"My daddy did it."

One problem with reading the week's appellate decisions is that you find things you really wish you hadn't seen, like this from the denial of an appeal by Fred Lenard, whose wife and son went missing one day:

A search was organized for Katrina and Little Fred. Around 5:00 p.m. the next day, Little Fred was found alive by his half-brother, Fred Aikens. Aikens was the twenty-three-year-old son of Lenard and a former wife. Aikens testified that he had been told by a member of his mother’s family – who had heard it from another family member – that Katrina was dead, but Little Fred was alive; and the two would be found tied to a tractor tire near the Pleasant Grove Church in Sherard, Mississippi. Pleasant Grove was the church Lenard and his family attended. Aikens did not know the original source of the information. In the woods near the church, Aikens found Little Fred alone, “hogtied,” lying face-down in a ditch in a wooded area near the church. Little Fred’s hands and feet had been bound together behind his back with wire. He was cold, wet, hungry, and covered with insect bites. Little Fred had also been bitten by a snake; had bruises on various parts of his body; injuries to his wrists and ankles from the bindings; and swelling in his face, hands, and feet. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he repeatedly stated: “My daddy did it.” * * *

Little Fred was four years of age at the time of the trial. He testified that the last time he saw his mother, Lenard was driving the Dumases’ Cadillac and took Little Fred and Katrina to a “pink church.” He saw Lenard “hurt” his mother, and when Lenard put him in [the] woods, Katrina could not protect him because “blood came out of her nose.” Little Fred also testified that Lenard put a “string” around Katrina’s neck.

It must be really difficult to get the death penalty in Coahoma County, if Fred Lenard couldn't do it.