Matt Deatherage info 12/94 - he's in PRISON, who woulda thought?!

[dland@netcom.com (Eric Mueller)]

 MATT DEATHERAGE UPDATE - 12/94
 ==============================

Matt Deatherage, who is in prison right now, is going to have a very
lonely Christmas without our help. (If this whole prison thing is news to
you, you need to see the information files sent out earlier this year. To
get them, ftp to ftp.netcom.com and look in /pub/dl/dland/, or just send
mail to dland@netcom.com and I'll mail them back to you.)

This file, written by Eric Mueller and expressing some views of Matt's
family and other friends, explains a little about what happened since
those two files and what is going on right now.


 WHAT HAPPENED IN JULY
 =====================

After Matt was arrested in March, we made a public plea for letters to the
judge, asking you to explain who you were, your relationship with Matt and
how you felt about the situation. Over 150 letters were received by the
judge---and for that, we sincerely thank you.

This is a small excerpt from the news story that ran on July 9th in the
San Jose Mercury News:

 ------<snip snip> <cut here>-------

              CUPERTINO MAN GETS 3 YEARS IN SEX-VIA-COMPUTER CASE
 
    Just months after his sexual exploits startled computer users
nationwide, a remorseful Cupertino man was sentenced to more than three
years in prison Friday for his sadomasochistic encounter with a boy he met
through an on-line service.
    "I apologize to this court and this county," Donald "Matthew"
Deatherage told a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge.
    Deatherage's March arrest sparked debate on computer bulletin boards
throughout the country as well as a letter-writing campaign in his
defense. But more significant, it alerted parents to the potential danger
in what many thought was an innocent way for their children to communicate
with others.
    Shackled at the waist and wearing a jail-issued brown shirt reserved
for inmates in special, protective custody, Deatherage said he had been
racked with guilt over what he had done and understood the fear that his
case generated.
    "I can only submit to you the evidence that you've read -- that this
evil is not me and is not in me," Deatherage, 27, said.
    "I made a terrible mistake. I became attached to and involved, falling
in love with a person who is not legally able to express the consent that
he did."
    Despite Deatherage's professed remorse, Judge Charles Gordon sentenced
him to three years and four months in prison, one year shy of the maximum.

    'Love is not just sex'

    "Many of your feelings are misguided," said Gordon, who received more
than 150 letters seeking leniency for Deatherage. "Love is not just sex."
    Gordon said he did not give Deatherage the maximum term because he
took into consideration the Apple Computer engineer's lack of criminal
history and early no-contest plea to two counts of lewd and lascivious
conduct with a minor and one count of sodomy.
    Still, Gordon mentioned the vulnerability of the 14-year-old boy --
who went by the computer tag "Mr. Alone" -- and the prosecutor noted the
concern the case brought to parents who buy computers for their children.
    "In the minds of people in this community, they've purchased computers
so their children can be educated and use them for their benefit, not so
that they would be subject to the kind of acts that the defendant
perpetrated on the victim on this case," Deputy District Attorney Hector
Moreno Jr. said.

    'A good man'

    Deatherage's lawyer, Dennis Alan Lempert, painted a different picture
of the defendant, describing him as a "good man who had done a lot of good
throughout his life."
    Lempert also lashed out at the media and prosecutor, who he says
vilified Deatherage.
    Kent Fillmore, who appeared in court to lend emotional support to
Deatherage, expressed some dismay over the sentence. "I don't think he's a
threat to anybody," said Fillmore, adding that it was he who first
introduced Deatherage to America Online, the computer service Deatherage
used to meet the boy through electronic mail. "I think it was kind of
severe."

 ------<snip snip> <cut here>-------

I heard some interesting tidbits from Matt's sister after the sentencing,
who said that Matt told her the judge refused to read any of those many
supportive letters he received on Matt's behalf. I don't know if that's
true or not, but with that many letters, you'd think the judge would be a
little more understanding...

In any case, the next step for Matt was "processing" at San Quentin State
Prison. This is where he's moving to SQ (which is in Northern California)
and they determine the final location for him. He won't be staying at SQ
because he's considered a sex offender.

Here's where things get screwy. Matt was supposed to be in an out of SQ in
60 days---from the end of June to around September, at the latest.
However, he's still there, and we don't have ANY idea why he hasn't been
moved or when he will be moved (one theory is that everyplace he would be
moved to is full and they're waiting for a bed to open up). We don't
receive any advance notice that he will be moved; neither does he.


 THE CURRENT SITUATION
 =====================

I received a letter from Matt today (12/12/94)---he's lonely, very bored,
and believes his friends have abandoned him. He explained things at San
Quentin a little more to me; my comments are in brackets:

"I have a 'restricted custody' designation--I must be held in a secure
perimeter under a gun and/or constant supervision. Most Level I yards are
minimum/no security; you could walk away if you were so inclined. CDC [San
Quentin?] has a habit of overriding people in my position to Level III to
provide extra security, putting them in with lifers or those in for 15
years or so.

"All illegal male/male sexual acts of any kind quality for these
restrictions, where male/female or female/female acts only quality if
violent or with children under 14. If I'd been with a 14-year-old girl or
I was a woman, my time would be much easier. As it is, in the CDC's eyes
I'm equated with rapists, sexual assaulters and people who sodomize
6-year-old girls.

"The law also gives inmates several rights, but CDC ignores them as they
see fit. For example, penal code section 2601 gives inmates the absolute
right to receive books except when it would jeopardize safety. San
Quentin, though, refuses to let people in the 'reception center' have
them, even though such a policy is illegal. They barely let us use the law
library, which is our only access to the courts, and we're locked up 150
of 168 hours each week. No church, either, for protective custody. If we
get sick, we can see a doctor in 4-5 weeks. Very few phone calls: 1 per
month or so.

"We are allowed non-contact visits [a glass wall between Matt and the
visitor], 15 per month, but no one has visited. Only a few people have
written---regular letters from some Apple II folk from around the world
and from Dave [Lyons]. Occasional letters from other friends but none from
the GEnie staff [where he worked for a while] and none from anyone at
Apple. What I do get is usually 2-3 weeks late from the mail room, if it's
not withheld altogether on some flimsy 'contraband' pretext."

So, it's not a pretty situation right now, that's clear. Based on this
letter and other things I've heard from his sister and his parents, Matt
is _lonely_ and could really do with some pen pals or at least some
correspondance. And that leads to...


 A CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR MATT
 =========================

What we have in mind for a Christmas gift to Matt is simple and easy to
do---but would mean so very much to him.

We like everyone who reads this to send him a picture postcard. This
postcard can be of anything you want: your home town, a funny cartoon, a
local tourist attraction, you decide. On the postcard, you can write
whatever you want: anything from "Happy holidays" to a long letter (in
very, very tiny handwriting!).

So, pick up something cute, slap a 19 cent stamp on that puppy, *be sure
your name and return address is on the postcard*, and mail it to:

  M. Deatherage - 2C38
  P. O. Box J-26463
  San Quentin State Prison
  San Quentin, CA  94974

If you really want to make his day, send him two postcards. Or three. Or
send him a dozen over the next 12 weeks or 12 months. The point is not
that it's a postcard (though that makes it kind of neat)---the point is
that you write to him and he'll know we're thinking of him.

(And, if you're inclined to send him more, Matt is not allowed to receive
books or magazines while he's "being processed." A real letter written by
a real person would mean much, much more to him, I believe.)


 MORE DETAILS
 ============

I'll send out more detail as I have them. Like I said, we don't really
know much, not the least of which is when he'll be moved out of San
Quentin.

I can pass on letters to Matt's sister, parents and close friends, if you
wish to contact them for whatever reason.

I wish I had more information to tell everyone, but I'm afraid that's it.


 QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? GOOD JOKES?
 ================================

Send 'em to the author of this document, Eric Mueller, at <dland@netcom.com>.

Happy holidays.