Injustice to Children: Jason Trembath and Others Prove Our System is Flawed

Wherever country you reside, chances are there are many loopholes in your judicial system. Although there are many cards that criminals play in the courts that help assist a killer to serve little time and be released back into our society, the following are some of the few true stories that illustrate how justice does not exist, especially for children. There are many high-profile cases many of us can think of at the top of our heads. As depressing as it is to look back and think of their stories, I ask that people keep in mind that the victims deserve to be remembered and have their stories told.

Jason Trembath ~

Seventeen-year-old high school senior, Jason Trembath, had come home early from a school testing that had been rescheduled for another day. He ate a quick lunch, and asked his kid brother, Mikey, if he wanted to hit some baseballs in the park directly behind their home.

After playing for a short time, a drunken 14 year old, Shawn Driskel, approached Jason with a few of his friends. He, (Driskel) began taunting and teasing the brothers, removing Jason's ball cap, and shot him in his abdomen. While Shawn and his friends fled, Mikey helped Jason back to their home, where Jason collapsed outside the backyard gate. His mother, Mona, had heard some commotion, and when she looked out the yard, she saw her oldest on the ground with a bloody nose. Immediately, she grabbed her car keys and followed the suspects, writing the address of the home where they ran to. By the time she made it back home, the mother was in shock to see paramedics and police treating her son for a gunshot wound. Giving her information to the authorities, Mrs Trembath was forced to live a nightmare by the end of the day when he oldest child had passed away.

Shortly after Driskel's arrest, the Rocky Mountain News printed a three paged article about the life of Shawn Driskel, from neglect and abuse, to drugs and alcohol, it was obvious to see where the defense attorney was going to be headed at trial. Driskel insisted that he never intended hurting Jason, and the alcohol had been responsible into turning him into the cold blooded killing monster. Appalled by how the story reflected Driskel as a victim, the community demanded justice for Jason, as his brother and parents remained out of the spotlight, silent.

A few weeks before Driskel's trial, Tim and Mona Trembath were yet again forced to live another nightmare. The key witness in the Driskel trial, Michael Trembath, was killed in a tragic car accident. Although his written statements were taken, his physical testimony was needed to keep Driskel behind bars for the death of Jason Trembath. Prosecutors were forced to give Driskel a smaller sentence, including moving him into a halfway house and then allowing him to be released.

Shawn Driskel gets a second chance, while the Trembath couple continue living in their hell now with no children. Justice?

Tanner Dowler ~

Born August 10, 2002 little Tanner did not get to see six months into his life all thanks to his so called loving parents. Residing in a trailer home in Lafayette, Colorado, his stay at home father, Joseph, refused to take his son to the hospital, in fear that social services would take him away. By the time Tanner lived to seven weeks old, his mother, Audra, finally took him to the hospital complaining that the child was lethargic, and not eating.

Hospital staff were mortified by the truth. Tanner had sustained two broken arms, two broken legs, 14 broken ribs, cigarette burns to both of his feet, as well as severe brain damage. Immediately authorities arrested both parents for the assault of the child. The story unfolded to the media, and grew worse.

Tanner's grandmother had written a letter to social services, begging for a worker to check at the residence to see if the child was in good state of affairs. The media quickly revealed that the letter had indeed been received, but no social worker had checked to see if the child was in any danger. No disciplinary actions had been taken, nor had any laws been changed, or brought to life to help abused children in the future.

While in the hospital, Tanner's grandparents had him baptized and remained with him in the hospital room. Two days later, they decided it was time take Tanner off of life support, holding and kissing their grandchild as he passed away.

At the trial against the Dowler's a few of their friends had testified against the couple, giving their eye witness accounts on how both parents were violent. Audra had let her son's head hit against the walls as she walked around with him in her arms, Joseph screaming at the child when crying. Even with this testimony, prosecutors made a deal with Audra, asking for her testimony against Joseph in exchange for a lighter sentence for Tanner's death. She was sentenced to 10 years, and Joseph was sentenced to 60 years for the murder of his nine week old son.

Many reporters covered the story at the funeral of Tanner Dowler, putting viewers to tears when not one reporter could describe the tiny coffin with dry eyes. Tanner was laid to rest, while his parents get free room and board, as well as food. Where exactly is the justice for Tanner?

James Bulger ~

This one still makes me sick to my stomach.

In 1993, two ten-year-old boys in Liverpool, England decided to skip school and went to the mall. Jon Venables and Robert Thompson attempted to kidnap a 2 year old child. When his mother called for the child, the child ran back to his mother. Later in the afternoon, it was there when they singled out a young toddler, sitting in his stroller unattended, and kidnapped him. Security cameras captured the entire event on film, as they left the mall, holding James Bulgar's little hand.

The two boys led the toddler dropping him, kicking him, and throwing rocks at him. His painful cries for his mom were heard by a few witnesses, only to be convinced by the suspects that the toddler was their younger brother and they were taking him home. When they were alone by railroad tracks, the suspects continued to torture the toddler, hitting him with a 22 lb. iron bar, throwing stones, bricks at the child, and even blue moldering paint in his face. Many reports such as tabloids and chain letter petitions state the child was sexually assaulted. Though this is in fact true, batteries were shoved into the boys mouth, and not his rectum. Once the young toddler was dead, Venables and Thompson placed his body on the railroad tracks and went home to play video games.

A few days later, Ralph and Denise Bulgar received the gruesome news on their missing toddler. After his body was ran over by a train, the parents were forbidden to identify little James' body. Not too long after the trial, Ralph and Denise Bulgar finalized their divorce.

At the trial, the suspects offered no motive for kidnapping and killing James Bulger. Instead, what was heard was how Thompson had a difficult life, being one of seven children, living with their single mother, who was reported being an alcoholic, depressed, as well as suicidal, leading Thompson to violence.

Because of the mugshots and identities being revealed in the press, the mothers of the suspects had been relocated for their safety. After serving eight years in the juvenile detention center, a British judge allowed Thompson and Venables to be released, relocated, and given new identities for their protection. Ralph Bulger, as well as Denise Fergus fought long and hard with the courts unsuccessfully. "Despite what the government says, the views of the victims appear to count for nothing. ... If there is any such thing as a living hell, I and my family live it daily. I will continue to fight on for justice for James, that's all I've ever wanted," said James' mother, Denise Fergus, through a spokesman, Norman Brennan of the Victims of Crime Trust.

There have been unconfirmed reports that the suspects had been relocated to Australia. Whether or not justice has been served, they are now free, relocated with new identities. What they do next, what their future holds, the public likely will never know -- their very names having been consigned to the past along with the murder of James Bulger.

Justice? Someone please tell me where is justice for the victims.

Kaitlyn Violette ~

Described as a quiet, religious family, this family was torn apart on Jan. 12, 2007.

Amber Violette came home on her lunch break and ate with her husband, John and their only child, Kaitlyn, 4. After eating, she cleaned up after herself, kissed her family goodbye and went back to work. Throughout this time, Amber was completely unaware that her husband had quit his job just the day before.

After finishing her shift, Amber Violette came home seeing that John's car was not there. She assumed that they may had gone for a ride together, since that was one of Kaitlyn's most cherished times, spending times with her daddy. Wondering where her family was, Amber Violette sadly found her little girl.

Frantically, she had called 911, telling the operator that her 4 year old girl, Kailyn's body was in the hallway, and the child's head was just a few feet away also on the floor. The father was no where to be found. Autopsy reports later that Kaitlyn died from stab wounds.

According to the News Observer, authorities were able to find John easily. "All we had to do was follow the money, " Clayton police Sgt. S. P. Lapsley said. Credit card bills revealed John Violette purchasing a ticket to Washington D.C., and a hotel room in which he was arrested in. When federal Marshall's apprehended Violette, he was erratically screaming biblical verses.

John Violette's sister, Denise, has come forward trying to assist the media, the authorities, and loved ones for the reasonings. A decade before police charged John Patrick Violette with beheading his 4-year-old daughter, he began battling an illness that planted strange voices in his head.Violette's loved ones are now replaying every scene they can remember from a stretch of months in the mid-1990s when doctors at a mental hospital in California first told Violette and his family that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

Before John had met Amber, he had been in a drug rehab center. There he had gone belligerent, and ending up in the emergency room where it was discovered that John had no drugs in his system. He was constantly saying how people were following him, ducking behind tables, crouching in corners.His family then committed him to a psychiatric hospital. A month later, doctors sent him home with pills and a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, his sister recalled. He then moved and talked more slowly, his sister said.

Yet his sister, Denise, doubted that he was a schizophrenic, and encouraged her brother to stop taking the pills. Eventually, John did, and moved to North Carolina, met and married Amber and they had their first and only child, Kailtyn. Throughout their marriage, Amber Violette had no knowledge of her husbands past mental illness.

More than likely, John Violette's attorney will play the not guilty by reason of insanity card. Who should the punishment be laid upon? A paranoid schizophrenic man, or his sister who encouraged him to refrain of taking the medication he needed to remain sane? While John is locked up awaiting his fate, his sister remains in California free, with no consequences. Amber Violette is now alone, living in her hell with her friends and loved ones. Will there be any justice for Kaitlyn?

Sources:

The Rocky Mountain News

DailyCamera.com/extra/dowler/index.html

BreakTheChain.org

Annoy.com (Justice for James)

LifeOfCrime.wordpress.com/2077/01/13/2052

NewsObserver.com/141/story/531997.html

Condolences to all the victims families in the world , may their young spirits rest in peace.