Exactly what happened to 2-year-old Jett Small has been a mystery since one afternoon in April 2002 when paramedics arrived at a northeast Everett residence to treat him for a serious head injury.
How the boy suffered a fatal blow remained a secret Tuesday when the only person who knows, the man who admitted responsibility for the death, was sentenced to 8 1/2years in prison.
Saksit Edmond "Mike" Shane, 37, of Everett told Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne only that he "played a little too rough" with the child.
That wasn’t enough.
Jett’s parents, the deputy prosecutor and the judge all beseeched him to tell them more. Just how did the lively child suffer internal head injuries that killed him?
Shane did not, and it cost him an extra seven months in prison.
Deputy prosecutor Lisa Paul had recommended a 95-month sentence. The judge gave him the high end of the range, 102 months.
The sentencing came during an emotional hearing where Shane’s ex-wife said the defendant is normally a kind and good person, and the boy’s relatives talked about how Jett’s death has tormented them.
Shane used to be Jett’s neighbor, and he had been baby-sitting the child April 3 when he suffered the fatal blow.
Shane pleaded guilty in October to first-degree manslaughter in the boy’s death and to fourth-degree assault for later striking out at his own daughter.
He will be on community custody up to four years after he’s released from prison and will have to pay restitution for medical expenses, counseling and Jett’s funeral expenses.
The boy’s father, Dwane Small of Everett, said he and his wife lost a baby daughter to congenital heart disease a year before their son was killed.
"It’s been kind of a living nightmare for the family," he said. "I never really heard what happened to (Jett) that afternoon."
Shane told an investigating Everett detective a number of stories about how Jett suffered such a head injury that caused his death the next day at a Seattle hospital. One of them was that his own 2-year-old son clobbered Jett with a toy.
Doctors likened the injury to that caused by a high-speed auto accident.
Jett’s mother, Sue Small of Seattle, said she doesn’t understand the lies. The death has brought two years of "pain and torment."
Jett’s grandmother, Deborah Thompson of Kent, added, "There are no words to describe the heartache this devastating loss caused our family."
Paul said she recommend the middle of the sentencing range because Shane pleaded guilty. Still, she pleaded with him to tell family members what happened.
"It’s critical for him to take responsibility," Paul told the judge.
Defense lawyer Caroline Mann clarified information in early court documents that indicated Shane may have delayed a long time before calling for aid for Jett. She said the delay was only 10 or 15 minutes, while he made panicked telephone calls trying to reach Jett’s parents.
The harm he did to Jett and to his then-12-year-old daughter were "aberrations" in his life. He had cared for children a long time before this happened, Mann said.
Shane told the judge he is responsible, and he’s sorry.
"I have to live with this the rest of my life," he said. "It was reckless. I played a little too rough. I’m sorry. Truly, I am sorry."
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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