QUOTE OF THE DAY: "There’s nothing worse than losing a child, except for losing a child and being falsely accused for that death."
Defence lawyer Colby Volkey;
------------------------------------;
STORY: "Coast Guardsman Jimmy Barlow Found Not Guilty of Child Endangerment In Connection to Daughter’s Death," published by NBC (The Bay) on December 15, 2017.
GIST: "A military judge found United States
Coast Guard Petty Officer Jimmy Barlow not guilty Thursday on multiple
counts of child endangerment in connection to the death of his
3-year-old daughter Eden Lynch more than six years ago. Barlow elected
to have a bench trial, which is why a judge, rather than a jury,
determined the verdict. “It wasn’t surprising at all,” said
Barlow’s defense attorney Colby Vokey, a retired lieutenant colonel from
the United States Marine Corps. “Grateful justice was done, but not
surprising at all given the evidence.”......... Eden’s biological mother Erica Lynch,
who lost custody of Eden in early 2011 while dealing with Eden collapsed at the Alameda
apartment Barlow shared with his girlfriend, now wife, Holli Barlow in
August 2011 while Jimmy was on duty. Holli told first responders that
Eden had been acting strange all morning, and her collapse may have been
related to a fall down the concrete stairs outside the couple’s
apartment the week before. But first responders and hospital
staff were suspicious of cuts and bruises they found on Eden’s face,
neck and chest area and alerted police of suspected abuse. In the weeks
following Eden’s death, the Alameda County coroner ruled her death a
homicide and listed the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the
head. Although the Alameda police
investigation into Jimmy and Holli seemed to stall, Jimmy was charged on
four counts of child endangerment by Coast Guard prosecutors in the
fall of 2016. Holli was arrested in September and is currently facing a
felony count of child abuse for failing to obtain medical care for Eden
in Alameda County Superior Court. She was released on bail and has not
entered a plea. She attended most of Jimmy’s trial and exercised her
Fifth Amendment right not to testify when she was called as a witness by
prosecutors earlier in the trial. On the morning before the verdict, both sides made final appeals to Judge Matthew Fay during closing arguments. “This case is not about assigning
blame, it’s about accountability,” said Coast Guard prosecutor Lt. Cmdr.
Geralyn Van de Krol. “It’s not about perfect parenting, it’s about the
reasonable actions when a person is assigned care for the life of a
3-year-old.” Prosecutors argued Barlow failed to
provide care for Eden by not seeking medical attention and leaving her
in Holli’s care despite seeing bruises and scratches on the toddler’s
face, neck and chest area, and being told that Eden had been “acting
slow,” the morning of her death. “Mrs. Barlow repeatedly minimized injuries and delayed notification,” Van de Krol said. Van de Krol repeatedly referenced
text messages displayed earlier in the trial that portrayed Holli as a
stressed out, hot-tempered caregiver who was resentful that Jimmy placed
the responsibility of Eden’s child care on her while she also raised
her own daughter and attended school. Van de Krol also said Jimmy
repeatedly ignored troubling behavior Eden exhibited in the days leading
up to her collapse, such as banging her head against the wall, pulling
her hair, urinating and defecating on herself, and attempting to eat her
own feces. Instead of seeking professional care for Eden, Van de Krol said, “They’re just kind of winging it.” In the end, Van de Krol argued Jimmy
should be found guilty because he had enough evidence to suggest that
not seeking medical attention and leaving Eden in Holli’s care would
cause her to suffer foreseeable harm. “He abandoned his legal and arguably his moral duty to protect his 3-year-old daughter Eden Lynch,” Van de Krol said. Barlow’s defense team, however, argued a guilty verdict would set a dangerous precedent. “There’s nothing worse than losing a child, except for losing a child and being falsely accused for that death,” Vokey said. Vokey likened the case against his
client to a tree that grew from a diseased seed. You can’t tell there’s
anything wrong with it, but if you were to look inside, you would find
it hollow and diseased, he said. The diseased seed was planted, Vokey said, when first responders and police quickly concluded Eden’s injuries were suspicious. Vokey said it was compounded when
the medical staff at Children’s Hospital Oakland “made the leap” that
child abuse factored into Eden’s condition because they found unusual
bruising and brain trauma they could not explain. Although the Alameda County
coroner’s report stated Eden’s cause of death as blunt force trauma to
the head, several medical experts who testified for the defense disputed
those findings."
The entire story can be found at:
