GUILTY TX - Emma Thompson, 4, dies with STD, skull fracture, Spring, 27 June 2009

[2goldfish]

Okay, so maybe this is really why the DA went for Super Aggravated Sexual Assault instead of murder:

"Unlike a life sentence for murder, which generally is capped at 60 years with eligibility for parole at 30 years, the maximum for super aggravated sexual assault of a child is actual life. Prosecutors opted to try Coe on that charge rather than murder in hopes of getting a stricter sentence."

BBM and link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7214196.html

He can't get out - no getting out in 30 years when he would be 58 years old - still young enough to commit harm to others. He has to stay there! He can't get out.

Okay, okay - I could say that over and over again. I am very pleased that he does not have a chance in Hades of getting out!!!!

Salem

now I understand and I am sorry for all the mean things I said about the prosecuters. they were right of course.

 

[believe09]

I think you are right, Salem, but personally I view this as a capital murder case. There is a serial offender, a very minor child, an aggravated rape...I mean it has a pretty long list of aggravators or special circumstances. Her death was essentially by torture and if that was not enough, he raped her. I would have liked to have seen Abby and Lucas face this charge, and I think they would have plea bargained to LWOP. JMVHO.

However, kudos for the conviction...and now where is the headstone?

 

[Belinda]

I read on the other site that a headstone appeared out of nowhere, but it doesn't have her last name on it, which is very suspect. I can assume Emma's dad did not approve this and hopefully will replace it as he had a plan for a specific design. I think we can assume who did it. What utter chutzpah. Her name is Emma Thompson. Always was, always will be.

As for Coe, I don't know how Ben didn't go after him in the court room when he had the unmitigated gall to wink at him during his victim's impact statement. I would have gone berserk had it been me. Ben is a fine, upstanding man and I'm glad he didn't let it get to him.

 

[Belinda]

now I understand and I am sorry for all the mean things I said about the prosecuters. they were right of course.

I think it rankles everyone that the word murder never appeared in any charges. However, I can see their strategy and they did what they had to do to get the stiffest sentence and I appreciate that. This man will never see the light of day again. I'm good with that. Too bad the momster didn't get the same.

 

[Paintr]

I read on the other site that a headstone appeared out of nowhere, but it doesn't have her last name on it, which is very suspect. I can assume Emma's dad did not approve this and hopefully will replace it as he had a plan for a specific design. I think we can assume who did it. What utter chutzpah. Her name is Emma Thompson. Always was, always will be.

As for Coe, I don't know how Ben didn't go after him in the court room when he had the unmitigated gall to wink at him during his victim's impact statement. I would have gone berserk had it been me. Ben is a fine, upstanding man and I'm glad he didn't let it get to him.

Winked at Emma's father! (that made me gag and then shake my head in disgust) At least Coe is where he belongs and he will stay there for a long, long time. That is a comforting thought.

 

[ohiogirl]

I think you should get out of my head, fwiw-I thought the same thing. A 5 minute close?

It would restore my faith in humanity if he blinked.

Doesn't seem like the defense atty had a whole lot to say, does it. Sometimes you just can't defend an a@@.

 

[Belinda]

Doesn't seem like the defense atty had a whole lot to say, does it. Sometimes you just can't defend an a@@.

What else could he possibly think to say after claiming their was no sexual assault and no homocide? Not much to follow up with. I think he was beginning to realize what a complete fool he looked like because of his previous statements and kept his trap shut.

 

[believe09]

my siggy line says it all when it comes to Van Buren. As long as he can look at himself in the mirror and be happy he upheld Coe's constitutional right to a vigorous defense, good on him.

On the other hand, he has to live with the autopsy and crime scene images as well.

 

[LCoastMom]

I have been watching all the reports I have been able to find, part of what the reporter said is paraphrased but the interview with Rick De Toto was as accurate as I could make it.

Rick De Toto sat down with Sally MacDonald in the Fox 26 news room; she asked ...emotionally how did you defend LC?

"That is a two part answer; as a criminal defense lawyer I can't can't afford emotion, the constitution says every citizen accused has a right to a lawyer, a right to a trial. I believe in that very deeply. It's part of our constitution part of what makes our country great.... On the other hand as a father it's very emotional I can tell you as a father listening to Ben Thompson address Lucas Coe in court today absolutely broke my heart.

She said - this is one of the first times we've seen the Super Aggravated charges (a law changed in 2007) to give rapists of small children stiffer penalties... you even got death threats...

There were some bloggers saying things like members of the defense team should be shot in the head, their children should be sexually assaulted and killed. I had to notify my children's school and they were put on alert. We were escorted in to court every day.

In years to come, looking back what do you think will stand out to you...

As a defense lawyer this has been the hardest case I have ever been through, as a father of a beautiful little seven year old girl; Mr Thompson having to stand up there in court today, having to go thru this twice, absolutely broke my heart - My heart goes out to that family and everything they went through.


When asked about the statements made by Emma's family, criticizing the defense; William van Buren said, "I can't fault them. What that family has gone through has been horrendous."

Coe's appeal has been filed.

This is much more than I could find from the defense attorneys of AY - (paraphrased) they said the outcome was what they expected, they were happy she got as little time as she did!

AY has filed a claim of indigence and has a Public Defender working on her appeal.

 

[IWannaKnow]

So, if there was no homicide, how did Emma wind up dead of blunt force abdominal trauma? Oh, pardon me, that must have happened from that same "straddle" injury that caused the unexplainable vaginal tear... right Mr. Van Buren?? :doh: Clearly Emma must have fallen off the toilet multiple times, straddling the toilet each time.....must have been a total of about 70 falls off the toilet that day, right Mr. Van Buren? And I presume the toilet was in the kitchen, since that was where Emma's sister heard the noise come from. I can see clearly now that the toilet seat must have caused that tear....:waitasec:

How stupid do they think we are? At least the jury saw through that line of bull crap.

 

[Belinda]

When I read that the attorney said "We have to keep in mind this is not a homicide" I almost threw up. When he claimed there simply was no sexual assault, I wanted to hurt him. I know defense attorney's have a job to do, however I could never defend someone of a heinous crime that I knew damn well they did. If I thought for a flat second that they were truly innocent, I would fight it until the end. This isn't one of those. I know Coe is guaranteed an adequate defense and yada, yada, yada. I just couldn't personally stomach it. And then to make such outrageous comments only adds insult to injury.

 

[LCoastMom]

I've been watching the videos - Coe does not blink, the *&^#@@## is not human there is not a piece of humanity in his carcass.

Ben Thompson took a deep breath before he said:

You are not a man. You are a bogey man, you are a monster..

You are a pice of . You are a piece of . You are a piece of .

"You're going to pay a long and horrible price for what you did to my daughter.

She was such a child that she would apologize when she got sick and then assure you, 'It's okay, I'm all better now....

Well, it's not all better now. She's not okay.

I will never forget how difficult it was to write a letter thanking her for 4 wonderful years of memories and apologizing for failing her in the most basic function of a father."

After the hearing Ben told a reporter: "I'm going to think of him as dead, until someone in prison makes him that way and then I'm not going to think of him at all."

I replayed Ben's statement from AY's trial. He said "The sisters will be living 200 miles apart."

I know they were in therapy, they maybe waiting for the right time for L to resume living with her bio dad - AY's 1st husband.

JThompson, Emma's Gpa, said. "I'm glad this day is over..."

A.Y- Matthews "She was my heart, my youngest of three nieces.... "

Most of the reports said Ben's sister A Matthews - A was AY's sister. This crime took away her baby niece, (her 2 older nieces for a year of their lives) and her family - She wrote a moving tribute to Ann at R.C.

M.R.Young - was not at this trial and did not speak out for Emma, she has never spoken in defense of Emma and claims AY didn't tell her much about what happened to Emma, because she doesn't know.

She is hosting a golf tournament today, for the foundation where she is employed.

We know she is not paying for AY's appeal.

The headstone with no last name makes me angry from the top of my head, to the bottom of my toes and that is all I'm going to say. I am glad to hear the Thompsons were just waiting for the trial to be over, to place a beautiful stone at Emma's tiny grave.

M & A Thompson, Emma's aunt and uncle, whose wedding she was going to be in also put a lovely thank you to Ann for covering the trial. They are out of state and not able to attend.

http://www.realitychatter.com/missing-murdered-f30/emma-thompson-deceased-6-27-09-lucas-coe-found-guilty-t2705-400.htm

 

[Belinda]

I have been following the RC blog. They really were some very moving posts from Emma's family and it was nice to see how grateful they are for the support. This is a wound that will never heal, but at least the trials are over and they can try to regain some sort of normal life. I thought it was amazing that Aunt Am broke from her family to be there for Emma. That's the way it should be. Emma's so-called maternal grandmother should be ashamed to show her face in public. Now we know why Abigail turned out like she did. Luckily Aunt Am is awesome and nothing like the rest of her family. I am so thankful there was SOMEONE there from the Young side of the family. Shame on the rest of them.

 

[IWannaKnow]

I was reading Brooke Bennett's forum, and saw an article which explains some of what we discussed a few pages ago, specifically my ranting over not allowing LC's previous crimes to be introduced as evidence. This article spells out that it is allowed in the sentencing, but not the actual trial:

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20100820/NEWS02/708209947/1003/NEWS02

"The law school’s Campbell said it’s actually very common to introduce evidence of past crimes during sentencing even though that evidence is often barred during the actual trial.

“It’s certainly not uncommon to have evidence of prior crimes admitted to show the defendant can’t be rehabilitated,” Campbell said in a telephone interview yesterday. “It goes to the issue of the defendant’s likelihood of rehabilitation.” "
*************************************************************

I would like to paste more, but cannot, but this was a very good explanation IMO.

 

[Belinda]

Very interesting article, IWK. I think is pretty standard for past bad behavior to be introduced during the sentencing phase, so I don't think the defense will have much luck keeping it out. It's another case of a heinous animal being defended to the hilt. It irritates the hell out of me.

 

[LCoastMom]

As always Emma's GMa Thompson made and incredible statement. What a lady, what a wonderful family Emma was fortunate to be born into.

What a disgrace AY was to Emma and her family.

"Her life was precious, had great value and great potential. Her capacity to love was immeasurable...

Imagine Emma's terror at Lucas Coe looming over her, leering at her, hurting her, eventually killing her.

His repeated attacks on every part of her body resulted in her death.

She was stripped of every shred of innocence and happiness by the defendant.

What kind of male of the species seeks sexual gratification from inflicting torture, pain and abuse on a small toddler?

She she would have told you her favorite movie was Monsters Inc.

She liked to paint with markers and put stickers in her coloring book."

In reply to Coe winking at her son, Emma's Gma said: "I suspect there will be a lot of winking where you are going."

Reports said the family spoke out against the hospital that said Emma had not been abused -

They are thinking of writing a book to keep Emma's name out in the public -

There is a foundation in Emma's name at St Jude's Hospital -

I think I'll give them a call today. It was my mom's (another Emma) favorite charity (out of many) - the one that I took over after her death.

 

[Salem]

~Respectfully snipped~

As for Coe, I don't know how Ben didn't go after him in the court room when he had the unmitigated gall to wink at him during his victim's impact statement. I would have gone berserk had it been me. Ben is a fine, upstanding man and I'm glad he didn't let it get to him.

My DH and I were just talking about this. I too would have lost it. I would have stood up and unleashed my fury on the - from the bottom on my toes to the top of my head - that courtroom would have rocked with the noise I would have made. I feel it inside me just reading about the .

I never want to sit on a jury for a case such as this - I just don't think I could handle it. The anger is intense and it is fueled by the sadness of knowing that no matter what we do, we can't bring these little ones back and make it right.

Okay - I think I need a break. I was going to go read at RC and catch up, but maybe not now.........

Salem

 

[Belinda]

Unfortunately the trials did not diminish the absolute rage we are all feeling over what was done to this precious little girl. There is no just punishment for animals such as these. We must settle for what we can get. As much rage as we are all feeling, it can't begin to touch that which Emma's family feels. My heart breaks for them and all they have suffered.

 

[LCoastMom]

So, if there was no homicide, how did Emma wind up dead of blunt force abdominal trauma? Oh, pardon me, that must have happened from that same "straddle" injury that caused the unexplainable vaginal tear... right Mr. Van Buren?? :doh: Clearly Emma must have fallen off the toilet multiple times, straddling the toilet each time.....must have been a total of about 70 falls off the toilet that day, right Mr. Van Buren? And I presume the toilet was in the kitchen, since that was where Emma's sister heard the noise come from. I can see clearly now that the toilet seat must have caused that tear....:waitasec:

How stupid do they think we are? At least the jury saw through that line of bull crap.

I haven't heard but I saw a reference to the defense saying Emma was sickly and uncoordinated and this contributed to her death.

All I can say is it was obvious they knew this (Thank's Ben) was guilty and they had nothing they could say good about him so they went after the victim as the defense is known to do in such cases.

He's lucky he's not related to me... he would be looking for a new family.

 

[LiveLaughLuv]

A death sentence would have been the best sentence for this predator...since he received LWOP, at least he will never roam the streets again and do this to someone elses' daughter...he will die in prison or might even get some prison justice handed down before that...One can hope...JMHO


Justice has been served for Emma...

Rest Peacefully, Emma....