Timeline

There seems to be some confusion by a reader of the blog of the exact timeline of Dean's life associated with this crime. Let me clear it up.
October of 1997, the crime occurred . Dean was working.
Four days after the crime, he was arrested for a parole violation of giving two gang members a ride to their house. He was really being locked up as a suspect for the murder of Miguel, but there was no case yet . One had to be built or formed against him. So.... The police took six months to build a case using snitches who were in prison for other crimes and wanted to make a deal so they could get out. One snitch came up with the story that the police and the prosecution built their whole case around. Dean remained locked up during the trial, lost the trial and was sent to one of the most violent prisons in California where he stayed for 3 years while his appeal was filed. He won his appeal
So March 2001 he was released. We put up his bail which the prosecutor tried to raise ,but failed.
For 4 years Dean worked, traveled and lived life reconnecting with his family and himself. He was a self supporting citizen with the shadow of another trial hanging over him. The trial kept getting delayed which was fine because he got to enjoy life a little longer. Then as the trial neared, the prosecutor wanted Dean in jail. (It makes Dean seem more criminal than if he was walking in every day with the jury.) So how could he do this? Dean was not committing any more crimes; like the snitches did. Simple, he drops the original charges, and comes up with new ones that make the original crime a capital one which means that no bail is allowed. Dean was walking his dog, when two plainclothes police officers jumped out of a car with guns and arrested him. It was for the same crime, but new charges. He stayed locked up in jail while the trial got delayed over and over until the new trial started in 2008.
Dean is innocent of this crime and the last crime he had been involved in (joy riding in a stolen car) had happened 14 years ago. The murder of Miguel which he did not do, happened 12 years ago this month. Any time spent in jail has been because of this case. It has taken 8 years of his life, because for 4, he was free.
It is very difficult to prepare for a case when one is locked up and all conversations are taped. Dean was not allowed to go through discovery and find the things he needed to help him. He relied on an attorney who missed things and had his own ideas. If Dean had been free, he could have prepared better, looked better and felt better.
Any one who has read this blog knows how we feel about the injustices in the system. Dean feels that he is going through this for a spiritual reason and that it guarantees him a place in heaven, not like the jurors and the prosecution. He is strong spiritually and that gets all of us through this.
Thank you Jean for your support. You were there through the whole trial and unfortunately did not get a chance to be the one with common sense in the jury room. You were not taken in by the theatrics and misrepresentations of the prosecutor.

Discovery

We finally have all the discovery which is tapes, transcripts, photos, dvds, etc. that was previously in the hands of the court, our attorney, and the prosecution. We have been slowly going through it and have only dented it. Already though, we have found things that show how Dean is innocent. It is amazing how our attorney missed these items, and how the prosecution overlooked them in deciding Dean's guilt. These items should have definitely come out in trial for the jury to hear and see, though with this jury, they might have ignored it too, just like they ignored other things that showed Dean's innocence. It is frustrating to find these items. It is just a reminder again how flawed our justice system is. How many innocent people are behind bars where most in society do not care about them or their situation? Why do prosecutors who know they are wrong keep going for the conviction?
Dean has never been a threat to society, and now the government supports him. He could be a self supporting citizen like he was for the four years he waited for a new trial. No wonder California is broke, and the prisons overcrowded. Too many people lack common sense and just want to punish and/or feel a sense of power over another.
I wonder how many more items I will find in Discovery that got overlooked. One day, these will all be important.