There has been something pulling at my heart recently... I know this is kind of long, but it's worth it to read, I promise!
There is a man, his name is Nate Ybanez. He is 27 years old and has been in prison since he was 16.
As a child, his mother and father abused him emotionally, physically, and sexually. His father was very unpredictable when he would harm his son (he even tried to kill Nate a few times), and his mother was a very unstable, Evangelic woman.
Growing up, him and his family moved around a lot. He never really had enough time to make friends. But when he moved to CO when he was 15, he met Erik Jensen and Brett Baker. Two boys his age who had their own rock band, Troublebound. Erik and Nate became friends immediatlely and he was asked to join the band as the lead guitarist.
Later on, his friends started noticing something wasn't quite right with Nate. It wasn't long after that Nate told them about his abusive situation. He had tried to run away multiple times, and had even asked the sheriff to take him somewhere safe. So, Brett and Erik decided to let their families know what was happening in the Ybanez's home, so the families tried to intervene. And as sad as it is, nothing was ever done to help stop the abuse.
When Nate was 16, he had a part time job at Einstein Bagel's and one night, after work, he asked Erik to come pick him up.
They had discussed hitting the road so Nate could finally be away from his abusive parents. After work, he was picked up by Erik, and they had to stop by Nate's to grab his things. They hoped his mother would still be at work, but they pulled up to find her car in the driveway.
Nate went in and told Erik to come up if he hadn't come out in the next 20 minutes. After 20 minutes had passed, Erik knocked on the door, and Nate's mother, Julie, answered it and asked him to go wait in Nate's room while her and her son had a "family chat."
As Erik was making his way up the stairs, Nate grabbed a pair of fireplace tongs and struck his mother over the head with it multiple times and then strangled her to death. In Erik's state of shock, he didn't know what to do. After he saw Julie's blood, Erik fainted.
After Julie was killed from strangulation, Nate and Erik started cleaning. They called their friend Brett and asked him to help as well.
The next day, Nate was found by the police disposing of his mother's body. Brett and Erik were brought into custody a few days later.
Brett had told the police that Erik had helped in the killing and that was obviously not the truth. So, Brett was released of all charges. And at Erik's trial, he was convicted in prison for life without parole.
At Nate's trial, he was suppose to get a guardian ad litum, but his dad decided to pay $90,000 for a lawyer. So, none of the abuse was addressed and the lawyer and Nate's father, Roger, refused to have witnesses speak on Nate's behalf.
In prison, Nate is lucky enough not to have been raped, beaten, or stabbed by the other inmates. But he has lost his faith in the Lord and now finds his peace by meditating and practicing Buddhism. He is fluent in Spanish and French, is learning Chinese and can read and write in Hebrew. Also, he has earned his GED, and has spent the last few years studying things such as, mythology, psychology, physics, world religions, and other areas of study.
I didn't just look online and find out about him. But I have a friend, who was his friend in high school. We have been talking about him recently and neither one of us sees any justice in his and Erik's case. If you would like to read more about Nate and Erik, there is a 10 page article in a 2006 edition of the Rollingstone.
Here is the link: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12540473/can_nate_ybanez_ever_be_forgiven
If you would like to help, there are many petitions and fundraisers out there. Such as the Pendulum Foundation. www.pendulumfoundation.org
Nate and Erik deserve to have justice, and this isn't it...
Thank you for reading.