Tonya Craft, after being acquitted on 22 counts of child molestation, wants to earn a law degree, create her own nonprofit organization and send her voice over the airwaves to fight what she calls a broken legal system.
“I think in our system it’s guilty until proven guilty,” Craft said Tuesday on the first day of her new biweekly show on WGOW-FM. “That’s why I’m jumping up and down trying to change the system.”
Calls for legal advice and questions about her case flooded her hourlong show. As she wrapped up, she mentioned the nonprofit organization — not yet named or funded — she is starting to help people she believes are falsely accused of a crime.
“I’ve been sitting in their shoes, so I understand,” she said after the show.
Craft, a former kindergarten teacher in the Chickamauga, Ga., school system, was acquitted in May on counts of child molestation, aggravated child molestation and aggravated sexual battery involving three preschool girls.
After she was found not guilty in Catoosa County Superior Court, she started saying she might go to law school to fight cases similar to her own.
Now the 37-year-old, who lives in Soddy-Daisy, said she is studying to take entrance exams in October or November and plans to start law school sometime next year.
She said she plans to study as she starts her nonprofit organization and takes on clients to coach them before going to trial.
“Right now, I have four clients,” she said, but didn’t say who they are.
While busy with her new career, Craft is still trying to regain custody of her son and daughter, who were taken away from after she was charged in 2008. A custody hearing is scheduled in Hamilton County Circuit Court on Sept. 28.
On air, she told a caller that she had been able to visit her children but said she didn’t want to talk about the details of the custody battle.
While the radio show is scheduled every other Tuesday from 3 to 4 p.m., Bill Lockhart, the station’s program director, said he is working to syndicate the show on national radio and television.
“Essentially, she’s here because she fought the law and won,” Lockhart said.
Craft is working with an agent in New York to write a book on her trial.
and says she has sought advice from Meredith Vieira, co-anchor of NBC’s “Today,” said she will let the radio show “evolve.”
From financial to legal advice, Craft said she wants to help people who are uneducated about how the judicial system works.
“Have a garage sale,” she told one caller.
Joy Lukachick covers crime in North Georgia for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. She started working at the paper in July 2009 as an intern. Raised near the Bayou, Joy’s hometown is along the outskirts of Baton Rouge, La. She has a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Louisiana State University. While at LSU, Joy was a staff writer for the Daily Reveille. When Joy isn't chasing down stories, she is a full-time supporter of ...
Or login with:
New Account