The Crimes of Margo Freshwater | 6. The Reckoning

Listen to all episodes of The Crimes of Margot Freshwater ad-free right now by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge channel on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Or visit getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. The Binge. Feed your true crime obsession. The Binge. Margot Freshwater was finally recaptured in Ohio in 2002. Now she's in prison here in Tennessee. But Freshwater says she didn't do the crime that landed her a 99-year sentence, and she has the evidence to prove it. The Memphis newscasters made it sound like her lawyers could just fight their way back into court. Lawyers for Freshwater say this could be the breakthrough that they're looking for. Evidence could be presented that was never heard before. Evidence that is a jailhouse statement from an informant saying that Freshwater is not the killer. And her lawyers say if this doesn't work, they will continue to fight. Fighting was easy. Getting a judge to even open the door was the trickier part. Tanya had new evidence. The confession from Glenn Nash that he alone killed Hillman Robbins Sr. But evidence means nothing if there's no legal way to show it to anyone. I had to figure out a creative way to get it back into court. That's Stephen Ross Johnson, one of Tanya's lawyers. Because you've got to remember, it's been 32 years since she escaped. Once the deadlines and statutes of limitations have passed, that kind of proof is basically locked out. In Tennessee in general, any newly discovered evidence you've got to present in post-conviction proceedings, but you have to file that one year after your conviction has become final. Post-conviction law doesn't give you much room to work with. You can only raise constitutional issues. And luckily, Stephen had one, a Brady violation. The prosecutor had withheld evidence that supported Tanya's claim of innocence in a death penalty trial, which is about as serious as it gets. But even with that, they were decades past the deadline to file it. So we decided, let's file a quorum novus claim. It's used when somebody has already been convicted, has no appeals left, and then new evidence surfaces that couldn't have been found earlier and might have changed the outcome. Think of it like going back to the judge and saying, if you had known this back then, things could have turned out differently. And here's the proof. It's rare and it succeeds even more rarely. and in the spring of 2003 Tanya was brought back into a Tennessee courtroom for the first time since the world was being rocked by Woodstock Stephen Ross Johnson and Bob Ritchie showed up with a bold claim that the 32-year delay should have been forgiven because the state had caused it Tanya didn't know about Nash's confession her trial lawyer didn't know but the prosecution had a simpler answer one they thought ended the conversation before it began. John Campbell's position was, on its face, it should be denied because it's out of time. John Campbell, you heard his voice in our first episode. Today, he's a judge on the Court of Criminal Appeals in Tennessee, but in 2003, he was the assistant district attorney for Shelby County. My first reaction when I saw this filing was, you know, she'd escaped for 32 years. It It seemed to me kind of a stretch to believe that she could still prosecute a claim after she had absent herself for so many years. It didn't matter that the evidence had been tucked away in a file for decades. There's a provision of the Coronavis statute that says you must be without fault in failing to present the evidence at the appropriate time. The delay was her fault. There was an added difficulty for Tanya's defense. Stephen and his colleague Bob Ritchie were stepping into unfamiliar territory. We all had no clue what the court would do. We were in front of Judge Otis Higgs. We'd never been in front of Judge Higgs before. And the pressure didn't stop there. Tanya's family filled the benches, watching every move, every word. They were counting on Stephen and Bob to finally break the cycle that had trapped her for decades. John Campbell, though, got a more hostile reaction from Tanya's relatives. Every time I walked by them, they looked like they were going to kill me. I mean, talk about getting stared down. They would just stare me down. I've tried some really bad people, and I haven't really had a reaction like that from family members. I really haven't. This hearing wasn't about getting justice for Tanya, or what the evidence showed. It was simpler, harsher. Whose fault was the decades-long delay? The state's because the original prosecutor, Terry Lafferty, suppressed the evidence? Or Tanya's for running? Tanya's escape, something she'd never be able to undo, had become the very thing blocking the truth she'd been trying to surface her entire adult life. It clouded the whole case. It clouded this legal issue for every proceeding. Judge Higgs listened. He measured the escape against the accusation that the state had buried exculpatory evidence. And then came the decision. Judge Higgs originally found that because of her actions and the fact that it was way over a year and the fact that a lot of the witnesses that would be necessary are now dead, that she shouldn't get relief. It was denied. But there was something Judge Higgs wasn't considering in his decision. That presupposes that she would have uncovered it, right? And there's no suggestion that she even would have been able to uncover it within that year. That makes no sense. It only came to light because of the passage of time. Steven had expected a long fight. He just didn't expect the first blow to land so hard or so early. Neither he nor Tanya could have foreseen just how long the legal road would be. But in the end, deliverance came from an unexpected place. From Sony Music Entertainment and Glass Podcasts, this is the finale of The Crimes of Margot Freshwater. I'm Cooper Mall. Episode 6, The Reckoning. I knew Steve was working hard to get me out. I believed in him. By then, Tanya had come to trust him. Their relationship was unlike any lawyer-client relationship I've ever known. Professional, but also intimate. Tanya has this need to be seen, to be believed. I told her, I don't know how long this is going to take, but I'm going to do everything I can to get you out, and I'm just going to keep fighting. I had a lot of support from my family and friends. I had people from the church sending me cards. My minister would come down every three months from Ohio to visit with me. My husband was coming down every other week. My children would come down to see me, and it helped me keep my spirits high. While lawyers were trading briefs, Tanya's family was trading sleep, gas money, and whole weekends just to get a few hours with her. We were a young family just starting out. We didn't have money for like a hotel or anything like that. So we would leave like Friday night. Like in the middle of the night, like two or three in the morning. So that the babies could sleep in the car and we would drive straight through all the way to Nashville, visit her for, what did we get? Four hours. Three or four hours. Three or four hours. Get right back in the car and drive straight back to Ohio. Cranky kids, you know, sleeping in the car for two days. And, you know, the only playtime that they were getting was in a prison visitation. Those visits became their routine. Months of waiting turned into years of driving through the night. Years of kids growing up in back seats. Years of Tanya watching her family's life unfold in three-hour increments across a prison table. When Judge Higgs denied Tanya's petition in 2002, Stephen knew the real fight was just beginning. He appealed that decision, and after four years of arguments and counter-appeals, Tanya's case ended up before the Tennessee Supreme Court. By that point, the question became simple. Would the Supreme Court let this fight continue? Or kill it? So we won, but we won a hearing in front of the same judge that it did not us before. The state Supreme Court agreed with Stephen and his team. The new evidence in Tanya's case, that suppressed confession, should be heard. And once it landed back in Memphis, everything slowed to a crawl again. Dates had to be set. Records had to be pulled. By the time the hearing was finally scheduled in 2006, four years had passed since Stephen first filed the petition. And in that stretch of time, Stephen's fight became even more personal. Bob Ritchie passed away from cancer. I'd lost my mentor. He had died in the middle of this fight. Tanya needed my help. But another motivating factor here was I wanted to finish what he and I had started together. Now Stephen had to walk into that courtroom alone and prove what the state had hidden in 1969. I called Terry Lafferty as a witness in front of Judge Higgs in court and testified under his portrait in the courtroom and admitted to the Brady violation, said that he suppressed that statement from Johnny Box that had Glenn Nash's confession and that he was told by a supervisor not to produce it. And there was somebody else from Tanya's original trial. Somebody unexpected. Ken Armstrong, the last surviving member of the all-male jury that condemned Tanya to 99 years in prison. When Tanya's capture made headlines, Ken got in touch with Steven. He said, I'm so glad you're trying to help her. I've always thought that she was innocent. I think that I made a mistake at her trial. In fact, the other jurors wanted to give her death. I wanted to acquit her because I believed her story I compromised and we gave her 99 years And Ken had more to reveal Things no one had ever put on the record He said that even though they were sequestered the bailiff would in the middle of the trial, bring newspapers in to let them read the newspapers, would allow them to have access to the local television news. And you got to remember, this case had already gone through two mistrials in Mississippi. There was a lot of media attention surrounding this case. It had been sensationalized. And now she's being tried in Memphis. There's a rule in the law that says you can't use someone's past accusations or bad acts against them. Bringing it up at trial is unfairly prejudicial. So it's usually kept out. And so the jury hearing about the murder of the cab driver in Mississippi and how she had been charged with that with Glenn Nash. And she'd gone through two trials and they'd been mistried. The jury hadn't convicted her, but she'd gone through two trials. The jurors were not supposed to have known any of that in the case in Tennessee. When Stephen called Ken Armstrong as a witness, Stephen asked Ken if they had known about the suppressed evidence back in the 1969 trial. Would they have convicted Margo Freshwater? And he said, no, they wouldn't have. But it still wasn't enough. Judge Higgs said that none of that would have mattered because even if she wasn't a shooter, Margo Freshwater still could have gotten convicted as an aider and a better. Remember, in her original trial, part of the problem was that under Tennessee law, Tanya was considered an accomplice just by virtue of being there when the murder happened. And Judge Higgs found that, and the state argued, it didn't matter whether she was a shooter or not. What mattered was she was there. She participated. She waited on the customer in the liquor store. She stayed with Glenn Nash after he committed this murder in Memphis. And that those facts helped to evidence her intent to offer aid, encouragement, support, and to participate in the robbery and the homicide. Judge Higgs denied the appeal again. I told everyone from the get-go that I wouldn't just walk out. Tennessee wasn't going to allow that to happen. I was going to have to enter a plea of some kind, or I would go to trial. It just made me tougher. I know I'm going home. No matter how long it takes, I know I'm going home. Here's the thing. Judge Higgs wasn't applying the law the way Tennessee required. He treated the new evidence like it had to guarantee a different outcome when the statute had a much lower bar. And so Stephen appealed again. Under Tennessee law, the question wasn't whether the evidence would have changed the verdict. It was whether it may have changed the verdict. A distinction that sounds subtle, but carries the weight of someone's entire future. I argued that the court applied the wrong legal standard because would have necessarily is a higher standard to meet than may have. One is a potential. One is a probability. And that single shift from would to may turned the case upside down. It meant the wrong test had been used all along. we go and we argue the appeal now for the third time. You make your case to the appellate judges, and then everything goes quiet. The panel takes the arguments back, their clerks dig into the record, and the judges review it all themselves. They decide how they're going to rule and draft a written opinion. That whole process can take a long time. A really long time. So we're waiting, and we wait months for that opinion to come out. Until one day, the silence finally broke. I got the email from the court, the chief deputy clerk here for the appellate courts, and I opened up the opinion, and I can remember I just started crying. They reversed the convictions and granted her a new trial. Nine years after Stephen first met Tanya's family in a Knoxville conference room, the highest court in the state overturned her conviction. I felt like it was the culmination of all those years of work and all those years of just life passing by. Court filings, briefs, hearings that came and went. Seasons changing outside the office window while Stephen poured everything he had into a fight that refused to end. At that time, that same year, I'd lost my dad. He had passed away. I remember getting this decision was a bright spot. I knew the fight wasn't over, but I knew that I had the momentum at that point and that the state was going to have a difficult time retrying her based on 40-year-old evidence. to go along with our binge shows, including The Crimes of Margo Freshwater, and you can access it at the link in our episode description or at patreon.com slash the binge. You'll get behind-the-scenes reporting, case updates, and a chance to chat with one of the show's creators and other fans. The newsletter comes out twice a month. It's totally free, and it's where the story continues. I'll see you there. Just hit the link in the description or head to patreon.com slash the binge. I've been trying to simplify my wardrobe lately, not some dramatic throw everything out kind of way, but just being more intentional. Fewer pieces, better quality, things I actually want to wear over and over again. And that is where Quince has been amazing. They have premium fabrics, thoughtful design, and everyday essentials that feel effortless and dependable, even as the seasons change. I've actually really been enjoying the Mongolian cashmere quarter zip sweater in the olive color. It's one of those pieces that instantly makes you look put together but still feel relaxed. You can wear it on your own, layer it in a jacket, dress it up a little bit, and keep it casual. 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Go to quince.com slash crimes for free shipping and 365-day returns. quince.com slash crimes. Winning the appeal didn't set Tanya free. It reset the clock. Now it's 2011, nine years later. Tanya's nine years older. And the state, I was hoping, would just say, okay, game over, we're done. She's served nine years in prison, enough's enough. But that was not what they were going to do. Her conviction was gone, but now she was simply a defendant again. Decades after the murder of Hillman Robbins Sr., even prosecutor John Campbell knew the case had turned into a relic. You're stuck with having a retry case basically by just getting up there and reading a transcript. It kind of takes the emotional hook out of it and the personal hook out of it, and the jury's just left with a cold reading of the record. And, of course, she's still here, and she could testify, and she'd be the only live witness the jury would hear. She's going to be sitting there in the courtroom the whole time looking like grandma. You run the risk of people feeling sorry for her. and that's something you have to take into consideration. But Campbell also wasn't about to let her walk. I wanted her to be convicted. And he wasn't the only one. We are terribly upset that this keeps going on and on and on and on. That's Susan Robbins West, the granddaughter of the man that Nash murdered in Memphis, Hillman Robbins Sr. Susan has since passed away. This audio is from an interview she gave to a local television news station in 2011. I know God's going to eventually put the final judgment on her, but she definitely needs to serve time. I mean, she's acting like she misses her family. Well, you know what? It affected our families. Susan isn't wrong. Her family never got anything close to justice. Think about it. Nash, the man who actually pulled the trigger, walked away without serving a single day in prison. No one was really ever held accountable for the murder of Susan's grandfather. Then decades later, after they'd tried to heal, after they'd done the work of moving on, they were being dragged back into the same trauma all over again. Tanya was there the night he died. She didn't fire the gun, but she couldn't save him either. And she got to build a life afterward. She has a family. Susan barely had memories of her grandfather. I understand why that would sting, why that anger would feel righteous. If it were my blood, I think I'd feel the same way. A retrial wouldn't happen overnight. There was a door out, but it required Tanya to do the one thing she had refused to do for more than four decades. I met John Campbell in Nashville, and we sat down and we were talking through a potential resolution here that would get Tanya home. And we came up with something fairly creative. A plea deal The only way we could do it was as a best interest plea And I told him she innocent A best interest plea also known as an Alfred plea allowed Tanya to enter a guilty plea while maintaining her innocence By taking this path, she would be acknowledging that if a trial were held, the state would likely have enough evidence to convict her, despite her innocence. And here's the problem with that. I always told Steve I would not plead guilty to something I didn't do. I had a tricky decision to propose to Tanya. It was her decision. But I have a path to get you home now. Or do we stay and fight? And I'm with you, I'll fight. But it's also my job to look out for your best interest. So I called home and I talked to Daryl. And he said, well, you're going to have to make a plea. And I said, no, I'm not going to plea. He said, well, you don't have to plead that you're guilty. And I said, I've told everybody how I feel about this. So we went back and forth on it. And he told me, Steve said that I would choose to go to court. And Campbell told him, well, if she goes to court, it'll be at least a year or two before she sees the inside of a courtroom. and I told Daryl, I guess I won't be coming home because I'm not going to plead. By this time, I'm crying. And he said, it's not fair to me and the kids. We know you're innocent. When Tanya hung up, she carried the weight of the decision back to her cell, her family, her health, the years slipping away. And for the first time, she let herself wonder whether innocence was something she had to prove. So I went back to the room, and I was crying and praying and asking the Lord, please let me know what to do. And I ended up falling asleep, crying myself to sleep. And when I woke up the next morning, I knew what I was going to do. I was going to play, because I knew how they had drug it out nine-plus years after getting the evidence found back in 2002, and I knew they would do the same thing if I went to court. And I thought, it's not fair to Daryl, it's not fair to my kids, and it's definitely not fair to Steve, because Steve has worked so long and hard on this over the years, and I can't put him through this anymore. And I know if I go to court, he'll stick right there beside me. And so I decided that's what I was going to plea. With a single signature in the fall of 2011, Tanya traded the fight for freedom for the rest of her life with her family. In a way, through this compromise, everyone got what they wanted. She's convicted. She stands convicted of it. And whether it's an Alford plea or not, it's still a conviction. John Campbell got his guilty plea. Tanya got to go home. And Stephen's now decade-long battle to get Tanya free was finally won. In a stunning turnaround, 63-year-old Margo Freshwater pleaded guilty on Friday to first-degree murder in the 1966 death of store clerk Hillman Robbins. It was agreed that she would get credit for all time served. We anticipate, once all of her sentencing credits are calculated by the Department of Corrections, that she'll be released in the next few days. Nobody was anticipating her return more than her husband, Daryl. It's been a tough experience, and it's something that I would not want any couple to have to go through. But when you have two people that are in love, and they marry for better or for worse, they just get the worst out of the road first, I guess. And that's what we've done, and we've managed to keep our relationship as solid as it was the day we met. I'm looking forward to us rejoining our lives together. And on Halloween night 2011, Tim McCarter's cell phone buzzed. We were walking for trick-or-treat, and some news outlet called and had mentioned that, you know, she's going to be coming home soon. and they were trying to pinpoint a time and day because they all wanted to come and be there. Tim and Casey wanted to get ahead of the media frenzy. They were still shell-shocked from the circus after Tanya had been arrested. We just got in the car, dripped down there, kind of played it off like it wasn't going to happen. On November 1st, outside the Shelby County Jail, it almost didn't feel real. We're waiting for her out front and we're like, are they going to find a reason to arrest her as soon as she walks out the door? We were still doubting it till she walked out. And when the gates finally opened, we embraced for maybe a second and threw the stuff in the car and left. We didn't feel safe until we got out of the state of Tennessee. The three of them took off like a bat out of hell. We took the closest way out of Tennessee. She wanted out of there as quick as possible. And once Tanya crossed back into Ohio, She let herself exhale for the first time. When I came home, I did kneel down and feel the carpet. And thought, oh, that feels so nice. And I just ran my fingers through it. And then I went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator and looked around the house because it was the first time I'd seen the house. Because Daryl bought it while I was in Nashville. Tanya did what she's always done best. She started over. After I touched the carpet and opened the refrigerator, I got a piece of paper and pencil and made my list of everything that I needed to do. Legally changing her name to Tanya, obtaining her original birth certificate, a temporary driver's license. And as I accomplished that, I would check everything off. Tanya had spent decades surviving by erasing herself. Now, the irony was impossible to ignore. Only by being caught did she finally get to exist. She no longer had to pretend she was someone else. She was free. For the first time in 45 years, Tanya McCarter got to live as herself. Listen, we see you crushing workouts, building your thing from nine to five, and somehow also from five to nine. You hold yourself to a higher standard, and honestly, your drink should too. That's where nowadays comes in. Nowadays is a zero proof THC beverage that gives you a clean, reliable buzz, no hangover, no empty calories, no regrets, just really bold flavor, good energy, and actually being present the next day, which personally, I love. This isn't about giving up fun to chase your goals. It's about choosing a better way to do both. You work hard, you play smart, you've earned this. It's what I reach for when I want to unwind without feeling foggy, sluggish, or questioning my life choices the next morning. I mean, doesn't that sound lovely. So if that sounds good to you, here's the deal. 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He's not doing well, but he goes, oh my gosh, I saw where you won and you got her out to her family. And I'm so happy. Remember, Ken Armstrong was the lone holdout in a jury room that wanted Margo to receive the death penalty. And he said, I never got an opportunity to tell her I'm sorry. I would love to talk with her and to tell her I'm so sorry. And he said, I really want to see her. I just don't want to talk to her on the phone. I want to see her before I die. Stephen knew how hard this could be for Tanya. The last place in the world she wanted to be was Memphis, Tennessee. But he called her anyway. And she said, I'll drive down and come see him. On a cold December morning, Tanya headed toward Tennessee. She brought her friend Sue along. Together they drove back through the same state line she once crossed as a fugitive, all to answer the request of a dying man. By the time they reached Memphis, the sun was low. She and Sue pulled into a quiet neighborhood, a small house. And we went in, and Ken was sitting in his wheelchair, and we saw each other and we hugged and he said, are you okay? I've got to know that you're okay. And I said, yes, Ken, I'm okay because you saved my life. And he said, I felt this guilt for 32 years. He said, I tried everything I could after I gave that verdict. No one would listen to me. And he said, I just felt so bad. Two people, bound by a verdict neither of them ever fully escaped, finally sharing the truth out loud When I say he saved my life he saved my life That man will always have a place in my heart Ken didn't have long after that visit, but before he died, he got what he'd been reaching for since 1969, the chance to look her in the eye and know she was still there. Tanya drove back to Ohio carrying something she'd never had from anyone connected to that trial. absolution. Ken Armstrong wasn't the only man from Margo's past with unfinished business. After I got home, I went out to the mailbox and there was a card in the mailbox. And as soon as I saw the name, I was aware of who it was. The name on the card was one she knew well. Greg Costas, the man who'd tracked her down and put her behind bars. What the hell did he want? I don't know why. I really don't know why. But there was something gnawing at me. So I took a business card and I drove to where she was living. And I put a business card in her mailbox with no note. Nothing. Just a business card. To Costas, it seemed like a benign gesture. Not to Tanya. And I got scared. And I went inside and I called my son, Tim. And the next day I got a call from Tim Hutkins, her son. And he said, my mom told me you put a business card in her mailbox. I just said, I want to talk to her. And I want to know if she'll talk to me. Tim called me back and he said, he wants to meet with you. I said, why? And he said, he says he just has to meet with you. I wanted to know why too. I had no idea. I had no idea. But something was just driving me. Tanya agreed to meet with Costas, but not alone. She brought Tim and Casey with her. They chose a Panera Bread in a Columbus suburb called Hilliard. Neutral, public, and unassuming. A place built for casual lunches, not reckonings. When I was walking out of the house, I said, this is either going to take four minutes or four hours. Greg came in and we all sat down at the table. And she actually gave me a hug. I sat across from Greg. I looked at Greg and I said, well, before we get started, I want you to know I don't hold anything against you. You were just doing your job. And tears formed in his eyes. He said, you don't know how much that means to me. Costas came because something unresolved had lodged itself in him. Something he couldn't shake until he faced the woman he had spent a decade hunting. I don't know that I felt guilty because I was doing my job, but I didn't realize the ripple effects that it would have. And that's what was eye-opening to me. The human element part of it kind of took me off guard. Costas was just starting to understand what the case had taken out of Tanya's life. But her family didn't need that revelation. They'd felt those ripple effects for almost 10 years. We bought our first house, had two more babies, changed careers. Literally, she missed probably like our most grown up, you know, from like 20 to 30, when you do your most maturing and growing. She was absent from all of that. Costas didn't see any of that from his side of the badge, not until now. And when Tanya opened her mouth, what she gave him wasn't resentment. She said, look, I forgive you. I have no ill will toward you. You've been very professional and you've been a gentleman throughout this whole thing. And I understand that you were just doing your job. Four minutes became four hours. Tanya had learned the man who chased her wasn't the law-abiding son of a bitch she imagined. and Costas learned the fugitive he'd fixated on wasn't the villain he'd been trained to catch. Two people who once stood on opposite sides of a manhunt found themselves in a booth sharing something much less dramatic and far more human. Recognition. We exchanged phone numbers and she said, you can call me anytime. And I told her if she ever needed anything from me that she could call me. I just said, I really appreciate this. And it's weird because I never did anything like that before. And I never did anything like that after that I wanted to talk to a defendant of any sort of case that I ever worked. But this case wasn't like anything else he ever worked. He wasn't chasing Margo Freshwater anymore. He was trying to make sense of Tanya McCarter and of the younger version of himself who once believed catching her was the whole story. And that was the moment something clicked for me because Tanya doesn't let people into her life easily, but she does have a soft spot for a very specific group of people, the ones who knew her as Margot, the ones who hold pieces of a past even after Tanya had let Margot die. And I think that holds a quiet significance for her. These are the rare people who know her with the ease of longtime friends, and she didn't get many of those in the life she built. Costas is one of those people. Here's what's strange. When I first reached out to Tanya, she had Costas call me up to get a feel for me. She never would have met me if he hadn't given his blessing. In fact, when Tanya and I first spoke in person, she required that Costas be there too. The man who once spent a decade chasing her became the bridge that allowed her to tell her story. And maybe that's why she walked into that Panera. Because letting Costas see her, really see her, was a way to bury the myth of Margot Freshwater and to fully embrace being Tanya. It wasn't just Greg Costas. Even the FBI agent who hunted Tanya in the 70s came around too. Richard Knudsen also started to see that Margot had been telling the truth. that she had been coerced. All of us were somewhat protective of her. I have three daughters. We always told our daughters, you know, be careful the people you date and you get associated with, or they'll get you in trouble. And I can't tell you how many cases through the years that that's been the case where it's been an innocent young lady and she gets tied up with the wrong guy and her whole life is thrown into a spin. And that's what we thought it was. We can see the inequity of the whole darn thing. He kept going back to Tennessee saying, this woman shouldn't be in prison. Let me offer her family a deal. The system could have helped her. She had a good appeal, as far as I was concerned, just to the emotions of the situation, because he takes up with a lawyer, for God's sake, and then this guy's a nut, and he does the shooting, and he gets off to serving in a private mental institution. How's that fair? I walked into this project thinking I knew what this case was. But now, knowing the new evidence, knowing how Tanya never wanted anyone dead, it's all so much clearer to me. The frightened teenager who bore the blame grew into a woman who should have never lost a moment of her life to a prison sentence. The girl who went on the run became a woman who lost decades she should have never had to forfeit. she missed the opportunity to rebuild her relationships with her mom and brother she also missed their funerals she never got to say goodbye to the people who once loved margo like her aunt leona who she'd only seen glancingly when she bumped into her at a department store because disappearing was the only way to stay alive no ruling no reversal no belated acknowledgement of the truth can return all that time to her. But she can finally name what was taken. She can finally claim who she is. And maybe this podcast, agreeing to sit down, talk, remember, let herself be seen, was the final step, the last door she had to walk through. She's taken her story to a bigger court than any she ever stood in. The court of public opinion. The people who've never heard her voice, the ones who'd only ever known the myth. She isn't hiding anymore. This time, she's getting straight with everyone. Unlock all episodes of The Crimes of Margot Freshwater ad-free right now by subscribing to the Binge podcast channel. Not only will you immediately unlock all episodes of this show, but you'll get binge access to an entire network of other great true crime and investigative podcasts, all ad-free. Plus, on the first of every month, subscribers get a binge drop of a brand new series. That's all episodes, all at once. Search for The Binge on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on Apple? Head to getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. The Crimes of Margo Freshwater is an original production of Sony Music Entertainment and Glass Podcasts. It was hosted and reported by me, Cooper Mall. Mauro Walls is our story editor. Our executive producers are Catherine St. Louis, Jonathan Hirsch, Nancy Glass, Ben Fetterman, and Andrea Gunning. Sound design and editing by Anna McLean. Mixed and mastered by Matt Delvecchio. Our theme music was composed by Oliver Baines. We use music from MIB and Epidemic Sound. Our production managers are Sammy Allison and Kristen Melchiori. Our lawyer is Michael Belkin. Special thanks to Steve Ackerman, Emily Rasek, and Carrie Hartman. Please rate and review The Crimes of Margo Freshwater. It helps people find our show. Thank you.