A judge called the death of a 20-month-old toddler "one of the worst cases of child abuse" he had seen and sentenced the mother's boyfriend to life in prison for administering the beating.
First District Judge Gary Haman ordered Ralph J. Reyes, 22, to serve at least 20 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. Reyes pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in October in the death of Anthony Mitchell.
"I think any lesser sentence would seriously degrade and lessen the crime that had been committed," Haman said.
Anthony died Oct. 29, 1996, after being punched, slapped, poked and shaken while Reyes was baby-sitting him. An autopsy showed the boy died of bleeding from the liver.
The physical damage included head injuries, five fractured ribs, a torn liver and bruises to his pancreas, bowel, heart and lungs.
"I'd just like to apologize to the family for the loss of their child," Reyes said. "There was no intention of harm whatsoever."
Deputy Prosecutor Erika Ellingsen disputed Reyes' claims that he lost control and inflicted the injuries during a single continuous act. Ellingsen argued Reyes beat the toddler on separate occasions over more than three hours.
Several times Reyes had chances to walk away but did not, she said.
"This was a crime of utmost violence," Ellingsen said. "There are extremely few places on this little boy's body that were not bruised or injured in some way. The bruises, Judge, are too numerous to count."
Theresa Smith, whom Reyes asked to call for help, still has nightmares about trying to breathe life back into her nephew's body while she waited for paramedics to arrive.
Images of her effort to revive the boy by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation wake her in the middle of the night, she said. One dream plays repeatedly.
"He just looks at me and says, 'Aunt Theresa it's not going to work' and he just dies in my arms," Smith said.
The emergency room doctor who tried to revive the boy when he was brought to Kootenai Medical Center called the case the worst he'd ever seen.
"There's no way this could have occurred accidentally," said Dr. Mark Manteuffel, who also wrote a letter to the newspaper encouraging people to attend Reyes' sentencing.
A counselor and a nun who have regularly visited Reyes in the Kootenai County Jail testified he has demonstrated remorse for the killing.
Counselor Elaine Cartwright said Reyes, during their conversations, has never denied beating the toddler. He is learning to deal with his emotions and has wanted to apologize to Anna Mitchell, the boy's mother.
"All this happened so quick," Cartwright said. "He never had the right to say he was sorry or express his grief."
Sister Jane Kelly remembered being pregnant with her second child, before she became a nun, and nearly losing control when her first would not stop crying. Kelly said she stopped herself before slamming the child into a wall.
"I knew if this could happen to me, it could happen to anyone," Kelly told Haman.
She asked the judge to show understanding when sentencing Reyes, but the judge said the severity of the case warranted a harsh sentence.
"I feel like justice to Anthony happened today," Ellingsen said.
