R.I. woman convicted of killing 3-year-old nephew
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/x101651547/R-I-woman-convicted-of-killing-3-year-old-nephew
By RAY HENRY
The Associated Press
Posted May 16, 2008 @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
05:00 PM
PROVIDENCE, R.I. —
A woman who beat her 3-year-old nephew after she came home from a night
of drinking to find a mess in her living room was convicted of murder
Friday in a brutal case that sparked an investigation into the state’s
foster care system.
Katherine Bunnell was convicted of second-degree murder and conspiracy
to commit murder for the Oct. 30, 2004, death of Thomas “T.J” Wright,
who was living with her in foster care because his mother was in prison.
The jury in Providence Superior Court deliberated for three days.
“She was responsible for a young child’s life,” Attorney General
Patrick
Lynch said after the verdict. “She was involved in snuffing it out in
the most brutal beating that I’ve seen or heard about in my experience
in the office, and for that she should pay.”
Bunnell faces 10 years to life in prison when she is sentenced July 16.
During the trial, prosecutors said Bunnell and her live-in boyfriend,
Gilbert Delestre, became enraged when they returned to their Woonsocket
apartment to find spilled yogurt and milk in the living room.
Prosecutors say Bunnell pulled Wright from his bed, dragged him down the
stairs and hit the 3-year-old so hard he repeatedly toppled over,
slamming his head on the floor. Bunnell poured milk on his head, and a
15-year-old baby sitter said she saw Wright thrown six feet across a room.
The child was left slumped against a wall, whimpering and struggling to
breathe.
Another witness, Delestre’s cousin, said Bunnell hung up the phone after
he called 911 for help, then tried to stop him from resuscitating the
toddler after he stopped breathing.
An autopsy revealed Wright suffered a broken leg, brain damage and
multiple blunt force injuries.
Defense attorney Gerard Donley admitted his client struck the little
boy, but blamed Delestre for inflicting the fatal wounds. Delestre will
be tried separately for Wright’s death.
Donley said he planned to appeal the verdict because he believes the
jury should have seen additional ****tions of a videotape showing
Delestre’s interrogation by police.
“I don’t think she’s guilty of anything except inappropriate,
shameful
discipline of a 3-year-old,” he said.
Wright’s mother, Karen Wright, was in court Friday and still sup****ts
her sister, Donley said. She is expected to argue for leniency when
Bunnell is sentenced.
The Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families, had contact
with Thomas Wright before he died. He fell out a second-story window
three times, the last time prompting a caseworker from DCYF to be
assigned to the matter.
In January 2004, DCYF placed Wright and his two brothers in Bunnell’s
care when their mother was sent to prison for trans****ting 100 pounds of
marijuana.
DCYF officials later said they were unaware that Arkansas state police
had caught Gilbert and Delestre with 130 pounds of marijuana in their
car during a traffic stop in March 2003. The two were not prosecuted in
that case.
After Wright was killed, a state panel investigating DCYF found the
agency never should have placed Wright and his brothers with Bunnell
because she was unemployed, had two children of her own and had been
known to use drugs.
Wright’s killing also is a key allegation in a pending civil lawsuit
alleging widespread problems of abuse and neglect in Rhode Island’s
foster care system
An Inconvenient Truth about Child Protective Services, Foster care, and
the Child Protection "INDUSTRY"
Child Protective Services Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of CPS.
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 Wa****ngton. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
Perpetrators of Maltreatment
Physical Abuse CPS/Foster care 160, biological Parents 59
***ual 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 ***ual 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.
THIS IS AMERICA'S HIDDEN HOLOCAUST
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 wiretaping programs…
THE CORRUPT BUSINESS OF CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
BY: Nancy Schaefer Senator, 50th District of Georgia
http://www.senatornancyschaefer.com/articles.php?filter=6
This is Child Protection?
By Gregory A. Hession, J.D.
http://www.jbs.org/node/4632
Mercenary Motherhood: "Memoirs of a Babystealer."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-callahan16oct16,0,5019944.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
FOSTER CARE IS A 80 PERCENT FAILURE:. A Brief Analysis of the Casey
Family Programs. Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study. By Richard Wexler
http://www.nccpr.org/re****ts/cfpanalysis.doc
HOW THE WAR AGAINST CHILD ABUSE BECAME A WAR AGAINST CHILDREN
http://www.nccpr.org/issues/1.html
Adoption Bonuses: The Money Behind the Madness
DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families
By Nev Moore Massachusetts News
http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/5_May/mayds4.htm
A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster care:
30% of the nation’s homeless are former foster children.
27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated
33% were receiving public assistance
37% had not finished high school
2% receive a college degree
50% were unemployed
Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children
not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems,
including conduct disorders, depression, difficulties in school and
impaired social relation****ps. Some experts estimate that about 30% of
the children in care have marked or severe emotional problems. Various
studies have indicated that children and young people in foster care
tend to have limited education and job skills, perform poorly in school
compared to children who are not in foster care, lag behind in their
education by at least one year, and have lower educational attainment
than the general population.
*Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Sup****t
80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system.
The highest ranking federal official in charge of foster care, Wade Horn
of the Department of Health and Human Services, is a former child
psychologist who says the foster care system is a giant mess and should
just be blown up.
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2017991
Four rigorous studies have found that at least 30 percent of America’s
foster children could be home right now if their parents had decent
housing.
This study found thousands of children already in foster care who would
have done better had child protection agencies not taken them away in
the first place.
Front-page story in USA Today.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-02-foster-study_N.htm?csp=34#Close
Read the studies online.
Casey "alumni" study: "Improving Family Foster Care: Findings from the
Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study,"
www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/NorthwestAlumniStudy.htm
MIT study: "Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects
of Foster Care,"
www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/doyle_fosterlt_march07_aer.pdf
Texas comptroller's "Forgotten Children" re****ts:
www.window.state.tx.us/forgottenchildren
The bottom line? - Child Protective Services and the Foster Care system
for the most part turns out young adults that are nothing more than
walking wreckage...
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....
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 ABOLI****NG 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...
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