Nashua DCYF Screw's Up Again!!-Nashua child’s death ruled a homicide

Nashua child’s death ruled a homicide - NashuaTelegraph.com

Thursday, February 24, 2011
Nashua child’s death ruled a homicide


NASHUA – Autopsy results reveal 3-year-old Christian Jackson died of “blunt force trauma” and his death has been ruled a homicide, according to the state Attorney General’s office.
Christian Jackson stopped breathing late Saturday night, and was later declared dead.
No arrests have been made in the case. Nashua Police Department and the Attorney General’s office continue to investigate the child’s death.
Court records show state child welfare officials had investigated allegations that someone was abusing Christian Jackson less than three months before he died.
On Saturday night, someone in his father’s home at 63 Chestnut St. in Nashua called 911, authorities have said, and Christian was taken to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center, where he was declared dead.
Both of Christian Jackson’s parents, 30-year-old Shawn Ganley and 23-year-old Latoya Jackson, who lives at 46 Myrtle St. in Nashua, have prior criminal records.
Ganley was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to 2½ to seven years in prison on charges of first-degree assault, attempted first-degree assault, burglary, possession of heroin, and four counts of simple assault.
Ganley admitted to trying to stab his girlfriend after she confronted him about his drug use, and then stabbing his cousin in the chest after the cousin tried to break up a fight between him and his girlfriend. He was released from the prison April 27, officials said, and he remains on parole, with an additional, suspended sentence.
Latoya Jackson was convicted in 2005 on a hindering apprehension charge stemming from a child abuse case against her boyfriend, Jose Meza, who was convicted of repeatedly breaking the bones of their infant daughter Mariah Meza because he was frustrated by her crying. Meza pleaded guilty to felony assault charges, and was sentenced in 2007 to at least 12 years in prison.
Jackson was 16 when the abuse was discovered in 2004, and she later admitted helping Meza try to hide their daughter’s injuries. She agreed to testify against Meza, and was sentenced to five years on probation.
Mariah Meza was put into foster care, and Jackson has been unable to regain custody, according to one of Jackson’s friends.
Court records show that authorities had investigated accusations that Christian Jackson had been abused in the months before his death.
Christian Jackson was born Jan. 12, 2008. His parents never married.
Jackson had been raising Christian exclusively for most of his life with welfare assistance, according to court records.
On Nov. 29, Ganley filed emergency petitions in both Nashua District Court and the Hillsborough County Family Court in Merrimack, seeking custody of Christian. Ganley had been taking the boy on weekends, from Friday evening through Sunday evenings, for about a month at that point, according to court records.
“Since I have separated from my son’s mother I have been taking him every weekend,” Ganley wrote. “He has come with bite marks on his face, choke marks on his neck and this past weekend he has come with a black eye and the whole side of his head and face bruised. He has also in the past year had a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder.”
Ganley asked the court to let him keep Christian, writing, “I’m afraid she’ll take him back and something bad will happen to him.”
The court allowed Ganley to keep Christian for a week while caseworkers from the Division of Children Youth and Families investigated, court records show, and Marital Master Alice Love heard testimony on the matter Dec. 6.
“DCYF confirms bruising but is unable to determine the source,” Love wrote after the hearing. “Based upon the testimony, the court is unable to find that the child should be taken from his mother.”
Love, DCYF and the parents agreed to continue the custody arrangement – that Jackson keep Christian during the week and Ganley take his son on weekends. The trial was scheduled to begin in May.
A friend of Latoya Jackson, Shelly Kendzerski, said she believes Ganley exaggerated Christian’s injuries and lied about alleged abuse cited in his petition “just to get at Latoya, to hurt Latoya, because she did not want to be with him.”
“That is all a bunch of bull,” Kendzerski said of Ganley’s petition. “Latoya does not beat her children. She may yell at them a little when they are doing something they shouldn’t do…. None of her children are in any danger being with her.”
Layota Jackson has been in shock since Christian’s death, and hasn’t been eating or sleeping well, Kendzerski said.
“He didn’t even get to live his life,” Kendzerski said, adding later, “Christian was a happy child. He had the most gorgeous smile in the world that would just light up a room.”
Family and friends have set up a fund to help pay for Christian’s funeral: donations to the Christian Jackson Funeral Fund can be made at any TD Bank branch.
-- By Joseph Cote and Telegraph Staff