'Cold and cruel': Brother of starved teen Sabrina Ray pleads guilty, gets 10 years in prison

Justin Dale Ray, 22, pleaded guilty to two counts of willful injury. Sabrina Ray, 16, was found dead May 12 at the home of her foster parents in Perry. In the weeks before Sabrina died, Justin drop-kicked her down a basement staircase, leaving her unable to walk, talk, eat or drink normally, prosecutors have said.

District Judge Terry Rickers sentenced Justin to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty at the Dallas County Courthouse in Adel. The judge called his behavior "cold and cruel and despicable."

"There is clearly a darkness in your heart, Mr. Ray," Rickers said. "It needs to be cleansed."

During the hearing, Justin told the judge he pushed Sabrina down a flight of stairs and kicked her in the chin. When asked if he wanted to say anything else before he was sentenced, he told the judge, "Nothing, your honor."

Assistant County Attorney Jeannine Gilmore called Justin's offenses heinous and damaging to a girl who looked to his family to "be her forever home."

"This young girl did not have a chance to blossom in her home and to feel the nurturing of an older brother as a role model," Gilmore said.

Before the sentencing, Assistant County Attorney Stacy Ritchie read a statement from one of Sabrina's younger siblings, who wrote that Justin would receive a wake-up call Friday. The juvenile said, "we did not deserve what you gave us."

"You destroyed my sister and I's life with your actions," the juvenile wrote, asking if Justin remembered their fond memories together. "It's breaking my heart. … Why couldn't you just keep our life like that?"

Source: Des Moines