Yes!!! Justice!!!

[Steff]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal...ack=1&cset=true

 

 

Instigator of near-fatal brawl at party gets 30-year maximum

Birthday celebration attack left the victim, then age 12, in a coma for three weeks

By Julie Bykowicz

Sun Staff

Originally published May 3, 2005

The woman whom prosecutors called the instigator of a near-fatal brawl at her daughter's birthday party last year was sentenced yesterday to a 30-year prison term - the maximum allowed under state law.

 

Monique Baldwin, 37, received the harshest sentence of any of the seven women and girls who pleaded guilty to beating then-12-year-old Nicole Ashley Townes at Baldwin's West Baltimore home. Baldwin pleaded guilty in March to first-degree assault and second-degree child abuse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The court has no choice but to send a clear message that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated," said Circuit Judge Kaye Allison, adding that she understands the motives of greed, retaliation and even misdirected anger, but nothing that would explain this crime.

 

Yesterday, the judge also sentenced Kenya Keene, 26, to six years in prison. Keene, Nicole's caretaker, had pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and to second-degree assault for hitting Nicole's 11-year-old sister, Brenda Bailey, before the party.

 

Nicole spent three weeks in a coma. Her family said she has made some progress, but yesterday Assistant State's Attorney Julie Drake said, "Thankfully, she has no memory of what happened. I hope it will always be that way."

 

Drake read into the court record a chilling account of the Feb. 28, 2004, crime when Keene and Baldwin entered guilty pleas in March:

 

After a boy, on a dare, kissed Nicole, an enraged Keene left the party. On her way out, Keene told Baldwin to discipline the girl "any way she wanted," the prosecutor said.

 

Baldwin corralled her young relatives in the kitchen and told them to "handle your business." She shoved one of the girls toward Nicole.

 

A free-for-all attack ensued, growing so intense that Baldwin moved the group into the dining room, shut the windows and turned up the music, the prosecutor said.

 

One teen-ager stomped Nicole with high-heeled boots, Drake said, and Baldwin ordered the girls to lift Nicole onto the couch "so that she wouldn't bleed all over her rug."

 

"This woman acted like an animal training her children," Drake said of Baldwin in court, "She was training her children to be violent predators."

 

Drake explained that she had sought the longest prison term for Baldwin because she viewed her as the most culpable. Drake said the children that she ordered to fight had expressed remorse for their crimes, whereas, she said, Baldwin had not. Others were sentenced to no more than six years in prison.

 

Drake also said that Baldwin told a pre-sentencing investigator that "things just got out of hand" at the party.

 

Baldwin's attorney, Michael Lee Kaplan, said he could not explain his client's behavior.

 

"She doesn't know why it happened or how," Kaplan told the judge, imploring her not to sentence Baldwin "disproportionately" to the others.

 

During his victim impact statement, Nicole's father, Wayne Townes, said he hoped the women would suffer for their crimes.

 

"Kenya, you have betrayed me and my little angel," he said, addressing Keene.

 

Both women cried as the judge handed down their sentences. Baldwin sobbed as she was taken from the courtroom.

 

Baldwin and Keene were the final two to receive sentences. Partygoers Seletta Broaddus, Temprest Baldwin, both 16 and formerly charged as adults, and two other teenage girls - including the one whose birthday was being celebrated - have all been sentenced in juvenile court to group homes.

 

Erin Baldwin, 20, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and was sentenced in March to four years in prison and four years of probation.

[Kid Gleason]

Can somebody explain this a little? From what this says, I am guessing it was a borthday party for the girl? Who was the "caretaker" and who was the lady that beat the girl and was the ringleader? Where was Dad? Or was it not the victims party? I'm a little lost on what lead up to this.

 

Good to see justice being swift and poweful this time around!