Three teenage boys have admitted sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Northern California girl who later committed suicide after photographs of the attack were circulated to some classmates, according to published reports.
The San Jose Mercury News first reported the case, soon followed by the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday.
In September, two 16-year-old boys admitted in Santa Clara County Juvenile Court to participating in the sexual assault and possessing photos of the girl, Audrie Pott, the newspapers reported, citing documents and other sources. Both crimes are felonies.
In addition, a 17-year-old boy admitted to the same two felonies, the papers said.
The boys' names have not been released, but two were ordered to serve 30 days - during weekends - in juvenile detention, and the third was sentenced to 45 consecutive days. That is in stark contrast to the maximum 10-year sentence they might have received as adults.
The Mercury News cites sources close to the case as saying the two with the 30-day sentences have finished serving them, and the third is in the midst of his 45-day term.
Their sentences are also more lenient than those imposed on two 16-year-olds in Steubenville, Ohio, who received one and two years in juvenile detention, respectively, in a case that has been widely compared to the Pott case.
Audrie Pott hanged herself on Sept. 10, 2012, eight days after attending a party at a friend's house in Saratoga, Calif. After drinking Gatorade laced with alcohol, she fell asleep and later woke with her pants off and with lewd comments scribbled all over her body.
In the week following the party, Audrie learned that cellphone photos had been taken of her during the assault and shared through text messages, her family said.
In April 2013, students at the high school Pott attended told the campus newspaper that a photo from the night of Pott's alleged rape did not go "viral," but rather was seen by an estimated 10 people.
According to the Saratoga High School Falcon, two unnamed male students said the only people who saw the picture in question were at the party where the alleged rape occurred.
"The media said the pictures were all over," one student told the Falcon. "That's not true."
The three defendants have been sued by Audrie's parents, Lawrence and Sheila Pott.
The Mercury News reports that, "New court records also indicate that two of the boys -- months after Audrie killed herself but before they were arrested in April 2013 -- were found with additional photos of naked girls on their phones. Both boys admitted to extra felonies of possessing or controlling sexual photos of girls under 18."
"In a statement released last week," the newspaper continues, "the Pott family lawyer, Robert Allard, alluded to those charges, saying, 'It has become quite clear to us that the suspects refuse to accept responsibility or show remorse for their actions. The fact that they have not learned their lesson is demonstrated by the fact that two of these young adults, even after Audrie's death, have continued to engage in 'slut shaming' other young women through, for example, the dissemination of nude photographs."'
"We cannot publicly comment on any aspect of any criminal proceedings involving these young men," Allard said in a statement Tuesday.
Christopher Arriola, Santa Clara County's supervising deputy district attorney for juvenile justice, said he was also prohibited from commenting on the case.
Calls and e-mails to the boys' lawyers Tuesday were not returned, the Mercury News said.
Showing posts with label suicide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suicide. Show all posts
Friday, January 17, 2014
Monday, January 6, 2014
Mom Drowns 8-Year-Old Autistic Son Right After Regaining Custody of Him
A little boy with autism is dead and so is his mother in what is being called a murder-suicide in Alabama. Cops say Delicia Barrow drowned her 8-year-old son, Randle Barrow, in the Tennessee River, then returned to their home where the single mom killed herself. The tragedy was discovered after Randle, who attended a special school for kids with autism, didn't show up two days in a row.
Cops went to the Barrow home where they found the house on fire and Delicia dead. There was also a note that led them to Randle's body. The sad story shares similarities with many stories of overwhelmed parents of children with special needs who have decided to do something drastic -- and horrible -- to their children.
Inevitably, these sad tales open up a conversation about what it is that society should be doing for parents of kids with special needs, but in the case of Delicia Barrow, there's a startling fact that makes that conversation essentially moot.
Delicia Barrow was a single mom of a child with autism -- her husband died in a car accident when Randle was just a baby -- but she was not alone.
In fact, close friends of the Barrow family have come out to say Delicia had handed over custody of Randle to them -- voluntarily -- earlier this year. The couple were even named in Delicia's will as guardians for the little boy. But it was Delicia herself who just recently decided to take her son back ... and, of course, it seems it was Delicia herself who made the horrible decision to take her child's life.
His mother HAD help! She HAD options when she was feeling like life was too much! She didn't have to ask for Randle back, and she could have returned him to her friends.
That's more than most single parents have, more even than most two-parent families have. When most of us are feeling overwhelmed, we have to just push ahead as is; we don't have someone willing to take our children for us for awhile so we can figure out our own problems without involving them.
As a parent, I know that it's not an easy gig -- whether your child has special needs or not. This doesn't mean that there is ever an excuse to kill your own child (there is NOT), but we can all acknowledge that sometimes you're simply pushed to the edge, and you need someone to help pull you back. You might be sympathetic to the person even when you're in complete disapproval and shock over their decisions.
But in the case of a mom who had help and didn't take it, who actually went and got her kid back ... only to end his life ... I'm not even able to have sympathy for the person, separate from her crime.
Whatever she was going through, her child did not deserve this. Period.
Cops went to the Barrow home where they found the house on fire and Delicia dead. There was also a note that led them to Randle's body. The sad story shares similarities with many stories of overwhelmed parents of children with special needs who have decided to do something drastic -- and horrible -- to their children.
Inevitably, these sad tales open up a conversation about what it is that society should be doing for parents of kids with special needs, but in the case of Delicia Barrow, there's a startling fact that makes that conversation essentially moot.
Delicia Barrow was a single mom of a child with autism -- her husband died in a car accident when Randle was just a baby -- but she was not alone.
In fact, close friends of the Barrow family have come out to say Delicia had handed over custody of Randle to them -- voluntarily -- earlier this year. The couple were even named in Delicia's will as guardians for the little boy. But it was Delicia herself who just recently decided to take her son back ... and, of course, it seems it was Delicia herself who made the horrible decision to take her child's life.
His mother HAD help! She HAD options when she was feeling like life was too much! She didn't have to ask for Randle back, and she could have returned him to her friends.
That's more than most single parents have, more even than most two-parent families have. When most of us are feeling overwhelmed, we have to just push ahead as is; we don't have someone willing to take our children for us for awhile so we can figure out our own problems without involving them.
As a parent, I know that it's not an easy gig -- whether your child has special needs or not. This doesn't mean that there is ever an excuse to kill your own child (there is NOT), but we can all acknowledge that sometimes you're simply pushed to the edge, and you need someone to help pull you back. You might be sympathetic to the person even when you're in complete disapproval and shock over their decisions.
But in the case of a mom who had help and didn't take it, who actually went and got her kid back ... only to end his life ... I'm not even able to have sympathy for the person, separate from her crime.
Whatever she was going through, her child did not deserve this. Period.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Arizona Father, 2 Daughters Found Dead in Home
A father and his two young daughters have been found dead inside a home in the Phoenix suburb of Tolleson in what police are calling a murder-suicide.
Police cordoned off an area in the neighborhood on Wednesday after getting a call from a relative who found the bodies.
Tolleson Police Sgt. Obed Gaytan says the girls, ages 6 and 8, had been shot. Police identified the father as 45-year-old Alejandro Gallardo and said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
Neighbors and those who work in the area told police they heard screaming coming from the home Wednesday morning.
Police cordoned off an area in the neighborhood on Wednesday after getting a call from a relative who found the bodies.
Tolleson Police Sgt. Obed Gaytan says the girls, ages 6 and 8, had been shot. Police identified the father as 45-year-old Alejandro Gallardo and said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
Neighbors and those who work in the area told police they heard screaming coming from the home Wednesday morning.
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