A really sad story all the way around, but it appears resolution has been reached, as much as it can in these type of cases.
An excerpt.
Homeless crime victim finds his voice in court
By Jocelyn Wiener -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Saturday, August 5, 2006
For one last time Friday morning, John Jewett prepared to share a courtroom with a young man accused of attacking him twice in the midtown shed where he slept.
Jewett already knew Clinton Garrett, 22, would be sentenced to five years in state prison for beating him with a tree branch and a pipe on two occasions in December and January, scratching one of his corneas and splitting one nostril. That had been agreed upon in a plea bargain last month.
Another assailant, who is not being identified by authorities because he is a juvenile, already had been sentenced to four years.
Soon, Jewett knew, it would all be over. But first he had something to say.
While Sacramento Superior Court Judge James Morris handled a string of other cases, Jewett unfolded a piece of paper and began practicing his speech.
Jewett, 53, is homeless. During three, four, even five days at the library, he had typed and deleted, rewritten and checked for typos. He wanted the statement he read at Garrett's sentencing to be perfect.
Others had come to the courtroom in the Sacramento County Main Jail to offer Jewett their support. The Rev. Linda Kelly, spiritual director at the Loaves & Fishes homeless services complex, was there, along with Deputy District Attorney Valerie Brown and victim's advocate Mailyn Chuong, who had worked with him for months. Chuong had volunteered to read Jewett's statement for him. But he wanted to try.
Across the aisle, Garrett's mother, Laura, sat alone. When the judge called a recess, she headed outside to smoke.
She said her older children -- she has eight total -- tell her she is naive for not believing that her son would do such horrible things. Four of her eight children have done time, she said.
Clinton, she said, had just gotten out after serving a lengthy sentence for arson. She doesn't believe he committed that crime. In her heart, she can't believe he attacked Jewett, either. Not the way they said.
She and Garrett's father had been homeless a long time, she said. Their children were taken into Child Protective Services' custody. She and her husband have strong beliefs about not hurting people, she added. Besides, Clinton had been attending church with her.
"It just doesn't make no sense to me," she said. "Do you understand why my heart is so confused?"
But whether or not her son was guilty, she wanted him to know she loved him unconditionally. So she attended every court appearance.
