Mommy & stepdaddy who bound,gagged & beat 4 y.o.slave to death,get 50 yr.prison sentences,in VA
Joe1orbit
Hello,
Just a few hours ago in Virginia, a Mommy and a stepdaddy named Elizabeth and
Kenneth Jessie were both sentenced to 50 years in prison, for abusing and
torturing to death their four year old female slave. Yes indeed, this case did
receive a little nationwide attention, but only due to the viciousness and
brutality of the abuse and torture that both the mommy and the stepdaddy chose
to inflict upon helpless 4 year old Annie Leftwich.
The judge today did impose the maximum possible prison sentence that he was
legally able to, on both of these parents/slaveowners. It was this very case
that prompted VA lawmakers to add a new class of criminal offenders to those
who are eligible for the death penalty. The new law specifically states that
anyone who tortures a child to death, in the future, will be eligible for the
DP.
The details of this child torture case have been posted to the NG in the
past, but I figure I might as well repeat myself, and give the details once
again: Four year old Annie was gagged with black electrical tape, and tied down
to a broken and urine soaked bed in a utility room. Her entire body and face
and head were covered with cuts and bruises and puncture wounds. Squirrels were
kept in the same room, and allowed to run wild. The medical examiner believes
that many of the puncture wounds were bites from the squirrels.
As our torturing Mommy and stepdaddy stood together in court today to receive
their sentences, the judge told them: "This crime is one of the most callous,
brutal and wicked crimes I have seen." Oh well, some folks just feel compelled
to treat their slaves with a little more callousness and brutality than most
other slaveowners do. But the judge is DEAD wrong when he calls this "one of
the most wicked crimes I have ever seen." What this Mommy and stepfather did
was nothing more than an accurate reflection of the wickedness that exists
within the CORE of society itself, the very society that this judge proudly
represents.
Both parents said that they tortured four year old Annie because she wet the
bed and urinated on herself, and they each tried to place the blame on each
other, for the actual commission of the beatings, bed bindings, and torture.
Stepdaddy Kenneth told the court that he was at work all day long, and didn't
know his wife was beating and binding and gagging their slave.
Mommy Elizabeth, aged 20, who should never even have been GIVEN possession of
a helpless child because she herself was a 16 year old MINOR when she belched
Annie out of her womb, did a little crying during the trial, as she tried to
win some sympathy from the jury and judge. Despite professing to "love and miss
Annie". Mommy Elizabeth testified that she left the 4 year old bound and gagged
and tied to a bed all day long, on the day she died, never once checking on her
and ignoring Annie's desperate cries for water.
Despite the imposition of 50 year RECOMMENDED sentences by the judge, our
Mommy and StepDaddy will be eligible for parole, and likely will serve only
10-15 years, with Mommy Elizabeth serving LESS time than her hubby, despite the
fact that she is the one who CAUSED Annie to die, and her own testimony at
trial CONFIRMED that it was she who played the primary role in causing Annie to
die, on the day that she did, by binding her, and ignoring her desperate cries
all day long.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's Associated Press news wire:
3/19/98
Parents get maximum sentence for killing Annie Leftwich
By DAVID REED
Associated Press Writer
CLINTWOOD, Va. (AP) -- A logger and his wife were each given the maximum
sentence of 50 years in prison on Thursday for abusing and killing their
4-year-old daughter in their mountainside trailer last spring.
The horrifying way Annie Leftwich died prompted the General Assembly to pass
legislation earlier this month that makes torturing a child to death a capital
crime in Virginia.
Annie suffocated while gagged with black electrical tape and bound to a broken,
urine-soaked toddler's bed in a utility room. The blond-haired, blue-eyed child
had cuts and bruises from her head to her feet and puncture wounds that may
have been bites from squirrels that ran wild in the room.
''This crime is one of the most callous, brutal and wicked crimes I have
seen,'' Circuit Judge Donald McGlothlin told the couple as they stood side by
side in front of him.
In January, a jury found Annie's stepfather, Kenneth Jessie, guilty of
second-degree murder and child abuse and recommended he serve 40 years in
prison on the murder count and another 10 years for child abuse.
Her mother, Elizabeth Jessie, faced the same sentence after pleading guilty to
second-degree murder and child abuse at the start of the trial, moved from
Dickenson County to Montgomery County because of pretrial publicity.
The parents said the child was punished for bedwetting and urinating on
herself, but they blamed each other for her beatings and bed binding.
Jessie, 35, testified that he was at work all day and didn't know Annie was
bound and gagged until shortly after he came home and his wife said the child
had stopped breathing.
Jessie claimed he took the tape and rags used to tie up the child and threw
them over a hill behind the trailer because he wanted to protect Elizabeth. And
he said he fled the scene because ''I was tore up terrible.''
Mrs. Jessie, 20, wept during her testimony and apologized, saying she was
responsible for her child's death because she didn't leave the trailer or
protect her daughter from her abusive husband.
''I loved her,'' Mrs. Jessie testified. ''I miss her. I'm being punished not
just by being in jail, but by knowing she's gone.''
But she also testified that on the day Annie died, she never once checked on
the child, even though she was tied to the bed from early morning to late
afternoon, and didn't bring her water when she cried from thirst.
''You didn't even take her water,'' McGlothlin said, shaking his head. ''That
sort of callous disregard for a child is unfathomable to this court.''
The state's sentencing guidelines, based on similar court cases and the
background of the defendants, recommended that Jessie's punishment should range
from 16 to years 21 years and Mrs. Jessie's from 9-12 years.
More than a dozen spectators in the courthouse wore blue and pink ribbons to
show their sympathy for Annie, the blue signifying her bruises and the pink
signifying her innocence.
''They deserve to die,'' said Ann Lipscomb, who drove four hours from Roanoke
to watch the trial.
''They didn't show her any mercy and we shouldn't show tham any,'' said Martha
Coon, 52, a court appointed special advocate for children in Franklin County.
Outraged members of the economically depressed coalfields community erected a
memorial and held a candlelight vigil after the slaying, and hundreds signed
petitions proposing Annie's law.
''It's too late now,'' said Lena Yates, 44, of Clintwood. ''It should have been
done a long time ago. These two were real lucky with the sentence they got.''
AP-03-19-98
Hoover, J. E.
Joe1orbit wrote:
> As our torturing Mommy and stepdaddy stood together in court today to receive
> their sentences, the judge told them: "This crime is one of the most callous,
> brutal and wicked crimes I have seen." Oh well, some folks just feel compelled
> to treat their slaves with a little more callousness and brutality than most
> other slaveowners do. But the judge is DEAD wrong when he calls this "one of
> the most wicked crimes I have ever seen." What this Mommy and stepfather did
> was nothing more than an accurate reflection of the wickedness that exists
> within the CORE of society itself, the very society that this judge proudly
> represents.
When will people like these two parents ever learn? If you're going to
torture someone, do it in a way that DOES NOT EMBARASS SOCIETY! Society
will let you get away with a lot, especially if you position it as being
in society's self-interest. For example, this mommy and daddy, had they
not been LOSERS, should have waited until their daughter was a little
older to torture her. Tying her down and letting squirrels run loose
was a major FAUX PAS. Then, at their trial, they should have told the
court that their daughter hated society, wanted to do harm to society
members -- and, most importantly, believed she was BETTER than society
members. They could have reduced their sentence by at least 5-10
years. But that's what separates the WINNERS from the LOSERS in this
society. Yup.