(3) Guilty verdicts- 1 yo boy's starvation case Baltimore MD-MOM GETS PROBATION

[Nut44x4]

I thought we had this case here, but I can't find it, so here is the latest....

Guilty verdicts reached in baby-starvation case
Posted: 5:02 pm Tue, March 2, 2010
Queen Antoinette, Trevia Williams and Marcus Cobbs were found guilty Tuesday in the starvation death of a 1-year-old boy who refused to say “Amen” before meals.

All three defendants were convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse resulting in death, the most serious charges remaining against them. Cobbs, who was accused of disposing of Javon Thompson’s body, was also convicted as an accessory after the fact.

The defendants, all of whom represented themselves at trial, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read in Baltimore City Circuit Court. The jury got the case this afternoon.

The baby’s mother, Ria Ramkissoon, lived with Queen Antoinette as a member of One Life Ministries, a religious group Antoinette founded. The boy died in December 2006 or January 2007. His body was later found in a suitcase in Philadelphia.

http://mddailyrecord.com/2010/03/02/guilty-verdicts-reached-in-baby-starvation-case/
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[Nut44x4]

BABY JAVON


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[Nut44x4]

"Queen Antoinette," leader

[Nut44x4]

Trevia Williams

[Nut44x4]

looking for Cobbs pix....

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[MuffyBee]

This is what I remember about this case (besides how heinous it is that a child was starved to death) I thought we had this case too, Nut.  If we find it, I can we can merge it.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gOp8D56OG9y62Wg_Sobm7oVR4d_wD9E2Q0HO1

Mother of starved child believes he'll live again
February 24, 2010




BALTIMORE — For more than a week, Ria Ramkissoon watched passively as her 1-year-old son wasted away, denied food and water because the older woman she lived with said it was God's will.

Javon Thompson was possessed by an evil spirit, Ramkissoon was told, because he didn't say "Amen" during a mealtime prayer. Javon didn't talk much, given his age, but he had said "Amen" before, Ramkissoon testified.

On the day Javon died, Ramkissoon was told to "nurture him back to life." She mashed up some carrots and tried to feed the boy, but he was no longer able to swallow. Ramkissoon put her hands on his chest to confirm that his heart had stopped beating.

Ramkissoon and several other people knelt down and prayed that he would rise from the dead. For weeks afterward, Ramkissoon spent much of her time in a room with her son's emaciated body — talking to him, dancing, even giving him water. She thought she could bring him back.

Ramkissoon told the tale of her son's excruciating death from the witness stand Wednesday, at the trial of the woman she says told her not to feed the boy. Queen Antoinette was the leader of a small religious cult, according to police and prosecutors, and she faces murder charges alongside her daughter, Trevia Williams, and another follower, Marcus A. Cobbs.

The three are acting as their own attorneys.

Javon died in either December 2006 or January 2007; Ramkissoon isn't sure of the exact date. His body was hidden in a suitcase for more than a year and has since been buried. But even now, she maintains her faith in his resurrection.

"I still believe that my son is coming back," Ramkissoon said. "I have no problem saying what really happened because I believe he's coming back.

"Queen said God told her he would come back. I believe it. I choose to believe it," she said. "Even now, despite everything, I choose to believe it for my reasons."

Later, she acknowledged that her faith makes her sound crazy. "I don't have a problem sounding crazy in court," she said.

Ramkissoon, 23, was born in Trinidad and moved to Baltimore at age 7. She stands 5 feet tall and weighs about 100 pounds.

She wore a white sweater and blue jeans and was calm throughout her testimony, speaking in a clear and even voice. She appeared mildly agitated at certain questions but otherwise showed little emotion, even as she described how her starving son lost weight, became lethargic and lost his voice.

She was led to the courtroom in handcuffs. She pleaded guilty last year to child abuse resulting in death, agreeing to the deal only under the condition that if Javon is resurrected, the plea will be vacated. Prosecutors and a judge accepted that extraordinary condition, specifying that only a "Jesus-like resurrection" would suffice.

Because Antoinette is representing herself, she was able to cross-examine the young woman who lived with her for two years, much of that time after her son's death.

Antoinette asked whether her statement about not feeding Javon was an order or a "suggestion."

Ramkissoon said she has consistently told prosecutors and her attorney that she was not forced to starve her son, but she made clear the idea was Antoinette's.

"When I was about to feed him," Ramkissoon said to Antoinette, "you said, 'You shouldn't feed him anything,' and then you told me why. ... I believed you."

Williams and Cobbs also lived in the home, along with Antoinette's three other children and a childhood friend of Ramkissoon's. No one challenged Antoinette's statement that the boy should not be fed, Ramkissoon said.

Ramkissoon detailed how the group relocated to Philadelphia and brought Javon's body in a suitcase. She described how Javon was packed with sheets and blankets and how she sprayed his body with disinfectant and stuffed the suitcase with fabric softener sheets to mask the odor.

The suitcase was hidden in a shed in Philadelphia for more than a year before it was discovered by police, according to testimony.

Members of Antoinette's household were told to wear only white, blue and khaki. They left the home only in pairs, and they avoided doctors or hospitals. They destroyed identification cards and had little contact with their families.

Ramkissoon said she often questioned Antoinette's rules and orders but never disobeyed her because she believed her to be "a godly woman."

"Looking back now," Ramkissoon told Antoinette, "I won't say that everything you thought was right, was right."

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[Nut44x4]

Ria Ramkissoon (Mommy)



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[MuffyBee]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/21/sentencing-set-md-cult-woman-starved-son/
Woman in Cult Gets Probation for Starving 1-Year-Old Son
April 21, 2010

A woman who starved her 1-year-old son to death at the behest of a religious cult leader was given a sentence Wednesday that won't require her to serve any more jail time.



BALTIMORE — A woman who starved her 1-year-old son to death at the behest of a religious cult leader was given a sentence Wednesday that won't require her to serve any more jail time.

Ria Ramkissoon, 23, pleaded guilty last year to child abuse resulting in the death of Javon Thompson. She admitted denying food and water to the 16-month-old child when he did not say "Amen" before a meal. Javon wasted away over the course of a week before his heart stopped beating.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Timothy J. Doory suspended the balance of Ramkissoon's 20-year sentence and ordered her to report to a residential treatment facility for young women. The treatment program includes Bible study, and Ramkissoon will be required to complete the program, which doesn't have a specified length, before she can live on her own.

Ramkissoon, who has been in jail since her August 2008 arrest, also was given five years of probation.

At the time of Javon's death, Ramkissoon was living with a small religious cult led by a woman who calls herself Queen Antoinette. She told Ramkissoon that the child had "a spirit of rebellion" inside him and that denying him food would cure him.

After Javon died in late 2006 or early 2007, Antoinette told her followers to pray for his resurrection, and Ramkissoon spent weeks with her son's body. She testified in February at Antoinette's trial that she still believes her son will be resurrected, and her plea deal contained an extraordinary provision: If Javon comes back to life, the plea will be withdrawn.

A jury convicted Antoinette, her daughter Trevia Williams and another follower, Marcus A. Cobbs, of second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death. They face 60 years in prison when they are sentenced next month.

Ramkissoon appeared more relaxed Wednesday than when she testified at trial. Her attorney, Steven D. Silverman, said Ramkissoon felt intimidated by Antoinette, who acted as her own attorney and cross-examined Ramkissoon extensively.

Before the hearing began on Wednesday, Ramkissoon smiled, gestured and made faces at her mother, Seeta Khadan-Newton.

"I just want to say thank you to everybody that did their best ... and listened to me and believed in me," Ramkissoon told the court in a soft voice.

Silverman said the swift jury verdict against Antoinette, Williams and Cobbs helped his client understand what the cult had done to her and her son.

"She was really sucked in and duped by these people," Silverman said. "I think she is starting to realize, albeit painfully realize, that there will be no resurrection, that Queen Antoinette never spoke with God."

Khadan-Newton said her relationship with her daughter had improved markedly in the past several weeks. When she was arrested in August 2008, "she was like a zombie," and she wanted no contact with her family, Khadan-Newton said.

Ramkissoon was born in Trinidad and raised a Hindu; she converted to Christianity as a teenager. Javon was born out of wedlock when Ramkissoon was 18.

Assistant State's Attorney Julie Drake said the sentence was compassionate but fair.

"The state has always seen her as something of a victim in this case," Drake said.

Doory reminded Ramkissoon that she would have to live with knowing she was partly responsible for Javon's death, but added, "You were misled and did not do this with any ill will to your son."
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[Nut44x4]

US woman, 2 other cult members face sentencing for child's starvation death
By: The Associated Press

18/05/2010 5:42 AM | Comments: 0

BALTIMORE - Three cult members face sentencing in Baltimore for the death of a toddler starved for not saying "Amen" after meals.

The child's mother, 23-year-old Ria Ramkissoon, is already in a residential treatment program for young women as part of an unusual plea bargain in which her plea will be withdrawn if the child is resurrected.

Prosecutors say cult leader Queen Antoinette told the mother that denying food would cure her child's rebellious spirit. Antoinette, her daughter Trevia Williams and fellow cult member Marcus Cobbs face up to 60 years on second-degree murder and child abuse charges at sentencing Tuesday.

Javon Thompson's body was found in a suitcase in Philadelphia in 2008, more than a year after his death in Baltimore.
http://www.brandonsun.com/world/breaking-news/us-woman-2-other-cult-members-face-sentencing-for-childs-starvation-death-94076499.html?thx=y

[Nut44x4]

50 years for head of Md. cult convicted in child's starving death

A cult leader convicted of the starvation death of a toddler for not saying "Amen" after meals was sentenced to 50 years in prison Tuesday by a judge who described her as a manipulator of lost souls.

Queen Antoinette was sentenced in Baltimore along with her daughter, Trevia Williams and fellow cult member Marcus Cobbs, who were each handed concurrent 25-year sentences for second degree murder and child abuse, with all but 15 years on one count suspended.

Judge Timothy Doory said the death of Javon Thompson was mystifying and the three fit the legal definition of “depraved heart” crimes in that they didn't care, and knew they didn't care, about the consequence of their actions.

Doory saved his harshest comments for the cult leader, saying, “You were the collector of people, of lost souls and in the name of religion you have manipulated them.”

Doory told Antoinette she had expressed no remorse and was most concerned about the description of her group as a cult. Antoinette told the judge before sentencing that she did not have any remorse because she was not guilty.

“I don't 'cause I'm not guilty of what I've been accused of,” Antoinette said, adding the “the truth will eventually come out, however long it takes.”

Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Antoinette to the maximum 60 years on second-degree murder and child abuse charges, 50 for Williams and 40 for Cobbs.

All three represented themselves, and again refused attorneys before sentencing, spending about an hour reviewing pre-sentencing reports in the courtroom while other cases were handled. Williams and Cobbs gave short rambling statements before sentencing, saying they disagreed with various items in the reports but did not want to contest them.

Doory told Cobbs and Williams he was not without hope they could change but also ordered they not have contact with unrelated minors or group members after their sentence is completed.

Javon Thompson's body was found in a suitcase in Philadelphia in 2008, more than a year after his death in Baltimore. The child's mother, 23-year-old Ria Ramkissoon, is already in a residential treatment program for young women as part of unusual plea bargain in which her plea will be withdrawn if the child is resurrected, as she believes will happen.

Ramkissoon's mother appeared at sentencing, telling the judge she became a “walking zombie” after the death of her grandson, not able to eat.

“When he was taken away, so was my happiness,” Seeta Newton said, adding “the most disgusting part of this is they did it in the name of God and the Bible.”

Prosecutors said Antoinette told Ramkissoon that denying food would cure the boy's rebellious spirit. The mother admitted denying food and water to the 16-month-old child, who wasted away over the course of a week before dying.

After Javon died in late 2006 or early 2007, Antoinette told her followers to pray for his resurrection, and the young mother spent weeks with her son's body.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/baltimore/sentencing-for-md-cult-members.html

[Sister]

ok, I wasn't there -- but probation??????
I really don't get it!