WEBVTT - #283 Maggie Freleng with Marni Yang 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:02.800 So, Maggie, what about you? 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.320 Is there anything that could make you confess to a 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:06.280 time you didn't commit. 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:14.400 I don't have kids, but I imagine, you know, maybe 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:19.920 a situation where I would be looking to save somebody 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:22.439 that I knew was for sure innocent, like a child 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:26.240 or maybe even my mom, or you know, maybe there 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:30.319 wouldn't be a situation where I would falsely confess to 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:32.280 something to save somebody. 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:41.159 I had reached a point where I felt so beaten 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:48.519 down after seeing my son and daughter go through a 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:52.519 mental breakdown. I had just decided I'm just going to 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:53.720 tell them whatever they want to. 0:00:53.640 --> 0:01:00.440 Hear from LoVa for good. This is wrongful. Can with 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:15.399 Maggie Freeling today Marnie Yang. On October fourth, two thousand 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:18.560 and seven, forty two year old Ronnie Ryder was going 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.720 about her morning at her apartment in Deerfield, Illinois. Suddenly, 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:26.759 neighbors heard a short scream, loud bangs, and a crash, 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:34.280 followed by silence. When police arrived, they found Ronnie lying 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.440 face down on her kitchen floor in a pool of blood. 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:39.880 A single bullet wound to the back of her head 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.840 was the cause of death. She had also been shot 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:46.600 two times in the stomach. Ronnie was seven months pregnant. 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:53.560 The bullets killed her unborn child. At the crime scene, 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:56.760 police found no indication of a struggle, nor were any 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.640 items missing from the house. But what they did find 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:03.440 was a threatening note inside Ronnie's purse discussing her boyfriend 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:08.639 and baby's father, Sean Gail. Gail was a major NFL 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.400 star for the Chicago Bears, and he and Ronnie have 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:16.000 been dating for seventeen years. The note mentioned Gail's alleged 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:22.000 affairs with sixteen other women, including Marnie Yang. Because she 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:24.880 was on that list, police interviewed Marnie about the murder. 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.280 They immediately honed in on her as a suspect. They 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.880 eventually arrested her, believing she was a jealous girlfriend willing 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:37.079 to commit murder to be with Gail, but none of 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:40.080 the forensic evidence led back to Marnie. In fact, the 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.840 neighbor said they saw a man running from the scene 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:43.519 of the crime. 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.640 At the time, I believed in the justice system. I 0:02:55.720 --> 0:03:00.520 believed that the law would do the right thing. I 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:04.320 no longer believe that this was a huge wake up call. 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:09.360 My name is Marty Yang. I've been wrongfully convicted for 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:17.960 thirteen years. 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.959 Marnie Yang was born December twenty ninth, nineteen sixty seven 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:29.680 to Larry and Francine Marar and grew up in Skokee, Illinois. 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:32.040 She's the oldest of three children. 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:37.360 We grew up in basically a standard two parent household 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:42.280 for the day. You know. My mother stayed home and 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:45.760 raised us until we were a little bit older, and 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.120 then she went to work for my father's company, and 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.920 we had pretty much a standard childhood, I guess. 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.920 Marnie graduated from Niles North High School in nineteen eighty 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:00.200 six and went on to college at Illinois State University. 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:02.600 That's where she met her husband, Yen Yang. 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:05.840 I wouldn't exactly call it a blind date, because we 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:10.920 knew each other in passing, but we were introduced formally 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:15.480 by a mutual friend and we began dating. In college. 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:21.120 Marnie got pregnant and gave birth to twins, Emily and 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:24.719 Andrew in nineteen ninety one. Their younger brother, Brandon, was 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.960 born four years later. A couple of years after that, 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:29.919 Marnie and her husband divorced. 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:35.120 I was a single parent by the time Brandon, my youngest, 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:41.039 was an infant, and it was difficult financially. I always 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:45.039 had to work like three jobs, but it was very, 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:48.080 very rewarding. My children are amazing. 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:52.000 My mom. She was a good person. 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:54.080 This is Emily Marnie's daughter. 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.880 Whatever dream we had, she would help us pursue it. 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:05.839 She was very supportive. She would take care of our 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:10.880 friends in the neighborhood kids whenever they got hurt. 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.560 Emily especially remembers her mom loving animals. 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:23.360 I remember her always bringing in stray dogs, cats, even squirrels. 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:30.320 We had central air in the back, and I remember 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:35.440 there was a baby squirrel stuck under it, and I 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:39.560 put a laundry basket over it and put some water 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:42.920 and some snacks, and I left it there. And when 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:47.160 I came back, it wasn't there anymore, and I was confused, 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:51.279 and I found out that my mom had brought it inside. 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:53.640 Oh and did you guys keep it? 0:05:54.360 --> 0:06:02.440 We did. We'd bring it to the vet and everything. 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.320 Marnie worked in real estate, but she wasn't making enough 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:09.960 to support three kids on her own, so she picked 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.599 up jobs here and there. She worked as a waitress, 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.560 and she was an aspiring fitness model too, so she 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:20.120 occasionally did photoshoots on the side. In two thousand and five, 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.279 Marnie was working a security job at a Chicago Bears 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:27.400 convention when a man introduced himself as Sean Gale. She 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:30.160 later learned he was a defensive back in the NFL 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:34.320 and a Super Bowl champion. He was a major celebrity 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:35.560 in the football world. 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:40.960 I mean, at the time, it didn't mean anything to me. 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:43.280 I'm not a sports fan. I don't care. I mean, 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:47.640 I was there working a job, but I kept seeing 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:51.560 him throughout the weekend, and he kept talking to me 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:56.080 and passing. So we started a conversation. Because I was 0:06:56.120 --> 0:07:00.440 also working in real estate at the time. It turned 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.080 out that he said he was looking for some property, 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.640 and I gave him my business card. He called me 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:12.440 just a couple hours after the convention was over, and 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:18.560 that's how we met. You know, we had started out 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:24.239 talking about real estate. It really was not very long 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:31.440 before he made the move towards a personal relationship. 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:40.000 Marnie and Sean started spending time together, but she didn't 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:43.840 consider their relationship all that serious, and her life was 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:44.960 full enough already. 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:49.120 I had three jobs, I had three kids. You know, 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:53.480 it wasn't really something that I concerned myself with all 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.880 that much. You know, I was doing me and living 0:07:56.880 --> 0:07:59.160 my life. He was doing him and living his life. 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.120 She says it was a casual relationship that was never exclusive. 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.720 She always expected he would be seeing other women too. 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.160 One of those women was Ronnie Rider, who had been 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:15.240 dating Gaile for seventeen years. They met in Platteville, Wisconsin, 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.080 while Gaile was practicing with the Bears. Eventually, Ronnie left 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:20.920 the small town she was living in to move to 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:30.120 Chicago to be closer to Gayle. On October fourth, two 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:33.120 thousand and seven, Ronnie, who was now seven months pregnant, 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:35.400 was getting ready to leave her apartment for the day. 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:39.400 At seven fifty am, her downstairs neighbor heard footsteps in 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:43.720 Ronnie's kitchen. At seven fifty two, another neighbor leaving for work, 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:47.120 saw a black male walk up the stairs to Ronnie's building. 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:50.400 About a minute later, the neighbors heard a short scream 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.560 and loud banging sounds what they described as a pop, pop, 0:08:54.640 --> 0:09:01.240 and a crash, and then silence. One of the neighbors 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:03.520 saw a black man run through the parking lot, get 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:07.160 into a black car, and drive away. Another called Ronnie's phone, 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.559 but no one answered, so they called nine one one. 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:15.400 When police arrived, they found Ronnie Writer laying face down 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:18.839 on her kitchen floor in a pool of blood. There 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:21.960 were multiple blunt force injuries to her head, and she 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:25.679 had been shot seven times. A single shot to the 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.400 back of her head was the immediate cause of death. 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:32.440 Ronnie had also been shot twice in the stomach, killing 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:38.320 her unborn baby. Police found no indication of a struggle, 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.320 and nothing was missing from the house. What they did 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:45.040 find were fingerprints on the doorknobs, which later returned without 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:50.080 a match. Most importantly, though, police found a letter inside 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:52.720 Ronnie's purse. It said that Ronnie should know that her 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:55.640 boyfriend was cheating on her. The author of the letter 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:58.880 wrote that Gail was spreading diseases and seeing other women 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.640 all around the world. At the end of the letter, 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:06.400 the author listed the names of sixteen other women, including Marnie, 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:08.600 who Gail was apparently sleeping with. 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:12.120 I never expected it to be exclusive relationships. I just 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:17.040 I never found out until much much later that there 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:18.840 were quite as many women as there were. 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:25.280 Marnie herself found out about all these other women well 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:28.599 before the crime, when she also began receiving these letters. 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:33.680 In April two thousand and six, Marnie received numerous harassing 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:37.120 phone calls, and then in May of that year, the 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:37.880 letters came. 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:42.480 I mean, I was getting letters in the mail based 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:46.160 on you know, it was basically lists of names and 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:50.000 phone numbers and information on who these women were. If 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:51.880 I wanted to know who these women are, you know, 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:55.880 what am I dealing with here? I have children, and 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:59.960 is there anybody or anything within the letters that I 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:01.720 I was getting that would indicate that there was something 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:03.080 that I need to be worried about? 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:07.840 So she started researching who these women were through online 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.360 background checks. She says she wanted to make sure that 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:13.320 her family was safe, but this would later come back 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:19.280 to bite her. Eventually, the harassment extended beyond letters and 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:21.880 phone calls. One day in two thousand and six, when 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:25.600 Marnie was leaving Gail's house, she found dog feces smeared 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:28.480 all over the door handle of her car, and her 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:30.359 wiper blades were damaged. 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:36.560 You know. At one point, I actually received a note 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.840 that was left on my garage door saying you are 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.800 next or I'm coming for you next, or something like that. 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:50.960 One time, Marnie remembers she was out with Gail and 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.200 he mentioned a woman he had gotten pregnant. 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.480 He told her that he would take care of his 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:01.160 financial responsibilities in this matter, but that he was not 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:05.520 going to allow it to affect his life under any circumstances. 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.400 And that's a direct quote that much I do remember. 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.080 I think his exact words were that it was way 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.760 too late for him to do anything about it. So 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:18.760 he made it sound like whoever this woman was had 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:20.760 already had a child and come back to him later 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:32.280 with her basically with their handout looking for money. 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:36.400 After Ronnie's murder, Gail was immediately questioned by police. At 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.720 the time of the crime around eight am. Gail's whereabouts 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:43.560 are unknown. He didn't have an alibi until around ten am, 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.720 when he arrived at LeRoy's barber shop for a haircut. 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:51.160 According to police interviews, Leroy, Gail's barber said that this 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:54.280 was unusual. He never got his haircut in the morning. 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.880 For seventeen years, he had been going to LeRoy's for 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:03.920 haircuts always in the afternoon. Around one pm, after talking 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:07.800 with Gail, police stopped pursuing an investigation on him. Instead, 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:12.800 they turned their attention to interviewing his numerous alleged girlfriends, 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:16.360 including Marnie. 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.200 I thought to myself, well, I'm sure everybody's a suspect. 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.280 I'm sure they're going to be questioning everybody. This is 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:28.079 a horrible, horrible crime, and I basically just felt like, well, 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.840 since we have nothing to hide, then you know, let 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:36.839 him ask questions. I had no clue at the time 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:47.800 it was going to snowball into anything like this. 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:52.319 This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company. 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:56.680 AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.680 a positive difference in the lives of its employees and 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:02.960 the communities where we work and live. In light of 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:06.720 the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and in 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:11.240 recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform, 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:15.680 the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal services and 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:24.840 other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. Police also interviewed 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:28.040 Barnie's children, and they zeroed in on Marnie's sixteen year 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.360 old son, Andrew, five days after Ronnie and her unborn 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:35.080 baby were killed. Andrew became a suspect when police reviewed 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:38.560 his school attendance records and discovered that he hadn't been 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:41.600 in school the day of the murder. Now the heat 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.760 was on Marnie and her family. They were blindsided. 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:51.760 I didn't see at the time that this was going 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:56.120 to become some sort of twisted torture campaign. 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:00.280 Marnie and her kids were extensively interviewed for day and 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:01.280 hours on end. 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.520 The police had taken my brothers and I from our 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:07.360 house and brought us in. 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:13.560 Officers George Falenko, Scott Frost, and Charles Schleitz started asking 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.440 Mornie's kids about their relationship with their mom. 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.680 I told them that my mom and I didn't have 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:25.160 the best relationship. I as a young girl, I blamed 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:31.120 her for my mom and dad divorcing. And from there, 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:39.800 I think, in hindsight, they manipulated me. They told me 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:45.040 that my brother and my mom both committed the murder together. 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:52.280 They specifically told me that they knew that my mom 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:57.280 had weapons, and that my mom and my brother cemented 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:00.760 the murder weapon and a bucket and through it at 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:02.120 the bottom of Lake Michigan. 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:08.040 And so you are sixteen and you believe what the 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:08.680 police say. 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:16.400 Of course, they really got into my head and they 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:17.440 made me believe it. 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:24.560 Emily says the officers were relentless during interrogation. 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:30.480 They questioned me for twelve hours straight and I kept 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:34.400 saying that I don't know anything. And you know, after 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:38.760 twelve hours of saying I don't know, it really broke me. 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:44.280 I started banging my head on the table. They would 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:48.920 not take I don't know for an answer, you know. 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:52.320 And once I started banging my head, I get to 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:57.760 the table. Is when they left the room. 0:16:57.920 --> 0:16:59.960 Emily thinks this is when they started trying to figure 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:01.600 out how to get her to talk. 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.679 I hadn't seen my dad in eight years. When he left. 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:09.160 He he said he was moving out of the state 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:12.000 to go live with his brothers in Massachusetts. And he 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.600 said I'll call you when I get there. And I 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:16.200 never heard from him again after that. 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:19.760 The officers told Emily they would find her father for 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:24.280 her if she wrote a statement. And seeing your dad 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:25.639 was something you wanted. 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:29.080 Yeah, it was. It was a dream for me, you know. 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:34.000 So when they said, well, we can find them for you, 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:40.159 I I jumped out. I'm jumped at it, you know. 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.879 So Emily wrote a statement. Afterwards, she said officers Frost 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.600 and Schletts ripped it up and said it wasn't good enough. 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:53.160 She wrote another statement, but it still didn't meet their approval. Finally, 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:58.880 Emily says she wrote what they wanted her to say. Andrew, 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.680 Emily's twin brother, also in a similar position, but he 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:06.200 actually ended up being accused of the murder. He said 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:09.800 Officer Flenko threatened him by saying, quote, one of you 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:12.000 are going to prison for the rest of your life. 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:13.800 Will it be you or your mother. 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:19.119 It was so bad that it got to the point 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:27.440 where it drove Andrew to a mental breakdown. We had 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:33.360 to put him in a psychiatric hospital for two weeks, 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.639 and as a result of that, his twin sister also 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:40.280 ended up having a breakdown and she was in the 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:44.000 hospital for a week. That's what these people did to 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:44.480 my family. 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:52.040 Emily missed her prom because she was in a psychiatric hospital. Eventually, 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:53.920 Marnie said enough. 0:18:55.240 --> 0:19:02.080 I had reached a point where I felt so beaten down. 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:06.560 There was nobody that could help me at that point. 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:12.240 My parents couldn't help They couldn't protect us. My attorney 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.399 couldn't seem to protect us. I couldn't go to the 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:21.920 police again. They were the ones that were terrorizing us. 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:29.600 After seeing my son and daughter go through a mental breakdown, 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:33.080 I had just decided I'm just going to tell them 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:33.960 whatever they want to hear. 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:49.959 Marnie found her opportunity one day when a business associate, 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:53.960 Christie Passion, reached out inviting her to meet at Denny's. 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:56.879 Marnie knew the police had talked to Christy and figured 0:19:56.920 --> 0:20:01.639 she could find out some information from her. At the restaurant, 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.840 Marnie noticed that Christy was wearing a wire. It was 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:08.040 sticking out of her coat. So Marnie decided this was 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:11.359 her chance to save her son by falsely confessing to 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:11.919 the murder. 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:14.840 I remember. 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:23.120 Giving my perception of how the crime played out based 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:27.439 on the multiple interrogations that the police had done with 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:30.400 me and the information that I had picked up from 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:36.520 there from media accounts, you know, things like that, and 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:39.760 come to find out later a lot of what I 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:42.240 said was not even completely accurate. 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:46.320 Marnie left out Andrew and her made up version of 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:49.320 events since she wanted to protect him and she alone. 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:52.320 Was arrested in early two thousand and nine. She was 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:55.520 charged with the first degree murder of Ronnie Ryder and 0:20:55.760 --> 0:21:08.320 intentional homicide of an unborn child. The trial started in 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:12.160 early March and lasted two weeks. The prosecutor was Assistant 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:16.639 state's attorney Patricia Fix. As there was no forensic evidence 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:21.280 implicating Marnie, the prosecution presented largely circumstantial evidence at trial. 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.200 Among them was a video from a shell gas station 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:27.560 showing a black Volkswagen fleeing from the scene of the crime, 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:30.879 which they said was the exact car Marnie had rented 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:34.679 that week for a modeling job. They also tried to 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:37.040 prove to the jury that a silencer was used on 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:39.560 the gun that killed Ronnie, and that Marnie must have 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:44.560 built a homemade silencer from items she purchased at home depot. 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:51.480 Then there were the background checks Marnie had done on 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:54.520 the women named in the letters, and of course Marnie's 0:21:54.520 --> 0:21:58.479 alleged confession. The prosecution also attempted to show that Marnie 0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:01.760 had sent the threatening letters herself self. They cited several 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:05.639 unsent letters nearly identical to the one found in Ronnie's purse, 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:09.080 and address labels they claim or found in Marnie's home office. 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:15.720 Gil's own testimony also became evidence use against Marnie, as 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:17.800 did the testimony for Marnie's daughter Emily. 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:23.639 The prosecutor, Pat Fix, came in right before I testified, 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:30.440 and she said, you have to to testify on everything 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:34.320 you made in your statement, otherwise you're going to get 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:34.840 in trouble. 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:38.800 So Emily took the stand against her mom. 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:44.520 The state's attorney basically forced her to testify, forced her 0:22:44.560 --> 0:22:47.600 to give fast testimony on top of it. 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:55.400 Marnie's defense attorneys were Jeffrey Lerner and William Hedrick. Their 0:22:55.440 --> 0:22:58.680 main defense was to cast doubt on Christie's credibility as 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:01.400 well as point out that the investtigation was not thorough. 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:04.240 They argued that it focused too quickly on Marnie and 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:08.919 her family instead of following other possible suspects. This was 0:23:08.960 --> 0:23:15.440 the extent of their defense for Marnie. 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:16.879 And I really believed that once we got to court, 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:22.520 I really believed that the evidence, or lack thereof, would 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:27.480 speak for itself and that the justice system would do 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:30.480 the right thing. I had no clue that they were 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:36.880 going to take all of these everyday things that were 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:39.840 never really evidence in the first place and twist them 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:44.400 into something nefarious. 0:23:45.280 --> 0:23:49.240 With a weak defense against the state's arguments. On March fifteenth, 0:23:49.320 --> 0:23:52.840 twenty eleven, Marnie Yang was found guilty of the murders 0:23:52.880 --> 0:23:57.639 of Ronnie Ryder and her unborn child. She was sentenced 0:23:57.720 --> 0:24:01.200 to two concurrent terms of imprisonment and for the drivation 0:24:01.320 --> 0:24:05.480 of her natural life without the possibility of parole. She 0:24:05.640 --> 0:24:15.960 was thirty nine years old. During her thirteen years of incarceration, 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:18.960 Marnie has refused to let the system drag her down. 0:24:19.720 --> 0:24:25.520 I made a decision when I first got incarcerated, and 0:24:25.560 --> 0:24:30.760 I reminded myself that I have no choice about being here. 0:24:31.320 --> 0:24:33.600 I don't have the option to just get up and leave. 0:24:34.119 --> 0:24:37.560 But what I do have is the option of allowing 0:24:37.600 --> 0:24:43.640 it to consume me and eat me up inside and 0:24:44.280 --> 0:24:48.639 become bitter and angry, or I can use this time 0:24:48.840 --> 0:24:53.199 as positively and productively as possible. And I feel like 0:24:53.280 --> 0:24:57.520 that's what I've done. I'm a math teacher. I teach math, 0:24:58.720 --> 0:25:00.359 you know, and I try to have as pos of 0:25:00.400 --> 0:25:05.639 an impact on my immediate community as I can. But 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:07.840 it's still a very difficult environment. 0:25:09.680 --> 0:25:12.159 Marnie has filed several appeals during her time in prison, 0:25:12.320 --> 0:25:16.040 but all have been denied. But in early twenty fourteen, 0:25:16.320 --> 0:25:19.760 Jed Stone of Stone and Associates came on the case. 0:25:20.280 --> 0:25:25.040 Jed immediately noticed glaring hallmarks of a wrongful conviction. Starting 0:25:25.080 --> 0:25:27.920 with the police force in Lake County, Illinois. 0:25:28.560 --> 0:25:31.440 What do we know about the Lake County Major Crimes 0:25:31.520 --> 0:25:36.680 Task Force? They have been responsible for a myriad of 0:25:36.720 --> 0:25:42.840 wrongful convictions, documented wrongful convictions. Lake County was the epicenter 0:25:43.359 --> 0:25:47.280 of wrongful convictions in the United States. 0:25:47.280 --> 0:25:49.760 And Jed can name plenty of examples of that. 0:25:50.480 --> 0:25:56.679 Alejandro Dominguez is a freeman today, exonerated and wrongfully convicted. 0:25:57.119 --> 0:26:03.160 Juan Rivera is a freeman today, exonerated and conviction reversed. 0:26:04.040 --> 0:26:10.480 Benny Starks exonerated and free after a wrongful conviction, Jason 0:26:10.600 --> 0:26:13.040 Strong the same, all. 0:26:12.880 --> 0:26:16.119 Out of Lake County where Marnie was convicted. Jed believes 0:26:16.119 --> 0:26:20.240 that Marnie's conviction fits into this pattern, particularly her confession. 0:26:21.080 --> 0:26:28.600 There are hallmarks of false confessions. A number of wrongful 0:26:28.640 --> 0:26:33.440 convictions come about because of a confession or statement by 0:26:33.480 --> 0:26:38.679 the accused that at first blush implicates them in the crime, 0:26:39.520 --> 0:26:45.080 but on careful analysis is shown to be a false confession, 0:26:46.640 --> 0:26:50.440 and no one did that at Marnie's trial. Her description 0:26:50.680 --> 0:26:54.600 of the physical promises was wrong, her description of the 0:26:54.800 --> 0:26:58.560 order of bullets fired was wrong, and the way the 0:26:58.600 --> 0:27:01.760 body was found as well as the way the body 0:27:01.880 --> 0:27:08.680 must have fallen was wrong. Those immutable mistakes of fact 0:27:09.280 --> 0:27:11.520 are evidence of a false confession. 0:27:12.320 --> 0:27:15.720 So Jed's team hired a false confessions expert to evaluate 0:27:15.760 --> 0:27:19.480 Marny's confession. David Thompson of Wicklander and Associates. 0:27:20.040 --> 0:27:22.720 Yes, in fact, there are so many of them that 0:27:22.720 --> 0:27:27.400 they are now international experts in this area, and he concludes, 0:27:27.760 --> 0:27:31.640 and concludes correctly, that this has all of the hallmarks 0:27:31.920 --> 0:27:33.199 of a false confession. 0:27:34.440 --> 0:27:37.320 Another thing Jed points out were false claims made by 0:27:37.320 --> 0:27:41.800 prosecutor Patricia Fix as well as by police officers including 0:27:41.840 --> 0:27:44.960 George Falenko, Scott Frost, and Charles Schlitz. 0:27:46.160 --> 0:27:50.680 The state claims that when the police executed a search warrant, 0:27:51.200 --> 0:27:59.040 they found address labels in Marnie's apartment. I've seen how 0:27:59.080 --> 0:28:03.760 the police are trained to execute a search warrant and 0:28:03.880 --> 0:28:10.200 how they in fact execute search warrants. They document everything. 0:28:11.160 --> 0:28:16.080 There was no photograph of address labels. That struck me 0:28:16.720 --> 0:28:17.800 as so curious. 0:28:18.800 --> 0:28:22.080 Jed believes the address labels never existed, and the quote 0:28:22.200 --> 0:28:25.800 unsent letters prosecutors said were found in Marnie's home were 0:28:26.040 --> 0:28:29.240 very simply the letters that Marnie had also been receiving. 0:28:29.760 --> 0:28:35.080