#270 Maggie Freleng with Karla Baday

being sex trafficks. But I think in these instances and these wrongful convictions, especially with the no crime convictions, UM, it happens to women a lot. They're like you being arrested for sexual abusing Maria medinaz Ki. I said, please find out the truth because I didn't do none of these things. Oh are you sure I should? I say yes, I am, Yes, I am. Can you please find out the truth from Lava for Good? This is wrongful conviction

with Maggie Freeling today Carlo Badet. In late January of two thousand, two year old Carla Badet was invited to visit her ex girlfriend Maria Medina in Armona, in California's San Joaquin Valley. It was Maria's birthday. And Carla loved spending time with Maria's four young children, so she accepted the invitation. She stayed for a week or so and then went back home to Los Angeles. Shortly after arriving home,

the police came and brought Carla in for questioning. Maria had called the police and said that Carla molested three of her children during the visit. Carla was an absolute shock, but knowing her relationship with the children, she believed the situation would resolve itself. But as an undocumented immigrant and a lesbian, Carla would have to navigate both the al gasitions and prejudice against her identity. She didn't stand a chance. She was arrested and charged with multiple accounts of child

sexual abuse. After only two days of trial and deliberations, the jury convicted her. She was sentenced to forty five years to life. Who is Carla Badet? Carla is just a happy spirit. That's what I am. You know, a happy spirit and somebody who cares and loves people. And she loved being being alive and being me. I'm Carla Badet from hundred forty four years old. And how long

were you incarcerated? Seventeen years Carla Badet was born in Honduras on June seventeenth, nineteen seventy seven, to Julio Francisco Algado and Sonja Mariciella in a little town called Carla grew up the fifth of seven children. She was especially close with her youngest sibling. My name is dulsbad I am Carla's little sister. Jo. Say, can you tell me

what growing up in Honduras was like with Carla. Well, when I was in Honduras, I was ten or twelve years old when Carla leave my country, and I remember her. She was happy. She was as as long as I remember. She was so caring about us, um, my nieces and nephews, they were babies, and you know, as a family. I love her. What do you remember? You know when she left? Because Carla left to go to the United States. I mean, do you understand what was going on or why she

was leaving at that time? Uh? Not at that time. I realized when I get older, Oh my god, I'm about to cry. I know she lived because our country, it was her for her. I do remember that. Um, she was fighting a lot with my mom in Oh my goodness, I'm sorry. Carla wasn't happy and hondur Us. When I was growing up, I knew that I was different. And I was like six seven years old, I knew I was different, and then I started knowing that I didn't like boys. Guess everybody was like, oh, you like

this boy? Do you like this boy? And I'm like, no, I like the girl. You know. From a young age, Carlin knew she was gay, but in Honduras, she couldn't be herself. Being in that country, you cannot say too much about your your sexuality because she's a Catholic, you know, and they don't they don't like gay people over there. You can get killed, you can get rape, you can

get do a lot of things. Carlos says, from the time she was fifteen to twenty years old, she was harassed by local gangs, the gangs from there, from the town and there. They were like, okay, so you look like you're gay and stuff like that. So they were trying to they raped me and trying to you know, abuse me or stuff like that and find me or whatever. So I decided to leave. That was my time to leave, because if not, I would have got killed over there. So and I came to the United States when I

was twenty years old. In January I teen nine, Carla left everything she knew in Hunturs too journey to the United States. That was scary. I went. I went to the border of a Salvador. Then from Salvador, Guatemala, Guatemala, Mexico, Mexico to the United States. So when I when I'm crossing the border, is a lot of things going on, and that you you get assaulted by people in there with the mask cones. And I was like eight days without eating. My feet were bleeding from walking so much

out in shower. I had even lies in my head, you know, and it takes in my body because I was sleeping on the barns. I was sleeping whatever I can sleep. At one point, I was so tired that I was like what should I do? But you know, I didn't want to go back because I knew what was gonna happen. So I keep pushing forward and saying, no, you gotta you gotta do and you gotta do it. Yea. Carla ended up crossing through the desert with some food

and water, but very little. She became incredibly thirsty and at some point she found a pot of dirty water that cows used what they do their necessities, and I'm like, I'm going to have to drink this water. So that's what I did. I went and got the water and I started drinking that water, even though it was gross, but it was I feel like I was dehyduated, completely dehydrated because it was it was hot. Finally, Carla made

it through the desert and into the United States. She arrived in February, and she felt safe from the dangers she faced in Honduras. As the year wore on, Carla settled into her new life as an openly gay woman in the United States. She was looking forward to having a family and kids and just a normal life. She started dating too. One night, she was in Harmona and went out to a bar with a end and there she met someone I was used to go play pool because I like to play pool, and then I met Marianna.

At first, Carla wasn't interested in pursuing anything with Maria, but Maria was persistent. Finally I got with her, you know, so it's like finally I said, okay, you know, it's like, let's do it. So I started dating her and then we started dating in that moment with her. She was living in her house with four kids, and so I moved in with her. And you wanted kids, you wanted a family. I wanted a family and she had kids.

So at first it was happy. At first this Carla and Maria enjoyed their time together for the first few months. Carla loved the four kids, Tony, Corrina, Graciela and Fabian. She loved being a mom to them. But things between her and Maria eventually started to change. But and then everything became like an obsession or no, I don't know what what it was, but it was like controlling, more controlling, and it's like she was not allowing me to talk to my family and the phone because not not everybody

from a family was his, she's my brother. But I was calling Honduras. She was not allowing me talk to my family. She was not allowing me to go to the store with by myself. I had to go. We want her kids. And then she was questioning the kids when I was coming back from the store, like if I talked to a girl, if I did this, and you know, and then and then she was threatening me to call immigration if I did something to return me back to my country. Carla lived like this for months.

After about a year and a half, they broke up. At this point, Carla says Maria was a heavy methomphetamine user and many aspects of the relationship had become unbearable. By this time, Carlo's mother had also to the u S, which helped Carla to realize home wasn't necessarily with Maria, so I left. I left from her house to my mom's house, back to l A. Some time went by. Then in late January of two, Maria invited Carla back

to celebrate her birthday. Carla was excited to see the children, who she cared for dearly, so she accepted the invitation. She stayed there for a little over a week and then returned to l A. And then an afternoon, my mom was telling me Maria been calling you. Maria been gone and you. I said, okay, so I call her back. I said yes, she said, you abuse my kids. I said excuse me, and she's like yes, I said, you should be calling the police. You don't call me, you

call the police. And then Carla says Maria threatened her. She said, if if you're not with me, I will kill you or you will be in prison forever. That's what she gave me. And then so say, well, you can do whatever, you know. I know I'm innocent and you can do your part, you know. So later that week she did she called the police, and then later that week UH two officers came to visit Mia l A. The officers took her down to the station for questioning

under the allegations that she abused Maria's kids. They told her the kids said that while Maria was at the store with her eleven year old son Toni, Carla sexually molested the other children, Corina, Graciela Fabian, who were seven, six, and four at the time. The detectives who interviewed her were Jeff Torres and Mark Lusk, but their questions were not what you'd expect. The detectives asked more about Carla's sex life with Maria than they did about her relationship

with the kids. She says. They asked her if she and Maria used any sex toys and what kinds of toys they were. How did you feel when they were asking you about your sex toys and your sex life. It was very embarrassing, especially because they were all men. It was I'm the only female in there. So they were all men and they were all laughing when they were interrogating me in the room. It was like laughing

and she's talking among themselves and English. I didn't know because they translated, was not translated what they were saying. Carla needed a translator president because at the time she didn't speak much English. So that was she laughing about stuff. And I'm like looking like you know, So I was very embarrassing. They were so like eager to know things to how how do you use it? And and how many times saying what do you guys did? And it's

like it was just very uncomfortable. So they were telling me that I abuse kids and the three kids and Maria and like that. And then I was like, whoa, you know. I said, please find out the truth because I didn't do none of these things. And then so, oh, are you sure I usould? I said, yes, I am, Yes, I am. Can you please find out the truth? And then so they let me go from there, Carla left

and went back to her mom's house. About a month later, she says, Maria decided to visit her in l A. Despite her allegations against Carla, I was going to the store with Maria when police came, oh everywhere, you know, and they like, they're like, come my name and then so so police and everybody was she's there, you know, and I'm like okay, They're like, you being arrested for sexual abusing Maria Medina's kids. I'm like okay. So she was there with me, and then they put handcuffs on

me and they put me in a police car. On March two, Carla was ready her Miranda rights and officially arrested and holding Custoday. On May three, she was charged with multiple accounts of child sexual abuse. Carla's little sister, dol Say, knows she didn't do this. I know she has up pure heart and she she's not capable do a horrible thing like that. She was caring about us, about my nieces and nephews. I don't believe that the they cool thing that my sister was was capable do

that horrible thing. This episode is underwritten by A i G, a leading global insurance company. A i G is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making a positive difference in the lives of its employees and in the communities where we work. And live in light of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance and in recognition of a i g s commitment to criminal and social justice reform, the ai G pro Bono Program provides free legal services

and other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. Carlo's trial started June two thousand two. The prosecutor was Anna Ferguson, who called nurse Georgian Green to the stand. The nurse testified that when she examined the children, the medical evidence showed they were molested. By this point, Child Protective Services had taken all four of Maria's children from her. They

were now living with foster families. Only Corina and Graciela testified during the trial, but their testimonies were largely inconsistent with each other and what they had previously reported. Garina said the day she and the other children were left alone with Carla, she saw Carla take off Fabian's clothes

and touch his quote private. She also made a number of other even more serious allegations about Carlo's actions, But when Graciella took the stand, the six year old said Carla didn't touch her and that she had never seen her touch the other children in a bad way. Jerry Holt, Grandma's Carlo's court appointed defense attorney. Although they had momentum after Gracila's eye opening testimony, he failed to cross examine

her and other witnesses. He didn't even consult or present any experts in support of Carla or to refute the alleged medical evidence testified to by nurse Green. Carla says he was a terrible attorney. He was always telling me, I'm gonna go visit you to talk with you about the case. Never did not one time. The only time that he spoke with me was at the moment of my trial, five minutes prior to that, and he said, are you innocent? I said, this is what did he say?

My wife is at the hospital, so my head is over there. That's what he said. When when he said he was his head was on his wife's hospital, not me, I was like, whoa you know. Holgrin would eventually be disbarred for reasons unrelated to Carla's case. Without a rigorous defense, Carla was unsurprisingly found guilty after only two days of trial. She was sentenced to forty five years to life. When

you're in court and they sentence you. You are being sentenced not for being a murderer or a robber, for being a child molester. What does that feel like? It was horrible. It was painful because I love this kit so much, and I was when I wanted to be a parent, and then she's thinking that you abuse somebody so innocent, and then they were saying that I did that.

When she got to prison, Carla felt hopeless. She had escaped under US to come to the US to be free of persecution, only to be arrested for a crime she maintains she did not commit. I was angry. I was angry not at the kids. I was angry at the law for not finding out the truth. So I was angry at that United States because they said, this is United States, you know, and that if I'm talking about Honduras, I will they can do whatever they want. But in the United States they found out the truth

and they didn't. Her initial years in prison were bleak. Living in that environment was scary, and she still didn't speak any English, so she couldn't read any of her own documents to figure out how to help herself. By this time, Dulce had also made it to the US, and she was doing her best to try and help her sister out. I tried to look for help. I

tried to higher an attorney. But when I get here and I went to that first appointment with the attorney, they say, I need fifty dollars to start with the case. And that was super hard. What did you what did you do when this attorney said fifty dollars? Did you think I can get that or did you think? You know? We're doomed? At that time, I couldn't do anything. I was I was new to the country. I didn't know about golf on means, I didn't know about anything. I

just say, I cannot afford that amount of money. We worked really hard, but we cannot have four or fifty dollars. But Carla knew one way she might be able to get help. Had you ever thought about wrongful convictions before this? Uh? No, never, so as I learned that when I when I got to prison, and then so I used to watch see Aside and because stuff like that, and then you know, and the in Spanish of course, and then I always heard about Innocence Project and you know, but I didn't

think it was true. At the prison, Carla made a connection with the California Coalition for Women's Prisoners. She asked them to send her information on organizations that might help her. So they did. They sent me a full pack of a letter innocence projects. You know. But at that moment and I speaking English, so I say that paper, I say the purple work until I learned English. Eventually, Carla settled in and her perseverance kept her moving forward even

while in prison. I overcame every obstacle in there is. It was up to me, you know, and what I was in there, I didn't let the walls consume me. I allow myself to expand myself. And they're like getting too. I I am facilitated for domestic violence. I earned my high school diploma and my AID degree and arts and humanities. She also found a purpose and offering friendship to other

incarcerated women. So that was was keeping me sane in there, seeing other people smiling, and she's talking to people and and she's like, you know a lot of times I had a friend who said, did you know her? I don't need to know her what about she's going through something. I'm just gonna say, hi, good morning, how are you? You can change somebody's life in that moment, you know. So that was my my my thing was changing somebody's

life every day. Carla was doing okay enough in prison, but the rest of her family was broken without her. Oh my goodness, it is hard for me thinking about my sister in that place, not being with us on Christmas, on my birthdays. We couldn't help her, would by that boss? No sharing with her. A lot of beautiful moments that were when I had my first kid. It hurts my heart. Despite the distance from her family, Carla continued to strive,

and that included learning English. With language as her tool, she was finally able to read the research documents on innocence pro objects she saved all those years ago, and when she did, she reached out to the Northern California Innocence Project. My name is Katherine Boyle and I'm a volunteer attorney with the Northern California Innocence Project. Catherine is one of the attorneys overseeing Carla's case at the n z i P, along with its co founder and executive director,

Linda's Star. Katherine says the first thing they did when they read Carla's letter was to try to obtain as much information about the case as they could, but unfortunately the only thing they could get was the trial transcripts. Even though there was not very much information that we had was that it looked like she had been wrongfully convicted and that there was bias against her based on her sexual orientation as well as her status as an

undocumented immigrant. Can you elaborate on that a little bit? So? How was their bias against her in both of those ways? Yes, so, um, the bias against her. It kind of pervaded the case in many different ways. One of the things that came out in the transcript was that both Carla's own attorney as well as the district attorney emphasized her status as a lesbian and the fact that she was in a lesbian relationship throughout the trial, even though it was totally

irrelevant to the issues at hand. So that was that was one factor. There were also just assumptions about her based on her undocumented immigrant status. Um. And one of the ways we found that out is as we were investigating her case, we did have an opportunity to talk to her attorney from the preliminary hearing, who at first

did not remember her, but then um. When we jogged his memory by saying that she was from Honduras and speak Spanish, he very disparagingly said, oh, the little gay girl, and she wouldn't have been able to commit the crime if she hadn't been here illegally. Given the circumstances, the n c I P took Carla's case, believing in her

innocence and botched trial. The younger daughter testified that Carla didn't touch her at all, and the older daughter testified inconsistently with what she had said at um other times. And yet Carla's attorney did not pick up on any of that, nor did he cross examine the nurse expert or get an expert on behalf of Carla to testify that there was no basis in medical science for what the nurse was attesting too. Was there a reason why he didn't call his ownerspert? Gosh, we would love to

know that, um. Um, I don't know. I have to think part of it was the fact of there just seemed to be tunnel vision as to Carla's guilt throughout the process, and as I said, partially due to the fact of her her status. UM. I also have to say it probably had to do with some financial reasons. By this, Catherine is referring to how Little Carlo's lawyer was earning from the state for defending her. It was

a short two day trial. They get paid a flat fee, and so I think there was not much incentive for him to really investigate the case and in the way it needed to be investigated. But the n c i P did their due diligence, so the only thing that we had to operate off of were the trial transcripts.

So we actually um sent the transcripts to one of the premier child sexual assault experts in the state of California, who is director at uc SF Bennie Offf Hospital and one of only approximately two dozen boards certified child abuse pediatricians in California. He reviewed the transcripts and he said it looked like this was false testimony and that what the nurse was testifying to as evidence of abuse was

in fact potentially normal human anatomy. So with that, and with some of the inconsistencies in the children's statements and testimonies, we were able to file a rid of habeas corpus based off of false medical evidence new evidence as well as in effective assistance of counsel. After they filed their petition, Carla's team was granted an opportunity to show cause, which means they were finally able to get all of the records in the case and find out really what happened

in these medical exams. And with the medical records, we saw a box checked on the forms that said that there were video tapes which showed the physical examinations of the children's private parts, and so we were able to track down the video tapes of the children's exams and show those to our expert, who was able to say conclusively, this is normal human anatomy. She didn't know what she

was talking about, meaning the nurse who had testified. After reviewing the tapes, Catherine and her team were granted an evidentiary hearing where they could present this information to a judge and make their case that Carla is actually innocent. But their plans went in another direction, so we never got to the evidentiary hearing. What happened was we were very close to the evidentiary hearing and everyone was ready, including our big team of law students and um Linda

Star and me. We were all ready when a report came in from the d a's medical expert, who agreed with our expert that there was no evidence of sexual abuse. And then it was soon after that that they decided to stipulate to reverse Carla's conviction, which we then did. So what was that like for all of you? Oh, it was so exciting, so exciting, I mean, just felt like such a victory. But it was only the beginning, because they then insisted that they were going to retry

Carla on the original charges. So my question is where were the children at this point? If they were going to retry they would have to testify again. Well, that's an interesting question. They were no longer in the state, and it seemed like they were not going to testify at trial based on the notice that the d A

had served upon us. So basically because they no longer had the medical evidence, their case would have been the prior trial testimony of the children, which again one didn't testify, one said Carla didn't touch her, and the other testified inconsistently with some other reports of her of her statement, Carla is in a sense was evident at this point and the state had an incredibly weak case, but they

insisted on charging her with something. So they told her either acceptable deal or face a trial, and after seventeen years in prison, Carla just wanted to go home. She didn't plead guilty to any charges of child molestation or abuse, but to a charge called false imprisonment, which basically means holding someone against their will. Carla was not guilty of this, nor of child molestation, but she had no choice. She

accepted the plea and was released from prison. I still remember that day when they told me Carla will be out. Oh my goodness, that was the best thing that I could ever ask. You know, I was first of all thanking God because she was getting out. I was how can I say relief that she was no longer in that place. But Carla's journey through the United States carcetral

system wasn't over. What would normally happen is there would be some processing and we were all waiting out in the hallway, and Carla should have been walking joyfully out to us. But as I mentioned before, Carla is an undocumented immigrant, and so what happened was, while we were waiting out in the hallway for Carla's release, Ice went in the back door and took Carla without telling us. Carla went straight from prison to the o te Mesa detention center. The n c i P team was devastated.

We had clothes for her, We wanted to give her a hug. There was no chance to celebrate um any of the excitement of Carla being, you know, released after all that time. Carla spent about a month in ice detention before she was released and finally free. It was up and down. I was happy, I was sad. I was happy, I was sad. It was like a roller coaster from me. Carla currently has a lawsuit pending against the numerous parties whose misconduct led to her wrongful conviction.

Among other things, the lawsuit alleges that the medical evidence against her was fabricated and condoned by county officials. These days, Carla works as a landscaper. It's good because I go bs, I with the nature and it isn't not too many people, because I cannot be around too many people. I'm still battling with my struggles coming out because of when I can as sleep, put the lights off, or I have to check the doors to be locked, because you have to make sure that nobody's going to beat you up.

In prison. Considering the trauma she experienced from being in prison as well as from her journey to the US, I asked her about therapy. Yes, I have therapist every Wednesday. It's pretty good. So um Erica that's her name. She's she worked with exonerated people before. So so she's pretty good. So your your spirit is still intact. You're smiling. Yes, And then I have wonderful nieces and nephews. The dry me nuts. You know, it's like they say, I have

my my baby. They said she's my daughter because you know, she's a little bit like me. So so I go visit her and then sometimes I take her to the house and stay with us, you know. So in addition to the nieces and nephews around her, Carla has a new loving partner, Blanca. I have a beautiful family. She has a daughter. I was going to ask, so, so you have the family you always wanted. Yes, yes, yes. Carla is still afraid to return to Honduras and has

applied for asylum in the US. If you'd like to help support the work of the Northern California Innocence Project, go to n c i P dot org slash get dash involved. Carla would especially like to thank Jim Montenaro for his generosity. Next time Unwrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling,

Alicia Burns. You know, there were lots of things on TV about human trafficking and sex trafficking and and what it looks like, and there was more awareness about it, and I thought, oh, my gosh, that's what happens to me. Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. Please support your local innocence organizations and go to the links in our bio to see how you can help.

I'd like to thank our executive producers Jason Flam and Kevin Wordis, as well as our senior producer Annie Chelsea, researcher Lila Robinson, story editor Sonya Paul, with additional production by Jeff Cleburne and Connor Hall. The music in this production is by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at

Wrongful Conviction, as well as at Lava for Good. On all three platforms, you can also follow me on both Instagram and Twitter at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number one