Woman sentenced to 20 years in 6-year-old girl's death (2024)

By MATT HUDSON

HARDIN — A judge went above the prosecutor’s recommendation and sentenced Kerstyn Old Bull to 20 years in prison for the death of 6-year-old Kiomora “Kiki” Hogan.

Old Bull, 27 of Hardin, was sentenced Wednesday in front of a packed Big Horn County District Court. The prison term doubles the 10 years recommended brought by County Attorney Gerald “Jay” Harris, who has been the focus of criticism for amending a count of deliberate homicide for a lesser charge.

Old Bull’s sentence is the maximum allowed for her convictions of criminal endangerment and obstructing justice, to which Old Bull pleaded guilty in November.

Old Bull will not be eligible for parole for 17½ years.

Big Horn County District Judge Blair Jonesspoke at length about the tragic nature of Kiomora’s death and said that his role was to provide “a measure of justice.”

Still, Wednesday’s sentencing didn’t put to rest the questions surrounding Kiomora’s death.

“The why of all this seems disturbingly and unsatisfyingly elusive,” Jones said.

Old Bull was originally charged with deliberate homicide and accused of beating Kiomora after authorities learned that the girlwas found unresponsive on March 3, 2015, and rushed to a hospital in Denver. Medical personnel ruled that Kiomora died of “single forceful” blow to the head and that there was “no medical manner in which this injury could have been inflicted accidentally,” according to charging documents.

Charges were also brought against Kiomora’s father and Old Bull’s boyfriend, Clint Hogan, who allegedly waited two hours before contacting authorities.

By November, Harris dropped Old Bull’s homicide charge in exchange for criminal endangerment. A negligent homicide charge against Hoganhad also been dropped in exchange for his testimony at a potential trial for Old Bull. It sparked outrage that continued through Wednesday’s hearing.

Kiomora’s grandmother, Valerie Packs The Hat, stood in front of the courthouse on Wednesday alongside others in protest of the plea deal.

“He’s not defending my granddaughter,” she said of Harris. “It’s almost like he’s defending (Kerstyn).”

The protesters held signs and solicited honks from passing drivers while sheriff’s deputies patrolled the area, cautioning people to stay out of the street. A line formed outside of the small courtroom for Old Bull’s sentencing at 1:30 p.m. When the sentence was pronounced, there was applause in the gallery.

Harris has been quiet about his motive for amending the homicide charge and for his recommendation of 10 years in prison. But on Wednesday morning he filed a memo, saying that the “driving force” behind the sentence was the “strength of evidence.” A murder conviction would have been difficult, he wrote.

The memo was careful to point out the language for a criminal endangerment conviction, which doesn’t directly link Old Bull to hitting Kiomora. It says instead that Old Bull admitted to “causing the victim’s risk of death.”

He wrote that the charge fit the evidence, rather than making the evidence fit a homicide charge. Later in the memo, Harris brought up the evidence again.

“It may never be known what precisely caused this extraordinarily tragic situation,” Harris wrote, “but the overwhelming strength of evidence shows … the defendant was physically present at the time it happened.”

Elsewhere, he wrote that Kiomora’s ultimate death came after the family decided to take the 6-year-old off of life support, leaving an opportunity for a potential juror to wonder whether the girl would have survived otherwise.

In the original charging documents, the nature of the trauma was labeled a homicide, and law enforcement believed Old Bull was the only one watching Kiomora at the time of her injury. But the circumstances surrounding that night are still unclear.

In a separate memo, defense attorney Clark Matthews disputed the story that Hogan had gone out to the store on the night of the incident and returned later to find his daughter unresponsive.

Hogan's charging documents accused him of waiting two hours while his daughter injured daughter was nearby, but Matthews said that his testimony would have been unreliable.

After accepting a plea deal,Hogan is now expected to plead guilty to a felony charge of obstructing justice later this month, Harris said.

Harris said after the hearing Wednesday that his work was limited to the evidence provided. During the hearing, Judge Jones pushed past the murky details.

“The incontrovertible fact is that Kiki has died, and the court has to factor that into its judgment today,” he said.

The 20-year sentence amounts to two consecutive 10-year terms for each count. Old Bull was ordered to pay restitution to Kiomora’s family for funeral and travel costs. The exact figure was not available at the hearing, Harris said, but it will be at least $5,000.

Jones also spoke about evidence of habitual abuse against Kiomora. Initial investigators found new and old bruises on the 6-year-old’s body. Harris acknowledged this and said that those investigations were not over.

“It’s been my goal from the beginning to account all known and provable instances of criminal conduct,” he said.