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A judge in Indiana sentenced former Gary resident Riley Choate to 80 years in prison on Friday for neglect in the death of his son, a 13-year-old who had been regularly beaten, confined to a dog cage for two years, and fed a starvation diet.
The boy, Christian Choate, weighed less than 50 pounds when he died on April 4, 2009, of blunt force trauma to the head, the Chicago Tribune reported.
"The pain and the suffering, the degradation this baby went through for two years of his life is incomprehensible," Lake County Superior Court Judge Diane Boswell said, according to the report.
A sister of the victim — one of as many as 10 children who lived with Choate and his wife in a trailer in Gary, Ind. — said that on the day of his death Christian had refused to eat, enraging his father, who punched the boy several times with "full force" before throwing him back in the cage, said the Tribune, citing court records.
Choate and his wife, Kimberly Kubina, the boy’s stepmother, were accused of burying the boy on their property and moving the family to Kentucky shortly thereafter, telling others that Christian had run away.
Deputy Prosecutor Michael Woods described Choate's abuse of Christian as persistent, cruel and depraved, according to a report in the Northwest Indiana Times.
"Christian Choate sat in that cage, losing his mind, losing his strength and probably his humanity,” Woods said, while his father sat at the desk next to the cage playing games on his computer, according to the report.
"There were many other children in this house. They all saw Christian suffer. Those images haunt their sleep and drive them back into counseling," the prosecutor said.
The boy’s body, buried under concrete with a Bible and a cross in the Gary, Ind. mobile home park, was found in May 2011.
"We feel very strongly that the system failed this child, this young man, Christian Choate," Lake County Indiana Sheriff John Buncich said at a press conference Friday. "The system failed him and a lot of information slipped through the crack and we feel his life could have been saved if things had been dealt with in a different manner."
In December, Choate pleaded guilty to a Class A felony for neglect of a dependent causing death, and felonies for moving the boy’s body and depriving his daughter, Christina, of an education. He also admitted to being a habitual offender for previous felony theft convictions, the Times said. In doing so, he avoided a jury trial on charges of murder, battery, criminal confinement and obstruction of justice. In the plea deal, he was sentenced to 80 years instead of a possible 120 if convicted of the original charges.
Before the sentencing on Friday, Choate apologized for his actions, the Chicago Tribune reported: "All my actions will haunt me forever. I loved my son."
Kubina, who was also charged with child abuse, divorced Choate in 2011 and cooperated in his prosecution. As a result, she is due to be released from jail in February, the Tribune said.
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I've been following this case since I read an op-ed piece by Bob Greene that was about Christian on 7/5/11. I cried for days and have had sleepless nights over the thought of what this child endured. I am still pissed that it was rarely mentioned by main stream media although the op-ed piece was on CNN online. This child received no coverage because he was poor and from a trailer park, because he was no Casey Anthony. This sickens me beyond words.
Christian's body was only released for burial a couple of months ago because the Dad's defense wouldn't consent to release. Riley drug things on as long as he possibly could and somehow managed to get engaged WHILE he was incarcerated.
There was a petition put forth 3 times to enact Christian's law, which would make knowledge of such child abuse and not reporting it a crime, subject to prosecution. Every time not enough signatures were gathered. So sad when people will circulate petitions for "best new restaurant" but not sign something of such importance.
Rest in peace, Christian. This man was never your father and he can never hurt anyone else again.
We can only hope some of the boys in the "big house" knock out all his teeth and make him their bitch...
How in hell can something like this happen? Didn't any of his teachers question why he quit coming to school? Didn't any of the siblings ever mention anything to any adult, teacher, relative? Didn't his mother ever question what was going on?
I hope this SOB get's a roomie in prison that enjoys both anal sex and physical violence. If this guy gets raped and beaten every day for the rest of his life, his punishment will still be too light. And if he ever utters the words "I loved my son" again, he should have his tongue cut out.
I am beyond disgusted.
"We feel very strongly that the system failed this child, this young man, Christian Choate," Lake County Indiana Sheriff John Buncich said at a press conference Friday. "The system failed him and a lot of information slipped through the crack and we feel his life could have been saved if things had been dealt with in a different manner." Thanks for stating the obvious Barney Fife!!!
Note to self: Stay the F away from Lake County Indiana......where were teachers/family/friends/neighbors/etc etc etc??? Were they living in Siberia? Where were the other trailer park neighbors? Didn't they wonder why the boy was never outside. Why the F didn't the stepmother just go to the police? They woulda found the poor kid locked in a dog cage, emaciated, beaten and living in his own feces and would've arrested the parents and moved the kids to a safe place immediately. Soooo many unanswered questions and none of it matters because this poor boy is dead and his final days of life were absolute horror. This kinda crap makes me question God. Why would God let this happen to any child???? I'm sure this will open a can of worms but what would be God's justification for allowing any child to endure such suffering and misery? There's no answer that will suffice!
I hope and pray that another prisoner, that has a son, will beat this POS to death and rid the world of his worthless ass!!!!
with all the killings and mass shootings we need to bring back the gallows stop the insanity pleas and convict these mosters why should we pay for these freaks. a good hemp rope is far cheaper than lethal injection this dirtbag should swing!! mabey a inmate will kill this crud no kid should be treated as cruelly as this poor boy he got no justice i hope the lord takes him under his wing in heaven and the crud that sat at his desk while he suffered rots in hell!!
Did this boy never go to school? if so why was there never an inquiry by social services into his absence? if he was kept in a cage for 2 years surely someone must have asked questions.
80 years in a cage isn't enough for this pathetic excuse for a human; he needs to be beaten daily and starved. Accomplices too.
Please make sure to have a nice Dog cage waiting for this guy, so he can serve out his 80 years. Preferably, somewhere under a Cactus in the Mojave desert!
I don't know if I've ever read a story of such despicable, disgusting, horrific, unspeakable, unfathomable cruelty to a child as this one. As a matter of fact I know I haven't. This is haunt me for quite a while. I think my blood pressure increased after I read it. 1) Because this scumbag isn't getting the death penalty. 2) Because the scumbag lowlife stepmother will be free to live her life as she chooses in February instead of getting what I feel should be at the very least, life in prison with no chance of parole. I'm sorry but sitting by, watching this poor beautiful little soul get beaten and tortured and locked in a dog cage...then helping to bury his body after he was murdered constitutes GUILT beyond the shadow of doubt! She should be rotting in a cell the size of the dog cage this poor boy died in. For the rest of her wretched life. I hope someone kills her the day she walks outta that jail. One bullet between the eyes will do just fine! What jury wouldn't sentence this monster to death and the monster stepmother to life in prison without parole? That's the only logical sentence. Someone made a great comment that if they get caught with a certain amount of marijuana, they will go to jail much much longer than this piece of @!$%#! Our justice system truly is SAD and ASSBACKWARDS!
I meant to say "this is going to haunt me for quite a while."
Wow. Some people really do deserve to be chopped into tiny pieces and fed to worms, repeatedly, don't they?
Can this woman get near the other children or have children in the future. Why is she not labeled like a pediphile and never alllowed near children. She should be locked in a cage. How can she consider it cruel and unusual punishment when it was okay for a child he abetted and aided in killing and concealing a death.
We're a sick society when we care, or worry, about the rights, or anything else, of something like this germ. He did it, and who could conceivably care why? Execution should be prompt. He won't learn anything but he won't be a repeat offender either.
So sad that the system failed this lil guy but at least now his father will be in a cage thinking about it for the rest of his life and hopefully some inmate will do the same to the father as the father did to the son. Hopefully karma is truly a @itch
The stepmother is getting out in February already? That's not right - she should be jailed for life. I'm a woman and I hate when these women stand by and let some man abuse kids. I know it wasn't her biological son, but how can you live with kids and not love them? Or at least want to protect them. I don't see how the system failed the child - the father failed. It's almost impossible to get kids away from their parents.
I think justice will be better served if he father is put in with the general population in jail. The inmates will know how to deal with this monster.
I keep tellin' people we need to bring back capital punishment when a murder occurs, or just the complete ruining of someones life. Give them the fair trial they deserve, and if found guilty, take 'em immediately behind the courthouse and 5 minutes for a cigarette and beer, while deciding on if they want to swing from a rope, or face a firing squad. When our "Criminal Justice System" starts to favor the victim instead of the murderers, rapists, etc., and presents a real deterrent like hanging or firing squad, things will start to change. Start with no more plea bargins, then start gettin' some judges with the balls to sentence people like this to death. A rope is cheap and reusable, and bullets are pretty cheap too. I think the people should demand severe changes until they actually happen. We've slowly turned into a nation of " you can't do that, it's cruel and inhumane punishment" like um.....the crime itself wasn't cruel and inhumane? Hell, I'll offer to buy the first rope if we can get a politician to bring back the punishments that some people deserve and stop the damn madness of political correctness and stuff. Hang 'em or shoot 'em.
Where is the real justice in this country anymore? 80 years yeah he will never get out, but this scum doesn't deserve to eat on taxpayer dollars. He deserves nothing less than starvation in his cell and daily beating until he dies! The step mother deserves at least 40 years in life or death too, let her choose which way she wants to die. Our entire justice system needs to change, people with drugs get more time than this and don't even have to be selling the stuff. It's time to save money in this country by putting more people to death instead of in jail. An eye for an eye is what we need to go back to for punishments and it is the only way to deter crap like this from happening again. Personally I hope someone in their jail decides to do the right thing because they are already there for a long time too anyway. And just anyone wants to bring politics into this story, I am a Democrat and I have no pity nor do I care what happens to this kind of abusing trash of a person. They made their choice and the country should make theirs and make them both starve to death. Anything less is just a waste of all taxpayer money!
Both of these monsters never need to see daylight again....If I were able I would have sentenced them both to death
Prison? That is what is exactly wrong with this country! He should have been put to death Immediately! This country is run by a bunch of F@CKIN P@SSY AZZ PAID OFF DOUCHE BAGS!!!!!
Several other people seen him in a cage and what was happening and NOBODY could tell SOMEONE who CARED ?? He claims he loved his son , really how ?
Obama is a f@g lover, paid off corporate puppet!!!!!!!!!
God help us!
You need more than God's help. What the hell does Obama have to do with this? I'll bet the father in this story is either your brother or your daddy (either of which is assuredly your lover).
Piglizard420 is just some NI@@ER on a crack pipe!
He loved his son. Damn, I couldn't do that to someone I hated.
And to everyone demonizing the woman and children, my guess is that they were probably terrified of this monster. Don't judge them harshly without knowing their story.
Your a fool pighead, your some retarded moron that has his head so far up his azz he can't see anymore. Stop chasing little boys around with your penis in your hand Too!
They should both rot in jail this is sick and pisses me off how could you ever cage your child beat and starve them love they no nothing about love I can't express how mad this story makes me poor kid they should both get life not him get 80 years and her get out in feb [Both of there] actions caused this thats murder......