My Heart is Full

To my Family of supporters,

Before the last 20 years I use to think that people just didn't really care. I sat in this prison with a lot of anger and frustration wondering, why me. A friend told me once no matter how hard the journey if you just believe, God will see you through. My sister reminds me daily don't forget God willing. Our journey sometimes will hold steps we never knew were coming, and even though we don't know it's direction, we still have to take them anyway. And I applaud those of you who chose to walk my journey with me. God willing, we are at the end of this. 

And I say we because of each little thing, be it a tear or a prayer that you offered, we made it. And not to name names, but a special thank you to Wendy, Francine, Christine, Heather, Ian, Maryann, Mary, Paul, Dagmar, Kathy, Vicki, Donetta, Tim and Beverly, Deborah, Tom and Carolyn, Charlie and Maria, Maryellen and Michael, Casey, and countless others who have come and gone, and all those I would be here forever trying to name, as well as the new people who are just now joining!

You are a beautiful people. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I consider you all family as I lost most of my family in these years sitting here. And I look forward to getting to know you all once I get out there with you...God willing. 

God really does bless and I do believe in prayer. You are the evidence of that. God Bless you and keep you.

Sincerely,
Arthur

Staying Busy During the Pandemic

Greetings, everyone. I trust you are all keeping safe in this corona virus era. Just watching the news depresses me. I lost a cousin to it, but everyone else seems okay. 

Sadly it's getting deeply embedded in the prisons. It hit at my guys on death row, actually in the block I lived in when I was there. They survived. Only one case there right now. We are on our third round with it. It tore through here in January and touched just about every one including me. That was before they really knew. They put it down as respiratory and unlike the other prisons it touched, we didn't lose anyone. Or so we think? 

Just yesterday we found out another dorm was placed on quarantine, and it was the dorm that houses the guys who work the kitchen. Who worked in the kitchen the day before. The prison never announced it, so they were working the kitchen up to the day they quarantined them. It's getting a little scary, as the only precautions they have are passing out masks once every other month and soap. 

It's been a blessing that we maybe haven't had a death as of yet, though the guy they took out was really bad off, with an ambulance and everything. The DRC no longer updates what is going on with this on their website, so we have no idea what's really happening. 

But so far I'm safe as can be, and with nine months before I return to the parole board, I will try to stay safe. All else is well, it's about to be my busy season. I have already started facilitating The Tyro Dad classes twice a week, twice a day, two hour sessions. It's going pretty good. I'm also in the middle of my janitorial apprenticeship. I need about 800 more hours to complete the 2000 required hours. On the 21st of this month the new semester starts. I have three classes, and the same day I start IOP classes that are four days a week, two hours a day. Yes, it's a lot, but I'm at my best when I'm busy. And this is all good for the parole board, so please keep me in your prayers. 

Till next time, stay you...stay safe. 

Blessings,

Arthur

My COVID Experience

Greetings everyone. It's been a while since the last blog. No excuses, though I didn't have my tablet machine and with 240 guys using the four public machines for 15 minutes a pop, I just didn't feel like getting in that race! Not having my tablet has also held up my book writing, but that was just me being lazy too. 

With this corona virus going around, and yes it has been at this prison as well, we just fared better than those other prisons who lost people. I stopped counting after 50 and just pray that God keeps me safe, and so far so good. 

But everything else has gotten worse. They talk about how cleanliness helps curd the spread, not possible with guys who are nasty already, so that hasn't changed. It's also not possible to have 6ft distancing. The beds are 2ft apart with a neighbor on top. The food cooking area is a mess too. 240 guys using two microwaves, and I never really figured out why guys think Ramen noodles should be cooked for an hour! But that's how most seem to like it. 

They did give us masks to wear. I ended up buying four. Better to be safe than sorry, as one out of five will wear their mask daily. I actually believe I had the virus already, and no I don't want it again. I have been here 37 years and was blessed to never catch the common cold. In January, something hit me and held on for almost 8 weeks. I had just about every symptom they say the corona virus carries. Sadly, whatever that was, it touched almost every bed. It was bad!  They still haven't acknowledged that that's what it was, but no one here died that we know of, and only two guards and one inmate ever tested positive. So they say. 

We are still on Code Red Lockdown, which they have no plans to change anytime soon. This means no programs. The only school is college on tablets. 40 minutes of recreation twice a day, and brunch and dinner. Otherwise we are in our pod. Oh, and we lost a Warden that was actually trying to make some changes. And this is what you missed between this blog and the last. The good in all this is I am down to less than a year before I see the parole board. Prayers are needed, and a lot of support. Next summer I will face them and hope that they will see to letting me go home. I know they will want to know what supports I have, so if you can be a part of my transition back to the community, I would greatly appreciate it. 

Til next time, stay safe, stay well.

Blessings,
Arthur

Hoping I'm on the Path to Freedom

Greetings everyone,

Trust I haven't been gone too long for those who are following me. Its gotten busy again for me which is what I like. I'm doing Ashland University, a Janitorial apprenticeship, and I'll start a Handyman Home Improvement class soon. I'll also be starting a class called Intensive Outpatient Program too.That's going to be a good one. And I still do the daily Reintegration program stuff--Pro Social Classes,Community Service,Computer Lab time, etc.

How do I do all this in a day? Little sleep! 😀 Why do I do it? Because it's all about rehabilitation. Showing the system and the parole board that I'm  ready to reenter society as a productive asset. And it's funny actually because you have to do it either way. I have been telling people about being innocent for years, but it's fallen on deaf ears for the most part of the system. I say that because even though the parole board stood up and helped me with their recommendation--which directed the Governor to get me off death row,and eventually out of the sentence of life without parole,I still have to go through the process of actually making parole.

Doing things that show them I have changed and that I can be productive--that I'm rehabilitated. It really doesn't matter anymore that I am innocent of the murder I am here for. I am now going through the process of the parole system as if I did the murder and I am at the point of asking to be paroled and set free. Doing everything in my power to ensure it. And that's where the power of belief and faith comes in.As well as, a little fear. 

You see, I wear a tag. I was on death row and that comes with a fear for most.They really can't see that I may have really been innocent. That I may have changed my ways. That I am doing the rehabilitation that is expected of me. All they see is the tag. And that's what scares me right now as I'm coming up for parole. Now I think that coming off death row actually hurts me. I don't think it matters that the parole board spoke up for me, or that Governor Kasich made it possible for me to get out of prison when he commuted the life without parole sentence. Or that I could be innocent. I'm doing everything in my power to show the person I really am.

I don't want to keep harping on the fact that I am innocent, but I have done 37 years for the crime. I was on death row because of a mistake a judge made and it never was corrected. I never should have had to wear the tag of being on death row. And I can only hope and pray that it is not held against me when I face the parole board this time.

Pray with me and for me...
Sincerely,
Arthur.

All My Hard Work at Risk

Greetings all! I know I'm suppose to be writing for my book, but I want to go off course for a moment to tell you all that I have completed this year with many accomplishments and hope that one small issue doesn't jeopardize all my hard work.

One of the best things is I finished a semester at Ashland University. I took Economics, English and Business Management. I also completed the Edwins cooking class with a B average. Economics with a B and English with a B+.I completed the Haccp Food Safety program with an A. I will complete The Customer Service Class next month. I completed the Photovoltiacs course-Solar Panel Installment, and I will have completed Phase 4 of Reintegration once I complete my 180 hours of community service. You can see some of my certificates on my website. And I started the two year Janitorial Apprenticeship in September, but I probably won't complete that because I'm down to 18 months before I see the Parole Board.

Things at this prison were rolling along pretty good until recently. On top of everything I was doing with classes, I was facilitating sessions for Tyro Dads. It's a part of The Ridge Program, an "outside the walls" program for guys getting out of prison. I sit on the board. So I am forever busy. No time to get in trouble. I do the right thing...until one time I didn't. 

One day I got off my bed and walked to the wall and back before count cleared. I was not suppose to be off my bed, but I have this problem with diabetic neuropathy. It makes your feet burn really bad and the only thing to help is to walk on them. Well, a Sargent was looking to write conduct reports and it just happened to be that day I was off the bed.This man knows I go out of my way not to break the rules. I even work for him in the janitorial program. He knows I can't go in front of the parole board with even this minor write up. My last minor write ups were for painting the tip of my boot after I spilled oil on my brand new boots and for having 18 candy bars and butter without my receipt. I got 3 additional years for that! 

So yes, this scares me, for what they might do this next time. I tried to go through the chain of command to see if I may could get a little compassion.This is suppose to be reintegration.They are suppose to be helping us get ready for society. First, the Sargent told me there was nothing he can do even though he was the one who wrote the ticket. I asked the next level of command if there anything I could do, such as community service or something to make this go away. He basically told me he didn't care and that the ticket sticks. I asked if could I appeal it and he said no. Later I saw the warden walking the yard and approached him about it and he referred me to the Unit Manager who told me it was out of her hands because it was already in the computer, which was a lie. When I told her the Warden's Assistant told me she could, she got really angry and said, "You shouldn't have broken any rules."

All the good work I've done here don't mean anything now.That ticket can hurt me really bad and no one cares.

I plan to leave this place. Hopefully sometime soon, I will be writing to you from a different prison and 18 months from now, I'll be Home.

Hope your 2020 is off to a good start.

Peace and Blessings,
Arthur

Nothing to Worry About...Or do I? Continued

Greetings...Back again to tell you more of my story. 

Looking back I see where I stepped deeper into this trying to get myself out of it. It wasn't just my bad lawyer or the prosecutor, it was my attitude and my lack of knowledge about what I was facing. I had fell under the illusion that if you didn't do anything you didn't have anything to worry about. I mean, how can you hide evidence that is right in your face?

Leroy Head didn't just confess to the Gillis brothers and his mom, but he confessed to anyone who would listen. I had over 10 different affidavits from inmates stating Leroy confessed to them over a period of years. None of which made it in front of any court. They claimed that this evidence wasn't credible because they were inmates. Yet they themselves used inmates to convict me. Anthony Gillis was the worse of them all. At the time of him giving the statement against Leroy, this dude was giving a statement against his own brother for another murder. The police were actually going around looking for a gang of guys that were robbing the elderly in the neighborhood.Which happened to be the Gillis brothers, Leroy Head and a few others. So when Anthony Gillis was arrested for this, he gave his own brother up for a murder he had done and Leroy for the murder of Sanders Leach to help get out of the mess he was in. When Leroy decided to put his murder on me, it wasn't hard for them to convince Gillis to change what he had said at the start. He had five different cases pending himself. This was a man who was in prison when he testified against me and walked out of the county jail an hour later. Between Anthony Gillis and Leroy Head, 19 different statements were made. And that was their evidence as to who did this murder.  They didn't have any except their twisted words. These two boys with all these different statements. And somehow the prosecutor found a way to convince a jury that these two were making these stories up initially out of fear of me hurting their families.

So where were my lawyers while all this was going? I had Mr. William Chapman as an attorney at this point. So, I didn't really have an attorney. This man allowed all this to happen and then came to visit me one day and told me that they were now putting this murder on me and that I was facing the death penalty. The trial was a mess. This man was so bad the judge turned his back on the court and went to sleep. It took the jury all of 20 minutes to find me guilty and a day to sentence me to death.The courtroom was filled with lawyers and judges who just shook their heads when the verdict came in. I was the talk of the courthouse over this farce.

Everything that could have went wrong did go wrong. Even I knew this wouldn't stand. Off to death town I went. The most horrible moment in all of this was when I stepped in that cell and that door closed behind me. All the life went out of me...And the drama got deeper....But that is for another time.

As always,thank you for listening...Peace, Arthur

Chapter One-Got Nothing To Worry About...Or do I?

Greetings. I am finally in the process of writing my thoughts from over the past years. Thinking it may somehow form a book worth reading. Not really a good writer (yes, someone will be editing), but I will hope to keep to an easy form without too much change.The book will not detail the things that took place daily, but more how I happened to get here and the process that has kept me here for as long as it has. 

Some people trust the system isn't crooked, but those are people who really don't care, just do the job, and they don't want to know. You have those who know something is wrong, who care and try to do something about it. I know some of both. And then there are those who have first hand knowledge of how bad it can go being caught up in this system. That's the story I will tell. It's about bad lawyers, shady prosecutors, judges who know it should go one way but allow it to go however the prosecutor wants. Lying witnesses who don't know the truth but will give what they are told is the truth because they think they are doing the right thing. 

There were no eyewitnesses to the crime. There was no physical evidence.This case started with Anthony Gillis and Leroy Head being arrested along with others on an unrelated murder. After a conversation with the Gillis and his brothers, it was determined that Leroy Head was the person who shot and killed Mr.Sanders Leach. After this, Leroy Head confessed to his Mom and then the detective's who were on the case that he committed this murder. He said that he was with a guy named Art, a guy he really didn't know. That was his one truth and the one thing I never denied. He was with me that day and we did go all the way to the Meat Market. But everything after that was on him, not on me. My wrong in this is I didn't do the right thing with it. I thought, "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" was the code. I didn't do anything wrong so why involve myself? The second worse decision I ever made in life.

The first being my choice of lawyers. I had the worse lawyer in the history of lawyers. Mr.William Chapman, other lawyers referred to him as "two-suit Chapman." He had one dirty blue suit and one dirty black suit. He hung around the third floor courtroom hustling the cases the court paid lawyers to plea out. I didn't learn all this until later, but at the time he was my star. I didn't know any better. He was my thousand dollar lawyer who guaranteed he would win this case. How could he not? After all, I didn't do anything wrong and they had Leroy Head's confession. So I was under an illusion of freedom. I had the paid lawyer and they had Leroy's confession. What could go wrong? I had actually gotten rid of some decent attorneys to hire this man. My third worse decision. See, I realize now that I can't blame anyone but myself for being here. All they did at the beginning was get out of my way and I walked myself right into the noose.

I had the shadiest prosecutor ever, William Gerstenslager. He made one objection that resounds in my head today.The judge had made a ruling that he was not going to allow Mr. Chapman to handle my case in his courtroom.That's the first time I should have listened. The prosecutor objected and told the judge that he couldn't object to the lawyer of my choosing. I bought into that so hard that I objected to the judge telling me who I can hire. Dumb,dumb,dumb,dumb,dumb! Punches we're now being thrown. I threw the first one and hit myself in the mouth.The prosecutor never wanted me to have lawyers the court appointed. He never needed to convince me. He just tweaked my ego and let me think I was in control. And I placed the noose around my own neck. Gerstenslager just tightened it. 

That was the beginning of this nightmare. Have you ever awoken one day and just knew that the day was all wrong? That it wasn't going to go as it normally did.That it wasn't going to end as it should .I did and I couldn't do anything about it as you will see...

Be blessed everyone. This story continues...Peace, Arthur