JAVON THOMPSON - 1 yo (2007) - Baltimore MD

A former member of a religious cult backed out of a plea deal Friday
and will face trial on charges that he and others starved a toddler to
death because the boy refused to say "Amen" after meals.

Marcus
A. Cobbs, 22, had agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of
accessory after the fact. But his attorney abruptly withdrew the plea
after a dispute with prosecutors over the conditions of his release.

Cobbs
will now face trial in January along with three other members of the
now-defunct cult known as 1 Mind Ministries. All four face charges of
murder and child abuse in the January 2007 death of 1-year-old Javon
Thompson and could face life in prison if convicted.

Had Cobbs
pleaded guilty, he would not have admitted any role in starving the
child. But he did help the cult members cover up Javon's death,
according to a statement of facts read in court to support his guilty
plea.

He burned a mattress where the boy's body had lain for
several days while the cult members prayed for his resurrection,
according to the statement. He also measured Javon's body, washed it,
wrapped it in a blanket and placed it inside a suitcase that he bought,
the statement said.

The cult members drove to Philadelphia with
the suitcase containing Javon's body, where they hid it in a shed
behind a home, according to the statement and other court documents.
The suitcase remained there for more than a year before police found it.

Javon's
mother, Ria Ramkissoon, was part of the cult and pleaded guilty to
child abuse resulting in death. She is expected to testify against the
other members and remains jailed. At the time of her plea in March, she
held out hope that Javon would be resurrected, and in an extraordinary
arrangement, prosecutors agreed to withdraw her plea if that occurs.

Maureen
Rowland, Cobbs' public defender, told the Associated Press she thought
her client would receive a five-year suspended sentence and be released
from jail immediately after pleading guilty.

"He was only taking
it because he wanted to get out of jail," Rowland said. "If he was
sitting in jail, it wouldn't be a good deal."

But prosecutors
said they never agreed to his immediate release. Their tentative plan
was for Cobbs to live with a relative out of state until after the
trial of the other three cult members, said Joseph Sviatko, a spokesman
for the state's attorney's office.

Attorneys did not bring up
their disagreement about the conditions of Cobbs' release until after
Baltimore Circuit Judge John Philip Miller accepted the guilty plea.

Clearly
exasperated, Miller called the attorneys to the bench for a heated
conference, after which Rowland announced that she was withdrawing the
plea. Miller agreed to throw it out.

"You didn't have an agreement, it appears," the judge said.

The leader of a religious cult was "outraged"
when a 1-year-old boy did not say "Amen" before a meal and ordered her
followers to deprive him of food and water until he died, a Baltimore
prosecutor told jurors Monday.
Three members of the now-defunct cult known as 1 Mind Ministries are
on trial for murder in the death of Javon Thompson, who was around 16
months old when he died of starvation and dehydration in either
December 2006 or January 2007, according to authorities.
After the boy died, the cult members prayed for his resurrection,
then destroyed all evidence of his death and stuffed his body in a
suitcase, which they hid in a shed behind a home in Philadelphia,
Assistant State's Attorney Julie Drake told jurors.
The cult members _ Queen Antoinette, 41; her daughter, Trevia
Williams, 22; and Marcus A. Cobbs, 23 _ are representing themselves at
trial. Antoinette declined to make an opening statement, while Williams
and Cobbs spoke briefly; Williams in a voice so quiet that jurors,
prosecutors and the judge strained to hear her.
Williams suggested the prosecution's theory of the case was flawed. "Pay attention to details," she said.
Cobbs pledged that "when the truth comes out," jurors would realize
the defendants are not guilty. "The truth shall set you free," he said.
The jury of seven men and five women listened intently as Drake
recounted how Javon's mother, Ria Ramkissoon, was recruited into the
cult and did nothing to stop her son from wasting away, even though she
was "distraught" over his slow and agonizing death.
Ramkissoon pleaded guilty last year to child abuse resulting in
death and plans to testify against Antoinette, Williams and Cobbs. At
her insistence, the plea deal included an extraordinary provision: If
Javon comes back to life, the plea will be vacated.
Ramkissoon, then a teenage single mother, joined the cult because
she wanted to become a Christian and was told she wouldn't have to work
or go to school, Drake said.
The cult members lived together in a small apartment and were forced
to abide by an increasingly strict set of rules, and Antoinette was
"leery" of Javon, Drake said.
"If she perceived a rebellious spirit in someone, she would characterize it as demonic," Drake said.
The cult members "did everything they could think of" to make Javon
say "Amen" before Antoinette ordered them not to feed him until he did,
Drake said. She later took the boy away from his mother and placed him
in Williams' care, the prosecutor said.
"In full view of every member of that household, Javon wasted away,"
Drake said. "If this little boy had ever had the capacity to say
'Amen,' he surely lost it. He could not say anything."
Ramkissoon prayed for days for Javon to be resurrected, and
Antoinette "told her it was her fault" the boy did not come back to
life, Drake said.
Prosecutors are seeking a first-degree murder conviction for
Antoinette _ also known as Toni Sloan _ and second-degree murder
convictions for Williams and Cobbs.
Antoinette smiled and scoffed throughout Drake's opening statement,
at one point laughing out loud. Cobbs occasionally smiled and shook his
head.
Williams had little reaction. After announcing that she wanted to
make an opening statement, she stood silently for more than a minute
before beginning to speak. Baltimore Circuit Judge Timothy J. Doory
asked her twice to speak louder, but she did not raise her voice either
time. At least one juror beckoned for her to move closer to the panel,
which she did.
Williams and Cobbs acknowledged that the state's witnesses would
present testimony consistent with Drake's opening statement, and
neither indicated that they planned to call their own witnesses.
"I'm sure the testimony will all collaborate, seeing as how the defendants have all been in jail for 21 months," Williams said.
She specifically disputed the assertion that the cult members
brought the suitcase with Javon's body to a Red Roof Inn outside
Philadelphia.
"How a dead body was taken to a hotel and not noticed, I don't know," Williams said.
The jury was seated after a selection process that took up parts of
two days. More than 150 potential jurors were brought in, and many said
they could not be impartial because of the age of the victim.
Two jurors were struck and replaced by alternates before opening
statements began. One of those could be heard telling Judge Doory he
had read media coverage of the case after he was called in last
Wednesday as a potential juror.
The dismissals left the jury with just one alternate, meaning a mistrial would be declared if two more jurors are struck.

BALTIMORE — For more than a
week, Ria Ramkissoon watched passively as her 1-year-old son wasted
away, denied food and water because the older woman she lived with said
it was God's will.
Javon Thompson was possessed by an evil spirit, Ramkissoon was told, because
he didn't say "Amen" during a mealtime prayer. Javon didn't talk much,
given his age, but he had said "Amen" before, Ramkissoon testified.
On the day Javon died, Ramkissoon was told to "nurture him back to life."
She mashed up some carrots and tried to feed the boy, but he was no
longer able to swallow. Ramkissoon put her hands on his chest to
confirm that his heart had stopped beating.
Ramkissoon and several other people knelt down and prayed that he would rise from
the dead. For weeks afterward, Ramkissoon spent much of her time in a
room with her son's emaciated body — talking to him, dancing, even
giving him water. She thought she could bring him back.
Ramkissoon told the tale of her son's excruciating death from the witness stand
Wednesday, at the trial of the woman she says told her not to feed the
boy. Queen Antoinette was the leader of a small religious cult,
according to police and prosecutors, and she faces murder charges
alongside her daughter, Trevia Williams, and another follower, Marcus
A. Cobbs.
The three are acting as their own attorneys.
Javon died in either December 2006 or January 2007; Ramkissoon isn't sure of
the exact date. His body was hidden in a suitcase for more than a year
and has since been buried. But even now, she maintains her faith in his
resurrection.
"I still believe that my son
is coming back," Ramkissoon said. "I have no problem saying what really
happened because I believe he's coming back.
"Queen said God told her he would come back. I believe it. I choose to believe
it," she said. "Even now, despite everything, I choose to believe it
for my reasons."
Later, she acknowledged that her faith makes her sound crazy. "I don't have a problem sounding crazy in court," she said.
Ramkissoon, 23, was born in Trinidad and moved to Baltimore at age 7. She stands 5 feet tall and weighs about 100 pounds.
She wore a white sweater and blue jeans and was calm throughout her
testimony, speaking in a clear and even voice. She appeared mildly
agitated at certain questions but otherwise showed little emotion, even
as she described how her starving son lost weight, became lethargic and
lost his voice.
She was led to the courtroom in handcuffs. She pleaded guilty last year to child abuse
resulting in death, agreeing to the deal only under the condition that
if Javon is resurrected, the plea will be vacated. Prosecutors and a
judge accepted that extraordinary condition, specifying that only a
"Jesus-like resurrection" would suffice.
Because Antoinette is representing herself, she was able to cross-examine the
young woman who lived with her for two years, much of that time after
her son's death.
Antoinette asked whether her statement about not feeding Javon was an order or a "suggestion."
Ramkissoon said she has consistently told prosecutors and her attorney that she
was not forced to starve her son, but she made clear the idea was
Antoinette's.
"When I was about to feed
him," Ramkissoon said to Antoinette, "you said, 'You shouldn't feed him
anything,' and then you told me why. ... I believed you."
Williams and Cobbs also lived in the home, along with Antoinette's three other
children and a childhood friend of Ramkissoon's. No one challenged
Antoinette's statement that the boy should not be fed, Ramkissoon said.
Ramkissoon detailed how the group relocated to Philadelphia and brought Javon's
body in a suitcase. She described how Javon was packed with sheets and
blankets and how she sprayed his body with disinfectant and stuffed the
suitcase with fabric softener sheets to mask the odor.
The suitcase was hidden in a shed in Philadelphia for more than a year
before it was discovered by police, according to testimony.
Members of Antoinette's household were told to wear only white, blue and khaki.
They left the home only in pairs, and they avoided doctors or
hospitals. They destroyed identification cards and had little contact
with their families.
Ramkissoon said she
often questioned Antoinette's rules and orders but never disobeyed her
because she believed her to be "a godly woman."
"Looking back now," Ramkissoon told Antoinette, "I won't say that everything you thought was right, was right."

Javon Thompson was 16 months old when cult leader Queen Antoinette
effectively ordered his execution when she forbade her followers from
feeding him – because he didn’t say Amen before meals, a Baltimore jury
ruled Tuesday.


Jurors deliberated for about three hours before convicting Queen
Antoinette, AKA Toni Sloan, and her 1 Mind Ministries followers,
daughter Trevia Williams and Marcus A. Cobbs, of first-degree murder
and child abuse resulting in death. Cobbs was also convicted of
accessory after the fact for helping to cover up Javon's murder.


Javon died in either December 2006 or January 2007. He was about 16
months old, and it's not clear whether he was ever capable of saying
"Amen." Ramkissoon testified that he had said it before, but another
household member said the boy most likely made a sound that resembled
"Amen."


Javon's mother, Trinidad-born Ria Ramkissoon, who pleaded guilty in
2009 to child abuse resulting in death, testified that Antoinette said
Javon had "a spirit of rebellion" inside him and that denying him food
would cure him. She said she believed Antoinette's claim about the evil
spirit.


Ramkissoon testified that after Javon died Antoinette ordered her
to pray for his resurrection and "nurture him back to life". Ramkissoon
said she stayed with the body for weeks, dancing for him and singing to
him, even trying to give him water.


When those efforts failed Javon's body was stashed in a suitcase and taken with them when the group relocated to Philadelphia.

Ramkissoon's guilty plea made headlines because it included an
extraordinary provision: If Javon comes back to life, the conviction
will be thrown out. Prosecutors said only a "Jesus-like resurrection"
would suffice.


Antoinette, Williams and Cobbs each face up to 60 years in prison when they are sentenced May 18.

A woman who starved her 1-year-old son to death at the behest of a
religious cult leader has been given a suspended sentence and probation.

Ria Ramkissoon pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in the death
of her son, Javon Thompson.

The plea agreement contained an extraordinary provision: If Javon is
resurrected, the plea will be withdrawn.

Cult leader Queen Antoinette told followers not to feed Javon when he
did not say “Amen” during a mealtime prayer. Antoinette, her daughter
and another man were convicted of second-degree murder.

Ramkissoon, who has been in jail since her 2008 arrest, was given
five years probation on Wednesday and must complete the program at a
residential treatment facility.

Assistant State’s Attorney Julie Drake called the sentence
compassionate but fair. She says the state sees Ramkissoon as a victim.

Three accused cult members, convicted of starving a toddler to death
in the name of religion, were sentenced Tuesday to a collective 150
years in prison.Toni Sloan, 41, who claimed God had christened
her "Queen Antoinette," received a 50-year sentence composed of two
consecutive 25-year terms, one for second-degree murder and the other
for first-degree child abuse. Sloan said she was "not sorry" for the
toddler's death.Trevia Williams, 22, and Marcus Cobbs, 23
received the same sentence, with all but 15 years suspended for each."There
can still be hope" for them, said Baltimore Circuit Judge Timothy J.
Doory. He did not express the same optimism for Sloan, who had issued
the order in 2006 to starve the 16-month-old boy until he said "amen,"
according to prosecutors. "This crime is somewhat mystifying to
me," Doory said at sentencing. "What that means is, you didn't care. And
also, you knew you didn't care, and you just let it happen. … Each of
you, with varying degrees of responsibility, stood by and watched that
child die a horrible death."The judge had dismissed first-degree
murder charges against the three during the trial, saying that he did
not believe that theyhadintended to kill the boy. During
the trial, Sloan was characterized as the head of the group, a cult
leader who lured young people into her home and controlled the most
minute aspects of their lives through her self-styled religion, down to
what colors they wore and whether they were allowed to feed their sons."You
were a collector of people, a collector of disaffected children, a
collector of lost souls," Doory said to Sloan. "You are the person most
responsible."According to court testimony and prosecutor
statements, Sloan took in at least a half-dozen young people, including
her co-defendants, over several months in 2006, convincing them that
they would suffer "eternal damnation" if they failed to follow her
rules. Sloan "couldn't tolerate any dissent or disobedience, not
even from a 16-month-old child," said prosecutor Julie Drake, chief of
the Baltimore state's attorney's Family Violence Division, who tried the
case alongside Assistant State's Attorney Patricia McLane.Sloan maintained her innocence Tuesday. "I still believe, and I
still stand firm, that I'm not guilty and the truth will eventually
come out, however long it takes," Sloan said in court. Among the
group living with Sloan in 2006 was 19-year-old Ria Ramkissoon. She had
moved in with her infant son, Javon Thompson, in part because she wasn't
getting along with her stepfather at home. Things were fine at
first. But when Javon stopped repeating his mother's "amen" after
prayers, Sloan ordered food and water withheld from him until he said
it. He never did. His body wasted away, and he died within a week.Ramkissoon
testified that she had agreed to let Javon go hungry because she
thought it would rid him of a "spirit of rebellion" that she took to be
an actual entity. After his death, she was convinced that she could
resurrect him if only she had enough faith.Ramkissoon is now in a
long-term, residential treatment facility receiving psychiatric care.
She had pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death and was
sentenced last month to a 20-year term, with the prison time commuted to
the 19 months she had already served. As part of her plea agreement,
prosecutors agreed to drop the charges against her if her son came back
to life. "It was clear to everyone who interviewed Ms.
Ramkissoon that she had been indoctrinated through classic
'brain-washing' techniques into a cult," Drake said in a statement
released Tuesday to counter criticism that the sentence was too lenient.
"She had no malice or ill will toward Javon; quite the contrary,
she believed Queen Antoinette was acting in his best interests," Drake
wrote.Ramkissoon testified during the weeklong trial of her three
co-defendants, who represented themselves and were convicted in early
March.None of the defendants has shown remorse for Javon's death
or accepted responsibility.
Williams, Sloan's biological daughter, mumbled something about not
trusting the court when asked if she wanted to make a statement. She was
described as "the enforcer" of Sloan's rules. Cobbs, the third
defendant, told the court that he had nothing to say. He had planned to
help Javon once but had been talked out of it, according to trial
testimony. Cobbs tried to cover up the boy's death, the jury found. Javon's
body was found in 2008 in a Pennsylvania shed, folded into a green,
roller-bag suitcase.In addition to their 15-year prison
sentences, Cobbs and Williams will be placed on probation after their
release and ordered to stay away from children who are not relatives and
to avoid contact with their co-defendants. That means that Williams
will be barred from seeing her mother. Each defendant will be
eligible for parole after serving half of his or her term.Javon's
grandmother, Seeta Newton, who had fought to save him from the moment
her daughter took him away, read a statement in court. "I look at
Javon's picture every day and I realize that I'm never, ever going to
hold him, never see him … never watch him grow up, never give him love
again," Newton said. "I want him back, and it hurts me every day."Turning
to Sloan, she decried her use of religion to manipulate young people."You
sneak up on them when their families are not looking," Newton said.
"The most disgusting part of this is that you do it in the name of God."