After two days of reviewing the evidence, Judge Frederick H. Weisberg found Jacks guilty Wednesday of 11 of 12 counts of murder and child cruelty, because, combined with the other facts presented, she lived in her Southeast Washington rowhouse with her dying children for almost eight months but never called for help.

Weisberg mentioned the morning of Jacks’s arrest, Jan. 9, 2008, when U.S. marshals arrived at her house in the 4200 block of Sixth Street SE to evict her. Marshals knocked several times before she answered the door, and when she finally answered, Weisberg said, she “stalled” by asking to see proof of the eviction and trying to block the officers from climbing the stairs to the second-floor bedrooms, where the girls’ bodies were.

Weisberg said Jacks’s words also influenced his verdict. During a videotaped eight-hour interrogation with detectives, Jacks said her three youngest girls died in their sleep. Although medical examiners could only speculate on exactly how they died, one thing was certain: The girls did not simply drift into death. Their bodies were positioned side by side according to age. Jacks told detectives that she did not call for help because she “didn’t want to get into trouble.”

Family members declined to comment after the verdict. The families have filed a civil lawsuit against the District for failing to prevent the deaths of the children.

Link

Read it here: http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=88723&catid=187

Boxes filled with nearly everything left in the home Banita Jacks shared with her four girls on Sixth Street were presented as evidence.

18 months after their bodies were discovered, the smell of death is still on the items, so much so, the judge had a take a break to literally catch his breath.

My guess is Banita would’ve lived with the girls bodies indefinitely, I would like to know if she was receiving money for the girls and the checks being mailed to the address where she killed them?

Twisted….

You are right Michelle in that she should have stopped how insane would she have to be to kill all of her kids like that?The Andrea Yates story did piss me off. That woman had everything, beautiful kids, food, shelter, and a loving husband. She was a stay at home mom who didnt have to work. I really do not believe her “snapping” story. Maybe I will go to hell for judging her but I cannot see drowing all 5 kids in the bathtub. You are right there are simularities to these stories. But Andrea Yates had help, she had a therapist and she was on medication. Andrea Yates did have the oppurtunity to count to ten hold her breath and walk away. she had support and love. I do not fell sorry for Andrea Yates like I feel for this woman and her family. I do feel horribly sad for Andrea’s children and Banita’s children. Neither one of these stories had to happen they were preventable but Andrea had so much more than Banita ever had and she just wadded it up and threw it away.

I do concur, just comparing the systematic killing of ones kids without ever waking up, not the entire situation.

It looks like some peeps are going to be job hunting due to the mistakes made in this case. More kids fell through the cracks.

But the system isn’t working and it’s time to stop paying people to do this work. What the answer is, I’m not sure. But what we have is the appearance that a helpful, constructive system is in place, when in fact it’s just a dysfunctional pretense.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Still…This reminds me of the stupid bitch from TX that drowned 5 kids.Okay, you snapped. Shit is bad.After murdering your first daughter, no clarity- no what am I doing?After murdering your second daughter, still no shock, no clarity- no what am I doing?After murdering your third daughter, no comprehension, still no shock, no clarity- no what am I doing?After murdering your fourth daughter, yet again no emotion connecting you to the child that was once in your womb, no comprehension, still no shock, no clarity- no what am I doing?Kids are gone, apparently there is finally a momment of clarity, why? Cause she didn’t finish. Didn’t off herself. In her madness self-preservation took over. Funny, and quite conveniant.While I don’t understand madness cause I am not mad (at least in the legal sense of the word) in my partially sane mind I just see that at some moment, some time when you child is screaming, begging for their life, calling you mommy something has got to click!

You are right Michelle in that she should have stopped how insane would she have to be to kill all of her kids like that?
The Andrea Yates story did piss me off. That woman had everything, beautiful kids, food, shelter, and a loving husband. She was a stay at home mom who didnt have to work. I really do not believe her “snapping” story. Maybe I will go to hell for judging her but I cannot see drowing all 5 kids in the bathtub. You are right there are simularities to these stories. But Andrea Yates had help, she had a therapist and she was on medication. Andrea Yates did have the oppurtunity to count to ten hold her breath and walk away. she had support and love. I do not fell sorry for Andrea Yates like I feel for this woman and her family. I do feel horribly sad for Andrea’s children and Banita’s children. Neither one of these stories had to happen they were preventable but Andrea had so much more than Banita ever had and she just wadded it up and threw it away.

However, I am starting to feel less sorry for Banita after reading that she and the children’s father had substance abuse issues.

MG I totally get what you are saying…and hugs to you for your kind heart. It is true, sounds like this lady was at her end, she flipped the fuck out. The system and society in general let her ass and those four kids down. It is a sad story all the way around.
I will never understand why there are so many wealthy folks in good old USA and then there are so many homeless and poor. Something is horribly unfair in this twisted society we live in.

I am a reasonable person, I can see her pain, her dilemna.
Still…
This reminds me of the stupid bitch from TX that drowned 5 kids.
Okay, you snapped. Shit is bad.
After murdering your first daughter, no clarity- no what am I doing?
After murdering your second daughter, still no shock, no clarity- no what am I doing?
After murdering your third daughter, no comprehension, still no shock, no clarity- no what am I doing?
After murdering your fourth daughter, yet again no emotion connecting you to the child that was once in your womb, no comprehension, still no shock, no clarity- no what am I doing?
Kids are gone, apparently there is finally a momment of clarity, why? Cause she didn’t finish. Didn’t off herself. In her madness self-preservation took over. Funny, and quite conveniant.
While I don’t understand madness cause I am not mad (at least in the legal sense of the word) in my partially sane mind I just see that at some moment, some time when you child is screaming, begging for their life, calling you mommy something has got to click!

On the other hand, maybe I just made her case.

If you can’t feed your kids turn them over to child services. Why does everyone expect SS to intervine? Go to them! There is no way they could possibly know of every bad situation.
I would rather the state have custody of my kids in a bad situation than to kill them. Fuck your ego. Foster care ain’t great, but the kids would be alive and you could check on them regularly.

As for the caseloads of the social workers, I do understand that they are innundated. But the system isn’t working and it’s time to stop paying people to do this work. What the answer is, I’m not sure. But what we have is the appearance that a helpful, constructive system is in place, when in fact it’s just a dysfunctional pretense.

I wonder if we’ll get a post-er on this one telling us that we don’t know the people involved, therefore can’t comment, etc.

MG I totally get what you are saying…and hugs to you for your kind heart. It is true, sounds like this lady was at her end, she flipped the fuck out. The system and society in general let her ass and those four kids down. .

Thanks

It is a sad story all the way around.I will never understand why there are so many wealthy folks in good old USA and then there are so many homeless and poor. Something is horribly unfair in this twisted society we live in.

I couldn’t agree with you more.

I am really not trying to point blame at anyone, she did murder her kids. But I think maybe she did snap in this situation (not an excuse for her, I am just trying to understand her situation)
Her husband dies less than a year ago. She has four kids and lives on the street. Then she does have a home and she must have already got an eviction notice because of the federal marshall’s involvment. They havn’t said anything yet about her pimping herself or her daughters. they have no food, they are all hungry, maybe she doesnt trust the system to help (her husband dies and they are kicked out of the only home they have known for a while) Now it is Christmas and she can’t do anything for her kids.
I really am not a bleeding heart, I am just trying to understand how you take the lives of those 4 beautiful, smiling, happy children.
And then when she is in jail and inmate notices that she takes tiny little bites while eating. She was making it last because she is not sure when the next meal is coming.

MG I totally get what you are saying…and hugs to you for your kind heart. It is true, sounds like this lady was at her end, she flipped the fuck out. The system and society in general let her ass and those four kids down. It is a sad story all the way around.
I will never understand why there are so many wealthy folks in good old USA and then there are so many homeless and poor. Something is horribly unfair in this twisted society we live in.