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.
A min of 60 years. This works.
The first thoughtful answer I ever got to that question and wasn't loaded with Oprah-speak or accusations against me... Thanks.
Well put.
She had a duty to shoot the bastard in the head the first time he touched her children. Even the lowest form of vermin will protect their young.
You can't spot a psycho the second you meet one either. You just think you can.
He's correct, which is why we backed off on kidnapping as a capital offense. Once you made the act of kidnapping a capital crime, the kidnapper had no reason at all to not kill the victim.
Does BTK ring a bell?
This is a story I read the other day that really disturbed me.
http://judithbarsi.dc-lundberg.net/
What is missing from the story is that the mother finally went to the authorities for help and that is when the husband followed through on his threat to kill them.
By the way, Judith Barsi was the voice of Ducky in "The Land Before Time".
death penalty for ALL child molesters .......first offence ..........no exceptions .....no appeals!!!!!!!!!!!!
You overstate the case. The incentive not to kill the victim is reduced, but to say "no reason at all" is wrong.
In the case of rape, the probability of being convicted of rape+murder due to the extra police interest and evidence (dead body) is higher then being convicted of rape where there is no strong physical proof that a crime even occured (no dead body, he said she said, etc.)
And yet if she were Canadian, she'd be out in 12 years. We have a mass murdering sexual predator of a similar disposition living free in Montreal right now with her little dog, after 12 years behind bars.
Canada does not believe that any sex crime against a child is serious. They actually give most perps house arrest.
What does it take to EARN capital punishment?
In my book they shouldn't be breathing NOW.
"Death is to merciful a punishment for them."
BULL!
Stop that self righteous crap!
Give em capital punishment, save taxpayers money and let them get a head start for eternity in hell.
And YOU get to PAY for them!
My method is to assume that everyone is psychotic, and I'm not exagerating... I keep very few friends.
You know, I thought my Mom had issues while I was growning up.
I think I came out pretty good. Stuff like this reminds me it could have been a whole lot worse..
I do feel sorry for her since she'd clearly beeen driven past the point of rational thought but there are some crimes that are unforgiveable. This is one.
Which is worse, being violated like this by your father, or having your mother not only stand by and do nothing, but facilitate the assualt? To me, this is the worst sort of atrocity: betrayal at the hands of those who are to nurture and protect.
bookmark.
Everyone is psychotic. At least that's what the voices in my head keep telling me.
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