6/29/2009

BELOIT — A Mitchell County District Court jury found Ben Gericke guilty of involuntary manslaughter Friday at the conclusion of a week long trial.
According to the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, the jury deliberated for about nine hours Thursday and two and a half hours Friday before declaring Gericke, 23, guilty in connection with the death of his girlfriend’s 11-month-old daughter. Involuntary manslaughter was an alternate charge to first- or second-degree murder. He was found not guilty of a separate count of child abuse.
Gericke, of Beloit, remains in custody pending his sentencing, set for 1 p.m. Aug. 11.
Gericke took the lifeless body of Stevie Dawn Mull to Mitchell County Hospital on the night of July 22. Doctors tried to revive her for an hour and a half before pronouncing her dead.
He had been caring for the child while her mother was at work.