Ritenour Sentenced To Life In Prison

Mahaska County Courthouse

Alicia Ritenour learned her fate Tuesday as she was sentenced in Mahaska County District Court. Tuesday’s sentencing came after Ritenour was convicted in November 2014 of 1st degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death, in reference to the January 2014 death of her 18 month old daughter Ava.

Judge Myron Gookin presided over the sentencing hearing. At the sentencing, Judge Gookin announced that both charges Ritenour was convicted of would be merged together into one for sentencing. Gookin announced that Ritenour would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, which is the mandatory sentence for a first degree murder conviction. Ritenour was ordered to serve her time at the Iowa Woman’s Correctional Facility in Mitchellville.

Gookin also ordered Ritenour to pay $150,000 in restitution. Judge Gookin did not, however, order Ritenour to pay attorney costs noting that she does not have the ability to do so.

Immediately after the sentencing, Ritenour’s trial counsel, Mike Adams, filed a notice of appeal in the case.

The Ritenour matter began in January 2014 when officers were dispatched to the Southern Hills Apartments in reference to a child not breathing. There they found 18 month old Ava Ritenour deceased. A police affidavit, later released, said the child had been deceased for sometime when they arrived. The affidavit also said that loud thumps were heard during the middle of the previous night, coming from the apartment where Ava lived. An autopsy would later fix Ava’s cause of death to be trauma to the head, with the death being considered a homicide.