As another human being seeing the suffering that these kids endured, I'm completely devastated. I think it goes without saying that this is one of the most fucked up stories we've read in the recent years, maybe in our entire lives. It truly seems like a horror film, and there's a big part of me that want to say that the parents should go to jail and for life, but with that said, I'm a lawyer here in Brazil and the lawyer in me thinks this is clearly a case of two completely mentally ill people commiting atrocities against their own children. I don't believe in pure evil, and I'm not sure how things are handled in the US or California, but if this happened here, here's what would probably happen:
Their aunt and uncle would probably pledge for guardianship of their nieces, nephews and their mother, based on that they are all mentally ill. A close and sane relative of the parent would take guardianship of the father, for the same reason. Why? There's a legal and pratical reason that I'm not sure it can be applied in the US. These two will waste all their savings in a trial trying to prove "not to be crazy" and that "their behavior was completely normal". That goes against basic common sense. Here a temporary relief would easily be ruled in that direction, and from there, their aunts and uncles would be not only the legal guardians of the kids, but would be also responsible for the parents legal defense, and the obvious course of action is to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, for both of them. That way we wouldn't waste time in an expensive case that would probably take away all the potential savings that the two nutcases probably still have and they'd be basically be sentenced for a life in involuntary confinement in a state psychiatric hospital, and the kids would have a shot of a normal upbringing/recovery next to their close relatives.
