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Linda Tant Miller
MURDERED BY ARIZONA
MARVIN TERRY LAKE
FROM HIS BELOVED WIFE, ANNETTE
Years ago I was pretty mixed up thanks to my family
and I saw an ad in the paper from an inmate, "If
you're interested in writing this white male inmate
who is interesting and not worthless, a little about
yourself. I would be glad to hear from you." I haven't
ever answered an ad before so I did so under an
assumed name. Later I told him who I really was, but
we wrote each other for months before I actually went
out and met him. It was a situation/area I had never
been involved with; in fact in my family I had been
taught that once you're in trouble with the law you're
done for, you're ruined for life. But I found that the
inmates and their visitors were more respectful than
people I meet on the streets.
Well after my folks met him and saw what we're put
thru, they changed their minds. Anyways, we "dated"
every visiting day. He called me all the time. We
wrote each other every day and he even sent me
cassette tapes. We were closer than people living
together on the streets! We were going to wait till he
got out to get married, but he decided that I would
have more say so as his wife, so we put in for
permission to get married. We were denied, being told
that it wasn't a benefit to society. But we both
complained about this and were given permission and
were one of the last ones allowed at that time to get
married. My folks were there and his counselor. We
shared a can of 7up afterwards!
He's my whole life and I am his! He didn't think he
would ever get married again, but he knew that I was
the one and only. He could talk to me about anything
and know that I wouldn't put him down or make him feel
bad as a result. I finally had found who I am and we
were no longer two people, but one! I could start a
sentence and he finish it. Before I met him however,
he had a heart attack while in his cell and the guards
ignored him and took the long way to the hospital.
When they did finally find him, all this caused him
damage to his health. He had an implanted
defibrillator which would send electric shocks to his
heart whenever his heart would have irregular
arrhythmias. This device was supposed to be recharged
at the hospital every 3 months. They wouldn't do this,
and as a result the batteries died on the device.
Meanwhile there were times that (due to my calling and
my constantly being there, as Marvin said), I saved
his life. He said to me, think of the inmates that
don't have anyone on the outside to help them!
Situations at the prison got really bad and a
governors bill that we had been promised was vetoed,
and his health was growing worse and he couldn't get
the proper medical care no matter the letters and
grievances we wrote, and his defibrillator had gone
off.
So on my birthday as a surprise gift, he tried to
escape. He went thru one fence and collapsed before he
got to the second. He was put into lock down where he
was verbally assaulted and neglected his medicine.
From this time on his health grew worse. We were put
on restriction time and time again; no phone calls, no
visits, barely any mail. Even offering a strip search
to visit behind glass, we were denied. When we finally
had a visit they cancelled it while I stood in
visitation waiting to see him behind glass.
Investigators came to my parent's home and told me how
they were going to throw him in a hole and I would
never see him again. Well, to fast forward, there were
many times that he was rushed to the emergency room
and they never told me. I would accidentally find out
that he wasn't in jail, and when I would find him at
the hospital he would be in the bed for the worst
cases, handcuffed to the bed with an armed guard
sitting there. I sat by his side 8 hours straight one
day and after a bit of being there the doctor came in
and said, "before you got here he had thousands of
arrhythmias, but since you got here, you can count the
amount on one hand!"
My husband told me that he knew just to watch that
door and I would be coming. His attorney had a medical
power of attorney made up so I would have to be
contacted when my husband couldn't make medical
decisions, but again I was never contacted. Even the
judge at a hearing was denied where my husband was,
when he didn't appear in court, because he was at the
hospital. So we were given a court order as well for
me to be contacted, but again, I never was.
My husband was 48 years old when I met him, and even
in his poor health they would physically and verbally
assault and threaten him. When my husband underwent
surgery for a new defibrillator, I wasn't allowed to
leave the waiting room and even go to the chapel. I
had to follow strict visitation rules set up out of
thin air. Even when my husband, who isn't a religious
man, asked to speak to his attorney or a minister, he
was denied. When my husband was being transferred in
1994 to go down to the prison near the hospital where
the family was going to pay for an examination to see
if he was eligible to be put on the heart transplant
list, he was in a van that "hit a bump" according to
documentation, and he and the other inmate were thrown
off their seats onto the floor. My husband hit the
seat in front of him and it took the other inmate to
get him help. He wasn't breathing and his brand new
defibrillator didn't go off.
They took him to the hospital and again never called
me. They didn't know anything about him because this
was a new hospital so after a couple hours air-vaced
him to the hospital near the prison. Meanwhile I had
been calling because I had not heard from him but no
one would tell me where he was or even take my name in
case he showed up.
When his attorney finally found out there had been an
incident he had me call the hospital and they
documented how I accidentally overheard that he was
DOA. I went to see him and there was two armed guards
standing there and wouldn't even leave us alone then.
Even the man at the funeral home couldn't believe the
bruises and contusions my husband had. And they
removed the defibrillator without my knowledge and
this isn't done unless the person is being cremated.
They wouldn't even let me have his wedding ring to
bury with him. I had to wait the 30 days to get his
property. But on the day of the funeral, I promised
him that no more was anyone going to tell us when and
how long we could be together, and I have been to the
cemetery every day since the funeral in 1994 to care
for his grave!
This year would make our 10th year of marriage, even
though we would always celebrate our monthly
Anniversary. He could tell you how many months it had
been! I hope somehow this may help others that are
being put thru the prison system making their rules,
and know that if you keep up the fight, you may get
yours and your inmate's rights! My cousin has a group
dedicated to my husband and if it's ok, I will post
its location here:
Thank you and Marvin, I love you and always will!
FACTOR 8: THE ARKANSAS PRISON BLOOD SCANDAL
Kelly Duda and Concrete Films have produced a documentary which details the corruption and greed that led the Arkansas Department of Correction to spread death from Arkansas prisons to the entire world. Hear the story from the mouths of those responsible for the harvesting of infected human blood plasma, and its sale to be made into medicines.
Duda's award-winning film unflinchingly documents the whole story the U.S. government and the state of Arkansas have tried to keep hidden from the world.
Click the photo of Kelly Duda at work to order your own copy of
Click the photo of Kelly Duda at work to visit the
Please help spread the word about this important film,
"Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal"
Factor 8 Documentary website
along with the urls to the linked pages.
This
PRUP (Prison Reform
Unity Project) site owned by
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