Stevie (2002)

1. In 1982, while attending Southern Illinois University,

2. I became an Advocate Big Brother to Stevie Fielding,

3. a troubled 11-year-old boy who lived in Pomona,

4. a nearby rural hamlet.

5. 10 years later, I went back.

6. Steve J: When I left here, I felt a sense of relief

7. that I didn't have to do those weekly visits to be his Big Brother.

8. But in my journal I wrote that I should never abandon him,

9. that I should be there for him constantly,

10. and of course, I haven't been since then.

11. Steve J: Oh my God, here he is.

12. Stevie... on crutches.

13. I need a hug. Can I have a hug?

14. - Brenda: I recognize you. - Steve J: Hi, Brenda.

15. - Hi. How are you? - Good. How are you?

16. - Pretty good. - You're married now, I hear.

17. Yep, it'll be seven years this year.

18. - Steve J: Really? Congratulations. - Thanks.

19. - Seven years later. - It's okay.

20. It's been... it's been a while.

21. - Steve J: Now do you live... - Stevie: She lives down there.

22. - You live there and this is your trailer?

23. Yeah.

24. Steve J: Mom's trailer's gone. That's a new one.

25. - You dropped a tractor tire? - Stevie: Yeah.

26. We came in from brush-hogging and we was jacking it up

27. and we got the tire off and it hit my knee

28. and whatever it landed on, it popped.

29. Oh my God.

30. Steve J: Where'd you get these tattoos?

31. I done this one myself. The other one a buddy done.

32. He was in jail for a while

33. and learned how to do work.

34. "Ride to Live"... from your motorcycle riding days?

35. Wherever I go, people here, there...

36. wherever, it's just nothing but trouble.

37. Steve J: I want to discover where Stevie's been

38. and who he was even when I knew him,

39. because I never really felt like I understood him.

40. When I went in to be a Big Brother,

41. I thought it would be a glorious experience.

42. I was expecting to find a kid that played a lot of sports,

43. a kid that I could relate to in a very direct way

44. and he was just a lot harder than I ever expected.

45. He always seemed to be an accident waiting to happen.

46. Steve J: I don't like the looks of this.

47. You found that today?

48. It came out of the brush pile that we was burning.

49. That's where I get my name "Snake" from.

50. I ain't afraid of them.

51. Never have been, except when I was a kid.

52. Kids, just never try this at home.

53. Steve J: One thing that doesn't appear to have changed

54. - is Stevie's still here with you. - Verna: Yeah.

55. When he gets down and out with no place to go, he comes back to me.

56. Steve J: You feel down and out right now, Steve?

57. No, cause I always know I'll have a place to stay.

58. I always knew that.

59. That so-called mom takes everything from you she can get her fingers on.

60. I don't have a mother. I've never had one

61. and the day she dies, I'm gonna go and laugh at her.

62. Brenda can tell you how she whipped him down here one time...

63. I forget how many stripes... she never will forget it.

64. She cried and told her if she didn't shut up she'd get some of it.

65. It was her kid, she'd beat him if she wanted to.

66. 'Cause she made a threat over there at her house one night.

67. Me and her got into an argument and she screamed out at me

68. so I screamed back at her. She said, "If you do that again,

69. I'm gonna knock your teeth down your throat."

70. I said, "If you think you're big enough, do it.

71. When you put me down, better kill me, if you don't,

72. I'm gonna kill you."

73. That's what I told her in her own house.

74. Steve J: On my first visit to Pomona, in 1982,

75. Verna sat me down and told me how she'd come to take Stevie in.

76. When Stevie was just six months old,

77. Verna's son Arvle defied her wishes and married Stevie's mother,

78. even though he wasn't the boy's father.

79. One weekend they left Stevie with Verna and her husband Roy

80. when they went out of town.

81. She told me upon their return, Arvle and Bernice made it clear

82. that they didn't want Stevie back.

83. Stevie grew up in his step-grandparents' home,

84. just 50 yards down the road from where his mother lived.

85. Just because he was illegitimate, she didn't want him.

86. See, after she beat him that time until his hip was green

87. and had all them stripes on his back and arms, he couldn't talk.

88. He completely lost his speech.

89. He'd just point and make a racket when he wanted something.

90. They gave him speech therapy for a long time.

91. And there's not very many words now that he don't speak real plain.

92. He speaks most of 'em real good and plain.

93. I got Brenda... oh, man,

94. with them two from Challengers...

95. Steve J: You got these for Grandma?

96. Yeah. My girlfriend, she's got a red one

97. that's got that "Hot Stuff" on there.

98. - Tonya: Yeah. - Doug: You all right, Bubby?

99. - Brenda: He's quieter than usual. - He is, I'm telling you.

100. Steve J: Why is he so quiet? Be your normal self, please.

101. That's an embarrassment right there...

102. him being himself.

103. Me and Steve been together for two years.

104. Two wonderful years.

105. I don't think Mom and Dad will ever like him.

106. They think that...

107. just because he wrecked my car...

108. he drinks and he does marijuana

109. that I could find someone else a whole lot better.

110. I think I'm the only one that sees something there

111. that nobody else does.

112. I can't really explain it

113. because it's hard to explain.

114. She's kind of disabled.

115. I wouldn't say she's a slow learner.

116. She's... she's pretty smart.

117. I mean... when she wants to be.

118. Steve J: Are you guys in love?

119. Pretty much.

120. So far, so good. Now, if it came down to a point

121. where Steve actually hit me,

122. and done anything else to me,

123. yeah, Mom and Dad would be coming down to Pomona

124. themselves with cops, or with a baseball bat,

125. and beating the holy crap out of Steven.

126. Steve J: This morning, my wife Judy came by with the kids to see Stevie.

127. As a youth counselor during our grad school days,

128. she had convinced me to become a Big Brother.

129. You grew up.

130. - How are you? - I'm fine.

131. Steve J: These are our kids. This is Jackson...

132. Steve J: This is what we've been up to.

133. Corrine and Dylan.

134. So what have you been doing with yourself?

135. Stevie married a woman... named Judy.

136. Oh yeah? Her name was Judy?

137. So how old were you, Stephen, when that happened?

138. - About 19, 20. - Judy: So how old was she?

139. - About 34. - Judy: She was older than you.

140. Yeah, she had three kids.

141. It only lasted about five and a half months

142. and then, might as well say bye.

143. You guys couldn't work it out, huh?

144. She ripped my earring out of my ear and...

145. had to go to the hospital and have stitches over that.

146. I asked her that one time, I said, "You ever been hit by a guy?"

147. She said, "No." I said, "Well now you have.

148. I'm not like other men that you can run over and just push around."

149. I said, "I'm myself, but I've got a temper. I can control it..."

150. Well, good, I'm glad to hear you can control it.

151. Daddy?

152. Why is Brenda mad at your mom?

153. For the way she done me and her.

154. - I tried killing her one time. - Judy: You did what?

155. Tried to kill her one time. I went underneath the car

156. and I thought I was cutting the brake lines.

157. Instead, I cut the whole wiring system

158. for all the lights and everything.

159. - Judy: Stevie! - Jack...

160. I ain't worried about her boyfriend or nothing.

161. Which, he's got a plastic kneecap. Well, you hit his kneecap

162. he's gonna go down, he ain't gonna get back up.

163. - I'm not worried about him. - Judy: You had this planned out,

164. - didn't you, Stevie? - Stevie: I've got it planned out.

165. Steve J: Come on, Jack, let's go.

166. I pretty well enjoyed you guys being down.

167. I wish you guys could stay longer.

168. We'll be back. Judy will be back, too.

169. - Stevie you take care, okay? - I will.

170. You're hardheaded, all right. You are hardheaded.

171. Can't never stay out of trouble.

172. It's all right. It's okay to be hardheaded.

173. Just take care of your knee.

174. Say hello to your grandma for me, okay?

175. - All right. - Judy: I'll see her the next time.

176. - Steve J: See ya. - Okey-doke.

177. I never even thought they'd have kids.

178. I mean... people changes.

179. Steve J: Stevie's revelations, his consuming rage,

180. violent marriage and a string of arrests, I discovered,

181. that included assaults, weapons possessions

182. and credit card fraud...

183. It went beyond my worst fears from the past

184. of what Stevie would grow up to be.

185. But now that we've reconnected, film or no film,

186. I feel I've taken an irretrievable step back into his life.

187. Still,

188. I found reasons not to return again for almost two years.

189. Steve J: I called Stevie last night, or tried to.

190. I got Grandma instead.

191. She said Stevie was in jail. He'd been arrested a few days ago

192. and charged with sexually molesting his eight-year-old cousin.

193. Grandma was quick to say Stevie had been framed

194. and his "so-called mother" was behind it.

195. He gave a written confession to the police,

196. but he told me he'd been manipulated and planned to plead innocent.

197. Stephen is charged with three counts...

198. three felony charges.

199. One... the first count is predatory criminal sexual assault of a child,

200. which is a Class X felony, the most serious class of felony.

201. This is one thing that I never would have thought of

202. that would have happened. Never.

203. It blows my mind. It just...

204. Steve J: You've told me that your mom is the one

205. that encouraged your aunt to press charges against you.

206. She's always told me when I've been in trouble,

207. she said, "You're gonna go to prison.

208. You're gonna go to prison." It's just like when I was a kid,

209. there's one word I hate the most, "It's your fault.

210. It's your fault." That's all she ever told me.

211. Steve J: And yet, I learned Mom makes regular trips to see Stevie.

212. Steve J: Why she's so consistently coming up here.

213. She can't say that she loves me. 'Cause if she did,

214. why did she put me through all the hell she put me through?

215. That's what I want to know. Why?

216. Why come back 26 years later and want to be a mother?

217. It's done too late. She should have thought about that years ago.

218. Steve J: I've left several messages for Stevie's mom, Bernice,

219. but she never calls back. So I try visiting her instead.

220. Looking around at her neat, homey place,

221. it's hard to imagine her as the monster she's painted to be

222. by Stevie and Verna.

223. I want to know why she does go see Stevie in jail...

224. and whether she feels responsible for all that's happened.

225. He wasn't Mirandized. He wasn't told

226. that his statement could be used against him.

227. We have to somehow get his...

228. I should say alleged confession... get it suppressed

229. through pre-trial motions, or we have to deal with it at trial.

230. Steve J: "I was teaching her about things that happens in life.

231. I touched her at the top, chest

232. and at the bottom, virginy. I'm sorry for what happened.

233. I didn't mean for it to happen like that.

234. I need help and I will get help. I'm sorry for what happened.

235. I made this statement on my own. Stephen Fielding."

236. The image I have of Stevie

237. is being out in that vacant lot

238. next to our house dressed up in the Cheshire cat outfit,

239. with the hose.

240. Just very solitary,

241. not involved with other people a whole lot.

242. He grew up abused and neglected.

243. That's kind of the MO...

244. for somebody who molests kids.

245. Mike Wepsiec: You've got to look at it really cold,

246. because if you start looking at the human individuals...

247. well, yeah, he's really not that bad of a guy.

248. Well, why don't you look at the victim?

249. The victim wasn't that bad of a person, either.

250. You've given him chances in the past

251. and now he's got himself in a load of trouble.

252. And... do you give him another chance?

253. Steve J: Do you think Steve is innocent?

254. No, because he told me what he did do.

255. But he's already gonna get enough without other stuff being added on.

256. - Right. - So...

257. Steve J: Well, they might call you as a witness,

258. if this goes to trial. If they know he's...

259. - Probably so, thanks to Mom. - What do you mean?

260. 'Cause she went there and told them I'd had problems with him before.

261. She told the...

262. the police and everything so that's on record.

263. Steve J: Is it true?

264. Yeah.

265. Now that was when he was just a kid, wasn't it?

266. Well, it breaks my heart to think about it.

267. But Stephen has been taught right.

268. He knows right from wrong,

269. but Stephen is not all there, either.

270. - Steve J: What do you mean? - Stephen's got a problem,

271. he needs... he needs help.

272. Steve J: I'm gonna get Judy to talk to the people down here.

273. Maybe there's something the public defender

274. could go forward with in a plea, you know?

275. He needs to be in some place where they'll help him with problems,

276. - instead of make them worse. - Yeah.

277. I don't think he wants to change.

278. Tonya's father and I, we tried.

279. We really did try to understand him,

280. because with Tonya's situation,

281. sometimes you just have to overlook things, you know.

282. If they let him out today, I'd say by next week...

283. no, if they let him out today he'd be dead-ass drunk tonight.

284. Steve J: If he gets out of jail without going to prison,

285. will you be there for him?

286. Would you let him in?

287. No. Seriously, no, Mom, I would not.

288. If he got out of jail, I would not. I'm not.

289. - You're not? - I'm not.

290. Then why do you continue to go see him?

291. I guess he thinks that...

292. it's not over.

293. But what does Tonya think?

294. And why does he continue to send you letters from jail?

295. "Dear honey, hey what's up? Not much here.

296. How does it feel to be off work?"

297. Steve J: So why do you stay with him?

298. I don't know. I love him and I care about him.

299. And...

300. he makes me feel special. I mean...

301. On this kind of a case, the worst that I could have

302. is a woman to defend me.

303. If I can't come up with the money to get me this lawyer

304. that can beat this case,

305. they're gonna have to tie me down and take me.

306. - Steve J: To take you to prison? - Stevie: "Before I go," I said,

307. "I'll kill myself, because they ain't taking me out of here alive."

308. Steve J: Well, now you can't talk that way.

309. I walk through them doors, I might as well just say

310. to hell with everything.

311. Steve J: I didn't commit to hiring the lawyer he wants,

312. though as promised, I did talk to him.

313. He was a slick asshole with a legendary reputation in the jail

314. and he made it clear that for a few thousand dollars

315. he was confident he could get Stevie off.

316. I'm celebrating the 4th of July at home,

317. but I can't stop thinking about it all.

318. I know prison isn't the answer for Stevie,

319. but putting him back on the street isn't either.

320. Right now, doing nothing seems like the safest thing to do.

321. Happy 4th of July.

322. Steve J: Hey, long time, huh?

323. Hey, I got some good news for you.

324. - Steve J: What's that? - I'm out of here.

325. What do you mean, you're outta here?

326. - Stevie: I'm free to go. - Wow, that's amazing.

327. Steve J: Did the confession get suppressed?

328. That's what I'm saying.

329. - Steve J: That's amazing. - Stevie: Yeah.

330. So, you're leaving today?

331. Well, that's what I was calling to see.

332. Maybe if there's a possible way that I could borrow

333. a hundred dollars from you to get out.

334. Uh...

335. I need a hundred dollars cash, for bond.

336. Uh, yeah...

337. That's... that's amazing.

338. Judy wouldn't let me give Stevie the bond money.

339. How can I say no? It's only $100.

340. "It's not about the money," she said.

341. Grandma told me Brenda put up the bail money.

342. Brenda said Grandma did it.

343. Did Stevie tell you that he asked me

344. for the money to get out?

345. Mmm-hmm.

346. So he told you I didn't do it, and that was the end of it?

347. Did you wonder why?

348. I said, "Well, Stephen, he's got a family.

349. He's got three kids and a home to keep up and all."

350. And I said, "He can't afford to do it."

351. But, you know, that wasn't the reason.

352. Judy and I discussed it.

353. You know what Judy does for a living?

354. - Do you know what she does? - Umm-um.

355. She's a counselor. She works with sex offenders.

356. Judy and I talked about it,

357. and... I think he's guilty. I don't want him to go to prison,

358. but I worry...

359. about what he might do when he's out on bail.

360. And he blames his mom for this, and...

361. Well, she's the one that got him up there to baby-sit

362. when she knowed better.

363. I don't necessarily think what's best for him

364. is to beat this thing.

365. Do you worry that if he beats this, that he'll just do this again?

366. No, I don't think he will.

367. Well, I don't know what's going to happen

368. before it's all over.

369. Steve J: Are you mad at me about any of this?

370. Hmm... maybe a little bit. I mean...

371. people gets mad, they get over it. You know, they...

372. realize stuff later on down the road.

373. Bernice. Hey, it's Steve James.

374. I finally got Stevie's mother on the phone.

375. She was reluctant to see me until I convinced her

376. I wasn't out to make a "Poor Stephen-Evil Mother" film.

377. But when we showed up, Bernice's sister Wendy was there...

378. the mother of the victim.

379. I'm the wrong person for you to talk to.

380. I trusted him alone with my children

381. and he took advantage of it.

382. Umm-umm.

383. He sat in a fucking chair for over two hours,

384. determining whether or not

385. he was going to "teach" my child

386. something he felt she should know.

387. And he wanted to be the one to do it.

388. He was her predator for over two hours

389. before he got a stiff dick

390. and went after her.

391. He had a hard-on!

392. How can a 26-year-old man

393. have a hard-on for an eight-year-old?

394. Steve J: Yeah.

395. You know I'm...

396. I'll see him in hell before I'll see him out.

397. That's something that little girl has to live with

398. for the rest of her life.

399. And it's going to interfere in everything that she does.

400. Little girl's afraid to sleep in her own room at night.

401. She has to sleep with me.

402. The least little noise, she jumps out of her skin,

403. wanting to know if it's him coming after her,

404. because he threatened to kill her.

405. If she told, he threatened to kill her.

406. Because he's like a dog that's had a taste of blood.

407. He's done it once. Does everybody...

408. are they all so naive that he won't do it again?

409. And who's to say the next time when a child fights him

410. that it won't go one step further

411. and he permanently hurt the child?

412. But, I was told you were the one that bailed him out.

413. You were the one that sent him money...

414. - No, l... - you know, and all this.

415. What, to get him out? No, I did not.

416. I told Stephen I wouldn't do it. I gave... I did give him money,

417. occasionally in jail, to buy cigarettes.

418. I mean, a lot of people did that... I think Bernice even did that.

419. What is all of this for, anyway?

420. I thought it would be good to make this film

421. about Stephen and...

422. - Wendy: Stephen... and try to understand...

423. try to understand who he is and what he had become.

424. About Stephen's violated and abused life.

425. But what I guess I'm saying is that this incident

426. has certainly shaken me. I'm not... you know,

427. and I have a different relationship to him than Bernice does

428. and certainly different than do you, especially now.

429. This film... will be an honest film,

430. as honest as I can make it.

431. It's not just an apology for Stephen.

432. It's not just... you know, I'm not here to just grill Bernice...

433. Steve J: Then I proceeded to do just that.

434. Why would you go up to the prison to see him?

435. - Why? - Yeah.

436. Well, no matter what he done...

437. and I don't approve of what he done,

438. he's still my son.

439. You know, he's still my son.

440. And it's not that she didn't try with Stephen, because she did.

441. Yeah, but people wasn't around when I was trying with him.

442. - Wendy: I was! - They don't know, they don't know.

443. It's when... when I got to where I couldn't handle him,

444. and his grandma, you know, would take him back,

445. and then I would get all the blame for doing everything wrong.

446. - You know what I've heard? - Bernice: Oh yeah.

447. I've heard that basically Stephen...

448. - that you beat him terribly... - Bernice: I have heard things.

449. And that you basically gave him to Grandma and said,

450. "You raise him." That's what I've heard.

451. - Oh? - I mean that's what I've heard.

452. Anything he does now, he blames me.

453. Because that's what his grandma

454. brainwashed him to think all those years.

455. Anything that happened bad to him

456. is because he had such a rough life because of me.

457. There was no beatings? I mean, I hear that all the time.

458. I didn't beat him. Yeah, I whipped him,

459. but nothing to what...

460. Why does Brenda say this too, then?

461. Oh...!

462. Bern, calm down, you're like me...

463. Steve J: Well, no, I have to ask these questions.

464. Yeah, I've popped him in the mouth.

465. I will not put up with any crap. If a kid stands by me

466. and smarts off, I'm gonna slap him in the mouth.

467. I do not agree with a child standing

468. and back talking.

469. And this is where her and I differ.

470. I don't think they should be smacked.

471. I don't think they should be hit.

472. Mainly, because of the way I grew up.

473. Had I turned the way that we were raised,

474. I would have been in prison by the time I was 17.

475. But see, I had that choice. And I made that choice.

476. I don't pick up high heels, coal shovels

477. and beat my children.

478. I don't cut switches off

479. and cut them from their ankles to their ass,

480. and make them bleed, and then put tights on them

481. and send them to school to cover it.

482. This all happened to you?

483. Oh... We were raised in the back hills of West Virginia.

484. My dad was an alcoholic.

485. Very, very abusive.

486. - Steve J: What about Stevie's dad? - No.

487. - And I won't go into that, no. - Who is Stevie's father?

488. - No? - No.

489. Why not? Can you tell me why not, you won't?

490. - I just don't want to. - Wendy: Does Stevie know?

491. - Steve J: No, he doesn't know. - No.

492. That's sad. Regardless of who he is or what he is,

493. he has a right to know at least who his father is.

494. Well, Arvle raised him...

495. as his son, you know.

496. You'll get in trouble over it.

497. They ain't gonna say nothing to me about it.

498. All right, go ahead. If you get in trouble, go ahead.

499. Hardhead.

500. Sometimes we get along all right, and sometimes we don't.

501. But he'd fight for me. Why, he'd fight for me.

502. And he knows there's not nobody who's done for him

503. what me and my husband done for him.

504. He was only 121/2 years old when Roy died.

505. But Roy just worshipped him.

506. Steve J: In 1983, I wrote in my journal,

507. "Grandma's life just about stopped when Roy died of a heart attack."

508. She couldn't sit on the porch after supper, she said,

509. because the memories hurt too much.

510. Stevie fills the hole in Grandma's life, but only partially.

511. And, she says, she gets no help from Stevie's mother

512. and her own son, Arvle.

513. Grandpa and Grandma meant more to me than what Mom ever did.

514. Then you find out that they ain't no blood relation to you.

515. It freaked me out when Grandpa died.

516. And then Dad turned around and he died, and...

517. well, I ain't never got over neither one of them yet.

518. Steve J: How old were you when you found out

519. Arvle wasn't your real dad?

520. Some time ago.

521. But the way I see it, he is my dad

522. because he's the only dad I've ever knowed.

523. I don't know. Lot of shit I don't understand.

524. Steve J: In 1981, the year Grandpa died,

525. Stevie was first placed at the Huber Boys' Home.

526. She put him in the boys' home, then whenever he got out,

527. she tried to make him think I'd stuck him there. And I didn't.

528. I cried 'cause he had to go. But we didn't have him adopted

529. and there wasn't anything I could do about it.

530. We tried to adopt him, but we was too old.

531. In the beginning, Mrs. Hagler was terrific to Stephen.

532. But then, Mrs. Hagler

533. always seemed to thrive

534. on making Bernice's life a nightmare.

535. If they had all come together with that kid,

536. he'd been a whole different kid.

537. I thought, somebody's got to defend this kid.

538. Nobody else is going to. Somebody...

539. somebody has to be his protector.

540. Steve J: Hal and Dorinda became Stevie's first foster parents

541. at the Huber Boys' Home when he was 11.

542. Despite giving him regular doses of Ritalin,

543. Grandma decided she could no longer control Stevie.

544. He would thrive on attention,

545. whether it was positive attention or negative attention.

546. One time I remember, we was out mowing and weed-eating

547. and there was a copperhead snake that was laying there

548. and I seen them boys up there, I'm like,

549. "Hey, looky here what I got! I got me a pet now!"

550. They're like, "Oh, man, get that thing outta here."

551. "Nuh-uh."

552. - They just scattered like fleas. - Steve J: I'll bet.

553. I got in pretty big trouble for doing that.

554. He could irritate the life out of you

555. and at the same time you just loved him to pieces.

556. - You just... he grew on you. - He was sweet.

557. God gave his good will

558. when he said, "This is my law."

559. Steve J: Hal and Dorinda were Stevie's favorite foster parents,

560. but after three years, Hal got this job as minister

561. and they left Huber Home.

562. We're not his parents. We can't follow him everywhere.

563. And there is a letting go.

564. Realizing that when you let go,

565. that there might be a train wreck at the end.

566. The first people that had him at Huber Home,

567. I think was all right. But the next one that was there...

568. he was raped when they was there.

569. And up until the last year or so, he's talked about that and cried.

570. Steve J: The first time I saw him,

571. I walked into the behavioral disorder classroom.

572. The teacher said, "Stevie, come here."

573. And out from behind a filing cabinet fortress he came.

574. He had been sort of closed off from the rest of the class,

575. because he was so disorderly.

576. And he had a bell that he would ring

577. in order to get the teacher's attention.

578. We had a lot of intelligent people working on him

579. over the years trying to come up with something

580. that would either motivate him or help him control himself,

581. and we never came up with it.

582. But when we get to the point

583. that I'm gonna have kids trying to hurt each other,

584. then I've got to remove the child that's causing the problems.

585. I realize now that he was one of the more severe children

586. that I've had to deal with.

587. Steve J: By 1986, Stevie had become so uncontrollable

588. that Bernice gave him over to the state for permanent placement

589. in foster care.

590. "His own experiences of abuse,

591. coupled with his impulsive acting out,"

592. wrote one psychologist at the time,

593. "could lead Stevie to sexually abusing young children,

594. whom he'd view as emotional peers."

595. In 1988, after failed placements

596. in every group home in southern Illinois,

597. 17 year-old Stevie was committed

598. to the Choate Mental Hospital in Anna.

599. It took like eight people to restrain me,

600. and then when they strapped me down to a bed

601. using cloth restraints,

602. I just came out and I snapped them.

603. Steve J: He continued to be physically aggressive,

604. prompting extensive drug therapy.

605. And they're like, "No more of this.

606. We want him out of here and out of here now,

607. before he winds up hurting somebody else."

608. Steve J: Stevie was discharged from Choate in August of '89.

609. The summary report stated

610. he had received "maximum benefit from hospitalization."

611. Unfortunately, all those services can't begin

612. to provide for him what he really needed,

613. which was a family that was nurturing

614. and cared about him and supported him.

615. And so in that way, the system failed him.

616. The system always fails in that kind of situation.

617. They can't begin to do enough for a child like Stevie.

618. Frankly, there was a little bit of maybe wild talk

619. about you know, maybe not letting him live here again.

620. You know, you hear

621. this "it- takes-a-village- to-raise-a-child" thing.

622. What do you do when the village fails?

623. You know, I mean where does our responsibility to people end?

624. A lot of the older people remember him as a child.

625. - Hi. - Dave: And they've always been

626. very kind and compassionate toward him.

627. You gonna introduce me?

628. Ahem... yeah. I was getting ready to.

629. This is Charlotte Teller, the post office...

630. - Officer in charge... - Yeah.

631. - At the post office until they have their new postmaster.

632. He won't last very long if I got something to say about it.

633. - Oh, Stevie. - I mean it.

634. You got to be nice to people and give them a chance.

635. - No I don't. - I'll let you meet him.

636. - Huh-uh. - Yeah, you will. He's right here.

637. This is Lenny. This is Steve. He lives down the road.

638. Nice to meet you.

639. He's a nice guy. You got to give him a chance.

640. - Nice to meet you. - Well, I guess I could.

641. - Yeah, he's a nice guy. - It'll work out okay.

642. Yeah, he's a nice guy... real nice guy.

643. Why'd you have to take my baby's job, man?

644. I've known Steve since he was a little boy... toddler.

645. - Steve J: Yeah? - Charlotte: Yeah. He's a good guy.

646. - Steve J: I was his Big Brother. - Verna told me

647. he had a Big Brother. Yeah, Grandma told me.

648. Steve J: A long time ago.

649. He waited and waited for his Christmas card.

650. He'd come in every day looking for his card from you at Christmas time.

651. - Oh, really? - Charlotte: Yeah.

652. He told me he was getting a Christmas card.

653. You working today or you got today off?

654. Steve J: Though Brenda and Stevie live only 100 yards apart,

655. it's like they're on different planets.

656. She's been happily married since she was 16

657. and steadily employed since she was 18.

658. I was always the dumb one, she was always the smart one.

659. Couldn't outsmart her.

660. Steve J: Brenda was born soon after Bernice gave Stevie to Verna.

661. She's the only child Arvle and Bernice had together.

662. She was put on a pedestal.

663. When you have one that is encircled

664. and one that is not...

665. the one is sheltered and the other one isn't...

666. Well, I wasn't treated nothing like "Bubby" was,

667. but she still wasn't a mother.

668. I think that Mom had a lot of resentment,

669. because when she got pregnant she didn't know the guy was married

670. and she took it out on Bubby.

671. He couldn't look to his left without getting beat.

672. You have enough to last you till Friday?

673. Maybe. (laughs)

674. Steve J: Brenda is Stevie's payee

675. for his Social Security disability checks.

676. He's been receiving them since his release from the mental hospital.

677. That's my other little gadget that I made.

678. Have you used it? Yep.

679. - I ain't used it. - No wonder your brain's fried.

680. Well, last payday he wanted me to give him

681. $45 for marijuana.

682. And I wouldn't do it. So he got mad about that

683. and threatens to pay me back

684. by doing something to my animals or whatever.

685. And I told him, "If that's the way you're going to be,

686. I'll call Social Security and give it up. You won't have anything."

687. You might have that snake in your house, man.

688. Doug has got more patience with him than I do.

689. Me, I raise my temper. Doug doesn't.

690. He tries to talk rationally to him... give him chance after chance.

691. I didn't take it down, it fell apart.

692. Steve J: Does Doug know about some of the stuff he...

693. you know, the sexual stuff that he did in the past with...

694. - Yes. - Steve: With you?

695. - Uh-huh. He doesn't trust him with me by myself.

696. Like today, he asked if he was gonna be down here.

697. He doesn't let me to go to town with him.

698. Doug said no, and Bubby knows that.

699. It's like we had horses in there.

700. Steve J: How are you and Brenda getting along?

701. At times, just like everyone else.

702. We have our differences. I was gonna knock her in the head

703. out here beside the garage because she called me "retarded."

704. I was gonna knock her in the head with a claw hammer.

705. You just... some things you just don't say.

706. And that's one of them things...

707. I just don't like that word.

708. I never have.

709. Steve J: Since you've gotten out of jail,

710. have you caught any shit from anybody?

711. You know how it is.

712. Steve J: Stevie asked the court for a new public defender.

713. Even though Patricia Gross' petition got his confession tossed,

714. he didn't believe a woman would avidly represent him.

715. And I think the judge thinks this case is a piece of shit,

716. quite frankly... on the state's part.

717. More likely, that's about what he was saying Friday

718. whenever we was in court.

719. He did say that in court actually.

720. Now that he's suppressed the statement,

721. this case is a lot better to try, but there's a risk you could lose.

722. And the downside of losing is a minimum six years penitentiary,

723. maximum of 30 years. And that's not therapy,

724. that's not help... prison.

725. The judge has suggested to me

726. a plea of guilty to Class Two felony.

727. It's got a real awful name... "criminal sexual abuse."

728. The State would agree to credit for time served.

729. You wouldn't do another day.

730. And there'd be counseling. Do you have any interest in that?

731. - I'd have to think about it. - I want you to think about it.

732. I don't want you to do it without thinking about it.

733. Okay. But do you have any questions? Do you think you understand me?

734. I understand you. That ain't nothing.

735. They're going to try and push for the felony

736. because they have Wendy, who's putting a lot of pressure on them.

737. She called down there this morning and threatened my sister.

738. Uh-huh.

739. If she's gonna start that, there's gonna be something done about it.

740. Anything you might try to do by way of contacting her

741. could be misconstrued as you trying to harass her.

742. You, in particular, should steer clear of this.

743. My advice, okay? That's legal advice.

744. Not if they come messin' with my family, I'm not.

745. Well, then your ignoring my advice.

746. I expect not to hear from him.

747. When I do call him, I think he'll probably be sort of warm

748. to the offer, but allow me to convince him a little more

749. and maybe we'll have a deal.

750. Steve J: If they offered you a deal

751. that guaranteed you not to have prison time,

752. but included counseling, would you take it?

753. Probably not.

754. Why not, though?

755. I ain't going through that damn crazy-ass shit.

756. I don't need no damn shrink talking to me.

757. I'm not as dumb as what them motherfuckers may think I am.

758. They try and tell you shit that's going on in life,

759. they ain't going to tell me nothing. I been through it and I've seen it.

760. You think if you talked to somebody like Judy

761. and took it seriously, that it would help you?

762. Well, I'll tell you the third time, I ain't talking to no shrink.

763. I mean, I'm just not.

764. Steve J: Even if it means going to prison?

765. I ain't going to prison, neither.

766. You got something else in mind?

767. I ain't saying.

768. Steve J: Stevie told me he's determined

769. to not have a sex offense on his criminal record.

770. Sex offenders have to register

771. with the state or their local police department for 10 years.

772. Their names and faces are posted on the Internet.

773. Murderers aren't.

774. I mean, they're the worst of the worst.

775. Steve J: Have people given you a hard time

776. for being friendly to Steve?

777. Everybody.

778. Doesn't matter to me.

779. We tolerate each other, you know?

780. And people don't understand that.

781. Steve J: So you're trusting him?

782. All I know is what Steve tells me.

783. And, you can weigh it either way, you know?

784. Steve's been known to tell a story now and then.

785. There's two people that know what happened,

786. and I'm not one of them.

787. And that's pretty simple, isn't it?

788. Steve J: With any trial months away, Stevie and I just want to forget

789. about his legal troubles, not think about what lies ahead.

790. I heard the crappie are biting.

791. Yeah, we're going to the government pond.

792. You catch an eight-pounder, let me know.

793. Eight-pound bass, anyway. Don't throw it back.

794. I didn't throw that five-pound bass back I caught at Cedar neither.

795. Catfish and bass loves frogs.

796. I'm smart. I know what to use. I ain't... huh.

797. Hey! Get your ass back here!

798. Son of a bitch.

799. Come on, pokey-ass.

800. I ain't got all day to mess around with you.

801. I wouldn't go up there, Tim.

802. Watch the goddamned tree limbs, brother!

803. Oh! God damn it!

804. Fucking overheated the truck.

805. - Tim: Is this a comedy? - Steve J: It is a comedy at times.

806. Now, if we don't catch any fish you got to edit all that stuff.

807. Steve J: We'll edit it so that a fish is caught.

808. There's a bunch of fish out there.

809. This is kind of like a peaceful getaway, you know?

810. - Thank you. - Yup.

811. There's nothing down here. There's not a damn thing down here.

812. I've worked about four weeks... about a month, this year.

813. That's not very good.

814. It takes more than that to get by.

815. It doesn't matter.

816. - Steve J: So what do you do? - I swing a hammer.

817. Construction, carpenter.

818. - Your cork! God damn it, Tim! - Tim: That ain't no fish.

819. Well, what's it doing under?

820. - Tim: The wind. - Yeah.

821. Well, get in there and get you some damn weights out then.

822. It doesn't matter.

823. 'Cause you always look forward to tomorrow, you know?

824. It's so gradual that you always expect the next thing...

825. you know, the next step.

826. Naturally, the next step would be tomorrow.

827. Fuckin' tick. Damn.

828. You get lost down here so easy.

829. Yeah.

830. But, this isn't bad, sitting here drinking beer and fishing,

831. and you know, not catching any fish, but...

832. Tim, he's going to town, man.

833. Damn it, damn it.

834. Oh, got 'em. No, I missed him.

835. He gonna be a fat bastard whenever you get done with him.

836. Steve J: Frog time? Yep.

837. Aw, man. Don't even tell me.

838. That little son of a bitch got out. Damn!

839. Rain, motherfucker! Rain!

840. - Shit! - Tim: This is sort of like freedom.

841. I can stand out in the rain if I want to, by gosh.

842. We're pretty much content, you know?

843. There's not a whole lot we need, you know.

844. Yeah, we don't have a good woman, but, by gosh...

845. Are we that demented?

846. - Stevie: We ain't that drunk yet. - Hell no, we haven't even started.

847. You guys are more than welcome. Get a cold one out of the cooler.

848. All that filming 'bout to wear me out.

849. Damn, that's pitiful.

850. I'm ashamed of that.

851. I don't give a fuck. How 'bout that one?

852. Can't do better than this, might as well just give it up.

853. It doesn't matter.

854. What time are you gonna be back Friday?

855. They got a camper down there, so, 6:30.

856. I know what you'll be doing down there.

857. What?

858. I think you'll be smoking that weed, drinking...

859. - I don't smoke weed anymore. - Oh, bull!

860. I don't even know what you're talking about!

861. - Don't play that game with me. - I ain't playing no games.

862. Let's ask Tim.