OGDEN — Miller Costello has pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated murder in the 2017 death of his 3-year-old daughter, thereby avoiding potential capital punishment. The plea deal acknowledges the starvation, beatings and other injuries that the child endured over more than a year.

Costello’s wife, Brenda Emile, 27, made a similar plea on Aug. 19. Both have been held in the Weber County Jail since the July 6, 2017, death of Angelina Costello, whose emaciated, bruised, burned and broken body was found after the Ogden couple called for paramedics.

Randall Marshall, the 30-year-old Costello’s public defender, said Monday the plea bargain came as attorneys were in court last week conducting an Atkins hearing, in which Costello’s level of intellectual capacity was being  determined. A U.S. Supreme Court precedent says execution of intellectually deficient prisoners is cruel and unusual punishment banned by the Eighth Amendment.

Asked about the plea bargain, Marshall said, “It’s in everyone’s interests to get this case resolved.” He had no further comment. Efforts to contact prosecutor Nicholas Caine of the Weber County Attorney’s Office were not immediately successful.

Prosecutors had been pursuing the death penalty. During earlier hearings, Marshall unsuccessfully urged 2nd District Judge Michael DiReda to reject the capital punishment move, arguing a public consensus against the death penalty has developed in Utah.

Under the couple’s plea bargains, the capital offense provision is dropped, reducing the charge to a first-degree felony. After sentencing hearings — Oct. 17-28 for Emile and Feb. 6-14, 2023, for Costello — they will be sentenced to 25 years to life in prison or life without the possibility of parole.

Called to the scene of Angelina’s death, Ogden police officers reported that she had bruises, scrapes, cuts and open sores on her face, hands, legs, head and neck. A medical examiner removed the girl’s clothing and found a large burn on her chest. Her back, legs and feet were covered with bruises, cuts and cigarette burns. Some of the injuries appeared to be recent, others in various stages of healing. Signs of malnourishment included sunken stomach and facial features and thin, atrophied limbs.

An autopsy revealed the child had suffered “substantial” injuries to her brain, pancreas, face and extremities. She had leg fractures and burn scars all over her body.

Police searched the couple’s phones, which had photos and video from January 2016 to June 2017 showing both Costello and Emile repeatedly “taunting the child victim with food by presenting it to her and then removing it from her,” followed by punishment. One video clip showed Costello using the feet of an infant to kick Angelina in the face. “In the videos the child victim is in an obvious state of duress and distress,” the plea bargain document said.

Costello told police he was aware of the toddler’s deteriorating health condition and that she would die if not treated. “Brenda told Miller that she did not want to get medical attention for the child victim because she did not want a police investigation or to have her children taken from her,” the document said.

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