JASON RIMER - 4 yo (2008) - Las Vegas NV

Parents To Stand Trial For Boy's Death

Jason Rimer, 4, Found Dead In SUV In June 2008


February 14th 2011


http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/26858802/detail.html
LAS VEGAS -- A
Las Vegas couple goes to trial Monday on second-degree murder and child
endangerment charges more than two years after their 4-year-old son was
found dead in the family’s sport utility vehicle.Colleen and
Stan Rimer are accused of leaving the boy, Jason, in the vehicle for 17
hours on June 9, 2008. He was found by his brother, and the Clark County
coroner later ruled the boy died of heat stress.


Following the death, statements made by the couple to police indicated that it wasn’t
the first time they had forgotten about the child, who suffered from a
genetic disease that rendered him unable to walk properly and perform
other functions.The Rimers, who have five other children, told
police they noticed the boy wasn’t with the family the day he was left
in the SUV. In a police report, Colleen Rimer said she searched for a
while but eventually gave up.Stan Rimer was also quoted in a radio interview saying,
“One got away from us.”After searching the couple’s home, police noted that
it was in disarray and deemed the conditions unhealthy to the children.
Previous Stories:

• January 25, 2010: Rimer's Motion Denied In Son's Death
  
• February 25, 2009: Rimers To Have Bail Hearing
  
• July 18, 2008: Coroner: Jason Rimer Died Of Heat Stress
  
• June 26, 2008: Rimer Parents Booked In Child Death
  
• June 26, 2008: Report Details Day Child Left In Car
  
• June 20, 2008: Rimer Children Not Returning To Parents
  
• June 13, 2008: Coroner: Tot's Cause Of Death Could Take Weeks
  

Closing arguments have finished in the murder
trial of Stanley and Colleen Rimer. The pair are accused of killing
their four-year-old son, Jason.
The Rimers face a second degree murder charge
and several child abuse and neglect charges. They have heard a lot of
graphic details in the last two weeks. Thursday, the state made sure the
jurors remembered how helpless Jason was when he was left in the family
SUV for 17 hours.
"He didn't struggle to get out because he
couldn't. He was incapable. There were no signs on the windows or door
handles that Jason Rimer could even save himself. Indeed, he was
entombed," said Prosecutor David Stanton.
The state once again showed the jury a picture
of Jason's body after he was taken out of the family's SUV. They say he
died of heat stress, saying he basically "baked to death."
The state also reminded the jury of several
different accounts of lice found on the Rimer children and also about
the filthy condition of the home.
As for the defense, Stanley's Rimer's attorney
placed blame with Colleen Rimer. He said his client was upstairs sick
and was never told his youngest son was missing.
"There was one parent who left Jason in the car.
There was only one parent who was aware that he was missing. There was
only one parent to the death of Jason that failed to act reasonably. I'm
not suggesting that Colleen acted intentionally or any type of malice,"
said attorney Tim O'Brien.
The defense also argued that there is no
physical evidence that Stanley Rimer abused his children. They told the
jury there are no photos, no bruises and CPS investigators never kept
cases open.
While the state says Stanley Rimer used corporal punishment on his kids, the defense called it paddling.
Instead of second degree murder, the jury can
also decide to instead convict the Rimers of involuntary manslaughter.
The jury will return Friday to continue deliberations.
http://www.8newsnow.com/story/14138349/child-murder-case-goes-to-the-jury

A jury handed down a verdict Tuesday against the
parents of a four-year-old who died after being left for hours in the
family SUV in 2008.
The jury convicted Stanley and Colleen Rimer for their son's death, but not under the more serious second-degree murder charge.
The jury found the couple guilty of the lesser
manslaughter charge. They pair also faced abuse and neglect charges.
They are accused of physically abusing five of their eight children.
Stanley Rimer was found guilty on all child abuse and neglect charges.
Colleen Rimer was found guilty on three abuse charges.
District Court Judge Douglas Herndon set bail
for the couple as they wait sentencing. He wondered aloud in court how
four-year-old Jason Rimer, a special needs child, could be left in a
sweltering SUV, strapped in his seat and helpless with no way to get
out.
"You can't not look at the fact that we're
dealing with a situation where a four-year-old child was left alone for
17 hours without anybody ever having the state of mind to think to go
look at him, look for him, to see if he needed lunch after being at
church for three hours, needed dinner, needed to get ready for bed,
needed to change clothes, any of those things," Judge Herndon said.
The judge further admonished the Rimers.
"Quite honestly - with regard to Mr. Rimer - the
thought process that goes into thinking it's okay to break a boat oar
across the ass of your child is seriously flawed," the judge said. "It
indicates to me a real concern about the kind of judgment that you enter
into as you go about the affairs in your life."
The judge also expressed concern about alleged threats made by Stanley Rimer to Child Protective Services workers.
"The threats that were issued to state workers
that are trying to help the children, by calling them up and telling
them you know where they live and spouting their home addresses to
them," the judge said.
Pictures posted on Stanley Rimer's online photo
album show a happy family: a birthday celebration when Jason turned
three; the little boy playing with rocks and enjoying cake on the Fourth
of July. Some of the captions read "home sweet home", but the Rimers'
trial contained testimony describing a history of trouble.
During the trial, the jury heard testimony that the condition of the home of was often dirty and the children had lice problems.
"The danger with this entire case from the
beginning was charging the Rimers with four years of child abuse and
neglect and then throwing the second-degree murder of Jason Rimer on top
of it," said Colleen Rimer's attorney Michael Sanft.
Once the verdict was read, the judge had the
Rimers handcuffed and taken to jail. He noted the fact this couple is
now guilty in the eyes of the law.
"We're not dealing with the presumption of
innocence any longer," he said. "We're dealing with you both being
convicted of multiple charges of child abuse and neglect and looking at
substantial prison time."
Colleen Rimer could face up to 36 years in
prison. Stanley Rimer could face more than 50 years. The Rimers'
sentencing is scheduled May 31.
The case went to the jury on Thursday afternoon but there was as delay when one juror fell ill and had to be replaced on Monday.
http://www.8newsnow.com/story/14141722/rimers-found-guilty-of-manslaughter-in-death-of-child?redirected=true

Jane Ann Morrison




Disabled boy's death makes no sense

The unnecessary death of Jason Rimer haunts me. I've tried to
understand the parents who lost track of their son for 17 hours on a hot
summer day in 2008, but I simply cannot.I wonder how the
disabled 4-year-old must have suffered, mentally and physically, during
the 17 hours he was forgotten, unable to open the SUV's door, trapped in
the family vehicle while his parents and brothers were inside the home.During
the trial that ended Tuesday with the convictions of Stanley Rimer and
his wife Colleen on manslaughter and child abuse and neglect charges,
the father's defense team tried to blame the mom. She was responsible,
not him.The jury didn't buy it. Both Rimers were convicted of manslaughter.Colleen
also was convicted of three counts of child abuse and neglect, two
involving Jason and one involving another mentally challenged son. She
was not convicted of child abuse involving the three brothers who were
not disabled.Both Jason and his mother suffered from myotonic dystrophy, an inherited illness that affects body and mind.Stanley
Rimer was convicted of seven counts -- manslaughter, two child abuse
and neglect charges regarding Jason and four more counts of child abuse
and neglect regarding four other brothers.The only daughter among
the eight children is Crystal Davis. Like her mother, before she left
that horrible home in 2006 at age 16, she was expected to care for the
males of the family. Her testimony, both before the jury and the grand
jury, was more sympathetic to her mom than her dad.She described
the father beating the boys, the filth of the home, the lice, the feces,
and Jason's dirty diapers seldom changed by her mother and never by the
father. Jason was given a bath once a week before going to church on
Sunday, where his father was a Mormon Church leader.She told of
how there wasn't always food for the younger boys, yet the parents
stashed food upstairs for themselves in a refrigerator."If there
was no bread downstairs or anything, they (the brothers) would have to
go upstairs and ask for some bread, and sometimes my dad would say yes
and sometimes he'd say no," Crystal told grand jurors in 2008. "In 2004 I
remember it being very dirty, filthy. We'd always have to get the
carpets cleaned because there were animals in the house and they would
soil the carpet. We also had my grandmother living with us and she would
soil the carpets and her living there made it even worse because she
has dementia and Alzheimer's, and you know, she wouldn't know what to do
with things, she would move things from one place to another and make
it more chaotic than it already was."Over 20 years, child
protection authorities recorded 21 contacts with the Rimer family,
including five after Jason was born. Only twice were neglect allegations
substantiated and neither of those involved Jason.Although the
daughter testified calmly against her parents, when the verdict came
down, her comments to Review-Journal reporter Francis McCabe were
telling. "My mother didn't deserve this. My mom is sick."About
her father, who disavowed responsibility because he was sick that day:
"My dad says he was sick and he didn't know what was going on, and I
believe him."Colleen Rimer seems to be a victim of her husband's
domineering ways and her own poor health while Stanley Rimer comes
across as a misogynistic patriarch who believes his word is absolute and
he can do no wrong.Just guesswork, but on May 31, when they're
sentenced, she'll get probation, he'll get time, and their children will
be haunted forever by Jason's needless death and the realization normal
families don't live like this.Jane Ann Morrison's column appears
Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or
call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.

A 43-year-old Las Vegas mother tearfully apologized in court for
the death of her 4-year-old disabled son, who was found dead after 17
hours in a hot vehicle.Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Herndon was unmoved and sentenced her to five to 20 years in prison.The
Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the judge told Colleen Rimer at
sentencing Thursday that she failed as a mother, and that Jason Rimer
died in June 2008 because no one in the family cared to go find him.
Colleen Rimer and her husband, Stanley Rimer, were convicted March 1 of involuntary manslaughter and child abuse.Jurors were told the parents physically abused five of their eight children and lived in squalor.Stanley Rimer was sentenced previously to eight to 30 years in prison.


Read more: http://www.bradenton.com/2011/07/22/3367531/vegas-mom-gets-5-to-20-years-for.html#ixzz1SwjecBsg