Verde Valley Guidance Clinic, Medications Prescribed to Pompeneo.

August 9, 2009, Arizona State Prison

[... the] doctors [at the Verde Valley Guidance Clinic, VVGC in Cottonwood, Arizona] [...] were aware of my addiction but [were] still willing to give me a stimulant for my ADHD.  I didn’t abuse it but it was the same as being high because the medicine Adderal is an amphetamine.   I stopped abusing [illegal] drugs [for thirteen months] and went to A.A. [Alcoholics Anonymous meetings …] My life was getting on track and I didn’t see the going on more and more medications was making me less stable.  Every time I asked for a drug they gave it to me.  I got  to the ninth step which is making amends to those you’ve wronged and I contacted Sherris.  I made amends and we ended up getting back together.  The problem was she was unstable also.  Things were great at first.  I loved her deeply […]  We both ended up in psych[iatric] wards at separate times […] 


Every time I would go impatient they would take me off the stimulant and [then] would take me back on it.  After putting me back on it for the third time I went to an appointment and told them [Zach Duran, and others at Verde Valley Guidance Clinic] I was having thoughts of hurting people.  They didn’t take me seriously and drove me home.  I went into a psychotic rage and killed Sherris a few hours later. [emphasis added]

I was sentenced to life and here I sit.  Pain and guilt and self-loathing were all I felt for over two years.  It is very heavy upon me.  I was mad at God for a while but gradually began getting more and more into my Bible.  I am blessed to be around other Christians who have helped me grow.  I look at my life in two parts.  Before my personal encounter with Christ and after the night I am about to explain. 

One night I was in the darkest depths of pain I have ever experienced.  My life was gone.  Sherris was dead and I realized just how hopeless and pointless my life had been.  All the pain and guilt and self-loathing had reached a fever pitch and I was broken.  I cried out to Jesus Christ that night with all my heart and soul.  I begged him to take this pain and begged his forgiveness.  His peace came to me in a way that is beyond everything I can comprehend. 

There are no words to express  how I have been changed.  It’s like all my mistakes and the pain I’ve caused led me to the point where I realized just how much I needed him.  And in my darkest moment he came to me because I was finally ready to come to him.  My whole life has changed.  My outlook, my behavior, and my purpose are different now. I see things differently and serve Christ with all my heart  That is all I want is to do God’s will.  I want to further his kingdom and help others […] I have read all of hose books except I haven’t read all of the Bible yet.  I haven’t read all of the Old Testament but I have read all of the New Testament.  I know the Apostles Creed, The Nicene Creed, The Ten Commandments, the Seven Deadly Sins, The Our Father, The Hail Mary, The Glory Be, I can explain the Seven Sacraments, the difference between Mortal and Venial Sins and a lot of Catholic social policy.  I ordered a Rosary and should receive it any day.  I have studied Protestantism and compared their point of view to Catholic and read a little on Church history."

Editor's Note: Jeremy Pompeneo was murdered at Arizona Department of Corrections  State Prison, Eyman, on May 31, 2011.  His civil malpractice lawsuit against VERDE VALLEY GUIDANCE CLINIC, INC., 8 East Cottonwood Street, Cottonwood, AZ 86326-6237,  an Arizona non-profit corporation; Zach Duran and Jane Doe Duran, husband and wife; Lisa Frances Sims and Bill Sims, wife and husband; Francis Gagliardi; Lisa Pernice, Defendants/Appellees, is still pending.  The lawsuit filed by Sherris's parents against the clinic for the Wrongful Death of their daughter, was settled out of court.  Jeremy is still waiting for his case to be heard by a jury.