Cops: Dad Under Child Support Order Kills Son

[Yoink 7]

This is one of those instances where, if proven guilty... death would be completely acceptable. There is no rehabilitation for a man capable of murdering his own child.

He should be given a T-shirt saying 'I voted for Hamas' and sent to Gaza.

I think he would be welcomed in Gaza... more like a "USA and Israel, Brothers in Arms!"

[Ban Hammer 13,355]

Well, he should be chemically castrated so he doesn't reproduce again

why chemically?

so he'll have to sit there and look at it just dangling limply every day.

for that matter, they could be whacked off with a dull butter knife and made into earrings for him - and then he can see them every day.

[Ling Ling 22]

Finally a thread where everyone can agree. Sad that it took this sick ** to unite us.

[LorriQ 0]

Ah man, he made it through the night!! They kept him in a cell by himself!

'I never knew that it would be the last time I'd see him," says grieving mother of murdered 2-year-old

by Katy Reckdahl, The Times-Picayune

Sunday January 04, 2009, 10:30 PM

Daniella Powell, mother of Ja'Shawn Powell, holds a picture of her son on Sunday. Ja'Shawn was murdered by his father, Danny Platt on Friday night. Lately, 2-year-old Ja'Shawn Powell would jump out of bed, ready to play with the big truck he received for Christmas, said his mother, Daniella Powell.

He loved to watch "The Doodlebops" and football on television. When his mother cleaned, he would follow her, trying to help with the brooms and the dustpan.

Often, Ja'Shawn -- a smiling, happy child -- would open his arms wide and say, "Mommy, I love you this much." Then he'd kiss her on the jaw.

He was especially excited about the five pairs of boxer shorts that she had just bought for him on Wednesday. Ja'Shawn wanted to show his father that he was a big boy, she said, so on Friday afternoon he put on all five pairs. She took off all but one, then dressed him in a special outfit, because his father, Danny Platt, had promised to pick him up that evening after work.

On Saturday, Platt, 22, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ja'Shawn, whose body was found in an athletic bag in the 1900 block of Jackson Avenue, in a yard that shares a vine-covered fence with Van McMurray Park.

Platt at first reported that his son had been kidnapped by a white woman, then he described a group of men wielding AK-47s.

Coroner Frank Minyard said the toddler's throat had been cut, and he bled to death. On Saturday, Chief Coroner's Investigator John Gagliano kept the bag holding Ja'Shawn's body close to him, placing it gently on the back seat of his car for the trip from the crime scene to the morgue.

Neighbors said police officers and coroner's investigators worked until about 3 a.m. Sunday in the yard and the nearby playground, then returned within hours to comb the area again. They left with something else, neighbors said, speculating about a weapon.

A memorial is erected in the 1900 block of Jackson Avenue, not far from where the body of 2-year-old Ja'Shawn Powell was found murdered. Powell's Sunday started early, she said, when her daughter, Ja'Quana Powell, 5, awoke, devastated.

"Ja'Shawn's daddy killed him? Why?" Ja'Quana asked her.

"I can't even tell her why," Powell said tearfully. "Because I don't even know why."

New Orleans police said Saturday that Platt killed his son rather than pay about $4,000 in child-support arrears, an accusation that Platt denied with a "No, sir" to a reporter, as detectives accompanied him to Central Lockup on Saturday.

"I'm sorry about killing my baby," Platt told reporters. "I had a lot of pressure on me. . . . I had a whole bunch of reasons."

To collect the child-support debt, the state of Louisiana deducted a little more than $100 each week from Platt's paychecks from a French Quarter restaurant, Powell said. The amount was determined in December after a blood test proved his paternity, she said.

Platt became liable for child support not because Powell had pursued the issue, she said, but because she had applied for food stamps, which requires applicants to identify noncustodial parents, and for government health insurance, which in some cases also requires that information from applicants.

Powell said she especially needed Medicaid for her son because he suffered from frequent respiratory ailments.

She had explained that to Platt in October, when they talked about the notices he had received from the state's Support Enforcement Services.

Platt had seemed OK with her and with their son, she said. Just before Thanksgiving, Platt brought the toddler some clothes, then stayed for a while. "He played with him, blew bubbles with him," she said.

"Ja'Shawn thought so highly of his daddy," she said.

If he didn't like something a cousin had done, Ja'Shawn would say, "I'm going to tell my daddy on you."

Powell, 21, had known Platt almost all her life; he and her brother were good friends, she said. The two dated briefly, from May to August 2005, and she became pregnant in June.

After Hurricane Katrina, they both ended up in Texas, he in Austin and she in Arlington, near Dallas, she said. Although she heard very little from him, her sister offered to fly him to Dallas for his son's birth. He refused, Powell said.

Ja'Shawn was born Feb. 14, 2006, a Valentine's Day baby. His father first saw him when he was 4 months old but didn't seem very interested in him, Powell said.

For the past year and a half, she said, Ja'Shawn has had a solid father figure in her boyfriend, Jamie Payne, who works at a local hospital. Still, Powell was determined to maintain a relationship between Ja'Shawn and his father, she said.

"I wanted him to bond with his daddy," she said. When Ja'Shawn began to talk, the two began having brief conversations on her cell phone. Although Platt's interest was sporadic, he took his son on outings a handful of times and had always returned him without incident, she said.

It wasn't uncommon for Platt to promise to get Ja'Shawn and then not show up. But on Friday about 8:30 p.m., Ja'Shawn woke up from a nap, thrilled that Platt was outside, ready to keep him for the weekend, Powell said.

"He said, 'Oh, my daddy's here,' and he ran to the door saying, 'Daddy, daddy, daddy.' He was so happy," Powell said.

Her eyes filled with tears. "I never knew that it would be the last time I'd see him," she said.

Platt had never raised his voice to her, hit her or harmed anyone, as far as she knew, she said.

Her voice faltered as she thought of Ja'Shawn's chubby cheeks, which she had kissed good-bye on Friday before he left with Platt.

"How could you ever do this?" she asked, tears rolling down her cheeks. "What did you think about when you were hurting him? Didn't you hurt, too?"

On Sunday, in front of the Jackson Avenue house where Ja'Shawn's body was found, the Perfect Gentlemen Social Aid and Pleasure Club paused a second-line parade and led a moment of prayer.

They left a cross painted silver and tied with black-and-white balloons, and a cluster of stuffed animals.

The Rev. John Raphael, an anti-violence activist who leads nearby New Hope Baptist Church, also stopped at the makeshift shrine. He left behind one of his "Enough!" signs. Later he stopped to see the grieving family, and to help them plan a funeral for Ja'Shawn.

Edited January 6, 2009 by LorriQ

[panamania79 2]

By AP / JANET McCONNAUGHEY

(NEW ORLEANS) — A man who initially told police gunmen kidnapped his 2 1/2-year-old son was arrested Saturday, accused of committing an "extremely hideous" murder because he was ordered to pay child support, Police Superintendent Warren Riley said.

Danny Platt confessed, told police where to find the child's body and will be booked on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Ja' Shawn Powell, Riley said at a news conference.

"He had said he would kill either his wife or his child before he paid child support," which he recently had been ordered to do, Riley said.

Riley said he did not know the amount of child support and would not describe how the boy was killed, saying the coroner would do that after the autopsy was complete. The coroner's spokesman did not immediately return a call.

"The mother is in a safe place," Riley said.

Although he had visiting rights, Platt, 22, of New Orleans, had never visited the boy until he picked him up Friday, Riley said.

Police put out a notice Saturday asking people to look for the boy and saying his father had told them three men with dreadlocks and AK-47 rifles had piled out of an SUV and kidnapped Ja' Shawn shortly before midnight Friday.

"His story never really added up," Riley said. "He was a suspect from the very beginning."

Riley said Platt eventually confessed and told officers where to find the body.

Police spokesman officer Janssen Valencia said he did not know if Platt has an attorney.

Platt had only a couple of "very minor" previous arrests, Riley said.

"How does an individual — because he's ordered to pay child support to take care of a kid ... believe that this is so much pressure that he would face — he would do this hideous act to his own child, or to any child, and think that is a remedy to paying child support?" Riley said. "I mean there are some sick individuals in this society, and this gentleman is clearly one."

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,...1869450,00.html

Well, he should be chemically castrated so he doesn't reproduce again

No.He should be hung by his "huevos" on a tree and just left there !

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Son of a fvcking b1tch. this is dusgusting.

[Muh and me 18]

He'll never make it in prison!!! One way or another, they will do him in! Sick bustard!