Do we file a complaint?

[crafteeladee82]

Jurisdiction

Texas

My husband is legally disabled and has recently suffered moderate to severe memory loss due to unexplained onset of tonic-clonic seizures. He is also on probation. From the beginning, his PO AND THIS OFFICER'S DIRECT SUPERVISOR have plainly said that they feel he "got off easy" and that they were going to "make him pay" because of this. We have been bending over backwards trying to do EVERYTHING as required to meet all his probation requirements. Despite this, his PO has already attempted ( it was wholely thrown out by the judge with a verbal reprimand made in open court to the DA) to violate my husband, and now with this new memory issue, the PO is attempting to trick him by using abuse and subterfuge to confuse and twist my husband's limited abilities. I have attempted to provide the legal POA that we'd had prep'd right after getting married, but it's been refused. I've spoken to the "Court liaison and Sr. Probation Officer" for this office and that has gained nothing other than the verbal abuse to intensify during today's check in. In fact, my husband attempted to invoke his right to speak to a supervisor today and the PO flatly refused his request, and my husband also requested to be able to speak me, as the PO's treatment of him had him dazed and confused and he was unable to answer the rapid fire questions that were being thrown at him. The PO (allegedly) called my husband a liar and a fake due to the fact that the PO had set him up by making my husband "lead" the way to the PO's office. Each time my husband slowed, as he had no certain memory of which of multiple offices was his PO's, the PO would say " keep going.". When my husband finally came to an office with the door open but was only minimally familiar to my husband, the PO said " go on in.". As soon as my husband entered the office the PO attacked, claiming that this was proof that my husband was faking and lying about his memory loss. PO went so far to state (allegedly) that no matter what kind of "BS Dr.s report my husband may provide, the Dr would be full of shit!". With this kind of attitude and the original " thinly veiled threats" that were made by the PO and his immediate supervisor, my husband has no chance of gaining a positive report to the Court for any possible early relief, nor will he be able to maintain any progress we manage with regard to memory retention, as he's gone catatonic after each of his last two check in appointments because of this man's abuse. I fully realize that probation isn't supposed to be "fun"; but at the same time, when you have an individual who is respectful (despite being treated unfairly), tows the line, has not had a single TRUE violation or any hint of one in two years AND WHO DESPITE being saddled with over $7,000.00 worth of restitution, fines, and fees (including $5,000.00 in atty fees for a " court appointed" Atty) WHICH HAVE ALL BEEN PAID IN FULL IN less than TWO YEARS, there SHOULD BE some form of consideration based on PERFORMANCE and NOT on claims made but NEVER PROVEN!!! From this information, does it sound like a viable claim to file a grievance?

 

[army judge]

As a retired Texas district court judge, among many other titles, NO.
Your husband is digging a very deep hole for himself.
Its not worth getting an early release from probation, which is a privilege, not a right, to risk stumbling into OTHER felony indictments.

As far as a POA, its legally meaningless, unless someone wishes to honor it.

A power of attorney is a written instrument whereby one person, the principal, appoints another person to be his or her agent or attorney-in-fact for some
particular purpose, and further provides for the agents powers and duties.
The general rule is that the authority of the agent may never be extended by mere construction beyond that which is expressly stated or which is necessary
and proper to carry out the authority given.

– Reese vs. Medlock, 27 Tex. 120, 123 (1863), Gouldy v. Metcalf, 75
12 S.W. 830, 831 (Tex. 1889).

There are 3 basic types of Powers of Attorney
– General – Gives general authority, and is often too vague for Title Company purposes.

– Special – Authorized very narrow authority to do a specific act. Sometimes called a "specific power of attorney". It must give the exact description of the act.

– Durable – Specifically states that it is not effected by the principal's subsequent disability or incapacity.

The preferred, perhaps more effective, POA is a Specific Durable Power of
Attorney.

In your situation, an ADULT CONSERVATORSHIP places you in a position similar to parent for a child.

You would legally become your husband's voice, brain, and legal entity.

I suggest you discuss obtaining one with your husband, a psychiatrist, and an attorney.

If your husband is mentally incapacitated, you should seek court ordered ADULT CONSERVATORSHIP of his person and affairs.

https://www.dads.state.tx.us/news_info/publications/brochures/pub395-guardianship.pdf

At this point, there is no WE.

There is ONLY HE, insofar as the court and probation are concerned.

 

[army judge]

I almost forgot.

You must be an adult and of sound mind to give another person power of attorney.

In other words, you have to be at least eighteen years old, and you have to understand what you are doing at the time you sign the power of attorney.

You claim our husband, at times, lacks the capacity to understand and interact.

Yet, you're using a power of attorney that requires the party wishing to give POA to another to "BE OF SOUND MIND", by Texas law.

I hope you see why the POA isn't being acknowledge.

Plus, as I said, there is no Texas law which requires anyone to accept a POA.

 

[crafteeladee82]

As a retired Texas district court judge, among many other titles, NO.
Your husband is digging a very deep hole for himself.
Its not worth getting an early release from probation, which is a privilege, not a right, to risk stumbling into OTHER felony indictments.

As far as a POA, its legally meaningless, unless someone wishes to honor it.

A power of attorney is a written instrument whereby one person, the principal, appoints another person to be his or her agent or attorney-in-fact for some
particular purpose, and further provides for the agents powers and duties.
The general rule is that the authority of the agent may never be extended by mere construction beyond that which is expressly stated or which is necessary
and proper to carry out the authority given.

– Reese vs. Medlock, 27 Tex. 120, 123 (1863), Gouldy v. Metcalf, 75
12 S.W. 830, 831 (Tex. 1889).

There are 3 basic types of Powers of Attorney
– General – Gives general authority, and is often too vague for Title Company purposes.

– Special – Authorized very narrow authority to do a specific act. Sometimes called a "specific power of attorney". It must give the exact description of the act.

– Durable – Specifically states that it is not effected by the principal's subsequent disability or incapacity.

The preferred, perhaps more effective, POA is a Specific Durable Power of
Attorney.

In your situation, an ADULT CONSERVATORSHIP places you in a position similar to parent for a child.

You would legally become your husband's voice, brain, and legal entity.

I suggest you discuss obtaining one with your husband, a psychiatrist, and an attorney.

If your husband is mentally incapacitated, you should seek court ordered ADULT CONSERVATORSHIP of his person and affairs.

https://www.dads.state.tx.us/news_info/publications/brochures/pub395-guardianship.pdf

At this point, there is no WE.

There is ONLY HE, insofar as the court and probation are concerned.

.

Thank you,Your Honor, for your reply and guidance. The POA I hold is a DURABLE however, I will discuss the conservatorship. At this point we are unsure exactly what is causing these seizures and whether this memory loss is permanent, temporary or a little of both.

I also saw your addendum, and yes, I am fully aware of the requirements for "legally signing a contract" of any type. The Durable POA that we have for one another was signed a little over a year ago before these seizure related issues began, thus they were legally signed. I also wholely understand why a POA is not what I am in need of at this time. If I may, Your Honor, once obtained (conservatorship) can it be revoked (through the Court of course) should my husband regain his mental capacity at some point in the future? Thank you again for your prompt and most helpful reply.

I almost forgot.

You must be an adult and of sound mind to give another person power of attorney.

In other words, you have to be at least eighteen years old, and you have to understand what you are doing at the time you sign the power of attorney.

You claim our husband, at times, lacks the capacity to understand and interact.

Yet, you're using a power of attorney that requires the party wishing to give POA to another to "BE OF SOUND MIND", by Texas law.

I hope you see why the POA isn't being acknowledge.

Plus, as I said, there is no Texas law which requires anyone to accept a POA.

 

[army judge]

.

Thank you,Your Honor, for your reply and guidance. The POA I hold is a DURABLE however, I will discuss the conservatorship. At this point we are unsure exactly what is causing these seizures and whether this memory loss is permanent, temporary or a little of both.

I also saw your addendum, and yes, I am fully aware of the requirements for "legally signing a contract" of any type. The Durable POA that we have for one another was signed a little over a year ago before these seizure related issues began, thus they were legally signed. I also wholely understand why a POA is not what I am in need of at this time. If I may, Your Honor, once obtained (conservatorship) can it be revoked (through the Court of course) should my husband regain his mental capacity at some point in the future? Thank you again for your prompt and most helpful reply.

Yes, if a person improves, no longer in need of a conservator; the court can rescind it.

To do that, you'd need a psychiatrist to testify about the change in mental status, eliminating the need for a conservator.

Before you get too involved in seeking conservatorship, you need to have a lengthy discussion with your hubby, a psychiatrist, and a lawyer.

Know this, that you're not on probation. He's on probation. The probation agency will probably pushback on conservatorship. You see, it has no authority over you. I'm not sure what would happen if you sought conservatorship, either. I suspect the agency would have him evaluated by their psychiatrist. I'm not a physician, but his condition might not rise to the level such that he's deemed incapacitated and unable to care for himself.

He's served about two years of his sentence.
What is the original sentence?

Frankly, if he's having these mental health problems, how would getting off probation help him? The other side of that coin asks, how does continued probation harm him?

 

[crafteeladee82]

Your Honor, My husband suffered a TBI at 17 from an auto accident and over the yrs has learned how to deal with the after affects of the TBI, so that in most cases, no one would immediately notice any deficiency. He was even completely seizure free for over 15 yrs. In December of 2015 while assisting our landlady with an AC problem in another unit, he was zapped with an unknown amount of live electric due to a short (some how or another the tin roof was shorting out, and to best of our knowledge at this time, though allegedly "fixed" the true cause of the roof being "live" is still unknown.) Anyway, this short, threw my husband over 12 feet, broke 8 ribs on his right side and but for a bit of luck, he managed to remain IN the attic area of the complex though he HAD broken thru the ceiling area of yet another unit.

It wasn't until a hospitalization due to pneumonia that occurred in mid Jan 2016 that the first seizure hit. While we KNOW the pneumonia was a result of the rib fractures, we do not know if the seizure activity was caused (or re-animated) by the electrical shock a month before, or if it was related to the fact that he was running a fairly high temperature and had suffered a bout of heat exhaustion bordering heat stroke the summer (2015) before. Since there were no additional seizures until he was once again suffering a slight fever, I personally - have NO MEDICAL training - believe it's more likely the heat exhaustion that has caused this, but at present there is no medical determination of the reason the seizures have become active again - there may never be.

I have known my husband since we were 12 & 13 yrs of age, and while we have dated on and off over the years, things didn't become solidified until approx 4 yrs ago. We have been married just over 1 yr. Upon arriving in TX (to help care for him, as his -overall - illness was at it's worst at that point) I almost immediately noticed that his - as I put it - timeline recall was badly impaired. While he could fairly easily pull forth memories of events, his recall as to when and/or what order they occurred in was badly out of whack. Over time, and with some research on my part I was able to fairly accurately piece together his medical history for medical purposes. Other than that, I never noticed any other form of "memory" issues within him.

As a result of the initial seizure experienced in January 2016, he had some temporary memory loss, which seemed to clear up upon the depletion of the Attavan that had been administered to counteract the seizures from his body. He wasn't entirely 100% back to what he'd been before the first seizure, but I would estimate at least 95%. The latest round of seizures - (March 30 thru April 3) were far more violent and plentiful, and then there was also the "face-plant" fall that he took while attempting to be mobile DURING a seizure that resulted in a broken nose (but no other "visible" damage) that seems to have caused a basically complete wiping of his memory.

The best that I can explain what he experiences is what he's tried to relay to me. He says it is as if someone is reading a story to him. Some things seem vaguely familiar, yet detached from him personally. He had absolutely no recall as to who I was for the first 3 days from his conscious mind, however "sensed" a strong, familiar and safe feeling when in my presence. Each morning has required (at first over 2 hours, now usually only about 20-30 mins) a complete rehashing of basic facts for him. He still is in awe of our apartment and how we've set it up (no memory of the past 4 yrs) he has to be reminded that we are in fact married, though he at least remembers my name most days. Going for a ride in our vehicle is tantamount to sheer terror for him. He's gotten some what better at this, so long as we remain in our basic small town area, but upon having to venture into the Houston area, (most Dr's are in that area) he has a death grip on the arm rest of the door, he's often having to lay his head back against the back of the seat and close his eyes because everything is so overwhelming for him, and often if I don't immediately notice his difficulties, he'll become catatonic (for lack of a better way of explaining) due to his inability to process. He has yet been able to provide his full name and/or date of birth upon request, even to me.

I realize this is probably all more than you really want or need to know, but felt that if I gave you some idea of what I'm dealing with here, it would make it easier for you to give appropriate advice.

As with all "memory" issues, some things can and are hit or miss. Sometimes, he will find himself doing something (example: checking the oil on our vehicle) and suddenly think, "How do I know this and why?" When that happens, he is usually unable to complete whatever task he was doing, however if that thought doesn't occur to him, he can complete the task from rote. I am constantly having to remind him that we are in Houston TX and not our home state and capital, Columbus, Ohio.

Which brings me to the final questions you posed. The reason we would like to have him off probation is because we are here in TX with absolutely no family even in the state. All our family (immediate and extended) are in the Central Ohio area, and both of our parents are getting up there in years and are reluctant if not unable to travel. Our siblings all have their own families and lives, and thus cannot uproot to help us, and our children (from other marriages) are either still un-established or raising their own young families, thus cannot assist us from several states away. We have been told by husband's PO officer that we "could" get his probation transferred to Ohio, but that we would have to pay probation fees in BOTH Ohio and TX, and that we would have 72 hours from date of approval for the transfer to reach Ohio and check in with Ohio probation. Given his medical status, this would be ill advised, as we would be unable to drive the equivalent required each day to be able to fulfill this timeline. We are both disabled and living on SSDI, and as it is now with only the TX probation fee to pay, we are struggling to make ends meet, much less cover the expenses of moving AND an additional probation fee for Ohio.

Once we'd reach Ohio, we would have not only a SUPERIOR mental and emotional support team, for at least the first few months, we'd be able to stay with family while finding lodging, etc for ourselves.

His original plea agreement was for a deferred adjudication of 10 yrs probation. The original case was the catalyst for a divorce, wherein the other party had already attempted (through half-truths and outright lies) to have him committed to a mental health facility; had cancelled surgical procedures claiming that "they had decided against having them" (when in fact my husband didn't know the procedures had been canceled); had cleaned out every banking account that she could access (including a DBA account for my husband's solely held company) and opening/depositing every penny into a solely held account - the day before announcing that she was leaving him; cancelled all his credit cards, and had him essentially removed from the family home, leaving him literally homeless, penniless and insurance less which in his case was essentially a death sentence. Claims were made that resulted in 8 first degree felony counts to be issued against my husband. When all was said and done however, those 8 first degree counts were reduced to a total of 2 third degree charges. I'm no expert by any means, but the fact that this agreement was reached within one day (less than an 8 hour span of time from start to finish) leads me to believe that the DA wasn't too all fired certain of her case, but had to "save face." Given my husband's health issues, and the fact that our "court appt'd" attorney had REPEATEDLY advised us that despite his best efforts, jurors were NOT ALWAYS honest, we chose to accept the plea, rather than risk possible jail time for my husband. (He more than likely would have died within 6 months if imprisoned.)

While there would be many emotional and financial hardships incurred to complete the original terms of probation, completing the terms of his probation would only cause mild to moderate long term affects for my husband; HOWEVER, if the current Probation Officer is a part of that equation, I believe that the affects to my husband, mentally, emotionally, financially and otherwise WILL EXPAND EXPONENTIALLY, due to this PO's pre-conceived bias towards my husband. Not to mention his outright attempts at subterfuge to confuse and/or trick my husband into saying or doing something due to his current altered mental state.

I have already discussed the concept of conservatorship with my husband and he seems to be in agreement to this path; and we have an appointment tomorrow afternoon with his PCP wherein I intend to request a referral to a psychiatric doctor for evaluation and treatment. I have also been provided with some information regarding several groups that may be of hands on assistance to us in this matter via the P&A for the disabled group in our area. All of which I will be investigating prior to initiating any conservatorship proceedings. Again, I GREATLY THANK YOU, YOUR HONOR, for your continued response to this issue.

 

[army judge]

At this point, consulting a psychiatrist will help in diagnosing the issue.
A consult with a neurologist wouldn't be inappropriate given the circumstances which possibly contributed to his condition.

A case could be made, based upon your health histories, lack of family support nearby, for a compassionate probation transfer.

Don't start juggling too many initiatives, just add tis one to the list to be addressed in the future.

Probationers do sometimes receive compassionate, as well as, financial hardship reassignments to other states to be closer to extended support networks. Toward that end, start soliciting and collecting letters of "specific support efforts" from your family network. Eventually the matter will have to be heard before the sentencing judge.

I'm curious, so I'll ask.
Did your husband have a criminal record before he was convicted if these current charges?
If so, what charges, and when and where was he convicted?
How long had your husband been married to his former spouse?
What were the original charges?
What charges precisely did he plead to committing?
Bear with me, the answers aren't sought to embarrass, I have a couple ideas.
I need those answers first.

 

[crafteeladee82]

At this point, consulting a psychiatrist will help in diagnosing the issue.
A consult with a neurologist wouldn't be inappropriate given the circumstances which possibly contributed to his condition.

A case could be made, based upon your health histories, lack of family support nearby, for a compassionate probation transfer.

Don't start juggling too many initiatives, just add tis one to the list to be addressed in the future.

Probationers do sometimes receive compassionate, as well as, financial hardship reassignments to other states to be closer to extended support networks. Toward that end, start soliciting and collecting letters of "specific support efforts" from your family network. Eventually the matter will have to be heard before the sentencing judge.

I'm curious, so I'll ask.
Did your husband have a criminal record before he was convicted if these current charges?
If so, what charges, and when and where was he convicted?
How long had your husband been married to his former spouse?
What were the original charges?
What charges precisely did he plead to committing?
Bear with me, the answers aren't sought to embarrass, I have a couple ideas.
I need those answers first.

Your Honor,

I will address each of your questions in the order asked. Unfortunately, yes, my husband did have a criminal record - from Ohio - from his misspent youth. To give you an extremely brief overview of his past: He was a small town football phenom, who at the extreme young age of 12 had already been approached by The Ohio State University Team. Unfortunately, he suffered a career ending leg injury in the last game of the school season, when an opposing player took a misstep after the tackle and fell onto his left leg. It was only via a series of miracles that he retained his leg (would have been an above the knee amputation.) He was hospitalized for over 2 yrs with this injury, with numerous follow up surgeries (I believe the total of 17 in all.) As a result of this trauma, he became addicted to prescription pain killers very early in life. Despite all efforts put forth at rehab, eventually the prescription addiction slid into street drug addiction, which he fought over the next 20 yrs of his life. His criminal record stems from fraud he perpetrated to help support his habit. He had three "numbers" as he puts it, all for white collar type crimes.

In 1999, after backsliding for (what turned out to be the final time) again, his mother found him at the bottom of their basement stairs, having aspirated on his own vomit. He was clinically dead. A neighbor was a nurse and her husband an EMT, and thru their efforts, they were able to resuscitate him, however his heart stopped several times on the way to the hospital, but he was ultimately stabilized. Unfortunately, at that time, there was no brain activity. His mother had been given the unenviable decision to make regarding withdraw of life support. His mother, a deeply religious woman had great difficulty with this decision and put it off for as long as she could. Finally having made it, she called the hospital to let them know she was on the way in, and to notify the doctor that she had made her decision. The hospital - on a bad day - is NO MORE THAN 20 mins from her home. When she'd called the hospital she had been told there was no change in my husband's condition. By the time she walked into his room (no more than 30 mins from the time of her call) my husband was awake, aware - very foggy, but aware - and the physician was removing his breathing tube so that he could speak. I believe this was the final catalyst that convinced my husband to seek true help with his addiction.

By December of that year he was ensconced with the once great facility in Hungerford, TX, Straightway Training Center. He completed just over 2 yrs as a "student" there, before graduating and being asked to remain by the elders of the church. (The "church" withheld information that they had been provided that my husband had a job as youth leader waiting for him in Ohio with his mother's long time church. This was something that had been known for quite some time by the Hungerford church, as his going home to Ohio to be youth leader was, in part, a "repayment" for the Ohio church having foot the bill for his rehabilitation.) He became the Men's supervisor there, and was well received and looked up to (information I have gleaned from not only him, but others who had attended and/or graduated the program.) It was shortly after his graduation, and upon his agreement to remain and work for the church, that he was approached by the Elders who instructed him to choose from three eligible woman of the church to become his wife. (It was explained that the Elders had been "lead to believe" that he needed to be married to help keep him on the straight and narrow.) Of the three "candidates" two had 8 children each, and one had only 3. My husband, after much prayer and consideration, chose one of the ladies with 8 children, and began the required "biblical courtship" of the church. They were married 2/2/02, and the wife made her decision and walked out on or about 2/28/12. He never legally adopted any of the children, though he did his utmost to provide for them, moving them from a very old and fairly dilapidated double wide with single wide added trailer on the grounds of the "church" to a beautiful 4 bedroom two story in the greater Houston area. From the beginning the eldest daughter (18 at the time that my husband and his ex married) was a problem, which required church intervention on multiple occasions. This difficulty continued thru the entire marriage, despite multiple marriage counselors instruction to the ex that the relationship that she had with her eldest daughter was chronically and harmfully unnatural and that the ONLY way to have any hope for the marriage was for the ex to confront the daughter and establish boundaries. Despite multiple appointments made for the express purpose of this occurring, each time it came down to brass tacks, the ex buckled and refused to fulfill her duty.

As one would expect, this rift caused a great deal of tension and turmoil in the family overall, and especially when the next to oldest daughter came of age and began spending more and more time with her eldest sister, outside the supervision of the mother. At the age of 15, the 2nd oldest daughter was caught with pornographic "selfie" pictures of herself and a male engaging in oral copulation. My husband is the one who found this pictures on the daughters phone, and - in my opinion - as any concerned father would - confronted the daughter, wherein he learned that the pictures were taken on school property during school hours/functions. He went to the school to discuss options with the principal, as a result the daughter "suffered embarrassment." Things went from bad to worse with this scenario, and it was eventually determined that this daughter would go to live with the eldest daughter and her husband. Upon the 2nd daughter moving out, in front of the entire family, she vowed to "get even with and destroy his (my husband's) life, as he had done hers." (Again, something I heard from not only my husband but from this girls own brother.)

With this daughter no longer causing additional rifts in the household, things settled down (or so my husband thought) for a year or so. It was then that he learned that this daughter had gone to the "authorities" of the family church, making accusations that my husband had molested her. These "authorities" investigated the claims made and determined without any compunction that the daughter was lying. Unfortunately, all their "findings" were openly discussed in front of the daughter making the claims, and lets face it, kids today are WAY TOO astute and cunning. Once again things calmed down for several months, until 2/28/12, when my husband returned home from a doctor's appt to find the two youngest children sitting in the front room of the home with bags packed. When questioned why, they both became very emotional and explained that they had heard the mother and the eldest daughter saying some extremely bad things about "daddy", and that mom had called and told them to be ready with a bag packed as she was on the way to pick them up. I'll spare you the ensuing craziness (though you must know the mother never had any contact with my husband prior to her arrival with police escort), but the end result was that my husband ended up alone in the family home awaiting the arrival of the wife. He was at a complete loss, as, while the marriage wasn't "good", there hadn't been any one incident that would explain this seemingly sudden decision of the wife's.

Eventually he heard tires screeching in front of the home and wondered what was happening. He looked out the window in time to see the 3rd and 4th police car come to a screeching halt in front of the home and then the family van pull up behind them. When the knock came at the front door, he opened the door only to be faced with 4 officers, guns drawn but not pointed, with one being the lead, who indicate that they were there to speak to him, and asked that he step away from the door so that they could enter. My husband complied and took a seat on the couch. The officer's placed him in handcuff's "for his and their safety" and then the wife entered the home. The officer then began speaking with my husband explaining that the wife had come to the department claiming that he was "out of his head on drugs (medications only); that he was violent, that he had abused her and her children, and that she was afraid of him. She also had indicated that he was suicidal and that they would "probably have to take him down."" Within a very short time, the lead officer assessed the situation and between my husband's complete compliance and the wife's continued (after being admonished several times) harassment of him while allegedly collecting her things, the lead officer sent two of the officers back to patrol, and he and the remaining officer holstered their weapons. The officers ended up having to force the wife to leave with what she had, as she wouldn't stop verbally harassing my husband, and the officers removed the cuffs from my husband.

It wasn't until some weeks later that my husband learned that the wife had filed a CPS complaint on 2/9/12 claiming that he had molested her two youngest girls and had abused the youngest boy, claims that were ultimately deemed "unfounded" for the oldest girl and the boy, and "possible" for the youngest. It was from this "possible" that the original charges stemmed. When the youngest's story wasn't apparently "plausible" enough, the 2nd to oldest girl's original claims to the church were brought to bare, and linked to those claims of the youngest, ultimately leading to 8 first degree charges involving sexual contact with a child. The pictures that had been discovered on the 2nd eldest's phone were then introduced, but suddenly, the pics that she had admitted were her and her boyfriend at that time, were suddenly her and my husband and that he had "drugged" her. Something that I could honestly and without any doubt testify was NOT the case. The young man in the photos was long, thin and curved near the head, while my husband isn't as long, but extremely wide, and straight as an arrow. In fact, I believe that the fact that I told my husband's attorney that I would willingly and wholeheartedly testify to that in open court, was a big reason behind why after 2 yrs of preparation and only that morning refusing to budge off the only "plea" that had been offered, the DA suddenly agreed to dropping all sexual nuances to the charges, lowering the actual charge to "injury to a child/elderly"; no jail time, 10 yrs adjudicated probation, 100 hours of "disabled" community service and anger management classes.

Your honor, I am sure that you have heard pretty much everything in the book and probably some well outside of it. But I can easily and wholeheartedly tell you that I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that all of these charges were COMPLETELY FABRICATED. As I'd indicated I've known my husband since we were 12 and 13 yrs old, and we dated on and off over the years (thru high school, then between our other marriages, etc.) Even at his "most insane" when using, this man has NEVER been anything but sweet, loving, compassionate, helpful, giving and considerate. Even when he was around his "druggie" friends, he was always the one making certain that certain lines were not crossed when in the presence of women and children. Even when he's been out of his head in the midst of a seizure, I've NEVER had the least inkling that he would - even unknowingly - cause me (or anyone for that matter) harm. Another point of order is the fact that due to the vast amount of medications that my husband has been on for years due to his overlying health issues, any form of sexual gratification has been out of the question for him, due to the side affects of the medications. In fact, when he and the ex went away for the weekend to celebrate their anniversary in late January 2012, he was forced to obtain a prescription for viagra in order to perform. A prescription that the ex, when she learned of it that weekend, flushed the remaining 3 pills down the hotel commode. So the claims of these young ladies simply do not stand against the facts that I have seen, and experienced.

 

[army judge]

I won't bore you with an analysis, but you've confirmed my suspicions as to why the prosecutor played hardball.

You need to get your husband a thorough neurological, physiological, and psychological examination.

I'm no physician, but his early near death experience, coupled with a resulting coma, history of heavy drug abuse, and probably many things you just don't know could get him some compassionate consideration.

It might not be early release, but it might allow him to return to his larger extended family.

Frankly, had this been done prior to his recent trial, he might have been allowed to introduce the findings by expert testimony to make sure he was punished, rehabilitated, and treated.

That ship has sailed. None of these current suggestions can change that, except to allow him to move closer to his family.

 

[crafteeladee82]

Your Honor, I must admit that I opened your response with dread. I cannot thank you enough, that you took the information provided and responded without BLATANTLY judging my husband by the claims made alone. That has seemed to be the case with EVERYONE (including the Atty that had been appointed to represent my husband) from the moment this nightmare began. I also realize that in so doing, you didn't make any reference to believing EITHER WAY, and I can accept that AND STILL be thankful for your openness. If there was ANY DOUBT in my mind whatsoever, of his innocence in this, I would have NEVER COME to TX to help him, much less marry him, and since I've done both, it should tell you how certain I am that he NEVER DID, NOR EVER WOULD do anything to harm a child. I realize that he "agreed" to plead guilty to causing injury to a child and there is nothing to change that now, for better or for worse we felt that plea was the smartest move we could make, given what he was looking at IF convicted of the original claims.

We spoke with his PCP today and she too felt a referral for psychiatric care, as well as the other care you suggested was in order. She has submitted the referral to our insurance and we simply await the approval and referral. She also asked what we needed from her to attempt to convince the PO that my husband is in fact having this difficulty. I explained to her what my husband claimed the PO had said and that quite frankly I didn't know what, IF ANYTHING, would be of help. She said that if I learn of anything, to let her know. So we are now on our way to hopefully not only get my husband the help he needs, but also to hopefully gain some form of compassionate consideration from the Probation department/Court. I will forever be grateful for your advice and assistance with pushing me in the right direction. God Bless.

 

[army judge]

Madam, you are most welcome.
I was fortunate in my life to have ad the greatest criminal law professor in law school.
He was captured while fighting for our nation in WWII.
He became part if the infamous Bataan Death March, incarcerated by Japanese Forces for months.
Upon his release and repatriation to the USA, he went to law school, practiced as an Iowa country lawyer before becoming a judge, and later a prosecutor.
He was an amazing man, and remains one of my heroes.
He taught us more than the criminal law.
He taught us its application via our Bill of Rights.
His compassion and belief in our system of laws infected me for life.
I've always looked up the statue of Lady Justice as my daily reminder of how a criminal trial must be conducted.

Let's believe your husband gets the help he requires.

At this point it should be about diagnosing his afflictions more than his possible relocation.

I wish you peace.