55 years in prison... Part 4 - General rantings... Posted September 27th 2007

So Mindy has already lost custody of one child due to neglect. Then she gets pregnant again. From what I understand, Riley was the result of a one night stand with a guy Mindy had met online. A (used to be) close friend of Mindy's tells me that she didn't want the baby. She decided that she would drink all through her pregnancy and hoped that she would miscarry. Stellar mother material here!

How my cousin got hooked up with her, I have no idea. But for some reason, he thought he loved her and wanted to marry her.

When Riley died and Chris was arrested, Mindy swore up and down that she knew there was no way Chris was capable of the things he was charged with. She moved in with Chris' parents because she couldn't afford their apartment on her own. She wrote letters to lawyers from all over the place, hoping one of them would take Chris' case. She wrote letters to Oprah, Montel, Maurry, and anyone else she could think of. She rallied all of Chris' family and friends together to brainstorm for ideas on what they could do. She held a benefit dinner to raise funds to pay for Riley's hospital stay (like I said, that later turned to paying for his funeral expenses).

About 6 or 7 months after Chris was put in jail, they started fighting over the phone rather than having nice conversations. She was still staying with Chris' parents, but she was coming home later and later all the time. Sometimes she wouldn't come home at all. She was out drinking a lot. Their relationship went further downhill. One day she tells Chris that she can no longer put her life on hold for him and that their engagement is off. She then moves out of Chris' parents place and in with a loser name Larry (DJ's for a local karaoke business).

My aunt and uncle find that their phone bill is now well over $800.00 (long distance calls to lawyers and calls to and from the jail cost lots of money). Of course, Mindy has no intention of paying for any of that. Probably still hasn't paid for any of it.

Through all of this, she is still maintaining that she believes Chris, until Jack entered the picture with his story.

When Jack was first put into Chris' cell, they had been civil with each other. Not too long after, they had become fairly good friends (as close of friends as you can be with a person like that in a situation like that). Chris and Jack started praying together, reading the bible together. Chris was helping with things from the commissary (snack, drinks, etc.) My aunt was even letting Jack use Chris' phone account to call her and talk about life in general or bible readings over the phone. Chris and Jack spent a couple of months together before Chris' funds ran out. Jack was trying to get Chris to buy him something, but there wasn't even any money to buy Chris anything.

Now, as stated before, Jack was a heroine user. His drug of choice was Black Tar Heroine for about 20 years. I'm betting Jack has some issues! He spent the first three days of his jail stay in solitary while he detoxed. On the stand he admits that he doesn't remember anything from before he was arrested until about a week after being put into the cell with Chris.

Okay, so Chris is out of money and Jack wants stuff. Chris can't provide anything so Jack is upset. He starts pacing back and forth in the cell (this is all seen in the video from the cell the night of the attack on Chris). He climbs up on a table and trys to reach a TV that is outside the cell bars, he's trying to plug it in (not sure why it was unplugged). You can see Jack swing his arms around in the air like a madman and he turns and looks at Chris. Since there is no sound to go with the video, this is where Chris says that he told Jack to "just calm down and relax a little." Jack jumps off the table and goes to the bunk where Chris is laying down. Chris is on the lower bunk and the upper bunk blocks a view of him completely. Jack pulls the mattress and bedding off of the top bunk and throws on the floor. He kicks it into a pile, still swinging his arms arond in the air. He throws all of it back onto the upper bunk then leans into Chris bunk and you can see him pull his right arm back and punch 4 or 5 times. However, on the stand, Jack will testify that he never punched Chris at all.

Jack was put into solitary confinement after this episode. Appearently there had been other complaints from the other cellmates about Jack before this incident. He had been 'cheeking' his medications... one of which was an anti-psychotic.

While he was in solitary he asked to speak to his lawyer. He tells the lawyer that during one of Chris' rough nights, Chris had broke down and was crying. He says that Chris told him that he is guilty, he had beaten Riley and caused his death. He tells his lawyer that he had attacked Chris because he had been thinking about Chris' admission of guilt and he just got too mad about it. It had nothing to do with Chris not buying him anything, it was because he wanted to hurt Chris for what he had done.

Jack's lawyer contacts the investigators involved with the case and says that Jack has a statement to make. Jack is taken to a room and his statement is video taped. He starts off with saying that he has not been promised anything for what he is about to say. He goes over the whole story again with the investigator. At the end of his statements, the investigator says that he needs to go turn off the video tape. Before it's turned off, Jack turns to his lawyer and says, "What do you think, what did they tell you?" Now, call me suspicious but that sounds like he's asking his lawyer what kind of deal he's going to get for his statements.

At the trial, when Jack was called at a witness for the prosecution, they played the video tape of Jack's statements rather than ask him questions. They played the tape then they asked Jack if there was anything else that he would like to add or change. Jack said that he had nothing to add or change. The prosecution was happy with that. The entire time the tape was playing, Jack sat in his chair with one of those silly grins on his face like he was just so happy with himself.

... more to come later... my eyes hurt...

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55 years in prison Part 3 Posted September 23rd 2007

Chris’ lawyer, Sue, files a motion for new trial, citing jury tampering as her main reason (for the 2 four day weekends) and a couple other reasons. Chris continues to sit in jail until February 2007 when he finally gets back into the courtroom on the motion for a new trial.

The judge listens to both sides. The prosecution thinks that they have presented their case very well and doesn’t believe that there is any need for a new trial (or course not, they got what they want!). Defense again cites the fact of the 2 four day weekends and the possibility of jury tampering. The judge has a somewhat heated discussion with the prosecution about the two charges. He argues that involuntary manslaughter suggests that the death was completely unintentional (as in hitting a pedestrian with your car), whereas the child endangerment resulting in death suggested that his alleged actions were intentional. He felt that the two charges negated each other. However, he was going to take some time to go over the entire case and give his decision at a later time.

It takes until September 2007 for the judge to deny the motion for a new trial and set a date for sentencing. September 18th at 9:30 a.m. Chris sits in the courtroom, TV cameras pointed in his face, with friends and family there to support him. The judge reads through the charges and asks Chris if there is anything he’d like to say on his own behalf before sentencing is handed down. Chris gets to his feet, visibly shaking, not really knowing what to say. I’m sure he knew what he wanted to say, but he can’t seem to get the words out right. He stumbles around what he wants to say, but manages to get out that he’s sorry for the terrible accident that has changed so many lives.

The judge proceeds to talk about the sentencing. He says that some may feel that the sentence he’s about to hand down may be somewhat harsh, but considering the nature of the case, the age of the victim, he feels that he is justified. He then says that he has written victim impact statements from Mindy and her 9-year-old daughter. Neither of them wish to read their statements to the court, but the judge takes it upon himself to read excerpts from Mindy’s and the entire statement from the daughter. He reads Mindy’s statement saying how everyday for the past 15 months she has had to keep herself busy with work, family, friends to keep herself from thinking about her son and the pain that Chris has caused. --- side note here --- On the 1 year anniversary of Riley’s death, Mindy was out at a bar, where she usually was on the weekends, and someone mentions to her that they were really surprised to see her out and about considering the day that it happened to be. Mindy had no clue what they were talking about until she was reminded that it was the 1-year anniversary, then she attempted to show a little emotion.

The judge reads the statement written by the 9-year-old daughter. This piece of work is obviously not written entirely by this young girl. The statement says that she hates Chris and what he has done to her, how could he take away the most important thing in her life, and that she always felt there was something wrong with Chris; she should have trusted gut instinct. What 9 year old writes things like that without being coerced?
Funny, I remember Chris telling me once that this girl damn near worshipped him. In fact, she had told him that she liked him better than her own mother! She was mad at her mother for things that had happened in the past and that she had to live with her father. Oh, did I mention that this daughter had been taken away from Mindy and sent to live with her father because there were suspicions of child neglect and abuse? I don’t recall and I don’t feel like looking back.

Finally, after 45 minutes the judge is going to get on with sentencing, but first he has to have Chris stand up and take a verbal lashing from him. This judge says just about everything except call Chris a child killer. I wish I could convey the attitude, the smugness, the pure hatred, the sense of joy the judge was getting from what he was saying. This judge was completely unprofessional and should not be allowed to wear the robe.

I don’t deny the fact that the judge has a job to do. I know they are all faced with all sorts of scenarios throughout their careers, but I feel that they must maintain a certain amount of professionalism. This son of a bitch acted as though he thought he was Judge Judy’s big brother with a new TV show.

Since the entire hour long session was recorded by the local TV station, my family is attempting to get a copy of what they recorded. IF that happens, I will be sure to post the little speech the judge gave.

The judge sentences Chris to the maximum of not to exceed 5 years for the Involuntary Manslaughter and not to exceed 50 years for the Child Endangerment Resulting in Death. Sue asks that the sentences run concurrently, but the judge feels that they should run consecutively. Chris is handcuffed and led out of the room by the sheriff.

I did not see it, but Chris’ bother’s wife was sitting right next to me and she saw it… The judge turns to Mindy and mouths the words, “There you go, Mindy.” And she replies with a “Thank you.”

… to be continued …

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55 years in prison Part 2 Posted September 21st 2007

The doctor(s) that cared for Riley at St. Mary’s said that the injuries that he had sustained were consistent with that of a car accident. Blunt force trauma to the head was the ultimate diagnosis.

Mindy had quickly organized a benefit dinner to help pay for Riley's medical expenses, but that turned into a benefit to help pay for funeral costs. (We later find out that Mindy’s uncle had paid for the entire funeral himself. Mindy had spent all of that collected money on going out drinking and buying crap for herself, but this comes later in the story.)

So, now Chris is sitting in jail, completely dumbfounded. Mindy is beside herself. My entire family is a complete mess. I'm up in northern Minnesota enjoying myself on the 1st annual group ride. We are stopped in a large clearing that used to be some sort of little logging town, but nothing more remains. I check my cell phone and listen to my voicemail. My wife wants me to call her as soon as I can. When I call her back, she tells me that Chris has been arrested for 1st degree murder. What a memory for the 1st annual ride!

The family is trying desperately to get things figured out. There is a preliminary hearing to try to get his bail reduced. The $82,000.00 is a little out of anyone's price range. During the preliminary hearing, Mindy is called as one of the character witnesses. She pours her heart out and pleads with the judge. She tells him that she knows with every fiber of her being that Chris just was not capable of the crime he was being accused of. She knows it was nothing more than an accident. The prosecution brings up a past arrest for a bar fight and the judge pulls a bonehead stunt... he increases bail to $164,000.00. Pretty much ensuring that Chris will sit in jail until the trial.

Chris sits in jail from January '06 until February '07 waiting for a trail. During this time, Chris has several different cell mates. One of them turns out to be a real peach of a guy named Jack. Jack is a career criminal and heroine addict. Jack has been in jail multiple times for drug use, forgery, and various thefts. He is in jail with Chris now because he was caught trying to pass a forged check at a local casino. Upon his arrest, it is found that he is in possession of a stolen car, drugs & paraphernalia, a laptop computer, a travel printer, several fake IDs, and a stack of payroll checks (some filled out and lots of blanks). A real standup kind of guy!

Chris is the friendly sort of guy and is usually willing to help people out, so he befriends Jack and does what he can to help him out. Chris buys him a few things from the commissary when Jack needs something. Sometimes buys him things just to be nice. Chris has refound religion while he's been in jail and the two of them even begin to pray together.

This goes on for a while, but eventually Chris' supply of money runs out. The family is short on money and hasn't been able to get anything together to put into his account at the jail. Jack is asking Chris to get him some things, but Chris is broke. Jack becomes irrate and ends up attacking Chris in the cell. Chris is just laying on his bunk and Jack jumps on him and starts punching him in the face. (The attack was caught on tape from video surveillance within the cell and played at the trial.)

On August 8th, 2006 Jack is removed from the cell and put into solitary confinement. Three days later, after Jack has had some time to stew about being in solitary, he contacts his lawyer and tells him that he needs to make a statement to the police department. He is taken to a room where he sits with his lawyer, a detective, and a video camera. He starts off by saying that he has not been promised anything. There were no deals made, he just wants someone to know the truth. He proceeds to tell the detective that while he has been in the cell, Chris has confided in him. On the night that he attacked Chris, Chris had been really down and had been crying. Jack had asked him what was wrong and they began to talk. This is when Chris tells him that he didn’t mean to do it. It was an accident. He didn’t mean to kill Riley. Jack is telling the detective that Chris confessed to him that he had beaten Riley. When Jack is finished with his statement the detective gets up and tells him that he’ll be right back, he needs to turn off the camera. Before the detective can turn the camera off, Jack turns to his lawyer and asks, “What do you think? What did they tell you?” and then the camera is turned off.

Finally, on February 20th, 2007 the jury trial begins. The trial lasts for about two weeks. The first week, court was held on Tues, Wed, and Thurs. Friday was cancelled due to witnesses and experts not being able to be there. The jury was sent home for a three day weekend... which turned into a 4 day weekend because of bad weather. The second week of the trial was repeat of the first week. Tues, Wed, and Thurs. Again, scheduling was a problem for someone. The trial resumed after another 4-day weekend. The prosecution and defense then gave their closing statements.

Keep in mind that the jury has now had two 4-day weekends away from the case, back at home with family and friends. They weren't sequestered for any part of this trial. I find this to be a real problem, but the judge seems okay with it.

During the trial, Jack is called in as a witness, of course. Rather than actually questioning Jack, they put him on the stand and have him watch the videotape of the statement he gave to the detective back in August. While he is watching himself, he sits in the witness stand with a evil grin on his face, sometimes it looks as though he is almost chuckling to himself. (I can’t be the only one that noticed this!) When the tape is finished, the prosecution asks Jack if there is anything else that he would like to add or change about that statement. Jack insists that it is completely correct.

The defense cross examines Jack and finds that for everything that Jack had been charged with for the arrest at the Casino, he is only serving 5 years in prison. That seems like a rather short sentence for someone that has done some time in ’95 for 3 counts of forgery, in ’97 for two more counts, in ’99 for two more counts, in ‘0l for counterfeiting a US Treasury Note, and then in ’06 gets another forgery & a schedule 2 narcotics charge. How is this multiple felon only going to get a 5-year sentence after his previous record?

About three months before the trial, Mindy turns her back on Chris. She tells him that she can’t put her life on hold anymore. Later, Mindy gets to find out about Jack’s statement and this pushes her to the other side.

Anyway, there are several witnesses from the hospital, the EMTs, DHS, police officers, and a few specialists that were called in from various fields. One was a Dr. Peter Stephens from London. He specializes in Forensic Pathology and consulting for allegedly abused children. He was originally contacted by the prosecution to consult on this case.
Dr. Stephens had reviewed everything from the case and the autopsy information. He had written a letter to the prosecutor and told him the he was sure that this had been nothing more than an accident. There wasn’t enough evidence to suggest it was anything more. Riley’s injuries (all the various marks and bruises on his body) could easily be explained by either being a toddler or the things that the doctors and nurses had done to him. Bruising around his neck was more than likely from the C-collar that was put on him by the EMT. A mark that looked like a hand print was more than likely caused when the EMT carried him down the apartment stairs to the ambulance (when the EMT testified, he demonstrated how he had carried Riley. I’m positive that mark was caused then.) A mark on Riley’s lip was the result of the air tube that put down his throat.

Needless to say, the prosecution decided not to use this specialist. But, since the same letter had also been sent to the defense, she decided that he would make a great witness for their side. Dr. Stephens took the stand and told the court about Second Impact Syndrome.

Ever notice in football when a player takes a good crack to the melon, they end up benching him for a while. Why do they that? Because impacts to the head cause damage! Having damage already done, they don’t want another injury to occur until the first one has time to correct itself.

Riley had fallen from a highchair and hit his head. A few days later he falls down the stairs and hits his head. Mindy took the stand and admits that Riley did not seem quite like himself later that afternoon. Then he falls out of bed that night and hits the floor. Dr. Stephens is sure that Riley’s death was the result of Second Impact Syndrome.

After closing arguments, the jury goes off to deliberate. It takes them only 2 ½ hours to make a decision. They return a verdict of not guilty of 1st degree murder, but reduce it to Involuntary Manslaughter. They also find him guilty on the count of Child Endangerment Resulting in Death.

... to be continued ...

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55 years in prison... Part 1 - I've lost faith in the justice system! Posted September 19th 2007

Ever since February of 2006 I've been considering whether or not I should even post any of this on here, but with the recent events I just need a place to write it all down. I need to get it out.

This is going to be long and probably boring. It will come in multiple parts. It may not flow completely. At times it may seems like complete ramblings. But, there is a story here. If you choose to read this, please make sure your comments have thought put into them before they are posted. This has been a very trying ordeal for my family.

With that said, the story begins January 10th, 2006 in Mason City, Iowa where 2 year old Riley is just coming home with his mother, Mindy (my cousin's girlfriend). They are walking up the stairs to their second floor apartment when the landlord catches Mindy just as she reaches the top. He's wondering if he can collect the rent. Mindy puts Riley down at the top of the stairs and tells him to wait right there. She proceeds back to the foot of the stairs and is taking care of rent. Suddnely there is thudding sounds; Mindy and the landlord look up and see Riley falling down the stairs. Mindy reaches out and stops him from completing the full length of stairs. Riley is obviously shaken up and is crying, but doesn't appear to be physically injured.

Later that afternoon, Mindy and Riley are at home and she notices that Riley doesn't quite seem to be himself. He is calmer and not running all over the place like usual. He is cuddling up in her lap watching TV, something that almost never happens.

In the evening, Mindy drives to work to change places with Chris (my cousin). Since they both work at the same place, she is able to take Riley with her and swap roles. Chris and Riley go to McDonald's for dinner and then head back to the apartment. Chris has been informed of the fall down the stairs, but was assured by Mindy that Riley didn't get hurt. Chris notices that Riley didn't eat all of his dinner and that he doesn't really seem to be himself.

It's Riley's bedtime so Chris puts him into his bed and then goes to his own room to watch a hockey game already in progress. Riley gets up and wants a drink of water, Chris obliges and puts Riley back to bed. A little while later, Riley is back out of bed and wants to sleep with 'daddy' in his bed. Chris lays Riley down in the bed and continues to watch the hockey game as Riley falls asleep. A short time later, Chris falls asleep.

Chris is awaken by a thud and finds that Riley has fallen out of bed and is laying on the floor. Chris can see that his eyes are slightly open and they have kind of rolled back in his head a little. Chris tries to get Riley to respond, but gets nothing. He's frantic and unsure what to do. He calls Mindy at work and tells her that Riley fell out of bed and is not waking up. Mindy says she'll be right home, call 911. Chris makes the call to emergency services. Mindy makes it to the apartment before the amblulance.

The paramedics arrive and proceed to work on Riley. They place a c-collar around his neck and carry him to the ambulance. (Appearently the EMT felt that the gurney wouldn't fit in the stairwell, so he carried Riley down the stairs in his arms.) Riley was trasported to our local hospital and later transferred to St. Mary's in Rochester, MN where they have better facilities to deal with children (at least I believe that is why he was transferred).

Meanwhile, Mindy and Chris are being questioned by the police and various others about the events of the day. Neither one of them think to mention the fall down the stairs earlier in the day... oh, and neither of them consider the fall from his highchair 3 days previous. They just aren't thinking that clearly at this point.

Riley spends 3 days in St. Mary's hospital. The doctors are telling Mindy that they are fairly sure that Riley will recover and be fine. On the third day, Riley's brain has swollen and causes his death. An investigation ensues. A few days later the death is ruled a homicide and Chris is arrested at work for the murder of 2 year old Riley.

... to be continued ...

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