FARMINGTON — Ryan William Andrews wept as he told a judge how sorry he was that his 10-year-old daughter, Shelby, is dead now after she was abused and battered in his Syracuse home last summer.
"I wish to heaven above I could turn back time," Andrews said, sobbing, as he said he "truly regrets the events" that led to her death. "I truly loved my daughter and I still do. Not a day goes by that I don't miss her."
But 2nd District Judge Michael Allphin said that Monday's sentencing hearing was the first time he had heard Andrews express any remorse about the grotesque death and repeated abuse that preceded the child's killing.
Allphin sentenced Andrews to a prison term of 15-years-to-life for first-degree felony murder and said, as a judge, he was not legally able to add more years.
"The crime you have committed is shocking and terrible, and I believe you to be a danger to society," Allphin said. "I will recommend to the board of pardons that you spend the rest of your natural life in prison and have no parole."
Andrews, 38, previously stated in a grisly written confession that he and his wife, Angela Ray Andrews, 36, who was the girl's stepmother, had inflicted repeated abuse on Shelby for a period of time.
On the day Shelby died, Ryan Andrews admitted stuffing the girl into a too-tight space in a linen closet between the shelves and the door, where the child was forced to remain upright, had trouble breathing and was crying out that she was choking on her own vomit.
Andrews first tried to tie the door shut with rope but removed the doorknob to keep the girl inside while he and his wife watched TV.
"When we later opened the door, Shelby was dead and her lifeless body fell to the floor," the confession says.
In his confession, Andrews primarily blames his wife for various forms of abuse, including saying that Angela Andrews forced Shelby to eat her own feces as a punishment and repeatedly slammed the girl's head into the stairs. Ryan Andrews also said his wife beat Shelby in the vaginal area with the heel of a shoe and on another occasion with a spray can "while we held her arms and legs."
"It was horrible abuse that occurred day after day after day," Allphin said.
The judge also said a police report showed Ryan Andrews was described by officers as "rather cold and uninterested" on Aug. 2, 2006, the day Shelby died.
Allphin said he had read all the documents in the case and reviewed a presentence report. The judge said Ryan Andrews' big concern before sentencing appeared to be "spending as little time in prison" as possible — with no mention at all of what Shelby went through, the grief suffered by her biological mother and other relatives, and the trauma experienced by other children who were in the home.
Kim Hale, Shelby's biological mother and Ryan Andrews' former wife, wept as she described how she would never see her daughter's first date, her wedding or enjoy mother-daughter talks as the girl grew. "Shelby was always a happy, loving child" who loved sports and liked to draw, Hale said.
"The last year or so, Shelby wasn't able to be a normal little girl," Hale said. "She wore pants and long sleeved shirts to cover bruises. At the time of her death, there were bruises over 80 percent of her body. Instead of planning birthday parties for Shelby, I will have to go to her grave site."
Ryan Andrews' sentence was the result of a plea bargain in which prosecutors agreed to dismiss another charge of first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child.
Angela Andrews also has been charged with first-degree felony murder and aggravated sexual abuse of a child. Her case is still pending. Her attorney has entered a plea of "diminished mental capacity," which is a type of insanity plea, on her behalf.
E-mail: lindat@desnews.com