Michele on Nostr: Could this be them? Clyde and Patricia Young were living with their eight children in ...

Could this be them?

Clyde and Patricia Young were living with their eight children in Alabama near the border of Mississippi, surrounded by the property of wealthy businessman J.P. Altmire, when Altmire decided he wanted their land. When the Youngs refused to sell, he wrote 36 letters to lawyers, prosecutors and the local sheriff calling the family “troublemakers.” In August 1988, the Young's eldest son was arrested for cultivating marijuana on Altmire property. Authorities tore up the Young’s home with pickshovels, and police seized all the money they had, including the children’s piggy banks and a 90-year-old uncle’s social security check. They did not find any drugs.

A year later, police raided the home again, this time arresting the entire family. The Youngs learned at indictment that drug residue, a scale and a notebook of names and amounts of money were uncovered in a 1986 raid on Clyde Young's mother’s hunt club. At trial, the judge and Altmire’s former lawyer and friend, Charles Butler, did not allow the defense to admit as evidence the letters Altmire sent to local authorities. The prosecution’s witnesses included, as with many cases, criminals who may have been implicating others to reduce their own sentences. Clyde and Patricia, as well as four of their children, were found guilty of possession and conspiracy to distribute marijuana in an ongoing criminal enterprise. Clyde got 26 years; Patricia got 24; and their four children received sentences ranging from three to 15 years. Patricia and the four children have since been released, but Clyde is still serving his time.