MILO RUPERT - 9-10 months (7/2012)/ Convicted: Parents; Sandra Jackson (manslaughter) and Kyle Rupert (neglect) - Sebring FL

Highlands mother convicted in infant’s death


A tearful Sandra Jackson looks over as one of her daughters leaves the courtroom on Wednesday. Jackson is accused of neglecting her children and aggravated manslaughter in the death of her 9-month-old son, Milo. RYAN PELHAM/STAFF A tearful Sandra Jackson looks over as one of her daughters leaves the courtroom on Wednesday. Jackson is accused of neglecting her children and aggravated manslaughter in the death of her 9-month-old son, Milo.

RYAN PELHAM/STAFF By Jay Meisel | Highlands Today
Published: June 21, 2014

SEBRING — A mother accused of neglecting her four children to the point where one died of malnutrition was convicted Friday of aggravated manslaughter of a child and three counts of neglect after a three-day trial.

A Highlands County Circuit Court jury acquitted Sandra Jackson of one count of child neglect, as in the case of the child who died, 9-month-old Milo Rupert, they could only convict her of either the more serious charge of manslaughter or neglect.

Sentencing will be done at a later date, Circuit Judge William Sites said.

The jury deliberated less than two hours before reaching a verdict. The jury on Friday heard closing arguments.

Assistant State Attorney Richard Castillo said that day after day Jackson would return home from work and see her children getting thinner, the cockroaches crawling all over their apartment and the increasing dirtiness, a prosecutor told a jury Friday.

Yet, she did “nothing or next to nothing,” to resolve those problems and protect the children depending on her, Castillo told the jury.

And that’s why Jackson should be convicted of aggravated manslaughter of a child, Castillo said.

But Robert Gray, the attorney who represented Jackson, said the state relied on sensational evidence, such as photos of the dead child, to seek to convict the mother, while ignoring what supported another cause of death.

Gray, who admitted that Jackson was guilty of neglect, called it a “Perry Mason” moment, that Kyle Rupert, the former boyfriend of Jackson, admitted earlier Friday on the stand that he might have fed too much apple sauce to Milo Rupert, the 9-month-old child found dead on July 7, 2012, in the dirty Avon Park apartment, the night of Milo’s death. Perry Mason was the fictional attorney who always got someone to confess during a trial.

The defense attorney suggested that Kyle Rupert broke the nipple on a bottle containing apple sauce and that resulted in Milo eating too much apple sauce, which ruptured his shrunken stomach that resulted from two days of not fully digesting any food.

Jackson and Kyle Rupert, both of Avon Park, were charged last year with three counts of child neglect without great harm, one charge of child neglect with great harm and one count of aggravated manslaughter of a child. That was after an autopsy showed that Milo had died of malnutrition and his three sisters were malnourished.

Kyle Rupert subsequently plead guilty and was sentenced to 24 years in prison.

Gray said that Rupert was responsible for Milo’s death. While agreeing with Castillo that the boyfriend didn’t intend to kill the child, he suggested that Rupert either fed Milo too much apple sauce, or strangled or smothered him to get him to stop crying so he could play video games.

The problem with the apple sauce theory was that an associate medical examiner testified the apple sauce caused the stomach to rupture after death, Castillo said. And Castillo said of the other possible causes that if jurors looked at the total situation not enough evidence supported the cause of death being something other than malnutrition.

Earlier Kyle Rupert testified that he did nothing to cause Milo’s death and he did his best to take care of Milo and the other children.

“I cared about him and my daughter and I could never hurt him,” he said. “I did my best. She (Sandra Jackson) did her best.”

But, Timothy Reichersamer, who lived with Jackson and Rupert, during part of 2012, said that he had to practically nag Rupert to check on his son.

Still, Rupert testified that when he found Milo dead, he “leaned over his body and cried.”

He broke a door and some glass out of anger from finding out Milo died, he said. “What I had worked for had just disappeared,” he said.

http://tbo.com/news/crime/highlands-mother-convicted-in-infants-death-20140621/

Records Indicate That Parents Provided Less Care For Children As Time Passed

Highlands Today (Sebring, FL) - 7/5/2013

July 05--AVON PARK -- In the months before a 10-month-old boy died of malnourishment last year, records released this week by the State Attorney's Office indicate the parents ignored complaints about the treatment of the boy and his three sisters, failed to follow up on offers of assistance and visited doctors with the children on spotty a basis.

When investigators talked with Sandra Jackson, the mother, about the boy's history of doctor's visits, Jackson "ultimately admitted that she was afraid to take Milo (Rupert) to see the doctor because he would see how 'bad,' Milo was," the report said. "Sandra said that she was trying to get Milo 'better' before she took him to see the doctor so her kids would not be taken from her."

Neverthesless, Sandra Jackson signed away her rights to the children only 19 days after Milo's death, she told authorities.

The interview took place earlier this year after Jackson, 25, and Kyle Lee Marsh Rupert, 22, were both charged with one count of child neglect with great harm and three counts of child neglect without great harm.

Not long afterwards, they were also charged with aggravated manslaughter. An opinion from the District 10 Medical Examiner said that Milo, who died in 2012, lost 27 percent of his body weight since Jan. 23, 2012, and that Milo "died as a result of nonorganic failure to thrive, due to underfeeding, due to neglect."

Records state that Milo only received some apple sauce to eat during the three days before his death.

No trial date has been set. Assistant State Attorney Steve Houchin said depositions -- statements from potential witnesses taken by attorneys -- will be held this month. He said a trial date could be set in August, but there's no certainty of that.

Records indicate that while people saw signs that Milo and his sisters, ages 2, 3, 4, at the time of the arrests, were malnourished and were suffering from health problems, besides living in a cockroach-infested dirty household, the most definitive action only occurred after Milo died.

One of those who saw the conditions of children and those inside the house was Laura Pearson, a sister of Sandra Jackson, according to the records.

Pearson told authorities that she would "cuss out," Sandra over how she was not taking care of the kids," the report said.

Although Pearson told authorities she did not have a close relationship with her sister, she was over at her sister's apartment and saw conditions deteriorate.

"Laura stated, that towards the end, she would not go further than the front door, because she could see how 'bad,' the inside was," the report said. "Laura said that dirty diapers, garbage and dirty dishes, were always inside the residence."

Pearson told authorities Jackson blamed Rupert for not cleaning up the environment. Both Jackson and Rupert blamed each other for why the cockroach problem continued, the records said.

She also told authorities that during the months leading up to Milo's death, the child was "very far behind," in his development and that Milo could not hold up his head.

Although Pearson said that Jackson got food stamps for the children, Jackson's three girls appeared to be very skinny and that one of the girls looked like a "skeleton with skin on her," the report said.

The girls always were dirty and had sores on them, Pearson told authorities, according to the report. "Laura also recalled that the girls never had shoes on them when they came to visit."

One of the girls scratched sores on her head to the point that hair fell out, Pearson told authorities, according to the report.

Jackson told authorities the children were thin, not because they were underfed, but because of their high metabolism, records say.

During a time after the Florida Department of Children and Family Services visited the home of Jackson, Pearson told authorities, the children were placed temporarily in the custody of Sandra Jackson's mother and that she lived with her mother. Sandra Jackson and Rupert would live their at times, but they would play computer games rather than take care of the children, Pearson told authorities, according to the report.

Amy Jackson, an aunt of Sandra Jackson, told investigators that she met the children three times and that during each visit they were always wanted to eat a lot and that they were skinny and dirty.

Though DCF offered Sandra Jackson child care help, the reports indicate that she either declined the assistance or never followed up on it.

During her interview with authorities when Sandra Jackson was asked about those offers, she "said she never followed up with DCF, because she got 'caught up with work.' Sandra said also said that if she had taken assistance from DCF, her would children would be 'better off,' today."

http://tarrant.tx.networkofcare.org/kids/news-article-detail.aspx?id=45337

Father pleads guilty in child neglect case

Jay Meisel | Highlands Today
Published: July 22, 2013

SEBRING - The father whose 10-month-old son died of malnutrition in a filthy, cockroach-infested apartment in Avon Park has pleaded guilty to neglect charges of Milo and his three sisters and is expected to be sentenced July 30 to 24 1/2 years in prison.

Kyle Lee Marsh Rupert, 22, and mother Sandra Michelle Jackson, 25, were both charged with aggravated manslaughter, one count of child neglect with great harm and three counts of child neglect without great harm.

Authorities had found Milo dead in July 2012 and his three sisters neglected and malnourished.

A pretrial conference is set for Jackson on Aug. 22.

If Kyle Rupert had gone to trial, the maximum sentence he could have received if convicted was 45 years in prison, said Assistant State Attorney Michael Castillo.

Castillo said he felt Rupert needed to get a strong enough sentence to punish him for allowing his son to die from starvation "and I think that (24 1/2 years) accomplished that."

Although 45 years is the maximum sentence, Castillo said, it was unlikely Rupert would have received that much time, with the maximum penalty being set to run consecutively on each charge.

Rupert pleaded guilty last week in front of Circuit Judge William Sites. Castillo said he asked for a delay in sentencing, which is now scheduled for July 30 at 1 p.m.

One reason for that is to give Milo's family members or possibly others the chance to testify before the sentencing occurs, Castillo said.

Another is to provide time to research whether the charges of aggravated manslaughter and child neglect with great harm essentially are double charging for the same crime, Castillo said.

If he determines that to be the case, the child neglect charge will be dropped, he said.

Castillo said in examining the case against Rupert, there were some factors supporting the sentence being reduced from the maximum.

One was that Rupert suffered neglect as a child, Castillo said.

Another, Castillo said, was that Rupert is mentally challenged, which can be determined after examining some tapes of him playing video games.

Rupert didn't seem to fully grasp the situation at hand in the apartment, Castillo added.

He lived in the same apartment as the children, Castillo explained, and had no qualms inviting his friends over to play video games, despite the stench, garbage and cockroaches.

"He was living in the same mess and sleeping in the same mess" as the children, the assistant state attorney said.

Castillo also noted that Rupert is the father of only two of the children, while Jackson is the mother of all four of them.

Records showed that Rupert and Jackson blamed each other for the condition of the apartment. They also indicated the children were pretty much left in the bedrooms unattended and that the neglect increased during the final six months before Milo died.

http://highlandstoday.com/hi/local-news/father-pleads-guilty-in-child-neglect-case-20130722/#sthash.86MYFIXW.dpuf