Previously on Convicted…

Male Voice 1: Well, this event in 1996, Baltimore City, an entire city wanted justice.

Mary: My brother wouldn’t kill a fly, much less his daughter, my God.

Male Voice 2: But I know a Brady violation when I see one and this is pretty clearly a

Brady violation.

Rachel: When I received the appointment from the federal court, it

came with the judge’s statement that he believed this was a case of actual

innocence.

Phone recording: This call is from Richard Nicolas, an inmate at a Maryland Correctional

Facility.

Richard Nicolas was convicted of killing his two year old daughter in the summer of 1996. Since that

time, Mr. Nicolas continues to maintain his innocence. I’m Brooke. This is Convicted, Episode 2, the

story of Richard Nicolas.

Richard was born in Baltimore City. The word city isn’t part of the name, but I’ve noticed that the

people who live in the area tend to add it on. Shortly after he was born, the family moved to Canada

and then Haiti before returning to Baltimore… meaning that Richard’s first language was French.

Aunt Gloria: I knew him when he couldn’t speak English. All he was speaking was

French.

Just a reminder, this is Richard’s aunt Gloria.

Aunt Gloria: Well, see they were living in Canada; Rochester, New York; and then they

went to Canada. Their father worked there and he spoke French all the time because he

was from Haiti and they spoke French. And his grandfather was an ambassador from

Haiti to the United States.

We heard briefly from Richard’s sister in the last episode.

***Mary: My name is Mary Tate and I am Richard Nicolas’ baby sister. He sends me mail

and he addresses it “Sis,” and I’m thinking, “Ok, the entire whole postal service must

know that ‘Sis’ comes to my house. (:12)

That’s right, her name is Mary, but throughout my exploration of this case I had heard her referred to

by three separate names.

Mary: My name is Mary Elizabeth Tate and my grandmother dubbed me Betty which I

have never been able to shake. And, as a teenager, I really, really did not like the name

Betty, so I asked my father could I change my name. So we decided to come up with the

name Keesa, which has more significance to me and I never went through the official

name change. Then, when I became an adult and that stuff was no longer important to

me, I just went back to Mary.

I call her Mary, but to clear up any more confusion - it’s one sister - three names. At my request, Mary

told me what Richard was like as a child. A question I hope that my own brother is never asked about

on a podcast…

Mary: He was your typical boy. We weren’t from the United States, so when we came

here, I guess I was about maybe six and Richard was seven, so we had a language

barrier. My father was Haitian, my mother was American, but she spoke French. So, it

was a difficult adjustment for my brother and I to acclimate to the American society

quickly because it wasn’t a matter of okay, I’m going to teach you English and then you

go to school, it’s you’re in school. So, it was a difficult adjustment. My brother had a

speech impediment. So, not only was learning the English language difficult, but he

stuttered. I was always hyper-protective of him because people would tease him, and

that would take me from zero to sixty. I’m not a fighting person. I think the only fights

I’ve ever gotten in were girls picking on my brother because my brother wouldn’t hit a

woman. He was always very, very intelligent, but his speech impediment was a major,

major issue. And I remember that he went to see a speech pathologist at Sinai for many

years, and my father would work with him on the weekends and in the evenings to help

him. I remember something about my father used to put marbles in his mouth and have

him speak...

She then tells the story that you heard on the previous episode about Richard’s father trying to correct

his speech by placing marbles in his mouth. I couldn’t find a modern day speech therapist who

supported this method, but I did find some interesting reading on Demosthenes, an ancient Greek

orator, who tried to improve his own speech using a similar tactic.

Mary: The significant part of the childhood was the marbles and the reading. But,

Richard had friends, we were very close to the neighbor. We did everything typical kids

did; we played outside until the streetlights came on, we got into fights, we broke up

each other's stuff, we defended each other from our parents: if one did something bad,

we wouldn’t tell so we would both get a spanking. We were just your typical siblings. I

remember some really golden moments growing up. When we were in elementary

school, the girls always loved him because of those big eyes, those big green eyes.

They’re very captivating and it just seemed like the girls always loved him. My mother

used to tell him that, “You must take your sister home and you must hold her hand.” We

were latchkey children, so we took the bus home. And my brother would want to talk to

the girls and I would say, “Mommy said you better take me home.” Yeah, he was rotten,

I was rotten, it was a challenge sometimes. But, he would have to hold my hand and I

remember we’d walk up the hill to our house, I would be fighting him to let my hand go

and he said, “Mommy said hold your hand. I’m going to tell momma.” So, we did some

crazy stuff. We had one incident where, we had an alarm on our house and the rule was

the first child in the house had to turn off the alarm. Well, my brother and I decided that

day that we weren’t speaking to each other and we weren’t going to have anything to

do with each other. So, we got to the house and the alarm was going off and it just got

worse and worse. It went from the internal alarm to the external alarm, the siren on the

outside of the house. And from that, somebody, God forbid, called my mother and my

mother came home, along with my father, along with the police because they’re

thinking something’s happened to these children. And, my brother and I were sitting

there like, “Oh my God, somebody’s going to get the whipping of a lifetime.” We both

got the whipping of a lifetime. But, we had some crazy memories. I think that was

probably the worst spanking I’ve ever got in my life; when everyone had to come out to

see what was going on with the house alarm. We had some great times. We had some

sibling times and we had some great times.

Richard has mentioned two causes for his stuttering, learning a new language and a birthing accident.

While it’s largely unknown what causes stuttering - it is believed that a primary cause is neurological,

you know, having to do with the brain. Specifically, in this instance, a problem with how the brain

translates thoughts into words, so could that process have been damaged by a “baby doctor”

squeezing his head… maybe?

Richard: I remember this one argument we had back when we were down in Baltimore

because she was fussing with me because she said that she was supposed to take care

of me because of my speech impediment. My sister used to do a whole lot of fist

fighting for me over in elementary school because guys would beat me up because I

couldn’t talk. I remember dad started taking me to health spas, weight lifting so that I

could gain some weight. Also, taking me to Tae Kwon Do courses because I was like

getting my ass kicked over at elementary school and she would take up for her big

brother. Dad had us going to Catholic private school and this was a good school that I’m

still thankful for because I can see the advantage even here. But we had gotten into a

argument because she was like, “I’m supposed to take care of you because you’re my

big brother.” I remember, I think she told mom that I’m not letting her take care of me

and mom got a big kick out of it and told dad and both of them started laughing at us.

And, here I am, fifty years old, and she’s still taking care of me.

Like half of all marriages, Richard’s parents’ marriage ended in divorce. And at least part of the reason

for their parting of ways was due to his mother’s mental health.

Richard: My mom was bipolar and I watched her suffer with it, but she also worked very

hard to take care of herself. First off, she used to play the viola and she had gone to the

Peabody Institute. She had also gone to Coppin State College where she was a

elementary school teacher at the college. And, she also taught Home and Hospital,

special ed kids. Like say for example, if you have a high school kid that gets hurt out on

the football field and he can’t go to school for six months, she would go to his house and

educate him. Plus, she had students that were underprivileged and she was sent over

there by the city to get these kids up to speed so that they can go enter in the public

school systems. She was, you know, not a bad person. I watched her take care of things

that she had to take care of and she went to school and did well for herself. I also

watched her have her rough spots, but it’s bipolar.

Brooke: Right. I think I told you before my day job is a therapist. So, I’ve worked with

very successful people who have bipolar disorder and they have their hard moments,

but it’s not a life sentence that you’re doomed. You can definitely have a productive life.

Richard: I agree and she very definitely did.

Mary’s description of their mother was similar, but framed by hindsight. The way that childhood memories

often are...

Mary: She did. She did. She didn’t let it hold her back, but she, um. I remember the day

that she left. She said that-- my mother was a very black and white type of person, it

either was or wasn’t. And I never really understood that about her. She said that, based

on her doctor’s thoughts, it’s better that she live alone, not have the encumbrances of

children. And I never understood that as a child because I thought, “We’re not

encumbrances, we’re your children.” So, my mother moved out and my father took us.

And, my mother actually moved to the end of the block to live-- she rented an

apartment from a friend in a house, so she was never that far away. But it was difficult

because I just wondered “why you didn’t want us anymore.” It wasn’t that she didn’t

want us, she knew that, with her disorder, it would be difficult to raise adolescents

because we were a challenge. So, she did what was best and healthy for her, but I didn’t

understand that until years later.

I was shocked when I discovered that Richard had dropped out of high school.

Hinda: All of them had dropped out of regular high school to go to this experimental

school that was supposed to be something different and new. And I don’t think any of

them really got an education from there. They had fun. I think it was just a big mistake

for all of them, but at the same time, you know, it was this group of people that fed off

each other because they all grew up together.

It was true Richard said, he did drop out of high school.

Richard: Yes, I did. I was always a very strong, bull-headed kid. And my sophomore year

I started, uh, smoking pot, drinking beer and hanging with the neighborhood fellas and I

just dropped out of school. It wasn’t anything that my parents did or did not do, I was

just a hard-headed boy. I’ve been going to the neighborhood bar since I was 16 or 17.

I’ve been bar fighting since I’ve been 16 or 17, so I’ve always been a big, strong,

hard-headed kid. Not that I was a bad kid because we didn’t do bad things past drinking

beer, smoking pot, you know, fist fighting. But, that’s the kind of kid I was. So, you know,

eventually I like dropped out of high school, and when I was 17 I got into a argument

with my dad. He was unhappy and he was like, “Well, you gotta go kid.” So I was like,

“Okay.” I don’t think that he expected this. He had thought that I was gonna buckle

under, but I packed up my bag and moved out of the house at 17, went out and got a

full-time job and didn’t come back home.

After obtaining his GED and few college courses later Richard found himself in a failing marriage. When

I asked him about the marriage he asked me if I had ever heard the saying “I didn’t really have a

problem with my wife, it was her boyfriend that was the problem.” He said it went something like

that. Looking through some old articles on the case I found one in the Baltimore Sun that claims that

Richard struck his ex-wife prior to their divorce… so I asked him about it.

Richard: Debbie had divorced me, grounds being abuse. There wasn’t ever a police

report, hospital visit, or anything indicating that. It was her final kick in the teeth for me

as we were signing the paperwork and I didn’t think about the fact that that was going

to follow me because, to be honest with you, I really didn’t know any better. Debbie was

my first wife, however I was her fourth husband. I met her when I was 23 or 24 and she

was thirty-something, early thirties. Again, that didn’t dawn on me until after we had

split up that she was, you know, so young and I was her fourth husband. At that age, I

really didn’t think about it.

Brooke: Do you want me to read you what it says?

Richard: Sure.

Brooke: Okay. It says, “There were other troubles. Deborah Nicolas says her husband

was diagnosed in 1992 with clinical depression and she alleged in their 1993 divorce

case that her husband had threatened her and struck her repeatedly with his fist.”

Richard: When did I get diagnosed with clinical depression?

Brooke: It says in ‘92.

Richard: In ‘92? Okay. Never happened.

Brooke: No?

Richard: No

Brooke: I think you would probably know if anybody knew, right?.

Richard: That’s how come I’m asking because I’ve never heard this.

I want to make myself clear here, charges were never filed and there is no evidence of marital abuse.

And, as hard as it is to say these words, but even if he was in an abusive relationship, that doesn’t

make him guilty of murder.

Mary: Both of us struggled in high school because we were very different from the kids

we went to school with. And there was a lot of racial prejudice then. So, we dealt with

not fitting in, my brother-- I got picked on because I didn’t look a certain way or didn’t

talk a certain way. My brother kind of was like, “I don’t care about everybody. I’m going

to paint my nails black and do what I want and wear my Black Sabbath t-shirts.” We just

weren’t a good fit for the school we went to, so he dropped out and then I dropped out.

And then he just wanted to live life his way and my father said, “That’s fine, but you

can’t do it here.” So, he became emancipated and took care of himself. Which still kind

of floors me that he was able to do that at such a young age.

Brooke: I asked him about what was he like as a teenager. He said, “I was a bull-headed

kid.”

Mary: He was. But, you know what, it came from my dad. Because my father, if he said

that this table is white and I see that it’s brown, it, he didn’t give a damn what you

thought because you’re stupid, it’s white. So, that’s how Richard is. Either it is or

everybody’s stupid. So, that has probably protected him in many situations because he’s

always been a survivor. I don’t believe he’s ever not had a meal or not had a roof over

his head. So, I think he decided at a young age, when he left, that, “I’m going to live life

my way, and I’m going to be okay.” I don’t think I could ever have that kind of courage.

In his late 20’s Richard had two jobs that came with a moderate level of responsibility.

Richard: I was working for a third party copier company. They’re called Copy Fix and we

had the service contract for Aberdeen and Edgewood army bases. I handled all their

Xerox brand photocopiers. I had gotten my EMT certification and went to work for a

private ambulance company, TLC. They were out in Baltimore County. Worked there for

a short period of time, got some experience. Then, I got myself hired by American

Ambulance Company and primarily worked on their graveyard shift.

Through the course of his employment on the ambulance he met Aja’s mother. If you haven’t noticed, I

haven’t mentioned Aja’s mother’s name, but sometimes the people that I’m interviewing do so I’m

going to tell you - it’s Lisa … but please, leave this woman alone… she’s had enough heartbreak.

Richard: I met Lisa over at John’s Hopkins ER. She was one of the health insurance

processors and one night, when I was dropping someone off, we got to talking. And I

had asked her out. She said, “No.” I left, hopped back into the ambulance and kept on

the next service call and, at the end of the shift, I was talking to my dispatcher and he

had said that someone called from Johns Hopkins saying that I had left one of my credit

cards down there and that I needed to go pick it up. So, I was like, “Okay. Especially

since I don’t have any credit cards on me, but I’ll go down there and see what’s going

on.” So, when I went down there, Lisa was down there waiting for me and she gave me

her phone number and all of her contact information. So, we got to talking to each

other over the phone and eventually went to bed with each other and that was about it.

Aja’s Mother testified that Richard had suggested an abortion, but Richard stands firm that he left the

choice of having the baby up to her mother. In either case, in January of 1994 - Aja Amber Alexis

Nicolas made her debut into the world. Her mother said her name meant medicine woman. Her father

was notified of her birth by a phone call from “someone” who had been there. I asked him how it felt

when he found out he was a father…

Richard: I stopped to buy cards and cigars on the way in. I was so incredibly scared that I

probably could’ve moved a little bit faster, to be honest with you. I did see her. She was

in the hospital waiting room? Where they keep all the little babies. What’s that room

called? (1:40)

The nursery? I suggested.

Richard: Yeah. And, she was maybe two handfuls and I was impressed. I mean she was

my baby girl and I welled up with a whole bunch of pride. I then gone to go see Lisa and

she looked like she had been through 12 rounds with Mohammed Ali and she was up

there with some of her family members and I didn’t stay long with her because she was

just tuckered out. I did go see the baby, I did go see her. And think after I got out of the

hospital I went back to the old neighborhood and got drunk. Got to celebrating.

Grabbed some of my buddies and tried to celebrate.

But how did you feel? I pushed.

Richard: Prideful, kind of scary. Realizing that I really got to get my shit together

because now I’ve got someone on this earth that I’ve got to take care of. It really lit that

fire under my butt to get where I was going to go in life, meaning finish up that school

program, get a better job.

It appears that Richard failed to make child support payments before there was an agreement in court.

A paternity test was ordered at his request and after it was certain that he was Aja’s father he signed a

consent form for voluntary payments to be deducted from his payroll checks.

Hinda: And I said to him, “Don’t be a deadbeat dad.” Back in the day that was kind of big and I’m like, “You need to step up.” And, I know that he made that effort from there on and it was important to him. Aunt Gloria: And then even today, my nephews will tell me, “Well, you know how we were raised. We have to take care of our responsibilities until they become adults and that’s what we’re going to do.” That’s how my son, my nephews, they all feel that way. That’s how they live. That’s how they treat their children.

His visits with Aja were not on any kind of regular schedule, but he would sometimes stop by the house

to see her during his evening shifts on the ambulance. He also, despite her young age, talked with her

on the phone almost daily. Richard was not the only member of his family that had contact with Aja.

Mary: He said, “I have a baby girl.” I’m thinking, “What? Huh? Oh, okay. Wow! Okay.”

And, he was just so, like, tickled. He said, “I have a baby girl,” because I just had my

daughter and my daughter was 10 pounds, 12 ounces and Aja was 10 pounds, 13

ounces. So, he was just like, “Sis, I have a daughter.” At that point, nothing else

mattered. I was going to make it my business to see my niece. So, I went to the baptism.

I just kind of invited myself. I found out where she was and from the first moment I saw

her, that was Richard. She was just a breath of fresh air. She was just-- oh my gosh, she

was like an angel. And, he was so proud and so tickled of her. And he was trying to have

a relationship so that he could spend time with his daughter and the relationship

between him and Lisa, the baby’s mother, was very tumultuous. She really did not-- was

not very open to him spending time with the baby, but she would allow me to spend

time with the baby.

Brooke: That’s what I was going to ask you. I read-- I think it was in the transcript-- did

you babysit for her?

Mary: Aja used to spend the weekends with me. So, her and my older daughter were

very, very close. Aja was a baby when my oldest was three; three or four. Because my

mother had just passed and my father had died before that. So, they never got a chance

to see Aja. But, she would allow me to take Aja, she would spend the night with me, I

would take her to my family. I think her concern with Richard was he had never had

children before. I don’t think it was a matter of she thought that he would hurt her. I

think her concern was that, “Okay, you’ve never had children before, so I’m going to let

you take this infant out all by yourself.”

I’m struggling to find the words to describe Mary. She’s tall and beautiful and when I met with her the

first time she had on a gorgeous chunky necklace and matching bracelet and I later found out that she

had made those herself. More importantly though, she is tough, she’s had a lot of trauma in her life,

but yet she just keeps going. When I first called to introduce myself she told me this: “Please, don’t

take my silence for reluctance, it’s just hard because I didn’t lose just one person, I lost two: my niece

and then my brother”.

I think it would be fair to say that Richard wasn’t always present for big events in Aja’s life, but the time

he did spend with her appeared to those around them to be enjoyable by Richard and Aja.

About a week before Aja’s murder, Richard had planned to go to the beach with Aja and her mother.

At trial both parties testified that at the last minute it was decided that Aja’s extended family would

also be going. This is where the testimonies differ. Aja’s mother testified that they stopped at a “brown

house” because Richard said the owner owed him money. Richard’s story was different…

Richard: I think that it was the weekend before the shooting. We had all gone out to

Sandy Point Beach that Saturday and spent the whole day there. It was Lisa and I, Aja,

and I would say about ten of her nephews and cousins and stuff. Over the summer, Lisa

inherited like all these kids and it was like an every summer thing. We had packed up

two cars, mine and hers.

Brooke: Well and that was a surprise, right?

Richard: I mean, we were all going to go down to the beach and stuff so extra

people were there so why not take them with us? It was a hot, summer day so

why not go get wet? So that’s what we did. Sandy Point is a state park in Essex,

Maryland. It’s just a fast way to get down to the beach if you’re coming out of

Baltimore City. Sandy Point is maybe 30 minutes off of the Baltimore City area. It

was a hot, summer day. Aja was running around, having fun. I got a super, super

bad sunburn. We spent the day there, played with the kids all day long, ate some

food, and I took my sunburnt self home and had a couple of beers.

But did you stop at a brown house I asked him?

Richard: No, [inaudible] brown house.

If you didn’t catch that he said “No, there was no brown house.”

Richard: My car was already gassed up. I still don’t know how this brown house comes

into play.

After months of phone calls - I knew that I needed to see him face to face before making a

determination to proceed with this story - so I planned a trip to the SuperMax facility where Richard is

housed. I figured that, at best, I would discover that this is actually the case that I wanted to use for the

podcast and, at worst, I would be Rachel’s free legal assistant.

Rachel: So, today we are going to visit North Branch Correctional Institution, which is

located in Cumberland, Maryland. It’s about two and a half hours west of my office in

Howard County, Maryland. And, it’s primarily a scenic, bucolic ride through fields and

eventually into the mountains of western Maryland.

I don’t know what the word bucolic means, but the roads to Cumberland were mountainous with such

amazing views that I almost forgot that we were going to a place that housed such ugliness behind its

walls.

Rachel: And, just outside the city of Cumberland lies a prison complex consisting of

North Branch Correctional Institution and, next door, Western Correctional Institution.

The maximum security inmates are primarily all housed out at one of those two facilities

with North Branch being the more heavy-duty, upper level security and Western

Correctional Institution also being maximum security but a lower level of maximum

security. And Richard is housed at North Branch Correctional Institution currently. He

was at Western Correctional Institution previously.

When we arrived, the first thing I noticed was that the doors to enter the building were massive. They

were made of stainless steel and heavy to push open. When we entered the building, immediately in

front of us there was a curved desk with a couple of people behind it and a metal detector on either

side acting as a sort of gateway to whatever was beyond the large concrete walls. As we waited to be

checked in the guards next to us were taking off their belts and shoes and redressing after clearing the

metal detector.

I was thankful that Rachel had given me a heads up about appropriate dress for the occasion. My first

question when entering a new experience is usually, “What should I wear?”

Rachel: Well it’s more a question of what you should not wear. We have to pass through

very sensitive metal detectors, so you cannot wear an underwire bra.

Ironically I had made a trip to the Maryland Innocence Project the previous day and was also told a

similar story about women’s clothes being policed by prisons.

Rachel: No belts with metal, no shoes with metal, glasses with metal, definitely no

jewelry. All of those things will be screened. You can wear your shoes into the

institution, but they’re going to run your shoes, or your belt, or your watch through the

metal detector. And then everything else like sunglasses, keys, things like that will have

to be stored in a locker. And, if you are wearing an underwire bra, you will not enter the

prison because, even if you offer to take off your bra, they also have a rule that you

must wear a bra. So, it’s kind of a catch-22 and let’s just say I have been caught in that.

Also, you cannot wear any sweater or jacket or blazer. You just have to kind of just wear

one layer. I guess because of the possibility that you could be concealing something

inside your jacket, even though the visits are “no contact” visits, meaning it’s in a booth

and we’re separated from the inmate by glass and there’s absolutely no access to even

pass a piece of paper you still, theoretically I suppose, could pass an inmate en route to

the visiting room.

I went to the website to check out the official dress code for prison visits:

Male Voice: All visitors to include children must dress appropriately for visitation. All

clothing must cover from the neck to the kneecaps. The following types of clothing are

not allowed to be worn: tube tops, tank tops, or halter tops; see-through clothing;

mini-skirts, mini-dresses, shorts, skorts, or culottes, at or above the kneecaps;

form-fitting clothes such as leotards, spandex, and leggings; clothes that expose a

person’s midriff, side, or back; tops or dresses that have revealing necklines and/or

excessive slits; coats, jackets, shawls, and scarves will be placed in an appropriate area.

Am I the only one that thinks that list is mostly directed at women? I also noticed that it doesn’t say

anything about underwire-at all. It was a 2.5 hour drive to the prison. Imagine making the trip to visit

your loved one and being refused entry because of the materials used in the making of your

underwear.

When it was our turn I handed the woman behind the desk my ID and the placed the pad of paper and

pen I was carrying into a tub to be ran through the x-ray machine. I took off my shoes and I was asked

to pull out my pockets and walk through the metal detector… nothing happened, which I suspect was

a good thing. I had to hold up my left hand to get stamped by an invisible black light reflective ink - this

part wasn’t so bad as it’s pretty much the same procedure to enter and exit Chucky Cheese. Rachel was

told that her black and silver binder clip would have to “wait here” by the lady behind the desk.

Just past the entryway was a large room that I imagine is used to house overflow visitors. We visited

on a Wednesday, a non-standard visiting day, so we were the only ones there. There were several rows

of chairs and there was a TV mounted on the wall in front of them. All of the walls were painted white

and appeared to be made of cement bricks. A sign on the wall had the visiting rules in Spanish and

English and among the rules that I remember are: no switching visitors, children must sit on a chair or

the lap of the visitor, no kissing, and visitors and inmates may only embrace upon exiting the visits.

We walked through the waiting room to a long hallway where a guard behind a dark tinted window

watched us hold our stamped hands under a blacklight. Then we waited for a huge white door to open

and- as we stepped inside - the door closed behind us and we were trapped. It was a small hallway

with another identical looking futuristic door blocking our way. It kind of reminded me of something

from Star Trek or Star Wars or some other space movie. After the first door had completely closed the

second door slowly started to open. Rachel asked if I was nervous and, to be honest, I wasn’t. I was

actually thinking that I had never missed my phone or digital recorder quite as much as I did standing

there trying to commit every detail of my visit to memory.

Passing through what I’ve dubbed “the airlock” we entered the visiting area. There was a raised

guard platform looking out over the room and there were two rows of visiting stations that

looked kind of like study carrolls that you might find in a library. The insides of the two rows

had a metal stool behind them and the outside had two plastic green chairs that kind of

reminded me of my grandma’s house in the summer. There was a clock hanging above the

guard’s head, but it was stopped at 9:55.

Along the wall, opposite of the door we entered were several other doors, painted with a minty

green color, and they had large numbers stenciled on them in black. I entered the first room

and sat by myself to wait for Richard to arrive. I heard a noise and Richard entered on the other

side of the room, which was really two closet-sized rooms connected by a window of

conductive glass. The glass was actually pretty amazing. I mean, I didn’t have to use a phone or

anything to hear what he was saying - rather the sound traveled through as if we were actually

sitting right across from each other. I could hear him perfectly as he said my name, in a way

that if it was written down would have had a question mark behind it. I smiled and said hello,

realizing that before this time he didn’t know what I looked like.

I knew from my research that he was tall, but compared to my height, 5’2,” he was a giant. He

wore a white t-shirt and some jeans that had a few holes in them. He told me he would like to

get a new pair of jeans, but I told him not to worry - distressed jeans are the style. I’m pretty

sure that he was less than impressed with my fashion advice. I think at this point I realized this

was the first time that I had ever had a conversation with him that wasn’t being monitored by

the prison system.

I might have entered a time warp at some point because after what seemed like just a few

minutes a guard knocked on the door and he asked if I would be finished by 2:00pm. So when I

asked him what time it was, I was surprised when he said 1:45pm because I had arrived at the

prison at 10:30am. I had been in the room close to three hours and I had no idea where those

hours had went. I told the guard that it wouldn’t be a problem and finished up my conversation.

I looked at Richard and told him I would talk to him on Sunday and I left to the free world and

he went back to his cell.

I waited in one of the green chairs for Rachel to finish up with her last client in a different room.

There were three guards on the platform at this time and so I asked them how many people

were housed in the prison. An older guard told me that there were about 1,200, but that was

down and last year at one point they had about 1,500. He told me that it wasn’t really an issue

except for at meal times when there was a little bit more freedom. Another guard, who looked

about the same age as my 13-year-old little brother, said, “It’s okay, it keeps us employed.”

Rachel came out of the room a minute or so later and we walked back to the car, but first we

stopped at our locker to get our sunglasses and the other items we’d deposited before going

through security. So many thoughts were swirling in my brain, but among them was, “What

does going back to a cell look like for Richard?

Richard: Afterwards, normally I would get strip-searched. That’s where they strip

you all the way down until you’re naked, then they have you drop, squat, and

cough just in case you’re hiding anything up inside of your private areas and get

a good look at you to make sure you don’t have anything. Sometimes, it’s up to

the officer’s discretion as to who he’s going to strip search, but normally coming

out of any type of visit.

As we walked back to the car - the wind was so strong I couldn’t hear what Rachel was saying

just a few steps in front of me. I looked at the mountain behind the prison and thought about

how different my view was than Richard’s.

Richard: I actually face the same highway that you drove into the institution on. I

like to watch the cars go by. I think it’s better than facing the institution where

all I’m doing is seeing more institution.

I would end up making another trip to the prison some time later, but it was a much different

experience because I was no longer a Social Worker helping with legal research. I was a

podcaster advocating for justice.

Recording: You have 60 seconds remaining.

Richard: Brooke, we have 60 seconds before we’re going to get cut off. Is it okay

if I call you back next Sunday night?

What happened to Aja Nicolas? Next week on Convicted.

You can see pictures, download the transcripts, and view other evidence documents at

Convictedpod.com. If you like what you hear please give us a rating and review on your podcast

app. Convicted is hosted and produced by me and the music and scoring is done by the

immensely talented Blake Maples. You can see and hear more of his work at blakemaples.com.

Special thanks to TJ Counihan from the Pints and Puzzles podcast for his help with this episode.

Be sure to subscribe so you are the first to hear the next episode of Convicted.