CSB: Crime Scene Blog

Attorneys for Nixzaliz Santiago have stated they plan on claiming their client suffered not only from battered-women’s syndrome but also post traumatic stress syndrome, also known as PTSD.  It was these conditions, along with a low IQ, stress from financial problems, and the recent miscarriage of her child, made her unable to fight or stop her controlling husband, Cesar Rodriguez.

This flies in the face of Rodriguez’s defense, which consisted of telling jurors that Rodriguez was a caring stepfather who was perhaps a bit overbearing, but still loved his children.  In his defense, attorney Jeffrey Schwartz claimed that it was actually Nixzaliz Santiago who left Nixzmary Brown to die because she was jealous of the child.

Now her defense attorneys appear to be positioning themselves to claim that Rodriguez was the “bad” parent and that their client was so afraid of him that she stood idly by while he beat her daughter to death.

While the details of their defense are not known, I can already tell you that the idea of a mother being too afraid of a man to stop him from harming her children won’t sit well with most women.  And using a defense of PTSD, when we have soldiers returning home from Iraq with real cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder probably won’t win her any fans either.

For those who are unfamiliar with the legal use of battered-women’s syndrome, this information can be found on Wikipedia:

This [battered-women’s syndrome] is a reference to any person who, because of constant and severe domestic violence usually involving physical abuse by a partner, becomes depressed and unable to take any independent action that would allow him or her to escape the abuse.

There is no consensus in the medical profession that such abuse results in a mental condition severe enough to excuse alleged offenders. Nevertheless, the law makes reference to a psychological condition (as ICD9 code 995.81 Battered person syndrome NEC [1] or otherwise included within DSM-IV as a sub-category of post-traumatic stress disorder), even though neither medical classification as currently drafted, includes the syndrome in the sense used by lawyers.

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That may be the direction Courtney Lockhart’s attorneys may be heading.  Lockhart, is the 23-year-old man who has been charged in the death of Auburn University student Lauren Burk.

Currently he has been charged with  capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a robbery and capital murder during an attempted rape and is being held without bail.  Defense attorneys are asking for a mental evaluation be done, which could take a while to organize and complete.

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An old adage says that criminals always return to the scene of the crime.  Today Sheila LaBarre did just that.  She, along with the jury who will determine if she was insane at the time she killed two men, returned to her 115-acre farm in Epping, NH.  Arriving in cars and two small yellow buses, they roamed through several sections of the farm.  Specific locations included a drive by the Wal-Mart where employees have said they last saw Kenneth Countie, looking weak and bruised.  They also saw the location where LaBarre’s jacket was found, with the blood of Micheal Deloge on it.

As jurors toured the farm, LaBarre turned to face the group of reporters that followed them to the farm.  She was also seen crying, possibly as memories flooded her as she was forced to see the place which had been her home for years, possibly for the last time.

Lawyers for Sheila LaBarre also released information which they hope will convince the jury that she was indeed insane when she murdered Deloge, and two years later, Countie.  They said that LaBarre believes she has died and returned to the earth and that she sees herself as an avenging angel.  She also believes that both Deloge and Countie were pedophiles and victims of incest, and that they deserved to die.  Among her other delusions are that there are people in the woods which surround the farm who are “out to get her.”

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Over the last 2 years, four women have been killed in Daytona Beach.  Evidence, including DNA recovered from the victims, linked the cases to one killer.

This week Daytona Beach police arrested a doctor who was posing as a police officer.  He was found with a prostitute, handcuffs, and a weapon.  Jerrold Ecklind is cooperating police, including submitting to a DNA test.  The results of the testing have not been released yet.

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Two more updates have come down this week regarding the pending sanity trial of Sheila LaBarre.  She has already pleaded guilty by reason of insanity to the murders of Kenneth Countie and Micheal Deloge, so all that remains is for a jury to decide if she was insane at the time of the two attacks.

Judge Tina Nadeau has ruled on a defense challenge of prosecution witness Mark Safarik, a former FBI profiler.  He was due to tell jurors that LaBarre was sane, and in fact exhibited some of the classic signs of a serial killer when she committed the two murders, years apart.  Among his evidence is the fact that after killing Micheal Deloge, she continued on with her life, eventually meeting Kenneth Countie on an online dating site and eventually having him move in with her.  It was just a few months after he went to stay with her in Epping, NH that he went missing.

Judge Nadeau said in her ruling that while Safarik could be considered an expert witness regarding certain areas of the case, he was not an expert on her psychological condition at the time of the murders.  She also did not believe LaBarre integrated herself back into society after she murdered Deloge, something which is one of the hallmarks of the FBI-recognized definition of a serial killer.

It was also revealed that along with bones and blood that was matched to Deloge and Countie, there were also toes discovered at the LaBarre home, which did not belong to either man.  This points to the possibility there is yet another victim, but Judge Nadeau concluded that introducing this new evidence would prejudice the jury.

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Court Documents released in Nassau County show that Leatrice Brewer, the woman who confessed to drowning her three children and laying them out on a bed together before calling police, will use an insanity defense.

The fathers of the children told investigators they had filed numerous reports with authorities regarding her erratic and sometimes threatening actions.  They even told child welfare case workers Brewer had threatened to hurt the children, but they did nothing to remove the children.

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Earlier this year, Sheila LaBarre pleaded guilty by reason of insanity to the murders of Kenneth Countie and Micheal Deloge.  While this elminated the need for a criminal trial, the court must now come to a decision on whether she truly was insane at the time of the murders.  This entails bringing forth witnesses that can testify to her state of mind.

Those witness lists, from both the prosecutors and defense attorneys were released last week.  The prosecutors list contained 140 names, while the defense plans on calling roughly half that with 73 people on their list.

Included in the list are neighbors of LaBarre, some of whom have called her crazy, while others say she is smart and calculating, but not insane.  There are also friends of hers, including one lady she met and became acquainted with shortly after Countie’s disappearance.  Several employees of the Wal-Mart store where she brought Countie have also been called as witnesses.  They have made statements to authorities of how weak Countie seemed just days before it is believed LaBarre murdered him and burned his body at her Epping, NH home.

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Prosecutors believe that the woman they have charged with slashing a mother’s throat and stealing her baby is close to entering a plea agreement where she will be effectively plead guilty to the charges against her.

Shannon Torrez is accused of attacking Stephanie Oschenbine and slashing her throat.  She then kidnapped her 7-day-old baby.  After a brief search for the child, a relative of Torrez discovered that the child Torrez had claimed was hers, was actually the missing baby, Abigale Lynn Woods.  The child was returned, unharmed to her parents and Torrez was arrested.

Now it appears prosecutors and defense attorneys have reached an agreement where she will enter what is known as an Alford plea.  In this form of plea, the defendant does not admit quilt, but does acknowledge there is enough evidence against them to convince a jury of their guilt.  In most states where this is allowed, it is regarded as the same as a jury verdict of guilty, even during the sentencing phase.

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Jurors in the Sheila LaBarre case will be taken to her horse farm in Epping at the request of the prosecutors.  They put forth a motion, which the judge approved, to show jurors specific areas of the property that are relevant to the case.

Since LaBarre has already pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, so jurors will only be asked to determine if they believe she was insane at the time she committed the two murders she has admitted to, those of Micheal Deloge and Kenneth Countie.

Part of the tour will include the exterior of the house and the location where her truck was when police arrived.  They will not be allowed inside the home since it has deteriorated while the trial was proceeding.  They will also see the Epping Wal-Mart where video footage showed her pushing Countie around in a wheelchair, getting what appeared to be gas cans.  This is the same Wal-Mart where patrons and employees told investigators they saw Kenneth Countie appear to get more and more disheveled and his health slipping during visits there by him and LaBarre.

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Rachel Booth was physically and sexually abused by her father, Matthew Booth for years.  The young girl, as she told a neighbor, had “had enough.”  It was then she took her father’s shotgun, pointed it at him, and shot him in the face, killing him instantly.

Rachel was initially placed in adult prison, but was quickly removed and placed in a mental center while she was cared for and evaluated.

Today the 14-year-old pleaded guilty to killing her father and was sentenced to probation.  She will remain under juvenile probation until she reaches the age of 21.

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It is sad that this young girl had to not only endure the terror of being abused by her father, but she had to take matters into her own hands because she saw this as the only way out of her terrible situation.  We can only hope that she will receive the counseling she needs and can take these next few years to piece her life back together.  But the memories she will carry with her are more than any adult should ever have to shoulder.