Man pens note, tries to kill self

WALTERBORO — "If you are reading this letter, then I am dead."

That's how teacher Tracy Lee Judy began his four-page suicide note this week as he stared down the possibility of spending five years or more in prison for allegedly sleeping with a 15-year-old female student.

Judy, 37, was scheduled to stand trial Tuesday morning on sexual misconduct charges, but he couldn't bear the thought of being locked up. So the Forest Circle Middle School teacher swallowed an overdose of painkillers Monday night in an attempt to take his own life, authorities said.

Before the suicide attempt, Judy mailed his suicide note to The Post and Courier, the FBI, the State Law Enforcement Division and others, apologizing for his actions and accusing investigators and prosecutors of violating his civil rights.

"The reason I am writing this letter is twofold. I would like to make amends for my life as much as possible and I would like to bring some misdeeds by others from darkness to light," he stated. "My name is Tracy Lee Judy and I committed suicide last night."

Not quite.

Colleton County sheriff's deputies arrived at Judy's Camelot Place home before the pills could do their worst. Judy told deputies he ingested about 20 doses of the painkiller Tramadol, according to an incident report. He was rushed to Colleton Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition Wednesday, authorities said.

While he failed to carry out his plan, Judy did succeed in delaying his court case. His hospitalization forced authorities to postpone his trial on charges of criminal solicitation of a minor and two counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, said Heather Strickland, spokeswoman for the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office. He was charged April 25, 2008.

The S.C. Department of Education summarily suspended Judy from teaching in July. He is on paid administrative leave from Forest Circle Middle.

In his letter, Judy stated his suicide was "the only way for everyone to move forward and for the wrongs to be righted." He said he had prayed for God's forgiveness. He also apologized to the victim's family for "the pain and suffering I have caused them" and stated he hoped they would someday forgive him as well.

Judy also spoke of failing his wife, his three children and his parents. "I fell from the highest point in my life to the lowest because of reasons that I believe were out of my control," he wrote.

Judy, however, reserved much space in the note to vent his frustration with sheriff's detectives and prosecutors working the case. He accused the lead investigator, former sheriff's Detective Angela Stallings, of sending the girl to his home several times as "bait" to entice him after the girl's father made allegations against him. He also accused Stallings of ignoring his requests for a lawyer during questioning and then erasing those requests from a tape-recording of the "interrogation."

Stallings and Chief Deputy Ted Stanfield declined comment Wednesday on Judy's allegations.

Judy also accused prosecutors of trying to intimidate him and his family by giving his daughter a subpoena at school and using the alleged victim to try to coerce him into pleading guilty rather than fighting the charges at trial.

Strickland said only that prosecutors "cannot legally or ethically" comment on the allegations because the case remains under investigation.

In the letter, Judy described himself as a disabled Gulf War veteran who suffers from "Gulf War Illness," panic anxiety disorder, depression, agoraphobia and "other undetermined social disorders." He stated that he regularly sees a counselor at Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, takes nine pills a day for mood disorders and physical pain and is scheduled for 12 weeks of anxiety therapy to "restore my mental state to as normal as possible."

"I have fought these demons for the past 16 years and I'm tired," he stated. "I have been told all of this doesn't matter, that the fact that my mental illness may have been the cause of my choices doesn't matter. I believe it does and I believe the effects of Gulf War Illness have damaged my life in more ways than can be determined by any test." He signed his note, "I am sorry."

For all of his apologies and calls for forgiveness, nowhere in the letter does Judy specifically address the allegations against him or state what exactly he did with the student in question. And it remains unclear how this turn of events will affect his trial.

Prosecutors would not discuss the pending case, and Judy's attorney, Michael Sean O'Neal, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.