WEBVTT - #194 Jason Flom with Alexis Ke'Erica Martin 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:07.200 Alexis Kierka Martin was raised by her grandmother in Akron, Ohio, 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:10.639 and had a strained relationship with her birth mother and father. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.680 She had a boyfriend to Shawn Spear, but they broke 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:18.440 up around age thirteen, the same time that an older 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.280 man named Angelo Kearney began grooming her. 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:22.360 For the sex trade. 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:26.720 By the time she was fourteen, she was actively being trafficked. 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:31.240 Time passed and Deshaun reached out to Kierka to ask 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:35.320 if the rumors he had heard about prostitution were true. Then, 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:39.000 one night, after a party at Angelo Kearney's, Kierka and 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:42.279 another woman, Jena Jones, were alone with Angelo and his 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:47.920 brother Alicio Samuel. Kierka was aware that robbery was about 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:51.920 to take place that would afford her an opportunity to escape. 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.520 While she was being raped by Alicio, Samuel, Deshaun and 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:59.760 his friend Travaski Jackson broke in, wearing masks and carrying guns. 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.760 Kearney was shot and killed, and Samuel survived. 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:06.160 A gunshot to his head. 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:10.280 When Samuel came to at the hospital, he mentioned nothing 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.000 about the child he had been raping, but he did 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:15.880 mention the other people he had been with earlier that night. 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:22.039 A further investigation led to Alexis Kierka Martin. Ohio's brand 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:25.560 new safe Harbor law was written for situations just like this, 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:29.360 but neither her lawyer nor the state invoked it before 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:32.319 she was tried in adult court for the murder of 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:36.200 the man that held her captive in child sex slavery. 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:57.640 This is wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm. Welcome back to 0:01:57.800 --> 0:01:59.680 wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm. 0:01:59.680 --> 0:01:59.960 That's me. 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:03.280 I'm your host, and today if my voice is cracking 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:07.200 a little, it's because this story is it's painful to read, 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:12.160 it's painful to talk about. It's an absolute disgrace that 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:15.679 any of this happened. It's also the story of triumph 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:19.560 over tragedy. Though with us today we have an extraordinary lawyer, 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.840 Sasha Naman from the Ohio Justice and Policy Center. Sasha, 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.840 it's wonderful to have you here. Welcome to wronful Conviction. 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:29.800 Thank you so much, and we're going to tell the 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:34.480 story with the person who lived it, Alexis Kierica Martin. 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:37.480 You'll hear her referred to as Kierica as we go through, 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:40.800 but she's also known as Alexis Martin. So, Alexis, thank 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:42.720 you for being here and sharing your story. 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.400 Thank you for allowing me the time and opportunity. 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:51.880 So let's go back to your childhood, Akron, Ohio, Heartland 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:56.799 of America. What was your childhood like before this tragedy, 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:58.880 this series of tragedies struck. 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:04.079 It would be what some people would call unstable. I 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:08.440 grew up with multiple family members, but predominantly I was 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.960 blessed with having my grandmother raise me. All in all, 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:14.040 through everything, I would say that she did a pretty 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:15.880 good job with at least making sure I knew how 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:16.680 to say thank you. 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.160 Alexis was a child when she was trafficked. She had 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:23.960 a tough childhood in some ways, and she said her 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.760 grandma was a light in that in a big way. 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:31.720 But at fourteen years old, she was surviving some horrific things, 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.880 things that are unimaginable to many Americans. Is a prolonged 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.320 and terrible sex trafficking situation, and she wanted a life 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:41.480 that was free and safe and healthy, where she could 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:44.640 go to school, where her and her siblings weren't in danger. 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:45.920 And she was a. 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:48.800 Child, so she was in a position where she hoped 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:51.960 that she could finally have this opportunity to flee from 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:56.040 the trafficking, and that brought her into involvement with the 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:57.760 robbery of her trafficker. 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:03.560 I was fourteen when I met my trafficker, and me 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.760 and my co defriend and DeShawn Spear. He was my 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:12.120 boyfriend and we separated before this case occurred, and then 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.640 while I was in active trafficking, we would see each 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:17.839 other and check on each other, but I never got 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:23.080 too close with him or really like engaged. Everybody kept 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:27.080 hearing rumors about me being prostituted. Some people were bold 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:30.279 enough to act, some people weren't. They just you know, 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.080 kind of turned their nose up to me. Well, he 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.080 asked me a couple of times, and I continued to 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.960 deny it and just admitted that I was dancing, but 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.440 I wouldn't tell him where I was dancing at. 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.120 So as of that moment, he's left in the dark. 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:46.000 And before the night that the Shawn Spirit tried to 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:50.400 free Kierka, which was November seven, twenty thirteen, Sasha she 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:53.120 had tried to find another way to get out of 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:53.520 that life. 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.679 Right she was trying to reach out to adults for help. 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:59.479 So before the night of this offense happened. She was 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:03.200 trying to and herself in. She actually proactively went to 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:06.560 the juvenile system because she had kind of an active 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:08.760 case that had kind of been going on in parallel, 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:11.120 and she was hoping that they would take her in, 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:12.520 that they would arrest her, they would put her in 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:16.000 a program. But her trafficker sends her with someone who 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:19.760 poses as her caretaker and says she's fine and she's 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.680 cared for, and even though these adults see the way 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:24.880 she's dressed, even though they see these red flags, they 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:26.599 let her back out with that person. 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.200 Alexis, as much as you're comfortable with talking about it. 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:34.600 That night when this robbery occurred, can you tell us 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.320 how this whole thing happened and how somebody ended up dead. 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.880 I was caught to the house and Jenney Jones was 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.240 also there. They had a party and Angela was training 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:47.640 me more so to be his madam. So I had 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:49.599 to be there to make sure that the rest of 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:53.279 the girls did what they were supposed to and that 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:57.120 I made money that night. So during the whole time 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:00.000 that the party occurred, I did what Angelo told me 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:03.919 to do. I danced, I collected money, I served drinks, 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:08.960 and then as it got late, everybody left. But that 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.479 means that there was a lot of eyewitnesses that seen 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:15.280 me with him, some of his other brothers, they were 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:18.160 there that night. When they left, it was just me, 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:21.600 Jenny Jones, Angelo Corney, and Alisio Samer. 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:27.800 Alexis was aware that Deshaun and Trevaski were going to 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:32.359 be coming into the house. And in Ohio there's something 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:35.040 called felony murder, as there is in many other states. 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.080 And if you're aware of something like a robbery, if 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:42.000 you're found legally culpable in something like a robbery and 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:46.520 then somebody gets killed, then you're culpable for the homicide 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:51.200 that happened. Alexis never shot anybody, never hurt anybody, never 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:54.239 wanted anybody to get hurt. But there was this robbery 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:59.360 that happened, and when Deshaun Spears and Travaska Jackson break in, 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.640 when they shoot her trafficker and kill him, when they 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:05.240 shoot the man who is raping her, although she is 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:07.719 the child and she is the victim there, she became 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.559 legally culpable ultimately for the death. 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:15.640 Once Alicio was shot and Angela was killed, the question 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:20.200 was where was I, Because I was always with him, 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:22.240 and if I wasn't with him, then I was in 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:24.200 a position where one of his brothers knew where I 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:28.560 was at, So where was I was missing? After Alicio 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:33.280 woke up in the hospital, he identified Jane, he never 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:36.640 identified me, And my theory on this subject is he 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:39.800 didn't identify me because I was a child and he 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.760 was an adult. But other people that the police questioned 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:46.480 that night continuously brought up my name. So I turned 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:51.240 myself in and I was arrested. I was fifteen, and 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:53.760 I feel like it was the first time in life 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:58.680 that anybody was actually like listening to me. I kind 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.200 of just told him everything that they wanted to know. 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:04.960 My only thing was I just wanted to know was 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:07.280 he alive or was he dead? Because I wasn't sure, 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:09.760 And when he told me Angelo was dead, I didn't 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:12.560 really know how to feel. It didn't click into me 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.880 that I was truly being arrested for his death until 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.360 they took me away from the detention center. I was 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:21.280 on probation, so I've been arrested a couple times. I 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:24.440 was used to the detention officers and stuff like that, 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.600 so it was kind of like finally that night, I 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:31.720 was going to be safe until they pulled away from 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.480 there and took me down to the dog question interrogation, 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:38.560 where they left me in the code for about three 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.640 or four hours. I threw up on the table. They 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.760 didn't clean that up. I asked for my mother. They 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:47.520 told me that my mother left, and I knew some 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:48.959 of my rights, and I was like, you know, I 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:50.599 thought my mom had to be present because I was 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.560 only fifteen, and they told me she didn't care. And 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:59.400 then I continuously asked for my attorney. And I was fifteen. 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:01.520 I knew some of my rights right because of Criminal 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:05.160 Minds and whatever else I watched, but I didn't really 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:09.320 know how to enforce my rights. How they knew I 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:12.880 had involvement was I admitted my own involvement. I didn't 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:15.479 know what human trafficking was. I only knew what prostitution 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:18.680 and escorting was. I didn't understand that I was a victim. 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:23.080 I also admitted to the cops Angela was training me 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:25.240 to be his madam. And I also admitted to the 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:29.960 cops that I called this man my dad. But that 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:34.600 night and for months on, nobody pays attention to that. 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:45.880 This episode is brought to you by Stand Together. 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:50.040 Stand Together is a philanthropic community dedicated to helping. 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:51.080 People improve their lives. 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:54.079 For more than twenty years, Stand Together and its partners 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:56.600 have been on the front lines of criminal justice reform. 0:09:56.760 --> 0:10:00.520 By empowering people to take action, supporting nonpropit fits, and 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:04.280 working with businesses. Stand Together tackles the root causes of 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:07.240 problems in our communities and empowers those closest to the 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:12.120 problems to drive solutions. Solutions like reducing unjust prison sentences 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.559 through the First Step Act, empowering community based programs and 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:19.120 help people re enter society, and now working to bridge 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:22.920 divides in our communities. To learn how you may get involved, 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:29.880 visit standtogether dot org, slash conviction. This episode is underwritten 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:33.880 by the AIG pro Bono Program. AIG is a leading 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:37.200 global insurance company, and for over a decade, the AIG 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:40.720 pro Bono Program has provided thousands of hours of free 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:45.280 legal services and other support to nonprofit organizations and individuals 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:49.160 most in need. More recently, the program added criminal and 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:52.520 social justice reform as a key pillar of its mission. 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:01.600 Before Alexis's case happened, iiO had passed this safe harbor 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:05.840 law that was specifically meant to protect survivors of human 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:09.760 trafficking like Kerica. The law would allow juvenile courts to 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:12.680 offer services to children like her who were trafficked and 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:17.040 to help them. And when she was arrested and sent 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:19.920 to juvenile court, that law was in effect, but her 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.400 attorney didn't know about it and didn't understand it. And 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.520 Kierko is actually the one who brought this question about 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:28.720 this law to the attorney because she had heard about 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:32.440 it somewhere, so she was now advocating for herself. And 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:34.280 this is above and beyond a fifteen year old who 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:36.400 is trying to educate her attorney. 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:37.920 Who then did look into it but didn't. 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:40.839 Understand the law, and then neither he nor the court 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.360 nor the prosecutor brings it up. You have this case 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:47.120 that the law is made for, the law is in effect, 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:50.200 and nobody brings it up, nobody applies it. In fact, 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:52.720 the only person who had mentioned it in the process 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:55.679 really is Kerka herself. 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.960 Just to clarify for our audience, the Save Harbor Law 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:04.200 Ohio specifically mandates that miners under the age of sixteen 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:06.600 do not need to prove that they were compelled to 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:10.840 engage in commercial sexual activity. They're automatically considered victims of 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:15.680 child sex trafficking, and the statute requires juvenile courts to 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:19.000 appoint a guardian to the defendant, a professional other than 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:22.680 a parent or attorney, who was responsible for advocating in 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:24.920 the best interests of the child on trial. So here 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:30.199 the defense, lawyer, the court itself, everybody. They just didn't 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:33.000 do what they're supposed to do. Nobody did. It's crazy, 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.800 and then to make matters worse, they send you to 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:37.000 adult court. 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:42.160 At that point, I was educated on what human trafficking was, 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:45.120 so I actually realize that you're a victim and you 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:48.320 hold no power, and that somebody you thought you cared 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:51.800 about was hurting you. To know that they were knowledgeably 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:55.160 hurting you, and that was their only intent ever, was 0:12:55.240 --> 0:13:01.800 to hurt you, it's pretty defeating. It hurts. So I 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.800 know all this now. I learned about what the grooming 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:08.120 process was, and I identified what my grooming process was. 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:11.400 I learned about the trafficking. I learned about the stages 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:16.440 with a juvenile counselor named Hilary Finkel, and she's the 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.960 one who's bringing in this lady named Magan Madimo, who 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:23.319 ultimately brings up the safe harbor law to the juvenile 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.880 court after I'm bound over into the adult court, who 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:31.640 ultimately educates my attorney. But while I was in the courtroom, 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:37.280 Judge Theodosia, who leads the Human Trafficking Division in Summon 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:40.720 County still to this day, set, out of her own mouths, 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:44.360 can we take a second in pause? And I want 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:49.840 to ask you, Noah, my attorney and the prosecutor, what 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:54.040 do we do about this fifteen year old's trafficking? She 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.720 admits out her mouth that I'm traffic. Not only was 0:13:56.720 --> 0:14:01.480 I sex traffic, but labor traffic. She admits this. Nobody 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:05.040 had a response. The prosecutor and my attorney looked at 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.040 each other, looked at the judge and was kind of 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:11.040 dumbfounded when she asked this question. My attorney, I can't 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:14.640 even remember. He mustered up some answer, but it clearly 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:17.840 must not have been good enough for Thiodosia, because two 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.680 months later, even after you admit that I'm traffic, I 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:25.800 got bound over, and that made me feel like prior 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:29.440 to the trafficking, I was raped and I've reported it 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.320 and I never got help. One of my cousins raped 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:34.800 me from nine to ten and they found him not guilty, 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:37.400 and it made me feel the exact same way that 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:40.960 no matter how many times I tell somebody somebody did 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:44.040 something to me that was wrong, I'm always going to 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:46.680 either be accused of a liar or it doesn't matter. 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:50.000 So I started to lose hope again. 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:53.920 It's a miracle that you clung onto any hope at 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:57.680 all after everything you had been through. And so February seventeenth, 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:01.200 twenty fifteen, a day that will live in it infamy. Kieraka, 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:03.960 you were advised by your attorney that, with the goal 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:07.080 of returning to juvenile court, you should plead guilty to 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:12.000 polonious assault and murder. Yes, this was, of course a 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:17.120 terrible strategy, and ultimately you were sentenced to twenty one 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:17.800 to life. 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:19.600 How did you process that. 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:24.360 Sentence and how did you manage to maintain any sort 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:25.760 of trace of sanity. 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:29.360 Well, I have a little sister that's three and a 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:33.000 half years younger than me, and we were talking when 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:35.200 I was six years old, and I promised her that 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:38.040 I would never let nobody hurt her and I would 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:42.760 always be there to protect her. While I was fighting 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:46.240 my case at detention center, I tried to kill myself. 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:48.680 I busted all the above vessels in my face, and 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:54.680 I was really close. It hurt her bad while I 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:57.320 was in prison. She's left out in the world with 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:00.160 my father and my birth mother, the two people I've 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:03.080 tried to protect her from my whole life. So if 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.240 I gave up fighting, I gave up fighting for her life. 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:10.400 If I gave up fighting, everything that happened to me, 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:13.920 every time a man abused me, hit me, sex with me, 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.880 everything that I have ever done to protect her was 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:22.960 ultimately for nothing. If I lay down and just gave up. Now, 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.360 I was scared to go to trial because my co defendant, 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:29.240 Deshan just got forty one to life. I would have 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:31.840 went if I had somebody believe in me that told 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:36.120 me to go. I had two people that told me 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.040 you should maybe go to trial. One was another fifteen 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.560 year old girl, and all she said was best friend, 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:46.920 if you go, I'm gonna support you. And then I 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:49.200 had my older sister who was paying for my attorney, 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:51.400 and she was telling me she thinks I should take 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:54.560 it to trial. I had an indecisive father that kept 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.240 telling me one minute plead out and act crazy. The 0:16:57.280 --> 0:16:58.880 next one, he was telling me to take it to 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:02.560 trial my birtha. She barely went to any hearings, but 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:05.080 she was telling me, plead, because you don't want to 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:07.240 get max out at the box. And then I have 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:11.000 my attorney who knows more than me that's telling me, plead, 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:15.439 we have a good chance of winning your appeal because 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:19.720 of this safe harbor law. So I pled, but I 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:23.360 kept fighting because I have a baby's sister that at 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:25.320 the end I promise I would protect and if I 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:30.480 didn't protect her, nobody else would. So I fought and 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:34.320 I continue to fight after denial after denial, after denial. 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:39.399 Her new attorney. Ke's new attorney, Jennifer Kinsley, ends up 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:43.040 taking on this case pro bono and appealing it all 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:47.680 the way to the Ohio Supreme Court, arguing that Kierka 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:50.440 should have received the protections of the Safe Harbor law, 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:54.199 and ultimately the Ohio Supreme Court rejected the case. And 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.639 they did that while saying that there is ample evidence 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:01.439 that Kierka was a victim of human traffic. But unfortunately, 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:05.520 the original trial attorney didn't present evidence linking the crime 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:09.359 to Kerka being a victim of sex trafficking, So the 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:13.040 Supreme Court said, because he didn't create that link between 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.080 the known trafficking and the crime. They were not going 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:19.760 to apply the safe harbor law to Key, And to me, 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:23.800 that's a little bit absurd, because of course there's a connection. 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:27.240 You have a fifteen year old child trying to free 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:31.080 herself from being trafficked by adults. It doesn't take a 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:33.600 lot to think about how there could be a connection there. 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:39.960 While justice was delayed, it surely wasn't going to be denied. Ultimately, 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.080 you petitioned Governor de Wine for clemency and you had 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.880 a hearing on that in September of twenty nineteen. 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:50.919 I went in front of the pro Board on determination 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:54.480 of my clemency. In November I got an eight to 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:59.120 two vote, eight in favor, two against. In January, Governor 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.720 de Wine considered my clemency and said that he wanted 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:05.720 me to do this program Tapestry, and after I completed it, 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:10.240 I would come home. I started Tapestry January twenty first, 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:15.240 twenty twenty. Tapestry closed down due to COVID and I 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.160 was released April twenty of twenty twenty. 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:23.040 So, after serving seven long years in prison, what was 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:25.440 it like walking out? 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:28.480 Take us inside that day, that moment. 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:33.000 April eighteenth, on national television. I was told I was 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:37.920 going to be released. It didn't seem real at all, 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:41.560 Like this is something that I dreamed about many days 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:44.480 in prison. It was going home, going home, And now 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:48.240 I'm signing a paper to agree to conditions of parole 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:52.160 and clemency and being told that I'll be free by monday. 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:55.639 So I signed the papers, and then I'm told, you 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:56.640 have to go to the whole. 0:19:58.000 --> 0:19:58.520 To the hole. 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:02.240 The craziest thing is, yes, I have to go get 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:06.480 COVID nineteen tested and be put in quarantine in the 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:09.560 whole until Monday so that I could be released to 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:12.919 this program. So I pack up my stuff and for 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:16.560 two days, it's like the longest agony in the world, 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:21.600 knowing that in two days you'll be released. In two days, 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:25.560 you'll get to enter into a world of something you 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:27.920 don't know. I left as a kid, and I left 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:30.720 a world of chaos, and I'm supposed to be being 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:33.439 released into a world of peace and freedom. Right. I 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:36.639 decided that I didn't want to go back to my hometown, Akron, 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:39.879 because I didn't want to go back to the same people, 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:42.520 the same way, as the same lifestyle. I believe that was, 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.080 you know, the biggest reason of why I didn't get 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:48.720 to reach my goals as a kid. I believe God 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:51.919 gave me a second opportunity with the new family, and 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:55.639 I chose to take it. They released me from the prison, 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:58.320 and it's this long corridor you have to walk down, 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:01.920 really really really long, and they hand him my release ID, 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:04.800 and it's none of this is still real, that I'm 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:08.359 really being released until I passed through the other side 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:15.960 of the metal detectors and there's Jennifer and Sasha and 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:20.239 they hug me and we walk out the doors and 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:22.320 we walk out the doors to cameras in my face. 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:26.280 They tell me I get to say hi. I say hi, 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:32.920 and finally I get to embrace my little sister. Finally 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:36.040 I get to embrace this little girl that's not a 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:39.679 little girl anymore. I left and she was eleven, and 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:41.840 I came home and she's eighteen and has a big, 0:21:41.840 --> 0:21:49.119 old round belly. It was hard seeing somebody that I 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:51.440 thought was my baby not a baby no more. 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:04.800 So are you are you an aunt? Now? 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:09.360 I am? I also have another niece. She was born 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:13.120 four months after I went to prison. The reason why 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:16.920 I mentioned this is that I was supposed to raise her, 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:20.000 and four months before she is born into this world, 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:25.640 I am looking away from her. Currently right now, we 0:22:25.680 --> 0:22:28.960 are in the process of getting temporary custody of her, 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:32.480 and she is here with me. So I am an aunt. 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:35.400 I am an aunt by a lot. I have eleven 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:37.320 nephews and nieces together. 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:42.080 So I want to talk now about something you began 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:45.760 in prison that I hear you're hoping and planning to 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:49.520 continue with on the outside, and that's working with other survivors. 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:53.280 I heard that when you were in prison. This sounds, 0:22:53.560 --> 0:22:56.320 I mean incredible, but hear me out you improved on 0:22:56.359 --> 0:22:59.720 an existing program by reaching out to someone with the 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:01.840 f who had actually interviewed you. 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:05.719 I got interrogated by the FBI about the human trafficking 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:09.120 and stuff, and so I contacted one of the contacts 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:10.639 and told her like, hey, you know, I'm trying to 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:12.920 run this group. Do you have any pointers on what 0:23:12.960 --> 0:23:15.560 I should teach these girls about what is human trafficking? 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:18.439 And she actually sent me like these packets and stuff. 0:23:18.480 --> 0:23:21.000 So me and one of my case managers we went 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:24.359 through what I wanted to touch on, and I created 0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:28.600 a twelve week group on human trafficking and prostitution education. 0:23:29.000 --> 0:23:32.480 So it talked about healthy relationships, talked about sex, It 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:36.400 talked about what is grooming, It talked about family loves. 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:39.840 It touched on the trafficking part of it, but also 0:23:39.920 --> 0:23:43.000 some of the healing process of it. And then after 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:46.040 you went through the group, you became a mentor to 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:48.439