Grand Jury To Hear Manslaughter Case

Mobile Police Department Manslaughter  Parents of a Mobile toddler killed in an apartment fire will face a Grand Jury on manslaughter charges.
by Jessica Taloney
Published: Mon, June 23, 2008 - 4:00 pm CST Last Updated: Mon, June 23, 2008 - 4:12 pm CST
A Mobile judge found probable cause against the parents of a three year old killed in an apartment fire.
Brandon Gurley and Elizabeth Foster, 23, are charged with manslaughter for the death of their son, Christian Foster.
The toddler was home alone when the family's apartment at Orleans Place on Michael Blvd. caught fire early in the morning on April 18th.
Investigators say Gurley went to the bar, telling Foster to either take the toddler to work and leave him in the car or lock him in his bedroom at home.
Firefighters say Christian was found dead in his bed under the sheets. His bedroom door was tied shut with a nintendo cable and a coat hanger.
"You're not responsible when you give the child to the child's mother for what the child's mother does," said defense attorney Dennis Knizley, who is representing Gurley. While Knizley says it was ultimately Foster's decision what she did with the child, prosecutors rejected the argument saying Gurley shares responsibility for their son's life.
"They are charged with recklessly causing the death of this child," said Assistant District Attorney Ashley Rich. "They are the caregivers of this child. That child was their responsibility and they absolutely failed," said Rich.
During Monday's preliminary hearing, an investigator said this was not the first time the couple left the toddler home alone, locked in his bedroom. A neighbor told police Christian had fallen out of his second story bedroom at 9pm the day of the fire, and neither parent was home.
Judge Charles McKnight ruled Monday there is enough evidence against the parents to send the case to a Grand Jury, who will then decide whether to send the case to trial.

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You’re correct everyone does lose with the death of Christian. Everyone is too emotionally charged and angry(I’m no exception)since it was such a needless loss. When your anger and emotions cloud your common sense you tend to over react. I should have never come here to read anything, I just hated being shut out but as my husband says leave it alone, totally alone. Let Christian rest in peace and pray for his parents. No matter what they are suffering and mine or anyone else’s anger and emotions should be left out of the mix. As I stated earlier I misread the posting and reacted quickly and for that I apologize and I leave it at that.

My last statement on here. You are right Carl there is no winners here. As for JonNConi If I never talked to you again as long as I live it still wound not be long enough!!! Had my say and I will not be back on to read your trash!

I grieve for this baby! In this case the baby was tossed around like unwanted excess baggage. In this case there will be no winners, none what so ever, everyone loses with the death of this baby. In my opinion Both sides have shown criminal negligence and both parents should be prosecuted equally. I hope the results of this case will be an example for a long time to come for others in similar situations. Throw the book at the parents so maybe it will be an example in the future to help prevent other babies from dying like this. May god bless Cristian’s soul.

First of all I explained in my last comment that I had MISREAD the post and corrected it so what more do you want. ilovechristianandconner the timeline of events is basic knowledge that everyone knew as it was on TV the very first time so what information was given that wasn’t known I was simply stating that Jessica and Sam were together(which is a good thing)and the rest was BASIC knowledge except for the information brought out the other day, which is still debatable. I simply read the post incorrectly and majik I apologize for that, ilovechristianandconner nobody has done anything injustice to you so suck it up! You overlooked my final post when I realized I read the posting wrong and reacted to quickly. Go back a read my final posting prior to this one. I’m so sorry ilovechristianandconner I forget you NEVER make mistakes?? Right? So until you can say you have never made a mistake let’s not act so hmmm..damaged.

You people are crazy.  I never said that Brandon was with Jessica that night.  I only got my information from the news about Brandon being in the bar with Lortab.  Whew..take a break from jumping the gun and read all of the words written.

I love how someone on a forum that you do not know said they had not seen Brandon in 2 years was shocked when she saw it on the news…but yet she knows where he was that night and who he was with get your crap together! Oh and that someone you thought you could trust on telling you the truth has told you everything she knew! Some things in this case I cannot even discuss with my husband( that came from the lawyer) Just get your facts straight you are doing nothing but causing more drama…..AS you SAID it’s not about Christian anymore I disagree!!! It is all about him!!  Walk a block in my shoes and see how it feels to lose a grandson…I hope it never happens to you because I would NEVER turn my back on you the way you have me. I am done with this!!!

majikfaerydust & JonNConi Number one get your facts straight! Brandon was NOT out with Jessica her and SAM brought the kids to me so they could go see a movie my neighbors can tell you that because they sat here and ate dinner with us! Also Jessica and Sam were living together and had been for a while she had nothing to do with the night Christian died.. Brandon was with Beth not Jessica..Brandon was out with a guy named Teario that he used to worked with at Pat Peck seems pretty funny that his lawyer knows all of this but you people know so much more than he does FUNNY! Also if Brandon was out with Jessica that night and not Sam please explain to me how when I called her at 5:30 she was at my house within 15 minutes to pick up the kids! Remember you two Brandon did not show up until after noon with WHO????? Teario! Believe what you want the truth will come out and the two are going to feel really stupid! As for JonNConi next time your write to him ask him who he was with!!

okay I feel a bit better. I thought I read that Brandon and Jessica were running around together but it reads ” He ran around ON Jessica (first wife), sold drugs out of his home with the child there” Okay so I misread that part. Good it does give me faith in Brandon that he was not running around with Jessica when he was with Beth. Just so long as Brandon and Jessica were not together while he & Beth were. That’s comforting to say the least. It gives one hope that no matter how crazy this entire episode is that he was true to Beth while they were together. That does mean something, no matter how small it may seem.  Hopefully I misread the part about him selling drugs? I can’t believe Brandon would ever do that. That is something that is extremely hard for me to believe. That’s not something Brandon would do. He was always a good kid growing up. Not one bit of trouble ever. He was always a model child. He received one of the highest Math awards in school. He’s a good & smart boy.

Nobody has said Beth was not at fault in all of this. I just wanted more info than what was being told to me.
Here’s what I do know that is commoon knowledge. Brandon’s mother kept Jessica’s children that night. Jessica and Sam dropped them off which since she was already keeping children she doesn’t understand why Beth didn’t bring her children to her also. She was already home bound watching Jessica’s children while Jessica and Sam went out that night.
Beth leaves to go to work and clean the plant.
Christian is left alone and the baby left in the car.
Beth comes home to find out a fire has broke out in one of the apt.
Beth is arrested.
Brandon’s parents are notified by Beth’s mother that this has happened.
Brandon’s mother calls Jessica and Sam to come and pickup the children.
Nobody knows where Brandon is.
Brandon is arrested that afternoon.
Fill in where needed? This is all I know & I know ther is more. Things just don’t make sense yet.

majikfaerydust do you know for sure that Jessica and Brandon were together before all this with Christian? Things are beginning to make a bit more sense now. This explains why all of a sudden Beth is out of the picture and in comes Jessica at a tragic time in this young couples life. It would stand to reason that if a couple loses a child they support and depend on each other for comfort even if one or both are at fault. I have friends who went through something similar and they supported each other and got through the terrible tragedy over 25 years ago. I always wondered why they weren’t supporting each other in this. Things are starting to make more sense.
If Brandon was seeing Jessica before all this took place I wonder how many other people who were close to Brandon knew it too? Yep things are starting to make more sense which makes me SICK to my stomach! OMG all I have to do is read these messages and get more info than I have in months!

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