TRIAL--RAPE/ MURDER OF CHRISTOPHER BARRIOS JR. AGE 6

[rumaj]

My biggest fear is that they're gonna screw around and then these charges will be dropped, like the Kansas murder/rape case, because they didn't get a speedy trial.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Accused child killers trials stall in backlog

Fri, May 30, 2008

Nearly 15 months have passed since the body of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. was found dumped on the side of a road, but the District Attorney's office still can't say when three adults accused of molesting and killing him will go to trial.

The C.B. Greer Elementary School pupil was allegedly kidnapped, molested and strangled to death March 8, 2007. The three family members accused in his death – David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy Edenfield, and their adult son, George Edenfield – remain in jail and are no closer to getting their day in court than they were months ago.

District Attorney Stephen Kelley said that the judicial system cannot set aside a backlog of cases to advance one, even if it is a capital murder case that made national headlines more than a year ago.

"It all goes back to the fact that we only have four judges and they only have so many hours in the day," Kelley said Thursday. "We can't stop everything for one particular case."

In March, Kelley said it could take months, even another year, before the Edenfields go to trial.

Little has changed since then. No trial dates have been set and no further motions have been filed by defense attorneys.

Kelley said he expects hearings on evidentiary motions already filed to resume in the next three or four months, although nothing is certain.

Kelley said there are hundreds of other cases that are continuously coming in that have to be dealt with.

The two men accused in the homicide – David Edenfield and George Edenfield – are facing the death penalty and remain in solitary cells at the Glynn County Detention Center. Peggy Edenfield has been moved to the Ware County Jail and will not face the death penalty in exchange for testifying against her husband and son.

Donald Dale, a family friend who is accused of tampering with evidence and helping to conceal Christopher's body, is also at the Detention Center, awaiting a ruling on a plea bargain arrangement that will commit him for a five years to a mental health facility and banish him from Glynn County.

What stalled the Edenfields' cases last fall was the death penalty case of Brian Nichols for the March 2005 Atlanta courthouse killings, said Kelley. That case had cost the Georgia Public Defenders Standards Council, which provides court-appointed lawyers to indigent death penalty defendants, more than $1.8 million, draining its budget.

As a result, no defense attorney in the state assigned to a capital murder case has received payment for his or her services.

Kelley said the state budget for fiscal year 2009, which begins July 1, should resolve the funding issues.

"I think once the lawyers start getting paid, they will be able to hire their experts and get the hearings back on track," Kelley said.

In the Barrios case, Glynn County Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett has yet to schedule a hearing on the plea agreement for Dale.

Dale's attorney, John Wetzler, filed a motion May 8 requesting a hearing on the agreement.

On Dec. 19, 2007, attorneys presented a plea agreement to Scarlett that Dale would plead guilty, but retarded, to a single felony charge of lying to police.

Dale has already undergone a mental evaluation that Scarlett requested during a hearing this past December.

Christopher's body was found March 15 in a trash bag on the shoulder of Canal Road, north of the Canal Road Mobile Home Park where he lived, following a week-long search by police and volunteers.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Lawyer claims he has video evidence of police comment

Wed, Jun 4, 2008


The attorney for Donald Dale, the man accused of helping to conceal the body of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. last year, claims that Glynn County detectives coerced his client into making false statements during the initial investigation.

John Wetzler also contends that investigators with the Glynn County Police Department are recorded on their own video saying that Dale should be locked up so that "he could not breed."

That claim has sparked an internal investigation by the department, Police Chief Matt Doering told The News Tuesday.

Dale, who Wetzler says is mentally retarded, was initially accused of helping to hide the body of the C.B. Greer Elementary School student after a family of three – David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy Edenfield, and their adult son, George Edenfield – allegedly kidnapped, molested and strangled the child March 8, 2007. Dale was a friend of the Edenfields.

Since then, Dale has been incarcerated at the Glynn County Detention Center, where he continues to wait for a judicial hearing on a plea bargain agreement with the District Attorney's Office.

Wetzler filed his notice of his intention to present a defense of coercion Friday in Glynn County Superior Court.

In the document, Wetzler claims he has a video recording that was provided by the prosecution during evidentiary discovery in which investigators with the Glynn County Police Department can be heard laughing about Dale's statements after they interviewed him.

"Later after the investigation was complete, the investigators laughed about how silly Dale's comments were," Wetzler states in the notice he filed. "They decided that he just needed to be locked up, at a minimum, so 'he could not breed.'"

The identities of the investigators were not released.

Wetzler claims Dale first told detectives that he had no idea what happened between the Edenfields and the elementary school pupil and had maintained that position throughout a lengthy interrogation.

Police then allegedly threatened Dale and told him he would be charged with accessory to murder if he did not tell them what happened, Wetzler claims.

Wetzler states that the "police knew there were no grounds to charge Mr. Dale with murder," so they switched tactics and told Dale "how much of a hero" he would be if he told them what he knew about Barrios' disappearance.

Wetzler claims Dale made up outlandish stories and that police knew that the statements were inconceivable, but promised Dale hope of benefiting from statements he made about what happened.

The activities of the police amounted to coercion, especially because Dale is mentally retarded, Wetzler contends.

Police chief Matt Doering said Tuesday that his department is checking the allegations concerning the derogatory comment about Dale.

"I have Internal Affairs looking into it, and if I find out it is true, I am not going to tolerate it because it is completely inappropriate," Doering said. "It's not our place to pass judgment on people. We should always treat people with respect and dignity no matter who they are and what they've done."

Doering said if a detective did make such a statement, it should not affect the case.

"It is not an issue of evidence and has no bearing on whether (Dale) is guilty or innocent," he said. "That's up for the courts to decide."

Doering denied the allegations of police coercion. He said it is a common defense used by lawyers in criminal cases.

"I'm comfortable saying now, and in hindsight, that there was no coercion involved," Doering said. "It was simply a matter of asking questions and when the answers didn't add up, going back and questioning him some more. That's not coercion. Just good police work."

In December, Wetzler entered into a plea agreement with the state that Dale would plead guilty, but retarded, to a single felony charge of lying to police. Instead of being sent to prison, he would be sent to a mental health institution for five years and be permanently expelled from Glynn County.

Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett had ordered that Dale undergo a mental evaluation before deciding whether to accept the deal.

Scarlett will either deny or accept the agreement during a hearing scheduled for Monday at 9:30 a.m. If he does not accept it, then the next step for Dale will be a trial to a jury.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Defendant in child-killing rejects plea deal, wants trial

Fri, Jun 6, 2008

The attorney for Donald Dale, the man accused of helping to conceal the body of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. last March, says he's tired of playing games and has withdrawn from a plea agreement with the state.

Public defender John Wetzler, claiming police resorted to nothing more than guesswork to make their case against Dale, said he filed a withdrawal of plea petition in Glynn County Superior Court Thursday. He also reinstated his request for a speedy trial.

"I'm tired of the coyness of it all," Wetzler said Thursday. "There is no plea, there will be no plea. There will either be a jury trial or there will be a dismissal of all charges."

Dale is charged with obstruction of justice, providing false information and concealing the death of another in the slaying of Barrios on March 8, 2007.

David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy, and their adult son, George, are charged with kidnapping, molesting and killing the C.B. Greer Elementary School kindergartner.

In the plea agreement Wetlzer made in December, Dale would plead guilty but retarded to a single felony charge of lying to police. That would have sent him to a mental health institution for five years but kept him out of jail.

Dale would have been permanently expelled from Glynn County.

Wetzler said he now wants a trial for Dale because he is tired of waiting for the District Attorney's office to put the plea agreement into writing.

"Our understanding of the state's offer was that Dale would get a mental evaluation done and that I would find him a place to go, and that the state would ask the judge to consider our plea agreement," he said.

"They have never unequivocally confirmed our plea that we talked about, so the deal is off."

Wetzler said his client has sat in jail long enough.

Dale has been at the Glynn County Detention Center since his arrest in March 2007.

Wetzler said he would have tried to acquire a bond for Dale but feared that his client would not be safe on the streets in the climate that followed the slaying.

Now, he is ready to prove Dale's innocence.

"I know what the evidence is because I've been looking at it for 13 months," Wetzler said Thursday. "I know what is required at the basic level for a conviction of what Dale has been charged with and I haven't seen any evidence to substantiate that.

"All I can say to the state is good luck proving the case. I'm ready to go."

In the filing Thursday, Wetzler claims that Dale arrived at the Edenfield trailer on Horseshoe Lane in Canal Road Mobile Home Park 13 minutes before police entered the trailer and arrested the Edenfields and Dale. He contends that Dale could not possibly have hidden the victim's body in that short time frame.

Wetzler states in the petition that police knew Dale had nothing to with Christopher's disappearance. If they did not know, then they either "exhibited a total lack of collective investigative abilities" or they had "a total lack of desire to get their facts straight before they ruined the life of Donald Dale with their vague and unfounded guesswork," he wrote in the petition.

Wetzler said he just wants the best for his client and that the community needs to know that Dale had nothing to do with the crime.

"The only way Dale will be able to walk up and down the streets without people saying he is a child molester or a killer is by a jury trial," Wetzler said.

Wetzler said he will be in court at 9:30 a.m. Monday for calendar call for a status report on the case.

The withdrawal of the plea agreement is the second court filing for Wetzler in a week. On June 6, he filed his notice of his intention to present a defense of coercion.

In that motion, Wetzler claims he has a video recording that was provided by the prosecution during evidentiary discovery in which investigators with the Glynn County Police Department can be heard laughing about Dale's statements after they interviewed him.

"Later after the investigation was complete, the investigators laughed about how silly Dale's comments were," Wetzler stated in the motion. "They decided that he just needed to be locked up, at a minimum, so 'he could not breed.'"
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

DA lets defense do talking

Sat, Jun 7, 2008

Glynn County District Attorney Stephen Kelley says he will not respond publicly to a defense attorney's claim that prosecutors have dragged their feet on a plea agreement in the case of a child who was kidnapped, molested and killed last year.

Donald Dale, accused of helping to conceal the body of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. in early March 2007, had agreed in December to plead guilty to a less serious charge of lying to police. He has been indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, providing false information and concealing the death of another in the slaying of Barrios March 8, 2007.

His attorney, John Wetzler, filed a petition Thursday in Glynn County Superior Court to withdraw the plea agreement. Wetzler said he was tired of waiting for the district attorney to confirm the oral agreement between the state and his client.

In the initial agreement, Dale would have pled guilty but retarded to a single felony charge of lying to police. He would have been sent to a mental health facility for five years and permanently expelled from Glynn County.

Kelley declined to comment Friday on the plea withdrawal.

"My response will be heard Monday in the courtroom," Kelley said, while noting that a defendant has the right to withdraw a plea right up to the time of sentencing. "It's the only ethical thing to do."

Wetzler and Kelley will be in court at 9:30 a.m. Monday for a status report on the case.

Wetzler said Thursday that he was "tired of the coyness of it all," and that, as he sees it, there will be either a jury trial or a dismissal of all charges.

Wetzler accuses the Glynn County police investigators involved with the case of "exhibiting a total lack of collective investigating abilities" or having a "total lack of desire to get their facts straight before they ruined the life of Donald Dale with their vague and unfounded guesswork."

Dale was friends with the three people charged in the death of the elementary school pupil – David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy, and their adult son, George.

Police allege that Dale helped hide the body after the boy was killed.

The state is seeking the death penalty for George and David Edenfield. The death penalty was removed from charges against Peggy Edenfield after she agreed to testify against her husband and son.

On May 30, Wetzler filed his notice of his intention to present a defense of coercion in Dale's case.

In that motion, Wetzler claims he has a video recording that was provided by the prosecution during evidentiary discovery in which investigators with the Glynn County Police Department can be heard laughing about Dale's statements after they interviewed him.

"Later after the investigation was complete, the investigators laughed about how silly Dale's comments were," Wetzler stated in the motion. "They decided that he just needed to be locked up, at a minimum, so 'he could not breed.'"

Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering has said his department has launched an internal investigation into the allegations about police conduct in the Dale case.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Public defender in no hurry

Mon, Jun 9, 2008

While the lawyer for the man charged with helping to conceal the body of Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. is demanding a speedy trial for his client, the defense attorney for at least one of three others involved in the case is in no particular hurry.

Two of three others charged – David Edenfield and his adult son, George Edenfield, – face capital cases and death penalty litigation takes time, said James Yancey, the public defender.

Even though Yancey's client, David Edenfield, has been incarcerated for 15 months, he said he doesn't feel Edenfield's right to a speedy trial as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution has been violated.

"There's a phrase that goes 'death is different,'" said Yancey. "There is still so much that has to be done in this case."

David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy Edenfield, and their adult son, George Edenfield, allegedly kidnapped, molested and strangled 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios on March 8, 2007.

John Wetzler, representing Donald Dale, the man accused of helping the family conceal the body, has petitioned the court for a speedy trial. He claims his client is innocent and, rejecting a plea bargain, says a trial will be necessary to clear Dale's name.

Both Edenfield men remain in solitary cells at the Glynn County Detention Center. Peggy Edenfield has been moved to the Wayne County Jail and will not face the death penalty in exchange for testifying against her husband and son.

No trial dates have been set and no further motions have been filed by defense attorneys for any of the Edenfields.

"Death penalty cases don't go as fast as regular criminal cases because there is a unified appeals process that doesn't apply to other cases and we have a special body of law that applies only to the death penalty," said Yancey. "There are other cases in the state that have been pending longer than this one."

That includes right here, in the Golden Isles. According to the Clerk of Superior Court's office, six death penalty cases are now pending in Glynn County, including the cases against George Edenfield and David Edenfield.

Defendants in two of the other four death penalty cases have been incarcerated at the Glynn County Detention Center longer than the Edenfields.

Harold Dean Kinlaw has been in jail for more than four years. He was arrested Jan. 19, 2004, for kidnapping his ex-wife and shooting and killing a U.S. Customs agent from New York.

Kinlaw, 56, allegedly shot Felipe Herrera, 61, on Jan. 18, 2004 at Herrera's residence, at 2001 Parkwood Drive, and then allegedly kidnapped Damaris Kinlaw, who had been visiting Herrera.

Harold was arrested the next day at a hotel in Warrenton, N.C. Damaris Kinlaw was taken into custody unharmed.

Harold Kinlaw's case is scheduled for this fall, said Glynn County District Attorney Stephen Kelley.

David John Clay, 27, has been incarcerated at the Glynn County Detention Center just four days longer than the Edenfields.

Clay faces the death penalty for stabbing 45-year-old Janice Gayle Swain to death March 4, 2007, in the bathtub of a room at Guest Cottage at 150 Venture Drive, Brunswick. No trial date has been set in Clay's case.

Kelley said the Sixth Amendment's right to a speedy trial is only violated if the length of time it takes for the case to go before a jury will harm the defendant's case.

"For example, the state can't deliberately delay a case so that evidence will no longer be credible or a witness will no longer be available," he said.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

First Barrios case goes to trial July 7
Tue, Jun 10, 2008


The first of four defendants in the death case of Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. now has a trial date.

The case of Donald Dale, accused of concealing the death of Barrios in March 2007, will go to trial in Glynn County Superior Court on July 7.

Dale is charged with one count of obstruction of justice, one count of making false statements and one count of concealing the death of another.

The C.B. Greer student was killed March 8, 2007, but his body wasn't found until a week later. It had been left inside a black garbage bag on the side of Canal Road about one mile from the child's residence on Horseshoe Lane.

The jury trial date was set by Glynn County Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett during a hearing Monday after scolding Dale's attorney, John Wetzler, and District Attorney Stephen Kelley for prolonging the court case.

Kelley said his office is still not ready.

"It is absolutely ridiculous that this has not gone to trial yet," Scarlett told the two attorneys in what was a packed courtroom. "The victims deserve their day in court and Mr. Dale deserves his day in court. You two gentleman are obstructing this."

Dale is accused of hiding Barrios' body after a family of three – David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy Edenfield, and their adult son, George Edenfield – allegedly kidnapped, molested and strangled the kindergartner on March 8, 2007.

All have entered not guilty pleas.

No trial dates have been set for any of the Edenfields. George and David Edenfield face the death penalty and remain incarcerated at the Glynn County Detention Center. Peggy Edenfield was moved to the Wayne County Jail and will not face the death penalty in exchange for testifying against her husband and son.

Wetzler filed a petition May 30 claiming that the district attorney's office dragged its feet on a verbal plea agreement made between him and Assistant District Attorney John Johnson last December.

He claimed that the agreement was never unequivocally confirmed by the state and reinstated a request last week for a speedy trial.

In the agreement, Dale was to have pled guilty but retarded to a single felony charge of lying to police. He would have been sent to a mental institution for five months and permanently expelled from Glynn County.

Scarlett said Monday that he didn't understand why Wetzler had not filed the document earlier.

"I'm perplexed," Scarlett said. "Why did it take seven months for you to realize that there was no plea agreement? If you had said to me six months ago, 'Judge, we can't come to an agreement,' then we would have tried it four months ago."

Kelley, denying that his office was dragging its feet, told the court that Wetzler rejected a written plea offer sent in late November.

Kelley also said it will be difficult for his office to prepare for the July 7 trial date, especially since Johnson is on vacation.

"I'm not sure I can get ready for trial in three weeks," Kelley said.

"They changed their minds and so now we're at a disadvantage."

Scarlett told Kelley that his office has had plenty of time to prepare.

"You've had this case for 18 months," Scarlett said. "I see no reason why the case can't be prepared in one month, Mr. Kelley."

Scarlett said a motion hearing will be set prior to the trial.

Dale's step-father, Stanley Goodall, and his stepsister, Robin McManus, sat behind the prosecution during the hearing. They said they are happy that a court date has finally been set.

"It's way past time," said Goodall, who said he has not been able to visit Dale in jail. "I don't know why it took so long."

Both said Dale is innocent.

"I know he is," said McManus. "He's just totally incapable of doing what he was accused of."

Sue Rodriguez, grandmother of the murdered child, would be inclined to disagree.

"That is crap," she said about Wetzler's claim that Dale had nothing to do with her grandson's disappearance. "I saw (Dale) the night Christopher went missing over at the Edenfield house. I saw the cops shine their light in his truck like they were looking for Christopher.

"How anybody can say that (Dale) had nothing to do with it is crazy."

Six-year-old Barrios lived with his father and stepmother at 150 Horseshoe Lane in Canal Road Mobile Home Park. His grandmother and the Edenfields resided on the same street.


_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Hearing set in death case

Fri, Jun 20, 2008

A Glynn County Superior Court judge will hear all pending pretrial motions Thursday in the case of Donald Dale, the man accused of concealing the death of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. in 2007.

The hearing will be 9:30 a.m. before Judge Stephen Scarlett of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit.

Dale's trial is scheduled for July 7 in Glynn County Superior Court.

John Wetzler, the court-appointed lawyer representing Dale, filed a notice of intent to call Arney Herrin, former Waycross chief of police, to testify during next week's hearing as an expert in the field of interrogations, proper police protocol, coercion and proper investigative techniques.Wetzler filed his intention to present a defense of coercion in early June, claiming that Glynn County detectives coerced his client into making false statements during the initial investigation.

In the same petition, Wetzler also contends that investigators with the Glynn County Police Department are recorded on their own video saying that Dale should be locked up so that "he could not breed."

Glynn County Chief of Police Matt Doering has denied in newspaper interviews allegations that investigators coerced Dale.

Dale is accused of helping to hide the body of the C.B. Greer Elementary School pupil after a family of three – David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy Edenfield, and their adult son, George Edenfield – allegedly kidnapped, molested and strangled the child March 8, 2007. Dale was a friend of the Edenfields.

No trial dates have been set for any of the Edenfields.

George and David Edenfield face the death penalty. Peggy Edenfield agreed to testify against then in exchange for facing the possibility of only life imprisonment .

============================

Truthfully, I wish they'd all just knock off the bullsticks and take what's coming to them.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[serialbuster]

Really.

If Dale's truck was there the night after Christopher went missing, I
doubt if he was just playing video games. I have known some mentally
ill people who were capable of committing heinous crimes, both physically
powerful and sexually functional, although mentally irresponsible.

Under the influence of those trashy edenfield's, I think its possible he
may have participated in more than "concealing" the body.

My first thought to Peggy Edenfield being offered a plea was "NO WAY",
but I decided it was "fitting" that she should testify against her husband
and her OWN flesh and blood SON to see them put to death, as further
testimony to her own "scuzziness". WHAT a bunch of SCUMBAGS.
NONE of them should have EVER been "allowed to breed".


buster

[rumaj]

Barrios defendant pleads guilty

Fri, Jun 27, 2008

The man accused of helping to hide the body of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in Glynn County Superior Court Thursday and will soon be headed for a mental health institution.

Donald Dale pleaded guilty to lying to police during a hearing before Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett and was sentenced to five years at a state mental health institution.

Glynn County police had alleged that Dale helped hide the kindergartner's body after a family of three – David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy Edenfield, and their adult son, George Edenfield – allegedly kidnapped, molested and strangled Barrios March 8, 2007. Dale was a friend of the Edenfield family.

The state has three months to place Dale in a facility selected by the Georgia Department of Human Resources. In the meantime, he will remain incarcerated at the Glynn County Detention.

Scarlett accepted the agreed plea after the state presented findings from a state psychologist's mental evaluation of Dale, said District Attorney Stephen Kelley.

"Dale came back with an IQ of 60, which is classified as mentally retarded," Kelley said. "An IQ of 60 means that he is in the low range of functioning for adaptive skills such as communication, daily living and social skills."

Dale had been living at Help Housing, a 19-bedroom halfway home for disabled and mentally ill residents, when the murder occurred. He was originally indicted on one count of obstruction of justice, one count of making false statements and one count of concealing the death of another.

The state dismissed the obstruction of justice and concealment charge Wednesday.

Dale was reindicted the same day on the single charge of lying to police, said Kelley.

"The factual basis of the case is that there is no evidence that Dale participated in the killing of Christopher Barrios," Kelley said. "We absolutely know that for a fact."

"However, he did lie to the police and he should be accountable for that and the court held him accountable (Thursday)."

Scarlett had said during a June 9 hearing that Dale's case would go to trial July 7.

He originally scheduled Thursday for a pre-trial hearing on all pending pretrial motions in the case.

Although members of the Barrios family stood up in court and agreed to the plea, both Christopher's grandmother, Sue Rodriguez, and his father, Mike Barrios, said they believe Dale had something to do with Christopher's disappearance.

Christopher was living with his father in a trailer in Canal Road Mobile Home Park when he was abducted and killed.

"He got the maximum for what they can prove," said Mike Barrios, shrugging his shoulders.

"I still think he played a bigger role. I think he came over and helped cover (the murder) up."

Rodriguez said she is glad Dale will be out of Glynn County.

"Better to get him out of town then give him the chance to mess with someone else's child," she said.

During the hearing, Dale's stepfather, Stanley Goodall, and his stepsister, Robin McManus, sat quietly and watched the proceedings in silence.

"I'm not happy with the sentence," said Goodall after the hearing.

"I think the time he's done is enough already."

He said he believes his stepson is innocent of all charges, including lying to police.

"He's not a bad kid," Goodall said. "He's never had any problems."

Dale's attorney, John Wetzler, has maintained his client's innocence all along, saying Dale was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[LI_Mom]

Sometimes you hear about a case & you wish for vigilante justice instead of wasting time with trials.

Not so much for this Dale character but for that family of monsters.

[rumaj]

Hearing may move Barrios case closer to trial

Thu, Jul 3, 2008

A final hearing on pretrial motions for one of two family members facing the death penalty for allegedly molesting and killing 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. will be next month in Glynn County Superior Court.

The hearing will move a possible trial one step closer for David Edenfield, District Attorney Stephen Kelley said Wednesday, unless the prosecution or defense asks the Georgia Supreme Court to review the case, which typically happens in death penalty cases.

If that occurs, a trial could be six months away, Kelley said.

The hearing on all pending motions in Edenfield's case is set for 9:30 a.m. Aug. 28 before Glynn County Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett.

David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy Edenfield, and their adult son, George Edenfield, are accused of kidnapping, molesting and strangling Christopher March 8, 2007.

David and George Edenfield are facing possible death sentences, while Peggy Edenfield has a deal with prosecutors to testify against her husband and son in exchange for a possible life in prison sentence, if convicted.

No hearing dates have been set for either Peggy Edenfield or George Edenfield.

Peggy Edenfield is being held in the Ware County Jail. She was transferred there last year as part of her agreement with prosecutors. David Edenfield and George Edenfield are in separate isolation cells at the Glynn County Detention Center.

Attorneys are still waiting on the results of psychological tests for George Edenfield to determine if he is mentally competent to stand to trial.

In October, his attorneys Gerald Word and Todd Wooten, filed a special plea of incompetency. If experts find that he is competent, a civil jury will decide if he is competent enough to proceed with the murder trial.

Of the four adults originally charged in the case almost 16 months ago, only one has had charges against him settled in court.

Donald Dale, who was a friend of the Edenfield family, pleaded guilty June 26 to lying to police and was sentenced to five years at a state mental health institution. A court-appointed psychologist had determined that he was mildly retarded.

Dale had been indicted on a charge of helping to conceal Christopher's body, but prosecutors later conceded they had no evidence to support that charge.

"Now that Dale's case is over, I think you will start to see a steady flow of hearings this fall for all of the Edenfields," said Kelley.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Edenfield lawyers want charges dismissed

Fri, Aug 29, 2008
By EMILY STRANGER

David Edenfield wants charges that he kidnapped, molested and killed a 6-year-old child dismissed because, his lawyers contend, grand jurors who indicted him were not drawn from a pool representative of the community.

John Beall IV and James Yancey Jr. tried Thursday to convince Glynn County Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett to dismiss the indictment of Edenfield because Hispanics, they specifically argued, were under-represented among potential grand jurors.

By coincidence, the child Edenfield is accused of killing in March 2007, Christopher Barrios Jr., was Hispanic. Beall and Yancey, though, could have raised the challenge to the makeup of the jury list regardless of the victim's ethnicity.

Beall and Yancey also continued Thursday to press their argument to have Edenfield's trial moved from Glynn County, claiming that so many potential jurors have formed opinions of the case that Edenfield could not receive a fair trial.

Scarlett said he would rule on the motion to dismiss the indictment and continued the hearing on the motion to move a trial until the collection of potential evidence involved in the request could be completed.

David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy Edenfield, and their adult son, George Edenfield, are accused of kidnapping, molesting and strangling Barrios March 8, 2007, in their trailer at the Canal Road Mobile Home Park.

David and George Edenfield are facing possible death sentences, while Peggy Edenfield has an agreement with prosecutors to testify against her husband and son in exchange for a possible life in prison sentence, if she is convicted.

Beall called several witnesses Thursday, including Glynn County Board of Elections Supervisor Cindy Johnson, Clerk of Superior Court Lola Jamsky, several past members of the Glynn County Jury Commission – Dale Disque, Betty Neely, Charles Lewis and Wade Overstreet – and current jury commission member Star Wheeler.

He sought to prove that the grand jury was improperly constituted because the pool of potential grand jurors from voting rolls and other sources did not contain enough people other than whites and blacks to reflect the demographic makeup of the county. In particular, his contention was that there were too few Hispanics.

Johnson, who brought several binders of statistics with her to court, told Beall there are only 341 identified Hispanics registered to vote in Glynn County out of a population of 842 U.S. citizens who are Hispanic, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

Witnesses who have been involved with the jury commission all testified that despite state-mandated efforts to identify people whose ethnicity is not white or black as potential jurors for grand juries or trial juries it had been difficult to find Hispanics who are U.S. citizens to put into the jury pool.

"We did everything we could do to get Hispanic voters in," Wheeler testified. "We put ads in the paper and even went to churches."

Beall said the jury commission failed to identify eligible Hispanic citizens despite its efforts.

"I suspect there are more Hispanic voters out there," he said. "I would like to see more and I think there should have been more on the grand jury."

Yancey and Beall's argument for Edenfield to be tried outside of Glynn County centered largely on the extent of coverage of the case in The Brunswick News.

Yancey subpoenaed on Monday afternoon from The News copies of all of its print and electronic coverage of the case to be assembled and made available at the Thursday morning hearing.

Managing Editor Kerry Klumpe testified Thursday that The News had made a good faith effort to comply with the subpoena by providing a directory to archived newspaper stories and copies of more than a year's worth of electronic media, but was unable in two days to review the material to determine how much of it was relevant.

Scarlett continued the hearing on a trial location to allow The News 30 days for staff members to isolate the requested material.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[Liam1306]

Many people classify all pedophiles - irregardless of gender preference.

Has there ever been a rehabilitated male gender preferential pedophile?

[rumaj]

Soap's use of photo rankles boy's family

11/03/08
By Teresa Stepzinski, Morris News Service


BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- The family of slain 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. wants to know where a cable television soap opera got his photograph and why it was a prop in a fictional story line about a father abandoning his son.

Christopher was abducted, sexually abused and strangled March 8, 2007. His body was discovered a week later about 2 miles from the Canal Mobile Home Park, where he had lived with his extended family.

A photograph of the slain kindergarten student was used in an episode of General Hospital: Night Shift broadcast nationwide Oct. 14 on the SOAPnet cable television network. In the episode, the photo depicted the abandoned young son of a character portrayed by actor Billy Dee Williams.

"It's disgusting, and it really hurts. They had no right to do that. ... I feel like they've exploited him, and the only reason they did it is to make money off Christopher," his grandmother, Sue Rodriguez, told the Times-Union.

The photo resembles those Rodriguez and his father, Christopher Michael "Mike" Barrios Sr., released through the news media and on fliers to enlist the public's help finding Christopher when he disappeared.

Rodriguez learned the soap opera had used Christopher's photograph after a television viewer recognized him and alerted a Jacksonville television station.

"I was horrified when I saw it," Rodriguez said.

After being contacted by the Times-Union, a SOAPnet spokeswoman telephoned Rodriguez on Thursday to apologize. Network officials previously had issued a written statement expressing regret.

Jori Petersen told the Times-Union that the soap opera's production team "would never have knowingly chosen this particular photo" if it had known it was Christopher. "Its use was a terrible error," Petersen said.

Petersen said the network plans to broadcast a series of public service announcements to raise awareness of missing and exploited children.

In addition, the episode is being edited "to permanently remove" Christopher's photo, she said.

"We are taking steps, including reviewing our internal processes to see how this happened, and how to prevent this type of mistake from occurring again," Petersen said. Rodriguez lauded the planned public service announcements, but rejected the apology.

"I especially want to know [why] they used it in a story about a father abandoning his son because it implies that happened to Christopher, and that is absolutely not the case with him," he said.

It's possible, Rodriguez said, the soap opera got Christopher's photo off the Internet.

The brutal killing garnered nationwide news coverage and spawned numerous Web sites and blogs about the slaying. On Thursday, Google showed at least 154,000 sites referencing him.

Convicted child molester George Edenfield, 32, and his parents, David Edenfield, 58, and Peggy Edenfield, 57, are awaiting trial on malice murder, kidnapping and child molestation charges in Christopher's death.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets