The Murder of Jeffrey Dryden: The Grim Truth Surrounding Male Domestic Abuse (15 page)

FALSE
: According to a study that looked specifically into this
claim, it was found that mothers who sought sole custody won sole
custody 65% of the time as opposed to fathers that made the same
request, (Rosenthal, 2005)

Though there are more than over 100 or
so myths and falsities on Domestic Abuse that people quote in the
press and television every day the purpose of this chapter was not
to expose every fictional fact

Rather, it was to show you that not
everything you read, not everything you have been led to believe,
or told by the media or your teachers is fully correct, thus before
totally stating what you believe is a fact, one should make sure to
do their own research.

Never rely solely on the hearsay of
others. If you have a question about something find the answer
yourself and keep searching until you find what you’re looking for.
Too many people this day and age see an event on the news or read
just the headline in a paper and allow themselves to believe it to
be fact.

In some way this is what I believe the
members of Chiquita’s family has done. They heard Chiquita preach
her side of things as tears rained down the side of her face and
excepted it as an unquestionable truth, never seeing the bigger
picture, never allowing themselves to take in the possibility that
what she said could be wrong, could be made up to protect
herself.

In the legal field one of the first
things you are taught in the basic 101 introduction to law class,
is to expect your clients to lie to you, expect that for every
truth they tell you, there are three lies along with it. No one
wants to come to a lawyer in a bad light. Everyone wants the person
defending them to believe they are truly innocent, that they did no
wrong, yet at times, this idealism can stand against you and harm
you in the end.

It is only human to lie to protect our
own ass. Though most of us will claim we would never do that, until
you’re at that point, where you’re facing life in jail or freedom,
you will truly never know what you will or will not do.

Falling back again to the legal field,
we expect to be lied to, even by those people we are there to
defend. If you are so willing to lie to the person that holds your
fate, that holds your life in the palm of your hand, why does it
seem so unfathomable for people to think that she too wouldn’t lie
to them as well? Think about this for a moment and allow it to
really fill your mind, allow it to wonder unrelenting. Remember
those memories of yourself as a child and the value your parents
had on you then as well as now, then ask yourself, if it came down
to it, could you afford to lose your mothers faith in
you?

Would you be willing to tell the truth
if there was a chance, even small, that they would turn their back
upon you and alienate you from the family forever? Excommunicated
for all eternity?

CHAPTER 15:

THE PASSIVE SEARCH
OF

CHIQUITA RENA
FIZER

According to a study based around the
use of Social Networks, “over the last year, 45% of the employers
questioned in the study stated they were using social networks to
screen job candidates, (Wortham, August 20, 2009).

After reviewing their job candidate’s
social network page, 35% of the employers questioned in the survey
stated that they “Did not offer a job to the candidate based on the
content uncovered on the social networking site,” Furthermore, when
asked what they found that convinced them that the candidate was
not what they were looking for. The top answers they gave were,
“Provocative pictures, reference to drinking and drug use, acts of
violence or use of violent language, bad-mouthing of previous
employers and colleagues and poor outline communication
skills.”

Through the previous chapters in this
book, we have read the comments and statements made by Chiquita’s
family about the type of person she is. Such comments as you may
recall like the one made in chapter 5 where one of Chiquita’s
cousins stated, “I love my cousin with all my heart and know as
well as the rest of my family and our friends that she would never
do something of this nature.“

As well as the comments made by one of
her aunts in several other chapters where she stated. “My niece is
a very nice young woman as well, she would never do something like
this ever…,” and; “My niece is a beautiful young educated person
and was just about to attend college. Never hung out in the
streets, knows nothing about the street ways and life. A schoolgirl
period!”

Thus, using the same principle premise
as many employers do when wanting to find out the true character of
their potential hire, I did the same when I went to Facebook and
found Chiquita’s Facebook page. One of the first things I did when
I came upon her page was check out her pictures, noticing that she
only had about three pictures total in her picture
sub-menu.

All three photos were of her standing
in front of the bathroom mirror holding her cellphone in front of
her as she shot provocative pictures of herself in various types
clothing. One of the first pictures I notice was one of her where
she wore what appeared to be a black dress that came down to her
knee. In the photo, she held her tongue out as if scrolling it over
the contour of her lips as she took the pic.

The second photo was of her standing in
a short pink shirt and tight blue shorts as she looked at the back
screen of her phone as if trying to figure out how to work the
camera feature. The third picture was of her in what I believe to
be a provocative position, in this pic she was facing to the side
so the picture showed her entire body profile. She was bent halfway
down as if partially crouching; her back was curved, arching
upward, as was her butt. She was wearing the same pink shirt, which
was pressed slightly up over her stomach, revealing more of her
upper body to the camera. However, in this picture, she was
standing in what appeared to be black laced panties, which curved
upward over her butt, revealing her bare cheeks to the camera. Not
quite the picture I would expect the average, “Schoolgirl,” to
wear.

After checking out her pictures I then
went to her profile page and found the following information listed
by her about herself and her likes, dislikes and so on. I leave it
to you to decide what kind of person Chiquita actually is, compared
to that of the one her family claimed.

Favorite quote:

“
ima do me you do u because
at the end of the day its all about me.”

Sexy ~n~you know ~it~

Favorite Music:

“
Anything I can shake my
ass too”

About Chiquita:

“
Im a kool fun person very
outgoing luv to laugh in a total hottie duh lol im down for watever
long as its fun im outspoken in yeah a flirt so take me as i am or
fuckoff” – not the God fearing type as we were told
about…

Though I cannot guarantee it will be up
for much longer, I urge you to check out her Facebook page for
yourself and look upon the pictures I described as well as the
information about her listed above. Currently her Facebook page is
set for public display, meaning anyone and anything she posts on it
is open for the public to view.

Currently at the time of this printing,
the address to her Facebook page is:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001187127369&sk=wall

CHAPTER 16:

OCTOBER 20 2010 – MAY 14
2011

COASTER RIDE FROM
HELL

If you were to ask Paula or anyone else
from Jeff’s immediate family about the seven months that followed,
they would keenly tell you that those seven months were like a
coaster ride from Hell. It seemed from the start, Chiquita was
doing everything she could to stretch things out as long as
possible, thus, extending the pain and torment upon her victim’s
family and preventing justice from being served.

Originally, the trial date for Jeff’s
hearing was scheduled around the second week in March 2011.
However, in February, the trial date was pushed back until around
April, as Chiquita court records indicate that she and her Public
Defender at the time were not getting along and thus it was felt
that she should be given new council.

In May, her trial date was pushed back
again, this time until June as the new public defender requested
additional time to investigate the claims, and charges against
Chiquita, and examine the Prosecution’s evidence. Strangely, later
that month, Paula was informed by the Prosecution that Chiquita was
ready to take the original plea offered to her back in October. It
was believed, though not said of course, that Chiquita’s new
council agreed with her previous one when it came to her case, and
thought that taking the deal offer was more than being kind to her
considering the plausible outcome she was facing if (and when)
found guilty.

Consequently, on May 22 2011, all of
Jeff’s family and friends that could be there that day arrived once
more in a unified pack. Ready, willing, and wanting to hear the
words of Guilty fall from her lips, a simple word that would have
brought so many to tears just to hear it from her… a word, sadly
she would never come to utter in court, though guilty she would
come to be.

CHAPTER 17: MAY 24,
2011

PLEA ACCEPTED…

Though it was not the perfect outcome
we as Jeff’s family and friends were hoping for, and though it took
much longer than it should have that day, ultimately it was an
outcome that all of us could live with.

In the course of that day, Chiquita had
single-handedly brought Paula and her family further down than
anyone could have expected. At the beginning of the proceedings
that morning, despite the express advice of her counsel, Chiquita
withdrew her plea, switching it back to a plea of not
guilty.

Oddly enough it was only after she
spoke to her aunt and two other family members, (who interestingly
enough seemed to be the only people there this time to support
Chiquita versus the 30 to 40 that were there at her pretrial
hearing) that she again changed her plea back from guilty to a plea
of no-contest. This no-contest plea was offered in light of Paula’s
wishes to bring an end to this trial, and allow her son to finally
rest in peace with the justice he so rightly deserved.

Furthermore, it seems that Chiquita’s
reasoning to change her plea that day was a result of several
causes. Such reasons as, for example, the Prosecution informing her
that if she did not take the plea by the end of the day, that the
deal would be removed from the table and the full charge of Murder
in the second degree, with a request for the highest amount of time
to be served sought.

On top of this notice by the
prosecution, when Chiquita first pleaded not guilty that morning,
she made a request to the judge for a new defense lawyer, (this
would make it her second public defender she had gone through)
which Judge Johnston was more than willing to allow. However, in
light of her previous decision with other Public Defenders the
judge informed her that she would have to foot the bill for another
lawyer if she so choose to get a new one.

All of these factors, as well as the
plea from her other relatives and aunt to accept the deal weighed
heavily upon Chiquita that day, yet ultimately she decided to plead
no-contest to the charges, still unable to stand up as an adult,
unable to break away from her mother’s bosom and admit the sin she
did that morning.

Judge Johnston, wanting to make sure
the charge stuck, and that she could not appeal it successfully
later on, went through each step of the process with her,
explaining to Chiquita that a plea of no-contest, in the courts and
public eye was still a plea of Guilt. Furthermore, Johnston
explained the sentencing to her, making sure that with each step
Chiquita confirmed with a verbal affirmation, so if needed, it
could be shown later as evidence in an attempted appeal of the
charges.

When it came to sentencing, Johnston
made sure to let her know that in the courts eyes she was pleading
guilty to the charge of 2nd degree murder of Jeffrey Scott Dryden.
Furthermore, Johnston made sure to inform her that though the plea
deal stated she would only spend a minimum of 14 years in prison,
the charge does allow for a maximum of 45 years (instead of life if
she was found guilty by a jury).

Chiquita affirmed this with a verbal
affirmation, an affirmation her family members that day knew she
was pleading. Hence, this is why I find it ostentatious that during
the sentencing hearing a month later, Chiquita’s aunt made a
mockery of the court system, while at the same time embarrassing
her family and her niece when she brazenly broke down. Falling to
her knees in the courtroom, stating that the whole ordeal was an
accident… a freak accident... how absurd the transparent
notion.

CHAPTER 18:

LETTERS TO THE
JUDGE

When I first starting writing this
book, one of the things I knew I wanted to include, were the
letters to the judge that many of us wrote as our way of having a
final say to the man that would decide the fate of Jeff’s killer,
Chiquita Fizer.