{"id":94563,"date":"2017-10-24T07:30:46","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T12:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=94563"},"modified":"2017-10-25T07:40:11","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T12:40:11","slug":"peters-gets-life-in-prison-without-parole-for-killing-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2017\/10\/24\/peters-gets-life-in-prison-without-parole-for-killing-child\/","title":{"rendered":"Peters gets life in prison without parole"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Convicted murderer Christopher Peters received the maximum sentence on all three counts during a hearing held Monday morning in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court in connection with the death of 15-month-old Hayden Ivan Ridinger.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A less clean-cut Christopher Peters is shown with defense attorney Robert Grzybowski prior to his sentencing Monday afternoon in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court.<\/strong> Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Peters, 27, who was living with the child and the boy’s mother, Valerie Dean, at the Old Lincoln Inn in Delphos in November 2015 when the child was found dead, was sentenced by Judge Martin D. Burchfield to consecutive sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole on one count of aggravated murder, an undesignated felony, and eight years each on counts of felonious assault and endangering children, both felonies of the second degree, in the death of 15-month-old Hayden Ridinger.<\/p>\n

Judge Burchfield also gave Peters credit for 304 days already served while awaiting trial and his subsequent sentencing.<\/p>\n

William Kluge, one of two attorneys who represented Peters, said his client will \u201cchallenge the evidence\u201d in the case on appeal, and noted his opinion there was some confusion as to who actually murdered Hayden: Peters or the boy\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

Kluge also asserted that Peters had not had any serious offenses on his record prior to his conviction in this case.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has had some minor issues in the past, but nothing like this,\u201d the attorney told the judge.<\/p>\n

County Prosecutor Eva Yarger also made a statement prior to sentencing, challenging Kluge\u2019s claim that Peters had not been convicted of anything other than minor misdemeanors. Yarger noted that Peters had several domestic violence convictions as a juvenile, including felony domestic violence, and one conviction as a juvenile for cruelty to animals. He also was convicted of misdemeanor drug counts as an adult.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a violent juvenile and he is a violent adult,\u201d Yarger said in asking for the maximum penalty of life without parole on the murder charge. She also noted she feels Peters is \u201cextremely likely to reoffend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yarger spoke about the cruelty of the boy\u2019s death, showing a photo of Hayden smiling as a baby and then a photo of the young child lying dead in his crib.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Allen County Prosecutor Juergen Waldick, who assisted in the Peters murder trial as a special prosecutor, has a photo of Hayden Ivan Ridinger on his computer during the sentencing of Christopher Peters, who was convicted of murdering the boy.<\/strong> Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201c(Peters) beat him and beat him and beat him until he died,\u201d Yarger said of the boy\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor became emotional at times as she talked about the \u201cfear and confusion\u201d the young boy must have felt during the beating.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot knowing why someone who was supposed to take care of him was hurting him,\u201d she said, adding that there was \u201cno provocation, let alone a strong provocation,\u201d to mitigate the crime.<\/p>\n

Prior to sentencing, Joyce Ridinger, grandmother of the young victim and mother of Dean, read a victim\u2019s impact statement, noting that Peters \u201chad no right to put everyone through such pain\u201d by killing her grandson.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have destroyed many lives,\u201d Ridinger added. \u201cYou have taken a baby from his mother \u2026 he was her heart and soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy\u2019s grandmother also said in the statement that Dean, who is scheduled to stand trial December 18 on charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangering related to her son\u2019s death, is \u201cliving in her own hell\u201d because of the boy\u2019s murder and will do so \u201cuntil the day she joins him in heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peters, who had let his beard grow after shaving it off for his trial, had no reaction during sentencing. He also declined to speak when asked by Judge Burchfield.<\/p>\n

Following Peters’ sentencing, Yarger said she felt the judge made the right decision.\u00a0“If anybody deserves life in prison without parole it’s him,” the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Convicted murderer Christopher Peters received the maximum sentence on all three counts during a hearing held Monday morning in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court in connection with the death of 15-month-old Hayden Ivan Ridinger. Peters, 27, who was living with the child and the boy’s mother, Valerie Dean, at the Old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 15:21:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}