WEBVTT - #285 Maggie Freleng with Tammy Poole 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:04.800 A note for listeners, this episode contains discussion of suicide. 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:10.959 Please listen with caution and care. So, Amanda, thank you 0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:13.640 for joining me. I want to introduce you to listeners 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.280 who might not know who you are. You are a podcaster, 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:18.759 You have a podcast with your husband called Labyrinth, and 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:20.480 you are an ethical storyteller. 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:22.520 Is how you like to refer to yourself. 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:25.479 Yes, and for those who don't know, I also was 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.320 wrongly convicted, which is how we know each other through. 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:29.040 The Innocence Network. 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:31.240 So it's great to see you again, Maggie, Amanda. 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:35.120 When you look at wrongful convictions with women, what are 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:37.800 maybe the three most common. 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:38.519 Factors you see? 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.600 So the vast majority of cases where women are wrongly 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:44.960 convicted actually involve them be accused of a crime that 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:48.680 never happened in the first place. What ultimately happens in 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:51.599 a lot of these cases is women who are suddenly 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:54.880 shocked by a tragic thing that happens to them feel 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:58.360 a sense of guilt that is then utilized by the 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:02.360 police to either coerce them to falsely confessing, or is 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:06.200 used as a way to suggest that they are behaving 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:09.920 like a guilty person. So someone who is experiencing grief 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:13.240 or shock is told that they're not acting the way 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.800 that a person is supposed to act in their situation. 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:20.160 And there's also this assumption that we have that women, 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:25.200 especially in the caretaking role, are somehow responsible when something 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:28.640 tragic and unfortunate happens to someone who is in their 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.960 care and we need to push back against those assumptions 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:35.280 and narratives of the perfect mother and the perfect wife 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:39.399 and the perfect daughter and instead acknowledge that human beings 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:42.800 are complicated and that there is more to the story, 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:50.480 likely than we are being told in the media. 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:53.040 I kept thinking that I wouldn't have to say anything, 0:01:55.360 --> 0:02:01.520 because in my mind at that time, struggling was thinking 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:04.880 that it was my fault, that I should have done 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:11.240 something different. I didn't realize that saying these things was 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:15.679 making me look guilty. I didn't realize that people were 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:16.960 watching that every moon. 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.320 From Lava for Good this is wrongful conviction with Maggie 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:43.440 Freeling today Tammy Pool. On the evening of April twenty second, 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:46.600 two thousand and seven, Tammy Pool and her husband Michael 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.720 got into an argument at their home in Chatsworth, Georgia. 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:53.600 They had a tumultuous relationship and this was not unusual. 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.639 This time, though, a gun was involved and Michael suffered 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:03.200 a fatal bullet wound to his temple. Tammy says the 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.200 shot was self inflicted and that Michael had often threatened 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:08.919 suicide in the past, but as the only witness to 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:13.400 the shooting, police saw Tammy as a suspect. A case 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:16.440 was quickly built against her, and she was arrested, charged, 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.320 and convicted for the murder of her husband, Michael. 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:28.040 This is not happening. This can't be happening. How do 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:33.440 they not know. I didn't realize that my lawyers did nothing. 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:38.120 I didn't realize that there was no science to it, 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.680 just one opinion. He assured me he was going to 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:46.080 tell the jury how it happened, and that never never happened. 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:56.240 I am Tammy Poole. I've been incarcerated in Georgia prisons 0:03:56.280 --> 0:04:01.160 for fifteen years. 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:15.240 Tammy Pool was born December twenty seventh, nineteen seventy three, 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:19.200 in l j, Georgia, to Rose and Curtis David. She's 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.440 the youngest of two kids. Her brother, Danny, is fifteen 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:23.240 years older. 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:27.000 I always looked up to my brother. He was just 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:31.640 great to me. He had this wonderful, big, huge cat. 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:34.600 I used to share my ice cream with it, and 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:36.080 I just loved that cat. 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:39.960 Tammy and her brother learned to find joy in the 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:43.160 little things, especially since their family didn't have a lot 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:43.599 of money. 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:47.119 One year, we weren't able to get a birthday cake, 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:51.479 and my mom had bought a couple of boxes of 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:55.120 little debbies and arranged them and made it look like 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.280 a clown so it was a clown cake. So I 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:00.080 remember that being happy. 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.839 But Tammy's childhood was also filled with a lot of trauma. 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:11.480 My father drank a lot. My mother was a hoarder, 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:15.240 so there was a lot of things that went on. 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:23.520 I had different babysitters, so there was some childhood mental, physical, 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:31.479 and sexual abuse. And I've never I just didn't say anything. 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:37.039 I kind of closed in on myself. 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:42.800 As she got older, she admits she started expressing her 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:44.799 trauma in destructive ways. 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:51.280 When I was seventeen years old, I was hanging around 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:53.320 with some people that were a little older than me, 0:05:54.040 --> 0:06:00.320 and they were breaking into houses. I was in the 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:03.880 vehicle while they went in, and of course they ended 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:06.640 up getting caught, and then I had got in trouble 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:09.200 for shoplifting. 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.279 When Tammy was seventeen, she met her first husband, Kenny. 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:16.960 After about a year together, on August fifth, nineteen ninety two, 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:19.760 she gave birth to her first child, Shannessy. 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.400 It was amazing just to see her born, to see 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:28.840 her little face when she came out, it was just 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:35.880 absolutely amazing. Then within just a few months, I was 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:41.040 pregnant again and this was my son, Christopher. He was 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:45.560 born July twenty third, nineteen ninety three, so that was 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:48.600 only eleven and a half months after Shannessy, so we 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.520 would call those Irish twins. 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:54.400 Tammy and her husband bought a house in Chatsworth, Georgia. 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:56.119 Life was great. 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:59.800 They were living their dream and their children have fond memories. 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:03.320 What do you remember about growing up with your mom? 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.240 I remember her taking us to Disney World, I mean 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:09.680 riding the Tower of Terror and I was terrified. 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:12.640 This is Tammy's oldest child, Shannessy. 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:16.240 I remember her like teaching me how to drive when 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:23.000 I was younger, like bits and pieces, and her taking 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.120 me to beauty pageants. She was like my biggest fan 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:28.720 when I was in beauty pageants. 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:34.120 I used to take them to karate practice and I 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.840 tried to coach them in basketball, a little five and 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:41.800 six year old teams, and I didn't know how to 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:45.040 play basketball, but I just wanted to spend time with them, 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:46.720 and I wanted them to have the things that I 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:47.160 didn't have. 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:53.360 On the outside, Tammy, Kenny and their kids were a 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:57.040 picture perfect family, but her marriage with Kenny soon hit 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:57.640 the rocks. 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:01.880 We were We were good for a little while, and 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:05.240 then about ten years in we decided to call it quit. 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.320 Tammy's past had caught up with her and it led 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:11.600 her to drug use. 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:16.680 I had battled with addiction to. 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:19.960 Miss and. 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:28.560 Ah, I just I'm not sure exactly what to say 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:36.480 about that. A lot of people may understand that childhood trauma, 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:41.199 especially untreated childhood trauma, you live your life in a 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:45.000 way kind of like on autopilot. You just do. You 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:49.920 don't really think about it. So my struggle with drugs, 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:53.360 I didn't really think about that. I just I just 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:53.920 did it. 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:59.079 Tammy's drug use got out of control. She went to 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:01.440 jail a couple of time because of it, which led 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:03.720 to more problems between her and Kenny. 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:10.240 We had a awful custody battle, and I was usually 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:11.319 on the losing end. 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:17.760 Shannessy remembers how it impacted her relationship with her mom. 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:25.720 It wasn't really a conventional relationship, Like I didn't I 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:29.400 felt like I didn't really like my mom because of 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:32.440 everything I had heard, and I wasn't able to form 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:33.960 my own opinion as a child. 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:38.840 So what were you hearing like people around town or classmates. 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:44.240 Family members, mostly family members saying that like, she's always 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:46.800 going to be a drug addict, she's always going to 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:51.080 be a bad person. She's always like, uh, never going 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:52.000 to be there for me. 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:55.440 And so did you feel like she was a good mom? 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:56.400 Uh? 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:59.480 Well, I mean I felt like she was for a 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:04.120 little while, and then I really don't know when it was, 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:08.720 but I had like she had to meet us at 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:13.080 a place for like supervised visitation, and I remember being 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.440 told that she had to take a drug test and 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.480 I remember thinking like, that's that's not what I want 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:21.520 as a mom, Like that's not who I want my 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:24.160 mom to be, and that's I didn't really think she 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:26.360 was a good mom at that point. I did when 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:34.040 I was younger, but after probably nine, maybe ten, I 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:38.160 started to think that she was just a junkie and 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:41.520 a bad person because that's what I had been led 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.880 to believe, and I wasn't really able to get to 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.720 know her because I had already planned in my mind 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:48.520 that I didn't want to. 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.000 Around this time, about two thousand and one, Tammy was 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:55.360 trying to pick up the pieces of her life when 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:58.920 she met another man named Robbie. Their son, Brent, was 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.920 born in two thousand three, but that relationship didn't last long. 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:08.520 So I was still in the middle of those custody 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:13.480 battles to get trying to get myself together, trying to 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:19.360 do all these things, but I could never quite reach 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:21.840 my potential. 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.120 Tammy became more motivated to change things though, when she 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:33.240 met someone else around January two thousand and four. His 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.080 name was Robert Michael Poole and he went by Michael. 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:44.680 He seemed like a really nice person. He had his 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:48.800 own place, he had a job as a carpenter, and 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:54.000 we just started talking. And I was single at the time, 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:58.760 so I just thought it was great. I kind of 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:02.240 thought that he was, Oh, here's this guy that's got 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:06.920 it together and I keep messing up. He can help me. 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:10.880 I kind of looked at him as like my savior. 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:14.720 Tammy was smitten with Michael. 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:20.040 I just thought that life was gonna get a little better. Okay, 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:23.440 I'm gonna have this normal life. We're gonna be We're 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:24.280 gonna be just fun. 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.760 Like Tammy, Michael had three kids. They moved in together, 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.559 and things were on the up for their blended family. 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.599 Yeah. Yeah. We always talked about our kids and we 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:42.120 would take them places like the river and fishing and 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:48.360 things like that, fun things with the kids. I don't know, 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:52.320 we just we called ourselves the Brady Bunch, the Pool Bunch. 0:12:57.000 --> 0:13:00.439 Tammy was finally feeling good in her life. Two thousand 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.439 and five. She went back to school at Appalachian Technical 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:07.400 College to study accounting and business. She eventually pursued a 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:10.480 paralegal program, and it was love for her older brother 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:12.200 Danny that inspired her. 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.440 He had a lot of run ins with the police, 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:19.439 and I really wanted to keep him out of jail. 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:21.840 So I thought, if I could be a good attorney, 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:23.120 I could keep him out of jail. 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.200 But not long after Tammy and Michael got together, things 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:29.679 took a turn. It started with the house they were 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:30.120 living in. 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:33.160 It come to find out, the house that he lived in, 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:36.920 he didn't actually he wasn't actually rent in that house. 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:40.600 It wasn't actually his house, so after I had moved 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:44.440 in there with him, we left and moved in with 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:50.440 his sister. And it was just it was. 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.480 Little things, and these were things Michael's ex wife had 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:56.280 already tried to warn her about. 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:02.280 She tried to talk to me one day, and I 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:07.520 didn't listen. I always thought that it was her fault 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:11.520 that they had split up, and I didn't realize till 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:17.520 probably a year later, that Michael had some serious problems. 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:25.640 Those little things that I liked. I liked the way 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:27.560 he watched me. I liked the way he paid attention, 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:33.480 but it kind of turned dark. If my eyes looked 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:36.520 the wrong way, I was accused of looking at somebody else. 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:41.320 Or it was little things, little things like that. 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:46.640 But Tammy says, the little things at times also turned 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:47.800 into physical violence. 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.800 And then it was a push and then a harder shove, 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:59.880 and so of course I pushed back, and then I left, 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.920 and then we got back together, and then I left, 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:06.000 and then we got back together. 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:10.240 Timmy says they would follow this cycle countless times. 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.960 But of course, me being me, I would make excuses 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:19.520 for him. 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:23.040 By two thousand and six, things were really bad between 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:25.440 the two. One day they were driving in the car 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.160 and got into an argument, and it took the. 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:30.920 Trouble they were having to a whole other level. 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:35.880 We had a car accident, but the accident it wasn't 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.320 really an accident, like he ran the car off the 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:42.440 road because we were arguing and I had just buckled 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:44.920 my seatbelt because the road that we were on was 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.480 just very very curvy, and we hit a tree. 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:50.840 So you think he did it on purpose. 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:55.120 No, he did it on purpose. He said that he 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:56.240 was gonna kill us both. 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.520 Tammy was lucky she survived, although the accident left her 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:12.520 badly injured with internal bleeding. She would be in a 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:16.440 walker for months after. Still, Tammy and Michael stayed together, 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:21.360 but things continued to deteriorate. Tammy started becoming convinced that 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:24.360 Michael was having some serious mental health issues. 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:32.080 We dabbled in Matthews and I'm not sure. I'm not 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:34.240 sure if he did the wrong kind, if he did 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:41.000 too much. It was like he started going crazy and 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:47.040 there was something. It was odd. Everyone noticed his behavior. 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:50.280 His older sister and I talked about having him committed. 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.080 He had went to his ex wife's house tried to 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:58.400 get a telephone that belonged to his dad, this anti telephone, 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:01.480 because he thought he was going to call his The 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:05.720 problem is his dad had been dead for years, so 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:10.040 it was I can't really describe it. 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:13.719 And Tammy says, Michael continued to talk about suicide. 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:18.000 He had started doing that so much. I had taken 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.119 guns away from him before. His little sister had taken 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:25.600 got her boyfriend and taken guns away from him. It 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:29.320 just seemed to be getting worse and worse. I didn't know. 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:33.440 I didn't know what to do. He had found out 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:35.680 that his sister and I were talking about putting in 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:39.800 a mental institution, and he saw that he would He 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.120 would kill me, he would kill her, he would kill 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:44.800 us both. That he did not want to go to 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:51.080 a mental institution, and I believe him. The violence at 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:59.000 home was bad. We argued constantly. It was. It was 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:02.440 more than I knew how to deal with. I didn't 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:07.720 know how to help him, help myself, how to convince 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:09.760 him that I loved him and that we were going 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:13.600 to be okay. It was a very, very dark time. 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:25.119 This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company. 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:29.480 AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:32.600 a positive difference in the lives of its employees and 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:35.640 in the communities where we work and live. In light 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:39.359 of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:44.080 in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform, 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:48.480 the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal services and 0:18:48.600 --> 0:19:00.320 other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. On the evening 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:03.119 of April twenty second, two thousand and seven, Tammy and 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:04.680 Michael were again arguing. 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:08.760 I found out that he had been talking to this girl, 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:11.240 but it turns out he was only talking to her 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:20.040 about drugs. So we were arguing. I told him, I 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:28.919 told him that day that I hope he died, you know. 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:32.160 Then we made up, of course, there's always that makeup period. 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.359 Then Shannessy and Christopher left to spend the evening with 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:39.920 their father. Brent also went with his dad. 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:45.439 Of course, after the kids left, we had some you know, 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:50.160 makeup making out and I don't know what happened. By 0:19:50.520 --> 0:20:05.680 something snap and then he just got really really angry, And. 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:07.199 Tammy says, this is when Michael went and grabbed a rifle. 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:12.280 I remember I was on the bed and he pointed 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:15.560 the gun at me, and I got in the fetal 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:18.480 position and I was just saying no, please, no, no, no, 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:22.040 And then he pulled me by my ankle off the 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:28.640 end of the bed and he was banging the gun. 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:30.960 It was a rifle. He was banging it against his 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:38.679 head and it was right there in front of my face. 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:44.320 And I got up. I was standing, and she leaned 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:48.399 over in front of me, and he kept reaching for 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:50.399 the trigger and I had my hands on the end 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:53.280 of the barrel, and I kept thinking, it's gonna shoot me, 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:54.159 It's gonna shoot me. 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:56.920 But Michael didn't shoot her. 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:04.600 He puts the trigger. I'm sorry. 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:08.200 The bullet hit Michael in the left side of his forehead. 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:16.600 I didn't have any idea what to do. I didn't 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.000 know CPR. I kept trying to get my phone to 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:22.159 dial one one one. I didn't want to leave him, 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:25.480 but I had to go outside to go mine one 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:30.920 one and I am. It seemed like it took them 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:33.520 forever to get there. I don't have any idea how 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:36.120 long it was. It just seemed like a really long time. 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.760 An ambulance finally came and took Michael to the hospital. 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:46.760 Tammy was driven there by a friend from church. At 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:51.560 the hospital, Michael was pronounced dead. Tammy was absolutely distraught. 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:55.199 I just kept saying, I should have I should have 0:21:55.240 --> 0:22:01.119 I should have done something different. I should been nicer. 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:09.720 I shouldn't have said what I said when I told 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:12.480 him that day that I hope he died. I shouldn't 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:13.120 have said that. 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:33.000 When the police came onto the case, they immediately questioned Tammy. 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:37.000 I remember they asked me like a lot of questions. 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.879 But I kept thinking that you know, they're gonna know, 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:43.080 They're gonna know he shout himself. 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:47.160 I mean, they have to know, right, But police were 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:50.520 focusing on the fact that Tammy's story kept changing. 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:54.080 I kept thinking that I wouldn't have to say anything 0:22:56.400 --> 0:23:01.080 because in my mind at that time, I'm struggling with 0:23:02.160 --> 0:23:05.639 thinking that it was my fault, that I should have 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:06.720 done something. 0:23:06.400 --> 0:23:12.800 Different, because she felt guilty for telling Michael she wished 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:15.600 she was dead. Timmy didn't want the police to think 0:23:15.680 --> 0:23:16.679 it was a suicide. 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:24.800 I kept thinking, Okay, well, if I say that a 0:23:24.920 --> 0:23:29.280 gun got caught on a broken laundry basket there, that 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:32.479 the trigger got caught on that, then it wasn't my fault, 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:36.400 and it wasn't Michael's fault and everybody can just live 0:23:36.440 --> 0:23:42.679 with a tragic accident. And so that's what I told people. 0:23:44.040 --> 0:23:47.879 Then my landlord called and said, what happened? Was he 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:53.280 cleaning the gun? And that was the next morning. And 0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:56.639 what was I to say? No, he killed himself because 0:23:56.640 --> 0:24:02.640 I was a bad wife. Rather than saying that, I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:24:02.640 --> 0:24:08.120 that's what happened. I didn't realize that saying these things 0:24:08.680 --> 0:24:13.040 was making me look guilty. I didn't realize that people 0:24:13.080 --> 0:24:21.640 were watching that every move I was drowning in my pain. 0:24:22.680 --> 0:24:25.879 And I don't know, I don't know what I was thinking. 0:24:27.480 --> 0:24:31.320 I can't I can't describe that. 0:24:35.520 --> 0:24:39.479 A pathologist, doctor William Oliver, performed the autopsy on Michael's 0:24:39.520 --> 0:24:44.360 body and declared that the fatal shot was not self inflicted. This, 0:24:44.600 --> 0:24:48.199 along with her changing statements, solidified the case against Tammy, 0:24:48.560 --> 0:24:50.720 and just a few months later, in June two thousand 0:24:50.760 --> 0:24:54.200 and seven, she was arrested for the murder of Michael Poole. 0:25:05.000 --> 0:25:07.880 Tammy's trials started on June ninth, two thousand and eight, 0:25:08.320 --> 0:25:12.439 a year after Michael's death. Her defense attorney, Richard Thurman, 0:25:12.760 --> 0:25:17.200 was actually Michael's cousin by marriage, and if that sounds. 0:25:16.920 --> 0:25:18.320 Like it's weird, it is. 0:25:19.440 --> 0:25:22.800 The prosecutor was da Jo Hendrix and one of his assistants, 0:25:22.960 --> 0:25:23.600 Mike Baird. 0:25:24.040 --> 0:25:25.720 Their case was straightforward. 0:25:26.160 --> 0:25:28.719 Tammy was the only one in the room with Michael 0:25:29.200 --> 0:25:33.119 she shot him. A firearms examiner from the Georgia Bureau 0:25:33.119 --> 0:25:37.080 of Investigation, Christopher Robinson, took the stand. He said the 0:25:37.119 --> 0:25:40.199 weapon used was the semi automatic rifle found in the 0:25:40.200 --> 0:25:44.320 bedroom Tammy and Michael shared. The prosecutors also called doctor Oliver, 0:25:44.640 --> 0:25:47.800 who testified that the gunshot wound was inflicted not by 0:25:47.840 --> 0:25:52.879 Michael but by someone else. The prosecution also used Tammy 0:25:52.920 --> 0:25:56.520 and Michael's tumultuous relationship, her past run ins with the law, 0:25:56.760 --> 0:25:59.840 and her changing story against her. A woman who had 0:25:59.840 --> 0:26:03.080 been imprisoned in the same facility as Tammy testified that 0:26:03.160 --> 0:26:06.159 Tammy had confessed to her that she had gotten Michael 0:26:06.359 --> 0:26:09.119 quote out of the picture in order to be with 0:26:09.160 --> 0:26:13.119 someone else. Both of Tammy's kids were also called to 0:26:13.200 --> 0:26:14.280 testify against her. 0:26:14.960 --> 0:26:19.200 I remember them hounding me with crazy questions like what 0:26:19.359 --> 0:26:23.040 we had to eat and what I was doing there 0:26:23.160 --> 0:26:27.479 the week before because it was spring break, Things like 0:26:28.880 --> 0:26:31.080 did I see them ever? Like hit each other or 0:26:31.119 --> 0:26:34.080 anything like that, and I just I just didn't think 0:26:34.119 --> 0:26:37.240 that was a Those are questions to ask a child. 0:26:37.960 --> 0:26:40.960 It's like they were trying to get me to say 0:26:41.080 --> 0:26:43.960 that they were physically abusive to each other in front 0:26:43.960 --> 0:26:46.479 of everybody, or like they were. They asked me if 0:26:46.480 --> 0:26:48.800 I had ever seen them be involved in drugs, and 0:26:50.119 --> 0:26:53.119 I was not prepared to answer that on a stand. 0:26:53.119 --> 0:26:57.560 At fourteen, when it came time for Tammy's son, Christopher 0:26:57.600 --> 0:26:59.800 to take the witness stand, he said he saw Tammy 0:26:59.800 --> 0:27:02.240 and my Michael make up after their fight before leaving 0:27:02.240 --> 0:27:05.720 with his dad. Michael's sister testified that she believed Michael 0:27:05.720 --> 0:27:08.760 would kill Tammy and then himself, and Michael's brother in 0:27:08.840 --> 0:27:11.520 law also testified that Michael had said he would kill 0:27:11.600 --> 0:27:16.680 himself if the circumstances did not improve. Defense attorney Thurman 0:27:16.920 --> 0:27:20.119 also cross examined the woman who had allegedly heard Tammy 0:27:20.160 --> 0:27:23.480 confess while she was in jail. Under cross examination, it 0:27:23.560 --> 0:27:26.240 came out that this witness had a motive of her 0:27:26.280 --> 0:27:30.359 own to sell Tammy out for perhaps less severe charges 0:27:30.400 --> 0:27:33.680 for herself, but the defense did not call any experts 0:27:33.720 --> 0:27:36.560 to refute the States expert that Michael's death was not 0:27:36.600 --> 0:27:37.119 a murder. 0:27:40.560 --> 0:27:42.120