So, the appellate process is very different than a trial. It is very slow and requires tremendous patience and calm. One thing I’ve learned is that deadlines are not really deadlines. Meaning, if something is due on a certain day, and you’re not done, you can always get a brand new deadline. I wish college and graduate school were like that. Many deadlines have come and pass and we have just now received the State’s response to our appellate points. These are points that question whether any of Judge Volland’s decisions strayed from the rules of the game. We are confident we have found examples that are pretty clear cut. But, we wait.
Now it is our turn to answer the State. Then comes oral arguments and the last part is the three-judge decision. This can take some time. We have patience and hope. There are some very strong appellate points.
With this process, the focus shifts specifically to the trial and nothing else. Any new evidence we have does not come in at this point. Any new witness or affidavit is not important here. The appellate process is strictly about the trial and errors of law within.
So, if you have followed what I’ve previously written, you can see why I can’t really comment on Judge Volland’s statements during the trial and sentencing. He is obviously a good man, but his sentencing speech was pretty interesting. I will state that he stated he had “a clear conscience” about his sentencing twice. The first time, it was for the people in the courtroom. I wonder if the second time was for him.
There is one last item I would like to touch on now. When I received the State’s response to our appeal, I noticed it was brought to us by Mr. Richard A. Svobodny. Mr. Svobodny is the Acting Attorney General for the State of Alaska. Mr. Svobodny also wrote an internal email to congratulate his colleges on October 22, 2007 after Mechele’s conviction. He states, “Exotic dancers across Alaska are shivering with fear with the conviction of Mechele Linehan.” This does shed some light on what this whole trial was all about. Notice he doesn’t say “Murderers across Alaska are shivering with fear…”
Hmmm.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Thank You All For Your Support
Hey All,
First off… Thanks for everyone’s support and encouragement. This post touches on the character issue and my gratitude to you all. The following post will deal with the appeal. Mechele especially appreciates all the support. She is in a very hard place. For those who know and love her, it touches us as well.
That is the point, of course…“those who know and love her”. There are so many who know Mechele and realize the “narrative” that the prosecution used was incongruent with who she is. Remember, we, as a legal team, decided to not make “character an issue” and never brought it up. Therefore we never had anyone, but me, testify for her. And I didn’t testify to her character. I mainly testified to rebut some of the State’s irrefutable smears. This part of our legal strategy assumed a Jury adherence to the specific instruction by the Judge to not take character into their assessment of guilt based on the evidence presented. The burden of proof lied with the State and not Mechele. She was innocent until proved guilty. This didn’t happen, per the jurors themselves, by their own words.
The evidence that was presented is another story. The forced circumstance to meet the prosecution’s narrative is something I would love to get into. That is really the “meat” of the issue. I, unfortunately, can’t. I have audio, documents, and affidavits that are quite damaging to the State’s narrative. Why not post them? When, by the grace of God, a new trial comes, our legal team will deliver. I have been “advised” that now is not the time. Roger Wilco.
The several dozen letters that were sent to the Judge for character support for sentencing purposes were dismissed by the Judge. He stated we were all “charmed” by Mechele. Dang... what a bunch of suckers we are. I would love to get into more of Judge Volland’s sentencing soliloquy. The “charmed” comment was one of many very strange proclamations by Judge Volland. I can’t get into that as I will explain in the “Appeal” post.
The truth of the matter is I am not a dupe or ignorant. I have heard Mechele’s history of events that transpired in the spring of 1996 when we first met. Funny thing is, it has never changed. Not once. The other thing is that her statements have always been consistent with me and the police. There is no contradiction. The issue here is that everyone who testified against Mechele had their inconsistent statements read back to them. Brett Riddell and Miss Aspiotis had their testimony shredded by Mr. Fitzgerald. It was interesting to watch Mr. Riddell contradict an audio interview he gave to the police. It was also enlightening to listen to Miss Aspiotis’s confusion when she was read her previous statements to police that contradicted her current testimony.
These people didn’t know Mechele per their own admission. Well what about Mechele’s sister? She is a piece of work. Her police interview in 1996, which she sought after, was completely different than her testimony that she gave at the Carlin trial and to the Grand Jury. Folks, this was to the point that she would have been destroyed by our attorneys and other witnesses. In case you didn’t know, Melissa didn’t testify in Mechele’s trial to save Mechele. She did it to save herself from humiliation and her skeletons in her closet.
Bottom line: I know Mechele as do her friends and family. We are appalled by the abuse of ethics from the prosecution and their disingenuous use of their power. I will give an email from the acting Attorney General of the State of Alaska that sums up our disgust in the next post. But, for now, thanks to the hundreds of people who have offered support and hope.
God Bless You
First off… Thanks for everyone’s support and encouragement. This post touches on the character issue and my gratitude to you all. The following post will deal with the appeal. Mechele especially appreciates all the support. She is in a very hard place. For those who know and love her, it touches us as well.
That is the point, of course…“those who know and love her”. There are so many who know Mechele and realize the “narrative” that the prosecution used was incongruent with who she is. Remember, we, as a legal team, decided to not make “character an issue” and never brought it up. Therefore we never had anyone, but me, testify for her. And I didn’t testify to her character. I mainly testified to rebut some of the State’s irrefutable smears. This part of our legal strategy assumed a Jury adherence to the specific instruction by the Judge to not take character into their assessment of guilt based on the evidence presented. The burden of proof lied with the State and not Mechele. She was innocent until proved guilty. This didn’t happen, per the jurors themselves, by their own words.
The evidence that was presented is another story. The forced circumstance to meet the prosecution’s narrative is something I would love to get into. That is really the “meat” of the issue. I, unfortunately, can’t. I have audio, documents, and affidavits that are quite damaging to the State’s narrative. Why not post them? When, by the grace of God, a new trial comes, our legal team will deliver. I have been “advised” that now is not the time. Roger Wilco.
The several dozen letters that were sent to the Judge for character support for sentencing purposes were dismissed by the Judge. He stated we were all “charmed” by Mechele. Dang... what a bunch of suckers we are. I would love to get into more of Judge Volland’s sentencing soliloquy. The “charmed” comment was one of many very strange proclamations by Judge Volland. I can’t get into that as I will explain in the “Appeal” post.
The truth of the matter is I am not a dupe or ignorant. I have heard Mechele’s history of events that transpired in the spring of 1996 when we first met. Funny thing is, it has never changed. Not once. The other thing is that her statements have always been consistent with me and the police. There is no contradiction. The issue here is that everyone who testified against Mechele had their inconsistent statements read back to them. Brett Riddell and Miss Aspiotis had their testimony shredded by Mr. Fitzgerald. It was interesting to watch Mr. Riddell contradict an audio interview he gave to the police. It was also enlightening to listen to Miss Aspiotis’s confusion when she was read her previous statements to police that contradicted her current testimony.
These people didn’t know Mechele per their own admission. Well what about Mechele’s sister? She is a piece of work. Her police interview in 1996, which she sought after, was completely different than her testimony that she gave at the Carlin trial and to the Grand Jury. Folks, this was to the point that she would have been destroyed by our attorneys and other witnesses. In case you didn’t know, Melissa didn’t testify in Mechele’s trial to save Mechele. She did it to save herself from humiliation and her skeletons in her closet.
Bottom line: I know Mechele as do her friends and family. We are appalled by the abuse of ethics from the prosecution and their disingenuous use of their power. I will give an email from the acting Attorney General of the State of Alaska that sums up our disgust in the next post. But, for now, thanks to the hundreds of people who have offered support and hope.
God Bless You
"Hope Note"
Here is a quick post on the “Hope Note” fallacy. This note was written by John Carlin III, and he told Mechele to write on it to throw Mr. Kent Leppink off of Mechele’s trail. This was because he was stalking her at the time, as is demonstrated by the discovery and evidence. Mr. Carlin and Mr. Leppink were both spotted in Hope after the letter was written and before the murder, at different times. This was testified to in the trial.
But here is the rub: In an email dated 4/27/1996, Mechele tells John Carlin III to tell Mr. Leppink the she “flew to barrow i will be back when ever”. She then goes on to tell Mr. Carlin that “if you see him tell him bret got hurt and i went to take care of the girls”. Bret is Bret Riddell, who, again, in the trial contradicted his previous statements. Mr. Riddell deserves an entire post all to himself, but I digress. Mechele was not in Alaska at the time she wrote this, and when she returned, Mr. Leppink had been murdered.
On 4/28/1996, Mechele, while still away from Alaska, writes to Mr. Carlin, “WELL, I HAVE TO SAY I AM WONDERING WHAT DID HE SAY WHEN YOU SAID I WAS 2 ½ HOURS AWAY”. Mr. Riddell testified that the flight to Barrow to Anchorage was 2.5 hours total transit time. So what does this say about the “Hope Note”? She was covering her tracks on the email? OK… but it is this very same email where she casually mentions that you can buy a citizenship is the Seychelles for ten million dollars.
So, what is it? This criminal mastermind was using the “Hope Note” to lure Mr. Leppink to his death and covering her tracks in an email with the statement to tell Mr. Leppink that she was in Barrow? Then what about the Seychelles reference? You can’t have both, although both references were used by the prosecution. In fact, both references were cited by some of the jurors. Apparently they didn’t pay too much attention to the evidence. I challenge anyone on the jury or on the prosecution team to answer this conundrum.
I am not holding my breath. This is the same jury where one member expressed that she was “surprised” that they took Mechele to prison after their verdict (head slap here).
But here is the rub: In an email dated 4/27/1996, Mechele tells John Carlin III to tell Mr. Leppink the she “flew to barrow i will be back when ever”. She then goes on to tell Mr. Carlin that “if you see him tell him bret got hurt and i went to take care of the girls”. Bret is Bret Riddell, who, again, in the trial contradicted his previous statements. Mr. Riddell deserves an entire post all to himself, but I digress. Mechele was not in Alaska at the time she wrote this, and when she returned, Mr. Leppink had been murdered.
On 4/28/1996, Mechele, while still away from Alaska, writes to Mr. Carlin, “WELL, I HAVE TO SAY I AM WONDERING WHAT DID HE SAY WHEN YOU SAID I WAS 2 ½ HOURS AWAY”. Mr. Riddell testified that the flight to Barrow to Anchorage was 2.5 hours total transit time. So what does this say about the “Hope Note”? She was covering her tracks on the email? OK… but it is this very same email where she casually mentions that you can buy a citizenship is the Seychelles for ten million dollars.
So, what is it? This criminal mastermind was using the “Hope Note” to lure Mr. Leppink to his death and covering her tracks in an email with the statement to tell Mr. Leppink that she was in Barrow? Then what about the Seychelles reference? You can’t have both, although both references were used by the prosecution. In fact, both references were cited by some of the jurors. Apparently they didn’t pay too much attention to the evidence. I challenge anyone on the jury or on the prosecution team to answer this conundrum.
I am not holding my breath. This is the same jury where one member expressed that she was “surprised” that they took Mechele to prison after their verdict (head slap here).
Monday, May 18, 2009
Dateline, This Friday
From Sandy:
Just got a call from our friends at "Dateline." Mechele's show will be re-aired with updates this friday. Have gotten several emails and calls and wanted everyone to know..
Just got a call from our friends at "Dateline." Mechele's show will be re-aired with updates this friday. Have gotten several emails and calls and wanted everyone to know..
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