The 26 character references Toni Fratto’s defense team submitted to Judge Dan Papez in the hopes of a lighter sentence at best had no effect and even may have influenced Judge Dan Papez to impose a harsher sentence.
Papez made specific mention of the letters while sentencing Fratto several times contrasting the girl portrayed in them to the horrific brutal crime she committed.
“In my 20 years on the bench this is a vicious and brutal crime as I have seen,” Papez said. “Yet you came from a good home, You were well liked at school and were active in church as these letters say. There are lot of facts in this case regarding the How?, But there is nothing that answers the Why?”
While referencing the letters Papez made no mention of Fratto’s Parole and Probation pre sentence report. It was a telling omission. According to sources close to the case the P & P report recommended just 32 months minimum on the weapon enhancement part of Fratto’s sentence.
Under Nevada Sentencing Guidelines and Fratto’s plea bargain, Papez had no discretion on Fratto’s ten years to life sentence for second degree murder. He did however have some on the weapons enhancement part of her sentence and the White Pine county Judge invoked the stiffest penalty he could 96 months to 240 months.
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Subtracting the year Fratto has served in Elko county Jail, the Wendover teen could have her first parole hearing in 2021. But even if she wins parole she will still have serve at least an additional eight years behind bars before she sees freedom. (see related story).
In voicing his dismay at the contrast between the girl portrayed in the letters with her admitted actions in the killing of Mickie Costanzo, Papez echoed the same almost disbelief of the Wendover community.
“You kind of wish there was something, anything there to explain this,” said one court watcher. “But there is no evidence of child abuse, no history of trauma, no history of her being violent. Nice girls from nice families aren’t supposed to commit vicious murders. If Toni Fratto can do something like that anyone could.”
In interviews after the sentencing Fratto’s attorneys and her parents suggested that Fratto had been the victim of abuse from Patten and referenced a video of her accomplice choking her in school two months before the murder.
Neither Fratto or her parents pressed charges against Patten who had a long history of violent and aggressive behavior dating back to elementary school.
“Everyone suspected Kody the minute Micaela went missing,” said one teacher. “The kid was bad news from the moment he got here in the seventh grade. What really shocking is Toni. Yeah she was a nothing. But she came from a good religious family. She was never in any trouble. Never violent never in even an argument, and she does this? It is hard to wrap your head around.”
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Apart from their affect or non-effect in her sentencing one letter written by local JP candidate and juvenile probation officer Brian Boatman could cost him the election.
“It wasn’t a leniency letter like a lot of people are saying,” Boatman said in an interview with the Advocate. “I just recounted how I knew her by her baby sitting my kids and through church camps. I believe I also wrote she wasn’t a throwaway kid and that I believed she was salvageable.”
“I don’t believe he (Boatman) ever used the word leniency,” said a source close to the case who read the letter. “On the other hand these types of letters are sent to the court before sentencing hopefully to influence sentencing. You don’t have to be a genius to know that only the supportive letters are going to forwarded to the judge.”
Boatman added that he no longer had a copy of his letter and District Judge Dan Papez said he would not release any letter until after sentencing if at all.
While the exact contents of Boatman’s letter may not be known at least for the near future the very fact that he wrote one is already causing something of a backlash. His campaign signs are reportedly disappearing from West Wendover lawns and his support is also said to be withering.
“I was kind of leaning his way,” said a former City Councilman Mike Gunter. “But not anymore. There is no way I would vote for him now. I am angry.”
Of the 26 letters supporting Fratto the vast majority are authored by relatives or long time friends of the Fratto family. Boatman who is now the Juvenile Probation Officer at West Wendover High School is the sole law enforcement officer on the list and as a candidate of Justice of the Peace the only person on the list that can be classified as a “public” person.
It will be the editorial position of the High Desert Advocate not to release the names of the other authors at least for the time being.
The only thing I wonder is if his childrens babysitter hadn’t been LDS would the same letter have been written?