GUILTY FL - Boy in a Box abuse trial - Parents, Timothy & Tracy Ferriter Arrested, Jupiter, Feb 2022

[Gardenista]

This is a new trial that starts Monday and will be on both Law & Crime and CourtTV. Some local news channels might stream it too. The parent's trials have been severed and Timothy's trial is first.

It's pretty crazy because, if you just read the headlines, you would think this is a slam dunk case. However, Timothy was offered a sweet plea deal last week (2 years and he is facing 40 if convicted) and he turned it down. So it sounds like the state's case isn't as strong as you would think.

I did some reading and found out the child has Reactive Attachment Disorder. You can read about what the parents went through here

Lawyer: Boy in box 'fantasizes about killing people'

The lawyer for the parents from Jupiter charged with keeping their 14-year-old adopted son in a box in their garage is telling the parents’ side of the story. “There are a number of issues you do not know involving [the boy],” Nellie King wrote, “particularly since [the family] just moved back...

abcnews4.com

This is another good article

I Team EXCLUSIVE: Boy in the box police interview

In this CBS 12 News I Team exclusive, for the first time, you can listen to the victim in the Jupiter child abuse case: "The Boy in the Box. "In a video played in open court earlier this week, during a defense motion hearing about evidence preservation, the victim's face appeared blurred out, as...

cbs12.com

There are dozens of articles on this case if you want to get up to speed before the trial.

 

[Gardenista]

I forgot to include their last name in the title, it's Ferriter. I've asked a mod to fix.

 

[Gardenista]

There are loads of case documents which can be accessed here

eCaseView

 

[Gardenista]

Video from right after they were arrested

 

[Gardenista]

Father in 'Boy in the Box' case rejects state's plea bargain

The "Boy in the Box" case trial is just days away, with jury selection on Friday.

cbs12.com

 

[Gardenista]

Here's the letter that the parent's attorney wrote that outlines the child's behavior

Boy allegedly locked in garage by adoptive parents terrorized others, fantasized about killing, lawyer says

A 14-year-old boy whose parents have been accused of locking him up inside a small structure in the family's garage demonstrated "longstanding dangerous and disturbing propensities" toward other children and adults for several years, an attorney for the couple claims.

www.wptv.com

 

[squareandrabbet]

Here's the letter that the parent's attorney wrote that outlines the child's behavior

Boy allegedly locked in garage by adoptive parents terrorized others, fantasized about killing, lawyer says

A 14-year-old boy whose parents have been accused of locking him up inside a small structure in the family's garage demonstrated "longstanding dangerous and disturbing propensities" toward other children and adults for several years, an attorney for the couple claims.

www.wptv.com

Great!!

Jennifer Trefelner, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Palm Beach, told WPTV that Tracy Ferriter worked as an aide at All Saints Catholic School from March 2014 until June 2017.

 

[Gardenista]

Exploring RAD: A mother's two adopted sons, one murder

 

[arielilane]

YOUR THOUGHTS? In an unheard-of ruling, the judge in our new trial has ruled that the media can broadcast jurors' faces if we choose. "Breaking with recent courthouse tradition, Coates acknowledged that after researching case law, there is no prohibition from showing potential and actual jurors." Coates plans to tell prospective jurors they may be shown on TV, saying he doesn’t know how that will affect their willingness to serve. However, he says their names and addresses will remain sealed until after the verdict. #timothyferriter Via @WPBF25News
https://wpbf.com/article/jury-selection-begins-friday-in-case-of-jupiter-florida-man-charged-with-keeping-adopted-son-in-garage-box/45363660

https://twitter.com/x/status/1708217600667459929

Coates made an unexpected ruling Thursday that he will not prohibit the media from broadcasting jurors' faces if they choose to do so.

“There will be no prior restraint on the media’s ability to publish any of the video or photographs that it takes during any phase of the proceedings,” Coates said.

Breaking with recent courthouse tradition, Coates acknowledged that after researching case law, there is no prohibition from showing potential and actual jurors.

Coates plans to tell prospective jurors they may be shown on TV, saying he doesn’t know how that will affect their willingness to serve. However, he says their names and addresses will remain sealed until after the verdict.

 

[arielilane]

He turned down a plea deal of 2 years in lieu of a trial and facing conviction w/40 yr term? Interesting. moo.

 

[arielilane]

No plea deal offered to Tracy Ferriter?

 

[Gardenista]

No plea deal offered to Tracy Ferriter?

She doesn't have a trial date yet. I'm wondering if the state is going to see what happens with her husband and then go from there.

 

[Gardenista]

I definitely think he is going to have to testify.

 

[ConcernedVA]

Wow. I guess this will be my new trial to watch.

DIY health care for a child’s serious emotional problems doesn’t seem like a good idea.

However, I have heard of a similar technique before-taking everything out of the child’s room but the bed, allowing them simple food only, bathroom only, until they submit.

Supposedly it works for some. Seems to me like a way to build hate in the child’s heart. But I’m no expert.

 

[arielilane]

YOUR THOUGHTS? In an unheard-of ruling, the judge in our new trial has ruled that the media can broadcast jurors' faces if we choose. "Breaking with recent courthouse tradition, Coates acknowledged that after researching case law, there is no prohibition from showing potential and actual jurors." Coates plans to tell prospective jurors they may be shown on TV, saying he doesn’t know how that will affect their willingness to serve. However, he says their names and addresses will remain sealed until after the verdict. #timothyferriter Via @WPBF25News
https://wpbf.com/article/jury-selection-begins-friday-in-case-of-jupiter-florida-man-charged-with-keeping-adopted-son-in-garage-box/45363660

https://twitter.com/x/status/1708217600667459929

Coates made an unexpected ruling Thursday that he will not prohibit the media from broadcasting jurors' faces if they choose to do so.

“There will be no prior restraint on the media’s ability to publish any of the video or photographs that it takes during any phase of the proceedings,” Coates said.

Breaking with recent courthouse tradition, Coates acknowledged that after researching case law, there is no prohibition from showing potential and actual jurors.

Coates plans to tell prospective jurors they may be shown on TV, saying he doesn’t know how that will affect their willingness to serve. However, he says their names and addresses will remain sealed until after the verdict.

Additional info from Cathy Russon in a post on X...

TO BE CLEAR: I'm not saying we will show jurors, I don't see any value in that, I think the ruling is so unusual and was curious on opinions. I don't believe any media will go out of their way to film a juror.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1708277063080407255

 

[LadyL]

this is shocking

 

[fred&edna]

I did watch one of the preliminary hearings where the attorney for the defendants had obtained medical records for the child (prior to or at the time of the parents' arrest) and were asking the judge about using these records as evidence, among a few other things. It was interesting and certainly offered suggestions that the child possibly had some serious issues, actions, and/or habits.

I was planning to watch another trial this week... guess I'll be splitting my time between both cases now.

 

[Gardenista]

Cathy Russon

@cathyrusson
1h

The jury did not get selected on Friday. Jury selection continues today. We might not see openings until tomorrow. #timothyferriter #imprisonedsontrial

 

[arielilane]

The Florida father accused of locking up his adopted son inside a room he had built in the family’s garage heads to trial this week. Timothy Ferriter faces charges of aggravated child abuse, false imprisonment and neglect of a child, court records show.

According to his arrest affidavit out of Palm Beach County, Jupiter officers were contacted by a contract worker after Ferriter asked him to build an office in his garage in December 2021, but once he completed his work, he thought the entire project “was very strange,” according to the affidavit.

“The room was built as an 8-foot-by-8-foot space in the garage with its own ceiling and door. [The worker] further advised the door had added a bolt lock and knob only on the outside, no knob inside so if someone were inside the office they would not be able to exit until someone opened the door for them from the outside. [The worker] state he was also instructed to build this space with electricity and install a window air conditioning unit as well as a camera in the ceiling.”

Father accused of locking teen in tiny makeshift room and beating him with belt faces trial

Sep 29th, 2023, 11:22 am

 

[arielilane]

The lawyer for the parents made some serious allegations about the Ferriter’s adopted son. Let’s see if the records support these allegations in a court of law- tho, their actions are not justified, imo. The child's been unruly, destructive, etc... since he was two. Time will tell. moo