Many of you have read my thoughts and feelings on dealing with the defendants. Some of you have watched the TV link where Andrew, the main defendant, is in court apologizing for Marc’s death. I’ve written about the city of Portland, the detectives and D.A., the lesser defendant I’ve visited with …. but I haven’t shared any of Andrew’s letters in the blog till now.
Below is an excerpt from one of Andrew’s letters to me. I’ve edited it for brevity but the words are his and uncensored.
Andrew’s 3rd letter starts out:
“Dear Diane,
I’m very thankful to get these letters, I always look forward to hearing from the outside. One thing that is a rarity here is educated and intellectual conversation, so I’m very grateful to be able to write to you. …. All of our lives have changed since Marc’s passing. I’m not angry about my incarceration because I acknowledge I did this to myself. I’m of the belief that everything is about choices, so I want to make a conscious effort to make good decisions and not act on impulse. My choices have affected others, forced change in people’s lives, and of course have impacted the community in a negative way. This is a big deal. …… It’s my belief it would be an insult to you, Marc, his loved ones, and my own loved ones if I did not take the opportunities ahead of me to change for the better. All I have is my word, so I have to stay true to my promises. Marc’s death will not go in vain, I’ll keep the promise of making a change, cause if I don’t, I won’t be able to keep the peace I seek with others and myself. I wanted to know more about your blog. Is it a more personal blog or public?”
This was a 21 year old ‘A’ student writing from prison. There’s much more to this & his other letters. But I wanted to share his attitude with you, so you see who I’m dealing with when I write about the case and the main defendant.
Forgiveness was given him from myself, Marc’s dad & brother Paul, and Andrew is grateful, but …. he’s got a way to go. We all do. He wrote a very telling thing midway in his letter ….. ‘I’m focused on what’s after all this. I can see much greater than what is right in front of me.’
What a prophetic thing to write! Please pray for him!
Below is link of Andrew’s sentencing, June 3, ’15:
http://koin.com/2015/06/03/remorceful-marc-sundin-stabber-sentenced-to-10-years/