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Voices From
Victims of Grief
My story with the Justice System is a long one. It concerns my son and the time we have spent over the years trying to insure that he is able to keep his soul, heart, and spirit without loosing any of them.
In November 1990, my son was a married man who went from N. C. to Florida to find a job. He left his wife and step son here until he found one and could take them back with him to Florida. He did find one and came back to NC to get her and her son whom he loved very dearly as his own. When he came back, he met her at a restaurant and they ate. They drove around for awhile and she told him she was ready to go to her brothers apartment to get her son and their clothes in order to go with him to Florida. They got to the Apt., my son stayed in his truck to wait on her, He heard her scream, He went to the front door of the apt and found is standing a little open. He went inside. There he saw a strange man with a gun struggling with his wife. He realized that his wife was trying to take the gun away from him so he went to the man and jerked the gun out of his hands. At that time he was hit in the head with a baseball bat. His jaw way broken. He then struggled with his wife's brother who hit him with the bat. The man behind him was hitting him also. He jerked away and ran outside to his truck. When he got to the truck, he grabbed his pistol from the glove compartment. He turned back to the apartment. The two guys had come outside, one with the gun and one with the baseball bat. He realized at that time that his life was in danger. He began to fire, killing the boyfriend and wounding the brother. He ran and went back to Florida. A couple of weeks later he turned himself in.
At his trial he had an alcoholic attorney. He was drinking during the trial and was not doing the job he should have done. He was the attorney handling the sentencing phase of his trial. Of course, because he ran, the DA had charged him with first degree murder. Thank God the jury realized that it was not First Degree. They convicted him of Manslaughter, AWDWWITK, AWDWISI. He was sentenced consecutively. 20 years, 20 years and 10 years. He has served 14 years at this point. He was 24 years old when he went in. He is now 38. I love my son very very dearly. He is a very strong person and has tried to be able to keep his morals and beliefs in tact. He still has 11 years to serve to complete his sentence unless we can find some help of some description. I only hope that he will be able to come home soon.
Since being incarcerated, I have seen him be moved to 12 different locations all over the State of North Carolina. He is now 250 miles away from home. I cannot visit but once each 4 weeks due to the fact I am diabetic and cannot sit for 8 hours drive and 2 hour visit in one day. My feet and legs swell a lot. I was not diabetic until I had the stress of dealing with the system and the DOC. This has been a real experience for me. I totally believed in the system and I just knew that they were right in their convictions and sentencing. But, I have since found out a lot of things. I now fight the death penalty through the People of Faith Against the Death Penalty. I have a prison ministry and a Family of Inmates support Group called "Hearts Outside the Wire" We are a local group and I have found a great deal of peace by helping others in my same situation.
My son is a wonderful man. He will do a lot for society one day. He has already help a great many young people even in prison. He was a Football All star in high school. He tells them how he made mistakes and ended up in prison and that it can happen to them too.
May God Bless and keep each and every family member of an inmate. We are the silent victims. But, I hope, that very soon we are not silent any longer. People must understand that the System is not what they think it is. A lot of innocent people are not only in prison but on Death Row. Many of them have been wrongly executed. We must make a stand...
Sincerely
Donna Day
