Sentenced: Family Of Murdered 6YO Arizona Boy Can Seek Restitution For His Lost Wages, Court Rules

[Sugar Cookie]

I think it is a crime this child was murdered and that his half-sister wants wages they do not even know this boy would have earned.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that family members of a murdered boy can go after restitution for his future lost wages.

The ruling was centered around 6-year-old Jason Hester, who was abused and murdered by his aunt Lillian Hester in 2015. Lillian was sentenced to life in prison in 2018. The boy’s half-sister wanted $3.3 million for his future lost wages paid to the estate.

While lower courts said the half-sister’s pursuit of future lost wages was too weakly connected as restitution and not covered under Arizona law, the Supreme Court disagreed in a unanimous decision. Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer, who wrote the decision, said loss of future income can be recovered by the family if it flows ”directly from the defendant’s criminal conduct” and not based on speculation. Since the boy’s death directly ended his ability to make any money as an adult, those losses are recoverable as restitution, Timmer said.

However, the Supreme Court didn’t rule on how much the family should receive and sent the case back to a trial court to find out if there’s enough evidence to determine the boy’s lost wages without basing it on “conjecture and speculation alone.”

When the case was submitted to the lower courts, the defendants had an expert say that the value of Jason’s lost wages ranged between $153,712 and $919,598, quite lower than the half-sister’s claim of $3.3 million.

The investigation into the death of Jason Hester started in June 2015, when he was found not moving in Lillian Hester’s home just. The 6-year-old died at the hospital.

An autopsy showed the boy weighed only 29 pounds and was dehydrated, had multiple bruises and cuts. A year later, Lillian Hester, who was the primary caretaker, was indicted on first-degree murder and child abuse charges. The boy’s maternal grandmother, Lenda Hester, her boyfriend, Kimmy Wilson and Lillian’s live-in boyfriend, Jason Conlee, were indicted on negligent homicide and child abuse charges.

Wilson pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor neglect and received a suspended sentence with one year of unsupervised probation. Conlee received three years of probation in a plea deal. Lenda Hester also agreed to a plea deal, getting four years of probation. All of the sentences started in 2018.

MSN

HESTER, LILLIAN

Prison Release Date: Natural Life

 

[runninfawn]

and why would anyone be able to sue for restitution of lost of wages when it involves the death of a child?? if that child had lived his/her wages wouldn't have went to sibs etc but be spent on the wage earner's need and later on to provide for his/her own family.. if it was an adult victim i could see it if he/she was looking after their parent(s) or had dependents not for his/her sibs unless they were pendendants (special needs etc) of him/her..

 

[GoneWest]

Literally the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of-what if the boy grew up to be a leach like his half sister?

 

[runninfawn]

Literally the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of-what if the boy grew up to be a leach like his half sister?

or a druggy living on the street?? or living on welfare?

 

[DamagedGoods]

Pretty sure that had he lived, his half sister wouldn't have been entitled to those wages, so why should she be entitled to them now when there's no way of knowing if he ever would have made them in the first place?

 

[DamagedGoods]

Literally the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of-what if the boy grew up to be a leach like his half sister?

I think you mean a leech...

Unless this is his half sister:

 

[Alxprkrkrls]

And who is paying this? The murderer has life in prison, she’s got no money; best she can do is ramen and honeybuns from the prison commissary. People win these lawsuits and think they’re gonna be set for life, but you can’t get blood from a stone…

 

[DamagedGoods]

if there’s enough evidence to determine the boy’s lost wages without basing it on “conjecture and speculation alone.”

How could there possibly be evidence that ISN'T based on conjecture and speculation alone??

 

[BuffettGirl]

I think you mean a leech...

Unless this is his half sister:
View attachment 182255

Excellent blast from the past reference. Well done! There was a time when this was on of the few English language programs we had for television viewing when I lived in South Africa. Ah, the obnoxious memories!