why didn't steve downs get custody
They went after Diane at trial for tapping her foot when they played Hungry like the wolf. That her child was basically forced to admit that she saw her mom shoot them? Someone said to me that any of us, if scrutinized under a microscope, would come out looking pretty bad. 4. The way this investigation and the trial were conducted only left me with doubts. Not in this case. I couldnt get my hands on the book nor find anything in librariesso basically it was many years later I dove into knowing more about this case, that kinda haunted me. She was interrogated without a representative from the defense and was not taped for the most part. But due to a law enacted in Oregon after she first became eligible for parole, she can now only apply every 10 years. Fred Hugi is a man of the highest integrity and I hope that Dianes surviving two children finally found the love and stability they had been denied by their natural mother. There was never a real motive for the crime even if the State insisted that Diane wanted to be free to pursue her love interest; using her journals to support theirclaim. Their haste to go to trial created this mess and lingering doubts. If she was such a manipulative person, she would not be in prison for life, would she? I care about the experts reports written about Diane because they know her situation and mental state. Maybe I should have elaborated more about this comment. Inflammatory and speculative I watched and worried through her escapeto find her childrens real attackerthat bushy haired stranger . In fact, Knick admits Diane took that gold chain as collateral against a $500 LOAN she made to him. When you hear her in interviews she sounds more concerned with herself than her kids. They are the ones who considered Dianes children as Small Sacrifices. Diane had moved to Oregon only 6 weeks before the tragedy to work in the area and have her parents spend time with the kids. Simply because I researched them. Id have more influence arguing for better relationships with Mexico at a Donald Trump rally in Mexico. Go to the hate groups for that. but I think there are some extreme cases that knock women in a bad psychotic way that can be life threatening. Saying that I seem to be doing what I accuse Ann Rule of doing is kind of ironic because the point of this blog is to try to stay away from innuendo and fantasies like unicorns and songs that might have been playing or not during a tragic murder. Speculative. She should of been sentenced to death. Mission accomplished. Diane may very well be guilty, but YIKES this investigation and trial seemed so butchered and tilted in the prosecutions favour. In 1991, David Brewer, a juror who deliberated Dianes fate in her 1984 trial, came forward to say he and another juror had decided to acquit Downs by the close of the States presentation. Diane found with him,the kind of relationship she had never known before: there was actually care and intimacy involved. Maybe someone needs to read Part two in Dr. Billings in-depth review of the Diane Downs Murder Case in Oregon. CK was willing to take, or attempt to take, the lives of 4 people in order to steal their car. , The lovely Farrah Fawcett who played in the movie, Anne Rule might have inflamed the case with her book, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), The Diane Downs Case Was no Small Sacrifice. Shes where she belongs. Yes, dad relinquished his rights but he knew that they loved their grandparents and had allowed Diane to take them for a visit without telling the authorities. USA population seems to shun complex ethical problems preferring to deal with absolute evil in order to exert absolute power to crush it. It became judicial kidnapping to obtain a coerced confession: inflammatory The unreliability of childrens testimony has been documented by cognitive psychologists such as Elizabeth Loftus of the University of Cornell and others. Belli filed a motion for a 2-week extension to familiarize himself with the case because he had to be in Italy, and declared Diane innocent in a press conference, but Foote denied the motion and declared you have an attorney, use him.. The implication was not only cruel, in the light of what Diane was suffering, it was also clear. The gun presented at trial being the wrong one is a fact. The Parole Board had an obligation to parole Diane between 1998 and 2002 if she could provide reasonable cause to show she was not a danger to society. It seems that everyone commenting just knows shes guilty, like you say. What about the judge stopping a defendant from getting a new attorney? What got her convicted was two things the towel and Christie. Conflicting reports say Downs also acted as a surrogate during her fourth pregnancy, giving birth to a daughter after her trial in 1984. It is not, as the blogger frequently refers to, evidence. So they did everything in their power to slant the media and the public in their favor. Yes Gigi, the same judge who had removed the children was also presiding over her trial. Why does the blogger not clarify this? She got an apartment and I was going to move in with her. Plus, you do not let a newly appointed judge to criminal cases, preside over a high profile murder case when he has no experience whatsoever and has already prejudged the defendant dangerous to her children. In fact, what investigator Tracy had written in his notes is that the heart monitor jumped because of excitement or intense fear. It is a research done on the case according to many sources. Their marriage was described as tumultuous, with Downs allegedly disappearing for long periods of time with her children. Feb. 4, 2022 -- An analysis from a trio of economists says pandemic lockdowns during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic did little to reduce the number of COVID-related deaths. For all my life I have thought I was not that smart, but now I can tell myself, hey cheer up could be worse. They felt safe there. Either way he could NOT have seen who shot him unless he has eyes in the back of his head. You hit the nail right on the head. I cant believe anyone even believes or even follows you. She was also shot twice andifshe had been sitting up, the seats would have been covered with blood spatter as well as the shooter. There was a lot of evidence pointing at OJ. Just state that at the beginning of the blog. Theres a lot to be said here, still. Do you remember a couple of days after that, December please express them and I will print them. I think it would give the blog more integrity and transparency. Lets also remember that this is the US of A and we dont lock people up for being narcissistic, antisocial histrionic individuals. To Lisa Griggs For all you readers of this blogger, I lived through the Diane Downs case. The man you have listed as Fred Hugi is actually Dianes attorney Jim Jagger. On her way to the hospital,she was followed by someone who said she was going slow, but Diane said she was driving fairly fast. It became more about despising Diane Downs than investigating fairly. It was a dark and rural road. During Dianes examination at trial, Fred Hugi said in front of the jury, in the form of a question, that she had been diagnosed as a , Anne Rule made a big deal of a brass unicorn engraved with the childrens names that Diane had purchased. Moreover, he apparently told her that he did not want children and this statement alone would seal Dianes fate. I personally disagree with that practice but it is common. So she could not have shot her kids at the distance determined by the state unless she changed her clothing and it did not come up at trial. On a side note, what do you think of parole of Leslie Van Houton? She s. The poor jury went along and Jagger did not put much ofa defense anyway. A demonstration in court strongly suggested that the shooter had to be left-handed to have been able to shoot in the car at the right angle. Not an easy situation for him as I would imagine. Plus, Diane could have never cleaned her clothes and her hair to remove blood and gun powder. Mainly because she is being kept caged due to her name recognition at this point, not her offense. The board said that her mental or emotional disorder makes her a danger to society. In Oregon, in 1983, she shot her 3 children, 1 daughter died. Yeah, Ive noticed a lot of people thing Jim Jagger is Fred Hugi. In the nurses notes, she is described as in shock and unable to grasp the situation. This website supports restorative justice, so of course it leans towards sentences that are not life without parole if it is supported by a warden and mental health specialists. But before you get too deep into the drug stuff with Van Houten, she chose to take drugs. Comments about the title of the website, the blogger, the bias, details like the word bipolar and when it was used when cyclothymic disorder was diagnosed by the person who treated the subject and there is an affidavit posted. Yep, Downs who was found guilty in 1984, escaped successfully from the Oregon Womens Correctional Center in 1987 and was transferred to Jersey afterwards. So it would be logical to conclude that it would have left residues if anyone had shot at least 6 times. What about the affidavits of the guy who confessed to several people? I worked for county child welfare services in Colorado for a decade. I was shocked any asked why she thought that. Diane had siblings and parents. Its more understandable now, after all this time but it has done her so much harm, then and now Im sure nothing I write will change that. I lived in Eugene, Oregon for years. Whatever mental illness she has, has gotten worse with each hearing. Clickhere to read about faulty ballistics.. They were put in an impossible situation. Im not arguing the facts of the trial, and Im not about to. Likewise, Charlene had no intention of letting Knick divorce her (Appendix 81, page 1518, line 15). Rule defended her right to earn a living and to tell her story. The blog I read is all about the improprieties and flat out misconduct in Dianes trial (and the way Ann Rule profited off of it with fiction). This blogger thinks that if you had bothered reading the blogs that you just mentioned, you would know that I do not call anyone innocent. Her quest for love had landed her into an unstable and loveless marriage. Strange how Jagger is pretty absent too except for the few photos where he is wrongly identified as Hugi. So imagine when you are troubled to begin with. Whether or not Steve Downs was in some way behind the shooting, the man who fired the weapon was a stranger to Diane. And the fact that Tracy wrote in his notes that Christies reaction could have been excitement to see her mom but they decided to only mention extreme fear? Why did they let her daughter testify when she could not know who shot her and said so incessantly until they made her say what they wanted? It is called a conflict of interest. Blood spatter is not an exact science, and is interpreted differently by experts. An earlier commenter wrote that it doesnt matter that the trail or the investigation was faultyWHAT !? There is no way that a jury would convict Diane today, based on the clearly coached testimony of Christie. In reality,the whole caseturned out to beno small sacrifice for Diane Downs, but it was a huge victory for the State, the media anda very lucrative deal for theQueen of crime fiction herself; Ann Rule. I am not sure. The tape of Christie and her adoption by the prosecutor are facts. While not evidence of guilt or innocence, it is certainly worth noting as part of the overall wrongs perpetrated during this fiasco of a trial and subsequent appeals. It took a lot of time to research this case and present the other side of the coin. And if she did it, she has served her time without displaying any violent tendencies whatsoever. I had never heard of this case and fell upon several videos that had me completely convinced DD was a narcissistic psychopath. In this article, we can clearly see that Becky struggled and tried to justify her woes (maybe rightly so) by blaming it on her DNA. No gun, no blood or gun residue on her and if she shot them, these elements should have been there. Ive done my research. After graduation, Steven joined the Navy and Diane was sent to Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College where she failed miserably at remaining pure and chaste, not unlike most girls of her generation who rejected their strict religious upbringing. There is absolutely no evidence that Hungry like the Wolf was playing when Christie got shot but it is another detail they added to bring a dramatic element to this trial. I would say so. The jury verdict was guilty on all counts, but there was a mixture of votes. The parole board in Oregon was asking to provide reasonable cause to show she was not a danger to society and it had to be supported by a psychiatrists report or a Wardens letter and Downs provided both. We already know that. Her three small children, Christie, 8; Cheryl, 7; and Danny, 3 . Ms. Downs makes every effort to avoid emotional stimuli in order to reduce the demands made on her. It appears that you have to be a perfect mother with no lovers and not afflicted with any mental illness to be considered innocent until proven guilty in America. Ultimately, the blogger is entitled to their opinion as is everyone else. http://www.manipulatedtrial.de/oregon_s_small_sacrifices_1603.pdf. But Diane was not the one dragging Knick out of Charlenes bed every morning intent on making or breaking his relationship with another woman. You said yourself that the title was revealing. These women did not show emotions and did not fold when asked to. They are the ones who supposedly (according to Diane) screwed her up so badly. I cant believe that it was allowed to happen, actually. I think that she has done enough time and should be released. You cannot skip due process because of mob mentality. Common sense will tell this Court, when Diane accidently slammed her mangled arm into the steering wheel of Detective Tracys car, it was ANYTHING but a laughing matter. You are telling me to take my smugness elsewhere because it is tiresome. This whole tale is just unbelievable. The judge who took away her children presided over her criminal trial. Dr. Obrecht Learns if She's a Bone Marrow Match for Willow Plus, Nikolas' Whereabouts Are Revealed. Are her parents still living (I know they were a few years ago)? Unfortunately couldnt really do anything at that point, as the movie was not VHS yet, it only aired that oncein late 89. Seems like she was her worst enemy. On June 2nd, 1983, Juvenile Court Judge Gregory Foote held a hearing to take Christie and Danny away from ALL blood family (thus isolating them). You mention her youngest daughter, and how Ann made sure she only heard negative information about Diane.. She talked to Diane for 15 minutes, there was thebizarre and partialOprah interview that was basically a lets bash Diane event and she wrote to Diane in jail to ask her what she thought of Hugi adopting her children. But you told Diane Downs to go ahead and get an apartment? That is the reason effective trial counsel challenges the competency of a nine-year-old child to testify in a court of law. While these are all good questions, (and were maybe all asked in the jury room during deliberations) I doubt the answers even matter anymore. Nothing came from Diane herself. Tis why at 10 years old I was hearing about this case in Ohio, and family members talked about it around me.it hit with great force that way. That she had no blood or gun powder anywhere when she allegedly shot at close range? Every time, she said she did not know, they told her to think again and made suggestions. He could then have initiated the licensing process to foster and then adopt the children. I go fishing with a jurors husband. Once again, Diane said a lot of things. Only after these avenues are exhausted should non-relative placement be looked at. Maybe dad relinquished, it sounds like he may have. As her brother mentioned, it would not be that farfetched for his sister to stop for someone considering that she was a person who lacked impulse control and the era. They lied about the ballistics. If you had commented on one of the elements contained in the blog, it might have been enlightening. .well yay for youtubelol..is when I first heard her in old interviews. I personally dont think she is innocent but that isnt the point. I tried to contact you by email but my email wouldnt acknowledge you email address. And the state refusing to turn them over to the defense? ), Interesting suggestion. Removing the children from her and presiding over her criminal trial? She managed to jump in the car after getting shot in the arm. then later you ask how diane didnt have any blood splatter on her when she was inside the car when she shot her kids??? 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