Kerry Lugene Parker Jr was born in the very small town of Casa Grande Az, but was raised in Coolidge Az. At around 4 or 5 his father and mother got divorced. Sadly, his little brother was murdered by his mom’s new boyfriend. His mother’s boyfriend used to lock him in the trunk of his car for days at a time, force him to run barefooted through the thorn fields, and used to choke his significantly smaller brother until he would almost pass out and revive him. Since he was only 5 it was nothing, he could do to stop him. Then one day his mother’s boyfriend hit his little brother in the head for crying too much and he stopped crying immediately… He realized what he did and told him that if he didn’t lie and say they were jumping on the bed and he fell and hit his head he was gonna do him the same way…he lied until he turned around 9, his father said he knew something wasn’t right and he used to have terrible nightmares as a child because of it. So, at 9 he got brave enough to tell him the truth.

From that day on his father and his mother’s boyfriend tried to kill each other, he has even been in the back seat while shots rang out with glass breaking. Unfortunately, violence ended up becoming his new normal. Years go by and his mother’s boyfriend leaves, and his father ends up becoming religious and forgives the guy. He vowed to himself that he was going to California to get revenge on him and that is displayed as a story in his recently released comic book called “Dead Men Walking.” However, the higher power had a different plan. Before he could save enough money to take the trip to California his grandmother got a call from his mother’s boyfriend’s mother saying that he was killed by his best friend.

Since the death of his little brother, his father wanted to make sure he did not lose him as well, so his upbringing ended up turning into military bootcamp. He ended up becoming trained in martial arts, mental teaching of the ninja and was forced to educate himself and ended up being at odds with his teachers on different topics. Fast forward, he ended up going to California anyways to visit his mother, but he had two objectives. One was to get away from his father and the other was to get revenge for his brother’s murder by finding his mother’s boyfriend’s children, but he ended up letting it go because he realized his hatred was not towards them.

A Picture of Kerry

So now he is in California, and he starts getting introduced to gangs and the sort. His mother had a new boyfriend, but the cycle continued because this boyfriend would beat his mother even over small things like buying the wrong loaf of bread. Even though he wanted to defend his mother, she ended up choosing her boyfriend over him and kicking him out. The first night homeless, he ended up sleeping in a park. The next day he moved in with some friends he had met. He had only come to California with a week’s worth of clothes so he called his father to tell him he would be on his way back to his hometown. His father kept asking him was he sure because he was going to be even harder on him this time. Kerry got upset and hung up the phone and did not speak to his father for another two years despite his father trying to find him in between that time.

So now, he is struggling on the streets trying to find his way. He ends up hooking up with a local street gang that his cousin was connected to. He found it weird that people often associate gangs as a criminal enterprise, but he saw it as them looking out for each other like a brotherhood. Protecting each other from racial threats and that most of the crimes committed were out of survival and not directed at hurting anyone. In high school, he began to look for a job but it was hard because he did not have any previous work experience and he even had holes in the soles of his shoes. He felt like if he didn’t look the part, how was he going to become employed by anybody. He ended up turning to society and joining the mentor program at his school. The first day of his mentor program, he arrived, and he noticed that everybody had a mentor there but him. It turned out that his mentor was a police officer but happened to be on vacation that day.

A excerpt from his comic book

In that moment, he felt like his mentor did not have time to deal with him and felt abandoned like his mother did, so he started doing what he had to do to survive. He got tired of having to put cardboard in his shoes to keep his socks from getting wet. Even though he still had cousins to look out for him, he got tired of feeling like he was a burden on everyone so he started to make his own way the best way he could. During this time period, his name began to ring on the streets, and it ended up popping up in a homicide investigation. But around this time, he ended up going back to Arizona with his father. After about a year went by, the police ended up questioning him about some homicides, but he told them he did not know anything. At this point, he had found a woman and was helping her raise her children and was going to school for business automation. He was also training in Jui-jitso and working as a security guard at one of the biggest security firms in the country while also having a baby on the way, so life was going good for him.

Shortly thereafter, a pretty good job opportunity arose in Texas where his woman’s family lived and so they moved. After about 8 months, they had begun saving for a house but before they could buy it, Kerry ends up getting arrested for three counts of capital homicide. He was extradited from Harris County Jail in Texas to Indio County Jail in California. They had zero physical evidence, no eyewitnesses, and no weapons. Just a bunch of circumstantial testimonies. At his trial, his jury kept coming back hung, after much questioning of the jury and back and forth, the judge decided to kick off the most academically inclined lady on the panel. She had a PhD in history, another degree in philosophy and was a pastor of several churches. She kept finding him not guilty so the judge kicked her off, this sent a message to the other jurors who were not trying to find him guilty that they would be if they decided otherwise.

In the end, another juror was questioned about his sympathy for the victims. He said he felt sorry for them and they (the jurors) owe the victims family something. The law says that he is only there to weigh the evidence and that is the only thing that will keep him on the panel. This juror was allowed to stay on the panel. The juror who found me not guilty was replaced by another juror who slept through most of his trial. She was sleeping so much that even the DA complained but, in the end, minutes later he was found guilty and was sentenced to three life sentences without the possibility of parole.

2016 home run derby in Centinela State Prison

Just to give you a little insight into the penalty phase process, the DA gets to argue aggravating circumstances or bad things about you, while you, the defendant gets to argue mitigating factors. So, the only aggravating factor the DA could find was a fist fight he was in. Now let’s look at the mentality of a DA and/or prosecutor. You’re asking people to kill someone behind a childhood fist fight. He was 19 yrs. old when he was arrested and It was a week after his 18th birthday when this crime happened. So, the DA puts the guy on the stand, and he says that he hurt one of his little cousins and Kerry came out and beat his ass. Now his mitigating factors was his college professors who took the time out of their schedules to come testify for him including, his coaches, teachers, pastors, family, friends and even law enforcement.

As he sat listening to the sentence being read it was as if someone had a spear pushed into his chest just enough to allow him to feel the pressure as they continued to read life without the possibility, the spear let up a little more after each count. He ended up with three life without the possibility of parole. His attorney looked at him and I guess his serene look puzzled her. He says he is not happy, but he is okay, and he said he also knows what it feels like to be a victim.

One of the stories he can remember is when he ended up having to fight two skinheads after this, due to them using the n-word while he spoke to his loved ones on the phone. He actually attacked them after the verbal abuse they used while he was behind a locked door. He tried to get them, but they stayed in their cell behind the locked door, so he fixed the lock on his door to look like it was locked. The officer thinking, he was locked away, popped open their door to let them out but the skinheads seen him and didn’t want to come out, so he was about to go in. As he grabbed the door handle, they kicked the door to try and smash him with the weight. As he jumped back his hand got crushed right at the fingertips chopping two of his fingers, one almost completely the other halfway through.

When he saw his fingers all he could think about was this was gonna be ugly, he closed the damaged fingers into a fist and grabbed the push broom head. He was sitting next to his door when the first guy came running out with a razorblade. The knife razor blade melted into a comb as he reared back to strike. He cracked him in his temple with the broom head. He fell on top of him, and he was about half a foot taller than Kerry. He was about 5′ 9’ at the time so they both went down. I’m looking for the hacking and slashing but he was basically out. He found out later he had a concussion for a while.

The second smaller guy rushed him while he was trying to get up and punched him in the stomach. He wrapped his damaged hand in his hair and punched him with the good hand. After some wrestling, they ended up being locked up like two pit bulls. The officers ran in and treated him like a cockroach and sprayed him with about 4 cans of pepper spray but that didn’t stop him from fighting. The guy hit him while the officers had him down, so he fought his way to him until the officers used the big guys to tackle him and tried to drown him in pepper spray.

So, he ended up doing pushups trying to get the officers off of him while slipping in a puddle of pepper spray. So his mind takes over – “Ahhhh! You M.F. chopped my finger off!!!” He screamed to get the big officers off his back. The Sgt. Looked around and saw his finger by the door. The skin that was holding it in place finally gave way and it flung over by the front door looking like the officer did it. They told him to relax and stop fighting. He was done with that; the nurse came and wrapped his hand and tried to talk nicely to him. His training kicks in and he removes himself from the pain mentally. He imagines he is sitting next to a cool lake, beautiful mountain scenery, birds chirping, no worries in the world…until he gets handcuffed to the hospital bed. He sat for 45 minutes waiting for the doctor. So, he asks the officer was his face all cut up? He says no you can’t even tell you been in an altercation.

Kerry, his father, step mother, and little brother

He tells that part of the story to show you how his mind works…not to glorify violence. From the county jail to prison there is a thing called Reception. Reception is like a huge warehouse where anyone and everyone goes to determine if they can go to general population. Protected custody – Reception is to establish affiliations and custody level.

Kerry’s only mother that he really knew. She helped him better understand himself and to this day, even though she has passed on, he still hears her voice guiding him through.

What is a story if you don’t have the love stuff, ha-ha! Jaziah one of the most influential people in his life, that assisted him on his journey to recovery. The person that helped him regain his humanity. First it started before he was incarcerated. His daughters from a different father’s, Trisha and Jazmen. He was there to give Jazmen her name after his little sister Jasmine. He used to watch them and how they got so much joy from the simplest things in life. His daughter Kerry was born two months after he got arrested and It broke his heart, he wishes he could have been there for her growing up, but his life had a different set of paths. They need to get back to her/ them and now my grandchildren helped him to regain his humanity. He has a friend whom he was in a relationship with, and he fell in love with her. Till this day, no matter what happens in his life, she made a lasting impression on him. Her kindness helped him to evolve into a true man. It takes a very special woman to be in a relationship with someone incarcerated. Till this day they remain close, and she is his best friend among being an inspiration. She helped him learn that it’s OK to be vulnerable, to be brutally honest and to be himself. Today, he is an intriguing author with a lot to say and he looks forward to continuing his writing journey and will be releasing more books very soon!

You can purchase a copy of his comic book at the link below