Hello Seth, Thank you for the letter. I will move this over to my blog and answer it there. Thank you for your concern and insight.



Tim
I sent this through Prisonwives id website. Since I thought it might be
public I made sure to dramatize the issue. Sorry for the redundancies. I did
not have time t6o fully edit.
If clemency is the only resort now I guess moral indignation at the courts
is probably
noit a wise approach-- but it is certainly warranted.
If nothing else it may be edifying to Deion to know that a 'psychologist"
in NY thinks that SHE is the victim.
Hopefully your appearance on Larry King will help. You could probably get
on MSNBC as well, Rachel Maddow etc
SF




>
> Tim,
> I spoke to you earlier--Sunday about 7 P.M.(NY time). As you may recall I
> am a psychologist and a writer in NYC.
> I forgot to get your email address. I think we are in philosophical
> agreement--the prison-industrial complex's primary goal is to provide jobs and
> make money, not to serve the needs of society, and certainly not to
> rehabilitate inmates.
> I was appalled that a young woman was put in prison for life w/o parole
> for a murder she did not commit. I did not know the salient details until
> I spoke to you.
> You said her lawyer was a divorce lawyer, and thus unqualified. But he
> must have also been stupid and/or corrupt. As I understand it the state's
> only witness against Deion was the man who committed the murders! And who
> had to blame Deion or be put to death. He should have had no credibility as a
> witness whatsoever. Correct me if I am wrong but Deion had no intention of
> killing anyone. The only witness claiming Deion had intent to kill was the
> man who pulled the trigger.
> It seems to me that Deion has been a scapegoat of a noxious male
> chauvinist culture, of which the court system in Tennessee was one virulent and
> powerful agent. Like the ACLU, I believe that "felony murder" is always a
> bogus charge and should be taken off the books, but in Deion's case,
> convicting her on the basis of the murderer's testimony is particularly egregious.
> The scapegopating of Deion for this crime constitutes a case of legal
> rape, a legal gang-banging compounding the physical rape she was subjected to
> repeatedly in Huntington. It reminds me of the women centuries ago who were
> demonized and accused-- by women-hating male clergy-- of being witches and
> burned at the stake. Deion's trial was A WITCH TRIAL. There was no due
> process. This was an ugly male chauvinist hate crime.
> I hate to sound psychological but I have to say that I believe that the
> "justice system" and the community of Tennessee were unconsciously trying
> to absolve themselves of their own feelings of failure as caretakers of
> their own children and youth, by scapegoating a young woman--Deion-- by
> depicting her as the personification of evil when she was just doing what she
> had learned she had to do in order to survive: what the men told her to do.
> The fact that Deion still feels responsible for the crime committed by her
> ex-boyfriend indicates the degree to which she has internalized the
> perspective of those around her-- that women are to blame. For
> everything--particularly for men's crimes. That's why I asked you to convey to Deion that I
> believe that she is a victim now--in the words of the US constitution--of
> "cruel and unusual punishment" by the courts.
> I am sorry to hear she has exhausted her appeals. Can it not be taken to
> a federal court? To depend upon a Governor
> who probably rarely gives pardons to disadvantaged minorities (in this
> case a woman from a poor home) seems rather bleak.
> I have a lot of friends who are political activists in the Green
> Party--in which I used to be active. If it would be any help I could send out a
> description of her case (if you could werite a few succinct paragraphs) to a
> couple hundred people who are activists against injustice, including a
> couple lawyers. You could probably get more publicity up here--but if your ONLY
> recourse is to appeal to your Governor I suppose that would not help? Have
> you spoken to legal experts at the ACLU? Or better yet speak ASAP to legal
> authorities at the National Organization of Women (NOW).
> It seems to me, as I indicated above, that this IS a political case, and
> you may be able to get some help, or play some legal card, based on those
> grounds. (But of course you may have explored all that already.) Believe me
> I am NOT the type who is inclined to readily cry "sexist," but in this
> case (taking into account the background I read in your blog) it screams out
> to me. I think many people here in NY would agree with me that Deion was
> victimized by well to do powerful white MEN in the Courts who for complex
> psychological and sociological reasons
> convicted her of a crime she did not commit, and deprived her of all her
> opportunities that are supposedly our heritage as Americans. These men who
> charged a poor disadvantaged young woman with a capital offense and
> sentenced her to life without the possibility of parole have no conscience, no
> heart. If these men--the judges and the prosecutors--had any decency, any
> responsibility as authority figures, they would have seen that Deion pled to a
> minor charge, and was given probation and psychological counseling. I do
> not mean to exonerate the jury--they too bear responsibility for the legal
> murder (life without the chance of parole) committed by the state of
> Tennessee against a poor young woman.
> Keep me informed.
> Sincerely, Seth
> Seth Farber, Ph.D.
> www.sethHfarber.com
> PS Feel free to use or quote from this letter.
>

In the hope that something positive may come from all this discussion I will publish a portion of the codicil (attachment) to my will. The chances of dying a violent death are small but current circumstance brings me to give consideration for the welfare of my family was I to suffer death from violence. Everyone may wish to consider these words and do their own family a favor. The discussion is valid. Thank you all for participating.

Codicil March 13, 2010

Recent circumstance bring me to add this to my will.

Should I meet a violent death or even an untimely but unintentional death at the hands of another person or persons, I wish my family to hold no malice, seek no convictions, and grant forgiveness to those responsible. The State will prosecute according to their will and their employment in the interests of public safety. I would not have my own family burdened with vengeance. Vengeance only destroys and I have spent my own life building.

Deion is happy to get mail and will respond as she has time. Write:
Teresa Deion Harris 233590
Tennessee Prison For Women
Unit 2 North B-37
Nashville, TN 37218-3302

Deion has no internet access so I post for her. She sent this.

3,4,10 Deion’s letter for blog

I don’t want to cause further pain for Dennis Brooks’ family, my family or anyone else who has been affected by all this. Regardless of what I say in writing this I know people will be affected and I know the hatred everyone holds toward me.
Yes, the Brooks family is the victims. I don’t even consider myself worthy of their forgiveness. I never will until I can change what happened that horrible night and that is not possible. During my entire incarceration I’ve tormented myself to find the courage to reach out to the Brooks family. With the advice of my attorneys, family and friends I was instructed that it would not be the appropriate thing to do. So being the coward I am I never did until now.
Not a day goes by that I don’t think about my children which remind me of my responsibility that led to the death of Dennis. I don’t know why I receive the privilege to talk to my children when Mr. and Mrs. Brooks will never hear the voice of their son again. All I can say is that I love my children and God’s mercy gives me the strength to continue on.
No one likes to relive the past especially when it has been tragic. I’m not trying to justify the murder of Dennis by what happened to me in the past. Reliving my past has led me to months of depression and physical sickness. It’s not something I want to do but I’ve got to understand how I got myself in the situation of that July night and why I didn’t have the courage to prevent it from happening.
It’s not easy to tell a parent that you’ve been sexually abused by family members and it’s not easy for the parent to deal with, especially if it’s a close relative that denies it happened. This causes conflict and families are forced to choose sides. This does not mean I hate my parents or anyone in my family. I have forgiven everyone who has hurt me. In the past year I agreed to visit with my cousin who raped me and I told him I had forgiven him for what happened. We had several nice visits and I do plan to visit with him more in the future.
Again my past abuse does not justify this senseless murder. It helps me to better understand why I could not control the situation that July night and why I let men dominate my life. With understanding who I am I can admit who I was and forgive myself and continue to try and prevent my children from becoming the person I was.
My daughter and husband are not defending the person I was. They are defending the person I am today. I give my deepest remorse and regrets foremost to the Brooks family and all the others that are affected also to my children and family and others for stigmatizing the family name.

Deion Harris

DEION TO THE RESCUE

This incident came from Deion by letter, 7/3/00. Deion was a High School senior, age 16 at the time of the incident. Curt was her nephew whom she doted on. She wrote:

Once when Curt was about four he called me crying and screaming, “My dad is killing my mom.” I was so scared. I got my mom, and we drove to their house. When I got to the house, Curt was hiding in the living room. When I got to my sister, Tony had wrapped a cord around her neck and she was blue in the face. I ran toward him. He turned around picked me up and threw me across the room. He did the same thing to my mom. He hit my sister a couple more times and stormed out of the house.