Last night Stephen called to say that he had returned home from Indiana, where he had visited Blade Reed at the Wabash Valley prison and, the next day, went to Brown County to meet Blade’s attorneys and file the writ of habeas corpus with the court that sentenced Blade as an adult on December 7, 2009 for aggravated battery and robbery resulting in serious injury. Blade received a 30 year sentence to be served in an adult prison.
The writ seeks the remedy that Blade’s guilty plea be nullified and that he be resentenced as a juvenile. Even though Blade was 13 years old at the time of the crime, extensive psychological evaluations since then have shown he is autistic and had the mental capacity of an 8-year-old.
The court has up to 90 days from the time of filing to either grant the writ or to schedule a court hearing. It will be interesting, to say the least, to see what position prosecutor Jim Oliver will take with respect to the writ. Given the litany of horrors Blade has suffered in adult prison (see “Adult Consequences,” August 6, 2011 and “Worse Than I Knew,” August 14, 2011), I would think Oliver should be ashamed to have these outcomes revealed in court. However, Oliver scored political points through Blade’s original trial and his ego may prevent him from admitting that the sentence he engineered was unduly cruel and barbaric.
It has taken us nearly two years to reach this pivotal point. You may ask, “Why so long?” and I would have to answer, “Because we needed your involvement to make the crucial difference.”
Steven first became involved in Blade’s case in July 2009. From the outset he had daunting challenges to overcome. It took Stephen months to locate civil liberties attorneys who were willing to take up Blade’s case on a pro bono basis. It took him many more months to identify a psychologist to conduct a competent psychological evaluation, and then at the last minute that psychologist backed out and Stephen had to find another. Blade was being held in solitary confinement for over a year, which prevented and delayed the psych evaluation. And then there was the need to raise money to pay for the psychologist, and then the need for more money to pay for the research and preparation of the habeas corpus writ, which is over 35 pages long.
In the end, it was you—and your financial support—that broke the log jam. The process is flowing now, thanks to you. All this time, Blade has been beaten, raped, taunted, and abused, and it continues to this day. Yet for the first time, there is hope.
Blade doesn’t feel the hope yet. Stephen said Blade seemed quite depressed during their visit. Nevertheless, I must admit to feeling a sense of perverse pleasure that there is plenty of that to be spread around.
Stephen told me that when the habeas writ was handed to Brown County Judge Judith Stewart, she sighed.
۞
Groove of the Day
Listen to The Chambers Brothers performing “Time Has Come Today”
Wandervogel Diary 
Great news. Stephen has set the bar high!
I would like to take this time to thank Dan and all the readers who are supporting Blade. Your gifts whether financial, through prayers, or just being on our team, are greatly appreciated. They moved the mountain.
I’m grateful to all of you for giving Blade a good chance at a future that’s not filled with anguish, regret or prison walls. We still have a ways to go with this, but the ball is rolling now, and Blade has HOPE.
GREAT news Stephen & Dan. Let’s all just “keep the ball rolling”. Cheers. £ance (and The Gang).
Great news, I wish the whole process would work in the interest of a child faster.
Thanks to all involved for your work!
Well, welll, well, i betta court judge and jury and whoever else is proud giving a boy with a mental disability mind of 8 year old giving hime hell. Blade needs special treatment to help him know right from wrong such a assult and robbery. This world is cruel and here he sits still wanting give him 30 years at his age. How stupid is that? Blade don’t deserve 30 years, he learned his lesson not to assult, battery. No need at all he should still be locked up. I say place he should of been taking to is place called Boys town in Omeha Nebraska. I don’t live there. I do know this, Blade would get the right treatment he needs. What hes getting now and has been since age 13 is child abuse. Thats what it is. He has autism, cant help it some stufff he has done. What they gonna do now arreest put kids who has autism adhd add or learing disability, or a little bit of behavior issues and make life a living hell with no correct help. Cna they get any more crue hard hearted and full of hate to kids. You think they have better things to do with themselves. Is it about money? Is this why they wanna keep and put kids ages 2 to 18 in prison cahrged as a adult is ages 18 and up? SO the state get money. And don’t give a living damn about kids today. I say stop this hate crime and release Blade, but give him serious cousling and get love from parents, friends. Dan is there a way we can suggest boys town for Blade? I know a man works there. You amy wanna go to their website. http://www.boystown.com
The people involved in throwing this child to the wolves to be repeatedly raped and beaten should be publicly shamed and humiliated. How can we as a civilized society let this sort of thing continue? We protect children from getting lung cancer by banning cigarettes for children his age, but we knowingly allow him to be raped and beaten in an adult jail. What sort of reasoning is this? Every statistic points to this child being raped and abused in an adult facility. It’s inevitable. I think this country has turned into a place run by sadistic, immoral hypocrits. America has gone about as low as it can go in every aspect, but kids in adult prisons and jails is the most disturbing of America’s decline into the abyss.
I’m glad Blade has a bit of hope now. A small but comforting blessing along with the friendship of Stephen and people who have supported his efforts. There is no good that can come from what these powerful authority figures have done to this child, and hopefully they will soon realize that. Shining the light on this is the best thing that can be done. I’m pretty sure the public does not sanction this sort of thing. The folks who do this are sure their dirty deeds will be kept undercover. They only want the win to shine. Hopefully a good public tarnishing will help to turn the tide. We’ve got to change this practice one child at a time. And there are good people doing it.