Post by SoulTrainOz on Jun 28, 2006 18:52:20 GMT -5
They dispute descriptions of their children as 'meanest bunch' on a crime spree
1 suspect is a successful student who wants to be a pediatrician. Another is said to be easily influenced. A 3rd is so upset by the charges against him that he attempted suicide, his mother says.
Tuesday afternoon, the mothers of two teenagers accused in a fatal carjacking appeared with other relatives and a local community activist to proclaim their children's innocence. They focused the blame on an alleged ringleader, co-defendant Dexter Johnson, 18.
During a news conference arranged by Quanell X, leader of the New Black Panther Party, the relatives stressed that they are praying for the victims and their families.
But they also wanted to counter the mugshots released by police with family photos and to dispute the descriptions of the suspects as the "meanest bunch" responsible for a vicious crime spree that left 4 people dead.
"Ashley is not a cold-hearted killer," said Serena Hawkins, mother of 17-year-old Ashley Ervin, who faces 3 charges of capital murder.
Ervin was described as a model student with ambitions of becoming a doctor.
Her family offered recent test scores and school certificates, including one for being a Student of the Year runner-up and another that recognized her as the "hardest working student."
Family members of Timothy Randle, 19, displayed a photo of a smiling young man flanked by his younger siblings. Randle's mother, Alvera Butler, said she spoke to her son in jail, and he told her that he had attempted suicide.
Lt. John Martin, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office, which oversees the jail, said authorities were unaware of any suicide attempt and that Randle is not under a suicide watch.
Police have said the group was led by Johnson and Keithron Fields, 17, who grew up together in northeast Houston. Quanell X said the others simply fell in with the wrong crowd. He said Johnson coerced or threatened some of his cohorts.
Quanell X said Alvie Butler's family members could not make it to the news conference. But he said he knows Butler and does not think he is capable of planning the crimes.
The parents of Ervin, Butler and Randle, he said, "did not raise savages or killers."
The raft of capital murder charges "speaks for itself," said Sgt. David Crain, a spokesman for the Houston Police Department.
"Based upon the statements of the suspects and evidence obtained," he said, "the District Attorney's Office opted to accept the charges they have against the 5."
Police investigators have said the suspects may also be behind 15 additional aggravated robberies, 2 kidnappings and the shootings of at least 2 others.
Source: Houston Chronicle
1 suspect is a successful student who wants to be a pediatrician. Another is said to be easily influenced. A 3rd is so upset by the charges against him that he attempted suicide, his mother says.
Tuesday afternoon, the mothers of two teenagers accused in a fatal carjacking appeared with other relatives and a local community activist to proclaim their children's innocence. They focused the blame on an alleged ringleader, co-defendant Dexter Johnson, 18.
During a news conference arranged by Quanell X, leader of the New Black Panther Party, the relatives stressed that they are praying for the victims and their families.
But they also wanted to counter the mugshots released by police with family photos and to dispute the descriptions of the suspects as the "meanest bunch" responsible for a vicious crime spree that left 4 people dead.
"Ashley is not a cold-hearted killer," said Serena Hawkins, mother of 17-year-old Ashley Ervin, who faces 3 charges of capital murder.
Ervin was described as a model student with ambitions of becoming a doctor.
Her family offered recent test scores and school certificates, including one for being a Student of the Year runner-up and another that recognized her as the "hardest working student."
Family members of Timothy Randle, 19, displayed a photo of a smiling young man flanked by his younger siblings. Randle's mother, Alvera Butler, said she spoke to her son in jail, and he told her that he had attempted suicide.
Lt. John Martin, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office, which oversees the jail, said authorities were unaware of any suicide attempt and that Randle is not under a suicide watch.
Police have said the group was led by Johnson and Keithron Fields, 17, who grew up together in northeast Houston. Quanell X said the others simply fell in with the wrong crowd. He said Johnson coerced or threatened some of his cohorts.
Quanell X said Alvie Butler's family members could not make it to the news conference. But he said he knows Butler and does not think he is capable of planning the crimes.
The parents of Ervin, Butler and Randle, he said, "did not raise savages or killers."
The raft of capital murder charges "speaks for itself," said Sgt. David Crain, a spokesman for the Houston Police Department.
"Based upon the statements of the suspects and evidence obtained," he said, "the District Attorney's Office opted to accept the charges they have against the 5."
Police investigators have said the suspects may also be behind 15 additional aggravated robberies, 2 kidnappings and the shootings of at least 2 others.
Source: Houston Chronicle