He May Be Out But Still Needs Your Help

I ask that you read this with and open mind and imagine it was you or someone you love!

It's summer you go out to a club have a good time on your way home see a person crying and upset you ask if you can help, they take your offer. You end up going home and one thing leads to another  and you have a one night stand “don’t judge must of us have had one”. The next day the cops show up and say you’re being accused of rape. Rape what are you talking about I never raped anyone nor would I ever! But look at you you’re a 26 year old tattoo artist of course you would you are taking downtown in the back of police car in cuffs.

Later released and told there is nothing to hold you but you should leave AZ we don’t want your kind here your just some tattooed punk.

You go on with your life thinking omg thank god that’s over then 4days before Thanksgiving the cops are beating on your door and throwing you in handcuffs. You’re asking what’s going on, they are yelling at you to shut up but what’s going on? We told you to shut up. Hours later you are in a cell, in your mind you are thinking omg how and why is this happening, I didn’t do anything! Thoughts racing through your mind what about my dogs, my house, my business, my GF, omg my family, my mom, my sisters how am I going to explain I won’t be home for Thanksgiving I’m in  jail on rape and kidnapping charges.

In the meantime your friend has contacted one of your sisters and told her what’s going

Your family is not only in shock but at a loss nothing like this has ever happened your mom has no idea how to even mutter the words…my only son, my baby boy, is accused of rape how as a mother are you supposed to utter those words, if that wasn’t hard enough it’s the holidays, already a hard time you lost your father to Cancer Thanksgiving day two years ago now she thinks she could lose her son to the system wondering if her baby boy was cold, scared, afraid, unable to talk to him or see him. Everyone is afraid to tell your oldest sister since she is expecting her own baby boy in a couple months your first nephew. But they do and she does what she does and gets a hold of the best lawyer she could find or that’s what she thought!

Your family has to come up with at least $20grand and $10grand of it by  that Monday which is three days away. They say we will have to figure it we are a family. The savings for your soon to be nephew is pulled any and all family heirlooms are brought to pawn shops and cash for gold including thing of your dads and grandpas that were to be passed on, but what choice does your family have. Friends you have known since you were 8yrs old disappear won’t return families phone calls. Your family cries out on social media for help…people who know you, know this is not something you would do… they are quick to post comments about free Jonny we have his back, he is a cool ass dude, f*** the police but out of 2000 facebook friends, maybe three donate. Your friends in the Tattoo world who claim to be family disappear. I’ve always heard if you want to see who your real friends are go to jail guess they were right.

You have no idea any of this is going on you still haven’t been allowed to talk or see anyone you still don’t know if anyone knows where you are.

Finally you are able to get a hold of your sister she explains what they are doing for you on the outside and you keep quiet about what it’s like on the inside not to worry your mom.

  Your family including your two pregnant sisters drive 800 miles to meet with your attorneys firm and too see you... Only to find out Sheriff Joe has changed the rules without notice only visits allowed are Sundays and Mondays two people max and if someone saw you Sunday you get no more visits till the following week and today is Tuesday.

Your sister are googling jail life in Maricopa County and it is scaring the hell out of them, their brother is innocent yet is being treated like a convicted criminal. They read reports of how inhuman prisoners are treated.

You finally break down and explain life in here you are in protective custody which means

You Sit in a 4x10 cell you share with another person for 23hrs a day. At times your block will be on lockdown and they won’t allow you out for a week at a time. A steel door with only a slot for a meal tray closes behinds you, there is no sunlight only water on the floor from where they pressure wash, like you are a dog in the pound all you can smell is urine, feces and sadness, you eat and defecate in here, now add a stranger to that small space, that may have done a horrendous crime so you never really sleep because you have to be on watch 24hrs. When you are let out its for maybe an hour and you are only allowed to make a 20 min phone call that can cost your family up $45 and shower then back to that small cell where you get your moldy morning peanut butter sandwich and moldy evening slop you had diarrhea for the first 2 months until your stomach adjusted to the mold. You are not allowed to go to the library so you pray that someone will leave a book or magazine just so you can pass the time.    This has become your life for the last eight months the only time you feel sun on your face or smell fresh air is when they transport you from the jail to the courthouse so maybe once a month.

Same thing every time you go your attorney says just hang in there we are trying to get this dismissed, everyone knows you are innocent the prosecutor can’t seem to understand why you were ever even charged but he has protocol to follow so you an innocent person just sits and wait in what you feel is hell.

You read the police report and are shocked not only are you not the first person she has accused this of but, the night you tried to help her…her boyfriend had left her stranded because he caught her in a car with another guy she also was not the one to call the cops she left your place claims she hailed a cab and asked the cab to call the police or take her to the hospital and he refused (what cab driver would refuse a woman help?) so he just dropped her at home she then claims that she nor her boyfriend were the ones to call the police because she has PTSD and blacks out and has accused her boyfriend of the same acts in the police report she stats she doesn’t ever really know if its consensual or not, so her roommate called just in case. Friends have said she has told people it was consensual but she comes to the hearings laughing and talking on her cell phone while you stand in shackles pledging your innocents. The prosecutor that was on your case has left the DA’s office because he is tired of putting innocent people behind bars just to make a point, and you are one of them, but now because he left you have to wait another couple months while they assign another prosecutor just another day in hell.

 Your attorney has left the practice so do you go with him or do you stay with the firm, how much is this going to cost your family? You decided to stay with the man that you feel is rooting for you but that’s more money. You find out your mom has moved in with your sister, brother in law and nephew to try and pay for your attorney and phone calls since it’s the only outlet you have. They would love to come visit you but the money they spend on gas needs to go to attorney fees. And yes I said nephew you have missed the birth of your first nephew he is now five months old and your second nephew is a moth old, you’ve missed every holiday, birthday,you've lost your business and home and your girlfriend is now someone else’s. All because of a one night stand! Your family prays and begs that you come home and that they find a way to pay their bills and yours. This is your life! If they don’t pay those attorney fees you have a greater chance of facing 17-25 years in prison for crime that was never committed! But you never forget you are blessed to have them and a few amazing true friends who give whatever they can.

The story you just read is not fiction it’s the story of my Brother Jonny. He has been sitting in that small cell since November 2013 not convicted. I ask you to think about his story and find it in your heart to donate $5.00 to help with legal fees, phone calls and if this goes to trail its and extra $5000 retainer and $1000 per day. I just want my brother home to hug him and have him meet his nephews. To see my mom hold her son would mean the world. None of wish this woman any harm or hard feeling we just hope that she gets the help she needs and that this doesn’t happen to another innocent person.
 Thank you!!!!!!!
 UPDATE: Jonny is out all the sex and kidnapping charges have been dropped! Something that we thank god and the universe for every day.
Jonny still has a lot of rebuilding to do, he was away for over 9 months. While in there he LOST EVERYTHING, and he has to start over. But starting over is hard and overwhelming when we still owe close to $16,000.00 in attorney fees alone.
My brother is a hustler in the first 3hrs out he had already picked up his tattoo equipment and trying to get clients to start making money so his family wouldn't have to worry, but tattoo supplies cost money, ink, needles, tubes, business cards. He needed a phone, clothes etc...
He will always have a place to live... but I’m sure at some point he will want his own place so he can reunite with his dogs "kids" but he has to get all these things cleared up first. As a family we are doing what we can but money is beyond thin and we are out of things to sell. If everyone could donate $5.00 to help him it would be more help than you could imagine.
  We are not the type of family to ask for handouts, always had too much pride for that, but sometimes you have to put that to the side and ask for help! Our entire family would like to thank everyone for their support and donations!!!