Byrd and Melanie Billings Murder in Florida: When Do the Florida Sunshine Laws Kick In? How Does Billings Case Impact the Casey Anthony Defense?

A Florida Grand Jury has just indicted the seven men whose mugshots we've already come to recognize as the "Ninja Warriors" arrested for the murder of Byrd and Melanie Billings. Each of the men -- including the minor, Rakeem Chavez Florence (16) -- have been formally charged with two counts of first degree murder and one count of home-invasion robbery. With this, the death penalty is apparently still on the table.

(The other defendants are Wayne Thomas Coldiron (41); Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. (35); Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Sr. (56); Donald Ray Stallworth (28); Gary Lamont Sumner (30); Fredrick Lee Thornton (19).) It's alleged that the younger Gonzalez was the sole shooter in the case.

Byrd and Melanie Billings Murder in Florida: My First Impressions

Those of you reading regularly know that I practice in the local Children's Court, so I was especially interested in the first few new stories on the murder of a couple who had adopted so many special needs kids. Byrd and Melanie Billings -- didn't they look nice in that big family photo?

1. They adopted, not just fostered. They weren't getting those monthly foster care checks, assuming that Florida runs like Texas. Nope. They adopted those kids as their own. Maybe they get some financial support (over and above Medicaid) because the kids are special needs. But they're not being paid by the state to care for them in the same way that they would be as foster parents. Big points in my book.