4-24-19

Dear Reader,

Hey. I hope you are doing well!

This story is about a night of gambling and drinking turned bad.

I was 17 I think. Or maybe 19. I was one or the other. I had a friend I would visit just to hang out with, we'll call her Mandy, but she had a husband. I'd only hung out with her a couple times honestly but figured it was appropriate to introduce myself to her husband as well. So we set up a night for me to come over.

I came over, met her husband, we'll call him Matthew, and he brought some beer and we played cards and drank. Well, playing cards turned into gambling.

Note: I found out that morning before I came over that Matthew was jealous of her having guy friends. So I figured this was a really good time to show him my friendship with her was appropriate and respectful to their relationship.

Now he's 29, Mandy is a few years younger. Mandy gets wasted and goes to bed. Matthew and I are gambling. We're both drunk but not wasted. There was a good vibe going on.

I'm up $250.00. I'm happy. Keep in mind I was homeless at the time. Which means I was 17! Once again, the power of writing improves my memory. :)

So $250.00 meant a lot to me. He did a double or nothing bet. I'm feeling confident, buzzed, so I put the money on the table and he matched it. $500.00 smack-a-roos on 1 hand. I'm nervous, feeling regret... and then I get my hand and my confidence comes back. I won! I slam the cards down on the table and grab my beer... and he grabs the money??? All of it! He gives me some story about needing it to pay bills and whatnot, and how he wasn't REALLY gambling... :/ He thinks because I'm a 17 year old jitterbug that he can swindle... rob/steal from, me. NOT happening. I wasn't no chump. It wasn't going down like that. We argued and he put his foot down... wrong move. I swung twice knocking him out of his chair. I beat his ass. He disrespected me and was thinking he could strongarm me... I'm insulted and angry. And not to mention he also pocketed the money "I" put in.

I punched him drunk and I demanded he give me the money I won fair-n-square. He climbed up the counter. I let him. I thought it was over and he'd give me my money back... Nope! That would be just too easy. :/ So he grabs a steak knife. Uh-oh! But, without hesitation my right hand jumped out and jabbed him in the nose and dropped my weight into a left over-handed hook that dropped him.

I grab the knife and as I did his hand jerked. I was going to take it from him + throw it away but he wasn't out. So... I stomped on his head. I'd never done that before but had seen it in a movie. He began snoring immediately. I took MY money and went to their bedroom to tell Mandy what had just happened. All I could do was wake her up enough for a string of incoherent words to tumble from her mouth. So I came back to the kitchen and almost freaked out. There was a huge puddle of blood around his head. I stared as my heart quickened. A few seconds went by and he began to wake up and move. I stood by the back door about to leave but waited to make sure he got all the way up. He did and I left.

Now, do you think I was in the wrong for fighting for my money? Or was he? Yes, I shouldn't have been drinking and gambling and I definitely shouldn't have stomped on his head. I learned a valuable lesson about doing that - don't do it! But given these facts, and factors... should I have been convicted of robbery for this? Because I was. But he lied and gave a story that I brought over a girl (double date) and we all watched a movie. Mandy told the truth. So the detective told me to take it to trial. But that was going to be a couple years down the road. Come 10 months I was offered a 10-12 month plea bargain... I'd be out in 2 months. I couldn't get out on bail so I took it. I just wanted my freedom back.

Matthew testified at my penalty phase that I choked him out after a movie, beat him while he was unconscious and peed on him...? :/ All the while his wife was on the couch. Oh, wait - SHE told the truth! So they knew he lied. Also, the pee was on his crotch... kinda obvious he peed his own britches, you know. But yet, the prosecutors rolled with it... because I pled to it they could. Moral of the story - if you didn't do it, don't plea to it!

Until next time.

Yours truly,
Doug