November 11, 2016 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 3A
Roden found guilty in brutal
murder of Seaside toddler
Avoids the death
penalty but could spend
decades in prison
Wing gets 15 years
in daughter’s death
Pleaded guilty to
manslaughter, criminal
mistreatment
By Edward Stratton
By Katie Frankowicz
EO Media Group
For EO Media Group
A Seaside man accused of
torturing and killing his girl-
friend’s 2-year-old daughter
was found guilty of murder by
abuse, manslaughter, criminal
mistreatment and assault on
Monday, Oct. 31, but was ac-
quitted of even more serious
charges that could have result-
ed in the death penalty or life
in prison.
Randy Roden, 28, could
still spend the next few de-
cades in prison, however.
He faced more than a doz-
en serious charges, including
charges of murder by abuse
and felony murder, for the
death of Evangelina Wing in
December 2014. On Mon-
day, a 12-person jury found
him guilty of these last two
charges, as well as assault and
criminal mistreatment charges
tied to his abuse of Evangelina
and her two brothers.
Roden was acquitted of
charges that alleged he sexual-
ly abused Wing. The state had
argued that certain injuries to
Wing were the result of sexual
abuse and that Roden was mo-
tived to kill the child in order
to cover up any evidence of
this abuse and to ensure she
didn’t tell anyone.
Though he was also not
convicted on the four counts
of aggravated murder, which
carried the possibility of the
death penalty and included the
accusation that he had tortured
Wing before her death, he was
convicted on lesser charges of
first-degree manslaughter.
Prison time
These charges, coupled
with the murder by abuse and
felony murder charges, carry
significant prison time, po-
tentially up to 35 years — or
at least that’s what the state
hopes.
“This man should never
be around another child ever
again,” said Deputy District At-
torney Ron Brown, who prose-
cuted the case for the state.
He said he was pleased
with the verdict and plans to
ask that Roden serve all his
time on the various charges
consecutively — one after the
other — instead of overlap-
ping the various sentences and
serving them at the same time.
He is already serving time for
violating parole on an earlier
coercion conviction.
Clatsop County Circuit
Court Judge Paula Brownhill
scheduled a sentencing hear-
ing for Nov. 21.
The verdict
While Brownhill read the
verdict, Roden kept his head
down, sometimes running his
hands over his forehead and
the back of his head. At the be-
ginning of the hearing, he and
his lawyers discussed wheth-
er or not he should have his
handcuffs off. Conor Huseby,
Roden’s attorney, said Roden
DANNY MILLER/EO MEDIA GROUP
Randy Roden reacts as his verdict is read at Clatsop County Circuit Court in Astoria.
‘This man should
never be around
another child
ever again.’
Ron Brown
deputy district attorney
was in a bad emotional state
and there were concerns he
might hurt himself when the
verdict was read.
Brownhill said the decision
was up to them, and Sheriff’s
Office deputies ultimately re-
moved Roden’s handcuffs.
The jury was united on
most of the verdict, the presid-
ing juror who handed the ver-
dict to Brownhill said. They
were “hung” on one charge (a
second charge of murder by
abuse), but Brown and Huse-
by agreed to accept the verdict
as a whole.
The jury had deliberated
for close to two days after
sitting through hours of testi-
mony and particularly brutal
evidence which included a
blood-stained door and graph-
ic photos of Evangelina and
her extensive injuries. These
injures included two black
eyes, a broken arm, hem-
orrhaging around her head,
bruises and other marks. Both
her mother, Dorothy Wing,
DANNY MILLER/EO MEDIA GROUP
Randy Roden exits the courtroom after his verdict is read at
Clatsop County Circuit Court in Astoria. Roden was found
guilty of murder by abuse, manslaughter, criminal mistreat-
ment and assault but was acquitted of other murder charges
that could have carried the death penalty or life in prison.
and Roden were implicated
in her death, with Dorothy
sentenced to over 15 years in
prison for manslaughter and
criminal mistreatment.
Later, a juror told the
newspaper the verdict was a
“hard-fought decision.”
Multiple times during the
final days of the trial and af-
ter the reading of the verdict,
Brownhill thanked the jury for
their service in what she and
Brown both called a very dif-
ficult case.
Back in his office after
the verdict was read, Brown
said he felt for the jury. He
and other lawyers have a hard
time with cases like this, he
said, but the nature of their
work demands they routinely
deal with the sort of things
most of the jurors wouldn’t
necessarily encounter in their
day-to-day life. Every day
during Roden’s trial, jurors
had to look at the pictures in
evidence and hear testimony
related to the brutal death of a
young child.
“And they’re just doing
their patriotic duty,” Brown
said.
Before dismissing the
jury, Brownhill said court
staff would look into finding
counselors for any juror who
needed to talk through the ex-
perience.
Dorothy Wing, the moth-
er of murdered toddler Evan-
gelina Wing, was sentenced
Tuesday, Nov. 1, to more
than 15 years in prison for
first-degree manslaughter
and two counts of first-de-
gree criminal mistreatment.
Wing had faced a life sen-
tence for murder by abuse
and six counts of criminal
mistreatment. She pleaded
guilty in January to the less-
er charges after agreeing to
truthfully testify against her
former boyfriend Randy
Roden, who was convicted
Monday in the murder of her
daughter in Seaside nearly
two years ago.
The couple called 911
Dec. 20, 2014, after discov-
ering Evangelina unrespon-
sive. An autopsy later found
the girl had died from blunt-
force trauma. Wing’s two
sons were also found badly
injured and hospitalized.
The two were later taken
into protective custody and
now live with family in Cal-
ifornia.
Prosecutors believe all
three children were tortured,
burned, bitten and caged in
the months before Evange-
lina’s death. Copious blood
spatter was discovered
around the apartment. The
D EL ’S O .K .
JOSHUA BESSEX/EO MEDIA GROUP
Dorothy Wing, right, looks
over as her attorney, John
Gutbezahl, makes com-
ments during Wing’s plea
hearing in January.
discoveries have been de-
scribed as one of the worst
cases of child abuse in Clat-
sop County’s history.
Roden was found guilty
Monday of murder by
abuse, manslaughter, crim-
inal mistreatment and as-
sault. He avoided more se-
rious charges, including four
counts of aggravated mur-
der, for which he faced the
death penalty.
Roden still faces up to 35
years in prison. He will be
sentenced later this month.
Wing, who has previous-
ly admitted culpability in
what happened to her chil-
dren, said she had hoped that
the stories Roden told her
about her children’s injuries
under his care were true.
Circuit Court Judge
Paula Brownhill admon-
ished Wing for allowing the
abuse of her children, before
agreeing to sentence her to
190 months in prison.
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