Letters From Prison

While the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words are for the means to meaning and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth, and the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country. For when a nations judiciary is no longer concerned with the pursuit of truth, it has turned a deaf ear to the people it derives it's power from and made itself an enemy of the public.

One thing is for certain - Arizona was never expecting this!

In March, 2003 I drove from Tucson Arizona to Phoenix Arizona to pick up a friend of mine named Jacob Franks. We had been friends for nearly three years and he had lived with me for half of them. I met Jacob Franks when I was working a telemarketing job during a layoff in aviation. Jake had experienced tremendous difficulty getting a job. At the time I assumed it was due to the fact that in his youth he had acquired a felony conviction for auto theft. Several days prior to this he had sent me an e-mail from a friends computer stating that he was homeless again and living on the street. I discovered later that the McCullough family had told him to leave their apartment. When I picked him up I told him that I was giving him seven days to find a job and that if he was unable to find a job during this time I was going to bring him back to Phoenix. My reason for stating this was to impress upon him the importance of finding a job and at the same time to assuage any fears he might have that I would simply drop him off on a street corner, because he had friends in Phoenix that he could rely on. When we arrived in Tucson I told Jake that he could use my GoPed to look for employment as long as he remained within a 4 block area around the Apollo RV Park where I was living. I told him that I didn't want him making any long trips on it because I was concerned for his safety.

On Mar. 31st, 2003 while I was at work I ran into the aircraft records clerk who was working an airplane in the hangar. We had a short discussion where he revealed to me that he was qualified to work on the aircraft as a mechanic, but was unable to do so because the company had to find a person to replace him before that could happen. It was at that moment that I recognized an opportunity for Jake. I immediately went to the director of maintenance to discuss Jake's situation with him. The director of maintenance appeared very interested in Jake and told him to see human resources at 9 AM the following day. At the end of my shift I drove home and was very excited that I had gotten Jake an interview. When I entered my motorhome I found Jake talking on my cell phone. Not wanting to interrupt him I sat down in a chair and waited for him to finish his conversation. As I listened to what he was saying I recognized that he was speaking with an attorney. I then looked to my left and found my GoPed on the floor in pieces. When Jake's conversation was concluded I asked him what was going on. He told me that he was at the intersection of 4th Street and Broadway where he attempted to ride the GoPed through a crosswalk where the traffic lights had not yet been installed. It was then that an automobile came around the corner and hit him, which launched him across the hood of the car. This resulted in a mild sprain of his right ankle. When the police arrived they requested an ambulance to pick him up and take him to a hospital in the event there were other injuries. In addition the police gave Jake a ticket for riding a GoPed in a crosswalk.

At the hospital Jake was examined and they found nothing seriously wrong with him. They didn't even x-ray his ankle. Consequently there were no grounds for an injury lawsuit against the man who hit him because he wasn't injured. Yet he had spent most of the day calling attorneys trying to get a false injury lawsuit filed against the man who hit him and racked up a $239 phone bill on my cell phone. I informed Jake that I was not going to become a co-conspirator for insurance fraud and he immediately exploded into an argument with me stating, "How am I supposed to pay for this ticket?" My reply was that he was the one that was riding the GoPed and that this was his problem not the man who hit him and certainly not me. The argument then intensified to the point I had to leave my motorhome. I went next door to visit a friend of mine and cool off. After about an hour I returned to my motorhome and informed Jake that I was returning him back to Phoenix that night. He then said, "That's your answer for everything, you just quit." Realizing that I had been challenged I decided to accept it and told him that I would take him to the interview in the morning in my car and that he was responsible for finding his own way home after the interview because I had to work and that his first paycheck was mine so that I would be able to repair my GoPed. He agreed and later that night I went to bed around 9 PM because I had to work the next morning. Jake remained up and on my computer till about 3 AM when I insisted that he go to bed because he had an interview in the morning. Grudgingly he agreed and went to bed.

Around 6:30 AM we both got up. I began to get into my uniform and he began to get dressed for the interview. As he was getting dressed he put on a wrinkled red shirt as big as a trash bag. I told him that this was a professional interview for an office position and that this kind of clothing was not acceptable. He then walked down the hallway and yelled at me, "It's the only shirt I've got man." I told him he could wear a white shirt and tie of mine, which he did. Afterwards he came back to my bedroom and said, "After the interview I want you to take me to Walgreen's and buy my pain medication." I informed Jake that he was the one who was riding my GoPed where I asked him not to and got injured as a result of it. That he alone was responsible for getting hurt and therefore I was not responsible for buying his pain medication. Then Jake exploded into another argument and I told him that I was not going to put up with this. I told him that we were finished and that he should take off my shirt and tie, put on his own clothes and that I was taking him back to Phoenix immediately. He then walked out leaving ALL his possessions behind. I assumed that he had gone for a walk to blow off steam. Realizing that I still had about an hour and a half before I had to go to work I decided to give Jake some time to come back and that I would deal with him when that happened. Jake then returned and asked me if I was going to take him to the interview and I told him that I wasn't and that if he wanted to go to the interview he would have to make it on his own. He then entered my motorhome and was inside for about 30 minutes. I assumed that he was packing his possessions up and putting them into my car so that I could take him back to Phoenix however this is not what happened. Instead he changed his clothes and left, leaving ALL his possessions behind.

The next thing to occur was the arrival of two police officers, Judd and Schupbach. I was in the yard raking debris at the time. They appeared to be lost so I asked them if I could help them. They asked me if this was lot 7 and I told them that it was. They asked me if I knew Jacob Franks and I said that I did. I then asked them, "What has he gotten himself into now?" They replied that they had just spoken with Jake and he was very upset with them for giving him a ticket for riding my GoPed in a crosswalk yesterday. I told them that I was aware of this and informed them that he had no job to pay for the ticket. They asked if they could see my GoPed and I pulled it out of the trunk of my car. They asked if they could discuss this matter inside my motorhome and I told them I had no problem with that. Upon entry into my motorhome they observed my computer and informed me that a complaint had been filed with them stating that I had child pornography that had been stored on CD-ROM. They asked me if I had such materials and I replied that I did not. There were numerous questions that followed this, given to me by Detective Englander, which ultimately led to a crude version of Maranda which was more in reference to television police shows than an actual reading of my rights, at which time I refused to answer any further questions until I had an attorney present. I was then informed that questioning was terminated and that I was free to go, but I was not allowed back inside my motorhome as it was a "crime scene." I then drove to Phoenix to get my GoPed repaired, while the police obtained a search warrant and confiscated all of my computer equipment. Months went by and I had heard nothing from the police. In this situation I figured no news was good news. During this time I received better offers for employment in other cities and I took them because as the police had told me, "I was free to go." Jake returned to Phoenix with help of the Pima County Sheriffs Dept. and money the police gave him from the victims / witness fund for a bus ticket home. Upon his arrival in Phoenix he hacked and defaced my websites destroying eight years of work and was arrested and convicted for burglary.

On the afternoon of Jun. 22nd, 2004 there was a knock on my door. I was watching television in the bedroom at the time. When I got to the front door I looked through the window and saw two gentlemen wearing Hawaiian shirts who looked like they had just come from a barbecue. I assumed that they were parked in a motorhome next to mine. I opened the door and stood in the doorway and asked the men if I could help them. One of them asked me are you Jim Coghill? I replied that I was and was immediately yanked by my left arm through the doorway of my motorhome where I was slammed into the motorhome next to mine and nearly fell on the ground. Without any further word from these men I was placed in handcuffs and put into a black unmarked car. Sounds like the KGB to me. As we drove out of the RV Park they asked me what I did for a living and I told them that I was an aircraft mechanic. I then said, "Would you mind telling me who you people are?" It was then that they told me that they were with the Lynnwood, WA. Police Department and they were responding to a warrant for my arrest from Arizona. I thought this was all rather strange. Maranda was never read. They never displayed identification as being police officers. They never asked me for identification. Hell even the KGB asks for identification!

Now I want you to tell me that you think all of this is just fine, because when you do I’m going to pay two of the biggest and baddest strangers I can find to do the same to you. Then I’ll come back for a second opinion. I would have been within my constitutional rights to use force to protect myself from what appeared to me, were two strangers trying to abduct me. Thank God I’m dedicated to non-violence or those 2 men might be dead. You watch, these 2 detectives will be killed for exactly the same reasons just stated.

I spent a few hours in the Lynnwood Police Department jail and was then transferred to Snohomish County jail where I was arraigned in video court and asked if I intended to contest extradition. Not wanting to make anything easy for them and realizing the fact that my parents were on a two-week vacation and out-of-town, I decided to contest extradition. Not once did I expect that my family would intervene on my behalf, yet they did. I simply wanted to be able tell them that I was in jail and explain how this had come to pass. For two weeks I sat in the Snohomish County jail waiting for my parents to return home. Due to the fact that I was denied access to my cell phone the only phone number that I could remember was that of my parents. Initially I was placed on the second floor with nearly 100 other people. Due to the fact that I was arraigned in front of 25 other people who were waiting for their case to come up on video court, they announced to all who were present exactly what my charge was, placing my life in jeopardy by doing so. Now you have to remember that the title of the law (Sexual Exploitation of A Minor) bares no resemblance to what I am actually charged with and that this is due to the fact that this offense was added to a pre-existing law with that title. As a result it led everyone in that room to assume that I was a child molester. Needless to say within about an hour everyone in the jail was under this assumption. Due to overcrowding I was forced to sleep on the floor outside the doors to the jail cells. They kept the lights on 24 hours a day which forced to everyone to blindfold themselves to avoid staring into the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. This for me was like torture, but I learned to adapt to something no human was ever meant to adapt to. I must confess that I was seriously contemplating suicide. Being up on the second floor it would have been very easy for me to do a swan dive to the concrete floor below with my head tucked under, so when I hit the floor it would snap my neck. I thought about this for days and each time that I did a little voice inside my head repeatedly told me not to. It told me that everything was going to be OK. That I didn't know what the outcome would be. Although even now I have no real reason to believe that it's true.

After about a week I was transferred to a cell. When this happened I thought I was screwed. I thought this was when I was going to get it, but a very strange thing happened. My roommate in this cell was a young man named Justin. I scanned him and I could sense that he was very religious, but I couldn't tell in exactly what way, although I did detect a strong element of Christianity. Realizing the brainwashing of our time I decided to leave religion off the topic of discussion. Yet on the second day it came up, mostly because you have a tremendous amount of time to talk. I asked Justin if he was a Christian and he replied that he was and added that he was more spiritual than just Christian. When I heard that, I was very pleased and opened up the floodgates of discussion. I became his teacher, I spent nearly a week with him and we would stay up till three o'clock in the morning talking about all religions. Everything I said to him he sucked up like a sponge. I have never seen anybody literally adsorb information the way he did. After about 5 days I pointed out to him that the odds of two people like us meeting each other in a place like this were astronomical. It was then that he told me that I was an answer to his prayers. I was totally stunned by what he said. About two days later I was standing outside my cell looking at the large open area of the module my cell was part of when something odd happened and I recognized it from a similar event in my past. It looked as if the entire room had lost its color. Everything appeared without color and there was a strange sensation of distance and I got the feeling that I would never see this building again. I told Justin about this and later that night I was transferred to the third-floor. I was in tears as we were separated and I told him to get out of this place and go make a life for himself.

News of my arrival evidently had preceded me on the third floor because I was only there a few days. They had to remove me because they were concerned for my safety. As a result of this I was placed into protective custody on the fifth floor. It was here that I met a young Wiccan. When I first met him I looked into his eyes and saw a human being at the end of his rope. Due to the fact that he was a pagan I had no problems discussing the subject of religion with him from the beginning. As a result of our discussions I discovered that he was very interested in Buddhism. This was especially evident when he asked me to teach him everything I knew. At the time I was practicing Ngalso on a daily basis. Ngalso was taught to me by Lama Kadag in the year 2000 and I had been performing it daily as a method of lowering my stress factor. It had become the glue that was holding me together. I suggested that I teach Ngalso to him and he became very excited about it. We would get up early in the morning and go out to the recreation area where we wouldn’t disturb anybody and practice daily. As time went on some of the inmates discovered what we were doing and complained, but there wasn't anything they could do about it. During this time I managed to contact my parents who passed the information on to my brother-in-law, who contacted a friend of his who is a criminal attorney. My brother-in-law also made arrangements to have my motorhome and my car returned to Phoenix. Another odd coincidence to this story is that my motorhome arrived in Arizona the same day I did. I find this to be truly bizarre. My family saved my motorhome and car. It is now back at my parents house, but I know they hate the fact that its here. Yet my family came to my aid in ways I never expected. I now have 2 attorneys, my father who has decided to come out of retirement for this and Jim Lagatutta who is my primary attorney. Something I never expected would happen. As a result of all of this I am $20,000 in debt, but that’s better than a public defender. Jim Lagatutta told me that there was nothing further he could do for me until I returned back to Arizona where he would then request full disclosure of the evidence against me. I asked him if he was ready for this and he said that he was. I then asked him what the next step was and he told me that I had to waive extradition and that he would take care of it for me if I was ready to go. I told him I was.

I was picked up for transport at 4:30pm on Aug 11th at the Snohomish County Jail by a company called TransCor out of Nashville, TN. I had been incarcerated 3.5 weeks by then. I was transported in a van from the jail to Eugene, OR. where we stopped for the night. We had picked up 4 other people along the way. I was unable to sleep on the concrete bench and it was very cold. From there we spent another 3 days non-stop, no sleep, 4 days with no bath, making our way down the length of CA. stopping at every police station along the way for someone who was being extradited. The van wreaked like a slave ship. It was unhealthy and sickening. Then we stopped in El Centro, CA. where I was so exhausted I could have slept standing up.

I woke up the next morning and was grabbed by 4 men who tried to drag me into the shower where they could do with me as they wished off camera. I managed to break free of them by grabbing the door to the shower which was on camera. When they realized they were on camera and being recorded they let me go. Then I was assaulted by two inmates while 25 men formed a human barricade between me and the door to the cell block where the guards stood watching. I never struck back or attempted to defend myself. When I got to the door of the module I told the guard at the door controls I wanted to talk to him and he ignored me. I stepped in front of him and starred him directly in the eyes through the glass and repeated my request to speak with him. I was let out by him and taken to the infirmary where a nurse took a very quick look at my right ear and remarked, “I don’t see any blood.” I asked her what she meant by that and she said, “The officer that let you out said you were bleeding.” I sat there in the waiting room for 4 hours drifting in and out of consciousness. Later I noticed that there was an old bloodstain on the towel that had been around my neck. This means that the officer that let me out of the cell block, had fabricated a story to get me out of there, so he would have an explanation for doing so to his superiors and his peers! An officer came by with a photograph of the first man who hit me and told me that they had reviewed their videotape and that it only revealed one person. They showed me his photo and asked me to identify him, which I reluctantly did. Reluctantly, because by now I’m thoroughly terrorized!

When the bus to pick us up finally arrived a week later, I was let out of my cell and an officer displayed the photos of all the men on the bus and asked me to identify the person that hit me. I thought this was strange because I had been told they only got one man on videotape. What I had been told previously was either a lie or they reviewed the tape a second time. I identified the second man and was placed on the bus away from him. Because I was the last person to board the bus I was heckled and the man who had hit me mockingly informed me that I had been placed in the “Security Threat Group Cell Block." About 30 miles from the CA / AZ border the bus driver ran the bus out of diesel fuel in the middle of the desert. The fuel gauge didn't work and they were using the vehicle anyway which is a violation of OSHA regulations and probably a few others. All of the windows on the bus were locked in place with screws and covered over with plexiglass so you couldn't get to them. The guards began disassembling the bus with a screwdriver they informed me they weren’t supposed to have, to get the windows open before we all died. I am now thinking that in about 3 years some folk singer is going to write a song about how a busload of convicts died on the side of a highway from heat exposure. This is August in Arizona in the middle of the desert, in a fully packed bus and it wasn’t a cool day! Diesel fuel arrived 1.5 hrs. later and we began to move again. I arrived in Tucson at 4:30 pm that day. As I was being booked I requested protective custody and was immediately whisked away to a holding cell where I was denied access to a phone to call my attorney to let him know of my arrival, in spite of my repeated requests to do so over a 5 hr. period. I was then put in solitary confinement again and spent one night in the Tucson jail, where I was released to the custody of my parents and no bail was set. Now if you think any of this classifies as the fair and ethical treatment of a HUMAN BEING I want you take one step forward, I have just the thing to open up your eyes! This big letter and my big mouth! A man’s back can’t be ridden unless it’s already bent!

For the first time I have been able to read my accusers testimony and some of the evidence that the police have arrayed against me. As to my accusers testimony I will say this; I have never read in my life a larger collection of lies. In numerous instances in his testimony to the police he undeniably contradicts himself. In addition to that, his testimony reveals himself as the source of some of the computer data I am charged with and that his motivation in notifying the police is based solely on revenge, due to the fact that I was throwing him out of my motorhome.

On Aug. 19th, 2004 I am presented with the “Complete Disclosure” of evidence in my trial. I couldn’t believe a person could be arrested when the supposed witness is making statements to the police like, “I TOLD HIM IF HE MADE ME MAD I'D GET EVEN!” One police officer thought he was at the Southwind RV Park and he stated so twice. There is no Southwind RV Park in Tucson! What planet was he on? If I used this kind of precision in my job there would be a lot of dead people!

On Nov. 3rd, 2004 while attempting to interview the fingerprint expert from the Pima County Sheriffs Dept. I was refused permission to attend the interview by the Pima County Prosecutors Office, a right guaranteed me by Arizona Revised Statutes and the US Constitution . During the interview it was revealed that the actual fingerprinting was done by an UNIDENTIFIED PERSON. Not the person listed in the Counties supposed, "Complete Disclosure Statement." Nor did this person appear on any other list of people given to us at the time of "Complete Disclosure". It was also revealed that I had been arrested prior to any fingerprint analysis being done and that none has been done to date. In other words the county NEGLEGENTLY FAILED to process the data they admitted to be in possession of, which AUTOMATICALY EXONERATED me of the crime and arrested me anyway! “What a country!” Yakov Schmirnoff However fingerprints on disks, even if they were mine are no indication that I knew what was on them. So unless the police have information that they have not revealed yet, which is highly unlikely, their case against me is very weak.

In the months between Nov. and Feb. progress was slow. We interviewed many of the police officers listed in the “Complete Disclosure”. The major thing that was revealed by the interviews was that Detective Englander believed the files entered my computer through a Peer 2 Peer networking program called Kazaa and that the CD's were created with Nero and Roxio. Remember those names, their coming back later.

On Nov. 4th, 2004 My father whom I hired as co-counsel Pro Hoc Vice to represent me was denied permission to be present at the interview of Pima County Sheriffs Detective Jeff Englander along with myself. I also was refused permission to attend the interview by the Pima County Prosecutors Office for a second time, a right guaranteed me by Arizona Revised Statutes. They stated that the court had denied the motion to admit my father as Pro Hoc Vice counsel. More research is being done on this.

On Nov. 9th, 2004 I was advised by my father that he is barred from performing as my attorney by a certain Arizona Revised Statute that prohibits an attorney who has tried cases in 2 or more states outside Arizona, who resides in Arizona from serving as Pro Hoc Vice counsel. The purpose of this law is to keep the business in Arizona and to prohibit retired attorneys who have moved to Arizona from taking that business away. Evidently in the state of Arizona, I am allowed to have my constitutional right to the attorney of my choice, as long as the one I choose doesn't interfere with the legal business of the state of Arizona. In addition to this the state of Arizona is refusing to allow a father who is a licensed attorney to represent his son during his most horrific time of need. Such wonderful people aren't they?

It is not until Feb.1st, 2005 that I am presented with the scientific data, which forms the basis of the charges against me. It came to me in the form of the “Supplemental Complete Disclosure”. Obviously the first “Complete Disclosure” wasn’t complete at all or they would not have labeled it that way. Don’t they even know how to use the English language? I reviewed the data and I am able to conclude the following based on their own evidence:

1. The program called Kazaa was installed and it began recording download activity and storing it in a 1024.dbb file without my knowledge. In all that time, not one contraband file was downloaded using Kazaa. Obviously Detective Englanders’ ASSUMPTION that the files came through Kazaa is in error. Had Detective Englander performed the forensic report before he arrested me and studied it, he would have had no choice but to conclude that Kazaa was not the source of the contraband files. There is no record of internet activity on my internet account from any other sources concerning contraband file activity.

2. The ONLY evidence of contraband file activity comes from the section of the computer forensics report covering CD-ROM’s. Because files are unable to reproduce themselves, this fact conclusively proves that the material originated on another computer. Had Detective Englander performed the forensic report before he arrested me and studied it, he would have had no choice but to conclude that the contraband files in question entered my computer via CD-ROM ONLY and therefore had to have originated from another computer and internet connection.

3. In the Windows Usage section of the computer forensics report, in the add / remove programs section, it is recorded that the last use of Nero Burning ROM which is the ONLY software that was used to burn CD’s on this computer, was last used on Mar. 1st, 2003. This means that the last CD-ROM was made on that date. Therefore there can be no disks made from my computer after that date. Yet a glance at the contraband disks reveals that, there are contraband disks made after Mar. 1st, 2003. Proving that the disks could not have been made with my computer. The fact that disks were present in the collection that had been created using Roxio confirms that there were disks that had been created on other computers by other people, because Roxio was never installed on my computer. Had Detective Englander performed the forensic report before he arrested me and studied it, he would have had no choice but to conclude that the contraband files in question originated from another source and could not have been made from my computer.

4. In the Stream MRU section of the forensics report only one contraband disk was recorded and it was created on May 04, 2000. This disk DOESN'T APPEAR in the list of contraband material produced by the police. So where is this disk? Answer: I SUSPECT it was located in the small disk binder that Jake carried with him at all times. The same disk binder the police gave back to him when they removed his possessions from my motorhome and paid him money from the victims / witness fund for a bus ticket back to Phoenix. Whereupon several weeks later he was arrested and convicted for burglary.

5. The Windows Explorer, Recent Documents Cache section of the computer forensics report contains a log of all files that were played on the computer since the time Windows was installed. There is no record of any contraband files ever having been viewed on my computer, THEREFORE THERE IS NO EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE CONCLUSION THAT THESE FILES WERE EVER VIEWED BY ANYONE! THUS I COULD NEVER HAVE KNOWN THEY WERE THERE BECAUSE I NEVER SAW THEM! This contradicts Jakes testimony that these files were played in Phoenix, AZ. because the record indicates that they were never viewed at all by anyone! Had Detective Englander performed the forensic report before he arrested me and studied it, WHICH IS WHAT HE IS PAID TO DO, he would have known ALL these things and NEVER ARRESTED ME. It is blatantly apparent that the police even now have never taken the time to read their own forensics report or these charges against me would have already been dropped and the case dismissed.

In both our jobs we have the potential to kill people or worse, therefore statements such as, “I’m overworked” or “I’m too busy to do my job right” is NO EXCUSE! As I am reminded daily in my job, “If you can’t get the job done right I can find somebody else that can!” You know, if you can’t do your job right, somebody should relieve you of your responsibility, because the results of a botched job are too severe to society, to be held in the hands of INCOMPETENCE!

At the very beginning of this my attorney requested that the police complete their analysis of the fingerprint evidence they claim to possess. Three months ago my attorney and I requested an extension to my trial date to allow time for the computer forensics expert I hired to examine the evidence being used against me. All these things are rights guaranteed to me by state and federal laws. As of the date you are reading this the police have failed to complete their fingerprint analysis and have refused to provide the hard drives to my forensics expert even though the court so ordered it. There's three words to describe this, "Obstruction of Justice" and that is a crime!

Stay tuned to find out if I spend the next 255 years in prison. That's right folks, 255 years. The reason for this is that each file is a count, the penalty per count is 17 yrs. and they must be served consecutively! I was charged with 15 counts. By the way, if you don't think that's fair, please call or write your congressman because the law in your state is probably the same or close to it. I hope if things go this far I have enough time to let you know the results. UPDATE: I went to trial, I lost and received 15 years flat time, unanimously won on appeal and now I am being retried.

In the month of June, 2005 I am called on the phone by my attorneys secretary and told that Detective Englander has resigned from the Pima County Sheriffs Dept. I knew automatically that all this would do, would be to force the Pima County Prosecutor to subpoena him to appear at my trial. It's good news in the fact that it appears he was not happy working there, but it is not known if this was the reason for his resignation. It's good news in the fact that the prosecutor will have to work harder to pursue his prosecution.

During this time I have had to support myself and deal with the problems of daily life as well as all of this BULLSHIT! I worked at Boeing in Mesa on Apache Helicopters coming in for overhaul from the war till I learned of a job doing what I know and love the most, working for an airline. This job was offered by AVTECS and was the highest paying job in the entire Nation at the time, $32.00 per hour. I was asked on the application if I had ever been convicted of any of the violations listed in 49 CFR Part 1544. I have never been convicted of anything so I answered truthfully. Please note that 49 CFR Part 1544 was amended by the PATRIOT ACT. The people who are signing up for these positions have been hired to keep Northwest Airlines alive during the strike. It appears that AMFA, the mechanics union, is going to be locked out because Northwest has been making preparations for this day for 5 yrs. I have been waiting for this day since I lost my job at Midway Airlines in 1991 when they went out of business. Every person hired for this project has been offered a fulltime permanent position with Northwest Airlines.

Everyone except me that is, because on July 29th, 2005 I was denied my right by law to have 15 days to respond to what they found and terminated from employment with AVTECS due to my pending court trial. THIS IS NOT INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY! The chance to work for an airline will never come again for me.

Please note that 49 CFR Part 1544 does not include all the felony violations that are possible, only a certain few. Out of all of the violations in the list, the only one that could remotely apply to my case is rape and sexual assault. Therefore my case, even if I was found guilty, should not apply to the list of violations in 49 CFR Part 1544 because there was no rape and no sexual assault of anyone. Yet because the crime I am charged with is identified as "Sexual Exploitation Of A Minor" it MISLEADS the public into believing that I am a child molester. This is none other than discrimination against people and it's sanctioned by the law. Try explaining this to anyone and you might get a sentence spoken before they tune you out and you can visibly see it happen.

I am told that the record of my arrest will always remain, even if I am found not guilty or the case is dismissed and it will never be expunged. Consequently I will have to provide an explanation to all potential employers at every interview. Do you think that anyone could have the inner strength to fight that at every turn, or is it more likely that people simply curl up and die in the face of this kind of opposition or become homeless because they can no longer get a job? Do you think they will hire me when they see that? Do you think they will take into consideration that I was found not guilty or that the case was dismissed? Lets get real! The present evidence is already to the contrary. In addition to this because Detective Englander told me "I was free to go." and I was arrested in Washington state when I was offered employment there, the classification of FUGITIVE was added to my N.C.I.C. report. This will definitely influence not only potential employers, but any future contact I may have with the police. All of this amounts to SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST ME. Consequently I am through with america and I will never set foot in this country again.

This is not the process of constitutional government. These are the actions of a POLICE STATE! This is what happens to a person under FASCISM and COMMUNISM and other dictatorial forms of government, not a constitutional republic.

When the day comes that your government has made it so you can’t earn a living in your chosen profession, the day has come to move to another country!

On Sep. 14th, 2005 I was informed by my expert that the data on my hard drives had been erased by the Pima County Sheriffs Dept. and the only evidence he had to work with were the images created by the police. What are they trying to hide? This creates a condition where it is impossible to verify the authenticity of the hard drive images from the police because we have nothing to compare them with. We have no way to determine if the evidence was tampered with because the original data was erased by the police. That must have been the intention of the police when they erased my hard drives. Which leads me to believe the images have been tampered with or this wouldn't have happened. We already know that the Pima County Prosecutor was arrested for rigging a guilty verdict in a murder trial and that three assistant prosecutors left their positions immediately afterwards with out giving a two week notice around Aug. 20th, 2004. The assistant prosecutor on my case submitted his two week notice at the same time the other three prosecutors quit. Maybe they thought I would give up the fight long ago and the erasure of my hard drives never would have been discovered. The erasure of my hard drives can only be called EVIDENCE TAMPERING and OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE which is a crime! In addition they have still refused to deliver the CD's to my expert, even though they have been ordered by the court to do so, twice over a six month period. Apparently I am not even entitled to analyze the evidence that is being used against me. My expert also informed me there are no contraband files on the image the police made and there is no data present in the image the police made that connects to the contraband CD's. And in the event we ever get those CD's to examine we will try to tie the CD's to computer. At the rate the Pima County Sheriffs Dept. is obstructing my case that might be next year! (It was.) Please take note of the fact that I have paid a forensics expert $3,000.00 to do the work that the Pima County Sheriffs Department is supposed to do prior to arresting anyone. Taxes pay their salaries. It must be REAL laid back at the Pima County Sheriffs Department or there are no vacant seats at the Tucson Dunkin Donuts.

The Pima County Sheriffs Dept. has now committed seven crimes against me, one of which is a violation of FEDERAL Law! But who can I turn to, what higher power except God can I call upon for help? I am told that I can't even sue the police because the warrant for my arrest was ordered by a grand jury and you can't sue a grand jury for false arrest. So when this is over, if it is ever over, it will simply be, "We're so sorry for our mistakes, you can go now." and that will be all anyone can do. My career is ruined along with all the data that I had created such as the General Maintenance Manual I made for America West Airlines, the Aircraft Maintenance Forecasting Program I wrote for Midway Airlines, The Three Books I was writing, My web sites and a whole lot more. These are things the Pima County Sheriffs Dept. STOLE from me that can never be replaced! Under the provisions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Title 18 U.S.C. § 1030, it is illegal to break into another person's private computer to spy, steal or remove private information, damage property, or cause other harm. Damage of property would include destruction of data.

Violation of my Constitutional right to the attorney of my choice. Total 1 count

Violation of my Constitutional right to be present at the interviewing of witnesses by the Pima County Prosecutor on two occasions. Total 2 counts.

Failure to submit hard drives and CD's under court order 1st time = Obstruction Of Justice, Total 1 count.

Failure to submit hard drives and CD's under court order 2nd time = Obstruction Of Justice, Total 1 count.

Erasure of Hard Drives = Spoliation of evidence, Evidence Tampering, Destruction Of Private Property, Violation of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Title18 U.S.C. § 1030, Obstruction Of Justice, Total 5 counts.

I used to like america. I spent fours years in the Coast Guard serving this country and saving the lives of it's people. This is not what america was when I was young. Now all americans seem to be are cowering, timid, little people who are always whining for safety at all cost, even if the price is more laws that erode our civil liberties and freedom. While there is a surplus of attorney / lawmakers waiting to fulfill their every wish. Wake up to reality people, and the reality is that every thing that is born, dies! What's safe about that?

This whole thing hinges on whether or not "I KNEW" the files were there. If I knew the CD's were present in my collection then a long standing record of their existence should be present going back before I met Jake and there is no record of this in the police computer forensics report. In fact the CD's don't appear in the record at all until after I first met Jake. In addition, if I was a pedophile, a long standing record should exist in my computer indicating that these files were viewed. The facts revealed in the police computer forensics report indicate that no contraband files were viewed at any time.

After over a year of diligent research some very interesting and serious flaws in these laws has become apparent to me which reveal the lack of foresight of the people who created them. Consider the following points:

Under federal law a minor is someone under the age of 18. Here is a list of states that permit marriage under that age.

Arizona	16	Idaho	16
Colorado	16	Illinois	16
Georgia	16	Indiana	17
Hawaii	15	Iowa	16
Kentucky	16	Louisiana	16
Michigan	15	Minnesota	15
Missouri	15	Montana	16
Nevada	16	New Hampshire	13
New Jersey	16	New Mexico	15
New York	14	North Carolina	14
North Dakota	16	Ohio	16
Oregon	17	Pennsylvania	16
Rhode Island	16	South Carolina	14
South Dakota	16	Texas	16
Tennessee	16	Utah	15
Vermont	16	Washington	17
Washington DC	16	Wyoming	16

If you are legally married and move to a neighboring state where the age is higher, do you automatically become a child molester, subject to life in prison? Since you are in violation of Federal Law by engaging in marital sex under the age of 18, can you be prosecuted as a pedophile under Federal Law? At the moment it looks like you can!

If you photograph or videotape your wedding night and put it on the internet as some people do, are you guilty of producing and distributing child pornography? How could it be? Your marriage is approved by the state, yet both parties could be under the age of 18 and in violation of Federal Law. Keep in mind that there are no inclusions in the wording of both federal and state child pornography laws that recognize legal marriage to a person who could be as young as 13 years of age.

In these same states there are child pornography and child molestation laws. How can the law both permit and prohibit the same thing at the same time? By allowing conditions such as this to exist in law, both state and federal governments are guilty of complicity in these crimes. This is called entrapment on a national scale!

In child pornography cases throughout the nation, are the police making any attempt to verify the identity, the exact age of the participants and what state they reside in? Why should they? Because what is legal in one state shouldn't be illegal in another when it comes to the transmission of data on the internet across state lines. When it comes to the internet, I shouldn't have to run to the nearest copy of a states Revised Statutes, or hire an attorney to be certain I wont be arrested for something. In other words we all need to be playing by the SAME RULES and obviously, today we are not.

Didn't anybody THINK before they wrote such laws? Or is it the intention of the state to create criminals when before there were none, for the purpose of generating revenue from the federal government at $110 per head, per day? That's what the federal government pays the states to prosecute and incarcerate individuals at the state level, rather than turn them over to federal courts and federal prisons because the federal prisons can't handle that many prisoners. In most cases the federal laws and the state laws are the same or similar and if your case is dismissed or won at the state level, the feds can haul you into their court and try you a second time for the same supposed offense. It happens every day. So much for double jeopardy!

What I'm trying to show here is that the child pornography laws at the federal and state level were written without any forethought or consideration of existing state laws permitting marriage to persons that by definition of federal law are minors. Today when a law is ratified it becomes the burden of the accused to expose the impracticality and unworkability of the law through their own defense in court, at their own expense. Just because an idea or a law appears to be a good one, doesn't mean that it is. Or that it is workable in real life and THROWING PEOPLE INTO COURT AND THEN INTO PRISON AS A MEANS OF TESTING THE WORKABILITY OF THE LAW TURNS THE PUBLIC INTO LEGAL LAB RATS!

Please understand, I am not endorsing child pornography. Yet at the same time I am not endorsing laws that are unworkable in real life and draconian in nature. The truth is that the current child pornography laws can not be enforced as they are until EVERY state makes their legal age for marriage no lower than the age of 18. The problem with this, is that it is well recorded in history, that the states can't agree on anything together. It is obvious by the existence of these laws, that the people who created them gave no consideration to people who are legally married at the age of 13, who could be the source of the material some people are being charged with. Had they given consideration to this fact the legal age for marriage would have been changed to 18 years of age or the child pornography laws would never have been introduced.

Throughout my ordeal I thought the term exploitation was an odd choice of words because it didn't seem to fit the definition as I knew it. So I looked the word up and discovered I was correct. Webster's defines exploitation as:

1 : to make productive use of : UTILIZE <exploiting your talents> <exploit your opponent's weakness>
2 : to make use of meanly or unjustly for one's own advantage <exploiting migrant farm workers>

By this definition I can understand how the producer of child pornography is exploiting someone because a second party is directly involved and something physical and tangible is gained. However when a person looks at a picture on a computer, regardless of what is displayed on the screen, a second party is NOT directly involved. If one were to assume that the use of this word is correct in regard to the law, then in a similar fashion, photographs taken of movie stars would be exploitation as well. We don't throw the paparazzi in prison for the photos they take, or throw the people who look at those pictures into prison for looking at them and call it exploitation. In the second definition exploitation doesn’t occur unless the act was committed out of meanness or unjustness. An act of meanness can’t be accomplished without the direct involvement of a second party and the same holds true for unjustness. Under these definitions something has to be done to a person directly by another individual. In other words the act has to travel from a person doing the deed to another person that the deed is done to. In addition to this, something directly physical and tangible is gained in each of the examples given. In the first definition you make productive use of your talents by exploiting your talents. The action is productive therefore something physical and tangible is gained. In the second definition you exploit a person by being mean and unjust to them for your own advantage. Because the outcome is to your advantage something physical and tangible is gained. What physical and tangible gain occurs from looking at a picture regardless of what it depicts? NOTHING! Therefore the use of the word exploitation is invalid and so is this law. Regardless of which language a law is written in, the use of that language, including the definition of words, must conform to the protocols of accepted usage. Without this, the law becomes nothing more than a collection of secret codes, that only a select few can understand and creates a condition where compliance by the public with the law becomes impossible. Could it be that's what the intention is here?

As a safety tip what I have learned from my experience is that if you have a CD burner and collect data, those CD's should be locked up in a safe AT ALL TIMES and only you should know the combination. Also you should have a bios password as well as a Windows password and they should be different. You should NEVER allow anyone to use your computer, not even to check e-mail with you watching over their shoulder. The risk is too high!

One thing is for certain - Arizona was never expecting this!

By

James P. Coghill

© Copyright Nov. 28th, 2008 All Rights Reserved