Dylan Castimore was sentenced to 100 years with ten years suspended for the manslaughter charge

Dylan Castimore was sentenced to 100 years with ten years suspended for the manslaughter charge. The judge did not issue a sentence for the abuse charge. Castimore is not allowed to have contact with Daxton’s mother, family or any children under the age of ten for the entire time he is behind bars. He will have 871 days credited to him for time served at the Minnehaha County Jail.
Police said an 8-week old baby was beaten to death on Saturday morning at an apartment on the 3400 block of N. Fourth Avenue in Sioux Falls.
Earlier story:
A motor vehicle crash.
A fall from a decent height, at least two or three stories.
Inflicted injuries from abuse.
Those are the typical three scenarios Minnehaha County Coroner Dr. Kenneth Snell said he sees consistent with the amount and kind of injuries 8-week-old Daxton Castimore experienced at the time of his death, and up to potentially a week to 10 days before.
But baby Daxton hadn’t been involved in a motor vehicle crash. And he hadn’t fallen from a two- or three-story building.
“That, plus the eyes, are what told me this was an inflicted type case,” Snell said to a full court room Thursday.
The moment, like many heard Thursday, was graphic in nature as the Minnehaha County State’s Attorney’s office and defense attorneys for Dylan Castimore argued about the character of Daxton’s father, who faces sentencing for his son’s 2021 homicide this week. His attorneys included Traci Smith, Kylie Beck and John O’Malley, the IV.
Dylan, now in his mid-20s, and of Sioux Falls, pleaded guilty in February to first degree manslaughter and abuse or cruelty to a minor, lesser charges from his initial ones, which included first degree murder and aggravated battery of an infant. The sentencing hearing was expected to continue at 8:30 a.m. Friday and wrap up Friday afternoon. As of press time Friday, a ruling had not been made.
The case once faced the argument of capital punishment on death row before the plea, one of two or three capital punishment cases in the area within the last four years. Now that plea means at minimum, Dylan will have a mandatory sentence of 65 years. But, what’s at stake in the two-day sentencing hearing is whether he should have the option to eventually be released or whether he should be behind bars for life.
The moment’s been nearly three years in the making, since Dylan was arrested in November 2021. Letters of support have been sent in by Dylan’s family for the judge to review, as have letters of victim impact statements by those directly affected by Daxton’s death (some of which included letters from first responders, nurses and a detective – an often rare action taken by professionals who see trauma on a regular basis, Judge Camela Theeler said).
It was a sign to all this case was above the norm. This case was different.
But this case also wasn’t going to a jury, which is one reason Theeler said the sentencing process was expected to last two days, along with new evidence to be presented by prosecutors that the defense had a right to cross-examine. Theeler, though, would be the final determination of Dylan’s character at large, and would weigh how to hand down that sentence.
‘Kids have new hearts. They don’t go bad.’
Prosecutors, which included Jennifer Hynek, Isaac Bouman, Drew Degroot, Amy Folsom and Meghan McCauley, called five witnesses Thursday and were expected to call at least one more Friday morning. The defense was expected to call at least two, but did not.
The attorneys started Thursday with the Sioux Falls firefighter first on scene, then the Sioux Falls detective who arrested Dylan, followed by Snell and a walkthrough of Snell’s autopsy report, including images of Daxton’s autopsy. The first day ended with testimony from the two Avera Health emergency room nurses, who first responded when Daxton arrived and the last to hold him in a tiny blanket as his heart finally stopped responding to the medication meant to help it keep beating.
“Kids have new hearts. They don’t go bad,” firefighter Riley McManus testified first Thursday morning.
McManus was first on the scene that day at an apartment an apartment in the 3400 block of North Fourth Avenue, after Dylan called police and said his son was not breathing or responding anymore. McManus had been a firefighter with the department for more than two years at that point, with years of training to do CPR differently for a pediatric patient than an adult, he said.
If a child isn’t breathing, the issue is usually respiratory related, but this wasn’t that, he said as he described the methodology behind CPR pressure on the heart of an adult versus a child. Daxton was “waxy in color,” with fluid coming out of his nose. But he wasn’t stiff, the fluids weren’t dry. Whatever happened to the infant was recent, and McManus said that meant there might still be a chance for survival, despite “obvious signs of death we know we can’t control.”
He had started CPR immediately, according to his testimony and body camera footage shown in court (footage the defense tried to object to showing because it seemed inflammatory and media was in the room. The state argued the footage spoke to how the situation truly unfolded and that couldn’t be ignored in what’s a public hearing. Theeler ruled in the state’s favor). And CPR continued, along with a shock to his chest, until and after baby Daxton was taken to the emergency room by paramedics.