Roerende brief van een Amerikaanse terdoodveroordeelde

Het Amerikaans rechtssysteem naait het zoveelste leven



Ik kwam het volgende verhaal tegen. Het is best roerend, op zn zachtst gezegd.



Deze man staat blijkbaar op de agenda om voor het jaarseinde geexecuteerd te

worden door de staat Texas. Je denkt waarschijlijk al, verdied loon, had hij

maar niet moeten doden, maar zo simpel is het niet. Of beter gezegd, niet in dit geval.



Deze man heeft namelijk zelf

geen enkele moord gepleegt. Het was zijn vader die de moord had gepleegd en hij

stond erbij. Daarnaast was hij minderjarig - 15 jaar, dus al zou hij wel schuldig zijn aan de daad, zou zijn minderjarige

leeftijd hem grotendeels van schuld vrij moeten pleiten. Hij werd blijkbaar veroordeeld

onder een wetgeving van de staat Texas, die het strafbaar stelt om deel uit te maken van een groep die een misdaad aan het begaan is. Hij kreeg hiervoor 99 jaar celstraf opgelegd. Later in de gevangenis zou hij een bewaker vermoord hebben (wat hij zelf ontkent en zegt opgezet te zijn voor moord door wraakzuchtige cipiers ). Dit leverde hem de doodstraf op.



Tot dusver, de achtergrond.



Wat ik vooral roerend vond, was zijn zelfgeschreven brief. Hij schijnt veel

volwassener te zijn geworden en een diepzinnige waardering en begrip van de wereld te hebben. Hij schrijft over zijn eigen leven, over mensen in het algemeen en over enkele filosofische zaken. Hij is realistisch, zij schrijftstijl is boeiend en treffend, en

hij is vooral nuchter (wat mij als Nederlander zeker aanspreekt ). Hij heeft

daarbij een afschuw voor al het hyprociets i het leven, hoe bepaalde mensen

bepaalde zaken met twee mate plachten te meten.



Naar aanleiding van zij brief, kreeg ik sterk het gevoel om hem aan te schrijven, on mogelijk toegang tot diepzinnige lectuur aan te bieden (waar hij niet makkelijk aan komt daar hij in de gevagenis zit).



En toch besloot ik eindelijk om daar voorlopig van af te zien (niet verder heel relevant).



Lees maar zijn brief zelf:



Wat vinden jullie van zijn situatie:



Voor meer informatie over zijn delict en strafrechtelijk verleden:



https://www.tdcj.state.tx ... dr_info/pruettrobert.html

De brief is te vinden op:



http://robert-pruett.com/index.php?page=journal&nr=13



Ik heb voor jullie gemak enkele alinea's overgenomen en gepost. Excuus voor het formaat - mobiel doet moeilijk. Lees desnoods op de site zelf.



Week 21 2006

May 28, 2006

A Diatribe



In the early years of my captivity, I often dreamt of floating and flying away. Most of the dreams began

with me sitting or laying on my bunk, overwhelmed

with despair by the thought of eternal isolation. But

then I would float up towards the ceiling and fly

right through it, a sense of relief and joy washing

over me as I glided through the air, free at last!

Unfortunately, these dreams usually

metamorphosed from flight into a cold courtroom

with a corrupt judge and prosecutor, 12 gullible

jurors, and an indifferent defense attorney. "Mr.

Pruett, a jury of your peers sentences you to 99

years in prison, may you burn in hell for your sins,

young man!"

"I'M ONLY FIFTEEN!! I'M ONLY FIFTEEN!! I'M ONLY

FIFTEEN!!"

My cellie shook me back to consciousness. "Wake

up, dude, you're dreaming!" And after I awoke he

wondered, "Bro, what happened when you were

fifteen? You were hollering - 'I'm only fifteen' - like

someone was trying to rape you." I told him the

story and the contents of the dream and he shook

his head in disbelief. "Them motherfuckers did you

like that when you was fifteen?! That's fucking

bullshit, bro!"

In 1995 Harris County had an 11pm curfew for

people under 17, you had to be 16 to get a driver's

permit, 18 to buy cigarettes, and 21 to buy alcohol.

How old did you have to be to get life in prison?

Back then it was 14 and it still is, I think. Where's

the sense in that? If you aren't mature enough by

ages 14 -16 to smoke a cigarette, drink a beer,

drive a car alone, or even stay outside past 11pm,

how can you be old enough to make a decision that

will effect the rest of your life? When I first arrived

in the TDCJ-ID, I was 16 and in a dayroom where

they were voting to watch a movie rated R. The

guard with the remote looked at me and said, "No

can do, we got a minor in the dayroom, decide on

something he can watch." I wasn't old enough to

see violence, hear curse words, or see a breast, but

I was old enough to get 99 years!

What really pisses me off is I didn't kill the guy in

my case. I'm not entirely inculpable; I admit that it

was all behind my dumbass bullshit that he'd still

be alive today had it not been for me, but I didn't

kill him, my father did that and he confessed to it. I

was convicted as a "party" to the offense. Problem

is, the murder occurred in Harris County in 1995,

the year that county was cracking down on juvenile

crime. I think they certified like 156 juveniles as

adults that year, three times as many as they ever

had previously or after. Furthermore, no county in

the USA has ever come close to that number before

or since. So I'm a fucking example. Was it worth it?

Did the juvenile crime rate decrease after they went

on a certifying binge in 1995? Because if it made

kids think about their actions and the juvenile crime

rate decreased as a result, then I will shut the fuck

up and be thankful that I contributed in some way

to the advancement of society. But it did not result

in decreased juvenile crime, at least not from the

last report I read. So it was an experiment that

didn't work, eh? Motherfuckers.

The increased juvenile crime rate in 1995 doesn't

completely explain why I got such a stiff sentence

though. When I was certified to stand trial as an

adult on Halloween day in 1995 my judge certified

three other 15 year olds. I can't recall all the

details, but one guy blew the faces off of two rival

gang members, another had a gang related murder,

and the other guy had a murder case as well. The

one with the double murder got 40 years

aggravated, another guy got 20 aggravated, and I

think the other received 10 years probation. All of

those guys actually killed their victims, while I was

charged with inciting my father to murder our

neighbor, yet I get more time than all three put

together. Where's the justice in that? I've never

been able to wrap my mind around my sentence.

And I've repeatedly heard from minorities in prison

about how hard they got it, how a white man

wouldn't have gotten the time that they did.

Hmmm..... I was the only white person certified out

of the above mentioned four. Happy Halloween,

huh?! Trick or motherfucking treat! It's rarely about

race these days, it's all about socioeconomic

status. I've been inside these walls for 11 years

and I have yet to meet a person who was even

close to rich when he was free. All of us certified

that day came from ghettos.

I know of four men here on death row who were

certified as adults and in the general prison

population before coming here. One of those guys

is a friend of mine named Lee Taylor, who was

certified a couple of months after I was, from my

neighborhood, and also given life (TDCJ treats

anything over 60 years as life). We were all thrown

into the adult system, where we had to fight for our

manhood and lives regularly. Want to know what

fear feels like? Try fighting a hardened criminal (no

pun intended) who has expressed interest in

making sweet love to you!! Talk about fighting

harder than a motherfucker! That's the world of the

certified juvenile, the kid not old enough to drive a

car alone or stay out until midnight. And my

situation was amplified because I didn't even kill

the man.

How did that make me feel? Well, at first I was

naive, thinking that there was no way they would

leave me with that sentence. I thought that they

would eventually see their error and let me go or

reduce my sentence considerably. Wrong. After

they denied my first two appeals, they sent me a

letter, "Mr. Pruett, we regret to inform you that we

can no longer represent you free of charge. If you

forward us a check for $20,000.00 we will file your

2254 (federal writ) and any subsequent appeals.

Good luck!" Good luck? Son of a bitch, I owed

indigent supply like 25 dollars at the time, where

the hell was I supposed to get twenty grand? I

talked to a couple of guys who were writ writers

and they wanted between 400-1,000 to file my writ,

I didn't have any money period. In other words, I

was stuck with that sentence. That realization hit

me hard. I felt aggressive, confrontational, and

violent. I detested working for these motherfuckers,

I was bitter, self-destructive, and I hated the world.

I wanted it all to just disintegrate; I dreamed of tidal

waves, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, and

plague. Like "Tool's" song "Aenima," I wanted MOM

to flush it all away, right down the toilet. How could

a just and all-loving god keep letting horrendous

shit happen to me? God was dead to me, and if he

was alive he was a heartless asshole! Fuck god, I

thought, I'll never bow to that dick-sucking punk. I

felt cheated of my youth, I felt extreme forms of

anger and hate, I was the poster child for

misanthropy. Everyone pissed me off, nobody could

tell me shit.

That was then, this is now. My perspective has

changed dramatically, evolved if you will. Somehow,

I think that everything happens for a reason. Not

predestination, per se, but life situations are

presented to us so we can live, experience, and

grow from them. There's some hidden meaning for

the life I've lived, a lesson(s) to be learned, a

contribution to the evolution of the world. Ditto for

everyone and everything. That's what I tend to

think. I believe that I shouldn't be overly concerned

with the past, which I have no control over, or the

future, which I have very little influence on. It

diminishes what's unfolding before me, I might

miss something of significance if I don't focus and

remain aware. I don't have to like what transpires

in my life, but I think it's best to accept it and move

on, learn from it. And the result has been peace of

mind, I'm no longer angry at the world.

quote:Moiren_ schreef op 27 maart 2016 @ 21:38:

Ontroerend.

o kijk, een wijsneus



roerend

waardoor tedere

gevoelens opkomen vb:

hij vertelde ons een

roerend verhaal Synoniemen: aandoenlijk

ontroerend



http://www.encyclo.nl/begrip/ROEREND

Nog een brief: hij wordt er bijna gek van dat zijn executiedatum precies op de dag af, 21 jaar na zijn arrestatie voor moord plaats zal vinden.



Hij vraagt zich af of dat toeval is en zo ja, wat voor een wrede. Hij zegt dat als het opzet is (door de staat Texas) dan proberen ze misschien een statement te maken met dat 21 jaar want dat getal is toevallig wat hij noemt 'de leeftijdsgrens van ratio'.



Blijft intrigerend leesvoer allemaal.



Age of reason



March 6, 2016



For a couple of weeks now I’ve known that there was some sort of issue (procedural I think) in my case that promoted the prosecution to ask for the April 27th date to be removed and August 23, 2016 to be the new date. I haven’t said anything because it wasn’t official, but it sounded like a pretty sure thing the moment I heard about it and so I’ve given it some thought…



First of all, while I would rather have no date at all and be granted real relief in this case, the extra time should help my attorneys prepare my appeals and give the courts more time to carefully consider the claims. Having an execution date as close as April 27th would likely have made things more difficult for my attorneys and the courts, so obviously more time is great.



What really trips me out is that August 23rd is the day (night) I was arrested in 1995. Coincidence? Probably, but it’s still strange knowing they are now gearing up to kill me 21 years to the day since I was arrested.



Isn’t 21 the widely accepted “age of reason”, when humans are thought to be old enough to have greater responsibilities? I understand that today studies have shown that the human brain develops differently between the genders, that males don’t generally develop areas of the brain responsible for the maturation process until about age 25 while females develop these same parts 4 or 5 years before males on average. But 21 is what we (at least in the USA) think of as an adult.



It’s the number of chapters in “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess because 21 represented the age of reason to Burgess and that’s when little Alex finally realized the error of his ways (Sadly, when Burgess first sold the manuscript to the Americans in the 60’s they didn’t want the 21st chapter; the first American version ended at chapter 20, when little Alex was still immature and having aggressive / violent thoughts)….



So yeah, it might be pure coincidence, but it strikes me as odd that the state of Texas rejected the universal “age of reason” of 21 with me when I was 15 years old and decided I was old and reasonable enough to be tried as an adult and suffer adult-like penalties, then 21 years to the day later, after I’ve literally grown up in prison and made the breakthroughs that I think I have, they decide it’s now reasonable to kill me?? Makes no sense to me…



But hopefully, the strength and merits of the claims my attorneys are raising will render August 23rd another inconsequential date in the state’s plan to murder me and courts will give me a stay and grant me relief. It’d be nice if some judge (s) somewhere would be able to look at the facts of the case and see how unreasonable it’d be to kill me….



Love and Light,



Robert

quote:Faranya schreef op 27 maart 2016 @ 23:08:

TO, hoe gaat het met je dieet? Daar praten we dan weer elders over.

quote:Miss-Colorado schreef op 28 maart 2016 @ 00:29:

Dit zie je helaas door heel de Verenigde Staten. Texas is echter een staat die er de meest krankzinnige wetten op nahoudt.

Ik vind het hele systeem corrupt. Teveel mensen die onschuldig zijn en er letterlijk ingeluisd worden. Veel advocaten die het geen moer interesseert of iemand nou schuldig of onschuldig is, een gewonnen zaak is belangrijker.

Wat waarheid is in deze specifieke zaak weet ik niet, ik ben er niet bij geweest.





Zit jij in de VS ? (Colorado toch? )



Ja ik vind dat Texas in hoge mate hun eigen reputatie hoog probeert te houden. Ze executeren mensen al sinds het begin van de vorige eeuw en ze kunnen niet ineens stoppen, ook niet in de moderne tijd. Dan vinden ze dat ze een integraal karaktereigenschap van hun deelstaat verliezen - zo lijkt het mij.



Verder lijkt het wel alsof al hun wetten op emotie en sentiment zijn gebasseerd ipv ratio. oftewel ze zien de doding van een dierbare als het einde van hun wereld, een permanente afgang waaruit niet meer te komen is. In dat opzicht is het best een materiaal ingesteld volk. Misschien is dat juist wat deze schrijver nu probeert aan te snijden. De esoterische waarde van het leven. Dingen niet zo absoluut zien, maar als een soort van continuerende natuurlijke overgangen die groter en boven de menselijke invloedssfeer staan. Oftewel we kunnen enkel een slinger geven aan het roer maar het roer blijft grotendeels voor ons buiten bereik. Om dat uit te leggen in beeldspraak.



Dat stond in die eerste tekst van hem wat ik hier gepost heb geloof ik. Zo niet een van de andere. Zijn site vind ik best diepzinnig zoals ik al te kennen heb gegeven.