Teen sentenced to jail in unintentional shooting death of Emma Redlinger

VINTON - A judge said Thursday that in 'good conscience” he couldn't give a deferred judgment to a 19-year-old convicted in the unintentional shooting death of Emma Redlinger, 14, in 2015.

Instead, 6th Judicial District Judge Paul Miller sentenced William Hines Jr., of Vinton, to 60 days in jail for interference with official acts and harassment of public officers and employees, both misdemeanors, and he suspended 360 days in jail for involuntary manslaughter, an aggravated misdemeanor. Hines also was given two years probation Thursday in Benton County District Court and was ordered to pay fines, court fees and any victim's restitution, which hasn't yet been filed.

John Breitbach, Hines' lawyer, had asked the court for a deferred judgment and two years probation. He said Hines has changed since the shooting. He got a job and also completed a drug-treatment program in February.

Benton County Attorney David Thompson also recommended the deferred judgment, 'solely” based on Hines' young age, he told the judge.

Miller said he struggled with what the appropriate sentence should be for Hines, who was 17 at the time of the offense but was charged as an adult. He said he doubted that Hines could understand how many lives have been affected by Emma's death.

Miller also said the presentencing report - which stated Emma's father wanted Hines to go to prison and her mother wanted probation for Hines, in hopes that he could learn from his mistakes - factored into his decision. Miller added he didn't think Hines would do well, physically, with a long jail sentence.

During sentencing, Hines apologized more than once.

'I'm very sorry,” he said. ' ... Not a day goes by that I don't think about it.”

Tearing up, Hines added that even though he couldn't apologize directly to Emma, he hopes she possibly heard him when he talked to her as she was receiving treatment at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She died from gunshot wound to her head four days later.

Hines parents were in the courtroom to support him. Absent were Emma's parents who told Thompson it was 'too hard and too much” for them to attend.

In their absence, Kalee Graves, 18, Emma's cousin, submitted a victim's impact statement to the court and it was read by Thompson's paralegal. She said it took her a while to accept what happened to Emma. Her cousin's death made her see life is too short and it encouraged her to join the U.S. Marines.

Graves in the statement said she could have used Emma's death as an excuse but instead, she turned it into motivation. Graves added that everybody is human and she hopes Hines learns from this and continues to grow.

On Thursday, Hines briefly recounted the events of Feb. 24, 2015, which took place in a bedroom at the home of Dillion Winterroth, now 17. He said he, Winterroth and Jacob Hissong were with Emma hanging out and playing video games. He said Winterroth had the gun but then he 'guessed” he picked it up. Hines said he didn't point it at Emma.

During a plea hearing in January, Hines admitted to holding a rifle that day in Winterroth's bedroom, when it unintentionally discharged, hitting Emma in the head, according to court documents.

He also admitted that he handled the firearm in a reckless manner, even though 'I did not know it was loaded at the time I was handling it,” court documents show.

As part of the plea, Hines also admitted that he lied to investigators about Winterroth holding the gun when it discharged, and then again when he told police that Winterroth accidentally shot Emma.

Court documents show all three boys initially lied to police, saying Winterroth was cleaning his Walther HK MPS 22LR semi-automatic rifle when it suddenly went off and the bullet struck Emma in the head. Later, during another police interview, the three recanted their story and said Hines was holding the gun when it unintentionally discharged, court documents show.

Winterroth pleaded guilty last year in Juvenile Court to drug and other misdemeanor charges. He was placed at the State Training School in Eldora until he completes the program.

Hissong, now 17, also was charged as a juvenile for making false reports to public safety entities, interference with official acts and harassment of public officers and employees, all misdemeanors. He was sentenced to six months probation last May, a juvenile consent decree shows.

Winterroth's mother, Robyn Merchant, 52, was convicted in federal court of one count of transfer of a firearm to a prohibited person. Merchant admitted to investigators that she purchased the .22 caliber rifle and gave it to her son.

She also admitted during the plea that she knew her son was a regular marijuana user at the time she gave him the rifle.

An investigator testified during one of Merchant's hearings that authorities found evidence that marijuana was being sold out of Merchant's residence. Juveniles who testified before a grand jury said they purchased marijuana from Winterroth, and sometimes from his mother if he wasn't around.

Merchant was sentenced in October to nearly four years in federal prison.

On Thursday, Miller gave Hines two weeks to make arrangements to set up work release so he can keep his job while serving his time. His jail sentence will then start in two weeks in the Benton County Jail.