Sign and Share Please!!

In April of this year, I read an article about a young man who had been tried and convicted in Florida under the Felony Murder Law. This law is something I’m familiar with and have been against for some time now because it doesn’t apply punishment that is proportionate to culpability in a crime, and I have seen plenty of cases where a person who wasn’t even present or couldn’t be proven to be present at the scene of a crime was given a life or even death sentence for whatever small part they may have played. This was something altogether different though. When I read this one, I was pretty enraged. This was the first time I’d ever read a case where the person affected by this heinous law had absolutely no involvement in the crime nor in criminal behavior at all.

The man in this case loaned his car. That’s what he did to get a life sentence without the possibility of parole. He was drunk at home with his roommate and his roommate’s friends. The roommate and friends decided to rob the house of a known drug dealer and asked to use his car. Ryan agreed. The roommate is on record saying that the only part Ryan played that night is giving permission to use the car. He did not help plan a burglary. He did not help plan a murder. He gave permission and fell into a drunken sleep. He was asleep when the crime was committed.

Plenty of people were outraged about this case. The comments section each time it was shared was quickly filled with people who were angry and who demanded justice for the man in question. I took it a step further though. I wrote him. I sat down and wrote a letter the very day I read about him.

That’s how I met Ryan.

Anyone can read the articles that I have or visit his website or even read the petition I created. Those are all important but can be found easily through Google. I’ll also include them here at the end because that petition is of utmost importance right now. But, what I want to really tell you about is Ryan himself because if you know what I know about him, if you can see what I see, you can’t help being angry and wanting to do more to help him.

Since first writing in early April, we’ve gotten up to 2 or 3 letters a week, and I’ve visited him twice. In that time, I’ve learned a lot about him and what he’s like. He wears the label “nerd” proudly and loves to talk about video games and comic books. Luckily, I have a whole lot of nerdery going on when it comes to video games so we both geek out on letters talking about the nostalgia of gaming classics and me writing about newer stuff I’ve played or watched being played. We talk about music. A lot. Music is really his salvation. A letter without mentioning a band or song is an anomaly. He loves comic book movies, Star Wars, and old cartoons.

Ryan grew up with a very strong woman as his mother. She’s his rock even though these last 11 years have impacted her in ways you could not imagine. She’s his champion and is always in his corner pushing for his freedom. In 11 years, she has only gotten more determined instead of jaded which shows just how incredible her strength really is. It’s her influence that has made him one of the most respectful and thoughtful men I have had the pleasure to meet. 11 years of prison hasn’t changed that or diminished it in any way. He would be mortified if anyone ever accused him of disrespecting a woman or anyone for that matter.

No matter how harsh the prison environment can be, he has never lost his humanity, his will to help others, to do good in the world, and to be something more than what he often sees around him. In fact, if his sentence were commuted, he wants to speak out against the felony murder law to work towards getting these laws changed across the country instead of just a few states. He also wants to use his experiences to help at-risk youth learn the perils of the company they keep.

Perhaps the biggest thing that amazes me about my newfound friend is the lack of bitterness he has. For 11 years, he has been behind bars for a crime he had no idea would be committed, that he played no part in, that he was asleep at home in bed during and yet… he has no anger, no bitterness. If anything, he is one of the most positive people I have ever met. Every now and then, he might have a complaint about the food (dry slices of turkey for Thanksgiving…blegh), but that’s it. How many other people can say that? The last time I visited him, there was also an art student visiting who is preparing to make a documentary about his case. When he asked Ryan how he can stay so positive and not be bitter about the circumstances of his life. Ryan answered that he’s still alive, he has family that support him and love him, and he has friends who provide unconditional and unexpected support. Most people I know have all that on top of their freedom and still can’t make it through a single day with even half the positivity. Knowing Ryan has been an inspiration.

A girl lost her life tragically in this case. No one denies that. But, the theft of Ryan’s freedom by the state is criminal itself. The governor of Florida has agreed to hear his plea for clemency before the Offender Review board on December 10. At that time, Ryan’s sentence could be commuted to time served. I beg each of you to sign the petition included below and share it. Every little bit of support we can give him can only help improve his chances of never spending another holiday season behind bars away from the family who loves him so much.

Petition:

https://www.change.org/p/florida-commission-on-offender-review-governor-rick-scott-grant-clemency-for-ryan-holle-who-was-sentenced-to-life-for-loaning-his-car

Articles:

http://www.thenation.com/article/178984/why-florida-man-facing-life-prison-lending-out-his-car-and-going-sleep

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/us/04felony.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Young Turks video:

http://andrescarrascoq.misitiopyme.com/watch/?v=Q-PLKwJX9-8

Revenge Or Is It? (Guest Post)

My friend Ryan sent me this story for this week's prompt! Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!

Revenge Or Is It? By: Ryan Hone

Gus Miller, age 47, a man who has it all. He was the first in his class. He was made junior partner at a prestigious law firm. He married his high school sweetheart. He is the father of 3 children. What drives a man to revenge? How does it end? Gus Miller found out the hard way that revenge is a dish best served cold...or is it?

You are now entering the...well you'll know if you saw the show.....

Gus was getting ready to end a long day at the law firm when his cell phone rings.
"Hello.", Gus answered.

"If you want your family to live you will listen to what I have to say." a man says on the other line.

"What are you talking about? Who is this?" Gus responds.

"It doesn't matter who I am Gus. What matters is what you are going to do for me..." says the man.

"What are you talking about? I'm not going to do anything for you." Gus says.

"Oh Gus, you don't even remember my voice do you? That's ok though. I bet you know your wife's voice." the man says.

This is followed by a woman's voice that says pleadingly, "Gus baby." It sounds like Gus' wife. Then Gus" hears a high pitched scream.

"Sound familiar Gus? I can see you breathing heavy so you must believe me now." the man says.

Gus responds, "Please whoever you are, I'll do whatever you want."

"What I want is to not have spent years behind bars for a crime I never committed but we are way beyond that now, " the man says.

"Way beyond what? What do you mean?" Gus says

"What I want is revenge. And tell you what, Gus, inside of your top desk drawer under the file folder is a knife. Grab it." says the man.

As Gus searches through his desk drawer he says, "A knife, but I don't keep a knife in my desk." Gus' hands move the folder aside and sitting there is a Gerber tactical knife.

"How in the hell? I never put this here." Gus says.

"You're right Gus. You didn't. I put it there when I was in your office. Here's what you are going to do. In the next thirty seconds if you haven't cut off your pinky finger on your right hand, I will cut the same finger off your wife's hand. Remember I am watching and time starts now." the man says.

Gus yells, "Wait. How do I know that it's really my wife that you have? Let me speak to her!"

Gus hears some movement and a woman's voice says "Gus, Help me." To Gus it sounds like his
wife.

The man comes back on the line, "Alright Gus this is how it's going to go. Don't look around for me because I can see you, but you can't see me. You have 30 seconds starting from when I hang up this phone to cut off your finger. I suggest that you do it."

The phone line goes dead.

Gus quickly weighs his options. He opens the Gerber knife. Breathing heavily, his heart racing, Gus places his hand upon the table. He lays the blade against his pinky finger. He closes his eyes and takes three deep breaths. On the third breath he pushes down with all the force that he can muster. Surprisingly there is little pain...until he opens his eyes and looks at his hand and the blood flowing from his severed finger. A deep throbbing ache begins, and Gus gives a moan.

Gus, shaking uncontrollably, grabs a scarf that is hanging from a hat rack and wraps his hand tight with it. Right when he is finished his phone rings again.

Before Gus has a chance to say anything the man says, "Good job Gus, I see that you used something to wrap your hand up. Careful those wounds can be nasty. Don't think that this is the end though. Now the stakes are going to be raised. I'm going to send you a picture just to show you that I'm serious. After you get this picture we will talk, " the man says.

Gus receives a picture on his phone, and it's of one of his sons with a blindfold around his eyes.

"Alright, I know that you have received the picture. I hope you realize how serious I am. Now as soon as I hang up you will have 30 seconds to cut another finger off either hand. I'll let you choose. After you do this I will let one of your children go. Let's just say the one you just received a picture of.. I am a man of my word unlike you," scoffs the man just before the line goes dead.

Gus can literally feel his right hand throbbing where he cut off his finger. He takes off the scarf from his right hand and almost immediately the blood starts to flow from his severed finger. He places the bloodied Gerber knife against the ring finger on his right hand. Once again he closes his eyes and pushes down with all his might. This time Gus yells out from the pain. In doing so he almost passes out. The room gets darker and little points of light swirl in front of his eyes. Any more of this, he thinks, and he'll never be able to save his family.

Gus curses out loud and grabs the scarf with a shaking left hand to wrap his hand with both of the severed fingers. The scarf is soaked a dark red. As the phone rings Gus grabs the phone with his left hand and yells out, "Let my son go. I did what you told me to."

The man answers, "Yes you did and I'm surprised that you didn't fall over from shock. I said I'm a man of my word. I'm sending you a picture to show you that . Wait one minute and don't do anything stupid. We wouldn't want the fun to end now, would we?" Gus can almost hear the smile in the man's voice as the line goes dead once again.

A minute passes by as Gus tries to hold the scarf tighter to his hand to slow the blood flowing from his hand. The phone begins to buzz. Gus looks down at it and sees that a picture was received. When Gus opens the picture it shows his son with the blindfold now around his neck right in front of a police station. Tears of relief spring to his eyes.That feeling is quickly replaced by dread as the phone rings again.

When he answers the man says, "Don't worry. Your son is now inside of that police station, and I'm sure he is telling them what he knows. This will be long over before that is a concern for me, so I really don't care. I don't want to harm your family, but I will if you don't comply."

"Now it's time for the grand finale. Alright, Gus, here's what you are going to do. I want you to leave your office and go up to the roof. I'm sure that you can make it. I've already made sure that you can get up there. So leave right now," the man says before the line goes dead once again.

Gus says tiredly, "I'm going right now." He walks out the door to his office and makes the short trip to the stairwell already out of breath. He goes up two flights, and in front of him is the door with red letters stamped across that say Roof Access. Gus notices that the lock that has been keeping the door closed has been cut and hangs loose. Gus undoes the cut lock and pushes the door open. Almost immediately a gust of wind pushes the door back in. Gus the door open and steps out onto the gravel layered roof.

As soon as Gus is completely out the door he looks up at the night sky. A sense of clarity comes to his mind through the fog of pain, and he wonders how things could have gone so terribly wrong. Who was this man?

His thoughts are interrupted by the ringing of his phone. "Gus, you shouldn't look at the sky when there are more important things on the ground," the man says coyly.

"What do you want from me? I've done everything you have asked. Please let my wife and kids go. I'll do whatever you want," Gus practically sobs out.

"Yes, Gus, you will. Walk to the edge of the roof" Gus walks to the edge of the roof holding his scarf wrapped hand close to his chest.

"Good. Now, Gus, I want you to stand up on the ledge." Gus stands up on the ledge as the wind gusts against him.

"I told you I'm a man of my word, but here's what going to happen I will send you a picture to show you what I mean." Not soon after he says this Gus receives a picture on his phone. It's of his wife and two children with blindfolds around their eyes and men standing behind them with pistols against their heads.

"Please don't do this." Gus pleads with the man.

"I won't do this if you jump off that ledge. Yes, you will die, but I swear that your family will live. My quarrel is with you. It was never with them. I will have my revenge." the man says.

"At least tell me who you are? What did I do that was so wrong to you?" Gus says.

"It doesn't matter anymore. What matters is right now, I'm watching you, so if you want your family to live, you will jump. I want you to say you will. Are you going to do it?" the man says.

"I'll do it. Damn, you. I'll do it." Gus says with conviction.

"Then this is goodbye, Gus. You will have 30 seconds after I hang up, and I don't have to tell you what the consequences will be if you don't jump." the man says as the line goes dead for the last time.

Gus looks up at the sky. Then he looks at the ground. He sees cars going in both directions and the sights and sounds of the city. Gus closes his eyes and knows that he must do this for his family. As a tear comes out from under his eye, he takes a deep breath and jumps. He thinks of his family, and as much as he doesn't want to open his eyes he does anyway. An involuntary scream comes from Gus' lungs as he falls to the busy street below.

Right when Gus is about to hit the asphalt, his vision blacks out, but he is still screaming. Gus can hear a mechanical whirring and computer-like sounds. He feels goose bumps all over his body.

Gus says almost hysterically, "What is this? I'm dead. Am I dead?"

Gus feels a suction cup sensation against his face as the mechanical whirring quickens. A light enters his vision, and he feels whatever it is being removed from his face. The light blinds him momentarily causing him to blink rapidly. As his vision comes back into to focus, he is able to see where he is.

Surrounding him is an auditorium style seating in a half ring around him. In these seats are what look like humans, but they are clearly not. Their motions are too jerky, and you see blinking lights under there skin. To Gus they look like machines. Eerily Gus can tell that he is being observed by all of them.

"What is this? Who are you? What am I doing here?" Gus says as he tries to move but is unsuccessful. Gus looks down at himself and realizes that he is strapped to the chair and that he is plugged into numerous monitoring devices.

"What is this? Someone please tell me what is going on." Gus pleads out loud.

Gus hears a human-like voice say, "Human subject ready for next phase of testing. Next emotion to be tested is Fear. Testing will commence in one minute."

When Gus hears this he tries to move, but can't do anything; he is too secure to the chair.

"Please don't do this." Gus pleads.

One of the human-like machines approaches Gus and begins to extend its right hand. The right index finger on the machine opens up and a syringe extends out filled with a blue liquid.

"What are you doing? What is that?" Gus pleads with the machine.

The machine doesn't slow down and the syringe jabs into his arm. As Gus begins to get light headed, he hears the whirring he heard before but he can't even speak...or scream. As something begins to block his vision and the lights start to fade he hears, "Fear test in 3, 2, 1...."

Then the light fades completely.

Guest post for Sunday Confessions today. I hope you enjoyed and as always check out the rest of the submissions over at More Than Cheese and Beer

The Personification of Resilience

After a long night of drinking and partying, the wee hours of March 10, 2003 were like any other really for people who’d had too much to drink.

Everyone was talking shit.

That’s exactly what happened to then 20 year old Ryan Holle.

Earlier in the evening, an 18 year old girl had attended and after a bit to drink, her loose lips began to tell everyone in attendance about her parents’ weed stash in a safe at their home bragging that her mom was a drug dealer and likely making sure everyone knew that she could pinch from the stash at any time. I remember those days myself. I lived with my dad from ages 13-15 and I stupidly didn’t mind sharing whatever I’d managed to take from him and telling people exactly who my source was. Looking back, it was incredibly stupid. I could have easily told this to the wrong crowd. Unfortunately for this girl, that’s exactly what she did.

After her departure, Ryan’s roommate and a couple of the people in attendance started talking about stealing the drugs to make a quick profit. The family lived close by and it would be easier enough to break in. The only hitch in their plan was that this girl had seen their faces and knew who they were. They figured it would be necessary to knock her out if she woke up during the robbery just to keep her from being able to identify any of them. It didn’t come across as serious planning to Ryan nor was Ryan part of the planning. I’ve been at those parties too even as an adult—even in my own house—where people have too much drink or whatever else and end up talking about committing a crime of some sort. We’re not exactly well off, my friends and I. The topic of robbing a bank for quick cash has been on the table, but it’s always that half-joking, never-really-serious conversation of people who have had their inhibitions toned down.

The topic of food had also been discussed. Drunk people like to eat.

So, when Ryan’s roommate asked to borrow his car like he had done countless times before, Ryan assumed that’s what it was for—food. He couldn’t have been more wrong, however. Maybe his own inebriation reduced his ability to judge what was truly going on. Maybe he was 20 and young and didn’t think his roommate capable of committing the crime. Either way, the car was then used to take all 4 men—the roommate driving and 3 others—to the girl’s residence. She was hit in the head with a shotgun found on scene and died from her injuries. No one was shot. No one took a weapon with them.

It is tragic that the girl died in such a violent way ripped from this Earth before her time, but it’s equally tragic to me that Ryan Holle was sentence to life in prison under the felony murder laws in Florida where this took place. His crime was loaning his car to his roommate like he had so many other times. The prosecutors said that without the car, there was no way the crime could have been committed (forget about the fact that without the mother of that girl having marijuana in her house there never would have been a crime to commit). Ryan admitted that he had overhead the group talking about the burglary that evening to police but insisted that he hadn’t taken it seriously. It was known that the group had discussed having to knock the girl out and despite this not really being intent to murder, the prosecution stated it was enough for a first degree murder charge.

Ryan was asleep in his bed over a mile away when the events of that tragic evening took place, but in the eyes of the law, he is just as culpable as the man who hit the girl in the head and was sentenced as such. At this time, he has served 10 years of his sentence. He grew into adulthood in prison with people that HAD murdered, raped, sodomized, assaulted, and molested. All his dreams were drowned in a sea of naivety and bad decisions.

The prosecutors decided that group of 4 men had to pay for the innocent life that one of them tragically took, but the state also took an innocent life of their own when he was sentenced to life in prison.

Ryan has not let it wear him down, however. After reading about his case a couple of months ago, I sent him

a letter telling him I thought the charges and sentence were utter bullshit. I talked briefly about how flawed our system is and rambled a bit, honestly, about how we desperately need reforms. The felony murder law dates back to English common law, but it has been barred by Parliament there since 1957. Canada did so in 1990. Other countries in Europe never had such a law. The belief in these places and even in a few of the states here is that each person involved in a crime should serve a punishment fitting of his actions and representative of his culpability and not be held responsible for the decisions of the others.

If I robbed a bank and asked my friend to drive me, why should my friend be responsible for the decision I make to kill someone inside? He shouldn’t, is my point. I have my own free will and have the ability to choose to go to prison rather than take a life. If I choose the latter, the person outside waiting to drive me away has no influence on my decision at that time. He isn’t there pushing me to pull the trigger. And, as such, he should serve his time as part of the robbery not for the murder.

That’s what Ryan and I talked about in the first couple of letters. We’ve since moved on to a wide variety of topics in those letters, but the justice system is always something we both touch on especially while he is working hard with his family to get his sentence commuted—meaning he will get time served and go home on a lengthy probation/parole which could send him right back to prison for life if violated in any way. In a recent conversation, I asked him if he were able to go home, would he walk away and shut the door on this chapter of his life and choose to never look back or would he want to help others in his position and try to push for changes to these very outdated laws.

He chose the latter (of course) and had already been planning to do so. It would be a lot easier to completely shut the door on this chapter of his life if he gets his sentence commuted. He could walk away and forget about it all and move on with his life. No one would fault him for that. But he won’t. He’ll use his experiences to make change instead so no one else has to face what he has. When it comes down to it, that’s quite inspirational in a world where most people don’t give a shit about anything that doesn’t affect them directly. No one else’s life spent behind bars for something he or she didn’t do would matter to the average person who is free. In fact, it happens regularly, and no one seems to care. In that vein, Ryan could make the choice to pretend as most people do that it doesn’t really matter. Instead, he’s going to keep fighting which ultimately keeps the experiences he has had a bit fresh and a bit raw. It takes incredible strength to make that choice…to rise above what happened to him and use it to make a difference in the world.

Ryan has to potentially face a lifetime behind bars yet he is a positive force, always laughing and making jokes in his letters. He is not angry though he could easily be given the circumstances. He has used this ultimately shitty experience to become stronger and has never lost sight of who he is, and no matter what happens he will continue to rise above it all. To me, that is the true definition of resilience, and I am lucky to be able to call him a friend.

This has been part of Sunday Confessions with More than Cheese and Beer. If you don't know her by now, you should...she's the greatest and I'm lucky to call her a friend as well. Check her page out and follow her on Facebook!