Back in 2004 I was accused by my brothers ex wife of touching my niece inappropriately on Halloween. Only issue with that is I was in jail for missing court in another county and was being held until I could be transported. September 22nd. Until November 19th. I was in jail.
My brother and his ex were in a pretty harsh custody dispute. She wanted to move to the other side of the country with the guy she had been having an affair with. My brother of course said no. So in order to get his parental rights taken away she claimed I had done this act and my brother was unfit to be a parent because somehow he allowed it to happen.
Backing up a bit though to explain some things. My old neighbor would sit for my brother when he was at work and he had the kids with him. She told me that one day my niece told her “mommy says uncle touched me”. The neighbor didn’t think anything of it but when the mother showed up to get the kids my niece repeated it and her mom gave her candy as a reward for saying it. This happened over and over for months until my niece was just saying “uncle touched me”. Only after that did my brother’s ex make the accusation.
Also I wasnt even living in the same area. I was living with a buddy and his parents. His dad’s a cop. When i went to visit my family i wasn’t ever alone with the kids. And the only place i was ever by myself in that house was in the basement where i had my musical and exercise equipment. Anytime one of the kids would even attempt to come downstairs they were told to go away because 1. My music stuff was expensive and 2. Weights can seriously hurt a child and I wasnt about to let that happen on my watch.
Fast forward to 04 when I had to have my chat with detectives. Ive never been in serious trouble before. Minor drinking mostly. A few traffic violations. Some violence but nothing to terrible. Needless to say I was terrified. I suffered my own severe physical abuse and sexual abuse when I was young. I’ve never been able to stand up for myself against authority figures, especially men, because of it. I always had to placate my abuser or face harsher punishments and still to this day I have an extremely hard time with being confident against adversity.
I was up against 3 detectives. 1 female and 2 Male detectives one of which was just a giant of a guy. For 4 hours they twisted everything I said until I was crying hysterically and had no idea what they were talking about. What I was talking about. Or even how we got to where we ended up. The 2 male detectives kept making remarks about how bad they were going to beat me if I didn’t say what they wanted me to. How they were going to make sure I was killed in prison. But that id be safe if I just agreed to sign their papers I could just leave and get help and itd be ok. Finally the giant guy backed me into the corner physically and told me that I was going to say what they wanted or i wasn’t walking out of there and i broke. I signed theyre made up scenarios even though, to reiterate, I was in jail at the time the offense was supposed to of happened. It almost felt like I was watching myself go through the motions of reading and signing what was written for me to say had happend and i was powerless to stop it.
Did almost a year in county. The public defender refused to talk to my witnesses. Refused to really do anything other than tell me I was screwed. I was refused any correspondence from my family and friends that were trying to show support and that they were trying to help. Then the public defender told me i had to plead guilty and get probation for 5 years or i was going to go to prison for 14 to 30 years. I took the plea.
It’s been about 16 years since I got released from county and I’ve been beaten. Shot at. Stabbed (thankfully it was just in the leg). Had been homeless for the better part of 2 years. Literally hunted by carloads of armed people that used to be friends. I’m now almost 39 and ive never had my own car. My own place to call home. Job after job falls through. The few possessions I do have fit comfortably in the single room I rent from a friend. Theres a mountain of evidence proving my innocence yet my life is wasted because I was too poor to hire a lawyer and to mentally unstable from abuse to properly defend myself. This isnt life. This is just the never ending purgatory before god or someone else decides to take my existence away.
Personal narratives by people who have been harmed by oppressive sex offender registries.
Copyright © 2024 Tales From the Registry
Have a close friend been through similar situation. Its not only you don’t give up!
Please remember that this was not your fault. I don’t know your face, or your voice, but imagining what you have gone through makes me angry at the world, that they did that to you. You deserve to enjoy every day of your life, as revenge against those who make the world a worse place.
To the poster.
It pains me to read your story. Something similar had happened to me, though there was some fault on my part. I was backed into a corner as some detective had questioned me (as someone who was slow, delayed, etc) and at some point his female assistant had shown him my psyche meds that were found by their cohorts and he took them and shoved them “under the rug.” He then, along with the prosecutor worked against me in excess and set me up for death from my 1st arrest.
What happened to you was an actual evil. The fact that those fools haven’t killed you, just goes to show that you have something left. Those fools include you brother’s ex, not just the people that shot at you and stabbed you. You must be here for a reason. Death passed over you for a purpose. You escaped a monstrosity, a great abomination, that is the American justice system.
Escaped the monstrosity that is the Amerikan Justice system??? You call that ESCAPING it??? The poor man is still in the lower intestines of it!!!
This is the type of “police abuse/misconduct” that needs to be brought to the attention of all the right wing politicians who love to hold law enforcement on pedestals. I’m no leftist but I’m no full conservative either. But the right always holds LE at high regard. I wonder if they would also be in favor of the type of treatment they put you through to get you to say what THEY wanted to hear.
Instead of just writing your story in a platform like this, write to all your local officials and – most importantly- THE WHITE HOUSE.
Maestro
The people, including politicians love the system and embrace it. They believe in their government, law enforcement agencies, and laws.
“write to all your local officials and — most importantly — THE WHITE HOUSE.
Man, you talk about a fruitless WASTE OF TIME!!!
I been Dealing with a Plea-Deal in 1989. L&L…No REGISTRY in existence at the time. Over 30 years ago. On REGISTRY FOR LIFE in Florida. About to give up. What was the saying GO POSTAL? THE PUNISHMENT NEVER ENDS. I’M SCARED SOMEBODY IS GOING TO FORCE ME TO KILL THEM. I’M NOT GUILTY IS THE WORST PART.
THE GOVERNMENT TOOK ADVANTAGE OF ME. RETROACTIVELY PUNISHMENT FOR LIFE. I WANT REVENGE, FOR NEEDLESS DESTROYING MY LIFE.
STOLD IT FROM ME, WITH LIES!!!
welcome to America..Sorry for your plight. Know you are not alone.
You should contact the Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago. https://www.law.uchicago.edu/clinics/exoneration
Me Berry, your anger is definitely warranted. As someone dealing with a family member’s wrongful conviction for the last few years I’m with you. It’s terrible what prosecutors can get away with and then sweep under the rug. And not only that but the fact that it’s going to get worse with things like Marsys Law making it impossible to defend yourself against these kinds of accusations. So my advice is to get yourself together and start organizing. Get informed. But most important of all, FIGURE IT OUT for YOURSELF. One of the problems that plagues this whole system is that you’ll probably get a lot of misinformation or complete baloney if you get the wrong lawyer or worse if you get one that knows certain details about your case and is keeping them from you and just passing it off as “a bad judge” or “a crappy attorney”.
The people in charge don’t want people getting smart enough to figure that the system is rigged. They built layers upon layers of “insulation”.
Part of “figure it out for yourself” is finding the right kind of help. Not all attorneys are bad at what they do and many care deeply for citizens who have been badly treated by the justice system. If you haven’t already done so I suggest you contact the Exoneration Project. At least give it a try. https://www.exonerationproject.org/