5-21-2008 Colorado:
Sir Mario Owens describes himself on his MySpace page as having plenty of time on his hands and being “pretty harmless.”
Jurors in Denver on Monday began hearing evidence in the death-penalty phase of Owens’ double first-degree murder trial. The same jurors last week found him guilty of the 2005 murders of Javad Marshall-Fields and Marshall-Field’s fiancee, Vivian Wolfe. Marshall-Fields was to testify against Owens in the 2004 murder of Gregory Vann.
Owens’ page disappeared from the social-networking site early Monday afternoon.
His was one of many Web pages built at the behest of Colorado inmates, who are barred from direct access to the Web, but who nonetheless have sites on which they seek pen-pal relationships, legal advice and contact with the opposite sex.
Colorado inmates are prohibited from using the Web, but they can establish a presence using friends or family members.
Owens, 23, said on his MySpace page that it was maintained by his cousin.
Colorado Corrections officials are working on plans that would give inmates greater e-mail contact with family members. Inmates now can receive printed copies of e-mails, but they can’t respond, Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti said.
“Down the road, one of the things we’re looking at is the ability to send a message back,” Sanguinetti said. “But we’re not there yet.”
The idea that inmates might get more access to the Web “just infuriates me,” said Terry Vernon, who last year spotted a Web page placed by his daughter’s murderer. “Another murderer being able to troll for women, and the state of Colorado’s response, let’s work on getting them access to the Internet …”
One obstacle that officials are trying to overcome is how they can monitor those responses, much as they monitor inmates’ mail and telephone conversations, Sanguinetti said.
Corrections officials and legislators have wrestled with the idea of controlling inmates’ second-hand access to the Web, but have found no way of preventing it.
“It’s a First Amendment issue,” Sanguinetti said.
But, said Vernon, there’s more to it than that.
Owens “has already murdered witnesses against him, so let’s give him all the access he needs to the outside world so he can have other witnesses murdered,” Vernon said. “If this happens, then the state of Colorado should be charged with conspiracy, or at the very least aiding and abetting.”
Mesa County legislators last year looked into Web pages of Jason Garner, but were frustrated by the indirect nature of the contact between inmates and what was posted in their names.
“It’s not gone away as far as Corrections is concerned,” state Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, said. “But it seems like it’s fallen off the public’s radar.”
Vernon’s daughter, Coty, was last seen with Garner on Feb. 17, 1998. Her remains were found four years later and Garner was prosecuted. He is serving a life sentence.
Garner claims on the Web page thepamperedprisoner.com/jgarnerco that he was wrongly convicted.
On his page, Garner asks for legal help and says he wants to contact women, “(Men for legal assistance only please.)”
Another inmate who was convicted in Mesa County, Shawn Dondero, writes on thepamperedprisoner.com: “Be advised by reading this you are placing yourself at serious risk of learning more about life than you ever thought possible. Life’s full of excitement when you’re willing to take a chance.”
A judge sentenced Dondero to 24 years in Corrections for vehicular homicide in the death of a co-worker who took a chance riding with him in a pickup in the desert.
The judge tacked nine years onto his sentence, bringing it to 33 years, because of his callousness in leaving her behind. He hiked two miles to a parking area, stole a pickup with a trailer and dirt bike, which he left at his apartment complex as he fled to Florida.
Dondero, also known as Shawn Elliott, says in his posting that he “would like to explore some of life’s mysteries with someone who doesn’t judge individuals by their mistakes, rather by the deeds they strive to accomplish ... I’m not deceiving, playing games or hiding skeletons.”
Dondero is set to be paroled in 2016.
Dondero, Garner and Owens are far from the only Colorado inmates with a presence on the Web.
Nearly 90 are listed on another prison pen-pals site, www.writeaprisoner.com. Others also have presences on www.friendsbeyondthewall.com and www.prisonpenpals.com.
On the prisonpenpals site, Denver native Brian Mason has a paid advertisement saying he is “seeking an open-minded understanding, free spirited Asian White or Hispanic female.”
In smaller print on the left edge, the site makes clear that he’s serving a life term for sexual assault.
Another Colorado inmate, Charles Smith, describes himself as the owner of an investment company and a business club.
“These ventures will put me in a league of extraordinary gentlemen,” Smith wrote in his ad. “The word brilliant would be a euphemism to describe my genius regarding all business endeavors.”
Smith is due to be released in 2020 after serving his sentence for robbery.
Owens said on his page that he hoped to meet women, but didn’t address his inability to contact them directly.
“I was recently caught up in some b/s,” his MySpace page said, “so ya boy on lockdown in Canon City, Colorado.” ..more.. by GARY HARMON, The Daily Sentinel
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