Ivan Hancock was handed down a sentence of 15 years to life today in prison by Superior Court Judge Arthur Harrison in a Fontana court room.

Hancock had pleaded no contest last month to one count of second degree murder in the beating death of 15-month old Amber Russell, the daughter of this then-girlfriend, Iyesha Lightcsy. Lightscsy also was charged with murder and later pleaded guilty to child endangerment. She was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Hancock was also charged with murder in the beating death in San Bernardino of Talonia Johnson-Boutee, who was also 15 months old when she died Jan. 2, 2007, after a New Year’s Eve 2006 assault.

CESAR LAUREAN GUILTY OF MURDER, GETS LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE
excerpts of an article by Lindell Kay, The Havelock (North Carolina) news

A former Camp Lejeune Marine corporal who killed a pregnant colleague to save his military career will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Cesar Armando Laurean, 23, was found guilty by a Wayne County jury in the 2007 bludgeoning death of 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. The jury deliberated for less than three hours before reaching its verdict based on testimony from 49 witnesses over a two-week period.

With his mother crying in the background, Laurean was shackled by bailiffs and led away after sentencing by N.C. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith.

TEXAS MAN SENTENCED TO 99 YEARS IN STARVATION CASE
excerpts of an article by Jennifer Emily – The Dallas Morning News

Alfred Santiago couldn’t admit he starved three children, imprisoned them in a motel bathroom and raped the oldest even after he learned he’d spend the rest of his life behind bars.

After the jury that sentenced him to two concurrent 99-year sentences filed out of the courtroom Tuesday evening, Santiago, 38, launched into a diatribe that had observers shaking their heads in disbelief.

“There’s a lot of things that weren’t right. … God knows I am not guilty of these charges,” he told Judge John Nelms. “I already got railroaded.”

TEXAS MAN GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR BEHEADING THREE KIDS
by Christopher Sherman – The Associated Press

EDINBRUG, Texas — A jury has sentenced a south Texas man to death after convicting him of beheading his common law wife’s three children in 2003.

Prosecutors had sought a death sentence for John Allen Rubio, who killed three children under the age of four in a windowless Brownsville apartment in 2003.

The Hidalgo County jury deliberated for four hours before choosing the death sentence on Thursday.

Now, Rubio will be placed in the general population of a prison for the first time since the crimes. He spent several years isolated on death row after his original conviction and death sentence in 2003. A state appeals court overturned the conviction in 2007.

Emily Bazelon, an attorney and editor at Slate.com, has published an article that attempts to paint a new picture of bullicide victim, Phoebe Prince:

“The uncomfortable fact (is) that Phoebe helped set in motion the conflicts with other students that ended in them turning on her”

Bazelon solidly places the blame of Phoebe Prince’s death on Phoebe and her family. She has painted a picture of a young girl, extremely disturbed, emotionally unstable, promiscuous and a party girl with a history of drug and alcohol abuse and a previous suicide attempt. She has quoted the defense attorney’s for the South Hadley Six, their parents, friends and used unreported and undocumented information in her article.

To Read Emily Bazelon’s Complete Article, Click Here

MOM’S KNEES BUCKLE AS SHE GETS MAX IN DAUGHTER’S DEATH: 20 YEARS
excerpts from an article by Terry Langford – The Houston Chronicle

After a 90-minute deliberation Tuesday, jurors decided to send Spring nurse Abigail Young to prison for 20 years because she failed to protect her 4-year-old daughter from a horrific and fatal beating allegedly inflicted by her handyman lover.

Emma Thompson died in June 2009 after a beating that left the preschooler with a fractured skull and ribs, a torn vagina and at least 80 bruises covering her body.

Young’s knees buckled as state District Judge Doug Shaver read the jury’s sentence, which included a $10,000 fine. Young burst into tears and sat huddled with defense attorney Julie Ketterman.

CHARGES DROPPED IN 2007 DEATH OF WYOMING BABY
excerpt of an article by Michael J. Rudolf – The Scranton (PA) Times Tribune

Charges against a Tunkhannock Twp. woman accused in the 2007 death of her baby were dropped after the prosecutor acknowledged doubts about proving the case against her.

Wyoming County District Attorney Jeffrey Mitchell filed a petition to drop the charges against Jessica Ann Miner, stating that after additional investigation, he would not be able to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

“If additional evidence were to come forward, we might prosecute, but we just don’t have it right now,” Mr. Mitchell said Tuesday.

Judge Russell Shurtleff approved the petition, and Mr. Mitchell dropped the charges last week.

It appears that I was unfair in my criticism of Connecticut Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Clifford in my original story about William Miller. While searching for a picture of Miller (again), I noticed an article on Miller’s case that I must have missed when I originally researched his case. According to the Hartford Courant:

When she heard that the man accused of sexually assaulting her teenage daughter would be spared a spot on the state’s sex-offender registry, the victim’s mother protested from the front row of a courtroom gallery Tuesday.

The mother’s head — shaking “no” at the fact that William Miller’s name, photograph and Middlefield address would not be included in the online database, as part of a plea bargain struck with prosecutors — caught the eye of Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Clifford. The judge stopped the sentencing and addressed the mother from the bench.