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Also Wednesday, three prosecution experts in pediatric neurology testified as rebuttal witnesses that Prince could not have died from febrile, or fever-induced, seizures. Prince had seven febrile seizures in the months before his death, court records show, and the defense has suggested that a seizure may have led to the cardiac arrest which overtook the toddler on Oct. 20, 2012. Rams told authorities that he saw Prince seizing, rushed in and scooped him up, felt that he was really hot and called for a housemate to dial 911 while he splashed cold water on the boy to cool him down. When paramedics arrived, they found Prince cold, wet and not breathing, and his heartbeat was not restored for 40 minutes. He was kept on life support, but died the next day.
Bellows, as the fact-finder in the case rather than just the referee, again took an active role on Wednesday in questioning a witness, examining both comments made on the 911 tape and statements Rams made to paramedics that day. No one has testified to any statements Rams has made about the incident and no police detectives from Manassas City testified at all in the trial but reports written by paramedics about their interactions with Rams were entered into evidence en masse on the first day, and Bellows cited them in his questions to noted child seizure expert Shlomo Shinnar of New York City.
Rams told paramedics that he saw Prince seizing, he was very hot so I put him in the bathtub like I was told, Bellows said the reports stated. The judge asked Shinnar, Is it your understanding based on that, that the father is reporting witnessing an active seizure in progress? Shinnar replied, That scenario does not make sense medically. He said if someone is in cardiac arrest, You can have a seizure, but its going to be very brief.
Bellows said Rams could be overheard telling paramedics on the 911 tape that he observed the child taking long breaths, and then he just couldnt breathe. Is that consistent with being in cardiac arrest? Shinnar again said, No. If you go into cardiac arrest, youre going to stop breathing in seconds.
Shinnar also weighed in on Princes plummeting temperature, from feeling hot when Rams held him to cold when paramedics arrived. It is extremely improbable that you could be cold a few minutes later, Shinnar said. And he was emphatic that a febrile seizure itself has never been found to be a cause of death. Pediatric neurologists Robin Foster of the University of Richmond and Sylvia Edelstein of Bethesda, Md., who examined Prince a month before he died, also ruled out febrile seizures. But none are pathologists, and so could not say how Prince died.
McLeod said Prince was a happy boy, living with his mother and grandparents in Gaithersburg, Md., who enjoyed swim classes and was developing normally, though he frequently had fevers and upper respiratory infections. McLeod and her father also had febrile seizures as children, so she and her doctors were not overly concerned when Prince started having them.
McLeod said Prince didnt have a seizure until he went on an unsupervised visitation with Rams in September 2012. But Leibig showed her records of a June 2012 doctor visit reporting that Princes grandmother glimpsed him having the same type of seizure McLeod had as a child, and an assessment that Prince had febrile convulsions. McLeod said, This is the first time Im looking at this.
Leibig asked if Prince had been prescribed Diastat, a drug used to combat seizures as they are happening. McLeod said yes, but she made the decision it wasnt appropriate and didnt fill the prescription, and did not mention it to Rams.
McLeod acknowledged she kept a blog, Cappuccino Queen, to document her travails with Rams and her experiences raising Prince. (Rams launched a counter-blog, King Latte, before he was arrested in January 2013.) But when Leibig showed her entries from the blog about Princes seizures, McLeod said, I cant verify the authenticity of this. It was several years ago. She said she could not recall dates of seizures or Princes reported temperatures. A blog post on Oct. 20, 2012, noted her hesitance at dropping off her feverish, scared baby for a visitation with Rams, but McLeod said she couldnt remember writing that.
When McLeod was done, and the prosecution rested, Leibig asked Bellows to strike the case. He said the case changed when Willett asked a defense expert if it were possible for a large man to suffocate a child with a pillow, without leaving any marks. The evidence has substantially changed, Leibig argued. Drowning cant have happened Which is why Mr. Willett began the line of questioning about the pillow. That that would then become the cause of the death in this case would be an astonishing legal switchup. The commonwealth hasnt established a cause of death.
Willett responded that he didnt have to prove a cause of death, and Bellows denied the motion without comment.
This is a circumstantial case, Willett said in his closing argument, and then laid out the circumstances. He noted that Rams had no reported income from 2005 to 2012, and that he was defaulting on a home mortgage, a line of credit and a private school tuition bill. In 2011, Rams applied for three insurance policies on Prince totaling $524,000 just as the $162,000 in benefits from his mothers life insurance policy were exhausted, Willett said, though Rams didnt have custody of the boy. The theory is that Rams killed his son because he was heavily in debt and intended to use the insurance proceeds to pay his debts. Rams also applied for and received policies on himself and his teenage son, which his attorneys said were intended as savings vehicles for college.
Willett also cited the abject medical implausibility of the defendants version of what happened, namely that he saw Prince having a seizure and splashed cold water on him while a housemate called 911. He pointed to Ramss predilection for dishonesty in general, because he hid financial assets from his friends and the Internal Revenue Service, and Ramss sudden entry into his teenage sons room to scoop up Prince and rush him to the bathtub.
The irresistible conclusion in this case, Willett said, given all the circumstances, is that the defendant is guilty of capital murder.
For four years, prosecutors have operated on the theory that Rams drowned the boy, based on the autopsy findings of then-assistant medical examiner Constance DiAngelo. Its been shown to be incredible, Lenox said, after defense expert pathologists said fluids in the boys body probably came from resuscitation efforts, not drowning. Theyve abandoned having to prove that at all.
Both Shadow and Roger Jestice said they saw Rams splashing water on a motionless Prince, his head facing away from the tub faucet, and Sue Jestice said she didnt hear any water running until after the commotion started with Rams hollering, Rog, call 911! Lenox said prosecutors would like to be able to ignore what was seen and heard and touched.
Lenox referenced the 911 call made by Jestice, with Rams audible in the background. Bellows raised the issue of Ramss comments with witnesses during the trial, in which Rams says the boy is really hot, though paramedics felt he was cold. Its clear that Mr. Rams is in extremis himself, Lenox said. Besides himself. And helpless. Is Mr. Rams the best reporter as his son is dying in his arms? Probably not.
Lenox said Rams contacted an insurance company online in 2011 seeking a policy on himself, though she did not say why, and that the salesman, John Donovan, persuaded Rams to buy policies on Prince and Shadow as ways to save for college. He then bought policies from Gerber and Globe for the same reasons, Lenox said. Mr. Rams was trying to plan for his sons future, Lenox argued. She said that he was naive about buying insurance as a savings vehicle but that he did not engage in a convoluted plot to convince someone to sell him insurance on his kids and that he made no move to collect on the policies when Prince died in October 2012.
Lenox said Rams had a friend create a bank account for Rams so that Rams could hide his income and avoid paying taxes. Did he take advantage of people and let them pay for him? Lenox asked. He clearly did. His then-fiancee, Hera McLeod, testified Wednesday that she was paying the mortgage and all of their bills. Lenox said that he had a willingness to live on the generosity of other people and that he was untroubled by being deeply in debt. But she said those qualities did not enable prosecutors to make the huge leap that he intentionally could commit the murder of a child. Clearly the level of evidence points to reasonable doubt.
Justice - great job! Just getting caught up here and feel like I may have missed something - was a toxicology report ever discussed?
Just wondering if the baby may have been drugged. I found it odd that "dad" kept popping in and out to check on the baby. Only dad's word that baby was hot. Could have been comatose when splashed, so lower body temp. Also if his feet were towards the faucet, per son, water in his face could have caused shock and respiratory response. Just thinking out loud.I reread most of the coverage from the Washington Post and a toxicology report wasn't specifically mentioned.
A judge has convicted a Virginia father of murdering his 1-year-old son in an effort to collect on more than $500,000 in life insurance he had taken out on the boy.
Here's the link to the guilty verdict opinion issued by Judge Randy I. Bellows. Hopefully the verdict won't be overturned under future appeals. Joaquin Rams will be formally sentenced on June 22nd.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2017/04/28/judges-guilty-verdict-opinion-in-the-rams-murder-case/?utm_term=.63ef267c6c0c
A Virginia man convicted of murdering his 15-month-old-son to collect on life insurance was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole.
Joaquin Rams of Manassas was convicted earlier this year in the 2012 death of his son Prince.
Prince's mother, Hera McLeod, said she can't help but think of Prince's death.
"I know it was painful. I know he was scared. I have to live with the fact that I was unable to protect him from this monster."
She then turned directly to Rams, who looked away, twitched and sighed as McLeod called him "a pathetic excuse for a human."
Prosecutors also believe Rams is responsible for the deaths of his ex-girlfriend, Shawn Mason, and his mother, Alma Collins..... It is unclear whether Rams will ever face charges in those two deaths.
Shawn Masons mother, Sheryl Mason, said after Tuesdays hearing that she is satisfied with the life sentence and is no longer pushing for a separate trial in Shawn Masons death.
I know who is responsible for Shawns death, she said after the hearing. For me, this is justice for Shawn as well.