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Behind Walls and Wire by Ernesto Chaidez III |
about Ernesto Chaidez III
Ernesto Chaidez III is currently serving a life sentence in the California Prison System. He has been incarcerated since the mid '90's, from the age of 24. He was convicted of two counts of attempted murder and a long list of lesser felonies. This all stems from an incident involving a long term girl friend and her father. All three persons were injured by a sword.The charges were preposterous and the sentence nonsensical. The trial was a sham with coached and coerced witnesses, no real defense, and only one possible outcome. This view has been substantiated by a panel of retired judges and law school professors gathered by the Mercury News. Ernesto refused to plead guilty to crimes he did not commit, and so they gave him the maximum possible sentence. He maintains his complete innocence and works to be able to have the fair trial he has been denied, so that he can finally be vindicated.
Ernesto was born in San Jose and he attended public schools. He once received an award for his calligraphy. He completed his GED and went on to work first as a Pharmacy Technician, and then as a Medical Technician with the Agnews State Hospital.
Though their relationship ended in a three person conflict, he and the girl friend had been together for 9 years, since they were 15 years old. They have two boys. At the trial she said five separate times from the witness stand that the DA's office had told her what to say. There is a tape recording of a telephone call where the DA's office is threatening to have the two boys taken away, if she recants.
Ernesto still practices his calligraphy, in the letters he writes from prison. His mother passed away in 2004. His father, Ernesto Chaidez Jr., volunteers six days per week at a local senior center, and he is a tireless advocate for his son's innocence. Rather than lamenting over the life that could have been, Ernesto III writes for the Internet and for print. He appreciates it when people correspond with him, critique his writings, send him newspaper and magazine clippings, and send him postage stamps.
I know my son is innocent. I was in the court room throughout the proceedings. The prosecution called every kind of expert witness that you could imagine to bolster their case, and at the tax payer's expense. Not a single defense witness was ever called. These proceedings were a sham and don't even deserve to be called a trial.
I want my son to have a fair trial, so the he can finally be vindicated. He will exonerate himself, in the way he goes on to live out his life.
Ernesto Chaidez Jr.
| Unbounded Desire |
