Pre-trial motions argued in Sylar Newton case/Sylar's adoptive Mom Christina Priem sentenced to 17 years, her Mother only gets lifetime probation!

What happened to our Sylar Newton thread!!??

CAMP VERDE -- Neither Christina Priem, nor her mother Nancy Collins spoke Tuesday morning while their attorneys argued pre-trial motions to preclude evidence or testimony in the child abuse case over Sylar Newton.

Two-year-old Sylar's body was found near a wash two weeks after he reportedly disappeared at the Beaver Creek campground in late July 2010.

The afternoon of the day before little Sylar vanished, as Christiana Priem's mother told investigators, Sylar got into her "lockbox" while the adults were taking a nap. The small decorative box was kept closed with a screwed-on window-latch, inside which Nancy Collins kept the prescription seizure medicine Klonopin, marijuana, paraphernalia and methadone.

Prosecutor Dana Collins Tuesday read from an investigator's interview with Collins, who gave varying accounts of how much Klonopin Sylar may have ingested. Collins reportedly said she knocked a half-pill out of the boy's mouth, which she took later.

The child was never taken to a doctor. During a prior incident, Priem had seen how emergency room doctors had treated the situation in Flagstaff when Sylar ingested Klonopin and decided not to call 911.

Several hours passed during which Sylar fell on the ground and acted groggy, and water was splashed in his face to refresh him, and that he leaned against a chair. But then he reportedly was alert at dinner.

The adults woke just before 2 a.m. the following morning and found that Sylar had vanished, prompting a lengthy search.

Priem's attorney Robert Gundacker, Tuesday, asked the court to preclude first-hand testimony regarding Klonopin, since, he said, the defendant Collins was the only one who actually saw Sylar and the pills at the same time. The minor children witnesses and others' testimony was based on what Collins had said about the incident, he said.

Gundacker also asked Judge Michael Bluff to preclude co-defendant Collins' statements about Klonopin. A third motion would preclude any statements by the State that the defendants concealed the victim's body on the grounds.

Finally, Gundacker says Priem is joining a motion by Collins to dismiss the child abuse charge.

Michelle Shaw, representing Collins, agreed with her co-attorney, "the State doesn't have any independent evidence of Klonopin ingestion, It's a black hole, a mystery," she said.

Shaw stated, "There is no evidence that either of these women did anything to cause harm to Sylar. I am not opposed to remanding the case back to the Grand Jury for more realistic charges."

Gundacker agreed, "W don't have any autopsy, we don't have toxicology, we don't know how Sylar died."

"They are asking you to be the decider," Deputy County Attorney Dana Owens told Judge Bluff of the defense attorneys. "The Grand Jury has already made a determination that there is reason to charge. I can give you a laundry list of pieces of evidence."

In terms of the motion on "discarding the body," Owens argued, "We are not saying they killed him or dumped his body. We don't know how he got there."

Judge Bluff made no rulings on the motions, but agreed to a 10-day extension for additional motions based on some interviews that are still pending.

The attorneys suggested that another motion would face the judge that would sever the trials of the two women, forcing separate trials for each.

The case is now scheduled to be tried beginning May 30.





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Sylar Newton case: What the hell???

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Valhall

So a pre-trial hearing took place last week in which motions filed by the defense attorneys for Christina Priem and Nancy Collins were heard. Based on the reports of what took place in that pre-trial hearing I have to just ask…what the hell is going on with this case, or lack thereof?

Christina and her mother Nancy are charged with child abuse in the death of 2-year-old Sylar Newton whose body was found in a wash two weeks after he was reported missing from the Beaver Creek campground where the family was camping out. Reports that came out after the boy was reported missing stated there were accounts of the child appearing to be drugged earlier the evening before his disappearance. That led to charges that Christina and Nancy had either intentionally given the child Klonopin or had left the medication in a place the child could get to and accidentally ingest.

It would not be the first time the toddler had ingested Klonopin while in the care of this family. A prior incident had landed Sylar in the ER after he ingested the medication. In the prior incident Priem had eventually taken the boy to the ER, but had never called 911. And such was the case that was developed against Priem and Collins on the night that ended with Sylar missing, and eventually confirmed dead. Or so we thought.

Evidence in the case states that the child was indicating he had ingested the drug. He was “falling to the ground” and “acting groggy”. Water was splashed in his face and the family members reported he eventually appeared “alert” at dinner. Then, according to Priem and Collins, at 2 am one of them woke up to find him missing from the tent. His body would eventually be found in the wash a significant distance from the campgrounds.

HOWEVER, in the pre-trial hearing this past week the defense attorney for Collins (who is the one charged with having the drug and allowing the child access to it) filed motions requesting that all testimony from the minor children in the family, who were present at the camping trip, be excluded as hearsay because the only the person who had knowledge or made statement about the drug was Collins and the children were only repeating, in their statements to investigators, what Collins had said to them or in front of them.

Now, I don’t THINK they will be successful at that since these type statements made by Collins to and in front of the children kind of go toward facts of the case…don’t you think? But, I don’t know how that will turn out.

What I do know is that when the defense attorneys for both women argued that the child abuse charges against their clients needed to be dismissed and the whole thing taken back to a grand jury because there was no evidence the women did anything to cause harm to the child, Gundacker produced a rather startling revelation!

We don’t have an autopsy, we don’t have toxicology, we don’t know how Sylar died.

And then to put the rotten cherry on the steaming pile of crap that produces, Owen the prosecuting attorney, responds to the subject of “discarding the body” with…

We are not saying they killed him or dumped his body. We don’t know how he got there.

Appears to me you don’t actually know jack-shit, Mr. Owen. Yes, I see you arguing that “pieces of evidence” were submitted to a grand jury and that grand jury handed down a bill of indictment, but for Pete’s Sake at some point you have to actually do your job after that. How the hell did this child’s body get away from you folks without ever getting a toxicology test done on it? There is not a single statement made in the report on this hearing that indicates you OBJECTED to the statement made by Gundacker. Which kind of tells me, you don’t have a toxicology report!

Was this a false report?

Curiously, almost as a footnote, in the article published by the Verde Independent covering this week’s hearing, was the revelation that the toxicology reports had been received by the sheriff’s office and showed that Sylar had “ingested medication prescribed to Priem for seizures and panic attacks and also was given cold medicine”. Until now I had not seen anything reported on the toxicology reports, so I thought I’d share this.

Is that why it was “almost as a footnote” in the article? Is that why it never was made an official public statement? DO YOU HAVE AUTOPSY AND TOXICOLOGY REPORTS ON THIS BABY’S BODY???

What the hell?

Valhall.

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Lisette, I know there was a thread on Sylar and I'm sure the other will as well! I remember that AnnaCanna posted quite a bit on the thread and I just looked up her postings on her profile and there isn't one single post listed for Sylar. I don't know what's happening to our threads but I'm going to ask LM about it.

It is upsetting not knowing where our threads are going. I have checked and we are not the only forum this is happening to. I wish I had answers to this problem.

Forumotions is telling LM that it's a "server problem." I don't buy that bs. It looks like it's happening to other sites as well.

I remember this case and ALL the information we had on it. Raine, that was very smart of you to look up AnnaCanna's posts. This PROVES some threads are going "poof" and it's just not right!!

6/5/2012
In Sylar Newton's death, Priem gets 17 years in prison
Collins sentenced to lifetime probation

"It's not what we expected, but it is some justice for Sylar," said Laurie Fant of the Sylar Newton Foundation.

Thirty-seven-year-old Christina Priem, Sylar's adoptive mother, and Christina's own mother, Nancy Collins, were sentenced Monday by Judge Michael Bluff. Priem must serve 17 years in state prison, while 59-year-old Collins will serve lifetime probation.

Both were charged with child abuse after Sylar went missing and was found dead two weeks later in 2010.

Read more details at:
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little Sylar...Your life was worth more than 17 years and lifetime probation.

I agree lisette, his life was worth a lot more than 17 years and lifetime probation.

There was a history of poor little Sylar getting into their 'medications' and they never did anything adequate that prevented him from doing it again. That child was seen intoxicated by others the night he died. This is so wrong!!!!!

Thanks for the update.

This is unbelievable that this egg doner got a slap on the wrist!! Thanks for the update!!