WEBVTT - #337 Maggie Freleng with Amelia Bird 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:04.519 A note for listeners, this episode contains discussion of suicide. 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:16.360 Please listen with caution and care. For Amelia Bird, her 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:21.040 world never felt safe from a young age. She was mentally, physically, 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:24.560 and sexually abused by family members. She tried to get 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:26.720 help from anyone she could. 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.639 I went to my school counselor and begged them to 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.720 call DFS, call whoever to come get me, because I 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:39.280 could not live in that house any longer. 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.520 The counselor referred her to a mental health facility. 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:47.240 I told them I was suicidal. They I would die 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:49.960 before I ever went back in that house. I can't 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:50.680 do it no more. 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:55.920 When adults in Amelia's life continued to fail her, she 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:59.480 turned to drugs, alcohol, and older men for comfort. But 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:02.480 these avid news would lead not to escape, but to 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:04.080 her biggest downfall. 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:11.680 I remember waking up big in It was storming, really bad, 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:17.360 nothing you've seen like actually seeing the lightning. My window 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:19.320 was open so I could hear the rain hit in 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:23.840 the tin roof. And then I remember going to the 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:27.320 bathroom and that's when I seen blood and I heard 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:32.240 the words, I can't believe you shot me. My name 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:36.880 is familiar Bird. I've been in prison, said Jay Ary thirteen, 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.800 two thousand and six. And I am innocent. 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.560 From lava for good. This is wrongful conviction with Maggie 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:48.760 Freeling today. 0:01:49.280 --> 0:02:02.720 Amelia Bird. 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:08.160 Amelia Bird was born on April nineteenth, nineteen eighty nine, 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:13.600 to William and Christina Bird in Summersville, Missouri. Amelia was 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.320 the baby in the family. Her brother, Justin, is five 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:16.959 years older. 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:21.120 I grew up on a farm fish. We did have 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:25.880 horses there at the inn. We were getting cattle and stuff. 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:29.280 And life both in and out of school, kept Amelia busy. 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:33.680 I worked a school program and worked until sometimes seven 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.800 eight o'clock at night training horses, and I loved it. 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:38.280 I loved working with horses. 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:42.040 At first, Amelia was pretty close with her dad. 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:46.160 I thought like he was the best guy in the world, 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.480 like I was Daddy's little girl. From the outside looking in, 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:52.960 it was like picture perfect. Just like everything, every home 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:54.240 has its secret. 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:58.519 And the secrets in the Bird home were dark ones. 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:04.040 I always thought that, you know, my mom was cheating 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:05.720 on my dad, because that's what I would overhear the 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:06.400 adults saying. 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:10.720 But as she got older, Amelia started realizing her father 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:14.119 was the problem. One day, she found her mom cowering 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:15.840 in fear from her dad. 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.120 I don't know what happened. It just remember it was 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:25.480 on Mother's Day when he had my mom trapped against 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:27.960 the wall, down on the floor, and the whole bedroom 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:31.839 is destroyed toward to pieces, and my grandmother had to come, 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:36.320 my aunt had to come. And that's like my eyes 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.840 started seeing that my mom wasn't necessarily the bad person 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:44.520 that it was more my dad. My father has a 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:49.160 temper on him. He does not know when to stop 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:53.760 when he gets angry, whether he verbally or physically abuses. 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:57.400 You can almot see it like in his eyes changing. 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:00.920 And Amelia's mother was not the old only target of 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:01.440 his reach. 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:06.160 One time, my mom had told me to do something. 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:09.840 I didn't do it right away, so he gave me 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.000 a whapon and it started outside, then went inside and 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.440 he continued to a point like I was black and 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:17.960 blue from my lower back almost to the back of 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:18.560 my knees. 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:23.960 Amelia started to notice that her mom never stood up 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:25.839 for her or for herself. 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.360 My mom was very like quiet and meek, and no 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:32.520 matter what happened to her, like she would just take 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:36.760 it and keep going. I knew she was scared of 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.800 him because she had left him twice the time Mother's 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:43.159 Day and then another time she had left him again, 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.520 and we actually moved into a whole nother house, took 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.440 the horses, everything like we packed up and everything. 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:56.400 But her mom always went back and in comparison to 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:00.400 how they treated her, Amelia's parents often spoiled and favored 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:01.200 her brother. 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:05.840 Justin anything he said was right, something would happen and 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:07.919 they'd always be like, why can't you be like your brother? 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:11.200 Why do you have to misbehave so much? Why can't 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:14.320 you a great to be better? It was like one 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:16.880 thing on top of another, and they always compared me 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:17.320 to him. 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.040 This was painful enough for Amelia, but worse than that, 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:27.760 she says, was that her brother took advantage of her. 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:33.760 My brother had sexually abused me, and I knew no 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:36.240 matter what was said, they would always take his side 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:38.679 of her mind and tell me that I'm just making 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:39.600 it up to get attention. 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:48.159 Amelia says her cousin sexually abused her too. By the 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.520 time she was ten, To deal with the emotional and 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:54.960 physical pain of the ongoing abuse, Amelia began to self medicate. 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.520 The first thing that I got introduced to was just 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:04.080 filled and they were like yellow jackets and like worriots. 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.480 There were stuff upper to try to keep me awake, 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:08.760 because I had a whole fear and phobia of going 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:12.240 to sleep because that's when it seems that everything bad 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.680 always happened. So like I didn't like to go to sleep. 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.000 If I did, I wanted somebody there, whether it was 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:23.440 my dog Fred or whether it was somebody else like 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:25.000 one of my exes. 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:29.400 The pills soon led to alcohol, and. 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:33.200 That was that I don't even remember who. It was 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:36.120 at a friend's house that she told me, she's like, 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:44.120 this will help, and we started drinking and it started 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:48.160 off with just like sour apple Tucker sn It led 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.680 to vodka and hard liquor, and then one time she 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.520 had moonshine. Then I started hanging out with this other 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:59.040 girl and we partied all the time. She introduced me 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:05.920 to we mushrooms and more pills. I can't tell you 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.200 what all those were because we would put them all 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:10.520 in a bowl and just grab them and take them 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:16.200 and take a shot. I felt so much shame. I 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.200 felt like it was my fault for a very long 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:24.040 time over it, because I didn't understand why it had happened. 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.440 So Amelia began looking for a way out for herself. 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:33.960 I found a college that was like a rodeo school 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:36.360 to where I could barrel race on the side but 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:40.080 also get an education, and I really wanted to do that. 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.520 I loved barrel racing. My biggest dream was I wanted 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:47.160 to ride my horse through every state. I had mapped 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:48.520 it out when I was ten years old. 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:51.800 But these dreams were crushed by her father. 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:54.800 He's told me that I'm too stupid to do anything, 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:57.360 never going to mount to nothing in life, that I 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:58.880 need to give up all my dreams. 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.600 Amelia felt trapped. Starting from age eleven, she confided in 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.960 adults about what was going on at home. However, Amelia 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:10.960 says the adults she turned to always betrayed her. By 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:14.040 the time she was fourteen, she was desperate. 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:18.120 I went to my school counselor and begged them to 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:22.400 call DFS, call whoever to come get me because I 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:27.520 could not live in that house any longer. And they 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:32.120 brought in a juvenile offster that scared me. He told 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:34.439 me we had to talk to my parents. I said, 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:36.000 you might as well give it up. I don't want 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:38.880 to talk. Then if you're going to talk to my parents. 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:40.800 They ended up he did end up getting to hold 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.120 my parents and we all sit down, and then they 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:46.559 made me go home and they had my dad drive 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:50.160 me to the next down over to meet some people 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:52.440 to pick me up to drive me to the hospital. 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:57.400 Once she got to the mental health facility, I told. 0:08:57.240 --> 0:09:00.080 Them I was suicidal, that I would die before I 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.400 ever went back in that house. I can't do it 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:05.160 no more. I can't do the argument, I can't do 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:07.760 the abuse. Nobody wants to stand up for nobody, and 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:08.400 I'm done. 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:11.720 But even at the hospital, she still felt that no 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:12.880 one believed her. 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:16.959 I started thinking that I was delusional and that it 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:19.320 really wasn't a big deal, and then I was the 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:24.480 one in the wrong, Like I really started feeling like 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:25.920 that there was some wrong with me. 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:37.679 Amelia stayed in the hospital for about eleven days and 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:41.160 then she was released back to her family and to 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:44.839 the abuse. Her dad was the one who came to 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:48.199 drive her home from the hospital, and the. 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:51.360 Whole time he would not speak to me. That night, 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:53.720 he just yelled at me. They made fun of me. 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:56.000 They said, you'd better be careful what you say. She 0:09:56.080 --> 0:10:00.600 might become suicidal and make comments like, well, we'll just 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:02.480 beat it out of her and then she'll be better. 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:03.719 We don't need no hospital. 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:11.679 When Amelia left the facility, doctors prescribed her prozac and trazadone, 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.160 but when her dad said it was too expensive, that 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.280 she was costing the family too much money, she stopped 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:22.280 taking the medication. Still, Amelia and her mother grew closer. 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:27.000 She especially cherishes one good memory of being with her mom, and. 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:29.360 That was a float trip. It was just me and her, 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.199 and it didn't start off very good and it didn't 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:37.600 end good. That the middle part was amazing. 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.640 Amelia and her mom were just bonding and having heart 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:44.360 to hearts as they floated on the river together. But 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:46.400 then a thunderstorm struck. 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.200 Then we got trapped and it was like two in 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:53.960 the morning when somebody finally found us on the river. 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:57.199 It was my dad, and he was mad none at all, 0:10:57.240 --> 0:10:59.640 get out for even having to come looking for it. 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:04.840 But the whole trip itself, like in the middle, just 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:07.400 being her out on the water was so much fun 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.760 and amazing, and it's like one of my last memories 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:24.559 of her. 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:27.480 In the fall of two thousand and five, the abuse 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:31.680 was still rampant. In addition to self medicating, Amelia was 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.480 also seeking out relationships with older men. 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.080 I didn't really associate with a lot of people my age. 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:42.040 They were just not mentally on the same level as me. 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:44.559 Like I've grown up very fast. I never really had 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.120 a childhood, So I always hung out with people that 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:50.480 were way older than me, and I would meet them, 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:54.640 like at horse shows, and they would not even know 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:57.520 my age. They would just assume I was older. 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:01.520 Amelia began and on again off again relationship with a 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.800 guy named Maynard, who was about five years older than her. 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:08.640 My family hated him. They blamed him for the drugs, 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.160 the alcohol. They blamed him for me going to the hospital. 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:13.200 They blamed him for so much. 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.360 But Amelia says that Maynard always protected her. He would 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:19.440 even sneak in and spend the night with her when 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:22.200 she was too afraid to sleep, But her parents had 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:26.120 no tolerance for him. Maynard and Amelia's dad even got 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:30.640 into a physical fight once. Eventually, things with Maynard ended, 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:34.160 and one day, Amelia, now sixteen, came home from work 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:37.679 and met nineteen year old Chad Brantley. Chad was at 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.000 her family's house with a friend who was buying a 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:40.959 truck from her dad. 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:46.320 We just started hanging out in between my schedule and stuff. 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:49.360 And then he didn't have no job, no education. He 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:53.679 played music at a bar. He was a drummer. He 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.240 told me he would start doing ged classes. He told 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:57.920 me he would get a job everything. 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:02.800 Amelia really liked Chad, even though he was somewhat adrift. 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:05.720 She felt like he took care of her. She even 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:08.760 confided in Chad about the abuse she was enduring at home. 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.720 But quickly this relationship also turned volatile. 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:16.199 He got to where he was demanding that I spend 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:18.040 all this time with him. If I didn't, he would 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:22.439 get angry with me. It would get loud. He liked 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:27.040 to drink, and he done meth and other stuff. I 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:28.520 don't even know what all he'd done, but I know 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.280 he done meth and other stuff a lot more harder 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:35.480 than what I done. I told him about my dreams, 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:37.400 what I wanted to do. I wanted to show. I 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:39.360 wanted to train. I wanted to do all that like 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.400 that was my goal in mine, to be this amazing trainer. 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:45.360 He wanted me to give up horses, and I never 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:48.559 would give up the horses because that was my whole life. 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:57.000 With Chad's violent and controlling behavior, their relationship didn't last long. 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:00.720 We started fighting really bad because he was meaning too much, 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.560 and I told him I needed time in space, that 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:04.559 I'm still a kid. 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.840 Then, on the afternoon of January thirteenth, two thousand and six, 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:14.199 Amelia was leaving school when she spotted him. It wasn't 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:14.920 an accident. 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:19.880 Chad was sitting there waiting for me. I told him 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:21.360 I did not want to talk to him right then, 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:23.000 that we would talk later, that I had to go 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:27.920 to work. I told him i'd call him when I could. 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:36.640 That night, right before midnight, Amelia woke up to a thunderstorm. 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:39.680 My window was open so I could hear the rain 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:46.280 hit in the tin roof. And then I remember going 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.160 to the bathroom, and. 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:53.080 On her way to the bathroom, she passed her parents' bedroom. 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:57.360 And that's when I see, like, my mom is laying there, 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:00.760 my dad's standing there, and I heard with the words 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:02.080 that can't believe you shot me. 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:07.000 Amelia couldn't tell who was talking to whom or who 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:10.560 they were talking to. She raced to call nine. 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:14.720 One one, and then like from there everything got really confused. 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:18.440 I remember called nine one one, but I don't remember 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.120 called my brother. I don't remember done of that. I 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:23.080 read the reports all the time and it was like, 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:25.800 I don't remember half the stuff. 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:28.960 It was all a blur. 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:32.960 Before Amelia could even process what was happening, police showed up. 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.520 They determined that her mother, Christina Bird, had died from 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:40.480 gunshot wounds. Her father was taken to the er. Eventually 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:58.720 he survived. This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:03.640 global insurance company. AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.200 and to making a positive difference in the lives of 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:09.320 its employees and in the communities where they work and live. 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.760 In light of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:16.920 and in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:21.240 justice reform, the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:32.680 services and other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. Immediately 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:36.760 before any investigation took place, Amelia was a suspect and 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:39.880 was whisked off to the police station. She was questioned 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.400 that night, and she says there was no adult present 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:47.320 aside from the investigators. The conversation was not recorded or documented. 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:53.400 They kept questioning me and talking to me about not 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:56.360 really even the crimeate itself. They would talk to me 0:16:56.400 --> 0:17:00.760 about my mom's job. They talked to me about my boyfriends, 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.680 or they would talk to me about my sexual relationships 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.280 with men. They'd ask me about Maynard if I knew 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:09.639 where Maynard was or if I had seen him, and 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.040 I knew that that's why they were questioning about him. 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.440 It's because him and my dad and my mom had 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.720 that altercation. And I'm like, no, I haven't seen him 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:20.520 in a long time, Like I don't know where he is. 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:24.840 They asked me about what TV shows I watched, like 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:26.600 it made no sense to me. 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:32.480 To Amelia, the questions seemed suggestive, leading and confusing. 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:35.520 I got mad because I'm like, why are you spending 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:37.480 all this time asking me these questions? Why aren't you 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:40.159 doing your job? Why are you not out there looking 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:43.680 for whoever or checking the house for any kind of evidence? 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:49.840 And I kept telling them, like nobody could physically enter 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:53.000 our house without leaving some kind of evidence. Because it 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:56.760 was raining and we've lived on a farm. It's muddy everywhere, 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.800 like you can't even walk in the back door without 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:03.040 and dust footprints on the stupid wrung that my mom 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:07.000 in says on keeping down on the ground. They just 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:08.560 wouldn't make any sense to me. 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:10.359 Who did you think that this? 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:15.000 At the beginning, I didn't couldn't for the life of 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:18.680 me figure it out, Like I didn't know who did it. 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:25.280 I swear that I seen somebody, but then I questioned 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:27.680 whether or not I even really seen that person, because 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:29.440 the way they made it seem that. 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:33.800 I didn't see anybody. To this day, I questioned whether 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:37.160 or not I even seen anybody, Like there's so many 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:39.320 things that I seek that I know that I've seen, 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:41.399 but then there's so many things that I don't know 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.560 if they're even real, or if it's something that has 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:47.439 been twisted and hit in my head to make me 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:51.320 think that I seen this person or didn't see this person. 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:03.800 When talking to the police, Amelia briefly mentioned that her 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:07.440 ex boyfriend Chad Brantley could have possibly been behind the 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:11.360 grusome crime, but after police talked to Chad, they determined 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:15.680 that his and Amelia's stories conflicted and that to them 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:21.520 was suspicious. They arrested both Amelia and Chad on January fourteenth, 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.800 two thousand and six, the day after the shooting. They 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:29.359 were both threatened with the death penalty. Chad admitted to 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:32.520 police that he was responsible for killing Amelia's mother and 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:35.560 that he intended to kill both parents, but he also 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:38.120 said that Amelia had put him up to the murder 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:40.400 and that they planned the shooting together. 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:44.840 Did you ever ask Chad to kill your parents? 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:46.560 Oh. 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:48.920 I might have said something like I wish they would 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:51.400 get out of my life. Oh, I can't stand then 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:54.199 leave me alone. But I've never blatantly went up to 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:58.000 him and said, hey, will you do this? Not one time. 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:00.600 Did you actually want them dead? 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:05.399 No, I wanted him to leave me alone. I wanted 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.280 my dad to leave my mom alone and me alone. 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:11.520 That I didn't want him dead. 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:18.439 To save himself from the death penalty, Chad wound up 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:21.719 taking a plea deal. He admitted to shooting Amelia's parents 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:27.520 and was sentenced to life in prison. At the age 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:31.320 of sixteen, Amelia was charged as an adult two years later. 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:34.360 In two thousand and eight, she was assigned public defender 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:39.200 Donna Holden. Terrified of the death penalty, Amelia took Holden's 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:44.000 advice and accepted a plea. But here's the thing. As 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:46.560 a minor at the time of the crime, Amelia was 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:50.080 not legally eligible for the death penalty, yet her attorney, 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:52.720 Donna Holden, never told her this. 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:56.680 The way she made it seem is I would only 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:01.800 serve ten years, So I figured, what's ten years. I 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:03.720 get away from the family. At the end of the day, 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:08.240 it's all taken care of. Everybody's left alone, and I'm 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:14.320 done with whatever. And then I got to prison. They 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:17.480 actually brought me in and told me that I had 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:19.000 two life sinces running. 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:24.960 Wild, in other words, two consecutive life sentences. Amelia immediately 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:28.399 wrote to the Public Defender's office to question the sentencing, 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:30.880 and one. 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:35.359 Of the responses was something like, well, it's up to 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:39.040 doc how much time you actually serve. I told you 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:41.720 that in the beginning, which is not what she told me. 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:44.520 And I'm so angry because I felt like I had 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:49.000 been betrayed yet again. So I kept saying, is I 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:51.760 want to go to trial because I didn't do nothing wrong, 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:57.000 and I would have went to trial. I really wish 0:21:57.040 --> 0:21:58.080 I would have went to trial. 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:05.840 Despite no hard evidence connecting her to the shooting of 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:08.920 her parents and death of her mother, nineteen year old 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:13.480 Amelia received the two life sentences to be served consecutively 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:17.240 and because Amelia accepts it a plea deal. Her right 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:20.919 to direct appeals was strictly limited to filing a claim 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:24.879 of ineffective assistance of counsel, and Amelia believes that her 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:28.439 public defender gave her bad advice by telling her to 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:33.280 take the plea deal. Donna Holden never filed an ineffective 0:22:33.280 --> 0:22:36.879 assistance of counsel claim to argue this, nor did she 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:39.119 pass the case on to someone else to file it 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:43.720 on Amelia's behalf. Amelia missed all the deadlines and opportunities 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:49.640 for relief, so she settled into life behind bars. 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:54.120 When I first got here, I kind of said to myself, 0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:56.000 didn't really know what to do I do. I wanted 0:22:56.000 --> 0:22:58.159 to get my JD first off. That was like my 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:00.639 first goal because they would let me school. 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:03.640 She also had a small identity change. 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:05.960 When did the nickname Milli come about? 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:09.119 Well, when the first lady met me in prison, she 0:23:09.240 --> 0:23:12.000 was what we call old head, just now what they 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:15.920 called me, so it's crazy, but she took me under 0:23:15.920 --> 0:23:19.879 her wing and was like, your new name's Milly. She 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:21.800 was like, you're not a Millia and you're not burned, 0:23:21.880 --> 0:23:24.199 You're Milli. And it stuck. 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:28.439 Milly earned her ged within a couple of months, but 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:32.040 because of her life sentence, she can't take college classes. 0:23:32.600 --> 0:23:35.800 Many prisons in the US believe spending resources on people 0:23:35.880 --> 0:23:38.480 who will never leave prison is a waste of money. 0:23:39.760 --> 0:23:42.680 But Millie has kept busy with other prison activities such 0:23:42.680 --> 0:23:46.520 as theater, softball, and her prison factory job. And she's 0:23:46.520 --> 0:23:49.560 worked hard through therapy to improve her mental health and 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:51.840 overcome the traumas that shaped her youth. 0:23:58.160 --> 0:23:58.879 But what has. 0:23:58.800 --> 0:24:02.000 Changed her life inside prison the most was joining the 0:24:02.119 --> 0:24:06.600 CHAMP Assistance Dog Program helping to train service dogs. Amelia 0:24:06.680 --> 0:24:08.920 started with CHAMP in two thousand and nine. 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:16.040 And that became my whole life. I fell in love 0:24:16.080 --> 0:24:19.000 with it. The CHAMP program trained service dogs with them 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:24.280 for ten years. That was my world. To hear when 0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:26.640 they get placed as a client. To know how much 0:24:26.640 --> 0:24:30.359 you change that person's life is amazing. 0:24:32.040 --> 0:24:37.040 She was from the beginning an excellent trainer and she 0:24:37.760 --> 0:24:41.480