Found Deceased TX - Sherin Mathews, 3, Richardson, 7 Oct 2017 #4

[flute4peace]

As for me? I'm still trying to make sense of the "injury to child" charge since it is very obvious that the child died, so why aren't there any charges for the death of the child? Trying to wrap my thoughts around this right now. Can't help but think that the death charge as well as the disposal of the body charge is going to be charged against someone else. JMO

My thinking is it may just be legalese at this point. Until she has been *officially* identified, he can't be charged with homicide. Even though it seems obvious, they may have to wait until the proper identification reports are filed (my opinion/guess only - I'm not an attorney, nor did I stay at a holiday inn last night)

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[Inthedetails]

Dad did not want bio child to go home with Mom????
Also Dad looks much happier in adoption video than Mom. Very strange. MOO

Or maybe he knew that today he would be turning himself in to LE and didn't want the daughter to be shuffled around and experience the turmoil and emotion surrounded that development.
JMOpinion.

 

[Inthedetails]

My thinking is it may just be legalese at this point. Until she has been *officially* identified, he can't be charged with homicide. Even though it seems obvious, they may have to wait until the proper identification reports are filed (my opinion/guess only - I'm not an attorney, nor did I stay at a holiday inn last night)

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That is what I am assuming.

BUT....we don't know what he said yet.

Somebody is going to be charged with murder and perhaps there are other charges to come. (Obstruction comes to mind??)

jmopinion

 

[GigTu]

I'm having a hard time not thinking dad put Sherin in the culvert, but he's not the one who caused her death.

 

[Jo in Calif]

I disagree. No where in the charges or admittance does he admit that he caused the death of Sherin. He admits only to injury to a child. Legal charges for death would not omit that wording.

He was notified that a body of a child has been found. Do you think he told them that he injured her and she walked to the place she was found?

 

[MsMarple]

My flippin' internet's been on and off all afternoon so I'm still catching up. I'm jumping ahead just to say...

Wow! I didn't see that coming! He turned himself in? Wow.

IMO the felony charge will easily move to felony murder, hopefully soon. IOW, if LE can't make a strong case for murder one a felony murder charge usually carries a similar penalty. JMO but I predict he's going to go away for a long time. And if LE can prove murder in the first then he's screwed.

Disclaimer - I don't know how Texas law reads so I'm going on what I've seen in other cases. All MOO.

And I suddenly feel like I've been holding my breath and now I can breathe. Back to page 37 now...

 

[georgiajean]

''Serious bodily injury'' is something more serious than mere physical injury. Serious bodily injury refers to bodily injury which involves substantial risk of death, protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member or organ or mental faculty. Serious bodily injury is more than a minor or superficial injury.

https://definitions.uslegal.com/s/serious-bodily-injury/

WM has admitted to actions which involved substantial risk of death. This makes me think he is trying to say that she was alive when he last saw her, that he did not directly kill her. That's my take on it.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

No no the rocks are not built in. They are just concrete tubes. Obstacles inside would lead to clogging.

I agree. That would defeat the purpose. You don't want to slow down the water because the point is to keep it off the road.

That said, I question whether that photo is of THE culvert. For one thing, I saw live video into that culvert and I didn't see any rocks. Secondly, anything in there should have been removed for DNA testing.

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[MarisaS1985]

The mother would possibly know what she wore to bed and if the clothes belong to her child. I don't think it's fair to speculate on the mother yet.

Also, most moms tend to do the shopping and the laundry, not saying all moms or if this was the case here, but I think for the most part, the mom would be able to say "yes Sherin had a shirt like this" type of thing, even if she wasn't aware of what she may have actually been wearing when she went missing...

 

[GigTu]

https://definitions.uslegal.com/s/serious-bodily-injury/

WM has admitted to actions which involved substantial risk of death. This makes me think he is trying to say that she was alive when he last saw her, that he did not directly kill her. That's my take on it.

Or they did something that indirectly caused her death.

 

[MarisaS1985]

I am kinda wondering and maybe hoping a little, that WM spends the 100k+ on a nonrefundable bond, again, and then they arrest him for something else and revoke that bond, like say obstruction of justice, just so he keeps losing all this cash until he can't afford more than a public defender... but at the same time, I also want him to have good, reputable representation so that he has fewer chances of appeal...

Has anyone heard WHY WM changed lawyers? His lawyer today was NOT the same one he had when he was initially arrested, I thought the first one was allegedly a top notch lawyer so this confuses me.

 

[Inthedetails]

https://definitions.uslegal.com/s/serious-bodily-injury/

WM has admitted to actions which involved substantial risk of death. This makes me think he is trying to say that she was alive when he last saw her, that he did not directly kill her. That's my take on it.

I think he is confessing to as little as possible given what is a known, provable fact. At first, he confessed to leaving her outside but nothing more. When she was found (with injuries, I'm assuming), he confessed to injuring her. But....he's not saying anything else because he doesn't have to at this point.

He's not going to confess to murder before the ME announces the child was indeed murdered.

jmo

 

[Deleted member 158085]

I'm confused by this guy. Does he know the family, or does he just want to be involved? He acts like he knows them.

I believe that the Indian community is tight knit in this area. While he does not seem to know them (different churches), he is a spiritual advisor within the community, so his community is possibly looking to him for leadership and guidance. It does not seem odd to me.

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[MsMarple]

I'm speed researching while my internet is still flakey. Here's some info on Felony Murder in Texas:

FELONY MURDER IN TEXAS

Under the felony murder rule, also known as “law of the parties,” if a defendant is committing a felony and a killing occurs, the killing will be deemed a murder. This is regardless of whether there was any intent to murder. The justification for the felony murder rule is that the defendant had the requisite intent to commit the felony and thus should be liable for the natural consequences of his or her actions. Thus, his intent to commit the felony transfers automatically to the murder.

The Texas Penal Code defines applies felony murder when a person "commits or attempts to commit a felony, other than manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempt, or in immediate flight from the commission or attempt, he commits or attempts to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual."

Texas felony murder is applicable to all parties involved in the felony, even if there was minimal participation. The law of the parties, in its literal sense, suggests that any party can be guilty of murder. Note that legal theorists refer to felony murder as a prosecutor’s best friend. However, the Jeff Wood case from the 1990s challenged the fairness of the Texas felony murder rule.
http://www.flowermoundcriminaldefense.com/felony-murder-texas

Chapter 19 of the Texas Penal Code has all the info:
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.19.htm

 

[Hstevenson86]

Okay, So WM requested the extended time and not SM? Doesn't it seems strange, especially given that he is currently allowed no contact? Seems to me that they would have been prepared by now, SM has had her own lawyer for a while. Could this be because WM doesn't want SM to get the 4 y/o back?

Very possible

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[MissMalowe]

I am kinda wondering and maybe hoping a little, that WM spends the 100k+ on a nonrefundable bond, again, and then they arrest him for something else and revoke that bond, like say obstruction of justice, just so he keeps losing all this cash until he can't afford more than a public defender... but at the same time, I also want him to have good, reputable representation so that he has fewer chances of appeal...

Has anyone heard WHY WM changed lawyers? His lawyer today was NOT the same one he had when he was initially arrested, I thought the first one was allegedly a top notch lawyer so this confuses me.

I actually thought of this as well. Just keep arresting him on new charges and continue letting him post bail each time while his multiple bank accounts bleed out.

 

[MarisaS1985]

I'm speed researching while my internet is still flakey. Here's some info on Felony Murder in Texas:

FELONY MURDER IN TEXAS

Under the felony murder rule, also known as “law of the parties,” if a defendant is committing a felony and a killing occurs, the killing will be deemed a murder. This is regardless of whether there was any intent to murder. The justification for the felony murder rule is that the defendant had the requisite intent to commit the felony and thus should be liable for the natural consequences of his or her actions. Thus, his intent to commit the felony transfers automatically to the murder.

The Texas Penal Code defines applies felony murder when a person "commits or attempts to commit a felony, other than manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempt, or in immediate flight from the commission or attempt, he commits or attempts to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual."

Texas felony murder is applicable to all parties involved in the felony, even if there was minimal participation. The law of the parties, in its literal sense, suggests that any party can be guilty of murder. Note that legal theorists refer to felony murder as a prosecutor’s best friend. However, the Jeff Wood case from the 1990s challenged the fairness of the Texas felony murder rule.
http://www.flowermoundcriminaldefense.com/felony-murder-texas

Chapter 19 of the Texas Penal Code has all the info:
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.19.htm

Reading this made me think of the cases of armed robbery where one guy goes in but the 3 other guys in the car waiting are all convicted for the murder of the guy inside because they knew what was going on and "aided" by being in the car or providing the vehicle etc... Great info!!

 

[Elle*Bee]

Yes, she would know her daughter's clothes and it should take at most five minutes to recognize them in order to officially ID her body.

Just chiming in because things vary from state to state, jurisdiction to jurisdiction. My brother-in-law died in May at age 60, chronic health problems, under a Doctor’s care for years. He died at home. His brother, who also lived in the same house, freaked out and called his sister and his brother (my husband). Both arrived, confirmed the BIL had been deceased for a few hours (SIL is a nurse, my hubby is former LE/first responder).

Authorities are called, EMS will transport body to hospital where Med Examiner will either claim it for autopsy or release it to the funeral home if ME decides there is nothing suspicious. So far three siblings have positively ID’ed the body at the house. ME requests dental records, which took 3 days, during which time, ME consults with BIL’s primary care physician and determines the death was likely due to natural causes. After paperwork, on Day 5, Me finally confirmed identity and non suspicious death. Even though we already identified the body.

Our identifying wasn’t quite enough. In my area, it’s the ME’s job to determine identity, not the families... although we may have input.

Long story, short: Mom or other relative may have identified the body, but the ME wants something official, like dental records. Hence the potential delay in identifying.

(note: BIL suffered from coronary artery disease, diabetes, obesity, seizure disorder and sleep apnea. The ME reasoned that any one of these could have caused his death, and likely did. None of us felt the need to determine which comorbity may have contributed. )

 

[deedee21]

Can someone answer this for me? If he confessed to what happened will he get a lesser sentence? Gosh I hope he's never let out again.

Another angle.
ME will report cause of death. He's aware if it. So he will pretend he killed her by accident. This time his attorney will guide him.
He wants to beat LE to the punch.
His attorney probably told him to turn himself in.
Because they are coming for you anyway.
Sociopaths know how to work the system.
He better get hard time.

 

[Margo/Mom]

He brought his attorney with him for a reason...I am going to think deal.

Deal implies he had something to bargain with, and I would imagine his bargaining power diminished considerably once the body was found. Could be running scared, wanting to hasten the inevitable and maybe down the road impact sentencing.