Stuck in Prison

 Read More: www.gofundme.com/ctlatinojr

                     www.ctlatinojr.info

Wow! I didn’t think this kinda thing would ever be possible. I’ve been locked up for 10 years now hoping for a way to show the people that I’m in prison for something I didn’t do. I’ve prayed and prayed about this for so long. Most people in America are clueless of what’s going on in the real justice system. Whether you are innocent or not is not what’s important, what seems to be most important is getting your very first appeal done just right, because if not, you will be stuck in prison the rest of your life, even if you are innocent. In 1996, a new law was passed in the US Congress, called AEDPA act, in which basically the Great Writ of Habeas Corpus (Human kinds legal safety net for wrongful convictions) was stripped down to only allow someone one chance to get it right on your first appeal, if not you will not get another chance, so if you get a bad lawyer, like I did, you could be stuck in prison even if you are innocent. All someone has to do is look at my Go Fund Me site and see all the errors in my trial, and easily be able to see if I could only re-do my first appeal, I could easily over turn this case, and get to go back home to my family, but the 1996 AEDPA law says we can’t re-file our appeal over again.

You see, everyone is not skilled in the law and the appellate system. It is literally Pandora’s box written in another language to someone who has never went to years of college for it, so for someone like me, I didn’t know about this 1996 law when I was going through this process, and I’m probably sure 99% of the citizens of America probably don’t know either, therefore, this seems to be a trap waiting to happen for anyone who could encounter trials in America, but just think for a second about all the other people who have been ensnared by these same traps since 1996, all the poor people who can’t afford the best lawyers and investigators get trapped in this kind of system. Ask yourselves if this seems right? This isn’t what America is supposed to be about. The land of the free. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights, etc… and we have an appeal system that’s a trap?

Under this regulated writ system we are under, you better have an attorney you can trust, who is gonna file every single error you have on your first appeal (called your direct appeal), or you’re gonna be stuck with only what that first attorney filed. Does this sound like something that is fair? You may find some errors later that the other attorney didn’t find or cite in your appeal and they may very well be some reversible errors, but you’re not gonna be able to use them, because they weren’t used in your first appeal. I ask you, does this sound fair? Now there may be some out there that are saying this doesn’t matter, because it only affects prisoners, but I’ll have you know that it affects anyone involved in the court system that uses the process of appeals. In my case, I was sentenced to 55 years in a Texas Prison for a crime that never even occurred. I was rail-roaded text book style 101 in a Hardin County Texas courtroom on April 8, 2009, and if I would’ve had an attorney representing me on my first appeal that would have filed all the errors in my trial, I would be exonerated of this hands down, but instead, the Judge (88^th District Court Earl Stover III) refused to appoint me an appellate attorney, who would help me. Instead he installed the same attorney (Bryan Laine) who had just lost my trial, to be my appellate attorney, even though I filed motions for a new trial and for appointment of effective counsel with the District Clerks office. This judge ignored my motions and appointed this attorney. Well, once he was appointed to do my first appeal (which we all now know is the most important one), I didn’t want this, because he had just lost my trial, and me and him wasn’t getting along, due to him not doing things that he said he was gonna do for me, (you know like actually represent me), nevertheless, he smooth talked my family (who even paid him $3,000 on top of being appointed to my appeal) saying he was gonna be filing all kinds of errors for me… that he knew my case was not right etc… So a long time went by and he still hadn’t filed anything, and he was ignoring my family’s calls, so my mom took it upon herself to file her own affidavit (see all these on my gofundme.com documents) of what she saw and witnessed that day. She filed this way before my attorney filed his first appeal, so he had time to consider all this, but he didn’t, instead he ignored everything me and my family wanted, and everything he said that he was gonna file, all kinds of errors that went wrong, but he filed an appeal that only said that one error occurred, and even that was shaped to concede guilt, as he said, “appellate had done it, but it should have been a lesser charge”. What kind of appeal attorney is this? I couldn’t do anything about it because of the way it went down. I was tricked in my appeals, because this lawyer told me and my family that he was gonna file all kinds or errors and he didn’t, and I never got to see this appeal until after it was already filed. (see gofundme.com site documents). I was bench warranted to the Hardin County Courthouse, in March 2010, and had never seen this appeal. I go into the courtroom and the judge asks me if I’ve been apprised of my appeal. I look over at Bryan Laine the attorney over this and he taps some papers at the other end of the table saying that was it, and I ask, “is that it right there?” and next thing you know the judge is quickly saying, “he acknowledges it”. Like I was approving it or something, and I hadn’t even seen it, yet it had been filed in 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals already (see documents on gofundme.com site). That’s how I got tricked into my first appeal and stuck under this conviction. I challenge everyone to look at my Go Fund Me site and look at all the errors in this trial. It is so obvious that I was railroaded and set up, yet under the new regulated rules of the Writ of Habeas Corpus that was passed in 1996, the courts won’t allow us to file a new appeal on the issues and errors, even if you are innocent of your charge and stuck in prison. The only thing they allow is new evidence and withheld evidence to be filed, but this requires lots of money to attorney’s and private investigators to go dig all into your case. Most people going to prison don’t have money for this. Therefore, this becomes a trap, and a snare to keep people in prison.

What makes it even harder is the fact that I got this prison sentence in Texas, where there is no safety net for people under the Parole system. I must serve ½ of 55 years in prison before even becoming eligible for parole. That’s 27 ½ years for just doing a dumb thing and running from the cops with handcuffs behind my back. No matter how much you change, grow up, better yourself, work or show good conduct you still have to do ½ of your sentence. What if someone changes, I mean really makes changes in his/her life, why should they still be made to serve ½ their sentence just to be able to interview for Parole? Isn’t that what the Parole officers are for, to see who is really changed and who isn’t? If you are not changing, then by all means make them stay longer, but if you are making changes and deserve another chance, then you should be able to at least get that, and this could be a safety net for someone that got a wrongful conviction and was tricked in their appeals… I mean you’ll still be on Parole for x amount of years, but at least there will be a way to provide relief, but under Texas Parole eligibility rules, they have their hands tied and are not allowed to even consider you for parole. I’ve served 10 years already on this. You think I ain’t learned my lesson about running from cops. I promise to God I won’t never ever run again. I’ve done a lot of growing up since that day in March 2007. I’ve come a long way too. I’ve finally became clean and sober, I’ve received my college degree, I’ve become a man who can be trusted and relied upon, but that doesn’t matter under our current laws which say I’ve got to serve 27 ½ years. I didn’t touch neither one of those 2 deputies that day, I only ran from them, because I was intoxicated and done a real stupid thing, but to be charged, convicted, and held in prison on the same charges as someone who would have really hurt a police is wrong. How can I respect the laws and rules of this great land when this is happening to me? It’s tough. I’ll tell you that, but my attitude is one of forgiveness and mercy and truth, because I know that sooner or later, I’m gonna get the break through in this that I deserve, somebody somewhere is gonna read and see this and do something to bring about the change needed to get me home. Let’s start up a conversation. Will you join us?

Thank you and may God bless.