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Speaker 1: A warning for listeners, this episode contains discussion of child's

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Speaker 1: sexual abuse. Please listen with caution and care. In the

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Speaker 1: summer of two thousand and one, Lreinda Swain was a

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Speaker 1: forty year old single mother of two living in Union City, Michigan.

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Speaker 1: She had just completed a three month jail term for

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Speaker 1: a drug charge and was back home on parole. Larinda

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Speaker 1: was looking forward to seeing her boys, Ronnie and Cody,

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Speaker 1: who had been living with their father while she was

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Speaker 1: in jail. She'd been trying to reach her ex husband

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Speaker 1: to arrange it, but he hadn't returned any of her calls.

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Speaker 1: Larinda was relaxing in the bathtub at her parents' farmhouse

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Speaker 1: when there was a knock at the door.

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Speaker 2: And so my dad tells that the police are there.

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Speaker 2: I figured the cops was here there, and they're likes

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Speaker 2: trying to say I threatened them about having visitation, But.

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Speaker 1: It was much more serious than that.

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Speaker 2: When I tell people that I was sentenced twenty five

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Speaker 2: to fifty years, they automatically assumed that I was accused

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Speaker 2: of murder, and I always tell them, no, I was

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Speaker 2: accused of worse than that.

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Speaker 1: From love of for good, This is wrongful conviction with

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Speaker 1: Maggie Freeling today Larenda Swain. Lorenda Swain was born in

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixty in Hamilton, Ohio. The family later moved to Michigan.

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Speaker 1: She was the middle child of six.

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Speaker 2: I've always heard that that's a bad place to be,

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Speaker 2: you know, But to be honest, my siblings, if you

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Speaker 2: had to ask every one of them who they're the

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Speaker 2: closest to, it would probably be me. So I like

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Speaker 2: to be in the middle child. I had the very

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Speaker 2: loving parents, George and Fay. They've been married sixty eight years.

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Speaker 2: My dad was a two on die maker. My mother

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Speaker 2: was like a homemaker till we were all in school, and.

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Speaker 3: Then she got a job so that we could buy

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Speaker 3: a farm.

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Speaker 1: Laarinda admits that as a child she had some unusual hobbies.

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Speaker 2: I was the cleaner out of the family. I had

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Speaker 2: to cook and clean, and when I was a kid,

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Speaker 2: I would like, you know, stay up all night and

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Speaker 2: clean the silver drawers.

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Speaker 1: But she also enjoyed more typical kid things well.

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Speaker 2: I had a good childhood. I liked sports. We camped

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Speaker 2: and fished. My mom always took us to Saltaban and

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Speaker 2: we'd get cherries.

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Speaker 3: And ice cream on the way a lot of my

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Speaker 3: life felt very lucky to be me.

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Speaker 1: When she was a teenager, the family moved to a

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Speaker 1: farm in Burlington, about forty miles away. Before long, Larinda

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Speaker 1: fell for someone and they started a serious relationship. She

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Speaker 1: was seventeen, he was twenty seven. They moved in together

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Speaker 1: a year later.

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Speaker 2: Living together back then was like a big deal and

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Speaker 2: my parents were like, you know, we'll design you. And

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Speaker 2: the next week they were like at my house and

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Speaker 2: loved my husband. And I lived there like maybe two

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Speaker 2: years before we got married. And then I was married

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Speaker 2: to him for seven years.

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Speaker 1: But that marriage didn't work out, and at twenty eight,

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Speaker 1: Lorenda found herself in transition, about to be divorced, living

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Speaker 1: in Union City, Michigan, and working at a local Italian restaurant.

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Speaker 1: And that is where she met Ronald Swain.

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Speaker 2: I slipped on a piece of ice cleaning up the

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Speaker 2: salad bar Italian pasta bar, and ron you know, came

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Speaker 2: to rescue me and I met him, And to be honest,

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Speaker 2: I you know, like I said, I was getting a

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Speaker 2: divorce from my first marriage, and I ended up having

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Speaker 2: to worry if.

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Speaker 3: My divorce was going to be final before we got married.

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Speaker 1: Ron was sixteen years older than Lorenda, and as she

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Speaker 1: describes him, he was handsome enough to be a movie star.

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Speaker 1: He already had a daughter and just says he was

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Speaker 1: a good dad. She looked forward to starting a family

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Speaker 1: with him.

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Speaker 2: I used to love kids more than anybody in the

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Speaker 2: entire world. I'm talking nieces and nephews. Prior to having

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Speaker 2: my own children. We tried twice to have a test

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Speaker 2: two baby and it didn't work. So we ended up

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Speaker 2: getting into foster care and adopting.

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Speaker 1: They adopted two boys, Ronnie and Cody Joe, who were

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Speaker 1: thirteen months apart.

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Speaker 2: They brought me a lot of joy, they did. I

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Speaker 2: loved them and I was so happy being a mom.

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Speaker 2: I was so I spoiled them. They brought me so

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Speaker 2: much joy.

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Speaker 4: Oh, she was the Ulliman mother.

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Speaker 1: This is George Johnson, Lorenda's father.

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Speaker 4: She loved them, ever loved her child.

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Speaker 5: But she couldn't have children, and so where she got

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Speaker 5: to adopt these two bull boys.

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Speaker 4: It was like a guest from God, you know, worship

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Speaker 4: them boys.

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Speaker 1: But unfortunately ron didn't feel the same about the children.

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Speaker 3: Lorenda says, they didn't make him happy.

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Speaker 2: And you know, so you know, the marriage didn't work out,

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Speaker 2: and I think they were like five and six, maybe

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Speaker 2: four and five. When we got divorced. I had the

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Speaker 2: custody and he hardly visited. You know, he got to

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Speaker 2: claim him for taxes as long as he was current

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Speaker 2: on support, and he didn't even come and visit home,

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Speaker 2: or you know, is.

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Speaker 4: This her the two boys as their family now?

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Speaker 5: She really pleased that she was the mother and the

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Speaker 5: father and they wasn't going to be short changed in

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Speaker 5: any way.

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Speaker 1: But still being a single parent wasn't easy. Lorenda says,

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Speaker 1: before long, things in her life started to go downhill.

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Speaker 1: She found a new boyfriend who turned out to be violent,

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Speaker 1: and he introduced her to hard drugs.

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Speaker 2: And that's what I'm guilty of, is that I made

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Speaker 2: a bad choice.

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Speaker 3: I did use crack.

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Speaker 2: I did I was depressed, and you know, maybe that's

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Speaker 2: just an excuse whatever. I never even knew what it

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Speaker 2: was and sure didn't plan it, and it's one of

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Speaker 2: my deepest regrets, but it's you know, I can't change it.

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Speaker 1: After she got out of that relationship, Lorenda got back

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Speaker 1: on her feet. Her living situation got more stable, and

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Speaker 1: she began to feel like she and the boys were

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Speaker 1: doing okay.

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Speaker 2: I was living with a boyfriend that I did treework

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Speaker 2: for in my parents one of their rental properties. They

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Speaker 2: had more than one, and I would move there and

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Speaker 2: I would like fix it up, landscape, clean the yard,

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Speaker 2: clean the house. That great, and then they would get

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Speaker 2: me to move to another. We'll get Larna to move

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Speaker 2: there because she'll fix it up.

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Speaker 1: But then Lorenda made another bad choice. She stole one

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Speaker 1: of her parents' credit cards and used it to score drugs.

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Speaker 4: She got it, maxed it out, maxed it out overnight.

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Speaker 2: My parents didn't prosecute, but I got probation. I had

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Speaker 2: no criminal history prior to this.

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Speaker 1: Lorenda wasn't incarcerated, but she was on parole and she

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Speaker 1: couldn't kick old habits.

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Speaker 2: I did go back out news and my dad loved

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Speaker 2: me and was so worried.

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Speaker 3: About me that he turned me in.

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Speaker 2: He wanted me to go to jail because he was

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Speaker 2: afraid if I didn't that I was going to get killed.

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Speaker 3: You know, doing drugs.

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Speaker 5: Well that was really the We got to do something,

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Speaker 5: and you steal from your parents, that's about as low

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Speaker 5: as you can get, you know. And we worked with

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Speaker 5: her all along, but at that point, somebody else had

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Speaker 5: to help her.

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Speaker 4: I wasn't able to do it.

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Speaker 1: Lorendo was sent to prison on the drug violation for

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Speaker 1: ninety days, and while she was there, Ronnie and Cody

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Speaker 1: were in the custody of their dad and his new

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Speaker 1: wife Lynn. When Lorendo was released in August of two

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Speaker 1: thousand and one, she was still on probation and had

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Speaker 1: to wear an ankle monitor. She wasted no time trying

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Speaker 1: to contact ron to see her children.

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Speaker 2: And my husband wouldn't answer the phone or whatever, and

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Speaker 2: I just told that, Hey, if you don't get a

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Speaker 2: hold of me by Friday, you'll be in contempt at court.

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Speaker 1: A couple of days later, Lorinda was at her parents' farm.

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Speaker 2: I'm actually in the bathtub with my leg up on

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Speaker 2: the side of the tub with a plastic bag around

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Speaker 2: it because back then you couldn't get the tethers wet.

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Speaker 2: And so my dad tells that the police are there.

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Speaker 2: I figured the cops w was be there, and they're

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Speaker 2: like trying to say I threatened them about having visitation, but.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't about the visitation at all. The police were

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Speaker 1: there to take Lorenda in. She had been accused of

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Speaker 1: committing an unimaginable crime, and.

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Speaker 6: So can you walk us through what happened in this case?

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Speaker 6: Not necessarily the prosecution theory, but what happened.

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Speaker 7: Ronnie, who was the older son, who by this point

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Speaker 7: was about fourteen years old, was caught by his stepmother

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Speaker 7: committing sexual misconduct with a relative.

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Speaker 1: This is Dave Moran. He's the co director and co

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Speaker 1: founder of the Michigan Innocence Clinic at the University of

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Speaker 1: Michigan Law School.

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Speaker 7: And the stepmother apparently suggested to Ronnie that he must

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Speaker 7: have learned that from someone else, and Ronnie then implicated

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Speaker 7: Lorenda and claimed that Lorenda had performed oral sex on him.

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Speaker 1: According to the allegations, this had all happened years before,

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Speaker 1: when Ronnie was about seven.

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Speaker 7: Many many times, in fact, every day before catching the

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Speaker 7: school bus. According to Ronnie, Lorenda pulled down his pants

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Speaker 7: and performed oral sex on him.

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Speaker 2: Ronnie was the most honest kid. So when they first

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Speaker 2: accused me of it down at the jail halls, after

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Speaker 2: they've picked me up at my parents' firm, I told

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Speaker 2: the guy, I don't believe Ronnie said that. He said

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Speaker 2: I witnessed Ronnie said, I said, well, then he's a

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Speaker 2: goddamn liar, because I said, I never dreamed of doing that.

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Speaker 4: Oh, I know she didn't do it. I know she

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Speaker 4: didn't do it the way she loved them Rayne don't

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Speaker 4: Wayne Hill, and she harmed up boys like something like that.

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Speaker 1: But based on Ronnie's allegation alone, Lorenda was arrested and

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Speaker 1: charged with sexually molesting her oldest son. The trial was

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Speaker 1: scheduled for the following August, and then soon after his

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Speaker 1: mother was arrested, Ronnie confessed that the story was a lie.

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Speaker 1: It would be the first of many times that he

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Speaker 1: tried to recant.

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Speaker 2: The first time he recranted, my dad and my sister

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Speaker 2: and my nephew went with a.

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Speaker 3: Tape recorder thing.

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Speaker 2: And asked if they, you know, he would talk to him,

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Speaker 2: and he agreed to you know.

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Speaker 4: I asked him, what on earth did you? You know? What?

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Speaker 4: What's sadil? And me it wasn't true.

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Speaker 2: Then they called the other grandma, his birth grandma, and

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Speaker 2: he admitted to her that I didn't do it, And

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Speaker 2: he admitted to my parents that I didn't do it,

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Speaker 2: and my dad had it on tape.

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Speaker 1: But those tapes were never introduced at trial by Lorenda's defense.

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Speaker 2: My lawyer just counted on Ronnie telling the truth, and

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Speaker 2: that was when I realized at the trial, I'm going

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Speaker 2: to be found guilty.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. You can

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Speaker 1: listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts

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Speaker 1: one week early and ad free by subscribing to Lava

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Speaker 1: for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Lorenda's trial began in

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Speaker 1: August of two thousand and two in Calhoun County, Michigan.

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Speaker 1: The primary witnesses for the prosecution were Ronnie, who was

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Speaker 1: now fifteen, and his younger brother, Cody, who was fourteen.

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Speaker 7: Cody didn't implicate her directly in any kind of sexual misconduct,

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Speaker 7: but just kind of backed up that she supposedly had

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Speaker 7: behaved inappropriately. Then you had the stepmother testifying about what

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Speaker 7: Ronnie had told her, and that was pretty much. Yet

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Speaker 7: the prosecution didn't really have any other substantial witnesses.

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Speaker 1: The story worry that the jury heard from Ronnie and

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Speaker 1: Cody at trial went like this.

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Speaker 7: The allegations were quite specific, namely that for this period

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Speaker 7: of several years, Lorenda would get the boys up and

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Speaker 7: get them ready for school, and then she would send

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Speaker 7: the younger son, Cody out to wait for the school bus,

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Speaker 7: and then she would molest Ronnie, and then Cody would

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Speaker 7: come running down the driveway to alert everybody that the

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Speaker 7: school bus was coming. And then Lorenda would pull up

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Speaker 7: Ronnie's pants and send them out there to join Cody

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Speaker 7: and catch the bus.

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Speaker 3: No kid ever waited out there alone.

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Speaker 2: They usually were watching cartoons, eating fruit roll ups, and

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Speaker 2: when I see the bus coming, I'd had to hurry

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Speaker 2: and get them to go run out to the end

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Speaker 2: of the driveway. You know what I'm saying. No one

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Speaker 2: kid ever sat out there by himself.

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Speaker 7: And so Lorenda at her trial, she didn't have a

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Speaker 7: very good lawyer, but she tried to assert the defenses herself,

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Speaker 7: and so at one point while she was testifying, she

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Speaker 7: blurted out, the story is not true, asked the neighbor

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Speaker 7: boy and the school bus driver.

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Speaker 2: My lawyer should stop the trial right then, and said, look,

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Speaker 2: we need to get the bus driver in. The little

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Speaker 2: neighbor boy so he was telling the truth here, but

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Speaker 2: he didn't do that.

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Speaker 1: Instead, Lorenda's attorney was counting on Ronnie to tell the

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Speaker 1: truth on the stand, but that didn't happen either.

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Speaker 7: Ronnie recanted before trial, and in fact, he recanted at trial,

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Speaker 7: and then he had a private conversation with a prosecutor.

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Speaker 7: Then he came back in and unrecanted.

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Speaker 2: My lawyer said to Ronnie three times, don't you want

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Speaker 2: to tell the truth here today? The third time Ronnie

256
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Speaker 2: started crying, the judge stopped the trial ordered everybody out

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Speaker 2: of the courtroom. I knew he was crying because he

258
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Speaker 2: knew I had never dreamed of doing anything like that.

259
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Speaker 2: But I realized to the twelve strangers, they think he's

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Speaker 2: crying because they guy really did do this.

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Speaker 1: On August twentieth, two thousand and two, the jury found

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Speaker 1: Lorenda guilty on all four counts of first degree criminal

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Speaker 1: sexual conduct. She was sentenced to twenty five to fifty

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Speaker 1: years in prison.

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Speaker 2: When I was first found guilty of a crime I

266
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Speaker 2: never dreamed of doing.

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Speaker 3: I was sure.

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Speaker 2: I was so naive to think that when they realized

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Speaker 2: that I didn't do it, they'll tear the doors down,

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Speaker 2: you know. Eventually, I knew they knew they had made

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Speaker 2: a mistake, but they'd sooner appeal or fight it and

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Speaker 2: not care if my family and my life is wrecked.

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Speaker 2: To this day, I can't believe it was real. The

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Speaker 2: whole while I was in there. I knew it was real,

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Speaker 2: but I couldn't believe it was real at the same time.

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Speaker 2: You know, I've done some wrong in my day, I

277
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Speaker 2: really have, but I sure didn't do this.

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Speaker 7: Well.

279
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Speaker 3: I said a lot in my life, I felt really

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Speaker 3: lucky to be me.

281
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Speaker 2: But when I was in a jail cell on my

282
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Speaker 2: forty first birthday, accused of when I was accused of,

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Speaker 2: I felt like the most unlucky person in the.

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Speaker 3: Entire world for a very long time.

285
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Speaker 2: You know, when I tell people that I was sentenced

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Speaker 2: twenty five to fifty years, they automatically.

287
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Speaker 3: Assumed that I was accused.

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Speaker 2: Of murder, and I always tell him, no, I was

289
00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,800
Speaker 2: accused of worse than that. You know, I would have

290
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Speaker 2: rather been accused of killing my mom and dad than

291
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Speaker 2: to be accused of molesting your adopted son.

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Speaker 1: You know, Laurinda knew that because of the nature of

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Speaker 1: the crime she was charged with, she was going to

294
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Speaker 1: have a tough time of it in prison.

295
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Speaker 3: People were cruel.

296
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Speaker 2: To some people, and a lot of times it was

297
00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:20,159
Speaker 2: like sexual assault people. You know, I had a couple

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00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,720
Speaker 2: different confrontations where one girl did say to me, you

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Speaker 2: sucked your kid's dick the size of my pinky and

300
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Speaker 2: put her pinky up and said that in my face.

301
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Speaker 2: The thought was in my head to pick the pan

302
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Speaker 2: up and beat her fricking brains out. But God also

303
00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:44,479
Speaker 2: put the thought in my head. Sticks and stones can

304
00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:47,719
Speaker 2: break your bones, but names can never harm you unless

305
00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:48,800
Speaker 2: you hurt that girl.

306
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Speaker 3: I'll tell you what I drink. I smoke pot.

307
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Speaker 2: I swear. I certainly am not a saint, but I

308
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Speaker 2: love God. I know he's real. I'm sorry, I'm the sinner.

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Speaker 2: I talked to him all the time, and when I

310
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Speaker 2: was in prison, I was talking to him and I

311
00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:09,840
Speaker 2: was even swearing at him, telling them the Bible is

312
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:12,719
Speaker 2: a damn Lie says, you don't put more on us

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Speaker 2: and we can bear, and this is way more than

314
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Speaker 2: I can bear.

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Speaker 1: The Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan opened its

316
00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:30,920
Speaker 1: doors in January of two thousand and nine. Dave remembers

317
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Speaker 1: that Lorenda's was one of the first cases they took on.

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Speaker 7: We took it within the first few months of the

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Speaker 7: clinic being open because it came to us recommended by

320
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Speaker 7: Bill Procter, who was an investigative journalist and then later

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00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:48,680
Speaker 7: private investigator that we knew and trusted, and we heard

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Speaker 7: from Brad Edwards, another investigative journalist who'd done a story

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Speaker 7: on Lorenda's case, and so after meeting Lorenda in prison,

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Speaker 7: we very quickly decided to take on the case.

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Speaker 6: Well, so how did you disprove it? Because that's the

326
00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:02,440
Speaker 6: like what it was. It was ninety six and ninety

327
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Speaker 6: four he said his mom was molesting him, and now

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Speaker 6: you know, we're years later.

329
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Speaker 7: So how did you Well, because we talked to Ronnie

330
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Speaker 7: pretty early on and Cody both and they were both

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Speaker 7: firm that this did not happen. That Ronnie and Cody

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00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:25,359
Speaker 7: had been manipulated by the stepmother into making these charges

333
00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:28,719
Speaker 7: against Lorenda, And so that made us think that this

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00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:32,120
Speaker 7: was a wrongful conviction. But we knew that Ronnie and

335
00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:35,000
Speaker 7: Cody alone couldn't do it because they had already recanted.

336
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Speaker 7: So that wasn't going to be new evidence. We had

337
00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:39,560
Speaker 7: to find new evidence, and the most obvious place to

338
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Speaker 7: look was what Lorendo had shout out at trial. The

339
00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:45,639
Speaker 7: they were kid and the school bus driver. The jury

340
00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:48,560
Speaker 7: never heard from them, What about that neighbor boy, what

341
00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:51,440
Speaker 7: about that school bus driver, and we found them, and

342
00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:55,920
Speaker 7: the neighbor boy agreed that the Swain brothers came out

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Speaker 7: every morning together and waited with him for the school bus.

344
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Speaker 7: And then we actually found the school bus driver, and

345
00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:06,439
Speaker 7: she had an amazing memory of the routes that she

346
00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,840
Speaker 7: drove and who she picked up at each point.

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Speaker 1: At a post conviction hearing before Judge Conrad, since both

348
00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,960
Speaker 1: the neighbor and the bus driver were called as witnesses,

349
00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:22,479
Speaker 1: the bus driver testified that she saw the Swain brothers

350
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Speaker 1: waiting at the stop together every day along with the

351
00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:29,000
Speaker 1: neighbor boy. She never saw Cody running to get his

352
00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:30,159
Speaker 1: brother from the house.

353
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Speaker 7: The prosecutor got up, you know, just dripping with sarcasm, like,

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Speaker 7: oh yeah, sure, after all these years. You know, by

355
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Speaker 7: this point we're close to twenty years or fifteen, twenty years,

356
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,159
Speaker 7: and so so the prosecutor just fell right into the

357
00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:45,440
Speaker 7: trap and he said, all right, so you know, who

358
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Speaker 7: did you pick up the stop before the Swains? And

359
00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,239
Speaker 7: she named like two or three kids, and all right,

360
00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,800
Speaker 7: what about what about the stop before that? She named

361
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Speaker 7: two or three more kids. Well what about to stop

362
00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:57,600
Speaker 7: after the swing kids? And she named the kids she

363
00:20:57,640 --> 00:20:59,960
Speaker 7: picked up there and you could just tell the judge

364
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:03,800
Speaker 7: was utterly convinced by this veteran school bus driver with

365
00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:04,879
Speaker 7: the photographic memory.

366
00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:10,240
Speaker 1: And in their investigation, Dave's team had uncovered another witness,

367
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:14,280
Speaker 1: Dennis Book, who was Larinda's living boyfriend at the time

368
00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:15,879
Speaker 1: of the alleged abuse.

369
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Speaker 7: And he provided utterly crucial testimony because he was there

370
00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,360
Speaker 7: when the boys would catch the bus, because he would

371
00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:25,959
Speaker 7: leave after that to go to work, and so he

372
00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:29,640
Speaker 7: could affirm that this absolutely didn't happen. And what made

373
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:33,120
Speaker 7: him such a great witness was that he absolutely hated Larinda.

374
00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:38,080
Speaker 7: They had a terrible breakup. But even more crucially what

375
00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,920
Speaker 7: he revealed is that he had been contacted by Detective Picket,

376
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Speaker 7: who was the officer in charge of the case against Larinda,

377
00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:48,159
Speaker 7: and he had told Detective Picket and know uncertain terms,

378
00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,200
Speaker 7: you know, I detest that woman, but this absolutely didn't happen,

379
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Speaker 7: and if it had happened, I would have turned her

380
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:54,440
Speaker 7: in myself.

381
00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:58,680
Speaker 1: Knowing how much Dennis Book hated Larinda, her defense attorney

382
00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:02,200
Speaker 1: never called him at trial. He was afraid that Dennis's

383
00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:07,400
Speaker 1: testimony would hurt Larinda's case. An officer Pickett never revealed

384
00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:10,560
Speaker 1: to the defense what Dennis Book had told him that

385
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Speaker 1: Larinda didn't do it.

386
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:17,119
Speaker 7: And so that became a Brady violation because had the

387
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:20,600
Speaker 7: defense lawyer known what Dennis Book had told Detective Picket,

388
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,199
Speaker 7: then that would have changed the calculus entirely.

389
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Speaker 8: What made him want to testify?

390
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:29,560
Speaker 7: For you guys, he didn't, especially it took several visits

391
00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:32,560
Speaker 7: with him to persuade him to testify, and then of

392
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:34,840
Speaker 7: course we did subpoena him, so he actually was under

393
00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:37,960
Speaker 7: legal obligation to show up. So I can imagine the

394
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,560
Speaker 7: person that you've had the worst breakup in your life

395
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:44,800
Speaker 7: with coming in and saying, basically, you're a terrible person,

396
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:50,679
Speaker 7: but you didn't do this. That is a credible witness.

397
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Speaker 1: In August of two thousand and nine, as a result

398
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Speaker 1: of the new evidence, Judge sent granted Larinda a new

399
00:22:57,480 --> 00:22:59,919
Speaker 1: trial and she was released on bond.

400
00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:04,119
Speaker 2: When I was in prison, I watched two sets of Olympics,

401
00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:07,520
Speaker 2: and I used to think the closest thing I'd ever

402
00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:09,800
Speaker 2: feel to what they must feel when they touch that

403
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:14,080
Speaker 2: pool first or cross that finish line, would be if

404
00:23:14,080 --> 00:23:15,960
Speaker 2: my name was cleared and I got justice.

405
00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,520
Speaker 3: Well, it felt good leaving there. August fifth, o nine

406
00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:21,000
Speaker 3: and I.

407
00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:22,919
Speaker 2: Thought, I'm going to know what it feels like to

408
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:25,760
Speaker 2: be the Olympic athlete in six months to a year.

409
00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:27,879
Speaker 3: For sure, that's what it looked like.

410
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:32,399
Speaker 1: But Loreinda's journey wasn't over when she was released on bond.

411
00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,320
Speaker 7: And then the case though, lingered for another seven years

412
00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:39,560
Speaker 7: from that point for us trying to, you know, finalize

413
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:41,119
Speaker 7: the victory, and it kept going up and down the

414
00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:43,720
Speaker 7: appellate chain, and we would lose rounds and then we'd

415
00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:47,639
Speaker 7: win around, and the prosecution, when we'd lose around would

416
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:50,200
Speaker 7: move to send her back to prison. So we have

417
00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:51,600
Speaker 7: to go back to the trial judge and try and

418
00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:52,520
Speaker 7: keep her out of prison.

419
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:55,000
Speaker 2: I had no idea it was going to be seven

420
00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,280
Speaker 2: more years that I'd have to worry that I'm going

421
00:23:58,320 --> 00:23:59,880
Speaker 2: to have to either go back to prison or kill

422
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:02,000
Speaker 2: me myself, because I wasn't going back to prison, and

423
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:04,359
Speaker 2: I wasn't going to take off and make my parents

424
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,280
Speaker 2: lose their thirty thousand dollars they'd put up for bond.

425
00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:11,640
Speaker 7: And there were some scary moments because Lorenda was very

426
00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,480
Speaker 7: dead set about not going back to prison, and so

427
00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:16,800
Speaker 7: we were very concerned about her health and safety.

428
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:21,199
Speaker 1: Did she express to you her maybe suicidal idiations that

429
00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:22,720
Speaker 1: if she was going to go back, that was that

430
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:23,040
Speaker 1: was it.

431
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,040
Speaker 7: Yes, and you know, we would try and talk her

432
00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:26,600
Speaker 7: out of it, but it was a lot of pressure

433
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:28,680
Speaker 7: on it. And there was one hearing in particular where

434
00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 7: we had just lost around and then the prosecution moved

435
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,000
Speaker 7: to cancel her bond and tether and send her back

436
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:36,320
Speaker 7: to prison. And we went to court and there was

437
00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 7: a guy there from the Department of Corrections waiting and

438
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,920
Speaker 7: he was he was holding his you know, leg irons

439
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:47,320
Speaker 7: and waist chain and handcuffs and you know, playing with them, clinking,

440
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:49,600
Speaker 7: clinking them like the grim Reaper.

441
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:53,800
Speaker 1: We've heard that Ronnie recant did his allegation many times,

442
00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:57,400
Speaker 1: and he continued to maintain that Lorenda hadn't done this.

443
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:01,480
Speaker 1: But that still leaves the question why did Ronnie make

444
00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:07,879
Speaker 1: up this story in the first place. It all started

445
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:11,080
Speaker 1: when Lorenda was in prison for the drug violation and

446
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,000
Speaker 1: Ronnie and Cody were living with their father and stepmother.

447
00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:17,640
Speaker 1: As it came out later, fourteen year old Ronnie had

448
00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:20,320
Speaker 1: been caught in an act of sexual misconduct with a

449
00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,440
Speaker 1: young relative, a three year old girl who was also

450
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:24,520
Speaker 1: living in the house.

451
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:28,720
Speaker 3: He knew he had done wrong. The little girl told

452
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:29,280
Speaker 3: on him.

453
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:32,399
Speaker 2: Ronnie first denied it, then he admitted he did it

454
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:35,320
Speaker 2: and said he was playing game called babies. So they

455
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:37,879
Speaker 2: took him to the therapist and had him tell the therapists I

456
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:42,560
Speaker 2: had done this, you know, lots of times, way years ago,

457
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:44,560
Speaker 2: and that's why he did it.

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00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:50,520
Speaker 7: Years later, Ronnie admitted that actually he had learned about

459
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,240
Speaker 7: oral sex from watching some of the movies and magazines

460
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:55,399
Speaker 7: in his father's porn stash.

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00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,280
Speaker 1: And so how did it come about where they were like, oh,

462
00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:01,480
Speaker 1: we're going to blame little Renda.

463
00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 8: It's you know how that happens?

464
00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:08,160
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, because the stepmother told Ronnie, she said, Ronnie,

465
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:10,440
Speaker 2: if this happened to you, you won't go to jail.

466
00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:12,120
Speaker 3: Your mom will.

467
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:13,960
Speaker 2: Get a little bit of time in jail and we'll

468
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,040
Speaker 2: help her with her using her drugs. She'll get six

469
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:20,560
Speaker 2: months in jail, but I got twenty five to fifty

470
00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:21,560
Speaker 2: years in jail.

471
00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 1: Allegations of child sexual abuse are taken very seriously by

472
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,200
Speaker 1: the courts, But Ronnie had recanted his story multiple times

473
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,960
Speaker 1: to authorities, So why would that not be enough to

474
00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:38,080
Speaker 1: overturn the conviction? As Dave explains, when it comes to

475
00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,159
Speaker 1: these kinds of cases, it's not always that simple.

476
00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:46,119
Speaker 7: Even a recantation from the complainant is likely not to

477
00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:48,960
Speaker 7: be enough because there are so many reasons that the

478
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:50,920
Speaker 7: courts will appoint to. If the prosecutors will point to

479
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:55,320
Speaker 7: as to why somebody might recant a child sexual abuse allegation,

480
00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:59,199
Speaker 7: it's true, for example, because they're under pressure from family members,

481
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,960
Speaker 7: or because they feel guilty about sending somebody to prison,

482
00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:04,520
Speaker 7: or they think that somebody has been punished enough and

483
00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:07,720
Speaker 7: it's time time to bring them home. And so it's

484
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:11,200
Speaker 7: just never enough to have the complainant in a child

485
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:14,200
Speaker 7: sex abuse case wecan't and in fact it wasn't enough

486
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,760
Speaker 7: in this case. Loreinda had gotten nowhere, even though Ronnie

487
00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:21,800
Speaker 7: had vociferously recanted many times. You have to be able

488
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:24,119
Speaker 7: to corroborate the recantation. You have to be able to

489
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:28,840
Speaker 7: show why the claim objectively couldn't be true. And so

490
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:30,480
Speaker 7: we were very lucky in this case that we were

491
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:31,120
Speaker 7: able to do.

492
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:34,560
Speaker 8: That, and that was through the bus driver and the

493
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:35,440
Speaker 8: neighbor boy.

494
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:37,000
Speaker 7: And the ex boyfriend Dennis book.

495
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,280
Speaker 1: Over the next seven years, Loreinda was granted a retrial

496
00:27:52,480 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 1: multiple times, but Calhoun County prosecutor Susan Maladanov objected each time. Finally,

497
00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:04,400
Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen, the Michigan Innocence Clinic persuaded the state

498
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:09,040
Speaker 1: Supreme Court to order a new trial for Lareinda, and

499
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:13,960
Speaker 1: then on May nineteenth, twenty sixteen, the prosecution dropped the charges.

500
00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:16,240
Speaker 1: She was finally free.

501
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:19,760
Speaker 2: I did end up getting to feel what that athlete

502
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:25,040
Speaker 2: felt like when they touched that pool. When Dave called

503
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:29,359
Speaker 2: me and told me the Supreme Court decision is back

504
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:31,679
Speaker 2: and you're exonerated.

505
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:37,000
Speaker 7: That was great. I mean, that was euphoork. A lot

506
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,560
Speaker 7: of pressure on her, a lot of pressure on us

507
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,000
Speaker 7: all those years. But to actually be able to complete

508
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:46,120
Speaker 7: the exoneration, have her cut off that tether that she'd

509
00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:50,040
Speaker 7: been wearing for seven years and be free, it was

510
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:51,480
Speaker 7: one of the great moments at the clinic.

511
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,520
Speaker 1: Larinda is no longer in touch with Ronnie and Cody,

512
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 1: and you know, I.

513
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:07,320
Speaker 2: Do forgive them. They didn't ask me to adopt them.

514
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 2: I did use drugs, you know, I forgive them, but

515
00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:13,920
Speaker 2: I can't. I just can't forget with the wrecked mine

516
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:16,200
Speaker 2: and my parents' life.

517
00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:19,960
Speaker 1: In July of twenty seventeen, Loreinda filed a lawsuit against

518
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:24,760
Speaker 1: Calhoun County seeking damages for her wrongful conviction. The suit

519
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:28,000
Speaker 1: was settled in twenty eighteen, which allowed Lorenda to put

520
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,200
Speaker 1: her life back together and finally make a new start.

521
00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:34,600
Speaker 2: I work hard, I rest hard, and I play hard.

522
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:38,080
Speaker 2: I have a dog that I've had for almost fourteen years.

523
00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:39,800
Speaker 2: We're little old ladies together.

524
00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:44,480
Speaker 3: I love to.

525
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,640
Speaker 2: Work on my home, in my yard. I have a garden.

526
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:52,040
Speaker 2: I have the best neighbors. I have a great boyfriend.

527
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:53,160
Speaker 6: You know.

528
00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 2: I dance, a shop, I cooked, I cleaned, I want.

529
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:04,520
Speaker 2: I played tennis, and I'm sixty three, but in my heart,

530
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:08,600
Speaker 2: I'm ten. In my heart, I am ten. And I'm

531
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:12,400
Speaker 2: so grateful to Almighty God for giving me the strength

532
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 2: to get through it, giving me loving parents and you

533
00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 2: know you have them, and my prison boss and just

534
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:22,080
Speaker 2: different people that that helped to make a difference. So

535
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,160
Speaker 2: in the end, God showed me that I had more

536
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:30,560
Speaker 2: strength than I ever knew, and I did persevere. I

537
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:34,280
Speaker 2: did meddle through it, and I met incredible people because

538
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:34,560
Speaker 2: of it.

539
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:44,880
Speaker 1: If you'd like to help support the important work the

540
00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:48,040
Speaker 1: Michigan Innocence Clinic is doing, please check out their link

541
00:30:48,080 --> 00:31:03,040
Speaker 1: in our episode description and thank you. Thank you for

542
00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:06,440
Speaker 1: listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. Please support your

543
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:09,160
Speaker 1: local innocence organizations and go to the links in the

544
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:12,240
Speaker 1: episode description to see how you can help. I'd like

545
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,600
Speaker 1: to thank our executive producers Jason Flam, Jeff Kempler, and

546
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:19,360
Speaker 1: Kevin Wortis, as well as senior producer Annie Chelsea, producer

547
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:24,440
Speaker 1: Kathleen Fink, story editor Hannah Beal, and researcher Shelby Sorels.

548
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:28,240
Speaker 1: Mixing and sound design are by Jackie Pauley, with additional

549
00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:32,000
Speaker 1: production by Jeff Cleiburn and Connor Hall. The music is

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00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:36,080
Speaker 1: by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure

551
00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:39,360
Speaker 1: to follow us on all social media platforms at Lava

552
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,640
Speaker 1: for Good and at Wrongful Conviction. You can also follow

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00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:46,400
Speaker 1: me on all platforms at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with

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00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,520
Speaker 1: Maggie Freeling is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts

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00:31:49,680 --> 00:32:02,520
Speaker 1: in association with Signal Company Number one