Update: Oct 22, 2012.

It has been just over two and a half months since three of four Reese family members were convicted of a total of four paperwork violations associated with selling guns.  (update:  changed quantity to guns, not two guns.)

Remington was released from custody the day the verdicts came out in mid-August.

Terri has remained out on bond.

Rick and Ryin remain incarcerated.

All three are still awaiting sentencing, which will occur after the pre-sentencing investigation is completed.  The report will eventually be submitted to the judge.  It seems all they are waiting on at the moment to complete the report is the AUSA’s office needs provide trial transcripts to the pre-sentencing probation office.

Since the date of the convictions a number of things have occurred.

Shortly after the trial wound up, Terri went in for surgery and had a 30.6 centimeter tumor removed from the back of her leg and started down Recovery Road. To give the size of her tumor perspective, all one has to do is look at the back of her leg. The multi-curved incision starts mid-thigh and extends down towards her middle calf.

Judge Brack signed an order giving Terri Reese permission to live at her own residence in Deming, instead of the halfway house in Albuquerque, so she could continue recovering at home. Remington also lives there and has been helping her recover post-surgery as well as work on cleaning up the aftermath of the executions of the search warrants.

The conditions of her Bond were and are still in effect. Bond conditions include no access to weapons, live ammunition, or anything else that could be
considered dangerous, and no alcoholic consumption.

Shortly after returning home Terri took proactive steps and called on a few friends to help her 20 year old son, Remington, go thru the homes, various storage areas and the now closed business to make sure she was in compliance with the conditions of her Bond.

Approximately a dozen people responded to help Remington with the overwhelming task. The task was overwhelming not only because of the sheer number of square feet that comprised the multiple buildings and storage areas, but also because of debris, dirt and dust, dead moths, spiders and webs, live and dead snakes (including rattle snakes), and piles upon piles of haphazardly discarded items tossed all over both inside and outside by the agents during the original search warrants.

It wasn’t long after the clean-up crew started that Terri had a medical set-back. A serious blood clot had developed in her operative leg. Up until recently, Terri has been mostly on bed or chair rest with her swollen leg elevated, and walking on crutches when she has been up for short periods of time. As of October 22nd she is still taking the medication Coumadin to shrink the blood clot. Her leg is still swollen, although not as much as it was just even a week ago.  She walks with a pronounced limp.

One of the more difficult things for those involved as the clean-up got underway was dealing with emotions of violating of the Reese family’s privacy while pawing thru everything they own that the agents left behind. The weight of the responsibility of contributing to the success in meeting the conditions of the bond, or failing and contributing to her going back to prison escaped none of us.

On one hand there was a job to do. A really big job that none knew how long it would take to get finished and at times it seemed no progress was being made. Work could not proceed on days when Remington was driving his mother to a doctor appointment, or on the days they went to visit Ryin and Rick at the jail. While some days a larger number of people were able to show up on the same day, on other days schedules didn’t match up and only a 1-2 people were able to show up further slowing the process.

There was an enormous sense of responsibility to get it right, to not make any mistake thru even the slightest oversight of even the teeniest thing. And to clarify, some of the things being looked for were as small as a single .22 caliber round of ammunition interspersed amongst mountains of debris. It was very much akin to looking for a needle in a haystack.

The trust and faith that Terri, as well as the rest of her family, had that God would help the crew help her voluntarily meet the conditions of her bond was upon us. Terri’s freedom was in their hands. Her faith was unwavering that their eyes would be as diligent as her own.

The going was slow as areas were worked by pairs of volunteers in sections and volunteers had to ask Remington over and over, “What is this?” “Is this something that might be on the dangerous list?”  “Is this garbage?”  “Is this broken or can it be sold?”  “Do you have any idea what this is?”  “Can I throw this out?”  Some items were disassembled beyond recognition.  The crew could tell small pieces were probably small replacement parts for a gun, but there was no way to tell which kind of gun so the part could be catalogued and sold.

Mixed in with the debris, every now and then a small knife was found and segregated into drums for removal from the property.  The display case with all the knives was otherwise emptied of knives and Leatherman tools by the agents.  The display case with gun cleaning fluids (Hoppe’s No.9 etc.) was mostly empty.  It is unknown why that would have been on the original seizure list.

Bayonets and empty magazines were found and segregated for removal, as well as many other things that were questionable items.  These were items that apparently were not on the seizure lists, but items that would be a problem for conditions of bond.

In September, about a month after the clean-up crew started and long before the clean-up and segregation was finished, Probation Officer Monica Hoyle and a co-worker paid a visit to see if Terri was in compliance with the terms of her bond. Terri was told everything was fine.  However, it wasn’t long after Terri received notice of an Emergency Hearing to Modify Conditions of her Bond/Release had been filed and scheduled for October 16, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. in front of Judge Brack.

Meanwhile, clean-up crews continued the arduous task of cleaning up, searching for anything that might be dangerous, and continued cataloging, and packing things that could possibly be sold to raise funds to pay for the still mounting legal fees, as well as segregating things that might be considered dangerous.  Even clothes that were scattered into heaps all over had to be searched pocket by pocket to see if even a single loose round of ammunition was tucked inside.

The night before the hearing, Terri packed her bags and made preparations to return to jail.

Next post:  The Hearing.