A Valley attorney -- best known for representing an escort who accused baseball villain Albert Belle of stalking her in 2006 -- has been recruited to represent Jerice Hunter, the mother of missing 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley.
Attorney Scott Maasen has agreed to represent Hunter, his office confirms to New Times. However, Maasen himself is yet to return our call.
Hunter, according to Glendale police, is the "number one focus" of the
investigation into Shockley's disappearance. Glendale cops also say they
don't expect to find the girl alive.
Maasen was recruited to represent Hunter by her friends and the Christian Fellowship Church in Glendale, which tried to raise money for Hunter's bail last week.
"[The Glendale Police Department] is trying to save face before Thanksgiving," Reverend Jeffrey Metcalff told a local TV station at the time. "She will be exonerated of these charges."
Maasen reportedly met with Hunter for the first time after she was arrested on child abuse charges last week. Those charges, however, were never filed by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, and Hunter has since been released from jail.Jerry Cobb, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, says that just because charges weren't filed last week, it doesn't mean charges won't be filed in the future -- he says the MCAO is awaiting results from an additional investigation into Hunter by the Glendale Police Department before making any charging decisions. He says his office is working closely with Glendale cops, who suspect Shockley is likely dead and plan to search for her remains in a city landfill in coming weeks.
Hunter was arrested last week and booked into jail on child abuse charges "directly related" to Shockley's October 11 disappearance.
According to court records obtained by New Times, two of
Jhessye's siblings, who are now in foster care, told their foster
parents about some of the abuse Shockley received at the hands of her
mother, who spent four years in a California prison for child abuse --
and scolded us last month for asking whether she hurt her daughter .
Jhessye's
13-year-old sister told her foster parents that several weeks before
Shockley was reported missing, Hunter came home and found her watching
TV with a boy from the neighborhood. The girl told her foster parents --
and later police -- that Hunter called Jhessye a "ho" and dragged her
into a bedroom where the sister could hear Jhessye screaming and crying.
Following the apparent beating, Hunter kept Shockley in a closet. Her
sister told police she had to bring the 5-year-old water when Hunter was
out so she wouldn't become dehydrated. She would let the her out
when Hunter was gone, but quickly put Jhessye back when Hunter got home
to keep her from getting in trouble.
The sister also told investigators that she saw bruises and cuts on
Shockley's face and body while she was kept in the closet, and that her
eyes were black and only slightly open.
The 13-year-old also told police that Shockley's hair had been pulled
out and that she didn't look alive. She describes her as looking like a
"zombie" and that the closet she was kept in smelled like "dead people"
and was like a "grave."
All of the alleged abuse happened weeks before Hunter called police on
October 11. The last time anyone saw Jhessye alive was September 22,
which was the last time records show her attending school. Her sisters
say they never saw Jhessye the day her mother reported her missing, when
Hunter told police the older siblings were watching the girl as she ran
errands.
On October 9, Hunter bought a bottle of bleach at a Walgreens. She then
cleaned the entire apartment and scrubbed her shoes that were in the
closet with Jhessye with bleach, the sister told police.
Court records also show that Hunter was suspected of child abuse in
April, and a report was filed. It's unclear whether Child Protective
Services was alerted about the reported abuse.
Hunter has made sobbing attempts to declare her innocence since the day
she reported her daughter missing more than two weeks after she was last
seen alive. She's blamed everyone from the media to the Glendale Police
Department for not locating her daughter. When we spoke to her, Hunter
went ballistic when we suggested that she hurt her daughter.
"I really think they should take the focus off of me and quit asking people -- wasting time -- if I did something to my daughter," Hunter told us last month. "They should quit holding my babies hostage and trying to get them to say something [about what happened to Jahessye]. [Authorities are] telling me 'your kids aren't saying anything.' It's been 13 days. What do they expect my babies to say that they haven't already said? [CPS] don't wanna hear 'we love our mama, we wanna go home we want our mommy' -- they don't wanna hear that. They won't let me see them because
they don't want them running into my arms. They don't wanna hear them
scream 'mommy.'"
We'll let you know if Maasen returns our call. Check back for updates.
