Cop: Mom, son hysterical, bloody after gang rape

[samanthajane13]

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Writer – 7 mins ago

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A mother and her young son were hysterical, battered and bloodied at a hospital just hours after she says she was gang-raped and beaten by several masked, gun-toting teenagers, a police officer testified Monday.

West Palm Beach Police Officer Dustin Moore was among the first to arrive at the hospital early on June 19, 2007.

Moore testified he found the woman "in a fetal position laying on the bed ... and her son was in a fetal position laying on a chair next to her."

"They were crying hysterically, and very emotional, upset," Moore told jurors.

Tommy Lee Poindexter, 20, and Nathan Walker, 18, are being tried on 14 counts each, including sexual battery, burglary, kidnapping, grand theft and promoting sexual performance of a child.

During opening statements, Poindexter's attorney admitted her client raped the woman, and DNA evidence will link him to that crime. However, she said, there is no evidence he participated in any of the other attacks.

"You can't allow the horrific nature of the events ... to overcome your sworn duty to determine whether Tommy Poindexter is guilty of these crimes," public defender Carey Haughwout told jurors.

Walker's attorney, Robert Gershman, also questioned whether his client participated in all 14 allegations.

"It is not clear, it is not given, it is not just because of the horrific nature of the events that Nathan Walker is responsible," Gershman said. "There is doubt ... No matter the emotion, no matter the facts."

A third teen is set for trial in September, while a fourth has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the others. They are being tried as adults even though they were all teenagers at the time.

Police are still looking for other suspects who they say drifted in and out of the apartment and took part in the horrific attack.

Police say up to 10 teenagers raped the woman repeatedly and forced her and the boy to perform sex acts with each other, then doused them with chemicals to clean the crime scene in their public housing complex apartment just a few miles from downtown West Palm Beach.

Authorities say fingerprints and DNA evidence found on clothing and condoms inside the apartment identified the defendants. Each faces a maximum 11 life sentences plus 50 years if convicted.

Prosecutor Craig Williams described for jurors the terrifying evening of June 18. He said the suspects lured the woman, then 35, out of her house by claiming her truck had a flat tire. Three masked gunmen then accosted her and her son and forced them back into the apartment. Others soon joined in the attack.

After being doused with cleaning solutions, nail polish remover and vinegar, Williams said, the victims huddled together in the bathtub naked for several hours, too scared to move.

Then, in pain and bleeding, they walked a mile to the hospital.

Authorities say they still don't know why the woman and her son were targeted. They fled Port-au-Prince, Haiti, years earlier in search of a better life. With no money, they landed in the Dunbar Village housing project, where they almost instantly became targets for crime, standing out as Haitians among the mostly American-born black residents.

Testimony was set to resume on Tuesday.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090824/...ang_rape_teens

[samanthajane13]

Fla. teen: Woman begged for life during gang rape

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A 16-year-old boy who pleaded guilty to raping and beating a mother and her young son says the woman begged "don't kill me" during the attack.

Avion Lawson's testimony resumed Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday, he described the chaotic attack on the mother and then 12-year-old boy. He says he raped the woman with the others.

Eighteen-year-old Nathan Walker and 20-year-old Tommy Lee Poindexter are now on trial. They face 14 counts, including sexual battery, burglary, kidnapping and grand theft. Lawson has pleaded guilty in the same case and agreed to testify. A fourth defendant is set for trial in September.

Police say the defendants, along with up to six others, gang-raped and sodomized the woman, and beat her 12-year-old son. They face life in prison.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090826/...ang_rape_teens

[samanthajane13]

Juries convict men in gang rape of mother, son
By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Writer – 11 mins ago

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Two men were convicted Friday in the brutal gang rape attack on a woman and her young son in a South Florida housing project and could be sentenced to life in prison.

Tommy Poindexter, 20, and Nathan Walker, 18, were tried together but with separate juries. Poindexter's panel found him guilty of rape, kidnapping, assault and burglary. Walker's jury returned less than two hours later, also convicting him on similar charges.

Poindexter now faces eight life sentences. Walker could be sentenced to 11 life terms.

A third defendant, Avion Lawson, 16, pleaded guilty and testified against Poindexter and Walker. A fourth defendant, 17-year-old Jakaris Taylor, is set for trial next month.

The defendants made limited admissions to the attack, but also tried to deflect blame. Lawson claims he raped the woman once, then left soon after. Poindexter's attorney says her client raped the woman, but didn't participate in any other crimes. Walker's attorney didn't acknowledge any guilt.

They were all teens at the time of crime, but were charged as adults.

Authorities say fingerprints and DNA found on clothing and condoms inside the apartment identified the defendants. They are still seeking additional suspects.

Poindexter showed little emotion as the verdict was read, occasionally bowing his head and resting his chin on his clasped hands. Deputies say he asked to be handcuffed during the reading because he wasn't sure he could control himself.

He looked over his shoulder as he was led out of the courtroom and mouthed, "I love you," to family members in the gallery. They cried and quickly left the courtroom, shouting obscenities as they walked from the building.

Walker didn't show much emotion, either, staring straight ahead as the verdicts were read.

Attorneys for both men declined to comment until after sentencing on Oct. 13.

Poindexter was convicted on eight of 13 counts. The jury found him not guilty on several counts related to the suspects having forced the mother to perform oral sex on her son. Walker was convicted on 11 of 14 counts, and his jury did find him guilty in the mother-son sex acts.

During the trial, prosecutors told jurors that it didn't matter how many of the crimes each defendant actually participated in — they were all equally responsible for the entire episode since they were present inside the apartment.

Earlier in the week, the 37-year-old female victim described for jurors the terrifying night of June 18, 2007, in her public housing complex apartment a few miles from downtown West Palm Beach.

She recounted how she prayed for her life and cried in pain as she was repeatedly raped and her son beaten by 10 masked, gun-toting teens. Then she testified about being forced to perform oral sex on her son, who was 12 at the time. The victims were then doused with chemicals in an attempt to clean the crime scene.

Throughout the attack, the suspects demanded money, but she had none. The victims had fled even worse poverty in their native Haiti several years earlier, landing in the crime-plagued Dunbar Village housing complex where the attack occurred.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090828/...ang_rape_teens

[BeastofBears]

These folks have been in my prayers for a long time. I hope they are doing okay. I hope they have been helped.

[samanthajane13]

3 sentenced to life for gang rape of mother


WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Three men convicted of the gang rape of a West Palm Beach woman and the beating of her young son were sentenced to life in prison Tuesday.

Palm Beach Circuit Judge Krista Marx sentenced Jakaris Taylor, 17, and Nathan Walker, 18, to life in prison while Tommy Poindexter, 20, was sentenced to life in prison with a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison. A fourth defendant, Avion Lawson, 16, pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in December.

The four were convicted of barging into the then-35-year-old woman's West Palm Beach apartment in 2007 and raping her repeatedly, then beating her then-12-year-old son and forcing her to perform oral sex on him. They then doused the two in chemicals and left when they could not find a match.

Authorities say fingerprints and DNA found on clothing and condoms in the apartment identified the defendants, who were juveniles at the time of the crime.

The courtroom, packed with family members of the defendants, erupted after the sentence was read, despite Marx's admonishment that those who could not control themselves should leave beforehand. After Poindexter scuffled with a corrections officer, his brother, Masterson Poindexter, yelled out, "What the (expletive) are you doing to my brother."

Then the 13-year-old half brother of Taylor ran past stunned officers and deputies and opened a back door where his brother had been led in shackles. The crying boy was detained by deputies but later freed.

Defense lawyers had argued that the men were juveniles at the time of the crime and sentencing juveniles to life in prison amounts to cruel and unusual punishment — something that does not even occur in Iraq and North Korea. They noted that two similar cases are currently before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Both Public Defender Carey Haughwout, who represents Poindexter, and Robert Gershman, who represents Walker, said they would file motions for new trials and appeal.

Haughwout said she was "disappointed" with the sentence but Gershman said he was not surprised. "I was expecting life based on the facts of the case," he said.

In a statement, State Attorney Michael McAuliffe said, "Today, justice was done for the mother and child who were the victims of a brutal, vicious attack on their bodies and their characters. The blameless in this case are the victims who will likely never fully move beyond one's worst nightmare made all too real."

McAuliffe commended the victim for her "great courage and resolve" in aiding the investigation.

The victim was not present at the sentencing. However, prosecutor Aleathea McRoberts read a letter from her in which she said she and her son were still suffering greatly. In the letter, the victim said she is afraid to leave the house, seeing a psychologist and has been treated for cervical cancer — which she believes is due to the chemicals the defendants put inside her. She said her son is also seeing a psychologist and feels guilty that he could not protect his mother.

The defense attorneys and two psychologists who testified for them argued that the youths were products of troubled upbringings. One was born cocaine addicted, another lost his father at a young age and another was constantly beaten by his grandmother.

Taylor's mother testified that she had been treated for mental illness and alcoholism, and herself was raped twice. "I don't want him to get life," she told Marx. "Every child deserves a second chance."

Taylor's father testified that he was in and out of recovery for drug addiction, saying, "I've battled my own demons." "I'm asking you to give him a second chance and take into account what he has endured," said Nathan Taylor Sr.

But McRoberts countered that, "there is a huge population of kids who were raised by single moms without much money who don't have jobs that never go on to commit crimes."

"This community has a right to be protected from these juveniles," she said. "Short of killing this woman and her son, there is not much worse they could have done."

Judge Marx agreed.

"This was not a garden variety crime by any means." She said. "It was designed to instill fear and invoke terror and gave you all pleasure and excitement. Most of us have a moral code and refrain from wrongdoing. I can only surmise that none of you have a moral code."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091014/...ang_rape_teens