EDGAR CO.—The sentencing for the Paris teen who was convicted of killing his mother two years ago was delayed today, set for September 5.
The first time I’ve ever gotten to hug Terry. Yes, we became part of the story in an effort to help him, and will continue do everything we can for him.
Judge Steven Garst listened intently today as many people put on evidence in the sentencing phase of Terry Payton, 18, convicted of Second Degree Murder in the killing of his mother Kathie Payton, 53, in June of 2011. All of the evidence pointed to the fact that Payton is of fine moral character and is a polite, respectful teen who goes out of his way to please the adults in his life…and with the exception of the singular incident of violence, which Payton maintains was in self-defense when his mother reached for a knife while stating she was going to kill him, he has never shown any moment of violence…despite the cherry-picked texts from Payton’s cell phone that prosecutor Mark Isaf has continually pointed to that explain why he took the action he did. Payton never wavered in his story he told authorities on the day in question, when his mother, having accused him of stealing money from her, attacked him when he poured her Jim Beam down the sink in an effort to intervene in her severe alcoholism and pill popping problem. While they struggled in a physical fight—and she was restrained at one point on the floor, likely fighting so hard against her son that Kathie Payton managed to fracture her head on the concrete—she threatened to kill her own son, and reached for a knife that she kept in an upper cabinet. Terry Payton panicked and reached for the nearest weapon he could find to try and fend her off, and in just a few quick movements, grabbed a steak knife lying on the counter, stabbed her several times in quick succession, and one of those stabs proved fatal, severing an artery and causing her to bleed to death internally, very quickly. Payton delayed telling authorities about the situation, as he remained in a panicked state. He ultimately went to the police station and advised them fully of what had happened, and had been held ever since. Payton is a highly intelligent, well-respected and much-loved teen in Paris, and the testimony showed today. From friends and school authorities correctional officers and his new employer, to a one they said that Terry Payton is nothing like the monster prosecutor Mark Isaf has been trying to make him out to be, with the help of some misguided Illinois State Police agents who got a promotion out of burying this child under their mountain of make-believe evidence.
The freak show in full force: Jan Burno leaving the courtroom after her contrived performance as the only one to deliver a “victim impact statement,” the irony being lost on some, but not all…as many have said Terry killed the wrong Payton.
Besides Isaf, there was only one person present in court today who did her best to portray Terry Payton as the monster, and that was his certifiable aunt, Jan Burno. Burno, as the only person allowed to give a “victim’s impact statement,” gave a soliloquy that was supposed to be directed to the judge as a plea to him to sentence her nephew in accordance to the negative impact his crime had on her (and ostensibly the rest of her family), but she continually refused to address the judge, and instead continued to direct her statements at Terry. It was by turns comical (there was much suppressed laughter, especially at her contrived sniffling and snuffling in her “tears”) and utterly frightening. Burno repeatedly told Terry, in her pre-written speech, to “tell the truth.” However, he had, of course, already done so, having described exactly what he’d done to his mother, blow by blow, to authorities, the story never differing from the outset in 2011 to the trial in February 2013. Burno, with her eye makeup and lipstick smeared across her sagging face and jowls, was as repulsive a character as could be imagined, and her act today will be recounted in full in the September-October issue. In the end, Payton’s attorney Bob McIntire, having fallen short during the trial, gave a stunning closing about why Payton qualified only for a period of probation as a sentence, as opposed to the 16 years (for a first-time offender with NO criminal history whatsoever and with glowing reviews from everyone who knows him except for Burno, who is non-credible in the extreme) Isaf is requesting. The sentencing was delayed today, and is set to be decided in open court by Garst on September 5 at 1:30 p.m. Disclosure will be there to bring it to you as quickly as we can get it out….and the full coverage of what was said today in sentencing testimony will be brought to you in the September-October issue, available right here on your computer via the e-Edition if you have an online membership Sept. 9, or on Sept. 10 and 11 to our many print vendors!