GUILTY NE - Michael Belitz, 12, found strangled in bathtub, Omaha, July 2009

[Linda7NJ]

http://omaha.com/article/20100202/NEWS97/702029945/0/AP07

Though all sides agree that an Omaha woman accused of killing her 12-year-old son last summer is mentally competent to stand trial, a judge will wait until Wednesday to decide how the case moves forward.
Angela Manns, who turns 47 next week, sobbed in court Monday as prosecutors explained why they had sufficient evidence to charge her with first-degree murder in the death of Michael Belitz. Manns’ attorney, however, said prosecutors couldn’t justify more than a manslaughter charge.

 

[kgriffin]

Ok, I have many opinions in this case. Yes, the system failed but this woman (I won't even call her a mother) had enough on the ball the plan to get rid of the body. I don't care if she planned to kill this boy or if it just happened. She isn't saying she just found him dead or it was an accident. It time to stand up for these children and justice should be delivered, the system failed them before their death, why continue. Angela Manns feels sorry enough to cry in court..because she was found competent.

 

[Truthful Lies]

Ok, I have many opinions in this case. Yes, the system failed but this woman (I won't even call her a mother) had enough on the ball the plan to get rid of the body. I don't care if she planned to kill this boy or if it just happened. She isn't saying she just found him dead or it was an accident. It time to stand up for these children and justice should be delivered, the system failed them before their death, why continue. Angela Manns feels sorry enough to cry in court..because she was found competent.

I respectfully do not agree. Just because she was found competent to stand trial does NOT mean she doesn't suffer from severe psychosis, hallucinations, or any other of the wide range of mental illnesses. She tried to get help. I respect that and ache for all involved. We'll see what happens, but I will not throw someone on the gallows in this case, except CPS. No excuses, but competency just means she understands the legal proceedings....in my opinion, it has nothing to do with her mental health. I think she cried because she really misses her son and failed him.

"...test must be whether he has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding --and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him."
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:7IbWL4DLDdIJ:www.unl.edu/ap-ls/student/CST%2520assess.pdf+competency+to+stand+trial&hl=en&gl=us&sig=AHIEtbSR98G7CaT17ZnY5W_cnXrA9U2btA

 

[sindydee]

Ok, I have many opinions in this case. Yes, the system failed but this woman (I won't even call her a mother) had enough on the ball the plan to get rid of the body. I don't care if she planned to kill this boy or if it just happened. She isn't saying she just found him dead or it was an accident. It time to stand up for these children and justice should be delivered, the system failed them before their death, why continue. Angela Manns feels sorry enough to cry in court..because she was found competent.

I completely agree.I tried to find a little bit of compassion for this lady, but like you said above she knew what she had done. She collected an assortment of items to dispose of the body. Surely you must know that what you have done is WRONG if thats what you are PLANNING to do. She thought she was mentally unstable and asked for help, yes, but why not go to the doctor, why not go to the hospital or the mental unit and beg to be admitted and get help and tell them or anyone, you are going to hurt yourself or you son if you dont? I agree again with what you said about her crying in court, which sums up what I have put, she may be been ill, BUT is competent to stand trial and she was crying for herself, not her child.

Just my opinion.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://journalstar.com/news/local/9...cle_acb4bd48-f7b2-5d2e-8933-9b35014a6d7b.html

The Nebraska Attorney General's office has asked a judge to dismiss a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the estate of an Omaha boy strangled by his mother in 2009...

Before Michael's death, his mother left a voicemail for an HHS caseworker asking to place her son in foster care. "It feels like I'm spiraling downward, so I'm concerned for him and me," Angela Manns said in the message...

The state argues it couldn't have known based on the phone calls that Manns planned to kill her son. Authorities found her son's decomposed body in a bathtub of water and cat litter. Manns admitted to strangling him with a phone cord while he slept. She pleaded no contest to second-degree murder.