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The Testimony of Justin Padilla-Mccool

1. I was born on May 5th 1983 in Cheyenne Wyoming to Christena
Padilla. I was born in a poor household and without a Father but I
did not know the meaning of poverty at such a young age. I had
four uncles, Tallie Ray, Daniel, Gary and Ronnie, I also had two
aunts Joanne and Darlene. A grandmother named Maria and a
grandfather named Joe, when I was a young child my grandfather
and my grandmother were already split up and living separate
lives, my grandmother was living in Phoenix Arizona with my
uncle Ronnie ( he was the youngest of the family) and my
grandfather was living in Cheyenne Wyoming with a woman
named Lori who he was not married too and she had a daughter
named Monica that she claimed was my grandfathers, even know
she did resemble him at the time, there was never any DNA tests
done to prove that she was his child. My grandfather always
treated Monica well but no one really knew for sure if Monica was
his child and no one ever asked for a DNA test.
2. I remembered my childhood as being a happy kid without a
worry in the world, I had an older brother that was 6 years older
than me and his name is Shilo, Shilo is my half-brother and he did
not have a relationship with his father either. My brother drove
out to Philadelphia PA. ,when he was 18 years old to try and meet
his father, he found out his father was chief of police and when
they got to talk his father, his father wanted him to move to
Philadelphia but my brother refused.
3. I was a very active kid and I loved to play sports and pretty
much be outside for most of the time. I started playing Baseball at
the age of 6 years old and played up to the age of 13, I played for
an all-star team and even played on teams where we won
countless championships. I played the position of pitcher and
shortstop and had a fairly decent arm, I was a decent player but I
also know that I could have been a better player if I had a father
figure around to teach me. There was a big parking lot across the
street that belonged to a bank and an eye doctor and when I
didnt have anyone around to practice and play catch with I threw

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the baseball against one of the walls of the doctors office and
when it rebounded I would have a ground ball to practice
catching.
4. My grandfather was my father figure and he treated me well
and tried to teach me the things I will later use in life. He had a
Masonry company and would take me along to work for him when
I was around age 10, he owned numerous houses and apartments
and he would teach me how to do construction and fix different
things in his rental properties, he taught me many skills that I
could apply later on in life. My grandfather is very important to
me and was the foundation for my whole family.
My uncle Tallie Ray was locked up in prison for a 10 year stretch
for Fraud, My uncle Daniel was an alcoholic and he would work
enough just to get by. My uncle Daniel was the uncle that was
around the most, he did drink a lot but he also loved me and did
not ever try to hurt me, he showed me how to cook and how to fix
houses and do mechanic work. My Uncle Ronnie lived in Arizona
and had his own painting business and was doing very well for
himself and my Uncle Gary was working for the railroad and also
doing well.
5. I love my mom very much and she struggled to take care of us,
she works for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Wyoming but money
was still tight raising two kids on her own and without the help of
child support. My mom developed an addiction to gambling since
she was around 15 years of age playing Bingo with my
Grandmother. We were already struggling to pay the bills with her
job alone but I think she figured that if she could win big at Bingo
that everything would be fine. I can remember when I was 8 years
old my mom would go play midnight Bingo and I would get so
tired I would end up sleeping under the bingo table. The holidays
were also unpredictable as well, if she would win bingo before the
Christmas holiday then we would have a good Christmas but if
she did not win bingo then the Christmas holiday was pretty much
nonexistence.
6. My brother and I did not have a father around and our mother
was always gone either playing bingo after she got off of work or
working a second job to make ends meet. My brother ended up

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hanging around with the wrong crowd that was into partying and
doing drugs, he is my older brother so I looked up to him and
wanted to be just like him. When my mom was not home he
would have big house parties with guys shooting dice, hip hop
music playing in the background, drinking, smoking weed and
plenty of women around. The things I seen my brother do the
most was to take advantage of women, he would treat them
poorly but they still loved him, he would use the women to buy
him clothes and gifts and was doing this to numerous women at
the same time. He did not have one girlfriend, he had many
girlfriends and was pretty much a womanizer and took advantage
of many women any way he could to get what he wanted.
7. When I was around my uncle Daniel he would always be
drinking nonstop and sometimes he would smoke weed from time
to time. These are the things I grew up around so I thought this
was the way it was supposed to be. I even walked in on my uncle
having sex with women, he would be so drunk that he forgot to
lock the front door and would be doing these kinds of things in my
moms Livingroom.
8. I grew up Catholic and my mother pushed me to go every
weekend when I was a kid, I attended catholic school and also
served as an altar boy for 5 years (from age 8-13). I was a pretty
good kid for the most part but the things I experienced while
growing up made me confused and I didnt understand it because
my friends were not living the same life as I was living.
9. My brother and his friends started a gang called east 18 th
street, there was other gangs in Cheyenne as well, Lincoln Park
Surenos and West Side Bloods. 18th street and west side got along
but everyone had problems with the Lincoln Park Surenos. My
brother got into many brutal fights and even got stabbed up a
couple times but in those days no one would pull out guns unless
it was really serious. I remember riding along with my brother one
time when him and his buddies where going to do a drive by

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shooting. They had a shotgun and a few handguns, they left to

the rival gang members house around midnight, they changed
their mind about shooting up the house and thought it would be
better to shoot up a rival gang members car. They pulled up
close to the car and they let the bullets fly and dumped a few
dozen bullets into the car and then drove off fast.
10. I also remember going to the YMCA with my brother and his
friends to play basketball, they would always egg me on to fight
other kids and especially if any of the other kids disrespected me.
It was cheap enjoyment for my brother and his friends to see me
fight another kid. One time my brothers friend started an
argument with a big muscular guy who was lifting weights in the
YMCA, he told the guy to come outside because he was going to
give him a whooping of his life. I thought my brothers friend
would be the one getting beat up because he was way smaller
and didnt even compare to the big muscular guy. I was totally
wrong, when they got outside they started throwing a few
punches and my brothers friend hit the big guy with so much
power that it put the guy down fast and before the guy could get
up my brothers friend kicked him in the jaw one time and the guy
was done for, we jumped in the vehicles and left the scene as fast
as possible. It was the way of life for me to see people get beat
up, robbed or disrespected and it became very normal for me to
witness these things.
11. Even though I was not in a gang I started dressing like a
gangster and had a vile attitude against everyone just to prove I
was hard and not a punk, I started to get into fights and test
people to see if they had any heart or not. I started fighting a lot
in school starting mostly in 5 th grade and outside of school, I
almost had a fight scheduled every week from another kid that
wanted to see what I was made of. I started to love to fight people
and would get a rush out of hurting people.

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12. When I was 11 I drank my first beer and when I was 12 I

smoked my first joint and when I turned 13 thats when all hell
broke loose, I lost my virginity at that age, and started drinking
and smoking weed more frequently. My mom was busy working
her first or second job and gambling so there was no time for her
to supervise me or to know what I was actually doing. At the age
of 13 I was getting bad grades in school, matter of fact school did
not even matter to me at the time, I just went because that is
where I had to be during the day. After school was out my friends
and I would meet up and smoke weed and party, we would meet
up with girls and get them drunk and take advantage of them. By
the time I hit 14 yrs. of age I was already on probation for
fighting, I was disrespectful and had an attitude problem that was
out of control.
13. I finally got off probation for fighting and at the time it didnt
really teach me much, I returned to fighting again, smoking weed
and I even started selling weed. I use to take weed to school, so
after school we could go smoke it at my friends house. I used to
be so much into smoking weed that numerous times my friends
would want me to go to their house to get high and I would put a
1 foot bong in my jacket and put my weed in my pocket and drive
across town to my friends just to get high. Bringing weed to
school lasted about 6 months before I ended up getting caught
with weed on school property. I ended up getting out of school
detention for one week and had to report back to the probation
office. I was sent home around noon and didnt feel too good
about getting caught, I was sitting at home thinking about the
decisions I had made, about the time school had gotten out I
seen a group of kids walking down the street in front of my house.
My friend ended up calling me after school and telling me there
was going to be a party close by my house and asked if I wanted
to go, I ended up going to that party and I recognized it was the
group of kids that were walking in front of my house. We started
drinking and having a good time partying until the cops showed
up, they gave us all tickets. The cops called my Mom to tell her
the good news and her boyfriend came to pick me up, I really felt
bad now and I couldnt believe I had gotten two tickets in one day.

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One early in the day for possession of marijuana at school and

one later on in the evening for drinking under age.
14. I went back through probation and successfully completed a
year, when I finished up on probation my uncle Tallie Ray was just
getting out of prison and he come to stay in Cheyenne so he
could be close to his family. My Uncle had a big heart and was
very good and protective to us, the things that landed him in
prison in the first place was for fraud. He was a general contractor
for construction but started to commit fraud as his drug addiction
started to take a toll on him. He would over bid a job and then
when he started using drugs he would go back and tell the home
owner that he found more issues with the job and to get
everything fixed properly he would need more money. After they
agreed to fix everything the right way my uncle would take the
money and never return to the jobsite because he was strung out
on heroin and cocaine.
15. At the time my uncle Tallie Ray was getting out of prison I did
not know that he was addicted to Cocaine and to Heroin. I just
knew that he went to prison for Fraud charges. My uncle Tallie Ray
was a good person to his family and friends and usually other
people as well until he got on the drugs. He was so deep into
Heroin that my uncle Daniel found out before my Uncle Tallie Ray
had done his prison sentence. My Uncle Daniel said if you are
going to do this nasty drug and will not stop then I am going to do
it with you. My uncle Daniel started using Heroin as well and this
didnt help things out at all, it actually made matters worse. I was
told later on in my 20s that my uncle Tallie Ray had a deep
addiction to Heroin and that he owed some big time drug dealers
a lot of money. Those drug dealers called my grandfather and told
him if he didnt pay up a large amount of money then he would
find his son Tallie Ray dead within a few days. My grandpa sold
some of his property and paid the drug dealers the 20k they
demanded.

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16. When he got out of prison he started up another construction

company and started to do things the right way. I eventually
started working for my uncle doing concrete and roofing jobs or
whatever he had a contract on. He treated me good and paid me
well so I continued to work for him, I worked for him mainly during
the summers because I was still in school. My mother had told me
one summer that I better save my money to buy school clothes
because bills were behind and she didnt have the money to buy
me new school clothes for the following year. She said if I didnt
buy new clothes then I would have to wear my old clothes from
last year.
17. My friends and I would get so obliterated off of the drugs and
alcohol, whenever we got ahold of some drugs we would do them
excessively until we passed out from a headache of smoking
weed or threw up and passed out drunk. I remember one night
there was 4 of us and we had a half gallon of Lord Calvert and
about an ounce of weed. We would sit in a circle and smoke weed
nonstop and take back to back shots until the bottle was gone.
We finished that bottle in about 45 minutes and everyone was
puking or passing out. These kinds of parties would happen all the
time and we were playing with fire but we did not care. All of my
friends were the same, they all loved to fight anyone at any time,
they all loved to drink and do drugs as well.
18. That following year we found out my Uncle Ronnie that lived
in Arizona contracted AIDS and he ended up dying a few months
later. I myself got back into selling weed and experimenting with
other drugs, my brother was no different as he was also selling
weed and started smoking meth. I remember that I was so much
into drugs I had to have an abundance of drugs, and all the time. I
went to go get paid from my Uncle Tallie Ray before the weekend
hit and I would usually smoke a joint with him and collect my
money and leave. Something was different this time because my
uncle paid me then he pretty much wanted me to leave in a
hurry, this was unlike him and I knew that he was up to no good.
My mom dropped me off so I could get paid and I didnt have a

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ride back home so I told my uncle I needed a ride home and he

handed me the keys to his corvette and said bring it back
whenever. Since this car was one of his highly valued
possessions I was confused that he told me to take it. I asked him
when he would want his car back, he got more frustrated and told
me, I dont know maybe 3 or 4 days or whatever.
19. I was a kid at the age of sixteen and I just got handed the
keys to a mint condition corvette so I jumped in and took off with
no questions asked. I had money in my pocket and a lot of weed, I
stopped and picked up a 5th of Jack Daniels, a few hits of acid and
some cocaine. I started driving all over town with these drugs on
me, I took a few hits of acid and was smoking joints while I was
cruising. I would take a swig of the bottle every once in a while
and would only stop to chop up a line and snort it, I was a reckless
youngster and did not have a care in the world. I was even racing
whoever was acting like they wanted to race, I was drawing a lot
of attention towards myself but I did not care. These were the
years when I was way out of control, my friends and I started
using LSD, Mushrooms, Cocaine, Meth, Opium, Hash or whatever
we could get our hands on to try. We all started growing weed in
our houses also.
20. My Brother Shilo and my Grandfather were also pretty close
and my brother helped him run his business. My grandfather
pulled out some old black magic books that he had and my
brother was really interested in them. They set up one of my
grandpas extra rooms in his house and started doing black magic
rituals with candles and a pentagram drawn out on the floor. My
brother started studying black magic extensively, he would buy
herbs, oils, candles and other items so he could start his own
rituals. My brother would tell me he could have any woman he
wanted and he could also make them fall in love with him. He was
correct, he made all of these things happen in front of my eyes.
He would take pieces of a girls hair and get some pictures of her
or some of her belongings and he would do his black magic with
these items. He treated them really bad but they were deeply in

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love with him. I saw him do this to many different woman and it
usually worked. He would even tell me that he would have
conversations with demons, I believed him when he told me these
things.
21. My uncle Tallie Ray ended up using cocaine again and started
committing fraud, taking people for their money. He was thrown
back in jail and was sentenced to another 8 years in prison. I think
he was out for 6 years total as a free man. Two years before Tallie
Ray was sentenced to prison my Uncle Daniel was facing charges
and was also sent to prison. I ended up dropping out of high
school when I was in the 10th grade, shortly after I ended up
getting caught with possession of marijuana for the 2 nd time and
was put on probation. I had to do weekly urine analysis testing
and for the first 3 months I was obeying, I suddenly got the urge
to get high again and figured I could get high 2 or 3 days a week
and clean out before I had to go in for my weekly drug test.
22. I started using this method and it was working out good, I was
able to get high with my friends on the weekend and be clean
before my drug test. I ended up doing this for about 4 months and
I was paying close attention to the schedule of when they would
pick you to do a drug test or not. I was clean for 5 weeks in a row
and they tested me every week so I figured there is no way they
will test me this 6th week. I showed up and they told me they
wanted a drug test, I was not ready at all because I did not clean
out, I thought they would not ask for a test but I was wrong. I
ended up dropping a dirty UA and they told me that the police
department would issue a warrant for my arrest or that I could
turn myself in. I was a hard headed so I figured when they catch
me then I would face the music, I was sitting at home one day
smoking weed in my Livingroom and watching tv when the police
came knocking on my door to pick me up. I did not answer the
door and I knew they could smell the weed but they knocked a
few times and left. After that incident I realized how ignorant I was
being and that I needed to turn myself in and get my time served.

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23. I turned myself in for a 45 day sentence and I was only 17 yrs.
Old. I still loved to smoke weed so I stashed some away for when I
got out of jail. When I was in jail it didnt make me realize how I
was acting or the things I was doing, I just figured that I couldnt
wait to get out so I could smoke some more weed and start
partying again. When I was in jail I got into a few fights because I
still loved to fight and to test people, the funny thing was I only
weighed 120 lbs. at 5 9 and I would try to beat up the biggest
and baddest guy in my pod. At that small of a weight I would
succeed but I was only locked up in a juvenile pod. Jail did not
seem to make me realize much, I was still living and acting like a
thug that was out of control. When growing up my mom would
always feed me, but her food was bland to me. When I was eating
the food in jail I actually liked it and gained a few lbs. As soon as I
got out of jail I went to my room and started to roll a joint. Man
was I happy to be out. I started to live that life again that I always
loved, (drinking, smoking weed, drugs, fighting and sex).
24. In 2000 My Uncle Daniel was released from prison. He was
huge and muscular like a professional bodybuilder. He was so
freaky and huge it was like his body was unreal to look at. He
went in a skinny alcoholic and come out looking like a professional
bodybuilder, I couldnt believe the transformation. This
transformation would not last long because my uncle went back
to drinking, smoking weed and using cocaine or heroin from time
to time. At this time of my life I was drinking a lot and would even
drive around town drunk as ever without a care in life. I remember
one night my friends and I went out to a party, I got really drunk
and went outside to get some fresh air. I started checking
peoples car doors to see if they were locked, I was looking for
something good to steal. I did not have any luck searching the
cars at the party so I started to walk the neighborhood and check
other peoples cars. I found one car that was unlocked and had a
nice stereo system with subs and an amp, I figured that I hit the
jackpot and to my luck the keys where in the cup holder. I jumped

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in the car, started it up and took off, I pulled it into my moms

backyard around 3am and stripped the car of everything I wanted.
I then took the car and drove it across town and dumped it in an
empty field and threw the keys on a passing by train. I sold one of
my friends some of the stereo equipment from that steal and a
few weeks later he got caught doing something stupid so he
figured if he could snitch me out then maybe he would be set free
from his crime. A few detectives showed up at my house and
questioned me about the stolen car and the equipment, I just
acted like I did not know what they were talking about, they left
and I never heard anything again about that stolen car.
25. I went to work doing construction jobs like concrete and other
back breaking jobs. I thought I might as well start selling weed
again so I could make some big money. I started selling Lbs. of
weed and was making more money selling weed then I was
through work alone, I started to miss days off work here and there
because I wasnt interested in working so hard just to make a little
bit of money. My workplace ended up firing me so my brother and
I went to go and pick up my paycheck a few days later. We were
on the way to pick up my paycheck and saw one of my uncles
friends so we decided to pick him up. I got my check and we were
driving back to my brothers house when all of a sudden we got
pulled over. The cop said we looked suspicious and asked to
search us. Years ago if we would get pulled over and a cop asked
to search us we would run and try to get away. They searched me
and found a check from work, 600 dollars cash, 3 ounces of weed
and a measuring scale. They did not take me to jail but they gave
me a ticket to appear in court. When I went to court it would be
my 3rd offense for possession of marijuana but this time with
intent to sell. The judge asked why I had so much weed in my
possession and also a scale. I lied and told him it was all for
personal use, I was put back onto probation with weekly urine
analysis tests. I was feeling really dumb about the choices I made
and figured this time on probation I would push through my year
and get off probation without going back to jail.

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26. I started working for a painting company in Cheyenne WY.,

and was actually doing well, I would still visit my friends from time
to time and they were still up to the same old drama (dealing
drugs and living a wild life). I completed my year on probation
without any issues and was set free. I stayed focused on work and
stayed out of trouble. I worked for the same painting company
and did not mess with any drugs but I did still drank on the
weekends. I got into a relationship with a girl named Jacquelyn
and she started staying with me at my mothers house. My mom
made us both pay 300 a month each to stay at her house and
help with the groceries. This went well for a while until my mom
asked me for more money three days after we had paid her the
rent and bought groceries. I figured that she had lost some money
gambling and she thought we would give her the money she
needed. I told her that we could not help her and we could not
give her any money until the rent was due for the following
month. My mom did not like what I said, she told me to give her
more money or get out of her house. I was done with the
gambling addiction and decided I would move out. I did not wait
for the next day. I started to move out the same night she told me
to get out. I called my grandfather and asked if he had a house
that was vacant. I asked if I could rent his house and he agreed. I
just turned 19 and this was the first time I ever moved out of my
moms house to live on my own. I learned a lot living on my own
for the first year and started to understand a little bit about
responsibility. I went and got my GED and so did my girlfriend.
27. My grandfather developed Cancer in his throat area and the
cancer started to grow and started to block off his airway. The
doctor put a trachea into his throat so that it would push over the
cancer and he could at least breathe. My grandfather always
represented a man of power and I have never seen a sign of
weakness in him. We all pleaded for him to get the cancer
removed but the doctor said he would lose part of his voice and
would have to have a voice box put in. My grandfather did not like
the idea of that and said he never wanted to talk through a
machine. He took out his trachea tube many times throughout the
day to clean it. We got the call from his girlfriend saying that she

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went to his room and found him lying on his bed and without a
pulse. He was trying to take out his tube to clean it and could not
breathe because of the cancer mass blocking off his airway. He
frantically tried to put the tube back in but could not and
suffocated to death.
28. We all took my grandfathers death hard as he was the
backbone in our family. He had such a big heart and loved to help
others out. He owned apartments and he had a tenant that had a
little girl. They did not have very much and were struggling just to
eat. For Christmas my Grandfather got a huge box and filled it
with toys, clothes and food and gave it to them. My Grandfather
loved to help people out and see a smile on their face. My Uncle
Tallie Ray took my grandfathers death hard because he was still
in prison at the time my grandfather died. They offered for my
Uncle Tallie Ray to go to the funeral but he turned it down
because he did not want his family to see him attend a funeral in
handcuffs. Six months later my uncle Tallie Ray was suffering with
hepatitis, his organs started to shut down and he ended up dying
in prison. This was a major hit because we lost my grandfather
and in the same year we lost my uncle Tallie ray as well.
29. After my grandfather passed away he left a will with my aunt
Joanne as the primary beneficiary, my Aunt Joanne took over all
his remaining property and decided it would be best to kick me
out of his property so she could sell it. She did not call and tell me
what she wanted to do, probably because she knew I was wild
and that I would not leave anyways so she went to the electric
company and had the electricity shut off, I did not have authority
to turn it back on even though I was the one who had the
account. I called my mother and she told me the details of what
my aunt had done.
30. My girlfriend and I moved back to live with my mom, I was still
working as a painter for the same painting company. I started
selling weed again while I was working at the same time to cover
up any suspicion and I was making a lot of money. One day as I

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was sitting in my room and smoking weed, I thought to myself Is

this what my life is going to be about, will I live in poverty for the
rest of my life? All of a sudden I did not have a want or need to
smoke weed anymore and realized if I continued to sell it, then
eventually I would end up in prison like one of my uncles. I
already had three offenses and the next one would be a Felony. I
had about a pound of marijuana and a half a dozen pipes. I ended
up going to my moms room and I told her I was done with weed
and for good. I told her I was going to change my life and I wanted
to make something of myself. I immediately threw all my pipes
away and got rid of all the weed. I told my brother to come and
pick up the weed or else I was going to throw it all away. I told him
I did not want a dime for it and to just take it off my hands. The
weed was valued at more than $1000.00 dollars but I instantly
knew that if I did not get rid of it then I would not have a future.
31. I asked one of my girlfriends brothers for advice since he was
an apprentice electrician. I told him I wanted a career and he
advised that I should start some kind of apprenticeship, either for
an electrician or a plumber. I decided I wanted to learn something
new so I decided to apply for a pipefitter apprenticeship and I had
dreams of becoming a welder. I filled out an application for the
pipefitters apprenticeship program in Cheyenne Wyoming. I had
anticipation of starting a welding career and wanted to learn all I
could about welding. I saved up enough money and decided to
move out of my mothers house. We rented a nice townhome that
my girlfriends parents owned as one of their rental properties. I
got accepted into the pipefitters apprenticeship program in
March of 2005. At that time my girlfriend was pregnant and we
were getting ready to have our first child. I started working
through the union as an apprentice in May of 2005 and my sons
expected date of birth was on May 25th. My son was born on May
23rd 2005 and his name is Brenden Lance Padilla-McCool. I
thought I was as ready as anyone could ever be for their first child
but I was totally wrong. The moment I held my son in my hands
my life changed on the spot and I knew nothing else but to take
care of my child with all my will.

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32. My son slept in our room in a bassinet. When he was 3 months

old we figured it was about time to let him start sleeping in his
own room, but for some reason my girlfriend said we should wait
until the next night and let him sleep with us one more night. I
agreed and we went to sleep. I was woke up in the middle of the
night from a big crash. It was so loud it sounded like a car wreck
right outside of our house. I got out of bed and opened the
bedroom door. I could not see much and there was dust and
debris floating in the air, there was debris on the Livingroom floor
and kitchen. My heart started to beat fast and I heard some
people talking so I thought maybe someone broke in my house.
When I got to my sons room there was a car halfway in his room
and his crib was smashed and thrown out into the kitchen area. I
rushed outside and saw the car wrecked into our house and our
yard was ruined with broken trees and tire marks engraved in the
soil. I turned to look down the street and saw two guys running
away from the scene. I instantly knew they were the ones that
had wrecked into my house, I was frustrated but I figured as fast
as they ran away after crashing into the house that possibly they
were drunk or on drugs. My girlfriend looked in their glovebox to
see if she could find insurance papers or documentation to the
owners of the vehicle. She found a recent ticket in the glove box
for possession of methamphetamines.
33. We moved out of that rental house and lived with my
girlfriends parents as the house was getting fixed. I saved up
enough money and bought my first house on April 23 rd 2006 and
started to push as hard as I could in my new career. I was working
at a refinery in Cheyenne Wyoming as a pipefitters apprentice
and I started paying close attention to the books I was studying
and tried my best to be on time and do my best because I wanted
to be a valuable employee. The contractor I was working for at
the refinery started to take a liking to me for the work I was doing
and so did my foreman. I worked at the refinery for about 7
months and then my foreman got offered a permanent job to
work for Frontier Refinery so he took the job. A month or so later

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my old foreman called me and asked me how serious I was about

my career as a pipefitter. I told him I was very serious and that I
wanted to do the very best I could do. He said the refinery is
looking to hire a few more people and said he would put in a good
word for me if I was serious.
34. I ended up getting a permanent job for the refinery as a
pipefitter and started in August 6 th of 2006, I noticed all of the
other pipefitters were around 45-58 years of age and I was a
young 23 years old. I was told by my old foreman that he wanted
me to get my welding certs so I could start welding in the refinery.
I was very shocked and I didnt think I was ready to take on that
position of a certified welder in a refinery setting. There is a big
difference of a welder that welds process pipe for a refinery or
power plant and someone who welds structural steel. When a
welder welds pipe they actually bring in an x-ray machine and xray your weld joints because if there is a leak or failure it could
cause an explosion. I ended up practicing as much as I could to be
a certified welder, I would even stay after work and weld with no
extra pay just to be better and get that much closer to taking my
test.
35. I ended up taking my welding test and passed it, I was now a
certified welder for the refinery, I started to do a lot of welding
and the refinery saw my progress and made me a temporary
foreman over certain projects. This was a big deal to me because I
was telling people that were twice my age what to do and I was
learning how to be a foreman at a young age. Everything was
going good in the apprenticeship program and at work. I was
working hard and everything was falling in place.
36. My girlfriend did not work but she stayed home and took care
of our son. In October of 2006 her brother was dealing with a lot
of issues in life so he decided to commit suicide by gunshot
wound to the head. My girlfriend at the time had a hard time with
her brothers suicide and she started to turn towards alcohol to try

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and relieve her pain. I did not drink much after I decided to turn
my life around when I was 20. I would have an occasional beer
here and there but only on certain weekends or a special
occasion. My girlfriend was dealing with a lot after the suicide and
she started to go to the bars and clubs more often to try and drink
her pain away. Most of the time she would ask me to go with her
and I would but then it started to get to the point where she
would go out constantly even on weekdays and without me being
with her.
37. It started to get so bad that she would not come home after
the bars would close, she would come home the next day maybe
around 8 or 9 am. I had to be to work by 7 am so most of the time
I took my son to day care before I went to work. I started to work
12 hr. shifts and I was still an apprentice, so I had to go to school
2 nights a week for three hrs. And also go to welding class every
other weekend on Saturday and Sunday for 8 hrs. each day. I
would come home to a dirty house and no dinner most of the time
and my girlfriend did not have a job either so it was stressful
because I was the only income. When I got home she would hand
me my son and say she would be back later. I understood she was
still in pain from her brothers suicide and drinking wasnt helping
her at all, at the same time our relationship was falling apart.
38. In May of 2008 my girlfriend and I decided to stay at home
and have a few drinks with her nephews and one of their friends.
As the night continued on there were a few phone calls back and
forth. My girlfriends nephew was arguing with some other guy
over the phone but I really didnt think much of it. I thought that if
anything happened maybe some kids would be wrestling or some
minor arguing in my front yard. I was a little tipsy but most of all I
was getting tired. I told my girlfriend I was going to sleep. I woke
up at 3 am to the sound of someone breaking out car windows in
my driveway and someone pounding on my front door. I ran
downstairs and got close to the door when the door swung open. I
said what the hell? Thats when a baseball bat hit me straight
over my head. I dont know how I did it but I shook it off and I

Page 18 of 27

punched the first guy in his jaw who was the closest to me. They
all ganged up on me and I couldnt do anything as I was getting
hit from all sides so I covered up and went down. I blacked out
and woke up a little while later and the fight was over. I got to my
feet and started out the door and thats when everyone stopped
me. They acted like they were freaked out that I was even up and
they were telling me, What are you doing, go back inside and lay
down. The ambulance is on their way. I caught a glimpse of my
face in the mirror on my way back in the house and I was covered
from head to toe with blood. There was so much blood on my face
that I could not even make out my facial features. I found out
later that I was stabbed once in my spine and once in my side 6
inches deep. I had a broken nose, broken finger, split skull and
some more minor cuts and heavy bruising all over my body. The
guys beat me up with baseball bats, 2x4s with nails driven
through them and 1x1s. Apparently my son was on the stair
landing and he saw me get beat up by these guys. He was crying
while they were beating me up.
39. This incident was in the front page of the newspaper for a few
times. I was frustrated at first because the newspaper stated that
this incident was due to gang ties. We did not like the way this
was stated in the newspaper and had the newspaper write a new
article. I did not get in trouble at work over this incident because
it was not something I started. I guess I was just in the wrong spot
at the wrong time and I was not an instigator in this incident. I
had a chance to speak at the court sentencing and voice my
opinion. I felt sorry for the guys that were facing the charges and I
realized they were young and involved in the wrong lifestyle like I
once was. I told the guy that stabbed me you dont even know
who I am but you still tried to come and take my life. I dont even
know you either and it would be totally different if you just come
to beat me up but once you pulled out that knife then that
changed everything. I forgive you for what you have done to me
but the decision is not in my hands and remains in the hands of
the judge. The guy who stabbed me got 22-30 years in prison
and the other three got 2-4 years. I feel sorry for these young
men and wished they had never done what they had done, but

Page 19 of 27

they made the choice to do what they did so now they are facing
the penalty.
40. My girlfriend and I were not doing well at all. We ended up
fighting a lot because of the two separate lives that we were
living and also started to loose trust and love for each other. I
finally made it to a journeyman pipefitter in December of 2009,
one year early of my projected date because of all the overtime I
was working. To make it to a Journeyman a person needs 8500
working hours as an apprentice and completion of all the
educational bookwork assigned throughout the 5 year period.
41. The refinery I worked for in Wyoming has a sister plant in El
Dorado Kansas. In 2010 the company wanted to transfer 12
people to the El Dorado plant to even out the workforce numbers
per plant so both plants would reflect numbers that prove the
sites were not overstaffed. I decided to take the opportunity to
transfer to Kansas so I could further my career. My girlfriend
ended up having another child in April of 2010. She told me that
the child was mine but I did not believe her words and demanded
a DNA test to prove it. I was skeptical about the child being mine
because we split up a few times in 2009 and she was dating
different guys.
42. We tried working on getting a DNA test done before I would
transfer to Kansas but for some reason we could not get that
done. We ended up splitting and I went to Kansas alone, I wanted
my son with me every day but at the same time I did not want to
stay with his mother because all we did was fight and our
relationship was not healthy. I did not want my son to see that so I
figured the best thing to do was to split and go our separate ways.
43. I left for Kansas in August of 2010 and I was relieved but at
the same time was wondering if I had made the right choice. I
started working for the refinery in El Dorado Kansas and

Page 20 of 27

everything was going good. I started to run cranes because they

did not let me weld much. I was planning on going back to
Wyoming to visit my son for Christmas and my ex told me I would
be able to see him and spend time with him. When I got to
Wyoming for Christmas she avoided me like the plague and would
not let me see my son. I was very hurt and very sad when I left
Wyoming. When I returned back to Kansas I realized that I would
have to take my ex to court to get my visitation rights
established. I started paying child support for my son since 2009
but in Wyoming you dont automatically get your visitation rights
established unless the parent with full custody agrees to it.
44. I was very hurt by the way I was treated by my ex-girlfriend
and was not ready to start a serious relationship anytime soon. I
messed around with numerous women in El Dorado and was not
really being an honest person to any of them. I was just using
them for my own selfish needs. I started to realize how I was
hurting these women and the things I was doing to them were not
right. They said they wanted a relationship with me but in reality I
never gave in and just used them up without them knowing that I
would never let them come close to my personal life.
45. My Christian friend helped get me saved in 2011 and I started
reading the Bible for a few weeks. I cleaned out my house and
started living like a Christian. I started to realize it was hard to live
this lifestyle and most of the people that knew I was a Christian
didnt really want to hang out with me. I then returned to not
living like a Christian and started living how I wanted to live.
46. I went without a serious girlfriend until 2012 when I met a girl
named Hang. I started to take a liking to Hang because she has
the personality, kindness and heart that I have been seeking in a
woman. I wanted a relationship with Hang but I didnt want to
treat her like the other women I had been using. I told myself if
Hang and I start dating then I would try my best to be a loving
man to her and treat her like a woman should be treated. Hang

Page 21 of 27

and I started dating in August of 2012. In September I bought my

second house in El Dorado Ks. I also kept the house I had in
Wyoming but I leased it out. Hang moved in with me in November
of 2012.
47. When I started working at the refinery in El Dorado Ks in 2010
they had a placement system for their craftsman. PL1, PL2, PL3
were all apprentice positions starting at PL1 and ending at PL3.
After this it was Craftsman B, Craftsman A and Top Craft for the
journeyman positions with top craft being the highest you can go.
I started as a level B Craftsman in 2010. The Company offered a
lot of educational classes to help a craftsman succeed with his
career and learn new skills so I took full advantage of everything
they had offered because I wanted to climb to the top as fast as
possible. In 2011 I advanced to a level A Craftsman and I needed
a few more major skills to finally advance to a top craft position. I
needed to learn how to run cranes to advance so I started working
on getting my seat time in. I needed 200 hours of crane operating
seat time and to pass my test as a crane operator to become a
top craft craftsman. In august of 2012 I had my 200 hrs. Of seat
time in and just had to test out for my crane certs. We had a big
shutdown scheduled where we would work 13 hr. days for 2 or 3
months straight with a day off every 20 days to help a person
recover. The refinery could not schedule me for a crane
certification until the shutdown was complete so they advanced
me to a top craft position and we agreed that I would finish my
crane cert after the shutdown.
48. I was starting to get a little too comfortable with the group I
was working with. We would joke around but the jokes were out of
line. But that is the way they would joke in the refinery so it
seemed normal and no one really took offense to any of it. The
maintenance superintendent and some of the top level people in
the maintenance management group would be just as vile with
their language and jokes. These people where 50 years old but
they would take a leak in front of you and joke around with you
without letting up because that was just the way they were. I was

Page 22 of 27

a coordinator during the shutdown and everything was going

pretty smooth for the most part. I was working night shift with
another craftsman and we were both over a group of contractor
pipefitters and welders. Every night I was busy running all over
the place to try and stay on top of the workflow. I had to take a
leak one night so instead of going back to the control room I just
took a leak behind some equipment. Later on my boss called me
into his office and asked me if I exposed myself to some of the
contractors. I told him I took a leak behind some equipment. He
told me that the contractors claimed I purposely exposed myself
to them, and that if that was true, then my job could be on the
line. They walked me out of work that night and I knew I was most
likely going to get fired. A few weeks went by until we had the
investigation. In the union if you think you are being treated
unfair then you can take the issue to arbitration. This is like a trial
that is in the union employees favor and they fight to help you
keep your job. The refinery came to the conclusion that they
wanted to terminate me. My union support told them that I could
take it to arbitration and possibly get my job back but it is a 6
month wait. If I got my job back then I would be paid for the 6
months off but if I lost then it would go on my permanent record.
After thinking this over I decided to resign because I didnt want
to take a risk of this issue reflecting on my permanent record.
49. I started to pack my things so I could move back to Wyoming
and I told Hang I guess you can find another boyfriend. She said
she wanted to be with me and move to Wyoming, so I told her if
that is what she wanted to do then she would be welcome to
come with me. I planned on renting out my house in El Dorado
and the lease was almost up on the house in Wyoming, so I would
move into my house there. I wanted to have my son back in my
life and would do anything to make that a reality. I prayed to God
and pleaded with him. I told him to please bring my son back into
my life and I will forever do his will and do what he wants for my
life. I was still going through a court battle for visitation rights of
my son and figured it would probably be best if I was closer to him
anyway. I went back and started to work for the Pipefitters Union
in Cheyenne Wyoming. I quickly got back my welding certs with

Page 23 of 27

the union and started welding for a company at a coal fired power
plant in Wheatland WY. The job was only supposed to be for a few
weeks but the general foreman took a liking to me and asked if I
would stick around and work for him permanently. Things were
going good and my visitation rights finally got established. I was
seeing my son every other weekend and sometimes more often
than that. This lasted a couple of months until my ex decided that
she and her husband were going to move to Utah.
49. I was appointed union steward at my job at the power plant
and was asked by the union business manager if I would like to
come to the union hall three nights a week to teach the
apprentices hands on skills. I agreed and started teaching the
apprentices basic skills like pipefitter mathematics and conversion
methods for piping, torch setup, welding, tube bending, threaded
pipe and field measurements.
50. My Uncle Daniel stopped drinking alcohol and decided he
didnt want anything more to do with drinking, it was hard for him
to get a job anywhere and mainly because he was a convicted
felon. Two months after he stopped drinking he started to feel sick
so he went in to see a doctor, they took some scans and found
out he had a few spots on his liver. We all knew that it was
because of the life he lived, not only did he drink a lot and do
many drugs, he was also addicted to pain medication and would
take it daily while he was drinking. We all loved my uncle but at
the same time we felt sorry for the situation he was in, like I said
he would do all kinds of drugs but he showed his whole family
love and would do anything in his power to make us happy. He got
the test results back for the spots in his liver and the doctor said
its not cancer. That night my uncle Daniel decided to drink a beer
and celebrate for the good news.
51. As I was teaching at the union hall I got the idea of becoming
a welding inspector. But just to take the test it would be pretty
expensive and the failure rate was around 80%. I told my brother
and some of my friends about my plans to become a welding
inspector, I told them how much it cost to take the test and the
risk involved, none of them supported me and told me that I
would be dumb to take the risk to try and pass the test for a

Page 24 of 27

welding inspector. I decided to go for it anyways and figured I

would never know if I could be a welding inspector if I didnt try.
Hang tried to find a job and was out of work for 9 months plus the
places that did want to give her a job didnt pay much at all. One
of her friends called her up and told her if she would come back to
Wichita that she could get her a job. We talked it over and
decided that she should move back to Wichita and that I would
follow after I got my welding inspector license. She decided that if
she moved back to Wichita then she didnt want to rent an
apartment but she wanted to buy a small cheap house. I had no
reason to stay in Cheyenne anyways because my son was moving
to Utah within a month. We had a plant shutdown start in January
of 2014 and they made me a foreman. I flew out to Las Vegas NV
during one of my weekends off to take the welding inspector test.
It took a month before the results came back for the test and I
found out that I had passed the test. I was now a certified welding
inspector. I was pretty much set now and I achieved what I set out
to do, I had to just work through the plant shutdown and then I
would move to Wichita.
52. My Uncle Daniel received a phone call from the doctor who
had done the scans, he said he wanted my Uncle to come in and
do another scan. The results came back and the doctor claimed
he made an error and that the spots were cancer. He started to
get my uncle set up for treatments. Two weeks went by and my
uncle started having internal bleeding. The got the bleeding to
stop for a while then it would start back up again. A week later my
Uncle Daniel passed away. My Grandmother was now living in
Cheyenne WY, she took the death hard, and she now had lost her
ex-husband and three sons.
53. The company who I worked for in Wyoming at the power plant
took a liking to me and even more so when they found out I just
received my certification for welding inspector. They offered me a
job to stay and work as a welding inspector for them but I told
them I appreciate the offer but I am moving to Kansas. The plant
shutdown was over in May of 2014 so I packed up and moved to
Wichita. Hang and I married on August 8 th of 2014 and I started

Page 25 of 27

working as a welding inspector for a company called Red Guard in

August 25th of 2014. I started doing inspections at 4 different
locations in Kansas, Youngs welding in Chanute Kansas, Martin
Machine in Halstead Kansas, K Doll in Conway Springs and Jr
Customs in Wichita Kansas, at JR Customs I met a man named Jeff
Weaver. He asked me to come and check out his ministry so I did.
I immediately started to take a liking to him and the way he
preached the word. He has opened my eyes and I started to get
hungry to learn the word of the gospel. I figured now is my time to
do things the right way and put my all into the Christian life. Jeff
even asked if I would be interested to go into the county Jail and
work release to do Bible study and to help him out. I thought that
would be a good learning experience so I submitted the
paperwork and got approved.

54. Working for Red Guard was a good experience but it seemed
like being a welding inspector is more geared towards someone
who is older and cant get around that easily. I was offered a job in
Las Vegas as a Quality Control Manager and Shop Foreman. The
money was really good and the opportunity sounded good as well.
I told Jeff about the job and I could tell he didnt like the sound of
it. He advised me to take it to the Lord in prayer. I took it to the
Lord in prayer and did not get any signs back, so I accepted the
job and left Red Guard on Jan 29th 2016. I drove to Las Vegas
immediately and started working for Addison Communications on
Feb 8th 2016. I started to get a weird feeling that maybe it wasnt
the place for me. The money was really good and they also gave
me a truck to commute to work, but as the weeks went by I kept
feeling a stirring in my stomach like I should not be in Las Vegas
at that job. My boss kept cussing out everyone in the shop and it
would only get worse. I got to the point where I didnt even want
to see my boss and figured it would be best if I quit working for
him and move back to Wichita. I asked a few of my Christian
friends about the stirring in my stomach and the feeling I was
dealing with. Both confirmed that it was probably the Holy Spirit

Page 26 of 27

trying to let me know that He didnt want me in Las Vegas

because He has other plans for me.
55. I left back for Wichita on March 7 th 2016. As soon as I told Jeff I
was headed back he said great, meet me at the jail on such and
such date so you can do your PREA class and be able to go into
the county jail. I instantly knew that God did not want me in Las
Vegas but he wanted me in Wichita to help out Jeff with his
ministry. As soon as I returned back to Wichita I felt so much
peace and happiness just to be back in Wichita. I started to go
into Sedgwick County jail and Work Release to help Jeff with his
Bible study and ministry.
56. Currently my family members remain the same, they are still
consumed by their addictions, they claim that they do not have
any addictions. The ones who are addicted to gambling or drugs
still struggle from day to day to pay the bills and their life has not
changed, as for my close friends, one has changed his life and is
doing very well working for the railroad, the others are still living
life like we lived when I was a teenager, doing drugs and
struggling to make ends meet, a couple are in prison and a few
have died from suicide or an overdose form LSD or other drugs.
56. I am currently working as a Journeyman Pipefitter and certified
x-ray quality pipe welder for the Pipe fitters Local 441 Local Union
in Wichita Kansas. I still hold my welding inspector license just in
case I ever need to use it and I am almost finished up with college
classes that I am taking online. I am working towards my
associates in Non-Destructive Testing for Weld Inspection. As soon
as I receive my associates degree I will have enough education
and welding experience to test out and try to get certified as a
welding engineer. My plan in life is to help with the ministry,
continue to learn the gospel, excel my education and push forth
to try and obtain the things in life that I once thought would never
would be possible for a man like me. I am here as an example to
show you what I have come from and what I made myself into
today. Any one of you can change your life and make something
of yourself but you have to believe that you can change and you
have to take action because anything is possible.

Page 27 of 27

56. I have learned some things throughout life, I learned that if

you are living in sin then you will have nothing good coming your
way, you will be hiding everything you do and always be worrying
about getting caught. If you are living the way God wants you to
live and you obey God then you will be blessed, you will be able
to live a happy life full with an abundance of love, you will truly be
at peace. I am the prime example of a person who was raised in
poverty and didnt have the best role models around. I did live a
life full of sin and I am fortunate that I did not end up ruining my
life or even losing it at an early age. If I can pull myself out of all
this mess and make something of myself then you can also. Start
reading your Bible, change the way you think, change the way
you live and start to develop a relationship with Jesus and live the
way that God wants you to live and you will be blessed.

1. All things are possible if you put your faith

in Christ!!!