Sunday, December 20, 2009
Happy Holidays to all our friends and family!!
Hi everyone!! First of all, please accept my apologies for not posting or responding to all the wonderful emails you have sent. My step mom was rushed to the hospital last Thursday with spinal menengitias. (sorry, Colin, sure I totally mispelled that!) Fortunately, it was not bacterial, but viral. Anyway, I had to drive to Louisiana and give my sister a hand. For those who do not know, my dad is 85 and not in the best of health, so I stayed with him a few nights. Made a quick trip home today and will go back tomorrow. Hopefully she will be sent home in the next few days. But, it's just been crazy the last few days, so I hope you all will understand. Mechele sends her thanks to all of you who have written and sent her Christmas gifts! It truly brightens her holidays. Oh, if anyone sent her a book from Barnes & Nobles, it was a hardback and therefore sent back to B&N. So, if you did send it, make sure you check that you have been issued a credit. To our wonderful friend who sent me the beautiful floral arrangements, I thank you from the bottom of my heart! My favorite, roses and Mechele's favorite, lilies! It was perfect and ever so thoughtful!! I hope each and every one of you have a beautiful holiday season. Take time for your loved ones, family is so important, especially this time of year. In spite of everything, our family has so much to be thankful for. The closeness and love we have for each other is truly enhanced by the love and support people like you have shown us. It is our prayer and belief that our beloved Mechele will be sent home to us and next Christmas our family will once again be complete! Thank you all, we are truly blessed to have your care, concern and thoughtfulness. Each and every one of you are in my Christmas prayers!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Bmialone said...
Colin,I attended the hearing today. Mechele's lawyer did a good job. He was respectful, specific, informative, and logical.The lack of substance in the prosecuting attorney's arguments was shocking; shocking in that she produced nothing of substance so how could Mechele's life (and yours) been blown apart so easily?In fact, she actually said it all came down to only one thing, "interpretation." She was referring to the circumstantial evidence, admitting that is "only" what they had, and that it all came down to one's interpretation of that circumstantial evidence. It is stunning, surreal, how authorities could take a citizen, charge her, put her on trial, take her freedom for what amounts to the rest of her life, on nothing more than what the prosecutor's attorney herself admitted was only circumstantial evidence, and then because that is all they had, it all came down to interpretation of it. She said it as justification and as acceptable!How long can it take the judges to reach a decision?I'm sorry you spent your time and energy chasing planes.
December 3, 2009 9:50 PM
Colin,I attended the hearing today. Mechele's lawyer did a good job. He was respectful, specific, informative, and logical.The lack of substance in the prosecuting attorney's arguments was shocking; shocking in that she produced nothing of substance so how could Mechele's life (and yours) been blown apart so easily?In fact, she actually said it all came down to only one thing, "interpretation." She was referring to the circumstantial evidence, admitting that is "only" what they had, and that it all came down to one's interpretation of that circumstantial evidence. It is stunning, surreal, how authorities could take a citizen, charge her, put her on trial, take her freedom for what amounts to the rest of her life, on nothing more than what the prosecutor's attorney herself admitted was only circumstantial evidence, and then because that is all they had, it all came down to interpretation of it. She said it as justification and as acceptable!How long can it take the judges to reach a decision?I'm sorry you spent your time and energy chasing planes.
December 3, 2009 9:50 PM
Thank you...
Very well articulated.
Circumstance needs to be interpretated. If you have a prosecution that will, and can, take the circumstance and interpret it to meet their narrative... you have guilt of whoever they want to target per their narrative. If... If the jury takes this narrative as absolute.
The key is to get the jury to believe this narrative is fact. And it sure helps if all the media available to citizens (and thus jury) parrots this narrative.
Listen... The jurors follow the media narrative regardless of juror instructions. This is fact.
Regardless of all the holes poked into the narrative in the trial... The trial itself becomes secondary to the headlines.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Update
Belated Post:
Over the past year and a half, Mechele and I have been working with Mechele’s appellate lawyers concerning the appeal of Mechele’s conviction. This has been going on with no media attention and the hard work of Mechele’s appellate lawyers has been remarkable. I even studied the transcripts and appeal to add some minimal contribution. Although my time spent on it far outweighed my contribution, it was still gratifying to see. This process has been our sole focus. Today, the oral arguments concerning the appeal took place.
These arguments today are not the appeal. The three judge panel was there to hear both sides summarize the appellate points and to ask questions of the attorneys representing the State of Alaska and Mechele. The judges have already studied the written appeal and the case. For us, this was not a significant part of the process. The significant work was already done.
I wanted to come up with our daughter and visit Mechele and attend the arguments, but was unable to. Our daughter and I actually had stand-by tickets, but spent over a day and a half chasing planes at the Sea-Tac airport that were full. We just got home yesterday. We visit Mechele every chance we get and are very grateful for all the support we get when we come to Anchorage.
Mechele and I have decided that, like in the trial, this process should go forward without media attention. We still believe that justice doesn’t and shouldn’t involve tabloid headlines and blind adherence to prosecution narrative. However, the oral arguments about the appeal tend to be more noteworthy for the media because they don’t have to read the actual appeal and can treat the appellate arguments like a TV show. Not all the media, mind you, but most.
As a side note to this, here is the headline of an AP article published a few days ago: “Ex-stripper appeals Alaska killing conviction”. Again… bravo. Breaking news. The appeal, again, was initiated well over a year ago. And the “ex-stripper” meme is always enlightening. I want to be forever known as an “ex-Sunglass Hut employee”.
Not to beat a dead horse, but, Mechele’s character is well known and defined by the people who know and lover her. A three month thread of emails and circumstance doesn’t define anyone. Unless you are a TV or movie character. Or a cartoon villain with super powers to control men… but I digress.
Bottom line: we are still fighting, and we still have hope. Your support and prayers keep us going. So thanks again.
Colin Linehan
Over the past year and a half, Mechele and I have been working with Mechele’s appellate lawyers concerning the appeal of Mechele’s conviction. This has been going on with no media attention and the hard work of Mechele’s appellate lawyers has been remarkable. I even studied the transcripts and appeal to add some minimal contribution. Although my time spent on it far outweighed my contribution, it was still gratifying to see. This process has been our sole focus. Today, the oral arguments concerning the appeal took place.
These arguments today are not the appeal. The three judge panel was there to hear both sides summarize the appellate points and to ask questions of the attorneys representing the State of Alaska and Mechele. The judges have already studied the written appeal and the case. For us, this was not a significant part of the process. The significant work was already done.
I wanted to come up with our daughter and visit Mechele and attend the arguments, but was unable to. Our daughter and I actually had stand-by tickets, but spent over a day and a half chasing planes at the Sea-Tac airport that were full. We just got home yesterday. We visit Mechele every chance we get and are very grateful for all the support we get when we come to Anchorage.
Mechele and I have decided that, like in the trial, this process should go forward without media attention. We still believe that justice doesn’t and shouldn’t involve tabloid headlines and blind adherence to prosecution narrative. However, the oral arguments about the appeal tend to be more noteworthy for the media because they don’t have to read the actual appeal and can treat the appellate arguments like a TV show. Not all the media, mind you, but most.
As a side note to this, here is the headline of an AP article published a few days ago: “Ex-stripper appeals Alaska killing conviction”. Again… bravo. Breaking news. The appeal, again, was initiated well over a year ago. And the “ex-stripper” meme is always enlightening. I want to be forever known as an “ex-Sunglass Hut employee”.
Not to beat a dead horse, but, Mechele’s character is well known and defined by the people who know and lover her. A three month thread of emails and circumstance doesn’t define anyone. Unless you are a TV or movie character. Or a cartoon villain with super powers to control men… but I digress.
Bottom line: we are still fighting, and we still have hope. Your support and prayers keep us going. So thanks again.
Colin Linehan
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Hi to all!
Just a quick update!! Oral arguments are being heard Thursday afternoon. We won't know anything at that time, it is just a step in the process. Colin will be there. Hopefully he will post a note when he gets home. Thank you all for the letters you are sending! We are gathering names and addresses of politicians, etc. and will be ready to start sending them out. If you haven't sent your letter there is still time!! We cannot have too many!! Mail them or email them to me at mechelemom@yahoo.com! Hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving. Lets send all our prayers and postive thoughts to the three judges that are holding Mechele's fate in their hands!!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Good morning to our friends and family!!!
I just wanted to write and thank all of you who have sent support letters for Mechele! Each and every one of them are so very important to our cause! To ensure a faster response to those of you who have chosen to email me personally, I have created a special email account just for you! You can email me at mechelemom@yahoo.com. I do still have my other account, but this will save me time and give priority to your emails that mean so very much to me. It will also help me when I print our your mail for Mechele. She is so very grateful for all of your support. We cannot have enough letters, so please keep up the great effort to enlist your friends, family and anyone that believes that justice has not been administered in our case. As the holidays are approaching, this is a very emotional time for us. Mechele is truly the "Christmas Elf!" She so enjoyed the holidays with her family. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers at this time. For those of you who wish to send donations to be placed in her account you can do so through paypal, where I have an account established or send directly to me. This will allow her to buy gifts for Audrey as well as stamps for her correspondence. Let's pray that this will be her last Christmas away from our family! It is not Christmas for us, until we have her home to share the holidays with us. It is my prayer and wish that each and every one of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that your lives are blessed. Enjoy your loved ones and cherish the time you spend with them. My gratitude this year goes out to all of you. We are blessed and thankful to have the wonderful support that you have shown.
With all my gratitude,
Sandy
I just wanted to write and thank all of you who have sent support letters for Mechele! Each and every one of them are so very important to our cause! To ensure a faster response to those of you who have chosen to email me personally, I have created a special email account just for you! You can email me at mechelemom@yahoo.com. I do still have my other account, but this will save me time and give priority to your emails that mean so very much to me. It will also help me when I print our your mail for Mechele. She is so very grateful for all of your support. We cannot have enough letters, so please keep up the great effort to enlist your friends, family and anyone that believes that justice has not been administered in our case. As the holidays are approaching, this is a very emotional time for us. Mechele is truly the "Christmas Elf!" She so enjoyed the holidays with her family. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers at this time. For those of you who wish to send donations to be placed in her account you can do so through paypal, where I have an account established or send directly to me. This will allow her to buy gifts for Audrey as well as stamps for her correspondence. Let's pray that this will be her last Christmas away from our family! It is not Christmas for us, until we have her home to share the holidays with us. It is my prayer and wish that each and every one of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that your lives are blessed. Enjoy your loved ones and cherish the time you spend with them. My gratitude this year goes out to all of you. We are blessed and thankful to have the wonderful support that you have shown.
With all my gratitude,
Sandy
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Letters(?)
Good morning!! Thanks, guys for the letters you are sending!! WE NEED MORE!! To answer some questions that you have asked: Copies of your letters will be sent to Mechele's attys, and to Mechele as well as the appropriate legislators (senators, congressmen, representatives) the prosecution , the press and anyone else we feel may benefit from them and bring attention to our case! As far as the content, write what you feel! Obviously attention needs to be brought to the various incidents of injustice that are evident. But, just write from your heart just like you have posted on this blogsite. Email letters are fine as long as you send your full name and address. These can be emailed to me at msylady@yahoo.com or mailed to my address: Sandy McWilliams,3116 Prescott Dr, Moss Point, Ms. 39562. Believe me, these letters can have a powerful influence! Your efforts and concern are so very much appreciated by Mechele and our entire family. As I mentioned, the blog may be quiet as we approach the date of oral arguments, which has been changed to December 4, 2009. As any news develops, be assured I will post it on the blogsite. For anyone that may not want to post, feel free to email me personally as many of you have done! I will respond as quickly as possible. Please keep in mind that I am working full time and I try to answer your emails each evening, but occasionally it may be a day or so before I can do so. They are extremely important to us and I send Mechele copies as well. As we have posted previously, this is a positive blogsite and we only publish positive comments, but since this blogsite was published we have gotten very few negative responses. The more these shows air, the more people are becoming aware of our case and are questioning the way it was handled. I can honestly tell you I have not received any negative comments in the last six weeks. If people do resond negatively and leave their email address, although I will not post them to the blogsite I will personally respond and answer any questions that they may have. As always, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your support encourages us and helps us cope with this nightmare. Have a great weekend and know that you are all in my heart and thoughts each and every day!
Sandy
Sandy
Friday, November 6, 2009
email letters ok!
Hi to all! Just verified that if you want to send an email letter to me msylady@yahoo.com instead of mailing, that is totally ok...just make sure you give your name and address!! I am sincerely hoping that each and everyone of you will either write or email your letters of support!! Thanks so very much!
Sandy
Sandy
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