About this item
This is the true story of a woman who prevailed against the most heinous accusations imaginable.Tonya Craft, a Georgia kindergarten teacher and loving mother of two, never expected a knock on her door to change her life forever. But in May 2008, false accusations of child molestation turned her world upside down. The trial that followed dragged her reputation through the mud and lent nationwide notoriety to her name.Tonya's life spiraled into a witch-trial nightmare in which she was deemed guilty before her innocence could be determined by a jury. Her children were taken away without even a goodbye, and her own daughter was forced to take the stand against her in a courtroom. The situation seemed hopeless, and Tonya was shell-shocked and heartbroken.
About the Author
I was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Immediately following high school I attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with the desire to become an educator. I obtained my Bachelor of Science in Education and began teaching right away. I started my career in Middle School. I taught first grade for several years before taking a short break to stay home with my small children. While at home I began a personal training business and volunteered at church as a Sunday school teacher. I found myself faced with the "single-mother syndrome". I obtained a career as a literacy trainer with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and began my pursuit of a Master's Degree. As the grant ended for the position above I acquired a teaching position in North Georgia as a Kindergarten teacher. As a single mother I worked and went to school full-time, graduating with a Master's Degree in Education with a reading and literacy specialization.With a very competitive nature, learning presented itself as both a challenge as well as a means of being self-supportive financially. I began to research PhD programs along with schools of law. I had always had the inner desire to attend law school but obstacles seemed to prevent that in the past. With a determination to make an informed and constructive selection I requested and obtained information regarding law school admission.The day my life changed forever, May 30, 2008, that packet had just arrived and was UN-coincidentally sitting on my kitchen counter. With false allegations of child molestation I lost my home, my career, my reputation, my financial stability, and most importantly my two children . Any aspirations I had of furthering my education was put on the back burner.Years of struggling with the judicial system educated me more than any textbook, professor, or seminar could do. My naive idea that our system is sustained on the foundation of innocent until proven guilty was shattered. My mindset was altered in a way that eluded to what the system has evolved into - a game. I was living the ultimate tennis match - only I was the ball being volleyed from side to side.My attorneys will tell you my involvement was like "having another lawyer on the team". I did not have the expertise they had in the written law but I had the drive to read, learn, and be involved in every aspect of my case. My innocence has always been a given for them and I have subsequently had many of the jurors to my home including the foreman of the jury. He declared their decision was unanimous and was reached the very first time they voted on all 22 counts. Other individuals actively involved in my case from the prosecution's "side" have reached out to me as well. This set of circumstances confirmed my educations ideals. I entered into law school and began my last year in August 2015. I began interning with the District Attorney's office in Chattanooga, Tennessee this past spring. Additionall