Laz Rojas - an old Doomer in trouble.

[Azuris]

34 minutes ago, Murdoch said:

 

I

 

Ok :)

Thats good News.

 

23 minutes ago, Dynamo said:

It oon enough.

 

You are right, but i think i would have to tidy up the list from the text in Excel.

Can't judge it on my Phone :D

 

Edit:

 

Ok i calculated it, starting with the first from 22 Days.

5775 Dollars.

(its on 7488 at the moment).

 

Gives me at least the Feeling that it is something to work humble with.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Azuris

[iddq_tea]

This was so painful to read, I wouldn't wish such a fate even upon my worst enemies. What an awful world we live in... I can't imagine ever making a full recovery from something like this, but whatever happens, I hope he finds inner peace again. It helps to be part of such a great community.

 

I unfortunately can't donate at the moment, but I will as soon as I get the opportunity.

[LazRojas17]

Hello, everyone. This is Laz Rojas. Just created a new account to respond to this because I don't remember the log-in info for my old account.

 

I don't even know where to begin. I'm a writer and a pretty good one, but I don't think I'll ever find the words to truly express the absolute gratitude I feel thanks to all of you. Just 24 hours ago, I was struggling along following the routine I've been following the past few weeks to get by on a day-to-day basis, then I found out about all the donations that have flooded in and traced them to this forum. This sudden incredible show of support, and the huge improvement in my overall situation as a result of it, has stunned me almost more than my original arrest did. And it has restored my faith in humanity after it was all but trampled into the dirt by everything that happened last year.

 

I really don't know what to say. No words can adequately capture what you have made me feel. But I will say this much: Thank all of you from the bottom of my heart and from the deepest core of my being, and may God bless each and every single one of you as He has blessed me with your outpouring of both moral and financial support What has happened over the past day has been nothing short of a miracle, completely and totally unexpected, and I am absolutely floored and humbled by it. Your donations will go a long way to helping turn things around for me, and I am absolutely certain that things will only get better from this point on. This has been a turning point, a huge one, and I will mark this day on my calendar so that I never forget it.

 

Those who are unable to donate, please don't feel badly because of that. Your prayers and good wishes will be more than sufficient, and will be greatly appreciated. Every little bit helps, on both fronts.

 

As for the legal situation, I have a friend who's currently sounding out several law firms, and they've described my case as a civil rights case. And I have one hell of a case, because it's not just one or two things, I have a whole laundry list of crimes that were committed against me by the system. And I was 100% innocent the entire time. Someone, either the detective or the emergency room doctor or both, concocted the total falsehood that my mother's head was bashed in and I was arrested on that basis. They basically twisted a death by natural causes into a death by foul play and manufactured a crime where none existed at all. According to a few people I've spoken to, I could stand to get $20 million out of this and perhaps more. Truth be told, no amount of money could ever make up for all I've endured, but just as in wrongful death suits, a dollar value must be assigned even if it's morally insufficient.

 

But money is not enough. I want this case to be highlighted and an example made out of it. I want no one to ever go through what I have. The system failed me utterly, in multiple ways. It's almost a case of overkill, how many things went wrong and how badly it was handled in every way. And I want certain people personally held responsible, including the detective and the doctor, for their roles in this travesty. Once I sue the county, I may sue them personally, because they pretty much framed me and created a charade that it took the medical examiner to expose and undo. Did they think they could get away with it forever? I always knew the autopsy report would clear me. Didn't they?

 

I will try to keep up with this thread and give status reports from time to time, but for now, let me once again thank all of you for your support and may God bless each and every one of you.

 

Laz

 

 

 

 

[Dynamo]

I am elated to hear from you Laz! I think I can speak of everyone's behalf when I say that we are immensely happy to see your situation improving, and we sincerely hope you will be able to sue these evil people for all they've done to you! A few people posted some links that may be useful - in particular:

 

21 hours ago, bofu said:

Here's the funny thing: the district attorney of LA County, George Gascon, is an advocate for criminal justice reform. It's unlikely he was personally involved with this case or even made aware of the details. He's got a record of reassigning and demoting prosecutors for this kind of thing and has angered the police union enough for cracking down on them that they've tried to get him recalled numerous times.

 

I wonder how George Gascon would feel if he were to be made aware of the sheer breadth of this situation, and if some people might lose their jobs if enough people raised a stink about it.

He could be an useful contact to reach out to, but regardless, as Ralphis said to me earlier:
 

Quote

 

i am not a lawyer, and am merely offering my opinion, but he should concurrently seek multiple attorneys and choose one

the longer he waits, the more likely it is that 1) evidence will be spoliated; and 2) relevant statute of limitations may toll

the longer he waits, the less likely he is to see any justice in civil proceedings (if he does at all)
it will be difficult, but he needs to move sooner than later

 

So I am very glad to see things are progressing in that direction! Keep us posted, and best of luck!

[Doomlover77]

All the best Laz @Doomlover77 you will get through this. 

[Murdoch]

46 minutes ago, LazRojas17 said:

I always knew the autopsy report would clear me. Didn't they?

 

They clearly tried to stop it coming out by baiting you with the plea deal. Then they could have swept the malpractice of their colleagues under the rug. The actions of a few bad ones can spoil the public image of the whole lot of them, and the higher ups probably wanted that avoided. That took immense courage for you not to fold on that one.

 

46 minutes ago, LazRojas17 said:

I will try to keep up with this thread and give status reports from time to time

 

Most definitely please do. Good luck my friend.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Murdoch

[RonnieJamesDiner]

God bless you as well, Laz. I hope each day gets a little bit better for you, as much as that is possible. Looking forward to hearing how it all turns out.

[LazRojas17]

19 minutes ago, Dynamo said:

I am elated to hear from you Laz! I think I can speak of everyone's behalf when I say that we are immensely happy to see your situation improving, and we sincerely hope you will be able to sue these evil people for all they've done to you! A few people posted some links that may be useful - in particular:

 

He could be an useful contact to reach out to, but regardless, as Ralphis said to me earlier:
 

So I am very glad to see things are progressing in that direction! Keep us posted, and best of luck!

I believe I have a three year statute of limitations, but I'm already in the process of finding a lawyer. A friend of mine has contacted several firms and they all said this is a civil rights case, so I should have no trouble finding someone to proceed with this. I intend to sue not only the county, but to personally sue the detective and the doctor as well, since the entire horror resulted from the calumny and slander of their false accusation.

 

Although I thanked everyone on this thread in general for the donations and moral support in my previous post, I would be remiss if I don't single you out, Dynamo, for special thanks. It was your actions in copying and pasting my Youtube post here on this forum which has led to what amounts to a miracle happening over the past 24 hours. You have changed my life for the better from one day to the next, when I least expected it, in a very big way, and for that you have my eternal gratitude. May God bless you and yours always.

 

Laz

[⇛Marnetmar⇛]

Go Laz! You got this :)

[bofu]

43 minutes ago, Dynamo said:

He could be an useful contact to reach out to, but regardless, as Ralphis said to me earlier:

Oh, absolutely. Sue the pants off of everyone involved. No disagreement here.

 

Laz, glad to see you're doing as well as you can be expected to be doing. Keep up the good fight.

[Murdoch]

28 minutes ago, LazRojas17 said:

Although I thanked everyone on this thread in general for the donations and moral support in my previous post, I would be remiss if I don't single you out, Dynamo, for special thanks. It was your actions in copying and pasting my Youtube post here on this forum which has led to what amounts to a miracle happening over the past 24 hours. You have changed my life for the better from one day to the next, when I least expected it, in a very big way, and for that you have my eternal gratitude. May God bless you and yours always.

 

He's definitely the main hero of the day here. One simple act and look at the result. Extraordinary.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Murdoch

[Azuris]

1 hour ago, LazRojas17 said:

I don't even know where to begin. I'm a writer and a pretty good one, but I don't think I'll ever find the words to truly express the absolute gratitude I feel thanks to all of you.

 

And everything only because you made some fun Wolfendoom Maps many many Years ago.

But Jokes aside, the Horror you have gone through should not happen to anyone.

 

It is in my Opinion nothing that should be able to happen in a modern democratic State led by Laws and with a Constitution that should protect People.

Mistakes can happen, but to not compensate and offer any Help to the Victims of such Mistakes is horrible and far away of my Understanding of Justice (and as you can see seemingly of anyone)

 

No Matter where this Battle will lead you to, i wish you the best and that you'll find inner Peace and a new secure Life that lets you spread your Creativity.

(And hopefully you share it with us ;) )

[SuperPIter_DoomWorldthe2nd]

Oh hey, Laz actually responded.

I hope you can actually win the case, because this is a VERY big case that could open the eyes of other people towards just how corrupt the justice system can really become. Good god, i never thought there would be people SO out of their mind and completely demented that they'd twist a death from natural cause to a murder, but here we are.

Spoiler

Even though i don't really think your mom had any head injuries that could even remotely make it as if she suffered head injuries from the looks of it. If that's the case, than this is a complete goddamn lie and these people think they can get financial benefit from being a bunch of asshats. I know for a fact that corrupt justice is something that can open the eyes of any judge, so... Best of luck, Laz.

 

[JBerg]

You go Laz! 

[Gaia74]

I wish I would be able to donate, a lot of strength Laz! and God will be with you, my prayers go to you!

Edited February 10, 2023 by Gaia74

[Artman2004]

Wish you the best, Laz! Hope you can get your life back together.

[Stealth Frag]

I was wondering if we could organize some kind of online event to support Laz. Maybe there is someone here with a twitch account and could organize a stream with "Operation: Arctic Wolf" for example? Just throwing out an idea.

[Redneckerz]

@Dynamo @LazRojas17 please keep this thread and the gofundme open for atleast the end of this month. Ill be doing my part also but because it only supports Paypal i actually have to go through some shenagians to get that rolling. Furthermore, the more donations the merrier.

 

4 hours ago, Reinchard said:

I was wondering if we could organize some kind of online event to support Laz. Maybe there is someone here with a twitch account and could organize a stream with "Operation: Arctic Wolf" for example? Just throwing out an idea.

At this point i just want Operation Artic Wolf Revisited be released as a standalone game by @CeeJay and @dasho. Perhaps do some kind of event where you can put a donation button next to it, tho not required?

[franckFRAG]

4 hours ago, Reinchard said:

I was wondering if we could organize some kind of online event to support Laz. Maybe there is someone here with a twitch account and could organize a stream with "Operation: Arctic Wolf" for example? Just throwing out an idea.

 

I was thinking exactly the same thing, maybe @Dime or @Bridgeburner56 who has a fairly large Twitch community could organize a Twitch event ?

[Suitepee]

Just read about this now. I sincerely hope that justice prevails for you @LazRojas17, because this whole ordeal sounds absolutely bloody horrible.

[Dreemurr Deceevurr]

Shared this thread with some friends outside the community. I don't think I can put into words how sickening this situation is. This is beyond the old adage of "ACAB", this was a concerted attempt by the legal system to throw an innocent man in jail that he only escaped at the cost of everything he had.

 

I truly hope that you're able to find justice, Laz.

[dasho]

3 hours ago, Redneckerz said:

@Dynamo @LazRojas17 please keep this thread and the gofundme open for atleast the end of this month. Ill be doing my part also but because it only supports Paypal i actually have to go through some shenagians to get that rolling. Furthermore, the more donations the merrier.

 

At this point i just want Operation Artic Wolf Revisited be released as a standalone game by @CeeJay and @dasho. Perhaps do some kind of event where you can put a donation button next to it, tho not required?

 

I certainly have no qualms in assisting with such an effort, but at the same time I wouldn't want to accidentally scuttle the fund that's been raised already fighting a legal battle involving distributing assets that we don't exactly have the rights to.

[Lobo]

Sounds like a bad idea to me, potentially giving ammo to the enemy...

[Laz Rojas]

Twenty-four hours later, and I'm still floored by the outpouring of support and donations that I've received from this community. I raised the goal of my Gofundme campaign yesterday because the original one had been exceeded, and now less than a day later the new goal has almost been reached. Absolutely astonishing. Words cannot convey my gratitude to all of you. This is truly extraordinary.

 

On the legal front, I've been advised that I should retain a civil rights attorney, and that seems the best course of action. There are lawyers who specifically handle wrongful imprisonment cases, but I believe my case involves a great deal more than just wrongful imprisonment and should be taken as far as it can go. My arrest led to a violation of all of my rights, including my being dispossessed of intellectual property, and I'm sure the implications of it stretch across a wide range of things. Could be a landmark case, for all I know.

[SuperPIter_DoomWorldthe2nd]

Hope all goes well for you, Laz. Let's hope one day you can return to the doom modding scene after this mess is over.

[OceanMadman]

12 hours ago, Redneckerz said:

 

At this point i just want Operation Artic Wolf Revisited be released as a standalone game by @CeeJay and @dasho. Perhaps do some kind of event where you can put a donation button next to it, tho not required?

I had the Idea of making a sequel for Operation Rheingold to make his case more known, but I suppose I don't need to anymore. However, if anyone feels like helping maybe I can still do it.

Edited February 11, 2023 by OceanMadman

[taufan99]

2 hours ago, Laz Rojas said:

Twenty-four hours later, and I'm still floored by the outpouring of support and donations that I've received from this community. I raised the goal of my Gofundme campaign yesterday because the original one had been exceeded, and now less than a day later the new goal has almost been reached. Absolutely astonishing. Words cannot convey my gratitude to all of you. This is truly extraordinary.

 

On the legal front, I've been advised that I should retain a civil rights attorney, and that seems the best course of action. There are lawyers who specifically handle wrongful imprisonment cases, but I believe my case involves a great deal more than just wrongful imprisonment and should be taken as far as it can go. My arrest led to a violation of all of my rights, including my being dispossessed of intellectual property, and I'm sure the implications of it stretch across a wide range of things. Could be a landmark case, for all I know.

All the best for you, Laz! I hope the case goes just for your side.

[ChopBlock223]

On 2/9/2023 at 10:22 PM, LazRojas17 said:

But money is not enough. I want this case to be highlighted and an example made out of it. I want no one to ever go through what I have. The system failed me utterly, in multiple ways. It's almost a case of overkill, how many things went wrong and how badly it was handled in every way. And I want certain people personally held responsible, including the detective and the doctor, for their roles in this travesty. Once I sue the county, I may sue them personally, because they pretty much framed me and created a charade that it took the medical examiner to expose and undo. Did they think they could get away with it forever? I always knew the autopsy report would clear me. Didn't they?

You should 100% go for it. There's been other people who've been stepped on just like this but didn't have the fortune to even survive, or were hammered down into taking the "offer" for freedom. They're culpable either out of malice or of criminal incompetence.

 

4 hours ago, Lobo said:

Sounds like a bad idea to me, potentially giving ammo to the enemy...

I can't imagine that would be very potent in court. "Your honor, the claimant may well have had endured gross violations of his rights, BUT, our research showed that he once copied some assets from a commercial game, and put them into some game mods which he provided for free on the internet 20 years ago!"

At the the absolute worst hypothetical imaginable, that would involve iD Software and 3DRealms/Apogee filing some sort cease and desist, which they basically haven't done to the community ever for the past 30 years, barring some odd instances of someone including the complete .wad or .grp files for some games with a mod, or an assetflip on Steam. Assuming iD and Apogee decided they wanted to worsen their public relations for no reason, it would have zero tangible impact on this case.

 

If someone wanted to do some sort of commercial thing with Arctic Wolf, then the matter of rights to what assets and what trademarks and branding may be relevant, but replacing that with original assets is a small thing. A standalone game doesn't have to be a commercial product though, there's a lot of free fangames out there which are in no way illegal.

[Klaesick]

What's happening is truly fucked up. How this started and why anyone would choose to do this to an innocent person is beyond me. I can't donate, but commenting is the most I can do. All the luck in the world to you Laz.

[Dark Pulse]

This situation is just all sorts of fucked, and while no amount of money can ever make it "right" again, Laz should take these people for absolutely everything that he can get. This was straight-up injustice, pure and simple.

 

Even if the record is officially cleared, that's ten months of psychological torture, in a prison setting, where he was assaulted, repeatedly, by inmate and prosecutor alike. No money can take that back. No money can reverse the feeling he must have had as he was accused of causing his mother's death. Nothing can restore the things he created, which are, by definition, generally priceless.

 

I don't normally consider myself a very religious person (and this isn't the thread for one's beliefs on that - let's focus on common humanity here), but things like this kind of make me hope there is a place where people who would inflict this sort of suffering on other people, suffer themselves. This wasn't an honest mistake, there was no second opinion, this was straight-up accusation until it got forcibly proven wrong - and a prosecution so desperate for that to not get out that they tried everything to make him admit guilt.

 

That, to me, is evil.

 

I don't have much money, I'm afraid, but I'll definitely spread the word in my own way. I think I owe that to Laz - WolfenDoom was some of the first PWADs I played (back on Doom 95!), and something like this absolutely needs to be brought to the attention of those in power.

Edited February 11, 2023 by Dark Pulse