EMMA THOMPSON - 4 yo (2009)/ Convicted: Lucas Coe - Harris County/Houston TX

After a 90-minute deliberation Tuesday, jurors decided to send Spring nurse Abigail Young
to prison for 20 years because she failed to protect her 4-year-old
daughter from a horrific and fatal beating allegedly inflicted by her handyman lover.

Emma Thompson died in June 2009 after a beating that left the preschooler with a fractured
skull and ribs, a torn vagina and at least 80 bruises covering her body.

Young’s knees buckled as state District Judge Doug Shaver read the jury’s sentence, which
included a $10,000 fine. Young burst into tears and sat huddled with defense attorney Julie Ketterman.

On Monday, jurors convicted the 34-year-old woman for reckless serious bodily injury to a
child by omission.

Young, who did not testify in her own defense, escaped a possible life sentence because the
jurors’ conviction did not find she “knowingly” or “intentionally”
caused the injuries by failing to act.

Reason for lesser charge
Jurors who spoke after the trial said the evidence did not show Young knew her inaction would
cause her daughter’s fatal injuries, so they opted for the lesser charge.

“She (Young) had to know her conduct would cause serious bodily injury,” explained juror Larry Gainor, 51.

Investigators and other witness testimony during the two-week trial pieced together Emma’s
chaotic household, one in which her mother, while married to Ben
Thompson, began having an affair with 28-year-old Lucas Coe.

After separating from her husband, Young often left her children with Coe.

Coe faces trial this fall on a charge of super aggravated assault for the rape and assaults
that led to Emma’s death.

Even though jurors handed down the maximum penalty for the “reckless” conviction, Young is
eligible for parole after serving five years.

Family lashes out
After the sentencing, both her ex-husband, who was Emma’s father, and the little girl’s
paternal grandmother, Laurie Thompson, took the witness stand to deliver
explosive, eloquent, victim impact statements.

These statements, directed at the defendant, allow relatives to have their final say.
“She was 4 years old. She had her whole life ahead of her,” yelled Ben Thompson at Young, who
was seated with her attorneys. “You deserve so much more than what you got.”

He also told Young that there would always be a member of his family to speak against her
at any future parole hearings.

His mother, Laurie Thompson, took the stand and in a strong, clear voice, added, “Our
hearts are broken for the loss of our Emma. She’ll never be a Brownie.
She’ll never bring home a report card.”

The maximum 20-year prison sentence prompted hugs among many of the spectators and brought
smiles to prosecutors Colleen Barnett and Tina Ansari.

“I think we’re both pleased,” Barnett said. “It’s satisfying.”

Defense attorney ColinAmann had a more muted reaction.

“We’re disappointed, obviously,” Amann said. “But I don’t think it’s entirely unexpected.”

In final arguments Tuesday, Amann urged jurors to consider probation for Young, who until
now had no criminal history.

“She has to live with her mistakes that resulted in the loss of her youngest child,” Amann
said. “She has to live with not being able to do what she trained to do
... she’s going to have to live with not living with her babies.”

Young’s other two daughters, ages 7 and 12, were removed from her home after the
4-year-old’s death. They live with relatives.

“If ever there was punishment, that’s punishment,” Amann said.
But prosecutor Barnett pulled jurors’ attention back to Emma’s death, pointing out that her
mother lied to law enforcement, medical personnel and essentially every
witness called to testify in the two-week case.

“She hasn’t accepted responsibility,” Barnett said. “What’s lost here is what Emma went through.”

Missed chances
Emma, covered in at least 80 bruises, was declared dead on arrival at Memorial Hermann-The
Woodlands Hospital on June 27, 2009. Autopsy results later showed she
had three cracked ribs, a vaginal tear and a skull fracture.

As investigators descended on Young’s Haverford Road home that night, a series of missed
chances to save Emma quickly emerged.

First, it was learned that Young and her daughter were part of an open Texas Child Protective
Services investigation after the girl’s pediatrician alerted them to
possible abuse. The girl had bruising around her waist and tested
positive for genital herpes.

But a follow-up interview and exam with Emma and her mother convinced doctors that
although the girl had a sexually transmitted disease, they could not
confirm sexual intercourse had taken place and therefore found no
evidence of abuse.

Emma remained with her mother in her home where Coe — who had an assault conviction, a
substance abuse problem and was facing a pending child abuse charge in
another county — often spent the night.

For eight years, accused child rapist Lucas Coe fended off a bevy of criminal charges that until today had little chance of keeping him behind bars.
There was a 2002 aggravated assault in Harris County, a DWI conviction that left him without a driver's license, a Montgomery County assault charge, the two times he was jailed for probation violations and in 2007, a Montgomery County child abuse charge that even now has yet to go to trial.
Today, though, he is on trial — this time charged with sexually assaulting 4-year-old Emma Thompson who died in June 2009, the result of multiple unexplained injuries. Coe, 28, is not charged in her death.
Emma's mother, former registered nurse Abigail Young, already is in prison. A jury in July convicted her of "reckless" injury to a child. Young, who according to court testimony, left Emma's father for her handyman paramour Coe, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and is eligible for parole in five years.
Emma was declared dead at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital the night of June 27, 2009. Her body was badly bruised, her skull fractured and her vagina bore a large tear, indicating sexual assault.
That night, Young came home to find her daughter, who had been left with Coe, nearly unconscious. She carried Emma from the house to the car to take her to the hospital, claiming then and in testimony later that she believed her daughter to be the victim of a fall in the bathroom.
But instead of waiting with Emma's two older sisters for word from the hospital, witnesses say Coe ran to a neighbor, asking her to watch the girls. He also asked the neighbor to take him and his own young daughter to a nearby Jack-in-the-Box where his sister, who lived 20 miles away, was going to pick them up.

CPS restrictions
Coe's trial will focus at least in part on his actions in the hours before and immediately after Emma's death.
That's because Coe wasn't supposed to be with his daughter - or any child for that matter. An abuse allegation involving another girlfriend's child had prompted Texas Child Protective Services to bar him from unsupervised visits with his daughter.
Witnesses testifying in Young's court proceedings claimed Coe was worried that authorities might find out his daughter was with him.
It is unclear how prosectors will introduce his rapid exit from the scene without making mention of his earlier problems with CPS, which according to pretrial rulings, is not to be discussed during the trial.
The state's case also will focus on Emma's vaginal tear and the fact that Young, Coe and Emma had genital herpes, a sexually transmitted disease.
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Colleen Barnett said that based on the evidence, prosecutors decided a charge of super-aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 6 was the best case to pursue against Coe. If jurors convict him, she added, there's no parole.
"So whatever he gets, he serves," she said.
But that's if he is convicted.
Coe's defense attorney William Van Buren insists there was no sexual assault of Emma. The vaginal tear, Van Buren says, could have been caused by anything.
"The bottom line is ... there is no direct evidence," Van Buren said, adding that Coe's DNA was not found on the little girl. "There could be other ways for vaginal tears to occur, other possibilities."
He also points to the fact that nine days before Emma died, CPS workers asked Young to take the girl to Texas Children's Hospital after they learned she had tested positive for genital herpes. Doctors there found no signs of sexual abuse.
In rare cases, genital herpes can be spread in a non-sexual manner. Because of that and the fact Young said there was no man in her house who would have had access to Emma, CPS closed the case.
"We'll let the evidence speak for itself," said prosecutor Barnett.
Van Buren asserts that Coe could have left quickly after Emma was taken to the hospital for a number of reasons - none having to do with sexual assault.

'Emotion and not facts'
Coe's attorneys will try to keep hundreds of Emma's autopsy photos from being seen by the jurors.
Defense attorney Rick DeToto said prosecutors hope to convince jurors of Coe's guilt with hundreds of autopsy photos that have nothing to do with Emma's sexual assault.
"I think they're trying to overwhelm a potential juror with emotion and not facts," he said. "There's no DNA on Emma. It's a situation where they're saying something bad happens and he was there."
Barnett is confident she can prove Coe is guilty.
"Yes, I believe he's guilty and yes, I believe I can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt," she said.
Jury selection is scheduled to start today.

A prosecutor says a Houston-area man who was dating a nurse raped her 4-year-old daughter before the child died last year. Testimony was scheduled to resume Wednesday in the Houston aggravated sexual assault trial of Lucas Coe. An autopsy found that Emma Thompson had a severed pancreas and fractured skull. Prosecutor Tina Ansari, during opening statements Tuesday, said medical personnel will testify that the child also had a torn vagina. A jury in July convicted the girl's mother, Abigail Young of Spring, of injury to a child by omission and ordered 20 years in prison. Ansari says the couple and the victim all had genital herpes. Defense attorney William Van Buren says the child was not sexually assaulted and the herpes could have been transmitted by casual contact.

A jury has found a Houston-area man guilty of raping his girlfriend's 4-year-old daughter shortly before her death last year. The panel deliberated 3 1/2 hours Tuesday before convicting 28-year-old Lucas Coe of Spring of super aggravated sexual assault of a child. Prosecutors tell the Houston Chronicle they didn't charge Coe in the girl's death because the elevated assault charge could lead to a stiffer sentence. He faces up to life in prison in the penalty phase, which begins Wednesday. Coe's lawyers argued that the girl suffered vaginal trauma from a straddle fall. An autopsy found that Emma Thompson had a severed pancreas and fractured skull. Her mother, Abigail Young, is serving 20 years in prison for injury to a child by omission.

HOUSTON — A jury reached a guilty verdict on Tuesday in the trial of a man accused of sexually assaulting and beating a 4-year-old girl. Emma Thompson was beaten to death on June 27, 2009, after being left alone with her mother's boyfriend. The child's death came three weeks after doctors discovered she had contracted genital herpes.Her mother's boyfriend, Lucas Coe, was found guilty of super aggravated assault Tuesday shortly after 4 p.m. A conviction on a super charge prevents a person from being eligible for parole.

Lucas Coe is back in court for the punishment phase of his trial. A jury Tuesday found him guilty of super aggravated sexual assault against a four-year-old girl.

Today is day one of two in the punishment phase for Lucas Coe after Tuesday's conviction. Prosecutors and law enforcement are trying to establish the criminal history of Coe. He has been arrested for several minor offenses, for some of which he did receive probation or limited jail time. Coe faces 25 to 99 years in prison for abuse and death of four-year-old Emma Thompson. Today, the jury also heard more testimony. The 10-year-old son of another of Coe's ex-girlfriends testified that Coe would wake him up in the middle of the night punching and choking him. On one occasion, the boy says he woke up in the bathtub, being cleaned up by Coe and his mother. The boy was hospitalized for 11 days after that incident. Coe's attorneys say, despite the testimony, they hope he will receive a punishment closer to the 25 year mark, rather than life in prison. "We've got to keep in mind this is not a homicide," said Coe's attorney, William Van Buren. The reason prosecutors went for the super aggravated charge is so there is no possibility of parole for Coe, regardless of the length of his sentencing. Emma Thompson's mother, Abigail Young, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for failing to protect her daughter from Coe. On Thursday, we're expect to see the emotional side of the case when the victims' impact statements are read. Then the jury that convicted him will again go behind closed doors to decide Coe's fate.

Jury Gives Lucas Coe Life Sentence In Toddler Rape Case
The jury that convicted Lucas Coe of super aggravated sexual assault has reached a verdict in his punishment.

The jury returned a verdict around 12:30pm Thursday that Lucas Coe should spend his life behind bars for beating and raping 4-year-old Emma Thompson. The girl later died from her injuries.

Closing arguments this morning for both sides were short, taking less than an hour.

"Life's not even really enough for what he's done," prosecutor Colleen Barnett said in court. "Sometimes the smallest voices are actually the loudest. And you know that she's talking to you."

"I respect the decision that you made in this case. I don't agree with the decision that you made in this case. I respect whatever decision you make in punishment in this case," said Coe's attorney, William Van Buren.

Prosecutors pushed for the maximum sentence and that is what the jury handed down. Coe had faced a sentence of 25 to 99 years behind bars. There is no possibility of parole for him. He was also fined $10,000.

Coe had no reaction to the sentence in the courtroom.

After Thursday's punishment was read, Ben Thompson, the biological father of Emma, told us that Coe is not a man and his life is worth nothing. Thompson added that he will never forget writing a letter to his daughter after her death that he failed her.

Emma's aunt said she hopes Coe is haunted by the vision of Emma's face.

The toddler's mother, Abigail Young, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for failing to protect her daughter from Coe

How Abigail Young is Eligible for Parole after Serving 19 Months in Jail

Posted: Fri 4:43 PM, Mar 09, 2012
Updated: Fri 6:45 PM, Mar 09, 2012
Reporter: Alex Villarreal Email

A former Brenham nurse who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for not protecting her daughter from an ex-boyfriend's physical and sexual abuse, is up for parole in August.

Her four year-old daughter died and according to Abigail Young's sentencing, she wasn't supposed to even be eligible for parole until after she served 5 years in jail.

News 3 has an exclusive interview with Young's sister, who is campaigning to keep her younger sister behind bars.

Imagine your child losing their life because of being brutally violated and beaten.

That's what happened to 4 year-old Emma Thompson in June 2009.

Amanda Mathews said, "I was very close to her. I loved her just as I would have my own child."

Emma's aunt Amanda Mathews says she's just beginning to heal from losing her niece.

Mathews said, "I thought that she would, at any expense, protect her children and always, she was involved in my own daughter's life and I trusted her with my own child."

Abigail Young is Mathew's sister and Emma's mother.

She's also a Brenham native and former nurse.

Young was convicted in July 2010 of reckless serious bodily injury to a child by omission after the four year-old died at a Houston hospital.

She had 80 bruises on her body,a sexually transmitted disease and broken bones

Mathews said, "I don't believe that she has shown any remorse for her actions and I don't believe without remorse that you can be rehabilitated."

Lucas Coe, Young's boyfriend at the time, was found guilty of super aggravated sexual assault of the child, serving a life sentence with no parole. Young?...20 years in prison,

Mathews said, "The more support to keep her where she is, the better."

She's only been in prison for 19 months, but because of work time and good conduct credits, Young is eligible for parole this August.

So what can you do? You can write a letter, or fax it, or email it to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice whether it's in support or protest of Abigail Young's parole.

"The parole board is required to read any letter, any email, any fax that they receive. They have to read through it all before they make a decision," said Mathews.

The parole reviews process began last month.

http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/How_Abigail_Young_is_Eligible_for_Parole_after_Serving_19_Months_in_Jail_142122443.html

I wrote a letter and will send it this weekend. This woman doesn't deserve to be free. Not only did she fail to protect her baby, she lied in an attempt to protect her boyfriend. :::slut:::

Even if she had to serve 5 years that wouldn't be enough. 20 to life is what the bitch should get. This is disgusting.

I hope her sister is successful. A letter writing campaign is in order.

The good news, the bitch was denied parole the other day. The bad news, in another year she can have another parole hearing. Please don't forget Emma and what her mother allowed her perverted boyfriend to do to her, eventually ending up with her death.

Please write letters to the governor, the legislatures, the parole board and the local Texas newspapers opposing her release. She should die in prison. Sadly, unless Karma bites her ass, she won't.

If you need fuel to become outraged, read the first page of this thread. This mother should serve her full sentence, which is way too lenient to begin with. They both deserve to die. JMO folks.

Write your letters every April. Program it into you phone. Please don't forget Emma.

When CPS workers accept lies, children can die


Amanda Young Mathews
Emma Thompson died from injuries that included a fractured skull after workers were lied to about her case.
By ROBERT T. GARRETT
Austin Bureau

Published: 14 December 2013 11:13 PM
Updated: 14 December 2013 11:41 PM






AUSTIN — When Child Protective Services workers accept lies at face value and stop pressing for the truth, children can die.

Being gullible about relationships, living situations or even abuse can be fatal, as illustrated by the recent beating deaths of at least four young Texas children — Orien Hamilton, Alexandria Hill, Giovanni Guajardo and Emma Thompson.

In each instance, adults who had something to hide or who needed to be strong-willed protectors misled CPS workers. Had the workers known the truth, they might have removed the children from harm’s way.

State protective services chief John Specia said he wants to better train his people to ferret out deception.

“We’ve got to be able to connect dots,” said Specia, a veteran San Antonio family court judge. Gov. Rick Perry selected him last year to run CPS’ parent agency, the Department of Family and Protective Services. “It’s really a matter of being able to have … that little red light go off that somebody isn’t telling you the whole story.”

While Specia has ordered some policy changes in response to two recent deaths, The Dallas Morning News found gaps and loopholes in the department’s current rules and procedures.

The newspaper found, for instance, that CPS workers aren’t necessarily required to interview neighbors when they investigate tips about birth parents’ being abusive. Nor do CPS workers or employees of the state’s foster-care contractors have to knock on neighbors’ doors when they examine people stepping up to care for the children.

Such a check is done only if the people agreeing to tend to the youngster submit neighbors as references, said department spokesman Patrick Crimmins.

And state rules don’t require prospective foster parents to supply any references at all.

Several large contractors who perform such checks ask for references in applications, and industry veterans say it’s standard practice. But, Crimmins said, there’s an anomaly in the rules: Relatives who volunteer to take in children must supply names of people who can vouch for their character, but total strangers serving as foster parents do not.

“We can find no current … or prior standard that requires references,” he said Friday. Asked if the department would move to require them, Crimmins said: “We’re looking at everything” after a rash of child deaths.

It’s another crisis for an agency that has been through several rounds of legislative overhauls over the last decade. And in trying to improve investigations, it faces familiar problems: employee turnover fueled by low pay, too-heavy caseloads, inexperienced workers and supervisors who are almost as green as their subordinates.

In late October, 11-month-old Orien Hamilton suffered fatal head injuries in a suburban Austin home. A month earlier, CPS whiffed in checking out a tip from her birth father. He’d warned that a man with violent tendencies was helping to care for her.

Although CPS had seen the man in the home in April and knew he’d been involved in a domestic-violence episode there the following month, its worker who checked out the tip bought a step-aunt’s lie that he’d moved to Colorado.

That revelation rocked the department, reviving painful memories of a 2009 Houston case. CPS left 4-year-old Emma Thompson, who’d contracted herpes, in her mother’s care. A CPS worker accepted the mother’s misleading claims.

Fifteen days later, the mother’s live-in boyfriend sexually abused and killed Emma.
“Women who are abused are really good liars. I’ve dealt with that as a judge,” said Specia, who said CPS workers need more training on domestic-violence victims’ tendency to protect abusers.

Earlier this year, lawmakers heeded Specia’s plea and gave him money to hire 800 more front-line workers, supervisors and clerical staff. But Texas CPS still faces significant morale problems.

Each year, more than one third of the lowest-seniority caseworkers quit. A recent CPS salary study said the reasons remain unchanged — stress, safety concerns, poor supervision, low pay. Investigators still juggle more than 20 cases each. As of last week, seven urban counties — none in North Texas — had more than one-third of their newly referred investigations still waiting for a boots-on-the-ground look-see after two months.

Experts consider that a bad practice. They also don’t recommend having “conservatorship workers,” who visit foster children and youngsters handed off to relatives, responsible for 32 cases apiece. But Texas tolerates that, several child welfare experts said in interviews.

The experts warned that any drive to detect more deception will crash against two stubborn facts: Most CPS workers are overworked and most are young, recent college graduates who have not reared a family and are in their first job.

Expecting them to cut through deceptions as well as someone in her 40s might is foolish, said former McKinney police Sgt. Ida Wei Cover. She spent seven years as a CPS worker and then switched to law enforcement.

“They just don’t have the life experiences,” Cover said. Given their age and caseloads, no one should be surprised when tragedies occur, she added. 
“Realistically, it is unmanageable to have a good finger on the pulse on all of their cases.”

Susan Etheridge, who was a CPS program administrator in Dallas County until 2004, said her old employer competes for college graduates with companies and school systems that pay more. When CPS fails to give rookies top-notch training and place them under the wing of savvy, experienced supervisors, it invites disaster, she said.

“Come on, you can’t run McDonald’s with the kind of turnover they’ve got,” said Etheridge, who now runs Court Appointed Special Advocates of Collin County, which recruits volunteers to guide and help abused children as they’re taken from birth families. “The really good [CPS workers] will say to you as they’re leaving, ‘It is unethical because I can’t meet all of these requirements. And I can’t stand it anymore.’”

Emma Thompson: In June 2009, doctors at a Houston hospital confirmed the 4-year-old had herpes and unusual bruises around her waist. Interviewed at the hospital, Emma denied she’d been touched inappropriately.

According to the Houston Chronicle, birth mother Abigail Young told a CPS worker that no other adults were living in her household. Young said Emma might have come into contact with someone with herpes at a local YMCA. While in rare cases herpes can be transmitted in a nonsexual way, Young also had the disease.

She also lied about her live-in boyfriend, Lucas Coe, who served as a part-time baby-sitter. He had a lengthy criminal record. CPS had investigated him three times on accusations he abused a former girlfriend’s young boy.

Had CPS known Coe was there, it probably would have removed Emma and her two sisters. Instead, she stayed with Young, a nurse. Fifteen days later, Emma died from injuries that included a fractured skull, severed pancreas, vaginal tearing and more than 80 bruises. Coe is serving a sentence of life without parole in connection with her death. Young received a prison term of 20 years for failing to protect the child.

The case triggered a policy change — CPS has to interview neighbors if a child has a sexually transmitted disease. The Legislature also passed a law tightening such investigations so that the presumption is the disease-ridden child will be removed.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20131214-when-cps-workers-accept-lies-children-can-die.ece?nclick_check=1

Young is up for parole again in April.  Disgusting.

I sure hope she is denied.

Write your letters every April. Program it into you phone. Please don't forget Emma.


If you need fuel to become outraged, read the first page of this thread. This mother should serve her full sentence, which is way too lenient to begin with. They both deserve to die. JMO folks.

Please write letters to the governor, the legislatures, the parole board and the local Texas newspapers opposing her release. She should die in prison. Sadly, unless Karma bites her ass, she won't.