Jennifer Lee Wilson, the Valparaiso area woman who pleaded guilty to a felony count of reckless homicide in the death of her foster son, Dakota Levi Stevens, will serve five years in the Indiana Department of Correction, followed by one year on probation, per a sentence handed down in Porter Superior Court on Friday.
Wilson, 49, also was given four days of credit for time served in the Porter County Jail and will have to pay a child abuse prevention fee mandated by the state. Wilson has the right to appeal her sentence and can ask for it to be modified after she serves three years.
Dakota, affectionately referred to as Levi by his biological family, was 10 when he died, a few days after, according to charging documents and court testimony, Wilson held him down on April 24 outside of her Liberty Township home until he stopped breathing after he tried to run away, calling his caseworker and her husband as Dakota screamed until he stopped breathing.
“He’s pronounced dead from asphyxiation, a 10-year-old boy, who this court will not ignore, as he was ignored by the defendant,” Senior Judge Michael Bergerson said, his voice occasionally rising as he went over the factors that played into Wilson’s sentence.
Wilson’s attorneys, Kathie Perry and Amanda Price, requested a sentence of three years of home detention and two years on probation. Deputy Prosecutor Mary Ryan also requested a five-year sentence, with two years in state prison, two years on home detention and one year on probation. The advisory sentence under state statute for a Level 5 felony is three years.
Bergerson noted both sides suggested five-year sentences, with differences in how that should be divided up. Still, he also said that the mitigating factors in the case, including Wilson’s lack of criminal history, her remorse, her guilty plea and the unlikelihood that the circumstances wouldn’t occur again, could not overtake the aggravating factors.
Dakota was 10 and entrusted to Wilson’s care, the judge said. Wilson was in a position of trust, which she violated.
“Obviously she applied more force than was necessary and that created the circumstances that led to his death,” he said, adding that instead of trying to resolve the situation, Wilson was “talking on a cellphone with callous disregard” for Dakota.
Wilson weighed 340 pounds and Dakota weighed 91 pounds, according to charging documents.
“All the while this beautiful boy was crying for his life — crying for his life — the defendant is just completely oblivious that she had just killed a foster child,” Bergerson said. “It’s hard to think of a more egregious set of circumstances.”
Any mitigating factors “have to be discounted by the overwhelming proof of guilt in this case,” he said. Bergerson also lifted a no-contact order that’s barred Wilson from seeing two of her three adopted children since her July arrest — she said in court she also avoided seeing the third child to avoid running afoul of the court — because there was no need for it since she has been sentenced to prison.
Court security kept a close eye on both Dakota’s supporters, who couldn’t all fit into the courtroom, and the 13 people there for Wilson, occasionally approaching them and asking for silence. Officers escorted one of Wilson’s supporters out of the courtroom toward the end of the hearing.
Members of Dakota’s family, many wearing orange in his memory, wept through much of the hearing, though kept their response muted when Wilson was sentenced. Once the hearing was over and two deputies escorted Wilson out of the courtroom, Dakota’s supporters broke into cheers, applause and hugs.
Ana Parrish-Parker, one of Dakota’s aunts and the family representative who presented a victim impact statement to the court, said after the hearing that the family was rejoicing.
“There was a total sense of peace that Levi was not ignored. Levi was here,” she said, adding the sentence “is the very first step in our hearts coming together.”
Before the hearing, more than two dozen of Dakota’s supporters joined hands and formed a circle, bowing their heads in prayer not far from the entrance to the courtroom. After the hearing, outside the courthouse, they again flanked together, this time in front of television news crews.
When she took the stand, Parrish-Parker said she had custody of Dakota and his younger sister, who was later adopted, for a year after they were removed from their parents’ home because of drug abuse. She said her younger sister, Dakota’s mother, is now living in North Carolina and had her parental rights terminated, and Dakota’s father died of an infection from his drug use.
The children were removed from her home, from what Parrish-Parker understands, because she refused to agree to increased therapy for siblings. They already had a rigorous and exhausting therapy schedule, she said, and additional therapy would have left them with “no time to enjoy being a child.”
Several other family members also offered to take the children in but Parrish-Parker said that “for some reason, they always found a reason to disqualify” the family from custody.
The family, she said, went long stretches without knowing where Dakota and his sister were as they bounced around foster homes and Dakota was placed in a mental health facility.
Family members learned from one of Dakota’s former foster parents that he had died, by way of a Facebook message, Parrish-Parker said, adding it took several days for the family to confirm the information.
Dakota was on life support at a South Bend hospital for two days before he died, she said.
“Seeing your family suffer and knowing you can’t do anything is very despairing. It brings you to the lowest of lows,” Parrish-Parker said as she addressed the judge, sobbing. “We were not able to be there to hold his hand.”
Given Wilson’s experience working with children with mental health issues, Parrish-Parker said, she had the knowledge to handle Dakota.
“His death was completely avoidable,” she said.
Jennifer Wilson and her husband Robert addressed the court as well. Robert Wilson said the couple, married 30 years this month, had dedicated their lives to making things better for children. He is a school administrator who recently started a new job and previously worked in the mental health field.
The Wilsons had previously served as foster parents for Dakota and took him as an emergency placement in April. They had determined that because of Jennifer Wilson’s health issues, they would not take in any more foster children but decided to take Dakota in again because the placement would be temporary. One of their family members was working to adopt Dakota.
Robert Wilson said in court that his wife was holding Dakota down by his legs because the boy had tried to run away — Dakota told a neighbor he was being abused and asked her to call his caseworker and adopt him — and because Jennifer Wilson was concerned he would hurt himself, something he had done in the past.
Dakota’s family, dubbed “Dakota’s Army,” has called for justice for the boy’s death, sometimes gathering at a busy intersection in Portage Township to draw attention to what happened to him.
Jennifer Wilson addressed “Dakota’s Army” by name in court, turning from her seat to speak with Dakota’s family, often weeping, and said she did not expect forgiveness.
“I cannot ask you for forgiveness because I cannot say for certain I would forgive someone who was responsible for the death of my loved one,” Wilson said, sometimes sobbing so hard she could barely speak.
“Because of this tragedy, you lost him all over again. I am deeply saddened for the role, my role, in this horrible tragedy.”
Wilson was an acquaintance of Dakota’s extended family and said her actions were neither planned nor malicious. She, too, said she was trying to get the boy out of the foster system.
“Just as each of you wanted a loving and supportive environment for Dakota, so did I,” she said. “Never in a million years could I imagine I would be the person responsible for his death.”
Ryan, the deputy prosecutor, said Wilson taking in Dakota shortly before he died had to give them hope, which makes what happened “even more awful” for his family.
“There was a light at the end of the tunnel and she took that light away,” Ryan said. “They lost him again and this time it was forever.”
alavalley@chicagotribune.com
