Judge balks at sentence deal, gives maximum
A mother whose boyfriend killed her 16- month- old daughter in their Reynoldsburg apartment was outraged when she learned about a plea agreement that had been worked out in the case.
Kyler W. Larrick, 21, was set to get eight years in prison for one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Khloe Lee. That was the recommendation by both prosecuting and defense attorneys.
“This heartless coward is pretty much getting a slap on the wrist for coldblooded murder,” Autumn Lee, 19, wrote in a letter to the judge and attorneys in the case. “Eight years is absolutely ridiculous.
“This is the way you want people to see how the judicial system works?”
The letter was read aloud Tuesday by the child’s stepgrandmother in court as Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Julie M. Lynch prepared to impose the sentence.
After listening to the letter and comments from other family members, Lynch announced that she was sentencing Larrick to 11 years in prison and a $20,000 fine — the maximum penalties for involuntary manslaughter.
“It’s been the policy of this court to accept joint recommendations,” she said. “Today is the day I cannot, folks ... There is an innocent baby dead, and this is not justice.
“Children are under attack in this country every day. If you’re not beating them, they’re being sexually abused, and this court is taking a stand on behalf of those babies. Period. End of story.”
Defense attorney Dan Sabol began to explain that his client is indigent and can’t pay the fine.
“I get it, but it will still be there in the event that he wins the lottery, anything like that, OK?” the judge said.
Khloe wasn’t breathing when her mother arrived at the Steinway Drive apartment from work on the morning of Jan. 26, 2016. Larrick, who had been baby- sitting the child, told investigators that Khloe had stopped breathing the previous night. He didn’t call 911.
An autopsy determined that Khloe suffered a skull fracture “as a result of a crushing injury,” Assistant Prosecutor Kacey Chappelear told the judge. Despite examinations by two pathologists, “we weren’t able to conclusively determine that the injury was inflicted intentionally,” she said.
Larrick’s admission that the injury occurred while he was watching Khloe and that he never attempted to call for help led to the plea agreement, Chappelear said.
Given an opportunity to make a comment in court, Larrick told the judge: “I have nothing to say.”
The hearing was emotional from the start, when the child’s maternal grandfather stormed out of the courtroom. “I’ve got to get out of here, or I’m going to kill that ( expletive) if I don’t get the ( expletive) out of here,” he said, staring at Larrick. “I’m watching and waiting on you.”
Autumn Lee, who now lives out of state, declined to attend the hearing.
“She can’t stand to be here and deal with this,” her mother, Shannon Gilliam, told the judge.
As the hearing ended, Lynch told the family: “I don’t indict ’ em, I don’t prosecute ’ em, I don’t defend ’em. I sentence them. And that is the maximum under the law that I can do, and I will do that for you and for that baby.”
The family members thanked her from the gallery. They declined to comment as they left the courtroom.