On May 30, 1997, Tasha Shelby found her boyfriend's two and half-year-old toddler having a seizure on his bedroom floor. Bryan was pronounced dead at the hospital the following day, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide. Tasha, a naturally small woman, was on bed rest at the time, after giving birth and undergoing multiple surgeries, and Bryan was more than half Tasha’s size, standing 3 feet tall and weighing 33 pounds. Tasha’s physical inability to have shaken Bryan to death did not stop the state, who prosecuted and convicted Tasha based on the junk science of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Maggie speaks to Tasha Shelby, Penny Warner, Tasha’s aunt, and Valena Beety, Tasha’s attorney. 

To learn more and get involved, visit:

https://www.change.org/p/free-wrongfully-imprisoned-tasha-shelby

https://freetashashelby.com/clemency/

Call Mississippi Assistant Attorney General Ashley Sulser, Director of the Criminal Appeals Division (601-359-3800 or [email protected]), and Harrison County District Attorney Crosby Parker's office (228-865-4003), and ask them to agree to dismiss the charges against Tasha Shelby. https://www.ago.state.ms.us/contact/ ; http://harrison2.co.harrison.ms.us/directory/?department=District%20Attorney

Call Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves's office (601-359-3150 or [email protected]) asking him to grant Tasha’s clemency petition. https://governorreeves.ms.gov/

https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/172-wrongful-conviction-junk-science-shaken-baby-syndrome/

Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freleng is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

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