Cruel Justice Episode 41: Sabrina Butler-Smith and Nathalie Greenfield — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:01okay
- 0:02hi everyone um
- 0:06okay sam
- 0:07live stream yes we're live stream
- 0:10uh so hi everyone welcome to the 41st
- 0:15uh episode of crude justice
- 0:18uh my name is herman lindsey i'm
- 0:19florida's death for exoneree and
- 0:22there was secretary of water witness to
- 0:24innocent for those that don't know what
- 0:25witness innocence we are an organization
- 0:28mainly built of death roy's honorees
- 0:31around the united states where our
- 0:34mission is to go around and abolish the
- 0:36death penalty
- 0:37our show is to go around and educate
- 0:40people of this miscarriage that involved
- 0:44the um death penalty not only just the
- 0:47role for convictions but main issues
- 0:50that is so damaging that shows that we
- 0:52shouldn't have a deal here in the united
- 0:55states you know and one of the hopes is
- 0:57not only that we educate people that are
- 1:01potential jurors to understand that um
- 1:06their decisions when dealing with a
- 1:07definitive case or any case is very very
- 1:11vital that they pay attention to the
- 1:13evidence and question what they feel
- 1:15they need the question
- 1:17also we hope to reach uh legislators and
- 1:21all other people that use this case this
- 1:24show to uh get them to call us upon
- 1:28action
- 1:29you know call upon action to help us uh
- 1:32get rid of this mechanism or call the
- 1:35death penalty
- 1:36today
- 1:37our subject is which
- 1:40a couple of weeks back i had a
- 1:43show and it was like the most amazing
- 1:46show where
- 1:47i
- 1:48learned about the problems that women on
- 1:52death row have you know i never
- 1:55you know me going through trial
- 1:57and me going through uh death row and
- 2:00being exonerated you know i had a tunnel
- 2:03vision of
- 2:04how it was for me and i
- 2:07i suspected it was like that with
- 2:08everyone but then when i find out how
- 2:12the women are treated so much
- 2:15differently
- 2:16and it's like back in in the early
- 2:20early early years of society being
- 2:23brought together i mean in the 1800s way
- 2:26back you know
- 2:28civilization how
- 2:30uh
- 2:31people perceive women to be a certain
- 2:33way
- 2:34you know changes have came about you
- 2:36know before it was like a woman had to
- 2:39always wear dress you know and you know
- 2:42i didn't think that america had those
- 2:45type of codes
- 2:46i know when you go across seas you know
- 2:50the muslim witness have to have certain
- 2:52um
- 2:54coverage
- 2:55but i didn't know america had that and
- 2:58when i found that
- 3:00those type of things play a part
- 3:03in the trials over here with women where
- 3:06they are perceived to have to be a
- 3:08certain way in society
- 3:10and they scrutinize them and it also
- 3:13blinds the jury to see
- 3:16the evidence that's against them or to
- 3:18to to evaluate the case in a fair way
- 3:21because they jump to a prejudice mark
- 3:24because
- 3:25she
- 3:26uh
- 3:27wore excuse my language thongs as
- 3:29underwears you know that she is not
- 3:32appropriate woman and you know
- 3:36me personally i know i would love to see
- 3:39my wife and don't sometimes you know and
- 3:42that's appropriate she's trying to be
- 3:44sexy for her husband or whatever but to
- 3:47judge a woman by the underworld
- 3:50or judge the woman to say she's an unfit
- 3:53mother or this and that and don't even
- 3:56look at the evidence and here today we
- 3:58have sabrina butler who was the first
- 4:00lady and this is a
- 4:03a thing about sabrina case
- 4:06they looked at
- 4:07to me from reading her case they looked
- 4:09at she looked that looked at her that
- 4:11she was an unfit mother too they didn't
- 4:13pay attention to the evidence where
- 4:16uh the evidence was being
- 4:18uh manipulated
- 4:20to to say that she committed the crime
- 4:22she committed and
- 4:24you know
- 4:25it's just
- 4:27sad to see
- 4:28that
- 4:29we are people of society
- 4:32actually think like that then we have uh
- 4:35miss natalie greenfield who was uh from
- 4:38the cornell center of the deaf community
- 4:40worldwide you know she's
- 4:42kind of endless because she deal with
- 4:44these uh cases of of so many different
- 4:47cases with with women on death row and
- 4:51some of the things that she sees man is
- 4:54like
- 4:56it's like
- 4:57women are being
- 5:00uh
- 5:02how can i say very it's they're being
- 5:04very prejudiced against women and
- 5:06classifying them
- 5:08just because some of the things that
- 5:11they be has been a natural moment
- 5:14and i didn't think we had that here in
- 5:16the united states so we had to put this
- 5:18show together so first i'm gonna let uh
- 5:21sabrina introduce herself and tell you a
- 5:23little bit about her
- 5:29um yes thank you herman my name is
- 5:31sabrina bulla smith and i'm the first
- 5:33woman to be exonerated in the united
- 5:35states from death row
- 5:37my case was in mississippi
- 5:39i was
- 5:40convicted and sentenced to death march
- 5:4313 1990 my death date was july the
- 5:46second
- 5:47i spent six and a half years all
- 5:49together
- 5:50two and a half years on death row i was
- 5:53exonerated in 95
- 5:56and i currently now work with witness to
- 5:58innocence um death row exonerees
- 6:00speaking around the world against the
- 6:02death penalty and things that we could
- 6:03change as far as the justice system is
- 6:06concerned
- 6:12i just have one question for you sabrina
- 6:15what was the cause of your exoneration
- 6:18the cause of my exoneration was that my
- 6:20son i didn't kill my child he had heart
- 6:23lung kidney problems and chronic bowel
- 6:25syndrome and it was already there they
- 6:28knew my son was sick they just held the
- 6:30evidence in order you know to get a
- 6:32conviction
- 6:34and
- 6:36one of the things was the
- 6:37medical examiner reports was wrong right
- 6:41yes
- 6:42okay so
- 6:43despite that
- 6:45that we had an expert speaking do you
- 6:48believe because you was a woman and that
- 6:51it was your child involved do you
- 6:53believe that played a big part of being
- 6:55prejudiced against
- 6:57and and could affect the the verdict of
- 7:00the jury i do think so because they
- 7:03called me a monster an unfit mother
- 7:05uh i was living in poor situations and
- 7:08they knew that this kind of stuff would
- 7:10happen
- 7:11um and just
- 7:12all kind of labels was put you know on
- 7:14upon me without really just looking at
- 7:16the evidence the lawyers just didn't do
- 7:18their jobs as as to
- 7:20you know what happened to my son and the
- 7:23district attorney just was able to get
- 7:25away with with everything
- 7:29so my next guest you know she's looking
- 7:31very beautiful with her curly hair also
- 7:34i i i feel kind of bad but women got
- 7:37curly hair and i feel like you know
- 7:40but uh they both are beautiful
- 7:43my next guest is natalie greenfield can
- 7:46you tell the people uh
- 7:49a little bit about yourself and what you
- 7:51how you are involved in this with the
- 7:53women on delta
- 7:56thank you herman um and thanks for
- 7:58having me on your show tonight it's real
- 7:59privilege to be here with sabrina
- 8:02um i work at the cornell center on the
- 8:04death penalty worldwide
- 8:06and we focus on the cases of women we've
- 8:09um launched a big project that's really
- 8:12looking at women's cases because our
- 8:14research um
- 8:16and the the clients with whom we're
- 8:17working are really pointing to the fact
- 8:20that although women are minority on
- 8:22death row
- 8:23in the united states and around the
- 8:25world and there are actually very
- 8:28gendered reasons for which women are
- 8:29sentenced to death what we're seeing
- 8:32is that women are typically sentenced to
- 8:35death for being bad women so for being
- 8:38bad mothers i mean sabrina's told us
- 8:40about her case and and tragically that's
- 8:43not rare
- 8:44um and and we see juries
- 8:47fairly commonly sentencing women to
- 8:49death for
- 8:51for
- 8:53the death of their own children and um
- 8:55prosecutors bringing in evidence about
- 8:57how how these women are monsters and
- 9:00dreadful mothers because we have this
- 9:01this view of women in society that your
- 9:04number one role is to be a mother and to
- 9:06be a good mother so um
- 9:09a lot of the research we were doing was
- 9:12showing that women are centered for
- 9:13these genders gender reasons and that's
- 9:16led us to really try and pursue um what
- 9:18is going on here and and the center now
- 9:21represents
- 9:23and consults on a number of cases around
- 9:25the country and around the world um of
- 9:27women who are facing the death penalty
- 9:31so
- 9:32you know
- 9:34i'm not an attorney i do a lot of
- 9:36educational things you know like
- 9:38um and working towards mitigation
- 9:40litigation work um
- 9:43are women cases when dealing with such
- 9:48uh thoughts and um
- 9:52i mean it doesn't quite fit up under
- 9:54prosecuted misconduct
- 9:56uh presenting this stuff because
- 9:59it's up to the jury to decide
- 10:01but then here you know most people in
- 10:04society
- 10:05um
- 10:06you know
- 10:08a man probably
- 10:09on the jury might don't
- 10:12don't have so much prejudice against um
- 10:16the type of underwear a dress code
- 10:19but a woman name
- 10:21so
- 10:22how difficult or challenged it is to get
- 10:26over this hurdle of such prejudice in
- 10:29these cases
- 10:31it's a really good question and i think
- 10:33something that really compounds how
- 10:35difficult it is and everything you've
- 10:37just been saying herman is is the media
- 10:40coverage i mean we could spend all night
- 10:41talking about media coverage of women's
- 10:43cases but um the me because women are
- 10:47less commonly um involved in homicide
- 10:50trials and facing the death penalty the
- 10:52media really tends to journalists can go
- 10:55all in on women and can really really
- 10:57demonize women we've had clients talk to
- 11:00us about how um they were
- 11:03slandered all over the press for
- 11:06what they were accused of doing one of
- 11:08our clients in oklahoma her case
- 11:11got more coverage in the press all about
- 11:14her
- 11:15her mothering and what she was wearing
- 11:17and her supposed boyfriends and she got
- 11:19more coverage than the oklahoma city
- 11:20bombings which is is
- 11:23really quite scandalous and so
- 11:25jurors are coming into these cases with
- 11:29um this background of media coverage
- 11:31that they've been exposed to and then
- 11:33there's a common narrative that we're
- 11:34that's coming through from the
- 11:35prosecution and all of it really
- 11:38compounds to draw on these stereotypes
- 11:40and so
- 11:41really ask
- 11:42you know ask the question are these
- 11:44women being sentenced because they're
- 11:46stereotypically bad women
- 11:49um and is that the standard we really
- 11:51want to be applying here in this
- 11:53incredibly unjust system and then you
- 11:56add to that the fact that a lot of women
- 11:58and
- 12:00on death row you know overwhelmingly
- 12:02have experienced a lot of trauma in
- 12:03their lives and so that's you know
- 12:06either not brought in at all
- 12:08or um it might affect how they're
- 12:10presenting and so all of this comes
- 12:13together to add to the story of how this
- 12:16woman is a bad woman is a transgressive
- 12:18woman
- 12:19and um
- 12:20and jurors are a convicting base and
- 12:22sentencing based on this information
- 12:27i want to touch on that
- 12:29trauma stuff because i believe
- 12:31uh that plays a big part but i want to
- 12:34go to sabrina for a second um
- 12:38you spoke about how they
- 12:41try to dehumanize women during the
- 12:45process of trial
- 12:46sabrina
- 12:48if i may ask you
- 12:51how did that apply to you
- 12:54during the course of going to trial
- 12:57well one thing in particular they look
- 12:59at how
- 13:00you cry if you're not crying enough if
- 13:03you're not looking a certain way then
- 13:05you must have did it if you know you
- 13:07know what i'm saying me going through
- 13:09trial i was only 17. so i really i just
- 13:12had a
- 13:13little stoic look on my face because i
- 13:14you know i didn't know what to ex
- 13:17oh i didn't know what i was going to
- 13:19what was going to happen to me i didn't
- 13:21really understand so therefore i just
- 13:23you know i was scared inside but i tried
- 13:26to hold up and show that hey i'm not
- 13:28scared that's what most of us do and so
- 13:31they took that as though you know she
- 13:32looked this kind of way and she didn't
- 13:34have this
- 13:35she was angry and she was you know what
- 13:38i'm saying that and they use a lot of
- 13:40that in in media coverage against me and
- 13:42that's why they made me like a monster
- 13:44talk to you know talked about me
- 13:46as if i was a you know didn't care about
- 13:48my children and none of that wasn't a
- 13:51good mom none of that because of the way
- 13:52i look
- 13:55what's your treatment
- 13:57towards you would you say the treatment
- 13:59towards you going through this process
- 14:01of being incarcerated on death row and
- 14:04uh you know going back and forth to
- 14:07trial do you feel that if that was uh
- 14:10you was treated differently than what
- 14:11they would do with a man
- 14:13i think so because like is as far as
- 14:16going to jail and stuff like that
- 14:18personal hygiene they didn't care about
- 14:20that you were on your own trying to get
- 14:22personal things from the the jailers or
- 14:25anybody like that you know like as far
- 14:27as sanitary napkins things women need
- 14:30when incarcerated we suffer more so than
- 14:33i think i mean i'm not saying men don't
- 14:36suffer but i think it's harder for women
- 14:37because a lot of us come to prison with
- 14:40our you know have children
- 14:42those children are just out there you
- 14:44got to figure out where they're going
- 14:45who's going to keep them you know you go
- 14:47through a lot so that's added trauma as
- 14:50as a compare you know as uh it's added
- 14:53trauma and plus you're in incarcerated
- 14:56so
- 14:57i think it's much more harder for us and
- 14:59then we're
- 15:00i think we're treated as second-class
- 15:02citizens i don't think they look at us
- 15:04because the prison that i was in
- 15:06they kind of let the guys took over and
- 15:08they just put us in buildings that was
- 15:11for the females but they took the
- 15:12females out and put them in open
- 15:14and put us in smaller cramped areas that
- 15:16were worse off so yeah we were treated a
- 15:19lot different and as far as uh people
- 15:22the way they were talking to me and all
- 15:24that yeah i was a baby killer they
- 15:26called me child killer baby killer all
- 15:28kind of stuff you know i heard it all
- 15:31and i mean that's just that was
- 15:32humiliating and sad at the same time
- 15:34because i lost my son and nobody cared
- 15:37you know they you know i'm just this
- 15:39guilty person so
- 15:41that's the way it was you know until i
- 15:43proved my innocence
- 15:45which for all that's worth but i'm just
- 15:47saying that's another chapter but yeah
- 15:50and from my opinion you know it's just
- 15:53my opinion uh from listening to you
- 15:56uh you know i know
- 15:58as a man going through trials and things
- 16:00like that georgia guards are more afraid
- 16:03of us and then they're afraid of the man
- 16:06because the crime that they're arrested
- 16:08for and they feel like the person don't
- 16:10have nothing to lose and you know do you
- 16:12want to take on it's like an
- 16:13intimidation thing
- 16:15and then you know some
- 16:17uh
- 16:18do it but they do it when you they lock
- 16:20make sure they lock the doors before
- 16:22they uh scrutinize you or try to
- 16:24dehumanize you
- 16:26uh so i can i can kind of relate and
- 16:29understand what you're saying about
- 16:31how
- 16:32they
- 16:33the the the guards treat you because you
- 16:36know they can't they don't just go up in
- 16:38the man face majority time and talk
- 16:41trash they wait before they lock behind
- 16:44the bars as for a woman they feel like
- 16:47you know you you you're weaker or
- 16:49because you're crying or you know it's
- 16:52bothering you that you know they can
- 16:55uh what they call boo you up more
- 16:58you know and i can sense that but i want
- 17:00to go back to you natalie uh
- 17:03you know one of the things like i said i
- 17:05wanted to touch on this trauma
- 17:08you know is is
- 17:10is like for instance uh
- 17:13sabrina for instance
- 17:16she had
- 17:17trauma just by
- 17:19losing her child
- 17:21and
- 17:23they didn't care about that because they
- 17:24felt like she was the one who committed
- 17:26it so they hardly trump they pounded the
- 17:29trump pounded the order then you have
- 17:32other cases such as and i always go to
- 17:36this case because when i this is what
- 17:38sparked me on this women thing is that
- 17:40lisa montgomery case who was executed
- 17:44and
- 17:44how she was actually
- 17:48went to the police a couple of times
- 17:50but about the abuse that she was going
- 17:53through and about the raping she was uh
- 17:56going through and
- 17:58you know
- 17:59and every time she most time she went to
- 18:01the police they took a rap back to the
- 18:03same environment where to the same
- 18:05person that was accused of wanting but
- 18:08society is not looking at that mr
- 18:11psychic not looking at the trauma that
- 18:14pushes a person that pushes them
- 18:16slamming slamming a person to the fact
- 18:19that
- 18:20they they are so traumatized and
- 18:23sometimes they're not i know for me i
- 18:26suffer uh i don't know what the the the
- 18:30diagnosable cause of it but sometimes in
- 18:33life i'll be feeling so long to operate
- 18:36normally
- 18:37but
- 18:38because of the trauma of what i've been
- 18:40through i i
- 18:43you know i'm not grasping and everything
- 18:45in
- 18:46on one so i can imagine
- 18:48how the trauma of someone who's going
- 18:51through consonant abuse and counsel
- 18:54uh consistent uh uh uh
- 18:57raping and and stuff like that they'll
- 18:59go to help then this is like they have
- 19:02nowhere to turn and a lot of these
- 19:04women's that's on death row
- 19:07suffer dramatically
- 19:09with trauma before they committed these
- 19:11crimes
- 19:12can you elaborate a little bit about
- 19:15that trouble and
- 19:19receive a trial
- 19:22it's so important herman um what you're
- 19:24saying there it's
- 19:27women who are um serving extreme
- 19:30sentences death sentences life sentences
- 19:34um
- 19:35overwhelmingly have experienced
- 19:38gender-based violence in their life that
- 19:40is um perhaps domestic violence sexual
- 19:43abuse
- 19:44physical abuse abuse when they were
- 19:46children
- 19:48and
- 19:48um i'm glad you mentioned lisa
- 19:50montgomery's case because it is a very
- 19:53clear example of how
- 19:56um
- 19:57abuse at the hands usually of men can
- 20:00shape
- 20:01a woman's life and almost become a
- 20:03pipeline to the point where she
- 20:06might commit an offense i know you
- 20:08primarily work with and people who are
- 20:10innocent at winners to innocence um and
- 20:14a lot of our clients are not actually
- 20:16um
- 20:17innocent in in the sense that you know
- 20:20they they might have some involvement in
- 20:22an offense but this
- 20:24what
- 20:25the system completely neglects to
- 20:28account for
- 20:29is the state's own complicity
- 20:32in how someone might get to the point
- 20:34where where they um are involved in a
- 20:36crime
- 20:37because as you said you know if someone
- 20:40is experiencing abuse and has no
- 20:42protection from the state at all and
- 20:44turns to whether it's law enforcement
- 20:46officers teachers parents anybody for
- 20:49help and doesn't receive that
- 20:52that has a psychological impact on a
- 20:55person and that can really affect how
- 20:57someone behaves and how they respond to
- 21:00others around them
- 21:02some a case that really comes to mind is
- 21:04that of erica shepard erica is um on
- 21:07death row in texas at the moment and she
- 21:10repeatedly turned to people for help so
- 21:13a very very traumatic childhood and
- 21:15adolescence
- 21:17and she
- 21:18went to um
- 21:20two different shelters she ran away from
- 21:22her multiple times and went to a
- 21:23homeless shelter once and was turned
- 21:25right back to her home where she was
- 21:27suffering physical abuse later in her
- 21:29life she went to a women's shelter
- 21:31because she was suffering domestic
- 21:33violence and was kicked out of that
- 21:35shelter
- 21:36she um was in hospital for for
- 21:39pregnancies and also for trauma related
- 21:41to
- 21:42injuries that her um her husband was
- 21:45inflicting on her and all of the time
- 21:47the state
- 21:48actors were just turning her back into
- 21:51an abusive situation
- 21:53and and we've really got to ask
- 21:54ourselves you know
- 21:56at what point is
- 21:58are we saying that
- 22:00you know where should the state be
- 22:01stepping in here where women
- 22:03have a human right to be free from
- 22:05violence and are in need of protection
- 22:08and um where people are repeatedly being
- 22:11denied that right at what point uh
- 22:14is society complicit in actions that may
- 22:17then later result
- 22:19speaking of erica i just um if you don't
- 22:21mind want to read a quote from her she
- 22:24wrote to us recently and i think she
- 22:26really encapsulates this point that that
- 22:29you've been making her and about how um
- 22:32people seek help and are continually
- 22:34turned away so these are erica's own
- 22:36words she says
- 22:37using capital punishment our
- 22:39incarceration as the sole response to
- 22:41violence fails to achieve justice
- 22:43because you're simply sending people
- 22:45especially black and brown people into a
- 22:47system that has already failed them
- 22:50and i think what she's saying there is
- 22:52really powerful
- 22:54and the thing about it is that uh
- 22:59who's the actually at fault
- 23:02you know i understand the person
- 23:04that commits the crime is actually um uh
- 23:09guilty for most are guilty for if you're
- 23:12talking about the ones that are guilty
- 23:13right here
- 23:14talking about the ones that gives you
- 23:15right
- 23:16the ones that are guilty you know they
- 23:19they do commit the crime okay we get
- 23:21this they are guilty
- 23:23of that
- 23:24but
- 23:25as a person that worked with mitigations
- 23:28and litigation and finding mitigation
- 23:31reasons to to say no don't give this
- 23:35person death you know
- 23:37these
- 23:40these things that that actually we
- 23:43obtain
- 23:44where
- 23:45we have so much trouble
- 23:47from abuse
- 23:48and sometimes they start from childhood
- 23:51in the home you know um people been
- 23:53raped about ever men been raped you know
- 23:56we're not just talking about women here
- 23:58we talk about men being brave and we
- 24:01it's so much stuff that
- 24:03people been bullied so much
- 24:06until this very things that society is
- 24:10it
- 24:11says they're stepping up for
- 24:12we would not have bullying in school
- 24:15a person that's raping we don't tolerate
- 24:17this but then when we get into
- 24:20the penalty phase where we're asking
- 24:23for society to to think about the trauma
- 24:27what this person went through
- 24:29why this person don't deserve death it's
- 24:32like it's totally blind to it because of
- 24:36the crime they actually happen
- 24:38and everybody know is for instance if
- 24:41you take a woman that is is working
- 24:45right i hate to put it this way but
- 24:48a woman that is working
- 24:51she has four young kids
- 24:54she's trying to do work and they're
- 24:55driving her crazy driving the crazy
- 24:57at some point she's gonna get up from my
- 25:00work and say and put a foot down and say
- 25:03hey
- 25:04y'all sit down i'm trying to do mommy's
- 25:06trying to do work
- 25:08you know and try to put him in the bed
- 25:10or whatever and go back to hard work
- 25:13and i'm just using that as a point as
- 25:16the this the trauma
- 25:18keep coming on you baby and to a point
- 25:21where
- 25:22you you you you pushed
- 25:24you pushed
- 25:26so she had pushed herself from the hard
- 25:28work to settle the kids you know and
- 25:31sometimes it doesn't be so easy in that
- 25:34way as you know you could talk so calm
- 25:38sometimes it'd be pushed in a way where
- 25:40it consists of abuse
- 25:43applied abuse to someone else and it's
- 25:46not right but that's
- 25:48that's the it's like what they say
- 25:51pressure bust a pipe
- 25:53and that's what trauma does is just
- 25:55pushes pushes pushes pushes a person
- 25:58over
- 25:59and
- 26:00you know
- 26:02my thing about this is natalie is
- 26:07what
- 26:08message would you tell society
- 26:12dealing with
- 26:13the cases
- 26:14and
- 26:16mitigations reason we don't want to say
- 26:19society failure
- 26:21because
- 26:22somewhere in society they might have
- 26:24would have got help from somebody who
- 26:26really cares
- 26:28but majority government programs or
- 26:30majority of these other uh
- 26:33people that we run to
- 26:36they they just give money and not really
- 26:38care
- 26:39i mean women are running from domestic
- 26:41violence all the time
- 26:43well if you had a
- 26:45uh
- 26:47the audience as the jury on a case right
- 26:50now
- 26:52what would you
- 26:53tell them
- 26:55to get them to understand that this
- 26:56trouble is really serious and they need
- 26:59to be taken into consideration
- 27:03yeah absolutely i think um something
- 27:06that we we really need to ask is
- 27:09is
- 27:10the castle system really the right place
- 27:13for somebody who is traumatized you're
- 27:15speaking a lot about domestic violence
- 27:17for him and and the effects that that
- 27:19can have you know people can could
- 27:21develop post-traumatic stress disorder
- 27:23people can develop all kinds of mental
- 27:25illnesses from repeated traumatic
- 27:27experiences
- 27:29and is the best place for somebody
- 27:32really is is the best we can do a
- 27:34society to send somebody to
- 27:37a system that is incredibly cruel and
- 27:39dehumanizing and is not going to benefit
- 27:42anybody sabrina mentioned um how you
- 27:45know with her children it was traumatic
- 27:47because she had to raise child care you
- 27:49know we're taking somebody away from
- 27:50potentially their family and their
- 27:52children and not giving them the help
- 27:54that they need
- 27:56when really society has failed this
- 27:58person and has failed to step up before
- 28:01to provide that person with with the
- 28:03protection that they would need so
- 28:06um
- 28:07you know we
- 28:08it's
- 28:09really
- 28:10tough to try and change mentalities um
- 28:13especially when you know to back to
- 28:15something we've seen earlier some of the
- 28:16stereotypes about women are so deeply
- 28:18rooted
- 28:19especially with regard to
- 28:21to motherhood and being chaste and those
- 28:24kind of things
- 28:25but we've got to really keep pushing at
- 28:26it and i really do believe that we can
- 28:28do so much better for people who are in
- 28:31abusive situations than
- 28:34sending them off to death row or to a
- 28:37prison to serve a life sentence it's
- 28:39it's
- 28:40so unacceptable and
- 28:43compound trauma
- 28:45and it was very interesting to hear
- 28:47sabrina talking earlier about her
- 28:48experiences within
- 28:50the prison system it would be great to
- 28:52hear more i think but um it resonated a
- 28:54lot with some of what our clients have
- 28:56told us about the conditions that they
- 28:58have
- 28:58in prisons which also compound trauma
- 29:02people are facing sexual harassment from
- 29:04from prison guards for example prisons
- 29:06are entirely ill-equipped to serve
- 29:08women's needs the prison system
- 29:10was designed by men with men in mind
- 29:14and so you know we've got um
- 29:16women in in texan prisons that are
- 29:19incredibly hot who are going through
- 29:20menopause who you know
- 29:22that's such a difficult situation
- 29:25that um
- 29:27that people who menstruate have to face
- 29:29um and and the sexual harassment people
- 29:32who are having to show their breasts to
- 29:34get a cup of water when it's a really
- 29:36hot day and it's um
- 29:38all of this comes together to to
- 29:41compound trauma and to do absolutely
- 29:44nothing to serve people's needs
- 29:47sabrina
- 29:48have you just sent a message to all the
- 29:51viewers and all the viewers are juries
- 29:55what would
- 29:56you
- 29:58ask them to consider a little bit more
- 30:01that they didn't consider in your tribe
- 30:04first of all women's rights i mean we've
- 30:06always had to fight to get what i point
- 30:08across it's not about being barefoot
- 30:11pregnant in the kitchen you know what
- 30:12i'm saying no rights at all
- 30:14god dog i mean i'm you know every every
- 30:17woman doesn't want to be pregnant i'm
- 30:19just here to tell you we got strong
- 30:21women independent women out here that
- 30:23have the right to do what they need to
- 30:25do at any point in time my daughter's
- 30:26one of them she doesn't want any kid
- 30:28so what i'm saying is
- 30:31look at me for the case and and
- 30:34that's what i would have wanted them to
- 30:35do look at me for the case and do the
- 30:37right thing don't just look at me and
- 30:39say oh i'm an unfit mother and all this
- 30:41kind of stuff because you got this over
- 30:43here
- 30:44do the invest you should have done the
- 30:46investigative work because i should not
- 30:48have went to prison at all
- 30:50if you would have done but they had
- 30:52their own way of doing things and they
- 30:54looked at me like i was a crack headed
- 30:56and i have never done drugs before in my
- 30:58life but
- 30:59this case i was a crackhead i was a a
- 31:02monster i was this i was that that was
- 31:05crazy i mean
- 31:07women have rights too yes we have uh hot
- 31:10flashes and all that and it is important
- 31:12hot flashes kill you
- 31:15if they are
- 31:16horrible and i mean you know in prison i
- 31:20i saw the male guards the canine unit
- 31:22they come down they beat up the women
- 31:25you should have women over women not men
- 31:28over women
- 31:30you know what i'm saying that because i
- 31:31think that
- 31:32you know women will appeal to other
- 31:34women as as opposed to it being a
- 31:37strictly male situation now i'm not
- 31:40bashing the mail so don't get on me
- 31:42don't come after me i'm just saying
- 31:46we we deserve rights too man we have
- 31:48rights too as women
- 31:50we really do and we shouldn't have to
- 31:52fight as hard as we are to to have a
- 31:54place in this world we shouldn't but we
- 31:57do and it's sad
- 31:59it's like beating your chest oh i'm the
- 32:01man oh
- 32:02women go sit down no that ain't the way
- 32:04it should be
- 32:05we got rice too
- 32:09i'm still i'm still a thousand spot uh
- 32:14well i mean a lot back in the day that's
- 32:16the way they thought i'm serious that's
- 32:18the way they thought
- 32:19we could not talk we couldn't say
- 32:21anything if the husband whatever he said
- 32:23that's what went i mean he could go out
- 32:25and find 50 women we had to stay at the
- 32:28house barefoot pregnant in the kitchen
- 32:30that just let you guys know how old i am
- 32:34we're not going to talk about age but
- 32:35yeah
- 32:36question what
- 32:38was your judge of male or female male
- 32:43it mostly was male all around me
- 32:45mostly was male 1 a lot of people
- 32:49and in mississippi you have a good old
- 32:51connection
- 32:53oh boy system in place yes in my trial
- 32:56that's what it was
- 32:59kangaroo
- 33:01kangaroo that's right
- 33:05well you know we coming close to the end
- 33:07i have a video i'm gonna uh play right
- 33:10quick uh
- 33:11if alison can go ahead and share the
- 33:13screen but hopefully the
- 33:16visual uh the audio part will work
- 33:24[Music]
- 33:29i'm here today because i believe that
- 33:32julius jones is innocent i believe it
- 33:34down to the core of my heart and i think
- 33:36it's important as a community that we
- 33:39come out and show up for him
- 33:43this is amazing and it's just amazing
- 33:46that everybody came together no matter
- 33:48what background just to do the right
- 33:50thing
- 33:51i have a son just a couple years younger
- 33:54than julius and if something like this
- 33:56ever happened to him
- 33:58i would hope and pray that other people
- 34:00would get involved to help
- 34:05and we believe that
- 34:08god is a god of love not hate god is a
- 34:10god of life not death and what it means
- 34:12to love god and love our neighbors is to
- 34:14advocate for their lives and not their
- 34:16execution
- 34:21[Music]
- 34:26okay melinda will you please call the
- 34:28vote
- 34:29kelly doyle
- 34:31as i stated last month i
- 34:33continue to believe that there is doubt
- 34:35in this case
- 34:36in which
- 34:38the ultimate punishment should not be
- 34:40utilized i'm yes for clemency
- 34:43and at this point i am convinced that
- 34:47he is deserving of that and my vote is
- 34:50yes for clemency
- 34:52for the reasons previously stated at the
- 34:54commutation hearing my vote is yes to
- 34:55recommend clemency
- 35:03so we need everyone
- 35:05to now
- 35:07turn attention to governor kevin stitt
- 35:10he is the one who has to make the fun
- 35:17did they freeze up
- 35:25allison i think it froze up
- 35:27the recommendation that the board has
- 35:29now given him twice
- 35:31take the recommendation of the oklahoma
- 35:33pardon a parole board
- 35:35the governor stood
- 35:37you know i just pray that he's on the
- 35:38right side of history
- 35:41there's a lot of eyes on this case and
- 35:43he has the opportunity to to give julius
- 35:45the second lease on life and so i pray
- 35:47that he does that
- 35:49please don't let oklahoma execute an
- 35:51innocent man named julius darius jones
- 35:54who is my brother
- 35:57[Music]
- 36:02you know
- 36:03i just want to say
- 36:07this this is
- 36:10two things for me
- 36:12you know i've
- 36:14it's a great progress here at julius
- 36:16jones quesos we're here with the
- 36:18citizens
- 36:19has been supporting uh
- 36:22julius jones case and we
- 36:25i was recently out of oklahoma um
- 36:29in the capital
- 36:30you know it was amazing because they
- 36:32capital have a whole whale rat on the
- 36:34capitol
- 36:35grounds
- 36:37so it was amazing experience
- 36:39but what i want to also take out of this
- 36:41is that here
- 36:44this is a prime example
- 36:46you know we talk about we want justice
- 36:49in our system
- 36:50you know and to get justice in our
- 36:53system
- 36:54we as society has to pull together and
- 36:57get on the same level
- 36:59we have to understand that trauma plays
- 37:02a big part
- 37:03of people that's committing crimes
- 37:06we have to understand that we need to
- 37:08stop these people from suffering
- 37:12during this time of trauma
- 37:14we have to sit help the women out there
- 37:17that is getting abused taken
- 37:20advantage of and let them know that it
- 37:23is people out there that care
- 37:26we have to let them know that we as
- 37:28society
- 37:30is there to help try to protect her
- 37:33so she can live her life without having
- 37:37fear
- 37:38where she can leave her life we're
- 37:41getting the re rehabilitation that she
- 37:43needs
- 37:44to overcome this trauma
- 37:47and stay in a productive life
- 37:50not having her feel
- 37:53you know
- 37:54there's nowhere to turn
- 37:57that she's in the land of free and all
- 37:59of
- 38:01all that matters is
- 38:03you know
- 38:05money
- 38:06and the reason i save money is because
- 38:09that's what pushes political
- 38:12um things that's what pushes our justice
- 38:14system
- 38:15they make a lot of money off our justice
- 38:17system
- 38:18and you know when we talk about domestic
- 38:21violence we talk about rape
- 38:24when we talk about the slandering
- 38:26of a woman
- 38:28during her trial
- 38:30where she should be able which she
- 38:33should be able to sit comfortably
- 38:34because she is innocent until proven
- 38:38guilty
- 38:41she is still innocent until proven
- 38:44guilty
- 38:45but from the day one of her arrests she
- 38:48has to take torture
- 38:50as if she's guilty off top
- 38:53where people pre-judging her
- 38:56by
- 38:57the crying
- 38:59by the things that
- 39:02people say about her
- 39:04and taking away her self-esteem to fight
- 39:07in the courtroom to be
- 39:11a productive
- 39:12person
- 39:14and i think that today's show
- 39:17is a show
- 39:18that symbolized that
- 39:21we
- 39:22fighting causes in the justice system
- 39:26but
- 39:27i've been here
- 39:29speaking around the world for 10 years
- 39:32about 10 years
- 39:34i've had shows i've been in front of
- 39:36legislators and everything
- 39:38and majority of the time when we
- 39:41talking about cases and how broken the
- 39:44justice system is we're talking about
- 39:47witnesses uh
- 39:49um
- 39:50false witnessing
- 39:52false confessions uh
- 39:54police harassment prosecutor conduct
- 39:58but we never talked about those that's
- 40:00in society that's in that system
- 40:03that's badgering
- 40:05and badgering these women
- 40:08while they're going to trial
- 40:10and that is an issue that is a real flaw
- 40:13in our justice system
- 40:16i'm not an attorney
- 40:17i'm a person that been in that system
- 40:20sabrina is a person that's been in that
- 40:23system natalie is a person that has to
- 40:26work around that system and try to help
- 40:29get the best results
- 40:31for those that have suffered
- 40:33that has suffered and no one came to the
- 40:36rescue but the minute they've done wrong
- 40:40here it is
- 40:41they're getting
- 40:43beamed and beaten and punished in all
- 40:45types of method
- 40:47mutually
- 40:48everything
- 40:52before i go natalie
- 40:55sabrina i'm gonna go to natalie first
- 40:58uh
- 41:00is there anything you would like to say
- 41:02before
- 41:03we um
- 41:04come to the end of this show
- 41:08i would like to thank everybody for
- 41:10listening because i think that's how we
- 41:12start to change minds is by engaging
- 41:14people in conversation
- 41:16um and anyone who's on social media or
- 41:18who have access to social media i would
- 41:20really encourage you to get involved and
- 41:23you know
- 41:24we just saw the video about um julius
- 41:26jones and all of our thoughts are within
- 41:28but there's some really great activism
- 41:30going on online and people are really
- 41:32trying to push the needle and move us
- 41:35towards a day where we no longer have
- 41:37this absolutely barbaric punishment in
- 41:39the united states
- 41:41so
- 41:42i'd encourage people to check that out
- 41:45i enjoyed doing my show and i
- 41:47need to get in contact with you to
- 41:50you know whatever i can assist with
- 41:53where what the centers consist with
- 41:56we will proudly support
- 42:00your calls
- 42:01and i'm sure we'll have uh another show
- 42:04of this because this is something i want
- 42:06to hamburger out just like they hammer
- 42:08the women i want to hammer this out
- 42:10so that it reaches many people as
- 42:12possible
- 42:14um
- 42:15you know a lot of people don't know what
- 42:17actually goes on in prison or what goes
- 42:19on through uh the trial process
- 42:23of dealing with a case
- 42:25they just
- 42:27look at what's on the news or what's on
- 42:29the television show and we need to let
- 42:31them know from people that actually been
- 42:34involved how it really is
- 42:37so sabrina before i leave would you like
- 42:40to say anything
- 42:42i just like to say uh piggyback off what
- 42:44ms natalie said um yes um
- 42:47whenever you can anywhere you can just
- 42:50join us i mean just look at what's going
- 42:51on in the justice system if any way you
- 42:54can speak out any any voice that you
- 42:56want to use any platform just you know
- 42:59speak out and women have rights like i
- 43:02said and i think that we need to look at
- 43:04these these cases and we also need to
- 43:06look at them at the system as a whole
- 43:09and try to make a change and that's
- 43:10basically what you know i'm here to
- 43:13do
- 43:14thank you for having me
- 43:16miss natalie
- 43:18if it was i know i said one question but
- 43:21um
- 43:22as i go to my thought process
- 43:25is it
- 43:26in what ways uh is there any way that
- 43:30people in society right now
- 43:33can help you in your organization
- 43:36who's fighting hard for these women
- 43:38um do you have life for instance you
- 43:40have a website you have information
- 43:43you can share
- 43:45can you
- 43:46tell us absolutely
- 43:48um if people want to go to our website
- 43:50is www.deathpenaltyworldwide
- 43:55all of our social media links are on
- 43:56there and if you're on instagram you can
- 43:59check out at her whole truth
- 44:02and where we're telling the stories of
- 44:05some of the women who are on the inside
- 44:07and trying to spread awareness about um
- 44:10about their lives and about the abuses
- 44:12that they've suffered and and the
- 44:14conditions in which they now are forced
- 44:16to live
- 44:17and so if people want to help educate
- 44:19themselves and the people around them
- 44:22then then check out our website and
- 44:23check out our social media and spread
- 44:25the word
- 44:27and you know i want people to understand
- 44:32we had we here i know especially here
- 44:35witness dennis
- 44:36i know our staff will be very busy and i
- 44:39have amazing stuff
- 44:41uh amazing ed amazing board
- 44:44um
- 44:46i want y'all to understand if y'all
- 44:47trying to learn this stuff if anything
- 44:50we can help you with you contact our
- 44:52organization contact ms natalie
- 44:54organization you know and ask questions
- 44:57because you know the education on this
- 45:00is very very important because guess
- 45:02what you may be a potential juror
- 45:05you make it with you educated or you may
- 45:09have someone you know going through a
- 45:11case or something and you will be able
- 45:13to identify some of this stuff that is
- 45:15seriously a problem just by educating
- 45:18yourself on it now you know it may never
- 45:20be used
- 45:23hopefully it never be used where you
- 45:25have to be on uh
- 45:27a case and we have to defend you but
- 45:30you know it it's good to be educated
- 45:33instead of waiting for it to hit you at
- 45:35your back door before you try to learn
- 45:38and understand about it
- 45:40so with that being said you know i went
- 45:42over my 30 minutes
- 45:44um
- 45:46luckily i don't get fined from doing
- 45:48that but
- 45:49uh
- 45:50i want to thank everybody for joining us
- 45:53uh this week at crude justice and i ask
- 45:55that everyone that sees this video
- 45:58please share it
- 46:00please share it the more you share it is
- 46:03some information in this video that will
- 46:06allow
- 46:07someone
- 46:09to
- 46:10grasp what but they didn't know you know
- 46:14on what they needed to know
- 46:16and if we can reach one person every
- 46:18share guess what
- 46:20it's it's it's
- 46:22it's spreading it's spreading and that's
- 46:25helping us get the justice system in
- 46:28society on one page to understand that
- 46:31we want justice
- 46:33justice
- 46:35thank you from cruel justice
- 46:38thank you
- 46:39thanks so much
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