SPOKANE, Wash. – A motion has been filed to change the release conditions for the man accused of killing a 10-month-old child.
Joshua Mobley is facing second degree murder charges for killing Caiden Henry will he was babysitting him back in February 2017. Mobley is free on bond while he awaits trial.
Mobley appeared in court Friday where a judge granted his request to live with his parents, a home where five adults already live. He said he wanted to live there due to financial reasons and because his fourth child had just been born.
The motion filed by Attorney Dennis Cronin, who represents Caiden’s mother Crystal, objected to modifying his release conditions and claims there is racial bias in the case.
“Although Mr. Mobley is charged with a most heinous crime involving a 10-month-old child in his house, he is nevertheless allowed contact with children. Most likely, if Mr. Mobley was black, he would not be released let alone allowed contact with children,” Cronin wrote.
According to the document, Mobley has claimed that he faces financial constraints necessitating the amendment of his release conditions. Cronin claims there is no indication as to what those constraints would be to support his claim.
The motion said Mobley has been able to post a sizable bail, take expensive trips with his family and can afford a “blue ribbon” lawyer who continual requests for modifications of his release conditions.
“Apparently, the Court, the Spokane Community, and Ms. Henry are just expected to believe and accept Mr. Mobley’s representations of financial constraints at face value,” Cronin wrote.
According to the complaint, the court has amended Mobley’s release conditions multiple times without input from Caiden’s mother. Her attorney claims this violated her right to be heard as a victim of a crime.
It started on April 3, 2017 when the court allowed Mobley to be around his wife and mother, who are witness in the case. Documents said he was ordered not to discuss the case with either of them but Cronin said there is no method to police such an order.
Then, on July 2017, the court awarded a stipulated order allowing Mobley to attend his son’s birthday party. A few months later on September 21, another stipulated order allowed him to attend Jurassic Quest with his family. He was also allowed to leave Spokane County to go to his cousin’s wedding in Oregon. Then in October, his conditions were modified again when he was allowed to go live with his wife and mother because his wife was expecting another child. Again, in November, he was given a stipulated release condition allowing him to go to California for his grandma’s funeral. Later that month he was also allowed to travel to Wenatchee to attend Christmas festivities. Cronin said all of the conditions were allowed without Crystal’s input.
Cronin questions the court’s decision to allow Mobley such treatment.
“Is it Mr. Mobley’s white privilege or something else? The state appears to concede to most all of Mr. Mobley’s requests, or does not take an adverse position at all,” he wrote.
Caiden's Aunt Kitara Johnson said she is shocked by the judge's decision.
"If the community knew who was among them, who was allowed to take vacations, to say that he has financial hardships, and to be allowed to travel to California with three kids and your spouse and they to say that he's being watched by people who were witnesses to my nephew's murder, my mind is completely blown that he would even have the opportunity to move so freely," she said.
Mobley's trial for the second degree murder charge is set to begin in mid-September.