Look - I'll be honest. Charles ruined David's life by setting him on fire and burning 90% of his body. An a**hole like that doesn't even deserve to live!! He said he did it to get back at his ex-wife, but look at the pain he caused David, just an innocent little boy!
I swear to God, this has got to be the saddest movie I've ever seen, and I'm sure we all feel like bashing the crap out of Charles Rothenberg for what he did to his son.
I saw your message and I wanted to pass on some recent info about Charles Rothenberg.
After being released, he ended up in the Bay Area (San Francisco, to be precise). A lot of people, myself included, didn't know this until he was arrested in 2001. He was arrested for Setting fire to a door in the apt. building he was living in, ex-felon in possesion of a weapon and ammunition, burglary and credit card fraud. Under the 3 Strikes law in California, some of these charges would have him back in prison for 25 yrs. to life. However, a Grand Jury only indicted him with 2 weapons charges and 7 fraud charges, which may exclude him from the 3 strikes law.
If he is allowed to escape the 3 strikes law, he could be released for time already served.
I haven't heard anything else about what's going on, and I did an extensive search, but the most recent item was in 2003, in which a judge that was going to determine what happens, excluded himself (Apparently,it had to do with personal relation to someone involved in the case).
Hope this helps.
"My name's Leonard Washington. Where I'm from? A little town called None Of Your Goddamn Business!"
Here is an article in the LA Times, February 9th
Felon May Face Life in Prison
Man, now 64, who set his son ablaze in 1983 is found guilty of two weapons charges. Under the three-strikes law, the D.A. seeks 25 years-plus.
By Lee Romney and John M. Glionna
Times Staff Writers
February 9, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO — The man infamous for setting his son on fire in a Buena Park motel room 22 years ago was convicted Tuesday of weapons charges and could face imprisonment for life.
Charles Rothenberg, who has legally changed his name to Charley Charles, had admitted possessing a loaded .38-caliber revolver and dozens of rounds of ammunition, which are felonies for such a convicted offender.
Taking the stand in his own defense, Rothenberg, 64, claimed a rare "necessity defense," saying that a constant threat of vigilante violence accompanied his pariah status and that he had no viable legal method of protecting himself.
But after deliberating a day, a Superior Court jury issued two guilty verdicts: for being a felon in possession of a handgun and in possession of ammunition.
Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris is seeking a sentence of 25 years to life under the state's three-strikes law — a course of action unusual in liberal San Francisco for a nonviolent third offense. But Rothenberg's extensive criminal record warrants it, she said.
"He is one of the worst people we've seen in the criminal justice system as far as his track record … and propensity for crime and violent crime" are concerned, Harris said earlier.
Rothenberg "is the poster boy for the three-strikes law," Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Russ Giuntini said after the court session. "He committed horrendous offenses in the past and got off with minimal punishment. He has continued to offend over the years and has been fortunate to escape justice."
After reading its verdicts, the jury was asked to leave the courtroom while Deputy Public Defender Gabriel Bassan moved to have factors affecting Rothenberg's sentencing decided by a jury and not a judge.
Judge Cynthia Lee denied the motion.
At issue in the trial was the loaded gun tucked in the T-shirt drawer of Rothenberg's San Francisco apartment when he was arrested June 14, 2001, on suspicion of arson (for which he was never indicted).
Bassan argued that a stranger had recognized Rothenberg in 1997 and shot at him. The incident, the defender said, was an example of the threats that Rothenberg encountered daily.
But Rothenberg admitted on the stand that on the date of his arrest, about three years after he had gotten the gun, he faced no specific danger.
In 1983, Rothenberg took his 6-year-old son, David, to Southern California for a Disneyland vacation without the knowledge of his ex-wife, with whom he was in a custody dispute.
At the time, a warrant had been issued for his arrest in connection with arson and embezzlement at a restaurant where he worked.
In a motel room, Rothenberg poured kerosene on the sleeping David, lighted it and fled. David suffered third-degree burns over 90% of his body and was permanently disfigured. His father became one of the nation's most reviled criminals.
Apprehended after the blaze, Rothenberg pleaded guilty to attempted murder and arson with great bodily injury, and received the maximum sentence: 13 years in prison. The Orange County Superior Court judge who sentenced him wept in his chambers that day, tormented by his inability to keep Rothenberg behind bars longer.
By 1990, less than seven years later, Rothenberg had been released from prison. Paroled to Alameda County in 1993, he was placed under 24-hour surveillance by a rotating parade of 50 agents. It was the strictest and costliest parole in California history to that point.
On the stand in his weapons trial, Rothenberg said he floated from waiter job to waiter job, changing residences often when his identity was learned. He wanted "closure," he said, and to "live my life."
Jurors learned of Rothenberg's convictions for forgery and grand larceny in the 1970s, and the brutal details of his 1983 crimes, from his own defense attorney.
Judge Lee prohibited prosecutors from mentioning convictions before the 1970s, Rothenberg's arrest in 1996 in Alameda County on suspicion of attempted murder (he was acquitted) and current charges against him for fraud and forgery.
Jurors were told not to consider sentencing implications, though Rothenberg's criminal history might have suggested that this could prove to be a third-strike case.
Thank you so much for the update.
Personally, ANY person that would set an innocent person on fire, causing such horrific damage for no acceptable reason should get what they deserve!
"My name's Leonard Washington. Where I'm from? A little town called None Of Your Goddamn Business!"
To those that are interested, this is the latest in what's going on with Charles Rothenberg, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle.
One of the state's most notorious criminals escaped the "three strikes" law Thursday when a San Francisco judge ruled that he had racked up only one strike, not two, when he set his young son ablaze in a motel room more than two decades ago.
Charley Charles, 64, had faced the prospect of being sent to prison for 25 years to life after he was convicted in February of being a felon in possession of a gun. That, combined with two violent felonies of which he was convicted for setting fire to his 6-year-old son March 3, 1983, made him eligible for sentencing under three strikes, prosecutors argued.
But Superior Court Judge Cynthia Lee -- even as she denounced Charles as a career criminal with no regard for life -- said she had no choice but to find that he deserved only one strike for the 1983 attack.
"I am compelled and required to follow precedent,'' she said.
Lee will sentence Charles for the gun crime this morning. Without being a three-strikes offender, the most he can receive is six years in prison -- and with credit for time served, he could be out in about two months.
Defense attorneys argued successfully that state Supreme Court rulings dictated that Charles' 1983 arson and attempted murder convictions could be counted only as one strike, as they stemmed from the same attack. Prosecutors contended that the crimes were separate because Charles had committed arson to destroy evidence that he had drugged his son before setting fire to him.
At the time of the 1983 attack, Charles was known as Charles Rothenberg and had divorced his wife, who was living with the couple's son in New York state. He told her he was taking the boy, David, on a Catskills vacation.
Instead, he brought the kindergartner to Southern California with the intention of showing him Disneyland. When he let slip in a phone call that he was in another state, his ex-wife promised to keep him from ever seeing David again.
"If I couldn't have him, nobody could," Charles later told authorities. He gave the boy a sleeping pill, doused his room at the Buena Park (Orange County) Travelodge in kerosene and set it ablaze, then fled.
The boy survived but was burned over 90 percent of his body and was scarred for life. Charles served 6 1/2 years in prison.
Before ruling Thursday, Lee recounted a string of court decisions that she said forced her to consider the 1983 case as one strike -- "one ball of wax'' -- for the purpose of sentencing.
"It's a difficult issue this court has really grappled with because of the heinous nature of the past crime,'' Lee said.
She took pains to portray Charles' "pervasive malignancy'' and "unrelenting'' criminal history dating back to 1958. "He is exactly the type of defendant the three strikes law was intended to incarcerate,'' she said.
But she had challenged Assistant District Attorney Cheryl Matthews to come up with a reason why the 1983 crimes were not one strike for the purposes of sentencing. She suggested that everything Charles did seemed part of a plan to kill his son, and that the arson was simply the means.
Matthews said Charles might have used sleeping pills, not arson, as the means of killing his son. The judge dismissed the argument.
Matthews appeared stunned afterward.
"We are of course disappointed,'' she said. "But we shall persevere through tomorrow, see what tomorrow brings, see if there are any other courses that we might be able to take in regards to this. I don't know what else to say.''
Charles' attorney, Gabriel Bassan, had no comment.
Charles was convicted in the gun case after police investigating a fire in his Bush Street apartment building in 2001 found an antique .38-caliber revolver and ammunition in a dresser drawer.
The defense argued that Charles needed them to protect himself from vigilantes.
In court Thursday, Bassan told the judge that the 1983 attack on his son was "a heartless thing in a moment of total insanity.''
Lee suggested, however, that the attack was the best evidence of Charles' true character and "a more telling indication of who he is as a person than anything he did before or anything he did after.''
Oh, I'm in no condition to drive. Wait a minute. I don't have to listen to myself. I'm drunk.
Ok, what I'm reading from the news reports is that because it's San Fransisco and there are so many exceptions to this 3 strikes law - it really isn't a three strikes law. This is why our justice system is becoming a joke - it's being hobbled by people who are making sure that criminals have MORE rights than the rest of society.
My son chose to do what happened to David (his name is also David) to himself one night 3 years ago. Let me say this - I don't wish a burn injury on my worst enemy. Other than a brain injury - it is a horrible injury and awful recovery. With the advances made in burn treatment, my son is doing ok - but he may never live on his own. He had a 99% total body surface area burn. From his nose down it was 3rd and 4th (now a designation, due to bone/muscle damage and the survivalbility percent rate rising) and from the nose up 2nd degree. Only the crown of his head was not burned at all. He should not have survived at all, but he has. So I know very well what these people have gone through.
What gets me about Charles Rothenberg - he was convicted once before for arson (a second time) for setting a fire in an apartment he lived in and now a weapons charge - HOW much does this guy have to do and HOW many people have to be hurt before the law stops him? I am so tired of these criminals getting free to do it again and again and again under the supposed protection of their 'rights.' He totally altered his ex-wife's life and just so destroyed his son's life. Now he is on his 3rd serious arrest - and he still might be set loose sometime in the future?
Wardmama, please accept my sympathies concerning your son. I pray he is doing as well as possible.
I can't believe Rothenberg wasn't shived in prison. Even hardened criminals can't abide a person who does horrible things to children.
Does anyone know how the young amn, David is doing now?
Hello, kettle? This is the pot. YOU'RE BLACK!
just a question, did his son survive? :(
i had a distant relative, he was a baby when he died of severe burns
(an accident in the kitchen, i was told)
small children die of pain due to burns,
so did david survive?
Come to the world where the flavor is.
yes his son did survie but he has a lot of scares
I would just like to say, what happened to this child is tragic, and I know from a more direct point of view. My step-father, Bob Schneider was the therapist who treated David, in real life. I have been told of what pain this boy went through, and I can't even comprehend why the father wasn't locked away forever.
shareAnd as it happens, my father (Dr. Achauer) was David's surgeon for many, many years. The night of the crime, my father came home and told us about a boy he'd worked on that day who probably wouldn't survive. But survive he did, only to face over a decade of operations to deal with growing up in a shell of unmoving scar tissue. I met David on several occasions from his childhood to early adolescence, and I can say that although shy, he was always very sweet. Although David's case captured a lot of media attention, the sad truth is that my father's burn unit saw many children with this level of injury, and many children who had been burned through neglect or outright abuse. I am glad to hear that this story still has an impact, because the more we know the more likely we are to be able to catch people like this before such tragedies occur.
shareI found something on google groups about that nutcase Charles. He was orignally going to take David to Niagra falls to tossing the him over the brink of the falls,before doing what he decided to do. I sware that man needs to go back to jail or be locked in a nuthouse or something. He is just way to dangerous to be walking around.
PS here's the thing I found on google groups.
The man who decided to get back at his ex-wife by setting his son on fire (the
child survived but was horrifically burned) had first planned on coming here
and tossing the child over the brink of the falls.
I agree with the first post - this man is SICK. To do something this HIDEOUS in his own sick and twisted mind to "get back" at his ex wife. I hope he gets exactly what he deserves one day.
don't worry guys when scum bag coldhearted charles rothenberg time to go he have judgement day with higher power and he straight bottom of the earth which he deserved
he not father in my eye
DarkAlessa now the end of day and Iam the Reaper:silent hill
here's the part I don't get: first degree murder is either a life sentence or death in pretty much any part of the world. Why is attempted murder less than half the time? Charles got 13 years WITH an arson charge and priors which of course was the max. Why should he get so much less time just because his plan failed?
Sorry for venting but I've actually been a victim of attempted murder twice; the first one a friend intervened so nothing happened, the second time my cousin saved me.
Charles Rothenberg should have never received prison time. He never should've even been sentenced to begin with.
He should've been sentenced to death....by fire.
The fact that this lowlife scumbag was only sentenced to 13 years was shameful. The fact had so much taxpayer money wasted on him for protection and prison time is beyond a travesty.
Killing him in the "eye for an eye" fashion was the only way to go. Not only would it save a ton of money, it would've given scumbag Charlie the real PUNISHMENT he deserved.
I still hope he gets what he deserves: to be burned alive.
This monster should not only had gotten life, but he should had got it up the ass!!!! I can't believe this bastard only got 13 years!!!!! Where's *beep* justice huh????? Pardon my language but I'm heated up!!!!!
share