CNN - Sibling rivalry puts parents in court

Sibling rivalry puts parents in court

July 3, 1996
Web posted at: 12:00 a.m. EDT

From Correspondent Ed Garsten

WARREN, Michigan (CNN) -- For 11 minutes on videotape, 6-year-old twins Cary and Gary Downes punched, flailed and pulled each others' hair, all under the direction of their mother Tealisa.(808K QuickTime movie)

The episode, including Tealisa's commands, was recorded by their father, Gary. "Bring him down, bring him down," she shouted. "If he kicks your ass, I'm kicking yours," she told her daughter.

Finally, the father ordered an end to the violence -- but not before little Gary's nose was bloodied.

Gary and Tealisa Downes now stand accused of two counts of child abuse and one count of extortion. At their preliminary hearing Tuesday in this Detroit suburb, Judge Sherman Faunce ordered the couple to stand trial. He rejected a request that the $250,000 bond be reduced.

"I would see a tremendous potential for conviction; I would also see a very tremendous potential for a long, long, long prison term," Faunce said.

The detective on the case said the parents told him the fight was intended to teach good behavior.

"Downes stated that the reason for making the tape was to be a learning tool to deter the children, the twins, from their constant picking on each other, fighting," said Warren Police Det. A.J. Sywak.

A noted psychologist, Dr. Sonya Friedman, said, "I would characterize it very much like a cockfight."

Police obtained the tape from Brenda Pugh, the maternal grandmother of the twins. She thought the tape contained video of an older sibling's graduation. When she saw the tape, she was horrified. She took it to the police and then confronted her daughter.

"I said to Lisa, 'If you don't want the little boy, give him away,'" she testified.

"What did she say to that?" prosecuting attorney Carl Marlinga asked.

"She didn't say nothing for a long time," Pugh said. "I said, 'Do you want me to take him?' She said, 'For what, Mom, to spoil him?'"

Marlinga later suggested that abuse existed before the tape rolled, saying the parents probably had been coaching the children before filming. "We've seen 11 minutes, but the psychological terror had to exist way before then," he said.

One defense attorney said the case has been blown out of proportion and should be treated as "a bad disciplinary act," not a criminal act. "There was some harm to the child, it was minor harm to a child, a bloody nose," said attorney Larry Kipke.

Marlinga said prosecutors are seeking to have the Downes' parental rights terminated. The children and their two sisters, ages 10 and 12, are in the custody of local protective services.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Sibling rivalry puts parents in court

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