The Arrest of Mickey Stevens

I was shocked to learn Tuesday evening when a friend of mine called to inform me that my friend Mickey had been arrested. He wasn't sure what it was about as he just walked into the living room when he heard his name on the television news for Tyler.
The story as so sensationalistic news these days goes, is Mickey had gone to the District Attorney's office to see if he could retrieve his computers for his work as a Real Estate Appraiser and for his needs for college which he was going off to this fall. The District Attorneys office and his investigators claim that Mickey cursed the DA when he refused to give them to him, and then they claim he hit one of the investigators. I just don't see it happening and if it did, they must have done something pretty serious to make him that way. Or was it the sleeping medicine the Doctor put him on? I don't know but their description is not the Mickey Stevens I have known and loved as a brother in the Lord.

Why were two investigators in the DA's office anyway? What was their purpose in coming in for a simple request by Mickey to obtain his computers. why weren't they out investigating? I have lots of unanswered questions here. Did they after a signed confession by his wife want to try to accuse him of the murder of his child? That would have made him irate- he loved Will.
Why haven't they either copied the hard drives or obtained off the computers what they wanted by now ( two weeks) if their is any evidence there of intent? What I have been told there investigation division doesnt even have a IT specialist to look at the hard drives. Where are Mickey's lap top and desk top. Are they locked away in an evidence room, or are they being used for personal business like so many others personal properties seized today by law enforcement. All he was told by the DA according to their side of the story is they had to be kept in a "capital murder" case. Why? They have Kathy's confession? Where had the conversation gone, to make my friend so angry, what was really said in that room in the presence of two investigators? Something set him off, because I have never even heard Mickey say a simple cuss word in our sometime heated political debates.

Mickey had already been accepted to law school, and after the death of his child, he almost considered not going. He was going to hang around Tyler, until his wife went to trial, etc. Then with the coaxing of his parents and friends like myself, we talked him into going on with his life and for him to go do what he has dreamed of doing for sometime now, that of becoming a lawyer. His desire was to help the poor, the downtrodden, to help set the captive free when they deserved it.

What angers me the most, is the arrest affidavit and the news reporters tried to paint Mickey as a dangerous subject.
I have known Mickey Stevens since 1999, when I met him, he was working for Lutheran Children Services. He was some sort of liason for the children in the system of boys homes. Mickey loved children and sought their protection.

Mickey has always respected the law and worked to help people through it.
He was even a Wood County Sheriffs Deputy and worked in the reserve for years. Previous to all that he had worked for the Tyler Police Department. Mickey was the kind of police officer that believed if you carry the badge, you lived the badge. While employed with Tyler PD, an incident took place where one of his fellow police officers had violated the law, either it was a excessive force case or something like that. I won't be able to tell you the full details because my memory fades me more these days, but anyway, the officer was facing problems because of his violation of the law. Mickey stood up out of all the officers that were witnesses or could have been he was willing as the only one witness to tell the truth about the incident. The officer was guilty of the accusation. Mickey because he didnt live the unwritten code that is so prevalent among a lot of Police Officers - the code of "blue covers for blue no matter what", left the department there as he felt that he could no longer be safe. He knew after that from the snubbing he received by other officers, and that if it ever came down to it, he couldnt count on them too cover his back. So, Mickey resigned what he loved doing there at Tyler PD.
He went instead out of Smtih County and found work part-time to keep his Law Enforcement Officers certification at Wood County. Sometimes working the jail, other times working patrol. Mickey took on various jobs after that some related to law enforcement others not. He worked for Child Protective Services in Canton, Lutheran Children Services and later as Private Investigator for a lawyer that I know in Longview who was an old professor of mine at the University of Texas at Tyler. He also worked for me as a private investigator for a short stint before taking that job.

In 2001, I helped Mickey find his way into the Real Estate Appraisal business which he has been working for the last several years. Quietly by himself driving the roads of America to do an honest service, where not much honesty is left these days. Mortgage and appraisal fraud is a mile a minute a huge new white collar crime in America. Mickey was one of those that refused to be dishonest and just give appraisals at the beckon call of many mortgage companies who won't do business with you as an Appraiser unless you give them the appraisal amount they want.
Mickey refused to work that way. He was an honest, upright, gentleman. He also loved his wife, he had fought for her life and mental sanity since marrying her. He worked hard to help her, helped her find the kind of help he knew best to send her too. He loved the law and he loved truth and he loved people.

In all the years I knew him, I never heard him use a curse word or show any signs of violence. The affidavit statements made by the District Attorneys investigators and the DA, are so far out of line from the Mickey I have been friends with. These do not reflect the Mickey Stevens I know. The newspapers in Tyler did even a worse job, making a video that was sensationlist. Today's journalism in my opinion is no different then the "yellow journalism" of the past. Most newspapers and television reports are like they are headlines out of the Enquirer or the Globe. They jump on and write the things that is going to attract the largest audience. In the old days it was called "yellow journalism" today we call it the news. What a joke!

In my day, a good reporter would not have just printed what was handed to them by an official, they would have seeked the whole story. They would have interviewed Mickey, his family and his friends. They would have had a different picture to paint. Thus, that is why the news doesnt go after the story anymore, because we as Americans are like the Romans at the Coliseum, we can't wait to hear something that strikes our flesh as appeasing and entertaining or whatever that stands out and is exciting. We want blood, we want action, we want a thriller, we want to see all the negative there is about people rather than some positive aspects of them.
The truth is we want to know the "trash" about others, it makes us live with ourselves easier, when we can lift up ourselves in our minds above the "criminal types". It helps us ignore the sad fact that we are sin sick as well.

Less we forget as a friend of mine said to me- we are all guilty of sin". God did not call Christians to judge but to love. We can still speak the truth in love but we are not in the position to judge- because "we ALL have been declared guilty. Thus God's word reminds us not to forget those who are in prison. I thank God for the work my Uncle and Aunt have done in this area of their lives. My uncle, an ex-cop, retired as a Chaplain from the Texas Correctional System. He and my aunt have done a lot to help young men find their way back in life and shown them how to live it right and stay out of trouble. We don't always agree on everything either in religion or politics, but in the end we love each other, because love must always be above all things, if we call ourselves by the name of Christ - Christians meaning (Christ one's).

Mickey and I had spoke the morning before the incident that landed him in jail. We talked about his going off to college. He talked about that he needed his computers and in a mild manner, not irritated or excited, he said he was going to go ask the DA for them, if he could release them to him now. He needed his to rap up his Real Estate Appraisal business and for college at Texas Tech's law school where he was going off to become an Attorney.
Mickey loved the law. We often had debates over politics as he was a "real right wing nut" I would call him. George Bush was his favorite President and hard core Republican he was all the way.
In all the debates he and I had, he never grew angry or used an expletive. We loved each others as brothers in the Lord. We could differ on politics and not separate friendship because of them. He called me a "conspiracy nut" sometimes. It didn't matter, I had respect for him and he respected me.

He was so happy I came to see him and contact him. He was so happy that I was there for little Will's funeral. He thanked me twice for calling him that Monday morning before he went to the DA's office to see if he could retrieve his two computers.
He sounded down and out. I could tell he was depressed which is anyone's normal reaction to the death of a loved one especially one's only child. He was depressed over losing his wife to her insanity as well, he told me she will never see the light of day again, because she would probably be locked up forever.
He was sad, the death of Will is sad and the fact that his own wife committed the act and now too she is gone from his life. What man or woman for that matter who has been through all of this would even keep their own sanity?
Remember, he will live with the memory of trying to save his son's life with CPR to no effect for the rest of his life. I have that same kind of memory of trying to save my former wife's life as well. I tried for approximately twenty five minutes, yet she died of brain death from the car accident we were in.
That memory haunts me in my dreams and in my wake. I was a Medic/Firefighter for 3 years in Colorado and had many a person die on me or where I wasn't able to save their lives with CPR. I had those I did save though as well.
When it is your own loved one, it is a different story. Just the death of someone you loved so dearly, leaves a large hole ripped open in your chest where it feels as if someone has removed your heart and left your chest cavity empty. It hurts more than anyone can imagine unless they have been through it. I know the hurt at least a portion of my hurt is the same as the hurt he has been experiencing. He couldnt sleep at nights, he needed and knew he needed to break away from his environment of his home and his child's toys as soon as possible. You have to for your own sanity. He had spent part of that morning packing away little Will's toys and clothes. His parents and her parents were to keep some of the items. I remember my own experience of living in the house after my wife died. Every sight, every smell, every moment was a reminder that she would never come home to me again. It will tear you apart. Mickey I sensed was hurting deep, he so looked forward to friends calling him, family visiting him, and anything that would keep his mind off the loss he suffered.
I don't know, because I wasn't there in the DA's office what actually transpired. I was not a part to the conversation. I do know Mickey though and whatever was said by the DA must have pushed him over the edge. It doesn't take much when you suffer with Post Traumatice Stress Disorder. I know, I have suffered with it since 2001 when my wife died. There is in the pit of your stomach that cries out, God help me, I don't know if I can make it in this life another day. Being a Christian is the only hope that keeps you hanging in there. Mickey knew the Lord as well. We had many a talk about religion versus a relationship with Christ. Mickey cared about justice in a world that is unjust. Mickey like me had seen the other side of the law labor force.
He has seen the corruption that often goes on behind closed doors. He wanted to help right it, as I do. He left those jobs he wanted to be effective in, because as I did, we found the world is not untouched by evil even in the things we as humans believe are good. He had seen men who wore badges like I have, live out their lives as if they were above the law. The side the public rarely sees, except now and then when we read some sensationalist news item where a cop or judge or other as been charged with a crime. They just happen to get caught. It goes on everywhere, everyday somewhere in America or across the world. Mickey wanted to become a criminal defense attorney to insure that the alleged criminal would at least get a fair trial whether guilty or not. That is one thing that we are guranteed by the Bill of Rights that seems these days has gone out the doors. Today largely due to the media, one is judged guilty already and must go to court to prove himself innocent.
What happened to America. We are as it says in the last days - 2 Timothy 3:1-5
But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self–control, fierce, no lovers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; 5 holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power therefore. From these also turn away. .

The above description doesnt fit my friend. He knew Christ and he knew that He is our only hope in this life. Yet, he is human as I or you, and just because we are Christians doesn't mean we don't hurt over the loss of a loved one. Just because we are Christian doesnt mean we don't get angry, or that often feel like life is hopeless. In honesty, our life on this earth is hopeless if we rest our faith in the things that are temporal here. We are to have our minds on heavenly things.
I can put no hope in what I see go on around me everyday in this world. Evil is more prevalent then anytime I can remember in my life.

Mickey needs prayer, he needs right now the hand of God to reach down and lift him up out of this quagmire that is left his soul without rest. He needs mercy, he needs love and he needs people to know the real Mickey, not the one the DA's office has painted for the lust thirsty press in America these days. I get really ticked off when I see how they play there cards anymore. What happened to truth in this country? What happened to mercy and compassion for the hurting, the injured, the victim, the poor, the unloved, the orphan? What happened, we have forgotten God and his declaration on ALL MANKIND- Sin results in death! That sin is not broken down into categories like man likes to do it. That sin says that all "our righteousness is as filthy rags before the Lord. That sin says guilty with the sounding hammer of God's gavel on the bench as the only judge in heaven and on earth righteous enough and holy eneough to judge anyone. That guilty accusation that rings across this universe was paid for you and I and Mickey by the very blood of Jesus Christ- who paid the debt you and I cannot pay! So, rest easy my friend, Mickey, someday, the real judge is coming back again, and when he does, many a man who judged and showed no compassion and mercy will recieve the same in the end. God is a true judge and jury and he will not overlook the sins of those who are always so anxious to point the fingers at others while 4 fingers yet point at themselves. There is coming a day.
Come Lord Jesus, Come.

Dr. J.