Man gets life for 1991 beating that killed daughter

EUGENE, Ore. -- Barbara Moss kept a journal during the 16 years her granddaughter Amber lived in a nursing home after the girl was brutally beaten by her father at age 6.

Today, Moss read the last page in the book, written the day Amber died, as the girl's father, Philip Kephart, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for Amber's murder.

"I can now close this book of Amber's and put it away," Moss told the court.

Kephart, already serving 50 years for the 1991 beating that put his daughter in a coma and confined her to a nursing home for the remainder of her life, pleaded guilty today to aggravated murder in the girl's death.

As part of the plea agreement with prosecutors, he dropped all appeals on his earlier sentence and will serve a life sentence with the possibility of parole. The earliest he could be released from prison under the deal is 2028.

Kephart told Judge Jack Billings he caused the death of Amber Moss, who died last year, 16 years after the attack.

"I'm sorry," Kephart told the court through tears. "Pleae tell Jaylynne (Amber's biological mother) I'm truly sorry."

Billings called the case "tragic and pathetic," the wort case he had seen in 35 years of practice.

In 1991, Kephart was convicted of beating his daughter. She died in 2007 at age 23 after living in a nursing home 16 years and undergoing at least 16 surgeries.

Kephart, 44, was arraigned last January on an aggravated murder charge that a prosecutor pledged in 1991 would be filed upon Amber's death. He was scheduled to go to trial next January.

Prosecutors and Kephart's attorneys reached a plea agreement Wednesday.

On March 22, 1991, after Kephart discovered that Amber had eaten some of his Easter candy, court records say he kicked her hard enough to launch her 30-pound body off the floor and then continued kicking her in the groin and legs.

The court records said that later he pushed Amber to the floor at least four times, causing her head to strike the floor each time, and when the girl lost consciousness, he and his then-wife, Lisa Kephart, took the child to a hospital.

Lisa Kephart was later charged with failing to protect the children. Her lawyer argued that she was a victim of Battered Woman's Syndrome and she was put on probation.

Amber died June 29, 2007. She had regained much of her mental function, but was physically debilitated.

"She felt pain. You could see it. She accepted it," her grandmother said. "She was tough and strong. To me, he was still torturing her through the 16 years."