RALEIGH -- Joshua Stepp has kept a photo of his infant stepdaughter close to him throughout his incarceration, his family says, as a constant reminder of the hour of violence one evening in 2009 that ended her life and changed his forever.
The 28-year-old Iraq War veteran, who acknowledged killing Cheyenne Yarley when she was 10 months old, was spared the death penalty Tuesday in a case that highlighted post-traumatic stress disorder in the military.
Judge Osmond Smith ordered Stepp to life in prison without possibility of parole after a six-woman, six-man jury announced they were hopelessly deadlocked on what sentence to impose.
In death penalty cases, juries must be unanimous in their sentencing decisions or it falls back to a judge who, by law, must impose a sentence of life in prison without possibility for parole.
Stepp, who took the stand in his defense, showed little emotion at the close of the 3 1/2-week trial. He acknowledged killing Cheyenne, but he could not explain why.
Defense attorneys said Stepp suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder brought about by seeing troop mates and friends in Iraq blown to bits by roadside bombs and suicide bombers.
John Moore and Guy Dodson, two jurors who agreed to talk about some of their deliberations, said the jury considered Stepp's mental health problems but that those did not play a huge factor in the verdict or sentencing.
"The main factor was that this was an isolated incident," Dodson said, "that there was not a history."
Last week, the jury found Stepp guilty of committing a sexual offense on a child, a felony that led to the verdict of first-degree murder.
Prosecutors contended that Stepp killed his stepdaughter on Nov. 8, 2009, while sexually assaulting her.
Stepp, who told jurors he was under the influence of alcohol and prescription painkillers that night, denied the sexual assault allegations.
He acknowledged repeatedly rubbing his stepdaughter's face into the carpet, causing fatal head and brain injuries, but he could not explain why he did it.
The stumbling blocks
Moore said Stepp's testimony was difficult at times to take at face value.
Stepp said he had a lot to drink that night, but there was little hard evidence introduced to bolster his claims. Defense attorneys argued that investigators went in with a theory from the start that a sexual assault occurred and that they failed to collect empty beer, pill and liquor bottles that might have supported Stepp's testimony.
Ultimately, Moore said, the jury spent the bulk of its time in the verdict deliberations talking about whether a sexual assault had occurred. Though they could not agree that a rape occurred, they thought there was evidence to support the accusation of sexual offense against a child.
Stepp's lawyers filed notice Tuesday of plans to appeal the verdicts.
His father and stepmother asked jurors this week to spare Stepp from the death penalty. They said he is the father of a vibrant 6-year-old girl from his first marriage and that he hopes to speak out about post-traumatic stress and the need for veterans and others who suffer from it to get help.
Moore, a Raleigh resident, said he thought the sentence was just.
"My personal opinion is the sentence of life in prison without parole is really - it really is - more cruel than the death sentence," Moore said.
The last person sentenced to death in Wake County was Bryan Lamar Waring, who has been on death row since July 2, 2007.
North Carolina has not executed an inmate since August 2006.
A push to stop doctors from assisting in executions and a lawsuit filed by some death row inmates challenging the use of lethal injections as cruel and unusual punishment have led to a de facto moratorium on executions.
Family's reaction
Stepp's family declined to comment after the sentencing.
"We're thankful and grateful that this jury saw fit to not come back with death," defense attorney Terry Alford said.
As bailiffs cuffed Stepp's arms behind his back and ushered him from Wake County Superior Court, he looked back to his father and stepmother and mouthed an inaudible goodbye.
His parents then quietly walked out of the courtroom, headed back to lives forever altered by one hour on Nov. 8, 2009.
