Man sentenced to 4-plus years in death of original ‘Mickey Mouse Club’ cast member

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — A person charged within the loss of life of Dennis Day, an authentic forged member on Walt Disney’s “Mickey Mouse Membership” tv program within the Nineteen Fifties, has been sentenced to simply over 4 years in jail after coming into a modified responsible plea this week.

Daniel Burda, 41, pleaded no contest Monday to fees of criminally negligent murder and abuse of a corpse. Burda was a live-in handyman at Day’s house in Phoenix, Oregon, however Day, 76, had been making an attempt to evict him across the time he disappeared in mid-2018. A no-contest plea is a concession that the state can show legal fees at trial and carries the identical authorized impact as a responsible plea.

Prosecutors stated Burda prompted Day’s loss of life after which used Day’s identification to spend cash.

Day’s badly decomposed physique wasn’t found for 9 months, beneath a pile of garments on the house. His household has sued the Phoenix Police Division, saying its failure to find his stays in his own residence for therefore lengthy — regardless of having been to the house a number of occasions — prompted emotional misery.

Throughout one search, police stepped on Day’s physique, inflicting fractures to the corpse, however they nonetheless didn’t discover it till April 2019, when Oregon State Police got here with a cadaver-sniffing canine, the lawsuit stated. The delay prevented the health worker from with the ability to decide a reason for loss of life, it stated.

The police division has denied the allegations. A trial is ready for October in Jackson County Circuit Courtroom.

Burda’s legal case was lengthy delayed by journeys to the Oregon State Hospital to find out his psychological health to help in his personal protection in addition to different authorized challenges. He confronted a number of different fees whereas out of custody, court docket data present, and he has additionally not too long ago been sentenced to 2 years to be served individually in a housebreaking case — which means he faces simply over six years in all.