Custodial dad convicted of felony murder of missing 3-year-old son (Houston, Texas)

Custodial dad RODERICK FOUNTAIN has been convicted of felony murder--five years after the disappearance of his 3-year-old son. Notice that the recent articles on this case no longer mention that Fountain had custody. Nor have I EVER seen any explanation as to how this child abuser was able to gain and retain custody--and who helped him do it. When are those folks going to be brought to justice?

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Dad-convicted-in-death-of-son-whose-body-wasn-t-2238268.php

Dad convicted in death of son whose body wasn't found
BRIAN ROGER, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Published 08:35 p.m., Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Jurors on Wednesday convicted Roderick Fountain of felony murder in the death of his 3-year-old son, whose body was never found.

State District Judge Denise Collins sent the jurors home after they announced their decision. They will return Thursday to hear evidence in the punishment phase. Fountain faces a maximum of life in prison.

Fountain was convicted of causing a death during the course of a felony - injury to a child.

In closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutors said Fountain probably did not mean to kill his 3-year-old son, Kendrick Jackson, when he hit him, but the boy's death was the result of his father's action.

"Because you don't say 'Ain't nobody ever gonna find a body' when you're talking about a living child," said prosecutor Connie Spence, referring to a jailhouse informant's testimony about a statement Fountain allegedly made. "Kendrick is dead."

Fountain, 37, reported Kendrick missing the morning of April 7, 2006. Hundreds of volunteers searched for months for the boy. The fact that the body was never found prompted questions about whether prosecutors could secure a murder conviction.

Fountain's lawyers argued police focused on their client from the beginning instead of searching for the boy.

"You can reach a decision too fast, and that's what officers did in this case," said attorney Tyrone Moncriffe.

Defense lawyers also emphasized the absence of a body.

"You have no proof that Kendrick Jackson is dead. None. End of story," said attorney Charles Brown. "You have innuendo."

Beatings witnessed
Several people testified they saw Fountain hit, punch and dunk the boy in a bathtub in the months before he disappeared.

Two jailhouse informants testified that Fountain told them, two years apart, that he hit his son and killed him. Fountain was jailed on a federal weapons charge after Kendrick's disappearance.

Body dumped?
One informant, Fountain's friend in federal prison for two years, said Fountain told him he wrapped the body in garbage bags and drove it toward his former home in New Orleans, stopping at a boat ramp to dispose of it.

Several jurors had tears in their eyes as prosecutors urged them to convict.

They also saw a huge photo of a cherubic 3-year-old Kendrick, all smiles in the middle of playing, during the closing arguments.

"When you saw this photo yesterday, didn't you just want to take him home?" Assistant Harris County District Attorney Lance Long asked jurors. "Didn't your heart just break because you know that he's dead?"