Author: Anon0086
I had a belief in the laws of this country. So much so I was willing to die for it as a member of the armed forces. That belief is gone now. The criminal justice system is a lie.
In 2009, a 16-year-old girl accused me of being a violent sexual predator. She brought my own children into her allegations — my five-year-old and my three-year-old, her older sister and brother — to boost herself. The full brunt of the resources of the state of Georgia came against me. Meanwhile, I was detained and isolated in jail with all the means to defend myself taken away.
I could not make money. I could not research law. I did not have useful aid of an attorney. I could not contact people who would support my defense. I was not allowed access to experts. I lost all my belongings and my money. I was ignorant of the law and had no one to help or guide me. Only abusive and neglectful conditions for months prior to my trial.
They starved me. Guards and gang member inmates intimidated me. The sensory deprivation put me into a weird state of mind. But the worst part was being deprived of all contact with my young children. That brought on a nervous breakdown. No one would even give me information about who was caring for them or how they were doing. Not even until this day. I had to let them go as if they, or I, had died.
I gave my money to an attorney who took it then abandoned me. As a result I had to use a public defender. She instructed me to do nothing to defend myself. She told me that the charges were ridiculous and would be thrown out if I said nothing and called no witnesses. Against my better judgment I did as she told me. As a result there were days of prosecution by the state but no defense was ever given to the jury in my behalf. Not even myself. The public defender essentially worked with the prosecutor outside the courtroom on chat groups and just handed me over to be a feather in the assistant district attorney’s cap.
Guilty on all charges. I was sentenced to two life sentences to be served consecutive to a 40-year sentence.
My mind was blank and I was shocked. It took about 30 minutes later when the guard was returning me to my cell that I crumpled and felt like I died inside myself.
They threw me into the middle of ultra violence in state prison camps. Lots of beatings. Lots of blood. Overcrowding. Gang violence. Worthless medical and mental health. Did I mention overcrowding? A lot of racial violence of black gang members attacking white civilian men. Also a lot of gang on gang violence. Stabbings and such. Inmates killed.
I am a civilian. I have resisted becoming a gang member. I’ve survived through reliance on God and many, many prayers. Keeping hope alive that one day my accuser, or by some other means, the truth will be told and I will be released.
I exhausted all of my appeals. My sentence was reduced by one appeals court to one life sentence and 19 years to run consecutive. It destroyed me all over again. I had to double down on my hope or give up on living altogether.
The men in my family usually die in their 50s from heart trouble. I just turned 50 in 2025. So hopefully I will not live long enough to do the entire sentence, or to live decades more in prison.
My day-to-day life now is eat, sleep, some exercise, and watch TV. Nothing is available. I request work and, or, schooling but nothing is provided to me. It is likely overcrowding and understaffing. Even the medication they provide me does nothing for the depression.
The hardest part of these 16 years has been losing my children. Always thinking of them. They believe the lies told about me because they were indoctrinated as little children to believe false things about me. I don’t know what happened to the girl who accused me. I’ve heard nothing about her either. I’m just serving this sentence while everyone from my old life has disappeared into silence.
The American justice system is broken. I don’t know if it ever has been just. It is a lie. People need to know that the laws that are written to protect them are fantasy. They do not really exist. You better prepare and be prepared to take care of yourself if you are ever accused of crimes you are not responsible for.
Defend yourself. Do not rely on an attorney. The legal system puts out the message that the person who represents himself has a fool for a client. But that is misinformation. Propaganda by the very ones who are the attorneys. The truth is you must talk to the jury yourself. Do not let anyone fool you into giving up making your own case to the jury.
When I was falsely accused there were none of the guardrails or protections for the accused that we are taught to believe in. I learned the hard way: the guardrails were never there.