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Thread: Death Penalty Trial Set for Samantha McCormack in 2019 AL Slaying of Enzo McCormack

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    Death Penalty Trial Set for Samantha McCormack in 2019 AL Slaying of Enzo McCormack


    Enzo McCormack 18 mths. old




    September 9, 2019

    Blount County mom, boyfriend both charged with capital murder in toddler’s death

    By Carol Robinson
    AL.com

    An 18-month-old Blount County boy died Monday, three days after he was gravely injured while in the care of his mother’s boyfriend, authorities say.

    Enzo McCormack was formally pronounced dead at Children’s of Alabama, said Blount County Sheriff Mark Moon. His body will now be taken to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for autopsy, He is an organ donor, the sheriff said.

    "Our whole community is devastated,'' Moon said.

    The boy’s mother, 24-year-old Samantha McCormack, and her boyfriend, 28-year-old Robert Elmore Jr., are being held without bond in the Blount County Jail, jail records show, after being arrested over the weekend. Initially
    McCormack was charged with first-degree reckless assault and Elmore with attempted murder. Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey on Tuesday said instead both have now been charged with capital murder.

    "Based on the investigation and the facts, we feel this is the appropriate charges in the case for both defendants,'' Casey told AL.com

    The charging documents reflect a number of conflicting stories told by McCormack and Elmore as to how the boy was critically injured. Sheriff’s investigators worked throughout the weekend, ultimately obtaining warrants Sunday afternoon against the couple for their actions.

    Sheriff’s Investigator Edward Hull wrote in documents he interviewed McCormack, who told authorities she was home with the children while they were eating, and she went into the other room to use the bathroom. It was then, she said, she heard something fall and returned to the children to find the 18-month old was choking and had fallen. She told lawmen she cleared his mouth and he quit choking. That was about 5:40 p.m.

    A little while later, she said, she noticed he wasn’t doing well so she bathed him and decided to take him to the hospital. She waited until her grandmother came from Oneonta to take care of the other kids – the victim’s twin sister and a 3-year-old brother.

    She then drove to the hardware store. While waiting in line to pay for gas, she told a worker her son was hurt and that he’d fallen at home. The worker went to the car and saw the boy was limp. She called 911.

    While first responders were waiting for the air transport to arrive, Elmore Jr. and his parents, as well as the victim’s two siblings, showed up at the scene saying he had received a message from McCormack that the boy was ill.

    Elmore told investigators he had gone to McCormack’s grandmother’s house to pick up the other two children. When questioned further, however, he couldn’t provide deputies with the grandmother’s address or telephone number.

    Deputies went to the home where McCormack said the fall happened only to find out that McCormack didn’t live there and hadn’t been there, records state. It was then, the investigator noted in records, that McCormack admitted she lived with Elmore on Lanningham Road in Cleveland. Investigators went there to hold the scene.

    The Department of Human Resources was also summoned to check on the well-being of the victim’s twin and their older brother.

    Hull, the investigator, learned the boy had been wrapped in a Hunt Brother’s pizza bag when he had arrived at the store, and then the hospital. He also learned the siblings were being brought to the hospital to be examined for possible abuse.

    He noted in the charging documents that Elmore told several stories about the events of that day. He first denied hurting the boy, and then said basically that he accidentally dropped him while he was getting him out of a play pen. Once he realized the boy was hurt, he said, he messaged McCormack who said to wait for her to get home from work. He said he was keeping the kids because he had lost his job several months ago.

    Meanwhile, doctors determined the boy’s twin sister had no injuries, but said the 3-year-old brother also had bruises behind his ears and under his chin and had a skull fracture similar to his little brother’s. Elmore denied hurting the 3-year-old.

    McCormack and Elmore were interviewed multiple times. Eventually, according to records, McCormack admitted she had lied about where she was living and with whom. Deputies learned the child had been removed from McCormack’s custody on Oct. 16, 2018. A protection from abuse was obtained by McCormack against Elmore in March of 2019 and the children were returned to McCormack on June 17, 2019.

    Hull noted in the documents the following injuries for the 18-month-old victim: head trauma, closed head trauma, brain injury, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, multiple retinal hemorrhages and multiple contusions to the head and body. The boy, the record states, is a “victim of a severe battering and shaking injury. There has been no plausible accidental injury to explain his many injuries. so this is physical abuse. It would take an adult sized person to pick him up and cause these injuries. If the history is accurate, the only adults at home were mother and mother’s boyfriend. He would have been symptomatic immediately after sustaining the injuries and would not appear normal to anyone who was observing him. (The victim) is not expected to survive.”

    Hull interviewed Elmore again Sunday and that is when Elmore indicated he had picked up the boy who then grabbed his chest hairs. “He lost his temper,’’ the investigator wrote. He said he let go of the boy, who hit the play pen and then the floor. Elmore said he then picked him up and shook him because he was unresponsive.

    The victim’s brother has been released from the hospital. He and Enzo’s twin are now in DHR custody.

    https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2...hest-hair.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
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    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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    Prosecutors to seek death penalty against Blount County couple charged in toddler's death

    By Steven Quinn
    ABC 33 News

    ONEONTA, Ala. — Prosecutors in the case of the Blount County couple charged and indicted with killing a toddler's 2019 death will seek the death penalty.

    Court records filed last week by prosecutors informed the court they will seek the highest possible sentence against Samantha McCormack and her boyfriend, Robert Elmore Jr. Both are charged with capital murder, felony murder, reckless manslaughter and two counts of aggravated child abuse for the death of McCormack's son, Enzo McCormack.

    The toddler was found by authorities wrapped in a pizza blanket at a Locus Fork gas station on September 6, 2019 as employees attempted to warm up the severely injured child. McCormack's son was with her at the gas station when employee's noticed the child's deteriorating condition according to court documents.

    Elmore eventually admitted to police investigators that he accidentally dropped the boy after he grabbed Elmore's chest hair. He said he then tried to shake the unconscious child to wake him up. Investigators office did not believe his story.

    The couple has been held without bond in the Blount County Jail since their arrest.

    Blount County Sheriff Mark Moon said the Blount County mother's three children were taken away by DHR officials earlier in 2019. Moon said McCormack's children were returned to the mother's custody with a very specific order from Judge Sherry Burns: Stay away from Elmore. Court records showed McCormack filed a protection from abuse in March 2019. The request was dismissed in June according to court records.

    "There's no way this could be a surprise to his (Elmore's) family. There's no way. I don't care what they told you because he has a history of abuse," said a frustrated Moon at the time. "He has physically harmed his sister and other people in his family so there's no way this was a surprise."

    Moon said police discovered McCormack's other child was also discovered to have suffered a fractured skull. The three-year-old was treated and now is in DHR custody with McCormack's other child.

    https://abc3340.com/news/local/prose...toddlers-death
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Related:

    Alabama 6-year-old beaten to death was brother of infant killed in 2019

    By Carol Robinson
    AL.com

    A young boy who died in east Alabama last week was fatally beaten, according to court records.

    Jessie Taylor McCormack, 6, died Friday at Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham. His father, 29-year-old Joshua D. Clark is charged with capital murder.

    New-released court records state Jessie was “beaten by a belt or belt like object and hands.”

    Jessie’s younger brother, 18-month-old Enzo McCormack, died in 2019. The boys’ mother, Samantha McCormack, and her boyfriend, Robert Elmore, are charged with capital murder out of Blount County in Enzo's death.

    Authorities at the time of Enzo’s death noted that Jessie also showed signs of abuse back then, including bruises under his ears and his chin, and a skull fracture similar to the one that contributed to his baby brother’s death.

    Enzo’s twin sister is now the only surviving sibling.

    The Calhoun County School system is raising money for headstones for both brothers.

    Last Wednesday, Anniston police officers were called to Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center on a child abuse case, said Lt. Tim Suits.

    They arrived to find the medical staffing treating the unconscious Jessie.

    The boy was transferred to Children’s of Alabama with critical injuries. Clark, his father, was interviewed by detectives and charged with aggravated child abuse.

    Jessie died on Friday. At that point, authorities obtained the capital murder warrant.

    Under Aniah’s Law, Clark is being held without bond at the Calhoun County Jail.

    Jessie was in the custody of his father at the time of his death.

    Clark and McCormack married in 2018, and separated just two months later, court records show.

    They had three children together, first Jessie, who was born in April 2016, and the Enzo and his twin sister, who were born in 2018, four months before their parents got married.

    Enzo died Sept. 9, 2019, at Children’s of Alabama. His death came three days after he was gravely injured.

    McCormack and her boyfriend, Elmore, were both charged with capital murder following Enzo’s death.

    They have remained in the Blount County Jail since their 2019 arrests.

    The charging documents reflect a number of conflicting stories told by McCormack and Elmore as to how the boy was critically injured.

    Sheriff’s Investigator Edward Hull wrote in documents he interviewed McCormack, who told authorities she was home with the children while they were eating, and she went into the other room to use the bathroom.

    It was then, she said, she heard something fall and returned to the children to find the 18-month-old was choking and had fallen. She told lawmen she cleared his mouth and he quit choking. That was about 5:40 p.m.

    A little while later, she said, she noticed he wasn’t doing well so she bathed him and decided to take him to the hospital. She waited until her grandmother came from Oneonta to take care of the other kids – the victim’s twin sister and Jessie, who was three at the time.

    She then drove to the hardware store. While waiting in line to pay for gas, she told a worker her son was hurt and that he’d fallen at home. The worker went to the car and saw the boy was limp. She called 911.

    While first responders were waiting for the air transport to arrive, Elmore Jr. and his parents, as well as the victim’s two siblings, showed up at the scene saying he had received a message from McCormack that the boy was ill.

    Elmore told investigators he had gone to McCormack’s grandmother’s house to pick up the other two children. When questioned further, however, he couldn’t provide deputies with the grandmother’s address or telephone number.

    Deputies went to the home where McCormack said the fall happened only to find out that McCormack didn’t live there and hadn’t been there, records state. It was then, the investigator noted in records, that McCormack admitted she lived with Elmore on Lanningham Road in Cleveland.

    Investigators went there to hold the scene.

    The Department of Human Resources was also summoned to check on the well-being of the victim’s twin and their older brother.

    Hull, the investigator, learned the boy had been wrapped in a Hunt Brother’s pizza bag when he had arrived at the store, and then the hospital. He also learned the siblings were being brought to the hospital to be examined for possible abuse.

    He noted in the charging documents that Elmore told several stories about the events of that day. He first denied hurting the boy, and then said basically that he accidentally dropped him while he was getting him out of a play pen.

    Once he realized the boy was hurt, he said, he messaged McCormack who said to wait for her to get home from work. He said he was keeping the kids because he had lost his job several months ago.

    Meanwhile, doctors determined the boy’s twin sister had no injuries, but said the 3-year-old brother – Jessie - also had bruises behind his ears and under his chin and had a skull fracture similar to his little brother’s. Elmore denied hurting the 3-year-old.

    McCormack and Elmore were interviewed multiple times. Eventually, according to records, McCormack admitted she had lied about where she was living and with whom.

    Deputies learned the child had been removed from McCormack’s custody on Oct. 16, 2018.

    A protection from abuse was obtained by McCormack against Elmore in March of 2019 and the children were returned to McCormack on June 17, 2019.

    Hull noted in the 2019 documents the following injuries for the Enzo - head trauma, closed head trauma, brain injury, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, multiple retinal hemorrhages and multiple contusions to the head and body.

    The boy, the record stated, was a “victim of a severe battering and shaking injury. There has been no plausible accidental injury to explain his many injuries. So this is physical abuse. It would take an adult sized person to pick him up and cause these injuries. If the history is accurate, the only adults at home were mother and mother’s boyfriend. He would have been symptomatic immediately after sustaining the injuries and would not appear normal to anyone who was observing him.”

    Hull interviewed Elmore again and that is when Elmore indicated he had picked up the boy who then grabbed his chest hairs. “He lost his temper,’’ the investigator wrote.

    He said he let go of the boy, who hit the play pen and then the floor. Elmore said he then picked him up and shook him because he was unresponsive.

    Jessie was released from the hospital, and both he and Enzo’s twin were placed in DHR custody.

    It wasn’t until after Enzo’s death and the arrests of McCormack and Elmore that Clark filed for divorce from McCormack. Ultimately, Clark got custody of Jessie and Enzo’s twin sister.

    Enzo’s twin sister is now back in DHR custody.

    A hearing date for Clark has not yet been announced. Court records do not list an attorney to comment on his behalf.

    McCormack and Elmore are set to go to trial later this year in Enzo’s death.

    https://www.al.com/news/2023/01/alab...d-in-2019.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Blount County man gets life without parole in 2019 murder of girlfriend’s 18-month-old son

    By Carol Robinson
    AL.com

    A Blount County man has been convicted in the death of his girlfriend’s son and the abuse of her other son, who was killed earlier this year in an unrelated alleged abuse case.

    A jury on Friday convicted Robert Keith Elmore Jr., 32, of capital murder in the 2019 death of 18-month-old Enzo McCormack.

    He was also convicted of aggravated child abuse for injuries sustained by Jessie McCormack during the same time that Enzo was killed.

    The trial began Sept. 28, and the jury’s verdict was delivered about 7:45 p.m. on Oct. 6

    The sentencing phase of the case began Monday morning and concluded Tuesday with the jury’s recommendation of life without parole.

    Enzo McCormack, 18 months, died in 2019, three days after he was gravely injured while in the care Elmore

    Enzo’s mother, Samantha McCormack, is awaiting trial, which is set for 2024. She remains held without bond.

    At 7 p.m. on September 6, 2019, Blount County authorities responded to a 911 call reporting an unresponsive child at Locust Fork Hardware Store.

    Locust Fork Volunteer Fire Department emergency medical personnel arrived on scene to find Enzo in respiratory distress. His pupils were fixed and dilated, and he was turning blue, said Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey. His body was already limp and cold to the touch.

    Blount County EMS arrived on scene and transported Enzo to the Locust Fork Volunteer Fired Department where a landing zone had been secured for a helicopter called to transport the child to Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham.

    Sgt. Chris Hollomon testified during the trial that he obtained a statement from McCormack at the Hardware Store.

    She said she had been home alone with the children, and while using the restroom, she heard a thump in the living room.

    McCormack returned to the living room to find Enzo choking on a piece of cereal.

    Later that evening, she decided to take him to the hospital to be examined.

    On her way to the store, McCormack stopped to get cigarettes and gasoline, according to testimony.

    After entering the store, she with with Heather Elmore, Robert Elmore Jr.’s, sister.

    Heather Elmore testified she exited the store to check on the child whom she found to be limp and cold to the touch.

    The two women then moved Enzo into the store and called 911.

    Medics testified that when they arrived, Enzo could not breathe on his own and had to be intubated.

    Authorities from the Blount County Department of Human Resources testified they transported two other children to Children’s of Alabama for medical evaluation. Court records identify those children as Enzo’s twin sister and his older brother, Jessie.

    Haley Jenkins was one of the DHR caseworkers.

    Jenkins testified that she remained at Enzo’s bedside throughout the night.

    Blount County sheriff’s Sgt. Ed Hull testified that he interviewed McCormack and Elmore after the children were taken to the hospital.

    Elmore told Hull that on Sept. 6 he was caring for the children while their mother worked.

    According to Elmore, he reached into a pack-n-play to get Enzo when the child pulled Elmore’s chest hair, and Elmore dropped the child.

    Elmore did not give Hull any information concerning the origin of Enzo’s injuries, however he said the child did not have any bruising when Elmore got out of bed at 1 p.m. that day.

    Dr. Michael Taylor testified that he examined the child and based on his training and experience, Enzo suffered blunt force trauma and severe acceleration and deceleration injuries from being violently shaken.

    Enzo remained on a ventilator until Sept. 9, 2019, when doctors determined the child had no measurable brain activity and no further measures could be taken to save the life of the child. The doctor testified that Enzo’s injuries were not consistent with Elmore’s story.

    Dr. Taylor also examined Jessie.

    According to Dr. Taylor, Jessie had a skull fracture with arterial bleeding and swelling under the scalp, and he was hospitalized. The doctor said Jessie’s bruises behind his ears would have occurred within a few hours of sustaining his skull fracture.

    Dr. Valerie Green, a forensic pathologist with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, testified that she performed an autopsy on Enzo.

    She said Enzo had multiple contusions on his scalp, indicating he had at least two points of impact on his head. She also testified that the numerous retinal hemorrhages and the severity of the injury to the brain indicated the child had been violently shaken.

    Elmore’s telephone records were also admitted into evidence.

    Those records showed that at 5:41 p.m. on Sept 6, Elmore sent a message to the mother of the children informing her that Enzo “ain’t breathing rite...he is limp...and almost blue.”

    Prosecutors argued that Elmore was alone with the children at 5:41 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2019. Elmore intentionally and violently shook the child and repeatedly subjected the child to blunt force trauma, continued to shake the child until the child lost consciousness, and willfully denied the child proper medical care for over an hour because he intended for the child to die.

    Casey said she respects the jury’s verdict and appreciates their willingness to serve.

    “It has been a difficult nine days. This was a brutal attack perpetrated upon two innocent children,’' she said. “The testimony was not easy to listen to and the evidence was not easy to look at.”

    “Yet, the jurors remained attentive and focused,’' she said. “They returned a verdict they deemed fair and just based on the evidence presented.”

    His father, Joshua D. Clark, 29, is charged with capital murder in Jessie’s death. A trial date has not yet been announced.

    On Jan 18, 2023, Anniston police officers were called to Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center on a child abuse case.

    They arrived to find the medical staffing treating the unconscious Jessie.

    The boy was transferred to Children’s of Alabama with critical injuries. Clark, his father, was interviewed by detectives and charged with aggravated child abuse.

    Jessie died on Friday, Jan. 20, 2023. He was in his father’s custody at the time of his injuries and subsequent death.

    The indictment said he was beaten to death “by a belt or belt like object and hands.”

    McCormack asked to be released from jail to attend Jessie’s funeral, but a judge denied her request.

    Clark and McCormack married in 2018, and separated just two months later, court records show.

    They had three children together, first Jessie, who was born in April 2016, and then Enzo and his twin sister, who were born in 2018, four months before their parents got married.

    Enzo’s twin sister is now the only surviving sibling.

    Elmore’s formal sentencing has been set for Dec. 1, 2023. McCormack’s capital murder trial is set for May 9, 2024.

    https://www.al.com/news/2023/10/blou...outputType=amp
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