Saturday, September 12, 2009

WHY WE FIGHT


Our talented, beautiful, and kind daughter Sheena was killed, suddenly and violently, by a malice-sodden and remorseless drunk driver on her 25th birthday in March, 2006. Apparently no big deal to some, but for us this life-shattering event continues to darken our lives with an aching sadness, and until you experience it yourself, you have no clue how surrealistically awful it is to lose a child.

A demonstrably crooked, incompetent, and not very bright DA, Jim Martin, "tipped his hand" and gave us good reasons to believe he’d be going easy on Sheena’s killer— and our instincts proved to be dead-on target, as Mr. Martin’s devious attempts to fix Sheena’s case in favor of her killer would reveal.

We had to work way too hard to get a measure of “justice” in Lehigh County. Basically, we had to outmaneuver DA Jim Martin and The Morning Call "newspaper" and we resent this greatly. We should have been able to use that time to grieve the loss of our daughter, instead of having to monitor an arrogant and unopposed DA and deter him from fixing Sheena’s case in favor of her killer, and his family.

We did okay versus DA Jim Martin, all things considered. Sheena’s killer was sentenced to serve 5 1/2 to 12 years in state prison, nearly double the PA state mandatory minimum sentence of 3 years. But it took hundreds of letters to DA Jim Martin and Judge Robert Steinberg (in election years for both of them) to flood-light-up DA Martin’s shamelessly lackluster "prosecution" of Sheena’s killer so brightly that it tied Jim Martin’s hands, and prevented a plea deal fix. Thank you again to the hundreds of you who wrote letters. Without them, we are positive Sheena’s killer would have gotten the "weekend jail" he was telling friends he’d be getting in the days immediately following Sheena’s death. He should have been charged w/ third degree murder.

All through our nightmarish ordeal, The Morning Call "newspaper" protected DA Jim Martin at every turn and refused to report on an array of jaw-dropping irregularities in DA Martin’s "handling" of Sheena’s case.

In September 2007, our civic-minded vigilance caught DA Jim Martin successfully fixing a DUI homicide case, the night before trial, in favor of the criminal defendant and his family. DA Martin succeeded by using tactics similar to those he had tried to use on us, unsuccessfully.

We believe The Morning Call “newspaper” helped DA Martin fix this September 2007 DUI homicide case through "reporting" that strayed far beyond "incorrect" and "erroneous" and into the realm of blatant deception. That "reporting" remains uncorrected and un-clarified to this day. The "reporter" was Debbie Garlicki ... who now works for DA Jim Martin.

Through this blog, we’ve been exposing the unhealthy, crony-colluding relationship that has existed between DA Jim Martin and The Morning Call "newspaper" ever since Martin was appointed to his office in 1998.

Our Justice Mission Goal is two-fold:

To de-throne crooked and incompetent DA Jim Martin and replace him with the kind of modern district attorney Lehigh County deserves.

To warn our community, and other grieving families, about the vigilant efforts they'll need to employ to outmaneuver DA Jim Martin and The Morning Call to get "justice" in Lehigh County.

We fight to get the truth out there, so that hopefully your family won't have to go through what our family continues to go through.

And what are the motives of those who so strenuously oppose us in our local government, local "justice" system, local blogosphere, and local "media?"

We fight to expose and de-throne those who operate w/ evil intent.

Help us ... or stay out of our way.



MORE DIRTY FACTS ON DA JIM MARTIN

* Negligently Releasing Murderers into the Community

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lifted from a blog by one of the faculty members of the Poynter Institute, a well-known school for journalists:
"It is true that the worst journalism comforts the comfortable and afflicts the afflicted. That is a breach of duty."
Something for the bloggers of today who, either intentionally or by default, have replaced the ink media.

Bill Villa said...

Well there's our winner of the LVS "Best Comment of the Week Award" (and maybe the entire month, or quarter), congratulations, and thank you.

Anonymous said...

Bill, plenty of people are on your side.

Don't pay attention to the few bloggers who're trying to get you down. People tend to be jealous of others who're more successful than they are.

Bill Villa said...

"Don't pay attention to the few bloggers who're trying to get you down. People tend to be jealous of others who're more successful than they are."

... and better looking.

"Bill, plenty of people are on your side."

Thank you 12:19. We'll never forget that huge wad of letters Judge Steinberg shook at the prosecution during the sentencing of Sheena's killer as he tried to rouse Martin's office into staying awake during the proceeding. It was grass roots support from people like you that defeated Jim Martin and The Morning Call, for Sheena's family.

Anonymous said...

Villas,

You're awesome.

You're awesome.

You're awesome.

Bill Villa said...

Aw shucks, thanks.

Anonymous said...

"WHY WE FIGHT"

The fact that you ALWAYS WIN must help...right?

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. Villa:

First, please allow me to extend my sincere sympathy for the loss of your precious daughter. After reading from a post, it is crystal clear that DA Jim Martin did not do his job; not only did he NOT do his job, he failed to give you your day in court wherein he would prosecute the driver of the vehicle and let an impartial jury decide this man's fate.

I am assuming in some way that he used the phrase "prosecutorial discretion" in declining to prosecute the case; the only reason I say that is because I saw the term used in one of the blogs you had written.

We, just yesterday, had Martin dismiss charges against a neighbor (who has made friends with someone on the police force); this neighbor is stealing our property, a little at a time. The charges we filed were Criminal Mischief and Harassment, summary offenses, and were filed at the magistrate's office. This neighbor has been found guilty in the past of Harassment....then he filed charges against ME. That is when Martin took sides. After the judge dismissed the case, the Whitehall Police Officer shouted "this is bullshit" and started screaming at the judge, and talked the judge into letting him re-file the charges against me. The police officer said he would get the help of the DA's office and he did. I still was not found guilty but paid almost $1,000 for a land survey and $1,500 to an attorney, Now the neighbor is at it again and the police told us to file charges (they didn't see what the neighbor did but DID see the outcome....lots of dead grass); we filed the charges and DA Martin sent us a letter saying the complaint was disapproved due to: 1) Prosecutorial Discretion - Policy Considerations and 2) Failure to Set forth a prima facie case. We were going after a civil judgement, yet can't even get our day in court to stop this guy from continually destroying our land.

We know there is no comparison to the loss you have suffered but we want to make ourselves available if you need more ammunition to get this clown out of office. We will do anything possible; he is not a fair and just person,not looking for justice and not caring about decency and fairness. It makes our stomaches turn and we are so saddened by your loss.

Please give me a call. My name is [REDACTED]. I was going to out this guy by using the Morning Call but if he is in kahoots with them, it will do no good. Hope to hear from you soon. 610-[REDACTED]

Bill Villa said...

Readers, I just had a lovely 41 minute phone conversation with the 2 newest members of the SHEENA SQUAD.

Their outreach came to us as an email, which we have posted as an anonymous comment (1:05) w/ their permission.

To reiterate, our Justice Mission Goals are:

* To de-throne crooked and incompetent DA Jim Martin and replace him with the kind of modern district attorney Lehigh County deserves.

* To spare other grieving families the needless extra agony of having to outmaneuver DA Jim Martin and The Morning Call to get justice in Lehigh County.

New members to the SHEENA SQUAD are always welcome, please feel free to contact me.

Anonymous said...

You are one twisted person. You need help.

Bill Villa said...

Ah yes, the "your nutz" strategy, so much easier than addressing our verifiable and irrefutable FACTS :)

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Angie Villa said...

Yesterday, LVS Readers shattered their previous record for "Visits" to this blog ... by a lot. A whole lot. Thank You, LVS Readers.

Bill Villa said...

HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT

Readers, before it goes POOF, there, I wanted to copy & paste a comment I posted this morning at Allentown City Council VP Michael Donovan's blog, here.

It's at Councilor Donovan's recent Slam-Fest post on "The Villas."

September 15, 2009 7:43 AM

Bill Villa said...

Mr Donovan:

We see you've chosen to "allow" an array of personal attack comments against me here.

So, obviously, when INCIVILITY suits YOUR agenda, it's perfectly okay.

I won't call you out for being a "total phony" ...

because you'll no doubt delete me for "name-calling" (that's how the double standards work around here).

Instead, we'll just make sure you're never elected or reelected for anything in Lehigh County.

Bill Villa said...

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