Slenderman Verdict #1

So we have the verdict for Anissa Weier. At around Midnight my time last night the acceptable to the judge verdict was finally read into the record. She was found Guilty by Reason of Insanity at the time of the act. What this means is that the deal she accepted prior to this phase of the case goes into affect. The deal reached was that she will be placed into an institution until her 18th birthday (approximately 3 years) and then supervision following that.

If I had to wager a guess, I'd say that when she gets out, she will be either restricted from certain areas of the web or not able to use the web due to the nature of her crime etc. I know most things in 3 years will revolve around the interwebs etc. but she will have to rely on others to do things for her etc. I suppose.

This is only my humble opinion so don't ding me on it or hang me on it. I don't believe she was insane at the time or has at anytime shown signs of schitzo disorders. She's shown signs certainly of anxiety and ptsd from the incident. The singing while in the interview any child her age will do when scared without their parents around and or bored to try and fill blank space.

While it's true she told her friend to stab the victim, I believe it's because she knew it was wrong and wanted to be able to keep her hands clean of that. She also had begged for them to put the incident off several times and the other girl said no. Anissa was a follower. She was extremely bright which is why she was in the flight program.

All of the adults around her said they noticed nothing out of the ordinary of Anissa and that she would even say something if something was amiss with other kids... except her friend. Sbe was accepted by her friend unlike most others. She didn't want to lose that.

She said right off the bat she realized she was in danger as soon as the stabbing started. She told her to continue stabbing because she knew they were in trouble and didn't want them to have a witness to get them in trouble in the hopes they could get away with it. Her 12 year old mind hadn't thought everything out, however, she did know it was wrong to do what they were doing.

I want to bring this back to what it's really about though, Payton Leutner. This poor girl was stabbed over and over exclaiming she would never forgive them and they left her saying they were going to get her help. Well, in the wake of the verdict, her family released a photo of her saying the verdict was deeply disappointing. Please keep this girl in your minds.

Holly Bobo Trial

So for those playing along with me, I tend to pick and chose the trials I follow. This case I've been following from the getgo. Opening statements started very slowly this morning and Holly's dad and boyfriend were the first ones on the stand. So sad to hear that they had done a promise ring! I hope whomever does the closing argument for the state is better than the one that did the opening cause he was putting people to sleep.

What's frustrating is I finally caught up on all my tv from watching and live tweeting the colorado theater shooter trial 2 summers ago and now I have 2 big ones starting. AGH!  So you will see me in the chat rooms on #WAT aka for both this case and the #Slenderman trial as it gets underway after the jury is chosen.

I will also be tweeting as much as I can to keep those who can't watch or listen due to work up to date as much as I can or retweeting someone that I know is in the courtroom tweeting live for you.

Go do something nice for someone else to make them smile :)

Manchester Bombing

What You Should Be Reading and Posting Instead of Giving Credence to THEM:

Don't post horrid pictures from the few seconds after such a great fun concert for so many kids. Don't post the one who did its name... it glorifies him to his group. Posting the videos and pictures elates them and shows our reactions and helps them plan for the next ones! Don't give them that satisfaction and information!

Instead, post the photos of the beautiful people that attended and will forever be at an Ariana Concert. Remind those affected by this not to harp on the mere moments after the lights came on at the end of the concert, but rather, the awesome time they had singing with Ariana Grande all night! Ask them what songs she sang, what she wore, etc. retrain their minds to remember that part of the night and not the few moments at the end.  

For those performers considering canceling your shows out of fear this might happen again, if you do that, they win! We can't walk around in fear our whole lives that someone might have something they might do or we would never leave our homes. What does this teach those kids that were in that concert that night in Manchester? We need to continue on as if it didn't get to us with beefed up security measures to show the kids it is ok. If we don't, those kids will get the idea that there are bad guys everywhere and we shouldn't leave the house. Don't let THEM win!

I want to praise and thank all of the people from the first responders, to the random people in the venue, the woman at the hotel that took like 50 kids in for safety so parents had a place to g get them, to 33 year old Chris Parker who was minding his business begging for money as he's homeless. He immediately stepped up to help the wounded and had a woman die in his arms. Someone should help him get back on his feet for all he did without being asked! 

After the jump i'll have pictures and info of the lost I have thus far. This has happened before and unless we are clairvoyant it will most probably happen again. But, what we as bloggers and journalists can do is not glorify it by naming suspects, posting their pictures, posting pictures of their acts etc. The less we do it, they will start to realize they mean nothing to us and we will not glorify their stunts and will stop. I can hope anyway....

Aaron Minor, Age 3

A 3 year old little boy lost his life because of cracks in a system. He lived with his mother, who apparently is mentally not able to care for the boy. According to records, CPS worker Elaine Brown went to check on Aaron the day after receiving a notice the mom wasn't taking her medications. She followed up the next day noting that Aaron appeared fine, not abused, nor neglected.

About a month later Aarons body was discovered by a maintenance worker due to the smell. Mom was found in the hospital the following day. 9 days prior, she'd been found unconscious on the grass outside and hospitalized for two days. CPS never saw the mother or child again, but sent a letter on May 9 asking the mother to contact them. But, she never did and there was no other follow up.

I bring this case to you because Ms. Brown and her supervisor Kelly Williams had been charged with involuntary manslaughter, child abuse, willfull neglect of duty, and other charges. The manslaughter charges got dropped today because its silly to think they could forsee his mother going into the hospital etc.

This case is like a puzzle with many pieces. You have DCF, you have the police who responded when she was found unresponsive, you have whomever removed her and hospitalized her, etc. All had crucial pieces of the puzzle but weren't working together. Why wasn't Aaron placed in foster care when she was found unresponsive or a family member contacted? It is a sad case, but the one person bearing responsibility for the welfare of Aaron is his mother, who's mentally incompetent to stand trial on her charges. There should be things triggered when a single parent is taken away by ambulance. Why this didn't happen for poor little Aaron? Who knows. Hopefully DCF, the police, and first responders can get a group together to start working on new policies and procedures so that they don't have this happen again.