WEBVTT - #323 Maggie Freleng with Tasha Shelby 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:13.720 On August thirteenth, nineteen ninety seven, Tasha Shelby was arrested 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:17.560 and taken to the Biloxi Police Department. Throughout that sweltering 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:21.200 Mississippi day, she sat handcuffed to a chair while Sergeant 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:25.920 Warren Newman interrogated her relentlessly. Tasha and her new husband, 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:29.440 Brian Thompson, were still mourning the loss of his two 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:31.920 and a half year old son, Little Brian, who had 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:35.320 died suddenly a few months before, but that didn't stop 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:39.040 Officer Newman. His questioning grew more and more aggressive as 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:42.200 the hours wore on, and then finally. 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.600 And it turns into full fledged like rage where he's 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:49.000 just like throwing everything off to the desk and he's 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:51.600 put in his arms in his hands on either side 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:53.199 of my chair and he's shaking me and look at 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:54.480 me in my face and he was like, I know 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.000 you did it, you baby killer. Like he's calling me 0:00:57.040 --> 0:00:59.880 a baby killer. He's calling me that I did this 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:06.400 horrible thing, and he's funny, opens the door and says, 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:14.160 this bitch is not gonna talk. Let's booker. My name 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.920 is Tasha on Sadie Shelby. I have been incarcerated for 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:22.800 twenty five years longfully convicted for twenty two years. 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.240 From Lava for Good. This is wrongful conviction with Maggie 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:46.520 Freeling today. Tasha Shelby. Tasha Shelby was born in Columbus, Mississippi, 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:50.480 on March eighth, nineteen seventy five, to Paul Douglas Shelby 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:53.800 and Sherry Lynne Buttermore, but she was raised in Texas 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:54.800 by her father, Paul. 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:59.000 My mother was accident from my life and so it 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.920 was just me and my dad. I have several siblings 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:06.280 that you know, he had with other ladies, but for 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:07.840 the most part, it was just me and my dad 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:12.120 and we just kind of lived a pretty nomadic life. 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:18.320 Tasha and her dad did everything together, and his love 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:21.680 of music created some of her most favorite memories with him. 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:27.120 He loved classic rock, and anytime we would just be 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:30.960 cruising around, he would always like school me on music. 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:33.760 A song would come on the radio and it could 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:36.639 be like Ynard Skinnard or led Zeppelin or the Beatles 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:39.440 or whatever, and you know, we'd be sitting there looking 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:42.160 at each other jamming and he'd turn it down and 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:44.320 he's like, what's the next one? Or he would ask 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:50.680 me who is this. So he kind of like introduced 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.200 me to my love of music, which I love all music, 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.799 but have a special price in my heart classic rock 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:57.640 because of my dad. 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.799 Life with her dad was a blast. He also made 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:07.440 time to take Tasha to visit his sister who lived 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:08.240 in another state. 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:11.040 She was so cute and little. 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:12.720 This is Tasha's aunt Penny. 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:15.799 And she comes bursting through my door and puts her 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:21.760 hands on her hips and says, you are my uncle Penny. 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:25.000 It's Aunt Panny. She has no uncle Penny. Until she 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:27.640 was a teenager, she called me uncle Panny. 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:34.160 And then when Tasha was fourteen, tragedy struck when. 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:37.160 My dad was thirty three, he was killed in a 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:43.120 car wreck. And after that, I kind of just that's 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:45.560 a little lost in the world, if I'm being honest. 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:48.600 Tasha went to live with her Aunt Penny in California 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:52.440 for a year. Aunt Penny thought the world of Tasha. 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:56.840 She's smart, she's funny, she has a very very strong faith, 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:01.400 she's very compassionate, empathetic towards people, and she's really a 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:03.720 very strong woman, much stronger than me. 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:07.400 Even though Tasha was in the loving arms of Aunt Penny, 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:10.920 she continued to feel lost without her dad, So she 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.640 grew up fast. 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.159 In the tenth grade. Maybe three months in that's when 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.039 I found that I was pregnant with my son. I 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:21.440 was seventeen, and I just ever went back to school. 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:29.480 At seventeen, Tasha gave birth to her first child, her son, Dakota. 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:32.800 By this time, she was back in Mississippi, and after 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.160 a couple of years, she ran into an old acquaintance, 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:39.040 Brian Thompson the Third, also known as Big Brian. 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.360 He's one of the first people I see from my 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:46.520 old crew, and he, you know, was like, hey, you 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:48.080 want to go down to the beach. I'm like, yeah, 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:51.680 I haven't seen the latter in forever. And so from 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:54.159 that moment forward, things kind of turned for us in 0:04:54.240 --> 0:05:02.120 another way. He was single, I was single, and we 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.919 knew each other. We felt comfortable, and we started seeing 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:06.920 ourselves following them love. 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:12.600 Tasha says Brian was trustworthy and dependable, and with him, 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.719 for the first time in her life, she finally felt 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:17.960 a sense of stability and security. 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:22.479 Everything just felt like permanent, and that's in my life 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.880 had ever felt permanent, and I always felt like fleeting, 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:27.800 and this was just a moment. It was going to 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:31.880 pass and it didn't feel like that with him, and 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:33.960 I think he just added to my life, so the 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.560 first time I felt something or someone had added something 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:38.480 for me. 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:39.000 And to me. 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.000 Brian and Tasha decided to move to a three bedroom 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.480 trailer in Biloxi and blend their families. Brian had a 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:54.440 two and a half year old son who was called 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:57.920 Little Brian, and Tasha had her three year old son, Dakota. 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:00.800 They also found out they were expecting a child together, 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:01.960 a baby girl. 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:08.600 Then I did start having difficulties with my pregnancy. I 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:12.240 had priaclanpsia. And I'm still young, and I've never had 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.560 anyone talk to me about what pregnant life looks like 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:19.080 or any of these things, you know. My dad certainly 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.200 didn't talk to you about those things at fourteen and younger, 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:27.279 you know. So I didn't know really what to look for. 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:33.760 And I kept having a lot of pain and it 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.560 was early, but for like three weeks leading up to 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:40.359 her birth, we kept having to go to the emergency 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:41.920 room in the middle of the night because as I 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:44.600 would wake him up and say, this is it, She's coming, 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:45.800 let's go. 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:52.120 Finally, on May fourteenth, nineteen ninety seven, Tasha and Big 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:55.520 Brian's daughter, Devin, was born, but the labor and birth 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.680 left Tasha with serious medical problems. 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:02.680 With Devin, she actually almost died and I almost died 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:06.440 during the birth. They ended up passing to do an 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:11.360 emergency sea section. Devan was pretty big when she was born. 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:13.600 She was over eight pounds, and Dakota had only been 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:15.000 like six pounds in something. 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:19.239 And Tasha is actually quite small, under five feet tall. 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:22.360 Both her pregnancies had taken a toll on her body, 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.080 so even before she had the sea section, she had 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:27.600 already decided the birth would be a good time to 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:28.600 get her tubes tied. 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:33.640 And so that's what I was recuperating from, you know, 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:38.360 both of those surgeries first, just on any given day 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:39.440 is difficult for a woman. 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:44.840 After about three days in the hospital, Tasha was able 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:48.080 to go home to her family, Big Brian, Little Brian, Dakota, 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:51.320 and Devin. Tasha was on bed rest with Big Brian 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:52.680 doing most of the caretaking. 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.360 You know, I was given instructions to not do any 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:59.520 heavy lifting or bending over. You know, it was going 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:05.320 to take time to recuperate from the difficult you know 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:08.240 birth I had just given and the surgeries On top 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:09.760 of that, were. 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:11.440 You even able to pick up the babies if you 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:11.960 wanted to? 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:17.080 It was very difficult. I was able to pick her up, 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:19.440 but I didn't do it unless I was home alone 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:24.680 without Brian, which only happened on two occasions, which was 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:27.080 the night in question. 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.719 On May twenty ninth, nineteen ninety seven. Big Brian went 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:47.960 to work around seven thirty pm. He had just started 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:50.720 a new job at a beer distribution plant and he 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.720 was on the night shift. Around the same time, Tasha's 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.920 grandparents came over to help with the kids. They visited 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.960 for about an hour, talking and watching little Brian play, 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:02.760 then they left, taking Dakota with them for the night. 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:06.240 Tasha says that before Devin was born, she and little 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.240 Brian loved their one on one time. They made watching 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:12.400 movies and having snacks in the living room a special occasion. 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.520 So we were watching The Brave Little Toaster, eating the popcorn, 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:21.319 drinking the pink lemonade. Then it's you know, fast time 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.120 and bedtime, and I put him to bed and I 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:25.560 go to bed. I'm exhausted. 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:29.280 Tasha went to sleep with baby Devin in bed with 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:32.280 her and little Brian in his bed, and then in 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:36.240 the early morning hours. She was awakened by a loud thud. 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.800 And I immediately think Devin has fallen out of the bed. 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.040 And I look and she's okay, and I'm like, okay, well, 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:49.079 that's not what has happened. And so I get out 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:50.720 of my bed and it's just like a couple of 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:55.240 steps to the doorway and I look and I see, 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:59.679 you know, Little Brian is on the floor and it 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:07.760 appear me that he's having a seizure. He was laying 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:11.240 on the floor, he was his eyes were rolled in 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:14.320 the back of his head. His hands, I remember his 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:24.120 hands just looking almost paralyzed, if you will. And I'm thinking, 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:27.520 I don't know what to do, and I'm panicking. I'm 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.080 trying to get the say attention to me or hear me, 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.400 respond to me, and he's not at all. 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:41.079 So Tasha called Biloxi Regional Medical Center, the hospital she 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:43.880 had just been discharged from. They said to get Little 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.520 Brian there as quickly as possible. Tasha then called Big Brian, 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:50.840 who raced home where Tasha had been trying to administer 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.240 a CPR. 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:55.280 Brian comes in. 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.880 He's in a panic mode. He has him on the floor. 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.439 He's doing CPR. We've got to go. We've got to go. 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:04.160 I have to get a diaper bag for Devin. And 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.319 when we're rushing to get to the van, Brian hits 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.720 Little Brian's head on the van door, which is not 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:14.840 on purpose. He's almost limped like at this time, and 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.319 his eyes were just rolled in the back of his head. 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:24.320 And then we get to the hospital and a man 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.720 rushes him into the emergency room and then we're in 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.439 the emergency room and they take Little Brian away from 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:36.520 us try to help him. 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:39.480 In the meantime, hospital staff had called the police to 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:43.920 investigate whether Little Brian had been abused. Most states, including Mississippi, 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.440 have mandatory reporting laws if they're suspicion of child abuse 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:49.760 or neglect. And when the police showed. 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:54.360 Up immediately they're asking questions. They're kind of hounding us 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:57.280 a little. But I'm thinking this is normal. You know, 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:00.120 there's an emergency, and I think this must be what 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:02.640 people do when there's an emergency, whichcause they care so 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:04.440 much they want to know what's happened. 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:10.920 Little Brian was transferred to a hospital in Mobile, Alabama 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:13.680 for further treatment, but it was too late for any 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:17.800 meaningful difference. The next day, Big Brian had to make 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:21.960 the hard decision to take Little Brian off life support. 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.600 The child was pronounced dead on May thirty first, nineteen 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:31.720 ninety seven. Tasha and Brian left the hospital devastated, and 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:33.319 we pull up to our house. 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:38.720 There's already people there waiting to take Devon from me, 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.920 and they're there telling me that I can't have my daughter. 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.280 And I'm like why, Like I'm not understanding, and I'm crying. 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:51.200 I'm hysterical. We're just pulling in from the loss of 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:56.199 Little Brian and they rip her out of my arms, 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:00.320 and I'm on my knees, begging and crying and they're 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:07.640 taking her. That's when I realized, my god, they seek 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:09.560 that I have done something. 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:23.800 This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company. 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:28.200 AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.960 a positive difference in the lives of its employees and 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:33.959 in the communities where they work and live. In light 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.960 of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:41.439 in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform, 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:45.760 the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal services and 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:58.520 other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. Following the death 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.000 of Little Brian, and as soon as Tasha and Big 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.000 Brian got home from the hospital, Baby Devin was taken 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:08.120 by Child Protective Services and put into foster care. Dakota 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:13.959 stayed with Tasha's grandparents while in mourning over Little Brian. 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:16.640 Tasha and Big Brian went to Texas for a week 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:19.880 to spend time with Tasha's family. A month later, they 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:22.920 decided to seal their commitment to each other by getting married. 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.960 Also during this time, Little Brian's autopsy report was released, 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:31.800 signed by doctor Leroy Riddick. It listed the cause of 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.760 death as blunt force trauma to the head and the 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:40.160 manner of death homicide. Two months after Little Brian died, 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:42.640 the police showed up at Tasha's. 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:48.720 Door and they tell me and I am under arrest 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:54.800 for the murder Brian Elwis Holmeston before and I kind 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:58.880 of lost my bodily functions in that moment. My keyed 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:03.480 everywhere and I'm asking can I please change and they're like, no, 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:06.040 you can't do that. You have to go like this. 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:11.000 The police transferred Tasha to the precinct. It was summer 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.880 and scorching hot in Mississippi, and so they take. 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:18.080 Me to this room that has absolutely no air conditioning, 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:24.000 no fan, nothing, And they not to be dramatic, but 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:26.840 it felt like I was chained, but it was handcuffed. 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:30.240 So I'm handcuffed to one side of the chair was 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:32.400 my left hand and one side of the chair was 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:33.080 my right hand. 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:38.120 Sergeant Warren Newman of the Biloxi Police Department then started 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:42.440 interrogating Tasha about the death of little Brian, and. 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:46.640 Warn Newman starts just digging in. You know, oh, we 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:49.680 know that you did this. We already have the proof. 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:54.080 But I understand you're probably suffering from postpart of depression. 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.000 This was a lot of stress. You had three children. 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:59.560 You just couldn't handle it. It was too much, like 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:01.800 saying all these things to me, and I'm just crying. 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.760 I'm thinking in my mind, like I've had three brothers 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:09.120 and two sisters, and I pretty much helped raise all 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:12.200 of my siblings. Like three kids is a piece of 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.560 cake to me. You know, this is my life, This 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.280 is everything to me. What are you talking about. 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:21.880 Tasha told Officer Newman that that night little Brian fell 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:25.560 out of bed. She didn't hurt him, but Officer Newman 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:30.800 was not buying it, and then. 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:34.080 It turns into full fledged like rage where he's just 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:36.400 like throwing everything off to the desk and he's put 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:38.880 in his arms in his hands on either side of 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.200 my chair and he's shaking my chair because I'm really little, 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:43.080 and he's shaking me and look at me in my 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.000 face and he's like, I know you did it, you 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.240 baby killer, Like he's calling me a baby killer. He's 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:51.200 telling me that I did this horrible thing and I 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:53.680 just needed just make it better for myself and tell 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:54.440 him the truth. 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:58.040 But Tasha said, the truth is what she already told him. 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:00.080 She didn't hurt little. 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:04.000 And he finally opens the door and says, this bitch 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:06.119 is not gonna talk. Let's booker. 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:14.160 At twenty two years old, Tasha Shelby was booked into 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:17.679 the Harrison County Adult Detention Center to await trial. 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:21.600 I was in a state of shock. I thought, what 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:27.040 is going on? Nobody was telling me like any answers, 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:31.200 and I just thought someone is going to find out 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:34.480 that they're wrong and they're going to give me everything back, 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:34.960 you know. 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:53.400 Tasha waited three years in jail for her trial, all 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.240 the while haunted by what happened to little Brian. 0:17:57.800 --> 0:17:59.040 It just did not feel real. 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:02.320 And they would watch something on TV and I would 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:06.080 be asleep and I could hear a baby crying on 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.560 the TV, and I remember waking up thinking that it 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:10.560 was all a train, that. 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:12.440 I had been arrested, and that I thought Devan was 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:13.479 waking me up clying. 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:23.280 Tasha was appointed public defenders Michael Cox and Donald Smith. 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:26.680 At trial, right from the start, Cox and Smith told 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:30.320 Judge Robert H. Walker that they were overworked with a 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:34.120 capital murder trial and did not feel comfortable representing Tasha, 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.879 but Judge Walker dismissed their request and Tasha went to 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:42.879 trial on June twelfth, two thousand. The prosecutors Remark Ward 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.000 and Scott Lusk. At trial, they told the jury that 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:50.560 little Brian died from shaking baby syndrome or SBS, the 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:52.320 theory that if. 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:57.400 A child exhibits bleeding in the brain, bleeding in the eyes, 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:01.880 and brain swelling, then that is only caused by one thing, 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:07.520 and that one thing is shaking. So the real fallacy 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:09.760 of a shaking baby syndrome is that it says nothing 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:12.960 else could cause those injuries, just shaking. 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:14.959 This is Velina Beattie. 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:19.000 I'm a law professor at Arizona State University Sandra Day 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:22.240 O'Connor College of Law, and I'm also the deputy director 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:24.160 of our Academy for Justice. 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.679 She's also Tasha's post conviction attorney. Velina says that at trial, 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:32.520 the state argued that Little Brian died from SBS, not 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:36.560 from an accident, as Tasha said. The state star witness 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:40.720 was doctor Leroy Riddick, the expert forensic pathologist who performs 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:44.879 Little Brian's autopsy. Doctor Riddick testified that in addition to 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:48.960 massive brain swelling, little Brian was covered in bruises less 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:49.960 than two days old. 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.920 It's not surprising they believed the child died from shake 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.920 and baby syndrome. There wasn't that much research out at 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:00.959 that time challenging the hypothesis. 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:04.840 In fact, Tasha's own defense team agreed SBS caused the death, 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:08.200 but they said it wasn't Tasha who did it. They 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:11.080 said it had to have been Big Brian's doing, a 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:13.560 theory Tasha vehemently did not agree with. 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.320 Absolutely, she did not know. She said, this child did 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:21.640 not die from abuse by me or by my husband. 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:26.080 Absolutely, what the defense failed to argue though, was that 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:29.080 it was impossible for Tasha to have shaken Little Brian 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:32.720 so violently as to kill him. Remember, Tasha was under 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:35.320 five feet tall and she was on bed rest after 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:39.399 multiple surgeries and giving birth, and at three feet tall, 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:42.359 Little Brian was big for his age, and they didn't 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:43.800 mention this at all. 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:50.080 She could not physically have had the strength to pick 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:54.680 up and shake or abuse a thirty three pound, two 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:57.840 and a half year old child who was over half 0:20:57.920 --> 0:20:59.200 of her sets. 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:04.160 Big Brian also testified at trial he believed in Tasha's innocence, 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:07.520 but because the prosecution was considering charging him as well, 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:11.120 he was scared. In the end, he distanced himself from 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:16.399 Tasha and actually cooperated with the prosecution. On the stand, 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:20.040 Big Brian talked about his and Tasha's concerns about Little 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:20.760 Brian's health. 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:26.320 Tasha was concerned about his development and that he was 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:31.640 eating mud. He just didn't seem to be progressing at 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:36.840 the same rate that Dakota, the other child in the household, 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:40.080 who is approximately the same age, so they should be at, 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:42.240 you know, approximately the same development level. 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:46.240 Big Brian also said that several weeks before his death, 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:50.600 little Brian's eyes appeared bloodshot. He and Tasha had also 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:53.879 noticed Little Brian's staring off into space, his eyes rolling 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.520 back into his head. This phenomenon would now be diagnosed 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.679 as a petite mal seizure. Big Brian testified that he 0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:04.840 and Tasha had taken Little Brian to the pediatrician, who 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:08.840 suggested they see a neurologist. In fact, the appointment was 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:13.560 scheduled for seven days after Little Brian's death. Tasha had 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:17.560 also written about her concern over Little Brian and her diary. However, 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:21.000 neither her diary nor the family calendar where they had 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:24.919 written the appointment with the neurologist were ever recovered or 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:30.160 presented to the jury. 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:34.600 It was truly just a mate believe trial. 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:37.040 That's how Tasha's Penny remembers it. 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:41.399 They withheld evidence, they destroyed evidence. You know, they just 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:44.320 lied about her. And you know she had out of 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:47.439 the journals that she kept. In those journals, she talked about, 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:50.080 you know, how much she's loved O'Brien and how much 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:54.200 she loved the mom, and well, they took those journals 0:22:54.840 --> 0:23:00.760 and then they lost them, didn't find them. 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:04.040 The defense argued the best case they could for reasonable 0:23:04.080 --> 0:23:06.879 doubt that it was possible Little Brian had died from 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:09.280 falling out of bed, or that he had a seizure, 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:13.280 or even that Big Brian was responsible. However, it was 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:17.320 not enough. On June sixteenth, two thousand, at the age 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:21.440 of twenty five, Tasha was sentenced to life without parole. 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:34.199 Sentenced to life in prison. Tasha struggled to come to 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:36.000 terms with what was happening to her. 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:41.720 I didn't oh that, you know that this was real. 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:46.280 Yet knowing that I didn't have my life, my children 0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:49.199 and my family, you know, everything in that moment just 0:23:49.200 --> 0:23:50.800 felt like it had been taken from me. 0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:55.440 Even Big Brian was gone. The last time Tasha saw him, 0:23:55.680 --> 0:23:58.280 she was still in County jail, two years before she 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:02.840 was convicted. It was her twenty third birthday, March. 0:24:02.760 --> 0:24:06.919 Eight, rankteen ninety eight. We had a contact visitation. We 0:24:07.119 --> 0:24:09.240 actually got to hold each other and touch each other, 0:24:09.480 --> 0:24:13.000 and you know, it's only happy birthday. I love you, 0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:15.679 all of these things. Everything's gonna be okay. You know 0:24:15.760 --> 0:24:21.240 I'm here. He walked out that night and said, I 0:24:21.280 --> 0:24:26.199 will call you tomorrow. The next day, I call like 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:30.080 I normally would, and I hear the recording that this 0:24:30.200 --> 0:24:34.640 number is no longer in service, and I have never 0:24:35.640 --> 0:24:39.160 spoken to him again, and I do not know what happened. 0:24:46.760 --> 0:24:49.399 But others in her family have stayed in Tasha's life 0:24:49.520 --> 0:24:53.000 and continue to champion her innocence. The first time she 0:24:53.080 --> 0:24:56.439 visited Tasha in prison, her aunt Penny found Tasha just 0:24:56.720 --> 0:24:57.720 as she remembered her. 0:24:58.240 --> 0:25:00.840 She was still the same Tash. I was still a 0:25:00.880 --> 0:25:05.159 little and cute and funny and smart, and you know, 0:25:05.160 --> 0:25:06.880 it's like no time it ever passed at all. 0:25:09.600 --> 0:25:12.639 Although Tasha was doing life in prison, she was determined 0:25:12.640 --> 0:25:14.800 to make the most of her time, so she joined 0:25:14.800 --> 0:25:18.399 an art program and tutored women getting their ged, and 0:25:18.440 --> 0:25:21.720 she began taking college courses, including one that she says 0:25:21.880 --> 0:25:23.560