Cody Posey

[augusta]

Is anyone else following the Cody Posey trial on Court TV? It's a hum-dinger.

[1bigsteve]

No Augusta I'm sorry to say I haven't seen it yet. In fact I've never heard the name. I hardly watch any TV. I'll turn it on when my friend is going to be on or the Bugs Bunny Road Runner cartoons but other than that it pretty much stays off.

I'll have to tune into it. Thank's Augusta. I haven't heard the word "Hum-dinger" in a long time.

-1bigsteve (o:

[Haulover]

sherry, i saw some of it today. just enough to get that the defense is self-defense. there appears to be a long list of abuse--with a refutation of it. i remember when it happened, in connection with sam donaldson, but i haven't followed it. what do you think?

[augusta]

Big Steve - Who is your friend that's on tv?

Hey Haulover! - Yes, you're thinking of the right case. The father was terribly abusive. The step-mother was pretty abusive. There were plenty of witnesses to back all the abuse up. That kid had no life, and I really think that the only way out of the situation is what he did. Child Protective Services in New Mexico (where it happened) kept ignoring reports of Cody's abuse. It was an incredible case.

Usually when we hear of "Teen Kills Family", the kid has no real defense.

But this case - whew! The abuse evidence was overwhelming - both in volume and in what was done to the boy.

He also shot his step-sister, and that was the clinker in the case. There was no abuse by her. He didn't want her to tell was his reasoning. But he confessed a couple days later.

I have to say I think the jury was fair. For killing the father, he got manslaughter. For killing the step-mother, he was charged with Second Degree murder. For killing the step-sister, he got 1st Degree Murder.

So after all that abuse, to my understanding he is going to prison for life. They know he needs a lot of psychiatric treatment, because of all that abuse heaped on him. I'm not sure if he's been sentenced yet. There was talk of sending him to a juvenile detention center for 5 years, when he'll be 21. But I think I heard that's out - he will be going to an adult prison. I wonder if he will end up being a suicide.

[doug65oh]

I followed this one off and on and particularly during the verdict watch and post-verdict coverage. I have to say that the verdicts as rendered didn't make a bit of sense to me - essentially for these reasons:

Manslaughter is "the unlawful killing of a human being without express or implied malice."

Premeditated murder as legally defined usually requires some plan, although the degree to which the planning must occur may vary, being months, weeks, days, hours, minutes - right up to roughly the blink of an eye. (Included therein of course is the rationale that if one has time to plan a muder, one has equal time to reconsider the act and refrain from it - again, right up to the split-second it takes to blink an eye.)

Second degree usually implies some element of passion, used to be referred to as "murder in hot blood."

I'm confused I guess because I had the distinct impression that the father was the primary abuser. It's impossible to climb into the mind of a child - for me, at least, but given the circumstances as I understood them, the manslaughter verdict just did not make sense.

[1bigsteve]

Hi Augusta-

My friend is a film actress or I should say "was" since she has been dead for many years now. Her old movies pop up often so I watch her when I can. I'd rather not mention her name. I have three other friends in different segments of the entertainment business and they are still alive.

It's too bad about the Cody case. The poor kid. He was abused and when he fought back he get's beat on by the courts. He can't win for loosing. Some justice.

-1bigsteve (o:

[augusta]

Doug065 - Well, you're probably right about what the legal definitions are on those terms. I look at the case as a whole and then go with my heart + common sense.

Yes, the step-mother was abusing him, too. But not as much as the father was. I heard of a couple things I can't recall, but heard in the coverage that she did it too.

The biological father of Cody's step-sister took the stand. He said he did not hold it against Cody for shooting his daughter. He said something like "Cody Posey didn't pull that trigger. His father did." He also said that if released, Cody was welcome to come and live with him. That was powerful. But he had no chance of an acquittal when it came to her. I felt for the boy, but "1st degree it had to be" (my impression of Johnny Cochran).

I am guessing that the jury gave Cody the least charge they could give him, because of the severe & often abuse. It doesn't make legal sense. But the testimony given by the defense witnesses was incredible - cruel and animalistic. I think they would have voted for acquittal had he just killed the father. It was his only escape. I've been in a position where I could not get away from a stalker. They are not nice people.

(And no, I didn't kill anybody.)

On the step-mother, she wasn't as bad as the father so they went with second-degree on her. And, like I said earlier, the step-sister hadn't done anything except witnessed the killings so they had to go with 1st degree with her.

I thought that common-sense wise it was fair. But I agree with BigSteve1 - it ends up that he's going from one hell to another.

BigSteve - Sorry you can't name your actress friend. I enjoy old movies. (Shelley Winters??? Okay, I know. You don't wanna say.) It must be really neat to see her in one of her movies. (Bette Davis?? All right. I respect your privacy and - Eva Gabor??) - I'll stop now. I hope you have some wonderful memories of her. ..... Zasu Pitts??

[doug65oh]

Zasu Pitts???!!! good god, i've not heard that name for years... at least since Methusela was teething!

[Harry]

Zasu Pitts had an interest in the Borden case and visited the grave site.

Would you believe Liberace too? Check out this November 2003 news article:

http://tinyurl.com/79tjn