Our juvenile laws are outdated. Their punishments are not sanctioned to fit the crime. Robbery, Car Thefts, Car Jacking, and Murders are on the rise. In New Jersey, the life sentence for a juvenile consists of 7 years. An Aggravated Manslaughter charge carries the sentence of the maximum of 4 years.
The juvenile that murdered infant Madison Jade Spearman on August 13, 2011, was charged with Aggravated Man slaughter, not Murder. This crime was in fact Murder. Madison died with and from the following injuries- blunt force trauma to the head, a broken arm, a broken leg, dislocated hip, lacerated liver, bruised kidney, and spinal fracture. Madison was clearly beaten to death.
The family of Madison Jade Spearman will like to see justice served in her name. We have asked the Prosecutor’s office to charge this juvenile as an adult, after reviewing Madison’s injuries. They considered then refused citing the case would be too risky to put in the hands of 12 jurors. They settled to offer the juvenile a lesser charge of Murder with Aggravated Manslaughter. This is a slap on the wrist; a 4 year sentence for savagely beating an infant to death is not justice for either the victim or the family of the victim. The family would like for this plea deal to be thrown out of the courts and have our original request of having this juvenile charged as an adult with murder accepted.
In signing this petition, we are asking the world to join us in our fight for justice. Our goal is to present the Essex County Prosecutor’s office with 10,000 + signatures of citizens that agree with us. This injustice will not be tolerated in New Jersey or anywhere within the United States.
Please sign this petition so that we can bring justice to infant Madison Jade Spearman and let the Essex County Prosecutor’s office know that we cannot and will not allow this murderer to go free.
Our fight is not only to see justice served for Madison, but to change the outdated juvenile laws when it comes to violent crimes.
Our next steps after presenting our petition will be to flood our Councilman’s, Congressman’s, and Senators offices with letters of outrage.
We thank you for your prayers, concerns, and kind words of encouragement during these devastating times that we have encountered over the past 9 months. We are pleased to know that we will not have to stand alone during our fight.
Sincerely,
Madison’s Family