Silent Treatment

Felix Garcia, who is legally deaf, was framed by his siblings for murder and robbery. He was asked by his brother, who says he didn't have an ID on him, to sign a pawn shop ticket for ring. Felix hadn't known the ring was stolen from a murder victim. When he was just 19 years old he was sentenced to life in prison. Felix's girlfriend and her mother testified in court that he was with them at the time of the murder, however his brother and sister testified that it was Felix who committed the murder. After many appeals Felix has run out of time for anymore appeals. The court sets a certain time limit to appeal and his are all long past, which is sad because of his deafness he did not hear or understand most of his trial, or that he had the right to appeal. Many years after Felix had been in prison his brother Frank gave him a signed affidavit stating that Felix was innocent. Felix misfiled the paper and there was a 3 year delay. When the case went to court and Frank testified Felix was innocent the judge said it was too difficult to tell who was telling the truth, and kept Felix in prison. That judge is the reason why the criminal justice system doesn't work. Its pathetic. All the evidence clearly points to Frank and not Felix. Franks fingerprints were at the scene and Frank himself admitted he framed his brother. Just ridiculous.

The author goes into detail about how it is unknown how many people are in prison who have disabilities such as hearing loss or blindness. That part of the article is sad but boring. The article is separated in such a way to bring attention to Felix's story and also educate you. I liked how he separated the pieces of information to keep the readers attention. There is also quite a bit of information about a woman named Pat who is trying to help Felix fight his unjust sentence. The case is really going nowhere and even if he got out now what kind of life would he live?

Reading all these criminal justice articles makes me think the justice system is a scary and unjust place.