One Thing Leads To Another (Naturally)

"The leader of a household described as a religious cult was convicted of second-degree murder Tuesday along with two of her followers for starving a 1-year-old boy to death because he did not say 'Amen' during a mealtime prayer.

Jurors also convicted Queen Antoinette, her daughter Trevia Williams and Marcus A. Cobbs of child abuse resulting in death. Cobbs was also found guilty of accessory after the fact for helping to cover up the death of Javon Thompson.

The defendants each face up to 60 years in prison when they are sentenced May 18."

-- Ben Nuckols, with heartening news - you can't kill a kid and hide his body for a year - though they had me going there for a while, at The Associated Press.

Thinking Outside The Box (To Get You In One)

"A woman who once lived with three people accused of leading a cult testified Thursday that they committed her to a mental hospital to keep her quiet about a toddler's starvation death.

Danielle Smith, 26, said she tried to alert neighbors to the boy's death but couldn't because she was not left alone with outsiders.

The three defendants - Toni Sloan, who's known in court as Queen Antoinette, 41; her daughter, Trevia Williams, 22; and acquaintance Marcus Cobbs, 23 - have pleaded not guilty to murder charges. They're accused of depriving Javon Thompson of food after the 16-month-old, who could barely talk, refused to say "amen" and are representing themselves in Baltimore City Circuit Court.

Smith said she left a vague hint of the child's death scrawled across one wall - the sentence 'We love our children' - before the group put her out of its New York City apartment, where it had moved after Javon died in Baltimore. A day later, the group escorted her to the psychiatric ward of Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

'The people at the hospital thought I was crazy,' Smith said. She was there a month, yet she was able to tell her story to police and a caseworker at a New York child protective agency, leading to the group's arrest. Smith was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after she left the hospital.

Like everyone else in the household, Smith did nothing to save Javon while he was dying. She testified that the front door of their shared Baltimore apartment was locked and that she didn't think she could escape with the boy out the back door.

'I actually worried most about what Queen Antoinette would do,' Smith said."

-- Tricia Bishop, showing the level of depravity cults will lower themselves to, in an effort to avoid detection - the crazy having the injured committed as insane is pretty out there - but is also typical of these evil nutcases, since they rarely get exposure before they kill, like the kind they're getting in The Baltimore Sun.

Repeat After Me: You Have To Get Used To It

"I don't have a problem with sounding crazy in court."

-- Ria Ramkissoon, who allegedly let Queen Antoinette and her 1 Mind Ministries cult kill her boy over a year ago - and who "has faith that God will resurrect her son" - just being honest, in The Baltimore Sun.

Fact: Cult Relationships Have Bad Track Records

"As they cross-examined the witnesses, Antoinette, Williams and Cobbs appeared to take exception at the characterization of their group as a cult.

'Where did you come up with or where did you hear that we were a cult?' Antoinette asked Khadan-Newton.

Khadan-Newton cited the group's restrictions on what its members wore and on their movement outside the residence. 'In my head, that's a cult,' she said.

Antoinette's lengthy cross-examination of Bynum produced some odd moments. Under questioning from prosecutors, he detailed her justification for their romantic relationship.

'She told me that God said it was OK for us to have a sexual relationship,' Bynum said, and that 'through sex, she got closer to Jesus Christ.'

'Did you feel closer to Jesus Christ?' Assistant State's Attorney Julie Drake asked.

'No, ma'am,' Bynum said.

Antoinette said the Bible doesn't mention that sex allows people to get closer to Jesus.

'Did you not think it strange,' she asked, 'for someone to say something like that to you?'

'Yes,' Bynum said.

'What did you do about it?'

'I didn't do anything about it,' Bynum said. 'If I did anything, I ended the relationship.'"

-- John Patti, bringing us the further hilarious adventures of Queen Antoinette's 1 Mind Ministries cult - the corn-rowed queen (seen above) and her followers are on trial for killing a 16 month old child who didn't say "Amen" when it was demanded - and (as most of enquiries into cults do) landing us all in the sexual gutter, and the pages of The Associated Press.

UPDATE: WBAL-TV11 News has coverage of the trial. And I have a question:

Why does someone always have to die before journalists decide cultism is a story?

Not Praying: The One Thing We Have In Common

"If this little boy had ever had the capacity to say 'Amen,' he surely lost it."

-- Julie Drake, Philadelphia's Assistant State's Attorney, during the on-going child starvation trial of "Queen Antoinette" of the 1 Mind Ministries cult - "Queen", along with three others (including the child's mother) allegedly killed 16 months old Javon Thompson for not praying, and then stuffed his body in a suitcase - their trial includes a provision for the mother, who is testifying against the others, that "if Javon comes back to life", her plea will be vacated from the court record, and probably from The Washington Post.

Click the "Queen Antoinette" tag, below, for more on this story,...

The Best News I've Heard All Day

"BALTIMORE - Four people accused of starving a toddler to death while part of a religious cult will now go to trial in October.

Their trial had been scheduled to start Tuesday but was delayed because the attorney for one of the defendants had a scheduling conflict.

Prosecutors also wanted to give alleged cult leader Queen Antoinette and one of her followers, Trevia Williams, time to hire lawyers. But the two women said Tuesday that they would represent themselves.

Antoinette, Williams, Marcus Cobbs and Steven Bynum are accused of denying food and water to 1-year-old Javon Thompson after the boy refused to say 'Amen' after meals.

On Wednesday, a Baltimore judge set Oct. 26 as their new trial date.”

-- The Associated Press

O.K., this is *sweeeet*:

Not only have the charges widened to four of the cultists but (Thank you, Jesus!) two of them are so delusional they're going to represent themselves!!! (Oh man, throw in a free bucket of chicken wings and I'm so there!)

They probably think they're going to cast a spell on the judge, or some other goofy shit, but this is the same judge who already declared he'd drop the charges if the baby came back to life, so I don't think there's much hope for that particular plan of action.

Is this a great country or what?

Click the tag for "Queen Antoinette", below, for more.

Excuse Us, But, Where's That Line Again?

"There is a definite and defensible line between religion and delusion.



Recently in Baltimore, a woman pled guilty to starving her 1-year-old child to death because he did not say 'amen' after breakfast. Ria Ramkissoon was a member of the cult One Mind Ministries.



One Mind Ministries, led by Queen Antoinette, claims to find authority for its unique beliefs in the Bible. Queen Antoinette is the group’s exclusive communicator to God. New members are required to live in the cult’s house in Baltimore, to get rid of cell phones and to eliminate any contact with family.



Ramkissoon only pled guilty under the condition that the charges would be dropped if her son was resurrected. This 'Resurrection Clause' added to Ramkissoon’s sentence is a ridiculous legal act.



Granted, the judge most likely went along with this contingency because it’s not going to happen. However, the simple act of agreeing to such outlandish terms is equivalent to giving legitimacy to what this cult has done."

-- Leah Hitchens, who doesn't seem to grasp we now live in a culture that regularly gives legitimacy to what the delusional do, leaving us Black and Magenta.

Just Another Part Of The American Landscape

"Cults are notorious for convincing people to do the unthinkable. In March, a member of the now-defunct One Mind Ministries pleaded guilty to starving her son to death. Allegedly, she and other cult members stopped feeding the 1-year-old because he wouldn't say "amen" at mealtime.

Back in 1993, David Koresh's Branch Davidian sect ended in a conflagration after a 51-day standoff with the FBI. In 1978, over 900 members of the People's Temple died at Jonestown, Guyana, in a mass murder-suicide; and in 1997, scores of Heaven's Gate followers killed themselves in California."

-- Krystle M. Davis, mentioning many of the stories we've covered in her review intro for Jayanti Tamm's ''Cartwheels in a Sari'' (see the tags below) - and only mentioning once that cults are "mainstream" now (but not a word about stopping the zombie invasion) - like, maybe, even in Forbes Magazine.

About As "Close" As You Can Get

"To say that someone is crazy because they have beliefs is very difficult. If I believe that God wants me to starve my child, that gets close to the edge,..."

-- Dr. Jonas Rappeport, a retired forensic psychiatrist and the former chief medical officer for the Baltimore Circuit Court, while speaking about cultist Ria Ramkissoon, above, who starved her child to death on the orders of "Queen Antoinette" in the One Mind Ministries case, covered by The Associated Press.

There's also this:

[Ramkissoon's] plea agreement [that her guilty plea to child abuse resulting in death will be withdrawn if her 1-year-old son, Javon Thompson, comes back to life] also calls for Ramkissoon to meet with Rick Ross, who has studied cults for more than 25 years and counsels former cult members. Ross said cult members often take years to realize how they've been manipulated. They exhibit behavior that "seems crazy to us because we're outside the control of the group and the environment of the group," Ross said. "In reality, what we're actually seeing is an individual under undue influence."

It's Now "Spiritual Truth" And A Fact Of Law: If The Impossible Should Happen - You're Free!!!

"Accepting a plea bargain that her attorney described as unprecedented in American jurisprudence, a 22-year-old Maryland woman yesterday agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of other defendants in the death of her son under the condition that charges against her be dropped if the child rises from the dead.

...The boy's mother, Ria Ramkissoon, is shaping up as prosecutors' star witness against a 40-year-old Baltimore woman named Queen Antoinette. Prosecutors allege that Queen Antoinette led a small cult, called One Mind Ministries, based in a West Baltimore rowhouse. In early 2007, prosecutors say, Queen Antoinette instructed Ramkissoon and others to deprive Javon of food and water because he didn't say "amen" before breakfast.

Queen Antoinette has been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death, as have three of her alleged followers. Any trial is expected to be at least two months away."

-- Dan Morse, finally getting us to wish a cultist "good luck" - that's the boy's grandmother above - in The Washington Post.