WEBVTT - #272 Maggie Freleng with Alisha Burns 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:06.840 So dealing with children who get wrongfully convicted for something 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:09.000 like I think about all the things that I did 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:13.240 as a kid, you know, not knowing believing the adults. 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:15.120 Yeah, you want to be part of the cool crowd, 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:17.200 so to speak, right, I think we all want to 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:19.079 teach our kids, and I know I've tried to teach 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:21.360 my kids the best I could to stay out of 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:24.120 those situations and call me and no matter where you are, 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:26.800 what you did to get yourself in that situation or 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:29.960 what's happening, I come, I get you, no questions, ask 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:30.480 and that. 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.800 But that, actually, you know, is a great point because 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:36.800 your children, they come from a place of privilege where 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:39.159 they have a family. I mean, in certain cases, we're 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:42.760 talking about somebody who didn't have a family and was 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.240 just seeking affection and love from the first person they found. 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.680 And I said, no, I'm not going to testify against him. 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:55.640 I love him. He's my boyfriend, he loves me. 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.680 And so the DA basically said, well, if you don't 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:01.840 want to be as victim, you could be as co defended. 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:04.959 And they charged him and meet both with. 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:12.760 Murder from lava for good. This is wrongful conviction with 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:27.399 Maggie Freeling today Alicia Burns. In August of two thousand 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:30.600 and two, fifteen year old Alicia Burns was swimming at 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.920 a lake in Ohio when a man named Stephen Kasmeric 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.000 approached her. He told her he was twenty one, and 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.760 the duo quickly formed an intimate relationship. They decided to 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.640 steal Alicia's foster mother's car and run off together to 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:51.639 Las Vegas. However, this whirlwind romance was anything but Alicia 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.760 didn't know that Kasmeric was actually thirty two and a 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:59.080 convicted sex offender. Very quickly during their trip, Kasmeric began 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.080 to force Alicia into selling her body for money, and 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.440 he was getting increasingly violent with Alicia if she refused. 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:08.760 This continued once they got to Vegas. One day in 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.799 September two thousand and two, Kasmeric made one of these 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:17.560 deals with a man named Pedro via Real. Alicia expected 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:19.880 this time to be like all the others. She was 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:22.320 to have sexual contact with this man and he would 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:26.480 pay Chasmeric, But unbeknownst to Alicia, Kasmeric had a plan 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:31.760 to forcibly rob the man. When the robbery went horribly wrong, 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.360 the man, Pedro vile Real, wound of dead. Kasmeric and 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:39.240 Alicia were eventually charged with his murder, but Alicia says 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.680 she did not kill mister Viorel and that she too 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:45.840 was a victim. 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:49.720 I was a foster child and I was trafficked when 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:53.800 I was fifteen. My trafficker forced me to participate in 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:56.480 a robbery that resulted in a death, and as a 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:00.800 result of that, they made me his co defendant charge. 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:04.840 My name is Alicia Burns. They gave me tend to 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:15.200 life in prison. I served a total of sixteen years. 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:22.000 Alicia Burns was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on March sixth, 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:25.200 nineteen eighty seven. From a young age, her life with 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:27.720 her birth family was difficult. 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:33.000 My biological mother was a drug addict in abusive relationships, 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:35.320 and the state took me and my siblings from my mother, 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:38.839 and at three, I got adopted by a family who 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:40.200 couldn't have children. 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:43.280 But Alicia struggled in her new family. She wanted to 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:46.400 find her biological mother and ended up running away from home. 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:49.800 Her adoptive parents eventually put her up for adoption again, 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.000 and at age eleven, Alicia wound up in the foster 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:55.880 care system. Her experience was not great. 0:03:57.160 --> 0:04:02.640 Most people who are preen and teenage in foster care 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:07.200 in Durre abuse in all kinds of forms, whether it's 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.680 sexual or physical, or emotional or mental, and that's something 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:15.320 that's very prominent in the foster care system Sadly, I 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:17.320 spent a lot of time running away. 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:18.279 From foster homes. 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:23.320 I went through thirty six different placements between the ages 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:26.160 of eleven and fifteen, so I was booted around a 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:29.600 lot and just kind of did the foster care system 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:31.760 thing before I ended up in prison. 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:40.080 In two thousand and two, Alicia, now a teenager, was 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:43.159 longing for something more. One day in August, she was 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:45.360 at a lake with one of her foster parents when 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:46.839 a man approached her. 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:50.039 He came up to me and started talking to me, 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:55.600 and I liked the attention. I told him I was eighteen, 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:58.000 and he told me he was twenty one. 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:02.240 They were both lying. Alicia was just fifteen and the man, 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:06.000 Stephen kas Mehrick, was actually thirty two, but Alicia didn't 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:07.600 know or really care. 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:13.039 I think, you know, above and beyond all logic, I 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:19.120 yearned for attention and love so much that nothing else mattered. 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:19.799 I guess. 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:23.200 She quickly started to build a relationship with Kasmeric and 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.560 eventually he convinced her to leave Ohio and run away 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:28.600 with him to Las Vegas to get married. 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.680 I fully believed this man was my boyfriend and that 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.200 he loved me, that he was the only person in 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.719 the world that loved me and cared about me, because 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.200 that's that's what he convinced me of. That's what he 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:45.880 made me believe. We're gonna spend our lives together and 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:48.880 now I'm going to take care of you and you 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:51.880 never have to be in a foster home again. And 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:56.440 of course that was a fantastical notion to a fifteen 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:59.919 year old foster child with you know, obvious trust issues 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:01.160 and abandonment issues. 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.279 It felt like a whirlwind romance to Alicia. But then 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:08.640 things took a turn. 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:09.800 Yeah. 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:11.520 It started on the way to Vegas. 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:16.080 So we had stolen my foster brother's car and some 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:18.080 money from her, and. 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:20.919 I don't think we even like made it out of 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:21.600 the Midwest. 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.240 We had stopped at a motel and he was like, Hey, 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:28.840 we're kind of getting low on cash. You know, there's 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:31.280 this guy. He's you know, a couple of doors down 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.560 and he just wants to touch you. He's not going 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:36.560 to touch you under your clothes. He just wants to 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:38.440 touch you, like above your clothes, and he's going to 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:39.760 give us some money for it. And I'm going to 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:41.760 be right there the whole time, and I'm going to 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.839 make sure nothing happens. And you know, you can help 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.440 us right now, because. 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:49.560 Mark convinced Alicia that she had to do this to 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:52.280 financially contribute to their relationship. 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:55.520 And so I let it happen. 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:00.440 And then the next time we were at another hotel 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.880 and it was you know, this person just wants to 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:05.960 touch you under your clothes, but just for a second. 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:09.920 And then the next time it was a blow job, 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:12.520 and then it just it just really progressed from there. 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.000 And by the time that. 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:21.800 I told him no that I didn't want to, he 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.800 hit me hard on the side of my face. He 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:27.960 hit me hard enough that my ear was ringing, and 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:31.040 hard enough that it scared me to not want to 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:32.880 tell him no again. 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:35.920 Wow, what were you thinking when that happened. 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:43.240 I was thinking how much I had messed up because 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:45.320 he was yelling at me and he was telling me, 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:48.920 you know, by then, we were in Las Vegas, and 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.320 so he was telling me, like, you know, you're out here, 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:54.760 you don't know anybody out here, if you know, if 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:57.440 I leave you, you know, these other people are going to 0:07:57.520 --> 0:07:59.720 get you, and they're going to treat you a lot 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.640 worse than I do, you know, And I. 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:04.440 Was scared. 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:07.280 Alicia was trapped. 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:14.760 It seemed like a way to receive his praise, to 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:20.000 make him happy, because he was happy that I did 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.560 what he wanted me to do, and I was happy 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:29.040 that now I could get a burger from McDonald's or. 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:32.160 A hotel room for the night so that I wasn't 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:36.600 sleeping outside. 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:41.120 She didn't realize what was really happening, that Cosmeric was 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:42.680 trafficking her for sex. 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:47.800 I guess it's like similar to any like abusive or 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:52.679 domestic violence type of situation. It flip flops, you know, 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:57.040 there's those really bad times and then it's like made 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:02.600 up for with this over abundance of I appreciate you, 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:05.439 I adore you, I love you, you know, and so 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:09.400 it's it's really it's a it's a manipulative tactic, you know, 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:12.840 And that's that's what I went through with my trafficker. 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:18.520 But she was also still just a kid, and she 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:23.240 believed Casmeric loved her, and so they eventually reached their destination, 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:32.840 Las Vegas. Let's go to September twenty fifth, two thousand 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.199 and two. Okay, so tell me about the day. How 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:36.240 did it start. 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:45.920 We were walking around on Fremont Street, and my trafficker 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:50.000 had met like some guy out there that was also 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:54.000 from Chicago, where my trafficker was from, and so they 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:57.800 were talking and hanging out and laughing, and Alicia. 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:00.240 Says, she wandered away and a man approached her, asking 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.760 if he could buy her a drink. She said, all 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:06.440 she wanted was a soda from McDonald's. 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.440 And so we, uh, we walked into the McDonald so 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:15.400 he could buy me a sprite, and he offered me 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:17.120 money for sex. 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:21.680 Alicia told Kasmerik, who saw an opportunity. He and the 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:23.920 man agreed on a price, and they decided to go 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:26.720 back to his apartment. Kas Marek brought along a friend 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:30.079 who to this day is only known as Tommy. 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.880 When we got there, they turned on some music and 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:39.640 they were drinking beers and we were sitting there and 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:41.800 the gentleman was sitting next to me on the bed 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:45.200 and he kept like rubbing on my legs and things 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:51.880 like that, and touching my back, and I was getting uncomfortable, 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.559 so I, you know, said I had to use the restroom. 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:57.199 So I got up and I went to the restroom 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:01.840 and I came back out and back down, and then 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:04.000 my trafficker said that he had to use the restroom 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:08.000 as well. And when he got to the bathroom door, 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:12.360 he was like, whoa dude, your your mirror is broken 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:13.320 in the bathroom. 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.479 And the gentleman was like, what. 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:16.960 What do you what do you mean my mirror is broken? 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:19.840 And so he got up to go look into the 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:23.520 bathroom and when he peeked his head like around the 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:28.400 corner to the bathroom, my trafficker grabbed him from behind 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:36.280 and started choking him. So I was standing there scared 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.120 and shocked, and. 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:41.440 I didn't try to stop it. I didn't. 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:49.439 I didn't, I don't, but I remember just standing there 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:52.240 like what the hell is going on? 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.720 Alicia had no idea that Kasmeric planned to hurt anyone, 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:08.000 but a long struggle ensued and then the man lost consciousness. 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:10.840 Kazmik told Alicia and taught me to go grab extension 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:13.920 cords to tie him up. By now, Alicia knew better 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:15.880 than to disobey Kasmeric. 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:17.280 So I did. 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:19.880 I cut the cord off the back of this small 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:22.760 like box fan and I handed it to him and 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:26.320 then he was like, okay, we need to look around 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:27.480 for any valuables. 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:30.080 Kazmerk told them to bag up the valuables so they 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.960 could pawn them. And then the man started to wake up, 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:36.120 so kas Merek quickly shifted orders. 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:38.600 And he was like, well, just do what I did, 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:40.520 Just you know, put your arm around his neck like 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:42.920 I did, until he passes out again. 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:46.720 And I weighed eighty. 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:50.120 Nine pounds at the time, so that thing I did 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.200 physically was going to make a difference for this this 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:57.839 adult man who's closer, you know, around two hundred pounds. 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:02.280 And that's when my trafficker came over and choked him 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:13.160 unconscious himself, you know, and he was like, just just 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:16.319 forget it, just forget it. Just start wiping things down, 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:22.080 you know, wipe all of our fingerprints, wipe everything. And 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:25.480 he said that the friend had to help him carry 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:28.160 him into the bathroom and put him in the bathtub. 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:32.760 And I remember at one point. 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:39.199 I heard noises in the bathroom and my trafficker was saying, 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:41.440 you know, shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up. 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.559 And I looked in there and he was punching him 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.839 like inside the bathtub and telling him to shut up, 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:51.800 and he looked over and saw me, and he said, Alicia, 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:52.280 don't look. 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.800 Don't look, and he pushed the door closed. 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.400 Causmeric then ordered Alicia and Tommy to clean up the 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.280 apartment and continue to wipe everything down to not leave 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:10.720 any fingerprints. 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:14.120 Because when we leave, I'm going to open the window 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.680 here so that people not the window itself, but like 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:18.320 the blinds or curtains or whatever it was. 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:19.640 He says, I'm going to open. 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:21.880 This so in case people walk by, it looks normal 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:22.280 in here. 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:32.760 After they left, Casmeric pawned the items they stole. Alicia 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.080 says that when they left, the man in the bathtub 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:38.960 was still alive. About a week later, she says, Kasmeric 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:41.720 was back to trying to solicit Alicia's body for money, 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:44.400 this time at the Stardust Casino. 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:47.800 I got stopped by security because I was very clearly underage, 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:53.760 and he came over while security was talking to me 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:56.560 to kind of try to, I guess, try to talk 0:14:56.640 --> 0:15:00.320 us out of it or something, and security's took his 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.360 idea as well, and they took us into the back. 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.640 Apparently the security guard got a fishy feeling about the 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:12.520 whole scenario, and the security guard started asking me questions. 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:14.560 He wanted to know how old I was, and he 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:16.480 wanted to know where I was from, and how I 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:20.920 knew the gentleman that I or the man that I 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:23.600 was with, and you know, I told him, oh, he's 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:27.320 my boyfriend, and we came out here from Ohio and 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:32.920 we came out here, we're going to get married. And 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:37.200 then the security guard called the police, and the police 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:39.520 came and they were asking me all the same questions, 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:42.240 but they were wanting to know if we had ever 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.520 had sex, and how many times and in what fashion, 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:50.960 and you know, things of that sort. So ultimately they 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:58.760 arrested him for kidnapping, fifteen counts of sexual assault of 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:03.000 a minor statue, tory sexual seduction, and I was his victim, 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.200 and they took him to jail for. 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:12.120 That, and because police saw that Alicia was listed as 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:15.560 a runaway, she was sent back to Ohio. Meanwhile, they 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.600 had discovered that Kasmeric was a convicted sex offender on 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:21.560 parole at the time, so in addition to the new charges, 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.440 the police had another reason to hold him in the 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:27.920 county jail while he was there, other incarcerated people learned 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:30.640 what he was in for, and in jails and prisons, 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.040 child molestation is considered by other prisoners one of the 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:39.440 most heinous charges someone could have, and often child molesters 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:46.440 are quickly hurt or killed while inside. Kasmeric knew this, and, allegedly, 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.480 to avoid being targeted, he was telling people he was 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:53.160 actually there for a robbery. To our knowledge, Kasmeric wasn't 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:56.800 aware that his victim, Pedro Virial, was dead. He was 0:16:56.880 --> 0:17:00.600 left tied up but alive, but by now police had 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:02.320 found his body, and so. 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:04.840 I guess he was like kind of trying to save 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:10.399 his ass. Instead of like being known as a child molester, 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.400 he'd rather be known as someone who was like robbing 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:16.040 someone and you know, and did. 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:16.320 This and that. 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:19.600 So he had told other inmates about that, and they 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:21.040 called the homicide detectives. 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.720 It's not clear whether police connected the pond items to 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:29.119 Kasmeric before or after he bragged to other prisoners, but 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:33.240 the admission nevertheless peaked their interest in him, and now 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:37.440 the police and prosecution needed Alicia to testify against Kasmeric, 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:39.840 both as a witness of the murder and as a 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:43.520 victim to the child's molestation. But she was still caught 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:44.680 up in their love. 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:48.520 Story, and I said, no, I'm not going to testify 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:49.320 against him. 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:52.600 I love him. He's my boyfriend. He loves me. 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:05.200 This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company. 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:09.560 AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:12.639 a positive difference in the lives of its employees and 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:15.680 in the communities where we work and live. In light 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:19.439 of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:24.120 in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform, 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:28.560 the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal services and 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:36.919 other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. So, after all 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.960 Chasmeric had put her through, why was Alicious still loyal 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:43.680 to him? Well, it's because of something called Stockholm syndrome. 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:47.280 So Stockholm syndrome is a type of a drama bond. 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:50.760 This is Kelly Diane Gallowat. She's the president and founder 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:54.400 of Project Mona's House, an organization that helps women who 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:58.560 come in as victims to be transformed into survivors. 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:02.000 So the reason why we bring that up, and we 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:04.679 bring up trauma bonds in Stockholm syndrome is because a 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:07.920 lot of people say, well, obviously they weren't held against 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:10.879 their will, they weren't chained, they weren't tied, nobody had 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:14.639 a gun to their head. But human trafficking happens through force, fraud, 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:17.760 and coercion. And what ends up happening is you can 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:21.640 have a victim who, for some reason believes the words 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.240 that the traffickers are saying. Nobody's going to help you. 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:27.240 If you run, I'll find you. If you run, I'll 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:30.320 kill your family members. There's no place to go. Nobody 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:32.359 else loves you, nobody else will take care of you. 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:34.639 I treat you so good, and then they start to 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:39.760 develop this morphed view of love, this morphed view of companionship, 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:42.720 and this morphed view of support. Which is why even 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:45.320 when you go into the restoration process of a lot 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:48.680 of people who've gone through these forms of trauma, it's 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:51.960 hard to convince them that their abuser is not their lover, 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:54.000 their abuse or is not their friend, their abus or 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.440 is not their romantic partner, but in fact that they 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:57.160 are an abuser. 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:01.680 At this point, Alicia didn't realize how manipulated she had been. 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:06.520 And so when my public defender told the DA that 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:10.479 I was refusing to testify. The DA basically said, well, 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:12.239 if you don't want to be as victim, you can 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:15.280 be as co defended. They dropped the charges against him 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:19.040 where I was his victim, and they charged him and 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:24.720 me both with murder. And I was held for thirteen 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:28.520 days in the adult jail, and during the course of 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:31.800 that thirteen days, I was in solitary confinement. I wasn't 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.600 allowed to talk to anybody, but I was receiving letters 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:39.600 from my trafficker, and he was basically telling me how 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:42.280 much he loved me and how I had the power 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:45.720 to save both of us, and because I was young, 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:49.000 if I took the blame, they would only give me 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:50.680 a little bit of time, and then they would only 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:52.320 give him a little bit of time, and then we 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:54.120 would get out around the same time and we could 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:56.520 still get married and be together. So he was still 0:20:56.640 --> 0:21:01.640 very much grooming me and manipulating me in these letters. 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:05.280 And for the record, prisoners are not typically allowed to 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:08.679 communicate with one another via letter or phone, let alone 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:12.560 be in consistent communication with each other, but for whatever reason, 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:16.600 this rule was disregarded, and then, as if the letters 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:20.080 were not bad enough, Alicia and Kasmeric were allowed an 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:22.120 in person contact visit. 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:27.600 A week or two after the preliminary hearing, the DA 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:37.439 my trafficker's attorney and my public defender got together and 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:42.360 had the judge sign off on a contact visit between 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:44.480 me and my trafficker inside the county jail. 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:48.600 It makes no sense why this would happen except the 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:52.080 district attorney had offered Alicia a deal tend to life 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:55.800 in exchange for a guilty plea, and Cosmeric wanted her 0:21:55.840 --> 0:21:56.399 to take it. 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:01.760 I can only speculate as to the reasons why he 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:05.080 would agree to talk me into taking their deal. We 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:09.919 have presumed that there was a possibility that he was 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:15.040 being promised not receiving the death penalty because he had 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:19.760 already been found guilty. So we think that he was 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:21.840 told if he got me to sign the deal, he 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:23.400 would not receive the death penalty. 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:26.000 What was the visit like? 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:27.160 I don't remember. 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:33.160 I don't remember, and there are no transcripts, there's no recording, audio, 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:34.960 or video of that visit. 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:36.159 There's nothing. 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:38.639 Was there anyone there with you in there? 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:44.639 I don't remember. I remember him. I remember him sitting 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:46.800 in front of me and telling me how much he 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:49.800 loved me, and how taking their deal was the best 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:54.159 thing for me. Shortly after that visit is when I 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:54.920 signed their deal. 0:23:05.640 --> 0:23:08.919 Alicia pleaded guilty to second degree murder on April twenty first, 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:11.960 two thousand and three. She had only just turned sixteen. 0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:15.840 Her sentence was handed down in June, and on July first, 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:18.040 she was sent to the women's prison. 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:21.719 July first, two thousand and three, is the day that 0:23:21.800 --> 0:23:26.560 it became real to me. Up to that day, I 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:29.320 kind of thought that it was a scared straight program, 0:23:29.480 --> 0:23:32.080 or that they were gonna release me like they did 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:38.040 the first time. I didn't understand the severity. But I 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:41.040 remember that day when we pulled up to the prison 0:23:42.080 --> 0:23:45.280 and the van pulls in through one gate. The gate 0:23:45.320 --> 0:23:47.760 closes behind the van, and then the gate in front 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:50.840 opens so the van can pull through. When that first 0:23:50.880 --> 0:23:55.920 gate was closed behind us, I just. 0:23:57.440 --> 0:24:05.960 I broke. I started crying because literally it was so weird. 0:24:06.000 --> 0:24:09.840 Because through signing the deal, and through all the court 0:24:09.840 --> 0:24:11.560 hearings and through sentencing and. 0:24:12.440 --> 0:24:16.320