Beth Shelburne

Monique was 27 years old when she voted for Taforist's guilt and a death sentence.

As soon as that was over, security quickly ushered the jury out the back door of the courthouse to the parking deck.

She never found out if the judge agreed that Taforist should be put to death or spend life in prison.

Twenty years later, Monique gets a book recommendation from a friend.

The Sun Does Shine, a memoir by Anthony Ray Hinton, a black man from Birmingham who was sent to death row in 1985 despite a solid alibi and no eyewitnesses tying him to the murder.

He was exonerated 30 years later.

It wasn't until 2019, more than two decades after she voted to convict to Forrest Johnson, that Monique learned that the state's key witness, Violet Ellison, was paid in secret for her testimony.

At the time of the trial, Monique found Violet Ellison to be composed and confident.

Do you think that your impression of her would have been different had you known she was being paid $5,000?

Monique is one of three jurors that I've interviewed.

All three regret voting to convict to Forrest Johnson.

None of them could quite put their finger on why they were convinced of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, other than believing Violet Ellison.

Once they learned she was paid for her testimony, it was like DeForest suddenly became real to them.

The weight of their decision was crushing.

But besides speaking out about their regret, there's nothing they can do.

They can't take back their votes.

They have to live with their decision.

I felt like I needed to talk to the person at the center of the case, outside of courtrooms and legalese.

I wanted to hear from Violet Ellison.

She has a small brick house on a busy street in Birmingham.