“Ala. woman faces murder charges in 2 kids' deaths - San Francisco Gate” plus 1 more |
| Ala. woman faces murder charges in 2 kids' deaths - San Francisco Gate Posted: 07 Jan 2011 06:23 PM PST (01-07) 18:31 PST Mobile, Ala. (AP) -- A prosecutor said Friday he will file capital murder charges against a woman accused in courtroom testimony of beating her common-law husband's two children while they were bound, calling them "demon spawns from hell," and letting them die. Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said he decided to seek tougher charges against Heather Leavell-Keaton, 22, after getting new information on the same day as the gruesome testimony. Tyson would not disclose what his office learned, citing the ongoing probe. The prosecutor said he has not decided whether to seek the death penalty against Leavell-Keaton. Leavell-Keaton, who is already jailed on other charges, will have a hearing next week on the two new counts against her. "This is an awful, awful set of facts and circumstances," Tyson said. During a hearing Friday, investigators testified that Leavell-Keaton told police that the children's father, 27-year-old John DeBlase, used rat poison to kill his children and dumped their bodies in woods of south Mississippi and Alabama. He is charged with two counts of felony murder and two counts of corpse abuse in the deaths of 3-year-old Chase and 4-year-old Natalie DeBlase. The judge ruled at the preliminary hearing for DeBlase and Leavell-Keaton that there was probable cause to send the case to a grand jury. Leavell-Keaton, who is legally blind and not the children's biological mother, was earlier charged with aggravated child abuse and abuse of a corpse. During testimony, Angela Prine of the Mobile Police Department recounted DeBlase's statement to detectives that Natalie died last March 4 after Leavell-Keaton duct-taped her hands, feet and mouth and put her in a suitcase. DeBlase said he attended classes and returned about 10 p.m., finding Natalie still in the suitcase and dead. Leavell-Keaton sat in a chair at the side of the court and appear to mutter to herself as Prine read DeBlase's statements. Later, Leavell-Keaton mouthed, "That's a lie." Attorneys for DeBlase have said he maintains his innocence. According to DeBlase's statement to detectives, the girl's body was buried after he stopped at a store to buy a shovel and drove to a rural site in Alabama, with Leavell-Keaton and his son in the car. He said Chase died last June 20 after Leavell-Keaton got angry during potty training and the child urinated on himself. She duct-taped his hands and legs, bound a broomstick behind his back, and later stuffed a sock in his mouth, according to the father's statement to detectives. DeBlase went to bed, saying he was still stressed out about Natalie's death and wanted Chase freed by the time he got up, but the boy was dead in the morning. According to the testimony, he put the body in a garbage bag and drove to Mississippi to bury it. The police department's Prine testified that DeBlase first told detectives his children were kidnapped by masked men at a park on Fathers' Day. He later said the children were tortured and killed by Leavell-Keaton. But Prine testified that Leavell-Keaton told detectives DeBlase killed the children. She described to detectives how each had vomited a black substance before dying. Prine also read interviews from various witnesses who described abuse by Leavell-Keaton of the children. Prine said Dana Mullins told detectives the family lived nearby for three weeks in December 2008 and that Leavell-Keaton beat Natalie, forced her to sit for lengthy periods in a chair and called her "evil brat" and "whore." Creighton Hobbs, an acquaintance of DeBlase's, said he saw Leavell-Keaton shake the children, call them "demon spawns from hell" and put them in a corner. The bodies were found in December when Leavell-Keaton, seeking a protective order after moving to Kentucky, disclosed they were dead. Authorities said DeBlase took them to the sites. The couple had separate arraignments Thursday. DeBlase, his hands in handcuffs, looked down and showed no reaction as details of the children's torture and deaths were read. According to testimony, the biological mother, Corrine Heathcock, had not seen the children for more than a year when they died. Darryl Bender, an attorney for Leavell-Keaton, said his client feared for her life and that of the now 7-month-old child she had with DeBlase. He said toxicology tests could prove the children were poisoned. And Bender questioned why none of the people who gave statements to detectives about the children's abuse called authorities to report the couple. ___ AP staff writer Ray Henry contributed to this report from Atlanta. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| NM governor: No pardon for outlaw Billy the Kid - Las Vegas Sun Posted: 07 Jan 2011 02:59 AM PST Friday, Jan. 7, 2011 | 3:08 a.m. The rehabilitation of Billy the Kid lies dead in the dust. In one of his last official acts _ or non-acts _ before leaving office, New Mexico's governor refused to pardon the Old West outlaw Friday for one of the many murders he committed before he was gunned down in 1881. Gov. Bill Richardson cited ambiguity surrounding the pledge of a pardon 130 years ago as the reason. "I felt I could not rewrite history," Richardson told The Associated Press, hours after announcing his decision on ABC's "Good Morning America" on his last day in office. The prospect of a pardon for the notorious frontier figure drew international attention to New Mexico, centering on whether New Mexico territorial governor Lew Wallace promised Billy the Kid a pardon in return for testifying about killings he witnessed. Richardson concluded Wallace did make a deal, "but it's uncertain why he did not keep his promise," said the former U.N. ambassador and Democratic presidential candidate. He said he could not pardon Billy the Kid given that ambiguity and the fact he killed two deputies when he escaped in April 1881 from the Lincoln County jail, where he was awaiting hanging for the 1878 killing of Sheriff William Brady. A pardon document was even drafted, "but in the end, I didn't use it," said Richardson, adding that he didn't decide until Thursday night. The proposed pardon covered only the killing of Brady, and not the deaths of the deputies or any other killings. According to legend, Billy the Kid killed 21 people, although the New Mexico Tourism Department puts the total closer to nine. He was shot to death by Sheriff Pat Garrett in July 1881. Albuquerque attorney Randi McGinn, who petitioned for a pardon after studying the issue, said she won the battle in proving there was a promise but lost the war over the pardon. She said, however, she didn't regret "one iota being Billy the Kid's lawyer." Garrett's grandson, J.P. Garrett, of Albuquerque, sent an e-mail to The Associated Press: "Yea!!! No pardon! Looks like it will be a great new year!!!!" Wallace's great-grandson, William Wallace, of Westport, Conn., said Richardson "followed the correct, rational track in forgoing a pardon for a convicted murderer." Both men had expressed outrage Richardson would even consider a pardon, arguing there was no proof one was ever offered. The historical record is unclear, Richardson said. His staff told him in August there are no written documents "pertaining in any way" to a pardon in the papers of the territorial governor, who served from 1878 to 1881. Richardson's successor, Gov. Susana Martinez, who takes office Saturday, has said she won't even consider a pardon because state issues were more pressing. "There's an awful lot of work to be taken care of for us to be wasting so much time on such a consideration," the Republican said Tuesday. Richardson's office set up a website in mid-December for public comments following McGinn's petition. The survey that ended Sunday brought in 809 e-mails and letters from all over the world _ 430 favoring a pardon and 379 opposed. McGinn argued Lew Wallace promised to pardon the Kid, also known as William Bonney. She said the Kid kept his end of the bargain, but the territorial governor did not. McGinn said Friday she was disappointed by Richardson's decision but thrilled the pardon question sparked interest. She said she hoped people would come to New Mexico, see letters Billy the Kid wrote to Wallace, walk Lincoln's single street and decide for themselves whether Billy the Kid was "the Robin Hood of the West or a notorious killer." Richardson, who said he's read countless books and seen numerous movies about the Kid, said the issue gave the state great exposure and prompted discussion over "one of those historical issues that deserves debate and hadn't been tackled before." Robert Utley, author of "Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life," said he was glad Richardson decided against a pardon. "Governor Wallace was a romantic, and the few press interviews he granted, at the time and 20 years later, cloud the issue. He exaggerated for literary effect, and the reporters probably took it from there to more exaggeration. I don't believe a pardon was promised, only an effort to exempt him from prosecution _ a promise he couldn't deliver," Utley wrote in an e-mail to the AP on Friday. "If Billy deserves a pardon, it will be granted by history, not the governor of New Mexico." ___ AP correspondent Barry Massey in Santa Fe contributed to this report. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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