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MY STORY - JANICE M. CARLISLE |
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Janice Marie Carlisle (Jan) was indicted on January 22, 1997 and arrested on February 26, 1997 and charged as a co-defendant along with William Thomas Dixon Gibbs, III (Ted) who had been incarcerated since December 20, 1996 on charges of stalking, aggravated stalking, conspiracy to commit murder and attempted burglary. This case generated a considerable amount of publicity (TV, radio, newspapers, talk shows) in Gwinnett County and the Atlanta Metro Area because of the sensational nature of the allegations. The allegations in the indictment were that Mr. Gibbs stalked and plotted to kill his girlfriend, Melissa Bailey and that Jan Carlisle was "recruited" by Mr. Gibbs to further the conspiracy. Mr. Gibbs and Ms. Carlisle were charged in an 11-count indictment for committing the alleged acts between August 1996 and February 1997: INDICTMENT Count 1 Misdemeanor Stalking Following her arrest on February 26, 1997 Jan Carlisle was denied bond by Judge James Oxendine at her only bond hearing on March 17, 1997 and eventually spent 124 days in the Gwinnett County Jail, Lawrenceville, GA. Assistant District Attorney, Tracy Dorfman of the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit, aggressively prosecuted the case. Ms. Dorfman sought and eventually got a "conviction" on paper from Jan Carlisle by having the judge deny bond, therefore bankrupting Jan Carlisle and her mother, Sarah Dickert Carlisle. Ms. Dorfman alleged that Jan Carlisle was "aware" of the restraining order against Mr. Gibbs or "should have known" and is therefore a "party to the crime" of the charges on the Indictment. It is important to note that Jan Carlisle was never on a restraining order of any kind and no police complaints/incident reports exist against Jan Carlisle in the State of Georgia. The victim, Miss Bailey never complained about Jan Carlisle and moreover, Jan Carlisle and Melissa Bailey have never met each other, never spoken or seen each other and have had no interaction with each other at all. Ms. Carlisle contends Mr. Gibbs misled her and Jan Carlisle was under the impression the Bailey family had dropped the restraining order against Ted Gibbs based on negotiations between the Gibbs family and Bailey family that Ted Gibbs continue psychiatric treatment with medication. Jan Carlisle entered an "Alford Plea" to Stalking Misdemeanors (counts 1 & 2) and Aggravated Stalking (counts 6 & 10) and was "sentenced" to serve 124 days in jail (time served). The remaining 7 counts were Nolle Prosequi by the prosecutor which by legal definition means there was a lack of evidence and the prosecutor has declared the intention not to proceed further on those charges. Jan was offered several pleas in May 1997 and she refused stating she was innocent and wanted to go to trial. Count 11, Conspiracy to Commit Murder was holding Jan in jail with no bond in the first place; and for the prosecutor to finally Nolle Prosequi seven (7) charges is so outrageous, a violation of basic civil rights, constitutional rights and due process laws, that the prosecutor should be disciplined by The State Bar. It will never happen because prosecutors wield immense power all over America and hide behind sovereign immunity. Prosecutors can do whatever they want and there is no system in place to monitor them. Jan Carlisle was "legally extorted" $2,350.00 by Gwinnett County and is currently on Maximum Probation until July 1, 2007. It must be noted that NO restitution was ordered to be paid to the "alleged victim", the judge ordered NO counseling for Jan Carlisle and moreover The Family Violence Act was not followed in prosecuting Jan Carlisle. Jan states she was wrongly arrested and very poorly represented by Walt Britt. Mr. Britt has represented Gwinnett County in numerous legal matters, is a city attorney for 2 towns in Gwinnett County and has a conflict of interest in representing criminal defendants. One of the major clients of Mr. Britt's law firm (Chandler & Britt) is Gwinnett County! None of this was disclosed to Sarah Carlisle when she initially hired Walt Britt. Clearly Walt Britt took advantage of the vulnerable situation Sarah Carlisle was in as a worried mother. Jan and her mother Sarah have mounted an aggressive campaign to clear Jan's name. Judge James Oxendine promptly denied an Expungement Hearing in his courtroom on August 3, 1998. Ellen Angel Cordle, Attorney represented Jan Carlisle at the Expungement Hearing in which Judge Oxendine described the "heinous" crimes that Ms. Carlisle committed. The heinous crimes involve a rental car in her name and one phone call on her home phone bill. It was very obvious that the entire Expungement Hearing was designed to intimidate, embarrass and humiliate Jan and her mother into NOT proceeding any further with legal action in Gwinnett County. An important piece of information to note is that Gwinnett County has the 2nd highest rate of conviction (Fulton County with double the population is first) and the 3rd highest number of people on probation, parole, in jail or prison in The State of Georgia (Fulton County is first and Cobb County is second). This could be attributed to the under-handed, unethical tactics that the D.A.'s Office uses to obtain "convictions". Tough on crime? Or looking further ahead to a political career? Tracy Dorfman was promoted after this conviction and received extensive media coverage on television. She was the "Marcia Clark" of Gwinnett County and this was her O.J. Simpson case. Jan stated that in 1996 she lived in an apartment in Dunwoody, GA. She was employed in a market research position and while living at this apartment complex, she stated that she met Ted Gibbs at the pool. They became acquaintances or friends. She denied any history of romantic involvement with Ted Gibbs. They talked together on occasion and helped each other out in various ways, as neighbors do. For example, he had a computer that was helpful to her business and she allowed him to use her washer and dryer on occasion. Jan stated that in the fall of 1996 that Mr. Gibbs and Miss Bailey (the victim) began breaking up their relationship. She perceived that Mr. Gibbs was distraught over the breakup of this relationship because he was calling her all the time and knocking at her door at all hours of the day and night. However, she stated that he was also involved in a romantic relationship with another woman, Melanie Long. Ms. Carlisle felt concerned that Melanie might have perceived or felt some jealously because of the few times that Ted and Jan had spent together. Melanie would often call Jan at her home and ask if Ted was there when he was not there. Jan stated that in December 1996 she brought her Toyota to a repair shop and rented a Ford Explorer. Jan Carlisle stated that Ted Gibbs had requested to borrow her car in order to run an errand. She agreed to offer him a ride. They first had a meal at a restaurant near the apartment complex. Jan was concerned about driving after drinking a margarita and asked Ted Gibbs to drive. Mr. Gibbs stated he needed to run an errand in Duluth and wanted to pick something up at a friend's house. Jan stated that in reality he drove to Melissa Bailey's apartment in Norcross and that Jan had no idea who lived there, as she had never been to that apartment complex before. Ted stated that his friend "Rob" lived there. When he left the car and went to the apartment complex, Ted attempted to break into the apartment on the 3rd floor with a ladder and a glass cutter. Someone at the apartment complex called "911" and about 10 minutes later; six Gwinnett County Policemen and 2 security guards from The Alexander Apartments came to the scene of the crime. Mr. Gibbs had violated his restraining order from November 1996 in visiting or rather attempting to enter the apartment. By Mr. Gibbs being there, he violated the condition of his release from jail in November 1996. Officer Wilson questioned Jan and it was decided that Jan was in the "wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person". She was allowed to drive her rental car home without being arrested on December 20, 1996. She told the police she had no idea of any planned burglary and had no involvement in doing this. Jan Carlisle was arrested over 2 months later for this attempted burglary, possession of tools to commit a crime and aggravated stalking (all charges of Mr. Gibbs). Jan had no restraining order on her at this time and no one had come forth to complain of any wrong doing by Jan Carlisle. Melanie Long would be the state's star witness against Ted Gibbs and Jan Carlisle. Jan Carlisle stated that in January 1997 Eddie Ballew, a veteran Investigator for Gwinnett County called her and requested for her to come in and "fill in some blanks of the relationship" between Ted Gibbs and Melissa Bailey. Jan stated she honestly did not know that much about the relationship, stated she was working full time and in paralegal school part-time and could not spare the time. She told Eddie Ballew that she had nothing to add and suggested he talk to Melanie Long who was Ted Gibbs current girlfriend. Apparently this action by Jan irritated Tracy Dorfman, the prosecutor assigned to the case and this is when the Malicious and Selective Prosecution begins. There are virtually no "Party to a Crime" cases prosecuted in Gwinnett County or in The State of Georgia. Jan was used as a pawn by Tracy Dorfman to prosecute a weak case against Ted Gibbs. This is known as "flipping" a defendant - that is, to turn a witness into a co-defendant. This is a very common prosecutorial tactic, which seems to be standard and well known by everyone except those who have no dealings with the criminal justice system until they find themselves in the system as Jan did. Jan stated that 6 policemen, with 3 cars from The Metro Fugitive Squad of Atlanta came out and arrested her on February 26, 1997 at 4:30 p.m. The police burst into her apartment, handcuffed her, shackled her feet and threw her into the police car. Jan had never met Eddie Ballew but he was in the car with Jan and introduced himself and stated "I bet you wish you had cooperated now". Jan asked Eddie Ballew what her bond would be and Eddie Ballew said if "he had his way, there would be no bond". It was reported that Melanie Long "found" a black bag inside Ted Gibbs apartment and turned it into the police sometime before the Indictment was returned, which would have been around January 20, 1997. What must be noted, is that Melanie Long was also stalking Ted Gibbs and broke into Ted Gibbs apartment to get this bag. The bag was reported to contain a "stolen gun" of Melanie Long's, ammunition, a stun gun, duct tape, rope, quarters, spray paint, etc. Jan stated that she had never met the "victim", Melissa Bailey and barely knew Melanie Long and could not understand how and why the Indictment was returned against her when the charges involved Mr. Gibbs. No police report was ever filed on the "stolen gun" of Melanie Long. Jan stated she had no motive whatsoever for stalking Miss Bailey, had no ill will towards her and was never involved in a conspiracy to harm her or anyone for that matter. Jan stated that Melanie Long and Dana Roberts (2 witnesses who dated Ted Gibbs) told Tracy Dorfman that Jan "was in it for the money" which Jan scoffed at because she had sufficient money and most likely more money than Ted Gibbs did. There was never any evidence of money being paid to Jan by Ted. This was the prosecutor's "theory". On May 15, 1997 Ted Gibbs eventually plead guilty to all 11 counts of the Indictment and was later sentenced to 60 years in prison, with the first 10 years to be served in a MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON in Jackson, GA where Death Row is located. The remaining 50 years will most likely be served on parole. As of August 1999, Ted Gibbs has been denied parole. Prior to being arrested, Jan stated that Ted had called her numerous times while he was in jail and requested her help in taking care of financial matters and daily tasks that he could not attend to while he was in jail. Jan stated that she helped him by checking his mail, getting his newspapers, watering his plants, etc. because she felt sorry for him, his parents and the pain the whole family was going through. Jan was also contacted by both of Ted Gibbs parents, Mrs. Randolph (Ted's mother) and Mr. Gibbs (Ted's father), and they appreciated what she was doing as they lived in Baltimore, Maryland and could not help Ted on a daily basis. Jan stated that on December 31, 1996, Ted had called her collect numerous times that day and wished her a happy birthday. She knew that Ted had spent Christmas in jail and felt very bad for him, but realized that this was HIS fault. Ted asked Jan to transfer a 3-way call to Rachel Selber (a classmate of his at Georgia State in the MBA program) and he gave Jan the number. The "number" in reality was Melissa Bailey's home phone number, which Jan did not know. This phone number showed up one time on Jan's phone bill from Bell South's printout from August 1996-February 1997. This one phone call which lasted 10 seconds was Count 10, Aggravated Stalking. Eventually Mr. Gibbs lost his phone privileges while in jail because he continued to call the victim and again violated his restraining order. Counts 7, 8 & 9 are calls that Mr. Gibbs made from the men's jail. Jan was shocked to learn a few days later that Ted had left a message on Melissa Bailey's answering machine in which he says, "you have made a huge mistake". After that, Jan refused to make any 3-way calls for Ted. Jan eventually put a "collect call block" on her phone in late January 1997. Jan had already been indicted by this time, but had no idea of the charges alleged against her based on what Melanie Long told the prosecutor. Following her arrest, Jan spent 124 days in a jail cell 21 hours per day and was only let out of her cell 3 hours a day for phone calls, to eat and to shower. She describes this as a very horrible, disgusting, degrading and traumatic experience, which humiliated her publicly and had tremendous repercussions on her life. Most people assume that jails have TV, radio, reading materials, etc. This might be true in state and federal prisons, but in county jails, there is nothing to do. Jan felt her reputation in the community was damaged, friendships altered greatly, she lost wages because she could not work, and eventually had to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in December 1997. While in jail, Jan's mother Sarah Carlisle hired Douglas Fox, an attorney who was paid $5,000.00 and later because Douglas Fox was inept and inexperienced; Sarah Carlisle hired Walt Britt, a "prominent" criminal defense attorney in Gwinnett County. An old childhood friend of Sarah's, Sadler Poe, an attorney in Atlanta, referred her to Walt Britt. Mr. Britt was paid $25,000.00 and insisted that Doug Fox stay on the case. Jan and Sarah now know that Mr. Britt and Mr. Fox did nothing to defend Jan, but are not allowed to discuss what the private investigators have uncovered. Jan and Sarah Carlisle hired the private investigation team from New Jersey to investigate the charges against Jan. The Investigators from East Brunswick, New Jersey spent several weeks in Atlanta interviewing witnesses, viewing the crime scene and many other duties that private investigators do when they conduct an investigation. The private investigators have cost around $15,000.00 and the tab is still running. Jan also filed Grievances and Fee Disputes with The State Bar of Georgia against Mr. Britt and Mr. Fox. The State Bar found that both attorneys had done nothing wrong. The State Bar is comprised of attorneys on committees who monitor other attorneys' behaviors and actions by punishing them. This investigation has revealed that less than 2% of grievances and fee disputes result in disciplinary actions by The State Bar of Georgia. Walt Britt applied for no bond hearings, did not investigate the case, had no defense strategy in mind, did very little to prove Jan was not dangerous and was unable to get her released from jail on bond. His plans from the beginning were to "plea the case out" and get a conviction on paper for Gwinnett County. Jan worried about sitting in jail for 6 months or possibly up to a year. Some girls in the Gwinnett County Jail had been in jail for 2 years awaiting trial. Could you imagine sitting in a jail cell 21 hours a day for up to 2 years? Jan was very depressed, experienced anxiety and insomnia and it was in this state of mind that she entered an Alford Plea to get out of jail. An Alford Plea is similar to a No Contest Plea in that the defendant does not acknowledge any guilt. She regrets entering the plea, but was advised to go ahead and take it because there was no telling how long she would be in jail. Mr. Britt and Mr. Fox rarely came to see Jan and the attorney sign-in sheets at the jail support this. One of the most shocking aspects of this case reveals that the defense attorneys did not bother to interview the "victim", Melissa Bailey. A Motion to Sever was filed to separate Jan Carlisle and Ted Gibbs into 2 trials, but Judge Oxendine never answered this Motion. As of this writing, Sarah and Jan Carlisle have spent $95,000.00 on baseless charges that Jan allegedly committed against a person she does not know, has never met, has never talked to and has no motive whatsoever for harming. Another important aspect of this case is that no one had any dates, times, a car description, license plate number, etc. as to the alleged stalking or improper conduct. No one can give a date or time as to when the stalking occurred. The Indictment lists Counts 1 & 2 as occurring sometime between August 1996 and November 1996. Solid evidence? Hard evidence? This is what the defense attorneys told Jan and Sarah; that Gwinnett County had a solid case against Jan. She would most likely be sentenced to life in prison even though the prosecutor had offered Jan a plea bargain of 6 years, serve 2 in state prison and testify as to what she knew about Ted Gibbs plans. Jan had no knowledge of what Ted Gibbs was doing, so unless she was willing to lie, no deal. Walt Britt kept telling Jan that "she better think of something good to say, something that would help Tracy Dorfman". When Ted Gibbs plead guilty on May 15, 1997, an automatic severance came through which meant that Jan would go to trial alone on all 11 charges in the Indictment based on Ted Gibbs' actions! Does this make any sense? Jan could not understand how she could be charged with these crimes and was humiliated by the extensive television coverage and front-page headlines in The Atlanta Journal and Constitution and The Gwinnett Daily Post. This story was the lead story for all four television stations in Atlanta and was described as the "worst stalking case that Gwinnett County has ever had". Jan emphasized her innocence in this matter and stated that she was aware that Mr. Gibbs had problems in breaking up with Miss Bailey and that she had taken him to the emergency room at Northside Hospital in September 1996. Later Mr. Gibbs also received psychiatric treatment (inpatient care) at Ridgeview Hospital and Johns Hopkins Hospital. Ms. Carlisle stated she had no knowledge of Mr. Gibbs being a "stalker" and perceived he was very hurt and upset by breaking up with Miss Bailey. Jan was under the impression that Ted was being seen by Dr. Ganaway, taking 2 or 3 medications daily and that the Bailey family had dropped the restraining order against Ted Gibbs. After being released from jail on July 1, 1997, Ms. Carlisle was very withdrawn and "child-like". She stayed in bed most of the day and cried frequently. She had little appetite and was very depressed. She became obsessed with watching Court TV and other legal shows so she could figure out how to fight the injustice that she and her mother had suffered. Her mother, Sarah Carlisle who lived in South Carolina visited her often and was very supportive emotionally and financially. Her father, Jim Carlisle detached himself totally during this crisis. Jan stated that her lease was not renewed and the management at Post Crossing harassed her into leaving. Jan worried about being able to lease another apartment with her status as a "convicted felon". She was initially placed on Intensive Probation & House Arrest for 7 months (July 1, 1997 to Jan 31, 1998) and had a 7:00p.m. curfew. She was classified as a Domestic Violence offender in the probation department and was monitored very closely. Jan gradually became less depressed, started working and devoted a considerable amount of energies toward researching the law & statutes, filing Grievances, contacting legal organizations, finding an appellate lawyer, researching case law at law school libraries and on the Internet. An Evidentiary Hearing has been scheduled for November 23, 1999 at which time Jan's new lawyer will present evidence which will prove prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel. If you would like to contact Jan, her "e-mail address" is [email protected]. A defense fund has been set up to help Jan and her mother, Sarah. Carlisle Legal Defense Fund First Union National Bank LEGAL LINKS OF INTEREST http://www.clr.org |
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