Teri Rhodes, 19, pled guilty to charges voluntary manslaughter yesterday. She will be sentenced in the fall and faces a maximum sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison or may be as low as two years. Ed Palattella of the Times-News wrote this, explaining the voluntary manslaughter charge:
Voluntary manslaughter is a first-degree felony that is an unlawful killing committed with serious provocation. It is less serious than murder, which is an intentional killing, but more serious than involuntary manslaughter, an unlawful and intentional killing due to gross negligence.
Without knowing the details of the plea agreement or the rest of the case, it’s hard to determine the provocation in this case but under Pennsylvania the law, provocation must come from the person who was murdered or be incidental to a murder. First degree murder on the other hand is when a person has the intent to seriously harm or murder another person. It has been reported by many media sources that Rhodes had done internet searches on terms like “what can kill a fetus” and “herbal abortion techniques” in the days prior to the baby’s birth. You can read the Pennsylvania statute describing what constitutes murder and what constitutes voluntary manslaughter.
We welcome your thoughts and comments on the outcome of this case but please be civil. You can access the comments at the end of this post.
Linda Bebko-Jones and her former legislative aide Mary Fiolek were sentenced to a year probation and fined $1,500 for forging petition signatures in order to place Bebko-Jones on the 2006 primary ballot. By pleading guilty, ten other charges were dismissed and they also avoided jail time.
VisitErie announced yesterday that several conventions have selected Erie as the location for their 2009 conventions. First, the Erie Kennel Club AKC All-Breed Dog Show will move to the Bayfront Convention Center. The dog show attracts 1,200 visitors and has an estimated economic impact of $420,000. The event will be held January 24-25, 2009 before the Westminster Dog Show in New York City. The Automobile License Plate Collector’s Association National Convention will hit the Bayfront Convention Center June 24-27 and have an impact of $393,750. Finally, the Celiac Sprue Association National Convention will be held October 26-November 2, 2009 at the Bayfront, bringing 500 attendees who will have an economic impact of $450,000. Congrats to VisitErie for continuing to attract people to our fair city.
The NY Times published an article examining the recent trend in voter registrations: G.O.P. Drops in Voting Rolls in Many States. There is a reduction in the number of registered Republican voters and a rise of registered Democrat and Independent voters. Pennsylvania is one of the states examined in the article. Since 2004 in PA, there has been a -2.7 decrease in registered Republicans and a +3.1 increase in registered Democrats.
Young Erie Professionals (yep!) will host an Executive Coffee Talk tonight at 5:30 p.m. at the Brewerie at Union Station (123 W 14th St., Erie). Jim Berlin, local entrepreneur and CEO of Logistics Plus, will be the speaker.
Can you believe we’re just a few weeks away from the start of football season? Thins year, we’ll be running another ErieBlogs.com Fantasy Football League. Feel free to join up – the password is erie. The league winner will be awarded a fabulousness prize from ErieBlogs.com. We can’t vouch for the fabulousness, but we’ll at least get the winner a gift or gas card. It’s the least we can do.
Attention local businesses! In a few weeks, we will be launching the 2nd Annual Erie Blogs Week at the Community Blood Bank. We’re working with Dan and the crew on some great giveaways, but we need your help. If you and/or your business would like to contribute to our gift baskets, please fill out our contact form and Mike will get right back to you. Items like gas cards or other gift certificates would be awesome. Thank you so much!
The Erie Area PCC (Postal Customer Council) is a network of business mailers and representatives of the U. S. Postal Service who gather regularly to discuss and resolve local mailing issues. On both the national and local levels, Postal Customer Councils work to continually improve communication between the Postal Service and its customers. The organization is having a “PCC day” coming up on August 21 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at the Rotary Pavilion at Presque Isle. During the 4 hours there will be speakers as well as opportunities to network with your local PCC.
The Erie Seawolves beat up on the Harrisburg Senators 11-2 last night at the Uht. Casper Wells hit three home runs for the ‘Wolves. The same teams face off tonight.
The State Library of Pennsylvania will celebrate its second annual Genealogy Day on Saturday,
Sept. 20. This free event will have exhibits and information sessions on various subject areas. For additional information, please contact Marc Bender at (717) 705-6272.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The next 8 Great Tuesdays concert series will feature the rock band Joe Grushecky and the House Rockers. The Rockers will play next Tuesday, August 12 from 6:30 – 9:30 at the Liberty Park, Pepsi Amphitheater. The event is free and shuttles to the park will be provided.
The inaugural Erie Big Ball Hall of Fame will be launched at this year’s Big Ball All Star Game on Friday, August 8. With over 75 years of history and thousands of local and regional players throughout the years, the Hall of Fame committee was started and has selected six players to be the first inducted members of this unique Hall of Fame.
The 5th Annual Key West Phest will be held this Friday and Saturday, August 8 & 9, at Liberty Park on the bayfront. The event is free but through on site fundraising efforts, money will be raised for charity. Friday’s events run from 4 – 10 p.m. with the band Key West Express closing the park, and Saturday from 1 – 10 p.m. with the night’s entertainment by Club Trini (not to be confused with Club Tranny). Parking will be at least $15 so you may want to consider taking a shuttle roundtrip for $1.
The Erie Block Party, held most Thursday evenings during the summer, will be held this week at Jr’s Last Laugh Comedy Club featuring the rock band M-80′s. The event theme is “Take You Back” and benefits Vietnam Veterans Chapter 435.
St. Paul’s annual Italian Festival will be August 8 – 10 with lots and lots of Italian food including patries and a pasta fagioli dinner. While you are stuffing your face you can enjoy musical entertainment & games like bingo. Don’t forget about the Procession of Blessed Virgin Mary statue after Sunday’s 11 a.m. Mass. The festival will be held in Little Italy (West 16 & Walnut Streets). More on the St. Paul Italian Festival.
If you’re downtown around Noon on Tuesday, August 12, stop by the Warner Theater for the “Get Your Phil At Noon” Summer Music Series. The Erie Philharmonic’s free lunch-hour concert is designed to provide “music while you munch,” and will feature a Philharmonic string quartet fully amplified as well as seating for the outdoor event.
The Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier Park (LEAF) has a number of events and movies planned for the summer running now to August 15. Thursdays, starting at 7 p.m., music will be played at the Amphitheater located at 6th Street and Frontier Drive. Friday nights at dusk, a family friendly movie will be played. LEAF’s mission is to expand the Arboretum at Frontier Park, as well as provided related recreational and educational programs for the community.
Every Friday at 8 p.m., now until September 26 (exception: September 5th) the Erie County Historical Society will hold a Ghosts and Legends Tour. Discover the mysteries of downtown Erie through a 1 1/2 hour walking tour. Since size of group tour is limited, reservations required; call (814) 454-1813, ext 0. Cost: $8 Adult, $4 Child.
Asbury Woods along with photographer Jim Kubaney will introduce students to digital photography and learning how to photograph nature (bring your own digital camera). Classes will be held August 12 & 19. For more information call (814) 835-5356.
A fundraising event for the Lindsay Graygo Empowerment Scholarship Fund will be held Wednesday, August 13 from 5-8 p.m. at Molly Brannigans. Celebrity bartenders will serve up your favorite drinks and a Chinese auction will be held. Bartender tips and auction proceeds will go to directly to the fund. If you would like to make a donation, please visit the Scholarship’s donation page.
Friends of Allegheny Wilderness (FAW), a non-profit organization based in Warren, is hosting a “wild” picnic Aug. 13 at Oil Creek State Park. The old-fashioned community-style picnic is open to anyone interested in learning more about the campaign to forever protect the most natural areas of the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) through Congressional wilderness designation under the Wilderness Act of 1964. FAW is providing hot dogs, drinks and condiments and those attending are asked to bring a dish to share and their own tableware.
The 2008 City of Erie Recreation Tennis Tournaments will be held once again at
Frontier Park. Adults: August 13-17 (session for juniors has passed). Applications are available at: PennBriar Health and Tennis Club, Westwood Racquet Club, Lake Shore Country Club, Kahkwa Club and Erie Sport Store’s downtown location. For more information contact Richard Beck at 835-5452.
The Erie Art Museum opens Art from the Dr. Gertrude A. Barber National Institute in the Erie Art Museum’s Annex Gallery, 423 State Street, now through October 4. A public opening reception is scheduled for Gallery Night on Friday, Aug. 22, 2008 from 6-10 p.m.
The North East National Rib Festival, sponsored by Fuller Hose Company, will be held August 24-26. For more information contact Fuller Hose at (814) 725-3308.
Erie to host young professionals from across the state at Pennsylvania Young Professionals 2008 ImPAct Conference ERIE, PA — Young professionals, business executives and civic leaders from across the state are invited to take part the Pennsylvania Young Professionals 2008 ImPAct Conference, being held Sept. 12-14 at Erie’s Bayfront Convention Center, 1 Sassafras Pier. This marks the first year the ImPAct Conference (Innovative Minds Creating Pennsylvania’s Tomorrow) will be held in northwestern Pennsylvania.
The Wine Country Harvest Festival, hosted by the North East Chamber of Commerce, will be held September 28-30. Expect a variety of music, food, arts & crafts, champagne breakfast, Cruise In, Children’s Area, winery tours, wagon rides, wine and food seminars, wine by the glass, and souvenirs. There will be 5 wineries in the wine tent this year, serving more than 40 varieties of wine, along with free shuttle service to the wineries and to other attractions in town.
I am entirely and utterly disappointed with Brad Foulk and the prosecutors office for what they’ve done here. The punishment does not fit the crime of suffocating a helpless, newborn infant. From the Detroit News, this is what Foulk had to say: “This is one of those cases where no matter what I did, a substantial segment of the community will disagree with me, but this was an appropriate resolution.” Foulk essentially became the judge and jury on this one with little regard to the law or the life of the little child, or his constituents. Granted it’s a sad situation, but that doesn’t excuse Foulk from doing his job or from protecting the people he represents–even if they’ve only been in this world for 10 minutes. I’m absolutely sick over this.
Lately I’ve seen too many crimes against innocent and helpless children in the Erie community. Actions like the one the prosecutors office took with regards to Rhodes sends the signal that a child’s life is not as valuable. If Rhodes had suffocated a 35 year old woman who had a family, would the same result occur? I doubt it and I’m sure Rhodes–for planning the murder and killing the woman–would get first degree and life in prison. It’s time the prosecutors office stepped up and started vigorously protecting those who are most susceptible to violence and need our protection. The value of a human life is the same no matter what the age.
Linda Bebko-Jones and Mary Fiolek were fined $1,500, not just $500. Doesn’t really matter much since she’s still getting her nice pension though!
@Ron, the amount has been fixed to reflect the extra 1. Thanks.
we all know there is more to this story. it’s hard to expect anyone to realize that a smart girl like this had so much to lose by having this baby and giving it up for adoption since her family was so religious. you think that all the years of catholic school and religion her parents would have even taken the baby as their own. there is also no mention of the baby’s father. did she do it to protect him. my personal feeling his her parents would not have liked who the baby daddy was and thats what she was afraid of. if that is the case shame on them. there is just a big peice of the story missing here. i see so many couples who would have taken her baby. there is couples on long waiting list who want a baby to love and this little girl had a chance for that. i can only imagine the torment also for miss rhodes and that she has to live with this the rest rest of her life. my heart goes out to you and for the pain you are suffering. oh, i just wished you could have turned to someone for help.
A district attorney has to make decisions every day on thousands of cases determining which to pursue and what charges to go after. I’m sure there are many, many cases that we don’t know how the DA office decided to pursue because those cases don’t strike such an emotional chord with the public.
I’m far from a mind reader, but I have a feeling the DA’s office wanted this case over and done with as soon as possible. They wanted a guaranteed conviction with as much time as possible at sentencing. If this went to trial, this trial could go on for a very long time. A lot of taxpayers’ money would be used to try an extremely emotionally charged case. The media loves to exploit cases like this so this would be all over the place for a very, very long time. And, there is always the chance Rhodes could have been found not guilty. How would everybody be reacting then? I think with a lot more venom and anger.
I’m sure the DA’s office also took in consideration that Rhodes still has plenty of life in front of her. I like to think that they looked at the case and wanted a mixture of punishment and rehabilitation. They wanted to give some chance at starting over. Does she deserve it? I know a lot people will claim no. A lot of people will claim that her child was never given a chance and why should she. I would like to think we could make a more humane choice than she made. As horrible of a death that has occurred in this case, always keep in mind if it was something that directly someone in your family or yourself. It’s extremely easy to say lock someone away forever until it hits close to home. The legal system can be a slippery slope constantly effecting your rights or lack there of. Everyone likes to see the book thrown at the criminals until it directly effects them.
Remember “murder” and “manslaughter” are legal terms that have different levels of burdens of proof. What I might colloquially refer to as murder is not necessarily match the legal tests that define murder. Decisions on what the to pursue are not made on the fly. I’m sure a lot of thought and care went to make this decision. Again, I’m not a mind reader but I can almost 100% guarantee that the entire DA’s office is not happy with this. I’m not saying Foulk did the right thing, but I’m not saying he did the wrong thing.
I will say I do have sympathy with them because no matter how you pursue this case, everyone down the line loses. A young woman made a horrible decision that regardless of what she is charged with has to deal with the fact she has killed her baby. Her family and friends will have this hanging over their lives until they die. The Erie community had one of their own kill a child. Emotions in Erie will range from anger for letting this happening to lamenting how we dropped the ball where this woman didn’t know what was available to help her. You have a DA’s office who will never be able to please everyone and has to deal with this case legally, socially, and politically. And most importantly, you have a dead child.