Justice?

The guilty verdict came in much sooner than expected (by me) in the Isaac Lethbridge case. Closing statements finished earlier this afternoon and court was recessed for lunch and then they were to give jury instructions. Apparently no instructions were more powerful than the ones the jurors felt inside, as the jury came back this afternoon at 4 p.m. with a guilty verdict on the count of manslaughter. Oddly enough, though (and perhaps because the trial was so focused on Isaac's death), Charlsie Adams-Rogers was not found guilty of misdemeanor child abuse in the case of Isaac's sister.

Until now I have refrained from posting the picture of Isaac that has haunted me for weeks. Today, as some justice was served, I feel the need to. The little boy to the left is the Isaac.

Will this be true justice for Isaac? Perhaps some. But true and full justice will only be served when the system that bounced him around from one horrendous nightmare to another is fixed...for good. True justice will be served when his sister is placed in a loving, caring, and healthy home. True justice will be served when the now 13-year-old girl who is thought to have held the force behind Isaac's injuries is given proper medical and psychological treatment. True justice will be served when no child is in danger of falling down Isaac's deadly path.

This should be the primary concern of our law makers and yet, sadly, it is not. Too often we let partisan politics, money, and prestige trump the people who need our help the most. Today we should be reminded of the honor and integrity that lies within each act to help a child and the way in which one decision, one law, one administrative act can change the course of history.

The Story that Keeps Breaking My Heart

Charlsie Adams-Rodgers took the stand in her own defense today in the Involuntary Manslaughter case involving the death of foster child Isaac Lethbridge. Her testimony is not shocking in content, but if you think for a minute that she was not responsible, even she admits her legal responsibility for the boy.

Lest you forget, they found blunt force trauma to be the cause of his death, but Isaac had burns, bruises and even cigarette marks on his body.

It made me sick to read this morning in the same article linked above (being updated periodically by the Free Press) that she said the children arrived at her home without anything and were "nasty." Who does she think she is to call two children "nasty"? Granted, I'm sure there's more to the context of the comment, but I think she picked her words wrong because it sounds even worse now that she's spoken.

There's another reason that OJ was smart to take the Fifth.