Update about Secondary Victims

Several months ago, I made a blog post about secondary victims, which was about my dad's arrest.

Following the path of justice is a frustrating experience.

Despite knowing there is evidence against him, my dad still proclaims his innocence. To know him is to know he is a perpetual victim of his life and everyone, especially in law enforcement, is out to get him. In his eyes, he is Dr. Richard Kimble, the fugitive on the run from corrupt forces that seek to imprison him for crimes he didn't commit.

Except he committed them.

His lawyer didn't believe my sister when she said that my grandmother didn't want to speak with my dad. They wouldn't leave my sister or my grandmother alone until my grandmother told the lawyer very clearly she didn't want to speak with my dad. I'm not too sure the lawyer believe it still, but at the calls from him have stopped.

My dad has resorted to writing a letter instead. He sent it to my grandmother's address which forwarded it to my sister. A letter not asking how my grandmother is doing, or how she feels about selling her property. No, it was a letter whining about his circumstances and asking for money to buy a blanket from the commissary.

His lawyer also reached out to my sister to talk about some of the claims my dad was making. She set the lawyer straight. The things my dad was saying I won't repeat, but they were both insulting and ridiculous.

She also let the lawyer know what we all (his family, the FBI, anyone who has ever crossed paths with him for five seconds) know- no matter how hard the lawyer fights, my dad will appeal when he's found guilty.

She didn't mention that his appeals usually start with saying his lawyer was incompetent.

Trial dates come and go, with my dad pushing for continuances and delays over and over again. Sometimes we hear about the delays from the FBI agent involved, and sometimes we find out when I check PacerMonitor. His next trial date was supposed to be a status conference on December 1, 2025, and a trial start date of December 15, 2025.

I remember seeing that information and thinking "I'll believe the trial starts on that day when I see it, and not a moment before."

Unfortunately, I was right. Another continuance so his lawyers could review documentation, pushing the status conference to January 26, 2026 and a trial start date of February 9th, 2026.

The lengthy process is exhausting.

Your adrenaline runs high on court days, and you check your phone for updates incessantly.

You wait for the next contact attempt from him, where he again tries to manipulate people in your family into supporting him.

And sometimes you're stupid, like me, and you open the documentation that lists out his charges. Then you swallow back the vomit threatening to explode from your lips.

Part of me feels like I need to be there in the courtroom to see the trial for myself. Not out of belief that he's innocent, he's not, but to truly understand the extent of his crimes. The chunks of information that are known are bad, but there's something worse in wondering what they're leaving out of the indictment. I feel like I need to know just how bad it truly is so I can deal with it emotionally.

At the same time, going to court means sitting in a room with him behind the defense table. And to my dad, that would be a tacit sign of support. I can't give him that satisfaction.

I worry, too, about the primary victims and the secondary victims on their side.

Are they forever frozen on a computer screen, digitally forced to relive the worst moments of their lives while their human selves try to move on?

Do they even know that my dad exists? Or are they all-too-aware of him, stuck in the same pre-trial limbo that we find ourselves in?

Those questions are ones I may never receive answers for. After all, the victims have been through enough, they don't need to appease my need for relief of the burden of unearned guilt.

All I can do at this point is wait for January.

Wait and hope that this time they actually start the trial.

Hope that when the trial ends, and he's found as guilty as he should be, that he faces his punishment like he should rather than appealing it for years in court.

Hope that maybe, just maybe, his victims will find in his incarceration some healing and perhaps even some closure.