Posted on 07/06/2007 6:04:39 PM PDT by indcons
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Two teenagers were accused of gang raping a woman and forcing her 12-year-old son to join in the attack, then beating him and pouring cleaning solution into his eyes.
Authorities allege Avion Lawson, 14, and Nathan Walker, 16, were among a group of about 10 masked suspects who forced their way into the woman's apartment in a crime-ridden housing project the night of June 18.
The two were being held without bail Friday on suspicion of armed sexual battery by multiple perpetrators, sexual performance by a child, armed home invasion and aggravated battery. Both were arrested this week, but formal charges had not been filed. Authorities said the two would be charged as adults.
"Any rape case is horrible but this takes it to another level, something you can't think of even in your worst dreams," police spokesman Ted White said.
According to the police report, a man knocked on the woman's door at about 9 p.m. and told her he had a flat tire. The mother and son, whom police have not identified, went outside and were ambushed by a group of gun-wielding suspects.
The victims told police they were forced back into their home and beaten and sexually assaulted. According to authorities, the men raped, sodomized and beat the woman, then forced her son to participate in the assault at gunpoint, making him have sex with his mother in front of them.
The boy was then beaten and had numerous household cleaning liquids poured into his eyes, according to the police report.
The suspects also stole a few hundred dollars worth of cash and jewelry, White said.
White said more arrests were expected, but he would not say whether authorities had identified additional suspects. The teens in custody were not cooperating, but Lawson confessed to taking part in the attack, White said. Walker has denied involvement, White said.
DNA evidence in a condom found in the victims' home linked Lawson to the crime, police said. Investigators also say they found a palm print belonging to Walker at the scene.
The victims did not suffer life-threatening injuries and have been released from the hospital, White said.
"They're going through the county victim services for counseling," he said.
Lawson lived in Dunbar Village, the hardscrabble project where the attack occurred. Walker was apparently visiting a friend there, White said.
Authorities believe the suspects all knew each other from the neighborhood, but they don't think they knew the victims directly.
Prosecutors have 21 days from the time a suspect is arrested to formally file charges. Lawson was arrested Tuesday. Walker was arrested Thursday.
Walker made a first court appearance on Friday, after which his father, also named Nathan Walker, spoke briefly.
"My son has a good heart," the elder Walker said outside court. "I can't believe my son would do something like this. I don't teach my son violence so I don't understand."
Walker's attorney, Robert Gershman, said Friday he intended to enter a not guilty plea on behalf of his client once charges are formally filed. He would not comment further.
A telephone message left at the office of Lawson's public defender was not immediately returned.
What they’re charged with brings a life sentence in Florida, so they never will see the light of day again.
[The Duke players were accused of rape but were acquitted.]
They were NOT acquitted. They were never tried but found to be innocent and uncharged!
Then only way to teach these kids a lesson is to have them dig their own graves and put on behind there ear. When kids this young perform atrocities like this there is no way in the world to reform them they are damaged beyond repair and can’t every enter society again we either feed them the rest of their lives in prison or make the pro-choice crowd happy with a late term abortion.
I can’t go along with that. Not for a fourteen year old. Hold him till he’s 18 and then make a decision then if the death penalty should be applied. Kids are fixable, IMO.
I dont believe this kind of behavior is fixable. Redeemable perhaps but not fixable.
Life in da ghetto that is much of West Palm Beach.
That may be true for humans.
But these creatures, by their act, they permanently ceased to be humans.
They have passed over a line that cannot ever be reversed.
They should be executed.
At the least, never let out of prison.
Yeah, the momma’s say their son has a good heart, and never been any trouble to raise. When the POS sets in jail, there will be one guy who can draw, so he does art work for the guys to send home. Then, momma says, he is so talented with art.
I need to go barf, but this is true. Ask any jailer.
Don’t count on it. Once they add the charges of armed robbery, armed rape/forcible rape with a weapon, maiming, etc., these SOB’s will never see the light of day, unless a Democrat pardons them.
I never would have guessed it.
That was the place that had trouble with the butterfly ballots. Al Gore had a big rally during the 2000 election race.
That will be what the whole country would be like if the Democrats have their way.
The two were being held without bail Friday on suspicion of armed sexual battery by multiple perpetrators, sexual performance by a child, armed home invasion and aggravated battery. Both were arrested this week, but formal charges had not been filed. Authorities said the two would be charged as adults.
White said more arrests were expected, but he would not say whether authorities had identified additional suspects. The teens in custody were not cooperating.
Let me guess...no snitching. Fine, beat the two of them half to death 5 times each, then revive them. Then finish it. They used to hang people like this on fenceposts.
You’re probably right, but we both know this case will be one more travesty of justice that will only increase the pressure for citizens to solve crimes apart from our subverted and diseased legal system.
When I read stuff like this, I think the 8th amendment is antiquated.
Dear Lord, how are the Mother and son going to psychologically handle something as horrific and deranged as that?
</font>fire up the wood chipper
This crime kind of reminds me of one that took place about 1987 in Kansas or Missouri. It was called the Kansas City Massacre. Two black male burglars kidnapped five whites, 2 male husbands, 2 wives and another woman on Christmas Eve. They raped the women, they raped the men, they made the men have sex with each other, they made the women have sex with each other, then they beat them, then they drove them to an empty field had them kneel naked in the snow and shot them all in the head. One woman survived and made her way to a farmhouse, got help and called the police. What is with these people? It’s like they’ve gone native.
I’m speechless
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