GUILTY NM - Paul, 34, & Tryone Posey, 44, Marilea Schmid, 13, slain, Hondo, 5 July 2004

[nanandjim]

I followed this case a little. From what I have heard, I think that Cody should be held minimally responsible (maybe, manslaughter). I think that the sentence should be minimal punishment with a heavy emphasis on counseling. He should then have supervised probation and mandatory counseling for several years after his release.

This kid has been through hell and back, and nobody stepped up to the plate to help him. Unfortunately, he felt that he had no other way out.

What a sad, sad situation--especially for Cody--if what he is saying and what his witnesses are saying is true.

 

[mysteriew]

I don't believe that Cody should be given a pass. I believe he should be held accountable for his actions. But I also believe with a kid like this, he wasn't a trouble maker, no other problems from him. He needs a type of counseling that he won't get in Juvenile. He should be placed in a hospital setting, and given intensive counseling. Unfortunately, there is no chance for that. The jury will decide guilty or not guilty, and he will either be placed in the juvenile jail, or he will be released. If he is released, the court cannot order him into counseling. That is one of the things that stinks about our juvenile court system. This is the type of kid that could be salvagable. But he will need help.
I agree with Txmom, I believe that a kind of numbness develops with constant severe abuse. And a feeling that no one can or will help.

 

[vanillasky]

I watched this case on CTV a few days ago for the first time. I had only read media reports from when it first happened and that's all I knew about it. I figured it was the typical kid kills family case because he's a troublemaker or didn't get his way on something. I was put to tears listening to what that poor child has gone through his entire life, and I came away from the TV wondering how he held off so long in doing what he did. He has been failed by everyone in his entire life, not one person ever went to bat for him. I feel that he would be the one in the grave by their hands eventually if he hadn't gone through with killing them. That was truly his only way out of that situation, IMO. He was not old enough to leave on his own, no one would do anything about it... what was he supposed to do.... stay there and be raped by his stepmother, beaten by his stepfather and thrown to the fire by his stepsister? He had no escape. I believe this was truly the only solution. It sounds as if this was a "good ol' boy" area where they lived, and even if he had called the police, the parents would have been given a pass for their behavior and told what goes on in their home is their business, and then Cody would have paid for it tenfold after the authorities left. I hope they're burning in hell. :furious:

 

[Goody]

I don't believe that Cody should be given a pass. I believe he should be held accountable for his actions. But I also believe with a kid like this, he wasn't a trouble maker, no other problems from him. He needs a type of counseling that he won't get in Juvenile. He should be placed in a hospital setting, and given intensive counseling. Unfortunately, there is no chance for that. The jury will decide guilty or not guilty, and he will either be placed in the juvenile jail, or he will be released. If he is released, the court cannot order him into counseling. That is one of the things that stinks about our juvenile court system. This is the type of kid that could be salvagable. But he will need help.
I agree with Txmom, I believe that a kind of numbness develops with constant severe abuse. And a feeling that no one can or will help.

My concern for Cody is that it hasn't hardened him inside. It doesn't appear to but we may not know until he is into adulthood for sure. This may be what broke the camel's back, a genuine pressure release. I hope so.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

Right now the state's rebuttal seems to consist of people caliming tey never saw the elder Posey beat his son in front of them, so therefore the abuse didn't happen. By that logic, since Cody didn't kill his family in front of them, then that 'never happened either. !

 

[jilly]

My concern for Cody is that it hasn't hardened him inside. It doesn't appear to but we may not know until he is into adulthood for sure. This may be what broke the camel's back, a genuine pressure release. I hope so.

I agree, "it doesn't appear to" because I've been watching him and to me I get the feeling that he's more at peace in that courtroom than he ever was at his kitchen table.

 

[Gidgette]

I agree, "it doesn't appear to" because I've been watching him and to me I get the feeling that he's more at peace in that courtroom than he ever was at his kitchen table.

I agree Jilly. My husband spent many many years being abused by several step-fathers. Granted he didn't go to this extreme, not that he didn't want to. But he did make a decision that he would never stoop to the level they did either. As soon as age appropriate he joined the service and has never looked back. Sorry to say, not even when his mom died. There was just nothing left within him to care one way or another.

I also agree that it would be a matter of time that it would be the father who would perhaps be sitting in the same situation but I think he would also know how to make it look like an accident and probably have a huge insurance policy on Cody to boot.

These kind of people can always make themselves look picture perfect to John Q. Public. No one knows what goes on behind closed doors. That's just the way it works.

I hope that Cody can eventually have some kind of life and move on to find someone to love and be loved by.

Gidgette

 

[concernedperson]

I agree Jilly. My husband spent many many years being abused by several step-fathers. Granted he didn't go to this extreme, not that he didn't want to. But he did make a decision that he would never stoop to the level they did either. As soon as age appropriate he joined the service and has never looked back. Sorry to say, not even when his mom died. There was just nothing left within him to care one way or another.

I also agree that it would be a matter of time that it would be the father who would perhaps be sitting in the same situation but I think he would also know how to make it look like an accident and probably have a huge insurance policy on Cody to boot.

These kind of people can always make themselves look picture perfect to John Q. Public. No one knows what goes on behind closed doors. That's just the way it works.

I hope that Cody can eventually have some kind of life and move on to find someone to love and be loved by.

Gidgette

Good post. The fact that Paul Posey wanted Cody back after his mom was killed and was happy with the SSI checks that Cody never saw and was never saved for his future is very telling.An insurance policy is not without consideration. This man never love his child...he used him.

 

[Bobbisangel]

On CTV today while the court was taking a break or having lunch they showed a little blip with Slim Brittin explaining something that had happened with some calves on the ranch. They had had all of the calf's who were 1 and 2 years old together in a certain area. One of the baby bulls was acting up and so Slim roped him to get him away from the others for a little while. The other ranch hand put a rope around the calves legs to bring him to the ground. All of a sudden here came Cody's dad. He ran over to the calf who couldn't get up and grabbed a big rock and started pounding the calf in the eye. He just kept beating on the calves eye and then he started pounding on its other eye. Then he let the calf up and it joined the other calves. Slim said that the calf was blind and never did recover from that beating.

Slim said that they didn't know what to do when Cody's dad started doing that. They worked for him and didn't dare correct him or pull him away. So both of the ranch hands just walked away but saw everything that the monster did.

I'm not sad that this man is dead. He beat on Cody his whole life and treated animals just as bad or worse. It just makes me sick. This creep never had the
balls to treat his friends, etc, like he did Cody and the animals he was supposed to be taking care of. Bullys never show their true colors in front of others. He didn't care if the ranch hands saw the things that he did because he knew that ranch jobs were few and far between and they didn't dare say anything...and they didn't. It's to bad that he didn't take on someone that was big enough to half kill him. But people like him don't take on big grown men. I think this guy got exactly what he deserved.

 

[tybee204]

On CTV today while the court was taking a break or having lunch they showed a little blip with Slim Brittin explaining something that had happened with some calves on the ranch. They had had all of the calf's who were 1 and 2 years old together in a certain area. One of the baby bulls was acting up and so Slim roped him to get him away from the others for a little while. The other ranch hand put a rope around the calves legs to bring him to the ground. All of a sudden here came Cody's dad. He ran over to the calf who couldn't get up and grabbed a big rock and started pounding the calf in the eye. He just kept beating on the calves eye and then he started pounding on its other eye. Then he let the calf up and it joined the other calves. Slim said that the calf was blind and never did recover from that beating.

Slim said that they didn't know what to do when Cody's dad started doing that. They worked for him and didn't dare correct him or pull him away. So both of the ranch hands just walked away but saw everything that the monster did.

I'm not sad that this man is dead. He beat on Cody his whole life and treated animals just as bad or worse. It just makes me sick. This creep never had the
balls to treat his friends, etc, like he did Cody and the animals he was supposed to be taking care of. Bullys never show their true colors in front of others. He didn't care if the ranch hands saw the things that he did because he knew that ranch jobs were few and far between and they didn't dare say anything...and they didn't. It's to bad that he didn't take on someone that was big enough to half kill him. But people like him don't take on big grown men. I think this guy got exactly what he deserved.

A 2 year old Bull is not a baby. They weigh over 1000 lbs and can kill a large man in the blink of an eye. I lived on a cattle ranch for 10 years and a 2 year old bull can be worth thousands of dollars. I found that story very hard to believe because as Ranch Manager he would have to answer to the owner for damaging such a valubale property. This story was never testified to in Court and I felt it lessoned Slims credibility.

Edited to add,,, Bull calves are castrated early (banded as newborns or cut before 6 months) and it is steers that go to market. A 1 or 2 year old Bull that is not castrated is solely for breeding and on Sam Donaldsons ranch a breeding bull could be valued upward of $10,000. I cant see a manager being employed if he beat a Breeding Bull with a cantoloupe sized rock blinding it.

 

[Lili]

A 2 year old Bull is not a baby. They weigh over 1000 lbs and can kill a large man in the blink of an eye. I lived on a cattle ranch for 10 years and a 2 year old bull can be worth thousands of dollars. I found that story very hard to believe because as Ranch Manager he would have to answer to the owner for damaging such a valubale property. This story was never testified to in Court and I felt it lessoned Slims credibility.

Edited to add,,, Bull calves are castrated early (banded as newborns or cut before 6 months) and it is steers that go to market. A 1 or 2 year old Bull that is not castrated is solely for breeding and on Sam Donaldsons ranch a breeding bull could be valued upward of $10,000. I cant see a manager being employed if he beat a Breeding Bull with a cantoloupe sized rock blinding it.

But Slim mentions the other ranch hand witnessed this too. Posey would probably blame it on someone else or claim he didn't know what happened to the critter.

 

[tybee204]

But Slim mentions the other ranch hand witnessed this too. Posey would probably blame it on someone else or claim he didn't know what happened to the critter.

But he didnt testify to it in Court. I simply dont believe the story as Slim presented it. If it were valid I feel the Defense would have used it. Slim IMO has been telling to many stories around the camp fire . The livestock is the cash crop on a ranch. Its the equivelent of a farm manager burning the wheat fields.

 

[mysteriew]

http://www.courttv.com/trials/posey/013006_ctv.html

 

[scandi]

Hi Guys,

I've watched this trial on Court TV and it is so sad and I always turn it off right away. He was tortured beyond reason, and so I think he took on somewhat of a syndrome, like those who suffer from domestic violence. It is so awful, because you love the person who is doing this to you and always have hope it will end because the agressor will change, but escape from it is almost impossible.

It is something you just bear until you are taught how to find an escape. I don't think he was ever taught nor did he have the life exzperiences to draw from to give him the correct signals.

Tybee, I think it took him a long time, and constant abuse that was really torture at times, before he cracked and suddenly could tolerate it no more.

That is also when the domestic violence victim changes, and something is done overtly on the victims part to stop it short, knowing that this is the point where you can not turn back and ever experience it again.

I lived this out myself, and after such incredible damage to me as having 2 operations so I could see again, after I was kicked so hard in the eye, I was hurt and wanting to feel anguish on his part. When about 3 months later I had a half full beer can flung straight and dead-eye for my good eye, something sparked inside my soal and I changed. I walked into the kitchen and picked up the new Henckels fillet knife I had bought that day and walked over, kneeling in front of him. I put the tip of the knife up to his shin and told him he did not have the power or the right to make me blind.

The next thing I knew he was gushing blood from his leg, and after putting on a tournaquit which didn't stop it, I called 911. We were both arrested, but I was released within hours because they could not find a reason to charge me. I had acted in defense of my life - my eyesight. And no one ever was going to take that away from me on purpose. I am an artist! I had no idea at the time that the knife had actually pierced a blood vessel in his leg. It was so new and sharp it slid into his leg like butter. That was not my intent. I wanted to scare him and make a statement.

I don't think Cody had the background and education or savvy to react like most of us do. I had the best, and look what I did! It was an instinct that desperation led me to pull out of my hat for survival's sake. I don't think Cody had ever been exposed to real living to where he could develop this instinct.

So I think he was at a point of desperation and the only thing he knew was to get rid of the people who were hurting him so badly. My natural instinct was to show power to defeat a foe. His was to get rid of the foe. And I think the difference only came from what he had not learned and been exposed to in regular living, which he did not have.

So I feel so sad about what he did, but understand why.

And as to what should be done with Cody now because of these murders, I have to admit I am worriied that all of this suffering he went through might have turned him into someone we can no longer trust. I know people in similar situations have been rehabilitated and come back to lead progressive lives.

There are things that bother me about him. He was getting into other sexual relationships that were not the average for a normal kid. In other words I think he was becoming a bit too saavy about the repurcussions of what he was made to do and enjoyed it. So sad, as he went about finding pleasure in the wrong way because he had never learned how to exspress it in the right way.

Sorry this got so long, but even though Cory did not have the benefit of life-learning to help him out, that would have told him murder was not the answer, I would want to confine him until every possible test that could be given would say that the answer to his cunnundrum would not be to kill those who hurt him, but rather to escape, and in doing that show them they did not hold the power to victimize him anymore. It might take 2 years, or 5, or who knows. It all depends where Cory's brain has ended up now, and if there is a coming back from this or there isn't. There might not be, but I do hope there is.

Scandi

 

[tybee204]

Scandi I agree whatever this child suffered has damaged him. But I also am of the opinion that his story is being exagerated and manipulated. He could not have had a hay hook put into his hand without leaving scars and damage. I dont believe the story of Mr Posey attacking a 1-2 year old bull as Slim portrayed it. If he was beat with a Lasso rope on his back he would have scars. So many of the violent attacks he claimed would have left permanent marks and scars. Being beat with a shovel, hay hook or lasso would leave scars. How many scars do we carry for life due to silly accidental falls off our bicycles as children? I think he was abused physically and emotionally but I also think he learned manipulation from that experience and is using it now.
I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. The murder of his step sister is the one that he should be held most accountable for. She was a child and posed no physical threat to him that morning.

His decision to murder her IMO can not be excused or justified. The boys that walked into Columbine claimed years of torment and abuse by their peers. Can we justify that as well?

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

But he didnt testify to it in Court. I simply dont believe the story as Slim presented it. If it were valid I feel the Defense would have used it. Slim IMO has been telling to many stories around the camp fire . The livestock is the cash crop on a ranch. Its the equivelent of a farm manager burning the wheat fields.

Having watched a grown man beat a mule over the head with a board until the board cracked and blood poured out the mule's nostrils and mouth, I can believe it easily enough.
As ranch manager Posey could explain away a wounded or damaged animal as he saw fit. While the ranch is a working ranch, Donaldson is a gentleman farmer. The person who would have noticed or said something about a damaged animal on a day-to-day basis was the man who damaged it. And a certain amount of animals up and die or have thiings happen to them. Its figured into the budget. And, to be blunt, for someone like Donaldson, the occasional bullock here and there isn't going to cause a a blip on the economic radar. I'm more curious as to whether Donaldson had said or done something that made Posey mad and he vented his rage on the animal as substitute for the owner. That's how abusive a-holes like him usually are. Someone above them gives them grief, so the kids/wife/dog pays for it later.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

Scandi I agree whatever this child suffered has damaged him. But I also am of the opinion that his story is being exagerated and manipulated. He could not have had a hay hook put into his hand without leaving scars and damage. I dont believe the story of Mr Posey attacking a 1-2 year old bull as Slim portrayed it. If he was beat with a Lasso rope on his back he would have scars. So many of the violent attacks he claimed would have left permanent marks and scars. Being beat with a shovel, hay hook or lasso would leave scars. How many scars do we carry for life due to silly accidental falls off our bicycles as children? I think he was abused physically and emotionally but I also think he learned manipulation from that experience and is using it now.
I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. The murder of his step sister is the one that he should be held most accountable for. She was a child and posed no physical threat to him that morning.

His decision to murder her IMO can not be excused or justified. The boys that walked into Columbine claimed years of torment and abuse by their peers. Can we justify that as well?

We haven't seen this boy without a shirt. God knows what his back, buttocks and arms look like.
Although a lariat across the back wouldn't leave a permanent mark if he was wearing a shirt or vest. It would hurt like a SOB & leave significant bruising. My understanding was that the hay hook didn't go into the boy;s hand, but that his father struck him across the top of the hands, between the 1st knuckles and the wrist. He could have easily broken a metacarpal, but that wouldn't necessarily leave outward signs except for swelling and bruising. If Cody was wearing ranch gloves some of the blow would have been absorbed. The unrelenting nit-picking emotional sadism, though, is what really did the damage, not the physical abuse.
The father clearly hated this child from the moment he was born, to the point an absolute stanger stepped in to keep him from beating the toddler Cody with a belt. That kind of viciousness does not mellow with age.

 

[tybee204]

Actually the life span and productivity of a bull on a cattle ranch is documented more closely then a check book. You have to have a bull for every so many cows and those bulls have to be rotated out to keep them from breeding their own off spring. The bloodlines and productivity of a bull is what determines the value and standing of your herd.

I have watched grown ranchers cry when they lost a bull to injury or accident.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

Actually the life span and productivity of a bull on a cattle ranch is documented more closely then a check book. You have to have a bull for every so many cows and those bulls have to be rotated out to keep them from breeding their own off spring. The bloodlines and productivity of a bull is what determines the value and standing of your herd.

I have watched grown ranchers cry when they lost a bull to injury or accident.

I seriously doubt Delbert Posey would have been one of them.

 

[tybee204]

We haven't seen this boy without a shirt. God knows what his back, buttocks and arms look like.
Although a lariat across the back wouldn't leave a permanent mark if he was wearing a shirt or vest. It would hurt like a SOB & leave significant bruising. My understanding was that the hay hook didn't go into the boy;s hand, but that his father struck him across the top of the hands, between the 1st knuckles and the wrist. He could have easily broken a metacarpal, but that wouldn't necessarily leave outward signs except for swelling and bruising. If Cody was wearing ranch gloves some of the blow would have been absorbed. The unrelenting nit-picking emotional sadism, though, is what really did the damage, not the physical abuse.
The father clearly hated this child from the moment he was born, to the point an absolute stanger stepped in to keep him from beating the toddler Cody with a belt. That kind of viciousness does not mellow with age.

If there were any scarring on Cody the defense would have presented it as evidence. Any past broken bones etc wouldhave been presented. Although Cody claims a life time of blows to the head by his father he suffers no inner ear damage or hairline fractures. Absolutley no cooberating medical evidence to his claims of a life time of brutal abuse.