Thank god!
UNION -- Michael Devlin, a former pizza parlor manager accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two boys, pleaded guilty this morning to both counts against him in the abduction of William "Ben" Ownby from Beaufort, Mo. on Jan. 8.
Judge Stanley D. Williams sentenced Devlin to life in prison for the offense of child kidnapping and 20 years for armed criminal action because Devlin admitted flashing a 9-mm pistol to get Ben into his truck.
Devlin, 41, of Kirkwood, answered the judge's questions in a quiet, raspy voice but did not make any statement.
Ben's parents, Doris and Don Ownby, were in the courtroom and observed the 17-minute proceeding.
Devlin entered the courtroom wearing an orange jail jumpsuit and shackled with his hands to his waist. Franklin County Sheriff's deputies unlocked the handcuffs and Devlin stood facing the judge throughout the entire proceeding.
Devlin never looked at the Ownby family.
The formerly portly Imo's pizza manager appeared thinner. He was clean shaven, had a short-cropped haircut and wore wire-rimmed glasses.
Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Robert E. Parks and Devlin, with his lawyers, told the judge that they had worked out the guilty pleas and the sentencing. Devlin could have been sentenced later, but chose to accept the sentence today, according to the agreement.
Devlin stood facing the judge as Parks recited the charges against him. Parks said Devlin told FBI investigators shortly after his arrest on Jan. 12, that he had been driving rural roads in eastern Missouri for about three months "looking for a boy to take."
Parks said Devlin told the FBI that he went to rural areas “because the schools get out later and so he would have time to go around and follow the bus routes until he saw a boy he liked ... that boy turned out to be Ben Ownby.”
On Jan. 8, Parks said, Devlin suffered from the flu and was afraid that day might be “his last chance.” He put a Ruger 9-mm semi-automatic pistol in a hooded sweatshirt in his truck and drove out to near Beaufort and parked near a barber shop until Ben's school bus drove by.
Parks said Devlin admitted to following the bus and when Ben got off the bus alone, Devlin drove down the lane toward the Ownby house.
Parks said Devlin asked Ben if he knew where some people lived. Parks said Devlin admitted to having made up the name he was looking for and couldn't remember the name on the day of the FBI interrogation.
“He asked Ben if he knew where some people lived,” Parks said. “Ben looked very nervous, and he thought Ben was going to run in the opposite direction. ... He got out of the truck and showed Ben the gun. Ben didn't move, and Devlin moved to put him in the truck. Ben said, 'Why?' and Devlin said, 'Just because'.”
Parks said Devlin then put Ben in the truck and drove east from Franklin County to Kirkwood, where police four days later found Ben and Shawn Hornbeck, who had been missing from near his home in Richwoods, Mo., since Oct. 6, 2002.
Judge Williams asked Devlin if Parks' narrative of the crimes was correct.
Said Devlin, “Yes, your honor.”
The judge asked him if he kidnapped the boy using a gun. Devlin said to both questions, “Yes I did.”
Devlin was charged with child kidnapping in the abduction of Ben and the lesser offense of kidnapping in the abduction of Shawn because the Missouri Legislature adopted the more serious offense after 2002. The charge of child kidnapping carries a sentence of 10 years to life, so Devlin accepted the maximum in that offense.
The accompanying charge of armed criminal action, carries a sentence of at least three years, and the agreement sentences him to 20 years for that offense. He is to serve both sentences at the same time, or concurrently.
In news conference outside the courthouse after the hearing, neither Parks nor Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke, would answer whether Devlin was alone in his truck on the day of the abduction or whether he had Shawn with him.
“Shawn Hornbeck was not involved with any of this,” Parks said of the Jan. 8 abduction. “I will not get into anything about Shawn. ... This kid (Shawn) was in such pain and such fear ... that I cannot even tell you. You cannot even imagine the horror that must have been going through Shawn Hornbeck those four years.”
Parks said the series of guilty pleas that commenced this morning were organized by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch with the involvement of all other prosecutors. Parks said that Devlin would have to serve at least 30 years for the offenses in Franklin County, but noted that the other jurisdictions have yet to add their own sentences. Were Devlin to outlive his state sentences, Parks said he would then be taken to a federal penitentiary.
Toelke said he it was “icing on the cake” that neither boy would have to testify in court. Toelke said he knew that parents try to protect their children from abductions, adding, “The most disturbing thing is that a child can be abducted this fast. You can do everything right, and this can still happen.”
Devlin's attorneys, Michael Kielty and Ethan Corlija, both said Devlin pleaded guilty to spare his family and the victims further grief. He wanted everybody to know that he did cooperate with police and that he is not involved in any other abductions, they said..
Devlin had little choice but to make a plea agreement, his attorneys said.
“The facts are absolutely overwhelming,” said Kielty. “Nothing good could have come out of a trial.”
After Devlin was sentenced, Don and Doris Ownby made a brief statement outside the courthouse.
“We have been waiting for this moment,” Doris Ownby said. “Now for it to be here is just a relief.”
The couple was unsure whether they would attend the hearings in Potosi tomorrow.
“We don't know our plans,” Don Ownby said.
Our earlier story
Michael Devlin is expected to plead guilty, starting today, in a series of hearings early this week in four jurisdictions.
Devlin faces 86 counts in Franklin, Washington and St. Louis counties, and in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. He is scheduled to appear at 10 a.m. today before Circuit Judge Stanley D. Williams in the Franklin County Courthouse in Union.
The pleas are the result of coordinated negotiations among four prosecutors' offices and lawyers for Devlin, 41, of Kirkwood. He has been jailed since Jan. 12, when police officers went to his apartment in search of William "Ben" Ownby, 13, of Beaufort, who had been kidnapped four days earlier.
The rescuers were shocked to also find Shawn Hornbeck, now 16, who disappeared while riding his bike near his home in Richwoods, about 40 miles south of Beaufort, on Oct. 6, 2002. The double rescue quickly became international news.
In the hearing today, Devlin faces charges of kidnapping and armed criminal action in the abduction of Ben.
At 9 a.m. tomorrow, Devlin is scheduled to appear in the Washington County Courthouse in Potosi to plead guilty, Prosecutor John Rupp has said. He declined to be more specific, but Devlin faces seven counts, including kidnapping, attempted murder and sexual assault of Shawn. Richwoods is in northern Washington County.
Then at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow, Devlin is scheduled to appear before St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Mark Seigel to answer 71 charges, including kidnapping and sexual assault.
From there -- later that afternoon or on Wednesday -- he is to be taken to the federal courthouse downtown to plead guilty to six federal counts, including producing child pornography and taking a child across state lines for sex.
A prosecutor and several other sources close to the case say Devlin will plead guilty and receive multiple life sentences.
Devlin's attorneys said he would appear in person in court. Since his arrest, Devlin has entered appearances in court hearings only via television hookups from jail to courtroom. He remains in the Franklin County Jail in Union, where he has been nearly the entire time since his arrest.
Until the arrest, Devlin was a portly, scraggly- bearded manager at the Imo's pizza restaurant in downtown Kirkwood. He grew up in Webster Groves, graduated from Webster Groves High School in 1984 and lived in a small apartment in the 900 block of South Holmes Avenue in Kirkwood. That's where police found the boys.
The search for Ben Ownby focused on Devlin during a weeklong search for a white pickup that Mitchell Hults, a friend of Ben's, had told deputies he saw driving away about the time Ben disappeared. It was the kind of truck Devlin owned.
Devlin was said to be "at peace" about pleading to the charges. One of his attorneys, Michael Kielty, said Devlin wants to spare his family and his longtime captive, Shawn Hornbeck, the anguish of a trial.
Source: http://stltoday.com