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Speaker 1: On August thirteenth, nineteen ninety seven, Tasha Shelby was arrested

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Speaker 1: and taken to the Biloxi Police Department. Throughout that sweltering

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Speaker 1: Mississippi day, she sat handcuffed to a chair while Sergeant

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Speaker 1: Warren Newman interrogated her relentlessly. Tasha and her new husband,

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Speaker 1: Brian Thompson, were still mourning the loss of his two

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Speaker 1: and a half year old son, Little Brian, who had

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Speaker 1: died suddenly a few months before, but that didn't stop

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Speaker 1: Officer Newman. His questioning grew more and more aggressive as

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Speaker 1: the hours wore on, and then finally.

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Speaker 2: And it turns into full fledged like rage where he's

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Speaker 2: just like throwing everything off to the desk and he's

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Speaker 2: put in his arms in his hands on either side

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Speaker 2: of my chair and he's shaking me and look at

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Speaker 2: me in my face and he was like, I know

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Speaker 2: you did it, you baby killer. Like he's calling me

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Speaker 2: a baby killer. He's calling me that I did this

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Speaker 2: horrible thing, and he's funny, opens the door and says,

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Speaker 2: this bitch is not gonna talk. Let's booker. My name

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Speaker 2: is Tasha on Sadie Shelby. I have been incarcerated for

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Speaker 2: twenty five years longfully convicted for twenty two years.

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Speaker 1: From Lava for Good. This is wrongful conviction with Maggie

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Speaker 1: Freeling today. Tasha Shelby. Tasha Shelby was born in Columbus, Mississippi,

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Speaker 1: on March eighth, nineteen seventy five, to Paul Douglas Shelby

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Speaker 1: and Sherry Lynne Buttermore, but she was raised in Texas

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Speaker 1: by her father, Paul.

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Speaker 2: My mother was accident from my life and so it

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Speaker 2: was just me and my dad. I have several siblings

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Speaker 2: that you know, he had with other ladies, but for

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Speaker 2: the most part, it was just me and my dad

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Speaker 2: and we just kind of lived a pretty nomadic life.

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Speaker 1: Tasha and her dad did everything together, and his love

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Speaker 1: of music created some of her most favorite memories with him.

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Speaker 2: He loved classic rock, and anytime we would just be

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Speaker 2: cruising around, he would always like school me on music.

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Speaker 2: A song would come on the radio and it could

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Speaker 2: be like Ynard Skinnard or led Zeppelin or the Beatles

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Speaker 2: or whatever, and you know, we'd be sitting there looking

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Speaker 2: at each other jamming and he'd turn it down and

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Speaker 2: he's like, what's the next one? Or he would ask

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Speaker 2: me who is this. So he kind of like introduced

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Speaker 2: me to my love of music, which I love all music,

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Speaker 2: but have a special price in my heart classic rock

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Speaker 2: because of my dad.

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Speaker 1: Life with her dad was a blast. He also made

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Speaker 1: time to take Tasha to visit his sister who lived

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Speaker 1: in another state.

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Speaker 3: She was so cute and little.

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Speaker 1: This is Tasha's aunt Penny.

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Speaker 3: And she comes bursting through my door and puts her

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Speaker 3: hands on her hips and says, you are my uncle Penny.

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Speaker 3: It's Aunt Panny. She has no uncle Penny. Until she

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Speaker 3: was a teenager, she called me uncle Panny.

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Speaker 1: And then when Tasha was fourteen, tragedy struck when.

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Speaker 2: My dad was thirty three, he was killed in a

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Speaker 2: car wreck. And after that, I kind of just that's

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Speaker 2: a little lost in the world, if I'm being honest.

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Speaker 1: Tasha went to live with her Aunt Penny in California

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Speaker 1: for a year. Aunt Penny thought the world of Tasha.

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Speaker 3: She's smart, she's funny, she has a very very strong faith,

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Speaker 3: she's very compassionate, empathetic towards people, and she's really a

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Speaker 3: very strong woman, much stronger than me.

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Speaker 1: Even though Tasha was in the loving arms of Aunt Penny,

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Speaker 1: she continued to feel lost without her dad, So she

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Speaker 1: grew up fast.

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Speaker 2: In the tenth grade. Maybe three months in that's when

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Speaker 2: I found that I was pregnant with my son. I

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Speaker 2: was seventeen, and I just ever went back to school.

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Speaker 1: At seventeen, Tasha gave birth to her first child, her son, Dakota.

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Speaker 1: By this time, she was back in Mississippi, and after

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Speaker 1: a couple of years, she ran into an old acquaintance,

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Speaker 1: Brian Thompson the Third, also known as Big Brian.

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Speaker 2: He's one of the first people I see from my

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Speaker 2: old crew, and he, you know, was like, hey, you

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Speaker 2: want to go down to the beach. I'm like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: I haven't seen the latter in forever. And so from

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Speaker 2: that moment forward, things kind of turned for us in

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Speaker 2: another way. He was single, I was single, and we

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Speaker 2: knew each other. We felt comfortable, and we started seeing

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Speaker 2: ourselves following them love.

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Speaker 1: Tasha says Brian was trustworthy and dependable, and with him,

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Speaker 1: for the first time in her life, she finally felt

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Speaker 1: a sense of stability and security.

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Speaker 2: Everything just felt like permanent, and that's in my life

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Speaker 2: had ever felt permanent, and I always felt like fleeting,

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Speaker 2: and this was just a moment. It was going to

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Speaker 2: pass and it didn't feel like that with him, and

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Speaker 2: I think he just added to my life, so the

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Speaker 2: first time I felt something or someone had added something

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Speaker 2: for me.

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Speaker 4: And to me.

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Speaker 1: Brian and Tasha decided to move to a three bedroom

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Speaker 1: trailer in Biloxi and blend their families. Brian had a

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Speaker 1: two and a half year old son who was called

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Speaker 1: Little Brian, and Tasha had her three year old son, Dakota.

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Speaker 1: They also found out they were expecting a child together,

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Speaker 1: a baby girl.

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Speaker 2: Then I did start having difficulties with my pregnancy. I

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Speaker 2: had priaclanpsia. And I'm still young, and I've never had

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Speaker 2: anyone talk to me about what pregnant life looks like

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Speaker 2: or any of these things, you know. My dad certainly

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Speaker 2: didn't talk to you about those things at fourteen and younger,

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Speaker 2: you know. So I didn't know really what to look for.

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Speaker 2: And I kept having a lot of pain and it

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Speaker 2: was early, but for like three weeks leading up to

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Speaker 2: her birth, we kept having to go to the emergency

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Speaker 2: room in the middle of the night because as I

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Speaker 2: would wake him up and say, this is it, She's coming,

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Speaker 2: let's go.

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Speaker 1: Finally, on May fourteenth, nineteen ninety seven, Tasha and Big

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Speaker 1: Brian's daughter, Devin, was born, but the labor and birth

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Speaker 1: left Tasha with serious medical problems.

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Speaker 2: With Devin, she actually almost died and I almost died

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Speaker 2: during the birth. They ended up passing to do an

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Speaker 2: emergency sea section. Devan was pretty big when she was born.

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Speaker 2: She was over eight pounds, and Dakota had only been

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Speaker 2: like six pounds in something.

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Speaker 1: And Tasha is actually quite small, under five feet tall.

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Speaker 1: Both her pregnancies had taken a toll on her body,

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Speaker 1: so even before she had the sea section, she had

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Speaker 1: already decided the birth would be a good time to

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Speaker 1: get her tubes tied.

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Speaker 2: And so that's what I was recuperating from, you know,

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Speaker 2: both of those surgeries first, just on any given day

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Speaker 2: is difficult for a woman.

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Speaker 1: After about three days in the hospital, Tasha was able

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Speaker 1: to go home to her family, Big Brian, Little Brian, Dakota,

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Speaker 1: and Devin. Tasha was on bed rest with Big Brian

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Speaker 1: doing most of the caretaking.

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Speaker 2: You know, I was given instructions to not do any

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Speaker 2: heavy lifting or bending over. You know, it was going

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Speaker 2: to take time to recuperate from the difficult you know

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Speaker 2: birth I had just given and the surgeries On top

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Speaker 2: of that, were.

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Speaker 1: You even able to pick up the babies if you

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Speaker 1: wanted to?

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Speaker 2: It was very difficult. I was able to pick her up,

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Speaker 2: but I didn't do it unless I was home alone

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Speaker 2: without Brian, which only happened on two occasions, which was

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Speaker 2: the night in question.

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Speaker 1: On May twenty ninth, nineteen ninety seven. Big Brian went

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Speaker 1: to work around seven thirty pm. He had just started

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Speaker 1: a new job at a beer distribution plant and he

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Speaker 1: was on the night shift. Around the same time, Tasha's

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Speaker 1: grandparents came over to help with the kids. They visited

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Speaker 1: for about an hour, talking and watching little Brian play,

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Speaker 1: then they left, taking Dakota with them for the night.

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Speaker 1: Tasha says that before Devin was born, she and little

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Speaker 1: Brian loved their one on one time. They made watching

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Speaker 1: movies and having snacks in the living room a special occasion.

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Speaker 2: So we were watching The Brave Little Toaster, eating the popcorn,

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Speaker 2: drinking the pink lemonade. Then it's you know, fast time

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Speaker 2: and bedtime, and I put him to bed and I

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Speaker 2: go to bed. I'm exhausted.

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Speaker 1: Tasha went to sleep with baby Devin in bed with

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Speaker 1: her and little Brian in his bed, and then in

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Speaker 1: the early morning hours. She was awakened by a loud thud.

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Speaker 2: And I immediately think Devin has fallen out of the bed.

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Speaker 2: And I look and she's okay, and I'm like, okay, well,

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Speaker 2: that's not what has happened. And so I get out

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Speaker 2: of my bed and it's just like a couple of

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Speaker 2: steps to the doorway and I look and I see,

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Speaker 2: you know, Little Brian is on the floor and it

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Speaker 2: appear me that he's having a seizure. He was laying

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Speaker 2: on the floor, he was his eyes were rolled in

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Speaker 2: the back of his head. His hands, I remember his

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Speaker 2: hands just looking almost paralyzed, if you will. And I'm thinking,

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Speaker 2: I don't know what to do, and I'm panicking. I'm

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Speaker 2: trying to get the say attention to me or hear me,

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Speaker 2: respond to me, and he's not at all.

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Speaker 1: So Tasha called Biloxi Regional Medical Center, the hospital she

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Speaker 1: had just been discharged from. They said to get Little

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Speaker 1: Brian there as quickly as possible. Tasha then called Big Brian,

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Speaker 1: who raced home where Tasha had been trying to administer

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Speaker 1: a CPR.

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Speaker 3: Brian comes in.

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Speaker 2: He's in a panic mode. He has him on the floor.

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Speaker 2: He's doing CPR. We've got to go. We've got to go.

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Speaker 2: I have to get a diaper bag for Devin. And

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Speaker 2: when we're rushing to get to the van, Brian hits

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Speaker 2: Little Brian's head on the van door, which is not

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Speaker 2: on purpose. He's almost limped like at this time, and

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Speaker 2: his eyes were just rolled in the back of his head.

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Speaker 2: And then we get to the hospital and a man

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Speaker 2: rushes him into the emergency room and then we're in

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Speaker 2: the emergency room and they take Little Brian away from

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Speaker 2: us try to help him.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, hospital staff had called the police to

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Speaker 1: investigate whether Little Brian had been abused. Most states, including Mississippi,

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Speaker 1: have mandatory reporting laws if they're suspicion of child abuse

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Speaker 1: or neglect. And when the police showed.

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Speaker 2: Up immediately they're asking questions. They're kind of hounding us

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Speaker 2: a little. But I'm thinking this is normal. You know,

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Speaker 2: there's an emergency, and I think this must be what

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Speaker 2: people do when there's an emergency, whichcause they care so

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Speaker 2: much they want to know what's happened.

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Speaker 1: Little Brian was transferred to a hospital in Mobile, Alabama

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Speaker 1: for further treatment, but it was too late for any

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Speaker 1: meaningful difference. The next day, Big Brian had to make

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Speaker 1: the hard decision to take Little Brian off life support.

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Speaker 1: The child was pronounced dead on May thirty first, nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety seven. Tasha and Brian left the hospital devastated, and

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Speaker 1: we pull up to our house.

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Speaker 2: There's already people there waiting to take Devon from me,

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Speaker 2: and they're there telling me that I can't have my daughter.

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Speaker 2: And I'm like why, Like I'm not understanding, and I'm crying.

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Speaker 2: I'm hysterical. We're just pulling in from the loss of

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Speaker 2: Little Brian and they rip her out of my arms,

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Speaker 2: and I'm on my knees, begging and crying and they're

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Speaker 2: taking her. That's when I realized, my god, they seek

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Speaker 2: that I have done something.

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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: of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and

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Speaker 1: other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. Following the death

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Speaker 1: of Little Brian, and as soon as Tasha and Big

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Speaker 1: Brian got home from the hospital, Baby Devin was taken

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Speaker 1: by Child Protective Services and put into foster care. Dakota

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Speaker 1: stayed with Tasha's grandparents while in mourning over Little Brian.

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Speaker 1: Tasha and Big Brian went to Texas for a week

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Speaker 1: to spend time with Tasha's family. A month later, they

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Speaker 1: decided to seal their commitment to each other by getting married.

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Speaker 1: Also during this time, Little Brian's autopsy report was released,

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Speaker 1: signed by doctor Leroy Riddick. It listed the cause of

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Speaker 1: death as blunt force trauma to the head and the

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Speaker 1: manner of death homicide. Two months after Little Brian died,

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Speaker 1: the police showed up at Tasha's.

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Speaker 2: Door and they tell me and I am under arrest

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Speaker 2: for the murder Brian Elwis Holmeston before and I kind

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Speaker 2: of lost my bodily functions in that moment. My keyed

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Speaker 2: everywhere and I'm asking can I please change and they're like, no,

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Speaker 2: you can't do that. You have to go like this.

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Speaker 1: The police transferred Tasha to the precinct. It was summer

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Speaker 1: and scorching hot in Mississippi, and so they take.

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Speaker 2: Me to this room that has absolutely no air conditioning,

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Speaker 2: no fan, nothing, And they not to be dramatic, but

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Speaker 2: it felt like I was chained, but it was handcuffed.

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Speaker 2: So I'm handcuffed to one side of the chair was

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Speaker 2: my left hand and one side of the chair was

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Speaker 2: my right hand.

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Speaker 1: Sergeant Warren Newman of the Biloxi Police Department then started

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Speaker 1: interrogating Tasha about the death of little Brian, and.

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Speaker 2: Warn Newman starts just digging in. You know, oh, we

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Speaker 2: know that you did this. We already have the proof.

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Speaker 2: But I understand you're probably suffering from postpart of depression.

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Speaker 2: This was a lot of stress. You had three children.

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Speaker 2: You just couldn't handle it. It was too much, like

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Speaker 2: saying all these things to me, and I'm just crying.

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Speaker 2: I'm thinking in my mind, like I've had three brothers

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Speaker 2: and two sisters, and I pretty much helped raise all

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Speaker 2: of my siblings. Like three kids is a piece of

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Speaker 2: cake to me. You know, this is my life, This

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Speaker 2: is everything to me. What are you talking about.

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Speaker 1: Tasha told Officer Newman that that night little Brian fell

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Speaker 1: out of bed. She didn't hurt him, but Officer Newman

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Speaker 1: was not buying it, and then.

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Speaker 2: It turns into full fledged like rage where he's just

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Speaker 2: like throwing everything off to the desk and he's put

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Speaker 2: in his arms in his hands on either side of

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Speaker 2: my chair and he's shaking my chair because I'm really little,

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Speaker 2: and he's shaking me and look at me in my

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Speaker 2: face and he's like, I know you did it, you

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Speaker 2: baby killer, Like he's calling me a baby killer. He's

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Speaker 2: telling me that I did this horrible thing and I

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Speaker 2: just needed just make it better for myself and tell

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Speaker 2: him the truth.

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Speaker 1: But Tasha said, the truth is what she already told him.

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Speaker 1: She didn't hurt little.

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Speaker 2: And he finally opens the door and says, this bitch

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Speaker 2: is not gonna talk. Let's booker.

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Speaker 1: At twenty two years old, Tasha Shelby was booked into

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Speaker 1: the Harrison County Adult Detention Center to await trial.

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Speaker 2: I was in a state of shock. I thought, what

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Speaker 2: is going on? Nobody was telling me like any answers,

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Speaker 2: and I just thought someone is going to find out

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Speaker 2: that they're wrong and they're going to give me everything back,

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Speaker 2: you know.

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Speaker 1: Tasha waited three years in jail for her trial, all

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Speaker 1: the while haunted by what happened to little Brian.

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Speaker 2: It just did not feel real.

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Speaker 4: And they would watch something on TV and I would

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Speaker 4: be asleep and I could hear a baby crying on

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Speaker 4: the TV, and I remember waking up thinking that it

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Speaker 4: was all a train, that.

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Speaker 2: I had been arrested, and that I thought Devan was

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Speaker 2: waking me up clying.

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Speaker 1: Tasha was appointed public defenders Michael Cox and Donald Smith.

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Speaker 1: At trial, right from the start, Cox and Smith told

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Speaker 1: Judge Robert H. Walker that they were overworked with a

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Speaker 1: capital murder trial and did not feel comfortable representing Tasha,

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Speaker 1: but Judge Walker dismissed their request and Tasha went to

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Speaker 1: trial on June twelfth, two thousand. The prosecutors Remark Ward

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Speaker 1: and Scott Lusk. At trial, they told the jury that

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Speaker 1: little Brian died from shaking baby syndrome or SBS, the

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Speaker 1: theory that if.

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Speaker 5: A child exhibits bleeding in the brain, bleeding in the eyes,

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Speaker 5: and brain swelling, then that is only caused by one thing,

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Speaker 5: and that one thing is shaking. So the real fallacy

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00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:09,760
Speaker 5: of a shaking baby syndrome is that it says nothing

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00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:12,960
Speaker 5: else could cause those injuries, just shaking.

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Speaker 1: This is Velina Beattie.

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Speaker 5: I'm a law professor at Arizona State University Sandra Day

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Speaker 5: O'Connor College of Law, and I'm also the deputy director

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Speaker 5: of our Academy for Justice.

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Speaker 1: She's also Tasha's post conviction attorney. Velina says that at trial,

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Speaker 1: the state argued that Little Brian died from SBS, not

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Speaker 1: from an accident, as Tasha said. The state star witness

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Speaker 1: was doctor Leroy Riddick, the expert forensic pathologist who performs

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Speaker 1: Little Brian's autopsy. Doctor Riddick testified that in addition to

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Speaker 1: massive brain swelling, little Brian was covered in bruises less

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Speaker 1: than two days old.

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Speaker 5: It's not surprising they believed the child died from shake

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Speaker 5: and baby syndrome. There wasn't that much research out at

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Speaker 5: that time challenging the hypothesis.

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Speaker 1: In fact, Tasha's own defense team agreed SBS caused the death,

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Speaker 1: but they said it wasn't Tasha who did it. They

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Speaker 1: said it had to have been Big Brian's doing, a

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Speaker 1: theory Tasha vehemently did not agree with.

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Speaker 5: Absolutely, she did not know. She said, this child did

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Speaker 5: not die from abuse by me or by my husband.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, what the defense failed to argue though, was that

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Speaker 1: it was impossible for Tasha to have shaken Little Brian

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Speaker 1: so violently as to kill him. Remember, Tasha was under

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Speaker 1: five feet tall and she was on bed rest after

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Speaker 1: multiple surgeries and giving birth, and at three feet tall,

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Speaker 1: Little Brian was big for his age, and they didn't

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Speaker 1: mention this at all.

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Speaker 5: She could not physically have had the strength to pick

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Speaker 5: up and shake or abuse a thirty three pound, two

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Speaker 5: and a half year old child who was over half

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Speaker 5: of her sets.

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Speaker 1: Big Brian also testified at trial he believed in Tasha's innocence,

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Speaker 1: but because the prosecution was considering charging him as well,

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Speaker 1: he was scared. In the end, he distanced himself from

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Speaker 1: Tasha and actually cooperated with the prosecution. On the stand,

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Speaker 1: Big Brian talked about his and Tasha's concerns about Little

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Speaker 1: Brian's health.

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Speaker 5: Tasha was concerned about his development and that he was

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Speaker 5: eating mud. He just didn't seem to be progressing at

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Speaker 5: the same rate that Dakota, the other child in the household,

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Speaker 5: who is approximately the same age, so they should be at,

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Speaker 5: you know, approximately the same development level.

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Speaker 1: Big Brian also said that several weeks before his death,

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Speaker 1: little Brian's eyes appeared bloodshot. He and Tasha had also

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Speaker 1: noticed Little Brian's staring off into space, his eyes rolling

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Speaker 1: back into his head. This phenomenon would now be diagnosed

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Speaker 1: as a petite mal seizure. Big Brian testified that he

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Speaker 1: and Tasha had taken Little Brian to the pediatrician, who

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Speaker 1: suggested they see a neurologist. In fact, the appointment was

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Speaker 1: scheduled for seven days after Little Brian's death. Tasha had

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Speaker 1: also written about her concern over Little Brian and her diary. However,

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00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,000
Speaker 1: neither her diary nor the family calendar where they had

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00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:24,919
Speaker 1: written the appointment with the neurologist were ever recovered or

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Speaker 1: presented to the jury.

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Speaker 3: It was truly just a mate believe trial.

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Speaker 1: That's how Tasha's Penny remembers it.

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Speaker 3: They withheld evidence, they destroyed evidence. You know, they just

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Speaker 3: lied about her. And you know she had out of

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Speaker 3: the journals that she kept. In those journals, she talked about,

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Speaker 3: you know, how much she's loved O'Brien and how much

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Speaker 3: she loved the mom, and well, they took those journals

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Speaker 3: and then they lost them, didn't find them.

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Speaker 1: The defense argued the best case they could for reasonable

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Speaker 1: doubt that it was possible Little Brian had died from

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Speaker 1: falling out of bed, or that he had a seizure,

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00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:13,280
Speaker 1: or even that Big Brian was responsible. However, it was

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Speaker 1: not enough. On June sixteenth, two thousand, at the age

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Speaker 1: of twenty five, Tasha was sentenced to life without parole.

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Speaker 1: Sentenced to life in prison. Tasha struggled to come to

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Speaker 1: terms with what was happening to her.

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Speaker 2: I didn't oh that, you know that this was real.

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Speaker 2: Yet knowing that I didn't have my life, my children

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Speaker 2: and my family, you know, everything in that moment just

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00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:50,800
Speaker 2: felt like it had been taken from me.

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Speaker 1: Even Big Brian was gone. The last time Tasha saw him,

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Speaker 1: she was still in County jail, two years before she

380
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Speaker 1: was convicted. It was her twenty third birthday, March.

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00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:06,919
Speaker 2: Eight, rankteen ninety eight. We had a contact visitation. We

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00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:09,240
Speaker 2: actually got to hold each other and touch each other,

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00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:13,000
Speaker 2: and you know, it's only happy birthday. I love you,

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Speaker 2: all of these things. Everything's gonna be okay. You know

385
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Speaker 2: I'm here. He walked out that night and said, I

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Speaker 2: will call you tomorrow. The next day, I call like

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Speaker 2: I normally would, and I hear the recording that this

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00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:34,640
Speaker 2: number is no longer in service, and I have never

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Speaker 2: spoken to him again, and I do not know what happened.

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00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:49,399
Speaker 1: But others in her family have stayed in Tasha's life

391
00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:53,000
Speaker 1: and continue to champion her innocence. The first time she

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00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,439
Speaker 1: visited Tasha in prison, her aunt Penny found Tasha just

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Speaker 1: as she remembered her.

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Speaker 3: She was still the same Tash. I was still a

395
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:05,159
Speaker 3: little and cute and funny and smart, and you know,

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Speaker 3: it's like no time it ever passed at all.

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Speaker 1: Although Tasha was doing life in prison, she was determined

398
00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:14,800
Speaker 1: to make the most of her time, so she joined

399
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:18,399
Speaker 1: an art program and tutored women getting their ged, and

400
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,720
Speaker 1: she began taking college courses, including one that she says

401
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 1: has changed her life.

402
00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:29,960
Speaker 2: The history of Southern women had to may Wells and

403
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,800
Speaker 2: Saney lou Hammer and learning about these women that went

404
00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:37,680
Speaker 2: through these struggles. From that moment forward, I really started

405
00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:45,920
Speaker 2: realizing who I am, really started realizing my voice, and

406
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,240
Speaker 2: that I don't have to accept this, that I am innocent,

407
00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,000
Speaker 2: that I'm going to fight and I'm going to keep

408
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 2: on fighting. Then I don't care what struggles I have

409
00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:01,600
Speaker 2: to go through. I saw these women through way more

410
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:06,320
Speaker 2: horrific things that I went through. They rose above each time.

411
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,760
Speaker 2: It put something inside of me. It will never be

412
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,600
Speaker 2: taken away from me, and it empowered me in a

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00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:17,920
Speaker 2: new way.

414
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:27,359
Speaker 1: Tasha started finding appeal after appeal after appeal on her case,

415
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 1: but all were denied. Finally, in twenty ten, she met

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00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:34,480
Speaker 1: Velena Beattie, who you heard from earlier.

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Speaker 5: I had just started working on shake and baby syndrome

418
00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:44,040
Speaker 5: cases and realizing the extreme problems with that diagnosis and

419
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,440
Speaker 5: the number of people who had been wrongfully convicted based

420
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Speaker 5: on that diagnosis.

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Speaker 1: According to the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform,

422
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:55,119
Speaker 1: as of twenty twelve, an average of two hundred defendants

423
00:26:55,160 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 1: were being convicted of SBS related crimes annually. Velena says that, unfortunately,

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00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,359
Speaker 1: it's not unusual in these cases for suspicion to fall

425
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:05,600
Speaker 1: on the child's caregiver.

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00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:10,200
Speaker 5: The allegation is the person who was alone with the child,

427
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:14,720
Speaker 5: who is frequently a woman, must have abused the child

428
00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:18,080
Speaker 5: and killed the child. And it's a horrific allegation.

429
00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:23,200
Speaker 1: In fact, symptoms once used to diagnose SBS have since

430
00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:25,080
Speaker 1: been shown to be inconclusive.

431
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:29,399
Speaker 5: In two thousand and one, there's this amazing researcher, doctor Plunkett,

432
00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:34,399
Speaker 5: who uncovered that short falls so less than three feet

433
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,399
Speaker 5: tall can cause bleeding in the brain. And we now

434
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,280
Speaker 5: know that again there can be bleeding from small injuries

435
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,879
Speaker 5: or even no injuries at all, like the process of

436
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,040
Speaker 5: a traumatic birth can even cause bleeding in the brain.

437
00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:53,000
Speaker 1: In twenty fifteen, after Velina took on Tasha's case, her

438
00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:57,080
Speaker 1: team filed a second post conviction relief petition arguing that

439
00:27:57,119 --> 00:28:01,440
Speaker 1: the conviction should be thrown out base on new scientific

440
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:03,480
Speaker 1: research on shaken baby syndrome.

441
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:09,120
Speaker 5: Once we get the medical records, we had experts who

442
00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:14,440
Speaker 5: were radiology experts, biomechanical experts, and forensic pathology experts.

443
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:15,000
Speaker 3: So one of.

444
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:18,680
Speaker 5: Each look at her case and look at the medical

445
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,240
Speaker 5: records to give us an opinion as to whether they

446
00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:26,280
Speaker 5: thought the cause of death was abuse or shaking. So

447
00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:29,879
Speaker 5: they all came back and said, no, they did not

448
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:34,080
Speaker 5: think it was abuse or shaking. That shortfall definitely could

449
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 5: have caused the bleeding in the brain, and having a

450
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,160
Speaker 5: seizure could have been part of this as well.

451
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,880
Speaker 1: A short fall and a seizure just like Tasha said

452
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:48,360
Speaker 1: she heard and saw. The experts also noted that Little

453
00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:52,240
Speaker 1: Brian had asthma and difficulty breathing and lack of oxygen

454
00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:56,280
Speaker 1: could have contributed to his collapse. They were also able

455
00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:01,600
Speaker 1: to demystify the alleged bruising seen on little Brian's There.

456
00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:07,520
Speaker 5: Were these two large areas on little Brian's back and

457
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,560
Speaker 5: on his buttocks and part of his leg that looked

458
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:14,680
Speaker 5: like bruising and looked really horrible, And photos of little

459
00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:17,000
Speaker 5: Brian were shown to the jury and the jury was

460
00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 5: told that those were massive bruises, when instead they were

461
00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:30,080
Speaker 5: actually a birthmark known as Mongolian spots. So it wasn't abuse,

462
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,840
Speaker 5: it was a natural thing this child had. It's nothing harmful,

463
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 5: but doctor Ridick mistakenly said that they were bruises.

464
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:49,840
Speaker 1: Armed with all this information, Billina reached out to the

465
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,720
Speaker 1: state's star witness at trial, doctor Riddick, who had been

466
00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:57,440
Speaker 1: adamant that the cause of Little Brian's death was SBS.

467
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,719
Speaker 1: They sent doctor Ridick all the new information and waited

468
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:07,400
Speaker 1: and waited. Then finally he calls.

469
00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:13,160
Speaker 5: He leaves a message saying, you know, maybe I made

470
00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:13,680
Speaker 5: a mistake.

471
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:18,440
Speaker 1: Doctor Ridick, who died in twenty twenty one, actually revised

472
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:21,480
Speaker 1: his diagnosis in this twenty seventeen deposition.

473
00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:27,040
Speaker 6: He says that I made a mistake on my conclusions

474
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:32,920
Speaker 6: and that given the information I have now that the

475
00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:40,120
Speaker 6: child died from hypoxic and soul philopathy with herniation due

476
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:43,160
Speaker 6: to seizure disorder.

477
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:48,400
Speaker 5: Doctor Ridick literally changed the death certificate. So the death

478
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:53,640
Speaker 5: certificate no longer says homicide. It now says accident as

479
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:54,880
Speaker 5: the cause of death.

480
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:59,239
Speaker 1: And that gave Tasha's team the opening they needed to

481
00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,959
Speaker 1: be granted and evidentiary hearing. At the hearing, doctor Riddick's

482
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,360
Speaker 1: testimony lasted half a day. He admitted he was wrong,

483
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:10,680
Speaker 1: but that wasn't enough for the court. Tasha's motion for

484
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:12,760
Speaker 1: a new trial was denied.

485
00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:20,400
Speaker 5: That judge ultimately decided that he simply believed doctor Riddick's

486
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:21,640
Speaker 5: trial testimonymore.

487
00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:25,640
Speaker 1: Wow, this man is sitting there telling him I was wrong,

488
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:28,040
Speaker 1: and he's telling him you're.

489
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:30,360
Speaker 5: Not wrong exactly exactly.

490
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,160
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not funny, it's just absurd.

491
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,880
Speaker 5: It's shocking to me that the medical examiner who the

492
00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:43,160
Speaker 5: state relied on to convict Tasha Shelby, that he changed

493
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:48,360
Speaker 5: his opinion and the court just dismissed that. It's just

494
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:52,480
Speaker 5: horrifying to me. That we can't acknowledge when science changes,

495
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 5: and even when the experts change their opinions, we have

496
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:58,040
Speaker 5: to still keep people convicted.

497
00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,600
Speaker 1: Tasha now has a habeas corpus petition pending in the

498
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:16,120
Speaker 1: Southern District of Mississippi, and she's waiting to hear whether

499
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:19,120
Speaker 1: the judges will grant her a hearing, reverse her conviction,

500
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:31,480
Speaker 1: or uphold her conviction. Penny now lives on a farm

501
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:35,840
Speaker 1: in Tennessee with lots of animals, including donkeys that Tasha's

502
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:38,160
Speaker 1: excited to meet, and there's a room for Tasha at

503
00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 1: Penny's house when the time comes.

504
00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:43,040
Speaker 3: So I've sent her pictures of what her view will

505
00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:45,360
Speaker 3: be like once she gets here. I'm just waiting on

506
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 3: the phone call and I will dribe the Mississippi and

507
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:50,360
Speaker 3: get her and bring her home.

508
00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:57,160
Speaker 1: Tasha hopes to someday be reunited with her children. Devin

509
00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:00,480
Speaker 1: was a newborn and Dakota was three when Tasha was arrested.

510
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:04,240
Speaker 1: When Dakota turned eighteen, he reached out to Tasha and

511
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,560
Speaker 1: they've been in touch occasionally via email, but she hasn't

512
00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:11,240
Speaker 1: spoken to Devin and hasn't seen either child since. So

513
00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:13,959
Speaker 1: Tasha wants to send a message to them in hopes

514
00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:15,000
Speaker 1: that they're listening.

515
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,680
Speaker 2: Dakota and Devin, I want you to know that I

516
00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:25,680
Speaker 2: love you so much. I'm a missue and I think

517
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:29,520
Speaker 2: of you every single day. I don't know what you

518
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,000
Speaker 2: think or what you've heard, but I want you to

519
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:35,400
Speaker 2: hear from me, as your mom, that I am innocent

520
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:39,200
Speaker 2: and I will continue fighting for my innocence as long

521
00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 2: as it takes. I look forward to the day that

522
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:46,720
Speaker 2: we could be reunited, it can see one another again

523
00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 2: face to face, and I pray and hope to restore

524
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:53,920
Speaker 2: and rebuild all that has been lost between us. I

525
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 2: love you so much. I also would like to tell

526
00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,720
Speaker 2: my family and my friends, all the people of that

527
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:03,200
Speaker 2: supported me throughout this journey that your belief in me

528
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:05,720
Speaker 2: what has propelled me to be able to keep fighting.

529
00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:08,239
Speaker 2: And I love you all and you mean the world

530
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:11,120
Speaker 2: to me, and thank you very much.

531
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:20,800
Speaker 1: To find out more about Tasha and how you can help,

532
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:23,839
Speaker 1: go to Free Tasha Shelby dot com. You can sign

533
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:26,640
Speaker 1: a petition for her freedom to be delivered to Mississippi

534
00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:30,200
Speaker 1: Governor Tate Reeves at change dot org. These and other

535
00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:42,720
Speaker 1: links are on our bio page. Next Time Unwrongful Conviction

536
00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:45,680
Speaker 1: with Maggie Freeling Janetta Carr.

537
00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:48,400
Speaker 7: He asked me if I was in a gang. He

538
00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:50,719
Speaker 7: told me that I was a danger and to society

539
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:52,680
Speaker 7: and that I was going to prison for f and live.

540
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:55,000
Speaker 7: When I asked my mom, he told me that it

541
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:57,000
Speaker 7: was not a girl Scouts meeting and that my mom

542
00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:58,359
Speaker 7: was not allowed to come down there.

543
00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:05,839
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. Please

544
00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:08,920
Speaker 1: support your local innocence organizations and go to the links

545
00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:11,239
Speaker 1: in our bio to see how you can help. I'd

546
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:14,760
Speaker 1: like to thank our executive producers Jason Flamm and Kevin Wurtis,

547
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,800
Speaker 1: as well as our senior producer Annie Chelsea, producer Lyla Robinson,

548
00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 1: and story editor Sonia Paul. The show is edited and

549
00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:25,840
Speaker 1: mixed by Annie Chelsea, with additional production by Jeff Cliburn

550
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:29,000
Speaker 1: and Connor Hall. The music in this production is by

551
00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:32,680
Speaker 1: three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to

552
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:36,120
Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at

553
00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:40,160
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at wrong Conviction, as

554
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:43,040
Speaker 1: well as at Lava for Good. On all three platforms,

555
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,080
Speaker 1: you can also follow me on both Instagram and Twitter

556
00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:49,680
Speaker 1: at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling is a

557
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:53,280
Speaker 1: production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal

558
00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:57,520
Speaker 1: Company Number one

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00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:02,880
Speaker 4: Oh No No