Don't Let This Happen To You:

Selecting your representation is the most important thing in your defense. You need to make sure your attorney believes in you. I am telling you this because I do not want anyone to go through what I went through.

The first thing you need to ask your lawyer is does he believe in you. My counsel that I had working on my case had the interest in the prosecutions case at heart, working together by hiding very important court dates, and much more. I can not sit back and remain silent about what happened to me any longer. I made this site so you could learn from my experiences and do not want this to happen to you. I am only bringing out the facts I can prove. 

My attorney hid information that would have cleared me of the charges. The confession of all things plus there were many other events in the trial that could have been handled much better. Later, it turns out, during the relief motion, my attorney says he did not use the tape because he felt it was made up. I can tell you that it was truthful. The judge agreed with my attorney that he thinks the tape was manufactured. However, the tape was not even played in the courtroom and the judge just took his side. My attorney was a former judge of the same courthouse in which I was convicted. It was a very big mistake to let him represent me. He never prepared my testimony for trial. After 22 years, now I know why things happen the way they did and it is very sad.

My lawyers hid some very important court dates from me. It was on the Intimidation charges that was used to cover up the confession. I will explain the Intimidation of a States Witness case first because it shows how my attorney worked against me. 

On August 3 and August 10, 1991 one of the accusers confessed to me that he was sorry and his own mother made him lie. Just look on the Victim Impact statement and Confession pages. There, you will find evidence to prove my innocence. When you read the statement notice where the boys mother admits two weeks before trial that "My son Jeffrey feels like he was in the wrong." Yet, I was still sent to prison after a judge reading that statement. He should have thrown this case out right then. I would never have found out this evidence if I did not investigate my own case.

August 16, 1991 I was indicted on the charge and was arrested about two weeks later. I was tried by a judge on October 4, 1991 and convicted. The boys mother changed her story THREE times on the stand on how she was intimidated. First she said, I said it to her face, then someone in the neighborhood told her, then changed it again to her son told her. That is hard to believe that the accuser could change her story and still be convicted. What I am going to tell you now is going to be a shocker so get ready! I appealed the conviction immediately.

My attorney withheld this confession deliberately because they knew exactly what it meant to my case. It was really about the confession, however, they used the mother as the victim and no one was there to defend me and my attorneys did not let me take the stand to prove I did not intimidate anyone.

My attorneys did not tell me about the retrials on this charge because they knew about the confession and that would have cleared my name. One of the retrials was scheduled on November 18, 1991 before I was convicted on the Indecent Liberties. I did not know I had a court date then so I was not in court. In July of 1992, I was tried and convicted of Indecent Liberties, sentenced in December of 1992.

I got out on house arrest pending appeal under a 50,000 secured bond. The case of Intimidation of a Witness came back on the calendar again. June 23, 1993. No one told me to be in court, however, this time, is much different. My bond was revoked, order for my arrest issued, and a order striking forfeiture of bond was entered about 6 weeks later without me knowing anything about it. This retrial date was hidden from me because the state and my counsel did not want the confession to come out during the appeal process.

There is even more. My attorneys filed a MAR that shows that the child confessed. See Confession tab on this site. My attorney got up on the stand and flat out lied about the facts on the confession tape. My lawyer even said that what would my witness testify to, and he says "What I told him to." I never told him what to say, ever. My lawyer used that defense as a way of covering himself. Since he used to work in the courthouse in which I was convicted in, that defense worked. He knew about the confession a year prior and knew what his testimony was all about. Of course, my motion for relief was denied on my first set of counsel.

We hired new lawyers to represent me at the sentencing and throughout the appeal process. Here is something that I find shocking, disturbing, and really shows in a nut shell my defense that I had. My appeal was decided on February 24, 1994. This may be one of the most important facts of my case and it is most definitely new evidence.

My attorney did not disclose to me that my appeal was decided on February 24 of 1994. He made me remain on house arrest for 11 more months after my appeal was decided on. The only reason I can gather about this is the State and my attorney  knew that there was a new NC sex offender law, and instead of going to prison to start serving my sentence right then, they wanted to make sure that the new law about registering would affect me. I was released from prison on March 6, 1996. If I had of went in when I was supposed to, I would not of had to register as a sex offender at all.

I want to state that I am not guilty of anything. I would like to say, if you have a charge that has anything to do with children, you better watch out and be prepared to take the stand and defend yourself. What happened to me is a huge miscarriage of justice and want to get these convictions overturned. I may have done all of my sentence, however, this conviction has preventing me from living my life and means to get a real job to support my family. Thanks for reviewing my site and if I can be of any assistance, feel free to contact me.