Tuesday, December 25, 2012

First Christmas with his girls for father wrongly jailed for child cruelty

Family broken up in 2007 when Ben Butler was accused of abusing child Ellie
Mr Butler was forced to share jail cell with a convicted child abuser
Parents say reuniting with kids is like 'suddenly having grown up twins'
The girls and their parents are enjoying their first Christmas as 'a proper family'

PUBLISHED: 18:11 EST, 23 December 2012 | UPDATED: 19:05 EST, 23 December 2012

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252644/First-Christmas-girls-father-wrongly-jailed-child-cruelty.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

With their two smiling daughters cuddled up on his knee and his loving partner by his side, Ben Butler looks every inch the contented father.

But such scenes of simple domestic bliss are a new experience for all of them - after the family was ripped apart when he was wrongly jailed for child cruelty.

It took three years to clear his name and two more for he and the girls' mother Jennie Gray to win back Ellie and Isabella after a series of legal battles.

Enlarge

Ben Butler and his two daughters Ellie, 5, and Isabella, 3, get ready for their first Christmas together

Together again: Jennie Gray, Ben Butler's partner, joins the family for a long awaited season celebration

The four had never all lived together - and the two beautiful little girls had not even met each other until a few weeks ago after each being put into separate foster care as babies.

Now the sisters are joined at the hip, excitedly rushing up to 'daddy' and 'mummy' to ask if they can have another chocolate from their advent calendars or to show them their festive drawings of angels, stars and candles.

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As the happily reunited family look forward to their first Christmas together - just one of the many milestones they were previously denied by their unjust ordeal - Mr Butler and Miss Gray, both 33, say it is 'like suddenly having grown-up twins'.

And the doting parents are delighted Ellie, five, and three-year-old Isabella are settling in so well after their return to the family home.

Mr Butler said: 'I worked out I've spent more than six months of my life in criminal and family courts over this. All we ever wanted was to be a family, but it was all so draining, there were times I thought it would never happen.

'But we knew we had to keep fighting, fighting and at last here we are back together - just like it should have been all along. We are trying to catch up on the lost years but are Ellie and Izzy are a joy.'

The ordeal began in February 2007 when Mr Butler, a removals man, saved then seven-weeks-old Ellie's life when she stopped breathing while he was looking after her - only to be accused of harming her.

He cleared her airway after she collapsed and rushed her to hospital. But doctors found head injuries similar to those caused when a baby is deliberately hurt by being shaken.

Mr Butler, of Sutton, South West London, insisted he had not harmed Ellie. Miss Gray, who was not living with him then, supported him.

But the couple were arrested and he was charged with grievous bodily harm and cruelty. Ellie, despite going on to make a full recovery, was taken in to foster care.

Mr Butler says having is girls back is like getting two 'grown up twins'

Despite advice from others, Miss Gray remained true to the father of her children and now her concitions have paid off in getting her family back

While awaiting trial the Family Court ruled Mr Butler could see Ellie twice a year for four hours.

Miss Gray, a graphic designer, was allowed contact with her baby six times a year for two hours at a time.

Miss Gray said: 'I was told at one point that if I went against Ben it would be to my advantage and I'd have more chance of getting my daughter back. It's outrageous.'

At his Croydon Crown Court trial in March 2009 Mr Butler was convicted. Given an 18-month sentence, he was forced to share a prison cell with a convicted child abuser.

He said: 'I was put with sex offenders. I never spoke to the guy I shared a cell with - it's like being put in a mental hospital when you're not mental. It was just a horrible, dirty feeling where everyone is on a different wavelength.' After three and a half months behind bars,

Mr Butler was released pending appeal.

Brought together by the nightmare engulfing their lives, he and Miss Gray started seeing each other again.

She became pregnant with Isabella and, by now 'terrified' of the social workers, tried to keep her birth secret. But Isabella too was also taken into foster care aged six months - and social workers wanted her to be adopted.

Mr Butler's conviction was quashed in 2010 after fresh medical evidence showed Ellie's injuries were caused by a traumatic birth and it was also highlighted how if they had been caused by shaking her full recovery 'would not have been expected'.

It further turned out that Ellie had a cyst in her throat which Mr Butler had pushed out of the way when he cleared her airway after she collapsed. The cyst is clearly visible on a scan taken in hospital, but it was not shown to the original jury.

It then took another two years of battling in the Family Court for the parents to persuade judges and social workers that Ellie, who had been allowed to live with her grandparents, Miss Gray's parents, and Isabella, should be returned to them.

Finally, in October this year, High Court judge Mrs Justice Hogg praised the couple as she ruled the two girls should be allowed to go home.

She said: 'The last five and a half years must have been an extraordinarily difficult time for the parents ... [They] have weathered the storm. They have each been resilient and determined, and shown tenacity and courage... I wish the parents well: they too deserve joy and happiness.'

The couple had at last achieved their dream, but were understandably anxious how their daughters would cope. Isabella came home first, then Ellie a short while later on November 11, to their new matching pink bedrooms.

Ellie is so attached to her grandparents and had been away so long they were worried if she would settle - or be jealous of the little sister she had never met.

Miss Gray said: 'We started building them up about each other and put a picture of each other next to their beds. Their first meeting came when we took them bowling, one of Ellie's favourite things.

'We thought it would be difficult and they wouldn't be able to connect quickly. But they gave each other a kiss and they were very good with each other.

'The bond has grown between them. They play so well together and do everything together. It's so cute. Ellie helps put Izzy's shoes on and tries to do her hair for her.

'We're learning so much so fast about them, things like what their favourite colours and toys are - Ellie loves Minnie Mouse and Izzy Tinker Bell - that it's like suddenly having grown up twins.'

Mr Butler said: 'I hadn't seen Izzy for two and a half years but she was calling me 'daddy' from the first time we met again. Now you wouldn't know she'd been away. Her foster carers are lovely people and we thank them for all they did.

'But what happened to us was all so wrong. My trial came down to medical opinion only and the medical evidence just didn't add up.

'We've not had a normal life for nearly six years and the pressure has been immense. We've missed out on so many things, like seeing our daughters' first steps and some birthdays.

'Now we're just looking forward to seeing them grow up with us, taking them places and enjoying normal, everyday things. That's all we ever wanted - to be a proper family.'

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Dismissed Case Raises Questions On Shaken Baby Diagnosis

by JOSEPH SHAPIRO
December 21, 2012 3:16 PM

When San Francisco prosecutors dismissed charges against Kristian Aspelin in early December, it became just the latest case to raise questions about how shaken baby syndrome is diagnosed. Aspelin, who was accused of causing the death of his infant son, had one thing in his favor: He had enough money to pay for medical experts who cast doubt on the prosecution's theory.

Aspelin's nightmare began on a November afternoon two years ago. He had just brought his two sons home from day care. His 2-year-old son opened the refrigerator and dropped strawberries and pizza on the floor. Aspelin says he went to clean it up while holding his 3-month-old son, Johan.

"So I ran into the kitchen to address what was going on, and I brought Johan along with me in my right hand and eventually after cleaning up, slipped and fell," says Aspelin, who spoke publicly for the first time in an interview with NPR. "And I will never forgive myself for bringing Johan into the kitchen, but it was an accident."

Johan had fallen onto the tile floor.

Aspelin called 911 and an ambulance took the infant to the hospital. Five days after the fall, Johan died.

The San Francisco medical examiner did an autopsy and found injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome. Aspelin was charged with felony assault of his son.

Earlier this month, prosecutors quietly dropped the charges after Aspelin's attorney presented reports from six medical experts and a biomechanical engineer. Those defense experts explained how the child's death was consistent with the fall Aspelin described and argued there was a lack of evidence to suggest the child was deliberately injured.

Aspelin's defense even hired a video company that made a model of the family's kitchen — the family had since moved — and filmed Aspelin, holding a doll, slipping on the floor.

"Before we did the reenactment," Aspelin says, "I didn't know if I would be able to, how I would react to go into that environment and try to relive those moments that have, you know, basically haunted me for, for a long time."

One issue was whether a child could die from a fall of just about three feet. The video showed how the child's head could have hit the hard tile.

Among the experts Aspelin hired were those who have testified on both sides of child abuse cases. Some explained how scientific knowledge about child deaths is changing, and how they have come to understand there are many alternative possibilities to what's often thought to be deliberate and violent shaking.

Patrick Barnes, a pediatric neuroradiologist and one of the experts hired by Aspelin's defense, explained how doctors now recognize "a variety of accidental and natural causes" that are sometimes overlooked in cases that are first diagnosed as shaken baby syndrome.

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Jennie and Kristian Aspelin pose in a pumpkin patch with their children two weeks before three-month-old Johan died.Courtesy of the Aspelin family

Barnes had testified for the prosecution in one of the most famous shaken baby syndrome cases — at the 1997 trial of English au pair Louise Woodward in Massachusetts. Since then he has come to believe that the syndrome is overdiagnosed and misdiagnosed.

Aspelin's attorney, Stuart Hanlon, agrees. "Innocent people get convicted, especially in these kind of cases," he says. "And we have to have a better way to protect people from false allegations of shaken baby."

To pay for his defense, Aspelin went through his savings, sold his house and borrowed from family and friends to raise more than $1 million. It cost about $100,000 just for the expert medical witnesses — a price that makes them unavailable to many defendants.

Last year, NPR News Investigations — with PBS' Frontline and ProPublica — found 23 cases of child deaths where charges were later reversed or dropped. Since then, a Texas man who was the focus of one story was released from prison. And in California, a woman who was the focus of another, had her sentence commuted.

A spokeswoman for San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon confirmed that the charges against Aspelin were dropped. Prosecutors — in an unusual arrangement — worked collaboratively with Aspelin's medical experts. In the end, the district attorney concluded there was not enough evidence, as the spokeswoman put it, "to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt."

Still, Aspelin's troubles are far from over. Since the indictment, he's been required to live apart from his wife and their surviving son, who is now 4.

"He really kept us strong because we had something to really fight for," Aspelin says of his older son. "And I couldn't bear even thinking of losing our other son after Johan went away."

Aspelin can see his son every day — on supervised visits — but can't stay overnight in the house. It will take another legal proceeding to be reunited.

Confess or you'll never see your kids

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/confess-or-you-ll-never-see-your-kids-184400401.html?ref=401

Posted: Dec. 21, 2012 | 2:06 a.m.

It sounds like something out of the Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials or modern-day North Korea: Authorities separate a husband and father from his family, warning that he can live with them only if he confesses to a crime he didn't commit.

This kind of twisted justice was repudiated by our Founding Fathers, and as a result, the United States legal system is the gold standard of the free world.

Yet this unconscionable scenario played out right here in Clark County over the past few years. And very soon, Southern Nevadans likely will pay dearly for it.

A Nigerian immigrant announced Tuesday that he has filed a federal civil lawsuit against Clark County for keeping him separated from his family for five months after a jury acquitted him of murder and abuse charges in the 2008 death of a 2-year-old boy. Victor Fakoya was not allowed to live with his wife and two daughters unless he admitted responsibility in Family Court to the charges he was found not guilty of in District Court.

"What has been lost in time and the joy of parenting my children is something I will never again regain," he said.

The lawsuit, which seeks $10 million in damages, alleges Child Protective Services employees tried to use the forced separation from his family to coerce Mr. Fakoya into admitting he caused Daniel Jaiwesimi's death.

"It seems morally incongruous for prosecutors to demand of Mr. Fakoya that, in order to settle his Family Court case, he confess to something for which he was acquitted," we wrote in this space in April 2011 - more than a year and a half ago. "It smacks of vindictiveness. There is no rational basis for the demand. The safety of Mr. Fakoya's children can be monitored without demanding a confession that would hang over his life forever, even if he is completely innocent."

Mr. Fakoya, a principled and observant Christian, has steadfastly refused to comply with the prosecutors' demands, even though doing so meant he had to live separately from his wife and two daughters.

A Department of Family Services caseworker recommended dismissal. "In light of the outcome of Mr. Fakoya's criminal trial ... it is respectfully requested and recommended that this matter be dismissed and the case closed," the caseworker wrote in a letter to the court, almost two years ago. But District Attorney David Roger's office pressed on, demanding the confession. (Mr. Roger has since left office.)

Although Mr. Fakoya has filed only against the county, individuals within Child Protective Services and the district attorney's office probably will be named later, says Mr. Fakoya's civil attorney, Brent Bryson.

"The mandate of Child Protective Services is, one, to protect children, and two, to reunify families together. We believe that mission was abandoned in Mr. Fakoya's case," Mr. Bryson said Tuesday.

Indeed. The two missions can sometimes appear to be in conflict. But children fare best within their own families - with both parents, when possible.

The conduct of the agencies in this case went beyond mere caution. They seemed unwilling to accept the verdict of a jury of Mr. Fakoya's peers, determined to use their power over the custody of the children to force a different outcome.

Now, in all likelihood, taxpayers will pay for that intransigence. And what measure of accountability might they get in the face of a multimillion-dollar judgment or settlement? Will anyone within Clark County government face suspension or termination? Will anyone step forward to renounce such Draconian tactics and vow that it will never happen again?

Meantime, as Mr. Fakoya notes, how can he ever be given back those months with his growing children?

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Utah Kid Who Brought Gun to Class Claims Parents Armed Him for Protection Following Sandy Hook Shooting

SANDY HOOK SHOOTING

Neetzan Zimmerman

A student at an elementary school in Kearns, Utah, who brought a handgun in to class reportedly told his classmates the weapon was given to him by his parents for protection in the wake of last week's shooting at Sandy Hook.

The .22-caliber pistol was unloaded when the 6th grader pulled it out of his backpack during recess yesterday and aimed it at another student. "He pointed a gun to my head and said he was going to kill me," Isabel Rios told a local Fox affiliate.

The 11-year-old was quickly disarmed by a teacher and rushed to the principal's office. The police were called but no lockdown was ordered as the incident was over in 30 to 45 seconds, according to school administrators at West Kearns Elementary School.

Still, some parents felt the school should have done more to guarantee the safety of their children. "There was no lockdown. No one was called. Nothing was done. And then we had to hear it from our kids," parent John Klaus said.

Some students were kept home from school today by their parents as a precaution.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing, and police are looking into the veracity of the child's statement concerning his parents' involvement. Meanwhile, he has been placed in the custody of a juvenile hall and could face criminal charges as well as expulsion.

http://gawker.com/5969486/utah-kid-who-brought-gun-to-class-claims-parents-armed-him-for-protection-following-sandy-hook-shooting

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

40,000 Page views.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our family, and who has supported our blog. We've just hit 40,000 views. We've gone through quite a lot in our case, as I'm sure many others have. Most recently we've faced a very creepy Assistant Attorney General who was very adamant that we not take our son to a doctor while he is home celebrating the holidays with us. Of course we plan on spending the holidays with our son. It had never even crossed our mind to spend our holiday with him visiting doctors. So it really creeped us out that she so adamantly made sure that no medical testing was done on our son. Anyone who sat in on the hearing had the same vibe, so I know that it wasn't just my family sensing it. What is the state hiding from us? I'm sure it will come out eventually, just like their other lies and cover ups. I look forward to the time when we are able to overwhelmingly show our proof that our son had a medical condition weakening his bone matrix, and I look forward to showing the lies that DHS has put out there.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Tragic brutal mass murder in Connecticut...

Friday, December 14th was a sad day for our nation and our planet. 20 beautiful young children had their lives stolen from them at their elementary school, and 6 school staff also had their lives taken. This type of brutal attack leaves us all in a state of sadness and pain. It is impossible for us to understand why a person would do this. I know that I could never understand a motive to kill so many others, so many children with their whole lives ahead of them. I am a father, I love my children. I know that I can't let things like this change the way I parent, but these things stick in your mind whenever you make decisions for you kids. I don't cry often, but have been hard pressed to hold back tears when I think about what happened to the children and families in Connecticut.

Many people have reacted in their own ways. Some say we need more gun control, others say we need to teach our teachers to use weapons so they can protect children in times of danger. A lot of people have been sharing a picture with two signs, one that prohibits weapons vs. one that states that the staff are heavily armed. While I understand that this may seem good at a first glance, putting guns in school is not the answer, and as I see it would only lead to more trouble. We're not talking about a person's set of weapons, but rather the will for that person to commit an evil act. People have committed mass murders with bombs, axes, bows and arrows, they've pulled fire alarms, they've used poison. What the murderer used isn't the main issue (At least that is my opinion) but rather it is the killers evil will to commit the tragic crimes.

My thoughts are with the families, and I can't even begin to imagine how hard it is going to be for those who survived and won't understand why they were different from their friends and family. I know that survivors guilt is a terrible thing. I hope that all those who need help get it. Please don't forget about these families once the media leave the scene. It is the holiday season, one that is meant to be happy. These families wont have that. Keep them in your hearts.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Juvenile Law Resource Center

Lessons from the Oregon Supreme Court’s Decision in J.R.F.

By Shannon Storey, Senior Deputy, Juvenile Appellate Section, Office of Public Defense Services

Does ORS 419B.100(1)(c) authorize the juvenile court to assert jurisdiction over a child based on its assessment that jurisdiction and wardship would be in the child’s best interests?
Dept of Human Services v. J.R.F., 351 Or 570, 273 P3d 87 (2012) suggests not. In that case, the Oregon Supreme Court clarified that, as a matter of state law (ORS 419B.090)(4)), all provisions of the juvenile dependency code must be construed and applied consistent with a parent’s Fourteenth Amendment right to direct the upbringing of his or her children, which includes the presumption that a fit parent acts in his or her child’s best interest. Thus, the due process rights of the parent circumscribe the construction and application of every provision of Chapter 419B. That is, the parent’s liberty interest in the care and companionship of his or her child, and the procedural protection attended therein, must be read into every provision of Chapter 419B.