Appeals Court Reverses Torture Charge In Napa Toddler's Death

NAPA COUNTY, CA — A Napa woman and her live-in boyfriend who were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the death of the woman’s three-year-old daughter will be returned to Napa County for resentencing following a ruling Wednesday in state appeals court.

The Court of Appeal of the State of California, First Appellate District has reversed the special circumstance finding of torture for lack of substantial evidence in the matters of Sara Krueger and Ryan Warner, according to the Napa County District Attorney's Office.

Napa County prosecutors said 3-year-old Kayleigh Slusher was beaten so severely her small intestine ruptured and she died from the resulting sepsis in 2014.

A Napa County jury found Kayleigh's mother, Sara Krueger, guilty of her murder with the special circumstance of torture as well as assault resulting in the death of a child under 8 years old.

A separate Napa jury found her mother’s live-in boyfriend Ryan Warner guilty of the same charges.

On July 27, 2017, Napa County Superior Court Judge Francisca Tisher sentenced the Napa couple to life without the possibility of parole.

The ruling Wednesday by the appellate court reversed the jury findings in both cases as to the special circumstance of torture. The relevant inquiry before the court was whether the defendant harbored an intent to kill when the victim was tortured; the appellate court found the evidence insufficient, overturning the unanimous verdicts of not one, but two Napa juries.

The appellate court ruled that the large number of bruises to Kayleigh’s body, including bruises to places other than her abdomen, were evidence of the intent to cause pain but not necessarily of the intent to kill.

Further, evidence that Krueger gave Kayleigh a popsicle was interpreted by the appeals court as evidence that Krueger had intended to hydrate her daughter and not kill her.

Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley expressed her disagreement with the appellate court's findings.

"If not an intent to kill, then why beat your baby so severely that her intestine ruptures?" Haley said. "If not an intent to kill, then why not call a doctor when your baby is screaming in pain as evidenced by the testimony of neighbors? If not an intent to kill, then why not call an ambulance when you find her lifeless body on your floor? I support fully the unanimous verdicts of twenty-four Napa County jurors who had the courage and common sense to call abject cruelty what it was."

The DA's Office said the pair will be returned to Napa County for resentencing but did not say when that would happen.

Kayleigh's body was placed in a freezer then left in a suitcase on a bed in an apartment at the Royal Gardens Apartments on Wilkins Avenue in Napa. Police went to the apartment after a request for a welfare check Feb. 1, 2014, and found Slusher's body, which had 41 visible injuries and multiple internal injuries.

Krueger and Warner were seen leaving the apartment with luggage. A citizen reported seeing them at a restaurant in El Cerrito, and BART police officers contacted them at the El Cerrito del Norte station, Napa police said.

Napa police responded and arrested Krueger and Warner after interviewing them.

The morning of their sentencing in 2017, Napa County Assistant District Attorney Paul Gero said the defendants proclaimed their innocence, did not express remorse and took no responsibility for Kayleigh's death.

Read the complete appellate court ruling.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• Napa Jury Deliberates In Trial Of Man Charged In 3-Year-Old Girl's Killing
• Napa Couple Convicted Of Torturing, Murdering Woman's 3-Year-Old Daughter
• Mother, Boyfriend To Stand Trial For Girl's Torture Murder
• Mother, Boyfriend Plead Not Guilty to Murder of 3-Year-Old
• Police: Napa Couple Charged With Murder Admit Keeping 3-Year-Old's Body in Freezer
  

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.