Father convicted in child death case

A Wise County jury Tuesday found an Aurora man guilty of injury to a child in connection with his young daughter’s death in 2023 and returned a verdict of 20 years in prison on Thursday.

STEPHEN ALAN KING

The jury found Stephen Alan King, 29, caused the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Scarlett, by failing to provide her with adequate food and water.

The child was found deceased in her crib April 26, 2023, by her father, inside their home in the 300 block of Hount Street in Aurora.

Dr. Stephen Lenfest with the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office, who performed the child’s autopsy, testified Scarlett King died from complications of neglect, malnutrition and hypernatremic dehydration, with a mild respiratory infection being a contributing factor. He ruled the manner of death as a homicide.

He noted that at the time of her death, Scarlett King did not have any contents in her stomach and about 2 milliliters of urine in her bladder. Toxicology reports indicated that her kidney was not functioning properly due to not having enough water and high sodium levels.

“Scarlett King died because of her parents’ inability to feed and provide sufficient water to her,” assistant district attorney Jay Lapham told the jury in opening arguments. “This is not the Sudan in Africa, or Syria, or Ukraine, or Palestine. We’re not in a war zone. This is Wise County, Texas.”

Texas Ranger Job Espinoza testified that he responded to the home the day of Scarlett’s death and spoke to Stephen King, who told the investigator he had put Scarlett to bed around 11:30 p.m. on April 25. He woke up around 2:30 p.m. the next day and went into his daughter’s room to find the child lifeless in her crib.

Dr. Kristen Reeder, who specializes in child abuse cases at Children’s Medical Center, reviewed the autopsy findings along with other medical records from Scarlett King and her younger brother, Kolt King, to formulate a report with her own conclusions.

Reeder testified that records show Scarlett King appeared to be gaining weight like normal for the first six months of her life, but at her 9-month checkup, doctors noted that she weighed less than at her 6-month checkup.

“Any weight loss in a young child is concerning,” Reeder testified.

According to Reeder’s report, doctors told Stephen King to increase his daughter’s formula from two bottles a day to four bottles a day. A month later, the child was seen by the doctor again, showing a slight weight gain. However, Stephen King was told to fortify the formula to keep increasing calories in order for his daughter to put on more weight.

Reeder noted that the child missed her one-year well check and was not seen again until May of 2022, when Scarlett was 18 months old. Doctors noted that Scarlett was still not putting on weight like she should and once again suggested adding calories to her diet to help her gain weight. The following month, the child was referred to a nutrition clinic, but records show Scarlett never returned for another doctor’s visit or met with the nutritionist.

She weighed 21 pounds at the time of her death, according to autopsy records. Lapham noted that the child gained just 6 pounds over the last 22 months of her life.

“That’s not right,” he told the jury during closing arguments.

Evidence was also introduced that showed Kolt King was also underweight and showing signs of malnourishment and dehydration, according to Reeder’s report. She provided information that the boy was in the 6th percentile in weight at the time of his sister’s death, but after being removed from the home, he later moved into the 74th percentile in weight.

Stephen King’s attorneys, Ray Napolitan and Paul Belew, argued that their client was providing the child with adequate food and water and that she could have died from the upper respiratory infection rather than from neglect.

They called two witnesses who testified that Stephen King was a loving father who never denied his children food and drink.

Family friend James Pace testified he saw the family multiple times a week and never saw Scarlett in distress, and he saw her a couple of nights before her death and she was acting normal.

Stephen King’s sister, Amber King, testified that she would often babysit her brother’s children while he worked nights, and she had cared for the kids a few days before Scarlett’s death. She said her brother had a drawer at the bottom of his refrigerator filled with healthy snacks that could be accessed by the kids.

“There is no evidence Stephen failed to provide food and water to his child,” Napolitan said during closing arguments. “The evidence is the opposite — there was plenty of food and water.”

The defense also showed the jury photos of Scarlett and other family members at a party four days before her death where the child could be seen eating cupcakes at a dinner that also included ribs, beans, fruit and other candy, according to Amber King’s testimony.

Belew pointed out that Scarlett was wearing a diaper that contained feces and urine at the time of her death, arguing that is proof that the child had recent food and drink.

“This is a loving family. Why would he just decide not to feed his child? It makes no damn sense,” he said during closing arguments.

Lapham responded that Scarlett could have been wearing the diaper for hours, or even days, and pointed again to the medical conclusions of the two doctors.

“Science doesn’t lie,” he told jurors.

The jury deliberated about four-and-a-half hours before returning the guilty verdict for the first degree felony offense.

The punishment phase of the trial began Wednesday morning. Prosecutors called Wise County Chief Deputy Eric Debus, former Rhome Police chief, to testify about what he saw when he responded to the King home the day of Scarlett King’s death. He was specifically asked about the family’s dog, which Debus said appeared to have not been properly fed or provided adequate water.

Espinoza testified that after the autopsy on April 27, the parents didn’t claim the child’s body. He said the child’s grandmother contacted him on July 10 about the situation.

The Ranger testified that it was unusual for a parent to not claim the child’s body following an autopsy.

Napolitan argued that Stephen King was waiting to be contacted by the medical examiner’s office and didn’t know he could claim the body to take care of funeral arrangements.

The defense called Pace to testify again about Stephen King’s extended family, who could provide a support system for him if was given probation by the jury. Pace testified that his friend was worthy of a second chance and did not pose a danger to society.

Amber King was also called as a defense witness, and she testified that her brother had checked himself into a mental health treatment facility following his daughter’s death.

“I had never seen my brother like that. I had to be the rock for him. … The day Scarlett died, I saw the light dim in his eyes,” she said.

Prosecutors also asked about alleged drug use by Stephen King prior to his daughter’s death. Pace said he became aware of his friend’s cocaine use in February of 2023 and talked to him about getting off the drug. When asked by Lapham if he knew about a previous addiction to methamphetamine, Pace said he was aware King had used methamphetamine in the past. Amber King said she was unaware of her brother’s use of drugs.

During closing arguments in the punishment phase of the trail, Belew asked the jury to look at the facts of the case and mete out justice but temper that justice with mercy.

“Do we destroy another person’s life because of the death of their child?” he asked the jury. ” … It’s the hardest decision you’ll ever make.”

Lapham said the defendant did not deserve mercy. He picked up a bottled water and reminded the jury that they wouldn’t be here if Stephen King had just given his daughter water.

“They neglected her in life and then in death as well,” Lapham said, referring to the body’s stay at the medical examiner’s office. “The indignity of sitting on a cold steel slab in the morgue for months.”

He asked for a verdict of 75 years in prison.

The jury began deliberations around 2 p.m. Wednesday. When the jury couldn’t reach a verdict as night began to fall, the judge had them go home for the evening and return Thursday morning. After resuming deliberations Thursday morning, the jury returned its verdict of 20 years.

Stephen King will have to serve at least half his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

Scarlett King’s mother, Kirsten Lynn King, is also facing the same first degree felony injury to a child charge in her daughter’s death. A trial date for her case has not been set, according to court records.