So, I guess I will play the contrarian here tonight.
First, if you have not had a chance, I found *both* of the Roanoke Times article to be really informative.
http://www.roanoke.com/noah-thomas-...cle_ef8530da-abe1-5e92-b0a7-4a062f43ad94.html
http://www.roanoke.com/news/crime/p...cle_ef8530da-abe1-5e92-b0a7-4a062f43ad94.html
I was going to do my usual superlong multi quote catch up response but I have spotty internet right now due to road work in our neighborhood (Tonight of all nights!!!! Don't they know I need to be on WS tonight?!) So please forgive this unfocused response.
MOD was left as undetermined b/c the ME does not know how he ended up in the tank.
I was one who said for a loooong time that he could have fallen in. I changed my tune as time went on, especially in light of AW & PT's drug activity, leaving the kids alone, and other persons known to Noah having nefarious backgrounds.
I am back to not being so sure. The lid was easily removed - per testimony in court today. Noah was found with some scratches on his stomach and a laceration near his mouth (per the ME)...which I think sounds about right for a kid falling over, bashing his mouth on the edge of the tank and scraping his tummy along something as he fell in.
Then again, I would bet a significant percentage of 5 year old boys have those same scratches and wounds on any given day. Boys will be boys.
There was no other evidence of trauma - he wasn't beaten.
There was no evidence in toxicology of drugs in his system. He was not out cold from opiates and mistaken for dead. He had nothing in his system. He was not drugged by mommy to get him to sleep. He did not sneak and get in to mommy's stash when he was left home alone. He did not have opiates in his system.
The felony murder charge was dropped *
because the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence to move forward. The judge ruled that the criminal act of leaving the kids home alone was not sufficiently connected to Noah's death.*
So, it's one of two possibilities. Either AW & PT have some pretty bad luck in life (dead parents, dead best friend, then their kid accidentally dies and they get blamed for it) OR the Prosecution is lacking some key piece of evidence connecting the time AW took PT to work and Noah's death.
Either way - it sucks. It sucks that this innocent child met an untimely demise b/c his parents (whether they are criminally responsible or not) failed him.
I would love for our one our our legal eagles to check in on this, but I am pretty sure they could still bring additional charges against her *
if and when they have the evidence to do so.*
It sucks b/c I feel in my heart that they have more culpability in this than their current charges however, I also believe our justice system is designed to work the way it does for a reason. WE DON'T KNOW. None of us here are really privy to anything. It's all speculation and heartbreak.
Wouldn't it be better to drop the charges now and preserve the option to bring them later than to have her found Not Guilty?