ANCHOR AUDIENCE BELLOWS BODIE BRIAN CHIEF COACH CROWD DAMIAN DAMIAN_RINCON DEPUTY_SHERIFF DETECTIVE_WISE DYLAN EASY EMT_WALKER FIREFIGHTER_1 FRANK_PARKER GREEVES GRETA HARVEY HEATHER HELEN HOMELESS_MEN HUSTLERS JACK JOE JUDGE JUDGE_SPEER JUSTICE KID LEMAY LEVI LUCIA MADELINE MAN_IN_CROWD OPERATOR_911 PEOPLE PEOPLE_IN_COURT REPORTER ROSEMARY SCOTT_FAMILY TOBEY VIOLET WOMAN WOMAN_DONOR WOMAN_VOICE_OVER_PA YOUNG_LEVI YOUNG_MADELINE YOUTHS HOMELESS MEN MADELINE Caleb Greeves? GREEVES Who the hell are you? MADELINE I represent Harvey Birkbeck. GREEVES Harve still up over at Statesville? MADELINE Going on 27 years. That's a long time to serve for a murder you and I both know he didn't commit. I have a court order authorizing me to collect a sample of your DNA. GREEVES Bad idea coming here by yourself, don't you think? MADELINE People know I'm here, Caleb. You take me out, there's gonna be ten more tomorrow and another ten the next day. It's the end of the road. You can't kill your way out of this one. GREEVES Says you lady. MADELINE OPERATOR 911 9-1-1. What is your emergency? MADELINE What happens to a dog when the owner dies? OPERATOR 911 Ma'am, is there an emergency? MADELINE Not anymore. VIOLET Good morning, Chicago. Once again we are recording from our offices at the Injustice Defense Group, a law firm that uses a podcast to shine a light on wrongful convictions. On this week's episode of Until Proven Innocent We're here with our regular guest and my boss, wrongful conviction attorney Madeline Scott. Her recent discovery of DNA evidence has gotten Harvey Birkbeck a new hearing after 27 years. Will an innocent man finally get to go home? This the first time you're facing off against Gore Bellows since you became a lawyer four years ago, correct? MADELINE Yes it is. VIOLET To the two people in the entire world who don't know, Gore Bellows is the very prosecutor who wrongfully convicted Madeline and her brother Levi Scott of first degree murder of her best friend Rosemary Lynch. Are you nervous going up against the man who put you away? MADELINE No. His approach in my case was so stunningly dishonest that any opportunity to show the world that our white knight State's Attorney is really a corrupt liar is an opportunity I'm eager to take. VIOLET And that is your law partner, Easy Boudreau, who I guess doesn't we're recording. This is Violet Price reminding you that nearly five percent of all people in prison are incarcerated for crimes they didn't commit. EASY Was it really necessary to antagonize Bellows? MADELINE It's always necessary. And it's fun. EASY "Fools give rise to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end." Proverbs. MADELINE "I'm a sinner I'm a saint, I do not feel ashamed." Meredith Brooks. EASY "I'm your hell I'm your dream-" MADELINE/EASY "I'm nothing in between." BODIE While I hate to break up this amazing rendition of late '90s feminist alternative rock, we got to get to court. MADELINE Yeah. Hey, Atticus. This is Atticus. What was I supposed to do? VIOLET At least he's black. EASY Exactly. VIOLET Sorry. MAN IN CROWD Madeline, I love your podcast! MADELINE Are you okay, Harvey? HARVEY Thank you. Yeah. DEPUTY SHERIFF All rise. The State v. Madeline and Levi Scott will now proceed. DEPUTY SHERIFF All rise. The People v. Harvey Birkbeck. You may be seated. JUSTICE Counselor, you may proceed. MADELINE Good morning, Your Honor. On behalf of Petitioner we would like to submit newly acquired DNA evidence that- BELLOWS Your Honor, may it please the court. The State withdraws its objection to the release of Mr. Harvey Birkbeck. PEOPLE BELLOWS I realize this is somewhat unusual, but in consideration of the new DNA evidence, clearly a mistake has been made. Contrary to what Ms. Scott would have the public believe, we prosecutors are also human beings. MADELINE Objection. Assumes facts not in evidence. PEOPLE JUSTICE Quiet please. Mr. Bellows, continue. BELLOWS An injustice has been done. This man has spent the better part of his life wrongfully imprisoned, and it gives me no greater joy than to say, "It's time for you to go home." The State moves to vacate Mr. Birkbeck's conviction of murder in the second degree. PEOPLE JUSTICE Congratulations, Mr. Birkbeck, you're a free man now. Case dismissed, the defendant is discharged. PEOPLE JUDGE We the jury, in the above entitle cause, find the defendants Madeline Scott and Levi Scott guilty of the crime of murder of Rosemary Lynch. YOUNG MADELINE No! No! We're innocent! We're innocent! I was never. YOUNG LEVI Your Honor, please! No! No, Your Honor! YOUNG MADELINE Your Honor, please! BELLOWS Well done, Maddie. I always wanted to tell you that your case was never personal for me. I was just doing my job and I honestly thought you were guilty. In fact, I still do. MADELINE What is that snake up to? EASY Bellows wants to avoid the humiliation and be the hero. It's pretty clever, actually. MADELINE Yeah, the real questions is why. VIOLET Today's Until Proven Innocent is being recorded at the performing arts center for our first annual Injustice Defense Group fund-raiser. AUDIENCE VIOLET Now, the whole world knows that Madeline got her bachelor's degree during her ten years in prison, and upon her release attended Yale Law School, graduating top of her class. AUDIENCE VIOLET But what most people don't realize is that her lawyer wasn't even a criminal defense lawyer when he took on her infamous case. EASY Nope. Re-insurance regulation. AUDIENCE VIOLET So, what happened? EASY Uh, truth be told, I thought she was guilty like everyone else did. Then Maddie sent me a letter. The letter said, "Please do not look away without at least hearing my story." I was so surprised, I thought perhaps this is the one case meant for me. And so I decided to follow the Lord's guidance and not look away. After a few months working together, I asked her about the number she'd written at the bottom of my special letter. 2,736. Turns out that was the number of other letters she'd sent before mine. I realized right then that I had discovered my purpose. Because if 2,735 trained lawyers would ignore this innocent girl who's case was famous, who was going to fight for all the innocent people behind bars who weren't famous? AUDIENCE VIOLET Now Rosemary Lynch was brutally murdered and yet her killer was never found. MADELINE That's correct. When someone goes to prison for a murder they didn't commit, it means the real murderer is still out there. EASY Same contribution as last year? WOMAN DONOR Absolutely. EASY Maybe a little more? BODIE My cover is a billionaire donor tonight. That's why I bought this hat. VIOLET It's not very believable. MADELINE Dylan, hi. DYLAN Hey. MADELINE Thank you for coming. DYLAN Yeah, of course. MADELINE Where's Becky? Sh-She couldn't make it? DYLAN Oh, you didn't hear. She, um she dumped me. MADELINE What? DYLAN Yeah. MADELINE That's crazy. You're like a rom-com character. DYLAN What do you mean? MADELINE Well, just, you know, you're handsome and you have a beard and a sexy reported job. DYLAN Oh, well, unfortunately, she did not feel that way about the job. She hated the job. It was just, um. I don't know, it was just too much travel. MADELINE If my boyfriend was covering the Middle East, I'd be in Heaven. I'm just. Just when you start to annoy me, you leave town. Dreamy. DYLAN Well, then maybe you and I should go out sometime. MADELINE That's good. You're hilarious. DYLAN Hmm. MADELINE I'm gonna go get a. I'm gonna go get a drink. DYLAN I thought you didn't drink. MADELINE You know, I think I'm gonna start. DYLAN Okay. MADELINE Okay. BELLOWS GRETA Don't be nervous, honey. You're gonna crush this. BELLOWS We don't have enough presence in Springfield. The numbers are still too low downstate. GRETA We've got plenty of time, and when we're through, your opponents will be scattered in piles of ashes. BELLOWS Nobody does metaphor quite like you do, my love. GRETA Now big smile, dear. CROWD BELLOWS It is with great pride and great humility that I announce my candidacy for the Attorney General of the great state of Illinois. If elected, I promise to enforce law and order, insuring that no crime will go unpunished. EASY So that's what he was up to. VIOLET Our last two A.G.'s became governor. MADELINE We can't let that happen. BODIE If you go after him in the press, it'll come across like revenge. MADELINE Not if I do it in court. VIOLET What are you talking about? You want to sue him? MADELINE No. Expose him. You know Harvey Birkbeck and I aren't the only two innocent people he's thrown in jail. EASY And there'll be a heck of a lot more if he's elected Attorney General. MADELINE Exactly. We need to sink his AG campaign before it begins. Let's find another one of his wrongful convictions, something really high profile and jam it down his throat. EASY Are you sure you want to poke the bear? MADELINE No, I want to rip its heart out. How many innocent lives has he destroyed? BELLOWS Thank you very much. MADELINE This man doesn't be Attorney General. DETECTIVE WISE Lucia, why did you set the fire? LUCIA Because my little Angel told me to. He spoke to me. He said he was ready to go to Heaven. BODIE You seriously want to defend the Wicked Witch of West Pullman. The woman murdered her own child by burning down her house, and then confessed to it. VIOLET We'd have a better chance exonerating the ghost of Charles Manson. MADELINE I know it's not a great case, but her PCR hearing is in less than two months. The timing is perfect, and it's high profile enough that we'll get a ton of press. EASY This is a disaster waiting to happen. Everyone loved hating her. MADELINE Just like they loved hating me. Lucia Rincon was convicted because of this image of her, right? The satanic Goth queen? EASY Correct. MADELINE What if I told you she was really a preacher's wife who was never into Goth. VIOLET So then what was with all the Goth make up? MADELINE It wasn't make up. It was soot from the fire. They didn't clean her up before the confession. BODIE Eye witness accounts have her getting some sort of injection on the scene. LUCIA EASY And let me guess, her toxicology report has disappeared. MADELINE Vanished in the wind. VIOLET I think we found our case. WOMAN VOICE OVER PA Infirmary transfer. EASY You okay? MADELINE Yeah. Best years of my life. LUCIA To this day, I don't know why my baby's dead. I don't know why I confessed. I play it over in my head. Why did I do that? MADELINE Since the advent of DNA evidence, about 2,000 inmates have been proven innocent and freed. More than 500 of them had been coerced into falsely confessing. EASY So, Lucia, can you tell us what happened that night? LUCIA I don't remember anything. I was never into Goth. I-I didn't even know what that was. MADELINE Bellows did the same thing to me. You know the night Rosemary died was the first night I ever got drunk. LUCIA What? I thought you were some crazy party girl. MADELINE Behind every media caricature is a real life human being, right? LUCIA That man is a monster. MADELINE Lucia, you have a hearing in six weeks. We'd like to be your lawyers at this hearing. VIOLET This guy's kind of cute. BODIE Oh, yeah. He's like Daddy Warbucks if he was a eunuch. VIOLET Sometimes that's preferable. BODIE MADELINE Sorry, am I interrupting? BODIE We're just analyzing Violet's reckless dating app behavior. MADELINE Says our investigator holding a sword. BODIE It's a replica of a 16h century katana. MADELINE What got you into this stuff? BODIE Kill Bill part two. MADELINE Oh, is that what got you into wrongful convictions? BODIE No. It was Kill Bill part one. MADELINE Engine Company 93 originally investigated the fire. I want you to go down there. Dig around, see if you can find out how the fire got started. BODIE Perfect. I'll go undercover as a recruit. MADELINE I don't think that's necessary. BODIE It's always necessary. VIOLET Maddie, I want to show you what I've been working on for the new press release. Our plan is to show how Bellows used the media to demonize you. Exactly like he's doing to Lucia. YOUNG MADELINE You, I like you. MADELINE No. Absolutely not. I don't want to make this story about me. VIOLET Maddie we have to make this about you. You are the living, breathing example of what Bellows is doing to Lucia. EASY She's right. You're our best asset. BODIE Right now, you're our only asset. It's a terrible case. SCOTT FAMILY HELEN Oh. Are you seeing anyone, Maddie? MADELINE You know that I'm not, Mom. HELEN Well, you're not gonna be young forever. LEVI Burn. HELEN You've been out of prison for seven years. You're whole life can't just be about your cases. MADELINE Well, actually there's, uh, one I need to talk with you all about. JACK Who is it, honey? MADELINE Her name is Lucia Rincon. Bellows is the prosecutor. And I know our case is gonna come up, because it's part of our defense strategy. JACK Why do you want to talk about that nightmare again? MADELINE I don't. But this woman is innocent. So if I have to drag my name through the mud to save her, that's just what I'm gonna do. HELEN But what about your brother? He hasn't been able to get a new job because of what happened. LEVI Hey, I'm fine. HELEN Coaching kids soccer is nice, but. LEVI Wow. Okay. Thanks, mom. MADELINE I think it's great. LEVI Thank you. It is great. HELEN You can't do this to us again. Our lives have just gotten back to normal. LEVI Hey, we're the ones that went to prison, okay? So if she wants to talk about the case, then she can talk about the case. And I want you to crush that son-of-a-bitch for me. MADELINE For us. LEVI For us. JACK I'm worried about you, Maddie. You sure you really want to do this? MADELINE Ever since I saw Bellows, I can't stop thinking about Rosemary. Seeing him triggered something in me. We've all spent so many years trying to forget about this. JACK It never goes away, does it? MADELINE I don't think it ever will. YOUNG MADELINE MADELINE ROSEMARY I bet Tobey would totally hook up with you in that dress. YOUNG MADELINE Tobey, stop! TOBEY Come on, one sip. YOUNG MADELINE ROSEMARY Hey, Levi. Come drink with us! YOUNG MADELINE Ah Ew. ANCHOR Now with renowned innocence attorney Madeline Scott at her side, Rincon is heading back to court for round two of her infamous trial by fire. ANCHOR The Supreme Court has also held that fantastic. BODIE Hey, uh what do you make of this Luciferina deal? Arson? Not arson? FIREFIGHTER 1 Those judges wouldn't know a deliberate from an accidental combustion if you set their robes on fire. CHIEF That fire was 2004, wasn't it? BODIE Yes, it was, Chief. December 2004. CHIEF So there you have it. BODIE Why? What-what happened in 2004? CHIEF Charcoal Christmas, son. LEVI All right, let's go! Let's go! Hustle it up now! Keep your head up! There you go! nice shot! Hey. HEATHER Come on. Go meet up your friends, honey. LEVI Good effort, good effort. Give me some fives. There you go. HEATHER Levi. Levi! Why is your sister defending that psycho who set her kid on fire? LEVI You-you have to talk to her about that. HEATHER She is using Rosemary. It's disgusting. What's wrong with you people? LEVI Can we not talk about this here, please? I'm-I'm trying to coach soccer. HEATHER We are never gonna forget what you and your sister did Rosemary. Ever. Come on, Brian. LEVI I'll see you next week. KID Bye, coach Levi! LEVI Hey. BRIAN Hey, Levi. LEVI What are you doing? BRIAN No one wants you here. We don't want you around our kids. LEVI You know assault with a deadly weapon can get you up to ten years. Maybe life if you kill me. Is that what you want, Brian? You want to sit in a cell for the rest of your life, just dreaming about all the things that you missed out on, like your wife, your kids. Just a couple beers, a good steak. Why don't you just move over and we'll both just pretend this whole thing didn't happen. HEATHER Oh, my God! Brian! Brian! Are you okay? BRIAN Babe. LEVI MADELINE YOUTHS MADELINE Heather Hi. What are you doing here? HEATHER Your drug addict brother nearly killed me and my husband. I take it you're defending him? MADELINE He's been clean for years. HEATHER Good for him. MADELINE Wait? Brian Husband is your husband? HEATHER Yeah. MADELINE Oh, it's just. Now your name is now Heather Husband. HEATHER I'm glad you've recovered enough from Rosemary's death to make everything a big joke. You know, most of us in town still think you should be in jail. We always will. MADELINE Well, sometimes I miss lock up because, you know, kind of cool to beat the hell out of a dumb bitch who looked at you wrong. HEATHER You know all about being a dumb bitch, now don't you? MADELINE You know, I always thought that maybe you were the one that killed Rosemary. HEATHER What? MADELINE You were definitely the queen bee back in the day, but you knew you were never getting out of La Grange. And you should've seen your face the day Rosemary was accepted to Stanford. HEATHER Well, it looks like she didn't quite make it, now did she? See you in court, Maddie. JUDGE Mr. Scott, where is your sister? LEVI She should be here soon. MADELINE Madeline Scott, your honor, counsel for the defendant. Sorry, bud. JUDGE And how do you plead? MADELINE As always in our family, not guilty, your honor. JUDGE Bail will be set at $25,000. MADELINE Hey. DYLAN Hey. Hi. Can we, uh, can we talk about Rincon? MADELINE Oh, is that what you're doing here? DYLAN Well, we got a lot of readers that love the Goth Killer. I'm metro now, so I guess your international dream guy scenario is over. MADELINE Yeah, you're still dreamy on this continent, but I can't discuss it. DYLAN All right, new idea. How about this? How about I take you to dinner, and I give the story to someone else? MADELINE You would lose a story for a date? DYLAN Yeah, I would lose a Pulitzer for a date with you. Are you kidding me? Come on. MADELINE Oh, you're good. I can't. I can't, I have- DYLAN I, uh. MADELINE You know what? You're not missing anything. I'm terrible in bed. That's a true story. DYLAN MADELINE Easy. I've been looking into Lucia's missing toxicology file. So, this is the medical examiner report from Lucia's case. You see that? EASY Yeah. It's a photocopy of a staple. MADELINE Right. But that's the only page, and it says the toxicology report is attached. If there's a staple. EASY It was hidden in discovery. MADELINE And we never figured out what she was injected with at the crime scene. EASY Mm-hmm. MADELINE It's got to be in there, right? EASY Yeah, if we can find it. MADELINE What about the EMT who treated her at the scene? Maybe she can get it for us. She's listed right here on the report. EMT WALKER You got it wrong. I didn't inject Mrs. Rincon with anything. I drew her blood. It's standard procedure. EASY Can you get us the complete toxicology report that says what her blood showed? EMT WALKER I'm sorry. I can't help you. MADELINE I know it's a lot to ask, but your client lost her son, her husband and her freedom. She lost everything. EASY Great news. The paramedic found her soul and gave us Lucia's lab report, which shows she was hallucinating from carbon monoxide poisoning. MADELINE So her entire satanic public image was in reality a woman who was poisoned. EASY And Bellows buried the blood test that would prove it. VIOLET We just destroyed Lucia's confession. MADELINE EASY Bingo. BODIE All right, I got good news and bad news. MADELINE Oh, we're playing this again. BODIE Yeah, because I love it. Which one do you want first? BODIE I'm not gonna be a fireman with Engine Company 93. VIOLET Shocking. MADELINE What's the good news? BODIE Fire fighters know everything about arson. Who knew? MADELINE I knew. BODIE In 2005, a Jersey based importer was hit with a class action suit claiming their faulty Christmas tree lights cause more than 60 Christmas Tree fires. They called it Charcoal Christmas. Looks like Lucia's fire was an accident caused by faulty Christmas lights. EASY Can we prove she owned them? BODIE You mean, did she run back into a burning house to save a box of receipts? Probably not. MADELINE Okay, wait, but for the first time we have a logical explanation for how the fire started. All right. I'll amend our petition to include Bellows' suppression of the toxicology report and file it- EASY No, no, no, no. We can't file anything yet. Bellows could cut a deal to keep this off the record. MADELINE Hiding a damaging blood test is enough to show how corrupt his case was and blow up his AG campaign. EASY I know you want to humiliate him but what matters is Lucia. We have enough information for him to release her. VIOLET I hate Bellows, too, but we have to protect our client above all else. MADELINE Yeah. Okay. Go to Bellows, see if he'll cut a deal. EASY Nice spot for a jog. Especially this early, before all the carbon monoxide chokes the oxygen out of the air. Lucia Rincon's confession. She was suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning when she gave it. I have the hidden blood test to prove it. BELLOWS Look, I know you all think I'm the villain in your story. May I ask you a question? You ever taken the statement from a mother who's child bas just been murdered? I have. At least a hundred times. You never forget the look in their eyes. The look that says their lives are now over too. The only thing I can do to make sure I can still sleep at night is punish the killer of their child. EASY What about when you get it wrong? BELLOWS Madeline Scott is guilty, so is Rincon. Even if you can get her released with this report, she still killed her kid. EASY She didn't kill him, but the fact that you suppressed this report will certainly kill your campaign. So either way, you lose. BELLOWS That's a good one, Easy. She pleads to manslaughter, I'll make sure her sentence is reduced to time served. The report stays buried. EASY She pleads to child endangerment. BELLOWS If, in your crusade, you manage to free someone who's actually guilty, and then they murder someone or otherwise ruin innocent lives, then who's the villain in your story? You have a deal. LUCIA What? Really? EASY You're being offered what's being called the Alford Plea. If you plead guilty to child endangerment, you'll be released based on timed served. LUCIA But everyone will still think I'm the Goth Killer? What do you think I should do? MADELINE I was offered a plea in my case. I turned it down. I would rather be in prison than have the world think I was murderer. LUCIA And then you won in court? MADELINE My conviction was overturned. LUCIA And if this happens they can't re-try me because of the double jeopardy thing. EASY No, no, no, no. Double jeopardy if you're found innocent at trial or deemed actually innocent based on appeal. MADELINE Yeah, but Bellows cares too much about his political ambition to risk another loss. I would be stunned if he tried you again. LUCIA My husband left me because he thought I killed our baby. He made a statement against me in court. I lost everything. MADELINE Lucia, what do you want to do? LUCIA I want to go to court. COACH you take the kick. LEVI Right. Way to go, Tim. Way to go. WOMAN Yeah, there you go! LEVI Yeah, that's the way. All right. Pass it over. FRANK PARKER Hey, Levi. LEVI Hey, coach. What's up? FRANK PARKER Hey, look, um. I-I hate to do this, but we're gonna have to let you go. LEVI Wh-What? Why? FRANK PARKER That thing with Brian Husband pushed a lot of people over the edge. Yeah. I tried to fight it, but, uh, you know, with the prison thing and-and the drugs. LEVI No, no. Hey. Coach, I've been off oxy for years. I have, you- Frank, you know this is all I got. You know I love these kids. Don't-don't do this. FRANK PARKER I'm sorry, Levi. I'm sorry. LEVI Frank, please. Don't. ROSEMARY Do you want to be a virgin in college? YOUNG MADELINE No. Do you? ROSEMARY No. So let's get it over with. DYLAN Hey. MADELINE Hi. Um. I was thinking about your offer, and I I can't promise that I won't be super awkward, um, but maybe. If you want to have dinner- DYLAN Yes. I-I definitely want to. I would love to. Uh, Saturday. How about Saturday night? MADELINE Okay. DYLAN All right, I'll pick you up. MADELINE Great. DYLAN Okay, bye. I got a line on Madeline Scott. JOE I love it. Bring me something good. DYLAN You already know I will. DAMIAN BODIE What's up? You okay? MADELINE Yeah. Would you look at this? Lucia's husband. All of his preaching is exclusively in Spanish. BODIE So? The police report said he didn't speak English. MADELINE Yeah, but his statement is in flawless English. MADELINE I couldn't stop thinking about Lucia's husband. Why would he give a statement that she never wanted children if it wasn't true? BODIE All right, so we looked back to Rincon's original statement to the police. It's written in flawless English. EASY And? MADELINE He probably couldn't even read what he was signing. The translator could've written anything. EASY All right, we need to confirm this is actually what he said, and if it's not, we need him on the record refuting it. MADELINE But first we have to find him. BODIE Yeah, good luck with that. On it. EASY How could you get her to reject the plea? You risked our client's life on a long-shot appeal over a personal vendetta with Bellows. MADELINE I don't see it that way. I'm the only who's been through what Lucia's been through. EASY Which does not give you the right to manipulate her into risking her own freedom so you can continue to grind your ax. MADELINE I didn't manipulate her, I empathized with her. In prison, no one is spitting at Lucia. You want her to go back to all that? Who's gonna hire a woman who murdered her own child? Who will love that woman? No one. Because that is the world that is waiting for her if she takes a plea that admits any wrongdoing. That's the life sentence that terrifies me. EASY She'll be free. Isn't that the entire point of this firm? MADELINE Lucia's not fighting to get her freedom, and neither am I. She's fighting for her innocence. EASY And so are we. MADELINE Hey, big brother. LEVI Hey, hey. Hey, sis. MADELINE Levi, you promised. LEVI Um, promises, promises. MADELINE Why? You were doing so well. LEVI I can't help it. I miss her. MADELINE She was my best friend, too, and I'm not a drug addict. LEVI We were more than friends. MADELINE What? LEVI I never told you. I never told anyone. We were together. MADELINE You and Rosemary? YOUTHS MADELINE You swore you were never together. LEVI I know. MADELINE You lied to me. LEVI I know. I'm sorry, sis. It was it was our secret. MADELINE If this gets out the whole world will think we're guilty again. This could destroy us. LEVI No, it could destroy you. I'm already gone. YOUTHS YOUTHS DAMIAN BODIE Hey. Found Rincon. MADELINE Great. Where? Where? BODIE He's a street preacher in Hope Park, preaching that the world is about to end. What do you want me to do? MADELINE See if he'll swear out an affidavit denying the statement he supposedly gave police. BODIE Copy that. MADELINE Bodie, be careful. There's armed drug crews in that park 24/7. BODIE That's an obstacle. But I got an idea. I'll call you back. Five-O! Five-O! HUSTLERS Five-O! Five-O! Five-O! Five-O! DAMIAN BODIE Damian Rincon. DAMIAN RINCON No speak with no policía. BODIE MADELINE Lucia Rincon was convicted of arson-homicide using out-dated, out-moded fire-investigation methods. JUDGE SPEER I remember her trial, Ms. Scott, I presided over it. I've also read your brief detailing this spat of Christmas tree fires which all took place before Mrs. Rincon's trial. MADELINE Yes. The fires' themselves took place before the trial. But- JUDGE SPEER The statue is clear innocence claims must be based on newly discovered evidence. MADELINE The cause of the fires wasn't discovered until six years later. That determination is our evidence. JUDGE SPEER Nice try, Ms. Scott, but I'll stick with my interpretation. MADELINE It's not my interpretation, it's settled precedent. JUDGE SPEER You say tomato. I say next issue. PEOPLE IN COURT MADELINE There is no next issue, your honor. JUDGE Tomato, Ms. Scott. Next issue. MADELINE This is a one issue case if there's no arson, there's no arson homicide. JUDGE SPEER Clock is ticking. Should we keep spinning our wheels? Or should we move on down the road? MADELINE Happy to move on, your honor. EASY Your Honor, if I could draw the court's attention to the toxicology report submitted with our petition. In violation of Brady v. Maryland, Ms. Rincon's blood test was hidden from defense council. JUDGE SPEER Let's discuss how this blood test would've impacted the trial. EASY It clearly undermines Mrs. Rincon's confession, your honor. She has no memory of the fire or its aftermath. Among the key symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning is confabulation, the fabrication of imaginary events to compensate for total memory loss, i.e., Detectives repeated what they believed happened over and over until Ms. Rincon believed it, too. JUDGE SPEER Well, I'm not sure that evidence of carbon monoxide poisoning is material enough to change the jury's verdict. MADELINE Your Honor, they goaded Lucia into believing she murdered her own son. That, coupled with the guilt and trauma of losing a child amounts to a forced, unreliable confession. JUDGE SPEER I'll consider it, but I'm not gonna lie, I've heard better. What else do you got? MADELINE Wha- What else have we got? I'm sorry, your honor, is there something funny about a woman serving a life sentence for a crime that didn't even happen? JUDGE SPEER Excuse me? PEOPLE IN COURT EASY Your Honor, my investigator has been assaulted. May we ask for a recess until tomorrow? JUDGE SPEER My lord, you look like hell. Adjourned until 900 a.m. And Ms. Scott, I hope you're a bit cooler when you come back in this room, or I will kick you right out. MADELINE Are you okay? What happened to your face? BODIE Rincon's undocumented and thought I was from immigration. After he realized I wasn't ICE, he finally started talking. EASY And? BODIE And he didn't make the statement, and he never turned against his wife. Their entire motive was falsified on that forged statement. EASY All right, he testify? BODIE No, no, no. Because if he shows up to court, he's gonna be deported. And he says if he gets deported, he'll be killed as soon as he gets home. I mean, he already disappeared. MADELINE We need to prove that translation was purposely faked. EASY Yeah. Then let's look into the translator. VIOLET I found something. That translator did the same thing in Indiana. EASY Did you guys see Indiana? MADELINE Oh, my God! That's good. Yeah. If we can get him to testify, we might have a shot. EASY As of right now, it's our only shot. MADELINE We got to find this guy. MADELINE Good morning, Your Honor. Petitioner submits a letter from the Attorney General of Indiana, detailing a plea bargain in a case where the translator, Thomas LeMay, improperly translated the testimony of a critical witness. Mr. LeMay was also the translator the prosecution used in this case. BELLOWS Your Honor, Counsel's claim is a desperate attempt to plant the seeds of doubt into our investigation. It is a personal vendetta against myself, and impossible to prove that the translation was falsified. MADELINE That's because I'm not finished, Your Honor. Petitioner calls the translator, Thomas LeMay, to the stand. PEOPLE IN COURT MADELINE Petitioner also submits an affidavit, signed by Mr. Lemay, admitting to falsifying the translation in this case, State of Illinois v. Rincon. His motivation was to ensure guilty verdicts for people he was convinced were guilty. LEMAY They were guilty, Your Honor. JUDGE SPEER Get him the hell out of my courtroom. LEMAY Your Honor, I want to say something. JUDGE SPEER Out. LEMAY Sometimes the end justifies the means. JUDGE SPEER Mr. Bellows? BELLOWS I'm just as shocked as everyone in this room. MADELINE Oh, that's good. Very convincing. BELLOWS Your Honor! JUDGE SPEER No need to rub it in, Ms. Scott. MADELINE Even just a little? How many other cases have you tried using fraudulent translations? BELLOWS I am under no obligation to answer questions posed by opposing Counsel. JUDGE SPEER You are, however, under obligation to answer questions from this bench. MADELINE You say tomato, I say tom-mah-to. PEOPLE IN COURT JUDGE SPEER You stole my line, Ms. Scott, so I'll take yours. Mr. Bellows, how many of your prosecutions relied on this obviously corrupt translator? BELLOWS I have no idea, Your Honor, but I will personally investigate each and every one of them. In fact, I will initiate an internal review of all convictions won by my office over the last 20 years. If there is even a scintilla of corruption I will root it out. I've dedicated my life to serving justice. MADELINE Your Honor, the justice currently before the court is the false imprisonment of Lucia Rincon. We've presented a forged affidavit, a hidden toxicology report and ample evidence that shows the true source of the fire. There was no murder, Your Honor, only lies, deceit and corruption that have placed an innocent woman behind bars. JUDGE SPEER Mrs. Rincon, you must feel like you got lost in the shuffle. LUCIA I've gotten used to it, Your Honor. JUDGE SPEER Let's see what we can do about that. Based on the totality of the evidence presented, Petitioner's motion for post conviction relief is granted, and this court hereby declares the defendant is actually innocent. PEOPLE IN COURT JUDGE SPEER Mrs. Rincon, you are free to go. REPORTER Lucia, how do you feel? LUCIA I-I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but mostly I just feel cold. YOUNG MADELINE Rosemary? Rosemary? Rosemary? Rosemary? YOUNG LEVI Help me, God. Wake up, please say something. YOUNG MADELINE Levi! Is she okay? YOUNG LEVI I don't know, I I'm sorry. YOUNG MADELINE Oh, my God.