Dr. John Merrifield, father of Michael Merrifield – the man convicted of molesting and murdering two-year-old Logan Shane Goodall – has pleaded no contest to a charge of gross neglect, with regard to charges that he failed to report the abuse of the toddler. The charge is a felony. Dr. Merrifield faces one to five years in prison, and/or a $3000 fine. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors will drop charges against his wife, Diane Merrifield.
If Dr. Merrifield gets only a fine with no prison time, there is no justice, considering the ridiculous nature of the injuries he treated on little Logan, and failed to report. Had he reported the injuries, chances are Logan would still be alive. Only a prison sentence is just and proper in these circumstances.
From the Charleston Daily Mail:
[Prosecutor Don Morris] said that on Aug. 13, Merrifield treated the toddler for a torn scrotum, stitching the wound.
“The defendant himself had questions about the nature of that injury,” Morris said. “We would have shown medical records where he made the notation ‘A fall?’”
Morris said the child suffered another injury Aug. 15 – burns to his buttocks and heels that the state Medical Examiner would have testified were not caused by pool chemicals as some suggested.
“He would have testified that those burns were consistent with immersion burns,” Morris said. “Michael Merrifield gave the explanation that Logan sat in pool chemicals, but we have people from the apartment complex who would say that did not occur and could not occur.
“Even the defendant did not believe that story,” Morris said.
Of Dr. Merrifield, Morris said, “He chose not to let someone know the child was being abused. And that abuse led to serious bodily injury and his death.”
i do not think that that doc should even be a doctor, wat doctor lets that go on and dosent do anything to stop it that could be my child he shouldnt be a doc at all, he is just at fault bc he knew he knew wat was going on and did nothing about it why? its so messed up i live down the street form logan omg i cant beleave that anyone would do such a thing to a baby thats so wrong
Well here we go again with Michael Merrifield. Life without mercy, I certainly hope that no mercy means he will be held in General Population while in prison, and is given NO MERCY by fellow inmates. And AGAIN, Dr. Merrifield is standing by his son declaring that the media tried and convicted him two years ago and that his son is not the MONSTER that the media have made him out to be. For Heavens Sake do the Merrifields EVER ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ACTIONS????? Again I will say that I feel that Pepper Eren is as responsible if not more responsible seeing that she was Logan’s mother and should spend the rest of her life in prision and never have the opportunity to bear more children.
Well it’s time for Dr. Merrifields sentencing tomorrow, 7/29/08. I’m sure the FRONT PAGE STORY in Sunday paper here in WV was trying to show what a good, great Doctor he was, is??? Matter of opinon I guess. States that he could never say “NO” to anyone. But then to be fair the article also detailed some of MM’s past brutality as well, but even as a child looks like the Dr. and Mrs. M turned a deaf ear and blind eye to their children. Let’s just hope he gets more than a slap on the hand. And for Mrs. M, well she deserves the same as the good Dr. and her son.
Thanks very much for bringing that article to my attention, Debbie! Very interesting, as I didn’t know that Michael Merrifield had abused a former girlfriend to that extent. If anyone else here wants to read it, it’s at http://wvgazette.com/News/200807260417
Had Dr. Merrifield done his job – or even done what any responsible person would have done, which is to report the abuse – little Logan would likely still be alive right now.
Add to that the fact that Dr. Merrifield knew his son was a violent monster, completely capable of torturing a young child, and his actions are even more inexcusable.
He deserves prison, because all the good he did in his life does not overcome the horror that little child experienced, when the doctor simply sent him back to his torturer.
HOME CONFINMENT!!!!!1-5 YRS!!!!! Cannot believe this. This doctor needs to be incarcerated with his son. Well we all know that money and who he is played a part in this. I am really anxious to see the news this evening to see what the outburst were in the courtroom. Justice was not served in any way in this case. He admitted his guilt and still does not have to spend one day in jail. Sad!!!
I agree with you, Debbie. I also am very disappointed that Dr. Merrifield will never even see the inside of a jail cell. He had a moral, ethical, and legal responsibility, and he failed that poor little child completely.
ive met michael and dr. merrifield through friends of theirs at football games and such in morgantown. these people are the epidimy (excuse my spelling) of evil. i just wish no mercy on mike and heres hoping he gets what he deserves. it is now time to accept responsibility…HAVE FUN!
Why do people ALWAYS have to think that what ever the news or newspapers or other peoples blogs or posts or websites or whatever ALWAYS contains the absolute truth and has all the facts contained in them? Because people, I’m telling you right now, they don’t! I love how people pass judgement on others just because of what “the news” said or because they read someone elses CREATED website stating their “opinion” on what they think they know because THEY read or heard something about the subject from other people.
Please people…don’t pass judgement on others unless you actually saw what happened, unless you were actually there, actually know the person or people involved personally and know for a FACT that they are bad people or know for 100% sure ALL of the facts that are involved are there and not just because you saw something on the news or read it in the newspaper,or on somebody elses website or “you just heard” from somebody else. Know your facts firsts!
FREE PEPPER DAWN!!!!!
Yes….she is one of my bestfriends, I know her personally and I know her family and they are good people. Everyone is against Pepper but I’m one of the few actually standing up for her because right now she can’t. She made a horriable, horriable mistake by leaving her only child with a sick, perverted, murdering, piece of shit that will certainly fry in hell and she will have to live with that for the rest of her life. She regrets this every single second of her life. Logan WAS NOT abused his whole life and I hate it when people say that he was. He was very much loved and cared for BY HER PARENTS!
This all happened in a span of 4 months people. She was blinded by what she thought was love, was supposed to be getting married and was supposed to be starting a family with him and that included her son so she took him to live with them. She was supposed to be straightening her life out. She and her parents were lied to by at least 4 people they were sure they could trust, one of which was their family doctor of over 30 years, and on top of all this she had a drug and alcohol problem to cloud her judgement. Come on now people…..we ALL know people can make stupid mistakes, from small silly things to big tragic things when they are inebriated on anything…. one night stands, getting knocked up during one night stands, car wrecks, car wrecks that kill people, breaking things on accident, or even saying things or doing things to people that you don’t mean. Stupid, regretful things. Why? Because you are not in your right state of mind and if you have ever gotten drunk or have done ANY drugs, you all know this to be true! Pepper had a serious problem with drugs, one of which she has never denied.
Ya know….there are some women out there who do not possess the “motherly nature” thing and should have never had children. She fully admits to not being fully attentive to her child. That was what she was charged with….child neglect, not murder. It absolutely infuriates me when people call her a “baby killer”. SHE DID NOT KILL HIM!!!!! MICHAEL MERRIFIELD DID!!! SHE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON!!! Even her judge said that he believed that she didn’t know what was going on…..right before he sentanced her and told her the reason he was sending her to prison instead of giving her an alternative sentance was to please the public. Media fed people….how ’bout that. I know this to be a fact because I was there and I heard it come from his mouth. But what did the good doctor get who actually knew about the abuse that his son was inflicting upon Logan and was helping to cover it up? 5 years home confinement. How about mommy Merrifield and the brother who also knew? Absolutely nothing. Well that’s a bunch of bullshit if you ask me!
About two years before Logan was killed there was a woman named Amanda Butler who tried to kill her child by abusing him on purpose just to get attention when she would take him to the hosptial. She had another child that she actually did kill in Florida two years before by doing the same thing but they didn’t find her guility of it until after she was convicted here in Cabell County,West Virginia. Were was the media frenzy there? Nothing on the internet about that.
Two years after Logan was killed, a woman from Lincoln County, West Virginia named Kimberly Faulkner sexually abused and beat her child on a daily bases. No media frenzy there either. I only know about these two cases because I helped book them in the damn jail and read the reports. So why was this such a high profile case and others were not? I would really like to know.
All I can say is at least Pepper is woman enough to admit that she should have known what was going on, but she didn’t. Michael always had an answer and a solution for every incident and his father went along with it. She is doing her time and she is suffering for what happened. In fact….she WANTS to stay in prison, she wants to discharge her sentance because she can’t forgive herself for what happened and thinks that she needs to be punished further. I mean damn…if that’s not remorseful I don’t know what is.
Believe me….I, of all people, one who physically can’t have children, love children and think that they are a blessing should be judgemental towards her for letting the most precious gift that could ever be given to her be taken away from her…but I’m not. Ya know why? Because I know the facts. I know her and I worked around her and that piece of shit for over a year….almost two for him and guess who’s story NEVER changed…hers. His changed daily. I don’t blame Pepper and I certainly don’t blame her parents. I do however place all blame on Michael, his brother, and his parents. I think that what they did to Logan, Pepper, and her family was one of the worst things I have ever known to happen to anyone and what the Merrifields got out of all this isn’t even close enough to what they deserve.
I don’t condone what happened at all…but I think Pepper has paid her dues and it’s time to let her come home, finally grieve with her family, heal, and move on with her life.
If you read this and you get pissed…..oh well. You can judge me too I guess….but at least you’ll know the facts. So, I say again…..
FREE PEPPER EREN!!!!!
ML: While I understand and agree with your point that Pepper didn’t physically murder little Logan, I must disagree that she is not responsible. She chose to take drugs so she was oblivious to what was going on; she chose to neglect her son by leaving him with a man she barely knew; and she chose to ignore Logan’s strange and very serious physical injuries and illnesses.
Yes, I do understand that Dr. Merrifield lied about the source of Logan’s injuries. However, as a mother myself, I’d have taken him to the ER or another doctor, because Dr. Merrifield’s explanations just don’t make sense; and even if she did believe him, why did she not question why her son was suddenly being seriously injured on a regular basis, and why he wasn’t being better supervised around dangerous dogs and dangerous chemicals? She should have known something was very, very wrong. I suspect she would have known if she’d put down the meth pipe, but continuing to use drugs was her choice, and she must now live with the consequences of that choice.
I also agree that Dr. Merrifield should have been sent to prison for his part in Logan’s death. He was the one other person (besides Pepper) who could not only save Logan, but had a legal responsibility to report the abuse, and he instead chose to protect his son. That Dr. and Mrs. Merrifield failed and refused to report the abuse is absolutely unconscienable. They should both be in prison.
So while I think Michael Merrifield is directly responsible for the child’s death, and I think both of his parents should have been sent to prison as well for lying about the abuse and failing to protect the poor little boy from their violent POS son, I’m not about to let Pepper Eren off the hook for her involvement in the death of her son. Bottom line, she was supposed to protect Logan, and she failed miserably. Her son was tortured to death right under her nose, and she was too busy getting loaded to notice. Pepper’s drug use is not a mitigating factor in this case, it is an aggravating factor. A sober mother would have realized what was going on, or at least suspected it.
By the way, I’m not pissed at you. That would require far too much energy on my part, given that I don’t know you, LOL. I actually find it interesting to hear from one of Pepper’s friends on this blog. I have heard from one person off the blog who spent time in jail with Pepper prior to her trial, and they thought she was nice but really, really screwed up in the head. I’m actually not altogether sure that you disagree with that assessment of her, based upon your comment.
Just don’t pretend like Pepper is innocent, though, because in the end she was the one person responsible for Logan’s health and safety, and she had an absolute responsibility to protect him but ignored all the obvious signs that he was being abused. Unlike some others I don’t think she should spend decades in prison, since there is no evidence that she actually abused Logan, and Dr. Merrifield contributed to her impression that these were all accidents, but I do think a few years in prison is very much deserved for her neglect of Logan. Had she placed his well-being above her drug use and desire to be with Merrifield, Logan would be alive today. This was not a sudden unforeseen situation, unlike many child abuse deaths where the mother is not at all responsible. Merrifield had been abusing Logan for quite some time on an ongoing basis, and Pepper chose to ignore the obvious. I know you probably don’t agree with that statement, but that’s the reality of the situation based upon the evidence, and that’s why Pepper is sitting in prison right now.
All that being said, I would not oppose Pepper’s release from prison at her next parole hearing, given the totality of the situation.
M.L. aren’t you saying all of this and know all of this because you were having an affair with her at the jail she was housed at?Isn’t that how and why you have the “facts” in this case?I spent years “inside” with Pepper and learned how self centered and manipulative she is.I must say she had me fooled in the beginning also. It was scary !!!!Lets leave it up too GOD to judge. It looks like another case of blinded love!!!!Your not the only one who has facts….your right about one thing she lives with this the rest of her life.I guess it’s easier for some than others!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ M.L.
If Ibelieve everything you have stated, her poor choices make her deserve to be right where she’s at. And also where she’s headed. She was responsible for his safty above all others, and if she put him in this situation because as you say she was “clouded by drugs” then it is HER FAULT!