Dad cleared of killing daughter, 2, after son, 7, confesses

[spaminator]

Dad cleared of killing daughter, 2, after son, 7, confesses
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Thursday, October 05, 2017 11:19 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, October 05, 2017 11:24 PM EDT
FORT WORTH, Texas — A capital murder charge against a North Texas man in the 2015 death of his 2-year-old daughter has been dismissed after prosecutors learned her older brother admitted causing the death.
Anthony Michael Sanders was accused of smothering Ellie Mae Sanders at their home in the Fort Worth suburb of Watauga. Investigators believed Sanders held his hand over her mouth out of anger for her interrupting his computer games.
Jailed since April 2016, Sanders denied responsibility. He said he found his daughter not breathing after his son, then 5, reported she wouldn’t wake up.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports prosecutors recently learned the boy, now 7, had told his mother that he had hit his sister with a pillow and the pillow was too heavy to remove from the girl’s head.
Dad cleared of killing daughter, 2, after son, 7, confesses | World | News | Tor

Father's murder charges dropped after son, 7, admits to killing sister
Postmedia Network
First posted: Sunday, October 08, 2017 08:02 PM EDT | Updated: Sunday, October 08, 2017 08:06 PM EDT
A murder charge has been dropped against a Texas man accused of killing his two-year-old daughter after his young son confessed to the act.
Watauga, Texas resident Anthony Michael Sanders has been cleared of a capital murder charge involving the death of his daughter, Ellie, 2, after prosecutors learned that the girl's older brother rolled a pillow onto her face and smothered her to death in December 2015.
“He was unable to move the pillow. He said that the pillow was a rectangle and was heavy. It had something zipped inside which made the pillow heavy,” according to court documents, as reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Sanders was arrested in April 2016. Investigators believed the man held his hand over his girl's mouth to suffocate her in a fit of rage.
They believed Sanders was upset because Ellie had disrupted a computer game session.
Sanders had denied killing his daughter, telling cops he found his lifeless daughter after his wife, Cassie Wright, returned home.
The accused was set for trial on Sept. 11. However two days later the charge was dropped and Sanders was released from jail.
The Star-Telegram reported Wright called prosecutor Dale Smith and told him that her now seven-year-old son confessed to killing Ellie.
Wright reportedly told Smith her son had hit Ellie with a pillow and that the object was too heavy to get off the toddler.
“Cassie Wright said that this was the first time (her son) had told her anything like this,” court documents stated. “She does not believe (her son) and does not think that what he is telling her makes sense.”
Wright said she only learned of her son's actions recently. When asked why he never told anyone else, the boy told the prosecutor he was “afraid that he would get in trouble.”
Jailed in daughter's death, Texas man freed after son
http://washingtonpost.com/news/true...d-daughter-after-his-7-year-old-son-confessed
Father's murder charges dropped after son, 7, admits to killing sister | World |

the pillow was too heavy? was an anvil in the pillow?

 

[White_Unifier]

That good old presumption of innocence, eh. That's why we need to dump rape-shield laws for example.

 

[JLM]

Dad cleared of killing daughter, 2, after son, 7, confesses
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Thursday, October 05, 2017 11:19 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, October 05, 2017 11:24 PM EDT
FORT WORTH, Texas — A capital murder charge against a North Texas man in the 2015 death of his 2-year-old daughter has been dismissed after prosecutors learned her older brother admitted causing the death.
Anthony Michael Sanders was accused of smothering Ellie Mae Sanders at their home in the Fort Worth suburb of Watauga. Investigators believed Sanders held his hand over her mouth out of anger for her interrupting his computer games.
Jailed since April 2016, Sanders denied responsibility. He said he found his daughter not breathing after his son, then 5, reported she wouldn’t wake up.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports prosecutors recently learned the boy, now 7, had told his mother that he had hit his sister with a pillow and the pillow was too heavy to remove from the girl’s head.
Dad cleared of killing daughter, 2, after son, 7, confesses | World | News | Tor

Father's murder charges dropped after son, 7, admits to killing sister
Postmedia Network
First posted: Sunday, October 08, 2017 08:02 PM EDT | Updated: Sunday, October 08, 2017 08:06 PM EDT
A murder charge has been dropped against a Texas man accused of killing his two-year-old daughter after his young son confessed to the act.
Watauga, Texas resident Anthony Michael Sanders has been cleared of a capital murder charge involving the death of his daughter, Ellie, 2, after prosecutors learned that the girl's older brother rolled a pillow onto her face and smothered her to death in December 2015.
“He was unable to move the pillow. He said that the pillow was a rectangle and was heavy. It had something zipped inside which made the pillow heavy,” according to court documents, as reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Sanders was arrested in April 2016. Investigators believed the man held his hand over his girl's mouth to suffocate her in a fit of rage.
They believed Sanders was upset because Ellie had disrupted a computer game session.
Sanders had denied killing his daughter, telling cops he found his lifeless daughter after his wife, Cassie Wright, returned home.
The accused was set for trial on Sept. 11. However two days later the charge was dropped and Sanders was released from jail.
The Star-Telegram reported Wright called prosecutor Dale Smith and told him that her now seven-year-old son confessed to killing Ellie.
Wright reportedly told Smith her son had hit Ellie with a pillow and that the object was too heavy to get off the toddler.
“Cassie Wright said that this was the first time (her son) had told her anything like this,” court documents stated. “She does not believe (her son) and does not think that what he is telling her makes sense.”
Wright said she only learned of her son's actions recently. When asked why he never told anyone else, the boy told the prosecutor he was “afraid that he would get in trouble.”
Jailed in daughter's death, Texas man freed after son
http://washingtonpost.com/news/true...d-daughter-after-his-7-year-old-son-confessed
Father's murder charges dropped after son, 7, admits to killing sister | World |

the pillow was too heavy? was an anvil in the pillow?

Hmmmmm, I wonder!

 

[White_Unifier]

Hmmmmm, I wonder!

The father could be guilty of having killed his daughter and he could have coerced his son into saying what his son said. But until we can prove that beyond reasonable doubt, are we prepared to throw a potentially innocent man in jail?

 

[Vbeacher]

The father could be guilty of having killed his daughter and he could have coerced his son into saying what his son said. But until we can prove that beyond reasonable doubt, are we prepared to throw a potentially innocent man in jail?

Well, he's been in jail all this time, which would make it kind of hard to coerce his son into doing anything. I can certainly see a 5 year old resenting a baby or its noise and pushing a pillow over its face. He wouldn't really be aware of death or dying or what that would do.

 

[White_Unifier]

Well, he's been in jail all this time, which would make it kind of hard to coerce his son into doing anything. I can certainly see a 5 year old resenting a baby or its noise and pushing a pillow over its face. He wouldn't really be aware of death or dying or what that would do.

True enough.