The Sunday night airing of Dateline told the bizarre story of the Texas couple, Clayton and Molly Daniels, who dug up a corpse and faked Mr. Daniels death in order to avoid the consequences of a being labeled a sexual predator.
According to an article, which ran in The Seattle Times:
The plot began to take shape last year after Clayton Daniels, 24, pleaded guilty to sexual assault. He was allowed to stay out of prison after the plea but never reported to his probation officer, drawing a 30-day jail sentence.
Three days before he was to report to jail in June, police found a burned-out Chevrolet at the bottom of a roadside cliff. The corpse behind the wheel was unrecognizable, its head and limbs burned away.
Clayton had served a 30-day jail sentence and was given 10-years probation for sexually molesting a 7-year-old little girl, which he was attempting to skip out on.
In a Williamson County, Texas courtroom, Molly Daniels plead guilty to felony charges of insurance fraud and hindering apprehension and was sentenced to the maximum 20 years in prison for the insurance fraud and 10-years for hindering Clayton's arrest.
Clayton was later sentenced for arson and desecrating a cemetery. A court piled 10 years on top of the 10 he's already serving for violation of his probation.
30-Days for Rape
Let me get this straight. Clayton was given 30-days for raping a seven-year-old child but received 10-years for probation violation. Huh??? You've got to be kidding me. It's worse to disobey the state, than it is to take the innocence of a young child.
I have to agree with Molly on one point; Christian family and friends of poor Charlotte Davis, the 81-year-old woman whose body was dug up, are upset because her body was desecrated. She's not using it any more and I doubt she would care. I find it appalling that the state cares more about a dead body than it does for a living child.
My largest complaint is regarding what she put her son through – telling four-year-old Caleb his father was dead, then introducing him to "Jake," who was his father, with his hair dyed black. What a sick thing to do.
Kidjacked Children
However, we really must put this in the proper perspective. What does CPS do every time they Kidjack a child?
Most often then not, they come unannounced to your home, the hospital, your child's school or even your doctor's office. They snatch the kid, often kicking and screaming; out of the arms of their parent, without out their special snuggly, no familiar items, no change of clothing and worse yet, no warm loving parting words – they are just gone.
Small children are confused; they are frightened and emotionally abused by the very people who are supposed to be protecting them each and every time they are removed from their parent with no thought to their emotion well being.
To compound matters the state then proceeds to interfere with the parent/child relationship by limiting visitation or denying it altogether. If supervised visitation is allowed at all, the parents are forbidden to discuss the case with the child, leaving the state with the advantage. The child often believes the parent no longer wants the child and is left to deal with his or her own feelings of guilt, wondering what they have done wrong.
In this case, they were more concerned about Charlotte Davis' remains then they were over this young child being terrorized. Now, I won't excuse what she to the child but if handled properly, there shouldn't be too many lasting scars. Kids are pretty resilient, if they are guided with a loving hand.
Sexual Predator Lists
What can society expect when the state takes an individuals life away without any recourse? Clayton was only 16-years-old, when he committed the rape against his 7-year-old cousin. Should he be forced to have the state dictate where he can live and what jobs he can hold, for his entire life because he screwed up – major as a child?
One would have to be pretty desperate to commit the acts described in this case; as it is clear that this couple was. We will continue to see more of these kinds of desperate acts as the legislature continues to get tough on so-called "sexual predators," men and even a few women will be forced into committing acts they never would have considered under normal circumstances.
It is clear to me that our government is seeped in corruption. Parents are at the mercy of a corrupt court system, which is hopelessly stacked against them and the government is so caught up with it's own self-importance that they refuse to help.
Our children are no longer treasured and off-limits to a money hungry system, they are commodity to be bought and sold to the highest bidder. Parents are at the mercy of state guns for hire disguised as social workers.
In this case, I don't see where the punishment fit the crime. This family needed serious help. Yes, two corrupt people were imprisoned but was a combined 40-year term the solution? I've heard of murderers who got less time. Who got hurt here? A couple of tiny children who will grow up in foster care, without parents, who are doomed to live the only life the state can offer them – one that will cause them to grow up too fast and dump them in the street when they can no longer get any more money off their backs.
This is not the solution.
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Labels: child abuse, Dateline, foster care, Texas
