Attorney weighs in on charges against Kyle Parker
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — New charges were announced Monday in the murder of one-year-old Shaylyn Ammerman of Spencer.
Kyle Parker now has eight charges against him, including murder, rape, child molesting, kidnapping with serious bodily injury, aggravated battery, and strangulation.
Attorney Jack Crawford is not involved in the case but cringed at the details in the probable cause statement describing charges against Parker.
“The pathologist who did the autopsy on the young girl said it was one of the most horrible cases of sexual assault the pathologist had ever seen,” he said.
In the probable cause statement, Parker is accused of kidnapping one-year-old Shaylyn Ammerman from her father’s home, raping her, murdering her, then hiding her body in the woods.
Crawford said this case is eligible for the death penalty because of Shaylyn’s age and the type of crime against the victim.
Crawford believes that Parker’s public defender will ask for a mental health evaluation right away.
“So if indeed he has a mental illness then it’s a factor that the county will have to consider,” he said.
If Parker is found to have a mental illness, he can’t by law be sentenced to death.
However, that is not enough to justify an insanity plea.
Crawford said two things must be proven for that to happen.
“One that you suffer from a severe mental disease or defect,” Crawford said, “And number two, that the disease or defect created a condition where you did not know what you were doing was wrong.”
But the probable cause statement describes actions like Parker pouring bleach on the baby and hiding her body.
“That certainly indicates the mental capacity to realize I’ve done something very wrong and I’m going to try to hide my tracks by doing all these things to hide my guilt,” he said.
According to court documents, Parker had been consuming alcohol the night of Shaylyn’s disappearance.
Crawford said he likely won’t be able to use that as a defense, either.
“If you drank voluntarily, got intoxicated, and committed a horrible crime, it is no defense in this state,” he said.
