TTSOML #78: Adam Segovia

Someone I thought was a kind of angel, at the time at least, was Adam Segovia. This is the Lewis & Clark Law student who helped me to get what I needed to file my claims, against all odds. And I mean, against all odds. He's the one whose father is or was in Naval Intelligence.

I saw him after that first day. He was often in the library when I was there and then he worked at the library at the front desk. Maybe he thought I was a little nutty at first, or always did, but he was pretty smart. He and the other librarian there saw how I was able to devote myself to reading and research.

I learned how to locate all legal resources within the library and also how to use Lexis Nexus and Westlaw. Half of the work, or more, in preparing for any motion, is simply knowing how to locate things. A lot of people, lawyers and students alike, I think, took the easier route and just used the computer resources. Computer programs save a huge amount of time, but they're not people. Some of the best information, I found in books that the other programs didn't pull up. Scouring the stacks brought up a lot of things I wouldn't have otherwise discovered. I learned even how to shepardize, which is checking to make sure the case law is still valid and hasn't expired or become obsolete or overturned.

I spent hours everyday. I kept up with my college studies at the same time, but my schedule gave me the flexibility I needed. I discovered how smart I was, and how I was able to apply myself to something, hour after hour, during this time. My learning curve was huge. I went from not knowing the difference between "plaintiff" and "defendant" to knowing how to write a complaint and motion that held up in court and had sound law backing it. The problem was that, even though my work was very good, and superior to that of the other side, much of the time, the judges never gave me credit. Half of the time I was accused of having a ghostwriter and harassed to reveal who was 'helping" me. No one was helping me. I did it myself. The rest of the time, my citations were overlooked and never read, when they held up, simply because a judge never cared to read them or because if they did, they still thought they could get away with allowing a person pro se to lose, simply because it was assumed they didn't know their shit.

I had one lawyer give me a book of statutes and basic state laws. He said to me, "This is the Bible." This was a huge help to me. I just needed the tools, and what most of the lawyers I knew in Oregon did for me, was to simply give me some tools. They stood on the sidelines, I think, wondering if I would make it through summary judgment. They all said that if I did, they would consider taking my case.

I put up a good fight, which pissed the Abbey and their lawyers off to no end. It took two years or more for them to get rid of my claims. And they didn't play fair to do this. They didn't write good motions. And I had evidence backing me and they knew this. What they engaged in, was dirty and beneath me. I never resorted to their tactics. They lied, flat-out, in court, under oath, got Catholic clergy (Abbot Nathan Zodrow) to lie under oath, and they harassed me by having couriers come to my apartment day and night, delivering not one, but 3 copies of the same thing, to just bury me and overwhelm me. I asked for sanctions and an injunction, and the judge refused. I also had tampering of my fax machine and other electronic equipment, and my mailboxes were broken into at least twice, and then the Abbey lawyers would try to blame ME to the judge, suggesting I had done this myself, to have an excuse for why I didn't have certain documents, or for an excuse to ask for more time.

I never broke into my own mailboxes. Some of the vandalism done affected other people's property (mailboxes next to mine) besides. It's a crime, and I've never committed any crimes.

At the same time, I suddenly started having problems with police in Oregon state, getting parking tickets for things which I hadn't done, and after I started taking photos to prove I was getting set up all the time, and filed them with the Multnomah county courthouse, they disappeared, along with the citation to begin with. I went back to check with the clerk and it was like I'd never been given a ticket to begin with. She would look and look, and find nothing. It wasn't like it was closed and went out of the system, it was like it had never existed in the first place.

The only person who knew I was going to the courthouse to file photos and proof of things, was Christa. I just didn't talk about that stuff with anyone else, which is why everything always led back to her.

As for Adam, he continued to assist, but only in helping me find things. He never helped me work on any motions or anything. We did date, briefly. I wanted to go out dancing, and he went with me. We were intimate, and then I felt he was being a jerk once and started ignoring him. He tried to get my attention again, and I just treated him politely but without interest and then we ended up being friends. When I thought I might have to move out of my apartment, after SEEING Abbey Attorney John Kaempf talking with my landlord and then having problems with her, he offered to let me live in the house he shared near campus. I never took him up on his offer, but he was kind enough to offer.

He was a leftie, I noticed. I think he was the second person I'd dated whom I'd noticed was left handed. But, he said, he was more ambidextrous. He said it was extremely rare to be truly ambidextrous.

I remember thinking he cared more about nice clothing than I did. He had a lot of nice dress shirts in his closet, but he wore casual clothes to school. He played guitar, and smoked a little pot. He offered some to me, once, at his place, and I declined.

I later tried to contact him and he didn't respond. This was after the Willamette Week article had been written about me. Pretty much, no one wanted anything to do with me after that article was written.

I still saw him after the article was written, until I left the state of Oregon for Washington.