ROBERT MANWILL - 8 yo (2009) - Boise ID

The two people accused of murdering 8-year-old Robert Manwill, whose
body was found floating in a canal in 2009, are in court today.
Robert's mother, Melissa Jenkins, and her boyfriend, Daniel Ehrlick are
both charged with first-degree murder.
Ehrlick is also charged with failure to report a death to law
enforcement, while Jenkins is charged as an accessory.
At 9:30 a.m., Brennan reported Melissa Jenkins' defense attorney and the
judge were arguing over whether she should be required to testify in the case.
Jenkins' attorney claims his client is a "chronic liar" and shouldn't
take the stand. The judge argues she will be under oath and facing a
perjury charge if she lies on the stand.
Melissa Jenkins' attorney also expressed concern that his client will
not get a fair trial in Boise because of all of the media attention surrounding the case.
Around 10:00 a.m., another attorney in Jenkins' defense asked the judge
for a list of things they wanted for their case, including audio tapes
of officer's interrogating Melissa Jenkins and polygraph tests.
Manwill's body was found in a canal in Kuna on August 10, 2009.
The indictment handed down last year by an Ada County Grand Jury
accuses that the pair "tortured and murdered Manwill by inflicting
extreme or prolonged pain with intent to cause suffering or to satisfy
some sadistic inclination by inflicting repeated acts of blunt force
trauma or abdomen and/or head with his hands, knees, fists and/or feet."
The indictment also accuses Ehrlick and Jenkins of lying to police about
the events surrounding Manwill's death.
The boy was reported missing to police on July 24th, 2009. The
community quickly responded, with posters featuring the boy's face
popping up all over town, and volunteers spending spare time searching for the child.
Judge Deborah Bail asked both Jenkins and Ehrlick wether they intended
to plead guilty or not guilty. The judge outlined the rights and loss of rights tied to each choice.
Pleas were not entered in the case, instead were delayed so that the
newly appointed attorney in the case could get up to speed.
The case started to rapidly change on Thursday July 30, 2009. That
night, police began searching the Jenkins' Boise Bench apartment,
removing materials from the home, including cabinets, computers and
more. Police also towed a vehicle from the complex.
Jenkins has a past criminal history that involves hurting children.
On October 19, 2008, police said a baby boy had been injured. Jenkins
was arrested and charged with felony injury to a child. The child
suffered serious head injuries and was taken to a local hospital for
treatment. The child was taken into the custody of the Idaho Department
of Health and Welfare.
Court documents say Jenkins hit her 9-month-old son's head on a surface.
The infant suffered a fractured skull that caused not only physical
pain, but mental suffering as well.
Since Manwill's disappearance and before his arrest, Ehrlick had been in
and out of the hospital for unspecified treatments, according to family.

Jenkins has a past criminal history that involves hurting children.
On
October 19, 2008, police said a baby boy had been injured. Jenkins
was
arrested and charged with felony injury to a child. The child
suffered
serious head injuries and was taken to a local hospital for
treatment.
The child was taken into the custody of the Idaho Department
of
Health and Welfare.
Court documents say Jenkins hit her 9-month-old
son's head on a surface.
The infant suffered a fractured skull that
caused not only physical
pain, but mental suffering as well.
Since
Manwill's disappearance and before his arrest, Ehrlick had been in

and out of the hospital for unspecified treatments, according to family.
I don't believe what I read here. How is it that Robert was left in her custody after she had already violently abused a 9 month old in 2008. Why wasn't she in jail? Please, I just don't understand this

kiwimom wrote:Jenkins has a past criminal history that involves hurting children.
On October 19, 2008, police said a baby boy had been injured. Jenkins
was arrested and charged with felony injury to a child. The child
suffered serious head injuries and was taken to a local hospital for
treatment. The child was taken into the custody of the Idaho Department
of Health and Welfare.
Court documents say Jenkins hit her 9-month-old son's head on a surface.
The infant suffered a fractured skull that caused not only physical
pain, but mental suffering as well.
Since Manwill's disappearance and before his arrest, Ehrlick had been in
and out of the hospital for unspecified treatments, according to family.
I don't believe what I read here. How is it that Robert was left in her custody after she had already violently abused a 9 month old in 2008. Why wasn't she in jail? Please, I just don't understand this

---As my dear mother was fond of saying, "A leopard never changes its spots"

A judge has postponed the trial of a Boise
mom accused in the death of her 8-year-old son to allow more time for
her co-defendant boyfriend to be tried.

The
first-degree murder trial for Daniel Ehrlick, scheduled to begin in
October, is expected to last six weeks or longer. As a result, 4th
District Judge Darla Williamson moved Melissa Jenkins' first-degree
murder trial to late January.

Prosecutors say Ehrlick beat young Robert
Manwill in a pattern of "escalating physical violence" that ended in his
death, and that Jenkins knew about the abuse, failed to intervene and
actively hid it from state child protection workers.

The child was reporting missing on July 23,
2009. A community-wide search ended two weeks later when Robert's
battered body was found in an irrigation canal.

In a surprise statement from Ada County prosecutors, Melissa Scott
Jenkins has agreed to plead guilty to aiding and abetting the murder of
her 8-year-old son, Robert Manwill.
The announcement is at least partial closure in the murder case that consumed the community in July 2009. A massive search effort
was mounted after the 8-year-old Manwill was reported missing.
Thousands of community members looked for the boy while his
family—including his mother and her boyfriend, Daniel Ehrlick,
Jr.—begged for his safe return. His body was found two weeks later
floating in a Kuna canal on Aug. 3, 2010.
Jenkins and Ehrlick were charged with murder, and prosecutors believe the child's death followed weeks of escalating violence, which was hidden by his mother.
As part of a guilty plea, Ada County prosecutor Greg Bower said Jenkins is expected to spend 25 years in prison without parole.
Ehrlick has pleaded not guilty, and his murder trial is scheduled to begin in April.
In a Dec. 15, 2010, interview with BW,
Idaho Health and Welfare Director Dick Armstrong said his department
will conduct an extensive review of the Manwill case when legal
proceedings against Jenkins and Ehrlick are complete.
http://www.boiseweekly.com/CityDesk/archives/2011/01/31/mother-of-robert-manwill-pleads-guilty

Jury selection begins for man accused of killing Robert Manwill
Updated Wednesday, May 11 at 9:44 PM
BOISE -- The jury selection process has begun for Daniel Ehrlick, the man accused of murdering 8-year-old Robert Manwill.

Ehrlick is charged with first-degree murder.

Prosecutors allege that abuse by Ehrlick ultimately resulted in the death of Robert, who was living with Ehrlick and his mother, Melissa Jenkins, in the summer of 2009.

Fourth Judge Darla Williamson and attorneys in the case began questioning prospective jurors Wednesday morning.

They plan to narrow the pool down to 50, with those jurors appearing in court next Monday when 12 jurors and four alternates will be selected.

Opening statements are scheduled to begin next Tuesday.

http://www.ktvb.com/news/Jury-selection-begins-for-man-accused-of-killing-Robert-Manwill-121649109.html

Jurors in the Daniel Ehrlick murder trial heard the 911 call he made reporting Robert Manwill missing.
Ehrlick is accused of murdering Manwill in 2009.
Daniel Ehrlick called 911 just after 10 o'clock that night.
We've learned through other testimony Ehrlick told his girlfriend
Melissa Jenkins, Robert's mother, that the boy was missing around 7 that
night, or roughly three hours earlier.
Jenkins was at work for those initial hours and left her job shortly before Ehrlick called 911.
It's been questioned why he waited so long to call.
In the first part of the 911 call, Ehrlick explains his 8-year-old son is missing.
"When did you last see him?" asks the dispatcher.
"I've been looking for him a couple hours around our apartment
complex. It was like before, it was like 7, I guess, somewhere in
there," replied Ehrlick.
"What's his name?" asks the dispatcher.
"His name is Robert. Everybody keeps directing me to this, a
birthday party. That's where everybody's saying that he's at, but I
can't find a birthday party or nothing," said Ehrlick.
The middle of the call is Ehrlick giving Robert's clothing
description and his cell phone number. Toward the end of the call
Ehrlick seems to begin crying.
"I'm walking around the apartment complex trying to find him, and I can't find him nowhere," said Ehrlick.
"Okay, I'm going to go ahead sir. I'm going to have a bunch of
officers come your way to help find your son," said the dispatcher.
Today we heard testimony from the first officer to arrive at the
apartments and talk to Ehrlick. He says both Ehrlick and Jenkins were
acting strange.
The officer says Ehrlick was sweating and breathing heavily and pacing, while Jenkins remained oddly calm.
He says he got a weird feeling and called for more officers and a
sergeant, something he says he's never done on a missing child call.

http://www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=123064348&fPath=/news/local&fDomain=10227

Detectives describe couple's strange behavior after Manwill went missing

BOISE -- Detectives say Daniel Ehrlick and his girlfriend Melissa Jenkins weren't very helpful in searching for her son Robert Manwill who was found dead days later.

Ehrlick is accused of murdering Robert in 2009.
Today in court, police officers and detectives told stories of Ehrlick and Jenkins making it tough to begin their search for Robert.

Some of the first Boise Police officers to talk with Ehrlick and Jenkins said both were hesitant to talk with them. Officers even had a difficult time getting Jenkins to sign a form allowing them to put Robert on a nationwide database that alerts all officers of a missing child.

We also heard more about their attitudes and actions, that Jenkins didn't seem concerned and Ehrlick seemed nervous and agitated, at one point even laying in the grass and flailing around.

"The best way I can describe it is a roller coaster of emotions. Would go from completely calm and at one point laughing to wailing, extremely distraught, to the point where it was odd because it was happening so often, going up and down," said Boise Police Officer Adam Schloegel.

Prosecutors are trying to establish that Ehrlick's actions during the search were strange enough to draw attention and show that he was inconsistent with his behavior and stories that night.

http://www.ktvb.com/news/Detectives-describe-couples-strange-behavior-after-Manwill-went-missing-123136388.html

Live updates from the Daniel Ehrlick murder trial
http://www.ktvb.com/news/Live-updates-from-the-Daniel-Ehrlick-murder-trial-123110768.html

Police: Daniel Ehrlick, Melissa Jenkins referred to Robert Manwill in past tense just hours after he was reported missing

06/06/11


Boise Police Det. Glen Rawson told a jury Monday "the hairs stood up on my neck" when he heard Melissa Jenkins and Daniel Ehrlick talk about Robert Manwill in the past tense — just hours after Ehrlick reported the boy missing July 24, 2009.

Rawson's testimony has taken up much of day 14 of Ehrlick's first-degree murder trial Monday.

Rawson told the jury that both Ehrlick and Jenkins were uncooperative as he tried to get basic information that night and the next morning, as police were searching for the boy near the couple's apartment complex on the Boise Bench.

Rawson said Jenkins would not give him the phone number of one of her former husbands, Frank Seiber, and didn't want to call her family members either to ask if one of them may have picked up Robert earlier in the night.

In one of several conversations Rawson had with the pair that morning, he said Jenkins, unbidden, told him she remembered when Robert used to like to watch cartoons all day long. Ehrlick said he remembered when the boy used to lay on the couch and watch cartoons.

Rawson told the jury that it concerned him that Ehrlick and Jenkins were talking about the boy in the past tense while there was still an active search going on.

Their demeanor and their statements — "alarming enough there might be some foul play involved" — prompted him to ask for more detectives, he said.



Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/06/06/1678410/police-daniel-ehrlick-melissa.html#ixzz1OXDksPNI

Mom likely to testify against boyfriend in son's death


BOISE -- An Idaho woman is likely to testify at the trial of her boyfriend, who is accused in the murder of her 8-year-old son.
Prosecutors mentioned Monday they could call Melissa Jenkins to take the stand in the first-degree murder trial of Daniel Ehrlick on Tuesday, but need a motion heard before she will testify.
On Tuesday morning, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jill Longhurst filed a motion asking the court to allow certain testimony about Jenkins' plea deal. Attorneys will argue that motion on Monday afternoon, and she could be called to the stand next week.
Jenkins pleaded guilty in January to aiding in Robert's death as part of an agreement with prosecutors.
She lost custody of Robert in 2008 and the boy was visiting her the summer he disappeared.
Ehrlick pleaded not guilty in the beating death of Robert Manwill during the summer of 2009. The boy's body was found in a canal about a week after his disappearance set off a search across Boise.
In court Tuesday, a Boise Police sergeant testified that the longer the investigation went on, the more inconsistent Ehrlick's stories got.
He testified that his timeline was getting farther and farther apart.
On Monday in court, detectives explained why from the first night Robert Manwill was reported missing they suspected Ehrlick and Jenkins may have been involved in foul play, perhaps organizing a cover-up.
"There had been inconsistencies in the story, the odd behavior from both of them, and the past tense statements that were made, it was alarming enough to think there could be some other type of foul play involved," Boise Police Detective Glen Rawson said.
The defense denies Ehrlick was acting guilty the night Robert went missing.

http://www.ktvb.com/news/Mom-expected-to-testify-against-boyfriend-123367333.html

June 05, 2011
Robert Manwill murder trial focuses on birthday party
BY PATRICK ORR - porr@idahostatesman.com
Was there a birthday party at the Oak Park Village Apartments the night in 2009 that Robert Manwill went missing?

That question dominated the third week of Daniel Ehrlick’s first-degree murder trial. The prosecution case, expected to last at least two more weeks, resumes Monday.

When 8-year-old Robert disappeared July 24, 2009, Ehrlick told 911 dispatchers, Boise police, family members and neighbors that was where Robert might be. He said he’d told the boy several times that night that he couldn’t go but that he might have snuck off to the party.

Ada County prosecutors say that’s a cover story. They say Ehrlick killed Robert that day, following weeks of abuse, then dumped the body in the New York Canal. They presented almost a dozen witnesses to back up their claim that the birthday party story was bogus.

Four of the first police responders that night — officers Guy McKean, Paul Jagosh, Cory Bammert and Adam Schloegel — testified that they searched the apartment complex and surrounding neighborhood that night and the next morning but found no evidence of a party anywhere.

Several residents of the Oak Park complex who were with their small children at the apartment pool that night also told the jury they knew of no party — and they likely would have known had there been one.

At one point Friday, defense attorney Gus Cahill asked the jury to leave, then complained to 4th District Judge Darla Williamson about the number of witnesses called on the subject.

“In essence, this is the state’s case,” Cahill said. “They are using a myriad of witnesses to make a closing argument.”

Williamson overruled the objection, and testimony continued.

Other highlights from the week:

Æ Several officers testified that Ehrlick and his girlfriend, Robert’s mother Melissa Jenkins, acted strangely on July 24: Jenkins was stoic and Ehrlick unstable — sweating, agitated and angry one minute, calm the next. At one point, Bammert said, Ehrlick lay on the ground and flailed his arms while the officer tried to talk to the couple. Bammert said he thought Ehrlick might have sunstroke and asked if he wanted an ambulance.

Schloegel, the primary investigating officer that night, said he was frustrated that neither Jenkins and Ehrlick seemed willing to cooperate with the investigation and would not give direct answers to his questions.

Æ Three former girlfriends of Ehrlick’s testified that he was physically and emotionally abusive to them in 1990, 1997 and 2004.

Æ Of 42 text messages sent between Ehrlick and Jenkins the night of July 24, 36 were selectively deleted from the phones, Boise police testified.

Æ Ehrlick told a counselor in late 2008 that he didn’t believe in corporal punishment. Ehrlick met with the counselor as he tried to get custody of Jenkins’ toddler son, Aidan (Jenkins had lost custody after fracturing Aidan’s skull).

On a questionnaire, Ehrlick strongly disagreed with the statements that “A certain amount of fear is necessary for children to respect parents” and “strict discipline is the best way to raise kids.” He disagreed that “spanking teaches children right from wrong” or that “a good spanking never hurt anyone.”

That same counselor told the jury he had concerns about Ehrlick’s impulse control. He didn’t explain why, because defense attorneys objected to the question. After a short conference, prosecutors discontinued the line of questioning.

Æ At least one of Jenkins’ co-workers at Blackhawk Industries disliked her so much that when she left work on the night of July 24, he called 911 to make sure a child had really been reported missing.




http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/06/05/1676794/robert-manwill-murder-trial-focuses.html#storylink=misearch

Day 16 of Ehrlick trial concentrated on days following Robert Manwill's disappearance


There were a few more notable witnesses in the Daniel Ehrlick first-degree murder case Wednesday:

* The jury heard testimony from Ann Moser, who handles a cadaver-smelling dog for the Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue team. She said her dog did not detect any decomposition in Ehrlick’s apartment when they searched on July 25, 2009. Moser told the jury she would have liked to had 45 minutes, but only had 15 minutes to search. She also told the jury if someone was killed at the apartment and the body was moved quickly, there likely would not have been any decomposition smell in the first place.

* Boise police officer Mattie Chally, who helped search Oak Park Village Apartments for Robert Manwill on July 25, told the jury that both times she saw Melissa Jenkins that day Jenkins appeared emotionless, including when fire crews drained a duck pond to look for the boy. Chally said Jenkins’ demeanor appeared different when she saw her later at press conferences, when Jenkins appeared to show emotion.

* Janet Lawler, a victim witness coordinator for the Boise police who spent a lot of time with Ehrlick and Jenkins in the days after Robert was reported missing, said the couple seemed very suspicious of police. She also said Ehrlick refused to talk to her when she asked if he wanted to talk about Robert, while most parents who have a missing child appreciate the chance.

Lawler also said Ehrlick told her that if he got really angry, he liked to hit things.

* Pamela Anderson, who lived in one of the condo units by Oak Park Villages, said she told Ehrlick twice in the days following Robert’s disappearance that she thought the birthday party story was bogus, because she talked to kids who live at the apartment and none of them knew about party that night. She told the jury she confronted Ehrlick about the issue July 26, after she found out an Amber Alert hadn’t been issued. Anderson said she and a neighbor walked over to the apartment and he let them in.

“I told (Ehrlick) he better lose the birthday story, no one believed it.

“He told me we are not going for that story, we lost that story.”

Anderson said she was stunned, that his statement confirmed her suspicion with Ehrlick’s story all along.

Every other witness who has testified, including police officers, has said Ehrlick never stopped saying Robert wanted to go to a birthday party.



Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/06/08/1681234/day-16-of-ehrlick-trial-concentrated.html#ixzz1OjDTvDa6

Melissa
Jenkins, the mother of the Boise child murdered in 2009, made her first
appearance in the Daniel Ehrlick trial on Monday.
On day 18 of the trial of Daniel Ehrlick, the
man accused of killing 8-year-old Robert Manwill, attorneys cleared the
way for Jenkins to testify.
Melissa Jenkins, Manwill's mother, has
already confessed to aiding and abetting in Manwill's murder. The
prosecution argued a motion to extend Jenkins' immunity to any
interviews before her testimony.
The judge granted that and gave the okay for Jenkins to testify, but gave a stern warning to Jenkins.
Jenkins credibility has been questioned.
"I remind you that if you don't, then you can
be charged with perjury and the penalty for perjury could be up to 14
years in prison - and that could be in addition to the 25 you're already
looking at," said Judge Darla Williamson of the Ada County Fourth
District.
Jenkins will be interviewed by the prosecution before she takes the stand.
The trial is now in its fifth week.
http://www.kivitv.com/story/14900062/judge-gives-okay-for-mother-of-robert-manwill-to-testify

Ehrlick’s father gives emotional testimony against his son


‘I’m here for the state and Robert. That’s all I care about,’ Daniel Ehrlick Sr. says on the witness stand.


06/15/11

Daniel Ehrlick Sr. had to fight back tears Tuesday when a large picture of Robert Manwill was shown to jurors at his son’s trial for first-degree murder.

Minutes later, Ehrlick Sr. covered his face with his hands to regain his composure after telling the jury about the boy.

“He was a great kid,” Ehrlick Sr. said. “I enjoyed his company a lot.”

But Ehrlick Sr. briefly was considered a potential suspect soon after the boy disappeared in 2009.

Earlier in the trial, the jury heard how Daniel Ehrlick had said his father was likely to blame for the boy’s disappearance — even after the FBI said that the elder Ehrlick had been investigated and pretty much cleared.

Ada County prosecutors say the story was bogus — part of a series of lies and untruths Ehrlick told police to cover up how he beat the 8-year-old to death and put his body in the New York Canal.

On Tuesday, Ehrlick Sr. got to defend himself in person, emphatically telling Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Jill Longhurst, “No ma’am” when asked if he had anything to do with Robert’s disappearance.

While the younger Ehrlick told the FBI he was sure his father was involved with the abduction sometime around 8 p.m. on July 24, 2009, testimony and evidence show the elder Ehrlick wouldn’t have had an opportunity to grab Robert at that time.

A timeline came out in court Tuesday:

Until 6:30 p.m., Ehrlick Sr. was at his wife’s nursing home. Then he stopped at the Tobacco Connection on State Street before going to Ehrlick’s apartment at around 7 p.m. to help his son pay his electric bill. He said he never saw Robert in the short time he was there and that he was told the boy was playing outside. (A boy he glimpsed from behind turned out to be a neighborhood child about the same age, he realized later.)

Receipts and security cameras show Ehrlick Sr. went to WinCo next, and was there from around 7:39 p.m. to 8:08 p.m.

Ehrlick Sr.’s next-door neighbor, Tammy Moon, testified she and a friend helped the elder Ehrlick, still by himself, unload groceries at his house on Bannock Street around 8:30 p.m. Moon said Ehrlick Sr. then drove her to a nearby Maverik store and brought her back. Then he drove to pick up his other son, David, who was at a friend’s house in south Boise. Phone and cellphone tower records show a call between Ehrlick Sr. and David Ehrlick at 9:08 p.m. — while Ehrlick Sr. was still driving.

The next call Ehrlick Sr. got came from his son Daniel at 9:58 p.m., when the man now on trial reported that Robert was missing.

Ehrlick Sr. told the jury he and David immediately drove to the Oak Park Village apartments to help search.

Like other family members and neighbors, Ehrlick Sr. said Robert’s disposition changed between the summers of 2008 and 2009.

In 2008, Ehrlick Sr. said, Robert was a happy boy who talked a lot, about all kinds of subjects — like how he wanted to be like his father, Charles Manwill, and join the military.

But the next year, Ehrlick Sr. said, whenever he saw Robert, the boy was in trouble, and when he tried to find out why, he was rebuffed by the boy’s mother, Melissa Jenkins.

“Every time I wanted to talk to him, Melissa was there to stop him,” Ehrlick Sr. said.

Ehrlick Sr. said he was so concerned about Robert’s weight loss that he offered to pay to take the boy to the doctor, but Jenkins told him Robert was throwing up on purpose.

He said he saw a large bruise on the boy’s upper leg that June, but Jenkins wouldn’t tell him where it came from.

“That last summer was hell ... (Robert) was always restricted, grounded, always doing something wrong,” Ehrlick Sr. said.



Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/06/15/1689243/ehrlicks-father-gives-emotional.html#ixzz1PLD6B3wR

Day 21 of Daniel Ehrlick's murder trial: Was it torture or punishment?
An NYU expert says Ehrlick’s treatment intended to isolate, terrorize and control Robert Manwill.

Dead bugging. The Chair.

Continually isolating a child alone in room. Making him eat food he hated so much he vomited. Hitting him in the buttocks with a piece of wooden molding. Not allowing him to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water when thirsty. Locking him in a closet. Making the 8-year-old boy sleep in a crib.

These are all the things that either Daniel Ehrlick admitted to police that he did to Robert Manwill or his family members say they saw him do in the summer of 2009.

Taken together, those punishments add up to torture, a medical expert told the jury on the 21st day of Ehrlick’s first-degree murder trial.

Dr. Allen Keller, an associate professor at New York University and a physician who practices medicine at Bellevue Hospital Center, said that after reading autopsy reports and reviewing police reports and interviews that he believed Robert Manwill was the victim of torture.

This is especially important to the case being made by Ada County prosecutors, who have said Ehrlick tortured the boy over a series of weeks of escalating violence that resulted in his death around July 24, 2009 — the day Ehrlick called 911 and reported Robert missing.

Keller specializes in treating victims of torture from other countries, mostly refugees, and has taught several seminars on the subject. He told the jury he recently taught judges in Chile how to evaluate forensic evidence of torture in criminal trials.

Keller said Thursday he detected multiple instances in the Ehrlick case that fit the classic definition of torture, which is “severe physical or mental suffering inflicted for a variety of reasons ... (like) punishment, intimidation ... done by someone acting in an official capacity.”

“The concept is how one is separated, objectified, (made to) become less than human, to become an ‘it,’” Keller said. “Control is ripped from them — that is a common denominator of all forms of torture.”

The jury has heard from multiple family members how Robert always seemed to be in trouble in the summer of 2009 and kept away from other children. They have said they saw bruises on the boy and that he seemed withdrawn and sad.

In police interviews, Ehrlick initially told police he did not use corporal punishment on Robert but later admitted that he did — including something called dead bugging, when the boy was made to lie on his back and put his hands and feet in the air. Once, Ehrlick admitted, he put both his knees on the boy to keep him from moving.

Ehrlick also told police he made the boy eat oatmeal and raisins as a punishment, even though it made the boy vomit.

The jury has heard how Robert had to do the “chair” — stand against a wall, with his knees bent in a sitting position, for a period of time.

Being forced to stand in a painful position for an extended period is a classic torture technique, Keller said.

And added up, he said, these actions qualify as torture, designed to take away control from the victim and humiliate him. Even something as simple as forcing a boy to eat food he hated qualified, he said.

“It fits (torture) because it is taking advantage of weakness and fear,” Keller said.

Keller said punishment is an isolated incident, and torture is physical or psychological abuse over time. During cross examination, Keller said he did not attempt to interview Ehrlick and drew all his conclusions from police reports and court records.

Keller told defense attorney Gus Cahill this was his first criminal trial involving children and torture



Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/06/17/1692366/was-it-torture-or-punishment.html#ixzz1PXIKhGFF

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION


THE TRIAL: DAY 21

The jury also heard testimony Thursday from Robert Manwill’s grandfather, grandmother and stepmother, who all said that when the boy moved to New Plymouth in January 2008 to live with his father, Charles Manwill, he struggled academically.

Afton Manwill, Robert’s stepmother, said that when the boy joined his first-grade class, he could not read. All three witnesses said they had to work hard with Robert on his homework, but by the end of the year, he was a good student.

They all said he ate with no problems and was a good-natured boy who loved his siblings. Afton Manwill said Robert used to throw fits and tantrums after they got custody of the boy in January 2008, but his behavior improved as the months went on after she threatened to treat him like a baby if he continued to act like one.




Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/06/17/1692366/was-it-torture-or-punishment.html#ixzz1PXIblnY0

Robert Manwill's father breaks silence during Daniel Ehrlick's murder trial
He would have gotten his son back ‘in a heartbeat’ if he had thought the boy was in danger, Manwill says.

Charles Manwill broke down for a brief moment Friday when he explained to an Ada County jury that Robert Manwill was not the only son he has lost to violence.
Manwill, a veteran of the first Gulf War who works at Gowen Field, started to cry when he talked about his first child, Michael Manwill, who was killed by his mother in Louisiana while Manwill was on active duty in 1993.
Manwill’s ex-wife eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter and went to prison. His parents took custody of his other son while he tried to figure out what to do next.
“I didn’t know how to deal with loss ... I lost everything that mattered to me,” Manwill said.
He eventually found his way to Melissa Jenkins and a second tragedy: the death of his son Robert in the summer of 2009.
Manwill, who now has two biological children and a stepdaughter he considers his own flesh and blood, has been silent since Robert was reported missing by first-degree murder suspect Daniel Ehrlick on July 24, 2009. Though he appeared with his wife, Afton, at several press conferences during the high-profile search for the boy, he did not comment publicly.
Friday, when he was called as a witness by Ada County prosecutors, was the first time Manwill has talked about Jenkins, their short marriage, how the two shared custody of their son and the events that led up to Robert’s disappearance and death.

THE ‘RIGHT THING’

Manwill said he and Jenkins had a brief relationship that resulted in her pregnancy.
He told the jury he decided to “do the right thing and get married,” but, ultimately, his marriage to Jenkins didn’t even last for a year. Robert was born June 8, 2001.
Manwill said he didn’t remember when the two got divorced because their marriage meant little to him.
A short time later, he married Afton, and the family decided to settle in New Plymouth, where her parents lived, because they thought Boise was too big a town in which raise a family.
Manwill said Robert lived in New Plymouth enough that he called Afton “Mom,” but the boy moved around a lot with Jenkins. She married again, another short-lived union with Frank Seiber, and then had a series of boyfriends — so many Manwill said he couldn’t keep track. She had two other children with different men.
He said custody of Robert was shared in various forms until January 2008, when Manwill asked for — and was granted — full custody. Jenkins had visitation rights, and Manwill said Robert seemed to enjoy weekend visits with his mother.
In October 2008, though, Jenkins was arrested and accused of fracturing the skull of her youngest son, Aidan. Manwill said Idaho Health and Welfare officials told him Robert could no longer be alone with Jenkins at all, so there were no visits for a while.
Later, he said they told him that the boy could visit if Daniel Ehrlick Sr. — Ehrlick’s father — was there. By spring 2009, Manwill said he was told Ehrlick himself had been approved by Health and Welfare and Robert could visit Jenkins if he was there.

SUMMER IN BOISE

The custody agreement allowed Robert to spend several weeks with Jenkins in the summer, but Manwill and his wife were supposed to have him back at the end of July.
Manwill said he had concerns about letting his son stay with Jenkins, especially after what had happened to Aidan, but also felt that Robert loved his mother and deserved to spend time with her if that is what he wanted. He called Health and Welfare and said officials told him it was OK.
Manwill said he was never told by social workers that Jenkins was not allowed to stay overnight in the same apartment with the children, and that she could only be around them during the day if Ehrlick was present to supervise. He said he was also under the impression that the couple got back full custody of Aidan. That was not the case. Ehrlick shared custody of the boy with the state, but Jenkins had not yet regained her custody rights.
Robert went to Boise on June 6, 2009, the day after his stepbrother’s high school graduation. Manwill said that when he left, Robert weighed about 60 to 70 pounds and had no health problems of any kind.

A REGRET

Later that month, Manwill said Jenkins called to complain about discipline problems with Robert, saying he was not listening and was lying to them.
He said he told her that corporal punishment did not work for Robert and suggested “timeout” as a disciplinary tactic.
But he said Friday that he later worried that perhaps Robert had been in the room and overheard part of that conversation, and Jenkins and Ehrlick may have told the boy that his father supported their punishment of him — punishment prosecutors call torture and say ultimately killed the boy.
“I pack a lot of guilt for that,” Manwill said.
He said he had no idea Robert was being punished so severely and being hidden from Health and Welfare workers. If he had known, he said, he would have gotten him right away.
The last time he saw his son was after a dentist appointment in New Plymouth that June.

THE NIGHT HE DISAPPEARED

Manwill said he first heard from Jenkins the night Robert was reported missing at around 10:30 p.m., when he got a message on his cellphone, played in court Friday, that said: “Robert is missing. Bye.”
Manwill said he and Afton decided to drive to Boise to help find Robert, but when he called Jenkins back on the drive she twice tried to discourage him from coming.
He said he was angry and concerned, and didn’t think the 8-year-old should have been out and about by himself so late, or at a stranger’s birthday party, which is where Ehrlick told police he figured the boy was.
Manwill said he had every intention of bringing his son home when he was found that night and planned on calling a lawyer the next day to get full custody.
“There was no doubt in my mind, when we found him, he was coming home,” Manwill said.

Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/06/18/1693803/roberts-father-breaks-silence.html#ixzz1PjrrTTHI