Thanks roachy.....Right as I read that comment about "showing up at someone's door" i knew she knew NOT A SCINTILLA of information about what happened.....This was a girl who was down on her luck, kicked out of every house she had ever lived in (including her mothers') and YET STILL kicked out of every house she HAS lived in since this incident. It was MY idea to let her come stay at our house because she couldn't stand the conditions of the group homes. We built a room for her in our 2 bedroom apartment by walling off our dining area and putting up a door in a frame. We wanted her to be a part of our family but she just wanted a place where she could live and not have any emotional attachment. That was not something we were willing to accept. Solidify is right, she got SO angry at one time at me (for the fact that I was talking to her brother) that she punched HOLES in the door we had put up for her. THEN she got my dad so upset by saying she wouldn't pay for it. I might as well post the letters from people who knew her well......here is a picture of the holes in the door, as we were tearing her room down earlier this year. (it was a very cleansing experience......that room held a lot of negative emotions for both my dad and i)

The following are letters written by my dad who witnessed what happened, and my friend Kaylee who had previously let Emily live with her. (and kicked her out.) I had wanted Emily out of the house for a long time before this happened because of all the negativity she was spreading, but my dad wanted to wait until she could save up money for an actual place to go. He's too nice of a guy. Even through all this he has been helping her to find places to stay and even payed for her cell phone that we had gotten her while she still lived with us. (it has since been turned off due to inevitable [inevitable with emily at least] abuse.)
Kaylee's letter (this requires adobe acrobat)
Dad's letter:
April 18, 2005
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing this letter to provide information that I feel would be helpful for the court to consider while determining the disposition of Robins case. I think that it is important for the court to have a history of Robin’s relationship with Emily and how she came to live with me and Robin. It is also important for the court to have a detailed account of what happened between Robin and Emily that brought us all to this point. I would also like to provide an understanding of Robin’s plans and expectations for her future and the support that she will have from her family and friends.
The relationship between Robin and Emily started when they first met each other at Kennedy High School. They were both in a video production class together. It was there that they became friends. Emily was living with her mother and brother at the time. At some point Emily was talking with a friend at school about how her mother had abandoned her, leaving Emily and her brother to provide for themselves. This friend went to the schools resource officer and reported what Emily had told her. The resource officer reported the incident to the child protective services and they decided that it would be best for Emily and her brother to be taken from their mother’s custody and placed in state group homes.
As it turns out Emily’s mother did not abandon Emily and her brother. Emily and her brother had a history of getting violent with their mother. Her mother had previously received advice on how to handle the situation and she followed their instruction. One night when she was afraid that Emily was going to attack her she left the apartment and contacted the authorities and on their advice she stayed in a motel for the night and the next day the authorities came and took Emily and her brother and placed them in the foster care system.
Robin and her friends were very worried about Emily when this happened because they didn’t know what had happened to Emily. They couldn’t get in contact with her and her mother wouldn’t tell them where she was.
Emily was eventually placed in a group home in Oakland but was allowed to continue to attend school at Kennedy. To get to and from school Emily had to ride a public bus. One day Emily stayed after school to participate in an after school activity. I came to the school to pick up Robin who was attending the same activity. Emily and Robin were together with another friend. I offered to give them all a ride home. This was when I first met Emily.
Emily was moved around to several different group homes and finally late in 2001 she was allowed to move in with a friend here in Fremont. She only stayed there for a couple of months, when she was kicked out of their home and forced to return to a group home. It was at this point when Robin came to me and explained Emily’s problem and asked if there was anyway that we could let Emily come and live with us. I had several discussions with Robin about it and finally we were able to work out an arrangement where we would wall off our dinning area to make a bedroom for Emily. Emily agreed to this and she moved in with Robin and me in January 2002.
I had several discussions with Emily’s social worker who advised me that Emily should be paying for at least a portion of her room and board. She also told me that Emily was very manipulative and that I should watch her closely. I disagreed with the idea that a young girl still in high school should have to pay for her own room and board so I didn’t charge her for staying with us.
By this time Robin had completed school and Emily was well on her way to obtaining her GED. Robin and Emily both went to work together at Great America using their artistic skills drawing henna tattoos. Robin had worked at this job the year before. Emily had a difficult time keeping up with the work schedule, because she didn’t have a driver’s license or access to a car, so they would ride to work together. Robin received several promotions at this job but because Emily was having a difficult time getting ready for work they both started being late on a regular basis. Eventually Emily was fired and Robin quit because of the treatment they both received.
After quitting her job at Great America Robin went to school at the Academy of art in San Francisco. She completed one semester and then decided that she no longer wanted to peruse a career in the art field. She decided that she wanted to take a couple of semesters off from school to earn some money then enroll at Ohlone College to peruse her education in computer science.
It was in January or February of 2003 when Robin and Emily started drifting apart. They started to resent each other as they became friends with the boys in each of their lives. It seems to have started with a boy named Brandon. Brandon was a friend of Robins that she introduced to Emily. Emily decided she liked him a lot and started dating him. This didn’t bother Robin because she felt that Brandon was just a stupid drug dealer that wasn’t worthy of either of them. Robin did however start to feel that Emily had taken one of her friends away because he no longer wanted to spend much time with her. Later after Emily had broken up with Brandon Robin started to renew her friendship with Brandon, which made Emily angry. Emily insisted that Robin was trying to steal her boyfriend from her.
Robin also introduced Emily to a close friend on the Internet named Sam. Robin has known Sam for over four years. As Emily became friends with Sam she began to feel as close to him as Robin has. Neither of the girls considered Sam a “Boy Friend” because he announced that he was gay. Nevertheless Robin and Emily have had a hard time sharing this friend between them.
Then there is the latest boy friend; Andre. Emily met Andre at a rave. Robin didn’t think that Emily should be dating Andre at first because their relationship started at a rave while they were both using drugs. Emily dated Andre and broke up with him after a few months. While they were no longer dating, Emily still had a difficult time breaking up with him. She was constantly trying to date Andre and get back with Brandon at the same time. While Andre was no longer interested in dating Emily he did become interested in Robin. This enraged Emily more than she could handle. She started making claims that Andre had abused her. She insisted that Robin was only dating him to hurt her, And that Robin couldn’t get a boyfriend of her own so she has to steal hers. She started calling both of them names like “Crack Whores” I finally had to tell her to stop the name calling which she did, but she only stopped the name calling in front of me. I have still heard her on the phone continuing to tell all their mutual friends about all the “bad things” that Robin was doing to hurt her.
One evening Emily started a fight with Robin and it took both me and Andre to break them up. Finally after they were separated I left Emily in her bedroom to cool off while I went with Robin and Andre to get their side of what happened. Emily wouldn’t stay in her room and kept coming out and trying to continue the fight. I finally had to leave Robin and go talk with Emily and let her vent about what was bothering her. After she had cooled down I went back to Robin and talked with her and Andre about the problem. I then returned to Emily who was in her bedroom with her ear against the wall trying to listen to everything that was being said.
And lastly there is Emily’s brother, Paul. Emily is very close to Paul in spite of their violent history. Both Emily and her mother have told me that Paul and Emily have had some serious fistfights in the past when they lived together. Emily told me that her mother has started physical fights with her while her mother has told me that Emily started the fights. I couldn’t say who actually started the fights but because they both have independently confirmed that there were fights I can assume that Emily has come from a violent past.
Paul has had a difficult time living in the group homes and he has repeatedly run away and chosen to live on the streets. He has on occasion shown up at our home. Robin became friends with him and after awhile Emily became jealous of this friendship. Emily started insisting that Robin was trying to turn her brother against her. It was this jealousy that enraged Emily so much that she punched her fist through her bedroom door.
On June 22nd Emily was on the phone with one of her friends laughing and talking for a long time. Robin could hear Emily on the phone talking and laughing with her friends. Emily was being very loud. Robin decided to confront Emily and try to get her to quiet down Unfortunately Robin decided to hold a knife while she was confronting Emily. It is my belief that Robin may have chosen to hold the knife to keep Emily from starting a fistfight again. Holding the knife didn’t deter Emily at all. Emily immediately started to fight with Robin in spite of the knife.
As soon as I heard the fighting I came to break it up. Emily was holding Robins head down. Robin’s hands appeared to be holding on to Emily’s arms. I reached between the two girls to separate them. It was then that the knife cut Emily. After I pushed them apart Robin ran off to her bedroom.
After Robin left the area Emily announced that she had been cut. She refused to let me see the cut but said that it was very bad and was bleeding a lot and asked me to call for medical help. I couldn’t see any blood anywhere so I was skeptical as to the seriousness of the wound. Having had a lot of first aid training throughout my life I knew to take her claims seriously so I started by having her lie down on the floor and tried to keep her legs elevated. While she was on the floor she removed her hands from the wound long enough for me to get a glimpse of it. I could see that there was a serious wound. At this point I called to Robin to have her call 911 and to assist me with the first aid. Robin came out of her room to get the phone and make the call. She couldn’t find the phone so she returned to her bedroom to get her cell phone. She tried to call 911 from her cell phone as can be confirmed by my phone bill. Unfortunately the cell phones don’t work well inside the apartment so she wasn’t able to get through. Robin remained in her room trying to call 911. I obtained a rag and placed it on the wound and had Emily hold has tight has she could while I went to Robins room (Thinking that she had taken the phone to her room). I found Robin in her room trying to call 911 with her cell phone. Knowing that she would get better reception in her Room with the cell phone I left her there to continue trying to get a signal while I returned to Emily to find the house phone. I stopped to check on Emily and she said that she had dropped the phone on the floor behind me. I turned around and found the phone hidden under the dishwasher.
It’s clear to me that Robin had no intention of hurting Emily. She only wanted to get Emily to stop talking bad about her to all of their friends. She clearly had no intention of hurting Emily, and as evidenced by the fact that she was attempting to assist with the first aid and calling 911 for me, she didn’t want to kill Emily. She made a very bad decision to use the knife to protect her self from a physical confrontation. Robin’s mistake has now cost her her freedom and when she is finally released from prison her criminal record will follow her for the rest of her life. Robin now recognizes how wrong she was and she is determined to not make the same type of mistakes again.
Before Emily came to stay with us Robin was not a violent person. It was Emily’s violent nature that pressured Robin into the violent action she took against Emily.
For the last year Robin has been living with me and working. She has worked with Cutco selling cutlery and done very well at it. She received several promotions. She has also started her own business selling on the internet. This endeavor is still very small. She has just applied for a business license to help her acquire inventory at wholesale prices. It is my plan to help her business continue while she is incarcerated and she will take over completely when she is released from prison.
Robin has been drug free and followed all of the courts orders and has never missed a court hearing. She has expressed concern about Emily and what happened between them. Robin recognizes that she made a serious mistake and is willing to take responsibility for that mistake. She is not however willing to waste her time sitting in a prison for several years. She is making plans for while she is in prison. She is looking into colleges that offer correspondence degrees so that she can work on her education while in prison. After she is released she hopes to continue her education, and hopes for a career in Computer Science.
Robin has many family and friends who have demonstrated that they care about Robin and have made commitments to support her while in prison and after she is released. Robin has a bright future ahead of her. She will have a difficult time over the next few years but she will not be alone and she will have the help and support of her family to get through this time. That same love and support of her family will help her to be successful after she is released.
Thank you,
Bob Gates
About this guild being a private conversation guild, that is what the temporary announcement is about. I still stand by the side of changing it to a completely invite only guild as it is no longer a "spam/poll earn gold" guild. It is a conversation guild.