How did Becky react to Alan's arrest?

Well in the very beginning when this whole thing happened Becky was just thrown into a trauma. She just couldn’t understand and she was very angry and very resentful that this happened. After it got to the point where it was definite that Alan was going to be incarcerated. She kind of fell to pieces. If she hadn’t had the support of her family and my late husband, I don’t know what would have become of her.

So thank god he was here. But after that episode, Becky has become very strong. She has become very determined to keep her marriage together. And I have to give her a lot of credit for what she has done. She is raising two handicapped children plus she’s keeping her marriage together. This has made her reach down inside herself and find the strength that was always there. I’m proud of how she’s coped because it has not been easy. It’s been very difficult and it’s been very unfair.

It’s the unfairness of the whole thing and that no one was willing to help that has really hurt her belief in the justice system. I don’t believe in the justice system anymore. There is no justice. So it’s made her a stronger individual.

How do you view Alan's arrest and subsequent legal representation?

It became apparent, very early on, that Alan was questioned by the police. By my going over the paperwork it was just as plain as the nose on my face that the police got a confession from a man. Three confessions until it was worded the way they wanted it worded. And they did this when he was in a state of intoxication

Then he was appointed a lawyer and the lawyer was only interested in clearing his case of a non-lucrative file. The money they get paid to defend these people is very minimal and it’s not worth it to spend all the time and effort trying to bring justice about all they want to do is get rid of the case.

He’s had three or four different lawyers and they’ve all responded in the same fashion. No one was willing to look at the circumstances involved in this case; no one was willing to say this man was a first time offender. He’d never done anything wrong, he’d never been arrested for any crime. They weren’t willing to look at the fact that he was an alcoholic and that he needed help in other areas.

So no one has done anything to help this man. And isn’t that what the justice system is supposed to be about? Creating justice - not taking a man who’s really innocent of what he’s been charged of and locking him away and not giving him a chance to redeem himself? No useful purpose has been served by any of this. It’s destroyed lives. That’s all it’s done. He could be home taking care of his family. He could be rehabilitated. They haven’t done anything. So how can they call this justice? It’s not.

Part of Alan's sentence was to be enrolled in particular rehabilitative programs. Is he currently enrolled in these court sanctioned programs?

No he’s not, he’s not in the programs. They won’t put him in the programs from what Alan has told me. The first thing they asked him was to admit that he did this. They want him to admit to doing something he did not do. And it is a proven fact that he did not do it. Therefore, unless he says "yes, I did it" when he didn’t, he’s not going to get the benefit of the plea agreement that he entered into. So I guess he’s in what you’d call a Catch-22. He’s just damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. So he’s just sitting behind bars and not getting anything. He’s fulfilling his portion of it. He’s locked away - away from his family. The state has not done a thing.

What would you have done differently?

In an ideal situation Alan used extremely poor judgment. He was not alone in this incident. I think the other people who were involved should have been also been made to answer to their participation in this tragedy.

But ultimately Alan was wrong. He did something that was wrong. He has to learn the values in life. He has to learn right from wrong. He has to be rehabilitated. He should have been in some sort of alternative sentencing type of atmosphere where he could have been educated where he could have understood better what he did, what he needs to do to change his life. I don’t believe he needs to be locked up - he’s not a violent man. He’s not a criminal.

Although he is now and he’s going to have a tag to follow him the rest of his life. And that tag isn’t only going to affect him. It’s going to affect my daughter and her children as well. In the outlying fringes it’ll affect me too. Cause whatever affects my children affects me.

I believe that Alan should have been offered some sort of treatment facility that would have kept him segregated from society so that he could have learned while he was there and how to prevent future episodes like this from happening - although I don’t anticipate there are going to be because this was an isolated incident. So being locked away in a state penitentiary is not doing anything for this man. It’s destroying lives. That’s all it’s doing.

What are your thoughts about Alan's return to society?

I feel that Alan is going to be angry. I personally feel it when I speak with him. It’s under the surface. It’s the withheld anger and he knows it. He knows that he is getting a bad deal. He knows that he is not being dealt with fairly but he can’t voice that anger in the environment that he’s in. And he has no mental help to help him understand where these feelings are coming from and what to do with them.

They’re not doing anything to respond to this in this young man. So that when he gets out life is going to get very different. Becky’s going to have learned how to stand on her own two feet and how to be the dominant parent. He’s going to have to contend with that. He’s going to have to compete for his place in the children’s lives all over again. He’s going to be denied employment over and over. What’s that going to do to a man? Because the tag that’s going to follow him. Not only is he going to be an ex-convict but he’s also going to have another tag to go along with that. I know what it’s going to do to him. He’s going to get angry. He’s going to feel defeated. Now Becky’s going to have to deal with those emotions too while she’s trying to hold her marriage together and trying to hold him up.

Alan’s not a violent man. He’s a quite man. He’s a nice man. He’s taken on a tremendous responsibility with my daughter and her two children. But he’s not going to be the same man when he comes home because of what he’s been exposed to. And because of the treatment that he has been denied.

Your thoughts on what your grandchildren have experienced?

Watching what the kids have gone through have been very difficult. In the beginning it was very hard to explain to them why their daddy was not going to be there and why he was in prison. They were told as much as was able to be told without disclosing the extent of the crime committed.

It really broke my heart when my youngest grandson would walk up to people and say “My daddy’s in jail.” It’s just like a normal thing in their lives. They need to understand that this is not a normal thing. But then on the other hand, it's a fact and they have to deal with that.

Joshua has kind of grown away from his father. He’s young and he’s not able to hold it and there’s nothing that can be done about that. Donnie, who’s older, who needs a father desperately, is confused. This is a time in a life, thirteen years old, when a boy needs his father. And he’s trying to hold on to that relationship the same as his mother is over the telephone and it’s… they need a father so badly and you know it’s heartbreaking to watch this when you know they have a father, a good father, that loves them. Who’s just being warehoused. It makes me angry.

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