Sentencing

When we came into the courtroom, Patricia was already there, sitting at the defense table. She was dressed in an orange jumpsuit with shackles on her ankles, around her waist, and on her wrists. Her hair is long, to the middle of her back. She is thin, as she was the last time we saw her, more than a year ago.

The two attorneys, Mr. Allison for the People, and Mr. Bastian for the defense, met with Judge Dixon in chambers for about 20 minutes and the hearing began about 1:50 PM. When it began, the jailer who was present in the courtroom unlocked Patricia’s handcuffs.

At this hearing, Chris was supported by me and my wife, my oldest son John, my mother, my brother Scott, and his wife. Sarah, Chris' mother, was there as well. For Patricia, only her mother and her mother’s husband were there in court and neither of them said anything on Patricia’s behalf. It is apparent that Patricia has totally lost any support she may have had and it seems like Patricia is the only one—except for maybe her grandmother, Georgia—who still believes that she is innocent.

There was a little panic at first as Judge Dixon announced that the evaluation by the Probation Department was nearly a year old. For a moment, we were afraid that the judge would order an updated probation report and postpone sentencing yet again. But then, after looking at the file for a while, she said that since nothing substantial had changed in that year, she would go ahead with the sentencing, using the report that was done last year.

Next, Judge Dixon asked Mr. Allison if there was anyone who wanted to speak on behalf of the victim. After some discussion, it was decided that my mom would go first, me second, and Sarah last because they needed to find a missing form that Sarah had submitted some time during the past year. One after the other we were brought up to sit at the prosecution table, before a microphone, to make our statements. The prosecution table was to the left of the defense table. As we gave our statements, Mr. Bastian was to our immediate right, with Patricia sitting on the other side of him.

My mom read a poem she had written:

Requiem for Chris MacCallum

by Beverly MacCallum

Had we known

It was the last day

We would spend together,

We would have cried and clung

To one another.

Instead we were joyous

Talked and laughed,

Never dreaming

That we were creating memories

To last forever.

But we did not know.

Oh, beloved grandson,

Vivacious and young,

Is that you on the news?

You they are talking about,

Reporting your death?

Is that your body,

That was found, shot, dead,

Dumped in a woods?

My grandson frightened, suffering, murdered

Dying alone.

Why?

Why were you taken away?

Why, when you had so much

To live for, so much to give?

Will I ever understand why?

Can I ever forgive?

I was brought to the table next, but it took me a couple of minutes to compose myself after hearing Mom read her poem, as I am sure you can understand. I read my statement, which is posted at:

• My Statement

I put a lot of feeling into my reading and I hope that I transmitted some of that emotion to Patricia. It would please me to know that she is consumed with regret, even nightmares about what she has done.

Sarah spoke last and many of her remarks were directed at Patricia. She talked about how happy Chris was and how long-lived her side of the family is, how much longer Chris likely had to live, and how he would have seen Cora graduate, get married, have his grandchildren. She said that Chris was a good man and how hard it is to find a good man. She also said that it is difficult for good people to understand bad people.

Addressing Patricia, she said that she couldn’t understand why you would take Cora’s daddy away. When you decided to kill him, did you realize that you were also eliminating yourself from the rest of the family? Now Cora has no dad and no mom. She said that Chris died for his family and that you killed him. It was so stupid and I miss Chris so much.

Sarah said that Chris was an earth angel and that the world was a better place with him in it. She said that now he is a heavenly angel. Addressing Patricia directly, she said that she knows that while you were killing Chris, Christ was there standing next to him. She finished with: Why did you kill Cora’s daddy? Why did you leave Cora without a father and without a mother? Why did you do that to Cora? Shame on you!

As you can imagine, this was a very emotional experience for us all. During these three statements, Patricia averted her eyes, by looking up and away to the right. A couple of times she asked the bailiff for kleenex. That evening, John said that he would have hated to have to sit there and be the focus of those three statements.

Judge Dixon then asked Mr. Bastian if his client wanted to say anything and he said that she did. Patricia stood up and made a brief statement:

Your honor, I know you are just doing your job, but I did not kill my husband. I am sorry that all of you were fooled by Amber Lubbers. I hope that someday you come to realize that I am just as much of a victim here as everyone else. I felt that I just had to say something to the court.

Patricia spoke in a very weak voice, as though even she didn’t believe what she was saying. That statement actually had the opposite affect than she intended, it was so obvious that she was lying.

Next, Mr. Bastian cited a legal reference that seemed to say that two indeterminate sentences couldn’t be added together. (In other words, you shouldn’t be able to add 25 to life and 25 to life to get 50 to life.) Judge Dixon said that the case that Mr. Bastian was referring to was about probation, not criminal sentencing.

Judge Dixon said that she will adopt the recommendation for sentencing from the probation department, made a year ago.

Finally, Judge Dixon pronounced sentencing. She began by express condolences to us, Chris’ family. She said that it was impossible for her to imagine how we must feel, our pain and suffering. Since I had, in my statement, requested that Judge Dixon impose a life sentence on Patricia, she said that life in prison without the possibility of parole is something that must be decided on by the prosecution, at the beginning of the trial. It is not something that she can impose now.

She also talked about trust. She said that after the trust that children have for their parents, there is the trust that married couples have for each other. She said that to break that trust is especially callous and because of that, she would be imposing the higher sentences wherever there was a range of choices. Judge Dixon sentenced Patricia to 25 years to life for first degree murder plus 25 years to life for aggravated assault, for a total of 50 years to life. In addition, there were five other counts that carried a total of 29 years in jail, but the sentencing for these counts was stayed. Mr. Allison explained later that these additional special circumstances duplicated the two main counts and couldn’t be simply added on. They are there, though, should somehow Patricia win an appeal and one of the counts be dismissed (which is not going to happen), they would then kick in. Patricia was also sentenced to three years probation or parole at the end of her prison term.

Judge Dixon also required Patricia to repay restitution to the State of California ($10,000), to Sarah MacCallum ($18,873.58), and to Scott MacCallum ($8,654). She also left open my request for restitution (which I declined in my statement), should I change my mind. Considering that it would further inconvenience Patricia, I may file for restitution after all. I would ask for something in the neighborhood of $17-18,000 for expenses I have incurred throughout this long process.

The court apparently does not have the authority to require Patricia to give up the last name of MacCallum. Judge Dixon did not speak to that request at all.

There was some discussion about Patricia’s time served, to include the two-plus years Patricia has already been in jail. That matter was agreed to by the parties.

Finally, Mr. Bastian submitted a petition for an appeal to Judge Dixon and asked that Patricia be let out on bail pending the decision on the appeal. The judge accepted the appeal and denied bail. She said that Patricia would be turned over to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).

Mr. Allison met with us afterward and answered our questions, as he so graciously has throughout this process. He told us that the appeal that Mr. Bastian filed is the next step in the process that any convict has. He told us that the appeal process takes a few months to a couple of years and that we would be kept informed about it. He went on to say, that if Patricia had said anything during her statement to the court that would indicate that she had committed her crime, her appeal would be denied automatically. For example, if she simply apologized for what she had done, that would have negatively affected her appeal. What she said at the hearing was simply what she needed to say to give the appeal any kind of a chance. My comment: Don’t worry about an appeal. Patricia’s guilt was firmly established during her trial and the trial was conducted properly.

Mr. Allison told us that he doesn’t know much about the prison system, because once a convicted criminal leaves for state prison, Siskiyou County no longer has any involvement. Because of overcrowding in the county jail, Patricia will be moved to state prison as soon as possible, which should be Tuesday, January 27, 2015. She will probably go to the California Correctional Center in Susanville for processing and then on to either Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla (just north of Fresno) or to the California Institute for Women in Chino (southern California). The CDCR has an inmate locator on their website at:

http://inmatelocator.cdcr.ca.gov

No, I will not go visit her.

Here are links to the news reports of the sentencing:

http://www.ktvl.com/shared/news/top-stories/stories/ktvl_vid_15208.shtml

http://kobi5.com/news/local-news/item/medford-woman-sentenced-for-murder-of-her-husband.html#.VL-5isYmT8s

http://www.redding.com/news/local-news/da-medford-woman-sentenced-in-2012-murder

After the sentencing, we went out to dinner with the two detectives who were instrumental in bringing Patricia to justice. We have become quite close to them, as we have gone through this long process.

To those of you who have been reading this blog, thank you all for your support and encouragement.


End of Sentencing
Last update: 1/24/15 - Return to the Patricia MacCallum trial home page