The fading scent on a little red Elmo doll is nearly all Tom Crookham has left of his 2-year-old son, Noah.
“Sometimes I still give it a kiss and hope that it smells like him,” Crookham said Tuesday during a sentencing hearing for his son’s killer. “These are the only things we have left.”
Crookham told Denver District Judge Brian Whitney he forgives Earl Ryan for killing Noah but wants to see justice done.
Whitney sentenced Ryan to 28 years in prison, the maximum term for the crime of child abuse resulting in the death of Noah and the second-degree assault of Crookham.
Ryan was initially charged with first-degree murder and faced life in prison. During the middle of his trial, he decided to accept a plea deal from prosecutors.
Noah was killed Oct. 12, 2008, during an argument between his father and Ryan, who had been in a romantic relationship with the boy’s mother, Angela Crookham.
The argument took place at Angela Crookham’s duplex at 1243 Madison St. while she and her estranged husband were cooking breakfast with Noah.
Ryan pulled a .357-caliber revolver, and Tom Crookham ran out of the duplex and scooped up Noah in his arms.
Ryan followed and fired three shots at Crookham.
A single bullet went through Crookham’s hand and into Noah’s chest.
“I killed Noah Thomas Crookham,” Ryan said. “I chose wrongly to fire a gun, and everything that resulted from that is 100 percent my responsibility, 100 percent my fault, 100 percent my guilt and 100 percent my shame. I want to say I am sorry. I have no excuse.”
Ryan, 41, told the judge he loved Noah, treated him as his own and did not intend to kill him.
The judge said he believes Ryan is remorseful but he does not believe Ryan didn’t see Noah in his father’s arms while shooting the gun.
Prosecutor Michelle Amico and defense lawyers Lisa Moses and Jennifer Henslee wept during the three-hour hearing. Although both sides acknowledged Ryan, a man with no criminal history, was remorseful for his crime, they differed over the motive.
Moses and Henslee said he acted out only because Angela Crookham had manipulated him into thinking Tom Crookham was abusive and dangerous and he felt he was protecting her.
“It’s hard to talk about the mother of this child and what she did to manipulate this man,” Henslee said. “I believe that story needs to be told.”
Amico said Ryan was jealous that the woman he loved was going to get back together with her husband.
“He wanted her and Noah as his family,” Amico said, “and there is nothing wrong with that. Wanting to be this great boyfriend and wanting to be a father figure to a kid you know and love — but you can’t fire the gun. You can’t fire the gun.”
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
