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Thu Aug 31, 2006 3:46 am (PST)

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_HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com_
(http://www.chron.com/) | _Section: Houston & Texas_
(http://www.chron.com/metro)

Aug. 31, 2006, 12:44AM

Pair who starved boys get decades in prison
By ERIC HANSON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
RICHMOND — A woman convicted of injury to a child for keeping her
great-nephews on a starvation diet and making them sleep in a hot windowless
garage was
sentenced to 40 years in prison by a Fort Bend County jury.
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Barbara Dean Baldwin, 50, stood motionless next to her husband, Tommy Lee
Baldwin, 46, who received a 20-year prison term in the courtroom of state
District Judge Thomas R. Culver.
"I am shocked. Yesterday I wasn't shocked (when the couple was found guilty)
but I am now," said defense attorney Gordon E. White, who had asked the jury
for probation.
Juror Ranelle Krejci said the harsher sentence was given to Barbara Baldwin
because she was more culpable for the injuries and pain endured by the boys
for three years in the Baldwin house.
"She had care and custody of the children for a greater period of time than
did Tommy, but we felt he was still guilty by omission if nothing else, and he
did participate in some of the punishment," Krejci said.
Tommy Baldwin worked and spent much of his time during the week at his place
of employment, a tunneling company, while his wife stayed at home with the
children.
The Baldwins could have received 99 years in prison.
Closing arguments
In closing arguments, prosecutors told the jury that convicted murderers
live a more comfortable life than did the boys, now ages 13 and 14, who often
slept in a sweltering, cluttered garage. The brothers scavenged in garbage cans
for tidbits to eat and sometimes ate dog food to survive.
Assistant District Attorney Sherry Robinson said the boys were so
malnourished that they did not grow or gain weight while living with the
Baldwins.
"Our prisoners on death row get three meals a day. They get a bed with a
mattress to sleep on. They get air conditioning," Robinson said.
Robinson asked the jury to think about the boys and how their bodies were
consuming themselves in an effort to stay alive.
"Send them to prison for a long, long, long time," Robinson said.
The jury took about three hours Wednesday to hand down the punishments in the
trial that lasted a week.
Barbara Baldwin was sentenced to 40 years in prison for injuring the older
boy and 30 years for injuring the younger boy.
Tommy Baldwin was given a 20-year sentence for injury to the older boy and 10
years for injury to the younger boy. All the sentences will run
concurrently.
Removed in 2002
The boys were removed from the house in August 2002 by Child Protective
Services.
The defendants had little reaction when the sentences were announced and put
their hands quietly behind their backs as bailiffs handcuffed them and
escorted them from the courtroom.
White said in his closing argument that a prison sentence would do nothing to
help the boys. He said the Baldwins had been model citizens until the
convictions.
But prosecutors reminded the jurors of the misery the boys endured at the
hands of the Baldwins. The two were given custody of the brothers by a Harris
County court because their mother was in prison on a drug charge.
Prosecutor Lorretta Owen described the Baldwins' systematic starving of the
children as torture, intended as a way to control the behavior of the boys.
After the punishments were announced, prosecutors spent about half an hour
talking to the jurors about the case. Owen said the jurors told her they had no
problem arriving at the guilty finding but that it took more time to agree
on a punishment.
"I was very pleased. I think what the jury did was fair and we have no
disagreement with the verdicts," Owen said.
_eric.ha_ (mailto:eric.hanson@...) nson@...

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_HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com_
(http://www.chron.com/) | _Section: Houston & Texas_
(http://www.chron.com/metro)
_This article is:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4153346.html_
(http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4153346.html)



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