Terry Buchanan

A victim of an ex-wife's rage

Terry and Connie

My name is Terry Buchanan I am 40 years old and try hard to take care of myself. Lord knows I
went for years not caring either way. At one time I weighted 297 pounds and smoked 2 packs of
Winstons a day. Now I weight 195 and haven’t smoked in over four years. I am 6’ 4” tall and have a
bad leg but I don’t let it bother me too bad. I have a lift to make up the inch difference and I can job
and play basketball pretty well. I am doing everything I know to do to live long enough to do these 48
to 60 years the judge gave me. This is my first time in prison and to say its an experience is an
understatement. I will try to give you a basic run down of events that led me to end of here. Before I
start I want to add that I am far from perfect with over 20 years of smoking marijuana and I used to
think it was my job to drink all of the Budweiser’s myself. With that said, here is my story.

I was working in Alabama when all of the events happened. The last think I heard my wife Pamela
say was “I love you” the next time I saw her was the following Saturday in July of 1996. She was
yelling from the steps of her mothers doublewide while a deputy was telling me I was under arrest. I
haven’t spoken to her since, we have four children together and I love them dearly. I hired a lawyer
and was awarded visitation. Three days before my visitation was due to begin my wife and sister-in-
law took my oldest daughter to the Dept. of Social Services claiming that I had molested her. Shortly
thereafter I was arrested for the charges and made bond. Later those charges were dismissed. I was
paying child support but had no contact with any of my kids. I went on with my life and lost a bunch
of weight. I met Connie, my wife and we lived about 50 miles from Pamela. In Feb of 1998 I was
working in GA Building kitchen cabinets when I got a phone call saying that the charges had been
brought back up once again. I went back to the county sheriffs office and was arrested on 3 counts of
1st degree sexual assault. I was in jail for 4 months until I got my bond lowered and my Aunt signed
that for me. I was assigned a lawyer through the courts “mistake” my thinking was that if the state
was going to wrongly accuse me then they should pay the bill. I went to court in June of 1999 and the
first Saturday of the month I was found guilty on 2 of the 3 counts and sentenced as well. I drove to
court that day expecting to go home when it was over. I was deceived.
 The following are coincidences (?) that happened. I was awarded visitation and 3 days before I was
due to pick them up the allegations started. My sister in law stated in Court that my oldest daughter,
then 5 years old had told her that I abused her in July. It was the third week in August before she told
anyone. Who could believe that any person would wait almost a month before telling someone? A
video tape was made by D.S.S. and a deputy the social worker asked my daughter if her daddy had
hurt her. She replied negatively. The worker said to turn off the cameras and immediately it was
turned off. Some 10 minutes later by the time on the video when asked the same question she said yea.
The questions were extremely suggestive and leading. The defense saw the tape 3 days before the trial
began. This tape was made in 1996 and only found in late May 1999. It wasn’t allowed as evidence
because of the age of it and the chain of custody according to the prosecutor was in doubt. The video
was found in the office of the State Bureau of Investigations.

Pamela had been married twice before and her second husband had been charged with similar
charges when they went to court for custody of a son they had. I was dating her when this was going
on and we had taken the son to Development Evaluation Center in the county where we lived “many
times”. The son use phrases for sex acts that were also used by my daughter when I was charged. She
wasn’t living in the same house with her brother because rather than let the son go to his fathers for
visitation Pam left the state. She wound up losing her son due to that and only had visitation rights.

Pam had on several occasions accused her own mother of abuse when she attended elementary
school. Since she was a minor no records were brought to court. Her mother had even signed for Pam
to get married at the age of 13 to get rid of her.

I was away from home each week and home only on the weekends. I had an acre of gardening and
mowing to do when I was home. My wife didn’t work except for 4 months during the winter of 1994.
There were 10 people including myself living at my home Pams brother his wife and 2 children. Pam
and I had an argument the last weekend I was home due to them being there and fighting in front of
the kids. I even had a phone call that weekend from Pams Aunt asking for me to get Pam to keep our
oldest daughter home on the weekends as Pam was bad to send her to her grandmothers to stay. That
was at least every other weekend. My mom lived just across the road from us and kept the children
some on the weekends so Pam and I could go out and be alone.

I hope by now you are getting the idea. No work records were brought to court and few witnesses
for the defense. One doctor testified that there was a thinning of my daughters vagina. My mother
and others told of a bicycle accident she had been in and hurt herself pretty bad. The state wouldn’t
allow her to be seen by any other doctor. My daughter was taken to counseling and the worker
testified that he was preparing her for the trial. A D.S.S. worker made a book that was used for
evidence. When asked about that my daughter didn’t even remember the worker at all. During my
daughters testimony she looked at me many times. When she was asked if her daddy was in the
courtroom she said “no”. She left the stand and went to Pam who grabbed her shoulder and said
something in her ear. My daughter started to cry and after a closed discussion the judge allowed her to
get back up to identify me. It had to be rough because It was tearing me apart. I don’t like to even
think about how everything went. I do know that a large man would cripple or terribly hurt a small
child trying to have sex with them. By the way one sleep in the room with her sisters.

I am in the process of filing a motion for appropriate relief trying to get a new trial due to ineffective
assistance of counsel. I will keep trying and praying. That’s all I know to do.

I am not a writer as you can tell. I don’t know how this will help anyone except to show you that
justice isn’t just blind but depends on who can afford the best show. The really sad part is that I don’t
hate my ex wife so much as feel sorry for her. She just turned 36 and is past marriage five. She
admitted in court that she moved in with a 23 year old guy when she left me. D.S.S. was going to take
the children but she moved in with her grandma. 2 weeks after Pam left I sat on my mothers porch
and watch Pam and her boyfriend took everything except the central air conditioner and appliances
when I was allowed to go home due to the restraining order I found 2 of my registered dogs starved to
death. I got a deputy to come and take pictures but for some reason they were lost. I quit going home
because of complaints Pam kept calling in trying to get me put in jail. One time I was even seen
outside her trailer the same night I was in a motel 8 hours away in another state. My boss laughed
when he told me but I never saw the humor. I will think of more later I am sure. This is something
that I try hard not to think on.

My family stuck behind me and we are close. I am a grandpa by my oldest daughter by a previous
marriage. Connie has been there for me also. I thank God for His blessings.