23 year old Angel Marie Sims was incarcerated for child neglect resulting in death on April 22nd, 2024 in West Virginia. Angel's son Joshua Fellers was shaken and murdered by her mentally and physically abusive ex boyfriend John Fellers on February 12th 2023 and Angel is now facing repercussions for his actions and was sentenced 3-15 years for "not protecting her child." As her current boyfriend, I'm starting this petition to spread the word and get her out of jail as she does not deserve this punishment and it's unfair that she is forced into this situation after not only surviving abuse but also surviving and going through the mental struggle of a young mother losing her first born child.  

Angel was abused by John Fellers for 7 years while they were dating. The belittlement and mental abuse was hefty and the manipulation was strong. He convinced her that traditional medicines would only harm her and that marijuana was one of the only cures for pain or mental illnesses. These mental illnesses included major depressive disorder and heavy anxiety and after the actions of Fellers now also include PTSD and Paranoia which were diagnosed by her therapist Buddy Dunkley. Fellers also physically abused Angel for multiple years by slapping her in the face, pulling her hair and pushing her over. He would also lock her out of the rooms that they stayed in and would punch holes in the walls out of anger. Due to the instense manipulation and abuse, Angel was trapped in this relationship and was made to believe that this was "the best she was ever going to get" and despite multiple attempts to leave this relationship, she was coerced back into it in an almost stockholm syndrome type of scenario.

Angel's son Joshua was born on January 6th, 2023 and was only alive for 37 days when John Fellers murdered him. According to doctors, the injuries were "acute and immediate", meaning that Angel had no oppurtunity to stop John from harming her child and yet Judge David M. Hammer chose to incarcerate her anyways. Angel's lawyer and both of her prosecutors suggested at most a 6 month period of incarceration followed by 20 years of probation to which Judge Hammer responded with "Certain crimes are so horrendous, they go beyond rehabilitation and cry out for punishment.” followed by the statement "taking care of a child isn't so hard" which if you've ever had a child then you know is a false statement. This was after Angel's lawyer, Andrew Arnold, explained Angel's growth as a person from, quitting 5 years of marijuana addiction cold turkey to attending therapy for the 7+ years of abuse that she faced from John Fellers. 

Please help myself as well as the community surrounding Angel that want to get her home and fight against false incarceration. This is such a tragedy that the Justice system has failed us again and again and I cannot and will not stand for it any longer. Please help us get her out of jail. I am heartbroken and doing everything that I can to solve this problem and would appreciate your support immensely so that she can continue the mental health recovery journey that she was on before she was forced to be in jail.

For more information please read text below:

Information about Judge david M. Hammer and Angel's sentencing