FOUR (4) young children are dead........home alone and burned alive while their "caretaker", Jessica Tata, was shopping at Target.
FOUR (4) young children were burned alive on Thursday, February 24, 2011, and DA Pat Lykos refused to accept charges until Sunday, February 27, 2011; well after Tata had safely fled to Nigeria.
FOUR (4) attempts were made by arson investigators to the DA's office BEFORE charges were accepted.
FOUR (4) days were needed for the DA's office to act.
Lykos insists there was simply not enough evidence to accept charges until the fourth day of the investigation.
Specifically, Lykos wanted to make sure there were no other adults anywhere in the house when it burned along with the four (4) children......never mind that there were no adults at the crime scene filling that description nor reports from ANYONE that ANY adult was in the house at the time of the deadly fire.
It seems odd that a FOUR (4) day search for these phantom adults was required before arresting a known flight risk who was an obvious suspect.
Even if there were negligently entrusted adults in the house when the FOUR (4) children were burned to death; they sure as hell were, at the very least, grossly derelict in their duty of care and would not absolve Tata from criminal liability.
Are ADAs in Harris County today really that afraid to file a high profile case and actually go to trial?
Houston Fire Marshall Richard Galvan is quoted as saying, "This is the first time I've experienced the hoops I had to go through with the DA."
Investigator Ruben Hernandez had the foresight to have a Houston Police Department sergeant listen in to his phone call when he called intake and informed the ADA who answered that a Crime Stopper's tip indicated that Tata was preparing to flee the United States to avoid prosecution.
It is of grave concern that an investigator felt the need for this degree of corroboration when interacting with an ambivalent prosecutor's office.
Tata in fact fled to Nigeria long before Lykos FINALLY accepted charges for her role in the deaths of the four (4) children and Galvan is left puzzled at the DA's ineptness, "I don't know what the last piece of the puzzle was for them to accept the charges."
Lykos' official response is that she is "FURIOUS"............her arrogance has reached a new low!
ASHAMED AND APOLOGETIC would be a more appropriate response.
I wonder if FOUR (4) little Republican white kids were burned alive in River Oaks under the same or substantially similar circumstances whether the DA's response would have been as trepidatious..........
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11 comments:
Like we say now in law enforcement, "Special Crimes ain't so special anymore." Oh for the days when prosecutors were there for us 24 hours a day 7 days a week and they had the balls to make hard decisions. NOT that this one was. But I guess that's what happens when you have Joni Volman running the shop and Baldassano as her deputy.
Sheila Jackson Lee and Patricia Lykos are both asking Jessica Tata to voluntarily come back to Houston and woman up. Sistas pleeze!
Just saw Lykos' press conference. OMG if you didn't know what an evil person she was you could almost feel sorry for her pathetic grasp of prosecutorial fundamentals. She really doesn't have a clue what to do and is totally incapable of answering even the most basic questions. The media won't be able to support her with a straight face for much longer.
Had Lycos done her job in the 1st place and filed 1 timely charge she wouldn't have to file 9 now to cover up her incompetence and Tata would be in custody.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE UPDATE:
University of Houston law professor Jordan Paust, who reviewed the bilateral treaty between the U.S. and Nigeria this week, said it includes a long list of offenses for which a suspect is subject to extradition, including manslaughter.
But the treaty does not specifically include the offense of reckless injury to a child or child endangerment, Paust said, which he predicted could jeopardize Tata's extradition.
"This would be a very serious mistake not to charge for manslaughter in view of the treaty," Paust said. "Ignorance of the law is not a defense, not even for a prosecutor."
Lykos said the DA's office disagreed with Paust's interpretation of the law, saying both manslaughter and reckless injury to a child are second-degree felonies in Texas.
Douglas McNabb, a federal criminal defense attorney and expert in international extradition, said, "You frequently see or hear state, particularly inexperienced state (district attorneys) and law enforcement saying, 'Oh, we'll get her back right away. We have an extradition treaty,' " McNabb said. "Well, that may or may not be true."
Black Ink,
Are you sure you didn't misrepresent Judge Pat's comment, "Lykos said the DA's office disagreed with Paust's interpretation of the law, saying both manslaughter and reckless injury to a child are second-degree felonies in Texas."?
You must have taken that out of context something is missing for that to make any sense to counter Mr. Paust's point. Our DA can't be that misinformed.
"There is no such thing as an investigatory or an investigative hold under our law," Lykos said. "If you believe that there's probable cause to believe felony has been committed — if you see a misdemeanor committed on view like that — you have an absolute right to arrest."
What bizarre kind of statement was that???? Misdemeanor felony what's the difference who cares if you see it go for it????
How can Lykos argue that HFD investigators had probable cause but the DA didn't???? OMG they tried to arrest this Tata lady but the DA wouldn't accept charges.
Lykos is a freakin nut case!!!!!!
FOUR (4) years and no more of Lykos
Hey Black Ink, did you notice in the Comical today that Lykos is announcing to the world that she has finally decided to proclaim George Rodriguez "innocent"?? You remember the case, the one that bullheaded Bill Hawkins prosecuted and to this day says is guilty and Rosenthal stood beside? The man has been waiting YEARS for this acknowledgement and it took Lykos 2YEARS AND 3 MONTHS to state publicly and now she wants us to applaud her??? Looks to me like she's trying to skew her press away from the Tata fiasco which is also her responsibility. I mean, lady, if you want the credit, ya get the blame too!
Black Ink,
White is right down with the brown is what the DA office seems to be all about under this Patsy Lykos woman.She reminds me of that Rosenthal guy only she's a lot dumber.What's wrong with Harris County??
My 10 yr old daughter had a knife put to her arm and threatened by her uncle that if she didn't shut the f* up he was going to stab her in the f*ing arm.. The same day he punched a hole in the closet door where she was hiding from him.. He admitted in text and on the phone with the investigator to doing it but because he said "I was kidding" D.A. Lykos is not pursuing charges.. I have to appeal... What kind of D.A. is this??? What do i tell my daughter?? Its ok to break the law as long as you say your kidding honey... I'm taking this to the news...
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