Interview with Don Meehan: Singer, Songwriter, Producer, Writer, and Prison Right's Advocate

I met Don Meehan on Myspace. He clicked on my "Jailhouse Snitch Testimony Kills" page, and requested to be my friend. When I went to view his page, I was highly impressed with the song that was playing there. The title "Courtroom Brutality" was a song, that Don had written for his nephew Danny who indeed was railroaded and snitched on by a career "Jailhouse Snitch". You see, these snitches do this for a living, and help prosecuters get convictions of innocent people. The "win" is all that matters.

Don had a great idea, and asked me to join forces with him and other prison rights activist to start a website and forum named "Snitche's Hall Of Fame", which is presently in the making. It will be an online database where people will post snitches names and other information, to use to compare with other cases, and show how these professional snitches make a living out of this.

I asked Don to do an interview with me because I want to help promote his song "Courtroom Brutality", because I feel everyone should hear this song. I also wanted to know what Don's views were on America's justice system.

Don, please give us a Bio of yourself.

Well, I was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, where George Jones and I used to sing against each other in a contest for free tickets every Saturday morning at a local theater. I went on the road right after high school and wound up a year later singing and playing with a band in New York right on Broadway in Times Square, near the big ball drop.

My first recording contract was with RCA Victor with a song I wrote. And then, I headed back down south to Shreveport, Louisiana and became a regular on the Louisiana Hayride. It was named the "Cradle of Stars" where Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and a host of others sprang from.The army cut that short. Colonel Tom Parker wanted to manage me just before he found Elvis, but I had already signed with a lame guy in New York and couldn't get out of it.

After that, it was back to New York with more interests in recording engineering along with my singing, playing and writing. Of the many special moments to recall, was when I worked with Guy Lombardo and we played a Command Performance in New York for the Queen of England in 1957. All pomp and whatever. Speaking of '57, every New Years Eve, they show the 1957 version, where I'm playing bass with Lombardo when they dropped the ball in Times Square. In 1959 I did an old time album with music from the early 1900's that that has become a classic. It is now in the Smithsonian. They took over some collections and sell that record today, The Song and Dance Man. It's on the Internet now at http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/trackdetail.aspx?itemid=9582

I will soon have it on my site at MYSPACE. It was like an impression of how they would sing in the old days. Right after that I had to turn down an offer to go with the Four Freshmen when they started up. But I was entrenched in New York and they were in L.A.

After a three month studio job in the radio and TV department at the UN in New York, I got an offer to work at Columbia Records. While I was there, recording, mixing and editing the records of the stars, I was also out moonlighting in all the outside New York studios singing backup behind another list of knowns and unknowns. Our backup group then became the top TV commercial recording group in New York, singing on every commercial from Pepsi Cola to Trans World Airlines. I also sang cartoon themes for Paramount Pictures. The Columbia Records job (later sold to Sony) lasted thirty-two years and brought me at least thirty-two Gold and Platinum awards and a world of recording and producing experience that I continue to use. A few of those Gold and Platinum (and some not) are Barbara Streisand, Tony Bennett, Simon and Garfunkel, Looking Glass, Bob Dylan, Donovan, Manhattans, Bruce Springsteen, E Street Band, Billy Joel, Sly Stone, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Beatles, Chicago, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Kris Kristofferson, etc. A few of my engineering credits come up by clicking on here.

I also have about twelve or fifteen single records as an artist out there on various labels including Columbia, Epic and Date. The most memorable recording experience was with Bob Dylan recording of the classic Desire album, and Hurricane, that he wrote and recorded to publicize the wrongful conviction of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. While we were doing that album, I was also fighting for custody of my kids in the most corrupt county in the country (Nassau) on Long Island. The New York party boss there, whose license plate was GOP-1, was a friend of my ex-wife and owned all the judges in the county. And so, a couple of them got paid by my ex ($15,000 she once admitted) to sock it to me. The Feds finally caught up with him and he did his time and earned his downfall. Newsday reported that he "attracted the attention of federal and state prosecutors who spent much of the 1970s looking for evidence that he had crossed the line separating the political from the criminal." . Hopefully, Dr. Robert Damino, whom I will tell a little more about later, and I, had just a little to do with that probe. Damino, a lawyer and a psychiatrist, helped me write a lengthy Affidavit that went around to a lot of people and the press, and may have been a bit of a push for the supervisor at the Justice Department at that time, Rudolph Giuliani, to retry and convict Margiotta. See:
So, you see, Dee, I am a hell raiser for justice. And I guess I believe in the cliché, "What goes around comes around."

Your song "Courtroom Brutality," please tell us why you wrote it.

Well, it's actually the true story about my nephew. My knowledge of what I call "Legal Injustice" all started when I learned all about judges and lawyers during the time in New York that I mentioned before, and how they are all actors. My nephew put it so very clearly in his last letter, "It all depends on who puts on the best act in the courtroom." And how sadly true that is. If the millions of naive people out there only knew. The only time one even comes close to knowing is when it affects you or it happens to a loved one. They even have acting schools for lawyers, I learned. They can charm juries with their presentations. I learned this from an acting coach I had in New York and Dr. Damino, who went to bat for me and my kids. He knew all the dirt and where the skeletons were buried. We fought the bastards seventy-seven times in New York courts. If it wasn't for him we would have all been down the drain. They crucified him and his law and medical practice. I finally got the kids but they bankrupted us all. These bad memories have stayed with me all these years and I have written a book about it all (not yet published) titled Best Interests Of The Children. It was Unbelievable! 60 Minutes and Geraldo were interested in going national with it until they learned who was running the Nassau County politics. All of those events and memories have left a very bad taste in my mouth about so-called "justice" in this country.

A year ago I was contacting all my nieces and nephews to tie up some family estate matters. One of them had been in jail and I didn't know very much about his case and was even reluctant to contact him. I had never even communicated with anyone in prison and it really felt strange. But we began to write back and forth and he started to send me some of his pro se writs he had filed and lost. Finally, I got his entire file and became obsessed with studying it. I discovered that he was framed and totally screwed and had absolutely no one interested in helping him. I started calling people, obtaining information, discovered exculpatory evidence. I love to write, so I wrote a script for a docudrama, a stinging affidavit, and then, decided that a song is best the way to America's heart. So, with all my talents I decided that I must write and record a song about Danny's case. And now I want the whole world to hear Courtroom Brutality. It's the true story about Danny's case that tells it like it is. So, now, we have only a few weeks left to file another writ, and we need all the help and support we can get.

So, with that said I'd like to make a request. Would you consider adding to your pleas regarding jailhouse snitches only in Capital cases? Please include all the other wrongful convictions that actually take away life from the inmate as well as his/her family.

Although I do focus on Capital cases, I support any inmate who has been a victim of a lying jailhouse snitch. There are many other wrongful convictions, false DNA, unused testimony, false eyewitness reports, coerced witnesses, etc.

I understand your nephew was sentenced to a natural life sentence, can you tell us about his case?

It was actually ninety-nine years, but you may as well say it is life. I love the line I wrote, "I'll be a hundred and thirty when I'm free." It really makes one think of the reality of it all, I think. Danny was railroaded. He had been to a crawfish boil that night with his live-in girl friend and had consumed eighteen or twenty beers, and was close to dying himself with his blood alcohol level. All his friends and co-workers knew he was an alcoholic and had frequent blackouts. And certain ones knew his habits and about his licensed guns. We believe the girl friend either had a secret jealous lover on the side, or the jealous husband hired a killer to put on a mask and go in Danny's house, take Danny's gun and kill her when Danny had passed out. The husband had a definite motive: A huge insurance policy, a will in his favor, the desire to end the divorce and custody battles, and an end to the alimony. Danny said he woke up to a "commotion," couldn't find his cel phone and ran to the next door neighbor to call 911. The paramedics were there in a few short minutes, and the record shows that the police made them wait outside for ten precious minutes. There were no prints on the gun, no gun residue on Danny and Danny remembers nothing. He was definitely in a blackout. Danny's court appointed attorney was advised that the state had a weak case. And then, Gary Wayne Harris, a career criminal who was in the same holding cell with Danny, collected false information and went to the DA and snitched. He lied on the stand along with several other state witnesses, including the cops. Six days later the snitch was free of a grand jury indictment on a third felony bringing 15 to life. It is believed that the police, the DA, the medical examiner, and probably the judge, all conspired to convict Danny, since DA John Kimbrough needed a conviction. Along with three former witnesses, I have now found three new witnesses who will swear that snitch, Gary Wayne Harris, told them he lied on the stand for the DA to get the felony reduced to a misdemeanor. I say the snitch's name loud and clear so if anyone who reads this knows of his shenanigans in other cases that they might come forward. One witness tells me that Gary Wayne Harris worked for the DA., and, that it was his testimony that sent Danny away.

The judge in his case, Pat Clark, was definitely in a conflict of interest. He had issued a heavy restraining order on the husband for wife abuse and then lifted it. A day later, the husband kidnapped the kids and took them from Texas to Pennsylvania and filed for custody. This was just several months after the case that became the start of the Amber Alert System had begun on January 13, 1996, when Amber Hagerman was abducted in Arlington, Texas, about 300 mile away. Clark and the DA kept that from the jury, who brought a guilty verdict in less than two hours. Finally an internationally known psychic detective has assured me of Danny's innocence, and what really happened, and who the real killer is. I have spent several months composing my thirty page affidavit complaint with about thirty-five exhibits, naming the police, the DA, the medical examiner and the judge, which will be filed with the Texas Bar, the Texas Judicial Committee, the press, and whoever else in interested. We are pushing for an investigation into the corruption as well as a campaign to re-open the investigation into who the real killer might be.

Does he get visits, and phone calls?

He called me last July (2007) and although he gets one call every three months, it was the only call he had in over a year. The nine minute collect call cost me over $25. This is just one more way to screw the inmate and their relatives to discourage contact as much as possible. His kids have been kept from any communication and he has only seen them once in eleven years, just before he went in. He has only been able to watch them grow through school pictures and school records. And he is 400 miles away from any relatives in Beaumont, Texas. He hasn't had any visits that I know of, and we are trying now to get him transferred to Beaumont on a hardship basis where his sister and brother live.

What in your opinion is wrong with the justice system?

Everything, literally everything. I CALL IT ALL LEGAL INJUSTICE, because whatever justice, or rather injustice, the DA's and the judges dish out they make it legal and almost impossible to undo. The poor man, like Danny, has no dream team like O.J and Phil Spector, and so they must struggle to try to learn some law to appeal etc. And there just aren't enough good hearted lawyers around to help everyone who needs it for no pay. Fortunately, Danny has learned a lot but has still lost all of his appeals so far. In his last letter he told me about winning an appeal for a fellow inmate which was published, and the inmate was set free. Most lawyers out there dream of and yearn to get published.

My bad experiences I related before, I think, also tells some of the reasons. Corruption, total corruption and politics with all concerned. Bribes, the police, the medical examiners, the lawyers, the district attorneys and the judges. Our peers on juries are really naive and know none of this, and can be charmed into believing anything. There is no dedication to telling the truth. And contrary to the statement, people are "innocent until proven guilty," just the opposite is the norm. They read them their "right to remain silent" and then, continue to secretly record and push and push to get a statement. They offer a "deal" to admit to a lesser crime that you didn't commit, so they can dispose of it and put you away. And they pay jailhouse snitches to lie. And once you are incarcerated, it appears that they do everything possible to alienate the inmate from family, and certainly not promote phone calls and visits. It's not bad enough that they are incarcerated; the many restrictions are enough to keep one in a state of constant depression. My nephew was transferred from the Texas Robertson Unit in 2006, where he was allowed to be beat up and almost killed by three inmates of a different race. They beat him, bashed his head with a piece of concrete and continued to beat him while unconscious. He was the only one of many injured who was rushed to the hospital and almost died. Who was protecting this man from undue tyrannical barbaric punishment? Sometimes it takes a week to get a letter to Danny and a week to get one from him. He can't even use a computer nor listen to a CD. He can't even hear the song I wrote for him. The last I heard was that the judge and the district attorney, after a hundred or so years of being elected, are running once more for re-election, unopposed.

Recent studies have disclosed that 1 in 99 adults in the USA are incarcerated. Why do you think the numbers are so high?

Well, certainly, there is an awful lot of crime, and people just don't care about other people. They lie and cheat each other and to some a life is just meaningless. But I will also say that the corruption I have spoken of is also a big factor. I don't know what the figures are, but I am also aware that some people love to see others suffer. Are things really any different now than in Roman times? Burnings, crucifixion, gladiators and feeding the lions at the Roman Coliseum? Present day executions, hanging, firing squad, electric chair, lethal injection? People love it. There is growing evidence that harsh prison terms actually increase violent crime in our communities. After a long period of confinement with people even worse than themselves, the formerly incarcerated return to their old neighborhoods angrier and more dangerous than they were before. With the stigma of having been in prison, they have fewer opportunities to ever find legitimate employment to support themselves. That's why tough-on-crime politicians are really making our communities less safe And, then, you have someone like Sheriff Joe Arpaio here in Phoenix, who brags about his "tent city" and how little he spends to feed a prisoner. The people love him. Google his name and 147,000 references come up about this "wonderful" SOB. His tent city has saved the taxpayers and the living conditions are such that prisoners are outside in all kinds of weather, with temperatures going from 120 in the summer to the 30's and 40's in the winter. With no air conditioning he justifies it by claiming that our service people in the desert of Iraq don't complain and are serving our country in those kinds of temperatures, so why should these prisoners complain? Can this kind of attitude toward human beings build anything other than hatred toward the prison system and all authority? And when one gets out of that or any other similar hole and back to society, what chance is there of a warm and decent attitude toward any kind of authority? Here is an interesting quote from prison planet.com: "Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County Arizona is the best example of everything that's wrong with the police force today. He is the epitomy of the way in which police are being trained to see the general public as their enemy... Lord Arpaio has officially been put on notice - we are watching you." And a quote from Snopes.com states: "...and the incarcerated are fed only two meals a day, with green bologna sometimes appearing on the menu." An AP report says: "He has jail meals down to 40 cents a meal and charges inmates for them." And so this mean SOB, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, is loved by all the voters.

What are your goals and aspirations for the future?

Well, as I mentioned before, I have written a script for a docudrama about Danny's case that I want to produce for television. We have the music already and a Texas band in mind and a lot of interest. I have engaged an internationally known psychic, Robert Petro, who has solved many murder cases and he has given us extremely strong vibes that the victim's husband hired a hit man and framed Danny while he was in an alcoholic blackout. If any of your readers follow the TV series Medium, they won't scoff at the idea of a psychic, since hundreds of law enforcement agencies have solved their crimes this way. I called Alison Dubois here in Phoenix of Medium fame, but she was too busy and so I contacted Robert Petro, in New York. I'd like to hear from anyone out there interested in helping or being involved with this project. In the music scene I just recently completed recording America The Beautiful, performing a one man 232 voice overdubbed "Chorus of One," with me alone, singing all the parts. It will be released on CD and music video in commemoration of the 232nd anniversary of "America the Beautiful," on July 4, 2008. Guinness World Records has invited me to enter the accomplishment into their records, saying that no one has ever attempted such a feat. I will continue my music and I'd like to lend my talents and ideas to Alzheimer's research. I believe that there are many aspects of music and sounds, tones, scales, chords, certain pitches, etc. that should be experimented with, along with sleep listening. Music and harmony and certain resonances of pitch, I believe should be totally researched to see what effects it has on the brain of those afflicted.

How can the public help spread the words in your song "Courtroom Brutality"?

I guess just by getting everyone possible to hear it, spread the word about it, get it on local radio, and the Internet. The lyric is below. I'd like to break it in a specific area like Houston or Dallas on local radio, as well as get it heard everywhere on the Internet. Adding it to a site as you did, to play when clicked on, will add tremendously to the listener base. The CD will be released soon and will be on several music sites including mine. And I can Email an MP3 of the song and/or send a CD to anyone who desires to plug it.

At this time, if there is anything you wish to add, please do so

I came up with a great idea regarding jailhouse snitches. Most all of them have a paper trail. We know that the one in Danny's case, Gary Wayne Harris, SSN: 462-29-6227, and also possibly using a second one, 462-29-0227, Texas Driver License - two addresses, two dates of birth: 11/1963 and 11/62.
We are told that he has a history of "working for DA John Kimbrough" in Orange, Texas, snitching. There has to be someone else out there who has been convicted on the testimony of this worm and/or has info on where he can be found. Since we have been probing, we believe the DA told him to disappear. His testimony of the truth might bust Kimbrough and put him in his place. Let's form a network and spread the word far and wide where we can get all the names of snitches possible and tie them together and show the lawmakers that they make a career out of it. We could publish their names, photos, etc. everywhere and maybe get help from the media.

FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
While doing this interview I just heard from someone, who had read my Profile on my MYSPACE site, telling me about Gary Wayne Harris. Two days ago he was arrested again. I have now learned that it is another bad check charge and his third felony. He got off the last one when he snitched on Danny. So, now, it looks like Gary Wayne Harris will be facing life for the third felony. So, now I am really charged up about us starting the "SNITCHERS HALL OF SHAME." And I can't wait to see if he might retract his lying testimony in Danny's case. Psychic Robert Petro told us that the snitch was hiding out somewhere "west" of Orange, Texas. And he was right. He was hiding out in Chambers County and arrested in Jefferson County, both just west of Orange.

Below are the lyrics to "Courtroom Brutality" by Don Meehan. I urge everyone to go to Don's myspace and listen to this song.

COURTROOM BRUTALITY (The ultimate wrongly convicted prisoner's protest)
CHORUS
I'm in for ninety-nine years behind these prison walls,
'Cause a cold blooded killer framed me.
But that's a better deep hole than doin' life without parole.
So, my kids will be a hundred when I'm free.
I know the DA swayed the jury that I pulled the trigger.
They said "guilty in the first degree."
I'm just an innocent casualty of courtroom brutality
And I'll be a hundred and thirty when I'm free

VERSE 1
A poor man doesn't even have a half of a chance
In the great halls of justice today. There's some
Shaded hated DAs who intimidate and berate you
And they cheat at their games they make you play.
There ain't no dream team to defend you, and the cards are stacked against you,
'Cause the DA and his cronies hold the ace
Then under false pretense invent some tampered evidence
That'll put you away in your tiny little space.
VERSE 2
What the jury didn't hear about is what I didn't do
And I'll swear on a Bible that's true.
They had my kids and my family believing in this travesty
Of justice I could never undo.
They paid a jailhouse snitch to come and lie through his teeth
Saying I told him how I did the crime.
After a twenty minute defense that sealed my imprisonment.
No wonder they got me doin' time.
© Copyright 2007 Don Meehan