Hope Sykes arrested 1/20/2010

[lonetraveler]

Hi LT! Sometimes a head injury can be easily recognized. Sometimes there can be a "closed head injury" (esp. with younger children) that doesn't show any outward signs of damage. Maybe a small lump. But no indication on the skull (fractures...etc.) JMHO.

Thank you. I was thinking along the lines of the post above that Tommy may have come to a conclusion on how Haleigh died by something he noticed about her body. (hard to even type).

 

[Homegrown]

In Hope's own words everyone else was suppose to plea the same way. Guess it didn't work that way.

Maryann123 when I first started reading here I always thought GMAB meant grab my azz behind. I finally looked it up.

 

[Kat]

At first I thought it seemed harsh until I started thinking further. Let's say Hope sells pills to some young kid who then gets hooked. This kid gets married and has kids of his or her own. They see the parent taking pills and they start doing it too. It just goes on and on, so looking at it from this angle, it's not too harsh.

Very good logical thinking CJ! Also, there is an immediate crime wave from trafficking drugs (I get the feeling I'm misspelling trafficking and please someone help me out lol!) There are the end users who commit crimes, petty and felony in order to pay for those drugs too. JMHO.

 

[Searchfortruth]

...the only thing that still bothers me about Hopes no contest plea, is the fact that if Hope did understand her plea would lead to a minimum 15 year prison sentence, WHY WOULD SHE PLEA NO CONTEST?

Who would do that? She clearly doesn't feel she deserves the trafficking charge in the first place by how outraged she is in the phone call to mom that she didn't have the pills in the car.

So to recap my thought, if she fully understood the plea, why would anyone in their right mind not delay and wait to see what happened to the others? Would you rush it through court, plead not guilty and get sent to the slammer for hard time?

I certainly wouldn't have pled no contest in this situation, no matter what my lawyer said.

to me it just doesn't make sense she would willingly send herself down the river like that.

The only thing I can come up with is she wanted it over, wanted out of county jail and on to prison or where ever they were going to send her. I imagine her lawyer gave her all of the possibles from the minimum punishment to the maximum. Hope could have dismissed the thought that she would spend years in prison and convinced herself she would get some sort of probation, thus the shock we saw in court.

 

[ilovemew]

Very good logical thinking CJ! Also, there is an immediate crime wave from trafficking drugs (I get the feeling I'm misspelling trafficking and please someone help me out lol!) There are the end users who commit crimes, petty and felony in order to pay for those drugs too. JMHO.

I think Hope has some priors for burglary and trespassing. Could be wrong but lots of these players have that. They need money for their drugs and don't work so they prey on the innocent. I'm glad she's off the streets, she had no remorse what-so-ever!

 

[Kat]

Thank you. I was thinking along the lines of the post above that Tommy may have come to a conclusion on how Haleigh died by something he noticed about her body. (hard to even type).

I'm sorry LT! I'm trying to catch up so quick if I misunderstood your train of thought---I really am sorry. Yup he could have seen outward signs of a head injury and he also could have noticed a closed head injury too.

I jumped in. I should have read past page 6 before i did...these threads move so fast!

 

[lonetraveler]

I think Tomy's lawyer is a little off base. He has a record of arrests-not sure how he was sentenced, but...domestic abuse, burglaries, bus stop-drugs episode, wharever else is in his past, & whatever he gets charged with in Haleigh's case. & I don't give a rat's u-no-what, what his involvement was, he hasn't done diddly to move this thing towards closure. he needs to pay for EVERYTHING. & if he gets less time than Hope, I'll lose all faith in the judicial system.

Yeah, but I ran out of ink trying to print Ron's arrest record (includes three pleas of NOLO) and he has not served time yet. I have a very bad feeling that his sentence on the current charges will be nilch, nada, none, nothing,.etc., I predict that he will continue to be as slippery as an eel when it comes to serving any time for the crime. LOL.

 

[TxLady2]

It makes sense to me IF he is waiting for a deal to be offered. If he isn't waiting for a deal to be offered then my guess is it is Misty and he is putting off saying that until he absolutely has to.

Maybe he has already told them, they're just looking for the evidence to back it up. They have to have proof before they can charge someone, just his word will not be enough, because the others will dispute it, if it implicates them. Even with a confession, it's not enough to indict without evidence.

 

[txsvicki]

The crimes aren't exactly comparable, but Hope looks about like and acts like Eileen Wournos. I agree with the expert about being a sociopath. What a mouth, and I'm not even talking about the cussing, just the gangsta ugly mean attitude.

 

[Whisperer]

Good thing she didn't go to trial. She would have received a much longer sentence..

 

[woodville]

I think Tomy's lawyer is a little off base. He has a record of arrests-not sure how he was sentenced, but...domestic abuse, burglaries, bus stop-drugs episode, wharever else is in his past, & whatever he gets charged with in Haleigh's case. & I don't give a rat's u-no-what, what his involvement was, he hasn't done diddly to move this thing towards closure. he needs to pay for EVERYTHING. & if he gets less time than Hope, I'll lose all faith in the judicial system.

As far as the trafficking charges go, the mandatory minimums are based on the amount of drugs in the sale. The amount that Tommy was involved with only carries a mandatory minimum of 3 years. Hopes amount was 15 years and Ron and Mistys charges are man min of 25 years. They can also be charged for each count to be served consecutively hence NG saying that Misty can be sentenced up to 130 years (the same for Ronald that she doesn't mention). This is figured without any priors and they also have the option to plead to a lessor charge with the cooperation of the State Prosecutor. That would only happen in my opinion if they gave verifiable information that solved the Haleigh case, which is what Tommy's lawyer is alluding to.

 

[Angel4u2Whisper2]

Question regarding the sentencing, So I take it working at the Salavation Army is out?
ETA: I guess I'll put the red pot and bell away.

 

[lonetraveler]

I'm sorry LT! I'm trying to catch up so quick if I misunderstood your train of thought---I really am sorry. Yup he could have seen outward signs of a head injury and he also could have noticed a closed head injury too.

I jumped in. I should have read past page 6 before i did...these threads move so fast!

NO PROBLEM! I misunderstand my train of thought all the time, I just saying that there may have been visible signs of trauma on Haleigh's body if Tommy knows how Haleigh died.

 

[Pensfan]

Sadly, Mark Klaas stated that this case may never be solved.

 

[trigger]

At first I thought it seemed harsh until I started thinking further. Let's say Hope sells pills to some young kid who then gets hooked. This kid gets married and has kids of his or her own. They see the parent taking pills and they start doing it too. It just goes on and on, so looking at it from this angle, it's not too harsh.

I changed my mind. I didn't know about her past record. Her mother did try to tell her..She should have listen to her...

 

[Maryann123]

I honestly don't believe Tommy knows anything about Haleigh. The only way he would know anything, would be if Misty told him. And if she told anyone, anything, it would be Timmy, not Tommy. Tommy's attorney keeps repeating that he has a good working relationship with LE, and he wants to keep it that way. What are they working on together? Evidently, whatever Tommy told LE about Haleigh doesn't make him culpable in any way. How could he know anything and not be guilty of withholding information? Strange wording and actions coming from this attorney!

 

[passionflower]

O/T for a sec... RC guarantees the informant that his dude gets 50 pills every month...I wanna see that person arrested, too.
He's getting free pills from state, imo, and selling his scripts to RC. That burns me up!!

who is the vet that sold them to RC is probably selling to another dope boy now..........

 

[Searchfortruth]

Yeah, but I ran out of ink trying to print Ron's arrest record (includes three pleas of NOLO) and he has not served time yet. I have a very bad feeling that his sentence on the current charges will be nilch, nada, none, nothing,.etc., I predict that he will continue to be as slippery as an eel when it comes to serving any time for the crime. LOL.

I think Ron is going to get major time on these charges. He wasn't just following along, he was in the car talking about where he gets the dope from (a guy around the corner has 50 pills, but he gets a prescription for a 100). I imagine LE knows who these neighborhood sellers are. They would probably testify against anyone of the defendants who choose to go to trial on this (with an immunity deal of course). Ronald has run out of favors with LE, IMO.

 

[Angel4u2Whisper2]

I was thinking (dangerous I know) ya think that some big time dealer (not the wanna be one either) is really like pissed right now that say...some of the players have loose lips and free style talking when there *advertiser censored** is on the line? Um sometimes people play big time before they figured out the little leauge?

 

[KR2tonenow]

Whatever they pulled out of St. John's River (ie., concrete blocks or clothes, etc. will be sufficient), we can only hope!!