On this date, September 11, 1995, 9-year-old Jimmy Ryce, was abducted, raped and killed by Juan Carlos Chavez in Redland, Florida, United States.
We, the comrades of Unit 1012: The VFFDP, will make him one of The 82 murdered children of Unit 1012,
where we will not forget him. Let us remember how he lived and not how he died.
We will post information about him from Wikipedia and other links and we
will endorse The Jimmy Ryce Act.
Samuel James Ryce
|
|
Born
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September
26, 1985
Homestead, Florida |
Died
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September
11, 1995 (aged 9)
Redland, Florida |
Samuel James "Jimmy" Ryce (September 26, 1985 –
September 11, 1995) was a child who was abducted, raped and killed by Juan
Carlos Chavez in Redland, Florida, United States. On Wednesday, February 12,
2014, Chavez was executed at Florida State Prison in North Florida.
Ryce's
murder
Juan Carlos Chavez (March 16, 1967 – February
12, 2014) ultimately confessed to, and was convicted of, Ryce's murder. On
September 11, 1995, nine-year-old Ryce was riding the bus from school. He
was dropped off, along with ten classmates, and had to walk less than a block
to his home. According to his confession, Chavez blocked Ryce's path with his
pickup truck and forced him at gunpoint into the truck. Chavez took Ryce to his
trailer where he raped him. About four hours later, when he heard a helicopter
hovering above, Ryce ran to the door and tried to open it only to be shot in
the back by Chavez, who held the child until he took his last breath. Then, Chavez
decapitated and dismembered him.
The child's decapitated and
dismembered body was found three months later near Chavez's trailer.
Capturing
Juan Carlos Chavez
Chavez worked for the Scheinhaus
family. He lived in a trailer on their property. Around the time of Ryce's
disappearance, Scheinhaus reported several items missing from her home
including a handgun and jewelry. Scheinhaus suspected Chavez, after consulting
with a psychic, but had no evidence to support her suspicions. Aided by a
locksmith, Scheinhaus entered Chavez's trailer. She found her handgun and young
Ryce's bookbag. She reported her findings to the Federal Bureau of
Investigation on December 5, 1995. Chavez was found a day later and taken
in for questioning.
Being advised of his rights and after
a 55-hour-long interrogation, Chavez openly admitted to abducting, raping and
murdering Ryce. Chavez also led police to the boy's body, which was dismembered
and hidden in cement in three plastic planters.
The murder
case
In the fall of 1998, Juan Carlos
Chavez was convicted of kidnapping, capital sexual battery, and first degree
murder. He was sentenced to death. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed his
conviction and sentence on November 21, 2002. In July 2004, Chavez filed a
motion for post-conviction relief, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel.
The motion was amended in May 2005 and was heard in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on
January 9, 2007. The circuit court judge denied the motion on March 8, 2007. On
May 23, 2007, Chavez appealed the denial to the Florida Supreme Court, filing a
petition for habeas corpus at the same time. The court affirmed the circuit
court's order and denied the petition on June 25, 2009. The United States
Supreme Court denied certiorari. On April 17, 2012, Chavez filed a successor
motion for post-conviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure
3.850. The circuit court denied the motion on June 13, 2012. On July 20, 2012,
Chavez appealed the denial to the Florida Supreme Court, which affirmed the
denial on October 11, 2013.
On January 2, 2014, Florida Governor
Rick Scott signed Chavez' death warrant. Chavez, age 46, was executed by lethal
injection on February 12, 2014, at 8:17 p.m. at the Florida State Prison in
Starke. Miami
Herald
The Jimmy
Ryce Act
The Jimmy Ryce Act (Jimmy Ryce
Involuntary Civil Commitment for Sexually Violent Predators' Treatment And Care
Act) was passed unanimously by the Florida legislature and was signed by
Governor Lawton Chiles on May 19, 1998, becoming effective on
January 1, 1999. The act calls for inmates with sex offense histories to
be reviewed by the Florida Department of Corrections, the Department of
Children and Family Services (DCF), and state attorneys to determine the level
of risk for re-offense. Upon release from incarceration, these inmates may be
subject to civil proceedings and commitment to a secure facility for treatment.
That treatment center, located in Arcadia, was criticized because treatment is
lacking (less than 5 hours per week), it lacks security (several incidents of
murder on site, riots requiring hundreds of officers to quell) there is no
method of restoring civil liberties (the program has no release stage) being
underfunded, understaffed and located in an old condemned correctional
facility. After running the center for 7 years, Liberty Healthcare was released
by the state as the vendor, and GEO corp was retained. Unfortunately many of
the issues regarding step-down programs, community placement or aftercare
remain unresolved after nearly ten years.
In 2004, residents of the Florida
Civil Commitment Center (FCCC) in the custody of the Florida Department of
Children and Families (DCF) filed a civil rights suit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §
1983 in U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida, challenging the lack of
sex offender and mental health treatment provided at FCCC in Arcadia, Florida.
Plaintiffs were all involuntarily civilly confined at FCCC pursuant to the Sexually
Violent Predator Act §§ 394.910, et seq. Fla. Stat. (2003). Plaintiffs alleged
violations of their constitutional rights and the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA) by the denial of effective sex offender treatment programs, lack of
appropriate mental health care and the failure to accommodate inmates with
disabilities. Plaintiffs requested certification as a class action and sought
declaratory and injunctive relief. Defendants named in the Complaint were the
DCF and the private corporation Liberty Behavioral Healthcare Corp. that
operated the FCCC pursuant to a contract with the DCF. The court certified the
case as a class action. After Liberty was replaced as the private contractor,
it was dismissed from the lawsuit which proceeded against DCF. Over the next
several years, the plaintiffs and defendants engaged in intensive discovery and
pre-trial litigation. DCF and the new contractor, GEO Group, implemented
significant changes in the sex offender and psychiatric treatment provided to
residents. In the Fall of 2009, plaintiffs and defendants, through their
respective attorneys, filed a joint motion to dismiss the suit in favor of a
settlement agreement. Federal Court Justice Steele accepted the joint
submission and dismissed the class action suit, with prejudice, in November
2009, the same year that Jimmy's mother died.
Jimmy Ryce
Center for Victims of Predatory Abduction and Team Hope
The family of Ryce created the Jimmy
Ryce Center for Victims of Predatory Abduction to offer assistance to law enforcement,
including providing free bloodhounds for use in search and rescue. Ryce's
mother, Claudine Dianne Ryce, was also a founder of
Team Hope, a group of parents of abducted children who support parents and
families facing child abduction.
Remarks made
by Ted Ryce, Jimmy Ryce's brother
Ted Ryce gives statement following
execution of Juan Carlos Chavez
Published On: Feb 12
2014 10:27:41 PM EST
STARKE, Fla. –
"Many people have asked why I decided to come today. I did not come here today to celebrate Juan Carlos’s execution. In fact, I did not want to be here today. So why did I come? I came here to represent my brother, Jimmy Ryce. I came here for my sister, Martha, and my mother Claudine.I came here today because I believe in the justice that has been served this day. I am here to support that belief. I also came here today as a symbol of strength. To show you that in spite of all the terrible tragedies we’ve been through, my father and I still stand strong. And strength is something that we are sorely lacking in our country today.Many people did not believe that Juan Carlos Chavez should be put to death for his horrible crime of raping and murdering my brother. And I believe this comes from a place of weakness – not strength. It comes from not being able to face the atrociousness of some men’s actions and punish them on a level commensurate with their crime.But we must be strong. We must do what it takes to send a clear message to other child predators that if they go after children - if they kill children - that they will die at the executioner's hands.Today will bring no closure. As my father has stated, 'closure' does not exist. But the justice served this day after a painful 19 years will end the chapter on this part of our life. And now we look forward to moving on. Thank you."
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