Mother's Wish to see Son Exonerated Not Granted Before her Death

Sandra Gayton, 57, stood by her son to the end, but Terrence Kimble's quest for justice continues.

(SALEM) - We have carried many stories about an inmate in the Oregon State Prison named Terrence Kimble, whose conviction for Sex Abuse, and subsequent nineteen-year prison sentence, are surrounded by extremely questionable circumstances.

A review of the evidence indeed causes any logical person to question how he could have been convicted at all, let alone receive such an extremely lengthy punishment; almost two-decades behind bars.

One of the forces that has kept Terrence Kimble motivated to survive his ordeal and prove his innocence, quite naturally, was the love and support of his mother, Sandra Gayton, who died, tragically, last week in her home.

Sandra was only fifty-seven years old. She moved from Alabama to Oakland, California in the 1970's. She had two children; Terrence Kimble and Shonshary Kimble. She is also survived by a few grandchildren and other family members.

A family friend, William Coleman, used to communicate with Sandra Gayton regularly. William was a Corrections Officer in the Oregon State Prison. He oversaw Terrence Kimble and other inmates on a daily basis.

Coleman blew the whistle on racism and civil rights violations in the prison and in turn, was charged with 15 counts of cigarette smuggling as a guard. Coleman took his case to jury trial, Terrence Kimble testified on his behalf in court, and Coleman was found not guilty by a unanimous verdict.

Offering testimony on Coleman's behalf, Kimble indicted prison staff in a variety of crimes, particularly bribery, and told the judge and jury that there were in fact, prison staff guilty of the crime Coleman stood accused of, but it wasn't Coleman, some of the names were those of Coleman's superiors.

However those allegations; the most candid information about prison guards deeply involved in illegal activity; the type the state believed was important enough to try to put Coleman away for, for 40 years if convicted, never went anywhere at all. Here you see another huge example of the corruption that literally dominates the culture of the state's legal landscape.

Terrence Kimble and those who know and support him, say he has been the focus of an ongoing retaliation effort by the Oregon Department of Corrections in the years following his support of former Officer William Coleman. Most people reading this can likely imagine, that there are few inmates who go to bat for prison guards as witnesses. It says a great deal about the allegations of racism these men, both Kimble and Coleman, have leveled toward officials. Kimble's mother knew all about racism, as she revealed to Oregon's Governor John Kitzhaber in a 2010 appeal.

A mother's love is something that transcends many things, and while it is natural for a mother to stand by her son even when he makes mistakes or runs afoul of the law. But there is a stronger, even more passionate level of determination created by a strong belief that a son is rotting behind bars, being abused, having to spend endless amounts of time in solitary confinement because he defended himself from a 'torpedo attack'.

This is an incident where staff send inmates on missions to harass, attack and provoke another inmate into self-defense, which is not permissible, and off to 'the hole' the inmate who was approached, assaulted and offered defense to protect himself, goes.

This has been Terrence Kimble's story time and time again, since he stood up for William Coleman, the guard he knew was a good man; one willing to sacrifice his own career to expose racism in the prison system, and systematic human rights violations, assaults, bribery, even murder.

As mentioned above, Kimble's honest testimony allowed William Coleman to emerge from a harrowing ordeal as a free man. Coleman's support of Kimble is a result of studying his case, and examining the court documents.

It is a simple fact that Lane County Oregon's court in the city of Eugene, has a habit of convicting African-American men of crimes they did not commit.

This excerpt is from part two of Mrs. Gayton's letter

It is a sad story for Terrence Kimble who as a prisoner, has existed without ever recanting his position of total and complete innocence. This is all greatly detailed in the links about Terrence Kimble and William Coleman below this story.

William Coleman said, "Ms. Gayton has been waiting for her innocent son to be released for ten years. She had a illness that took her life. Ms. Gayton had gain faith when I took over the case from the NAACP, and was hoping to see her son free from prison."

Sadly, Ms. Gayton will see no such thing; however this loss will only increase our efforts to communicate this story to the public until we are able to see Mr. Kimble receive justice.

"She also told me to make sure he gets his life together when he gets out. She made it clear to me she may not be here when he's out. Kimble is emotional wreck," Coleman said. "He lost 10 years of his life so far, for a crime he did not commit!"

We received this as a handwritten note Terrence Kimble penned, regarding the huge loss he has experienced as a man who has already lost so much.

“

I've lost my mom on March 14, 2012. I've been incarcerated for a crime that I did not commit. The Governor knows that I didn't commit this crime. Governor John Kitzhaber is a medical doctor. Had he read the legal documents in support of my Executive Clemency application, he would have automatically known that I was railroaded out of Lane County, Eugene, Oregon and sentenced to serve 18 years 7 months for a crime that I didn't commit.

The Governor never reviewed the documents, the legal documents definitely exonerate me. I should have been home with my mother almost 12 years ago.

Terrence Kimble

* note: I'll keep fighting for my freedom. That is what I am going to do, not just for me but also for my mom.

R.I.P. - Mom, Love you forever

”

Now Terrence Kimble is left only with his son, and his sister, Shonsharay Kimble. She says his being taken down by Oregon this way has been very hard on all of her family, and she echoes the same comments as her late mother, in a letter to Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber.

Also like her late mother, she suffers health-problems; the stress from years of having one of her only family members incarcerated this way, when she has personal insight into his personality over this very thing, is understandably heartbreaking.

His sister reveals another view into this story, that is in addition to anything I have ever written about the case, I didn't know she had been sexually abused as a child and that it was a horror she endured with her brother Terrence. He says this abuse set him on a life's course to never abuse or harm children in this way and to protect them from those who would.

What an ironic and devilish twist of fate that he would end up at the receiving end of such charges. This, in a state with an unresponsive system known for giving no jail time to privileged citizens for sex crimes far worse than even what Kimble is convicted of, as I have reviewed in my last two articles about Kimble. These are linked below with all other past reports in this case.

The letters from these family members had no impact on the Oregon Governor's decision to not grant Executive Clemency in the case, as related in yesterday's article, Oregon Judge: State 'Stuck their neck out' for Son of DA Who Raped 13-Year Old . Those who read the background on the case and watch the related videos will be blown away by what is taking place in this state. Questions over official corruption and false court convictions scream out in this state, you can hear Justice herself, making that sincere plea to those at the highest levels who can step in and force the legal system to indeed be legal, is that too much to ask?

Tim King in 2008, covering the Iraq War

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

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Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from The Associated Press the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs, Electronic Media Association and The Red Cross In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format designed by Matt Lintz was launched in December, 2005.

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illuminating April 2, 2012 4:15 am (Pacific time)

http://tdn.com/news/local/local-girl-lied-about-rape-father-set-free/article_bf9cac36-7c7a-11e1-a9e4-001a4bcf887a.html Excerpts: In early 2001, an 11-year-old Kalama girl named Cassandra Ann Kennedy told police her dad raped her on at least three occasions. Her father, Thomas Edward Kennedy, denied the allegation, but he was convicted by a jury and sentenced to more than 15 years in prison.

In January, Cassandra Kennedy, now 23, told Longview police she made it all up. So after serving more than nine years in prison, her father was released last week and the charges against him were dismissed.

Cassandra said she got the idea of setting up her father from a friend whose stepfather was sent to prison for a child sex crime. “I thought that is what I would do to make my dad go away,” she told police in January.

In her recent interviews with police, Cassandra recalled testifying against her father during his trial and “having to point at him and look at him and say who he was — and how bad I felt, all the guilt, thinking, ‘Can I take it all back?’ ”

“I remember being so unhappy and scared that they were going to convict him,” Cassandra told the detectives in January.

Police reports tell the story of an angry little girl who felt neglected by her father and, by her own admission, took “vengeance” on him.

Baur, who was the prosecutor during the case, recalled Friday that all of the pieces in the investigation seemed to fall into place.

“It just totally made sense,” she said.

Most startling, Baur said, was that Cassandra told the story of the abuse again and again with amazing consistency. Yet, Baur said, “she did not appear to me to be the most precocious 11-year-old.”

Later in 2001, in an interview with Longview police investigators, Cassandra used stuffed animals to illustrate what her father had allegedly done to her, reports said. She also drew a picture of a bathroom where she said one of the rapes happened. Police later measured and photographed the room.

Cassandra’s account included frightening detail, according to police reports. But if it wasn’t true, police wanted to know this year, how could an 11-year-old know so much about sex? Cassandra told police in January that she began engaging in sexual activity as a second-grader. She also said she may have known what to tell police from watching a movie or from walking in on adults having sex.

In March of 2001, Cassandra was examined at a Vancouver clinic where she told a doctor about the alleged abuse. “She looked at me and said, ‘Are you telling the truth?” Cassandra said this year of her appointment with the doctor. “I lied to her and said, ‘Yes.’ ”

The doctor found trauma in Cassandra’s groin area, according to a report.

Police described Cassandra’s allegations during an interview with Kennedy in March of 2001. Kennedy, who was at the time a laborer and equipment operator at Metro Metals Northwest in Kelso, “denied doing anything,” a Longview investigator wrote in a report. “He was very upset. He told me he would do anything to prove he didn’t do anything.”

A jury convicted Kennedy of three counts of first-degree rape of a child in 2002, and now-retired Cowlitz Superior Court Judge Jim Warme sentenced him to more than 15 years in prison.

Until then, Kennedy’s criminal record had included convictions in the 1990s for fourth-degree assault, reckless driving and driving with a suspended license.

On Feb. 15, after Longview police told prosecutors that Cassandra Kennedy was recanting, Baur wrote an urgent letter to Superior Court Judge Stephen Warning. “I need to inform you that I have been made aware of new, credible material evidence that potentially creates a reasonable likelihood that Mr. Kennedy is innocent of those crimes,” Baur wrote, adding that her staff was “continuing to work with investigators to uncover the truth.”

Kennedy was brought from Stafford Creek to the Cowlitz County Jail in late February, Baur said. During a hearing last Monday, Judge Warning ruled that Cassandra’s statements to police this year are credible. He also found that the physical trauma reported by a doctor in 2001 may have been caused by a sexual experience that took place before the dates of the alleged abuse, Baur said.

Asked if there had been missteps in the initial investigation, Baur said she has recently reviewed a recording of the little girl’s testimony and has been rethinking every detail of the case. She noted that 12 jurors found enough evidence at the time to convict Kennedy and that the conduct of prosecutors, defense attorneys and Judge Warme was upheld by the appeals court.

“There should be no indictment of the system,” she said.

Instead, Baur said, it’s simply a case of a victim withdrawing her story.

“Unfortunately, a man spent 10 years in prison before that happened,” she said.

Editor: Thank you for locating this, it is like the exact same story with the proper ending, though there is no way to give this time back to a person.

martin Lawton March 29, 2012 8:49 am (Pacific time)

I live in Oregon for 40yrs i never seen a series of crimes in a setting like this, DOJ officials and governor need to step down.

martin Lawton March 29, 2012 8:48 am (Pacific time)

I live in Oregon for 40yrs i never seen a series of crimes in a setting like this, DOJ officials and governor need to step down.

Anonymous March 29, 2012 7:52 am (Pacific time)

If this is a clear case of injustice, how come we don't see the many national organizations out there in America asking for a formal Federal Judicial Review? Is it because there is more to this case than an opinions from uninformed laypeople?

Editor: Every person wrongly convicted has asked that question, 'Gee, why isn't this system jumping in to defend me from injustice?' I hope you know more than you impart from this note, the system is what put him there, the system is biased toward Blacks, you should have been able to put that much together.

John rivers March 28, 2012 11:05 pm (Pacific time)

I am from Florida, where we have our own set of problems, but I have to say, wow what year are we in. This is malicious prosecution on behalf of the state of Oregon, someone needs jail time for this kind of action, lets see the DA, and the judge who allowed this case to court, unbelievable, no evidence case... wow.

Andrew Johnson March 28, 2012 10:57 pm (Pacific time)

I am from Mississippi and this is "old school". This is how black men were treated in 20s, 30s, 40s... and 2012! I can see that this kind of hate from the judicial system is crazy. I bet he had an all-white jury. Hey Oregon- something must be done. Governor?

Angela Williams March 28, 2012 10:50 pm (Pacific time)

Looking at the video, the documents and the letters from Kimble's sister and mother, why isn't your governor making plans to free this man? It doesn't make sense, and I'm in Texas. All I can say is if this is Oregon's lifestyle, sentencing a man to 19 years when there are real criminals to convict, shameful. Black men stay out of Oregon. Choose another state to go to college, or start your career. You are not safe there.

Mark Kay Esq. March 28, 2012 4:34 pm (Pacific time)

Is this story representative of other Oregon cases? I have to say what is cited here struck me as being a little bit incredulous, or so I initially thought. I suggest reading the other stories listed in these links to gain a more complete picture, it is shocking and my knowledge of this type of case is not limited, however I am not in the United States, and have many questions. It appears that this man is innocent, for God's sake I hope the U.S. Justice Dept is intervening.

Amandablack March 28, 2012 5:07 pm (Pacific time)

"The truth is what they say it is!"I know, because I am also a victim of that fact. Once they get their grip on you, it takes more than the truth, to disentagle yourself, I means, making puplic the names of the perpetrators.

Jean Ross March 28, 2012 4:28 pm (Pacific time)

Read the case: this state is one big mess, free Kimble Governor Kitzhaber, Do what's right!

tracy cook March 28, 2012 4:08 pm (Pacific time)

Wow ten years serve for sex abuse with no proof. This is insane i know men who committed sex crimes who were out in 2 to 5yrs. A Governor with medical experience denied Kimble's pardon? Is it that Kitzhaber just hates black people? Yet he save a dangerous criminal from execution, i don't get it, I'm lost here!!

Peter Jackson March 28, 2012 2:05 pm (Pacific time)

I live in Oregon all my life i don't watch news that much, but I've been reading about Kimble's case i don't understand why the governor denied his freedom even after 10yrs. I'm white, I believe this is about race and money I believe Kitzhaber is a racist, he stopped the execution of a white evil man who killed two people. This is a disgrace.

Mike Johnson March 28, 2012 5:27 am (Pacific time)

I'm from oakland a childhood friend i know this man is innocent of such a crime of rape or sex abuse governor free Kimble.

Tony Fuller March 27, 2012 9:56 pm (Pacific time)

I'm from Georgia let this man free Governor Kitzhaber he already serve 10yrs for nothing, and you call yourself an medical doctor. Let this man free.

Jimmy Black March 27, 2012 11:29 am (Pacific time)

The judge and DA and jury shall burn in hell for convicting Mr. Kimble!!! i hope Kimble is release soon. Good job on this story.wow unbelieveable!!

Sean Kite March 27, 2012 9:03 am (Pacific time)

This is a travesty of justice, I'm an attorney, I would know.

COLLI March 27, 2012 5:14 am (Pacific time)

The state of Oregon appears to be patterning it's playbook after that which is used by the Federal government i.e. "The truth is what we say it is!". What neither the State of Oregon nor the Federal government seem to recognize is that there are a great many of us who believe that BROTHERHOOD knows no color boundries, religious boundries, or boundries of national origin ... brotherhood communicates soul-to-soul and heart-to-heart. Greed and bigotry serve as effective blinders to truth and knowledge!

Simple Observation March 27, 2012 4:17 am (Pacific time)

Personally, I see the same story that I hear with Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. Racial injustice and for some reason the Black people always come out on the losing end. Something needs to be done, that is for sure.

Randy Lodge March 27, 2012 4:15 am (Pacific time)

I don't question that it is taking place but I am not able to understand how they have gotten away with it. I guess the prison population is just so locked away, so out of sight, nobody really knows. I am sorry to hear of this man's loss, she sounds like an incredible lady

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Mother's Wish to see Son Exonerated Not Granted Before her Death

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