REally sick

[squirell nutkin]

I just accidentally clicked on a link on google news thinking I was going to see pretty space pictures from hubble. instead the link went to a short story with a lot of phots of an adorable little child who had been beaten to death over a period of several days.

I couldn't read the story or look at the pictures.

I feel really sick to my stomach. WTF is wrong with people? I think the story is out of Flint, MI so I imagine poverty may have something to do with it, but still. WTF?

damn.

[Trilby]

I'm sorry that happened to you, squirell-head.

Evil exists - and that story is proof.

[Trilby]

similar situation in xenia,oh

XENIA — Malak Deek expressed relief and outrage Thursday, Feb. 18, after a jury found she was not responsible for the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Juliana Berry.

“I don’t feel I ever endangered my child with anything,” she said after the verdict was read in Greene County Common Pleas Court.

Deek was acquitted of all but the least serious charge — misdemeanor endangering children. That meant the jury felt she should have taken Juliana to a doctor on Dec. 25, 2008, when she became ill after hitting her head, county Prosecutor Stephen K. Haller said.

Jurors found Deek not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and said the child endangering did not “result in serious physical harm” to Juliana.

Deek’s bond was continued and a sentencing date has not been set. Haller said he will ask for the maximum sentence of six months.

Haller said he was puzzled by the verdicts .

The second trial almost didn’t proceed. Deek tried to fire her attorneys, James Armstrong and Arthur Ames, just hours before jury selection began. As jurors deliberated after the trial concluded Wednesday, she said she had mixed feelings about their representation.

Brian LaPrairie, Deek’s live-in boyfriend, pleaded guilty to the same charges in Juliana’s death and is serving a 22-year prison sentence.

After closing arguments Wednesday, Feb. 17, Deek said she was shocked when prosecutors characterized her daughter’s last days as unhappy. “I loved her so much,” Deek said. “I still love her. I wanted to grow with her.”

Deek said her “blood boiled” as she listened to Haller dare jurors in his closing statement to find a picture of Juliana smiling in the months before she died.

“That’s such a lie,” Deek said in her first interview since her daughter’s death. “Why act like a child was so miserable when she wasn’t?”

Prosecutors claim Deek knew the abuse was happening but overlooked it because she was dependent on LaPrairie's family for childcare and a place to live.

Defense lawyers said LaPrairie abused Juliana in secret and the maltreatment escalated until he beat her into a coma Dec. 27, 2008. She died two days later, and an autopsy found she suffered “battered baby syndrome,” which is characterized by repeated abuse.

Deek said she isn’t sure how Juliana suffered the broken ribs, bruises and skull fracture that led to her death.

“It’s really hard to believe, to this day, she could have had all the stuff wrong with her that they say,” she said.

Deek said she would do anything to protect her daughter. “I loved her so much,” she said. “I would defend her. Why would I go through this whole trial again? I feel like I have to stand up for her.”

In September of 2009 jurors deadlocked after 14 hours of deliberations resulting in a mistrial on the most serious charges. They acquitted her of a drug charge.