The Murder in a Child's Mind - Softcover

Marcoli, Rita

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1490746404 ISBN 13: 9781490746401

Verlag: Trafford, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

Guilty was the cry of the gavel in the courtroom that April day of 1995. A slender redheaded girl hung her head and was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs. Still, it was hard to see from my side, as an investigative reporter, how a judge could give a juvenile seventy-three and a half years in prison. In the next few months, I really wanted to dig further in what happened in this case.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Writing true crime stories requires a great deal of research. " You have to dig into public records from the Albuquerque courts, which is about two hours from my home. You have to request police reports on the case as well as researching newspapers and media feed for everything you can find to help you write the story, making sure everything is correct ". ¿ ¿This is The Murder in a Childs Mind, 2nd publication and now on my 5th book ¿¿¿¿¿

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The Murder in a Child's Mind

By Rita Marcoli

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2014 Rita Marcoli
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-4640-1

Contents

Introduction, vii, 
Chapter 1 The History of a Murderer, 1, 
Chapter 2 Facts of the Case, 4, 
Chapter 3 The Confession, 6, 
Chapter 4 The Investigation, 7, 
Chapter 5 Criminal Proceedings, 9, 
Chapter 6 Grounds for Relief, 13, 
Chapter 7 Constitutional Rights, 18, 
Chapter 8 Misconduct, 26, 
Chapter 9 Judgment and Sentence, 32, 
Chapter 10 Reporter's Image, 34, 
Chapter 11 Opinion of a Reporter, 36, 
Chapter 12 Conclusion, 38, 
Chapter 13 On Laws, 41, 
Chapter 14 Crime and Punishment, 43, 

CHAPTER 1

The History of a Murderer

Anna Lucas was born to an alcoholic mother and a detached, uninvolved father. As a child, Anna suffered the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome, which led to lifelong learning disabilities, difficulty reading, and a series of mental health and behavioral problems. Tragically, Anna's chronic health and emotional problems ultimately led to her act under the substantial domination of her friends when she was coerced into participating in the tragic murder of Fred and Wilma Burns, the eighty-year-old grandparents of her friend, Lory Sanchez.

Anna was diagnosed with learning disabilities from a young age. The earliest educational records that are available documents that, as a young girl, Anna suffered from hyperactivity, impulsive behavior, and signs of emotional disturbance, which were consistent with the characteristics of the young children of alcoholics who live in a poor childhood environment. As a child, Anna also exhibited signs and symptoms that were consistent with fetal alcohol syndrome, including attention deficit disorder and severe academic problems. Finally, Anna was diagnosed with a cumulative series of learning disabilities, which included a diagnosis that she was marginally mentally retarded.

Anna began to be formally assessed for psychological problems beginning at the age of four. Exacerbating the organic disabilities created at birth, Anna also suffered from a chaotic home environment. Her father abandoned the family when she was sexually molested by a family member and later by a babysitter, and by the time she was nine years old, Anna was diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by a severely disruptive social environment.

Anna first came to the attention of juvenile justice authorities at the age of eleven. By that time, Anna had been drinking and smoking marijuana for almost a year. When she was eleven, juvenile authorities noted that Anna suffered from a profound sense of abandonment and lacked any significant parental figure in her life aside from her grandmother. Anna then began a series of ineffective court-ordered placements in various foster care homes and other therapeutic group homes. At the age of thirteen, Anna was admitted into the Upper Heights Psychiatric Hospital where she exhibited signs of depression, oppositional behavior, conduct disorders, and a tendency to be explosive, impulsive, volatile, and sexually provocative. A multitude of medical professionals concluded that all these mental health problems were consistent for a child who had been sexually abused and experienced other childhood traumas.

A few months before the slaying of the Burnses, Anna was released from a residential treatment center. Even though her mother's home was previously considered an unfit placement, Anna was nevertheless returned to her mother's home in Show Low, Arizona, after her release from the treatment center.

At first Anna tried to address her mental problems. She regularly attended high school and participated in all faith therapy programs to address her dysfunctional family issues. Sadly, however, Anna's efforts at reform were unsuccessful, and she ultimately returned to a group of friends who were involved with drugs, alcohol, and gangs.

Around January 1994, Anna resumed the destructive behavior, which led to her previous juvenile placements. Anna began drinking and smoking marijuana daily, and she used cocaine as often as four times a month. In addition Anna returned to her sexually compulsive and destructive behaviors with young men who were involved with street gangs.

Friends of Anna who knew her before the offense involving the Burnses readily described her as a quiet and shy person who was usually a follower who quickly succumbed to the bad influence of others. For example, Anna's friend from high school, Earl Davis, recalls that many times he easily convinced Anna to skip school with him. Anna's friends also recall that, when Anna dated Lory Sanchez, she was often coerced by him into performing unsafe and inappropriate acts. For example, Earl Davis recalls that, when Anna dated Lory Sanchez, he seemed to dominate her by telling her what to do and persistently attempted to control her. As Earl Davis described their relationship, it was as if Anna was a Stepford wife. In fact, at one point Anna was "ranked into" Lory Sanchez's gang, the Three Points, by being forced to have sex with Lory Sanchez.

By February 1994, Anna had been dating Lory Sanchez for approximately one month. At that time, Lory Sanchez lived with his grandparents, Fred and Wilma Burns, at 21530 Apple Valley Circle in Show Low.

CHAPTER 2

Facts of the Case

On February 12, 1994, Lucas, Sanchez, and Kline gathered at Lory Sanchez's home to drink. Sanchez crawled out of his bedroom window, went into his grandparents' garage, and brought back two twelve-pack beers. Later, Sanchez snuck in a bottle of Tanqueray gin, and together the group took slugs from the bottle until it was empty.

At about ten thirty in the evening of February 12, Lucas, Sanchez, and Kline walked his sister home. At that time, the three were intoxicated. When they returned home, they noticed that Sanchez grandmother, Wilma Burns, had cleaned up some of the empty beer cans in Sanchez's room. Nevertheless, the trio continued drinking the beer cans that were hidden under Lory Sanchez's dresser.

After the three resumed drinking in Lory Sanchez's bedroom, Wilma Burns entered the room and began yelling at the three teens. Wilma Burns ordered David Kline and Ms. Lucas to leave her house, and they complied with this request. As they were leaving with Lory Sanchez, they heard him shouting at his grandmother, "I'm going to kill you, bitch! I'm going to fucking kill you!" Lory Sanchez, Kline, and Lucas left Wilma Burns's house and began wandering around the backstreets of the neighborhood. Shortly after 11:00 p.m., Lory Sanchez resolved to apologize to his grandmother to regain admittance to his house. Once Lory had apologized to his grandparents and reentered the house, he let Kline and Lucas enter his room through an open window.

When Lucas and Kline returned to Sanchez's room, they began to drink more beer and gin. While they were drinking, Lory Sanchez told Lucas and Kline that he wished his grandparents were dead. Lory Sanchez then left his room and returned shortly with two kitchen knives and said, "Let's kill them." Lory began to stab the bed with the knife and told Kline and Lucas that the quickest way to kill someone was to stab them through the heart or the jugular vein. At that point, David Kline said to Lory Sanchez "Give me one" to Lory, and Lory handed him a knife. Sanchez suggested that the group stab his grandfather first because he was asleep. The three went to Fred Burns's room, and Kline began stabbing Lory's still-sleeping grandfather. Lucas...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Trafford
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1490746404
• ISBN 13: 9781490746401
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 54
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: KreGa Onlinehandel GmbH; 4950000000000; info@krega-onlinehandel.de; ; Birkenweg 31; Brakel; 33034; Deutschland