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Speaker 1: In early two thousand, Tammy Vance checked herself into drug

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Speaker 1: rehabit Columbus, Mississippi. There, she met Lee Stubbs, and the

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Speaker 1: two became close. As they neared the end of the program,

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Speaker 1: Excited for the future, they decided to leave and drive

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Speaker 1: back home together along with their friend Kim. They headed out,

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Speaker 1: stopping for the night at a motel, but when they

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Speaker 1: awoke the next morning, something was terribly wrong with Kim.

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Speaker 2: She was snoring really loud, and all of a sudden

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Speaker 2: it stopped, and I freaked out and I told thee

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Speaker 2: she's not breathing. She's not breathing. They got on the

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Speaker 2: phone with nine one one and I administered CPR intil

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Speaker 2: the ambulance got there.

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Speaker 1: At the hospital, doctors found injuries that led them to

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Speaker 1: believe Kim had experienced a violent sexual assault, and despite

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Speaker 1: their efforts to help Kim, the police concluded that Tammy

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Speaker 1: and Lee were actually responsible for what had happened to her.

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Speaker 1: You were a suspect very quickly, So do you remember

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Speaker 1: feeling that way? Do you remember thinking like something was

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Speaker 1: off and what they were asking you.

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Speaker 2: I remember thinking they were crazy because that was our friend,

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Speaker 2: and we tried to Savor. My name is Tammy Vance,

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Speaker 2: and I was wrongfully convicted for thirteen years.

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Speaker 3: From Lava for good.

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Speaker 1: This is wrongful conviction with Maggie Freeling today Tammy Vance.

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Speaker 1: Tammy Vance was born in San Antonio, Texas, on November fourteenth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, to Sandy and Billy Vance. She has

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Speaker 1: one younger brother, Billy Junior, who goes by the nickname Bubba.

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Speaker 2: Growing up as a child, it was great. I had

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Speaker 2: a lot of family, a lot of loving family.

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Speaker 4: She was very close to her dad and her brother

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Speaker 4: and myself.

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Speaker 3: This is Tammy's mom, Sandy Rabelais.

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Speaker 4: We were very close knit family, and a.

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Speaker 1: Traditional Southern family at that with strong Christian values. When

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Speaker 1: Tammy was about three or four, her family left San

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Speaker 1: Antonio for Mississippi. For Tammy, it was a whole different world.

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Speaker 2: Moving from Texas, where there's nothing but tumbleweeds and small trees.

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Speaker 2: I remember thinking when we pulled into Mississippi that it

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Speaker 2: was the land of the Giants because of the trees

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Speaker 2: and other trees were like so big.

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Speaker 1: Once they adjusted to the new landscape, Sandy saw her

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Speaker 1: daughter enjoying Mississippi.

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Speaker 4: She was a very fun, loving child. She was always

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Speaker 4: very outgoing. I always had lots and lots of friends

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Speaker 4: around her.

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Speaker 1: But at home, life had gotten difficult for Tammy.

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Speaker 2: My father was an alcoholic, my mother she worked two jobs,

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Speaker 2: and basically I raised my younger brother.

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Speaker 1: The situation was tough, but Tammy was a natural caretaker.

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Speaker 5: She has a huge heart and she would just do

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Speaker 5: anything for anybody that's having a hard time.

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Speaker 1: Like one family Sandy recalls who lived down the street

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Speaker 1: from them when Tammy was around eleven or twelve.

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Speaker 4: The mother was an alcoholic. She was never there, the

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Speaker 4: dad was struggling to work.

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Speaker 5: There was for those kids, and.

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Speaker 4: She became best friends with them.

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Speaker 5: She brought them home for Yeah, it's like, Mom, you

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Speaker 5: know they're coming home tonight.

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Speaker 4: I want you to make sure you're cooking up supper form.

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Speaker 4: And she's the one that brought them into the family,

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Speaker 4: and she's the one that, you know, wanted to make

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Speaker 4: sure they were fed and clothed.

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Speaker 1: Eventually, Tammy's father got clean and went into recovery for

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Speaker 1: about eight years.

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Speaker 2: And it was like the best eight years of my

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Speaker 2: life growing up. I actually had my father, you know

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Speaker 2: what I mean. I actually had my father at home,

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Speaker 2: and it was greaty. We had a lot of fun.

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Speaker 2: We would go four wheeling on the rivers and yeah,

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Speaker 2: just sports stuff, go to the drag races and he

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Speaker 2: would take us places.

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Speaker 1: But Tammy couldn't always participate in certain activities because of

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Speaker 1: a disability she has.

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Speaker 4: Tammy's legally blind, so that didn't have a lot of

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Speaker 4: limitations on what she could and couldn't be involved with.

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Speaker 1: So Tammy made up for her visual limitations by embracing

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Speaker 1: another strength.

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Speaker 4: She was very, very music inclined. She loved to go

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Speaker 4: to concerts to listen to all different types of music

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Speaker 4: and to share that with her friends.

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Speaker 3: Do you remember any specific ones that.

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Speaker 4: She liked, ac DC, Orio Wagon.

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Speaker 3: What did you think of her liking ac DC?

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Speaker 4: Well, I wasn't too crazy about the music myself. It

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Speaker 4: wasn't my choice of music, but it was certainly our

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Speaker 4: wasn't her friend's choice of music. That was probably her

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Speaker 4: biggest interest was different musical bands, and.

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Speaker 1: Tammy started looking the part of a rocker too.

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Speaker 3: Do you have a mullet?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, nineteen nineties, I'm gonna awas know havy and cool.

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Speaker 2: You know, peace love and rock and roll or peace

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Speaker 2: love and music.

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Speaker 1: But along with this love of music came a bad

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Speaker 1: habit using drugs and alcohol.

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Speaker 4: I guess Tammy was about thirteen or fourteen when we

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Speaker 4: started dealing with the drugs with her. They continue to

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Speaker 4: get worse and we finally put her in a treatment center.

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Speaker 4: When she came out of the treatment center, that oh,

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Speaker 4: she told me she was getting married to.

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Speaker 1: A boy named Ralph, whom she started dating in high school.

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Speaker 1: Ralph was a couple of years older than Tammy. At

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Speaker 1: age sixteen, Tammy dropped out of school to marry him, and.

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Speaker 4: I felt like they were just way too young. I'm

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Speaker 4: going to be starting off on that journey. So I

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Speaker 4: did it when I was young, and I knew it

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Speaker 4: was just not the answer to a good life. You know.

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Speaker 4: I did not want my children to follow in those footsteps,

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Speaker 4: but she seemed pretty determined to do it.

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Speaker 1: For Tammy, things with Ralph were good for a while,

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Speaker 1: but then about two years after they got married, she

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Speaker 1: was sitting on the porch drinking a beer with one

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Speaker 1: of her female friends when she had a wake up call.

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Speaker 2: They just hit me like a ton of brakes, Like

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Speaker 2: what is going on here? Why am I more attracted

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Speaker 2: to my friend than my husband? That sent me into

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Speaker 2: a tail spin.

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Speaker 1: Tammy started realizing she was actually more interested in women

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Speaker 1: than men. But Tammy was living in what she describes

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Speaker 1: as a redneck county in the eighties, being gay was

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Speaker 1: not accepted.

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Speaker 2: I freaked out.

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Speaker 3: What did freaking out look like?

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Speaker 2: Freaking out looks like filing for a divorce, leaving everything

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Speaker 2: I had behind? Hitting New Orleans and I lived homeless

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Speaker 2: for a little while. I left everything behind and I ran.

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Speaker 2: I felt like a freak.

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Speaker 1: Once in New Orleans, Tammy lived on the streets of

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Speaker 1: the city for about six months. And that's kind of

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Speaker 1: when you got into drug use.

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Speaker 2: Yes, ma'am, I unfortunately got a date with the heroin.

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Speaker 1: Tammy had hit bottom trying to run away from who

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Speaker 1: she was, and drugs were a source of consolation.

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Speaker 2: It was when back when the all that black tar

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Speaker 2: heroin hit New Orleans, and I hung out with the

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Speaker 2: homeless people, and they were either alcoholics or addicts, and

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Speaker 2: the black tar heroin was so pure. These people were

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Speaker 2: used to there their heroin being stepped on so many

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Speaker 2: times that the people were falling over dead left and right,

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Speaker 2: and it scared me and I came home.

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Speaker 1: When she got back home, Tammy decided to be completely

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Speaker 1: honest with her mom about her sexuality.

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Speaker 3: How did you feel about that when she first told you.

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Speaker 4: Very conflicted, wasn't sure if it was a phase or

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Speaker 4: if it was a true thing. It was a surprise,

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Speaker 4: especially after the fact that she had been married and

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Speaker 4: she had dated several different guys. So yes, it did

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Speaker 4: come as a surprise to me. I started studying up

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Speaker 4: on it and reading on it, and you know, just

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Speaker 4: trying to figure out different aspects from it. Of course,

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Speaker 4: as a Christian, I'm you know, I'm conflicted very much

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Speaker 4: about it, but she is my daughter and I have

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Speaker 4: accepted that that is her lifestyle.

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Speaker 2: Well, Mom, you know she's home. She's a Christian man.

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Speaker 2: She has that unconditional love and she loves me anyway.

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Speaker 3: So she said to you, she's going to love you

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Speaker 3: no matter what.

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Speaker 2: Basically, yes, ma'am.

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Speaker 1: Opening up to her mom was the first step. Timmy

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Speaker 1: finally fell like she was finding herself.

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Speaker 2: It was like a ten thousand pounds was lifted off

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Speaker 2: for me to know who I was. But I still

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Speaker 2: felt like a freak, like I couldn't tell anyone except

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Speaker 2: my mom.

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Speaker 1: So Tammy continued to live a fairly closeted life in

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Speaker 1: the South. She went to rehab for her heroin addiction,

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Speaker 1: started narcotics anonymous, and got clean, and for years she

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Speaker 1: just worked a job in.

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Speaker 3: Construction and lived a low key life.

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Speaker 1: She went to gay bars to be around others she

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Speaker 1: could relate to, but publicly she kept her sexuality to herself.

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Speaker 3: So you've never seen her with a girlfriend or anything

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Speaker 3: like that.

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Speaker 4: I have seen her with a girlfriend. I haven't seen

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Speaker 4: her display affection with a girlfriend, gotcha, other than just

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Speaker 4: you know, hey, this is my buddy. You know, I

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Speaker 4: know that she's been with them, but just not in

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Speaker 4: front of me.

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Speaker 1: At the age of thirty one, over a decade after

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Speaker 1: she got clean from heroin, Tammy relapsed. In January two thousand,

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Speaker 1: she checked herself into the Katie Hill Drug Recovery Center

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Speaker 1: in Columbus, Mississippi.

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Speaker 2: Basically, I knew I didn't want to go back where

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Speaker 2: I had come from, and I had to say something

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Speaker 2: about it.

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Speaker 3: What do you mean back where you came from heroin?

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Speaker 1: At Katie Hill, Tammy was again in a twelve step

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Speaker 1: recovery program, and while there she met twenty year old

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Speaker 1: Lee Stubbs. Lee had recently broken up with her boyfriend

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Speaker 1: and like Tammy a decade before, had spiraled into drug addiction.

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Speaker 3: So tell me about meeting Lee. What was Lee like?

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Speaker 4: She was cool?

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Speaker 2: She just had that personality, that trade, that distinct distinction

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Speaker 2: about it on the inside. Just with conversations and the

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Speaker 2: way we play and the way we worked well together

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Speaker 2: and things like that, we would get very good friends.

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Speaker 2: And then it turned into more than that.

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Speaker 3: Was that a conversation you guys had that you were

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Speaker 3: both gay?

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Speaker 5: Like?

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Speaker 3: How did that come about? That? You guys?

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Speaker 5: Ah?

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Speaker 2: Gaydar? I'm sorry, but you know you can kind of tell.

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Speaker 1: By March of two thousand, both Tammy and Lee were

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Speaker 1: nearing the end of the program and were allowed certain

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Speaker 1: privileges like weekend passes to leave and see family. The

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Speaker 1: first time they were romantic was on a weekend trip home.

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Speaker 1: It turned out their destinations were just an hour away

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Speaker 1: from each other.

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Speaker 2: Well, I'll see, her mom was in Collins and my

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Speaker 2: mom was in Bayroom. So she went to her mom's.

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Speaker 2: I went to my mom's and the next morning we

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Speaker 2: hooked back up. She came to Bayroom and we went

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Speaker 2: and rode the swinging bridge.

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Speaker 3: What's a swinging bridge? I don't know what that is.

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Speaker 2: It's an old timmy bridge that sways when you like

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Speaker 2: drive across it. We would like get to going really

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Speaker 2: fast and then just slam on the brakes in the

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Speaker 2: middle of it and it would just sway us. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it was really cool. We spent the whole weekend together.

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Speaker 1: Tammy and Lee had a sweet time together visiting Tammy's

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Speaker 1: hometown and then they headed back to Katie Hill. But

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Speaker 1: when they arrived they found the place in an uproar.

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Speaker 2: There is this discriminational thing going on because someone had

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Speaker 2: hung a black doll on a door knob, and it

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Speaker 2: was a really racial thing, and it was a lot

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Speaker 2: of drama, and you know, we had just gotten and

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Speaker 2: it was all that's going on.

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Speaker 1: To avoid the chaos, Tammy and Lee decided to leave

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Speaker 1: again in a hurry, stuffing their clothes and belongings into

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Speaker 1: garbage bags and throwing them in the back of Lee's truck.

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Speaker 1: As they were about to go, they saw their friend

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Speaker 1: Kim Williams, who was also packing to leave kill masked.

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Speaker 2: Could she have a ride? She wanted to ride to

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Speaker 2: her boyfriends, so we said sure we Taiki.

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Speaker 1: The three women drove through Mississippi stopping along the way

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Speaker 1: to buy liquor.

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Speaker 2: Hume and I were drinking. Lee was not. She was driving,

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Speaker 2: and we might it all the way to Canton, Mississippi.

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Speaker 2: We stopped and got another fit of the liquor. Might

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Speaker 2: it to Jackson, Mississippi.

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Speaker 1: Finally they made it to Kim's boyfriend's house, but as

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Speaker 1: they were dropping Kim off, she and her boyfriend got

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Speaker 1: in a fight. Unlike Tammy and Lee, Kim hadn't actually

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Speaker 1: finished rehab and her boyfriend was mad she hadn't stayed

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Speaker 1: in treatment.

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Speaker 2: So anyway, she comes and gets in our truck and

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Speaker 2: ask us to take her to our uncle's house. Okay,

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Speaker 2: so we say sure. So we get down the road

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Speaker 2: and she pulls out all these pills x an X, soma, oxycotton,

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Speaker 2: a lot of narcotics.

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Speaker 1: It turns out Kim had stolen the pills from her boyfriend,

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Speaker 1: who had been prescribed them for his back.

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Speaker 2: I had been drinking. She had been drinking. We both

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Speaker 2: took a handful.

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Speaker 3: You just left rehab. Why were you using.

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Speaker 2: I just I was a follower and not the leader

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Speaker 2: I should have been. I couldn't find what I needed,

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Speaker 2: which was some weed, and so I just started drinking.

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Speaker 2: That's what happened, all right.

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Speaker 3: So you guys took the drugs and then what passed out?

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Speaker 2: We passed out, and Lee didn't know what to do.

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Speaker 2: She was in the middle of nowhere. She pulled into

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Speaker 2: a motel. She actually told the lady at the front desk,

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Speaker 2: you know, if these two in the drug looked dead,

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Speaker 2: they're not drunk. And so we pulled in and basically

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Speaker 2: she grabbed us both under our arms into the damn

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Speaker 2: motel room, into the motel room, I'm sorry, and laid

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Speaker 2: us on the bed. When I woke up, she was

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Speaker 2: awake watching Scooby Dooe. I was very sick, puking, sick

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Speaker 2: and dehydrated to death, the thirstiest I've ever been in

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Speaker 2: my life. And so I asked her, would she please

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Speaker 2: please go give me some drink? And so she ran

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Speaker 2: down to the cold machine, and while she was gone,

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Speaker 2: I was literally drowning in my home puke. She comes

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Speaker 2: back in with the drinks and pulls my head upbout

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Speaker 2: the water.

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Speaker 3: And what was Kim doing at this point?

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Speaker 2: She was still passed out on the other bed, fully dressed,

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Speaker 2: shoes and awe and snoring like she was in like

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Speaker 2: a deep sleep.

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Speaker 1: By then, it was the next day, March sixth, around

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Speaker 1: four pm, and Kim was still asleep. Tammy says Kim

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Speaker 1: was snoring so loudly that when she stopped, it was noticeable,

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Speaker 1: and Tammy could hear that something was wrong, and.

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Speaker 2: I told ly, she's not breathing. She's not breathing. They

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Speaker 2: got on the phone with nine one one and I

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Speaker 2: administered CPR intil the ambulance got there.

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Speaker 1: This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company.

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Speaker 1: AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making

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Speaker 1: a positive difference in the lives of its employees and

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Speaker 1: in the communit unities where they work and live. In

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Speaker 1: light of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance,

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Speaker 1: and in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social

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Speaker 1: justice reform, the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal

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Speaker 1: services and other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. Kim

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Speaker 1: had overdosed. When the paramedics arrived, Tammy and Lee tried

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Speaker 1: to be as helpful as possible.

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Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, we even gave them the

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Speaker 2: drugs she took from her boyfriend and tot them where

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Speaker 2: she took them from We gave them to the people

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Speaker 2: in the ambulance so that they would know what she

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Speaker 2: was on, so they would know what to do.

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Speaker 1: The paramedics gave Kim narkan to try and reverse the

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Speaker 1: drug's effects. She was rushed to the hospital in a

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Speaker 1: coma and respiratory arrest. Once at the hospital, Kim was

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Speaker 1: diagnosed as having suffered an overdose, but a nurse also

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Speaker 1: noted that Kim had injuries that didn't seem to be

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Speaker 1: related to the overdose. Allegedly, her breasts were swollen, her

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Speaker 1: vagina was bruised and swollen, and there were bite marks

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Speaker 1: on her body and marks on her butt that looked

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Speaker 1: like they could have come from a beating with a

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Speaker 1: stick or a belt. A doctor described it as looking

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Speaker 1: like a quote brutal sexual assault. The doctor informed police

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Speaker 1: that Kim had been sexually assaulted. Police immediately questioned Tammy

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Speaker 1: and Lee.

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Speaker 2: They wanted to know what happened, and we told them.

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Speaker 1: But officers didn't believe them that it was solely an overdose.

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Speaker 1: They continued to push the belief that Kim had been assaulted.

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Speaker 2: I remember thinking they were crazy because that was our

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Speaker 2: friend and we tried to save We were trying to

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Speaker 2: save her, and they promised us, actually if we would

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Speaker 2: take a lot to take her test with the highway patrol,

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Speaker 2: that it with the question and one be with. We

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Speaker 2: both prayed, we both passed, and the question that never stopped.

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Speaker 3: Fortunately, Kim survived.

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Speaker 1: She woke up twelve days later with no memory of

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Speaker 1: what had happened whatsoever, which meant that she could not

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Speaker 1: definitively report whether or not she was assaulted. Six months

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Speaker 1: after the incident, on September twentieth, two thousand, Tammy and

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Speaker 1: Lee were arrested and charged with taking and possessing Kim's

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Speaker 1: boyfriend's oxy cotton and the aggravated assault of Kim Williams.

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Speaker 1: The following year, in June of two thousand and one,

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Speaker 1: Tammy and Lee went to trial. The prosecutors were District

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Speaker 1: Attorneys dun Lampton and Jerry Russia. Their case was that

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Speaker 1: Tammy and Lee had conspired with Kim to steal her

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Speaker 1: boyfriend's oxy cotton pills. The state alleged that once Kim

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Speaker 1: passed out, Tammy and Lee violently sexually assaulted her.

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Speaker 6: And that that violent sexual assault involves very severe bitemarks

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Speaker 6: involves biting off part of Kim's labia, and that this

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Speaker 6: behavior is indicative of a homosexual assault of a lesbian assault.

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Speaker 1: This is Billina Beattie, an attorney formerly with the Mississippi

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Speaker 1: Innocence Project, which ultimately took on Tammy and Lee's case.

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Speaker 1: Vellina says the crux of the state's case was that

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Speaker 1: lesbians are sexual deviance.

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Speaker 6: So the fact that Kim was with her too lesbian

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Speaker 6: friends Tammy and Lee right before she overdosed and was

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Speaker 6: brought to the hospital leads the police and the prosecutor

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Speaker 6: in a direct line to the two of them as

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Speaker 6: having assaulted her.

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Speaker 1: Vealina also says the prosecutors knew the jury pool they

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Speaker 1: would have in bok Cavn, Mississippi, and targeted their case accordingly.

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Speaker 6: It would have been a very Christian town, and at

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Speaker 6: the time, if we looked at studies that were done

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Speaker 6: on jurors and homophobia, we did see a connection between

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Speaker 6: people who were particularly religious and heightened homophobia among jurors.

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Speaker 6: So just looking at that information from juries, we could

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Speaker 6: see how a jury in Mississippi at that time, you know,

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Speaker 6: it might be more likely to see Lee and Tammy

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Speaker 6: as not just deviant because of their sexual orientation, but

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Speaker 6: violent because of their sexual orientation.

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Speaker 1: The state star witness was doctor Michael West, who was

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Speaker 1: at the time a renowned forensic odontologist.

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Speaker 6: So bite mark evidence or forensic odontology.

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Speaker 7: Is the belief that by looking at a mark on skin,

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Speaker 7: we're able to tell whether a certain person created that

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Speaker 7: mark with their teeth.

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Speaker 1: Doctor West was an expert in bitemark evidence. He testified

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Speaker 1: for prosecution offices in nine different states. At Tammy's trial,

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Speaker 1: doctor West testified that there appeared to be a bitemark

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Speaker 1: on Kim's hip and said it was likely from Lee.

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Speaker 1: West went on to say, quote, and it's more than

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Speaker 1: just a possibility to me, I would see it as

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Speaker 1: a probability, But is it a probability of actual one

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Speaker 1: hundred percent?

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Speaker 4: No.

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Speaker 1: Prosecutors then asked doctor West his opinion on whether he

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Speaker 1: would expect to find bitemarks in a homosexual rape case.

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Speaker 1: He said that would not be unusual. In fact, it

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Speaker 1: could almost be expected.

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Speaker 6: And that's with this history in the United States of

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Speaker 6: seeing queerness as dangerous, as depraved, as devian, and as violent.

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Speaker 6: So all of that meshes together against this person who

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Speaker 6: is kind and innocent, but is perceived a different way

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Speaker 6: because of her open sexual orientation.

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Speaker 1: In addition to the bitemarks, doctor West extended his so

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Speaker 1: called expertise to other aspects of the case. He also

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Speaker 1: analyzed the surveillance footage from the night the three women

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Speaker 1: stayed at the motel. The footage appears to show someone

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Speaker 1: taking something from the toolbox in Lee's truck and carrying

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Speaker 1: it into the motel room.

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Speaker 6: What West is telling the jury it is is that

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Speaker 6: Lee is picking up Kim's body that they have put

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Speaker 6: into the toolbox, picking up Kim's body and carrying her

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Speaker 6: into the hotel room. When you have an expert like

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Speaker 6: doctor West who's on the stand and is showing that

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Speaker 6: video again and again and again and again and each

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Speaker 6: time telling the jury this is a body, there are

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Speaker 6: the legs, there's the long hair, this is Kim, the

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Speaker 6: jury then starts to believe it.

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Speaker 1: The defense did refute this, however. Tammy's defense attorney was

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Speaker 1: Ken McNeese and Lee's was Bill Barnett. Both were private attorneys.

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Speaker 1: They presented evidence that hair was found in the toolbox

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Speaker 1: and that it was not Kim's. They also called doctor

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Speaker 1: Rodrigo Galvez a forensic pathologist who said that Kim could

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Speaker 1: not have physically fit in the toolbox.

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Speaker 8: I mean, and this idea that they could put her

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Speaker 8: in a toolbox and then that Lee could whisk her

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Speaker 8: out of this toolbox in a matter of seconds, you know,

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Speaker 8: like lift up her friend, who weighs the same weight

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Speaker 8: that she does, and.

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Speaker 6: Jump off the back of the truck with.

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Speaker 8: Her is incredible, fanciful.

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Speaker 1: Doctor Galvez also said there were many other objects that

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Speaker 1: could have possibly made the alleged bite marks. However, upon

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Speaker 1: cross examination, doctor Galvez dealt an unexpected blow to the

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Speaker 1: defense by admitting he would expect to find biting in

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Speaker 1: a situation involving a lesbian rape.

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Speaker 9: And then he gives this really shocking testimony about how

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Speaker 9: lesbians and homosexuals are more likely to commit violent assaults,

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Speaker 9: that the most violent assaults he's ever seen have been

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Speaker 9: homosexual assaults.

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Speaker 10: And it's all of.

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Speaker 6: This magical thinking to create this story and this narrative

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Speaker 6: where Lee and Tammy are violent and violent against Kim,

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Speaker 6: which they're not.

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Speaker 4: I never believed it for a moment. I'm never, for

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Speaker 4: one fraction of a second believed that here are Lee

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Speaker 4: physically hurts.

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Speaker 1: Someone even though you're sitting there at trial and the

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Speaker 1: prosecutor is saying gay people are deviants and this is

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Speaker 1: what they do.

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Speaker 3: You still didn't believe it.

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Speaker 4: No, ma'am, and they were willed.

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Speaker 1: On June thirtieth, two thousand and one, the jury convicted

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Speaker 1: both Tammy and Lee of all charges. They were ordered

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Speaker 1: to pay one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars in fines

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Speaker 1: and costs, as well as half of Kim's medical bills,

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Speaker 1: and they were each sentenced to forty four years in prison.

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Speaker 1: After their conviction, Tammy and Lee were both sent to

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Speaker 1: the same prison, the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl, Mississippi.

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Speaker 3: Did you continue a relationship when you were in prison?

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Speaker 2: Things had really changed with all of this. We remained

444
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:16,159
Speaker 2: friends and we have a bond that cannot be broken.

445
00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:20,080
Speaker 3: But romantically it wasn't. It wasn't there anymore.

446
00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:24,320
Speaker 2: No, ma'am. It kind of ended right there, but our

447
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,159
Speaker 2: friendship became stronger. Me and Lee we made on that

448
00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:31,240
Speaker 2: yard alone and we would.

449
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 3: Discuss our case, like how you were going to prove

450
00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:34,200
Speaker 3: your innocence?

451
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:39,680
Speaker 2: Yes, ma'am, what was the plan? We were researching cases

452
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:48,400
Speaker 2: law library, we were reaching out with family attorneys, innocent projects,

453
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:53,719
Speaker 2: writing letters, helping inmates, doing all we could survive.

454
00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:00,640
Speaker 1: While Tammy and Lee were busy fighting for their innocence

455
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:04,000
Speaker 1: from prison, their families were also helping on the outside.

456
00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:08,160
Speaker 1: Lee's father filed a Freedom of Information Act petition requesting

457
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:12,280
Speaker 1: documents relating to any analysis performed on the surveillance video

458
00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:15,960
Speaker 1: from the motel, and what he got back was shocking.

459
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:22,720
Speaker 8: They found out that someone at the FBI had been.

460
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:28,120
Speaker 6: Asked pre trial to examine the surveillance video and had

461
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:32,120
Speaker 6: done a complete report on it, saying, Okay, there's only

462
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 6: one person in the video, there's not two, and that

463
00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:41,520
Speaker 6: one person is taking a unidentified dark object out of

464
00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 6: the toolbox that they don't think it's a body.

465
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:49,880
Speaker 1: These FBI analysis results were never disclosed to the defense

466
00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:51,440
Speaker 1: or the jury.

467
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:56,240
Speaker 6: What we are actually seeing is a blurry image because

468
00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:00,320
Speaker 6: it's a surveillance video of Lee getting up into the

469
00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:03,440
Speaker 6: flatbed of the truck, opening up the toolbox that is

470
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:06,480
Speaker 6: in the back of the flatbed, and taking out these

471
00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 6: garbage bags that are filled with her clothes from the

472
00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,960
Speaker 6: rehab facility. And then she's jumping down and taking the

473
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:13,880
Speaker 6: bags with her. That's what we're seeing.

474
00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:19,640
Speaker 1: Armed with this new evidence, the Mississippi Innocence Project took

475
00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:20,280
Speaker 1: on the case.

476
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 2: When an innocent project fill into place is when Hope

477
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:32,560
Speaker 2: said it, because finally, somebody else at this world, this

478
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:34,280
Speaker 2: whole wide world, believe in us.

479
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:50,440
Speaker 1: Finally, in twenty eleven, Velina and the Mississippi Innocence Project

480
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:54,440
Speaker 1: filed a petition claiming that doctor West presented false evidence

481
00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:58,040
Speaker 1: and that the prosecution had failed to disclose the results

482
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:03,440
Speaker 1: of the FBI analysis of the surveillance video. By this time,

483
00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:08,280
Speaker 1: doctor West had also been completely discredited. As early as

484
00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:12,680
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four, his credibility was being questioned. News outlets

485
00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:15,880
Speaker 1: like sixty Minutes profiled him and the dubious science of

486
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 1: bitemark evidence. West was eventually suspended by the American Board

487
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:26,520
Speaker 1: of Forensic Odontology. Bitemark evidence is now considered junk science.

488
00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:30,120
Speaker 1: In fact, doctor West has now testified in at least

489
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:34,320
Speaker 1: five cases where the person was wrongfully convicted based on

490
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:39,040
Speaker 1: bitemark evidence and later exonerated. In a twenty eleven deposition,

491
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:43,200
Speaker 1: doctor West even testified that he no longer believed his

492
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:47,760
Speaker 1: own testimony about the bitemarks on Kim's body. He admitted

493
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:50,120
Speaker 1: that if he was asked to testify and Tammy and

494
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:54,040
Speaker 1: Lee's case again, he would say, quote, I don't believe

495
00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:58,840
Speaker 1: it's a system that's reliable enough to be used in court.

496
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,400
Speaker 3: And so what did it all wind up being? Was

497
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:04,480
Speaker 3: it actually a bitemark?

498
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:05,640
Speaker 11: No?

499
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:09,800
Speaker 10: Oh gosh no, no, and half of her labia was

500
00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:14,000
Speaker 10: not missing either, So no, none of that ended up

501
00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:16,320
Speaker 10: being true or accurate at all.

502
00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:20,640
Speaker 1: Velina says that the supposed bitemark evidence on Kim's hip

503
00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:24,480
Speaker 1: was actually just a bruise, and while there was potentially

504
00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:27,920
Speaker 1: evidence of a sexual encounter, there was no evidence of

505
00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:34,920
Speaker 1: it being a non consensual assault. On June twenty seventh,

506
00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:39,400
Speaker 1: twenty twelve, over a decade after they were convicted, Lincoln

507
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:43,360
Speaker 1: County Circuit Court Judge Michael Taylor agreed that Tammy and

508
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:46,480
Speaker 1: Lee did not get a fair trial and granted them

509
00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:50,120
Speaker 1: a new one. They were released on bond that same day.

510
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:57,040
Speaker 1: What was it like when you found out that your

511
00:32:57,200 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 1: case was going to be overturned and you were going

512
00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:00,800
Speaker 1: to get a new trial.

513
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:04,480
Speaker 4: I'll actually sat down and cried.

514
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:07,160
Speaker 2: Happy tears.

515
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:08,360
Speaker 4: Yeah.

516
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 3: Did you ever think that would happen?

517
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:13,479
Speaker 2: No, ma'am, I really thought I was going to die

518
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:14,320
Speaker 2: alone in prison.

519
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,360
Speaker 1: Sandy remembers the day she picked up Tammy from prison.

520
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:27,760
Speaker 5: That day, it was just a joyful day to get

521
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:31,400
Speaker 5: her out. The newspeople were there, and Chris Felina and

522
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:33,200
Speaker 5: them were there, and it was it was just so

523
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:35,640
Speaker 5: awesome to get to hold her and take her to

524
00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:39,280
Speaker 5: eat her favorite foods, things like macaroni and cheese and

525
00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:41,360
Speaker 5: roast and creep potatoes.

526
00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:44,120
Speaker 12: It was hard to eat those things when she was

527
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:47,400
Speaker 12: in there and knowing she couldn't. And we had bought

528
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:50,800
Speaker 12: her Christmas presents every year, so her bed was piled

529
00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:55,000
Speaker 12: high with her Christmas presents from the years she'd been gone,

530
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:58,760
Speaker 12: So it was wonderful to bring her home.

531
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:06,280
Speaker 1: Tammy wounds up pleading no contest to a charge of

532
00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,439
Speaker 1: possession of oxy cotton. The rest of the charges were

533
00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:16,320
Speaker 1: eventually thrown out. Today, Tammy and Lee are still friends.

534
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:19,279
Speaker 1: Lee is a nurse and Tammy is busy trying to

535
00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:21,640
Speaker 1: make up for the years she lost in prison.

536
00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:23,840
Speaker 2: I'm very simple.

537
00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:30,279
Speaker 13: I enjoy the cool stuff in life, because you know,

538
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,440
Speaker 13: I had enough time to choose that. What I had

539
00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:37,719
Speaker 13: to go do was that innocent time. So I like

540
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:43,080
Speaker 13: to fly kites, I like to fade ducks. I like

541
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:47,000
Speaker 13: to type long rides in the country. I'm just here

542
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:47,560
Speaker 13: being cool.

543
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:56,719
Speaker 1: If you'd like to help support the Mississippi Innocence Project

544
00:34:57,080 --> 00:35:00,640
Speaker 1: now known as the George C. Cochrane Innocence Project, go

545
00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:04,719
Speaker 1: to Innocenceproject dot O, L E, M I, S. S.

546
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:08,440
Speaker 1: Dot edu. Velina also wrote a book about Tammy and

547
00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:12,440
Speaker 1: Lee and the wrongful convictions of women called Manifesting Justice.

548
00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:15,879
Speaker 1: The links to all of this will be in our bio.

549
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:26,759
Speaker 3: Next time.

550
00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:31,520
Speaker 1: On Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling, James Richardson, do.

551
00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:34,080
Speaker 5: You think race had anything to do with us as

552
00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:35,920
Speaker 5: far as me getting convicted?

553
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:40,360
Speaker 11: I do do an a lack of gag person Q

554
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:44,279
Speaker 11: two white individuals that they feel like, Okay, yeah, we

555
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:48,000
Speaker 11: got to show him, but I didn't do it.

556
00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:54,880
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. Please

557
00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:58,200
Speaker 1: support your local innocence organizations and go to the links.

558
00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:00,279
Speaker 3: In our bio to see how you can help. I'd

559
00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:00,520
Speaker 3: like to.

560
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:04,080
Speaker 1: Thank our executive producers Jason Flamm and Kevin Wurtis, as

561
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:07,800
Speaker 1: well as our senior producer Annie Chelsea, producer Lyla Robinson,

562
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,160
Speaker 1: and story editor Sonia Paul. The show is edited and

563
00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:14,880
Speaker 1: mixed by Annie Chelsea, with additional production by Jeff Cleiburn

564
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:18,040
Speaker 1: and Connor Hall. The music in this production is by

565
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:21,680
Speaker 1: three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to

566
00:36:21,719 --> 00:36:25,120
Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at

567
00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:29,200
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at wrong Conviction, as

568
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:30,680
Speaker 1: well as at Lava for Good.

569
00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:32,759
Speaker 3: On all three platforms, you can.

570
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:36,200
Speaker 1: Also follow me on both Instagram and Twitter at Maggie Freeling.

571
00:36:36,719 --> 00:36:39,720
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling is a production of Lava

572
00:36:39,719 --> 00:37:03,880
Speaker 1: for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number one