DAISY'S COMPLETE PICTURE VIDEO
"The Complete Picture really showed the judge who I am, not just the Daisy who committed a crime. Now the ball is in my court. I get to finish my degree, watch my kid go to her first day of school, and never miss another day of the kid's lives."
The videos we produce are created to humanize the defendant and to show the multifaceted values and essential support they bring to their families, friends and to society. For example, in the video we created for Daisy, we focused on how she was denied court-mandated drug treatment but still managed on her own to be accepted into a rehab. Her favorite thing about being there was "getting to know herself again". From that moment forward, she turned her life around.
Excerts From Daisy's Sentencing Video
She's Maintained her Recovery
Despite being introduced to crystal meth at age 14, and being addicted for two decades, Daisy has now been sober
for almost three years.
She's a Dedicated Student
Daisy has maintained a 4.0 grade average and has almost completed her bachelor's degree. Her major is in Social & Behavioral Science at CCSF.
She's a Single Mother
After graduating rehab, Daisy began to build a new life. She has had her 5-year old daughter and 12-year old son returned to her. She now works as a social worker.
She's a Role Model to Others
Daisy frequently returns to the rehab program and sober living home that helped her to connect with and inspire other women who are beginning their journey to recovery.
When we were approached by defense attorney Toni White to see if we felt Daisy would benefit from a sentencing video, we all agreed that not only would she benefit, but that it was absolutely necessary. Because Daisy is one of the kindest, most nurturing individuals you could ever meet. She is dedicated to her recovery, children, and new job assisting transitional age youth with housing and resources.
Daisy was facing from five to forty years for marijuana cultivation. As a child, Daisy was extremely close to her father, a prominent leader of a drug cartel who she witnessed being tied up and tortured by a rival cartel, shot at by police, and eventually imprisoned. Friendless and shunned by the community, Daisy attempted suicide. At 13, Daisy began using meth to numb the pain, consequently being sent repeatedly to juvenile detention. As a young adult, she became more entrenched in addiction and entered a horrifically abusive relationship.
Eventually, she escaped and found refuge at a remote marijuana ranch. There she was arrested, and her children taken to foster care. Daisy entered rehab and began to build a new life. For three years, she has maintained sobriety, held a job, been promoted three times, had her 5-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son returned, is halfway through college with a 4.0, and continues to attend therapy.
Despite her transformation, the probation department still recommended six years in prison. However, after the judge reviewed the actual video by Complete Picture, in an astonishing move of mercy, one of the most conservative judges in California negated Daisy’s entire prison sentence.
GARY'S COMPLETE PICTURE VIDEO
Like so many individuals that receive long prison terms in our country, Gary's crime was directly related to his substance use disorder (SUD). Gary’s thinking wasn’t straight when he transported a large shipment of meth across a state border. Over 34 years of drug addiction had taken a toll on his mental health.
Shortly after his arrest, Gary proactively engaged in a
90-day rehab program and ongoing counseling made
available for him. He would have welcomed detox and rehab years sooner but, being poor, had no access to these programs. Drug treatment was exactly what he needed and it has made all the difference.
Having been clean for 3 years, Gary told us he feels he “set down a backpack full of rocks” that had limited his perception of himself and his true potential. He now finds purpose and healing in giving support to his family that he couldn’t give before.
When we went to Chico, CA to film the interviews for Gary's sentencing video, we met his son Josh and three grandchildren. Josh told us how he now trusts and relies on his father in a way he never thought possible. When Josh’s employment was interrupted due to the pandemic, Gary insisted on paying the power bill and routinely brought over fresh fruit and vegetables for the kids. Recently, he gifted Josh with the down payment for a house so that his son could “achieve the American dream”.
Determined to maintain his recovery, Gary has fortified his life with constructive, strategic ways to keep himself motivated, forward thinking and on the right track. He humbly choses the environment of a sober living home to live with others who, like him, are focused on recovery. He voluntarily stays because he “loves the brotherhood there”.
His recovery has enabled him to maintain consistency in his work as a mechanic for 3 years. Though this type of work is strenuous and requires a lot of heavy lifting, Gary is exceptionally good at it, loves it and works 10 hours per day, 6-7 days a week.
Gary was facing 63 to 78 months in prison. Thankfully, because of the information brought to life in Gary’s sentencing video, his entire jail sentence was negated in leu of supervised release. Had he gone to prison instead, his family, employer, grandchildren, and roommates would not be able to benefit from his love, devotion and kindness.
At last, Gary can be the father, grandfather, and friend he was always meant to be.
Zalathiel’s immigration journey to the United States allowed him to acquire a degree in Merchant Marine Engineering. As a foreign national, he was denied placement in government service, but this did not deter him from realizing his strength and passion for sales and marketing.
A few years ago, an opportunistic con-man named Barrientos approached Thiel and exploited his strengths as a “people person” by placing him in charge of Marketing and Communications in the company he was forming that would ostensibly help people in troubled mortgages. Barrientos, however, kept Thiel in the dark about the actual mechanics of the operation by stipulating he personally would control the legal side. Being taken in by Barrientos’ charisma and dynamic intelligence, Thiel believed so completely that the business and its mission were legitimate that he unwittingly exposed his closest family and friends to financial risk by recruiting them as straw buyers based on their strong credit histories.
We Helped Save Taxpayers an Estimated
$345,117.00
SHEVONE'S COMPLETE PICTURE VIDEO
" The judge watched the Complete Picture video three times.
When I took the stand, he looked at me as if he knew me.
He said, 'You do not belong in prison'."
When we were approached by defense attorney Dustin Johnson to see if we felt Shevone's would benefit from a sentencing video, we all agreed that not only would she benefit, but that it was absolutely necessary. Because Shevone's is one of the kindest, most nurturing individuals you could ever meet. She is the sole dedicated caregiver to her mother.
She is a dynamic mother who singlehandedly raised two gifted athletic boys, all while working full-time and going to college to earn a degree. The paper before the judge with Shevone's name on it didn’t tell the whole story. It was up to us to show the judge who Shevone really is.
It took us less than six weeks to produce, prep, film and edit Shevone's video. This is mostly due to the fact that everyone we interviewed was determined to help us in any way possible out of their love for Shevone. The presiding judge watched the Complete Picture video three times and said in the courtroom that Shevone does not belong in prison. She was looking at a prison sentence of 27 months, but even the prosecutor changed his recommendation. After viewing the Complete Picture video, Shevone's sentence was reduced to zero.
(Please note the name and image of this defendant has been changed to protect her request for privacy.)
MICHAEL'S COMPLETE PICTURE VIDEO
In the video we created for Michael, we showed how personal tragedy and work-related injury led to a debilitating addiction to painkillers, and how Michael is so much more than just another opioid crisis statistic.
Excerts From Michael's Sentencing Video
He's a Nurturing Father
His sons rely on him for guidance and stability, and every single day he is there for them.
He's a Caring Neighbor
He takes care of those around him who are incapacitated or in need of a helping hand.
He's a Supportive Husband
He encourages and supports his partner fully and unconditionally.
He's a Model for Recovery
He is committed to sharing his story with medical professionals at conferences to advocate for new scientific approaches in treating opioid addiction.
Eventually, Thiel had to face his family, friends, and co-workers and let them know that Barrientos had fled the country with everyone’s money and that they had all been swindled out of their life savings and properties. The disaster left Thiel bereft and paralyzed with confusion and shame. Thiel mortgaged his own house to pay the employees their final paychecks, then subsequently lost his home, unable to hire a lawyer to defend himself.
Thiel is a humble and spiritual person in a close-knit family. His beloved children, having been through so much after their family’s financial catastrophe, rely on and look up to Thiel for his devotion to them and his unfaltering example of being a loving and giving representative of the church. He has spent years volunteering his time teaching the youth how to express themselves musically through the guitar, saxophone, piano, and many other instruments. Through music he was able to mentor teens on their life journey and by doing so, has had a strong impact on their lives.
While Thiel is in prison, he will be missed by his church community, the many children that he teaches and most of all, his wife and children. His sentence was reduced from fifteen years down to four.
An injury on the job caused Michael to be prescribed a variety of drugs in an effort to manage crippling pain, and like so many other good, hardworking people in our country right now, he descended a slippery slope into opioid addiction. And like many of the approximately 11 million other Americans who have developed a dependence on opioids, Michael began breaking the law in order to feed his addiction.
After being approached by Michael's defense attorney to help present the presiding judge with more information on Michael's character, we began researching the nuanced circumstances relating to Michael’s case, interviewing his wife, children and friends to formulate his complete picture.
While awaiting sentencing, Michael was granted rehabilitative services, all of which he embraced and completed successfully. Because of these programs, he has now been sober for over three and a half years. However, at the time, a five-to-ten-year prison term seemed so inevitable that the court gave him a turn-in date and instructed him to attend prison orientation, which Michael did. He, his wife Marie, and two sons are forever thankful that after watching the Complete Picture video about Michael, the judge made an unprecedented decision to give Michael supervised release instead of sending him directly to prison. He was given this sentence on the strict condition that he maintain his recovery program and avoid further infractions.
Now, he can continue to support his children academically and personally, ensure that his disabled neighbor is cared for, and spend his evenings teaching the neighborhood kids baseball.
MARIAH'S COMPLETE PICTURE VIDEO
Mariah was raised by her grandparents because her mother was in prison and her father on drugs. Fulfilling a childhood dream, Mariah graduated from nursing school at 20.
Yet, the absence of her mother and father left her vulnerable. Mariah found herself trapped in an abusive relationship with an older man who manipulated her into mailing illegal drugs in return for him “taking care of her”. Now, pregnant and in jail with her nursing license revoked, she saw herself following in her mother’s footsteps. That day she vowed to change. And she has.
While awaiting sentencing, Mariah fought for her independence. She left her abusive boyfriend, went to therapy and earned her master’s in health science -all while caring for her grandparents after their triple bypass surgeries.
Liberated from the prospect of going to prison, Mariah is now able to move forward with her education - starting on a second master’s degree in social work. She's been waiting to get married and have a baby and these things are now in reach.
(Please note the name and image of this defendant has been changed to protect her request for privacy.)
THEIL'S COMPLETE PICTURE VIDEO
Zalathiel’s immigration journey to the United States allowed him to acquire a degree in Merchant Marine Engineering. As a foreign national, he was denied placement in government service, but this did not deter him from realizing his strength and passion for sales and marketing.
A few years ago, an opportunistic con-man named Barrientos approached Thiel and exploited his strengths as a “people person” by placing him in
charge of Marketing and Communications in the company he was forming that would ostensibly help people in troubled mortgages. Barrientos, however, kept Thiel in the dark about the actual mechanics of the operation by stipulating he personally would control the legal side. Being taken in by Barrientos’ charisma and dynamic intelligence, Thiel believed so completely that the business and its mission were legitimate that he unwittingly exposed his closest family and friends to financial risk by recruiting them as straw buyers based on their strong credit histories.
Eventually, Thiel had to face his family, friends and co-workers and let them know that Barrientos had fled the country with everyone’s money and that they had all been swindled out of their life savings and properties. The disaster left Thiel bereft and paralyzed with confusion and shame. Thiel mortgaged his own house to pay the employees their final paychecks, then subsequently lost his home, unable to hire a lawyer to defend himself.
Thiel is a humble and spiritual person in a close-knit family. His beloved children, having been through so much after their family’s financial catastrophe, rely on and look up to Thiel for his devotion to them and his unfaltering example of being a loving and giving representative of the church. He has spent years volunteering his time teaching the youth how to express themselves musically through the guitar, saxophone, piano, and many other instruments. Through music he was able to mentor teens on their life journey and by doing so, has had a strong impact on their lives.
While Thiel is in prison, he will be missed by his church community, the many children that he teaches and most of all, his wife and children. His sentence was reduced from fifteen years down to four.
We Helped Save Taxpayers an Estimated
$209,777.00
BRAD
As a young child, Brad was misdiagnosed and medicated for attention deficit disorder, when his mother steadfastly maintained that in actuality he needed treatment for bipolar disorder. When he was fourteen, Brad turned to street drugs in an attempt to regulate his moods, leading to a severe addiction to methamphetamine.
The Complete Picture video illuminated the mental health challenges and childhood trauma that ultimately contributed to Brad's criminal behavior, and how decades of being incarcerated were for offenses related to his Substance Use Disorder (SUD).
We challenged the common misconception that SUD is a moral failure and focused rather on his mother's desperate pleas for an official mental health assessment, a proper scientific diagnosis, and subsequent medical treatment. Though Brad has been in and out of prison multiple times, he had never been diagnosed with a mental illness or received any help with his drug addiction. After we told his story, he was awarded the necessary drug rehabilitation in prison.
BOBBY
Before Bobby immigrated to the United States as a baby, he suffered a serious illness which required a blood transfusion. Unbeknownst to his family, he had been infected with HIV. The medications he was given throughout his childhood to treat the symptoms took a toll on his body over time, and after Bobby's first child was born, he became fearful that his young wife and son would be left pennyless upon his inevitable passing.
Due to having a "preexisting condition" Bobby could not purchase health insurance, and it was all that he, his wife, his father and mother could do to try to afford the thousands of dollars his HIV medication cost monthly. Desperate to afford his medication, and to leave his family with a semblance of financial security when he passed, Bobby made a grave mistake and committed a serious non-violent crime for financial gain.
In the video we created, we explained the nuanced challenges and events that had ultimately culminated, like a perfect storm, in Bobby committing a crime that was extremely out of character from the upright manner in which he had always conducted himself. His family, legitimately concerned about Bobby's ability to endure the conditions in prison, asked for mercy and understanding from the judge. After the Complete Picture video and the resulting reduction in sentencing, we believe their pleas were heard.