GUILTY CA - Sebhrenah Wesson, 25, & 8 children murdered, Fresno, 12 March 2004

[Newswolf]

Yes LP, I made that clear as mud. (I get interrupted a lot.) The description of the bodies makes it sound like the last woman on top may have done the shootings. Whoever phsyically pulled the trigger, Marcus Wesson is the one who made it happen..and I hope he doesn't try to hide behind the skirts of the dead. Toth has a good point as well. He'd been telling them murder/suicide for nine years, and yet they stayed. The shrinks will have a lot to look at in this sad case.

 

[MysteryMomma]

You know, other adults HAD to know what was going on there all those years. How come something can't be done to prosecute adults who knowingly allow children to be raped over and over? :banghead:

Cuz in this country children are not really valued......they don't vote or pay taxes.....we are all guilty of lip service to the children of the world. How many people really get involved when they know about abuse of any kind.....most people don't want to get "dirty" but we all cry over their little dead bodies......JMO

 

[Newswolf]

This is sickening to read. Wesson allegedly went after his victims when they very very young.

http://fresnobee.com/local/story/8415752p-9245952c.html

"The first body he saw appeared to be the oldest and tallest victim: Sebhrenah Wesson, 25. Other officers found a .22-caliber gun and a hunting knife with a 5-inch blade under her body.

Escareno dropped his shotgun, went to his knees and yelled for an ambulance. He put his fingers on Sebhrenah Wesson's neck to check for a pulse and found none. Escareno repeated the process with six or seven other victims who were stacked together and intertwined.

"But there were no signs of life."

Escareno said he began to cry."

 

[Toth]

This is sickening to read.

I don't know about that. Are not such things often celebrated in history? I believe that to this day recruits into the Israeli army are inducted at a fortress known as Masada wherein Jews committed suicide when governmental forces threatened their lifestyle. I believe Cleopatra is celebrated for having employed an asp to kill herself rather than being captured by governmental forces and taken in a cage to Rome.

Many of the deaths at the Branch Dividian compound were mercy killings as the inescapable flames reached them.

on-edit:
As to stability: Aren't children supposed to be reared in a stable home environment? If his plans were oft repeated and well-known, that represents a stable environment doesn't it?

 

[SieSie]

I don't know about that. Are not such things often celebrated in history? I believe that to this day recruits into the Israeli army are inducted at a fortress known as Masada wherein Jews committed suicide when governmental forces threatened their lifestyle. I believe Cleopatra is celebrated for having employed an asp to kill herself rather than being captured by governmental forces and taken in a cage to Rome.

Many of the deaths at the Branch Dividian compound were mercy killings as the inescapable flames reached them.

on-edit:
As to stability: Aren't children supposed to be reared in a stable home environment? If his plans were oft repeated and well-known, that represents a stable environment doesn't it?

Just because something's stable doesn't make it right, Toth!

 

[mindys]

Where were the children born? I guess it wouldn't be to much of an assumption to say at home.

 

[Newswolf]

http://www.fresnobee.com/special/2004/massacre/story/8416220p-9245873c.html

"Speaking publicly for the first time since her husband's arrest, Elizabeth Wesson on Thursday denied that Marcus Wesson sexually abused any family members.


Two other family members also said they had not been abused by Wesson, but they declined to say whether they were involved in an incestuous relationship with him, as police have alleged."

 

[Toth]

Wrong but stable probably beats 'unstable'.

 

[LovelyPigeon]

When police went into the room the blood from the 9 dead wasn't yet coagulating because it was so fresh. Each victim was shot in the eye.

It looks as if the last to die may have killed the others, then herself, probably in response to the suicide-pact adopted by the household for years.

Still to be explained is how 9 gun shots were not heard by police standing at the front door of that very small building.

 

[Newswolf]

Prelim still underway 4/12

http://fresnobee.com/state_wire/story/8428880p-9263155c.html

"Wesson's attorneys, however, maintain their client didn't pull the trigger. In questioning last week, his lawyers hinted at a defense, apparently suggesting that the eldest daughter killed the kids, then turned the gun on herself - following the alleged plan.

"We're examining the evidence as it comes in and looking at several possible theories," Pete Jones, the Fresno County Public Defender's Office chief attorney in charge of major crimes, said in an interview.

--

Authorities have conducted gunpowder residue tests on some of the victims' hands but no physical evidence against Wesson has yet been made public. "
.

 

[LovelyPigeon]

Heard "cries from an infant" but not gun shots?

Marcus Wesson refused to give back the children, who had been left with him to raise, investigators testified. Police were called to the home.
Wesson said he wanted to talk with the women before turning the children over. Solorio agreed and went inside, but Ruby Wesson refused. Both women became hysterical when Wesson walked into a back bedroom and closed the door, officer Frank Nelson said. He said one of Wesson's daughters, 26-year-old Kiani Wesson, pushed furniture in front of the bedroom door, an action she denied outside of court.
Officers ordered everyone out of the home and called for backup.
"I said, 'Marcus, this is officer Nelson, please talk to me. No one is in trouble. Just say something,' " Nelson testified, adding that he once heard brief cries from an infant.
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/8415752p-9245952c.html

 

[LovelyPigeon]

Police testified that officers found a .22-caliber gun and a hunting knife with a 5-inch blade under the eldest daughter's body, which was positioned slightly to the side of the pile of other victims.

http://fresnobee.com/state_wire/story/8428880p-9263155c.html

 

[Newswolf]

http://fresnobee.com/breakingnews/story/8429161p-9263335c.html

Wesson will stand trial for murders

"Judge Lawrence Jones dismissed 20 sexual abuse counts and set his next court date, when a trial date will likely be set, for April 27."

 

[Pepper]

http://fresnobee.com/state_wire/story/8428880p-9263155c.html

Wesson's attorneys claim their client did not pull the trigger of the gun used in the slayings and therefore should not be tried on murder charges that include allegations he "personally used a firearm" in committing the crimes.

Apparently 10 people were in that building. Nine ended up shot to death. One person emerged covered in blood, but apparently uninjured.

Doesn't matter to me who pulled the trigger, this monster is responsible for the murder of 9 people.

 

[LovelyPigeon]

It does matter to me who pulled the trigger--I want to know how such a tragedy happened with police officers right there at the house.

But it won't make Wesson less responsible in the eyes of the law--he is charged with being responsible for the deaths whether he pulled the trigger or not.

Did Wesson shoot them all? shoot some of them? How did it happen without shots being heard by the police who were at the door?

 

[Newswolf]

Wesson wrote "a book" about his life before all this happened.

http://fresnobee.com/home/story/8445491p-9279511c.html

"Wesson said police confiscated the book along with his bus, but he wrote to The Bee: "you have permission to follow up on it."

Donna Mobley, a Vantage Press employee who receives manuscripts, said an editor left one note about Wesson's book: "It makes no sense."

Fresno County District Attorney Elizabeth Egan would not say whether the book was part of prosecutors' evidence against Wesson. Wesson's attorney, public defender Peter Jones, said he hasn't seen the book."

and the visitation restrictions have been somewhat lifted.

 

[Newswolf]

Couldn't find the old Marcus Wesson thread. Nine dead, 14 sex charges.

http://fresnobee.com/home/story/8597410p-9465009c.html

"After Putnam denied Jones’ motion to have nine murder charges against Wesson dismissed, Jones said he needed another week before he could confirm the trial date or ask for a delay.
--
Jones reiterated Thursday his complaints about what he has called a slow release of evidence from the District Attorney’s Office. Wesson’s defense team has received 2,800 pages of evidence, also called discovery, but Jones said they’re still waiting for several documents that could influence the case, including: videotapes of interviews and transcripts; forensic evidence; gunshot residue and ballistic tests; blood tests."

A hearing may be held next week on unsealing search warrants.

 

[Newswolf]

Trial postponed till August 31 and Wesson is unhappy about the delay.

http://fresnobee.com/home/story/8634359p-9504977c.html

""I do strenuously object because I find it difficult to believe that a defendant would have to fight so hard to defend his constitutional rights in the United States," Wesson told Putnam. He later added: "What I basically wanted to say was that my strategy was to keep on with my constitutional rights."

Wesson also disagreed with Jones' contention that there isn't enough time to get ready for a June trial: "I think they do have adequate time to prepare."

Wesson said his attorneys have ignored his requests to file motions. He did not explain what motions he asked for but said he should not face trial "without these motions in play."

Wesson said he is concerned that evidence has been altered or tampered with. There also is a conflict of interest "regarding the prosecution," he said.

Wesson did not elaborate on his concerns, and outside the courtroom Jones said he couldn't comment, citing attorney-client privilege.

In his motion requesting a delay, Jones said he's received test results that show Wesson did not have gunshot residue on his hands when he was arrested in March.
---
Hunt said it won't hurt the district attorney's case if prosecutor Lisa Gamoian can explain why Wesson didn't have gunshot residue on his hands or show the jury that he was a controlling man who ordered the killings.

"I don't see this as a major setback for the people," Hunt said. "I don't think that just because there's no gunshot residue on him that a jury is going to find him blameless."

 

[Newswolf]

http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/9141104p-10041206c.html

The trial of Marcus Wesson will remain in Fresno County, despite defense concerns that intense media coverage about the multiple murder case will have biased jurors in the city, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Fresno Superior Court Judge R.L. Putnam denied the defense's request for a change of venue after hearing experts testify about the effect of the media coverage on Wesson's right to a fair trial.
"I don't think anyone can deny there's been a lot of media coverage," said Putnam. However, he added, "I don't think it's been shown that the community has been tainted to the point there aren't jurors who can't be fair and impartial in this case."
Two experts who surveyed potential jurors in Fresno County came to very different conclusions.
~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Newswolf]

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/news/012405ap_nw_wesson.html

Attorneys will begin screening jurors Tuesday morning in the multiple murder trial of Marcus Wesson, a domineering patriarch who allegedly controlled his family with religious teachings, incest and threats of mass suicide.
~~
Earlier this month, 2,200 potential jurors were summoned to appear in Fresno County Superior Court. Hundreds are expected to answer the request on Tuesday, and after about a month of questioning, 12 will be chosen to hear the case.
~~~~~~~

Story says no cameras in court for this one, too bad.