So, I've got CarMan back on active reporting status; I've got a special condition imposed for NO unsupervised contact with children; and I'm beginning to build a revocation case against him for sexual abuse of a child. Those of you unfamiliar with the Criminal Justice system, [heck, some of you working in the CJ system] may wonder HOW a Parole Officer does this. Allow me to explain.
In a "normal" criminal proceeding, the prosecution must prove their case 'beyond a reasonable doubt'. In a Parole Revocation hearing, the Parole Officer has a different standard. S/he only had to present a 'Preponderance of the Credible evidence'. But, we also had to present evidence of the Parolee's 'adjustment' to society, or failure to adjust.
So, I began to gather documentary evidence: the police report from the agency that took the original report the night Mrs.CarMan took her daughter to the ER; the ER records, including the physician's conclusion that the patient had vaginal and anal "irritation"; Mrs. Carman's statement. I was waiting on a summary report from Child Protective Services and the Psychiatrist treating the child.
Randa and I discuss the documentation, once it all comes in; I write a summary and Report of Violation, in the Officer's Recommendation section, I request a "Blue" or no-bail Warrant, and a revocation hearing. Randa dittos in the Supervisor's recommendation section and we send it off to Regional. The Regional Supervisor approves it, sends it to the Hearing Section and Austin. The approve the Revocation, but deny the warrant. Do NOT ask me their reasoning on that decision, I haven't the foggiest. I can make an educated guess, but that's all it would be, a guess: The local jail was suffering overcrowding due to a large number of newly convicted felons waiting to go to TDC. Because TDC was under a Federal Court order to ease overcrowding, they were only accepting as many new prisoners as they were releasing each week. Since larger counties, like Dallas, Harris, Tarrant, Bexar and the like sent more felons than our small county every week, we and all small counties around the state, had a backlog of felons in our jails. Since CarMan didn't have pending felony charges, Austin was not inclined to slap him in jail to await his revocation hearing, which might take 3 months or longer to come up on the hearing schedule.
But, at least I got the Revocation Hearing. And it did indeed take 3.5 months to get it on the schedule. I spent that time requesting subpoenas and prepping witnesses. Remember back in Part II when I described how angry CarMan was when he got reactivated? He went ballistic. Seriously, I thought the guy was gonna save me the trouble of a hearing and stroke out when I served him with Notice of the Revocation Hearing. I truly wish he had.
In case you hadn't already guessed, your tax dollars provide an attorney for any parolee faced with a revocation hearing. Sometimes they will hire an attorney, but most just take the one appointed for them. CarMan got lucky. He got a GOOD appointed attorney. But even when I knew who it was, I still wasn't worried. I had enough documentation and witnesses, I thought I had it locked. He was as good as on the bus, for the rest of his 20 year term.
Until the Psychiatrist got Brain Cancer. For those of you who have never known anyone with brain cancer, sometimes it's slow-growing and sometimes it's a fast mover. Her's was a fast mover. She was diagnosed 3 weeks before the hearing. Three days after her diagnosis she called me to say she was entering hospice care and would not be able to testify. She was, in fact, in a coma on the day of the hearing, and I had a physician's statement to that effect at the hearing. CarMan's attorney objected to the introduction of her affidavit and the hearing officer upheld the objection. Neither Mrs. CarMan nor I were willing to subject a 4 y.o. to cross examination, even of the gentlest kind. She and I had discussed this, and what it would most likely mean to the outcome of the revocation hearing.
CarMan testified that the reason his daughter said, "Daddy hurt my hiney" was because he had thought she had a fever and used a rectal thermometer to take her temperature. The testimony of the ER doctor, the CPS worker, the police officer, Mrs. CarMan, did not convince the hearing officer to revoke Carman's parole. In fact, she even removed the Special Condition for No unsupervised contact with children.
But none of us knew this at the time. It took a month for her decision to be made and filter through channels. I called Mrs. CarMan to give her the news, before I delivered a copy of the Hearing Report to CarMan and his attorney. She thanked me and said "Good Bye" with a certain note of resignation and finality to her voice. I was rather bitter when I went to the attorney's office to deliver his copy of the hearing report. I said something that was satisfying at the time, but very childish, "Counselor, if your client's 'member' truly does feel like a rectal thermometer, he's got bigger problems than I can fix!" and I dropped the report on his desk and left.
A few days later, CarMan shows up at my office. "Where is that Bi+CH?" "Don't use that language, and to whom are you referring?" Seems his ex-wife had dropped off the grid. With his daughter. Packed up, left her job, her house, her family and friends either didn't know squat or weren't saying word one to him. We, the Parole System had been her last hope for protecting her child, and we had failed her.
Keep your head down, Mrs. CarMan, and Fare Well.
Showing posts with label Sex Offender Story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sex Offender Story. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Saturday, March 17, 2007
CarMan, the Sex Offender, Part II
I manage to get CarMan reactivated and placed on my caseload based on the police report, which I had obtained w/o a subpoena as it is considered part of the public record, and the statement his soon to be Ex-wife came into the office and wrote out. Mrs. CarMan also signed a release of information so that I could access the ER records and obtain a statement from her daughter's psychiatrist w/o having to get a subpoena. I did take the precaution of having our Secretary notarize both the statement and the RoI. It would make it easier, well, that and my badge.
CarMan is positively incensed when I show up at his place of employment and inform him he is back on active status and needs to report to my office at 8 a.m. the next morning to sign the new certificate. He wants to know why I didn't bring it with me, "I can't take time off from work, I'll lose money!" He's a car salesman. I just give him my bland look, and ask, "Are you refusing to come to my office, Mr. CarMan?" He shakes his head and retorts, "No, dammit, I'll be there." I smile, sweetly, "I'll see you in the morning, then."
He was 15 minutes late. Three other Parolee had signed in before him, and they had signed in at 8, 8:03, and 8:10. When he wrote 8:00 on the sign-in sheet, the Secretary noticed, told the Supervisor, and Randa went into the waiting room and pointed at him, "YOU!" He looks at her with a puzzled expression on his face, "Me?" "Yes, you, Mr. Chicken Scratch for hand writing. Come back over here." And he sighs mightily and follows her back across the hall to the sign-in area. She points to the sign-in sheet, and nails him with those icy eyes of hers, "This is an Official TDCJ-Pardons and Paroles Division document. The columns are clearly labeled at the top: Print Name; Signature; Time In; Time Out. There is a clock clearly visible on that wall. Now, I KNOW that while you were in TDC they taught you how to print your name and how to tell time. Didn't they?" He grudgingly answered, "Yes." "What was that? I don't think I heard you correctly," Randa prompted. "Yes, Ma'am." CarMan wasn't gonna get a free pass, not on anything. Randa, sure that she had his complete attention, now, continued. "You will draw one, and only one line through your previous entry, you will then initial that line and I will initial it. Then you will make the Proper entries in the correct columns of the sign-in sheet, including your true time of arrival. Is that perfectly clear to you?" "Yes, Ma'am" he replied. Randa finished, "and you will do this each and every visit to this office. Is that also crystal clear?" "Yes, Ma'am," he replied again.
I finally finished taking the report of the three parolees who had signed in before CarMan. I got his old file out and put it on my desk, but didn't open it. I placed his new file, open on my desk, with the four copies of his NEW Parole certificate, and went to the door of my office and beckoned him in. I noticed a couple of other Parolees waiting to report. They were "good" parolees. I addressed both of them. "This is a new guy, it's gonna take a while, if y'all want to go get a Coke or some coffee, you've got plenty of time. Sorry for the wait." They both thanked me and strolled out.
CarMan was red-faced with anger when I sat down. I purposely left the door open because of this. He was an unknown quantity, I was not taking any chances. I handed him his copy of the Parole certificate and we began to go over it. He read faster than I could read aloud, as required by policy. Therefore he got to the Special Condition when I was still back on Section V. "What the F--- does this mean?" I looked at what I had just read, " Don't use that language in my office. It means you can't associate, hang around with, socialize with, go out with, other felons, you know, people who have gone to prison or been on ..." and he interrupts me, "What does this shit mean 'NO unsupervised contact with children' ?" he exploded. "Mr. Carman, " I calmly responded, " don't use foul language.I have found that it's much easier if you will just follow along with me on the reading of the certificate. I will explain the Special Condition when I have reached that portion in my copy of the certificate. Now, let's go back to Section V, do you understand about having no contact...." and he interrupts with, "Yeah, yeah, I know all that crap!"
I set my copy of the Parole Certificate down. I look him straight in the eye, "Let's get something straight, right now. I have told you twice to not use foul language in my office. And yet, you persisted in using a third vulgarity. I consider profane and vulgar words "verbal abuse". You have now been officially notified. You cuss, curse, or use vulgar or offensive words in my office or presence again and I will write you up. In case you've forgotten what that means...I will submit a Report of Violation. I will also file a Police Report for Disorderly Conduct. You have been told what the rules are for proper behavior in my office and presence and if you choose to flaunt those rules, you now know the penalty. Shall we continue reading your Parole Certificate, now?"
He picked up his own copy and we returned to reading all the rules and stipulations of his parole. When I got to the Special Conditions section I explained that 'No Unsupervised Contact with Children' meant just that. If he was going to be in the company of children, any child, even his own child, another adult had to be present, constantly. Not in another room, in the same room, every minute. His girlfriend would NOT be considered a suitable adult. Only a mature, blood relative of the child, that I or Randa had met with and approved would be suitable, or a representative of another State Agency. To say he was livid would be a gross understatement. To say he was irate would be putting it mildly. To say he was beet red and steam was figuratively coming out of his ears... that would come real close to the truth. But he signed it and stomped out of my office, after getting permission to leave . I reminded him to sign out, of course.
The next Parolee to come in, one of the guys who'd gone out for a Coke, said, "Another satisfied customer, I see."
I doubled over I was laughin' so hard.
CarMan is positively incensed when I show up at his place of employment and inform him he is back on active status and needs to report to my office at 8 a.m. the next morning to sign the new certificate. He wants to know why I didn't bring it with me, "I can't take time off from work, I'll lose money!" He's a car salesman. I just give him my bland look, and ask, "Are you refusing to come to my office, Mr. CarMan?" He shakes his head and retorts, "No, dammit, I'll be there." I smile, sweetly, "I'll see you in the morning, then."
He was 15 minutes late. Three other Parolee had signed in before him, and they had signed in at 8, 8:03, and 8:10. When he wrote 8:00 on the sign-in sheet, the Secretary noticed, told the Supervisor, and Randa went into the waiting room and pointed at him, "YOU!" He looks at her with a puzzled expression on his face, "Me?" "Yes, you, Mr. Chicken Scratch for hand writing. Come back over here." And he sighs mightily and follows her back across the hall to the sign-in area. She points to the sign-in sheet, and nails him with those icy eyes of hers, "This is an Official TDCJ-Pardons and Paroles Division document. The columns are clearly labeled at the top: Print Name; Signature; Time In; Time Out. There is a clock clearly visible on that wall. Now, I KNOW that while you were in TDC they taught you how to print your name and how to tell time. Didn't they?" He grudgingly answered, "Yes." "What was that? I don't think I heard you correctly," Randa prompted. "Yes, Ma'am." CarMan wasn't gonna get a free pass, not on anything. Randa, sure that she had his complete attention, now, continued. "You will draw one, and only one line through your previous entry, you will then initial that line and I will initial it. Then you will make the Proper entries in the correct columns of the sign-in sheet, including your true time of arrival. Is that perfectly clear to you?" "Yes, Ma'am" he replied. Randa finished, "and you will do this each and every visit to this office. Is that also crystal clear?" "Yes, Ma'am," he replied again.
I finally finished taking the report of the three parolees who had signed in before CarMan. I got his old file out and put it on my desk, but didn't open it. I placed his new file, open on my desk, with the four copies of his NEW Parole certificate, and went to the door of my office and beckoned him in. I noticed a couple of other Parolees waiting to report. They were "good" parolees. I addressed both of them. "This is a new guy, it's gonna take a while, if y'all want to go get a Coke or some coffee, you've got plenty of time. Sorry for the wait." They both thanked me and strolled out.
CarMan was red-faced with anger when I sat down. I purposely left the door open because of this. He was an unknown quantity, I was not taking any chances. I handed him his copy of the Parole certificate and we began to go over it. He read faster than I could read aloud, as required by policy. Therefore he got to the Special Condition when I was still back on Section V. "What the F--- does this mean?" I looked at what I had just read, " Don't use that language in my office. It means you can't associate, hang around with, socialize with, go out with, other felons, you know, people who have gone to prison or been on ..." and he interrupts me, "What does this shit mean 'NO unsupervised contact with children' ?" he exploded. "Mr. Carman, " I calmly responded, " don't use foul language.I have found that it's much easier if you will just follow along with me on the reading of the certificate. I will explain the Special Condition when I have reached that portion in my copy of the certificate. Now, let's go back to Section V, do you understand about having no contact...." and he interrupts with, "Yeah, yeah, I know all that crap!"
I set my copy of the Parole Certificate down. I look him straight in the eye, "Let's get something straight, right now. I have told you twice to not use foul language in my office. And yet, you persisted in using a third vulgarity. I consider profane and vulgar words "verbal abuse". You have now been officially notified. You cuss, curse, or use vulgar or offensive words in my office or presence again and I will write you up. In case you've forgotten what that means...I will submit a Report of Violation. I will also file a Police Report for Disorderly Conduct. You have been told what the rules are for proper behavior in my office and presence and if you choose to flaunt those rules, you now know the penalty. Shall we continue reading your Parole Certificate, now?"
He picked up his own copy and we returned to reading all the rules and stipulations of his parole. When I got to the Special Conditions section I explained that 'No Unsupervised Contact with Children' meant just that. If he was going to be in the company of children, any child, even his own child, another adult had to be present, constantly. Not in another room, in the same room, every minute. His girlfriend would NOT be considered a suitable adult. Only a mature, blood relative of the child, that I or Randa had met with and approved would be suitable, or a representative of another State Agency. To say he was livid would be a gross understatement. To say he was irate would be putting it mildly. To say he was beet red and steam was figuratively coming out of his ears... that would come real close to the truth. But he signed it and stomped out of my office, after getting permission to leave . I reminded him to sign out, of course.
The next Parolee to come in, one of the guys who'd gone out for a Coke, said, "Another satisfied customer, I see."
I doubled over I was laughin' so hard.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
CarMan, the Sex Offender, Part I
It's been a while since I shared any Parolee stories with y'all. I'm in a mood, so brace yourselves...here comes a sex offender story.
CarMan had gone to prison on a drug charge, IIRC. He'd been a "good" parolee and had been placed on "Annual Report." This meant that for the first year or two he had been on parole, he had followed all the rules, had attended counseling, had paid his parole fees, reported on time, hadn't had any "dirty" UAs, and generally impressed his Parole Officer as having rehabilitated himself. [forgive me the "Alice's Restaurant" reference; sometimes humor is the only refuge of a sick and troubled mind] For the four years he had only been reporting his current residence and proof of employment annually to Austin. Hence the term "Annual Report."
However, now a speed bump had been installed in the parking lot of CarMan's life. When his 4 year-old daughter returned to his soon-to-be EX-wife after weekend visitation complaining of pain "down there", Mommy was very smart. Mommy did not question the child, she didn't examine her, she didn't bathe her and put her to bed per their normal routine. She took that child straight to the nearby Emergency Room and explained the situation to the ER doc. The Doc, called CPS, the police were notified, he performed an exam, collected what evidence there was to be collected and eventually, a couple of months down the road, after the Police Dept. refused to file charges and CPS was waffling b/c this was occurring during a divorce/custody hearing, Mom remembers that CarMan used to be on Parole.
That's where I enter the picture.
By this time several months have passed. PD never even arrested CarMan. CPS is saying the child is in no danger b/c Mom has custody, Dad only has visitation and she can just deny him visitation until a Judge says otherwise.
Mom is going out of her gourd at the nonchalance of CPS. And I can understand why. By the time a Judge hands down a visitation schedule, it will be too late for CPS to act. She will either have to face Contempt of Court charges for not allowing him visitation or put her child in harm's reach, Literally!
Mom has called Austin and been told my office is the one she needs to contact. She calls Randa, my supervisor. about three minutes into the conversation, Randa puts her on hold, buzzes me and gets me into her office. She then puts Mom on speaker and says, "Mrs. Mom, HollyB has joined me in my office. She is the Parole Officer who handles Sex Offenders and I am assigning this case to her. Would you mind repeating for her what you just told me, please?"
And Mom tells both of us her tale of woe and worry. She adds that since the ER visit, her daughter has been having bad dreams. When the dreams started she took her to a psychiatrist who specializes in children who have been sexually abused. She agree to send me the contact information for the Doctor. I also get her soon-to-be ex-husband's name, and all the other identifying information she has for him.
After the phone conversation ends. Randa and I trade looks. "I don't think I have enough evidence for a Blue Warrant, yet," I opine ruefully, shaking my head. Randa answers, with an evil grin, "I don't think you can get a Blue Warrant, but you definitely have enough information to get the incident report from the PD; ask Mom to write out a statement containing all the information she gave us just now; and once you have all that...then you can write a report to Regional to request a subpoena from the Hearing Office for the records of the Emergency Room and CPS; and request that they reactivate his butt and assign him to you." I jump in "...and as crowded as Huntsville is, and as picky as the Hearing Office has been lately...THEN I can begin to slowly and carefully build a revocation case against this waste of skin and plasma! Of course, when I re-activate him, I'll request a Special Condition of 'NO Unsupervised Contact with Children' I'll also need a subpoena for the records of this psychiatrist the child has been seeing."
Randa beams, "I really like the way your mind works!" I head off to my office to start writing up all the requests for files/reports/subpoenas our secretary will have to type up in order to set this plan in motion. I wind up using two and a half legal pads getting everything worded just right.
Tomorrow...More of the story.
CarMan had gone to prison on a drug charge, IIRC. He'd been a "good" parolee and had been placed on "Annual Report." This meant that for the first year or two he had been on parole, he had followed all the rules, had attended counseling, had paid his parole fees, reported on time, hadn't had any "dirty" UAs, and generally impressed his Parole Officer as having rehabilitated himself. [forgive me the "Alice's Restaurant" reference; sometimes humor is the only refuge of a sick and troubled mind] For the four years he had only been reporting his current residence and proof of employment annually to Austin. Hence the term "Annual Report."
However, now a speed bump had been installed in the parking lot of CarMan's life. When his 4 year-old daughter returned to his soon-to-be EX-wife after weekend visitation complaining of pain "down there", Mommy was very smart. Mommy did not question the child, she didn't examine her, she didn't bathe her and put her to bed per their normal routine. She took that child straight to the nearby Emergency Room and explained the situation to the ER doc. The Doc, called CPS, the police were notified, he performed an exam, collected what evidence there was to be collected and eventually, a couple of months down the road, after the Police Dept. refused to file charges and CPS was waffling b/c this was occurring during a divorce/custody hearing, Mom remembers that CarMan used to be on Parole.
That's where I enter the picture.
By this time several months have passed. PD never even arrested CarMan. CPS is saying the child is in no danger b/c Mom has custody, Dad only has visitation and she can just deny him visitation until a Judge says otherwise.
Mom is going out of her gourd at the nonchalance of CPS. And I can understand why. By the time a Judge hands down a visitation schedule, it will be too late for CPS to act. She will either have to face Contempt of Court charges for not allowing him visitation or put her child in harm's reach, Literally!
Mom has called Austin and been told my office is the one she needs to contact. She calls Randa, my supervisor. about three minutes into the conversation, Randa puts her on hold, buzzes me and gets me into her office. She then puts Mom on speaker and says, "Mrs. Mom, HollyB has joined me in my office. She is the Parole Officer who handles Sex Offenders and I am assigning this case to her. Would you mind repeating for her what you just told me, please?"
And Mom tells both of us her tale of woe and worry. She adds that since the ER visit, her daughter has been having bad dreams. When the dreams started she took her to a psychiatrist who specializes in children who have been sexually abused. She agree to send me the contact information for the Doctor. I also get her soon-to-be ex-husband's name, and all the other identifying information she has for him.
After the phone conversation ends. Randa and I trade looks. "I don't think I have enough evidence for a Blue Warrant, yet," I opine ruefully, shaking my head. Randa answers, with an evil grin, "I don't think you can get a Blue Warrant, but you definitely have enough information to get the incident report from the PD; ask Mom to write out a statement containing all the information she gave us just now; and once you have all that...then you can write a report to Regional to request a subpoena from the Hearing Office for the records of the Emergency Room and CPS; and request that they reactivate his butt and assign him to you." I jump in "...and as crowded as Huntsville is, and as picky as the Hearing Office has been lately...THEN I can begin to slowly and carefully build a revocation case against this waste of skin and plasma! Of course, when I re-activate him, I'll request a Special Condition of 'NO Unsupervised Contact with Children' I'll also need a subpoena for the records of this psychiatrist the child has been seeing."
Randa beams, "I really like the way your mind works!" I head off to my office to start writing up all the requests for files/reports/subpoenas our secretary will have to type up in order to set this plan in motion. I wind up using two and a half legal pads getting everything worded just right.
Tomorrow...More of the story.
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