“The West is kind of tight-lipped about things like that” ~Slim Brittan, cowhand on the Donaldson ranch
Maybe you remember Cody Posey? I certainly do. Cody Posey, a murderer, won my heart in July of 2004.
Cody was in the eight grade when he was arrested for the murder of his father, Paul Posey, 34, his stepmother, Tryone Posey, 44, and his stepsister, Mairlea Schmid, who was 13. The murders took place on a ranch in New Mexico owned by the famous newsman, Sam Donaldson. Cody admitted to the killings, was convicted, and sentenced as a juvenile offender. He was 14 years-old. Now, at age 21, Cody is free.
I was one of the many sympathetic people who wrote Judge James Waylon Counts, asking him to be lenient with Cody. There are many of us who absolutely believe that Cody was being severely physically and psychologically abused by his father, and that his step-mother was about to sexually abuse him.
Cody lived with his family on the Chavez Canyon Ranch in Hondo, New Mexico. Cody’s family worked on the ranch and it was Sam Donaldson who discovered the bodies on July 6, 2004. Several Ranch Hands verified at the trial that Cody suffered years of physical and psychological abuse by his father.
One witness testified that Cody was “disciplined” with sadism, humiliation, and isolation, and that the boy did not have any avenue of escape, or a way to express his hell to anyone. Other witnesses stated that Paul Posey punched or slapped his son on a regular basis.
Ranch Hand, Slim Britton witnessed Cody being hit with a coiled rope and said, “I never saw a hand laid on him in love.”
According to Cody, the night before the killings, his father and stepmother told him to go to the master bedroom where they attempted to force him to have sex with his stepmother, Tyrone. When Cody coiled in disgust and said he wouldn’t do it, Cody says his father burned him with a heated metal rod. Cody felt that this would not be an isolated incident. Cody testified to having cowered in his room that night, and said, “I more or less lost my mind.”
The next day, Cody could not shake the disgust and serious psychological effects of what had happened the night before. Then, when his father slapped him during his chores, Cody took a gun from Marilea’s saddle bag, and shot each family member in the head. Cody told police, “I was thinking my world would be better and the whole world would be better without him.”
At Cody’s trial, his defense team presented evidence of incestuous pornography found on Paul Posey’s computer, and that Cody and his sister were at school when the incestuous porn sites were visited on the internet. In an attempt to mask the incest pornography, the prosecution ignorantly submitted family photos of a smiling Cody with his father, step-mother, and sister –as if to say he was a liar just because someone had a camera ready at family celebrations. I bet no one had a camera ready when Cody was being beaten, humiliated, isolated, or when his sick father wanted Cody to have sex with Cody’s 44 year-old step-mother.
Cody testified that he shot his step-sister so that she couldn’t tell on him, but I find this to be a backwards Freudian Slip. I think Cody shot Mairlea because she hadn’t told anyone what had been happening to him for so many years. I think he shot his step-sister because she hadn’t tried to do anything to stop the abuse, and that she most likely was treated well by the father and mother, and was not beaten or physically abused by them. I think Cody had years of subconscious rage built up for his step-sister because she was favored and didn’t help him.
It was reported that for months before the shootings, Cody’s step-sister was told by the parents to keep an eye on Cody at school. It is alleged that what she reported to them often got Cody punished. For all we know, his step-sister received rewards for spying on Cody and maybe she even enjoyed it. So instead of telling teachers or the police that her brother was being beaten at home for years, she became an extension of Cody’s abusers. To Cody, his step-sister was just another part of the abuse.
Even the father of Cody’s stepsister, Jake Schmeed, was quoted as saying he did not blame Cody. In an interview, Marilea’s father said, “Cody doesn’t need to be punished for this. He didn’t do it. Paul and Tryone did this,” and added, “Paul and Tryone made [Cody] do it, created him and made him the weapon that caused their death and Marilea’s death.”
Marilea’s father is a smart and truthful man.
As far as the allegations of sexual abuse, I believe Cody 100%. I remember the commentary that took place on Court TV and other media outlets during trial coverage. More than one reporter or so-called “expert” said they didn’t believe Cody’s claim of attempted sexual abuse. Why? Because it was a woman being accused. The commentators and psychological panel would say things like, “sexual abuse by a woman is rare.” I remember being infuriated by the ignorance and denial of people who are paid to go on television and give their “expert” opinions –opinions that are outdated, delusional, uneducated, and harmful. If Cody wanted to make up a story of incest to justify the shooting of his family, then he would have said his father tried to rape him, or that his father had been molesting him for years. He would not have made up a story that no one would believe. I feel that Cody Posey told the truth about his father and step-mother.
I don’t condone murder, but I feel that Cody felt trapped with no other option, and that years of rage and pain had ignited itself into that gun barrel. I feel that Cody knew that he would have to face either his father’s hot iron on his body, or to have sex with his step-mother. I think that Cody felt he had no choice. Cody is smart; he knew that if he tried to get help, people wouldn’t believe him if he told them that his father was trying to force him into sex with his willing step-mother. As a psychologically damaged victim, Cody felt he had no other way of escape.
Cody’s tormentors are gone and the threat of vile sexual abuse with his step-mother is over. Cody obtained a high school degree and completed two years worth of college credits while in custody. He had no disciplinary issues and became a mentor to other young boys while in juvenile custody. I feel that Cody will be a productive human being. I wish him the best and hope that one day he will be free and at peace about what happened to him and about what he did to get out of his hell.
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EVIL SITS AT THE DINNER TABLE 
I don’t believe that Cody should be sent to prison at all, his father abused him, his step-mother is a sick women, and his sister should not be killed at all, he is so tired being abused by his father, and his father have no love for him at all, parents were supposed to love their children. Cody’s story is the most tragic case ever, his biological mother died in a car accident, after his mother gain custody of him, when Cody’s mother took him away from his father, to start a new life, and with a new step-father, While driving in the middle of the road there was an accident occur, his mother was thrown out from the car, and that his mother died in his Cody’s arms. After Cody lost his mother, he was taken back from his abusive father, I truly believe he should be in the hands of his father, after his father abused him, he should be in child care protection. His father, and step-mother got for what they deserved, Cody just fought back after suffering in the abused in the hands of his father and step-mother. I pleaded for leniency, and show sympathy for Cody, and I don’t feel bad for his father, there are witnesses who saw Cody being abused, with marks in his body, which proofs that Cody’s father beat him. His paternal grand-father abused him paternal grand-mother, and later his paternal grand-mother killed his paternal grand-father and later committed suicide. The Posey’s family have some history of violence, and Cody was a victim of violence.
Thanks. There is no doubt that Cody suffered extreme abuse for a long time, and that people knew and did not help him.
I would have to say that this is the sadest situation that I have ever heard. I have read all of the remarks about whether or not this boy did something wrong by killing his dad, step mom, and his sister. We can all continue this for as long as we want but its still not going to change the fact that both of those children lived in a very abusive houshold and experienced things that no one should ever go through, and sadly it ended with two parents and a innocent little girl being murdered by a tormented and extremely traumatized teen. Some people maythink that this man now will be able to live a full and happy life after killing his family but no one actually knows the kind of turmoil that he has to live with knowing what he did. With all of that being said, what we all need to be doing is turning our goals toward awareness of other children that live in circumstances like those kids did, and try to help. Lets pray for him and others that are going through this kind of trauma, and hope their situation don’t end in the sad way that this situation has. FYI: To all of those people who still want to throw blame on anyone for whatever reason remember that we all sin and that when WE ALL DIE, only GOD can judge us.
You are correct D.J. Cody will not truly be at peace because he did take lives, but he will do a hell of a lot better than many other people who have been abused and who have no one to support them or to help them get their lives back together. Countless survivors of child sexual abuse survived their hell only to be re-victimized as adults –revictimized by their perpetrator and the family members who defend the perpetrator. Countless survivors are on drugs, engage in prostitution, or abuse alcohol because they cannot cope with life and have no one to help them. Cody has a lot of support.
Cody might also feel some satisfaction inside for having stopped those two degenerates from hurting any more kids. He will always feel pain over the killing of his sister, but he also knows he spent time in prison for that so he at least knows he has done penance.
Cody Posey, in my eyes, deserves a second chance at life and complete forgiveness for himself and from society.
Ive been reading about this case and saw this article and the many comments. It’s obvious from some of the comments that those firmly in Cody’s camp will not hear any disparaging remarks about this murderous young man. He killed his younger sister so she wouldnt tell. The poor girl was a victim herself. If dear old dad had incestuous photos on the computers and didn’t have any qualms about one form of abuse for his son, then its highly likely he was practising another form of abuse on his daughter. It sounds to me that she was doing her best to survive a bad situation and to blame her in the slightest is callous and heartless. The fact is Cody shot her. She was not to blame for the family’s situation. How was she expected to speak up when adults in the know, as well as her older brother, the killer, didn’t. I can only assume that those commenters on this page who have said so must have been exceptionally brave 13 year olds in their time, I certainly wasnt. Cody is a murderer. Although his killing of his father and stepmother whilst not condoned, is understandable, the execution of his 13 year old step sister should have carried a longer sentence. He now gets to have a life and the possibility of a great future, Mairlea’s future was snuffed out when he ended her young life. It irks me that one eyed commenters here only see righteous retribution for Cody, not Mairlea. Please note that although both children lived in a violent household, only one survived to tell his story, Mairlea’s story didn’t play out. She was made out to be a co-conspirator with her parents. Its always sad when a victim basically gets blamed for their own death!
What you don’t seem to get is that my opinion of what Cody did is not to “blame the victim for their own death.” What my article and comments are trying to convey is that inside the mind and soul of Cody, was a brutally wounded teenage boy who was probably beaten many times over his sister’s telling on him. The brain of a teenager is not fully developed yet and all his brain knew was that his sister was an arm of his tormentors and maybe she was even sort of happy to do it, or she got rewarded. Cody just wanted to get what was hurting him to stop and she was an extension of that hurt and someone who had told on him many times.
It is tragic that he shot his sister too, but it was out of years of rage and desperation at being beaten and abused with his sister’s help. Victim or not, she helped her parents in Cody’s mind. One cannot place adult logic and adult rationalizations on the mind of a severely abused boy with NO ONE on his side.
They were BOTH victims, but to an abused by, his sister was part of his abuse. You cannot judge the mind of an abused child. I don’t judge the mind of his sister either. But if any part of what she did was based in her own self-gratification, then her soul will have to deal with that. Teenagers are not 100% pure like little children are.
Killing the 13-year-old step-sister is what makes him a murderer. So what if she didn’t tell anyone about the abuse? Neither did he. And he said himself that he killed her so she couldn’t tell on him. That’s not self defense and it’s not excusable. Justice fulfilled.
You can’t judge what you would do. The betrayal and rage that an abuse victim feels towards siblings who partake in, or facilitate, the on-going, systematic abuse is at a level that you will never understand.
It’s so easy to sit there and judge from an armchair.
THESE ppl will NEVER understand alethea, the only ppl who do are those of us who sat thru the UNSPEAKABLE abuse cody suffered as it was laid out in court. he tore my heart out, imagine, all that shitty life and he STILL is a good boy!!! he STILL has hope, and dreams, after a LIFETIME of horror. i love cody like my own dear child and my hat is off to the attny and family who adopted him and showed him how good it could be. cody SHOULD be an unfeeling psychpathic monster, but hes NOT! PROVEN TO YOU AND ME and the others who ‘get it’, beyond a shadow of a doubt when he would rather kill than be forced to perform sickening perversions. a CHILDS decision made in the terrifying face of ADULTS HORRORS!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Chris. I think that, until people have walked the road of having been severely traumatized and abused by a parent while a sibling becomes a part of it, they will never be able to have compassion and understanding for those who kill the sibling along with the perpetrator. Cody is not the first teenager who has done this and sadly, he won’t be the last.
Until society pulls its collective head out of the sand, and until mothers and fathers begin to protect and nurture their children instead of abuse them, Cody’s case will not be the last.
Many knew about the abuse, why this was not reported to the police? Why he did not run away or choose other ways to find a better life? Is killing the only way out? He is free from prison, what kind of life he will have now? All these could’ve been prevented!!!!
Yes, prevented by all those who knew what was happening and did nothing. Prevented by his father and step-mother –the very abusers who chose to abuse him.
Where do you suppose a boy who is being brutalized, traumatized, and threatened with sexual abuse on a daily basis is supposed to go and get help from when so many people already aren’t helping him?
Please research and educate yourself on why victims don’t run away.
From what I have read, Cody is doing very well. He is staying out of trouble, and educating himself. The abusers are dead and their victim is succeeding. A good outcome I’d say.
I may be one of the few, but I don’t believe a word of what Cody Posey or his “witnesses” have said in court about the level of abuse he supposedly suffered at the hands of his father, and the alleged attempts of his step-mother to force him to sleep with her. However, I DO think he lived in a very structured and disciplined environment, and I believe that may have committed these murders as a way of getting his own way – to be free to do what HE wanted to do and to not have to answer to anyone. At any rate, he should NEVER have taken out his anger and frustration on his step-sister. She was, afterall, only a child herself.
Hi Lynn. Why exactly don’t you believe Cody or all the witnesses who testified to the brutal abuse?
Lynn,
So are you saying that “structure and discipline” include having rocks thrown at you, bales of hay being dropped on your head, being threatened with tools, being roped like a cow, and all of the other horrible things that Cody’s father and mother did to him (with hospital photos to prove by the way) are a way of disciplining a child? Are you serious?
If Cody and the whole stream of witnesses were ALL lying, I am impressed that they all said exactly the same things and kept all the lies and stories straight for as long as they did!
and Laura, being threatened to be burned with a cattle rod if you do not have sex with your step-mother!
Exactly, Alethea. The poor child was helpless. No one stood up for him. Sad!!
That’s because you’re ignorant and choose to turn a blind eye to the facts.
That comment is for Lynn!!
I too remember Cody, and came upon this site by being courious as to how he is doing. He is in my Prayers. One point in the trial I remember so vividly is the two workers that were in the home when c
Cody was a baby in diapers. They spoke of how his father was BEATING him so hard that they stopped working to intervene. As a Mother of three and also a foster mother of several, I had believed in dicipline, but tears were on my face when I heard the testimony of those men. I can’t even imagine the never ending abuse he must have sufferred all those years. It would take a Very strong person to survive.
I am truly amazed how certain individuals in their communities are excused from terrible crimes because of “psycological” issues.
As an Educator,I come in contact with children who are born,raised and encounter”pycological issues” daily and because of race economics or both are sentenced as teens with no care or concern from you or anybody else!
There are a lot of Cody’s in our country. They live in the urban and rural communities out of reach of your lawyers,courts and most of all your sympathy….!
Cody was a victim, being victimized and terrorized. According to court records, at least 40 adults knew it, and did nothing to help Cody. As an educator, you should educate yourself on the dynamics of child sexual and physical abuse victims.
“Like it or not, there is a possibility that she did indeed receive favors in exchange for her silence and that she liked being the favored child. These are facts that cannot be ignored or denied out of self-comfort.”
Her enjoyment of possible “favors” (be that ability to eat dinner or a pony) does not disturb me. What is disturbing is that anyone would blame her if she liked being favored. Abuse situations involving children need to looked at in a wholistic way. Abusive parents “divide and conquer” in their families. They alienate and set children against one another. Children do not create the family dynamics they are born into, ever, and an abuser is an abuser no matter who he/she is dealing with and a 13 year old is a 13 year old is a 13 year old. Marilea Schmid knew the drill. Conscioulsy or subconsciously she knew she needed to keep her abusive parents pleased. Tattling pleased them. The combination of parental expectation and her ability to deliver what they wanted was her coping method, her form of self preservation, and at 13, subconscious. Her brother’s coping method ultimately ended her life. I do not hold him responsible. He was simply born into an abusive, horrific situation and snapped. His sister Marilea Schmid is the ultimate example of the perils of being the favored child. To be the favored child is not a safe place to be even if no one snaps. Many are even disparaging Schmid for “not telling”. This shows extreme lack of understanding of abuse situations and responsibilities, awareness of children from such situations. She was supposed to save her brother? She was trying to survive her parents herself. Please find room for compassion for both children in this situation — Is it that hard? Both were both in lose/lose situations, and both tragic victims of a situation out of their hands. Yet many No where can I find a photo of Marilea Schmid. No where do I see kind words about her from friends, those who knew the best in her. It seems very sad and callous, disrespectful to me, this erasing of her and even quickness to practically demonize her. She is a dead child. Yet many comments range from ignoring her, to viewing her as nothing but collateral or even somewhat deserving what she got. Impossible.To demand a child abuse another child is a form of abuse in and of itself– it is an emotional violation of a child at a core level. At the very least we know she was psychologically, emotionally abused and damaged. The blog author mentions her Marilea Schmid’s dad knows it was not the step brother’s fault and deems him “wise” for this. Yet I am sure he also does not feel his daughter in any way, shape, form, got what she asked for. Tattler or not. Mean girl or not. Favored or not. Given gifts for tattling or not. Do not define Marilea Schmid solely on the writings of an abusive mother, nor the trauma of her brother. She was a little girl with her own background, personality, dreams, and will never be able to speak for herself. I hope she rests in peace, and to Cody Posey I hope he finds peace and happiness as well. Both children were the opposite sides of a horrific coin they never tossed.
woopsie- You called Marilea Schmid’s dad “smart and truthful”- not “wise”- sorry to misquote. Personally I’d call him exceptionally large-hearted and understanding. (Being as it was his child.) Either way I’m sure he wishes those bullets had never entered his little girl’s head. I also want to say the comments I refer to about Marilea Schmid are comments I have found both on this blog but many other sites online. There is an erasure of her on the one hand, coupled with condemnation of her. She deserves neither.
I consider him smart and truthful because, 99% of the time, the victim’s family (in these kind of cases) are not honest enough with themselves to see that the person who killed their loved one was also a victim. And because of that, I would call him wise.
I agree with you Jenni, and know all of this. But my entire point, and the perspective I used when this was written and when I commented; was ALL coming from the POINT OF VIEW OF THE VICTIM Cody Posey. My post and comments were not a condemnation of his sister, but a support of Cody’s mind. I wrote what I did because I KNOW first-hand the rage that a child or teen can feel when their sibling does not protect them or help them, but who becomes an extension of the abuse…again, all IN THE MIND OF THE VICTIM.
Once again, I am speaking, interpreting, voicing myself from THE MIND OF THE VICTIM, not from what is considered as “right” or “wrong” by society.
I see… thank you for clarifying. I am a little confused because In a post below you seem to lump the abusive parents and the child together saying it is people who support them who are “not so innocent” who are twisted. (You describe the actions of the parents as well as Marilea’s actions in tattling on her brother.)
I see a lot of “Cody was a murderer!” or else condemnation of Marilea or dismissal of her in some way, essentially by not speaking out about the tragedy of her death. I think it’s the abusive parents and abuse-mindset that ultimately wins out when that happens because of lack of understanding about what abuse causes and the different responses and roles children must play to survive. I understand that it’s not always possible or necessary to speak up for *everyone* in every situation in the same way, and that you were speaking up from your experience and insight into what Cody’s mind may have been. Thanks for letting me share on your blog.
Jenni, I did a search for the words “not so innocent” on this page, and could not find the comment you are referring to. If you want to find it for me and post what I said, word for word, then I can explain/clarify whatever point I was trying to make at the time.
Thanks for your understanding and for commenting too!
Deborah – If you are “close” to this family or have some other inside info, tell me… why didn’t YOU report the abuse of Cody? If you are as close as you say you are, you would have seen the abuse, just as many other people in the community did. Maybe if the abuse HAD been reported, none of the murders would have happened. So before you go judging people for not agreeing with what you say, think about it, maybe YOU could have prevented them from being killed.
I agree that there is evidence of abuse in this case as there were many witnesses to this. Murdering a 13 year old girl is a problem for the case of him snapping and murdering his offenders. My guess on the murder of his stepsister was probably that she was favoured over him by his parents and not wanting to leave a witness to his crimes. Of course you must consider his age when hr commited this crime – he was a child and didn’t fully understand the full deapth of his actions. It is clear that there is a cycle of violence in this family. The Grandmother murdered the Grandfather and killed herself due to his physicall abuse on her. All of which was confirmed by witnesses to her injuries. I do hope that he is genuine about getting help to break the cycle of abuse in his family like stated after the trial. The abuse can stop with him with a great amount of work on his part.
Time To Kill
I agree it’s a shame a 13 year old girl was killed. No one can say what the out come would of been if Cody hadn’t shot her. At the same time try to remember Cody didn’t sit around and plan this out. Iff you haven’t been through what he did you can’t say what was going on in his head. We can sit back and look at all of it and think about this and that as an adult. Not Cody, he had so much fear and anger builded up he couldn’t think about this or that. He was a child, keep that in mind. A child not an adult. I’m sure the min. he shot his dad he didn’t know what to do or have time to even think about anything other then I have nothing else to live for. No one will believe me. I wsn’t there and no one else but him. He is the only one that knows what he was thinking and he may not even know his self what he was thinking at the time. I’ve been push to thinking this way when I was a child. Some ask what stopped you. There is no correct answer to that. every person thinks diffrent and every case is diffrent. I will say this much. If I had been Cody I think I would done the same but, not sure I would of stopped there. He could had gone even father. He didn’t though. He shot those he felt threaten by the most. Lets say he didn’t shoot the girl. What would of happend? Would she had spoke up and told the truth or would she lied in anger that he killed her parents? No I didn’t keep up with this trial. Didn’t even know about it till last night. How ever I know the so call justic system we have don’t protect us. I pulled 12 months in jail because a cop said I hit him.. He knew it was a lie and he changed his story 3 times. It was in the transrcipt so it was no way forr him to get out of it. So what does he do. He leaves his job and takes off out of town. He was found later in Cal. he went from Va. to Cal. Did the court get him for purgy on the stand? No they didn’t. They didn’t care, what mattered more was to make a conviction. They tried everything to scare me. They threw in my face every plea they could. I refused to take a plea for one day for something I didn’t do. I fired 3 lawyers because they told me I was a fool. Said take the plea and you go home today. No! right is right and wrong is wrong. I pulled 12 months in jail I shouldn’t had because the truth came out in the end. Most would of gave in and said ok I did it so they could go home. I did learn a lot when I was in there. There are a lot of people in jail for things that others get a pat on the hand and sent home. It should be a set time for a crime for every one. Our justic system is to messed up to fix now. Back to Cody, you shouldn’t judge him when you won’t there. Was he right? Was he wrong? Who can say when we don’t know what went on behind closed doors. I do feel he would made up a hell of a lot better story if he was trying to lie his way out of it. I can see why he didn’t call the police. They don’t listen to kids like they should. They take the parents word and then the child has to pay for it. What do I wish he had done. I wish he had known ME! He wouldnt of had to fear or kill anyone. I would of beat his dad so bad he would never had walked again. Killing him let him off to easy. No child should have to live like that. Another thing I would like to point out is what did people want? To see him locked up for life? What good would that had done? Do you think he is a threat to the world? He was a child and was treated as a child in the court. He did his time so let him be. I would like to meet him. I’d shae his hand and buy him a new gun and ammo and tell him he did a good job to go save another child.
Any one doesn’t like what I have to say your welcome to contact me at countylies@gmail.com yes thats mt email because county’s do lie.
In response to several posts by one reader named Deborah, I have written a new article on Cody Posey. You can read it here:
Alethea – I have been reading these posts, the commentary back and forth between you and others, especially Deborah. I too watched as much of that trial as I could (I am a courtroom ‘junkie’), having worked many years as a paralegal. I found myself agreeing word for word with your thoughts and perception of this entire matter. I read the new article you wrote, and I am very glad you wrote it… it all needed to be said.
I have been glued to the t.v. during the Casey Anthony trial…I have never seen a case with such an undercurrent of emotion, intrigue, such complicated family dynamics. I don’t know what to think from one day to the next, but grieve for the innocent little soul that has been lost.
Well, just wanted to give you a thumbs up for your thoughts on behalf of Cody Posey – I agree with you completely.
Marianne
Thank you so much Marianne. It’s hard to walk the road of truth sometimes. Truth is very uncomfortable for most people. Most of society thinks that this or that “should” be a certain way, and that murder can never be understood.
I appreciate your support.
Alethea…bravo. Bravo for saying what needed to be said. Thank you for this new article. I guess we’ll wait to see what Deborah’s response is to this one.
It astound me that people can claim abuse after committing horrific crimes without one shred of physical proof or substantiated facts and everyone becomes sympathetic and close their minds to the reality. You all are speculating and hypothesizing on what you think you know based on your own circumstances. You are failing to see the history in his family. His grandmother killed his fathers father while he slept. This was not the first murder in his family. He did not snap! A person who snaps does not take the time to bury the bodies. A person who snaps may kill the so called abusers, not the stepsister who will tell on him. If anything, he keeps her alive to back up his so called abuse. She was a witness to it and if it indeed was happening, she was probably a victim as well. I will even go so far as to say, IF the boy was being abused and he killed the two abusers out of desperation, it will NEVER change the fact that he MURDERED a thirteen year old girl. That is cold blooded murder, no matter how you try and dance around the FACTS of this case. Remember the Menendez brothers? They too, fabricated a story of abuse. Thankfully the jurors were not ignorant enough to buy it. And cases like this diminish actual abuse cases.
“You all are speculating and hypothesizing…”
As you are Deborah, as you are. And I can add, that you, as well as us, are also judging. We judge based on our personal experiences, the evidence submitted in the case, the testimony, etc. and on common sense and statistics. You judge Cody, and those of us who disagree with you, on the basis of a murder in the family history (go back far enough, and all of us have murderous ancestors) and upon your personal conclusions and experiences etc.
You are no better, or different, than those of us who feel Cody was abused and his actions were justifiable.
Alethea, I have made some pretty harsh comments and it is obvious you have been through a very painful childhood. I in no way am trying to make light of the suffering you experienced. My point is, hopefully, you did not resort to violence, just as the majority of people who suffered at the hands of their abusers did not. My comments come from my own frustration with this case. I am closer to this situation than I should let on and let my emotions get the best of me. I appreciate your sympathy for Cody, but justifying the murders is just incredibly disturbing to me. Where does it end? The FACT is and research will back me up, abuse as a cause for murder has become the “in” defense, a concocted ploy to gain the sympathy of the jury, especially sexual abuse. It happens more often than you know and should need more than testimony to prove in a triple homicide case.
Geez, what a sheltered person you are Deborah. I didn’t experience any physical abuse, but I can tell if someone is “making up” something as outrageous as what Cody went through. He did snap, and that doesn’t mean it’s restricted to just a single moment in time, as some have commented about what he did after the killings. Cody had no history of being a bad boy, bully, being disrespectful to anyone, etc., unlike a lot of teenagers these days. He did have a very long history of being tormented, nearly every day of his life. This young boy got in trouble simply for breathing. His father and step-mother were dispicable human beings. They worked their children like adults and gave them nothing (appropriate nurishment, clothes, shoes, entertainment, love, understanding, etc.) His father didn’t even want him until his mother died in an accident leaving him a social security check, that his father spend on himself – not on the child it was designed to provide for. Let’s not forget how hard it was on Cody to have to live with the parent he knew hated him and the one who loved him was no longer around for him to go to. He tried not to have to go with his father, cried that he hit him and was mean to him, but that nice cop we tell our children to respect and trust forced him to leave his loving aunt and go with his father.
A lot of people testified about what they witnessed in how Cody was treated, so his claims were substantiated. When he was arrested, those around him at that moment told him they loved him, even without knowing exactly what happened, but they had a good idea of what could have happened.
I consider it temporary insanity that resulted in a justifiable homicide. His step-sister was an extention of that entire terrible event. Her father said he went to the house to find something to bury her in and only found a bustier in her bedroom, nothing else, just that. What does that say?
The overwhelming child pron on their computer cannot be ignored, as the prosecution so wanted it to be. Prosecutors have tunnel vision. For example, in my city, a six year old played too roughly with an infant and accidentally killed the baby. The prosecutor went public, I repeat, he went public to announce they were considering charging the child with “murder”. I guess he (and apparently the entire D.A.’s office) missed law school the day the definition of “murder” was discussed. Murder must involve a malicious intent. Even my then young son knew a six year old’s mind could not form malicious intent. The deceased infant’s parents had to go to the prosecutor and convince him not to file murder charges. It’s disgusting that the incident even reached the prosecutor’s office.
God bless Cody. My heart has been, is, and forever will be with him. I happened to think about him today, and ran a search of his name and came upon this site, and I’m glad I did. It helps me to put a period at the end of his ordeal now that he’s free at last. It will take time for someone as young as he to work through it totally, but he knows a lot of people understand, He just has to put aside the criticisms of those who don’t.
I love you, Cody.
Monica Ray
Deborah is right, here’s a kid who could
have called 911, runaway, called a relative,
and then he admits he killed his stepsister because she would tell on him
and they are having a vigil for him,
and the sentence, unbelievable just absolutely unbelievable…………..,,
Until you have walked in Cody Posey’s shoes, or in the shoes of any repeatedly assaulted, brutalized, mentally tortured, unloved, unprotected, and spiritually broken teen, you can’t say one way or another how you would have reacted.
As I wrote in earlier comments, you don’t know how his sister was involved. She could have been helping the parents because she got special treatment, or favors. Maybe she even enjoyed being the special child and getting all the love. Maybe SHE could have called 911 for Cody! But she didn’t.
Once again, removing all responsibility from this murderer, a cold blooded murderer, and placing blame on a dead 13 year old child. That is sick and twisted! And I do know a thing or two more than you will ever know about this family, any of you.
No Deborah, it’s “sick and twisted” to support those who sexually and physically abuse children, and those who are not so innocent because they get the abused into trouble, all for self-gain.
According to court documents, some 40 adults kept quiet about abuse of Cody Posey. That was the culture of the town, and much of society really. Even adults don’t speak out against abuse they see. So it is amazing people believe the Marilea Schmid, who knew full well what her parents are capable of, and was within their reach to be reprised against, is being condemned for keeping quiet as well. It takes a VERY exceptional person to upset the order of an abusive family situation and culture of silence around abuse. Yet people are holding this 13 year old to this standard. Where is compassion for a child in her case? Perhaps sister was a major tattler and got him in trouble, causing him yet more abuse. I don’t doubt it. Remember, she was groomed to be this and do this by her parents. But don’t put so much power into the hands of a child,as if she orchestrated her situation, calling her “the not so innocent”, etc etc. Um, she WAS innocent. Does anyone here want to be the favorite of the people with incest on their computer? Didn’t think so. Being the prized one, when the adults are abusive, is NOT a prize. Don’t put so much responsibility on a child who lives with and was raised by freaks. No, she was in fact an ultimate victim – ultimately dying due to the abuse her parents (NOT HER) doled out. It is not at all “twisted” to support those who are in your words “not so innocent because they get the abused into trouble, all for self gain”….this is extremely callous, and even more so, incredibly presumptuous about the heart of a child you do not know, can never know, can never ask. Even if she was a mean-girl extraordinaire, she was in a sickening situation being in that family, and yes, at age 13, still innocent. You call those who wish to honor her life and death, “twisted”. I honor both Cody Posey’s life, and hers. Even if she did in fact tattle “for self gain” (and not at least in part for self preservation whichlikely in an abusive home) she was in fact in a dangerous situation herself …quite obviously.. As she is no longer with us. Abusers affect all their children — even the ones they may or may not have abused physically, sexually . They get around to abusing them all one way or another. Yes, they do. And certainly they abuse them all emotionally. You will never know her story, so why be so harsh toward Marilea Schmid? Cody Posey isn’t. He told officers he loved his sister just a day or two after the tragedy. He probably misses her and who knows what good times they may have shared. Schmid is a victim in this as much as Cody Posey is and was.
“So it is amazing people believe the Marilea Schmid, who knew full well what her parents are capable of, and was within their reach to be reprised against, is being condemned for keeping quiet as well. It takes a VERY exceptional person to upset the order of an abusive family situation and culture of silence around abuse.”
I don’t know that I agree with this. I know of many survivors and siblings of survivors, who spoke up for themselves or their abused sibling.
13 is an age where the child is starting to come into adulthood. At age seven, the child’s rational/logical thinking enters their mind. And the teenage years are when a child/teen can be extremely selfish. Marilea may have had some selfish motivation in not helping her brother. Or, she may have 100% been a victim. No one, I repeat, no one will ever know the answer to that. But Cody lived with her and those wretched parents, so something within those family dynamics angered his subconscious mind enough to kill her too. One thing is for sure, she was not a 4, 5 or 6 year-old child. She was entering teenage years, so maybe not 100% innocent.
You keep being angry with me for not having sympathy for her, but you just don’t seem to get the fact that I was not writing about her, or her deserved sympathy. My articles and comments have been only to defend Cody Posey. So for the record: I have sympathy for Marilea. I am sorry that she was murdered. But I have more sympathy for Cody, who has to remain on this earth and deal with the knowledge that he killed her, and deal with people who call him a cold-blooded killer, and who don’t believe he was physically abused or about to be sexually abused by his step-mother. Marilea is in a peaceful place now. Her karma on earth is over. May she rest in peace with God.
“You call those who wish to honor her life and death, “twisted”. “
Where did I say this?
Yes!!! Being brutalized by patents DO NOT GIVE THE RIGHT to ANYONE to kill!!! I WAS brutalized, humiliated, punched, kicked, mocked, cussed at, and everything else you can imagine in my childhood up to my late 20s!!! I NEVER had the AUDACITY even to contemplate killing my abuser because IT IS NOT UP TO ME to take ANYONE’s life!!!
You are not Cody Posey and it is very possible that Cody was being much more abused than you were. I also don’t see sexual abuse in the list you have here. Sexual abuse is on a whole different level.
Even if you were, you did not live Cody’s life, so do not judge him.
I feel bad commenting on this seeing as the post was from April 2011, but I think I need to say my peace. I’m actually in two frames of mind about this, though not about to insult either party as others seem to be doing. I do not blame cody for the murder of his father os step-mother, if the abuse he suffered was real, which I don’t doubt for a second, then I can understand somebody snapping in the heat of the moment or after that much physical and mental torture, I’d say most adults have almost snapped a time or two, so a child would understandibly find it almost impossible to cope. Not that I (nor do I believe you) support the killing of his sister, that too in the heat of the moment, in blind panic at his own actions (which I believe he regrets as he does indeed seem like a decent human being).
My problem here is, I’m afraid, that you seem to be blaming a 13 year old CHILD for her murder, and no I’m not saying it was cold hearted, planned, but it was murder and no she DID NOT deserve to die, there is no comprehendable, logical way that you can seriously sit there and blame a 13 year old girl for not telling on her parents, if she suffered the same abuse she would be terrified, and if she did not she would be equally as terrified or punishment for having told.
And to the people saying you cannot know unless you have been abused, I myself have been, severly, but I did not turn round and kill anyone, my brother was NOT abused, at no point in time did I consider shooting him in the head. I am not saying that Cody is the same as me, nor I him and or course I cannot judge his actions the same and i cannot say his abuse was worse than mine.
What I do consider wrong, if you take out the question of should he still be in prison, is the people sitting here blaming a 13 year old girl for her own death, saying we cannot judge Cody because he was a child and then so calously bullying a dead girl.
You are such a hypocrite Emma. You say, “I feel bad” commenting, and say you don’t want to “insult” anyone, yet you comment anyway, and you say I am “blaming” the sister, and “callously bullying a dead girl.” You judge Cody because YOU didn’t kill anyone, and then turn around and say you are not the same as Cody and cannot judge his actions!
You consider me “wrong” to voice myself about Cody’s state of mind about his sister. I consider myself as making a correct observation about his state of mind. Whose truth is valid? Yours? Mine? Truth is relative here in this comment section. The only REAL truth is what exists inside Cody’s conscious and subconscious mind, and what his 13 year-old sister’s state of mind was. But another truth, is my God-given right to voice my support and understanding of what Cody did. If you consider it bullying of a dead girl, then you are reading the comments with some kind of personal feelings attached to the statements.
Once and for all… this discussion is not really about why his sister did or do not do anything, or what she endured or did not endure, or if she told on him or not…..it is CODY’S STATE OF MIND AT THE TIME OF THE KILLINGS THAT MATTERS HERE.
I always chuckle to myself when people timidly start out with “I feel bad,” and “I don’t want to offend” and then have no problem taking jabs at those they disagree with.
I’m sorry, I genuinly did not mean to offend you, and I certainly did not mean to sound hypocritical. I did not appreciate the name calling though, because I did not insult you in my post, or call you anything untoward. I certainly was not trying to come across as judgmental, I am glad that Cody is out and I fully support the belief that he felt he had no other choice. I tried not to judge Cody by my own expierience and actions, simpyl tried to use myself as an example of one who has suffered and not snapped – the same way you use your past expierience to try and defend him – which again, I am not condeming. I simply meant to say that there is no proof that the sister was part of the bullying or as you say may have enjoyed it, maybe like Cody said – he did just kill her so she couldn’t tell, maybe she was a victim too, and isn’t that just as bad, blaming a victim?, I find it equally unfair that people blame a possibly innocent victim (the sister) as I do that people blame Cody for snapping. I am infact glad he is out, and I wish him a peacful remainder of his life and hope he can overcome his demonds, like the rest of us who have suffered abuse should be able to do without prying eyes or being made to feel bad. It feels as though your post blames her, rather than stating this is how Cody might have felt. Again, I am sorry if I caused offence, I truly did not mean to.
Emma,
Where was there “name-calling?” Being a hypocrite is a term for someone who puts on a false appearance of virtue or someone who acts in contradiction to his or her stated opinion. Certainly, one might consider it worse to be told they are bullying a dead girl, than to be called a hypocrite. Being told I am bullying a dead girl is insulting don’t you think?
No, there is no “proof” of anything I said about Cody’s sister, but this is not a court of law. These are comments being made about a public case. But the fact is, some teenagers do indeed get selfish and do abusive things. They tell on their siblings for self-gain, or taunt and tease a sibling for favoritism by the parents. Cody’s sister may or may not have done those things, you don’t know any better than I do, but if Cody experienced those things in his mind, or in reality, then I defend his anger and frustration for feeling desperate and alone.
People can be so arrogant…”Oh I would NEVER do that to someone,” when they have not walked in the shoes of the victim.
“It feels as though your post blames her, rather than stating this is how Cody might have felt.”
I have stated in many comments that Cody did what he did because HE FELT a certain way. If you keep reading it differently, then maybe you are reading it with an experience of having been a teenager in the same position as Cody’s sister? I don’t know, but you keep stressing his sister’s innocence….in an almost highly personal defense.
Aletha,
I’m hoping you recieve this, as I cannot reply directly to your comment below, I’m not sure if that’s purposeful, and I hope not as I did not mean to offend you so.
I apologise if I am reading it wrong, I just felt that it wasn’t clear that it wa how Coy was interpretted to have felt rather than that is how he felt without question, which is why it upset me to think of her being blamed when she may not have fact done anything wrong.
I have certainly not been in the position of the sister, unless she was abused, I was abused when I was 11, by people I trusted from a young age and certainly still feel sickened and heartbroken and dirty and even guilty about that now, but no not in the position of the sister – I just believe that (obviously I don’t know the case as well as you) if she was abused in a similar was to Cody then she is equally a victim of her parents. If anything in this case is personal it is what Cody says he has been through, which is perhaps why I depend her personally, in case she has but never had the courage to say something was happening to her as well as him.
I really don’t want to argue with you, please do not think that, I’m just trying to understand.
Also, *Alethea, apologies for the spelling error.
Not a problem 🙂
I am not trying to argue with you either Emma, and I did not get that impression from you.
I guess my whole point is probably shuffled under all the “don’t judge” by now, and lost somewhere in all the misunderstandings and anger at me for daring to speak about things that go against the grain of society’s collective brain. But let me say that I speak from personal experience when I talk about Cody’s emotions/experience/reaction to his sister in that house all those years. I am just defending Cody, and you are defending his sister.
Emma, don’t worry so much about offending. Just speak your truth, speak your mind. Worrying about “offending” others only adds to the detriment of society and intellectual conversation.
If people spoke their minds, (but without personal attacks, labeling, or demeaning), there would be a lot less problems in this world.
One more thought….
Please realize that I am not condoning murder, but only trying to say that sometimes, murder in the collective mind of society, is quite different in the Mind of God.
my father was a petofile who hated me beat me everyday from age 4 to. 13 when I was 7 he dug a 9 foot hole in the yard and put me in it for over 2 hours and he also molested my 2older brothers and thay took it out on me and beat me more and more for it…….
…….so I can say he is not the only person that had a bad upbringing he just made the bad decision he woke up 1 day and said I’m going 2 murder my entir family basically
No, no, no Matt. When abused kids blow their family members away, it is usually not that they wake up and say, “I am going to murder my family today.” It is usually, and in Cody’s case, that they are like a ticking time bomb, and in one split instant, the last straw triggers a rage that has been bottled up for so long that they kill without having a conscious thought about it. Their subconscious drives them to kill. The dynamics of each individual, their soul, their psyche, their family, etc etc. dictates how they will react to their abusers. No two sexual abuse, or physical abuse victims, are the same.
We can’t judge those who kill their abusers, and anyone who helped those abusers. We have not walked in their shoes.
There doesn’t sound like there was a “decision” to release Cody. As a convicted juvenile, he served fully with an automatic release at age 21, the age of majority. Although quite evil herself, his sister, age 13, was definitely a victim of her parents as well. She just used her survival instincts, at Cody’s expense. I’m satisfied that these adults are dead. Moral justice was served, and hopefully Cody has survived his ordeals.
“Although quite evil herself, his sister, age 13, was definitely a victim of her parents as well. She just used her survival instincts, at Cody’s expense.”
Thank you Ruth. You said it well. Although she was also a victim, to Cody, she was an abuser. So I feel he is free of any moral culpability.
I watched the trail of Cody Posey from the beginning. I was anxious for the results of him being released from the terrible nightmare that happened to him. He is a very intelegent individual that has been given a second chance to a good life that he deserves. No one should have to experience the trauma that he had to endure. I am very pleased with the decision of his release and for his future endivers and wish him the very best for the rest of his life.
Im very happy that codys a free man in so many ways,if people make it hard on him cause tthat was his only he got to be free and rid of his sick twisted family gone
He is a man now, let him live now
keep hin prayer
Be Blessed
I’m sorry, I just can’t understand how anyone can make excuses for this boy committing murder, especially killing an innocent girl! You say you don’t condone murder, but that is exactly what you are doing. There are plenty of other options for victims of abuse, brutally murdering your entire family isn’t the answer. If he’d just killed his father, maybe I could buy that excuse. And maybe even the step mother…but not a 13 year old girl! Cody Posey shot three people in the face, and now he is free. What kind of message does that send other teens? Kill your family because you don’t like the way things are going, and then cry abuse and get away with it? I’m sorry, I can agree that the world is better off without child abusers and pedophiles, but I can’t understand how everyone just glossed over the murder of a 13 year old girl. Glorifying it does not make it right. And in a world of hotlines, support groups, school counselors, and countless other options for abuse victims to find help, I think it’s ridiculous to suggest that murder was his only way out.
I can defend Cody because I have been in a situation that was similar to his. I have walked his road.
When a sibling participates in the abuse, even if it is just to spy on the child being abused, or to get special treatment, etc. the child who is being abused, feels like the sibling is an extension of the abuse –as if they too are abusing the child.
And you obviously wanted to kill your abuser and the sibling you feel participated in your abuse since you “walked Cody’s road.” So did you kill them? If not, what stopped you? There are other ways of dealing with abuse and I would dare guess, you are living proof of it. There is no justification of murdering three people, especially a child. How can you sympathize with him yet call a child younger than he was evil? I feel very sad for you.
I understand what you are saying and in some cases I would agree with you, but in Cody’s case I’m sorry but I can’t agree. I watched the trial from start to finish. I heard all the accounts of everyone who knew about the abuse and did absolutely nothing. What kind of a message does that send? When friends, family, teachers, even the church did nothing to help Cody. His abuse started when he was a baby. His father was brutal. His step mother was no better. And his step sister was nothing more than a snitch. Should parents be able to get away with it? If you want to hear the real truth about what Cody went through, I’d be glad to tell you all about it. No child, no matter who they are, should have to endure what Cody did.
I watched the trial from beginning to end too Laura. I agree with you 100%.
Nicolai seems to be basing himself or herself on rational thinking. There is nothing rational when a teenager or child is being sadistically abused, and when no one does anything to help them, and when the child or teen feels no one in the world will ever help them or believe them. It’s like what Slim the ranch hand said, “The West is kind of tight-lipped about things like that.” These kids are on their own sometimes.
Alethea
This is not a message Cody was trying to send. I have a psychology degree and know the criminal system quite well. Cody’s whole being was beaten and tormented along with his body. He was broken. I can tell that you have not been in a situation where you don’t think there is a way out. And your lucky. Many people take their own lives because things seem impossible to escape from. When cody killed these people he was at the lowest he had ever been mentally. The loss of the little girl of course is a tradegy but you need to look at the big picture and see that there isn’t always help when someone needs it. It’s not as easy as picking up the phone and calling a hotline or the police. The system is broken when it comes to victims. The person on the phone can tell you all your options but now you have to still try and get out of the situation your in. Police can investigate but who’s to say their going to find any evidence? I understand how fragile the human mind and spirit is and it can only take so much before it breaks. Thats not saying it can’t be fixed but there are times when all awareness shuts down because the mind can’t take anymore. Look at any account of dissociative identity disorder, it all started with trauma and the brain/mind is trying to save the person by creating personalities around the victim. All I am saying is you have to look at what trauma does to people, what war does to soldiers after the come back (PTSD). Sometimes the mind breaks and it needs time to mend itself and I believe Cody did this.
“…there are times when all awareness shuts down because the mind can’t take anymore.”
Whoa! This hits the nail on the head for me. WD, you are right on.
Well said WD! You nailed it. I think Cody will be one of the lucky ones and hopefully, although I’m not sure it will ever happen, but hopefully what happened to Cody will open up the eyes of so many who take the “I don’t want to get involved” stance and take action when they see even a hint of abuse of any kind.
He was given the help he needed and I have read that he is trying to do some good using his experience in helping others. I can’t wait to read his book.
Absolutely! I am appalled how people are actually defending murder. There are so many people out there who have truly survived abuse and they did it without murdering their abusers. And to actually condone the murder of a thirteen year old who, if any of his claims are true, probably was being abused herself sickens me. Some of these people are suppose to be Christians yet I have a visual of them rubbing there cold hands together as they applaud the actions of a killer. Twisted! I am appalled! SHE WAS A THIRTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL! He gets to go on living his life and fulfilling his dreams after SELFISHLY robbing her of her own destiny. He killed her to save his own skin, so she wouldn’t tell on him. That is NOT justice.
“Some of these people are suppose to be Christians yet I have a visual of them rubbing there cold hands together as they applaud the actions of a killer.”
You are judging those of us who disagree with you, just as you accuse us of whatever it is you think we are wrong about.
How do you know anyone is “rubbing their cold hands together?” You don’t. Just like you don’t know if Cody was abused or not, or how bad it was for him.
Wow, Deborah, you said very strongly she was a 13 year old girl, and how wrong it was. But what about Cody? How old was he? Did he deserve the treatment he got? Wasn’t he in a way selfishly robbed of his own childhood? Cody lashed out at the three people who robbed him of not only his childhood but also the freedom he should have been able to have at school, away from his abusers for those measly few hours a day, only to have that taken from him too.
I’ve read your other posts here as well. Sometimes you sound like a lawyer and sometimes you sound like someone who has been through a lot of pain. Not sure how you are going to respond to his thread, but I guess we’ll see.
You are right Laura, murder has impacted my family more than once and I do have my own issues concerning sympathy for the murderer over sympathy for the victim. Our justice system is flawed, but it is the best we have and I respect it. I know, I studied it, I practiced it and lived it. The court room is a game room, with two opponents doing the best they can to win and someones life is being decided. Here is the difference, the prosecution is limited to presenting only the facts of the case, the evidence and what the evidence tells them. They must prove their case beyond a shadow of a doubt. The defense on the other hand is not as restricted, they just need to create reasonable doubt and can do this with smoke and mirrors, clouding the facts with other possibilities. And I have seen it in many cases, the defense attorney concocts a defense which is in fact fiction. The jury is restricted to making a decision based solely on what is presented in the court room. The court room is not the be-all, end-all. It has limitations and we, outside of the courtroom have the ability to do our own research and investigation and find out the real facts on our own. Instead of people just taking what was said in court at face value, they can learn a great deal more on their own, the truth.
And let me add, this can only be for our own peace of mind, it unfortunately cannot change the outcome of a trial. The jury did their job, he was found guilty, but the sentence…well.
And you are suggesting we allow what happened to go on? Did you ever consider how selfish she or they were? Do you even have any clue as to what happens in the mind of an ABUSED CHILD? No, that’s right, you don’t. Shut your ignorant self away and leave it alone.
I was one of the original Cody supporters. Myself and several other women across the US and Canada formed a group which set up rallies and had buttons made in support of Cody. We arranged for lunch to be served to the guards who took Cody to and from court. We were all Cody’s “mothers” and we were the angels that watched over him every day of the trial. I am glad that Cody is free. Hopefully he can start a new life and be free of the reminders of the pain and suffering he endured at the hands of his parents, a term I use loosely. Good luck Cody. My prayers are with you. Stand strong, hold your head high, and know that there are strangers out there who love you. The angels will always watch over you.
Laura, what a beautiful thing you did!!! If I had lived in the area, I would have joined you. I think Cody is a beautiful person inside, and I too wish him all the joy and protection he can get.
Alethea
Thanks for this article Alethea, I wish others would understand, but most people have no idea, unless they have been in the situation. I have heard many times people demanding “stop being so dramatic, why didn’t you jsut LEAVE?” I was a child and they have no idea what goes on inside a child’s mind in that case. Adult abuse is bad enough, but the younger the age a person is abused, the more complicated and mentally inhibited they can become. I feel such deep pain for Cody.
Thanks Prion. The adult world is so black and white in its thinking. Children are complex and do not deal with things as the adult world does…and the adult world thinks children should.
I, also, followed this case closely and wrote numerous letters on Cody’s behalf during the trial. I petitioned law makers around the country to exert pressure upon the state of NM to change their child abuse and child labor laws. I urged that the state be boycotted until such changes were made and directed my boycott to the NM Dept of Tourism. My heart still aches bc I could not personally be there to support Cody, but I wrote him letters of support on a few occasions and to his attorney, I wrote of my adult perspective of the abuse I suffered as a child and the reality of being the targeted child within a sadomasochistic family unit. I spent hours on CTV posting arguments in favor of Cody, the psychology behind what he had suffered and in defense of his actions. Then, he (we) won and I dropped the ball.
Does anyone know if have been changes made to the state’s laws since that time? And, what has come of Sandra Grisham. I understand there were attempts to have her disbarred following this case, but I am not altogether sure if they were related solely to the Posey case or, is she ever got her just rewards.
I believe Cody is now living with Gary Mitchell. (?) When I think about that relationship, I don’t know who was most blessed by it – Cody or, Gary for having the honor of representing him.
Perhaps, with Cody’s release, this is a good time to pick back up the ball and make sure the children of NM are safer for what he was made to suffer. If anyone knows of changes to the NM statutes based upon this case, I would be indebted to them for letting me know.
God bless Cody and all those stood for him.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE that you took the time to take action to try and help Cody and to get laws changed! Good for you. I wish there were more of you.
I don’t know about the laws of N.M except for one: They say that if a woman does not protect her child from sexual abuse, fear is no excuse. In this case, New Mexico has it right on.
I’m sorry. I had to come back and clarify a little.
I suppose there are still some demons inside that I need to exercise.
Picture please seeing your older brothers get serious (sadistic sometimes)beatings and your role as the little sister was to be perfect in everyway to the outside world, to the point of being “the snitch” just on the off chance you would NOT have to give daddy a blow-job to make up for your “bad” behavior.
I only WISH my dad had beat the sh*t out of me in public.. instead of “not beating me” in private.
😦
“I suppose there are still some demons inside that I need to exercise.”
Hi Stacy, everyone has them. It’s so awesome that you recognize this in yourself. Most people ignore their inner pain, or take it out on others and blame the world. You are in touch with your own truths, and that is healthy.
“Picture please seeing your older brothers get serious (sadistic sometimes)beatings and your role as the little sister was to be perfect in everyway to the outside world, to the point of being “the snitch” just on the off chance you would NOT have to give daddy a blow-job to make up for your “bad” behavior.”
It’s all together possible, I was just taking the evidence and then giving my feelings of why Cody might have shot his sister too.
{{Cody testified that he shot his step-sister so that she couldn’t tell on him, but I find this to be a backwards Freudian Slip. I think Cody shot Mairlea because she hadn’t told anyone what had been happening to him for so many years. I think he shot his step-sister because she hadn’t tried to do anything to stop the abuse, and that she most likely was treated well by the father and mother, and was not beaten or physically abused by them. I think Cody had years of subconscious rage built up for his step-sister because she was favored and didn’t help him.}}
The above quote in your article makes me wonder…. I’m not good at putting words on paper, so bear with me please.
In that statement, you seem to put as much blame on a 13 year old girl as you do on the adults in the situation. How, possibly, could a 13 year old girl (younger than the victim here) have done anything to save him? How can you come to the conclusion a 13 year old girl, having lived the same life, was just as abusive and perverted as the adults? She, a 13 year old, didn’t try to save him? WHAT!
I have a very hard time coming to the conclusion that the sister was treated like gold while Cody was Cinderella in this story.
Ever think that she “appeared” to be “favored” because it was her sicko father’s way of keeping her quiet while he was raping her in secret? And who the heck knows what the mother did to her either. SHE WAS 13. Abuse is abuse and it sucks and f*cks up peoples brains to the point of actions like in this article, but if Cody is so lilly white, and the killings are so justified…. Where does that leave other 13 year old girls out there living with “secrets”? Kill ’em cause they keep their mouth shut and get pretty presents possibly with the threat of “I’ll kill you” whispered in their ear while being “made love to” by …. oh God I can’t continue that thought.
What I get from that one paragraph is that you accept her brother shooting her just because she didn’t have the courage (or whatever it takes) to TELL…. He didn’t have the courage to TELL either.
And with her death went a bit of HIS credibility.
I’m sorry…. That paragraph somehow hurt in some very deep recesses of my body and soul.
Hi Stacy,
I wrote the article about Cody from the perspective of a victim who had an older sister, who did nothing to help me. She was a teenager and I was a very young child. I watched her go to school and not come home for help. I watched her go out with her friends and not bring back help.
I don’t place as much blame on Cody’s sister as I do his father and step-mother, maybe you read it that way because of your own experience, but I never stated that I do. But I do speak from having been a victim in that predicament, and who, right or wrong to an adult mind, felt rage and pain because my older teenage sister did not help me.
“How, possibly, could a 13 year old girl (younger than the victim here) have done anything to save him?”
Like it or not, there is a possibility that she did indeed receive favors in exchange for her silence and that she liked being the favored child. These are facts that cannot be ignored or denied out of self-comfort.
You don’t know that she was living the same life as Cody. I will have to do some investigating, but I have never heard any reports of her being abused. This kind of thing happens ALL the time in abusive families. One kid gets extensive and severe abuse and others are favored and not abused at all.
“Ever think that she “appeared” to be “favored” because it was her sicko father’s way of keeping her quiet while he was raping her in secret?”
Yes, I have thought of that, but because there had been no reports of it, I did not mention it because I was focusing on Cody.
“What I get from that one paragraph is that you accept her brother shooting her just because she didn’t have the courage (or whatever it takes) to TELL…. He didn’t have the courage to TELL either.”
What I wrote with that paragraph was from my own perspective of having been in Cody’s shoes, that’s all.
I’m sorry that the paragraph hurt you, but that means that you need to look inside yourself and see why. I can’t apologize for my own experience and feelings about why Cody did what he did, and about what his sister may have taken part in with her silence.
Alethea
You were a young child with a teenage sister who failed to help you. That is opposite of the Cody situation. She was younger than he was and you are trying to make her responsible for his actions. That makes no sense at all.
Deborah, I have answered your latest numerous posts in an entire article. You can read it here:
No Stacy, you had every right to take offense to these comments. They are outrageous and incredibly biased.
Deborah, I am on the fence when it comes to fully committing to either side of the argument as to whether Cody Posey served the appropriate time for his horrific crime. I do understand both sides of the story. I do believe that you need to accept other peoples opinions even if you don’t agree with them, that is OK. Same with Stacy, I am so sorry she has been through so much abuse in her life, no one deserves that. However, Deborah’s snide comments to Alethea, I quote one example, “No Stacy, you had every right to take offense to these comments. They are outrageous and incredibly biased,” is extremely rude and only taking away from the point you are trying to make because it’s so full of anger and appears you are attacking Alethea for simply stating her opinion which she is entitled to, just as you are.
People will listen and comprehend comments better when they are written with respect. Too many people have been through abuse.
My best friend growing up was beaten by her father to the brink of death. I was with her at the hospital by her bedside for 1 month when she was in a coma. We were 16. Luckily, she did awake and is still coping and trying to heal 12 years later. If she wasn’t beaten unconscious resulting in a coma and was able to fight back and perhaps “snapped” killing her father and younger brother (14) I wouldn’t believe she deserved to go to jail. But I KNOW inside and out what happened in that family. Her mother was out of the picture, I tried to keep her at my house as much as possible, it was just my mom and I. First my mom called child services, which resulted in a visit. She was so terrified she ended up saying nothing to them. That visit resulted in a broken arm, which she got “skating.” After she finally told us the truth about the broken arm which was the most severe break up to date, we (my mom and I) did call the police and that lead up to the event of her near death. Her dad answered the door when they came, she was home packing a bag upstairs to come stay with us. She was going to try to sneak out of the window and drive to our house, her dad caught her trying to leave after the police had left. Luckily the neighbor heard so much noise, they called 911 and the cops were only minutes away and came back. They caught him beating her, and if they had been a minute later he would have killed her. The only positive thing out of it was that there was finally evidence of the abuse and he was charged with attempted murder. Now that horrible man won’t see the light of day again, THANK GOD.
I use to feel so guilty that I didn’t go with her to pack up, but her dad wasn’t suppose to be home and we didn’t know when the police were going to show up. We thought they would come after she had already snuck out.
I can’t say I’d condone the hypothetical murder of her YOUNGER brother and father, but you NEVER know what you would do in that situation until you have lived it and I pray that none of you will ever again if you too have been suffered from abuse.
Also remember not every one thinks or operates the same. Everyone handles abuse differently or any situation in life differently. No two abuse cases are exactly the same, so just because you wouldn’t have done what Cody did, doesn’t mean that he truly didn’t just snap. We may never truly know. I’d say, maybe he wasn’t as strong as you if you’ve been through a similar situation. Not every one is equipped to overcome abuse. I pray that this story will continue to bring more awareness to the cause- that it will help abused children out there, as well as convince people to stand up when they know abuse is present. It’s not okay for anyone, especially adults to witness abuse or know of abuse and not do anything. Keeping quiet helps no one and can lead to tragic circumstances such as this. Perhaps if some one had spoke up, it never would have gone this far. The dad and step-mom would be in jail and the 13 yr old daughter would be alive. She didn’t deserve to die and Cody deserved help, a way out.
All in my humble opinion and from my life experiences.