FORT MYERS, Fla. — The days are sunny and warm in this idyllic stretch of southwest Florida.
But for Nicholas Canfield, 30, the forecast is decidedly ice-cold.
The state’s attorney in Southwest Florida is doubling down on what is planned for the accused child sex killer.
The Sunshine State wants to book a ticket for Canfield on the midnight bus to oblivion. The North Fort Myers man had the bad luck to fall under the state’s new death penalty guidelines. Child rapists also now face death whether the victim lived or died.
Of course, Florida’s sword of vengeance stands in stark contrast to Canada’s weak approach to child killers, molesters and purveyors of child porn.
The new death penalty bill took effect on April 20, 2023. Previously, all 12 jurors had to find at least one aggravating factor to trigger the execution option. Now, an 8-4 breakdown will put a killer on the gurney.
Canfield is slated to go on trial March 24, charged with capital first-degree murder, one count of sexual battery on a child younger than 12, and three counts of aggravated child abuse. In other words, a superb candidate for the big adios.
Emergency personnel responded to the home of two-year-old Jaliyah Ramos on April 23, 2020. They found the toddler unresponsive and discovered she had suffered cardiac arrest. Jaliyah died six days later.
Canfield told detectives he found the toddler in the bathtub unresponsive after leaving her unsupervised. Staff at Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida had a different take. Signs of trauma to Jaliyah’s private parts indicated severe sexual abuse. There was also swelling to the child’s face, neck and lower extremities.
Two other children were living in the home. Canfield was their “caretaker” and they too had numerous injuries as a result of encounters with the accused killer. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno called Canfield “pure evil.”
Five hours and a world away in the Florida Keys, Michael John Demerjian, 36, likely thought his little secret would stay that way forever. But like a lot of accused criminals, Demerjian is stupid.
The 36-year-old sold his car last January but forgot to take his cellphone. What the new owner discovered on the phone were stomach-churning images and videos of a young child being raped. The victim? Demerjian’s three-year-old daughter.
The child pornography was so disturbing that grand jurors and detectives alike sobbed during hearings. One Monroe County sheriff’s detective broke down in tears as he described the images.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made the sexual battery of a child under the age of 12 a capital offence in 2023. And that’s a guaranteed ticket for the journey on the gurney at the death house in Starke.
Prosecutors say Demerjian fits the bill. He ticks all the boxes.
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“The nature of this crime is beyond comprehension,” Monroe State Attorney Dennis Ward said. “Crimes against children, especially those this egregious, demand the full force of the law, and we will not hesitate to seek justice.”
Over the last four decades, a small army of airheads in Canada’s faculty lounges has put forth their worldview on crime. Super-charged by terms like “root causes,” “misunderstood” and academia’s latest chestnut, “minor attracted person,” victims of these heinous sex crimes have been bullied into the shadows.
Going out on a limb here but it seems if you asked the average Canadian if they supported the death penalty for accused child rapists like Nicholas Canfield and Michael John Demerjian, the answer would be resounding.
String the bastards up.
@HunterTOSun