Vernon Bartley Is A Bad Neigbor

[Aelwynn]

http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=9142972

DOWNTOWN HONOLULU (KHNL) - An Ewa Beach juvenile accused of killing his 51-year-old neighbor will be tried as an adult. The decision came down Tuesday morning in family court, almost a year and a half after Karen Ertell was murdered in her home.

This is a major step forward for the prosecution and the victim's family, but for Ertell's daughter, the news is bittersweet.

16-year-old Vernon Bartley leaves family court for the last time as a juvenile suspect. The Ewa Beach teenager will now be tried as an adult for the murder of his neighbor, 51-year-old Karen Ertell.

"I would like everybody to remember that Vernon is a child, he is sixteen years old and he's being tried as an adult," said Jeffrey Hawk, Bartley's defense attorney. "This is a very difficult time for him and his family."

It's also been an ordeal for Ertell's family. Bartley's waiver hearing was delayed eight separate times in a 15-month period before this decision.

"I'm relieved but I'm not because it's taken 16 months just to determine this," said Malanie McLellan, Ertell's adopted daughter, via a telephone interview.

Bartley could face as many as 12 separate counts, including first degree murder. His defense attorney plans to bring up Bartley's rough upbringing during the trial.

"Every child is a product of his environment and his family," said Hawk. "And hopefully we can make it an issue in this case, that no child does these sorts of things with good cause and with good reason."

"And that's a bunch of bull because I came from a really bad home and that's why I was in a foster home to begin with," said McLellan. "I was in a really bad home. I mean my life before I met Karen before I lived with her was stuff you see on TV."

"I had a horrible childhood and yet I managed to rise above it and do the right thing and be a good person in spite of everything I've been through," she added. "And I knew right from wrong whether or not I'd been shown right from wrong."

McLellan, who now lives in Eugene, Oregon, with her husband and son, plans to come back for the trial, to make sure people don't forget about her mother.

"I would just hope that she's watching me and she's watching my son grow up and because that's what she wanted to do," said McLellan. "She wanted to be a grandma. That's what was the focus of her life at that point before she died was that she was going to be a grandmother and she was so excited."

Bartley is being held in a jail cellblock overnight. He will appear in adult court Wednesday morning at 8 am.

http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=9193318

HONOLULU (KHNL) - An Oahu grand jury has found enough evidence to send an Ewa Beach boy's murder case to trial.

Prosecutors presented their case to the panel Thursday morning. Homicide investigators later emerged from the closed-door hearing.

The grand jury indicted Vernon Bartley, 16, on 10 charges, including murder, sex assault, robbery and burglary. He's accused of raping and killing his neighbor, Karen Ertell, 51, last year.

More links: http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=9077180
http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=6578727
http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=6576120

[crickett]

Fucking worthless total waste of oxygen....product of his environment my ASS! I had a rough upbringing and I have never killed anyone! BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!! ROT IN HELL!!!!!!!! I hope this bitch gets ass raped every day in prison.
May that poor woman RIP.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

http://i48.tinypic.com/2ik2ucw.jpg

His mother testifies against him:The mother of an 'Ewa Beach youth on trial for the murder of a neighbor testified yesterday that her son admitted to her that he committed several burglaries of Karen Ertell's home in 2006, months before he allegedly raped and strangled Ertell on May 25, 2007.

"He basically told me he did (the burglaries) because I asked him to tell me the truth and he did," said Jillian Bartley, the mother of defendant Vernon Bartley, 17.

Jillian Bartley, testifying as a prosecution witness, described Ertell, 51, as a "neighbor and friend" of the Bartley family.

In the last burglary, Vernon Bartley stole between $500 and $600 from Ertell's home, his mother testified.

"I apologized to her, of course," Mrs. Bartley testified, adding that Ertell was repaid the money the same day.

Ertell filed a police complaint in that case and Vernon Bartley was facing a burglary charge in Family Court when Ertell died.
[...]

She described her son, who was 15 years old at the time of the murder, as being physically and emotionally immature for his age.

He was "missing and skipping classes" at school and "was still struggling in grade 7" at an age when his peers were well into high school, she said.

Although shy, Bartley had friends "but not the right kind," she said.
[...]

And each side must argue about the rape charge lodged against Bartley, because of evidence in the case indicating that the victim was already dead when Bartley allegedly sexually assaulted her.

Bartley admitted to police, in a tape-recorded session that was attended by his mother, that he strangled Ertell with a "triangle" choke hold, but made no admission about the rape charge.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100213/NEWS20/2130310/Mother+testifies+against+son

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Prosecutors want Vernon Bartley, 17, locked up until he dies in prison for murdering his 'Ewa Beach neighbor, Karen Ertell, in May 2008.

Bartley was found guilty yesterday of lying in wait for Ertell, 51, in the carport of her home and strangling her to death in a choke hold. He had just turned 15 at the time of the crime.
[...]

When Bartley was caught by police that night joy riding with his friends in Ertell's car, "he did not show an ounce of remorse," according to the prosecutor.

Defense lawyer Jeffrey Hawk said that when the crime occurred, Bartley was an immature child who had "barely crossed the threshold of 15 years old" that made him eligible to be tried as an adult.

"He was a child; he was not a monster," Hawk told the judge.
[...]

Crandall, who presided over the nonjury trial, called a 15-minute recess after final arguments were completed.

Attorneys and court observers believed the judge would then return and hear arguments on a pending motion to revoke Bartley's bail. The recess stretched to 45 minutes, then Crandall returned and surprised all by delivering her verdict.

"There was overwhelming evidence and beyond a reasonable doubt that you knowingly and intentionally caused the death of Karen Ertell," Crandall told Bartley, who stood beside Hawk with his head bowed.
[...]

However, the judge acquitted Bartley of second-degree rape, ruling the prosecution did not prove Ertell was alive when the sexual assault occurred, a necessary element of the charge.

Crandall also acquitted Bartley of robbery but convicted him of theft, burglary, fraud and computer crimes.

Sentencing is set for May 3.
[...]

Chin said his office will seek an "extended sentence" for Bartley beyond the normal maximum term of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole for second-degree murder.

Under a new state law, motions for extended sentencing must be argued before a jury. The Bartley case was a nonjury trial, meaning a jury would have to be empaneled to decide whether his sentence should be increased to life without parole.

Such a proceeding hasn't occurred since the new law was passed in 2007.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100305/NEWS20/3050338/Life+term+sought+for++Ewa+teen

[Abroad]

The mother is a prosecution witness? She must be in agony. :dong:

[TwiztidAngel]

Defense lawyer Jeffrey Hawk said that when the crime occurred, Bartley was an immature child who had "barely crossed the threshold of 15 years old" that made him eligible to be tried as an adult.

"He was a child; he was not a monster," Hawk told the judge.

as a mother of a 15 yr old i can say this....by that age they know right from wrong...seriously

i feel really bad for mom...im GLAD she has the balls to stand up and tell the truth about what her son did....i cant even fathom the torment this has put her thru

[CadburyCremeGirl]

And this folks, is why I think teens need to be on their own island until they hit mid twenties.