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Speaker 1: Tens of thousands of people incarcerated in the US have

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Speaker 1: been wrongfully convicted and are being held in captivity for crimes,

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Speaker 1: even as they adamantly maintain their innocence. What's it like

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Speaker 1: to be one of those imprisoned people, and what's it

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Speaker 1: like to be their ally, the one outside committed to

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Speaker 1: fighting for their freedom. I'm Lauren Braye Pacheco, and this

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Speaker 1: is wrongful conviction. Previously on Wrongful Conviction, Alan Beeman's life

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Speaker 1: forever changed his senior year in college.

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Speaker 2: I met Jennifer. We dated for about a year, and

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Speaker 2: we broke up about a month before she was murdered.

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Speaker 1: When an overzealous investigation honed in.

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Speaker 2: I just remember looking at her and seeing cops everywhere,

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Speaker 2: and he said, I need you to come down to

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Speaker 2: the station with me, and he handcuffed me right there

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Speaker 2: in front of the student center, in front of all

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Speaker 2: of my classmates, professors.

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Speaker 3: And people coming and going around the campus.

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Speaker 1: But even an alibi, private representation, and a supportive family

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Speaker 1: were no match for tunnel vision.

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Speaker 4: When the verdict was read, I mouthed to the state's attorney,

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Speaker 4: how do you sleep at night?

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Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco and this is wrongful conviction. Welcome

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Speaker 1: back to the second half of the unbelievably infuriating wrongful

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Speaker 1: conviction of Alan Beeman, a case that is glaring in

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Speaker 1: its extremes. Beeman came from a conservative educated family, his

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Speaker 1: father was former military, His family secured the resources for

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Speaker 1: not only legal representation, but to post a one million

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Speaker 1: dollar bond. And yet, despite all of the assumed advantages

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Speaker 1: he had in justice like water found its way when

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Speaker 1: Beeman was convicted of murdering his former girlfriend and sentenced

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Speaker 1: to fifty five years to life, even though he had

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Speaker 1: an alibi and willingly submitted himself to questioning and DNA testing.

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Speaker 1: We pick up now with Alan, his parents, Barry and Carol,

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Speaker 1: and eventually his wife Gretchen. Going back to the sentencing,

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Speaker 1: How does your life immediately change after your sentenced?

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Speaker 2: So I was in the county jail for about a

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Speaker 2: month after the conviction, dealing with the motions to reconsider

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Speaker 2: the sentencing hearing and then being scheduled to be sent

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Speaker 2: to Illinois Department of Corrections, and my second time through

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Speaker 2: the county jail was a rude awakening. I still definitely

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Speaker 2: had an adverse reaction to being incarcerated. But I still

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Speaker 2: say that God sent people to me throughout this entire

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Speaker 2: ordeal that were intended to encourage me and to help

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Speaker 2: me get through it alive. And so while I was

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Speaker 2: in the county jail, there were people that essentially said

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Speaker 2: the same thing to me that we don't think there

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Speaker 2: was evidence. We watched it on TV, and what was reported,

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Speaker 2: we thought it was ridiculous. There were some guys in

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Speaker 2: the county jail that had been to prison before. Obviously

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Speaker 2: there's recidivism. People come back, and I was coached up

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Speaker 2: on what to expect, so I had a little more

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Speaker 2: opportunity to prepare myself for what was coming. So that

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Speaker 2: was a period of time where I started seeking God

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Speaker 2: a little more and wanting to understand what was happening

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Speaker 2: to me. And certainly the last refuge of a scoundrel

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Speaker 2: is his prayer right. No atheists in foxholes. So I

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Speaker 2: was really challenged greatly to make sense of my circumstances.

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Speaker 2: Our first reaction to these kinds of situation is to

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Speaker 2: try to make sense of it, and it's harder for

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Speaker 2: the innocent person to make sense of it, because it's

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Speaker 2: not right when somebody is guilty they can just be like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: I deserve this, But when you're innocent, you can't do that,

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Speaker 2: and so you almost have to seek in the supernatural

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Speaker 2: to understand why this is happening to me.

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Speaker 1: You must have been so afraid though, too.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And Carol, I've read that you were a brunette

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Speaker 1: when when your son was sentenced, but then it was

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Speaker 1: over a month before you saw him, and that the

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Speaker 1: stress of that month had turned you gray.

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Speaker 4: It certainly did a good number on that. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: The last time I saw my mom in the county jail,

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Speaker 2: her hair was most liber Yeah. The first time I

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Speaker 2: saw her in Monard Correctional Center, her hair was white.

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Speaker 1: What were your biggest fears, Carol?

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Speaker 4: Just for his safety. Keep in mind, he doesn't look

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Speaker 4: like it now, but at the time, I think if

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Speaker 4: you soak down and down, he might have made one

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Speaker 4: hundred and thirty pounds and so five eight hundred and

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Speaker 4: thirty pounds. Yeah, And he wasn't a fighter, He wasn't

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Speaker 4: someone who had done any of that sort of thing,

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Speaker 4: and his sports had been running, swimming, and also there

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Speaker 4: wasn't any bodybuilding kind of thing at that point. So

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Speaker 4: fear for his safety and Manard was so far away

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Speaker 4: from our home. It was actually a two day trip

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Speaker 4: for us. We would go part way down and then

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Speaker 4: after work on Friday and then finish it on Saturday.

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Speaker 4: I see him and then come back. And we had

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Speaker 4: been advised not to go too often because it would

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Speaker 4: make the time longer for him if we went too often,

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Speaker 4: so we tried to go about every six weeks to

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Speaker 4: visit him, So a lot of time passed during that time.

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Speaker 4: He was allowed to call us once in a while

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Speaker 4: collect calls. I ran across the old telephone bills that

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Speaker 4: showed all the collect calls that he had to make

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Speaker 4: at that time.

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Speaker 1: And in those days how expensive those collect calls would

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Speaker 1: have been.

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Speaker 4: It was running about sixty dollars a month in phone calls,

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Speaker 4: and some families I know can't deal with that, And

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Speaker 4: we just felt it was necessary to always be there

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Speaker 4: if we could.

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Speaker 1: And what was the biggest hardest transition for you, Alan,

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Speaker 1: What was the most significant hurdle that you remember adjusting

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Speaker 1: to life in prison?

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Speaker 5: Oh?

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Speaker 2: Man, it's a can of worms, going from the shock

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Speaker 2: of being convicted and then being in the county jail

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Speaker 2: for a month. I very seldom, but occasionally felt like

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Speaker 2: I was in danger in the county jail getting off

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Speaker 2: the bus in the Department corrections down in Minard Correctional Center.

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Speaker 2: They threw me to the wolves. It was a completely

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Speaker 2: different kind of culture shock. It wasn't a nice, neat

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Speaker 2: orderly jail where everything ran smoothly. It was a wilderness

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Speaker 2: that I was dropped into and had to survive. After

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Speaker 2: being in the receiving area for a period of time,

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Speaker 2: I was moved into the general population and I moved

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Speaker 2: into a cell that was empty. When I moved into it,

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Speaker 2: it was empty and trashed, and so I moved in

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Speaker 2: and I started cleaning up, and a counselor came by

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Speaker 2: prison counselor and introduced himself and said what gang are

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Speaker 2: you in? And I said, I'm not in a gang.

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Speaker 2: I'm a neutron. And he said there's no neutrons in

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Speaker 2: the West House and I said there's one now, and

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Speaker 2: he said, well, you really should think about finding a

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Speaker 2: group of friends that you can join up with. So

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Speaker 2: I was encouraged by a government employee to join a

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Speaker 2: gang in prison in order to survive. And I had

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Speaker 2: been discouraged from that by other people who warned me

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Speaker 2: that that would be tempting and said, if you do that,

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Speaker 2: you're going to become that gang's send off dummy. If

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Speaker 2: you're fighting this case, if you're saying you didn't do it,

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Speaker 2: they're going to put a shank in your hand. They're

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Speaker 2: going to send you after somebody. They're going to use you,

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Speaker 2: even though you think that they're helping you survive, They're

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Speaker 2: going to get you a life sentence for something else.

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Speaker 2: And so I resisted any temptation to protect myself by

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Speaker 2: surrounding myself with other people. And at that point I

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Speaker 2: really began to genuinely and wholeheartedly pursue my relationship with God.

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Speaker 2: I knew that I had nothing else. I was dead meat.

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Speaker 2: They intended for my death from this. That's the only

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Speaker 2: thing I can calculate from the environment that I was in.

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Speaker 1: Wow, I want to talk to you about anger, because

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Speaker 1: you all must have been so angry. How did you

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Speaker 1: harness that anger? How did you keep it from consuming you?

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Speaker 1: And I know, Alan, you and I had communicated a

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Speaker 1: little bit that initially it almost derailed you. What did

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Speaker 1: anger become for you?

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Speaker 2: It was never a constructive thing for me throughout the

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Speaker 2: whole experience. It was the only acceptable emotion that a

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Speaker 2: man can express in prison. If you express any other

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Speaker 2: emotion besides anger, you are a bitch. And that's just

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Speaker 2: the way it is, and so you swallow everything else,

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Speaker 2: and everything else has to morph into anger in order

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Speaker 2: to be processed or expressed. And I learned very quickly

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Speaker 2: to turn off all of those other feelings because they

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Speaker 2: were going to get me killed. And I never turned

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Speaker 2: them back on until I came home. And we'll probably

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Speaker 2: talk about that's more linking. But for me, I succumbed

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Speaker 2: to anger as a product of my environment, slowly, seductively,

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Speaker 2: knowing that was the only emotion I could have, And

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Speaker 2: I very much, for the first probably five years, was

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Speaker 2: a product of my environment. I started working out, I

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Speaker 2: got bigger, I got tougher, I got mouthier, and I

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Speaker 2: wasn't going to take any crap from anybody, and I

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Speaker 2: was in some dangerous situations. Fortunately by then I had

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Speaker 2: adjusted well enough that I could keep a clear head

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Speaker 2: and navigate those situations. And I truly believe God was

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Speaker 2: with me throughout all of this, protecting me. Otherwise I

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Speaker 2: would be dead.

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Speaker 1: Barry and Carol, you've spoken about how you harnessed your

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Speaker 1: anger and utilized it for activism. But how did you

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Speaker 1: guys get linked with Jeff Erdangen and ultimately the Northwestern

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Speaker 1: University School of Law.

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Speaker 4: We first went to Jeff in terms of looking for

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Speaker 4: someone to take the case as far as trying to

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Speaker 4: overturn it, and he was still in private practice at

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Speaker 4: that time. So we talked Jeff and he said, I'm interested,

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Speaker 4: but I have to talk to Alan before or I

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Speaker 4: will commit to taking the case. Goes down and sees Alan,

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Speaker 4: and when he called us later after seeing Alan, he said,

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Speaker 4: I don't like him, but I believe him. Did you

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Speaker 4: know that Alan?

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Speaker 2: I Jeff came down to visit me with a private

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Speaker 2: investigator who had been part of law enforcement in the past,

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Speaker 2: and the two of them proceeded to interrogate me for

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Speaker 2: the duration of the visit. Jeff would ask some sort

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Speaker 2: of straightforward questions, and then the cop would provoke me

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Speaker 2: with questions about that's not what a normal person would

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Speaker 2: do if they were asked that question. How come you're

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Speaker 2: so different? You seem suspicious to me. It just seemed

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Speaker 2: like this was a test. But at a certain point

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Speaker 2: I had enough and I said, look, if you guys

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Speaker 2: don't believe me.

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Speaker 3: I don't need you.

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Speaker 2: And I ended the visit and I went back to

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Speaker 2: my cell and I thought that was the end of it,

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Speaker 2: that these were not going to be that Jeffer Dangen

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Speaker 2: was not going to be the person that represented me.

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Speaker 2: And then he went back to Chicago and called my

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Speaker 2: mom and told her the infamous I don't like him,

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Speaker 2: but I believe him statement.

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Speaker 1: And if I'm not mistaken, he didn't just like you.

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Speaker 1: He ended up taking your case pro bono.

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Speaker 2: He did, and to this day he's a very good friend,

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Speaker 2: a family friend, somebody I still value his advice and

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Speaker 2: opinion and can't say enough nice about.

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Speaker 1: And how did jeff tell you that he was taking

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Speaker 1: your case pro bono?

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Speaker 4: After we'd paid him for several things along the way,

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Speaker 4: he finally said, you can't afford me, and so that's

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Speaker 4: when he kept it pro bono. But the deal was

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Speaker 4: we were supposed to pay for Julia and for his investigator.

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Speaker 4: And then eventually he came to us and said, I've

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Speaker 4: got a chance to go to Northwestern and they've told

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Speaker 4: me I can take along a case or two, and

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Speaker 4: I'd like for you to present the people at Northwestern

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Speaker 4: so he arranged for us to meet with a panel

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Speaker 4: of students and with Karen Daniel and Chris Jeff.

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Speaker 1: Then the Center on Wrongful Convictions gets involved. And this

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Speaker 1: is probably what I find most infuriating about this case,

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Speaker 1: because you have Jeff or Dangen, you have the Northwestern

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Speaker 1: University Center on Wrongful Convictions, you have at this point

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Speaker 1: the dream team behind you, and it isn't exactly quickly

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Speaker 1: unraveled and resolved at that point.

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Speaker 2: I was in Minard when we filed the post conviction petition,

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Speaker 2: and I did three and a half years in Stateville,

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Speaker 2: two years in Mount Sterling, and another couple of years

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Speaker 2: in Dixon before I had a hearing. So it was

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Speaker 2: a good like six or seven years before we got

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Speaker 2: to being able to have a hearing. What was happening

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Speaker 2: was we would we would get a date set, and

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Speaker 2: the judge would retire, and then we would get a

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Speaker 2: date set and then the state's attorney that was handling

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Speaker 2: the case would become a judge. So there were numerous

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Speaker 2: changes of judges and numerous changes of states attorneys. And

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Speaker 2: it seems like the way to become a judge in

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Speaker 2: McLean County is to oppose a wrongful conviction case, whether

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Speaker 2: it's mine or Jamie Snow or Bart McNeil, if you

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Speaker 2: are a state's attorney that is fighting against someone appealing

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Speaker 2: a wrongful conviction, you get to be a judge.

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Speaker 1: And sure enough, your post conviction relief was denied yep

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Speaker 1: by the McLean County Circuit Court, and your lawyer's appealed

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Speaker 1: to that decision. Yes, what was the rock bottom moment

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Speaker 1: for you guys? Each individually? You must have felt like sisyphus,

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Speaker 1: all of you at that point.

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Speaker 4: I don't know that it was one time frequently it

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Speaker 4: would happen. I can say for me personally, it was

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Speaker 4: early on. Actually, I taught high school and I was

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Speaker 4: staying late one day for parent conferences, and I walked

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Speaker 4: back to my classroom where I was going to hold

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Speaker 4: my conferences, and there was a big sign on my

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Speaker 4: door that said murderer's mother for all my parents to see.

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Speaker 4: That was the rock bottom personally, Carol, I can't even

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Speaker 4: imagine how that when you just feel like you're being

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Speaker 4: punched by the system. Yeah, it came to the point

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Speaker 4: where I was never sure when Alan was going to

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Speaker 4: show up in my classroom.

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Speaker 1: Alan, what for you was the most difficult part. You

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Speaker 1: serve time in four different prisons over the course of

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Speaker 1: the years that you were five.

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Speaker 2: Really really six, but two of them I was only

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Speaker 2: in for short periods of time, okay, four that I

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Speaker 2: was in for longer periods of time.

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Speaker 1: What got you through? In other words, I know you

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Speaker 1: said you had to harness anger as a shield, but

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Speaker 1: how did you stay sane?

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Speaker 5: Didn't?

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Speaker 3: I didn't.

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Speaker 2: That's the fact is that I didn't stay sane. I

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Speaker 2: got worse for a while, and while I was in

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Speaker 2: Stateville Correctional Center, I was almost to the point where

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Speaker 2: I was so done with all of it that if

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Speaker 2: me speaking my mind and getting in somebody's face caused

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Speaker 2: me to get stabbed to death, so be it. I

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Speaker 2: was done. I was quite irrationally, again a product of

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Speaker 2: my environment, and very much in tune with my toxic

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Speaker 2: masculinity at that time, so much to the point where

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Speaker 2: I actually went to a gang chief and asked if

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Speaker 2: I could have a one on one fight with one

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Speaker 2: of his guys, because the guy had been talking crazy

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Speaker 2: to me and they knew me, and they said, beaman,

283
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Speaker 2: everybody gets along with you, and we're going to talk

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Speaker 2: to this guy.

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Speaker 3: And he's not going to mess with you anymore.

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Speaker 2: And I said okay, and so they talked to him,

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Speaker 2: and then he did it again a couple days later,

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Speaker 2: and I went back to the guy again and I said, okay,

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Speaker 2: when can I get that one on one fight? Because

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Speaker 2: he did not stop. They said, we're going to talk

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Speaker 2: to him and that'll be that. And they chewed this

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Speaker 2: kid out right in front of everybody, in the middle

293
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Speaker 2: of the chow hall. And he wasn't trying to hear it,

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Speaker 2: because why are you sticking up for that neutron. You

295
00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:54,720
Speaker 2: should be taking my side. And one of the guys

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Speaker 2: stood up and said, fuck it, just let Beaman kick

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Speaker 2: his ass and the guy I never said a word

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Speaker 2: to me again.

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Speaker 3: That was the end of it. Again.

300
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Speaker 2: I should have been dead. God was protecting me and

301
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Speaker 2: preparing me for something. It wasn't very long after that

302
00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:14,840
Speaker 2: that I was sitting in a bullpen after a visit

303
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Speaker 2: with my parents, waiting to go back to my cell

304
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Speaker 2: and I really had to go to the bathroom, and

305
00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:22,520
Speaker 2: the chapel line was leaving the building and that was

306
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Speaker 2: the only way I was going to get to the

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Speaker 2: bathroom for the next hour.

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Speaker 3: So I went to church because I had to peep okay,

309
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Speaker 3: such language.

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Speaker 2: And I sat in the chapel and I listened to

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Speaker 2: the chaplain and he was talking sense. So I kept

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Speaker 2: going every week. As crazy as it is. However, God

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Speaker 2: is going to get a hold of you. That's how

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Speaker 2: he's going to do it. And grateful for the fact

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Speaker 2: that God reached out to me that way, and that

316
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Speaker 2: I had an opportunity to look at myself and say,

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Speaker 2: this is not who I have to be. And at

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Speaker 2: that point I was finally able to slowly and progressive lee,

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Speaker 2: let down my guard and care about another person in

320
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Speaker 2: my environment and say, there's more to life than surviving

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Speaker 2: this hell hole. And I'm going to be a good

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Speaker 2: person even if it kills me. And I think that's

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Speaker 2: I don't get a little tear Europe.

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Speaker 3: Sorry, but I.

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Speaker 2: Don't know exactly where rock bottom was, but I know

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Speaker 2: that's where I started to ascend out of it.

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Speaker 1: Wow, Thank goodness for a full bladder.

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Speaker 3: The problem I have a lot.

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Speaker 1: It was finding that community, the spiritual community. Yeah, that

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Speaker 1: set you free from the anger.

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Speaker 5: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So on May twenty second, two thousand and eight, the

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Speaker 1: Illinois Supreme Court overturned Alan's conviction because the prosecution had

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Speaker 1: withheld exculpatory evidence that would have been likely to have

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Speaker 1: changed the jury's verdict of guilty. And after thirteen years

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Speaker 1: in prison for a murder that you did not commit,

337
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Speaker 1: you walked out of jail on June twenty seventh, two

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Speaker 1: thousand and eight, wearing a Chicago Bears T shirt, jeans,

339
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Speaker 1: and a baseball hat after posting ten percent of a

340
00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:48,879
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty thousand dollars bond. What emotions did you,

341
00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:52,879
Speaker 1: guys experience in that moment when your eyes first locked

342
00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:57,159
Speaker 1: on the other side of those walls? What emotions?

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Speaker 3: Just?

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Speaker 4: Wow?

345
00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,280
Speaker 3: Is this real? Pinch me?

346
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Speaker 4: I can tell you what we did after my brother

347
00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:10,800
Speaker 4: and sister in law had come down with us to

348
00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:14,520
Speaker 4: pick him up, and we loaded him in the car

349
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Speaker 4: and we stopped at Denny's. Denny's he ordered a steak

350
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Speaker 4: and was shocked when they gave him a real knife.

351
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Speaker 4: And cell phones had come into being at that.

352
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Speaker 3: And our cell phones were ringing off the.

353
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Speaker 4: Wall and they were flip phones, of course, just passing

354
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Speaker 4: phones around the car for him to talk on to

355
00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,480
Speaker 4: different people. And then we stopped at a wayside and

356
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Speaker 4: there was a swing set at the wayside and he

357
00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:57,080
Speaker 4: had to go swing on the swing set. So every

358
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Speaker 4: time I see the picture of that, I tear up.

359
00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:06,399
Speaker 1: Alan. You just take me to that moment, your feet

360
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:09,720
Speaker 1: hitting the ground outside.

361
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Speaker 3: You know.

362
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Speaker 2: I think at that point there was no like Catharsis

363
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:17,040
Speaker 2: or it was just Wow, this is awesome, and I'm

364
00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,879
Speaker 2: loving every minute of this. And I don't know what

365
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:21,840
Speaker 2: happened that day. I was on my phone the whole time.

366
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Speaker 2: It was a phone call after a phone call after

367
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Speaker 2: a phone call, of all the people that were calling,

368
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,840
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I heard, and I didn't really process

369
00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:30,920
Speaker 2: until we got home and they were pressed at my

370
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,959
Speaker 2: house and I did a brief interview there and then

371
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,240
Speaker 2: everybody went to bed and it was just me and

372
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:43,440
Speaker 2: I stayed up all night just experiencing the first time

373
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Speaker 2: I could just Oh, I can go outside. Oh I

374
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:48,400
Speaker 2: can go over to the fridge and make a sandwich.

375
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,439
Speaker 2: I can play with the dog. Oh I can go

376
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:53,280
Speaker 2: back outside again.

377
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Speaker 1: All the things that seemed so obvious and simple before.

378
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the little thing we take so much for

379
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,600
Speaker 2: granted from just ordinary life. And so I just experienced

380
00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:08,840
Speaker 2: those all night, and I watched the sunrise and then

381
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,639
Speaker 2: promptly began complaining about the price of gas and the

382
00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:16,200
Speaker 2: speed of my internet.

383
00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:19,200
Speaker 1: But even on top of that, in many ways, you're out,

384
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:23,520
Speaker 1: But the nightmare is not over, not at all. Still, Yeah,

385
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:29,120
Speaker 1: you still remain charged with Jennifer's murder. Yes, and the

386
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 1: office of McLean County State's Attorney announced that it intended

387
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:37,520
Speaker 1: to retry you. Yeah, that must have been such an

388
00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:39,680
Speaker 1: emotional roller coaster for you all.

389
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:44,119
Speaker 2: I knew that was the deal from the moment I

390
00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:47,119
Speaker 2: was heading back to the county jail. I knew that

391
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:53,480
Speaker 2: I was bonding out. I wasn't exonerated. I was bonding

392
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:57,199
Speaker 2: out to be retried. But there was a lot of

393
00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 2: hope in this because now we've got this momentum of

394
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:04,359
Speaker 2: investigative power. All the stuff I've been trying for the

395
00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:07,199
Speaker 2: last thirteen years to get them to test the damn DNA,

396
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:10,919
Speaker 2: trying to get them to follow up on leads that

397
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:14,800
Speaker 2: never got followed. I've been trying to just get a

398
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:20,320
Speaker 2: real honest evidentiary review and some real honest detective work

399
00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:24,439
Speaker 2: out of these people. And now I have investigative power

400
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:28,919
Speaker 2: and they have to let me do it. And to

401
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,040
Speaker 2: this day, I believe that's why they dropped the charges.

402
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:36,920
Speaker 2: They did it right after the judge that was handling

403
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:40,080
Speaker 2: the case appeared to agree that we were going to

404
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,560
Speaker 2: be allowed to test all that DNA BAM charges dropped Yep.

405
00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:47,360
Speaker 1: On January twenty ninth, two thousand and nine, all charges

406
00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:51,359
Speaker 1: against you were dropped. Yes, and then you filed for

407
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 1: petition for a certificate of innocence Yes. What became your

408
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:01,600
Speaker 1: family's new driving motivation at that point?

409
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:06,359
Speaker 2: And why I've been out long enough that the immediate

410
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:11,280
Speaker 2: elation and feeling of being on cloud nine has begun

411
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:17,080
Speaker 2: to fade, and I'm dealing with post traumatic stress disorder.

412
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,440
Speaker 3: I'm dealing with the I've.

413
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:24,480
Speaker 2: Now turned the valve on, so all those emotions that

414
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:29,440
Speaker 2: I had turned off and I'm trying to process them.

415
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:33,240
Speaker 2: And what happens if I feel just one small grain

416
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 2: of grief, All of the grief that I've been storing

417
00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:39,480
Speaker 2: up for the last thirteen years comes out all at once,

418
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:45,400
Speaker 2: and I realized I need to get help, and so we're, yeah,

419
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:49,960
Speaker 2: we're pursuing these continuing legal remedies, but I'm also going

420
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:54,040
Speaker 2: to therapy. I'm seeing a psychiatrist, I'm on zoloft. I'm

421
00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:56,880
Speaker 2: just trying to figure out who I am again, because

422
00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:01,160
Speaker 2: I've stored up thirteen years of this cookie cutter imagination

423
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,240
Speaker 2: of what life is supposed to be like after I

424
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,959
Speaker 2: get out, and oh, my gosh, that's not what life

425
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:08,240
Speaker 2: is like after I get out.

426
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:12,560
Speaker 1: I think it's so incredible that you were able to

427
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,919
Speaker 1: do the work that you needed to do at that point,

428
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,199
Speaker 1: and that you had the wherewithal to understand that you

429
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:23,520
Speaker 1: needed to do it. Look, it had been what four thousand,

430
00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:27,040
Speaker 1: eight hundred and thirty six days. You went in when

431
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,600
Speaker 1: you were twenty twenty two, you got out when you

432
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:37,440
Speaker 1: were thirty six. It's got to be beyond surreal.

433
00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:41,439
Speaker 2: I think some of it was surreal and some of

434
00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:44,320
Speaker 2: it was too real. It's like the reverse of prison.

435
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:46,680
Speaker 2: The first year is the hardest, right The first year

436
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:50,040
Speaker 2: in prison is it just completely tears you down and

437
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:54,320
Speaker 2: undoes your humanity. And then after that you're just numb

438
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:58,959
Speaker 2: and you're just doing time. And after release that first

439
00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:05,919
Speaker 2: probably the four months was just absolutely wonderful and everybody's

440
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,520
Speaker 2: so happy to see me, and oh my gosh, isn't

441
00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:10,920
Speaker 2: it great. I'm not in prison And every day that's

442
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:14,960
Speaker 2: what's at the forefront of my thoughts, I'm not in prison, right,

443
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:17,840
Speaker 2: And slowly you get into real life and you start

444
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 2: to take some things for granted, and every now and

445
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:22,000
Speaker 2: then I just be driving and I'm in traffic, and

446
00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:24,600
Speaker 2: I'm a little annoyed, and then I suddenly realize I'm

447
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:26,879
Speaker 2: not in prison, and I have a nice day. But

448
00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:33,439
Speaker 2: as the hyper alertness started to develop for me, and

449
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,040
Speaker 2: I'm aware of every cop that's anywhere near me, and

450
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,200
Speaker 2: I'm aware of anybody that looked at me cross eyed,

451
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:43,560
Speaker 2: and people have criticized me openly in different forms of media,

452
00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:47,320
Speaker 2: and I have lost a job because someone thinks I'm

453
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:51,000
Speaker 2: a murderer, and it starts to set in that I'm

454
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:56,680
Speaker 2: not free. I'm still being victimized by this same system,

455
00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:00,600
Speaker 2: and I still have to continue to fight to clear

456
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 2: my name.

457
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:04,280
Speaker 3: And that's the COI.

458
00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 1: A certificate of innocence, right.

459
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:11,040
Speaker 2: I think at a certain point, I my my trauma

460
00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:16,880
Speaker 2: and my poor functioning because of it made it really

461
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:22,400
Speaker 2: difficult to xigneries. We're really it's really hard to love us,

462
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 2: not because you don't see something awesome in us, but

463
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:32,040
Speaker 2: because we're sometimes stuck in this trauma and you take

464
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:40,040
Speaker 2: this long term suffering that is pushed way down deep

465
00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:42,600
Speaker 2: inside of you, and it's and I'm not taking anything

466
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,640
Speaker 2: away from veterans or anything like that, they were in

467
00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:49,840
Speaker 2: some place even more dangerous for less time, and I

468
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 2: was in some place that was also dangerous for more time.

469
00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:58,840
Speaker 2: And so I really equate it to being similar, but

470
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:04,720
Speaker 2: a completely different versi of that same PTSD, where I

471
00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:08,000
Speaker 2: think it takes longer to unravel it, and it's not

472
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:14,320
Speaker 2: as easily noticed, and it's certainly not as publicly supported

473
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:17,239
Speaker 2: to have trauma from prison as it is to have

474
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,479
Speaker 2: fought for your country Again. I started getting help, and

475
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,880
Speaker 2: the charges got dropped and we began pursuing the certificate

476
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:26,680
Speaker 2: of innocence. And it was just a couple of months

477
00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:31,400
Speaker 2: after the charges were dropped that I met Gretchen at church.

478
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:39,640
Speaker 1: You're listening to Wrongful Conviction with Lauren Bright Pacheco. You

479
00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 1: can listen to this and all the Lava for Good

480
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 1: podcasts one week early and ad free by subscribing to

481
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:53,400
Speaker 1: Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. One of the

482
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:58,640
Speaker 1: things that I love most about your story, Alan and

483
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:06,640
Speaker 1: your experiences that it has not a happy ending, but

484
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:09,960
Speaker 1: the best possible ending in many ways, and part of

485
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,440
Speaker 1: that is the fact that you have a beautiful family

486
00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:16,959
Speaker 1: now of your own, that you had your family supporting

487
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:21,600
Speaker 1: you throughout your incarceration. But you met your lovely wife,

488
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:26,000
Speaker 1: Gretchen two years after you were out, or you met

489
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,480
Speaker 1: you married two years after. Okay, so you tell me

490
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:32,760
Speaker 1: how you two first crossed paths and.

491
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:37,440
Speaker 6: Where it was at church. It was a youth group

492
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:42,640
Speaker 6: fundraiser and I was there with my daughter was she's

493
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:49,160
Speaker 6: six five, and Alan walked in the door and he

494
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:53,760
Speaker 6: walked past, and he had just been repainting or something,

495
00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:57,160
Speaker 6: and so he had on this red and black flannel

496
00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:01,320
Speaker 6: jacket and he was covered in paint and he walked past,

497
00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:04,960
Speaker 6: and I said, oh, he's cute, and didn't realize who

498
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 6: he was. I had semi followed his story. Then he

499
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:14,040
Speaker 6: sat with his parents and they were facing me, and

500
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:16,120
Speaker 6: I was like, why did they look familiar to me?

501
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:18,400
Speaker 6: And then it clicked. I was like, oh, my god,

502
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:21,959
Speaker 6: that's Alan Beeman. And I had my daughter, I'm like

503
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:24,400
Speaker 6: scooch over and I took a picture of the back

504
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:26,360
Speaker 6: of his head and sent it to my friend.

505
00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:29,120
Speaker 1: Not knowing you were photographing your future hust correct.

506
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's not telling the whole story there.

507
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:32,800
Speaker 1: Go ahead, but I want to hear from your point

508
00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:33,160
Speaker 1: of view.

509
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 2: Then, So I noticed her that night as a cute

510
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:40,920
Speaker 2: chick I hadn't seen before at church, and she was

511
00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:44,640
Speaker 2: wearing a Bear's hoodie, and we've already established that's important

512
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:48,680
Speaker 2: to me. And our daughter, Alana was five at the

513
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,840
Speaker 2: time and we hadn't met yet. Gretchen looked very young.

514
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:56,040
Speaker 2: People will still always say that. When she tells people

515
00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:57,760
Speaker 2: her age, they're like, oh, you didn't. You don't look

516
00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:00,720
Speaker 2: that old. And so I wasn't sure if she was

517
00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:04,880
Speaker 2: a single mom or a sister. So I just noticed

518
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:09,040
Speaker 2: her and that was about it. And then Alana said

519
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,200
Speaker 2: mom and about something, and then I was like, okay,

520
00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 2: that's a mom. And a week or so later, the

521
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 2: church newsletter released new member pictures and I see a

522
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:23,080
Speaker 2: picture of her in that, and she's wearing a different

523
00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:29,000
Speaker 2: Bears hoodie. So I'm like, Okay, she's the real deal.

524
00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:33,480
Speaker 2: She's got two of them, and I could tell from

525
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:36,880
Speaker 2: reading the bio that she might be available. And I

526
00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:40,600
Speaker 2: was just bold and audacious enough and curious enough that

527
00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:44,120
Speaker 2: I decided to send her a Facebook friend request. I

528
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:48,920
Speaker 2: had just started on Facebook because the charges had been dropped,

529
00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 2: and I decided it's time to put myself out there

530
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:57,040
Speaker 2: and experience the world and dove headfirst into social media,

531
00:33:57,120 --> 00:34:00,720
Speaker 2: which I'm glad I did because I'm my wife.

532
00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:05,360
Speaker 1: Did you have any concerns or reservations, Gretchen, I know

533
00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:08,719
Speaker 1: that you did a little bit of your own inquiring

534
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:09,360
Speaker 1: about Alan.

535
00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 6: Yeah. So I live in Rockford, so where I grew

536
00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:17,000
Speaker 6: up most of my life. So I saw the articles

537
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,200
Speaker 6: in the paper, and I saw the news segments on

538
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:22,759
Speaker 6: TV and everything. I wasn't like, oh my god, let

539
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:26,200
Speaker 6: me research this guy. I just knew of him. And

540
00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:31,920
Speaker 6: then after he got released in June, I was working

541
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,399
Speaker 6: at a local credit union and we had an older

542
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:37,000
Speaker 6: lady who came in and I was reading the newspaper

543
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:41,600
Speaker 6: and it said Alan Beeman was released, and I made

544
00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:44,720
Speaker 6: a comment and Maggie was like, Ah, I know Alan,

545
00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:47,399
Speaker 6: I've known him since he was this big and oh

546
00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:48,279
Speaker 6: he never did it.

547
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:48,799
Speaker 5: I know.

548
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:52,440
Speaker 6: I've believed in his innocence from the beginning. And so

549
00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:56,160
Speaker 6: that was really the first person that I had met

550
00:34:56,200 --> 00:35:00,480
Speaker 6: that knew him and said good things about him, and

551
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:05,680
Speaker 6: I believed in his innocence from reading everything I had read.

552
00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:08,319
Speaker 6: I didn't grow up the same way Alan did. I

553
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:12,960
Speaker 6: grew up in a housing project, and I saw injustice

554
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 6: happen all of the time, and I saw police come

555
00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:19,720
Speaker 6: in and arrest a black person just because they were

556
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:24,160
Speaker 6: by the crime that happened. And so I grew up

557
00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:29,120
Speaker 6: not believing that the police always were right and did

558
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:32,959
Speaker 6: the correct thing. So after I met Alan and knew

559
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:35,840
Speaker 6: of his case, it was, of course this could happen.

560
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:36,880
Speaker 3: Of course it could.

561
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:38,280
Speaker 6: I've seen it happen.

562
00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:44,120
Speaker 1: That's so interesting. So it was for you confirmation in

563
00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:48,600
Speaker 1: many ways of what you knew, unfortunately to be true.

564
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:52,840
Speaker 1: And for Alan's family it was a very rude awakening

565
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:58,320
Speaker 1: into the injustices that many other sections of our society

566
00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:04,840
Speaker 1: face on a daily basis. I love that in your union,

567
00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:09,719
Speaker 1: in your marriage, you in a way got some of

568
00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 1: that lost time back, Alan, because you had your beautiful daughter,

569
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:21,319
Speaker 1: Alana already, and then you too, welcomed Adelaide shortly after

570
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:23,640
Speaker 1: you guys married two years, I guess.

571
00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:25,400
Speaker 6: Yeah, two years and will you just a year and

572
00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:25,800
Speaker 6: a half.

573
00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:27,600
Speaker 1: Year and a half, will you tell me her full name?

574
00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:29,920
Speaker 1: And the importance of one of those.

575
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:36,600
Speaker 2: Names, so I wanted to name her Liberty and Gretchen

576
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:39,840
Speaker 2: wasn't having it, and her name needed to start with

577
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,040
Speaker 2: an A, because that's just she wanted to keep the

578
00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:46,799
Speaker 2: pattern for some reason. And we settled on Adelaide, but

579
00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:49,560
Speaker 2: I really still wanted to name her Liberty, and I

580
00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:51,680
Speaker 2: got her to concede that if she was born on

581
00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:54,640
Speaker 2: the fourth of July, because she was due on like

582
00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:57,200
Speaker 2: the tenth or the twelfth, then we would do that,

583
00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:01,920
Speaker 2: but otherwise not, And so she was born on the twelfth,

584
00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:08,960
Speaker 2: and she was born on the twelfth, and they handed

585
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,960
Speaker 2: me the paperwork for the birth certificate and I wrote

586
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:19,120
Speaker 2: Adelaide Jeane Liberty Beamon on the birth certificate, and I

587
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:21,880
Speaker 2: handed it to Gretchen and I said, you can cross

588
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:26,960
Speaker 2: off anything you want to, and she glared at me

589
00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:30,680
Speaker 2: over her eyes. I rolled her eyes yes, and handed

590
00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:37,800
Speaker 2: the clipboard back to me and said, fine.

591
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,839
Speaker 1: Your husband said that exoneries are very difficult to love.

592
00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:42,640
Speaker 6: I wouldn't say that. He might say that, but I

593
00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:44,279
Speaker 6: wouldn't say those words.

594
00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 1: But you've seen what he's had to go through to

595
00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:52,960
Speaker 1: be the husband and the father that he wants to be.

596
00:37:54,680 --> 00:38:01,279
Speaker 1: How would you explain to people the residual impact that

597
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:07,360
Speaker 1: the wrongful conviction has had on your husband emotionally. What

598
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:12,520
Speaker 1: are the challenges that people couldn't even possible comprehend or see.

599
00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:17,320
Speaker 6: It's really simple things that a normal person that hasn't

600
00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:19,560
Speaker 6: been through this experience, they just would never do something

601
00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:22,520
Speaker 6: like that. We went out to have some drinks with

602
00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:26,200
Speaker 6: friends and the beer bottle was left on the table,

603
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:28,720
Speaker 6: and he's, like, my DNA's on that. If somebody comes

604
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:31,960
Speaker 6: after me to the bar and gets in a fight

605
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,160
Speaker 6: and picks up that beer bottle and hits somebody over

606
00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:36,759
Speaker 6: the head with them and kills them, my fingerprint is

607
00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:40,520
Speaker 6: on that. So it's things like that you just don't

608
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:44,080
Speaker 6: that you don't think of. And like his gum, he

609
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:45,959
Speaker 6: would even throw a gum away in a garbage can

610
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:48,439
Speaker 6: just because his DNA's on it.

611
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:54,399
Speaker 1: And suddenly, if you've been in a situation where you

612
00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:58,680
Speaker 1: were convicted of something you didn't do, you're going to

613
00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:01,320
Speaker 1: go out of your way to make were that can't

614
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:06,760
Speaker 1: happen again, even though you can't control everything.

615
00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:08,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was.

616
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:10,560
Speaker 2: I went to my therapist's office and I was in

617
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:15,239
Speaker 2: the waiting room and she had magazines sitting in the office,

618
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:20,239
Speaker 2: and it was obvious the address labels showed that she

619
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:28,400
Speaker 2: brought them from home, and I told my therapist, if

620
00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:33,360
Speaker 2: something ever happened to you, they could argue that I

621
00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:38,319
Speaker 2: had access to your address through the address labels on

622
00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:41,080
Speaker 2: the magazines you have in your office. The next week,

623
00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:44,160
Speaker 2: I came in and all the address labels were torn

624
00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:46,800
Speaker 2: off of the magazines. And that's what we used to

625
00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:48,839
Speaker 2: have to use to do in prison. When you got

626
00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:50,920
Speaker 2: mail from your loved ones, you tore the reach for

627
00:39:50,960 --> 00:39:53,240
Speaker 2: an addresses off them and flushed them down the toilet

628
00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:55,520
Speaker 2: because you didn't want your fellow inmates to get a

629
00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:59,880
Speaker 2: hold of your family's address. It's just you're constantly aware

630
00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:05,680
Speaker 2: of all of these potential dangers you shouldn't have to

631
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:10,239
Speaker 2: worry about. And I'll tell you, I make myself throw

632
00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:14,160
Speaker 2: things in a public garbage can because I just I

633
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:16,759
Speaker 2: can't do it anymore. I have to be free, and I.

634
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:19,200
Speaker 1: Have to that's your immersion therapy, and.

635
00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:23,160
Speaker 2: It's terrifying, and it's yeah, wow.

636
00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:26,680
Speaker 6: On another day to day basis, all of our kids' friends,

637
00:40:26,719 --> 00:40:30,560
Speaker 6: we've had to let them know because we don't feel

638
00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:32,920
Speaker 6: comfortable with them being in our house unless they know

639
00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:36,560
Speaker 6: his story, and we just don't want it to be

640
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:40,320
Speaker 6: a surprise to them, because some people believe that he

641
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:44,240
Speaker 6: has a certificate of innocence and he's innocent. Other people

642
00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:47,040
Speaker 6: believe the cops arrested him, so he must be guilty.

643
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:53,959
Speaker 2: Both of my daughters have had friends whose parents took

644
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:57,960
Speaker 2: one look at me and said, wait a minutes, I'm

645
00:40:57,960 --> 00:41:00,640
Speaker 2: not sure if I want my kid around your kid.

646
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:04,720
Speaker 1: I would sincerely hope, in light of most recent news,

647
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:11,200
Speaker 1: that is completely gone at this point, because in January, I.

648
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:13,239
Speaker 3: Know it's not, but you would think it would be. So.

649
00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:18,120
Speaker 1: In January of twenty fifteen, the then Governor Pat Quinn

650
00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:24,920
Speaker 1: pardoned Alan based on actual innocence, which cleared the path

651
00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:30,160
Speaker 1: for long overdue accountability in the form of compensation, which

652
00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:37,800
Speaker 1: in March of twenty twenty four finally happened the town

653
00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:44,000
Speaker 1: of Normal. The Normal Town Council settled the lawsuit in

654
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:48,040
Speaker 1: your favor to the tune of five point four million.

655
00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:57,320
Speaker 1: What more could anybody ask for in terms of knowing

656
00:41:58,120 --> 00:41:59,799
Speaker 1: beyond a shadow of a doubt.

657
00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:03,520
Speaker 2: This latest development, with the civil suit and the settlement

658
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:07,319
Speaker 2: for that, you would think that's enough. But this is

659
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Speaker 2: how powerful the word of just one police officer is.

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Speaker 2: In the United States, of America. This is how powerful

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Speaker 2: the word of one state's attorney, you know, when this

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Speaker 2: person who has public recognition for being an officer of

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Speaker 2: the law says I think it was him that did it.

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Speaker 2: There are still people, in spite of all of that evidence,

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Speaker 2: that can't get behind the reasonable conclusion that I was

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Speaker 2: framed and that I was railroaded, and that I was

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Speaker 2: wrongfully convicted, and that I am absolutely entitled to my

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Speaker 2: liberty and my family is absolutely entitled to their dignity.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco.

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Speaker 1: Please support your local innocence organizations and go to the

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Speaker 1: links in the episode description to see how you can help.

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Speaker 1: I'd like to thank our executive producers Jason Flam, Jeff Kempler,

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Speaker 1: and Kevin Wardis, as well as our producers Annie Chelsea,

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Speaker 1: Kathleen Fink, and Jackie Pauley. This series is produced, edited,

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Speaker 1: and hosted by me Lauren Bright Pacheco. Our senior producer

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Speaker 1: is Kara Kornhaber. Story editing by Hannah Biel, research by

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Speaker 1: Shelby Sorels, mixing and sound design by Nick Massetti, with

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Speaker 1: additional production by Jeff Clyborne. Our theme music is by

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Speaker 1: Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us across all social

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Speaker 1: media platforms at Lava for Good and at Wrongful Conviction.

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Speaker 1: You can also follow me on all platforms at Lauren

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Speaker 1: Bright Pacheco. Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for

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Speaker 1: Good Podcasts in association with Signal come Pany Number one