Judge to decide Monday whether AZ woman who viciously beat 5 year old immobile boy to death,will receive DP
Joe1orbit
Hello,
Over in Arizona, a 33 year old woman named Betty Jeanne Armstrong was found
guilty in April of 1997of murdering the five year old son of her boyfriend. She
is not the mother of 5 year old Donovan Hendrix, but she was living in the
home, as the live-in lover of Donovan's father. A jury found Betty guilty of
neglecting, abusing, and murdering helpless five year old Donovan. Betty beat
this five year old boy into a COMA, from which he never recovered and
eventually died, inflicting massive head injuries upon the 5 year old boy as he
lay HELPLESS and IMMOBILE, suffering from a fracture of his pelvis!
We are now in the sentencing phase of this trial, and prosecutors are asking
that Betty be given the death penalty for this murder. Interesting. I BET that
if Betty had been the MOTHER of Donovan, rather than just the live-in lover of
Donovan's father, and had committed this EXACT same crime of beating the boy to
death, prosecutors would NOT be asking for the DP.
Monday morning is when the judge is expected to decide whether to impose a
legalized murder, via the death penalty, upon Betty. If she is sentenced to
death, she will become only the second woman on Arizona's death row. Betty's
attorney made an impasioned plea to the judge to spare Betty's life, invoking
the pathetic god myth. This lawyer actually SAID to the judge, that IF 5 year
old Donovan could SPEAK FROM HEAVEN, he would ASK the judge to spare the life
of Betty! Ha! With a straight face, he said that to the judge, and then
concluded with: ``He (Donovan) would say, `Judge Houghton, please don't kill
Betty. Please don't kill Betty." Is that PRICELESS or what?? This lawyer truly
has NO shame, as he tries to put WORDS into the mouth of a murdered 5 year old
boy, in which the DEAD boy, speaking from HEAVEN, asks the judge to spare the
life of the woman who murdered him!!
Prosecutors say that 5 year old Donovan suffered extreme pain, as he was
being viciously beaten about the head and body, as he lay helpless with a
broken pelvis. Betty hated and bear Donovan because he was a reminder to her of
a woman that she hated, her live-in lover's ex-wife, according to prosecutors.
The defense points out that Betty WAS indeed abused herself as a child, and
suffered from mental illness as well.
When Betty was 10 years old, her own mother told her that she didn't want
Betty anymore. Says Betty's attorney: ``Her father was an alcoholic,
woman-hating child molester. Her mother was crazy.'' This is what YOUR society
does, It allows a helpless child to be TORTURED and abused, that would be
BETTY, and then it seeks to IMPRISON and/or MURDER Betty, after she simply
REFLECTS BACK her own abuse and trauma, by abusing and beating a child to
death! How PATHETIC you humans are! ALLOWING Betty to be abused & tortured, and
then CONDEMNING her when her True Reality results in her abusing & torturing
another child, when she reaches adulthood.
Betty has diagnosed and undeniable mental illness, and yet your society does
not care. It will still MURDER Betty, or at the very least, lock her in a jail
cell for life. Your society does not CARE that it is RESPONSIBLE for having
allowed and enabling the abuse that Betty herself suffered. It does not even
ACKNOWLEDGE it's GUILT. That is how PERVERSE your society is.
Betty certainly did give free reign to her rage at little Donovan, she abused
him for years. Breaking his collarbone, locking him outdoors in his underwear,
not getting needed medical treatment for him, etc... Before finally beating him
into a coma that resulted in death, in 1996.
Donovan's Daddy, a fellow named Daryl, has been sentenced to 61 years in
jail, the maximum possible sentence he could have gotten, for deliberately
ALLOWING his live-in lover to abuse, torture, and ultimately murder his son.
There you have it folks, the sad saga of yet another child, murdered as a
direct of how your society sanctions, facilitates, and enables children to be
abused and tortured. This 33 year old woman, Betty Jeanne Armstrong, is not
evil. She is not a "bad" person. All that she is, is an ACCURATE REFLECTION of
the abuse and trauma that your society ALLOWED and CAUSED her to suffer, when
SHE was a child.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of the 2/6/98 online edition of The Arizona
Daily Star newspaper:
Friday, 6 February 1998
Woman who killed boy, 5, should die too, prosecutor says
By Jon Burstein
The Arizona Daily Star
Betty Jeanne Armstrong condemned 5-year-old Donovan Hendrix to die when she
beat the helpless boy into a coma from which he never awoke, a prosecutor said
yesterday.
Donovan, immobile from a pelvis fracture, couldn't escape as his father's
live-in girlfriend launched a vicious attack that left Donovan with massive
head injuries and a broken arm, Kathleen Mayer, deputy Pima County attorney,
said in the last day of Armstrong's pre-sentencing hearing.
Now Armstrong, 33, should be sentenced to die for the boy's senseless slaying,
Mayer said.
Armstrong is scheduled to find out Monday morning if that is her fate when she
is sentenced by Judge Margaret Houghton of Pima County Superior Court. If
Armstrong receives the death penalty, she will become only the second woman on
Arizona's death row.
A Pima County jury convicted her in April of neglecting, abusing and ultimately
killing Donovan, who died April 22, 1996.
Houghton sentenced Donovan's father, Daryl Hendrix, 26, in June to 61 years in
prison, the maximum possible term, for letting Armstrong abuse his son.
Armstrong will have a chance to address Houghton before the judge sentences
her. She testified at her trial that Donovan suffered the head injuries when
she tripped while carrying the boy and caused his head to hit a dresser.
David Alan Darby, Armstrong's attorney, concluded the four-day hearing
yesterday by saying that if Donovan could speak from heaven, he would ask the
judge to spare Armstrong's life.
``He (Donovan) would say, `Judge Houghton, please don't kill Betty. Please
don't kill Betty,' '' Darby said.
Mayer said the boy not only suffered extreme pain before he lapsed into a coma,
but recognized Armstrong had betrayed him.
``Donovan was the target of Betty Armstrong because he was a constant reminder
of a woman she hated - Donovan's mother,'' Mayer said. ``Her (Armstrong's)
response to this nuisance child and unhealthy reminder to her was to beat
him.''
Darby argued that Armstrong's troubled childhood, her mental disorders and
questions about Donovan's death all should preclude Houghton from handing down
a death sentence.
Armstrong broke down in tears as Darby recounted the day when she was 10 years
old and her mother told her she didn't want to take care of her anymore.
``Her father was an alcoholic, woman-hating child molester,'' Darby said. ``Her
mother was crazy.''
The trauma of childhood led to Armstrong developing a personality disorder and
a bipolar disorder - commonly referred to as manic depression, Darby said.
He emphasized that a psychologist testified on Wednesday that ``more likely
than not'' Armstrong's personality disorder may have caused her to attack
Donovan.
Mayer agreed Armstrong had a tough childhood, but said it played no role in
Donovan's death.
``Betty Armstrong left home at 18 years of age,'' Mayer said. ``At 31, she beat
Donovan to death. She was no longer an abused child.''
Mayer also observed that the psychologist couldn't determine if Armstrong was
in a psychotic state the morning she beat Donovan.
``Not one person that knows Betty Armstrong in her past has described her as
being in an uncontrollable rage,'' Mayer said. ``And if Betty Armstrong is so
predisposed to such rages . . . wouldn't one expect that all her children would
be victimized?''
Armstrong has three other children between 5 and 15 years old, none of whom
were subjected to such abuse, prosecutors argued.
In addition to the first-degree murder count and a child abuse charge related
to the murder, the jury convicted Armstrong of child abuse counts for:
* Fracturing Donovan's collarbone in 1993.
* Locking the boy outside the house on June 20, 1995, and making him sleep
outside in his underwear.
* Delaying medical treatment when the boy suffered a life-threatening scalp
infection in September 1995.
* Leaving Donovan unsupervised April 5, 1996, when Armstrong said he fell from
a ladder.
Darby argued that for Armstrong's case to meet the state's requirements for a
death sentence, prosecutors had to prove that Donovan was conscious during the
attack.
``The doctor couldn't say if Donovan Hendrix was conscious when the second,
third and fourth blows came,'' Darby said.
Mayer said Armstrong's own testimony combined with that one of her sons
indicates that Donovan was conscious for at least a brief period after he
suffered four blows to the head.
The only woman sitting on Arizona's death row is Debra Jean Milke, 33, who was
convicted in Maricopa County Superior Court in 1991 of killing her 4-year-old
son.
Houghton, who has sat on the Pima County Superior Court since 1989, has imposed
the death penalty before in a child murder.
She sentenced George Lopez, 45, in 1990 to die for the beating death of his
year-old son. An autopsy showed the boy had a fractured skull, broken ribs and
a torn pancreas.
Armstrong's sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin 10:30 a.m. Monday.