Tragedy
struck on June 11, 2003 as Alex's Defense Attorney James Stokes was killed in a
plane crash. Please keep Mr. Stokes' family and friends in your
prayers.
"Mr. Stokes, you were truly a beacon of light in my son's life.
You and your generosity will never be forgotten. You will forever be in our
hearts." Kelly Marino, Alex and Derek King's mother
KING BROTHERS' ORDEAL SPURNS NEW
CHILD ADVOCACY GROUP
Outraged by the treatment of Alex and Derek King in the criminal
justice system, a group of concerned citizens has formed Kids In Court, a grassroots, community
watchdog group designed to protect children in the criminal justice system. This
group recently held a rally protesting the 'adult' prosecution of 15-year-old
Daniel Carter, who killed his uncle in self defense after the man tried to
attack him. A web site designed to help this child is located at www.danielcarter.us and an additional web
group called friends-of-Daniel
has been formed to support this child, whose trial is set to begin in Pensacola,
Florida in July.
"Good news everyone. Post production is proceeding
wonderfully and the editing should be finalised by June 30, 2003. That means we
are looking to begin presenting our completed film by the end of the year, just
in time for "festival season." We have lots of interest from several
distributors so we expect to be in theatres early in 2004 and on cable sometime
after that. We think this is an important story that needs telling. The question
of the boys' guilt or innocence seems to have overshadowed the larger issues in
my opinion: How can 12 and 13 year old boys be tried as 'adults'? How can vital
evidence be missed, mishandled, tampered with or even destroyed long before any
of the trials to decide the fate of children whose lives will be determined by
the outcome? How can a judge and prosecutor try two different versions of the
same case simultaneously? And how can a judge insist that such proceedings take
place in less than one week? These are the issues we will address. We are going
to shine a light where there has been darkness, we are going to turn up the
volume on what has only been whispered. REAL LIFE - JUST TURNED UP LOUDER. Thank
you all for your patience and support. _________________ Tony
Blass tb0813@aol.com Executive Producer, "Revoked Childhood" Real
producing - just turned up louder"
RICK CHAVIS GUILTY OF THREE
FELONIES; GETS 35 YEAR SENTENCE
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) -- After two additional trials, Rick Chavis
was found guilty of false imprisonment, accessory after the fact to first-degree
and evidence tampering.
After the first guilty verdict, Judge Frank Bell
gave Chavis a five year prison sentence and after the second guilty verdict,
Judge Joseph Tarbuck, taking into consideration that Chavis' past convictions
include 17 felonies and 3 misdemeanors, sentenced Chavis to 30 years on the
accessory charge, and five years for evidence tampering, both the maximum, but
allowed the terms to run concurrently and additionally ordered that this term
run consecutive to the five year term Chavis had already received and also
denied credit for time served.
This means that in total Chavis was
sentenced to 35 years. He'll have to serve 29 years before he's eligible for
release.
BOYS ARE SENT TO SEPERATE JUVENILE
FACILITIES
Given the
high profile nature of the case, added to Alex's vulnerability, size and status
as an abuse victim, DOC officials felt the boys could not be safely kept in a
young offender's facility and on December 14 had them placed in seperate
Department of Juvenile Justice Facilities.
Although this decision was
sharply critized by David Rimmer, DJJ Spokesperson Catherine Arnold said the
boys were not being coddled. In DJJ facilities, there are "high fences, barbed
wire, individual lock-down sleeping rooms equivalent to cells, a highly
structured day, a high level of supervision, no access to the community. They
serve their time."
The length of their terms means they will be able to
complete their sentences in the juvenile facilities and not transfer to an
'adult' prison, provided thay abide by the Department of Juvenile Justice
standards.
ALEX AND DEREK ADJUSTING WELL TO
JUVENILE FACILITIES
According to posts at DerekandAlexKing.org Alex is in good
health and has started school at the juvenile facility. They have regular public
school hours and go by the standard of the school board, the same as the public
schools. He is behind in his school work as he hasn't had regular schooling in
over a year. He is in the 6th grade but works at the 11th grade level, so he
will catch up with his own grade soon. He says that he likes where he's at much
better than the county jail.
Alex is at a very structured facility which
teaches him responsibility. They have chores and earn points to be able to buy
commissary. There are different levels which they must earn, beginning with
number one, it is up to the individul and how good they do after they required
amount of time in that level. He is in counseling and therapy program. They have
church Sunday and Thursday evening and he attends those.
Derek is high
spirits. He has already earned his 1st metal that they put on their unform just
like the military does. He goes on quite a bit about how great he feels
physically and how strong he is getting (in short, Derek's acting like a normal
teenager).
