Child killer gets 40 years in prison

An Evergreen man was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in Montana State Prison for killing a 2-year-old boy on Feb. 18, 2015.

In an emotionally charged hearing, his attorneys painted Brandon Lee Walter Newberry, 23, as a young man who had major mental health problems after a bad start in life and who might be able to turn his life around if he is able to be paroled from prison after the minimum 10 years served.

Family members of the slain toddler, however, said the mental health issues were no excuse, that Child Protective Services system had failed the youngster and Newberry should face a much harsher sentence.

“You are a vicious monster,” Kayla Johnson said as she testified that the death sentence or lifelong imprisonment for Newberry would be appropriate. She is the aunt of 2-year-old Forrest Groshelle, who was found unresponsive after Newberry called 911 screaming that it was his fault the child — his girlfriend’s son — was dead.

The child was found with scratching, bruising and abrasions on his body. A medical examiner determined that Forrest died of a laceration of the small intestine, likely caused by blunt force trauma to the abdomen.

Johnson said the family was told the force inflicted on Forrest was equivalent to that of a gunshot.

Newberry allegedly confessed to roughhousing with the child the night before his death, but Johnson expressed her frustration that Newberry did not seem to take full responsibility through a plea agreement.

Newberry originally was charged with deliberate homicide. Earlier this year he entered an Alford plea to mitigated deliberate homicide, a lesser offense.

An Alford plea convicts an individual but does not explicitly admit guilt. It acknowledges that an individual is likely to be found guilty if a case goes to trial.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Newberry was stoic and briefly accepted responsibility.

“I am more than sorry for what happened,” Newberry said.

Johnson said the crime was inexcusable.

“You have to have it in you to kill a child,” Johnson said, saying that mental health excuses don’t justify the death.

She said she moved out of the home she shared with Forrest’s mother just a couple of months before the killing after Newberry assaulted her and bruised her neck. Newberry was only in Forrest’s life for three months, Johnson testified.

During that time, Johnson once saw Newberry leave the child unattended in a dirty diaper when Newberry was supposed to be watching him.

A week before the child was found dead, Johnson contacted Child Protective Services after Forrest ended up with a huge bruise that Newberry claimed had happened when the child fell from a bed.

“They took Brandon’s word for it though they knew that there were warrants out for his arrest for domestic abuse,” Johnson said.

After Forrest’s death, Johnson heard from witnesses who said that Brandon would throw the child in a cold shower to punish him and once locked the child in a room by himself by taking the knob off a door. She said someone also relayed to her that Newberry once sat on the child so hard that the child defecated.

“The grieving will never truly end and nothing will ever be the same,” Johnson said.

Forrest’s grandmother Cindy Juntunen sobbed throughout several minutes of testimony and begged Flathead District Judge Heidi Ulbricht to send a message that killing children is not OK.

“What you have taken from us is so devastating,” Juntunen said. “You took my daughter’s laughter, smile, sparkle, joy.”

Juntunen said she has tried to let go of her anger and hatred and that she hopes Newberry asks God for forgiveness, but she still cannot fully understand the crime.

“I just don’t understand why anyone would do this to such a precious child,” Juntunen said.

Defense attorneys Vicki Frazier and Greg Rapkoch presented testimony from Newberry’s family, a school worker and a mental health professional who tried to explain the path that had led Newberry to the crime.

Testimony established that Newberry was the child of an absentee father who spent most of Newberry’s life in prison for sexually assaulting a child. He was raised by his mother and stepfather who were in and out of jail and drug treatment for much of Newberry’s life. He dropped out of school after ninth grade and struggled to provide for his own child (not Forrest) because of driving violation fines that piled up.

His aunt Teresa Newberry said that she tried to help him get on a payment plan for the fines before Forrest’s death.

“He was making an honest effort,” Teresa Newberry said.

She said she thought Newberry should be held responsible, but she believed there was some hope for him.

“Brandon’s life is worthwhile,” Teresa Newberry testified. “He is not an evil-spirited person.”

Psychologist Andrea Weisman testified that she believed Newberry was remorseful for his actions. She noted that development disabilities, social anxiety disorder and a major recurring depressive disorder created the “perfect psychiatric tsunami” that led to Newberry’s actions.

Judge Ulbricht emphasized the severity of Newberry’s crime.

“When a person commits infanticide, it shakes the community to its core,” Ulbricht said.

She declined putting a parole restriction on the maximum 40-year sentence that is allowable for mitigated deliberate homicide.

Prison officials will determine whether or not Newberry is ready to be let out after he serves one-quarter of his sentence.

Prosecutor Vicki Frazier said leaving it up to prison officials is most appropriate.

“Ten years is a long time and we do not know who this man will be as we sit here today,” Frazier said.

Newberry was specifically sent to the Deer Lodge prison, where he will have the most access to rehabilitation and treatment programs.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.