by Anna Carolina

Created on: June 24, 2008

As I sit here and contemplate where to begin, all the painful events of February 1992 are flooding my mind. Unfortunately, that was not the end of the pain, only the beginning. I can truthfully say the trauma of February 1992 has been the most devastating event in not only my life but the life of my children. The torment associated with this nightmare does not compare to the tremendous loss I felt when my Father died and we were extremely close.

So, what was this catastrophe that would apex all of life misery?

In four words, guilty of capital murder'! As I stood there stunned by the verdict, unable to walk, those words were reverberating in my mind. I could not believe that this could possibly be happening to my son and our family. We had already endured a year and a half of torment, not only from the media but the families of the victims. We had been smeared in the newspaper and all the TV/radio news. On every news cast the horror that occurred that nightmarish weekend would be recounted over and over. I would see my child's picture day after day on the TV screen comparing him to Charles Manson and portraying him as a monster! I contributed the cruelty against my family and our pets, to the undeniable grief of the families but it continued for years. I can't imagine the pain they were undergoing since their loss, but I was becoming resentful of the abuse my 10 year old son and I were forced to encounter almost daily.

In my naivety, I believed that it would all be over when the verdict was read. After all, they can't find someone guilty if they were not present at the scene of the crime. Yet, he was found guilty of the beating and drowning death of 2 boys (one being his best friend) while he was passed out from alcohol approximately 15 miles away. It only took the jury 90 minutes (including lunch break) to determine the fate and future of my son Christopher. The most uncomplicated decisions in our lives take longer than 90 minutes, yet they were able to determine the rest of his life in 30 minutes of actual deliberation.

I honestly believe that I was in shock for approximately 9 months. I worked and went back to all that was normally expected. After all, I had a younger son to care for. Then one day I began crying and it would not end. Everything about our lives had changed. I had to move to escape the malice and had to quit my job. I became consumed or as my daughter told me "obsessed" with the injustice toward Christopher and it occupied my mind incessantly.

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