User:KnightedOutlaw/David Garland Atwood, II

David Garland Atwood, II is an gay rights activist, criminal justice reformist and author. He was born into a wealthy and politically powerful family in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Becoming politically active at a young age, David ran for public office in his hometown on an anti-corruption platform, only to be arrested by the FBI and convicted of several federal crimes. He then spent the next five years of his life in over five different maximum-security federal prisons. Since his release David has become a spokesman for criminal justice reform and gay rights. He also published his first novel in 2009. Born on August 13th, 1983 in Jackson, Mississippi, David lived for a short while on his family’s cotton and soybean farm in Camden, Mississippi. Shortly thereafter, his father, David Garland Atwood, moved David and his mother, Marjorie Joan Tolleson, to the Atwood’s family home in Vicksburg and took a job working for his father at his Chevrolet dealership. David’s father would later become owner of the Atwood Chevrolet franchise. David attended school in Vicksburg until his parents his parents divorced in 1991. David then went to boarding school at French Camp Academy in central Mississippi for two years. During that time, both his parents remarried. Joan remarried a successful attorney and former prosecutor in Vicksburg named Jerry Campbell. They would eventually have two children together. After returning from French Camp, David lived with his grandmother, Vivian Atwood on their family farm in south Warren County. He attended both Porter’s Chapel Academy and Vicksburg Catholic School, graduating in 2000. He then started college that fall at the age of seventeen. By the summer of 2002 he filed to run for county constable. Running on a anti-corruption platform with several other candidates, David made his campaign about cleaning up the corruption and malfeasance of the political machines of Vicksburg and Warren County. Numerous law enforcement officers, judges, and other elected officials had recently been arrested and charged with a wide-ranging assortment of crimes and David tried to use this to his advantage in his election campaign. On November 5th, 2002, David and one other candidate were the top vote earners out of six candidates and were forced to a run-off election two weeks later. Even though David lost the election by a slim minority, many people in Vicksburg felt that he was a political rising-star in the community. The following year David filed to run for sheriff, but soon withdrew from the race after allegations were made that several elected officials, including the sheriff of Warren County, had made deadly threats against him. After withdrawing from the sheriff’s race, David moved to Orlando, Florida and enrolled in flight school at Air Orlando Training Center. After receiving his pilot’s license, David moved back to Vicksburg in the spring of 2004. On July 2nd, 2004 the FBI and Mississippi Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested David on charges of terrorist threats. These charges were soon dismissed however, for lack of evidence and evidence tampering. Allegations were made by David’s defense team that the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office in Jackson, Mississippi had fabricated the terrorism charge and were conspiring to ruin David’s political future. After the terrorism charge was dismissed, the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged David with using a computer in interstate commerce to entice a minor under the age of eighteen. This charge stemmed from David’s relationship with a sixteen year old male who he was dating in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Many people saw the charge as excessive and unwarranted. David was nineteen year’s old at the time of his relationship with the minor, which under Mississippi State law was not a crime. David initially fought the charges against him, arguing that since neither he, nor the minor, had left the State of Mississippi, the federal courts lacked jurisdiction. Federal Judge David Bramlette ignored these arguments and allowed the case to proceed. David eventually was convicted and sentenced to sixty-three months in Federal prison. David served his time at Madison County Detention Center, Yazoo City FCI, Memphis FCI, Lewisburg USP, Ray Brook FCI, and Forrest City FCI. He was released on January 23rd, 2009 and returned to Vicksburg. Since being released, David has become an outspoken advocate for criminal justice reform, focusing much of his attention on ending the police brutality and inmate mistreatment inside America’s prisons and jails. He is also active in the gay community and gives numerous speeches every year to organizations and groups across the country. In November 2009 David’s first book was published. “She Walked Strong” is a novel David wrote while in prison that is loosely based on a true story, but wrote as fiction. According to David’s website, his second book, an autobiography, will be published in late 2010.