Agreed. It doesn't even state what the mother has to say about what happened. Very one-sided. We are left really having no idea what happened.

May the baby rest in peace.

Agreed #2. The article mentions nothing about what actually took place, or how the mother could or should have intervened. This article bypassed too much of this case's relevant information.

I think the 10 year sentence explains it all read between the lines

It is a pretty worthless article indeed are we prosecuting people for being cowards now? If you see a crime will you be held accountable if you don't interfere and risk getting yourself shot? Some people react in crises and some freeze up, does this mean fear has now become a crime?

I agree with all the above comments. I guess the reporter had not yet had his first morning cup of coffee before he wrote this article. He was still half asleep.

What do you want? Trial transcripts? If you can't figure the gist of these articles then stop reading the news. This is not a novel. Every article seems to have someone complaining how it was written.

This is a follow up to the story that was heavily reported during the trial. And the article here has a link to a video that gives more of the details.

Let's see if I've got this straight...just because the woman probably feared for her life and did nothing she is sent to jail. I guess they might have had some damaging evidence against her but this story does not state any of it so the fact she plea bargained her case should tell us there's something else we don't know. Maybe she encouraged him to kill them. I don't know.

Looks like these web pages will do anything to get people to comment like the headline "Mom gets ten years after dad stabs sons". That didn't make ant sense so my curiosity kicked in and I had to find out why. Well...I still don't know why.

For those complaining about the lack of details in an article, for heaven sakes, if you are that interested, do YOUR own research. Like someone said, this is a news article not a magazine or novel. Some of these incidents have been going on for awhile in the place of occurance and we only get information about the finale. People wabt to be spoon fed every little detail including the color of the person's eyes. Think you can do better? Become a journalist and write your own damn articles.

It is a pretty worthless article indeed are we prosecuting people for being cowards now? If you see a crime will you be held accountable if you don't interfere and risk getting yourself shot? Some people react in crises and some freeze up, does this mean fear has now become a crime?

Exactly! Overzealous prosecution in my opinion. This didn't even go to trial. It should have. No jury would have ever convicted her given the information given in the article. Her husband killed two people, what the hell is she supposed to do? Get herself killed too? So dumb.

Well, at least she did better than another woman in Florida...who was executed for failing to save her child from her husband...who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder.

In one word, yes....

if some one was trying to harm my child, my child might have died, but the person harming them would have too...without even thinking. It's an instinctive reaction as a parent, speaking for myself only. I'm not a violent person, I'm older and in bad health but would do anything I could to protect my children from being murdered. Including dying first so they stood a better chance at survival..

She might have just stood there with nary a concern or she may have intervened, only not "enough." The way the article was written, we have no way of knowing. You can't use the sentence to justify the sentence because the court may or may not have acted appropriately. I don't want to "read between the lines." I want the facts.

Okay People, lets review some of our GOD given RIGHTS......... YOU, have a right to remain Silent....

The prosecution has to prove Your guilt....... She Doesn't have to take, to the stand and prove her INNOCENTS.......

SO, she excepted a plea deal.......... Which means what??????? anybody, ( a slight pause ) anybody ??????

Your right,,,,, The guy from ( PICK YOUR OWN PLACE )....... She excepted her own guilt, in doing NOTHING......................... TOO SAVE HER KIDS................

TEN YEARS, She should of gotten the DEATH PENALTY..................

There is too much not covered by this article, it's as if the writer assumed that the reader had already been following the story and knew all the previously covered details from an ongoing story. Perhaps appropriate for a local story, but we national readers don't have all the back story details.

So if he killed 3 people, what's to say it would not have just been 4 if she had tried to intervene? That seems like a pretty murderous rampage so not sure what she could have done. Must be more to this story.

As an aside- F Walsh, do you really think the 'death penalty should be handed out to people like' Ghost? Really? Just for spelling and grammar errors and perhaps a bit less education than some of us?

It takes all kinds to make the world go round, maybe try a little tolerance and compassion for the rest of us.

If you bother to read the story which has appeared in several papers over the past year, you'd find out that:

1. Dept of Child Services allowed the children to be return to him and his wife despite a troubled history.

2. 2008, the mother told DCF that they both had been molesting their two sons and when she recanted DCF put them back in the home.

3. Hundreds of pages of documents released by the DCF on the case showed that the husband was previously accused of stabbing and assaulting his wife, and that his youngest son called him “Monster Jackson.”

4. 2008, The mother reported a history of domestic violence with the children’s father for the last eight years to investigators and said that she was forced to sexually abuse them, fearing that DeJesus “would kill her if she did not fondle the children” with him.

5. 2009 For a year and a half the parents had been evaluated, done anger management and domestic violence classes, and received therapy. Thus a judge gave the children back.

Looks to me like, not only the mother deserved her sentence, but DCF & that judge should do jail time along side her!

clb is right. people whine about incomplete articles--nbc simply picks up articles from affiliates all over, kind of like the wire services used to, it's not intended for purposes beyond that. any time i have more questions about a story which clearly has a history, i just look for local newspaper articles about the story (there are these things called search engines, you know).

i found the social worker comment off-base, though. there is this weird mindset of social workers that simply by putting the child in a different family, they can erase whatever has happened up until then, part of the "blank slate" concept that often underlies their beliefs about children and development.

From the articles I was able to check, the younger son was able to get the knife away from the father, briefly, telling him"no more",trying to throw it out the window. So the mother had a chance to intervene.

In addition, the mother stated to her son he would be going to Heaven before he was attacked, while his older brother was being stabbed. The younger boy also told the detectives she stated that her problems would be going away soon on that morning. So according to detectives and the prosecution, she didn't stop the attack because she was allowing the father to kill their kids so she would not have to deal with them any longer.Especially since the older child was autistic.Only when her husband turned the knife on her, did she finally fight back.

this is a news article and not the police report,

if the police told the whole story then there would be a mistrial on the basis of it being too biased because the jury pool would already have too much dramatics from the media.

Windancersong: Whoa. Thanks for the great research. This sounds much more like collusion and premeditated murder. Between what you describe and clb's account, this woman should be spending the rest of her life in jail.

Gramgini : "What do you want? Trial transcripts? If you can't figure the gist of these articles then stop reading the news. This is not a novel. Every article seems to have someone complaining how it was written."

Sadly, gramgigi, there are many articles that are so poorly researched, poorly written and apparently not proof read that they become meaningless. I don't know what happened to professional journalism but it seems to be getting worse on a daily basis. I read three articles from other sources this morning that were loaded with not only bad English but misspellings to boot. Pathetic. Can't take these authors seriously anymore.

Windancersong-1494878:

That your your explanation you should have written this! It makes more sense now. Thanks

maddog-752810;

What happened is the LEFT has taken over the media and quality and truth have taken a beating.

@AKrandy: Jeeshh...now it's become political. Don't you goons ever give up??

(And for every LEFT leaning media source, I can give you two RIGHT leaning ones. Your point is really moot. I've not heard a MSM source ever imply they were of one ilk or another, EXCEPT for Faux Noose, of course. Certainly not going to get "quality and truth" there... Question to Karl Rove on election night: "Is this just math that you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better, or is this real?" Yeah..."quality and truth" indeed! )

Thanks for details clb.

I agree the article doesn't expand on this situation, but my point of view is, she was the mother of those kids and was supposed to protect them. Not stay with a man that, obviously, was severely abusing those kids, to say the least. The fact the nine year old didn't speak, only reflects the fear he lived in. To me, is unexcusable (unless she lives in the Taliban), that a woman sees the early warning signs of abuse towards her and her own blood, and stays in such a rotten situation doing nothing. This is a Country where there is so much help for women who are single parents, specially women and children at risk. This man had to go out or sleep sometime. She could have grab her kids and run away, or even go to a neighbor's house and make a phone call to 911. I find her 50% responsible for what happened to those kids!

Very strange conviction.

Justice Sonya Sotomayor does not think that a person has the right to self defense...

And yet this woman is convicted of a crime she did not actually commit and was merely witness to.

She would probably receive an even harsher sentence for murder if she had prevented the stabbings by killing her husband with a handgun... if it were left to... the insane... can't understand normal thinking... "Supreme" Court " justice", Sonya Sotomayor.

No way I would have voted to convict a witness to a crime for not endangering her own life by intervening in a crime with no way of defending her own life which is the most valuable posession she has.

She should receive a full pardon post haste.

She should receive a full pardon post haste.

You really need to read the details of the entire trial, bobbygordon. This "mother" should have received a life sentence for her part in it. She got off easy.

Please don't make this political...use some sense.

she is such a fun looking and attractive woman!!!

hope the kid never ever thinks of this bitch-hole again. what a horrible excuse for a mother.or as a human being.

she ''did nothing?'' how about ''she helped in the crime'' by doing nothing.

wouldn't mind paying more in taxes just to keep her in the slammer until a week past her last breath.

just to make sure she is really, really dead!

Some of you live in 24/7 attack mode - I pity the poor kid that cuts across your grass on the way to a friends house...bet you all get lots of eggs thrown at your house.

Due to depression/feelings of guilt/lack of skills, would rather go to prison than suffer out on the streets, if she couldn't break free of her monster husband in the past, there had to be a reason. I know expanding your mind is optional - but you don't have to share your narrow mind with the rest of the world...lol.

To those making snarky comments in defense of the amateur reporter of this story: Yes, I CAN do better; I AM a professional writer, but one needn't have four years of college journalism training to present a DECENT article. We're not asking for Pulitzer prize material, only a basic presentation of the OBVIOUS: 1) What was HER defense of not intervening? 2) When did this occur (gee, the year would have taken up only FOUR character spaces!), 3) Why was older boy in diapers (autistic? Again, eight characters), 4) Why did the father stab the boys?

The reader should NOT have to search all over the Web for answers to OBVIOUS questions. It's not like we want to know what this woman had for breakfast that morning and what the youngest boy's middle name was. It's BASIC facts that were NOT included in the article. The half-wit reporter assumes the whole nation is already familiar with this case. I keep up with the news and I never heard of this case till now.

First impression is that the woman is a monster for not protecting her child. Most parents would take a bullet for their child. The article says that she is doing alright and can get on with her life. I'm glad she's ok but what about the surviving son? The surviving son will need a lot of therapy after almost being stabbed to death by his father while is mother just looked on. It's also possible that the mother simply was terrified of being stabbed to death herself and the fear was stronger than her desire to help her son. Lot's of questions. This is what happens when news publishers hire their friends drop out kids to write for them.

He will never regain his childhood.

thank you clb for all the info you posted about these 2 degenerate pieces of trash that i will not refer to as parents, and i understand how some of you feel this" lady" could not do anything as she feared for her own life while the older boy was being stabbed to death but, i could not just sit there and not atleast try to do something as my child is being butchered by his "father" i would rather take my chance that the kids could escape while i was fighting or being stabbed or whatever. this whore deserves life in prison for keeping these kids in such a volitile household knowing the "fathers" capabilities of extreme abuse. she should have just given the children to the state or an adoption agency something anything but what ended up happening, so glad the "father" did do one right thing and that was to take his own life as he surely deserved death. it makes me so sick to read stories like this , and even sicker to read comments that exuse why the "mother" of these poor innocent children could do nothing as she watched her child being stabbed to death B U L L S H I T !! and i got to say it looks like the state really dropped the ball on this case and should b investigated by an out side party not one of their own who will just clear them of any responsibility, i have heard of children being removed from homes for things way less severe as some of the items clb listed. again thank you clb for finishing the half a s s story that was so poorly exocuted about this tragedy.

Something to keep in mind (in case you overlooked it) the sentencing was the result of a plea agreement.

So, the woman openly agreed to the ten year sentence (which means she was facing far worst). And if this were a case of not defending, she would have more reason to take it to Jury Trial.. Not to mention she agreed to it, knowing fully that she would also be giving up any chance to fight to even see her children again.

They also do not release creditable information on plea agreements, simply because it's part of the deal to seal it.

As for the article, check the video link. This is just the summery of the results, previously reported with more details.

too little too late tho huh?

This article does not make sense to me either! She didn't act like they thought she should have or as quick??? She is getting 10 years in prison which they are acting like she will not serve because she already did some jail time and the lawyer said she just needs to be able to get on with her life??? How can she just "get on with her life"? Both her kids are gone, one is dead and the other taken away! As far as the other child, that crazy woman said "at least now he can have a normal life"? Do you really think thats possible? I hope there is WAY more to this story! Did the mothers lack of action warrant losing both children and the child had to have gone through so much in this incident and now he is losing his mother? Wow, this whole thing is messed up! Crappy reporting!!! Seriously!

I do not have children, but think of my cats as such. That being said, even if it was someone else's child, I would jump to protect them if I saw something so horrific occurring. It said the one that died was 9 years old and still required diapers, and did not speak. Clearly something was very wrong in this family and hearing that, does not surprise me that the mother did not intervene. I'd be willing to bet these children were abused and neglected for a long time. Hopefully the other child will be okay in the long run, at least he is out of that environment.

I see a lot of "I would have"s going on here. No, you wouldn't have. You have no idea what you would have done. There's a difference between the epic hero you THINK you'd be, and the shivering coward you probably WOULD be. If someone that was bigger and stronger than you were brandishing a knife, your body naturally says to RUN LIKE HELL. It's you Fight or Flight, and it's the reason we exist to this day. It sucks that a kid is dead, but you can't fault her for running to save her life.

Would I have run? I have no idea. Maybe my adrenaline would have drove me to fight back. Maybe I would have grabbed a weapon and tried to stop him, or gotten killed, or gotten the blame laid on my shoulders for defending myself. This land of Lawyers looking for a quick buck could make anyone look like Satan. The point is, naturally, there's no way to know, and you can't blame someone for running the heck away rather than staying around. The only fault I see from several of the posters is that she didn't die too.

This isn't just defending her for being a woman either. She could have driven the guy to do it, urged him on, pushed him till he broke. The fact is, we have no relevant information to what happened, and we have a lot of people acting like these great, giving heroes that would gladly die for their loved ones, when really nature would likely have a good laugh at your expense.

J_P_PatchesPal_1: Due to depression/feelings of guilt/lack of skills, would rather go to prison than suffer out on the streets, if she couldn't break free of her monster husband in the past, there had to be a reason.

Would you give this same excuse for a man?

FAT MAN, the man stabbed the kids because he didn't have a gun!! or couldn't find it!! or the ammo!!

or do you mean, professional writer, why did he kill one child? and try to kill the other one???

the dimwit mother isn't much help aswering any of this. it would appear her light went out years ago!!

While it's true that I've seen follow-ups that lacked previous details, the most important details are usually included even in follow-up articles. A responsible journalist tries to convey what's going on to the best of their ability, even within the limited space they once had in newspapers, which is no longer such an issue. I've even seen articles that included links to previous articles, where the author finally explains "the woman who did this got this sentence today", etc. This article makes it sound like she was sentenced but commited no crime. I'm glad I read all of the comments, because one person managed to convey all of the missing details in just one paragraph. When I read the older child was still in diapers and did not speak, I almost laughed. That had me immediately thinking the boy had some neurological difficulty that the author of the article must not know the name of. I most definitely keep up with the news, especially on MSN, and this is the first article I've seen about this case. My immediate concern was that the woman might have feared being stabbed to death if she had intervened, and it's not like I haven't seen crazy sentences (although such sentences are more often ridiculously light rather than harsh). An unreasonable prosecutor can intimidate somebody into accepting a plea deal when they didn't have to. It's happened before, and men have confessed to crimes they didn't even commit!

Still, I've seen enough sloppy journalism of late to simply assume, this time, that I was probably missing important details. This article is not as bad as some of the stuff I've seen on Yahoo. One of their article writers would have had us believe a mother received 99 years in prison merely for gluing a toddler's hands to the wall. The only way I knew the details (she nearly beat the child to death) was because I had seen the story on MSN, where the extra info was conveyed in the article, but the headline still tried to convince us the sentence was for hand-gluing. I think the reason so many people are starting to complain is we're sensing some of this is deliberate. As with yellow journalism, it seems shock value gets more views, so the sloppiest article writers are rewarded for poor journalism.

n.n.paddywhack,

She didn't actually commit a crime... only witnessed someone else committing a crime.

As far as jumping in between a victim and the knife being used to attack him... well undoubtedly that is something you do all the time.

The fact that she repeatedly reported the abuse to the authorities has no bearing on the opinion of people who are unable to reason logically.

And the fact that she knows that she lives in a society of people like you who will gladly convict literally anyone of literally anything without a singe shred of physical evidence of any kind whatsoever... is enough to motivate a person to accept a plea bargain.

She didn't kill anyone... no one should be expected to risk their own life in such a situation... there is literally nothing to convict her of so...

She should be pardoned.

By the way, the probation is a joke, she has no more children to watch being killed so, she can not ever repeat the... I almost said crime.

thamonkeh, we don't know what we would do?

well.................i know what i did when held 2 buddies and i were walking to the nco club one night and were held up by 3 other guys, 2 of which had guns, in washington, dc.

after we were told to turn around and start walking i turned around after a few steps and saw the 3 guys running down the street. i gave chase and a second or two later so did my buddies!!

at some point the 3 guys with the guns realized we were coming after them and turned and started to run back TOWARD us!!

i/we thought better of it and turned back again. and this time we just kept going!!!

so what would i do? well, i know exactly what i did! and going on 70 i guess i would only be able to give chase 'with a fast limp'. but like then, i would do the best i could!!

(WILLIAM JONES, RN, OF YOUNGSTOWN, WHERE ARE YOU? (SISTER: DEBRA) HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU FOR YEARS!! he was one of those guys i was with that night! it would be great to see you again. )

bobby, bobby, bobby, after the war the nazis said, ''we didn't do anything. we only watched. or carried out orders, or ''whatever it was.'' '

this weekend is the 75 anniversary of kristallnacht. for 2 days and nights hitler outed jews in munich as the source of all the problems in germany.

lots and lots of people 'just' watched. and did nothing. only after 11,000,000 died in death camps did it stop.

how long does it take to kill 11,000,000 people a few hundred or a few thousand at a time??????

they, the germans, did nothing!! shame of all of them!!

this mother did nothing!! shame on her!!!

I don't care who you are, this takes "trailer trash" to an entirely new level. While it is without a doubt an extremely tragic event, the one good thing is that we, the taxpayers in Fl, will not be paying to support the a$$hole perp for the rest of his life. May he not rest in peace! Scum bag! Don't much give a rats a$$ about the mom either.

GHOST-1325176- You are a moron,and a straight up loser,also you must be a red neck with a 5th grade education. Pathetic

Yadda-yadda-yadda; blah-blah-blah. She was the children's mother. She should've put her life on the line to protect them. She didn't. She only was concerned about herself. Hopefully, in prison, Big Bertha and Large Marge and the rest of "the girls" will take care of her and she'll leave in a body bag. That's what women like her deserve. The less of women like her, the better the world will be.

Is she going to jail because she's a chicken or because of criminal intent? Not everyone reacts the same way and actually, you'll find most people on the chicken or bystander side of things than those who run into burning buildings to save people. Just look at all the shootings where 100 people standing around saw nothing. She is definitely not a saint, but I'm sure her husband was a frightening character in her life and she was used to not interfering in what he did out of fear of making things worse. If she had a knife in her hands and was stabbing her children, then yes, she should be behind bars. If she were just too terrified to do anything, then why the hell is this in court and why is she going to jail? If she's going to jail for just being a chicken, then something like 40% of the US population should be in jail as well.

Some parents, both mothers and fathers, love their children and will do anything to protect them, and some never feel that way. You're assuming all mothers start out with their baby's best interests in mind. Why are you making that assumption?

Anyway, maybe she really is criminally liable. I can't say based on this article, however.

And I'm so sick of hearing "wonder if this woman was physically/emotinally abused by drug addict husband and wasn't psychologically able to protect her children." As stated by redmoth, you and most everyone else assumes all mothers have their baby's best interests in mind. Evidently all she thought about was a plea deal.

You're sick of hearing, "wonder if", and the rest of us are sick of reading news stories that make us ASK, "wonder if". Given the dearth of information in this article relative to the mother and the "whys" of her not intervening, Morgan1234's question is perfectly legitimate, as WE DON'T KNOW. Also, we leave comments to COMMUNICATE, and part of that entails asking questions.

Did anyone watch the videos? She told a friend the murdered boy didn't suffer, even though he fought for his life. The surviving boy testified the mother said they'd be better off not having to deal with the children. One can also "wonder" if she was just as stoned as he was, encouraged the murder and only reacted when the knife was wielded at her.

@ Morgan:

"Mother's naturally protect their children..."

If that were true American women would not have the highest child murder rate in the industrialized world. Simply having a baby doesn't make a woman a good mother.

"She can move on with her life"....Her child was murdered in front of her & she did NOTHING to stop it...I don't need to see or hear more...smh...she should be locked up forever...for those of you needing more info...seriously, you need help...this is why our country is in the shape it is in now.

I agree Jen. She's already getting credit for time served. And with good behavior she might be out in five years with no kids and no husband to bring her down. "She can move on with her life" and could be getting just what she wanted, it's just taking a little longer.

Even animals protect their children! If a person doesn't feel fit to protect their children or to have their best interest in mind, then why do they have children at all? Children are a big responsibility and if you are not willing to share your attention, then you are not ready to be a parent!

Some people decide to have children, but they don't have a clue on how to raise them with care and sensitivity!

"At the time of his slaying, Josiah still required diapers and didn't speak"

One child was 9 and the other 7. How many people believe that was the first time they were abused? Enough said, she should have got longer.

Partly Cloudy....that's what I was thinking. How was the older boy disabled? Birth defects? Accident (child abuse)? That question should have been addressed in the article.

Not all women are maternal. People need to "get over" this storybook fantasy, that every women who gives birth, gives a damn. I believe most of them THINK they should care/protect, but going through the motions and actually CARING for the child are two different things. Why do you suppose CPA exists?

Check the video.. it's far more than just the death of the boy. And any one who witness' such things and fails to act should be held accountable.

The fact is, there is far more to the home life and too many resources. As a parent, we are the first line of defense to our children. We have thousands of resources that have been made available to help, as a second line, but she was the ONLY one that had the position to see what was happening, before hand and whether she simply downplayed it, or let her fear overcome her, doesn't matter... the safety of the children should be priority #1.

Not even a single attempt to alert the police, and she didn't even protest until her husband went after her (after killing the older son and failing to kill the younger one).

i totally understand what your saying i just cannot imagine sitting thru this teerible tragedy and not exploding with anger and trying to rip this pos head off! but i agree i do not know what mental disabilities this lady was dealing with and for how long, one things for sure , more needs to be done in this country to help people dealing with mental illness, tho these stories are rare they seem to be taking place more often these days, and if there is anything that can be done to stop just one of these poor children from going thru such a tragic event. then we should fund any studies and open more mental health facilities. something, anything, i just cant stand to hear about things like this happening to the most innocent of all, children.

EllieMae.. the older boy was not diagnosed with any disability. That was part of the earlier trial regarding the child neglect and endangerment.

Funny how children actually need the interaction with parents to develop. Simple things, like reading to a child and/or talking to them, helps them develop speak patterns. Wasn't even potty trained at 9 yrs old?

@DScott, what more could we do? We have resource after resource. Some people are dealing with depression from being out of work. Others are dealing with drugs and it messes with the reality. We have people living off government funding that have too much free time, that the mind does not stay healthy (work can actually keep the brain active not to mention give purpose and reasoning).

Thing is, she, from all accounts did nothing UNTIL her husband turned on her.. which means she was fully capable of understanding what was going on.

those children should have been removed for good when the mother previously admitted that both she and the father had been molesting the children. and believe me im not one of the people who exuse things like this i say hang her by her toes and gut her like the pig she is, but it seems unexceptible to just sit back and wait for the next slaying of innocent children to occur when in cases such as this there were warning signs.

how will this woman be treated by other prisoners in whatever hell hole she ends up in??

(hopefully it won't be 'camp cupcake', ala martha stewart!!)

i know how male prisoners feels about child abusers, but what about in women's prisons? how do these prisoners fare under similar circumstances?

I don't care if I'm getting stabbed--I'll die before I let a bastard kill my child.

She deserved to go to prison for a lot longer than 10 years.

She should get sterilized while she's there--and she should not be allowed contact with her other son once she gets out--by then, the kid will be, legally, an adult. He's very lucky!

"Mother's (sic) naturally protect their children"

Casey Anthony, anyone? (I'm not getting into a debate about whether she actually killed her daughter or not, but the fact that it took that long for her to even report the kid missing...)

Not all women have maternal instincts. Not all women are fit to be mothers. Obviously, this woman was one of those who was unfit to parent, for whatever reason.

There's just not enough info to know the circumstances of her guilt for me to comment properly.

Maybe there's aspects of this case that were not presented in the report, but I have seen people go crazy and if she had tried to intervene she likely would have been killed as well.

If there was some agreement to kill the sons, or if she had means of stopping the crime and choose not to, then there would be some culpability. But if she was not a co-conspirator and she did not assist the husband in harming the children, then this seems very harsh.

Did she do some violence to the children, or did she assist the husband in any way? Being frozen in terror does not seem to be a criminal act, on its own.

I hope this case gets reviewed by lawyers who specialize in psychological defenses. Her lawyer should have gotten a better verdict. Was the lawyer competent? Many questions about this one.

NJK85, I agree. There must have been some reason to convict the mother of failing to protect her children. I don't understand why it was justified in this case and not in the many other cases of a parent killing their child and the other parent didn't intervene. Since the article leaves out the details of her involvement we can only speculate.

You could grab the other child and run... scream real loud... quit taking drugs and leave the guy before anything like this ever happens...

Iron skillet, lamp, baseball bat, in other words you equal the playing field. At the very least give it a good old college try. This woman is not a woman and should spend the rest of her days in jail. There are domestic violence shelters in most every county, so she really has no excuse.

From what I can surmise, she is a coward and could not defend her defenseless sons, or for that matter try. Since she struck a plea bargain, there must be some truth to that idea. My opinion is, she is dangerous and should be given a psychiatric evaluation and on that, should probably not see the light of day. These are children we are talking about!

bowknuckles, ''give it a good college try''? are you kidding?

dimes to donuts she never finished grade school, from the looks of it!!!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't tell us she has a PhD in medieval french literature!!

You'd better believe a woman can overpower a man if she's in the right frame of mind. You don't EVER want to tangle with MY wife if you ever try to abduct her children; she'll flatten you! I once did volunteer work at a mental hospital and was told that one of the patients, barely a 5'2 woman, leveled a six foot man. We men are not superhuman. A good crack on the head with a vase will put us out cold. It's not like the movies where a man gets shot up a dozen times and is STILL fighting.

Paul in Chicago, sorry my bad. I'm sure you're correct on the education level assessment.

@FatManOnTreadmill

Good point. And people seem to forget the word "average" as in the average man has more strength than the average woman; meaning a woman in great shape could overpower a man in terrible shape, not that no matter how strong a woman is she is still weaker than every man out there. In a marathon the woman who finishes first still comes out ahead of most of the men.

Bowknuckles

Iron skillet, lamp, baseball bat, in other words you equal the playing field. At the very least give it a good old college try. This woman is not a woman and should spend the rest of her days in jail. There are domestic violence shelters in most every county, so she really has no excuse.

Do u not realize that many women who are regularly abused are so thoroughly dominated by their husband, they are deathly afraid of him. That is why they don't leave and why they take so much punishment.

PAUL in chicago-1569139

bowknuckles, ''give it a good college try''? are you kidding?

dimes to donuts she never finished grade school, from the looks of it!!!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't tell us she has a PhD in medieval french literature!!

Paul

that is a figure of speech ?

I always love people that talk about what " they" would do after the fact. In realty none of us knows what we would do in a situation until it happens. You might have just froze from the horror of what happened to you children until it was over.

Rick: She managed to thaw out after witnessing three stabbings. Just in time to save herself.

They are all living in a camper - doing drugs - on the poor disabled child's disability - maybe the mom's disability also- the guy not only kills the defenseless child - but an elderly woman in the camper next door - then himself - probably mom took the plea deal - probably - because she was wasted - alcohol and drugs - and just sitting there thinking the whole thing must be an illusion. Sad that by the time she got off her bender - the kid was dead - the neighbor was dead - the husband was dead and the younger child was laying there bleeding to death. I think the prosecutor and judge were furious - because like why was she still sitting there stoned but alive? It's sad, but she allowed the whole situation to form - I hope I can stay away from the drugs and alcohol - these things seem to put everyone in jeapardy - no one is spared. Crack really is whack.....

It is her fault that she let things get to that situation. She should have gotten out of that relationship when she began to see early signs of abuse towards her and her children. She could have run away with her kids and into a Police Department or run to a neighbor's house and make a 911 call while this animal was away or sleeping. If she was desperate enough, she could have set him on fire while he was sleeping. If she would have done something, this would not have been the outcome! She is 50% responsible for the horrible crime commited towards a child.

throw a blanket over his head and hold it tight and push and pull him, so you can knock him down. and stab him if you need to.

duh!!!!!! this isn't rocket science. and if she was used to being slapped around she must of picked up a few pointers along the way.

or did she really learn nothing at all??

WELL SAID, LG and Paul

LG

I have very little sympathy for those who don't leave an abusive relationship at the first signs, get out while they still can, and absolutely none for those who get out and go back. It sounds callous but I don't care.

LG-1820657

It is her fault that she let things get to that situation. She should have gotten out of that relationship when she began to see early signs of abuse towards her and her children. She could have run away with her kids and into a Police Department or run to a neighbor's house and make a 911 call while this animal was away or sleeping. If she was desperate enough, she could have set him on fire while he was sleeping. If she would have done something, this would not have been the outcome! She is 50% responsible for the horrible crime commited towards a child.

LG, Anna et al

u all need to read a book on the psych of the mind of people who continually take abuse. It's not isolated or by chance. There are thousands if not millions who are in abusive relationships and are too afraid to leave. These type of men prey on the personality of certain type of women cause they know they can be dominated and humiliated.

At some point, before the intimidation, when she still had common sense, the abuse was just beginning. She should have left then. There are a lot of help and agencies that protect women and children at risk! And at some point, the love for her children and her maternal instincts, if she had any, should have picked up.

I'm sure this abuse toward these kids was obvious to some of the neighbors. How can anyone ignore and look the other way like it's none of their business? There should be a law against that!

Years ago, a next door neighbor was banging at my door. She was all beat up and the children were hysterical. Her husband was inside looking for a knife, but I let her in and called 911. The police came, arrested the husband, and while he was in jail, I drove her and her kids to a pick up point for a shelter for battered women. At least they would be safe and would get the counseling they needed.

@ patter:

"... especially holding a woman responsible for controlling and overpowering a man."

How about grabbing the boys and running from the trailer screaming at the sight of the first stabbing?

Patter, as one of the children who was raised by a mother who just sat there, I for one think this woman deserves life in prison. Guess who I was most angry at years later in therapy? Yes, my mother. It was her job to protect me. These type of women only care about themselves and not their children for a second. She could have left and gotten help for the violence that was occuring in her home as I doubt this was the first time this man was violent.

pitter patter, try a dictionary, and look up the word accomplice!

if you are driving the get away car for a bank robbery, and you claim, ''ahh........ well, i...........i didn't know he had a gun when he went in there'' and see how far that gets you!

you both usually get the very same sentence. as in the one was an accomplice to the other!!!

What a world. I am nauseous. I am shocked by the doubt of the natural response of a Mother to Protect their young. Basic survival of the species. This woman chose her life over that of her children.

I can't believe how many jackasses are worried about her rights. A Mother has the right to die for her children. Yes, yes I would without a hesitation and my children are in their 30's and 40's. Messwith my Grandchildren you life is over.

If Betty Crocker or the PTA Mom with the mini van who bakes cupcakes saw someone assault her child she would rip them a new one.

Yes, a Mother in our small town confronted a creep trying to take her son into his car and smashed his face into the car with the police standing there. She was cited for assault. The Prosecutor dropped the charges. Duh. I gave her my name and number in case she finds him and needs a hand or an alibi. That's what Mom's do.

I understood the woman was stabbed, too. But I am not defending her at all. I thought I made that clear in the second sentence of my post.

My concern is that this could become a slippery slope, rather like holding a bartender responsible if a drunk causes a wreck. I don't like a legal system in which people are held responsible for the actions of another adult. Whether an abused child later holds mom responsible for failing to protect her or not, the law should be slow to do so--simply because in a free country, adults should be autonomous.

Abusive men disempower the woman they are with. It is slow, deep, and assiduous. A mentally healthy woman would have picked up something heavy and bashed his brains out on the spot. An abused woman would more likely be paralyzed with terror. I don't want to see abused women further victimized by the courts because they couldn't control some animal. That's all I'm saying. I'm not talking about this woman, but about how this case might set an unfortunate precedent.

Absolutely patter

The article states "The other son managed to survive by fighting back in a way his older brother could not." Meaning the 9 year old was probably disabled and needed diapers.

The story says the younger boy, now 8, was able to fight back, while his older brother could not. The older brother, Josiah, was nine when he died, and was obviously developmentally delayed, as he was still in diapers and couldn't speak.

It is likely that the stress of caring for a severely handicapped child added significantly to all the other stresses in the home, and it all came to a head.

It's just too bad that the father didn't just take a permanent hike, rather than killing his son, his neighbor and himself. The latter death, however, was an appropriate end for such a cowardly being.

Come on, Sue, raising a handicapped kid does not turn a normal person into a vicious homicidal maniac. Countless people have said that their disabled child taught them to LOVE more, not HATE more. The man was whacked, and so was his buffoon coward wife, regardless of kid's development.

The 9 yr old was seriously Autistic. Couldn't fight back. Little Brother could. Mom could have if she wanted to. If a 5 yr old could stop him who are they kidding. 10 YEARS WITH TIME SERVED? I'd like to meet this POS.

would you people please go GOOGLE the whole story before looking for excuses for this POS sperm donor and the cow who carried his seed.

girl86 is that your age or the year you were born?

if someone was 9 and in diappers, why do you imagine that would be? just a wild stab at it, what you think could be going on???

i know this a tough one, but really concentrate!

I'm in agreement with you here how ca she be jailed for like you say "genetics" also added to that a punctured lung from being stabbed herself.

I certainly didn't get the whole story with this article but I remember a case from some years back where a guy dragged a young girl into a restroom in a casino and killed her yet his "Buddy" who was watching the whole thing from over the wall of the next stall was found to be not responsible in any way and released because it wasn't his legal obligation to intervene.

HP, under the law, it is relationships that give rise to duty. You do not have a legal duty to protect a complete stranger, unless you created their risk. With certain relationships, however, you may have a duty to protect someone, such as the parent/child, caretaker/cared for relationships, for example.

Yes, this article lacked in background facts (although Google is your friend,) but were there facts lending to a history of risk, she had a duty. (And, upon Googling, there were ample facts to support this.)

I totally agree with you! i have 4 kids 22 yrs old 20yrs old 13 and 10 one has a form of autisum( i hope you excuse my writting abilties ect i'm starting to brush up on them ..)

there is so much help out there for families with these issues in some states you have to search hard for it but u just don't ever give up never i've at very stressful times i have stoped even people in the grocery store just to talk just to regain my sanity and then you have to give the spouse the same respect and then get every one out the kids NEED IT TO not to be cooped up in a trailer it appeared to be a nice trailer every one is still very physically close the mother could have grabed even the cutting board that sit on the sink and hit the sob dad right in the head face what ever utell he knocks out or shove him out of the trailer i could never ever sit and watch while her extremly disabled child that had no abilty to protect .. yrs ago i was in a very physically abusive realationship. so i do know what u do. u keep you kids safe even if u give your own life to bad she didn't. or she could have days before u know tesion is building ur the mom! she could have went to the adoption agancey and explain this is a dangers situation ect. for my childern and possiably her it could have been that easy but now in 10 yrs she can be her own little baby maker decideing who can live and who can stay with her at least for a while she is a perfect person to have her abilties to have other childern taken from her.all she has to do is give birth at home argh ... and what is so upsetting like some one else has said is she isn't the first it makes my stomache just turn and my heart ache for the little one or 2 that is left and grandparents ect..

Kevin, it is called child endangerment. There is nothing new here.

Insanity seems to seek out insanity. How could a person make the comments she has made and still be allowed to ever see the children again, let alone get them back. I suspect that there may be some racial, not racist reasons that CYS or whatever FL calls the Children's Agency gave the kids back. At 10 years, she got of damn leniently.

Respectfully!

No, the mother could have picked up something and hit the fool over the head. better anything than to stand there an allow him to kill the child. she already knew what the husband was going to do. you need to go back and read the earlier articles on this. the mother told the 2nd child he would soon be going to heaven this was while the dad was killing the 1st child who was austistic and could not fight back. the 2nd child actually managed to get the knife. the dad killed the person who owned the RV also before he killed himself. the mother knew what was going to happen when her husband chose this RV to go in. Even a mother animal will fight to protect her off spring. this mother did nothing. she deserves much more than she was given.

^^^ Stupid comment.

^^^ Useless reply.

Makes you proud to be an American, go free for murder go to jail for fear.

I read a little bit more about this case. It turns out, the man stabbed the Mother in the lung, and she felt helpless to fight him back. Sounds like an overzealous DA who assumes the Mom was kind of glad that her kids (one handicapped) were going to be dead.

This is legal precidence after this case: If you are a witness to a violent crime and don't jump in and risk your own life to protect the victims, you will do hard time. No safety for you!

Better not witness a knife fight in an alley and back away in terror... If the prosecutors find out you were there, you could end up as a defendant.

Okey-dokey. But the dictionary definition of okay is OK. OK?

The Mother is just as guilty as the Father. Come on, the man has a history of domestic abuse & she knew he was violence & had hurt the boys before and she stayed with him. She had a choice. She should have got life in prison.

John: They did consider the circumstances and she wasn't charged with manslaughter.