Posted on 10/25/2005 5:24:00 PM PDT by wagglebee
A woman who said she was forced to aid her husband in his rapes of two of their children was sentenced Monday to 110 years to life for her role in the crimes.
The victims of the rapes were her son, now 18, and one of the couple's daughters, now 10. The Denver Post is withholding the parents' names to protect the children's identities.
The two children night after night were led by the woman into the couple's bedroom, where they were raped by her now 60-year-old husband, according to trial testimony.
The assaults started on the boy when he was 5 and on the girl when she was 7.
The husband was sentenced in August to 200 years to life for the crimes.
The woman dressed her son as a schoolgirl with makeup before the assaults.
The daughter testified that her mother would lead her into her parents' bedroom, cover her eyes with a washcloth, lie beside her and lift her gown as she was raped by her father.
The woman, 40, said her husband repeatedly told her that if she and the children left, he'd kill all three of them.
But Denver District Judge Herbert Stern told her Monday that she had a duty to leave.
"I think you are the victim of horrific domestic violence, but I don't think it absolves your responsibility to protect your children and yourself," Stern said.
"I know you feel you protected the children," he said. "But I feel you contributed to the victimization of the children, and I believe that outweighs the horror of your own situation.
"Adults have to protect their children."
The woman is disabled and walks with a cane. She never had sexual contact with the children.
Denver Deputy District Attorney Kerri Lombardi said the children wanted their mother sentenced to the maximum - life in prison.
Her minimum sentence is 110 years, although a parole board could let her out in 60, Lombardi said.
During the trial, both victims showed little sympathy for their mother.
"She never didn't want me to do it," the girl testified.
"She was the one helping my dad."
The woman told Stern she loved her children and "tried to the best of my ability" to protect them. "I tried so hard," the woman sobbed.
The woman said that for nearly two decades her husband terrorized her - striking her with a closed fist, and slapping, kicking, violently grabbing and choking her, and hitting her with a TV remote control and shoes.
She was also shot with a "high-pressured BB gun" and made to eat soap, hot peppers and hot sauce, according to testimony.
During the trial, Jan Mickish, former executive director of the Colorado Domestic Violence Coalition, testified that male perpetrators of domestic violence are "goal-oriented" and use battering to terrorize and achieve control.
Some women think that escape isn't an option, believing that wherever they go, their abuser will find them, Mickish said.
On Monday, Trish Thibodo, executive director of the coalition, appeared in the courtroom to support the defendant.
"We feel the domestic violence has been overlooked in this case," Thibodo said. "She successfully kept the kids alive. She took the beatings to deflect (the father) from the kids."
The judge said he was recommending the woman be evaluated by the state hospital and Department of Corrections. He said he will then re-evaluate the sentence but warned that he doubted it would be shortened.
"She never didn't want me to do it," the girl testified.
"She was the one helping my dad."
This woman and her husband should be executed, prison is too good for them.
Moral absolutes ping.
And what are female perpetrators of domestic violence ?
Execute both of the perps.
I disagree. Death is to merciful a punishment for them.
I feel so sick when I read stuff like this...then really, really angry.
The woman should have killed her husband. Even if she had gone to jail, the children would have been better off.
It can't be manslaughter...he isn't a man.
Poor kids. I'm saying a prayer for them.
WTF was she thinking?
I would have left the first time he tried this and I would rather be dead ,then aid my husband in this perverted act.
SICK!!!
Drowning would be a more appropriate idea.
You can't execute rapists because then they'd have no incentive to allow their victims to live.
/agree
These Goddamned sub-humans should be put to death in the most creative way, and sent on to their special place in hell.
I agree. I believe that a parent's responsibility is to protect their children. There is nothing that will convince me that this had to go on for so many years and that there was nothing the mother could do. It's easy for her to now try to come up with some "battered wife" defense, but it is too little and much too late.
Why can't all women spot a psycho the moment they meet? Or are they attracted to that?
You can't execute rapists because then they'd have no incentive to allow their victims to live.
Sure you can, no one thinks they are going to be caught.
I agree with the death penalty.
Heck, they get to live, and nothing has changed (other than location).
But their kids are missing something they'll never get back....they will battle the demons for the rest of their lives.
You got that right.
It makes me sick when I hear women say,but what was I supposed to do.
She should have grabbed her son at the age of 5 and ran, instead she stayed around and brought another child into the world with this POS,it's really mind blowing.
Unfortunately, there are parents out there who shouldn't be allowed to care for goldfish, let alone children.
I agree.
Impail them both and leave their corpses to rot on the pike in front of the courthouse as a warning.
Women are rather blind toward true psychosis. A stalker type personality is sweetly possessive, whereas a friendly guy with a crush who tries to share the same elevator in the morning is a creepy stalker.
Men who beat their girlfriends are misunderstood and the other girls are at fault. Men who do anything to make their girlfriend happy are suckers and weak.
Women seem to think the expressions of psychotic individuals are a sign of strength. They confuse strength with psychosis and eventually pay for it.
Make it hollow point.
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