ADEL — Calling Justin Ray’s actions in willfully injuring his sister Sabrina Ray “cold and cruel and despicable,” Dallas County District Court Judge Terry Rickers sentenced the 22-year-old Perry man to 10 years in prison Friday.
“There’s clearly a darkness in your heart, Mr. Ray,” Rickers said.
In return for his guilty plea to two counts of willful injury, the state dropped two other felony charges filed against Ray, child endangerment resulting in serious injury and child endangerment resulting in bodily injury.
After the judge accepted the amended charges, Ray’s court-appointed attorney, Todd Miler of West Des Moines, requested the court dispense with the pre-sentence investigation and proceed immediately to sentencing. Rickers granted the request.
“These offenses were heinous,” said First Assistant Dallas County Attorney Jeannine R. Gilmore in offering recommendations for sentencing. “These offenses were damaging to Sabrina, and these offenses were damaging to the other children in the home as they witnessed her suffering with these injuries.”
Gilmore said Sabrina Ray “looked to this family to be her forever home, and while she was there she was mistreated by the defendant” and “did not have a chance to blossom in her home and feel the nurturing of an older brother as a role model.”
In recommending the maximum prison term for Ray — back-to-back five-year terms — Gilmore said she spoke on behalf of “the victim who cannot speak today but is here. We ask that in Sabrina’s absence, the court consider the seriousness of these offenses and give her justice.”
Assistant Dallas County Attorney Stacy L. Ritchie read a victim-impact statement made by HR, one of the three minor children also living in the Ray home.
“You have destroyed my sister’s and my life with your actions,” Ritchie said. “We did not deserve what you gave us. Nobody ever deserves that kind of treatment. I’m having so many flashbacks because of what you did to my sister.”
The judge asked Ray whether he wished to make a statement to the court regarding his actions.
“What do you wish to tell the court at this time?” Rickers said.
“Nothing, your honor,” Ray replied. Rickers proceeded to the sentence.
“The most noteworthy consideration, to my mind,” Rickers said, “is the cold and cruel and despicable nature of what you did to your own sister. We must also consider the devastating effect that your actions have had on your younger siblings who witnessed your callous and cruel behavior towards Sabrina.”
Rickers sentenced Ray to begin his 10-year term of imprisonment at Oakdale Prison, also called the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, a medium-security correctional facility in Coralville. Along with paying court costs and other related costs, Ray is required to submit a DNA sample and is the subject of a five-year no-contact order with his younger siblings.
“There’s clearly a darkness in your heart, Mr. Ray,” Rickers said. “It needs to be cleansed, and I’m not sure how to go about doing that. That’s something you’re going to have to deal with now and for the rest of your life.”
The murder trials of Ray’s parents, Marc and Misty Ray, and the trial of his grandmother, Carla Bousman, are scheduled to begin in March.
