JONATHAN JAMES - 10 yo - Dallas TX

Boy, 10, died after parents 'refused to let him drink water for five days as punishment'

By JOHN STEVENS
Last updated at 1:45 AM on 28th August 2011

A 10-year-old boy collapsed and died in front of his twin brother after his parents refused to let him drink water for five days, it is claimed.

Jonathan James died from dehydration in Dallas after his father and step mother allegedly denied him water as punishment after he took some guitar strings from one of his siblings.

Michael Ray James and Tina Maria Alberson have been arrested and charged with injury to a child.

The boy's grandmother said that his twin brother had wanted to help, but was afraid he would be punished too. 'I did tell him, “I don't want you to feel guilty because there's nothing you could do.” And he says, “I wish I had snuck him some water”,' Sue Shotwell told Fox Dallas-Fort Worth.

She said she is now concerned for the twin, who is called Joseph, because he watched his brother collapse and has been having nightmares reliving the moment he died.

The boys had been spending the summer with their biological father because of a custody arrangement. Mrs. Shotwell said they had been reluctant to go.

Jonathan James died on July 25 and was found by paramedics in a bath tub. Family members told police that he had been trying to cool him off and that he had been feeling sick for a number of days.

But a medical examiner found that he had died from dehydration. If convicted, James and Alberson could face up to 99 years in prison.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2030975/Boy-10-died-parents-refused-let-drink-water-days-punishment.html#ixzz1WI37zvoA

Interview with surviving twin brother:

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/08/in-interview-with-channel-8-tw.html

Poster's note in red
By JON NIELSEN
Published 26 August 2011 11:05 PM

A 10-year-old boy who died of dehydration after his parents (father and step-mother) deprived him of water last month was being disciplined for wetting the bed, authorities said Friday.

Documents obtained a day after Jonathan James’ father and stepmother were arrested in his death show how the boy suffered while he was denied drinking water for five days in July. And in an interview Friday, Jonathan’s grandmother said that he had called her in late June to say he was afraid to live with his father and stepmother for a month-long, court-ordered custody visit.

Jonathan died July 25 after he collapsed at the Red Bird home of his father and stepmother, and rescuers were unable to revive him.

Michael Ray James and Tina Alberson, both 42, remained in the Dallas County Jail on Friday, charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. Jonathan’s twin brother, Joseph, was also staying at the home but was not injured.

Jonathan “called me and said, ‘Can I come to your house instead? I know I’m going to be in trouble while I’m there because I always am,’” said Jonathan’s grandmother Sue Shotwell of Duncanville. “That’s the first time we ever heard that from him.”

According to Joseph, his parents put Jonathan in a room without air conditioning and told him to stand by the window with the sun beating down on him.

Joseph said that on the day Jonathan died he had peanut butter stuck in his throat but his parents wouldn’t let him wash it down.

“They still wouldn’t let him have water,” Joseph said.

Joseph regularly looked out for his brother. He’d find him during recess at school and they’d play together. But Joseph could only watch as his brother slowly died. Joseph said he didn’t want to risk facing similar punishment.

“I wanted to do something, but I couldn’t,” Joseph said. “I couldn’t do nothing because I would get in trouble.”

Shotwell later told Joseph not to feel guilty. There was nothing he could do.

She did question why Michael James chose to watch his son die.

“He could’ve stopped it,” Shotwell said. “What person in their right mind deprives anyone of water?”

Police documents show that the boy suffered until he collapsed and hit his head on the floor the night he died.

“A child of his age would exhibit progressive symptoms of his dehydration, including complaining of thirst, progressively becoming lethargic, appearing dry (cracked lips, sunken eyes), mental status changes, decreased urine output and eventually shock/cardiac arrest,” the documents said.

Rescuers took Jonathan to Methodist Charlton Medical Center. Alberson told authorities there that Jonathan was sick. But the medical staff called investigators even while they were trying to revive the boy.

Jonathan seemingly never stopped enjoying life, Shotwell said. He rode his bike, swam and participated with his brother in Cub Scouts.

“He was very tan from being outside,” Shotwell said. “He would run out the door, and I’d hand him a bottle of water like he was running a marathon.”

He was an easy-going boy who made friends easily, she said, and he never held a grudge.

“This kid, if you know Jonathan, he could forgive you for no matter what you did,” Shotwell said. “You could ground him, and he would say ‘I love you, Mimi.’”

Shotwell, who is an administrator at Methodist Charlton Medical Center, rushed to the hospital to be beside Jonathan on the night he died.

When she got there, she knew something bad had happened to her grandson, who had always been a strong, healthy boy. His breathing had slowed and he was unconscious.

Shotwell was alone with Jonathan and whispered in his ear.

“I told him I loved him,” she said. “He was precious, and I told him where he was going.”
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/headlines/20110826-boy-who-died-of-dehydration-was-punished-for-wetting-bed.ece

Poster's Note: This is such an especially sad story because of the twin brother who was there and saw this happening. They seemed very close so it would have been horrid for Joseph even if his twin had died accidentally. I don't understand why the charge is only injury to a child when the little boy died. Personally they make me sick and the charges, beside murder should include torture and they should face the death penalty. Although if they get 99 years maybe the prison guards would deny them water.

Look at the pictures of these monsters. They certainly don't look starving or thirsty. The father looks evil and it's no surprise that precious boy didn't want to visit him. God bless his pool soul. At least he won't have to suffer any longer. I pray for his twin brother who is so traumatized by his death. So very very sad.

Trial begins for mom accused in boy's dehydration death

by REBECCA LOPEZ, WFAA
Posted on January 16, 2013 at 8:12 PM
Updated yesterday at 8:12 PM



DALLAS — The stepmother of a 10-year-old boy who died from dehydration in 2011 is now on trial in Dallas.

Jurors on Wednesday heard Tina Alberson — in her own words — admit that she withheld water from her stepson, Jonathan James.

Prosecutors played a tape of Alberson being interrogated by a Dallas police detective. In that recording, she describes a series of punishments that may have led to his death.

DETECTIVE: "So did you restrict fluids?"

ALBERSON: "Yes. I limited it."

Alberson told investigators there were a variety of reasons she didn't give Jonathan water; for instance, if he didn't eat his food at dinner and lunch.

ALBERSON: "Instead of giving him a whole cup, I would give him part of it. I told him, 'You need to eat so much, and then you can have some.'"

She also said she withheld water because Jonathan would wet the bed.

Alberson said she began restricting the boy's water on Friday, August 22, 2011. Throughout that weekend, the boy was forced to stand in one place for long periods of time.

Their home had only one working window air conditioning unit. Over the entire weekend, no one recalls Jonathan drinking anything except for a Coke on Saturday.

On Monday, Alberson said Jonathan kept asking for water.

ALBERSON: "He always said he was thirsty. He was in time out, and every two minutes he would say/ 'I need a drink... I need to go to the bathroom.'"

She described how on Monday night — after a weekend of punishment — Jonathan was placed in a bathtub.

But by then, it was too late.

ALBERSON: "As I turned, I saw his head go back and his eyes had rolled up in his head."

Jonathan was already suffering dehydration. The family called 911 after Jonathan passed out.

At one point during the interrogation, Alberson said Jonathan was forced to hold a five-pound bag of potatoes over his head and stand in one place for long periods of time.

The dead boy's brothers and fathers are expected to testify later in this trial.

http://www.kvue.com/news/187224001.html

Stepmother sentenced to 85 years for boy's dehydration death
By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News

A woman who refused to give water to her 10-year-old stepson for days during a searing Texas heat wave was sentenced to 85 years in prison on Tuesday, local media reported.

Tina Marie Alberson had faced up to life in prison for her conviction by a Dallas County jury for an injury to a child, a second-degree felony, in the July 2011 death of Jonathan James, NBCDFW.com reported.

Alberson, 44, showed no reaction to her sentence, according to the Dallas Morning News.


Jonathan James' grandmother, Sue Shotwell, testified in the sentencing phase that the boy couldn't understand why he was always in trouble with his stepmother. Shotwell told Alberson in court Tuesday that she has forgiven her and that Jonathan loved her and also forgave her.

"We trusted you; we trusted you with our baby," Shotwell said, according to the Dallas paper.
Alberson denied causing Jonathan's death in the record heat wave.

The boy died on July 25, 2011, after he was found unresponsive in his home, NBCDFW.com reported. His death occurred during a record string of 100-degree days and police originally thought his death was heat-related. But the Dallas County medical examiner determined that the boy had been deprived of water for five days before he collapsed and died.

The boy's father, Michael Ray James, 43, is scheduled for trial next month on the same charges.

At least he got some justice. William