# California couple charged with torture after police rescue 13 children. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 16, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724 "2018-01-16T01:08:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/141 "2018-01-25T16:51:58Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Where did we get that terminology? Because I refuse to call them parents. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/142 "2018-01-25T18:22:04Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Is there a report function for fake GoFundMe pages on the site? [Reporting a GoFundMe](https://support.gofundme.com/hc/en-us/articles/203604694-Reporting-a-GoFundMe) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/143 "2018-01-25T18:26:55Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Because I refuse to call them parents. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/144 "2018-01-25T18:57:43Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Sounds like they’ll be sent to some sort of rehabilitation facility (which some nursing homes provide) to be evaluated and rehabbed… until the money runs out and they’re kicked out. You have to be VERY disabled to get a permanent, state-paid bed in one of those. Anyone less disabled than that winds up on the street. And the irony here is that the state is going to feed and house the fucking parents for the rest of their pathetic lives. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/145 "2018-01-25T21:34:08Z")
I agree - the victims should be provided for at least as well as the criminals. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/146 "2018-01-25T21:52:13Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > And the irony here is that the state is going to feed and house the fucking parents for the rest of their pathetic lives. :rolleyes: Yeah. Why couldn’t they have got caught in Texas? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/147 "2019-02-22T20:34:46Z")
_bumped_ [The Turpins pleaded guilty](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonwells/california-couple-pleads-guilty-shackling-children) to 14 felonies in court today. They will be sentenced in April. The guilty plea means the children won’t have to testify. ---
**Author:** ![catflea12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@catflea12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catflea12)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/148 "2019-02-23T13:40:03Z")
Don’t you mean the children won’t GET to testify? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/149 "2019-02-23T15:19:26Z")
I hope the judge lets the children make statements before these “parents” are sentenced. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/150 "2019-02-23T16:25:27Z")
> [@catflea12](#): > > Don’t you mean the children won’t GET to testify? Having to testify in open court against their own parents could add to their trauma. They’d have to describe in detail the terrible things that happened to them, and would have to face cross-examination. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/151 "2019-02-24T08:40:04Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I hope they don’t skate on an insanity defense. Why would you hope that? Over here, being found not responsible for reason of insanity is extremely difficult, and from everything I read, it seems it’s even worst in the USA. You have had several cases of people who were deemed too insane to be executed, and whose execution had been delayed indefinitely, because they couldn’t understand that they would be and/or why, but somehow they had been found not insane enough to avoid a death sentence, for instance. There are vastly more demented people who end up in a jail where they don’t belong than the other way around. If they do get off for this reason, you can be pretty certain that they’re indeed so crazy that they can’t be held responsible for their actions in any way, shape or form. The only reason to express such an opinion would be the desire to have them punished even if they’re inaccessible to reason, and unfortunately this so common feeling is the reason why the bar is put so high that demented people still get thrown in jail, or if you’re under the delusion that people can escape justice nowadays by just pretending to be a little sick in their head, and this couldn’t be further from the truth. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/152 "2019-02-24T16:20:24Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Having to testify in open court against their own parents could add to their trauma. They’d have to describe in detail the terrible things that happened to them, and would have to face cross-examination. It’s not really testifying, I don’t think. Victims can give impact statements (remember the [woman who lost it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL8xIi3kyGE) at Jeffrey Dahmer? **NSFW** ) and the judge can use that as a factor in deciding sentencing. **clairobscur** , I am saying that I hope people who do evil do not get away with it by claiming to be mentally ill. I’m glad they pled guilty and hopefully their children are getting the help they need. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/153 "2019-02-24T16:34:13Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > It’s not really testifying, I don’t think. Victims can give impact statements. . . I wasn’t talking about the penalty phase of the trial. I was talking about the guilt/innocence phase, which would have happened without a guilty plea. The prosecution would have to introduce evidence of the crimes, which would almost certainly mean the victims would testify and be subject to cross-examination. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/154 "2019-02-25T13:18:23Z")
> [@catflea12](#): > > Don’t you mean the children won’t GET to testify? If any of those kids wants the world to know exactly what happened to them, there are a thousand media outlets who would happily pay them big money for an interview. Some of those kids are adults now, so they wouldn’t even need permission from a guardian to engage in such an interview. It’s rather telling that no such interview has yet happened. Verbalizing an account of a terribly traumatic experience _is_ terribly traumatic for a lot of people: if you’re going to speak the details of an event, you have to recall in your mind all those details, and that can be very painful to do. Also, telling your story in front of a courtroom full of strangers and spectators is far different than explaining what happened privately to one or two investigators who have earned your trust by working with you for an extended period. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724/155 "2019-02-25T14:14:33Z")
Is there an update on the children? Where are they living, are they getting the mental therapy and physical help they need? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-couple-charged-with-torture-after-police-rescue-13-children/806724.md?page=7)