sws4420
11-03-2005, 12:08 AM
Case of child's body in basement sparked national outrage
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/LAW/11/02/kids.found.ap/vert.sherrywilliams.ap.jpg
NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) -- A woman who admitted hiding the body of a 7-year-old relative in a basement storage bin was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison.
Her son, who admitted killing the child in a wrestling move, was sentenced to three years.
Faheem Williams' decomposed body was found stuffed in a basement storage bin three years ago, and his twin and half brother were discovered living in squalor and filth. The case generated national outrage and led to an overhaul of New Jersey's child welfare agency.
As he sentenced 43-year-old Sherry Murphy, Superior Court Judge Michael R. Casale called the case the saddest he has presided over in his nearly 10 years on the bench.
"I wouldn't have treated objects or clothes as these kids were treated," Casale said.
The mother of the three boys had entrusted them to Murphy, her cousin, before going to serve an unrelated jail term.
Murphy and her son, 19-year-old Wesley Murphy, struck plea deals in September. Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow agreed to the deals to spare the surviving children, who are in foster care, from having to relive their ordeal during a trial, Dow said.
Sherry Murphy, whom the three boys knew as an aunt, pleaded guilty to criminal restraint, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Under the deal, a charge of attempted murder was dropped. Wesley Murphy pleaded guilty to reckless manslaughter.
Because he was arrested in January 2003, Wesley Murphy already could be eligible for parole for reckless manslaughter. His mother will not be eligible for more than 13 years.
In September, Wesley Murphy testified that he killed Faheem while doing a wrestling move that included forcefully driving his knee into the child's abdomen.
"I tried to flip him on the bed, but he missed the bed and hit the floor," he said. "I was in shock. I ran out of the house. I think he was unconscious."
Sherry Murphy admitted finding Faheem's body on the floor of her apartment in September 2002, trying to revive him, and then leaving the corpse there for several days. She took the plastic bin with her when she moved to Newark, she said, where it was found in the basement in January 2003.
She also admitted she provided inadequate food and water to Faheem's twin, Raheem, and a younger half brother, Tyrone Hill.
The state had investigated abuse complaints involving Faheem, but closed the file 11 months before his body was found.
Melinda Williams, the mother of the three boys, had been released from jail and was living in New York when Faheem's body was found. In court Wednesday, she complained that Wesley Murphy's sentence was too light, prompting a rebuke from the judge.
"You are not blameless. You are the parent. Look in the mirror," Casale said.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/11/02/kids.found.ap/index.html
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/LAW/11/02/kids.found.ap/vert.sherrywilliams.ap.jpg
NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) -- A woman who admitted hiding the body of a 7-year-old relative in a basement storage bin was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison.
Her son, who admitted killing the child in a wrestling move, was sentenced to three years.
Faheem Williams' decomposed body was found stuffed in a basement storage bin three years ago, and his twin and half brother were discovered living in squalor and filth. The case generated national outrage and led to an overhaul of New Jersey's child welfare agency.
As he sentenced 43-year-old Sherry Murphy, Superior Court Judge Michael R. Casale called the case the saddest he has presided over in his nearly 10 years on the bench.
"I wouldn't have treated objects or clothes as these kids were treated," Casale said.
The mother of the three boys had entrusted them to Murphy, her cousin, before going to serve an unrelated jail term.
Murphy and her son, 19-year-old Wesley Murphy, struck plea deals in September. Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow agreed to the deals to spare the surviving children, who are in foster care, from having to relive their ordeal during a trial, Dow said.
Sherry Murphy, whom the three boys knew as an aunt, pleaded guilty to criminal restraint, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Under the deal, a charge of attempted murder was dropped. Wesley Murphy pleaded guilty to reckless manslaughter.
Because he was arrested in January 2003, Wesley Murphy already could be eligible for parole for reckless manslaughter. His mother will not be eligible for more than 13 years.
In September, Wesley Murphy testified that he killed Faheem while doing a wrestling move that included forcefully driving his knee into the child's abdomen.
"I tried to flip him on the bed, but he missed the bed and hit the floor," he said. "I was in shock. I ran out of the house. I think he was unconscious."
Sherry Murphy admitted finding Faheem's body on the floor of her apartment in September 2002, trying to revive him, and then leaving the corpse there for several days. She took the plastic bin with her when she moved to Newark, she said, where it was found in the basement in January 2003.
She also admitted she provided inadequate food and water to Faheem's twin, Raheem, and a younger half brother, Tyrone Hill.
The state had investigated abuse complaints involving Faheem, but closed the file 11 months before his body was found.
Melinda Williams, the mother of the three boys, had been released from jail and was living in New York when Faheem's body was found. In court Wednesday, she complained that Wesley Murphy's sentence was too light, prompting a rebuke from the judge.
"You are not blameless. You are the parent. Look in the mirror," Casale said.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/11/02/kids.found.ap/index.html