 19-month-old Vincent Hill.



Carr was the boy’s mother’s boyfriend and was allegedly home alone with
the Hill when he stopped breathing.
Harvey County Attorney David Yoder said an autopsy report that was
released Friday indicated the child died from complications of multiple
blunt-force trauma combined with oxygen deprivation to the brain from
suffocation or asphyxiation.
The death was ruled a homicide.
Carr’s murder case does not meet the standards for the death penalty.
Carr also is facing 13 counts of sexual exploitation of a child in a
separate child pornography case. Yoder moved Tuesday to drop three of
the 16 original counts, saying on further review, three images were
questionable to proceed with on charges.
Carr’s preliminary hearing has been continued to 1 p.m. July 9.
Katheryn Nycole Dale, 20, North Newton, also is charged in connection
with the abuse of her son, Vincent.
Dale is charged with aggravated battery, abuse of a child and two
counts of aggravated endangering a child.
Yoder has not amended the charges against Dale. He said the charges
against Dale could be amended, but he is in talks with Dale’s attorney.
Dale’s preliminary hearing is set for 2 p.m. June 16.

A preliminary hearing for a North Newton woman charged with
endangering and battering her 19-month- old son has been continued until
July 7, the Harvey County Attorney's Office said today.
Katheryn Nycole Dale, 21, is charged with child endangerment,
child abuse and aggravated battery. She had been scheduled to have a
preliminary hearing Wednesday in Harvey County District Court.
Authorities said Dale's son, Vincent Hill, died in late March of
injuries that included a beating and, likely, suffocation.
Dale's boyfriend, Chad Carr, 26, is scheduled to have a
preliminary hearing July 9 on one count of first-degree murder, two
counts of aggravated battery and two counts of child abuse.
Carr has been charged in a separate case with 16 counts of sexual
exploitation of a child involving pornography.

A south-central Kansas man accused of killing his girlfriend's
19-month-old son pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other
charges.Harvey County Judge Richard Walker ruled Friday that
there was enough evidence to support trying Chad Carr in the March
slaying of Vincent Hill. A pretrial hearing is set for Aug. 18.Walker's
decision followed testimony from Harvey County Attorney David Yoder,
who said Carr was alone with Vincent the day he died and that the
toddler suffered multiple severe blunt-force injuries.Defense
attorney Charlie O'Hara raised questions about the timing of the
injuries and said Vincent's mother was the child's caregiver. She also
has been charged with battering and abusing her son.Sheriff's
investigator Robert Guest testified that when he asked Carr about
disciplining Vincent, Carr said at times in the past he shoved a rag
into the toddler's mouth when he cried loudly and would sometimes
briefly cup his hand over the boy's mouth. Carr also said he had tied
the boy's hands behind his back, Guest testified.Guest said that
when he asked Carr about the boy's injuries, Carr said they came from
falling down the stairs.Scott Kipper, a deputy Sedgwick County
coroner, testified that an autopsy and follow-up examination showed that
Vincent died from a brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen, most
likely from suffocation.

Katheryn Nycole Dale, the mother of the late 19-month-old Vincent Hill,
pleaded no contest to charges of abuse of a child and aggravated
endangerment of a child Thursday in Harvey County District Court.
Hill was found unresponsive March 27 at the home of Dale and her
boyfriend, Chad Carr. The child was pronounced dead at Newton Medical
Center a short time later.


Harvey County Attorney David Yoder said Dale admitted to injuring
Vincent by jabbing a fork in his mouth, grabbing his face hard enough to
bruise him and slapping him in the face on March 25.
Dale told police she was upset at the way the child was eating.
Dale also admitted she left Vincent alone with Carr, knowing he had a history of violence with the child.
Dale told police she had seen Carr hit Hill and shove rags, cloth and a
shirt in the toddler’s mouth. An autopsy revealed Hill died of
suffocation.
“She knowingly placed the child in a situation in which life and body
were in danger,” Yoder said during the court hearing. “That meets the
statutory requirements for aggravated endangerment of a child that day.”
Carr has been charged with murder in Hill’s death.
Although it is not spelled out in the plea agreement, Yoder said it is
his expectation Dale will testify in the case against Carr.
Carr will be in court for a pretrial hearing on Aug. 18.
Both the charges to which Dale pleaded are felonies.
A sentence on a child abuse charge can be 31 to 136 months in prison,
and a sentence on an aggravated endangerment of a child charge can be 5
to 17 months.
Although sentencing recommendations will be determined by an extensive
court services background check, Yoder said he did not think Dale had a
prior criminal record.
This means Dale would fall in what is called a border box for
sentencing. She likely would face 31 to 38 months incarceration on the
first charge and five to eight months on the second charge.
It will be up to Judge Joe Dickinson to decide if Dale will serve probation or prison time.
“It could go either way,” Yoder said. “The state has made no recommendations. It is entirely up to the judge.”
Dale also will be ordered to attend child abuse awareness and anger management classes.
Dale’s sentencing is set for Sept. 30.
Two counts of aggravated battery against Dale were dropped Thursday.
Yoder said one count of aggravated battery stemmed from investigators’
belief Dale had caused some of Hill’s injuries on March 27.
However, Yoder said further investigation lead police to believe all the injuries from March 27 were caused by Carr.
The other charge was connected to the fork incident. Yoder said if Dale
had been convicted by a jury, she would have been sentenced on the more
specific abuse of a child charge.
Dale’s attorney again requested Dale be released on her own
recognizance. The judge denied this request but reduced Dale’s bond from
$50,000 to $25,000.

This light sentence makes my blood boil. I don't care about her co-operation to save her own butt. They don't need her to get a conviction of Carr IMO so why do a deal???

Mom sentenced to 3 years in son's abuse
BY RON SYLVESTER
The Wichita Eagle

Katheryn Nycole Dale, accused of injuring her toddler son in North Newton, leaves a Harvey County District courtroom after being sentenced Thursday to over three years in prison. Chad Carr, who was Dale's live-in boyfriend, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, aggravated battery and child abuse in the boy's death. (Sept. 30, 2010)


Mother gets more than 3 years


NEWTON — Katheryn Nycole Dale couldn't speak through her tears when a judge asked her Thursday whether she had anything to say about the abuse leading up to the death of her toddler.

The 21-year-old mother sobbed loudly as a Harvey County deputy led her to jail to catch a bus for prison, where a judge sentenced her to serve more than three years.

David Yoder, Harvey County attorney, said Dale's complicity with the abuse of her child, along with her own mistreatment of the boy, led to the March 27 death of her son, 19-month-old Vincent Hill.

"She, as his mother, is the one person who could have taken proper actions to protect this child and possibly prevented this death from happening," Yoder said.

Dale pleaded no contest in July to child abuse and aggravated child endangerment.

Harvey County District Judge Joe Dickinson gave Dale the maximum sentence allowed by law. She could be out of prison in less than three years with good-time credit, Dickinson said.

Under the plea agreement, Dale has agreed to testify in the upcoming trial of her live-in boyfriend, Chad Carr. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial on first-degree murder, aggravated battery and child abuse in Vincent's death.

Greg Barker, Dale's attorney, said she'd been taking parenting classes, as he argued for probation. Dale also has a 7-month old child.

"Clearly, she's a victim," Barker said. "I don't know how much more punishment a court could render a person, after they've had their baby murdered."

But Dale admitted to investigators that she had poked a fork into Vincent's mouth while trying to get him to eat, Yoder said, and that she had slapped him on several occasions.

"She described it as 'popping him,' " Yoder said.

On the day he died, Dale left Vincent alone for the day with Carr, knowing he had hit the boy in the past and stuffed a rag or shirt in his mouth to stop his crying, witnesses said.

"This child had been systematically abused over a period of time," Yoder said.

A month before Vincent's death, a neighbor phoned a national hotline for abused children, saying she could hear the boy screaming. But no one passed that information along to local authorities.

An autopsy revealed Vincent died from a brain injury most likely caused by suffocation and multiple signs of blunt-force trauma.

Jacey Lopez, Carr's ex-wife, and her family said afterward they couldn't believe he was capable of harming Vincent. They have two children together, ages 4 and 5.

"He never touched my kids," Lopez said.

In a separate case, Carr also faces charges of possessing child pornography.


Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2010/10/01/1520032/mom-sentenced-to-3-years-in-sons.html#ixzz116zedfiW

From the time officers rushed to a North Newton duplex and started
talking with Chad Carr, and throughout two interviews, officers followed
the law in getting information from him, a
judge ruled Thursday.
Harvey County District Judge Richard Walker made the finding in
overruling a move by Carr's lawyer to suppress statements that Carr gave
officers. The officers were responding to a 911 call that Carr made and
investigating the death of 19-month-old Vincent Hill last March.
Carr, 27, who was the live-in boyfriend of Vincent's mother, has
been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery and child
abuse in Vincent's death. Authorities say the boy suffered broken bones
and injuries throughout his body. Carr's trial will begin Jan. 24.
On Tuesday, Walker heard three officers testify about the case.
Before his ruling Thursday, the judge also reviewed more than three
hours of video recordings of investigators' interviews with Carr, during
which Carr said he didn't know how the fatal injuries occurred and
denied causing them.
In the interviews, Carr said he sometimes put a cloth in
Vincent's mouth when he was whiny and that he once tied the toddler's
hands with the boy's shirt sleeves — to keep the child from picking
things up off the floor.
Carr told the investigators that the night before Vincent went to
the hospital, he put him to bed at 9 and stayed up until 4 a.m. Carr
said he had no contact with Vincent until he woke up between 3 and 3:30
p.m. and found Vincent not
breathing. Vincent's mother, Katheryn Nycole Dale, was gone that day at a
baby shower, Carr said.
Authorities also questioned Dale, who they found to be complicit
in the abuse her son suffered. She pleaded no contest to child abuse and
aggravated child endangerment and has been sentenced to more than three
years in prison.
Carr's attorney, Charlie O'Hara, argued in court Thursday that officers used "some trickery" in getting statements from Carr.
Officers who arrived at the home after Carr called 911 to report
that Vincent wasn't responsive began questioning him there and took
photographs. No one read him his rights at the time, and he was later
commanded to go to the sheriff's department, O'Hara said.
During an interview before Carr was arrested, a sheriff's detective confronted him and called him a liar, O'Hara said.
But the prosecutor, County Attorney David Yoder, defended the
officers' actions, saying that they were simply responding to an
emergency call and were trying to get information that might help with
the boy's emergency medical treatment.
Carr gave the officers permission to look around the North Newton
duplex where Vincent was living, and officers never ordered him to go
the sheriff's department, Yoder said.
For the most part, the detective who interviewed Carr conducted the interview in a "conversational manner," Yoder said.
Before two interviews, investigators informed Carr of his Miranda
rights and made sure he understood them, and he clearly spoke to them
voluntarily, Yoder said.
After hearing the arguments, Walker ruled that all of the
statements could be admitted, that "no violations occurred ... at any
stage."
The officers who responded to the 911 call at the North Newton
home were reasonably seeking information that could help with the
medical treatment, and they were not treating Carr at that point as a
suspect, Walker said.
The judge said he also determined that authorities only requested
— not commanded — that Carr come to the sheriff's office and provide
information.
A written statement Carr gave was voluntary, and investigators
appropriately advised him of his rights before interviewing him, Walker
ruled.
During the first interview, hours after an EMS crew took Vincent
to a hospital, Carr never said he wanted to leave or wanted a lawyer,
Walker said.
During the second interview, with a KBI special agent, Carr was
informed of his rights, signed a waiver and didn't appear to feel
coerced, Walker said.
When, about an hour and a half into the second interview, Carr
said he was through taking questions and wanted to speak to a lawyer,
the KBI agent stopped the questioning, Walker said.
Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/01/07/1662418/judge-suspects-statements-are.html#ixzz1ANIukOpP

Thank you judge Walker!

No settlement reached for Chad Carr in infant death

After three hours of discussion, no settlement was reached in the murder case of 19-month-old Vincent Hill. Chad Carr is accused of abusing Hill last year.

Both sides met Friday afternoon to work with a judge and the family of Hill to determine if a settlement could be reached. That didn't happen, but the talks will continue.

Chad Carr is charged with first degree murder in the death of his girlfriends son. Hill was found not breathing and had suffered several broken bones in March of 2010. The Harvey County Attorney said at the time that it was the worst case of child abuse he'd ever seen.

Hill's mother, Katheryn Nicole Dale was also charged with child abuse and child endangerment. She pleaded no contest and was sentenced to more than three years in prison. In exchange, she's agreed to testify against Carr if he goes to trial.

A judge told Carr in court Friday that this process is his last chance to influence his fate. If they don't reach a settlement both sides can live with, the case will go to a jury trial.

http://www.kwch.com/news/crimewatch/kwch-news-kah-settlement-hearing-underway-for-death-a-north-newton-chid-20110311,0,7969623.story

A North Newton man charged with killing a 19-month-old Vincent Hill has agreed to a plea deal in the case.
Chad Carr pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and aggravated battery of a
child, Thursday morning in the Harvey County Courthouse.
He will spend 241 months, or just more than 20 years, in prison.
Hill's mother, Katheryn Dale, pleaded no contest to child abuse in the case and is serving a three-year prison sentence.

http://www.ksn.com/news/local/story/Newton-man-makes-plea-deal-in-death-of-infant/Dh4sP3baB0eAJSG9W8WLKw.cspx

NEWTON — Some reporters' questions to Richard Hill on Thursday
focused on whether he was satisfied with the 20-year sentence that Chad
Carr could get.
Hill spoke to reporters after Carr pleaded guilty,
under a plea agreement, to second-degree murder and other crimes in the
death of Hill's 19-month old son, Vincent. Carr was the live-in
boyfriend of Vincent's mother.
It really doesn't matter whether
the sentence is 20 years or 50 years, Hill answered. What matters to
him, he said, is his son is gone.
"I'm still not going to be able to watch my boy grow up ... go to prom ... throw his first baseball," said Hill, 24.
One thing should come from the tragedy, Hill said.
"I want his life — it was short ... I want it to mean more," he said of his son.
Hill
said he hopes to help make people aware of child abuse and how common
it is. It seems like there is more awareness of other issues, like
animal abuse, he said, which has its own commercial spots.
"Why aren't there commercials about child abuse?" Hill asked.
Carr,
who faced charges that included first-degree murder, pleaded guilty
Thursday to second-degree murder, three counts of aggravated battery and
one count of child abuse.
Although the agreement calls for Carr
to serve a 20-year sentence, it is up to Judge Richard Walker to
determine the sentence. Walker set a sentencing hearing for Jan. 17 in
Harvey County District Court.
If Carr had been convicted of
first-degree murder, as originally charged, he could have faced a life
sentence and been considered for parole after 25 years, said Harvey
County Attorney David Yoder.
But Yoder said he concluded — after
weighing the risks and after speaking with Vincent's family and law
enforcement — that he didn't want to face a chance that a jury might
convict Carr of lesser crimes that would bring a
shorter sentence than 20 years.
"It's better to take the certain
thing," Yoder said of the plea agreement. If the judge approves the
sentencing recommendation, Carr, now 28, would be in prison into his
40s, Yoder said.
At the time of Vincent's death in March 2010,
Carr was the live-in boyfriend of Vincent's mother and had been caring
for the boy.
Hill, Vincent's father, said that at one point Carr had been his friend and co-worker.
In
court Thursday, when the judge asked Yoder to provide a factual basis
for the charges, Yoder said the toddler had injuries across his body and
face, including a broken leg and broken collar bone. He said that
evidence suggested Vincent
could have suffocated and that Carr inflicted multiple blows.
Under
the second-degree murder charge that Carr pleaded guilty to, the death
was "unintentional but reckless" and done with "extreme indifference to
the value of human life," Yoder said.
Carr admitted that to stop
the 19-month-old from crying, he twisted the boy's arms behind him,
stuffed a cloth in his mouth and pinched his nose, Yoder said in court.
After the hearing, Yoder said it's the most brutal child abuse death he has dealt with as a prosecutor.
"This case has given me many sleepless nights," he said.
North
Newton Police Chief Ray Classen said he was satisfied with the outcome,
but noted the toll the crime has taken: It is the first homicide since
North Newton was incorporated in 1938, "and hopefully the last," Classen
said, choking back
tears.
There were signs of trouble at the North Newton duplex where Vincent lived before he died.
More
than two months before he suffered the fatal injuries, the state child
welfare agency received a report from a neighbor who heard a man yelling
at the boy followed by the child screaming.
But the Kansas
Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services found no indication
that the child had been physically or emotionally harmed, an SRS report
said. SRS did not inform local law enforcement agencies of the report,
which was
upsetting and frustrating because officers could have checked it out,
Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said days after Vincent died.
After
the death, law enforcement investigators found the boy's mother,
Katheryn Nycole Dale, complicit in the abuse he suffered. She pleaded no
contest to child abuse and aggravated child endangerment and was
sentenced to more than three
years in prison.


Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/11/04/2089370/moms-boyfriend-guilty-in-babys.html#ixzz1ckwZ1QYU

Chad Carr sentenced to 20 years in death of North Newton toddler
By RON SYLVESTER
The Wichita Eagle
Published Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, at 9:59 a.m.

NEWTON — Chad Carr will spend at least 17 years in prison for the murder of a North Newton toddler.

Harvey County District Judge Richard Walker said the sentencing laws of Kansas left him little discretion, as he followed a plea agreement that gave Carr the maximum penalties for second-degree murder, aggravated battery and child abuse. Carr pleaded guilty to those charges Nov. 3 in the March 2010 killing of 19-month-old Vincent Hill.

Walker handed down a sentence of nearly 20 years — 241 months — but recognized that Carr could earn three years’ good-time credit.

Carr was the live-in boyfriend of the boy’s mother.

“I’m sorry for what happened and if there was any way to change it I would,” Carr, 28, told the judge.

Investigators also found the boy’s mother, Katheryn Nycole Dale, knew about the abuse her son suffered. She pleaded no contest to child abuse and aggravated child endangerment and was sentenced to more than three years in prison.

An autopsy showed the boy suffered blunt-force injuries and most likely died by suffocation. “Some pretty awful evidence was presented to the court,” the judge said.

Walker said he hoped the case would call attention to child abuse in the small community and cause changes, such as parental education, reporting signs of child abuse and improving the way authorities react to and investigate such instances.

“Vincent Hill didn’t have to die,” Walker said. “There’s a lot of anger in this case, and I’ve even experienced some of that. But the only use anger has is if people use that anger to make changes in the community so there aren’t other Vincent Hills.”

After being released from prison, Carr will be under state supervision for another three years. He will have to register as a violent offender under Kansas law.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2012/01/17/2178637/sentencing-set-today-for-man-who.html#storylink=omni_popular#storylink=cpy