JAZZMIN DAVIS - 15 yo (2008) - Martinez (NE of Oakland) CA

Martinez CA ---- Shemeeka Davis
used an electrical cord to whip her 15-year-old foster daughter in the
face and upper body shortly before the teenager died of starvation and
long-term child abuse at their Antioch home, a police officer testified
Thursday.
Davis, 39, wept continuously as Antioch Officer Blair
Benzler testified about the death of Jazzmin Davis on Sept. 2, 2008, as
recounted by her twin brother.
The officer was the first witness
at a preliminary hearing to hear the evidence against Davis, who is
charged with the murder and torture of Jazzmin, and child abuse
involving both her and her twin brother.
Davis took custody of
the twins, her brother"s biological children, when they were 3 months
old. The state made her a permanent guardian six days before Jazzmin
died.
A San Francisco social worker in charge of monitoring
Davis" care of the twins made biannual visits to the home and helped
Davis gain guardianship. Still, neither teen was enrolled in school and
both bore scars from ongoing abuse, according to police. Jazzmin, at 5
feet, 7 inches tall, weighed a mere 78 pounds when she died.
The
head of San Francisco Health Human Services Agency told Bay Area News
Group in 2008 that staff violated state regulations by not requiring
regular medical and school reports from Davis.
Benzler said
Jazzmin's brother told investigators that the day his sister died, Davis
was angry because she suspected that Jazzmin had
gone into her bedroom the previous night. The boy said Davis whipped
Jazzmin with the cord nearly a dozen times before he left to take a
bath. When he finished, Davis told him his sister was dead, Benzler
said.
The boy said he looked into the bedroom he shared with
Jazzmin and saw her body on the floor, naked but partially covered with a
towel. He told investigators that Davis was performing CPR on Jazzmin,
and putting ice on the girl"s chest, said deputy public defender Betty
Barker, reading from a transcript of the boy"s interview. He said Davis
was crying in a way he"d never seen her cry before.
"I"m so
sorry," Davis told the Jazzmin's twin. "I know don"t love me. You guys
are my babies and they are going to take you away. ... You got to help
me. I don"t want her to die. I"ll never do it again. Just don"t die,
don"t die."
Jazzmin's brother also told police that Davis stopped
enrolling Jazzmin in school after the 2006-07 school year, and pulled
him out a year later.
"She said she was not going to pay for his
registration for school because he failed at ... stopping Jazzmin from
messing up the house," Benzler said.
The boy told police he would
sometimes take the blame when Jazzmin "messed up" because she always
received more extreme beatings.
"He wanted to protect his
sister," Benzler said.
It was Valentine"s Day 2007 when Davis
began locking him in the twin"s bedroom and the closet for up to 12
hours at a time. Davis had begun locking up Jazzmin a year earlier, and
had removed all light bulbs from the room.
Davis is not suspected
of abusing her biological children, two boys older than the twins and a
7-year-old girl, who also lived at the house. When investigators
interviewed the 7-year-old a few days after Jazzmin"s death, they asked
her to identify everyone who lived in the home. She named her father,
who was there off and on, her mother and three brothers, including
Jazzmin's twin. Why didn"t she include Jazzmin, interviewers asked.
"She
said she didn't remember her," Benzler said.

Abuse, murder case may net foster child $4 million

01/22/11 2:55 PM

A boy who suffered abuse while in San Francisco’s foster care system and whose twin sister was murdered by their guardian is poised to receive $4 million to settle a lawsuit he filed against The City.

In 2008, Antioch foster mother Shameeka Davis was charged by the Contra Costa County district attorney with torturing and murdering her 15-year-old niece Jazzmin Davis and abusing her twin brother.

The children were under the supervision of the San Francisco Department of Child Protective Services. Examinations reportedly showed both had been burned with hot irons and whipped with belts and electrical cords over time. In August 2009, the brother filed a lawsuit against The City.

A $4 million settlement agreement will be introduced Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors for review and approval.

The San Francisco Examiner is not naming the brother because he’s a minor.

The case raised questions about the state of San Francisco’s foster care system. At the time of the incident, Trent Rhorer, executive director of San Francisco’s Human Services Agency, was quoted in the press as saying neither San Francisco nor Contra Costa children’s services received any reports of suspected abuse. A social worker had visited Jazzmin in March 2008 and reportedly found no evidence of abuse. Jazzmin was found dead in September of that year.

“This is not something that goes away,” said Darren Kessler, the plaintiff’s attorney. “This is something that will be with him for the rest of his life.”

Kessler said a “central focus” of the case should be on why the abuse happened in the first place. “There has been a lax attitude toward children in the foster care system.” Kessler said, adding, “Hopefully this outcome will make a difference.”

Background:

AUTOPSY: ANTIOCH GIRL WAS WHIPPED, BURNED

09/04/2008; and updated: 11/30/2008


Jazzmin Davis

ANTIOCH, CA — Jazzmin Davis was continually whipped with belts and electrical cords, burned with irons and severely beaten in the Antioch home where she died Tuesday, an autopsy by the Contra Costa County Coroner's Office has revealed.

The 15-year-old, emaciated and malnourished, suffered severe lacerations and blunt force trauma to her head, and sustained severe injuries on the day of her death, Antioch police Lt. Leonard Orman said at a Thursday news conference. The children's aunt and foster mother, Shemeeka Davis, 37, remains in County Jail in Martinez, where she is being held on suspicion of murder and corporal punishment. The district attorney is expected to file charges today. Orman said Davis has been cooperative and admitted to beating and whipping the twins. No clear motive has been identified for the abuse.

"She talks about the fact that she does lose control," Orman said.

Davis has been the twins' foster mother since their infancy. Their case was being handled through the San Francisco County Department of Human Services, Orman said. Trent Rhorer, executive director of the San Francisco Human Services Agency, said the agency had conducted the required regular checks on the children's welfare and had detected no evidence of abuse or neglect. The most recent visit to the home was in March 2008, Rhorer said - six months more recent than earlier reported by Antioch police.

Police said Davis had been receiving a $13,104 annual stipend from San Francisco County for the twins' care; $9,800 annually from Contra Costa County for caring for her elderly mother, who lives in Bay Point; and $1,700 a month from the Contra Costa Housing Authority through the federal Section 8 housing assistance program.

Orman said the twins had been confined to the house and restricted largely to the stark second-story bedroom they shared, but it is still unclear how long they had been kept inside. The bedroom contained a bunk bed, one sheet, an empty closet and a few posters on the walls, Orman said.

The boy reportedly spent much of his time reading in the bedroom, and is extremely bright, Orman said. His demeanor has been stoic, but he is upset about his sister's death, Orman said. Police said Davis' 7-year-old daughter, also removed from the house, had not been physically abused as was originally reported. The 7-year-old's father had also been living in the house until days before Jazzmin's death, and is cooperating with police.

Shemeeka Davis' older sons, 17 and 18, also lived in the house. Orman said police are still investigating whether they are culpable in the abuse and murder. The neighbor said she had not seen Jazzmin for more than a year, and that when she questioned Shemeeka Davis about her whereabouts she was told Jazzmin had been sent to live with other family members. "We all failed her," she said.
"Every one of us failed her."

$13,104
9,800
20,400
--------------------

$43,304 yearly and the evil bitch couldn't even feed these poor kids.

It took the jury two hours to convict her.

San Francisco to pay $4M to abused foster child

SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco lawmakers have agreed to pay $4 million to a teenage boy who was beaten and starved by his aunt, who is awaiting trial on charges that similar abuse caused the death of the boy's twin sister. The payment approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is designed to settle a lawsuit brought by the boy.

He and his late sister were under the supervision of the city's Department of Child Protective Services when they were living as foster children of their aunt, Shemeeka Davis, in Antioch. Davis was arrested in September 2008 after her 15-year-old niece's death.

Authorities said the girl died of malnutrition exacerbated by long-term physical abuse. The boy's lawyer, Darren Kessler, told The San Francisco Examiner he hoped the case would lead to better monitoring of foster children.

Information from: The San Francisco Examiner, http://www.sfexaminer.com

An Antioch woman charged with
torturing and killing her 15-year-old niece will be evaluated by
court-appointed doctors after entering an insanity plea. The
Contra Costa Times reports that Shemeeka Davis on Friday entered a "dual
plea," both not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. Davis
is scheduled to stand trial in May on murder charges in connection with
the death of Jazzmin Davis in 2008. Authorities say the teen died of
malnutrition exacerbated by long-term physical abuse at the hands of her
aunt. The 40-year-old Davis is also charged with child abuse
and torture of both Jazzmin and her twin brother. The two siblings had
lived with Davis, who was both their paternal aunt and their foster
mother, since shortly after their births. The Times says that if Davis is found insane by either a jury or judge, she will be committed to a state mental hospital.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_17543044

MARTINEZ
-- The twin brother of a 15-year-old Antioch girl who starved to death
in 2008 testified Wednesday about the horrific abuse he and his sister
suffered at the hands of the aunt who had raised them as foster children
since they were infants.The now-18-year-old brother admitted
that he initially downplayed the abuse to investigators in the days
after his sister Jazzmin Davis' Sept. 2, 2008, death of malnutrition
exacerbated by long-term physical abuse."At the time I was scared
that I would still have to got back to Shemeeka," the twin said at
40-year-old Shemeeka Davis' trial on charges of murder, and two counts
each of torture and child abuse. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of
insanity.The twin appeared in court wearing makeup and a woman's
light gray top, designer skinny jeans and black, stiletto-heeled suede
boots. His long, straight hair fell past his shoulders, with side-swept
bangs, and he rested his chin in the hand of a tattooed arm throughout
his afternoon testimony.He rarely glanced in Shemeeka Davis'
direction as he gave short answers in a soft voice. Attorneys addressed
him by his male birth name, though his appearance is of a stunning young
woman.Bay Area News Group is not naming the man because he was a minor when the abuse occurred.The
twin testified for three hours about the abuse that included days and
nights locked in a small closest with his sister and such as with
household items like carpet tack strips. He spoke
of being denied food, clothing, health care and schooling. He remembers
watching his sister, who was 5 feet 7 and 78 pounds when she died,
spiral into madness.He said that at one point, Jazzmin would no longer cry or get upset during beatings, and that upset Shemeeka Davis.The
twin said that on the day of Jazzmin's death, his aunt had him fetch
two plastic bags and then ordered him to take a shower while she
punished his sister. He got out of the shower upon hearing Shemeeka
Davis crying for help because Jazzmin lost consciousness.He said he tried to go to his sister, but his aunt ordered him to get a bucket of ice, which she put on Jazzmin's chest.When asked about how he felt immediately after Jazzmin's death, the twin said he was confused."I was like, sad and like, I don't even know," he said. "I was just depressed."During
opening statements Tuesday, Shemeeka Davis' attorney said she would be
calling mental health experts to testify that the defendant suffers from
severe mental illnesses and could not recognize the harm she was
causing the children. She was delusional and believed that Jazzmin was
evil and out to harm her and her 7-year-old birth daughter.Jazzmin's
brother testified that he never heard his aunt voice concern that
Jazzmin would harm anyone during biannual visits by their case worker
from San Francisco Human Services Agency. One of the last visits,
according to the twin, was after his aunt had taken Jazzmin out of
school.The San Francisco agency paid a $4 million settlement to
the surviving twin for its negligence. The Antioch Unified School
District paid him $750,000 and changed its policy on tracking students
who drop from attendance records.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18233691?nclick_check=1

MARTINEZ
-- A forensic psychologist testified Friday that She-meeka Davis was in
the throes of four mental illnesses when she systematically beat,
starved and imprisoned the twin children entrusted to her by her
brother, the abuse ending with one dead and the other on the edge of
survival.Davis, 40, was overwhelmed by the task of suddenly
having to care for two substance-dependent infants -- born to her
crack-addicted sister-in-law in 1993 -- that helped trigger borderline
personality disorder, one of the quartet of diagnoses presented to a
jury by Karen Franklin, a clinical and forensic psychologist."Ms.
Davis was under an incredible amount of stress," Franklin said. "She
was the single mother of five children "... including two high-risk,
high-needs children."Franklin testified for the defense of Davis,
who is on trial for the 2008 death of niece Jazzmin Davis, 15, from
malnutrition worsened by long-term physical abuse she and her brother
suffered at the hands of their aunt. The abuse came to light Sept. 2,
2008, the day Jazzmin's body was discovered at an Antioch home.Davis has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murder, torture and child abuse. Franklin
was tapped to substantiate the claim. In addition to the personality
disorder, she said Shemeeka Davis also suffers from major depression,
obsessive-compulsive disorder and delusional disorder, all of which made
the defendant not fully cognizant of the havoc
she was wreaking on the children.There
is also "overwhelming" evidence that the abuse she inflicted on the
Davis twins was reminiscent of abuse she suffered herself as a child,
Franklin said.Deputy district attorney Satish Jallepalli raised
multiple objections during Franklin's testimony, tacitly challenging the
insanity defense on the basis that it is rooted substantially in the
accounts of Shemeeka Davis, whose defense hinges on her appearing to be
mentally ill.Earlier in Friday's proceedings, the prosecution
rested after hearing testimony from James Crawford-Jakubiak, medical
director for the Center for Child Protection at Children's Hospital
Oakland. Crawford-Jakubiak's department examined Jazzmin's twin brother
-- whose name is being withheld by Bay Area News Group because his abuse
occurred when he was a minor -- and cataloged head-to-toe burn marks
and scars the physician said were the result of years of physical abuse."He was literally struck all over his body," Crawford-Jakubiak said.Images
of the young man -- now an 18-year-old who testified Wednesday --
showed an emaciated and scarred youth who Crawford-Jakubiak said was
just 90 pounds when he was examined, roughly 25 pounds lighter than what
would be healthy for a 5-foot-3 boy.On Thursday, Antioch
detectives detailed some of the items they collected as evidence,
including objects used to beat the children, such as a belt with a
padlock attached to the end, and wooden dowels.Earlier this week,
Jazzmin's brother testified at length about the abuse that included
days and nights locked in a small closet with his sister, and the use of
household items such as carpet tack strips. He spoke of being denied
food, clothing, health care and schooling. He remembers watching his sister, who was 5 feet 7 and 78 pounds when she died, spiral into madness.The
San Francisco Human Services Agency, which had been responsible for
overseeing the twins' foster care, paid a $4 million settlement to the
brother for its negligence. The Antioch school district paid him $750,000 and changed its policy on tracking students who drop from attendance records.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18248593?nclick_check=1

MARTINEZ, Calif. -- Jurors heard
closing arguments Wednesday in the trial for an Antioch woman accused of
torturing and abusing her two foster children for years and ultimately
killing one of them in 2008.On Sept. 2, 2008, Antioch police were
called to the home of Shemeeka Davis, now 40, where they found
15-year-old Jazzmin Davis dead on the floor. She had died about
two hours earlier, but Davis did not call 911. Instead, she called her
mother, who eventually called police, attorneys said.At the time
of her death, Jazzmin, who was 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed only 78
pounds and had scars and injuries covering her entire body, prosecutor
Satish Jallepalli said. The coroner found that she died from a combination of physical abuse and malnutrition, Jallepalli said.Jazzmin's
twin brother was also severely malnourished and had extensive
injuries, but he lived and was able to testify during trial to the
abuse he and his sister suffered at the hands of Davis, who had cared
for them since birth.Davis has entered a dual plea of not guilty
and not guilty by reason of insanity to one count of murder, two
counts of torture and two counts of felony child abuse.Because
of the dual plea, if Davis is found guilty of any of the charges, there
will be a second phase to the trial, during which jurors will be asked
to decide whether Davis was legally sane at the time she allegedly
committed the crimes.Her attorney, Betty Barker, argued
throughout the trial that Davis suffered from several severe mental
illnesses, including psychotic delusions, and was therefore unable to
form the intent to torture either of the children or to murder Jazzmin.
Jallepalli has agreed that Davis is mentally ill, but argued that her
actions show that she was aware that the abuse she was inflicting on the
children was wrong because she took steps to cover it up.Beginning
in 2002, Davis started skipping doctor's appointments for Jazzmin's
brother, who needed treatment for sickle cell anemia.It was
around that time that Davis allegedly began beating the children with
belts. The beatings continued to escalate over time and Davis allegedly
began using electrical cords, a wooden closet rod, and a belt with a
padlock attached to one end to beat the children. She also allegedly
burned them with a hot iron, deprived them of food and kept them locked
in their closet for long periods of time, Jallepalli said. As
the beatings escalated, Davis stopped taking Jazzmin's brother to the
doctor altogether. In the year before Jazzmin's death, Davis stopped
letting her go to school or even leave the house.The summer
before Jazzmin died, Davis applied for guardianship of the children,
which was granted a week before Jazzmin's death. Guardianship meant no
more visits from social workers, Jallepalli said. "Hiding
evidence, falsifying evidence -- and the children were the evidence --
are key signs of awareness and consciousness of guilt," Jallepalli
said.Despite her mental illnesses, Jallepalli said Davis "chose
to lie. She chose to hide the kids. She chose to withhold necessary
medical treatment. She chose not to feed them or to feed them less and
she chose to cut them off from people who could help them," Jallepalli
said.He said her mental illnesses were no excuse for what she did
and asked the jury to convict Davis of first-degree murder, torture
and child abuse.Barker, however, painted a different picture of
what went on in Davis' house. She claimed that when Davis beat the
children, she did so in order to teach them to behave.In order
for abuse to be legally considered torture, a person has to inflict
pain or suffering on another person for the purpose of revenge,
extortion, persuasion or any sadistic purpose.Barker argued that
Davis' delusions, caused by her mental illnesses, prevented her from
forming the specific intent required to prove a charge of torture.Similarly, Barker argued that Davis' mental illness prevented her from forming an intent to kill Jazzmin.According
to Barker, Davis' delusions caused her to believe that Jazzmin was
evil and that she was a danger to her and her daughter, who was 7 years
old when Jazzmin died.She allegedly told a friend that she believed Jazzmin had put urine in the apple juice and Comet or Ajax in food.She
believed that the twins were escaping from their closet and urinating
on the floor, cutting wires under the hood of the car, tampering with
the fireplace and ruining Davis' things, Barker said.She believed
that while she and her daughter were sleeping, Jazzmin would escape
from her room, go into Davis' room and cut their hair and put household
cleaners in it."She truly believed that these things were happening," Barker said.But "her intent, as deranged as it may be, was to make them behave," Barker said."Because
she was mentally ill, she did not and could not form the specific
intent" to torture the children or murder Jazzmin, Barker said.Four
months before Jazzmin's death, Davis stopped going to work. She
allegedly spent most of her time inside her bedroom with the door bolted
shut from the inside. In case that did not hold, she also had an
ironing board barricading the door and a rope attached to the doorknob
to tie it shut, Barker said.Jazzmin and her brother, meanwhile,
spent most of their time locked in their closet in their bedroom, but
Davis allegedly believed they could escape and were putting feces and
urine in her lotion, Barker said.She changed the locks often, put
baby powder on the floor so she could see their footprints, tied bells
and ropes to the doorknobs and put a baby monitor outside the closet
door, Barker said.After Jazzmin died, Davis allegedly told Jazzmin's brother, "I just wanted you to stop," Barker said.Barker conceded that Davis was guilty of child abuse, but asked the jury to find her not guilty of murder and torture.The
jury began deliberating in the case Wednesday afternoon in Contra
Costa County Superior Court in Martinez and were expected to resume
deliberations Thursday at 9 a.m.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/28251613/detail.html

MARTINEZ, Calif.—A
40-year-old Antioch woman has been convicted of murder and torture in
the death of her teenage niece who starved to death almost three years
ago. A Contra Costa County jury on Thursday found Shemeeka Davis
guilty of first-degree murder and two counts each of torture and child
abuse in the September 2008death of 15-year-old Jazzmin Davis, according
to the Contra Costa Times. Davis has pleaded not guilty by
reason of insanity. Jurors are scheduled to reconvene on Tuesday to hear
evidence on whether mental illness drove her to beat, burn, starve and
withhold sickle cell anemia medication from Jazzmin and her twin
brother. Davis raised the siblings along with her own children after the two were born to a relative addicted to crack. Deputy
Public Defender Betty Barker says Davis' depression,
obsessive-compulsive disorder and borderline personality disorder
deluded her into thinking the abuse was necessary to protect herself and
her children from the twins.

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_18300493?nclick_check=1

Attorney: Woman didn't know abuse was 'morally wrong'



06/29/2011

MARTINEZ -- A San Francisco social worker charged with overseeing foster care of a twin boy and girl who were tortured in their Antioch home for years once told their foster mother that if the girl acted up in her house, "she would hit her, too," a defense attorney said Tuesday at the opening of Shemeeka Davis' sanity trial.
San Francisco Human Services Agency case worker Ann Marie Smith also routinely ignored the mentally ill and overwhelmed mother when she begged for support, according to deputy public defender Betty Barker, who argues the 40-year-old Davis was legally insane at the time of her crimes. Jazzmin Davis, 15, died of malnutrition in 2008.
"All of this contributed to an atmosphere where she thought she was doing the right thing," Barker told jurors.
"It created an atmosphere where Shemeeka didn't know what she was doing was morally wrong."
The jury on June 16 found Shemeeka Davis guilty of first-degree murder and two counts each of torture and child abuse for Jazzmin's death and the abuse of both twins. A sanity trial will determine whether Davis goes to prison for life or is hospitalized.
In this phase of the trial, it is the defense's burden to prove by "the preponderance of the evidence" standard that Davis has a mental illness that caused her to not fully understand her actions.
Deputy district attorney Satish Jallepalli deferred his opening statement Tuesday but argued in the trial's guilt phase that Davis went to great lengths to cover up her crimes.
Barker said she will be calling four doctors to testify that Davis suffers from multiple mental illnesses, including a delusional disorder that caused her to believe that Jazzmin was evil and out to harm her and her 7-year-old biological daughter.
The twins' biological aunt, Shemeeka Davis took custody of Jazzmin and the boy at her brother's request shortly after they were born crack-addicted in San Francisco.
She won permanent guardianship with Smith's help just six days before Jazzmin died. Smith retired shortly after Jazzmin's death, and the San Francisco agency paid Jazzmin's twin a $4 million settlement.
In case reports, Smith would cite a doctor who in 2000 diagnosed a 7-year-old Jazzmin with "oppositional defiant disorder" to explain behavioral problems, which is a "bad label to put on a little child," Dr. Karen Franklin testified Tuesday.
That same year, Smith forced Davis to tell the twins that she was not their biological mother -- which Jazzmin took especially hard -- and Davis gave birth to her daughter. It was then that Davis became convinced that Jazzmin was evil.
"It was thought by her, and the doctor and the social worker that Jazzmin was a bad kid," Franklin said.
"I think that Shemeeka thought if she could only discipline Jazzmin better that the bad behavior would stop and the problem would go away."

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18370613

Jurors in Martinez deliberated for a little more than an hour Friday
before finding that an Antioch woman was sane when she tortured and
abused her two foster children and murdered one of them in 2008.Shemeeka Davis, 40, sobbed uncontrollably as the verdict was read.
In June, the same jury convicted Davis of first-degree murder and two
counts each of torture and child abuse for the torture, abuse and
killing of her niece, 15-year-old Jazzmin Davis, and the torture and
abuse of Jazzmin's twin brother, who survived. She now faces up to two life sentences for her crimes.
Prosecutor Satish Jallepalli said during the trial that Davis had
beat the children with belts, electrical cords and a wooden closet rod
and burned them with boiling water and an iron. She reportedly locked
them in their closet for long periods of time and withheld food from
them. When Jazzmin died on Sept. 2, 2008, she was so
malnourished that she only weighed 78 pounds. She was 5 feet 7 inches
tall. Her brother was also severely malnourished. Davis also
withheld medical treatment from the children and prevented Jazzmin from
going to school for about a year before her death. Her
attorney Betty Barker argued during trial that Davis was legally insane
and suffered from several severe mental illnesses, including psychotic
delusions, which caused her to falsely believe that Jazzmin and her
brother were evil and were trying to poison her and her biological
daughter, who was 7-years-old when Jazzmin died. Barker argued
that Davis, in her delusional state, believed she was punishing the
children to make them behave and was unable to see the damage she was
doing. Jallepalli agreed that Davis was mentally ill, but said
she went to great lengths to conceal the abuse, which showed that she
knew what she was doing was wrong and that she was therefore legally
sane when she committed her crimes. "I'm glad the jury saw
what was kept behind locked doors in that closet," Jallepalli said
outside the courthouse this afternoon. "Justice has been served," said Mysha Gregory, the twins' aunt on their mother's side.
During closing arguments, Barker said Davis was the only person in
the family who stepped up to take care of Jazzmin and her brother.
Gregory, however, said members of her side of the family had tried
to reach out to Davis and the twins, but Davis cut them off. "All the doctors agreed that she was very, very mentally ill," Barker said. "Now she will spend the rest of her life in prison without the mental health help she needs," Barker said.
Barker said that Davis is still mentally ill and even with the
medications she is on, she continued to disassociate throughout the
trial, which was held in two phases, the first to determine Davis'
guilt and the second to determine whether she was legally sane at the
time. After the verdict was read, Davis was crying too hard to
be able to set a date for sentencing. She is scheduled to return to
Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez on Tuesday to set a
sentencing date. Since Jazzmin's death, the San Francisco Human
Services Agency, which was in charge of overseeing Davis' care of the
twins, has agreed to a $4 million settlement with Jazzmin's brother.
The Antioch Unified School District board has also approved a
$750,000 settlement with Jazzmin's brother and made changes to the
district's attendance policy.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/28426203/detail.html

good grief! i cant even get disability and shes bringing in that kind of money and not feeding those children! i will stop right there

twinkletoes wrote:$13,104
9,800
20,400
--------------------

$43,304 yearly and the evil bitch couldn't even feed these poor kids.

It took the jury two hours to convict her.

What a POS woman. I hope she rots in jail and they starve her to death. She was just keeping the kids and using them as punching bags to get the money. Sick!

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=8493857

MARTINEZ, Calif. -- A judge Friday morning sentenced Antioch woman Shemeeka Davis to life in prison for torturing and abusing her two foster children and for murdering one of them.

Shemeeka Davis, 41, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the torture and murder of 15-year-old Jazzmin Davis and to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the torture of her twin brother, who survived years of abuse.

Davis, the aunt of Jazzmin and her brother, wept loudly throughout today's hearing and as the sentence was handed down.

"I'd like to say that I'm very sorry," she said between sobs. "This was never my intention ... and I wish I could change everything."

On Sept. 2, 2008, Jazzmin's naked, gaunt and scarred body was found on the floor inside the Antioch home where for years, the only mother she had known abused her and her brother.

Police said that when she died, the teen was 5 foot 7 feet tall and weighed about 78 pounds.

A coroner's report found that she died from a combination of repeated physical abuse and malnutrition, Deputy District Attorney Satish Jallepalli said.

Jazzmin's twin brother was also found to be scarred and severely malnourished, but survived and testified during Davis' trial last summer.

At the end of the trial last June, a jury convicted Davis of first-degree murder, torture and felony child abuse charges and found her legally sane at the time she committed the crimes, despite her dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

Defense attorney Betty Barker argued throughout the trial that Davis suffers from severe mental illnesses, including psychotic delusions, which prevented her from forming the intent to torture the twins.

Jallepalli agreed that Davis is mentally ill, but argued that she chose to keep hurting the children and covered up the abuse because she knew it was wrong -- skipping the twins' doctor's appointments and keeping them home from school.

She had taken custody of the twins - who were born to a crack-addicted mother - shortly after they were born, raising them in addition to her three biological children.

A week before Jazzmin died, Davis was granted legal guardianship of the twins.

But Jallepalli said during Davis' trial that there was a clear difference in how she treated her niece and nephew.

The twins were not allowed to eat with her biological children and were not given the same food, if any at all, he said.

Davis would also lock the pair in a closet for long periods of time, forcing them to urinate and defecate on the floor.

When the twins were about 9 years old, Davis began beating them with belts.

Jallepalli said during the trial that over the years, Davis used electrical cords, a wooden rod and a belt with an attached padlock to beat the children and sometimes burned them with an iron.

As the beatings escalated, Davis stopped taking her nephew to doctor appointments to be treated for sickle cell anemia. In the year before Jazzmin's death, she also kept the teen home from school and even kept her from leaving the house, Jallepalli said.

Social workers who monitored the twins' care throughout their lives never noticed or reported the abuse, attorneys said.

The San Francisco Human Services Agency, which was in charge of overseeing the twins' care, agreed last year to a $4 million settlement with Jazzmin's brother.

The Antioch Unified School District agreed to settle with the teen for $750,000 and has implemented changes to its attendance policy.

Before handing down the sentence in Contra Costa County Superior Court today, Judge Susanne Fenstermache heard emotional statements from several of Davis' family members, who requested leniency.

"I've known her all my life, and I know that she's not a monster ... we will continue to pray for her and support her," said one man, Davis' cousin.

Jallepalli read two letters from other family members of the twins addressed to the court, including an aunt who wrote, "I can't begin to imagine how my niece felt during that last attack ... please have no mercy for sentencing."

The prosecutor also read entries from Jazzmin's journal in the months leading up to her death in which she wrote how much she loved her foster mother and wanted to make her happy.

In a later entry, Jazzmin described being "in big trouble" for failing to clean the bathroom.

"I'm going to lose all my privileges and end up in the same position I started in ... I'm so confused ... someone help," she wrote. Before handing down the sentence, the judge told Davis that she didn't consider her a monster.

"This is a sad day for everyone," Fenstermache said. "I know you wish you could undo this ... but it's been done."

Davis will be 69 years old when she becomes eligible for parole, attorneys said.