XPost: alt.private.investigator, alt.sci.sociology, alt.america   
   XPost: alt.education   
   From: thanks.democrats@splcenter.org   
      
   On Palm Sunday, 1984, police responded to a report of shots   
   fired at 1080 Liberty Avenue. They found 2 women and 8 children   
   dead of point-blank gunshot wounds to the head. Two elements   
   made the scene especially macabre: one, the victims were seated   
   or reclined in a gruesome still-life, a few lounged in front of   
   a television, another in the bedroom had been napping, and one   
   woman held a tin of pudding and a spoon; two, a 13-month-old   
   baby girl crawled among the corpses’ feet, crying. She was the   
   only survivor.   
      
   After 9 days, the police investigation turned to Christopher   
   Thomas. A cocaine addict with 3 priors for assault, Thomas often   
   bought drugs from the home’s owner, Enrique Bermudez. Thomas had   
   also accused Bermudez of sleeping with his wife.   
      
   Thomas’s defense attorney, Martin Schmukler, argued that what   
   came to be known as The Palm Sunday Massacre was a case of   
   manslaughter and not of murder, as Thomas’s history of   
   depression and addiction to cocaine constituted sufficient   
   emotional duress to account for his actions.   
      
   The jury agreed. Christopher Thomas was convicted of 10 counts   
   of first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 25 to 50   
   years. He has been eligible for parole since 2009, but as of   
   this writing, he remains incarcerated.   
      
   The surviving toddler, Christina Rivera – having lost her   
   mother, 2 half-brothers, and several cousins – was taken from   
   the murder scene by Joanne Jeffe, one of the first responding   
   police officers. Jeffe eventually adopted her.   
      
   https://archives.law.virginia.edu/dengrove/writeup/palm-sunday-   
   massacre   
             
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)