"How YOU doin?"

Just a quick update...  Brent's appeals attorney has been working on the brief he's filing.  He's fairly confident that the Fort Worth court of appeals will allow him to give oral arguments.  I hear that this would be a very positive thing, and not something that is always granted.  If I'm allowed to post the brief once it's filed, I will do so here.  It will still be a lot of waiting, though.

It feels like he's been in there FOREVER.  I know that many of you who read this blog have taken the time to write him, and some have even gone to visit.  Your support means so much to us and to him.  If you have been thinking about writing him, but haven't done it yet, there's no time like the present!  A friend told me the other day that she would, but she "just didn't know what to say".  I can tell ya, just the thrill of an envelope from a new person is enough.  :)  He loves to talk about movies, and is a total comic book nerd.  Long sections of my letters are usually just about what movies and TV shows I've seen lately.  Oh, and of course, stories about my dogs.  He's a big time animal lover.

The rules out there are really strange, so if you write, just make sure of the following:

1) The only things that can go on the outside of the envelope are the "to" and "from" addresses.
2) You must use blue or black ink.
3) No stickers.  Ask me how I know.  Not even the "from" address can be a sticker.  Weirdos.
4) The "from" address has to be a full name.  "J. Anderson" will get kicked straight back.  Also, it's not you, so that would be weird.
5)  You can send photos, but no Polaroids.  Weirdos.


At the end of each letter, we put quotes from "Friends", thus the title.  :)


Here is the address:

Brent Benefield
AD9214  57122
PO Box 8526
Wichita Falls, TX
76307


"Alright kids, I gotta get to work.  If I don't input those numbers....it doesn't make much of a difference."


----jaime

A call to action for real justice

This morning the judge took the jury's recommendation and sentenced Brent to 10 years for injury to Lucas and 5 years for violence against Sarah Price.  His attorneys are researching appeal options.

I have never been so disgusted as I am with the Wichita County District Attorney's office.  They got a Tarrant County Medical Examiner fired for refusing to lie for them.  You can see an article about this in last week's Times Record News.  Then they called him a conspiracy theorist in front of the jury.  It is not a theory if a 67 year old man whose medical credentials have never been questioned is fired because of a district attorney's power.  The medical examiner said that Lucas' fatal injury could not be timed to exclude Sarah.  Meaning there was no way to prove it was Brent. All of this is public record which can be viewed by obtaining court transcripts or reading the newspaper article regarding the Medical Examiner's testimony on the stand.

John Gillespie made a point of stating to the jury that he approached Sarah Price about abuse charges.  She is a person with a known criminal history (Sarah Price was arrested for shoplifting this past summer--this was discussed outside the presence of the jury so they did not get to hear it), who admitted she had thoughts of killing herself and her child, who told her therapist she was having thoughts of throwing Lucas out the window, who admitted on Facebook that she thought SHE was the one who broke Lucas's arm when he was one month old (they had a screenshot of it in the courtroom), who had an abortion between her two sons without telling Brent, who admitted to a third party while pregnant that if she found out Lucas was a girl, she was going to "get rid of it".  All of this to send an innocent man to prison and further his own conviction rate/political career.  For him to pretend to care about Lucas while attacking us, his family, in the courtroom mocks our pain and is unforgivable. 

John Gillespie approached Sarah Price one month before Brent's trial was originally set (in October) about abuse charges.  There is ZERO proof that Brent abused her.  This begs the question:  If he was such a monster, such an abuser, and she chose to leave her children with him as the primary caretaker, where are the "failure to protect" charges against her?  Where is the abuse charge for breaking his tiny arm (which was discovered by a doctor a couple of days after her documented thoughts of throwing him out the window)?

The current Wichita County District Attorney is Maureen Shelton, and she ran on a platform of protecting children from abuse.  Where is the protection for Brent and Sarah's living son?  Why have they done nothing to punish her?  Why should she be allowed access to her son and to continue being an educator of special needs children?  Would you want her left alone with your child?

We begged her not to have an open casket at the funeral because it was so painful, but she had "already bought him a cute outfit" and enjoyed being the center of attention.  We watched her laugh and joke over her dead baby's coffin and invite people over to "get wasted".  She went out and partied at clubs and even got a job at a strip club a couple of weeks after Lucas died, all while Brent sat home by himself and grieved.  Did the jury get to hear any of this?  No, thanks to John Gillespie and his objections to a number of things that would have shown "reasonable doubt".

Elected officials sign up for having their actions scrutinized by voters, so this is what I am asking all of you to do.  Free speech is a guaranteed right in our Constitution--at some point many of us have probably written letters or called the office of public officials to express a difference of opinions.  Call The District Attorney's office and tell them you want Sarah Price arrested.  If you are a resident of Wichita County, be sure to mention that.  Tell them that what they have done is wrong and that it will not go overlooked.  Make sure you remain as polite as possible and stick to the facts.  Below is the address listed on the District website: http://www.co.wichita.tx.us/District_Attorney/index.html

attn: John Gillespie
900 7th St
Rm 351
Wichita Falls, TX  76310
940-766-8113

Please call or write to show your support.  Many of us have changed our profile pictures on Facebook to blue ribbons to show support as well. 

I would also like to point out that Brent's attorney in the Public Defender's office, Brennon Brady, did an outstanding job representing him.  He busted his tail for two years preparing a defense, and it is only because of him that Brent did not get sent away for life.  He tried to present the truth about what happened, but was blocked at every turn by John Gillespie and Grace Pandithurai and their objections in court.  Please also take a moment to call the Public Defender's office and kindly thank them for their hard work and attention to detail.  DON'T GET THE TWO CONFUSED!  :)
940-766-8199

Finally, we will be sending links of local news stories to national media outlets, so if you know of anyone who might be interested in covering the story, feel free to forward.  Unlike

the District Attorney's office, we want the truth to be known.


<3


----jaime