SIOUX FALLS, S.D.—A Dell Rapids man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his 18-month-old stepson.
Thirty-nine-year-old Keith Cornett received the mandatory life sentence Thursday after pleading guilty earlier to second-degree murder in the December 2016 beating death.
Cornett entered an Alford plea, meaning he doesn’t admit to causing the child’s injuries but acknowledging he could be found guilty at trial.
Coming up, Keith Cornett was sentenced to mandatory life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to second degree murder. KELOLAND’s @donjorgensen will have more on the story TONIGHT at 6. pic.twitter.com/TmatdQeudA
— KELOLAND News (@keloland) May 30, 2019
Cornett said he was “heavily intoxicated” and maintains he doesn’t remember what happened the day the child was killed.
In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to drop several charges, including one for first-degree murder that made Cornett eligible for the death penalty.
The Argus Leader reports the boy’s grandfather, Richard Wigton, said in court there are “monsters in this world,” and he told Cornett, “You are the foulest of them all.”
“There are monsters in this world. You are the foulest of them all.” https://t.co/jvShnKq53D
— ArgusLeader911 (@Argus911) May 31, 2019
An autopsy found six blows to the child’s head—skull fractures that “eggshelled” the skull—as well as bite marks.
Minnehaha County State’s Attorney Aaron McGowan, who prosecuted the case, said the injuries found on the autopsy were among the worst he has ever seen.
2 Life Sentences for Montana Man
A 22-year-old Montana man who was convicted of killing his parents has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole.
Kaleb David Taylor was sentenced on March 15, after he pleaded guilty last July to deliberate homicide in the deaths of David and Charla Taylor, the Independent Record reported.
David and Charla Taylor were killed in their home north of Helena in March 2018.
The married couple killed in an apparent double homicide near Helena Monday has been identified as David Muncie Taylor, 61, and Charla Rae Taylor, 64. https://t.co/qG11ntv6TE pic.twitter.com/KNYqSozGvr
— Independent Record (@helenaironline) March 21, 2018
Judge Mike Menahan said in court that Taylor will spend the rest of his life behind bars because he is “unfit for civilized society.”
“There is no reasonable prospect that you can be rehabilitated,” Menahan told Taylor.
Kaleb David Taylor has admitted to killing his parents in their home near Helena. https://t.co/4box0BXJH7 pic.twitter.com/WCasohIM5C
— Independent Record (@helenaironline) July 25, 2018
Lewis and Clark County prosecutors had taken the death penalty off the table early in the process. Family members had requested prosecutors seek a life sentence without parole, county attorney Leo Gallagher said.
“He has been in system his whole life,” Gallagher said. “He had loving, caring parents who did everything they could and were supportive of him even though he had harmed them and harmed their neighbors, did everything they could to try to salvage him.”
Kaleb David Taylor, the man accused of killing his parents, Charla and David Taylor, earlier this week, admitted to the murder, authorities say. #mtcrime #BREAKING https://t.co/dELT6hFtnG pic.twitter.com/MxcbQibUMc
— Independent Record (@helenaironline) March 21, 2018
Kaleb Taylor did offer an apology in court.
“I made a mistake and took two people’s lives,” Taylor said.
NTD News staff contributed to this article.
