FAMILY MEMBER UPSET WITH ‘TOES UP’ PHRASE

On Saturday’s PACOVILLA Corrections blog, Bob Walsh posted They Think The Cellie Did It. Bob wrote:

__“One of the guests of the state was found toes-up in his cell on Thursday morning. The as-yet unnamed dead guy is believed to have been murdered by his cellie, Dennis John Bratton, 43. Bratton is doing life for attempted murder.”

The phrase ‘toes up’ really upset a member of the murdered prison inmate’s family. Here is what ‘Rhonda B’ said:

__”The ‘toes up’ young man you refer to, was my family. It would break his mother & siblings heart to hear him referred to in that horrible manner. He was a wonderful young man. He was NOT in for violent crimes at all! The fact he was in with this level of criminal is horrible and beyond my belief ! This may happen everyday in your life, but it doesn’t in ours. Given the pending murder investigation that’s all I will say , other than that Young-man whose life was taken was loved by an entire community and will be missed by all.”

Bob responded by saying:

__”Rhonda B, I wrote the post referred to. I can understand how his death is upsetting to his family. I fail to understand how my writing would cause them significant heartbreak. I went into no details of the death. In fact I know no details of the death. The incredibly brief San Jose Mercury News piece on this story has zero details, not even the dead guys name. It does, however, identify the suspect.

__I am, I confess, dubious of your contention that he was “loved by an entire community.” In my experience, which is considerable, you have to work very hard to go to prison. Except for murderers and child molesters NOBODY goes to prison for the first offense. Since you assert he was non-violent I can only surmise he has multiple felony convictions that finally caught up with him. Perhaps if you would care to provide a little more information, like his name and the offenses for which he was actually convicted, it might allow others who read this blog to commiserate. Or not.”

And I put my two-cents worth in by saying:

__”Rhonda, we all understand that your family is grieving for the loss of a loved one. However, I fail to see how the expression, ‘toes up,’ could break his mother’s or sibling’s heart. By using that term, Bob did not in any way describe the deceased or how he was killed.

__He may have been a wonderful young man in your eyes, but he surely did not go to prison for singing off-key in the church choir. You say he was loved by an entire community. What community would that be? The underworld community?”

Then ‘Jessica’ said this about her ‘toes up’ brother:

__”Um, yes it would hurt his family. I am his sister. You are correct, my brother was not in the church choir. Not that I owe you ANY explanation but let me share what my brother’s crimes were.

__When he was 18 he was convicted of breaking into UNOCCUPIED hunting cabins where he stole guns which he then dumped in the woods because he didn’t know what else to do with them. That was his first to strikes. His third strike when he was 19 was felony evading when he was pulled over for driving a car with expired tags and ran from the cops. If you question my story, feel free to go search his name on the Tehama County Superior Court website.

__His name was Andrew Keel. He lost his father when he was 14 and made some bad choices. Unfortunately with how the three strikes law was written at that time, he was put away for 25 to life. Since the three strikes law was revised he had a court date on July 24th to have his case retried and very likely would have been released. So, yeah he deserved some jail time, but level 4 yard with murderers, I don’t think so. And in case you think I may be a cop basher or against law enforcement, my husband was his arresting officer in his first two strikes.

__ So there are the details you wanted. now feel free to investigate my story and find out the truth about my “toes up” brother.”