(This story was updated and expanded May 1 at 9:35 p.m.)
[R]UTLAND — Dennis Duby has told police a few different stories about how his 2-year-old stepdaughter, Dezirae Sheldon, suffered the head injuries that led to her death.
On Monday he admitted he killed her, pleading guilty to second-degree murder in Rutland Superior Court.
As part of a plea deal, he faces at least 13 years in prison when he is formally sentenced next month in a case that prompted calls for change in how Vermont deals with the state supervision of children.
“I have a life sentence,” Duby, 34, said in court, his first public statements since Dezirae’s death more than three years ago. “I live with it every day.”
It was February 2014, and the girl’s mother, Sandra Eastman, had just left the Poultney home she shared with Duby to take care of errands — shopping and laundry. Duby said he was caring for Dezirae.
“Your honor, I was extremely tired,” Duby told Judge Cortland Corsones. “I worked the night before, I was bouncing at a club.”
Then, he said, “Dezi was crying because Sandra left and she wanted Sandra.”
Duby said he couldn’t get Dezirae to stop.
“I did everything I could. I became irritated and frustrated, and I used my foot to try to move her,” he said. “I did move her butt.”
Duby said that as he kicked at his stepdaughter, her legs came out from under her and she fell backward.
“Her head hit the floor,” he added. “At that point, I didn’t know what to do.”
He said he called Eastman, who returned home. It was Eastman who then called 911. The girl was rushed to Rutland Regional Medical Center and later transferred to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. She died there two days later.
‘Injuries were so severe’
Dezirae died of blunt force trauma to her head “inflicted by another person,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Levine, who prosecuted the case with Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy, said in court Monday.
Levine said that when the girl was taken to the hospital, statements about how she got hurt didn’t add up with the severity of the injuries.
She had a crushed skull and extensive brain swelling, he said.
“The nature of these injuries were so severe that they typically are seen in the kind of force resulting from a high-speed motor vehicle accident or a fall from a multistory building,” Levine said. “The loss of consciousness, again, would have been very immediate.”
Cellphone records and video from places Eastman had been that day, Levine said, showed that she was not home at the time Dezirae suffered her injuries.
“The sole caregiver for Dezirae was Mr. Duby,” the prosecutor said. “Up until today, Mr. Duby, in a series of interviews with Vermont State Police, had put forth a number of explanations.”
Those included not knowing what happened, and falling asleep and waking up after hearing a loud noise and finding Dezirae had fallen and injured herself.
“None of those stories were, from the state perspective, consistent with the medical evidence,” the prosecutor said.
However, if the state had gone to trial with the case, Levine said, there were risks.
“The state could not have specifically explained to the jury how in fact this injury happened,” the prosecutor said. “The jury would be left to conclude by circumstantial evidence that based on the severity of the injuries and the timing of the injuries that it must have been at least willful and wanton disregard of life.”
The defense, he said, had its own expert who was expected to testify if the case had gone to trial.
“(The expert) was going to say that there’s at least a possibility that a modest to short fall, in certain cases, had produced fatal injuries,” according to Levine. “From the state’s perspective, that’s incredibly rare.”
Whether a jury would believe that expert, Levine said, is not known, but there may have been a chance of a “compromise verdict” of manslaughter rather than murder.
Levine said that with Duby admitting to an act that caused Dezirae’s death, a plea agreement was put on the table.
As part of the deal, Duby will receive a sentence of 20 years to life in prison, with all but 13 years suspended. That means he will have to spend at least 13 years behind bars.
Corsones accepted Duby’s plea and ordered the state Department of Corrections to conduct a presentence investigation. A formal sentencing hearing is expected next month.
Push for change
Dezirae’s biological father, Willis Sheldon, sued the state in 2014, alleging it failed to adequately protect his daughter. The state settled the lawsuit this year for $500,000.
Dezirae had previously suffered injuries that raised concerns of abuse and neglect and prompted the Department for Children and Families to become involved.
About a year before Dezirae’s death, she was taken to the hospital with breaks in both legs.
She was taken into state custody at that time and placed in the care of a relative. However, DCF eventually placed her back in Eastman’s custody in the home she shared with Duby.
Vermont State Police conducted a criminal inquiry into DCF’s handling of Dezirae’s case, with then-Attorney General William Sorrell reviewing the case. He determined there had been no criminal wrongdoing on the part of the social workers involved.
The girl’s death did help lead to a legislative review and overhaul of Vermont’s child protection system.
In the $500,000 settlement with Dezirae’s biological father, the state did not admit to any wrongdoing.
“The state has always believed that the social workers involved in this case did their best to try to help this child,” Assistant Attorney General David Gross said at the time the settlement was announced. “DCF social workers dedicate their lives to protecting children, and we want them to be able to focus on that important work.”
Dan Maguire, Duby’s attorney, declined to comment after Monday’s hearing.
Asked after the hearing if he believed the version of events Duby described in court, Levine declined to comment specifically.
“Certainly this is the first time in all of his statements that he’s ever admitted intentionally doing anything that would constitute criminal conduct,” the prosecutor said. “We thought that was a noteworthy change.”
