One Minute Remaining - Stories from the inmates

After losing her husband Mike, fifty-five-year-old Marsha Mills found purpose in caring for her two beloved granddaughters and occasionally watching Evan and Noah Shoup, toddlers from her daughter's best friend's family.

On May 10th, 2006, that love would destroy her life. After feeding lunch to the four children, Marsha took them outside to play. With her infant granddaughter in her arms, she turned to close the back door when two-year-old Noah fell from the porch to the concrete patio below.

The child was unconscious. Marsha moved him inside, called his father, and waited for emergency workers while caring for three other frightened children. When Noah died the next day, Marsha was charged with murder.

The case against her was built on medical opinion, not evidence.

Detective Larry Hootman, who first investigated the scene, testified it was a "freak accident." He was removed from the case. Detective Michael Goodwin used ultraviolet imaging throughout Marsha's house but found no substances or evidence of violence.
No physical evidence. No weapon. No motive.

But Dr. Daryl Steiner of Akron Children's Hospital had an opinion.
Based on Noah's injuries, Steiner testified the child had been abused. The prosecution's medical examiner agreed, using a doll to demonstrate how Marsha allegedly slammed the toddler repeatedly against surfaces.

The defense fought back with science.
Biomechanical engineer Dr. Chris VanEe built a replica of Marsha's back porch and used crash test dummies to prove a fall down the steps could cause fatal injuries. Forensic pathologist Dr. John Plunkett testified that Noah's death was "probably accidental" and consistent with Marsha's account.
Two experts saying accident. Two saying murder.

The jury chose to believe the prosecutors.
After five hours of deliberation, they found Marsha Mills guilty of murder. She was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after fifteen years.
She remains behind bars today, a grandmother whose only crime was caring for children who weren't her own.
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Valena Elizabeth Beety is the Robert H. McKinney Professor of Law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law. She began her legal career as a federal prosecutor and later transitioned to innocence work at the Mississippi Innocence Project. She went on to found and direct the West Virginia Innocence Project. Valena is the author of Manifesting Justice: Wrongly Convicted Women Reclaim Their Rights and co-editor of The Wrongful Convictions Reader, a coursebook used in classrooms nationwide, as well as her latest book 'Pink Crime'

Valena has been Tasha's attorney fighting her corner for almost 16 years. We sat down to discuss how she got started in wrongful conviction cases, how she first came to hear about Tasha's case and just what can be done to try and get Tasha home.
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In 1997, a two-year-old boy collapsed on the floor of his bedroom in Biloxi, Mississippi. His stepmother, Tasha Shelby, called for help. By the time the sun came up, she was the prime suspect. By the time the trial ended, she had a life sentence.

Tasha was twenty-two. Twelve days postpartum. Engaged to be married. The only adult in the house the night Bryan collapsed. The case against her rested on a single diagnosis, Shaken Baby Syndrome, delivered by the medical examiner who performed the autopsy.

Decades on, that same medical examiner has taken the stand again, under oath, to say he got it wrong. The certainty that once surrounded the diagnosis has been picked apart in courtrooms across the world. Hundreds of people convicted on the same theory have walked free.

Tasha has not.

Recorded from inside Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, this is her story in her own words. The thump in the night, the newborn daughter taken from her arms,the trial and the expert recantation.

What happens when the expert says they got it wrong?
VOTE FOR OMR AUSTRALIAN AUDIO AWARDS

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In 1997, a two-year-old boy collapsed on the floor of his bedroom in Biloxi, Mississippi. His stepmother, Tasha Shelby, called for help. By the time the sun came up, she was the prime suspect. By the time the trial ended, she had a life sentence.

Tasha was twenty-two. Twelve days postpartum. Engaged to be married. The only adult in the house the night Bryan collapsed. The case against her rested on a single diagnosis, Shaken Baby Syndrome, delivered by the medical examiner who performed the autopsy.

Decades on, that same medical examiner has taken the stand again, under oath, to say he got it wrong. The certainty that once surrounded the diagnosis has been picked apart in courtrooms across the world. Hundreds of people convicted on the same theory have walked free.
Tasha has not.

Recorded from inside Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, this is her story in her own words. The thump in the night, the newborn daughter taken from her arms,the trial and the expert recantation.

What happens when the expert says they got it wrong?
VOTE FOR OMR AUSTRALIAN AUDIO AWARDS

EARLY AND AD FREE ACCESS: for as little as $1.69 a week!

Apple + HERE

Patreon and find us on Facebook here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1997, a two-year-old boy collapsed on the floor of his bedroom in Biloxi, Mississippi. His stepmother, Tasha Shelby, called for help. By the time the sun came up, she was the prime suspect. By the time the trial ended, she had a life sentence.

Tasha was twenty-two. Twelve days postpartum. Engaged to be married. The only adult in the house the night Bryan collapsed. The case against her rested on a single diagnosis, Shaken Baby Syndrome, delivered by the medical examiner who performed the autopsy.

Decades on, that same medical examiner has taken the stand again, under oath, to say he got it wrong. The certainty that once surrounded the diagnosis has been picked apart in courtrooms across the world. Hundreds of people convicted on the same theory have walked free.

Tasha has not.

Recorded from inside Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, this is her story in her own words. The thump in the night, the newborn daughter taken from her arms,the trial and the expert recantation.

What happens when the expert says they got it wrong?
VOTE FOR OMR AUSTRALIAN AUDIO AWARDS

EARLY AND AD FREE ACCESS: for as little as $1.69 a week!

Apple + HERE

Patreon and find us on Facebook here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.