Monday, March 01, 2010

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.

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14 Comments:

Blogger maddhatter said...

As I was reading this I didnt know what to think. I will filled with anger. I love my family although I do not know the complete facts, I do know that you are placing my families name on here and not only affecting them but their small children whom i love with all my heart. Everyone has a bad life but lets not forget you murdered someone these claims of how u shouldnt be in jail. If u ask me u deserve to be there and luckily ur ass didnt get the death penalty. I'm one to believe eye for an eye!!! Everytime Deion's husband is on tv all i can do is laugh, u believe she has the right to be set free?!?! your a fucking joke, and really need ur head checked. stop using my families name. DEION ur a joke, u claim all of these things but have yet to take any blame in your past. You have done some shaddy things and continue to blame everyone but YOURSELF!!!!!

6:15 AM  
Blogger windwalker said...

I am not unfeeling about your situation, but I am grossly offended that you blame your imprisonment on being "molested, raped, physically and mentally abused, and controlled by men as a child up through adulthood" (http://www.state.tn.us/tra/orders/2004/0400211by.pdf, p. 4). You are in prison because you were instrumental in the death of another human being, even if you were not actively involved in the act of the murder.

I was molested, raped, emotionally abused, and controlled by men from childhood through adulthood...and I have never killed anyone and certainly have never been involved in cutting someone's child's heart out of his chest. Jesus!

One of the things that I look for when I'm advocating for offenders is their willingness to accept their role in their own life and its events - something that appears to be blatantly lacking here. That lack of empathy coupled with the profession of innocence makes you appear cold, calculating, and manipulative - even though I can see from other things published by you and about you that this is obviously not true.

Innocence means that you did nothing wrong - I don't believe that you are as guilty as the person who pulled the trigger, by any means, but innocent is the wrong word, even by your own statements during the trial. Just because you were once a victim, it doesn't excuse you as an offender.

I do, however, find it very sad that you are so seriously over-sentenced and that you will miss the lives of your children. This is a situation that I deal with every day in advocacy work for offenders in Virginia. Perhaps if the families of everyone who is oversentenced would work together we could effect a positive change on the travesty that is our "justice" system. At minimum, we should be working toward reducing the stigma placed on the children of incarcerated parents and on sentencing reform in America...particularly in our southern states.

8:56 PM  
Blogger Tim McDonald said...

There will be a radio broadcast for one hour this coming Tuesday March 3rd at 5 PM CST. Teresa Deion Harris is the subject and while she canot participate her husband will and perhaps other family members or interested individuals. Call 646 378-1432 or listen in via internet at
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/4justicenow/blog/2010/02

Tim McDonald

10:52 AM  
Blogger stac_icunurse said...

Tim I am about to begin one of the most difficult struggles of my life and I am looking for any help that I can possibly get. In my search for help I came across your blog I have read through your information several times and I believe you may be the answer to my prayers. My husband, Dustin McKinney, is just beginning his court proceedings. I do NOT believe he is guilty of what they are accussing him of and this is where I could greatly use your help and guidance. All you have to do is google dustin's name and the small town we are from (Paducah KY) and you will see what they are accussing him off. Some people will be very judgemental and have already tried and convicted him and but I just want justice done and the wrong person to not be punished. Please feel free to contact me at stac_mckinney@hotmail.com. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. I have truely come to admire you and I will keep you, Deion, and the children in my prayers. Thank you.

4:15 PM  
Blogger Tim McDonald said...

Hello Windwalker

Thank you for the posting. I don’t think Deion is excusing herself for not preventing the killing of a young boy but only identifying the cause of her inability to stop the killer. I am not sure if she ever says she is innocent but I do and perhaps that is the confusion. You are correct, not every battered woman goes to prison but over 90 % of the women in prison have been sexually and/or physically battered. Not everyone who smokes gets lung cancer but the correlation is there still.
Let us speak of children. I moved to this small town in 2002. I was welcome until I announced who I would marry. Very shortly I was shunned by neighbors, bit by a dog, and had a rock thrown through my front window. I felt I needed Deion’s two children living with me to give structure and guidance to their lives. That ended before it began. I was ostracized, and still am, and the result was I could do little for the kids except by proxy. Deion wrote a letter to the newspaper as recent as last year when her son went to prison. She pleaded for someone to help raise him. I have not seen any help. He is out on parole and cannot get a job. Worse will come. But that has been my concern since I got here, children get stigmatized like their parents and seven out of ten will follow their parents to prison. The community is responsible of course. We cannot send parents to prison without impacting the children. A variation of the African proverb would be;” It takes a whole village to raise a child to go to prison.” Deion’s daughter is doing remarkable work on the Joy Behar Blog standing up for “Prison Kids.” Still Deion’s rapes were common knowledge in the hair salon. Does the community take responsibility for not stopping it? I believe this subject will be further examined by the next TV program on Deion and me, Women Behind Bars, viewing sometime this spring. Communities that cannot raise children get the crime they deserve even if the victims are innocent. This is true across America.
Deion has a dependant personality disorder and has allowed me to put out this public information. I will send your words and maybe she will decide she needs to control the massage, or at least, assert some influence.
I applaud your work and your recovery. If I can help you please contact me in Huntingdon TN.

5:15 PM  
Blogger Tim McDonald said...

Hello Ms McKinney,

I am not sure what I can do for you. I did get a glimpse of the newspapers. If I were around during Deion's trial, as you will be around during your husband's trial, I would have played the investigator role.
Deion had public defenders and little was done to actually find out the exact details of the crime. I first got from Deion the details and from other people as I could talk to. I apparently did more research than any of the law enforcement or attorneys. During Deion's trial the prosecutor misled the jury but her lawyers did not even know it. Many errors and omissions occurred unnoticed. Lawyers do not investigate crime. They investigate the law.
My advice to you, for what it is worth, become an expert on the crime, the background of all persons invovled or charged, then impose yourself on whatever lawyer will represent your husband. You have the time he/she does not. You also likely have the insight. Bring out the truth, the whole truth, and so much truth that what happened to Deion will not happen to others.
News media? Newspapers would go out of business without crime to report. The internet will end the paper news publication. Even while it hurts others, newspapers are just trying to stay in business. You can talk to them but remember that, they are just trying to stay in business and you need to give them something that will help them forestall bankruptcy.

Best of Luck

Tim

6:18 AM  
Blogger Finding Myself said...

Hi, I know you dont know me, I was incarcerated with Dion at the Tennessee prison for women for close to 10 years ( went in at 18 )While there, Dion and and I got to know eachother, as a matter of fact I recieve a Christmas card from her after being out for 8 years now. I think it is wonderful that she has you, I know the struggle I went through and could not imagn having kids in a time like that in my lfe. Shes a wonderful woman, and very lucky to have someone who cares as much as you! I knew her for years and never even knew her crime, I just enjoyed her as a person. I feel that your doing the right thing. I will keep you guys in my prayers.

12:02 PM  
Blogger windwalker said...

Tim,

You know, I think that I was wrong in many ways when I posted previously. I've issued several posts to Savannah on the Joy Behar prison Wives site - she is a testament to the fact that statistics are not always right and she's got a backbone that any parent should be proud of!

I know the stigma attached to having a felony conviction - and of loving someone in prison. I have a master's degree in education and can't find a job because no one wants to hire a convict, even when they've been proving their worth for more than a decade. I understand doing what you're told, being paralyzed by fear, and standing by and watching something happen that's outside of your control. I also understand that detached feeling - like you're outside of your body watching your life happen to someone else.

Anyone who allows a rape or any other crime to be committed should make a concerted effort to stop it - but I know that no one always does what they're supposed to do. I try to always keep in my mind that when I'm working with offenders, I am also working with victims 9 times out of 10. I work with people, not charges, and I do feel that I was harsh and I apologize for that.

Please email me at windwalker911@embarqmail.com and I can share my story with you more freely. I don't know that I can offer you anything that will help, but I can try. I don't know how to contact you otherwise.

Thanks for your kindness and I apologize if I was too harsh.

Pam

5:23 PM  
Blogger stac_icunurse said...

Tim,

Thank you so much for your advice it was greatly appreciated! I was kind of thinking along that line that I needed to do my own investigating but I guess what I am worried about is not knowing where to start or what questions I need to ask! Will people even talk to me? Will the investigators tell me I don't have any rights to know of the evidence? etc. Not sure where to begin this journey. I've searched the internet but just come up with more questions. Any suggestions on how to get started, any websites that can help me again all is GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks,
Stacey McKinney

3:57 AM  
Blogger Tim McDonald said...

Hello Stacy,
I am just one person and can only offer my experience. Start with clothes. Go to thrift stores and get “business clothes” or otherwise professional/neat clothes. You are going to get them dirty walking through fields or crawling under houses. But also, “fit in clothes.” A sleazy bar requires sleazy clothes. Dress like the people you talk to.
Get a file box and note pads. Camera and pencils. Keep your stuff organized.
Talk to anyone. Yes, I’d guess more people will talk to you than to me. Your line: “Hi I’m Stacy and my husband is going on trial for murder. I want information to help him.” Lots of people will like you even if they have negative thoughts of him. I was “An internet pen pal for a woman convicted seven years ago.” I had to scrub for information.
Do you have rights to police information? I” googled” “Kentucky Open Public records.” Everything you need to know is in law. Copy it and take it with you. When someone denies you records show them the law.
Follow every lead. Someone just told me my wife had been taking “horse tranquilizers” stolen from a vet office the night of the killing. So my inquiries must be; Where are the local vet offices. Do they keep “horse tranquilizers?” Did they have a robbery at the time of the killing? Is it feasible for humans to take these pills. Etc. Etc.
Murder trials live on Character Assassination. Every tidbit of information will be used to make your husband look like a killer/bad person. It may get ridiculous such as “he had terrible body odor.” Who are the witnesses against him? What is their motive?
A bartender testified against my wife. This man had formerly approached her sexually and she rejected him. He was also a competitive drug dealer to Deion’s ex-husband. There was bad blood and his testimony was tainted. Did the defense attorneys even know this? Of course not. Testimony stands. Prosecutor uses it.

Stacy, you have a lot of work in front of you. This will definitely be a “growing experience.” You will be a better person and so will your husband. The saying goes, “God gives no one more than they can handle.” You will find an inner strength you never knew you had. You are a wife defending your husband. You are automatically a better person than the police or prosecutors who are doing this for money. Go for it. God is with you.
Tim

7:54 AM  
Blogger kiddysharley said...

Tim and Deion,

your story brought tears to my eyes. All this love and devotion for and to each other is so wonderful.


I don't excuse nor will I judge (I never studied law) what convicts brought on themselves, but yet, some states slap the prisoners on the wrist, others get life!
I was married to an alcoholic that went psycho after he was drunk... he even stabbed me when I was 20 yrs old and he got off... never spend a day behind bars. I have a 2" scare below my belly button to prove it.
When I hear Deion telling her story, it feels like we were married to the same person. SCARY. I lived in fear... and I feared for my son. I can feel when she said she went along to stay alive.

People don't realize that prisoners are also human and part of society. We can't turn our backs on them because of the crimes they committed. If they served their sentence, it should not be able to show up during job searches (windwalker). Yes, some convicts should never be set free but they also deserve love and support. Why is it called rehabilitation when everybody just gives up on them??

All these people in Huntingdon and also your ex need to get a life! How dare they treat you so bad for loving a human being!!!
The fear in people shows in jealousy, rejection, and crime.

I'd like to drop a line to Deion if I can. Let me know... thanks Kid
kiddysharley@hotmail.com

11:13 PM  
Blogger kaidylansmommy said...

I watched your show on "prison wives" - I for one was very touched and your outlook gave me hope/faith. I agree that Deion should get a reduced sentence and her current sentence is overkill in my opinion, but my husband is facing 6 felony counts w/ a mandatory life sentence for each per colorado law. I am being called as a witness for the prosecution, i was a witness to the events which occurred 7 yrs ago. I'm hoping to get this case thrown out before it even gets half way thru the trial. So, I probably don't have an objective perspective on our governments ability to give people a fair shake in cases that are circumstantial.

2:01 AM  
Blogger Wendy said...

I also saw the recent airing of Prison Wives (it's actually re-airing this moment on ID as I type this). I was incredibly moved by both your stories - Tim for your utter commitment and Deion for facing what has happened with such honesty.

It is a tragedy the young man died, especially the way he did, and people should pay for the crimes they commit. But putting Deion in prison for life, with no possibility of parole, is not justice. God be with you both, and with the Brooks family.

12:26 PM  
Blogger Intrigued w said...

Tim I think and understand what you are doing and it is absolutely wonderful I would love to speak with you hope to hear from you soon

6:30 AM  

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