Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 6, 2006 13:07:34 GMT -5
Justice process painful for families
When Jamaya Griffin was found dead in the house of her great-grandmother's
neighbor 6 months ago, her family was devastated.
The shock and sorrow that followed the heinous and brutal death of the
7-year-old Hattiesburg girl who attended Lillie Burney Elementary School
is fading slowly for family members.
"It's like a sore that is healing," said Marlene Asencio, Jamaya's
grandmother. "When it does heal, we will have this permanent scar."
As family members try to put their lives back together in the months after
the violent death of a family member, they soon learn their ordeal is far
from over.
Once a grand jury indictment is issued, the court process begins, which
can be a multi-year ordeal in capital cases.
"The justice process is like a roller-coaster ride for families,"
Forrest-Perry County District Attorney Jon Mark Weathers said. "It's up
one day and down the next."
The pain is still so real for Jamaya's family that they still struggle
daily.
In an interview at her Sumrall home last week, Asencio and her mother,
Mary Knight of Bassfield, talked about the ordeal. Jamaya's mother, Regina
Knight, still could not talk about her daughter.
"She works double shifts at work so she will be so tired when she gets
home she won't have to think," Mary Knight said.
Jamaya was visiting Mary Knight's Bassfield home, when she went outside to
ride her bicycle. Her body was found about 3 hours later.
Jefferson Davis County Sheriff Henry McCullum described the crime as
heinous.
The small girl suffered multiple small stab wounds to her throat, face,
neck and abdomen, causing internal bleeding. Her attacker also had tried
to strangle and smother her.
Johnny Ray Sims, 36, is charged with capital murder in Jamaya's death. His
case is expected to be presented to the grand jury by the end of the year.
"It helped when we realized that other people have suffered what we went
through," Asencio said. "That's why we agreed to talk about this. Maybe
something we can say will help others."
Jamaya's 9-year-old brother, Gabriel, and 6-year-old sister, Jane, are
attending Sumrall schools.
"Sometimes I'm playing and I see a girl, and I forget and call her
Jamaya," Gabriel said. "We played video games. Sometimes she'd get mad at
me when I beat her."
Weathers said families first must cope with the initial trauma of death,
then the face the task of burying a loved one.
"Then the court process begins and with every new action, there's news
coverage and it brings it all back to families," Weathers said. "This is
not something that people get over. It's still hard for so many of them 10
and 12 years later."
Weathers said that's why a number of families agree with prosecutors to
reduce capital murder charges to avoid the long and drawn-out appeal
process in death penalty cases.
In Laurel last week, Rex Newsome's sisters did not object to Jones County
District Attorney Tony Buckley reducing the capital murder charge against
the man who killed their brother.
By pleading guilty to murder, George Schaeffer saved family members years
of appeals that would have followed if he been convicted by a jury and
sentenced to die.
"We just want him to stay in jail," said Deena Steinkirchner, one of
Newsome's sisters.
Under Mississippi law, Schaeffer will have to spend more than 35 years in
prison before he can be considered for parole. In murder convictions,
there's an automatic life sentence. Only capital murder cases carry
sentences of life in prison without parole or death.
For the Jamaya's killer, there will be no settlement if Asencio and other
family members have their say.
"We want the death penalty, and if that means going to trial, then we will
do that," Asencio said. "There's a Bible passage that says to obey the
laws of the land. I support that. No one who did this hideous thing should
live."
(source: Hattiesburg American)
When Jamaya Griffin was found dead in the house of her great-grandmother's
neighbor 6 months ago, her family was devastated.
The shock and sorrow that followed the heinous and brutal death of the
7-year-old Hattiesburg girl who attended Lillie Burney Elementary School
is fading slowly for family members.
"It's like a sore that is healing," said Marlene Asencio, Jamaya's
grandmother. "When it does heal, we will have this permanent scar."
As family members try to put their lives back together in the months after
the violent death of a family member, they soon learn their ordeal is far
from over.
Once a grand jury indictment is issued, the court process begins, which
can be a multi-year ordeal in capital cases.
"The justice process is like a roller-coaster ride for families,"
Forrest-Perry County District Attorney Jon Mark Weathers said. "It's up
one day and down the next."
The pain is still so real for Jamaya's family that they still struggle
daily.
In an interview at her Sumrall home last week, Asencio and her mother,
Mary Knight of Bassfield, talked about the ordeal. Jamaya's mother, Regina
Knight, still could not talk about her daughter.
"She works double shifts at work so she will be so tired when she gets
home she won't have to think," Mary Knight said.
Jamaya was visiting Mary Knight's Bassfield home, when she went outside to
ride her bicycle. Her body was found about 3 hours later.
Jefferson Davis County Sheriff Henry McCullum described the crime as
heinous.
The small girl suffered multiple small stab wounds to her throat, face,
neck and abdomen, causing internal bleeding. Her attacker also had tried
to strangle and smother her.
Johnny Ray Sims, 36, is charged with capital murder in Jamaya's death. His
case is expected to be presented to the grand jury by the end of the year.
"It helped when we realized that other people have suffered what we went
through," Asencio said. "That's why we agreed to talk about this. Maybe
something we can say will help others."
Jamaya's 9-year-old brother, Gabriel, and 6-year-old sister, Jane, are
attending Sumrall schools.
"Sometimes I'm playing and I see a girl, and I forget and call her
Jamaya," Gabriel said. "We played video games. Sometimes she'd get mad at
me when I beat her."
Weathers said families first must cope with the initial trauma of death,
then the face the task of burying a loved one.
"Then the court process begins and with every new action, there's news
coverage and it brings it all back to families," Weathers said. "This is
not something that people get over. It's still hard for so many of them 10
and 12 years later."
Weathers said that's why a number of families agree with prosecutors to
reduce capital murder charges to avoid the long and drawn-out appeal
process in death penalty cases.
In Laurel last week, Rex Newsome's sisters did not object to Jones County
District Attorney Tony Buckley reducing the capital murder charge against
the man who killed their brother.
By pleading guilty to murder, George Schaeffer saved family members years
of appeals that would have followed if he been convicted by a jury and
sentenced to die.
"We just want him to stay in jail," said Deena Steinkirchner, one of
Newsome's sisters.
Under Mississippi law, Schaeffer will have to spend more than 35 years in
prison before he can be considered for parole. In murder convictions,
there's an automatic life sentence. Only capital murder cases carry
sentences of life in prison without parole or death.
For the Jamaya's killer, there will be no settlement if Asencio and other
family members have their say.
"We want the death penalty, and if that means going to trial, then we will
do that," Asencio said. "There's a Bible passage that says to obey the
laws of the land. I support that. No one who did this hideous thing should
live."
(source: Hattiesburg American)