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The Story of Thomas Harris
Edited by Clara A. Thomas Boggs and Stormy Thoming-Gale
The seven year nightmare Thomas Harris has been forced to call "life" is a fantastic tale that begins with the best intentions and ends with an innocent man behind bars.
In May of 1991, Thomas and his pregnant wife, Candida, moved themselves and their five year old daughter, Susana, from Mexico to Texas. A few short months later Thomas received a phone call which would change their lives forever.
Thomas was recovering from major surgery in September, 1991, when the Texas Department of Human Services, Division of Protective and Regulatory Services (TDHS-PRS) contacted him and asked him to explain an allegation of "Sexual Abuse" committed against his oldest daughter, Susana. Stunned, and still recuperating, he explained that he knew nothing of the allegations nor of any abuses in the home. TDHS-PRS came to his home, demanded that he leave (which he refused to do), then took Candida Harris and their daughters to the Hays/Caldwell County Women's Shelter.
Candida was arrested for "sexually molesting" both of their daughters in March, 1992. The incident was witnessed and charges were made. She went to jail, the girls went to foster care. Thomas was never asked if he wanted, nor was he offered,custody of his OWN children. When Thomas discussed all this with PRS caseworker Mary Toms (of the New Braunfels, Comal County office), she blatantly told him that if he did not file for divorce, he was as guilty of the charges against his wife as she was.
Thomas filed for divorce immediately. At his divorce proceedings, Susan Miller, Candida's lawyer, brought up false events, complete with dates and times. The witnesses present on Thomas' behalf were prevented from speaking, as were the doctors who had been treating him on ALL of the dates Susan Miller indicated.
When Candida was released from jail she initiated a reunion. Thomas relented. They decided the best way to get their children back from foster care was to give their marriage another try. Things did not go smoothly for them. Thomas was a student. When he wasn't in classes, he was either in the campus library or in one of the labs. Candida was angry that he was away so much and began accusing him of having affairs. A month or so later, baby Sara (who turned seven in 1998) was returned to them. She had been in foster care for almost 9 months. A few days after the baby was returned, Thomas arrived home from school to a silent house. Candida had left.
What Thomas did not know is that Candida had poisoned some of the food in the house. He found out the hard way -- he succumbed to poisoning and almost died. Candida had put Boric Acid into the sugar. Small dosages over a period of time began to degrade Thomas' nervous system, mimicking Multiple Sclerosis. Five years later, he still suffers from some of the residual effects. Much to his wife's surprise, Thomas recovered. He decided to proceed with the divorce.
At the custody hearing, Sole Managing Conservatorship was granted to Candida. Thomas did not have an attorney to help him and Judge Charles Ramsay almost always granted custody to the mother.
At the hearing, Ms. Miller, Candida's lawyer, continued telling stories about Thomas being domestically violent. There are NO records of any abuses, only Ms. Miller's words on the court transcript. Candida didn't and doesn't speak English and barely spoke in the courtroom. Pastor Carl Culpepper served as Candida's interpreter and colored the few words she did say with incorrect translations. The outcome of the custody hearing was that Thomas was to become Possessory Conservator and maintain visits on Wednesday nights and 1st, 3rd and 5th weekends.
Thomas went to pick up his children in May of 1995. They were not there. He returned home and called several times. Three weeks later, while Thomas was repairing the computer at Carl Culpepper's house, Mr. Culpepper let it slip that Candida was in Mexico. Thomas asked about his children, but Mr. Culpepper would not say anything else. When Thomas returned home, he called the Police and the FBI. The Police located the children a day later and returned them to him.
Because Candida had been out of the country for several weeks, Thomas filed for custody and it was granted. However, Ms. Miller, Candida's attorney, somehow convinced Judge Linda Rodriguez to return the children to their mother again. Even though a higher court had ruled in Thomas' favor, the threat of contempt and incarceration forced his hand again.
Unknown to Thomas, a safety plan had come into effect. In May, 1996, Candida's boyfriend had fondled Thomas' oldest daughter, Susana. Candida was told to stop seeing this man and to prevent any and all contact between him and the daughters. Because she violated this plan the state had already decided to remove the children from Thomas' ex-wife. The children were once again returned to foster care.
In August, 1996, while in court on the child support issues, Susan Miller learned from the Family Law Master that her actions regarding the order to return the children to Thomas' ex-wife were improper, so she took another action. She convinced Candida to accuse Thomas of sexually abusing their youngest daughter, Sara. Thomas Harris ended up in jail.
Innocent, but in jail. Judge Charles Ramsay assigned a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) to oversee the PRS actions and advocate on behalf of the children. The CASA was appointed in September, 1996, but it was not until the end of November that advocate Connie Peña, an Hispanic female, tried to get in touch with Thomas. Ms. Peña had many visits with Candida, according to her own statements. Ms. Peña, however, contacted Thomas by telephone only after he called her supervisor asking why contact had not been made.During the telephone conversation, Ms. Peña asked Thomas what happened. He replied that these were false accusations against him. She said she had different information and asked Thomas to tell her his version of the events. Thomas explained that there was a witness who knew that the events as stated in the PRS records were untrue. Peña asked him to identify this person and was quite offended and abusive toward him when he refused. Thomas ended the conversation, explaining that he would discuss nothing more with her until he had spoken to his attorney.
The next morning, while Thomas was in court yet again, his attorney, Mark Jenssen, told him NOT to discuss anything with Ms. Peña and not to trust her in any way. That same morning he also explained to Thomas that the state had told him, "that should [Thomas] plead guilty, they were going to try to get him sentenced to 50 years in jail."
Thomas Harris' trial began on May, 19, 1997, with jury selection. The state then began its case. The state called a total of five "witnesses": Two, Candida Harris and Sara Harris, gave questionable testimony. Another, Dr. Jennifer Driscoll (from Central Texas Medical Center where Sara was first examined), interestingly, was the same doctor against whom Thomas had begun malpractice suits in 1993. Could her testimony have been retaliation? According to Thomas, Candida Harris' interpreter was not accurate at translating her testimony, and her questions and answers had been rehearsed. At one point, Candida said SHE was sure that Thomas would NOT have done anything to Sara. The DA objected, saying Candida could not have correctly "understood" the question and repeated it. Candida replied differently the second time. Thomas Harris' attorney, Mr. Jenssen, should have objected, but didn't. Next, Sara Harris was asked a few questions. She was held on the lap of her foster mother and was positioned so that she could not look over or around the Judge's bench to see Thomas. At first, Sara said Thomas had done nothing. When the question was repeated, she contradicted her first response. Again, there was no objection by the defense. Mr. Jenssen's questions had been screened and censored by the Prosecution AND the Judge during pretrial the preceding Thursday. Mr. Jenssen asked Sara only a couple of questions: "Do you know the difference between the truth and a lie?" "Yes" she said. "Do you love your Daddy?" "Yes," she said. "Do you want to see your Daddy again?" "Yes," she said. Mr. Jenssen had no further questions. Court adjourned.
The following day, the defense began calling its witnesses. April Brown, character witness for Thomas, testified for almost an hour. She called the trial "a kangaroo court" and a "travesty of justice." The Prosecution had no questions for April, perhaps because Mr. Jenssen mentioned her experience as a paralegal, a student of Criminal Justice, a single mother and a dedicated friend of Thomas' and the children for almost 4 years. Shawn Lowary testified next, saying that it was impossible for the alleged events to have occurred at Thomas' house on the weekend in question, because Thomas and he had spent the entire weekend at his home. The Prosecutor then grilled him to get him to state that he was "involved" in the offense and, when that failed, to persuade him that he was "perjuring himself" by providing an alibi for Thomas. Thomas was then allowed to testify but his attorney only asked a few questions: name, address, income, education. Next, Prosecutor David Watts and CPS attorney Angela Goodwin questioned Thomas for almost 3 hours. They asked about his medical problems, his time in Mexico, his income, his internet mail and website(s), his relationship to, and knowledge of, Texas Fathers' Alliance and VOCAL, about the "stories" that Alice Robinson Bond, an assistant attorney general in Ohio, had heard about his Defense. (Ms. Bond took the information she learned about Thomas through an internet forum for the falsely accused, and sent it to Texas authorities. Thomas had joined the forum to get help against false accusations.)
Defender Mark Jenssen's closing arguments were inept and weak on Thomas' behalf, lasting a brief 5 minutes. Prosecutor Watts, however, dramatically brought up Thomas' arrears of $1,132 in child support, his disability and inability to find employment while downplaying almost 4 years of college education. For almost an hour Watts pleaded that the jury sentence Thomas to the maximum time and fine -- 99 years and $20,000. After only one half hour of deliberating, the jury sentenced Thomas to 50 years and $10,000. Thomas sits in jail now. He is falsely accused and wrongly convicted. When Thomas' case came up in the Court of Appeals on August 3l, 1998, his lawyer filed for an Evidentiary Hearing via a Habeas Corpus, based on Morris' Affidavit of Sara's retraction. Please read the following affidavit:
Affidavit of Morris A. Esmoil, III, July 15, 1998, as recorded by Cynthia S Pressley, Notary Public. (Mr. Esmoil is the Home teacher to whom Sara told her account.)
"On 18 June 1998, I visited the home of Candida Harris to visit with Susanna and Sara Harris in the capacity of "Home Teacher" for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Previous to this visit, Candida Harris had voluntarily told two lady missionaries from the same church that Sara had told her that her X-husband, Thomas Harris, who was in jail for molesting Sara, had not done it. As an acquaintance of Thomas and wanting to know the truth about what had happened, I planned to talk to Sara myself if I could. I told Sara that some judges were reviewing her Father's case and they may let him out of jail, have the sentence stay as it is or have a re-trial. She said that she did not want to see her Father because he was mean to her. I then asked if he had bothered her. She said no. I asked if someone else had bothered her and she said yes but that some people had told her to say it was her Father so that he could be put in jail. I asked who and Sara said that Susan Miller had. I asked who else and she said Trine Rodriquez. I asked Sara if I could write this information down and she said I could which I immediately did while talking to her. /s/ Morris A. Esmiol, III 15 July 1998 - The State of Texas - County of Hays - This instrument was acknowledged before me on July 15, 1998 by Morris A. Esmoil, III. /s/ Cynthia S Pressley - Notary Public, State of Texas."
Mr. Thomas Harris will only awaken from his seven year nightmare when justice is done in his case. If you want to help, Thomas asks that you please lend your support by calling the Hays County Judges and by writing to the Senators and Representatives of Texas.
Thomas Harris 793685
9601 Spur 591
Amarillo, TX 79107-9606
© Justice Denied
