Jury convicts Peters of murdering baby

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The jury in the Christopher Peters murder case carefully weighed the evidence before finding Peters guilty of all charges in the beating death of 15-month-old Hayden Ivan Ridinger back in November 2016.

Peters, 27, was found guilty of aggravated murder, an unspecified felony, and one count each of felonious assault and endangering children, both felonies of the second degree.

Van Wert County Common Pleas Judge Martin D. Burchfield tentatively scheduled sentencing for 9:30 a.m. Monday, October 16, but defense attorneys have yet to consult their schedules to see if that date will work. Peters, who is incarcerated in the Van Wert County Correctional Facility, faces maximum sentences of life in prison without parole on the aggravated murder charge and eight years in prison on each of the Felony 2 counts.

County Prosecutor Eva Yarger said her office will probably seek the maximum sentence in the case.

“I believe so … we’ve talked about it … I believe he deserves the maximum sentence,” she noted. “This was a 15-month-old baby and he beat him to death and (Hayden) died a horrible, slow, suffocating death while he (Peters) went and did whatever.”

Yarger, who was prosecuting her first murder case — with help from Allen County Prosecutor Juergen Waldick, who acted as a special prosecutor in the case — said she worried a little after the case went to the jury.

“I had some concerns; you never can tell … a jury is a jury,” she stated. “(The jury system) is the greatest system because the collective wisdom of the jury is better than any one person (but) you get to worrying.

“You’re thinking: ‘what didn’t I do, what didn’t I get in’,” she said. “But we went over it and over it and I thought: ‘there is nothing more we could have gotten in’.”

Yarger, who talked to jury members after the verdict was handed down, said it appeared the jurors — six men and six women — were convinced, mostly, by the cumulative effect of the evidence, but also by the fact that prosecution witnesses’ testimony rang true.

The day began with the defense officially resting its case. Yarger then gave closing arguments to the jury on behalf of the prosecution, going over the case point by point while using slides and photos to illustrate the salient points against Peters.

But the county prosecutor said that the case came down to justice for a young boy who was brutally murdered.

“This case is not about Valerie Dean; it’s not about Benadryl,” Yarger said. “This is about Christopher Peters beating a little boy to death. He purposely and violently beat Hayden, causing his death, and then he took off.”

Defense attorney Robert Grzybowski gave Peters’ side of the case, trying to introduce reasonable doubt into the process and making much of the fact that text messages between Peters and Valerie Dean, mother of the young victim, in his opinion, appeared to show that Hayden was alive when she texted Peters at 9:02 a.m. November 15, 2016.

The defense blamed Hayden’s mother for the young boy’s death; however, although they subpoenaed Dean to testify, defense attorneys made the decision Friday morning not to put her on the stand. Peters also didn’t testify on his own behalf.

“Our position is that Valerie Dean killed Hayden,” Grzybowski told the jury. “At best, we have Chris Peters guilty of leaving a child unattended.”

During her testimony on Thursday, Chief Deputy Lucas County Coroner Diane Scala-Barnett refuted that, noting that the boy’s death came 12-18 hours prior to when he was found dead, making it impossible for Dean to have killed him — especially when Peters had made statements shortly after his arrest on November 18, 2016, that the boy was fine when his mother left for work the night of November 14.

Waldick did the final rebuttal for the prosecution, again covering the case’s major points and putting the responsibility for providing justice for the slain youngster squarely on the jury’s shoulders.

Judge Burchfield then read the lengthy jury instructions and the jury was empaneled at approximately 11:40 a.m. Friday. Deliberations lasted until approximately 6 Friday evening.

The verdict ended a case that began 10 months ago on November 15, 2016, when Hayden Ridinger’s body was found in his crib by his mother. Yarger thanked police and sheriff’s deputies for their work on their case as well.