Tim's Corner

Admit who you are and forgive yourself. Then you can grow to be the person you need to be.

Teresa Deion Harris

Tennessee Prison for Women 2007

JANUARY 2010

My wife, Teresa Deion Smith Harris, was born eighth generation in West Tennessee. Her mother suffered crippling injuries causing her to be bedridden during Deion's early life. Deion found herself “hanging out” and seeking a cohesive family, somewhere to belong. Her rapes began at an early age and by 12 the price of acceptance to her limited circle was to submit to gang rape and drugs. She suffered post traumatic stress disorder most of her life. By 15 she was drug and alcohol addicted with a dependent personality disorder. At 22 she was with a dominating abusive male who killed a young man. The 24 year old killer took a plea bargain to testify against her. This resulted in her conviction of First Degree Felony Murder and a sentence of Life Without the Possibility of Parole. She had two children, three and four at the time.

I met Deion in February 2000 while doing prison research. I had employed ex-felons and men in trouble with the law on construction in Washington State. I was very happy with their work but needed to understand their culture to better utilize them. Through the Internet I met several prisoners and visited six prisons in six states. Unlike most prisoners, Deion would not take money nor give out a visitation form. Amazingly, she had handwriting and a picture that indicated a fascinating and mature woman. I first saw her during a court Post Conviction hearing in Paris, TN. After that she consented to meet the following September. In January 2001 I was present when she met with her parents and children and watched for three hours as she tried to guide her children’s lives. Following the family visit I said the ominous words “Any woman working as hard as you to raise children from a prison cell deserves help and I guess I am it.” I was then 55 with two very successful children of my own. I had served four years on a local school board and felt I knew something of raising children. Thus I added to the first statement, “Your children will likely follow you to prison but it need not be and we must start now to re-orientate their lives.” Thus began my odyssey that pitted me against the community that convicted her and convicted her children at the same time.

By the end of 2001 I had possession of all her legal files, court transcripts; family, school, and counseling records. In 2002 I moved from Washington to Tennessee to be near her, the children and the conviction scene. I began an exhaustive reconstruction of the crime and her life. I questioned all who would talk to me. After a year I concluded with certainty that she, or likely even the second young man involved, were not guilty of first degree felony murder. Of a lesser charge; perhaps. At that point my major interest became why the community needed to convict her and how the conviction was carried through the court system. I began to learn who America really was.

I am a retired Pilot, a former 747 Captain. I have led a privileged life. Nothing in my previous life prepared me for the shocking physical, emotional, and sexual abuse Deion suffered from childhood. I worked in an industry known for meticulousness. I was not prepared for the casual standards of the legal and court systems. More than anything else, coming from life in Northern Cities, I was not prepared for the lives I found in Tennessee. I found the history of slavery and Jim Crow marking every aspect of society. My quest to get Deion, who I married in 2003, out of prison and prevent her children going to prison set me against the very social structure that America developed in its journey to become the world’s largest prison society.

Parenting is the first cause of incarceration. America is by and large a nation of mediocre and poor parents. The second cause of incarceration is of course the system itself. Prisons have a higher retention rate than high schools. Once a child is caught up in the criminal justice system they seldom escape until their lives are expended.

I soon turn 65. Deion is now 39 and still in prison. We have exhausted all legal appeals with not surprising refusals. Her son, the “sweet young boy” pictured is now in prison. He has a son, now 1 year old, who stands a very high probability of going to prison as well. This is America. This is the system. This is a system I find fault with.

After ten years of knowing my wife Deion I feel fortunate. I have a purpose in life. She is held in prison for vengeance and cruelty, not for justice. The children are condemned with her and for the same reasons. Her son stole drugs to sedate his lifelong pain. What he will do next? Her daughter struggles and slowly moves ahead but at 20 she must overcome nine generations of stagnation.

I have a purpose in life.

SEPTEMBER 2011

I have had several people ask what they can do for Deion. The first thing I would say is write and encourage her:

Teresa Deion Harris 233590
TPW Unit 2 North B 37
3881 Stewarts Lane
Nashville, TN 37218-3302

At this time Deion has just filed a motion for new evidence in the Paris, TN circuit court. Those of you who have seen Women Behind Bars saw Walter Smothers, the killer, admit he considered killing her to hide his crime. Deion knew that at the time but her lawyers never pursued the idea and she was unable to communicate with them. What she was too intimidated and immature to say back then, 18 years ago, sent her wrongfully to prison for life. A synopsis of the crime should take in to account the personality of the killer and his intent as well as Deion’s personality and intent.

Walter did not intend to kill that boy only to torment him. Deion had seen this before and knew that the worst thing to show a bully like Walter was fear. Dennis Brooks Jr. was frightened and to his demise, pleaded for mercy. This was the opposite of what needed to happen and Deion tried, emphatically and coarsely, to get him to “shut up.” It the boy had “shut up” he would be alive today and Deion would have seen to that. I do not blame the victim but only point out it was a survivable situation and this is not withstanding the nonsense the prosecutor fed the gullible public and jury. While Walter was enjoying tormenting the boy Deion simply waited for her chance, as every battered woman does, to end the episode. But the shotgun went off accidentally and events got out of Walter’s control. He only regained control when he shot the boy dead. From the time of that second shot Deion knew she was next. Her every move was to convince Walter she was “okay” with the killing so he would not kill her to cover the crime. Deion did fool him for 36 hours and it took such things as wearing the boy’s hat to show Walter she was on his side. When police came she got her chance and it was she who told the police the story. Walter threatened her but to no avail. He could no longer physically get to her. At trial he testified to convict her and it was his only way to both avoid the death penalty and to get back at Deion. With the help of the public and prosecutor, Walter came out on top.

After more than a decade with Deion it is still hard for me to understand the mental movement of a woman sexually and physically battered from childhood. Unless you have been in her shoes you do not know what it is. I have tried for ten years to tell her story. I have failed. Even the lawyers I hired failed because Deion herself could not admit the extent of her abuse and dysfunctional manner of her relations with men.

It is a clear fact, Deion tried to save that boy’s life and his death is not at her feet. That she failed to save his life was not her fault. In the end, she could only save her own life. I am proud to be part of it.

For my part, I thank those of you who send me kind words. I wish I had a positive result for all my good intentions. As of now, it is beyond my control. Deion alone must tell her story loudly and forcefully. This is very hard for her to do. She is a very dependent and submissive woman. Prison has not helped this. Write and encourage her. I am doing okay. I have no regrets for marrying her. This is America. The courts are not about truth, but convictions. The socially unacceptable have little chance. But I am not one of America’s willing executioners. RU

Tim McDonald Jackson, TN