NOLAN CLAY

Oklahoman   

July 30, 2010

A dead baby's mother hugged her boyfriend last year, called him a wonderful person and said she still loved him even though he had just admitted to her that he shook their girl to death.

Left: Willis Joe Lambert Jr. Right: Latrice S. Russell

LINK TO VIDEO

http://www.newsok.com/lambert-russell-conversation/multimedia/video/309199951001

"I love you, and I pray that you get better," Latrice S. Russell told her boyfriend as Oklahoma City police secretly recorded the parents' conversation. 

She did tell him she was mad. 

At her sentencing Wednesday, a judge watched a recording of the June 10, 2009, conversation made after detectives separately talked to the parents. "I'm appalled," Oklahoma County District Judge Don Deason told her. 

The judge ordered Russell to serve 20 years in prison and 10 more years on probation for enabling child abuse. She had sought only probation. 

Her boyfriend, Willis Joe Lambert Jr., 38, already is serving life without the possibility of parole. He pleaded guilty in March to first-degree murder. He told police he "just lost it" when the baby, Rachael M. Lambert, resisted getting dressed for bed in their Oklahoma City home. The girl was 6 months old. 

Prosecutors charged Russell, 34, because she knew her boyfriend was a convicted child abuser. Lambert had spent almost 10 years in prison for abusing their son, Issac Lambert, in 1998 when the boy was a month old. Russell let him move back in with her in 2008 after his release from prison. 

Russell told the judge Wednesday she thought Lambert was a changed man. 

"He wasn't talking the same talk. He wasn't walking the same walk," she said Wednesday. "He was just different. It wasn't the same at all. I was convinced he was changed. He was going to church and praising God for a second chance.... I believe that everybody deserves a second chance." 

Police reported Lambert went to prison for child abuse in 1999 after admitting he placed a rag over Issac's mouth in 1998 because the boy was crying. Police reported Issac suffered injuries from lack of oxygen and also was found to have had several broken bones. 

Russell pleaded guilty in May to enabling child abuse. The judge told her Wednesday, "For whatever reason, you took him in. I can't fathom that.... While you are not completely responsible for her death, you are in large part."

The father confessed to police he shook Rachael about 9 p.m. June 8, 2009, reports show. He told police he discovered she wasn't breathing about 4:30 a.m. June 9, 2009, when he awoke to use the bathroom.

Russell admitted Wednesday that the evening Rachael was hurt she was at a girls' party where sex toys were sold. She said she and Lambert smoked marijuana after she returned home.

Police detectives put the parents in the same room after the father had confessed. Minutes before, a detective told the mother Rachael had been abused, and the baby's death had been ruled a homicide.

In the police recording, Lambert wept as he described how he shook their daughter because the girl was resistant to getting on clothes after a bath. He said he grabbed the baby and told the baby to be still. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do it. I swear I didn't," he said.

Russell scolded her boyfriend for confessing to police to Rachael's death. She said he should have asked for a lawyer. "I'm mad... because now they're in here on me like, 'You knew... you knew he was abusing,'" she said.

She told her boyfriend, "You got some things you need to deal with. You're such a wonderful person. You are. You are so wonderful. I can't believe... It's OK. It's OK. It's OK. You're gonna be all right, and I am, too. Just know, we still love you. But you gotta, you gotta, you gotta deal with some things. OK? Completely." 

At one point, he asked to hold her one last time. She resisted at first, then hugged him. She let him hug her twice more. 

They end their almost 18-minute talk with a kiss. Her last words to him were, "I'll pray for you.

Lambert & Russell conversation

Jul 29 

Excerpts of a conversation recorded by OKC police between Willis...

Oklahoma City mom gets 20 years for enabling child abuse

Police recording captures conversatio

Here is an excerpt from the police recording of two parents, Willis Joe Lambert Jr. and Latrice Russell, after the father admitted killing their baby girl 

Russell: "I never would have thought, Will. Never. Maybe I was just blind to the fact. I don't know.... You're so good with the kids...."

Lambert: "I messed up." 

Russell: "Yeah, babe, you did mess up.... from here you're going to jail." 

Lambert: "Yeah. I know. I know. I know." 

Russell: "I gotta go on with my life, Will. I'm just telling. I know, but... I love you to death but... " 

Lambert: "I know, Latrice, you got to. Will you come see me?"

Russell: "I don't know.... " 

Lambert: "Please come see me, please?"

Russell: "Right, now, I have no say.... I will come see you, eventually."

Read more: http://www.newsok.com/oklahoma-city-mom-gets-20-years-for-enabling-child-abuse/article/3480710?custom_click=lead_story_title#ixzz0vEDP1zUl