In closing

This is hereby the last post this blog will see... I can't imagine that in 11.5 years I'm actually going to pull it back up to update on the parole possibilities... If you're wondering about that, each of them have to serve at least 1/2 of their sentences. So the guy that got 25 years has to serve 12.5 (he's already served a year) and the other guy has to serve 15 (he's already served a year as well). So I at least get a reprieve for the next 11.5 years... And even then they said that these crimes were to the extent that they didn't see them getting out on parole the first time they are up...

Anyways - there are just a few closing thoughts that I want to share and then I'll be done. First of all is a huge thank you to all of you for your support throughout the past year(+). I seriously don't know where I would have been without you. There are many people that read this blog that I've never met before - you come up to me at shows, you send me messages via various means or maybe you've never said anything at all. But the revolving theme among all of you is that you are praying for me - and I can boldly tell you that IT WORKED. I'm going to share a few of the many blessings that God laid out before me below, but I do want you to know that your prayers were coveted and I sincerely appreciate you for them. To those of you that I do know and were around me for the past year - wow - I was never alone. I have never felt so blessed to have so many people in my life - and if this experience taught me one thing, it was to open my eyes to the blessings around me. I challenge you all to try to see God's hand in your life in the little things, and in the big things too. It's something I took for granted, but there were so many things that happened that it was too much to ignore. I wish I would have had my eyes open prior to this experience like I do now - and honestly, I'm glad I'm where I'm at now, experience and all, because it taught me more than anything else in life ever has.

I'm going to go ahead and list out the ways that God worked through this experience and the people he put in place long before this ever happened. Some people will call this coinscidence, I call it the hand of God. Because there's really no other explanation that I need...

1. My parents - Some of you know that my parents moved from Houston up to Dallas in 1998. In August 2004, my dad was transferred down here and my mom was finally able to follow in April 2005. My dad recently got 'early retirement' and in looking for the next step in his career, accepted a position in Arlington. Therefore, they are moving up north again. Why does this matter you ask? Because God brought them back to Houston when he knew I would need them the most. I can't imagine my parents having to drive 4-5 hours to get to me on the day of the attack. And they were here to pick up the pieces and help me get life in order again. On top of that, God made it possible for them to help me get into a home where I feel safe and at peace - yet another amazing blessing...

2. Meg and Scott - Many of you know that I lived with some friends for 9 months after the attack while my house was being built, etc. Meg and Scott got the most direct impact of the situation as their lives were altered daily by another person living in their home. They were amazing and gracious and every other fabulous word you can think of. They made me feel at home, never once made me feel like an intrusion, although I made myself feel that way plenty of times. What's amazing about this is that God brought them down here in January of 2006 - Meg liked the music, Scott liked the cost of living and housing market - so all was good... They bought a house on March 1st. On April 2nd, their one-year anniversary, I invaded. Happy Anniversary guys! LOL! Anyways - this was just another way that God provided for my needs in the interim...

3. Pancheaux - I had Pancheaux with me for the most part, but when I couldn't have him at times, I could always bring him to my aunt's place to live with her and my cousins. That was a blessing as well - just one less thing to worry about...

4. The people on my case - First of all my detectives that had these guys arrested within 3 weeks of the attack. That is amazing. Second of all, Mia Magness - the woman that should not have been the prosecutor on my case, but WANTED IT. That still blows my mind, but I am so, so grateful. I see all of the big-time cases she is on, and I'm amazed that she wanted my case as well. And last, but not least, was the judge, Mark Ellis - the fate of the offenders laid in his hands, and he saw to it that justice was served.

5. The sentence - I wasn't really sure how I wanted things to go on the morning of April 11th. I wanted both offenders to get more time than we initally offered, but couldn't see a way for that to work. We had offered the first guy 15 years - if he got more than 15 years, then the second guy would just accept the 25 years we offered and then he would have gotten the better deal. If the first guy got less than the 15 years and the second guy went to PSI and got 25 years or more, then the first guy got the better deal. NEVER in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the first guy would get the sentence that he did and thereby increase the amount of time the second guy would serve immediately. It was a win/win situation - I put it into God's hands and he worked out all of the details...

6. Anita - Anita and I met in the 2nd grade - when I moved to Jersey Village. We became friends when I asked what street she lived on and we realized we were right down the street from each other - insta-friendship! God has used her in AMAZING ways in the past (she's the one that led to be getting back in touch with my half-sister after many many years), and he used her again on the day of the attack. Anita and I typically call each other 4-5 times a year and catch up - this was one of those phone calls. But who better to be on the phone when this happened? She knew my parents names and how to reach them. She also had a husband at home that was able to get on the phone with police while she was on one phone with my cellphone listening and on another phone with my mother. Granted, any of my friends would have called the police and eventually reached my parents, but few knew all of the details that Anita did...

7. My inner peace - This one is a little hard to explain, but some of you wonder why this isn't a burden to me. It's because I gave it up to God - He is there to carry our burdens - He tells us that His yoke is light and He wants to trade us. We take His, He takes ours - I'm so undeserving of that, but so grateful...

So yes, God worked out so many details in this experience and I love talking about it for that reason alone. God is good. He is real, real good...

May you all be blessed beyond your wildest imagination - have faith that He can, and He will - I'm a living testimony to that...

The Finale...

Ooops. I said I would come back, and I didn't. I guess I just got on with living life, and I'm certainly not going to apologize for that! But here is the story of the trial - I'll get back with my closing comments on the next post because this one is going to be LONG as it is...

First of all - everything is DONE. The last time I posted it was Wednesday, April 11th. That was the day that we went to court for the first offender and he was sentenced to 25 years. On that same day, the second offender was supposed to let us know if he was going to accept the 25 years that he was initially offered or if he was going to go to PSI or to trial. Well, when offender #1 got 25 years, the 25 years we had offered to offender #2 came off of the table and he was offered 30 years instead. He wanted to take a couple of days to think about it and on Friday, April 13th I was getting a pedicure and got a call from Mia who let me know that he had plead guilty and accepted the state's offer of 30 years. Which is probably the smartest thing he could have done... and with that, it was finished.

If you're wondering why I say it was the best thing he could have done, I'll explain that a little bit in the story of what went on in the courtroom the first time around. Essentially the judge was more of a hardass than anyone could have expected. We all got there that morning (me, 3 of my girlfriends, my parents and my friend Anita with her husband). Mia came up to me and gave me the written statement that the offender had submitted along with multiple letters of recommendation. As I was reading the statement I just started shaking my head no - she came over to me and said that she figured I would have objections (what he had written was NOT what had occured) and asked Anita and I to go into one of the witness rooms to talk with her. I underlined everything in the story that was wrong and Mia let Anita know what she could expect on the stand (reminder: Anita was the one I was on the phone with when the attack occured and she heard 45 minutes of the attack - not to mention she was the one that had to notify my parents, etc.). We get back into the courtroom and everything gets started. Let me take a break to note that this was an open courtroom filled with various people - the docket that day contained a variety of cases and the witnesses for other cases, family members of other offenders, supporters, etc. were all in the courtroom when the trial started. I wasn't quite expecting that, but it is what it is...

Anita was the first one on the stand and did a tremendous job - I will say that it was odd hearing the story from a completely different perspective than my own. I knew what she had heard as I had lived it, but I had never really talked to her about what she felt while it was going on and when she had to call my parents. The statement that hit me the hardest was when Mia asked her what she thought when the phone connection got cut off after 45 minutes and her reply was "I thought that was the last time I would ever hear my friend's voice again..." Next up was me.

Mia had told me in a meeting that Monday that I needed to loosen up a bit - I needed to be real and transparent and let my guard down. I did pretty well. There were a few tears, but that was to be expected. The only real excitement during my testimony came when I was asked if they sounded at any time like they were bragging (Side note: the offender's spin on events was that he was just a go-along guy - he didn't want to do it - he wasn't the driver(which he was) and he told the other guy that they shouldn't be doing this, but he wanted a good recommendation to get into the gang that the guy was in, so he went along with it. This isn't true - he was actually already in a gang and it wasn't the same gang that the second guy was in). Anyways - when I was asked that question I stated what they said IN THE WAY that it was said (i.e. I used a ghetto-ish voice). What I said was "We done good, we done good..." (I'm not really sure how to imitate such horrible grammar other than to say it the way that I did - I wasn't being rude, I was just stating what they had said). Well, when I said that all of a sudden there was an erruption in the back of the courtroom right behind the row where my family and friends sat. A big black guy obviously objected to the way I said things - come to find out, it was the offender's brother. The baliff got over there and escorted him out of the courtroom until he calmed down and came back in later. Anyways - I finished everything I was asked by Mia and then it was time for a cross-examination. The defense attorney came over and asked me if I could visually pinpoint his client as the attacker. I told him that I could not as either they had blindfolds on, or I was blindfolded for the entire encounter. I have maintained that from the beginning as it is the truth.

Anyways - after I was done, the prosecution rested. Mia had told me that they were not calling any witnesses, but I guess they changed their mind because the next thing you know, the offender took the stand. He made a BIG mistake. His defense attorney tried to make him look like a kid that had just made a mistake and was trying to do the right thing now. He said that everything I had said was true except that he wasn't the one driving (he claimed that I was confused about that since I was blindfolded, but I had my berings - I'm 100% confident that I knew what was happening by whom at all times). After his attorney was done, Mia got ahold of him. Oh goodness. This was fun. She tripped him up all over the place, but my favorite part was the following:

Mia: You said you were sorry. Exactly when did you become sorry?
Him: Right away - I knew what we was doing wasn't right (might I add that he mumbled for the most part and many things he said were undecipherable).
Mia: Right away? You were so sorry that when you were brought in for a charge of trespassing (this happened the week after he attacked me), you chose to not say anything to the judge?
Him: (He essentially claimed that he told his lawyer, but that his lawyer told him not to say anything - just get out on probation for the trespassing charge and then turn himself in on the other stuff. That's pretty much a 100% unbelieveable story.)
Mia: You're so sorry that when the detectives in this case picked you up the first time, you denied having anything to do with this. You're so sorry, that when the detectives questioned you a second time AND showed you a picture of yourself, you claimed it wasn't you. You're sorry? All day long you've been calling her 'the victim' and 'the lady'. If you're sorry, tell me her name...
Him: Uh, well, uh, I, uh, don't think, uh, that I deserve, uh, that I have the right, uh, to say her name (essentially he was saying he didn't deserve to even say my name).
Mia: What is her name?
Him: (pretty much a repeat of above)
Mia: WHAT IS HER NAME?
Him: Heather (VERY MUCH slurred and mumbled) - it could have been Helen or Ellen as well, but it dang sure wasn't anything near the name Reneé, I can tell you that much... (Sidenote: by this time in the trial, between Anita and I, my name had been stated probably at LEAST 20 times)...

He then stated that he knew my last name, which he did, and that's all they ever let him see - they never told him my first name - but obviously my name had been said throughout the trial, so that point was invalid.

Ok - back to it - so they finish up with him and he looked like a complete moron - it did not bode well at all. Then it was time for closing arguments. The defense went first and essentially said that he was a young kid that was mentally challenged and grew up on the streets. He realized that what he did was wrong and asked the state for probation. Then came Mia - she laid it down - said that she didn't buy that he was young and dumb as he made a calculated decision that affected the entire life of another person and all because he wanted to look good for a gang. To look good for an organization that by its' very nature did harm to innocent people and defied the law at every turn. She didn't buy that he deserved a second chance - because I would never have a second chance. She then asked the judge to think about me, rather than about the offender as I was the one that would have to deal with this for the rest of my life and that was not by a decision I had made... She asked for 20 years.

At this point, I thought the window for punishment would be from probation to 20 years. You could not read the judge throughout the entire proceeding, so I had no idea what was coming. Keep in mind that we had initally offered him 15 years, and he took his chances thinking that he would definitely get less than 15 years if he let the judge sentence him. The judge asked him to stand and this is a synopsis of what he said:

"In your statement you say that you have renewed your faith in God, and I hope you can find peace with God about this situation at some point. But today isn't between you and God - today is between you and the state of Texas. I am charged with the question of whether or not I can trust you. Whether or not the state of Texas can trust you. Because if I am to sentence you to probation, I have to trust that you will do the right thing. It comes down to the fact that everybody has two sides to them -the side they want the world to see and who you REALLY are. I have mulitple recommendation letters here - from your pastor, your principal, your family - all stating that deep down you are a good kid. But that's the person that you want them to see. Who you REALLY are, the person when nobody else is watching, is the person that completely changed the life of this girl. That's who you REALLY are. And I can't trust that person. I hereby sentence you to 25 years....

COURTROOM ERUPTED.

We definitely figured out who all of the family members were at this point. There were two large black women that started screaming and wailing and almost crawling out of the courtroom they were so distraught. One of the brothers, the one that had caused problems slammed his fist into the wooden bench he was sitting on and shouted out "Oh no!" At this point, my family and friends all around me are bawling - my mom on one side of me, my friend Melissa on the other and everyone is crying. I am shocked. It's as if everything was going on all around me and I was just staring at the judge trying to absorb what was just said. At that point, when the judge heard the brother, he looked over at him, said "Oh no... YEAH." rolled his eyes and walked out of the courtroom. It was NUTS!! Tons of people came over to congratulate us, offer their sympathy for the situation and were glad that it was all over for me and he got what he deserved. We had to stay in the courtroom for ~30 minutes to allow his family time to get out of the building as they didn't want us to end up in the elevators together. The baliff finally came over and escorted us all out via a private elevator and watched us walk to our vehicles...

Then it was time for lunch and a margarita on the rocks with salt... It was a great, great day...

04.11.07

25 years!!

The state initially offered 15 years if he pleaded guilty and didn't go to PSI (which he did).

The defense requested probation.

The state requested 20 years today.

The judge sentenced him to 25 years.

It's a VERY good day!!! I'll update with the full story later - just wanted to get this out there! :o)

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!

04.10.07

So this is it... the beginning of the end.

We go to court tomorrow for the driver to be sentenced. He is the one that plead guilty and asked for a judge to determine his sentence. He turned down the 15-year sentence he was offered.

I met with Mia yesterday to discuss the procedures for tomorrow and the meeting went well. There aren't a lot of mitigating factors (factors that would possibly reduce his sentence) other than youth, but considering he was closer to the adult end of the spectrum, we're hopeful that it won't have much of an impact. I will have to get on the stand and Mia will question me regarding how this has impacted my life, and Anita will testify as well. I have also submitted a written statement regarding how my life has been impacted and my mom submitted a statement too. The only advice I was given was to let my wall down, which is sometimes difficult for me to do. Obviously I'll be honest, but I have to be completely open as well, which is not something that many people actually see. (Disclaimer: For the most part, what y'all see when you see/talk to me is truely how I'm feeling - I haven't been putting on a front for the past year or so. But that being said, there are times that are difficult that I don't share with anyone, and that's the type of stuff that I will have to share tomorrow...)

Anyways - so at least one chapter in this will close tomorrow. As of lunch time, we should have a sentence, and I'll post here tomorrow afternoon/evening when that happens. Tomorrow is also the day that the second guy, the passenger, is supposed to decide how he is going to plea. The options are:

A. Plead guilty, accept the 25 years we've offered
B. Plead guilty, have a judge determine the sentence (what is happening in the case above)
C. Plead not-guilty, have a full-blown trial

The trial is VERY UNLIKELY in the second case, so I'm expecting one of the first two options. He is waiting to see what happens in the first guy's sentencing to decide what he's going to do. Which is crap, but the state can't force him to make a decision prior to the other guy's sentencing. So I'll have more on that tomorrow as well. And of course, there is a possibility that it will get pushed back yet again, so be prepared for that outcome.

On another note, many of you have mentioned wanting to be there, etc. You are more than welcome to come and be in the courtroom when everything occurs, but I don't want anyone to feel that they NEED to be there. I realize it's a work day, it's tax season and there are a million other reasons that would hamper people's ability to be there. My parents WILL be there at the very least, so it's not as if I'm going to have to face this alone. If you do want to be there, simply email me and I will let you know the details and when/where you need to be. If you can't make it, my only request is that you say a prayer for me. I would say pray for strength, but that's what I'm supposed to be letting go of, so instead I will ask that you pray for me, and Anita, to be transparent and that the judge will see the truth and impact this has had on my life and the lives of everyone around me. Pray for Mia, my prosecutor as she presents this case and pray that the judge makes a sound decision and that justice is upheld.

I'll update you all tomorrow...

God Bless.

01.31.07

Ok, so it's been awhile... again. Not a lot has been happening since I last updated this, until this week. There were a lot of disposition settings (essentially means that the case comes up on the docket so that the judge can ensure that forward-progress is being made on the case and things aren't sitting idle).

About couple of weeks ago I got a call from my prosecutor letting me know that there was a possibility of a plea bargain with the driver (2 counts against him - the lesser of the 2 evils). She left a message telling me that she had offered 15 years, and they countered with 10 years at TYC - she wanted to know my thoughts. I left her a voicemail letting her know that I wasn't at all happy with that possibility. When she called me back she let me know that she had no intentions of accepting anything less than 15 years. The options were essentially for him to plead guilty and accept 15 years in prison (not TYC), plead guilty and have a judge decide the sentence (aka PSI), or plead not guilty and have the case go to jury.

This is the email I got from my prosecutor yesterday:
[Driver] is going to enter a plea of guilty, request a pre-sentence investigation, and ask the judge to sentence him. He rejected the 15 years again. He is set to enter a plea on 1/31 and the sentencing is usually about 6 weeks later.

A pre-sentence investigation essentially enables the judge to gather all pertinent information about the case including a statement including all facts of the offense, a statement by the accused and a statement by the victim. In addition, the defense or prosecution can add impact testimonies, which in this case would be me meeting with the judge so he can see how it has affected me. Once all of this is compiled, there will be a report released, and the judge will sentence the accused based on his evaluation of all of the information.

I am really happy with this outcome. He is already pleading guilty, so there is no question there. And while I'll have to speak to the judge, I don't have to go through 2 full trials, which is nice. I think it'll be easier to speak directly to a judge than to an entire room full of people. Of course there is a chance that he will get less than 15 years, but there is also a chance that he will get more, which is obviously what I'm hoping for. That part is out of my hands though, and I have to have faith that the sentence handed down will be fair and just.


As for the passenger, he was on the docket for yesterday. So far, his attorney hasn't approached her to discuss plea bargains at all. So who knows what will happen there. Funny thing is, they are the ones that have NO CASE at all. Time will tell...

If it DOES go to trial, then it won't be until late April/early May. So it continues to drag on...

Again, thank you all for your continued support through all of this. When the time for sentencing comes about, and when I actually get the chance to address my attackers in court, I will be sure to let y'all know, as many of you have asked...

Until next time...

11.12.06

Well it's been awhile... not a lot has really happened, but there are a few updates to share...

First of all, the case. Both of the attackers were indicted by the grand jury on all counts. They are both being represented by court-appointed attorneys (the one that had a hired attorney representing him released his attorney). Now, as has been the case for the past couple of months, is just a lot of sitting around and waiting. The trial looks as if it will happen in March. I will definitely have to testify, as will my detective. I'm not sure who else they will call as witnesses, etc. But regardless, the case is solid, so I'm not all that worried about it. I'm just ready to have that chapter closed and behind me...

Other than that, life is as normal as it gets. The house is coming along quickly, and I should be in it by the end of the year. I just went and looked at it tonight and it's insane how much different the walls make it look. The sun was setting tonight, so there aren't any pics, but I'll do my best to get some this next weekend. Work is busy, my new church is great, and men are still from mars...

I hope this finds each of you doing well and I wish many blessings to you and your families in the upcoming holidays!

Until next time...

09.07.06

Sorry it's been awhile... There just wasn't a whole lot to report on... BUT there has been a pretty big development. I got a call last Tuesday from my detective and he let me know that they had a match on the DNA profile that had been established. It was the passenger that assaulted me, not the driver like I thought it was. And just for clarification purposes, even though I haven't explicitly put it out there previous to this (although many of you read between the lines and had already figured this out), but when I say assault, I am referring to sexual assault - hence the DNA. So that's out there for all to see now - it's not something I'm ashamed of or embarassed about as it happened TO me, it's not something I in any way was a part of. To most people this will come as no surprise though...

Anyways - to say I was shocked that it was the passenger that assaulted me would be an understatement. It makes sense now that my detective put it into the perspective of the personality profiles, but I would have sworn that it was the driver before that. I'm probably pretty lucky that it wasn't the driver though, as he was definitely the more brutal of the two.

The next step comes on September 21st. That's the next time they are on the docket. My DA is currently prosecuting another major case, so her time is devoted to that, but she is going to talk to their defense attorneys to see if they have any interest in plea bargaining. Bad news is that she doesn't think they have any intention of doing so, and what she's offering certainly won't encourage them. Essentially she is offering penitentiary time - and not a reduced amount. This is a case with solid evidence, and there is no reason to give a lenient sentence simply because they are young. They knew exactly what they were doing. So this will more than likely go to trial - for both of them. On the 21st she plans to schedule a Grand Jury hearing to indict them. The driver will be charged with 1st Degree Aggravated Robbery and 1st Degree Aggravated Kidnapping. The passenger will be charged with both of those, and then 1st Degree Aggravated Sexual Assault as well.

And from there it will proceed...


In other news, the slab of my new house was poured yesterday - here's a pic just for grins...

07.31.06

Ok - big updates this time...

#1 - The Case.
The two guys that attacked me were officially certified as adults last Monday. Which means that they are no longer considered juveniles - they have been transferred to the adult county jail. I talked to both the prosecutor in my case as well as the lead detective who were there. One of the guy's brother was there and caused quite the commotion when his younger brother was certified as an adult. He got mad at the defense attorney that they had hired... Anyways - the flip side of this is that bail has now been set for both of them. $60K for one of them and $90K for the other. At this time, both are still in custody though - and I sincerely hope it stays that way. The prosecutor that has handled it to this point is actually going to keep the case for now - which I am happy about. She definitely knows what she's doing - she handled the Clara Harris trial as well. From here there will be a few arraignment hearings and then it will move on to indictment. When I asked what the average time frame looked like, she told me that an average case would go to trial about a year after the incident. Therefore at the earliest, we are looking at next March. But she also told me today that most dockets are moving very slowly, so it could be even longer. Once again, patience is the name of the game... (I don't like that game!)

#2 - The Good Stuff.
And now for the really exciting happy part of my life right now - I am BUILDING A HOUSE! YAY! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about it. It's in Sienna Plantation which is a master planned community in Missouri City (right next to Sugar Land). We've got all of the paper work in (and I stopped by this weekend and my brick was delivered!), and hopefully I'll have the meeting with my builder soon so I can get started! If all goes as planned, I'll be in the house right at the end of December or the beginning of January. It's such an incredible blessing that I have a hard time wrapping my mind around it. I've included a link where you can go take a virtual tour of the home...

http://www.meritagehomestexas.com/houston/falcon_ranch/934/the_pinemont

I hope this finds you all doing well. I'm in great spirits, and doing fabulously... Enjoy the rest of the summer! :o)