Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog
A man from Hardwick, Massachusetts who is facing charges for severe child abuse is being held on $200,000 bail following his hearing in East Brookfield District Court this Wednesday. Randall E. Lints is accused of abusing and starving his 7 year old son Jack Loiselle, who has remained unconscious in a long term care facility since police were called to the family’s home last month. The public defender appointed to the case to assist Randall Lints says he believes the court ordered a high bail for the situation because they knew that Lints would be unable to pay the $200,000 amount. The public defender, Michael S. Hussey, called the decision a “forgone conclusion” after the announcement had been made official in court on Wednesday.
Michael Hussey also believes that the blame for what happened to this innocent child does not just lie with his client Randall Lints. Following the bail decision yesterday, Hussey spoke to reporters and said that “There may be plenty of blame to go around in terms of what lead to this terrible tragedy. The actions, decisions and choices made by previous caretakers, maybe judges, DCF workers, their supervisors, other people and certainly Mr. Lints himself.” Attorney Hussey went on to say that Lints only has a 5th or 6th grade level of education and that he feels as though this was a contributing factor in how Lints viewed discipline for his child. Hussey also believes that Randall Lints may have been receiving mixed messages from those around him, including DCF officials, about the proper way to punish children. Though there is no concrete evidence as of yet that DCF officials did in fact provide Lints with any sort of support in terms of how he handled punishment for his son Jack, Hussey still believes that Lints remained confused as to what was appropriate. According to statements provided by Randall Lints, he had indicated in the past that Jack suffered from behavioral issues, and that the punishments he inflicted were in retribution to these actions. And while Lints may not have fully understood how to properly deal with the behavioral issues his son was enduring, the general consensus is that the punishments were too severe for the crimes.
Among other things, Lints is being accused of locking Jack Loiselle in his room for unknown periods of time with very little food and water. Jack was unable to do things that the other children in the house were allowed to do, such as watch TV and play games. Jack loved school and was on his way to becoming a star student—but if he were to act out in any way, Lints would punish him by taking away his ability to do homework or even to go to class. Reports have also stated that Jack suffered chemical burns on his hands and feet after Lints would make him wash the floors with bleach for having an accident where Jack urinated on the floor. All of these punishments came to an end when Randall Lints had to call the police to his home upon finding Jack unresponsive in his room. At the time that law enforcement officials arrived on scene, Jack was dehydrated and weighed approximately 38 pounds. According to reports, he had allegedly lost 10-15 pounds over the period of a few short weeks. Those weeks happened to include visits from DCF—something that is generating outrage from those on the outside of the situation looking in. If DCF officials, who are supposed to be providing care and safety to children under their supervision, could not detect that something seriously wrong was taking place here then what were they doing?
With each new detail emerging from this case, more and more people are wondering how exactly things went wrong and why they were permitted to travel along this path for such a long period of time. A 7 year old boy who had a bright future according to the educators at his school is now lying unconscious in a hospital bed in very serious condition. The man who was supposed to take care of him and provide for him is behind bars for failing to perform the fundamental tasks all parents should undergo when raising children. And by all accounts, Randall Lints was providing a high level of care and attention to the other children he fathered that were living under the same roof as Jack Loiselle.
The investigation into the matter is still ongoing, and more details about Randall Lints and what took place inside his home are expected to emerge in the upcoming weeks. For now, Lints will remain in jail and Jack Loiselle will continue fighting for his life under supervised care. Michael Hussey and Assistant District Attorney Courtney Sans reached the agreement for bail as well as the terms that will accompany it. Those terms include having no contact with Jack Loiselle or witnesses to the case, no unsupervised visits with any children under the age of 16, wearing a GPS tracking bracelet and complying with DCF service plans.
Additional quotes and information may be found at the following links: http://www.wcvb.com/news/hardwick-man-accused-of-starving-abusing-son-in-court/34799032
