Melissa Huckaby arrested in Murder of 8-Year-Old Sandra Cantu

[Redrose]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,514435,00.html

[Redrose]

Sorry to leave the post with so little info, my PC and SM are not playing nicely today.  I can't load the last page of the current thread.
From the Tracy Press:
Twenty-eight-year-old Melissa Chantel Huckaby was arrested at 11:55 p.m. Friday on suspicion of kidnapping and killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu.

Huckaby was arrested at the Tracy Police Department, where she had gone voluntarily for questioning nearly five hours earlier, police spokesman Sgt. Tony Sheneman said.

She was booked into custody at 3:25 a.m. Saturday at San Joaquin County Jail, in French Camp, where she is being held without bail. Her arraignment will be at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Manteca branch of the San Joaquin County Superior Court.

Huckaby, a West High School graduate, lives with her grandparents, Clifford Lane Lawless and Connie Lawless, in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where Sandra lived.

No other arrests were made, no motive was disclosed, and Sheneman offered no other details but said he would have a press conference at 10 a.m. today.

An autopsy has been completed, but authorities have not released results or said how Sandra was killed.

Huckaby told a Tracy Press reporter in an exclusive interview Friday that she teaches Sunday school at Clover Road Baptist Church, her grandfather’s church just down the street from the mobile home park.

She said someone took her large, black suitcase that she’d left in her driveway on March 27, the same afternoon that Sandra went missing.

Police found Sandra’s dead body in a black suitcase submerged in a dairy lagoon 2 miles north of the mobile home park.

Earlier Friday evening, FBI agents and police were seen at the Baptist church, where they loaded what looked like a fold-up bed into a crime scene van. They had searched the church on Monday.

Huckaby told the Tracy Press that she and her 5-year-old daughter had lived for the past year with her grandparents and that on March 27 Sandra had stopped by her house and asked to play with her daughter. Huckaby said she’d said no, because her daughter needed to pick up her toys and that Sandra went to another friend’s home.

Huckaby’s dark purple Kia SUV was towed and searched by police Tuesday night.

When she talked to the Tracy Press Friday, she said she wasn’t the same Melissa Huckaby who pleaded no contest Jan. 9 to a felony charge of second-degree commercial burglary and a misdemeanor charge of petty theft after being arrested in November 2008 for trying to steal something from Target. She had been examined by doctors and was deemed mentally competent to stand trial. She was due back in court next week for sentencing.

The criminal complaint also shows she was locked up in Los Angeles County for conviction of property theft in 2006.

Huckaby was released Thursday from Sutter Tracy Community Hospital, where she spent several days in the intensive care unit for what she described as “internal bleeding.” Police were stationed at the hospital during her stay.

Huckaby claimed to reporters Friday that she had found a note that had the words "suitcase" and "water," as well as "Whitehall," the street near the irrigation pond where she was found.

[Nut44x4]

Sandra Cantu likely died before search for her even began

Posted: 04/11/2009 03:27:55 AM PDT

TRACY — Eight-year-old Sandra Cantu was likely dead before anyone ever called police to report her missing more than two weeks ago, police said Saturday, although officials declined to discuss how the girl was killed or any potential motives.

Police late Friday night arrested a Sunday school teacher who said Sandra Cantu visited her home March 27, the day she was last seen alive. Melissa Huckaby, 28, is being held without bail at San Joaquin County Jail.

Tracy Police Sgt. Tony Sheneman said inconsistencies in comments the woman made to investigators as well to the media prompted an arrest.

Tracy Police said the Jacobson Elementary School second grader — who was good friends with Huckaby's

5-year-old daughter — was dead before her mother called 911 at 8 p.m. March 27 to report her missing.

"From information gathered, Sandra was killed not too long after she went missing," Sheneman said early Saturday morning, adding there are no other suspects in the case.

While the arrest is good news, said family members, "There's never closure," said Sandra's aunt Angie Chavez.

"This is just the beginning," said her uncle, Joe Chavez. "Are you kidding me? We have to live the rest of our lives without Sandra."

"Everyone ... wished us luck in finding the guys, the monster that did this," Sheneman said. "Finding out, one, that it's a woman that is responsible for Sandra's kidnapping and murder, and then finding out that it's a member of the community is another blow. To find out it was someone Sandra's family knew is a double blow."

A cause of death will not be revealed until a trial is held. A coroner's report on the girl, along with other documents, are expected to be sealed by the court.

Huckaby was arrested late Friday night after speaking with Tracy Police for several hours without an attorney. Deputy Les Garcia, a spokesman for the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office, said Huckaby was "under observation" as a precaution. The woman has declined interview requests, the sheriff's office said, and members of her family could not be reached for comment.

Sheneman said Huckaby became emotional during her interview with investigators, which lasted until 1:30 a.m. She had been questioned twice in the past week.

He said they found a murder scene but couldn't reveal where it is.

"This has been difficult for any parent in the country,'' Sheneman said. "The parents in Tracy were frightened because there was a killer amongst them. Professionally, while we're confident and pleased that an arrest has been made, you can never reverse what happened (to Sandra). There is no joy in this."

Huckaby, a 1999 graduate of Merrill F. West High School in Tracy, is the granddaughter of Clifford Lane Lawless, pastor of Clover Road Baptist Church, which investigators searched twice this week. She lived with Lawless and his wife in a unit of the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, across the street and about five houses down from Sandra Cantu's home.

Huckaby told several media outlets Friday the suitcase Sandra Cantu's body was found in on Monday belonged to her, which Sheneman confirmed Saturday morning. Huckaby said the suitcase disappeared from her driveway in the mobile home park the same day Sandra was reported missing.

Huckaby said she had prepared the suitcase with scrapbooking items to be taken to Clover Road Baptist Church for a Sunday school class she teaches. Huckaby said seh left the bag in her driveway accidentally after getting distracted while searching for her phone and keys.

When Huckaby's grandmother, Connie Lawless, called her to say she had found the missing items, Huckaby said she remembered the suitcase and asked family members to check on it. It wasn't there.

She told the Tracy Press she meant to file a police report but never did. Some television stations reported Huckaby said she filed a police report.

According to logs with the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office and the Tracy Police Department, no one reported a missing suitcase from the Orchard Park Mobile Home Estates or the Clover Road Baptist Church in the past three weeks.

Huckaby said Sandra had stopped by her house March 27 to play with her 5-year-old daughter, but she told Sandra the girl wasn't being allowed to have a friend over. She said Sandra then left to go to another friend's house.

The last images of Sandra, captured on a video surveillance camera set up by her grandparents, show the little girl skipping across the roadway toward her home before veering right and heading in another direction.

Sandra's body was found Monday, inside a large black suitcase discovered in an agricultural pond being drained 2 miles from the mobile home park on West Clover Road, just off Interstate 205 in north Tracy.

A source close to the investigation said that at first glance there were no visible signs of trauma on the girl.

Lawless, who was in the media spotlight when FBI investigators searched the church earlier this week, is the pastor, but police have said he is not a suspect. The church was searched again around 4 p.m. Friday and several unidentified items were reportedly removed.

The church's Web site states that two services are held there weekly, but neighbors of the older one-story building say they rarely see anyone there.

In an unrelated case, Huckaby pleaded no contest earlier this year to one count of theft with a prior conviction. She's scheduled to be sentenced Friday, according to court records.

A massive search for Sandra, whose picture was on fliers all over the Central Valley and Bay Area, included hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials, went on for days around the clock. It ended when farm workers found the suitcase and reported it to authorities as being suspicious. Sheneman said the farm workers have refused to accept the $32,000 reward offered by Tracy Crime Stoppers and the Carol Sund/Carrington Foundation for information leading to Sandra's return and the arrest of a suspect.

http://**

[Blonde]

Sunday school teacher Melissa Huckaby charged with kidnap, murder of Sandra Cantu

From correspondents in San Francisco



April 14, 2009 12:00am

Murder suspect ... Melissa Huckaby has been arrested on suspicion of killing an eight-year-old girl / AP

Sunday school teacher arrested for murder
Girl's body found inside suitcase
Police haven't given motive for killing

A SUNDAY school teacher has been arrested for the kidnapping and murder of an eight-year-old girl in northern California.

A police spokeswoman said Melissa Huckaby, 28, had been booked on suspicion of murder and kidnapping Sandra Cantu, whose body was found stuffed into a suitcase recovered from a pond last Monday after her disappearance on March 27.

Her family, including her grandfather who is pastor at  Clover Road Baptist Church, said they could not believe she had murdered Sandra.

"I just can't comprehend. There are no words,'' her father Brian Lawless told the Associated Press.

Ms Huckaby had previously told local media that her five-year-old daughter had been playing with Sandra on the day of her disappearance.

"She just always had an extra patience with her (own daughter). Never raised her voice. Never yelled. Never struck her," Mr Lawless said.

Related Coverage
Murder, rape charge over girl in suitcase
NEWS.com.au, 15 Apr 2009
Rape charge likely for church teacher

 
"She was that same way with other children. She loved other children."
 
Sandra's murder has shocked the city of Tracy, east of San Francisco, and triggered a massive police hunt for her killer.
 
"I want to tell you that is a terrible, terrible tragedy, Tracy Police chief Janet Thiessen said.

"An act against a child that has had far-reaching implications. People from around the country have contacted us expressing their sympathy."

Ms Huckaby was formally arrested late Friday after being questioned for several hours by police.

She was later booked into San Joaquin County Jail on charges of murder and kidnapping.

"She revealed enough information that we had cause to arrest her for both kidnapping and murder" Tracy police Sergeant Tony said.

No motive for the killing was disclosed.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25327407-401,00.html

[Blonde]

Murder Charges Filed in Sandra Cantu Case
Prosecutors Claim Melissa Huckaby Raped, Killed 8-Year-Old Neighbor
By LAURA MARQUEZ, SCOTT MICHELS and SARAH NETTER
April 14, 2009


A Northern California woman raped and murdered an 8-year-old girl and stuffed her body in a suitcase that was dumped in an irrigation pond, prosecutors claimed today.

Melissa Huckaby cries as murder charges are read for the death of Sandra Cantu.

San Joaquin County, Calif., prosecutors filed murder charges today against Melissa Huckaby, 28, in the death of Sandra Cantu, Huckaby's neighbor in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park.

With her family and Cantu's family looking on, Huckaby, a volunteer Sunday school teacher, cried at her arraignment as the judge read the charge against her: murder with the special circumstances of rape with a foreign object, lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14 and murder in the course of a kidnapping.

She reacted the most strongly when the rape allegation was read, closing her eyes and choking back a sob. After the brief hearing, Huckaby was taken back to the San Joaquin County jail, where she remains on suicide watch.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=7335840&page=1

[Blonde]

DA: Rape May Be Alleged in Calif. Girl's Slaying
Prosecutor: Allegations in California girl's slaying case could include rape, molestation
By MARCUS WOHLSEN Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO April 13, 2009 (AP)


Prosecutors said Monday they may include rape and molestation allegations in their murder charge against the woman suspected of killing an 8-year-old Northern California girl and putting her body in a suitcase.

Melissa Huckaby, a 28-year-old Sunday school teacher, was arrested Friday on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering Sandra Cantu.

Formal charges have not yet been filed, but San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Robert Himmelblau said a murder charge against Huckaby could include the special circumstances of rape with a foreign object, lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and murder in the course of a kidnapping.

A conviction on any of the special circumstances would make Huckaby eligible for the death penalty or life in prison without parole, Himmelblau said. The district attorney's office has not determined whether it will seek the death penalty, he said.

Sandra disappeared on March 27. A massive search ensued and pictures of her were posted all over Tracy, a city of 78,000 people about 60 miles east of San Francisco. On April 6, Sandra's body was found in a suitcase by farmworkers draining an irrigation pond a few miles from her home.

Huckaby lived with her grandparents five doors down from Sandra. The little girl was a playmate of Huckaby's 5-year-old daughter, Madison.


Police have not said how, where or why Sandra was killed, and Himmelblau wouldn't provide details on any evidence leading prosecutors to consider the sexual assault allegations.

"I was hoping that wasn't the case," Sandra's aunt, Angie Chavez, said through tears. "I'm in shock. The whole thing is unimaginable."

Huckaby is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Stockton. A decision on which, if any, special circumstances to include in the charges has not been made, Himmelblau said.

Huckaby remained in custody without bail at the San Joaquin County Jail, where jail staff have been monitoring her mental health. She has not been allowed visitors.

Prosecutor: Allegations in California girl's slaying case could include rape, molestation


Himmelblau was not aware if Huckaby had an attorney.

A call to her family Monday was not immediately returned.

A girl places a stuffed animal at a memorial for Sandra Cantu in Tracy, Calif., Thursday, April 9,...
(AP)

On Sunday, outside Clover Road Baptist Church — where Huckaby volunteered as a Sunday school teacher and her grandfather, Clifford Lawless, is the pastor — relatives described Huckaby as a loving mother with a strong religious upbringing.

Emily Fontes of Seattle said she and Huckaby were best friends at Brea Olinda High School in Orange County in the late 1990s.

Huckaby baby-sat and worked as a nanny, and also was on the school dance team, Fontes said.

Huckaby occasionally spoke of becoming a police officer. She talked about problems at home — typical teenage problems involving boys and parents — and sometimes wanted to stay with her, Fontes said.

"I can't comment on who she is now," Fontes said. "All I can say is that this girl I knew then could never in a million years do something like this."

After high school, Huckaby bounced back and forth between Southern California and Tracy.

In 2002, she worked as a cashier at a grocery store near her grandparents' house. In May 2003, she filed for bankruptcy, listing a little more than $5,000 in assets and more than $26,000 in debts. She was 22 and expecting her first child.


According to court documents, Melissa Lawless owed more than $17,000 in medical expenses. She earned a total of $10,525 in 2002 while working at the grocery store.

She left the store in 2004, got married and had Madison. She soon divorced.

Brian Lawless said Sunday his daughter never raised her voice at her own daughter and "never yelled, never struck her."

In 2006, Huckaby was convicted of petty theft in Los Angeles County. Information about her sentence wasn't immediately available.

Separately, in January, she pleaded no contest to a petty theft charge in San Joaquin County. She was sentenced to 3 years of probation on the condition that she participate in a county mental health program.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/WireStory?id=7322646&page=2

[Blonde]

Huckaby Swallowed Knife Blades Before Arrest
 
 

Complete Coverage Of Sandra Cantu Case The Sunday school teacher accused with raping and
murdering an 8-year-old Tracy girl attempted suicide days before her arrest in the case, CBS News has learned.

Melissa Huckaby was hospitalized after swallowing three X-Acto knife blades, sources told CBS News. She remained under jail suicide watch Wednesday after being formally charged Tuesday with kidnapping, raping and murdering her daughter's playmate, Sandra Cantu.
 
In a text message Huckaby sent to CBS 5 on the night of her arrest, she had denied trying to take her own life: "And no I was not in the hospital for suicide attempt. LOL."

Huckaby, 28, appeared in a San Joaquin County courtroom for her arraignment in a red jumpsuit and shackles. She trembled and cried as a judge read the charges: murder with the special circumstances of rape with a foreign object, lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14, and murder in the course of a kidnapping.

The special circumstances mean Huckaby, if convicted, could face life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, though District Attorney James Willett said he hasn't decided whether to seek the death penalty.

Huckaby has been ordered to return to court on April 24, when she is expected to enter a plea.

By that time, Huckaby will have undergone a medical evaluation - suggesting a possible strategy for her defense: claiming insanity.
 
Huckaby has a pre-existing mental health diagnosis; which may play a major part of her defense, said Peter Fox, San Joaquin County Public Defender.

"If you want the truth, you have to involve her mental state," Fox told CBS 5.

Fox did not elaborate on the diagnosis nor the medication the accused murderer is receiving in jail for that condition.

"I've presided over cases over 20 years and I have never come across an incident where a situation where you have a woman, a mom, and apparently a good mom charged with this kind of offense," said Judge Ladoris Cordell, CBS 5's legal analyst. "

Cordell said a murder and sexual assault involving a woman is "highly, highly rare, so if there's an explanation and it has to do with a medical condition, I'd be very interested to find in what kind of medical condition she has that would lead her to do this."

At Huckaby's arraignment Tuesday, deputy public defender Ellen Schwarzenberg asked the judge for a medication evaluation for Huckaby. Fox said the request is a reminder to the jail that Huckaby needs her medicine.

Schwarzenberg also represented Huckaby in a recent unrelated theft case during which Huckaby claimed she was not mentally competent to stand trial.

Two psychiatrists determined that she was indeed mentally competent, and Huckaby subsequently pleaded guilty. She was sentenced to probation, along with a condition that she receive mental health treatment.

Some experts think Huckaby's actions leading up to her murder arrest would complicate any insanity defense.

"This is a suspect who made numerous efforts to cover up her previous remarks and those are the kind of things that make an insanity plea harder," said Dr. Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist and chairman of The Forensic Panel. "She had communication with media and other people that was rational to them. That may get in the way of some of what she's doing."

Schwarzenberg will not represent Huckaby in the future. Fox said another lawyer in the Public Defender's office will be chosen within the next several days.

Schwarzenberg also asked the judge for a gag order in the murder case on Tuesday, but the judge did not immediately rule on the request. "I do not want to add to the publicity tsunami," Fox said, acknowledging that a gag order would help keep the case in San Joaquin County and possibly avoid a change of venue.

"It's inconvenient," Fox said. "It's a drag having to live in another town during the course of a trial."

Huckaby was a volunteer Sunday school teacher at the Clover Road Baptist Church in Tracy, where her grandfather is pastor.

Police returned Tuesday evening to search the church, as well as Huckaby's home, a few doors down from Sandra's in the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park.

Police had searched the church, interviewed Huckaby's grandfather, Pastor Clifford Lawless, and taken items from the family's home in the days after Sandra's body was found. Huckaby lived with her grandparents.

At a Tuesday evening news conference, Tracy police Sgt. Tony Sheneman would not say why police returned to the church and home or what, if anything, they had taken. But he said police were continuing to investigate Huckaby, who they believe acted alone.

The slaying had already aroused fear among parents in Tracy and especially in the mobile home complex. Not only did Huckaby and Sandra live near each other, Sandra was also a close friend of Huckaby's daughter. So, the rape allegation has heightened concern for children.

Police were now advising parents to report any information they may have regarding other possible sexual assaults in the community.

"What we're asking is for the public, if they have any indication that any of their children may have had inappropriate contact with Miss Huckaby, to contact us," Sheneman told reporters.

Sandra disappeared March 27, and was last seen on a surveillance camera skipping outside the mobile home park.

A 10-day search by law enforcement and the community ended on April 6, when farm workers draining an irrigation pond a few miles away from the mobile home complex found the suitcase containing Sandra's body.

Police have said Sandra was found wearing the same clothes she had on when she was last seen: a pink "Hello Kitty" T-shirt and black leggings. Authorities have not said how or why she was killed, and the coroner's office has said autopsy results are pending.

The court complaint said the murder happened "on or about" March 27 and occured "with malice of forethought," but gave no other details. Sources close to the investigation have told CBS News that the murder occured inside the church.

Huckaby was arrested last weekend after what police said were inconsistencies in her story during hours of questioning.

She had told CBS 5 in a phone interview that the suitcase in which Sandra's body was found was hers, but that it had been stolen the day Sandra went missing.

Huckaby's family has described her as a loving mother who had a strong religious background and wouldn't hurt anyone.

Relatives visited Huckaby at San Joaquin County Jail on Monday night, where she has been under observation. That was the first time they had seen her since her arrest.

Huckaby's father, Brian Lawless, said the family cried and prayed together during the visit.

"She's not getting much sleep but in spite of all that that she looks good," he said afterwards. "We're in shock ... The young lady I see on film, that's not my daughter."

A public memorial service was scheduled for Sandra in Tracy on Thursday at 1 p.m. at Merrill F. West High School.

Her family held a private funeral Wednesday for the girl. Several dozen people gathered for the noontime service at Fry Memorial Chapel. A horse-drawn carriage then carried the casket to the Tracy Mausoleum for burial.


(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published,

http://cbs5.com/crime/Melissa.Huckaby.suicide.2.985418.html

[Blonde]

Judge recused in case of Calif. girl's death


Monday, April 20, 2009Print   E-mail   Share   Comments (50)      Font | Size:      


(04-20) 22:08 PDT Stockton, Calif. (AP) --

The judge in the case of a Northern California woman charged with murdering and raping an 8-year-old girl has recused himself from the case.
Video
 View Larger Size
 

 

The San Joaquin County Superior Court's presiding judge issued a brief statement Monday, saying only that, "The Honorable Terrence Van Oss has recused himself." No explanation was given for the move.

Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus will take up the case Friday. That's when Melissa Huckaby's public defender, Sam Behar, is expected to ask to remove Sandra Cantu's remains from the Tracy Mausoleum for a second autopsy.

Huckaby is charged with one count of murder with three special circumstances: kidnapping, rape with a foreign object and lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/20/state/n220803D05.DTL

[Blonde]

New allegation, new judge

By Scott Smith
Record Staff Writer
April 21, 2009 6:00 AM
STOCKTON - A judge assigned to oversee the trial of Melissa Huckaby, the Tracy woman charged with the kidnapping, rape and murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu, recused himself from the case Monday without once hearing it.

News of a judicial switch came as the Tracy Press reported that Huckaby was linked to a 7-year-old girl found drugged with muscle relaxers in January.

San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus will take up the case Friday, when Huckaby's public defender is expected to ask for an order to remove Sandra's remains from the Tracy Mausoleum for a second autopsy.

According to that report, a Jan. 17 entry in Tracy police logs showed that someone driving a purple Kia Sportage took a girl from the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park, where both Huckaby and Sandra lived. The girl was drugged, the newspaper said.

Huckaby drove a purple Kia Sportage, which police towed after Sandra's body was found. Police had dismissed the case, because the girl's mother had alcohol on her breath and carried some type of drug, the newspaper reported on its Web site.

Superior Court Judge Terrence Van Oss was assigned to Huckaby's case last week, but he recused himself, according to a tersely worded letter the court published, a move that stems from an old conflict of interest with Huckaby's prosecutor.

Huckaby, 28, is eligible for the death penalty if she is convicted of killing Sandra on March 27, the day the girl vanished. Farm workers discovered Sandra's body April 6 stuffed in a black suitcase in an irrigation pond north of Tracy.

Huckaby is charged with murder and three special circumstances of kidnapping, rape with a foreign object, and lewd and lascivious acts on a child.

In the court's letter, there is no explanation of Van Oss' decision, but Huckaby's prosecutor, San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa, said Van Oss has declined two of his other cases, because the judge is a witness in yet another death penalty case Testa is prosecuting.

"With regret, he recused himself," Testa said. "It was in an abundance of caution."

Superior Court Judge William J. Murray Jr. signed the letter addressed to both Testa and San Joaquin County Deputy Public Defender Sam Behar, who represents Huckaby.

Testa said the two previous cases Van Oss declined to take also ended up before Lofthus. Testa's conflict with Van Oss arises from the death penalty case of 53-year-old Blufford Hayes Jr.

Van Oss - formerly a prosecutor - won a death sentence against Hayes for the 1980 murder of Stockton motel manager Vinod "Pete" Patel. Van Oss successfully argued that Hayes stole cigarettes and $23 from the man found bound with a wire coat hanger.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal overturned the conviction in 2005 on grounds that Van Oss tainted the conviction when he made a secret deal with a key witness to win the death sentence against Hayes without telling the judge or jury.

Behar numbers among the attorneys who have represented Hayes - who now represents himself - since he was transferred back to the San Joaquin County Jail, where he awaits a new death penalty trial.

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.d...NEWS/904210310

[Blonde]

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5404758/huckaby
huckaby

[Blonde]

Judge Issues Gag Order In Sandra Cantu Murder Case


FOX40 News

April 21, 2009

TRACY - On her first day presiding over the Melissa Huckaby murder case, Judge Linda Loftus issued a gag order barring anyone involved with the case from speaking to the media.

KRON-TV reports Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa was hand-delivered the order from new presiding Judge Linda Loftus, directing the "parties and counsel" away from releasing "information or opinions concerning this case or any issue likely involved."

The new gag order will make information-gathering harder by the media, since witnesses, investigators and other people involved in the investigation and the case won't be allowed to speak with reporters.  At Melissa Huckaby's preliminary hearing, Huckaby's defense attorney asked the judge for a gag order due to the high profile nature of the murder case, which has been covered by local and national media for week.

Yesterday, Judge Terrence Van Oss officially stepped away from the murder case with no explanation.

Melissa Huckaby, a former Sunday school teacher, stands accused of kidnapping, molesting and murdering 8-year-old Sandra Cantu of Tracy in late March.

http://www.fox40.com/pages/landing_sandra_cantu/?Judge-Issues-Gag-Order-In-Sandra-Cantu-M=1&blockID=272069&feedID=2674

[Blonde]

     
Experts Discuss Insanity Defense for Alleged Sandra Cantu Killer

Some experts say that the details of the Sandra Cantu case show the killer is disturbed. If so, they say Michelle Huckaby, if charged formally, might have an insanity defense.
The insanity defense is often discussed for crimes involving particularly disturbing circumstances. First the definition should be examined, because it will give the reader a foundation to understand what the type of defense entails. For that we should look at the legal codes.

This phrasing is found in Scotland's Act of 2003 but is similar to the principles found in other developed countries such as the United States, Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany. The following is a quotation from the Act and mental health resources related to the determination of insanity for a defense:
As a guide, the psychiatrist should consider:

 whether there was a manifest mental disorder at the time of the alleged offending, and
 whether the alleged offender was unaware of either the nature or the moral wrongfulness of his or her behaviour as a direct result of the mental disorder or was unable to control his or her actions because of mental disorder."
These are common directives for mental health professionals to use a guide, with variations for different countries. There are also considerations that the courts assess given that many countries outside the United States don't believe in the death penalty. The M'Naghton rule, which is the foundation for the insanity defense, came into play because of a Scotland case, so it is right and proper to cite its regulations in any discussion of insanity defense.

The insanity defense, although discussed in the media frequently, is not easy to prove and difficult to develop a case for the jury. Experts in the mental health field are sure to be called to render opinion and often there are conflicting reports so the judge and jury must face a considerable challenge. The M'Naghton rule, in sum says this, " defendants may be acquitted only if they labored "under such defect of reason from disease of the mind" as to not realize what they were doing or why it was a crime. Some call it the "right-wrong" test. It allows the courts to decide innocence or guilt depending upon the accused's state of mind. Although there are people who may criticize the law, it has been used as a standard for 150 years. Various other standards have been introduced to liberalize the definition, but presently the principal M'Naghton forms the basis for the insanity defense. Insanity defenses are so difficult to substantiate that less than 1% of those using this form of defense are acquitted.

Despite the slippery slope of the insanity defense, it was reported in the Huffington Post that Bernard Madoff's attorneys were at one time exploring the use the insanity defense to prevent their client from going to prison for the Ponzi scheme in the mutual fund industry that he allegedly put together.

John Hinkley was found not guilty in 1982 by reason of insanity for trying to kill President Reagan. The liberal standards that had been introduced to soften the McNaghton rule was reviewed because of public outrage over the verdict and the resulting publicity that ensued. Congress put together the following insert in the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984:


http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/271313

[Blonde]

Huckaby Tied To SoCal Arson Case, Police Say
Woman Arrested In Homicide Of Sandra Cantu

POSTED: 3:56 pm PDT April 21, 2009
UPDATED: 7:33 pm PDT April 21, 2009
TRACY, Calif. -- Police said Melissa Huckaby, the woman charged in the homicide of 8-year-old Tracy girl Sandra Cantu, is a suspect in one or two house fires in Southern California, according to police. However, police said she would not be charged in that case.

KCRA 3 and a reporter from NBC 11 talked in San Jose with the La Palma police department in Orange County on Tuesday.

Video: Huckaby Involved In SoCal Fire Investigation

Huckaby had rented a room in a home in La Palma and arson was to blame for a minor fire and later a moderate fire in the same house.

Police confirm Huckaby is a suspect in at least one or possibly two fires that occurred in July 2007.

Melissa Huckaby, who is accused of killing Sandra Cantu, wept in a Stockton courtroom on Tuesday.



A week before Huckaby was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Cantu, La Palma police contacted the Tracy Police Department.

Police said Huckaby's current arrest takes priority over the fires, so the La Palma investigation will stop and she will not be charged in that case.

Huckaby, 28, was charged last week in Cantu's homicide. The girl's body was found in a suitcase pulled from an irrigation pond 10 days after she went missing.

Prosecutors added to the charge the special circumstances of rape with a foreign object, lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14 and murder in the course of a kidnapping.

Tracy Police Sgt. Tony Sheneman said Tuesday that Judge Linda Lofthus ordered a gag order in the case.

"Parties and counsel" are directed not to "release information or opinions concerning this case or any issue likely involved in this case," according to the order.

http://www.kcra.com/news/19244229/detail.html

[Blonde]

Defense drops bid to exhume Tracy girl's body

(04-21)  PDT TRACY -- The attorney for murder suspect Melissa Huckaby is no longer seeking to exhume the body of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu from a Tracy mausoleum in order to conduct independent tests to determine whether she was raped, San Joaquin

The defense will withdraw its request, which Huckaby's attorney made to a judge Thursday just a day after Sandra was laid to rest, Public Defender Peter Fox said.

He said the deputy public defender handling the case, Sam Behar, learned this morning from the county's chief medical examiner, Bennett Omalu, that "the relevant samples were preserved" and had not been interred.

"It will not be necessary to disturb the child's remains," Fox said in an interview. "From a human point of view, certainly it's nice not to have to do that."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...BAFI176FFO.DTL

[Blonde]

Melissa Huckaby and the Unthinkable Sex Object

Read More: Melissa Huckaby, Melissa-Huckaby-Rape, Rape, Rape With Foreign Object, Sandra Cantu, Sexual Abuse, Living News
 

As horrifying as the murder of an 8-year-old is, the truly unimaginable aspect of the Melissa Huckaby case, for most people, is her alleged use of a foreign object to rape Sandra Cantu. How could a woman, a mom (!), do this to a little girl? How . . . why . . . with what kind of an object? It's unfathomable, hard to think about, dark, evil. The only "safe" conclusion is that the woman must be insane. In fact, along with other experts, I doubt if Huckaby is insane. And as I know both from personal experience and from working with many abused women, rape with a foreign object is not as unusual as one would like to think.

Let me explain. Sexual molestation is not so much about sex as it's about power. Rape, with or without a foreign object, is an act that disempowers the victim so the rapist can somehow reclaim the power/integrity that was stolen from them at some previous time. The rapist may not remember the physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse he or she suffered as a child. It may be buried deep in the psyche. The person never deals with the trauma, never clears the deep shame and humiliation and fear that were the legacy of the abuse, and so may be at risk to repeat the behavior they learned.

I am in no way suggesting that Melissa Huckaby shouldn't be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for what she did nor am I justifying anyone's behavior on the basis they were once abused. I'm simply trying to help people understand the dynamics of rape with a foreign object and shed light on a very hidden topic. It's a very under-reported crime because the victim is so helpless and humiliated.

Imagine that you were abused when you were a young child, maybe with a stick. It was horribly painful, and you were terrified, but somehow sexual titillation got linked to the use of an object. You split those experiences off from conscious memory and buried all the anger and shame deep inside. You grew up, married, had children. Then one day your child or your brother's child or the neighbor's child, as in Huckaby's case, reaches the age you were when the abuse happened, and you find yourself having thoughts about the child that you know are wrong, but you can't help the forbidden feelings. Should you act on that sexual inclination, you open a Pandora's box of unconscious overwhelming feelings that can get horribly out of control. TV station KCRA 3 reported on its web site that investigators close to the case said Huckaby admitted that Sandra Cantu's death was an accident. That is very possible.

Sexual predators who target young children are often trying, in their own twisted way, to get back the innocence that was stolen from them. They are attracted to the child's light, the child's goodness -- the light and goodness they wish they still had. They are often mirroring their own childhood, trying in a sick way to heal what was done to them.

I was sexually abused by my father from the age of two until I was on the verge of becoming a teenager. Sometimes he would use a hairbrush or a glass coke bottle for penetration. Maybe he'd been abused or severely beaten with a similar object; I don't know. It was horribly painful, and the pain created even more fear. His domination, his power over me, was complete. But I never forgot or denied the abuse, and I spent many many years working diligently on myself to clear the burden of shame and self loathing and rage.

When I entered the health and wellness field, I was amazed at the number of people who reported they had been abused. Perhaps they were unconsciously attracted to me because I was the perfect person to help them on their path of healing. I had passed through the fire and could be compassionate and non-judgmental about their situation.

Over the years, more than several clients confided they had been raped with an object --kitchen utensils, silverware, knives, scissors; one woman reported pieces of glass. A penis isn't going to tear up your insides (unless you're a very small child), but rape a female with something that inflicts real damage and your domination is assured. Plus, an object further disempowers and humiliates the victim. And if the perpetrator is male and feels impotent on any level, an object can be a penis substitute. If the perpetrator was himself or herself abused (and I've yet to see an instance where this was not the case) they will often use the same type of object that was used on them.

In the case of Melissa Huckaby, what is unusual is that this is a woman who abused a young girl, she did not have a male accomplice that she was trying to please, and the abuse resulted in death. She's never ever getting out of jail unless she can prove insanity or temporary insanity, which is highly unlikely given her actions. She went through very sane actions to hide what she had done -- stuffing the dead child in a suitcase, dumping the suitcase in a pond, writing a note, lying to investigators and journalists. These actions make an insanity plea less likely to succeed. I hope this is some very small comfort to Sandra Cantu's parents, who have had to imagine the unthinkable happening to their daughter, last seen skipping down the street in her Hello Kitty t-shirt to the home of her little friend and the friend's mom, the Sunday school teacher.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-king/melissa-huckaby-and-the-u_b_188921.html