7-year-old beaten severely in Phoenix park dies

[Ghost in the Machine]

7-year-old beaten severely in Phoenix park dies
Published: 12/26/08, 2:05 PM EDT
By BOB CHRISTIE

PHOENIX (AP) - One of the two young boys who were repeatedly bludgeoned by someone who apparently followed them into a playground died early Friday, police said.

Jesse Ramirez, 7, died of the injuries he suffered in the Tuesday attack, police Sgt. Tommy Thompson said. His cousin, 10-year-old Edwin Pellecier, remained in "extremely" critical condition, Thompson said.

Police arrested 36-year-old Joe Sauceda Gallegos within hours of the attack. He was charged Thursday with first-degree murder, after appearing in court Wednesday on two counts of child abuse and dangerous crimes against children.

Doctors told police they believe the boys were bludgeoned repeatedly with a baseball bat or similar object. Police say they found a bat in Gallegos' home along with clothing that appeared to be bloodstained.

An uncle of Gallegos, Joe Sauceda, told police that he believed Gallegos had been diagnosed as a schizophrenic. The uncle also said Gallegos had told authorities about six months ago that he killed his sons in his attic, but police never found any such victims at the house. Gallegos' sons live with their mother in Colorado and are the same ages of the boys who were attacked.

Here's the douchebag:



http://my.att.net/s/editorial.dll?pnum=1&bfromind=7401&eeid=6292863&_sitecat=1522&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=-2&ck=&ch=ne&rg=blsadstrgt

edited: to add picture

[ZombieHorde]

1. Disgusting. Hopefully, the police have the right man, and hopefully, he will be imprison for life.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. Apparently he's mentally ill.

[ZombieHorde]

4. That is easy to believe.

[DS1]

3. turn him into animal feed

or fertilizer, just make it a slow process. maybe tenderize him with bats first

[Warpy]

5. Deinstitutionalization is the real problem here

Forty years ago, people who had family members who developed schizophrenia could take them to the last resort, the state mental health system.

Now, while a rudimentary system still exists, access to it against the schizophrenic's will is restricted by a too narrow definition of a person's danger to himself or others.

If this guy's homicidal ideation had been taken seriously and had he been taken into custody for a trial of medication, likely these two children would still be alive and undamaged.

I have cousins who have gone off their medication and destroyed their lives to the point that they were on the street and incapable of caring for themselves. Clearly, they were a danger to themselves unmedicated, but the system refused to acknowledge it unless there was a suicide or homicide attempt.

I hope this guy gets a lifetime trip to a ward for the criminally insane. However, the real indictment goes to an uncaring society.

[Fire1]

6. And most state institutions have been closed due to budget cuts.

[AZBlue]

7. I agree with what you say.

The real problem is the uncaring and underfunded system.

[glowing]

8. If this man had access to Drs. and medicine, would this crime have happened?

This is one good reason for socialized medicine.

[LisaL]

9. WTF knows. Schizophrenia (if that is what he got) isn't curable,

It can be treated but not cured.

[glowing]

10. We will never know. But it makes a good case for trying to prevent

a senseless crime and having humanity to treat medical issues for all our citizens.