First I wanted to tell you that overall Harriet continues to improve. Regardless of how small the improvements are they are real. I keep thinking that the doctors do not heal anybody, the healing comes from God.
If you recall the section of Scripture in the Gospel (John 9) And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
We believe that God heals and that He is in control. So our faith and trust is in Him not in doctors.
The last 3 days have been quite a whirl wind. By the way, today is Friday. On Tuesday I received a call from The Victim's Association and they said they received a call from the commissioners who are hearing the parole hearing, and they asked if I could be there at 10:30 AM instead of 12:30 PM? This meeting was set for Thursday. I said that I would be there.
Originally we talked about Harriet traveling with me and then she would stay at the hotel while I did the hearing and then came back there and we traveled back the following day which will be Friday to San Diego. But, we changed our minds and I thought it wise that she stay home where she has better facilities and more comfortable home than a hotel, no matter how nice they are. So, Wednesday afternoon I drove to Blythe which is 230 miles from our home. It is east and north of San Diego in case you're not aware of this. It takes about 3 1/2 hours, traveling at sub- light speeds.
I'm just going to give you an overview of what happened and then Harriet thought that maybe some people might be interested in more of the details which I will give later on in blogs that I will post. I got to the prison and checked in at the visitors center at 10:22 AM. They had me wait there until a young lady by the name of Rebecca came and escorted me to a waiting area. She was very nice and we talked quite a bit. She has 5 children, 4 boys and a little girl it's 4 years old. She was very gracious.
They called us in to the hearing at a few minutes after 11 o'clock and after we were all seated they convened the hearing at 11:11 AM. The reason I know the exact time because I took notes. I was told originally that the meeting could last 5 to 6 hours.
I guess I should jump to the end of the story now and tell you that Daniel did receive his parole. The question that everybody asks, so when does he come home? Here's the thing there's a protocol. I'm going to tell you everything I know (which is not very much). They have a review the can last 120 days and then the recommendation goes to the governor and he has 30 days to review the recommendation. This is a total of 5 months. But I will get to the rest of the story later on.
We were seated in a average size room with tables that are arranged in the center of the room so that people could sit around the perimeter. There was a commissioner and Deputy Commissioner on one side of the table. On the far end from where I was sitting, Daniel sat at the right hand side of the table and he was facing the commissioners and behind him sat a guard. To Daniel's left was his attorney Diane and then I was sitting at her left. Behind me sat Rebecca and she was there for the entire hearing which was her normal protocol. I asked her about that specifically before hand. There was one other person who was not in attendance but was there via teleconferencing and that was a man who represented the district attorney. He could hear everything that was going on and each of us had a boom microphone so that we could speak into it and everything was being recorded. They made it clear at the onset that all responses had to be verbal because it was being recorded and by way of instruction, we know that there will be transcripts of this hearing, which I plan on getting a copy.
The order of the procedure was as follows. Each person was required to identify themselves, stating their name and spelling their last name and then saying what their position was in relationship to the hearing. When it got to me, I told him I was a victim, a community leader being the pastor at our church and also Daniel's father. I was there in 3 capacities and this is important because when I gave my testimony at the very end, I gave it from 3 different perspectives.
I wanted to share with you something that is how I prepare for my messages on Sunday morning and how I prepared for this testimony. I think about things quite a bit and mulling them over in my mind. I organize them, go over them, reorganize them and I do this over and over again. I was allowed to bring in a book (which was a copy of the New Testament in the JB Phillips translation) a piece of paper and a writing implement. It wasn't until the hearing started and as I was taking notes I outlined my presentation to the commissioners. During the initial presentation by the Deputy Commissioner (who was extremely sharp) he went over the facts of the case against Daniel. There is a process that they all must do and he followed it. I was already aware of what the procedure was because Daniel had told me what they were going to do. He has interrogated all the people that had already gone before him into a parole hearing so that he was totally aware of the protocol. So, I outlined my presentation and filled in the outline as different points were made by both the deputy commissioner and Daniel so that I could comment on them and there was a continuity to my presentation.
The way the overall proceedings went was a presentation by the deputy commissioner which was the longest, he asked Daniel many questions along the way. This segment was probably the longest. Then Daniel was able to give a closing statement which was to be 10 minutes or less. Diane his defense attorney was given 10 minutes to close and then the representative of the district attorney got to speak his closing statement and then I had my closing statement which was a unlimited time because I was a victim. But I knew that it should be no longer than 15 minutes.
This gives you an overview of what happened and I guess I'm going to wait and give you more specifics because I know that some people are interested in, possibly others are only interested in the results. We are very thankful that the results came out positive for Daniel. You know that I thank each and every one of you who prayed for him. Many of you have never met Daniel and yet you, so very lovingly have remember to pray for him every day. I got a text from my good friend Phil Marsh while I was on the way home yesterday. He asked for the outcome of the trial and he reminded me that he has been praying for Daniel every day and for Harriet also. It's people like this and I can go on and on an name so many of you that have been faithful for not just weeks or months but for years!
I will close with this one point that I made at the very end of my closing statement. This will be as accurate as I can and I will condense it so you get the drift, I was addressing the commissioners. "I have a boon to ask you. This is not on behalf of Daniel, but on behalf of his mother and myself. If on the preponderance of the evidence before you, you find that Daniel is mature young man and is a good candidate for parole, I would ask that you expedite his release". And then I went on to explain how Harriet was diagnosed with lymphoma last August and how she's gone through the 8 chemotherapies which is the maximum that she can do and the results. So, I pleaded if they would please put it on a fast track if at all possible, if they chose to let him be paroled.
After the deliberation and we were all called back into the room, they announced that they came to the conclusion that they will release Daniel on parole. This took quite some time because they have to list all the reasons of why they came to that conclusion and I will fill you in on those reasons at a future blog. But the important part was that they mentioned the 120 days and then the 30 days that the governor has. But the most important point was that he said he doesn't have any problem requesting to expedite the parole. What does this mean? It means that it will be less than 150 days but only God knows exactly how long. It could be 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, we just don't know. But we will be thankful for whatever we get. Which is a great segue for this Sunday's message I'm preaching at church, "Being Thankful Is a Choice". I hope that you'll be able to be there and rejoice with us. The messages that I have shared with you in the last 9 months, many of them are because of the trials and tribulations we been going through. God continues to work in our lives and our lives are an epistle written to all men.
By the way, I used my voice recognition program and it is not 100% accurate. So please be gentle in consideration of any errors.
Thank you again.
Maranatha,
Frank and Harriet
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