TVSpy
Phillip Garrido, the man awaiting trial for the abduction of Jaycee Lee Dugard, sent a handwritten letter to Walt Gray, an anchor at KCRA, Sacramento’s NBC affiliate. The note, rambling and riddled with errors, asks Gray to contact Dugard and take steps to ensure her civil rights are not being violated.
“J.C. Dugard’s free speach [sic] rights are being violated, also she has been repeatedly denied access to have an attorney present durning [sic] questioning,” Garrido writes. “Over and over she has clearly expressed this request from the beginning to the conclusion of questioning.”
The letter asks Gray to find a private attorney to protect Dugard and the two children she had during the 18 years she spent as Garrido’s captive in Antioch, California.
Upon receiving the letter, Gray visited the El Dorado County Jail where Garrido and his wife are being held. He tried to speak with Garrido, who refused to meet without his attorney present. Public Defender Susan Gellman, who is representing Garrido, told Gray she had advised her client against contacting the media.
Dugard was discovered on August 26th, when Garrido brought her and her children with him to a meeting with his parole officer. In subsequent interviews, Garrido admitted to kidnapping Dugard, who was abducted in South Lake Tahoe while walking to the school bus in June 1991.
On August 27, Gray interviewed Garrido over the phone for nearly ten minutes. The accused was careful not to reveal any details about the kidnapping, but promised the anchor he would be surprised by the “powerful, heartwarming story” that Garrido says will come to light during the trial.