James Mercer

James R. Mercer#

James Mercer

110598

SCI 100 Corrections Drive; Stanley, WI 54768

REQUEST FOR SERIOUS RELEASE CONSIDERATION

1.   Name and number: James R. Mercer - #110598.

2.   Birth Date (BD): 5/14/56 (Please note: prison records erroneously give my year of birth as 1959.).

3.   My age now is: 63 years old.

4.   The date I was incarcerated: 10/20/79.

5.   My age at the time of incarceration: I was 23 years old (Please note: prison records erroneously give my age at time of incarceration as being 20 years old.)

6.   Years in prison: 40.

7.   Offense description: First Degree Intentional Homicide, contrary to §940.01 of the Wisconsin Statutes.

8.   Length of sentence: Life.

9.   Parole eligibility date: 11 years, 3 months from the time of the commencement of sentence.

10. I'm currently incarcerated at: Stanley Correctional Institution in Stanley, Wisconsin.

11. MR/PMR DATE: None.

12. Original parole eligibility date: On or about 9/25/90.

13. Programs taken:

A. Acquired G.E.D. on June 4th, 1999;

B. Received my Building Services Diploma from M.A.T.C. on May 18th, 2007 w/3.5 C.P.A.;

C. Received my Certificate of Completion for Anger Management on 12/15/16;

D. Received my second vocational Diploma for MicroSoft Computer Applications from Chippewa Valley Technical College (C.V.T.C.) on October 26th, 2018; and

E. I completed the Carey Guides for CBP/T4C on 12/5/18. I have no other programs to take and I have maintained employment since then.

14. Number of Parole Hearings?: My-social-worker says 8 times within last 20 years.

15. Number and length of deferments: Between 1990 and 1998 I received 12 month defers; from 1998 and 2001 I was out of State, so I didn't get to see the parole Commission; as far as I know I didn't start seeing the parole commission again - until 2005, but the only records I still have from seeing the parole commission are from 2008 - I was given an 18 month deferment; on 3/22/2010 I was given a 14 month deferment; The next records I have for seeing the parole commission are from 2014, where I received my first 11 month deferment; In 2015 I received another 11 month deferment; In 2016 I received another 11 month deferment; In 2017 I received another 11 month deferment; and in 2018 I received another 11 month deferment, with an "endorsement" from the parole commission that I should be sent "...to reduced security for transition purposes, if you are cleared for this movement by clinical services," which "they" did a couple of months later.

16. Official reason for denial/deferment: . "Your release at this time would involve an unreasonable risk to the public (1997); Your institutional conduct has NOT been satisfactory, You have NOT served sufficient time for punishment, Your program participation has NOT been satisfactory (2008); Release at this time would involve an unreasonable risk to the public, You have NOT served sufficient time for punishment, Your program participation has NOT been satisfactory (2010); Your program participation has NOT been satisfactory, Release at this time would involve an unreasonable risk to the public, You have NOT served sufficient time for punishment (2014); Your program participation has NOT been satisfactory, Release at this time would involve an unreasonable risk to the public, You have NOT served sufficient time for punishment (2015); Your program participation has NOT been satisfactory, Release at this time would involve an unreasonable risk to the public, You have NOT served sufficient time for punishment (201); Your institution conduct has been marred by multiple (meaning one conduct report) ruin-or reports of misconduct, Your program participation has NOT been satisfactory,. Release at this time would involve an unreasonable risk to the public (2017); You have NOT served sufficient time for punishment and Release at this time would involve an unreasonable risk to the public (2018)."

17. Do you have a verifiable support system? Yes, my brother in Lafayette, IN - Wes Mercer at 765-772-8808. My release support needs are pretty simple: I'll need food, shelter, clothes (i.e., winter, work, and general clothing, etc.), and access to a medical and dental clinic to supply me with insulin and diabetic supplies and dental care, and-finally I'll need transportation to and from work until I can do this for myself. My brother Wes says he is setting these things up for me even today so they will be ready when I'm paroled. I think the hardest hurddle I have to overcome is to find someone who'll hire me because I've been in prison for 40 years. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Final statement:

The three excuses that the Parole Commission uses the most to deny me a parole, are, "Due to the seriousness of the offense you have NOT served sufficient time for punishment," "Release at this time would involve an unreasonable risk to the public," and "Release at this time would depreciate from the seriousness of the offense (19901998)." The Wisconsin Legislature showed in 1979 that "they" intended a person who was convicted of the crime of First Degree Intentional Homicide could one day earn his/her freedom after he/she had served a minimum of 11 years, 3 months in prison if he/she demonstrated a good conduct history like I have in the last 5+ years. Therefore, when the Wisconsin Legislature set the parole eligibility for First Degree Murder at 11 years-3 months on a life sentence, 'they" were in fact saying to the public at large that such a person "had served sufficient time for punishment." So why am I still in prison after 40 years? There is nothing I can do about the seriousness of the offense that I am in prison for, and for the Parole Commission to use this purely subjective excuse as a reason to deny me a parole is not only insane, but it also shows that the Parole Commission seems to have even less regard for human life than "they" accuse me of once having. I guarantee you that because I am a "practicing" Christian I sin not the same "wild man" I once was in 1979.

Since 2007 I have acquired two Associate of Arts degrees in Building Services and Maintenance from M.A.TC. (2007) and in Microsoft Computer Applications from Chippewa Valley Technical College (C.V.T.C., 2018). I have also written a book on Christianity called "What the Bible Teaches" that I'm in the process of typing up for publication from the handwritten copies I originally produced it in. My book is 23 chapters long at this point and by the time I am finished writing it I hope it'll be 42 chapters in length. In addition, I do my best to stay employed at one job or another and though I sin a Master Carpenter/Cabinet Maker by trade, I don't find much opportunity in prison to practice my vocation. If I was to be paroled today, I would seek employment as a Carpenter/Cabinet Maker that makes between $15 and $35 per hour as a means to support myself and provide for my retirement, which will probably be when I can't physically work anymore.

All I'm asking for from any governmental entity out of fairness, is a second chance to prove to the people around me that I am a better, changed and matured man that's no threat to anyone. I wish the death of my seven week old infant son in 1979 had never occurred and if I could trade places with my son in his grave, so that he would be alive instead of me, I'd do so in a heartbeat!!! I can absolutely guarantee in all honesty that if I am finally ever paroled that I won't ever come back to prison with a new case charging me with committing a new crime, especially for a violent crime!!! But more importantly, since I don't drink alcohol or do illicit drugs, I'll never be revocated because of these serious infractions to my parole.