Man convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Justice For Kane case is sentenced

The man found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 2-year-old Kane Friess-Wylie in 2017 was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison.

Gyasi Campbell, 26, was convicted Aug. 13 in St. Clair County Court during a bench trial overseen by Judge Dennis Doyle. The charge was reduced from first-degree murder, as was sought by prosecutors Bernadette Schremp and Judy Dalan.

At the hearing, Dalan asked Doyle for the maximum sentence: 28 years with the aggravating factor that Kane was under age 12. The minimum amount for the charge was four years of probation. Dalan argued that a sentence in prison was necessary and that giving Campbell probation time would “deprecate the seriousness of the crime.”

Campbell’s lawyer, Justin A. Kuehn, didn’t offer a sentencing recommendation, instead saying he trusted Doyle to be fair and reasonable in the decision.

Doyle said the actual period that Campbell will likely serve will be an estimated two years and six months.

Before the verdict was read, Campbell delivered a statement through tears, acknowledging that the case has “made the last two years hard” for everyone involved.

He first apologized to Kane’s mother, Lindsey Friess, and father, Teague Wylie Jr., and said he knew Kane was his responsibility at the time of the incident.

Kuehn read a statement from Friess, in which she asked Doyle to listen to her emotions and fears about now having to provide for her and Campbell’s daughter as a single parent.

“I know you must hold Gyasi accountable, but I also ask you to understand his love for Kane,” the statement read. Friess also said she couldn’t bring herself to believe Kane’s death in Campbell’s care was intentional.

Ultimately, Doyle found that Campbell’s conflicting stories and lies to police and medical personnel were aggravating factors, as well as the fact he violated the terms of his bail in January.

He did say, however, that he would consider that Campbell had never been convicted of a felony prior to this case, and that he had previously pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges against him.

St. Clair County Court Circuit Judge Zina Cruse was originally assigned to try the case, but recused herself from it in November 2018. No reason was given. Doyle, a Monroe County judge, was assigned in her place.

On April 13, 2017, the toddler was left in the care of Campbell, Friess’ boyfriend, at their apartment in Belleville while she had dinner and went grocery shopping with a friend. In his statement Wednesday, he said that he was not just Friess’ “live-in boyfriend,” but a father to Kane. He said he loved Kane and that Kane loved him.

Friess testified during the trial that she had asked Campbell to give Kane a bath while he was home. When she came home a few hours later, she said, she found Campbell cradling an unresponsive Kane like a baby.

Under testimony during the trial, Friess said Campbell gave conflicting accounts of how the boy was injured.

Initially, she said he told her that Kane had taken a tumble out of the bathtub and onto the bathroom floor. On later occasions, he said Kane fell in the bathtub and then that he fell off a table after his bath.

Kane was taken to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Belleville, where the emergency room doctor concluded he needed surgery for a head injury. The toddler was airlifted to Cardinal Glennon’s Hospital in St. Louis, where he would later die after an unsuccessful operation.

Dr. Erin Ely, the medical examiner who performed Kane’s autopsy, testified that injuries to the toddler’s brain were inconsistent with a fall of less than 6 feet which led her determination that the manner of his death was homicide.

Another expert, Dr. Maria Teresea Tersigni-Tarrant, who examined Kane’s bones following his death, concluded that a fracture in the occipital bone on the back of his skull was caused at or near his time of death. She said there were no old or healing fractures on his body.

But Kuehn and defense attorney Derek Siegel argued that the prosecution could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Campbell intended to kill Kane, a requirement for a first-degree murder conviction.

Kuehn suggested his client instead be charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Campbell chose not to testify during the trial.

“Kane is gone because of a man’s incompetent decision,” said Lori Friess, Kane’s maternal grandmother, during her victim impact statement Wednesday.

Kane’s paternal grandmother, Joellan Wylie, also gave a tearful statement, describing the immense loss her family has felt since the loss of her son’s only child.

“We will never get to see his big blue eyes again ... [Campbell] broke our family,” she said.

This story was originally published October 2, 2019 at 3:30 PM.