FILICIDE: California: Rosondra Marie Clay killed 5 year old disabled son

April 11 2011
VICTORVILLE (AP) —  A mother accused of neglecting and starving her disabled son pleaded guilty Friday to involuntary manslaughter in the boy’s death and will be sentenced to time already served, the Victorville Daily Press reported.
Rosondra Marie Clay, 30, accepted an offer to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of 5-year-old Kevin Baldwin and Superior Court Judge Jules Fleuret accepted the plea deal Friday, the newspaper reported.
Clay has already served ten months in jail and will be released April 29 when she is sentenced to eleven months’ time served.
Baldwin had cerebral palsy and weighed just 15 pounds when he died from severe malnutrition at the age of 5 in July 2008.
“It’s one of those cases, there was strong evidence she wasn’t guilty of anything,” Deputy Public Defender David Sanders, Clay’s attorney told the newspaper. “At the same time, it’s one of those cases if you had gone to trial, because it’s an emotional case, a jury could have found her guilty of second-degree murder.”
Clay had been charged with murder and could have faced up to 25 years to life in prison, if convicted.
Sanders said Child Protective Services agents visited their house three days before the child’s death and found nothing wrong with him.
Baldwin had severe spastic cerebral palsy and he had no muscular control, Sanders told the newspaper. It was difficult to feed the child because he had no control over his tongue, Sanders said.
Because of Baldwin’s medical condition, he was receiving assistance from various county agencies.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/04/01/mom-accused-of-manslaughter-in-disabled-sons-death-gets-sentenced-to-time-served/

FILICIDE: New York: Migdalia Veras

8th March 2011

The mother who allegedly stabbed her disabled son to death with a foot-long knife told police that he begged her for months to kill him.
Migdalia Veras, 57, from New York, allegedly told detectives that her son Rene, 39, wanted to die as he was afraid that he would be left alone to battle cerebral palsy if she died first.
Veras is said to have stabbed her son in the stomach last week before turning the knife on herself in a botched suicide attempt at their housing authority apartment in Queens.

Statement: Veras made the confession to police from her hospital bed in New York Hospital Medical Centre where she was taken after she stabbed herself in the chest

Stabbed: 38-year-old Rene Vera was wheelchair-bound because of his cerebral palsy. His mother told police he begged her to kill him

HOW CEREBRAL PALSY TAKES ITS TOLL

Around 2-3 of the 1,000 children born in the U.S. each year has cerebral palsy.
It is caused by damage to the developing brain before or during birth.
There are several different types, but the most common is spastic cerebral palsy in which the body's muscles are stiff or weak.
In dyskinetic cerebral palsy, sufferers struggle to control their muscles and may have difficulty speaking.
It ranges in severity, but some patients struggle to do even the most basic tasks because movement is so restricted.
There is no cure, but the condition does not get worse over time, although adult sufferers can develop more muscle stiffness and arthritis.
It is a common misconception that sufferers have learning difficulties. Many have above average intelligence but struggle to communicate.

Police interviewed her at New York Hospital Medical Centre where she was taken after she stabbed herself in the chest.
Her statement was then piped into Queens Supreme Court via video feed on Monday.
According to the New York Daily News, she told officers from her hospital bed: 'He asked me to kill him.'
She claims that two months ago, they were both sitting on his bed when he first asked her: 'Rene handed me the knife and repeated, "do it".'
Talking about the day he was killed she allegedly said: 'I told him I did not want to do it. He then took the knife and stabbed himself. He then kept begging me not to leave him alone and kept asking me to kill him.
'I then took the knife that was on top of the bed. I picked up the knife and stabbed him in the chest.'
'I then tried to go with my son by cutting my wrists but I could not do it because my hands were shaking.'
Residents at the apartment block the Veras lived in told the Daily News that Rene was unable to communicate and simply smiled at people to acknowledge them.
She is being held without bail on a second-degree murder charge and faces 25 years to life in prison.
The case continues.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1364207/My-son-begged-kill-Mother-confessed-stabbing-disabled-son-death.html?printingPage=true