Cyrus Casby, 26, acquitted of killing four in 2008 Harvey apartment fire faces federa

[Tulessa]

Mods, if I am putting this in the wrong place, please remove and put it where it belongs. This man killed a student of one of our members here.

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...ling_four.html
Man acquitted of killing four in 2008 Harvey apartment fire faces federal charges in incident

[Gypsy Road]

I read the article and am so glad that the Feds found a loop hole. I hope there is justice this time around!

[SwampMama]

Thank you Tulessa for posting this for me, I had no idea where it should go!

This case will get attention because he was acquitted of the crimes in the parish and/or state courts so the feds stepped in and he will be tried again, this time on a federal level which is perfectly legal despite the common belief that he couldn't be tried again due to the double jeopardy rule. Federal is a different court than the one he was acquitted in. This move is rare but can be used "when a case cries out for justice".

Let me start by saying that one of the victims (Cleveland, age 11) was one of my students when I was a teacher in New Orleans before Katrina ( a few years before his death). He was in my class for an entire year and he was a remarkable special kid and it just hurt me so much to know he died in such a horrible way at the hands of such a callous killer. I prayed that justice would be done and when cyrus casby was acquitted it was devastating to me. You just don't know the rage and hate I felt against this animal.

Cleveland was an extremely bright and personable young man. He was a such a promising young person. He had a special dignity about him for one so young and for one who had been raised in the inner city. He always came to school smiling and was always happy to help others. He was a responsible child who loved helping everyone out. He was also very nurturing towards his younger brother, Jarvis.

I had my class split into 3 groups and Cleveland was the group leader of the grasshopper group. He was unanimously voted to be the leader by his peers because everyone liked him and as they said " Cleveland always be nice to us and always be helping people".

Cleveland always came to school neatly dressed and smelling good, like a little man. It was easy to imagine the kind of good man he would grow up to be because you could already see how he handled responsibility and showed compassion and empathy for others. He was always smiling and cheerful. He was a wonderful child that any teacher would love to have.

My students were from the poorest urban areas of the city. Many of my children came to school dirty, unkempt and had behavior issues. One poor girl had a neglectful mother and the child would wear her school uniform to sleep in and wet the bed and wore the same unwashed uniform day in and day out. Other children shunned her because she smelled bad but not Cleveland. He was kind to her and told her she could sit by him when the other kids refused to sit next to her. ( I brought her a few uniforms to have, changed her at school, sent her home with new uniforms, soap and baby wipes to use if she couldn't bath and pretty things for her hair and we solved that problem.)

Cleveland wouldn't be cruel to anyone. When someone else was cruel, he told them to not be mean because other people may have "soft feelings" and be hurt by people who say mean things.

I don't know about his home life when the crime occurred. I am sure Casby's lawyer will say all sorts of defamatory things about the family and the life they lived. They were poor and no doubt live in a poor neighborhood where drugs and crimes were common. Many of my kids reported that on a bad night they would sleep in the bathtub because you were safe from stray bullets there. But Cleveland was not a typical inner city child. He spoke well, had lovely manners and was very intelligent. I never had a problem with him.

I still have a few drawing that Cleveland did for me that survived Katrina. One was a journal entry about how he loved school. I will try to find them and will post the pictures of them so that you can see them.

I hope everyone will take an interest in this case and pray that justice will be done. Here are some more links to the facts of the case.

This from the local newspaper when casby was acquitted back in 2008:
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2...der_corru.html

Here is a link to comments made by his family defending him:
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...ts-newest.html
(Notice the family member saying that Cynthia chose to evacuate the city with them for the hurricane. Well the hurricane was in 2005 and she died in 2004 so that comment is quite odd. She wasn't even alive when Katrina hit.)

Here a link for when the crime happened with some pictures of Cleveland's mom, sister and her baby: http://www.wdsu.com/news/3906169/detail.html

[wonders]

SwampMama, I'm so so sorry. What a remarkable young man he was. The world needs more people like this wonderful little guy was. The girls story you told us is so sad. How will these poor children ever grow up to have a great life. Every child has a teacher they remember most and I believe that little girl will always remember you. As far as Cyrus Casby I hope he gets convicted this time as justice is screaming loud.

[Tulessa]

Originally Posted by wonders

SwampMama, I'm so so sorry. What a remarkable young man he was. The world needs more people like this wonderful little guy was. The girls story you told us is so sad. How will these poor children ever grow up to have a great life. Every child has a teacher they remember most and I believe that little girl will always remember you. As far as Cyrus Casby I hope he gets convicted this time as justice is screaming loud.

Amen wonders!

[SwampMama]

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read about this case. It will be a landmark case because it shows that a murderer can't get away with it forever.

[fran]

I searched for any updates on this case, but found none. If anyone local hears when the trial is to begin, please put the information here, please.

I understand there's the possibility of DP. Has the pros announced if they're seeking the harshest punishment?

tia
fran

[sonicfanaticsmommy]

SwampMama, thank you for sharing with us about what a wonderful boy Cleveland was. I'm sorry for your loss and I'm praying for justice for all who loved Cleveland and his family.

[A_News_Junkie]

Swamp Mama - OMG what an amazing young man you describe! Breaks my heart that another innocent child has been denied justice - but hopefully that will not be justice denied but justice delayed (too long.)

PLEASE LET US KNOW WHEN THIS GOES TO COURT. I found this http://la.findacase.com/research/wfr...358.ELA.htm/qx motions to dismiss both denied but if anyone finds docs or a court docket please post.

I also want to say, that you are the type of teacher every mother hopes and dreams their child will be exposed to once in their life. What you did for that little girl was simple, yet profound and I can guarantee will significantly impact her life - so even if you never hear from her, wow - thank you!!!!! The depth of what you knew about Cleveland is just another example and to still have some of his work - wow, what a gift. Even Katerina couldn't take that away -- me thinks there is a reason.

Will follow this will you all - fascinating legal wise; and perhaps when this coward is it will do a lot to heal those of us whom were baffled by the 'imperfect justice' that Caylee received.

[SwampMama]

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read this thread. I have searched often but I cannot find any updates. I would love to be able to post updates but there simply are none. This case received such an appallingly small amount of publicity.

It may be taking a long time but justice is coming.

[LadyL]

I hadn't seen this thread before. Swampmama, thank you for caring about Cleveland and his family. I read in the original linked article that the jury deliberated for less than two hours. Huh?! That's all four lives were worth to them? I hope the jury gets it right this time around.

[SwampMama]

Originally Posted by LadyL

I hadn't seen this thread before. Swampmama, thank you for caring about Cleveland and his family. I read in the original linked article that the jury deliberated for less than two hours. Huh?! That's all four lives were worth to them? I hope the jury gets it right this time around.

It just astounds me how little publicity this case has gotten thru the years. $ people died and a young boy is left so brain damaged that he will never leave the hospital or function on even the simplest level but this isn't worthy of more than a few newspaper articles.

I admit I have had much anger about this case. I wished I could hunt him down myself. I prayed that Justice would catch up with him and it is like a miracle that the feds have stepped in. I am sure the feds will get it right this time.

Now I pray for patience because it is taking so long. But I will have patience and faith and I will spend my time waiting for that day when he goes to court by helping in other cases and by getting the word out about this case.

Thank you and everyone who reads this thread and comments. Every post counts and brings this case to the attention of more people. Everyone here at WS is the best!!

[MsFacetious]

I swear I posted here already but I must have just read it...

A.) Did anyone see the comments in that original acquittal article? The usual ones from the family/friends...

But what about the one from someone who CLAIMS to be a juror that voted guilty and refused to back down?
Well, if that was the case why wasn't it a hung jury? They acquitted him.
But they are specific about other jurors and I thought someone might know if the things match up with the actual jury.


Comments from alleged juror:

http://connect.nola.com/user/scooby3045/index.html


Article:

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2...der_corru.html


B.) It isn't just a lack of media attention. It's a lack of ANY attention.
No memorial videos (I would do it if I had pictures) no facebook page for them (don't do facebook or I'd do that too.)

I have seen one picture of the 3 female victims.
I have not even seen a picture of Cleveland. (Possibly due to expiring articles.)
That is sad. (If someone finds one, let me know and I will post it.)

In fact there is so little information that you end up on racist sites trying to find information.
When the majority of the discussion about a brutal crime is people who are glad it happened... we have a problem.

[A_News_Junkie]

Originally Posted by MsFacetious

I swear I posted here already but I must have just read it...

A.) Did anyone see the comments in that original acquittal article? The usual ones from the family/friends...

But what about the one from someone who CLAIMS to be a juror that voted guilty and refused to back down?
Well, if that was the case why wasn't it a hung jury? They acquitted him.
But they are specific about other jurors and I thought someone might know if the things match up with the actual jury.


Comments from alleged juror:

http://connect.nola.com/user/scooby3045/index.html


Article:

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2...der_corru.html


B.) It isn't just a lack of media attention. It's a lack of ANY attention.
No memorial videos (I would do it if I had pictures) no facebook page for them (don't do facebook or I'd do that too.)

I have seen one picture of the 3 female victims.
I have not even seen a picture of Cleveland. (Possibly due to expiring articles.)
That is sad. (If someone finds one, let me know and I will post it.)

In fact there is so little information that you end up on racist sites trying to find information.
When the majority of the discussion about a brutal crime is people who are glad it happened... we have a problem.

GULP ---- Great find on the 'juror' comments.
Can't the attorney for the family do something - poll the jurors to see if there was coercion?

[SouthernSummer]

SwampMama-

Just randomly came across your thread. I lived in New Orleans for a few months before Katrina.
I am thrilled that the Feds are prosecuting him!! I know that this case receives little attention in the media- but apparently- these precious angels have someone on the Federal level fighting for them.

I pray the charges stick and he is convicted.

One suggestion- you may already know- but you can set up a "google alert" to alert you by email -
please keep us posted - will be praying

[EXIA15145]

This is certainly a confounding case. Cynthia, the young mother, was stabbed to death, wasn't she? I don't understand why he didn't have a separate trial or separate charges for what he did to her. As a matter of fact, I'd like to know what his excuse was. Does it say anywhere why he attacked Cynthia? That kind of rage, to do these kinds of things, just seems unspeakable.
And you all are correct. I could barely find anything anywhere about this case, and the one place was definitely a racist site.
I'll try to research this more in the morning. See you all again soon.

[SwampMama]

It seems now that the case will go to trial on November 5th in U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon's court, after being postponed a few times.

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...f_mulitpl.html


Here is a link with some of the legal doc from the case, including this summary of it.
This case arises out of alleged arson of an apartment, resulting in death and personal injuries to the occupants of the apartment. At approximately 4:00 a.m. on November 10, 2004, Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies and firefighters were called to a two-story, four-plex at 1005 Tallowtree in Gretna, Louisiana. Inside Apartment C of the building, there was a fire on the second floor landing. After the firefighters extinguished the fire they found in the upstairs bedrooms: Cynthia Carto; Ms. Carto's baby Cyanna; Ms. Carto's brother Cleveland McGinnis, Jr.; Ms. Carto's mother Janis; and Ms. Carto's brother Jarvis. All were deceased except Jarvis. Ms. Carto had died from multiple stab wounds before the fire started. Mr. McGinnis also had stab wounds, but non-lethal. Cyanna died from smoke inhalation. Janice had a lethal stab wound but was still alive when the fire started. Within an hour, the Defendant, father of Cyanna, was arrested in connection with the fire.

The Defendant was indicted by a Jefferson Parish grand jury with four counts of first degree murder and one count of attempted first degree murder. These charges were later reduced to second degree murder and attempted second degree murder. The only issue at trial was the identity of the person who committed the crimes. The jury acquitted the Defendant on all counts on May 31, 2008.

On June 2, 2011, a federal Indictment for Arson of a Building Affecting Interstate Commerce Resulting in Death and Physical Injury was returned against the Defendant. (R. Doc. 1). In the Indictment, the Grand Jury charges that on or about November 10, 2004, in the Eastern District of Louisiana, the Defendant, "maliciously damaged and destroyed and attempted to destroy, by means of fire and explosive materials, the multi-residential building at 1005 Tallowtree Apartment "C" in Harvey, Louisiana," and resulted in the death of "Cyanna Carto (age 10 months) and Cleveland McGinnis, Jr. (age 11 years old)" and personal injuries "to Janice Carto (age 32 years old), Jarvis Carto (age 10 years old), and Fireman Walter Allen," all in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 844(i). See id.

The Indictment also contains a number of Special Findings, supporting the statutory aggravating factors of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 3591, 3592, and 3593. See id. Among these Special Findings are charges that the Defendant intentionally killed Carto and McGinnis; in committing the offenses charged, Defendant did so "in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse;" and Defendant committed the offense after substantial planning and pre-meditation to cause death. See id. A Notice is attached to the Indictment stating that certain of the charges in the Indictment carry a maximum penalty of death if the Department of Justice chooses to seek the death penalty. "

I had just typed up a much longer post which was lost when I hit "post". I will rewrite it again tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who stops by this thread and takes an interest in this case. It is time for this case to come to light and for justice for Cleveland and his family to finally happen.

In light of the fact that Jhessye Shockley's killer (her bio mom, jerice hunter) was finally arrested today and in another case Drew Peterson was FINALLY found guilty today of murdering his wife, I have a renewed hope that we will see some justice in this case as well.

[Jax49]

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...eek_delay.html

snipped

Less than five weeks before the trial was set to begin, federal prosecutors on Monday asked a judge to postpone proceedings in their case against Cyrus Casby, the former Marrero resident accused in the deaths of four members of a Harvey family, including his 19-month-old daughter and her mother. All of the victims were stabbed, but three of them died from smoke inhalation in a fire in their Tallow Tree Lane apartment.
Casby, 27, was acquitted of second-degree murder charges by a Jefferson Parish jury, but federal authorities re-investigated the case, leading a federal grand jury last year to indict him on a charge of arson affecting interstate commerce resulting in death. He is in federal custody awaiting trial.
Casby potentially could face a death sentence, but the decision on whether prosecutors can pursue that punishment is pending with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, prosecutors say.

[SwampMama]

Thanks to those who have visited this thread and read and posted and looked up things. I have had to put away the hope I had for a conviction many years ago when he was acquitted at a state level and almost died of shock when I found out that this case was going to be retried on a federal level. I didnt know that was even possible. But it is!

It has just been delay after delay and the wheels of justice are grinding slowly. In the meantime other children and adults are disappearing or dying everyday so I stay on the active ones.

But the day IS coming although I do not know when. It was set for Nov 5 of 2012 but a delay was filed.

Again, thanks to all who have stopped by and read or posted. You guys are the greatest and I mean that from the bottom of my heart!.

[Lee Wells]

Toxic Mom lied to an FBI agent about the kidnapping, where the body was, etc. Why can't she be tried in Federal Court? In the Casby case, they found a loopholde (arson affecting interstate commerce) but they don't even need a loophole for Toxic Mom. It is a federal crime to lie to any federal investigator. She lied about the murder of her own daughter and knew where the body was because she dumped her in a swamp to rot. I may be wrong, but from what I have read about federal cases, they can try her for other crimes, including the murder, to help explain why she lied about the kidnapping. I also understand that in most cases a state attorney can urge the feds to try her and with the new evidence about suffocation searches that Baez brought to light, is there a chance? And, now Jeff Ashton is the state attorney...

[angiefly2]

Casby was scheduled to stand trial in February, but last week U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon agreed to postpone it to April. Attorneys on both sides of the case sought the delay, in part because the death penalty is off the table. As such, Casby is no longer entitled to two court-appointed lawyers. Fallon has given Casby three weeks to discuss that with his attorneys, Gaynell Williams and John Craft.

A more practical reason for delaying the trial, attorneys pointed out, is that jury selection had been scheduled to begin Feb. 4, on the day after Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, and falls amid Carnival season. U.S. District Court is on Poydras Street, blocks from the Superdome, and the city's parade routes flow through the Central Business District.

"Based on these two major events and the resulting difficulty it will create to get law enforcement officers to testify in court when they will have other public safety duties to attend to, all parties agreed that the trial date should be continued," the lawyers wrote.

Other grounds for delaying the trial is the unresolved question of whether a jury will hear Casby's confession, which he claims was coerced by detectives who resorted to trickery and physical abuse to get him to provide a statement admitting responsibility for the killings.

More @ link: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...ill_not_s.html

[SwampMama]

Originally Posted by angiefly2

Casby was scheduled to stand trial in February, but last week U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon agreed to postpone it to April. Attorneys on both sides of the case sought the delay, in part because the death penalty is off the table. As such, Casby is no longer entitled to two court-appointed lawyers. Fallon has given Casby three weeks to discuss that with his attorneys, Gaynell Williams and John Craft.

A more practical reason for delaying the trial, attorneys pointed out, is that jury selection had been scheduled to begin Feb. 4, on the day after Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, and falls amid Carnival season. U.S. District Court is on Poydras Street, blocks from the Superdome, and the city's parade routes flow through the Central Business District.

"Based on these two major events and the resulting difficulty it will create to get law enforcement officers to testify in court when they will have other public safety duties to attend to, all parties agreed that the trial date should be continued," the lawyers wrote.

Other grounds for delaying the trial is the unresolved question of whether a jury will hear Casby's confession, which he claims was coerced by detectives who resorted to trickery and physical abuse to get him to provide a statement admitting responsibility for the killings.

More @ link: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...ill_not_s.html

Thank you so much for posting this. Unfortunately information and updates for this case are so rare and it is infuriating that 2 adults and 2 children died (and one child was left hopelessy brain damaged) so brutally and that no one is interested in giving this case attention.

[angiefly2]

Originally Posted by SwampMama

Thank you so much for posting this. Unfortunately information and updates for this case are so rare and it is infuriating that 2 adults and 2 children died (and one child was left hopelessy brain damaged) so brutally and that no one is interested in giving this case attention.

You are very welcome! I found out about this case through your sig. line and checked the thread out and did some research on this case and it's one I would like to follow. If there is anything I can do please feel free to PM me anytime. You were such a blessing to Cleveland and it sounds as though he was a blessing to you and it just melted my heart! Bless the victims and their friends and families and may this murderer be brought to justice soon.

[SwampMama]

One of the heartbreaking things is that this crime wiped out 3 generations of a family in one night, Janice, 2 of her children and her only grandchild all died and Janice's remaining child Jarvis, is forever brain-damaged and needing institutionalization for the rest of his life.

I believe I read that Janice's mother died sometime after the crime and I am wondering who is left to fight for Cleveland. Cleveland's father ( last name McGinnis, I believe) has come forward but I just don't know who is really out there really fighting for Cleveland, Janice, Cynthia and Cyanna.

So I appreciate each and every one of you who comes to this thread and helps to ensure that Cleveland and his family are not forgotten.

[MsFacetious]

Okay Swamp... as you might have noticed in my own signature... after 4.5 years we finally have charges for Juliette's brutal murder.
For 4 years I have written a letter, done research, done something on Juliette's case everyday.

THAT fact frees up a bit of time for me to work on Cleveland's case now now that Juliette is getting justice.

So what's the plan?

Do we need media attention?
Do we need petitions?
What do we need to do?