Michael Short
Falsely Convicted of
Aggravated Sexual Assault and Kidnapping
I have been erroneously
incarcerated for ten years for aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping of a
sixteen year old girl. A crime I did not
commit.
On
Later I was questioned by two
detectives claiming to be a DEA agent and an ATF agent. They wanted “information” so they could help
me in my case but later came up with the same question, “What happened with
this girl in
When male and female
detectives came to bring us out, I asked if the line-up had to do with me. The female detective said yes. I stated that I had a lawyer Ray Epps, of
When I first called my lawyer
I explained about Leaan. I honestly
thought this was who it was all about, so yes, I told him I did it. I was being up front because it was no big
deal. I knew Leaan was pissed at me; I
left Leaan in her van in the parking lot of the Turtle Club because we had
fallen asleep. I left without taking
waking her and later the cops cruising the parking lot woke her up, thus
extremely embarrassing her. Needless to
say all of her fury was directed at me.
I did not find out until two or three months later when I received the
indictment that the complainant was not Leaan but someone I did not even know. I immediately called my lawyers office, left
a message and then wrote him a follow up letter.
I paid my lawyer $20,000 in
cash after selling my prized possession, my custom Harley show bike and some
other items. My lawyer was to fly out to
see me soon as he was paid but he never showed up, in fact, he never came to
see me until 30 days before the trial, at which time he did not even know that
the indictment was flawed. He was
supposed to hire an identification expert, Steven Penrod, and a private investigator
which he never did. I found out from his
wife that Ray Epps was fighting cancer, had two high profile cases on top of
his regular case load and was stretched too thin. He should have never taken on a case as
complex as aggravated assault and kidnapping..
Ray was supposed to have hired a DNA expert but never did. During our only private conversation Ray Epps
stated, “We have nothing, they have everything.” He refused to listen to me telling him that I
did not do this crime. He stated, “Do
not try to change your story at this stage of the game.” I explained I called his wife and I wrote two
letters about a month ago and he stated that he got them. I knew at this time that my attorney was not
defending me; He was not even prepared for the trial. At the end of this a thirty minute meeting he
stated that he was going to get the case postponed because of the flawed
indictment. Ray Epps was not prepared
for trial and he already knew what he was going to do.
On the day of the trial, that
was supposed to be postponed according to my lawyer due to the news of the
flawed indictment, the Bailiff pushed through the bars a black ball and said,
“Get dressed. You are picking a jury.”
I said. “No, we are getting a
postponement according to my lawyer.”
He said, “Your lawyer is in
the court room – get dressed.”
The new suit my girlfriend
bought me did not fit. It was too short
and I put on weight so the waist was too small.
The Bailiff refused my black socks so it had to be bright white socks in
pants five inches to short.
When Ray Epps finally came to
the holding cell, that is twelve feet by eight feet with fifteen inmates in it,
two already at the doors talking to their lawyers, called out m name and over
the heads of the others said, “You have a one time offer of twenty years, you
have fifteen minutes to decide the fate of the rest of your life.” One lawyer looked at my lawyer and walked
away.
I moved up and said to Ray,
“What are you talking about? What about
the DNA evidence? It will prove I did
not do this.”
He said the Assistant
District Attorney said that it came back negative and inconclusive, “could
have,” come from me. He further stated
that the prosecution has thirty two witnesses against me in the hallway. I stated that we just came through the
hallway and only three people were sitting there. Then Ray Epps stated, “They’re in the court
room then.” I told him that I looked in
the court room and there were only three or four people there. Ray yelled, “They’re in the jury room then!!” He looked at his watch and said, “You have
ten minutes left,” and walked away.
All of the inmates in the
holding tank started saying all sorts of things like, “That dude is selling you
out.” When I said that I paid him
$20,000 they were all shocked. When Ray
came back the tank got quite.
Ray stated that I have five
minutes left and that if I took the plea I would five years, six max and be
out. If I did not take the plea I would
get a life sentence and die in prison. I
would never hold my son as a young boy, never go fishing or even attend a
birthday party, you will die in prison.
I stated, “Ray, I did not do
this crime,”
He stated, “Just chalk it up
to one of those crimes you got away with.”
Again Ray stated that they
have thirty two witnesses. They have
everything and we have nothing. It was
at this point that I realized that Ray Epps did absolutely nothing. He had not even contacted my ex wife so she
could show up and show that she was not dead.
He was going to let me go to trial completely unprepared and with an
allegation that I killed my wife. Ray
Epps did not even do background checks on any witnesses, not even those who
were just making statements against me and going to be used in the states evidence
of extraneous offenses, just being arrested and not convicted or just a
statement by an extreme alcoholic or a drug dealer was going to be presented as
fact and Ray did absolutely nothing to be prepared to impeach their statements
even though a first year law student would have.
I have recently filed under
the state DNA law a motion to have the DNA tested. The biological evidence, the same that was
supposed to be inconclusive and the court had ordered my DNA taken to test
against had never been tested,
somebody canceled it. After a year back
in the county jail battling the DAs office and their lies, I was granted
testing and it was found that I am
excluded as a contributor of the biological material. See the official lab results by clicking
the link below.
Further I have found that I
am taller, heavier, have a different color of hair and my tow truck color is
not “orange” but black and red.. Also I
have three deformities on my penis that were not described by the victim, of
which, the crime allegedly happened in broad daylight while the victim sat in
the passenger seat, The deformities
would be clearly visible from the right side.
All three of them are absolutely unmistakable.
With all of this new evidence
and about twenty five prongs of error and fifty five designated issues to be
resolved, I filed an extensive pro-se writ of habeas corpus of ineffective
assistance of counsel time two, plus a cruel and unusual punishment claim due
to extreme medical malpractice and neglect while in prison. I had temporary help from a Free World Para-Legal
volunteer and a good jail house lawyer that due to new prison rules I can no
longer correspond with for help.
The District Attorney’s
office agreed with my writ and the judge agreed and ordered the resolving of
the designated issues. From here on out
I am completely lost and need legal help badly.
I have been writing to some of the innocent projects but they take
years. I have terminal lung cancer that
I currently have in remission. My new
nick-name from the oncology hospital is “Lucky Dog”, as they gave me six months
to live three and a half years ago. God
surely looks out for the unfortunate but believers. There is
a lot more to this case, If you
would like to help, want more information or a complete copy of the writ you
can write me at:
Michael E. Short #774048
1300 FM 655
An innocent man called Lucky
Dog needs help.