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She killed him by accident while abusing him?

I'm not sure..... from how the charge is worded she may truly have let him wander off and he fell into the tank. That would fall under the category of accidental killing during felony child neglect. I feel like if she beat him to death, which they should know by now, her charges would be greater.
 
A cell phone was in the front right pocket of five-year-old Noah Thomas when he was found dead in a septic tank in March, according to a motion filed on Thursday in Pulaski County Juvenile and Domestic Relations court.

The motion - filed by Kelsey Bulger, lawyer for the child's mother - requests that the commonwealth's attorney and the medical examiner’s office preserve the cell phone, as well as “an action figurine; the clothing the alleged victim, Noah Thomas, was wearing at the time his body was discovered; and any other personal effects recovered with his body."

The Pulaski County Sheriff's Office and the county prosecutor informed Bulger that they had no knowledge of the phone's existence, according to the motion.

County Commonwealth's Attorney Mike Fleenor nor investigators with the sheriff’s office have made any efforts to examine the contents of the cell phone, according to the motion.

“Both the Commonwealth’s Attorney, and the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office suggested it was perhaps a ‘typo’ in the autopsy report, or a phrase from a previous report that had not been deleted,” according to the motion.

Bulger, in the motion, states that she confirmed the phone's existence during a conversation with Medical Examiner Amy Tharp on June 24.

The cell phone was discovered in the boy's pocket by Tharp the day after his body was discovered on March 27 when the autopsy was performed, according to the motion.

The parents told police that they left Noah and their infant daughter at home the morning of Sunday, March 22 — the day Noah was reported missing — while White drove Paul Thomas to work at Phoenix Packaging plant in Dublin.

The couple had also told investigators that they had taken a direct route to Paul Thomas' work that day at the Phoenix Packaging plant, but Fleenor said video surveillance shows them at a convenience store that morning where they stopped and bought some items.

Tharp signed the final autopsy report on June 3, but a cause of death has still not been publicly released.

Currently, the cell phone is being held with the medical examiner in Roanoke.

The motion does not include any other details about the phone. It also doesn't detail how the defense may use the information as the case moves forward.
 
The murder charges have been dropped.

She received his body with an action figure, a used condom, and a toothpaste tube cap.

He was found wearing a camouflage winter jacket, an athletic shirt, and sweatpants, according to an investigator.

During the medical examiner's autopsy she found a cell phone.

An aunt said in court it belonged to White and was part of a family plan. It was deactivated and given to Noah as a toy.

After three hours of testimony, White's attorney asked to remove the felony homicide charge and after discussion, the judge agreed.

He reduced the felony homicide charge against White to child abuse and neglect.

That means both she and Thomas are charged with two counts each of child abuse and neglect.
http://m.wdbj7.com/news/local/more-...homas-death-pulaski-community-reacts/34685338
 
I brushed it off that someone flushed a rubber, since he was in the septic tank?

Agreed. I thought it was a dick move to even include that in the article, just to impose that exact question in people's heads. All three of those things I'm sure are commonly flushed.
 
That is a very confusing charge. She killed him by accident while committing a felony. Making meth? I wish to hell they would release a cause of death already.

[Edited to remove speculation that doesn't conform to test results.]

@spiff , you're absolutely right that the journalist didn't need to include such miscellany in the article. It implies terrible things and in reality, probably doesn't have anything to do with his death. A used condom could also mean it was simply out of the packaging and the boy had one in his pocket because he liked to blow them up as balloons. << This I don't put past a 5-year old.
 
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I do not understand how him being found with a cell phones makes it any less murder? Is it that the time on the phone was like 10 minutes after the parents left? I don't get it.
 
During the medical examiner's autopsy she found a cell phone.
This brings up a gut-wrenching question in my mind: I wonder if he tried to call for help? Like if watching the adults around hi on their phones, if when he got into trouble he tried using "his" phone?

Ugh. Like I said, gut-wrenching thought.
 
I don't get how his death could be reduced to child abuse and neglect when she couldn't look after him because she was cooking meth? And if he did die by eating meth, I'm even more confused by the reduction.
 
I don't get how his death could be reduced to child abuse and neglect when she couldn't look after him because she was cooking meth? And if he did die by eating meth, I'm even more confused by the reduction.
I don't think Krystal meant that she was in fact cooking meth. I believe its just her speculation. @Krystal, right?
 
I don't think Krystal meant that she was in fact cooking meth. I believe its just her speculation. @Krystal, right?
Correct, I am guessing methtard or salthead based on the mug shots. I'd also throw in heroin for funsies as well.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if it were both meth and heroin that was her cup of tea so to speak.
 
There was nothing from the external or internal examination that showed he was shot, stabbed, beaten or anything of that nature,” Tharp said.

On one hand, I feel like this makes it worse. He went in that tank alive? Shit. On the other hand, it may be good to know he wasn't abused by his parents in a physical manner.
 
Ashley White is found guilty on all three charges of felony child abuse and neglect in the death of her 5-year-old son, Noah Thomas. Noah was found dead on March 26, 2015 in a septic tank near the family’s home after an extensive five day search.

Judge Bradley Finch said when White went to sleep the morning Noah went missing and left him and his sister unattended, she should have known they would be in danger while she slept due to the “deplorable” conditions in the trailer.

“I believe Ashley White received a fair trial and that justice was served,” said Pulaski County Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Fleenor during a brief statement to media after the verdict. “Something caused Noah to fall into the septic tank. There is no evidence that Ashley White deliberately killed Noah, but her lack of supervision certainly caused his death.”

When asked about parents who may be concerned that they fall asleep while their kids are in the home and therefore charged with the crime, Fleenor said, “The home was so atrocious and the septic tank was such an obvious danger, that she had to be held accountable. It wasn’t just that she laid down to take a nap.”

White is scheduled to be sentenced on May 16.

Noah’s dad, Paul Thomas, is scheduled to go on trial March 9.
http://wsls.com/2016/02/12/ashley-white-found-guilty-in-death-of-noah-thomas/
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Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Bradley Finch has denied the defense’s request to drop all three felony child abuse and neglect charges against Ashley White.

The defense made the request Friday morning after the Commonwealth rested its case. The defense argued the prosecution did not provide enough evidence to convict White; only proving White fell asleep while she was home with 5-year-old Noah and his younger sister, Abigail.

Since the judge denied defense attorney Kelsey Bulger’s request, the defense moved forward and presented its case. Several witnesses were called to the stand, including Ashley White.

White said a month or two before Noah was found in the septic tank, she yelled at him not to stand on the plastic septic tank lid because she was afraid it would crack. She said she never went over to inspect the lid herself, so she didn’t know how easily it could be removed.

When asked about why she left Noah and Abigail at home by themselves while she drove their father, Paul Thomas, to work; she said they were both asleep on the couch and Abigail wasn’t feeling well, so she decided to let them sleep.

White also talked about her history with drugs. She admitted she had a drug problem and said she was on a drug used to wean a person off of opiates. She also said she voluntarily put herself into treatment and counseling, and had been seeing a psychiatrist.

The defense also called a representative from the health department who talked about regulations for the septic tank, which was the landlord’s responsibility. He said a childproof lid is required for the type of septic tank that was in White and Thomas’ yard. The representative referred to a statement from an officer who said he kicked off the lid to the tank on the day Noah was found, saying if a person could kick off the lid it wasn’t childproof. He also said the landlord hadn’t notified the department about needed repairs or maintenance issues.

The defense has repeatedly argued that White’s landlord is responsible for improper maintenance of the septic tank and therefore White cannot be held responsible for its lack of maintenance.
 
The defense has repeatedly argued that White’s landlord is responsible for improper maintenance of the septic tank and therefore White cannot be held responsible for its lack of maintenance.

I agree and I disagree, while it can be argued that the landlord had a duty to maintain the property to certain standards, a parent has a duty to make sure that everything around their children is maintained. These parents did not do that, they are as negligent as the landlord, moreso really because they are the parents of the children that were endangered by/died because of the unsafe conditions.
 
I agree and I disagree, while it can be argued that the landlord had a duty to maintain the property to certain standards, a parent has a duty to make sure that everything around their children is maintained. These parents did not do that, they are as negligent as the landlord, moreso really because they are the parents of the children that were endangered by/died because of the unsafe conditions.


I will also put out there that police based the negligence charges on more than that lid. I have read the conditions in the home were "deplorable", parents are druggies, and oh, yeah-

Bitch left her 5-year-old and SICK BABY alone in that den of filth.

My guess is that there is a lot more damning evidence that suggests these sad fucks did worse than LE can prove and charge, so they went with what they COULD prove.
 
Just when you think it couldn't get worse , the image of that non working phone tucked in his pocket just kills me .
Poor kid .

I am glad this woman's being held accoutable for her actions.

She's a bad Mother and her bad almost non existent mothering caused the death of Noah . Absolutely right she should be charged .
 
She's a bad Mother and her bad almost non existent mothering caused the death of Noah . Absolutely right she should be charged .

Daddy too. He could have fixed the septic tank lid, or at least reported it to the landlord. He could have cleaned the house. He could have just picked the kids up and loaded them into the car when she thought it was okay to leave them home alone.

I'd say that if either one of them had their shit a little bit together, that one could have buoyed the other up and prevented this absolutely sickening tragedy. Baby died in a tank of shit, with used condoms floating around him. For absolutely no reason.
 
Exactly, fathers who live with their children, should be held to the same standards as the mothers are, but most of the time they are not. It's also his job to insure that his kids are safe and fed and clothed, but usually it all comes down to mama, regardless of daddy.
 
Somebody put it back on, had to have done that, maybe (hopefully) not knowing that little Noah was already in there. No other way for it to get back on there.
 
Drug addicted parents deserve no sympathy by society or the law, no matter what. Worthless scum. Lock em up.
 
Ashley White had five years of probation trimmed from her sentence after the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled she should not be held criminally responsible for her son’s septic tank drowning.

The amended sentence marks the conclusion of an emotional case that was closely followed around Southwest Virginia from the time 5-year-old Noah Thomas went missing in 2015, until White was found guilty of causing his death through neglect in 2016.
That charge was reversed earlier this year, as The Roanoke Times featured White’s case in its 7-part podcast “Septic.”

Legal proceedings continued after the reversal, as the state attorney general’s office asked the Supreme Court of Virginia to hear the matter. The state’s highest court said in May it would not hear the case and shortly after prosecutors said they would not pursue any further action.

The amended sentence, filed on Nov. 20, marked the official end of the case.

Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Bradley Finch initially found White, 34, guilty of three felonies: two counts of child abuse and neglect for leaving Noah and his 6-month-old sister home alone in a separate incident, and one — more serious — count of child abuse and neglect leading to injury related to the time White says she was sleeping and Noah died.

White did not appeal the two lesser charges, but the more serious neglect leading to injury conviction was reversed on appeal in September 2017.

“As tragic as the facts of this care are, to affirm this conviction would be to hold that [the law] requires a parent to search out potential dangers and continuously supervise his or her child,” Virginia Court of Appeals Judge William Petty wrote in the majority opinion. “A parent could be subject to a felony conviction if he or she failed to recognize the danger posed by the unsecured tank cover, the unlatched gate, the rotted board, the unfenced pond, or any other hazard that, in hindsight, could have been corrected.”

White was initially sentenced to serve a total of one year and 11 months, followed by 15 years of probation.
https://www.roanoke.com/news/crime/...cle_d1243b00-9c65-551a-8a0b-e1347da227ff.html
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I disagree, but what do I know. I guess what they're saying is there would be no way of proving the defendant knew or should've known about the danger. Still, wouldn't you, as a parent, be expected to check your property for such hazards if you're letting your kid play unsupervised?
 

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