Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Hello, and welcome to the murders began. I'm your host, Blake Harden Tatum. Today, you and I will start the first steps on the journey of a new case, the matter of Cynthia Wetzel. She likes to be called Tia. I use the word matter deliberately. This isn't a straightforward criminal prosecution by any means, with one victim and one perpetrator, a jury trial and a verdict. Something far more intricate.
[00:00:31] I'm sure most of you have heard of the Innocence project 27 years ago. Founded by a couple of lawyers at Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School of Law at Yeshiva University, attorneys Barry Sheck and Peter Newfeld found that DNA had come far enough to pave the way to exonerate wrongly imprisoned people. 70 Innocence project clones have sprung up all across the United States. Over 300 people have been exonerated in the 20 years since the project started. Deserving men and women have gotten a get-out-of-jail-free card. While that was great for some, and I don't want to downplay how great it is to be released after a quarter century in prison for a crime one didn't commit, there is more to be done. What is there for those not in jail?
[00:01:16] And they can't take advantage of recently unearthed exculpatory evidence or ever advancing genetic testing? I don't know the answer, but hopefully we'll get there. During this season of the murders began. Now, let me tell you about Tia Wetzel. About twelve years ago, Tia moved to Cleveland from Akron. She met and moved in quickly with a man named Felipe Carter. Unbeknownst to her, her boyfriend Felipe sold illegal drugs, specifically heroin and cocaine in its various forms. The couple's apartment was a distribution center of the Alphabet soup of drugs. Carter told her he brokered in car parts, which explained him getting calls and pages all times of day and why he sometimes carried around large amounts of cash.
[00:02:00] Tia was working retail, so she was gone lots of hours, called before she came home. It was easy for him to do this right under her proverbial nose, as it were.
[00:02:09] Unfortunately, as Felipe's living girlfriend, Tia took some of the blame for possession. When cops raided their apartment, Tia's boyfriend got a few years in prison, and she got probation, which meant her prison sentence was suspended. But being under community control sanctions is not the same as freedom. For 18 months, Tia's constitutional rights were being curtailed. She was subjected to regular meetings with a probation officer. She had to report all work, including any side gigs or hustles. Tia also had to report any travel outside of Cuyahoga county. This included going to visit her parents in Akron for family gatherings. Her Cleveland home could be searched at any time, day or night, without a warrant, without notice. On November 15, 1998, Tia woke up to three probation officers at her front door. Armed, guns pointed. They searched her apartment while she stood there in her pajamas, handcuffed, not permitted to move. The officers found nothing, so she was able to go about her day. That day was a Sunday. Eventually, after she couldn't shake off the traumatic feeling of her home being invaded, being detained, and then being subject to a pat down, she went to the gym. After an hour in the treadmill, Tia felt better. Her equilibrium was restored. After her workout, Tia stopped at the supermarket on the way home to stock up for groceries for the work week. Before she could get back to her apartment, she was pulled over by two police officers who said she failed to signal before making a right turn.
[00:03:40] Most people would get off of the warning or at worst, some kind of ticket. This is where things take a departure from normal procedure. Long story short, after this traffic stop, Tia Wetzel went to prison. Tia has one story. The police have a story that's entirely different. I'll tell you both, starting with Cleveland police on the next episode of the murders began with me, your host, Blake Hardin Tatum.
