Garage Sale

---

a burglar opened When a safe he had stolen from A House , what he found would send A Man to prison. But in an extraordinary Twist , it is also the trespassing thief from a Life Sentence were.

Matthew Hahn drug use began in his early teenage years, with marijuana, then led to meth.

He dropped out of High School and steal the handle support his habit.

In 2001, he came out of prison after a five-year sentence.

He was sentenced to two serious offenses under the California three strikes law when he was arrested, he would be facing a Life Sentence .

Hahn says, he "was very good for A Number of years. I had a great job, I was going to school, I was going to College. But then, personal tragedy, and my inability to cope with it, led me to relapsing. "

Hahn said as a Young Adult he came to steal to support his habit

A rooster took closest friends from childhood life, he said, it led to months-long "binge of drug use and theft."

Then, one night, in Los Gatos , California, in 2005, he brought a stolen safe that would save his life.

The First thing he took out was a series of soiled diapers - "a surreal experience".

"There were a lot of other things in the safe. It was a weapon, there were photos. There were personal papers of the person who owned it. And finally, there was a Digital Camera card. And if I do that in my computer it photos of the person showed in the possession of the safe abuse to an infant or a child. "

He saw not at first aware of what he's doing. "Even The First photo I saw was strange, and I knew there was something strange about you, but I really wasn't sure what it was. And it was not until I was following The Photos I saw, what I saw was an adult and a child. "

learn more

Matthew Hahn tells his story to Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 5 Live

It was not an option to say to walk into his local police Department, and he is already finding the burglary in the houses of the people and the happen to be, evidence of A Crime .

he knew He had to Do Something , but he also knew, no crime could result in conviction in a sentence of life imprisonment.

how to tap, you put the camera card in a wallet, write out a note with The Man , the name and The Address of the home, which he had stolen. He added: "Please remove the animal from the road" and presented it to The Police .

He asked his mother to watch for news reports on the story, after he lied and told her that he found sale the article to a garage.

About a week later she called and said A Man had been arrested.

Hahn, Aitken says, had reported the burglary to The Police . When The Local police received to discuss The Photos , she called The Man for interrogation under the guise of meeting with Him , the break-in. Hahn believes that John "Robbie" Aitken Robertson, then stood.

Hahn, who has been arrested multiple times

For Hahn this was the end. He continued to burgle houses and back ended up in prison about eight weeks later, after it was traced the serial number of the stolen items, which he sold on eBay to Him .

He was then with his third strike.

The Officer who arrested Him - and knew Him from previous run-ins in the city, asked: "What happened to you, you were so good?".

"explain Now, at least I gave them Aitken," he said, as he posted The Photos had been.

While the rooster was waiting in the prison to their Trial , he approached was by the Prosecutor, was Aitken, the prosecution and asked to testify whether he would be willing to come up with the stolen safe.

Because Hahn was accused of several crimes and had already two strikes, he was, according to the "400-years-to-life".

He decide to testify about his crimes, "I suppose, at the cost of my ability to My Own defense. "

Once he had proof already in the record as stolen, "I could not really present a viable defense for My Own case".

you might also

Aitken's interest was at least 25 years in prison for his crimes, and the sentencing disparity between Him and Hahn led to petitions in support of cock and an offer of a deal from The District attorney

Some people said he should be out of prison On Probation - a slap on the wrist for a criminal career - and others said he should be a long sentence. In the end, he was sent to prison for 14 years and four months, but served seven.

He and Aitken were in the same prison at one point, but Aitken was in protective custody, and Hahn was in the General population, so that They never crossed paths. Because valve was trying to be A Witness in Aitken ' s, They occasionally appear before the court on the same day.

"When the bus came to the prison to pick us up, he was in a cage in The Front of the bus, while I bound and chained in the back. He never knew I was there with Him , but I recognized Him . "

you have never spoken, and Aitken is still in prison. Hahn says he has never questioned his decision, at the hearing to testify.

Matt and his wife, Noelle the purchase of your first home,

, While in prison, he thought to himself: "no matter what it would experience in that prison, it was The Last time that I had to experience it". He began to given, drug-recovery, as well as the study of books, to Him by The Mother of the Aitken ' s sacrifice, and to meditate.

After the arrest, he graduated at the University of California in Berkeley. He found it difficult to find work as a culprit, so an electrician was.

"I have a great job," he says now, told the BBC that he and his wife have just bought A House . "Amazing things in My Life happened today. I have moved on from the prison.

"But you don't understand me wrong. The First thing I thought when I was accepted the offer on the home page, how, in just 10 years, I was still living in a cell and I'm going to My Own home".

Hahn says is his biggest regret of the damage he caused knew people, in order that he. He wishes he can take back could do that.

"I think The Best I can do is to pay the reparation for the crimes that I have done. And do my best, forward, to tell my story [and] to help other people who struggle with addiction, to maybe go down the same Path . "

california

Source of news: bbc.com