GUILTY MD - Javon Thompson, 16 mos, starved to death, Baltimore, Jan 2007

[JoeFromLB]

Thanks for updating that case, Texas Mist. I had followed it but it fell off my radar screen.

 

[mysticrose]

2 Women In Cult Case To Represent Themselves

Two women won't have the benefit of lawyers when they go on trial on charges they starved a 1-year-old boy to death while part of a religious cult.

Queen Antoinette and Trevia Williams have opted to represent themselves at their murder trial in Baltimore.

more here

http://wjz.com/local/cult.baby.charges.2.1497227.html

Whoa ! Is that legal :waitasec: I thought you could not represent yourself if you where being charged with Murder ..huh Well I guess I learn something new everyday :waitasec:

 

[kbl8201]

good luck with that baby killers

 

[kbl8201]

Whoa ! Is that legal :waitasec: I thought you could not represent yourself if you where being charged with Murder ..huh Well I guess I learn something new everyday :waitasec:

anybody in any case can represent themself, no matter the charge.

most famous one i can think of is colin fergerson, the new york subway shooter who killed a bunch of people in 1993

 

[JoeFromLB]

anybody in any case can represent themself, no matter the charge.

most famous one i can think of is colin fergerson, the new york subway shooter who killed a bunch of people in 1993

Right, and Rodney Alcala, a vicious serial killer who has been in prison since 1979, is representing himself in Orange County, CA in another retrial on the charge of killing 12-year old Robin Samsoe and several other women.
He's turning the courtroom into a circus, of course...

 

[Donjeta]

I hadn't read about this case, thank you for the update. Horrid, but interesting philosophically.

Starving a child to death is a serious crime that should be treated in court equally, IMO, regardless of whether God or some other supreme being of the faith of your choice should later happen to decide to negate your crime by resurrecting the victim. You didn't know that would happen when you were killing him and made an independent decision. Divine entities may have their own spiritual reasons for doing things and it's their business but murder trials are human business and cannot rely on divine thoughts that we can't properly decipher. Supreme beings seem to be mostly laying low when it comes to resurrection and very rarely intervene on behalf of anyone's murdered children bringing them back to life again, so the possibility is extremely rare and unlikely. As long as the person doesn't know for sure that God will decide to resurrect one's murdered children (in this life) he/she has for all intents and purposes murdered them when causing their death. If God resurrects them later, hallelujah, but a later resurrection doesn't change the fact that murder took place in the first instant.

Maybe it was the easiest and the most efficient way of getting the case closed but I don't like the idea of play along with dangerous delusions like this.

 

[Kymistry35]

Thanks for the update. We see so many horrible cases of child abuse/neglect/murder it is hard to keep up with them all.

 

[Mr. E]

anybody in any case can represent themself, no matter the charge.

most famous one i can think of is colin fergerson, the new york subway shooter who killed a bunch of people in 1993

Ted Bundy, too, I think. Even though he was a lawyer, he still represented himself. Didn't he?

As for these women, I say good. Let them throw themselves under the bus.

 

[reen]

As for these women, I say good. Let them throw themselves under the bus.

I agree, good luck and good riddance. The plea deal is ridiculous, IMO...what's to prevent the cult from kidnapping a child and trying to pass him off as the "resurrected" boy (not that they'd get away with it for a split second, but still...)? Or to prevent these people from starving more children after the outlandish "suspended sentences"? God, how much more awful this could get.

The courts really need to be treating this more seriously - they are NEGLECTING, ABUSING and KILLING CHILDREN and religion shouldn't factor into leniency one iota!

 

[Texas Mist]

Both Sides Rest in Cult Starvation Trial

Three people on trial for allegedly starving a 1-year-old boy to death while part of a religious cult have rested their cases without calling any witnesses.

Queen Antoinette, her daughter Trevia Williams and Marcus Cobbs are representing themselves.

Antoinette allegedly ordered her cult followers not to feed 1-year-old Javon Thompson. Williams and Cobbs are accused of helping her carry out the order.

Antoinette introduced a single piece of evidence in her defense: an application for federal nonprofit status for an entity called 1 Mind Ministries. Williams and Cobbs did not introduce any evidence.

Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday.

http://www.foxbaltimore.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wbff_vid_3069.shtml

The video is so sad - watching the granma cry.

 

[wfgodot]

Woman gets probation for starving son with cult

BALTIMORE (AP) -- A woman who starved her 1-year-old son to death at the behest of a religious cult leader was given a sentence Wednesday that won't require her to serve any more jail time.
---
Assistant State's Attorney Julie Drake said the sentence was compassionate but fair.

"The state has always seen her as something of a victim in this case," Drake said.

Doory reminded Ramkissoon that she would have to live with knowing she was partly responsible for Javon's death, but added, "You were misled and did not do this with any ill will to your son."

and much more, at
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CHILD_SLAIN_CULT?SITE=KPUA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

 

[kbl8201]

oh what a bunch of.......(remembers he's on thin ice) horse hockey.......

 

[Belinda]

But, everything will be cool when Javon is resurrected and walks into court, right? Egads. I don't care if his mother was brainwashed or not, she should not have walked on this. There is every reason to believe she will do this again, should another so-called religious person demand that she sacrifice her child.

 

[Masterj]

This is Javon Thompson, the poor child who was starved to death by his cult-member mother when he wouldn't say Amen.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29964242/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Body stuffed in suitcase
The boy's father, Robert Thompson, was not in court Monday. Ridgley said he was ill. Thompson was in jail when Javon was born.
After the boy died, the cult members left his body inside the apartment where they lived until it began to decompose, according to police documents and the statement of facts. In early 2007, they stuffed the body inside a suitcase and filled it with mothballs and fabric softener sheets to mask the odor.
The cult members relocated to Philadelphia, where they befriended an elderly man and stored the suitcase in a shed behind his home. It remained there for more than a year before police found it, the documents say.

 

[Reannan]

This is Javon Thompson, the poor child who was starved to death by his cult-member mother when he wouldn't say Amen.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29964242/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Body stuffed in suitcase
The boy's father, Robert Thompson, was not in court Monday. Ridgley said he was ill. Thompson was in jail when Javon was born.
After the boy died, the cult members left his body inside the apartment where they lived until it began to decompose, according to police documents and the statement of facts. In early 2007, they stuffed the body inside a suitcase and filled it with mothballs and fabric softener sheets to mask the odor.
The cult members relocated to Philadelphia, where they befriended an elderly man and stored the suitcase in a shed behind his home. It remained there for more than a year before police found it, the documents say.

BBM: Who does these things??? Who lives inside an apartment with a dead child's body until the body "begins to decompose"??? Who is then able to take the HORRIBLE decomposed body and stuff it into a suitcase and think that mothballs and 'fabric softener sheets' (REALLY?? REALLY???) are going to cover up the odor that had to be all but unbearable!!! All of this is beyond my ability to emotionally and intellectually grasp. I can't begin to get inside the heads of these people! God rest the soul of this precious little boy.

 

[wfgodot]

'Cult members made me starve my one-year-old boy':
Mother speaks out for first time about killing of son after he refused to say 'amen' before meal (Daily Mail)

---
Miss Ramkissoon said that she thought she would be guaranteed eternal damnation if she did not follow [Queen] Antoinette who cited the Bible as her authority.

'It's like it's somebody else's life, but it's not,' Miss Ramkissoon said in her first interview since Javon's death.

'That is my life, and those are the choices that I've made and those were the fears that I dealt with, no matter how ridiculous they may be to somebody else.'
---

much more, with pictures, at link above

 

[JoeFromLB]

The ringleader, who calls herself "Queen Antoinette", was sentenced to 50 years in prison. She remains defiant and unremorseful, saying she did nothing wrong.

http://www.wbaltv.com/r/23594360/detail.html

 

[mysteriew]

'Cult members made me starve my one-year-old boy':
Mother speaks out for first time about killing of son after he refused to say 'amen' before meal (Daily Mail)

much more, with pictures, at link above

For the most part she seems remorseful and willing to take responsibility for her part in her son's death. But that statement that they 'made' her starve him bothers me. Almost like she is not completely accepting her responsibility for making the decisions for herself and her son. They 'made' her, so doesn't that almost relieve her of the responsibility?

As far as the sentencing, I don't really have a problem with it. She did testify against the others served some time before the deal. And it sounds like she is getting treatment.

If she had not testified against the others, they likely would not have been charged. And the next time they got a young mother into their clutches, it could have happened again.

 

[mysteriew]

This one is going to stick with me for a while. I have a 17 month old grandson who is a joy to me. He is really smart but there is no way he is able to comprehend what a prayer is, or how to consistently respond to one. And being that age, he is just coming into the "terrible twos" where he hits streaks of independence (stubborness.) "Rebellious spirit"? Heck yes. That is normal for this age. It is part of developing a sense of self, of separating from others. And is what got this baby killed.

I do have to wonder about "queen Antoinette's" daughter and whether she was subjected to such rigid torture in her upbringing.