Prison sentence for man accused in abuse and death of vulnerable woman

SALT LAKE CITY — One of three individuals charged in a death described as "straight out of a horror movie" was sent to prison Monday.

Dale Beckering, 53, said little before he was sentenced by 3rd District Judge Robert Faust to one to 15 years in prison for aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult acting recklessly, a second-degree felony, in the death of 22-year-old Christina Harms.

"As much as I deeply regret what happened ... I can't make a statement at this time because I've instructed my attorney to appeal this case," he said

Beckering was found guilty by a jury in November. He was originally charged with a first-degree felony, which could have carried a potential sentence of life in prison.

The 22-year-old woman's body was found March 25, 2011, in the living room of the Kearns home she shared with Beckering, his wife Sherrie, stepdaughter Cassandra Shepard and a number of children.

Harms' hands and arms were bound with ace bandages, and there was a pepper seed in her eye. Bruises spanned her side and leg. When police arrived at the home, Harms' body was just feet from the closet where she was apparently housed and sometimes bound, crucifixion-style.

Sherrie Beckering and Shepard are each facing a first-degree felony charge of aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult, but Shepard is also charged with murder, a first-degree felony, and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.

Harms suffered from fetal-alcohol syndrome, and witnesses said she functioned at the level of a young teenager. Shepard was Harms' legal guardian.

Defense attorney Rudy Bautista was adamant that his client worked long hours, lived in the basement and avoided Harms — as she once accused him of rape — and did not know the extent of the abuse. Prosecutor Chad Platt said the man had to have known and had a duty to protect Harms from the "severe, extensive abuse."

"This is a very tragic case," Bautista said. "In many aspects of it, it is a case of people trying to help a young woman who needed help and it turned tragic."

He said Dale Beckering was "passive" in his home and wishes he could go back and prevent the abuse. Still, Bautista said his client has no criminal history and didn't know how extensive the abuse had become.

He said the case will absolutely go to an appeal.

"One appellate issue is that he had a duty to care for her," Bautista said. "There is a right thing to do and a good Samaritan thing to do, but there's also what's legally required."