440: #440 Maggie Freleng with Cassandra Black Elk

Wrongful Conviction Podcasts · Apr 1, 2024 · 39m

On the morning of February 19th, 2022, Cassandra Black Elk awoke to find her three-week-old daughter StarLight lifeless beside her. Police insisted the baby had died due to Shaken Baby Syndrome - and that Cassandra was responsible. “They were telling me their story,” Cassandra remembers, “that somebody did something to StarLight…somebody killed her.” Cassandra knew she hadn’t hurt her baby. She asked her lawyer repeatedly - what does the autopsy report say? But by the time she got the answer, Cassandra had been convicted of having caused her daughter’s death, and was already in prison.

To…