Sharing Gina Dobson’s incredibly heroic study of surviving domestic abuse, wrongful
imprisonment for a miscarriage ( deemed murder) and overcoming it to become
an advocate for others.

 

2024 Women of Impact Awards

Gina Dobson was honored at the 2024 Focus on Women Magazine Women of
Impact Gala. During the event, she delivered an inspirational speech recounting
her wrongful arrest for murder, stemming from a false report made by her abuser.

Her story highlights the resilience needed to overcome such injustices and
serves as a call to action, offering hope and empowerment to others facing
similar challenges.

From Medium:
 

I Was Arrested for Murder After a Miscarriage

My ex-boyfriend sought revenge using a baby that was never born

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In May 1998, a SWAT team surrounded my safe house. While my one-year-old son slept inside, unaware, I was yanked out the door, handcuffed against the back of a patrol car, and taken away in my nightgown.

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I was stripped naked, searched over, and locked in an isolation cell — without explanation.

When detectives finally talked to me, I figured everything would be straightened out. I answered all their questions. I was compliant and agreeable. I even smiled through the indignities to show my harmlessness — all the things I was taught to do when confronted by authority.

I still did not know why I was arrested.

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The detective, however, said I knew exactly what I did. The smile that hid my fear, he said, was proof of my lack of remorse — my guilt.

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That’s when I realized that I was accused of murder.

Not just any murder, but the most heinous: the murder of my own child.

It was the miscarriage I had five years earlier in my college apartment. As a nice Irish Catholic girl, I was ashamed and afraid to tell my family or anyone else about it. We never had discussions about such unpleasant things.

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Full Article

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Like Diamonds and Herpes, Felonies are Forever

My plea bargain took more than my civil rights

 

When the state of Illinois offered me a plea bargain that would brand me a felon forever, I accepted. Why would anyone say they were guilty of something they hadn’t done?

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The murder charge that followed my miscarriage had drained me of my money and my faith in the system. Accepting the plea bargain was the only way to guarantee that I would be free to care for my child who was waiting for me.

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Jail cells and courtrooms had already stripped me of my liberty and my dignity. So, when my civil rights were also ripped away, I barely felt the additional sting.

It was when I tried to return to work that I realized I had also surrendered my human value.

The company that had promised to hold my job while I sorted out my legal misunderstanding (a pledge I had delivered to my probation officer as proof of my merit), now said, as a felon, I was no longer welcome—wrongful conviction or not.

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Full Article