Mom gets 20 years in prison in 4-year-old’s death

Alexander Marr’s mother was sentenced Friday to 20 years prison for the brutal death of her 4-year-old son.

Dianna Marr, 34, was found guilty Feb. 24 of aggravated manslaughter of a child 18 years old or younger by culpable negligence following a weeklong trial.

Marr was not crying when she called 911 on April 12, 2015, to report that Alexander was dead. Nor was she crying when law enforcement arrived.

But on Friday afternoon as Circuit Judge Hunter Carroll ordered her to serve 20 years in prison for failing to protect her son or get him medical care after the beating, Marr erupted into loud sobs.

“This case is a tragedy, Ms. Marr,” Carroll said to her when he began his ruling. “Alexander didn’t have to die.”

Marr sobbed as she said, “I know.”

Alexander would never wake up to celebrate his fourth birthday on that April morning two years ago.

There was never enough evidence to determine whether Marr or her live-in boyfriend at the time, Trevor Cardarelle, delivered the beating that would result in the boy’s death. But Carroll said Marr was being punished for the crime she was convicted of, failing to protect Alexander or get him medical care, which was supported by the evidence.

Assistant State Attorney Garrett Franzen said his office is pleased with the judge’s ruling.

“Obviously, it would have been much better if this case never happened at all,” Franzen said outside the courthouse after the hearing. “There was no reason for Alexander Marr to die that day, but given what happened we’re glad, and it’s a long time coming, that there was at least some justice for Alexander Marr.”

Just before noon on April 12, 2015, deputies with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office were called to the duplex in the 700 block of 59th Avenue Terrace West, where Alexander lived with Marr and Cardarelle after Alexander was found unresponsive in his bed.

Alexander’s death was later ruled a homicide after an autopsy, and the investigation revealed the boy died after a beating that left him with a fractured skull, brain trauma, a lacerated liver and dozens of bruises all over his body — most of which his mother claimed not to notice when he was discovered dead.

Cardarelle had also been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child by culpable negligence. In October, a jury found him guilty of a lesser charge of culpable negligence, however, and he was sentenced to the maximum permitted sentence of 60 days in jail with credit for time served.

As a result of convictions for possession of ammunition by a convicted felon and violation of probation that resulted when deputies found a loaded magazine in the home on the day Alexander died, Cardarelle was sentenced to three years prison in December. With credit for time served, he is scheduled to be released on April 7, 2018 — just five days before what would have been Alexander’s seventh birthday.

On Friday afternoon, Marr and her defense team asked for the judge’s mercy, seeking leniency in sentencing.

“I feel like I have to apologize for something I didn’t know I should have done,” Marr said as she read a prepared statement.

She had hoped to provide a better father for her children than she herself had, Marr claimed.

“I thought Trevor was a good candidate for that,” Marr.

She went on to say she had no idea that Cardarelle had turned into a “monster” who terrified her children to the point that they feared telling her the abuse he was inflicting on them. When she finished her statement, both she and defense attorney Daphney Branham were crying, forcing the judge to order a brief recess.

Hundreds of miles away, Gary Marr, followed updates of the case on social media, as his daughter was sentenced to prison. Gary Marr’s convicted daughter and his ex-wife painted him as a bad and absent father. But he and his daughter were never estranged until she became an adult, and he said he is saddened that he never got to meet his grandson Alexander.

“At least some justice was served for Alexander today,” he somberly told the Bradenton Herald by phone following the sentencing hearing.

His daughter and Cardarelle were the only two people involved, he said, and both made conscious decisions that resulted in Alexander’s abuse and death. Cardarelle, he believed, was not held accountable enough for his role.

“If they would have taken him to the hospital, he would have survived, I believe that,” Gary Marr said.

Gary Marr said he would never wish that kind of abuse on anyone, and as an abused child himself, he said he knows what his grandson must have suffered.

“At least I survived mine,” Gary Marr said, adding that he wished Alexander had.

This story was originally published March 31, 2017 at 3:26 PM with the headline "Mom gets 20 years in prison in 4-year-old’s death."