This site has moved to robert.williamsonline.us.
ABCNEWS.com : Infant Left to Die in Toilet, Law Debated
Gabriel Estrada, 18, will appear in Kenosha County court to face attempted first-degree intentional homicide charges for allegedly leaving his newborn son to die in a portable park toilet hours after the baby's birth on Jan. 13.
...
After his girlfriend gave birth, Estrada opted not to follow her wish that he drop the infant off at a church or at a police station. Instead, ... Estrada abandoned his son, realizing the tiny boy would likely die in below-freezing temperatures.
...
Gabriel Estrada remains jailed on $500,000 cash bond and could face up to 60 years in prison if convicted.
[The rest of the article is a discussion of the effectiveness of child safe haven laws, such as Wisconsin has, that provide the ability to abandon newborns at hospitals, police stations, and fire stations and be protected from prosecution.]
Estrada had months to think about what to do when the baby was born and this is the best plan he could come up with? Let it die? Couldn't he at least put the baby in a basket, left it on a doorstep, knocked, and ran?
Whatever they decide to do to Gabriel Estrada, his punishment should include being left wet and naked in a dark port-a-potty on a cold Wisconsin winter night for a few hours.
Praise the Lord that someone saved that little baby from such an awful death. And praise the Lord that they caught the monster(s) that left him there to die.
And to think, if they had just been willing to murder the child one day earlier, no one would even blink.
Posted by: amy on January 27, 2003 08:21 AMThe real horror is Estrada opted not to follow [the mother's] wish. :-)
Posted by: Robert on January 27, 2003 02:34 PMTo me, that is no different then the thousands of babies that are aborted each year with out the father's consent.
Posted by: amy on January 28, 2003 07:48 AMTo Amy & Robert- To you who have an opinion but dont know the whole story! I cant wait untill the whole truth comes out and then you will learn not to judge without knowing! If you know so much, did you ever think to ask yourself why the mother Cori so concerned for her childs welfare didn't take her son to the hospital or somewhere herself instead of just dropping the baby off. Work was more inportant? If she had so much intention of doing the right thing when she went into labor why didn't she go to the hospital to get good care for her and the baby? Instead she went through the pain of labor by herself in a bathtub! Yeah right! If you ask me she just as much as fault as Gabriel is. No one Knows but them but the truth will come soon. As far as that poor little baby I believe that Gabriel's mother that had past a little over a year ago, Flora Estrada (God Bless Her Soul) Was that baby's Angel and kept that baby strong to survive!
So what I'm saying is you need to look at all the angles before you judge!
To Amy & Robert- To you who have an opinion but dont know the whole story! I cant wait untill the whole truth comes out and then you will learn not to judge without knowing! If you know so much, did you ever think to ask yourself why the mother Cori so concerned for her childs welfare didn't take her son to the hospital or somewhere herself instead of just dropping the baby off. Work was more inportant? If she had so much intention of doing the right thing when she went into labor why didn't she go to the hospital to get good care for her and the baby? Instead she went through the pain of labor by herself in a bathtub! Yeah right! If you ask me she just as much as fault as Gabriel is. No one Knows but them but the truth will come soon. As far as that poor little baby I believe that Gabriel's mother that had past a little over a year ago, Flora Estrada (God Bless Her Soul) Was that baby's Angel and kept that baby strong to survive!
So what I'm saying is you need to look at all the angles before you judge!
You are right that I don't have every detail of this. But I have plenty information to judge. I'll put it in harsh terms: some punk banged up his girlfriend and then left his baby to die in a port-a-potty. I need no more data than this to come to the conclusion, which any sane person would reach, that he is evil and ought so suffer a horrible punishment.
OK, to be fair, most of the punishment suggestions I've seen and/or made are facetious, just born out of utter horror and disgust at his crime.
I don't have any useful information or thoughts regarding the mother of this baby. I don't know why she acted, or failed to act, as she did. As the father of two, I know that post-partum moms are not always "up to par" mentally and physically and emotionally. Perhaps she was intimidated by her punk boyfriend. Maybe she was secretly relieved that he was going to murder their baby. I just don't know.
But what I do know is that this punk Gabriel deserves punishment for what he did.
Posted by: Robert Williams on May 1, 2003 03:12 PM