Father, stepmother plead guilty in child abuse case
The father and stepmother of a three-year-old Alabama girl have pleaded guilty to charges related to child abuse and murder in 2021. Etowah District Attorney Jody Willoughby confirmed that Haley Dee Metz, 33, the child’s stepmother, entered a blind guilty plea to aggravated child abuse. The plea, made without a predetermined sentencing agreement, leaves Metz’s punishment to be decided by a judge in November. This development follows the guilty plea of the child’s father, Nikolas Joseph DiMaso, 25, to charges of capital murder and conspiracy to commit child abuse. DiMaso will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole,