Episode 1 – Jeremiah Mongold Jeremiah: I’m Jeremiah Mongold from West Virginia and I did 11 years in West Virginia State Penitentiary for a crime that I did not commit and had a long struggle – a long fight -- and I’m happy to be where I’m at today. ***MUSIC*** Brooke: Hi, I’m Brooke, and you’re listening to Actual Innocence, a podcast bringing awareness to wrongful conviction and problems within the justice system. I’m here with DeMarchoe. It’s been two weeks since our last episode but I feel like a lot has happened since then. What do you think? DeMarchoe: A lot has happened since then. Brooke: So I didn’t make it to Oklahoma but I did see on Facebook Live your speech and I thought it was excellent. How did it feel? DeMarchoe: To be honest with you, just because it’s the Oklahoma – it’s the state capitol, so I was kind of nervous. I was intimidated. It’s just – the Oklahoma State Capitol, yes, so I’m intimidated. And then there’s people everywhere. So I get up there and I was nervous up there. People said I looked confident and I looked like, you know, I was relaxed, but that was so far from what was going on. But I’m happy everything worked out. It was pretty exciting. And just to be up there, you know, I feel like, you know, it helped me. You know, it was a confidence builder. You know, you’re speaking at the Oklahoma State Capitol and these people up there that are loving me and at the end, you know, everyone told me how much of an amazing job I did. So, you know, I feel good about it. Brooke: I think you did great. And, last weekend, we got to hang out together. DeMarchoe: Yeah, that was cool. And I’m glad things worked out ‘cause I almost didn’t make it but, you know, things worked out and I had so much fun. Brooke: I’m glad it worked out, too. Did you know that there were ducks in the hotel before we – before you went? I did not know there was going to be a duck parade. DeMarchoe: A duck? I didn’t see no ducks. Brooke: You didn’t see the ducks? So -- DeMarchoe: No. Brooke: I think it’s sometime in the morning, the ducks come down the elevator, walk from the elevator on a red carpet to this fountain, and then they swim around in the fountain all day. And then around dinner time, they walk back up the red carpet, into the elevator, and go back up to their penthouse. DeMarchoe: Was it some type of convention or what? Brooke: No. No. It’s -- that hotel’s apparently famous for it. DeMarchoe: So the ducks stay there? Brooke: Yeah, the ducks have a hotel room, apparently. They have a better life than me. DeMarchoe: How many ducks was it? Brooke: I don’t know. Like five I think. Not too many. So what was your favorite conference memory? DeMarchoe: Man, it – I had so – I just did so much there. I was going to ask you the same thing. What did you find most, you know, appealing about Memphis? Brooke: So, there were two things. One was last year – you know how this year, we raised money for Leslie to go to the conference, right? And actually that was amazing. It was really cool hanging out with Leslie. We actually ended up on the same connecting flight to Memphis, so that was fun. And then we got – so last year, I tried to raise money for the men from the Georgia Innocence Project to come, and they got money but they only got enough money for one person to go. So they decided no person left behind and they all went this year to Memphis ‘cause they could drive and it was much cheaper. And so I got to see them all there and I was so excited to see them and that, you know, that the fund raising had worked and they were so happy. DeMarchoe: It was a lot of people that I wanted to see that I didn’t even get to meet. Brooke: Yeah, I saw Obie for like two seconds. He just waved as he walked by my table. I think it was when we were interviewing Jeremiah. DeMarchoe: And I tried to take pictures with everyone. I didn’t even get to take – it was so many people there. And people was disappearing and – you know, I seen some guys that I seen one time and I said, where they at? Brooke: Right. I saw Meredith at the bar. I mean, I wasn’t drinking. I was just sitting there watching the ducks. And she had lost her voice. It was so sad. But she did such a great job planning the Conference, her and her team. DeMarchoe: I still haven’t recovered from that. I’m still, you know -- Brooke: I met so many people. Like, it was so incredible, the number of people that I met. DeMarchoe: Yes, I got a – I made a lot of connections. And Kirk Bloodsworth, you know, I was happy to sit down with him and I’m looking forward to getting a ring in the future, so I’m excited about that. And those rings are beautiful, too. Brooke: Yeah, they are. I saw Leslie’s. DeMarchoe: Yeah, I’m looking forward to that. I didn’t even get to hang out with Leslie, you know, but a split second. Brooke: I – I mean, I rode the plane there with him so we were together for a couple of hours and then – yeah, we saw each other a lot at the conference. DeMarchoe: Time for some trivia, after our first sponsor. ***AD*** Brooke: I was looking for this week’s trivia questions, sort of a “what happened this week in history”, and I realized the first week in April has been historically tragic for a lot of people. DeMarchoe: I have a trivia question. It’s about history this week. Brooke: Okay, perfect. Let me hear it. DeMarchoe: What civils – what civil rights leader was assassinated on April 4th, 1968? Brooke: Oh, I do know that one. It was Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis, where we just were. DeMarchoe: I have another one. The day another man was killed was observed just today. It has a spiritual meaning to some people. Brooke: Hmm. Oh, I know this one, too. So I think you are talking about the crucifixion of Jesus. DeMarchoe: You got it. Brooke: I have one for the listeners now. A country leader was assassinated on this week in world history. It was April 6th, 1994. His plane was shot down out of the sky. The question is, what was that leader’s name and what country did he lead? DeMarchoe: So, to get swag, the listeners need to send you an email, right? Brooke: Right. They need to email me the country and the world leader’s name to [email protected]. I only accept submissions by email, and I’ll send swag to everyone who emails me on or before Wednesday, or at least before I wake up on Thursday. Here’s a hint – you can probably find the answer on the website, GenocidePod.com. DeMarchoe: Okay. And now it’s time to introduce our guest. Brooke: I am super excited that he was there and we got to interview him on like such a special weekend for him. Jeremiah. DeMarchoe: Jeremiah. Jeremiah: I was born in Virginia but I’m originally from West Virginia. I have a big family, more on my father’s side than my mother’s side, but big support group. You know? They’re Christians on my father’s side, Jehovah’s Witness on my mom’s side. So two relationship, families still get along good. I have two brothers, one same mom, same dad, and one same mom, different dad. So – they still my brothers. DeMarchoe: That’s how I am. All my brothers – my sister and my brother, they have – we all have different dads but – Jeremiah: Yeah. Still brothers. Still brothers. And then not to mention all the other brothers from another mother. Brooke: And I noticed that there’s this beautiful lady sitting next to you. Did you want to introduce her? Jeremiah: Yes. This is Kayla. This is my wife. That we just got married. Kayla. Hello (laughs). Jeremiah: (Laughs) I’m the oldest and Aaron’s four years younger and Gabe is – he’s 14 years younger than me. I never had a really – I never had a really solid relationship with my brothers because from the time I was 16, it kind of stayed kind of – because I got in some trouble at school when I was younger and ever since then, it’s kind of like the State wanted to send me away, send me away, send me away. I got into a fight on the school grounds and the boy got hurt really bad. And they sued me and then they tried me as an adult and gave me a malicious [INAUDIBLE] and stuff like that. And the State violated me on my probation every chance that they could get and they would send me away to homes or detention centers or places like that, so all the way until I was like 17, 18 years old, they finally let me go, you know, when I was 18 and everything like that.