Situations are difficult to deal with when you know that you have factual proof that Joey was wrongfully accused, prosecuted, and treated. What follows is a detailed and objective account of the events from June 1999 until today. As of today, Joey sits in a Texas prison for crimes he did not commit.
In reflection, Joey’s father says, “many are aware of Joey’s situation and know of him as a kind and gentle person. In our hearts, we know Joey never committed the crime of which he is accused. Joey will also tell you he did not do this. We have documentation on dates, times, and events that pertain to the outcry of a 5 year old boy.”
On a Friday evening during the weekend of June 1999, the parents of a five-year-old boy dropped their boy and his younger brother off at Joey’s home in Stafford, Texas. Joey’s mother and father had watched the children for the last 5 years, as Joey’s mother ran a home daycare. Friday evening rolled by as normal as ever. Saturday morning came with Joey’s mother waking the two children up to begin their day of mainly playing with toys and games. Joey, his father, and 2 brothers were participating in a BBQ cook-off at the local VFW Post 4010 and preparations had already begun. Joey’s brother, Ryan, was given permission to take the five-year-old boy to the cook-off at 10 in the morning. While it was too hot to bring the younger of the two boys outside, Joey’s mother remained at home babysitting.
On Sunday, Joey’s mother was the first to wake up. She was getting ready for a weekly Sunday meeting. She planned to be out for about an hour. While getting ready early in the morning, Joey’s mother woke Joey and the two boys so that they would not sleep all day and ruin their sleep schedule. Joey got up and performed his normal morning routine by making himself a bowl of cereal and sitting in front of the TV to watch cartoons. While the littler of the two boys was still dosing in and out of sleep, the five year old watched cartoons while sitting on the floor in front of the couch where Joey was sitting.
Just before Joey’s mother was to go to her meeting, she woke Joey’s father because he had to get going to the cook-off because he was supposed to cook that morning. He awoke and dressed to leave. Joey’s mother left the house for her meeting and asked Joey to watch the two young boys. Just as she was leaving the house, Joey’s mother yelled upstairs to Joey’s brother Ryan where he was sleeping. She told him that if he wanted to go out to the cook-off that he would have to get up. Ryan lazily walked down the stairs just as their father was running out the door because he was late for his cooking. All the while the five year old and Joey sat in front of the TV watching cartoons.
Ryan got dressed and ready for the day. Ryan asked the five-year-old boy if he would like to take another trip out to the cook-off. The boy eagerly agreed. Joey’s mother soon returned and Ryan asked about taking the five year old to the cook-off. She said that it would be okay. Playing and having fun at the cook-off lead to a trip to the ice cream shop and then back home where the five-year-old’s parents had already arrived and were waiting for their boy. Shortly thereafter, the boys and their parents left for their home.
That evening, while Joey, his parents, and brothers were huddled around the dining table playing cards after dinner, Joey’s mom received a call from the five-year-old boy’s father. He reiterated that the boy said that Joey had performed sexual acts on him during the morning. Joey’s mother naturally began to get very upset and cry. She questioned Joey thoroughly to, which he responded that he “did none of the sort, I would never do anything to hurt them.” The boy’s father acknowledged the stated and said that he would like a call from Joey.
After Joey’s mother outlined to the entire family the conversation, Joey phoned the five-year-old boy’s father. Joey explained that he “would never, ever do such things to these children.” The five-year-old boy’s father said that there was nothing physical, no marks or anything else on his child that would indicate that anything occurred. He finished the conversation saying that both boys would be present the next day for normal day care.
In the police report, the accuser said that Joey’s brother, Ryan was watching wrestling when the assault supposedly took place. The Stafford Police Department or the Fort Bend District Attorneys Office never questioned Ryan.
A year later, Joey chose to plea guilty with deferred adjudication at the advice of his attorney, because if he did not, his attorney stated, the District Attorney would charge his mother and send her to jail. As a result, the court placed Joey on probation and deferred adjudication by Judge Thomas Culver III for 5 years. Probation included counseling, restrictions on contact (he could not make contact with anyone under the age of 18), restrictions on location (he could not be within 150 feet of places where children congregate), and sex offender registration.
On the day Joey pled deferred adjudication, he met with his probation officer, Ms. Connie Hines. Ms. Hines and a Fort Bend County Deputy Sheriff came to Joey’s house in now in Missouri City to begin Joey’s probation. While speaking with Ms. Hines, she informed all of us, “I will see to it he [Joey] goes to jail.”
A few months later, Joey and his mother went before Judge Culver and asked permission for him to attend his brother’s (Ryan) graduation in Washington, DC. They also asked the judge if Joey could attend his brother’s (Martin) wedding in Sugarland. Ms. Hines objected to this without providing a reason to us. Judge Culver called Ms. Hines on the phone and said that he was going to allow Joey to attend; his family would be present, he had not re-offended in the last year, and what would make you think he would re-offend again? Because Judge Culver was on the phone with Ms. Hines, Joey and his mother were not able to hear the response from Ms. Hines. The judge granted permission to Joey, he attended his brother’s graduation and other brother’s wedding.
Joey was required to attend counseling weekly at O’Brien Counseling and it started immediately when Joey began probation. Joey informed the counselors that he was previously in special education programs in school and that he had a learning disability. O’Brien obtained Joey’s school records to verify his learning disabilities (attention deficit disorder).
Several months into counseling, one of the counselors from O’Brien sat down with Joey’s mother to discuss Joey’s progression. The counselor knew that something was wrong with Joey and that it had something to do with Joey’s lack of joining into group discussions, his answers to verbal questions were one-word answers, he had difficultly elaborating, and he would get very frustrated when he couldn’t express himself. This counselor recommended to Ms. Hines that Joey see a psychiatrist to figure out what was going on. Ms. Hines agreed and the psychiatrist chosen was Dr. Bernard Rosenberg.
Dr. Rosenberg diagnosed Joey as suffering from social anxiety disorder and dysthymia (a form of long-term depression). Dr. Rosenberg recommended placing Joey on medication for both disorders. O’Brien and probation (Ms. Hines) accepted the diagnosis and the medication. Taking the medication and continuing to see Dr. Rosenberg was made apart of Joey’s probation requirements. However, no adjustments to Joey’s counseling was made to accommodate his disabilities. Joey continued to struggle for the next 5 years in the group counseling.
In the meantime, Joey continuously requested individual (one-on-one) counseling in place of his group counseling. O’Brien eventually granted Joey individual counseling, but in addition to his group counseling. According to O’Brien or Ms. Hines, individual counseling would not fulfill Joey’s probationary requirements. When asked, Ms. Hines informed Joey that the group counseling by O’Brien was the only program available for sex offender counseling.
Joey’s progression in the group counseling did not improve. O’Brien or any other professional counselor tested to see if the social anxiety disorder or dysthymia medications were working in the 5 years Joey was on them.
Joey’s struggle in counseling began on day one when asked what he did, Joey responded, “I didn’t do anything.” O’Brien stated that Joey had to admit to the crime if you want to be treated for it. In other words, you cannot be treated if you do not admit what you did. Joey resisted for many weeks and found himself in a very tense situation with Ms. Hines and possibly failing his probation. Eventually, either Joey realized that he had to tell O’Brien what they wanted to hear or he would be in violation of his probation. Thus began a series of stories.
After four years of probation, Ms. Hines and the Fort Bend Asst District Attorney Sherry Robinson filed a motion to revoke Joey’s probation. The motion stated only of Joey’s inability to progress in the group counseling therapy. As a result, Judge Culver extended Joey’s probation another 5 years and ordered him to be under house arrest.
House arrest included an ankle monitor, no ability to get a job, and no ability to leave the walls of the dwelling except to attend counseling. Judge Culver also required that Joey attend counseling three times a week, twice for group counseling and once for individual counseling, with a different counseling company named San Jacinto Mental Health. In addition, Joey was required to see a physician twice a month to obtain his medication. Judge Culver placed the burden of paying all fees and expenses on Joey’s family because Joey could not have a job.
Over the course of Joey’s probation, his numerous costs included
Just like with O’Brien, San Jacinto required that Joey admit to his crimes (the made-up stories) and attend group counseling. San Jacinto accepted O’Brien and Dr. Rosenberg’s assessments of Joey. However, Joey was still unable to progress in the group counseling. Again, San Jacinto made no adjustments to accommodate Joey’s learning disabilities, social anxiety disorder, and dysthymia. Ms. Hines and the counselors did agree to keep Joey on his medications, but they made no effort to determine if the medications were working.
A year later Ms. Hines and Ms. Robinson again filed to revoke Joey’s probation stated that he was still unable to advance in the group counseling therapy. In April 2007, The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Department detained Joey at the Fort Bend County Jail for violation of his probation. They arrested Joey on April 18. The indictment states that the counseling service terminated Joey’s counseling on April 19, the day after Joey went to jail.
Joey would eventually go on trial before Judge Culver in October. Due to lack of money, the court appointed Joey an attorney, Ralph Gonzales. Mr. Gonzales met with Joey once for about 10 minutes to have a paper signed. The next time Joey saw his lawyer was four months later when Joey went before Judge Culver on October 31, 2007.
The two-day trial consisted of questions and answers about Joey and why he could not progress in counseling. Two San Jacinto counselors acknowledged Joey’s learning disabilities, social anxiety disorder, and dysthymia. Ms. Robinson concluded the trial with a question to Joey’s San Jacinto counselor that asked, “Do you believe that Joey is a threat to society?” The response was “yes.” Mr. Gonzales chose not to cross-examine this response from Joey’s San Jacinto counselor.
On November 1, 2007 Judge Culver stated “you did violate your probation and I’m sentencing you to fifty years in prison.” Joey’s mother and father believed that the facts of the trial stood on their own merits, that the medical information about Joey would show that he was unable to progress in the group counseling. They were extremely saddened to hear no consideration for Joey’s disabilities. When asked, Joey’s father stated that he felt “nothing was proven except that Joey was unable to progress in counseling.” Joey’s mother stated, “Joey’s rights were violated as a person with disabilities. His disabilities were not taken into any consideration.”
Joey’s new lawyer Mr. Robert Pelton made a request for a new trial. Joey’s family hopes that Mr. Pelton will assist in Joey’s new trial, if he is afforded one, and on appeal processes.
In summary, Ms. Hines and the District Attorney’s Office attempted to send Joey to jail or revoke his probation a total of four times. During his six years on probation, Joey never committed a crime, never got a speeding ticket, never went near a school, never had contact with anyone under the age of 18, and for the last year, never left his house except to go to counseling. In the six years Joey missed two sessions of counseling, once because he had the flu and once because his car broke down.
Joey’s violation of probation included his inability to progress in the group counseling and he was given 50 years in prison. He has the option for parole in 25 years.
We are all still committed to Joey and we will never give up. We know that we are not the only ones praying for Joey and cherish the support you all have given us during these many past years and future years to come.