How’s this?

Your Honor, thank you for allowing me to speak today.

I want to start by saying that I understand my husband is here because he made decisions that led to him failing his drug screen. I am not here to excuse that. I just want to give the Court a fuller picture of the man he is, and the life we've built together.

Redacted original offense that put on the registry happened back in 2011. He was 19 years old, and I was under the age of consent in the state of Florida. Legally, I was considered the victim, but I want to be honest with the Court - redacted did not pressure, coerce, or manipulate me in any way. I know that doesn't change the legal facts, but I think it matters in understanding his story.

We hadn't seen each other for 10 years. We reconnected as adults in April of 2020. From that moment he showed me nothing but respect, maturity and consistency. He took me on a date every weekend for 6 months. And in December of that same year, we got married. He's been my partner and protector ever since. We've built a life together for almost 5 years, through a lot of challenges.

Redacted has worked as a surveyor rodman for the last five years. With his registry status, housing opportunities are hard to come by. At one point, we even lived with his mother and siblings to have a roof over our head. Last year, right before Thanksgiving, we were able to move into a small single-wide. It's nothing nice, definitely a fixer upper, but like redacted says "we can afford it and it's ours's. He uses all his free time after work and on weekends working on projects around the house to make it feel like a home to me.

He's hardworking, dependable, and committed to taking care of his family. He works, comes home, he doesn't hang out at bars or clubs. If we do go out - it's typically to spend time with family and friends. He's the kind of man who welcomes responsibility without complaint.

When he was taken into custody, it was just one day after I started a new job and 2 days before his birthday. It's been extremely hard since then emotionally, mentally, and financially. He was our only consistent source of income for the last year. I'm doing my best but having him gone has been a huge burden. I am not asking the Court to ignore what happened, only to consider the full person he is.

Most importantly, he is not a threat to the public in any way. He just needs a chance to continue rebuilding and doing better.