Riley Choate Sentenced: Indiana Father Gets 80 Years In Death Of Son He Kept In Cage

Man Gets 80 Years In Death Of Son He Kept In Cage, Starved

A Hammond, Ind. man was sentenced Friday to 80 years in prison in the 2009 neglect and death of his 13-year-old son Christian Choate.

Riley Choate, 40, previously pleaded guilty to felony charges of neglect of a dependent causing death, moving a body after death and depriving Christian's sister Christina of an education, according to the Northwest Indiana Times.

Young Christian Choate's body was found buried under a thin layer of concrete in May 2011 near Riley Choate's home in a mobile home park in Gary, Ind. The boy is believed to have died in April of 2009, after being kept locked in a three-foot-high dog cage for most of at least the last year of his life. He was reportedly only let out of the cage to eat and use the bathroom and was often starved and beaten, according to the Associated Press.

Choate and his former wife Kimberly Kubina originally pleaded not guilty to all charges associated with Christian's death, but Riley Choate made a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to some of the charges in exchange for a shorter sentence. According to the Chicago Tribune, he was otherwise headed for a 120-year sentence.

"I can’t conceive of any set of facts charging neglect that could be any worse," prosecutor Michael Woods said of the case in court Friday morning, according to the Tribune.

Last May, Kubina accepted a similar plea deal that reduced her sentence to 25-35 years in exchange for her cooperation in the trial against Riley Choate.

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