GUILTY IL - Ryon Smith, 6, beaten to death, Cahokia, 24 Dec 2005

[Belinda]

Update: These <modsnip> are STILL pre-trial. Starr Lohman is still being held in the St. Clair County Jail, but it appears that Lee Crutchfield is not. He has a status hearing on 07/19/2010. I just put them both on notification, so we will know whenever they have a court date. I find it incomprehensible that this has not gone to trial. It is completely unacceptable to me that they can't seem to try this case.

 

[Lovejac]

Belinda, you are an angel for checking and updating these heartbreaking cases. Some of these, I've never heard of.

I hope you have someone close to you to hug you tightly at the end of day after researching these cases. Here is one from me! :grouphug:

 

[kbl8201]

so 4 and a half years and still no trial?

guantinmo bay prisoners get quicker trial

 

[krimekat]

Trial started today . . .

Prosecutors play taped testimony of suspect in death of boy, 6

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...403-582b-9ace-57134e5cf633.html#ixzz1fAnXtIXT

and this


Former Cahokia Police Sgt. Tony Flinn broke down on the stand Tuesday during his testimony in the Christmas Eve murder of 6-year-old Ryon Smith. It was Exhibit 8 that caused the veteran cop to cry -- a photograph of Ryon's bruised and bloody face. Flinn was the first police officer on the scene and the first to testify Tuesday as trial began for Lee Crutchfield.


Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2011/11/29/1960009/murder-trial-veteran-cahokia-cop.html#ixzz1fAnwztEZ

Trial begins in 2005 beating death of 6-year-old Cahokia boy; Lee D. Crutchfield, 39, formerly of Cahokia, faces first-degree murder charges in connection with the beating death of Ryon Smith. He's spent nearly six years in the St. Clair County Jail awaiting trial.

Since being charged nearly six years ago, Crutchfield's case has been through two state's attorneys, four public defenders and eight judges.

(The mother) Lohman, 29, also remains in the St. Clair County Jail awaiting trial on murder charges. She is expected to testify for prosecutors against Crutchfield.

Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2011/11/29/1959512/youngster-who-died-in-2005-often.html#ixzz1fAoIpO7V

Ah, gotta love the slow wheels of justice in St. Clair County IL. Since there is no longer the DP, might as well let him sit in County Jail. This case is a travesty & a joke!!! Actually, that whole County needs serious help!

State's Attorney Robert Haida has said he is reviewing the case to see whether the defendants, if found guilty, qualify for the death penalty. However, our Gov. Pat Quinn signed the bill to end the practice and commuted the sentences of 15 inmates who had been on the state's Death Row 9 Mar, 2011. I really don't get this one.

The case sat without a trial date for three years while waiting for an appellate decision about whether Crutchfield's statements to police could be used at trial -- he asked for an atty but was still questioned. The trial has been delayed four times since the appellate decision came down in 2007. . . .

RIP Little One

 

[krimekat]

Lee Crutchfield - evil man who murdered Ryon on Christmas Eve 2005
During a videotaped statement, Crutchfield told officers that he punched Ryon twice in the face after the little boy bit his finger. He said the boy was challenging and called him racial slurs.

Starr Lohman - mother of Ryon facing first-degree murder charges, but she agreed to testify against Crutchfield in exchange for a plea deal. Lohman will plead guilty to aggravated battery of a child with a sentence of between 15 and 30 years.


Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2011/11/29/1960009/murder-trial-veteran-cahokia-cop.html#ixzz1fAvT1Ava

 

[krimekat]

Starr Lohman saw her boyfriend hit her son 20 to 30 times, then she went to the store.
Lohman said she did not call for help for 36 hours because she was scared.
Lohman testified Wednesday morning during the second day of her live-in boyfriend's trial for the murder of Lohman's 6-year-old son, Ryon Smith. She and Lee Crutchfield shared a home in Cahokia.

Read more: http://www.bnd.com/2011/11/30/1961511/slain-cahokia-6-year-olds-mother.html#ixzz1fDqm3ehH

UPDATE

 

[krimekat]

:furious: :furious: :furious:

some more from that article:

Lohman said she never heard her son use a racial slur against Crutchfield.


I hope she is sentenced to the max -- 30 years . . . at least IL won't have to pay for her trial! She has plead !

 

[redfish]

God Bless our little children. God help our justice system, it is seriously out of whack!

 

[krimekat]

http://www.bnd.com/2011/12/01/1962453/mom-saw-son-beaten-went-to-store.html

Most recent article about the trial; discussed COD

Nanduri on Wednesday afternoon restated her findings she developed for the coroner's office that Ryon died of a homicide caused by blunt trauma to the abdomen.

But the defense's expert witness Dr. Thomas Young, of Heartland Forensic Pathologist LLC and the former head of the medical examiner's office in Jackson County, Mo., stated his opinion that the boy died a natural death due to epilepsy.

 

[Peazzzer]

I dont know what to say, when children are better off dead due to their parents disdain and lack of morals. I can honestly say that I never mistreated a child and have never looked the other way if I suspected abuse of the young or old. I pray for the people who dont, its not hard to stand up for those who arent able to. Maybe just think of it that way-would that person be better off dead, or can I Do something? The suffering is out there- what can we do. Pick up that phone, knock on that door, the cowards beat children. Was this mother beaten? Just think, she watched her son brutality beaten and went to the store, did she fix the bf supper? Get cigs? She was obviously ok with it, she carried on as if things were normal. Karma baby, karma. Gah!

 

[less0305]

GUILTY!!!

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_1968e8f8-a99b-5ac5-be40-a4280b8615b1.html

 

[krimekat]

Yes! Only took an hour & a half for the Jury to say Guilty! Sentencing will be Jan 19!

"The police, the doctors, the prosecutors, the family and now the jury have had a very heavy burden to carry for six years," said St. Clair County Prosecutor Brendan Kelly. "The community should be proud that today they gave Ryon a voice."

 

[Lovejac]

UPDATE

http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/2013/10/19/3071033/

A Cahokia woman who pleaded guilty to a reduced criminal charge in the Christmas Eve death of her little boy in 2005, was ordered to prison for 16 years.

30 year old Starr Lohman was issued the punishment Tuesday afternoon in St. Clair County where she pleaded guilty earlier this year to a charge of aggravated battery of her six year old son, Ryon Smith.

http://archive.ksdk.com/news/crime/...convicted-of-killing-6-year-old-boy-sentenced

A southwestern Illinois man convicted of fatally beating his live-in girlfriend's 6-year-old son on Christmas Eve 2005 has been sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Before the sentence was handed down Monday, 39-year-old Lee Crutchfield vowed to keep fighting to prove his innocence.