9 YO Elizabeth Olten, Alyssa Bustamante to be tried as Adult

[rumaj]

Olten murder suspect certified as adult

By Newsdesk KRCG
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 8:25 a.m.

Read more: Local, Crime, Breaking, Elizabeth Olten

COLE COUNTY, MO. -- Juvenile court authorities decided to charge a 15-year-old murder suspect as an adult at a certification hearing Wednesday morning.

Alyssa Bustamante, of St. Martins, Mo., is charged with first degree murder of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten.

Olten’s body was found Friday, Oct. 23 in the woods behind her home in the rural mid-Missouri town. Olten went missing walking home from a friend’s home on Wednesday, Oct. 21. That evening started a three day search with over a hundred volunteers, K-9 units and a helicopter.

Olten was visiting Bustamante’s home when her family reported her missing. Bustamante lived down the street from the Olten family.

Police found the body after written evidence led police to Bustamante. Bustamante, after talking to the police, took them where the body was concealed in the woods.

Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson said that fact that Cole County Sheriff Greg White wants first degree murder charges shows that White believes Olten’s murder was premeditated.

Family court Judge Jon Beetem decided that Bustamante will stand trial as an adult. However, Bustamante could still become eligible for treatment through the Missouri’s Division of Youth Services.

"You'd have to have a certification and you'd have to have a finding of guilt," said Legal Counsel Samantha Green, "and conviction in the adult courts for dual jurisdiction."

The judge heard recommendations from juvenile court authorities and weighed the specifics of the crime against Missouri’s ten criteria to charge a juvenile as an adult -

1. Seriousness of offense and consideration of public safety if suspect should be transferred to general jurisdiction
2. Whether the offense involved vicious force and violence
3. Whether the offense was against a person or property, with greater weight given to offenses against a person, especially if personal injury resulted.
4. Was the offense was part of a repetitive pattern of offenses, where the child may be beyond rehabilitation under the juvenile code.
5. The record and history of the child in juvenile system and other courts will be considered
6. The sophistication and maturity of the child as determined by considering home, other environmental and emotional conditions and pattern of living.
7. Age of the child
8. Consider the programs available to the juvenile system.
9. Whether or not the child will benefit from treatment or rehabilitation programs available to the court.
10. Racial disparity and certification.

Bustamante has been in juvenile court custody since she was arrested on Oct. 23.

Bustamante attended Jefferson City High School. School friends said that she was nice and they do not understand what would have caused her to commit this crime.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

The suspect will be arraigned at 1pm today
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[jack]

aLTHOUGH i LIVE FIFTY MILES AWAY, i WORK IN jEFFERSON cITY AND HAVE DELIVERED PRISONERS TO THIS COURT HOUSE dON'T KNOW ANY MORE ABOUT THE CASE THAN YOU DO. pEOPLE WERE TALKING ABOUT IT AT WORK, EVEN YHE INMATES. gLAD SHE IS FEMALE AND i WON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH HER. i GET THE MALE COUNTERPARTS WHO ARE AS BAD, OR WORSE. Pardon the caps. must have hit the wrong key.

[rumaj]

Maybe you know her father Cesar, aka Ceasar T. Bustamante? aka etc.

DOC Id 338320

Tis' ok Jack. LOL How would anyone expect you to know everyone in the state of MO?

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))))))))))))))))

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

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[jack]

DOC Id 338320
Offender Name Ceaser T Bustamante
Race White
Sex Male
Date of Birth 12/08/1974
Height/Weight 6'2" / 300
Hair/Eyes Brown /Brown
Assigned Location Missouri Eastern Correctional Center
Address 18701 Old Highway 66, Pacific, MO 63069
Assigned Officer Phone Number (636) 257-3322
Sentence Summary 10 YRS (7, 7, 10 CC)
Active Offenses ASSAULT 1ST DEG
Completed Offenses ASSAULT 2ND DEGREE(2 CTS)
Aliases Ceasar Bustamante; Ceaser T Bustamante; Ceaser T Bustamante; Ceaser Bustamante

[rumaj]

Attorney: Send Bustamante to hospital
Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 6:27 p.m.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- An attorney for Alyssa Bustamante is seeking to have her placed in a mental hospital while she faces a charge of murdering a 9-year-old mid-Missouri girl.

Online court records show that Bustamante's public defender filed a motion Thursday to have his 15-year-old client immediately hospitalized for mental health treatment.

Bustamante was indicted Wednesday as an adult on charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Oct. 21 death of Elizabeth Olten.

Authorities say Bustamante confessed to digging two holes, then killing Elizabeth five days later. They say Bustamante later led them to Elizabeth's body in a wooded area near their homes in St. Martins, just west of Jefferson City.


What happened when? Bustamante's timeline
http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/story.aspx?list=194662&id=379297

RELATED ARTICLES AT:
http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/contents.aspx?metadata=keywords=Alyssa_Bustamante
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Girl, 15, is puzzler for justice system
By Tony Messenger
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/22/2009

ST. MARTINS, MO. — On her Twitter page, Alyssa Bustamante lists her location as "somewhere I don't want to be."

When she wrote that, the 15-year-old girl lived in this tiny burg of about 1,000 folks just west of Jefferson City. Now, Bustamante is somewhere else — in a jail cell — as she awaits trial on the most heinous of charges.

On Oct. 21, authorities say, Bustamante strangled, stabbed and cut the throat of her 9-year-old neighbor, Elizabeth Kay Olten.

The murder traumatized this working-class, mostly Catholic community. But it also shocked a justice system now struggling to figure out what to do with a troubled teenage girl with nowhere to go.


Does she go to the juvenile system, where she can get treatment for her mental health problems?

Or does she go to adult prison, an environment that her attorney argues she won't survive?

The decision rests with a prosecutor and judge pressured to be tough on crime, and a juvenile system asked to determine whether Bustamante is a candidate to escape the demons dancing in her head.

The fate of a 15-year-old murder suspect may hinge at least partly on a fact revealed in court on Wednesday, to the disappointment of Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem:

Missouri's nationally respected juvenile justice system has no secure place to put a 15-year-old girl accused of a violent murder.

It's a system that was built for boys.

"This is real different for all of us," said Bill Heberle, deputy director of the Division of Youth Services. At Bustamante's certification hearing, Heberle testified that the state doesn't have a secure facility — meaning one with fences and locked gates — for girls.

The judge in the case said he was disappointed in the state juvenile system's inability to house Bustamante. But the reality is, the state hasn't faced many cases such as hers.

"We simply don't receive that many young girls that are committed to us for a heinous crime," Heberle said. "Our girls tend to be more violent toward themselves."

In that regard, Bustamante fits the stereotype.

She was hospitalized two years ago at a mental hospital in mid-Missouri after a suicide attempt in which she tried to cut herself with her fingernails. It was a difficult moment in what has been a troubled upbringing.

Bustamante's father is in a Missouri prison on an assault conviction. Several years ago, Bustamante's grandmother, Karen Brooke, was awarded custody of the girl and her two younger brothers, and she moved them from California to Missouri to get a fresh start.

According to authorities, Bustamante continues to battle depression, though she has been in therapy and was prescribed the antidepressant Prozac. And despite dabbling in the dark Goth culture, school officials say, she was a good student who didn't get in trouble.

But Bustamante left an Internet trail that shows a fascination with death and pain.

On her now defunct YouTube page, she talked of hobbies such as "killing people" and "cutting." One video Bustamante made shows her and her brothers touching an electric fence to see what it felt like.

Indeed, that's why Bustamante dug two graves in the woods near her home and killed her 9-year-old neighbor, an investigator testified in court.

"She wanted to know what it felt like," said Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. David Rice.

MORE AT:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/418FCF884BEA06B1862576750015EFC9?OpenDocument
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Bustamante case documents now on Circuit Court's Web site

By Bob Watson
bwatson@newstribune.com
Published: Friday, December 4, 2009 5:59 AM CST
Mid-Missourians and others who wish to follow court filings in the Alyssa Bustamante case now can do so from home.

The Cole County Circuit Court this week created a special file on its Web page, posting PDF copies of all documents filed in the case. The site can be found at www.colecountycourts.com/courtnews.htm.

Bustamante, 15, faces a Cole County grand jury's Nov. 18 indictment on first-degree murder and armed criminal action charges, following the Oct. 21 killing of Elizabeth Kay Olten, 9.

Bustamante killed Olten "by strangling her, cutting her throat and stabbing her," the grand jury charged.

The Web links are a first in Cole County, although similar links have been created in other parts of the state on other high-profile cases.

"Documents filed in this case will be posted to the Courts Web page within one business day of their filing," Court Administrator Marilue Hemmel reported.

As of Thursday afternoon, the site provided Internet users the ability to download copies of several documents, including the grand jury's indictment, the warrant issued for the teen's Nov. 18 arrest and Public Defender Jan King's official entry of appearance, request for discovery and his Nov. 19 motion asking for Bustamante's "Immediate Hospitalization and Treatment."

The court has not okayed that request, and Bustamante remains in the Morgan County Jail in Versailles.

Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce entered a not guilty plea on Bustamante's behalf on Nov. 18, then appointed King's office to represent the girl in future court proceedings.

Court records show a new arraignment scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, replacing a Monday status hearing. "This type of proceeding normally lasts less than five minutes," Hemmel noted.

Docket information also can be found on the state's Casenet site, www.courts.mo.gov/casenet.

There, users should select the "case number search" option and type in "09AC-CR03516," the number assigned to Bustamante's case.

That link will provide access to a listing of docket entries and scheduled events in the case.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Venue change sought in Bustamante trial

December 10, 2009

Jefferson City -- An attorney for a Missouri teenager charged with killing a neighbor says the trial should be moved because local residents are biased against her.

Alyssa Bustamante, 15, is to be tried in Cole County in the October killing of Elizabeth Olten, 9.

But Bustamante's attorney says residents are so prejudiced against her that she cannot get a fair trial in Cole County.

Authorities say Bustamante strangled, stabbed and cut the throat of Olten because she wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone. She has pleaded not guilty.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Mo. teen charged with murder seeks to move trial

By DAVID A. LIEB

Wednesday, December 9, 2009 4:45 PM EST
A Missouri teenager charged with killing a 9-year-old neighbor cannot get a fair trial in her home county because residents are biased against her, the teen's attorney said.
Alyssa Bustamante, 15, is to be tried in Cole County on charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Oct. 21 slaying of Elizabeth Olten. But her attorney wants the trial to be moved.

"The inhabitants of this county are so prejudiced against the defendant that a fair trial cannot be had in this county," public defender Jan King wrote in a change of venue motion dated Tuesday.

The Cole County prosecutor's office did not immediately return a phone call Wednesday. But Prosecutor Mark Richardson said last month that he would like Bustamante to be tried in the county seat of Jefferson City, which also is the state capital.

Bustamante has pleaded not guilty to Elizabeth's killing. But authorities say Bustamante confessed in a police interview to slaying Elizabeth because she wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone. They contend Bustamante strangled Elizabeth without provocation, stabbed her and cut her throat.

Hundreds of volunteers participated in a two-day search after Elizabeth disappeared before authorities say Bustamante led them to the fourth-grader's body in a wooded area near St. Martins, where both girls lived. The small town is just west of Jefferson City.

King cited the publicity generated both at the time of the crime and at Bustamante's indictment last month while asking Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce to transfer the case. He attached copies of online public comments made in response to news stories posted by the Jefferson City News Tribune and the New York Daily News.

Some of those comments refer to Bustamante as a "monster" and "inherently evil" and suggest she should be locked up for life. But it is not clear whether the people posting those comments live in Cole County, from where the jury pool normally would be drawn.

Besides allowing a case to be transferred to another county, Missouri law also allows a case to be tried in the county where the crime occurred with jurors who are brought in from other counties.

"Our belief is that the judge will make a decision that hopefully takes into account the demands upon the witnesses and victim's family," Richardson said last month.

Comments can be read at:


http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2009/11/18/news_local/doc4b03e12d78cb3700623688.txt

http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2009/11/18/breaking_news/doc4b03e12d78cb3700623688.txt

http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2009/11/19/news_local/doc5a42local03bustamanteprofile09.txt

http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2009/11/20/news_local/doc4b06b756f2b43893819471.txt

http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2009/11/20/breaking_news/doc4b06b756f2b43893819471.txt

http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2009/11/25/news_local/nt036local12olten09.txt

http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2009/12/04/news_local/nt027local03alyssa09.txt

http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2009/12/10/news_local/nt022local05alyssa09.txt


http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2009/12/08/news_local/doc4b1e82e9ebd2d192247383.txt
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Killing for the thrill

Posted at: 02/17/2010 9:18 AM | Updated at: 02/17/2010 9:58 AM

Many Missouri community and family members, struck hard by the death of Elizabeth Olten, are struggling to make sense of the fact that a local teenager is charged with Elizabeth's murder.

A grand jury indictment says 16-year-old Alyssa Bustamante killed her 9-year-old acquaintance by strangulation, cutting her throat and stabbing her. Bustamante is charged as an adult.

Family and friends shared intimate details with us about both girls, answering some of the many unanswered questions about how such a thing could happen.

In exclusive video her friends shared, Alyssa Bustamante looks like a typical teen riding on a school bus, laughing, joking and sometimes hamming it up for the camera held by a classmate.

She says to another student on the bus, “I’m gonna pop a cap in your ass.” It’s something a lot of kids jokingly say to others these days.

But when that kid is Alyssa Bustamante, now accused of murdering for the thrill of it, that statement raises eyebrows.

Lindsey Jones showed us the video she took of her friend Alyssa nearly a year ago. Jones wanted us to see a different side of Bustamante. Besides that one statement, most of the video shows Bustamante as an outgoing, loud and joking kid.

MORE AT: ( with video )

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S1420470.shtml?cat=565
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Posted: Wednesday, Feb 17, 2010 - 11:05:21 am CST

Jurors for Bustamante trial will not be from Cole County
By JEFF HALDIMAN
For the Fulton Sun

By JEFF HALDIMAN
For the Fulton Sun



*
JEFFERSON CITY -- Alyssa Bustamante's trial will be heard by a jury made up of citizens from a county other than Cole County.

Bustamante has pleaded not guilty in the death of Elizabeth Olten, 9, last October. Authorities say Bustamante, who was 15 at the time, confessed to killing her neighbor because she wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone.

During a status hearing Tuesday morning before Cole County Presiding Judge Pat Joyce, Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson argued it would be easier to bring in a jury due to the amount of evidence and witnesses that will be associated with the case.

Bustamante's lawyer, Donald Catlett, agreed with that conclusion.

Catlett said he had not had a chance to look at what counties they would deem acceptable. He also said they just now are starting to go through the discovery evidence in the case, so they are not prepared to say when they would be ready for trial.

Joyce had excused Bustamante from being in the courtroom Tuesday, but Catlett said her presence will be needed during a March 8 status hearing, when a decision could be made on which county will be used to choose jurors for the trial.

Bustamante, now 16, remains held in the Morgan County Jail, for Cole County.

"We're not doing anything special for her," said Morgan County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Tim Harlin. "She's being held in general population and being treated as an adult."

He added: "We've had other cases like her's before.

MORE AT:
http://www.fultonsun.com/articles/2010/02/17/news/332news05.txt
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Judge rules on 1 of 3 motions in Bustamante case

By Newsdesk KRCG
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 10:54 a.m.
Last updated: 35 minutes ago

COLE COUNTY, MO. --

Outside the Cole County Courthouse Wednesday morning, Elizabeth Olten’s family and friends held up signs in memory of Elizabeth.

Inside the courtroom, lawyers in the Alyssa Bustamante case were present for a status hearing to hear rulings from Cole County Judge Patricia Joyce

Judge Joyce ruled on one of three motions filed by defense attorneys.

First motion, the defense wants to make their research in the case and witness list a secret from the prosecution. (Read the story). Judge Joyce said that she will not rule on this yet.

http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/story.aspx?id=436966



Second motion, Bustamante’s attorneys want her to be allowed to wear her own clothes in court during the trial, instead of an orange jumpsuit. Judge Joyce ruled Bustamante can wear plain clothes

Third motion, Bustamante’s lawyers filed a petition asking the court to let Bustamante finish her high school education.(Read the story)
http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/story.aspx?id=445764


Bustamante’s attorneys said that just because she is standing trial as an adult does not mean she is an adult. Bustamante has a right to finish her education. and she has a right ot fini her educayon

Judge said that the issue of a pre-trial detainee education for a juvenile has not been litigated before in Missouri and is taking it the petition under advisement.

Bustamante is charged with the first-degree murder of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten.

Bustamante's public defenders filed the three motions since Bustamante was certified to stand trial as an adult last November.

A status hearing is scheduled for July 27

The murder trial will not be held in the 2010 calendar year,

The spokesman for the family said that the family will speak loud and clear after Elizabeth’s murderer is found guilty.

Video from reporter's cell phone of Olten's family and friends:

VIDEO At:
http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/story.aspx?id=449728
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Judge Says No To Bustamante Getting Education in Jail

By The News Tribune
First published 3:02 pm Tuesday, May 11
Published: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 1:48 AM CDT
Cole County Presiding Judge Pat Joyce has denied a motion by Alyssa Bustamante’s lawyers to allow her to continue her schooling while awaiting trial in the case of the killing of Elizabeth Olten last October.

The judge also ruled Tuesday that Bustamante’s attorney’s could get some court records without having Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson know the details.

Bustamante’s public defenders Charles Moreland and Donald Catlett had argued that since Alyssa is 16, under Missouri law she is given the right to an education and the county should pay for that.

Richardson had argued that Bustamante was expelled by the Jefferson City Public School District after she was indicted as an adult in this case and therefore was getting the same treatment as an adult that is incarcerated.

On the court records matter, Moreland and Catlett said they were making the request because they had found that in preparing for a trial, there were times they needed certain records, such as family members medical or psychiatric files, that they are not able to get through the signed release of their client. This information could be helpful in building their case.

Richardson said the defendant is not entitled to the special treatment that this would provide.

Another status hearing on the case is scheduled for late July.

It’s believed the trial won’t happen until sometime next year.
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets

[rumaj]

Judge grants Ex Parte in Bustamante case
by Ladd Egan
Posted: 05.11.2010 at 2:29 PM

COLE COUNTY, MO. -- A judge has ruled that the defense team for accused murderer Alyssa Bustamante can file court requests in secret.

Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce signed the court order Tuesday giving Bustamante’s public defenders the go ahead to file motions ex-parte and under seal. This means that only the judge and the defense team will have access to the information. Joyce said the motions must provide the facts as to why the prosecution and the public should be kept in the dark.

During the last court appearance on April 28th, Bustamante’s attorneys said they need to obtain documents and testimony from Bustamante and her family’s past. Much of that information is protected by privacy laws and can only be obtained through court order. The prosecution would have access to such orders and Bustamante’s attorneys say that would reveal their trial strategy and violate Bustamante’s right to an adequate defense.

Judge Joyce said in the court order that she will decide on a case-by-case basis if the motions should remain under seal. There could also be ex-parte hearings in which only the defense team will appear to argue for keeping the motions private.

Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson argued during the April 28th hearing that no special rules should be created for the Bustamante case and that she should be treated like any other pre-trial defendant. Richardson said he should be allowed equal knowledge of and access to the defense’s research obtained through court order. (Read the story)

http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/story.aspx?id=449966

See Judge Pat Joyce's decision
http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/uploadedFiles/krcg/News/Stories/20100511135530491.pdf

Related Links
Teen murder suspect can't continue classes
Timeline and background on Alyssa Bustamante's case

With VIDEO:

http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/story.aspx?id=455487
_________________
"Sell Crazy Someplace Else. We're all stocked up here."

Line from the movie As Good As It Gets