When Daniel Ehrlick was given the opportunity to speak Friday before he was sent to prison for life for killing 8-year-old Robert Manwill, he didn’t say a word.
His former girlfriend Melissa Jenkins was given the same chance a couple of hours later, and she said a lot.
Jenkins gave a tear-filled apology that neither the boy’s father, Charles Manwill, nor 4th District Judge Darla Williamson believed was sincere.
“You come in the courtroom today, and you are in tears like you are so sad about all of this. I’m not buying it that you have all that remorse,” Williamson said. “I just don’t think that is sincere. I just don’t think that you cared (about the murder of her son).”
Williamson told Jenkins most parents who knew their child was being abused would call police, find someone to help, even put themselves in harm’s way to spare the child. Jenkins hid the battered boy from concerned family members and state social workers.
“Parents would die for their children. Parents who love their children would do that. (Charles) Manwill would have done that for Robert.”
Charles Manwill looked straight ahead, refusing to look at Jenkins when she addressed him, and shook his head in what appeared to be barely contained rage as she told him the death of their son was her fault.
“Chuck, I pleaded guilty because I did not want to put you through another trial. I know all I had to do was ask for help. It’s my fault Robert is not with us anymore,” Jenkins said, fighting back tears. “I want to go back, but I can’t. Chuck ... please don’t blame yourself. You need to blame me for not protecting Robert.
“I’m going to prison, where I belong.”
Jenkins and Ehrlick were sentenced Friday in a courtroom packed for both hearings: Ehrlick’s after a long trial; Jenkins’ after she cut a deal to plead guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree murder earlier this year
Jenkins’ deal was done through a Rule 11 plea agreement — a special arrangement with prosecutors whereby Jenkins agreed to plead guilty in return for a 25-year prison sentence.
In this kind of deal, if a judge doesn’t agree to follow that exact punishment, then the agreement doesn’t stick and the case goes to trial.
“You deserve the worst of punishments for what you allowed to happen to Robert,” Williamson told Jenkins. “The bottom line is I’d like to impose a greater sentence than 25 years.”
But the judge said she agreed to the deal to spare the family and friends of Robert Manwill — and the entire Boise community — another difficult trial filled with graphic testimony about a child murder.
Jenkins’ case also had some legal issues that would have resulted in a messy and long appeals process if she were found guilty, Williamson said. The plea agreement does not allow Jenkins to file any appeals.
The 32-year-old Jenkins must serve all 25 years without the possibility of parole. She gets credit for the more than two years she has spent in jail since August 2009.
Charles Manwill appeared pleased with both sentences.
When Ehrlick was sent to prison for life, Charles Manwill let out a clearly audible sigh of relief. When a crying Jenkins was led out in handcuffs, he hugged his wife, Afton, and shook hands with a Boise police detective sitting next to him.
Manwill declined comment when leaving the Ada County Courthouse.
Ada County prosecutors and Boise police say Ehrlick beat and tortured Robert Manwill over two months in 2009 before killing him on July 24 and throwing the boy’s body in the New York Canal. They say Jenkins did nothing to stop the abuse, helped cover it up and then lied to police about what happened.
Ehrlick’s hearing lasted only about an hour Friday. Like Jenkins, he was dressed in an Ada County Jail jumpsuit, with his hands and feet shackled together.
Charles Manwill and wife, Afton, read short victim impact statements, while Ehrlick looked on impassively from the defense table.
“The loss to our family, and the world as a whole, can never be repaid,” Charles Manwill said. “I believe justice will be served.”
Gus Cahill, Ehrlick’s attorney, asked that the 38-year-old be eligible to request parole after serving 10 years, but Williamson said society needed protection from Ehrlick, who had been in trouble with the law since he was 12 years old.
“Ehrlick did substantial pain to a 50-pound child during a time there was no one there to love him and protect him,” Williamson said. “The kind of sentence that might be most appropriate for Mr. Ehrlick I can’t impose.
“I can’t impose a sentence that would require that he endure ‘the dead bug’ by somebody five times what he weighs. I can’t impose occasional aggravated battery on Mr. Ehrlick.”
“There is only one sentence the court can impose,” Williamson said.
Patrick Orr: 373-6619
