I feel an overwhelming sense of urgency about Elsa Newman's case, considering the fact that the courts never heard or sat in judgment of disclosures of unspeakable abuse suffered by Elsa’s children at the hands of her ex-husband.

Why? Because the actions of family friend Margery Landry intervened. On a very early morning in January, 2002, Landry broke into the house where the man we believe to be a pedophile was staying with his two sons. She carried child pornography she intended to plant in the home (or she was looking for evidence of child pornography, depending on which newspaper you read). She also carried a gun, “just in case.”

Landry found the man, naked from the waist down, in bed with his young son, only five or six years old, who was completely naked. Seeing them thus together, Landry apparently lost sight of her mission, lost her cool and tried to pull them apart. The man struggled with her; the gun discharged; and the man was shot in the leg. Interestingly, although the bullet entered his leg, his pajama bottoms had no bullet hole in them. They were covered with blood—but there was no bullet hole.

The man managed to get to a phone and call 9-1-1. Landry fled.

The following day, Landry was arrested at her home. Later, Elsa Newman was also arrested, charged with conspiracy in the crime and with attempted murder, among other things.

I am at a loss about these charges. Please note that the conspiracy charge against Landry was dropped. So how does our legal system figure you can have “conspiracy” by one person?

The attempted-murder charge against Landry was also dropped. So if Landry was not attempting to murder the man—how does the court figure an attempted-murder charge against Elsa Newman? Elsa was not even home at the time; she had gone to attend her niece’s wedding, out of state.

After her arrest, Landry several times refused a major reduction in her own sentence if she would testify against Elsa. Landry repeatedly affirmed, “I wish I could blame this on someone else. It has ruined my life. However, I have no one to blame but myself.”

[quote name='writing4elsanewman' date='Jul 4 2008, 01:56 PM' post='64475']
I feel an overwhelming sense of urgency about Elsa Newman's case, considering the fact that the courts never heard or sat in judgment of disclosures of unspeakable abuse suffered by Elsa’s children at the hands of her ex-husband.

Why? Because the actions of family friend Margery Landry intervened. On a very early morning in January, 2002, Landry broke into the house where the man we believe to be a pedophile was staying with his two sons. She carried child pornography she intended to plant in the home (or she was looking for evidence of child pornography, depending on which newspaper you read). She also carried a gun, “just in case.”

Landry found the man, naked from the waist down, in bed with his young son, only five or six years old, who was completely naked. Seeing them thus together, Landry apparently lost sight of her mission, lost her cool and tried to pull them apart. The man struggled with her; the gun discharged; and the man was shot in the leg. Interestingly, although the bullet entered his leg, his pajama bottoms had no bullet hole in them. They were covered with blood—but there was no bullet hole.

The man managed to get to a phone and call 9-1-1. Landry fled.

The following day, Landry was arrested at her home. Later, Elsa Newman was also arrested, charged with conspiracy in the crime and with attempted murder, among other things.

I am at a loss about these charges. Please note that the conspiracy charge against Landry was dropped. So how does our legal system figure you can have “conspiracy” by one person?

The attempted-murder charge against Landry was also dropped. So if Landry was not attempting to murder the man—how does the court figure an attempted-murder charge against Elsa Newman? Elsa was not even home at the time; she had gone to attend her niece’s wedding, out of state.

After her arrest, Landry several times refused a major reduction in her own sentence if she would testify against Elsa. Landry repeatedly affirmed, “I wish I could blame this on someone else. It has ruined my life. However, I have no one to blame but myself.”

In Elsa’s first trial, she was convicted. The testimony of one of her former attorneys was a major part of the prosecution case, handled by prosecutor Katherine Winfree. (And what happened to attorney-client privilege?) On appeal to Maryland’s highest court, the decision was vacated.

Anie
First off let me say welcome, and I sympathize with your cause and wouldn't mind hearing more. However flooding the board with post after post will just get people annoyed with you until you get banned.
Please stick with one post and continue to write more.
Thanks,
Kim

[quote name='writing4elsanewman' date='Jul 4 2008, 01:59 PM' post='64477']
[quote name='writing4elsanewman' date='Jul 4 2008, 01:56 PM' post='64475']
I feel an overwhelming sense of urgency about Elsa Newman's case, considering the fact that the courts never heard or sat in judgment of disclosures of unspeakable abuse suffered by Elsa’s children at the hands of her ex-husband.

Why? Because the actions of family friend Margery Landry intervened. On a very early morning in January, 2002, Landry broke into the house where the man we believe to be a pedophile was staying with his two sons. She carried child pornography she intended to plant in the home (or she was looking for evidence of child pornography, depending on which newspaper you read). She also carried a gun, “just in case.”

Landry found the man, naked from the waist down, in bed with his young son, only five or six years old, who was completely naked. Seeing them thus together, Landry apparently lost sight of her mission, lost her cool and tried to pull them apart. The man struggled with her; the gun discharged; and the man was shot in the leg. Interestingly, although the bullet entered his leg, his pajama bottoms had no bullet hole in them. They were covered with blood—but there was no bullet hole.
The man managed to get to a phone and call 9-1-1. Landry fled.

The following day, Landry was arrested at her home. Later, Elsa Newman was also arrested, charged with conspiracy in the crime and with attempted murder, among other things.

I am at a loss about these charges. Please note that the conspiracy charge against Landry was dropped. So how does our legal system figure you can have “conspiracy” by one person?

The attempted-murder charge against Landry was also dropped. So if Landry was not attempting to murder the man—how does the court figure an attempted-murder charge against Elsa Newman? Elsa was not even home at the time; she had gone to attend her niece’s wedding, out of state.

After her arrest, Landry several times refused a major reduction in her own sentence if she would testify against Elsa. Landry repeatedly affirmed, “I wish I could blame this on someone else. It has ruined my life. However, I have no one to blame but myself.”

In Elsa’s first trial, she was convicted. The testimony of one of her former attorneys was a major part of the prosecution case, handled by prosecutor Katherine Winfree. (And what happened to attorney-client privilege?) On appeal to Maryland’s highest court, the decision was vacated.

Doug Gansler, then state’s attorney for the county, and thus in charge of the prosecution, said of that highest-court decision, “They just released the woman who wanted to kill her kids.”

Gansler’s statement is hogwash.

I have never known a mother less likely to do anything to injure her kids—let alone kill them. When she speaks of them, I hear in her voice her love for them, her pain because she is missing out on so much of their growing-up years, her determination to try to help them out of their situation and her determination to endure prison because she hopes one day to see them again. (Only moments before I posted this, Elsa spoke to me by phone, her voice turning briefly shaky with tears as she added facts to my store of information about her sons.)

Hi Kim...

Thanks. And sorry for that messup on my part. I read that in the rules, too, now that I am reminded. Sometimes my concern for Elsa and her kids turns of my brain and puts my typing skills on auto-pilot. Should I take some of them back off ?

I can't figure how to do that, but will do so if you or someone would tell me how. Creating anger toward me and this cause is the last thing I need to do!

Aine
Writing4ElsaNewman

You only have a certain amount of time to edit. Don't be surprised if a mod or admin merges all your posts into one big one.
No worries!
BTW, hope you don't mind but I did a google search on you. Seems like you do great work for pugs. I have an "unwanted" mutt myself and love her to death.
I'd ask one thing, because you are obviously writing about something you know a great deal about. But remember, it's a subject that chances are most of us here have not heard about, since we mostly talk national news. How about giving us some background and a timeline about what happened.

welcome BUT TOO many posts

You are absolutely right. My brain went on vacation and my fingers kept typing. Now THAT is a dumb excuse--almost as dumb as my mistake in overposting!

Thanks, and I'll behave after this.

Aine--writing4elsanewman