She had a bullet wound in the arm, and the three kids in the back of the blood-soaked car had all been shot at close range. http://www.manipulatedtrial.de/oregon_s_small_sacrifices_1603.pdf. How about dads side of the family? Im sure nothing I write will change that. The person leaned into the car. So when Dr. George Suckow from the Oregon State Hospital in Salem was called as a States rebuttal witness and he made a professional diagnosis of Diane as histrionics, antisocial and narcissistic, he openly said in court that he interviewed Diane for 1 hour and read evidence presented by the state to make his diagnosis. He should have let someone else handle the case or let someone else adopt the kids. From what we know about Becky, she had chosen a difficult path and Diane was trying to warn her. All smoke and mirrors to fit a certain scenario. He still shouldnt have been allowed to adopt them while the appeals process was ongoing, if he had any role in those cases. Moms were working more, we were becoming the latch key generation, as in we let ourselves in alone while still in elementary school.when I mentioned before about maturity of a 8, 9, 10 year oldwe loved playing outside on bikes, and playing with our dolls, boys usually had their action figures..lol.and we loved our moms, even if they were young and liked to go out and sent us to babysitters..the book and movie, Im quite sure, over did the situation..and Im sure there was more on both sides, the family of diane, diane herself, but well never know all the details. On May 30, 1983, the McKenzie-Willamette Hospital Chaplain told Dianes father to hire an attorney because the State was going to take his grandchildren away. LMFAO!!!! The detective said to leave that up to the police. Fred Hugi is a man of the highest integrity and I hope that Dianes surviving two children finally found the love and stability they had been denied by their natural mother. After completing his education and their short-lived high school romance, Steve Downs would move on to join the navy. Halo Show: Why Master Chief's Voice Actor Was Recast (But Cortana Wasn't) So Mark, where are you from? According to Glamour, the motive given for why Diane shot her kids was thought to be because the married man she was seeing at the time did not want any children. They should have left her alone. I am a true crime junkie. I was a patient of the doctor who worked so hard to save her childrens lives that night. Theybrought out the big guns to unload on the public, their idea of the truth: Diane Downs was a horrible creature and a jilted lover who shot her three children in cold blood to be free to pursue a relationship with the man she was obsessed with. Hed left his first wife to co-habitate with (and later marry) Charlene. I think u need to read the facts. The circumstances surrounding the crimes against these innocent children demand to be used as evidence.. My comment to you Lise is about your reply to a previous comment where you say Diane should have been released by now regardless of her statements. We will never know what really happened because the authorities acted too hastily and the media was a huge hindrance. The most frequent remarks I hear about the case when confronted by the state misconduct and the lack of evidence are gut feelings I dont buy it Shes guilty She did it I know she did it Her story makes no sense Shes evil Shes crazy. It had to be her.. Diane was in the hospital for a bone graft from June 2nd until June 6th, 1983. Gunpowder is one of the toughest stains around, when it comes to removing it from clothes. They rarely are, especially in the US. Jump through the States hoops, or find a noose around your neck. To this day, his record is mixed; his law license was suspended for6 monthsin 2011, and there was also talk of a suspension in 2015. This blog is riddled with inconsistencies, suppositions and a lack of the most basic referencing (e.g. She had no blood spatter or gun powder residue on her hands,clothing or hair. I lived through the media coverage. (Yes, speculative). Nice to see this blog is still active in 2017, being a lot of groupsmessage boards and such, on subjects like this has no activity for years. I guess he did not want too many people to know about the improprieties that happened in his courtroom. The point is our trials need to be conducted fairly and based on evidence. Diane clearly would have had to have had her rights terminated by the court. So, why didn't Steve Downs get custody? He may still reside in Arizona, but there is no proof of the same. The states own witness, Dr. George Suckow and Dr. Polly Jamison denounced Prosecutor Hugis practice as improper and unethical (Appendix 101 and 104). Hugi got the evidence needed to convict after numerous meetings with Christie. Steve Downs Now: Where is Diane Downs' Ex-Husband Today? Update They did not want reunification to keep their verdict intact. It became judicial kidnapping to obtain a coerced confession: inflammatory I wanted to ask you something on this case. Her arm was severely damaged, so shattered that she needed a graft from a hip bone. Whenever your shoot a gun that many times and that close to the victims, theres going to be blood and powder residues. and so on. Hi Nanette, it is not a matter of being gullible. It was a harrowing, shameful miscarriage of justice. I worked for county government child welfare for a decade. Danny was the product of an affair. She could not have been shot twice in the back while sitting up and have the bullet pierce her body to end up under the floorboard of the passenger side. The fact that the Hugis did so successfully is arguably proof of this. They did not like her attitude and she did not behave the way they expected a grieving mother to act. A reader told me that I should have a website with all the comments. We make them president!!!! The children should have been receiving therapy throughout. ANNE RULES BOOK IS A LIE, ,ALL MADE UP CRAP. Also Im curious as to how you feel her repeated escape attempts should affect her deserving to be on parole. I do not have to put any statement advising people that I am about to present the neglected aspects of the trial. She did diagnose her as suffering from cyclothymic disorder and treated her accordingly. It did not matter that they had no evidence; they did not like her attitude and she was going to pay for it. The detectives took Diane to the crime scene and were able to retrieve shell cases on the ground where the incident happened. The fact that the children were in no way protected by Child Protection Services is undeniable. According to the State, ballistics evidence proved that Diane Downs was guilty. I am posting Jamesanswer: Yes the allegations were said and you cannot take back what was saideven if retracted Have you actually read the transcript of the trial?? The Lifetime channel constantly makes movies based loosely on the truth; this approach is an effective weapon aimed at swaying public opinion about high-profile cases. Rule sued the Seattle Weekly after they published the article titled , Ann Rule promotes her books as true crime stories so to this day, viewers believe that the book and the movie titled, This reminds me of what a jail counselor named Rachel Roth said at the trial of Debra Milke , They already had made up their mind that Diane was the perpetrator so they laughed off the idea of the , When I hear some people say that they would have liked to smack that smirk off Dianes face when she interacted with the cops or the media, I say. This video has Dianes attorney, Jim Jagger, at 1 minutes and 20 seconds that might have some good shots. This happened in 1983, not 1893. Her children deserved the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Right after her first surgery, The Detectives were adamant that they HAD to have Diane right then to recreate the incident- unless of course, you have something to hide. You do not refute any of the points I made in the blogs. After arriving at the nearest hospital where the nursing staff and doctors attended to the children, the police were called in and her parents arrived promptly. My question is: why is she still locked up? Dianes family could give you countless examples of the inaccuracies they found in her book. And to make her story believable, she shot a round in her arm before going to the hospital, claiming that she was a victim of a terrible carjacking. It is called a conflict of interest. Andthe DA adopted her other two children. Moreover, he apparently told her that he did not want children and this statement alone would seal Dianes fate. He hired Jim Jagger on the 1st of June 1983, 11 days after the shooting. Downs wanted to get rid of the kids because her new boyfriend didn't want . Notify me of follow-up comments by email. A. I dont know that it could get worse than writing an asinine comment on a restorative justice website that states that only respectful and constructive comments will be posted. In this article, we can clearly see that Becky struggled and tried to justify her woes (maybe rightly so) by blaming it on her DNA. During closing arguments, Fred Hugi said that the murder weapon used by Diane was a Ruger, and the state had the model number and the bill of sale. If you read the blog, you will see many examples of media hype and character assassination. Wow does he ever look different than how they portrayed him in the TV movie. But the Parole Board refused to hear her. Gun shot residue is not always present. Three weeks after the crime, Judge Foote from family courts, removed Danny and Christie from the care of Diane Downs and her family. A. I believe Charlene and I had a big blowout around Thanksgiving and I left, called Diane. She talked to Diane for 15 minutes, there was thebizarre and partialOprah interview that was basically a lets bash Diane event and she wrote to Diane in jail to ask her what she thought of Hugi adopting her children. The bushy haired stranger that police had gotten a lead on worked at the country club he was at work at that time and had a sever speech impediment. U seem very one sided on every case Ann Rule has ever written just as u claim she did to u. N her parents didnt want custody of the children just like the father. She told ABC, The impact of Diane Downs being my mom has altered the course of my life so many times. Foote denied the motion and declared you have an attorney, use him.. The next day, on June 16, 1983, CSD terminated Dianes visitations with her children altogether. Page 10 of Case History. Even if I have no doubt that Hugi loved the kids, we have to wonder why he adopted them two years later just when little Christie started saying she had no clue who shot them. The fact that she drove there and it saved the life of two of her children should give anyone pause. Also, the title of the website clearly demonstrates an inherit bias. Id have more influence arguing for better relationships with Mexico at a Donald Trump rally in Mexico. Diane was instructed to reenact her response to the attacker who murdered her daughter. Do you remember a couple of days after that, December It could be argued that he developed a relationship with the children and genuinely wanted them to join his family. Years later, Christie was heard saying by classmates that she did not know who shot her. Diane then replied, so, put her back on the stand and make her tell the truth. He said he would when it was his turn, but never did. It deserved as much attention as a Unicorn, a song or all the other hearsay floating around because at least, they came from real people signing official documents. As soon as Diane was found guilty, Hugi demanded that Diane be evaluated by a psychiatrist before sentencing so they could declare her a dangerous offender and give her a stiffer sentence. Seems like former husband, Steve Downs, should've been the custodial Tis why at 10 years old I was hearing about this case in Ohio, and family members talked about it around me.it hit with great force that way. I found nothing. Also, I agree he does look a little like the actor who played Fred Hugi but I think it might be a coincidence. They played the tape in the courtroom, and the fact that Diane did not break down but tapped her foot to the music, was supposed to be another proof of her guilt. Maybe I'm dramatic but I no longer want to watch it . She is supposed to be locked up for murder, etc. Christie was understandably all over the place and I agree that the way in which her statements were procured were very odd and seemed to be very coached. Mr. I simply state facts that did not or would not come out at the time or blatant misconduct from a legal system that is supposed to be based on innocent until proven guilty. Conflicting reports say Downs also acted as a surrogate during her fourth pregnancy, giving birth to a daughter after her trial in 1984. In 1979, headstrong Diane gave birth to Danny who was not Stevens biological son because he had no desire to be a father again. "I knew within 30 minutes of talking with that woman that she was guilty": Surgeon who helped save one of Diane Downs' kids in 1983 after she shot her recalls chilling interaction. It does not get any bigger than this. Ann Rule has always been sensationalist, and her books were almost unreadable at the end of her publishing days. A trial should be based on facts and solid direct or circumstantial evidence. But my beef is with the interference by the media, TV shows and Ann Rule. Everything matters in a trial and investigation. It isnt there all the time. Its more understandable now, after all this time but it has done her so much harm, then and now On May 19, 1983, Diane and her kids visited a friend to look at her new horse, and then went for a drive; not at all unusual for this family not living according to middle class rules. I try to bring out the details that were ignored because Down was so unpopular. The kind of TV series that they produce on high profile crimes will make sure to turn public opinion. Her lover and former husband testified against her but it did not represent evidence but character assassination. Makes no difference to me. What mother takes her kids out at night and then stops for a stranger with her kids in the car? This is an extremely tragic case and her children at the very least deserve justice. Devoting ur life to taking down a dead author is a waste of ur talents. Blood, cuts, limo driver who saw him come in, the shoe print, the blood in the car and on the socks in his bedroom. She did diagnose her as suffering from cyclothymic disorder and treated her accordingly. This is what Mrs Downs had to say about the situation. Moreover, it was not a suicide case, but of a woman who supposedly shot herself in the arm and her 3 children several times. Yet, that is exactly what the videotape showsDiane laughing hysterically about hurting her arm. I must humbly admit that I had not questioned the facts of the case before readily accepting this image of Diane as a cold blooded killer. She has an excellent conduct report and never reacted violently to any of the harassment from other inmates. It was known as Manic Depression. Diane wanted to wait for her daughter to feel better, be accompanied by an expert and have the meetings taped? I had nonetheless heard of the legendary Diane Downs; the cruel sociopath who had sacrificed her own children to be free to pursue a relationship with the man she loved. Fitness fanatic, 27, broke her spine lifting weights but didn't realise until she woke up the next morning unable to move - and why her terrifying injury should be a warning to all gym-goers I mean if a guy admits to killing children over and over, shouldnt we pay attention to that? At the point Diane jumped into the car, her broken arm (resting in a sling in front of her) slammed into the steering wheel. Very little is definitively known in this area. The way this investigation and the trial were conducted only left me with doubts. Fairbanks jury finds Steven Downs guilty in Sophie Sergie's - KTOO Why Ruth Bader Ginsburg Refused to Step Down - The New York Times This blogger believes in the presumption of innocence and in the possibility of redemption. Barry Sheck and bis crew of investigators should get involved. She was interrogated without a representative from the defense and was not taped for the most part. In a fairly good knot which would have taken time to do one handed and teeth. Not right at all. Within a few weeks, the kids who had survived were placed in protective custody and were no longer in Steve's care. The Diane Downs' Case Was no Small Sacrifice On May 19, 1983, Elizabeth Diane Downs and her three small children were shot on a country road near Springfield, Oregon. Weve become friends. In fact, with her continuing to deny committing the crime or expressing remorse, she may never get out. Growing up, Diane had felt like an outsider and kids had been cruel towards her because of her real or imagined ugly duckling looks and demeanor. When I hear some people say that they would have liked to smack that smirk off Dianes face when she interacted with the cops or the media, I sayreadthis to understand accounts of people laughing at the wrong time and how it is related to their personality disorder. Go to the hate groups for that. What about the judge stopping a defendant from getting a new attorney? Just a thought. I was being sarcastic. They came up with an explanation as to why this was the wrong gun but the jig was up. So Diane did what she thought would bring her the deepest satisfaction in life; she became a mother. However, Steve later discovered that Danny wasn't his biological son and divorced his wife. I would love to hear your answers to them. Around 1 in 20 residents in Arkansas and Tennessee were missed during the 2020 census, and four other U.S. states had significant undercounts of their populations which could shortchange them Most people negotiate the ups and downs of . In fact, if appropriate family is found, termination is not required. So it looks and sounds like she is getting special treatment because of her notoriety. This unhealthy marriage survived and became a daily struggle. Do you remember it would have been around say November 19th of 82 that you would have left Charlene at one time? Cheryl was shot twice in the back and one of the bullets ended up on the floorboard. I agree. During his travels, he visited prisons and spoke against this type of barbarism because his father was imprisoned for a debt of 40 pounds and 10 shillings when he was twelve years. Simply because I researched them. Therefore, my understanding is that the original sentence is deemed indefinite with parole hearings every 10 years. Regina, I love your comment! Glamour reported that Danny was paralyzed from the chest down as a result of the shooting and Cheryl suffered a major stroke as a result of the attack that left her with a lifelong speech impediment. Steve knew Danny was not his biological child and left Downs. I would say so. This whole tale is just unbelievable. Some of your facts arent facts at all. The following article hopes to help you make more suitable choices and get more useful information DA Pat Horton declared early in the game to the local paper that the search for the bearded stranger was not very high on their priority list.. Actor Robert Blake was found not guilty of the shooting murder of his wife. She was still trying to extricate herself from a bad relationship with Steve Downs and was in no hurry to repeat the mistake. As for Diane, give me a break. The notes taken daily by the nurses became a point of contention at trial. The casing from the bullets exactly matched, just like a fingerprint, the bullets that Diane had in her home from her own gun which was never found. One of the jurors finally declared. You seem to forget that even a few jurors started by voting not guilty on some of the charges. I can only imagine to absolute horror of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca during their horrific murders. I would like to believe this is the truth. But there were discrepancies; the tool marks did not matchand the detective lied on the stand about it. If the media was anything at the time it was favorable towards her. I especially loved reading everyones comments. If it was not such a high profile case, Diane Downs would have been paroled a long time ago, considering her good behavior and lack of priors. The former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader sparked a romantic relationship with Howey and shortly after her career took off with a little help from the Something Borrowed actor's father, who was an. The very suspicious aspect of this ballistic saga is that Hugi said they had the bill of sale and serial number for the first Ruger and it was definitely the murder weapon.

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