She Spent 36 Years in Prison for a Crime She Didnt Commit

This is the story of Judy Henderson, a woman who spent 36 years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit. After escaping an abusive marriage, she met a man who seemed kind and caring, but who later involved her in a crime. Despite the hardships she faced, Judy managed to turn her life around and now shares her story to help others. She also wrote a book about her experiences.
In the book “When the Light Finds Us, From a Life Sentence to a Life Transformed,” the author shares her experience of being manipulated by her boyfriend into a situation that led to a murder. She was convinced to meet with a man who was later killed by her boyfriend, who was hiding in the backseat of her car. After the murder, they fled to Alaska where they got involved in drug dealing and faced a threat from a hitman. The author attempted suicide, faced abuse from her boyfriend, and eventually realized the extent of his criminal activities.
A woman was saved from being killed by a hitman because her mother had previously helped him and his family. The hitman and the woman decided to target the man who had ordered the hit, leading to their arrest in Alaska. They were represented by the same lawyer, which was a mistake as it prevented her from testifying against him. Despite being a minor participant, she was convicted of capital murder while the hitman was acquitted.
Judy Henderson, a woman who spent 36 years in prison, shares her experiences of surviving in a maximum security prison. She talks about how she had to defend herself against other inmates, even becoming a fitness trainer to stay strong. Despite the harsh environment, she managed to earn respect from others, even being called “the governor”. She also found faith during her time in prison, which she believes helped her survive and eventually get released.
The text is about a woman who, while serving time in prison, decided to make the most of her situation. She gained various skills and qualifications, including becoming a dog trainer, personal fitness trainer, paralegal, and hairdresser. She also started a program called Wave Women Against Violence and helped other inmates improve their lives. Despite facing many challenges, she remained dedicated to helping others and eventually won her freedom.
The text is about a woman named Judy who was wrongfully imprisoned for many years. She fought for her freedom and eventually received a pardon. Despite her struggles, she chose to use her anger to better herself and now works at Catholic Charities, helping others who have been released from prison. She believes that her faith in God helped her through her ordeal.
The speaker expresses anger and empathy towards a woman who suffered abuse from men in her life, including her father, husband, and a pastor. Despite being manipulated into a crime and serving 36 years in prison, she turned her life around, found faith, and is now an inspiration. The speaker encourages others to learn from her story, avoid abusive situations, and find hope in the promise of a better life beyond earthly suffering.

He still never showed any signs of any aggression. He said, this guy seems to like you. He wants you to go out to lunch. He calls you all the time at your business. I think he would meet you. I refused to pull down the road where he asked me to go. He said, judy, you can’t do that. I said, I’m not going to do this. He, you know, because that’s when he handed me a gun around the seat of the car. I freaked out, not knowing what he was handing me around the seat because he was hiding in the back floorboard of my car.

Things just spiraled out of control. It seemed like to me it was just like a movie in slow motion. The other gentleman involved in the crime sent a hitman to kill us. I was looking for ways to get out of that room, and he assured me there was no way out. Somebody was out by my car, and he already had the gun with the silencer on it sitting on the table and told us exactly how he was supposed to do it. And that’s whenever he said, are you so and so’s daughter? Because the reason he wasn’t going to harm me is because my mother helped him and his children and his family whenever they first came to town, when they had no food and no clothing.

Everyone, welcome to another sit down with Michael Francis. Hope everybody is doing well. All is very good, very blessed on this end. As always, my friends, all the praise, honor and glory and Thanksgiving goes to our God. For that. I got a fascinating guest today. Incredible story. This woman, Judy Henderson. Wait till you hear this. But before I do that, really quickly. Michaelfrancies.com family Many people are joining our platform, and I’m getting a lot of questions as to how can I get involved. Very simple. You want more of me. You want zoom calls, you want personal resources that I’ve put in there.

You want Q&As, you want mentorship. This is the place to go. We’re growing in leaps and bounds. People are really getting involved in this community. They are loving it and they’re really benefiting by it. Michaelfrancis.com family personal one on ones you got the whole bit. If you join this platform, you’re going to love it. My guest, Judy Henderson. You know, it’s a fascinating. It’s a sad story, but it’s fascinating. This woman did 36 years in prison for a crime that she didn’t commit. And the transition in her life is just unbelievable, you know, And I have to tell you this, ladies, if you’re listening and guys you too.

I think one of the most cowardice things that any man could do is be physically abusive to a woman. I hear it and it just, it’s such a cowardice thing. It’s horrible. And I don’t understand and I guess I do a little bit why some women put up with it. And I’m telling you right now, I heard it. You know, it’s psychological. You think the person will change. You don’t want to destroy your relationship. There is no circumstance where a woman should get physically abused by a man. And I’m telling you, whatever it takes to get out of a relationship like that, you have to do this kind of relationship.

Ruined this woman’s life for 36 years of her life. And you just can’t allow things like this to happen. I’m going to let her tell her story, but it’s really fascinating and I give her a lot of credit. The way this thing ended, what she had to go through, the cowardly guys that she got involved with. You know, for the life of me, I just don’t understand it. I really, I have empathy for the women that get involved in something, something like this. But this in the end of a tough, tough, tough journey turned out to be a, a good story.

And she’s going to tell you about it. And look, without any further delay, let me get to it. My special guest, Judy Henderson, she wrote a book that you need to read. I really mean it. It’s fascinating. She’s going to tell something about it now, but the book is fascinating. My special guest, Judy Henderson. Yes. So I met my co defendant after I divorced an abusive husband that I was married to for 12 years. We had two children. And I’m going to give you and the audience kind of a time frame of how quickly this transpired.

So I divorced my ex husband in June. I ended up in the psychiatric ward in September and October. I was released in October. He would not leave me alone. He kept coming back to the house and tearing up my clothes when I would be at work and tearing up my shoes. And it was just a lot of emotional stuff going on. And so I got out of the psychiatric ward when my doctor told me that I should move down to where my family was, which was down in the Springfield area, which Judy, if I may, was this both psychological and physical abuse? Oh, yeah.

Yes, yes, yes, Michael, it was. And we had two children. I had a daughter. Well, we had a daughter that was 12 and 13. Well, she just turned 13 when I was taken away and incarcerated. But so I Ended up down with my family and I was doing very well. I ended up purchasing a business in February and I met my co defendant in April through some mutual friends that I had. And he ended up moving. We started dating and we ended up, he was in the middle of a divorce and I by that time had my own home.

Excuse me. And we, I had brought my son home from nursery school one day after, after I closed the shop and I walked in my door and there were suitcases sitting in the foyer. And so I said, whose suitcases are these? And he walks around the corner and he said they’re mine. He said, I just felt like, you know, it was time that I moved in and took care of you and the kids and, and I mean we got. I never would have thought in a million years that he had this other side to him because he was very charismatic.

He was so suave and debonair and he had, he wore three piece suit. He was a real estate broker. He had been even been in the ministry at one time. Wow. Yeah. And I even my mother and my stepfather just thought, he’s the one, you know, he treats you so well. He was never abusive, never raised his voice. He was always so calm and never jealous, you know, because I’m a very, I’m a friendly person, I love people so I smile a lot or I’ll say hi to somebody and not knowing who they are, just hi, you know, how’s your day? And so he never was jealous about that.

Whereas my ex husband, if I smiled at anybody, you know, it was a beating whenever I got home. So I was able to be who I felt God created me to be. Just somebody that loved people, would help people as my mother did. And so I felt very comfortable with my co defendant. And Judy, let me ask you this because I had a nice wonderful lady on a few weeks back, similar situation with respect to her relationship with her husband. It was an abusive relationship and she stayed with him for quite some time. And I always, I asked her, I was always curious, why do you, why do you stay with somebody like that? And I’m sure you’ve been asked that before.

I have. What was the reason, why would you stay? Oh, okay, let me explain. I was the oldest of eight children. My mother was abused by my father. And it’s crazy. It’s like learned behavior. It’s like Pavlo’s dogs. You know, you’re in a situation for so long and it becomes your way of thinking. Your, your wiring in your brain starts changing and you become what they want you to become. And I was great, Michael in business. I could drive in business, like my mother did. However, whenever it came to relationships, which I later found out through my years of therapy, is there’s all kinds of addictions.

There’s drug addiction, alcohol, other addictions, sex addiction, addictions. My addiction was love. And I did not even know that. I didn’t realize that there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to be loved and cared for and taken care of. And as a little girl, I dreamt of this beautiful home with a white picket fence around it. You know, children. And so that’s what I was searching for. And whenever my codefendant came along, I thought that’s what I had. I really did. Because he was smart, he was intelligent, he had, it seemed like a good work ethic. And then there was this dark side of him that just came out of, like, who is this person? You know, he started talking to me about, you know, I would.

I want you to. To do something for me. It’s. Nobody’s going to get hurt. And so in the book when the Light Finds Us, From a Life Sentence to a Life Transformed, I talk in more detail about how the murder and everything transpired. But he wanted me to, because this gentleman was dating one of my girlfriends, and he would take her to Vegas. And you know, this gentleman that was a victim, he was married, but he had a mistress, which was my friend. And he would call me, wanting me to come to Kansas City. And I tell him, no, I can’t do that.

And he would call, and my co defendant would be right there, either at my salon or our home, My home. And my co defendant never got jealous. You know, he never showed any signs of not trusting me. And so which to me, that was just another sign showing that, hey, he really trusts me. This is great. You know, I feel like we have a different kind of relationship than what I had with my husband, ex husband. And so I didn’t feel on edge. I felt comfortable. And so I never thought anything about him trying to manipulate me or anything like that until one day.

I mean, hindsight, of course. You know, we look back and now we can see the signs, right? But my aunt, we were down at her house for the 4th of July. The murder happened July 14th, 13th. I can’t even remember now. Oh, my gosh. Anyways, I think that’s a good thing, you know? Yeah, put it behind me. Yes. Yeah. So she and I were in her pool, and she said, judy, why is he reading a book on Manipulation. And I said, well, I think he, he reads those because he is a real estate broker and sells million dollar properties.

So I’m thinking, you know, he has to know how to talk to them, how to maneuver. And so I didn’t think a thing about it. But now I look back and I see, well, you know, I was pretty conditioned and I was easily swayed and. But I’m not, you know, I also want to take responsibility for my decisions. Michael. I don’t want to say that I shouldn’t have known better. I should have known better, you know, and I’ve, I’ve. I’ve taken responsibility for what, the parts that I played in this. And so he just told me he wanted to speak to the gentleman and nobody would get hurt.

He needed to talk to him. He needed $10,000 for his divorce. And then we could get married and have that beautiful loving family and beautiful home, like, like I wanted. And so he still never showed any signs of any aggression or any. Did he ask you for $10,000? No, no, he said that he would be able to get it. And he said, but I need you to, you know, this guy seems to, you know, like you. He wants you to go out to lunch. He calls you all the time at your business. So I think he would meet you if you would ask him to meet you someplace.

And I said, I. I don’t see any reason for all that. And he said, judy, nothing, no, nobody’s going to get hurt. And I couldn’t understand why he couldn’t just do it himself. But I was already conditioned anyways never to ask questions, because whenever I was married, if I asked too many questions, I got beat. So it was none of my business, so I didn’t ask any questions. And I should have asked a lot of questions, but I did not. And so then the murder happened, and he took me to Alaska. And there was a lot of things that went on up there.

He started dealing in drugs, kilos of cocaine. And, And Judy, just for, just for context, so people understand because I, you know, they need to know a little bit of something. This. You actually just drove him to a place? Yes. And then he went out of the car. You waited in the car and that’s when the murder occurred? No, I got out of the car, but I didn’t. Yes. I did not know that he was making sure that everybody saw me and nobody saw him. He was hiding in the backseat of my car. Oh, wow. Right.

Yeah. So he made sure that everybody. Because I had a brand new silver Thunderbird with my turn license plates. You know, I got those because after my divorce, I felt like it was my turn to live. I finally had freedom, and I wanted my children and I to be happy. So I thought, okay, I can afford a Thunderbird. Let’s get it. Well, and my term license plates, that’s very noticeable. And then a blonde driving it, you know, that even stood out more. So everybody saw me, but nobody saw him. But he even went to the extent of paying witnesses to testify that he had an alibi.

He was the Sheraton. And I came in, the bartender said that I came in with blood all over my dress because I was wounded at the scene. And if I could ask, how did you get wounded, though? Shoot. Yeah. The bullet that he fired grazed me as it hit the victim. Got it. Yeah. And then. Then we ended up in Alaska. Of course, there’s places in the book where you’ll read as you. Whenever you get it and you see where there are certain things that he did during that process to prepare us to where we wouldn’t like burning our clothes different.

Such as that. But whenever we got to Alaska, he started dealing in kilos of cocaine and. I mean, kilos. Yeah. Of cocaine and Quaaludes. And he had a friend that lived up there, so that’s why we went. And a hitman was sent to kill us. And so we were kind of hiding out up there. Was this in. How did he explain himself after this? I mean, what did he say? How did he explain himself after this incident? Because obviously you didn’t know anything about it. You didn’t know why he was going there. You certainly didn’t know that this was going to happen, that he had this in mind.

Did he explain to you anything afterwards? You mean, how did he explain why we were going to Alaska? No. Explain why this incident even occurred. Did he. Did he apologize afterwards? Did he say, I didn’t expect this to happen? What did he say? No, he didn’t apologize. He knew it was going to happen. Happened the whole time. It was planned the whole time. But I would not be involved in something I do not believe ever in my life would I have been involved if I had known somebody was going to get hurt. But he had another friend of his that was also, you know, part of the scheme.

And they made me believe that they just wanted to talk to him and get money that was owed to them. So, well, I thought, well, there’s no harm in that, of course. And I don’t know why he won’t meet with you that you know, but, okay, you know, I will have him, you know, take him out and meet with you. And so whenever that happened, you’ll see in the book how he passed a gun to me while I was in the car driving. And I freaked out, not knowing what he was handing me around the seat because he was hiding in the back floorboard of my car.

And then things just. I don’t know, they just spiraled out of control. It seemed like to me, it was just like a movie in slow motion. I’d never been around anything such as that. My family had never been involved in the. The system, with the police, anything, or any kind of cr. But we ended up, like I said, in Alaska. And then I attempted suicide there. And he. That’s when he started becoming abusive. And I saw this other side of him. And we went to Alaska because the other gentleman involved in the crime sent a hitman to kill us.

And why was that? Was he upset because we knew too much? He was afraid that we would be arrested, we would say something, and. And was the motive to rob this fellow that ended up getting killed? They were going to rob him. That’s what it ended up being. Yes, that’s exactly what it ended up being. So I had. I really didn’t think I would ever come back alive because I saw a side of him where he was capable. Capable of this. And if somebody was going to try to kill us because we knew too much and they had been involved in other criminal activities, I found out during this period when this hitman came to the hotel to kill us.

And there’s a miracle right there in that scene that I cannot wait for the readers to read because I should be dead twice by now. I was going to say, how did you escape that if he was there? Right. Well, thanks to my mother, that unbeknownst to me or her, years before that, this gentleman that was sent to kill us, she drove a Cadillac, but she would always go to railroad tracks. She would go under the bridge and help the homeless and the children and the families that had nothing. And she would take him food and clothing.

And it just so happened that years before this murder happened, she had helped this gentleman and his family. Wow. And he had seen my picture in her shop, and he asked me if so. And so was my mother. And I said yes. And he said, well, today you’re not going to die. And I said, why? And he said, well, I was freaking out anyways. You know, I was looking for ways to get out of that room. And he assured me there was no way out. Somebody was out by my car. And he already had the gun with the silencer on it sitting on the table and told us exactly how he was supposed to do it.

And that’s whenever he said, are you so and so’s daughter? And he said, because the reason he wasn’t going to harm me is because my mother helped him and his children and his family whenever they first came to town when they had no food and no clothing. Wow. And I know, I know. I could not believe the whole. I mean, that was a God thing. That was definitely a God thing, Michael. And so we did end up. What they decided to do was they wanted to go back and kill the gentleman that sent the hitman to kill us.

They both agreed because they said, once you kill us, he’s going to send somebody to kill you because you know too much. Right. And that was kind of the way that this gentleman, he was a bonds. He was a bondsman, owned his own bonding company. And I’m understanding that’s how he. What he did with people that knew too much. I’ll put it like that. So we did end up in Alaska, and that’s where we were arrested. And we came back and that’s when we got the same attorney representing both of us on a capital murder case.

Well, who, who ultimately were the witnesses that, you know, had you both at the scene? How did that come about? Nobody saw us at the scene. My turn, license plate, somebody drove by because I refused to pull down the road where he asked me to go. And so I went past the road. He said, judy, you can’t do that. I said, I’m not going to do this, you know, because that’s when he handed me a gun around the seat of the car. And so I pulled off the road and into like an intersection on the pat road past where I was supposed to turn, and another car saw my car.

And he saw the victim’s car because the victim’s car was following me. And so that was one witness that saw my silver bird, silver Thunderbird with my turn license plates and with a, with a yellow Mustang following me. So that was one scene. And. But nobody saw him. Nobody saw him. And so that was one of the things that was against me. But like I said, we ended up getting arrested, came back, and we both had the same attorney representing both of us because he wanted to be setting in on all of our meetings. He wanted to know what the strategy was going to be.

I can tell you right now what, I can tell you right now. That was a big mistake. Yeah. Having the same attorney represent you both, you’re telling me because of that he knew I could not testify against him because the attorney said, there’s no way you can testify against my client, you know, because anything you say is going to hurt him. You can’t tell the truth, so you need to come up with an alibi witness or an alibi, you know, where you were. And he said, I want you to say, because I wanted to take the stand.

And he said, judy, you can’t take the stand and tell the truth. You’re going to hurt my other co defendant. Your co defendant, which is my other client. And so, I mean, all that didn’t make sense to me. You know, I didn’t do it, so why can’t I take the stand? I. None of that made. I didn’t get it because I hadn’t been in the system, but I became a certified paralegal. And I can quote the law and the statutes to you left and right now, but not then. But I would assume that that occurred while you were in prison becoming a paralegal.

Yeah. No. Yeah. Yep. I had to figure out how to get out of this because this was. There was no get. What was the major testimony at the trial that, you know, that convicted you? It was mitigating circumstances. You know, they did take me to get examined and saw a small scar on my stomach where the bullet had grazed me. They didn’t find any fragments, but they said, yes, it looks like there was an entrance and exit wound, but it was not penetrating deep enough. What did they claim the motive was for you to commit? Well, they said it was a robbery turn murder.

But then the judge in the jury’s instructions even said she was a relatively minor participant. And I still have those jury instructions to that day where even the judge said I was a relatively minor participant. And why did he. Why did he sentence you so harshly? The jury decided that. Really? Oh, because it was a capital murder case. Yes. Wow. Yes. And then the jury goes out after they find you guilty and determines which sentence you should receive. And of course, they have all the way from capital murder down to manslaughter. So there’s first degree, second degree.

You know how it goes, Michael. And Yeah, yeah, you’re familiar with the system, so I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. And so he wanted me to say that I was out shopping with my mother. I said, I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to put my hand on The Bible. Because I did have a Christian background at one time, whenever I lived with my parents, and there was no way I was going to put my mother on the stand. We had a very loving, close family. I was the oldest of eight, and I was not going to.

I was very protective of my family, all my siblings. And even though my father beat me, I even took him in after my mother and him got a divorce, because he was my father. You know, even if he beat me, I still loved him and I still wanted to try to take care of him. So there was no way I was going to implicate my mother. I mean, would you implicate your mother? No, of course not. Of course, you know, I wouldn’t implicate my father. And my father was, you know, he was like me, you know, or I was like him, I should say.

And I would never put anyone in my family in trouble. Exactly, exactly. And I wasn’t going to either. So, of course, I couldn’t testify in my. In my defense. Right. So I had no defense. We put on character witnesses. And so whenever I. When the jury came in, unbeknownst to me, I did not even know that the jailer, until the jailer, the matron of the jail, told me, you do know Greg is seeing two other criminal attorneys on the side while he’s sitting in on these meetings with you. I said, no, I did not know that.

And so while. When I got convicted, he fired that attorney and he hired these other two attorneys that. Where he got acquitted. And I had never heard of anybody. Defendant addressing the jury. He got to address his own jury, which was, of course, of his peers, all female. And I’m telling you, Michael, he was. He can sway women. He had this thing about him that he could make them seem like I was the black widow in this, that I lured him out, I got him involved in this. Did he do that? Was that. Yes? Yes. Because I was going to testify after I went to prison, he put a contract out on me there.

So whenever I got to prison, somebody befriended me that I was in the county jail with, but she came after I came. And she was a career criminal. She had been in and out. She carried a shank. She was known for that. And so whenever she came after I was already sent to prison, he had already talked to her to get her to take a contract out on me. And I found out about it. And so that was. That’s a whole nother story. And you got. You ended up getting a harsher sentence than he did. Correct.

He Was acquitted. He was acquitted, yes. Wow. He never did a day of time for this murder, ever. Wow. Is he still around? Actually, that’s something we did not put in the book, but no, he is not. He passed away a year or two years ago in October of COVID Wow. What a bad guy, I have to say. Yeah. So he actually threw all of this on you? Yes. Made his own. His own closing arguments to the jury, blamed you. What a coward. What a coward. And he even his attorneys hired four offenders, didn’t hire them.

He paid. They paid them in commissary, promised time served to two of them, and then gave a big lump sum of money to two others, which these same girls ended up coming back to prison. And they told them whenever they were an R and O, which is receiving an orientation. Right. We don’t want general population because of this reason. And so they told one of the lieutenants, here’s what we did years ago to Judy Henderson, and we know she’s here, and she’s been here for a long time. And we don’t want GP we want. Well, General Pop.

We want in protective custody. And so he came to me, the lieutenant came to me, he said, judy, he said, I’ve got an offender that’s willing to give you an affidavit if you will sign an enemy waiver, that you will not cause her any harm while she’s on these grounds, while she’s in prison. I said, what are you talking about? And he told me what she told them. And I said, oh, my God. I had no idea Greg did that. What did Greg do exactly? Greg told him to do what? I want to be clear, he had his attorneys, before he went to trial, find four inmates that would testify against me or for him in case I decided to take the stand against him, that I told them that I set it up, I killed the victim, and he had nothing to do with it.

Wow. And so that’s what they. They went back to the jail, county jail. They were taken back for his trial. And they. Two of them gave me affidavits stating these facts. And so the lieutenant said, judy, we can get these statements for you, for your attorney. These will help your case. And he said, so we’re going to put both of you in a room. And he said, I swear to God, you better not climb over that table. Because by then, the lady that I was, I was still that same lady. And I tried to be. Conduct myself in there like a lady.

I still did my makeup, I still did my hair. I still Tried to, to act like, you know, a citizen in there. I didn’t try to break the rules. I had 23 violations in 36 years. And that was in my first two years of being there. I got those. So. But when push come to shove, whenever I found out she had that contract on me, then either I had to do something or she was going to do something. So I just had to take it under, you know, control it myself and decided to take her into the bathroom and had somebody hold, bust or pin, you know, we know what we’re talking about, but stand guard while I went in and did what had to be done.

But I’ll tell you, Michael, my ex husband that used to beat me, taught me how to fight because I remember what he would do when he got ready to hit me. And I did the same thing. And whenever she hit that floor, I did the same thing. He did me and kicked her until I flipped her over. And so, you know, I guess the beatings in a way saved my life, you know, when push came to shove. And so that actually helped me whenever I went to prison because then everybody, all the other offenders thought, oh God, you know, here’s what she will do.

As much as she smiles and you know, as nice as she and polite as she is, she has this other side to her. So that kind of established, established my ground. Were you in a maximum security prison? Oh, yeah, yeah. For the whole time? Yes, yes. Did you have any other, you know, and I ask you this because people are always fascinated with prison happenings and stories. I know I’ve had many of them myself. Were any other incidents like that that you had to deal with during your 36 years in prison? Yes, there was another incident where I was assaulted by another woman that was what we call a stead broad.

Somebody that is in prison that, you know, wants to be act like a man has a girlfriend and she thought, she was under the impression that I got her girlfriend moved off the wing that we were all on and we were all cool. You hung out together? We went to each other’s cells and stuff. And so she thought I got her girlfriend moved. Well, I was always a workout girl. I always played racquetball, handball. I became a fitness trainer and a personal trainer and got certified in it and did it for 20 years there while I was in prison.

And so I was walking up to do my morning walk and from behind she comes and just starts plowing into me from back. And so, you know, I had my hands full of my sweat bag and my My mug, you know, my water ready to work out that morning. And that I was assaulted pretty bad. And she had on. It was in the summertime, she had on hard boots. So she was bashing my face and everything in. And so there was almost a riot in the prison. And we talk about that in the book. We talk about how, you know, officers came to me and said, judy, you know, we’re about to have a riot here over this.

Because I was well established in the prison before I. Whenever I left the prison, I shook the warden’s hand and he said, I just want you to know one thing. I know they called you the governor in here. I said, hey, I don’t know who gave me that name, but I didn’t know it until one of the caseworkers told me. So I was well respected. I did a lot of good programs for a lot of the women with the children and families and trying to help them learn how to be mothers because I was a very devoted mother before I ever came to prison.

So, Michael, being away from my children, my daughter was 13, my son was 3. And that gave me the motivation to fight as hard as I could, fight to come home. And I realized whenever I got there, I was so angry. I was so angry that this could even happen. I was so angry at God that him and I had some serious heart to hearts. I mean, I held nothing back. And. Yeah, but, you know, eventually I got involved with a Christian retreat group for a three day retreat. And I found the love of God. I was able to feel him and know that he is the one that actually protected me all this time during this whole situation because there were so many times I could have been killed.

You know, I mean, there were so many different incidents that happened where I shouldn’t even been here today. Only by the grace of God am I sitting here today. Well, just so you know, Judy, we have that in common. It’s where I came to faith. I spent almost three years in solitary. I assume you spent solitary time also. Oh, yeah. Yes, I did. So I spent almost three years, 29 months and seven days to be exact. And I became a person of faith during that time. And I believe I wouldn’t be sitting here either if God didn’t have a different plan and a purpose for my life, made that crystal clear to me.

But you know, Judy, I have to say this. I am absolutely fascinated by this, having been through the system. And I will say this. I saw in the federal system, I saw so many guys come in on white collar crime and they were totally disorientated. They had never been in trouble before. It might have been a Wall street guy, some stock, something like that, you know, white collar. And they were absolutely lost. Lost. They. It was like you could see they had no sense of anything in there. And I gradually watched some of them change. You know, they started to get institutionalized and understood the prison deal and all of that.

And it was kind of fascinating to me because I, you know, I. I was on the street. I got it, I understood it. I visited my father, father for 25 years. I knew everything about it, went through all these trials. But it was fascinating to watch that, you know, that change in them. And I’m assuming as a woman who’ve never been in trouble before, you know, was basically hoodwinked into this deal, you know, to come in. And the transition that you had to go through, spending all that time in prison and adapting to the prison life had to be, oh, gosh, it just changes you in a way that you would have never imagined.

You know, people will say to you, how did you get through it? You know, and I always say they don’t give you a choice. They don’t say, you can stay here or go home. So you have to adapt. You have to. Yeah, either you do the time or the time does you. That’s what I found out, you know. Exactly. And so I decided if DOC wanted me, the Department of Corrections, and they were going to pay for me, and I was going to take everything they had to offer from them. And so I became a dog trainer.

I became a certified group and fit personal trainer, which I could. Yeah, I take my. I was able to take my license and certification to the street, became a paralegal with honors. I became a hairdresser. There wasn’t anything. And I only didn’t get a degree from college because they stopped letting lifers take college classes. Appel grants were taken from us. But I was so dedicated to helping these mothers that had been battered and abused. You know, I wanted to. With my fitness training, I wanted to clean them up. I wanted them to look in the mirror and love who they were, because I didn’t love who I was.

Whenever I was beaten down, you know, I thought I was the ugliest thing that God ever made. Why did you make me ugly? Why does people want to beat me? Why do they want to sexually assault me as a little girl? You know, why is all these bad things happening? Why do I have a assistant pastor that sexually molested me, taking me home from work? You know, why? Where was God when all this was going on in my life? I didn’t know what real love was until God came into my life and I became so dedicated to him that I wanted to just, I really wanted to help people.

I wanted to help these women love who they were. And let’s get them to working out, let’s get him to change their bodies, let’s get them to see how beautiful they really are on the outside and not want those drugs in their bodies after all the hard work I would put them through, you know, give me push ups in the sand, you know, let’s get this done. And they said, oh no, you’re like blood, sweat and tears here. But yeah, a lot of them became fitness trainers themselves and they had to learn how to, to communicate with their children.

That was a big thing because we were getting, I was seeing where there was a generational curse going on here, you know, in the families. And it would be one family member, then another family member, constantly revolving doors, going to prison. And so I got involved in programs that would help the whole family, not just the mom and the child, but it would be the aunts, the uncles, they would all come on visits and we would try to show them other ways of communicating with each other. So that became a very, very heartfelt program for me.

And then I started Wave Women Against Violence. And it became such a big program that even the governor’s office in Arizona, where they sent me for four years because they thought I was encourageable. Was that early on? Was that early on? It was. I was in prison for two years and then they sent me to Arizona because there was a, there was a property officer at the prison that you would have to do sexual favors for to get your, your own property. And the girls would come to me crying and hurt and in so much pain I said okay.

And so I had to do what needed to be done to get him out of this, sit out of that prison. And because I wasn’t the one, I was already full of anger and I had so many, you know, so much pain for all that had been all that occurred since I was a little girl that I thought there is not going to be another man sexually abused me ever again. And so I had to, I wrote grievances about him. I tried talking to administration about it and nobody would believe it. So I thought, okay, I got to figure out another way to do it.

And so I wore contacts. He had to give me my solutions because they didn’t sell them in the canteen, right? And so I went down. He called me down to. To get it from, because it was sent from the street. And there was a caseworker that came down. A function unit manager is above a caseworker. Right. Coming down the hall. And so I thought, oh, this is my chance. So it had to be somebody that wasn’t one of the good old boys, you know, that would cover things up for each other in the administration. So I knew he was one of those that were strictly by the rules.

I don’t care if you were staff or what you were. And so as he came by the open door, the property room officer asked me, well, what do I get for this? I said, well, what do you want? And so he grabbed me and he kissed me. And I saw that the function unit manager saw it. And so I went back up to my cell, and I knew it was a matter of just minutes before I’d be called down at the warden’s office. And sure enough, there I was. And so I walked in, and there was the investigator, there was the assistant warden, there was a warden, there was the gentleman that it happened to.

There was a function unit manager. And the warden said, judy, what just happened? And I said, I’m going to tell you what happened. And I just put it out there. And the property room officer, he jumped. I didn’t do that. I didn’t do that. I said, okay, I request a pse, which is a. Is a voice test. And I took it. I passed it. He refused to take it, so they gave him early retirement. Right. And of course, I went to solitaire, and that was fine. You know, it was worth it because he got out of there and the women were safe, and it was a done deal.

They sent me to Arizona for four years. Yeah. Yeah. They said, oh, no, we don’t want her here. We’re done with her. And so. But you know what, Michael? It was the best blessing they could have ever done for me because Arizona is a wealthy state. I was able to get a lot of good therapy. Children molested as adults, molested as children therapy. And I drive there. And God had so many blessings for me in that prison that I came back to Missouri, which Missouri did not want me at all. They told my attorney, they said, no, she’s not ever coming back here.

We don’t want her in this state. And. But I ended up going back. But I went from an honor camp to solitary confinement when I got in Missouri. How long they keep you in solitary? A few months, because there was a sergeant that came down that was on vacation when I got there. And they said, you know, she said, I’ve looked at her records and I don’t see why she’s in solitaire. Why is she. Why is. Why are you keeping her locked down? And they said, because she’s trouble. She’s a master manipulator. She gets people fired.

She gets staff fired. And so she, she, you know, went to the warden and said, hey, or went to the captain and said, I want her on my unit and she’ll be fine. So I got out of solitary confinement and I never went back again after that. That was a 1989. Wow. And we probably went into prison around the same time. What year did you go in? 83. Oh, okay. 82. I’m sorry. Oh, no, you beat me. I went in at 85. Well, close. Close, yeah. Yeah, real close. But I. Let me ask you this. Were you able to.

You still have the relationship with your children? They came and visited you? Oh, gosh, yes. My daughter came all the time. She. She went to college, graduated summa cum laude. She’s the executive director of Mother’s Refuge, which is a home for pregnant girls and their babies. So she’s thriving. My son, he didn’t come as often because my ex husband wouldn’t let him visit after he was five years old. So, yeah, we have a different kind of relationship, him and I do, but we’re getting there. We’re getting there, Michael. Glad to hear that. Yeah. My daughter and I, we are just like that, you know, and we have a great relationship.

And what were the circumstances of your release now? How did you. Well, I finally won my clemency going to the governor’s. I went to six. And finally my seventh governor. God’s number of completion. Yeah. Was the governor that came to the prison himself, which is the first time that’s been done in the history of Missouri. I don’t know if they’ve ever come to any other state either, if they would do that, but he came to the prison with his team and came in and said, judy, you’re going to be released on this day. And that’s a whole other scene.

So I’m not going to go into detail about it because I’ll just end up crying. So we’ll save that for the book. Let everybody read the book. That’s right. Yeah. But he gave me time served. He sincerely apologized for the state, you know, letting me sit there all those years when he said, you shouldn’t have been here. And even my prosecutor became my advocate. Really? Yes, he Ended up becoming a Chief justice. And he said, he told the governor, the only case that’s ever I’ve ever had nightmares about in all these years is her and Judy at the end.

Did they believe that you were set up on this? Yes, they did. They did. That’s the basis of which the governor decided to give you clemency? Yes. And then he gave me a pardon six months later. Wow, that’s huge. And then Social Security didn’t want to give me my Social Security, so I had to fight them. And I thought, oh, you boys just don’t know. But I am a fighter. I’ll get you on paper. If nothing else, you get your Social Security. Finally. I got it. Great. Well, I’m glad to hear that. Hey, you know what? I’m glad you got it, because we’re finding out people 150 years old are still getting it.

That’s what we’re hearing today. Oh, my gosh. I don’t know if you heard that. No, I did not. Seriously? Yeah. Elon Musk and the whole Doge thing they’re doing. They have people on the Social Security role that are over 150 years old that are getting Social Security checks. Oh, my gosh. Somebody’s getting them and cashing them, right? Yeah, somebody is. I hope they find out who that is. Well, they’re investigating. We’ll see what happens. But, oh, gosh, I have just so enjoyed sitting here and talking with you, Michael. I’m sorry I didn’t go into details about certain things.

I hope that was okay. Judy, you know what? It’s a. It’s a horrible story in some way. It’s fascinating in others. But I have to tell you, there’s something that you said. You know, when I’m listening to you, I always think back, why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God allow these things to happen? And we don’t have the answer. The only answer that I can, you know, based upon my knowledge and my love of the Lord and my biblical studies, is that for those of us that come to the Lord and repent and give our hearts to Jesus, we understand that God looks at us and says, listen, I know what you’re going through now, but what I have waiting for you is something in your imagination you can never, ever, ever dream of.

So I know you’re going through it, but it’s all going to be worth it in the end. And that may not be consolation to many, but it is to me. I get it. Because I have a relationship with the Lord, that’s the only way we can look at this. This, right. Because these horrible things that happen to you, and they are horrible. You know, Judy, I got to tell you, the most cowardice thing I could ever think of is a man being abusive to a woman. I just hate the thought of it. I’m going to be honest with you.

I’ve never said this once, but one time, one time, I was about 5 years old, and my mom and dad were arguing. They had a volatile relationship, and he hit her. And it stuck in my head. I couldn’t get over it. I ran and I grabbed my dad and I said, stop. And I was yelling at him. I never saw it happen again. But it made an impression on me. And I thought, wow, this is just the most horrible thing I witnessed up to that point in my life. And I just hate to hear it. And I just hope the women that are listening to you now, if they’re in that kind of a relationship, they’ll find the courage.

And I know it’s difficult because I’ve heard, you know, also this last woman that I spoke to recently, and I’ve heard it from others, it’s emotional, it’s psychological. It’s like you say, you want to be loved. I know he’ll stop. Maybe he’ll turn it around, you know, so many different things. But I really hope that women have whatever it takes to get away from a relationship like that. Really, I do, too. And, you know, I found out, Michael, there’s two things to do with your anger. You can either get bitter or you can get better. And I chose better because I was hurting no one but myself with my anger.

That anger did fuel me to become better. And the love for my children and my family is what gave me the courage to fight as hard as I did for 36 years to come home. And God had it the whole time. God had me the whole time. He had it. He. He said, look, I’m allowing you to go through this. I don’t like it. He didn’t cause it. You know, people understand that God doesn’t cause these things to happen in our life. He allows them. He allows them, right? But, you know, for those of us that realize it like you did and come to the Lord, you know, it turns out good in the end.

And we know what we have waiting for us when we leave this earth. So, yeah, that’s the compilation. And I found. I found my purpose. I was able to do that. So many people go into prison and they come out worse. I’ve Seen it so many times, Judy. You know what used to drive me crazy? I would be in. I used to watch guys go out on parole and come back five or six times, and I used to grab them and say, what is the matter with you? Yes. And they come back to prison. You’ve seen it like it’s all home week.

Like this is where their comfort zone is, you know, and it’s terrible. And me, I’m trying to. The parole board won’t even look at me, you know? Yeah. It’s like a joke. When I walk in, they laugh like, yeah, you’re going to make parole. But. But I only did. I only did a little over eight years. But, you know, and the thing about the pro board is the pro board three times told three different governors I should be released. And the governors that appointed these pro boards wouldn’t even listen to them because they cared more about their political career.

Exactly. Than they. Yeah. Than they did making a wrong a right. Easier to say no. Yeah, Easy to say no. They don’t have to worry about anything. You’re right. It’s all about their own careers. That’s. That’s a problem with the parole board. Right. You know, if they say yes, in their mind, they’re taking a slight risk. Yes. So if they say no, they got nothing to risk, you know. Right. It’s terrible. But that’s just. That’s the truth. That’s the way it is. But, Judy, fascinating story. What’s the name of the book and where is it available? Okay.

It’s available at all bookstores. I also have a website you can go to@judyan henderson.com and it’ll give you places where to go and to write a review, and I hope everybody does. It’s when the Light Finds Us. From a life sentence to a life transformed. And Michael, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me. No, well, thank you so much. And I’m telling you, I hope one day, you know, the people out here on the west coast come calling and they make this into a film. And people should really know. They should know this story.

I really mean that. It’s fascinating. I’m going to get the book and I’m going to read it. Yeah, maybe I can. I have some contacts out here. Maybe I can get somebody. That would be great. I’d love to come to California. Well, it’s great. You know, listen, I always say this. You know, if we ever get the politics and the economics straightened out in this crazy state, it’s. It’s a great Place to live. It really is. But. But, Judy, thank you so much. I really commend you for all the work that you’ve done, the way you’ve bettered yourself, and the way you face life.

It’s really commendable. And I hope that other women take notice and even guys should take notice of how you’re conducting yourself. Well, I work at Catholic Charities now, so I’m able to give back to a lot of people that make parole. They come in and they say, oh, my gosh, it’s Judy Henderson. And so it does my heart good to be able to help them get started. And, well, it’s wonderful. And it’s a wonderful story of transformation and just determination and fight and willpower and everything else. And, of course, God’s grace, so. Exactly. So thank you very much.

God bless you and, you know, I appreciate it. When this comes up, we’ll let you know. Great. And thank you. Thank you for having me. God bless you, too, Michael. Bye. Bye. Bye. Now, my friends, I don’t know about you, but after listening to this, I’m angry. So many emotions came out of me. You know, understanding what this woman went through. The cowardly guys that she got involved with. First, an abusive husband that beat her, you know, an abusive father, and then, as it came out, an associate pastor that, you know, that sexually abused her. I mean, what is it with these guys, really? Mobsters weren’t this bad.

What the hell kind of guys are out there that would do this to a woman? Cowards. Absolute cowards. It really angers me, and I hate hearing stuff like this. Here’s A woman did 36 years in prison, lured and manipulated by a cowardly guy who ended up putting all the blame on her and didn’t do one day for a murder. It was a murder that happened. And just. I hope you come away from this the way I do. You know, I. Look, look, I commend her for the way it turned out. I have empathy, and I don’t want to use the word pity.

It’s. It’s demeaning in a way, but I really have empathy for, you know, her situation that caused her to get involved in this in the first place. How was she manipulated by men? You know, because of her upbringing. Her dad was abusive. She even took him in afterwards. You know, fascinating. You know, it just tells you what this woman was really all about. And the fact that. The fact that she was angry with God, brought up in a Christian home, angry with God and had a right to be what she went through, you Know, you go through all these emotions.

I was angry with God at some point. You know, probably I was unjustified with being angry. I caused stuff for myself. But this woman, you know, what she got involved in, you know, but then turned her life around and realized the love of God and, and then gave him the credit for it. And people, you know, I, like some of you, are going to say, come on, Michael, you know, look, God allows us to go through these things. I said it, you know, in the interview with her, because he knows what he has waiting for us.

Something beyond anything we could ever imagine. For all of eternity in heaven, for those of us that confess our sins, repent our sins to God, not to man, to God. And then, of course, accept Jesus as our Savior. All of heaven awaits us. And. And we get it. And that’s why we have this pain on earth, you know, sin on earth. We go through this stuff because that’s just the way it is. You know, there’s evil in the world, but there’s a better place, far better place waiting for all of us. And she’s recognized that and turned her life around.

And it’s really commendable. But let’s read the book. This should be a movie. Honestly, it should be. You know, people should be inspired by her story. They should be frightened by her story, but also inspired. Inspired by it, but we’ll see what happens. You know, I commend her for what she’s been through and. And the way it turned out, and, you know, support her. Read the book. I think you’ll. You’ll. You’ll really enjoy it, and I think it’ll move you in. In many different ways. My friends, that’s. That’s it for today. I’m telling you. I hear this, and it.

It impacts me. It really does. And I’ve heard everything in my life, believe me, just about everything you can imagine. But stories like this, I mean, they get to you. They really do. But how do I always leave you? Same way, my friends. Be safe. And ladies, please, please don’t. Don’t let anybody take advantage of you like that. No matter what situation, what your circumstances are, learn from a story like this. You don’t have to endure the abuse. Be safe, be healthy. And God bless each and every one of you, your families, and yes, God bless America.

I’ll see you next time. Sa.
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