Annika's first years
Annika Östberg was born in 1954, in Stockholm, Sweden. She is - and always was - a Swedish citizen. Her mother, Maj-Britt, still lives in Stockholm. Her father, Sten Östberg, died in January 2004. In fact, all of Annika's relatives, including her half brother on her father's side, are living in Sweden. Maj-Britt is now retired and has not visited Annika since 2002, due to her age, medical problems, distance, and cost of the trip. Maj-Britt does not have the resources to make the trip anytime soon. She has a room furnished and ready for Annika in the hope she may have some time with her daughter.
One of Annika's first memories in life is when she was sitting on her grandfather's shoulders, watching the Swedish king travelling past in a horse-drawn carriage. Since Annika and her parents lived next door to her grandparents and both of her parents worked, she spent a lot of time with her grandparents. Until his death, Annika's father still lived in the flat where his parents lived. There were pictures on the wall of Annika from a smiling little blonde girl with a bow in her hair to adulthood. Annika moved to a suburb in a different part of Stockholm, after her parents divorced when she was four, but remained in close contact with her grandparents and continued her frequent visits with them. Life in those early days was happy, quiet and ordinary. Annika went to school with other Swedish children, and enjoyed long summer vacations with relatives. Maj-Britt is having a few health problems and she's not getting any younger.
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Her move to the United States
When Annika was eleven years old, her mother married a wealthy American businessman, and they moved to the United States. She was envied by her Swedish classmates for the adventure afforded her, and was lured by the enticement of Disneyland and the many other attractions of America. After her first year in the United States, Annika was dismayed to realize that she did not quite fit into the elegant school she attended, she spoke very little English, and was constantly ridiculed by the American children. She desperately missed her friends and family in Sweden and wanted to return.
Annika's stepfather was not used to having children around, and had very little patience or interest in her. It was arranged for Annika to go and live with her stepfather's relatives in another part of Missouri, four hours drive from St Louis. Annika stayed there for a year. The relationship with her cold, distant, and emotionally abusive stepfather worsened with time and eventually began alienating mother and daughter. After a few serious clashes Annika was sent to a youth detention center. She was only twelve at the time and it was a horrid, cruel and sad experience for a young girl: actually, merely a child.
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Annika moves to San Francisco
When Annika was only thirteen, she met a young pop musician who was in his early twenties. She was forbidden to see him and feared being sent back to the detention center, so they moved to San Francisco. It was spring of 1967 and San Francisco was the place to go for young people: for music, demonstrations, spiritual experiences, and for drugs. Annika felt at home among the hippies in the Haight Ashbury. She fitted in perfectly. Being tall for her age, nobody suspected she was only thirteen years old. Annika was beautiful, full of life, and curious. She looked mature physically, but emotionally, she was still only a young teenager. Her relationship with a man in his twenties was destined for ruin, and within one month of her arrival to San Francisco, she was on her own.
Soon thereafter, she met Greene Johnston, who would become the father of her only child. Their relationship revolved around the standard hippie culture of smoking marijuana and taking LSD, until one day when Greene introduced Annika to heroin. This was the beginning of the end for Annika. By the age of fourteen, she was completely addicted, and began stripping, as a means by which to support their growing drug habits. By the age of fifteen, Annika became pregnant by Greene. She managed to clean up during her pregnancy and delivered a healthy baby boy in a communal house in Nevada City, California. Having no way to support herself or her new child in this very small community, she soon found herself back in San Francisco and back in the same rut. Only this time, she was shown how to work the streets by an older, street savvy woman. Annika was only sixteen, supporting her own and Greene's drug habit, and taking care of her son, Sven, as well. Greene became increasingly violent to Annika, often beating her when she returned home from 'work', until one day, she took her son, put what she could in a diaper bag and walked out the door.
She got an apartment for herself and her son and started a call girl business, setting up 'dates' with clients via phone. During this time she was involved with a man named Chris. He was a drug dealer, and they spent time between her apartment in San Francisco and his in Daly City. During a violent confrontation between Chris and a friend of Annika's who was staying at her apartment, Chris stabbed this man to death. Annika called the police and ambulance and was taken in for questioning. After an all night interrogation, during which she told the police it had been self defense on Chris' part, Chris turned himself in. Annika later testified to the events in court and the charges against Chris were dismissed on the grounds that it was self-defense.
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Annika gets married
After Annika's son was born, she tried to stop using heroin, but in her familiar old surroundings, it was virtually impossible. Annika decided she had to change her lifestyle for Sven's sake and subsequently met and married a truck driver named Brian Deasy. They moved to Stockton and started living a suburban life with school picnics, football games, and housewives chatting while husbands went to work. Annika remained on a methadone program throughout this time, but felt that because of her past, she really didn't fit in with these 'respectable' people. However, she spent six years there, living the normal everyday life: cooking meals, school picnics, and the PTA.
When she married Brian, Annika walked away from her life and all the friends and associations she had in the drug world. One of them was Chris, for whom Annika still had strong feelings. Wondering what had happened to him, Annika contacted his family and found out he was serving a prison sentence in San Quentin. Annika decided to go and visit him, and in retrospect realized how disastrous this decision was. Shortly thereafter, Annika was contacted by one of Chris' family members, who explained that unless Chris was 'cleared' of a murder charge, he would never be released by the Board of Prison Terms. Chris' family appealed to Annika's kind and generous nature, convincing her to take responsibility for Chris' crime. They explained that a 'deal' could be arranged wherein she would get probation. She was told that a 'deal' could be arranged and she would only get probation and Chris would soon be released. Annika decided to help Chris out of his mess and pled guilty to his manslaughter charge. She was indeed given seven years probation, which she completed in five. As soon as Chris was free, he told Annika that he had another girl friend and that she was expecting his child. Annika had been useful for a while, but now he wanted her to go away. Annika was shocked, hurt, and disappointed, but simply returned to Stockton, not realizing the ramifications of her actions until a few years later.
In 1980 her grandmother came to the US to visit, and Annika was very happy. She took her son Sven to visit her mother and grandmother. While they were away for the summer, Brian Deasy's heart also wandered, and he decided he'd rather live his life with one of Annika's friends. Annika found out when she returned to Stockton with Sven. Her life broke down utterly and completely: no job, no house, no money, and no marriage. Annika reverted to the solace of drugs. The one constant in her life had always been her son Sven. Feeling herself spinning out of control and not wishing Sven to witness or be harmed by her descent, she drove her son to his father, who was then living in Lakeport, California. Greene was not the ideal candidate, having stopped using drugs but still drinking; he loved his son deeply and it seemed a safer refuge than with Annika. Annika asked Greene to care for Sven until she could get herself together. She returned to Stockton, where she met a man named Bob Cox (AKA Collins). Again, a drug dealer, but this time a man with a much deeper and darker past than anyone before him. Although Annika was not to find out until later, this man had served six years in a Turkish prison for attempted murder and black market racketeering, as well as being involved and questioned regarding a murder in Arizona. Within six months, Annika would witness Bob shoot and kill two people. The first, Joe Torre, an acquaintance of Annika's in Stockton, and the second, a police Sergeant named Richard Helbush, from Lakeport.
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The murders
Joe, a restaurateur, was a man Annika had met some time earlier in Stockton. At this time, having no income and no place to live after Brian left her, Annika was living here and there with Bob. She was trying to support their growing drug habits by buying bulk meat with checks from her now empty account. The meat was then resold, for cash, to Joe. At the last meeting with Joe, Bob came along to 'handle' the transaction. Joe and Bob got in an argument over how much Joe was to pay. While Annika was opening the trunk to get out the meat, Bob shot and killed Joe.
After the shooting of Joe, everything was chaotic. Annika was in shock by a scenario that seemed surreal, let Bob take over. The only thought she remembers having is that she would never be able to see her son again and she had to get to him to say goodbye one last time. Annika clung to that one thought of her son throughout the following twenty-four hours and demanded Bob drive to Clearlake. However, once they arrived in Clearlake, Annika's state of mind was such that she could not locate Greene's home and they became lost. The car got a flat tire during the night. A good samaritan police officer stopped to help and asked if they needed assistance. For his trouble and concern, Bob killed him, fearing a warrant for his arrest has been issued from Stockton. Both Annika and Bob were apprehended shortly after the murder and brought to Lake County jail. A few months later Bob Cox was found dead in his cell, the official verdict being 'death by hanging'. Society screamed for justice while Annika was left to stand alone to accept the responsibility for two senseless slayings: in neither of which was she the perpetrator and for which both she has grieved deeply.
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The sentence.
After the death of Bob Cox, Annika's lawyer suggested a plea bargain. Rather than going through with the trial after Bob Cox' (Collins) death, she suggested that Annika plead guilty to murder in the first degree. Annika was sentenced to twenty-five years to life for two murders, which she did not commit, but in the eyes of California law, she was just as culpable as the perpetrator because she was present. Annika felt guilty and grieved for the lost lives. She felt that if it had not been for her need for drugs and her need to see her son, the killings would not have happened. When her lawyers told her to fight for her life and her rights, she would not help them, and instead cooperated with the police.
In 1983, Annika accepted her sentence of twenty-five years to life for the 1981 murders. It was still customary for well behaving prisoners to be free after serving approximately half of their sentence. It's obvious from documents from those years that Annika's lawyers believed she'd be out after twelve and a half years. However, time and politics drastically changed throughout the ensuing years, and as the sentencing laws changed, so did the mindset of the Board of Prison Terms and the Governors office in Sacramento. Previously, life prisoners served their sentences according to the law and their behavior in prison, however, today, that is not the case. Today, the Board of Prison Terms, which determines whether parole should be granted, grants very few. The very few prisoners who receive a grant of parole, are then 'generally' denied by the Governor. This was not the law when Annika accepted her plea 'agreement', nor is it the law today, but unfortunately she has become a pawn in the misguided agenda of California politics.
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Swedish Support for Annika
Annika cannot be called a model citizen in any phase of her life. Annika's life began as a downward descent as soon as she arrived in the US, and ultimately became a spiraling descent into the darkest and most hopeless cracks of society: drugs, abuse, violence. A spiral that evolved and spun ever downward by degrees until it's final turn that last 24 hours, when 2 people lost their lives. Those two murders still cause Annika extreme pain today (not being insulated by drugs), however, she was never the real 'cop killer' that she has been labeled. She still feels the burden of guilt after 20-plus years. She has always admitted her culpability and accepted the responsibility insofar as she was present when the crime took place. In California, under the felony murder rule, one only needs to be present during the commission of the crime, to be deemed as guilty as the perpetrator.
The Swedish consulates were aware of Annika's case, but since she was previously married to an American, it was not a high priority. For the first ten years of her sentence, Annika was virtually unknown throughout Sweden. Presently however, Annika Östberg Deasy has become a household name. The efforts of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs to have Annika transferred to a Swedish prison have been to no avail, but have piqued the interests of the Swedish people. The Swedes do not understand why, after more than twenty years, Annika cannot be transferred to a prison in her native country: when under California law, she is legally eligible to be released. Annika is caught in a political quandary. Both Sweden and the US have signed and ratified an international agreement (Search for ETS No. 112), regarding transfer of foreign prisoners to their native countries. This treaty dates back to 1983 for Sweden, and 1985 for the United States, however, it was signed by the federal government, and in Annika's case, California claims jurisdiction.
Because Annika was sentenced to an indeterminate term without a definitive release date, having a life term, the California Board of Prison Terms and the government claims the authority and power to determine her release or transfer. In the year that Annika was sentenced, it was estimated that she would serve approximately twelve and a half years, but as politics and the sentencing laws changed, her 'indeterminate' sentence has left her to the mercy of the changing political climate.
Annika's sad story has captured the hearts of so many people. The death of her son in a car accident in 1985, while Annika was in prison just adds to the painful story. Prime ministers, foreign secretaries, ambassadors, consulate administrators, Swedish and American lawyers, and politicians from all political parties have tried their best to have her transferred to a Swedish prison. There is a huge file regarding Annika's case in the Swedish Department of Foreign Affairs. When President George W. Bush was in Sweden last year Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson brought up one single name outside the political agenda, and that was Annika's name. Many Swedes have embraced Annika by writing letters, sending pictures, writing about her, and producing plays about her life. Annika knows virtually no one outside the prison in the United States, but has many friends in Sweden. Even the prison psychiatrist in his report to the Board of Prison Terms, has stated that her chances of re-assimilating into society would be greatly enhanced by her transfer to Sweden. The Swedish authorities have guaranteed the California government that if they would transfer Annika o a Swedish prison, they would comply by keeping her incarcerated for whatever length of term California deemed appropriate.
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The Board of Prison terms
The Board of Prison Terms (BPT), is comprised mostly of ex-law enforcement professionals, appointed by the governor of California. The BPT is the controlling authority in determining a release (parole) date for a life term prisoner. Furthermore, they have the ability to grant a transfer to Annika by setting a release date, regardless of the year. However, their grants of parole are very few and far between, and they can literally keep a prisoner waiting for years upon years. Annika first became legally eligible for release in 1998, and attended her first parole hearing at that time. She was denied parole, and was informed that her case would not even be considered again for another four years. On January 22, 2002, she attended her second hearing, and was once again denied release. She is slated for another review in early 2005. Annika never requested 'release' in California, which is impossible anyway, since she is a Swedish citizen. Annika's only request is a transfer to a Swedish prison, where she can be closer to her friends and family.
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Annika today
Given the history of this woman and the story in the preceding paragraphs, it might seem very surprising that Annika has as much support from so many people in diverse fields and of many different backgrounds. To meet the woman in the police reports and in this story is to meet two virtually different people. Most who come to see her simply cannot assimilate the two.
Annika is a woman who has gone through the darkness and come to understand the values of life and the gifts it contains. She has a strength of character and depth of understanding because of the very things she has not only lived through but has spent years coming to grips with. She has spent her life in prison growing and learning to understand not only what led her there, but also helping fellow prisoners arrive at an understanding of themselves. Not one person who has met her in the prison visiting room has come away with anything less than a desire to see her get transferred home to her country, as well as a feeling that this person has much to give to others.
Annika is a woman who is caring, loving, and compassionate; who has been to the depths of Hell and returned to become an extremely wise and mature woman.
That her fellow prisoners recognize these qualities was demonstrated when they elected her to serve as the leading member of a five person committee acting as spokesperson for the prisoners and a liason betwen them and the prison Administration. She is one of five women who work in this capacity. Throughout her time in prison she has worked at various prison jobs, including the kitchen where she was a clerk for the manager for 13 years. After that, the prison regulations changed and she now has to change jobs every two years. She has worked with women who have severe mental problems in a special portion of the prison, as well as working full time for over two years for a program within the prison that records books for the blind on cassette tapes, a program she in which she participated on a volunteer basis after being required to change jobs. The prison has now chosen to shut this down along with many other beneficial programs. Today, Annika is taking courses in graphic arts and design. On her own time, Annika works extensively with addicts seeking recovery and is very involved in the process of recovery and healing from the drug abuse of her past. Today, Annika's by word is "integrity". She has grown to an understanding of God and the miracles in her life. This is a vision and a gift she tries very hard to give to her fellow prisoners. The obvious change from naive, reckless and pitiful heroin addict over to mature and wise woman is one of the reasons why so many people in Sweden have taken an interest in Annika's case.
By now quite a few Swedish reporters and ambassadors and administrative people have visited Annika at the CIW. After speaking with her, they are overwhelmed by her intelligence, sincerity, and compassion. They walk away full of surprise: by the woman she is today, and at California's insistence in keeping her incarcerated. Annika represents the true definition and interpretation of rehabilitation. She has never asked for leniency or clemency and has always accepted responsibility for this tragedy, even though she was not the perpetrator. After more than twenty years, Annika is legally eligible for release. Her only request has been to be transferred to a Swedish prison, where she could spend the remaining years of her incarceration near family and friends.
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The book
There is an ancient Chinese saying:
"You can't stop the bird of sorrow from flying over your head.
But you can stop him from nesting in your hair."
This is why the book about Annika's life (by Lena Katarina Swanberg, Stockholm, 1999) is called "Bird of sorrow". In Swedish it's "Sorgfågel". On the cover it also says "Annika Östberg berättar sitt liv" which means, Annika Östberg tells the story of her life".
The book is available only in Swedish hardback. The publisher is Bokförlaget DN, Stockholm.
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