Getting By With Murder

What is the name of your state? Oregon... I recently went through a trial for the murder of my grandson who died last Christmas. My son was charged and held without bail until the trial. He was found not guilty on all charges. I had felt in my heart that the mother was responsible for my grandson's death and the trial proved that my grandson had been abused and brutally murdered. Shaken Baby Syndrome with several direct hits to the back of his head, more than likely on the floor causing skull fracturesl in two places. The mother raced out the door leaving the child alone with my son knowing that he was dying. My son found him approximately 5 minutes after she left him upstairs in his crib bleeding from the mouth. He did CPR, called 911 and tried to save his son's life. The mother had justified bruising earlier in the month to the foster mother that was concerned enough to take pictures of the bruising on his head. He died of blunt force trauma to the head. The trial also demonstrated many lies and a cover-up by the mother. This case involves DHS and their placement of my grandchild into her custody. Now, the State says there will be no further charges brought against the mother. A juror contacted me after the trial and told me that during the deliberations in order to find my son not guilty, they had to find the mother guilty. How will I ever be able to get justice for my grandson? Do the politics of Department of Human Services play such a heavy role that they really don't care if there is justice for him just as long as they are not found liable for his placement into her home? I am sickened, broken hearted and I just don't know what I can do. Is there any government entity that I can contact to get further investigation into his death?

First I would like to say how truly sorry I am for your loss.

Have you tries to contact the governers office?? Also the media can be your friend in this kind of situation....call CBS,NBC, and ABC....60 min. 20/20 Nightline...Good Morning America....ect...

The DA's office might take a second look at the case if they are getting embarrassing news coverage!!

Again...I am so sorry for you and your family,

bay

Thank you for your kind words. I have considered all of the things mentioned and am now just gathering the strength to think about it once again since the trial. As I understand it, the governor is the head over DHS. I have written him, the DA and the deputy in charge. I have received no comments from them. After the trial, we did not go before the media because we were hoping that an arrest would be made and we did not want to do anything that could cause a problem with that. We were also afraid that if we went to the media the State would not allow contact with the two children that are being held in foster care there now. Turns out, we should have come out of trial screaming, because they still will not allow us contact with the children. The mother gets to visit one hour a week, supervised with a therapist. She has refused a lie detector and a psychological evaluation , yet they still allow her to visit. Now DHS wants my son to take a lie detector (which he passed previously) and have a psychological evaluation (which was done previously) before they will even allow him to speak to his 4 year old. He has agreed to do so, but now they are dragging their feet about when. They want him to pay for the trip back to Oregon, his lodging, and all costs associated with these evaluations. I say lets have an independent evaluation performed by an outside agency not associated with DHS.

let me say how sorry i feel for you. i went through a similar situation as your son . i asked my attorney the same question and this is what he told me, probably the biggest reason they won't go after the mother now is they went after the wrong person in the first place. there would be too much reasonable doubt. any decent defense attorney would cross examine the detectives like this; excuse me officer," but when this tragic event took place you did not think my client did it, did you? as matter a fact you thought this person done it, didn't you? you were so sure of it that you arrested and charged that person, didn't you? now you're changing your accusations, how come? you were wrong then , maybe you're wrong now also"; those would not be easy questions to answer. the defense would use all the evidence to show reasonable doubt that the prosecutor used to show guilt in the other trial(however weak it might be). there would not be a high likely hood of conviction. that's why they won't go after the mother. the system isn't always about justice

may i suggest you get counseling for you and your son. i wish i would of with my family. It is not easy being an innocent person in jail. especially the time it takes to defend charges like that. when i got out i had the biggest chip on my shoulder. i thought society owed me something. It wasn't long before i turned to drugs and started doing things that would of landed me in jail for a long time if i would of got caught. i was estrange from my family for awhile and really was about to self destruct. It took me about eight years to truly get over what had happen and to realize whats done is done and i was making things a whole lot worse. maybe if i would of gotten some counseling i could of avoided that eight year "screw the world" part of my life that was harder on my family than my unjust jail time ever was

Good luck to you and your son!

Getting by with Murder

It would take someone who had been through a similar ordeal to fully understand what being falsely accused could do to you. What shocks me the most is that people really don't want to hear the truth. My son was convicted before he even got to a trial. The media was notrocious and it was overwhelming to see my son's face all over the news branded as a murderer. If the mother had been charged of this crime, then she would have been convicted, if she would have been in the same trial that I witnessed. I can't even be sure that she said her name accurately because everything else that came out of her mouth was a lie and it was obvious. A juror contacted me after the trial and told me that in order to find my son not guilty, they had to find the mother guilty of this crime. The evidence of murder was clearly establised during the trial. Why on this earth would they not arrest the mother immediately after a jury found my son not guilty? She even got up and ran out of the courtroom when the verdict was read. I believe she was expecting them to arrest her on the spot. I was hoping for that. I would be willing to take the defense asking the questions that you feel that they would ask in order to make a defense, just to get to the truth. This helpless little 15 month old child died at the hands of his mother and no-one even cares. It is just not right. I am glad that you were able to find your way.

i met up with a juror inside a Safeway a couple of weeks after my trial too. he could not believe that i was the one on trial and wanted to know if they will be going after the mother. i told him what my lawyer told me.

i also was in the papers and on the news when i got arrested, but not one word when i got acquitted. six months later the paper wanted to do a story on it but i just wanted to put it behind me.

the most condescending part to me was when the lead detective called my lawyer after the trial to apologize without apologizing.(like i give a sh!t)

i know how you feel because my mom felt it and i know how your son feels.
take this advice because i can tell by your post you have a lot of anger and frustration and you feel like the world has done you wrong. and it is completely understandable that you/son have those feelings. you need to seek counseling to learn how to deal with those feelings in a non destructive way because those feelings are just going to get stronger and more intense. if you let it those feelings will bring you down and destroy any relationships you have with loved ones now. PLEASE SEEK COUNSELING!

they are probably not going after the mother for the reasons i stated in my earlier reply. you need to accept that fact and live with it. that will eat at you from the inside out. please seek counseling for you and your son