Erin Caffey, 17, gets 2 life terms in family deaths

EMORY, Texas — A teenage girl charged with capital murder for her role in the deaths of her mother and two young brothers agreed to a plea deal that could make her eligible for parole when she's 59, her attorney said.

Erin Caffey, 17, accepted the agreement Friday, said defense attorney William McDowell. She had been scheduled to be tried as an adult next month in Hopkins County.

"I think it was a just sentence," McDowell said. "Everyone is pleased with it."

Authorities said Caffey, her boyfriend and two other co-defendants plotted to kill Caffey's parents because they didn't approve of her boyfriend. Caffey was 16 at the time of the crime.

Police reports said she and Bobbi Gale Johnson waited in a car down the road from Caffey's home in Alba while boyfriend Charlie James Wilkinson, 19, and Charles Allen Waid, 20, went on a shooting and stabbing rampage before setting fire to the house.

Penny Caffey, 37, and her sons Mathew, 13, and Tyler, 8, died in the attack in March. Terry Caffey, 41, was shot five times but escaped from the burning house, saying he recognized Wilkinson shooting him and his wife in their bed, sheriff's officials said.

Caffey has since recovered from his gunshot wounds.

All four defendants were initially charged with three counts of capital murder. Prosecutors had said they didn't plan to seek the death penalty against Erin Caffey.

Wilkinson and Waid also avoided the death penalty in November by pleading guilty for their involvement in the killings. McDowell said both would likely receive life sentences with parole.

Johnson, named as an accomplice who did not use a weapon, was sentenced to 40 years in prison and may be eligible for parole in 20 years, the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported Saturday.

Alba is about 60 miles northeast of Dallas.

Comments

[kingmiller]

The great state of Texas! Nice kid...

[MarvBitesBack]

Hmm, care to compare this with the 15 year old Sharell Butler moiders in NYC?

[robXdion]

That's alleged. This is a clear cut case. But I'd expect the MarvCitesBigot to bring up someone black as an equivalency.

[Chicago48]

Interesting that they didn't get the death penalty and only got life sentences. Is Texas getting soft?

[Justeesh]

No, they plead guilty.

[Acleacius]

I can't believe this, I just posted a comment that got pushed to the Waiting for Approval, why? Cause I quoted the title of the Huffington story which has the M word in it. I point out how terrible a mistake they are making by saying Erin did this act, clearly she did NOT, even according to the Police and DA she was down the street in a car.

Please FIX the Title, so some human decency.

[grandma58]

She participated and her little brothers are gone.

[Acleacius]

How did she participated by staying in the car?

Yes, her brother and sister are gone, you forgot her mother, did she do it? Maybe we are from different countries, but in the US typically we don't call people the M word, cause they were sitting in a car down the street, blocks away.

Surely you must have missed the link I posted on this page of the Police and DA report, that says they found this girl curled up in the fetal position with a teddy bear, 16 year old manipulated by a 20 year old boy, sound plausible, really, does it?

http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?s=7965433

[rogerse]

The Supreme court already said you can't be executed for murder committed as a juvenile so where was the basis for "capital murder" ?.

And more importantly I doubt a jury could give such a person like her a death sentence.

[pranger]

Another reason why straight people shouldn't raise children.

[MidwestMomma]

LOL!

[kellygrrrl]

I wonder if the surviving father has any relationship with her. How awful this must be for him.

[ofcoursejesusisblack]

If I were him, I'd run like the dickens. Far, far away.

[MidwestMomma]

Sounds to me like they didn't have a very good relationship before so afterwards probably not!

[youknowwhat]

How do you develop a mindset like that at the ages they were? Then find two other people and convince them that it's a good idea.

[Acleacius]

Religiously brainwashing, that should be plain to see.

Try to think of a single crime, Crime Against Humanity, War Crimes, Subjugation of Women Children, Slavery, Murder, Mass Murder, Molestation which Religion has not ever committed, anything, really?

[mzwednesday]

plain to you maybe...?

how do you know they were religious?

[tom ellison]

"Religiously brainwashing"

Proof please?

[Rumplestiltskin]

Read about Stalin, or Pol Pot, or China and "The Great Leap Forward". I'm an agnostic, and not too fond of religions, but communists have killed lots more people (try over 20 million in the last century).

[Rumplestiltskin]

Read about Stalin, or Pol Pot, or China and "The Great Leap Forward". I'm an agnostic, and not too fond of religions, but communists have k.illed lots more people (try over 20 million in the last century).

[clsmithj]

I blame the lack of quality television program that are fed to this new generation of young people.

Too much reality / violence / game shows and not enough family sitcoms.

[MyLowell]

children can be very manipulative. i think at that age you're also self-centered and even though you know something's wrong, you just don't fully grasp the consequences. i'm speaking in general, not with reagrd to mur.der.

this girl could easily be a sociopath - i remember quite a few of them from my youth.

[Highwind]

Yeah, they are self-centered because they are immature. That's why they call them teenagers.

[jerryfromcalifornia]

Well, thats Texas.

[timetorevolt]

yep..bibles and guns...use the bible to spread hate and intolerance and use the gun to enforce the message

[MidwestMomma]

Bingo!

[Trishy]

you guessed it!!

[YouDisgustMe]

can i get an amen?

[IndianaConservative]

"One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic."

--Joseph Stalin

I like how liberals find it convenient to relate Christianity to such evil acts. How about acknowledging that some of the greatest acts against humanity resulting in millions of murders have been done by those hostile to faith? What, no amens to that?

[Rumplestiltskin]

Where did the Mason family operate?

[jimdog1954]

Are you referring to the "Manson" family? They did their killing in California. And the most brutal of the slaughter was committed by Charles "Tex" Watson. Next question...

[GrkAm]

Some people have no conscience! Serving two life sentences is as close to justice as you can get, I guess.

[Acleacius]

Here's the DA's side anyone seen an actual account of Erin's side of the story? I am very skeptical of the Court Appointed Attorney, at 16 I could see a religiously repressed girl being control and manipulated by a 20 year guy. Even if they are trying to get her on a premeditated charge by helping get the dog quite, does anyone REALLY see a 16 year girl who was curled up in a fetial position with a teddy bear as a planner and NOT being manipulated, seriously, really? Then some of the posters here worry me, just as much as this girl being given 2 life sentences.
http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?s=7965433

[MidwestMomma]

Thank you!

[MamaBird62]

I had the same thoughts. I'm concerned too that Erin didn't have good legal representation, maybe the Southern Poverty Law Center, or other group, could help her on appeal, if that is warranted. After reading the link you provided, it seems she was convicted on the testimony of the teen killer himself, and not much else. He surely got a deal for testifying against her and the others. What a horrible situation, I wonder how her Dad feels about it, though clearly the two of them had a very dysfunctional relationship before this. What is her IQ? Has she been diagnosed with any mental illness?

[avraamjack]

I agree. He lawyers were bad.

All she had to say was that she was molested and she would have had a couple of cushy years in a psych ward and been out to celebrate her 21st birthday.

That story always works .....

.

[DutchOven]

Wrong color for the SPLC.

whoops...

[propitiousmoment]

She didn't get convicted, she copped a plea. Convicted by pleading guilty, probably to lesser charges in exchange for a lighter sentence, is not the same thing as having a judge and/or jury find you guilty after looking at all the facts on both sides. She could have been very easily manipulated. I'm not saying she was or was not. Just pointing out some technical stuff that might mean something.

[progressthought]

When I was 16 if someone came to me with a plan to kill my family I would have called the police. It's ridiculous to think that this girl didn't understand what was going on. At 16 I had a steady job, was paying my car insurance, buying my own clothes, and was looking at colleges to apply to. She knew what was going on.

[MidwestMomma]

good for you! But you will agree not everyone matures at the same pace? Obviously your parents trusted you to have a job, drive a car and maybe even attend school with your peers. You were a very lucky kid!

[grandma58]

Exactly!

[adey]

When I was 16, I had to go straight home from school, wasn't allowed to work or get my license, had to make my own clothes, and got the living daylights beaten out of me on a daily basis. Not all 16-year-olds have the same story or points of reference.

[MamaBird62]

You're not Erin Caffey. You have no idea what was happening in her house that led her to somehow participate in this horrible, unthinkable crime. Nor can you possibly know what she was thinking leading up to this. I don't mean this as a blanket condemnation of homeschooling, but it's an excellent way to hide and continue abuse.
Remember the kid in Maryland last winter, the Boy Scout from the perfect blonde family who shot and killed them all? Turns out that family members and school officials testified that his alcoholic, professional, church-going parents had been physically and emotionally abusing him for years, allowing him to become alcoholic as well. Yes, they had a file on the PTA mom, who had slapped her son at school, giving him a black eye.
It happens, we just want to pretend that kids can recover from anything.
BTW, he pled guilty as an adult, and is serving 2 life sentences. So, it's not about getting away with anything, it's about trying to understand how killers are made.

[Rumplestiltskin]

I was married, and supporting my family. Thats what happened in Kansas when you got you girlfriend pregnant back in 1969.

[katedog]

Okay, then one life sentence.

[grandma58]

The other article is also only a part of the story. At 16 you may not be 'mature', and It would be nice for her to get help, but do you really want some one who is capable of plotting to off her whole family on the streets? Do you want her having children? She was hiding in a pile of clothes and stuffed animals in a fetal position to make herself smaller.

[MidwestMomma]

Yes! she does need help and probably should have gotten way before now.

[tomas0808]

only in America

[MidwestMomma]

not really! This kind of violence and disfunction is pretty much universal. It's just that we have media that like to exploit these kind of tragedies.

[Rumplestiltskin]

Yea, nothing like hundreds of thousands of Tutsi being k.illed by Hutu with machetes.

[robXdion]

Or Yugoslavia, WW2 Germany, or 1921 Tulsa, OK . . . .

[SaucyB]

my thoughts are with Terry Caffey at this time - what he must be going through...

[kellygrrrl]

gosh, wonder why the folks had a bad feeling about the guy.

[Agathena]

Thanks kellygrrrl for your comment. I had not thought about that.

I cannot imagine what it is like to be the father who survived after 5 bullet wounds, losing his wife and two sons and realizing what kind of a daughter he had. Whew, I hope he has some consolation to make up for his tragic experience.

[Acleacius]

If they were really worried about the guy, then why didn't they have an injunction against him? As pointed out early in this thread (by EdwardEdwards currently page 2), she was a religiously home schooled baptist.

Now if these are the southern baptist whom have the charter listed women as subjugated and secondary whom should submit to there men (the reason President Carter left them after being on the board for about 30 years) then we have a recipe for cover up, by the city if the majority are of this mindset. If this girl acted as she was raised to act and react to men, even if this guy wasn't a control freaking (imo, how could a cold blooded murder not be?) then this girl is being railroaded.

Too bad Huffington won't do a in depth report, don't they have any investigative journalist's?

[timetorevolt]

some of these small towns that are dominated by extreme evangelical congregations aten't different from cults..and most often the girlsl are mistreated and subject to abuse by male relatives or so called elders in the church.. not unlike some of the islamic cultures

[Betsy]

Ice water must run through the veins of Erin Caffey and the punks she ran with. The slaughter that took place inside that house was premeditated. I have as much sympathy for Erin Caffet as I have for Charles Manson...............None.

My heart weeps for her father. His life has changed forever. I shudder at the thought of the grief, anger, and feelings of betrayal he must be feeling.

[ChiGuy]

Texas.

[GrkAm]

Humanity.

[Rumplestiltskin]

Austin is in Texas, along with Galveston, Kinky Friedman, Willie Nelson, the ghost of Buddy Holly out in Lubbock, Johnny and Edgar Winters, ZZ Top, etc.

[Forester]

I guess this is what passes for "Romeo and Juliet" in Texas.

What a piece of work is a man.
How noble in reason.
How infinite in faculty. (Hamlet 2:2)

[MsCanadian]

How stupid in action.