Subject: [jacobandesau] No death penalty - "not remarkable enough"
From: Marge O'Brien <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2002 09:26:10 -0400

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsindex/07-ds1.htm

No death penalty in baby's murder

Father guilty of daughter's death, gruesome disposal
Daily Southtown (Chicago)
By Alice Hohl  Staff writer
September 7, 2002

The South Side man accused in the murder and gruesome dismemberment of his baby daughter was found guilty Friday, but the judge said the crime was not brutal and heinous enough to qualify Everette Johnson for the death penalty.

Johnson, 34, was convicted of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death after several days of testimony. Johnson's lawyers did not present any witnesses, and Johnson chose not to testify.

The baby's mother, Joan Tribblet, 30, was sentenced to 60 years in prison in exchange for testifying against Johnson.

Tribblet told the judge she and Johnson both took part in "disciplining" 15-month-old Oncwanique Tribblet until she fainted and later died, and both helped dispose of the body by cutting it into pieces, frying some parts and dissolving others in battery acid. What didn't dissolve in the acid was liquefied in a borrowed blender and poured down the toilet.

Judge Lon William Schulz said there was no question of Johnson's guilt or the horrible nature of the disposal of the body, but he said the baby girl's death from child abuse was not remarkable enough to warrant the death penalty.

Witnesses testified that when Oncwanique woke up in the night and wouldn't go back to sleep, Joan Tribblet forced the girl to stand next to the bed "until she got tired." If she whined, Tribblet squeezed her throat, and if she touched the bed, Tribblet beat her with a ruler.

After about 30 minutes of this punishment, Johnson became frustrated with the interruption of his sleep and beat Oncwanique himself. That's when the little girl fell limp in his arms. The couple left the baby unconscious about seven hours until she died, fearful that if Tribblet called for help all her children would be sent to foster homes.

Schulz said even if Johnson stood by while Joan Tribblet was choking and beating Oncwanique, he was still responsible for her death because parents have a legal responsibility to keep their children safe.

"This inaction alone — a natural father who lays in bed and watches — is enough to offend civilized society and to make him criminally accountable," Schulz said.

Schulz said the couple showed no sympathy after they couldn't hear Oncwanique's heart beating anymore and decided she was dead.

"I hope for Oncwanique's sake that she was truly and actually dead," Schulz said. "Within minutes, the plan was hatched to dissect, cut up, batter and fry, feed to the dogs, and stew (her body) in battery acid."

Schulz said the case was one of the worst in the Criminal Courts Building and it "opened a window through which others have been able to witness flawed human souls."

But a few seconds later he said the killing of the baby — taken separately from the concealment of the body — did not meet the legal standard of "exceptionally brutal or heinous behavior indicative of wanton cruelty" required to impose the death penalty.

Schulz said leaving her struggling for life for several hours was bad, but "it is clear from the facts that she was unconscious."

Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced to a term of up to 100 years in prison Oct. 8.

Prosecutors who tried the case said it is sad that the most awful murder case they have ever worked on was not bad enough to warrant the death penalty.

"It is just a sad commentary that there are so many deaths by child abuse that this does not stand out as exceptional," said Assistant State's Attorney Frank Merek.

During his closing argument, Merek said the couple so thoroughly destroyed Oncwanique's body that police couldn't find even a piece of it to issue a death certificate.

"Not even a fragment of the 15-month-old remains, as though she had never been flesh and blood, body and soul," Merek said.

One woman who attended Friday's hearing said she is relieved Johnson was declared ineligible for the death penalty because she feels Tribblet should have received the harsher sentence.

Jackie McDonald lived across the hall from the couple and their children, and said she threatened to call authorities about Tribblet's physical punishment of the children, but said Johnson was a nice person.

McDonald's daughter lent her blender to the couple — the one used for the baby's remains — and when it was returned it didn't work right anymore.

Southtown legal affairs writer
Alice Hohl may be reached at [email-masked] or (708) 633-5993.