No Justice: Hunter Payton, 4 Dies In Foster Home From Inflicted Head Injury

[Sugar Cookie]

Updated Jan 14, 2018

A little more than two months after three children were removed from the Caneyville home of Ryan and April Payton in March 2017, the youngest of the children — age 4 — died from a head injury while in foster care at a Radcliff home.

On Thursday night, the man police believe is responsible for the May 10 death of Hunter Payton was arrested and charged with murder.

Billy Paul Embry, 33, was arrested Thursday by Radcliff police. According to an arrest warrant, a final report from the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Louisville determined the boy died from an inflicted head injury.

The other children were removed from Embry’s home, Hines said, soon after Hunter initially was injured and they remain in foster care.

Embry told authorities in May that Hunter had suffered a head injury from a fall, the warrant stated.

Radcliff Police Department was contacted May 8 by Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville in reference to a possible child abuse incident after the child was transported there from Hardin Memorial Hospital. When Hunter arrived at the hospital, he was unconscious and not breathing, according to the warrant.

He was pronounced dead at 8:15 a.m. May 10.

An autopsy was performed May 11 and a final findings report from examinations was completed Dec. 27. A warrant for Embry’s arrest was issued Thursday night.

Embry was the only adult in the home when the child sustained the injury.

Radcliff Police Chief Jeff Cross said Embry is “where we believe the responsibility lies.”

http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/ne...cle_a22565e5-d516-5f41-84a7-8e6794fb2a07.html

 

[FrayedKnot]

Children should not be an endangered species.

 

[notchback]

Head injury was more than likely self inflicted by the kid. You know how kids are now days. Always wanting attention.

 

[lithiumgirl]

Head injury was more than likely self inflicted by the kid.

Sometimes this is true ... my kid hurt him self once, he scratched his face really hard. His teacher called authorities ... and nothing came out of it because they split my kids up and they all told the truth ... he scratched his face at dinner time because he was told he had to eat his dinner, before he could have ice cream.

It was weird ... we had a friend staying with us who was relocating here,and her son resented being unsettled, changing school and would bully my kids for having things, a room of their own, call them spoiled ... and my kid needed to test this. Am i spoiled ... can i have whatever I want ? And I think he took so much shit from this kid that he really wanted it to be true ... and being told no, just sent him right over the edge. And I get it from his perspective ... you mean I'm not spoiled and i have to take this kids shit ... SCRATCH. I kicked them out a couple days later when this little fuck tard took a magic marker to some of our family photos and scribbled all over my kids faces ... My friend was mad and worried and I didn't give a shit ... GTFO

 

[Stormcloud]

Dammit, to be removed from one home, then to be killed in the next. out:

 

[mybum62]

This little cutie pie was failed miserably. I think the standards to foster children are too low. I know all these kids need homes but they need safe loving homes. Weed out the ones that are in it for the money. Foster parents should have to undergo psychological evaluations IMHO

 

[Sejanus]

Kiddie heads are not...
beach balls,
resilient,
indestructable,
fun to crush,
meant for kicks,
generally accepted points of physically induce discipline.

Kids may need safety labels...
"Please Do Not Kill Me"

 

[Muriel Schwenck]

From the link

....someone reported to Child Protective Services there was drug use in the Payton home. He said the couple was given less than 24 hours to take a drug test or the children would be removed. He said they didn’t have the money to pay for a test and the next day, CPS removed the two boys and a girl. Hunter was the youngest of the children.
[...]
“They didn’t have the $20,” [parent's attorney] Hines said. “Some people are stretched each month for that $20.”

Hines said he became involved in the case shortly after Hunter’s death when a friend of the couple recommended they call him.

How could parents not come up with a mere $20 if it would help regain custody of their children? If they couldn't manage to raise $20 in an emergency how can they care for three children ?
The article didn't offer any specifics on the boy's injuries. Could it be an injury due to neglect, letting him run wild vs.intentional abuse?
Way too few details
That little boy was a cutie pie. They always are, so that's a throw away comment.

 

[Benighted]

CPS can't force you to take a drug test just like that and you don't get your kids taken away just because you refuse (although they will assume at that point you're using). If you don't take the test voluntarily they have to get a court order, and if it's court ordered they pay for it.

I call BS on that one.

 

[Kimberix]

Wonder what made the dude seem like an upstanding foster parent in the eyes of cps? He looks like a fucknut asshole to me.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

@Satanica

A jury has acquitted a Kentucky man who was accused of killing his 4-year-old foster son.

News outlets report the Elizabethtown jury returned the verdict Wednesday for 34-year-old Billy Embry-Martin after deliberating for about five hours.

Embry-Martin has maintained his innocence and testified that the boy fell and struck his head. A state medical examiner ruled the injuries were inflicted and not accidental. An investigation by Radcliff police and Child Protective Services led to Embry-Martin being charged with murder last year.

Embry-Martin's attorney said the verdict was a relief.

The boy's paternal grandmother said she was disappointed with the jury's decision.

Kentucky man acquitted in 4-year-old foster son's death

A jury has acquitted a Kentucky man who was accused of killing his 4-year-old foster son.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Sugar Cookie]

In his closing statements, Hafley told the jury that his client, who testified in his defense, has consistently provided the same account — that the boy apparently fell from a bench in the kitchen while the foster father had turned away to put dishes in the sink.

Hunter, who struck his head in the fall, jumped up and said "Me OK," before collapsing and suffering seizures, Hafley said. He was airlifted to Norton Children's Hospital where he died two days later.

Embry-Martin, Hafley told jurors, had no reason to injure the child and, in fact, had a history as a loving caregiver through his work as a pediatric nurse.

"Why would this patient and gentle man commit this terrible act?" Hafley asked the jury. "How could anyone think he intentionally killed this child?"

Hafley said his client and his husband, Travis Embry-Martin, a member of the Army who works at Fort Knox, became foster parents because they loved children and wanted to bring them into their Hardin County home.

Jury finds foster dad not guilty in case of 4-year-old foster child's death

The verdict, after about five hours of deliberation, caused the defendant, Billy Embry-Martin, to collapse in tears of relief as he embraced his friends and family in the courtroom.

www.courier-journal.com