By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – James M. Reeder pleaded not guilty today in the case involving the death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter.
Six times he answered not guilty while staring at the table in front of him in Judge Richard Brosey’s courtroom in Lewis County Superior Court.
James M. Reeder
Reeder, 25, is charged with homicide by abuse, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree child rape and possession of methamphetamine.
Koralynn Fister died May 24.
She was pronounced dead at the hospital after Reeder carried the naked and unbreathing child to neighbors across the street from her house, saying he found her face down in the bathtub.
He was watching her while the mother and her 4-year-old daughter were away from their Centralia home, according to police.
Authorities said they found numerous injuries, some in more advanced stages of healing than others. The coroner says she died from head trauma and drowning.
Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer has described the crime of homicide by abuse as repeated assaults or torture that ends in the death of a child. It carries the same possible penalty as murder.
Each of the charges carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, except the drug charge. Prosecutors added the aggravating circumstances of abusing a position of trust with a particularly vulnerable victim.
Reeder’s arraignment was delayed because he was sent to Western State Hospital to be evaluated to determine if he was competent to stand trial and assist his lawyer in their defense.
The Centralia resident who worked as a flooring installer until about a year ago was separated from his wife and living with Koralynn’s mother. He has no felony criminal history.
He is expected back in court next Thursday to set a trial date.
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For background, read “Mental evaluation: Suspect in death, rape of Centralia toddler found competent for trial” from Tuesday July 10, 2012, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Hangem…. Cut. His toes off…:-)
How can he utter those words – not guilty? It shows how low he is – how low our society has become. No responsibility is expected of even the most deplorable actions like his – repeatedly raping a petite, defenseless little girl who could not even speak for herself? We live in a third world country from what I can see – we let our weak be preyed upon and do not stamp the evil out. It is a travesty.
well said zorn24601 !
@George…While I understand the emotional gratification of the death penalty, there are some problems. In the last couple decades, DNA evidence that wasn’t previously available (or fully understood) has cleared many wrongly imprisoned people, some of whom were on death row. That brings up the chilling idea that, before such scientific examinations of evidence were available, there may have been any number of men who were executed for crimes they did not commit. Now, these days with the better understanding and near universal use of DNA evidence in cases tried in America, that fear isn’t as pronounced, but it still looms.
And that makes the years of appeals, while frustrating on the face of them, ultimately not such a bad thing. Imagine a man sitting on death row for 15 or 20 years, when suddenly new (or newly examined) DNA evidence clears him. What would have happened had the law put a time limit of, say, 5 to 10 years on his appeals process? We’re talking about the power of life and death here; passion and anger, while understandable, must not play a part in the process. We have to hold ourselves to a higher standard than the one held by the murderers we pass sentence upon.
That said, I do in fact support the death penalty, depending on the severity and viciousness of the murder. And the sadistic murder of a child, as with this case, fits well within my personal guidelines for who should be given the needle.
As for being removed from the gene pool, I’d bet good money that Reeder will spend the rest of his life in prison, where his chances for the kind of sex that leads to reproduction will be zero.
Even if he were to get the death penalty, it would be 30 to 40 years before he could be taken out of the gene pool. After all, the attorneys have to file appeal after appeal… even appealing the fact that the ink in the printer was only 30% full, so that means he didn’t get a fair trial (and other nonsense like that)….
Then there is the liberal people who think the death penalty is a violation of the human rights of those who get it. Never mind that those who get (and deserve) the death penalty have violated the basic human rights of their victims. I guess dead people don’t matter…
@Citizen…Sorry, misread your post. I thought you were saying he didn’t need a trial. As for why we have to support him…that would be because our Prosecutor never goes for the death penalty, no matter what the crime. Phooey.
@Citizen…Because when we make that first exception…oh, we all KNOW he did it, forget the trial…we open a door that cannot be closed. If it was that easy once, why not the next time that it looks like an open and shut case, based soley on what an increasingly lazy and sensationalistic media tells us? The prisons hold far too many innocent people who got convicted even with a proper trial; how many innocent people will be imprisoned or executed if we decide that, in some cases, a trial isn’t necessary?
That said, yes, I’m 99.5% sure Reeder is guilty, and hope he gets life wthout parole. But I want that after, and ONLY after, he gets his day in court.
Why do we hold a trial for every American citizen accused of a crime? Because of the 6th Amendment to the Constitution.
What I hate about our legal system is that he was with the child when she was killed, its not a whodunnit, yet we the tax payers have to bear the burden of supporting this animal for life. Why? Attorneys.