Continued: Lakeville girl, 16, pleads guilty to role in beating of vulnerable best friend

Struggling to account for her role in the brutal beating of a vulnerable adult who had befriended her, Natasha Dahn laid her head down and sobbed into her arms.

In mid-October, the 16-year-old Lakeville girl participated in two days' of beatings of Justin Hamilton, 24, of Lakeville. On Wednesday, in Dakota County District Court, she pleaded guilty to four felonies in exchange for extended juvenile jurisdiction.

"He was my best friend in the whole world," she said in a voice broken by emotion. "I just want to say I'm sorry, but I can't [see him]."

Dahn admitted Wednesday that she had lied to her boyfriend before the beatings, saying that Hamilton had assaulted her. She and four men then took him to a remote area in Dakota County, where they tortured him for hours on Oct. 10 and 11.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of kidnapping and one count each of aggravated robbery and third-degree assault.

Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom initially had filed a motion to have Dahn tried as an adult. Instead, she was placed in extended juvenile jurisdiction, a hybrid program that allows judges to hand down an adult sentence that is stayed as long as the defendant complies with its terms.

Backstrom described the program as "one last chance in juvenile court," echoing Judge Michael Mayer's words to the girl.

"If you screw up, you are going to go to prison," Mayer told Dahn. "This case is mine, and if you screw up, I'm going to put you in prison. I've never seen something so cruel."

Noting that Dahn has not seen the pictures of Hamilton's injuries, Mayer recommended that she be required to see the results of her actions.

"You need to look at them, and anytime you're thinking about straying, you need to look at those photos," he said.

Sorrow and compassion

Hamilton was not in court Wednesday. But before Dahn's statement, Hamilton's mother, Carolyn Hamilton, told the judge that her son "will never be the same."

"He is equal to someone who has been tortured in battle," she said.

Justin Hamilton, who was born addicted to cocaine and alcohol, was adopted by Carolyn Hamilton and her husband. Their family, and the whole community, she said, had spent years helping to mold him into a confident, fairly independent young man.

All of that was undone in two nights, she said. As an example, she told the judge that her son refuses to take showers because they send his mind back to those rainy nights in October.

"The burns have healed, but what hasn't healed is a crying out, for six or seven hours, for someone to help him," Hamilton said. "And nobody -- not even his friend -- would help him. ... He was always vulnerable, but he's much more now."

Still, Hamilton gave the ruling her blessing, a move Mayer lauded.

"You have shown a side of compassion I might not have," he told her, before turning back to Dahn and saying: "I would hope that you will take this opportunity to change your life. That's everybody's hope."

Mayer sentenced Dahn to serve 60 to 90 days at the East Central Regional Juvenile Center in Lino Lakes. When she completes the program there to administrators' satisfaction, she will participate in an intensive yearlong residential treatment program at Avanti Center for Girls in Blaine. She will remain on probation until she turns 21 in 2013.

She also will be subject to a laundry list of requirements: to abstain from alcohol and illegal drugs, to stay away from Hamilton and her codefendants, to pay restitution, to provide a DNA sample and eventually, to apologize. She will be expected to cooperate as the cases against her co-defendants progress. Six lesser charges against her were dropped.

Two of her codefendants, John Maniglia, 19, and Jonathan Diepold, 21, both of Northfield, face 10 felony counts, including kidnapping, assault and robbery. Glen Ries, 33, also of Northfield, faces five counts on similar charges and has been fired from working with vulnerable adults in Northfield. Timothy Ketterling, 21, of Prior Lake, is charged with false imprisonment, theft and third-degree assault. Ketterling, who also is mentally disabled, posted bail.

Earlier trauma taken note of

Mayer and Backstrom said that despite the overwhelming savagery of the beatings, the decision not to sentence Dahn as an adult came after they had a chance to examine her background: parents dead "under traumatic circumstances" and neglect and abuse in her early years, before she went to live with her grandparents. She also was victimized in two violent crimes in the past year.

"These are not excuses," said Backstrom, who noted that none of Dahn's previous brushes with Dakota County Juvenile Court resulted in any long-term treatment. "They are factors to take into consideration."

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409