GUILTY VA - Noah Thomas, 5, Pulaski County, 22 March 2015 #4

[Ronso]

Might be more productive to start a thread for the people who are incapable of ignoring the posts they don't agree with, instead of being passive-aggressive or sarcastic in response.

But I digress. Does the forum have an ignore option?

 

[SStarr33]

Might be more productive to start a thread for the people who are incapable of ignoring the posts they don't agree with, instead of being passive-aggressive or sarcastic in response.

But I digress. Does the forum have an ignore option?

Yes, and it is beautiful.

 

[ANonyMs]

{insert sound of screeching brakes here}

No. Noooo. NO NO!!!!!!!!! We had just gotten the thread back to real discussion. Regardless of how anyone feels about the parents, can't we just have a discussion of the case itself? Or can we start a "case discussion only" thread that won't get shut down for personal attacks? Someone said it so well in a previous Noah thread...when things get slow with the case, people start getting tense and filling in where there is no info. But once again, I implore you...can't we all just get along? Ultimately, we are all here for Noah, right?

 

[arkansasmimi]

OT, but federal employees have not had Good Friday as a part of their offical OPM holiday roster for several years now.

I think, in general, there are some places that observe it and make allowances but many no longer do.

I do think it is interesting that one source said that Pulaski County courts were closed for Good Friday and another said , "no judges were available". (Because they all took Good Friday off?)

In any case, the video arraignment being conducted with another county made me wonder...

I know that case is set for Pulaski County but I would guess any defense attorney would ask for a change of venue if it goes to trial.

Are they being held in with the general prison population or in some protective manner? I would have to think that even inmates in the county clink have heard about this case.

Possible the judges Rotate Fridays?
Looks like they have a structured schedule in that court, well actually in all the courts in that District. Certain things done on certain days: http://www.courts.state.va.us/courts/jdr/Pulaski/home.html
Has a list of what is on what days

Friday
9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., & 1:00 p.m., Special Hearings
Every Day - 1:00 p.m. (or as needed)
Adult protective orders, Preliminary Hearings

Detention hearings as needed

Judge Dalton was who was presiding over the Arraignment today. He is listed on this link, ^^

He is one of the Judges in the 27th Judicial District of Virginia
Judges
•Hon. H. Lee Chitwood, Presiding Judge
•Hon. Robert C. Viar Jr., Chief Judge
•Hon. Monica D. Cox
•Hon. Bradley G Dalton
•Hon. Stephanie Murray Shortt

"Appearing from the New River Valley Regional Jail, the couple listened as Judge Bradley Dalton of the Wytheville Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court read their charges. Pulaski County court was not in session Friday, and Dalton said they have a policy to step in and help arraign people from surrounding areas." http://www.roanoke.com/news/crime/p...cle_46f19c88-fd81-5c66-b2fb-ed81f8451313.html

 

[Sillybilly]

New thread coming up shortly ... about 15 minutes

 

[arkansasmimi]

What is LE guessing?

I don't think they are guessing anything at this point. The charges brought against both of them is what the DA has in evidence that he knows he can prove. It isn't just willy nilly that he charged the mom with the more serious charge. Imo, the evidence collected backs up all the charges and why hers is higher than Paul's. What that evidence is we don't know but the DA does.

But it is true we do not know what caused his death. I think it is very clear he did not die from natural causes. In fact I do not think they believe he died accidentally either. It seems they are looking for drugs and what kind in the toxicology report.

We don't know if this was an ingestion of illegal drugs given to Noah to make him sleep or whether it was a forced ingestion or whether this was a premeditated act. We also don't know if they saw signs of prior abuse on Noah's little body during the autopsy. Maybe broken bones that had not healed. If they did see old injuries or new ones but knew he didn't die from them that certainly would give them enough to arrest them for the charges they are under now.

But with the tox report being so important it has drug usage all over it imo.

I agree. And also for some reason the Baby was removed from the home on the day AFTER Noah was reported missing. That was Days before Noah was found. They had to have some legal reason to remove the baby... at the very beginning of this whole sad case.

 

[ANonyMs]

Possible the judges Rotate Fridays?
Looks like they have a structured schedule in that court, well actually in all the courts in that District. Certain things done on certain days: http://www.courts.state.va.us/courts/jdr/Pulaski/home.html
[/url]

{respectfully snipped for brevity}

Nice! Thanks for finding that! I was speculating that whatever judge was assigned or "available" could not hear the case due to possible conflict of interest, etc. And what you showed here is that the reporters sometimes do a poor job of either researching or turning a phrase. This is neither "closed for Good Friday" nor "unavailable".

 

[themom]

{insert sound of screeching brakes here}

No. Noooo. NO NO!!!!!!!!! We had just gotten the thread back to real discussion. Regardless of how anyone feels about the parents, can't we just have a discussion of the case itself? Or can we start a "case discussion only" thread that won't get shut down for personal attacks? Someone said it so well in a previous Noah thread...when things get slow with the case, people start getting tense and filling in where there is no info. But once again, I implore you...can't we all just get along? Ultimately, we are all here for Noah, right?

Exactly my point. Thank you.

 

[JeannaT]

Might be more productive to start a thread for the people who are incapable of ignoring the posts they don't agree with, instead of being passive-aggressive or sarcastic in response.

But I digress. Does the forum have an ignore option?

Yes. Under "my settings" and then "my account" you can edit your ignore list.

Honestly, it's just easier to skip and scroll those who you disagree with. You can learn their icons usually, and just don't even read what the person you disagree with has to say.

 

[arkansasmimi]

You could be correct. They often will charge with lesser charges simply to keep them in place while they continue to investigate more serious charges (such as murder). There may not be much keeping those two in the area since their children are gone and I suspect LE considered they spent too much time searching for Noah to waste any more time trying to track them down later. (At least, I would feel that way.)

After the Manner Of Death and the Cause Of Death come in with the final autopsy report, they may have the evidence they need to move forward with more charges. No reason to let them roam free.

Does anyone think the August date for the preliminary hearing is unusual? I was quite surprised by the date being months away.

Not really because the court system is packed there as in most areas. They have made their plea, went over the Attorney needs and now their Attorney will start getting discovery (I assume) and be prepared for the Hearing in August. Looking over other cases in my state, most are a few months off. VA set up is different than what I am use to reading on in my state AR.

I found this site, pretty informative of basic how things work in VA http://www.vacriminaldefenselawyer.com/criminal-court/

 

[ANonyMs]

No posts in 7 whole minutes? We're all here just sitting...waiting for that new thread, huh?

 

[pattip574]

Maybe different modes of how drugs may have gotten into his body, but the outcome in both of those is still the same. It still resulted in his death.

If, of course, Noah overdosed, and wasn't beaten to death or something else... Ugh.

Yes, absolutely. I should have finished my thought instead of assuming y'all would know what I meant.. The outcome is very different for the parents in the courtroom. One could result in murder, one manslaughter, or even a lesser charge, God forbid, leading to a wide variety of sentencing. Noah paid the ultimate price for their actions, sadly.

 

[Sillybilly]

Please move on over to the new thread.

Thread #5