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| Felicia Boon walks the courthouse halls before joining her husband for trial July 23. (Photo: Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) |
Parents from Cudahy were sentenced to prison Friday for the extended abuse and neglect of their 15-year-old daughter at the hands of the couple's other children.
Kevin Boon-Bey, 48, and Felicia Boon, 35, were convicted in July
after a jury heard what Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Hanrahan
called overwhelming evidence of physical and emotional injuries
inflicted on the girl until her rescue by Cudahy police in December.
"Both
of you are either in complete and utter denial of reality, under
delusion, or still engaged in outright lying and manipulation," Hanrahan
said. "Either way it concerns me deeply."
He
sentenced Boon, who was portrayed as the intelligent, organized and
undisputed leader of the household, to seven years in prison plus five
years of supervision on each of three counts, plus three years in prison
and three on supervision for a fourth count.
All the sentences are to run concurrently, meaning she'll serve seven years in prison and five on supervision.
Boon-Bey
was sentenced to six years in prison and five on supervision. He was
found guilty of three counts, the sentences for which were also made
concurrent.
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| Kevin Boon-Bey waits for court to begin at the Milwaukee County Courthouse on July 23. (Photo: Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) |
Deputy District Attorney Matthew Torbenson noted how
many people wrote letters in support of the couple and came to the
hearings, including to Friday's sentencing. They were "seeking mercy and
compassion" that Boon never showed the victim, he said.
He
wanted them to know that the evidence at trial wasn't even all of the
evidence since two of the three children who imposed the "discipline" on
the victim declined to testify. They are facing their own criminal
charges in juvenile court.
The victim read a statement in court Friday. "All this
time I'd been thinking I'm the problem, but I'm the victim," she said.
"Your opinion no longer matters to me."
She had
testified at trial about being locked in an upstairs bedroom where she
had to sleep on the floor and use a pail as a toilet. Her half-siblings,
ages 15, 14, and 12, burned her with boiling water, zip-tied her hands
together and beat her with their fists, a belt and a pole. She once was
choked with a cord until she passed out.
Police
went to the home in December after getting a call about a girl throwing
boiling water on another girl. The officer said the stench of urine and
feces that hit him after opening a door to the upstairs was
overpowering.
He found the victim in tattered
clothes with cuts and bruises to her head and neck, and she said she
hadn't eaten or drank in three days.
Boon-Bey and Boon have four younger children who were in the custody of child protective services after their arrests.
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