Speaker 1: A note for listeners. This episode contains discussion of alleged
Speaker 1: child sexual abuse. Please listen with caution and care. Hey Maggie,
Speaker 1: Hey Jason, you know, I'm so glad you're focusing on
Speaker 1: women this season. Absolutely, and so many of those women
Speaker 1: are in prison for crimes that never happened, never even happened. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I think it's especially issues that women deal with,
Speaker 1: you know, being persecuted for being gay or you know,
Speaker 1: being sex trafficks. But I think in these instances and
Speaker 1: these wrongful convictions, especially with the no crime convictions, UM,
Speaker 1: it happens to women a lot. They're like you being
Speaker 1: arrested for sexual abusing Maria medinaz Ki. I said, please
Speaker 1: find out the truth because I didn't do none of
Speaker 1: these things. Oh are you sure I should? I say yes,
Speaker 1: I am, Yes, I am. Can you please find out
Speaker 1: the truth from Lava for Good? This is wrongful conviction
Speaker 1: with Maggie Freeling today Carlo Badet. In late January of
Speaker 1: two thousand, two year old Carla Badet was invited to
Speaker 1: visit her ex girlfriend Maria Medina in Armona, in California's
Speaker 1: San Joaquin Valley. It was Maria's birthday. And Carla loved
Speaker 1: spending time with Maria's four young children, so she accepted
Speaker 1: the invitation. She stayed for a week or so and
Speaker 1: then went back home to Los Angeles. Shortly after arriving home,
Speaker 1: the police came and brought Carla in for questioning. Maria
Speaker 1: had called the police and said that Carla molested three
Speaker 1: of her children during the visit. Carla was an absolute shock,
Speaker 1: but knowing her relationship with the children, she believed the
Speaker 1: situation would resolve itself. But as an undocumented immigrant and
Speaker 1: a lesbian, Carla would have to navigate both the al
Speaker 1: gasitions and prejudice against her identity. She didn't stand a chance.
Speaker 1: She was arrested and charged with multiple accounts of child
Speaker 1: sexual abuse. After only two days of trial and deliberations,
Speaker 1: the jury convicted her. She was sentenced to forty five
Speaker 1: years to life. Who is Carla Badet? Carla is just
Speaker 1: a happy spirit. That's what I am. You know, a
Speaker 1: happy spirit and somebody who cares and loves people. And
Speaker 1: she loved being being alive and being me. I'm Carla
Speaker 1: Badet from hundred forty four years old. And how long
Speaker 1: were you incarcerated? Seventeen years Carla Badet was born in
Speaker 1: Honduras on June seventeenth, nineteen seventy seven, to Julio Francisco
Speaker 1: Algado and Sonja Mariciella in a little town called Carla
Speaker 1: grew up the fifth of seven children. She was especially
Speaker 1: close with her youngest sibling. My name is dulsbad I
Speaker 1: am Carla's little sister. Jo. Say, can you tell me
Speaker 1: what growing up in Honduras was like with Carla. Well,
Speaker 1: when I was in Honduras, I was ten or twelve
Speaker 1: years old when Carla leave my country, and I remember her.
Speaker 1: She was happy. She was as as long as I remember.
Speaker 1: She was so caring about us, um, my nieces and nephews,
Speaker 1: they were babies, and you know, as a family. I
Speaker 1: love her. What do you remember? You know when she left?
Speaker 1: Because Carla left to go to the United States. I mean,
Speaker 1: do you understand what was going on or why she
Speaker 1: was leaving at that time? Uh? Not at that time.
Speaker 1: I realized when I get older, Oh my god, I'm
Speaker 1: about to cry. I know she lived because our country,
Speaker 1: it was her for her. I do remember that. Um,
Speaker 1: she was fighting a lot with my mom in Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, I'm sorry. Carla wasn't happy and hondur Us.
Speaker 1: When I was growing up, I knew that I was different.
Speaker 1: And I was like six seven years old, I knew
Speaker 1: I was different, and then I started knowing that I
Speaker 1: didn't like boys. Guess everybody was like, oh, you like
Speaker 1: this boy? Do you like this boy? And I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: I like the girl. You know. From a young age,
Speaker 1: Carlin knew she was gay, but in Honduras, she couldn't
Speaker 1: be herself. Being in that country, you cannot say too
Speaker 1: much about your your sexuality because she's a Catholic, you know,
Speaker 1: and they don't they don't like gay people over there.
Speaker 1: You can get killed, you can get rape, you can
Speaker 1: get do a lot of things. Carlos says, from the
Speaker 1: time she was fifteen to twenty years old, she was
Speaker 1: harassed by local gangs, the gangs from there, from the
Speaker 1: town and there. They were like, okay, so you look
Speaker 1: like you're gay and stuff like that. So they were
Speaker 1: trying to they raped me and trying to you know,
Speaker 1: abuse me or stuff like that and find me or whatever.
Speaker 1: So I decided to leave. That was my time to leave,
Speaker 1: because if not, I would have got killed over there.
Speaker 1: So and I came to the United States when I
Speaker 1: was twenty years old. In January I teen nine, Carla
Speaker 1: left everything she knew in Hunturs too journey to the
Speaker 1: United States. That was scary. I went. I went to
Speaker 1: the border of a Salvador. Then from Salvador, Guatemala, Guatemala, Mexico,
Speaker 1: Mexico to the United States. So when I when I'm
Speaker 1: crossing the border, is a lot of things going on,
Speaker 1: and that you you get assaulted by people in there
Speaker 1: with the mask cones. And I was like eight days
Speaker 1: without eating. My feet were bleeding from walking so much
Speaker 1: out in shower. I had even lies in my head,
Speaker 1: you know, and it takes in my body because I
Speaker 1: was sleeping on the barns. I was sleeping whatever I
Speaker 1: can sleep. At one point, I was so tired that
Speaker 1: I was like what should I do? But you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't want to go back because I knew what
Speaker 1: was gonna happen. So I keep pushing forward and saying, no,
Speaker 1: you gotta you gotta do and you gotta do it. Yea.
Speaker 1: Carla ended up crossing through the desert with some food
Speaker 1: and water, but very little. She became incredibly thirsty and
Speaker 1: at some point she found a pot of dirty water
Speaker 1: that cows used what they do their necessities, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm going to have to drink this water. So that's
Speaker 1: what I did. I went and got the water and
Speaker 1: I started drinking that water, even though it was gross,
Speaker 1: but it was I feel like I was dehyduated, completely
Speaker 1: dehydrated because it was it was hot. Finally, Carla made
Speaker 1: it through the desert and into the United States. She
Speaker 1: arrived in February, and she felt safe from the dangers
Speaker 1: she faced in Honduras. As the year wore on, Carla
Speaker 1: settled into her new life as an openly gay woman
Speaker 1: in the United States. She was looking forward to having
Speaker 1: a family and kids and just a normal life. She
Speaker 1: started dating too. One night, she was in Harmona and
Speaker 1: went out to a bar with a end and there
Speaker 1: she met someone I was used to go play pool
Speaker 1: because I like to play pool, and then I met Marianna.
Speaker 1: At first, Carla wasn't interested in pursuing anything with Maria,
Speaker 1: but Maria was persistent. Finally I got with her, you know,
Speaker 1: so it's like finally I said, okay, you know, it's like,
Speaker 1: let's do it. So I started dating her and then
Speaker 1: we started dating in that moment with her. She was
Speaker 1: living in her house with four kids, and so I
Speaker 1: moved in with her. And you wanted kids, you wanted
Speaker 1: a family. I wanted a family and she had kids.
Speaker 1: So at first it was happy. At first this Carla
Speaker 1: and Maria enjoyed their time together for the first few months.
Speaker 1: Carla loved the four kids, Tony, Corrina, Graciela and Fabian.
Speaker 1: She loved being a mom to them. But things between
Speaker 1: her and Maria eventually started to change. But and then
Speaker 1: everything became like an obsession or no, I don't know
Speaker 1: what what it was, but it was like controlling, more controlling,
Speaker 1: and it's like she was not allowing me to talk
Speaker 1: to my family and the phone because not not everybody
Speaker 1: from a family was his, she's my brother. But I
Speaker 1: was calling Honduras. She was not allowing me talk to
Speaker 1: my family. She was not allowing me to go to
Speaker 1: the store with by myself. I had to go. We
Speaker 1: want her kids. And then she was questioning the kids
Speaker 1: when I was coming back from the store, like if
Speaker 1: I talked to a girl, if I did this, and
Speaker 1: you know, and then and then she was threatening me
Speaker 1: to call immigration if I did something to return me
Speaker 1: back to my country. Carla lived like this for months.
Speaker 1: After about a year and a half, they broke up.
Speaker 1: At this point, Carla says Maria was a heavy methomphetamine
Speaker 1: user and many aspects of the relationship had become unbearable.
Speaker 1: By this time, Carlo's mother had also to the u S,
Speaker 1: which helped Carla to realize home wasn't necessarily with Maria,
Speaker 1: so I left. I left from her house to my
Speaker 1: mom's house, back to l A. Some time went by.
Speaker 1: Then in late January of two, Maria invited Carla back
Speaker 1: to celebrate her birthday. Carla was excited to see the children,
Speaker 1: who she cared for dearly, so she accepted the invitation.
Speaker 1: She stayed there for a little over a week and
Speaker 1: then returned to l A. And then an afternoon, my
Speaker 1: mom was telling me Maria been calling you. Maria been
Speaker 1: gone and you. I said, okay, so I call her back.
Speaker 1: I said yes, she said, you abuse my kids. I
Speaker 1: said excuse me, and she's like yes, I said, you
Speaker 1: should be calling the police. You don't call me, you
Speaker 1: call the police. And then Carla says Maria threatened her.
Speaker 1: She said, if if you're not with me, I will
Speaker 1: kill you or you will be in prison forever. That's
Speaker 1: what she gave me. And then so say, well, you
Speaker 1: can do whatever, you know. I know I'm innocent and
Speaker 1: you can do your part, you know. So later that
Speaker 1: week she did she called the police, and then later
Speaker 1: that week UH two officers came to visit Mia l A.
Speaker 1: The officers took her down to the station for questioning
Speaker 1: under the allegations that she abused Maria's kids. They told
Speaker 1: her the kids said that while Maria was at the
Speaker 1: store with her eleven year old son Toni, Carla sexually
Speaker 1: molested the other children, Corina, Graciela Fabian, who were seven, six,
Speaker 1: and four at the time. The detectives who interviewed her
Speaker 1: were Jeff Torres and Mark Lusk, but their questions were
Speaker 1: not what you'd expect. The detectives asked more about Carla's
Speaker 1: sex life with Maria than they did about her relationship
Speaker 1: with the kids. She says. They asked her if she
Speaker 1: and Maria used any sex toys and what kinds of
Speaker 1: toys they were. How did you feel when they were
Speaker 1: asking you about your sex toys and your sex life.
Speaker 1: It was very embarrassing, especially because they were all men.
Speaker 1: It was I'm the only female in there. So they
Speaker 1: were all men and they were all laughing when they
Speaker 1: were interrogating me in the room. It was like laughing
Speaker 1: and she's talking among themselves and English. I didn't know
Speaker 1: because they translated, was not translated what they were saying.
Speaker 1: Carla needed a translator president because at the time she
Speaker 1: didn't speak much English. So that was she laughing about stuff.
Speaker 1: And I'm like looking like you know, So I was
Speaker 1: very embarrassing. They were so like eager to know things
Speaker 1: to how how do you use it? And and how
Speaker 1: many times saying what do you guys did? And it's
Speaker 1: like it was just very uncomfortable. So they were telling
Speaker 1: me that I abuse kids and the three kids and
Speaker 1: Maria and like that. And then I was like, whoa,
Speaker 1: you know. I said, please find out the truth because
Speaker 1: I didn't do none of these things. And then so, oh,
Speaker 1: are you sure I usould? I said, yes, I am, Yes,
Speaker 1: I am. Can you please find out the truth? And
Speaker 1: then so they let me go from there, Carla left
Speaker 1: and went back to her mom's house. About a month later,
Speaker 1: she says, Maria decided to visit her in l A.
Speaker 1: Despite her allegations against Carla, I was going to the
Speaker 1: store with Maria when police came, oh everywhere, you know,
Speaker 1: and they like, they're like, come my name and then
Speaker 1: so so police and everybody was she's there, you know,
Speaker 1: and I'm like okay, They're like, you being arrested for
Speaker 1: sexual abusing Maria Medina's kids. I'm like okay. So she
Speaker 1: was there with me, and then they put handcuffs on
Speaker 1: me and they put me in a police car. On
Speaker 1: March two, Carla was ready her Miranda rights and officially
Speaker 1: arrested and holding Custoday. On May three, she was charged
Speaker 1: with multiple accounts of child sexual abuse. Carla's little sister,
Speaker 1: dol Say, knows she didn't do this. I know she
Speaker 1: has up pure heart and she she's not capable do
Speaker 1: a horrible thing like that. She was caring about us,
Speaker 1: about my nieces and nephews. I don't believe that the
Speaker 1: they cool thing that my sister was was capable do
Speaker 1: that horrible thing. This episode is underwritten by A i G,
Speaker 1: a leading global insurance company. A i G is committed
Speaker 1: to corporate social responsibility and to making a positive difference
Speaker 1: in the lives of its employees and in the communities
Speaker 1: where we work. And live in light of the compelling
Speaker 1: need for pro bono legal assistance and in recognition of
Speaker 1: a i g s commitment to criminal and social justice reform,
Speaker 1: the ai G pro Bono Program provides free legal services
Speaker 1: and other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. Carlo's trial
Speaker 1: started June two thousand two. The prosecutor was Anna Ferguson,
Speaker 1: who called nurse Georgian Green to the stand. The nurse
Speaker 1: testified that when she examined the children, the medical evidence
Speaker 1: showed they were molested. By this point, Child Protective Services
Speaker 1: had taken all four of Maria's children from her. They
Speaker 1: were now living with foster families. Only Corina and Graciela
Speaker 1: testified during the trial, but their testimonies were largely inconsistent
Speaker 1: with each other and what they had previously reported. Garina
Speaker 1: said the day she and the other children were left
Speaker 1: alone with Carla, she saw Carla take off Fabian's clothes
Speaker 1: and touch his quote private. She also made a number
Speaker 1: of other even more serious allegations about Carlo's actions, But
Speaker 1: when Graciella took the stand, the six year old said
Speaker 1: Carla didn't touch her and that she had never seen
Speaker 1: her touch the other children in a bad way. Jerry Holt,
Speaker 1: Grandma's Carlo's court appointed defense attorney. Although they had momentum
Speaker 1: after Gracila's eye opening testimony, he failed to cross examine
Speaker 1: her and other witnesses. He didn't even consult or present
Speaker 1: any experts in support of Carla or to refute the
Speaker 1: alleged medical evidence testified to by nurse Green. Carla says
Speaker 1: he was a terrible attorney. He was always telling me,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go visit you to talk with you about
Speaker 1: the case. Never did not one time. The only time
Speaker 1: that he spoke with me was at the moment of
Speaker 1: my trial, five minutes prior to that, and he said,
Speaker 1: are you innocent? I said, this is what did he say?
Speaker 1: My wife is at the hospital, so my head is
Speaker 1: over there. That's what he said. When when he said
Speaker 1: he was his head was on his wife's hospital, not me,
Speaker 1: I was like, whoa you know. Holgrin would eventually be
Speaker 1: disbarred for reasons unrelated to Carla's case. Without a rigorous defense,
Speaker 1: Carla was unsurprisingly found guilty after only two days of trial.
Speaker 1: She was sentenced to forty five years to life. When
Speaker 1: you're in court and they sentence you. You are being
Speaker 1: sentenced not for being a murderer or a robber, for
Speaker 1: being a child molester. What does that feel like? It
Speaker 1: was horrible. It was painful because I love this kit
Speaker 1: so much, and I was when I wanted to be
Speaker 1: a parent, and then she's thinking that you abuse somebody
Speaker 1: so innocent, and then they were saying that I did that.
Speaker 1: When she got to prison, Carla felt hopeless. She had
Speaker 1: escaped under US to come to the US to be
Speaker 1: free of persecution, only to be arrested for a crime
Speaker 1: she maintains she did not commit. I was angry. I
Speaker 1: was angry not at the kids. I was angry at
Speaker 1: the law for not finding out the truth. So I
Speaker 1: was angry at that United States because they said, this
Speaker 1: is United States, you know, and that if I'm talking
Speaker 1: about Honduras, I will they can do whatever they want.
Speaker 1: But in the United States they found out the truth
Speaker 1: and they didn't. Her initial years in prison were bleak.
Speaker 1: Living in that environment was scary, and she still didn't
Speaker 1: speak any English, so she couldn't read any of her
Speaker 1: own documents to figure out how to help herself. By
Speaker 1: this time, Dulce had also made it to the US,
Speaker 1: and she was doing her best to try and help
Speaker 1: her sister out. I tried to look for help. I
Speaker 1: tried to higher an attorney. But when I get here
Speaker 1: and I went to that first appointment with the attorney,
Speaker 1: they say, I need fifty dollars to start with the case.
Speaker 1: And that was super hard. What did you what did
Speaker 1: you do when this attorney said fifty dollars? Did you
Speaker 1: think I can get that or did you think? You know?
Speaker 1: We're doomed? At that time, I couldn't do anything. I
Speaker 1: was I was new to the country. I didn't know
Speaker 1: about golf on means, I didn't know about anything. I
Speaker 1: just say, I cannot afford that amount of money. We
Speaker 1: worked really hard, but we cannot have four or fifty dollars.
Speaker 1: But Carla knew one way she might be able to
Speaker 1: get help. Had you ever thought about wrongful convictions before this? Uh? No, never,
Speaker 1: so as I learned that when I when I got
Speaker 1: to prison, and then so I used to watch see
Speaker 1: Aside and because stuff like that, and then you know,
Speaker 1: and the in Spanish of course, and then I always
Speaker 1: heard about Innocence Project and you know, but I didn't
Speaker 1: think it was true. At the prison, Carla made a
Speaker 1: connection with the California Coalition for Women's Prisoners. She asked
Speaker 1: them to send her information on organizations that might help her.
Speaker 1: So they did. They sent me a full pack of
Speaker 1: a letter innocence projects. You know. But at that moment
Speaker 1: and I speaking English, so I say that paper, I
Speaker 1: say the purple work until I learned English. Eventually, Carla
Speaker 1: settled in and her perseverance kept her moving forward even
Speaker 1: while in prison. I overcame every obstacle in there is.
Speaker 1: It was up to me, you know, and what I
Speaker 1: was in there, I didn't let the walls consume me.
Speaker 1: I allow myself to expand myself. And they're like getting too.
Speaker 1: I I am facilitated for domestic violence. I earned my
Speaker 1: high school diploma and my AID degree and arts and humanities.
Speaker 1: She also found a purpose and offering friendship to other
Speaker 1: incarcerated women. So that was was keeping me sane in there,
Speaker 1: seeing other people smiling, and she's talking to people and
Speaker 1: and she's like, you know a lot of times I
Speaker 1: had a friend who said, did you know her? I
Speaker 1: don't need to know her what about she's going through something.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna say, hi, good morning, how are you?
Speaker 1: You can change somebody's life in that moment, you know.
Speaker 1: So that was my my my thing was changing somebody's
Speaker 1: life every day. Carla was doing okay enough in prison,
Speaker 1: but the rest of her family was broken without her.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, it is hard for me thinking about
Speaker 1: my sister in that place, not being with us on Christmas,
Speaker 1: on my birthdays. We couldn't help her, would by that boss?
Speaker 1: No sharing with her. A lot of beautiful moments that
Speaker 1: were when I had my first kid. It hurts my heart.
Speaker 1: Despite the distance from her family, Carla continued to strive,
Speaker 1: and that included learning English. With language as her tool,
Speaker 1: she was finally able to read the research documents on
Speaker 1: innocence pro objects she saved all those years ago, and
Speaker 1: when she did, she reached out to the Northern California
Speaker 1: Innocence Project. My name is Katherine Boyle and I'm a
Speaker 1: volunteer attorney with the Northern California Innocence Project. Catherine is
Speaker 1: one of the attorneys overseeing Carla's case at the n
Speaker 1: z i P, along with its co founder and executive director,
Speaker 1: Linda's Star. Katherine says the first thing they did when
Speaker 1: they read Carla's letter was to try to obtain as
Speaker 1: much information about the case as they could, but unfortunately
Speaker 1: the only thing they could get was the trial transcripts.
Speaker 1: Even though there was not very much information that we
Speaker 1: had was that it looked like she had been wrongfully
Speaker 1: convicted and that there was bias against her based on
Speaker 1: her sexual orientation as well as her status as an
Speaker 1: undocumented immigrant. Can you elaborate on that a little bit? So?
Speaker 1: How was their bias against her in both of those ways? Yes, so, um,
Speaker 1: the bias against her. It kind of pervaded the case
Speaker 1: in many different ways. One of the things that came
Speaker 1: out in the transcript was that both Carla's own attorney
Speaker 1: as well as the district attorney emphasized her status as
Speaker 1: a lesbian and the fact that she was in a
Speaker 1: lesbian relationship throughout the trial, even though it was totally
Speaker 1: irrelevant to the issues at hand. So that was that
Speaker 1: was one factor. There were also just assumptions about her
Speaker 1: based on her undocumented immigrant status. Um. And one of
Speaker 1: the ways we found that out is as we were
Speaker 1: investigating her case, we did have an opportunity to talk
Speaker 1: to her attorney from the preliminary hearing, who at first
Speaker 1: did not remember her, but then um. When we jogged
Speaker 1: his memory by saying that she was from Honduras and
Speaker 1: speak Spanish, he very disparagingly said, oh, the little gay girl,
Speaker 1: and she wouldn't have been able to commit the crime
Speaker 1: if she hadn't been here illegally. Given the circumstances, the
Speaker 1: n c I P took Carla's case, believing in her
Speaker 1: innocence and botched trial. The younger daughter testified that Carla
Speaker 1: didn't touch her at all, and the older daughter testified
Speaker 1: inconsistently with what she had said at um other times.
Speaker 1: And yet Carla's attorney did not pick up on any
Speaker 1: of that, nor did he cross examine the nurse expert
Speaker 1: or get an expert on behalf of Carla to testify
Speaker 1: that there was no basis in medical science for what
Speaker 1: the nurse was attesting too. Was there a reason why
Speaker 1: he didn't call his ownerspert? Gosh, we would love to
Speaker 1: know that, um. Um, I don't know. I have to
Speaker 1: think part of it was the fact of there just
Speaker 1: seemed to be tunnel vision as to Carla's guilt throughout
Speaker 1: the process, and as I said, partially due to the
Speaker 1: fact of her her status. UM. I also have to
Speaker 1: say it probably had to do with some financial reasons.
Speaker 1: By this, Catherine is referring to how Little Carlo's lawyer
Speaker 1: was earning from the state for defending her. It was
Speaker 1: a short two day trial. They get paid a flat fee,
Speaker 1: and so I think there was not much incentive for
Speaker 1: him to really investigate the case and in the way
Speaker 1: it needed to be investigated. But the n c i
Speaker 1: P did their due diligence, so the only thing that
Speaker 1: we had to operate off of were the trial transcripts.
Speaker 1: So we actually um sent the transcripts to one of
Speaker 1: the premier child sexual assault experts in the state of California,
Speaker 1: who is director at uc SF Bennie Offf Hospital and
Speaker 1: one of only approximately two dozen boards certified child abuse
Speaker 1: pediatricians in California. He reviewed the transcripts and he said
Speaker 1: it looked like this was false testimony and that what
Speaker 1: the nurse was testifying to as evidence of abuse was
Speaker 1: in fact potentially normal human anatomy. So with that, and
Speaker 1: with some of the inconsistencies in the children's statements and testimonies,
Speaker 1: we were able to file a rid of habeas corpus
Speaker 1: based off of false medical evidence new evidence as well
Speaker 1: as in effective assistance of counsel. After they filed their petition,
Speaker 1: Carla's team was granted an opportunity to show cause, which
Speaker 1: means they were finally able to get all of the
Speaker 1: records in the case and find out really what happened
Speaker 1: in these medical exams. And with the medical records, we
Speaker 1: saw a box checked on the forms that said that
Speaker 1: there were video tapes which showed the physical examinations of
Speaker 1: the children's private parts, and so we were able to
Speaker 1: track down the video tapes of the children's exams and
Speaker 1: show those to our expert, who was able to say conclusively,
Speaker 1: this is normal human anatomy. She didn't know what she
Speaker 1: was talking about, meaning the nurse who had testified. After
Speaker 1: reviewing the tapes, Catherine and her team were granted an
Speaker 1: evidentiary hearing where they could present this information to a
Speaker 1: judge and make their case that Carla is actually innocent.
Speaker 1: But their plans went in another direction, so we never
Speaker 1: got to the evidentiary hearing. What happened was we were
Speaker 1: very close to the evidentiary hearing and everyone was ready,
Speaker 1: including our big team of law students and um Linda
Speaker 1: Star and me. We were all ready when a report
Speaker 1: came in from the d a's medical expert, who agreed
Speaker 1: with our expert that there was no evidence of sexual abuse.
Speaker 1: And then it was soon after that that they decided
Speaker 1: to stipulate to reverse Carla's conviction, which we then did.
Speaker 1: So what was that like for all of you? Oh,
Speaker 1: it was so exciting, so exciting, I mean, just felt
Speaker 1: like such a victory. But it was only the beginning,
Speaker 1: because they then insisted that they were going to retry
Speaker 1: Carla on the original charges. So my question is where
Speaker 1: were the children at this point? If they were going
Speaker 1: to retry they would have to testify again. Well, that's
Speaker 1: an interesting question. They were no longer in the state,
Speaker 1: and it seemed like they were not going to testify
Speaker 1: at trial based on the notice that the d A
Speaker 1: had served upon us. So basically because they no longer
Speaker 1: had the medical evidence, their case would have been the
Speaker 1: prior trial testimony of the children, which again one didn't testify,
Speaker 1: one said Carla didn't touch her, and the other testified
Speaker 1: inconsistently with some other reports of her of her statement,
Speaker 1: Carla is in a sense was evident at this point
Speaker 1: and the state had an incredibly weak case, but they
Speaker 1: insisted on charging her with something. So they told her
Speaker 1: either acceptable deal or face a trial, and after seventeen
Speaker 1: years in prison, Carla just wanted to go home. She
Speaker 1: didn't plead guilty to any charges of child molestation or abuse,
Speaker 1: but to a charge called false imprisonment, which basically means
Speaker 1: holding someone against their will. Carla was not guilty of this,
Speaker 1: nor of child molestation, but she had no choice. She
Speaker 1: accepted the plea and was released from prison. I still
Speaker 1: remember that day when they told me Carla will be out.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, that was the best thing that I
Speaker 1: could ever ask. You know, I was first of all
Speaker 1: thanking God because she was getting out. I was how
Speaker 1: can I say relief that she was no longer in
Speaker 1: that place. But Carla's journey through the United States carcetral
Speaker 1: system wasn't over. What would normally happen is there would
Speaker 1: be some processing and we were all waiting out in
Speaker 1: the hallway, and Carla should have been walking joyfully out
Speaker 1: to us. But as I mentioned before, Carla is an
Speaker 1: undocumented immigrant, and so what happened was, while we were
Speaker 1: waiting out in the hallway for Carla's release, Ice went
Speaker 1: in the back door and took Carla without telling us.
Speaker 1: Carla went straight from prison to the o te Mesa
Speaker 1: detention center. The n c i P team was devastated.
Speaker 1: We had clothes for her, We wanted to give her
Speaker 1: a hug. There was no chance to celebrate um any
Speaker 1: of the excitement of Carla being, you know, released after
Speaker 1: all that time. Carla spent about a month in ice
Speaker 1: detention before she was released and finally free. It was
Speaker 1: up and down. I was happy, I was sad. I
Speaker 1: was happy, I was sad. It was like a roller
Speaker 1: coaster from me. Carla currently has a lawsuit pending against
Speaker 1: the numerous parties whose misconduct led to her wrongful conviction.
Speaker 1: Among other things, the lawsuit alleges that the medical evidence
Speaker 1: against her was fabricated and condoned by county officials. These days,
Speaker 1: Carla works as a landscaper. It's good because I go bs,
Speaker 1: I with the nature and it isn't not too many people,
Speaker 1: because I cannot be around too many people. I'm still
Speaker 1: battling with my struggles coming out because of when I
Speaker 1: can as sleep, put the lights off, or I have
Speaker 1: to check the doors to be locked, because you have
Speaker 1: to make sure that nobody's going to beat you up.
Speaker 1: In prison. Considering the trauma she experienced from being in
Speaker 1: prison as well as from her journey to the US,
Speaker 1: I asked her about therapy. Yes, I have therapist every Wednesday.
Speaker 1: It's pretty good. So um Erica that's her name. She's
Speaker 1: she worked with exonerated people before. So so she's pretty good.
Speaker 1: So your your spirit is still intact. You're smiling. Yes,
Speaker 1: And then I have wonderful nieces and nephews. The dry
Speaker 1: me nuts. You know, it's like they say, I have
Speaker 1: my my baby. They said she's my daughter because you know,
Speaker 1: she's a little bit like me. So so I go
Speaker 1: visit her and then sometimes I take her to the
Speaker 1: house and stay with us, you know. So in addition
Speaker 1: to the nieces and nephews around her, Carla has a
Speaker 1: new loving partner, Blanca. I have a beautiful family. She
Speaker 1: has a daughter. I was going to ask, so, so
Speaker 1: you have the family you always wanted. Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1: Carla is still afraid to return to Honduras and has
Speaker 1: applied for asylum in the US. If you'd like to
Speaker 1: help support the work of the Northern California Innocence Project,
Speaker 1: go to n c i P dot org slash get
Speaker 1: dash involved. Carla would especially like to thank Jim Montenaro
Speaker 1: for his generosity. Next time Unwrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling,
Speaker 1: Alicia Burns. You know, there were lots of things on
Speaker 1: TV about human trafficking and sex trafficking and and what
Speaker 1: it looks like, and there was more awareness about it,
Speaker 1: and I thought, oh, my gosh, that's what happens to me.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling.
Speaker 1: Please support your local innocence organizations and go to the
Speaker 1: links in our bio to see how you can help.
Speaker 1: I'd like to thank our executive producers Jason Flam and
Speaker 1: Kevin Wordis, as well as our senior producer Annie Chelsea,
Speaker 1: researcher Lila Robinson, story editor Sonya Paul, with additional production
Speaker 1: by Jeff Cleburne and Connor Hall. The music in this
Speaker 1: production is by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph.
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction,
Speaker 1: on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction, as well as at Lava for Good. On
Speaker 1: all three platforms, you can also follow me on both
Speaker 1: Instagram and Twitter at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with Maggie
Speaker 1: Freeling is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in
Speaker 1: association with Signal Company Number one