Secret policy

The laws and courts system, particularly in California seem to be insane, racist, and bias. They apply them any way they want without set standards and then blame ordinary people who don't know the law and the computer game like rules the lawyers and judges create that only they themselves understand and the utter ignorance of the law is not an exuse.
So regular people are penalized for not being a lawyer or educated in the secret policy of games, laws and rules they create to keep the public ignorant and lost in the woods. You see something straight forward like a blue sky and it's not blue in the eyes and ways of the court who create new waves and interpretation of the laws whenever they see fit without standards.

My legal status

LEGAL STATUS 1
As you may know I have two issues before the State Courts at the moment. A Writ of Mandate on having taken me to the Board of Prison Terms* in 1990 and commended me on my in custody behavior, but said I did not have enough time in for parole or commutation in 1990. I was supposed to return to the Board of Prison Terms in 1993. They never called me back and repealed the law in December 31, 1993. Both the Superior Court and Appellate Court have now denied my petition under Prima Facia* which is absurd. So I will take the issue to California Supreme Court next.

LEGAL STATUS 2
I have filed a Habeas Corpus on Penal Code 1385 which gives the Trial Court the option to strike Special Cicumstances** from a sentence in the interest of justice based on a prisoner's age, in custody behavior and good programming. Well, there was this white guy on the Honor Yard here at Lancaster State Prison who had three Life Without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP)*** sentences! Based on his age, in custody behavior, time in prison and being on this Honor Yard, the court stroke all of his Special Circumstances from the three LWOP's and gave him one 25 to Life**** sentence and in that same breath took him to the Board and released him. He did not even have 25 years in prison. I have  1 LWOP and 38 years in. I have a great in custody behavior record and accomplishments and I'm on the Honor Yard.
The Superior Court denied my Habeas Corpus, but the judge commended me on my productive and great behavior in prison. He said it was out of his jurisdiction to strike the Special Circumstances. The Appellant Court also denied my Habeas Corpus with no explanation. So I am poised to take both issues to California Supreme Court. There is no time bar to 1385 Penal Code.

….......................
Notes
*A background to the appeal to The Board of Prison Terms:
Prima facie may be used as an adjective meaning "sufficient to establish a fact or raise a presumption unless disproved.
It means more or less that Spoon is asking the Court to 'mandate' an agency to restore parole hearings for those prisoners who were sentenced during a time when even LWOP prisoners received parole hearings.
California sentencing laws, at one time included 'all' prisoners going before the board once they had hit the bottom of their matrix (years they must serve before they could be considered for parole). When LWOP was first instituted in California in the '70s, it seems like no one actually believed that it would really mean 'never ever ever getting out' would the person have a chance at release. Instead, California moved to an even more barbaric sentencing structure and began sentencing people to years beyond their natural life, even when they weren't sentenced to LWOP. 100, 200 years or even more.

Basically it is society saying "were mad, we're in charge, and we are going to show you how mad we are" and the Judge going along with it. It could be called revenge sentencing. It serves no purpose if the point of sentencing is to create some balance between societies safety and incentive to rehabilitate.

So Spoon has been denied by the Court, his request for them to review CDCR's (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) change in policy, and ordering them to restore it - no longer giving parole hearings to the conditions he was actually sentenced under at the time of sentencing. The Court denied it saying it didn't state a prima facie claim, or in other words, on its face, the claim of what he was asking wasn't a cognizable claim or wasn't apparent.

 While it was still CDC (California Department of Corrections), they were so backed up in parole hearings for prisoners who actually had a shot at parole, they made an administrative decision to stop doing parole hearings for prisoners who they see as the walking dead. They still got further behind as the level of incarceration in CA boomed larger and larger each year.

Then came Marcy's Law, an initiative which passed by the people and said something like if there is no chance of the person being parole eligible under the Board's determination, they could deny you up to 15 years at a time (prior it was 3 maximum).

All that history is to say that Spoon's case/claim is very interesting because, in the case of Marcy's Law, there was a class action filed on behalf of the prisoners that said exactly what he is saying but on this issue - if we were sentenced to a term that gave us a parole hearing every three years - you can't mid sentence change the terms of our sentence - it is ex post facto which is illegal. They won, and anyone who was sentenced prior to Marcy's Law being passed, once again is under the regular term of hearings at 1, 2, or 3 years maximum.
Background summary by Christine Thomas

** The Special Circumstances in Spoon's case were fabricated by the court only because the District Attorney (who in many jurisdictions in the US, represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses) wanted Spoon on Death Row. The Special Circumstances were attempted rape and attempted burglary. There was no evidence of either one, it was only based on findings of unidentified finger print smudges on a window sill, but without this the court could not have sentenced Spoon to LWOP. He did not comit the special circumstances nor plead guilty of them. But this fact does not give him any chance to appeal the sentence itself, only his behavior and accomplishments in prison.

*** Life Without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP) Wikipedia

**** ”25 to life” generally means a life sentence with parole possibilities after 25 years.

The Gosling Five Week 11

One of the Gosling Five was missing! I imagined it had flown away on its own. When I went to the small yard there were only four goslings left. I looked around for dead bodies or missing feathers. The Gosling Five have no more baby fur and perhaps it's a good thing he or the is gone. If I could fly I'd fly far away from this place too. Yet, I ponder did some mean humans that control the rotunda on the weekend separate the Gosling Five, one from the rest of the family? There are some hateful correctional cops around that don't like any prisoner programs or even positive interaction with what nature we prisoners can find. However I discovered a much greater tragedy, I found out that someone had gone and smashed one of the remaining eggs in the corner nest and it was not infested with maggots. The mother goose had taken off. An Indian brother had cleaned up the nest in the hope that the mother goose would return and sit on the three eggs that remained and she did.

Back in the cell. A fat moth is in the window sill seeking shade from the ninety degree sunlight. The moth had been there since noon.

This is the last chapter of The Gosling Five.

The Gosling Five Week 10

I found my geese family on the big yard this morning, and so, I herded them towards the gates and corridor that lead back to the small yard where the Gosling Five were born and are safer. They were all a little reluctant to move today. All five look grown now and only slighter smaller than their parents. With a little help from a cool yard worker my geese family strolled through the corridor without dropping a turd on the concrete, that I would have to clean up. I went around my business and did my bar work and ran a few laps and then took some bread to the Gosling Five. They were at the top of the yard near cell block five and six. The geese took to the sky flying as if they had been doing so all of their lives and landed right in front of me and we did our geese greetings. I wondered why they allowed me to herd them through that walled and gated corridor in front of the art room, since they all are expert fliers. I squatted down on one knee and placed some bread on and near my leg and the goslings came and rubbed up against my leg as they ate. The parents always stand back and let them eat.

*

 

Not a good day for the mother goose sitting on her eggs in the corner of the small yard. Another egg was stolen, now it has gone from seven down to four eggs. I wish the rest of the eggs will hatch quickly to avoid anymore hatred by whoever it is that stole the gosling filled eggs.
The Gosling Five seem to have decided to stay here and partake of my company longer and continue to share space and bread.

The Gosling Five Week 9

The Gosling Five are still here, and all of the baby fur is gone. They are healthy and bulky now and making adult sounds. Yet they have not flown away. Today some huge back of the cell block geese appeared on the small yard. Four young geese and their parents. They have seen more of the world, and there was another family of three that tags along with the new family. I remember seeing them through the cell window as they grew. This is one of the first times the Gosling Five had direct geese company. I fed them some bread. At first the Gosling Five were hiding on the tiny hill among plants. By noon they were out socializing and doing their geese thing. It was cool to see all the geese but not what they left behind.

*

I went out on the small yard to check on my five kids and I found them huddled up in a corner with their parents. Two local bully geese had intimidated them until they saw me approach. The bully geese backed up, but not too far and tried to come back and pick on the Gosling Five as I sat there feeding the young ones. I chased the bullies away and again and again they came back acting like King and Queen geese on the yard. Again I chased the bullies away, but this time the Gosling Five family joined me and flew about twenty feet. I walked away and called to my geese family and they again flew to me. They flew to me three or four times. I didn't know I knew geese talk. Suddenly they all flew low about forty yards to the lower part of the yard. The first time I saw the Gosling Five fly!

*

This morning I went to the small yard for my gosling meditation and again found my Gosling Five family stuck in the corner with the bully pair of geese not allowing them to move about. The bully geese saw me coming and took off. One bully goose came back and attacked a gosling and the gosling flew thirty or forty yards to get away. So the goslings can fly skillfully. After I chased off the bullies I started watering the grass and one gosling came near me. I turned the water hose on him and he enjoyed the shower and pruned his feathers. Soon two other goslings came over for the shower. It inspired me to go water the egg sitting mother goose in the corner of the yard. She loved it and even stood up as I showered her. She sipped the water from her feathers. I counted her eggs and two were gone. Somebody had stolen two of her eggs. It saddened my heart.