JEANETTE MAPLES - 16 yo (2009) - Eugene OR

A Eugene couple were arraigned today on charges of aggravated murder by
abuse in the death of their 16-year-old daughter, Jeanette Maples.

According to court documents, Maples' death came "in the course of, or as a
result of intentional maiming and torture.”


An ambulance was called to take Maples, the daughter of 41-year-old
Angela McAnulty, and stepdaughter of 40-year-old Richard McAnulty, to a
hospital from her home in the 150 block of Howard Avenue at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, Lane County Sheriff Officials said.

A caller to 9-1-1 shortly before 8 p.m. told dispatchers that a person there was
not breathing. Maples was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time
later. Sheriff's officials declined to state a cause of death.

Paramedics alerted the sheriff's office, and detectives worked through the night
on the case and remained at the house this afternoon.

Officials said Angela and Richard McAnulty were arrested this morning. Charges
listed on the Lane County Jail were "murder by abuse." Both were
arraigned at 1:30 p.m. in Lane County Circuit Court.

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. -- Family and friends
gathered on Wednesday to remember a young girl allegedly murdered by
her mother and step-father last week.

Family and friends couldn't hold back tears while remembering
15-year-old Janette Maples, a girl they say was a beam of sunshine.
Those who attended Wednesday's memorial learned more about her and also
got to hear many of her poems.

Here's one read at the memorial:
Love is the thing you get when it's true.
Love is the thing that can be as true as deep blue.
Love is the thing that can make you mad.
Love is the thing that when broken, can be sad.

Holly Sams said her daughter was Janette's best friend at Cascade Middle School.

"She was probably the sweetest kid I ever met. She was very quiet and she was always smiling."

Officers arrested Maples' mother and step-father, 41-year-old Angela
McAnulty and 40-year-old Richard McAnulty, early Thursday morning. The
two are accused of aggravated murder, intentionally maiming and
torturing Janette at their Eugene home on Howard Avenue.

But close friends said even though Janette may have had problems at home, she always found time to care for others.

"She found me in the bathroom once and she comforted me and was nice to me," Rachel Stambaugh said.

The Lane County Sheriff's office has performed an autopsy on Maples'
body, but is not releasing the results until a toxicology exam is
completed. They want to know if any chemicals contributed to her death.

The McAnultys were arraigned on Wednesday afternoon. Both pleaded "not guilty" to their charges.

As
other relatives and friends of Jeanette Marie Maples gathered for her
Springfield memorial service Wednesday, the dead teen’s mother and
stepfather stood with death penalty attorneys to answer murder
indictments in her Dec. 9 death.

The attorneys entered “not guilty” pleas
for both Angela Darlene McAnulty, 41, and Richard Anthony McAnulty Sr.,
42. Both were charged with aggravated murder of the 15-year-old River
Road area girl. The Lane County District Attorney’s Office has not yet
decided if it will seek the death penalty against one or both of the
McAnultys.

In separate indictments returned late
Tuesday by a Lane County grand jury, both McAnultys were accused of
recklessly causing Jeanette’s death by neglect and maltreatment and “as
a result of intentional maiming and torture.”

Angela McAnulty also was charged with
tampering with physical evidence in the case. According to the
indictment, she “did unlawfully destroy, mutilate, alter, conceal and
remove physical evidence” with the intent to make it unavailable to
investigators and the court.

Prosecutor Erik Hasselman declined to elaborate on that charge.

The couple did not look at one another
during the arraignment, though Angela McAnulty briefly stood within
three feet of her husband as she appeared before Lane County Circuit
Judge Debra Vogt. He turned his head to the left, toward a wall, as his
wife stepped between his chair and the judge’s bench.

Angela McAnulty was represented by Baker
City attorney Ken Hadley and Salem attorney Steven Krasik. Richard
McAnulty was represented by Tualatin attorney Mark Rader and Silverton
attorney Gordon Mallon. All four handle death penalty cases under their
contracts with the state Office of Public Defense Services.

Vogt did not set trial dates, but said
Angela McAnulty’s case has been assigned to Lane County Circuit Judge
Kip Leonard and Richard McAnulty’s case to Lane County Circuit Judge
Jack Billings.

An investigation into Jeanette’s death
began after medics responded to a 911 call at the McAnultys’ River Road
area home and found the teen injured and unconscious in a bathtub. She
died later that night at a local hospital. Details of her injuries have
not been released. Hasselman said Wednesday that he did not expect that
information to become public until pretrial hearings in the cases.

“We’re concerned about (the McAnultys’) ability to get a fair trial in Lane County,” he said.

The girl’s biological father, California
resident Anthony Maples, said last week that a state child protective
services worker told him that Jeanette died “a really horrific death.”
In an interview with The Register-Guard, Maples also said he had served
time in prison on drug charges and that California child protection
workers permanently removed Jeanette’s older brothers from his and
Angela McAnulty’s custody.

Two half-siblings of the dead girl — a
5-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl — were placed in Oregon
protective custody last week.

Eugene woman pleads guilty to aggravated murder in torture death of 15-year-old daughter Jeanette Maples


EUGENE -- An Oregon woman has pleaded guilty to aggravated murder in the torture death of her 15-year-old daughter in late 2009.

The Register-Guard reports that 42-year-old Angela McAnulty of Eugene began her trial today by pleading guilty to causing the death of Jeanette Marie Maples by neglect and maltreatment as a result of intentional maiming and torture.

McAnulty also pleaded guilty to destroying or altering physical evidence in the case. A Lane County jury will now decide whether she should face the death penalty.
Her husband, Richard McAnulty, is also charged with aggravated murder in the case. But prosecutors have said they will not seek the death penalty for him based on their investigation of his role in the case.


http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2011/02/eugene_woman_pleads_guilty_to_aggravated_murder_in_torture_death_of_15-year-old_daughter_jeanette_ma.html

WARNING: This story contains graphic descriptions of a crime scene involving the death of a teen girl.
EUGENE, Ore. - Firefighters found Jeanette Maples on her back in the dimly lit living room without her shirt on.
"Help my baby," her mother, Angela McAnulty, told the first responders to a 911 call reporting Maples had stopped breathing.
The girl's body looked small for a 15 year old - so small, the fire
captain at the scene, Sven Wahlroos, asked Angela McAnulty several times
about the girl's age.
Maples had no pulse. Paramedics tried CPR and put a tube into her lungs in an effort to make her breathe.
Angela McAnulty appeared agitated, then quiet, then hysterical. Then she laughed a couple of times.
“I just remember it was an odd response," Wahlroos told the jury
weighing whether Angela McAnulty, who pleaded guilty to her daughter's
murder, should spend life in prison, have a chance for parole after 30
years - or, as Lane County prosecutors contend, face the death penalty.
“Very odd," Wahlroos told the court, recalling the feeling in the
"hair on the back of my neck. I have never had that feeling in 18 years.
All I wanted to do was run.”
He called his supervisor. And he called police.
“In 18 years, I have never cried about a call," he said. "I cried about this call.”
--
Ryan Sheridan was the lead paramedic on scene in December 2009. He
met Angela McAnulty in the driveway and told the jury he remembers her
talking very fast, saying Maples fell down and last seemed well about an
hour before the 911 call.
He doesn't recall Richard McAnulty, Angela's husband, saying a word.
Inside the house off River Road, Sheridan knew something wasn't right when he found Maples, he told the court.
No shirt. Wet hiar. Bruises on her face, and cuts above her eye.
The girl's body was skinny, small and frail, so emaciated, you could see her bones.
"It was a hard call," he said.
Sheridan was there when Maples died in the emergency room.
--
Dr. Elizabeth Hilton treated Maples when she arrived at the ER.
She could find no signs of life in the girls petite, emaciated body. Doctors pronounced Maples dead at 8:42 p.m.
Dr. Hilton was told Maples had no previous medical problems, but said
cuts and wounds on the girl's lips were old - and appeared never to
have received any medical care.
The girl's front teeth were broken, and there were severe wounds on her legs and back.
Hilton met with the family, and Angela told the doctor Maples had been eating but had gotten very skinny lately.
The charge nurse asked Angela where Maples went to school.
She told the hospital staff Maples was homeschooled.
Angela McAnulty entered the courtroom sobbing Thursday morning, saying she knew what she did was wrong.
A member of her defense team consoled her.
She continued to cry, wiping away tears with a tissue - and putting
her head on the table sobbing during opening arguments about whether she
should spend her life in prison or die for the murder of her daughter,
Jeanette Maples.
In front of a packed courtroom with deputies and detectives who
investigated the case looking on, McAnulty entered the penalty phase of
her murder trial, having already admitted causing her daughter's death.
The death penalty phase is expected to last until at least Feb. 27.
McAnulty's husband Richard, who was Maples' step-father, goes to trial in May.
Prosecutor Erik Hasselman said the state would show that, by the time
she died on Dec. 9, 2009, Jeanette Maples had suffered for months.
The prosecutor said paramedics thought Maples was already dead when
they arrived, even as McAnulty insisted the teen had been fine until
just an hour earlier.
The prosecutor said Maples was starved and dehydrated. Her lips and
mouther were pulverized from being hit with belts and sticks over a
period of months. Her face was disfigured, her head in bandages. On her
hip, investigators found a wound where the flesh had been so torn away
as to expose the bone.
She had the "appearance of a concentration camp victim," Hasselman said.
The defense team, led by Steve Krasik, chose to wait until the prosecution rests before making an opening statement.
---
Prosecutors said the evidence will show how Maples died - and that McAnulty was to blame.
Here is how prosecutors described the girl's treatment and history:
Maples was forced to sleep on cardboard in a room with blood spattered on the walls, floor and ceiling.
In the house, investigators found leather belts and torture devices, as well as chunks of Maples' flesh.
"Jeanette was constantly in trouble with her mother," Hasselman said.
McAnulty would take Maples into the "torture room" and turn on the
vacuum cleaner to mask the sound so the two younger children wouldn't
hear it.
Sometimes, McAnulty would tie Maples up, the prosecutor said.
Sometimes, she would make the girl collect dog feces - then run them in the girl's face and mouth.
The State of California once took Jeanette from her mother but returned her after the birth of a younger child.
In 2002, Angela married Richard McAnulty, and the family moved to Oregon.
At first, Maples attended public school. Teachers were concerned
about the girl's treatment at her mother's hands. The school confronted
Maples, who told school officials that she was being abused.
Oregon's Department of Human Services visited the home, where Angela
McAnulty told child welfare workers that Maples was a compulsive liar.
Maples was left with McAnulty, who took the girl out of school to
homeschool he - and to cut off her lifelines to the public, so no
friends would see her condition.
Prosecutors said Lynn McAnulty, Richard's mother, was concerned.
Angela denied her access to the grandchildren, and Lynn called state
child welfare workers repeatedly - the last time just days before Maples
died.
The jury will be asked to render a judgment, and the prosecution
contends that nothing Maples did to provoke her mother warranted her
"slaughter."
The state charges McAnulty caused Maples' death through "intentional
maiming and torture," and that the jury should consider imposing the
death penalty.
At the end of the testimony, the jury will be asked to consider four questions:

1. Was McAnulty's conduct that caused Maple's death deliberate?
   
2. Is it likely that McAnulty will reoffend?
   
3. Did Maples provoke McAnulty?
   
4. Should the death sentence be imposed?
   

If the jury decides "No" to question 4, they face a fifth question:
5. Are there mitigating circumstances that would mean McAnulty should get life with the possibility of parole?
Ten juror must agree yes - and if no, the sentence will be life without parole.
This is a developing story. Check KVAL.com and KVAL 13 TV News at 5, 6 and 11 for more on the case.http://www.kval.com/news/115758604.html

This is one of the most horrific cases I have ever read about. God help these poor children.

OKGran wrote:This is one of the most horrific cases I have ever read about. God help these poor children.

It's horrendous OKGran. That authorities didn't protect this child makes me want to scream. I'd like to know every detail about their actions - or lack of them - and it's about time we started charging inept people in the child protection system with child neglect too IMO.

Angela Darlene McAnulty on Thursday
became the first Oregon woman sentenced to death since state voters
restored capital punishment in 1984.

After deliberating six hours, a Lane County
jury decided that the River Road mother should pay the ultimate penalty
for the 2009 torture murder of her 15-year-old daughter, Jeanette.
Minutes later, a somber Lane County Circuit Judge Kip Leonard told
McAnulty: “The court enters a sentence that you be executed by the state
of Oregon.”

The 42-year-old woman appeared stoic, but several jurors wept.

Her attorneys said they would appeal her death sentence.

Lane County Deputy District Attorney Erik
Hasselman thanked jurors for their verdict in the case, saying he
suspected “the horror of it” made their decision easier.

“Yet it’s an awesome responsibility that we bestow or impose on jurors in this kind of situation,” he said.

The four-week sentencing trial revealed
that McAnulty singled out her eldest daughter for abuse at a young age
and pulled Jeanette from school in 2008 after classmates and employees
there began questioning the girl’s injuries and dwindling weight.
McAnulty’s husband and younger daughter told jurors that the mother
deprived Jeanette of food and water and inflicted regular beatings that
ripped the girl’s flesh from her bones.

Jeanette was so badly maimed by the time
she died in December 2009 that the medical examiner could not determine a
single cause of death.

Richard McAnulty is also charged with
aggravated murder in his step-daughter’s death, but trial testimony
suggested that his wife inflicted most or all of Jeanette’s injuries.
His trial is set for May.

Angela McAnulty pleaded guilty Feb. 1 to
aggravated murder. Her defense attorneys presented evidence that she,
too, had a violent childhood. California relatives, including two
brothers and two aunts, told jurors that their mother was stabbed to
death when Angela was almost 5. The children then went to live with
their abusive father, they testified, who also withheld food and beat
them.

Defense lawyers also told jurors that the
state failed to prove that McAnulty posed a threat to society of future
criminal acts of violence. A person must pose such a threat to receive
the death penalty under Oregon law. It appeared that jurors spent much
of Thursday afternoon discussing that requirement, based on written
questions they submitted to Leonard.

They first asked if the law referred to
“prison society or outside society or both.” The judge instructed them
that the law referred to “any society in which the defendant will live.”


They later asked him to define “criminal
acts of violence.” Leonard responded with a definition from an Oregon
appellate court decision: “acts characterized by the ‘application of
force which has the potential of inflicting bodily injury or the overt
threat of such force.’ ”

On their verdict form read aloud by
Leonard, the jury reported unanimously agreeing that McAnulty posed such
a threat, that she deliberately inflicted Jeanette’s injuries with the
reasonable expectation that death would result, that the girl did
nothing to reasonably provoke them, and that McAnulty deserved a death
sentence.

Lane County District Attorney Alex Gardner
told reporters after the sentencing that he was not surprised that the
jury took only about six hours to decide the case.

“These jurors have been thinking about this
24/7 for weeks,” he said, adding that the experience was likely an
“incredibly painful process” for them, as it was for detectives,
prosecutors and everyone involved in the case.

“Only they’re not in law enforcement, and they didn’t sign up for this,” he said.

He said his office decided to seek its
first death penalty in 10 years because the facts in the case were “so
horrific, it was clear to us that the community needed to decide” if the
ultimate punishment was required.

Prosecutors in counties throughout Oregon
have sought the death penalty for female murderers on at least seven
occasions in the 27 years since it again became law. But in every case,
such women reached plea deals or were sentenced to life prison terms
instead.

Among them was Springfield resident Karlyn
Eklof, sentenced for the 1993 murder of James Salmu, a man who took in
her and her children when they were homeless. Eklof’s boyfriend, Jeffrey
Tiner, is on Oregon’s Death Row for beating, stabbing and shooting
Salmu.

Also among them was former Lane County
resident Amanda Stott-Smith, serving a life prison term after pleading
guilty to throwing her two children off Portland’s Sellwood Bridge in
May 2009, killing 4-year-old Eldon Jay Rebhan Smith. Her 7-year-old
daughter was rescued by boaters and survived.

Stott-Smith, who must serve at least 35
years in prison before being considered for release, told police her
crimes were an act of revenge against her husband, who had recently been
awarded custody of their children.

The only other Oregon woman ever sentenced
to death was former Lane County resident Jeannace Freeman, convicted in
1961 at age 20 of murdering her female lover’s young son by throwing him
off the Crooked River Bridge in Jefferson County. Her sentence was
commuted by then-Gov. Mark Hatfield in 1964, a day after Oregon voters
repealed the death penalty by a 6-to-4 margin.

There are 36 male inmates on Oregon’s Death
Row, and two men have been executed since the law’s 1984 restoration by
an even larger majority.

That’s not because of sexism, Gardner said, but because women so rarely commit horrific crimes.

Angela McAnulty’s conduct was exceedingly
rare, according to a 2010 federal report on child homicides. While most
murdered children are killed by a parent, only about 27 percent of such
deaths are caused by mothers acting alone.

In his closing statements for the state
Wednesday, Hasselman reminded jurors that all had pledged during jury
selection that they would not hesitate to impose the death penalty
simply because McAnulty is female.

“If Jeanette Maples had been snatched by
someone else and held captive in their home, if the atrocities that she
experienced both pyschologically and physically had been inflicted by a
stranger, would any of us have a serious question if death would be the
appropriate sentence?” he asked them. “Is it somehow mitigating that her
killer was her mother?”

In fact, he said, it aggravated the crime,
by taking from Jeanette “that glimmer of hope that she would be rescued
by her parents.”


http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/25931485-41/death-mcanulty-jurors-jeanette-oregon.csp

"Help my baby," her mother, Angela McAnulty, told the first responders to a 911 call reporting Maples had stopped breathing.

This quote made me vomit a bit.

I don't think parents suspected of child abuse should be allowed to home school their children. These poor children are then left with no one to witness their abuse. No one to notice the signs. No one to help the poor child.

The abuser claiming the abused is a liar is no excuse. That should never be accepted. This is clearly a DCF failure.

Oh my, she knows what she did was wrong. What she means is "Damn, I can't torture my daughter anymore and I got caught".

How do people get this depraved?

"How do people get this depraved?"

The mother had been treated the same way. Had Jeanette survived these atrocities there would be comments about how she would never be the same, she would need serious counseling, etc. Sadly her mother did not receive any help and this was the result. While some people can gain compassion for others when we've been through trying circumstance, many do not.

It does bother me however when lawyers try to use "abusive childhood" as an excuse for a lighter sentence. There is no excuse for this type of crime and the perpetrator is likely to do the same thing again. They do this a lot with the predators too. Factually an abused child is more likely to abuse children when they are older. It may explain their behavior, but please, don't excuse it.

The horrific details of the murder of Jeanette Maples were brought to light through both McAnulty trials.

Now those involved in the case formed a group hoping to create something positive in Maples' memory.

The Jeanette Maples project aims to raise awareness of child neglect
and raise funds to honor the memory of the 15-year-old girl who was
murdered by her mother.

"She was always hidden away from everyone," said Priscila Hasselman
with the Jeanette Maples Project. "And, in a way, we are wanting to do
all of this memorial so she's out there, present in the community."

The group says it hopes to create a few memorials at the middle
school that Maples attended, but these plans all hinge on how much money
the group can raise.

Their first fundraiser will take place next Monday, April 11th at all three Papa's Pizza locations in Eugene and Springfield.

There's also an account at Oregon Community Credit Union where anyone can donate directly to the cause.

To participate in the fundraising event, you'll need to bring a flyer
with you to one of the participating Papa Murphy locations.

http://kezi.com/news/local/208801

Lawsuit: 'Jeanette Maples' death could have been prevented'
By KVAL News Published: Aug 30, 2011 at 12:47 PM PDT

EUGENE, Ore. - A wrongful death lawsuit filed against the State of Oregon seeks $1.5 million for not preventing the torture and murder of a Eugene teen at the hands of her mother.

Jeanette Marie Maples was 15 the frail girl was rushed from her family's home to the hospital after a 911 call. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of her estate.

Maples' mother, Angela McAnulty, pleaded guilty to murdering her daughter. A jury sentenced McAnulty to death for starving and torturing Maples to death.

Richard McAnulty, Maples' step-father, also pleaded guilty to murder and received a life sentence with a possibility of parole after 25 years.

After Maples died in December 2009, the Oregon Department of Human Services admitted it did not follow its own policies in dealing with allegations of child abuse against McAnulty.

The lawsuit claims the State of Oregon was negligent in not preventing Maples' death by abuse.

"Jeanette Maples' death could have been prevented if the State of Oregon exercised reasonable care in responding to reports that Jeanette Maples was being abused," the lawsuit claims. "The State actually knew, and in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known, that Jeanette Maples was being exposed to abuse and neglect, yet failed to take adequate or reasonable care to provide reasonable safety to Jeanette Maples."

The lawsuit claims the State was negligent:

In failing to investigate actual allegations of child abuse that arose beginning in 2006, four years before Jeanette Maples was killed.

In failing to consider additional known allegations and investigations of child abuse perpetrated by McAnulty against decedent which were documented in California.

In failing to investigate and heed information from reliable sources in Oregon that disclosed child abuse and neglect that occurred in Oregon.

In failing to determine or assess Jeanette Maples’ own vulnerability to child abuse.

In concluding that Jeanette Maples could fend for herself as a young teenager when defendant knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known, that Jeanette Maples could not be expected to fend for herself in the face of a history of abuse and neglect by the adult parents in her home.

In failing to reasonably monitor the safety of Jeanette Maples when defendant knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known, that Jeanette Maples was being neglected or abused, starved and beaten in her home.
"Defendant’s negligence was a substantial factor in causing suffering, humiliation, pain, fear, anguish, and torture, ultimately resulting in the violent death of Jeanette Maples," the lawsuit contends.

http://www.katu.com/news/local/128694313.html

State will pay $1.5 million to estate of teen Jeanette Maples

The Register-Guard

Published: (Wednesday, Feb 29, 2012 08:44PM) Midnight, March 1

Oregon will pay $1.5 million to
the estate of murdered Eugene teenager Jeanette Maples, settling a
lawsuit alleging that negligence by state child protection workers led
to her starvation, torture and beating death at the hands of her mother.

The state essentially agreed to pay the
full $1,507,000 sought in the August 2011 wrongful death suit filed by
Portland attorney David Paul, according to a settlement document filed
this week in Lane County Circuit Court.

Under Oregon law, $1.5 million is the
legal limit on claims against public agencies. But the state also agreed
to absorb $7,000 it already paid for Jeanette’s burial and related
expenses, Paul said Wednesday. The suit included a claim for that amount
in anticipation that the burial expenses would be charged to the state,
he said.

Probate records show that Paul will
receive $500,000 in attorney’s fees and the rest of the settlement will
be paid to Jeanette’s biological father, California resident Anthony
Maples. Maples is the dead teen’s only qualified heir under Oregon law.
He did not immediately respond to a Wednesday interview request.

Jeanette’s step-grandmother, who
contacted child protection workers in 2009 to express concern about the
girl’s safety, declined comment on the settlement Wednesday.

Lynn McAnulty previously expressed
dismay at the prospect of Anthony Maples benefitting financially from
his daughter’s death, given his lack of involvement in her life. The
Leaburg woman said any settlement should go to Jeanette’s step-siblings,
a boy and girl now in state foster care placements. Absent a will,
however, siblings are not heirs under Oregon law.

The deal was officially struck with a
Portland lawyer serving as personal representative of Jeanette’s estate.
Attorney Erin Olson was appointed to that role after Lane County
Circuit Judge Lauren Holland denied Anthony Maples’ bid to be the
estate’s personal representative.

According to his unsuccessful 2010
petition, Anthony Maples had nine drug possession convictions — at least
five involving methamphetamine — between 1990 and 2008. He also
declared in the sworn statement that he had been clean and sober since
more than a year before Jeanette’s death in December 2009.

Anthony Maples told The Register-Guard
soon after Jeanette’s murder that he had been out of touch with his
daughter for nearly a decade.

Paul arranged grief counseling and “a
host of other medical, psychological and social services” for Anthony
Maples, the probate records show.

The lawsuit targeted Oregon’s Department
of Human Services, which is responsible for investigating reports of
child abuse and neglect. It accused the agency of failing to reasonably
respond to multiple reports over four years that Jeanette was being
abused. It called the state’s inaction “a substantial factor” in her
violent death at age 15.

Jeanette’s mother, Angela McAnulty, was
sentenced to death by lethal injection after pleading guilty in February
2011 to the aggravated murder of her daughter. She remains on Oregon’s
death row even though Gov. John Kitzhaber has announced that there will
be no executions during his tenure.

The dead teen’s stepfather, Richard
McAnulty, is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to murder by
abuse. He denied inflicting harm, but admitted failing to protect
Jeanette from her mother or to report her injuries and starvation to
authorities.

The wrongful death suit alleged that
state workers failed to “investigate and heed” allegations of abuse from
reliable sources. It also accused the agency of failing to consider
Angela McAnulty’s documented history of child abuse in California before
moving to Oregon. And it faulted the agency for underestimating
Jeanette’s vulnerability to abuse, saying workers wrongfully concluded
that she “could fend for herself as a young teenager.”

Department of Human Services spokesman
Gene Evans declined comment on the settlement Wednesday. He pointed
instead to an agency report on policy changes in response to its
internal investigation of its response to reports of suspected abuse in
the Maples case.

The changes included more careful
evaluations of the vulnerability of older children; more supervisor
involvement in decisions about responding to reports of suspected abuse;
and paying greater attention to reports involving children, such as
Jeanette, who are isolated from outside scrutiny because they do not
attend school.

The payment is not the department’s
largest to settle a lawsuit alleging negligent failure to protect an
Oregon child from abuse. In 2009, the agency agreed to pay $2 million
into a fund for future care of twins who were allegedly abused by their
foster parents.

The Jeanette Maples wrongful death claim
sought $1 million in noneconomic damages for Anthony Maples’ loss of
his daughter’s “society, love and companionship.” It also sought
$500,000 in noneconomic damages for her suffering of “severe hunger,
starvation, anemia, dehydration, alienation of affection, distress and a
lack of the enjoyment of her short life” due to the state’s failure to
protect her from her mother.

In a declaration urging court approval
of the settlement, Paul said he has handled 40 to 50 claims against
Oregon and Washington child protective service agencies on behalf of
injured children.

In a statement Wednesday, Paul said
“there is no way to bring back Jeanette Maples. Her memory will be
cherished. However, a hard look at the practices and failings at DHS can
open new pathways to a better social network and community. This is the
kind of case that can make Oregon a safer place for all of our children
in the future.”

http://www.registerguard.com/web/news/27690195-57/jeanette-maples-oregon-death-state.html.csp

The only good thing about this awful murder is that both the mother and step father were found guilty and are in prison.