Original subtitles

We're here with wrongful conviction attorney.

- Madeline Scott. - We'd like to be your lawyers.

Gore Bellows is the very prosecutor

who wrongfully convicted Madeline and her brother

of the first-degree murder of her best friend.

Most of us in town still think

you should be in jail.

I would lose a Pulitzer

for a date with you.

I got a line on Madeline Scott.

I announce my candidacy for attorney general.

How many innocent lives has he destroyed?

Are you sure you want to poke the bear?

No, I want to rip his heart out.

Okay.

Hilarious.

- You want another? - Yes.

- Yes. - Okay.

Roxy, another round.

Hey, I ain't never seen you in here before.

No, but I love it.

- It's so hard-core. - Yeah?

We should do a selfie.

Yeah?

Yeah.

Wait, no, I want to see the scar.

It's so hot.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

- Okay. Okay. - Okay.

How's that?

That's perfect.

What are you doing in here all by your lonesome?

You, looking to meet your prince charming?

God, no.

No, I'm here to serve you a subpoena

in the Tamara Folsom case.

Bodie, cut him off at the next block!

Go... Just go after him!

- Where is he? - He's in that truck... go.

You're bleeding.

I'm fine. Will you go?

No, come on. We'll live to fight another day.

Got to get you some stitches, maybe.

Does it hurt?

Yes, it hurts!

The fight for justice is unending.

Every day in America, someone is wrongfully accused.

And far too many are convicted.

This podcast tells their stories.

On today's episode of Until Proven Innocent,

we'll discuss the case of Tamara Folsom.

Tamara was charged with the murder of a man she never met.

The police were confused, conflating

her boast of fighting back against the attacker

as a confession to the murder of a totally different person.

It was a terrible mistake

that got Tamara locked away for life.

Tamara told the truth, but the police

either didn't hear her or didn't believe her.

People say "the truth will set you free."

So what happens when telling the truth

is what ends up costing you your freedom?

Yeah, that's him.

That's him, all right. I'll never forget his ugly-ass face.

He look old now, though.

So, now what?

Put him on the stand and he tells the judge I cut him.

Once we find him again, yes.

- Wait, you lost him? - We're going to find him

and this photo's gonna get us another hearing.

To prep you, we want to go over your story

- one more time, okay? - I'll just need

to go over your story again, okay?

It's not my "story," it's the truth.

I've been telling the same story for years.

Why did you tell the police you slashed a man that night?

I was proud of it.

Creep tried to rape me in a parking lot.

Damn right I cut him.

Why were you carrying a knife?

Where I'm from, you always carry a knife.

When I was 12...

my mom married a man

that would rape me every chance he got.

When I finally got old enough, I vowed

I'd never let nobody do that to me again.

After she divorced the son of a bitch,

- we never looked back. - Does she still visit you?

No, ma'am.

She died a few years after they locked me up.

I never even got to go to her funeral.

I'm so sorry.

Then, after you cut Jeff Skadden, the police

arrested you the next week for the murder

of Tim Manning, who was also slashed that night.

They kept asking me why I killed him.

I said I didn't.

This wasn't the guy I cut.

I never even met the man.

I didn't kill Rosemary. I swear.

Why won't anyone believe me?

I was defending myself against someone else.

Why didn't your original lawyer

look for the man you really slashed?

My public pretender.

He didn't believe a word I said.

Worst piece of crap lawyer ever.

Tamara.

We hear you.

We believe you.

And we're gonna do everything we can

to get you the hell out of here.

The number of wrongful convictions in Cook County

is skyrocketing, and lazy, sloppy,

corrupt prosecutions are the reason.

There's only one man to blame for that.

Gore Bellows.

If you're just joining us, my guest today is

Madeline Scott.

You may remember her as a drunken, lovesick teen

who, along with her brother Levi,

allegedly murdered her best friend Rosemary Lynch.

A conviction that never would have happened except for

the corrupt prosecution by Mr. Bellows.

My brother and I spent

ten years in prison for a murder

we didn't commit because.

Bellows ignored a medical examiner report

that would have exonerated us.

How many others are suffering in silence

because of his incompetence?

Makes me wonder how the man thinks he's qualified

to be Illinois's next attorney general.

He's not. And I'll keep

telling my story to make sure that never happens.

Thank you, Madeline.

We'll be right back.

Nearly every defendant

who can't afford their own attorney

gets assigned a public defender.

The same was true for Tamara Folsom.

But, like many public defenders, hers was overworked

and underpaid.

I strongly advised Ms. Folsom not to testify.

She'd already confessed to slicing the guy's neck.

Admitting it in open court would only make matters worse.

But we've identified that guy as Jeff Skadden,

not the actual murder victim, Tim Manning.

Same town, same night, two different neck slashes?

- No one bought her story. - Is that why you didn't

look for Skadden... because you didn't believe her?

I did look and I couldn't find him.

How hard did you look?

I was balancing 73 cases that month.

That's why I'm not a public defender anymore.

The arrest report noted

that there was DNA evidence collected from the scene.

Did you seek to ascertain the source of that DNA?

Again, we didn't have the resources.

Did you do literally anything?

- Objection. - Your Honor,

Mr. Bryce's testimony is nothing more than an attempt

to cover up an inadequate trial strategy

that was manifestly unreasonable.

Petitioner requests the court order a new trial on the grounds

that Ms. Folsom's Sixth Amendment rights to a fair trial

were grotesquely violated.

I'll take it under advisement, but I'm more interested

in hearing from this Jeff Skadden.

Your Honor, we're tracking him down as we speak.

While court considers our motion,

petitioner requests we be allowed to test

the potentially exculpatory DNA evidence from the scene.

It's time someone from her defense

finally looks at it.

I think it's a terrific idea.

Okay.

We're adjourned.

Do I get a new case?

- It's very positive. - That's so good.

- Yeah, we're in good shape. - Yeah, buys us a few days

- for Bodie to find Skadden. - Yeah, it's great.

I have to go to La Grange for Levi's trial,

so I'll meet you back at the office.

Levi Scott

never should have been released from prison in the first place.

He murdered my best friend.

And I swore at her funeral I'd never forget.

Now he attacks my husband for no reason whatsoever.

Once a killer, always a killer.

- You can quote me on that. - Thank you.

That was awesome, ba