Latest / Wrongful Conviction / #415 Maggie Freleng with Faye Jacobs

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#415 Maggie Freleng with Faye Jacobs · Wrongful Conviction

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: We originally met and interviewed Faye Jacobs at the twenty
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: twenty two Innocence Network Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, and her
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: episode was released on June sixth, twenty twenty two. Fortunately enough,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: we caught up with her again at the conference in
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: I am here at the Innocence Network Conference twenty twenty
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: three in Phoenix with Faye Jacobs.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Hey, how are you doing? Finding you It's so awesome
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: to be bad. I know we met a person here
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: last year. It was great. So what have you been
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: up to?
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: Oh my god, I have been running like a chicken
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: with his head cut off. I don't know if I
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: mentioned the last time we was here, I had started
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: my own business, Innocence to Transportation Service, and now I
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: contract to schools transporting students and then nursing homes as well.
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: I mean, wow, it is growing so big, bigger than
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: what I expected. I am now in the process of
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: getting a limousine, a party bus, and a tour bus
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: for my services.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Wow. That's amazing. So you're an incredible entrepreneur now.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: But one of the things about your case was you
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: were freed but not exonerated.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Are you exonerated.
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: Yet I am not exonerated. We now have a new
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: governor in Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee, who waiting on her to
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: be in office at least about a year, and then
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: will present my clemency application. We will do an application
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: that will go before the Parole Board, and the parole
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: Board would do their recommendations, and from there they will
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: send their recommendations to Sarah. I truly believe somebody's gonna
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: exonerate me.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: You know what does that like? To be free but
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: not free? It's complicated.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: It's bittersweet because you know, I still have obstacles against me.
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: I still have issues before I even started my own business,
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: trying to apply for other jobs because when they do
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: a background check of courts, a felony comes back. And
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: even with housing, this conviction still hangs over my head.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: I think the last time I was here, I wasn't.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: But I am on the board of directors of a
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: Journey to New Life. It's an organization helping men and
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: women's coming out of prison to get housing and jobs.
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: It's a wonderful, wonderful organization.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: I'm sure things pop up all the time. You don't
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: even think about that. It impacts you.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I want to adopt once again. This conviction
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: is just not letting me do the things that I
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: desire to do.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: When I talked to you last time, you were with
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: your partner.
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: Tiffany's still going strong. Tiffany has now moved in, so
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: she now reside in Kansas City with me.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: I'm glad you guys are going strong.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: You're gonna adopt a kid when you get exonerated, Yeah,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: hopefully to go Yeah.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Perfect.
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: And if not a kid, a bunch of grandkids.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Oh perfect, exactly, she has kids.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Yes, we'll have her transportation service linked in the bio
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: for folks in the Kansas City area. And please stay
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: tuned for new episodes of Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: starting in January of twenty twenty four. Now Faye Jacob's
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: story as it originally aired, we hope Governor Huckabee is
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: moved to grant her a well deserved clemency.
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: Like I've been thinking a lot about, you know, the
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: difficult decision of having to decide if you want to
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: take an Outford plea, if you want to take any
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: kind of plea.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: I mean, if I was put in that situation.
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: Would I stay in prison to fight for my innocence
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: knowing I might never get out, or take a deal
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: get out, and then you can't fight for your innocence
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: after that.
• 3:40
  Speaker 6: It's a literal Sophie's choice. Maggie, right, I mean, you
• 3:44
  Speaker 6: have this intense pressure. You know that they have the
• 3:48
  Speaker 6: ability to say, Hey, we're going to leave you sitting
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: in jail, in prison for a year or two years
• 3:53
  Speaker 6: or more while you await your retrial. Many, many strong
• 3:59
  Speaker 6: willed and brave and brilliant people have taken the plea
• 4:03
  Speaker 6: because there's really no way out and they just want
• 4:06
  Speaker 6: to go home out. Yeah, they have to go home.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I didn't comprehend that I was going to prison for
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: the rest of my life. I'm thinking to myself, are
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: you saying that I can never be with my parents again.
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: I can never go back to my bed, you know,
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: my home. So I'm losing all my friends. I mean,
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: all this is going to be taken. Are you kidding me.
• 4:31
  Speaker 7: From lava for good?
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: This is wrongful conviction with Maggie Freeling today Lakwanda Fay
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  Speaker 1: Jacobs on the evening of February ninth, nineteen ninety two,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Kevin Gaddy and Tony Davis were walking down the street
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: when a car pulled up. A man and a woman
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: got out and held them at gunpoint. They demanded the
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: jack Kevin Gaddy was wearing. It was a Chicago Bulls
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: starter jacket. In the nineteen nineties, these satin jackets were
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: a status symbol. As Kevin was handing his jacket over,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: a struggle ensued and he was shot in the chest.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Around the same time, Lakwanda Fay Jacobs and her mother
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: were on their way to church when they saw police
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: commotion near Fay's house.
• 5:24
  Speaker 7: They stopped to see what was going on.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: As Faye got out of the car, an officer approached
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: her and asked her who she was. Fay was instantly
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: arrested and taken down to the police station for questioning,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: but she had an alibi, and the woman they should
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: have been looking for was at least fifteen years older
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: than Fay, but it didn't matter. Fay was eventually charged
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: and convicted of the murder of Kevin Gaddy.
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: They knew all along that I was innocent, but just
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: wanting to use me as an example to other young juveniles. Therefore,
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: I was railroaded into the system. I am Lakwanda Faye Jacobs.
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: Nineteen ninety two. I was arrested for capitol felloni murder
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: of a friend of mine.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: But Kwanda Faye Jacobs was born in Little Rock, Arkansas,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: on February twenty second, nineteen seventy five. She was the
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: baby of a big family, six boys and six girls.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: I was always picked on by my older siblings, but
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: I consider myself stronger than my other siblings, even though
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: I was the baby. I come from a great family.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: I was raising the church. My dad was started off
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: as a deacon in the church and ended up becoming
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: assistant pastor. And I was deeply involved at the age
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: of four years.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Old, facing in the church choir, and was an outgoing
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: child and teenager.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: I'm just a people person. That's just the type of
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: personality I've always had. I was a friends with everybody
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: from church people. I even had friends that were gang members,
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: you know, just a typical teenager. I had fights, I
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: had boyfriends, I did a lot, you know. That's who
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: Fey was, and.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Like many kids, she had lots of different visions for
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: her future.
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: I wanted to be a nurse at one time, I
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: wanted to be a beautician because I loved doing my
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: doll's hair, you know, so of course I was like,
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: I'm going to be a beautician. My grandfather was a
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: barbera and my grandmother was a beautician. I even dreamed
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: of being in the army one day. But then later on,
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: as I got older in my teenage, I was like, man,
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: I don't want to go do that. You know.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: In high school, she played on the junior varsity volleyball team,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: and she says she was incredibly popular and other students
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: looked up to her.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: I dreamed of graduating, going to the prom, going to dance,
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: and you know, I could have possibly been the queen
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: because I was so popular. But you know, those are
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: things that will rob from me that opportunity.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: On the morning of February ninth, nineteen ninety two, sixteen
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: year old Faye got up and went to church to
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: attend service. It was Sunday and she had planned to
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: sing at two services that day. Afterward, her mother picked
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: her up from the house Fae rented with her brother.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: They got back to Faye's mom's apartment at two pm.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Fay's friend picked her up shortly after that and they
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: ran some errands, including the laundromat, and back to her
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: friend's house. He dropped Faye back at her mom's place
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: at around five point thirty. Her Sunday was pretty packed.
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: I had another service to attend that night. My mom
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: and I were going to us singing at another church.
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  Speaker 1: Fay's MoMA wrapped home shortly after and found Fay relaxing
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: on the couch. Fay was still in her white church clothes,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: but at the same time, over a mile away, a
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: situation was unfolding that would change Fay's life forever. Seventeen
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: year old Kevin Gaddy and his friend Tony Davis, who
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: was fourteen, were walking down the street when a gray
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: car pulled up. A man and a woman got out.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: The woman had a gun and they demanded the jacket.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Kevin Gaddy was wearing a Chicago Bulls starter jacket. As
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Kevin was handing it over, he put his hand in
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: his coat pocket to get his brush. That's when things
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: got messy, and the woman shot Kevin in the chest.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: On their way to their second church event of the day,
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  Speaker 1: Fay and her mom passed the crime scene right outside
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Faye's house, so they stopped to see what was going on.
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  Speaker 1: As Faye got out of the car, a police officer
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: grabbed her.
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: And I was instantly through on the car put in handcuffs.
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  Speaker 4: At this time, I didn't know that a shooting had occurred.
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: I was already a handcuffsed. Once I said who I
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: was and that I lived there too as well, at
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: the house that they were at, I was put in
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: the backseat of the car and taken to the Little
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: Rock Police department. Not knowing what is conna.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: At the precinct, the police asked Faye if they could
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: do a gun shot residue test on.
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: Her, and so after my gun residue was negative, they
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: was like, well, we're gonna let her go home, you know.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: And they's like, if you hear anything about a shooting,
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: let us know. And I was like, who shot? What
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: is conna?
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: It wasn't until days later that Fay learned it was
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: her friend Kevin, who was shot and killed outside of
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: her house.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: Kevin and I I were both the same age, but
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: he was a few months older than me, and he
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: was real known for his scooter and his skills with basketball.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: I always, even as a kid, I used to say
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: you're gonna go big Kevin, you know, because he was
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: so good at basketball, you know. But like I said,
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: from kindergarten to seventh grade, him and I went to
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: school together.
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  Speaker 1: Kevin was pronounced dead less than an hour after he
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: was shot.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: And it was so unbelievable because I knew he was
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: such a good kid, he was a good friend, and
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: it was just very devastating to learn that he had
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: been shot.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: During their investigation into Kevin's murder, police found at least
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: eight eyewitnesses who saw the shooting. The descriptions of the
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: woman who fired the gun varied, but most agreed she
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: was in her thirties with scars under her eyes, and
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: that she was wearing dark clothing, including a black hat.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Tony Davis was the eyewitness closest to the shooting, and
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: on that very day described the woman as quote black,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: mid thirties, approximately five foot eight, heavy billed, medium complexion,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: wearing a dark ski cap and bluish gray jacket and pants,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: with frizzy hair. Yet Fay, a young teenager wearing entirely
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: different clothing, had already been to the police station and
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: been questioned, so investigators had her photo and showed it
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: to witnesses. Five of them said Fay was not the shooter.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Tony Davis was shown a picture of Fay and two times,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: once on the day of the crime and again four
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: days later. He was unable to make an identification. But
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: then nine days after the shooting, the police brought him
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: back in and again they showed him a photo lineup,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: and this time he identified Faye as the shooter. They
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: had absolutely no idea what was going on.
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: I was going to school and this day I wasn't
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: feeling well and I was at my sister's house and
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: my mom called my sister and said, the police has
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: come to my job looking for fee.
• 13:16
  Speaker 7: For murder.
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: And I was like, murder. I haven't killed anybody. And
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: so my mom came to my sister house. We called
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: my dad, we called my pastor, and we went to
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: the police station just to clear my name, you know,
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: to tell them I haven't did anything. You know. I
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: mean when I tell you, I had no clue that
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: I was even a suspect, and you know, and that
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: could be what. I was so young, but I didn't
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: commit the crime, So why would I even think that
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: I'm a suspect. I had no knowledge of it, and
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: so we went to the jail to clear my name,
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: and at that time they arrested me. They did not
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: allow me to clear my name. They arrested me and
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: charged me with capital felay murder and set my bund
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: at one million dollars. Okay, I'm sixteen, and I'm like,
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: I had never been to jail before in my life,
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: and so I'm scared.
• 14:11
  Speaker 8: I'm very scared.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: a positive difference in the lives of its employees and
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: in the communities where we work and live. In light
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal services and
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. Before trial, Faye
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: was appointed public defender James Cluet to represent her. At
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: the time of his appointment, Kluet was representing a client
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: by the name of Sean Riggins. As it happens, Riggins
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: and his brother had been among the witnesses on the
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: street when Kevin was murdered. Two weeks later, Riggins was
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: arrested for an unrelated crime.
• 15:25
  Speaker 7: At that time.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: He ended up telling police that he'd seen the shooter
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: and that she was actually younger than thirty, closer.
• 15:31
  Speaker 7: To fifteen or sixteen.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: He was the only person to say that, and when
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: investigator showed him a photo spread of suspects, he identified
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Faye as the shooter. Now this part gets a little confusing,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: so follow carefully. Not only as Fay's attorney James Cluett
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: representing two clients involved in the same case, a clear
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: conflict of interest, but he also asked Faye to lie
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: for Shawn Riggins. Fay was in jail with a woman
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: named Burt Walker, one of Riggins's co defendants in another case.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Cluette approached Fay with an offer. He asked her to
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: say that Bertie had told her she committed the crime alone.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: In exchange, he said Riggins would not testify against Faye
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: about Kevin's murder, but Fay rejected the offer. She refused
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: to lie and asked for a new lawyer. She was
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: appointed attorney Bill MacArthur. James Cluett was eventually disbarred for
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: separate issues. Fay's trial started a year later in April
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety three. A man named Clifton Thomas was originally
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: charged with Faye as her alleged accomplice, but the charges
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: against him were eventually dropped.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: So I'm going to court and I'm like, are you serious?
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: I can't believe this. Why are they doing this to me?
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: And the judge keeps my bond at a million and
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: he states we're charging her as an adult. I couldn't
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: believe that this was happening.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Prosecutors Howard Coopman and John Miller presented no forensic evidence
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: linking Fade to the crime. They were likeed heavily on
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: the eyewitness statements of Tony Davis, who was with Kevin
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: that evening, and Sean Riggins. When fe goes to court,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: news media is everywhere, She says. The case was high
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: profile because of a slew of killings of young people
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: in Arkansas at the time.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: Arkansas was on the rise of gang balance back in
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: the late eighties early nineties, and so of course law
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: enforcements was forced to do something about those crimes. So
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: they had a thing called banging in Arkansas. It was
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: like the Arkansas was like a small Los Angeles with
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: the crips and the bloods, and they had videos and
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: they still had these videos. You can pull them up
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: on YouTube called bang It in Arkansas.
• 17:53
  Speaker 7: So I did.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: This is the County coroner for Little Rock, Arkansas, on
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: one of the films several.
• 17:59
  Speaker 9: Years ago, when I saw the death rate was increasing,
• 18:02
  Speaker 9: but the victims were becoming much younger and younger, and
• 18:05
  Speaker 9: began to see tattoos and brands on the victims, and
• 18:08
  Speaker 9: began to notice that the violence just was increasing, and
• 18:12
  Speaker 9: drive by shootings and random shootings and retaliation killings, and
• 18:15
  Speaker 9: it just went on and on. Until nineteen ninety two,
• 18:19
  Speaker 9: we had a record rate of homicides in Little Rock,
• 18:22
  Speaker 9: and it looks we've broken the record in nineteen ninety three,
• 18:25
  Speaker 9: and it's.
• 18:26
  Speaker 10: Just gone on and on and on.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: In fact, a half hour earlier and a few blocks
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: away from Kevin Gaddy's murder, there was another potentially related crime.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Around five pm, Little Rock Police Department responded to an
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: aggravated assault where eyewitnesses told police there was a female perpetrator,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: a male accomplice, and guess what a gray car. It's
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: unclear what happened with that case and something else related
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: to this crime. To help you understand, starting in the
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: late eighties, sports starter jackets were a hot commodity. An
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: article in The New York Times from February of nineteen
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: ninety discusses the phenomenon, calling it quote an increasingly pervasive
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: kind of urban crime, robberies by young people willing to
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: kill for clothes end quote. They cite that at the
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: time these jackets went from ninety to two hundred dollars,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: which today would be about two hundred to four hundred dollars,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: So Kevin Gaddy becoming a target for his jacket that
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: night was not necessarily unusual at the time. However, Fay's
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: attorney failed at making a case that Fay was caught
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: she did not commit the crime. Fay was able to
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: testify on her own behalf, however, and she tried to
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: make the case for herself that she did not kill
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: her friend.
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: In my little mind, I'm thinking that, you know, soon
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: as I go to court, I can just tell the
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: judge that I didn't do this and uc and I'll
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: go home. But the reality, that's not how it works,
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: you know, but I didn't know that, I really believe
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: that I was going to get out of there.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: On April twenty first, nineteen ninety three, Fate was convicted
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole.
• 20:15
  Speaker 7: She was just sixteen years old.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: I didn't I didn't comprehend that I was going to
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: prison for the rest of my life. You know. It
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: was until I got back to the jail that the
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: jailer told me, you know, you're not going to ever
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: get out. You know you're going to jail, you know.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: And so I was broken inside, you know, had been
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: ripped apart.
• 20:41
  Speaker 7: You know, are you telling me?
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: I'm thinking to myself, are you saying that I can
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: never be with my parents again.
• 20:47
  Speaker 7: I can never go.
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: Back to my bed, you know, my home. So I'm
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: losing all my friends. I mean, all this is going
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: to be taken. Are you kidding me?
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Fay's world had turned completely upside down.
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: I had many days of crying. So when I was
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: first put in, I was put in a cell all
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: by myself because I was sixteen. But days later I
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: was sent to an adult place because I was charged
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: at an adult and so of course I had adults
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: tunt me and bothered me. I had even got jumped
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: on it in the county jail, you know, because of
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: this high profile and that's the juvenile that killed the
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: guy for his jacket, you know, that's how.
• 21:31
  Speaker 7: It was labeled.
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: And so I would go to my room, I would cry.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't let people see me cry because if they
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: saw that, that a show a sign a weakness, and
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: they would really take advantage of you and do things.
• 21:47
  Speaker 7: But yeah, I was very scared.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Eventually, Fay settled into the prison environment and just like
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: in high school, her outgoing personality and love of people
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: got her through. By the time she had been there
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: for several years, she had started making a name for
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: herself as a generous person to those coming into the system.
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: And so a lot of ladies come in there and
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: they don't have the headphones and things like that. So
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: I always had extra so I can share with the
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: other ladies.
• 22:22
  Speaker 11: You know.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: In two thousand and nine, Tiffany Woods came to prison.
• 22:26
  Speaker 8: I was incarcerated for DWIS. So they had moved me
• 22:32
  Speaker 8: in the barracks with a and in order to watch TV,
• 22:37
  Speaker 8: you have to have a radio. Well, I didn't have
• 22:41
  Speaker 8: any family outside you know, to actually send me any
• 22:44
  Speaker 8: money to buy me a radio. So I've seen fayees
• 22:49
  Speaker 8: all bubbly playing games and stuff, and I was like,
• 22:52
  Speaker 8: excuse me, ma'am, can I borrow your radio? And so
• 22:56
  Speaker 8: she was like, yeah, it's over there on my bed.
• 22:59
  Speaker 8: So that started our friendship.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Fay and Tiffany hit it off, and when Tiffany got out,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: she promised Fay she would write her.
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: You know, being in prison, you meet people and people
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: tell you I'm going to write you, I'm going to
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: support you, you know, all the way, and so you
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: hear that all the time. And I had been let
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: down so many times. Well, but Tiffany, Tiffany left and
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: she wrote me, and I was like, oh my god,
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: this girl really wrote me. And then she sent me
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: a phone number and said I could call her. And
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: I could not believe it because that was something that
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: had never happened throughout my whole incoseration, to be able
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: to have contact with another resident that had once been there.
• 23:45
  Speaker 8: It's a smile loyalty. If I tell you I'm going
• 23:47
  Speaker 8: to do something, I'm going to do it.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Tiffany and Fey maintained their friendship over the years, all
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: the while Fay fought for her She filed appeal after
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: appeal after appeal for reasons including ineffective assistance of counsel
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: face as her second attorney, Bill MacArthur, failed to meet
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: with her before trial and failed to file any discovery
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: motions or conduct an investigation. He failed to show why
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Fay could not have committed this crime, starting with the
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: description of the shooter. The shooter, according to Tony Davis's
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: testimony at the trial, was a black woman with scars
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: under her eyes and light brownish red curly hair peeking
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: out of a black hat, and she was wearing a
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: big winter coat and pants. This description does not fit
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Fait at all. She had no scars under her eyes,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: was wearing white church clothes, and her hair was in
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: a top knot for.
• 24:45
  Speaker 10: Folks who were very familiar with black hair African American hair.
• 24:48
  Speaker 10: She couldn't have gotten her hair up into this very smooth,
• 24:51
  Speaker 10: beautiful top knot if it had been a red curly
• 24:54
  Speaker 10: dew under a cap just hours earlier.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Right, this is Trisia Bushnell. She's the executive director of
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the Midwest Innocence Project known as the MIP.
• 25:04
  Speaker 10: But none of those things ever come out, none of
• 25:05
  Speaker 10: those things are ever investigated or brought to the jury's attention.
• 25:10
  Speaker 10: You know, when you look at Phase case and you
• 25:11
  Speaker 10: look at the evidence, you can really just think there's
• 25:14
  Speaker 10: really no good evidence here, right. You can look at
• 25:16
  Speaker 10: it and say, there's no good evidence. So how does
• 25:17
  Speaker 10: she get convicted? Well, part of it is it's just racism,
• 25:21
  Speaker 10: very simple, right, But you have a system that has
• 25:23
  Speaker 10: a young black girl up there and the state is
• 25:26
  Speaker 10: saying she did it, and what does that read like
• 25:27
  Speaker 10: to jurors?
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: The bias appears to have started with the cops who
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: arrested Fay on the spot, and Fay feels strongly that
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: there was racial profiling involved. Frisha is currently Phase attorney.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: The MIP took Phase case in twenty fourteen when they
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: reviewed it and realized it's stunk of a wrongful conviction.
• 25:47
  Speaker 10: So there's actually were a lot of witnesses to this crime.
• 25:50
  Speaker 10: And when we went and talked to people, five other
• 25:52
  Speaker 10: people who actually also knew Fay so it was not her,
• 25:55
  Speaker 10: including Sean Riggan's brother who was standing with him at
• 25:58
  Speaker 10: the car and said we couldn't see any from where
• 26:01
  Speaker 10: we were.
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: At the car.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Sean Riggins, remember had told police that Fay was the shooter,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: but he ultimately did recant his identification.
• 26:10
  Speaker 10: And that was the basis of new evidence that we
• 26:13
  Speaker 10: used when we filed a federal habeas petition asking them
• 26:17
  Speaker 10: to overturn Fhay's conviction. Filed that in twenty eighteen.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: The MIP also brought up in the appeal the four
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: additional eyewitnesses who said the shooter was not Fay and
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: who were never called to testify at trial. However, before
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: a judge could respond to the petition, there was a
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: new development. In twenty twelve, the United States Supreme Court
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: ruled in millervers Alabama, that juveniles cannot be sentenced to
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: mandatory life without parole like Fay was. Those who had
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: received this sentence are entitled to a re sentencing hearing.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: But Fay had a difficult decision to make. If she
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: was resentenced and released based on the time she had
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: already served, she could not fight her innocence claim. And remember,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: there were two people involved in the crime, a man
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: and a woman, and a man was originally charged with Fay.
• 27:09
  Speaker 10: And we know in the co defendant's case, when his
• 27:12
  Speaker 10: attorney asked for discovery, they dropped the charges, so we
• 27:15
  Speaker 10: wanted to know what was it, specifically from the crime lab,
• 27:19
  Speaker 10: and rather than giving us that, they gad an offer
• 27:23
  Speaker 10: of time served. And that is when Fay then had
• 27:26
  Speaker 10: to make a really difficult and horrific choice of you know,
• 27:29
  Speaker 10: do I want to keep pursuing my innocence claim in
• 27:31
  Speaker 10: this federal court.
• 27:33
  Speaker 7: If she did, she could lose the deal to be
• 27:35
  Speaker 7: released based on time served. So she had to choose.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Accept this chance to be free, knowing she would remain
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: a felon or stay in prison and continue the potentially
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: never ending fight for her own exoneration. On July sixteenth,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, they accepted the time served offer and walked
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: out of prison.
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: To walk out of those gates. It was such a
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: release that I was like, oh my god, I am out.
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: Yet I had some emotions because I thought about the
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: ones that I was leaving behind, and that was the
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: life that I knew because I'd been there for over
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: twenty summer, So you know, I had these mixed emotions.
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: Yet I was so happy to be home with those
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: that had been fighting to get me out and be
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: around people other people.
• 28:39
  Speaker 7: One of those people was Tiffany.
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: She was gone. Ten years before I ever got out.
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: But that whole ten years she was out, she constantly
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: rode me, send me money, just was there for me faithfully,
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: And that was something that I had never in my
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: life experience. I had no one to be so genuine, authentic.
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: It was just unbelievable. I was like, they don't make
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: people like they make Tiffany anymore.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Tiffany and Fay's relationship developed into a romantic one. These days,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: they travel back and forth to see each other. Fay
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: lives in Kansas City, Missouri, and Tiffany out in rural Huntsville, Arkansas.
• 29:14
  Speaker 8: I am country. I would rather to be in the
• 29:17
  Speaker 8: woods than the city.
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: Do you bring her to the woods?
• 29:19
  Speaker 8: Yes, as much as possible, But and then she takes
• 29:24
  Speaker 8: me to the city, Like, we have a fishing trip
• 29:27
  Speaker 8: planned here pretty soon, so I want to I have
• 29:31
  Speaker 8: to go get our tent.
• 29:33
  Speaker 7: Wow, how's how's being in the woods?
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: How's camping? I don't picture you as a camper?
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: I am not. I am not. That's her. And so
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: where she lives Huntsville, population seventy five. She's been there
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: all her life. I don't think I would ever live
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: in a country town like.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: I wish you could see your face right.
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: Now, but uh yeah, hopefully in the future Tiffany and
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: I could. We would live together and have our fur
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: babies and the babies that you know that I desire
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: to have it we could be a big family.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: They and Tiffany hope to have a family someday. But
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: since they was resentenced and released, her conviction still stands,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: so she's technically still a convicted felon.
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: Because of this felony, I cannot adopt, which is heartbreaking.
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: Yet I'm hoping to maybe possibly have a surrogate, so
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: that's the goal, and if not my niece, hopefully they
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: can have babies for me something like that. And I
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: also have three amazing babies. They are two Snauzers and
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: one tiny teacup Chihuahua that are my babies.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: But as of adopting, life has been hard with the
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: label convicted felon attached to her, even with the support
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: of the MIP.
• 31:09
  Speaker 7: When I do.
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: Go for interviews or go to apply, I'm given a
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: letter that you know, she's actually innocent of this crime.
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: Yet we're still fighting to clear her name, and so
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: it helps in some aspects, but I've been denied Howsen
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: in spite of the letter. So sometimes it does and
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: sometimes it doesn't.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Fay currently works as a receptionist for Chevrolet in Kansas City.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: She also advocates for other wrongfully incarcerated people and is
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: on the board of an organization which helps formally incarcerated
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: women returning to society. Fay's only shot at exoneration is
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: now clemency, and her first clemency petition from Arkansas Governor
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Asa Hutchinson was denied. She cannot apply again for another
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: eight years.
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: You know, I'm just so happy to be free. Yet
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: I'm physically free, but.
• 32:10
  Speaker 7: I'm not free.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: If you want to help Faye, go to change dot
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: org and type in Fay Jacobs to ask Governor Asa
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Hutchinson to pardon Faye.
• 32:25
  Speaker 7: Next time.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: On Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling Hank Skinner, I'm.
• 32:29
  Speaker 11: Sitting there looking at think Gurnie that they're fixing to
• 32:32
  Speaker 11: put me on. I could see it through the door,
• 32:34
  Speaker 11: the hand the door open, I could see the microphone,
• 32:37
  Speaker 11: I could see the straps, arm boards, and how was
• 32:40
  Speaker 11: absolutely convinced that I was fixing it die.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: Please support your local innocence organizations and go to the
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: links in our bio to see how you can help.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: I'd like to thank our executive producers Jason Flamm and
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: Kevin Words, as well as our senior producer Annie Chelsea,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: researcher Lila Robinson, story editor Sonia Paul, with additional production
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: by Jeff Cleiburn and Connor Hall. The music in this
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: production is by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction,
• 33:19
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• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction, as well as at Lava for Good. On
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: all three platforms, you can also follow me on both
• 33:29
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• 33:33
  Speaker 1: Freeling is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: association with Signal Company Number one