The True Story of How a Series of Lies Sent an Innocent Man to Prison
My brother, Steve, was convicted in 2006. Part of my argument in the book has been that prejudice against people accused of sex crimes, especially against children, runs so high that it’s difficult for the innocent defendant to receive a fair trial in Texas. Here’s an interesting blog post from John Floyd, a Houston attorney, …
Over the years I have sent Steve books and subscriptions to magazines (all of which are required to be mailed from a bookstore or the publisher), and have printed and mailed him all sorts of articles (some because they describe legal issues pertinent to his case, and others just because I thought he might find …
As I mentioned in the previous post, Steve’s prison is often understaffed, but it’s not the only one. There are a variety of reasons why people don’t want to work in prisons (low pay, potential danger, etc.). Shortages of staff can result in inmates going hungry and being less safe. One of the reasons why …
About the time the coronavirus began reaching into US prisons, in early March, TDCJ put all of the units in the system on permanent lockdown, and stopped all visitations in hopes of keeping the virus outside the prison walls. It was a false hope, of course. Even though family members of inmates weren’t allowed inside, …
By 2010 or so, Steve and I were talking on the phone at least once a week, sometimes twice; long rambling talks about anything and everything (books, music, politics, religion, his circumstances, the law, television, and anything else that happened to surface), although we always discussed some aspect of his case, and that was usually …
Prior to the first trial, Hanna’s family was not only able to obtain funds to pay for sessions with a counselor/therapist, but they were automatically offered that opportunity. The DA’s office sent her a letter which told her how to apply for compensation through the Texas Attorney General’s office. I still don’t understand how the …
We think of facts as being the absolute truth, but are they always? Just look at the political climate we’re in, flooded with “alternative facts,” and cries of “fake news.” This book examines a trial that was based solely on statements made by various parties in the trial (no DNA, no other forensic evidence, and …
I’m fourteen years older than Steve. He was born in 1960, in El Paso, Texas. We had lived there about six years by then, a record for us as a family, we moved a lot. We managed to stay there about two more years before we moved to Deep Springs, also in Texas, to live …