MONROE - In a lengthy letter from prison to The Monroe Times, Armin Wand III opened up for the first time publicly, writing that he failed as a father, still loves his estranged wife Sharon Wand and that investigators and his public defenders pushed him around.
Wand, 33, was sentenced in April to three life sentences for the deaths of his three young boys in a house fire in Argyle last September. His letter, handwritten on seven sheets of yellow legal-pad paper, arrived Friday, May 17 from the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun. He asked that the letter be shared with numerous law enforcement agents, regional media outlets and the public.
The unsolicited letter is an outpouring of emotion and accusations, a contrast to Wand's public silence up until now. Even at his sentencing hearing April 17, he declined the opportunity to address the court.
In the letter, he does not explicitly deny the state's charges that he set the fire with the intention of killing them, collecting on his family's life insurance policies and getting a "fresh start." He also doesn't present an alternate explanation for the fire.
But he does say investigators coerced him and twisted his words and his public defenders, Guy Taylor and Jason Daane, rushed him into a plea deal.
"My attorneys screwed me. I had ineffective counsel," Wand wrote. They gave him a deadline to change his plea from not guilty to guilty and "when that lapsed," he said, the public defenders yelled at him.
"I also told my legal team that I want to take a polygraph test and I was told no, that I would not pass it," he wrote. His unhappiness with his defense was already aired in court last fall, at least in general terms. Daane was added to Wand's defense in early December after Wand told the judge he and Taylor weren't "getting along" and he wanted another attorney. Keeping Taylor but adding Daane was presented and accepted as a compromise.
Wand also has a litany of complaints against law enforcement agents for violating his rights and botching the investigation, and against his wife's family for years of alleged wrongdoing. He accuses his wife of being a pathological liar but on the next page says he still loves her.
In the midst of these accusations is the closest he has come to describing the Sept. 7 fire publicly in his own words.
"I tried to save my boys. I failed as a father, otherwise they would still be here," he wrote.
His 18-year-old brother, Jeremy Wand, is scheduled to go to trial in July on similar homicide charges that he helped set the fire.
"Jeremy is a good kid. He just needs some guidance," Wand said of his younger brother.
The last page of the letter is addressed to his wife Sharon, who was severely burned in the fire and spent months in the hospital in critical condition. She lost the baby she was carrying at the time of the fire. A divorce she filed for in January is still pending, according to online records.
"I was hurt when I received the papers, but if that's what she wants, I just want her to be happy," he wrote of her divorce petition.
Written as a single paragraph, the portion of the letter to Sharon jumps between remorse and accusations. He starts by writing that he feels bad she was burned. Then he accuses of her of lying about their home life in her statement to the court that was read at his sentencing.
"I'm sorry for all the problems we had," he wrote. Their marriage "never stood a chance" against her family's attempts to break them up. But, he wrote a few sentences later, "I don't want a divorce."
He closes with, "I still love you."
Wand, 33, was sentenced in April to three life sentences for the deaths of his three young boys in a house fire in Argyle last September. His letter, handwritten on seven sheets of yellow legal-pad paper, arrived Friday, May 17 from the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun. He asked that the letter be shared with numerous law enforcement agents, regional media outlets and the public.
The unsolicited letter is an outpouring of emotion and accusations, a contrast to Wand's public silence up until now. Even at his sentencing hearing April 17, he declined the opportunity to address the court.
In the letter, he does not explicitly deny the state's charges that he set the fire with the intention of killing them, collecting on his family's life insurance policies and getting a "fresh start." He also doesn't present an alternate explanation for the fire.
But he does say investigators coerced him and twisted his words and his public defenders, Guy Taylor and Jason Daane, rushed him into a plea deal.
"My attorneys screwed me. I had ineffective counsel," Wand wrote. They gave him a deadline to change his plea from not guilty to guilty and "when that lapsed," he said, the public defenders yelled at him.
"I also told my legal team that I want to take a polygraph test and I was told no, that I would not pass it," he wrote. His unhappiness with his defense was already aired in court last fall, at least in general terms. Daane was added to Wand's defense in early December after Wand told the judge he and Taylor weren't "getting along" and he wanted another attorney. Keeping Taylor but adding Daane was presented and accepted as a compromise.
Wand also has a litany of complaints against law enforcement agents for violating his rights and botching the investigation, and against his wife's family for years of alleged wrongdoing. He accuses his wife of being a pathological liar but on the next page says he still loves her.
In the midst of these accusations is the closest he has come to describing the Sept. 7 fire publicly in his own words.
"I tried to save my boys. I failed as a father, otherwise they would still be here," he wrote.
His 18-year-old brother, Jeremy Wand, is scheduled to go to trial in July on similar homicide charges that he helped set the fire.
"Jeremy is a good kid. He just needs some guidance," Wand said of his younger brother.
The last page of the letter is addressed to his wife Sharon, who was severely burned in the fire and spent months in the hospital in critical condition. She lost the baby she was carrying at the time of the fire. A divorce she filed for in January is still pending, according to online records.
"I was hurt when I received the papers, but if that's what she wants, I just want her to be happy," he wrote of her divorce petition.
Written as a single paragraph, the portion of the letter to Sharon jumps between remorse and accusations. He starts by writing that he feels bad she was burned. Then he accuses of her of lying about their home life in her statement to the court that was read at his sentencing.
"I'm sorry for all the problems we had," he wrote. Their marriage "never stood a chance" against her family's attempts to break them up. But, he wrote a few sentences later, "I don't want a divorce."
He closes with, "I still love you."