Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father Page #11

I was a friend of Andrew Bagby.

Wondering

if you would be interested

in possibly being interviewed

for...

No, I don't think so.

Not one penny

of her bail sureties

had to be paid

by anyone who signed,

nor did they have to show

proof of ability to pay.

No money's put up.

No money at all. It's useless.

They could have put 20 cents

or $20 million.

Wouldn't have made

any difference.

Her psychiatrist put up

the $65,000,

and that's another issue

altogether.

Hi. You've reached

Dr. Doucet's office.

Please leave your name,

telephone number,

and a brief message.

Hi.

I'm calling for Dr. Doucet.

My call was not returned.

Time. We thought

it was all about time.

Each step

in the extradition process,

each incomprehensible delay,

four weeks, six weeks,

over and over again,

there was another knife

in our guts.

"The law is slow," they told us,

and it was!

Our lawyer Jackie

went to see Betty Day,

an administrator somewhere

in the hierarchy

of Child Protective Services,

and told her

that we are concerned

about the safety of the baby

because the mother is accused

of a pre-meditated murder.

And nothing happened.

Hello. Department of Health

and Community Services.

Hi. I'm trying to reach

Elizabeth Day.

Elizabeth Day is not available.

At the tone,

please record your message.

My call was not returned.

If you were

in the Family Health Services,

wouldn't you want to know

who this accused murderer

was arranging

for her baby to stay with?

Nobody ever came to see us.

Before we left Sunnyvale,

we got a police report

to say that we were good people.

Our friends and my employer,

et cetera, write letters

that we were upright members

of the community.

Nobody asked us for that.

We could have been convicted

child molesters in California.

- They didn't care.

- And nobody would've known.

She wrote directly

to Judge Derek Green,

who responded

through his secretary

with instructions

on how to write her own appeal

of his decision

to incarcerate her.

- Mr. Kuenne?

- Yes?

Yeah,

this is Chief Justice Green.

What I did is on the record

and will speak for itself.

Okay.

Okay.

Under an order

from Justice Gale Welsh,

Shirley Turner

was released on bail again,

and we went numb again.

And we had to give Zachary

right back into the hands

of Andrew's killer!

"There is no indication

of a psychological disorder

that would give concern

about potential harm

to the public generally."

Shirley's last boyfriend before

Andrew told Pennsylvania police

that Shirley attempted suicide

on his front doorstep

after he broke up with her

and had threatened to kill him.

"There is no indication

of a psychological disorder

that would give concern

about potential harm

to the public generally."

Eight people had

restraining orders against her.

"There is no indication

of a psychological disorder

that would give concern

about potential harm

to the public generally."

If anyone had bothered to check

the jail records

during her two-month stay,

the prison psychiatrist put her

on suicide watch

every 15 minutes,

she was incredibly disruptive,

and even threatened to stab

another inmate with a fork.

"There is no indication

of a psychological disorder

that would give concern

about potential harm

to the public generally,

as her crime, while violent,

was specific in nature."

The man she was terrorizing

called the police

and reported Shirley,

but because he didn't leave his

name, no one took any action.

"Her crime, while violent,

was specific in nature."

Andrew rejected her,

and she killed him.

Zachary rejected her.

He paid the price, too.

"Her crime, while violent,

was specific in nature."

Of course the crime

was specific.

She didn't shoot

into a crowd of people.

We could not conceive

how they could let a probable

pre-meditated murderer...

probable pre-meditated murderer

walk the streets.

"Dr. Turner's detention

is not necessary

in the public interest."

Who the hell

is the system protecting?

"Dr. Turner's detention

is not necessary

in the public interest."

We waited and we waited

and we waited

for the authorities

to do their job and lock her up!

You got a dead body

with five holes in it,

and it means nothing!

Under an order

from Justice Gale Welsh.

Good afternoon.

Court of Appeal.

Hi. May I speak to Judge Welsh,

please?

- Is she expecting your call?

- Probably not, no.

And now we've got

a second dead body

that couldn't breathe

through water.

I just spoke with Judge Welsh,

and she said no.

She said no, so I just

wanted to let you know.

"Dr. Turner's detention

is not necessary

in the public interest."

Son of a...

Son of a...

She had to be stopped.

The people who were supposed

to stop her didn't.

And she got to kill again.

And I'm gonna do my damnedest

to see if I can make them change

the way they deal with killers.

And with that, your grandma

and grandpa became activists.

We victims...

We want, number one,

the whole truth public

about why Zachary died.

They've developed a program,

a support group,

for people

who have had a death through,

you know, violent death.

Welcome to our first Victims

of Homicide annual vigil.

In this last year,

I've just taken training

to become a child advocate

in the dependency court system.

John Doucet, the psychiatrist

who posted $65,000 bail

for Ms. Turner,

was found guilty

of professional misconduct.

It was David Bagby and his wife

who launched the complaint

against Doucet.

The three-person panel

ordered Doucet

to undergo

psychiatric counseling.

There was a lot of sympathy

for David and Kate.

I think it got them

at least a result

that they were hoping

to accomplish.

Mr. Wicks,

Child and Youth Advocate

for Newfoundland and Labrador,

is doing a Child Death Review,

which is a formal investigation

and the output of it

is a report saying,

"Here's why that baby died."

And recommendations for changes

to cut the chance

of that happening in the future.

Obviously, once that's done,

then we would like to see

that go

to whatever legislative bodies,

either provincial or federal,

can write laws to make

these recommendations real.

And a report into the death

of Zachary Turner

will be released

in Newfoundland.

He was drowned by his mother.

Your grandma was

temporarily injured in a fall

and couldn't make the trip,

so your grandpa and I

came alone.

Dr. Markesteyn conducted

an exhaustive investigation

over a 15-month period.

He reached two key conclusions.

One, Zachary Turner's death

was preventable.

And, two,

Zachary was in his mother's care

when he should not have been.

The government has received

a scathing report

that concluded

the child-protection system

failed Zachary Turner.

A serious lack of judgment

at the senior-management level.

Substandard

child-protection practices

contributed to the outcomes.

There are 58 recommendations

in the report.

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