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.

Sad to report that the murder charges of little Talonia were dismissed as part of the plea agreement in the murder case of little Amber. District Attorney Vicki Hightower, who was to prosecute the case, stated that Hancock will not be eligible for parole until he’s served the full 15 years in prison and will remain on parole for life.

MAN SENTENCED IN TODDLER BEATING DEATH
excerpts of a story by Imran Ghori – The Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise

Patricia Darby often wonders what it would have been like to watch her granddaughter, Amber Russell, grow up.

Amber died at 15 months old almost six years ago. Authorities found her beaten and strangled in a Colton apartment in August 2004. She was covered with bruises, had cuts on her throat and a cigarette burn on her chest, police said at the time.

On Monday, Ivan Hancock, 48, of San Bernardino, was sentenced in a Fontana courtroom to 15 years to life in prison for the killing as part of a plea deal he agreed to last month. He pleaded no contest to one count of second-degree murder in the death of Amber, the daughter of his then-girlfriend, Iyesha Lightcsy.

Lightcsy also was charged with murder and later pleaded guilty to child endangerment. She was sentenced last year to seven years and four months in prison.

Two years after Amber’s death, Hancock — who had not yet been charged — was implicated in the beating death of another toddler.

He was charged with murder in the killing in San Bernardino of Talonia Johnson-Boutee, who also was 15 months old when she died Jan. 2, 2007, after a New Year’s Eve 2006 assault. That charge was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Talonia’s mother, Talonia Henderson, 38, who was Hancock’s girlfriend at the time of her daughter’s killing, pleaded guilty last month to child abuse and to infliction of great bodily injury. She is scheduled to be sentenced Friday and faces 12 years in prison.

Authorities suspected Hancock and Lightcsy in Amber’s killing but could not obtain charges initially due to what they described as lack of cooperation from witnesses.

Following Talonia’s death, prosecutors reopened the case and filed charges in both cases in November 2008.

Darby of San Bernardino, who is Lightcsy’s mother, broke down in tears as she attempted to read a statement before Hancock’s sentencing, describing the pain the family has suffered.

“Amber was my little sweet baby,” she said

Darby said later Hancock’s conviction helps a little.

“I needed that closure,” she said. “I just wish he could have gotten more time. I just don’t want anybody to go through what I went through.”

Angela Stephens, Darby’s sister and Amber’s great-aunt, said Hancock should have gotten a harsher sentence.

“Fifteen years to life, that seems too lightweight to me,” she said. “(Amber) didn’t even get to spend 15 years on Earth.”

Deputy District Attorney Vicki Hightower, who was responsible for reopening the case, called the outcome a “long time coming.”

Hancock will not be eligible for parole until he’s served a full 15 years in prison and will remain on parole for life, she said

“I think ultimately it gives justice to both of the victims,” Hightower said.

Hancock’s attorney, Julian Ducre, said he had no comment on behalf of his client.

Editor’s Notes: Perhaps one of you fine people can explain to me how dropping murder charges against Ivan Hancock for beating Talonia Johnson-Boutee to death in anyways gave justice to this little victim.

Lets just go over the injuries Talonia suffered. The 15-month-old toddler had extreme swelling to her brain, bruising of her neck and face, and several cuts on her body. She was strangled to death, but also showed signs of being severely abused over a period of weeks.

Now, because of a plea deal, Ivan Hancock will never go to trial for the horrible things he did to her. He will never pay for ending her life in the cruelest of ways, despite several witnesses who saw him do many of the things he is accuse of doing.

I’m pleased that Baby Talonia’s waste of skin mother, Talonia Henderson, pled guilty to child abuse and infliction of great bodily injury, and is awaiting sentencing. She faces up to 32 years in the California state prison of your choice.

I’m also glad that Iyesha Lightcsy, the incubator and so-called mother of Amber Russell is serving a eight year sentence for child endangerment connected with baby Amber’s death.

I guess the best we can hope for is that Ivan Hancock never receives parole – 15 years just isn’t enough for the life of an innocent baby, much less two of them. It’s disgraceful that this walking, talking puss bag gets to breath the same air as all of us, while Amber Russell’s and Talonia Johnson-Boutee’s tiny bodies decompose in the cold, wet ground.

I don’t know what can be done about this, except to offer my condolences to the families. For all my anger and hurt, nothing I feel can compare to what they have been, and still are, going through. I can wish the best for them, and hope someday they will be able to move on with their lives.

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.

“I am extremely satisfied the jury made the right decision in this case,” said District Attorney Dewey Hudson, who called Laurean during closing arguments “a coward who hit a pregnant woman in the back of the head with a crowbar.”

Chief Assistant District Attorney Ernie Lee said Mary Lauterbach lived a parent’s worst nightmare for 28 days beginning Dec. 14, 2007, when she last spoke to her daughter.

“On Jan. 11, 2008, Mary Lauterbach’s nightmare became a reality when her daughter’s body was found buried in the defendant’s backyard,” he said.

Mary Lauterbach said after the trial that she intended to continue to push for sexual assault reporting reforms in the military.

“Maria will always be my hero,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

She thanked Onslow County Sheriff’s Sgt. T.J. Cavanagh.

“He was the first person I spoke to here that knew something was wrong,” she said.

During a two-week trial, prosecutors painted Cesar Laurean as a Camp Lejeune Marine corporal willing to kill a pregnant colleague to silence their adulterous affair while the defense countered that he was a good Marine caught in the vindictive trap of a female subordinate he had reprimanded.

Laurean and Lauterbach worked together aboard Camp Lejeune as personnel clerks until she accused him of rape in May 2007. A DNA test later revealed Laurean was not the father of her unborn child. She was in her third trimester of pregnancy when she died.

Lee said Laurean was well aware of the detrimental effect Lauterbach’s allegations would have on his career, regardless of whether their relationship was consensual. Adultery is a crime in the Marine Corps, which could have damaged Laurean’s career, Lee reminded the jury in his closing argument.

He said Laurean told a fellow Marine that he planned to trick Lauterbach into going to Mexico, discrediting her and salvaging his career. But Laurean’s plan was far more sinister, Lee said.

“The defendant wanted to be a good Marine, but as long as Maria Lauterbach was still out there he couldn’t,” Lee said. “As long as she was out there he would be looking over his shoulder.”

Lee said Lauterbach thought she was going to Mexico to live a happy life with the father of her child; instead Laurean sent her to a cold, dark grave in his backyard.

Laurean fled Onslow County on Jan. 11, 2008, hours before authorities discovered Lauterbach’s charred remains and those of her unborn child buried beneath a fire pit in his Half Moon community backyard.

Lee said not only did Laurean plan Lauterbach’s death, he tried to cover it up afterward. Lee reminded the jury how Laurean cleaned the crowbar, painted the garage walls, folded a blood-stained raft and put it away in the days after Lauterbach’s death.

“He then held a Christmas bonfire on the very spot he buried his victim,” Lee said.

Laurean’s attorney, Jacksonville lawyer Dick McNeil, said he was disappointed in the verdict and that the judge did not allow certain evidence and that second degree murder was not offered to the jury as a possible verdict.

“We will be in appellate court within six months,” McNeil said.

During the trial, McNeil told the jury there was no question that Lauterbach was buried in the Laurean backyard; the real question is why she went to 103 Meadow Trail in the first place and who actually swung the crowbar the state maintains is the murder weapon.

McNeil painted his client as a good Marine who became the target of Lauterbach’s vindictiveness after he counseled her for being habitually late to work. She accused him of rape out of spite and later showed up at his home troubled, distraught and in violation of a protective order.

McNeil also said his client’s wife, Christina Laurean, had motive and opportunity. He said Christina Laurean, as a trained Marine, was totally capable of lifting and swinging the crowbar.

He questioned why the state — which learned just 19 days before his client’s trial began that Christina Laurean’s DNA could not be excluded from being found on the crowbar — had not pursued her as a suspect.

Lee said Christina Laurean, who he referred to as a cooperating witness, was not the one accused of rape. He said Christina Laurean did not buy cinderblocks and dig a hole in the backyard. He said it was also not Christina Laurean captured on surveillance footage trying to remove cash from Lauterbach’s bank account, an additional charge — bank card theft, but not armed robbery — the jury found Laurean guilty of.

Laurean was on the run in Mexico until being arrested there in April 2007. He was extradited in 2009. The state could not pursue the death penalty against him for Lauterbach’s death as part of an extradition agreement with Mexico.

The trial was held in Goldsboro after a judge moved proceedings out of Onslow County earlier this year due to pretrial publicity in Jacksonville.

Se ya Cesar, have a nice life without parole. It’s too bad the United States and North Carolina made a deal with Mexico during the negotiations to extradite you back to the US which saved your baby killing, woman murdering butt from the death penalty, or you almost certainly would have a date with the needle.

But I’m betting you won’t live a long, happy life in prison, especially when your “colleagues” discover you’re responsible for the death of a nearly full term fetus. Oh boy, won’t that be a sight to see, and it won’t be good for you Cesar, not good at all.

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.”

Santiago was convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child and causing serious bodily injury to the girl. He is not eligible for parole on the sex case. Charges for starving the boys are pending.

Santiago testified during the trial that the children – then ages 5, 10 and 11 – starved themselves by not eating the food he gave them. He denied sexually abusing the 11-year-old, but also testified that he woke up finding himself in a sex act with her.

The older children testified that they thought they would die in the bathroom.

The children’s mother, Abneris Santiago, whom the youngest child calls his “bad mom,” is expected to go on trial today before a different jury. Abneris Santiago, 31, faces a life sentence for denying the girl food and medical care. Charges for harming the boys are pending.

The Santiagos, who met through a telephone dating service, are not married but have the same last name.

The children, who were not in court to hear the verdict, were rescued last July from the Budget Suites near Love Field when a visiting uncle called police. They were emaciated, and several witnesses compared them to Holocaust survivors. A doctor said they were eating about 300 calories a day when most children their age should consume 2,000 to 3,000.

The jury heard from all three children during the trial about the horrific conditions and how they never had enough food. The oldest, who is now 12, spoke of the many times Alfred Santiago sexually assaulted her. She also testified that her mother beat her when she reported the rapes. She said she often went without food so her brothers could have more.

Youngest Testifies

On Tuesday, during the punishment phase, jurors heard the youngest boy, now 6, testify about life in the bathroom and afterward with his foster family. The children live together with their 2-year-old sister, the biological daughter of Alfred Santiago and their mother. The toddler was healthy and not harmed.

Jurors were clearly struck by the boy’s story, and most smiled frequently while he was on the witness stand. The boy leaned toward the microphone as he answered each question, usually speaking loudly because he was told to speak up.

The worst thing about the bathroom, the boy said when asked by Dallas County prosecutor Eren Price, was that “the door was still closed and we had to stay there forever.” He said that both his mother and Alfred Santiago beat the children and that they were rarely fed.

He slept in the middle of the floor. His older brother slept in the bathtub and his sister slept in a corner. None of the children went to school.

He said that going to the hospital after police rescued them was fun “because I had toys over there” and “because I was eatin’.” There were no toys in the bathroom.

The children’s therapist testified that the 6-year-old boy’s age was both an advantage and disadvantage in coping with the starvation and imprisonment. He was protected by the older children, but also missed out on important development time, Ashley Lind testified.

She said that once in therapy, the boy was playing with dinosaurs. He selected four adults and three baby dinosaurs. He put the small ones in the middle. Two bigger dinosaurs were on one side of them and the other two sat on the other side.

He said that two of the adults were carnivores.

” ‘It’s not OK to kill your babies,’ ” Lind recalls the boy telling the toys.

He then told the dad dinosaur that he didn’t listen and said he was “very bad.” He put the dad dinosaur in a drawer.

He then asked the mom dinosaur if she would listen. The mom apologized, and the boy put her in timeout.

The boy brought in the other two adult dinosaurs and made them declare that they ate only berries.

He said the babies weren’t scared anymore.

Telling Courtroom

Lind also testified that the two older children, who testified earlier in the trial, had a hard time coping with telling a room full of strangers what happened to them. Both were curious about what people thought about them and what they said.

The middle child, now 11, had the hardest time. He threw up five or six times after testifying on Monday. Of all the children, she said, he has the most difficulty coping with what happened.

Lind also testified that the 11-year-old believes that he should forgive Alfred Santiago because the child is a Christian.

“He couldn’t do that, and he thought he might go to hell,” she said. She said that the boy decided that he can’t forgive him even if it means he might go to hell.

Lind said the 11-year-old believes that Alfred Santiago “should die for what he did.”

The boy “believes Alfred is a monster and he has so devastated his life, he should understand what he did,” Lind testified.

DALLAS MOTHER WHOSE CHILDREN WERE LOCKED IN BATHROOM GETS LIFE
excerpts of an article by Jennifer Emily – The Dallas Morning News

It may have been remorse and love for her children that led Abneris Santiago to plead guilty in the middle of her trial.

But the jurors who spent 25 minutes deliberating before they sent her to prison for life on Friday said they didn’t think so.

Santiago, 31, switched her plea after seeing her oldest child, now 12, testify tearfully about being imprisoned in a putrid motel bathroom with her brothers, starved and beaten by her mother and mother’s boyfriend. The children – then ages 11, 10 and 5 – believed they would die on the bathroom floor.

“It was almost strategic planning,” juror Keith Woods said outside the courtroom after the trial. “The daughter broke down and then the mom got upset. It was the best time to plead guilty, so the jury would think, ‘Hey, I really do care for my daughter.’ ”

Woods said Santiago had months and months to show she cared but didn’t take her children to the hospital, feed them properly or stop her boyfriend from sexually abusing her daughter.

When she testified Thursday, the girl begged jurors not to send her mother to prison, saying, “She might have given me whoopins, but she doesn’t deserve to go to jail.” The girl’s plea came moments after she told jurors that her mom beat her for saying that the boyfriend raped her.

Woods said the jury wants Santiago to spend the rest of her life in prison, even though they know she is eligible for parole in 30 years.

“What the kids went through, they already have a life sentence,” Woods said. “You can only hope and pray they have a better life.”

Santiago appeared to take the jury’s decision in stride and did not visibly react as Judge John Nelms read the verdict. Earlier in the day she told her attorney, James Jamison, “I’m ready for whatever the jury decides.”

The children were rescued by police and an uncle July 2, 2009, from the Budget Suites near Love Field. They were emaciated and near death. Several witnesses testified that they looked like Holocaust survivors. They were fed an average of 300 calories a day. A doctor said children their ages should consume 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day.

The mother’s boyfriend, Alfred Santiago, 38, was sentenced earlier this week to two consecutive 99-year sentences for starving the girl and sexually abusing her. He is not eligible for parole on the sex charge.

Both Santiagos were tried only on charges of harming the girl and could still face trials on charges of harming the boys.

Abneris Santiago and Alfred Santiago are not married but have the same last name. They had one child together, now 2, who was found healthy in their room.

All four children live together in foster care and will soon begin living with their grandmother, who lived out of state when the abuse occurred.

Another juror, who did not want to be identified, said he did not initially want a life sentence for Abneris Santiago but that he changed his mind after he started thinking more about how long the children starved and lived in the bathroom.

He also said that although Santiago’s attorney said she was beaten by her boyfriend, jurors heard about only one instance.

“The duration – nine months to a year – she had plenty of time to do something and she didn’t,” the man said. “You don’t want to make decisions about the rest of someone’s life, but this was bad.”

The juror said he’d never imagined that people could treat their children so horribly. His son is the same age as Abneris Santiago’s daughter. The juror said he planned to go home and play football with his son and try to block out the photos and testimony he saw and heard this week.

In asking jurors for a lesser sentence during closing arguments, Jamison cited his client’s guilty plea as proof that she cared about her children. Jamison said Abneris Santiago just wanted her trial to end so her daughter wouldn’t have to endure the ordeal any longer. Jamison did not cross-examine the child at her mother’s request.

“In the child’s best interest, she changed her plea to guilty,” Jamison said. “That’s remorse.”

Before the trial, prosecutors offered her a sentence of 50 years if she pleaded guilty, but she rejected it.

Dallas County prosecutors Eren Price and Carmen White, in their closing arguments, told the jury that life in prison was what Santiago deserved.

Price said Santiago “took a very active role in the torture” of her children. She also reminded jurors that Santiago pleaded guilty after her daughter broke down on the stand and then returned later to finish her testimony. The mother didn’t change her plea to spare the girl from finishing that testimony, Price said.

“She didn’t allow it to happen,” Price said. “She made it happen.”

MOTHER IN ABUSE/STARVATION CASE MEETS BRIEFLY WITH DAUGHTER
excerpts of an article by Jennifer Emily – The Dallas Morning News

The reunion lasted only minutes.

But it was a meeting a 12-year-old girl had been waiting for since she last saw her mother more than a year ago, when the child and her brothers were rescued from a putrid motel bathroom where they were imprisoned, beaten and starved.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t strong, like I should have been,” Abneris Santiago told her daughter after she decided to plead guilty during her trial. “Tell your brothers and sister that I love them.”

Santiago, 31, is accused of starving her children by giving them barely enough food to survive, and failing to stop her boyfriend from sexually abusing the girl. After Santiago told the judge she plans to change her plea today, she and her daughter were allowed to meet, at the girl’s request, outside the jury’s presence.

They cried as they faced each other. They wanted to hug, but bailiffs would not allow them to touch.

“I love you,” the girl whispered through her tears, her therapist at her side.

“I love you, too,” Santiago responded, her face red from crying. “I wish I could hold you now, but I can’t. I’m glad I get to say goodbye. Always remember that I love you.”

The girl sat in the second row of benches in the courtroom gallery. Her mother sat near the defense counsel table with about five feet between them. Both wore jeans and short-sleeved shirts. The girl was in red and her mother in yellow.

The girl was speaking so softly that at times her mother said she couldn’t hear her.

Santiago told the girl that the boyfriend, Alfred Santiago, would never hurt them again. He was sentenced to two 99-year prison sentences earlier this week for sexually abusing the girl and denying her food for months. Charges of starving the two other children are pending.

Mother and daughter blew each other kisses and bailiffs whisked Abneris Santiago back into a courtroom jail cell.

The daughter left the courtroom in tears, her therapist still at her side.

As they spoke, bailiffs hovered and Judge John Nelms sat on the bench. Prosecutors Eren Price and Carmen White spoke quietly across the room, and Santiago’s defense attorney, James Jamison, left the courtroom in the middle of their talk.

Earlier, Nelms told the jury that she had decided to change her plea to guilty but would not do so until this morning. She is pleading guilty to causing her daughter serious bodily harm and faces a life sentence. She could still be tried on charges of harming the boys.

The children – then ages 11, 10 and 5 – were rescued July 2, 2009, from the Budget Suites near Love Field after an uncle called police. They were emaciated, and several witnesses have compared them to Holocaust survivors. Another child, the 1-year-old daughter of Alfred Santiago and Abneris Santiago, was healthy and unharmed. The other three children each had different fathers.

Abneris Santiago’s decision to change her plea came moments after the girl testified that her mother beat her when the girl told her about the repeated rapes by Alfred Santiago.

The girl also testified about the abuse, and about how she thought she would die in the bathroom. Abneris Santiago told Nelms that she would not get a fair trial because of media coverage of the case and that she didn’t want her daughter to be questioned further.

“I’ve been through so much … out of one nightmare and into another,” Santiago told Nelms. “Me and my children have been through enough.”

The jurors wept as the girl testified. She begged them not to send her mother to prison.

“I really don’t think she did anything wrong,” the girl sobbed. “She might have given me whoopins, but she doesn’t deserve to go to jail.”

Before the girl took the stand, her therapist, Ashley Lind, told the jury that the child still “dearly loves her mother” and that the child would probably try to protect her mother on the witness stand.

“It’s really hard for her to reconcile that this person she loved so much could allow this to happen,” Lind said.

At times, the girl will say, “My mom never did anything wrong.” At other times, she’ll say, “Why didn’t she help us?”

Anyone who wants to know why I hate child molesters and child abusers as much as I do needs only to read the last story in this series. These three children were beaten and starved to the point of death just so Alfred Santiago could control every aspect of their lives. The eleven-year-old girl was sexually abused whenever Alfred Santiago got the “itch”. And worst of all, they were betrayed by their mother, Abneris Santiago. She let it all happen, and never lifted a finger to help any of them.

So what did the beaten, starved, raped, and abandoned, now 12-year-old girl do when asked what she would want her mother, the woman who allowed all those terrible things to happen to her, to be sentenced to after Mom pled guilty to causing her serious bodily harm? This young, innocent girl begged the jury to spare Abneris Santiago any prison time.

“I really don’t think she did anything wrong. She might have given me whoopins, but she doesn’t deserve to go to jail.”

The love of a small child for their parent is unconditional and limitless, yet animals like Abneris Santiago and Alfred Santiago, John Allen Rubio and Angela Camacho, Abigail Young, Jewell Hendricks, Heaven Smith and Corey Bryant, and Kimberly Trenor and Royce Zeigler (to name just a few) constantly shit on that love at every opportunity.

That’s not just a sin, it’s a sin against innocence, a sin against love. Their punishment in the afterlife, if you happen to believe in that sort of thing, must be something to behold. Perhaps, if I do enough good here on earth in the time I have left, I’ll be allowed a peek at this on my way to my own place in hell.

I have no illusions of my own sainthood, and I have serious doubts that I’ll ever earn enough “good time” to make up for the sins of my old life. But one thing I can count on is that I could never, ever do the things these people have done to little children.

And that’s something.

Before I forget again, I need to thank Budgiegirl for her work on keeping me informed of any updates that need to be done. This is just one of many follow-ups she has done on old cases. She has taken on this responsibility without being asked, and without and expectation of thanks or praise. I know the latter is true, because I am so absent minded that I usually forget to say thank you to her or praise her for the hard work that she does for this website. Sorry Budgie, but you know that my brains are turning to applesauce, don’t you?

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.

RUBIO GUILTY OF FOUR COUNTS OF CAPITAL MURDER
by Ildefonso Ortiz – The Brownsville Herald

A still silence fell over the courtroom as a voice read out loud what was written on a lone piece of paper.

“We the jury find the defendant John Allen Rubio guilty,” stated 370th state District Judge Noe Gonzalez as he read the note handed to him by the jury.

After four hours of deliberation, jurors on Monday afternoon found Rubio guilty of the 2003 capital murder of the three children of his common-law wife.

Rubio, standing in front of the judge’s bench, remained expressionless as Gonzalez read the verdict. Since the judge had vowed to throw out anyone who reacted to the verdict, the courtroom remained silent after verdict was read.

Rubio, 29, was being retried for the murders of Julissa Quesada, 3, John E. Rubio, 14 months, and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months, because his earlier conviction in the case was overturned on appeal. The children’s mother Angela Camacho already has been convicted in the case. Rubio was the biological father of the youngest child.

Rubio was facing four capital murder charges, one for each of the slain children and one for the combined murders.

After the verdict was handed down, Gonzalez quickly moved the case to the punishment phase, where the jurors will decide Rubio’s fate.

In his opening statement, Cameron County Chief Assistant District Attorney Chuck Mattingly told jurors that Rubio is a danger to society with a long criminal record. He said Rubio is violent and had tried to set fire in his prison cell.

Defense attorney Ed Stapleton told jurors that the alleged fires in Rubio’s cell were toilet paper fires that didn’t place anyone in danger and were simply a form of protest.

Jurors also heard testimony from two police officers, Rolando Trujillo and Juan Sanchez, who stated that they had previously arrested Rubio for possession of marijuana and for family violence.

Defense attorney Nat Perez asked them if Rubio had been violent in any of the arrests. Both officers testified that he had not and that the arrests were misdemeanors.

Further questioning by Perez revealed that the family violence arrest had been because Camacho had told an officer that she feared for her safety. She said Rubio was intoxicated but that he had never hurt her or any of the children.

Jurors also heard testimony from Texas Ranger Roland Castaneda, who stated that he went to Rubio’s cell in 2003 to gather blood and hair samples. He said he saw Rubio act without remorse in regards to the murders.

On Monday morning, before each side began its closing arguments for the guilt or innocence phase, Gonzalez addressed the jury, stating that the arguments could be considered during the deliberations. But, he said, during their deliberation, jurors must adhere to the guidelines set up in the law or charge that would be presented.

Gonzalez then read the charge, which outlined three possible findings for the jury: guilty, not guilty, or not guilty by reason of insanity. The charge stated that murder referred to the intentional or knowing taking of a life, while capital murder applied to the murder of children under the age of 6 or more than one murder in an act.

If the jury found that the defendant suffered a severe mental disease or defect that kept him from knowing his actions were wrong, then they must declare Rubio not guilty by reason of insanity.

After Gonzalez finished reading the charge, Mattingly began his closing argument.

“The defendant John Allen Rubio, butchered his children,” Mattingly said. “He butchered three babies.”

Mattingly stated that Rubio couldn’t be insane because certain statements that he made showed him to be sane, including the one where he places his hands in front of officer Sonny Cervantes and tells him, “arrest me” as Cervantes arrives at the scene, showing his knowledge then that the action was wrong.

“These babies, they were fighters,” Mattingly said as he choked back tears. “They fought valiantly and heroically to live until their bodies could take no more.”

Mattingly then stated that to Rubio, the children were just an obstacle to starting a new life and were thus treated as trash being placed in disposable bags.

If Rubio had indeed been insane and killing demons as per paranoid schizophrenia, then he would have attacked his younger brother who stumbled into the scene and, according to Rubio, was acting possessed, Mattingly said.

“He is a coward,” Mattingly added.

After Mattingly, Perez addressed the jury and began attacking some of the inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case.

According to Perez, if Rubio simply wanted to get rid of the children, he could have placed a hand over their face or used a pillow to snuff out their life, not choke them, stab them and then behead them.

“Bodies don’t lie,” Perez said. “This was overkill.”

Perez then stated that if the children were a burden, why would he talk to Jose Luis Moreno about going to Austin and taking two of them with him.

Perez then stated that if the main reason was financial problems, then why kill the children if they were a “gold mine” because of all the government aid they were receiving.

Perez then went on to attack the police statements, alleging that even though the prosecution claimed to have read Rubio his rights more than eight times, he didn’t understand them.

According to Perez, the only times Rubio had questions about the rights read to him was when there was an impartial witness such as a magistrate judge or a video camera.

“You saw the officers fight me on the stand about specifically asking Rubio if he wanted a lawyer,” Perez said.

He then referred to a statement by police about Rubio acting different in front of the camera.

“Let me tell you, I know police acted different when the camera was on, too,” Perez said.

After Perez, Ed Stapleton gave the jurors a perspective of life from Rubio’s eyes, from being an abused and neglected child to growing up with sexual abuse and prostitution. He said Rubio then had to tried to have a normal life but was unable to because of mental issues and diseases.

Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos closed the arguments by stating that the 5-year-old Rubio that Stapleton had been talking about was not the monster sitting in the courtroom that butchered three children.

According to Villalobos, if Rubio suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, then why would he go years without suffering from delusions — even without taking any schizophrenia medications?

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

IF Emily Bazelon’s article is to be believed, the South Hadley Six; Sean Mulveyhill, Kayla Narey, Austin Renaud, Ashley Longe, Flannery Mullins, and Sharon Chanon Velazquez have been unfairly targeted by a District Attorney who caved in to the public pressure.

She quotes Bill Evans, the assistant principal of South Hadley High School in Massachusetts, saying that it was he who chose Sean Mulveyhill to read an anti-bullying PSA during the school’s participation in the National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week.

“He was a natural selection—the kind of kid who would seek out someone having difficulty just to help him. Sean read it. I think he meant it.”

Sounds like a stand-up kind guy, huh? Yet other students of South Hadley painted a much different picture of Mulveyhill within days of Phoebe’s suicide, claiming that Mulveyhill had a mean streak and obviously took great pleasure in the emotional pain that he caused her.

Ms. Bazelon then went on to describe the horrible consequences that have befallen the South Hadley Six. She said that the six accused teenagers have been painted as “symbols of callow teenage evil.” Their names and faces have been splashed across the media, at an international level. They were expelled from school and poor little Sean lost out on a football scholarship to college.

And, *gasp* they might have to do some jail time. (Sniff, sniff, sniff. Hold on while I wipe away some tears).

She went on to write that some of the teenagers might have treated Phoebe cruelly, but that all of them did and that there was absolutely no way that they could have foreseen the events that would unfold with Phoebe killing herself and their being charged with criminal acts.

She insinuates that it was all for nothing because Phoebe was a whack job and the accused had absolutely nothing to do with her suicide. And that the statutory rape charges are unfair as the sex was consensual, even though Phoebe was under the age of consent.

I say to her: BULL FUCKING SHIT!

Was Phoebe Prince emotionally unstable? Yes, she was. Was she under the care of a physician who was treating her depression? Yes, she was. Was she upset at the move to a foreign country? Yes, she was. Did she miss her Daddy? Yup, she did.

And now she is a 15-year old girl that’s just been raped AGAIN by Ms. Bazelon. A girl who can no longer defend or speak up for herself because she is dead. Ms. Bazelon tried, in a haphazard kind of way to apologize to Phoebe’s family saying, “I’ve wrestled with how much of this information to publish. Phoebe’s family has suffered terribly.”

BUT the injustice that she thought was being committed against the accused and the investigation by the District Attorney “invited an inquiry into other potential causes.” So she’s sorry to put Phoebe’s family through the wringer again, but they asked for it.

She went as far as to say:

“She (Phoebe) was deeply troubled long before she ever met the six defendants. And her own behavior made other students understandably upset.”

And what behavior was that Ms. Bazelon? What could anyone possibly do to a group of teenagers that would compel them to verbally, psychological and physically torture another person? Be different? Being upset about leaving the only country that she has known and coming here? Missing her father? Falling for the prattle spewed by two American teenage boys who just wanted to fuck her so they can put another notch on their belts? Is that the behavior you are referring to?

The fact that Phoebe was in this fragile emotional state to begin with is precisely what makes what these individuals did so heinous. Obviously Ms. Bazelon isn’t old enough to have teenagers of her own. Teenagers are extremely adept at negotiation, as any parent of a something-teen will tell you. They are also savvy when it comes to identifying the weakest members of their little society – the society we all refer to as high school.

Ask any teenager in any American school who is the most likely person to commit suicide and most will give you an honest answer. Why? Because they know. Teenagers know who is doing what, where, when and with whom. And when they are caught doing something that they know that they shouldn’t be doing, they are expertly skilled in the art of denial, deception, deflection and deceit.

These individuals are nothing more than a pack of lions that culled the weakest member of the herd away from the group and then played with her, much like a cat will play with a mouse before it kills it. No, they did not tie the rope around Phoebe’s neck and push her off, but they handed the rope to her and watched as she made the noose, and laughed.

Ms. Bazelon states that she talked with numerous students at the high school who corroborated her accounts of the alleged bullying, or lack there of. Yet within hours of Phoebe’s suicide, these same students at South Hadley were already pointing the finger at the South Hadley Six.

If they were so innocent, why would one of them write “accomplished” on a memorial page set up for Phoebe and gloat about her death and the torture that they put her through? That one word, “accomplished” implies intent. They knew exactly what they were doing.

I am sick and tired of people BLAMING the victim. These individuals created an atmosphere of hostility and fear that surrounded a vulnerable teenage girl for months. They set into motion a chain of events that led to a girl killing herself and for that they must be held accountable. But Ms. Bazelon wants to blame Phoebe.

When a tragedy happens here in America we desperately look for answers. When those answers point to the unimaginable, we look to place the blame on something else. This is a case of teenagers, old enough to know better, but still young enough not to care, going out of their way to inflict psychological trauma on a perceived rival.

And when that victim kills themselves in response, people like Ms. Bazelon look to point the finger of blame everywhere but where it belongs. She wants to believe that she is just doing her job and performing a public service because in her mind the South Hadley Six are being railroaded. But just like the girl that wrote “accomplished” on Phoebe’s memorial page, she is torturing Phoebe and her family all over again.

Ms. Bazelon went on The Today Show and supported her position by saying:

“Just the notion of criminally charging six teenagers in a way that blames them for the death of a girl who had this much more complicated history, that seems really questionable to me.”

And that gives her the right to invade the privacy of Phoebe and her family? I don’t think so.

She quotes a licensed social worker that had talked with Phoebe before her death in the capacity as a counselor, but that same social worker refused to go on the record with her and allow herself to be quoted. Did she speak with Phoebe’s family? They said no. She spoke with the accused, their lawyers, family and friends. Gee, don’t think they would be biased at all.

In response to Bazelon’s article, Barbara Coloroso, a bullying expert recruited to train South Hadley school officials and parents prior to Prince’s death, expressed concern about “the slant of the article.” She said:

“It is all too common to re-target the target so as to minimize or justify the cruelty reaped on her. A troubled teen is often a prime target for bullies, and thus needs even more protection and support in a safe school environment where bullies are held accountable and not enabled to act with impunity.”

Ms. Bazelon is no different in her attitude towards Phoebe Prince than a defense attorney attacking a rape victim because of how they were dressed or the fact that the didn’t fight back, thus implying that the victim not only asked to be assaulted.

Phoebe’s family and friends are outraged and describe Bazelon’s article as a cruel hatchet job aided and abetted by the accused tormentors’ lawyers. Phoebe’s aunt, Eileen Moore, told The Boston Herald:

“It resurfaced everything. We relive it.”

So kudos Ms. Bazelon on throwing salt on their open and festering wounds. Good job.

To Phoebe’s family and friends, I say this: I cannot fathom the depth of your loss and grief. All I can say is that I share your outrage over the insensitive, intrusive and callous disregard for your feelings and the memory of your child. What these individuals did was incomprehensible and they should be held accountable for their actions. As should the school and the district for their failure to protect Phoebe. Be strong and keep the faith.

Editor’s Notes: I have one unbreakable rule when I write, and that is to never attack anyone who has passed away and is incapable of defending themselves. It’s not because I believe in a overly romanticized version of fair play, but because it’s patently unfair to destroy the reputation and character of someone who is no longer with us. People should be able to rest in peace without having their families suffer through something like that.

Ah, but I’m just speculating of course. It’s a very popular sport around these parts lately. Unfortunately for me, my conscience forces me to make sure my reader knows I haven’t got real evidence to back up my theories, or I might have gotten on The Today Show too.

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.

On Monday, jurors convicted the 34-year-old woman for reckless serious bodily injury to a child by omission.

Young, who did not testify in her own defense, escaped a possible life sentence because the jurors’ conviction did not find she “knowingly” or “intentionally” caused the injuries by failing to act.
Reason for lesser charge

Jurors who spoke after the trial said the evidence did not show Young knew her inaction would cause her daughter’s fatal injuries, so they opted for the lesser charge.

“She (Young) had to know her conduct would cause serious bodily injury,” explained juror Larry Gainor, 51.

Investigators and other witness testimony during the two-week trial pieced together Emma’s chaotic household, one in which her mother, while married to Ben Thompson, began having an affair with 28-year-old Lucas Coe.

After separating from her husband, Young often left her children with Coe.

Coe faces trial this fall on a charge of super aggravated assault for the rape and assaults that led to Emma’s death.

Even though jurors handed down the maximum penalty for the “reckless” conviction, Young is eligible for parole after serving five years.
Family lashes out

After the sentencing, both her ex-husband, who was Emma’s father, and the little girl’s paternal grandmother, Laurie Thompson, took the witness stand to deliver explosive, eloquent, victim impact statements.

These statements, directed at the defendant, allow relatives to have their final say.

“She was 4 years old. She had her whole life ahead of her,” yelled Ben Thompson at Young, who was seated with her attorneys. “You deserve so much more than what you got.”

He also told Young that there would always be a member of his family to speak against her at any future parole hearings.

His mother, Laurie Thompson, took the stand and in a strong, clear voice, added, “Our hearts are broken for the loss of our Emma. She’ll never be a Brownie. She’ll never bring home a report card.”

The maximum 20-year prison sentence prompted hugs among many of the spectators and brought smiles to prosecutors Colleen Barnett and Tina Ansari.

“I think we’re both pleased,” Barnett said. “It’s satisfying.”

Defense attorney Colin Amann had a more muted reaction.

“We’re disappointed, obviously,” Amann said. “But I don’t think it’s entirely unexpected.”

In final arguments Tuesday, Amann urged jurors to consider probation for Young, who until now had no criminal history.

“She has to live with her mistakes that resulted in the loss of her youngest child,” Amann said. “She has to live with not being able to do what she trained to do … she’s going to have to live with not living with her babies.”

Young’s other two daughters, ages 7 and 12, were removed from her home after the 4-year-old’s death. They live with relatives.

“If ever there was punishment, that’s punishment,” Amann said.

But prosecutor Barnett pulled jurors’ attention back to Emma’s death, pointing out that her mother lied to law enforcement, medical personnel and essentially every witness called to testify in the two-week case.

“She hasn’t accepted responsibility,” Barnett said. “What’s lost here is what Emma went through.”
Missed chances

Emma, covered in at least 80 bruises, was declared dead on arrival at Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands Hospital on June 27, 2009. Autopsy results later showed she had three cracked ribs, a vaginal tear and a skull fracture.

As investigators descended on Young’s Haverford Road home that night, a series of missed chances to save Emma quickly emerged.

First, it was learned that Young and her daughter were part of an open Texas Child Protective Services investigation after the girl’s pediatrician alerted them to possible abuse. The girl had bruising around her waist and tested positive for genital herpes.

But a follow-up interview and exam with Emma and her mother convinced doctors that although the girl had a sexually transmitted disease, they could not confirm sexual intercourse had taken place and therefore found no evidence of abuse.

Emma remained with her mother in her home where Coe — who had an assault conviction, a substance abuse problem and was facing a pending child abuse charge in another county — often spent the night.

MOM FOUND GUILTY IN DEATH OF DAUGHTER
excerpts of a report by Kate McCall – KTRK-TV News, Houston, TX

After just a few hours of deliberation, the jury has returned a verdict in the trial of a woman accused of doing nothing while her young daughter was fatally abused by her boyfriend at the time.

Abigail Young was found guilty of causing injury to a child by omission, but the jury found that she did so recklessly rather than knowingly and intentionally. It was a lesser charge and carries with it a sentence of two to 20 years behind bars, instead of a possible life sentence she faced on the more serious charge.

The lesser charge was a big shock to the prosecution.

“The jury took our case very seriously, but we’re disappointed in the verdict,” said Harris County Assistant District Attorney Colleen Barnett. “Certainly, we can see evidence ourselves of when a kid is hurt or injured, and not only did she not tell anybody she recognized that as abuse, but she covered it up. And I think that says volumes about her, not only as a mother but as a person.”

Young collapsed in tears and was audibly sobbing when the verdict was read in court Monday afternoon. The verdict was a relief for the defense.

“She’s upset, but we accept the jury’s verdict,” said defense attorney Colin Amann. “We were happy that the jury did not find that she intentionally or knowingly did something to harm her child.”

Young’s daughter, Emma Thompson, died last year. An autopsy revealed 80 injuries including a skull fracture, internal bleeding, and signs of rape.

Emma was rushed to the hospital last June, covered in bruises with massive internal injuries and a fractured skull. Young claimed at the time that the four year old had fallen. But expert witnesses gave testimony that none of the child’s injuries was consistent with the mother’s story.

In her closing argument, Harris County prosecutor Colleen Barnett walked over and stood beside Young while telling the jury that the mother, who was a registered nurse, not only ignored signs of physical and sexual abuse her daughter was suffering, but also made repeated efforts to hide it from people, including Child Protective Services investigators, who could have helped the child.

“When she lied to Dr. Singh, she failed to protect Baby Emma. When she lied to Dr. Waterhouse, she failed to protect Baby Emma. When she lied to CPS, she failed to protect Baby Emma. When she lied to Texas Children’s Hospital, she failed to protect Baby Emma,” said Barnett.

Young, 34, was on trial for injury to a child by omission for allegedly knowing about the abuse and deliberately failing to intervene and stop her boyfriend, Lucas Coe, from sexually abusing and beating the 4 year old.

Emma Thompson died last June from injuries that included a fractured skull, a lacerated pancreas, and injuries to her genitals. There was also evidence of older abuse, and just weeks before her death doctors diagnosed the 4 year old with genital herpes.

“Do you think 80 bruises signifies someone that’s abused or neglected? What about a rib fracture? What about a sexually transmitted disease?” Barnett asked the jury in court.

Young’s lawyers argued that she did not know about the abuse that was taking place in her own home and that she was cooperative when CPS investigators came to the home just weeks before the child’s death, but didn’t remove her from the home.

Her lawyers say that other people caring for Emma, including the child’s own father, weren’t aware of the abuse.

“He didn’t say it because he didn’t think there was an issue. They weren’t red flags then, now they are red flags,” said defense attorney Julie Ketterman.

Young’s attorneys say this was not a case of a cover up.

“Hindsight – everything is always clearer in hindsight,” said defense attorney Julie Ketterman.

Coe was already charged with injury to a child in two cases in Montgomery County when Young moved him into her house, but her attorneys say Young was a loving mother who was completely blind to what her boyfriend was doing.

“The prosecution is hoping to prey upon that inner part of you that wants to believe the worst in people, instead of looking at what the evidence tells us,” said defense attorney Colin Amann.

God, this is one of those cases that just makes me crazy.

But before I begin my rant, we all need to be on the same page here. To do that, Everyone MUST watch the video of Emma Thompson’s father Ben Thompson and paternal grandmother Laurie Thompson reading their victim impact statements. Mrs. Thompson gives us some insight into the real Abigail Young, and lets just say that the blond, conservatively dressed, maternal women we all saw photographed was not the Abigail Young that she knew.

I’ll wait for you.

I never like to listen to those things. I, like a lot of us here on this website, am too finely tuned to other people’s suffering. When I listen to people who are hurting, or read about the suffering of innocent people, sometimes, for a second or two, I can feel their pain.

I believe that’s what empathy is, and when it happens, it’s like a sudden, powerful sense of sadness, almost like depression. On rare occasions, that feeling of empathy stays for more than a few seconds and overwhelms my own emotions – those are the times I find myself in tears.

But I digress.

In the video of Laurie Thompson’s statement, did you pick up on her description of Abagail’s true fashion sense? Maroon hair? Pink and black streaks? I also found out that she was having an affair with Lucas Ruric Coe while she was still living as husband and wife with Emma’s father, Ben Thompson, and that this was the cause of the separation.

So how did the jury come to the verdict they did? It simple when you think about it – Think about how hard it would be to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, what someone was thinking based solely on their actions.

In this case, Abigail Young was found guilty of causing injury to a child by omission, but the jury found that she did so recklessly rather than knowingly and intentionally. In other words, she was criminally stupid, but not evil.

To convict her of the more serious charge, the prosecution had to prove that Abigail Young knew Emma’s injuries were going to result in her death if she didn’t get the toddler to a hospital, but she didn’t care.

Now In my opinion, it was obvious that Abigail Young knew Emma was dying and did nothing to stop it – she was a damned nurse for crying out loud – but I also think I can read people’s minds based on the way they act. I’m right a lot of the time, but 60 or 70 percent isn’t nearly good enough for a court of law.

So what we ended up with was the correct verdict, legally speaking. There’s no question that the jury took their responsibility seriously and did the best the could with the evidence the had to work with.

Buy morally speaking, and by that I mean the verdict that would have given justice to Emma, her dad, and the rest of the Thompson family, the correct verdict should have been guilty of intentionally causing injury to a child by omission, and the correct sentence should have been life in prison.

Sometimes a jury has to make a choice that’s more important than guilty or not guilty. Sometimes they have to decide a case based on right and wrong. This was one of those cases, and the right thing for them to have done was to send Abigail Young to prison for the rest of her life.

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.

Mrs. Miner had been charged with involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering the life of another person and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the death of her 6-month-old son, Mason, on Dec. 10, 2007.

The charges were filed under her maiden name, Jessica Ann Barlow, her name at the time of the alleged incident. She and the baby’s father, Jason Miner, were living along Route 29 near Lake Carey at the time.

Mrs. Miner’s attorney, Paul Ackourey, praised Mr. Mitchell for taking another look at the evidence before continuing with the prosecution.

“I think that takes a lot of courage. I haven’t seen that before,” Mr. Ackourey said.

Although the baby died in late 2007, Mrs. Miner was not charged until several months later, after a coroner’s inquest had been conducted.

That March 2008 inquest by Wyoming County Coroner Tom Kukuchka determined the baby had a blood-alcohol level of 0.205 percent when he died. Based on that finding, District Attorney George Skumanick filed the charges against Mrs. Miner in May 2008.

At that time, Mr. Skumanick said investigators were trying to determine what type and how much alcohol the child was given.

Mr. Ackourey said another explanation has since emerged regarding the alcohol level.

When Mason was taken to the hospital, he was already dead, Mr. Ackourey said. Under standard procedure, emergency room personnel administered glucose in an attempt to revive the child.

Mr. Ackourey said Dr. Gary Ross, a Lackawanna County pathologist, took another look at the evidence and determined that the combination of glucose plus the decomposition of the body could have triggered a false blood-alcohol reading.

Because there is an alternate explanation for the blood-alcohol level, Mr. Ackourey said that would provide reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors.

I’m not exactly sure what this means as far as Ms. Barlow-Miner’s guilt. I got the impression that the prosecutor still thinks she’s his girl, but without a definitive cause of death, he was unwilling to go forward with the case. Bravo to Mr. Mitchell for that. One should be sure before one prosecutes a person for murder.

That said, I will admit that as the case stands now, I never would have chosen this story to write up. I won’t say I made a mistake, because I had what should have been good evidence, but I do regret that things turned out the way they did.

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.

“I hate to put it on you,” Clifford said to the mother as a courtroom, packed with defendants and spectators, looked on. But he said he needed to know if she agreed with the deal calling for Miller to plead no contest to a charge of risk of injury to a minor in exchange for no prison time, a five-year probationary term, and his absence from the sex registry.

The mother nodded “yes” as she stroked her daughter as she sat, crying, beside her.

Clifford acknowledged that the victim might not have been happy with the outcome of the case, but said that a plea deal spares everyone from a trial.

Before the sentencing, a victim’s advocate read a letter from the victim that says she has had “nonstop nightmares” since the assaults.

By pleading no contest, Miller did not admit guilt but did not plan to offer a defense.

As you can see, Judge Clifford even gave the victim’s mother a chance to reject the plea deal at the last minute, but she declined. Obviously, his honor did everything in his power to ensure that the victim’s rights were protected, and I was wrong to demonize him as I did.

It appears to me that the 13-year-old victim was more fragile that I first thought, and the plea deal was made to protect her from the trauma of a trial. There’s not much the prosecutor could have done once Miller and his lawyer realized this.

The responsibility for the light sentence lies squarely in the laps of William Miller and his attorney. No surprise there, since a defense attorney’s job is to get his client the best deal he can, and Billy-boy, well, we’ve already been down that road.

My apologies to Judge Patrick Clifford. The things I wrote about him were completely wrong and totally unjustified. I can offer no excuse – I need to do better next time. I can only hope these words are enough to make up for the harm I may have done.