The Nightmare Begins.....

Hello?  Is this Caroline S?

 

I write this blog for several reasons...It may help some other parent better navigate the justice system, the county jail system, and the prison system.  It also helps me to look back and reflect on what we did that was right and what we might have done better.

Note:  I’ve changed names and declined to specify particular counties in order to avoid further injustice and/or retribution.

 

And that phone call is how the nightmare began….

 

As I was sorting mail sitting on the sofa in the great room in the home I shared with my current husband in Wisconsin, the phone rang.  I answered and a male voice said, “Hello, Is this Caroline S?”  I replied, “Yes”.  He asked “Are you Tim O’Mally’s mom?”  Again, I replied in the affirmative. 

The caller said that he was a detective with the _____ County District Attorney’s office in Colorado and that my son Tim had been in a serious accident (“but he’s OK!”), and the man wanted to ask me some questions.  My antennae flew up, and, since I didn’t have any proof that he was who he said he was, I asked for his name and phone number and declined to answer any questions at that moment, not having any idea what was happening.

Panicked, I tried calling, texting, emailing my son and got no response.  I called his older brother, Patrick, to see if he had talked with Tim recently or if he knew anything about an accident.  He did not.  He then called their Dad in North Dakota to see if he knew anything about Tim’s whereabouts.  He did not.  Patrick, knowing that his younger brother had a penchant for doing risky things, began searching on-line for any news and found a report of an accident alleged to have been a hit and run in which a motorcyclist was killed.  Patrick checked the arrest records for that particular county and found Tim’s name.  Their Dad called the number the detective had given and finally squeezed out of him the fact that Tim was indeed being held in the _____ County jail, but could get no other information.  Patrick found the charges on-line.  It appeared that every charge that could be thrown at the wall had been leveled against Tim.

Barely able to breathe, I began contacting a few people in Colorado to aid me in finding an attorney.  A friend contacted an attorney who recommended a criminal defense attorney.  After a call to that attorney and with a recommendation of a bail bondsman, I flew to Denver that night arriving at about 10 pm.  I got a rental car and drove to downtown Denver to meet with the bail bondman at an all night restaurant.  I was in a state of shock to say the least.

 

I arrived at my sister’s home in Lakewood about midnight, we hugged, and I went to the guest room.  I literally fell to my knees in fear, horror and shock calling out  "God to please, please help us!"  I called my husband and asked him to come.  I knew I couldn't face this without his help.  He drove to Colorado the next day.

 

Thus began a two year nightmare in which we were entangled in the current justice system in a county in Colorado that prides itself on winning at all costs and battering defendants with no regard to any form of ethical decency.

 

The next blog will outline the charges and what happened during the next three weeks.