The news these days is often depressing at worst and frustrating at best. It’s easy to let it get us down. Never fear… The News Blender has you covered. Once a week we feature Something Good and, in return, all you have to do is tell us something good that has happened to you this week, something you are thankful for, a joke, a cute animal story, an inspiring tale of heroics, a Random Act of Kindness… SOMETHING good.
Today’s something good is a chance.
In 2012, Sarah Gad, a med student at the time, became addicted to opioids after being in a car accident. She told FOX9 that she was “not a very good criminal because I got caught really, really fast. And once I had been charged and pleaded guilty to my first felony, I couldn’t even process it. I was in medical school, you know, a top 15 institution, and suddenly I’m a convicted felon with a drug problem.”
Her addiction led to seven non-violent felony drug convictions between 2012 and 2015, in both Pennsylvania and Hennepin County in Minnesota. But it was a trip to Chicago that changed her life. There she was arrested, again, and spent 27 days in Cook County Jail. She refers to that period as “27 days in hell”.
“I was beaten, I was stabbed, I was raped and thrown in solitary confinement when my family started making noise and reaching out to people,” Sarah said. She continued, “And Kathleen Zellner was interested in my case because I think she’s had a lot of negative experiences with the Cook County Jail and just how they treat people.”
Kathleen Zellner, an attorney made famous for the “Making of a Murderer” series on Netflix, helped Sarah. In spite of Sarah’s addiction, Kathleen invited Sarah to help at her law firm. While there, Sarah had the opportunity to help free a man, Mario Casciaro, from being incarcerated for a crime he did not commit.
She said, “And I found the work to be very rewarding. I had the privilege of being able to be present when a person that I had helped prove they were wrongfully convicted of murder. I was able to be at the prison and be with him as he took his first steps up to freedom, hugging his family.”
It was Mario’s case that inspired Sarah to get off drugs and go to law school. She was admitted to University of Chicago Law School and was able to pay for her schooling with a settlement she received from Cook County.
But, she had to face a judge back in Hennepin County for her previous charges, a judge who should have sent her to prison but instead gave her a chance.
“‘There’s a mandatory minimum for repeat drug offenders, and she is a serial recidivist who cannot be rehabilitated,'” Gad remembers the judge saying. “But the judge is like, ‘Well, she did say she got into law school, like, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.'” She went on, “I started law school with an ankle monitor.”
She received her license to practice law in 2022 after graduating in 2020.
A couple weeks ago, in Hennepin County, in a full circle kind of moment, Sarah won her first murder case. She successfully convinced the judge to free Ben Richardson on the basis of lack of evidence. While there, she happened to run into the judge who gave her that life changing chance back in 2015.
“It was crazy running into Judge Barnett, who was the judge who presided over my drug convictions. And he was like, ‘What are you doing out here?’ I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I just, you know, I’m out here working now’,” Gad said.
In a year, Sarah has had 21 cases, none of which have gone to trial.
Kathleen Zellner said, “I recognized her enormous potential for making a real contribution to society and I tried to influence her in that direction…. She has transformed herself from a criminal defendant into a champion for the legally oppressed. All she needed was a second chance.”
A second chance is definitely something good – people often can change, if we let them.
Now it’s your turn… Tell me something good!
