Posted on 09/05/2003 2:49:48 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
FORT WORTH - After deliberating about 10 hours over three days, jurors sentenced a mother to 15 years in prison Thursday for using heroin with her 15-year-old daughter hours before the teen-ager died after using the drug.
(Excerpt) Read more at dfw.com ...
You seem rather unduly... consternated by this, if you'll kindly pardon my saying so. :)
The consternation may be well founded. Folks who excerpt are doing a disservice to the archives. You see, many of the links that are required in order to post an article expire over time. Correction, they all expire over time. If you are unfamiliar with easy ways to post an entire article I would be glad to show you a way that takes no more time than excerpting.
... and the list of which "other publishers [are] owned by these entities" is the FR equivalent of a state secret becaaaaaauuuuuuuussssse...? :)
Hey... whatever. I was just trying to keep FR out of trouble by (inadvertently) posting too much from (potentially) contested sources, is all. If it's too much trouble for the mods to detail the precise list in the site's FAQ -- and if courteous requests for said info from other posters is just going to result in snarky comebacks -- I'll play out the hand however it's dealt, certainly.
Geez. :)
Thank you most kindly, 11B3. That info was all I was asking for. A thousand thousand blessings. :)
I have a short list that's pretty easy to memorize, here it is:
LA TIMES
Washington Post
Newsday.com
ChicagoTribune
Newsweek
MSNBC
Baltimore Sun
Hartford Courant
CT Times Mirror
Orlando Sun-Sentinel
WPIX
blackvoices.com
There are also a couple of conservative sites that have been added to the excerpt-only list. AIM is one of them.
My own policy is that if I can only post excerpts from certain places, I won't even post the excerpts; screw 'em and let 'em drum up their own traffic. Others' mileage may vary.
Don't get snippy. There are no state secrets. What makes this difficult for some folks is that there are pubs owned by the Washington Post and LA Times and some, like you, are sensitive to the rules. That is a good thing. I am not criticizing your desire to follow the rules. I am saying this; excerpt from the Washington Post and the LA Times and don't worry about the rest. If you inadvertently post an entire article from an associated publisher, there are enough anal rententives on this forum to fix the problem. I enjoy your posts and comments so don't be so damnes sensitive.
Debra Gatlin Clair, 49, who has been addicted to prescription drugs for almost 30 years, wiped her eyes with a tissue and solemnly turned to her family seated in the gallery after state District Judge Wayne Salvant read the verdict.
For Clair's loved ones, who were hoping for probation and an opportunity for Clair to enter a drug rehabilitation program, the verdict was a blow.
"I just wanted her to get some help," said Sherry Kiefer, Clair's sister. "That is just so long. My heart is breaking. I just want to hold her."
For prosecutors, who had asked for 20 years, the verdict was a precedent-setting victory. It marked the first time that the Tarrant County district attorney's office has tried and convicted a person who provided the drugs to someone whose death stemmed from their use.
"I hope a message is sent to the community at large that parents shouldn't do drugs with their children," said lead prosecutor Mitch Poe, who tried the case with fellow Assistant District Attorney Ed Lasater. "If they do, and we can prove it, we will put them to trial for it.
"Parents have to take responsibility for their actions. She took no responsibility for her daughter's death even though she admitted doing heroin with her. (Tiffany) never had a chance with this mother."
Defense attorney Jim Shaw said he was somewhat surprised by the punishment. Because the jurors deliberated so long, he was hoping they were struggling between giving Clair probation and the maximum sentence.
"I think a fair verdict would have been around eight years," Shaw said.
According to testimony, Clair, Tiffany and Bradley Ray Waltermire, the son of Clair's ex-boyfriend, shot up heroin at Clair's Everman apartment on May 3, 2001 -- about a week after Tiffany had been released from a mental hospital, where she was treated for drug addiction and attempting suicide.
At some point, Waltermire went home but called Clair a short time later, asking her to come get him. Clair said she tried to wake her daughter but left anyway.
When Clair and Waltermire returned, Tiffany was dead.
On Friday, the jury of seven women and five men deliberated about an hour and 45 minutes before convicting Clair of manslaughter for recklessly causing the death of her daughter.
To find Clair guilty of manslaughter, jurors determined that she either injected her daughter with the drug, assisted or encouraged in the injection or failed to seek reasonable medical care after she realized her daughter had ingested a dangerous substance.
Defense attorney Shaw said he will appeal the case, calling the indictment "fundamentally defective."
"It was quite a broad, duplicity charged indictment," Shaw said. "The evidence was insufficient to prove up the indictment as a matter of law. There was no evidence that she injected the child. ... All she did was watch it happen, and the law says that is insufficient to convict you."
Jurors declined to talk to a reporter after the verdict, but attorneys said that the panel told them each member spoke freely about the case before they settled on 15 years.
Clair must serve one-fourth of her sentence, about three years and seven months, before she is eligible for parole.
Although Clair's family was upset about the verdict, they hoped that prison would at least give her the opportunity to clean up her life.
"I love her and I hope this wakes her up and she gets something out of this," said her brother, Robert Gatlin Jr. "I hope, with what she is facing, I hope and pray she gets help. There is nothing else to say."
Bradley Waltermire, 23, has also been charged with manslaughter in the teen's death and remains free on bail awaiting trial.
"Bradley Waltermire has a date with a jury sometime in the future," Poe said. "He is the one who delivered the drugs ... which killed Tiffany Clair."
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I just want to be a good citizen here, is all. I've seen too many online conversation-oriented fora devolve into so much toxic sludge, simply because folks weren't considerate of the rules, and of one another. (I used to be an AOLer, years ago. You don't even wanna know what THEIR politics boards are like -- !) :)
Now, if you will allow me, I will post the whole article and then we can have a group hug.
I just knew if I was patient, and waited long enough: I'd stumble across one of those online "cyber-sex" thingies I've read about in the newspapers. :)
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