Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

But the circumstances under which this little boy disappeared, and then was found floating in a canal some days later, don't look good for the mother and boyfriend. From the August 19, 2009 Idaho Statesman:

Eight-year-old Robert Manwill was killed by Daniel Erhlick Jr., who tortured and beat him to death while Manwill's mother, Melissa Jenkins, hid her son from government authorities who might have helped him.

So says an Ada County grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday morning in 4th District Court.

Ehrlick Jr., 36, inflicted repeated acts of blunt-force trauma to the abdomen and/or the head of Manwill with his hands, knees, fists and/or feet and/or by other means of physical force, physical abuse or emotional abuse, according to the indictment. The beatings caused bruises, abdominal bleeding and injuries and head injuries that prompted Manwill's death on or about July 24.

The indictment alleges that Ehrlick Jr. intentionally tortured Manwill "with the intent to cause suffering, to execute vengeance or to satisfy some sadistic inclination by inflicting on Robert G. Manwill extreme or prolonged acts of brutality with the intent to cause suffering."

Jenkins, 30, a mother of three, had knowledge of the beatings and repeatedly hid her son from authorities and others who might have intervened. She also failed in her duty to seek medical attention for her son's injuries, despite knowing Manwill "was being subjected to escalating physical violence” by Erhlick, according to the indictment.

I've been reading accounts of this little boy's family situation for the last few weeks, and this is someone coming out of a situation that made disaster almost inevitable.

One of the arguments that supporters of abortion often made, way back when, was that unwanted children were more likely to be abused and mistreated. Hence the slogan, "Every child a wanted child." So pretty obviously, child abuse must have gone way down after Roe v. Wade (1973) was handed down. Right?

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