Dad with SOLE CUSTODY sentenced to life for murder of 22-month-old daughter (Jacksonville, Florida)

We've posted on dad JOSI HALL before. How he managed to hoodwink all these CPS people into thinking he was the "safe" parent, and that the baby's mother was the dangerous one. How the mother ultimately became discouraged, and gave up her parental rights. How Dad gets sole custody, and within 4 MONTHS, this @$$wipe has viciously murdered this little girl. He freaking hit her so hard her heart ruptured. Disgusting.

So who messed up?

1) The court-appointed advocate who only met with the father 3 or 4 times, and didn't even bother to show up at the custody determination hearing.

2) Caseworkers at Jewish Family and Community Services who had concerns about returning the child to her father, but did not fight to keep the child away from him.

3) And of course nobody but nobody at Florida DCFS was ever fired or disciplined for their rampant mismanagement of this case. No, we have all the usual new guidelines (yada, yada--like we do after every one of these fiascos) which will mean nothing.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/23684569/detail.html

Dad Sentenced To Life For Girl's Death
POSTED: Wednesday, May 26, 2010
UPDATED: 4:00 pm EDT May 26, 2010

Josi Hall was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A father convicted of killing his 22-month-old daughter was sentenced Wednesday to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Josi Hall, 25, was arrested several months after his daughter, Kyla, was found dead in the bedroom of his San Pablo Road apartment. The toddler was hit so hard in the chest that her heart ruptured.

Hall was convicted last month of second-degree murder.

After hearing victim impact statements, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Senterfitt announced Hall would be sent to prison for life.

Kyla Joy Hall at 3 months old, when the Florida Department of Children and Families investigated allegations of child abuse against her parents. Those charges were dropped when Kyla's mother voluntarily gave up her parental rights. After the hearing, Hall's sister called the verdict and sentence "bogus," and said there will be a "strong appeal."

"Justice was not served for my niece," Sasha Hall said. "There's a monster walking around and there's a innocent man going to prison."

Channel 4 has learned that Hall and Kyla's mother were both arrested in April 2007 during a previous investigation into abuse when Kyla was an infant. Investigators said they found that Kyla's legs broken, her wrist and left foot fractured and her skull fractured. All the injuries were in various stages of healing.

Those charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.

Kyla's mom gave up her parental rights and the girl was put in foster care. Kyla was returned to Josi Hall's custody four months before she died.

Channel 4's Jennifer Waugh looked into that first Department of Children and Families investigation and learned that the child's court-appointed advocate only met with Josi Hall three or four times and didn't show up at the court hearing where Kyla's custody was determined.

The case file also shows that workers with Jewish Family and Community Services, who cared for Kyla while she was in state custody, were against returning the child to her father, but they did not fight to keep her away from Hall.

Waugh said no one was ever fired or disciplined for the way Kyla's case was handled, but new guidelines were released by DCF calling for more unannounced visits, more documentation about recommendations and a meeting of everyone involved in a child welfare investigation before reunification.

Previous Stories:
April 23, 2010: Jury Convicts Dad Of Killing Daughter
April 22, 2010: Father On Trial In Toddler's Death
March 20, 2009: Father Charged With Murder In Toddler's Death