Updated: Emotional Pleas, Failed Polygraphs Lead to Exceptional Sentence for Vader Man Convicted in Boy’s Death

Nearly a year after 3-year-old Jasper Henderling-Warner was found dead after more than two months of prolonged and violent abuse, his mother tearfully remembered her “bright” boy.

“Today, my baby would be 4 years and 263 days old,” Nicole Warner said Friday.

Last year, Warner asked Danny and Brenda Wing to take care of Jasper for a short time while she got back on her feet, she said.

“Had I known there was any abuse in the house, of course I would never have trusted them to be his guardians,” she said. “I left my baby in Brenda and Danny’s care and now he’s dead. The things they did to him were inhuman.”

Danny Wing, 27, was sentenced Friday to spend 416 months, or about 34 and a half years, in prison for his role in the abuse and torture that led to Jasper’s death. Wing pleaded guilty in March to first-degree manslaughter and third-degree assault of a child.

“This is not about rehabilitation. This is clearly about punishment and a message to the community that this will not be tolerated in this county,” said Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt.

Hunt handed down the sentence after a hearing that lasted more than an hour and a half. Brenda Wing, 28, Danny’s wife, was also scheduled to be sentenced Friday. Her sentencing was delayed. She also pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and other related charges.

“Every time I think I’ve probed the depths of human depravity and something else comes along,” Hunt said. “Sixty-two days this child suffered and then was just allowed to die. Unbelievable.”

Lies, Failed Polygraphs Lead to Higher Sentence Requests

The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office filed memorandums last Friday and Monday asking a judge to find both Danny and Brenda Wing in violation of their plea agreements, which required them to give investigators full and truthful accounts of the events leading up to Jasper’s death, and take a polygraph test to support their statements.

Brenda Wing’s test was labeled inconclusive, but according to court documents, she later admitted to lying during the test both to the polygraph examiner and in a recorded phone call from the jail.

According to court documents, Danny Wing failed his polygraph test administered by the Washington State Patrol on Sept. 9 and gave information during a pre-test interview that conflicted with his earlier statements.

Wing underwent a second polygraph Thursday, by a polygrapher selected by his attorney, which he conclusively failed, Pascoe said.

However, Pascoe argued Friday that the Washington State Patrol sergeant who conducted Wing’s polygraph was not sufficiently qualified to conduct the test, according to the terms laid out in his client’s plea agreement.

The agreement required Wing to be tested by a “licensed” polygrapher.

Washington does not give polygraphy licenses.

“This is, I guess, an 11th hour punt we expected from the defendant,” Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said.

Pascoe asked to proceed to sentencing, honoring the 12 to 16 years offered in the plea agreement.

Hunt ruled that, strictly following the wording of the agreement, the polygrapher did not meet the requirements.

Despite the success of Pascoe’s argument, Wing insisted that he failed both polygraph tests, affirmed that he believed he was guilty of the added aggravating factors that could extend his sentence and asked to proceed to sentencing that day.

“He does not want a continuance. He wants to be sentenced today,” Pascoe said.

Hunt granted his request.

‘She Never did See Her Son Again’

Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead began by describing how Jasper came to be in the care of the Wings, noting that his mother, Nicole Warner, thought she was leaving her son with people she could trust. But when she tried to contact her son, the Wings always had an excuse for why she couldn’t talk to him.

“Every time she was denied for one reason or another,” Halstead said. “Come to find of course her son was slowly dying at the hands of the Wings. She never did see her son again.”

Halstead detailed the two months of horrific abuse Jasper endured, but said the the prosecution does not believe the Wings planned to kill the boy. He noted that their other three children were in perfect health.

“The problem here is drugs,” Halstead said. Both of the Wings were using heroin while taking care of Jasper.

The Wings started abusing Jasper after a family trip to the beach in Oregon. At some point, Brenda Wing told Danny she saw Jasper put his hand over their baby’s mouth and nose.

Danny Wing started hitting Jasper, injuring his lip and nose. The abuse didn’t stop for two months.

Brenda Wing admitted after her polygraph test that she made up the story about Jasper and the baby.

When the abuse first started, the Wings and the four children had no fixed address, and were moving from hotel to hotel. In an ill-advised attempt to hide Jasper’s bruises, Halstead said they put steaming hot towels on his skin, and when that didn’t work, burned his skin with a hairdryer, leaving a large open wound on the boy’s leg.

Jasper later contracted MRSA, a drug-resistant staph infection. In the last few weeks of his life, Jasper’s blood was septic and he was having seizures, Halstead said.

“The last week of his life he spent literally on the floor wrapped in a blanket,” Halstead said. “At that point Jasper didn’t have a chance. It wasn’t until he was dead on the floor that the decided to call 911. His body had just given up.”

At first, Halstead said investigators had no idea what happened to Jasper. In addition to the existing septic infection, he had healing fractures, indicating long-term abuse.

“Danny and Brenda did everything they could to blame other people,” Halstead said. “At no point has he taken responsibility up until the point he knew he was caught.”

Given the seriousness and “senselessness” of the case, and taking into account Wing’s life expectancy and case law, Halstead asked for a sentence of 55 years in prison.

“I sit here wanting to ask for 1,000 years,” he said.

Pascoe, noting that Danny was attempting to perform CPR when first-responders arrived, asked for a sentence of 15 years. He read portions of letters from Wing’s mother and from fellow inmates, attesting to Wing’s newfound religious faith.

“Twelve to 16 would have been enough if Danny passed the polygraph,” Pascoe said. He said the 55-year recommendation was 20 years beyond what he expected from the state.

Pascoe also noted that Danny was abused as a child.

“I saw an … amazing parallel between my client and a person who is no longer with us because of my client’s actions,” he said.

Three people were allowed to address the court before Judge Hunt handed down his sentence: Jasper’s parents — Nicole Warner and Casey Henderling — and Ruth Crear, one of the first responders on the scene.

Crear said first responders such as herself will always be haunted by what they saw.

“He won’t ever get to go to school. He won’t get married. He won’t get to do anything,” Crear said. “That man still gets to breathe.”

She asked Hunt to impose the maximum sentence.

“Do it for Jasper,” she said. “Do it for the rest of us.”

Henderling said he didn’t think 15 years was a long enough sentence for the people who killed his son. He said he agreed with the 55-year-sentence.

Wing was emotional through much of the hearing, crying when Jasper’s mother addressed the court. Before receiving his sentence, he said he wished he could take back his actions, and vowed to help others in the future.

“I plan to do what I can with my life … to teach people about drugs and alcohol,” he said.