Prosecutor: Boy Begged Killers to Stop....

Jurors Hear More Of Videotaped Confession In Day 2 Of Edenfield Trial

BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- Jurors in a Georgia courtroom Thursday heard more of a horrific videotaped confession from a man who admitted he and his adult son stripped, sexually assaulted and strangled a 6-year-old boy inside a mobile home as the child pleaded with them to stop.

On day two of 61-year-old David Edenfield's trial, the jury heard him tell investigators why he helped his son strangle 6-year-old Christopher Barrios.

"I saw George strangle the boy. I put my hands on George's hands," David Edenfield said in the videotape, referring to his son, 34-year-old George Edenfield.

"To help him? ... to help him, or for what reason?" an investigator asked him.

"I just put 'em on his hands. I did not squeeze," David Edenfield said in the tape.

Edenfield said it was instinct.

"I've never had the instinct to kill somebody, so what would be the instinct?" an investigator asked Edenfield in the tape.

Video: Jurors Hear More Of Videotaped Confession

"I guess I want to see what it feels like, I guess," Edenfield said.

Edenfield admitted that at anytime he could have helped Christopher to get out of his home, away from the molestation by him, his wife and his son.

For the first time, the jury heard Edenfield expressing some remorse for the brutal crime.

"It's my fault, it's my fault," Edenfield said in the videotape. "I should have been a grown man and stopped it right there, but I didn't.

"You participated in it?" an investigator asked him.

"Yes sir," Edenfield said. "That's why I'm probably going to prison and get killed."

"Why would you get killed?" the investigator asked him.

"Cause sex offenders go to prison, they kill 'em," Edenfield said.

The trial opened Wednesday with prosecutors playing the same videotaped confession.

"He said 'I'm going to tell my daddy and my grandma and George choked him," David Edenfield said in the videotape. He later admitted helping strangle the boy.

The jailhouse interview filmed by police was shown during the first day of testimony in the trial of the elder Edenfield, who faces the death penalty if convicted of the March 2007 slaying of Christopher Michael Barrios. The boy was missing for a week before police found his naked body dumped off a road and wrapped in trash bags.

Prosecutor John B. Johnson told jurors in his opening statement that Edenfield and his son lured the boy into their trailer across the street from the home of Christopher's grandmother, then took turns molesting him.

"You will hear him say this from his own mouth," Johnson said of David Edenfield. "Christopher Barrios didn't want to be there. He said, 'Let me go! Please don't do this! I'm going to tell my parents!"'

David Edenfield is the first suspect to stand trial in the slaying. His son and wife, Peggy Edenfield, have also been charged with molesting and killing the boy, then hiding his body. Each will be tried separately.

The jury was selected from residents some 90 miles away because of pretrial publicity, and the jurors are being sequestered in Brunswick.

Jurors later saw the first hour of the interview the elder Edenfield gave to a police detective a day after the boy's body was found. He at first blamed his son and denied any involvement, but slowly began to describe a horrible scene.

Defense attorney James Yancey Jr. told jurors the elder Edenfield's confession was influenced by the police interrogators, but stopped short of telling jurors he was coerced.

Christopher lived in a mobile home park in Brunswick, where his father and grandmother had separate homes. He would pass the Edenfields' trailer when walking between them.

A shy boy with a big smile that showed off the silver caps on his front teeth, he loved superheroes such as Batman and Spider-Man.

The Edenfields moved into the mobile home park where the boy lived just a few months before his death. The family had been forced to move because George Edenfield was a convicted child molester. The family's previous home was close to a playground, a violation of Georgia's sex offender registry law.

Glynn County police detective Raymond Sarro testified police found Christopher's toy Star Wars lightsaber in the Edenfields' yard a few hours after the boy went missing. He said he then noticed the Edenfields peeking out their windows, which seemed suspicious because other neighbors were out helping search for the boy.

He said George Edenfield admitted he'd seen Christopher outside, then told the detective he heard voices calling his name.

"I asked him what voices did he hear that called his name, and he said 'the devil,"' Sarro said. "I asked if the devil told him to do anything to hurt the little boy. He told me yes, that the devil told him to kill him."

Previous Stories:
September 30, 2009: Trial Opens In Brunswick Boy's Slaying
September 27, 2009: Jury Selection Continues For Murder Trial
September 21, 2009: Jury Being Picked For Boy's Slaying Trial
September 15, 2009: Evaluation Ordered Of Boy's Accused Killer
August 27, 2009: Edenfield Trial To Begin Next Month
August 14, 2009: Trial Delayed In Brunswick Boy's Slaying
March 13, 2009: Christopher Barrios Remembered 2 Years After Slaying
March 12, 2009: Money Crunch Delays Edenfield Murder Trial
February 5, 2009: First Trial In Boy's Slaying Set
August 29, 2008: David Edenfield Wants Murder, Molesting Charges Dismissed
June 26, 2008: Man Pleads Guilty To Charges Connected To 6-Year-Old's Slaying
June 9, 2008: Trial Set For Man Accused Of Hiding Boy's Body
June 5, 2008: Suspect In Boy's Slaying Withdraws Plea
March 14, 2008: Mother Sues State, Trailer Park Over Son's Death
August 15, 2007: Judge Rules On Defense Motions In Boy's Murder Case
July 30, 2007: Boy's Accused Killer In Court For Hearing
April 13, 2007: Molester, His Parents Charged In Christopher's 'Horrific' Slaying
March 21, 2007: As Slain Boy's Viewing Begins, 3 Charged With Murder
March 19, 2007: Child Molester Got Probation Days Before Slain Boy Vanished
March 17, 2007: Community Copes After Boy's Search Ends In Tragedy
March 16, 2007: Missing Boy Found Dead; 4 May Face Murder Charges
March 15, 2007: Body Of Missing Brunswick Boy Found
March 15, 2007: New Search, More Evidence, But No Sign Of Missing Boy
March 15, 2007: Police Search Pond, Follow New Tips In Missing Boy Case
March 14, 2007: 2nd Search Warrant Executed At Sex Offender's Home
March 14, 2007: Sex Offender, Offender's Mother Arrested In Boy's Disappearance
March 13, 2007: Police Search Sex Offender's Trailer In Hunt For Missing 6-Year-Old
March 12, 2007: After 4 Days, Police Believe Georgia Boy Was Abducted
March 11, 2007: $27,000 Reward Offered For Missing Georgia Boy
March 10, 2007: Searchers, Family Determined To Find Missing 6-Year-Old
March 9, 2007: After 24 Hours, No Sign Of Missing Georgia Boy

Prosecutor: Boy Begged Killers To Stop - Jacksonville News Story - WJXT Jacksonville

JURY: EDENFIELD GET DEATH SENTENCE!!!!

BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- The Glynn County jury that convicted David Edenfield of murder, molestation and six other charges in the death of 6-year-old Christopher Barrios has decided he should be sentenced to death.

The unanimous decision came at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The jury began deliberations about 4:30 p.m. after a testimony in a sentencing hearing and after emotional closing arguments from both sides.

"I defended Christopher Barrios when he couldn't defend himself from that animal right there raping and murdering," District Attorney Stephen Kelley said, drawing a defense objection and an apology.

"The death of Christopher cries out for justice today and you're the only ones who can give that justice," Kelley, slightly calmer.

Video: Jury Recommends Death

"It's an individual decision that you must live with for the rest of your life," defense attorney John Beall told the jury. "The state has made the choice as to who they're going to prosecute for the death penalty in this case, and if you don't think that's correct, you're the correctors of justice."

It took this jury only two hours Monday afternoon to find 61-year-old Edenfield guilty in the 2007 slaying Monday afternoon. After a brief recess, Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett immediately commenced the sentencing hearing.

The victim's family, including Christopher's grandmother, cousin and father, testified testimony, telling the jury what they had lost.

"The days following Christopher's death, I cried so much that my eyes were sore from wiping them," Michael Barrios said.

Both the prosecution and defense called forensic psychologists, and the two men gave very different perspectives on Edenfield's mental state.

Testifying for the defense, Dr. James E. Stark said Edenfield showed symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and had a lower-than-average IQ.

"He is out of the normal range on scales measuring both paranoia and schizophrenia," Stark testified. "He's in poor touch with reality. He may have hallucinations and some kinds of delusional thinking."

But Dr. Phillip Barron, testifying for the prosecution, said the fact that Edenfield successfully held a job speaks to his competence.

"The fact that he was able to interact appropriately in the high-stress condition of police interviews repeatedly and consistently was a strong indication," Barron said. "During my interview of him, Mr. Edenfield demonstrated no sign of any kind of significant mental illness."

The jury heard testimony until 9:30 p.m. Monday, then resumed at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday. Channel 4's Laura Mazzeo reported at noon that after the lunch break, the prosecution and defense would make closing arguments, then the jury would be charged with deciding whether Edenfield should be put to death by lethal injection or spend the rest of his life in prison without possibility of parole.

Monday's verdict was reached on the fifth day of the trial, which had continued through the weekend with two days of testimony and cross-examination of Edenfield's wife, Peggy, who is also facing murder charges in the March 2007 slaying.

Prosecutors agreed not to seek the death of Peggy Edenfield, 58, in exchange for her agreeing to testify against her husband and son.

George Edenfield, 34, is expected to face trial next and will also face the death penalty if convicted. Neither that trial nor one for Peggy Edenfield has been scheduled.

YAY!!!!! I'm against the death penalty in most cases...BUT this seems to be the perfect punishement. Sorry......but unrepentant child molesters are SO fucked up, that they will never EVER be rehabilitated.