Stamping Destroyed My Life: Prologue.

Stamping Destroyed My Life

Prologue

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Date:  May 14, 2014

To:  M

From: Andrew Farther

Subject:  PSR

See the attached.  Call me.

Andy

Attachment

Presentence Report

Pursuant to Rule 32 of the Criminal Rules of Procedure, the Office of Probation submits the following Presentence Report for M.

Conviction: M was convicted on April 3, 2014 of 3 counts of violating US Code 1000000.54(B)(j)(iii)(A).

Defendant’s Criminal History: None

Defendant’s Social History:  DOB:  12/24/[redacted].  M was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the oldest of 4 children.  Her father was an accountant and her mother a homemaker.  M graduated from Johnson High with high honors, and Valonia University with a degree in journalism. M moved to Washington DC, and then Fairfax, Virginia shortly after graduation. 

M is married to John [redacted] for 34 years and has two children, Emmaline (known as Buffy), age 24, and Garrett (known as Garrett), age 22.  

M reports that, up until 2001, she had a very happy marriage but that the “stamping industry”, particularly “release nights” and “design team issues” destroyed her marriage. 

Defendant’s Employment History:  M was employed as an Administrative Assistant prior to the birth of her first child.  Since that time M states that she has been unemployed.  However, given the nature of her conviction, this is clearly not the case. 

Likelihood of Rehabilitation:  Poor.  M has almost no grasp of the seriousness of her crime; indeed, even after conviction, she maintains her innocence.  In her interview, M continues to blame others for what she calls her “situation”.   She provided a somewhat garbled statement to this office, which was consistent with her testimony at trial.  In summary, M reports:

On a sunny Saturday in 2001, M walked into her local craft store looking for a 3-sided piece of poster board for her son's science fair project.  On her way to the poster board, M's eye caught a display of little jars of brightly colored powder nestled in a neat little row.  Curious about the powders, M approached a saleswoman who pointed out that they were embossing powders and used to make greeting cards with shiny raised print.  M bought 14 bottles of embossing powders, a “rubber stamp”, paper, a heat gun, and special sticky ink, as that is what the saleswoman advised. Although M did not know it at the time, her walk into a craft store that day was her first step towards a lifetime of heartache and sorrow, because that is the day that M became a stamper.

The Probation Office fails to see how embossing powders and a practice known as “stamping” are to blame for M’s felonious behavior.  Of particular note is her reference to the heat gun, which also figured prominently in the trial.  M continues to place blame on others for her own crime, and therefore this Office does not believe she is a good candidate for rehabilitation. 

Furthermore, we do not recommend that M be sentenced to probation or community service, as urged by her counsel.  M’s counsel indicated that M was willing to teach “stamping” to homeless women as a way for those women to earn a marketable skill and so that those women could “save money on greeting cards.” 

While this Office agrees that “stamping” apparently saves money on greeting cards, and is a way to earn a living, M is not a candidate for such community service as it would require her to purchase additional stamping supplies, and, given the history of this case, that would not be in the best interest of the community.   

Sentencing Recommendation:  3 to 5 years

***

Date:  May 14, 2014

To:  Andrew Farther

From: M

Subject:  re:  PSR

This is bullshit.  3 to 5 YEARS????  Expect you to handle.  No time to call. 

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