babycat
01-08-2005, 07:07 AM
My 19 year old son and brother are in Chino Please help ease my mind about this prison--is it really that bad of place?
:confused: Entered Chino August 21, 2004. What happens here? Do they stay if so how long. Do they get to pick where they want to transfer to? What can I send them? Do the prison take half of there money for restitution each time? If so what percentage? How many pictures can they have? What kind of entertainment can I send?
Here is a little bit of what happened the day of sentencing : I have proof that they were framed my son and brother are innocent. Forensic Imaging Specialist report stating that it is not my son on the photo.:broken:
LANCASTER - Ms. Jones became so livid she had to be removed from the courtroom. Jones stood up from her seat on the right side of the courtroom, where many family members flanked her.
She asked Judge Lisa Chung to hold a new trial to consider her accusations that the surveillance photographs and videos were doctored.
"You need to establish identity before sentencing him to anything," Jones said about her son, 20-year-old Robert Jones.
"It's not over. Believe that, Robbie," she told her son as she left the courtroom.
Robert Jones and his uncle, Arthur Ross, 35, drew life sentences in prison Thursday for robbing Sam's Club in Palmdale on Jan. 5 2003.
The men were convicted Aug. 21 2004 on charges of kidnapping for the purposes of robbery, two counts of assault with a firearm, one count of robbery and three counts of attempted robbery.
Jones was convicted of the special circumstance of personal use of a firearm, while Ross was convicted of the special circumstance of acting with a principal who used a firearm.
But before Chung issued the sentences, defense attorneys asked her to consider ordering a new trial based on evidence from Ms. Jones that the photographs and store security footage of the robbers was doctored.
The attorneys also asked for a new trial based on possible bias on the part of Chung, who was a deputy district attorney before she became a judge, and who signed the search warrant that led to the arrests of Jones and Ross.
Chung admitted she was a prosecutor before becoming a judge, but said that does not affect the case - and both defense attorneys knew she was a prosecutor before the trial. Their motion involving her, along with their suggestion that evidence was tampered with, was not new, she said.
That evidence, Chung said, could have been brought out months ago and needed to be a recent revelation for her to consider a new trial.
"Legally this does not qualify as newly discovered evidence," Chung said. "This was all available at the beginning of the trial."
The Jones family brought to the court pictures they claim show the robber at Sam's Club was somebody else, and that photo was digitally altered, and a portion of his mug shot found on it.
Ms. Jones, in short, asserts her son was framed. The judge allowed an employee of Sam’s Club to enter and remain in the deliberation room until a verdict was render.
Ross was working at the store, at 39940 10th St. West, at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 5 when Jones entered and walked around for roughly 15 minutes, investigators said. Jones talked with Ross before Jones walked upstairs, where the store keeps the money, officials said.
Upstairs, Jones pulled a gun on a female employee and demanded money. When she was unable to give him any, he left. As he was walking downstairs, he robbed an employee who had a full cash-register drawer.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Blake told the jury a surveillance tape caught Jones in the act and showed Jones and Ross had dealings before the robbery.
Jones' attorney, Robert Nadler, said a second videotape, taken in the cash room, revealed the robber was much shorter than Jones.
Nadler said an employee's description of the robber doesn't match Jones, including the shade of his skin and description of his eyes. He also said Jones has an alibi.
Because Chung handed down concurrent sentences, Jones and Ross must serve out most of their sentences at the same time.
"It was a very difficult case," Blake said in August of the three-week trial. "I wasn't surprised because I believed that we had enough evidence to convict. But it was difficult putting it all together."
Jones received the harsher sentence because he was convicted of holding the gun during the robbery.
In addition to the life sentence for kidnapping while committing a robbery, Jones was sentenced to 13 years that must be served for armed robbery. Based on the sentences, he will be eligible for parole in 23 years.
Though Ross was not holding the gun, he was convicted of a 1988 Michigan robbery that counted as an "out-of-state strike" and led to a stiffer sentence.
He will be eligible for parole in 15 years.
Outside the court, Nadler said he already had filed an appeal on Jones' sentence. Nadler said he did not know if he would be the attorney for the appellate case, but said, "I would think Robert's attorney is going to try to bring up this issue in the appellate court."
:confused: Entered Chino August 21, 2004. What happens here? Do they stay if so how long. Do they get to pick where they want to transfer to? What can I send them? Do the prison take half of there money for restitution each time? If so what percentage? How many pictures can they have? What kind of entertainment can I send?
Here is a little bit of what happened the day of sentencing : I have proof that they were framed my son and brother are innocent. Forensic Imaging Specialist report stating that it is not my son on the photo.:broken:
LANCASTER - Ms. Jones became so livid she had to be removed from the courtroom. Jones stood up from her seat on the right side of the courtroom, where many family members flanked her.
She asked Judge Lisa Chung to hold a new trial to consider her accusations that the surveillance photographs and videos were doctored.
"You need to establish identity before sentencing him to anything," Jones said about her son, 20-year-old Robert Jones.
"It's not over. Believe that, Robbie," she told her son as she left the courtroom.
Robert Jones and his uncle, Arthur Ross, 35, drew life sentences in prison Thursday for robbing Sam's Club in Palmdale on Jan. 5 2003.
The men were convicted Aug. 21 2004 on charges of kidnapping for the purposes of robbery, two counts of assault with a firearm, one count of robbery and three counts of attempted robbery.
Jones was convicted of the special circumstance of personal use of a firearm, while Ross was convicted of the special circumstance of acting with a principal who used a firearm.
But before Chung issued the sentences, defense attorneys asked her to consider ordering a new trial based on evidence from Ms. Jones that the photographs and store security footage of the robbers was doctored.
The attorneys also asked for a new trial based on possible bias on the part of Chung, who was a deputy district attorney before she became a judge, and who signed the search warrant that led to the arrests of Jones and Ross.
Chung admitted she was a prosecutor before becoming a judge, but said that does not affect the case - and both defense attorneys knew she was a prosecutor before the trial. Their motion involving her, along with their suggestion that evidence was tampered with, was not new, she said.
That evidence, Chung said, could have been brought out months ago and needed to be a recent revelation for her to consider a new trial.
"Legally this does not qualify as newly discovered evidence," Chung said. "This was all available at the beginning of the trial."
The Jones family brought to the court pictures they claim show the robber at Sam's Club was somebody else, and that photo was digitally altered, and a portion of his mug shot found on it.
Ms. Jones, in short, asserts her son was framed. The judge allowed an employee of Sam’s Club to enter and remain in the deliberation room until a verdict was render.
Ross was working at the store, at 39940 10th St. West, at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 5 when Jones entered and walked around for roughly 15 minutes, investigators said. Jones talked with Ross before Jones walked upstairs, where the store keeps the money, officials said.
Upstairs, Jones pulled a gun on a female employee and demanded money. When she was unable to give him any, he left. As he was walking downstairs, he robbed an employee who had a full cash-register drawer.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Blake told the jury a surveillance tape caught Jones in the act and showed Jones and Ross had dealings before the robbery.
Jones' attorney, Robert Nadler, said a second videotape, taken in the cash room, revealed the robber was much shorter than Jones.
Nadler said an employee's description of the robber doesn't match Jones, including the shade of his skin and description of his eyes. He also said Jones has an alibi.
Because Chung handed down concurrent sentences, Jones and Ross must serve out most of their sentences at the same time.
"It was a very difficult case," Blake said in August of the three-week trial. "I wasn't surprised because I believed that we had enough evidence to convict. But it was difficult putting it all together."
Jones received the harsher sentence because he was convicted of holding the gun during the robbery.
In addition to the life sentence for kidnapping while committing a robbery, Jones was sentenced to 13 years that must be served for armed robbery. Based on the sentences, he will be eligible for parole in 23 years.
Though Ross was not holding the gun, he was convicted of a 1988 Michigan robbery that counted as an "out-of-state strike" and led to a stiffer sentence.
He will be eligible for parole in 15 years.
Outside the court, Nadler said he already had filed an appeal on Jones' sentence. Nadler said he did not know if he would be the attorney for the appellate case, but said, "I would think Robert's attorney is going to try to bring up this issue in the appellate court."