WEBVTT - #574 Jason Flom with Alexis Ke'Erica Martin 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:07.080 Hey, everybody, it's Connor Hall, one of the producers here 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.719 at Wrongful Conviction, and I will be curating a list 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:14.680 of episodes for the next few weeks, offering case updates, 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:18.919 behind the scenes in FOE and maybe some insights. Now. 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.480 When given this opportunity, a number of people immediately came 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:27.240 to mind, including Alexis Kierka Martin. If you don't remember, 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:31.920 she was fifteen years old when the robbery of her 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:37.200 sex trafficker turned into his murder. Now, I'm sure many 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.519 folks would be sympathetic to somebody in that situation if 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:42.920 they were to be involved in a plot to bring 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:47.080 about the demise of their sex trafficker, a child sex trafficker, 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:51.160 But Kyerka maintains that she was not involved in any 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:54.640 such plot, and without any direct evidence of her involvement, 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:57.440 the d A in Akron, Ohio at the time still 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:01.640 thought that Kierica needed to pay, which is strange given 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:06.440 just the circumstances. Yet, in addition, Ohio had just enacted 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:10.679 a safe harbor law, which he the judge and trial 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:14.560 council should have known about, a law made for situations 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:18.520 just like this one to end a human trafficking survivor's 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:23.520 nightmare rather than compounding it with the legal system, and 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:27.120 since that law was not invoked, Kierica was bound over 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:30.759 into adult court, convicted and sentenced to twenty one years 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.720 to life. And when this was brought to the attention 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:39.000 of Ohio Governor Mike Dwine, he granted Kierka clemency, putting 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.320 her on parole in April twenty twenty, and about a 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:45.640 year later, we released our coverage of her case, at 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.960 which time she was doing speaking engagements as well as 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:51.600 a few normal jobs to save for college, with the 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.120 plan of starting a nonprofit to help prevent human trafficking 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:59.480 and support other survivors. Now a year on from that, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.080 can remember it like it was yesterday. I mean, we 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:06.000 were at the twenty twenty two Innocence Network conference in Phoenix. 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.160 We had just wrapped another day of interviews. It was 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:14.280 really emotional, and it only got more emotional when we 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:18.280 heard that Kierica had been sent back to prison. Apparently 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:21.400 a friend of hers was in between living situations and 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:24.480 asked to crash on her couch for a few nights, 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:29.000 and then just mere hours after that person arrived at 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:32.720 her apartment with a bunch of moving boxes, Kierka's parole 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:36.320 officer came by for a random check, which may or 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:40.000 may not have been so random, since this was used 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:43.560 as an opportunity to bust not only a friend, but 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:47.519 then also Kierica because unbeknownst to her, her friend was 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:49.560 in possession of a number of items that were in 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.720 violation of her parole, so she was sent back to 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.880 serve the rest of that twenty one to life sentence. Luckily, 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.919 a huge law firm, Daikema, got wind of Kerka's story 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:03.600 and took on her case pro bono. They were able 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:07.400 to show the ineffectiveness of her trial council for first 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:11.080 not even being aware of and then failing to properly 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:15.440 invoke Ohio's Safe Harbor Law, which would have stopped Kierka's 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:20.040 legal troubles before they started, so her murder conviction was vacated, 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:22.560 at which point the state could have dismissed the charges, 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:26.720 especially with what the safe Harbor law demands, but they didn't, 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:31.440 which left Kierica with a choice to remain in prison 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:34.000 while the state appealed, and if they lost there, they 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:35.840 would retry her. 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:38.720 And who knows how long any of this would take 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:41.600 before they could finally get it back into the juvenile 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:45.280 court to then invoke the safe harbor law and finally 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:50.760 clear her name. So Kierica reluctantly accepted a guilty plea 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:55.520 to involuntary manslaughter with the sentence maxing out at eleven years, 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:59.800 just enough to let her go with time served, which 0:03:59.880 --> 0:04:03.040 is going to do her exactly, zero favors and getting 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:07.440 any kind of compensation or standing in a civil proceeding. 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:08.960 And I want you all to keep that. 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:12.200 In mind when you listen to her story. It's a 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:16.320 very unique story, but the outcome is typical in a 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.520 state like Ohio or any state. Really, this is the 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:22.400 outcome that they felt comfortable delivering. 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:30.080 Alexis Kierka Martin was raised by her grandmother in Akron, Ohio, 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:33.480 and had a strained relationship with her birth mother and father. 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:37.680 She had a boyfriend, Deshaun Spear, but they broke up 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:41.440 around age thirteen, the same time that an older man 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:45.839 named Angelo Kearney began grooming her for the sex trade. 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:49.520 By the time she was fourteen, she was actively being trafficked. 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:54.080 Time passed and Deshaun reached out to Kierica to ask 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:57.680 if the rumors he had heard about prostitution were true. 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:01.560 Then one night, after a party, a Angelo Kearney's Kierka 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.960 and another woman, Jenney Jones, were alone with Angelo and 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:10.400 his brother Alicio Samuel while she was being raped by Alicio. 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:13.919 Samuel to Shaun and his friend Travaski Jackson broke in, 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:18.920 wearing masks and carrying guns. Kearney was shot and killed, 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:24.360 and Samuel survived a gunshot to his head. When Samuel 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:27.000 came to at the hospital, he mentioned nothing about the 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:29.800 child he had been raping, but he did mention the 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:33.160 other people he had been with earlier that night. A 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:38.520 further investigation led to Alexis Kierka Martin. Ohio's brand new 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.840 safe Harbor law was written for situations just like this, 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.640 but neither her lawyer nor the state invoked it before 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:48.640 she was tried in adult court for the murder of 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:52.480 the man that held her captive in child sex slavery. 0:05:53.640 --> 0:06:13.159 This is wrongful conviction. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.760 Jason Flamm That's me. I'm your host, and today if 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:19.279 my voice is cracking a little, it's because this story is. 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:24.599 It's painful to read, it's painful to talk about. It's 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:28.880 an absolute disgrace that any of this happened. It's also 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:32.200 the story of triumph over tragedy though with us today, 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:36.039 we have an extraordinary lawyer, Sasha Naman from the Ohio 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:39.640 Justice and Policy Center. Sasha, it's wonderful to have you here. 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:41.200 Welcome to Wrongful Conviction. 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:44.040 Thank you so much, and we're. 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:46.800 Going to tell the story with the person who lived it, 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:51.520 Alexis Kierica Martin. You'll hear her referred to as Kierica 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.080 as we go through, but she's also known as Alexis Martin. 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:57.440 So Alexis, thank you for being here and sharing your story. 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:00.239 Thank you for allowing me the time and opportunity. 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:06.680 So let's go back to your childhood, Akron, Ohio, Hardland 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:11.520 of America. What was your childhood like before this tragedy, 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:13.600 this series of tragedies struck. 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:18.000 My childhood would be what some people would call unstable. 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:23.040 I grew up with multiple family members, but predominantly I 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.720 was blessed with having my grandmother raised me. All in all, 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:28.760 through everything, I would say that she did a pretty 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:30.680 good job with at least making sure I knew how 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:31.400 to say thank you. 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.280 Alexis was a child when she was trafficked. She had 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.120 a tough childhood in some ways, and she said her 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:41.880 grandma was a light in that in a big way. 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:46.840 But at fourteen years old, she was surviving some horrific things, 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:50.000 things that are unimaginable to many Americans. Is a prolonged 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:53.440 and terrible sex trafficking situation, and she wanted a life 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:56.640 that was free and safe and healthy, where she could 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.760 go to school, where her and her siblings weren't in danger. 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:02.800 And she was a child, so she was in a 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:05.480 position where she hoped that she could finally have this 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:09.760 opportunity to flee from the trafficking, and that brought her 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:12.920 into involvement with the robbery of her trafficker. 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:18.680 I was fourteen when I met my trafficker, and me 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.920 and my co defriend and DeShawn Spirit. He was my 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:27.240 boyfriend and we separated before this case occurred, and then 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:30.760 while I was in active trafficking, we would see each 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:33.000 other and check on each other, but I never got 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.800 too close with him. Everybody kept hearing rumors about me 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:40.880 being prostituted. Some people were bold enough to act, some 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:43.880 people weren't. They just you know, kind of turned their 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:46.520 nose up to me. Well, he asked me a couple 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:48.720 of times, and I continued to deny it and just 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.480 admitted that I was dancing, but I wouldn't tell him 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:53.120 where I was dancing at. 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:55.800 So as of that moment, he's left in the dark. 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.640 And before the night that the Shawn Spirit tried to 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:03.080 free Kierika, which was November seven, twenty thirteen, Sasha, she 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:05.800 had tried to find another way to get out of 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:06.480 that life, right. 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.360 She was trying to reach out to adults for help. 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:12.160 So before the night of this offense happened, she was 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:15.880 trying to turn herself in. She actually proactively went to 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:19.200 the juvenile system because she had kind of an active 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:21.439 case that had kind of been going on in parallel, 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:23.800 and she was hoping that they would take her in, 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:25.240 that they would arrest her, they would put her in 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:28.640 a program. But her trafficker sends her with someone who 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:32.440 poses as her caretaker and says she's fine and she's 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:35.360 cared for, and even though these adults see the way 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:37.560 she's dressed, even though they see these red flags, they 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:39.240 let her back out with that person. 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:42.880 Alexis, as much as you're comfortable with talking about it. 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:47.280 That night, when this robbery occurred. Can you tell us 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:49.960 how this whole thing happened and how somebody ended up dead. 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:54.559 I was caught to the house and Jenney Jones was 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.920 also there. They had a party and Angela was training 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:00.440 me more so to be his madam. I had to 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:02.400 be there to make sure that the rest of the 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:06.240 girls did what they were supposed to and that I 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:09.880 made money that night. So during the whole time that 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:13.079 the party occurred, I did what Angelo told me to do. 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:17.640 I danced, I collected money, I served drinks, and then 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:22.160 as it got late, everybody left. But that means that 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.520 there was a lot of eyewitnesses that seen me with him, 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:28.600 some of his other brothers, they were there that night. 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:33.199 When they left, it was just me, Jenny Jones, Angelo Kearney, 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:34.200 and Alisio Samer. 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:40.480 Alexis was aware that Deshaun and Trevaski were going to 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:44.960 be coming into the house. And in Ohio there's something 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:47.720 called felony murder, as there is in many other states. 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:50.760 And if you're aware of something like a robbery, if 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:54.240 you are found legally culpable in something like a robbery 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:58.440 and then somebody gets killed, then you're culpable for the 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:03.640 homicide that happened. Alexis never shot anybody, never hurt anybody, 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:06.400 never wanted anybody to get hurt. But there was this 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:11.600 robbery that happened, and when Deshaun Spears and Travaska Jackson 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:15.079 break in, when they shoot her trafficker and kill him 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:17.760 when they shoot the man who's raping her. Although she 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.400 is the child and she's the victim there, she became 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:23.200 legally culpable ultimately for the death. 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:28.320 Once Alisio was shot and Angela was killed, the question 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:32.880 was where was I because I was always with him, 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:34.880 and if I wasn't with him, then I was in 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:36.840 a position where one of his brothers knew where I 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:41.240 was at, So where was I was missing? After Alicio 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:45.960 woke up in the hospital, he identified Janey. He never 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:49.320 identified me. And my theory on this subject is he 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.440 didn't identify me because I was a child and he 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:55.480 was adult. But other people that the police questioned that 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:59.559 night continuously brought up my name. So I turned myself 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:04.680 in and I was arrested. I was fifteen, and I 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:06.560 felt like it was the first time in life that 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:11.480 anybody was actually like listening to me. I kind of 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:14.320 just told him everything that they wanted to know. My 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:17.760 only thing was I just wanted to know was he 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.040 alive or was he dead? Because I wasn't sure. And 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:22.600 when he told me Angelo was dead, I didn't really 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.360 know how to feel. It didn't click into me that 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:28.679 I was truly being arrested for his death until they 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:31.560 took me away from the detention center. I was on probation, 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.360 so I've been arrested a couple times. I was used 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.640 to the detention officers and stuff like that, so it 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.640 was kind of like, finally that night, I was going 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:45.360 to be safe until they pulled away from there and 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:49.240 took me down to the adult Question interrogation where they 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.319 left me in the code for about three or four hours. 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:55.360 I threw up on the table. They didn't clean that up. 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.040 I asked for my mother. They told me that my 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.920 mother left, and I knew some of my rights, and 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:02.400 I was like, you know, I thought my mom had 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.360 to be present because I was only fifteen, and they 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:08.600 told me she didn't care. And then I continuously asked 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:12.600 for my attorney. And I was fifteen. I knew some 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:15.320 of my rights right because of Criminal Minds and whatever 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:18.240 else I watched, but I didn't really know how to 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:22.920 enforce my rights. How they knew I had involvement was? 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:26.040 I admitted my own involvement. I didn't know what human 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.200 trafficking was. I only knew what prostitution and escorting was. 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:33.120 I didn't understand that I was a victim. I also 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.120 admitted to the cops Angela was training me to be 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:38.280 his madam. And I also admitted to the cops that 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:43.480 I called this man my dad. But that night and 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:47.280 for months on, nobody pays attention to that. 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:03.280 Before Alexis's case happened, Ohio had passed the Safe Harbor 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.520 Law that was specifically meant to protect survivors of human 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:11.440 trafficking like Kerica. The law would allow juvenile courts to 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.360 offer services to children like her who were trafficked and 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:18.679 to help them. And when she was arrested and sent 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:21.600 to juvenile court, that law was in effect, but her 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:25.080 attorney didn't know about it and didn't understand it. And 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:28.200 Kierko is actually the one who brought this question about 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:30.400 this law to the attorney because she had heard about 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:31.000 it somewhere. 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:32.360 So she was. 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:35.120 Now advocating for herself. And this is above and beyond 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:37.520 a fifteen year old who is trying to educate her attorney, 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.320 who then did look into it but didn't understand the law. 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:43.520 And then neither he, nor the court nor the prosecutor 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.480 brings it up. You have this case that the law 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.680 is made for, the law is in effect, and nobody 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:52.320 brings it up, nobody applies it. In fact, the only 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:55.680 person who had mentioned it in the process really is 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:57.360 Kerka herself. 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:01.360 Just to clarify for all you, it's the safe Harbor 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:05.280 law in Ohio specifically mandates that miners under the age 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.680 of sixteen do not need to prove that they were 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:12.000 compelled to engage in commercial sexual activity. They're automatically considered 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:16.920 victims of child sex trafficking, and the statute requires juvenile 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:20.200 courts to appoint a guardian to the defendant, a professional 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:23.600 other than a parent or attorney who was responsible for 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:26.080 advocating in the best interests of the child on trial. 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:31.320 So here the defense, lawyer, the court itself, everybody, they 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:33.960 just didn't do what they're supposed to do. Nobody did. 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:37.000 It's crazy, and then to make matters worse, they send 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:38.680 you to adult court. 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:43.840 At that point, I was educated on what human trafficking was, 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.120 so actually realize that you're a victim, and you hold 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:50.360 no power, and that somebody you thought you cared about 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:54.160 was hurting you. To know that they were knowledgeably hurting you, 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.440 and that was their only intent ever, was to hurt you, 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:04.440 it's pretty defeating. It hurts. So I know all this now. 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:07.480 I learned about what the grooming process was, and I 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:11.280 identified what my grooming process was. I learned about the trafficking. 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:15.480 I learned about the stages with a juvenile counselor named 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:19.960 Hilary Finkel, and she's the one who's bringing in this 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.640 lady named Maggan Madimo, who ultimately brings up the safe 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.640 harbor law to the juvenile court after I'm bound over 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:31.960 into the adult court, who ultimately educates my attorney. But 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:36.680 while I was in the courtroom, Judge Theodosia, who leads 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:40.160 the Human Trafficking Division in Summon County still to this day, 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.560 set out of her own mouths, can we take a 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:48.480 second in pause? And I want to ask you, Noah, 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:52.720 my attorney and the prosecutor, what do we do about 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:56.600 this fifteen year old's trafficking? She admits out her mouth 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.280 that I'm traffic. Not only was I sex traffic, but 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:04.959 labor traffic. She admits this, nobody had a response. The 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.479 prosecutor and my attorney looked at each other, looked at 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.359 the judge and was kind of dumbfounded when she asked 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.760 this question. My attorney, I can't even remember. He mustered 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:17.120 up some answer, but it clearly must not have been 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.800 good enough for Teodosia, because two months later, even after 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:25.160 you admit that I'm traffic I got bound over and 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:28.959 that made me feel like prior to the trafficking, I 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:32.240 was raped and I've reported it and I never got help. 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:34.960 One of my cousins raped me from nine to ten 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:37.040 and they found him not guilty. And it made me 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:40.720 feel the exact same way that no matter how many 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.520 times I tell somebody somebody did something to me that 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:47.080 was wrong, I'm always gonna either be accused of a 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:51.160 liar or it doesn't matter. So I started to lose 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:51.680 hope again. 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:55.560 It's a miracle that you clung onto any hope at 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:59.359 all after everything you had been through. And so February seventeenth, 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.840 tw fifteen, a day that will live in infamy, Karaka, 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:05.640 you were advised by your attorney that, with the goal 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.760 of returning to juvenile court, you should plead guilty to 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:13.679 polonious assault and murder. Yes, this was, of course a 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:18.800 terrible strategy, and ultimately you were sentenced to twenty one 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:22.120 to life. How did you process that sentence and how 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:27.440 did you manage to maintain any sort of trace of sanity. 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:31.040 Well, I have a little sister that's three and a 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.639 half years younger than me, and we were talking when 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:36.880 I was six years old, and I promised her that 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:39.720 I would never let nobody hurt her and I would 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:44.439 always be there to protect her. While I was fighting 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:47.920 my case at detention center, I tried to kill myself. 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:50.359 I busted all the above vessels in my face and 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:56.320 I was really close. It hurt her bad while I 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:59.000 was in prison. She's left out in the world with 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.800 my father and my birth mother, the two people I've 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:04.760 tried to protect her from my whole life. So if 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:07.919 I gave up fighting, I gave up fighting for her life. 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:12.040 If I gave up fighting, everything that happened to me, 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:15.600 every time a man abused me, hit me, sex with me, 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:19.560 everything that I have ever done to protect her was 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:24.640 ultimately for nothing. If I lay down and just gave up. Now, 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.000 I was scared to go to trial because my co defendant, 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.920 DeShawn just got forty one to life. I would have 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.520 went if I had somebody believe in me that told 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:37.800 me to go. I had two people that told me 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:41.719 you should maybe go to trial. One was another fifteen 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:44.240 year old girl, and all she said was best friend, 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:48.600 if you go, I'm gonna support you. And then I 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:50.880 had my older sister who was paying for my attorney, 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:53.040 and she was telling me she thinks I should take 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.240 it to trial. I had an indecisive father that kept 0:19:56.240 --> 0:19:58.919 telling me one minute, plead out and act crazy. The 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:00.879 next one he was telling me to take it to trial. 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:04.239 My birth mother, she barely went to any hearings, but 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:06.760 she was telling me, plead because you don't want to 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:08.919 get max out at the box. And then I have 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:12.639 my attorney, who knows more than me, that's telling me, plead, 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:17.119 we have a good chance of winning your appeal because 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:21.399 of this safe harbor law. So I pled, But I 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:25.000 kept fighting because I have a baby's sister that at 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:27.000 the end I promised I would protect and if I 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:32.159 didn't protect her, nobody else would. So I fought, and 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:36.000 I continue to fight after denial after denial, after denial. 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:41.080 Her new attorney. Ke's new attorney, Jennifer Kinsley, ends up 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:44.720 taking on this case pro bono and appealing it all 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:49.320 the way to the Ohio Supreme Court, arguing that Kierka 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:52.120 should have received the protections of the Safe Harbor law, 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:55.879 and ultimately the Ohio Supreme Court rejected the case. And 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:59.320 they did that while saying that there is ample evidence 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:03.119 that Kierica was a victim of human trafficking, but unfortunately, 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:07.159 the original trial attorney didn't present evidence linking the crime 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:11.040 to Kerica being a victim of sex trafficking. So the 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:14.719 Supreme Court said, because he didn't create that link between 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:17.760 the known trafficking and the crime, they were not going 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:21.439 to apply the safe Harbor law to Key. And to me, 0:21:21.520 --> 0:21:25.399 that's a little bit absurd, because of course there's a connection. 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:28.920 You have a fifteen year old child trying to free 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:32.720 herself from being trafficked by adults. It doesn't take a 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:35.280 lot to think about how there could be a connection there. 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:41.640 While justice was delayed, it surely wasn't going to be denied. Ultimately, 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:44.760 you petitioned Governor de Wine for clemency and you had 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:48.560 a hearing on that in September of twenty nineteen. 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:52.600 I went in front of the pro board on determination 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:56.119 of my clemency in November. I got an eight to 0:21:56.160 --> 0:22:00.800 two vote, eight in favor, two agains. In January, Governor 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:04.520 DeWine considered my clemency and said that he wanted me 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:07.400 to do this program Tapestry, and after I completed it, 0:22:07.920 --> 0:22:11.920 I would come home. I started Tapestry January twenty first, 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:16.919 twenty twenty. Tapestry closed down due to COVID and I 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:19.840 was released April twenty of twenty twenty. 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:24.679 So, after serving seven long years in prison, what was 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:29.160 it like walking out? Take us inside? That day? 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:34.440 That moment April eighteenth, on national television, I was told 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:37.360 I was going to be released. It didn't seem real 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:42.240 at all, Like this is something that I drinked about 0:22:42.600 --> 0:22:45.399 many days in prison. It was going home, going home. 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:49.280 And now I'm signing a paper to agree to conditions 0:22:49.320 --> 0:22:52.359 of parole and clemency and being told that I'll be 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:56.639 free by monday. So I signed the papers, and then 0:22:56.680 --> 0:22:59.679 I'm told, you have to go to the whole to 0:22:59.720 --> 0:23:03.679 the the craziest things ever. Yes, I have to go 0:23:03.720 --> 0:23:08.000 get COVID nineteen tested and be put in quarantine in 0:23:08.080 --> 0:23:11.119 the whole until Monday so that I could be released 0:23:11.160 --> 0:23:14.439 to this program. So I pack up my stuff and 0:23:14.520 --> 0:23:18.240 for two days, it's like the longest agony in the world, 0:23:18.400 --> 0:23:23.280 knowing that in two days you'll be released. In two days, 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:27.240 you'll get to enter into a world of something you 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:29.600 don't know. I left as a kid, and I left 0:23:29.640 --> 0:23:32.400 a world of chaos, and I'm supposed to be being 0:23:32.440 --> 0:23:35.119 released into a world of peace and freedom. Right. I 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:37.080 decided that I didn't want to go back to my 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:39.960 hometown Akron because I didn't want to go back to 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:43.160 the same people, the same way, as the same lifestyle. 0:23:43.240 --> 0:23:45.959 I believe that was, you know, the biggest reason of 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:49.240 why I didn't get to reach my goals as a kid. 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:52.159 I believe God gave me a second opportunity with the 0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:56.479 new family, and I chose to take it. They released 0:23:56.480 --> 0:23:59.119 me from the prison and it's this long corridor you 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:02.560 have to walk down, really really really long, and they 0:24:02.600 --> 0:24:05.160