Saturday, May 31, 2008

Sorry to Disappoint: No Letter from Mechele YET

I know I've been talking about posting something from Mechele herself. I thought it was on the way to me. I recently got a package from her (she sent US a book!), but it did not include a letter to post here. Sorry. I've asked her mom to check in with her on that, or I will if I get the chance to talk to her soon.

There are lots of exciting things in the works. This weekend, we're working hard on the new Free Mechele merchandise. We hope to have it ready for action by Tuesday. Also, I will post another sentencing letter soon. Probably my own.

Thanks for reading!

Monday, May 26, 2008

Video of Colin Testifying for Mechele

This is an old video, from the the end of the trial in October, but since we are focused right now on our support of Mechele, and Colin's in particular, I thought I'd post it.



Way to go, Colin. He's been through heck and back and he just keeps on being solid support for his wife. Good man.

Colin's Sentencing Letter

Apparently, unless I want to retype the whole 18 pages of Colin's letter, I need to just link to it. So, here's the link. :) Let me know if it stops working at any point.

Colin's sentencing letter

Sentencing Letters

Well, since we have had a request for more posts, and I'm still waiting to get a post in from Mechele herself, I put my head together with another Mechele friend for ideas. Here's what we came up with: posting sentencing letters. The whole idea of this blog is to put forth another view of Mechele than that the popular media has chosen. Ours is the viewpoint of people who know and love her.

Many of us wrote letters to the judge prior to her sentencing earlier this year, talking about why we believe the sentencing should be light. Although the letters obviously did not have their desired effect on the sentencing, I imagine they do shed a lot of light on Mechele as a person. I'd like to share as many of those letters here as I can collect. We might need to edit them some to keep a level of confidentiality for others involved.

Mechele's husband, Colin, wrote quite an extensive letter that appeared as a .pdf on the pages of adn.com. I think I'll start with his.

Thanks for reading!

Sunday, May 4, 2008

38 Points is Quite a Few

I talked to Mechele today, and she is keeping her spirits up. I had been curious about the appeal. When I first heard "38 points" I thought, "Wow, that's a lot." Then I thought, "Well, I don't know how many points appeals usually have." So, I asked Mechele today if 38 is a lot, and she confirmed that indeed it is. Sometimes people appeal on just 1 or 2. So, again, I just have to say: 38!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Appeal News: 38 Points

The latest news on Mechele's appeal can be found on ADN.com here. We are happy to report that she has some highly respected lawyers, Jeff Feldman and Susan Orlansky, on the case. I know that Mechele and her family also have great respect and gratitude for her trial lawyers. From ADN, "Linehan's attorney during the trial, Kevin Fitzgerald, is still on the case. He recommended Feldman and Orlansky for the appeal, according to Linehan's husband, Dr. Colin Linehan. It is standard for a different lawyer to take up an appeal because it brings fresh eyes to the case, Feldman said of why Fitzgerald wasn't handling it."

The appeal, which was filed last week, includes THIRTY-EIGHT (38) reasons Mechele did not get a fair hearing. THIRTY-EIGHT. For the whole story, go to ADN. They also have a .pdf of the statement of points on appeal.

We are currently working on Free Mechele T-shirts and other merchandise, the proceeds from which will be donated to her family's fund to help with legal and travel expenses. I can see the possibility for using the number 38 in some of them now.

One thing I do want to specifically point out is the time frame for the appeal process, as I'm sure many will be interested (myself included). According to the article, "The case will likely be heard by the Court of Appeals in the late fall or early 2009, Feldman said. Decisions typically are made six to 12 months later."

Based on that, we are looking at spring 2009 as the earliest possible date for some good news. Please continue to keep Mechele and her family in your thoughts and prayers as this process unfolds.