COMMUNIQUES FROM A DEAD MAN

Dateline: April 18, 2008

Location: deep inside a prison cell in Florida



Yesterday, I wrote about the 1974 photo of the young Charlie and Chrissy Norman in Atlanta, and all that I'd lost. Not just myself, though, my family lost much, too. When you come to prison for life, you take your family with you, and they suffer through your imprisonment. Chrissy came out better, she remarried some sort of doctor, and had the one son she always wanted, and I hope she is happy. She was one of the innocents, and paid a painful price for loving me.



I'll be mentioning Chrissy in the future, she'll be in the book, for sure, and her late brother, Bruce Wilkinson, who plays a prominent role in my case. A more in-depth account of Bruce Wilkinson can be found on the web site, http://www.freecharlienow.com/ under the "Case Facts" tab.



I wanted to mention Ron Slinker, who died March 28, 2008, my former partner and associate in TPD and Martial Arts Institute, a true one-of-a-kind, one of the baddest boys who ever walked the streets of Tampa. We went back to 1971, at the TPD Academy, and went forward to 1978, when both our lives had been irrevocably changed.



I am writing about Ron in some of my non-fiction accounts, one of them is "Killer Cops," where I tell the story of watching the young black teenager bleed to death in the Tampa General Hospital emergency room, who Ron had shot in the back of the head while running from Jesse Harp's Gun Store on Cass Street. That incident had a great effect on Ron Slinker and me both, and it needs to be told.

He's dead now, too, and I am still alive, against all odds. May I live long enough to breathe the air of freedom. I hope you will help me. Thanks.
Charlie