Faye Jacobs

Laquanda Faye Jacobs was arrested in 1992 for the murder of Kevin Gaddy, and wrongfully convicted of capital murder in 1993. Unreliable witness ID’s, a deficient amount of investigative work, an overburdened court system, and multiple ineffective counselors prevented Faye from properly showing her innocence to a jury, leading to the unjust conviction of a 16 year old girl.

 

Around 5:30 P.M. on February 9^th, 1992, a gray vehicle pulled up and stopped at 29^th and Jefferson in Little Rock, Arkansas. An unidentified African-American male and female approached the victim and his friend and demanded their jackets. The victim asked the robbers if he could get a comb out of his jacket pocket before giving it over, and was shot in the chest by the female. The robbers got back into the car and sped off.

 

While this was happening, LaQuanda Faye Jacobs, who goes by Faye, was with her friends going to the Laundromat, their houses, and generally having a regular Sunday evening. She was wearing a white outfit that she had worn to church earlier. After she had gotten home, her mother drove them to more church services, a drive near Faye’s mom’s other house that she rented out, and found it surrounded by police. Faye wanted to know what was going on, and decided to walk near the crime scene. She was arrested, taken to the police station, and tested for gun residue. The test came back negative.

 

Other suspects and witnesses were also taken to the station to be interviewed. About 8 or 9 people hung out at Faye’s mother’s rent house a day. These witnesses and witnesses on the street described the female shooter. Some say she was African-American, with a complexion like Tony Davis, with curly reddish hair and scars under her eyes. She was heavyset, in her 30’s, about 5’8” and wearing a blue baseball cap, a blue coat and blue jeans. Others say that she was wearing a black Oakland Raider’s jacket, black skull cap with a white “X,” with Nikes on. That day, Faye was wearing her white church dress that Sunday, and she was heavier with reddish hair. She was 16. The victim’s friend, who was standing right beside him when he was shot, is shown a picture of Faye, but cannot identify her as the shooter. She is released. Her mother’s rent house was searched, and police find a gun that was hidden by one of the people who hung out at the rent house. When they test the gun, however, it doesn’t match the bullet and is proven not to be the murder weapon.

 

Nine days later, she is identified in a photo lineup by the victim’s friend and someone who has later revealed that he had a vendetta against her at the time of the identification. Faye is arrested and charged with capital murder two days before her 17^th birthday. The motive to arrest and charge Faye relied on people who hung out at her mother’s rent house, a car and a gun that are unidentifiable by witnesses, a missing murder weapon, and an assumption of guilt by law enforcement.

 

While she was waiting for her trial, her defense attorney, on his second visit with her, asked her for a favor. He wanted Faye to testify against an inmate that Faye knew from being in jail. He wanted her to say that she confessed to Faye to a murder. Faye was horrified, and refused, stating that she wouldn’t lie about witnessing a crime that she didn’t actually witness. He told her that if she did, he would have the inmate’s co-defendant testify for Faye’s behalf. Faye told him that she didn’t want to get involved, and ended the legal visit. This particular attorney also participated in gang activity, and actively abused drugs. He has been caught twice for dropping meth contained in a baggie at the same bank. After the exchange, she asked for new counsel and fired that attorney.

 

Unfortunately, the next attorney that was appointed to her didn’t talk to her until a day before the trial for only 15 to 30 minutes. He was involved in some very questionable events before receiving Faye’s case.

 

He represented a woman in 1981 for the charges of murdering her husband. While he was representing her, they started spending more time together, and supposedly had an affair. He was married at the time. The woman started to fall for the attorney, and paid two men to pose as floral deliverymen, who shot her in the head and hid her in the attorney’s closet. In 1982, the attorney came home and, with a neighbor present, found his wife dead. After being charged with the murder of his own wife but later released, he turned to alcohol to solve his emotional problems. It was during this time of alcohol abuse that he received Faye’s case.

 

Because of the affairs with the woman who killed his wife, the attorney owed favors to the prosecutor and the courts. Faye recalls that the woman even tried to get close to Faye while they were incarcerated together to find out how the attorney was doing during the time he represented her.

 

Since her incarceration, Faye has been at the McPherson Unit in Arkansas since it opened. The McPherson Unit has had a past rampant with sexual misconduct between its officers and inmates, and is currently under investigation for sexual misconduct. A woman who has been wrongfully incarcerated for over 20 years is currently being held in a prison that is indifferent to their inmates’ health and sexual autonomy.

 

However, Faye isn’t bitter about being incarcerated. When she is released, she wants to speak to the public about the wrongfully convicted, especially to poverty stricken teens with higher tendencies for crime. She wants to take care of her mother, who needs knee surgery, and who is waiting for Faye to be released before she gets that surgery. She wants to spend time with her family, and enjoy being an aunt, a daughter, and a sister. She wants to be an advocate for the family she has made while being incarcerated, for the women whose voices cannot be heard in a system designed to ignore the rights of the incarcerated.

 

The Midwest Innocence Project is currently investigating into her innocence claim and a “Miller Claim” for her, which basically states that because she was incarcerated when she was underage, she could be a completely different, socially and mentally adept adult fit for society. We at the Midwest Innocence Project agree that she is, and we hope to further her claims and earn her release. If Faye’s story interests you, or if you want to help us further her claims, donate to the Midwest innocence Project through our website. Help us help them.