JEAN CLAUDE MEUS: The Devil Asked God, 'If Job Is So Good, Let Me Give Him Some Problems'

AVON PARK - Like everyone, Jean Claude Meus was fearful of prison. And like everyone, Meus thought if he stayed out of gangs, away from drugs, and didn't rob or steal, then he would never wind up in prison.

But it did happen.

The Accident

Meus, 44, an independent trucker, was convicted in Hardee County in the accidental death of Nona Moore, 40, and her 8-year-old daughter Lindsey, in 2001. Prosecutors contend he fell asleep at the wheel, drove through a stop sign and overturned his tractor-trailer onto Moore's van at Seven Mile Point.

Meus maintained that a third vehicle cut him off, forcing him to swerve into Moore's van.

In 2003, Meus was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and wasn't released until a few weeks ago, when Hardee County Judge Jeff McKibben heard Juan Otero, the first witness to arrive at the accident scene, say Meus did not appear to be tired and had no difficulties walking, talking or understanding what was going on.

Judge McKibben overturned Meus' convictions, but prosecutors have appealed McKibben's ruling. Currently, Meus' case sits with the Florida Second District Court of Appeals.

Back Home

Meus has been in the U.S. for 27 years. He was born in Haiti, but lived in Florida until two weeks before the accident, when he moved to Knoxville, Tenn. The judge allowed him to return there until the appeals judges make their decision.

First, a mundane question: after a steady diet of prison food, what is he eating? The answer was disappointing. He used to love steak and eggs for breakfast, but on Friday morning, it was just a chicken biscuit.

"His favorite is oatmeal," said Rebecca Chenoweth, his finance. "He doesn't like instant or any of those flavors. Just plain old oatmeal."

"Eggs are too high in cholesterol," Meus said, sounding every bit like a 44-year-old man watching his health.

The day he got out of prison, he had a burger with reporter at Nick's, a Wauchula restaurant not far from the accident. Later, he went to the Olympic supper and ordered lobster tail.

"I have been deprived of many good foods," Meus said, laughing.

Soon, he plans to get a job and work for himself. But this week, he's catching up on honeydos.

"He's working in the garage, fixing up the garage," Chenoweth put in.

"I am very handy," Meus said, in his heavily accented Haitian English. "I can fix anything."

In Sumpter Correctional Institute, a maximum security prison at Bushnell, Meus was a tutor.

"I am very good in math and English. I have an accent, but I can write very well," he said.

At first, he occupied his time by getting a GED, even though he had earned a high school diploma in Haiti. "They have many good programs to go to school and learn many professions. I learned to play the guitar, and I got a degree in electronics."

It was not a vocational degree, Chenoweth added. Meus learned about electronics just because he loves working on cars.

Whatever his next job is, he won't be a long-haul trucker. Chenoweth wants him closer to home. "I will not drive over the road anymore," he said.

Free At Last

During those first few months behind bars, Meus spent many dark nights of the soul.

By day, he was in the library, learning about the law, and working on his own case.

Did he ever ask, why me?

"Yes, I grew up a Baptist," Meus said. "I went to Sunday school. And I did ask, God, why did you let me go to prison? I read my Bible. And in Job, the Devil asks God, if you think Job is so good, let me give him some problems. And he will not follow you anymore."

In the Book of Job, God allows the Devil to take away Job's money, livestock, children, even his health. Job remains faithful.

"I found relief when I read that," Meus said. "I tried not to think about why. I tried to find what was going on, and how to reverse the wrong that I've been done. I believed that I am innocent, and I will get out.

"Rebecca was always there for me," he said. She wrote three letters every week, and every time a newspaper story appeared, the guards joked that he would need his own mail bag. "I would get 15 to 20 letters a week."

He and Chenoweth met in October 2001, in the Tennessee driver's license bureau. She was also a trucker, but still works for the school system.

"You've got to listen to what the guard says. There's a lot of homosexuality. You stay away from that. A lot of drugs. A lot of corruption. I am inclined to write a book about what goes on inside there."

Soon, he'll get to see his son play football. The boy lives in Boynton Beach with his mother.

"He's a defensive end," Meus boasted, as any proud father would. "He's a big boy. His neck is that wide."

It was impossible to see his hands over the telephone, but not hard to imagine a sophomore who is playing varsity football, or the grin on Meus' face.

Defense Fund Has $5,000 Goal

The Jean Claude Meus Defense Fund has taken in almost $1,200, said supporter Patricia Austin.

She is also planning a fundraising dinner on June 14. "We expect to have 200 people to attend that," Austin said.

"If we have to go back to trial, his attorney (John Trevena of Largo) has been working pro bono. But this will pay for the cost of investigators and witnesses," Austin said.

To donate, drop off a check payable to Jean Claude Meus to any Wauchula State Bank, or write to P.O. Box 1045, Lake Placid, FL 33862.