In the days since publishing all the previous evidence posts, I've been thinking about the situation and my plans. While there is a decision I've reached and been working towards for years, I've had some thoughts on the case and an idea I'd like to try before I fully commit to that other path. Before I get into what this idea is, I need to give some background on how I ended up reaching this point.
Unless this is your first time visiting this blog, you've already seen the evidence and commentary posts previously done. Writing those posts did nothing to improve my disposition towards the people involved with my case. Quite the opposite, I became even angrier over the years. It's hard not to get angry when going over everything that happened in 2006 and beyond. I've made no attempt to hide that anger and hate towards the people who harmed me, and I have no doubt that quite a bit of it comes through in my writing. The years since the damages were inflicted on me and my family have done nothing to calm me.
We have the corruption and excesses committed by Charlottesville law enforcement, specifically by prosecutors Warner Chapman and Joseph Platania. There is my lazy former counsel William Johnson, who took advantage of my mother's desperation by asking for an excessive fee upfront, and then refused to do the very job he'd been paid to do. Then we have the actions of Michelle Manweiler (now Michelle Dickerman), who lied to police, tampered with evidence, and knew full well she was getting special treatment based on her status as a rich UVA law school student in Charlottesville.
All of this results in me being threatened into a felony I never committed, to cover for Ms. Manweiler's actions and the mistakes of law enforcement. I was hammered over something that in essence was a really stupid and minor dispute, a dispute that could have easily been resolved by talking it over. Now this dispute is something far, far worse after everything that was done to me. And I am a very different person from what I was prior to 2006, all thanks to getting hammered. If Michelle Manweiler honestly didn't realize in 2006 she'd be making a life-long enemy by taking things as far as she did, then I have seriously given her too much credit. Originally this was a dispute that I considered to be just between Ms. Manweiler and myself. After the criminal case this fight has now grown to include far more people. There are plenty who need to answer for what was done to me.
Talking isn't solving anything now. It won't change the harm that was done nor fix the damage that will permanently affect me for the rest of my life. It isn't going to change the fact that people like Chapman, Platania, Johnson and Manweiler all did things they need to answer for. I can only imagine how many people those two prosecutors and William Johnson have harmed since my case. I was not the first person whose life they destroyed, and I definitely wasn't the last. All the guilty parties involved in my 2006 case will continue to harm people for as long as they remain unpunished. No amount of discussion will change that. They simply need to be exposed for what they've done and removed from the positions that gave them the ability to harm people.
Returning to the here and now - I have grown tired of this situation, the damages inflicted, and the people who harmed me going unpunished for their actions. My anger increases daily and has slowly eroded the person I once was. At some point something has to give. Michelle Manweiler's antics have only inflamed things more. You have the fact she left an insult in the comments on a post detailing the history of this fight. Michelle Manweiler wasn't just insulting me and everything I've been through. Far as I'm concerned Manweiler was also mocking what my family went through.
From my mother being afraid out of her mind about what was being done to me for the nearly five months the Manweiler's had me sitting in jail, to the fact she still hasn't recovered and constantly worries. Michelle Manweiler was even mocking the last moments of my grandmother's life, where in her stroke damage state she regressed to the months I sat in jail and was in genuine panic on her deathbed. These things were discussed in that Long War post, and Michelle Manweiler's only response is to hop onto the blog that day solely to leave an insult in the comments. Maybe I really do give Manweiler too much credit, because the far more intelligent thing would have been to not leave any comment in the first place rather than leaving an insult.
Then of course we have the fact that Manweiler was contacting the Charlottesville law enforcement again to start trouble, as evidenced by a City of Charlottesville ISP visit. For those who haven't read those posts, the Charlottesville ISP is the network for city officials and police. Once again she tries to start trouble. It seems Michelle Manweiler's only true talent in life is making her situation worse.
Prior to the day of my arrest, when Manweiler and I were butting heads this dispute with her actually wasn't something that was on my mind a lot. I was able to go to work and not even have a single thought about the dispute. That extended to my leisure activities during the time as well. That is simply no longer the case. It isn't anything about the pre-2006 issues with Michelle Manweiler that weighs on my mind now, I haven't cared much about those things for some time. What happened in 2006 far exceeds anything Manweiler did to me before.
Everything that happened to me after my arrest, and the things I've gone through since, have never left my thoughts since I walked out of that jail on November 8th, 2006. During every waking moment what happened is constantly running through my mind. Like it is stuck on repeat. I struggle at work to focus on my job because of this, a job that's increasing becoming more complicated now that I've been handed the task of modeling systems in entire ships. I'd be lying if I said that difficulty in focusing at work hasn't been a problem. Throw in the severe difficulty in sleeping since 2006 and I'm honestly surprised that the mistakes have been few.
The effects of 2006 extend to other things as well. I recall Michelle Manweiler once mentioned in a long ago news article on the valedictorians, that one of the releases she had from daily pressures was playing the piano. Like Ms. Manweiler (and everyone else on the planet I'm sure), I have had my own niche activities that used to be a good outlet for stress and all the bad things going on in my life. That is no longer the case.
During the period of my release from jail and especially my unemployment period, I can only describe myself as having essentially retreated from the world. Being unemployed of course meant moving back in with my mother, stepfather and sisters, which wasn't any easier given the tensions everyone had after what took place for the months I was in jail. We were all angry about how the whole thing turned out. Unfortunately that anger, worry, and embarrassment that all of us had afterwards occasionally got turned on each other.
When I say I retreated from the world during this time, I mean that literally. An example is that I would only take my dog for a walk at night just so that I wouldn't run into any neighbors. The neighborhood was sympathetic and knew what had actually happened after speaking with my family (many even writing letters to the judge), but I just didn't want to be around anyone after what happened. While embarrassment played a part, it wasn't the main reason. I can't quite explain what it was that caused me to pull away from everyone like I did. I still find myself doing this even these days.
But getting back on point, the hobbies I once found to be a release from daily pressures stopped granting such an effect. It started losing that effect during that unemployment period. I had attempted to get another degree because nobody wanted to hire a felon in my original field (it was a waste of time unfortunately as the bottom fell out of that job market just before I finished). Because of that focus on trying to get a job again, I was able to push out the thoughts of my situation to some small degree. But about two years into once again being employed, everything involving the legal situation came crashing in. My former hobbies haven't had the effect they once did since that happened.
There is literally no moment that this legal issue does not constantly go through my mind. That past activity does not allow my mind to wander onto something else, and I find myself getting angry and annoyed where once I wouldn't have experienced that. In turn I've been trying other activities that might help to get my mind off what happened in 2006 (if even for a little bit), but I've yet to find anything that really works. Nor have I yet found an activity that releases any of the anger that has been steadily building since I walked out of jail.
I went over all this so you'll understand where things are at right now. It is not even remotely possible to start moving past all that happened in 2006, when the felony charge presents a constant reminder of what happened. It comes up every time voting takes place, where I have to lie about going to vote when my coworkers mention it just so that they don't catch on that I can't vote. The charge has resulted in bigger problems even recently. I already mentioned previously how something fell through for me when the terms of the plea agreement came into the discussion. Those involved already didn't like that I was a felon, but the plea agreement terms settled it for them. I've also noticed that there has been recent interest in the post where I talk about the problem of foreign travel. This already was resolved some time ago (I just didn't want Manweiler knowing about when I was out of the country), but it certainly did not go smoothly.
I had to meet with a sister company under the same corporate banner, to basically observe and learn about high-speed ferry design since they had experience with this type of work in the UK. I had to fly into a small regional UK airport from mainland Europe. Upon arrival in the UK two customs officers were waiting for me as I walked into the terminal, and continued to watch me while I filled out the form required for a non-UK/EU citizen. As soon as I was out of that line, the customs officers approached me and told me to come with them. While they also indicated to my coworker next to me to come as well, they were both looking at me as they requested we come with them. We were not the only non-UK/EU individuals on the flight, there were other Americans and other nationalities (we were all at the same station filling out our information cards). Yet no one else was approached or watched, I appeared to be the only target of their interest.
They took us into a back room where our luggage was searched and I'm not talking about an X-ray. They actually opened every suitcase and bag, pulled out every individual item and article of clothing, and stacked them onto the table for an inspection. The entire time the officers asked questions, such as my business in the UK and what I did for a living. They looked at me when asking, and even when my coworker answered for both of us they clearly wanted responses from me. The entire time that this was going on, I was operating under the assumption that they knew about my record and that this was a prelude to getting denied entry. Eventually they seem satisfied, apologized for the mess, and asked if we wanted the officers to repack or if we wished to do it ourselves. My coworker and I both decided to do it ourselves, and the rest of the trip continued on.
Might this have had nothing to do with the felony charge? Sure. Maybe they just noticed the tall guy coming out of the plane and said "Yeah that one". But when they clearly focus on the felon stepping off of a plane, it is hard to assume the reason was anything else. Perhaps that was the risk of coming into a small regional airport versus coming into London Heathrow and taking a train (I didn't buy the tickets, the company did). With a small airport it is easy to view a passenger manifest, check the nationalities, and do any number of online criminal record searches on the non-UK/EU people.
Just because the UK and the US don't have a connected criminal database, doesn't mean officials can't pull up public records information that any teenager with a smartphone could check. I certainly didn't have any problems in Europe when I landed, it was only once I touched down in the UK that there became an issue. On the return trip the European country I landed in got confused by the London souvenir I bought my mom when it went through the X-ray with my carry-on. But this just earned me a bomb swab, not a "I'm going to ask you questions as I go through your belongings".
A class 6 felony charge (that was supposed to be a misdemeanor here in Virginia) for running one's mouth to someone on the internet is not remotely on the level of armed robbery or murder. But when you're entering a country that is trying to ban kitchen knives, maybe you have to expect that even the lowest level felony out there is going to get a reaction. Not to mention people in authority don't respond well to people who have a criminal past, and they aren't concerned about what the story behind it might be. Maybe they assumed a criminal past means a higher chance of smuggling things.
At least it didn't end with denied entry. I'm not even remotely sure how that would have worked out given all flights at that airport were regional to Europe, and I might have been denied entry by any other country after the UK denial. Given this was my first time traveling internationally, I have no idea how I would have gotten on a US bound flight if the European airport I tried to return to said "piss off felon go back to the UK airport". I contemplated how I would figure out return flights as I watched my luggage being pulled out by a UK customs officer.
So as you might imagine, even though it worked out in the end I'm obviously quite pissed that the false felony charge might have caused this unexpected and invasive search. Hard not to assume it had something to do with it. Even with it eventually working out, it was impossible not to be worried when the two uniformed officers that watched me get off the plane ask me to come with them. I'm very angry I even had to be worried about that. It should never have been a concern. The events of 2006 should never have resulted in even a charge of felony death threats, let alone being threatened into a plea deal to it. Manweiler knows quite well that what went on in 2006 on her behalf was complete bullshit. Her status as a lawyer makes her more knowledgeable about that than most. And I've already shown proof that Michelle Manweiler lied and tampered with evidence to make that abuse by Charlottesville law enforcement possible.
Which is where we get to my plans and intentions. Before I fully commit to the decision I made and the path that it will lead down, I'm interested in trying something first.
I mentioned before about the possibility of getting the sealed evidence in my file opened by a judge. The biggest reason for doing this is that I'm 100% certain that Joseph Platania and Warner Chapman removed the blatant tampering by Michelle Manweiler. You'll recall from my evidence postings that Michelle Manweiler was forwarding my emails to a fake account she created (the "To Rick" notation on an email supposedly in her inbox proves she was forwarding emails), and that she wrote April and May dates on what was actually page 2 & 3 of a single March 12th email (the pages even have a March 12th printer timestamp).
I believe that before the evidence was submitted to a grand jury and circuit court, the prosecution removed the "To Rick" discrepancy and the March 12th printer timestamp. If even my incompetent lawyer can spot these discrepancies, then chances are high that at least one person on a grand jury or the judge himself will spot these. It only takes one person noticing this for it to become a problem for the prosecution. Questions would then be raised that the prosecution and the Manweilers would not want to answer. What better way to avoid that coming up than to remove it from the evidence entirely. Given that my lawyer was at the district attorney's office when he spotted the problems with Manweiler's printed emails, the prosecution likely knew exactly what they needed to remove.
I have ample evidence to prove these discrepancies existed on the original evidence Michelle Manweiler submitted. I possess the emails given to my lawyer by the prosecution, which show the tampering by Manweiler on them. I have my lawyer's notes where he even writes down where he noticed the tampering. My mother recorded my lawyer while meeting with him, and he fully admits these discrepancies are present and that he has no explanation for them. He appears to panic and wanted to get off the subject, I've described this incident in the write-up on William Johnson. The email Manweiler labels as being sent to her on May 11th says what date it was actually sent within the body of the message. That date does not match her May 11th claimed date, but it does match the March 12th time stamp exactly. It is an open and shut case against Michelle Manweiler, one she has no argument against. Her evidence was tainted and the prosecution decided to continue forward anyway while having full knowledge that something was wrong.
So I can prove in a court of law that these discrepancies existed on the evidence Michelle Manweiler supplied to law enforcement. Now imagine what would happen if it were revealed the prosecution removed that tampering before submitting it in circuit court? Two prosecutors altering their evidence before submitting it in court would carry serious consequences. That felony charge would also no longer be valid given the prosecution committed a criminal act to make it happen. I can't imagine I wouldn't then be in a position to take legal action against all parties involved, and don't expect for a minute that I'd have any problem with showing the same lack of mercy I've been shown by all of them.
I've already researched what I need to do to unseal this file. The judge who originally sealed it retired, but I can merely ask another judge and that will actually make it more likely to happen. While it is as simple as sending the judge an email making the argument for unsealing it, I fully intend on the option of filing a motion in court asking a judge to unseal the evidence. The reason for doing this is to make any opposition from the prosecution public record. Also my understanding is that the prosecution cannot communicate with the judge on it privately without including me. This would get both him and the judge in trouble if this occurred. Though it is likely the prosecutor wouldn't be notified or even get a say in it anyway.
Even if Platania was notified and tried to fight the unsealing of the evidence, he is likely to fail anyway. Since the currently active judges weren't involved in the 2006 case they don't have anything to risk by unsealing it. There also isn't a single argument the prosecution could make that would justify not unsealing that evidence and disclosing it to me. My understanding is that I can keep requesting it to be unsealed after set amounts of time between each request. Believe me I will keep doing it until it finally goes through. I'll only have to get a 'yes' from a judge once to succeed, while Platania would need to hope for a 'no' every single time. If Platania fights to keep it sealed, loses that fight, and I find out that he did indeed remove the evidence of the tampering - I'm definitely going to remember that he tried to stop it. His best bet would be to cooperate if he did commit the actions that I believe he did.
First I will be verifying with the clerk that the file is still present and that the evidence envelope is still sealed under judge's orders. I haven't decided whether I'll actually do this in person at the courthouse or if I'll just call or send an email to the clerk to ask about this. If I find out the envelope has been unsealed prior, I'll find out from the clerk who requested it and when.
I think chances are extremely high that Warner Chapman and Joseph Platania removed that evidence of tampering. Even if they didn't remove the tampering, I'm still very interested in seeing the claimed emails that were withheld from my attorney. I suspect that the first page of that March 12th email is in there, and that it was claimed as a third separate email. There were also a lot of lies and garbage from the prosecution to smear my character as much as possible. The biggest evidence of this was Charlottesville law enforcement claiming I was arrested in Charlottesville, when they knew quite well that they transferred me up from Hampton on the night of my arrest.
The prosecution wanted to justify the unjustifiable, and they were all too willing to make things up to accomplish it. Platania even used a joke novelty bumper sticker from a forum I once frequented as evidence in court. He was dumb enough to actually state at the guilty plea hearing that it was solely because he didn't like the bumper sticker. Apparently he believed his personal opinion overruled the first amendment. I'm disappointed that the judge didn't chew him out for something that ridiculous. I would definitely like to see what Platania's fairy tales ended up materializing as in the evidence. I suspect there was a lot of false garbage thrown in that was never revealed to my lawyer, because Johnson didn't give enough of a damn to even request all the evidence. When you have a defense attorney who cooperates with the prosecution 100%, it is easy to slip in whatever trash you want into the evidence.
Even if it turns out that the prosecution was cocky enough to not remove evidence of Manweiler's tampering, the presence of those discrepancies in the court file only strengthens my case by confirming everything in my possession even more. As I said, I suspect the first page of that March 12th email was claimed as a separate email by Manweiler. While having that match-up between my evidence and the court file won't have the quick effect that evidence of prosecutor misconduct would, it certainly isn't a bad thing. I'll have to explore what my options are at that point based on what is in the envelope.
I'm not at all concerned about discussing this on this blog. The evidence was sealed under judge's orders, and it is stored in a court file that only the clerks have access. Anyone requesting it to be unsealed has to go through the proper channels, and that means the request will be on file as well. Manweiler won't know when I'm requesting it, won't know which judge, and she has no say in the matter anyway. Even if Platania rushed out to request the evidence be unsealed before I request it, he won't be able to alter anything within the court file to hide what he did. There is frankly nothing that Platania or Manweiler could do if it turns out that Platania doctored the emails before submitting them in court.
When I get that envelope unsealed and it turns out Platania really did remove Manweiler's tampering, there are a few steps I plan on taking. I may or may not decide to go to the district attorney's office and confront Platania first with the evidence, before I continue on to the necessary authorities. That's of course after I supply the evidence to family and third parties, so that if Platania tried anything that evidence will be made public and his situation becomes worse for him. The results after that talk with Platania would depend on the level of cooperation I receive. Certainly any interference from Platania to prevent the discovery of that evidence, would result in me taking the evidence straight to where it needs to go instead of discussing anything with him.
I'm not going to go into further details on what my next course of action would be should I find the proof I was looking for, nor go into the deals I would be willing to discuss if it meant full legal damages against the other parties. That would be putting the cart before the horse. I have to first get the files unsealed and then find out what was submitted in court by Platania. I'll decide from there how I will proceed, taking into account actions from all parties. Though I've already written Manweiler off long ago, and her recent negative actions I've previously mentioned are already weighed against her. We'll just have to see what level of cooperation I receive from Charlottesville should I get the evidence I'm seeking.
As I said, I'm trying this first before I fully commit to my previous decision. Something has to happen because I'm not going to continue to have this nonsense stand. I'll likely post the results of the unsealing of the records on here once the request goes through and I see the evidence.
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