No Small Chatter

I want to tell you about a group I have recently connected with.  If you have an on-going interest or even a developing curiosity in my case and cases like mine you will be interested in this group.  They are called Project: Not Guilty ("PNG") and have commented several times on my blogs as "The Team".  I have the links below so you can see what they have to say about my case, as well as a link to their website.

PNG is an advocacy group who is helping the non-DNA innocents claim their exonerations and more.  PNG started out in Texas, but has become national as there is such a cry out for help in our runaway justice systems.  You may not know this, but even if the Appellate Court clears a person they are still not considered exonerated.  In Texas they still have to go through a process with the State Controllers office and quite often are not given the exoneration that is so rightfully theirs.  Besides years in prison, ripped away from family, those who are falsely accused and wrongly convicted have been stripped of their good name, many of their rights and quite often find it difficult to ever be gainfully employed again or move easily within society.  The accumulated damage to a victim of the justice system does not stop accruing once the person is released from prison.

I invite you to take a look at the Project: Not Guilty website and the comment section at the end of my four blogs where they have imparted words of advice, encouragement and wisdom:

Project: Not Guilty

The Newsweek Essay Contest

The 4 W's and the Octopus Arms

Can They Have It Both Ways?

Investigative Team...Attorney Wouldn't Join

Now as follow up to the Internet chats I started sharing with you in the post called: "Investigative Team..." I have placed another part of those chats below.  While these people ("lionheartix") also call themselves my "team", to my knowledge they are not the same team that is coming forth in Project: Not Guilty as described above.  A small portion of the Internet dialogue on September 11, 2004 went as follows:

lionheartix:  one thing that Scott (retired FBI SAC - Atlanta) told me yesterday was about the FBI and IRS.  He said that you need to do a "white paper" to take to the FBI and/or IRS and/or Texas Rangers.

ifonlythiswasover:  I'll do a white paper, I guess that is something my attorney knows?

lionheartix:  it is a detailed report of why you are there, and helps them to understand and relay the reason you are there to others, either higher up or lower echelon.  hard for them to understand someone telling a story to them, so it should be written.

ifonlythiswasover:  why I am where?  at their front door?

lionheartix:  why you are in their office, yes.

ifonlythiswasover:  surely my attorney would know about that, I will put it on my list though.

lionheartix:  yes, but he really needs to understand why you want the FBI and the IRS and Texas Rangers to be involved.  there is just so much more of this that is behind the scenes that hasn't connected yet.  it's there, but not exactly clear yet.

ifonlythiswasover:  not clear to all of us????

lionheartix:  to your case.  it will take the feds....one of the agencies, or maybe both of them, to tie this case in with the fraud, the extortion/payoffs, etc..................      would it effect the business partner that things will be really under a microscope in your case?

ifonlythiswasover:  yes...I think so.

lionheartix:  it would definitely make him think he has to back off of you or get really investigated deeply.

ifonlythiswasover:  I don't think he believed this thing could ever flip back on him...I honestly think he sees himself above the law.  I'll guarantee you the contributor is the follower here.

lionheartix:  he could literally believe that, but if he sees a LOT of subpoenas shooting through the court for this information and history and different stuff that he never wants to be made public, then he will definitely HAVE to pull in his claws and start settling things.

ifonlythiswasover:  the contributor is different...but my friend keeps reminding me he is a bad guy too and to not lose sight of that.  from the start my friend kept saying "what does the contributor have on his business partner and what does his business partner have on the contributor...you find the answer to that and you'll find the answer to the false allegations."

lionheartix:  that is very wise for her to see that.


My attorney at the time said he would not go forward with the case unless we paid him an additional $50,000, thus I had to go to indigent status.  As you already know my public defender ignored all this, would not read the dialogues and said it was not our place to bring in the FBI or any other authority...no white papers were ever filed.  A lot was asked for in the subpoenas (although not nearly as much as could have been), much was never rendered, most was thrown out during the pretrial hearings...as privileged or irrelevant.  In my defense, my attorney refused to explain why we needed anything and kept telling me he would not divulge his strategy in the pretrial hearings. What strategy?

We have arrived at the Motion in Limine again.  Ten days before the trial this Motion was filed by prosecution, saying we could not bring up in trial any "prior bad act" of the contributor or his business partner.  My walking knowledge of their personal lives and businesses (including fraudulent insurance claims on the money in question) was the motive for destroying my credibility by these false allegations.  It was completely relevant and not privileged (no such thing in a criminal case).  The Detective, prosecutors and civil attorneys absolutely protected these two men (my false accusers).  And for that matter, so did my public defender by his indifference and inaction.

Below is the letter my husband, Ron, wrote Internal Affairs at Dallas Police Department.  It was not written earlier as I was incarcerated and we mistakenly thought this would be handled in the appeal, but was not how the appeal works.  You can see the response from David Brown, DPD Chief of Police and his Deputy Chief of Police.  Once again, putting the onus on my public defender in the trial.  So the focus is not truth, but procedure and how can truth be circumvented.

Brown so eloquently refers to truth as "differences in opinion".  That's a new one.  If the abuse of power is not caught on film, it doesn't count?  I have a feeling before this is over there will be a lot more finger pointing.  Immunity is a dangerous thing and takes the checks and balances out of the justice system, whereby nobody is held accountable for ruining innocent people's lives with their lies.  The above letter is like saying my officers/detectives can say anything they want under oath and if the public defender misses it or doesn't care enough to do his job then ...Oh well, you lose.  Are there any ethics in this so called "justice system"?  While it's a game to these players...that is, who can outsmart or out maneuver who...innocent people's lives are on the line.  What is the value of our lives, while these people are gaming?  Or after........

The 4 W's and the Octopus Arms

The Who, What, When, Why's have been talked about throughout my blog by now, but I'd like to give you some specifics along with some of the letters and formal complaints I lodged.  I think we all know the Why's on the part of my false accusers, it can all be summed up in one word ....GREED.  As to the prosecutors it's all about convictions, convictions and more convictions.  In both situations it is about WINNING at all costs.  If prosecutors were ever put on death row for the characters they assassinated with their false, spell bound words we'd have to build an enormous new prison and perhaps then, the few remaining would think twice about seeking truth as they deal out "justice" in their court room dramas.

The What is: I was falsely charged with Theft - greater than $200,000....that translates to Embezzlement of $3,775,000. 

That leaves us with two W's.  The specifics as  to When are easy to get out of the way.  I was indicted in March 2004 in Dallas County.  As a result of the indictment I was arrested in April.  I lived in New Mexico at the time.  So I was taken to the Santa Fe Corrections facility, where I stayed for seven days while a $20,000 bond was worked out in Dallas, I was not required to be transported back to Dallas.  Following those seven days,  I was allowed to continue living in New Mexico and traveled into Dallas for monthly hearings.  Even then my attendance was waived for some of those hearings.  I was not considered a flight risk, yet it was rumored in the Collin County Business Journal that I had fled Texas.  I believe the term for that is yellow journalism.  After the first year on the $20,000 bond I was given a PR (personal recognizance) bond for the remaining time prior to my trial.  None of the bonds were ever violated.

Following the indictment we had years of continuances and pre-trial hearings.  My jury trial commenced on September 10, 2007 in Dallas County.  I was convicted on September 12th, not allowed to return home but remanded to jail straight out of the courtroom.  September 13th I was sentenced to eight years and my case was immediately put into appeal by my husband.  The Judge decided I was a flight risk (after three and a half years on bond!!!) and required a half million dollar appeals bond....more than some alleged murderers.  Eventually we were able to get the appeals bond down to $100,000 but even that was too much for my family who by then was depleted from helping me.  It's noteworthy to mention that while my sentence was eight years, the jury decided NO restitution, NO legal fees and NO court costs, which is all but unheard of coming out of Dallas.

That leaves us with Whosville...some days this feels like a crazy Dr. Seuss book....almost unreal had it not been for those 3 years of incarceration.  The pain of not being with my family quite often  felt unbearable....that was very real.  The first person I spoke to was Detective Steven Zuczek of DPD and as far as I know he is the only detective on my case.  I started with a defense attorney Tom Lockry.  He was not at all qualified to handle my trial or really even my case.  The initial Judge was Faith Johnson.  The second attorney I had was Mark Perez.  After about 4 months he asked for an additional $50,000.  We did not have it so I had to go to what's called Indigent status, and was appointed an attorney by the court.  Clark Birdsall was my court appointed attorney.  First he was a self employed defense attorney taking court appointments, then he became a public defender, employed by the State.  He remained with me through the trial.

The prosecutor through all the pretrial hearings was ADA Mike Moss.  He was replaced just before the trial by ADA Stephanie Martin.  I believe she is DA Craig Watkins's golden girl.  He recently used her with the Dallas County Commissioners as he fought to keep them from cutting his budget.  Her presentation to the County Commissioners was noted in The Dallas Morning News last fall. 

When Craig Watkins was ushered into the DA's office by the voters in January 2007, I also had a change in judges.  Tracy Holmes won the 2006 election and took over Faith Johnson's position in the 363rd District Court, where my case resided.  I thought the take over by the Democrats might fare well for me, thinking the old  boy network had been broken, but I was sadly mistaken.  It seemed they had a need to prove that they were tough on crime...or alleged crime, and were just putting everybody away as fast as they could....building a near 100% conviction rate.

Through out all of this I had  a lot of frustration.  I had exculpatory evidence withheld, forensics were a battle and what was recovered was kept out of my defense. I had constant struggles with my own attorney, Birdsall, to even get him to listen to me...and for the most part he was unavailable.  I gave up trying to meet with him and sent him tons of information via emails....at least then it was documented.  I tried, but you can't make somebody do what they don't want to do and he had made it clear he did not want my case.

I also tried to get Birdsall off my case, writing both the Judge and the head of Public Defenders, Brad Lollar.  Following is the letter to the Judge (Lollar's was almost identical):

I received no response whatsoever from the Judge regarding this request.  My husband (my witness to all of this) and I had a meeting with Lollar where he informed us that my case was not a priority and that I can't just up and change attorneys whenever I feel like it.  He told us that the fraternizing with the opposition complaint was absurd....and then walked us out of his office.  

The next major letter I wrote was to DA Craig Watkins, upon his taking over the DA's Office and had it delivered by courier:







Of course, no response but I did not give up, I kept thinking he was really concerned about wrongful convictions...I didn't realize he had replaced Moss with one of his top prosecutors...although I would soon learn.  Here is the second letter to DA Craig Watkins:

I also sent formal complaints on the Judges to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.  Below is the attachment to the complaint for Judge Faith Johnson:

Nothing came of these complaints prior to the trial.  I have since learned they are more interested in discrimination type misconduct.  I tried everything I could to bring attention to the irregularities in my case but could get no action.  All I ever wanted was a fair trial.  It just did not happen.  Those were the players.  Very real and very dangerous folks.