selah7
06-05-2004, 10:16 AM
Hi, warning this is REALLY long...
I already posted my intro in the main intro (much shorter) - but I'll do it here also, since I'm federal. Funny thing, after 7 federal, local and US Marshalls stormed into our home in front of our children and took me to county jail -- I was told by the other women not to worry, none of the other girls would bother me because I had a Rolex (yellow Federal ID band). They told me they didn't see many fed cases go through there. Funny, I guess they could have listed that (Rolex) in my assets at trial - since they made a HUGE deal about everything else, whether it was true or not.
I've taken to humor to get through this - but I don't really seem to have much of a talent for it. Sorry.
I've spent the last month reading various posts. What an amazing place to find myself. God Bless each and every one of you that spend your precious time encouraging, informing and directing others. You have provided clarity in a sea of confusion and mis-information.
What an absolute overwhelming mess have I found myself and my family. My husband and I were convicted in March of Federal counts of bank fraud. It is a most unfortunate situation. Now our three children (5, 4, 2) will be raised by his brother and sister-in-law. And we get the "opportunity" to go to Federal prison. I have never even had a traffic ticket. And now, I'm a convicted felon. I am a offense level 16 with a 0 criminal history - which is 21-27 months. My husband is a 16 also but is a 5 criminal history (he was younger, made stupid choices and was not saved). He's looking at up to 57 months. He is scheduled for sentencing June 21, mine should be around that date - although my attorney requested July 7.
The saddest thing - I believed that if I went to court - the truth would come out. It NEVER did. The prosecutor was quite talented at his game - seems like a chess game (but the prize - is gaining a life - either by ruining one or getting to live it "free"). And this chess game was one where the opponent knows already ALL your moves and blocks you from ever moving. Both my husband and I sat in our chairs for a week in stunned silence - not ever uttering a word. He was told that his criminal history from 8-12 years prior would be introduced if he got on the stand. Although they were not related to this case - they were not good. His attorney (Public Defender) told him He would ABSOLUTELY lose if he was up there. So he chose not to. And for me, well, I was told by the judge (pro-prosecution judge) after I stated that YES I did want to testify - that in essence - if I spoke and was then found guilty - that my testimony could then be deemed false and my sentence could be lengthened. I turned to my HIGHLY paid attorney (my parents paid for him) and said, does that mean that even though I am going to tell the TRUTH - that judge might deem because it is in DIRECT OPPOSITION to the prosecution's "theory" that it is a lie. The answer was YES. I was scared to death - so I chose to stay quiet - worst decision of my life.
Odd thing is - if they had just heard what actually occurred - they could have saved all those taxpayers money. The FBI and prosecution were adamant that my husband was the mastermind in the "scheme". Truth - there was NO scheme, just a single incident, and my husband found out after the fact from the CEO of the bank. I did the single incident because of that CEO and it turned out to be fraudulent. However, that CEO then went and fabricated stories, embillished the truth, and just LIED. Interesting things were discovered about her activities at that bank - but most was kept from the jury. She cooperated with the prosecution based upon her lies. She saved herself the humiliation and heartache of this process and ended up the "victim".
So, during the pre-trial process, the prosecution and FBI said that they thought I was completely innocent and that it was ALL my husband's fault. (Long story why they thought that but had to do with my family versus him). So, all I needed to do was proffer and testify against him. So, they made us an offer, I said no. So, they made another offer, I said no. It got to a couple of weeks before the trial and they offered me pre-trial diversion with an abayment. So, in essence, the charges against me would be dropped if I talked to them, provided them with substantial assistance to prosecute my husband, and I stayed out of trouble for a year. My husband, knowing he was innocent - had heard the statistics of us winning - 1% and begged me to take the deal. They were NOT willing to offer him anything, he would ONLY benefit if I took a deal. He did not want to see me go to prison or our children be raised by someone else so he thought it best to play according to the government's rules. I prayed and prayed about this. But I guess that I am an odd duck. I told them no. Well, that did not go over well with anyone including my family, both sets of attorney's and the prosecution. So they then stated that they wanted a psych evaluation.
Here's the deal, the truth is the truth. I guess you could say that I got hooked on semantics of the indictment and the prosecution's theory. I believed in my heart that it would be wrong to agree to lies. I truly know that God knows the truth and we needed to stand for that truth. Well, the psych evaluations proved that I am quite sane.
Well, when we got to court - according to the prosecution's case - I was an active participant and their belief that I was "innocent" suddenly changed. It was as if they could read my attorney's mind and knew EVERY avenue we went. I guess, it is because they actually knew the real truth, and knew how to combat it with their mis-information. They were able to keep much from being heard. Every time we seemed to be winning, they would change their tactics and the judge seemed to encourage them too. We were slaughtered. Some truth was able to leak itself out - through cross-examination, but then it was buried immediately by a bunch of other lies, mis-information or irrelevent information.
So here we are waiting. Do I regret not taking the deal? No. However, I am fearful about the future (prison) and I am so overwhelmingly sad that our children will have to suffer by being apart from us. I had a choice, and I chose to stand for what is right against a flawed system of "justice". My pastor, who was a police sergeant and understands the system, realizes the tough choices I had to make. I chose truth and thankfully have a clear conscience before God and man. But it feels like I am the only one that believes that. My husband is a christian too and he knows that I took this so seriously and needed to do what was right. But he is so sad about the kids, me and the fact that he truly was innocent of these charges. He is amazingly positive for someone who has sat in county jail for 9 months. But we are comforted in knowing my husband's brother and his sister-in-law will be wonderful guardians for our kids. But I know that they will suffer. They are too young to grasp this situation. They cannot fathom anything, and call the place where their father is at (county jail) - "daddy's building". I am currently on PR Bond. So now mommy will have a "building" and daddy will have a "building". And I have no idea when or even how to explain to these precious, innocent babies about jail, prison, or guilty and innocent. Thankfully they do understand about good decisions and bad decisions and truth versus lies. But where and when to begin? I thank all of you who are so candid with how you have dealt with this situation in regards to your small children.
We both had no idea about the federal criminal justice system. He had never gone to court (county, state matters before), he had always plead - whether he did it or not. So, I've now had a fast lesson. Everyone says, appeal. I fear I am just too tired and too broke to fight the US Government. It is quite a "story to tell". But for another day, or year and no one will probably want to listen anyway. But anyway. Thank you for your site and all your contributors. If you pray, please pray for my children, Tabitha, Joshua, Austin and my husband, Jay. Although we have been warned by our attorneys that the judge is pro-prosecution we are hoping and praying for the best. I hope I am elligible for bootcamp. But that is in Texas and my kids will be in N. Carolina. I read on one of the posts that to have a college degree might be deemed over-educated. Funny, I don't feel too smart or educated after all of this.
Good Luck to all of you and thanks again.
Suzanne (Selah7)
I already posted my intro in the main intro (much shorter) - but I'll do it here also, since I'm federal. Funny thing, after 7 federal, local and US Marshalls stormed into our home in front of our children and took me to county jail -- I was told by the other women not to worry, none of the other girls would bother me because I had a Rolex (yellow Federal ID band). They told me they didn't see many fed cases go through there. Funny, I guess they could have listed that (Rolex) in my assets at trial - since they made a HUGE deal about everything else, whether it was true or not.
I've taken to humor to get through this - but I don't really seem to have much of a talent for it. Sorry.
I've spent the last month reading various posts. What an amazing place to find myself. God Bless each and every one of you that spend your precious time encouraging, informing and directing others. You have provided clarity in a sea of confusion and mis-information.
What an absolute overwhelming mess have I found myself and my family. My husband and I were convicted in March of Federal counts of bank fraud. It is a most unfortunate situation. Now our three children (5, 4, 2) will be raised by his brother and sister-in-law. And we get the "opportunity" to go to Federal prison. I have never even had a traffic ticket. And now, I'm a convicted felon. I am a offense level 16 with a 0 criminal history - which is 21-27 months. My husband is a 16 also but is a 5 criminal history (he was younger, made stupid choices and was not saved). He's looking at up to 57 months. He is scheduled for sentencing June 21, mine should be around that date - although my attorney requested July 7.
The saddest thing - I believed that if I went to court - the truth would come out. It NEVER did. The prosecutor was quite talented at his game - seems like a chess game (but the prize - is gaining a life - either by ruining one or getting to live it "free"). And this chess game was one where the opponent knows already ALL your moves and blocks you from ever moving. Both my husband and I sat in our chairs for a week in stunned silence - not ever uttering a word. He was told that his criminal history from 8-12 years prior would be introduced if he got on the stand. Although they were not related to this case - they were not good. His attorney (Public Defender) told him He would ABSOLUTELY lose if he was up there. So he chose not to. And for me, well, I was told by the judge (pro-prosecution judge) after I stated that YES I did want to testify - that in essence - if I spoke and was then found guilty - that my testimony could then be deemed false and my sentence could be lengthened. I turned to my HIGHLY paid attorney (my parents paid for him) and said, does that mean that even though I am going to tell the TRUTH - that judge might deem because it is in DIRECT OPPOSITION to the prosecution's "theory" that it is a lie. The answer was YES. I was scared to death - so I chose to stay quiet - worst decision of my life.
Odd thing is - if they had just heard what actually occurred - they could have saved all those taxpayers money. The FBI and prosecution were adamant that my husband was the mastermind in the "scheme". Truth - there was NO scheme, just a single incident, and my husband found out after the fact from the CEO of the bank. I did the single incident because of that CEO and it turned out to be fraudulent. However, that CEO then went and fabricated stories, embillished the truth, and just LIED. Interesting things were discovered about her activities at that bank - but most was kept from the jury. She cooperated with the prosecution based upon her lies. She saved herself the humiliation and heartache of this process and ended up the "victim".
So, during the pre-trial process, the prosecution and FBI said that they thought I was completely innocent and that it was ALL my husband's fault. (Long story why they thought that but had to do with my family versus him). So, all I needed to do was proffer and testify against him. So, they made us an offer, I said no. So, they made another offer, I said no. It got to a couple of weeks before the trial and they offered me pre-trial diversion with an abayment. So, in essence, the charges against me would be dropped if I talked to them, provided them with substantial assistance to prosecute my husband, and I stayed out of trouble for a year. My husband, knowing he was innocent - had heard the statistics of us winning - 1% and begged me to take the deal. They were NOT willing to offer him anything, he would ONLY benefit if I took a deal. He did not want to see me go to prison or our children be raised by someone else so he thought it best to play according to the government's rules. I prayed and prayed about this. But I guess that I am an odd duck. I told them no. Well, that did not go over well with anyone including my family, both sets of attorney's and the prosecution. So they then stated that they wanted a psych evaluation.
Here's the deal, the truth is the truth. I guess you could say that I got hooked on semantics of the indictment and the prosecution's theory. I believed in my heart that it would be wrong to agree to lies. I truly know that God knows the truth and we needed to stand for that truth. Well, the psych evaluations proved that I am quite sane.
Well, when we got to court - according to the prosecution's case - I was an active participant and their belief that I was "innocent" suddenly changed. It was as if they could read my attorney's mind and knew EVERY avenue we went. I guess, it is because they actually knew the real truth, and knew how to combat it with their mis-information. They were able to keep much from being heard. Every time we seemed to be winning, they would change their tactics and the judge seemed to encourage them too. We were slaughtered. Some truth was able to leak itself out - through cross-examination, but then it was buried immediately by a bunch of other lies, mis-information or irrelevent information.
So here we are waiting. Do I regret not taking the deal? No. However, I am fearful about the future (prison) and I am so overwhelmingly sad that our children will have to suffer by being apart from us. I had a choice, and I chose to stand for what is right against a flawed system of "justice". My pastor, who was a police sergeant and understands the system, realizes the tough choices I had to make. I chose truth and thankfully have a clear conscience before God and man. But it feels like I am the only one that believes that. My husband is a christian too and he knows that I took this so seriously and needed to do what was right. But he is so sad about the kids, me and the fact that he truly was innocent of these charges. He is amazingly positive for someone who has sat in county jail for 9 months. But we are comforted in knowing my husband's brother and his sister-in-law will be wonderful guardians for our kids. But I know that they will suffer. They are too young to grasp this situation. They cannot fathom anything, and call the place where their father is at (county jail) - "daddy's building". I am currently on PR Bond. So now mommy will have a "building" and daddy will have a "building". And I have no idea when or even how to explain to these precious, innocent babies about jail, prison, or guilty and innocent. Thankfully they do understand about good decisions and bad decisions and truth versus lies. But where and when to begin? I thank all of you who are so candid with how you have dealt with this situation in regards to your small children.
We both had no idea about the federal criminal justice system. He had never gone to court (county, state matters before), he had always plead - whether he did it or not. So, I've now had a fast lesson. Everyone says, appeal. I fear I am just too tired and too broke to fight the US Government. It is quite a "story to tell". But for another day, or year and no one will probably want to listen anyway. But anyway. Thank you for your site and all your contributors. If you pray, please pray for my children, Tabitha, Joshua, Austin and my husband, Jay. Although we have been warned by our attorneys that the judge is pro-prosecution we are hoping and praying for the best. I hope I am elligible for bootcamp. But that is in Texas and my kids will be in N. Carolina. I read on one of the posts that to have a college degree might be deemed over-educated. Funny, I don't feel too smart or educated after all of this.
Good Luck to all of you and thanks again.
Suzanne (Selah7)