Posted on 11/16/2004 10:55:36 PM PST by JohnHuang2
Bradley Gene McGee was tortured and beaten to death 15 years ago. Thanks to our senseless courts, one of his callous killers is free to strike again.
Bradley died at the age of 2. It’s the age when a happy boy’s life is preoccupied with Teletubbies, choo-choo trains, Cheerios, sippy cups, and Velcro-strap sneakers with tiny red lights that blink when you stomp your feet. It is also the age for potty-training, when a little boy needs loving parents or guardians with patience, devotion and good humor.
Bradley’s murderers possessed none of these traits. On a summer day in 1989, they punished him for soiling his pants by plunging him headfirst in a toilet. Again and again and again. The man who rammed Bradley’s head repeatedly into the ceramic fixture was his stepfather, Thomas Coe. The woman who covered Bradley’s mouth to stop him from screaming -- the woman who then sat by the bathtub, lit a cigarette and watched the little boy’s torment -- was the woman who gave birth to Bradley, Sheryl Hardy.
Coe and Hardy then dragged Bradley into the living room of their mobile home, where they beat him over the head with couch cushions until he fell to the floor unconscious. Bradley died of massive brain hemorrhaging at a nearby hospital the next day.
To call Sheryl Hardy a "mother" would be an unforgivable desecration of the word. When Bradley was 4 months old, she and Coe took him to a local mall. They left baby Bradley with a pretzel vendor and walked away.
It was the best thing that happened in Bradley’s cruelly short life. Child welfare officials placed him in emergency foster care in Winter Haven, Fla. He was immediately embraced by Sandra "Kip" Liles and her husband. Mrs. Liles has nurtured some 200 abused and neglected children, showering each one with much-needed attention and gentle care. On a Web site dedicated to Bradley’s memory, she posted poignant photos of the cherubic-faced baby’s first smiles and first haircut.
He was, she said, a "heavenly angel." Taken from earth too soon.
When Sheryl Hardy learned that Bradley's foster parents wanted to adopt him, she petulantly petitioned for custody. Sixty-six days after being returned to Hardy and Coe -- the same heartless couple that had abandoned him as a newborn -- Bradley was dead.
At trial, Hardy revealed the horrific abuse she and Coe administered to Bradley. She had forced him to eat his own feces. Made him stand by her bed all night as she and Coe slept. And allowed Coe to punch the little boy’s genitals. The medical examiner reported more than 90 cuts and bruises on Bradley’s battered body.
On the stand, Hardy offered excuse after excuse for Bradley’s torture and murder. She said she was abused as a child and beaten by Coe. The shameless sob stories didn’t work with the jury. She was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 30 years. Coe was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse and sentenced to life in prison.
Due largely to Kip Liles’ efforts, Bradley’s murder led to reform of Florida’s custody and child welfare laws. Parents across the country sent toys and teddy bears and childhood mementos that still adorn Bradley’s gravesite in Lakeland, Fla.
But justice has not yet been served. Sheryl Hardy was released after nine years due to prison overcrowding and moved back to her home state of Illinois. She gave birth to another little boy, now 3. Like Bradley, the child named Billy has been in foster care for most of his life. Like Bradley, Billy has now been put back in the custody of a woman who has no business being anywhere near children. Earlier this month, the Illinois Supreme Court refused to overturn a lower court ruling that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that Hardy was a negligent or abusive parent.
Bradley's battered body and tot-sized coffin should have been proof enough.
The court put its faith in Sheryl Hardy's "rehabilitation" and completion of parenting classes. But the people most familiar with her crimes know best:
''She's an evil person, a murderess,'' Paul Schaill of the Fort Meade, Fla., police department, told the Associated Press. "[Billy] is going to end up dead, too.''
Kip Liles is doing all she can to warn the public: "There is no sound, no cry in all the world, that can be heard unless someone is listening."
Unless more concerned parents open their eyes, ears and hearts, another life may be in danger.
Michelle Malkin is a syndicated columnist and maintains her weblog at michellemalkin.com
Baby Raped: Will Justice be served?
Man gets four years in rape of baby
KENT -- The son of Washington state's corrections chief was sentenced to four years in prison yesterday for raping his 2-month-old daughter.
Joseph Lehman Jr., 38, pleaded guilty in October in a plea bargain, hoping to avoid a prison term. King County prosecutors had recommended six months in jail and at least three years of treatment for sexual deviancy.
But Superior Court Judge Ronald Kessler decided on the four-year prison term because Lehman has a criminal record. The standard state sentence for first-degree child rape is seven to 10 years.
Lehman's father, Joseph Lehman Sr., has headed the Department of Corrections for six years.
That last comment was for you, sorry!
(and I was wrong on the baby's age - she was 2 months old when she was assaulted... she was 9 months oldER when I read about her nightmares.)
God...this makes me physically ill. I almost couldn't read it. The worst part is I always feel so helpless and the anger has no place to go. Lord help us...
I remember crying over this story 15 years ago, just like now.
200 strokes of a rattan cane soaked in brine.
Then bury them.
How could he do that????
Three weeks, she waited????
I've already stated my views on what should happen to these people, and yes the mother too. She became the monster in those three weeks she waited. Did she not seek medical care for her child?
I would have killed him. He had to sleep sometime, if I didn't think I could do it while he was awake. I would incapacitate him while he slept, then woke that POS up and made him suffer.
This is sickening. But quite typical of the LIBERAL mind set. They think they can rehab anyone given ENOUGH MONEY. Some folks can't be rehabbed......only 2 things work EXECUTION and incarceration. I perfer EXECUTION.
Thanks so much cgk. I put child molesters and abusers right down in the demon pit with terrorists. They should ALL be eliminated in the most dreaded way possible.
ckg, I think some of these judges that do this (like what happened to Bradley) will someday face judgement. A judgement far greater than what they would receive here on earth. IMHO.
Malkin is my favorite columnist. Thank you Mrs. Malkin for caring enough to write this story and to take on the establishment. Nothing hurts me more than to hear about children being hurt. Damn I wish I could have just two minutes to inflict my own punishment on these heinous individuals who hurt these innocent children. The court seems to always have sympothy for the guilty and not the innocent.
This is not justice.
Why is this vermin allowed to live another day?
"This is not justice."
Did you ever see "The Star Chamber"?
Lord God help us! Accept this poor innocent child into your loving arms.
And they're still alive.....why?
It's outrageously bizarre! Our courts are a joke!
Stories like this make me fantasize about the societal benefits of vigilanteeism.
we had a thread yesterday were some weed dealer in possession of a gun got 55 years and no parole in the Feds.
salt lake I think.
something is very wrong here.
Incredible. What would be "sufficient evidence"?
This is the natural result of the culture of DEATH, instead of LIFE. It creeps in through abortion,euthanasia, etc. Tha's why it ALL has to be stopped.
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