When Cindy Shank was arrested and charged in 2002, after authorities found drugs and guns in her home that belonged to her then boyfriend Alex Humphry, she rejected a plea deal and was ultimately released and the case was dismissed.
In 2002, her boyfriend, Alex Humphry, was murdered. When the police searched their house, they found 20 kilograms of cocaine, a kilogram of crack cocaine, 40 pounds of marijuana, $40,000 and guns. She was initially indicted for multiple drug crimes and offered a plea bargain—13 years in prison if she pleaded guilty—which she rejected. “I’ve always said the truth,” Shank tells Newsweek. “I knew what he was doing, but I had no idea the extent. I did not sell those drugs. Because there was no evidence against me, I was released and my case was dismissed.”
Fast forward six years, Shank was living a happy and productive life with her husband Adam Shank and their three young children when federal athorities convicted her of conspiracy charges and sentenced her to 15 years in prison. A first time, non-violent offense.
After she left, her brother Rudy Valdez began shooting videos of his three nieces for his sister to preserve the moments she missed during incarceration before turning his series of videos into a full-fledged film documentating the effect of her absense of their family and her children.
BSO spoke with Valdez on the eve of the HBO premiere The Sentence, where he candidly discusses the toughest moments of his family’s life after Cindy’s incarceration and the change he hopes to inspire in law makers by making a non-partisan film centered on what happens the families affected when their loved ones are taken away.
“The Sentence” debuts Oct.15 on HBO.