How Lorinda Swain Kept Prison From Defeating Her

She thought it would resolve itself eventually. How couldn't it, she thought? There's no way an innocent person could remain imprisoned.

Lorinda Swain - accused, tried and convicted of molesting her then-6-year-old son Ronnie - was headed off to jail. Even then, perhaps naively, Swain tells WBCK she thought the whole case would fall apart, since she was innocent.

Even after Ronnie recanted his story, Lorinda remained in jail. For 8 years. It took that long for an appeals process to get started - and another 7 years for the case to be resolved.

It was - when the Michigan Supreme Court finally ruled that based on the results of a new investigation from the Michigan Innocence Clinic at the U of M Law School - and Ronnie's recantation and subsequent passing of a polygraph - she was due a new trial. The Calhoun County Prosecutor declined to pursue it, rendering her a free woman.

In part one of our two-part interview, hear what Lorinda had to say about surviving prison, getting her story in the media and, subsequently, to the Michigan Innocence Clinic. Click the player below.

Hear The Richard Piet Show weekday mornings from 5:30-9 on WBCK.