Babysitter sentenced to prison for 5-year-old’s killing
A 23-year-old woman was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole on Wednesday for killing a 5-year-old boy she was babysitting.
Lauren Courtney pleaded guilty in October to first-degree murder in the death of Ryan Peralto. The boy died at University Medical Center on March 12, 2021, of blunt force injuries to the head, chest and abdomen, a day after surveillance footage showed Courtney kicking and beating the boy, according to her arrest report.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Michelle Jobe said the video showed Courtney beating the boy over a period of 26 minutes and then waiting about an hour and a half to call Ryan’s parents. The footage, which Ryan’s father found after he was called to the house, showed Courtney kicking the boy in the head, according to the report.
Courtney called Ryan’s father after the boy had started to throw up blood, according to the report. Doctor’s at the hospital said the boy had a skull fracture, brain bleed, fractured spleen and damage to his liver, pancreas and intestines.
Ryan’s father had installed the security cameras that captured the beating after his daughter said Courtney had hurt Ryan, according to the report.
“I don’t know if we would have been able to find 14 jurors who could watch that video,” District Judge Jacqueline Bluth said during Courtney’s sentencing hearing on Wednesday.
Bluth said she had “no doubt” that if the case went to trial, a jury would have sentenced Courtney to life in prison without the possibility of parole after watching the video. Defense attorneys on Wednesday argued for Courtney to receive 20 to 50 years in prison, while prosecutors asked for a life sentence with the possibility of parole.
The judge sentenced Courtney to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
“This defendant showed no mercy to this 5-year-old child,” Jobe said. “Absolutely no mercy.”
Courtney initially denied hitting Ryan but admitted that she had grown angry with the boy after he urinated his pants, according to the report. She told police she shoved Ryan out of frustration but said she might have “blacked out,” citing mental health issues.
On Wednesday, Jobe said Courtney’s defense attorneys wrote in a sentencing memo, which was filed under seal, that a doctor found that Courtney might have been sleepwalking. Jobe said the argument was an “excuse” and told the judge that the doctor who made the report was not a sleepwalking expert.
Deputy Public Defender Kathleen Hamers told the judge that the doctor’s report was the defense’s attempt to “try to find out how this started, and how it happened at all.”
Hamers said the sentencing memo also included information about brain damage Courtney suffered.
“I don’t think this would have happened if her brain had been functioning normally,” Hamers said.
Courtney, who stood quietly through the proceeding, read a statement to the judge during the hearing. As her voice shook, Courtney said she took “absolutely full responsibility” for Ryan’s death.
“Saying that I’m sorry or that I apologize just does not seem sufficient enough,” she said.
Jobe told the judge that Ryan’s mother had been following the case, but did not attend the hearing because she did not want to relive the details of Ryan’s killing. The prosecutor read a statement written by Ryan’s father before Bluth sentenced Courtney.
Ryan’s father wrote that his daughter, who was only two years older than Ryan, is still grieving her brother’s death. He wrote that Courtney should be sent to prison for the rest of her life, so that she can “never hurt anyone else again.”
“When they would play together and make each other smile, those smiles were priceless,” Jobe said, reading from he statement. “The moments that they shared together were more precious than the world, and Lauren took that away.”
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.