Judge’s tears cited in appeal of Radita case
Tears apparently shed by a judge while convicting a Calgary woman of first-degree murder in the starvation-related death of her son could come back to haunt her.
Rodica Radita, in a notice filed at the Alberta Court of Appeal in Calgary, said Justice Karen Horner’s apparent emotional display showed the Court of Queen’s Bench judge was biased.
“I am not guilty of murdering my son,” Radita said, in a notice of appeal printed in her own hand.
“And the judge finding that I am shows that she did not look at all of the evidence and that she did not understand how to properly apply the law,” Radita said.
“The judge’s crying during my case (closing arguments and while reading her decision) demonstrates that she was bias,” she wrote.
“Saying that my arguments were ‘nonsensical’ when they were based on the actual evidence further shows her bias and inability to decide my case on the facts rather than on emotion.”
Rodica and her husband, Emil, were found guilty last month of first-degree murder in the May 7, 2013, death of their 15-year-old son, Alexandru.
The boy weighed 37 pounds when he died of bacterial sepsis related to starvation.
Horner ruled the parents intentionally neglected the teen, who had Type 1 diabetes, for years, until he finally succumbed to his illness.
“Your actions in starving your son Alex to death are beyond comprehension,” Horner said, in ordering the couple to each serve a minimum 25 years without parole.
Emil, 60, and Rodica, 54, showed no outward emotion as Horner found they had effectively planned and deliberated their son’s death by failing to get him life-saving medical attention. Horner also said the boy was intentionally confined by his parents through his isolation, which would also make them guilty of first-degree murder.
“You persisted in ongoing conduct,” Horner said, addressing them directly. “You persisted until he was dead.”
Defence lawyers Jim Lutz and Andrea Serink had sought convictions for manslaughter, arguing the parents incompetently managed their son’s diabetes and were unable to ascertain the significant risk his illness caused him.
But Horner said the parents’ conduct amounted to much more.
“The Raditas were well aware how ill Alex was and still refused to treat his medical condition with proper insulin protocol and medical care,” she said. “They knew he was dying.”
The couple were aware death would be the ultimate consequence of their refusal to get him proper medical care.
“Alex’s extremely emaciated state was clearly, common sensibly, the result of a prolonged period of malnutrition,” Horner said.
The boy was “emaciated to the point where he appeared mummified” when found dead.
She described the scene which greeted paramedic Deborah Baumback when she arrived at the Raditas’ Citadel home.
“His face had no visible flesh left as she could see every bone in his face,” the judge said. “There was nothing left of his stomach as he was just so skinny.”
Following the verdict, Crown prosecutor Susan Pepper lamented that Alexandru “lived and died very much alone.”
Pepper said the fact there was no one there for the teenage to speak about the impact of his death, save for a social worker who dealt with him eight years earlier, spoke volumes about his loneliness.
“It really highlights the degree of isolation that Alex lived in — he had no friends, or teachers, or support people, or doctors, or anyone,” Pepper said.
Emil Radita has not yet filed an appeal.
Saying that my arguments were ‘nonsensical’ when they were based on the actual evidence further shows her bias …