Mr. Karl Gordan,
This letter is in regards to my husband, James Armstead’s case, case number 3A00254173. Though I am not an official party in this case, I am in involved in this case for the simple fact that:
· The arrest/ warrant/ search and seizure occurred in MY home, where only MY name is on the lease and not my husband’s.
· I am a witness in this case.
· I am the one who posted a $100,000 bail so I am the one responsible making sure he shows up to court so that his bail is not revoked.
· I am the one who helps my husband with all of his court documentation.
In your email, you said that you weren’t sure “what obligation I believed the State had” for giving me any information regarding the case when I am not a lawyer or the defendant. I didn’t say the State was obligated to give me anything. But when I helped my husband submit his own Motion for Discovery, it should have been sent to HIM because he requested it. I know how the process works; we have been to court long enough to know that lawyers submit a motion for discovery . But when I was told that you hadn’t submitted on, I submitted one on my husband’s behalf. He can't even go into the court room without being harassed. We went to court for a ticket a few weeks ago and Office Osborne (in the Circuit Court) tried to arrest him for asking her where was the paperwork stating why he couldn't come in the Circuit Court.
You have been his attorney twice before. One of the times being when charges of “Assault” were dropped because the other party was repeatedly putting in false charges (over 17) against him. My husband and you had gotten into an argument because he was trying to get you to show the State’s Attorney, Karen Anderson Scott, some documentation proving that the other party was repeatedly lying on him to the police department. You didn’t believe it was relevant. You and my husband had to argue for you to go to the State’s Attorney and show her that the other party purposely showed false evidence to the police department to have a warrant issued against my husband. The charges were nolle prosique by the State, and then you and Stacie McCormick tried to get my husband to sign a General Release Waiver to have the charges expunged and the waiver said that he couldn’t sue the people involved in that case.
Then, my husband had you on his traffic ticket case where you wouldn’t present certain documents that would have helped him in court to win his case before the jury. He had a letter releasing his suspension which you didn’t show to the court. He had a license that was expired in Tennessee and all his court costs and fines had been paid in Tennessee. He should not have went to jail because his license was renewable. But the State charged him with driving without a license. Though the judge said he could live in and work out for those 2 weeks, he wasn’t allowed to, and he ended up losing his job at the Coast Guard Yard. Now I am working 3 jobs to support us.
My husband has been through enough and even though we don’t have the money to hire a private attorney, that does not make my husband any less deserving of a lawyer who is going to defend him to the fullest. In your email, you said that you have no obligation to reach out to clients that are not incarcerated. You didn’t go to see my husband when he WAS in jail for 2 weeks, which is why he didn’t even know that he even HAD a public defender until I told him that he did!
My husband is not happy with the fact that he keeps getting the same public defenders in court. He would (just as anyone would) like a lawyer who tells him what he CAN do instead of constantly telling him what he can’t do.
He shouldn’t have to walk into court Friday not knowing what to expect. He is innocent, and he should have received documentation 2 months ago as to what the State says they have on him. It SHOULD have been your obligation to reach out to him when you know you never reached out to him in jail. I was at the bail review with my two children and saw you sitting there at his bail review, the very morning that he was arrested. The day of his second bail review, you “represented” him. You didn’t ask the judge as to why his bail went from 60,000 to no bail to 100,000 in 4-days-time. When I walked up to you to talk to you, you told me that the “State didn’t need any recording or written evidence” and that the “State Official’s word is enough”! In that case, I work for the State Highway Administration. You mean that I can actually lie and say someone SAID they were going to kill me (with no witness, no evidence, no recording, JUST my word) and that person will be arrested? Since when does the State not need any evidence to prosecute someone?
Did you even read the Discovery information?! It's all BS. He should have never been arrested. On PAGE 11, the Detective writing the statement stated that "The District Court Comissioner review the Application and determined that Probable Cause did not exist for criminal charges against the suspect." IF THERE WAS NO PROBABLE CAUSE, WHY DID THE JUDGE SIGN A WARRANT FOR HIS ARREST?!!!!!! I don't have to go to law school to know that the commissioner signs a warrant and it is HIS signature that initiates the process to have a warrant issued. Why would a judge sign a warrant that the Commissioner said there was no probable case for?!
Meredith Gupton claims that on June 21, 2012, that James threatened to "break her knee caps" and that he was going to be "waiting for her outside of work". Then on August 7th, she claims that he said that we had AK47's in our home and that he was going to go to the child support department in Annapolis and shoot them, that he was going to the Tennessee office and shoot them, and then he was going to shoot himself! I could have sworn that all calls made to the call center were recorded. If someone was making repeat threats as they claim, I would have the phone recording as soon as I saw that person's number on my caller ID!
Ms. Gupton had the nerve to send out a press release to the media, and then to call down to the Tennessee child support office to tell them that James threatened them as well?! He has had plenty of conversations with the Child Support office down in Tennessee and no one there has made any complaints of him trying to shoot them, so why would she have the nerve to blatantly lie and call the child support office there to tell them that James was going to kill them?!
The entire phone record is a waste of 100 pages (or more) of paper. That doesn't prove anything other than the fact that one of us called the child support office and the circuit court office.
The discovery forgot to mention the fact that the detectives called my Base Commander on Andrews Air Force Base to tell them that I had a warrant out for my arrest as well! And that I had evidence of trying to purchase and AK-47 in my home. And that I had DRUGS in my home! I am in the Air Force! I don't even HAVE a record. The only thing on my record showing now is Breach of Contract, because the property manager at my previous apartment threw me out of my apartment after James arrest. My children and I were homeless because of this nonsense! I lost my job on base--I was active duty orders and am now on standby because of this whole stupid situation.
You have no idea what we have been going through ever since we moved up here from North Carolina. My husband has been falsely accused of things he has never done. The police have been harassing both of us, following my car to work, standing outside of my apartment, looking around my apartment with flashlights. They did not have to invade my home the way they did that night. They ruined my apartment, traumatized my kids, ruined our life, defamed my name to my jobs, defamed James' name all over the TV and the internet, and more.
I have a lawsuit against everyone involved in this case. So in that regard, I do have a right to speak on this case as well. It was my home that was broken in to. They did not include all the damages that they caused to my home on their report. I was completely naked at 2:30 in the morning when they ran through my bedroom windows, and chased me into my children's room. Two officers had guns aimed at my head in front of my 3 children (9 year old, 8 year old, and 18 month old son)! One of the officers bash Jame's head with the riot shield. He's sitting at the table bleeding and I'm sitting on the couch with my kids. Every window in my living room and bedroom was shattered. My front door was of the hinges. Boot marks were all over my carpet. My kids were crying. Jame's dog was barking. It was the worst night of my life. And someone is going to pay for the damages (both emotionally and physically). I lost my job and my sense of freedom. I am under severe emotional stress. News reporters have been camped outside of my apartment for days at a time! People at my job are looking at me like I'm crazy.
I know none of the above matters to you, but it is OUR lives that are never going to be the same. I am not sure what will happen when you represent my husband in court tomorrow, but I know that what they have on my husband is nothing. He did not say what Meredith Gupton is saying that he did. I am not going to let anyone take advantage of my husband and try to get him to contridict himself in court. I posted a $100,000 bond for my husband's release when he should have never been arrested.
I do not want my husband to be upset in court tomorrow. I am pretty sure the State is going to say something ignorant to make him upset, as always. No one is taking into consideration that anyone with the problems that he has gone through would call the court with questions regarding his fraudelant child support case. The woman filed for child support in two states at once, and his tax returns (in the amount of $7500) were taken from him from both states (Texas and Tennessee). And then the mother has the audicity to transfer the case to Maryland? No one is investigating this woman's criminal activity, yet they are constantly sending mail to our home to try and get money for a child support case that shouldn't exist.
Sorry to keep going on and on, but there is more to this case than meets the eye. And no one is looking into it. I wish we could have gotten this discovery months ago, so that we could have put in a motion to dismiss. This case is outrageous and I deserve the right to stand at his side in court tomorrow. Though I am not an offcial party, I am involved because it is my home (not his) that was raided and destroyed. I lost my home and not only that, but I am responsible for the damages that the POLICE DEPARTMENT caused!
I wish we would have met a few weeks ago to discuss this discovery info in person because it is complete BS and not enough to send my husband to jail. Why does this keep happening to us?
