00:00:00 Speaker 1: When I got to the station, they asked me what I knew about the murderer in the park, and do you mind telling me how your shoelace got around the victim's neck.

00:00:18 Speaker 2: This is Kelly Harnett. Fifteen years ago, she was arrested for murder, a murder she says she didn't commit.

00:00:26 Speaker 3: I'm one hundred percent innocent.

00:00:29 Speaker 2: Kelly says it was her violent ex boyfriend who committed the murder.

00:00:34 Speaker 4: I saw him put the shoelace around the man's neck, So now I really she really is going to kill.

00:00:41 Speaker 2: This man, and that she is just another victim.

00:00:46 Speaker 3: It was like Kelly was his possession. I think she was afraid to walk away from him. I'm scared to death.

00:00:53 Speaker 2: But police don't believe Kelly. So she goes to trial.

00:00:57 Speaker 1: All of this way, are you going to go home?

00:01:00 Speaker 3: But unfortunately that's not what happened.

00:01:03 Speaker 4: She says she had been found guilty.

00:01:06 Speaker 3: Like how how is that possible?

00:01:11 Speaker 2: That's what I'm hoping to find out. I'm Anisonfield and this is the girlfriend's gelhouse lawyer. This show isn't about who'd done it. It's not even really about what happened.

00:01:26 Speaker 3: Whether you think I'm guilty or not. It has no meaning.

00:01:30 Speaker 2: It's about how it happened, about how a woman who was a victim of the most horrific domestic abuse became a villain in the eyes of the law and served twelve years in prison. As the journalist and producer behind The Girlfriends, I've interviewed so many women throughout my career, but Kelly Hannett is the most complicated one I've ever met.

00:01:52 Speaker 1: All of your stories.

00:01:53 Speaker 2: Seen of shocking and like they're almost.

00:01:56 Speaker 3: Sometimes hard to believe.

00:01:58 Speaker 2: It's hard to believe that.

00:02:00 Speaker 3: Yes, there's been a lot of insane stories.

00:02:04 Speaker 2: I agree, Kelly's story is the toughest I've ever reported. It's going to challenge your understanding of what it means to be a victim.

00:02:14 Speaker 3: You have to think of the domestic violence aspect and not the truth finding aspect.

00:02:18 Speaker 4: I'm trying to figure out, how the hell am I going to get out of this one?

00:02:22 Speaker 3: Well, I live to see the next minute.

00:02:24 Speaker 2: Who's the victim?

00:02:26 Speaker 1: I think everybody's the victim. Yeah, like they're all the victim.

00:02:30 Speaker 2: This story will even challenge your understanding of justice itself.

00:02:35 Speaker 1: This is the justice system in God we trust, No you know there is no god there.

00:02:42 Speaker 3: What do you want my blood? That's what everyone would have preferred, a dead girl in the park.

00:02:51 Speaker 2: But don't worry, girlfriends, because along the way, I'm going to introduce you to an incredible cast of women.

00:03:00 Speaker 4: Our sisterhood.

00:03:01 Speaker 3: We called ourselves the Showties.

00:03:03 Speaker 2: You shore it, women who've been through hell and back again.

00:03:09 Speaker 4: I said, were you a victim of domestic violence? And she was like, yeah, my father was drunk and trying to kill me. I ended up killing him. He came up behind me and put me in a Oh man, it was an awful chocoal.

00:03:25 Speaker 2: Next thing I know, I was being arrested for a murder and a first degree Women who have somehow managed to find strength in each other.

00:03:34 Speaker 1: As terrible as an experience is, in order to survive it, We're going to find lightness and everything.

00:03:42 Speaker 2: And in the center of all of this is Kelly Hannett, in her many complicated multitudes, a woman who went to prison on a murder conviction.

00:03:52 Speaker 3: I said, what do you want me to do? I was found guilty. She goes ah guilty smelty, who.

00:03:57 Speaker 2: Ended up finding that the law would be the greatest love of her life.

00:04:02 Speaker 4: I said, how many people have gotten other incarcerated individuals out of here.

00:04:09 Speaker 3: He goes, like, you mean other inmates.

00:04:12 Speaker 4: Nobody's ever done that. I said, I'm going to be the first one to do that.

00:04:18 Speaker 2: Is Kelly fought back not just for her own freedom, but for her girlfriends too.

00:04:26 Speaker 4: She said, Kelly, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be walking out of these doors. Know they say they're supposed to have your faith in God, but I had nothing but faith in her.

00:04:37 Speaker 3: I think I have a mission from God.

00:04:39 Speaker 1: I think I was put here to save souls by getting people out of prison.

00:04:44 Speaker 3: You're a very unique person, Kelly.

00:04:48 Speaker 2: Thank you.

00:04:49 Speaker 3: I take that as a compliment. It's a compliment. It is a compliment for sure.

00:04:57 Speaker 2: The girlfriends gel House Lawyer with me Annasonfield. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:05:11 Speaker 4: I just hope listeners can open up their hearts and give me the chance because I've faced too much injustice already.

00:05:21 Speaker 3: Please please just be fair with me.