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#597 Maggie Freleng with Gwen Graham · Wrongful Conviction

0:00
Speaker 1: The episode you're about to hear was originally released in
0:03
Speaker 1: 2023 and hosted by Maggie Freeling. It's the story of
0:06
Speaker 1: Gwen Graham, who has now spent more than 37 long
0:10
Speaker 1: years in a Michigan prison for murders they've always maintained
0:14
Speaker 1: never even happened. And a note for listeners. When Maggie
0:18
Speaker 1: interviewed Gwen, Gwen identified as a woman. They now identify
0:23
Speaker 1: as a trans man. Gwen was convicted back in 1989
0:26
Speaker 1: of killing five elderly patients at the nursing home where
0:30
Speaker 1: they worked. But the case rested largely on the testimony
0:33
Speaker 1: of Gwen's former girlfriend, Kathy Wood, who claimed that she
0:38
Speaker 1: and Gwen had smothered patients as part of a so-called
0:41
Speaker 1: lover's pact. Now, despite the lack of physical evidence of
0:46
Speaker 1: any kind of smothering, Gwen was sentenced to life without prey. Meanwhile,
0:51
Speaker 1: Kathy took a plea deal, testified against Gwen and was
0:53
Speaker 1: released on parole back in 2020. But Gwen remains incarcerated.
0:59
Speaker 1: And the prison where Gwen is being held, Women's Huron
1:03
Speaker 1: Valley Correctional Facility, Michigan's only prison for women, is now
1:07
Speaker 1: facing serious scrutiny of its own. Toxic mold has been
1:12
Speaker 1: making prisoners sick, and several women have even died from
1:16
Speaker 1: the combination of the mold and receiving substandard medical care
1:20
Speaker 1: The problem has grown dire. Incarcerated women and their families
1:24
Speaker 1: have joined forces with elected officials, advocates, and even former
1:28
Speaker 1: guards to bring the horrific conditions to the public's attention.
1:33
Speaker 1: The issue has now reached federal court. So, as Glenn
1:37
Speaker 1: continues their long fight for freedom, their story provides a
1:42
Speaker 1: window into what it means to grow old inside the
1:45
Speaker 1: prison system, especially in a prison like Huron Valley. And now,
1:51
Speaker 1: here's Maggie Preling with Gwen Graham.
1:54
Speaker 2: A warning for listeners, this episode contains discussion of suicide.
1:58
Speaker 2: Please listen with caution and care. In 1987, Gwen Graham
2:09
Speaker 2: was 23 years old and had high hopes and dreams
2:12
Speaker 2: for her future. She was a natural caretaker and wanted
2:15
Speaker 2: to be a veterinarian. After moving across the country to Michigan,
2:20
Speaker 2: she went to work at a nursing home called Alpine Manor.
2:23
Speaker 2: Gwen liked it there. She enjoyed her coworkers and loved
2:27
Speaker 2: helping people. Gwen met a woman named Kathy, who also
2:33
Speaker 2: worked at the nursing home, and they started a relationship.
2:36
Speaker 2: During that time, some of the patients at Alpine Manor
2:39
Speaker 2: passed away. It wasn't unusual, though. Many of the residents
2:42
Speaker 2: were elderly or in poor health and died of natural causes.
2:47
Speaker 2: But months later, after Gwen had broken up with Kathy,
2:51
Speaker 2: she learned that Kathy had accused her of doing the unthinkable.
2:57
Speaker 3: One thing I know, the police are coming down to
2:59
Speaker 3: talk to me. They told me, they said, your ex-girlfriend
3:04
Speaker 3: said that you killed somebody at the nursing home. And
3:05
Speaker 3: I laughed at him. I said, I can't believe you
3:07
Speaker 3: came down here for that bullshit. But then when they
3:11
Speaker 3: charged me with four more, that's when I started losing it.
3:18
Speaker 3: My name is Gwendolyn Graham. I've been incarcerated in Michigan
3:22
Speaker 3: for 35 years for something that I didn't do, that
3:28
Speaker 3: didn't even happen.
3:31
Speaker 2: From Lava for Good, this is Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. Today,
3:36
Speaker 2: Gwen Graham.
3:37
Speaker 4: Lava for Good.
3:56
Speaker 2: Gwendolyn Gail Graham was born in Santa Maria, California on
4:00
Speaker 2: August 6, 1963, to Mack Wade and Linda Ruth Graham.
4:06
Speaker 3: I had a normal upbringing. I went to public school.
4:12
Speaker 3: I have a younger sister, Corina, and an older brother, Robert.
4:19
Speaker 3: We were always at the beach. My dad used to
4:22
Speaker 3: take us down there. He had bought an old vintage truck.
4:25
Speaker 3: And those kids would be on the back of the trucker,
4:28
Speaker 3: like on the sideboards and stuff, and he'd be driving
4:30
Speaker 3: around the dunes. He'd let his kids drive, so we
4:32
Speaker 3: felt grown up and everything.
4:37
Speaker 2: Gwen and her siblings were growing up on a farm
4:39
Speaker 2: just a few miles from the beach.
4:41
Speaker 3: We had chickens in the backyard, and it was fun
4:43
Speaker 3: to have the little chicks when they'd be born. We'd
4:46
Speaker 3: turn the eggs in the incubator and stuff. We had
4:49
Speaker 3: a duck. They would follow you around just like a
4:52
Speaker 3: puppy dog would.
4:55
Speaker 2: Gwen's younger sister, Karina, remembers how Gwen loved and cared
4:59
Speaker 2: for these animals.
5:01
Speaker 4: Watching her take care of her animals and her little pig, Petunia.
5:06
Speaker 4: She loved that little pig. You know, she had a
5:09
Speaker 4: dog named Mitzi, and she loved that little animal. So
5:14
Speaker 4: she was always very compassionate.
5:22
Speaker 2: But while Gwen cared for everything and everyone around her,
5:25
Speaker 2: She was struggling with herself.
5:29
Speaker 3: I didn't really know what to ask or what was
5:31
Speaker 3: going on. I just felt like there was something. It
5:34
Speaker 3: just made me feel real different. Probably around seven, six
5:39
Speaker 3: and seven, because I liked girls. And I knew then
5:44
Speaker 3: that there was something wrong with that because you're supposed
5:46
Speaker 3: to like little boys and I didn't like little girls.
5:48
Speaker 3: And I didn't know what it was. I just knew
5:51
Speaker 3: that it was different and I kept it to myself.
5:55
Speaker 2: Especially because her family was pretty conservative. They were religious,
5:59
Speaker 2: and in their world, being gay was taboo.
6:03
Speaker 3: My parents had put us in a private Christian school,
6:07
Speaker 3: and my uncle was the head administrator there. And I
6:09
Speaker 3: remember at some point, there was a discussion about homosexuality,
6:14
Speaker 3: and it was certainly not in a favorable light, and
6:17
Speaker 3: I realized at that time that that was me. And
6:21
Speaker 3: I had a friend at school, and I went and
6:23
Speaker 3: talked to her, and I told her, I think I'm gay.
6:26
Speaker 3: And she told her parents about it. And I believe
6:29
Speaker 3: they contacted mine. That's how they found out.
6:32
Speaker 2: Gwen doesn't remember much about the discussion she eventually had
6:35
Speaker 2: with her parents about her sexuality. But she does remember
6:39
Speaker 2: the aftermath.
6:41
Speaker 3: The philosophy or whatever means of it was just to
6:45
Speaker 3: pray it out of you, I guess. My uncle kept
6:48
Speaker 3: me after school for, I think, about three weeks. And
6:51
Speaker 3: we prayed on it, prayed about it, talked about it.
6:54
Speaker 3: And it just never went away. It just didn't happen
6:57
Speaker 3: like that for me. And that just made me feel
6:59
Speaker 3: like there was even more wrong with me because that
7:02
Speaker 3: didn't work.
7:04
Speaker 2: So Gwen kept to herself after that.
7:08
Speaker 3: There used to be these really, really tall trees across
7:11
Speaker 3: the street from us. And I used to crawl way
7:14
Speaker 3: into the top of these really tall trees and look
7:17
Speaker 3: over like the entire city. I just felt like I
7:19
Speaker 3: was on top of the world. That's where I would
7:23
Speaker 3: go sometimes. I always would go find some place to
7:26
Speaker 3: be alone.
7:28
Speaker 4: She was pretty much closed off.
7:31
Speaker 2: This is Gwen's sister, Karina, again.
7:33
Speaker 4: As far as being gay, that's not something that she
7:38
Speaker 4: and I really talked a whole lot about. I know
7:42
Speaker 4: that she had her struggles with it.
7:47
Speaker 3: I would decide I was just going to go ahead
7:49
Speaker 3: and pretend like I wasn't and just try to be
7:53
Speaker 3: what I was supposed to be, date guys, which that
7:58
Speaker 3: was like super rare. Most of the time, I just
8:00
Speaker 3: pretended like I didn't want to date. It didn't bother me.
8:02
Speaker 3: And I just ignored it. You know, I didn't discuss it.
8:08
Speaker 3: They didn't ask.
8:16
Speaker 2: When she was in the second grade, Gwen's family moved
8:19
Speaker 2: from California to Texas. She lived there until she was
8:22
Speaker 2: about 16. That's when her parents split up and she
8:26
Speaker 2: went back to California to live with her dad. In California,
8:30
Speaker 2: Gwen found herself becoming more accepting of her sexuality.
8:33
Speaker 3: I became acquainted with people that were comfortable with that lifestyle.
8:40
Speaker 3: They were out in the open about it and it
8:43
Speaker 3: made me comfortable to be out in the open about
8:45
Speaker 3: it and not be, you know, like ashamed, outwardly ashamed.
8:50
Speaker 3: publicly ashamed about what I was I accepted it that's
8:53
Speaker 3: who I am and if that makes me happy there's
8:56
Speaker 3: really nothing I can do about it I can choose
8:58
Speaker 3: to be miserable the rest of the rest of my
9:00
Speaker 3: life and live live for everybody else or just live
9:04
Speaker 3: for me and just be okay with it.
9:10
Speaker 4: When did you find out that Gwen was gay It
9:13
Speaker 4: was in my later teen years. I guess I was
9:17
Speaker 4: like maybe 15. She was 16. Then I found out.
9:22
Speaker 4: And I just, I didn't have a problem with it.
9:24
Speaker 4: It didn't change how I felt about her. I've always
9:28
Speaker 4: loved her just for who she is.
9:38
Speaker 2: Gwen moved back to Texas a few years later. She
9:41
Speaker 2: soon met a woman from Michigan, And the two started dating.
9:45
Speaker 2: They decided to move to Michigan together. But when Gwen
9:48
Speaker 2: got there, she realized the change was not what she anticipated.
9:52
Speaker 3: She had told me she had a really good job
9:54
Speaker 3: at either Ford, I think it was Ford, one of
9:58
Speaker 3: the car companies in terms of finance. she did not.
10:00
Speaker 3: When I got here, she was on public assistance and
10:05
Speaker 3: felt like the state owed her a living, and she
10:09
Speaker 3: just wasn't going to work anymore. So I walked into
10:11
Speaker 3: a really bad situation.
10:13
Speaker 2: Did you start working at the nursing home right away?
10:16
Speaker 3: Yes, I did. I took the first job. I hit
10:20
Speaker 3: the ground running.
10:21
Speaker 2: Gwen took a job at Alpine Manor Nursing Home in Walker,
10:25
Speaker 2: a suburb of Grand Rapids. Alpine Manor Nursing Home was
10:30
Speaker 2: a safe haven for its residents and its workers. Many
10:34
Speaker 2: people who identified as queer or LGBTQ worked there. It
10:39
Speaker 2: was a comfortable environment where they felt free to joke
10:41
Speaker 2: around with each other and pursue all kinds of relationships.
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Speaker 3: I think it was mostly the women. There was a
10:47
Speaker 3: few men there. It was intimidating at first. I was
10:50
Speaker 3: just really shy.
10:53
Speaker 2: But soon, Gwen made friends and started socializing. A woman
10:56
Speaker 2: named Dawn became one of Gwen's first friends. Dawn's roommate
11:00
Speaker 2: also worked there at the nursing home. Her name was
11:03
Speaker 2: Kathy Wood. So she became a friend. What did you
11:07
Speaker 2: like about her? What was your friendship like?
11:10
Speaker 3: Well, Kathy was very intelligent. A lot of fun to
11:15
Speaker 3: be around.
11:18
Speaker 2: At the time, both Gwen and Kathy were getting fed
11:21
Speaker 2: up with their respective partners.
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Speaker 3: Dawn had lost her job, and she was just sitting
11:25
Speaker 3: around the house doing nothing. My girlfriend didn't want to work.
11:29
Speaker 3: She didn't want to do anything. She didn't want to
11:30
Speaker 3: move forward in life. And I just felt like over time,
11:34
Speaker 3: her and I decided that, well, she didn't want to
11:37
Speaker 3: support Dawn anymore, and I didn't want to support the
11:40
Speaker 3: person I was with, so... I moved in with Kathy
11:43
Speaker 3: after she made Dawn leave.
11:48
Speaker 2: They started out as roommates. Gwen was seeing another woman
11:51
Speaker 2: who worked at the nursing home. And Kathy was married
11:53
Speaker 2: to her husband, Ken. But Kathy and Ken were going
11:56
Speaker 2: through a rocky time.
11:58
Speaker 3: She said that her husband was coming over that night
12:01
Speaker 3: to pick up some of his things. And I said, well,
12:04
Speaker 3: I'm going out on a date with a girl. So
12:06
Speaker 3: I went over to the girl's house. And I wasn't
12:08
Speaker 3: over there at the girl's house very long. And Kathy
12:12
Speaker 3: had called, and she was hysterical and saying that Ken
12:15
Speaker 3: was going to hurt her, and, well, please hurry back.
12:18
Speaker 3: And she was just really hysterical. I said, yeah, I'm coming.
12:22
Speaker 2: Gwen headed over, ready to go to battle for her friend.
12:27
Speaker 3: But she stops me at the door, and she said,
12:29
Speaker 3: everything's okay, everything's okay. So I walked in, and Ken
12:32
Speaker 3: was sitting there. He stood up, and he introduced himself.
12:35
Speaker 3: He was really polite, really well-spoken, and We sat down
12:39
Speaker 3: and had a friendly conversation the whole time. I'm thinking
12:42
Speaker 3: about the phone conversation and what happened and stuff.
12:50
Speaker 2: After Ken left, Gwen asked Kathy what that was all about.
12:53
Speaker 2: Kathy tried to explain, but things weren't adding up.
12:58
Speaker 3: It didn't take me too long to figure out that
13:00
Speaker 3: she had done that because she was, it was manipulative
13:04
Speaker 3: and she just didn't want me out with the girl.
13:07
Speaker 2: I want to ask you about that, like about Kathy
13:09
Speaker 2: being manipulative and a liar. Is this like one of
13:12
Speaker 2: the first times you started to realize that?
13:14
Speaker 3: Gwen really liked Kathy. But as time went on, she
13:18
Speaker 3: started noticing that Kathy was becoming increasingly jealous and manipulative.
13:34
Speaker 3: Over time, things got to be more vicious, more calculated,
13:39
Speaker 3: and not with good motives. Sometimes it took me a
13:43
Speaker 3: minute to sit down and think about the things that
13:45
Speaker 3: she did to figure out why she did them.
13:49
Speaker 2: Gwen remembers one day she was with her good friend
13:51
Speaker 2: Lisa outside of the nursing home, waiting for Kathy to
13:54
Speaker 2: get off work. When Kathy saw them together, she was
13:57
Speaker 2: suspicious and vindictive.
13:59
Speaker 3: She ended up calling Lisa's husband and telling him that
14:04
Speaker 3: Lisa had confided in her that the baby that they
14:08
Speaker 3: had together was not his, that she had had an
14:10
Speaker 3: affair on him. She just, really vicious stuff like that.
14:14
Speaker 3: It wasn't true, but this caused a conflict with him.
14:17
Speaker 3: And I do believe they ended up not together. Her
14:19
Speaker 3: and her husband ended up splitting up over it.
14:24
Speaker 4: If I was to pick a partner for Gwen, she
14:28
Speaker 4: would not be, absolutely not be one that I would
14:32
Speaker 4: choose for her. Some of the things that she done
14:36
Speaker 4: to Gwen, you just don't do to somebody that you
14:40
Speaker 4: say you care about and you love.
14:54
Speaker 2: Gwen dated Kathy for nine months before they split up.
14:58
Speaker 3: I just got tired of all the manipulating, the games.
15:04
Speaker 3: And I just couldn't do it anymore. I just wanted
15:06
Speaker 3: to be happy. I didn't want to be in this
15:07
Speaker 3: situation anymore. And I left her.
15:11
Speaker 2: Gwen and Kathy agreed to remain friends after the breakup.
15:15
Speaker 2: Gwen then left Alpine Manor for another job and started
15:18
Speaker 2: seriously dating another woman from the nursing home named Heather.
15:22
Speaker 2: The two decided to move out of Michigan, and out
15:24
Speaker 2: of respect for their friendship, Gwen told Kathy the news.
15:29
Speaker 3: And I thought that everything was okay. I told her
15:31
Speaker 3: I'm going to Texas, and I'm going with Heather. And
15:35
Speaker 3: she seemed to be okay with everything.
15:37
Speaker 2: So you thought everything was fine. So you and Heather
15:39
Speaker 2: go to Texas and then tell me what happens.
15:43
Speaker 3: One thing I know, the police are coming down to
15:45
Speaker 3: talk to me about her saying that I killed people
15:49
Speaker 3: at the nursing home or killed a person at the
15:51
Speaker 3: nursing home. That's how it started out.
15:56
Speaker 2: In August of 1987, around the same time that Gwen
16:00
Speaker 2: moved away with Heather, Kathy told her now ex-husband Ken
16:04
Speaker 2: a shocking tale. Between January and April that year, while
16:09
Speaker 2: Gwen and Kathy were still working at Alpine Manor, a
16:12
Speaker 2: number of the patients passed away. Among them were 60-year-old
16:16
Speaker 2: Marguerite Chambers, Mae Mason and Belle Burkhardt, who were both
16:20
Speaker 2: in their 70s, and Edith Cook and Myrtle Luce, who
16:23
Speaker 2: were in their 90s. Like most of the residents at
16:26
Speaker 2: the nursing home, these women were either elderly, ill, or both,
16:31
Speaker 2: and their causes of death were listed as natural, such
16:34
Speaker 2: as Alzheimer's and heart attack. But Kathy told her ex-husband
16:39
Speaker 2: these five women hadn't died of natural causes. She told
16:43
Speaker 2: him she and Gwen had plotted to murder the women
16:46
Speaker 2: as part of a lover's pact that would bind them
16:49
Speaker 2: together for life. Kathy painted Gwen as the mastermind of
16:53
Speaker 2: the crime. saying that she herself had acted as a
16:56
Speaker 2: lookout while Gwen killed the patients by smothering them. Over
17:02
Speaker 2: a year later, in October 1988, Ken went to authorities
17:07
Speaker 2: and told them what Kathy had said. His report launched
17:11
Speaker 2: an entirely new investigation into these women's deaths. Three of
17:15
Speaker 2: the bodies had been cremated, but the medical examiner, Dr.
17:18
Speaker 2: Stephen Cole, had the other two exhumed in order to
17:21
Speaker 2: re-examine them. Upon this second look, Dr. Cole determined that
17:26
Speaker 2: these two women had died from asphyxiation. He proceeded to
17:30
Speaker 2: change the manners of death on both their death certificates
17:33
Speaker 2: from natural causes to homicide. Quickly, the media started buzzing
17:39
Speaker 2: about the case in salacious detail. Newspapers seized on Gwen
17:43
Speaker 2: and Kathy's sexuality, depicting them as a pair of lesbian
17:48
Speaker 2: serial killers.
17:50
Speaker 3: And it was in the paper, and They were saying
17:53
Speaker 3: that people were killed at the nursing home. And I
17:57
Speaker 3: wasn't too worried about it. I never really thought it
17:59
Speaker 3: was going to go anywhere. So when they showed up
18:03
Speaker 3: at the door, when they came to talk to me,
18:05
Speaker 3: I thought it was kind of ridiculous. They told me,
18:07
Speaker 3: they said, your ex-girlfriend said that you killed somebody at
18:10
Speaker 3: the nursing home. And I laughed at them. I couldn't
18:12
Speaker 3: believe it. I said, I can't believe you came down
18:14
Speaker 3: here for that bullshit.
18:15
Speaker 2: But on December 4th, 1988, Gwen was arrested for murder.
18:23
Speaker 2: When she was arrested and brought back to Michigan, Gwen
18:26
Speaker 2: still thought things would be cleared up, that the police
18:29
Speaker 2: would realize Kathy was lying and that she would be released.
18:33
Speaker 2: But that didn't happen. The police and prosecutors then used Dr.
18:38
Speaker 2: Cole's conclusions to bolster the story that Kathy was telling,
18:42
Speaker 2: saying that the other three women also must have died
18:46
Speaker 2: by asphyxiation.
18:47
Speaker 3: When they charged me with four, I think four more,
18:52
Speaker 3: That's when I started losing it. I couldn't believe that
18:55
Speaker 3: it got as far as it did.
19:06
Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this break. Gwen's trial started
19:16
Speaker 2: in September of 1989. The state's case was presented by
19:21
Speaker 2: Assistant Kent County Prosecutor David Scheiber. He started by telling
19:25
Speaker 2: the jury about the alleged lovers pact that Kathy had described.
19:30
Speaker 5: This idea of the lovers pact, this lovers tryst, this
19:36
Speaker 5: homicidal lesbian duo was extremely shocking and salacious at the time.
19:44
Speaker 2: This is Elizabeth Cole, clinical fellow at the Michigan Innocence Clinic.
19:49
Speaker 5: It was no secret. at the time that Gwen was
19:53
Speaker 5: in a relationship with another woman, that she had dated
19:56
Speaker 5: other women in the past, and that she identified as gay.
20:01
Speaker 5: And that played a really large part of trial. It
20:06
Speaker 5: was sort of central to the prosecutor's themes.
20:09
Speaker 2: And that's how the prosecutor targeted his audience.
20:14
Speaker 5: I mean, Grand Rapids is beautiful, but it is not
20:19
Speaker 5: the most liberal of towns, especially not in the 80s.
20:23
Speaker 5: As Gwen has told me before, there's a church on
20:26
Speaker 5: every street corner. And we have seen in the transcripts
20:30
Speaker 5: this intense undertone of homophobia throughout.
20:34
Speaker 2: Scheiberg used that to his full advantage when questioning Gwen
20:38
Speaker 2: on the stand.
20:39
Speaker 5: The prosecutor asks her about her relationship with Kathy and
20:43
Speaker 5: whether or not that relationship was satisfying. And there was
20:49
Speaker 5: a lot of questions about whether or not Gwen had
20:52
Speaker 5: attempted to seduce other women and whether or not Gwen
20:56
Speaker 5: had been faithful to Kathy in this relationship. And I
21:00
Speaker 5: think that all of these little things really tried to
21:03
Speaker 5: show how the prosecution was trying to portray Gwen, which
21:09
Speaker 5: was this controlling, corruptive individual who has no sense of
21:14
Speaker 5: morals and who is a danger from every aspect.
21:19
Speaker 3: They spent more time just going over details of my
21:22
Speaker 3: sex life, saying it was kinky. And I was thinking
21:25
Speaker 3: if it was my person, my grandma that had been
21:29
Speaker 3: killed and they were talking about that, I would have
21:32
Speaker 3: been out in the courtroom and probably would have said,
21:34
Speaker 3: what the fuck does that got to do with anything?
21:36
Speaker 3: Can we get back to You know, my grandma.
21:43
Speaker 2: But the actual evidence against Gwen was thin. It was
21:46
Speaker 2: a story that started with Kathy. And before trial, when
21:50
Speaker 2: Gwen and Kathy were in holding cells next to each other,
21:52
Speaker 2: Gwen says she had a chance to ask Kathy about it.
21:55
Speaker 3: I said, why are you doing this? She said, because
22:02
Speaker 3: you hurt me, because you lied to me, because you
22:04
Speaker 3: cheated on me. I said, there is nothing I can
22:07
Speaker 3: do to change that. And she started crying and saying,
22:10
Speaker 3: but I loved you, and started banging her head on
22:13
Speaker 3: the wall in there. And so I was calling the
22:16
Speaker 3: guards and telling them she's over there hurting herself.
22:22
Speaker 2: After that, Gwen thought that Kathy would come clean on
22:25
Speaker 2: the stand.
22:26
Speaker 3: That's not what she did at all. I don't know
22:30
Speaker 3: what happened to her between that and getting on the stand,
22:34
Speaker 3: but all of a sudden she was totally composed and
22:37
Speaker 3: nailing me to the cross.
22:45
Speaker 2: Kathy testified as to what she told Ken and eventually
22:48
Speaker 2: told police, that she and Gwen plotted to kill the
22:52
Speaker 2: women in a lover's pact. The medical examiner, Dr. Cole,
22:57
Speaker 2: testified that the cause of death for the two women
23:00
Speaker 2: he reexamined was asphyxiation. And finally, witnesses from the nursing
23:05
Speaker 2: home said they had heard Gwen and Kathy making jokes
23:09
Speaker 2: about killing patients. So what did the defense do at trial?
23:14
Speaker 2: How did they try and refute this?
23:16
Speaker 5: So the defense really tried, I think, to poke holes
23:19
Speaker 5: in every space that they could.
23:23
Speaker 2: Gwen's defense attorney, James Piazza, started with Kathy.
23:27
Speaker 5: The defense really tried to show that this was nothing
23:31
Speaker 5: more than a story made up by Kathy. But he
23:37
Speaker 5: was limited in what he was able to do. He
23:40
Speaker 5: requested mental health records on Kathy to be able to
23:43
Speaker 5: discuss that with her. So the judge says, after reviewing
23:48
Speaker 5: the records himself, that he was denying the motion for
23:53
Speaker 5: her psychological records to be revealed.
23:57
Speaker 2: The judge determined that Kathy's mental health records would be
24:00
Speaker 2: irrelevant to the defense and could potentially even hurt their case.
24:04
Speaker 2: Despite this being an attorney's decision to make, the judge
24:07
Speaker 2: maintained that having these files available might actually help the
24:11
Speaker 2: prosecution's case because it would help argue that Kathy was
24:14
Speaker 2: susceptible to manipulation by Gwen. After an unsuccessful attempt at
24:20
Speaker 2: dismantling Kathy's credibility, Defense Attorney Piazza then pointed out the
24:25
Speaker 2: homophobia that was on display in the courtroom.
24:29
Speaker 5: Everyone's sex life is not important because we're talking about
24:32
Speaker 5: murders here. And so I think he tried to sort
24:37
Speaker 5: of minimize the idea that because everyone is gay or
24:43
Speaker 5: was in a relationship with one another, that that meant
24:46
Speaker 5: something in this case.
24:49
Speaker 2: Then Piazza focused on Dr.
24:51
Speaker 1: Cole.
24:52
Speaker 2: On cross-examination, Piazza questioned Cole about changing the manner of
24:56
Speaker 2: death for two of the women on their death certificates.
25:00
Speaker 2: Did he see any evidence in these two bodies that
25:04
Speaker 2: it was a homicide?
25:06
Speaker 5: Based upon his testimony at trial, the short answer is no.
25:10
Speaker 5: There were a number of other things that these women
25:14
Speaker 5: people could have passed away from. They were residing at
25:16
Speaker 5: a nursing home. Most of them had multiple maladies that
25:20
Speaker 5: could have been the reason they passed away.
25:23
Speaker 4: And Dr.
25:23
Speaker 5: Cole at trial testified that there really wasn't any typical
25:30
Speaker 5: signs of smothering, which was the allegations that each of
25:34
Speaker 5: these individuals had been smothered, such as burst capillaries, bruising
25:39
Speaker 5: on the face or in the mouth, things like that.
25:42
Speaker 5: He said there was no evidence of that, but based
25:44
Speaker 5: on what Kathy stated, he determined that it was a
25:48
Speaker 5: homicide each time.
25:51
Speaker 3: Dr.
25:51
Speaker 2: Cole admitted that if it wasn't for Kathy's confession, which
25:54
Speaker 2: he knew was the reason for the reexaminations, he would
25:58
Speaker 2: not have determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation.
26:02
Speaker 2: As for the other three women, because there had been
26:05
Speaker 2: no reexaminations, Piazza asked the judge to determine that there
26:10
Speaker 2: wasn't sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude that they
26:13
Speaker 2: were murdered. His request was denied. Finally, Gwen took the
26:19
Speaker 2: stand to defend herself, but it didn't go over as
26:22
Speaker 2: she hoped.
26:23
Speaker 5: I think she feels like she didn't get to explain
26:27
Speaker 5: her side of the story the way that she wanted
26:29
Speaker 5: to when she was testifying at trial. I think that
26:33
Speaker 5: she tried to explain a lot of the things that
26:37
Speaker 5: were presented, like the joke about killing people.
26:43
Speaker 2: Gwen admits that the atmosphere at the nursing home sometimes
26:46
Speaker 2: led to gallows humor.
26:47
Speaker 3: I mean, there were things that we did that were
26:50
Speaker 3: silly and just to get through. It's a real hard
26:54
Speaker 3: place to work where, you know, people pass away and
26:57
Speaker 3: people are sick in there. And you know that this
26:59
Speaker 3: is not a place that people are coming to get
27:01
Speaker 3: too much better.
27:06
Speaker 2: What she was talking about was something witnesses testified to
27:09
Speaker 2: hearing at the nursing home. Gwen says this joke started
27:13
Speaker 2: with a horror movie, Motel Hell, that a group of
27:16
Speaker 2: them had watched at a party. In the film, motel
27:19
Speaker 2: owners killed their guests and sold their bodies as meat
27:22
Speaker 2: to unknowing customers.
27:26
Speaker 3: And so I believe it was two of the boys
27:28
Speaker 3: at the party that started saying, well, the bodies at
27:32
Speaker 3: the nursing home, what about doing a chili cook-off? And
27:35
Speaker 3: that's just where it started. It went from there and
27:39
Speaker 3: every time that somebody would die, it was just a
27:41
Speaker 3: joke that we're going to have a chili cook-off. That's
27:43
Speaker 3: all it ever was.
27:44
Speaker 2: How do you feel about making those jokes now?
27:47
Speaker 4: I mean... Really awful.
27:49
Speaker 3: Really awful.
27:50
Speaker 1: Yeah.
27:51
Speaker 3: Really, really awful. Considering where it went, I can't even
27:56
Speaker 3: imagine that if it had been my grandma or my
27:59
Speaker 3: mother and I heard her stuff like that and people
28:02
Speaker 3: making jokes about it and.
28:08
Speaker 5: I think she tried to explain that, but after so
28:18
Speaker 5: many people had testified to it, it sort of fell flat.
28:22
Speaker 5: And I think that Gwen wasn't able really to talk
28:25
Speaker 5: about what it was that she wanted to talk about,
28:28
Speaker 5: which was her innocence. And so... Looking at Gwen's testimony,
28:33
Speaker 5: it seems like they tried to address all of the
28:37
Speaker 5: issues that had been presented at trial. They sort of
28:40
Speaker 5: went point by point and tried to address every conversation
28:43
Speaker 5: she had had with every witness. And I just think
28:46
Speaker 5: that the impact wasn't felt by the jury, that sincerity
28:50
Speaker 5: wasn't felt by the jury.
28:53
Speaker 2: Kathy took a plea deal of second-degree murder in exchange
28:56
Speaker 2: for her testimony against Gwen. She was sentenced to 20
28:59
Speaker 2: to 40 years. On September 20th, 1989, Gwen was convicted
29:04
Speaker 2: of all counts and given six concurrent sentences of life
29:08
Speaker 2: without parole. Were you surprised when you found out she
29:14
Speaker 2: was convicted of this?
29:16
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I cried. I still cry. And I really
29:20
Speaker 4: feel like she was railroaded.
29:26
Speaker 2: It was 15 years before Karina was able to visit
29:28
Speaker 2: Gwen in prison. At first, she didn't recognize her sister.
29:32
Speaker 4: I know she was like 25 or so when she
29:39
Speaker 4: went in. but her appearance had changed. Of course, mine
29:44
Speaker 4: had changed. So, I mean, I remember standing in the
29:49
Speaker 4: middle of the room, just looking around, just like calling
29:53
Speaker 4: her name. And then I looked at this lady. sitting
30:00
Speaker 4: in her chair. And she was just crying. And I
30:06
Speaker 4: knew it was her. And so they allowed us to hug.
30:12
Speaker 4: And we were like, it's really you.
30:15
Speaker 3: You're really here.
30:15
Speaker 4: And I'm like, yeah, I'm really here. I told her
30:22
Speaker 4: she was so beautiful. It was.
30:30
Speaker 4: It was really nice, really great. A moment I'll never forget.
30:34
Speaker 4: To be able to see her again.
30:44
Speaker 3: I had a really hard time coping with how did
30:47
Speaker 3: this happen. I was in shock for probably years. I
30:52
Speaker 3: was just like on autopilot. I went through the motions.
30:55
Speaker 3: There were times when I just couldn't do it anymore.
30:57
Speaker 3: I just felt like I just couldn't do it anymore.
31:00
Speaker 3: I tried to hang myself a couple of times and
31:03
Speaker 3: officers found me and cut me down. And I quit
31:06
Speaker 3: trying because I figured, well, if God's not going to
31:09
Speaker 3: let me kill myself, I must be here for something.
31:11
Speaker 3: So let's get to it. I figured out through therapy
31:18
Speaker 3: that for me, fixing other things, I spend a lot
31:22
Speaker 3: of time fixing other things and helping other people and
31:26
Speaker 3: fixing their things because I have an inability to fix
31:29
Speaker 3: my own. No matter what I tried, I can't seem
31:32
Speaker 3: to fix this, to make people see that. How am
31:39
Speaker 3: I ever going to make them see it? But I
31:42
Speaker 3: didn't do this.
31:52
Speaker 2: We'll be right back. Although Gwen didn't think she could
31:57
Speaker 2: fix her wrongful conviction, she still tried Gwen wrote letters
32:02
Speaker 2: to experts, attorneys, and innocence projects. In 2022, Elizabeth Cole
32:08
Speaker 2: was handed Gwen's case to review by the Michigan Innocence Clinic.
32:12
Speaker 5: When you read the story of the case, it doesn't
32:15
Speaker 5: seem fully plausible. It seems really fantastical, like it would
32:20
Speaker 5: make great TV. And usually that stands out to us.
32:26
Speaker 5: The other thing is, About this case in particular, and
32:30
Speaker 5: I think why we decided to investigate, is that this
32:33
Speaker 5: case is based around some very weak evidence.
32:37
Speaker 2: Currently, Elizabeth and the Michigan Innocence Clinic are looking at
32:41
Speaker 2: two specific angles that reinforce how Gwen's case was set
32:45
Speaker 2: up to fail. First, they're exploring how Dr. Cole was
32:48
Speaker 2: prejudiced by outside information given to him prior to the
32:52
Speaker 2: re-examination of the two bodies.
32:55
Speaker 5: Each of these women were determined to have been murdered
32:58
Speaker 5: by smothering. And Dr. Cole was very clear about the
33:04
Speaker 5: fact that that all came from his conversations with the
33:07
Speaker 5: police and from Kathy's statement, which he believed. I can't
33:11
Speaker 5: stress this enough. There is no medical basis for the
33:15
Speaker 5: homicide determination. and this was testified to at trial and
33:19
Speaker 5: then reconfirmed during a review by another medical examiner some
33:25
Speaker 5: years later, that there is no medical evidence to support
33:29
Speaker 5: a theory of smothering.
33:32
Speaker 2: Elizabeth says the bottom line is any theory of a
33:35
Speaker 2: case should not be shared with medical examiners or similar
33:39
Speaker 2: personnel until after they make unbiased judgments, because this information
33:44
Speaker 2: can and likely will affect their opinions. The second avenue
33:51
Speaker 2: that the clinic is focusing on is the rampant homophobia
33:54
Speaker 2: exhibited throughout the trial.
33:57
Speaker 5: This was an incredibly salacious trial. The testimony was especially salacious.
34:05
Speaker 5: And so there was sort of this connection for the
34:08
Speaker 5: prosecution between this lack of morality and Gwen's sexual preferences.
34:14
Speaker 5: This idea of homophobia that was played very heavily throughout
34:20
Speaker 5: trial really colors everything else. It colors her relationships with
34:25
Speaker 5: the people who testified. It colors who she is. It
34:28
Speaker 5: colors police opinion of her. It colors jurors opinion of her.
34:31
Speaker 5: It certainly colored the media's opinion of her. It colors
34:35
Speaker 5: every aspect of this case. And so that impacted Gwen
34:40
Speaker 5: and really prevented her from having a fair trial.
34:43
Speaker 2: The Michigan Innocence Clinic is currently writing a clemency petition
34:47
Speaker 2: on Gwen's behalf that will focus on these two issues,
34:50
Speaker 2: with the ultimate goal of getting Gwen out of prison.
34:58
Speaker 2: In 2020, Kathy was released on parole, but only after
35:02
Speaker 2: spending almost 30 years in prison based on a lie
35:06
Speaker 2: she told to put Gwen behind bars. To this day,
35:09
Speaker 2: Kathy has not admitted she lied. Why do you think
35:14
Speaker 2: she's stuck with this story for so long? Or forever?
35:17
Speaker 3: I thought long and hard about it when she said
35:22
Speaker 3: that we were killing all people in the nursing home.
35:26
Speaker 3: And for her to sit there and tell anybody in
35:30
Speaker 3: the world that it was a lie and everything, and
35:33
Speaker 3: then she would have to have that on her shoulders
35:35
Speaker 3: for the rest of her life. And I just don't
35:36
Speaker 3: think that she can live with it. I think that
35:38
Speaker 3: she was okay with the time that she did because
35:42
Speaker 3: I'm here for nothing. I think she was okay with it,
35:45
Speaker 3: like she was paying her own little price for what
35:47
Speaker 3: she did to me. And as long as she never
35:50
Speaker 3: says anything, she'll always be in control of my life.
35:52
Speaker 3: She'll always be in control.
36:02
Speaker 2: When you do get out, what do you hope to
36:04
Speaker 2: do with your future, with your life?
36:07
Speaker 3: I'm going to take my sister around the world. I
36:10
Speaker 3: wanted to take her around the world and travel because
36:13
Speaker 3: she works so hard. All she does is work, work, work.
36:18
Speaker 3: And I just want her to slow down and have fun.
36:22
Speaker 3: And I just want to spend time with her. The
36:26
Speaker 3: older I get, the more I realize that if I
36:29
Speaker 3: walk out of here, I'm not going to have a
36:31
Speaker 3: lot of time left. So my bucket list is getting
36:35
Speaker 3: shorter and shorter. I'm not a killer. I'm a good person.
36:42
Speaker 3: I care about people. Though I felt like the world
36:48
Speaker 3: that I cared so much about left me behind and
36:52
Speaker 3: forgot about me, I still care.
37:03
Speaker 2: If you want to help Gwen, you can contact Michigan
37:05
Speaker 2: Governor Gretchen Whitmer in support of Gwen and her clemency petition.
37:10
Speaker 2: You can also contact the Michigan Innocence Clinic to share
37:13
Speaker 2: your support for Gwen. These links will be in our bio.
37:28
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. Please
37:32
Speaker 2: support your local innocence organizations and go to the links
37:35
Speaker 2: in our bio to see how you can help. I'd
37:37
Speaker 2: like to thank our executive producers, Jason Flom and Kevin Werdes,
37:41
Speaker 2: as well as our senior producer, Annie Chelsea, producer Lila Robinson,
37:45
Speaker 2: and story editor Sonia Paul. The show is edited and
37:48
Speaker 2: mixed by Annie Chelsea, with additional production by Jeff Clyburn
37:52
Speaker 2: and Connor Hall. The music in this production is by
37:55
Speaker 2: three-time Oscar-nominated composer J.
37:57
Speaker 1: Ralph.
37:58
Speaker 2: Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction,
38:01
Speaker 2: on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at
38:05
Speaker 2: Wrong Conviction, as well as at Lava for Good on
38:08
Speaker 2: all three platforms. You can also follow me on both
38:11
Speaker 2: Instagram and Twitter at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with Maggie
38:15
Speaker 2: Freeling is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in
38:18
Speaker 2: association with Signal Company No. 1.