Everyone chooses a career for their own reasons, and for Betty Waters, becoming a lawyer was a decision she had to make and changed her life.
Murder
At 10:45 a.m. on May 21, 1980, Catherine Braw, a 48-year-old American woman, was brutally killed in her home in Massachusetts. She had multiple stab wounds on her body, and her purse, jewelry and an envelope containing cash were missing.
Crime scene investigators (CSI) found hair, blood and fingerprints that did not belong to the victim in the house and found the murder weapon – a peeling knife – from the trash can.
Kenny Waters, 26, became the number one suspect in the murder. He lives next door to catherine with his girlfriend, Brenda Marsh, a regular at the restaurant where he works, and the staff at the restaurant knows that she has a lot of cash in the house. What's more, Kenny had broken into Catherine's house.
Kenny Waters
The day after the murder, Kenny was called in by the Ayr town police to question him, providing the police with the perfect alibi.
On the day Catherine was killed, Kenny worked until 8:30 a.m. when a colleague drove him home to change his clothes. At 9 o'clock, he went to court for a lawsuit and returned to the restaurant at 11 o'clock, where he stayed until 12:30 noon.
Officers examined Kenny's clothes and body and found no visible wounds or blood, and after taking his fingerprints, Kenny was allowed to go home.
Four months later, police called Kenny and asked him to submit a voice stress test. The sound stress test is similar to a lie detector test, and its effectiveness has been controversial, and Kenny accepted and passed the test anyway.
For the next two and a half years, the case went dormant.
trial
In October 1982, Brenda Marsh's new boyfriend, Robert Osborne, went to the police station and said there was a clue to be sold to the police, saying that Kenny had confessed to Brenda that he had killed a woman.
Officer Nancy Taylor Harris approached Brenda, and at first, Brenda denied ever saying that to Robert. Nancy said that if Brenda did not confirm Robert's claims, she would be charged with accessories by police and her children would be sent to an orphanage. Brenda had to change her mouth, testifying that on the day of the murder, Kenny came home in the morning with long, deep scratches on his face.
Another of Kenny's ex-girlfriends, Rosanna Perry, was also summoned by Nancy, who at first said she didn't have any clues related to the case, but after more than three hours of interrogation and arrest threats, she also confessed that Kenny had stabbed a woman and stole her money and jewelry after drinking.
With these forged testimonies, the police arrested Kenny. An analysis of the suspected hair, blood and fingerprints found at the scene showed that neither the fingerprint nor the hair belonged to Kenny, but the blood type of the blood, like Kenny's, was O-shaped. DNA testing was not possible at the time, and Kenny was in a very disadvantageous situation.
In order to convict Kenny, Nancy deliberately withheld all evidence in Kenny's favor from the defense and prosecution, including his alibi.
On May 6, 1983, the court conducted the trial without sufficient evidence of conviction, and five days later, Kenny was sentenced to life in prison.
promise
There is one person who believes that Kenny is innocent, and she is Kenny's sister Betty Waters.
Betty is a year younger than Kenny, and the two are very close. Their mother, Elizabeth O'Connor, had nine children with different men, with Betty being the fourth and oldest girl.
In order to support the family, Elizabeth worked three jobs, and the children were sent to foster families several times. "We had a very hard childhood and a lot of things happened that we couldn't control," Betty said.
Kenny and Betty as children
Even for the family's most learned child, Betty had to drop out of school at age 16 to work as a part-time waiter at the same restaurant as Kenny, "My family life was not conducive to school or study." ”
Kenny, who grew up lacking discipline, was called a "little hooligan" by his neighbors and had a criminal record, so when the murder occurred, the police immediately identified him as the murderer.
Since Kenny had a conclusive alibi, at first the family thought he would be fine. When Kenny was arrested by the police two and a half years later, the family considered hiring a lawyer for him, but the $50,000 fee left them powerless, kenny told them not to waste money, "all the evidence shows that I am innocent." ”
Betty arrives at the restaurant where Kenny works and wants to get his timecard, which the girl in charge of attendance says has been handed over to the police. At trial, when Kenny and his family heard the judge say that there was no time card as evidence of alibi, it was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day.
After being imprisoned, Kenny appealed several times, to no avail. He suffered from anxiety, panic and severe depression, repeatedly self-harmed and attempted suicide in prison, and contracted hepatitis C. He kept telling the psychotherapist that he had never killed anyone, and the therapist thought he was hopeless. One therapist who had consulted him said despondently: "It's hard to help this man, he just wants to prove to me that he is innocent." ”
Kenny tells Betty that he would rather die than spend the rest of his life in prison. Betty reassures Kenny that she can try to go to law school and become a lawyer. Kenny liked the suggestion and encouraged her, "Betty, if you go to law school, I know you'll find a way to get me out of here and prove my innocence." ”
This prompted Betty to make up her mind, and she made a deal with her brother: if Kenny stopped self-harming and tried to survive, she would go to law school.
In 1986, at the age of thirty, Betty, who had two young children, began her long journey to become a lawyer. She finished high school and then attended a community college. The other siblings supported her, but didn't dare to hold out much hope, Betty said, "I think they think I can't do it." ”
A barmaid who dropped out of high school and wants to become a lawyer, only Kenny believes she can.
In order to fulfill her promise to her brother, Betty lost her marriage. When her husband left her in 1989, "my husband often complained, 'You love your family more than you love me.'" He didn't think it made any sense for me to study law. It wasn't the only reason the marriage ended, but it was the last straw that broke the camel's back. ”
Betty raised her two sons alone, worked in a bar while studying, and coped with constant harassment from her ex-husband, "He's a nasty guy who always puts me in court to pay less child support." He thinks I should work more so he can pay less, and according to the law, he has to pay that much anyway. ”
She never thought about giving up, "How can I give up?" If I give up, it's giving up Kenny, and he'll never be free. ”
When tending to the bar, Betty always carried a book with her and read it with a needle in the haystack. The habit caught the attention of bar owner Aidan Graham.
A year after their divorce, Betty and Aidan start a new relationship, and this time, she finds a partner who supports her goals. "He was totally supportive of me going to law school, helping Kenny, he would visit Kenny, send him money, call him, all for me."
Aidan, Betty and her eldest son Richard
In 1995, Betty was admitted to roger Williams University's law school. "Law school is three years, and in law school, I study five days a week, eight hours a day."
"My goal in school was to get into law school, and a lot of times I thought I couldn't do it, and I kept thinking what if I couldn't get in. But I did, you put one foot in front of the other, keep working hard, and you'll succeed. ”
In 1998, Betty graduated from law school and passed the bar exam, and it took her 12 years to become a lawyer, but it was just the beginning.
evidence
In her second year of law school, Betty heard about The Innocence Project, a nonprofit founded by prominent lawyers Berry Sherk and Peter Nefield dedicated to rehabilitating wrongful convictions through DNA testing.
Betty wrote a large number of letters to the Innocence Program Office asking for help. Betty's request stands out prominently among the thousands of requests for assistance the Innocence Program receives each year, Berry said, and "her unwavering belief in her brother's innocence and indomitable spirit are one of the things that appealed to us in this case." She had a talent for making people want to help her. ”
After officially becoming her brother's lawyer, Betty began a re-investigation of the case. From investigators to witnesses to appellate lawyers, she personally questioned everyone involved in the investigation of the case. She also called the court to ask if there was any DNA evidence left behind in Kenny's case. A clerk rummaged through the basement of the courtroom after her persuasion and found an old cardboard box with Kenny's name on it, containing blood samples taken from the crime scene, kenny's only hope.
In November 1999, The Innocence Project applied to the district attorney for a blood sample and compared it to Kenny's DNA, which completely ruled out the possibility that Kenny was the killer.
Betty and Berry Sherk
In a re-examination of the case, the District Attorney's Office found that the report submitted by the police was incomplete, and the Ayr town police handed over evidence including Kenny's time card and fingerprint mismatch.
After Kenny was released from prison, his two ex-girlfriends, Brenda and Rosannah, also changed their confessions, saying they had given perjury under duress from police officer Nancy Taylor Harris.
On March 15, 2001, the District Attorney's Office dropped all charges against Kenny and formally acquitted him.
After 18 years in prison, Kenny was finally free.
Kenny (left) with mother Elizabeth (center) and Betty (right)
accidentally
Kenny's gratitude to Betty is self-evident: "I think it's absolutely surprising that she has dedicated her life to this." He also joked, "She must have owed me in her last life!" ”
Betty's only hope is that after Kenny is released from prison, the family will return to a normal life.
However, the sky did not go according to people's wishes, and the misfortune that happened next surprised everyone.
On September 6, 2001, after dinner with his mother, Kenny, 47, cut a short distance to his brother's house and accidentally fell off a 15-foot (4.6-meter) wall, fractured his skull and died, just six months after his release.
Speaking about the tragic accident, Betty said: "Kenny would say he was unlucky, his luck was really bad, but he also spent the best six months of his life and enjoyed every minute of freedom. ”
claim
In addition to proving her brother's innocence, Betty wants justice, "DNA evidence proves Kenny's innocence, but it doesn't prove that Al police deliberately did something to Kenny." They knew from day one that Kenny was innocent, and I wanted to prove it. Whether they liked my brother or not, they had no right to convict him for what he hadn't done. ”
She filed a federal lawsuit against Ayr Town Police Chief Philip Connors and Officer Nancy Taylor Harris, accusing them of wrongfully arresting, prosecuting and convicting Kenny.
Nancy is Philip's secretary and was allowed by her superiors to conduct a criminal investigation without training.
Philip and Nancy have flatly denied any misconduct in the course of the case.
Betty fought for another seven years.
In September 2009, the court ordered The town of Ayr and its insurance company to pay Kenny $10.73 million.
"Most of the money went to the IRS, and I wasn't for the money, but to get Nancy Taylor Harris punished, she should wear an orange jumpsuit (prison uniform)," Betty said. ”
postscript
Betty has no interest in defending people in court, and after Kenny's case is closed, instead of continuing to be a lawyer, she joins the innocence program, reviewing cases, helping other wronged people pro bono, hoping to do everything in her power to change the wronged justice system, "which is not working the way it should be, and needs to be improved and more checks and balances." Too many unqualified people have too much power, and the power that prosecutors and police officers have is surprising. ”
Many believe Betty made a huge sacrifice to save Kenny, and Betty said, "I don't think I sacrificed my life, that's my life." I'm willing to contribute to the innocence project and don't want to do anything else. My life is good right now and I love it. ”
Betty and Kenny, in an unusual way, accomplish each other.
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