What ever happened to Chester Juall (Chet Juall) in Turkey in 2015? 

While staying in a small hotel in Istanbul Turkey in 2015, Chester Juall’s life was shattered when he was framed by a Kurdish woman.  A misunderstanding caused  the woman to fabricate an elaborate story and tto request $50,000.

One day, while staying in the hotel, Juall opened the door to ask the cleaning woman to stop making so much noise in the hallway. He politely asked her to be more quiet without realizing that she did not understand English. The woman looked upset and hurried off. Juall went to the lobby to try to clarify his statement to the woman and he was met by another woman who called the police. Juall was taken to the police station and left languishing overnight without food or water, without a clue about what was going on!

Next, Juall found himself embroiled in what he would much later understand to be a police interrogation session. Present in the room, were two Turkish police officers, three unknown woman, one of which claimed to be Juall's lawyer, (never to appear again), and an African male interpreter. Juall understood none of the Turkish spoken and was asked only one question by the interpreter, Juall asked the interpreter several times to repeat himself, but could not understand his English spoken through a deep African accent. Juall was unable to answer.

Juall was not able to make a statement to the police, nor was he explained at all what was going on. Next, Juall was able to retain a lawyer who spoke English but did not tell him what the woman was asserting. The lawyer did not take any statements whatsoever from Juall. Instead, he simply mentioned that she was asking for $50,000 dollars. Juall did not consider paying the fee, while questioning to himself whether such a request was even legal. Juall was then held in a prison where he was given papers containing statements written entirely in Turkish with no way of understanding them and no way to translate them. The lawyer was absent and without money, in Turkish prison, there is no way to get basic necessities e.g. toothbrush, razor, towel, prayer rug, extra food, soap, sandals, writing implements, paper or telephone calling cards. There is virtually no way to approve telephone numbers for outbound calling due to lack of English understanding throughout the prison staff and cell mates. The struggles as an American living in an Islamic prison are innumerable and to painful to recount here.

Juall was soon taken to what he would much later understand to be an arraignment hearing where a woman angrily told him that she was his lawyer. Much later, Juall would understand the woman was actually the prosecutor! During the arraignment, no interpreter was offered. Juall did not understand any Turkish spoken and his lawyer did not speak to Juall at all. Juall was unable to dress properly in a culture that is extremely neat and tidy.

After the arraignment, Juall was shuttled back and forth between Jail and the court house waiting for hours in the most awful metal trucks to attend several court sessions spoken completely in Turkish. Juall was not asked to speak a word in any of these sessions and no one spoke to him either. Juall's lawyer was not even present. Still, no one told Juall of the woman's charges. The hotel owner appeared in one of these sessions apparently trying to reverse the woman's charges.

Juall was eventually released and was allowed to return to the original hotel to stay for several months without further problems. The woman apparently had been fired because of the claims she made about Juall and all of the men and woman who worked there welcomed him back. The Hotel owner told Juall the woman was a Kurd who even tried to injure herself to make as if Juall assaulted her. (unfortunately, BTW there are tensions between the Turks and the Kurds and between t he Kurds and Americans.)

Some time after that, Juall visited a pet store and noticed hundreds of gold fish and dozens of birds jammed into their overcrowded tanks and cages. Because of the conditions the pets were enduring reminded Juall of time spent jammed into an overcrowded Islamic prison cell, having to exist without privacy with many violent prisoners and having to learn Islamic prayers and practices without spoken English just to avoid being beaten, Juall felt sympathy for the animals, while wondering if they felt similar feeling of despair. Juall then bought ten goldfish and four birds. He released the birds back to nature and while in the act of releasing the 10 goldfish to freedom at a local lake, he was again taken by the police who investigated the act as potential bio-terrorism! Of course the police found nothing - they were ten simple gold fish swimming away. Nothing more. Nothing less. Juall learned Police sensitivity to terrorism is even more acute in Turkey than it is in America.

So, years later, Juall returned to America and translated the Turkish news. Unbelievably, only at that point did Juall find out the woman actually charged him with Simple Sexual Assault! when in actuality, nothing happened to her at all! Juall made one simple statement to her through an open hotel door without touching her, without undressing or approaching her in any way at all. He also learned that his own lawyer told the court that Juall told him  of “similar problems in other countries”. This is not true! There were no such problems in other countries. No such statement was made. In fact, Juall had little discussion with his lawyer at all because he wasn’t even told what he was accused of. No statement of innocence or any other statement was taken from Juall by his lawyer, but the court, or by the police. Juall also learned much later, the area of the Hotel was teeming with prostitution (Prostitution is legal in Turkey) so he wonders if the woman may have heard his English statement as a request for sex, when he was simply asking her to make less noise while using a loud broken elevator to clean the rooms. The inability to understand or to be understood proved to be a problem throughout Juall”s experience in Turkey. The police claimed that the hotel cameras were broken - Juall had no idea about any damage to the cameras and was basically forced to pay for the damage or face additional prison time amounting to an admission of guilt.

Religious and anti-American factors may have been at work throughout Juall”s experiences. The woman stated that Juall desecrated her hijab with chocolate. To Juall's knowledge, the woman was never seen with a hijab. In retrospect, Juall wonders if his lack of knowledge of the requirements to treat the hotel floor, the toilet and prayer items as sacred contributed to the woman's behavior. Cultural and religious biases can be quite strong indeed.

Among Juall’s possessions there was a small welder and several suitcases full of many metal and electronic parts for making sculpture. These possessions looked suspicious, so once again the police thought in terms of terrorism and actually spoke of bomb-making components! Juall never intended to make bombs for heaven's sake! There were no explosives or incendiaries or anything like that present that could ignite or explode. - For heavens sake!

During one period, Juall’s credit card stopped working. His bank in America required him to return to an office in America. The US Consulate was reluctant to help re-establish his banking. Juall lived outside in the foreign country of Turkey, throughout the winter begging for food and razors completely unable to communicate and showering only on rare occasion in Islamic mosques. Due to cleanliness problems while living outdoors Juall developed a very large infected lymph node in his groin. Juall did not have medical insurance, A doctor operated on the lymph node in a crowded room without anaesthesia! Juall screamed to the surgeon as he saw his own intestines! He was released from the hospital without sutures with a gaping wound in his abdomen. While living homeless outdoors Juall begged for money to purchase salt. He packed his wound with salt to prevent infection for many months rinsing the wound with water found in public bathrooms. While living outside, Juall was robbed and assaulted. One would think the US consulate would help a homeless American citizen. There is however simply no process to provide money or shelter to a person in such a predicament.

One homeless and utterly freezing evening in Turkey, Juall came across an Islamic art studio and found the door to open without resistance. He found a small portable heater and sat down for a while to warm himself. Once again Juall was taken by the police who thought he had broken in to the studio! Juall was later released back to the homeless streets.

Another notable experience occurred when Juall was wallking near the US Embassy. An unmarked car drove up and Juall was taken away by unmarked men. He was taken to a court house and spoke to a prosecutor who spoke English. Juall learned that he was arrested because he was seen making a disrespectful gesture to a picture of the founder of Turkey named Ataturk. In Turkey there is a deep reverence if the father of the modern Turkish state. Juall told the prosecutor he would not disrespect Ataturk and in fact that she could find in his hotel room, a book about Ataturk and a drawing of him made by Juall while sitting in a restaurant. After making that statement, Juall was allowed to go free. Otherwise, this event could have let to one to three years in prison.

In Turkey, Juall learned the hard way. False accusations and inaccurate/suspicious police reports do in fact occur. Such statements along with cultural and religious misunderstandings and language barriers have wide-ranging effects which can shatter a person’s life.

One of the most difficult aspects of this type of story is the fact that the wrongfully accused is thought of as somehow dangerous or unstable when in fact they are harmless. Even friends and family members disconnect.

Someday there may be a reliable lie detector to make wrongful accusations a thing of the past.

If you have been a victim of wrongful convictions or accusations, or if you knew Chester Juall and want to re-connect, feel free to reach out.