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NewslettersMother found guilty in infant's death; sentencing Thursday
Wed, 2008-05-21 19:19 — Anonymous
After maintaining a steely demeanor for two days while on trial for the death of her infant son, Paris Avery was inconsolable after being found guilty Wednesday by a Beaufort County jury. Read the story here.
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I've known Paris Avery a long time. She always took very good care of her kids. I know for sure that she didn't do anything to hurt any of them. I was in the court when she was on trial and it looked like someone was out to hang her. Her own lawyer didn't do anything to help her, he kept saying things that sounded like he was trying to get her convicted. I hope her people are smart enough to get the ACLU to check all of this out maybe there could be justise then. I feel real sorry of her and for all of her kids. this deal is a real mess and she didn't do anything wrong, she loves her kids.
Yeah.. Right
Up to 17 (SEVENTEEN)extra doses??!?!? That's an accident... NOT.
The witness (Wright) stated that Avery went to wake her child. Avery finally came back an hour later and told Wright she couldn't wake her baby?? An HOUR?? Umm after 2-3 minutes, I would have been screaming for someone to call 911 while I started CPR.
ACLU my behind. Must be so easy for some to spew that crap.
What I saw was that this woman left her child with the babysitter (Wright) and that the babay was fine. She returned and the baby wasn't breathing. My question is, who gave this medication to the baby, and who really should be on trial or in jail? I think the court should look into this matter, I don't think they have the right person for sure!
What I saw was that this woman left her child with the babysitter (Wright) and that the babay was fine. She returned and the baby wasn't breathing. My question is, who gave this medication to the baby, and who really should be on trial or in jail? I think the court should look into this matter, I don't think they have the right person for sure!
Well the medication was NOT at the baby sitters and she would NOT let the baby sitter carry the child I would say the MOTHER... and think life is too good for her...
The baby was @ Wrights. I'll re-read the story but I believe the baby was asleep when Avery laid him down @ Wrights home. Medication bottle was found @ Avery's home.
The baby was @ Wrights. I'll re-read the story but I believe the baby was asleep when Avery laid him down @ Wrights home. Medication bottle was found @ Avery's home.
the child was probly dead spoke to a phamasist and said that much med in that small of person would not take that long to take his life... SAD but true 17 doses holy smokes should have been charged with murder
first of all the one born_in_beaufort You must come from a slave owner. To have said hang her sounds like your family were slave owners. But enough about you. I'm very sorry for her be cause I personally know what it feels like to loose a child. A child dying by accident by it's mother is a devastating feeling and your punishment will be everlasting pain and suffering. I know that I myself am still going through the pain. But what I would like to tell her that just pray to jehovah god for forgiveness he is truley a loving caring and forgiving god. It took years to forgive myself for the accendental death of my child and even after I did my time in prison. The pain was still there after I got out. Its been 24yrs and to this day I still sometimes think about what I did and cry. I cry now just writing this,because I'm feeling the sharp pain that she is going through. I will pray for her . there will be people who will talk about you like a dog and they will make you feel like dying. But remember you are not aloan. I promise to be here praying for you to keep you strong to do your time and try to get to know jehovah and what he has in hold for you later in life. I say this with all my love and prayer. Please can some one give this note to Paris Avery for me please. Thank-you. signed: Knowing exactly what you are and what you will go through.
Mylove4ever my heart goes you also. If you don’t mind me asking what happened to your child?
I really can't tell you because just like some of these people are judging and condemming this young lady. I don't want to go through that again. But I can tell you one thing the army did not give me the help that I needed so badly especially over there in germany. I went throgh hell over there I didnt even have my husband there to help me. But I can only blame myself. Maybe one day I wil be able to tell of my tragedy.
I can completely understand that. some of these folks aren’t the nicest people.
You're right, poot. Anyone who thinks someone who was tried and convicted of killing a child can't be very nice. We should hang them all.
So now saying someone should be hung makes someone a racist or a slave owner?
Quit making leaps. I for one thought he may have been a descendant of someone from the old west.
Political correctness is driving me nuts these days, and this is just another example. It's not wrong to say hang someone.
What's next? Maybe you have a list of words or phrases I am not allowed to say because you might consider me a racist. You're not making things better by walking around accusing people of being racist by twisting something they say.
I did not call any one a racist. You called on yourself. But like I said this is'nt about YOU!
Is the same as calling someone a racist. Now you're backpedaling. The man said hang her because she was found guilty of something horrible by our court system. This has nothing...zero...to do with the race of the defendant. It has to do with the horrible thing that happened to that child as as result of her actions.
As for your criticism of the three strikes law, I can see someone getting in trouble once for being at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people. Maybe, and this is a stretch, not learning his lesson the first time and getting in trouble a second time, but anyone would be hard pressed to believe that has been in trouble with the law three times is a law abiding citizen and deserves another chance.
What are you talking about-the three strikes law. I don't see anything in the above posts about the three strikes law? Maybe I missed it. Also, was Ms Avery in trouble more than once?
First of all I called no one raciest. I said what I felt about anyone talking about hanging. Any one who talks about hanging is a heartless, unfogiving person. What if this had happen to any one of you or some one in your family Would you say the same. You know when they came up with the three strike law it was all good until some of those people who came up with that law own family got caught up in it. So we should not be saying thing that could fall upon ourself. GOD DON'T LIKE UGLY. HE IS A FORGIVING GOD.
I responded to other posts at the same time.
I disagreed with the lady who called someone a slave owner simply because he said "hang her"
I disagreed with the premise that the three strikes law is unfair,
and I disagreed with someone who claimed someone else didn't get prosecuted because she is white and Miss Avery got prosecuted because she is black.
It's easy living on a soapbox when you can find so many with whom you can disagree.
I told you I was going to start calling you Soapbox. Better get used to it.
I saw the post below after I replied to yours. Should've read ahead, I guess.
As for the prosecuted/not prosecuted, you're not familiar with the case I described, so your disagreement is not an informed or educated one.
Sometimes, it IS about race.
I grant you I don't know much about either of the two cases except for what I read on here, and I don't take anything here as gospel since, unlike me...haha, people post opinions on here and not necessarily facts.
I am just making educated guesses about the cases, and I find it hard to believe that in this day and age someone innocent will get prosecuted simply because she is black. If that were the case, we'd have the Reverends Jackson and Sharpton organizing marches daily and the ACLU fighting the abuse of this woman by the system all the way to the Supreme Court. I also find it hard to believe that someone clearly guilty will not get prosecuted simply because he or she is white. Maybe I am more naive than I want to believe, but I put faith in our system, but that's just me.
I agree with you that ANYONE who takes a live has to pay the price accident or not. I will also grant you that sometimes it is about race, but that's rarely, and we can't be sure that this man was not prosecuted because he is white. If something is truly about race, you'll really get to see how big my soapbox really is.
I didn't say she was prosecuted because she was black. I'm only saying that the facts, as I know them, showed that the person I was speaking of was every bit as guilty as, if not more than, Ms Avery, but the case was completely dropped. I can find no other reason, except that the investigators were more willing to forgive an "accident" on the part of a white man, than one on the part of a black woman.
And, I don't believe that Ms Avery even had a fair trial. I don't know if she is guilty of purposely hurting her child or not, but she does have a right to a fair trial. Her attorney made no attempt to defend her. A verdict of homicide by child abuse in Horry County was recently thrown out by the appeals court simply because the defending attorney did not put on a strong enough defense. (See post regarding public defenders).
No, we cannot be sure of anything. But, back to my original post--can anyone in BC law enforcement explain WHY the case a couple of years ago was never investigated or prosecuted?
I must have mistaken your passion tone for an accusatory tone. I also extrapolated you questioning the non investigation perhaps because he is white to mean that the other was indeed prosecuted because she is black. See what I get for assuming?
As for whether she had a fair trial or not, that's on the judge. That, I assume, should be part of his job as a judge, and if she had an incompetent attorney, then maybe she will have a decent grouds for an appeal, and her sentence wil be reduced.
As always with my posts, it's about the big picture. I was not talking about one individual, but about the law as it applies to all of us. If someone breaks the law, he should be punished. It doesn't matter how many people say he is a nice guy, and whether we really meant to break the law or if it was accidental, although the degree of punishment should vary depending on intent.
Also, to crarify, racism exists, but it's not as rampid as some would like to claim, even here in the antiquated and forgotten by civilization town we call home, Beaufort. For the most part we all are the victims or beneficiaries of our own actions, and not some external force set out to destroy us.
But, since moving here almost ten years ago, I have seen racism so strong that it is nearly impossible to combat it. The racism goes both ways and is rooted very deep in this society.
When I came here, I believed that all people were equal. That's how I was raised. But, I (white), was discriminated against by the black people here simply because they assumed that, since I was white, I was racist toward them. I have met some born and raised Beaufortonians who still actually believe in slavery. Others are simply hateful and cruel toward the black race. Every day, I hear cutting and sarcastic remarks from co-workers and acquaintances about black people, which only serves to make the black people hate us all the more. It is a vicious cycle, and it doesn't go away that easily.
I'm glad you live in such a rose-colored world. Maybe you can tell me how to get there.
If you could read, you'd see I got the "hang" part from the post above me.
"I was in the court when she was on trial and it looked like someone was out to hang her."
My family may have been slave owners.. I don't know. I wasn't around then. I owe you nothing. Had this story been about ANY other race, I would have said the SAME thing.
First of all I called no one raciest. I said what I felt about anyone talking about hanging. Any one who talks about hanging is a heartless, unfogiving person. What if this had happen to any one of you or some one in your family Would you say the same. You know when they came up with the three strike law it was all good until some of those people who came up with that law own family got caught up in it. So we should not be saying thing that could fall upon ourself. GOD DON'T LIKE UGLY. HE IS A FORGIVING GOD.
I don't want any thing from you. You don't owe me a thing. But like I said before this is not about YOU!
I'll copy your response and send it to her immediately. We will be praying for you as well. Remember, God has a sea of forgiveness, sometimes, we're the one's who don't forgive ourselves.
Stay well,
Patricia Avery
17 Doses were missing from the bottle, not in the babies system. No one remembered to mention that Paris didn't pick up the prescription, the bottle was already opened. No one summoned the Day care providers records. How would I know living in Baltimore that the daycare provided a sticker with a bear on it saying" Ra'Saan had his medication at a certain time? keeping it moving.
ummmm... She was at work
Thank you so much for your positive input. I'm her Mother and we are doing everything in our power to right this injustice as we speak.
Sad as this is, I don’t know what to say/type. I believe if she had proper legal representation Miss Avery would have had a better outcome, if there is any. With my experiences with public defenders, they don’t fair well in court no matter how well they can represent their client. Not to upset the public, I only know what was posted in the reports. All of it is very upsetting to me, as I have two children of my own and I can understand giving children more than the recommended dose of meds. I don’t give doses 6 times over, but my children don’t respond to the prescribed dosage, as far as I’m willing to risk is a half over the normal dose. I don’t understand what happened; I pray she didn’t do this intentionly. I know that as a parent I couldn’t live with myself if I harmed my child intentionally, or unintentionally. It just is crazy.
In all my hopes Miss Avery is a very stupid woman and not the person they claim she is. don’t get me wrong if this woman did this to not have to deal with the woe's of being a parent , by all means kill the B*t*h and burry her under the worst piece of earth you could find in beaufort county. If not it’s just a sad situation all around. That poor child, my heart goes out to his family either way. Loosing a child is the worst loss a family could deal with, especially under these circumstances...
Poot, I would hope that if your child is not responding to the dosage the doctor has prescribed that you would call the doctor to see if it is safe to increase the dosage and not take it upon yourself to overmedicate your child.
why would you feel sorry for her she did it alot of people do things that you dont think they would do but they do i feel sorry for her kids they lost a brother now there mother is gone away for along time i dont feel sorry for her at all i hope her other kids have a strong family behind them and can get through this hard time
i'm not trying to be rude but anyone who kills there child should go th prison and should never be let out. There is no excuse. How do you accidentally over medicate your child? How do you give them so many extra doses of a medication, then say you followed the directions just like they say? It doesn't add up. Lock her up and throw away the key. Make an example of her. Maybe it will keep someone from "accidentally" doing it again.
I sympathize with the Avery family on both ends. Thank God in the good and bad in this nasty situation. I lost a son at 8 months of age due to medical reasons and sometimes today ask myself what did I do right or what did I do wrong. What could I have done or what I should have not done. God does everything for a reason. Who are we to pass judgement on this human being. We will all stand in front of God on our last day for the final judgement. Paris pray to God and ask for forgiveness and that is all you can do. In the mean while while everyone is judging Paris Avery. I will pray for you and your extended family. May God be with you Paris.
How can some of you people be so cruel. I know this woman and she did not hurt her child on purpose. Maybe it was an accident but I no it wasn't on purpose. I was at her trial and her lawyer didn't have any witnesses not even her. Her didn't do anything the whole trial. What is that about isn't she supposed to have a defense. It was like her own lawyer was just giving her away. That isn't right!
I feel very sorry for the whole family my heart goes out to them all!!! Maybe Avery was trying to give the baby comfort, by applying more medication than usual. My daughter have severe ecsema and sometimes it gets so bad it makes her cry. It looks like she took very good care of her other children, no harm was done to them, so i think it was an accident. I think we all have taken that chance of taking more medication than what was prescribed by the doctor and just got by with it! So in this case I pray that it was an accident and she will be back with her other children.
This woman has been convicted of a crime, while the person who overdosed their two-month-old child a couple of years ago was never even arrested? No charges were ever filed and the person who did it was never even arrested. The baby died and the autopsy showed it had died of an overdose of medication. I knew the person who did it, and this person admitted to me that they had given the child a medication that was never intended for a child, nor was it an accepted treatment of the illness the child was suffering from. It was a medication used to treat something a child is not even capable of getting!!! I had worked closely with the parent of this child, and I knew that this person had a nasty temper and was capable of violence. The police never even interviewed this person's co-workers.
Then, to top it all off, the parent collected on a life insurance policy for the baby. Talk about your BLOOD MONEY!
So, Beaufort County Sheriff's Department, can you explain why Paris Avery was charged, while this other person was never even investigated? Could it be because she is black, and the other person is white?
There it is again. The sound of nails. (You hit one on the head.)
Could it be because she is black, and the other person is white?
Surely you can do better than that.....you sound so '80's.
This happened two years ago. The 80s are still here, in quaint little Beaufort by the sea.
The person who overdosed their child two years ago should have been charged, or at least investigated. A child died as a result of their actions, and LE did NOTHING!
BTW, I am not black, so please don't give me your "chip on the shoulder speech".
Every white person I know that was familiar with the case I am talking about believed that this person should have been investigated, at the very least. And now, they all agree that the only visible difference in the two cases is that Avery is black.
The person I knew killed a baby. That baby deserved to at least have his death investigated.
Thank you for your insight. I'm researching such cases as we speak, but to no avail. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated in this great time of need.
Respectfully,
Patricia Avery
Mother of Paris Avery
I've been searching for that particular case on the internet, could you please forward info to me?
Because I was a co-worker with what could be considered confidential information, I am not able to give out information. The person was never charged, so there would be no public record of the case. I don't know if there was even an obituary that appeared in the paper. I do know that the Beaufort County Sheriff's department assigned an investigator to the case. This investigator was, at the time, involved in attempting to solve "cold" murder cases, and must have been too busy trying to solve a sensational 20-year-old murder to investigate the "accidental" murder of a two-month-old baby. It happened about two years ago. I don't know if the solicitor's office was ever involved in the case. I am sorry that I am unable to give you further information. If I could, I would.
Thank you so much, this all feels like a nighmare, comparable to a lifetime movie, but much progress has been made. This case cannot be equated to race, as through my research, another young lady was charged with Homicide by Child Abuse in Greenville, SC. Her case is really ridiculous. Her Son died while she was at work, she left him with her boyfriend. It's a mess. I appreciate the laws when it comes to protecting children, however, I won't stand by and allow them to uphold the law when slippery slopes are involved.
I worked with Paris for a while, and I did get to know her pretty well. I know that she would never do anything to hurt any of her children. I believe that she was not represented right in court, her lawyer did a horrible job. She should have taken the stand and He should have called character witnesses at least. They did not put anybody on the stand in her behalf, now tell me that that is a fair trial? I mean exactly what did this public defender do for her, opening statement and closing statement, dont make me laugh, with the public defender that Paris had, she didnt have a chance.
My hope is that she will appeal this case, and when it goes before the courts again, she will be convicted of a much lesser charge, or the case will be completely dismissed. This was an accident, Paris would never hurt her Children, and the sooner people relize that the better off we will be.
Seems like people are lining up to defend Paris Avery. I see it in the news every time someone commits some horrible crime..."he was so nice"..."never bothered any of his neighbors"..."once he helped me carry groceries out of my car"..."he was such a smart student"...on and on and on.
The truth is nobody knows what other people will do. Sometimes we may not even know what we would do ourselves, and, yet, there's are plenty here who seem to know what Miss Avery is capable of.
As to the reason this black woman was prosecuted while a white woman was not for what appears to be a similar crime, I would venture to say that it probably had to do with evidence. The prosecutor felt he had enough evidence to have Miss Avery convicted, and he turned out to be right. While he didn't think he had enough to prosecute the other. Remember that our system is based on whether something can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. If there's enough doubt, a prosecutor would be wasting his time and our money going after someone he know will not be found guilty.
Race isn't always the cause of the injustices in this world, but some would like to think so. Most of the time it is because life just isn't fair and crap happens.
A white man. And how could they make the assumption that they did not have enough evidence, when no one conducted any interviews or investigation? And, it never even made it to the prosecutor. The investigators let the case drop.
The person who did it said that the autopsy showed the baby had died of an overdose, but that the investigator told him he believed it was an "accident". SO WHAT! The "accident" took a life. If that is how the law is supposed to work, then the person who killed someone while DUI should be able to say, "Well, it was an accident" and the case is dropped.
I have no idea what Ms Avery is capable of, and I believe she should be punished, because, accident or not, she took a human life. There have to be consequences. My point is simply that, in the case of the white man, there were no consequences, nor even an investigation. What made him so special?
I am a new mom and my heart just goes out to this young lady... I can't imagine what she is going through nor would I want to. I think we just need to pray for her other children (because they are going to need it), her, and her family. God Bless!
and I agree her whole family needs our prayers. But also, being a new mom - how in the HECK do you give your child 17 times the doseage recommended and it still be an "accident"? Wake up people. I think twice when I have to give my child a dose of tylenol for a fever. I cannot imagine giving her 17 times that dose. She knew full well that was too much to give that little baby, she just didn't want to deal with him. Anyone who has a little one knows that they can be hard to deal with, but to medicate a child just so you don't have to deal with him, that's a crime in and of itself. Disgusting.
I have been in the Avery family for 7 years, she is the aunty of my two children and I'm not here to prove she did it or didn't do it, I wasn't there, only her and god know the truth, I only hope that she didn't do it. Now as far as the people writing comments that they should hang her and everything, I know speech is free, but have a heart and realize that members of her family and her friends are reading this and we are going through enough pain during this trial and loss of baby Ra'Saan. So say what you want to say, just please keep in mind that her sister or brother or even mother is reading these and show some respect.
How can ANYONE affiliated with prosecuting this case be SURE that the babysitter is not the one that gave the medication to the baby to make it sleep. Hydroxyzine is the generic name for Vistaril. I don't even think the FDA has approved it for use with infants. Vistaril will make an adult very sleepy. Vistaril and Benadryl are first cousins.
What circumstance makes the babysitter above suspicion here?
Hello?..........
Clydean, RN
I was in the court and I saw reasonable doubt. Even without her lawyer saying anything. Who knows for sure that the babysitter didn't do this. And how does anyone know if there was more than one bottle and the babysitter had one. Hwo does anyone know for sure that the bottle they found at her house was all the way full when she got it. The babysitter was a big part at the trial what she said hurt Paris. Did it help the babysitter? This whole deal is wrong.