CHANCE MARK JONES - 4 yo (2011) Clarendon - TX

Clarendon, Texas - A four-year-old child is dead and his father is behind bars, charged with his murder.
38-year-old Robert Babcock is facing capital
murder charges after his son, 4-year-old Chance Mark Jones died
Wednesday morning at Northwest Texas Hospital.
The Donley County Sheriff tells us Babcock
called 911 Tuesday morning, saying his son was non-responsive. When
authorities arrived at their house, the Sheriff says it was obvious the
child had been assaulted.
He was air-lifted to the hospital, and died from severe head and torso trauma, after undergoing emergency surgery.
Babcock was questioned by the sheriff, and taken into custody a short time after.
Child Protective Services took the child away
from his mom in November after finding evidence of abuse and neglect.
CPS placed him with his dad after finding no major red flags in his
criminal record and discovering Babcock did not have a history with CPS.
Both Donley County and the Texas Rangers are investigating. Babcock's bond will be set Thursday morning.
http://www.newschannel10.com/Global/story.asp?S=13791608

This poor child was abused and neglected by his mother so cps took him away from her and placed him with his father who beat him to death. I just want to scream!

A Donley County man remains behind bars on a 1.1 million dollar bond after investigators say he murdered his son.
The sheriff says 38-year-old Robert Babcock
is charged with capital murder and domestic violence to a child relating
to events that happened inside this home on Country Road W.


His son, Chance Mark Jones died Wednesday morning after being airlifted to an Amarillo hospital.
Authorities say the child died from severe head and torso trauma.
The sheriff also says this likely is not the first time Babcock beat his son.
* * * * A four-year-old child is dead and his father is behind bars, charged with his murder.
38-year-old Robert Babcock is facing capital murder charges after his
son, 4-year-old Chance Mark Jones died Wednesday morning at Northwest
Texas Hospital.
The Donley County Sheriff tells us Babcock called 911 Tuesday
morning, saying his son was non-responsive. When authorities arrived at
their house, the Sheriff says it was obvious the child had been
assaulted.
He was air-lifted to the hospital, and died from severe head and torso trauma, after undergoing emergency surgery.
Babcock was questioned by the sheriff, and taken into custody a short time after.
Child Protective Services took the child away from his mom in
November after finding evidence of abuse and neglect. CPS placed him
with his dad after finding no major red flags in his criminal record and
discovering Babcock did not have a history with CPS.
Both Donley County and the Texas Rangers are investigating. Babcock's bond will be set Thursday morning.

I am so outraged I just want to scream!
It looks like this poor boy was failed by everyone in his short life... his mother, his monster "father", cps workers... His torture and beatings started on a Christmas day and ended 10 days later with his death. Poor baby I wish I could hug you and let you know how precious and loved you are, RIP sweet angel...
Mother Blames CPS for Son's Murder
Kristen Guilfoos
NewsChannel 10

Donley County, Texas - The Donley County Sheriff is calling it the worst case he's dealt with in his 30-year law enforcement career.

Two days after her four-year-old son's death, Chance Mark Jones' mom is pointing fingers at Child Protective Services. Nancy Brown says she has nightmares about what happened to her son in a home Southeast of Clarendon.

She says, "He looked like he'd been tossed around like a ragdoll than run over by an 18-wheeler."

The four-year-old died Wednesday morning, allegedly at the hands of his own dad, Robert Babcock... Who now sits behind bars in Donley County for capital murder.

The boy was taken away from his mom in mid-November, after CPS found evidence of abuse and neglect. Following a criminal background check and an in-depth interview, CPS allowed Babcock to take custody of his son in mid-December.

While Brown says she never thought Babcock was capable of something like this, she says it could have been prevented. "I do believe CPS should have been doing their house checks with the kids that they have not done and they may have caught the child abuse early."

She's blaming the agency, saying they did not play by the rules. But CPS says they acted by the book.

CPS tells us in cases where the biological parent is in custody, they do not have to do welfare checks every ten days like they would if it was not the biological parent who has custody.

Texas Rangers say the young boy had been beaten sporadically since Christmas Eve. If convicted, his dad could face the death penalty.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/War-Against-Child-Abuse-WACA/110955438951100

Court moves Babcock trial to Hall County

The trial for accused child killer Robert Babcock will be held in
Hall County instead of Donley County following a pre-trial court hearing
in Clarendon last Tuesday, December 20.

Babcock is accused of beating his son, who died on January 5.
According to previous reports, preliminary results of an autopsy
conducted the next day revealed that the boy died from blunt force
trauma to the head and that he also suffered internal injuries from
trauma to the torso.

District Judge Stuart Messer last week partially granted the
defense’s request for a change of venue. Defense attorney Dale Rabe
argued for moving the trial to Vernon or Wichita Falls, but District
Attorney Luke Inman said he did not agree with moving the trial out of
the district.

Judge Messer said the court would first try to impanel an impartial
jury in Hall County before it would consider moving the venue further.

Babcock’s attorney also sought permission to prepare questionnaires
for potential jurors, and Messer allowed that request but asked the
defense to collaborate with the DA’s office in the preparation of the
questionnaire.

Messer also granted the defense’s request to independently test the
results of tests the state had performed of damage to a wall at the
crime scene.

The defense also sought to suppress three statements – interviews of
the defendant conducted by the Donley County Sheriff’s Office and the
Texas Rangers – totaling 6½ hours of recordings. During the hearing,
Sheriff Butch Blackburn and Texas Ranger Jamie Downs testified about
interviewing Babcock last January. Both men testified that Babcock had
been properly read his rights, that he never asked for an attorney, and
that he remained calm throughout the interviews.

Judge Messer himself will review all 6½ hours of recordings before
making a ruling on whether to allow them to be admitted as evidence.
Messer will also be reviewing autopsy photos that the state intends to
use in its prosecution of Babcock.

Also on Tuesday, the court also invoked a rule prohibiting potential
witnesses in the case from being the courtroom while other witnesses
testify and from discussing the case with anyone except the attorneys in
the case.

Babcock remains in the Donley County Jail with bond set at $1 million. His trial is set to begin January 17.

http://www.clarendonlive.com/?p=10092

Guilty: Jury convicts Babcock after 5-day trial



By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise.  © 2012.

Robert Babcock began his life sentence in state prison this week for killing his four-year-old son, Chance Mark Jones, by beating him to death last year at his rural residence southeast of Clarendon.
A Hall County jury of six men and six women deliberated for nearly an hour and a half in Memphis last Thursday, June 7, before returning their unanimous verdict that Babcock is guilty of capital murder, and District Judge Stuart Messer pronounced the sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
“This verdict screams out justice for Chance,” District Attorney Luke Inman told the Enterprise. “It closes a very important chapter in Chance’s life and for the people who truly loved and cared for Chance.”
Babcock showed no emotion as the verdict and sentence were read nor when family members addressed their emotions and their feelings about him during the allocution following sentencing.
“He was a remarkable and intelligent little boy who touched everyone’s hearts with his beautiful smile,” said Heather Hill, who had raised the boy as her own son for about two years, before he went to live with his biological father. “He was so full of life and enjoyed every moment spent with the ones who loved him the most…. Chance thrived on love and affection, why would you have ever caused intentional pain and harm to a child who immediately called you, ‘Daddy?’”
The jury’s decision concluded a trial that lasted five days and closed a case that prosecutors, law enforcement, and the community had agonized about since Babcock called 911 on the morning of January 4, 2011, and reported his son was unresponsive. Jones died the next day at Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo.
The first gruesome details of Jones’ injuries became public during the first two days of testimony, Thursday and Friday, May 31 and June 1; but jurors learned even more horrifying details when the trial resumed Tuesday, June 12, and were not swayed in Babcock’s favor when the defense tried to present its case later in the week.
DAY ONE....

read more:
http://www.clarendonlive.com/?p=11305