Tell Me Your Story | EP 4 | Season 2

Summary

Burden of Guilt — Season 2, Episode 4: “Tell Me Your Story”

Published March 4, 2026 | Host: Nancy Glass

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Episode Overview

In this emotional and candid episode, host Nancy Glass traces Bobby Gumpright’s tumultuous journey from addiction and self-destruction to the courageous act of facing the consequences of his devastating lie. Twenty-one years after Bobby falsely testified against Jermaine Hudson—sending an innocent man to Angola Prison for a crime that never happened—Bobby confronts his own guilt, addiction, and the near-impossible process of making amends. Through Bobby's firsthand story, we see how the truth eventually surfaces, what drives a person to come clean, and the real-life obstacles to justice and redemption.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Roots of a Devastating Lie

• Recap of the Crime (02:36):
  • In 2000, Bobby Gumpright falsely testified about an armed robbery to cover up his drug addiction and the missing money from his bartending job.
  • Bobby convinced himself he was helping police by giving them a suspect and was insulated from guilt by his addiction.
  • Quote: “Addiction and deception fed each other in a continuous loop. The lies kept the addiction alive, and the addiction kept him insulated from consequences.” — Nancy Glass (02:36)

2. A Life on the Run

• Leaving New Orleans (04:17):
  • After the trial, Bobby’s father moved to D.C. and insisted Bobby come along for a fresh start.
  • He quickly found work as a DJ in D.C., but it provided more cover for continued alcohol and drug use.
• Escalation in Alaska (05:56):
  • After marrying, Bobby moved to Alaska and fell deeper into addiction—heroin, cocaine, and crack.
  • Quote: “Crack comes into it, like just a little bit of everything.” — Bobby Gumpright (05:56)
  • He admits his first marriage was motivated by wanting someone to take care of him, not love.

3. Consequences of Addiction

• Life as an Addict (07:00):
  • Bobby consistently found jobs through charm and connections, e.g., tugboat work on the Potomac, but always sought out fellow drug users.
  • He openly admits to manipulating both employers and dealers: “I would get a guy into confidence…I’d get a big amount from him, and I’d say, ‘Oh, I gotcha,’ and I’d leave.” — Bobby Gumpright (08:08)
• Violence and Near-Death (09:06):
  • After failing to pay a drug debt, Bobby was attacked—stabbed in the neck on a tugboat, nearly dying.
  • Quote: “He took the beer bottle and he smashed it over the back of my head and he stabbed me four times in the neck with it…He was about half an inch away from my carotid.” — Bobby Gumpright (09:06 and 10:36)

4. Breaking Point with Family

• Parents Discover His Addiction (11:16, 12:20):
  • A heroin overdose and days of severe withdrawal forced Bobby’s father to bring him to the ER, where a nurse revealed the truth.
  • Memorable moment: "'Well, maybe it has something to do with the track marks on his arm.' And my dad's like, 'What are you talking about?'" — Nurse and Bobby recount, (02:09 and 12:20).

5. Path Toward Sobriety and Amends

• First Steps to Recovery (17:27):
  • Bobby enters treatment and finds temporary sobriety (“clean for about eight months”), but recognizes true recovery means confronting his past, specifically Jermaine’s imprisonment.
  • Quote: “When you're in AA, you start hearing about dealing with the wreckage of your past. And then Jermaine came into my mind again…that’s the one thing in my past that I just can't ever shake.” — Bobby Gumpright (18:42)
• False Starts at Making Amends (19:54):
  • He seeks help from a lawyer ($5,000 retainer), unsuccessfully confides in his stepmother, and continues a cycle of addiction and failed attempts to put things right.

6. Spiritual Awakening and Chance Encounters

• Spiritual Crisis and “The Sign” (22:55, 24:52):
  • Living homeless and high in Eunice, LA, Bobby has a profound spiritual experience, feeling called to face his truth.
  • The “sign”: Seeing a church with Pastor Jermaine Tezeno’s name—mirroring his victim’s name—compels Bobby to enter and confess.
  • Quote: “I just felt like it was God talking to me. So I ran across the street and ran up to the door.” — Bobby Gumpright (25:13)
  • “Like in the Bible, the prodigal son…all of a sudden, I just came to myself.” — Bobby, describing his awakening (24:52)

7. First Confession: True Light Baptist Church (26:03)

• Interaction with the Pastor:
  • Pastor Tezeno recounts his surprise and his cautious, yet compassionate, response.
  • “You are [a] Caucasian in a majority African American church. Like, what's your intentions?” — Pastor Jermaine Tezeno (26:37)
  • The congregation feeds him and offers a hotel room. Bobby, however, leaves to go to New Orleans the next day, feeling a sense of urgency.

8. Facing the Justice System (29:23, 34:06)

• Approaching the DA:
  • Bobby tries to confess at the New Orleans courthouse but is turned away, told he needs a lawyer.
  • Quote: “I said, ‘I committed perjury and I’d like to talk to somebody about it.’” — Bobby Gumpright (34:06)
  • Nancy observes: “They didn't have a procedure for this kind of situation. Recanting false testimony was going to be far more difficult than giving it.” — Nancy Glass (34:20)
• Living Transiently and Waiting for Change:
  • Bobby lives in shelters; Jermaine is offered a plea deal (“[admit] to a crime we all know he didn’t commit”) just to get out of prison.

9. A New Path: True Confession and Systemic Reform (36:19)

• Residential Rehab and Finally Being Heard:
  • Bobby is connected to a Christian rehab, where he confesses everything to director Jeremy Smith.
  • “As soon as he said [‘tell me your story’], I just said…I told him everything.” — Bobby Gumpright (36:19)
  • Jeremy Smith verifies Bobby's story via court records: “All I could think [was], what do I do with this?...I'd never dealt with anything like that.” — Jeremy Smith (37:08)
• Connecting With the System (39:15):
  • Jeremy contacts his mother, who knows a law ethics professor linked to the District Attorney’s office; they reach Emily Maw, director of the new civil rights division, who astonishingly has Jermaine’s case file on her desk.
  • “This is so crazy. His case file is on my desk right now.” — Emily Maw, quoted by Jeremy Smith (40:00)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Addiction’s Power:
  “Even a near death experience wouldn't scare Bobby straight or motivate him to seek help.” — Nancy Glass (10:46)

• First Admission to Family:
  “So right then and there, I had to admit to him that I was using heroin. And I remember just his whole body just slumped.” — Bobby Gumpright (17:27)

• AA’s Role in Facing the Past:
  “That’s the one thing in my past that I just can’t ever shake.” — Bobby Gumpright (18:42)

• On Trying to Come Clean:
  “Maybe she didn’t believe him or didn’t understand. But for Bobby, it felt like nobody wanted to touch this or even hear about what he had done.” — Nancy Glass (20:41)

• Spiritual Experience:
  “All I heard was, ‘Son, why are you so angry?’ …I said, ‘Twenty years ago, I told a lie that sent a man to prison for life. I don't know what to do.’” — Bobby Gumpright (23:03–23:29)

• The Pastor’s Reaction:
  “I just wanted to hear him. … Typical things that happen to black men. It happens.” — Pastor Jermaine Tezeno (27:09)

• The System’s Inadequacy:
  “Recanting false testimony was going to be far more difficult than giving it.” — Nancy Glass (34:20)

• Final Act of Truth:
  “So I told him everything. His unsettling teenage years, the lie Bobby drummed up, committing perjury… it all spilled out. In that quiet room, Bobby felt incredible relief that someone was interested in the truth.” — Nancy Glass (36:36)

• The Convergence of Fate:
  “She [Emily Maw] proceeded to say, ‘This is so crazy. His case file is on my desk right now.’” — Jeremy Smith (40:00)

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Important Timestamps

| Time | Segment/Event | |----------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | 02:36 | Nancy Glass recaps Bobby’s original lie/testimony | | 04:17 | Bobby leaves New Orleans, DJ job in DC begins | | 05:56 | Addiction escalates in Alaska | | 09:06 | Drug debt attack: stabbed on tugboat | | 12:20 | Family discovers addiction via ER nurse | | 17:27 | Bobby confesses truth to father after years of hiding | | 18:42 | AA and the concept of “dealing with the wreckage” | | 19:54 | Attempts at amends—lawyer, family | | 22:55 | Spiritual experience in Eunice, “the sign” | | 25:13 | Entering church, Pastor Tezeno’s reaction | | 29:23 | Tries to confess to DA; is turned away | | 34:06 | DA’s office rejects him; the system’s flaws | | 36:19 | Bobby confesses at rehab; Jeremy Smith investigates | | 39:15 | Connection to law professor, then to Emily Maw | | 40:00 | Emily Maw already has Jermaine’s case file on her desk |

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Tone and Feel

• The episode is raw, honest, and reflective, with Bobby’s voice alternating between self-recrimination, vulnerability, and relief.
• Nancy Glass provides context and emotional framing, highlighting both the flaws of the justice system and the immense difficulty of making amends for past wrongs.
• Spiritual themes of redemption and fate are woven throughout.

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Summary Takeaways

• Justice and redemption are messy, nonlinear, and often obstructed by systemic inertia.
• Personal transformation and accountability require not only courage but also the right moment and the right listeners.
• Even the most tragic stories can pivot on small, seemingly providential events—a church sign, a chance meeting, a case file on the right desk.

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Episode ends with the looming promise of further action and the hope that Bobby’s confession could finally lead to Jermaine’s freedom after two decades behind bars.

Transcript

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[Bobby Gumpright]

we go into the emergency room and the lady starts asking what's going on? And my dad's like, yeah, we just don't know what's going on. And she goes, well, maybe it has something to do with the track marks on his arm. And my dad's like, what are you talking about?

[Nancy Glass]

I'm Nancy Glass. This is season two of Burden of Guilt, episode four. Tell me youe Story. In March of 2000, Bobby Gumpright falsely testified that Jermaine Hudson robbed him at gunpoint. And as you heard in the last episode, the crime never happened. Bobby was desperate to hide his drug addiction from his parents, so he used the armed robbery story to explain the reason he had no money from his bartending job. For Bobby, addiction and deception fed each other in a continuous loop. The lies kept the addiction alive, and the addiction kept him insulated from consequences. Back in 2000, Bobby convinced himself he was helping police out by testifying against Jermaine. At trial, they described Jermaine as a dangerous career criminal. But as Bobby got older, the full weight of what he had masterminded became impossible to live with. It would be a long, winding route to get the truth out there. Bobby spent years trying to outrun himself, reinventing his life, starting over again and again, all while Jermaine was stuck in Angola prison with no hope of ever living as a free man. Soon after Jermaine's conviction, Bobby made his first move away from the city he associated with his shame, New Orleans.

[Bobby Gumpright]

My dad had just gotten orders to D.C. and he didn't think I should stay in New Orleans. I wasn't anywhere in a position to support myself. So he said, why don't you go with us? Just go to D.C. and figure it out.

[Nancy Glass]

Just a few weeks before the move to DC, he met a group of guys in their 20s vacationing in New Orleans. And that chance encounter turned into a valuable connection.

[Bobby Gumpright]

They were DJs for this company in DC and I was like, I'm about to move to DC. And they said, hey, got a good personality. You ever thought about being a dj? And I was like, no, but that sounds awesome. I had a job before I even got there.

[Nancy Glass]

So Bobby started working as a mobile DJ for bars, weddings, and private parties. Those occasions provided a place where he could get away with continuing to drink and use drugs. He was 20 years old. He had a job, a cover for his behavior, and pretty soon he met a woman at one of his wedding

[Bobby Gumpright]

gigs, started dating, and then we ended up getting married. She was in the Air Force, and maybe a year later she got orders to Alaska. And we ended up going to Alaska.

[Nancy Glass]

It might have been a chance for a fresh start and stability, but Bobby kept chasing the high get to Alaska

[Bobby Gumpright]

and immediately get a job at a bar and hook into the people there. And that's where I started doing heroin, still doing cocaine. Crack comes into it, like just a little bit of everything.

[Nancy Glass]

When Bobby reflects on that marriage now he admits he was in it for one reason.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I was still so selfish. I was just looking for somebody to take care of me.

[Nancy Glass]

Bobby was really good at hiding his addiction. At first, his new wife didn't know he had a problem, but she caught on.

[Bobby Gumpright]

It came to a point where I had to admit it.

[Nancy Glass]

The marriage limped along for nearly a decade before collapsing for good, and eventually the couple divorced. In 2010, Bobby moved back to Washington, D.C. bouncing between friends, couches, and DJ gigs while he looked for something more lucrative to do.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I met a guy at one of my DJ gigs, and he worked for a tugboat company. And so because I was in the Coast Guard, he was like, oh, you could probably get on with our tugboat company. I said, well, that'd be good money. So he got me a job with this company, and we were doing dredge work on the Potomac river, but I was still working with drug addicts. We had connected through drugs, so I continued smoking crack with him once I got the job.

[Nancy Glass]

Even when he was high, Bobby had a way of winning people over. He was personable and funny. He still had his charisma. Plenty of people were charmed by him. But not everyone fell for the facade. When our team contacted one of Bobby's former employers, the bitterness was unmistakable. He described Bobby as a con artist and a liar. Bobby doesn't push back on that characterization. He admits to ripping people off, even his drug dealers.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I would get a guy into confidence I'd be working a job, I'd buy a bunch of drugs, and I'd always pay and always have money. And then finally, I would get to the point where I'd be like, hey, man, just float me. Just float me for a week. And then he'd float me, and I'd pay him, and we'd kind of build a relationship. And then I'd get a big amount from him, and I'd say, oh, I gotcha, and I'd leave.

[Nancy Glass]

But when he worked on the tugboat, he didn't leave fast enough. Here's what happened. Bobby bought a $40 bag of weed. He couldn't pay at the time, but he had built rapport with the dealer and asked to be floated for a few days. The dealer agreed. Even after the dealer gave him more time, Bobby still didn't come up with the money. The dealer was no longer interested in any excuses.

[Bobby Gumpright]

Him and his nephew came on board the boat one night. I was sleeping and smacked me on the leg and woke me up and where's my money? And I says, I Don't have your money. And he says, well, you're supposed to pay me. And I says, I know, but I'll pay you. But I just, I don't have it right now. And at this point, I had sat up and I'm talking to him and I didn't even see that he had a bottle in his right hand. He took the beer bottle and he smashed it over the back of my head and he stabbed me four times in the neck with it. So I'm just sitting there and I'm bleeding. You better have my money is what he said. And his nephew lifts up his shirt and he had a gun underneath his belt.

[Nancy Glass]

Bobby was afraid to get off the boat after seeing the gun. So instead, covered in blood and badly injured, Bobby snuck away and boarded a smaller tugboat to get help. A good Samaritan saw Bobby bleeding and on the verge of passing out and called 911.

[Bobby Gumpright]

Took me to the hospital and went into the ER and all I remember is being on a table where they were pulling the glass out. And I had like six or seven doctors around me.

[Nancy Glass]

Those doctors told him how close he had come to dying.

[Bobby Gumpright]

He was about half an inch away from my carotid.

[Nancy Glass]

It's a shocking example of how much power Bobby's addiction had over him, because even a near death experience wouldn't scare Bobby straight or motivate him to seek help. After the attack on the boat, he moved back in with his parents. They were still completely in the dark about his addiction, but they were about to find out.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I was doing heroin at the time. And I remember one day I was in there and I shot up. I think it was one of the times when I overdosed. And I just remember coming to hours later, needle still hanging in my arm, and I'm sitting there going, man, if my dad had walked in the room,

[Nancy Glass]

you know, Bobby was out of money and out of drugs. He spiraled into withdrawal.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I got real sick because heroin withdrawals can be real bad. So I just laid in bed, and for three days I just laid there sweating, puking.

[Nancy Glass]

Bobby's dad was in denial about what was going on with his son until it finally hit a breaking point.

[Bobby Gumpright]

My dad kept coming up, you know, what's going on? I'm like, oh, I'm just sick. I got the flu or whatever, you know. And three days later, he looks at me and goes, this is something worse than the flu.

[Nancy Glass]

Captain Gumpright took action.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I went and got him and made him get up and took him to the hospital emergency room. We go into the emergency room, and the lady starts asking, what's going on? And my dad's like, yeah, we just don't know what's going on. And she goes, well, maybe it has something to do with the track marks on his arm. And my dad's like, what are you talking about?

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[Nancy Glass]

for more than a decade, Bobby had managed to keep his addiction a secret from his parents. But when he ran out of money and drugs, his withdrawal symptoms prompted his father to rush him to an emergency room. An observant nurse figured it out immediately.

[Bobby Gumpright]

She goes, well, maybe it has something to do with the track marks on his arm. And my dad's like, what are you talking about? So right then and there, I had to admit to him that I was using heroin. And I remember just his whole body just slumped. I don't think he knew how to react. He immediately went into fix it mode. What can we do? What do we do here? What's the next thing to do to fix this? I had a nurse come in and she said, I was your nurse when you were a baby in this hospital. And she said, I just hate to see you like this. Do you want help? Do you want to live different? And I was like, yeah, I do.

[Nancy Glass]

With the nurse's guidance, Bobby found a recovery program in Massachusetts.

[Bobby Gumpright]

After that, I think I was clean for about eight months.

[Nancy Glass]

He attended AA meetings and learned that recovery requires making amends. His sobriety would be inseparable from freeing Jermaine from his wrongful imprisonment.

[Bobby Gumpright]

When you're in aa, you start hearing about dealing with the wreckage of your past. And then Jermaine came into my mind again. And I thought, with getting my life back on track, I gotta do something about my past. And that's the one thing in my past that I just can't ever shake.

[Nancy Glass]

Every so often, Bobby checked Louisiana's online inmate listings to see if Jermaine was still in prison.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I was like, well, I wonder if he's still there. Maybe he got out. You know, maybe they let him out.

[Nancy Glass]

Call it lying to himself, call it wishful thinking. But the truth was, every time he checked, Jermaine was still at Angola. All because of his lie. Bobby became fixated on coming clean, telling the truth. He sought guidance from two people he trusted in aa. Both encouraged him to stay quiet, let sleeping dogs lie. But given how central amends are to recovery, we were surprised to hear that Bobby contacted a local attorney. This was another attempt to come clean.

[Bobby Gumpright]

He said, I think I can help you. It'll just be $5,000 for a retainer. $5,000 might have well been a million dollars to me.

[Nancy Glass]

Maybe telling a family member would be different. One day, when he was talking with his stepmother, Sharon, there was an opening.

[Bobby Gumpright]

One night, we got into a conversation. She asked me some questions about, well, what else have you lied about? I started to just be brutally honest, and I told her. I don't think she grasped what I said. All I know is, oh, Bobby. That's all I heard and then wasn't talked about after that.

[Nancy Glass]

Maybe she didn't believe him or didn't understand. But for Bobby. It felt like nobody wanted to touch this or even hear about what he had done.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I just kept moving, you know, and I kept relapsing after that. I was drinking a bottle of Fireball a day and taking 150 to 200 milligrams of oxycodone A day.

[Nancy Glass]

After each relapse, he'd get back up and generate new momentum. Bobby always managed to find another opportunity.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I'm a really good interviewer. I would do everything I could to get the job, but then I'd stop showing up or start slacking whatever.

[Nancy Glass]

In 2019, Bobby found a job he really liked.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I'd gotten a job with UPS as a driver. I enjoyed it. That was always a good job and made good money.

[Nancy Glass]

But once again, he was using during the workday, and people started to notice I was drinking.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I was smoking crack in the back of the truck, like it was just out of control. Finally, one day, I think I went in and they were. They were like, hey, manager wants to see you. And I went in there, and he was like, bro, everybody can tell we got to take you in for a drug screen. So he took me over, did the drug screen, and as soon as they got the results, they said, you're fired.

[Nancy Glass]

By 2020, the last threads holding him near his family had unraveled. With no job and no relationship, he knew it was the right time to put all his effort into Jermaine's release. No one else was going to do it for him.

[Bobby Gumpright]

All of a sudden, I just knew I had to go to New Orleans.

[Nancy Glass]

He headed to Louisiana, but his desire to come clean couldn't compete with his addiction. He didn't make it all the way to New Orleans. Instead, he found refuge in a drug house a few hours away.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I'd been living at this house in Eunice for four or five months at that point, just doing methamphetamine out of my mind. And one night, I just. I had a spiritual experience. It's hard to describe, but I remember looking in the mirror and just asking to die. I just wanted to die. All I could think about was Tremaine, and I just wanted to die. Just please kill me. I didn't believe in God at the time, so I didn't know who I was talking to, but I just knew I wanted to die. And I just heard a voice. Clear, audible. People can think that it was the drugs all they want, but I know what I experienced. All I heard was, son, why are you so angry? I said, 20 years ago, I. I Told a lie that sent a man to prison for life. I don't know what to do. In the Bible, it says the prodigal son when he's living in the pig pen, that he comes to himself. And that's what happened. It's. It's like all of a sudden, I just came to myself, like what I was always meant to be and understand about myself. The next day, I walked into town and it was a Sunday. And across the street was Greater True Life Baptist Church. And on the sign was the pastor's name, and his name was Jermaine Tezeno.

[Nancy Glass]

To anyone else, the sign looked like an old church marquee with a letterboard beneath it. But to Bobby, it was something else entirely. Pastor Germain Germaine. The pastor had the same name as the man whose life he destroyed.

[Bobby Gumpright]

And I just felt like it was God talking to me. So I ran across the street and I ran up to the door.

[Nancy Glass]

For Bobby, this wasn't just a sign. It was the sign that after 21 years, he was being led to finally coming clean.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I hadn't had a shower in a while. I was disheveled, stunk. You know, I just slept in an abandoned house the night before, so I wasn't much to look at. And I just went over and asked if I could come in. And they let me come in and let me sit down and just listen to the service. And I didn't hear a word that they said the whole service. I just sat there and cried, and I didn't know what I was doing or why I was there.

[Nancy Glass]

Pastor Jermaine Tezeno eyed him warily from the pulpit.

[Jeremy Smith]

I notice somebody in the congregation sitting, and in my mind I'm thinking, okay, who invited you?

[Nancy Glass]

You may remember this story from our first episode when we told you about Bobby walking into True Light Baptist Church. What Bobby didn't know then was that his race and his disheveled appearance put the congregation on edge.

[Jeremy Smith]

You are Caucasian in a majority African American church. Like, what's your intentions?

[Bobby Gumpright]

At the end of the service, the pastor and another man came over and asked me if they could talk to me in the back.

[Nancy Glass]

Even though the pastor had reservations, he invited Bobby into his office to talk. And that's where Bobby told the pastor what he had done to Jermaine and how it had destroyed him inside.

[Jeremy Smith]

I couldn't really tell him anything. I just. I really didn't respond too much because I was shocked. I just wanted to hear him, you know? So I listened to him and I said to myself, typical things that happen to black men? From Immense. You know, it happens.

[Nancy Glass]

Pastor Tesano was disturbed, but at the same time, he realized Bobby was homeless and struggling. So the pastor and a church minister took Bobby for a hot meal and paid for a night at the Day's Inn. Bobby could have a night of rest, and the pastor would have some time to think about what to do next. Did it occur to you what a generous thing this was? Here comes this guy who's crying and smells terrible and looks a little scary, and they believe you and they take care of you.

[Bobby Gumpright]

Yeah. It didn't make much sense to me. I had never been treated like that by strangers before, so it was very strange. And especially because, you know, I was a white guy and I didn't see why they were being so nice. He even told me, he said, call me the next day. You know, call. Call me in the morning, and I'm gonna have you come over the church. And I don't. I don't know what he planned on doing from there, but I got up in the morning and I started hitchhiking to New Orleans.

[Nancy Glass]

So you knew he was planning on seeing you the next day. Why did you just leave?

[Bobby Gumpright]

I needed to get to New Orleans and deal with it. I got four rides. All of them had bibles on their dash. God leads us to do things like that. The last car that picked me up dropped me right in front of the courthouse. I walked into the courthouse and I said, who would deal with old cases? And they said, oh, you'd go to the DA's office for that?

[Nancy Glass]

So Bobby walked over to the DA's office again. He asked to speak to someone in charge of old cases.

[Bobby Gumpright]

This guy comes down and he opens the door and says, can I help you? I said, I was involved in a case 20 years ago and committed perjury, and I'd like to talk to somebody about it.

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[Narrator/Host]

Imagine that this podcast is sponsored by Nurture Life. Hey, it's Danielle Fishel from Pod Meats World. And as a mom to two growing boys, I know how chaotic mealtime can get. No matter how confident I am with what I'm serving them, my kids will always find a way to call meal gross or stinky or yuck. It's true, they can be wildly picky about new foods, and with my busy schedule, I don't have the time to become America's next Top Chef. And so that's why I love Nurture Life. It's a meal delivery service that actually caters to kids. Ideal for ages 8 months to 8 years, fully cooked and ready to serve in just one minute. It's the problem solver I've been praying for. It's the top meal delivery service for babies, toddlers and kids. And everything is designed by registered dietitians so you can sleep safe knowing your kids are getting the protein, veggies and nutrients they need while still eating favorites like Mac and cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, and so much more. Plus, it's allergy friendly, which we know is clutch. And when it comes to options, Nurture Life has you covered. There's more than 50 nutritious meals and snacks on their menu, from soft finger foods for babies and toddlers to balanced kids meals for when they get Nurture Life does the cooking, they deliver it straight to your door, and then you might even have time to eat something for yourself. So now is the time to head to nurturelife.com pod and use code pod for 50% off your first order plus free shipping. That's right, 50% off plus free shipping. Once again, that's nurturelife.com pod and make sure you use promo code pod. Even if you aren't a parent with young kids, you might have parent friends who struggle with mealtime. Make sure to share our Code Pod with them. Remember, put your little ones first with healthy meals from Nurture Life. That website one more time is nurturelife.com

[Commercial Voice 1]

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[Narrator/Host]

This message comes from Greenlight. Ready to start talking to your kids about financial literacy? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app that teaches kids and teens how to earn, save, spend wisely and invest with your guardrails in place with Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up Chores Automate allowance, and keep an eye on what your kids are spending with real time notifications. Join millions of parents and kids building healthy financial habits together on Greenlight. Get started risk [e-mail] iheart

[Nancy Glass]

Bobby Gumpright was more determined than ever to tell the truth about what happened in 1999. Asking for help at the courthouse, he was directed to the district attorney's office. Once an employee came to speak with him, Bobby came right out with it.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I said, I committed perjury and I'd like to talk to somebody about it.

[Nancy Glass]

He was immediately shown the door.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I can't talk to you about that. You need to get yourself a lawyer, okay? Shuts the door and goes back upstairs.

[Nancy Glass]

You see, they didn't have a procedure for this kind of situation. Clearly, recanting false testimony was going to be far more difficult than giving it. He was frustrated, dejected. For a while he stayed in New Orleans, living a transient life, sometimes in different homeless shelters. Bobby was back on the street, but Jermaine hadn't gone anywhere. For the first time in 21 years, Germaine had reason for hope. You see, New Orleans elected a new district attorney, Jason Williams, on a campaign rooted in criminal justice reform. This opened up an opportunity he hadn't had before.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I was actually going to plead guilty to that crime.

[Nancy Glass]

Because the laws hadn't changed, Jermaine had a deal on the table. He would finally get out of Angola, and all he had to do was was something he said he would never do, admit to a crime we all know he didn't commit. Jermaine had always maintained his innocence. He never wanted that felony conviction on his record. But after 21 years in prison, he just didn't care anymore.

[Jeremy Smith]

I just want to get out of here.

[Bobby Gumpright]

That was my ticket to get home, to go live life.

[Nancy Glass]

Earlier, Bobby explained how God spoke to him while he was living in Eunice. Even on the streets of New Orleans, he still felt that presence and renewed sense of purpose. And it was there where he met a stranger who shared his faith. After a conversation, the stranger offered to connect Bobby to a residential cross Christian rehab called a place of restoration. Bobby accepted the help. He went that same day and met the director, Jeremy Smith.

[Bobby Gumpright]

So got to the program and sat down in a room with the director. His first question was, so tell me your story. And as soon as he said that, I just said, you want to know my story? I'll tell you my story. So I told him everything.

[Nancy Glass]

His unsettling teenage years, the lie Bobby drummed up at 18, committing perjury. The chaos and drugs he drowned himself in to numb his pain, the guilt of sending an innocent man to prison for 99 years. It all spilled out. In that quiet room. Bobby felt incredible relief that finally someone was interested in the truth. Here's Jeremy Smith.

[Jeremy Smith]

He finished the rest of his story, and all I heard was alarm bells. I don't know that I heard anything that happened in his life. From 19 years old to 40. Whenever he finished, all I could think is, what do I do with this? He could barely complete his sentences. He was crying, and it was like there was a real, like, grieving happening right in front of me. But I'm kind of skeptical by nature, so, you know, I always feel like I have to check everything out. So when he finished telling me his story as quickly as I could, I said, okay, finish filling out your paperwork. I got some stuff to go do in my office. And I just went as fast as I could to my office, and I googled, and immediately I found court documents of the State of Louisiana vs. Jermaine Hudson. And I started reading, and his name was in it. And the ages checked out and the years checked out, and his story checked out. And then I thought, wow, I'd never dealt with anything like that.

[Nancy Glass]

Jeremy knew he had to do something.

[Jeremy Smith]

So I went back to him and I said, look, I should be honest. I went and checked out what you told me, and I don't think we can just leave a man sitting in prison, you know? And he said, I don't want to. I have to get this off my chest.

[Nancy Glass]

Years earlier, Bobby feared the consequences if he came forward to recant his testimony from 2000. But now he didn't care. He was just relieved. Jeremy Smith realized he needed to talk with the District Attorney's office in York, New New Orleans.

[Jeremy Smith]

So at that point, I did what any responsible man would do, and I called my mom and I said, mom, this is what happened. What do I do?

[Nancy Glass]

Calling his mom was a smart decision. It turned out that Jeremy's mother had a friend who was a law professor of ethics at Tulane University Law School. What are the odds of that?

[Jeremy Smith]

And then she says, you need to call Emily Ma, who's with the New Orleans District Attorney's office now.

[Nancy Glass]

Bobby was sitting across Jeremy Smith's desk, telling the truth about what had happened. And in the meantime, Emily Ma had been installed as the director of a newly created civil rights division at the District Attorney's office. Emily's office was reviewing cases, contacting victims, and trying to negotiate post conviction relief, which meant letting people out of prison. They were up to their eyeballs digging into over 1000 cases that could qualify. Cases where inmates were convicted by non unanimous juries or given excessive sentences.

[Jeremy Smith]

So I called the District Attorney's office and I asked for Emily Maul. And whoever answered the phone said she was busy. Can I take a message? She'll call you back. And I said, can I just tell you in 10 seconds why I'm calling? And so as fast as I could, I explained the purpose for my call. And his tone changed and the sense of urgency changed. And he said, hold on one second. And in less than a second, she was on the phone. She proceeded to say, this is so crazy. His case file is on my desk right now.

[Nancy Glass]

Coming up on Burden of Guilt.

[Bobby Gumpright]

I just told him that I was going to tell the truth. And you might see my picture on the front page of the New York Times as this horrible monster. And I'm sorry for embarrassing you, but I gotta do this. He just told me, love me. I just do what I had to do.

[Nancy Glass]

Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying Burden of Guilt, subscribe, rate and review the series with five stars. Yay. It helps other people find our show. Check out our Instagram account at Glass Podcast, where we recap each episode with show notes that include people, places, and court records. You can reach out to the Burden of guilt [e-mail] that's burdenofgiltpodmail.com Burden of guilt is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with Iheartra Podcasts. The series is executive produced and hosted by me, Nancy Glass. This episode was written and produced by Carrie Hartman, also produced by Ben Federman and Andrea Gunning. Our story editor is Monique Laborde. Our Associate producer is Jade Abdul Malik. Our Production manager is Kristin Melchuri. Our iHeart team is ally Perry and Jessica Krynczyk. Thank you to our voice actor, Rob Stoller. Audio editing by Zac Puteau Scoring and sound design by Matt Del Vecchio Mixed and mastered by Anna Maclean. The Burden of Guilt theme is composed by Oliver Baines Music Library provided by mib Music. And we want to give our special thanks to Jermaine Hudson and Bobby Gumpright. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app or Apple Podcasts. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea, after the Big Game, like most people, I kept thinking about the commercials, and

[Narrator/Host]

there was one that stayed with me. It was from the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate. And it wasn't loud or flashy. It showed a Jewish kid being targeted

[Nancy Glass]

at school and another student who chose

[Narrator/Host]

not to ignore it. As someone who was Jewish, that moment

[Nancy Glass]

felt very real to me.

[Narrator/Host]

Not dramatic, just familiar. And what struck me was how clearly it showed that hate doesn't always announce itself, but the impact is still huge. If you saw the Blue Square spot during the Big Game, it's worth thinking about.

[Nancy Glass]

And if you want to show support, sharing the Blue Square is one small way to do that.

[Narrator/Host]

This podcast is sponsored by Nurture Life. Hey, it's Danielle Fishel from Pod Meets World. And as a mom to two growing boys, I know how chaotic mealtime can get. No matter how confident I am with what I'm serving them, my kids will always find a way to call the meal gross or stinky or yuck. It's true. They can be wildly picky about new foods, and with my busy schedule, I don't have the time to become America's Next Top Chef. And so that's why I love Nurture Life. It's a meal delivery service that actually caters to kids. Ideal for ages 8 months to 8 years, fully cooked and ready to serve in just one minute. It's the problem solver I've been praying for. It's the top meal delivery service for babies, toddlers and kids. And everything is designed by registered dietitians so you can sleep safe knowing your kids are getting the protein, veggies and nutrients they need while still eating favorites like Mac and cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, and so much more. Plus, it's allergy friendly, which we know is clutch and when it comes to options, Nurture Life has you covered. There's more than 50 nutritious meals and snacks on their menu. From soft finger foods for babies and toddlers to balanced kids meals for when they get older. Nurture Life does the cooking. They deliver it straight to your door. And then you might even have time to eat something for yourself. So now is the time to head to nurturelife.com pod and use code pod for 50% off your first order plus free shipping. That's right, 50% off plus free shipping. Once again, that's nurturelife.com pod and make sure you use promo code pod. Even if you aren't a parent with young kids, you might have parent friends who struggle with mealtime. Make sure to share our Code Pod with them. Remember, put your little ones first with healthy meals from Nurture Life. That website one more time is nurturelife.com

[Nancy Glass]

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[Bobby Gumpright]

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[Nancy Glass]

been a victim of identity fraud With Lifelock.

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[Nancy Glass]

it guaranteed or your money back. Last year billions in refunds were stolen. Could be from your salary, overtime or second job gone.

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But this year you don't need to

[Nancy Glass]

stay a victim because this tax season, fraud paying American is something no American

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[Nancy Glass]

Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com iheart Terms apply. Did you know that parents rank teaching financial literacy as the toughest life skill?

[Narrator/Host]

That's where Greenlight comes in.

[Nancy Glass]

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[Narrator/Host]

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[Nancy Glass]

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[Narrator/Host]

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[Nancy Glass]

Try Greenlight Risk Free today at greenlight.com iheart. That's greenlight. Com iheart.

[Narrator/Host]

This is an iheart podcast guaranteed human.