Everett man, girlfriend found guilty in boy’s starvation

Published 3:40 pm Wednesday, December 19, 2007

A south Everett man and his girlfriend were convicted Wednesday of first-degree criminal mistreatment for nearly starving the man’s 4-year-old son to death.

Danny Jay Abegg, 27, and Marilea Rose Mitchell, 23, withheld food from tiny Shayne Abegg, who was taken out of the home in March after the boy’s aunt tipped off state Child Protective Services about Shayne’s condition.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne made made the finding this afternoon at the conclusion of a two-day trial. The defendants’ attorneys chose not to try the case in front of a jury.

Wynne also found that there were two aggravating circumstances; that the boy was particularly vulnerable, and that the crime was part of an ongoing pattern of abuse. Those findings could mean additional prison time when the pair is sentenced in a month or two.

When Abegg was 14 months old he weighed 30 pounds. Nearly 3 years later, he weighed just 25 pounds

During closing arguments Wednesday, deputy prosecutor Mark Roe reminded the judge of the cliché about a picture being worth a thousand words.

More than 40 photos of Shayne became evidence in the two-day trial. Many were taken after he was removed from his father’s apartment, and showed the boy as gaunt and pale. Detectives also shot a video of Shayne in his room at Children’s Regional Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle.

“The pictures you’ve seen are worth a million words,” Roe told the judge in his closing argument. “The video you’ve seen is worth probably a couple million.”

Shayne was in “horrible condition” and near death when he was first seen by doctors, Roe said. The boy’s temperature was 87 degrees, and his heart rate was 30 beats a minute when it should be closer to 100, Roe said. He was wasting away for lack of nourishment. He had virtually no fat, and his body was feeding off his muscles.

Shayne came unexpectedly to Abegg about a year before he was taken out of the home in March. He was not wanted in the Abegg household.

Abegg started to prepare papers to put Shayne up for adoption a week before sheriff’s deputies checked on his welfare March 7. They immediately called for an aid crew.

Nobody denied that Shayne was in bad shape when he was taken from the home.

Abegg’s lawyer, public defender Marybeth Dingledy, told Wynne that Abegg simply didn’t know how bad the condition was, and her client expressed regret when detectives told him the boy could have died.

“Danny is not a doctor. Danny is not an expert,” Dingledy told the judge. “Danny knew he was bad. He didn’t know how bad his condition was.”

She also told the judge that Abegg and Mitchell were new parents and were overwhelmed with Shayne and a then year-old girl that they had.

“It’s horrible parenting but not deliberate cruelty,” she said, adding that the judge should not find aggravating circumstances that could warrant a stiffer prison sentence.

Mitchell’s lawyer, Steve Garvey of Everett, said the couple “was clueless” and had no idea Shayne was in danger of dying.

“We’re not asking the court to decide that Marilea Mitchell should be mother of the year,” Garvey said “We’re asking the court to decide she was negligent and not reckless. These are two people who were thrust into parenthood and didn’t know what to do.”

Garvey said that Mitchell tried.

“She did the best she could,” Garvey said. “It wasn’t good enough but she did the best she could.”