NATHANIEL CRAVER - 7 yo (2009) - York PA

Cravers await trial
Wearing orange jump suits, shackled and handcuffed, Michael and Nanette Craver are escorted from the Carroll Township Municipal building through a back door to the police station on Thursday, April 29. The Cravers will be taken back to York County Prison to await their trial for the death of their adopted Russian son, Nathaniel.

____ After hearing 3 hours of testimony District Justice Richard Thomas ruled Thursday afternoon, April 29, that the Commonwealth has established enough evidence against a Dillsburg couple for the death of their son.
____ The trial date for Nanette L. Craver, 54, and Michael J. Craver, 45, both of Blair Mountain Road, is set for 9 a.m. on June 4 at the York County Courthouse. The couple is charged with one count each of criminal homicide and endangering the welfare of children and three counts each of criminal conspiracy.
____ The couple’s Russian adopted son, Nathaniel M. Craver, 7, was pronounced dead on Aug. 25, 2009, at Hershey Medical Center. The crimes occurred between May and Aug. 24, 2009, according to police.

http://www.dillsburgbanner.net/newsarchive/news100513.htm

Cravers opt to keep attorneys, despite no threat of death penalty
Updated: 07/06/2011
A Carroll Township couple accused of fatally beating their 7-year-old adopted son have opted to keep their current attorneys, despite being given an opportunity to choose new counsel.

That means the upcoming first-degree murder trial of Nanette and Michael Craver will not be further delayed, according to attorneys involved in the case.

A trial date has so far not been set, said Clasina Mahoney, one of three attorneys representing Michael Craver, 46.

The Cravers, both of 36 Blair Mountain Road, remain in York County Prison without bail. They are accused of killing Nathaniel Craver, who was pronounced dead at Hershey Medical Center on Aug. 25, 2009. The Cravers maintain the boy caused his own injuries.

Nathaniel died of complications from traumatic brain injuries, according to authorities, and was malnourished. Nathaniel suffered some 80 external injuries in various stages of healing, police said.

He and his sister were born in Russia and adopted from an orphanage there by the Cravers.

On June 29, prosecutors filed a memorandum stating they were withdrawing their intention to seek the death penalty for the couple, if convicted.

Attorneys stay: Michael Craver and Nanette Craver, 55, had previously retained different attorneys, but were forced to give them up because those attorneys weren't certified by the state to handle death-penalty cases.

Common Pleas Judge John S. Kennedy then appointed Mahoney, Suzanne Smith and Ron Jackson Jr. to represent Michael Craver, and appointed Rick Robinson and Gerald Lord to represent Nanette Craver.

But at a brief hearing Tuesday morning, Kennedy told the Cravers they could choose other attorneys, since the death penalty was no longer an issue, Mahoney said.

The Cravers said they wanted to keep their current attorneys, meaning their trial will not be further delayed.

"We don't have a trial date yet, but if they would have opted to bring back the attorneys they had initially, there's 8,000 pages of

Nanette Craver discovery they haven't seen," Robinson said.
'Time-consuming': Both Robinson and Mahoney said it's a complex case that will take time to bring to trial.

"There are just so many experts involved in the case, and they're still reviewing the matter to be in a position to eventually render their opinions," Robinson said, after which the prosecution gets to review those opinions and find their own experts.

"There are a lot of issues involved that make this the kind of alleged murder case you don't see too often," he said. "It's time-consuming."

Mahoney said some of those experts specialize in "significant medical issues" some adopted Russian children struggle with.

"We have a lot of things we're working on. I think we'll be ready soon," she said. "Doing it right is more important than doing it fast. There's too much at stake."

No death penalty: Prosecutors Tim Barker and Jennifer Russell stated in their memorandum they would no longer seek death for the Cravers, if convicted. After reviewing the case, they determined a "substantial likelihood exists that potential mitigating circumstances would outweigh the aggravating circumstances presented by (prosecutors)."

Prosecutors previously cited two aggravating circumstances -- the victim's young age and that the death amounted to torture.

"I just never thought this was a death-penalty case," Robinson said. "I think it's a weight off Nanette and Michael's backs, obviously."

Mahoney agreed.

"I

Michael Craver think it was the right thing to do," she said. "I'm disappointed they didn't take first-degree (murder) off the table, but at least the threat of death is gone. And that certainly makes a big difference."
However, the Cravers still face life in prison if convicted, Mahoney said.

Barker and Russell did not immediately return phone messages seeking comment.

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/news/ci_18418622

After Michael Craver
rushed his unresponsive 7-year-old son to Holy Spirit Hospital, the
first doctor to examine him noticed an unstitched, healing wound on the
back of the boy's head.
Beside the boy's frighteningly swollen face, mottled bluish skin, fixed
pupils, raspy respiration and deep coma, the doctor wondered about the
untreated head wound.
Dr. Nicholas J.T. Baran said Craver told him, "These injuries kind of happen all of the time."
Craver later said, "... it's amazing what you get used to," a York County Child abuse investigator said.
Nathaniel Craver, Michael and Nanette Craver's adopted Russian son,
died at Hershey Medical Center on Aug, 25, 2009, five days after he was
first taken to the hospital.






Tuesday in
opening statements in the York County Judicial Center, Chief Deputy
Prosecutor Tim Barker said the Cravers were charged with the boy's
murder for both inflicting the injuries and denying him their parental
duty to care for and protect him. Both parents are charged with criminal
homicide, endangering the welfare of a child and conspiracy. Barker told the jury of Nathaniel's uncountable injuries spread "head
to toe" over his body. He said there was evidence of repeated physical
abuse, "pattern" injuries and binding.
He focused specifically on the boy's swollen face and his underlying
head injuries. Barker said he was told people cried when they saw
Nathaniel in the hospital and that some described his appearance as "a
little monster."
He said the Cravers' contention that the boy's physical and emotional
disorders - fetal alcohol syndrome and reactive detachment disorder -
and allegations of injuring himself resulted in his death.
"The defendants have used Nathaniel's background .... to cover what was
really going on," he said. "There is only one conclusion. he did not
self-abuse himself to death."
First Assistant Public Defender Clasina Mahoney argued that is exactly
what happened. She said the Cravers "did not sit back and watch it
happen, as the commonwealth would have you believe. They desperately
searched for help."
They sought answers from doctors and hospitals throughout southeastern
Pennsylvania, including Hershey Medical Center and the Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia, she said.
She said therapy at a Lancaster facility, where Michael Craver batted
balloons with his son and acted like a princess with his daughter,
Nathaniel's twin sister, helped the girl who had similar problems, but
not Nathaniel.
The first day of testimony focused on Nathaniel's appearance when he
entered the hospital. His parents said he had hit his head on a wood
stove in their Carroll Township home.
An emergency room nurse at Holy Spirit Hospital said the boy's head, "to me, felt like a wet sponge."
Baran testified Nathaniel registered the lowest possible score on a
medical coma test. He also told the jury that a scan of the grotesquely
swollen left side of the boy's face showed no subdural fresh bleeding
and was the result of an older injury.
Dr. Mark Iantosca, a Hershey Medical Center neurosurgeon who removed
part of Nathaniel's skull to relieve the swelling, said he found older
blood under the boy's scalp and fresh blood pushing on his brain.
Iantosca also said the injury could have happened the way the Cravers' said it did.
"I think a 7-year-old child, throwing himself with a running start
headfirst into a metal object would be sufficient to cause that injury,"
he said.
He added that the head injury could have been caused by "a closed fist, a blunt object or a car accident ...."
He also agreed with the defense that the child could have appeared
uninjured and then suffered bleeding and swelling of the brain during
the night.
The trial continues today and is expected to last through next week.

http://www.ydr.com/crime/ci_18834019

Pathologist: Russian boy could not have caused fatal injuries
Published: Wednesday, September 07, 2011, 12:20 PM

The forensic pathologist who examined Nathaniel Craver's body testified Wednesday the 7-year-old boy could not have inflicted fatal injuries on himself.

Instead, Dr. Wayne Ross said Nathaniel had undergone weeks of blunt force trauma prior to his death in Aug. 2009. Prosecutors called Ross to open the second day of the murder case against Nathaniel's parents, Michael and Nanette Craver.

For nearly two hours, Ross explained the results of his autopsy in at times gristly detail.

"It was a mess," Ross said of Nathaniel's brain. "The bottom line is it was soft as anything. When you look at the pictures we took in the autopsy, it was purple and dead ... it was flat and mushy. It was horrible."

Ross testified that Nathaniel was recovering from an untreated broken rib at the time of his death. He also found evidence that the boy had been bound. Prosecutors showed the jury four black and white photos of Nathaniel taken during the autopsy.

Defense attorneys will cross examine Ross when the trial resumes this afternoon.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/09/pathologist_russian_boy_could.html

Forensic pathologist: Nathaniel Craver's injuries could not be self-inflicted

"Traumatic brain injury" and "failure to thrive" caused Russian boy's death

A close-up photograph of 7-year-old Nathaniel Craver's face as he lay on an autopsy table showed his swollen head.
How extensive that swelling was became apparent when his head was compared to the frailness of his neck.
Dr. Wayne Ross, a forensic pathologist who has performed more than 9,000 autopsies and post-mortem exams, could not keep the astonishment out of his voice as he described the dead boy to the jury.
"His head, virtually his entire head, was swollen up like a balloon," he said. "And I don't mean just a little bit of swelling. The entire skull and head looked like a watermelon. Like an alien."
Ross, who conducts many York County autopsies for suspicious deaths, was testifying on the second day of trial for Michael and Nanette Craver, the Carroll Township couple accused of killing Nathaniel, their adopted Russian son.
Nathaniel died on Aug. 25, 2009 at Hershey Medical Center, five days after Michael Craver, 46, rushed him to the hospital.
Ross was on the witness stand for more than four hours, testifying about the boy's injuries and giving his expert opinion how they occurred. He said Nathaniel died from "complications of a traumatic brain injury" and "severe failure to thrive."
He said he was told before autopsy that Nathaniel's parents said he had a history of injuring himself.
Michael and Nanette Craver, 55, have maintained the boy struck his head on a wood stove in their home. They told police, doctors and child abuse investigators Nathaniel seemed all right except for a mark on his head. They put an ice pack on the mark and put him to bed about 45 minutes later. In they morning, they said, they could not rouse him.
Ross told the jury he began his examination from that aspect.
He said, during his examination, he turned to the police officer observing the autopsy and told him the boy's death "needed to be pursued from the aspect of abuse caused by another person."
Ross said he found evidence of injury to the right side of the boy's brain, a subdural hematoma, from an impact "of hundreds of Gs of force," inflicted about two weeks before he was brought to the hospital in a coma.
Ross said the swelling of the boy's head was the result of "multiple impacts."
Relying on photographs taken of Nathaniel during the summer of 2009, including one of a healthy, well-toned shirtless boy, Ross concluded that six weeks before his death the boy suffered repeated impacts to his head, pulled legs and arms, blunt force trauma to the chest, possibly was bound and was starved.
The doctor also found evidence of a skull fracture on the right side of the head, a healing broken rib, compression spinal injuries, and high enzyme levels confirming liver and heart damage.
The child otherwise was covered with small bruises and abrasions on his chest and back. In a picture of the dead child laying on his back, every rib could easily be counted.
Ross said Nathaniel's swollen brain at autopsy "was a mess."
"It was soft as anything," he said. "It was purple and it was dead. Flat and mushy and just horrible."
On cross-examination, defense attorneys pushed Ross with alternative theories for the injuries, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, self-abuse, genetic disorders and diseases. Ross conceded such theories could account for injuries in some cases but "not in this case."
He said he specifically looked for and did not find evidence of alcohol fetal syndrome in Nathaniel's brain.
When York County Office of Children, Youth and Families placed Nathaniel and his twin sister, Elizabeth, in her foster care at age 5, "They asked me to watch them to see if they injured themselves in any way," foster mother Lori Ferree said.
She testified neither child did while in her care for about two weeks.
Ferree said Nathaniel was an active boy who loved to play but seemed confused about being allowed to play in the dirt and get dirty. She said when she would take the children for supervised visits with the parents, the children would return in more "formal" clothes.
She said Nanette Craver chided her one time for dressing Elizabeth in the wrong shoes for her outfit."
Catholic Charities parent educator Lisa Blake testified that Michael Craver railed against Children, Youth and Families' "interference" in the family's lives.
She said during one meeting with him, he was so verbally abusive, she was happy to cut the session short.
Andrew Blochichak, a family physician and Nanette Craver's brother-in-law, testified he did not see Michael and Nathaniel Craver at any family gatherings the summer of 2009. He said he did see Nanette and Elizabeth. His testimony implied Nathaniel was being kept from sight.
He said he asked Nanette why Nathaniel was not at a July 4th party and a later wedding.
"Nanette said, 'Nathaniel is a handful,' and she didn't want to bring him," he said.

http://www.ydr.com/crime/ci_18841999

Witness: Cravers' discipline with adopted Russian son was 'inappropriate'

Today is the third day of the trial involving a Carroll Township family.

Updated: 09/08/2011 10:53:09 AM EDT

10:40 a.m.: Rande Fregm, a visiting supervisor with Catholic Charities, testified the Craver children repeatedly sought affection from their mother but were rebuffed.
She said she saw Nathaniel rub his eyes and pinch himself when his mother helped him with his homework.
"A lot of the discipline I observed was inappropriate," she said.
Dr. Jeffrey Herman, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, said the Cravers asked him to prescribe medications for Nathaniel for "aggressive and self-injurious behaviors."
He said they tried a few different drugs including Prozac. He said the parents stopped the medications after Nathaniel became "more depressed."
Hermann said Michael Craver came to the last scheduled appointment on Aug. 13, 2009, without Nathaniel.
He said he later learned, after York County Children, Youth and Families asked for Nathaniel's records, that the child had died.
Defense attorney Rick Robinson asked Hermann if the Cravers told him that Nathaniel pulled out two of his bottom teeth, one baby tooth and one permanent tooth.
"Yes," Hermann said. "That's when we started the Prozac."
9:30 a.m.: A social worker assigned to observe the family dynamics of the Cravers in 2007 described the overall tone of the household as "very militant."
Initial report
York, PA - The trial resumes this morning for Michael and Nanette Craver, accused of killing their adopted Russian son.
Nathaniel, 7, died at Hershey Medical Center on Aug, 25, 2009, five days after he was first taken to the hospital.
Check back for details.

http://www.ydr.com/crime/ci_18850611

Nathaniel Craver family member recalls injuries shortly before boy's hospitalization

Defendant's aunt said the boy was bruised almost two weeks before his death. The trial continues today.
By RICK LEE
Daily Record/Sunday News
Updated: 09/08/2011 07:42:27 PM EDT

York, PA - A week before Nathaniel Craver was rushed to Holy Spirit Hospital in a coma, his father's aunt stopped by the Carroll Township home for a visit.
Thursday in York County court, Sandra Adkins said the 7-year-old's face was swollen on the left side and his eyes were swollen almost completely shut.
Michael and Nanette Craver are on trial for murder for their adopted Russian son's death at Hershey Medical Center on Aug. 25, 2009. Testimony enters day four Friday. They say they never harmed Nathaniel, but that the boy they adopted at 18 months old in Russia had physical and emotional problems that caused him to injure himself.
Adkins said the boy's bruised face already was turning yellow "like it was beginning to heal."
Just as disturbing to her, she said, was that Nathaniel was lethargic and only wanted to sit on her lap. While holding the boy, Adkins noticed a healing cut on the back of his head.
"I asked Michael what happened and he said, 'He fell as he always does,'" Adkins said. "He said Nanette fixed it. Michael told me how Nathaniel hurt himself all of the time and I certainly believed him."
Adkins had known Nathaniel and his twin sister, Elizabeth, since their adoptions by the Cravers in September 2003.
"Nathaniel always wanted hugs and kisses," she said. "Then he'd go play and come back for more hugs and kisses."
Adkins said that day Nanette Craver was leaving for work shortly after she arrived.
"Both of the children went running to Nanette and hugged her legs," she said. "They said, 'Mommy's going to work. Can I have a kiss?'
"She pushed Nathaniel away and kind of blew a kiss over Elizabeth's head."
In other testimony Thursday, Dr. Tapash Sengupta, a Danville-area pediatrician, the Craver children's first American doctor who cared for them between 2003 and 2007, said he recalled no self-injurious behavior and did not observe any symptoms of reactive detachment disorder.
On cross-examination, he confirmed the Cravers did not raise the subject of Nathaniel hurting himself until after they moved from Stillwater to Dillsburg and had been reported to authorities for suspected child abuse.
The doctor the Cravers initially went to in Dillsburg had made that call and York County Children, Youth and Families went to the family's home in April 2007. The allegations could not be substantiated.
It was during a wellness examination with Sengupta in June 2007 that Nanette Craver said they were worried by Nathaniel's short attention span and pinching himself, Sengupta said.
He said he told the mother not to be overly concerned. He said most 5-year-olds have limited attention spans and he saw no evidence of the injuring himself.
Dr. Jeffrey Herman, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, said the Cravers asked him to prescribe medications for Nathaniel for "aggressive and self-injurious behaviors."
He said they tried a few different drugs, including Prozac. He said the parents stopped the medications after Nathaniel became "more depressed."
Hermann said Michael Craver came to the last scheduled appointment on Aug. 13, 2009, without Nathaniel.
He said he later learned, after York County Children, Youth and Families asked for Nathaniel's records, that the child had died.
Defense attorney Rick Robinson asked Hermann if the Cravers told him that Nathaniel pulled out two of his bottom teeth, one baby tooth and one permanent tooth.
"Yes," Hermann said. "That's when we started the Prozac."
Hermann's nurse, Sara Thrasher, testified that Michael Craver stormed out of the office the day he appeared for an appointment without Nathaniel.
She said he got angry when she told him the child must be present for a medical appointment.
"He said we would probably never see him again and slammed the door on the way out," she said.
Rande Fregm, a visiting supervisor with Catholic Charities, testified the Craver children repeatedly sought affection from their mother but were rebuffed.
She said she saw Nathaniel rub his eyes and pinch himself when his mother helped him with his homework.
"A lot of the discipline I observed was inappropriate," she said.
The prosecution is expected to rest Friday.

http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_18854756

Defense opens in Russian adoption death trial

Day five of the murder trial is set for Monday.
By RICK LEE
Daily Record/Sunday News
Updated: 09/09/2011 08:33:26 PM EDT

Faithe Spurrier and Amy Zook, of Mountainside Preschool in Dillsburg, described Nathaniel Craver as tiny, active, energetic and accident-prone.
The 7-year-old Russian-born boy and his twin sister had been adopted by a Carroll Township couple.
Those parents, Michael and Nanette Craver, are on trial for murder for Nathaniel's death. The York County District Attorney's Office claims the boy was abused and neglected. He died Aug. 25, 2009 at Hershey Medical Center.
The Cravers maintain they sought help - both medical and mental - for their son who they said had a history of injuring himself. They say the fatal injury happened when he struck his head on a metal stove in their home.
Testifying for the defense on Friday, Zook said Nathaniel frequently would walk into walls, door frames and poles because he was busy gawking at what was going on around him.
"Things did not seem painful to him," she said.
She added, after Nathaniel walked face first into a metal pole "we never saw him cry. Even with the lump on his head treated with ice, he didn't seem affected by it."
Zook said the Craver children were always excited to see their mother at the end of the school day.
"I remember she would get down on the floor and scoop them both up," she said.
Spurrier said Nathaniel was sweet sensitive and "rather clumsy."
"He would trip over his own little feet as he was walking across the classroom. He would act very surprised that he had fallen down," she said.
Susan Root, a teacher at Rainbow Hill School in Benton, echoed the other teachers' descriptions of Nathaniel.
She said she spoke to Nanette Craver and believed the mother of two "typically active 3-year-olds ... seemed surprised at how busy their life was."
Sandra Craver, Michael Craver's mother, said she was disturbed by Nathaniel's appearance when she and her husband visited the family in May 2009.
"I guess we weren't supposed to ask," she said.
She said her son told her in a sharp tone, "You know he hits his head, and he has a hematoma."
She said Nathaniel's image continued to haunt her after she returned home to Berwick.
"I waited a couple of days," she said. "I couldn't function. So I decided to call. Nanette answered the phone. She said when he got up the next day all of the swelling was down.
"I thought 'I don't think so. What does she think? I'm stupid?'"
She said she told Nanette to take Nathaniel to a doctor. She said that was the last time she saw Nathaniel.
Michael Craver's father, Robert Craver, described Nathaniel as a normal little boy.
"He was ready to go," he said. "He was very energetic."
He said when he saw Nathaniel in May 2009, he looked "like a little monster." He said he offered to take the boy out of the house for awhile "to see what happens."
He said his son declined the offer.
After the grandparents returned home, Michael Craver called to speak to his mother, Robert Craver said.
"She wasn't home. He said, 'Nathaniel is our problem, and all she does is call and upset Nanette,'" the grandfather said. "I said, 'Maybe she needs to be upset a little.'"
After the prosecution rested Friday, Judge Kennedy denied a defense motion to dismiss the charge of first-degree murder.
The trial is set to resume Monday.

http://www.ydr.com/crime/ci_18859563

Jury to get case today in death of adopted Russian son

Today is the ninth day of the trial involving a Carroll Township family.
By RICK LEE
Daily Record/Sunday News
Updated: 09/16/2011 01:30:16 PM EDT


1:20 p.m.
The jury is having lunch, and then the judge will give them their instructions before deliberations begin.
1 p.m.
"Common sense tells you he didn't do it to himself," Barker said. "Common sense tells you they did it to him. And on Aug. 19, (2009) they did it to him again -- repeated blows.
"They murdered their 'little buddy.'"
Barker said the Cravers created a fictional scenario of self-injury to cover their abuse of the boy.
He said their "concerns" the boy was injuring himself were not raised until after they were reported to child services for suspected abuse.
"They are not on trial for being good parents or bad parents," he said.
He noted that Dr. Annie Steinberg had testified that children with behavioral disorders like Reactive Attachment Disorder need nurturing homes.
But, he said, "Attachment disorders? Dying by your own self-abuse?"
Not according to Steinberg, he said.
Barker voiced amazement that a type of death unheard of in medical literature would happen in "in Dillsburg, in York County."
"This case existed in the shadows," he said."The Cravers kept it in the shadows. Nathaniel died a shadowy death.
He said Nathaniel's body revealed the true nature of his death.
11:30 a.m.
Chief Deputy Presecutor Tim Barker begins his closing argument.
11 a.m.
"None of us are perfect parents," Suzanne Smith said. "And children don't come with instruction booklets."
She said because the Cravers were adoptive parents, they had even less information about their own children.
But she reminded the jury of evidence that the children were taken to pediatricians for wellness checks and small, common health issues.
"If you are abusing your children, why are you taking them to the doctor for something minor?" she asked.
Smith recalled the only doctor who said Nathaniel did not have fetal alcohol syndrome was the commonwealth's pathologist.
And, she said, investigators were in the Craver home three times after Nathaniel's death.
She said the commonwealth presented no evidence from that because there was nothing to be found.
"That's because it was an accident," she said.
10:15 a.m.
Robinson concluded his argument, telling the jury the commonwealth's theory that the Cravers abused their son, starved him, and bound him was mere "speculation."
Suzanne Smith is expected to give her closing argument on behalf of Michael Craver momentarily.
10 a.m.
Robinson said the commonwealth's expert in biomechanics "took nothing about human nature" into account.
"He took numbers and plugged them into a computer," he said. "The commonwealth wants you to convict them of first-degree murder based on a computer."
Update, 9:30 a.m.
Robinson reminded the jury that Nanette Craver was telling her co-workers about Nathaniel injuring himself, saying, "It's getting worse, it's getting worse."
He said it was "preposterous" to think that months before the boy's death she was setting up an alibi.
Robinson said if the Cravers did not love or want their children, they could have left them in foster care after they were removed from the home by child services in 2007.
Reported earlier
York, PA - The trial resumed this morning for Michael and Nanette Craver, accused of killing their adopted Russian son.
Nathaniel, 7, died at Hershey Medical Center on Aug, 25, 2009, five days after he was first taken to the hospital.
An attorney for Nanette Craver is going first. "Not one witness said they saw Nanette Craver or Michael Craver strike Nathaniel," Rick Robinson said.
"To be clear, we are not blaming Nathaniel when I say it was his fault. He didn't have a choice about how he came into this world."
Check back for details.

http://www.ydr.com/crime/ci_18909813

Jury: Cravers guilty of involuntary manslaughter

Today was the ninth day of the trial involving a Carroll Township family.
By RICK LEE
Daily Record/Sunday News
Updated: 09/16/2011 05:13:57 PM EDT


5:10 p.m.
Bail has been set at $50,000 each.
4:58 p.m.
The jury has found Nanette and Michael Craver each guilty of involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy and endangering the welfare of a child.
Each was found not guilty of first-degree murder and third-degree murder.
Sentencing is set for Nov. 18.
The involuntary manslaughter charge carries a maximum penalty of 3½ to seven years in prison and has a standard sentencing guideline range calling for a minimum sentence of between nine and 16 months.
Because the Cravers have been in prison without bail since February 2010, they could be released pending sentencing.
They are asking for bail.
4:53 p.m.

The jury has found Nanette and Michael Craver each guilty of involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy and endangering the welfare of a child.
Each was found not guilty of first-degree murder and third-degree murder.
Sentencing is set for Nov. 18.
The involuntary manslaughter charge carries a maximum penalty of 3½ to seven years in prison and has a standard sentencing guideline range calling for a minimum sentence of between nine and 16 months.
Because the Cravers have been in prison without bail since February 2010, they could be released pending sentencing.
They are asking for bail.
4:53 p.m.
The jury is returning with a verdict in the case. Check back for an update as soon as the verdict is announced.
4:37 p.m.
The jury came back with a question.
The jurors wanted to know about determining which defendant committed the charge of third-degree murder: "Can you convict both;" "can both be innocent of third-degree murder and guilty of conspiracy;" and does the decision have to be unanimous for both conviction and acquittal.
Kennedy told them if the prosecution has not met its burden on any charge for either defendant, they must acquit.
He advised them the defendants could be acquitted of the murder charges and convicted of the conspiracy charges.
And their decision, whatever it is, must be unanimous.
2:44 p.m.
The jury has begun deliberations.

http://www.ydr.com/crime/ci_18909813

YORK, Pa. — A Pennsylvania couple has been sentenced to time served in the head-injury death of their 7-year-old Russian son.

Michael and Nanette Craver say their son Nathaniel suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and regularly abused himself.
A jury convicted them of involuntary manslaughter and child
endangerment in the August 2009 death, but acquitted them of murder
charges.
A York County judge Friday sentenced the Cravers to the 19 months they spent in prison before trial, plus probation.
The Cravers say Nathaniel ran headlong into a pellet stove the night before they found him unconscious.
Prosecutors argued that the Carroll Township couple failed to follow through on treatment and therapy programs.
Russian authorities say at least 17 Russian children have died in domestic-violence incidents in their American families.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/pa-couple-get-time-served-in-russian-sons-death-they-claimed-self-abuse-served-19-months/2011/11/18/gIQAA7zdYN_story.html

I hope this neglectful, abusive parents are not allowed to be around children again. Please Lord, do not allow any children to come across their paths.

Still maintaining
their innocence, Michael and Nanette Craver, the Carroll Township couple
who were convicted of involuntary manslaughter in September for the
death of their 7-year-old adopted Russian son, have filed post-sentence
motions seeking a new trial.
Attorneys for the Cravers are arguing the weight of the evidence was contrary to the verdicts.
Nathaniel Craver died Aug. 25, 2009, at Hershey Medical Center from a subdural hematoma, bleeding on the brain.
The Cravers said their son, who was diagnosed with reactive attachment
disorder and fetal alcohol syndrome, had a history of injuring himself.
Authorities argued the boy was abused and neglected, resulting in his death.
Judge John S. Kennedy, who presided over the murder trial, could grant
or reject the defense request for a new trial or hear argument from both
sides before making a decision.
If Kennedy rejects the request, the Cravers could then appeal to the
state Superior Court, Michael Craver's attorney, Clasina Mahoney
Houtman, said Friday.
The Cravers' jury acquitted them of first- and third-degree murder. If
they are granted a new trial, they can only be tried for the crimes for
which they were convicted - involuntary manslaughter, two counts of
endangering the welfare of a child and three counts of criminal
conspiracy.
The chance the Cravers are taking with a retrial is, if they are again
convicted of those charges, they could receive stiffer sentences then
the sentences they received, Houtman said. Both were sentenced to 16
months to four years and a consecutive five years of probation.
The statutory maximum sentence for the manslaughter charge is 10 years in prison.
The Cravers had spent 567 days - almost 19 months - in custody without
bail awaiting trial. Following their convictions, both were released on
bail. They remained free after their sentences were handed down by
Kennedy. At sentencing, Kennedy had called the verdicts "appropriate."


At a glance


The crime: Nanette and Michael Craver, of Carroll Township, were
charged with murder, child endangerment and conspiracy for the 2009
death of Nathaniel Craver, 7, their adopted Russian son.
The trial: A jury convicted the Cravers of involuntary
manslaughter and the lesser charges in September. They were sentenced to
time served in November.
Now: The Cravers have filed post-sentence motions seeking a new trial, arguing the evidence did not support the verdicts.

http://www.ydr.com/ci_19457515?source=rss