Access to online court records in this case won't be allowed until a jury is sequestered, but in this segment, KOAM reports on the beginning of jury selection for Chris Collings, one of two men accused in the November 2007 rape and murder of nine-year-old Rowan Ford of Stella.
The trial will be held in Rolla.
I live in Omaha, NE but grew up in Stella. I have checked in once in awhile from afar about this case and have been absolutely sickened by the way this case has gone. I see that FINALLY a new trial is starting for Collings. It's going toward five years. FIVE y e a r s. On more than one occasion I have considered getting some loud noise going about this case. Then I get busy with life and let it go for awhile. So now.. now that things are finally moving again, I would like to make a plea... please.. lawyers, don't screw this up again. Judge, please don't LET the lawyers and law enforcement screw this up. Law enforcement, put Stella on the map as a small town who handled this murder like pros. I can tell you, from afar, it looks like a joke. It is infuriating. What has happened to the legal system? It's a circus! On some technicality, monsters can end up on the street to hurt more babies. Shame on any attorney who defends someone they know to be guilty, just to show that they could pull it off. "You'd better enjoy that paycheck you're making now." God/Karma will eventually set it all right... which is the one thing that makes the rest of us able to function in a world that's gone all wrong in many ways. Rowan is smiling and protected in the arms of her God, who scooped her up and made it all OK the second the stopped breathing, and Collings and Spears and everyone who defends them, will in this life or the next, pay up... unless they truly change and turn it around. That happens sometimes, but I think it's our job to keep them detained in this life since we can't be sure they are safe. If only we never had to hear again how someone had lost a child at the hands of a murderer who had been released from prison. That's the one reason some of us begin to feel better about the death penalty.. because we can't trust that killers won't be let go. (I'm not speaking of ALL people who have killed another, or those who just 'messed up', rather, the ones who committed a murder as a monster, or those who have a disorder or temper that is likely to flare. I know that some people have killed who were scared out of their mind, or were defending a child, or maybe ridding the world of monsters like these two!) All that being said, let's all get together and make this trial effective. These two have done something so horrible that they've lost their right to live outside of a cage. There are humans who cannot and should not live freely. So... please, no deals, no 'inadmissible' crap, no nonsense.. so that we don't have any more little 'Rowans' that have to go through what she did. That poor little girl.. dear God, that poor precious little girl who just wanted to ride her bike and be a child. We can't bring Rowan back, but we can't prevent a great deal of the rapes and murders that haven't happened yet. Let's make these people accountable. Let's set an example. The only deterrent to a would-be criminal is conscience, or fear of what may happen to them as a result of a crime. Since some folks have no functioning conscience and no apparent decency, we can at least give the message to rapists and murderers that they will be caught and locked up (or worse) for life. No, not 'life' as it has become in our legal system, but 'LIFE' til you're dead. The soul-less may not care about others, but they sure as heck care about themselves. Randy, God bless you for keeping this story in our memories. You may not remember me but I do remember you. My name is Paula Allen Charlton. Thank you for being there and for being a voice for Rowan and for countless others.
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