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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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We can not put the father of this child in a dog cage nor should he ever get out but the stepmother should also not ever be freed. This is a sad story but the stepmother had plenty of time to report this abuse. I do not understand the sentence for the dad. Was it fixed for 80 years or can he get out in 15 years?
Depends on the Parole Board usually. The judge may have put in a no parole provision.
Remember the shooter who ambushed the firemen got out after beating his grandmother to death with a hammer. He was 32 when he killed her. 17 years then he got out and killed again.
Women's rights
E R A
Women's Lib
Equal pay
Punishment,,,,,,,,,,, not equal.
I find it hard to believe that they needed HER testimony to try him. The children's testimony should have been enough to put them both away for 80 years. Of course her children, if treated well, would probably not testify against their mother.
It's like our justice system has forgotten how to try a case without "making a deal".
God bless that child. We can only imagine what he went through. This story makes me want to vomit with anger and sadness.
It seems to be that the other kids were not treated the same way. I don't know how anyone could have ten children in a mobile home, but I would imagine there would be other charges or at least some mention if this bastard was doing this to all of the children. As for the stepmother, I wonder if she was ok with this as long as it wasn't one of her natural children. I honestly couldn't stand by and watch this being done to an adult that I truly hated, let alone any child. I also assume that these two have lost custody of all the children, would have been a good point to include in this article, also mention what did or did not happen to the rest of the kids. Just another story that leaves more questions than answers, frustrating, as usual.
Ya I don't think I know of anyone that would not have faught for that kid. Poor kid. Damn.
It never mentions school. Did this kid never start School?
Did any of the kids go to school?
The system fails when someone breaks multiple laws at once. Ultimately getting caught but too late for justice.
Reading this article, I found myself getting so angry. I just can't wrap my head around how one person can do this to another, let alone a child.
"I loved my son." What a f**king crock. They should lock him in a box and give him nothing but water until he dies. He deserves nothing else. The only reason to give him water is to stretch out the suffering while his body eats itself. Then he can know what starvation feels like.
In that case give him one M&M a day. Just enough to get his mouth watering.
So now GARY can claim Jacko and this wacko.
The step-"mother" should be released alright, buck naked into the Alaskan wilderness in the dead of winter. Hopefully the "father" will get his just deserts daily while in prison and die a slow agonizing painful death to the AIDS virus.
If termites could be trained to eat bone,,,,,, that would be the right punishment.
Then bury the sack of Shiite with a bible and a cross.
I wonder who came forward and reported this crime. It says the stepmom cooperated, but no mention of how the investigation started. Cooperating alone should not have been necessary enough to warrant giving such a light sentence to the stepmom. It seems there was eyewitness testimony from the children, and the physical evidence should have spoken for itself. Prosecutors seem to give out unnecessary reduced sentences in order to make their jobs easier. I think that if the stepmom was the one to step forward, that would justify some reduction in her sentence, but to give her less time than this kid spent in torturous hell is a crime in itself. This stepmom should be required to notify any community that she lives in for the rest of her life what she did. Just like pedophiles have to do, she should have to answer for her sins for the rest of her natural life. She will probably be forgotten in a few years, change her name and go on to live as though she was a decent person. Disgusting.
MC Gusto wrote: Equal rights for women, Equal pay for women, Equal punishment for women. Not hardly.
-----------------
Not hardly, indeed. Women are still making a mere 70 cents on the male dollar, despite same skill and education. Crimes against women are overwhelmingly undereported - mainly for fear of retribution and lack of economic strength. Equal rights? Wherever did you get THAT from?
That said, I agree both the woman and man should get the same punishment. In the end, I gotta believe that whatever paltry and sad life she leads brings her no joy, and the knowledge that the world now knows how she acted - or failed to act - and will despise her. We can only hope.
Google the article "The wage gap myth" if you are interested in the true facts about the pay differences between men and women, the statistic that claims women make 70 cents to every dollar a man makes is misleading and self serving. It is skewed to show a maximum disparity and does not compare the two equally, specifically not comparing only full time workers together. If there are, hypothetically, only seventy women working full time for a company that has one hundred men working full time, -instant disparity. I can't put it as clearly as the article, "The Wage Gap Myth" it stresses the fact that many women choose jobs with less hours and more flexibility, they choose to take the full 12 weeks maternity leave, paid or unpaid, (which is absolutely their right to do as well as for men) but given these additional factors, these studies paint a very different picture.
This particular article has no bearing on the wage gap. It is alive and well in the USA. It has nothing at all to do with this article. Take your gripe somewhere else, please. This is about a murdered child, not the lack of equality between males and females in the pay scale of either. Who cares after knowing this happened? I sure do not.
maz-537846, Sorry if my post bothered you, when ofercryinoutloud mentioned it, it reminded me of an article one of my professors in college shared with us in class last year. I'm the kind who will put in my two cents if it is backed by solid research. My thirst for sharing knowledge got the best of me, its too bad if it bothers you, but I can't say I'm sorry for posting it. As for your claim that it is alive and well, I have supported my claim with documentation from a credible source. Can you provide anything that backs up your claim? Its amusing to me that while you claim this is a post board for the article above about this poor child, you still take the time to throw in your own unsupported opinion on this unrelated topic (exactly the thing you are admonishing me for doing). Good show!
This is like the book series "A boy called it" How sad This article made cry..
We learned yesterday that Justin Timberlake is coming back to music yet we have never heard of this boy suffering..
WTF is wrong with the media not shedding light on real issues in the world.
Last.. He got .. 80 years.. We should lock this a-hole in a dog cage in public until he dies..
RIP lil buddy ... I am sorry humanity let you down ..
My heart absolutely breaks for this child who never felt an ounce of love. The very people suppose to protect him with their lives... took his.
Who the hell could allow that monster to walk free in February? I hope a vigilante takes that b****out as soon as she walks through those doors. May there be inmate justice against the other monster. Do not show him an ounce of mercy.
What a crock of bs justice for a child that was tortured and murdered.
NO Sh*t Robin You know I will never understand why anybody can buy a gun, house, car, and pets all with credit and background checks but any phuckin looney can have kid no questions asked..
If i could wish for anything it would be a medical way for auto sterilization that could be reversed upon a credit, background, metal health and competency check..
Religious nuts.
As far as I am concerned both of them should be on death row.
I don't get it. Other articles said that she agreed to serve 25-35 years for cooperating and that she was due to be SENTENCED in February, not released from jail. Maybe MSN got it wrong? It certainly wouldn't be the first time.
Let's hope you're right!
'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."'
Love is not measured by what you say or by what you feel, but by what you do.
That is so true.
what a court system all $$ and no common sense,, worthless bs.
The fact that the wife / stepmother, Kubina, is due to be released from jail in February, is a great injustice. There's no way she'll escape God's justice.
I doubt a god's justice or the boy would not be dead or ever harmed in the first place.. OH I am sorry the father had free will to kill him..
I hope for these monsters they get street/ prison justice
Shows you know little about God and even less about His justice - you're not as smart as you imagine.
God's justice will never equal what this poor child went through. I pray to God to take these 2 out as painfully and alone as this child was when he exited this mortal world. For either of them to live and succeed is an insult to humanity. I do not include them, since I do not consider them human.
1Citizen-1347546
You may be right I replied in haste after reading an article that deeply disturbed me.. I did not mean to offend you if I did that is not usually a response I would give out of respect for various beliefs.
I can only hope to understand your God's justice system in time.. It is just that it seems to take to long.. Maybe we could agree to speed up this monsters death to get justice more swiftly?
Happiness and health to you and yours.
Starve him for a month then put him out of his misery with a hard swing of a metal baseball bat to the head. This piece of scum does not deserve to live on this earth. The stepmother should get prison time for aiding and abetting.
He loved his son? What he gave his son was a hatred no child should ever be exposed to. The stepmother is due to be released in what...3 years? She needs to die upon release, she is not worthy to be a member of human society. They both should be put to death, with a celebration to honor their deaths. I would love to attend a party celebrating these psychopaths death's! Celebrate something worthwhile, I am all for that.
That poor boy. I cannot believe his own Father could do such a horrible thing. I think they need to put the Father
in a cage like he did to his Son or put him out with the prisoners and let them take care of him.. So sad