SUNBURY — Brentt Sherwood’s 2007 death sentence for beating his 4-year-old stepdaughter to death has been upheld by the state Supreme Court.
Sherwood, 29, claimed lack of evidence of torture and ineffectual counsel by defense attorney Brian V. Manchester, of Bellefonte, during his July 2007 trial.
A Northumberland County jury convicted him of first-degree murder in the Dec. 7, 2004, beating death of Marlee Reed in their Northumberland home and sentenced him to death.
“We are satisfied that the jury’s sentence of death was not the product of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor, but was based upon the evidence presented at trial,” the court ruled Friday.
Marlee’s grandfather, Melvin Reed, attended every day of the trial and said he doesn’t see how Sherwood will ever overturn his sentence.
“When they had all the evidence they had, I don’t see how he could ever win,” Reed said.
Like other inmates sentenced to die for their crimes, Sherwood will have the opportunity to appeal on other grounds.
In this appeal, he claimed the first-degree murder verdict wasn’t warranted because Marlee’s death was accidental as a result of him losing his temper.
He argued there was insufficient evidence that he intended to torture Marlee, but the appellate court disagreed and cited how he punched and kicked the 4-year-old in “three separate vicious attacks over a 10-minute period.”
Because the beating took place over time and resulted in more than 50 bruises on the child’s body, and testimony showed he had beaten Marlee several times before, the court ruled there was evidence Sherwood had a “conscious wish to cause her substantial and unnecessary pain.”
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State Supreme Court: No life for killer stepdad
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