WEBVTT - #266 Maggie Freleng with Faye Jacobs 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:04.240 Like I've been thinking a lot about, you know, the 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:08.399 difficult decision of having to decide if you want to 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:09.760 take an out Ford plea, if you want to take 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:10.760 any kind of plea. 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:15.080 I mean, if I was put in that situation, would. 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:20.080 I stay in prison to fight for my innocence knowing 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:24.079 I might never get out or take a deal get 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:27.240 out and then you can't fight for your innocence after that. 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:30.560 It's a literal Sophie's choice, Maggie, right. I mean, you 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:35.440 have this intense pressure. You know that they have the 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:37.680 ability to say, hey, we're going to leave you sitting 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.560 in jail at prison for a year or two years 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:45.840 or more while you await your retrial. Many, many strong 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:50.240 willed and brave and brilliant people have taken the plea 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:53.199 because there's really no way out and they just want 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:53.880 to go home. 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:54.240 Want to get out. 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:55.080 Yeah, they have to go home. 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.040 Yeah. 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:01.760 I didn't comprehend that I was going to prison for 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.520 the rest of my life. I'm thinking to myself, are 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:07.920 you saying that I can never be with my parents again. 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:10.080 I can never go back to my bed, you know, 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:12.880 my home. So I'm losing on my friends. I mean, 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:14.920 all this is going to be taken. Are you kidding me. 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:21.400 From lava for good? This is wrongful conviction with Maggie 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:36.920 Freeling today. Lakwanda Fay Jacobs. On the evening of February ninth, 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.680 nineteen ninety two, Kevin Gaddy and Tony Davis were walking 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:43.320 down the street when a car pulled up. A man 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:45.839 and a woman got out and held them at gunpoint. 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:48.960 They demanded the jacket Kevin Gaddy was wearing. It was 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:52.800 a Chicago Bulls starter jacket. In the nineteen nineties, these 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:57.640 satin jackets were a status symbol. As Kevin was handing 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:02.680 his jacket over, a struggle ensued was shot in the chest. 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:06.960 Around the same time, Lakwanda Fay Jacobs and her mother 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:09.160 were on their way to church when they saw police 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:10.800 commotion near Fay's house. 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:12.840 They stopped to see what was going on. 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:16.800 As Faye got out of the car, an officer approached 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.320 her and asked her who she was. Fay was instantly 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.200 arrested and taken down to the police station for questioning, 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:26.239 but she had an alibi, and the woman they should 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:30.240 have been looking for was at least fifteen years older 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:35.120 than Fay. But it didn't matter. Fay was eventually charged 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:37.079 and convicted of the murder of Kevin Gaddy. 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.640 They knew all alone that I was innocent, but just 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:48.639 wanted to use me as an example to other young juveniles. Therefore, 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:56.799 I was railroaded into the system. I am Lakwanda Fae 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:04.120 Jacobs nineteen ninety two, arrested for capital fellowy murder of 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:14.760 a friend of mine. 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:18.720 Mkwanda Fay Jacobs was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:22.440 February twenty second, nineteen seventy five. She was the baby 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:25.800 of a big family, six boys and six girls. 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:30.960 I was always picked on by my older siblings, but 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.560 I consider myself stronger than my other siblings, even though 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:39.720 I was a baby. I come from a great family. 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:44.720 I was raising the church. My dad was started off 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:46.600 as a deacon in the church and ended up becoming 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.400 an assistant pastor. And I was deeply involved at the 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:52.800 age of four years old. 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.800 Facing in the church choir, and was an outgoing child 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:57.680 and teenager. 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:01.400 And I'm just a people person. That's just the type 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:05.640 of personality I've always had. I was a friends with 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:09.560 everybody from church people. I even had friends that were 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:16.480 gang members, you know, just a typical teenager. I had fights, 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:22.000 I had boyfriends, I did a lot. You know, That's 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:22.520 who Fey. 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.719 Was, And like many kids, she had lots of different 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:27.960 visions for her future. 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:30.760 I wanted to be a nurse. At one time, I 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.760 wanted to be a beautician because I loved doing my 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:37.000 doll's hair, you know, so of course I was like, 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:39.800 I'm going to be a beautician. My grandfather was a 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:43.880 barbara and my grandmother was a beautician. I even dreamed 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:47.200 of being in the army one day. But then later on, 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:50.920 as I got older in my teenage, I was like, nah, 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:52.800 I don't want to go do that. You know. 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.400 In high school, she played on the junior varsity volleyball team, 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:01.040 and she says she was incredibly popular and other students 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:01.880 looked up to her. 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:07.400 I dreamed of graduating, going to the prom, going to dance, 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:10.520 and you know, I could have possibly been the queen 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.760 because I was so popular. But you know, those are 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:16.840 things that will rob from me, that opportunity. 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.800 On the morning of February ninth, nineteen ninety two, sixteen 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:29.680 year old Fay got up and went to church to 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.880 attend service. It was Sunday and she had planned to 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:37.520 sing at two services that day. Afterward, her mother picked 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:39.359 her up from the house Fay rented with her brother. 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:42.400 They got back to Fay's mom's apartment at two pm. 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:45.360 Fay's friend picked her up shortly after that, and they 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:48.320 ran some errands, including to the laundromat and back to. 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:49.039 Her friend's house. 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:51.840 He dropped Fay back at her mom's place at around 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:55.039 five point thirty. Her Sunday was pretty packed. 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.480 I had another service to attend that night. My mom 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:02.000 and I were going to singing at another church. 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:06.320 Fay's MoMA wrapped home shortly after and found Fay relaxing 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:09.719 on the couch. Fay was still in her white church clothes, 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:13.440 but at the same time, over a mile away, a 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:20.120 situation was unfolding that would change Fay's life forever. Seventeen 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:22.720 year old Kevin Gaddy and his friend Tony Davis, who 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:25.440 was fourteen, were walking down the street when a gray 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:27.960 car pulled up. A man and a woman got out. 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.599 The woman had a gun and they demanded the jacket. 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:34.600 Kevin Gaddy was wearing a Chicago Bulls starter jacket. As 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:36.599 Kevin was handing it over, he put his hand in 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:39.240 his coat pocket to get his brush. That's when things 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.919 got messy and the woman shot Kevin in the chest. 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:44.760 On their way to their second church event of the day, 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.080 Fay and her mom passed the crime scene right outside 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:51.040 Fay's house, so they stopped to see what was going on. 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:54.280 As Fay got out of the car, a police officer 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:55.000 grabbed her. 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:59.920 And I was instantly through on the car put in handcuffs. 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.000 At this time, I didn't know that a shooting had occurred. 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.680 I was already hancussed. Once I said who I was 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:09.440 and that I lived there too as well, at the 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.480 house that they were at. I was put in the 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.080 back seat of the car and taken to the Little 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.240 Rock police apartment. Not knowing what is going. 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:21.640 On at the precinct. 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:23.560 The police asked Faye if they could do a gun 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:24.760 shot residue test on. 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:29.280 Her, and so after my gun residue was negative, they 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.080 was like, well, we're gonna let her go home, you know. 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.200 And he's like, if you hear anything about a shooting, 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:37.640 let us know, And I was like, who shot? What 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:38.320 is going on? 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.760 It wasn't until days later that Fay learned it was 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:45.000 her friend Kevin, who was shot and killed outside of 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:45.560 her house. 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.000 Kevin and I were both the same age, but he 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:52.360 was a few months older than me, and he was 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:56.600 real known for his scooter and his skills with basketball. 0:07:57.480 --> 0:07:59.880 I always, even as a kid, I used to say, 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:03.080 you're gonna go big, Kevin, you know, because he was 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:07.760 so good at basketball, you know. But like I said, 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:10.640 from kindergarten to seventh grade, him and I went to 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:11.280 school together. 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:14.200 Kevin was pronounced dead less than an hour after he 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:15.040 was shot. 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:17.960 And it was so unbelievable because I knew he was 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:21.160 such a good kid, He was a good friend, and 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:23.920 it was just very devastating to learn that he had 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:28.960 been shot. 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:34.360 During their investigation into Kevin's murder, police found at least 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.599 eight eyewitnesses who saw the shooting. The descriptions of the 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.800 woman who fired the gun varied, but most agreed she 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.640 was in her thirties with scars under her eyes, and 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:47.280 that she was wearing dark clothing, including a black hat. 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.680 Tony Davis was the eyewitness closest to the shooting, and 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.880 on that very day described the woman as quote black, 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:59.959 mid thirties, approximately five foot eight, heavy build, medium complex, 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.920 wearing a dark ski cap and bluish gray jacket and pants. 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:09.200 With frizzy hair. Yet Fay, a young teenager. 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:12.320 Wearing entirely different clothing, had already been to the police 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:16.120 station and been questioned. So investigators had her photo and 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:19.280 showed it to witnesses. Five of them said Faye was 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.520 not the shooter. Tony Davis was shown a picture of 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.160 Fay and two times, once on the day of the 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.640 crime and again four days later. He was unable to 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:34.280 make an identification. But then nine days after the shooting, 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.560 the police brought him back in and again they showed 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:41.160 him a photo lineup, and this time he identified Fay 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:45.040 as the shooter. They had absolutely no idea what was 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:45.480 going on. 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:50.280 I was going to school and this day I wasn't 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:52.400 feeling will and I was at my sister's house and 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:58.360 my mom called my sister and said, the police has 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:04.680 come to my job looking for for murder. And I 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:10.240 was like, murder. I haven't killed anybody. And so my 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:12.800 mom came to my sister house. We called my dad, 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:16.240 we called my pastor, and we went to the police 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:18.640 station just to clear my name, you know, to tell 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:22.040 them I haven't did anything, you know, I mean when 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:23.800 I tell you, I had no clue that I was 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:28.560 even a suspect, and you know, and that could be what. 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:31.160 I was so young, but I didn't commit the crime, 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:33.400 so why would I even think that I'm a suspect. 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.520 I had no knowledge of it. And so we went 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:38.560 to the jail to clear my name, and at that 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:42.760 time they arrested me. They did not allow me to 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:45.760 clear my name. They arrested me and charged me with 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:51.000 capital felity murder and set my bun at one million dollars. Okay, 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:53.880 I'm sixteen, and I'm like, I had never been to 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.560 jail before in my life, and so I am scared. 0:10:58.520 --> 0:10:59.680 I'm very scared. 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:17.120 This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company. 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:21.480 AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.560 a positive difference in the lives of its employees and 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:27.600 in the communities where we work and live. In light 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:31.360 of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:36.040 in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform, 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:40.480 the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal services and 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:53.120 other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. Before trial, Fay 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:57.200 was appointed public defender James Kluet to represent her. At 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.320 the time of his appointment, Kluever's representing a client by 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.040 the name of Sean Riggins. As it happens, Riggins and 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:06.840 his brother had been among the witnesses on the street 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:11.160 when Kevin was murdered. Two weeks later, Riggins was arrested 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:14.120 for an unrelated crime. At that time, he ended up 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.440 telling police that he'd seen the shooter and that she 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:20.160 was actually younger than thirty, closer to fifteen or sixteen. 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.679 He was the only person to say that, and when 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:26.240 investigator showed him a photo spread of suspects, he identified 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:31.760 Faye as the shooter. Now this part gets a little confusing, 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:36.480 so follow carefully. Not only as Faye's attorney James Cluett 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:39.959 representing two clients involved in the same case, a clear 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:43.120 conflict of interest, but he also asked Faye to lie 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.600 for Shawn Riggins. Faye was in jail with a woman 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:50.640 named Bertie Walker, one of Riggins's co defendants in another case. 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:53.840 Cluette approached Fay with an offer. He asked her to 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:56.880 say that Bertie had told her she committed the crime alone. 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:01.440 In exchange, he said Riggins would not testify against Faye 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:06.760 about Kevin's murder, but favor rejected the offer, She refused 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:09.199 to lie and asked for a new lawyer. She was 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:13.400 appointed attorney Bill MacArthur. James Kluette was eventually disbarred for 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:22.560 separate issues. Fay's trial started a year later in April 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:26.360 nineteen ninety three. A man named Clifton Thomas was originally 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.560 charged with Faye as her alleged accomplice, but the charges 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:31.680 against him were eventually dropped. 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:35.920 So I'm going to court and I'm like, are you serious? 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.280 I can't believe this. Why are they doing this to me? 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:42.320 And the judge keeps my bond at a million and 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:46.480 he states we're charging her as an adult. I couldn't 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:48.040 believe that this was happening. 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:53.280 Prosecutors Howard Coopman and John Miller presented no forensic evidence 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:55.880 linking Faye to the crime. They relied heavily on the 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:59.600 eyewitness statements of Tony Davis, who was with Kevin that evening, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:05.800 and Sean Riggins. When fegoes to court, news media is everywhere. 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:08.400 She says the case was high profile because of a 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.640 slew of killings of young people in Arkansas at the time. 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:16.960 Arkansas was on the rise of gang violence. Back in 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:21.080 the late eighties early nineties, and so of course law 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:24.560 enforcements was forced to do something about those crimes. So 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:28.360 they had a thing called Banging in Arkansas. It was 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:33.000 like the Arkansas was like a small Los Angeles with 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.080 the crips and the bloods, and they had videos and 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:38.080 they still had these videos. You can pull them up 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:40.120 on YouTube called Banging in Arkansas. 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:44.000 So I did this is the county corner for Little Rock, 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.480 Arkansas on one of the films. 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:49.800 Several years ago, when I saw the death rate was increasing, 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:52.080 but the victims were becoming much younger and younger, and 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:55.560 began to see tattoos and brands on the victims, and 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.760 began to notice that the violence just was increasing, and 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.800 drive by shooting and random shootings and retaliation killings, and 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.960 it just went on and on. Until nineteen ninety two, 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:10.000 we had a record rate of homicides in Little Rock, 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:12.520 and it looks we've broken the record in nineteen ninety three, 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:14.880 and it's just gone on and on and on. 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:20.840 In fact, a half hour earlier and a few blocks 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:24.520 away from Kevin Gaddy's murder, there was another potentially related 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:28.160 crime Around five pm. Little Rock Police Department responded to 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.520 an aggravated assault where eyewitnesses told police there was a 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:36.120 female perpetrator, a male accomplice, and guess what a gray car. 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:43.040 It's unclear what happened with that case and something else 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:46.120 related to this crime. To help you understand, starting in 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:50.360 the late eighties, sports starter jackets were a hot commodity. 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:52.880 An article in The New York Times from February of 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:57.360 nineteen ninety discusses the phenomenon, calling it quote an increasingly 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:01.880 pervasive kind of urban crime by young people willing to 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:04.920 kill for clothes end quote. They cite that at the 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:07.840 time these jackets went from ninety to two hundred dollars, 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:11.920 which today would be about two hundred to four hundred dollars, 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:14.560 So Kevin Gaddy becoming a target for his jacket that 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:19.440 night was not necessarily unusual at the time. However, Fay's 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.520 attorney failed at making a case that Fay was caught 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.280 in the wrong place at the wrong time and that 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:29.600 she did not commit the crime. Faye was able to 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:32.120 testify on her own behalf, however, and she tried to 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:34.360 make the case for herself that she did not kill 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:34.840 her friend. 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.240 In my little mind, I'm thinking that you know, as 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:40.200 soon as I go to court, I can just tell 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:42.840 the judge that I didn't do this, and you see, 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:47.600 and I'll go home. But the reality, that's not how 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:50.160 it works, you know. But I didn't know that. I 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:52.720 really believe that I was going to get out of there. 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:59.120 On April twenty first, nineteen ninety three, Faye was convicted 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:02.080 of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole. 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:04.160 She was just sixteen years old. 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:12.399 I didn't I didn't comprehend that I was going to 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:16.199 prison for the rest of my life. You know. It 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:18.879 was until I got back to the jail that the 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:20.600 jailer told me, you know, you're not going to ever 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:23.320 get out. You know, you're going to jail, you know. 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:27.720 And so I was broken inside, you know, had been 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.760 ripped apart. You know. Are you telling me? I'm thinking 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:32.679 to myself, are you saying that I can never be 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:35.879 with my parents again. I can never go back to 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:38.800 my bed, you know, my home. So I'm losing all 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:40.879 my friends. I mean, all this is going to be taken. 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:41.679 Are you kidding me? 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.880 Fay's world had turned completely upside down. 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:52.000 I had many days of crying. So when I was 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:54.520 first put in, I was put in a cell all 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:58.080 by myself because I was sixteen. But days later I 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:01.600 was sent to an adult place because I was charged 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:04.520 as an adult, and so of course I had adults 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:08.240 tunt me and bothered me. I had even got jumped 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.320 on it in the county jail, you know, because of 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:16.199 this high profile. And that's the juvenile that killed the 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:19.960 guy for his jacket, you know, that's how it was labeled. 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.119 And so I would go to my room, I would cry. 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.720 I wouldn't let people see me cry because if they 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.399 saw that, that a show a sign a weakness, and 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:34.399 they would really take advantage of you and do things. 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:35.960 But yeah, I was very scared. 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:47.639 Eventually, Face settled into the prison environment, and just like 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:51.240 in high school, her outgoing personality and love of people 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:53.760 got her through. By the time she had been there 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:56.280 for several years, she had started making a name for 0:18:56.320 --> 0:19:00.080 herself as a generous person to those coming into the system. 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:03.439 And so a lot of ladies come in there and 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:05.520 they don't have the headphones and things like that, so 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:08.879 I always had extra so I can share with the 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:09.960 other ladies, you know. 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:13.439 In two thousand and nine, Tiffany Woods came to prison. 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:19.080 I was incarcerated for Dwis. So they had moved me 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:23.280 in the barracks with f A. And in order to 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:28.159 watch TV, you have to have a radio. Well, I 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.200 didn't have any family outside, you know, to actually send 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:34.360 me any money to buy me a radio. So I've 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:38.840 seen Faye just all bubbly playing games and stuff, and 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:42.399 I was like, excuse me, ma'am, can I borrow your radio? 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:45.320 And so she was like, yeah, it's over there on 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:50.000 my bed. So that started our friendship. 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:54.000 Faye and Tiffany hit it off, and when Tiffany got out, 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:56.320 she promised Fae she would write her. 0:19:56.840 --> 0:19:59.720 You know, being in prison, you meet people and people 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:03.000 tell I'm going to write you. I'm going to support you, 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:05.960 you know, all the way, and so you hear that 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:08.000 all the time, and I have been let down so 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:13.000 many times. Well with Tiffany, Tiffany left and she wrote 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:15.000 me and I was like, oh my god, this girl 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:17.760 really wrote me. And then she sent me a phone 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:20.359 number and said I could call her. And I could 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:22.880 not believe it because that was something that had never 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:26.280 happened throughout my whole incoserration to be able to have 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.879 contact with another resident that had once been there. 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:33.240 A small loyalty. 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:35.640 If I tell you I'm going to do something, I'm going. 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:36.080 To do it. 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.800 Tiffany and Fey maintained their friendship over the years, all 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:48.800 the while Fay fought for her innocence. She filed appeal 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:53.000 after appeal after appeal for reasons including in effective assistance 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:56.960 of counsel face As her second attorney, Bill MacArthur, failed 0:20:57.000 --> 0:20:59.240 to meet with her before trial and failed to file 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:03.120 any discover for emotions or conduct an investigation. He failed 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:05.480 to show why Fay could not have committed this crime, 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:09.520 starting with the description of the shooter. The shooter, according 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:12.399 to Tony Davis's testimony at the trial, was a black 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:15.960 woman with scars under her eyes and light brownish red 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:19.399 curly hair peeking out of a black hat, and she 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:23.440 was wearing a big winter coat and pants. This description 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:26.840 does not fit Fait at all. She had no scars 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:29.960 under her eyes, was wearing white church clothes, and her 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:31.880 hair was in a top knot. 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:34.760 For folks who were very familiar with black hair African 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:37.280 American hair, she couldn't have gotten her hair up into 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:40.520 this very smooth, beautiful top knot if it had been 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:43.920 a red curly dew under a cap just hours earlier. 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:47.679 Right, this is Trisha Bushnell. She's the executive director of 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:50.639 the Midwest Innocence Project known as the MIP. 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:52.840 But none of those things ever come out, none of 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:56.840 those things are ever investigated or brought to the jury's attention. 0:21:57.320 --> 0:21:58.840 You know, when you look at face case and you 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:01.040 look at the evidence, you can really just think there's 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:03.119 really no good evidence here, right, You can look at 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:04.959 it and say, there's no good evidence. So how does 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:08.400 she get convicted? Well, part of it is it's just racism, 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:10.760 pir and simple, right, But you have a system that 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:13.080 has a young black girl up there and the state 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:14.880 is saying she did it, and what does that read 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:15.600 like to jurors? 0:22:16.000 --> 0:22:18.640 The bias appears to have started with the cops who 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:22.399 arrested Fay on the spot, and Fay feels strongly that 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:27.560 there was racial profiling involved. Trisha is currently Phase attorney. 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:30.520 The MIP took Phase case in twenty fourteen when they 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:33.560 reviewed it and realized it's stunk of a wrongful conviction. 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:37.760 So there's actually were a lot of witnesses to this crime. 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:39.480 And when we went and talked to people, five other 0:22:39.520 --> 0:22:42.240 people who actually also knew Fay, So it was not her, 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:45.720 including Shawn Riggins's brother who was standing with him at 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:48.240 the car and said we couldn't see anything from where 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:49.320 we were at the car. 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:53.240 Shawn Riggins, remember, had told police that Faye was the shooter, 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:57.920 but he ultimately did recant his identification. 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:00.760 And that was the basis of few evidence that we 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:04.160 used when we filed a federal habeas petition asking them 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:05.360 to overturn face conviction. 0:23:05.760 --> 0:23:07.000 Filed that in twenty eighteen. 0:23:08.040 --> 0:23:10.400 The MIP also brought up in the appeal the four 0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:14.119 additional eyewitnesses who said the shooter was not Fay and 0:23:14.160 --> 0:23:17.480 who were never called to testify at trial. However, before 0:23:17.520 --> 0:23:20.199 a judge could respond to the petition, there was a 0:23:20.320 --> 0:23:24.800 new development. In twenty twelve, the United States Supreme Court 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:28.840