December 28, 2023 • 33 mins
February 9, 1992 started as a normal day for 16 year old Faye Jacobs – she attended church and hung out with friends in Little Rock, AR. When she and her mom drove home later, they passed bustling police activity. Intrigued, they stopped the car and got out. Suddenly, Faye was grabbed, pushed against the car and arrested for the shooting murder of Kevin Gaddy, a classmate of hers. Despite an exculpatory alibi and eye witnesses, Faye was sentenced to life without parole. Maggie speaks to Faye Jacobs, Tricia Bushnell Esq. Faye’s attorney, and Tiffany Woods her girlfriend.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
We originally met and interviewed Faye Jacobs at the twenty
twenty two Innocence Network Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, and her
episode was released on June sixth, twenty twenty two. Fortunately enough,
we caught up with her again at the conference in
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I am here at the Innocence Network Conference twenty twenty
three in Phoenix with Faye Jacobs.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Hey, how are you doing?
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Finding you It's so awesome to be bad.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I know we met a person here last year. It
was great. So what have you been up to?
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Oh my god, I have been running like a chicken
with his head cut off. I don't know if I
mentioned the last time we was here, I had started
my own business, Innocence to Transportation Service, and now I
contract to schools transporting students and then nursing homes as well.
I mean, wow, it is growing so big, bigger than
what I expected. I am now in the process of
(00:58):
getting a limousine, a party bus, and a tour bus
for my services.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
That's amazing. So you're an incredible entrepreneur now. But one
of the things about your case was you were freed
but not exonerated.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Are you exonerated.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Yet I am not exonerated. We now have a new
governor in Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee, who waiting on her to
be in office at least about a year, and then
will present my clemency application. We will do an application
that will go before the Parole Board, and the parole
Board would do their recommendations, and from there they will
send their recommendations to Sarah. I truly believe somebody's gonna
(01:35):
exonerate me.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
You know what does that like? To be free but
not free?
Speaker 4 (01:42):
It's complicated. It's bittersweet because you know, I still have
obstacles against me. I still have issues before I even
started my own business of trying to apply for other jobs,
because when they do a background check of courts, a
felony comes back. And even with housing, this conviction still
hangs over my head. I think the last time I
(02:02):
was here, I wasn't. But I am on the board
of directors of a Journey to New Life. It's an
organization helping men and women's coming out of prison to
get housing and jobs. It's a wonderful, wonderful organization.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I'm sure things pop up all the time. You don't
even think about that it impacts you.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Oh yeah, I want to adopt once again. This conviction
is just not letting me do the things that I
desire to do.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
When I talked to you last time, you were with
your partner.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Tiffany's still going strong. Tiffany has now moved in, so
she now reside in Kansas City with me.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
I'm glad you guys are going strong.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
You're gonna adopt a kid when you get exonerated, Yeah, hopefully.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Perfect.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
And if not a kid, a bunch of grandkids.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Oh perfect, exactly, she has kids.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Yes, we'll have her transportation service linked in the bio
for folks in the Kansas City area. And please stay
tuned for new episodes of Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling
starting in January of twenty twenty four. Now Faye Jacob's
story as it originally aired, we hope Governor Huckabee is
moved to grant her a well deserved clemency.
Speaker 6 (03:13):
Like I've been thinking a lot about, you know, the
difficult decision of having to decide if you want to
take an Outford plea, if you want to take any
kind of plea.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I mean, if I was put in that situation.
Speaker 6 (03:27):
Would I stay in prison to fight for my innocence
knowing I might never get out, or take a deal
get out, and then you can't fight for your innocence
after that.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
It's a literal Sophie's choice. Maggie, right, I mean, you
have this intense pressure. You know that they have the
ability to say, Hey, we're going to leave you sitting
in jail, in prison for a year or two years
or more while you await your retrial. Many, many strong
willed and brave and brilliant people have taken the plea
(04:03):
because there's really no way out and they just want
to go home out. Yeah, they have to go home.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
I didn't comprehend that I was going to prison for
the rest of my life. I'm thinking to myself, are
you saying that I can never be with my parents again.
I can never go back to my bed, you know,
my home. So I'm losing all my friends. I mean,
all this is going to be taken. Are you kidding me.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
From lava for good? This is wrongful conviction with Maggie
Freeling today Lakwanda Fay Jacobs on the evening of February ninth,
nineteen ninety two, Kevin Gaddy and Tony Davis were walking
(04:53):
down the street when a car pulled up. A man
and a woman got out and held them at gunpoint.
They demanded the jack Kevin Gaddy was wearing. It was
a Chicago Bulls starter jacket. In the nineteen nineties, these
satin jackets were a status symbol. As Kevin was handing
his jacket over, a struggle ensued and he was shot
in the chest. Around the same time, Lakwanda Fay Jacobs
(05:19):
and her mother were on their way to church when
they saw police commotion near Fay's house. They stopped to
see what was going on. As Faye got out of
the car, an officer approached her and asked her who
she was. Fay was instantly arrested and taken down to
the police station for questioning, but she had an alibi,
and the woman they should have been looking for was
(05:40):
at least fifteen years older than Fay, but it didn't matter.
Fay was eventually charged and convicted of the murder of
Kevin Gaddy.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
They knew all along that I was innocent, but just
wanting to use me as an example to other young juveniles. Therefore,
I was railroaded into the system. I am Lakwanda Faye Jacobs.
Nineteen ninety two. I was arrested for capitol felloni murder
(06:16):
of a friend of mine.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
But Kwanda Faye Jacobs was born in Little Rock, Arkansas,
on February twenty second, nineteen seventy five. She was the
baby of a big family, six boys and six girls.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
I was always picked on by my older siblings, but
I consider myself stronger than my other siblings, even though
I was the baby. I come from a great family.
I was raising the church. My dad was started off
as a deacon in the church and ended up becoming
(06:59):
assistant pastor. And I was deeply involved at the age
of four years.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Old, facing in the church choir, and was an outgoing
child and teenager.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
I'm just a people person. That's just the type of
personality I've always had. I was a friends with everybody
from church people. I even had friends that were gang members,
you know, just a typical teenager. I had fights, I
had boyfriends, I did a lot, you know. That's who
(07:35):
Fey was.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
And like many kids, she had lots of different visions
for her future.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
I wanted to be a nurse at one time, I
wanted to be a beautician because I loved doing my
doll's hair, you know, so of course I was like,
I'm going to be a beautician. My grandfather was a
barbara and my grandmother was a beautician. I even dreamed
of being in the army one day. But then later on,
as I got older in my teenage, I was like, man,
(08:03):
I don't want to go do that. You know.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
In high school, she played on the junior varsity volleyball team,
and she says she was incredibly popular and other students
looked up to her.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
I dreamed of graduating, going to the prom, going to dance,
and you know, I could have possibly been the queen
because I was so popular. But you know, those are
things that will rob from me that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
On the morning of February ninth, nineteen ninety two, sixteen
year old Faye got up and went to church to
attend service. It was Sunday and she had planned to
sing at two services that day. Afterward, her mother picked
her up from the house Fae rented with her brother.
They got back to Faye's mom's apartment at two pm.
Fay's friend picked her up shortly after that and they
(08:58):
ran some errands, including the laundromat, and back to her
friend's house. He dropped Faye back at her mom's place
at around five point thirty. Her Sunday was pretty packed.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
I had another service to attend that night. My mom
and I were going to us singing at another church.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Fay's mom wrapped home shortly after and found Fay relaxing
on the couch. Fay was still in her white church clothes,
but at the same time, over a mile away, a
situation was unfolding that would change Fay's life forever. Seventeen
year old Kevin Gaddy and his friend Tony Davis, who
was fourteen, were walking down the street when a gray
(09:38):
car pulled up. A man and a woman got out.
The woman had a gun and they demanded the jacket.
Kevin Gaddy was wearing a Chicago Bulls starter jacket. As
Kevin was handing it over, he put his hand in
his coat pocket to get his brush. That's when things
got messy, and the woman shot Kevin in the chest.
On their way to their second church event of the day,
Fay and her mom passed the crime scene right outside
(10:01):
Fay's house, so they stopped to see what was going on.
As Faye got out of the car, a police officer
grabbed her.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
And I was instantly through on the car put in handcuffs.
At this time, I didn't know that a shooting had occurred.
I was already a handcuffed. Once I said who I
was and that I lived there too as well, at
the house that they were at, I was put in
the backseat of the car and taken to the Little
Rock Police department. Not knowing what is conna.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
At the precinct, the police asked Faye if they could
do a gun shot residue test on.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Her, and so after my gun residue was negative, they
was like, well, we're gonna let her go home, you know.
And they's like, if you hear anything about a shooting,
let us know. And I was like, who shot? What
is conna?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
It wasn't until days later that Fay learned it was
her friend Kevin, who was shot and killed outside of
her house.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Kevin and I I were both the same age, but
he was a few months older than me, and he
was real known for his scooter and his skills with basketball.
I always, even as a kid, I used to say,
you're gonna go big Kevin, you know, because he was
so good at basketball, you know. But like I said,
(11:20):
from kindergarten to seventh grade, him and I went to
school together.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Kevin was pronounced dead less than an hour after he
was shot.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
And it was so unbelievable because I knew he was
such a good kid, He was a good friend, and
it was just very devastating to learn that he had
been shot.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
During their investigation into Kevin's murder, police found at least
eight eyewitnesses who saw the shooting. The descriptions of the
woman who fired the gun varied, but most agreed she
was in her thirties with scars under her eyes, and
that she was wearing dark clothing, including a black hat.
Tony Davis was the eyewitness closest to the shooting, and
(12:04):
on that very day described the woman as quote black,
mid thirties, approximately five foot eight, heavy billed, medium complexion,
wearing a dark ski cap and bluish gray jacket and pants,
with frizzy hair. Yet Fay, a young teenager wearing entirely
different clothing, had already been to the police station and
(12:25):
been questioned, so investigators had her photo and showed it
to witnesses, five of them said Fay was not the shooter.
Tony Davis was shown a picture of Fay and two times,
once on the day of the crime and again four
days later. He was unable to make an identification. But
then nine days after the shooting, the police brought him
(12:48):
back in and again they showed him a photo lineup,
and this time he identified Faye as the shooter. They
had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
I was going to school and this day I wasn't
feeling well and I was at my sister's house and
my mom called my sister and said, the police has
come to my job looking for fee for murder. And
I was like, murder. I haven't killed anybody. And so
(13:23):
my mom came to my sister house. We called my dad,
we called my pastor, and we went to the police
station just to clear my name, you know, to tell
them I haven't did anything. You know. I mean when
I tell you, I had no clue that I was
even a suspect, and you know, and that could be
what I was so young, but I didn't commit the crime,
(13:44):
So why would I even think that I'm a suspect.
I had no knowledge of it. And so we went
to the jail to clear my name, and at that
time they arrested me. They did not allow me to
clear my name. They arrested me and charged me with
capital felay murder and set my bund at one million dollars. Okay,
I'm sixteen, and I'm like, I had never been to
(14:06):
jail before in my life, and so I'm scared. I'm
very scared.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company.
AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making
a positive difference in the lives of its employees and
in the communities where we work and live. In light
of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and
in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform,
(14:49):
the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal services and
other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. Before trial, Faye
was appointed public defender James Cluet to represent her. At
(15:10):
the time of his appointment, Kluet was representing a client
by the name of Sean Riggins. As it happens, Riggins
and his brother had been among the witnesses on the
street when Kevin was murdered. Two weeks later, Riggins was
arrested for an unrelated crime. At that time. He ended
up telling police that he'd seen the shooter and that
she was actually younger than thirty, closer to fifteen or sixteen.
(15:33):
He was the only person to say that, and when
investigator showed him a photo spread of suspects, he identified
Faye as the shooter. Now this part gets a little confusing,
so follow carefully. Not only as Fay's attorney James Cluett
representing two clients involved in the same case, a clear
conflict of interest, but he also asked Faye to lie
(15:56):
for Shawn Riggins. Fay was in jail with a woman
named Burt Walker, one of Riggins's co defendants in another case.
Cluette approached Fay with an offer. He asked her to
say that Bertie had told her she committed the crime alone.
In exchange, he said Riggins would not testify against Faye
about Kevin's murder, but Fay rejected the offer. She refused
(16:19):
to lie and asked for a new lawyer. She was
appointed attorney Bill MacArthur. James Cluett was eventually disbarred for
separate issues. Fay's trial started a year later in April
nineteen ninety three. A man named Clifton Thomas was originally
charged with Faye as her alleged accomplice, but the charges
(16:42):
against him were eventually dropped.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
So I'm going to court and I'm like, are you serious?
I can't believe this. Why are they doing this to me?
And the judge keeps my bond at a million and
he states we're charging her as an adult. I couldn't
believe that this was happening.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Prosecutors Howard Coopman and John Miller presented no forensic evidence
linking Fade to the crime. They werelied heavily on the
eyewitness statements of Tony Davis, who was with Kevin that evening,
and Sean Riggins. When fe goes to court, news media
is everywhere, She says. The case was high profile because
of a slew of killings of young people in Arkansas
(17:23):
at the time.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Arkansas was on the rise of gang balance back in
the late eighties early nineties, and so of course law
enforcements was forced to do something about those crimes. So
they had a thing called banging in Arkansas. It was
like the Arkansas was like a small Los Angeles with
(17:46):
the crips and the bloods, and they had videos and
they still had these videos. You can pull them up
on YouTube called bang It in Arkansas.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
So I did this is the county coroner for Little Rock, Arkansas,
on one of the films several.
Speaker 7 (17:59):
Years ago, when I saw the death rate was increasing,
but the victims were becoming much younger and younger, and
began to see tattoos and brands on the victims, and
began to notice that the violence just was increasing, and
drive by shootings and random shootings and retaliation killings, and
it just went on and on. Until nineteen ninety two,
we had a record rate of homicides in Little Rock,
(18:22):
and it looks we've broken the record in nineteen ninety three,
and it's.
Speaker 8 (18:26):
Just gone on and on and on.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
In fact, a half hour earlier and a few blocks
away from Kevin Gaddy's murder, there was another potentially related crime.
Around five pm, Little Rock Police Department responded to an
aggravated assault where eyewitnesses told police there was a female perpetrator,
a male accomplice, and guess what a gray car. It's
unclear what happened with that case and something else related
(18:56):
to this crime. To help you understand, starting in the
late eighties, sports starter jackets were a hot commodity. An
article in The New York Times from February of nineteen
ninety discusses the phenomenon, calling it quote an increasingly pervasive
kind of urban crime, robberies by young people willing to
kill for clothes end quote. They cite that at the
(19:17):
time these jackets went from ninety to two hundred dollars,
which today would be about two hundred to four hundred dollars,
So Kevin Gaddy becoming a target for his jacket that
night was not necessarily unusual at the time. However, Fay's
attorney failed at making a case that Fay was caught
in the wrong place at the wrong time and that
(19:38):
she did not commit the crime. Fay was able to
testify on her own behalf, however, and she tried to
make the case for herself that she did not kill
her friend.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
In my little mind, I'm thinking that, you know, soon
as I go to court, I can just tell the
judge that I didn't do this and uc and I'll
go home. But the reality, that's not how it works,
you know. But I didn't know that I really believe
that I was going to get out of there.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
On April twenty first, nineteen ninety three, Fay was convicted
of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole. She
was just sixteen years old.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I didn't I didn't comprehend that I was going to
prison for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
You know.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
It was until I got back to the jail that
the jailer told me, you know, you're not going to
ever get out. You know you're going to jail, you know.
And so I was broken inside, you know, had been
ripped apart. You know, are you telling me? I'm thinking
to myself, are you saying that I can never be
with my parents again. I can never go back to
my bed, you know, my home. So I'm losing all
(20:51):
my friends. I mean, all this is going to be taken.
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Fay's world had turned completely upside down.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I had many days of crying. So when I was
first put in, I was put in a cell all
by myself because I was sixteen. But days later I
was sent to an adult place because I was charged
at an adult and so of course I had adults
tunt me and bothered me. I had even got jumped
(21:21):
on it in the county jail, you know, because of
this high profile and that's the juvenile that killed the
guy for his jacket, you know. That's how I was labeled.
And so I would go to my room, I would cry.
I wouldn't let people see me cry because if they
saw that, that a show a sign a weakness, and
(21:43):
they would really take advantage of you and do things.
But yeah, I was very scared.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Eventually, Fay settled into the prison environment and just like
in high school, her outgoing personality and love of people
got her through. By the time she had been there
for several years, she had started making a name for
herself as a generous person to those coming into the system.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
And so a lot of ladies come in there and
they don't have the headphones and things like that. So
I always had extra so I can share with the
other ladies, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
In two thousand and nine, Tiffany Woods came to prison.
Speaker 9 (22:26):
I was incarcerated for DWIS. So they had moved me
in the barracks with a and in order to watch TV,
you have to have a radio. Well, I didn't have
any family outside, do you know, to actually send me
any money to buy me a radio. So I've seen
(22:47):
fayees all bubbly playing games and stuff, and I was like,
excuse me, ma'am, can I borrow your radio? And so
she was like, yeah, it's over there on my bed.
So that started our friendship.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Fay and Tiffany hit it off, and when Tiffany got out,
she promised Fay she would write her.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
You know, being in prison, you meet people and people
tell you I'm going to write you, I'm going to
support you, you know, all the way, and so you
hear that all the time, and I had been let
down so many times. Well, but Tiffany, Tiffany left and
she wrote me, and I was like, oh my god,
this girl really wrote me. And then she sent me
(23:30):
a phone number and said I could call her. And
I could not believe it because that was something that
had never happened throughout my whole incoseration, to be able
to have contact with another resident that had once been there.
Speaker 9 (23:45):
It's a smile loyalty.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
If I tell you I'm going to do something, I'm going.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
To do it.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Tiffany and Fey maintained their friendship over the years, all
the while Fay fought for her She filed appeal after
appeal after appeal for reasons including ineffective assistance of counsel
face as her second attorney, Bill MacArthur, failed to meet
with her before trial and failed to file any discovery
motions or conduct an investigation. He failed to show why
(24:16):
Fay could not have committed this crime, starting with the
description of the shooter. The shooter, according to Tony Davis's
testimony at the trial, was a black woman with scars
under her eyes and light brownish red curly hair peeking
out of a black hat, and she was wearing a
big winter coat and pants. This description does not fit
(24:37):
Fait at all. She had no scars under her eyes,
was wearing white church clothes, and her hair was in
a top knot for.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
Folks who were very familiar with black hair African American hair.
She couldn't have gotten her hair up into this very smooth,
beautiful top knot if it had been a red curly
dew under a cap just hours earlier.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Right, this is Trisia Bushnell. She's the executive director of
the Midwest Innocence Project known as the MIP.
Speaker 8 (25:04):
But none of those things ever come out and none
of those things are ever investigated or brought to the
jury's attention. You know, when you look at Phase case
and you look at the evidence, you can really just
think there's really no good evidence here, right. You can
look at it and say, there's no good evidence. So
how does she get convicted? Well, part of it is
it's just racism, very simple, right, But you have a
system that has a young black girl up there and
(25:25):
the state is saying she did it, and what does
that read like to jurors?
Speaker 1 (25:28):
The bias appears to have started with the cops who
arrested Fay on the spot, and Fay feels strongly that
there was racial profiling involved. Frisha is currently Phase attorney.
The MIP took Phase case in twenty fourteen when they
reviewed it and realized it's stunk of a wrongful conviction.
Speaker 8 (25:47):
So there's actually were a lot of witnesses to this crime.
And when we went and talked to people, five other
people who actually also knew Fay so it was not her,
including Sean Riggan's brother who was standing with him at
the car and said we couldn't see any from where
we were.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
At the car. Sean Riggins, remember had told police that
Fay was the shooter, but he ultimately did recant his identification.
Speaker 8 (26:10):
And that was the basis of new evidence that we
used when we filed a federal habeas petition asking them
to overturn Fhay's conviction. Filed that in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
The MIP also brought up in the appeal the four
additional eyewitnesses who said the shooter was not Fay and
who were never called to testify at trial. However, before
a judge could respond to the petition, there was a
new development. In twenty twelve, the United States Supreme Court
ruled in millervers Alabama, that juveniles cannot be sentenced to
(26:42):
mandatory life without parole like Fay was. Those who had
received this sentence are entitled to a re sentencing hearing.
But Fay had a difficult decision to make. If she
was resentenced and released based on the time she had
already served, she could not fight her innocence claim. And remember,
(27:02):
there were two people involved in the crime, a man
and a woman, and a man was originally charged with Fay.
Speaker 8 (27:09):
And we know in the co defendant's case, when his
attorney asked for discovery, they dropped the charges, so we
wanted to know what was it, specifically from the crime lab,
and rather than giving us that, they gad an offer
of time served. And that is when Fay then had
to make a really difficult and horrific choice of you know,
(27:29):
do I want to keep pursuing my innocence claim in
this federal court.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
If she did, she could lose the deal to be
released based on time served. So she had to choose
accept this chance to be free, knowing she would remain
a felon or stay in prison and continue the potentially
never ending fight for her own exoneration. On July sixteenth,
(27:54):
twenty eighteen, they accepted the time served offer and walked
out of prison.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
To walk out of those gates. It was such a
release that I was like, oh my god, I am out.
Yet I had some emotions because I thought about the
ones that I was leaving behind, and that was the
(28:21):
life that I knew because I'd been there for over
twenty summer, So you know, I had these mixed emotions.
Yet I was so happy to be home with those
that had been fighting to get me out and be
around people other people.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
One of those people was Tiffany.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
She was gone. Ten years before I ever got out.
But that whole ten years she was out, she constantly
rode me, send me money, just was there for me faithfully,
And that was something that I had never in my
life experience. I had no one to be so genuine, authentic.
It was just unbelievable. I was like, they don't make
people like they make Tiffany anymore.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Tiffany and Fay's relationship developed into a romantic one. These days,
they travel back and forth to see each other. Fay
lives in Kansas City, Missouri, and Tiffany out in rural Huntsville, Arkansas.
Speaker 9 (29:14):
I am country. I would rather to be in the
woods than the city.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Do you bring her to the woods?
Speaker 9 (29:19):
Yes, as much as possible, But and then she takes
me to the city, Like, we have a fishing trip
planned here pretty soon, so I want to I have
to go get our tent.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Wow, how's how's being in the woods?
Speaker 3 (29:35):
How's camping? I don't picture you as a camper?
Speaker 1 (29:38):
I am not.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
I am not. That's her. And so where she lives Huntsville,
population seventy five. She's been there all her life. I
don't think I would ever live in a country town like.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
I wish could see your face right.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
Now, but uh yeah, hopefully in the future Tiffany and
I could. We would live together and have our fur
babies and the babies that you know that I desire
to have it we could be a big family.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
They and Tiffany hope to have a family someday. But
since they was resentenced and released, her conviction still stands,
so she's technically still a convicted felon.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
Because of this felony, I cannot adopt, which is heartbreaking.
Yet I'm hoping to maybe possibly have a surrogate, so
that's the goal, and if not my niece, hopefully they
can have babies for me something like that. And I
(30:49):
also have three amazing babies. They are two Snauzers and
one tiny teacup Chihuahua that are my babies.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
But as of adopting, life has been hard with the
label convicted felon attached to her, even with the support
of the MIP.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
When I do go for interviews or go to apply,
I'm given a letter that you know, she's actually innocent
of this crime. Yet we're still fighting to clear her name,
and so it helps in some aspects, but I've been
denied Howsen in spite of the letter. So sometimes it
(31:30):
does and sometimes it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Fay currently works as a receptionist for Chevrolet in Kansas City.
She also advocates for other wrongfully incarcerated people and is
on the board of an organization which helps formally incarcerated
women returning to society. Fay's only shot at exoneration is
now clemency, and her first clemency petition from Arkansas Governor
(31:58):
Asa Hutchinson was denied. She cannot apply again for another
eight years.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
You know, I'm just so happy to be free. Yet
I'm physically free, but I'm not free.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
If you want to help Faye, go to change dot
org and type in Fay Jacobs to ask Governor Asa
Hutchinson to pardon Faye next time. On Wrongful Conviction with
Maggie Freeling Hank Skinner, I'm.
Speaker 10 (32:29):
Sitting there looking at think Gurnie that they're fixing to
put me on. I could see it through the door,
the head the door open, I could see the microphone,
I could see the straps, arm boards, and I was
absolutely convinced that I was fixing it die.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling.
Please support 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 Flamm and
Kevin Words, as well as our senior producer Annie Chelsea,
researcher Lila Robinson, story editor Sonia Paul, with additional production
(33:08):
by Jeff Cleiburn and Connor Hall. The music in this
production is by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph.
Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction,
on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at
Wrongful Conviction, as well as at Lava for Good. On
all three platforms, you can also follow me on both
(33:29):
Instagram and Twitter at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with Maggie
Freeling is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in
association with Signal Company Number one
We originally met and interviewed Faye Jacobs at the twenty
twenty two Innocence Network Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, and her
episode was released on June sixth, twenty twenty two. Fortunately enough,
we caught up with her again at the conference in
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I am here at the Innocence Network Conference twenty twenty
three in Phoenix with Faye Jacobs.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Hey, how are you doing?
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Finding you It's so awesome to be bad.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I know we met a person here last year. It
was great. So what have you been up to?
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Oh my god, I have been running like a chicken
with his head cut off. I don't know if I
mentioned the last time we was here, I had started
my own business, Innocence to Transportation Service, and now I
contract to schools transporting students and then nursing homes as well.
I mean, wow, it is growing so big, bigger than
what I expected. I am now in the process of
(00:58):
getting a limousine, a party bus, and a tour bus
for my services.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
That's amazing. So you're an incredible entrepreneur now. But one
of the things about your case was you were freed
but not exonerated.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Are you exonerated.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Yet I am not exonerated. We now have a new
governor in Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee, who waiting on her to
be in office at least about a year, and then
will present my clemency application. We will do an application
that will go before the Parole Board, and the parole
Board would do their recommendations, and from there they will
send their recommendations to Sarah. I truly believe somebody's gonna
(01:35):
exonerate me.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
You know what does that like? To be free but
not free?
Speaker 4 (01:42):
It's complicated. It's bittersweet because you know, I still have
obstacles against me. I still have issues before I even
started my own business of trying to apply for other jobs,
because when they do a background check of courts, a
felony comes back. And even with housing, this conviction still
hangs over my head. I think the last time I
(02:02):
was here, I wasn't. But I am on the board
of directors of a Journey to New Life. It's an
organization helping men and women's coming out of prison to
get housing and jobs. It's a wonderful, wonderful organization.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I'm sure things pop up all the time. You don't
even think about that it impacts you.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Oh yeah, I want to adopt once again. This conviction
is just not letting me do the things that I
desire to do.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
When I talked to you last time, you were with
your partner.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Tiffany's still going strong. Tiffany has now moved in, so
she now reside in Kansas City with me.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
I'm glad you guys are going strong.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
You're gonna adopt a kid when you get exonerated, Yeah, hopefully.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Perfect.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
And if not a kid, a bunch of grandkids.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Oh perfect, exactly, she has kids.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Yes, we'll have her transportation service linked in the bio
for folks in the Kansas City area. And please stay
tuned for new episodes of Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling
starting in January of twenty twenty four. Now Faye Jacob's
story as it originally aired, we hope Governor Huckabee is
moved to grant her a well deserved clemency.
Speaker 6 (03:13):
Like I've been thinking a lot about, you know, the
difficult decision of having to decide if you want to
take an Outford plea, if you want to take any
kind of plea.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I mean, if I was put in that situation.
Speaker 6 (03:27):
Would I stay in prison to fight for my innocence
knowing I might never get out, or take a deal
get out, and then you can't fight for your innocence
after that.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
It's a literal Sophie's choice. Maggie, right, I mean, you
have this intense pressure. You know that they have the
ability to say, Hey, we're going to leave you sitting
in jail, in prison for a year or two years
or more while you await your retrial. Many, many strong
willed and brave and brilliant people have taken the plea
(04:03):
because there's really no way out and they just want
to go home out. Yeah, they have to go home.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
I didn't comprehend that I was going to prison for
the rest of my life. I'm thinking to myself, are
you saying that I can never be with my parents again.
I can never go back to my bed, you know,
my home. So I'm losing all my friends. I mean,
all this is going to be taken. Are you kidding me.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
From lava for good? This is wrongful conviction with Maggie
Freeling today Lakwanda Fay Jacobs on the evening of February ninth,
nineteen ninety two, Kevin Gaddy and Tony Davis were walking
(04:53):
down the street when a car pulled up. A man
and a woman got out and held them at gunpoint.
They demanded the jack Kevin Gaddy was wearing. It was
a Chicago Bulls starter jacket. In the nineteen nineties, these
satin jackets were a status symbol. As Kevin was handing
his jacket over, a struggle ensued and he was shot
in the chest. Around the same time, Lakwanda Fay Jacobs
(05:19):
and her mother were on their way to church when
they saw police commotion near Fay's house. They stopped to
see what was going on. As Faye got out of
the car, an officer approached her and asked her who
she was. Fay was instantly arrested and taken down to
the police station for questioning, but she had an alibi,
and the woman they should have been looking for was
(05:40):
at least fifteen years older than Fay, but it didn't matter.
Fay was eventually charged and convicted of the murder of
Kevin Gaddy.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
They knew all along that I was innocent, but just
wanting to use me as an example to other young juveniles. Therefore,
I was railroaded into the system. I am Lakwanda Faye Jacobs.
Nineteen ninety two. I was arrested for capitol felloni murder
(06:16):
of a friend of mine.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
But Kwanda Faye Jacobs was born in Little Rock, Arkansas,
on February twenty second, nineteen seventy five. She was the
baby of a big family, six boys and six girls.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
I was always picked on by my older siblings, but
I consider myself stronger than my other siblings, even though
I was the baby. I come from a great family.
I was raising the church. My dad was started off
as a deacon in the church and ended up becoming
(06:59):
assistant pastor. And I was deeply involved at the age
of four years.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Old, facing in the church choir, and was an outgoing
child and teenager.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
I'm just a people person. That's just the type of
personality I've always had. I was a friends with everybody
from church people. I even had friends that were gang members,
you know, just a typical teenager. I had fights, I
had boyfriends, I did a lot, you know. That's who
(07:35):
Fey was.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
And like many kids, she had lots of different visions
for her future.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
I wanted to be a nurse at one time, I
wanted to be a beautician because I loved doing my
doll's hair, you know, so of course I was like,
I'm going to be a beautician. My grandfather was a
barbara and my grandmother was a beautician. I even dreamed
of being in the army one day. But then later on,
as I got older in my teenage, I was like, man,
(08:03):
I don't want to go do that. You know.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
In high school, she played on the junior varsity volleyball team,
and she says she was incredibly popular and other students
looked up to her.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
I dreamed of graduating, going to the prom, going to dance,
and you know, I could have possibly been the queen
because I was so popular. But you know, those are
things that will rob from me that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
On the morning of February ninth, nineteen ninety two, sixteen
year old Faye got up and went to church to
attend service. It was Sunday and she had planned to
sing at two services that day. Afterward, her mother picked
her up from the house Fae rented with her brother.
They got back to Faye's mom's apartment at two pm.
Fay's friend picked her up shortly after that and they
(08:58):
ran some errands, including the laundromat, and back to her
friend's house. He dropped Faye back at her mom's place
at around five point thirty. Her Sunday was pretty packed.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
I had another service to attend that night. My mom
and I were going to us singing at another church.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Fay's mom wrapped home shortly after and found Fay relaxing
on the couch. Fay was still in her white church clothes,
but at the same time, over a mile away, a
situation was unfolding that would change Fay's life forever. Seventeen
year old Kevin Gaddy and his friend Tony Davis, who
was fourteen, were walking down the street when a gray
(09:38):
car pulled up. A man and a woman got out.
The woman had a gun and they demanded the jacket.
Kevin Gaddy was wearing a Chicago Bulls starter jacket. As
Kevin was handing it over, he put his hand in
his coat pocket to get his brush. That's when things
got messy, and the woman shot Kevin in the chest.
On their way to their second church event of the day,
Fay and her mom passed the crime scene right outside
(10:01):
Fay's house, so they stopped to see what was going on.
As Faye got out of the car, a police officer
grabbed her.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
And I was instantly through on the car put in handcuffs.
At this time, I didn't know that a shooting had occurred.
I was already a handcuffed. Once I said who I
was and that I lived there too as well, at
the house that they were at, I was put in
the backseat of the car and taken to the Little
Rock Police department. Not knowing what is conna.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
At the precinct, the police asked Faye if they could
do a gun shot residue test on.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Her, and so after my gun residue was negative, they
was like, well, we're gonna let her go home, you know.
And they's like, if you hear anything about a shooting,
let us know. And I was like, who shot? What
is conna?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
It wasn't until days later that Fay learned it was
her friend Kevin, who was shot and killed outside of
her house.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Kevin and I I were both the same age, but
he was a few months older than me, and he
was real known for his scooter and his skills with basketball.
I always, even as a kid, I used to say,
you're gonna go big Kevin, you know, because he was
so good at basketball, you know. But like I said,
(11:20):
from kindergarten to seventh grade, him and I went to
school together.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Kevin was pronounced dead less than an hour after he
was shot.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
And it was so unbelievable because I knew he was
such a good kid, He was a good friend, and
it was just very devastating to learn that he had
been shot.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
During their investigation into Kevin's murder, police found at least
eight eyewitnesses who saw the shooting. The descriptions of the
woman who fired the gun varied, but most agreed she
was in her thirties with scars under her eyes, and
that she was wearing dark clothing, including a black hat.
Tony Davis was the eyewitness closest to the shooting, and
(12:04):
on that very day described the woman as quote black,
mid thirties, approximately five foot eight, heavy billed, medium complexion,
wearing a dark ski cap and bluish gray jacket and pants,
with frizzy hair. Yet Fay, a young teenager wearing entirely
different clothing, had already been to the police station and
(12:25):
been questioned, so investigators had her photo and showed it
to witnesses, five of them said Fay was not the shooter.
Tony Davis was shown a picture of Fay and two times,
once on the day of the crime and again four
days later. He was unable to make an identification. But
then nine days after the shooting, the police brought him
(12:48):
back in and again they showed him a photo lineup,
and this time he identified Faye as the shooter. They
had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
I was going to school and this day I wasn't
feeling well and I was at my sister's house and
my mom called my sister and said, the police has
come to my job looking for fee for murder. And
I was like, murder. I haven't killed anybody. And so
(13:23):
my mom came to my sister house. We called my dad,
we called my pastor, and we went to the police
station just to clear my name, you know, to tell
them I haven't did anything. You know. I mean when
I tell you, I had no clue that I was
even a suspect, and you know, and that could be
what I was so young, but I didn't commit the crime,
(13:44):
So why would I even think that I'm a suspect.
I had no knowledge of it. And so we went
to the jail to clear my name, and at that
time they arrested me. They did not allow me to
clear my name. They arrested me and charged me with
capital felay murder and set my bund at one million dollars. Okay,
I'm sixteen, and I'm like, I had never been to
(14:06):
jail before in my life, and so I'm scared. I'm
very scared.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company.
AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making
a positive difference in the lives of its employees and
in the communities where we work and live. In light
of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and
in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform,
(14:49):
the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal services and
other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. Before trial, Faye
was appointed public defender James Cluet to represent her. At
(15:10):
the time of his appointment, Kluet was representing a client
by the name of Sean Riggins. As it happens, Riggins
and his brother had been among the witnesses on the
street when Kevin was murdered. Two weeks later, Riggins was
arrested for an unrelated crime. At that time. He ended
up telling police that he'd seen the shooter and that
she was actually younger than thirty, closer to fifteen or sixteen.
(15:33):
He was the only person to say that, and when
investigator showed him a photo spread of suspects, he identified
Faye as the shooter. Now this part gets a little confusing,
so follow carefully. Not only as Fay's attorney James Cluett
representing two clients involved in the same case, a clear
conflict of interest, but he also asked Faye to lie
(15:56):
for Shawn Riggins. Fay was in jail with a woman
named Burt Walker, one of Riggins's co defendants in another case.
Cluette approached Fay with an offer. He asked her to
say that Bertie had told her she committed the crime alone.
In exchange, he said Riggins would not testify against Faye
about Kevin's murder, but Fay rejected the offer. She refused
(16:19):
to lie and asked for a new lawyer. She was
appointed attorney Bill MacArthur. James Cluett was eventually disbarred for
separate issues. Fay's trial started a year later in April
nineteen ninety three. A man named Clifton Thomas was originally
charged with Faye as her alleged accomplice, but the charges
(16:42):
against him were eventually dropped.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
So I'm going to court and I'm like, are you serious?
I can't believe this. Why are they doing this to me?
And the judge keeps my bond at a million and
he states we're charging her as an adult. I couldn't
believe that this was happening.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Prosecutors Howard Coopman and John Miller presented no forensic evidence
linking Fade to the crime. They werelied heavily on the
eyewitness statements of Tony Davis, who was with Kevin that evening,
and Sean Riggins. When fe goes to court, news media
is everywhere, She says. The case was high profile because
of a slew of killings of young people in Arkansas
(17:23):
at the time.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Arkansas was on the rise of gang balance back in
the late eighties early nineties, and so of course law
enforcements was forced to do something about those crimes. So
they had a thing called banging in Arkansas. It was
like the Arkansas was like a small Los Angeles with
(17:46):
the crips and the bloods, and they had videos and
they still had these videos. You can pull them up
on YouTube called bang It in Arkansas.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
So I did this is the county coroner for Little Rock, Arkansas,
on one of the films several.
Speaker 7 (17:59):
Years ago, when I saw the death rate was increasing,
but the victims were becoming much younger and younger, and
began to see tattoos and brands on the victims, and
began to notice that the violence just was increasing, and
drive by shootings and random shootings and retaliation killings, and
it just went on and on. Until nineteen ninety two,
we had a record rate of homicides in Little Rock,
(18:22):
and it looks we've broken the record in nineteen ninety three,
and it's.
Speaker 8 (18:26):
Just gone on and on and on.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
In fact, a half hour earlier and a few blocks
away from Kevin Gaddy's murder, there was another potentially related crime.
Around five pm, Little Rock Police Department responded to an
aggravated assault where eyewitnesses told police there was a female perpetrator,
a male accomplice, and guess what a gray car. It's
unclear what happened with that case and something else related
(18:56):
to this crime. To help you understand, starting in the
late eighties, sports starter jackets were a hot commodity. An
article in The New York Times from February of nineteen
ninety discusses the phenomenon, calling it quote an increasingly pervasive
kind of urban crime, robberies by young people willing to
kill for clothes end quote. They cite that at the
(19:17):
time these jackets went from ninety to two hundred dollars,
which today would be about two hundred to four hundred dollars,
So Kevin Gaddy becoming a target for his jacket that
night was not necessarily unusual at the time. However, Fay's
attorney failed at making a case that Fay was caught
in the wrong place at the wrong time and that
(19:38):
she did not commit the crime. Fay was able to
testify on her own behalf, however, and she tried to
make the case for herself that she did not kill
her friend.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
In my little mind, I'm thinking that, you know, soon
as I go to court, I can just tell the
judge that I didn't do this and uc and I'll
go home. But the reality, that's not how it works,
you know. But I didn't know that I really believe
that I was going to get out of there.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
On April twenty first, nineteen ninety three, Fay was convicted
of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole. She
was just sixteen years old.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I didn't I didn't comprehend that I was going to
prison for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
You know.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
It was until I got back to the jail that
the jailer told me, you know, you're not going to
ever get out. You know you're going to jail, you know.
And so I was broken inside, you know, had been
ripped apart. You know, are you telling me? I'm thinking
to myself, are you saying that I can never be
with my parents again. I can never go back to
my bed, you know, my home. So I'm losing all
(20:51):
my friends. I mean, all this is going to be taken.
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Fay's world had turned completely upside down.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I had many days of crying. So when I was
first put in, I was put in a cell all
by myself because I was sixteen. But days later I
was sent to an adult place because I was charged
at an adult and so of course I had adults
tunt me and bothered me. I had even got jumped
(21:21):
on it in the county jail, you know, because of
this high profile and that's the juvenile that killed the
guy for his jacket, you know. That's how I was labeled.
And so I would go to my room, I would cry.
I wouldn't let people see me cry because if they
saw that, that a show a sign a weakness, and
(21:43):
they would really take advantage of you and do things.
But yeah, I was very scared.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Eventually, Fay settled into the prison environment and just like
in high school, her outgoing personality and love of people
got her through. By the time she had been there
for several years, she had started making a name for
herself as a generous person to those coming into the system.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
And so a lot of ladies come in there and
they don't have the headphones and things like that. So
I always had extra so I can share with the
other ladies, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
In two thousand and nine, Tiffany Woods came to prison.
Speaker 9 (22:26):
I was incarcerated for DWIS. So they had moved me
in the barracks with a and in order to watch TV,
you have to have a radio. Well, I didn't have
any family outside, do you know, to actually send me
any money to buy me a radio. So I've seen
(22:47):
fayees all bubbly playing games and stuff, and I was like,
excuse me, ma'am, can I borrow your radio? And so
she was like, yeah, it's over there on my bed.
So that started our friendship.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Fay and Tiffany hit it off, and when Tiffany got out,
she promised Fay she would write her.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
You know, being in prison, you meet people and people
tell you I'm going to write you, I'm going to
support you, you know, all the way, and so you
hear that all the time, and I had been let
down so many times. Well, but Tiffany, Tiffany left and
she wrote me, and I was like, oh my god,
this girl really wrote me. And then she sent me
(23:30):
a phone number and said I could call her. And
I could not believe it because that was something that
had never happened throughout my whole incoseration, to be able
to have contact with another resident that had once been there.
Speaker 9 (23:45):
It's a smile loyalty.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
If I tell you I'm going to do something, I'm going.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
To do it.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Tiffany and Fey maintained their friendship over the years, all
the while Fay fought for her She filed appeal after
appeal after appeal for reasons including ineffective assistance of counsel
face as her second attorney, Bill MacArthur, failed to meet
with her before trial and failed to file any discovery
motions or conduct an investigation. He failed to show why
(24:16):
Fay could not have committed this crime, starting with the
description of the shooter. The shooter, according to Tony Davis's
testimony at the trial, was a black woman with scars
under her eyes and light brownish red curly hair peeking
out of a black hat, and she was wearing a
big winter coat and pants. This description does not fit
(24:37):
Fait at all. She had no scars under her eyes,
was wearing white church clothes, and her hair was in
a top knot for.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
Folks who were very familiar with black hair African American hair.
She couldn't have gotten her hair up into this very smooth,
beautiful top knot if it had been a red curly
dew under a cap just hours earlier.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Right, this is Trisia Bushnell. She's the executive director of
the Midwest Innocence Project known as the MIP.
Speaker 8 (25:04):
But none of those things ever come out and none
of those things are ever investigated or brought to the
jury's attention. You know, when you look at Phase case
and you look at the evidence, you can really just
think there's really no good evidence here, right. You can
look at it and say, there's no good evidence. So
how does she get convicted? Well, part of it is
it's just racism, very simple, right, But you have a
system that has a young black girl up there and
(25:25):
the state is saying she did it, and what does
that read like to jurors?
Speaker 1 (25:28):
The bias appears to have started with the cops who
arrested Fay on the spot, and Fay feels strongly that
there was racial profiling involved. Frisha is currently Phase attorney.
The MIP took Phase case in twenty fourteen when they
reviewed it and realized it's stunk of a wrongful conviction.
Speaker 8 (25:47):
So there's actually were a lot of witnesses to this crime.
And when we went and talked to people, five other
people who actually also knew Fay so it was not her,
including Sean Riggan's brother who was standing with him at
the car and said we couldn't see any from where
we were.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
At the car. Sean Riggins, remember had told police that
Fay was the shooter, but he ultimately did recant his identification.
Speaker 8 (26:10):
And that was the basis of new evidence that we
used when we filed a federal habeas petition asking them
to overturn Fhay's conviction. Filed that in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
The MIP also brought up in the appeal the four
additional eyewitnesses who said the shooter was not Fay and
who were never called to testify at trial. However, before
a judge could respond to the petition, there was a
new development. In twenty twelve, the United States Supreme Court
ruled in millervers Alabama, that juveniles cannot be sentenced to
(26:42):
mandatory life without parole like Fay was. Those who had
received this sentence are entitled to a re sentencing hearing.
But Fay had a difficult decision to make. If she
was resentenced and released based on the time she had
already served, she could not fight her innocence claim. And remember,
(27:02):
there were two people involved in the crime, a man
and a woman, and a man was originally charged with Fay.
Speaker 8 (27:09):
And we know in the co defendant's case, when his
attorney asked for discovery, they dropped the charges, so we
wanted to know what was it, specifically from the crime lab,
and rather than giving us that, they gad an offer
of time served. And that is when Fay then had
to make a really difficult and horrific choice of you know,
(27:29):
do I want to keep pursuing my innocence claim in
this federal court.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
If she did, she could lose the deal to be
released based on time served. So she had to choose
accept this chance to be free, knowing she would remain
a felon or stay in prison and continue the potentially
never ending fight for her own exoneration. On July sixteenth,
(27:54):
twenty eighteen, they accepted the time served offer and walked
out of prison.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
To walk out of those gates. It was such a
release that I was like, oh my god, I am out.
Yet I had some emotions because I thought about the
ones that I was leaving behind, and that was the
(28:21):
life that I knew because I'd been there for over
twenty summer, So you know, I had these mixed emotions.
Yet I was so happy to be home with those
that had been fighting to get me out and be
around people other people.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
One of those people was Tiffany.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
She was gone. Ten years before I ever got out.
But that whole ten years she was out, she constantly
rode me, send me money, just was there for me faithfully,
And that was something that I had never in my
life experience. I had no one to be so genuine, authentic.
It was just unbelievable. I was like, they don't make
people like they make Tiffany anymore.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Tiffany and Fay's relationship developed into a romantic one. These days,
they travel back and forth to see each other. Fay
lives in Kansas City, Missouri, and Tiffany out in rural Huntsville, Arkansas.
Speaker 9 (29:14):
I am country. I would rather to be in the
woods than the city.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Do you bring her to the woods?
Speaker 9 (29:19):
Yes, as much as possible, But and then she takes
me to the city, Like, we have a fishing trip
planned here pretty soon, so I want to I have
to go get our tent.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Wow, how's how's being in the woods?
Speaker 3 (29:35):
How's camping? I don't picture you as a camper?
Speaker 1 (29:38):
I am not.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
I am not. That's her. And so where she lives Huntsville,
population seventy five. She's been there all her life. I
don't think I would ever live in a country town like.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
I wish could see your face right.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
Now, but uh yeah, hopefully in the future Tiffany and
I could. We would live together and have our fur
babies and the babies that you know that I desire
to have it we could be a big family.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
They and Tiffany hope to have a family someday. But
since they was resentenced and released, her conviction still stands,
so she's technically still a convicted felon.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
Because of this felony, I cannot adopt, which is heartbreaking.
Yet I'm hoping to maybe possibly have a surrogate, so
that's the goal, and if not my niece, hopefully they
can have babies for me something like that. And I
(30:49):
also have three amazing babies. They are two Snauzers and
one tiny teacup Chihuahua that are my babies.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
But as of adopting, life has been hard with the
label convicted felon attached to her, even with the support
of the MIP.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
When I do go for interviews or go to apply,
I'm given a letter that you know, she's actually innocent
of this crime. Yet we're still fighting to clear her name,
and so it helps in some aspects, but I've been
denied Howsen in spite of the letter. So sometimes it
(31:30):
does and sometimes it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Fay currently works as a receptionist for Chevrolet in Kansas City.
She also advocates for other wrongfully incarcerated people and is
on the board of an organization which helps formally incarcerated
women returning to society. Fay's only shot at exoneration is
now clemency, and her first clemency petition from Arkansas Governor
(31:58):
Asa Hutchinson was denied. She cannot apply again for another
eight years.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
You know, I'm just so happy to be free. Yet
I'm physically free, but I'm not free.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
If you want to help Faye, go to change dot
org and type in Fay Jacobs to ask Governor Asa
Hutchinson to pardon Faye next time. On Wrongful Conviction with
Maggie Freeling Hank Skinner, I'm.
Speaker 10 (32:29):
Sitting there looking at think Gurnie that they're fixing to
put me on. I could see it through the door,
the head the door open, I could see the microphone,
I could see the straps, arm boards, and I was
absolutely convinced that I was fixing it die.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling.
Please support 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 Flamm and
Kevin Words, as well as our senior producer Annie Chelsea,
researcher Lila Robinson, story editor Sonia Paul, with additional production
(33:08):
by Jeff Cleiburn and Connor Hall. The music in this
production is by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph.
Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction,
on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at
Wrongful Conviction, as well as at Lava for Good. On
all three platforms, you can also follow me on both
(33:29):
Instagram and Twitter at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with Maggie
Freeling is a 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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