The white West Virginia pair that was accused of treating their adopted children as 'slaves' and letting them live in a filthy barn has been found guilty.
Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, and Donald Ray Lantz, 61, went on trial earlier this month, each with a whole series of neglect of children with regard to the treatment of their five adopted children.
On Wednesday, the jury of the Kanawha County Circuit Court considered more than eight hours before they reached their last judgment, ABC News reported.
Whitefeather was convicted of all 19 counts against her – including forced labor, human trafficking and neglect of children – while Lantz was found guilty of 12 of the 16 counts with which he was accused.
Lantz was acquitted of the four violations of the civil rights on which he was accused, while Whitefeather was found guilty of the same charges.
Allegedly they were stone face while learning the verdict.
Officer of lawyer Debra Rusnak revealed that she was struck tearing when she heard the judge 'guilty' read for the majority of the charges.
“These cases mean a lot to us – we take a lot of this,” she said at a press conference, ABC News reported.
Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, and Donald Ray Lantz, 61, who were accused of treating their adopted children as 'slaves' and letting them live in a filthy barn have been found guilty
The West Virginia pair was first arrested in October 2023
“This is our community, and these are the children of our community. If we don't fight for them, who is? '
The couple returns to the court for conviction on March 19. Whitefeather stands for a maximum punishment of 215 years, while her husband is confronted for up to 75 years.
They were arrested in October 2023 after two of their adopted children were seriously neglected without food, light or running water in a shed of 20 by 14 feet with a camera in the corner.
The brothers and sisters were hired in Minnesota before the family moved to a farm in Washington in 2018. They went to West Virginia in May 2023.
When the children were found, they had swear on their feet, were from body odor and wore wet clothing. They are said to have been forced to work on the agricultural land of the pair of Sissonville.
The prosecutors of Kanawah County said that five children aged 16, 14, 11, nine and six 'were in fact used as slaves because of their race.
Three hours after finding the older children in the locked barn, delegates found a nine -year -old girl who was locked up in a loft in the closed main building of the family.
When Child Protective Services (CPS) made the horrible discovery of the two children in the barn, Whitefeather told representatives that the children actually 'liked the barn' in which they were locked up.
Displayed: the back garden shed where two of the teenager adopted children of the couple were found. There was no way to open the door from the inside and the police found the children without food or water. The children were also forced to do manual labor on the surrounding agricultural land, the alleged
Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62 from Charleston, West Virginia, on Monday, not to be guilty of the new charges with which they are confronted. The couple was first arrested in October 2023 after their adopted children were locked up in a barn on their property
The teenage girl, however, said delegates that they were locked up in the building for about 12 hours.
The building only had a small camper Porta-Potty and no running water, according to images from within and descriptions from the first police report.
The children were also forced to sleep on the hard concrete floor, they said.
The criminal complaint stated: “If there was a medical emergency or fire, the children could not leave the locked room in safety.”
Judicial documents said Buren reported that the children were forced to agricultural work and were not allowed in the main building.
During the trial, which started on January 14, a neighbor, Joyce Bailey, testified about the horrible tasks that the couple is said to have forced to do the young children.
Video she took from the children who carried out the physical jobs were also shown to the court.
'He [Lantz] She let it all wear it, that heavy screens. They would just stand there and wait until he tells them what to do, “Bailey remembered emotionally.
Displayed: outbuildings on the building on Cheyenne Lane. The couple sold the house in December 2023, after they were initially arrested
Lawyers of the defense Mark Plants, Left, and John Balenovich, right, spoke with reporters after the court
The ailing neighbor also said that she saw some children drag full buckets of water and other supplies, including propane tanks between the trailer, barn and at home, while Lantz stood and looked.
At one point Bailey said that the eldest boy could “hardly walk” while dragging one of the tanks while Lantz looked at him.
The oldest child, now 18, also shared a witness statement during the process. She discussed the alleged outdoor work that she and her brothers and sisters had to endure, and said that some of them were told to dig with their hands.
She also said that they were mainly at certain times during the day at certain times.
The couple would have left some children in their rooms with their hands on their heads for a longer period of time and slept on the floor.
She and the eldest brother or sister shared a room. She revealed in her testimony that they only got one bucket for both to use the bathroom.
Whitefeather claimed that the barn was a 'teen hangout' and they could leave when they wanted.
But testimony showed that they had no idea where the key to the barn was. Detectives found a hidden on a cupboard in the barn.
Balenovich said the state “dropped the ball the most in this case” while defending Lantz and his wife
The children were found by the authorities with a range of health problems – and the photos were taken by Whitefeather's brother about a week after the arrests
Racist SMS messages were presented to the court as proof by officers. The 18-year-old child said they were cursed all the time and was used racist language.
Whitefeather reportedly called the oldest daughter 'dirty' and would not eat from the same signs that the children used.
Assistant -Officer of Justice Madison Tuck said in court: 'Do you want to know what racists look like? Look at them. '
Lantz's lawyer, John Balenovich, said that the children were previously traumatized from their earlier living situation and that the pair of moisture to get help for them.
Balenovich said that the state “dropped the ball the most in this case”, but a forensic psychologist for the persecution said that the way the couple treated the children deteriorated their mental situations.
The oldest boy is admitted to a psychiatric institution and, according to ABC News, receives full -time care.
While tackling claims of forced labor during the conclusion of statements, the lawyer of Whitefeather, Mark Plants said: 'These are agricultural people who do farm carones. It was not about race. It was not about forced labor. '
