Speaker 1: Like I've been thinking a lot about, you know, the
Speaker 1: difficult decision of having to decide if you want to
Speaker 1: take an alphord plea, if you want to take any
Speaker 1: kind of plea. I mean, if I was put in
Speaker 1: that situation, would I stay in prison to fight for
Speaker 1: my innocence knowing I might never get out or take
Speaker 1: a deal get out, and then you can't fight for
Speaker 1: your innocence after that. It's a literal Sophie's choice, Maggie, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, you have this intense pressure. You know that
Speaker 1: they have the ability to say, hey, we're gonna leave
Speaker 1: you sitting in jail at prison for a year or
Speaker 1: two years or more while you await your retrial. Many,
Speaker 1: many strong willed and brave and brilliant people have taken
Speaker 1: the pola because it's there's really no way out and
Speaker 1: they just want to go home. They have to go home.
Speaker 1: I didn't comprehend that I was going to prison for
Speaker 1: the rest of my life. I'm thinking to myself, are
Speaker 1: you saying that I can never be with my parents again.
Speaker 1: I can never go back to my bid, you know,
Speaker 1: my home. So I'm losing all my friends. I mean,
Speaker 1: all this is going to be taken. Are you kidding
Speaker 1: me from lava for good? This is wrongful conviction with
Speaker 1: Maggie Freeling today. Lakwanda Faye Jacobs. On the evening of
Speaker 1: February nine, Kevin Gaddy and Tony Davis were walking down
Speaker 1: the street when a car pulled up. A man and
Speaker 1: a woman got out and held them at gunpoint. They
Speaker 1: demanded the jacket Kevin Gaddy was wearing. It was a
Speaker 1: Chicago Bulls starter jacket. In the nineties, these satin jackets
Speaker 1: were a status symbol. As Kevin was handing his jacket over,
Speaker 1: a struggle ensued and he was shot in the chest.
Speaker 1: Around the same time, Lakwanda Fade Jacobs and her mother
Speaker 1: were on their way to church when they saw police
Speaker 1: commotion near Fay's house. They stopped to see what was
Speaker 1: going on. As Faye got out of the car, an
Speaker 1: officer approached her and asked her who she was. Faye
Speaker 1: was instantly arrested and taken down to the police station
Speaker 1: for questioning, but she had an alibi and the woman
Speaker 1: they should have been looking for was at least fifteen
Speaker 1: years older than Faye, but it didn't matter. Faye was
Speaker 1: eventually charged and convicted of the murder of Kevin Gaddy.
Speaker 1: They knew all alone that I was innocent, but just
Speaker 1: wanting to use me as an example to other young juveniles. Therefore,
Speaker 1: I was railroaded into the system. I am Lakwanda Faye Jacobs.
Speaker 1: I was arrested for capital felony murder of a friend
Speaker 1: of mine. Lakwanda Fe Jacobs was born in Little Rock, Arkansas,
Speaker 1: on February nineteen. She was the baby of a big family,
Speaker 1: six boys and six girls. I was always picked on
Speaker 1: by my older siblings, but um, I considered myself stronger
Speaker 1: than my other siblis, even though I was the baby.
Speaker 1: I come from a great family. Uh. I was raising
Speaker 1: the church. My dad was started off as a deacon
Speaker 1: in the church and ended up becoming assistant pastor. And
Speaker 1: I was deeply involved at the age of four years
Speaker 1: oh facing in the church choir and was an outgoing
Speaker 1: child and teenager. But I'm just a people person, and
Speaker 1: that's just the type of personality I've always had. I
Speaker 1: was a friends with everybody from church people. I even
Speaker 1: had friends that were gang members, you know. UM, just
Speaker 1: a typical teenager. I had fights. Uh, I had boyfriends,
Speaker 1: I did a lot. You know, That's who Fae was,
Speaker 1: and like many kids, she had lots of different visions
Speaker 1: for her future. I wanted to be a nurse. At
Speaker 1: one time, I wanted to be a beautician because I
Speaker 1: loved doing my dolls hair, you know, so of course
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm going to be a beautician. My
Speaker 1: grandfather was a barbara and my grandmother was a beautician.
Speaker 1: I even dreamed of being in the army one day.
Speaker 1: But then later on, as I got older in my teenage,
Speaker 1: I was like, nah, I don't want to go do that.
Speaker 1: You know. In high school, she played on the junior
Speaker 1: varsity volleyball team, and she says she was incredibly popular
Speaker 1: and other students looked up to her. I dreamed of graduating,
Speaker 1: going to the prom, going to dance, and you know,
Speaker 1: I could have possibly been the queen because I was
Speaker 1: so popular. But you know that those are things that
Speaker 1: will rob from me that opportunity. On the morning of
Speaker 1: February nine, sixteen year old Faye got up and went
Speaker 1: to church to attend service. It was Sunday and she
Speaker 1: had planned to sing at two services that day. Afterward,
Speaker 1: her mother picked her up from the house. Faye rented
Speaker 1: with her brother. They got back to face Mom's apartment
Speaker 1: at two pm. Face friend picked her up shortly after
Speaker 1: that and they ran some errands, including to the laundromat
Speaker 1: and back to her friend's house. He dropped Faye back
Speaker 1: at her mom's place, and around five thirty her Sunday
Speaker 1: was pretty packed. I had another service to attend that night.
Speaker 1: My mom and I were going to a singing at
Speaker 1: another church. Phase Mom arrived home shortly after and found
Speaker 1: Faye relaxing on the couch. Faye was still in her
Speaker 1: white church clothes, but at the same time, over a
Speaker 1: mile away, a situation was unfolding that would change Phase
Speaker 1: life forever. Seventeen year old Kevin Gaddy and his friend
Speaker 1: Tony Davis, who was fourteen, were walking down the street
Speaker 1: when a gray car pulled up. A man and a
Speaker 1: woman got out. The woman had a gun and they
Speaker 1: demanded the jacket. Kevin Gaddy was wearing a Chicago Bulls
Speaker 1: starter jacket. As Kevin was handing it over, he put
Speaker 1: his hand in his coat pocket to get his brush.
Speaker 1: That's when things got messy, and the woman shot Kevin
Speaker 1: in the chest. On their way to their second church
Speaker 1: event of the day, Faye and her mom passed the
Speaker 1: crime scene right outside Phay's house, so they stopped to
Speaker 1: see what was going on. As Faye got out of
Speaker 1: the car, a police officer grabbed her and I was
Speaker 1: instantly threw on the car put in handcuffs. At this time,
Speaker 1: I didn't know that a shooting had occurred. I was
Speaker 1: already handcuff once I said who I was and that
Speaker 1: I lived there too as well, at the house that
Speaker 1: they were at, I was put in the backseat of
Speaker 1: the car and taken to the Little Rock police department.
Speaker 1: Not knowing what is going on at the precinct, the
Speaker 1: police asked Faye if they could do a gunshot residue
Speaker 1: test on her, and so after my gun residue was negative,
Speaker 1: I was like, well, we're gonna let her go home,
Speaker 1: you know, And he's like, if you hear anything about
Speaker 1: a shooting, let us know, and I was like, who shot?
Speaker 1: What is going on? It wasn't until days later that
Speaker 1: Fay learned it was her friend Kevin, who was shot
Speaker 1: and killed outside of her house. Kevin and I were
Speaker 1: both the same age, but he was a few months
Speaker 1: older than me and uh he was real known for
Speaker 1: his scooter and his skills with basketball. I always, even
Speaker 1: as a kid, I used to say, you're gonna go big, Kevin,
Speaker 1: you know, because he was so good at basketball, you know. Uh.
Speaker 1: But like I said, from kindergarten to a seventh grade,
Speaker 1: him and I went to school together. Kevin was pronounced
Speaker 1: dead less than an hour after he was shot, and
Speaker 1: it was so unbelievable because I knew he was such
Speaker 1: a good kid. He was a good friend, and it
Speaker 1: was just very devastating to learn that he had been shot.
Speaker 1: During their investigation into Kevin's murder, police found at least
Speaker 1: eight eyewitnesses who saw the shooting. The descriptions of the
Speaker 1: woman who fired the gun varied, but most agreed she
Speaker 1: was in her thirties with scars under her eyes, and
Speaker 1: that she was wearing dark clothing, including a black hat.
Speaker 1: Tony Davis was the eyewitness closest to the shooting, and
Speaker 1: on that very day described the woman as quote black,
Speaker 1: mid thirties, approximately five ft eight, heavy build, medium complex,
Speaker 1: and wearing a dark ski cap and bluish gray jacket
Speaker 1: and pants with frizzy hair. Yet Faye, a young teenager
Speaker 1: wearing entirely different clothing, had already been to the police
Speaker 1: station and been questioned. So investigators had her photo and
Speaker 1: showed it to witnesses. Five of them said Faye was
Speaker 1: not the shooter. Tony Davis was shown a picture of
Speaker 1: Faye and two times, once on the day of the
Speaker 1: crime and again him four days later. He was unable
Speaker 1: to make an identification. But then nine days after the shooting,
Speaker 1: the police brought him back in and again they showed
Speaker 1: him a photo lineup, and this time he identified Faye
Speaker 1: as the shooter. They had absolutely no idea what was
Speaker 1: going on. I was going to school and this day
Speaker 1: I wasn't filling will and I was at my sister's
Speaker 1: house and my mom called my sister and said, the
Speaker 1: police has come to my job looking for fae Um
Speaker 1: for murder. And I was like, murder, I haven't killed anybody,
Speaker 1: And so um, my mom came to my sister house.
Speaker 1: We called my dad, we called my pastor, and we
Speaker 1: went to the police station just to clear my name,
Speaker 1: you know, to tell them I haven't did anything. You know.
Speaker 1: I mean when I tell you, I had no clue
Speaker 1: that I was even a suspect um and you know,
Speaker 1: and that could be what you I was so young.
Speaker 1: But I didn't commit the crime, so why would I
Speaker 1: even think that I'm a suspect. I had no knowledge
Speaker 1: of it until we went to the jail to clear
Speaker 1: my name, and at that time they arrested me. They
Speaker 1: did not allow me to clear my name. They arrested
Speaker 1: me and charged me with capital felony murder and set
Speaker 1: my bun at one million dollars. Okay, I'm sixteen, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I had never been to jail before in
Speaker 1: my life, and so I am scared. I'm very scared.
Speaker 1: M M. This episode is underwritten by A I G,
Speaker 1: a leading global insurance company. A I G is committed
Speaker 1: to corporate social responsibility and to making a positive difference
Speaker 1: in the lives of its employees and in the communities
Speaker 1: where we work and live. In light of the compelling
Speaker 1: need for pro bono legal assistance, and in recognition of
Speaker 1: A I g's commitment to criminal and social justice reform,
Speaker 1: the A i G pro Bono Program provides free legal
Speaker 1: services and other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. M
Speaker 1: Before trial, Faye was appointed public defender James Cluette to
Speaker 1: represent her. At the time of his appointment, clue Ever
Speaker 1: is representing a client by the name of Sean Riggins.
Speaker 1: As it happens, Riggins and his brother had been among
Speaker 1: the witnesses on the street when Kevin was murdered. Two
Speaker 1: weeks later, Riggins was arrested for an unrelated crime. At
Speaker 1: that time, he ended up telling police that he'd seen
Speaker 1: the shooter and that she was actually younger than thirty,
Speaker 1: closer to fifteen or sixteen. He was the only person
Speaker 1: to say that, and when investigator showed him a photo
Speaker 1: spread of suspects, he identified Faye as the shooter. Now
Speaker 1: this part gets a little confusing, so follow carefully. Not
Speaker 1: only as phase attorney James Cluette representing two clients involved
Speaker 1: in the same case a clear conflict of interest, but
Speaker 1: he also asked Faye to lie for Sean Riggins. Faye
Speaker 1: was in jail with a woman named Bertie Walker, one
Speaker 1: of Riggins's co defendants in another case. Clwett approached Faye
Speaker 1: with an offer. He asked her to say that Birdie
Speaker 1: had told her she committed the crime alone. In exchange,
Speaker 1: he said Riggins would not testify against Faye about Kevin's murder,
Speaker 1: but Fay rejected the offer. She refused to lie and
Speaker 1: asked for a new lawyer. She was appointed attorney Bill McArthur.
Speaker 1: James Cluette was eventually just barred for separate issues. Phase
Speaker 1: trial started a year later in April n A man
Speaker 1: named Clifton Thomas was originally charged with Faye as her
Speaker 1: alleged accomplice, but the charges against him were eventually dropped.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to court and I'm like, are you serious?
Speaker 1: I can't believe this is Why are they doing this
Speaker 1: to me? And the judge keeps my bun at a
Speaker 1: million in the states, we're charging her as an adult.
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe that this was happening. Prosecutors Howard Kopman
Speaker 1: and John Miller presented no forensic evidence linking Faye to
Speaker 1: the crime. They relied heavily on the eyewitness statements of
Speaker 1: Tony Davis, who was with Kevin that evening, and Shawn Riggins.
Speaker 1: When fagoes to court. News media is everywhere. She said
Speaker 1: the case was high profile because of a slew of
Speaker 1: killings of young people in Arkansas at the time. Arkansas
Speaker 1: was on the rise of gang valance back in the
Speaker 1: late eighties early nineties, and so of course law enforcements
Speaker 1: was forced to do something about those crimes. So they
Speaker 1: had a thing called Banging in Arkansas. It was like
Speaker 1: the Arkansas was like a small Los Angeles with the
Speaker 1: crips and the bloods, and they had videos and they
Speaker 1: still had these videos. You can pull them up on
Speaker 1: YouTube called Banging in Arkansas. So I did this is
Speaker 1: the County coroner for Little Rock, Arkansas, on one of
Speaker 1: the films several years ago, when I saw the death
Speaker 1: rate was increasing, but the victims were becoming much younger
Speaker 1: and younger, and began to see tattoos and brands on
Speaker 1: on the victims, and began to notice that the violence
Speaker 1: just was increasing and drive by shooting and random shootings
Speaker 1: and retaliation killings, and it just went on and on
Speaker 1: until we had a record rate of homicides in Little Rock,
Speaker 1: and it looks we've broken the record in nineteen and
Speaker 1: it's just gone on and on and off. In fact,
Speaker 1: a half hour earlier and a few blocks away from
Speaker 1: Kevin Gaddy's murder, there was another potentially related crime. Around
Speaker 1: five pm, Little Rock Police Department responded to an aggravated
Speaker 1: assault where eye witnesses told police there was a female perpetrator,
Speaker 1: a male accomplice and guess what a great car. It's
Speaker 1: unclear what happened with that case and something else related
Speaker 1: to this crime. To help you understand, Starting in the
Speaker 1: late eighties, sports starter jackets were a hot commodity. An
Speaker 1: article in the New York Times from February of nineteen
Speaker 1: discusses the phenomenon, calling it quote an increasingly pervasive kind
Speaker 1: of urban crime, robbery by young people willing to kill
Speaker 1: for clothes end quote. They site that at the time
Speaker 1: these jackets went for ninety to two hundred dollars, which
Speaker 1: today would be about two hundred to four hundred dollars,
Speaker 1: So Kevin Gaddy becoming a target for his jacket that
Speaker 1: night was not necessarily unusual at the time. However, phase
Speaker 1: attorney failed and making a case that Faye was caught
Speaker 1: in the wrong place at the wrong time and that
Speaker 1: she did not commit the crime. Faye was able to
Speaker 1: testify on her own behalf, however, and she tried to
Speaker 1: make the case for herself that she did not kill
Speaker 1: her friend. In my little mind, I'm thinking that, you know,
Speaker 1: as soon as I go to court, I can just
Speaker 1: tell the judge that I didn't do this, and you see,
Speaker 1: and I'll go home. But the reality, that's not how
Speaker 1: it works, you know. But I didn't know that I
Speaker 1: really believe that I was going to get out of there.
Speaker 1: On April, Faye was convicted of capital murder and sentenced
Speaker 1: to life without parole. She was just sixteen years old.
Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't comprehend that I was going to
Speaker 1: prison for the rest of my life. You know. It
Speaker 1: was until I got back to the jail that the
Speaker 1: jailer told me, you know, you're not gonna ever get out.
Speaker 1: You know you're going to jail, you know. And so
Speaker 1: I was broken inside, you know, had been ripped apart,
Speaker 1: you know, or he telling me. I'm thinking to myself,
Speaker 1: are you saying that I can never be with my
Speaker 1: parents again. I can never go back to my bed,
Speaker 1: you know, my home. So I'm losing all my friends.
Speaker 1: I mean, all this is gonna be taken, Are you
Speaker 1: kidding me? Phase world had turned completely upside down. I
Speaker 1: had many days of crying. So when I was first
Speaker 1: put in, I was put in a sale all by
Speaker 1: myself because I was sixteen. But days later I was
Speaker 1: sent to an adult place because I was charged as
Speaker 1: an adult, and so of course I had adults tunt
Speaker 1: me and bothered me. I had even got jumped on
Speaker 1: it in the county jail, you know, because of this
Speaker 1: high profile. And that's the juvenile that killed the guy
Speaker 1: for his jacket, you know, that's how it was labeled.
Speaker 1: And so I would go to my room, I would cry.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't let people see me cry because if they
Speaker 1: saw that, that a show a sign a weakness, and
Speaker 1: they would really take advantage of you and do things.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I was very scared. Eventually, Face settled into
Speaker 1: the prison environment, and just like in high school, her
Speaker 1: outgoing personality and love of people got her through. By
Speaker 1: the time she had been there for several years, she
Speaker 1: had started making a name for herself as a generous
Speaker 1: person to those coming into the system. And so a
Speaker 1: lot of ladies come in there and they don't have
Speaker 1: the headphones and things like that. So I always had
Speaker 1: extra so I can share with the other ladies, you know.
Speaker 1: In two thousand nine, Tiffany Woods came to prison. I
Speaker 1: was incarcerated for d W eyes. So they had moved
Speaker 1: me in the barracks with ay and in order to
Speaker 1: watch TV, you have to have a radio. Well I
Speaker 1: didn't have any family outside, you know, to actually send
Speaker 1: me any money to buy me a radio. So I've
Speaker 1: seen Faye just all bubbly playing games and stuff, and
Speaker 1: I was like, excuse me, ma'am, can I borrow your radio?
Speaker 1: And so she was like, yeah, it's over there on
Speaker 1: my bed. So that that started our our friendship. Faye
Speaker 1: and Tiffany hit it off, and when Tiffany got out,
Speaker 1: she promised Faye she would write her. You know, being
Speaker 1: in prison, you you meet people and people tell to you,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna write you. I'm gonna support you, you know,
Speaker 1: all the way, and so you hear that all the time.
Speaker 1: And I have been lit down so many times. Well
Speaker 1: with Tiffany. Tiffany um left and she wrote me and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, this girl really wrote me.
Speaker 1: And then she sent me a phone number and said
Speaker 1: I could call her. And I could not believe it
Speaker 1: because that was something that had never happened throughout my
Speaker 1: hold in conceration. To be able to have contact with
Speaker 1: another resident had once been there. It's so small loyalty.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you I'm gonna do something. I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 1: Tiffany and Faye maintained their friendship over the years, all
Speaker 1: the while Faye fought for her innocence. She filed appeal
Speaker 1: after appeal after appeal for reasons including ineffective assistance of
Speaker 1: counsel face as her second attorney, Bill McArthur, failed to
Speaker 1: meet with her before trial and failed to file any
Speaker 1: discover her emotions, or conduct an investigation. He failed to
Speaker 1: show why Fay could not have committed this crime, starting
Speaker 1: with the description of the shooter. The shooter, according to
Speaker 1: Tony Davis's testimony at the trial, was a black woman
Speaker 1: with scars under her eyes and light brownish red curly
Speaker 1: hair peeking out of a black hat, and she was
Speaker 1: wearing a big winter coat and pants. This description does
Speaker 1: not fit Faye at all. She had no scars under
Speaker 1: her eyes, was wearing white church clothes, and her hair
Speaker 1: was in a top knot for folks who were very
Speaker 1: familiar with black hair African American hair. She couldn't have
Speaker 1: gotten her hair up into this very smooth, beautiful top
Speaker 1: knot if it had been a red curly du under
Speaker 1: a cap just hours earlier. Right. This is Trisha Bushnell.
Speaker 1: She's the executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project known
Speaker 1: as the m i P. But none of those things
Speaker 1: ever come out, and none of those things are ever
Speaker 1: investigated or brought to the jury's attention. You know, when
Speaker 1: you look at Face case and you look at the evidence,
Speaker 1: you can really they just think there's really no good
Speaker 1: evidence here, right, You can look at it and said,
Speaker 1: there's no good evidence. So how does she get convicted? Well,
Speaker 1: part of it is it's just racism, pure and simple, right,
Speaker 1: But you have a system that has a young black
Speaker 1: girl up there in the state of saying she did it,
Speaker 1: and what does that read like to jurors. The bias
Speaker 1: appears to have started with the cops who arrested Faye
Speaker 1: on the spot, and Faye feels strongly that there was
Speaker 1: racial profiling involved. Tricia is currently Phase attorney. The m
Speaker 1: IP took Phase case in when they reviewed it and
Speaker 1: realized it's stunk of a wrongful conviction. So there's actually
Speaker 1: where a lot of witnesses to this crime. And when
Speaker 1: we went and talk to people, five other people who
Speaker 1: actually also knew Face it was not her, including Sean
Speaker 1: Riggins's brother who was standing with him at the car
Speaker 1: and said we couldn't see anything from where we were
Speaker 1: at the car. Sean Riggins, remember, had told police that
Speaker 1: Faye was the shooter, but he ultimately did recant his identification,
Speaker 1: and that was the basis of evidence that we used
Speaker 1: when we file the federal habeas petition asking them to
Speaker 1: overturn phase conviction. Filed that in the m IP. Also
Speaker 1: brought up in the appeal the four additional eyewitnesses who
Speaker 1: said the shooter was not Faye and who were never
Speaker 1: called to testify at trial. However, before a judge could
Speaker 1: respond to the petition, there was a new development in
Speaker 1: the United States Supreme Court ruled in Miller versus Alabama
Speaker 1: that juveniles cannot be sentenced to mandatory life without parole
Speaker 1: like they was. Those who had received this sentence are
Speaker 1: entitled to every sentencing hearing. But Faye had a difficult
Speaker 1: decision to make. If she was resentenced and released based
Speaker 1: on the time she had already served, she could not
Speaker 1: fight her innocence claim. And remember, there were two people
Speaker 1: involved in the crime, a man and a woman, and
Speaker 1: a man was originally charged with Faye, and we know
Speaker 1: in the co defendant's case, when his attorney asked for discovery,
Speaker 1: they dropped the charges. So we wanted to know what
Speaker 1: was it specifically from the crime lab, and rather than
Speaker 1: giving us that, they gained an offer of time served.
Speaker 1: And that is when Faye then had to make a
Speaker 1: really difficult and horrific choice of you know, do I
Speaker 1: want to keep pursuing my innocence claim in this federal court.
Speaker 1: If she did, she could lose the deal to be
Speaker 1: released based on time served. So she had to choose
Speaker 1: accept this chance to be free, knowing she would remain
Speaker 1: a felon or stay in prison and continue the potentially
Speaker 1: never ending fight for her own exoneration. On July, they
Speaker 1: accepted the time served offer and walked out of prison
Speaker 1: to walk out of those gates. Oh, it was such
Speaker 1: a release that I was like, oh my god, I
Speaker 1: am out of Yet I had some emotions because I
Speaker 1: thought about the ones that I was leaving behind, and
Speaker 1: that was the life that I knew because I'd been
Speaker 1: there for over twenty summer, So you know, I had
Speaker 1: these mixed emotions. Yet I was so happy to be
Speaker 1: home with those had been fighting to get me out
Speaker 1: and be around people other people. One of those people
Speaker 1: was Tiffany. She was gone ten years before I ever
Speaker 1: got out, But that whole teen year she was out.
Speaker 1: She constantly wrote me send me money, just was there
Speaker 1: for me faithfully, and that was something that I had
Speaker 1: never in my life experience. I had no one to
Speaker 1: be so genuine, authentic. It was just unbelievable what I
Speaker 1: was like. They don't make people like they make Tiffany anymore.
Speaker 1: Tiffany and Phase relationship developed into a romantic one. These days,
Speaker 1: they traveled back and forth to see each other. Faye
Speaker 1: lives in Kansas City, Missouri, and Tiffany out in rural
Speaker 1: hunts Ville, Arkansas. I am country. I would rather be
Speaker 1: in the woods than the city. Do you bring her
Speaker 1: to the woods? Yes, as much as possible, But and
Speaker 1: then she takes me to the city, like, we have
Speaker 1: a fishing trip planned here pretty soon, so I want
Speaker 1: to have to go get our tent. Wow, how's how's
Speaker 1: being in the woods house camping? I don't picture you
Speaker 1: as a camper. I am not. I am not. That's her.
Speaker 1: And so where she lives Huntsville, population seventy five. She's
Speaker 1: been there all her life. I don't think I would
Speaker 1: ever live in a country town. Like I wish you
Speaker 1: could see your face right now, but uh yeah, hopefully
Speaker 1: in the future techny and I could. We would live
Speaker 1: together and have our fur babies and the babies that
Speaker 1: you know that I desire to have. It woul could
Speaker 1: be a big family. They and Tiffany hope to have
Speaker 1: a family someday. But since they was resentenced and released,
Speaker 1: her conviction still stands, so she's technically still a convicted felon.
Speaker 1: Because of this felony, I cannot adopt, which is heartbreaking.
Speaker 1: Yet um I'm hoping to maybe possibly um have a surrogate,
Speaker 1: so that's the goal, and if not my niece, hopefully
Speaker 1: they can have babies for me something like that. And
Speaker 1: I also have three amazing babies. They are two snails
Speaker 1: ers and one tiny teacup Chihuahua that are my babies.
Speaker 1: But as of adopting, life has been hard with the
Speaker 1: label convicted felon attached to her, even with the support
Speaker 1: of the m I P. When I do uh go
Speaker 1: for interviews or go to apply, I'm given a letter
Speaker 1: that you know, she's actually innocent of this crime. Yet
Speaker 1: we're still fighting to clear her name, and it helps
Speaker 1: in some aspects, but I've been denied housing in spite
Speaker 1: of the letter, So sometimes it does and sometimes it
Speaker 1: doesn't Fate currently works as a receptionist for Chevrolet in
Speaker 1: Kansas City. She also advocates for other wrongfully incarcerated people
Speaker 1: and is on the board of an organization which helps
Speaker 1: formally incarcerated women returning to society. Phase only shot at
Speaker 1: exoneration is now clemency, and her first clemency petition from
Speaker 1: Arkansas Governor Atha Hutchinson was denied. She cannot apply again
Speaker 1: for another eight years. You know, I'm just so happy
Speaker 1: to be free. Yet I'm physically free, but I'm not free.
Speaker 1: If you want to help Faye, go to change dot
Speaker 1: org and type in Faye Jacobs to ask Governor Asa
Speaker 1: Hutchinson to part in Faye next time. Un Wrongful Conviction
Speaker 1: with Maggie Freeling Hank Skinner, I'm sitting there looking to think,
Speaker 1: learning and fixing to put me on. I could see
Speaker 1: it through the door, the handed door open. I could
Speaker 1: see the microphone, and I could see the straps, the
Speaker 1: harm boards, and I was absolutely convinced that I was
Speaker 1: fixing it. Now. Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction
Speaker 1: with Maggie Freeling. Please support your local innocence organizations and
Speaker 1: go to the links in our bio to see how
Speaker 1: you can help. I'd like to thank our executive producers
Speaker 1: Jason Flam and Kevin Wurdis, as well as our senior
Speaker 1: producer Annie Chelsea, researcher Lila Robinson, story editor Sonya Paul,
Speaker 1: with additional production by Jeff Cleburne and Connor Hall. The
Speaker 1: music in this production is by three time OSCAR nominated
Speaker 1: composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram
Speaker 1: at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Wrongful Conviction, as well as at Lava
Speaker 1: for Good. On all three platforms, you can also follow
Speaker 1: me on both Instagram and Twitter at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful
Speaker 1: Conviction with Maggie Freeling is a production of Lava for
Speaker 1: Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number one