‘There is no justice for Devyn’: Madras woman sentenced to nearly 18 years in fatal shooting of her ex-husband

Custody fight turned on unproven abuse allegations; family wanted murder trial

MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) – Sentencing hearings after a violent killing are as intensely emotional as one would expect. But when nine fatal shots are fired at close range amid an intense, fractious custody fight and allegations of abuse – it’s hard to imagine a situation more tragic and heartbreaking for all involved.

In fact, Paige Vannorsdall had asked through her attorneys that she be allowed to appear by remote video from the Jefferson County Jail, as she did for previous hearings, citing safety concerns and an outburst at the change-of-plea hearing two weeks earlier.

But that didn’t happen, and when she appeared in court Monday afternoon, between her lawyers in an orange jail jumpsuit, she did not speak, as a defendant has the right to, and expressed little reaction to the words of fierce anger aimed at her.

The family of victim Devyne Briggs of Prineville shed tears and voiced frustration over not just what happened when Briggs showed up at Vannorsdall’s Madras home, nine days before Christmas of 2022, to pick up his young son, but how the crime and the turn of events that has left the boy in the custody of his mother's family have left them shattered.

They also were very angry over the recent plea deal that led to a guilty plea to a reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter, sparing her a murder trial Briggs’ family desperately wanted to see happen, to lay bare the facts of what they said was premediated murder.

Briggs’ mother, Jackie Rubio, said the first close-range bullet Vannorsdall fired was “right into the artery of his heart. It was a kill shot.” She said her son tried to defend himself, and it took long enough for the shooting to occur that three of the shots were heard on a 911 call.

“She not only murdered him in cold blood,” his body riddled to the point where she was only allowed days later to see “the one hand she did not shoot,” but Rubio said “she also took my grandchild,” actually bringing him back into the home where the killing happened, after a non-professional cleaning.

“You cannot call this ‘extreme emotional disturbance,’ or manslaughter,” Rubio said, claiming she told co-workers several weeks earlier of her plans.

“The truth is, she was torturing him for the last nine months of his life,” with “false allegations, intimidating and using his 6-year-old son against him,” requiring him to take a second job to pay for an attorney to fight the accusations.

Rubio also said she couldn’t be prouder of her son, who helped serve the soup kitchen and youth programs at his church. “At 28, he was just beginning to spread his wings and find himself,” with a “beautiful fiance.”

She said the family has spent over $70,000 trying to see her grandson and that she has “aged tremendously. I live every day with a broken heart and the emptiness of my son being gone – and my grandson being gone.”

“There is no justice for Devyn,” she said, later adding, “I believe the only reason we’re not getting a trial is because the prosecution wants to get this off their caseload.”

Several other family members also spoke of the emotional and mental toll, the wreckage left behind by the killing.

District Attorney Steve Leriche did not go over once again the details of what happened or what led up to it, much of which he detailed in a custody hearing. But he said even though the attorneys and judge have to focus on the law, “it doesn’t keep us from feeling the emotions, the pain.”

While the defense attorneys seek to avoid a longer sentence for their client, Leriche said, “the DA has to worry about someone getting freed” in a jury acquittal.

“Both sides consider what’s admissible and what cannot be proven,” Leriche said. “The allegations made about Devyn – a trial would never have addressed those issues, and never have proven anything.”

So, the compromise – a plea deal for a recommended 214-month sentence, nearly 18 years. Both sides, he said, “have some amount of regret. That’s the nature of a settlement.”

After the DA thanked visiting Deschutes County Judge Alison Emerson “for visiting our jurisdiction and helping us resolve this case,” she noted that it was Deschutes County Presiding Judge Wells Ashby who held the plea negotiations and asked court-appointed defense attorney Steve Eberlein to provide some details.

Eberlein, speaking in a soft voice, called it a “complex, unusual and tragic case.” He said some medical professionals had told the defendant they suspected abuse of her son and that he had “indicated Mr. Briggs was touching him.” But after examinations, interviews and police work, he said officials “came to the conclusion they had insufficient evidence to prosecute this case.”

“What was consistently told to” Vannorsdall, he said, was that her son ”wasn’t saying the right things to the right people. She was told, ‘We don’t believe you were coaching, doing anything wrong. He’s just not saying enough for there to be a prosecution.’”

One judge did implement a protection order - but then, in August 2022, another judge “said the evidence presented at that hearing was insufficient with continuing the order.” So Briggs again could see his son.

And then, Eberlein spoke of a 20-minute recording in which when told “he had to return to his father, he begs to go to the hospital, instead of going with his dad,” at one point asking, “Why don’t people believe kids?”

Judge Emerson told the family in the courtroom, “I can feel your pain. Nothing that happens here today is going to change that … change the fact that Mr. Briggs is gone. I am sorry for your loss.”

The “complicated issue,” she said, becomes more so “when you look at what the state has to prove, what evidence the defense may be able to bring into the mater.”

And so, Emerson said, “I am going to accept the plea negotiations, and sentence accordingly” – 214 months, with credit for time served (as Leriche noted is required in all cases) followed by two years’ post-prison supervision.

“Thanks for coming,” the judge told the family, “and I know this doesn’t end the story for you. I hope moving forward, you’re able to work with Ms. Vannorsdall to figure out a way to see your grandchild. I think that’s the biggest injustice here. The boy has lost his dad. He has lost his mother. He shouldn’t have to lose the rest of his family.”