ANAKIN CREDIT - 2 yo (2008)/ Convicted: Mason L. Weems - Springfield IL

A leading expert on deaths caused by abuse says that 2-year-old Anakin
Credit of Springfield was strangled two years ago.

“My opinion about the death of this child is that it is a homicide
victim from asphyxiation by strangulation with another significant
contributory factor of blunt abdominal trauma with a large liver
laceration and a very large amount of blood in the peritoneal cavity,”
wrote Dr. Mary Case, medical examiner for St. Louis County in Missouri,
in an Oct. 21 letter to the office of inspector general for the Illinois
Department of Children and Family Services.



DCFS subsequently reopened its investigation of the boy's death. The
results of the investigation are now in the hands of prosecutors.

The Sangamon County coroner’s office, based on the work of pathologist
Dr. Jessica Bowman, initially concluded that Anakin died from a rare
childhood cancer. Bowman re-evaluated the case after DCFS reopened the
investigation, but she still maintains that Anakin died of natural
causes and that a liver injury was incidental.

Not so, according to Case, who is a pathology professor at Saint Louis
University and a member of a child fatality review panel in Missouri
that is charged with recommending improvements to the system for
investigating suspicious child deaths.

“Dr. Bowman thought the liver laceration was related to resuscitation
and that the blood in the abdominal cavity was an amount consistent with
a minor laceration,” Case wrote. “In fact, the liver laceration is far
from minor and a large portion of the child’s blood volume is in the
abdominal cavity.”

Case also dismissed the cancer diagnosis.

“The small round blue cell tumor is an entirely incidental finding and
of no significance in the death of the child,” Case wrote.

The State Journal-Register obtained a copy of Case’s letter from the
office of Coroner Susan Boone in response to two requests made under the
state Freedom of Information Act.

Neither Boone nor Bowman could be reached Tuesday, but Boone has
consistently supported Bowman's conclusions.

“This just blows my mind — the whole thing blows my mind,” said Michele
Credit, Anakin’s paternal grandmother. “Did Susan Boone read any of
this? I honestly hope she never loses a child. I just don’t know how
anybody could think this baby died of natural causes.”

Case’s conclusions differ from those of Dr. J. Scott Denton, a
Bloomington pathologist who looked at the case earlier this year and
determined that Anakin died from blunt force trauma to the abdomen.

Case wrote that marks on Anakin’s neck were evidence of strangulation,
but Denton, who did not review Case’s report, said those marks could
have been caused by a cervical collar used in attempts to treat Anakin.

Case, however, said the liver injury alone could have been lethal.
Microscopic examination of tissue showed the injury occurred “some
period of time” before help was summoned, she wrote.

Case, who reviewed emergency medical services reports, wrote that
Anakin was blue, cold and unresponsive when paramedics arrived. He was
pronounced dead at St. John’s Hospital about an hour later.

Credit said DCFS recently sent her son, Anakin’s father, a letter
stating that the agency has determined that Anakin died from abuse and
that he can get case records by filing a written request. She said he
intends to do just that.

“We’re going to ask for everything we can get,” Credit said.

Illinois State Police investigators say Sangamon County Coroner Susan
Boone’s record-keeping is so slipshod it may constitute a felony. Citing
suspected violations of the Local Records Act that could lead to
additional charges of official misconduct, police in June obtained a
warrant to search Boone’s office, seizing dozens of files, according to
court records recently unsealed at the request of The State
Journal-Register. Police said they didn’t trust Boone to produce the
records under subpoena.

“We are utilizing a search warrant because the coroner has refused to
fully comply with subpoenas issued by the DCFS (Department of Children
and Family Services) Inspector General,” wrote Illinois State Police
Sgt. Anthony Kestner in an affidavit outlining the investigation and the
need for a warrant. “It is feared that if we utilize a subpoena, the
coroner will not fully comply.”

The court documents paint the most detailed picture yet of a criminal
investigation sparked by controversy that surrounded the coroner since
early this year, when Boone ruled that Patrick Burns, who died after a
struggle with county sheriff’s deputies, succumbed to excited delirium. A
pathologist hired by Burns’ relatives blames the death on a brain
injury caused by the way deputies restrained and transported Burns to a
hospital.

Controversy grew in April, when The State this year, when Boone ruled
that Patrick Burns, who died after a struggle with county sheriff’s
deputies, succumbed to excited delirium. A pathologist hired by Burns’
relatives blames the death on a brain injury caused by the way deputies
restrained and transported Burns to a hospital.

Controversy grew in April, when The State Journal-Register first
reported the DCFS inspector general’s office was investigating the death
of Anakin Credit, 2, whose 2008 death was blamed on cancer by Boone.
However, two pathologists hired by the state, which has declared Anakin a
victim of abuse, said he died violently, and the case is now in the
hands of prosecutors who are considering criminal charges.

In addition, the newspaper has found that Boone has not been sending
DNA samples from homicide victims to the state crime lab, as required by
law.

When state police searched the coroner’s office in June, Boone had yet
to give the DCFS inspector general a report on Anakin’s death that cast
doubt on the coroner’s conclusions, despite a subpoena for the case file
issued to Boone four months earlier. Five days after police served the
warrant, the DCFS inspector general’s office issued a second subpoena to
obtain the 2009 report authored by a Michigan doctor who reviewed the
case and found no evidence of malignancy.

Boone also had failed to disclose the report in response to a records
request by The State Journal-Register last spring. When the newspaper
submitted a second request in June, Boone turned the report over, saying
she hadn’t realized it existed until she received the second subpoena
from the state.

Stakes are high
In addition to records in Anakin’s death, state police seized files in
at least 20 other deaths when they searched Boone’s office last summer.
Boone also faces scrutiny from the Sangamon County Board, which has cut
her budget by nearly 50 percent and authorized a performance audit that
is expected to begin once the criminal probe is complete.

“The public interest is in a correctly and efficiently operated
office,” said county board Chairman Andy Van Meter. “I am very
concerned. And my fellow board members are very concerned.”

Boone has refused to comment on controversy surrounding her since the
criminal investigation began last May, and she did not return a phone
call from a reporter for this story. The stakes are high for Boone, who
has been coroner since 1996, easily winning re-election every four
years.

According to Kestner’s affidavit, investigators believe Boone may have
violated the Local Records Act, which forbids public officials from
concealing or altering public records. The law also forbids destruction
of records without permission from the Illinois Secretary of State’s
office, police say.

The last time anyone from the coroner’s office asked for permission to dispose of records was in 1994.

Kestner in his affidavit also says that Boone might have committed
official misconduct, which bars public officials from failing to perform
duties required by law or committing acts they know are prohibited by
law.

Official misconduct and violations of the Local Records Act are both
felonies. If Boone is found guilty, she could lose both her job and
pension benefits.

Punishment for violating the Local Records Act is rare.Cara Smith,
public access counselor for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, said
the attorney general’s office is unaware of anyone being prosecuted for
violating the Local Records Act, which has been on the books since
1961.

Don Craven, a Springfield lawyer who litigates public-records cases
statewide and has been practicing nearly three decades, said he is
unaware of anyone in Illinois being charged with violating the Local
Records Act.

Wide net cast
Case files seized by state police who served the search warrant run the
gamut, from high-profile deaths that generated lawsuits and media
coverage to the death of a man last year whose demise is noteworthy only
because Boone allegedly changed the date of death at the request of his
family.

In addition to case files, the warrant authorized police to seize
Freedom of Information Act files compiled since 1996 and lists of
inquest jurors, which court files show were taken from Boone by
investigators.

Police got much of their information from Boone’s employees, according
to court files. In his affidavit, Kestner, citing interviews with
unnamed employees, alleges:

*Boone once tried to influence an inquest jury to change a ruling.

*The coroner has kept audiotapes of inquest proceedings, even though
Boone has said publicly that tapes are erased after transcription and
re-used in an effort to save money. Court files indicate police seized
tapes in seven cases, including one in which someone who requested
recordings was denied tapes.

*The coroner had completed toxicology testing in the case of an
off-duty Lincoln police officer who died in a single-vehicle accident in
2007 but did not present the results to an inquest jury.

*Boone has changed transcripts of inquests. In one case, a coroner’s
employee told police that Boone had ordered sentences in a transcript
changed because the deceased’s family didn’t like the wording.

Transcript altered?
The Burns case plays a leading role in the criminal case against Boone,
which began after Burns’ family alleged a botched death investigation
and asked for a criminal probe.

In his affidavit, Kestner writes that a coroner’s employee told police
that Boone ordered the inquest transcript changed after an initial copy
had been sent to Burns’ family. The employee told police that Boone, who
doesn’t listen to tapes to ensure transcripts are accurate, wanted
portions of the Burns inquest removed that she felt were off the record.

A State Journal-Register reporter attended the Burns inquest in March
and did not hear Boone declare that anything was off the record.

Dr. John Ralston, a pathologist who attended the autopsy and was hired
by the family to review the case, told police that statements by Boone
were missing from the transcript. In addition, Ralston told
investigators, Burns’ family asked to speak to the inquest jury, but
Boone would not allow it.

That’s contrary to state law, which states that relatives of a deceased
person must be allowed to testify at inquests, according to Kestner’s
affidavit.

Although Boone, who has refused to talk about allegations against her,
did not return a phone call from a reporter, her attorneys say in a Nov.
15 court filing that Boone can legally remove her own remarks from
inquest transcripts because she is not a sworn witness. The filing came
in a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against Boone filed by Burns’ family,
who wants the death certificate changed to show that Burns died an
accidental death. An inquest jury rendered an open verdict.

Regardless, the court documents raise questions about Boone’s insistence that she doesn’t preserve tape recordings of inquests.

When The State Journal-Register in April asked for a tape of the Burns inquest, Boone said no such record existed.

“All inquest tapes are erased once they are transcribed and certified,
and are re-used,” the coroner wrote in an April 12 letter to the
newspaper.

However, a log listing evidence seized from the coroner shows that
police took audiotapes in seven cases, including the Burns case. The log
doesn’t make clear whether the tapes are recordings of transcripts, but
Kestner in his affidavit writes that recordings are maintained in the
coroner’s office.

Death date changed
Police also are interested in, among others, the case of David
Bogardus, who was found dead in his home by his wife Oct. 31, 2009.

Springfield police and fire department records make clear that Bogardus
was dead when he was found about 11:45 p.m. by his wife, who had gone
out that evening with a friend to celebrate her birthday.

In their report, police wrote that Bogardus, who had health problems
including diabetes, was cold to the touch when his wife found him, that
the time of death was officially pronounced at 11:59 p.m. and that Boone
confirmed the time of death.

Paramedics reported that rigor had started to set in when they arrived at 11:57 p.m.

“Obvious death,” paramedics wrote in the section of the report form titled Signs and Symptoms.

However, Bogardus died at 12:22 a.m. the following day, according to the death certificate.

Why the discrepancy?
“The family requested the date of his death be changed to 11/01/09,” Kestner wrote in his affidavit.

“This request was made by the funeral director to Sangamon County
Coroner Susan Boone, who agreed to the family’s request since she was
not notified until after midnight on 11/01/09.”

Steven Dunker, the funeral director who handled arrangements for the
Bogardus family, said relatives didn’t want to be reminded of the death
each year when observing the widow’s birthday.

“I think they just didn’t want to have that, every year, to remember,” Dunker said.

Dunker said the Bogardus case isn’t unusual. Boone typically uses the
time she is notified of the death as the time of death, he said.

“The actual time that Susan was notified was the following day,” Dunker
said. “She usually goes by the time that she is notified.”

Coroners in Illinois have the authority to establish official times of
death based on when they were informed of a case, even if it’s clear
that someone died much earlier, according to Will County Coroner Patrick
O’Neil, president of the Illinois Coroners and Medical Examiners
Association.

“There is no steadfast rule on that,” O’Neil said. “You can have
skeletal remains, where someone has obviously been deceased for months
or years, and the time of death is the pronouncement time, when the
medical examiner or coroner views the remains.”

Bruce Rushton can be reached at 788-1542.

I hope this woman's ineptness and criminal neglect doesn't result in a murderer walking free. Again.

A Grand Jury now says an Illinois toddler was murdered, even though a
coroner says otherwise.. Two-year-old boy Anakin Credit, from Springfield,
Illinois, died three years ago by what the Sangamon County coroner
called natural causes. But two follow-up medical examiner reviews,
including one by St. Louis County's Dr. Mary Case, found Credit was the victim of homicide.
An Illinois state investigator found the toddler's case is just one of
many injustices involving the protection of kids. Eleven cases are
documented in a 2011 investigative report by the Illinois Office of
Inspector General, or O.I.G. They all involve "child death and serious injury".
The report points out that Credit died just weeks after DCFS involvement in his life.
Another case in which the state criticizes DCFS is the one involving
Belleville’s Alyse Mamino. Mamino said she didn't know she was pregnant
when police resuscitated her new born after the baby was drowned in a
toilet. DCFS returned the baby to Mamino right before investigators
found the bones of another infant in a basement where she lived. The
child is now in state care while Mamino sits in prison.
Southern Illinois recently created a Child Death Task Force. Columbia,
IL’s Police Chief Joe Edwards says it will make a difference.
Chief Edwards said, “The first time that I myself, 18 plus years in law
enforcement ever sat in the same room with a DCFS investigator and I was very pleased with that.”
The prosecutor in this recent toddler case is Ed Parkinson, who also assisted in the Chris Coleman
triple murder case. In Anakin Credit's case, the alleged killer is his
mother's former boyfriend, Mason Weems who was arrested on the charges
Thursday night. Since Anakin death, Weems married the boy's mother.

http://www.fox2now.com/news/ktvi-grand-jury-rules-il-toddler-death-murder-061711,0,6331895.story

Trial set for suspect in Anakin Credit case



Jun 20, 2011


Trial for a Springfield man charged with murdering 2-year-old Anakin Credit in 2008 has been set for Aug. 22.

Mason L. Weems, 28, has pleaded innocent to charges of first-degree murder and aggravated battery of a child. He called 911 on March 11, 2008, after Anakin had trouble breathing. The child died shortly after arriving at St. John’s Hospital. Weems told investigators that Anakin had fallen in a bathtub.

Based on an autopsy by Dr. Jessica Bowman, former Sangamon County Coroner Susan Boone said that Anakin died from undiagnosed cancer. But two pathologists subsequently said that Anakin, who had a laceration on his liver and bruises on his body, died from abuse.

At the request of Bob Scherschligt, Weems’ attorney, Sangamon County Circuit Judge John Belz during a brief hearing on Monday agreed to tell officials at the Sangamon County Jail to ensure that Weems, a diabetic, gets proper insulin doses. Jack Campbell, chief deputy for the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, said that jailers will check Weems’ insulin level four times a day, twice as often as is usually done.

Scherschligt said he hasn’t yet received discovery materials from prosecutors and so cannot say whether Weems will be tried as currently scheduled.

“My client has pleaded not guilty,” Scherschligt said. “Until the evidence is heard, there should not be a rush to judgment.”
http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x898076832/Trial-set-for-suspect-in-Anakin-Credit-case

08/22/2011 Trial Call Continued, Motion of Defendant, in Custody
Jury Trial on Oct 17, 2011 at 9:00 AM
DEFENDANT MASON L. WEEMS : Present the State by SPECIAL
APPELLATE PROSECUTOR ED PARKINSON. Present the Defendant, in
person, in the custody of the Sheriff, and by Attorney JOSEPH
MILLER for Attorney LINDSAY R. EVANS . Trial call held. On
motion of the Defendant, trial continued to 10/17/2011 at
09:00 AM. Defendant remanded to the custody of the Sheriff.
Judge: BELZ Reporter: ME Clerk: BW ASA: SPECIAL APPELLATE PROSECUTOR

http://67.128.239.91/sccc/DisplayDocket.sc

10/17/2011 Trial Call Continued, Motion of Defendant, in Custody
Jury Trial on Nov 14, 2011 at 9:00 AM
DEFENDANT MASON L. WEEMS : Present the State by SPECIAL
APPELLATE PROSECUTOR EDWIN PARKINSON. Present the Defendant,
in person, in the custody of the Sheriff, and by Attorney
LINDSAY R. EVANS . Trial call held. On motion of the
Defendant, trial continued to 11/14/2011 at 09:00 AM. Cause
set for hearing on Motion for Bond Reduction on 10/19/11 at
2:30pm. Defendant remanded to the custody of the Sheriff.
Judge: BELZ Reporter: ME Clerk: BW ASA: SPECIAL APPELLATE PROSECUTOR

http://67.128.239.91/sccc/DisplayDocket.sc

11/14/2011 Trial Call Continued, Motion of Defendant, in Custody
Jury Trial on Jan 23, 2012 at 9:00 AM
DEFENDANT MASON L. WEEMS : Present the State by SPECIAL
APPELLATE PROSECUTOR EDWIN PARKINSON. Present the Defendant,
in person, in the custody of the Sheriff, and by Attorneys
ROBERT SCHERSCHLIGT and LINDSAY R. EVANS . Trial call held.
On motion of the Defendant, trial continued to 1/23/2012 at
09:00 AM. Defendant's Renewed Motion for Bond Reduction is
set for hearing on 11/29/11 at 9:30am. Defendant remanded to
the custody of the Sheriff.
Judge: BELZ Reporter: ME Clerk: BW ASA: SPECIAL APPELLATE PROSECUTOR

http://67.128.239.91/sccc/DisplayDocket.sc

Weems sentenced to 20 years in 2008 death of 2-year-old

By Dan Petrella
Posted Nov. 1, 2013 @ 12:01 am
Updated Nov 1, 2013 at 12:03 AM


Photo courtesy William CreditAnakin Credit died in 2008.

   A Springfield man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2008 death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son.

   Mason L. Weems, 30, pleaded guilty Thursday in Sangamon County Circuit Court to aggravated battery of a child. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop a first-degree murder charge. Circuit Judge John Belz approved the plea deal.

   Anakin Credit was taken to St. John’s Hospital on March 11, 2008, after Weems, who was watching the boy while his mother was at work, told authorities he’d fallen in the bathtub and had trouble breathing.

   Weems was indicted three years later on the first-degree murder and aggravated battery charges.

   Based on pathologist Dr. Jessica Bowman’s 2008 autopsy, then-Sangamon County Coroner Susan Boone ruled that Anakin had died from a rare, undiagnosed cancer.

   However, after the inspector general at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services reopened the case in 2009, two other pathologists determined he’d died from abuse, although they differed on the exact cause of death. Boone stood by Bowman’s conclusion, which eventually led to her resignation in 2011 — after county officials had threatened to abolish the coroner’s office.

   In court Thursday, Ed Parkinson of the state’s attorneys appellate prosecutor’s office, the lead prosecutor on the case, said the latter two doctors agreed that a blow to the child’s side or back tore his liver in two places, causing severe internal bleeding.

   Dr. Mary Case of St. Louis said Anakin also was strangled, but that the abdominal injury alone could have been fatal, whereas Dr. J. Scott Denton of Bloomington said that injury caused his death.

   Because of the problems with the initial autopsy and the differing opinions among the experts, Parkinson said, it was possible Weems could have been acquitted if the case went before a jury.

   Due to the coroner’s ruling, “there was no actual police investigation at the time of the death of the little boy,” Parkinson said.

   Given the circumstances, he said, the agreement is a fair one.

   Michele Credit, Anakin’s paternal grandmother, said the family was informed of the agreement a couple of weeks ago.

   While it’s possible Weems could have ended up with a longer sentence if the case went to trial, Credit said the family knows there was no guarantee.

   “With the evidence being messed up from the beginning with the coroner’s office, I’m not sure we would have been better off,” she said.

   Anakin’s family never believed the initial ruling after the autopsy and suspected abuse from the beginning, Credit said.

   “At the hospital, everybody was (suspicious),” she said.

   Mildred Credit, Anakin’s great-grandmother, said Weems’ sentence is lacking.

   “We’re disappointed, but we have to accept it,” she said. “It should have been longer. The little boy will be gone forever.”

   Weems did not make a statement during the hearing, and the Credits said they felt he showed no remorse.

   “He showed no emotion that day or today,” Michele Credit said.

   Weems will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence, or 17 years. He will receive credit for serving about two years and four months in Sangamon County Jail while awaiting trial and will be on parole for three years after his release.

   Aggravated battery of a child is a Class X felony, which carries a possible prison term of six to 30 years. First-degree murder is punishable by up to life in prison.  

http://www.sj-r.com/article/20131101/News/311019880#ixzz2wEqIoKyU