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

[rumaj]

I read this article the other day and it really frosted me.

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Murder defendants tell state - Prove it

Sat, Apr 14, 2007
By EMILY STRANGER

The Brunswick News

Sue Rodriguez could barely control herself as she watched it all unfold.

George Edenfield, David Edenfield and Peggy Edenfield – the three people accused of the kidnapping and subsequent murder of her 6-year-old grandson, Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. – all pleaded not guilty to numerous charges in the crime during their arraignments Friday in Glynn County Superior Court.

"It made me so mad, looking over and seeing (Peggy Edenfield) sitting there with her legs propped up," Rodriguez said after the hearing.

Prosecutors allege that George Edenfield and his parents David and Peggy Edenfield kidnapped, sexually abused and murdered Christopher on March 8 in their trailer in the Canal Road Mobile Home Park.

Christopher would stay with his grandmother after school in a trailer next to the Edenfield's, and he lived with his father, Mike Barrios, in another trailer in the park.

After a search that involved hundreds of community volunteers and law enforcement agents, the body of the C.B. Greer Elementary School kindergarten student was found March 15 in a black trash bag about two miles from his home.

Members of Christopher's family and others filled the courtroom benches behind the prosecution team during the arraignments Friday.
Sheriff deputies dressed in suits stood between the two sides of the courtroom for extra security.

Peggy Edenfield, 57, was the first to enter her pleas before Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett.

Gasps and murmurs were heard throughout the courtroom and some buried their faces in their hands as District Attorney Stephen Kelley of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit read all eight counts against Peggy Edenfield.

Wearing a plaid dress, Peggy Edenfield stood next to her attorney, Richard Allen, as he entered not guilty pleas for her to all charges.

Rodriguez, who never looked away from the defense side of the courtroom during the hearing, threw her arms in the air and jolted forward after Peggy Edenfield spoke.

Gerald Word, a lawyer representing George Edenfield, 32, and James Yancey, a lawyer representing David Edenfield, 58, waived formal arraignments and entered not guilty pleas to all charges without having the indictments against their clients read aloud.

The state is seeking the death penalty for all three.

George Edenfield slouched forward in his chair while David Edenfield sat up straight beside his attorney and crossed his arms, looking forward. Each was dressed in a suit and tie.

None of the Edenfields spoke during their court appearances.

During the proceeding, Scarlett also addressed a motion to remove himself from the case. The motion was submitted by Allen on behalf of Peggy Edenfield.

Scarlett said the motion alluded to him being "embarrassed" about a ruling he made on March 5 in which he accepted the state's plea bargain that George Edenfield, a previously convicted child molester, be granted probation.

The decision came three days before Christopher disappeared March 8. George Edenfield was before Scarlett to plead guilty to an indictment that, after being convicted as a child molester in 1997, he had violated a new state law last year by living within 1,000 feet of where children gather.

"I am not embarrassed of the decisions I made," Scarlett said. "The court found upon evidence before it that there was no basis to reject the state's recommended statement.

"I am a lifelong resident of this county, and I don't live in an ivory tower. I feel embarrassment for the loss of a child in this county, but I am not embarrassed for any manner I've conducted myself."

Scarlett also approved a motion granting Peggy Edenfield's defense team 30 days to investigate the Edenfield Family trailer at 121 Horseshoe Lane.

After the proceeding, members of Christopher's family and their supporters gathered on the steps of the Glynn County Courthouse.

"Being there and seeing them is difficult," Mike Barrios, Christopher's father, said of the Edenfields. "They just sit there like nothing is bothering them."

Rodriguez said she still clings onto hope that justice will be served.

"Christopher is going to get justice. They didn't show him any, but he will get his," she said.

No trial date has been set, but could be at least a year away because of procedures required in a death penalty case.

The indictment:

George Edenfield, David Edenfield and Peggy Edenfield each pleaded not guilty Friday to these charges:

* Murder (maximum possible sentence: death)

* Kidnapping with bodily injury (maximum sentence: death)

* Enticing a child for indecent purposes (maximum sentence: 30 years in prison)

* False imprisonment (maximum sentence: 10 years in prison)

* Cruelty to children, first degree (maximum sentence: 20 years in prison)

* Child molestation (maximum sentence: 20 years in prison)

* Concealing a death (maximum sentence: 10 years in prison)

* Tampering with evidence (maximum sentence: 10 years in prison)

George and David Edenfield, in addition, each pleaded not guilty to two counts each:

* Aggravated child molestation (maximum sentence: life in prison)
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Foundation Formed in Memory of Murdered Brunswick Boy

Monday, Apr 16, 2007 - 10:45 AM

Kaitlyn Pratt
Reporter

Chimes, candles, and piles of toys, all mark memories of Christopher Barrios, in a roadside tribute.

The six year old's murder -- bringing Brunswick together.
"It just touched a spot in my heart that - I didn't know this a child, but he is a child of this community, he's Brunswick's angel," explains Danny Mansfield.

Mansfield helped search for Christopher in the days after he disappeared.
His picture hangs around his neck...
The boy's death isn't just a wake up call --
It is a calling for Mansfield, and nine others that have formed the Justice for Christopher Foundation.
"We want a one strike law to get these child predators off the street, to make communities more aware of who's living in their neighborhood,"
explains Roxanne Stevens.

"The first time you offend a child, we want you in prison for the rest of your life!" agrees April Keller.

The foundation is passing around a petition to change Georgia's sex offender laws.
And taking countless calls -- from people offering to burn down the trailer where police believe Christopher was molested and killed.
"They say they'd love to see it torched," says Stevens.

It's right across the road from the boy's grandmother.
"To wake up every day, get in your truck to go to work, knowing what happened in that trailer..." Stevens shudders.

But right now, the group says justice doesn't mean arson, or destroying evidence.
"Leave it alone. Let them get the evidence they need," says Mansfield.

The group says -- they plan on being in court -- whenever Christopher's accused killers are:
"To remind ourselves that these people are real," says group President Sam Lyons.

For more on the Justice for Christopher foundation, or to sign their petition, click here: http://justiceforchristopher.org/

Video At:
http://www.wsav.com/midatlantic/sav/news/crime___safety.apx.-content-articles-SAV-2007-04-16-0003.html
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

DA awaiting DNA results on Edenfields

Fri, Aug 3, 2007


Results from DNA testing will determine which member of the Edenfield family – son George, father David or mother Peggy – will go to trial first in the molestation and murder of 6-year-old Christopher Barrios Jr.

During a pretrial hearing Thursday for defendant David Edenfield, District Attorney Stephen Kelley told a Superior Court judge test results are pending and that he will decide on a trial sequence based on those results.

DNA testing provides evidence of physical contact between the suspects and the victim.

Kelley revealed his strategy after Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett told prosecutors to give evidence they already have against the three defendants to defense lawyers by Aug. 14 as part of pretrial discovery.

Prosecutors allege that the Edenfields kidnapped, sexually abused and murdered Christopher on March 8 inside their trailer in the Canal Road Mobile Home Park.

After a search by hundreds of community volunteers and law enforcement agents, the body of the C.B. Greer Elementary School kindergartner was found March 15 in a black trash bag about two miles from where he lived with his father in the same trailer park.

Kelley and Assistant District Attorney John Johnson agreed to the request to supply evidence, but told Scarlett that they were waiting on some evidence, including DNA tests, to be returned from the Georgia State Crime Lab.
The request for evidence – a normal procedure in a criminal trial – was one of 60 defense motions Scarlett heard Thursday from attorneys James Yancey Jr. and David Beall IV, representing defendant David Edenfield.

The hearing came three days after a similar proceeding Monday for George Edenfield, and many of the motions presented by Yancey and Beall were similar to those from George Edenfield's attorneys, Gerald Word and Todd Wooten. A pre-trial hearing for Peggy Edenfield has not been set.

Beall and Yancey argued their motions with Kelley and Johnson for nearly four hours Thursday.

Other motions argued by the defense were the necessity of a juror questionnaire and that the prosecution not challenge the defense in a discriminatory matter based on race.

"For the record, the race of Mr. Edenfield and the alleged victim are different," said Yancey in his argument.

Use of the phrase "alleged victim" enraged Johnson, who pointed out that there is no "alleged" victim in the case.

"(Christopher) is dead and buried," he said. "I don't want us to understand there is a nebulous victim here."

The defense also requested that Scarlett prohibit any victim impact statements, which would give family and friends of the slain child the opportunity to tell the court how the crime has affected them personally.

Before the end of the hearing, Johnson told Scarlett that he would need to reschedule an evidentiary hearing for David Edenfield from the week of Oct. 1.

The schedule conflict frustrated Scarlett, who rescheduled the hearing to Nov. 5.

"This is like herding cats," said Scarlett, while trying to align the new schedule of hearings. "I understand the dynamics of your office, but I hope you understand the dynamics of my calendar."

Christopher's grandmother, Sue Rodriguez, attended the hearing Thursday and said she was disgusted by the affair.

"I think it's sickening," she said outside the Glynn County Courthouse afterward.

Rodriguez, who had glared at David Edenfield during the hearing, said the date extension made her all the more frustrated.

"We're now going to have to pay for (David Edenfield) to sit in jail even longer," she said. "It's our tax dollars paying for his food and water. I say, let him drink out of the toilet or sink faucet instead."

Kelley said he was not surprised by any of the motions filed on behalf of David Edenfield or George Edenfield.

"These are all routine motions in death penalty cases," he said.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

January trial set for Dale

Thu, Nov 1, 2007
By EMILY STRANGER

A Brunswick man accused of helping to conceal the death of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. in March will be the first of four people to stand trial in the case.

The jury trial of Donald Dale will begin at 9 a.m. Jan. 7, with jury selection beginning at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 3.

Dale is accused of helping to hide the body of the C.B. Greer Elementary kindergarten pupil after three members of one family allegedly kidnapped, molested and murdered the boy March 8.

Charged with kidnapping, molesting and strangling the child are David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy Edenfield, and 31-year-old son, George Edenfield. No trial dates have been set for them.


Donald Dale is accused of helping to hide the body of Christopher Barrios Jr., but he is not charged in the boy's slaying.
Dale is also charged with lying to police during the initial investigation in an attempt to throw investigators off track in their search for the child.

Dale's attorney, John Wetzler, had filed a request for a speedy trial in Glynn County Superior Court on July 12. Wetzler said he filed the request because he believes Dale is innocent and hopes to have him exonerated on all charges.

"With him being the least sought-after defendant from the state, he wouldn't be tried until after (the Edenfields) and that could take years," Wetzler said Wednesday.

"I am not willing for him to stay in jail – for what could be years –before the issues and the facts concerning the allegations against him are brought to trial."

He said he is ready to prove that Dale took no part in hiding the murder that attracted national attention.

Wetzler has contended that his client was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He said Dale, a friend of the Edenfields, was invited to the family's residence at 121 Horseshoe Lane the night of March 8, the same night Christopher allegedly was killed, to help the Edenfields install a new video game system.

"I'm ready to go (to trial) and I want to hear what (the prosecution) has to say and I'm ready to bring it to a head," Wetzler said. "If it is not resolved short of a trial before now and then, then I will be ready in January to defend him."

As of Wednesday, prosecutors had not offered Wetzler a plea bargain in which Dale would plead guilty in exchange for any recommended sentence.

If Dale is convicted on all charges, he could face up to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for each member of the Edenfield Family.

Wetzler said he has allowed Dale to remain in the Glynn County Detention Center since his arrest in March because he fears for his client's safety if he were released on bond before a trial.

"His life would be in danger because people have rushed to the conclusion that he's guilty with what he's been charged with and he will not be safe until the facts have been heard and he has been exonerated," Wetzler said.

"Besides that, he has no family and no where to go where he's safe. He needs to stay where he is until we get this resolved."

Dale is being kept isolated from other inmates at the Detention Center.

District attorney Stephen Kelley said the state doesn't have to prove that the Edenfields murdered Christopher before Dale allegedly moved the body.

"The proof of murder is not the element that Dale has been charged with," Kelley said Wednesday. "All we have to prove is that there was a body."
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Judge denies extra time for Edenfield murder case

Attorneys say they don't have the resources, all evidence to prepare


By Teresa Stepzinski, The Times-Union

BRUNSWICK - David Edenfield's attorneys contend they don't have the resources nor access to all evidence necessary to properly prepare his defense in the sexual abuse slaying of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr.

James Yancey Jr. and John Beall IV also want all court proceedings in David Edenfield's murder trial put on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of lethal injection as a means of execution.

However, Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett ruled that a pre-trial hearing Monday about potential evidence in the case will proceed.

Yancey and Beall will be allowed during the hearing to ask that individual motions be taken up at a later date, Scarlett said in a written order denying the motion for continuance.

"Obviously, we would have liked for the continuance to have been granted," Yancey said. "We will address whatever motions the judge wants us to, and address them the best we are able."

Meanwhile, the judge has set a January trial date for a Brunswick man charged with helping dispose of Christopher's body after he was killed March 8.

Jury selection in the trial of Donald Dale, 34, will begin Jan. 3, followed by testimony on Jan. 7 at the Glynn County Courthouse, Scarlett ruled Tuesday.

Dale has pleaded not guilty to charges of concealing a death and tampering with evidence. He is not charged with harming Christopher. Dale remains jailed for his own protection at the Glynn County Detention Center.

"We'll be ready for trial if the case is not resolved before then," said Dale's attorney, John Wetzler.

No plea bargain has been offered to Dale by prosecutors in the case, Wetzler said.

Dale has a diminished mental capacity, which left him vulnerable to being duped and manipulated by the Edenfield family, who were Dale's friends, Wetzler previously said.

District Attorney Stephen Kelley didn't respond to a Times-Union telephone message left with his staff Tuesday.

David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy C. Edenfield, and their son, George D. Edenfield, all face the death penalty if convicted of malice murder in the death of the Glynn County kindergarten student. All three have pleaded not guilty and remain jailed without bail. They will be tried separately.

How soon those trials occur hasn't been determined.

Attorneys for George Edenfield, 31, contend he is mentally incompetent and cannot stand trial for the killing.

He cannot be tried until a special civil trial is held to determine if he is capable of understanding the court proceedings and helping with his own defense.

Scarlett canceled a pre-trial hearing for George Edenfield that was to have been held Monday.

In a written motion for a continuance, Yancey said he and Beall have not received all the copies of crime laboratory reports, police interviews with the Edenfields and witnesses and other potential evidence they are entitled to under state law.

They are seeking a change of venue for David Edenfield's trial. Yancey and Beall also are attacking the legality of the police search of the Edenfield's home and want the judge to throw out potential evidence implicating David Edenfield in the abduction, sexual abuse and killing of Christopher,

The lack of "substantive discovery" evidence has hampered the defense's ability to prepare for David Edenfield's hearing, the motion says. Because they don't have an investigator, and lack the resources to pay experts for the hearing, they will not be adequately prepared, Yancey wrote.

In addition, they have not had time to review the materials that they have received. Their preparation also has been hampered because Yancey was gone for a week recently because of a death in the family, he wrote.

David Edenfield was convicted of incest against his daughter in 1994 but isn't a registered sex offender because his conviction occurred two years before the Georgia law took effect.

George Edenfield is a registered sex offender convicted of two counts of child molestation in 1997.

The father and son are charged with taking turns sexually abusing Christopher while Peggy Edenfield, 57, watched and masturbated. All three are charged with killing the child.

Christopher was asphyxiated and his body was found inside a plastic trash bag in woods about two miles from the Canal Mobile Home Park where he and his extended family were neighbors of the Edenfields.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Would it be too much to ask for you to admit you're all a bunch of low life scumbags???????

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Edenfield lawyers say money is running out

Tue, Nov 6, 2007

A lack of money threatens to delay the death penalty trial for one of the defendants accused of killing 6-year-old Christopher Barrios Jr. in March.

During a hearing Monday on pretrial motions, attorneys for David Edenfield told Glynn County Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett that they do not have the funds to pay for the expert witnesses they will need to defend their client.

Public defenders James Yancey Jr. and John Beall also asked Scarlett to rule on a number of motions, including one to suppress certain evidence and another for a change of venue to move the trial out of Glynn County.

On the funding issue, Yancey and Beall said the state budget for defending clients who cannot afford a lawyer is inadequate.

David Edenfield is one of three defendants charged in the March 8 kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and murder of Christopher. His wife, Peggy Edenfield, and son, George Edenfield, 32, are facing the same charges in the strangulation.

The District Attorney's Office of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit is seeking the death penalty against all three.

Yancey and Beall told Scarlett that the Georgia Public Defenders Council does not have money to pay for everything they will need to prepare their defense.

"We don't have the funds to pay experts we need to speak on the issues that need evidence," Yancey said. "We are unable to go forward with these motions because we don't know what's going on (with the funding)."

This year, the state Public Defenders Standards Council voted for a 20-percent budget cut – a decrease of about $4.3 million – to operate within its $35.4 million appropriation from the General Assembly for fiscal 2008, which began July 1.

The budget cuts are blamed on causing widespread funding concerns for public defenders, clogging up death penalty cases across the state.

The death penalty case of Brian Nichols, who is on trial for killing four people in the Fulton County Courthouse March 11, 2005, is blamed for contributing to the shortage. Nichols' attorneys and other court expenses have already cost the council well over $1 million.

"Apparently, the General Assembly is going to decide when this case (of David Edenfield) should be tried," Scarlett during the hearing.

Assistant District attorney John Johnson has his own opinion of the funding issue, which he voiced in court Monday.

"I believe people in Atlanta are purposely doing this to set this trial back," he said, followed by objections from Yancey and Beall.

Officials with the Public Defenders Standards Council could not be reached for comment Monday.

After discussing the funding issue, attorneys proceeded to argue over pretrial motions. Scarlett deferred ruling on defense motions to ban the prosecution from showing autopsy and crime scene pictures, and whether or not lethal injection is constitutional as a form of capital punishment.

On the defense motion for a change of venue, Scarlett ordered that all supplemental information for the motion, including newspaper articles and media coverage, be turned over in the next 30 days.

It will be up to Scarlett to review the coverage and decide if a local jury pool could be influenced by the coverage.

On a motion to suppress evidence due to an alleged illegal search and seizure, Yancey and Beall argued that police did not have valid consent to pick up a piece of evidence – a toy "Star Wars" light saber – that was found outside the Edenfield trailer at 121 Horseshoe Lane after Christopher was reported missing, even though the defendants signed voluntary consent forms.

Christopher lived with his father, Michael Barrios, at 150 Horseshoe Lane, in the Canal Road Mobile Home Park.

The lawyers argued that police targeted the Edenfields after they found outside their residence the toy with which Christopher was last seen playing.

"The only evidence that linked the Edenfields was a light saber and a man convicted of child molestation," said Beall, adding that there was no way police could have known that the toy belonged to Christopher. "That is how police came upon the privilege of searching the trailer."

He argued that police were not given specific details about the toy to link it to the missing child and that the defendants signed the statements because of police coercion. George Edenfield, initially questioned by police in the disappearance of Christopher, is a convicted child molester.

A witness for the prosecution, Glynn County Police Sgt. Ray Sarro, said police had several reasons to question the Edenfields, and that police did not take the saber into evidence until the next day.

The lead investigator of the case said the Edenfields were acting suspiciously when police first canvassed the trailer park.

"We noticed (the Edenfields) peeking out the windows, which I found suspicious," said Sarro. "That's when my initial contact was made with the residents."

He said no evidence was taken during searches the Edenfields allowed without a search warrant.

"We didn't take any evidence out of the trailer when we did the first search," he said. "After that, all evidence was collected through search warrants."

Scarlett did not rule on the motion Monday.

Before the hearings ended around noon, Beall and Yancey argued that the prosecution had not turned over all evidence yet, including police reports.

Scarlett ordered the prosecution to hand over all materials by Nov. 14, except for those matters in which crime laboratory reports are pending.

Scarlett said he will not schedule any further motions hearings for David Edenfield until next year.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Accused child killer agrees to testify against spouse, son

Thu, Dec 6, 2007


Peggy Edenfield can save her own life for her alleged involvement in the death of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. by testifying against her husband and son.

That is the agreement the District Attorney's Office has made with Peggy Edenfield's attorneys: It will drop its request for the death penalty for her in exchange for her account of what happened March 8, when Christopher was allegedly molested and strangled.

She has agreed to testify against three other defendants in the case – her son, George Edenfield, husband, David Edenfield, and family friend, Donald Dale – in exchange for no longer facing a death sentence if convicted.

All three Edenfields are charged with kidnapping and killing Christopher, a C.B. Greer Elementary School kindergarten pupil. Dale is charged only with concealing a body and tampering with evidence. All have pleaded not guilty.

In exchange for Peggy Edenfield's testimony, the state will seek a sentence of life with parole for her on the murder charge instead of death by lethal injection.

The state will still continue to seek the death penalty for George Edenfield and David Edenfield, said District Attorney Stephen Kelley.

Kelley said there is a reason his office is willing to agree to take the death penalty off the table for Peggy Edenfield.
"This will strengthen our case against them," he said of George Edenfield and David Edenfield.

He said he does not necessarily consider the negotiation a plea agreement. Peggy Edenfield has not agreed to enter a different plea and she still faces a trial.

"There has been no agreement of what her sentence will be," Kelley said. "We have not agreed on the number of years in prison."

Peggy Edenfield is being represented by attorney Richard Allen. Because of the agreement, co-counsel Edward Clary has withdrawn from the case because she is no longer entitled to his services as a court-appointed lawyer for a death penalty case.

Peggy Edenfield could face additional prison time for each of the seven other counts she was indicted on by the Glynn County Grand Jury. Those charges include one count of kidnapping with bodily injury, one count of enticing a child for indecent purposes, one count of false imprisonment, one count of cruelty to children in the first degree, and one count of child molestation.

If convicted, Peggy Edenfield, 57, would be eligible for parole in 30 years. She would be 87-years-old then, were she to be convicted and sentenced immediately.

According to court documents, Peggy Edenfield has agreed that her testimony will be consistent with what she told officers on audio tape during the original investigation.

Peggy Edenfield signed the agreement documents Nov. 27. It was filed Tuesday in Superior Court.

She has also agreed to say what happened to Christopher's clothing and where the clothing was put after the child died.

Christopher's body was found in a plastic trash bag about one mile from the trailer park he lived on Canal Road after a week-long search by police and community volunteers.

The state and defense also agreed that Peggy Edenfield will be moved to the Wayne County Jail, upon the approval of the Wayne County sheriff, until her trial.

On Wednesday, she remained incarcerated in an isolation cell at the Glynn County Detention Center. Glynn County Undersheriff Ron Corbett said no arrangements had been made to move her to the Wayne County facility.

Dale, whose trial is to begin Jan. 7, is accused of helping to conceal the body of Christoper and tampering with evidence, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

His attorney, John Wetzler, said Dale rejected a plea offer that was recently made by the district attorney's office.

"I cannot reveal its terms and we will be proceeding to trial this January," he said. "Based upon a thorough review of all available facts, we will not be entering a guilty plea to the charges against Mr. Dale and feel the only way his reputation can be restored is through what we are convinced will be an inevitable acquittal."

George Edenfield and David Edenfield were indicted on the same charges as Peggy but face additional charges of two counts of aggravated child molestation each.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

It really has and does make me sick. She was masturbating while they were raping and torturing that poor little guy.

I don't think any of them should be able to plea down at all.

What a sickening bunch of low-lifes.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Plea deal in killing riles grandmother

Thu, Dec 20, 2007


The grandmother of Christopher Barrios Jr., the 6-year-old who was kidnapped, molested and strangled March 8, says she is outraged that a judge is even considering allowing someone admittedly involved in the case to walk away unpunished.

Under a plea agreement lawyers presented Wednesday to Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett, Donald Dale, a friend of the family accused of molesting and killing the child, would plead guilty, but retarded, to a single charge of lying to police and be sent to a mental haalth facility.

"I think it's stupid, trying to say he is retarded," Sue Rodriquez said of a mental evaluation Scarlett ordered for Dale before he decides whether to accept the deal worked out by John Wetzler, Dale's lawyer, and District Attorney Stephen Kelley.

"He has a Georgia's drivers license. Does that mean Georgia is retarded, too?" Rodriguez asked.

In a hearing Wednesday, Scarlett ordered Dale, 35, to be evaluated by a mental health expert to determine if he is mentally retarded.

Dale is accused of tampering with evidence and concealing the death of Christopher, a C.B. Greer Elementary School kindergartener at the time he was killed.

Under the plea agreement between Wetzler and Kelley, Dale would plead guilty, but mentally retarded, to one felony count of giving false statements to police during their investigation into the disappearance of Christopher. Instead of being sent to a prison, he would spend five years at a mental health institution.
Rodriguez said she is disappointed in the way prosecutors are handling Dale's case.

"I don't think they're doing a good job," she said in tears. "They said they have no evidence proving that (Dale) tampered with evidence, but, my god, he told police he did it."

Scarlett removed Dale's case from the court calendar, pending the outcome of the mental review. His trial, the first of four in the case, had been scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Jan. 7.

"If he is found to be (mentally retarded,) we will have a hearing and determine if there is sufficient factual basis to entertain and accept the plea," Scarlett told a packed courtroom.

Dale sat slumped forward during the hearing and remained silent as Wetzler addressed the court.

David Edenfield and his son, George Edenfield, are charge with molesting and killing Christopher and face the death penalty in the case. Peggy Edenfield, the wife of David and mother of George, is also charged with the killing and has agreed to testify against her husband and son in order to avoid facing the death penalty. No dates have been set for their trials.

Christopher's body was found March 15 in a plastic trash bag on the side of a road, about one mile from where he lived with his father, Michael Barrios, in the Canal Road Mobile Home Park.

In a written argument for a mental evaluation, filed Wednesday in Superior Court, Wetzler said that Dale "... made a series of contradictory and unreasonable statements" to police.

Wetzler also noted that Dale receives government assistance for his mental incapacity.

He asked that Scarlett direct the Department of Human Resources or Forensic Psychiatric Services to conduct the evaluation and report a diagnosis and prognosis.

Wetzler said he anticipates that Scarlett will accept the plea agreement after the mental evaluation is complete. A date for the evaluation has not been set.

"No matter what happens, we will move forward with an appropriate disposition," Wetzler said outside the courtroom. "I have no reason to believe that anything in the plea will change."

Dale's stepfather, Stanley Goodall, sat in the back of the courtroom during the hearing and watched as his stepson sat quietly next to Wetzler.

Goodall said he's convinced that Dale is not guilty of moving Barrios' body or tampering with evidence.

"He's a good kid," said Goodall, also in tears. "He said what the Edenfields asked him to say (to police) because they used to be his neighbor."
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

I"m really tired of this plea agreement crap.

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Barrios deals concern some

Fri, Dec 21, 2007


Sue Rodriguez wants justice for her grandson, 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr., who was kidnapped, molested and strangled to death in March.

But recent developments in the case have her worried she may not see that happen.

In the past two weeks, the state has offered plea agreements with two of four defendants in the case – Peggy Edenfield and Donald Dale.

The state originally was seeking the death penalty against Peggy Edenfield, her husband, David Edenfield, and son, George Edenfield, all accused in the March 8 slaying of the C.B. Greer kindergartner.

A friend of the family, Dale was originally charged with tampering with evidence and helping to hide the body. Dale could have faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

In recent weeks, Peggy Edenfield has agreed to testify against her son and husband in exchange for the state dropping its request for her execution if she is convicted at a trial.

Dale could see the two charges against him dropped entirely in exchange for pleading guilty but retarded to one count of lying to police. He would be sent to a mental health facility, instead of prison, for five years.
On Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett said he will consider accepting the plea agreement offered on behalf of Dale, though only after Dale has undergone a mental evaluation.

But Rodriguez is outraged that Dale could evade hard time in prison.

"What's it going to take to wake this system up?" she said after a hearing Wednesday for Dale. "I think he hid the body. I really do. He deserves to go to prison for what he did."

She feels differently about the state's deal with Peggy Edenfield.

"If she's going to testify against her husband and son, then I'm fine with her living her life in prison, so long as she never gets out," Rodriguez said. "As long as I'm walking or in a wheelchair, I'll be sure to put my input in to make sure she's not allowed in the free world ever again."

District Attorney Stephen Kelley declined comment when asked Thursday to explain why agreements were made with Peggy Edenfield and Dale.

In general, plea agreements can be made for a variety of reasons in any case, said Kevin Gough, a former assistant prosecutor in the Brunswick Judicial Circuit now in private practice.

Without commenting specifically on the Christopher Barrios case, Gough explained that sometimes the prosecution will make a plea offer because it knows it has no chance of winning a guilty verdict at trial. However, in the case of Donald Dale, it was Dale's lawyer who initiated the deal.

"The state can conceal weaknesses with a case during the plea bargain process, and they frequently enter pleas that look generous because there are problems with their case," Gough said.

"Rest assured, the state extracts plea bargains out of many people that it could not convict either because of illegal search, an illegally obtained statement, incidental loss or destruction of evidence or missing witnesses."

Another reason the prosecution might enter into a plea agreement with a defendant is because a lesser sentence may be appropriate, he said.

Before settling on a sentence, the prosecution will look at a defendant's age and criminal history, among other factors.

"The maximum sentence in Georgia is high for most offenses, and just because an offender is charged in a crime doesn't mean they are the worst kind of offender in that category," Gough said. "There are many reasons a defendant might deserve less than the maximum penalty that could be imposed through a plea bargain."

Defendants who agree to cooperate with police or the state can be rewarded, he said.

"Mysterious dismissals and plea bargains oftentimes have something to do with cooperation with law enforcement," said Gough. "Informants get good deals on their cases for their cooperation, which is not always disclosed publicly."

But the main reason that prosecutors make plea bargains is to manage their caseload, he said.

If prosecutors didn't offer plea bargains in some cases, they would not be able to manage everything on their docket and some defendants would be acquitted because they would file speedy trial demands, Gough said.

By law, the demand for a speedy trial mandates that the case go to trial in one year. If the state can't do that, then the defendant is acquitted.

Gough said it is better for a district attorney to make a plea bargain to make sure a criminal receives some form of punishment and is not just released.

"It's better for the state to make a plea offer to avoid this because they can look at a criminal's history, talk to the victim, and make a plea offer without investing a whole lot of resources, even in a major case," Gough said.

Kelley acknowledges that 90 percent of the defendants his office prosecutes agree to plead guilty, but not to the terms of the sentence prescribed.

That's when the bargaining begins.

"A burglary charge in Georgia can carry 20 years, but if a kid who has no criminal history steals a lawn mower out of a shed, he probably won't be sentenced the full 20," Kelley said. "He would get a different sentence versus a career criminal who has burglarized your home for the third or fourth time."

In the Barrios case, only the agreement with Dale is a true plea bargain, in which he will change his plea from "not guilty" to "guilty" in exchange for a recommended sentence to a judge.

Peggy Edenfield has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors by testifying against her son and husband in exchange for no longer facing a possible death penalty, but maintains her "not guilty" plea.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[Frank]

Did anyone see that picture of those 3?? They make the bad guys in that Wes Craven film, 'The Hills Have Eyes" look like bunch of fashion models. They should not be breathing air on this planet

[rumaj]

They all make me want to vomit.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Barrios memorial endures

Mon, Mar 3, 2008

A basket full of Easter eggs, a ceramic Santa Claus and dozens of plush toys lie withered and molded beneath a large wooden shrine on Canal Road in north Glynn County.

Each symbolizes a holiday that has passed without 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios – the elementary school student who was allegedly abducted and killed March 8, 2007, by three adults who lived down the street from him on Horseshoe Lane in north Glynn County.

Friday will mark the one year anniversary of the disappearance of Christopher and the search it triggered that made national headlines while bringing a community together in hope and prayer. It was the beginning of a six-day hunt that concluded with a disheartening discovery.

Sam Wood, who helped search for the C.B. Greer student with other volunteers, constructed the memorial in the very spot where Christopher Barrios' body was found wrapped in a black plastic trash bag on the side of Canal Road on March 14, 2007. A wooden cross and flowers also mark the area.

Memories of the child's abduction and murder remain in the minds of those who helped police scan the woods and grounds around Canal Road Trailer Park – where Christopher resided in a mobile home with his father, Michael, and step-family – for almost a week.

"I think we still feel the loss of his presence," said Wood, who lives at 681 Canal Road, across the street from Horseshoe Lane, where Christopher was allegedly abducted, molested and strangled.

"This neighborhood will never be the same."
He's right. A lot has changed since two rangers with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources found Christopher's lifeless body behind the Brunswick Golden Isles Airport.

The dirt parking lot at 700 Canal Road, where volunteers gathered to pray and organize searches for Barrios, is now paved with concrete and is the site of a business, Canal Road Self Storage.

The mobile home where the child was allegedly murdered, 121 Horseshoe Lane, has been removed from the Canal Road Trailer Park.

The three family members accused of the crime – David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy, and the couple's son, George – remain in jail. David Edenfield and George Edenfield face the death penalty. Peggy Edenfield, who has agreed to testify against her spouse and son in exchange for her life, faces life in prison.

The man accused of helping to hide the body, Donald Dale, may soon reach a plea agreement with the state. A friend of the family, Dale was originally charged with tampering with evidence and helping to hide the body. He could have faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The state agreed to drop those charges against him in exchange for a guilty but retarded plea and a plea to one count of lying to police. The plea bargain is pending the results of a mental health evaluation. If approved, Dale would be sent to a mental health facility instead of prison for five years.

"He's still in jail, but we're working towards getting his portion of this case resolved," said Dale's attorney, John Wetzler, Friday. "He's completed the mental evaluation and hopefully the rest of his case will be dealt with fairly quickly."

No trial dates have been set for any of the Edenfields, whose defense attorneys are held up by the lack of indigent defense funding that's plaguing the whole state.

Stephen Kelley, district attorney of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, said it is frustrating.

"We're waiting to see what the legislature does as far as the funding issue because right now the defense lawyers can't hire their own experts," he said. "We're hoping the legislature will get things resolved soon so we can get these cases tried as soon as possible."

While Kelley is waiting, Sam Wood is thinking about what to do with the memorial on Canal Road. He might dismantle it, though it's nothing definite yet.

"I've been thinking I might take (the memorial) down," Wood told The News on Friday. "I've heard it bothers some of the children who still live around here. It is a constant reminder that one of their friends was murdered."

He doesn't like thinking that the memorial might bring pain to some, but if he takes it down, he would want to replace it with something else – something that would keep the memory of Christopher Michael Barrios alive.

"I'm thinking about planting a memorial tree," he said.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Child's mother files wrongful death suit

Thu, Mar 13, 2008

The mother of a 6-year-old boy who was allegedly kidnapped and murdered last year has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in State Court in Glynn County against the owner of the trailer park where the child lived.

LaTrina Keith filed the suit Wednesday, just over a year after her son, Christopher Michael Barrios Jr., was allegedly kidnapped, molested and strangled in a trailer at Canal Road Mobile Home Park in north Glynn.

She is being represented by attorney William Pinson Jr., of the Savannah law firm Savage, Turner, Pinson & Karsman.

Christopher disappeared March 8, 2007. His body was found in a plastic trash bag on the side of a road just north of the trailer park following a weeklong search by police and volunteers March 15.

A family of three accused in his murder – David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy and the couple's 30-year-old son, George – also lived in the trailer park.

In the lawsuit, Keith claims that the trailer park owner, Sharon O'Quinn of Brunswick, knew that it was a dangerous place for children because she "knowingly" rented the trailer lots to convicted child molesters, including George Edenfield, who was convicted of child molestation June 5, 1997.

Christopher Barrios lived with his father, Michael Barrios, and his father's girlfriend, Paula Anderson, in a mobile home at 151 Horseshoe Lane in the mobile home park.
His grandmother, Sue Rodriguez, also lived in a mobile home in the trailer park, at 120 Horseshoe Lane.

Rodriguez would baby-sit Christopher after school in the afternoons. He would walk across the trailer park from her mobile home to his father's trailer at nightfall.

The Edenfields lived in a mobile home at 121 Horseshoe Lane, between his father and grandmother's mobile homes.

Keith also claims in the suit that O'Quinn had received numerous complaints about George Edenfield from other residents in the trailer park and that she should have known that he posed a danger to Christopher, a kindergartner at C.B. Greer Elementary School.

The suit alleges that O'Quinn received rent money from convicted sex offenders but did nothing to ensure that the children living in Canal Road Trailer Park were out of harm's way.

O'Quinn could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Keith is also suing a caseworker at the Georgia Department of Children and Family Services – identified only as Jane Doe in the suit – for acting in a "gross and negligent manner."

She alleges that the social worker failed to protect Christopher by placing him in the custody of his father, Christopher Barrios Sr., a convicted sex offender.

Christopher barrios Sr. was convicted of statutory rape on April 24, 1997.

Keith has requested a trial by jury and a judgment against O'Quinn and the caseworker for the "full value of the life of Christopher Barrios," as well as funeral costs.

No dollar amount is listed in the suit.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

No time for justice

Sat, Mar 15, 2008

It was March 15, 2007, when police found the body of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. in a black trash bag on the side of Canal Road in north Glynn County.

One year later, it is anyone's guess when those arrested and charged in his kidnapping, molestation and murder – David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy Edenfield, and their adult son, George Edenfield – will go to trial.

Christopher Barrios, a kindergartner at C.B. Greer Elementary School, was strangled to death March 8, 2007. His body was found by searchers one week later.

The three Edenfields remain incarcerated. George Edenfield and David Edenfield are in the Glynn County Detention Center. Peggy was transferred to a detention facility in Ware County after she agreed to testify against her husband and son in a bid to escape a possible death penalty.

There are still countless legal procedures that both the state and the defense must go through before a trial date is set, said District Attorney Stephen Kelley.

Kelley is the lead prosecutor in all three cases.

"Once we're through with that, they have the right to appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, which could throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing," Kelley said.

If that happens, Kelley said it could delay the cases by another six months to a year.

Both David Edenfield and George Edenfield face the death penalty for their alleged involvement in the killing. That has created a major road bump in both cases because money for public defenders in Georgia is tight.

David Edenfield's attorney, James Yancey, is having trouble finding the funds to pay for the expert witnesses he says he will need to defend his client.

Budget cuts last year for the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, which provides the funding to attorneys like Yancey, have been blamed for delaying death penalty trials across the state.

The death penalty case for Brian Nichols, accused in the Atlanta courthouse killings in March 2005, is also blamed for depleting the Public Defenders Standards Council's budget of over $1.8 million.

During a pretrial hearing last November, Yancey told Glynn County Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett, who is presiding over the trials, that he had not received any payment for his services.

Four months later, the story is the same.

"I still haven't been paid," Yancey said Wednesday.

Richard Allen, who is defending Peggy Edenfield, said funding is no longer an issue for him because the state agreed not to seek the death penalty in her case as long as she testifies against her husband and son.

She is still facing up to life in prison for her alleged involvement in the murder.

"Since her case is no longer a death penalty case, (the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council) has straightened up with me," Allen said.

Allen said the funding situation is causing problems not just in Glynn county but for other death penalty lawyers across the state.

"Lawyers all over the state are going nuts from not being paid," he said.

Kelley says Donald Dale, who was accused of helping the Edenfields hide Christopher's body and lying to police, will go before a judge soon. Kelley has told Dale's lawyer, John Wetzler, that he will agree to a plea agreement if Dale is proven to be mentally challenged.

Dale would plead guilty, but retarded, to a single charge of lying to police and be sent to a mental health facility. He would also be permanently expelled from Glynn County.

Dale has undergone the psychiatric evaluations, as requested by Wetzler, who will present the information to Scarlett in a future hearing. No date for that hearing has been announced.

It will be up to the Scarlett to assess the evaluations and sign off on any plea agreement.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets