Join us on: Twitter | Facebook
Couple sentenced to life plus 30 years for beating death of their 8-year-old son
MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) - A suburban Atlanta couple was sentenced Tuesday to life plus 30 years in prison in the beating death of their 8-year-old son, a case that prompted authorities to raid the family's church because it supports corporal punishment.
Prosecutors said Joseph and Sonya Smith beat their son Josef, locked him in a wooden box and confined him to a closet for hours at a time before he died in October 2003.
The boys' parents had told authorities Josef had passed out and never regained consciousness after the family gathered in the kitchen to participate in a prayer session with their church via the Internet.
Their attorneys argued the boy didn't die from the injuries, and that the medical examiner failed to perform tests that would have found a cause of his death.
"I think it's serious enough where you should receive the maximum punishment and it should be on top of life," Superior Court Judge James Bodiford told the couple in sentencing them.
Story continues Story continues
The Smiths looked at each other but said nothing as Bodiford imposed the sentences.
About two dozen supporters were in the courtroom, and several friends spoke on the couple's behalf, describing them as kind.
Bodiford called the letters of support for the Smiths "amazing," but said the supporters likely didn't have all the details.
The Smiths are members of the Franklin, Tenn.-based Remnant Fellowship Church, which grew out of church leader Gwen Shamblin's Weigh Down Workshop, a Christian diet program she created in the 1980s. Former members have said church teachings on discipline include discussion of corporal punishment. Shamblin has said the church leaves discipline to parents and believes in spankings as a last resort.
Although the church was investigated after Josef's death, police testified during the couple's trial they could not find any link between the boy's death and the religious institution.
Tedd Anger, one of the church's leaders, said they still believe the Smiths are innocent.
"We will support the Smiths in any way we can," he said outside the courtroom.
---------
YES YES YESS!! Justice DOES exist! :D - ATX
Posted by: Abandoning Ship
Source Article
That seems messed up. Spanking a kid is one thing but beating them is another. And death out of beating is mad, right now my instincts tell me to support execution of them, but I know better. They deserve the life sentence. That kid never even had time to live...
Damn psychopaths. I hope they realise what they did was wrong... I doubt jail is a good place to find that... but hey. At least it keeps them away from kids.
I feel sick to my stomach after reading that, not that the parents were sentenced to death, but that a child so yound and so much life to live, was killed. How fucked up do you have to be, to kill your child? I'll never understand how one could kill.
THAT IS SO SUCK DEM PARENTS IS NASTY ASS HELL
those parents are insane!! they deserve to be beaten every day in there!! (but...life PLUS 30 years...? how does that work????)