GUILTY UT - October Perez, 2, murdered by mothers boyfriend, Great Falls, June 2011

[HayLouise]

October Ann Perez, 2, of Great Falls, died Saturday, June 25, in a Salt Lake City hospital. The cause of death is under investigation.

October is survived and loved by her mother, Kristy Perez, and her father, Mike Arndt, both of Great Falls; her dad, Freddie Perez of Phoenix, Ariz.; a brother, Xavier Perez of Phoenix; ma-ternal grandparents Gary and Jamie Phipps of Great Falls; paternal grandmother April Hall of Great Falls, and paternal grandfather Michael P. Arndt of Musselshell; aunts Alissa Phipps and Christina Hall, both of Great Falls; uncles Sean Phipps of Great Falls, Kelly Arndt and Ben Arndt, both of Billings, as well as numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

October helped others live through the gift of her organs.

Condolences may be posted online at www.schniderfuneralhome.com and/or www.gftribune.com/obituaries. Katheryn M. Lundby

Published in Great Falls Tribune on July 1, 2011

View October Perez's Obituary on GreatFallsTribune.com and share memories

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/72327216/october-ann-perez

Death of toddler October Perez: Hyslop guilty

A jury found David Wayne Hyslop guilty Thursday of causing the fatal injuries to a 2-year-old girl that horrified a community and tied the name of October Perez to the grim realities of child abuse in Great Falls.

After less than four hours of deliberation, the jury sided with the prosecution's charge that Hyslop, 29, was the only perpetrator of the severe brain injuries that eventually claimed the life of his girlfriend's daughter in June, despite his attorneys' insistence that he wasn't the only suspicious party in the house that day.

The courtroom was full of more than 60 people who came to hear the verdict. Emotions ran high as the word "guilty" was read aloud by the court's clerk, with Hyslop and the girl's mother and father all breaking down in tears.

After being informed of his sentencing date, a tearful Hyslop was led away in handcuffs.

The families of Kristy Perez and Michael Arndt, the girl's biological parents who were no longer together at the time of October's death, shared little else besides the same emotional reactions to the verdict. For the most part, each family stayed out of the way of the other ¿ a reflection of the wedge between the two sides of October's family since her tragic death.

Arndt, who attended most of the week-long trial, said he felt like a weight was coming off of his chest when the guilty verdict was read. Arndt was stationed with the military in Afghanistan when he learned of October's dire condition on June 23. By the time he had returned to the United States, his daughter was already dead.

"The majority of the crying I did was probably on the way back home," he said.

Arndt and Perez sat in different rows in the courthouse on Thursday. They haven't spoken since their daughter's death, but Arndt said he didn't think the defense's allegation that she was responsible for October's death was true.

"I've known Kristy for quite some time," he said. "As far as her abusing her own children, I don't see that happening."

In the months before his daughter's death, Arndt had hired a lawyer and was trying to get October out of the house at 1305 4th Ave. S., where Kristy Perez, Hyslop, his brother Kendall Hyslop and Kendall Hyslop's fiancee Janetta Placey all lived. Arndt said he only met David Hyslop once, briefly, but he did not leave a good first impression.

"I did not want my daughter near or around that man," he said.

Death of toddler October Perez: Hyslop guilty


Hyslop, convicted in 2011 death of October Perez, alleges ineffective counsel

David Wayne Hyslop was found guilty in 2012 of deliberate homicide for causing injuries to two-year-old October Perez, who passed away on June 25, 2011, after two days in intensive care from severe head trauma and swelling of the brain. An autopsy revealed that the toddler also suffered multiple bruises on her body and two breaks to her spine.

Hyslop was later sentenced to 100 years in prison with no possibility of parole.

https://eu.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2019/03/26/hyslop-killing-october-perez-alleges-ineffective-counsel/3279253002/

 

[HayLouise]

Although the death penalty was not requested in this case, Arndt said such a punishment wouldn't have been appropriate anyway.

"In my opinion, the death penalty is still a way out," he said. "This way he has to live the remainder of his years with this on his conscience."

Kristy Perez declined to comment directly after the verdict came in. As people began leaving the courtroom, she shared a hug with Cascade County Attorney John Parker, who was the lead prosecutor in the case.

"I am so relieved and pleased at the verdict," Parker said. "This brings justice for a child who didn't have to die, and now our community can keep working to try and make sure something like this never happens again."

District Judge Julie Macek set Hyslop's sentencing hearing for June 27 and sided with a last-minute motion from Parker to revoke Hyslop's bond until that date.

One of Hyslop's attorneys, public defender Larry LaFountain, said he accepted the jury's decision but also had strong words for the agencies that investigated previous reports of abuse against the girl.

"I would just wonder where all these great detectives were at when just days before this, Great Falls Police was over there," he said.

LaFountain seemed to be referencing a visit the police made to the house at 1305 4th Ave. S., in February when they were called by medical professionals who noticed a healing fracture in October's arm after she was treated for a new fracture in her other arm.

Police eventually closed the case after doctors and social workers from the Child and Family Services Division concluded the breaks were accidental. The trial also unearthed evidence that Perez had a healing break to her spine before she died. LaFountain said that the police and the division dropped the ball in the months leading to Perez's death.

"The evidence showed that this child was injured," he said.

Death of toddler October Perez: Hyslop guilty

 

[HayLouise]

LaFountain declined to comment when asked if he thought an innocent person was convicted Thursday.

Officer Noah Scott, the lead detective in the case, said he was relieved at the verdict. Throughout the trial, Hyslop's attorneys questioned the integrity of his investigation into the case.

Scott recalled being in Salt Lake City at Primary Children's Medical Center and witnessing the final moments of Perez's life. He watched the girl's organ donation process before she was finally taken off life support.

"I whispered into October's ear that I was going to do the best investigation I could ¿ and I did," he said.

Scott had identified Hyslop as the suspect in the case a few hours after police started investigating the girl's injuries. Scott said he was confident that the police had brought charges against the right person. Calling Hyslop a "monster," Scott said he hoped Macek would hand down a stiff sentence in June.

"I'd like to see him with a 100-year sentence," he said. "He gave October a death sentence when he left her suffering for three hours, sitting in her bed."

The case was handed to the jury Thursday morning after it heard from both sides one last time. In his closing argument, Parker told the jury members that after a week of testimony they had all the evidence they needed to convict Hyslop.

Parker focused on the medical evidence that he said ruled out any accident in Perez's injuries ¿ which included a swollen brain, multiple bruises and a broken back ¿ and the taped interview Hyslop gave to police on the night Perez was injured.

Hyslop's account that night was an "evolving story," designed to change as new evidence came forward, Parker said. He pointed out how Hyslop originally told police he had no idea how Perez was injured, then began saying that perhaps some bad hot dogs were to blame. By the end of the interrogation with police, Hyslop said that he had dropped the girl while trying to put her to bed, but that it was an accident.

"Think about how his story changed and why," Parker said. "Every time he was confronted with new information, his story evolved."

Parker argued that if the story where he accidentally dropped her was true, Hyslop would have done something about the injuries besides leaving her in bed after noticing something was wrong.

Death of toddler October Perez: Hyslop guilty

 

[HayLouise]

"An innocent person in panic mode calls an ambulance," he said. "Accidents happen. People report them. People hurt somebody, and they cover their own ."

Parker called the defense's argument that someone else inside the house besides Hyslop could have injured Perez a distraction. The defense narrowed its focus on Kristy Perez, the girl's mother, and Kendall Hyslop, the defendant's brother, throughout the case.

"You might not like Kristy. You might not like Kendall. You might not like David," Parker said. "This is not a popularity contest. ... Only one person gave an ongoing series of bogus excuses, and that's David."

Parker admitted that Kendall Hyslop had originally lied to police, "but I'm asking you to look for the reason. He lied to protect his brother.

"He was in a position of being in possession of facts that would make him a material witness against his own brother," Parker said.

As for Kristy Perez, Parker also admitted that she may have had her faults, but the evidence showed that she did not injure her daughter that day.

"She's an easy person to throw darts at, but she wasn't there," he said. "Open and shut. She wasn't there. You can hate her or like her, but none of it puts her there at the time of these injuries."

Speaking for the defense, Hyslop's attorney, Vince Van der Hagen, said that a conviction of his client would mean that an innocent person would be punished.

"The real killer, the real person who caused these injuries to October Perez will go free and will not be held accountable," Van der Hagen said.

Van der Hagen readily admitted that the injuries to the girl weren't accidental. He also pointed out that his client admitted to dropping her by accident that day. What the prosecution was ignoring was that the fatal injuries and Hyslop's accidental drop were two separate events, he argued.

The defense attorney urged the jury to look for "who had the motive and who had the opportunity."

Van der Hagen then talked extensively about Kristy Perez and Kendall Hyslop, questioning the truth of their statements about what happened that day.

In dressing down the testimony of Kristy Perez, Van der Hagen pointed out that the girl had not one, but two fractures to her spine when she was examined after her death. One was fresh and one was a few days old. Kristy Perez never reported that first injury even though the girl likely would have been in significant pain. Kristy Perez testified earlier that she would notice bruises that her daughter would get while she was away at work or school, but that Hyslop would give her explanations of how they got there.

"If you believe and you convict in this case based on the statement of Kristy Perez, an innocent person gets convicted, and a killer walks," Van der Hagen said.

As for Kendall Hyslop, Van der Hagen was quick to point out that he was the one who constructed an alibi when being first interviewed by police. Van der Hagen characterized the defendant's younger brother as a "good liar" who was able to deceive officers during his first interview with police.

"They didn't do to him what they did to David Hyslop," Van der Hagen said. "Great Falls PD: This is who you need to do an interrogation on."

Van der Hagen reminded the jury that although the case they were assigned to look at is an emotional one, they have to look at the evidence dispassionately and consider all the facts. If they did, he said, they would find him not guilty.

"You can protect this child, and you can follow the law, and you can do what is just," Van der Hagen said. "You can do what is right by acquitting David Hyslop."

Parker offered a rebuttal, calling the defense's talk of a motive and opportunity something out of a "cops and robbers dime novel from the '30s." The defense pointing the finger away from Hyslop was just a "last refuge" and another part of the defendant's "evolving story," he said.

"For the defense, it could be anybody except for the person who admitted injuring the child that day," Parker said.

Before they were sent away to decide Hyslop's fate, Parker asked them to remember October.

"Her life was cut short," he said. "It ended in fear and pain. ... Nothing can bring her back, and I'm asking you to deal the only justice she can get."

Death of toddler October Perez: Hyslop guilty

 

[HayLouise]

Lawless America

 

[HayLouise]

Post-conviction relief hearing set for David Hyslop

The post-conviction relief hearing has been set for November 6, 2019.

 

[Jewels53]

RIP October!

A child never deserves to be murdered at the hands of no one! imo