IN - Grandfather charged in cruise ship death of toddler Chloe Wiegand #8

[LietKynes]

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- An Indiana man accused of dropping his granddaughter from an 11th floor window of a cruise ship docked in Puerto Rico last year has changed his plea to guilty the day after he declined his right to a jury trial.

Salvatore Anello, who is charged with negligent homicide in the death of 18-month-old Chloe Wiegand.

His attorney filed the change of plea Tuesday, ABC News reports. A hearing date has not yet been set.

Anello's attorney released a statement, saying, "This decision was an incredibly difficult one for Sam and the family, but because the plea agreement includes no jail time and no admission of facts, it was decided the plea deal is in the best interests of the family so that they can close this horrible chapter and turn their focus to mourning Chloe and fighting for cruise passenger safety by raising awareness about the need for all common carriers to adhere to window fall prevention laws designed to protect children from falling from windows."

Indiana grandfather accused in cruise ship death of toddler in Puerto Rico changes plea to guilty

I don't know if PR has accepted this change or not. I don't know how he can plead guilty and still not admit to the facts. That is not admission of guilty.

jmo moo

bbm
"Fighting for..."
No, they could care less about "fixing the ship".
How much or their payout will they use to fix the ships' faulty windows ?
Give them their money and right now, dammit.
Because babies fall out of windows all the time, you know.

Disgusting.
Wish the judge would make it impossible for them to continue their money grab.

 

[SuziQ]

This deal is disgusting. No justice for Chloe.

 

[Jewels53]

@Jewels53 bbm sbm Re bolded: per David Begnaud's Tweet w vid a few posts up,that ^ stmt was released by Winkleman, atty for parent's civil suit against RCL, not SA's crim atty.
And the ^ stmt phrasing & tone sound like the noise Winkleman has been making.
Confusion by reporter, or by D Begnaud, or IDK?

It sounds like Winkleman but I think it was his Criminal Defense Attorney. idk

Maybe it is from both?

 

[Wicked Strong]

He was not sedated. This comes directly from the statement of the cruise ship doctor. The only ones who were sedated were KW and Grandma Mary

Wiegand Prelim Response to Dismiss 4.pdf

**edit, I don't know if Mary is SA's wife or not

According to Chloe's obituary, paternal grandparents Thomas and Mary Ann Wiegand.

 

[Safetybug]

David Begnaud's report says SA will issue a statement tomorrow. That really is annoying at the least. When will people just realize they need to shut the hell up. They open their mouth; they lose more respect. Especially in this case.

Agreed! And what makes this breaking news ring 2 little 2 late - and underserving justice for CW - is the family not missing a beat with their mantra, “... and fighting for cruise passenger safety by raising awareness about the need for all common carriers to adhere to window fall prevention laws designed to protect children from falling from windows.”

...So how do you implement a reckless-idiot prevention program? Because this tragedy only happened by the negligent actions of SA. Sounds like the family is still subversively blaming the cruise line. imo.

 

[SaguaroSpirit]

bbm
"Fighting for..."
No, they could care less about "fixing the ship".
How much or their payout will they use to fix the ships' faulty windows ?
Give them their money and right now, dammit.
Because babies fall out of windows all the time, you know.

Disgusting.
Wish the judge would make it impossible for them to continue their money grab.

Just wondering if this plea would impact an insurance payout? If the family had in fact had traveler's insurance on Chloe before the cruise? Also wondering if the divorces are going to begin? I hope WHOEVER was involved in Chloe's death never has a moment's peace or a night's sleep again. Baby murderers go straight to the HOT PLACE.

 

[Jewels53]

What changed SA mind? He just asked for a trial by the Judge and now this. They had it all set up for April and in the same afternoon he changed his mind or the lawyers convinced him to change his mind.

 

[SaguaroSpirit]

What changed SA mind? He just asked for a trial by the Judge and now this. They had it all set up for April and in the same afternoon he changed his mind or the lawyers convinced him to change his mind.

IMHO, the eyewitnesses, and the videos would have sunk his butt.

 

[LietKynes]

Just wondering if this plea would impact an insurance payout? If the family had in fact had traveler's insurance on Chloe before the cruise? Also wondering if the divorces are going to begin? I hope WHOEVER was involved in Chloe's death never has a moment's peace or a night's sleep again. Baby murderers go straight to the HOT PLACE.

I find your insurance question very interesting.
And when was this ins. (if they had it on Chloe) taken out ?
I wish their phones and computers could be forensically examined.
Might yield some unexpected results. Or not.

 

[al66pine]

That is what I am wondering. As it says "His attorney filed the change of plea Tuesday, ABC News reports. A hearing date has not yet been set." So it sounds like to me he changed his plea and is waiting for a hearing date to officially announce this change. My question is did the Prosecution offer this?

@Jewels3. re bbm Not clear to me.
See my post 468, for the most detailed info I've seen, so far, from PR Prosecutor.
Undoubtedly more coming soon.

 

[sl222]

What changed SA mind? He just asked for a trial by the Judge and now this. They had it all set up for April and in the same afternoon he changed his mind or the lawyers convinced him to change his mind.

I'm wondering the same because both of these things happened yesterday (as you said too). I imagine that Chloe's parents were consulted in this decision.

 

[Jewels53]

@al66pine ine found this article.

Michael Winkleman, the attorney for the Wiegand family, told NBC News on Tuesday that Anello filed paperwork to change his plea in return for an agreement that included no jail time. Anello, who lives in South Bend, Indiana, will be able to serve his probation in Indiana, according to Winkleman.

Winkleman said the deal "is in the best interests of the family so that they can close this horrible chapter and turn their focus to mourning Chloe." A hearing date for the change of plea has yet to be determined.

Grandfather of toddler who died falling from cruise ship to plead guilty in her death

 

[TDoc72]

couple things—
1–Kind of mad that we won’t get a trial. I was really really looking forward to what information and videos were going to come out.
2–This will save PR the trial costs and I think the 3 years probation would’ve been the outcome anyway.
3–Can’t wait to read his statement, which will probably be very self-serving. If he doesn’t admit it or blames the boat, does the judge have the power to rescind the offer and force trial?
4–I hope posters will continue to update the thread about the civil suit, which I hope the family loses or RCC gets thrown out.

 

[sl222]

At the 11th hour the family did not want to deal with everything coming out in the trial? And finally recognized that the evidence is against him, which has caused the opinions of those who saw the video to be convinced that this was horrific negligence?

But he gets a pass on the truth of what he did coming to light.

I felt sure that even if there was a trial, he was still going to end up with probation served at home and not even 30 days in jail, much less 6 months to a year. This really is not justice for Chloe. But the video has done more for justice for her than anything.

 

[Safetybug]

What changed SA mind? He just asked for a trial by the Judge and now this. They had it all set up for April and in the same afternoon he changed his mind or the lawyers convinced him to change his mind.

when the news hit yesterday that SA wanted a bench trial and posters commented on the South Bend Tribune Facebook page ... someone for the first time posted the La Comay video link. That video link posted around 22 hours ago So I am sure that was quite a shocker decimating the family narrative. The video speaks for itself.

 

[sl222]

It's starting to seem like the prosecutors have bent more to the wishes of the family in this "compromise." We will see what the judge says.

 

[TDoc72]

What, exactly, does “no admission to the facts” mean?

I think it means he won’t have to allocute or tell the exact story of what happened. Everyone that takes a plea should have to do this.

It's starting to seem like the prosecutors have bent more to the wishes of the family in this "compromise." We will see what the judge says.

Isn’t this the same deal we heard about awhile back? I don’t have a link but I think it is. Still mad that he doesn’t have to explain.

 

[Jewels53]

when the news hit yesterday that SA wanted a bench trial and posters commented on the South Bend Tribune Facebook page ... someone for the first time posted the La Comay video link. That video link posted around 22 hours ago So I am sure that was quite a shocker decimating the family narrative. The video speaks for itself.

That probably sealed the deal as far as reputation in Indiana goes! Let's get this out of the news they thought. Did SA even have time to get back from PR before the decision was made to change his plea?

 

[Jewels53]

This reminds of the Alford plea.

An Alford Plea is a guilty plea of a defendant who proclaims he is innocent of the crime, and admits that the prosecution has enough evidence to prove that he is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It is entered when an accused, together with his attorney, has made the calculated decision to plead guilty because the evidence against him is so strong that it will likely lead to conviction.

The Alford Plea: Guilty But Innocent

 

[Montrealaise]

Agreed! And what makes this breaking news ring 2 little 2 late - and underserving justice for CW - is the family not missing a beat with their mantra, “... and fighting for cruise passenger safety by raising awareness about the need for all common carriers to adhere to window fall prevention laws designed to protect children from falling from windows.”

...So how do you implement a reckless-idiot prevention program? Because this tragedy only happened by the negligent actions of SA. Sounds like the family is still subversively blaming the cruise line. imo.

Well, here's an idea for protecting children from falling from windows: have the windows several feet off the ground, way out of reach of children, and put safety barriers in front of the windows.
Oh, wait......