Proudmom

On Wednesday 9/3/08 there was an article in the B'ham News located on the front page of the local news section.  The article was titled "Conviction reversed; lawyer faces disbarment".  I have already written to the B'ham News with only to receive a 2 sentence reply from the reporter that basically said "I'm sorry you feel that way & I'm sorry you disagree with my reporting."  I have yet to get a response from any of the editors.  The deceased, the victim, the innocent party was my brother Tyler Vaughan.  This reporter did some very lazy reporting and has done what the media is repeatedly does.  He only showed part of one side of this story.  The first thing to upset us was to see interest in this case after nearly two years.  The B'ham News only listed a one or two sentence statement when my brother was killed with no names or any other information.  This was fine with our family the last thing we needed was media around while we grieved.  The second thing to upset us was that the reporter had no respect for our family to notify us that the story was going to run in the paper.  To our surprise co-workers and family started calling wanting to know what was going on, then we heard it on the radio on our way to work, and then find it in the paper.  We were still in shock from finding out the verdict had been reversed and had not told our extended family the news yet.  Third this reporter did not do ANY investigating into this case.  The reporter based his sole report on the statements of Ralph "Buddy" Armstrong and his attorney Tommy Spina.  The reporter did not contact the D.A.'s office.  The last thing that and the one thing that has us fired up more than any is that this attorney is still putting out false info and this reporter failed check his story out.  This reporter was basing his report on the comments of an attorney that has already admitted to having his client Brandon McCombs lie under oath.  APPARENTLY THEY HAVEN'T HEARD OF THOSE THINGS CALLED INTEGRITY AND HONESTY!!!

In the article the attorney's excuse for having his client lie under oath is pitiful to say the least.  Get this he was frustrated and felt like witnesses were changing their statements.  Right there in that sentence is a lie.  He was frustrated because the witnesses did not waivor from their statements they gave the police and D.A.  The only changing of the statements was done by the defense and his so-called investigator.  See the defense and his investigator were going to the jobs of these young adults with printed statements.  The witnesses would read the statements and find things that they didn't say and would not sign them.  The defense would then change what they said was wrong and make a  few other changes.  The defense would then go to the witnesses again with a revised statement for them to sign.  Thank God those witnesses were smart enough to read them first.  They refused to sign the revised statements because they were still not what they had said.  All of this was brought out in the trial and the reporter from the Bham News would have known that if he had done a little leg work and reading. 

Another statement made in the article is that Brandon McCombs and my brother Tyler Vaughan struggled....NOT TRUE!!!  The altercation occured 30 to 40 yards away from my brother.  As Brandon tried to run away from the altercation he instigated he ran into my brother stabbing him.  My brother had a cut on his arm where he apparently threw his arms up to brace for the impact.  It was a defensive wound that continued right into his chest that ultimately cut both ventricles of his heart. 

The B'ham News apparently does not care about reporting the facts truthfully or has any respect for the families of murdered victims.  Now these statements made in the paper will be read by potential jurors and they are just not true.  Then Buddy Armstrong showed his face on CBS 42 news telling his story.  If this has got to be reported it should be reported on from all sides of the story.  If were going to have it in the media let's get it all out there....Here are just a few other facts that could be found in the transcripts from the trial:

1. Brandon McCombs, 18 yrs old at the time, drinking 2. He showed up to this "hang out" angry that he couldn't find his ex-girlfriend (she lied to him about where she was going to be) 3. He was pulled of to the side and told to calm down that everyone there was just wanting to hang out and that he would be out numbered if he were to start trouble 4. He pushed/shoved/punched this person  & said that he didn't need his BLEEP help.  These are just a few tidbits from the trial.  There are plenty more...   

I challenge FOX or any other writer/reporter to do some real investigating and read the the transcripts from the trial.  Get the real facts of the case and form your own opinion of Mr. Armstrong.  Because of the antics of this attorney and his former client my family, Tyler's friends and witnesses will have to endure another trial.  We have to re-live that night all over again.  I wonder how Mr. Armstrong sleeps at night & for that matter how does Brandon McCombs and his family sleep....We just want justice!!!!

The trial in the murder of my brother ended on 5/25/07 in Birmingham with a veridict of manslaughter and sentencing was for 20 yrs.  My brother was killed on 6/25/06.  

I have been blogging on here since my brother was murdered.  I'm still having days that range in emotions.  It is truly over whelming.  I just have to take in a deep breath then let it go.  I then say a prayer for myself to be able just to handle whatever it is that I'm feeling at that moment.  Then there are days like yesterday that sends your mind spiraling around all the events of that tragic time in your life.  And honestly, I really didn't know what to do or how I should feel?  I was at the local Wal-Mart when I turned up the aisle and low and behold there is the father and sister of the young man who killed my brother.  I know he noticed me because he turned around as fast as I did and you don't forget the faces of the people who take the stand in a murder trial.  My heart sank.  I turned around and at first thought I don't want to be near them.  But then I thought neither my brother nor our family did any wrong.  And then I thought that they should have to look us in the eyes more often.  It wasn't hate I felt.  I can't really say what it was...I just can't believe a father would let his son or tell his son it is ok to follow the orders of his attorney to lie on the stand under oath.  Perhaps it is this moral compass that led this young man down the road to killing someone.   As I'm writing this I find myself praying for his family instead of mine.  But then I find myself saying I hope they are enjoying their time together because their son's days are numbered .  There has been a sentence passed of 20 years and at some point he will go to prison.  While he awaits on a verdict from the court of appeals on whether or not there are grounds for a re-trial I hope they hold each day precious and close to their hearts.  I consider this a gift they have been given, a gift we were denied by their son.  We didn't even get to say goodbye.  We couldn't even hold my brother's hand because once he died on the operating table he became states evidence.  We didn't get that last hug, chuckle of laughter, or that last precious smile.  I guess part of what I'm feeling is envy/jealousy.  I'm jealous of this boy's sister.  She has more precious time with her brother.  This is time I would like to have with my brother.  Time stolen from my parents, grandparents, sister, my son and 3 neices  that all adored my brother and time that cannot be given back.  I envy this girl because unlike myself she will never have a memory of having to call her mother, a mother fighting traffic to get to her son, to tell her that her baby boy didn't make it; that he is gone.  She'll never hear her mother cry out in agony or a pain like what my mother felt that night.  She'll never remember her father hitting the floor screaming out to God "NO! Not Tyler!"  I remember everything that happened in UAB that night like it was just yesterday.  I remember our 92 yr old grandmother riding in the car with me to UAB praying the whole way.  I remember her pacing the floor praying.  So much praying.  She doesn't know anything about planning a funeral.  I didn't either until my sister and I had to pull it together for our parents who were so distraught they couldn't plan it.  She will not see her son on the toolbox of his uncle's truck crying as he clings to his uncle's baseball glove.  I wouldn't wish any of these memories on her or any other person.  Then I find myself feeling sorrow and pity on this young girl.  What do her peers say?  I wonder how her school life is now?  Are boys afraid to date her because her brother might get upset with them because they broke her heart?  What do you tell people when you're out with family and you have to have your older home by 8 because he is on a curfew and wears a state issued ankle bracelet?

I find myself wondering what if more people blogged about how they felt and what happened in their families immediately after they lost a loved one at the hands of another.  Would it be a good thing to read the details of another's loss together as a  family?  Could it possibly help detour another young man/lady from making a HUGE mistake?  Could it help families show that when you kill someone it is like a ripple effect?  When you kill you don't just kill that person, you kill a part of a family, your actions affect the lives of everyone in that person's life not to mention your own.  Could it show a lost soul how God is able to pull a person, a family through a horrific loss?  Could it give someone like me the ability to help someone suffering from a similar loss?  Can I have the words to speak to someone that will encourage them to hold onto God's word through their loss instead of pushing God out of their lives or blaming God? 

I'm sorry this is so long!!  It's not just a blog for me but almost like my journal of emotions.  I hope my emotions and my memories can help one parent reach a child that has a history of violence or thinks that life has no value.  I think that we should all talk more about the effects of murder.

It's been a while since I have voiced my opinion here about the murdering in this state but my father has been hurt again not by the young man who killed his only son and my brother but by our court system & by a low down defense attorney, Buddy Armstrong of Bessemer .  My brother happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and tried to break up a fight and ended up being stabbed to death by a young 18 yr old that came looking for trouble.  A fight that was over this man's ex-girlfriend talking to another boy.  CRAZY!!!!  This all happened on 6/25/06.  We have endured the process of pre trial, preliminary hearings, and yes even the actual trial.  The young man was found guilty of manslaughter by 12 of his peers and was sentenced to 20 yrs on May 25, 2007.  But hey guess what???  You can find this young man working at a local car wash in Hoover across from the Galleria.  Why is he out???  Well, let's see he got caught in his lies on the stand.  So, having never been transferred out of the jail in downtown B'ham to prision (like he should have been after 2 weeks) after a month his family obtained another attorney for him and appeared before the judge and stated that his first attorney told him to lie on the stand...And get this that first attorney took the stand and oath & said he told his client to lie....So he was released with an ankle braclet and a curfew of 8:00 pm.  I ask this family so you paid for his representation and didn't know that the attorney was going to have him lie on the stand???  Yeah right!!!  So are you saying that your son is above the law and can kill and then lie about it and suffer no consequences???  Your son is so above the law that you think he could get off with probabtion (whch they asked for).  Now we are waiting on the court of appeals to review our case for any wrong doings by the DA and the judge that the defense has claimed happened.  We are facing the possibility of a retrial.   Oh and I did I mention the fact that while he was in the B'ham jail he set up for one of the witnesses to be beaten up....Oh yes!! It came out at the sentencing....The only reason the state knew about it was because the witnesses' mother called the DA and told her.  My hats off to the DA she listened to hours upon hours (if I remember correctly there were 9 cds) of this young man's phone calls he made while he was at the B'ham jail.  She had the transcripts ready at the sentencing hearing.  Our family knew nothing about a witness being beaten up or that he was behind it until the sentencing hearing started.  We were in shock and disbelief to say the least.

My father drove past this car wash on Friday not knowing this young man was back at work...We had an idea he was working but not sure.  My father was stopped by a traffic light in front of this car wash and saw this man drying cars....My brother was a healthly 20 yr old and is now lying in his grave while this man lives his life.  My brother and this man didn't even know each other!!!!  This crushed my father because my brother is not here working at a job he loved.  He is not here to meet the girl of his dreams, marry and have kids and carry on our family name.  He is not here to see all of his nieces and nephew grow up.  My father was crushed and it crushed me to hear that pain in his voice again.  Before the trial and all we had our church pray for this young man and his family.  We tried to show mercy and some forgiveness but we are feeling like now this family and our system is stabbing each one of us to death.  We are in disbelief and are trying to move on but you can't because of trials, retrials, running into his family at dept. stores.  How can you start the process healing and forgiveness when you feel his family is also encouraging his behavior???

We are still waiting on the decision of the court of appeals about a re-trial and waiting on a civil suit.  The waiting keeps you hostage to the person that has already vicitmized your family.  The criminal has more rights than victim and the victim's family.  We are at the mercy of the court.  And you find out that an attorney is basically at the root of the lying on the stand.  And to find out later that this young man has had some issues with his rage before he killed my brother makes me sick and knowing that he is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off is scarey as you know what....How many other families are going to be hurt by one man??? Just be mindful when you get your car washed in Hoover...You may be in contact with a violent person....I have to laugh when I hear that preachers get more time for tax evasion than you do if you kill another human being.  And you are sent straight to jail and have to stay in jail while you await your appeal but not if you kill someone.....Help me understand????  I wake up every morning and pray everyday that today I can forgive.  I ask for forgiveness for the way I feel and ask that it be in my heart to forgive.  I'm so conflicted with this right now....I still see the pain in my parents' face and hear it in their voices.  I still feel the pain, sitll have nightmares and still wake up every night at the same time my brother died.  We try to get through b'days, Christmas' & Thanksgivings without crying.  I try to get through my b'day knowing that this day should be a happy one; it's not so easy any more since I now know that the man who killed my brother is also celebrating his b'day....How can you celebrate your birthday knowing that you share that day with someone who hurt you so bad????  We crying that my brother is not physical there with us.  We all know he is there in our hearts and thoughts but that doesn't replace the feeling of his arms around us hugging us tightly.  We all still have the occassional bad day.  We have started to call these bad days "Tyler Days" because those are the days when all we can focus on are the memories of my brother and the thought of not having more memories with him in the future. 

The case was filed in B'ham--State of Alabama vs Brandon McCombs and motions have been filed in a civil case as well....As a family we weren't going to file a civil suit until we found out a month after he was sentenced that he was being released because he lied.  It's not about money it's about justice.  What made us so mad was that his family paid an attorney that hired a P.I. which charged them between $10,000-$15,000 & showed up to court without one cotton picking note.  (the fee was part of the testimony of the PI)  This PI was former FBI....What does that say about our security for this country???They pay attorney that much and you don't know he is telling your son to lie...I don't believe that for one minute.   Now your son faces perjury charges.  Where are your morals I ask you???This is public information and can be found in B'ham !!!  This case was not on the news much...It was briefly mentioned when it happened and briefly mentioned when the sentencing was handed down.  And please don't start with the racial comments...This crime was committed by a white 18 yr man that came from a middle class family....Crime has no color...Crime is crime...Murder is murder!!!!!

Please pray for my family and me!!!  Please pray that we get speedy justice for my brother and the the court of appeals upholds the original sentence.  Pray for our healing and to be comforted by God's word and will and that our anger & hurt be washed away with God's love....Pray that we continue to let Him be in control. 

 

 

 

I wanted to take a few minutes to let survivors of murdered victims know that I'm thinking and praying for you this Christmas.  I know for my family from October to the first of the year is the hardest time of the year for us.  The holidays are just not the same without our loved ones who have been murdered.  There lives cut short not by sickness, car wrecks, accidents but by the hands of another.  This is the time of year when we should be showing love for our fellow man.  I have to pray daily to remember that not all of my fellow neighbors are like the one that murdered my brother and that I need to pray for that man more than any other. 

Today is my brother's 22nd birthday and it's the 2nd year that he hasn't been here to celebrate it.  He was murdered in June 2006.  I just want to say to others that have suffered this type of loss that I'm praying for all of you.  And especially to siblings of murdered victims.  Sometimes we are forgotten because people focus more on the parents.  I know that because I'm constantly trying to be strong for my parents that some think I'm doing good.  If they only knew what I'm doing when they are asleep.  At night when everyone is asleep that is when I'm crying, talking to my brother, talking to God and begging for the pain to go away.  I have heard it gets easier with time but I don't think it does.  It just gets easier to live with it.  I believe God lets me keep feeling that pain to keep me humble and to remind me that through my brother's death I have been given the gift of mercy...I can honestly look at someone who has lost their brother or sister at the hands of another and say that I know how you are feeling.  People tell me that it gets easier with time; these people haven't lost a loved one to murder.  How can it get easier when we have to live it out over & over again in our court system and our parole system.  And how can it get easier when you have absurd defense attorneys that are so unethical that they deserve to be punished right along with their client.  I know all defense attorneys aren't like the one my brother's killer had.  We lived through my brother's death and lived through the trial.  We got a guilty verdict in May 2007 and a sentence for this man of 20 years.  Only to find out a month later that this man is free on  an appeals bond.  Why?  Because he got another attorney and said his first one told him to lie on the stand.  This man and the first attorney took the stand a month after the trial and admitted that this was what they did during the trial.  So my brother is gone and his killer has only spent a total of one month in jail.  And has now celebrated a birthday, two Thanksgivings, two Christmas', and two New Year's with his family.  How I ask does the pain get better with time when you are left waiting for another year or two on the Court of Appeals to decide if there will be a retrial.  And now we have to file complaints with the AL. Bar Association.  How much more do we have to endure????  How can you go through a grieving process when you have to keep living that horrible day over and over again.  You don't want to forget any details because you want to be able to speak at a sentencing hearing or a parole hearing and tell the court who your loved one is and what that day and the days since were like.    Being a survivor of a murdered victim is a difficult group to be a part of....I would never wish this on my worst enemy...May God bless each survivor and may He hold you close this Christmas season!!! 

I heard this story on the radio this morning & then I see it on MyFoxAl. com.   Please read-

LETHAL INJECTION CHALLENGE
   Stay of execution sought for Alabama death row inmate
  
   MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Attorneys for Alabama death row inmate
Darrell Grayson filed a motion yesterday asking to stay his
execution which is scheduled for July 26.
   Attorneys say they're concerned that the state's method of
lethal injection causes "excruciating pain."
   Lawyers for another death row inmate, Aaron Jones, also filed a
motion yesterday with the U-S- Supreme Court asking to stay his
execution.
   Jones is scheduled to die Thursday, but asks that the execution
be postponed at least until Grayson's challenge to lethal injection
is heard.
   Grayson was convicted in the 1980 rape and killing of an elderly
woman in her Montevallo home and is one of a half-dozen inmates who
have filed lethal injection challenges in the Montgomery federal
court.
   U-S- District Judge Keith Watkins has indicated a June 26
hearing on Grayson's lethal injection challenge is possible and has
given attorneys a timetable to submit briefs.
   The constitutionality of Alabama's method of execution by lethal
injection has not been decided by the courts.

This infuriates me to no end....This is absurd...This thug raped and murdered an elderly woman for crying out loud.  This woman is no longer with us but if we could talk to her about pain.  She could tell us how this sick thug raped her then killed her.  This madness has got to stop.  This man's victim is being victimized again as is her family.  Does this ever end for the victims and their families?  I ask because my family and I are going through our legal system now.  Our trial is this month & we have already had to go for a preliminary trial, to hearing where the defense filed a motion that his client be tried as a juvenile which was denied at another trip to the courthouse.  I just find this attempt to avoid the death penalty outrageous.  If you are found guilty by a jury of your peers, there is DNA evidence and eyewitnesses that are creditable & prove you're guilty without any doubt you should serve the full sentence including death.  This thug is lucky that our law doesn't say you must die in the same manner in which your victim did.  I just want to scream at someone.  The victims of these thugs don't get years to beg for their life or defend themselves.  The thugs sentence innocent people to death everyday.  What about their freaking rights of their victims???  What about the rights of the victims' families??  We have to deal with the horrific death of our loved one, the trials, the motions to lower their charges, and parole hearings.  We have to re-live the day we lost our loved one over and over again.  There is no end in sight for us...It's a series of freaking injections, they aren't being beat, raped, stabbed, shot, set on fire, chopped up, buried, or dumped like so many victims have been done.  Give these thugs have had their appeals and they've been upheld the sentences imposed on them should be carried out to the FULLEST....It's the law of our land and if you didn't want to die you should have thought about that before you raped and killed a woman......UUUGGGHHHH...This really gets my blood boiling...Does this make any one as anger as it does me???

I personally am tired of hearing about this dome....The City of Birmingham has more important issues to deal with...The BJCC should be pulling in enough revenue from events it schedules to handle the cost of the expansion themselves...Have you seen the costs of tickets for concerts, circus and other events and not to mention the cost of a soda & hot dog???  The Mayor and other city officials should have schools/education, crime rate, pay/incentives for police officers and firemen at the top of their priority lists.  I personally feel like the dome will invite more crime into the area.  I believe they should address the shortage of police officers first and foremost.  They don't have enough officers now to protect the citizens of B'ham and they are asking people from across the country to come here for events.  What is their plan to protect visitors???  Where will all of the visitors stay over night?  Do you really think they are going to stay Downtown with a sky rocketing murder rate??? I would drive a little further and stay in Shelby County if I were a visitor....Or there are some nicer hotels off of Academy Drive now....  

I have spoken many times in comments/blogs about the murder of my brother & the process of trying to get justice.  This is exhausting on a family that is already suffering.  Not only is the city of B'ham short on police there is also a need for more District Attorneys.  Families have to wait a year or more before there is a trial for the accused criminals.  So, chances are that a court date for a murder trial is almost a year to the day that your loved one was killed.....This is emotionally draining on the victim's family already and to have to re-live this so close or on the day of is almost torture.  I thank God that we have managed to get a pretty fair and level headed judge.  We had our first judgment in our case this week.  The 18 yr old will not be tried as a youthful offender but as an adult.  I thought this request for a hearing on this was a waste of time and money.  18 yrs old is a young adult and knows the difference between right & wrong.  We were told a defense attorney can attempt to get a youthful offender status for their client if they are under 21...Personal opinion--if the accused is not mentally challenged save the tax payer’s money and the families the pain..  

 

B'ham also needs to concentrate on their schools....Get the people out of office that are misusing, misspending or even stealing from the pot...Quit electing the idiots that are holding this city back...If they don't do the job--give them the BOOT!!!  DON'T RE-ELECT THEM & then get on the news whining about the poor job they are doing....B'ham's future is sitting in these schools (the children) and if you don't put money into them & make sure it gets where it should be going B'ham will never change.  There are bright kids out there wanting things to be different and want to make a difference.  Those elected officials that are looking out for No. 1 and their buddies should be ashamed and should be publicly humiliated.  They are stealing from children & B'ham's future.  They should be prosecuted just like any other criminal.  The schools should be taken over by the state because obviously B'ham's priorities are TOTALLY SCREWED UP!!!!

 

 

 

This blog is more for me to vent confusion, frustration and emotions. Please realize that it is also the opinion of an emotionally drained sibling of a murdered victim.

I understand that accused criminals must have their rights to a fair trial but when does the victim's rights and the rights of their family supersede? I don't want any innocent person to be punished for a crime that was not committed by them. I believe crimes should be honestly investigated and justice should be served. I know punishment will be served either here or in the ever after. What has me in turmoil today? My brother's murderer and his attorney want him tried has a juvenile. The man was 18 yrs old when he killed my brother. At 18 yrs old he knows the difference between right and wrong. He had plenty of time to weigh his options and the repercussions of the actions he was about to take. He was old enough to know what he was doing!!! Now why are we wasting tax-payers money to hold a "pre-trial" for them to file a request for him to be tried as a juvenile???? I realize we (my family) have a lot of pre-trials and such ahead of us & I know there are going to be plea bargains made but this request is ridiculous. I know the chances of it being approved are slim to none but why bother he was 18 yrs old. Why put families through this nonsense? We have already been through so much and still have a lot more to go through. It is very frustrating for all of us. We barely know which emotion we are feeling on a daily basis. Just as we are feeling good about where we are at on this emotion rollercoaster we receive news of a friend of my brother's will be getting married, or a married couple that he was friends with is having a baby & it starts a whole new ride. We are happy for each one of them and we love them all but then we feel sorrow because we will never see my brother get married or have kids, etc.

This man didn't even know my brother and he took his life over something that my brother had no involvement in. If he needed a friend to talk to my brother was the one person he could have found a friend in. At my brother's funeral what we kept hearing from his friends (girls and guys) and their parents was "he was like a brother/son to me" & "he is forever my brother". My brother would have been the one person that would have tried to help him. This 18 yr man is free on bond is going on with his life. I lay awake at night praying that he doesn't loose his temper again and doesn't take another life. He is able to come and go as he pleases, he can and does work & he can open his eyes up each morning and take a breath. I pray that he values every precious minute he has before he goes to prison. I pray for him to find God and that God will soften his hardened heart.

I know my brother is in a much more peaceful, beautiful and glorious place than we are. I know my brother is with our savior Jesus Christ. My brother did things for his family, his friends and their families that most young men don't do unless it benefits them and he will be rewarded for it. Because I know where he is I know he doesn't feel pain or the heartbreak for not having his family with him. What my family is feeling is temporary and one day we will join him and rejoice in the presence of Jesus Christ. Knowing all of this I still can't understand why we put families through some of these ridiculous "pre-trials".