If I feel that due process was violated, I will go there anyway. The details about the gun missing, the daughters testimony and the fact that she had no blood or gun residues are facts. Whats next? I was shocked any asked why she thought that. We dont know. It is also very is to clean. ANNE RULES BOOK IS A LIE, ,ALL MADE UP CRAP. Mr. Speculative. A number of them were clearly . On a side note, what do you think of parole of Leslie Van Houton? I know that most people think she is guilty. She was the first to admit that at times, she was somewhat neglectful, impatient, yelled too much, and could have been a better mother, but she seemed to have turned the corner and was doing her best with the means at her disposal. To have separated Christie from her brother and the rest of the family to be able to get her mom was unconscionable. ), years in solitary confinment Whats wrong with us?! Devoting ur life to taking down a dead author is a waste of ur talents. I read the letter they sent to the Downs when they were fighting to see their grandchildren. Steven and Diane married on November 13, 1973. To have separated Christie from her brother and the rest of the family to be able to get her mom was unconscionable. Most get through it fine, maybe some complications or pain, maybe even some post pardum. In 1979, headstrong Diane gave birth to Danny who was not Stevens biological son because he had no desire to be a father again. Also, aside from her original mental state, which may or may not excuse her aloofness (doesnt prove shes a killer by the way! Wow. In what world is that O.K. It was half baked escape plans that were more in her head than anything and that the media enjoyed blowing out of proportions. That poor girl. Judges are subject to certain ethical standards and have a duty to be impartial. You do not debate the content of the blog which you probably did not read anyway. Is it just to continue to punish her so long after she is obviously no longer a danger in any way to anyone? You are right. Surely before Diane downs, there were other mothers who killed their kids..or allegedly did, however in 83 and 84 it made national news, nothing quite like it had come across the media world, which during that decade was really skyrocketing in sensationalismI believe is where it started, becoming less news and more entertainment. How interesting. We cant. The roller coaster ride had nothing to do with Diane s children and Diane knew it. But the guy who said to several people that he was the shooter happens to resemble the sketch they came up with at the time for a reason. Why was no one in the family given the right to adopt them. I mean, yeah, I can see the no contact order with Diane. Ann Rule promotes her books as true crime stories so to this day, viewers believe that the book and the movie titled Small Sacrificesdocument the true story of the Diane Downs case; in fact, it is a mix bag of truth, falsehoods, interpretation and plain fiction. It is my hope that Leslie Van Houten and Diane Downs are never paroled. Considering that the daughter she murdered will never get a second chance, it will never be long enough unless its for her entire life. Apparently drug mafia wanted to punish her for messing her nose in forbidden places, not because she was getting any real business in that but simply because she had one of the poorest judgements a person can have. I have no idea whether or not she was guilty of the crime. I agree. I tried to contact you by email but my email wouldnt acknowledge you email address. The detective said if Diane would just testify against Steve Downs, she and her children could go home and try to put their lives back together. The detective said to leave that up to the police. The states own witness, Dr. George Suckow and Dr. Polly Jamison denounced Prosecutor Hugis practice as improper and unethical (Appendix 101 and 104). To Lisa Griggs Foster Carers says either Australia or England to me. That she had no blood or gun powder anywhere when she allegedly shot at close range? She did not have the opportunity to clean her hands with the right product to erase all traces and she was tested pretty fast, contrary to many other cases. I would like to see her released because I do not believe in life without parole for any inmate with no priors who had a good conduct while incarcerated. Guilty or not, we should know better than to use the justice system as a psychic tool when theres not enough evidence. This is to avoid the conflict of interest that we read about above. If I was of a mind to manipulate the Board by giving voice to the words they want me to utter, Id have sold my soul two decades ago when the lies would have benefited me and my youth passed long ago. A conviction founded on lies is no conviction at all. Page 50 of Case History. If thats what you want then dont pretend its anything but. Yes, but it is a fact that she was starting to say that she did not know who shot them when it happened. They claimed to have found two lead cartridges in Dianes rifle at home that supposedly matched the ones used during the crime. Id like to challenge some of the bloggers claims. Simply because I researched them. They played the tape in the courtroom, and the fact that Diane did not break down but tapped her foot to the music, was supposed to be another proof of her guilt. I am posting Jamesanswer: Yes the allegations were said and you cannot take back what was saideven if retracted Her family members were quite capable of taking care of the children. I try to bring up the elements that were totally ignored. The chief prosecutor adopting the children beggars belief! When Dianes youngest daughter, who was adopted after being taken away by the state, found out who her real mother was and decided to reach out to her, the media and Rule grabbed hold of her to promote their agenda. In case you did not read the blog: During Dianes examination at trial, Fred Hugi said in front of the jury, in the form of a question, that she had been diagnosed as a deviant sociopath. It was all about Charlene wanting KnickKnick ~wanting Dianeand Diane wanting a return to the peace she had before Knick asked his wife for a divorce. The lack of balance and objectivity. Just similar stuff.and that I guess, makes it easy for me to see how that song could of fueled her up.never underestimate the power if a song..what feels intense and exciting to you, may not to another, but shoot, anytime I hear pink floyd run like hell.takes me right back 1991 in the heat of my chase..for me, I got the answers I wanted from 89 when my friend said that about the Duran song and it involved in that case. I appreciate the way you dont try to determine guilt or innocence in your blogs but instead focus on due process and the right of all to a fair trial. This blog is riddled with inconsistencies, suppositions and a lack of the most basic referencing (e.g. Someone said to me that any of us, if scrutinized under a microscope, would come out looking pretty bad. It's February 28, 2023, and Luke Schenn was just traded to the . They are still part of their birth family. It seems that not being American might help us view the case and Rules narrative with more objectivity. She threw her keys yet was able to take off right away?? DA Pat Horton declared early in the game to the local paper that the search for the bearded stranger was not very high on their priority list.. Her father passed away in October 2017 after having fought relentlessly for her release. In fact, Diane had consulted a psychologist after the tragedy and after months of consultation, she was never diagnosed as a sociopath. Do you REALLY believe she expected them to live especially since she drove at less than 10 mph. These women did not show emotions and did not fold when asked to. It became judicial kidnapping to obtain a coerced confession: inflammatory As for Diane, give me a break. Tis why at 10 years old I was hearing about this case in Ohio, and family members talked about it around me.it hit with great force that way. "We are obviously disappointed at the verdict. Clearly the social workers were working with the DAs office and taking advice on best interest of the children from them. This does not make her innocent. I do not know what happened on Old Mohawk Road on that dark evening, but I know that they did not have enough evidence totry andconvict Diane Downs. They did not want reunification to keep their verdict intact. As a married man, the ball was in his court and he decided togo forit. It was not the right gun. Do you remember it would have been around say November 19th of 82 that you would have left Charlene at one time? ?.the fact you are ignoring something SO OBVIOUS is a red flag. And Im really not on the fence the little girl was coachedI believe the ex husband , his freinds, and her lovers were invalid either way. The lovely Farrah Fawcett who played in the movie Small Sacrifices was known for her epic battles with lover Ryan ONeil. Your prayers were answered. This is a conflict of interest. I am not sure. Her 7-year old daughter Cheryl died but her 3-year old son Danny and her 8-year old daughter Christie survived. Saying that I seem to be doing what I accuse Ann Rule of doing is kind of ironic because the point of this blog is to try to stay away from innuendo and fantasies like unicorns and songs that might have been playing or not during a tragic murder. I think DD is guilty, but I also think her trial was far from due process, and that is the important issue. She functions best in highly structured environments where she has a sense of control. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPLkIcSzftE&ab_channel=DianeDownsArchives. It was kind of interesting to hear Mossimo Giannullis lawyer pleading to have his client sent home or put in general population because his mental health suffered drastically in solitary confinement because of covid after 56 consecutive days in solitary. Standards of conduct are defined by state law, but they generally require a judge to avoid appearances of impropriety, such as avoiding deciding a dispute in which the judge is personally involved in the issue at stake or has a relationship to one of the parties.. They dont need to be adopted and have their entire identity changed. One should also wonder why their biological father who was so eager to bash his ex on the stand was not given custody, and did not stay in contact with his two remaining children. From the time Diane was a teenager, when a physician ordered visterol in an emergency room situation, it has been documented again and again that sedatives ingested while Diane is in pain, provoke a chemically induced hysteria in her. Surprisingly, he accepted the new child and learned to love him dearly. She did not fit in and was now anxious to assert her independence and live her own life. Dianes family could give you countless examples of the inaccuracies they found in her book. A demonstration in court strongly suggested: Suggested, not confirmed. One of the important pieces of evidence was the absence of all but a trace of gunshot residue. If they could not find the gun or any trace of a shooting on Diane, and you think shes guilty, it would mean she had an accomplice. It deserved as much attention as a Unicorn, a song or all the other hearsay floating around because at least, they came from real people signing official documents. Of course. The strong, emotive language. I dont know that it could get worse than writing an asinine comment on a restorative justice website that states that only respectful and constructive comments will be posted. it also isnt right that the rules get to keep being changed after the fact as far as how often one may apply for parole. Modernism mixed with Medieval state of mind. Just like Rule though, your blog is extremely biased, and reads almost as though she told you exactly what to write at times. The reason she is likely locked up is because she was diagnosed with narcissistic, histrionic and anti social personality disorder, that makes her a very dangerous person (especially since she is a murderer). Needless to say, you seem to have a problem with the American justice systemnot each individual case. Teen Mom 2 alum Jenelle Evans and her mom, Barbara Evans, have been feuding over custody of Jenelle's son, Jace in addition to many other issues for over a decade. No. Its as if they cant control it. It was such a high profile case and she was found guilty by the media and the court so people are afraid to touch this one. Even on a worldwide scale, the age of accountability is considered to be twelve years old. They should have taken the time necessary to find enough evidence. Plus, Diane could have never cleaned her clothes and her hair to remove blood and gun powder. The prosecutor would gently shake his head and the good judge would follow with a ruling. It was far fetched, unfoundedand convenientlyrelayedby Rule to boost the sales of her book. According to the State, ballistics evidence proved that Diane Downs was guilty. If she did have memories of the actual shooting, that would be very rare. And in fact this would have been about the time that Charlene broke a bottle of liquor that you had. Even prosecutor Fred Hugi was seen walking the grounds to try to find the weapon. Why am I not arguing the facts of the trial? The children should have been receiving therapy throughout. Have you actually read the transcript of the trial?? She wanted a lawyer to defend her vigorously but the judge stopped her from getting good representation. Oh 1 more thing I see a lot of comments on pro Diane web sights that say well she drove them to the hospital. In 1992 I became involved in this work following my interest and research into a notorious murder trial that was held in Oregon many years ago. Someone found guilty of a crime should have a sentence that can be served and not one that is contingent on the remorse shown. She was not given one inch of presumption of innocence. Diane recanted the stories about her dad who vehemently denied them. Diane Frederickson was born August 7, 1955 in Phoenix, Arizona. There were days she was unhappy to see the staff and her family because she was very ill. That poor girl had a lot of bad moments where she would cry constantly or trigger the machines and to have defined this single incident as one of terror instead of excitement over seeing her mom was biased and self-serving. Mr. Downs must have had a bad feeling about Jagger because before trial, he tried to retain defense attorney Melvin Belli who had the reputation of fighting for his clients and to win all his cases. Meaning a trial where lying or failing to disclose exculpatory evidence by prosecutors is not happening. To listen to Christies taped conversation, click below. If it doesnt matter to you, it should. Child Protective Services takes confidentiality to the extreme (warranted in most cases). Diane had siblings and parents. She complained about it, but that does not mean she did not suffer for her kids. It is not a plus, but it is not a crime either. At the time, among 49 prisoners denied parole, the board had given only four inmates, including Downs, a 10-year wait. Only the people who present ongoing threats to the safety of the public in general are the ones this sentence is reserved for. Teams of people and detectives combed the area for months looking for the gun but it was nowhere to be found. To the authorities, it was a ridiculous notion that they would not entertain so they did not follow on numerous leads coming from people who had seen someone corresponding to that description. 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