BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Julee Kidd stands with her children, twins Chelsea and Zachary.
(Ryan Miller photo)
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UNION TOWNSHIP -- Elliott Sanders has spent three months in prison for beating a deaf 6-year-old boy with a stick because he ate the last piece of Mr. Sanders' birthday cake for breakfast, and then lied about it. He also threatened to kill Julee Kidd, the boy's mother and his girlfriend, because she was a potential witness prepared to testify, according to court records.
But is that time in jail long enough? Mr. Sanders is about to find out.
Ms. Kidd is terrified.
Aug. 27, Mr. Sanders' attorney, William Gallagher, will appear before Clermont County Judge Robert Ringland on his client's request for judicial release, previously known as "shock probation." Mr. Sanders, who won't attend, was sentenced for two felonies to 26 months in prison, but because they are being served concurrently, his maximum is 14 months.
"I want my son to have his childhood back," Ms. Kidd said this week, the day after prosecutors notified her by mail of Mr. Sanders' upcoming hearing. "That's been taken from him, completely. I just want my child back again. . . . I want to keep (Mr. Sanders) in jail. An eye for an eye."
Mr. Sanders, through officials at Madison Correctional Institution near London,, declined to comment this week. Mr. Gallagher, of Cincinnati, said his client's goal is a transfer to a less restrictive, community-based facility, and not outright release. He said Mr. Sanders also has expressed an interest in parenting and anger-management classes, which are unavailable at Madison.
News of the hearing has refueled the wide range of emotions born from case file 97-CR005432, which has grown to 112 pages and is about to get longer.
While Ms. Kidd is overwhelmed by the prospect that Mr. Sanders could be less closely supervised, Clermont County Prosecutor Don White vows to fight for Mr. Sanders to serve his maximum sentence.
Zachary Kidd, now 7, suffered lacerations on his head, face and body, and 10 months after the incident still has scars behind his legs, Ms. Kidd said. He was treated by a pediatrician but did not require hospital care.
"If he gets out, he'll kill me," Ms. Kidd said, recalling Mr. Sanders' post-arrest threats to her and her family. "I'm dead," she said.
Mr. Sanders, 29, pleaded guilty May 26 to one count of attempted child endangerment and one count of attempted intimidation of a witness.
"I understand (the victim's family's) anger, but at some point no matter what, he's going to be released."
In a plea bargain supported by Ms. Kidd that spared the boy from taking the witness stand, both charges were reduced from third-degree felonies to fourth-degree.
"You never want to put a child like that in that position," Mr. White said, "especially one who's been abused."
Because of the reduced charges, Mr. Sanders automatically became eligible for judicial release and was required to apply within 60 days. He has been at the Madison facility, about 20 miles west of Columbus, since June 16.
His release request is a possible one-shot deal. If Judge Ringland rejects the request without a hearing, Mr. Sanders could reapply. But if a hearing is held and he's rejected, he must serve his full sentence, and would be released July 21, 1999.
"My assistant (Maura Teague) will be there fighting very hard," Mr. White said. "We want him to serve his full sentence."
Judge Ringland, who sentenced Mr. Sanders, said Thursday he'll be open-minded and focus on the facts. He added, "We always take into account victim's family's comments."
That's comforting to Ms. Kidd, who said her son's behavioral problems since the incident have worsened to the point that "he's very afraid of most everything. . . . He's very violent."
The boy's therapist at Child Focus declined to comment, citing confidentiality.
Ms. Kidd says her son's life was changed forever at 9:30 the morning of Oct. 5.
That's when Mr. Sanders, who had moved in with Ms. Kidd and her two children, realized the cake from his birthday four days earlier was missing.
According to defense court records, Zachary lied when questioned by Mr. Sanders, and Mr. Sanders reverted to the kind of disciplinary action with which he was familiar.
When Ms. Kidd came out of the shower to see what happened, she "went into a rage and that was it, he (Elliott) was gone," according to her preliminary hearing testimony.
Zachary's twin sister was found hiding under a bed.
When asked if there had been any previous similar incidents between her boyfriend and son, Ms. Kidd answered, "Elliott has disciplined the children, but nothing like this, no."
Mr. Sanders, who is 6 feet tall and weighed 235 pounds when he was arrested, served one day in jail before being released on $10,000 bond and ordered to stay away from the Kidd family.
At 5:30 p.m. Nov. 28, "the defendant told Julee Kidd . . . that he would kill her and her family for what they were doing to him and her family will pay," according to a document filed by assistant prosecutor Susan L. Tolbert. The second charge, intimidation of a witness, was added.
Mr. Sanders was jailed for two more days, Dec. 20-22, after he failed to appear for arraignment, but was subsequently released again on bond.
That January, Mr. Sanders' defense began to reveal itself. Mr. Gallagher subpoenaed Zachary's school and disciplinary records at Brantner Elementary, where Zachary attends special classes. The defense attorney also wrote that Mr. Sanders had been a positive influence in the boy's school and home life.
In the midst of three cancellations of a plea or setting of a trial date, Mr. Gallagher filed a notice of alibi: a woman who lives in a Winton Road apartment.
Defense records show Mr. Sanders would claim he was with her the morning of the incident -- not at the Kidd home.
Instead, May 26, Mr. Sanders pleaded guilty to reduced charges. The Kidds thought they'd be safe long enough to heal.
"It's just about justice," Ms. Kidd said, her voice wavering. "He can't change my son."
