First, my apologies for this crazy unconnected multi-quote response. It is Spring Break here, so my littles are home and I can't find my eyeglasses so reading the laptop is a little tedious right now (and yet....here I am!) So, apologies for my poor form here!
If negligence led to his death, I could see no murder charges, but maybe a lesser offense. However, if the abuse is what led to his death, wouldn't that be clear cut murder? Since "neglect and abuse" was used in the same sentence, do we know which is being referred to that "led to Noah's death?" Any insight or opinions appreciated.
I don't think we will know until the final autopsy report is complete. I think that there is a lot of confusion about the difference between neglect and abuse, as well as some misunderstandings about all that "abuse" can include. I don't think anything can be deemed "clear cut" until all of the reports are in. And I don't think Davis and Fleenor would take any chances charging them on something now. There are a lot of possibilities for murder charges that could come out of the final autopsy - things that would not be able to be proven without it.
Well that was a bust lol. The lady at 540-643-2000 from the jail, said she had actually never looked at the page and wasn't sure what the field/tab label GRADE means. She stated she did know there were 2 diff levels of felony charges A & B. But didn't know what "A" and "F" ment in those fields on the inmate page.
I absolutely love that you called there. I was planning on doing it later this week (did not want to call and have that discussion in front of my kids!) Seriously - you rock.
I think there are a lot of admin errors in this case. The charge date, basic logistics like marital stats, etc. That drives me crazy. It seems LE was so particular in the beginning, what happened? haha
This. A million times agree! We all make mistakes but I would assume that administrative and clerical errors in booking info would be minimal, given the nature of the information. Especially in a high profile case like this. You can add having PT's old pic up as his new pic for a while, too (which led to many comments about how young he looked!)
If negligence led to his death, I think that would qualify for at least manslaughter. Since manslaughter is when the perpetrator takes a high risk that ultimately leads to the death of another. Maybe one of our legal eagles could weigh in too. Like Gitana.
Ultimately, I think they are waiting on complete autopsy (perhaps to get several expert opinions), tox screen, etc before determining full responsibility.
Agreed. I have to look at the Virginia law because it could be voluntary vs involuntary manslaughter, too. We have a case in Virginia now of a guy who was driving recklessly, on a suspended license, with a laundry list of prior driving offenses, who caused an accident which took the life of a 6 year old girl. He is being charged with involuntary manslaughter. A lot of people are up in arms about it.
There were some comments asking for links since people were discussing the role of Noah's parents in his death. The implication to me was that since they weren't charged with murder, people were out of line to blame the parents. So I was providing this article which had quotes from the arrest warrant clearly stating LE blames Noah's parents for his death, although specifics are not yet known and the charges currently only reflect what they can prove as of this time.
Gotcha. That makes sense to me! Sorry, sometimes I need things spelled out for me. Speak slowly. You may have to repeat yourself a few times.
Imo, the most interesting part of their charges are the abuse charges for Noah and mom's being a higher felony degree.
With his sister being alive they could visually see if she had been abused by her parents. Or they could have had her checked out by a doctor. Something valid sure made them remove her the day after Noah went missing.
So did the ME find abuse injuries on Noah at the time of autopsy and that is why they were both charged with abuse concerning Noah? That is what intrigues me. What forensic evidence did they find that supports the abuse charges for Noah since abuse is far different than neglect?
I guess I don't find the difference between their charges that surprising. There must be something to what happened that indicated to LE and the CA that AW was more responsible for Noah's death than PT was. Just an example of a possible scenario - perhaps something happened when PT was at work. She could be charged with a greater responsibility as Noah was in her care at the time but if he knew or should have known that it was unsafe to leave the kids with AW, he would also be responsible but b/c it was not at his hand, responsible to a lesser degree.
Also, "abuse" may not specifically mean physical abuse with visible injuries, etc. There are other things that can lead to an abuse charge.
