ERIK’S PARENTS FEELINGS ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO ERIK

Imagine this.  You are a juvenile.  You know your good friend was abused by his parent since he was a baby.  He lives in fear of his life, but no adult will help.  One night, you wait in a car to help your friend escape if he is about to be beaten or killed, and then go up to find an awful fight.   You don’t participate.  Your friend was acting in self-defense.  He is arrested for Murder.  Three months later you are arrested for Murder.  Your friend, the only juvenile there at the time, says you are innocent and did nothing.    The prosecution’s star witness, who wasn’t there at the time, makes a deal on this and unrelated crimes, and then lies on the lie detector test set up by the prosecution.  You get Life in prison without the possibility of parole.   Is that justice?

Our son, Erik, is serving Life Without the possibility of Parole for a crime he didn’t commit, the killing of the mother of his friend Nathan.  He was a juvenile at the time.  He is now 24.  His friend, Nathan, stated that Erik knew nothing about what was to happen.  Nathan asked Erik to wait outside in his car to drive Nate away if he felt in danger.  Erik went inside after 30 minutes of waiting and found himself helping to clean up the apartment afterwards.

Erik was convicted of being a complicitor based on the hearsay testimony of another juvenile that made a deal with the Douglas County Sheriff’s office three months after the murder.  This other juvenile said that Erik told him things about what went on that night.  The other boy was not there at the time, and only came later to help clean up.  Aside from the charge of hiding evidence and abetting, he had three pending unrelated cases in Douglas County that would have meant serious time in jail.  As part of his plea agreement, he agreed to take and pass a lie detector test.  Industry experts now say that he failed that test.  The Sheriff’s office reported he passed it.

 

Nathan Ybanez recently came to court in a hearing and said that Erik did nothing and knew nothing.   He also testified that his mother and father had constantly beaten him, sexually abused him and verbally threatened him his entire life.  Towards the end, in order to try to keep him silent, they told him that his paternal grandfather had also abused his family.  When Nathan’s aunt ran away as a juvenile, his grandfather tracked her down and murdered her.  Nathan’s parents told him the same thing would happen to him.  

 

The suspected abuse of Nathan had been reported to Social Services, his high school, and the Sheriff’s office.  Nathan had run away several times, but the Sheriff’s deputies threatened to arrest those parents trying to help Nathan.  They always returned him to his parents, even when he begged them to put him in jail instead.

 

In the morning of the evening that Nathan’s mother died, his parents told him they were going to take him to a military school in Kansas. As they had previously threatened this same thing telling him that there were lots of cornfields in Kansas that they could bury his body in with no one the wiser, it is not surprising that Nathan felt his life was at risk. 

 

The Sheriff’s office constantly stopped Erik Jensen’s car. The told him to stay away from Nathan.  They spent three months after the murder and arrest of Nathan, trying make a case against Erik.

 

After Erik’s arrest, the two lead prosecutors went to the then DA and asked him to reduce the charges against Erik.  They convinced Erik’s parents to agree to a delay of his trial date so the DA could consider the charges.   During the delay, Columbine happened.  The deal was called off.  Erik was tried while Columbine was still in the nightly news and the people of the county still in horrified shock.  Erik had a Littleton address and the same name as one of the two shooters.  Under these circumstances and with feelings running so high, how could he possibly have received a fair and impartial trial?

 

Again, in Erik’s most recent hearing in Douglas County, the prosecutor went to the new DA and asked her to make a deal that would essentially allow Erik to go free on time served.   She refused to do so.

 

We are very proud of Erik.  He hasn’t let the injustice of the Justice System get him down, nor has he become an institutionalized prisoner.   He still writes music, he is an accomplished artist in many media, and has written five books.  One of his books, the first in a fantasy trilogy is about to be published.  It is called Orphan Mage; look for it.  This website was created this sight because Erik wants to help other juveniles who might find themselves in similar circumstances to his, and need to get help for their friends. 

 

Curt and Pat Jensen