Judges should lose immunity when they use children to "reform" abusive parents

Son, then father accused of killing children

Lionell Dangerfield, Christopher Dangerfield were supposed to be caring for victims

By Eileen Kelley • ekelley@enquirer.com •

December 29, 2010

This news item is published at Cincinnati.Com
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101229/NEWS010701/12300339/Son-then-father-accused-of-killing-children

WALNUT HILLS, OH - Tyrese Short was close to 3 years old when he was handed over to his father.

The boy was supposed to help Christopher Dangerfield, a 48-year-old with a lengthy criminal record, turn his life around.

But Dangerfield had other issues to contend with as well: the prospect of losing another son to the death penalty.

And now in the span of seven months, a father and a son are accused of the same crime: killing children they were supposed to be caring for.

Christopher Dangerfield was arrested in the death of Tyrese, and Lionell Dangerfield has been charged in the death of 3-month-old Zhi Merah Binford, his girlfriend's daughter.

Tyrese was pronounced dead Tuesday at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

Zhi was discovered dead on a couch in South Fairmount on May 31. Her skull had been fractured and her ribs broken. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters has recommended the death penalty for Lionell Dangerfield, 26.

That case could go to trial in March.

"Like father, like son," Grace Dangerfield, Christopher Dangerfield's stepmother, said Tuesday evening.

Grace Dangerfield, 77, said Tyrese was a happy child and appeared to be no trouble for her stepson, who had been arrested three times in the year leading up to a court awarding him custody of Tyrese. His 12 other arrests include drug trafficking, assaulting a police officer and theft.

"He had troubles," she said, adding that the family hoped that by raising Tyrese, her stepson would act more like a father.

Since Tyrese was born, caseworkers with the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services had been involved in his life. That involvement did not stop early this summer, when a Juvenile Court judge awarded custody to his father.

The case file on Tyrese's life is thick.

Included are reports that Tyrese recently suffered a broken leg and was badly burned. He also told a baby-sitter that his father had punched him in the stomach, police told The Enquirer on Wednesday.

Police also said that Tyrese's mother reported that her son's eye had been blackened recently.

Brian Gregg, a spokesman for the Job and Family Services, would not discuss specifics of the case. An emergency meeting on the matter was called Wednesday, the same day The Enquirer reported about the death of another child under the care of the child welfare department, Savon Edwards.

Savon had been on life support for two years after being shaken so badly he stopped breathing Dec. 26, 2008. Savon's caseworkers were implicated for failing to adequately protect him from his abusive father. Savon, 2, died Monday.

Now an investigation is under way regarding Tyrese.

"If we find there are failings at this end, we will take action," Gregg said.

With each recent injury, Christopher Dangerfield had an explanation ready, police said.

Dangerfield called emergency dispatchers from his Walnut Hills apartment just before 3 p.m. Tuesday to say some young kids at the corner store had jumped his son, something they'd done three times before.

It wasn't until deep into the conversation that the dispatcher learned that Tyrese was just 3, not an older child hurt in a street fight.

"He's 3 years old? Who's hitting him?" the dispatcher asked.

Dangerfield again blamed street kids, and then suggested adults were involved, too. Dangerfield said he could see scars on Tyrese's legs and back and that he was barely awake.

The dispatcher walked Dangerfield through CPR chest compressions for his son.

Homicide investigator Sgt. Gary Conner said police have checked all leads, including the possibility that neighborhood boys were involved, but came back with the conclusion that Dangerfield killed his son.

In court Wednesday, attorney William Whalen told a judge that Dangerfield told him the child fell while bathing and struck his head.

Grace Dangerfield thinks her stepson snapped.

She said he had been on medication and has heard her husband, who is Christopher's father, and others in the family say that Christopher has bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder can cause severe mood swings that include serious bouts of depression and extremely anxious behavior. People with the disorder may be explosive and irritable, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

"I think something must have happened with his mind, because I don't think that he could hurt him intentionally," she said. "I didn't picture him as being abusive."

Mothers seek justice for murdered children

To see this original article, click on the title above or paste this into your browser:

http://couriernews.suntimes.com/news/3056166-418/rosenberg-andrea-daughter-patricia-batavia.html

By Denise Crosby

dcrosby@stmedianetwork.com

Last Modified: Dec 31, 2010 02:38AM
This is another in a series on people and events that shaped our communities in 2010.

I don’t pretend to understand a parent’s pain upon losing a child. But I do know what their desperate hugs feel like.

Over the years, I’ve met too many of these hurting mothers and fathers. And in 2010, two of the most memorable women came to me during the month of October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Both had lost beautiful children to men who resorted to murder because they couldn’t stand to lose what they thought were their possessions.

And both mothers came seeking justice.

Justin Boulay, the killer of Patricia Rosenberg’s 19-year-old daughter, Andrea, was getting out of prison in November after serving only 12 years for first-degree murder — and moving to Hawaii with the woman he married while incarcerated.

Riley, Gabriella Ghobrial’s 2-year-old son, had been killed by his own father in a murder-suicide five years ago in Gilberts after a Kane County judge awarded the dad visitation rights, despite Anthony Mangiamele’s repeated threats to harm their child.

Both mothers had been thrust into the media spotlight after such horrendous crimes. And even though years had passed — and both had moved on with their lives —their words, their hugs were evidence the wounds are still as fresh as the tears they shed while talking to me.

Neither had spoken out so publicly before. And in the end, despite their hesitations, both were glad they found the courage to speak.

Ghobrial simply didn’t want others to forget how far from perfect the system still is. And she didn’t want Riley to be forgotten.

With difficulty, she prepared for another Christmas. She worked both the 24th and 25th as a nurse because the holidays are still so very painful. She and her estranged husband had taken Riley to a casino that Christmas of 2004 because her husband had said “her family didn’t deserve” to see the child.

It was just the three of them, she recalls. “It was lonely, but I thought I would be giving Riley a better Christmas the following year. Well, thanks to Judge (William) Weir, I spent it motherless and hurt.”

On Feb. 6, 2005, Riley’s father snapped pictures of his son waving goodbye and labeled the undeveloped roll “Riley’s last weekend.” Then he backed the family’s SUV into the garage, created a makeshift bed for the toddler in the rear of the vehicle and started the truck’s engine with the garage door closed.

About eight hours later, police discovered the murder-suicide along with the film and a barrage of letters Mangiamele had written to Gabriella, blaming her for the child’s death.

The holidays are rough, she told me, but “the true nightmare begins in January, from the 22nd to Feb. 9.”

A national outcry

Patty Rosenberg also lost her child in February — 1998 — when Boulay, Andrea’s estranged boyfriend, lured her to his apartment, then strangled her with a telephone cord, three days before her 20th birthday.

Rosenberg’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month story didn’t keep Boulay behind bars any longer. But the national outcry that followed resulted in harsher parole conditions for the former St. Charles man.

And other tougher legislation may follow.

Like Gabriella Ghobrial, Patty Rosenberg didn’t really want to be interviewed. She even canceled a meeting with me in October because, as much as she wanted to speak out about this topic, her emotions were still too raw.

Later, she changed her mind — after she found out her daughter’s ex-boyfriend and killer was not only going to be released from prison the following month after serving only 12 years for first-degree murder, he would be moving to Hawaii to live with the woman he’d married while incarcerated.

The injustice of it all was just too much for the Batavia woman.

And so we talked. And the story was printed. And the outcry that followed was so swift, so intense, it resulted not only in a barrage of state and national media coverage and a candlelight vigil attended by hundreds, but also that Justin Boulay’s parole requirements were greatly intensified. And there’s even a movement under way to create a registry for murderers, much like the one for sex offenders now in place in this state and many others.

“It was absolutely unbelievable,” Rosenberg said of the masses who came out that cold night in downtown Batavia on the day Boulay was released from prison.

And perhaps just as importantly, the aftermath created a sense of closure for the grieving mother — something that she sorely needed in the years since Andrea Will was found strangled in Boulay’s Eastern Illinois University apartment, yet another victim of domestic violence.

“There never will be total closure until I’m with her again,” Rosenberg said of her daughter. “But I felt healing for the first time. That night (of the vigil) filled an emptiness and a void. And it gave me a voice I never had a chance to use.”

The media exposure also reconnected her with friends she had lost over the years — friends who had fallen by the wayside because they didn’t know how to respond to such tragedy.

“People who had not spoken to me in so long are no longer afraid of my pain,” Rosenberg said.

And on an even larger scale, there is now a growing movement under way on the “Voices for Andrea” Facebook page — started by her daughter’s sorority sisters after Rosenberg’s story was published — calling for a state registry for convicted murderers.

In addition to working on such legislation, Rosenberg wants to see colleges put more emphasis on domestic violence. She wants to see more trained counselors, more support groups and hot lines on campuses.

“Domestic violence is not random. It’s personal,” she said. “And that makes it so much harder for victims to talk about.”

Patty Rosenberg, for the first time, is feeling empowered.

“Before, I was just a victim, too,” she said. “Now I’m becoming proactive.” This “gave me a piece of my life back. And that is a wonderful feeling.”

Copyright © 2011 — Sun-Times Media, LLC

The first American mother and children granted asylum abroad

Jewish Women International and the National Alliance to End Domestic Abuse have produced a very fine webinar that includes interviews with Holly Collins, Jennifer Collins, and Professor Mo Hannah, who chairs the annual Battered Mothers Custody Conference in Albany, New York. CEU credits are available. (Click on the title above OR paste the following web address into your browser. Click on the small blue WMV box. It will take a few seconds to download.)

http://jwi.peachnewmedia.com/store/streaming/seminar-launch.php?key=3LshdDpeRBDH6dDPl2I1B8PhL8ylSgTZ0XLJxcHwCdY%3D

After fourteen years living safely in the Netherlands, Jennifer Collins realized that the FBI was about to prosecute her mother for protecting her and her brother Zachary. The young woman mounted an amazing effort to tell their story to people in the United States. Jennifer spoke two years ago at the Battered Mothers Custody Conference.







Psychology profesor Mo Hannah at Sienna College has brought together battered mothers from around the country at the annual Battered Mothers Custody Conference in Albany, New York:
http://www.batteredmotherscustodyconference.org/

Custody decision gone bad

http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_news/mobile_county/stepfather-of-missing-children-speaks

Stepfather of missing children speaks
Jonah Heathcock tries to stay optimistic

Updated: Sunday, 05 Dec 2010, 1:47 PM CST
Published : Saturday, 04 Dec 2010, 10:14 PM CST

Paige Malone
MOBILE, Ala. - UPDATE: A search for the bodies of three-year-old Johnathan DeBlase and his four-year-old sister, Natalie continues today. This time at a second locaton in Mobile County according to Mobile Police Department.

Search teams began the second search in an area in the western part of the county. Stay with Fox 10 News. We have a crew on the scene and will keep you updated as information is released.

After hours of searching, police still have not found the bodies of three-year-old Johnathan DeBlase and his four-year-old sister Natalie.

Friday, their father, John DeBlase was arrested and told police the children are buried within a 100- mile radius of Mobile. Even after this news, their birth
mother and stepfather are trying to stay optimistic.

On November 19, police began searching for the missing children. Two weeks later, John DeBlase and his wife were arrested.

"My hope actually went up a notch with them having him," Corrine Heathcock, the children's mother told Fox 10 News earlier this week.

Not long after the interview, Heathcock and her husband Jonah Heathcock got some shocking news. DeBlase revealed to police that Jonathan and Natalie were dead.

"It was an eruption of tears. We just held each other as tightly as possible and cried like crazy. Called friends, called family," said Jonah Heathcock.

After hearing the news, Corrine Heathcock said, "Our hope is that they are found alive and well."

The search for the bodies began early Saturday morning and the Heathcock family was on edge all day.

"I'm just waiting for that phone call from a police officer to either call us or come up here and say we found them," said Jonah Heathcock.

Heathcock said they have been focusing on the good times they had with Jonathan and Natalie instead of looking toward a grim reality.

Today, memories of little Jonathan came to mind.

"He couldn't say hot dogs. He'd say dot dogs, so this morning I woke up with dot dogs on my mind."

Jonah and Corrine have not seen the children in over a year. They said DeBlase was granted custody because they could not provide the environment the children deserved.

"He called his son prince he called his daughter princess. At this point, I don't see where he could call them that anymore," said Heathcock.

Now, they wish they would have fought harder for the children and have a message for DeBlase.

"I do have one thing to say to John, if you know where they are, you say you don't know, but I know you do. Tell them where they are. You say you don't remember, you do. And if you don't, Heather does. So one of you better tell them where they are so we can put closure to this thing"

Police narrowed the search down to the area just north of Vancleave, Mississippi. The search will continue early Sunday morning.

DeBlase is being held in Mobile Metro Jail on two counts of aggravated child abuse and two counts of aggravated assault of a corpse.

His wife, Heather Keaton, is being held in Louisville, Kentucky on two counts of willful abuse of a child. Police say she will be extradited to Mobile within a week.

Announcing BMCC VIII

Psychology professor Mo Hannah and her students at Siena College in Albany, NY, have done it again!

They have organized the eighth annual Battered Mothers Custody Conference. (You do not need to be physically battered to bear the marks of emotional, psychological, financial, and legal abuse, or to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder--PTSD--due to living with a coercive controller.)

The Court at its worst, just like the abuser, tries to isolate battered mothers from their support system. Mothers who have tried to protect their children from abuse at home find out at BMCC that they are not alone. Lawyers, psychologists and other advocates have joined this effort to protect children from abuse.

Here is the 2011 BMCC flier (Click once on these images to enlarge them):

Parents and advocates march in California

http://www.centerforjudicialexcellence.org/

Click on the title above for more information (or enter the link in your browser). Tomorrow, parents and advocates will march in California against many of the same kinds of legal abuse that children are suffering in Rhode Island domestic abuse custody cases. Some Rhode Island parents and advocates will also gather in solidarity across from the Garrahy Court House in Providence.

Mothers of Lost Children march on Department of Justice

Thank you, Mothers of Lost Children. Click on title above or paste this link in your browser:
http://www.wusa9.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=622782249001