Kimberly Sullivan rejected two plea deals Friday, choosing to face trial rather than admit to decades of alleged captivity.
The 57-year-old Connecticut stepmom turned down offers that would have put her behind bars for 30 years with possible release after 20, or a suspended sentence after just 10, her attorney confirmed in New Haven court. Sullivan would have been forced to plead guilty to kidnapping, assault, unlawful restraint and cruelty to persons under either arrangement.
“It’s a non-starter,” Sullivan’s attorney Ioannis Kaloidis said in July, months before Friday’s hearing.
“I don’t anticipate the case resolving with anything that involves incarceration.”
The judge predicted the “meat of the trial” will likely unfold in January, setting the stage for a high-stakes courtroom showdown. Sullivan has been free on $300,000 bond since her arrest last March, and on Friday she lost her bid to shed the electronic monitor strapped to her ankle. The judge ruled she had made no attempts to flee since her arrest, keeping the tracking device in place.
Each of the two first-degree kidnapping charges carries up to 25 years in Connecticut. She also faces first-degree assault, first-degree unlawful restraint and intentional cruelty to persons.
Her stepson, now 33, finally escaped the Waterbury home by setting it on fire, authorities said. He had allegedly been locked inside since age 10, with Sullivan only unlocking the door for a few hours at a time so he could perform chores.
Prosecutors drew a stark comparison when describing his condition, calling the alarmingly emaciated man “without exaggeration, akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp.” He weighed just 68 pounds when firefighters pulled him from the blaze.
Sullivan has denied ever locking her stepson in the room or starving him.
Her case now heads toward trial with no resolution in sight, as both sides dig in for a fight that could stretch well into next year.