Posted on 12/14/2001 10:12:05 AM PST by rface
Peoria, Ill. – A woman who testified that she didn’t mean to suffocate a man when she sat on him during an argument over payment for sex has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Jurors deliberated about 2 hours Wednesday evening before convicting Rachael L. Thompson, 20. She faces two to five years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 1. Prosecutors had sought a 1st degree murder conviction, which carries a 20-60 yr prison term.
Thompson was convicted in the death July 15, 2000, of Shiraz Jamsa, 49.
She told jurors that she became angry with Jamsa when he refused to pay her for an act of prostitution, so she charged at him with a chair. Thompson said she knocked him down, then sat on his chest and hit him in the head while trying to get his wallet.
Two forensic pathologists testified that Jamsa suffocated. Prosecutors said Thompson, who weighed about 190 lbs at the time should have known she could injure the 115 lb man by sitting on him.
Involuntary manslaughter means a person did not know his or her actions would cause the death of another. Jamsa’s family and friends were upset with the verdict.
“She killed him and got away with it,” said Charlotte Jamsa, the victim’s sister-in-law. “It was a slap on the wrist, unfair justice to the family.”
Through credit for time already served, Thompson could be released from jail shortly after her sentencing.
TFF!
your right, I messed up
Testimony reveals suspect's plans went awry
Peorian Rachael Thompson apparently had planned only to rob victim Shiraz Jamsa
December 12, 2001
By ANDY KRAVETZ
of the Journal Star
PEORIA - Shiraz Jamsa's death in July 2000 netted Rachael L. Thompson only about $30, which she allegedly used for drugs, testimony revealed Tuesday.
Thompson, 20, apparently had planned only to rob Jamsa, not kill him, but those plans went terribly awry. And Thompson now faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.
Prosecutors wrapped up their case Tuesday against Thompson, who has been in custody since July 15, 2000, the day of Jamsa's murder. Jurors should get the case today.
In a videotaped statement made to police hours after the killing, Thompson, then 18, detailed how she bound Jamsa's arms and legs with tape so he could not stop her from going through his apartment, 1018 N. Ellis St., Apt. 5.
Jamsa's relatives occupied the first two rows of the courtroom gallery as they have for nearly every hearing. During Thompson's 30-minute statement, some bowed their heads with grief. Others just sat and stared ahead without showing any emotion.
According to Thomspon's statement, she went to Jamsa's apartment to smoke marijuana. Sometime during the evening, she took his wallet, prompting an argument that carried outside.
Jamsa, 49, took a swing at her with a chair; Thompson allegedly hit him back.
Under questioning from Peoria police Detective Richard Ledbetter, Thompson said on the tape that she didn't know how many times she struck Jamsa with the chair.
She then straddled Jamsa's body and began hitting him in the head and face with her fists, she said in the statement.
In addition to binding his arms and legs, Thompson also allegedly put a strip of tape over Jamsa's mouth and left him in the back yard covered by a blanket.
The blows to the head contributed to the man's death but a forensic pathologist said she believed Jamsa suffocated.
While no direct cause was found for the asphyxiation, one theory is that Thompson, who weighed nearly twice as much as Jamsa, smothered him by sitting on his chest, not allowing the smaller man to breath, said Peoria County Coroner Dan Heinz at Jamsa's inquest last September.
Thompson said she took Jamsa's car keys and $10 in cash from his wallet. When his car wouldn't start, she left with a freezer bag full of pennies and sold his VCR to a person down the street for $20.
Sometimes a great deal is about being in the right place at the right time.
For that you pay extra. Maybe that was the cause of the argument.
LN- Your CRACKIN me up. On the other hand, what's wrong with that?
The lesson here is "Keep you head up"
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