Transcript
Incapacitation is the Goal in a Sentence like this... Judge Edward J Jones 7/20/04 At the age of 9, I was removed from my home and signed over to the state due to a life altering traumatic experience, that not only affected that moment in time, but the next 34 years when only after awareness of self and purpose, did I find true reform. In between those two events, the state of Oregon found a way to not only profit from my misery and misdirection, but also found it necessary to label my pain and confusion as a 'personality disorder' with a propensity for violence in order to gain an indictment on a previously unindictable Assault IV D.V involving an ex-girlfriend who for 7 years had hid alot of my flaws and provided stability where non-existed only to be mistreated and unappreciated while my life choices concerned drowning my shame and indecision with alcohol and excessive gambling along with avoiding or sabotaging any form of social interaction that required trust. At every stage of growth and development I was that 9 year old and either on some form of state supervision, in and out of evaluation centers, juvy, and upon turning 18 the pen. After turning 28 in 2002 I'd been off parole for 2 months and had relocated to California to distance myself from the on going cycle of dependance on everyone but myself. Before relocating an altercation occurred while intoxicated between a family member and myself that although victim initiated, resulted in a self defense Assault I after a board was used to stop the fight on 5/18/02. After relocating to California 7/20/02 I had established some healthy relationships gotten into spirituality and got hired with a company doing city work in Utah until my flight couldn't get confirmed due to a flagged license after an indictment was gained on 8/14/02 regarding the 5/18/02 assault. I contacted the the Mult Co Cir Court and set an arraignment date on two occasions. The last being 1/3/03. I visited Portland from 12/24/02 - 12/31/02 and returned to SAC for New Years plans but returned 1/4/03 but could not reschedule with the court. Upon returning I stayed with an ex acquaintance who told me about a 12/30/02 robbery that occurred. After leaving her house on the 7th an investigation began by a GPD Det. I was then implicated by this ex after being asked to come to the station after not picking me in a photo throwdown. On 1/9/03 I was traffic stopped and arrested for the 5/18/02 assault, and haven't seen freedom or justice since. Due process does not mean used process especially in the State of Oregon where minorities and poor are second class citizens who simply feed the economy by becoming product by the Court's add warehoused and consumed by the ODOC. To achieve this the St has put in place BM-11 which is a mandatory minimum sentence for certain felony's ranging from 70-90 months dependent on Class A or B. Prosecutors based on that floor simply agree not to run charges consecutive if defendants plead guilty and accept the already mandatory minimum. Ct appointed counsel are essentially agents to ensure the deal gets signed regardless of the proof or evidence and due to this are in most cases incompetent at providing effective representation. I made it clear that I was exercising my right to a jury trial, to face my accuser, and to be found guilty by proof beyond a reasonable doubt by an impartial jury. None of those things took place. Initial counsel attempted to withdraw twice, both the day before trial on the Assault I although she had notified court that "He wants to go to trial on the Assault I case," I agree with him, "He does not want to waive his 60 days," I have not asked him to. Vol 1 at 5 Then claimed an impasse as she did not know how to advise me since the state intended to not proceed to trial and instead was going to reindict and include a clearly defined sentencing statute (ORS 161.725) in the indictment and pursue that if there was a conviction. ORS 136.765 states "the prosecutor need not plead sentence enhancements in the indictment." State and Federal constitutional law also prohibits this action Wagner and Almendarez Torres along with Apprendi. Yet on this false premise, in retaliation for taking false accusations of robbery and legally justified assault to trial, I did not get a forced judge trial. On a dismissed indictment for 16 months resulting in a 280 month sentence involving 3 BM II sentences and a Robb III the prosecution fabricated to discredit an alibi witness to the 12/30/02 robbery that provided no physical evidence tying me to those events. The ability to address this illegal and blatant violation of due process has been undermined in the same manner as the defense through conjecture double speak and misdirection, while the subdivisions of the big business prison industry collect fees and charge petitioners to not review the claims or to have post-conviction counsel exclude key documents and issues and then withdraw after refusing to depose or obtain affidavits from trial counsel when raising I.A., original documents not turned over, and an alternate theory by the state through the AG's office. While attempting to address the legal aspects DOC warehouses people while providing programming that is limited to a pathfinders course this is only in place as it is federally funded and allows the St to pocket profits while giving the impression of rehabilitation. The true awareness for me - was through a volunteer supported AA group facilitated by an individual that drove 3 hrs round trip every Tuesday to have an hour meeting. This class was self initiated as I did not qualify for educational or other institutional programs due to the length of sentence I'd simply be placed on a waiting list, they'd say. The higher education I'm getting is through by-mail courses. Seven years of clear conduct meant nothing when a transfer was requested to work in OCE and to continue my job skills training that involved CNC operation in the woodshop. Instead once a change of management occurred I accepted a different position as a photographer only to be program failed for requesting a refund after not receiving items paid for at a fund raiser held by activities staff (who had a documented history of fraud). My honor housing was changed, loss of level and refusal by the grievance coordinator to investigate witnesses and physical evidence. The relocation to a high stress environment which involve a trainee officer who felt it necessary to disrespect and abuse his position in an attempt to establish authority, focused on me including cell in's on MLK day for allowed activities. The next day I received a denial of review from the Oregon S. Court of a mandamus filed 11/28/16 requesting immediate release to which the AG's office did not file an opposition to. While attempting to notify my family of this set back the C/O chose to cell me in for again doing allowed activities. My reaction now has me facing more time when the whole process was to give this illegal sentence back. So as a result personal property was destroyed and I was transferred finally but to a different Seg. so my family could not visit as easily. At the time of this writing I'm housed in IMU and based on my charge of staff assault can not work a program although no rule violations have occurred since that 1/17/17 meltdown. IMU is considered a program so it's required that AIC's complete packets involving reading and writing responses to the information provided. Ranging from Anger Management to getting out of your own way. This extended segregation has been labeled as a program only in that DOC gets funding for such a designation although still maintaining mandatory minimums that the previous administration had declared to be a determining factor as to whether certain states would continue to receive funds. Although a "personality disorder" was claimed to gain indictment and misjoin unrelated matters, it was abandoned by the State after the judge struck that language from the indictment but left the matters joined for trial which forced waiver of jury entirely. I've yet to receive any evaluation by DOC to see if this claimed disorder has regressed, worsened or actually existed. The reactive response to threats, harassment and disrespect while in duress has been labeled by the DA's office to be deliberate cruelty while the fact that my illegal incarceration for 14 years goes unchanged and is simply deemed as a matter for the Court's. I compare it to the Cleveland Police charging Ms. McKnight with destruction of property for kicking out the screen of door to a hell they faced for 10 years, in order to free themselves. What has happened through this blatant disregard of human and civil rights is that I've found my passion and purpose to not only expose the flaws in this system, but to actually advocate for, and bring about change in a manner that DOC claims to base its motto on but frequently neglects to maintain, Accountability! I've found that many of the organizations that are in place including the Oregon ACLU claim to advocate for rights, but when notified of the corruptive and violative abuse of the grand jury process by DDA Snowden simply state that they don't get involved with individual violations of civil rights. And even though I've provided documented proof of multiple infractions, any should be to many. Oregon did just pass legislation to require grand jury proceedings to be recorded leaving only Louisiana to not do so. However, the damage has been done for many who by exercising their constitutional right have been retaliated against with little knowledge or skill of how to prove it. For 5 years my case was up for review under direct appeal only to be affirmed without opinion. 5 years on post conviction review only to be AWOP'd and now finally receive federal habeas review after being filed in 2015. In the meanwhile the state continues to collect money off my illegal confinement and years I can not get back no matter the outcome. Relationships have been lost and abandoned due to absence and uncertainty. All due to an intentional disregard for principles policy, and procedure to gain a conviction by any means, with the awareness that appellate review would not question these actions as it would shed light on an economic model that is to big to fail and to challenge. My experience is not an isolated event as coming to IMU allowed the opportunity to meet others who by the design of this same DDA, attempted to exercise their rights only to be out maneuvered by a crafty and vindictive prosecutor. In one case the victim notified her she did not want to pursue charges so the state claimed that the def. forfeited his right to cross examine although the DA did not subpoena the witness resulting in - a 10 year sentence and the same cycle of I.A. from PCR counsel. When it's by design who questions the blue print if not the architect? As long as the tenants continue to pay the intentionally inflated price of life experiences lost in exchange for economic gain there's no need to provide an exit. Mandatory minimums not only provide an imbalance in the adversary process it guarantees a 7 year profit in the name of safety while the lost souls are further harming the community by the absence and bitter mindset that no incentives for change provide. I know I'm innocent and justified which has been my motivation to keep fighting not only this conviction, but to add to my own conviction to hold this system up to the light and expose the counterfeit production labeled as justice. People have to want to change once aware of their flaws. If able to stay numb, medicate or see only the things that frustrate you there is no urgency to change as the tools or true incentive are not available. It took a metaphoric death by incapacitation for me to not recognize the person the state created which at times made me question if the constitution applied to me or my kind. It applies; but the people in position to ensure it's done in accordance, including myself, failed to interpret it's protections correctly. There were 5 plus different violations of clearly established statutory and constitutional law and had I not been misrepresented by ineffective counsel I'd of been home 12 years ago but without a story and true purpose. I signed up for this status by my lifestyle that made me an easy target for a system that feeds off of confusion, misdirection and inability, while failing to provide access to a remedy in the name of profit. Had the court payed any attention to the facts of the case instead of a DDA's opinion of a 'personality disorder' he'd have seen I was incapacitated at 9 years old his illegal conviction gave me life and meaning in stacked sentences. True advocacy would come from allowing defendants to immediately challenge IA of counsel instead of strategically classifying it as an issue for post-conviction which allows the state to warehouse a wrongfully convicted person for at least five years while under direct appellate review that as stated, results simply in the Appellate Court rubber stamping the petition. That is not reflective of 'good faith justice' and simply allows the Sixth Amendment violation of right to counsel to transition to a due process violation once appellate counsel in compliance and coordination with the state, undermines your valid claims. In my case the indictment was ruled defective requiring dismissal and either reindictment or appeal (ORS 135.670) instead because counsel did not notify the Court it was required to dismiss the Appellate Atty's for the St simply claimed because counsel did not do so the appeals Court could not consider it, only to have the PCR claim that counsel was not ineffective for not doing so. Law is not based on shifting theories by crafty state attorneys working to protect a bottomline not justice. And I'm left to find solace in the fact that it just didn't happen to me? That's not motivation to respect the people in positions of authority that's enough to give a sane man a personality disorder with a propensity for bitterness. Fortunately through the volunteer services and self initiated efforts for understanding it was revealed to me that I'm powerless over vindictive prosecution, that a power greater than the state can restore my right to liberty, and made a decision to turn that will for my life over to that power while having the courage to change the things I can, which in this case is people's uninformed belief that a court of law is a court of justice. It is a processing plant that takes lost souls and makes their body and freedom match in the name of profit by incapacitation as a motto, not reform or redemption. But that's just the view from a second class citizen so it doesn't affect you until they run out of us and have to feed off another faction of the population. In this case, the vindictive prosecution will go uncorrected as it is not a matter of law with this system it's a matter of manufacturing and who questions the blueprint if not the architect! Thanks for this outlet...