Another “Bargain” Destroys a Life

originally posted 12/8/2008

So who am I? I am an a very average person, born and raised in a middle class family, graduated from high school and entered the Air Force…served 4 years with Honorable Discharge, released then joined U.S. Army, served 4 years Honorably then discharged…no problems other than driving offenses…after no children.

I married again and I bought a home computer. I used to look everywhere, amazed by the information the internet had to offer. One day my computer locked up and I could do nothing to resolve the problem. I took my computer in to a repair shop to resolve the problem. Later the same week I had a knock at my door and the local sheriff’s department said they had a warrant to search our family’s home. Nothing was found but they said my computer had “child pornography” on it.

I contacted a lawyer who said he would represent me but insisted on $8,000. up front. Well I paid that amount and then one day later their office told me to report to the court, I did and when I reported they told me right then and there that I would have to enter a plea.

The lawyer told me that if I decided to enter a plea of “not guilty” it would not be good at all because of the “nature of the crime” and I should enter a plea of guilty to accept a plea bargain. I would be considered guilty because of “the nature of the crime” if I said not guilty and appeared before a court and jury. I did thinking I could just serve my sentence and get it behind me…How wrong I was, as each law continuously changed before state legislature so did my life and the repercussions for my family.

Now even though my sentence was for 12 years for a misdemeanor (12 pictures, and absolutely no contact or harm to any child…but never any chance of putting this nightmare behind me.) Even as a Christian, you cannot depend on churches or friends for any truth because you are completely abandoned by ALL friends and churches… they all deny you and desert you. I have prayed and prayed to God for a miracle to restore our lives (my life and that of my family) but it just keeps in a spiral downward for us all. How could Christians do this to each other?

It has already happened and there is no compassion or forgiveness ever. All for pictures on my home computer and a 12 year sentence of “SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF A MINOR” and I never even touched or harmed any child ever.

I had to leave the U.S. because of the laws that would never forgive me or always would prevent my family and me from living anything close to a normal life ever again. I learned my lesson. Unfortunately the country I loved and served for 20 years can never forgive. Even after I have completed my sentence, I cannot find anyone to hire me for any job to support my family now.

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