A Letter from Jason Burkett

I received a letter today from Jason Burkett today and I wanted to share my feelings about it. I will tell you right up front that I will not bad mouth Jason or his family, it's not getting anyone anywhere. I wrote Jason about 3 weeks ago to tell him how I felt about him getting screwed at his trial and I also told him that Michael Perry is like a little brother to me. I'm not going to give you every little detail of what I said to him. If he wants to tell you what I said, that's up to him. I think Jason was more surprised than I was that he received a letter from me. He has heard of me and the disrespectful things I've said about him and his mother and was none too happy about it. I don't blame him at all. I was just as surprised when that letter arrived. The ironic thing is it was almost stuck to a letter from Michael Perry. Yep, they came the same day and were almost stuck together because of the bad weather we've been having here. I think both of them would be a little pissed if they knew that so being the asshole that I am, I'm going to tell Michael about it and I'm sure Jason will find out in due time.

The first thing I noticed in Jason's letter is that as mad as he is at me, he was still respectful and didn't cuss me out. Jason feels that because we're all talking bad about him that we are hurting his case. I could not disagree more. This forum is to publish opinion, thoughts and ideas and cannot be used in court as evidence with the exception being if someone had direct knowledge of the case and posted an article saying they were there or have new evidence that could be raised on appeal. But that would still be suspect in any court if the person did not identify themselves and all the legal stuff that goes with it. But having said all that, I can understand why he would feel that way, nobody likes to have people talk shit about them. He feels that because I continue to defend Michael Perry that I'm hurting his case. Again I disagree but that's his opinion and he is entitled to it.

Jason also emphasized that he doesn't want Michael Perry to be executed and on that point I could not agree more. I don't want Jason executed either, should he be tried and convicted again. I really want justice for the murder victims in this case but that does not include the death penalty. I think that whoever committed these murders should spend the rest of their lives in prison with no chance of parole. I think that Jason and Michael were forced to be enemies even though neither of them wants to be. If both of them were to be cleared today, I believe they would be friends again. I may be wrong, maybe too much damage has been done, but I know that neither of them hates one another.

Now I didn't want to talk about the evidence in this case AGAIN but Jason brought it up. He still claims that Michael Perry sent him a "confession" from his cell while they were in jail. He states that he did everything that Michael asked of him and held it until the very last minute. He still claims that it was in Michael's hand writing, at least the signature was. I cannot fathom any inmate facing 3 counts of capital murder putting anything down in writing and sending it to another inmate for safe keeping. This just doesn't make any sense. We also know that, thanks to Taz and his publication of the court's ruling, that document turned out to be a forgery. So I don't believe Jason on that point.

Jason also mentions something about a jailhouse snitch and how "Michael Perry lied on him". I really don't know what to make of this because I don't know all the facts but apparently it had something to do with Jason confessing to the murders to someone in jail and Michael filing some papers in court to that effect. This is the first I have heard of this but I will give Jason the benefit of the doubt until someone clears this up for me.

Jason Burkett is a man who desperately wants to get out of prison and while I can show him empathy, I cannot show him sympathy because I feel that Jason Burkett is guilty of three counts of murder. I will say that it's not what Michael Perry has told me. It's what the evidence that TAZ has dug up, it's the fact that no one has come up with a plausible theory where Jason is not involved, it's because I know Michael Perry, not what everyone tells me about Michael Perry. I don't believe as I have stated before that Michael Perry's hands are clean in all this. The truth be known, I think Michael got sucked into something he was not expecting and had no idea how to get out of it.

Jason Burkett has asked me to support him if it wouldn't hurt Michael Perry's case. I cannot, in good conscience, help Jason in his struggle for freedom for that would make me a hypocrite. He has asked that I write to him again and again I cannot. I have made a promise to Michael Perry that I would not show support to anyone in this case other than him and I intend to keep that promise. If someone, somewhere could come up with any kind of evidence that leads this case away from Jason, than he would have my full support. I just don't think that will happen.

To Kathy and Jason's sister; tell him I'm sorry I can't help him but thank him for me for writing to me. I really do wish him the best of luck in his fight for freedom and I also made a promise to him that I would not disrespect his mother or him again. That doesn't mean that his family can give me all the crap that they want and I won't react. It just means that I will not attack Jason or his mother again unless I'm provoked.