Staunton man pleads guilty to murder in toddler's death
STAUNTON — A Staunton man who beat a toddler to death last year pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of second-degree murder and child abuse in a plea deal that nixed a scheduled jury trial for next week.
Averianna "Averi" May, 2, of Hinton, was being watched by Christopher S. Hoover, 24, the night of June 17, 2022, when she sustained multiple injuries.
The toddler, who was not Hoover's child, died the following day.
In Staunton Circuit Court on Tuesday, Hoover, his ankles and wrists shackled as he sported what looked to be a hand-made cross around his neck, appeared in person with his attorney, Dana Cormier. Besides pleading guilty to the felony charges and answering the judge's routine questions, Hoover made no other statements.
In a plea agreement with the Staunton Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, in exchange for Hoover's guilty pleas, Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Joseph Perry said he won't seek more than 30 years in prison when he is sentenced next year.
Perry said that on the night of June 17, 2022, Hoover was watching Averi and her younger half-sibling at his Staunton residence on Vincent Street while the toddler's mother was away for a planned weekend getaway in Culpeper. Perry said Hoover was supposed to watch the children for a few hours before taking them to a babysitter.
Instead, Hoover ended up beating the toddler.
Later that night, Perry said Hoover texted his girlfriend and asked if he could keep the children for the evening and make the handoff with the babysitter in the morning. Eventually, he went to his mother's home in Augusta County, where a 911 call was made. The unresponsive toddler was then taken to Augusta Health in Fishersville before being flown to UVA Health in Charlottesville, where she died the following day while being held by her mother, Perry said.
Questioned by authorities, Hoover maintained the toddler fell off her bed while he went to get a juice for her. But Perry said if the case had gone to trial, doctors would have testified the toddler suffered significant brain injuries and observable head trauma, along with numerous other injuries such as a head abrasion, bruised ribs, swelling over one of her eyes, bruising on an ear, a collarbone bruise and a hip bruise. Previous testimony showed the toddler was also bleeding from the brain and had "crush injuries."
Perry said the toddler's injuries were not consistent with a fall from a bed that was less than 3-feet high, and said doctors noted the injuries the toddler sustained would not have been caused by a fall from an even greater height. The prosecutor said the toddler's cause of death was from shaking and blunt force trauma.
When speaking with police two days after the child died, Hoover claimed he wasn't angry with the toddler. "We were just going to bed," he said, according to Perry.
But Hoover admitted something impacted him that night, telling police he blacked out for part of the evening after "something just took over me," Perry said. When asked how he felt during the incident, Perry said Hoover told police "it wasn't a good feeling. I didn't like it." He was arrested the same day.
Hoover, who remains at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona, will be sentenced Feb. 29.
Correction: The victim was from Hinton, Virginia.
Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at bzinn@newsleader.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Christopher S. Hoover pleads guilty to murder in Staunton
