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Brother: Boy like 'family'
October 10, 2007
By Robert Gavin
ALBANY -- The younger brother of
Edwin Tirado says the state health aide is being unfairly portrayed
as he stands charged with smothering 13-year-old Jonathan Carey
during a field trip last February.
"He treated Jonathan as family,"
Frankie Tirado said during a break in his brother's manslaughter
trial in Albany County Court on Tuesday.
During an exclusive interview
Tuesday during a break in the trial, Frankie Tirado said his brother
once spent a week at the Careys' home in Glenmont working with
Jonathan. He said the aide also went to Saratoga Race Course with
the family last year, which Edwin Tirado noted in his own testimony
Tuesday.
According to Frankie Tirado, his
brother loved the boy as much as his own nieces and nephews.
"He would never every hurt a
child," added the defendant's sister-in-law, Yara Tirado.
Michael Carey, the boy's father,
acknowledged Edwin Tirado "did some respite service at our home"
before Jonathan was enrolled at O.D. Heck. He also said it's
possible Tirado might have taken a trip with them.
But he vehemently said the aide's
actions on Feb. 15 "clearly demonstrated that he did not love
Jonathan."
He added, "In my eyes not only is
he not coming clean ... he doesn't have remorse or any way shape or
form does he have repentance."
Tirado'a attorney asked for a gag
order Tuesday to keep Michael Carey -- who has publicly ripped the
lawyer, saying he's been lying -- from speaking to reporters. Acting
Supreme Court Justice Dan Lamont did not allow the request.
After Carey died, Tirado and Mall
were interviewed by Town of Colonie police and arrested. Both were
charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Mall
later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge and testified against
Tirado.
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