Haleigh Poutre update...
The case against Haleigh's stepfather is subject of an article just released in The Republican this morning.
Will Judge Kinder be kinder than DSS?
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SPRINGFIELD - Hampden Superior Court Judge C. Jeffrey Kinder said yesterday he wants to resolve as many disputes as possible between the prosecution and defense in the child-abuse case against Jason D. Strickland before a jury is picked for the trial, which may begin on Sept. 4.
The case has been assigned to Kinder, and a pretrial conference was held yesterday. Kinder tentatively set a hearing for Wednesday, which will be held if defense lawyer Greg T. Schubert is free from trial obligations in another county.
Haleigh Poutre, Strickland's stepdaughter, was left hospitalized with a brain injury on Sept. 11, 2005. Haleigh, now 13, is in a Boston rehabilitation hospital. Her case gained national media attention and has triggered a continuing debate in Massachusetts about how the state handles child welfare responsibilities.
Strickland and his wife, Haleigh's adopted mother Holli A. Strickland, both of Westfield, were arrested and charged with assault after the girl was hospitalized.
Holli Strickland died later that month in what West Springfield police said appeared to be a murder-suicide at the hands of her grandmother.
Jason Strickland is charged with assault and battery on a child with substantial bodily injury, assault and battery on a child with bodily injury, three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and one count of assault and battery..............................................
Judge seeking to stop disputes
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Meet your friendly serial killer, all in the name of enlightenment...
Bobby Schindler steps forward to confront this personification of evil.
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News that Dr. Jack Kevorkian plans to visit the University of Florida is already making waves among critics of euthanasia.
Bobby Schindler, brother of the late Terri Schiavo, is leading a petition drive to persuade UF to rescind its offer to Kevorkian.
UF's student-run speakers bureau, Accent, has offered Kevorkian $50,000 to speak at the university. Kevorkian, an advocate of physician-assisted suicide, has accepted the offer, according to his attorney. No contract has been signed, however, according to UF officials.
Schindler heads a nonprofit group called the Terri Schiavo Foundation, named for his sister who died of dehydration in 2005 after being removed from her feeding tube.
The Schiavo foundation aims to "help others avoid tragedies that reflect what Terri endured," according to its Web site.
"In the case of Dr. Kevorkian (as a speaker at UF), he's a convicted murderer," Schindler told The Sun on Wednesday. "He's a man that is obsessed with death."
"I think the message he's sending to our young kids is dangerous," Schindler added.
Along with his parents and siblings, Schindler argued that his sister should have been kept on a feeding tube after a collapse that doctors said left her in a persistent vegetative state. But Michael Schiavo, Schiavo's husband and legal guardian, successfully argued that she would have wanted the tube removed.
The Schiavo case drew national news media attention, prompting attempted intervention from lawmakers, Gov. Jeb Bush and members of the U.S. Congress.
Beth Waltrip, director of student activities at UF, said Accent is interested in hosting Kevorkian because he will stimulate important discussion on campus.
"I can appreciate that Terri Schiavo's brother and others may not agree with his position, and that's appropriate," she said. "As a university, we're trying to encourage that type of dialogue and exchange of information."
"As a general philosophy from the university, we may or may not agree with the position (taken by a speaker) but we don't want to suppress the conversation about it. We're not going to suppress it because it may be a thorny position."
Kevorkian's scheduled Oct. 11 appearance at UF will likely be his first paid public speaking engagement since his June 1 release from
prison Kevorkian visit draws Schiavo brother's ire
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