Posted on 12/15/2005 5:04:34 AM PST by brwnsuga
SUFFOLK — The parents of a 2-year-old boy who was mauled to death by the family’s dogs in October were charged Wednesday with second-degree murder, felony child neglect and abuse, and involuntary manslaughter.
The charges follow a Spotsylvania case earlier this year in which the owner of three pit bulls became the first person in the state charged with involuntary manslaughter after her dogs killed an elderly woman. That landmark case is due in court later this month.
The Suffolk parents, James Jonathan Martin, 29, and Heather Frango, 25, were picked up early Wednesday in Chesapeake on unrelated charges of failing to appear in court. The two are being held without bond in Western Tidewater Regional Jail and are expected to be in court this morning, said Lt. Debbie George , police spokeswoman.
The two were living in the 6000 block of Whaleyville Blvd. in an old two-story farmhouse when, on the morning of Oct. 3, they called police to report that the boy had been attacked by the family pets, two pit bull mixes.
The child, Jonathan Martin , had been bitten on his face, arms and legs, police said. He was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and died from blood loss a short time later.
The investigation later revealed that Jonathan was downstairs in the house alone with the two dogs – a male and a female with puppies – when the attack occurred, police said. His parents were upstairs.
Following a grand jury’s indictment Wednesday, Suffolk Commonwealth’s Attorney C. Phillips Ferguson said the charges were the result of a long, involved investigation , and the murder charge was tied to the commission of another felony, the abuse and neglect.
“This is not the norm,” he said. “This is not your everyday case.”
Soon after the attack, the boy’s parents gave different accounts of what happened. Martin said that the couple were in bed upstairs when he heard a noise and told Frango to go downstairs to check on the boy. Martin said he had brought the dogs in that night because the female had pups and he thought it might rain.
Frango said she had been downstairs with Jonathan but went upstairs to search for his shoes and to check on the couple’s younger child, Daniel. She said the dogs had never been left inside overnight.
The old family home in the southern part of the city was later condemned. Code violations included a septic system that had been rigged to pump raw sewage outside a window.
Martin and Frango were estranged after the dog attack, and did not sit together at the funeral for the little boy. But the couple, who have been living together for years, got back together about a month later, said Jonathan’s paternal grandfather, James R. Martin, of Chesapeake. “I talked with Jon-boy last night,” he said of his son. “I think he was expecting this.”
James Martin, who has 14 grandchildren, said that Jonathan is “with the Lord .”
“This is a heavy load,” he said, his voice breaking. “But Jonathan is in a better place than anywhere he could be on this Earth. I take comfort in that. The Lord gives me strength.”
Martin said the couple’s younger child, Daniel, remains in the custody of a member of Frango’s family.
The dogs – Ox, the male, and Little Girl, the female – are being held by Suffolk Animal Control, where they will remain until after the case goes to court, George said.
She said investigators believe the brunt of the attack came from the male dog, but the female could not be excluded from it. Both dogs will be euthanized once the case has been concluded, she said.
Pit Bulls? I am shocked...........
About dammed time!
I have a sick feeling that they cared more about their dogs than their son.
It's a damn shame that stupidity isn't a crime.
On top of that, the dogs had never spent the night inside the house. New environment + puppies = potential problems. It also seems the parents didn't care much about anything. The house was in such poor condition that it was condemned. Raw sewage being pumped out a window? Come on, these people lived like animals.
I agree ( what a horror, the boy was on his own with those killers? he must have been terrified the poor thing and he died because these vile people where callous and negligent.
"James Jonathan Martin, 28, 6026 Whaleyville Blvd.; white male, 5 feet 8 inches, 145 pounds; felony driving after declared habitual offender, reckless driving and felony hit and run."
http://www.hamptonroadsmedia.com/articles/2004/09/03/news/news4.txt
Good Lord...
Sounds like a good neighbor to me! </ sarc>
Heck, yeah. And now that he needs a place to live, I'm sure we're all willing to open our homes for such a great guy, right? ;)
Every pit bull owner is a murderer in waiting.
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