If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Foster mother found guilty in slaying of 3-year-old nephew
Foster mother found guilty in slaying of 3-year-old nephew
01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, May 17, 2008 By John Castellucci Journal Staff Writer http://www.projo.com/news/content/BU...7.3653e3c.html PROVIDENCE –– If Thomas “T.J.” Wright were alive today, he would be in kindergarten or the first grade, an energetic little boy who, when the radio was turned on, would get up and dance around the room. But, on Oct. 30, 2004, 3-year-old T.J. was beaten so brutally he was taken unconscious to Hasbro Children’s Hospital, where he was declared brain dead and taken off life support a day later. Yesterday, one of the people accused of taking part in the fatal beating, T.J.’s foster parent and aunt, Katherine Bunnell, was found guilty in Superior Court of murder and murder conspiracy. The jury returned the verdict after 2½ days of deliberation, just as the jurors’ lunch was being delivered to the courthouse, before 12:30 p.m. Bunnell, who — with her boyfriend, Gilbert Delestre — is accused of beating T.J. to death, didn’t break down, as she did almost every day during her bail hearing three years ago. But she looked stricken and her shoulders heaved as the verdict was read. The verdict was a cliffhanger. When Judge Gilbert V. Indeglia’s clerk, Stephen McCarthy, asked the jury foreman how the jury had found the defendant on Count 1, first-degree murder, the foreman replied, “Not guilty.” Then McCarthy asked how the jury found the defendant on Count 1B –– the lesser charge of second-degree murder. “Guilty,” the foreman replied. That one degree of difference will make a considerable difference when Indeglia sentences Bunnell, a Woonsocket High School dropout who had two children of her own and became the foster parent of three of her sister’s children by the time she was 20. A first-degree murder conviction would have exposed Bunnell to the possibility of life in prison without parole. Second-degree murder carries a sentence of 10 years to life in prison, with parole eligibility after 20 years. Murder conspiracy carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. Defense attorney Gerard H. Donley said he and Bunnell were “disappointed, very disappointed” with the verdict, but grateful that the jury hadn’t found her guilty of first-degree murder. He accused the attorney general’s office of overcharging the defendant. “I don’t think she’s guilty of anything except the inappropriate, shameful punishment of a 3-year-old,” he said. Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said Bunnell should have been found guilty of first-degree murder, although he understood how the jury, swayed by defense arguments and feelings of sympathy for the defendant, could have come back with the lesser verdict. He rejected Donley’s assertion that Bunnell had been overcharged. “She was responsible for a young child’s life. She was involved in snuffing it out in the most brutal manner that I’ve seen in my time in office,” Lynch said. “She was a vicious person. She should pay the ultimate penalty, and we will argue that with great force.” Bunnell, 24, is tentatively scheduled to be sentenced July 16. She testified during the trial that she only slapped T.J. lightly on the face, pouring a container of milk over his head to “discipline” him after she and Delestre returned to their Woonsocket apartment from a night out 3½ years ago and found a mess that the toddler had made on the living-room floor. But the toddler’s injuries weren’t consistent with a few light slaps. The medical examiner’s office found that T.J. died as a result of blows that broke the large bone in his upper left leg, covered his head, face and arms with bruises, fractured his spine and caused a pool of blood to collect between his brain and the tissue lining the inside of his skull. Donley sought to convince the jury that Bunnell’s boyfriend at the time, Gilbert Delestre, who is in the Adult Correctional Institutions awaiting trial in the murder, inflicted the fatal injuries after Bunnell left the apartment to drive the babysitter home. The jury of five men and seven women didn’t buy it. In finding Bunnell guilty of second-degree murder, they concluded that Bunnell intended to kill T.J., even if the intention was only momentary. In finding Bunnell guilty of murder conspiracy, they concluded that she and Delestre acted in concert to beat the toddler to death. There was testimony to support both conclusions. T.J.’s babysitter, Kayla Roderick, told the jury that Bunnell flew into a rage when she returned to the apartment around 2:30 a.m. and discovered that T.J. had spilled a bowl of yogurt and milk in the living room. She dragged T.J. out of bed, carried him downstairs, dropped him onto the floor and swore at him, demanding, “What the [expletive] did you do to my house?” Roderick said. She pulled T.J. by the wrist, punched him in the chest and back, and caused him to fall, Roderick testified, hitting his head multiple times. After Bunnell was done beating the child, Delestre picked him up and hurled him across the living room, causing him to land on the floor with his foot twisted under his stomach, Roderick testified. Another witness, Delestre’s cousin, Jose A. Santiago, said Bunnell yelled at him and hung up on the 911 operator when she returned to find the toddler unresponsive and Santiago calling 911 for help. Santiago testified Bunnell tried to snatch the child from him when he tried to perform CPR. T.J. was one of four children of Bunnell’s sister, Karen Wright. Wright and T.J.’s grandmother, Mary Bunnell, were in court every day of the 10-day trial. They wept quietly when the jury returned the verdict. Donley said Katherine Bunnell’s family is supportive, “including T.J.’s mom — her sister — who doesn’t believe Katherine killed T.J. but acted in a way that she should be ashamed of.” Katherine Bunnell testified that she took T.J. in, along with his older brothers, David and Mickey, and 2-year-old sister, Michaela, after Karen Wright went to prison in Illinois for possession of marijuana. She said she didn’t notify the Department of Children, Youth and Families of the arrangement until Michaela spent the weekend with her father, David Wright, and Wright wouldn’t return the child to Bunnell, as her sister Karen wished. At the time, her own daughters by Delestre, Daziya and Destiny, were 1 and 3 years old, respectively, Bunnell testified. Following T.J.’s slaying, the couple had their parental rights terminated by Family Court. The girls have been adopted, along with T.J.’s siblings, in placements that have been reviewed and deemed safe by the DCYF, a DCYF official said yesterday. The DCYF received a storm of criticism after T.J.’s slaying. The agency was accused by the Office of the Child Advocate of ignoring warning signs that Bunnell and Delestre were unfit to be foster parents, because, among other things, the couple had a history of drug use and Delestre was arrested for possession of marijuana in Arkansas in 2003. The agency was also criticized for letting T.J. and his brothers remain with the Bunnell and Delestre before they were formally licensed as foster parents. In 2006, on the second anniversary of T.J.’s death, the Office of Child Advocate released a report saying that, while the DCYF had made some progress implementing the recommendations of a review panel following the murder, it had failed to reduce the caseloads of overburdened caseworkers to recommended levels, and had missed target dates for new training programs and performance evaluations. In an interview yesterday, Deputy DCYF Director Jorge E. Garcia said that, “I believe all of those recommendations have been implemented.” Caseload numbers have come down considerably, according to Garcia. When T.J. was killed, the average DCYF caseload was 18, Garcia said. It is now down to an average 16 cases per caseworker for the entire state, he said. The attorney general was asked following the verdict whether the DCYF shared blame for the murder. “A DCYF representative wasn’t in the house that night,” Lynch answered. “That young boy was in the care and custody of one person” — Katherine Bunnell. CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CONSTITUTIONALLY GUARANTEED LIBERTIES & CIVIL RIGHTS ON A DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAMS.... CPS Does not protect children... It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even killed at the hands of Child Protective Services. every parent should read the free handbook from connecticut dcf watch.. http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US These numbers come from The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN) Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS *Perpetrators of Maltreatment* Physical Abuse CPS/Foster care 160, biological Parents 59 Sexual Abuse CPS/Foster care 112, biological Parents 13 Neglect CPS/Foster care 410, biological Parents 241 Medical Neglect CPS/Foster care 14 biological Parents 12 Fatalities CPS/Foster care 6.4, biological Parents 1.5 Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per 100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a bunch of social workers. CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON... BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION... |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Foster mother found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in death ofboy, 4 | fx | Spanking | 0 | November 16th 07 10:42 PM |
Foster mother found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in death ofboy, 4 | fx | Foster Parents | 0 | November 16th 07 10:42 PM |
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Foster mother found guilty of capital murder | fx | Spanking | 0 | September 8th 07 09:30 PM |
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Foster mother found guilty of capital murder | fx | Foster Parents | 0 | September 8th 07 09:30 PM |
Former CPS counselor found guilty on rape charges: Former ChildProtective Services counselor Preston Carbary has been found guilty on threecounts of rape of one of his former patients. | fx | Foster Parents | 0 | May 4th 07 02:10 AM |