Comments by "Glamdolly" (@glamdolly30) on "Double-Murder Suspect Screams Opening Statements at Jury in Florida | COURT TV" video.
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@bluegeorgia8922 Yes, Ronnie O' Neal's poor little boy was just 8 years old when he witnessed his father brutally kill his 9 year old, special needs sister with multiple hatchet blows to the face, head and neck, and beat his mother to death with a broken shotgun as she cowered on the neighbour's doorstep where she'd gone for help. He then set fire to the family home.
When emergency services arrived at the burning house, that little boy fled through the front door and collapsed with stab wounds. Unluckily for the defendant he survived, and told medical staff in the ambulance that his father, not his mother, was the family annihilator.
A fireman who gave emotional evidence described finding the little girl dead. He carried her out of the smoke-filled house across a floor slippery with blood, and outside laid her body on the grass. She was tragically beyond help, and totally unrecognisable from repeated, heavy axe blows. He recalled hugging a male colleague, and weeping.
O' Neal is claiming his girlfriend killed their daughter and attempted to kill their son, and that he only murdered her in response, in an impulsive 'crime of passion'. The prosecution say that's garbage - O' Neal arrived at his girlfriend's house that night intent on murdering his entire family in totally pre-meditated attacks, and only by sheer fluke did his son survive.
That little boy is now 11 and will be the prosecution's star witness, giving evidence against his father via Zoom. O' Neal's opening speech wasted no time discrediting both his girlfriend who he's pinning the murders on, and his child who is the sole surviving victim and witness. He told the court his boy was lying in saying he had murdered his mother and his sister. He blamed his 'lies' on his autism, PTSD from the shocking and bloody crime scene, and brainwashing.
O'Neal said his son had been placed in two different adoptive homes since the murders. The first did not work out, but the second did. And according to the defendant, he was adopted by a detective who had worked his family's tragic case. This detective had "coached him to lie", and say he was the killer that night, said O' Neal.
I watched a 30 minute video of Ronnie O' Neal's opening statements in his defence. on Fox News. It was hard work! Why 'Court TV' presenters say he's 'articulate' I don't know. He kept using the same phrase "The evidence will show" over and over, like it was some brilliantly clever linking device, that made him look like a professional lawyer. It just made him look like a posturing, amateur idiot!
The way he constantly shouts at the jury is just plain aggressive, and likely to alienate every single one of them. It's also a chilling reenactment of his aggression to his vulnerable victims that horrific night. He's clearly an egotistical, controlling, violent sociopath. And he's done for.
O' Neil is so fundamentally self-serving and immoral, he has no qualms about denying his crimes for a shot at escaping justice. He does this even though it requires appalling victim-blaming, and puts his traumatised son through the added ordeal of recounting the violence in court, being cross examined, and called a liar.
I understand that defendants have a right to presumed innocence and a fair trial. But don't victims of crime, and especially child victims like this young boy, have rights too? Surely they deserve support and protection? I think it's wrong to make this child give evidence against his killer father, even over Zoom. He could have given a written witness statement instead, to be read out by a prosecution lawyer during the trial.
When Ronnie O' Neal is inevitably found guilty and sent to death row, his son could well feel responsible for his fate. That's a hell of a burden to place on an 11 year old's shoulders, no matter how evil his father!
I pray he that little boy is receiving ongoing, professional psychotherapy and emotional support to move forward after this explosive trial. My heart goes out to him - I feel he has been badly let down by the justice system. Please God in time he can recover and heal.
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