Blood Ambush (14 page)
Authors: Sheila Johnson
42
On March 4, 2007, Barbara’s psychotherapist had finally been able to meet with her at the DeKalb County Jail pursuant to Circuit Judge Randall L. Cole’s order, which had permitted the visit along with the requested continuance of her arraignment pending further mental evaluation. The psychotherapist had evaluated Barbara following a one-and-a-half-hour interview, and his report was not encouraging.
Barbara was clearly in a state of agitation, he said, and was concerned that her medication was still not being administered correctly and that she couldn’t get enough sleep in the disruptive, noisy jail environment. Since Barbara was on heavy medication, the psychotherapist spoke with the jail’s medical director, who said he was following Barbara’s medication regimen but would be willing to adjust the timing to accommodate her upon the prescribing doctor’s approval.
Barbara talked to her therapist about a number of things she was upset about, and he reported that she gave no indication of paranoid or delusional thinking, but was frequently scattered, repetitious, disorganized, and often tearful. She was easily distracted, he said, and often lost her train of thought, but she told him that she could not survive in her environment—in pain, confined, heavily medicated, with limited social contact, and the fear of being put to death. She also reported constant pain in her hand, arm, and neck, and an inability to keep a steady focus.
Barbara’s psychiatric problems were serious, but were undoubtedly exacerbated by her equally serious physical condition. A year prior to Darlene’s murder, in April 2005, Barbara had been referred to, and had sought treatment at, a sports medicine and orthopedic surgery center in Atlanta for pain and weakness of her left forearm as a result of the 2004 auto accident in which she had fractured her left forearm and wrist. The fracture did not mend, and surgery to knit the broken bones had followed on November 30, 2004. After removal of the surgical hardware, Barbara spent five additional months in a cast.
As a result of all those injuries, surgeries, and lingering problems, Barbara reported pain that continually woke her up at night. There was nagging constant pain in her left arm and wrist, she said, with weakness and limitations to her wrist motion.
Her neurologic exam had confirmed that she was experiencing decreased muscle strength in her left forearm musculature, wrist, and decreased grip strength. There were significant limitations in her wrist motion, the examining physicians stated, and there was atrophy noted in the muscles of her left forearm and left hand. These problems alone were enough to seriously interfere with Barbara’s ability to get a restorative night’s sleep, but the addition of the continual noise, shouting, and the 24-7 blaring of the television made resting at night all but impossible.
The physician had reported to Barbara that there was evidence of left median nerve entrapment in the elbow, and exploratory surgery might be needed, and also reported his findings to her treating surgeon and to the doctor who had originally referred her to the clinic for examination. But there had been no opportunity for the surgery before Barbara was arrested, so the muscle, joint, and nerve problems remained.
There was no question that these problems, coupled with the mental and emotional distress Barbara was exhibiting and the continuing adjustments to her medication, were a source of her deteriorating psychological state. Clearly, Barbara had been in genuine need of the continuance of her arraignment in order to have time for a meeting with her psychotherapist.
43
As Barbara’s jail time dragged on and she remained, uncomfortable and disgruntled, in the DeKalb County, Alabama, Jail, she continued to write to attorney Rodney Stallings on practically a daily basis begging, pleading, then demanding that he travel to Fort Payne on a frequent, regular basis and visit her. He was her only contact with the outside world, her only visitor other than doctors, and she desperately wanted to see someone other than her fellow inmates and the DeKalb County jailers. And all the while, even though Barbara felt forgotten, ignored, and neglected, the legal maneuvering in her case continued.
Barbara was even more unhappy and dissatisfied than ever, and in frustration she frequently clashed with the jail staff. As a result of one dustup with the jailers, she received two disciplinary charges in the same day. On one occasion she was written up for using profanity and making derogatory remarks to a staff member; later that same day, she was again written up, this time for disobeying the jail staff and once again making profane remarks. Things were not going at all well for Barbara in the DeKalb County Jail.
On May 29, 2007, Stallings filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus addressing Judge Randall Cole, District Attorney Mike O’Dell, Cherokee County sheriff Jeff Shaver, and DeKalb County sheriff Jimmy Harris.
Stallings stated in his petition that Barbara was currently being restrained under an arrest warrant issued as a result of her indictment by the Cherokee County grand jury for murder during robbery and two counts of murder during kidnapping.
She was being held in solitary confinement, he said, at the DeKalb County Jail in Fort Payne, Alabama.
Stallings said that Barbara was receiving one hour per day to bathe and to make telephone calls, but she was allowed no contact with other persons similarly situated in the facility.
As a result of Barbara’s indictment for capital murder, Stallings said, she retained his services to represent her in the charge, and Stallings’s office was located in Cherokee County, Centre, Alabama.
Barbara, he said, believed he could better represent her if her detention location was correctly applied in the county where she was charged, Cherokee County, Alabama, by allowing more time to prepare for her defense.
Stallings told the court that Barbara suffered from both physical and mental disease and required constant medications, which she claimed were not being administered correctly in the DeKalb County Jail. She was, he said, in need of medical treatment and could not receive the proper treatment while being incarcerated.
Stallings also told the court that Barbara was in need of mental/emotional and psychological treatment and, likewise, could not receive the proper treatment for those conditions while she was incarcerated. She was, he said, being held in an undue, cruel, and unusual punishment, with respect to her conditions and arrangements.
Stallings pointed out that Barbara was on bond after her arrest and reported to court—as ordered, reported her intentions to travel to her attorney’s office—as ordered, and while at liberty, she traveled outside the state and freely and voluntarily returned. She lacked the financial resources to flee the country and had surrendered her passport to the court.
The petition then requested that the court grant Barbara’s petition for habeas corpus or to alternatively transport her to the Cherokee County facility while awaiting trial.
The following day, on May 30, the state’s response to the petition was filed by Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Robert “Bob” F. Johnston Jr., and made the following points: Defendants are required to file any petition for a writ of habeas corpus to the county in which they are detained. Defendants are required to file any petition for a writ of habeas corpus as a separate civil action and pay the appropriate fee (or a request to proceed in forma pauperis).
Johnston said that Barbara had met none of those requirements, since her petition had been filed in Cherokee County in a criminal action, not in DeKalb County in a civil action, and had not otherwise followed the procedure required by Alabama law. The state objected, he said.
That being considered, Johnston said, the state requested that the defendant’s petition be summarily denied.
In June of 2007, Barbara had written a long, rambling letter to Judges Randall Cole and David Rains asking for their help in dealing with her attorney Steve Lanier. She was in the process of revoking his power of attorney and asking for the return of her retainer. In her letter she also took the opportunity to make several other allegations concerning the conditions of the DeKalb County Jail and the performance of its staff. From the composition of her letter, her mental and emotional condition seemed to have improved somewhat since the time of her initial arrest. She still was slightly repetitious, however, and jumped from one subject to another frequently.
Barbara claimed that Lanier should have returned funds of hers that she alleged should not have been used, and she said he would not return any calls. Then she said that she was being held in a twenty-inmate pod in which she was the only woman, and could not go downstairs to shower without having to listen to the vulgar comments of the men in the pod.
Barbara also complained about the return of her bond money to Robert John Schiess, then said that Steve Lanier was not legally an Alabamian lawyer, and said he was supposed to have been at the Atlanta airport to meet her and Schiess when they arrived and were arrested.
I strongly feel if he would have been there at the airport in Atlanta as he promised, everything would be totally different, but he did not,
she wrote.
she wrote.
Barbara asked the judges to help her in any way they could, as soon as possible, to deal with Lanier. Then she claimed she and attorney Rodney Stallings did not get sufficient time to work on discovery because his time at the jail kept being cut short due to the jail staff claiming they were shorthanded. She said the prosecution did not want her back at Centre, at the Cherokee County Jail, and asked,
How do I help my case? It seems so slow, and time keeps running.
How do I help my case? It seems so slow, and time keeps running.
Barbara wanted to know how she could see a psychiatrist every two weeks as she did before, at $1,000 an hour, whereas if she was out on bail, her insurance would pay for it. And how could she get orthopedic workups with no X-ray equipment? She was, she wrote, living in a pod of
just messy vulgar men
with
loud TV 24-7, never silence.
She still had not gotten a pillow for her neck, she claimed.
just messy vulgar men
with
loud TV 24-7, never silence.
She still had not gotten a pillow for her neck, she claimed.
A list of other problems followed: not getting meds for neck, upper back, and arms, infected toe, both legs swollen, medical staff was a joke, the whole place was a joke. Regarding jail staff,
the best have quit. Over half the officers are new. It’s a joke.
the best have quit. Over half the officers are new. It’s a joke.
Barbara closed her letter by saying,
I am being as honest as possible. I will not make it if I spend most of my time staring into space.
I am being as honest as possible. I will not make it if I spend most of my time staring into space.
With his customary polite formality, Judge Randall Cole acknowledged receipt of her letter, and told her he was providing copies to Stallings and to District Attorney Mike O’Dell. The judge told Barbara she had the option of filing a complaint with the Alabama State Bar and the Georgia State Bar. He provided her the appropriate names and addresses for both organizations in order for her to contact them directly.
He ended his reply by saying,
I am unable at this time to address other issues set forth in your letter.
I am unable at this time to address other issues set forth in your letter.
Barbara’s stay at the DeKalb County Jail was clearly wearing on the nerves of everyone involved, and she fervently hoped, as did the jail staff, that she would soon be transferred back to Cherokee County. On June 20, 2007, both she and the DeKalb County Jail staff received some welcome news: Judge Randall Cole had granted at least part of the relief sought by her petition, and she would soon be returning to the Cherokee County Jail.
Judge Cole’s order stated that Barbara had filed a petition that was designated as a petition for writ of habeas corpus, which was set for hearing on June 18, 2007, with Barbara, Rodney Stallings, and the deputy district attorney present.
The state had filed a response to the petition and argued at the hearing that the petition was filed in the wrong county and that it should have been filed as a civil action with payment of a filing fee. The state also objected to the relief sought in the petition.
Judge Rains said that the relief sought by the petition appeared to be that the defendant should be allowed to make bond, and if not, her detention should be moved from the DeKalb County Jail to the Cherokee County Jail.
Habeas corpus, the judge said, was generally used to test the legality of a person’s incarceration, and he said that Barbara had failed to provide sufficient proof that she was being illegally held. The contention of habeas corpus, he said, would not be allowed, and he instead considered the merits of her request as if it were part of a general motion or petition.
Concerning her request for bail, Judge Rains denied the request for reasons he had stated in a previous order of the court. As to her request that her detention be moved from the DeKalb County Jail to the Cherokee County Jail, Barbara claimed that incarceration in the DeKalb County Jail complicated her attorney’s ability to work with her in preparing her defense, given the fact that his office was in Centre, Alabama. The district attorney’s response to this request was that the court previously had permitted the sheriff of Cherokee County to make the decision as to where Barbara was incarcerated.
Barbara had been charged with a capital offense, the judge said. Therefore, it was essential that her counsel be permitted to consult with her, as was necessary, to prepare her defense. Without sufficient good cause showing why Barbara should be detained outside Cherokee County, Judge Rains ordered that her detention would be moved from the DeKalb County Jail to the Cherokee County Jail.
Other relief that had been requested, he said, was denied.
Barbara could hardly wait to climb into the back of a patrol car to make the short thirty-minute ride between the two jails. Now, she hoped, she would be seeing more of her attorney and could also be visited again by some of the ladies who worked for the jail ministries of churches in Cherokee County. She had been comforted by their visits during her previous stay in the Cherokee County Jail and looked forward to seeing them again. Now she would, at least, have the occasional company of someone other than “messy, vulgar men.”
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