VAN WERT — Judge Martin Burchfield of Van Wert County Common Pleas Court on Monday sentenced Christopher Peters to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the November death of an infant left in his care.
Peters, 27, of Delphos, was convicted last month by a Van Wert County jury on charges of aggravated murder, felonious assault and endangering a child in the November death of 15-month-old Hayden Ridinger, whose lifeless body was found inside an apartment shared by the defendant and the infant’s mother at The Old Lincoln Inn in Delphos.
The infant’s death was attributed by medical experts to blunt-force trauma due to massive injuries to his body. Defense attorneys throughout the trial had attempted to blame Valerie Dean, the infant’s mother, for the child’s death and continued to do so at Monday’s sentencing hearing.
Lima attorney William Kluge, representing Peters, indicated to the court that the jury’s verdicts will be appealed. Kluge said he instructed Peters not to address the court before sentencing for that reason.
In his statements to the court, Kluge said he continues to believe that Hayden Ridinger’s natural mother shares culpability in the infant’s death and that his client “continues to deny any involvement” in the fatal injuries suffered by the child.
Van Wert County Prosecuting Attorney Eva Yarger, who, along with specially appointed prosecutor Juergen Waldick of Allen County, presented the state’s case, argued for the longest possible sentence allowable for Peters. She cited the defendant’s lengthy criminal history — with previous charges of domestic violence, theft, drug abuse and cruelty to animals — in suggesting to the court that Peters is “strongly likely to reoffend” should he ever be released from prison. She told the court that any sentence other than the maximum would “demean the seriousness of [Peters’] conduct.”
Also addressing the court immediately before sentencing was Hayden Ridinger’s maternal grandmother, who read a statement from her daughter, Valerie Dean. In the written statement, Dean said that Peters “took a baby from his mother. He was her heart and soul and you took that away from her. The pain she feels is like no other and she will never be the same. Hayden is in God’s arms now, but his mother is living in hell.”
After sentencing, Peters was remanded for transportation to the state prison system. Dean faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment and will stand trial in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court beginning Dec. 18.
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