Katie Petrie sentenced to 11 years in prison for causing irreparable brain damage to baby

SYCAMORE – Katie Petrie cried as she walked into the courtroom Tuesday afternoon.

She composed herself as she was bombarded by Ryker Newhouse’s family members’ statements as to how it impacted their lives when she caused irreparable brain damage to Ryker when he was a baby more than three years ago.

She sobbed as her fiancé said their family was destroyed because of her actions.

She was still crying when DeKalb County Judge Philip Montgomery sentenced her to 11 years in prison.

“Nothing I’m going to do here today is going to make Ryker’s family whole,” Montgomery said as he discussed his decision.

Petrie, 36, of DeKalb, was charged in January 2016 with two counts of aggravated battery of a child.

Her lawyer, Peter Buh, argued for six years, the minimum on the nonprobationable charge. First Assistant State’s Attorney Stephanie Klein, who was assisted by State’s Attorney Rick Amato in prosecuting the case, asked for at least 20 years. The maximum sentence on such a charge is 30.

“As Ryker’s sister ... requested, wouldn’t it be great if all child abuse would stop?” Klein said. “If the abuse of even one child was deterred, that is a value, so we ask the court to consider this factor, that in accordance with the statute, that if you inflict on a child significant, permanent, life-altering injuries, the punishment will be significant?”

Petrie must serve 85 percent of her sentence, and has been credited with 144 days in DeKalb County jail, meaning she could be out in a little more than eight years. Shortly after she was arrested in early 2016, she’d posted $5,000 bail to get out.

Montgomery ruled that $2,250 of the $5,000 bail Petrie posted in February 2016 go to Buh for his fees, and that $2,250 go to the Newhouse family.

“I’m aware that’s a token amount and nowhere near sufficient compensation,” Montgomery said.

The crime

Police responded Dec. 15, 2015, to a 911 report of a 6-month-old having a seizure, after which Ryker was taken to Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital and later flown to Rockford Memorial Hospital.

He'd been dropped off that morning perfectly healthy, just having gotten over a cold, as video evidence showed during a three-day trial that played out over nearly a month, because Buh's expert witness couldn't free himself up in November 2018.

Montgomery has mentioned how healthy and happy Ryker looked that Sunday night as his mother, Jennifer Newhouse, tickled him.

Ryker was flown from Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital to Rockford Memorial, where his parents learned blood had flooded part of his brain. Veins had been torn. He’d be affected for life.

He had the latest in a series of many surgeries in February, during which the top of his skull had to be removed – as it was Dec. 15, 2015, to determine the extent of the damage Petrie had done.

Victim’s family speaks out

Before Montgomery passed sentence, Ryker’s family members told the court about the tragic effects the incident has had on their family.

Ryker’s mother, Jennifer Newhouse, gave a statement Tuesday as to how her life has changed, now that her 3½-year-old boy will never be the same, and that he might lose sight in his right eye.

She shared the full-body shock she felt at Rockford Memorial, when she learned Ryker’s brain was bleeding and that he was fighting to live.

“I felt my life leave my body,” she said. “I fell to the floor. I needed help to walk.”

She said the ordeal has taken a toll on her marriage, and that her husband, Eric, has been diagnosed with Post-traumatic stress disorder.

Eric Newhouse at one point told Montgomery he didn’t know if he could make it through reading his statement.

“It’s unfortunate the defendant will likely serve her sentence and get out before we even fully realize how her actions affected Ryker,” Eric Newhouse read. “He’s my hero and my best friend.”

Jennifer Newhouse read a statement from Ryker’s older sister as the child sat on her lap. The girl also had been under Petrie’s supervision at Petrie’s in-home daycare in Cortland. According to the girl’s statement, Petrie asked her one day, as she left, whether she was scared and whether she thought Petrie would ever hurt her.

The statement was a tear-jerking confession of survivor guilt.

“I felt like I knew it was going to happen, and I should have told my mom about it,” Jennifer Newhouse read. “If I had told my mom, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”

The Daily Chronicle is not identifying the girl; the family consented to identifying Ryker.

Three character witnesses spoke up for Petrie, and the court received 16 letters of support for her. She declined to speak for herself.

“No, thank you,” she said through tears.

Eric Newhouse’s mother, Linda, said she left her job of 13 years and took a part-time job at Edward Hospital in Naperville in order to look after Ryker when his parents are working.

“Because his family will never trust anyone, ever again, to watch their child,” she read.

The Newhouses expressed on the day Petrie was convicted that they hope to advocate for others who have suffered like them. The witnesses testified Tuesday that two other children suffered broken limbs while in Petrie’s care, and that she denied any wrongdoing in any of the cases.

Both Eric and Jennifer Newhouse conceded people make mistakes, but also emphasized that Petrie has refused to accept responsibility, while her supporters have harassed them on social media.

“I’m a Christian man,” he read, “but forgiveness can only be given to those who show remorse.”