HANA WILLIAMS - 13 yo - Mt Vernon WA

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — A Sedro-Woolley couple denied food to a
13-year-old adopted daughter who died in May at home, Skagit County
prosecutors said Thursday in filing homicide by abuse charges.

Larry and Carri Williams were arrested Thursday and jailed, with bail
set at $500,000, the Skagit Valley Herald reported (
http://bit.ly/nf8Ota).

Hana Williams, who was adopted in 2008 from Ethiopia, lived in a
closet, and some people who know Carri Williams said she regretted the
adoption, court papers say.

The couple also was charged with first-degree child assault for
allegations they abused Hana's 10-year-old brother who was adopted with
her.

Early May 12, Carri Williams called 911 and reported Hana was not
breathing, saying the girl had refused to come into the house. She was
found face down in the backyard with mud in her mouth. An autopsy found
she died of hypothermia, but malnutrition and a stomach infection were
contributing factors.

In July, the Williams' remaining seven children were placed into foster homes.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016366085_apwaadopteddaughterdeath1stldwritethru.html

A couple accused of starving their adopted 13-year-old Ethiopian-born daughter and
locking her outside in the cold, where she died from exposure, pleaded
not guilty on Thursday to homicide and child abuse charges.

Although investigators found the Washington state couple adhered to a harsh child-rearing regimen
prescribed by a controversial Christian parenting book, the prosecutor
said Thursday that religion was not relevant to the criminal case.
Larry and Carri Williams, of Sedro-Woolley -- a town about halfway between
Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia -- were arrested September 29,
more than four months after their daughter, Hana, died of hypothermia in their backyard.
A Skagit County Superior Court judge reduced their bail from $500,000 to $150,000 each
on Thursday, and barred them from contact with their eight remaining
children, who were placed into foster care in July, or with each other.
Each is charged with homicide by abuse in connection with their daughter's
death, and first-degree assault of a child stemming from mistreatment of
her adopted 10-year-old brother from Ethiopia.
If convicted each faces a prison term of between 20 and 29 years, according to state sentencing guidelines.
Hana
Williams, adopted from Ethiopia by the couple in 2008, died on May 12
after she was found unconscious outside shortly after midnight, in
temperatures hovering around 40 degrees, authorities said.
Investigators
say the abuse she endured included beatings, starvation, being forced
to sleep outside and use an outdoor toilet, and that she had lost a
significant amount of weight since her adoption. Prosecutors said the
10-year-old brother was similarly mistreated.
The parents kept the family isolated from non-relatives, home-schooled the
children and followed strict religious principles described in the
Christian parenting book titled "How to Train Up a Child," investigators said.
According to court documents, their 16-year-old son told investigators that Hana "was kept
in a locked closet and the only light switch was on the outside of the
closet. He stated that his mother would take her out every other day to
walk and exercise. They played the Bible on tape and Christian music for
her while she was locked in the closet."
But Prosecutor Rich Weyrich insisted that issues of faith were not a factor
in the case against the couple. "Religion's not an element we have to
probe. We have to prove that the children were assaulted, tortured and
died," he told Reuters on Thurday.
Larry Williams, 47, who works for Boeing, and his wife, Carri, 40, a stay-at-home mother, were being held in Skagit County Jail.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/06/us-adopted-abuse-homicide-idUSTRE7957KO20111006

Here is a link that has a picture of this beautiful child. Sorry I don't know how to post the picture. The article has bit more personal detail than previous ones I've read and says the 10yr old boy is not her brother. My notes in red.

"Sep 30, 2011 at 6:31 PM PDT
Case file: Parents starved and beat girl, locked her out in the cold
Police arrest parents of girl who died in rain, cold
SEATTLE - A 13-year-old girl who died of hypothermia earlier this year was systematically starved, beaten, forced to use an outdoor toilet and sometimes locked in a dark closet for days by her adoptive parents, according to court documents released Friday.

Larry P. Williams and Carri D. Williams of Sedro Woolley were arrested on Thursday and booked into Skagit County Jail for investigation of homicide by abuse and assault of a child in the first degree. Each is being held on $500,000 bail.(later reduced to $150,000)

The Williams' adoptive daughter, Hana Williams, was found dead in May - naked, in her own backyard - after she had spent much of a cold, rainy day outside as a punishment, according to court documents.

Hana had been adopted from Ethiopia in 2008 as a diseased little girl to begin a new life with her new parents in America. Instead, she was beaten, starved, forced to sleep in a barn at times and deprived of love and basic necessities.

Although she died of hypothermia, there were other contributing causes to her death, including severe malnutrition and chronic gastritis, doctors said.

Child Protective Services said there are reports that Hana had lost a significant amount of weight before her death. And the night she died, she was out in the yard naked on a rainy evening, with temperatures in the low 40s.

Further investigation revealed that Hana had a number of injuries on the night she died, including a large lump on the head, bloody marks and injuries "consistent with disciplinary impacts with a switch," according to court documents released Friday.

Those same documents describe the hellish life that Hana endured in the months before her death - which included systematic withholding of food, forced times outdoors in the cold or locked in a dark closet, interspersed with regular spankings or beatings with a plumbing tool.

In interviews with the parents and other children in the household, investigators determined that the Williams withheld food from Hana as a punishment for being "rebellious," court documents say.

In addition, Hana was forced to use an outdoor portable toilet behind the barn instead of the home's indoor bathroom, and she sometimes was made to take cold showers while naked outdoors under a garden hose, the case file says.

The Williams told investigators that they made Hana use the outdoor toilet because she had hepatitis and they didn't want any of their other children to become infected with the disease.

Other punishments included locking Hana inside a dark closet for hours or days without food while the parents played the Bible on tape and Christian music for her while she was locked inside, according to court documents.(they obviously weren't asking "WWJD")

Hana also was forced to sleep in the barn on some nights or kept outside for hours in the cold without adequate clothing or shoes, court documents say - but she was allowed to wear shoes if there was snow on the ground.

The Williams also confirmed that they used a flexible plumbing tool as a switch to punish Hana and some of the other children in their household.

The children told investigators that Hana sometimes was beaten with a switch for standing more than 12 inches away from where she was told to stand or for speaking without permission.

The Williams' older biological children were sometimes encouraged to join in administering the punishment by their parents.

A witness told investigators that the Williams got their ideas for the disciplinary measures from a book, "How to Train Up Your Child," which recommends switchings with a plumbing tool, cold water baths, withholding food and putting children out in cold weather as forms of punishment. Here is a link that quotes some of the ideas in the book that these people took to the extreme.

http://whynottrainachild.com/2011/10/01/ttuac-linked-to-hana-williams-death/

Howard Cooper, a retired pastor who said the Williams and their children sometimes attended worship services at his church, said he had no idea abuse was going on inside the home.

"The kids, to me, they were nice loving kids. I loved to see them come," Cooper says.

Then, last spring, Cooper says Larry Williams asked him to officiate at Hana's memorial service.

"They told me they found her in the yard," Cooper says. "I wondered, 'What's she doing in the yard?' But I didn't press that."

On the night of Hana's death, Carri Williams is accused of sending her out in the cold and rain. She was later found naked, face-down, in the mud, according to court documents.

"I was totally shocked," says Cooper. "I had no idea why this happened."

According to documents, both parents and their children called Hana "rebellious." Carri Williams reportedly told a friend she thought she was adopting a little girl, not a "half-grown woman."

Yet at her funeral, Pastor Cooper says he saw an image of a grieving father.

"His heart was hurting, that his little girl had passed away," he says.

The Williams' other adopted child, a 10-year-old boy who also was adopted at the same time as Hana, is deaf - and also reportedly showed signs of abuse.

Prosecutors say the first-degree assault accusation against the Williams stems from allegations relating to the boy, who was also from Ethiopia but no relation to Hana.

According to court papers, the Williams also withheld food from the boy at times and switched him regularly - sometimes for not listening to them - even though he was deaf.

KOMO News attempted to get comments from the Williams, their attorney or their relatives - but were unable to do so.

After Hana's death, CPS convinced a judge to pull Hana's eight brothers and sister - ages seven to 17 - from their Sedro-Woolley home. Those children are all now in temporary foster care. The parents have requested a hearing to fight to get their children back."

http://www.kval.com/news/local/130871178.html

**********Posters Note: This murder and the bail reduction especially bothers me-I don't understand why it took four months to arrest the "parents". Maybe the investigators thought that Hana stripped naked and went outside in the rain to sleep in 40 degree temperatures? And of course the bereaved parents didn't notice she was missing? The other children testified that this dear little girl was regularly beaten, starved, locked in a dark closet....and bail gets reduced. IMO this was deliberate, depraved, on-going torture and it caused Hana to die. Also she wasn't allowed to use the inside bathroom because she had hepatitis-why did they adopt her then? Aren't the families checked out before being allowed to adopt? It just angers me so much that 19 year old boys who momentarily "lose it" (not excusing behavior, but I can understand it) and kill a crying infant often face the death penalty and yet these older adults who have child rearing experience can prolong a tortuous, slow death and get reduced charges. Oh, I'm ranting but it would have been kinder to just shoot the child in her sleep-oh, guess that would have been murder, that's wrong.

Ladibug,
I couldn't agree with you more. These disgusting parents should get the death penalty for what they did. This poor child was tortured and slowly died a painful death. She would have had a better chance of survival had she stayed in Ethiopia instead coming here and being adopted by these demons. I won't even call them animals because animals treat their own offspring better than this.

Charged mother of dead teen: ' I think my daughter killed herself'
By Michelle Esteban Published: Oct 13, 2011 at 9:20 AM PST

SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. -- Hana Williams died of hypothermia after she was starved and abused, according to the Skagit County prosecutor.

But during the 911 call made while Williams was on the ground, unconscious, her adoptive mother claimed it was the girl's own rebellious and self-destructive attitude that led to her death.

"Yes, I think my daughter killed herself," Carri Williams told the 911 operator.

When asked why she thought that was the case, Williams answered, "She's really rebellious and she's been outside, refusing to come in. And she's been throwing herself all around, and then she collapsed."

It was May 12, a chilling 40 degrees and raining. Police learned 13-year-old Hana Williams had been in the backyard of her Sedro-Woolley home for half the day.

911 Operator: "Is she breathing?"

Carri Williams: "I don't think so, no."

911 Operator: "How old is your daughter?"

Carri Williams: "I don't know. We adopted her almost three years ago."

911 Operator: "You don't know how old she is?"

Carri Williams: "She's somewhere between the ages of 14 and 16."

Prosecutors have charged Carri Williams and her husband, Larry Williams, with homicide by abuse, but the Williams claim their daughter was acting out and refused to come inside.

"She was throwing herself all over the gravel, the yard, the patio," Carri Williams said. "We went to bring her in. My sons tired to carry her in, and she took her clothes off."

But court documents state Carri and Larry Williams had forced the girl to spend the day outside as a form of punishment. Detectives say the girl led a hellish existence, often starved, beaten and locked in a dark closet for hours.

The girl's brothers dragged her into the house, and the 911 operator coached Carri Williams through CPR. Hana Williams had a lump on her head, and was covered in blood, and investigators believed marks on her body were from repeated whippings.

Carri Williams insists the girl killed herself.

"She's very passive-aggressive...I don't' know how to describe it," she said.

A witness told investigators the parents took their discipline cues from a controversial book that recommends withholding food and putting children in cold weather to punish them. The Williams' eight other children have been taken into protective custody.

The two suspects have been released on bail, and have refused to comment.

http://www.kval.com/news/local/131651828.html

So these two monsters are still out on bail? Unbelievable.

How sad that this poor girl came from a poor country like Ethiopia, a country that has faced famines, to the USA where amongst other things she died of malnutrition. Its so disgusting that this poor girl was taken out of her country and culture to a completely foreign land and treated like dirt. How confusing and degrading for this poor girl, she couldn't possibly fathom what and why she was being treated like this by these people. If your struggling with so many kids then put your hand up and ask for help.

Aussie Girl wrote:How sad that this poor girl came from a poor country like Ethiopia, a country that has faced famines, to the USA where amongst other things she died of malnutrition. Its so disgusting that this poor girl was taken out of her country and culture to a completely foreign land and treated like dirt. How confusing and degrading for this poor girl, she couldn't possibly fathom what and why she was being treated like this by these people. If your struggling with so many kids then put your hand up and ask for help.

You are right Aussie Girl. This is such a tragedy.

Motion denied to suppress investigative photos in Hana Williams death case

Posted: Thursday, January 5, 2012 8:00 am
Updated: 5:33 pm, Wed Jan 4, 2012
Lynsi Burton

MOUNT VERNON — The Sedro-Woolley couple charged with the death of their 13-year-old adopted daughter, Hana Williams, were denied their motions to suppress investigative photos Wednesday in Skagit County Superior Court.

Larry and Carri Williams are charged with homicide by abuse and first-degree child assault for the treatment of their two adopted children from Ethiopia, one of them Hana.

First, the defense argued photos of Hana’s undergarments and a sanitary pad violated her right to privacy and would be offensive to a reasonable person. They also asserted that images of red-stained socks belonging to Hana would impede the Williamses’ right to a fair trial because they gave a “false impression of injury.”

Finally, attorneys claimed that photos of Larry Williams’ phone showing his phone number and exterior shots of the family home would endanger his safety.

Judge Susan Cook rejected all three arguments.

http://www.goskagit.com/news/article_22990c5e-373d-11e1-a963-001871e3ce6c.html

Mom accused in daughter's abuse death is back in jail

By KOMO Staff
Story Updated: Apr 20, 2012



MOUNT VERNON, Wash. - A mother accused of abusing and starving her 13-year-old daughter to death is back in jail after she violated a no-contact order with one of her other children, the Skagit County Prosecutor's Office said.

Carri Williams of Sedro Woolley was arrested Thursday after allegedly violating a court order prohibiting her from contacting her son. She is now being held on $300,000 bail.

She was initially arrested in 2011, along with her husband Larry, after the couple's adopted daughter Hana was found dead - naked, in her own backyard - after spending much of a cold, rainy day outside as punishment, according to court documents.

Carri and Larry Williams were later released from jail after posting bail, and they were under strict orders not to contact their other children. But Larry was re-arrested in January after violating the no-contact order, and Carri was re-arrested late Thursday.

The couple is charged with homicide by abuse in Hana's death. They also were charged with first-degree child assault for the alleged abuse of their younger adopted son. It was this son that Carri Williams was trying to contact, the prosecutor said.

Hana died of hypothermia in May 2011 after she was systematically starved, beaten, forced to use an outdoor toilet and sometimes locked in a dark closet for days by the Williams, according to court documents.

Hana had been adopted from Ethiopia in 2008 as a diseased little girl to begin a new life with her new parents in America. Instead, she was beaten, starved, forced to sleep in a barn at times and deprived of love and basic necessities, court documents say.

Although she died of hypothermia, there were other contributing causes to her death, including severe malnutrition and chronic gastritis, doctors said.

The Williams' other children told investigators that Hana sometimes was beaten with a switch for standing more than 12 inches away from where she was told to stand or for speaking without permission.

But in the 911 call she made after her daughter's death, Carri Williams claimed it was the girl's own rebellious and self-destructive attitude that led to her death.

"Yes, I think my daughter killed herself," Carri Williams told the 911 operator.

When asked why she thought that was the case, Williams answered, "She's really rebellious and she's been outside, refusing to come in. And she's been throwing herself all around, and then she collapsed."

A witness told investigators that the Williams got their ideas for the disciplinary measures from a book, "To Train Up Your Child," which recommends switchings with a plumbing tool, cold water baths, withholding food and putting children out in cold weather as forms of punishment, court documents say.

http://www.komonews.com/news/Mom-accused-in-daughters-abuse-death-is-back-in-jail-148326395.html?m=y&smobile=y

Originally published Sunday, July 21, 2013 at 8:56 PM

Homicide-by-abuse trial begins Monday

Larry and Carri Williams are charged with homicide by abuse and first-degree manslaughter in the death of Hana Williams, their adopted Ethiopian daughter. They have pleaded not guilty.

MOUNT VERNON — Jury selection will begin Monday in the trial of a Sedro-Woolley-area couple accused of abusing their adopted Ethiopian daughter to death in 2011.

Larry and Carri Williams are charged with homicide by abuse and first-degree manslaughter in Hana Williams’ death. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The homicide-by-abuse charge applies only if the victim was younger than 16, and Hana’s exact age has been at issue throughout the investigation. She is believed to have been 13 when she died, but documentation of her birth has been unavailable.

Witnesses for the defense could testify that birth certificates are issued in fewer than 15 percent of Ethiopian births, and that birth dates given for adopted children are often unreliable or inaccurate, according to court documents.

Motions Friday by Carri Williams’ attorneys to postpone the start of the trial were denied. Attorney Wes Richards said repeatedly that he and attorney Laura Riquelme were not prepared to provide adequate counsel for Carri Williams because they had received some evidence from the state as late as Friday.

Judge Susan K. Cook, who is presiding over the case, said a “last-minute flurry of activity” is typical.

Prosecutors and Larry Williams’ attorneys had both opposed that motion, with Larry Williams’ attorneys arguing he has spent 19 months in custody and should not have to wait longer for his day in court.

“This is a situation where one side holds all the cards,” said Larry Williams’ attorney, Rachel Forde, gesturing to the prosecution and then to her client, “and one side is facing all the jeopardy.”

Larry Williams, unlike his wife, has been held at the Snohomish County Jail under Skagit County’s custody.

The couple also are charged with first-degree child assault, tied to allegations they physically abused their Ethiopian adoptive son.

Hana was found lying dead in the mud in the backyard of the Williamses’ home on a rainy night in May 2011. She died of hypothermia hastened by malnutrition and a stomach condition, according to the autopsy report.

Investigative reports detail allegations that the Williamses starved Hana, beat her and forced her to live outside.

About 125 people will be called in Monday as possible jurors. That group eventually will be whittled to 15 — 12 jurors and three alternates, Cook said Friday.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021445064_williamstrialxml.html?syndication=rss

September 6, 2013 at 10:40 PM

Case of adopted daughter’s death goes to jury

After closing arguments concluded this week, the jury has begun deliberations in the case against Larry and Carri Williams, the Skagit County couple accused of abusing their adopted daughter to death.

MOUNT VERNON — The jury has started deliberating the case against Larry and Carri Williams, a Sedro-Woolley-area couple accused of abusing their adopted daughter to death and assaulting their adopted son.

They must weigh whether the pair caused the girl’s death and caused “substantial bodily harm” to the boy, or if, as defense lawyers argued, they were just using “reasonable parental discipline” and could not anticipate or stop their daughter from perishing from exposure behind the house.

Lawyers made their closing arguments Wednesday and Thursday in Skagit County Superior Court, and the state had one last rebuttal Thursday afternoon. Then the Williamses’ fate was passed to jurors.

Spectators have filled the courtroom benches most days of the trial. Members of Seattle’s Ethiopian community have been present each day, sitting on the prosecutors’ side in silent support of Hana.

One, Metassibia Mulugeta, said she had her doubts until Carri Williams took the stand, but the defendant’s own testimony convinced Mulugeta she was guilty. A mother of eight other children should have been able to tell something was wrong with Hana before she died, Mulugeta said.

Roseanne Bramlett of Bellingham is a friend of Carri Williams who has been coming since the trial’s first week, when the jury was being selected. She also has been contributing money to a fund to help the Williamses pay their mortgage while Larry Williams has been in jail.

“I just feel like the facts were laid out pretty clear,” she said. “I feel really confident that things will go well.”

Carri Williams’ case
A jury could have plenty of reasons to doubt the charges against Carri Williams, Skagit County Public Defender Wes Richards said Thursday morning in his three-hour closing argument.

Richards said Carri Williams did not cause Hana’s hypothermia — if that is even what really killed the girl. He noted inflammation in Hana’s esophagus that pointed to vomiting and suggested she could have been bulimic.

The homicide-by-abuse charge applies only if Hana was younger than 16 when she died. Her age has been at issue throughout the case, and no expert has said she was definitely younger than 16. That issue alone could result in a not-guilty verdict on that charge.

The manslaughter charge requires that Carri Williams knew there was a substantial risk to Hana’s life and disregarded that risk. But Carri Williams did not know the signs of hypothermia and did not suspect the weather on a spring night to be deadly, Richards said. Besides, he said, she repeatedly tried to get her daughter to come into the house.

The pair also is charged with first-degree assault of the younger boy they adopted from Ethiopia at the same time as Hana.
Richards questioned the boy’s credibility as a witness, saying he contradicted himself during his almost 12 total hours on the stand. The boy also has an interest in the outcome of the case, Richards said.

“There’s no doubt that this boy was abused, mistreated, mistreated badly,” Richards said. “Did that cause him some bias in this case? Sure.”

Several times Richards said there were problems with the Williamses’ parenting tactics, calling them “unbelievable,” “degrading” and “humiliating.”

But they do not amount to the crimes charged here, he said, imploring the jury to decide based on the law, not on their emotions.
Prosecutors’ rebuttal
Deputy prosecutor Rosemary Kaholokula based much of her rebuttal around one concept: If not for Larry and Carri Williams, Hana would be alive.

What the Williamses’ lawyers argue was reasonable parental discipline was in fact starvation and torture, she countered. They deprived their daughter of basic necessities of life, locking her in a closet, feeding her unpalatable food and isolating her from the outside world, she said.

Degrading punishments like buzzing off Hana’s treasured braids and making her use a portable toilet and shower with a hose outside went way too far, Kaholokula said.

“They took away Hana’s dignity, they took away her will, and then they took away her life,” she said.

Alternate explanations for Hana’s death offered by the defense don’t make sense, Kaholokula said.

The most helpful witnesses to the Williamses’ case were those with clear interest in the outcome: themselves, their children and other family members, Kaholokula said. Meanwhile, she said, the state’s expert witnesses had no reason to lie.

The adopted boy, whose credibility came into question in both defense teams’ closing arguments, was likely confused by the way defense lawyers phrased their questions, she said. Larry Williams’ lawyer Rachel Forde called the boy a self-professed liar, but Kaholokula said what he’d admitted to was lying to his parents about having broken rules — and why wouldn’t he, she asked, considering the punishments coming his way?

Many objections
The rebuttal was peppered with 17 objections by Forde, who said Kaholokula was mischaracterizing evidence and playing on the jurors’ emotions. All but one objection was overruled.

On the stand, Larry and Carri Williams corroborated every accusation against them but downplayed the severity, duration and frequency, Kaholokula said. They worked as a team over a long period of time leading up to the night Hana died, agreeing on ways to punish her and carrying them out in concert, she said.

Kaholokula closed by showing photos to the jury and telling them Hana died the way her adoptive family made her spend the final year of her life: cold and alone.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021772677_williamscasegoestojuryxml.html

Adoptive parents of Ethiopian girl who died of hypothermia and starvation in their backyard found GUILTY of manslaughter

A Washington state couple were convicted of manslaughter Monday in the gruesome starvation and hypothermia death of a teenage girl they adopted from Ethiopia.

A jury found Larry Williams, of Sedro-Woolley, guilty of first-degree manslaughter, while his wife, Carri Williams, was found guilty of homicide by abuse as well as manslaughter. The jury also convicted them both of assault and each faces a possible life sentence.

Hana Williams died in May 2011 in the backyard of the couple's home, where she was forced to stay as part of a strict system of child-rearing outlined in a Christian parenting book.


Manslaughter: Larry (left) and Carri Williams react in a Washington court Monday as a jury read their guilty verdict. The couple were guilty of manslaughter in the death of their 13-year-old Ethiopian adopted daughter


Dragged away: Carri Williams is taken into custody after a jury deemed her guilty of the 2011 death of her daughter. She was also found guilty of homicide by abuse


Happier times: Hana Williams, seen in this undated photo looking healthy, was found frozen and starved to death in the yard of her adoptive parents' home in 2011

An autopsy showed that Hana died of hypothermia that was aggravated by chronic gastritis and malnutrition.

Her bone-thin body was covered in bruises, including a lump on her shaved head, and red bloody markings on her hips, elbows and face.

Defense lawyers argued that questionable parenting practices don't necessarily amount to a crime.

Hana is believed to have been 13, but no documentation of her birth in Ethiopia was available. The trial was postponed several times and her body was exhumed in January.

The jury began deliberating last week. On Monday, they announced their decision to convict both the Williams' of first degree manslaughter.

The class A felonies can mean life in prison and/or $50,000 fines, according to the Skagit Valley Herald.

The jury was unable to decide if Larry Williams was guilty of homicide by abuse. In the end, only Carri Williams was convicted on that charge.

Both Larry and Carri were also convicted of first degree assault on Hana's adopted brother Immanuel.

Tests on Hana's teeth and bones gave varying estimates and experts were unable to agree on her age.

Her age was significant because the homicide by abuse charge applies only if the victim was younger than 16, though experts were unable to say for sure if she was or was not.

She was adopted in 2008.


Guilty: Larry Williams listens in Skagit County court days before a jury found him and wife Carri guilty of neglecting and ultimately killing their adopted Ethiopian daughter Ana


Wicked: Carri Williams cries during her trial. She was convicted Monday of homicide by abuse in addition to manslaughter and could face life in prison for killing her 13-year-old adoptive daughter by starvation and neglect

A foster mother testified during the trial that the couple's other adopted son Immanuel was rail-thin and covered in scratches when she took him in.

The testimony from Sheila Jackson came on day 18 of the Williams murder trial.

The couple left their 13-year-old Hana, to starve and die in the cold after brutally punishing her and her step-brother, Immanuel.

Jackson, who is deaf, told the jury in a Mount Vernon courtroom that when the Williamses’ son Immanuel, who was also adopted from Ethiopia, came to live with her, she could barely keep up with his demands for food.


Remorseful? Williams is pictured here testifying for his defense in August. The Washington man and his wife were both found guilty of first degree manslaughter and both face a possible life sentence


Extreme: The deeply religious couple are believed to have been following an extreme form of Christian parenting outlined in the book To Train a Child

'He ate fast. He ate a lot. He ate more than I expected,' she told on the stand, the station KIRO-TV reported

Following the couple's arrest, Child Protective Services removed Immanuel and seven other children from their home.

Sheila Jackson said the boy was terrified to talk about his adoptive parents.


Wasting away: Hana, pictured left sometime after her arrival in the U.S., lost nearly 30lbs between 2009 and 2011, and had her head shaven when she was found dead in the backyard


Angelic: Hana, pictured second left, seen as a young girl with her family back in Ethiopia

According to the foster mother, the child was so emaciated that his ribs were showing through his skin covered in markings from past beatings.

Immanuel, now 12 years old, testified during the trial that the Williamses beat him and Hana with belts and switches.

The parents kept the family isolated from non-relatives, home-schooled the children and followed strict religious principles described in the Christian parenting book titled ‘To Train Up a Child,’ investigators said.

As punishment for bad behaviour, the teen told the court that he and his step-sister were fed frozen meals, hosed down and forced to sleep in closets, where they would listen to recordings of the Bible on tape and Christian music.

The defense has attempted to paint Immanuel as a disobedient boy with an attitude problem.

The lawyers for the couple said Immanuel hit and bit Jackson’s daughter so badly that her teacher ended up calling CPS after the child came to school with bruises.

Sheila Jackson said that Immanuel has been getting counselling and his behaviour has been improving.

In 2008, Immanuel was 7 years old when the American couple, both devout Christians, adopted him and Hana from Ethiopia. Larry worked at Boeing while his wife was a stay-at-home mom home-schooling the two adopted kids and their seven biological children.

In his testimony, the 12-year-old told the court that his adopted parents would beat him with a stick until blood was running down his face.

Other disciplinary measures included having Immanuel hosed down in the yard for bed-wetting and keeping him and Hana outside in the cold.


Lingering fear: Foster mother Sheila Jackson, who took in Immanuel after the Williamses' arrest, said the boy was very thin, always hungry and terrified to talk about his adoptive parents


Tough disciplinarians: Hana and her adoptive brother were allegedly spanked, hit with sticks, hosed down and forced to eat frozen food


Cruel death: Hana's emaciated body covered in bruises was found face down in the mud in the backyard of the family's home in Sedro-Woolley, Washington


Cause of death: An autopsy showed that the 13-year-old died from hypothermia exacerbated by malnutrition and gastritis

'I would suffer with the pain until it eventually went away,' he said in sign language July 29.

Larry’s attorney, Rachel Forde, characterized the Ethiopian boy as a troublemaker who lied to his adoptive parents and refused to do lessons assigned by his mother.

While the couple's biological children, five of whom had testified during the trial, were generally treated better, the strict rules in the Williams household applied to them as well.

According to Joseph Williams, however, he and his siblings were given the authority to punish and even spank their adopted brother and sister, KIRO-TV reported.

Joseph was called to the stand to describe the night of May 12, 2011, when his 13-year-old adopted sister died.

Joseph Williams told the court that after Hana died while sitting in the yard in 40-degree weather, his mother instructed him to bring the girl's body inside, where she performed CPR and called 911.

The mother of nine said on the call that her
daughter Hana 'has killed herself.'


Blaming the victim: On a 911 call after Hana's death, Carri Williams (left) told the dispatcher that her 'rebellious' adopted daughter had killed herself by throwing herself down to the ground and refusing to come indoors

When asked by the 911 dispatcher why she believed her daughter had taken her own life, Williams said that the girl was not breathing and lying face down in the mud after refusing to come indoors, according to the Seattle Times.

Calling Hana 'rebellious,' the mother said that she had seen the 13-year-old throwing herself to the ground and staggering about the yard after taking her clothes off.

A local weather station reported that the
temperature that night was 42 degrees.
First responders arrived just after midnight and rushed Hana to Skagit Valley Hospital, where she was pronounced dead an hour later.

An autopsy report concluded that the girl died from hypothermia, with malnutrition and chronic gastritis as contributing factors. According to the girl’s medical records, between 2009 and 2011, she had lost nearly 30lbs and was short for her age.

Larry and Carri Williams were arrested September 29, 2011, on charges of homicide by abuse in connection with their daughter's death, and first-degree assault of a child stemming from mistreatment of Immanuel.

If convicted, each faces a prison term of between 20 and 29 years, according to state sentencing guidelines.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2416514/Hana-Williams-Washington-adoptive-parents-Larry-Carri-Williams-GUILTY-manslaughter.html

Remorseful my ass. Just that they got caught and are getting punished. Well at least some justice.  They should get the death penalty.  William

William, you're so right.  The only remorse is getting caught.  They only care about themselves..

Disgusting.

God save me from "Christians" like that.  The bible I believe in teaches love, not torture and murder of children.

Washington husband: Wife deserves decades in prison for fatal child abuse 

Larry Williams says spouse Carri Williams, not him, should pay the price for the death of Hana Williams. The starving girl was found face down in the mud three years after arriving from Ethiopia.

 NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, October 27, 2013, 2:14 PM

A Washington husband thinks his wife should pay the price after jurors convicted them both of killing their adopted daughter.

For better or worse prison sentences?

A Washington husband thinks his wife is the one who should pay the price even though jurors convicted them both of killing their adopted daughter.

kirotv

Larry Williams was convicted along with with wife Carri Williams in the death of their adopted daughter, but the Washington man thinks his wife deserves the blame.

Larry Williams blamed wife Carri Williams for the systematic abuse that led to the death of Hana Williams three years after they brought her home from Ethiopia, KIRO TV reported.

The starving girl died face down and naked on a cold and rainy night in 2011 in the couple’s backyard in Sedro-Woolley, Wash.

kirotv
Larry (left) and Carri Williams (center) are due to be sentenced in the death of their adopted daughter and abuse of their adopted son.


She was believed to be about 13 years old, but officials couldn’t find her birth certificate.



Remembrance of Hanna Williams @ Facebook
Hana Williams died after her adoptive parents starved her and left her outside in the cold rain.

A jury found the couple subjected Hana and an adopted brother, Immanuel, to abuse that reportedly included whippings and neglect.

Larry and Carri Williams were each found guilty of first-degree manslaughter. Carri was also convicted of homicide by abuse, but jurors deadlocked on that charge when it came to Larry. It was eventually dropped.

Scott Terrell/AP
Carri Williams, shown in court, faces 27 to 37 years in prison for killing her adopted daughter Hana Williams.
Larry Williams’ attorney, Rachel Forde, asked a judge to limit her client’s sentence to just five years, because he supposedly didn’t know what his wife was doing, KIRO reported.

“She was the primary actor in all of the treatment of Hana and Immanuel,” Forde told the station.

kirotv
Larry Williams, shown leaving Skagit County Court, thinks his wife should pay the price for abusing and ultimately killing their daughter.

Larry Williams, who faces 14 to 19 years in prison, was away at work with airplane manufacturer Boeing while his wife abused the children, Forde said.

SCOTT TERRELL/AP
Larry Williams was found guilty of manslaughter in Hana’s death, but jurors couldn’t reach a decision on a charge of homicide by abuse.

He claims he didn’t know what was going on at home, although his wife has testified he did.

Larry Williams has spent the past two years in jail as the trial progressed and he could be out in another three if the judge grants his request.

Remembrance of Hana Williams @ Facebook
Hana Williams, shown in a video on a Facebook tribute page, froze and starved to death in the backyard of her adopted home.

Carri Williams faces 27 to 37 years in prison when she’s sentenced.

Skagit County Jail officials have put her in cells away from other prisoners, because they worry the inmates would target a child killer, the Skagit Valley Herald reported.

Justice for Hana
A Facebook tribute page set up in memory of Hana Williams who was killed by her adoptive parents.

“I have a responsibility to keep her safe from other people,” chief of corrections Charlie Wend told the paper.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/husband-punish-wife-long-sentence-fatal-child-abuse-article-1.1498176#ixzz2j2gIzYg7