Posthumously adopt? Is that possible?

http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Apr/04102004/utah/155794.asp

Board frees inmate who starved 6-year-old

By Ashley Broughton
The Salt Lake Tribune

The state parole board has decided to free a Utah prison inmate who starved
his 6-year-old daughter and kept her in the filthy basement of his Trenton home
for nearly a year.
Christopher Allen Tucker, 42, will be released June 22, the state Board of
Pardons and Parole has decided.
He appeared before a board hearing officer last month at Central Utah
Correctional Facility in Gunnison, where he is incarcerated. He pleaded guilty
to second-degree felony child abuse in 1998 and was sentenced to one to 15
years in prison.
"I'm really ashamed," Tucker told hearing officer Jennifer Bartell. "It
haunts me how it became so severe. It was something that just slowly happened."

The girl, now 13 and who has been adopted, along with her half-sister, by a
Utah family, weighed 31 pounds when she was found in the Tuckers' basement by
authorities. Her body was bruised and burned; she had head lice and her feet
were covered in fungus. A tub of dirty water and bare bedsprings were nearby.
The girl's adoptive mother, Karen Hales, told Bartell the abuse continues
to affect the teenager's life today. She said Thursday that she was "shocked
and surprised" by the board's decision. "I thought they would make him serve
the full 15 years," she said.
John Green, administrative coordinator for the parole board, said Tucker
served 74 months in prison -- more than four times the 18 months recommended by
his sentencing guidelines. "I don't think the board can be faulted for this
one," he said.
In addition, Green said, Tucker had no disciplinary problems while
incarcerated, and "took full advantage of all of the opportunities for him to
get therapy and education."

According to a "rationale for decision" memorandum issued by the parole
board, the decision to parole Tucker was made, among other reasons, because he
has accepted responsibility for his actions and shows "overall rehabilitative
progress and promise."
Last month, Hales said the 13-year-old fears Tucker will find her if he is
released. Because of that, The Salt Lake Tribune is not naming her or where her
family resides.
Hales said this week she doesn't plan on telling the girls that Tucker will
be released and has filed a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting
or visiting them.
The Tuckers adopted the girl and her two half-sisters while living in
Michigan. After moving to Utah in 1996, they continued to collect $1,000 a
month from Michigan for adopting the children.
After they were arrested in 1997, investigators raised questions about the
death of 4-year-old Danielle Tucker two years earlier in Michigan. The girl's
body was exhumed and signs of abuse were found. Rebecca Tucker admitted pushing
the girl down a flight of stairs and is serving a sentence of up to 15 years in
Michigan.
Hales has said her family is attempting to posthumously adopt Danielle and
have her body interred in Utah.







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A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown