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John Client File
Matt Silverman
Visit with John Client 09.01.2010
09.06.2010
RELEVANCE
GRACE is retained as mitigation specialists on John Client’s case. John was arrested in January of 2008 for 1st degree
murder. The victim was his 18 month old daughter Isabella. He has been at the Bossier Parish Maximum Security
Facility since his arrest.
John David Client
DOB: 11-21-1973
Bossier Maximum Security Facility
2985 Old Plain Dealing Rd
Plain Dealing, LA 71064
CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE INTERVIEW
This was my first meeting with John. Before the interview I met with attorney Defense Attorney at the Indigent Defense
Office in Benton, Louisiana. I followed Defense Attorney to the prison which is located about 20 minutes north of
Benton. We arrived at about 8:40am and had no problems getting into the jail. We entered through the side door which is
labeled “BOND OUT” and checked in with the guards there. Defense Attorney informed them that the other attorney on
the case, Pam Smart, had arranged for me to visit with John all day for the next three days. The guards let us in and did
not even check my ID. The interview took place in a small contact room. There were three chairs and a small table for us
to use. For future reference there are electric outlets in this room. The guards were very friendly and accommodating the
entire time, to both myself and the client (who they often referred to as John).
This first day I was with John until about 11:30am when he started to have stomach problems. I left and came back at
1:00pm and was there until just before 6:00pm.
Defense Attorney introduced me to John and said that I was the mitigation specialist on his defense team and a “good
guy”. He then left me to continue in with John. I spent a good deal of time explaining to John what my role on the
defense team was and how a capital murder trial works. John listened and made little eye contact at first. John is over 6
feet tall, slender, with a shaved head and a fairly full unkempt beard. His hygiene was fair, his teeth were clean and he
smelled like he had bathed recently. He burped for the duration of the interview. John is Caucasian. He wore glasses for
the duration of the interview. I spent a great deal of time listening to John’s frustrations with his legal team, the jail, and
his ex-girlfriend Vanessa (mother of the victim Isabella).
CONTENT OF THE INTERVIEW
[What follows is in John’s words unless indicated with brackets]
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The jail here is a little different. I mean, it’s a jail so it’s the same as other jails, but it has a different structure. It has a
very different inmate structure. It’s racially different than San Antonio. People do things a certain way here, it’s more
structured elsewhere. Actually there’s no structure here as far as its flaws. It took me a while to get acquainted with the
racialityness. In San Antonio you see Blacks on the East side, there are a lot of them there. You find Blacks all over the
city of San Antonio, but in the North they classy Black folk because of the various military bases and such. It’s really red
neck here, there are only two black guards and most of the inmates are black. That’s also very strange, to have not very
many black guards.
We were living in Bossier City. To jump forward a little to Vanessa and I, I pretty will fit in anywhere. I’m not picky
about where I live or picky about the people I’m around. But I had never lived in redneck country before, and we were
living right out there in Bossier City.
This whole situation is a media situation. The people here are just about talking about other people. There were about 2.5
million people in San Antonio when I left there. If someone gets arrested for stealing here it’s on the front page. People
here have $2.5 million bonds. I mean, with my last felony in San Antonio, the highest bond I had was 250k. It has been a
real different experience here.
I’ve only had Defense Attorney now for about 6 or 7 months. I started with the lady who calls herself the chief of the
public defender’s office, Pam Smart. It’s coming out that Pam wasn’t doing anything on my case and hasn’t for the past
two and a half years. I talked to her maybe 5 or 6 times since I’ve been here. In San Antonio there is no public defender’s
office. The lawyers are from the public. I mean, the public defender’s checks come from the same place as the DA and
the judges and everybody else. The public defender kind of works for you, but not really. I’m not retarded, I’ve got some
college even. I’m a little nervous about going to trial with Defense Attorney, he probably makes money from other cases.
I don’t know. Whatever. They don’t make a lot of money from these public defender trial.
[When is your next setting?]
It’s in January of next year. It took the DA two and a half years to find the victim’s mother. Vanessa is living in San
Antonio with her family. Her sister, her brother, and her mother. Her name is Vanessa Ferris, we weren’t married. She
was born I believe Febuary 2, 1989. She is 9 years and 9 months younger than me. Her sister Terri is older than me by
two years. She’s about 39 years old. Terri is married to a guy named Steve. Her mother is involved too, I don’t
remember her name. And her brother is Brian Ferris, he’s about my age. When I saw them in court I didn’t even
recognize Vanessa. She was wearing this pastel blue and she had her hair up. Terri and her husband live in New
Braunfels, and Brian lives in San Antonio, or near Seguin maybe. I mean, it’s 10 or 11 hours from where they live. It’s
12 from San Antonio. That’s a 20 hour round trip for 5 or 6 hours of sitting in the courtroom. It’s totally wack because
for two and a half years they were totally uninterested in coming to court and now all of a sudden they’re showing up.
I’m not sure if they have a victim liaison or not, but I think there was someone from the DA’s office with them the last
time. I think the DA is speaking with Terri now. I mean these people are not family to this woman, Vanessa. When she
left the house she was sleeping on couch to couch for a period before and after she met me. Other than that it was me or
my Pops who put a roof over her head. I’m trying to figure out the beef she (Terri) has with me.
Terri and I had one out of hospital dealing, and that was for a short period of time. Just one. She’s a fat housewife that
doesn’t work. She just takes care of kids. She wanted to have more kids, that’s why she was so interested in my kid
(Seth) I guess.
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Terri and Brian are on paper her aunt and uncle because Vanessa was adopted by her grandparents. I’m not sure if they’re
still alive or not, I don’t think they’re alive anymore actually. Her grandfather-slash-father went loopy I think in his old
age. I remember she (Vanessa) would take care of him at his house sometimes. Legally they’re family, but you let her go
for years and years! I don’t know. Whatever. Vanessa is a wild child and always has been. She’s been drinking and
doing drugs since a very early age. As far as I’ve been raised, you take care of your family because they’re family.
We never dealt with Vanessa’s family. Her biological father is a crack head. They didn’t have a family like relationship,
she called him by his first name. I drank a case of beer with him. He was living with his sister up in Peoria. I even
smoked crack with him. Rob was his name. His sister was such a crack head, she would be crawling out of the bathroom
window trying to get out to get some (crack).
East Peoria is where we were, it’s all white. There are no blacks there after 5pm. Peoria proper is mostly black. Her
father and sister would go there at all hours of the night to get crack. That was the only reason to go there.
I’m a recovering drug addict myself, I’ve done everything. That’s why I wanted to leave Texas for Illinois, I’m an
alcoholic and I still think about drinking and I haven’t had a drink in two and a half years. Drinking just turned into a
hassle with Vanessa. She’s a violent drinker. All of the bad trips were because she likes to fight when she’s drunk. In
domestic squabbles, I guess I have a double edged tongue but I never started anything physical. I’m not saying I didn’t
provoke her, but it’s been all her starting the physical stuff. If you were to look at my rap sheet, it’s on paper. She’s a
good person when she’s sober, even when she’s screwed up on drugs, she’s just a violent drunk.
I was drinking heavily on the liquor. After two or three liquors with her it would be WWIII! We’d drink three or four 18
packs and she’d be shit faced after we split the first case, but she’d want more and I couldn’t be moderate. I was trying to
be moderate, but I couldn’t with her. I wouldn’t go back and change nothing though.
If this does do the 1st degree murder thing, I don’t see them giving me the needle. If you go by criminal histories, I just
don’t see it. A life sentence is hard, but a life sentence is better.
[We started talking about the life sentence he’s already been offered, and how people say “leave it in God’s hands” and
why that is a mistake.]
I’m a Christian, and I do believe, but with these cases the more heinous it seems the more these guys want to leave it in
God’s hands. The whole time I’ve been here I’ve seen guys with a similar case get maybe 2 to 5 years for negligent
homicide. I’ve seen how the system works. I’ve been told I’m a negative person, but I think I’m a realistic person.
There’s a guy here working on the Supreme Court, and I’m like “you’re not gonna beat this man, these people relish in
making your life miserable”. I’m here looking at these bricks everyday man, and there’s no rehabilitation here, it’s
ridiculous. I don’t think any magic ferry is gonna come out and save me, I really don’t
I was in the Dominguez Unit, doing a state jail felony. There were 5 or 6 pods in there that were state jail and the rest was
TDCJ.
I’ve currently got this loopy ass ex-wife problem going on right now. I really don’t see them giving me the needle
though.
[At this point John needed to go to the restroom. Right after he made the comment about his “loopy ass” ex-wife he was
doubled over in pain and holding his stomach. I asked the guard at the desk and they put him in a holding tank that had a
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bathroom without issue. John was gone for a few minutes and he said he had diarrhea but that he’d be ok. He did not
look well and continued to hold his stomach and at times closed his eyes.]
Tina is my age, 19 days older. I’m 37 in November. She’s completely crazy, like clinically crazy. The first letter she
wrote me she said she had been diagnosed with about 5 things. She was molested when she was a kid and just generally
not treated very nice. She’s doing better now.
We got married I think it was 13 years ago in Bexar County. We stayed married when we separated. We lived together
for about a year unmarried, then for two years together married. I didn’t get the divorce papers until 2004. I was never
married to Vanessa. I got served my divorce papers with Tina while I was at Dominguez.
I was born November 21, 1973 on Scott Airforce Base in rural Illinois. I believe I was born in the military hospital. We
lived, I’m not sure where, we weren’t living on the base when I was born I don’t believe. My mom always talks about us
living in a corn field. My dad was in the Air Force for 30 years. He was a musician, a brass player. He was never in
combat.
My sister is Shannon, she’s two years older. She was born in Hawaii. She got the tropical birth [laughs].
The first place I remember living was Scott Air Force base. They were quadplexes, like two bedroom apartments. There
were two apartment on the second floor and two on the ground floor. It was me, my sister, my mom and my dad. I didn’t
share a room with my sister. I never did. I had my own room, or I think I did. Maybe it was a three bedroom place, I
don’t know. I never shared a room with my sister though.
We came to San Antonio for the first time on 1976 or maybe it was 1978. So I was three or four years old. I would have
been really young. Then we went back to Illinois, and the last time we came to San Antonio was in 1980. I was four or
six maybe. That was their final move, and they’ve lived in the same house since 1980. They still live there to this day.
When we moved there the subdivision was just being built. It was a new house. I remember there were fences on the side
of the house, but not on the back. The subdivision is called Heritage Northern, it’s over on the North side of town.
[What’s your first memory?]
My first memory is probably snow. I remember lots and lots of snow. That would have been when we were at Scott Air
Force Base. Mom, I’m not sure what she was doing. I wanna say she was teaching still. She was a school teacher on the
base. That was such a long time ago.
I have a horrible sort term memory. And I’ve been sober here. It’s been kinda rough though. I love a stiff drink and a
pack of cigarettes.
The first time we went to San Antonio we lived in Rainbow Hills off of Five Palm somewhere (this is probably actually 5
Points). We lived in a house then. I want to say I was in school of some kind. Mt. Olive Parochial School I think. My
mom taught 1st or 2nd grade there.
When we moved back to Illinois we were in base housing. Or maybe we weren’t in base housing then. We never lived in
base housing in San Antonio. I did a ½ year of school on Scott Air Force Base. I’m not sure of the name, but it’s
probably Scott Air Force Base Elementary or something like that.
In 1980 we moved back to San Antonio and I was there from 7 years old on. The house is at 1026 Bridle Forest. It’s a
house, it has three bedrooms. I believe they called it a mother-in-law setup because the living room splits the master
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bedroom and the other two bedrooms. About halfway into moving in, my parents put a pool in the back yard, an in
ground pool. It was cool the house. We always had our own bedrooms.
SCHOOL
I went to Adams Hill Elementary. I probably started there for 2 nd and 3rd grade. I rode to school with mom, she taught
there. Then for 4th and 5th I went to Ed Cody Elementary which was brand new. They had just built it 4 or 5 blocks from
my house, and I walked there by myself. For 6th to 8th I went to Pease Middle School. There I got dropped off by my
mom or dad mostly, but I vaguely remember riding the bus every once in a while. For high school I went to John Jay
High School until the 12th grade. I graduated in 1991. I was 17 years old, turning 18 that year. I got dropped off at
school by my parents mostly, until the end of the 10th or beginning of the 11th grade when I started driving to school. Pops
bought me a car. It was a Mazda 4 door sedan. We went out and bought it used.
After high school, I stayed at home and went to ITT Tech in San Antonio. It was the old campus off of Callahan and
Babcock. That campus is no longer there, the new one is near De Zavala Street. I studied there for 2 years, I graduated in
1993. I studied electronics. I loved it. I’m in to that kind of stuff. My parents took out a loan and I took out a loan and
we split the cost. My loan was $20,000 and I believe there’s was the same amount. I didn’t work while I went to ITT
Tech.
MILITARY
After ITT I muddled around for work for a while and I joined the service, the Army. I was recruited I guess you can say.
I was just walking down the street and the recruiter was smoking a cigarette, and he kind of accosted me. He said “hey, it
looks like you need to do something with your life”. I got a 90 something on the ASVAB, and they were just
flabbergasted that I had scored so high on this deal. So I signed up and went to South Carolina. It must have been close
to Georgia because I flew into there and we crossed into the state. I was there for…no more than 90 days. I didn’t
complete my basic training. I was there for probably one and a half months. I blew my knee out during training. It was a
gradual thing, I’ve always had bad knees. I don’t have any cartilage in my knees. My right knee is worse than my left.
My knee started swelling and I was sent to the hospital on the base to check it out. They told me there was a 50/50 chance
that either it’d be ok or I’d screw it up and maybe not be able to walk again. It was a safer option not to continue. It was
a real let down. I would say that was the major beginning to my depression and when I started drinking and drugging. It
would have been 1997 or 1998 probably. Defense Attorney has my discharge date.
After my discharge I went back to San Antonio. They bought me a plane ticket. It was just a downward spiral from there.
I worked off and on. My alcohol and drug taking increased at that time. I was living at home then. I didn’t leave the
house until I was 22 years old when I was hooking up with Tina. In the interim I kind of…not sober up, but worked at a
bakery at Sea World. It was about two and a half miles away from the house. I worked in the production bakery. It was
off key from the schooling I had, but it was cool. Most of my work has been in food service.
EMPLOYMENT
I started at Sea World while I lived at home. It was more of a summer job. I was cooking at Chelsea St. Pub in the
winters. It was in the Ingram Park Mall. We used to drink at work (Chelsea St. Pub) all the time. We’d get kind of crazy
because after the mall closed, it turned into a pub/bar and it got rough in there. It probably wasn’t good for me. I didn’t
need a whole lot of it, but I don’t regret it. That’s when I started doing harder drugs, like coke and stuff like that. I was a
dishwasher there before I cooked on the line.
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I hung out mostly with the kitchen staff and some of the wait staff. One of the wait staff was this older guy I hung with.
I’m not really a leader person, I’m mostly a follower. Back then when I was drinking and partying I was a clown. I was a
real party favorite, I was stupid. It got bad too when I hooked up with Tina.
I was on my way out of Chelsea and Sea World. I got my first misdemeanor, for pot, and Sea World started doing random
background checks. They did a random check on me and they were firing anyone with a drug conviction. That was fatal
blow 3 or 4!
[I told John that he had skipped fatal blows 2 or 3.]
Well, but I enjoyed it. Frank Resendiz was my supervisor. He was in his 30s or 40s when I was at Sea World, and I was
in my 20s. Frank and I would barbeque together and stuff. I did odd jobs with him, like hang ceiling fans and things like
that. I met his wife and kids and went over to his house. My other supervisor was Robert. One day he told me that HR
wanted to talk to me and they said they had done a background check on me, and that they we’re going to escort me to the
parking lot. I was terminated. That was fatal blow number two I suppose.
I was at Sea World for five or six seasons during the summers. I ended up being an assistant supervisor on the floor. I
was making good money and working hellacious hours. I’d get off at 2:00 or 3:00pm, having started at 2:00am. I was
doing stimulants at the time and it helped with the long hours. I’d go home and stay up late. That’s around when the
insomnia kicked in. I have trouble sleeping solid. I was probably sleeping 2 or 3 hours a night. I assume that’s the drugs.
I was with Tina when I got fired from Chelsea St. Pub. I walked out. I was opening for them and one of the waitresses
and I didn’t get along. She was an assistant supervisor and she was sleeping around on her boyfriend. She was taking
employees from the kitchen and having them work the dining room, and she took off and locked the door behind her and
left us. Me and a couple of the waitresses split. Fuck that, we weren’t going to open the place after she had left us there
to do it ourselves and locked the front door. So the next day the general manager explained that you can’t just leave, and
that I had left the kitchen hanging. I have a hard attitude that way, when I do things for others I guess, I just say “fuck it”.
Then my next job was at a temp agency. I hooked up with a job at a claims department (later explained that this was
USAA). I enjoyed it. I went through several checks to get the job. It’s a huge place. A friend worked there, and to get
around it you drive a golf cart. They have several different doors all around the place. Tina wasn’t medicated at this
point, she didn’t show signs of it at least. She called me at work all the time talking about killing herself. I made $10/hr
there. They ended up asking me to leave. They said this female couldn’t be calling me on the phone anymore, I was fired
for having too many personal problems. It might have been Kelly Services that I worked for. I went back there several
times for work.
Then they placed me with University Health Science Center. I was doing networking there, so I was using the knowledge
from ITT that I learned. I worked there for several months anyway. Tina and I had gotten married by then, but the job
didn’t work out because of Tina. I picked up a pager then, this was before the days of cells phones, and she paged me all
day long. I’d leave during lunch to take care of the old lady, I got permission from the boss to leave. But by the fourth or
fifth time it was too much. Tina didn’t seem to want me to work. There was a lot of stuff going on in her head. She
wasn’t medicated at that time, and she wasn’t working either. She would just be at home. It was a new experience for me
too, I had never had to deal with anything like that. And I didn’t understand it, what she was going through, and it started
tripping me out. When she’s not medicated she’s a nympho of a female. She’d be freaking out and I’d come home and
she’d be freaking out, and then she’d want to have a fuck-fest. She was molested by her mom’s boyfriend.
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Tina then went the opposite way, she had to have it (sex) all the time. We didn’t hang out with anybody without her
talking about sex. I assume it came from the trauma in her youth. I wasn’t as understanding of what it was. When she
talked to me about the details of what happened to her, it would make me physically ill. She’d get into graphic detail, and
I’d stop her. I should have let her vent then. She left me for a dude that was molested as a youth. They have that bond,
and that’s cool. When Tina isn’t manic and crazy she’s a decent person to be around. She’d do anything for you, she’s
good people. Tina Lucas is her name. She took her blood father’s last name. Right now she shacked up with this guy.
She’s probably been with him for 6 or 7 years now. I was Tina’s second husband. She’s been with Everett a long time.
He has toned down her sexual outbursts. She would get aggressive when talking about it, and she would get real graphic
when talking about it. She would talk about what she liked and stuff.
After I left the Science Center job, it would have been about 1999 or 2000. We started living at Tina’s mom’s house in
Balcones Heights. Her mom was named Molly. I don’t recall her last name. We were living there for about 8 months or
so. Then we moved to an apartment on the back side of Balcones, behind her mom’s house. It was an apartment, we had
a 6 month lease there. It was the first lease I was on, but I don’t remember ever paying the rent. Either Tina’s mom or
grandma paid the rent. We weren’t working then.
After the apartment we moved into grandma’s house, it was down the street.
[At this point John needed to use the bathroom again and was having stomach cramps. The guard let him use the restroom
and he came back several minutes later.]
Sorry, I was getting claustrophobic then. The walls were closing in on me. It doesn’t happen that much. My cell is
longer than this room.
Anyway, in my last letter to Tina I told her to stop freaking out in her letters. Then she quit writing me and it has been 6
months. There was about a 10 month period there where she was writing. She started writing me, then her grandma died.
She got in touch with Defense Attorney’s PI, and the last two letters from her she was freaking out about the DA trying to
kill me. She thinks I’m holding out. I told her that I already told these people everything, but she’s never been in this
situation before and has no idea what it’s like. It’s stresses her out, and she told the PI that she still has feelings. I could
say that her and Everett are not extremely happy to be together. Both her and Everett are on pysch checks and SSI. Tina
says she has been diagnosed with PTSD, bipolar…she listed about 5 out.
I talk to my parents about every month, or every other month. I really have to go to the bathroom again. Do you think we
can take a break? I don’t want to waste your time but I feel worthless like this.
[John was holding his stomach in pain and I told him I would be back in an hour or two to give him time to use the
restroom. At this point it was about 11:24am. I returned to the jail at about 1:00pm and we continued. He seemed better
and a little embarrassed at the situation. I suggested we do through the family tree. He said that talking about his parents
and the past was stressing him out.]
FAMILY TREE
Father:
David Ray Client. 63 years old, from Meyersville, Texas.
Mother:
Yvonne Marie Schultz. 63 years old soon, from Cuero, Texas.
My parents don’t have any kids from other people and they’ve had no previous marriages.
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Paternal side:
I’m not sure of grandma and grandpa’s names. They’ve been gone for a while. I’m not sure where they
are from but they lived in Meyersville, Texas. They were close to being immigrants from Germany. I
think their parents were from Germany.
My Dad has one brother named Wayne. He has died. He lived in Victoria, Texas. He was married but I
don’t remember her name. They had two children named Leanne and Ricky. Don’t ask me how to spell
Lee Ann. We used to see them on the holidays. Wayne was a couple of years older than my Dad. Ricky
is the oldest kid, he’s a couple of years older than his sister Lee Ann. Ricky has kids but I couldn’t tell
you their names. Lee Ann doesn’t have any kids. Lee Ann is married to someone, I don’t know who.
My Dad has one sister named Marjorie. She has kids. I’m not sure of their names, we just saw them at
family events. She still lives in Meyersville I believe. Her husband, I’m not sure of his name.
Maternal side: Grandma is still alive, she lives in Cuero in a nursing home of some kind. I don’t know her name.
My Mom has one brother named Glynn. He’s married but I’m not sure of her name. They have one kid
that they adopted named Toya. Don’t ask me how to spell that. She’s younger than me by a couple of
years.
My sister is named Shannon Rios. She’s married to Gus Rios. I believe that’s short for Gustavo. Shannon has two kids
named Abigale and Anthony, they’re between 4 and 6, really young. And Gus has two girls from a previous marriage,
they are teenagers I believe.
[John’s eyes close at this point and I could hear his stomach grumbling. I asked if he needed to take another break but he
said he was fine.]
When Tina and I were living with her grandma, that was right before we split up. We started going out in 1998 so in
about 2001 probably is when we split up. It was after my…we got into it, after my assault charge with Tina.
The marijuana charge, actually, we were picked up by the Parks and Recreation Department. We were down at the T
Gardens, which is obviously a park. We were smoking some pot and they came up to us and talked to us. Then they held
us until the SAPD arrived.
MENTAL HOSPITALIZATION
After I split up with Tina I went to the hospital when I had a break down. I went to University Health, on the 10th floor.
It’s the hospital off of Fredricksburg. My brother-in-law Gus Rios took me. I stayed with Gus and Shannon for a week
after I went to the hospital while my parents diligently found an apartment for me. The apartment was called the
International Residence. It was like a themed apartment complex, I had an efficiency.
Gus took me to the hospital. I had been living at a friend’s house after 90 days in jail. Tina had hooked up with Everett. I
had nowhere to go. I called my sister and was out of it. Then Gus and her took me to the hospital. It was pretty peaceful
there, they sectioned off the 10th floor and the whole thing is a psych ward full of drug addicts trying to break dope and
people like that, nobody really crazy. I remember I went to a couple of group sessions. I don’t remember any doctor’s
names. It was in 2001. They gave me some meds, but I’m not sure what they were. I left with a script but I never refilled
them. I just went back to the self medication program. The drug they gave me was some kind of mood stabilizer and an
anti-psychotic. It was a voluntary input, so it was voluntary out. I never had any one on one counseling while there. I
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had my own room. I was agitated so I left. I had just been confined for 90 days at Bexar County jail and I didn’t want to
go back to that kind of confinement situation.
STAYING WITH SISTER SHANNON
Then I went to stay with my sister for a week. Me and Gus piddled around with a lawn service deal. We talked about
setting up our own lawn service. We did some DJ gigs together to put some cash in my pocket. Gus is a semi-recovering
alcoholic, so it wasn’t good to spend too much time with him and I wasn’t the right person for him to be around because if
he ever wanted to drink I was always down. We ended up drinking quite a lot together actually. We did Quinceañera gigs
and weddings and those events always had free alcohol. Hell, we’d split a 12 pack on the way to the gig, I’m sure just
reeking of alcohol.
INTERNATIONAL PLACE APARTMENTS (8722 Cinnamon Creek Drive)
I had an efficiency at the International Place Apartments. My people (parents) were…they talked to a counselor. The
counselor said that at this time they were enabling the things that I did. For the one and a half years that I lived in
International Place, my Dad paid the rent and bills for me. He would show up on the first of the month and pay
everything. I was doing odd jobs then. I worked for West Telemarketing off and on, taking calls. That didn’t last long
though. I had several temporary jobs then, none of them lasting longer than 60 days. I’m not into the public service type
deal, but even in the food service people are just stupid and the customers treat people poorly. That just didn’t computer
with me, why someone would go out to eat only to piss and moan about everything. I quickly learned that the
telemarketing was not for me. I had a paycheck, but not for very long.
LIVING WITH EX-GIRLFRIEND MICHELLE
Then for like 6 months during the year and a half that I was at the International Place I was with Michelle. She stayed
there with me. Her last name I don’t remember, something long and German. It was just a drug and sex thing with her.
Then after her I was alone for a couple of months before I met Vanessa.
RANCHO MIRAGE APARTMENTS (5903 Danny Kaye Drive)
I was at International Place for 90 days and then another 90 days I was with Vanessa in another apartment. Boy we
trashed that apartment. I really saw how violent Vanessa was then. It was called the Rancho Mirage Apartments.
UTSA CAMPUS WITH DEVONNE
Then after that place we went to stay with a friend of mine named Devonne. I don’t know his last name, he was going to
school at UTSA and we stayed with him on the campus. Devonne was my only real black friend. I hear he’s back in San
Antonio bartending. He was in Arizona for a while.
LA VALENCIA APARTMENTS (7810 Callaghan Road)
Then we found out that Vanessa was pregnant with Seth. He was born in October of 2002. So we got a place at La
Valencia where we lived for the whole pregnancy and the 6 months with Seth around. So about 15 months total there I
guess. It was a one bedroom place.
FELONY CONVICTION – RECKLESS INJURY TO A CHILD
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Then I went away to Dominguez. The incident with Seth happened at La Valencia. Seth had a tumor at the base of his
spine. The doctor said that he was born with it and that it was growing with him. He lost movement from his waist down.
Seth had a seizure when he was 6 months old and we found 2 neurosurgeons to help us out. They told us that it was an
inoperable tumor. They were able to cut enough out keep his spinal cord from being pinched. They sent samples all over
the world, to Johns Hopkins, all over. We later found out that spinal tumors are rare. They couldn’t tell if it was
cancerous or not. After this surgery the Oncologist, Dr. Patel, he’s the chief at the Children’s Hospital…this went on for a
while…Seth was in the cancer ward. Dr. Patel didn’t hit it off with me. He called us in one day and said that he wasn’t
sure what it was and called it child abuse. So then Seth is put in temporary custody.
He was seen by surgeons and Dr. Patel got a bone specialist involved. She said that Seth had a chip...in his clavicle or
actually not a chip but a bone missing, there was no missing piece floating around in there. The doctors thought that Seth
was not abused, but that something was wrong, that he was born that way. And they also said that Seth seemed well
adjusted, including the pediatrician though that. They said that young children usually shy away from the abuser, but he
liked to be around me. But Patel pulled us into his personal office, he had an office outside of the hospital in an office
building, and he threatened again. He wanted to stop all the tests that we had wanted. And Terri (Bradley) and Patel were
all buddy-buddy. We were at their office and Terri and her Mom were all laughing with Seth, and I just flipped out. I
took some steps toward them, and Vanessa intervened. Let’s just say I was banned from the next two or three visits. I
told Vanessa that Terri was playing games with her, and the doctors told us to quit playing games. I said “fuck these
people”. It makes me think that Terry has a grudge. She didn’t get into Vanessa’s head until SAPD took me in, and then
she had Vanessa all sideways. If she had done 6 months of classes she could have gotten the kid back. I was away and
Terri worked her voodoo on Vanessa and she let Terri take custody of Seth. Vanessa finally gave in, about a year after I
had been incarcerated. I sat in county (Bexar County Jail) for about 13 or 14 months, then another 6 in county, and then I
went off to Domniguez for 6 months. I was going to take it to trial. The doctors were on board.
The DA told me that they were gonna arrest Vanessa if I wanted to take it to trial and she had a clean record at that time. I
took the reckless injury charge to protect her. It was my first felony, I was looking at 5 to 99 at trial. My first deal was
for 3 years and I said no. They came back with a state jail felony and that was 2 years which was the maximum, 2 years
flat time.
I never saw the statement I gave to the SAPD. Man it was something else…they said Seth had rib fractures. The bone
specialist said there was no way to tell if it was child abuse. She thought it was because of something he was born with.
During the statement there was one detective in there at first, then four. And I’m claustrophobic and they finally got a
statement out of me. I think I ended up saying that I might have squeezed him around the chest too tight or something.
Being that I’m big I’m always cautious with the children, little wet squiggly children scare the living shit out of me, that’s
why Vanessa always bathed them.
TERRORISTIC THREAT CHARGE
One charge I had was non-adjudicated because of a lack of evidence. It was making a terroristic threat. It happened in
San Antonio. I probably said I was gonna kill Tina, or kill her dogs and hang them in the tree. And Tina’s mom, who
slept with half of the police department, that was another reason why it was a big deal I guess. But Molly has forgiven
me.
JOHN’S SEX ADDICTION
[John got quiet at this point and his head was looking down.]
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The last 12 to 15 years of my life, they’ve been really really bad. The biggest problem of mine seems to be zipper
problems. I just can’t keep it in my pants. Right now I’m actually reading a sex addiction book, I don’t know, I may have
a sex addiction of some kind. I’d do Tina 5 or 6 times a day, but also be going out and cheating on her too. I mean, I was
a virgin until I was 22 years old…and then “ping!”, it was on. With me and Michelle, we just did drugs and had sex, that
was our entire relationship.
Me and Vanessa had a whole lot of sex. I never cheated on Michelle. I tried to cheat on Vanessa with these girls at
IHOP, but…
[At this point John got very animated as he voiced complaints about Vanessa and his child rearing difficulties]
Vanessa never worked. She took care of my daughter and I paid the rent. I worked at IHOP for $9/hr and at Chili’s as a
cook too. Isabella, she would have to have new clothes all the time! Every time wore an outfit she’d need to get more
new clothes. Me and Vanessa would argue a lot about how to raise our daughter. Our only friend in Bossier City was our
friend Kipp Boudreau. He and his brother passed away in a car accident. I did two weeks at the Pee farm down the street
labor, and then right after that this happened with my daughter. We didn’t have any family here to help take care of her,
we didn’t have any type of release here. I tried to tell Vanessa we needed to raise her ourselves. They did a partial
hysterectomy on her after she had Isabella. I’m not sure if it had any effect on her whatsoever, but she changed. She
withdrew after having Isabella.
ISABELLA’S CONCEPTION, THE PREGNANCY, AND BIRTH
Isabella was conceived in Peoria, Illinois. I did 30 days for domestic violence there. Then she took off back to San
Antonio. So I got out, homeless, and it was snowing. Kipp lived in Bossier City, so I called my Pops and he got me some
money to get to Bossier. I got an email from Vanessa telling me that she was pregnant, and she told me over the phone
that she wanted to have an abortion. I told her I wished she didn’t do that. After Seth she had 2 or 3 miscarriages. I
couldn’t have sex with her without getting her pregnant! I told her to come here to Bossier City, by bus, so we could try
and make it work. So she took the bus out here and she was already in her first trimester. It was probably too late for an
abortion then.
We hooked up with King’s Clinic I believe through LSU. We had some trouble finding a doctor that would take her
because she had gone so far along without any medical care. Vanessa, she had these really black moments where she was
really depressed. But after Isabella’s birth it got worse (her depression). She always wanted to be Isabella’s best friend
all the time, and I told her that wasn’t too good an idea, that we needed to set up some boundary, to say more that we were
the parents and to define our roles. I think that’s how it should be done, and Isabella did anything I told her. She’d stop
doing something when I told her to, or cry for two seconds and then stop. Vanessa didn’t have that power or control to
tell Isabella what to do.
I’d come home at 1am or 2am and I’d hear Isabella wake up and hear her say “Da Da Da”. And when I left for an hour,
Isabella would freak out. Vanessa told me that she freaked out when I left. She was a bright little kid. I was the main
mover and goer because Vanessa didn’t want to do anything. Vanessa was resentful because I didn’t do this and that, and
that I didn’t play with her as much. She (Isabella) was wonderfully capable of doing things in her own. This caused
major rifts between Vanessa and I. She was good at raising other people’s kids, like Leanne, her friend’s son has a boy
with a brain problem. He’s in home health care, we call him Bubba. She worked with Leanne and helped her with her
kids. I couldn’t get it through her head that it was our kid (Isabella). Vanessa’s childhood was crazy, she did whatever
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she wanted to do and wouldn’t come home for days. She’s wonderful when she wants to be. One can change things if
you want. If you choose to live in squalor, well that’s your choice.
JOHN’S STRICT UPBRINGING LEADS TO REBELLION AT 18
I had a strict upbringing. I didn’t run around in the streets until I was 18 or 19. I hit 18 and nothing was gonna stop me
being with my homeboys. That was the way it turned out anyway. I was big, and my bro Paul was big. We could get
alcohol on the Southside without any problem. Paul’s last name is Burchfield, his middle name is Wesley. I think he
lives in Pasadena now, he was working for Exxon. I haven’t heard from him in a while. The last time I saw Paul was
when we were living at Rancho Mirage. It was before Seth was born but I was with Vanessa. It’s been 8 or 9 years since
I communicated with him.
I met Paul when I was in elementary. His Dad is Jimmie and he was in the service with my Dad. Paul and I met in the
2nd…or was it the 1st grade. From the start. They lived three or four blocks from us. He went to the same schools as me.
His mom’s name was Patty (it’s actually Patsy). Paul was an only child and they had money. Paul’s Dad was Bexar
County Sheriff for a long time. Patty did something for a while, they’re still in Texas I believe living in the county
somewhere. Paul emailed my mother not too long ago, he had found her email address on her school’s website I think.
She worked at Adams Hill until she retired last year.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN ILLINOIS
In Illinois, domestic violence is a Class A misdemeanor, not a Class B like here. That was the only conviction I had in
Illinois, in Tazewell County. That was a redneck place, that jail. It was all white, I mean we had flat screen televisions
and shower curtains in the showers. I mean, how are you gonna have shower curtains in a jail!
CURRENT CONTACT WITH GUARDS
I have no disciplinaries here, not one. I get along with all of the guards, everybody here. Defense Attorney tells me that
it’ll be reduced to manslaughter, and that they’ll come to their senses. To me it’s either be homeless and free or
incarcerated and taken care of. I be better incarcerated I guess. I have nothing out there, nothing. Nobody would ever
hire me with my criminal record.
I’m a little confused about the Louisiana statute about intent. I didn’t intend to inflict grievous bodily injury or harm on
my daughter. I was negligent, but I didn’t intend to harm her. And if they’ve offered life, I’m not sure if that’s LWOP or
life. Life on 2nd degree is different than life on 1st degree.
I have a great aunt on my Dad’s side, she’s 105 and lives in the South side
FRIEND JAIME RIOS
Jaime Rios, he’s Gus’ brother. He’s a paraplegic, he can’t move below his legs. We’ve been writing each other. He’s
older than Gus, he’s in his late 40s or 50s. He was using some kind of patch, he was putting it on his lower back.
Somehow he was paralyzed by that. This happened probably right before the crime, about 3 years ago. Jaime was a
womanizer and a drinker too. We drank after a few gigs together, but he mostly worked alone. He’s trying to get back
into it. He’s in touch with my mom. He falls off sometimes.
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CURRENT CONTACT WITH MOM AND DAD
Mom and Dad send me church bulletins with sermon notes. They’re Lutheran, and I was raised Lutheran. I prefer
nondenominational, because when you go to heaven you don’t get separated by denomination, so.
CHURCH
Vanessa and I went to Baptist Church in Shreveport. It was maybe River something. I don’t know Shreveport very well
as far as streets. We went for a month or two. They had a huge daycare center there. It was a nice church. I don’t
remember any of the names from there. I remember that Vanessa called our Sunday school teacher from the hospital to
come and pray with us at the hospital. It was a man I believe.
[At this point I left the interview room to go to the restroom. I left the door open when I left. When I came back to the
room, I could hear John mumbling to himself as I came back toward the room. When I arrived in front of the door he
looked at me and stopped. One of the words that I may have understand was “San Antone”.]
Vanessa shows no remorse about the loss of her child. They drink and drug in her crowd. She was gone from Bossier
City 45 days after this happened, never to be heard from again.
When we were in Illinois, Vanessa would bounce from couch to couch. Her friend Cassandra gave her $300 to have an
abortion when she was pregnant with Isabella, and Vanessa used that money for the bus ticket. She stayed with Cassie for
a few months before she split from San Antonio, through Bossier, to Peoria. There was some three-way action between
me, Vanessa, and Cassandra. Cassie was in some type of government housing.
Leanne didn’t think I was a child abuser, but more like a neglectful father. Her name is Leanne Ball, that’s her married
name. They’re separated now. If you look her up in the phone book she’s under L.Ball. She lived off of San Pedro Park.
She’s a real question mark for me. She knew the craziness of Vanessa. She’d tell her not to pick fights.
I’ve been hit in battles with Vanessa, and I wish her no ill will, I wish nothing upon her. During the two years I was
locked up she was homeless, living on the street. She’d get cleaned up at Leanne’s. As soon as I got out she would quit
working. It got to be a burden on me, even animosity. I encouraged her to go to school and to get an education. She’s an
intelligent woman, she was enrolled in physical therapy classes. There’s a projected 35 to 40k income with that job…she
bailed on the program though.
All Vanessa every really wanted to do was go back to party. Tina told me that Vanessa was over with Jared Rodriguez,
they call him “Raven”. He’s a computer whiz kind of guy. I’m not sure how much he’s partying these days. Also her
other friend is Kris with a “K” Malone, he’s another hanger arounder. Jared has a little brother too that’s part of that
crowd. Tina heard from the dope man that he (Jared’s little brother) ended up with Michelle. Kevin Grizelle is the dope
man’s name, I have no idea how to spell that. He’s in his late 20s. His girlfriend is Rhiannon Whitlock, she’s friends
with Tina. She said that Kevin had brought a sack (of pot) to Vanessa and Kris Malone. The area was off of, not sure…in
the Northside somewhere. Our normal area was Medical Center and Northwest where my parents are. I doubt that
Vanessa is doing anything productive.
I have a short temper, and it doesn’t take a lot to get me off. Like, my kids do (set me off). And the cops do…they got
me talking about beating women, and that sets me off. I love my kids.
CRYING
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My dad’s changed, so says my mom. He sheds more tears in his old age. When I cry it’s a big event. I block it, if I feel
the need to cry I hold it in. My sister has a Masters in Psychology. I repress it a lot, I hold back a bunch. I don’t want to
burden people with my problems. It’s just too much…my problems…to where it drives me crazy.
My Dad in the early days, we didn’t get a long as well. Mom always had a motherly response to things, if I cried she’d
tell me it was ok, she’d hold you. Dad was a “stop crying” kind of guy. Now I think they were like that because they
were trying to show me something. I’ve written them that recently, and other profound things. My mom didn’t respond
though. After leaving the house, at age 22, and moving out…me and Pops were groovy, it was good to have gotten closer
to him over the years. But I was a rebellious kid and teenager. Dad was fond of my daughter, and she loved him.
Grandpa took precedent over everyone else in the room when he was around…it was bad like that. She was a good kid.
My parents hardly see Seth. They see him on a very irregular basis. That was the only reason they saw him, because he
asked for Oma and Pappa. When Seth is 18, he’ll maybe wonder about his real parents, and hell I’ll be locked up.
CHAINSAW ACCIDENT
Around my 22nd or 23rd birthday I went to University Health Center for a chainsaw accident. This was before I had ever
been arrested. I was subcontracting with an acquaintance…man, my stomach is still doing flip flops…we got a contract to
do tree trimming. Me and Rodney Finck had been doing meth for 2 or 3 days. He was about my age. This was a huge
tree, it was next to a shed and a fence line so it was difficult to get to. We didn’t have the right equipment to be doing
this, he needed ropes and pullies. We just had one chainsaw, a rope, and a ladder. Rodney was 25 or 30 feet up on the
tree, and me and his dad Roger were on the ground yanking the branch out of the way of the houses, so it wouldn’t fall on
them. He wedged the saw in, it got stuck, and it did a back flip out of the tree. Me and Rodney had a 6 pack on the way
there, we were speeding on meth, and I look up and the motor part of the chainsaw hit me from the nose up to my
forehead. It shattered my nasal cavity. The doctor told me that had it hit me on top of my head, I would have probably
been dead.
The chainsaw incident was relayed to me later by Rodney. EMS did come, it wasn’t the fire department EMS though, but
a private service I believe, and they took me to University.
Roger said when I hit the ground I popped right back up with blood spurting out of my nose. I remember passing out in
the ambuJohn, they were stitching my nose and they were about to stitch a little whole in my lower lip. I told them to stop
at the lip. My tooth came through my lower lip. I felt the pain the next day. I was in the ER for a half day. I walked out
of there later that day, at about 5 or 6pm. Then I went to mom and dad’s house. Mom and Dad were disappointed, I
guess because I let this happen. I believe they knew I was doing dope. I know they knew I was drinking heavily, at
Christmas you could smell my cup from across the room.
After that head trauma I started to have cold sweats. I still have them, just not as often. They started a couple of weeks
after the head injury. I still have them, but probably once a month now. It got so bad as to vertigo, that I would almost
pass out, about once a week. Tina saw this, that’s when I started hearing voices, after the accident.
HEARING VOICES
I’m not sure how to describe the voices. I started to hear them after the chainsaw accident. There were hallucinations and
voices. The psych doctor that came to see me that Pam hired said it was just the dope, but there were times I heard them
when I wasn’t high. I did a total of three visits to the psych ward at University Hospital. I told you about the first one,
and the second one I took myself, it was after the head injury. It was the voices, I got tired of hearing shit. They started
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when I was sober. I’ve been diagnosed at the University Hospital as schizophrenic. At TDCJ they said I exhibit all kinds
of shit, this was at Dominguez. University said something about me being bipolar. I’m not sure what that is, up and down
I guess, but in relation to the schizophrenic thoughts I was in a mood elevator. At Bexar County Jail I was on Thorazine.
I took it for 6 months and I was a zombie! My sister was telling my mom about how bad Thorazine is, so I stopped. But I
continued with the Seroquel and it seemed to help. I might have misused it a bit at Bexar County though.
CAR ACCIDENTS
I’ve never had an MRI before, but I have a history of head injuries in car accidents.
VERTIGO
The vertigo was an extreme sense of vertigo. Even now, if I bend down and come up quickly, I can make myself have
vertigo. I have severe equilibrium problems, like falling out of the chair problems. And non of this happened until after
the chainsaw accident.
FOOD STAMPS
Vanessa and I were on WIC in Texas with Seth, and she was on food stamps there too. I was on food stamps here in
Louisiana and so was Vanessa.
IHOP
I worked at the IHOP on Airline. I’m telling you man, I worked 70/hrs a week. The Chilis was on E. Texas. One of the
managers at IHOP was Nancy, a night manager, I was a good worker there. I liked cooking. I did most of it at the house,
it didn’t bother me. I cooked quite a lot. I’d make lasagna from scratch, pork chops. And I got a deep fryer and went
crazy with that thing. At IHOP I worked the lazy shift, from 10pm to 6am. I probably cooked for a total of 2 hours in a
shift. From 12 to 6am it was busy, but the weekends were crazy. I enjoyed it, I enjoy cooking. I kept the kitchen
sparkling clean, and I never ate so much bacon and sausage in my life.
CHILI’S
I didn’t have a life in Bossier City other than work, and I got along with the people I worked with. Chili’s was tough, it
was super busy. From 5pm to 11:30pm there was no rest. If you got a rest you took it.
LIFE IN JAIL IS STRESS FREE
This has been the least stress I’ve had in the last 12 or 13 years. It’s sad…you have to come to jail to get away from the
stresses of the world.
[At this point John was very animated and talking very fast, which was in stark contrast to a couple of hours before when
he was holding his stomach in pain. He continued to talk about how the jail was stress free with no bills and food is
delivered but tastes bad, etc.]
The females are in the A and B pods. They are transported through different halls. If we see a female we are told to avert
our eyes.
[I wrapped up for the day at this point. John was much more animated later in the day.]
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