T

he lawyer for the man charged with killing 2-year old Juliette Geurts of Gering over 6 years ago says he intends introduce at trial statements made by the victim’s twin sister that another man living in the house is responsible for the death.

28-year old Dustin Chauncey is facing an October 27th jury trial on a charge of intentional child abuse resulting in death, a count handed down by a grand jury called under a citizens’ petition.

Defense attorney Todd Lancaster with the Nebraska Commission of Public Advocacy has filed notice with Scotts Bluff County District Judge Leo Dobrovolny that he intends to use “utterances” by Jaelyn Geurts, then 2 and now 8 years old, to her grandmother that “Sissy is dead, Mr Brandon killed her.”

Lancaster says the statement by the girl, who shared a bedroom with her sister, shows that the actual killer was Brandon Townsend, who lived at the house along with Chauncey and Cheryse Geurts, the mother of the twins.

Court documents show Townsend admitted to police in an interview that he spanked the two girls hard enough to leave handprints and cause injuries, but also claimed he quit spanking them a month before Juliette’s death.