January 16, 2023 • 34 mins
On October 23, 2005, Planes Adolphe was found in front of his Louisville, KY apartment, robbed and murdered. Police were led to a man named Steve, but Steve told police that Adolphe’s 16 year old girlfriend, Johnetta, was involved. Police eventually arrested Johnetta’s two friends – one of which endured a lengthy interrogation which ended in her implicating Johnetta. Even though the friend quickly recanted, and despite the lack of physical evidence against her, Johnetta was arrested. Johnetta ultimately accepted an Alford plea and was sentenced to 20 years in prison at 16 years old. Maggie speaks to Johnetta Carr, Lorinda Baker, Johnetta’s mother, and Johnetta’s attorney, Suzanne Hopf, Directing Attorney at the Kentucky Innocence Project.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A warning for listeners. This episode contains discussion of suicide.
Please listen with caution and care. In January of two
thousand six, Janetta Carr was over at her best friend's
house when there was a knock at the door. Police
were investigating a violent murder that occurred in the area
(00:21):
a few months earlier. Sixteen year old Janetta was handcuffed,
taken down to the precinct, and questioned for nearly twelve hours.
When I asked for my mom, he told me that
it was not a girl Scouts meeting and that my
mom was not allowed to come down there. It was
a nightmare she couldn't wake up from. Janetta soon found
herself locked up in juvenile detention, charged with the murder
(00:45):
of the man who had been her boyfriend. Janetta had
a solid alibi, but as the investigation closed in around her,
she felt more and more hopeless, until finally she saw
only one way out. I took all these pills one
night that I had been saving that I wasn't taken,
(01:06):
and uh, like two o'clock in the morning, I get
a tap on my arm. This is lady stand in
front of me. She got on all white nurses outfit.
She just kept touching me, saying everything's gonna be okay,
It's okay, sweetie. And I thought she was an angel.
I feel like she honestly saved my life. My name
(01:29):
is Johnetta Car and I'm thirty four years old. I'm
from Willieville, Kentucky. From LoVa for good. This is wrongful
conviction with Maggie Freeling today. Janetta Car. Janetta Carr was
(01:59):
born on me in Louisville, Kentucky. She's the youngest of
six kids and often spent time with her extended family.
You know, the youngest child always were in things, so like,
I'm kind of it was cool, you know, I was.
I'm very, very spoiled by my siblings. I really didn't
get in trouble as much by my great grandmother, my
(02:21):
mom's mom's mom. When stuff would happen, we would all
be at her house and my great grandmother was like,
she's a baby. She didn't do that. You know, you
had the baby privilege. Yeah, the baby privilege. Definitely the
baby privilege until Jeanette's stepdad, Edward came into the picture.
Jeanette's mom, Lorenda, raised all six kids on her own.
(02:43):
She worked hard her whole life to take care of us.
But you know, we had a lot of family support.
So like my family has always been closed, and we
would have dinners, you know, at my grandmother's house, who's
my mom's mom. M very very close to my biological
dad's mom, and my aunties and uncles on that side
(03:03):
of the family, seven of us total, you know. So
I was always with my brothers and sisters, my cousins.
You know. When I became a teenager, I would hang
with my friends in the neighborhood. We'd be at my
mom's house and we wentn't in my mom's house. We'd
be at one of my other two friends house. We'd
be in the porch, you know. Lorenda kept a religious
household and Janetta and her siblings went to church every Sunday.
(03:27):
Janetta also kept busy performing in plays at her church
and taking acting classes at the local theater camp. And
we actually did the Mid Summer's Night Dream was one
of the plays that we did, and I wanted to
be the witch, but I didn't get the witch part.
I ended up being the unicorn. And I actually love
unicorns today, so I got to be unicorn. At a point,
(03:54):
she was just a typical teenager. You know, this is
Janetta's mom, Lorenda Baker, doing what typical teena just do
on the phone with her friends, with jama parties, movies, skating,
hanging out into some on the front fORCH ice cream,
you know that type of thing. Was she ever in
any kind of trouble. No. Johnette is a lovely person.
She's got a lovely personality on a wonderful spirit, and
(04:18):
everyone around her felt that spirit. She loved to spend
time with her friends and pamper them, Like when we
would go, you know, do stuff to the mom, me
and my friends. I would always be the last one
to get ready because I was doing everybody else's her
make this step, and they used to. Janetta was super
smart and a driven young woman. She graduated high school
(04:40):
early at just sixteen years old. Right after graduation, Janetta
started school at Sullivan University, studying to be a paralegal.
She had planned to work for the prosecutor's office. Around
this time, she met Michael. I met him just in
the neighborhood, like my best friend UM. Her and her
mom had lived in these apartments and he Um lived
(05:02):
in the apartments next to where they lived at Colonus.
Michael Adolphin, who went by Michael, was from Haiti. He
worked as a cab driver. He was nice. I mean
he was cool. You know. Michael and Janetta started dating
even though he was twenty years older than she was.
I mean, I had already graduated high school. I really
(05:22):
went into do with my age. And I know, I
don't care about y'll jugimy America because let me tell
y'all something right now, Okay, let's get this straight. Okay, yes,
that is part of my story. I don't care what
y'all think, how y'all feel about it, because every single
teenager has something that they do to rebel against their parents. Okay,
some teenagers still stuff, maybe some still cars, do whatever. Okay,
(05:45):
I just like, oh the dudes. Despite their age difference,
Janetta and Michael had a great relationship. They had fun together,
and Janetta says that he was a kind and generous man.
We was two individuals that connected and liked each other.
On the night of October two thousand five, about two
(06:08):
months into their relationship, Michael had friends over at his
apartment to play dominoes. Janetta was spending the night at
a friend's house for a sleepover party. What do you
remember about that night? I just remember me and my
friends were doing her We was doing you know, makeup.
We was watching videos, you know, slapping, eating snacks. Just
(06:29):
a normal night, yep. But the next morning would be
anything but normal. Around nine am, a neighbor called the
police to report that someone was collapsed in front of
their apartment building. It was Michael. He had been strangled,
apparently with an electrical cord from a fan that was
(06:52):
wrapped around his neck. His feet were bound with duct tape.
Michael's wallet and cell phone were missing, and in his
pocket was a grow to restore receipt time stamped PM
the night before. His cab was later found a few
miles away, ransacked and abandoned, with the stereo missing. Sometime
after Michael left the grocery store that night, he had
(07:14):
been robbed and violently murdered. When did you find out
that Michael was killed? I've seen it on the news.
It was crazy and scary and horrible, um and like
(07:35):
unbelievable about who could have done it because he didn't
have you know, no like enemies that I knew of,
because he was such a sweet parts and so I
was like, why would somebody do this? Like? Who would
do this? Janetta was heartbroken and things were about to
get worse. Two and a half months later, Janetta was
(08:05):
at her friend's house when investigators came looking for her.
They shut up in my best friend's house, who I
was sleeping next to the night that the crime happened.
They showed up in her house and a detective Tony Finch,
knocked on the door. Her mom was like, Janetta, detective
her play you. Detective Tony Finch was the lead investigator
(08:26):
on the case, and when Janetta came to the door,
he took out his handcuffs and arrested her for the
murder of plant as Michael Adolphe. Then he brought her
down to the precinct. I was really confused. I didn't
know why I was there, what was going on. I
just thought that I was gonna get to go home
because I didn't do nothing, So I was scared. I
(08:47):
was everything any emotion you can think of. I was angry,
you know. Was it like registering? Like were you processing? Like?
Oh they think I did this? No, even though Kentucky
lost his police must notify a my nurse parents before
questioning them. Janetta was interrogated alone by Sergeant James Hellinger
(09:10):
and lead Detective Tony Finch. She says Detective Finch was
extremely harsh with her. When I asked for my mom,
he told me that it was not a girl Scouts
meeting and that my mom was not allowed to come
down there. Janetta says he threatened her, calling her a murderer,
a bitch, and a whore. He asked me if I
was in a gang. He told me he hit people
(09:32):
that placed me at the scene and that he knew
that I was guilty. He told me that I was
a dangerous threat to society, that he didn't want me
on his f and streets, and that I was going
to prison for f and y. The interrogation went on
for over eleven hours. Janetta maintained her innocence the entire time.
She was sure she would soon be released to go home,
(09:54):
but that didn't happen. This episode is underwritten by A
i G, a leading global insurance company. A i G
is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making a
positive difference in the lives of its employees and in
(10:15):
the communities where they work and live. In light of
the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance and in
recognition of a i g s commitment to criminal and
social justice reform, the ai G pro Bono Program provides
free legal services and other support to underrepresented communities and individuals.
(10:41):
I went straight from the interrogation room. They took me
in his hallway. They started taking pictures on me. Had
and he held up his number and then they yeah.
They sent me start to j C. The same night,
I get both them to j C West. J C
y C is the Jefferson County Youth Detention Center. Janetta's mother, Laurende,
had no idea what had happened. How did you find out?
(11:05):
My neighbor, Miss pet let me use her phone for
any type of situation that I might have, And she
came and knocked on my door and told me that
j C y C wanted me on the phone. I
had my pajama zone. It was about seven forty five
eight o'clock in the morning. I read out the back doors.
A matter of fact, I left the back door open.
When I went to her house and got on the phone.
(11:27):
The lady from j C YC told me that they
were holding Johnetta on some conspiracy to murder and manslaughter
and that she had to be in court that morning
at eight thirty. So I just couldn't believe it, you know,
because the Johnetta that I know, it's not capable of
that type of thing, and I knew that she didn't
do it. I knew she was innocent. Janetta had a
(11:50):
rock solid alibi. Over half a dozen people had been
at that sleepover, but detectives had their sights set on
her for the first time. I couldn't tell her, this
is it's gonna be okay, it's gonna be all right.
You know, You're gonna be fine. We're gonna get through this,
because I didn't know if we were going to get
through this. I didn't know what was gonna happen, you know.
(12:12):
And I could see her she was trying to be strong,
because I guess she was trying to be strong for me,
and I was trying to be strong for her. And
I didn't want her to see me cry because I
know if she had saw me cry, she would have
been more upset than she already was. And I didn't
want to inflict any more pain on her. What Janetta
(12:42):
didn't know was that while she was left confused and
alone in juvenile jail. Detectives were building an entire case
against her. A few weeks before Janetta was arrested, detectives
had interrogated a friend who was also at the sleepover.
To protect the identities of these individuals, we'll call this
friend Carry, Detective Finch had arrested nineteen year old Carry
(13:06):
on a bench warrant for shoplifting. While in custody, he
interrogated her about Michael Adolphin's murder. Carry said there was
no way Janetta was involved. They were together all night.
Carry said that she and a few other friends, including
one we'll call Kyle, drove around that night. They stopped
at White Castle for some food before going back to
(13:26):
Kyle's house for a sleepover with a bigger group of people.
Janetta never left the house by herself that night, but
Finch ran with that and started implicating both Carrie and
Kyle and the murder as well. Finch told Carry he'd
help her with her shoplifting charges if she would repeat
the story he wanted to hear. After about ten hours
(13:48):
of interrogation, Carrie broke down and repeated Finch's false narrative
that she Kyle and Janetta killed Michael quickly, though Carrie
recanted and again maintained that she knew nothing about the murder,
but it didn't matter. Finch arrested her anyway. Kyle was
also interrogated by detectives about the murder, and he too
(14:09):
was eventually arrested. Carrie and Kyle were nineteen years old,
technically adults, but Janetta was only sixteen. She was initially
charged as a juvenile, but she was later indicted as
an adult. Among Janetta's charges first degree murder. The weight
(14:32):
of everything that was happening was too much for Janetta
to process, and while she was in the juvenile detention center,
I'll try to kill myself. After her suicide attempt, Janetta
was transferred to Our Lady of Peace Hospital. She was
diagnosed with clinical depression and put on medication, so they
(14:52):
started give me these peals we I was supposed to take,
and I would have at the peels and machi because
I still wanted to to kill myself, because I was
that hopeless for for being in car sorady for a
crime I didn't commit, having nothing to do with. So
I took all these pills one night that I had
been saving that I wasn't taken. And uh, like two
(15:15):
o'clock in the more room, I get a tap on
my arm. It's this lady stand in front of me.
She got on all white nurses outfit. She had like
caramel skin short her. She just kept touching me, seeing
everything's gonna be okay. It's okay, sweetie. The next day
I started asking the staff members you know who she was, like,
(15:36):
because I wanted to thank her, you know, to feel
like she honestly saved my life. And they was like,
we don't know her. Nobody works here. The person you're
describing doesn't work her, and I thought she was an angel.
Soon after that experience, Janetta reached out to her mom
and told her about taking the pills, and I went
(16:00):
to the hospital and set with her and just he
held her hand, you know, and told her, you know,
I'm so sorry that this has happened to you. I'm
so sorry that you're going through this, you know. I mean,
you're sitting in his jailous all day after day, minute
at the minute, you know, and you see people going
home and you're still sitting here for something that you
didn't do. I probably would have took my life too,
(16:22):
you know. But I know that God has a purpose
for everybody's life, and I just felt like God had
a lot for her to do down here, and he
wasn't ready for her to go yet. Meanwhile, instead of
probing other angles, like analyzing the evidence at the murder
(16:45):
scene or pursuing other potential suspects, Detective Finch was hell
bent on closing the case. He would do whatever he
needed to do to get a conviction. This is Suzanne Huff,
directing attorney of the Kentucky in a since project. They
represented Janetta in her post conviction efforts. Final sort of
(17:05):
nail on the coffin there is that there was a
jail house informant that was used against Janetta. After Janetta
turned eighteen, she was transferred from juvenile detention to an
adult jail, and an informant who lived in the cell
next door, Lorie Deckard, said that Janetta confessed to her.
According to Laurie, Janetta told her she was mad at Michael,
(17:28):
and so she, Carrie and Kyle went to his apartment
and robbed and murdered him. Detectives got statements from other
jailhouse informants implicating Kyle and Carrie as well, but they
still had a problem the other people at the sleepover.
Janetta had a solid alibi, so Detective Jim Lawson interrogated
(17:48):
Janetta's best friend, whom we'll call Brittany. Brittany said she
was with Janetta all night. They slept on the couch
together and fell asleep under the same blanket. She's told
him that Johnetta did not do this, she wasnaxing me
sleep at night, but Lawson dismissed her account. Instead, he
fabricated a report saying Brittany told him she was a
(18:10):
heavy sleeper and couldn't say whether or not Janetta had
left the house. Even with all their alleged evidence against Janetta, Carrie,
and Kyle, detectives were still hell bent on getting one
of the three to flip on the others. They were relentless.
They just kept going after all three co defendants and
repeatedly uh questioning them. What the police were doing was
(18:34):
they were telling all three co defendants that if all
of you don't um admit to this crime and enter
into guilty please, and we're gonna try one of the
adults under the death penalty. Remember, Kyle and Carrie were
both nineteen that that was sort of like the ultimate,
the end point where um, these three individuals were thinking
(18:57):
about their friends and somebody facing the death penalty. With
this life or death situation looming over the trio, the
state offered them a plea bargain called an Alfred plea,
and Alfred plea is a deal with the state or
defendants plead guilty for a lesser sentence, but are allowed
to maintain their innocence. Prosecutors told them they would only
(19:17):
accept the plea deal if all three pled guilty, so
they did. In April fourteenth, two thou eight. Janetta took
the deal and pled guilty to evidence tampering, to conspiracy charges,
and second degree manslaughter. She was sentenced to twenty years
in prison. So how did it feel to take a
(19:38):
plea saying, you know, I'm innocent, but I recognize all
of this evidence because you know it's not real evidence.
What did that feel like? I literally felt like I
had no other choice because at that point I was
just hopeless. Just know that I was not the Johnetta
(20:00):
the end that I am now, you know, I wouldn't
educated about the law and thinking they could arrest people
for crimes they didn't commit. While in prison, Janetta tried
to stay as productive as possible. That's what computer classes.
(20:22):
And I went to church a lot, you know, so
I'm in acquire a lot, wrote letters a lot, ate
a lot too many noodles. I do not eat noodles.
No more, y'all pay No, We're not gonna be a
good And what was that like to be around adults
(20:44):
as a as a kid? Um? Well, at first, it
was kind of scary because I was thinking, oh my,
getting these people of criminals, like what am I gonna do?
But um, actually I met a bunch of beautiful women
from all different walks of life, and um, they was
really lights to me. You know. We gave each other
hope because there was nothing else we could do. I
(21:07):
think I went through every emotion that a prayer could
go through. I got frustrated, I got angry, I got upset,
I cried because you know, they were when the resources available,
and it was just a horrible, horrible, horrible thing to
go to go through for anybody. I think one of
the hardest ports for me was having to explain to
Johnette's nieces and nephews that we didn't know when she
(21:29):
was going to come home, because Johnette is very close
to them and they love her, you know. And then
they're crying and I'm crying, and we're all trying to
make some sense out of this, and we still can't
make any sense out of it as it stands today.
(21:58):
About a year or so after her conviction, and Janetta
was called into the prison office. Surprised me because I
didn't know why I was getting called in there, because
I didn't get any trouble while I was, you know,
incres rated, So I didn't know why I was getting
called in there. When she walked in, Lorie Decker, the
jail house snitch, was there, and she admitted that during
(22:19):
the investigation the police told her to lie about Janetta
and say she confessed. Because I'm like, okay, you're saying
this now, why didn't you say that, you know, a
long time ago, Like I'm basically, you're a part of this.
You're a part of the fabricated evidence and part of
the reason why I'm here. It is her fault because
(22:40):
she didn't have to lie. But when you really think
about the jail house snitches, the system actually puts them
in situation. Do you know what I'm saying, So really,
the detectives on my case is responsible for that. In
two thousand nine, after serving four years of a twenty
(23:00):
year sentence, Janetta was eligible for parole. She was granted
time served for the time she spent in the juvenile
detention facility and was released from prison. Uh. It was
a joy and a blessing to see her after not
being able to see her for so many years, and
being able to see her was you know. I was
in at MO where I didn't want to let it go.
(23:21):
She used to tell me, I'll tell my mom would
go Miss Beatus. I'd be like, no, I want you
to stay in the house. I don't want you to
go nowhere. You know, I think I kind of went
in to a mother overload, but I think I kind
of had a right to at everything that she had
been through. I just wanted to keep her as close
to me as I possibly could. Although she was home,
(23:42):
Janetta's journey wasn't over. She was physically free, but people
on parole are still under scrutinous state control. Janetta had
to do random check ins and drug tests, and even
had to pay a monthly twenty five dollar fee. She
also had to maintain a job, which was an easy
because of her record of incarceration. So I would go
(24:03):
on jobs, you know, and they would be like, you know,
you seem like a great person everything but your background,
you know. And I went in like ten jobs a
day sometimes, and I was living with my mom at
the time, and I would just go home and I
would just bow to her. Then I started doing research
and found out that it's estimated Americ over ten thousand
(24:23):
people get falsely convention with crimes they didn't commit each year.
And my heart was just like, um, they're doing this
to other people too. I know how this feels. And
I had not heard nobody talking about it. And you know,
I asked her one day. I said, you know, I'm
so angry. And I asked, I said, I come, you're
(24:44):
not mad. She said, my mom, don't. I'm not gonna
be angry. I'm not gonna be mad. She said, what
I'm gonna do, I'm gonna fight. I'm gonna fight, she said,
because I didn't do this. And on the innocent I
started to go to the plasma Sin and donate plasma
and it was a film we dollar right next to
the plasma Center, and I would take the money from
Plasma Gotta family dollar get post to border Margaret and
(25:06):
I would make signs trying to write as awardess for
wrongful Convictions, and I would just started walking around you know,
my city hope. And at the same time, Janetta was
also trying to get off parole and still working to
prove her innocence. I would look up numbers, you know,
for like innocent projects, people who helped innocent I would
just google it, and I would you know, call and
(25:27):
lead messages on different people's voicemails and stuff, still trying
to find help. Finally, almost a decade after her release,
the Kentucky Innocence Project agreed to help Janetta fight for
her exoneration. So when we inherited the case in two
thousand and eighteen, we started doing the record review and
(25:48):
attempting to find individuals to interview. And then shortly after
getting the case, we received news that we were getting
a DNA testing grant um from the Department of Justice.
Janetta would finally get a chance to test the evidence,
specifically the duct tape and the electrical cord that were
found on Michael Adolphin's body to see if there was
(26:09):
a DNA match with the actual perpetrator. If we could
get a hit on something in the national database and CODIS,
it would then build a stronger case for Janetta. Obviously,
we would have been able to locate who had actually
um killed the victim. And during its investigation, the Kentucky
(26:29):
Innocence Project discovered bombshell information that had never been disclosed
to Janetta or her attorneys all those years ago. First off,
it turns out that DNA testing had been conducted on
the case back in two thousand and six. While it
didn't point to someone else as the perpetrator, it did
indicate that neither Janetta nor her co defendants could have
(26:52):
committed the murder. Not only that, the Kentucky Innocence Project
discovered that there were viable alternative suspects who were ever
properly investigated. Who is Steve Lewis. He should have been
a person of interest. I think the police should have
pursued a very deep investigation into Mr. Lewis. Steve Lewis
(27:19):
was an acquaintance of Michael's, and in the early days
of the investigation, officers got a tip from a friend
of Michael's who said he had seen Steve Lewis and
Michael in a heated argument over a girl, and that
during the fight, Steve threatened to kill Michael. When he
was questioned by police, Steve denied involvement, but he was
(27:39):
unable to provide an alibi for his whereabounts around the
time of the murder. Yet, for whatever reason, the investigation
into Steve ended. Finally, phone records showed that someone was
using Michael's phone after his death. There were calls made
to Los Angeles and to Florida, and again the police
(28:01):
never followed up. Instead, they went after sixteen year old
Janetta and her friends. I think the state offered her
and Alfred Plee because they knew she would go to
trial and they had questions about the strength of their case.
I think the case had been pending long enough that
the prosecutor wanted to get some closure on it. They
(28:25):
knew that they had some problems with their case, that
if they went to trial they might not get a conviction.
Do you think if you went to trial you might
have won um. Probably. So I can't think about it.
And the reason why I can't think about it because
(28:47):
it brings back so much pain. I'm trying to be
a light in the world. So I can't think about
these things. I just had to move with purpose and
take the pain that I've been through and make it
my per risk to make um legislation for the next
generations so that people don't get wrongly convicted and so
(29:07):
that my children don't have to go through what I
went through. Johanetta doesn't want to be angry, you know
what I'm saying. Johnetta doesn't want to be better. Johnetta
doesn't want to be bad. And Johnette is not going
to be the Commonwealth of Kentucky's victim because they already
took too many years of my life. So I don't
think about these things. I can't. The Kentucky Innocence Project
(29:32):
also applied for a pardon for Janetta, and on December nine, nineteen,
Kentucky Governor Matthew Bevan pardoned her based on her actual innocence.
The Governor called me and he actually apologized. He said,
I want to apologize to you what the Commonwealth did
to you, and we actually um cry. However, the pardon
(29:55):
left Janetta in a strange situation. The Kentucky State Statute
for DNA Testing says that a person must be under
state supervision to qualify for testing. So it's very unfortunate
because we think that there is biological material on the
evidence that was collected, the evidence still exists, we would
like to test it. If that DNA isn't tested, Michael's
(30:19):
true killer may never be known. If indeed there is
a person out there that UM killed the victim, and
that they're still out there, they may still be doing
the same thing to other people. The public is certainly
a greater risk to not have that DNA testing get done.
Genetta is also not eligible for any kind of wrongful
(30:42):
conviction compensation because Kentucky is one of the twelve states
that do not have compensation laws for exonorees. But somebody
needs has to start being held accountable when UM wrongful
convictions happened. I'm so discussed it and appalled at the
justice system in Kentucky and what they're using and spending
(31:05):
our tax dollars on. And when you think about it,
you know, it's like a slap in the face that
money and those resources could be used for so many
other things, like we have a homelessness problem in worl
of Like there's literally veterans at her, who's happened to
choose right beyond in between groceries and medicine, And they
went to war and thought for this country. And we're
spending tax money to pay for civil litigation calls and
(31:28):
defenses to defend public offices and detectives who normally breach
a duty to wrongfully convict people by fossifying evidence, coherts
and testimony and had dna um. That's a big issue.
Janetta is now represented by the Exoneration Project and the
national civil rights firm Lovi and lov She's also a
(31:51):
mother to two children, one year old Royalty and six
year old Jakari, and she's again pursuing one of her
early dreams. She's back in paralegal school, but this time
she doesn't want to work in the prosecutor's office. She
wants to help prevent and write wrongful convictions. I'm on
a journey. I'm healing me being wrongfully convicted of something
(32:12):
I will live with and it's going to impact my
life for the rest of my life. However, I choose
not to make that. Minds are life. I'm just really
really focused on my purpose to write me on you know,
and what I need to do in life as far
as bringing change, you know, and raising my kids, you know,
just trying to heal and become a better me every
day as all evolved. If you'd like to help others
(32:39):
who have been wrongfully convicted, Janetta recommends supporting the organizations
I AM Resilience and the Chandler Project in Kentucky House
Spill six. Janetta also has a go fund me to
help raise travel expenses for exonorees attending the Innocence Conference.
There will be links to all of this in our bio.
(33:06):
Next time, Unwrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling, Hope White, do
you think there was police corruption in your case? Absolutely?
There was lost of police corruption in that case. Thanks
for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. Please support
(33:29):
your local innocence organizations and go to the links in
our bio to see how you can help. I'd like
to thank our executive producers Jason Flom and Kevin Wurtis,
as well as our senior producer Annie Chelsea, producer Lila Robinson,
and story editor Sonya Paul. The show is edited and
mixed by Annie Chelsea, with additional production by Jeff Cleburne
and Connor Hall. The music in this production is by
(33:51):
three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to
follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at
Wrongful Conviction pod Cast, and on Twitter at wrong Conviction,
as well as at Lava for Good. On all three platforms,
you can also follow me on both Instagram and Twitter
at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling is a
(34:12):
production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal
Company Number one
A warning for listeners. This episode contains discussion of suicide.
Please listen with caution and care. In January of two
thousand six, Janetta Carr was over at her best friend's
house when there was a knock at the door. Police
were investigating a violent murder that occurred in the area
(00:21):
a few months earlier. Sixteen year old Janetta was handcuffed,
taken down to the precinct, and questioned for nearly twelve hours.
When I asked for my mom, he told me that
it was not a girl Scouts meeting and that my
mom was not allowed to come down there. It was
a nightmare she couldn't wake up from. Janetta soon found
herself locked up in juvenile detention, charged with the murder
(00:45):
of the man who had been her boyfriend. Janetta had
a solid alibi, but as the investigation closed in around her,
she felt more and more hopeless, until finally she saw
only one way out. I took all these pills one
night that I had been saving that I wasn't taken,
(01:06):
and uh, like two o'clock in the morning, I get
a tap on my arm. This is lady stand in
front of me. She got on all white nurses outfit.
She just kept touching me, saying everything's gonna be okay,
It's okay, sweetie. And I thought she was an angel.
I feel like she honestly saved my life. My name
(01:29):
is Johnetta Car and I'm thirty four years old. I'm
from Willieville, Kentucky. From LoVa for good. This is wrongful
conviction with Maggie Freeling today. Janetta Car. Janetta Carr was
(01:59):
born on me in Louisville, Kentucky. She's the youngest of
six kids and often spent time with her extended family.
You know, the youngest child always were in things, so like,
I'm kind of it was cool, you know, I was.
I'm very, very spoiled by my siblings. I really didn't
get in trouble as much by my great grandmother, my
(02:21):
mom's mom's mom. When stuff would happen, we would all
be at her house and my great grandmother was like,
she's a baby. She didn't do that. You know, you
had the baby privilege. Yeah, the baby privilege. Definitely the
baby privilege until Jeanette's stepdad, Edward came into the picture.
Jeanette's mom, Lorenda, raised all six kids on her own.
(02:43):
She worked hard her whole life to take care of us.
But you know, we had a lot of family support.
So like my family has always been closed, and we
would have dinners, you know, at my grandmother's house, who's
my mom's mom. M very very close to my biological
dad's mom, and my aunties and uncles on that side
(03:03):
of the family, seven of us total, you know. So
I was always with my brothers and sisters, my cousins.
You know. When I became a teenager, I would hang
with my friends in the neighborhood. We'd be at my
mom's house and we wentn't in my mom's house. We'd
be at one of my other two friends house. We'd
be in the porch, you know. Lorenda kept a religious
household and Janetta and her siblings went to church every Sunday.
(03:27):
Janetta also kept busy performing in plays at her church
and taking acting classes at the local theater camp. And
we actually did the Mid Summer's Night Dream was one
of the plays that we did, and I wanted to
be the witch, but I didn't get the witch part.
I ended up being the unicorn. And I actually love
unicorns today, so I got to be unicorn. At a point,
(03:54):
she was just a typical teenager. You know, this is
Janetta's mom, Lorenda Baker, doing what typical teena just do
on the phone with her friends, with jama parties, movies, skating,
hanging out into some on the front fORCH ice cream,
you know that type of thing. Was she ever in
any kind of trouble. No. Johnette is a lovely person.
She's got a lovely personality on a wonderful spirit, and
(04:18):
everyone around her felt that spirit. She loved to spend
time with her friends and pamper them, Like when we
would go, you know, do stuff to the mom, me
and my friends. I would always be the last one
to get ready because I was doing everybody else's her
make this step, and they used to. Janetta was super
smart and a driven young woman. She graduated high school
(04:40):
early at just sixteen years old. Right after graduation, Janetta
started school at Sullivan University, studying to be a paralegal.
She had planned to work for the prosecutor's office. Around
this time, she met Michael. I met him just in
the neighborhood, like my best friend UM. Her and her
mom had lived in these apartments and he Um lived
(05:02):
in the apartments next to where they lived at Colonus.
Michael Adolphin, who went by Michael, was from Haiti. He
worked as a cab driver. He was nice. I mean
he was cool. You know. Michael and Janetta started dating
even though he was twenty years older than she was.
I mean, I had already graduated high school. I really
(05:22):
went into do with my age. And I know, I
don't care about y'll jugimy America because let me tell
y'all something right now, Okay, let's get this straight. Okay, yes,
that is part of my story. I don't care what
y'all think, how y'all feel about it, because every single
teenager has something that they do to rebel against their parents. Okay,
some teenagers still stuff, maybe some still cars, do whatever. Okay,
(05:45):
I just like, oh the dudes. Despite their age difference,
Janetta and Michael had a great relationship. They had fun together,
and Janetta says that he was a kind and generous man.
We was two individuals that connected and liked each other.
On the night of October two thousand five, about two
(06:08):
months into their relationship, Michael had friends over at his
apartment to play dominoes. Janetta was spending the night at
a friend's house for a sleepover party. What do you
remember about that night? I just remember me and my
friends were doing her We was doing you know, makeup.
We was watching videos, you know, slapping, eating snacks. Just
(06:29):
a normal night, yep. But the next morning would be
anything but normal. Around nine am, a neighbor called the
police to report that someone was collapsed in front of
their apartment building. It was Michael. He had been strangled,
apparently with an electrical cord from a fan that was
(06:52):
wrapped around his neck. His feet were bound with duct tape.
Michael's wallet and cell phone were missing, and in his
pocket was a grow to restore receipt time stamped PM
the night before. His cab was later found a few
miles away, ransacked and abandoned, with the stereo missing. Sometime
after Michael left the grocery store that night, he had
(07:14):
been robbed and violently murdered. When did you find out
that Michael was killed? I've seen it on the news.
It was crazy and scary and horrible, um and like
(07:35):
unbelievable about who could have done it because he didn't
have you know, no like enemies that I knew of,
because he was such a sweet parts and so I
was like, why would somebody do this? Like? Who would
do this? Janetta was heartbroken and things were about to
get worse. Two and a half months later, Janetta was
(08:05):
at her friend's house when investigators came looking for her.
They shut up in my best friend's house, who I
was sleeping next to the night that the crime happened.
They showed up in her house and a detective Tony Finch,
knocked on the door. Her mom was like, Janetta, detective
her play you. Detective Tony Finch was the lead investigator
(08:26):
on the case, and when Janetta came to the door,
he took out his handcuffs and arrested her for the
murder of plant as Michael Adolphe. Then he brought her
down to the precinct. I was really confused. I didn't
know why I was there, what was going on. I
just thought that I was gonna get to go home
because I didn't do nothing, So I was scared. I
(08:47):
was everything any emotion you can think of. I was angry,
you know. Was it like registering? Like were you processing? Like?
Oh they think I did this? No, even though Kentucky
lost his police must notify a my nurse parents before
questioning them. Janetta was interrogated alone by Sergeant James Hellinger
(09:10):
and lead Detective Tony Finch. She says Detective Finch was
extremely harsh with her. When I asked for my mom,
he told me that it was not a girl Scouts
meeting and that my mom was not allowed to come
down there. Janetta says he threatened her, calling her a murderer,
a bitch, and a whore. He asked me if I
was in a gang. He told me he hit people
(09:32):
that placed me at the scene and that he knew
that I was guilty. He told me that I was
a dangerous threat to society, that he didn't want me
on his f and streets, and that I was going
to prison for f and y. The interrogation went on
for over eleven hours. Janetta maintained her innocence the entire time.
She was sure she would soon be released to go home,
(09:54):
but that didn't happen. This episode is underwritten by A
i G, a leading global insurance company. A i G
is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making a
positive difference in the lives of its employees and in
(10:15):
the communities where they work and live. In light of
the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance and in
recognition of a i g s commitment to criminal and
social justice reform, the ai G pro Bono Program provides
free legal services and other support to underrepresented communities and individuals.
(10:41):
I went straight from the interrogation room. They took me
in his hallway. They started taking pictures on me. Had
and he held up his number and then they yeah.
They sent me start to j C. The same night,
I get both them to j C West. J C
y C is the Jefferson County Youth Detention Center. Janetta's mother, Laurende,
had no idea what had happened. How did you find out?
(11:05):
My neighbor, Miss pet let me use her phone for
any type of situation that I might have, And she
came and knocked on my door and told me that
j C y C wanted me on the phone. I
had my pajama zone. It was about seven forty five
eight o'clock in the morning. I read out the back doors.
A matter of fact, I left the back door open.
When I went to her house and got on the phone.
(11:27):
The lady from j C YC told me that they
were holding Johnetta on some conspiracy to murder and manslaughter
and that she had to be in court that morning
at eight thirty. So I just couldn't believe it, you know,
because the Johnetta that I know, it's not capable of
that type of thing, and I knew that she didn't
do it. I knew she was innocent. Janetta had a
(11:50):
rock solid alibi. Over half a dozen people had been
at that sleepover, but detectives had their sights set on
her for the first time. I couldn't tell her, this
is it's gonna be okay, it's gonna be all right.
You know, You're gonna be fine. We're gonna get through this,
because I didn't know if we were going to get
through this. I didn't know what was gonna happen, you know.
(12:12):
And I could see her she was trying to be strong,
because I guess she was trying to be strong for me,
and I was trying to be strong for her. And
I didn't want her to see me cry because I
know if she had saw me cry, she would have
been more upset than she already was. And I didn't
want to inflict any more pain on her. What Janetta
(12:42):
didn't know was that while she was left confused and
alone in juvenile jail. Detectives were building an entire case
against her. A few weeks before Janetta was arrested, detectives
had interrogated a friend who was also at the sleepover.
To protect the identities of these individuals, we'll call this
friend Carry, Detective Finch had arrested nineteen year old Carry
(13:06):
on a bench warrant for shoplifting. While in custody, he
interrogated her about Michael Adolphin's murder. Carry said there was
no way Janetta was involved. They were together all night.
Carry said that she and a few other friends, including
one we'll call Kyle, drove around that night. They stopped
at White Castle for some food before going back to
(13:26):
Kyle's house for a sleepover with a bigger group of people.
Janetta never left the house by herself that night, but
Finch ran with that and started implicating both Carrie and
Kyle and the murder as well. Finch told Carry he'd
help her with her shoplifting charges if she would repeat
the story he wanted to hear. After about ten hours
(13:48):
of interrogation, Carrie broke down and repeated Finch's false narrative
that she Kyle and Janetta killed Michael quickly, though Carrie
recanted and again maintained that she knew nothing about the murder,
but it didn't matter. Finch arrested her anyway. Kyle was
also interrogated by detectives about the murder, and he too
(14:09):
was eventually arrested. Carrie and Kyle were nineteen years old,
technically adults, but Janetta was only sixteen. She was initially
charged as a juvenile, but she was later indicted as
an adult. Among Janetta's charges first degree murder. The weight
(14:32):
of everything that was happening was too much for Janetta
to process, and while she was in the juvenile detention center,
I'll try to kill myself. After her suicide attempt, Janetta
was transferred to Our Lady of Peace Hospital. She was
diagnosed with clinical depression and put on medication, so they
(14:52):
started give me these peals we I was supposed to take,
and I would have at the peels and machi because
I still wanted to to kill myself, because I was
that hopeless for for being in car sorady for a
crime I didn't commit, having nothing to do with. So
I took all these pills one night that I had
been saving that I wasn't taken. And uh, like two
(15:15):
o'clock in the more room, I get a tap on
my arm. It's this lady stand in front of me.
She got on all white nurses outfit. She had like
caramel skin short her. She just kept touching me, seeing
everything's gonna be okay. It's okay, sweetie. The next day
I started asking the staff members you know who she was, like,
(15:36):
because I wanted to thank her, you know, to feel
like she honestly saved my life. And they was like,
we don't know her. Nobody works here. The person you're
describing doesn't work her, and I thought she was an angel.
Soon after that experience, Janetta reached out to her mom
and told her about taking the pills, and I went
(16:00):
to the hospital and set with her and just he
held her hand, you know, and told her, you know,
I'm so sorry that this has happened to you. I'm
so sorry that you're going through this, you know. I mean,
you're sitting in his jailous all day after day, minute
at the minute, you know, and you see people going
home and you're still sitting here for something that you
didn't do. I probably would have took my life too,
(16:22):
you know. But I know that God has a purpose
for everybody's life, and I just felt like God had
a lot for her to do down here, and he
wasn't ready for her to go yet. Meanwhile, instead of
probing other angles, like analyzing the evidence at the murder
(16:45):
scene or pursuing other potential suspects, Detective Finch was hell
bent on closing the case. He would do whatever he
needed to do to get a conviction. This is Suzanne Huff,
directing attorney of the Kentucky in a since project. They
represented Janetta in her post conviction efforts. Final sort of
(17:05):
nail on the coffin there is that there was a
jail house informant that was used against Janetta. After Janetta
turned eighteen, she was transferred from juvenile detention to an
adult jail, and an informant who lived in the cell
next door, Lorie Deckard, said that Janetta confessed to her.
According to Laurie, Janetta told her she was mad at Michael,
(17:28):
and so she, Carrie and Kyle went to his apartment
and robbed and murdered him. Detectives got statements from other
jailhouse informants implicating Kyle and Carrie as well, but they
still had a problem the other people at the sleepover.
Janetta had a solid alibi, so Detective Jim Lawson interrogated
(17:48):
Janetta's best friend, whom we'll call Brittany. Brittany said she
was with Janetta all night. They slept on the couch
together and fell asleep under the same blanket. She's told
him that Johnetta did not do this, she wasnaxing me
sleep at night, but Lawson dismissed her account. Instead, he
fabricated a report saying Brittany told him she was a
(18:10):
heavy sleeper and couldn't say whether or not Janetta had
left the house. Even with all their alleged evidence against Janetta, Carrie,
and Kyle, detectives were still hell bent on getting one
of the three to flip on the others. They were relentless.
They just kept going after all three co defendants and
repeatedly uh questioning them. What the police were doing was
(18:34):
they were telling all three co defendants that if all
of you don't um admit to this crime and enter
into guilty please, and we're gonna try one of the
adults under the death penalty. Remember, Kyle and Carrie were
both nineteen that that was sort of like the ultimate,
the end point where um, these three individuals were thinking
(18:57):
about their friends and somebody facing the death penalty. With
this life or death situation looming over the trio, the
state offered them a plea bargain called an Alfred plea,
and Alfred plea is a deal with the state or
defendants plead guilty for a lesser sentence, but are allowed
to maintain their innocence. Prosecutors told them they would only
(19:17):
accept the plea deal if all three pled guilty, so
they did. In April fourteenth, two thou eight. Janetta took
the deal and pled guilty to evidence tampering, to conspiracy charges,
and second degree manslaughter. She was sentenced to twenty years
in prison. So how did it feel to take a
(19:38):
plea saying, you know, I'm innocent, but I recognize all
of this evidence because you know it's not real evidence.
What did that feel like? I literally felt like I
had no other choice because at that point I was
just hopeless. Just know that I was not the Johnetta
(20:00):
the end that I am now, you know, I wouldn't
educated about the law and thinking they could arrest people
for crimes they didn't commit. While in prison, Janetta tried
to stay as productive as possible. That's what computer classes.
(20:22):
And I went to church a lot, you know, so
I'm in acquire a lot, wrote letters a lot, ate
a lot too many noodles. I do not eat noodles.
No more, y'all pay No, We're not gonna be a
good And what was that like to be around adults
(20:44):
as a as a kid? Um? Well, at first, it
was kind of scary because I was thinking, oh my,
getting these people of criminals, like what am I gonna do?
But um, actually I met a bunch of beautiful women
from all different walks of life, and um, they was
really lights to me. You know. We gave each other
hope because there was nothing else we could do. I
(21:07):
think I went through every emotion that a prayer could
go through. I got frustrated, I got angry, I got upset,
I cried because you know, they were when the resources available,
and it was just a horrible, horrible, horrible thing to
go to go through for anybody. I think one of
the hardest ports for me was having to explain to
Johnette's nieces and nephews that we didn't know when she
(21:29):
was going to come home, because Johnette is very close
to them and they love her, you know. And then
they're crying and I'm crying, and we're all trying to
make some sense out of this, and we still can't
make any sense out of it as it stands today.
(21:58):
About a year or so after her conviction, and Janetta
was called into the prison office. Surprised me because I
didn't know why I was getting called in there, because
I didn't get any trouble while I was, you know,
incres rated, So I didn't know why I was getting
called in there. When she walked in, Lorie Decker, the
jail house snitch, was there, and she admitted that during
(22:19):
the investigation the police told her to lie about Janetta
and say she confessed. Because I'm like, okay, you're saying
this now, why didn't you say that, you know, a
long time ago, Like I'm basically, you're a part of this.
You're a part of the fabricated evidence and part of
the reason why I'm here. It is her fault because
(22:40):
she didn't have to lie. But when you really think
about the jail house snitches, the system actually puts them
in situation. Do you know what I'm saying, So really,
the detectives on my case is responsible for that. In
two thousand nine, after serving four years of a twenty
(23:00):
year sentence, Janetta was eligible for parole. She was granted
time served for the time she spent in the juvenile
detention facility and was released from prison. Uh. It was
a joy and a blessing to see her after not
being able to see her for so many years, and
being able to see her was you know. I was
in at MO where I didn't want to let it go.
(23:21):
She used to tell me, I'll tell my mom would
go Miss Beatus. I'd be like, no, I want you
to stay in the house. I don't want you to
go nowhere. You know, I think I kind of went
in to a mother overload, but I think I kind
of had a right to at everything that she had
been through. I just wanted to keep her as close
to me as I possibly could. Although she was home,
(23:42):
Janetta's journey wasn't over. She was physically free, but people
on parole are still under scrutinous state control. Janetta had
to do random check ins and drug tests, and even
had to pay a monthly twenty five dollar fee. She
also had to maintain a job, which was an easy
because of her record of incarceration. So I would go
(24:03):
on jobs, you know, and they would be like, you know,
you seem like a great person everything but your background,
you know. And I went in like ten jobs a
day sometimes, and I was living with my mom at
the time, and I would just go home and I
would just bow to her. Then I started doing research
and found out that it's estimated Americ over ten thousand
(24:23):
people get falsely convention with crimes they didn't commit each year.
And my heart was just like, um, they're doing this
to other people too. I know how this feels. And
I had not heard nobody talking about it. And you know,
I asked her one day. I said, you know, I'm
so angry. And I asked, I said, I come, you're
(24:44):
not mad. She said, my mom, don't. I'm not gonna
be angry. I'm not gonna be mad. She said, what
I'm gonna do, I'm gonna fight. I'm gonna fight, she said,
because I didn't do this. And on the innocent I
started to go to the plasma Sin and donate plasma
and it was a film we dollar right next to
the plasma Center, and I would take the money from
Plasma Gotta family dollar get post to border Margaret and
(25:06):
I would make signs trying to write as awardess for
wrongful Convictions, and I would just started walking around you know,
my city hope. And at the same time, Janetta was
also trying to get off parole and still working to
prove her innocence. I would look up numbers, you know,
for like innocent projects, people who helped innocent I would
just google it, and I would you know, call and
(25:27):
lead messages on different people's voicemails and stuff, still trying
to find help. Finally, almost a decade after her release,
the Kentucky Innocence Project agreed to help Janetta fight for
her exoneration. So when we inherited the case in two
thousand and eighteen, we started doing the record review and
(25:48):
attempting to find individuals to interview. And then shortly after
getting the case, we received news that we were getting
a DNA testing grant um from the Department of Justice.
Janetta would finally get a chance to test the evidence,
specifically the duct tape and the electrical cord that were
found on Michael Adolphin's body to see if there was
(26:09):
a DNA match with the actual perpetrator. If we could
get a hit on something in the national database and CODIS,
it would then build a stronger case for Janetta. Obviously,
we would have been able to locate who had actually
um killed the victim. And during its investigation, the Kentucky
(26:29):
Innocence Project discovered bombshell information that had never been disclosed
to Janetta or her attorneys all those years ago. First off,
it turns out that DNA testing had been conducted on
the case back in two thousand and six. While it
didn't point to someone else as the perpetrator, it did
indicate that neither Janetta nor her co defendants could have
(26:52):
committed the murder. Not only that, the Kentucky Innocence Project
discovered that there were viable alternative suspects who were ever
properly investigated. Who is Steve Lewis. He should have been
a person of interest. I think the police should have
pursued a very deep investigation into Mr. Lewis. Steve Lewis
(27:19):
was an acquaintance of Michael's, and in the early days
of the investigation, officers got a tip from a friend
of Michael's who said he had seen Steve Lewis and
Michael in a heated argument over a girl, and that
during the fight, Steve threatened to kill Michael. When he
was questioned by police, Steve denied involvement, but he was
(27:39):
unable to provide an alibi for his whereabounts around the
time of the murder. Yet, for whatever reason, the investigation
into Steve ended. Finally, phone records showed that someone was
using Michael's phone after his death. There were calls made
to Los Angeles and to Florida, and again the police
(28:01):
never followed up. Instead, they went after sixteen year old
Janetta and her friends. I think the state offered her
and Alfred Plee because they knew she would go to
trial and they had questions about the strength of their case.
I think the case had been pending long enough that
the prosecutor wanted to get some closure on it. They
(28:25):
knew that they had some problems with their case, that
if they went to trial they might not get a conviction.
Do you think if you went to trial you might
have won um. Probably. So I can't think about it.
And the reason why I can't think about it because
(28:47):
it brings back so much pain. I'm trying to be
a light in the world. So I can't think about
these things. I just had to move with purpose and
take the pain that I've been through and make it
my per risk to make um legislation for the next
generations so that people don't get wrongly convicted and so
(29:07):
that my children don't have to go through what I
went through. Johanetta doesn't want to be angry, you know
what I'm saying. Johnetta doesn't want to be better. Johnetta
doesn't want to be bad. And Johnette is not going
to be the Commonwealth of Kentucky's victim because they already
took too many years of my life. So I don't
think about these things. I can't. The Kentucky Innocence Project
(29:32):
also applied for a pardon for Janetta, and on December nine, nineteen,
Kentucky Governor Matthew Bevan pardoned her based on her actual innocence.
The Governor called me and he actually apologized. He said,
I want to apologize to you what the Commonwealth did
to you, and we actually um cry. However, the pardon
(29:55):
left Janetta in a strange situation. The Kentucky State Statute
for DNA Testing says that a person must be under
state supervision to qualify for testing. So it's very unfortunate
because we think that there is biological material on the
evidence that was collected, the evidence still exists, we would
like to test it. If that DNA isn't tested, Michael's
(30:19):
true killer may never be known. If indeed there is
a person out there that UM killed the victim, and
that they're still out there, they may still be doing
the same thing to other people. The public is certainly
a greater risk to not have that DNA testing get done.
Genetta is also not eligible for any kind of wrongful
(30:42):
conviction compensation because Kentucky is one of the twelve states
that do not have compensation laws for exonorees. But somebody
needs has to start being held accountable when UM wrongful
convictions happened. I'm so discussed it and appalled at the
justice system in Kentucky and what they're using and spending
(31:05):
our tax dollars on. And when you think about it,
you know, it's like a slap in the face that
money and those resources could be used for so many
other things, like we have a homelessness problem in worl
of Like there's literally veterans at her, who's happened to
choose right beyond in between groceries and medicine, And they
went to war and thought for this country. And we're
spending tax money to pay for civil litigation calls and
(31:28):
defenses to defend public offices and detectives who normally breach
a duty to wrongfully convict people by fossifying evidence, coherts
and testimony and had dna um. That's a big issue.
Janetta is now represented by the Exoneration Project and the
national civil rights firm Lovi and lov She's also a
(31:51):
mother to two children, one year old Royalty and six
year old Jakari, and she's again pursuing one of her
early dreams. She's back in paralegal school, but this time
she doesn't want to work in the prosecutor's office. She
wants to help prevent and write wrongful convictions. I'm on
a journey. I'm healing me being wrongfully convicted of something
(32:12):
I will live with and it's going to impact my
life for the rest of my life. However, I choose
not to make that. Minds are life. I'm just really
really focused on my purpose to write me on you know,
and what I need to do in life as far
as bringing change, you know, and raising my kids, you know,
just trying to heal and become a better me every
day as all evolved. If you'd like to help others
(32:39):
who have been wrongfully convicted, Janetta recommends supporting the organizations
I AM Resilience and the Chandler Project in Kentucky House
Spill six. Janetta also has a go fund me to
help raise travel expenses for exonorees attending the Innocence Conference.
There will be links to all of this in our bio.
(33:06):
Next time, Unwrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling, Hope White, do
you think there was police corruption in your case? Absolutely?
There was lost of police corruption in that case. Thanks
for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. Please support
(33:29):
your local innocence organizations and go to the links in
our bio to see how you can help. I'd like
to thank our executive producers Jason Flom and Kevin Wurtis,
as well as our senior producer Annie Chelsea, producer Lila Robinson,
and story editor Sonya Paul. The show is edited and
mixed by Annie Chelsea, with additional production by Jeff Cleburne
and Connor Hall. The music in this production is by
(33:51):
three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to
follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at
Wrongful Conviction pod Cast, and on Twitter at wrong Conviction,
as well as at Lava for Good. On all three platforms,
you can also follow me on both Instagram and Twitter
at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling is a
(34:12):
production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal
Company Number one
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Bright Pacheco
Maggie Freleng
Jason Flom
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