Most of us grow up believing that the truth will always prevail, especially, in a court of law. We assume that justice will always win out in the end. That is how naive we were. To my sorrow, I found out this is by no means true. Actually, rarely true, in courts in this country. I believed as many do, until this happened to my sister. I went into court believing, if we tell the truth, that it really has to come out right. I can assure you the truth wasn't even a part of the equation, in the trial when Cindy was tried. From the very start she was assumed guilty....by everyone. The word innocent never even came up.

I was in for a rude awakening, along with Cindy. We truly believed there was mercy for a person, who due to unfortunate circumstances, ended up in a tragedy, that not only was inevitable, but truly waa a disaster, waiting to happen. All along, during the time we were caring for our aged parents, who had many, multiple health issues, Cindy many times stated, she did not feel she was really  capable of caring for the many issues our parents had. BUT noone, and I mean noone cared or helped them,  except me, unless Cindy was here. Of course, don't get me wrong...we both loved each of our parents...and didn't mind helping them any way we could. But no matter how much you care for someone, you still are human, and humans do break down. We needed respite and help that we were not able to get. Its not as tho we were in good health...we were not. Cindy was carrying around cancer in her body, as well as other serious ailments. Each of us has chronic pain from injured backs, making it more difficult. I have some heart problems and blood pressure issues, as well as other ills. So we are not talking about healthy people doing the caregiving. We were each, literally begging for help that never came. My mother had sisters, who were nurses...they flat out refused when asked for just a little help. Cindy came to Roanoke, from her home in Nevada, ONLY, because noone EVER helped me with our parents altho I am the oldest in the family, and had many health problems myself. Cindy knew all their care always fell on me alone. Cindy and I did our very best to keep up(and it was really too much for both of us), but by the time our father died in 2001, we were both already completely worn out.

In court the prosecutor berated Cindy over the disaster that was our mother's home, but we barely got a chance to breath for ourselves, and didn't even know what respite is. We did try to clean it some once in awhile, but we had so many things to do for our parents, and rarely got any real rest. It stayed in a state of poor repair, altho there were two males in the family, who rarely did anything for our parents. One lived within a 100 feet behind their house, on land our father gave him. He had a high paying job, but never helped them in any way at all. The prosecutor made it a point to berate, and humiliate Cindy over anything and everything that she could. The fact that she was a person of little means. The fact that she could not pay for legal fees, and experts she needed. Cindy and I did all this caregiving fulltime. We were constantly baraged with appointments, hospital or nursing home visits, getting medicine, signing up for medicaid, and many other things that needed done. We stayed tired, and mostly continued on will power alone. Cindy could not work on a job too, and all the money she got was a small stipend from the money our mother received from social security, which wasn't a lot.The bills went up, but her income came down when our father died.. Most medicines had to be gotten free. There was always more need for money than there was any available. All that Cindy did, in caregiving, was worth far more than the little bit of money she got.

I was amazed at the way the prosecutor was allowed to bash Cindy just because she was of low financial means. The judge allowed her to do it, and her defense attorney, seemed either unwilling or unable to defend Cindy. Because Cindy was a poor person, she got little if any defense.  The young, female prosecuting attorney made a statement to the press, that she couldn't figure why Cindy was "allowed"  to stay with our mother. What a loaded statement that was! Cindy was the ONLY one who would attempt to stay with her. I couldn't, because of my own health problems,. and the fact that our mother was so nervewracking to be around, that in no time, she had my mind in a complete whirlwind so that I couldn't think straight. She meant no harm, but was an exceptionally difficult person to care for. She rarely did anything you asked  her to do, and everything you tried to do for her was uphill all the way.....if she didn't somehow manage to sabotage whatever you tried to do. BUT we loved her, and Cindy tried very hard to please her.

I tried everyway I could to help Cindy, because I knew how hard she tried, in a situation noone else wanted to take on. The prosecutor made ugly comments about the condition of the old antiqated house, our mother lived in. Our mother use to refer to it as "the old barn".. It had been left to our father by his parents. It was not a fine house when new, and that was back in the late '20's or or early '30's, It was not at all convienent in any manner to live in. It had only one small(Under some steps)closet, and was just an uninsulated old frame house, that when it got old as it was, when my father got it, was barely sufficinet to call a home. All anyone could do was try and make the best of the circumstances as they existed. The wiring was substandard, and in my opinion the old house was a fire hazard. I constantly worried about my parents living in it, in the winter...fearing it might catch fire. It was hard to heat in the winter, and like an oven in the summer. An air conditioner I bought my parents sat unused for over a year and a half, intil I finally got a friend to put it in, since the "brothers" would not. That is what Cindy had to try and deal with caring for our mother. She worked her little heart out, getting our mother in and out of an old bathtub, on legs, by herself(altho she lives with chronic, severe pain). She mashed the pills our mother took, because she would refuse them otherwise. She would even hide her medications, and even hid Cindy's. Cindy did all kinds of little things, and I did too, to try and keep our mother happy. Yet, despite all the hard work Cindy and I did...when the case was in trial,  all this amounted to nothing, in the eyes of the vicious prosecutor.

I fully believed, that the truth would come out, and it would be obvious that Cindy was in a no-win situation, and finally buckled under the heavy load she tried to carry. I tried and tried  to help everyway I could, but I was helpless too, to free her when she was begging for relief, from all the caregiving involved. Nothing I did to try and help her would come together. I believed that because of all these things, and the fact, that Cindy and I both were ill ourselves(her ex-husband said it was "the sick helping the sick". ....that she would be aquitted. Boy, were we wrong!  I will never forget the horror of hearing the judge convict her, and then sentence her as he did.  I felt like somebody had hit me upside my head.  Until the day I die I will never forget the look of sheer horror on Cindy's face, when he sentenced her. It is etched in my mind forever. Do I now believe the poor get justice? I don't believe there is such a thing if you are poor, especially in Virginia. I always heard you get what you pay for. I would say that is true where she is concerned, except for the fact, that IF Cindy is ever blessed with getting free...she has a bill for about $18,000.00 for the trial that brought her not justice, but a hell that she is still struggling with, and breaking down in even more, and more. All this from an ordeal that she went into with love, and came out of, a totally spent, wornout and even sicker person. If what this poor person got was justice....frankly speaking, I could have lived without it(and I know she feels this way too).........Nomi

Some links:

A friend Dutchess, has written a book. Her husband is an inmate, having been for a long time....Please visit her site, and find out how to get her book.

http://www.chrisdutchess.com/

Bio for TV program:   http://www.wetv.com/shows/women-behind-bars/bios/cindy-countess

http://PrisonForum.com

This is a shocking article about the extreme cruelty that goes on in some of Virginia's prisons...

http://www.southernstudies.org/reports/LaFay3-WEB.htm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Patrick%27s+Crusade&btnG=Google+Search