[chris]

Her Address:
******, Rebecca DC# Q03851
Lowell Correctional Institution & Annex
11120 NW Gainesville Rd
Ocala, Florida 34482-1479


In Panama City, Rebecca began 10th grade at Rutherford High School. She met a few friends and seemed to be doing okay, but not as well as her family had hoped. Before Rebecca left Kansas, her mother had made an appointment for Rebecca to see a psychologist because “I was worried over her attachment to this boy, and also because she was emotional and crying all the time.”

Because of her relocation to Florida she missed her appointment. Her mother then asked Rebecca’s grandmother to make her an appointment to see a psychologist in Panama City. The appointment was made and Rebecca was scheduled to see the doctor the first week of December 1997.

However, Rebecca would also miss that appointment, for on the night of Wednesday, November 19, 1997, something would happen which would change Rebecca's life forever.

For the first two months after Rebecca relocated to Panama City, everything seemed to going well. Rebecca was attending 10th grade, and her grandmother was teaching her to drive. However, one night Rebecca got a call from a friend in Kansas, who informed Rebecca her boyfriend was seeing another girl.

It was a school night. Rebecca became very depressed and got into her grandfather's liquor cabinet. She drank almost a quart of whiskey; then she received a call from a 14 year-old friend from school. He asked her to come outside for a little while and said he would meet her in the front of the house.

When Rebecca saw him arrive, she finished off the whiskey and went outside through her bedroom window. The boy was accompanied by his 18 year-old cousin, Clifton, and the three of them walked around the neighborhood.

Shortly after their walk, Clifton said he knew where there was a party. So they hailed a cab. The 14 year old friend had his bike so he could not take the cab. That is when Rebecca joined the 18 year-old in the back-seat of the cab and the younger friend left.

Clifton, the 18 year-old, was known to walk around armed and had his gun with him this night. During the ride, Clifton directed the cabdriver to a deserted street, pulled out a gun, and asked him for money. When the cabdriver began making defensive movements, the gun went off, wounding the cabdriver. He died six days later. Rebecca ran from the scene to her grandmother’s house.

Rebecca's mother remembers "Rebecca called me the next day upset and crying. She told me she had seen a man shot. I immediately flew to Florida and, together, we to the police. However, Rebecca would not give police Clifton's name. She said she had promised him and the 14 year-old friend she wouldn't give police their names. The detectives told us if she didn't name him, they would find him themselves, and they assured us he would implicate Rebecca."

Detectives found Clifton and told him Rebecca blamed everything on him. He turned around and blamed everything on her. Subsequently, they were both indicted as adults and charged with 1st degree murder and armed robbery. They were tried separately by the same prosecutor, Jim Appleman. In April 1999, Rebecca was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to life without possibility of parole (the only option for 1st degree murder in the state of Florida).

[swiss]

snitching is some bitch shit, but i wouldve ratted the fucker out in this case...she didn't even know the guy. what a waste of life.

[alpha.first.one]

she needs to be rescued

[Mr_Shlaapu]

That is so fucked up for her.

[packrat]

Panama City is my hometown. I remember this well when it happened. That prosecutor Appleman was a real prick. But a least she won't be known as a snitch in prison.

[jesse]

She's about 34 now.

[whodat666]

God she got screwed! At district attorney Appleman seems like a real dick! I'm sure he's put a lot of people away 4 less than that. He just hard up to lock somebody up and throw away the key. Well she's not a snitch and she didn't deserve to be charged with murder. Our legal system failing another American!

[RiversEdge]

overzealous prosecutors. give the girl a 2nd chance at life. other people out of jail for far more serious crimes. what a shame.

[Teacupmydear]

Remember the prosecutor in the West Memphis Three case? He had a hard on to nail Damian Echols from the beginning. Right up until the three were released he was still saying he believed that they were guilty. What a Dick!