The Girlfriends S3/E7: Going Underground

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Speaker 11 Hey girlfriends, it's Anna, here to let you know what to expect in this episode.

Speaker 14 Like with the last episode, this one takes place inside prison.

Speaker 17 There'll be mentions of murder as well as domestic and sexual abuse, plus some distressing scenes.

Speaker 20 But you'll also hear how Kelly makes a real difference for some of the women of Bedford Hills in true jailhouse lawyer style.

Speaker 23 And there's going to be some bad language.

Speaker 7 Enjoy.

Speaker 13 Kelly Harnett's life changed forever on July 7th, 2010, with the death of one man, Reuben Angel Vargas.

Speaker 27 But his wouldn't be the last death connected to her case.

Speaker 28 The amount of people that have passed away within my case,

Speaker 28 it's just, it's very eerie.

Speaker 10 First, my trial attorney, who was in his 50s, passed away.

Speaker 1 David Epstein, he died in 2017.

Speaker 28 My co-defendant's ex-girlfriend, who used to start fist fights with me every single day in Rikers, passed away.

Speaker 28 There was a man who was going to write an affidavit for me. He actually physically saw Tommy beating me up the time.

Speaker 3 I called one night.

Speaker 29 He passed away.

Speaker 28 You can't make these things up.

Speaker 35 It's eerie.

Speaker 36 Yeah, it is eerie.

Speaker 37 It's 2017.

Speaker 1 Kelly's been in Bedford Hills maximum security prison for over two years.

Speaker 19 She has 10 years left of her sentence.

Speaker 39 It's a normal day.

Speaker 23 Kelly's in the law library.

Speaker 11 She's going through the legal mail when she sees something addressed to her.

Speaker 42 It's from a guy called Dan, another jailhouse lawyer, who Kelly refers to as the male version of her.

Speaker 1 The two of them talk on the phone sometimes, bounce ideas around for motions, test their legal arguments on each other, that kind of thing.

Speaker 45 Kelly's curious about what Dan sent her.

Speaker 47 She rips open the envelope.

Speaker 32 Something pull the ground from under me.

Speaker 47 It's about her co-defendant, an ex-boyfriend, Tommy Donovan.

Speaker 31 He died.

Speaker 1 Tommy's died from an overdose in prison. He was 38 years old.

Speaker 22 Kelly doesn't know how to feel.

Speaker 25 Part of her is relieved.

Speaker 15 The man who terrorized and abused her is dead and can't hurt her anymore.

Speaker 49 But she's also pretty fucking furious.

Speaker 24 Tommy killed someone in front of her and then helped make sure she got dragged down for it too.

Speaker 50 And now he's dead, never able to give evidence and take back what he said.

Speaker 48 While she still has 10 more years to rot behind bars.

Speaker 14 He got the easy way out.

Speaker 51 I did all the suffering.

Speaker 42 One good thing that Tommy did for Kelly, and there aren't a lot of those to choose from, was when he wrote that letter, the one he sent to Kelly's trial lawyer, David Epstein, that said he alone killed Angel, and that he had only incriminated Kelly out of anger and jealousy.

Speaker 47 But now that Tommy's dead, that letter is worth less than the paper it's written on.

Speaker 55 Because now that Tommy's dead, there's nobody else alive who was there on the night of the murder, who can attest to Kelly's story in open court.

Speaker 35 Why are people dying?

Speaker 35 Why are people dying?

Speaker 53 I'm Anna Sinfield, and from the teams at Novel and iHeart Podcasts, this is The Girlfriends, Jailhouse Lawyer.

Speaker 50 Episode 7 Going Underground.

Speaker 25 People are particular about their birthdays.

Speaker 24 Some of my friends are determined to let theirs pass without so much as a hint of fuss.

Speaker 47 And then I've got other friends who claim the entire month for celebrations.

Speaker 43 I'd probably put myself somewhere in the middle of those two.

Speaker 48 However you spend yours, I think it's fair to say that it's unlikely you'll be doing it behind bars.

Speaker 46 It's the 12th of August 2019, Kelly's birthday.

Speaker 19 This is the 10th she's had while locked up.

Speaker 43 Kelly's 38 today,

Speaker 16 about the same age Tommy Donovan was when he died two years earlier.

Speaker 49 There's only so much you can do to celebrate whilst you're in prison.

Speaker 41 It's not like you can quickly nip out to Costco for a big cake.

Speaker 45 And even if you could, the guards would probably end up tearing it apart, looking for rogue nail files.

Speaker 1 But Kelly's Bedford family does try and make things special for her.

Speaker 39 One year, one of Kelly's friends goes around the prison and gets loads of women to write down some nice things about Kelly.

Speaker 52 Then they put all the notes into a hot pink sparkly folder and give it to Kelly as a present.

Speaker 36 They bake her a cake and throw her a party.

Speaker 53 Kelly says it's the best birthday she's ever had, in or out of prison.

Speaker 57 But there's something special about this birthday, her 38th.

Speaker 45 For years, Kelly's been fighting for her clients with one arm tied behind her back.

Speaker 42 Two arms, sometimes.

Speaker 21 Getting verdicts overturned, cases reopened and women out of prison, even for an established lawyer on the outside, is extremely hard and very rare.

Speaker 49 For the women of Bedford, the law just isn't always on their side.

Speaker 16 But here's the thing, laws change, and a new one has just come into effect.

Speaker 25 It's called the DVSJA, also known as the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act.

Speaker 60 So I had been studying this bill for 10 years since Rikers Island.

Speaker 48 The DVSJA, or an early version of it, was dreamt up by the women of Bedford Penitentiary all the way back in the 80s.

Speaker 25 And now, in 2019, it's law.

Speaker 16 It's designed to be applied in re-sentencing motions, meaning it's meant to be used for the people who are already in prison.

Speaker 24 In practice, it gives judges more opportunities to consider how domestic abuse might have factored into someone's crime.

Speaker 22 in a way that wasn't considered at an earlier trial.

Speaker 26 And then that judge can give out a new sentence.

Speaker 58 In order to submit a DBSJA, you had to be incarcerated for at least eight years.

Speaker 63 You had to be a victim of domestic violence.

Speaker 63 The domestic violence had to have been a significant contributing factor of the crime.

Speaker 33 And the third prong is based on the history of the character and the condition of the defendant that the sentence imposed was unduly harsh.

Speaker 61 Kelly was really lost when she first got removed from her job in the the law library in late 2018.

Speaker 49 She saw it as a retaliation from the prison service for reporting the officer she'd been having that secret, inappropriate relationship with.

Speaker 50 Kelly does get her job back at one point, but then she's told that she's going to be removed again, this time because of a new rule saying that an inmate can't be in the same job for more than 36 months and that you need to wait a full calendar year before getting that job back again.

Speaker 11 Kelly's furious about it and she's not alone.

Speaker 22 Her fellow inmates really don't want her to be removed either.

Speaker 54 They rally behind her, sending letters of support to the prison.

Speaker 63 I have some of the letters myself and some of them are heartbreaking.

Speaker 57 I've seen some of these letters. There's so many.

Speaker 47 And you do really get the sense of how much Kelly means to the women she's been helping. One of them says, I'd lost all hope in the judicial system until Kelly Harnett arrived.

Speaker 48 Miss Harnett has given me hope towards the future.

Speaker 61 I fully trust Miss Harnett with my life, and her possible removal will, in all likelihood, take any hope that I have left.

Speaker 55 As Kelly runs out the clock on her job, she's studying the new Domestic Violence Survivors' Justice Act.

Speaker 16 Because this is a brand new law, there's no existing template to follow when it comes to filing motions.

Speaker 65 So, Kelly makes one.

Speaker 64 When I made this template, I started asking people if they were victims of domestic violence.

Speaker 10 It was on my birthday, on the very first day that it passed, there was a girl that came in to pick up mail.

Speaker 43 We'll call this girl Jessica.

Speaker 39 On Kelly's birthday in August 2019, which of course she's spending in the law library while she still can, she bumps into Jessica.

Speaker 29 She was like, hi, Kelly. And when she was walking out, I said, wait, come here.

Speaker 67 Were you a victim of domestic violence?

Speaker 60 And she was like, yeah.

Speaker 29 And then I said, listen, this new law just passed.

Speaker 39 Kelly breaks down the workings of the DVSJA.

Speaker 47 Next, she works up a motion for Jessica and instructs her on how to submit it.

Speaker 62 Now, before you know it, the girl has a court date.

Speaker 34 Kelly! She's screaming,

Speaker 7 I'm going to court!

Speaker 3 I was so happy

Speaker 28 because you never really saw people go to court in Bedford.

Speaker 10 Like, when someone went to court, the whole place would know about it because it's such big news.

Speaker 32 And

Speaker 60 she went to court, she came back for like a day, and she was gone. She went home.

Speaker 54 When Kelly first came to Bedford, she promised herself that she would be the first jailhouse lawyer to get someone out of prison.

Speaker 56 And now, finally,

Speaker 1 after years and years of graft,

Speaker 54 she's done it.

Speaker 24 But why stop at just one?

Speaker 1 In addition to Jessica, Kelly says that she helps at least two more women get out.

Speaker 39 One we'll call Stacey and the other we'll call Michaela.

Speaker 19 Another of the many women that Kelly helps is an old friend from Rikers, Tasha.

Speaker 41 It's not her real name, but it's what we're calling her.

Speaker 42 You first met her back in episode four.

Speaker 42 Like Kelly, Tasha had witnessed her then-boyfriend commit a murder, but she ended up in prison for it as well.

Speaker 15 She came to Bedford from Rikers in 2018 without much hope for her future.

Speaker 36 So I just so happened I seen her one day in the walkway and I seen, I was like, oh my god, Kitty.

Speaker 19 Tasha had just received some bad news about her case. They said, I can't appeal it.
She said, yes, you can.

Speaker 51 She told me what to do.

Speaker 19 She wrote it down. I did it.

Speaker 7 Boom.

Speaker 37 I submitted it

Speaker 38 and it was accepted.

Speaker 36 And these people told me I couldn't do an appeal.

Speaker 36 That letter got me the legal aid lawyer. Now I'm excited.

Speaker 3 I got a lawyer.

Speaker 38 My first time sitting with him.

Speaker 36 He's like, I'm very impressed on, you know, your appeal paperwork. You stay in your library a lot.
I said, nope, somebody did it for me.

Speaker 43 Kelly has an inmate client waiting list as long as her arm.

Speaker 24 She's getting through each of them as quick as she can, but she's not prepared to do a rush job.

Speaker 11 Firstly, because Kelly is nothing if not a perfectionist.

Speaker 40 but also because she knows how high the stakes are.

Speaker 61 One of the next inmates Kelly helps is a woman called Lulu.

Speaker 28 We started out, Lulu and I, very slowly because I had so many other people that I was assisting.

Speaker 69 However, what made me put, like bump her up on the list was

Speaker 67 her perseverance.

Speaker 71 Lulu came to the law library more often than anyone that I knew.

Speaker 28 And she stayed for what they called the whole module because some people go and within an hour, they say movement, and everybody gets up and they can leave if they want.

Speaker 59 But she would stay for the entire module.

Speaker 10 We were in the process of actually reaching out to her attorney.

Speaker 22 But just as Kelly is starting to make progress, and as Lulu must allow herself to imagine the light at the end of the tunnel, there's a dark shadow growing outside the walls of Bedford Hills.

Speaker 56 This shadow will morph and swell.

Speaker 16 And neither Lulu, Kelly, or even the justice system itself will be powerful enough to stop it.

Speaker 34 I didn't even get to finish the letter.

Speaker 29 And that was it.

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Speaker 25 Before we go any further, there's some things I want to tell you about Lulu.

Speaker 49 Her real name is Darlene, but she's Lulu to her friends.

Speaker 11 She was born in Buffalo, New York in 1958.

Speaker 40 and she was one of 13 children.

Speaker 19 Her story's like a really tragic case.

Speaker 59 It really is.

Speaker 54 Lulu was a victim of childhood sexual abuse.

Speaker 40 And then, when she was around just eight years old, her mother was murdered.

Speaker 29 I started

Speaker 64 getting acquainted first with her story.

Speaker 10 It was completely heartbreaking.

Speaker 68 She kind of had to play the mother role for many of her siblings.

Speaker 68 She had suffered throughout her childhood just to eat a regular meal. And when she got older, unfortunately, she had gotten into drugs.

Speaker 68 However, the person that she was in a relationship with was abusing her.

Speaker 6 And

Speaker 36 she

Speaker 68 felt that she was trapped in this abusive relationship.

Speaker 22 According to Lulu, one night a group of men turned up at the house she shared with her partner.

Speaker 13 They were after money, owed for drugs.

Speaker 48 Lulu said they knocked her out, and when she came to, she saw her partner had been stabbed.

Speaker 22 He didn't survive.

Speaker 13 Lulu ended up being arrested and charged for his death.

Speaker 14 and apparently, just like Kelly, had given police statements while extremely intoxicated.

Speaker 25 Terrified at the prospect of serving 25 years, Lulu took a plea deal back in 2012.

Speaker 24 She pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Speaker 10 When I heard that she took a plea bargain, I realized she did not have effective representation of counsel because this was a clear defense.

Speaker 50 Kelly believes that Lulu should have had the chance to speak in court about what she'd been through.

Speaker 10 I believe that if they heard Lulu's story, that they would have found her her not guilty. She should not be here.
This is not right.

Speaker 45 By the time Kelly starts working on her case, Lulu's been locked up for over seven years.

Speaker 48 Kelly's heartbroken by Lulu's story and impressed with her dedication despite all her challenges.

Speaker 7 Lulu,

Speaker 71 she was struggling as far as her education.

Speaker 70 I don't think she went very far in school because she

Speaker 31 had

Speaker 7 so

Speaker 68 many things that she had to do at home for her family.

Speaker 25 After bumping Lulu up her list, Kelly wants to file something called a 44010.

Speaker 14 It's a motion that challenges the fairness or legality of a conviction.

Speaker 11 And if successful, it can overturn a court judgment.

Speaker 1 But first, they need to check in with Lulu's original lawyer.

Speaker 25 Kelly wants to ask him to sign an affidavit, which is another word for a written statement.

Speaker 50 The aim is to find out if and why he advised Lulu to plead out.

Speaker 10 I did not want the 440 to be denied, but if I could get an affidavit from him, that's a piece of evidence.

Speaker 48 But it all comes too late.

Speaker 46 And the entire world is shutting down as a global pandemic is on the rampage.

Speaker 15 On the 16th of March, Bedford Hills locks down from COVID-19.

Speaker 1 The inmates are kept in their cells for 23 hours a day.

Speaker 46 The work Kelly and Lulu are doing comes to an abrupt stop.

Speaker 52 On March 20th, Lulu sends a message to her sister.

Speaker 1 She thanks her for sending a care package and asks her to make sure her kids are continuously washing their hands and face.

Speaker 48 COVID-19 tears through Bedford Hills.

Speaker 12 As infection rates surge all around her, Lulu starts to panic.

Speaker 53 Lulu has chronic kidney disease and an underlying heart condition.

Speaker 42 She's recently had open heart surgery.

Speaker 19 On March 28th, Lulu sends another message to her sister, begging her to do all she can to raise the alarm with the higher-ups in the prison.

Speaker 15 She says, I cannot afford to get this virus.

Speaker 52 It may kill me.

Speaker 1 Please help.

Speaker 27 Lulu tests positive for COVID in early April 2020.

Speaker 26 Fellow inmates say she's been lying in her cell for days, barely able to move.

Speaker 11 On April 7th, she's taken to the Bedford Infirmary and then to the hospital, where she's placed on a ventilator.

Speaker 1 One of Lulu's friends says her family requests a video call.

Speaker 44 but that the on-duty officer guarding Lulu in the hospital refuses.

Speaker 20 Her family eventually convince a doctor to hold the phone to her ear

Speaker 17 so they can say goodbye.

Speaker 44 Lulu dies alone in hospital on April 28th, 2020, at just 61 years old.

Speaker 1 She's the first incarcerated woman in the state of New York to die from COVID-19.

Speaker 44 And if you ask Kelly, she shouldn't have even been there in the first place.

Speaker 19 Do you remember the first time you learned that she had died?

Speaker 10 I don't remember the date, but we cried like babies.

Speaker 29 The usual circumstances when somebody passes away,

Speaker 10 we have like a memorial for them in the church.

Speaker 67 But because of COVID, we couldn't even have that.

Speaker 7 I'm not going to say I was her best friend, but I mean, that hit home because I felt guilty. I felt like

Speaker 7 the way she died

Speaker 7 in a hospital when she couldn't even talk to her family. That shit just breaks my heart.

Speaker 7 If I got her out sooner,

Speaker 7 all those times that she came there, like, why didn't I take her first?

Speaker 7 Maybe she could have been home before COVID and maybe she would have still been alive.

Speaker 16 You'd think that seeing Lulu pass away from COVID would have made Kelly a hundred times more hyper-vigilant about staying safe.

Speaker 1 But if anything, it's the opposite.

Speaker 23 Due to the lockdown, the law library is closed.

Speaker 46 They've also taken away access to the computer tablets that the inmates can use to work on their cases.

Speaker 42 The only place where you can still use these tablets is in the infirmary.

Speaker 16 I can only imagine that after seeing so many people die, not just those connected to her own case, but beyond, Kelly just becomes even more desperate to secure her freedom before her own time runs out, no matter the cost.

Speaker 43 So she does something extremely reckless.

Speaker 10 I said, I have to catch COVID.

Speaker 60 I was telling people to cough in my face. I was purposely telling people, like after they're drinking something, I said, can you just leave me a little sip of that so I could drink out of your cup?

Speaker 15 And finally, I actually really didn't feel well. She takes a test just to be sure.

Speaker 10 Of course, it was positive.

Speaker 12 Now that she successfully infected herself, Kelly has her ticket to the infirmary.

Speaker 1 But before that, she heads back to her cell to pick up the stuff she wants to take in with her.

Speaker 3 I

Speaker 35 had two enormous garbage bags worth of paperwork.

Speaker 10 Right away, they stopped me and they want to know where the hell I think I'm going with two bags of paperwork.

Speaker 32 And I said, I'm going to the infirmary because I tested positive.

Speaker 51 And they're trying to say I'm not allowed to bring the paperwork, which is a lie because I clearly have the directive memorized.

Speaker 68 You are allowed to bring paperwork.

Speaker 33 I threw the paperwork down and I just laid across.

Speaker 32 I put one arm on one bag and one arm on the other.

Speaker 10 I said, I'm not going into my cell.

Speaker 76 I'm pulling my mask off.

Speaker 28 You stay the hell away from me.

Speaker 76 Anybody comes near me and I'm going to cough all of it, all of you, all of you.

Speaker 7 And they were so scared.

Speaker 51 They were scared to death.

Speaker 34 This went on for eight hours.

Speaker 77 So because of the fact that it went on for eight hours, somebody finally said, just just let her take it.

Speaker 60 So thank God.

Speaker 64 So I took the paperwork eight hours later

Speaker 32 and God, it was so heavy.

Speaker 35 And I realized, I was like,

Speaker 68 I was like, Jesus.

Speaker 66 I couldn't breathe.

Speaker 71 I couldn't breathe.

Speaker 71 Now the infirmary is quite a walk away.

Speaker 28 So you always know who has COVID when they're being escorted, especially with their property.

Speaker 3 So I have half the yard run up to me, Esquire, Esquire, oh no, Esquire, La Library,

Speaker 76 but I couldn't even look at them. I was watching the cracks in the grounds, and like I was starting to get tunnel vision because it was so heavy and I couldn't breathe.

Speaker 77 And I remember looking at the cracks in the grounds and saying, I think I'm going to die here.

Speaker 34 And I said, if I die here, you know what?

Speaker 10 I died fighting.

Speaker 22 Obviously, Kelly did not die from COVID-19.

Speaker 57 She makes a full recovery.

Speaker 25 And as for the work she's doing, it's paying off.

Speaker 26 Her friend Tesha is being re-sentenced.

Speaker 25 I was, oh my God, I was...

Speaker 18 happy and scared and nervous.

Speaker 36 I think I was maybe the third person in Bedford to get re-sentencing.

Speaker 40 This re-sentencing means that Tasha is getting out.

Speaker 19 She's one of at least four people Kelly says she's helped regain their freedom.

Speaker 11 The night before Tasha's re-sentencing, in July 2021, her and Kelly are hanging out in one of the yards.

Speaker 60 She said, Kelly, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be walking out of these doors tomorrow. I said, oh, you probably would at some point.

Speaker 32 She said, no, no.

Speaker 67 I'm telling you, I'd be doing, I don't know, 20 years or whatever.

Speaker 7 Like, I owe Kelly the most everything with my every being.

Speaker 38 Because if it wasn't for her,

Speaker 49 I probably would never have gone back to the law library to try to find, you know, fight my way out.

Speaker 36 I know they say you're supposed to have your faith in God, but I had nothing but faith in her.

Speaker 24 The next morning, Kelly watches from her cell as her friend leaves Bedford behind.

Speaker 69 Standing on my window, I looked up and I saw her going up the hill.

Speaker 32 I watched and I started to cry.

Speaker 59 I was happy for her,

Speaker 29 but I was like, I wish that was me.

Speaker 29 I wish that was me.

Speaker 29 And

Speaker 34 I guess God heard that.

Speaker 57 Kelly Harnett was officially removed from her job in the Bedford Hills Law Library in April 2020.

Speaker 48 She's still allowed to go in there, but she's not allowed to give legal help with cases anymore.

Speaker 28 The Law Library was like driven into the ground after I left.

Speaker 56 After losing the battle to keep working in the Law Library, Kelly finally admits defeat.

Speaker 57 She stops taking clients and hangs up her jailhouse lawyer boots for good.

Speaker 13 Nah, I'm only taking the piss.

Speaker 26 The law is the true love of Kelly Harnett's life and she's not going to give it up for anyone.

Speaker 61 And so, dear listener, I'm excited to welcome you to Kelly Harnett's Underground Law Library.

Speaker 28 I just started helping people on the unit.

Speaker 10 I started helping people in the yards.

Speaker 35 I helped people, no joke, in snowstorms.

Speaker 28 And I'm not even kidding. It was, it got bad.

Speaker 31 One rainy day, Kelly's in the prison yard doing some secret prison rule-breaking law work for one of her inmate clients.

Speaker 28 They sold ponchos in the commissary. We had girls holding two ponchos over us because the girl whose federal habeas I didn't finish, she had like two days left.

Speaker 28 So they held it over us so that we could finish it

Speaker 77 while it was pouring.

Speaker 7 I mean, if I was

Speaker 49 an officer and I saw that, I would have thought much worse things were happening underneath.

Speaker 35 Oh, that, yeah.

Speaker 28 Well, they checked it out, though.

Speaker 10 And they said, oh, that's just Harnett.

Speaker 28 That's law library.

Speaker 28 Then they started searching my cell, ripping it apart, looking for other people's law papers. But I was never stupid enough to keep anyone's legal papers.

Speaker 28 Every time I finished helping them, I gave them right back to them and said, go ahead, I'll meet you on another day.

Speaker 11 Kelly's jailhouse lawyer reputation is so secure that even when she's not in the law library anymore, people know she's the person to come to.

Speaker 13 And now with the vital tool of the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act in her back pocket, it seems like she's unstoppable.

Speaker 31 One day, Kelly heads into a place called the Day Room.

Speaker 42 It's on the honor floor where Kelly stays.

Speaker 22 It's a section of the prison you get access to if you have consistent good behavior or if you keep your clandestine law library operation under wraps.

Speaker 1 And in there, she finds someone we're calling Tina, who's playing cards with some of the other women on the floor.

Speaker 17 Tina has been in prison since 2016.

Speaker 47 She's suffered a lifetime of abuse from family members, previous partners, and others.

Speaker 11 One terrible night, following a drug relapse, she violently attacked her then-boyfriend.

Speaker 23 She was found guilty of attempted murder.

Speaker 39 Kelly and Tina get to talking about what Kelly's been up up to in and out of the law library.

Speaker 78 She started telling me, you know, how many people she's helped along the way and how many appeals she has put in for individuals and

Speaker 78 I'm just listening to her.

Speaker 31 Tina is a little different from most of the other women Kelly deals with.

Speaker 19 She doesn't need Kelly's help.

Speaker 15 She already has a lawyer fighting her corner.

Speaker 52 I'm not thinking of her helping me.

Speaker 78 I'm thinking of me helping her. And I'm like, okay, I'm going to reach out to the lawyer that's helping me and, you know, see what she can do or if she's willing to take on this case.

Speaker 11 The lawyer's name is Kate Mogulescu.

Speaker 78 Kate was more than willing, and she was like, Yeah, sure, I'll, you know, I'll look it up, I'll see what I can do. And eventually, she did that, and she took on Kelly's case.

Speaker 60 I had a phone call with Kate Mogulescu,

Speaker 69 and

Speaker 62 Kate asked me, Kelly, would you like to write your own motion?

Speaker 60 And I thought that was so cool. And I would love to write my own motion.
And I said, yes, absolutely.

Speaker 68 It wasn't until after she asked me that that I realized, wait a minute, I can't just jump on this like every single other statute and motion and case.

Speaker 10 This is very different.

Speaker 67 this is where emotions meet the law

Speaker 42 Kelly writes and writes

Speaker 41 pouring her heart into each page she's constructing what's called the narrative sharing the abuses and trauma she suffered throughout her life making the court see how it all built up to the one final catastrophic event that put her behind bars.

Speaker 17 Once she's done, she hands it over to Kate, who tweaks it and submits it.

Speaker 22 And then

Speaker 33 they wait.

Speaker 15 A few months after their submission, a response comes through.

Speaker 75 Kate said to me, they're allowing you to replee. She said, 15 years, but I was at 13.

Speaker 10 I said, no. I said, it's time serves or nothing.

Speaker 19 Kelly's lost too many years already, so she tells Kate to to go back and fight.

Speaker 76 I just felt it one day.

Speaker 17 Kelly practically leaps out of her cell and starts booking it to the law library.

Speaker 75 I ran so that I could be the first one on the kiosk.

Speaker 76 I jumped on, I put my numbers in.

Speaker 12 She has a message.

Speaker 60 And it was from Kate.

Speaker 28 She said, Kelly,

Speaker 75 they gave you time served. You got it.
Congratulations.

Speaker 77 And I just started screaming. I was like,

Speaker 28 And my best friends knew what was going on.

Speaker 77 So they were like, you got it? I was like, I got it.

Speaker 77 I'm going home.

Speaker 77 People started pounding on their doors. Let me out.

Speaker 3 Let me out.

Speaker 77 So everybody came out from inside.

Speaker 76 They all just stood there and clacked for me.

Speaker 51 We ran into the phone room and I said, Here's the phone call.

Speaker 77 For years, I've been going over this phone call in my head.

Speaker 52 The phone call to her brother Ronnie and their mother.

Speaker 34 I get to call them up and scream, I'm coming home.

Speaker 19 Kelly dials the number, her fingers shaking.

Speaker 59 I said, Hi, Ronnie.

Speaker 29 And he's like, Hi.

Speaker 3 And I said, Ronnie, I'm coming home.

Speaker 7 He said, oh my God, Kelly, thank God.

Speaker 7 But I'm like, why is he sounding like, you know, normally Ronnie would be screaming, but he's whispering.

Speaker 6 So I said, tell mommy.

Speaker 59 And he said, no, no, I can't, Kelly.

Speaker 3 She's sleeping.

Speaker 32 And I said, Ronnie, I'm coming home from prison.

Speaker 76 Wake her up.

Speaker 59 And he was like, Kelly,

Speaker 3 she can't talk.

Speaker 35 And I said, What do you mean she can't talk? I just spoke to her, Ronnie, the day before last.

Speaker 34 He said, I know.

Speaker 32 I don't know what's wrong with her.

Speaker 59 She cannot speak.

Speaker 32 I don't know what to do with her. Every time I tell her I'm going to call 911, she shakes her head.
No, no, no.

Speaker 76 So I don't know what to do.

Speaker 32 So I told Ronnie, put me on speaker and wake her up.

Speaker 78 And he did that.

Speaker 3 And I said, Mom, I'm coming home. I'm coming home.

Speaker 36 Kelly's mom doesn't reply.

Speaker 34 I said, Ronnie, is she reacting?

Speaker 77 What is she doing?

Speaker 76 He said, She gave a thumbs up.

Speaker 70 And like, that broke my heart.

Speaker 35 I said, Oh my god, my mother's dying.

Speaker 56 After serving 12 years, helping at least four other women get out of prison, Kelly Harnett has finally, finally won her own freedom.

Speaker 26 The day she'll get to walk out of Bedford prison is just around the corner.

Speaker 61 But it might have come too late for her mother, Kathleen.

Speaker 72 I needed to

Speaker 32 get out.

Speaker 59 It was a race against time now.

Speaker 20 Next time, on the final episode of The Girlfriend's Jailhouse Lawyer.

Speaker 32 And when I came out of the gates, I remember screaming and going, woo,

Speaker 10 and putting my arms in the air.

Speaker 32 When I looked at her eyes, I said, that's my mother.

Speaker 51 I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Speaker 3 I'm devastated.

Speaker 35 I don't know where I stand with

Speaker 46 They put me in prison. They put everybody in prison.
Really? It's over?

Speaker 7 It's over? Is it over?

Speaker 21 The Girlfriend's Jailhouse Lawyer is produced by Novel for iHeart podcasts.

Speaker 36 For more from Novel, visit novel.audio.

Speaker 55 The The show is hosted by me, Anna Sinfield, and is written and produced by me and Lee Meyer with additional production from Jayco Tayavich and Michael Ginnow. Our assistant producer is Madeline Parr.

Speaker 55 The editors are Georgia Moody and me, Anna Sinfield.

Speaker 54 Production management from Cherie Houston, Joe Savage and Charlotte Wolfe.

Speaker 19 Our fact checker is Dania Suleiman.

Speaker 55 Sound design, mixing and scoring by Daniel Kempson and Nicholas Alexander.

Speaker 16 Music supervision by me, Alice Infield, Lee Meyer, and Nicholas Alexander.

Speaker 55 Original music composed by Nicholas Alexander, Daniel Kempson, and Louisa Gerstein.

Speaker 46 Story development by Nell Gray Andrews and Willard Foxton, creative director of Novel.

Speaker 30 Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan are our executive producers for Novel.

Speaker 55 And Katrina Norvell and Nikki Etor are the executive producers for iHeart Podcasts. And the marketing lead is Alison Cantor.

Speaker 16 Thanks also to Carrie Lieberman and the whole team at WME.

Speaker 9 This is an iHeart Podcast.