The Girlfriends S3/E6: Guilty Schmilty

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Hey, girlfriends, it's Anna.

Most of this episode takes place in prison.

There's going to be some mentions of murder and some very serious domestic abuse.

But you'll also get to meet some more of the women Kelly got to know while she was locked up, many of whom have stories just as incredible and complex as hers.

If you feel impacted by some of the themes in this show, you can reach out to Know More.

They're a domestic violence charity with a lot of great resources to help you or your loved ones.

You can search knowmore.org, and we've also put a link to their website in the episode description.

And as you know, we all swear a little bit.

It's October 2013.

Alone in her cramped cell, surrounded by towering piles of legal documents, Kelly Harnett relives her trial over and over.

I was broken apart, clearly.

For the first few days, honestly, I laid in that bed.

Her fellow Rikers Island shorties can't believe the jury's decision.

She said she had been found guilty.

Well, like, Kelly's not playing, because Kelly's a jokester, too.

That's Angelica, who you heard from in episode four.

Kelly's friend with all the makeup tips.

She was like, no, they found me guilty.

And she broke down and we were

shocked.

And all of us started crying.

We were like, how?

Like, how is that possible?

Kelly left the courtroom promising herself that she would take down the prosecutor from her trial, Assistant District Attorney Sean Clark.

But instead, she's barely left her cell for days.

She's moping hard, head deep under the covers.

Eventually, Angelica decides, enough is enough.

We had a three-day rule.

You have three days of feeling sorry for yourself, and then you got to get up and figure it out, right?

Day number three, I bore into herself.

That's all right.

She says, shawty, that's it.

Let's go.

It's time to get up.

So I got up.

I sat up.

And she said, what are you doing?

I mean, what are you doing?

I said, what do you want me to do?

I was found guilty.

You know that.

She goes, oh, guilty, Shmelty.

She said, look around.

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.

All I see here is paperwork, Kelly.

I said, yeah, I know.

And it all went to nothing.

She goes, oh, no, it didn't.

No, no, no, you're not going to go there with me.

Take your butt to that little library and figure something out.

Laying here is an option.

You got to get up and you got to go.

I'm Anna Sinfield.

I'm from the teams at Novel and iHeart Podcasts.

This is The Girlfriends, Jailhouse Lawyer.

got

you.

Episode six: Guilty Schmilty.

By November 2013, inspired by Angelica's tough love, Kelly is back in the Rikers Law Library.

I started looking through everything, and that's when I found the 330 statute.

A 330 is a motion to set aside a verdict.

November 5th, 2013 was my first motion that I put in.

It was all in

ink and written, and it was 68 pages.

Kelly doesn't want to leave anything to chance with this this document.

She picks up the phone and calls, of all people, prosecutor Sean Clark,

the man who's just got her sent to prison.

I wasn't sure if he was going to hang up on me or speak to me, but he did say,

Yeah, yeah, I received it.

I said, So, what would happen when I go back to court?

Probably nothing.

It'll probably be adjourned.

And this was the beginning of a 17-month war of attrition.

For 17 months, Kelly, a self-taught jailhouse lawyer, holds her sentencing at bay, trying every legal avenue she can find.

He wrote a motion, I wrote a motion, maybe sometimes to every opposition I wrote for.

And it came to a point where they stopped answering me.

So I kept writing motions anyway.

A lot of Kelly's motions focus on what's called the Brady rule.

It states that all evidence from the police and prosecution is meant to be turned over to the other side, especially things that could benefit the defense.

And while it hasn't been proven, Kelly alleges that this Brady rule was violated and that some evidence wasn't handed over.

She also states that much of what's missing relates to the problematic eyewitness, Amando Perez.

She found evidence in a police officer's notepad that he was known by a different name.

They made a mistake.

They didn't redact one of the portions and it said witness Armando Contreras Perez.

According to some online sleuthing Kelly's brother Ronnie did, Armando Contreras-Perez, well, he has some skeletons in his closet.

The sole eyewitness in my trial had an extensive criminal background that was not turned over to me.

Basically the biggest Brady violation of all.

Kelly suspects Amando may have a criminal record and that it could have been wiped in exchange for his testimony against her.

Although this hasn't been proven and while I've seen a photocopy of the notebook with the Contrera's name in it, I haven't been able to find these criminal records myself.

But that doesn't mean it's all just tinfoil hat nonsense either.

Prosecutors do strike deals with individuals who have criminal charges or convictions in exchange for their testimony against someone else.

Then there are the moves Kelly makes that are a little more unorthodox.

Especially when it comes to Judge Lasag.

I got a hold of his first grade teacher.

Kelly says she makes the connection through a chaplain called Sister Eileen, who she met at Rikers.

And Sister Eileen knew the nun who taught at the judge's school.

So the first grade teacher called him back.

And from my understanding, she was really pushing him and prodding him.

Like, set this girl's verdict aside.

Like, listen, I'm your first grade teacher.

They tried the poor nuns.

Kelly says she also manages to somehow find the number for Judge Lasak's best friend.

She is nothing if not resourceful.

I left a message on his best friend's voicemail.

Telling the best friend how I'm innocent and they've made a huge mistake.

I'm sure this all went down great with Judge Lasak.

Kelly battles on and on and on.

But after holding off her sentencing for nearly a year and a half, she's exhausted all her possible emotions.

No more delays.

It's time to go back to court.

It's March 2015.

Kelly Harnett is standing in the same courtroom where she was found guilty 17 months ago.

It's time for her sentencing.

She's facing 25 years to life.

This is Kelly's final opportunity to speak.

And in true Kelly style, she's taking full advantage of it.

I went on and on and on and on.

I was citing case law and constitutional violations.

I've seen the transcripts of this.

It really does go on for page after page.

All of these people were standing in front of me as I went on and on and on.

And I looked at some of their faces and their mouths were open like shock and awe.

That was one of my proudest moments

because

I had the ADA

sucking his teeth, sighing.

And what does it feel like?

I felt like saying, like, you shut up.

It's my time now.

Kelly also says how sorry she is for Angel and his family, but that she shouldn't be held responsible for his murder.

She says, I did not contribute to that death in any way, shape or form.

I was deathly afraid of my co-defendant.

Kelly also says that had she not done what she did, Tommy would have killed her as well.

And that instead of prosecuting a case with one victim, it would have been two.

Kelly ends her monologue by thanking Judge Lasack for his patience.

Then, it's time for the judge to deliver his sentence.

And he doesn't hold back.

I've asked producer Jake to read from the court transcripts.

We had to delay the sentence to allow you to make every 330 motion that you deemed necessary to make.

And it has been delayed for quite a number of months.

This is a very sad case.

The court takes no pleasure in any sentence, especially a sentence regarding a case like this.

You are not the victim in this case.

And you are not a witness.

We all make choices in life, Miss Harnett.

On this particular night, July 7th, back in 2010, you were with a person that you made a choice to be with.

Mr.

Donovan.

You had a choice to take 10 years on manslaughter plea, and you chose not to.

Just like you chose to stay with Mr.

Donovan and you chose not to try and stop him and you chose to give him that sneaker lace and you chose to kick him.

Kick Mr.

Vargas when he was down on the ground.

These are all choices that you made at that time.

And I'm sure, Miss Harnett, you would wish you could turn back the clock to July 7th, 2010, and act differently.

And this never would have happened, and we wouldn't be here, and Mr.

Vargas would be with his family.

But we have to deal with the reality.

And the reality is that you and Mr.

Donovan acted in concert and killed him.

That was like a pretty terrifying transcript from her case, wasn't it?

Yeah.

You did this and you did that and this is who you are.

You know, you are not a victim in this case.

You are not a witness.

It is heavy.

It's really heavy.

Yeah.

It's that use of the word choice, like you chose to do this, you chose to do that.

There's no nuance in it for the judge.

It feels like the judge is almost like

a representation of the brick wall that somebody in Kelly's position hits over and over again as they try to just get understanding.

Yeah, and it makes sense that after that experience, she's become so passionate about trying to get people to really see who she is, you know, like to understand that there's the domestic violence aspect, as she said to me.

Yeah.

On March 25th, 2015, Kelly Harnett is sentenced to a minimum of 17 years in prison for the murder of Reuben Angel Vargas and one year for the criminal possession of a weapon,

a shoelace.

In the eyes of the law, Kelly is a murderer, a villain, not a victim, as she claims.

And now, She's finally going where she belongs.

Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, the only maximum security security women's prison in the state of New York.

When Kelly gets to Bedford, she's immediately dropped into a new world.

She's out in the sticks of upstate New York, over 40 miles away from her family back in Queens, and away from her Rikers Island shorties.

After arriving, Kelly's brought to an area known as the Jungle.

Why was it called the Jungle?

Because they're crazy.

They set their cells on fire on a regular basis.

One time there was a fire, but I hadn't been able to use the phone for a week.

So since everyone ran, I ran into the phone room so I could finally make a phone call.

And I was like, well, when the fire gets really bad, I'll run.

Like, this is how crazy it is in there.

But underneath all the chaos, many of Kelly's fellow inmates are lifeless.

Bedford, everybody's dead.

Everybody's dead inside.

They're walking around, but there's nothing in there.

Locked up, away from her family, away from the world, surrounded by women so broken they're almost more zombie than human.

It would be understandable for anyone to throw in the town and join the walking dead.

But this is Kelly Harnett.

She hasn't given up so far, and she sure is shit not going to give up now.

Every morning, in her green prison uniform, Kelly sits in her cell in front of her mirror and brings herself to life.

I made sure that under my state greens, I always had a t-shirt on that was a different color than green.

And that had to match my eyeshadow as well as my lipstick every day, and usually my earrings.

And I always wore a headband that matched that because that's a sense of individuality.

I'm Kelly cloaked in a guilty person's uniform,

but I wanted the individuality to shine through because I'm not guilty.

I realized that when you're just a detainee, meaning still awaiting your trial, you have life and hope and whatnot.

Now these people are walking around with these 25 to life sentences

and they're hopeless.

I know so much about the law, so my first thing was, Jesus Christ, I have to help these people out.

Kelly spends the first couple of weeks keeping her head down, getting to know the lay of the land.

But she can't stay away from the law library for too long.

And it's in there that Kelly starts to find people who can relate to all the, frankly, fucking crazy experiences she's had had while locked up.

One day, I started talking to them about how Rikers Einman wanted to cut my leg off one time, and they had the wrong person.

They literally wanted to amputate my leg.

Then they told me I had a tumor, and I busted out laughing.

I said, bring me back to the unit.

Me and my tumor would like to leave now.

I didn't have a tumor.

So he was over.

Overhearing Kelly holding court is one of the prison officers.

I'm just going to refer to him as the officer from here on out.

He actually started laughing.

He said, Jesus, I thought it was bad here.

And then he started speaking to me and clearly I wanted a job there.

So I inquired and immediately he asked me, like, do you have any experience?

And I said, a little bit.

Kelly is intrigued by the officer.

There's something different about him.

He doesn't treat her like an inmate, like a number.

He's attentive.

By August 2015, Kelly becomes a qualified law clerk here in Bedford, making about 24 cents an hour.

Kelly's back where she loves to be, neck deep in a bunch of legal papers.

with a list of grateful clients as long as her arm.

I don't know how many motions I wrote.

I was doing so much work.

And rather than embarrass myself by trying to explain the complicated legal tactics being offered to the women of Bedford Hills.

Now it gets a little complex because for justification,

I'll leave it to Kelly Harnett, Esquire.

I wrote her brief and it was due to a justification defense on CPL 33030.

Like I said, motion to set aside the verdict must subsection one of 33030, which states that it must be pursuing to county law 722 said the weight of the evidence.

The jury was wrong.

To date, I could reiterate everything, including all of the cases.

I became a person full of hope for so many people at Bedford.

But Kelly's not content with just inspiring hope.

She wants to do something big.

Something she says no female jailhouse lawyer in the state of New York has ever done before.

With this in mind, one day, she asked the officer a question.

How many people have gotten other incarcerated individuals out of here?

He goes, like you mean other inmates?

Nobody's ever done that.

I said, nobody?

He said, no.

I said, I'm going to be the first one to do that.

He looked at me.

He goes, I hope you are.

I hope you are.

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If I asked you to picture Kelly in prison, what's the like moment that you're seeing in your head?

Her yelling at her cell for her door to be opened.

This is Trinity.

She was in prison with Kelly.

They lived on the same block, but they first met in the law library.

She's going to laugh when she hears this.

I'm telling you, she's going to laugh because she knows what I'm talking about.

Every morning at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility,

all inmates are woken by the sound of their cell doors opening.

They all open at once.

All except Kelly's.

Every single day,

she had to yell to get her door open.

Open three, open three, open, like you can, you can like wait for it.

All the doors would open, bam.

Open three

every single day.

Like it got, oh my god, like I literally lost my mind over it.

Trinity is 30 years old now, but she went to prison when she was just a teenager.

Like Kelly, I have a domestic violence case.

When I was 17, I was living with my father.

My dad has always been like an alcoholic and pretty abusive towards us growing up.

My incident was, it happened in July 2012.

The short version is that

my father was drunk and and tried to kill me

and I ended up killing him and then I

got arrested.

Trinity's story is depressingly similar to so many of the women I've spoken to while making this series.

Women who've experienced a life full of violence and extreme trauma, setting them on a catastrophic path.

Often, they had to come to prison to finally be free of their abusers

and to find a real family

in Bedford.

Like, we have nothing to do.

So, it's like we would just talk or laugh or play games or something, watch a movie or whatever.

One time we were playing this board game, I think it was from my birthday party.

Something like scategories, where it's like you had to roll the die with the letter, and then you had to like try to write down all the things that began in that letter.

So, it was like different types of cars, and the letter started with an H.

I'm thinking, like, a Honda.

But Kelly's teammate is doing some more, let's say, lateral thinking.

Her partner said, a hearse.

And it was so funny.

And Kelly thought it was the funniest thing.

I mean, she was laughing for so long.

And it made me laugh too.

Yeah, yeah.

Wanting to stop her Bedford family from becoming totally hopeless, like so many of her fellow inmates, Kelly pushes them to re-look into their own cases, like she's doing with hers.

Kelly taught me that you can get out on a technicality, like an infraction, like something like that.

So she encouraged me, you know, like read your transcripts, go over it.

If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have done that more than likely.

Working alongside Kelly in the law library, Trinity can see how many inmates are relying on her.

Kelly sees the benefits, too.

I had the protection from the law library.

If somebody tried me, I would tell them, like, listen, this is something you don't want to do, because I guarantee you you will need me at some point in your bid.

And then other people would finally say, oh, this one you don't touch.

Like, anybody else, I don't care.

But it's true because I was like the only lawyer, you know?

Jailhouse lawyer, obviously.

Yeah.

The law library offers physical protection from the other inmates.

But it's so much more important to Kelly than that.

It's her sacred, safe space.

But then something happens.

Something that puts Kelly at risk of losing the law library job she's worked so hard for.

Kelly begins to spend more time with the officer.

He's been so helpful to her throughout her incarceration so far.

And as Kelly sees it, he's one of the few good men she's met in her life.

But one day, Kelly says their relationship crosses a line from prison guard and prisoner into something else.

Yeah, he definitely put the moons on me.

He started touching me and things of that nature.

I'm not going to lie, when we kissed for the first time,

that felt nice.

I wanted to feel love.

And when you're taken away from human contact for so long,

just this feels good.

I always just wanted a kiss and like a hug.

I felt a lot when I kissed him and he said that he felt a lot too.

And then I was starting to get excited.

Like, I have a boyfriend.

Deep down, Kelly knows what the officer is doing isn't right.

It was weird.

It was kind of maybe like they call it grooming.

I felt felt violated.

In every prison, not only in New York, but across the whole of the USA, sexual or intimate relationships between prison officers and inmates are forbidden.

And it's not just against the rules, it's a crime.

Even if both the officer and inmate claim it was consensual, the law wouldn't agree.

The power imbalances involved are just too great.

I felt, but I couldn't tell him no.

Kelly's worried.

What if this could jeopardize her access to the law library?

The law library is my life.

And without the law library, I'll probably never get home.

Kelly also knows how many of her fellow inmates are depending on her.

I'm going to let the whole facility down if this ever gets out because I'm taking care of everyone's cases.

And what would everyone ever do?

So I felt that I had to...

let him do these things to me.

Eventually, Kelly says the officer reveals a different side of himself.

He became abusive, right along with the rest of them.

I would come in one day and he would like slam the book down and be like, demanding, get these cases.

I didn't even do anything to him.

He had me going so crazy, roller coaster of emotions.

I was like, what did I do wrong?

Kelly says the officer would win her back on side.

He would spin her bullshit about how the two of them would be together once she got out of prison.

This went on for two and a half years.

One day,

it all comes to a head.

On my birthday, he wrote a note to me that stated something about,

I can't wait to give the birthday girl a kiss in Playland.

Playland, and honestly, I'm so fucking grossed out that I have to repeat that word in this context.

It's code for the bathroom that the officer would allegedly sneak Kelly into.

Somebody found the note

so they know that we're having a relationship.

The person who finds the note is Trinity.

Something told me to keep it and then I told

another one of my friends.

not knowing that that other friend also had a relationship with him.

Another inmate that the officer is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with.

Yeah, this bastard, I guess, was

screwing around somehow with both of us at the same time.

I came in like a raging bull, and I went ballistic on him.

And I called him like every name in the book.

I said, you

little bastard.

What?

You can't get a girl on the outside, so you come to prison to prey on the weak and vulnerable?

You're sick.

And I said, I'm telling you right now, I'm going to take this little library and use it to convict you.

And then he was like, Harnette, stop, please.

I said, you're going to jail and you're going to be somebody's bitch.

He started crying.

And then he tells me, please don't do this.

I'm going to kill myself.

I told him that Tommy used to say that to me.

And he said to me, you know what you should have said?

Do what you got to do.

So when he said, I'm going to kill myself, I said, do what you got to do.

Kelly tells the prisoner about what's happened between her and the officer.

I've seen the documents to prove this, but she says she doesn't get much of a response.

They didn't take it seriously at all.

As a matter of fact, I told them that Trinity has the letter.

They went out of their way to not call Trinity so that they wouldn't get evidence.

There is one person who comes to Kelly's aid.

Someone unexpected.

The man who helped send her to prison in the first place.

Assistant District Attorney Sean Clark.

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There's a lot going on in Hollywood.

How are you supposed to stay on top of it all?

Variety has the solution.

Take 20 minutes out of your day and listen to the new Daily Variety podcast for breaking entertainment news and expert perspectives.

Where do you see the business actually heading?

Featuring the iconic journalists of Variety and hosted hosted by co-editor-in-chief, Cynthia Littleton.

The only constant in Hollywood is change.

Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Daily Variety, and listen now.

This is Andrea Gunning from Betrayal.

Are there two sides to every story?

Academy Award nominee Robin Wright stars in The Girlfriend on Prime September 10th, a spine-tingling psychological thriller that will make you question everything you think you know.

Laura has the dream job, the perfect husband, and a son she'd die for.

But when her beloved Daniel brings home his new girlfriend Cherry, played by Olivia Cook, something feels off.

Is Cherry the sweet, innocent girl she appears to be?

Or is there something more manipulative beneath the surface?

And how far will a mother go to protect her son?

Also starring Lori Davidson, the girlfriend is a twisted game of cat and mouse where nothing is what it seems and everyone has something to hide.

Don't miss the girlfriend streaming exclusively on Prime September 10th.

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Most of the men in Kelly's life have not treated her the way they should have.

They've often been controlling.

abusive, and at times extremely violent.

Seems like the officer was just the latest in that long, unfortunate line.

Kelly's brother Ronnie has really been the only exception.

Well, apart from one other man,

I'm going to tell you about the curious case of Kelly Harnett and prosecutor Sean Clark.

Their unusual relationship first began in the months between Kelly's verdict and her sentencing, when she started calling Sean on the phone.

Hi Sean, it's Kelly.

He was usually like, hi, Kelly.

What is it this time?

Often, Kelly would be calling to contest some part of her case or laying out what kind of motions she thought should be filed.

I can't stress enough how unusual this all is.

Defendants in murder trials do not call up their prosecutors for a chit-chat about the finer details of their case.

But Kelly says she just wanted Sean to see her as a person, not just some defendant.

I'm not a number.

I'm not a case.

I was trying to show him the level of humanity that they never see.

And I think he was starting to see it.

Kelly wasn't just calling him up.

She was sending him some special deliveries.

I would make comic books of what was going on between me, Sean Clark, and Mr.

Murder.

When Kelly says Mr.

Murder, she means Judge Lasack.

As for Sean Clark, do you remember in our last episode where Kelly said he looked kind of like Clark Kent?

She was really serious about that.

I had people sending me Superman comics all the time, right?

And Supergirl.

Supergirl had blonde hair.

You can probably guess who Kelly put in the role of the blonde-haired Supergirl.

I cut out Clark Kent.

And then Supergirl, I cut her out.

And she was walking by a door.

I wrote on the door at the Law Library.

Right.

And then Supergirl in the comic, I didn't have to touch it or alter it.

It actually said, Clark, is that you?

I can speak your language now.

No way.

That's right.

That was the first one I sent him.

I waited until I knew he got it.

Then I called him up.

I was like, maybe he's going to be really ticked off about this.

He was like, hi, Kelly.

I could hear him smiling through the phone.

You know, when you could just, he was almost giggling and like you could just hear his voice went up a few decibels.

I never wanted to harass him per se, but I think you could suck up a few phone calls.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

But did you ever worry that you might be jeopardizing your chances more than helping?

Not at all.

No.

No.

Because what are they going to do?

Put into evidence a piece of a comic book?

Like, that's why I made sure I left it at like these ridiculous things that they would almost feel stupid bringing up.

Yeah, yeah.

And nobody ever brought it up.

Yeah.

You're a very unique person, Kelly.

Thank you.

I take that as a compliment.

It's a compliment.

It is a compliment for sure.

These conversations between Sean and Kelly lasted well beyond her sentencing.

I've even recorded Sean Clark and then called him up afterwards and said, Hi, Sean.

I just wanted to let you know that on the last two conversations I recorded you and I'm going to get them transcribed and I'm going to submit them in my 44010.

He just stopped.

He was like, oh.

Okay, Kelly, thanks for the heads up.

After that, I said, that's going to be it.

He's never going to take a call again.

I waited for like two months.

I called him back.

He didn't hang up on me.

He was just a little bit more cautious after that.

It wasn't just Kelly who Sean was in contact with.

Kelly says he also made a lot of time for her family too.

Her brother started calling him.

In fact, it seems like during this time, Sean's going out of his way to help Kelly's case.

Before her sentencing, he even sends her a transcript of the witness's testimony, where he had helpfully marked up and notated certain sections that just happened to include the problematic points in his story.

I've literally seen a copy of this letter, and I still can't quite believe it's real.

A sitting assistant DA sending a cheat sheet to the same woman he's trying to send to prison.

I've already struggled with unsuccessfully fitting Kelly into a nice, neat, podcast-shaped box.

And now here's Sean Clark, also not playing the role I expected him to play.

It is,

from his side, a very odd relationship to be keeping up.

I can see why you were doing it.

You know why?

I believe.

I mean, I can't speak for him.

I don't know if you've ever read The Telltale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe.

I think a guy killed somebody, if I'm not mistaken.

Somebody was buried under the floorboards.

And you just kept hearing like beep, beep, beep, louder and louder and louder.

And it was the man's conscience the whole time.

He did ask me one time.

Kelly, can I ask you a question?

Why didn't you just take the plea?

So I said.

Because I didn't do it, Sean.

I'm 100% innocent.

And to tell you the truth, Sean, if I have to stay in prison for the rest of my life and die here,

I'd rather that than to lie and say that i did something i didn't do he gave this heavy sigh and he goes

wow you did always maintain your innocence

i wrote to sean clark asking him to comment on the unusual relationship he had with kelly to ask why he kept up those phone calls for so long to confirm if he spoke to her family and if he really did send those transcripts.

And I got a reply, but not from Sean.

It was from the Queen's District Attorney's spokesman, Brendan A.

Brosch.

And Brendan didn't really respond to anything I asked, like, at all.

He just doubled down.

Here's producer Jake reading from their response.

On July 7th, 2010, Thomas Donovan and Kelly Harnett murdered 32-year-old victim Reuben Angel Vargas in Astoria Park.

Hardett repeatedly kicked the victim while Donovan manually strangled him.

Harnett handed a shoelace to Donovan, who then used the lace as a ligature to further strangle and kill the victim.

An eyewitness's account was further corroborated by the medical examiner, who found that strangulation was the cause of Mr.

Vargas' death.

It took a jury of Harnett's peers two hours to unanimously agree on a conviction.

Ms.

Harnett repeatedly attempted communications with the prosecuting attorney, unsolicited and uninvited.

Despite overwhelming evidence of her guilt in numerous court filings, the defendant blamed her attorney, the court, the district attorney's office, the jury, and the eyewitness.

She blamed everyone but herself for her guilty conduct.

It feels like neither Brendan nor I can really speak to why Sean Clark kept up this strange back and forth with Kelly.

It's possible he felt some doubts about Kelly's conviction.

Maybe as he got to know her more, he saw her more as a victim and not the villain he claimed she was back in 2013.

Maybe he was trying to make up for that.

Or maybe he's just a good guy who wants to help where he can, including with Kelly's case against the officer.

My brother got in touch with Sean Clark and told him what was happening.

He told Ronnie, I guarantee you we're going to get rid of him.

Kelly says Sean makes some calls to the department who are handling the investigation.

Now they're taking me seriously.

They said, because we're getting phone calls now.

He really did save me, Sean Clark.

The officer doesn't face any jail time, despite the fact that Kelly says she and the other inmate the officer was allegedly involved with both gave statements.

Westchester County District Attorney's Office decided that there was insufficient evidence to go through and prosecute him under Penal Law 130, which is a sex offender.

This is why I can't tell you his real name, because no charges were brought against him.

He still, legally, has the presumption of innocence.

It was just such a traumatic situation, it really was.

For it to have gone on for two and a half years, too.

And then the worst came.

They took my job for me.

Working as a clerk in the law library, being the jailhouse lawyer, both back in Rikers and here in Bedford, has been Kelly's one continuous source of strength throughout her long incarceration.

It gave Kelly's suffering some meaning, kept her fighting all these years, not just for her own case, but for all her fellow inmate clients.

Without the law library, Kelly can't see how she can help anyone, let alone prove her own innocence.

And worst of all, if she's not the jailhouse lawyer, then she's just another prisoner.

Another villain with a guilty verdict.

joining the ranks of the walking dead.

That's the worst thing you could have done to me

and that's when i just freaked out

next time on the girlfriend's jailhouse lawyer

i think i'm gonna die here

it was a race against time now

i'm not thinking of her helping me i'm thinking of me helping her listen this new law just passed and she took on kelly's case i just started screaming i was like,

oh my God!

The Girlfriend's Jailhouse Lawyer is produced by Novel for iHeart podcasts.

For more from Novel, visit novel.audio.

The show is hosted by me, Anna Sinfield, and is written and produced by me and Lee Meyer, with additional production from Jayco Tayvich and Michael Ginnow.

Our assistant producer is Madeline Parr.

The editors are Georgia Moody and me, Anna Sinfield.

Production management from Cherie Houston, Joe Savage and Charlotte Wolfe.

Our fact checker is Dania Suleiman.

Sound design, mixing and scoring by Daniel Kempson and Nicholas Alexander.

Music supervision by me, Anna Sinfield, Lee Meyer and Nicholas Alexander.

Original music composed by Nicholas Alexander, Daniel Kempson, and Louisa Gerstein.

Story development by Nell Gray Andrews and Willard Foxton, creative director of Novel.

Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan are our executive producers for Novel.

And Katrina Norvell and Nikki Etor are the executive producers for iHeart Podcasts.

And the marketing lead is Alison Cantor.

Thanks also to Carrie Lieberman and the whole team at WME.

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