AUGUST 26, 2011
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
August 26 is … National Cherry Popsicle Day
I would love to get this divorce case, if I got paid. This one will be interesting and stressful but no matter what, at the end of the Court day, I would get to go home. The Indiana couple accused of severely abusing and murdering 13-year-old Christian Choate is filing for divorce, and will head to court for a hearing Dec. 20.
The Northwest Indiana Times reports Riley Choate, 39, filed for a divorce from his wife, Kimberly Kubina, 45, on Aug. 5, without an attorney. The couple is currently being held without bond in the Lake County Jail and have a bail hearing scheduled for Sept. 8. They have been charged with murder, battery, neglect of a dependent, confinement, obstruction of justice, moving a body from a death scene and failure to notify authorities of a dead body. They have both pleaded not guilty to all charges. Young Christian Choate's body was found buried under a thin layer of concrete on May near the couple's former home in a mobile home park in Gary, Indiana. The boy is believed to have died in April of 2009, after being kept locked in a three-foot-high dog cage for most of the last year of his life, according to his sister Christina. According to Christina, he was only let out of the cage to eat and use the bathroom. His stepmother, Kubina, took him out of school and said he was being homeschooled. His sister was reportedly moved to Kentucky by her father, Riley, and sworn to secrecy about what she witnessed.
The Indiana Department of Child Services reportedly visited with the Choate family more than a dozen times beginning in 1999, following up on multiple allegations of abuse and neglect in the home -- but they never acted on or knew of the severity of the alleged abuse. According to a DSC report, Kubina "homeschooled" Christian by giving him paper and telling him to write -- sometimes giving him assignments including, "Why do you still want to see your mom? Why can't you let the past go? What does it mean to be part of a family?" Christian often described that he was hungry or thirsty -- his writings "detail a very sad, depressed child."
Others -- more than a dozen -- besides his sister reportedly had at least some knowledge of Christian's abuse but did not report it to authorities out of either apathy, uncertainty or fear of retribution. His pediatrician, Dr. Leticia Chy-Koa, was allegedly told by Christian that he was being locked in his home at night and she even wrote in her notes that he was soiling himself. She never contacted DCS.
The original autopsy of Christian's body determined his cause of death to be blunt force trauma which caused internal bleeding and a skull fracture. Judge Diane Boswell denied the accused couple's defense attorney's request for a second autopsy in July, shortly after she issued a gag order preventing DCS from publicly addressing the case.
The Rick Perry tour is gaining momentum. Three new national polls released on Wednesday show Texas Gov. Rick Perry rocketing ahead of Mitt Romney and the rest of the announced candidates as the first choice of Republicans to be their 2012 presidential nominee. A new survey conducted late last week by Gallup finds Perry to be the choice of 29 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents nationwide, followed by Mitt Romney with 17 percent, Ron Paul at 13 percent and Michelle Bachman scoring 10 percent. All other announced candidates received 4 percent or less, and 17 percent of Republicans nationwide expressed no preference.
The second survey, conducted using an automated methodology by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling (PPP), found a similar result. Testing just the announced candidates, PPP finds Perry leading with 33 percent, followed by Romney at 20 percent and Bachmann with 16 percent. All other candidates received 8 percent or less and just 5 percent were undecided. Finally, a new online survey of likely Republican primary voters conducted over the last week by the Economist and YouGov shows Perry leading with 23 percent, followed by Romney (15 percent), Paul (11 percent), Bachmann (9 percent), Cain (8 percent) and all others with less than 6 percent with 11 percent undecided.
The new results represent a rapid transformation in the current Republican vote preference. Neither Gallup nor PPP tested Perry as a likely Republican candidate in June, and both added his name to surveys conducted July. A month ago, Gallup showed Romney leading Perry -- 23 percent to 18 percent -- and the rest of the GOP field. At the same time, PPP showed Bachman and Romney in a virtual tie, receiving 21 and 20 percent respectively, with Perry trailing at 12 percent. But Perry's official entry into the race on August 11 helped boost his name recognition and reshape the current standings.
The new poll clearly moves Perry ahead on our trend estimate chart, which combines results from all public polls.
Just a couple of thoughts I had and you should too or at least think about.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011
VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.
Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.
www.ebookmall.com (Do search by my name or book Title)
www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)
www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.
Book Titles:
Holmes the Ripper
A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction
"The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem." - Milton Friedman
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