Wednesday, December 31, 2014

No Kidding in Colorado

Related: Cleaning Up Colorado

It will be $potle$$ after this post.

"Man gets 5 years for keeping 4 sons in filthy home" Associated Press  December 31, 2014

DENVER — A father whose four young sons could communicate only in grunts when authorities rescued them from a filthy Denver apartment was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to his second offense of child abuse.

Wayne Sperling, 67, told Judge J. Eric Elliff to do ‘‘whatever you feel is right’’ when given a chance to speak before he was sentenced.

Elliff said Sperling made excuses and did not accept responsibility for keeping the boys in ‘‘horrific’’ conditions. Elliff said he hoped the sentence sends a message that children can’t be treated like pets or possessions.

‘‘They are human beings that need to be carefully nurtured,’’ Elliff said.

Unless they live in Gaza.

Authorities said Sperling, 67, his wife, Lorinda Bailey, and the boys lived in an apartment filled with cat feces and flies. The children, ages 2 to 6, were malnourished when they were found in October 2013.

An emergency room doctor suspected abuse when the youngest was taken to the hospital for a cut on his forehead. The doctor noticed that the boy was unwashed, reeked of cigarette smoke, and had bruises consistent with pinching.

But cute as a button.

That led authorities to the apartment, where authorities said that all the surfaces were covered with flies and that about an inch of solidified cat feces covered with urine lay beneath one of the boy’s beds.

Prosecutors said it was one of their most horrific cases, but Colorado’s child abuse laws kept them from pursuing harsher penalties because the children didn’t suffer serious physical injuries.

After the boys were rescued, they acted as if they hadn’t seen food before, patting sandwiches and playing with apples, a detective testified.

The boys are improving while living together in foster care, but they still struggle, prosecutors said. They still aren’t all toilet trained.

That could be tough.

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Can't blame the kid for killing him:

"Colorado teen to get 10 years for killing father"  December 18, 2014

EAGLE, Colo. — A 14-year-old Colorado boy will spend 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty to killing his father and trying to conceal the slaying for six days by keeping the body at home and telling the man’s employer he was sick.

The teenager entered the plea Tuesday under a deal with prosecutors, The Vail Daily reported. He is scheduled to serve seven years in youth prison before entering an adult prison on his 21st birthday to serve the last three years of his sentence.

Investigators say the teen was 13 when he shot his 50-year-old father twice in the head with a rifle on or around April 30, when the man was scheduled to meet with a sheriff’s deputy investigating a graffiti case involving the teen.

The father did not show up for the meeting or work. The son called his father’s boss for several days to say he was sick, but the employer became suspicious and alerted police.

When deputies arrived at the home, the boy answered the door and told them his father was dead inside.

During Tuesday’s court hearing, the teen sat quietly and answered questions from Judge Fred Gannett to make sure the teen knew to what he was agreeing.

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