Latest / Wrongful Conviction / #347 Maggie Freleng with Talalelei "TJ" Edwards

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#347 Maggie Freleng with Talalelei "TJ" Edwards · Wrongful Conviction

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: In two thousand and four, Tala Lalay Edwards, a young
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: father and husband living in Anchorage, Alaska, was accused of
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: killing a one year old child who was in his care.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: TJ was adamant he was innocent. He loved children and
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: was known to be a great father to his own sons.
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  Speaker 2: They couldn't bring one person on my behalf. They ever
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: say that they saw me the violent, a violent guy
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  Speaker 2: and would do something to a kid. They even took
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: my two boys from me when this happened.
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  Speaker 1: When he went to trial, he was sure the jury
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  Speaker 1: would see the truth that he wouldn't hurt anyone, let
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: alone a child.
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  Speaker 2: When they said guilty, I was shocked. And what made
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: it real for me was my mom. She started building
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  Speaker 2: out crying and I looked back at her scene or
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: just like getting weak and just everybody's trying to pick
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: her up. I hate re live in that memory that
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  Speaker 2: was mme. I was trying to erase, but it's stuck
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: in there. My name is Talala lay Edwards Jr. Everybody
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: knows me as TJ. I was in cars ready for
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  Speaker 2: fourteen years for something I didn't commit, and I'm here
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: to tell my story.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: From lava for good. This is wrongful conviction with Maggie
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Freeling today.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: Tala L.
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  Speaker 1: Lay Edwards Tala L. Lay Edwards Junior, known as TJ,
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  Speaker 1: was born in the Samoan Islands on April seventeenth, nineteen
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: eighty one, to Salome and Edward Senor.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: We are from the Islands of Samoa. Mom was born
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: in western Samore and my dad was from American some Moore.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: For a while, there has just been me and my brother, Richard,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: who is a year younger than me, before everybody else came,
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  Speaker 2: and it was probably like a five or six year
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: gap between the next set of like it was. My
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: two sisters came after me.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: And Richard, eventually adding up to nine kids in total.
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  Speaker 1: Although the family lived in California briefly when TJ was young,
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  Speaker 1: they soon went back to the Samoan Islands.
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  Speaker 2: My dad took us back to the islands so we
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: can learn the culture, the language we speak, and just
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: learn everything about the Samoan culture. And so we stayed
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: there for about four or five years before moving back
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  Speaker 2: to California, where the rest of my siblings were born.
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  Speaker 4: He is like a best friend to me.
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  Speaker 1: This is TJ's sister Salome, who's named after the mother.
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  Speaker 1: She's six years younger than TJ.
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  Speaker 4: I just remember him always being the one that I
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: looked up to. I wrote a few papers on him
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: in school as like the person that I'm I look
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  Speaker 4: up to the most.
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  Speaker 1: After their parents divorced in nineteen ninety five, TJ, as
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the oldest, found his role in the family evolving, so.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: I kind of had to play their father figure off,
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  Speaker 2: like watching over my other younger siblings, helping her my
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  Speaker 2: mom with just for life because she was just a
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: stay at home mom before you know, my dad separated.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Solme remembers how TJ stepped up for the family at
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: the time. She came to confide in her brother about
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: everything in her life.
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: When I wasn't doing so good in school, I would
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  Speaker 4: go to him and ask him for help on homework
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  Speaker 4: or just anything that I wanted to talk to him about,
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  Speaker 4: even if it was me dating someone. He was very
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: patient and also always created a say space for me
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  Speaker 4: to go and talk to him about anything I was
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  Speaker 4: going through.
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  Speaker 1: TJ was only fourteen at the time and couldn't help
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: out financially. Yet, when expenses became too much for his mom,
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  Speaker 1: she packed up a car with whatever they could fit
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  Speaker 1: and drove herself and her nine kids from California to Anchorage, Alaska,
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  Speaker 1: where she had family. So what is living in Alaska like?
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Living in Alaska's it's a pretty, you know, slow motion state.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: It's pretty mellow. At first, I've never seen snow before.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: So when we came up here, I was like, wow,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: this is nice.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
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  Speaker 2: It was awesome for the first i'd say six months
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  Speaker 2: until I was like, all right, I mean I'm done
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: with the coda.
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  Speaker 1: But things were still hard for the family.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: It was a struggle just to live up in Alaska.
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  Speaker 2: We were poor growing up, you know, and we didn't
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  Speaker 2: have the finance to go get us an apartment, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we had to live with my auntie, and then when
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: we moved up here.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Despite the hardships, TJ has fond memories of his childhood.
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  Speaker 2: Being with my siblings up here, you know, just all
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: of us out there in the snow and kind of
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: like just enjoying each other's company, you know, just us
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  Speaker 2: bonding together and being there for each other. Was like
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  Speaker 2: that was all to me. All I wanted to do
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  Speaker 2: was keep the smile on their faces.
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  Speaker 4: We were pretty spoiled because of him.
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  Speaker 1: Salome remembers TJ taking his siblings everywhere he went, like
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: sports games and their favorite hangout.
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  Speaker 4: We always went to check E Cheese. We went like
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: probably once a week, literally.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: But life in their part of town was rough.
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  Speaker 2: I dropped out of tenth grade because there's a lot
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: of shootings going on, and our family was definitely one
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  Speaker 2: of those houses. I was getting shot at because of
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: you know, certain gangs or whatever they call each other
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: clicks up here that were going through some battles back
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  Speaker 2: and forth.
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  Speaker 1: The gangs and anchorage included Samoan street gangs that sometimes
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: fought with Tongan gangs.
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  Speaker 2: And they thought that we were involved in that, me
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  Speaker 2: and my siblings, you know, they thought we were involved
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  Speaker 2: in any of the gang activities and it wasn't the case.
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  Speaker 2: But we were just caughting across fire things and that's
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  Speaker 2: what kind of made me and my brothers stepped out
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  Speaker 2: of school, like dropped out.
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  Speaker 1: TJ says. At the time, there was a lot of
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  Speaker 1: racism and anchorage against Polynesians.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Polynesians were getting into altercations with the police and stuff
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  Speaker 2: like that at that time, and we were definitely being
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: frowned upon as far as growing up here with the
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: law against you know, the poly community back then, and
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  Speaker 2: it was difficult to like, you know, call them for
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  Speaker 2: any kind of help because as soon as they pull
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: up and find out, oh, there's a poly community or
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Polynesian family, then they kind of like turn their backs
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: on us or not even give us the help that
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: we needed, you know what I mean.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: After TJ dropped out of high school, he went on
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: to receive an education with the Alaska Youth Military Program.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: It was for kids that they are troubled youth or
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: whatever and that didn't graduate, but they given this chance
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: to either you go over there to military or you know,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: you be able to get your your diploma that way.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: At this point, TJ also had a girlfriend, Leona.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: And when I went into this youth academy program in
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: ninety nine, come to find out that we were expecting
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: the kid later on that year in November, which I
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: had my first son, which is John t Moses Edwards.
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  Speaker 2: So we got married August fourteenth, ninety nine, and Johnsy
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  Speaker 2: was born in eleven seventeen, nineteen ninety nine.
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  Speaker 1: TJ was nineteen at the time. He had been considering
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: a career in the military, but becoming a father put
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: a spin on his plans.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: It was just one of those things that I fell
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: in love with seeing my son being born. I didn't
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: want him to grow up without a father, you know
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: what I mean, being away, So just me and my
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: siblings growing up without our father. That's what really made
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: me want to stay home with him all the time
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: and didn't want to go nowhere, So I ended up
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: not going to the military.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Instead. TJ took on two jobs in Anchorage when at Applebee's,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: and one is a security guard. He and Leona got
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: their own place. In the spring of two thousand and one.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: TJ and Leona opened their house up to their close
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: friend Melissa and her one year old son, Derek. Derek
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  Speaker 1: was TJ and Leona's godson, so they didn't hesitate when
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: Melissa needed a place to live.
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  Speaker 2: We didn't want them to be out there in the streets,
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  Speaker 2: and I have nowhere to stay, so we had an
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  Speaker 2: extra room and absolutely I said sure, why not. She
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: ended up moving in with us, and we started noticinging
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: like a pattern. She loves to go out and have fun.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Often leaving Derek in TJ's care, but he was fine
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  Speaker 1: with that.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I don't mind watching my godson because him
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: and my son are pretty much, you know, the same age.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Melissa and Leono worked together, so when TJ wasn't working
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  Speaker 1: and the babysitter was unavailable, TJ took care of both
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  Speaker 1: Derek and john Te. TJ even got certified as a
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: caregiver and learned CPR and other first aid. One day,
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  Speaker 1: while TJ was watching the boys, he noticed a scratch
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  Speaker 1: on the back of Derek's head and he mentioned it
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: to Melissa.
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  Speaker 2: He was like, hey, have you noticed anything wrong with
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  Speaker 2: your son's head? Like, and she was like, oh, She
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  Speaker 2: had no idea where the scratch came from.
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  Speaker 1: Derek had also been sick for a few days. He
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  Speaker 1: wasn't eating and was throwing up a lot. Melissa was
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  Speaker 1: already planning to bring him to the doctor.
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  Speaker 2: So we tell there's, well, you know, you should probably
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: go and have this looked at, you know, when you
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: go to a doctor. So when you brought Derek back
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  Speaker 2: to the house, we asked himself, did you mention anything
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  Speaker 2: about their head injury? And she never mentioned it, So
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  Speaker 2: we were kind of like stunk, like why not, why
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  Speaker 2: didn't you tell the doctor whoever was seeing about you know,
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  Speaker 2: that scratch behind his head.
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  Speaker 1: A few days later, on the morning of May eighth,
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  Speaker 1: two thousand and one, Melissa left Derek with TJ and
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  Speaker 1: John Tay while she went to work. Leona had already
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: left the house for the day too. TJ was alone
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: with the boys.
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  Speaker 2: She brought him in the room. He was sort of
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: crying a little bit, and then he stopped crying, and
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: then you know, we went downstairs. I started cleaning up
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  Speaker 2: the house and everything.
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  Speaker 1: But soon TJ noticed Derek wasn't doing well.
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  Speaker 2: I noticed him not responding or just breathing period.
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  Speaker 1: When TJ picked him up, he saw that Derek's eyes
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: were half open and his fists were clenched. TJ tried
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: blowing air in his face to arouse him, but Derek
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  Speaker 1: was not responding.
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  Speaker 2: And so I immediately I freaked out. I started doing
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: CPR and him and rushing to the hospital instead of
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: calling nine one.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: One, because TJ still didn't trust the police.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: I've had issues with calling any kind of authorities or whatever,
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  Speaker 2: so my immediate reaction was to make sure that Derek
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: makes it there alive.
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: Still.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: This episode is underwritten by AIG, A leading global insurance
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: company AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: making a positive difference in the lives of its employees
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: and in the communities where they work and live. In
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: light of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: justice reform, the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: services and other support to underrepresented communities and individuals at
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: the hospital. Once the doctors took Derek, TJ was left
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: alone to process what had just happened.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: They went back there, and it took forever for them
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  Speaker 2: to come tell me what was going on. As lay sir,
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: can you go in the front. You got some some
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: past that wants to talk to you, stuff like that,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: and I'm like, okay, I'm thinking maybe they'lln't tell me
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: what's going on.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: But instead one of the detectives started questioning him. TJ
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: told the detective everything he knew. He was just cleaning
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: up the house when he noticed Derek struggling to breathe.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: He's saying, no, something happened. You shook the baby or something.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, shake the baby, what are you talking about?
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  Speaker 2: You know, and I was kind of dumbfounded about the
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: whole situation, like, why are you accused of me?
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: At eight fifty five that night, Derek was taken off
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: ventilator support and died. Doctors had discovered that Derek's brain
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: was bleeding and swollen, but showed no signs of blunt
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: force trauma. Brain bleeding and swelling, bleeding in the eyes,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: and little or no evidence of external trauma were known
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: at the time as the triad supposedly telltale signs of
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: SBS or shaken baby syndrome. Experts at the time claimed
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: these injuries had only three known causes, falls from a
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: three story building, high speed motor vehicle crashes, or violent shaking.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Because he had been the last adults alone with Derek
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: before his death, TJ immediately became the only suspect.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: They're you know, the whole time, they were like convinced
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: that I did it that morning, you know, like, oh yeah,
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: look how big years. And that's what the detective was
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: kept drilling to me after when he was interviewing, You're like, TJ, man,
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: look how big yard. Like if I was a kid
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: and you were over here like shaking me, I would
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: be in the same position, Derek saying.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: I'm like, what, are you a big guy?
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I was. I wouldn't say like a big guy,
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: but I mean I was. I was too sixty at
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: that time. I was, you know, pretty athletic and stuff,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: and I didn't really see myself as a as a Polynesian,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: like a big you know, and that's how they look
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: at us, you know, you guys are pretty big people,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: and so I yeah, I was kind of like freaking out, like, wow,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: they are actually jelly for me.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: The investigation into Derek's death took nearly six months. During
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: that time, police failed to investigate any other angles besides SBS.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: In fact, they often disregarded evidence that did not point
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: to SBS. For example, police and doctors ignored the fact
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: that Derek had been sick before his death, and was
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: in fact taking multiple medications a doctor had prescribed to
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: address his symptoms. Also, in the weeks before his death,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: while being babysat by two twelve year old girls, Derek
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: suffered a fall. The police did not ask the babysitters
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: about this, nor did they follow up on any of
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: his other medical issues. When Derek first got to the
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: hospital that day, doctors also noted that he was doing
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: something called posturing, which is what TJ saw with Derek's
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: clench fists and bent arms. Posturing is a sign of
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: seizure activity and can also indicate swelling in the brain.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: But when doctors discovered the brain swelling, they then focused
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: their attention on confirming their suspicions of SBS, ignoring any
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: other possible causes. During the investigation period, TJ and Leona
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: were still in touch with Melissa. She didn't blame TJ
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: for the death of her son, and in fact had
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: told that to the police.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: She said, yes, I went to cops and I told
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: him that you didn't do it. I know you didn't
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: do it. You would never do something like this with
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: my son, because she knew, like I took care of
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: her son better than she's ever done, you know what
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: I mean. I've always been there to bathe him, and
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: you know, whenever she's too tired to care for him
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: or whatnot. And plus you know, Derek and my son,
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: like we're almost the same age and they play with
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: each other. So when she made that statement that she
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: knew that, she knew I didn't do nothing to her
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: son to cause this harm against Derek. They looked at
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: her as a suspect. They didn't turn her. I say,
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: what was either you're a TJ. Now, if you're saying
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: the TJ didn't do it, then you're the one. And
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: so that's when she retracted her statement and made another statement.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: On October tenth, two thousand and one, TJ was working
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: one of his jobs when the police showed up.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: There is like seven patrol cars that came on base.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: I didn't know what was going on. I'd seen my
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: boss walking with a whole bunch of guys behind him.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: Those were the detectives that are coming to apprehend me
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: for the charge of the shaking babysitter case.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: TJ was arrested and charged with manslaughter and second degree murder.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Salome was shocked when she found out. She remembers thinking
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: about her youngest sister, who is thirteen years younger than TJ.
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: My mom left my dad when she was only a
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: week old. So TJ was literally like her father growing up,
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: and I've seen him like change her diverse, you know,
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: literally everything. So it was hard to it was hard
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: to even accept that's what they were charging him with
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: or arresting him. For because that's just not what I
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: could never imagine him doing.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: In addition to the charges, TJ was hit with a
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: double whammy.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: They even took my two boys from me when this happened.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: By this time, Leona had given birth to their second son, Javin.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: They said I couldn't be around my kids until further investigation.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: And you know, when they took my kids from must,
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: I couldn't believe it. I just felt like there was
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: a nightmare. I just I still remember that day like
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: vividly right now, and that's why I was like, man,
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: I just hated that feeling.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: TJ's trial started two and a half years later in
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: March of two thousand and four. The prosecutor was Adrian Bachmann,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: and the case against TJ was thin.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: They can bring one person on my behalf. They ever
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: say that they saw me be violent, a violent guy,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: and we'll do something to this, you know, to a kid.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: The prosecution's entire case rested solely on the idea that
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: only violently shaking a baby could cause the symptoms Derek had,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: and that the injuries could have only happened within a
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: few hours of Derek's death, when only TJ was home
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: with him.
• 19:43
  Speaker 6: The testimony a trial was pretty consistent with if these
• 19:49
  Speaker 6: three symptoms show up, it's child abuse and shaking baby,
• 19:53
  Speaker 6: and it has to have happened within the last couple
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: of hours.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: This is Bill Oberly. He's the executive legal director of
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: the Alaska Innocence Project. He says this was pretty much
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: the only evidence presented at trial.
• 20:07
  Speaker 6: No signs on Derek of any fresh injuries, no signs
• 20:12
  Speaker 6: that he was picked up and held tightly and shaken,
• 20:15
  Speaker 6: no neck injuries. There was nothing presented that would support
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: provide physical evidence of the allegations they were making.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: However, one neighbor did testify to hearing a noise like
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: furniture dropping quote loud enough that it shook the ceiling.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: The prosecution suggested this was TJ slamming Derek on the floor.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: So how did the defense respond?
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: That was much of the defense was that there was
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: no indication of any fresh injuries.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: TJ's attorney was Rex Butler.
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: The defense called one expert witness, Janice Ophoven, who was
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: a forensic pathologist.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Doctor Ophoven testified that there were indications of iron deposits
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: in Derek's brain.
• 21:10
  Speaker 6: When blood starts to decompose after bleeding, like in the brain,
• 21:16
  Speaker 6: iron is formed, and so the presence of iron in
• 21:20
  Speaker 6: Derek's brain meant that the injury he suffered would have
• 21:26
  Speaker 6: been five to seven days old.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: But that wasn't enough reasonable doubt for the jury. After
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: three days of deliberations, on April first, two thousand and four,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: TJ was convicted of second degree murder.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: I didn't think it was real because I got convicted
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: on April Fool's Day. When they say guilty, I looked
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: at my attorney, I say, did they just say guilty?
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: I was shocked. And what made it real for me
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: that I knew that they say guilty was my mom.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: She started helping out crying and I looked back at
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: her and not just seeing her just like getting weak
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: and just everybody's trying to pick her up, and I
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: just started like breaking down. I can't believe it. It didn't
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: finally hit me till they closed the door after escorting
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: me back where they hold people. It was tough. It
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: was I hate reliving that memory, and that was the
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: one memme I was trying to erase, but it's stuck
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: in there.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Twenty two year old TJ was sentenced to twenty years
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: in prison the minimum sentence.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: At the time, first, it was a scary you know,
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: just a scary just a being incarcerated. You see a
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: lot of movies about prison, and you know, for me
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: to actually be there, and yeah, I didn't want to
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: do nothing. I didn't even eat their food for a
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: whole year. I started questioning that, man, where did I
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: go wrong? And you know, with my life, you know,
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of questions going through my head. I
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: didn't know what to do.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Leona brought their kids to see TJ regularly, but as
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: his years in prison went on, TJ's relationship with Leona deteriorated.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: I didn't blame her for it, you know what I mean,
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: It gets lonely out there for people. Of course, she
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: has needs and wants stuff like that that need to
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: be met, and she ended up going her separate way.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: And it was tough to even explain it to my kids,
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: but they knew what was going on. Like in some
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: of our visits, will start kissing and hugging each other,
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: and then as we started getting years in, they noticing
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: us just not even doing that. I'm doing that with
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: my kids, I'm hugging them. So they started noticing that
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: we're not holding hands in a visiting room. It was
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: it was definitely tough.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: TJ and Leona divorced in twenty ten. But in the
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: middle of that, TJ got some good news. His sister,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Salome told him she was engaged.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: The reason why I even seen potential in my husbands
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: because he reminds me so much of my brother. He
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: embodies everything that I could say that I would be
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: looking for in a man.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: But Salome told her fiance that they couldn't get married
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: until TJ was out. She had always dreamed of having
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: her big brother walk her down the aisle, and.
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: Because of that, we were waiting for his appeals they
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: were getting denied.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: After about five years, TJ told her not to wait
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: any longer.
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: He called me and he said, I don't know why
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: you keep putting your.
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: Life on hold. You should go ahead and marry him.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: And I didn't want to because I wanted him to
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: be there, but because he was like, all my appeals
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: are getting denied. I don't think I'm going to get
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: out anytime soon, so stop putting your life on hold
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: for me, And that was like the hardest thing for
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: me to accept, and I just remember crying and telling
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: him I didn't want to, but I did eventually get
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: married and he wasn't there, and it was like it
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: was like I was trying to be happy, but at
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: the same time that was a big part of me
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: that was missing.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Life was passing tjby as he sat in prison.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: All I was trying to do was get out as
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: soon as I could, like going and hating the law library,
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: learning about my case and just seeing what kind of
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: what else I can do to help give me out sooner.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: And so that's what that about the Alaska Innocence Project.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: He immediately reached out to tell them about his case,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: and in twenty eleven he got a letter back from
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Bill Oberly and.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: He's willing to take over my case and give it
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: a shot, you know, give me a second chance at
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: go in the courts. I was like wow. I remember
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: calling my family up and just in tears is of happiness, like,
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: oh wow, this is the second chance that I've always wanted.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: I pray for I look forward to it, you know
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: what I mean. So just to know that I do
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: have a fighting chance to get out.
• 26:32
  Speaker 6: We at the ASK Innocence Project and all the Innocence
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: projects in America take their jobs really seriously, and we
• 26:40
  Speaker 6: have to be convinced that our client is innocent before
• 26:43
  Speaker 6: we are willing to go forward. And that is my
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: feeling about t J. Edwards, that I have no doubt
• 26:50
  Speaker 6: that he is innocent. Twenty eleven was when the shaking
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: baby syndrome belief was starting to be challenged in a
• 27:03
  Speaker 6: fairly strong degree. And as I dug deeper into TJ's case,
• 27:11
  Speaker 6: two things became clear to me. One, I met TJ
• 27:15
  Speaker 6: and realized what kind of individual he was and that
• 27:21
  Speaker 6: on one level convinced me that he could not have
• 27:25
  Speaker 6: done what he was accused of doing or convicted of doing.
• 27:29
  Speaker 6: And secondly, I looked into the facts of the case
• 27:32
  Speaker 6: as it related to shaking baby syndrome and realized that
• 27:37
  Speaker 6: the challenges that were being put forward on shaking baby
• 27:40
  Speaker 6: cases all pretty much applied to TJ's case.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Today, experts agree that there can be other explanations for
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: the triad, like seizures or even a shortfall. Bill says
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: that Derek's strange sickness and the symptoms days before he
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: died clearly showed something else was going on with him,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: and that investigators should have considered this.
• 28:03
  Speaker 6: The basis of the conviction. The medical legal testimony that
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: was the basis of the conviction can no longer support
• 28:12
  Speaker 6: the conviction, and therefore it is a wrongful conviction and
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: needs to be overturned.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: For years, Bill worked on preparing TJ's appeal, but in
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, twenty years after he was first incarcerated, TJ
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: was released on parole. He completed his parole term in
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: the summer of twenty twenty one. Although TJ is no
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: longer a prisoner of the state, he is still labeled
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: a convicted baby killer.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: I'm somewhat free. I'm still with my name not clear.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: That's how I look at it. I'm still incarcerateds you
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: know what I mean, until everything is exhausted and getting
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: clear from the system. That's why I look at being free.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Meanwhile, TJ is trying to adjust to life outside prison.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: I ain't gonna lie this whole incarceration. That definitely my loss,
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: like my joy in life, as far as like all
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: the fun things I used to love. I used to
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: love Christmas, I used to love birthdays. I used to
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: love anniversaries. I used to love like just celebration. Right
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: when I got out, I feel like if I was
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: to be celebrated and happy, like you'll get taken away
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: from me, just like that. If I have too much fun,
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: it's gonna get taken away from And that's what incarceration
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: did for me.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, Bill filed a post conviction challenge to
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: TJ's conviction, stating that the changes in forensic evidence invalidate
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: the conviction. They are still in litigation.
• 29:49
  Speaker 6: The fact that a shortfall cannot cause these injuries is
• 29:53
  Speaker 6: no longer voured testimony. How many doctors do you need
• 29:57
  Speaker 6: to come forward and say that.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: TJ is now working at an oil field in the
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: North Slope Borough in Alaska and is saving to buy
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: a home for his family. He's remarried to a woman
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: named Morgan, is a father to her children, Caden and Victoria,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: and of course continues to have a relationship with both
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: of his sons from his first marriage. His family is
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: planning to move to California to be closer to Salome,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: who is ecstatic her best friend is out of prison.
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: What I love about him too is that even if
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: he's in a shower or doing something, he always picks up,
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: So it's great to be able to have that communication
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: and for me to be able to call him instead
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: of having to wait until he's available. I was just
• 30:46
  Speaker 4: laughing about this the other day because because of him,
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: I FaceTime a lot now. TJ is very much he
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: doesn't like calling just on the phone. He wants to
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: FaceTime all the time.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: TJ says now that he's he wants to continue to
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: mentor kids like he used to do his own siblings,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: and as he did in prison.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: I felt like I was a therapist in there, you know,
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: giving all advices and some of the people I have
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: relationship now when I get out, they're the reason why
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: I'm up here. I'm the slope now, you know, having
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: a good job up here. I feel like my work
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: here in Alaska is not done as far as like,
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: you know, wanting to go out here and speaking to
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: some of the youth up here and just share my story,
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: you know with them. This can happen to you. You know,
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: if you're you're thinking you got a perfect life going
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: and a snap of a finger, you're just on the
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: other side now.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: To help support the Alaska Innocence Project, go to Alaska
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: Innocence Project dot org or check out the links in
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: our bio. Next time on Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Gwen Graham.
• 32:06
  Speaker 7: Let's see, I know the police are coming down to
• 32:09
  Speaker 7: talk to me. They said, your extra friend said that
• 32:12
  Speaker 7: you killed somebody at an earthly home and I laughed
• 32:14
  Speaker 7: at him. I said, I can't believe you came down
• 32:15
  Speaker 7: here for that bullship. But then when they charged me
• 32:18
  Speaker 7: with I think for and more, That's when I started
• 32:22
  Speaker 7: losing it.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. Please
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: support your local innocence organizations and go to the links
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: in our bio to see how you can help. I'd
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: like to thank our executive producers Jason Flamm and Kevin Wurtis,
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: as well as our senior producer, Annie Chelsea, producer Lyla Robinson,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: and story editor Sonya Paul. The show is edited and
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: mixed by Annie Chelsea, with additional production by Jeff Cliburn
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: and Connor Hall. The music in this production is by
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to
• 32:56
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• 33:00
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• 33:04
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• 33:07
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• 33:10
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• 33:13
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• 33:17
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