Blind Plea - BONUS: Deven’s Arrest

Episode Date: May 20, 2023

When Deven arrived at the police station for an interrogation, she’d already endured a night of unimaginable abuse, pain and sleep deprivation. Still, she chose to cooperate with detectives. In this bonus episode, Deven waives her Miranda rights and shares unheard details of the events leading up to John’s death.  For more bonus content like this, subscribe to Lemonada’s Apple premium channel. Resources: If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, use a safe computer and contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at www.thehotline.org or call 1-800-799-7233. You can also search for a local domestic violence shelter at www.domesticshelters.org/. If you have experienced sexual assault and need support, visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) at www.rainn.org or call 1-800-656-HOPE Have questions about consent? Take a look at this guide from RAINN at www.rainn.org/articles/what-is-consent  Learn more about criminalized survival at https://survivedandpunished.org/  This series is created with Evoke Media, a woman-founded company devoted to harnessing the power of storytelling to drive social change. This series is presented by Marguerite Casey Foundation. MCF supports leaders who work to shift the balance of power in their communities toward working people and families, and who have the vision and capacity for building a truly representative economy. Learn more at caseygrants.org or visit on social media @caseygrants. Follow host Liz Flock on Twitter @lizflock. For more stories of women and self-defense, check out her book “The Furies” from Harper Books, available for pre-order now. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-furies-elizabeth-flock Interested in bonus content and behind the scenes material? Subscribe to Lemonada Premium right now in the Apple Podcasts app by clicking on our podcast logo and the "subscribe” button. Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, I'm Julia Louis-Dreyfus and guess what? I've got a podcast. It's called Wiser than Me and each week I get schooled on life by women who are older and yes, Wiser than Me. Older women are this country's biggest untapped natural resource and I want to hear from them. I want to know what they've learned by living 70 or 80 or 85 years. Jane Fonda, Darling Love, Isabella Ande,

and many more. Subscribe and get wise. Wise it in me. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Elise Myers. I'm a content creator and comedian. You might know me from TikTok. Why am I in your ears right now?

Well, that's a great question. I would love to tell you. I have a new podcast called Funny Cause It's True. On my show, I'll be interviewing comedians, pop culture icons, and also just people I find really funny. We'll be talking about the awkward moments that keep you awake at night. Because if you don't laugh, you cry, right? Okay, funny cause it's true. Out now, wherever you get your podcasts.

Lemonada. Hi, I'm Stephanie Widdles-Wax, an executive producer on the show. And I'm here to share some bonus content with you. Since the launch of the series this week, we have received an outpouring of support and a demand for more content. So today, we're sharing an excerpt from Devon's Detective Interview following the shooting on December 12, 2017. Our next full episode in this series will be up on all platforms on Wednesday, May 24.

You can find more bonus content like this on our Apple podcasts, Lemonada Premium Channel. And a heads up, this tape includes violent content and a description of scenes of domestic abuse. You're Devin Gray? Is that right? What's your full name, Devin? I'm Devin Gray. Devin Gray. Okay.

That's DEV. V-E-M. Yeah. That's DEV yet? Yes. What's your IDY? DREY. And how far did you go in school? First, all the way to high school in a year of college. Okay. Any degrees or anything like that? Okay. What did you go to college for?

Communication. Do you do anything like that? What'd you go to college for? Communication. You do anything with that? No. I know these are some silly questions, but they make us ask them. No one that you got a year of college, I understand you can probably read right and understand English. Okay, especially in communications. Okay. Now David, I'm going to read some things to you. I don't want this to alarm you. This is just formality.

These are things I go over with everybody that I talk to in this room. So don't let this alarm you, but you do need to understand what your rights are. So I'm going to, have you ever been read your rights before? Nothing to scare you, anything like that. You? Okay, it's nothing to scare you anything like that. You've probably heard it on TV, stuff like that. But basically, before asking the questions, you must be notified you do have the following constitutional rights. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say Kim, and will be used against you

in court. You do have the right to have legal counsel before you say or do anything. If you do not have the proper funds to hire an attorney, one can be appointed to you at no cost. Now, if you choose to make a statement and answer questions, without an attorney being present, you can stop answering questions at any time. Now, those are your rights. You understand those? Okay. You have any questions for those? Okay. Now, there's a second part of this, and it's called the waiver. Now, the waiver just says that I've read the above rights, or I've had them read to me, I understand each of these rights. Having these rights in mind, I wish to give up these rights and make a statement, and

or answer questions voluntarily, without an attorney being present. It says that I do this voluntarily, and on my own free will, no one has threatened me, or made any promises to me, nor coerced me in any way to make me speak for the written statement. Now, would you say that to accurate? Okay. You have any questions about that? No, sir. Would you mind just signing that saying that you understand?

Uh-huh. Now, David, I understand you probably understand what you're here for, right? Can you tell me what happened tonight? Um, yeah, basically, there was alcohol involved and my place in that very drunk and he lost him his place his phone. And for some reason, when he woke up after, he got extremely blood joint with me and we just started fighting and going out of back and forth. And then he proceeded to like putting hands on me and throw me around and stuff like that. And then he pistol-widthed me and the back of my head and stuff.

And when I got a chance, I took the gun and I shot it. And if I was with my wife. OK, here. And I had my daughter with me at the time. So I was worried about her too. OK. And I mean, it's not the first time he's at me, but I don't know something just inside me changed.

You know, like I've had enough. And I thought he was going to kill me because he wouldn't stop. And he just kept coming after me. And I just took the opportunity to defend myself. Like normally he calms down where I can tell him to stop and he was like, he was really bad and even when I ran to our daughter's room, he like busted open the door to hit me some more. And then when he finally like got off of me to lay down and he threatened to kill me

like I just, something inside of me just was like I like I have to protect myself because I was really scared and I never call the cops on him. I never go to the hospital for all of the lumps and bumps and bruises but just something inside me was different. So what happened this time? It made a difference. He just would stop and I just saw that look in his eye. It was like death, like deadly. And he never shoots in the house like that. You really just sat there and just like shot in the house. I'm just going to, and if a stray bullet, cut it out, or it could have hit

me. He's never done that to me before. I don't know, it was just different. He's hit me with the gun before, but he's never actually pointed it at me or tried to scare me with it like that, like actually aiming and firing. So he tried to, like the last, I believe it was two or three times when he shot in the house and the second or the third time, it was so close to my head. I had ringing in my ears because that's how close he tried to scare me or chew at me. And it was just different. I really felt like he was going to kill me the next time he got up. So I just did it. So from the time that he woke up and you all started arguing, you say just about an hour

went by? Yeah, it felt like an hour. I mean, I was drinking so my time probably isn't very accurate, but it felt like an hour to me. Okay, where was your daughter during this time? She was in her room. She, like, stays in the front of the trailer. We gave her that old room.

Him and I sleep in the living room where you pull out the mattress, and you pull out the bed, couch, whatever. He was shooting in the bathroom area, but still a bullet's a bullet. I was really afraid. Like, he scared me before, but it was just different with the gun and shooting it and basically aiming it at me. And I don't know, just, it was just definitely different. It was, so at what point did your daughter wake up? I had to wake her up when I called 911 because the operator was like, we'll get your daughter

and go meet the cops. I wrapped up in a blanket. My whole girl wrapped up in a blanket and I just walked down to the gate. I saw the blue lights flashing and I just went down there. Okay. Did you make any of the phone calls prior to making a 911 call? Mm-mm. Okay. Um.

I did call his mother and I tried to call his father, but he didn't answer. But I just called his mother like when I was in the car, like in the cop car. Okay, but that was after you got there. Yeah, that was after. Okay. Did you call anybody else? No. Just the mother and the father.

Yeah. Okay. Did anybody try to call you? Yeah. Okay. Now, we do believe that story. I mean, that's not that we don't. Would you mind if I tried to verify that by searching your phone?

Yeah, I don't care. With you guys somewhere. Okay. I'm sorry if my story's all over the place. No, no, no, no. Now, like I said, you've been through a lot tonight. I completely understand that. And that's unexpected, OK?

I'm just trying to narrow down a timeline as to what happened. And just trying to figure out truly what happened, you know. You can listen to Blind Plea, Add Free, and Amazon Music. There's more Blind Plei Bonus content with Lemonada Premium, like a police interview with Henry Vance following the shooting. Subscribe now and Apple podcasts. Join me, V-Sphere, your podcasting bestie on V-Interesting from Lemonada Media. We'll tackle today's chaotic world with optimism as we go beyond the headlines. From politics to human rights to business and tech,

we'll break down what you need to know to become the most interesting person in any room. Like I say on the show, let's be smart together. Listen to V-Interesting every Friday on Amazon Music, Apple, Spotify smart together. Listen to be interesting every Friday on Amazon Music, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Andy Slavin, host of In The Bubble from Lemon Out of Media. In The Bubble is the go-to place

to learn more about the most important news events on your mind and with a bunch of awards to prove it. We take the time that's needed to go beyond the headlines with A-List guests from my bubble, from Tina Fey to Tony Fauci, from the next vaccine to the next election issue, to an occasional dad joke. It's actual facts from actual experts.

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