Some people are so sick!

[iceyspots 0]

I need to stop reading the news... this one made me cry... what a chop..

Mother faces trial in daughter's death

Kayla Joplin, 3, died of torn atrium in heart, medical examiner says

Thursday, August 10, 2006

BY SUSAN L. OPPAT

News Staff Reporter

An Ypsilanti Township mother accused of killing her 3-year-old daughter told a sheriff's investigator she didn't know when to stop hitting the child because she never said "ouch,'' the detective testified in court Wednesday.

Washtenaw Sheriff's Detective Craig Raisanen also said LaToya Joplin told him "she was the one who was abused when she disciplined Kayla, because she would strike her to the point that her hand was throbbing. She was the one to endure pain. She blamed her daughter.''

Kayla Joplin died early July 17 from a torn right atrium in her heart, a Washtenaw County medical examiner testified in 14A District Court on Wednesday.

LaToya Joplin is accused of open murder, felony murder and first-degree child abuse in the death. Joplin, who cried silently through part of the hearing, was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on the charges.

But Joplin's defense attorney, David Nacht, said his client is innocent and that investigators railroaded a grieving woman. He said the deputy made leading statements while questioning her and made her think he just wanted to discuss an autopsy report when, in fact, he hoped to pin the child's death on her.

Dr. Yung Chung, who conducted the autopsy, detailed a disturbing catalog of injuries she found on the child's body. She told District Judge John B. Collins that she found bruises that appeared to have been made with a fist in four areas of Kayla's back. She said each knuckle of the fist left a bruise.

She said Kayla's right upper front tooth was loose, and a left upper front tooth had been knocked out, consistent with a blow to the mouth. She said she found bruises on the crown and rear of Kayla's head consistent with blunt force trauma.

But it was the internal injuries, not visible on her skin, that killed Kayla, Chung testified.

Kayla had blood in both her chest and abdominal cavities, and in the sacs surrounding her heart and kidney. A "forceful'' blow to her abdomen, she said, caused agonizing lacerations to the base of her liver and pancreas, both deep inside her body, and another blow to her chest tore open part of her heart.

Kayla died within five minutes of that blow, Chung said.

Source - Ann Arbor News

[vartan 0]

I know many people that would want to hit that lady .. and duct tape her mouth so she can't say ouch..

[nayalamb 0]

I know many people that would want to hit that lady .. and duct tape her mouth so she can't say ouch..

vartan, i think your trident would come in handy right about now.

[aussiewench 9]

That poor defenceless little girl

Railroaded my azz....those type of injuries didnt just materialize for no reason. That is not a mother

[vartan 0]

Railroaded my azz....those type of injuries didnt just materialize for no reason. That is not a mother

She will plead insane.. I guarantee you.

[iceyspots 0]

Railroaded my azz....those type of injuries didnt just materialize for no reason. That is not a mother

She will plead insane.. I guarantee you.

I'll make sure to follow...

[desert_fox 32]

get out the rope.

[danae 0]

Railroaded my azz....those type of injuries didnt just materialize for no reason. That is not a mother

She will plead insane.. I guarantee you.

and she'll be convicted as such. What an evil evil woman

[jordanianprincess 0]

In the words of Bro Dean, what a chopf#ck!!!!!!

[Mandi+Ryan 0]

That's SICK! I hate people like that.

Railroaded my azz....those type of injuries didnt just materialize for no reason. That is not a mother

She will plead insane.. I guarantee you.

She will, most mothers that do these kinda things to their children, do plead insanity. And they get away with it. This world has become a preview of what hell will be like. I just wish things would get BETTER in this sick world, not WORSE.

Edited August 11, 2006 by Mandi

[gwenneh 7]

(I don't do smiley-only posts but this is disgusting, leaves me speechless.)

[Anyta Holland 0]

How bad! Why people like this have children is beyond me!

[Sharon 1]

OMFG. This is heart-breaking, that poor little girl.

I know I will get flamed for this but I'm sorry - it's things exactly like that that make me ask myself "And where was God while this happening?"

[RosaMystica7 0]

Wow... that's horrendous...

[Laura_and_IanM 0]

Ok, without getting to much into detail from my past here, I can tell you firsthand the my mother use to beat the tar out of us. These weren't spankings that you give a child across the bum, but these were almost knocking your child unconcious beatings...I can tell you, that my mother to this day, finds that nothing she did was wrong. Let us not forget the fact that my step dad threatened to leave her when he caught her in the act. But by this time I was almost 18 and he knew I would high tail it out of there. In the end I didn't have to...she threw me out because I asked for her to leave me alone when I was upset about something. Unfortunately, you will find that most abusive parents think that they are in their own right as the child's parent to do as they please with them. When brought up to my mother about the verbally abusive comments she use to make to me and my brother and sister, she said that it was our fault and that we deserved them.

Believe it or not, I still love my mother and you will find that to be true with a lot of these poor children that have had it FAR worse then we did. Why? Because its our mother...our flesh, our blood. Will I have a relationship with her? No. Not unless she admits to what she has done and gets help. Its never to late to get counseling. How can we stop these things from happening?? I don't know..only suggestion I can make is making help more readily available for parents who can't control themselves. But then again, if they think they are in the right, then how would we expect them to go get help?? It's pretty sad when the laws now prevent a teacher, a guidance counselor, or anyone that works with children, to give them a much needed hug.

This story just makes me sick to my stomach.