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Nina Stolzenbach hasn't added a story.
I'm trying desperately to help my friend Justin to raise money for an attorney (for his appeal /Federal District Court).
This might be his last chance.
Here is his story (written by Justin himself) :
As a kid I was a student at a private Catholic school where I became a victim of childhood abuse. Little did I know that in my adult life I would again be victimized by abuse, but this time the abuse was not inflicted upon me. It was a girl I would date who was abused by an ex fiancé.
In September 2016 I dated a girl named Cooper. She had two children from a previous marriage. Not too long before I met her, she had gotten out of a physically and mentally abusive relationship with her ex fiancé, Gauthier, who also had 2 children of his own. I learned about the awful and horrendous experiences that Cooper, her two boys, and even her dog had to endure.
I was told that Gauthier physically abused Cooper and her children.
She would come home and find bruises on her boys caused by Gauthier.
She would be called profanities and physically assaulted at times. I
watched videos on her phone depicting such incidents as well. The
event that led to their separation was when Gauthier almost cause
Cooper to crash her vehicle while driving with all of the kids in the
back. She moved out but had to leave her dog behind. She said Gauthier
purposely starved her dog so that she would have no choice but to come
to his house to feed her dog. He did this to manipulate her into
seeing him. She also expressed her concern that Gauthier may have been
sexually abusing one of his daughters.
Cooper tried to keep our
relationship a secret from him because of his possessive nature until
he was able to gain access to her Facebook account where he discovered
we were together. One Friday, Cooper asked me to introduce her to my
family so I did and we went out to dinner that same night. The very
next morning I received a phone call from her where she told me her
plans for the day. She had to pick something up from Gauthier's house
and she said we would meet later. She completely disappeared from
contact that evening. Knowing Gauthier's abusiveness, I feared for her
safety and went looking for her.
When I located her at Gauthier's home, Gauthier attacked me when I inquired about her well being. I drew a handgun in self defense and Cooper and I managed to escape. When we arrived at my apartment Cooper left unexpectedly and not even two days later I was arrested for 1st degree aggravated kidnapping. A crime that ranges from 5-99 years, or LIFE in prison.
Cooper testified against me at trial saying that I kidnapped her and that she had secretly been having a relationship with Gauthier during our relationship. My attorneys told me not to testify at trial and both the judge and the prosecutor prevented us from mentioning Gauthier's abuse unless I testified. The jury never learned about his abuse or that I feared for Cooper's safety and tried to protect her. My attorneys told me not to testify because their strategy was to only have me convicted of a 3rd degree felony with a range of 2-10 years in prison. But I am innocent and I did not want a conviction so I asked the judge for a new attorney but he denied my request and I was ultimately sentenced to LIFE in prison.
My attorney told me that his strategy would work, which obviously it did not. When I filed an appeal against him to get my conviction overturned, he lied to the court and said that he never told me his strategy would work but that he would use the same strategy again if given the opportunity. He also lied and stated that I was convicted of a crime that I was never convicted of and that there was no evidence of Gauthier's abuse even though there are numerous pages of trial records where both of my attorneys discuss the abuse with the judge and the prosecutor and state that there are even text messages that confirm this abuse. The court took his side and denied my appeal.
My attorney committed a crime when he lied under oath, ironically a 3rd degree felony. When I filed a criminal complaint against him to the court, the district attorney refused to prosecute him despite the clear and convincing proof I submitted. What is clear is that in Texas there is no accountability or integrity in it's criminal judicial system.
In America, the court will appoint a public defender to you if you cannot afford an attorney, but you get what you pay for. In Texas, for a state or federal appeal, you do not get an attorney unless you can afford one. Because I did not have the money forma trial or appellate attorney, I was not given a fair chance at justice. I can still file a federal appeal but the odds are still against me unless I can pay for an attorney even though legally, the facts are on my side.
Now I must proceed with an appeal to the Federal District Court where
I may stand a better chance due to the facts of the case and the
appellate record. The problem is that I cannot afford an attorney to
be given a fair chance. If my case is overturned, I will have a second
chance at justice and this time, to tell my story.
In order to
convict me, the State must prove that I had an "intent" to
commit a crime however, my "intent" was to save someone who
I suspected was being domestically abused.
Justice requires more the just myself. My fate is now intertwined with all of the other wrongfully convicted people in Texas as well as Williamson County, whom has stained the integrity of justice. The evidence I presented is a clear example corruption. This is another example of the culture of corruption in the Texas judicial system and corruption does not exist in a vacuum.
With the support of the public and the media, I could be successful at obtaining my freedom.
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