Almost the end of the road.

Well... we heard back from the ninth circuit court of appeals.  They have refused to review Dean's appeal.  They get massive amounts of appeals after first trials, so I am sure they don't feel urgency getting one after a second trial.    I guess they have not paid attention to the news from Orange County about the corruption in the D.As office and their manipulations of snitches.  Dean's jury probably did not realize they were putting Dean away for life without a chance at parole.  Even Charles Manson comes up for parole hearings.  Not Dean.  So instead of being able to swim in the ocean and enjoy nature and hiking, Dean will make a life in the desert.  He has been doing this and is now going for his college degree.  The local college works with prisoners and Dean has been getting A's.    He has also almost completed his training to be a drug and addiction counselor in prison.  He finished a fiction book which will be published soon.   He is healthy and settled.   His ability to adapt and accept his fate amazes me.   He knows people are very flawed as he was for a time.  He sees how the jury could be so easily led, as he once was.  He forgives them and thinks about other things.  I do not forgive their sloppiness or their wish to punish without reviewing the facts.  
  We have very good genes in our family, so I expect Dean to live into his nineties.  He has zero health problems and keeps himself active and busy.   He will never be able to share his life with a partner(woman), or enjoy children.  It is a lesson to young people who think they can be wild in their youth and dabble in criminal hijinks; that they may not be able to get out of it.
  The only way that Dean can get out of prison is if a Governor changes his sentence, or if new information comes out showing his innocence.  Dean does know that he is partly to blame for Miguels death because he did goad the younger members to get revenge.  He would never want a death, but that went out of his control.    Now, he is so far removed from his lost thinking of his youth.  He has grown and matured.  He is back to the Dean he was born, and in that aspect; he is free.