A CRY FOR HELP

Back in 1981, two young brothers, Jeffrey and James Ferris, committed an armed robbery of a Seven Eleven store in Florida under the influence of alcohol. These two young brothers were first time offenders. Fortunately no one was hurt or killed in this act.

A short time later they were both apprehended by the Alabama police where they were both beaten and abused, and made to sign papers that they did not even understand. At that point they were returned to the state of Florida.

Being returned to the state and their system, again they were made to sign papers that they did not understand. Not any of those papers were explained or read to them. You see they were both illiterate at the time and truly didn't understand any of it .  They were made to sign anyway. Nothing was explained to them by anyone; not the court nor the court appointed lawyer.

In the middle of their trial, at one point the judge said to my husband, "Mr. Ferris, if I were in that store, I'd have taken out my gun and shot you myself, and we wouldn't be here today."  This in itself should have caused a mistrial.

At the end these two young men ended up with life sentences. Back in 81-82 the minimum sentence for this crime was 6.7 years with a maximum of 10 years. My husband is now going on his seventeenth year for a crime that should have long been served.

In 1991, when James was on parole in Florida, he was shot and killed by a man named Clifton Malloy. Malloy is serving a 30 year sentence in Desoto CI for murdering James, while James' brother Jeff does life for a $50 robbery. How can we call this justice?

Everyone in that state KNOWS that this is an ILLEGAL sentence, but nothing has been changed for them, while older man who have done much more are out walking the streets.

My Husband was paroled out in '97. Upon his release, he came home having to bury his youngest daughter. Learning to deal with that, we moved on with our lives the best that we could. Then in April of '98, my health became increasingly worse, which put a lot of stress on him.

In January '99, we were visited by his Parole Officer, who was accompanied by a Police officer. They came to inform us that there had been an accident, and that our 19 year old daughter had been killed on prom night.

As the months passed, Jeff started to fall into a very bad depression. After a few visits with Mr. Nuccio, Jeff told him that he needed help dealing with all of this. Mr. Nuccio said that there were funds to help us and that he'd see to it that Jeff would get the help he needed. That help never did come. Jeff started drinking in Nov. after being sober for over five years.

Still he looked for the help that Mr. Nuccio had said he would get him. And still that help never came.

In April of 2000 Jeff went to his Parole Officer and asked him if we could give up the house that we were renting and live on the land that we owned, so that we could take the money and get Jeff the help we so badly needed. The P/O said that we could, but we didn't get that far, for on April 18th, Jeff was caught drinking while sitting beyond the wheel of his truck. It was not running but they gave him a DWI anyway.  My witnesses say that there were no keys in the car and it was not running.

He was then taken to county jail and his Parole revoked.  He was returned to Florida. While in the county jail, Jeff had a complete break down. He tried to cut his throat, so he was sent to the state mental hospital in Arkansas,

While there, he tried to jump from a second floor window and on the same day he was returned to the county jail.  After being there for less than 3 hours, the jailer found him hanging from a telephone wire. 

On June 16th, Florida transport came to get him and they reached Jonesboro Arkansas for the night.  They did not bother to tell anyone that Jeff was suicidal, so again he cut his throat and I was not told. The state of Florida refuses to confirm that this has happened.

Today was my husband's hearing at the Florida Parole Board. On March 30, I spoke to Commissioner David because I was upset over the interview that my husband had with a Mr. Reese in January.  This man told my husband that he was recommending to the board that he serve 7 more years.

With this news, I called and talked to the commissioner myself, and from the way she talked, it sounded like if my husband took all the classes that she felt he needed, that he would not be there for 7 years.

Well, today I got a call and they are telling me that a parole date for the year 2014 is planned. They say that they will review my husband's case in a year.

This state is killing me. My health is at great risk and it seems that no one cares. The stress I'm being made to deal with is not right. This man is back for drinking, not a crime of hurting someone.

Is there anything that can be done to stop these people from getting away with things like this?  There has to be help somewhere.

Oh yes Kay I forgot a few things. Over 50 letters written on my husband's behalf, along with a letter from his employer and letters from my Doctors, were presented to the board.  This commission really doesn't care about people.  They just care about the money that each inmate brings in. 

And they say that they work on the side of justice.

 Please tell me what kind of Justice are they talking about? I need to know.

Kay, Please use this were ever you think it should be and with the names is fine with me. Just let me know where you use it.

Joann
woi4fl@yahoo.com