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- [00:00]
Shannon Maldonado
My name is Shannon Maldonado. I'm the founder of Yaoi, a gift shop. From the lens of artists and handmade objects. I chose Shopify because when I was testing other platforms, it was definitely one of the most user friendly. It was important to me to think about where we would be in the future. All of the tools for reading your sales, like planning inventory, they're just right there on your dashboard. For anyone starting a small business, the biggest thing I can tell you is it doesn't have to be perfect. Shopify can help you build upon it. Start your free trial on shopify.com this
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Narrator/Host
is a paid message from GoFundMe.
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Shannon Maldonado
Meet Juan Naula.
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Narrator/Host
When his son was hospitalized for a viral infection, Juan started a GoFundMe to
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Shannon Maldonado
pay for medical expenses.
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Juan Naula
It was 5k to pay the bill for my son and I need only 22 hours. It was amazing. People really trust on GoFundMe.
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Narrator/Host
How did Juan raise $5,000 in less than a day? He posted a short video on GoFundMe telling his story in 30 seconds.
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Juan Naula
30 seconds. Be specific, be quick and tell what are you going to be using the funds for? I was nervous to do it because it doesn't feel okay to ask money. But you shouldn't be nervous. Sometimes you just have to do it and see the results. We were able to save my son's life thanks to gofundme that we still have my son with us.
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Narrator/Host
Start your GoFundMe today at gofundme.com that's gofundme.com gofundme.com this message reflects one person's experience.
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Elizabeth Bolling
Stephanie came back and said, this isn't happening.
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Stephanie Tinsley
This can't be right. There's no way. There's no way. This cannot be right.
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News Reporter
For thousands of people, 201 poplar is where justice moves forward. But this morning, that process came to a stop. To 201 poplar will remain closed.
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Narrator/Host
After I released episode 12, I honestly believed the next time you'd hear my voice, it would be in the final episode of Everything They Missed. I didn't think there would be another bonus episode. In fact, to be completely honest, I don't want to be doing this bonus episode at all. Because this isn't the episode I thought I'd be making. For the last six months, everything has been building toward one date. June 29, 2026. Andrew Hayes Evidentiary Hearing My producer Elizabeth and I drove to Memphis the night before, expecting to spend two full days in court. A production company had sent a crew to begin filming a documentary about this incredible journey. Members of Andrew's family had taken off work to be there for him. Witnesses had flown in from around the country. The Tennessee Innocence Project had spent months preparing. Everything was in place, or so we thought. But instead of spending two days in a Memphis courtroom for Andrew's hearing, what you're about to hear is why we drove back home. I sat down with Elizabeth and my husband Mark, to help us understand what has happened from a legal perspective. The following is that conversation. I'm Stephanie Tinsley and this is everything they missed. Bonus episode three, June 29th.
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Stephanie Tinsley
Today is June 30, a day that I certainly thought would be a day of celebration. And I'm very sad to say that we left the courthouse extraordinarily disappointed. Devastated is the word. Andrew's hearing on June 29, that we've waited for six months did not happen. I'm joined with Mark, my husband, and Elizabeth, who was there with me. And we will break down exactly what did happen. Elizabeth, you and I went to Memphis on Sunday night and we had been looking forward to this for the last six months. I think everybody has listened to the final two episodes, episodes 11 and 12, where we were leading up to this hearing that was going to happen. So let's just talk about it. Let's just break it down. So, Elizabeth, you and I drove to Memphis on Sunday, Sunday evening, got a really good night's sleep. We were really anticipating seeing Andrew. What we were expecting was a two day hearing. Jason Gishner, Andrew's attorney, had laid out that he was going to call five witnesses. He's asked me not to mention who the witnesses are. He was calling five witnesses, some that were going to be flown in. Obviously Andrew, I can say is a witness. Andrew obviously was being driven down two hours from Tiptonville, Tennessee to 201 Poplar. So we expected a one or two day hearing. We expected five witnesses to be called. We expected that the state would also present their facts and cross examine the witnesses. And I had been in touch with Andrew's family, Flora and laconda, and we expected to see several members of Andrew's family there. So it had really been a beautiful,
- [06:14]
Elizabeth Bolling
exciting buildup, Lots of positive anticipation.
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Stephanie Tinsley
So we had a film crew with us. It's exciting now that we're in the development phase of a documentary that we're hoping to see on a major streaming network in 2027. I was a little bit nervous going into it because you have to ask a judge's permission to get cameras in the courtroom. And we're going to get to why Andrew's hearing didn't start. But I do want to address this first and get Mark's opinion. Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 30 allows cameras in the courtroom at the judge's discretion. So on June 5, I had written the judge and asked if we can have cameras in the courtroom. I got no response from anyone. I had called the judge's office, I had emailed his law clerk, talked to his law clerk twice, even drafted my own order asking for permission for cameras in the courtroom and did not get a response. So, Mark, do you think that that's unusual that I didn't get a response from the judge?
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Mark Tinsley
No. I mean, you know, it. It could be he's just going to say no, but it could just as easily be that he's not in the office. It's the end of the week. He's, you know, he just signs those things as a matter of course. I mean, it's a public forum and judges routinely do it. And I don't think it means anything.
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Stephanie Tinsley
I mean, so do you think that I had not done everything that I needed to do to get permission?
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Mark Tinsley
No, I think by the end, I believe you had.
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Elizabeth Bolling
Can he have. The judge had been out on medical.
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Stephanie Tinsley
We're not sure exactly why the judge was out, but what we do know is he had moved Andrew's hearing from May 11 to this June 29 hearing because of, we think was a medical issue or maybe a doctor's visit. We don't know. But that's why we had waited so long. I had gotten word that he hadn't been regularly in his office. So going into that morning, I was nervous about that. You know, I was nervous about the fact that I had a camera guy with me. We made it.
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Mark Tinsley
But you got through security.
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Stephanie Tinsley
We made it through security, yeah. We'll get to why we made it through security.
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Narrator/Host
Monday morning, June 29, it was already creeping up to the day's high of 97 degrees in Memphis when Elizabeth and I pulled into a parking lot across the street from 201 Poplar just before 8 o'.
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Stephanie Tinsley
Clock.
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Narrator/Host
The hearing was scheduled to begin at 9. We had no idea the day was about to go in a completely different direction.
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Elizabeth Bolling
We get there right when the doors open. It's not crazy yet inside 201 poplar, but give it 30 minutes.
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Stephanie Tinsley
There was a weird vibe happening. We get into the lobby.
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Mark Tinsley
So let me interrupt you, though, because you've said 201 poplar. And just so, because I've never Been there. And. And I hear. I understand there's a courtroom. Yeah, it houses. But does it also house other governmental offices, like county administration, sheriff, tax assessor, all that stuff?
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Stephanie Tinsley
Yes, all of the above. 201 is their main government.
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Elizabeth Bolling
It's 15 floors tall. It's 15 floors high.
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Stephanie Tinsley
Yeah. There's a jail that's attached to it when you enter into the lobby. And it is smidge chaotic because most of people there have court dates. They don't know where the courts are. We were on floor six. So the criminal courts are on certain floors. The General Sessions are on certain floors. The DA's office is in there, the administrative office is in there.
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Elizabeth Bolling
The public defender's office is on a floor. So there's lots of different General Sessions courts. I think you can pay your tags there maybe, but there's all kinds of stuff.
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Mark Tinsley
And General Sessions is like civil court.
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Elizabeth Bolling
It's a court of no record.
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Stephanie Tinsley
So it's. It is a very busy, very chaotic lobby.
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Elizabeth Bolling
There's four entrances, four different security things. So people are coming in from all directions and going in all directions.
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Stephanie Tinsley
And it's a very old building. It looks old. And that, you know, is a good segue into what happened. Trent, the camera guy, Elizabeth and I make it through security. The security guy looks at Trent, who has the camera, and Trent asked, can I go in with this? And he said, yeah, it doesn't matter anyway. So that was the first clue. Maybe something was amiss.
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Narrator/Host
At the time, I didn't think anything of it. Looking back, it was the first sign that this day wasn't going to unfold the way we imagined.
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Stephanie Tinsley
We figure out we need to go to floor six. We had gotten there very early. We had gotten there at 8 o'. Clock. Court started at 9. Elizabeth had mentioned one of Andrew's relatives was there. Sweetest, sweetest girl. She spoke to us, she was interviewed, and. And then we see Jason Gishner, his lawyer, was there. He asked for me not to film him. A couple of other Innocence Project team members, lawyers, were there, asked not to be filmed. I was nervous about the fact that I had a camera guy with me. I'm trying to be responsible and document everything I can without graying those lines of, is this for entertainment? You know, Flora looked at me yesterday when she realized I have a camera now and that we're now documenting this for a documentary. And I asked her, do you want me to tell the camera guy to leave? And she looked me dead in the eye, and she said, document everything. And so with her blessing, we Filmed as much as we could yesterday, but
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Elizabeth Bolling
there were lots of people from Andrew's family that were there.
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Stephanie Tinsley
Slowly, people from Andrew's family start coming. We start hearing rumors that court is not going to happen, or court may not happen because there's been flooding in the building and there's no water in the building and there's no bathroom to use. But we can't get any official, you know, at this point. It's, it's. They look like bailiffs that are kind of hanging around saying, we think this is happening. But Jason wouldn't give me a straight answer. Couldn't. And, you know, in the meantime of all of this, many, many, many family members of Andrew start showing up. I mean, Elizabeth would. There was.
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Elizabeth Bolling
Yeah, he had. I mean, he, he had 25 to 30 lakh and his mama, Laconda's sister. And then his other sister, Kasima Hines was there with her, Ronald and three of their children who Andrew's probably never even met. He had one sweet lady, Carlotta Carter, I think you interviewed her, and she had come in from Ohio and Lakita had taken off work and she normally travels and works in Georgia. Mary Hayes, who I believe was Sylvia Hayes daughter, that's his grandmother.
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Stephanie Tinsley
That's his grandmother, yeah.
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Elizabeth Bolling
This was one of his aunts, but they introduced her as the matriarch of the family. And then another one of his first cousins, Nikki Morrow. And then just so many different people. And I think it's worth mentioning, you know, we get up there and we're talking to Lakita and all the excitement, we're just feeling excited, like this hearing is finally happening. And it was during Lakita talking that Stephanie was like, hold on, because she saw something and she had to go and look. And when Stephanie came back and said, you know, this isn't happening. This probably isn't going to happen. It was just like someone took the air out of everyone's balloons.
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Stephanie Tinsley
It was complete disbelief. First, we've waited six months. The hearing's been delayed, delayed, delayed. And you start hearing rumblings that it may not happen. But at least for me, and I kind of got the sense from other family members, too, no, this can't be right. There's no way. There's no way. This isn't happening. This cannot be right. It cannot be right. And when I looked over and I saw Jason, and it makes me very emotional because it is very difficult. I saw him telling Flora and she was up against a wall and all she did was bow her head and shake her head. Lakanda got a little bit more excitedly upset. But what struck me so much in all of this, because I was furious, I was boiling, I was angry. His family maintains their composure. I mean, there was 20 or 30 of them. Half of them had on shirts with Andrew's picture on it. Free Andrew. And these family members that had every right to be loud and angry and express what they were feeling, none of them did.
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Elizabeth Bolling
They all.
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Stephanie Tinsley
And I don't know if I don't know what they were feeling, but what they were showing was calm. And I mean, they were shaking their heads. They were not happy, you know, And I almost wonder, was it. We were all a bit paralyzed, like, this absolutely cannot be happening. Can we, can we go to another floor? Can we, you know, can it?
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Elizabeth Bolling
And it was so, like, there was no real information you could hear. Somebody said, well, they're still having court on the fourth and the fifth floor, but they're not having it on the sixth. Then you're just like. And the judge had been called and told, you know, hey, there's. There was a foot of water. And they turned the water off to the building. And then the health department said, you can't have a 15 floor building with no water. And one news report out of Memphis said that it was from construction that was going on. But you just get to. Stephanie and I were talking about just really, how can this be? Like, this is just another perfect example, an illustration of just the ups and downs where you feel like you're on the highest high, you know, and then it would be somebody ripping the rug out from underneath. When you stop and think about Andrew and when you stop and think about
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Stephanie Tinsley
his family and Andrew was there, I mean, obviously, and I told you, you know, the night before, and it's become a habit every night with me, when I lay down to go to sleep, I think about Andrew. And I had thought about him the night before, wondering, had he made, did he come the night before? Was he at 2001 poplar? Was he in his own cell? Was he going to be able to sleep that night? You know, what were the conditions that he was in? And then when we were getting there that morning, I was thinking, does he know his family's going to be here? And what is he going to look like when he walks in that court and he sees 30 of his family members, half of which he's never met before? Is he going to laugh? Is he going to smile? Is he going to cry? Is he going to want to hug somebody? And then just like that, court Is not happening. We had a two day hearing scheduled. So our next thing we were clinging to is, well, it will happen tomorrow. You know, Jason immediately pivoted. We can do it all tomorrow. I can call everybody tomorrow. Jason had immediately gone into problem solving mode.
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Narrator/Host
But by the afternoon, that hope was gone.
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News Reporter
Monday's unexpected closure of 201 poplar means more than just locked doors. It could slow down Shelby County's justice system. A water main break forced the building to shut down. This left the building with no running water. Health Director Dr. Bruce Randolph ordered the building to close, calling it a health risk to employees and visitors. The county mayor's office tells us leaders are also dealing with an unrelated issue inside the tower. After an H vac air compressor failed, causing temperatures to climb, the Shelby county health department will conduct another inspection to make sure the building is safe to reopen.
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Narrator/Host
There's an irony here. Over the course of this story, 201 Poplar has become its own character. It was the first place that swallowed Andrew into a justice system that failed him. And nearly 19 years later, it was the same building that seemed unwilling to let him go. The hearing didn't fail because of the evidence. It didn't fail because of the law. It failed because 201 poplar couldn't do the one thing it was built to do. After every witness, every mile traveled, every family member who showed up, Andrew's chance to finally be heard was delayed not by his case, but by 201 poplar and the leadership responsible for it.
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Stephanie Tinsley
So then you're just left with this black hole of not knowing and all of his family members who had gotten off work, who had made the trip, who had spent money coming down and were there and so happy. The kids that were there, there were teenagers, there were little kids. There were obviously adults and seniors.
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Mark Tinsley
And I mean, well, you said Jason had flown witnesses in, right? At least they were right.
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Stephanie Tinsley
So Jason had flown witnesses in. And so that's a question mark that, you know, I want to ask for you, but I do want to take a moment for everybody just to visualize and understand how much effort went into yesterday. Not just the Innocence Project, but how much effort other people went to to get themselves there and wanted to be there to support him. And the torture that Andrew must feel that a water main or whatever the break was and that he's not getting his day in court again. And so, Mark, what I want to ask you is, as we're recording this, it's the next day, it's June 30th, and you're very well versed on the case. And so what do you think the next steps are going to be for this?
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Mark Tinsley
This is sort of the ordinary course for lots and lots of cases. Things happen all the time. Somebody could be sick. The court reporter, strong. I'm exaggerating. The court porter's drunk and can't make it to court. And so we don't have a court reporter. All kinds of things. But. But the problem in rescheduling normally is, is that these judges have a schedule. And typically, criminal cases in most places take priority over civil cases, and so there's usually more criminal court. But still, he's got a schedule. And having lost this week of court, when can we work into the schedule that's already very full, an opportunity to come back and make up what we missed? And that. That's. That's where the real delay is and frustration a lot of times.
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Stephanie Tinsley
So.
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Mark Tinsley
But, you know, hopefully he'll get it set back up pretty quick and it'll maintain its priority. And I know that the DA at least had indicated it was a priority for them, and. And they seem to be following through on that, so hopefully it will remain a priority.
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Elizabeth Bolling
And especially with that judge being out, it just made me think of his case log. You know, it's even fuller than it normally would be.
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Stephanie Tinsley
Mm. So then Jason had five witnesses lined up to call during this hearing. Andrew was one of them. I know there was a false confession expert he had mentioned, and I had seen at least one person that I know. He flew in from across the country, and I did hear him mention somebody was going to appear over Zoom. So with the limited funds that the Innocence Project has. Mark, what happens? Because I know that you hire experts and you have witnesses, and it's kind of this dance of getting everybody there and what happens with your witnesses and experts and how much does it cost? And do you think Jason would fly everybody back? And what is the impact of having a Zoom witness over a live witness?
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Mark Tinsley
Zoom witnesses are not nearly as engaging as a real live witness. And, you know, you run into the technology problems. There's all kinds of problems with that, but it's a cost of doing business. This is. This is just something that happens, and you have to eat it. And, you know, from an expert perspective, they blocked off 2 days, 3 days to come and do this. And so, you know, they've lost those three days. They still want to be paid for their three days, and they're going to have to eat three more days. The day go in, the day of testifying and the day coming back. So it's. It's an expense and it's unfortunate.
- [25:08]
Narrator/Host
As Elizabeth, Mark and I finished our conversation, one thing became painfully clear. There wasn't anything any of us could do to change what happened that day. Everyone had shown up for Andrew, his family, Stephen Harris, the Tennessee Innocence Project, witnesses who had traveled from across the country, a documentary crew. All of us had gathered believing we were finally going to hear the evidence that had changed everything. For the first time, a judge was expected to hear Sarah's confession in her own words, that she and her mother killed Danny Harris and that Andrea was never there. We thought June 29th would be the day that confession was played in open court. We thought it would be a day of truth, a day of hope, a day that meant something not only for the Hayes family, but for, but for Danny Harris family as well. Instead, because of what the city of Memphis described only as building issues affecting normal operations, the hearing never happened. Since that day, I've read public statements from Shelby county officials describing 201 Poplar as a building with serious infrastructure problems. Five months ago, the county mayor, Lee Harris, announced plans to address those conditions. From what we saw June 29, those serious problems have not been addressed, not even close. Andrew Hayes has now spent years waiting for his day in court. We were ready, but the building wasn't. The hearing has now been rescheduled for August 24. By then, it will have been more than seven months, over 220 days, since the District Attorney, Steve Mulroy, stood before the cameras and said Andrew was innocent. It's the fourth delay in Andrew's effort to have his evidence heard. And once again, his family is forced to wait. But as this story has reached more and more people, I know many of you have been just as frustrated as we were that day, and you may be asking the same questions we were asking ourselves. Is there anything I can do?
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Stephanie Tinsley
I have on an Innocence Project shirt. I do want to mention that all of the Innocence Project organizations in each state, which includes the Tennessee Innocence Project, is funded by patrons, funded by people that believe in the cause. Their website is tninnocence.org I would suggest if you're sitting there as frustrated as we are, or if you are wanting to do something, I encourage you to get on the Tennessee Innocence Project website. I encourage you to buy. They've got T shirts, that they've got bags. You can just make a straight donation. I'm also going to put Andrew's address in prison. How you can write him how you can write him a letter. I think all letters of encouragement would mean so much to him. He knows that people are listening to this. He thought he was going to have his day in court yesterday. So I would say in the meantime of all that, if you want to do something, write an old fashioned letter. Go buy an envelope and a card and a stamp and write a letter to Andrew. Let him know that you're thinking about him.
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Mark Tinsley
Andrew's mother and sister, you mentioned Flora and Laconda. They're very vocal on Facebook. If somebody feels moved to voice their concern or their support for the family and what they're going through, it would be easy to find them.
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Stephanie Tinsley
Yes, it would be easy to find his family on Facebook. And that's exactly right. Drop them a message of support. You can always find me on all of my socials at the Stephanie Timsley. If you have messages you want me to pass along to them or post, I'm happy to do that. So the fight is not over.
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Elizabeth Bolling
We talked yesterday about how there's got to be a reason for this. We don't know what that reason is, but, you know, to have the hope that there is a reason that it's happening this way and we just don't know why yet. And maybe we will one day, maybe we won't, but it doesn't make it any easier for Andrew and his family. So, you know, I love the idea of people sending him words of encouragement.
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Stephanie Tinsley
It's going to happen. Everyone keep thinking positively. The hearing will happen, but it's not a done deal. And as Jason Gishner has told Andrew many times, we have to stay focused. We're not done yet.
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Narrator/Host
Special thanks to my producing partner, Elizabeth Bolling, sound design by Redrum Creative, Mark Tinsley and every member of the Andrew Hayes family. Thank you for your strength, your faith, and your unwavering commitment to Andrew. Through every delay and every disappointment, you've remained calm, resilient, and determined to see him get his day in court. Watching all of you that day taught me something I'll never forget. Strength isn't always loud. Sometimes it's simply choosing to stand together, hold on to hope and keep believing, even when your hearts are breaking.