Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Rita Williams: How One Woman Transformed Personal Trauma into Criminal Justice Reform
Sat, 19 Apr 2025
Send us a textRita Williams turned personal tragedy into powerful advocacy when her spouse was unexpectedly sentenced to 10-20 years in prison, revealing deep flaws in the criminal justice system and sparking her mission to expose judicial misconduct and support others facing similar challenges.• Former federal employee who pursued a master's in criminal justice before her spouse faced white-collar charges• Discovered her spouse had high-functioning autism only after his incarceration, highlighting how the system fails neurodivergent individuals• Used blogging, websites, and social media to expose a prosecutor with 18 years of misconduct, eventually forcing him to relocate• Advocates for criminal justice reform, particularly ending solitary confinement and creating better supports for people with autism• Works with Michigan Citizens for Prison Reform and helps coordinate legislative days to connect lawmakers with those affected by the system• Creates resources to guide people through the legal system and protect them from predatory practices• Emphasizes the importance of being informed about the criminal justice system before you need itTell everyone everywhere about Why Not Me, the World, the conversations we're having and the inspiration our guests give to everyone everywhere that you are not alone in this world.https://tonymantor.comhttps://Facebook.com/tonymantorhttps://instagram.com/tonymantorhttps://twitter.com/tonymantorhttps://youtube.com/tonymantormusicintro/outro music bed written by T. WildWhy Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI)
Chapter 1: Who is Rita Williams and what drives her advocacy?
Yeah. So what got me into all of this, it was, I guess we'll start from when I was a teenager is the easiest place if I've always had a love for what makes people tick. And as a result, I thought I was going to grow up and be a true crime writer. I wanted to be like Anne Rule. She's actually still one of my heroes.
And as I grew up and got older, I realized writing does not pay the bills and was talked into more practical workflow and careers. I ended up becoming a public servant for the federal government, finished a bachelor's degree. And it was during the pandemic that I realized there's more to me than all of this. There's more to me than this problem solver at work.
Chapter 2: How did personal tragedy lead Rita to criminal justice reform?
I want to go make a difference in the world. And at that point in time, I went and pursued a master's in criminal justice, hoping that I could eventually transfer to Department of Justice. The plans that life had for me were so much weirder because my spouse ended up getting accused of a white collar crime just two months after I graduated from my program.
Wow, that's too bad. That's just really unfortunate. What happened from there?
Being educated, having a master's degree level education, believed I have an idea of how the system works. These are the things that should happen. Then having a crash course with it, supporting somebody who is now a defendant, I realized, no, this is not at all the case. Things are very different than how I perceived them to be.
So what were your thoughts now that you was involved in the legal system?
Walking into it, I tried to give everyone the benefit of a doubt, believing, hey, these are professionals. They know what they're doing. I can trust the powers that be. My spouse was talked into a plea deal in October of 2023. Or I'm sorry, 2022. We get to January 2023. He goes to sentencing believing we're going to be okay out of all of this. He had just started a woodworking business.
We get there and he is out of nowhere sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison by the judge.
Wow, that's just overwhelming.
Incredibly traumatic, but part of me, just in my gut, I was like, something is, other than what just happened to me, something is very wrong here. It sparked a need to find out what went so wrong. I ended up finding out that this particular county where all of this happened has a really long history of railroading people, mistreating people with disabilities, especially autism.
With the information that you're finding out, what was your next steps from there?
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Chapter 3: What role does autism play in Rita's story and advocacy?
Go here instead because you're going to have a better outcome or find community members in a particular area. Like, for example, resilience, people who understand what you're going through and can help support you on that next phase of life. Just helping people kind of circumvent because there are people who can be predatory out there and take advantage of those who don't know the ins and outs.
Absolutely. Now, has that opened up the legal system more to you, like lawyers, judges, even legislators? How do you find that now moving forward?
Yes, absolutely it has. I've had some incredible opportunities. I've been able to write testimony for some bills, especially here in Michigan. One that we're working on right now with Michigan Citizens for Prison Reform is ending solitary confinement because it's a very mentally degrading experience, especially more so if you're somebody who already suffers from autism.
There's one of those bills that we're getting ready to have. We're getting ready to host a legislative day on May 6th where I'll be there to help get people back and forth to their appointments to meet their legislators and start putting a face to the person. Because, you know, legislators need to understand that when they're writing law, they're affecting real people.
And so that's part of the reason that I've gotten involved with that. I've also met a lot of really cool lawyers, like your last guest, Doug. I've met him through LinkedIn. Amazing individual. I'm really lucky with the community that sprung up around me and that I've not had stones thrown at me and cast me down.
It's more of like people who have helped me stand back up and find my voice and give me the microphone to an extent.
Yeah, yeah. Well, when you get someone going to see a legislator, They sit down with them, tell them their stories. They feel bad. But then right after that, they have another person coming in telling them their story. They feel bad. What they really need is a group of people sitting down with them, almost grabbing them by the throat and telling them, hey, look, we need some change here.
Absolutely. And that's one thing that I think I got tagged in on for legislative day is like, can you help people tell their story? Because I have been able to create mine or put mine forward in a more punchy way of this happened. I wasn't happy about it. Here's what I did. And that's a big battle of you need to hear a group of people.
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Chapter 4: How did Rita expose judicial misconduct and what was the impact?
Because like you said, if it's just one off or two off, legislators are going to blow that off and think that you're an outlier. But it's not the case at all. We're a silent majority. It's just something that the media doesn't cover.
Yeah, I definitely agree. And I can testify to that. So what do you see happening for you in the next few years? What's your plans and what's your ultimate goals?
My goals. I tag into a lot of projects and a lot of people reach out to me in terms of criminal justice. I have a very big heart for it. And I'd had the most wonderful compliment last week of somebody said, you have the heart for this and you need that to be successful. So I plan on advocating more. I don't know that I'll ever run for office. I don't think I would want to do that.
But I definitely want to help people survive the trenches and build them up so they don't feel alone because that does happen a lot. And then also, I really want to see more legislation on criminal justice mental health reforms and especially autism reform because there is... I think we're at a fever pitch right now where not just...
The law enforcement side needs to understand it better, but the public in general needs to understand it better too if we want to see meaningful change.
Yeah, I agree. I speak with a lot of people about change. I always bring this up. You want change, you have to understand everyone wants change. The only problem is when you're dealing with legislators, you're dealing with a group of people that go back and forth on different things. And the big problem, it takes time.
That's the painful part. And especially when you're sitting in the middle of the system and you have a loved one that's on that other side, that's where it starts to really be like, oh, this is going so slow. But I find that if you have something healthy to focus on and something to work toward, it makes that weight a little bit better because...
You're not just at that point doing something for you. You're setting the table for everyone else behind you. And that's the most beautiful part is you're going through pain right now, but you're making it better for somebody on the other side.
Yeah, I agree. If you can get your point across. So what are some of the ways that you've been creative to get your point across? I read or heard that one person said that you couldn't do it. You couldn't get your point across. Then you went out and actually blogged and did your things and got your point across. Then they said, well, I guess we picked the wrong person to go after.
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Chapter 5: What challenges has Rita faced as an advocate and how has she responded?
Some of the biggest things you can do is just, and this is gonna be the weirdest one to say, but I think a lot of people get it, say the quiet part out loud. Share your experience, but put it into something that's not necessarily heavy, but something that's quick to share. Just doing that on social media and finding your own, I think is one of the best ways And then organizing people.
So those are some of the things that we've had to do. But then even getting on, as strange as it sounds, like the Nextdoor app, we've been able to find people who were also impacted by judges and prosecutors, by some law enforcement misconduct. Just by asking questions and saying, hey, has anybody seen anything weird or had anything weird happen with this?
And there are a lot of people, they're just dying to tell their story because nobody's listening. Or you have a group who's, oh, no, that couldn't possibly happen here. You have this person who's been downtrodden. If you approach them, suddenly they're not alone anymore and they're just ready to talk.
A big part of it, honestly, was just getting really creative and good on social media and unique blogging and just coming at it from a digital angle because there's only so far the letter writing campaigns will get you. And social media was where I think I had the most impact just because it's so wide open. It's that digital sphere. Yeah.
I mean, there's definitely some things I've said it a little shorter and maybe a little meaner than I should have. And that got some attention. But you definitely will draw more flies with honey than vinegar, I will say. It's a lesson learned.
Yeah. But sometimes you just have to put it out there what needs to be said.
That is true.
You can tiptoe around it. You can have diplomacy. I mean, you can be as diplomatic as you want to be, but it's like the old saying goes, don't take my niceness for weakness. Yes. Sometimes you just have to step up to the plate. Say, I've been trying to be as nice as I can and you don't accept it. So you just blast them.
Yeah. And honestly, what I had to do most recently with this other case is just keep blasting of, bam, here's this case where something went wrong. Bam, here's this case where something went wrong. And you have to keep putting those posts out.
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Chapter 6: How is Rita working to influence legislation and support affected individuals?
Yeah, absolutely.
Otherwise, they're going to feel like they can get complacent and just get away with it. And so I've been really lucky that because I've been staying on top of things, I've actually been able to help quite a few people not just get out of potentially bad situations with plea bargains in this particular county that I was dealing with.
But also they've had some better outcomes in their cases because one of the most creative things I did was I said, give me your case file. I ran through the entire thing. I peeled it apart back to back. I basically, because I have criminal justice training, I ran through it as I was an investigator.
And here's all the reasons why I wouldn't have put this case forward and how that investigator did a terrible job.
That sounds like it was really a positive thing to do for you.
that actually became one of the best and most popular posts on my blog. Somebody claiming there was an altercation in this truck cab with no cup holders, but they had just gone to get food. Somebody's going to have food all over them and they're out in public. Nobody saw these people covered with food. I highly doubt it.
So it's things that you step through that I'm lucky that I've got the professional training, but some of it is just common sense too. And I will say having that opportunity to be able to voice things for people
and break it down in a way that makes things, I guess, less difficult to understand and more manageable, that makes it a lot easier too of just empowering people so that they're like, I'm not going to fall for that. I know what happened.
It's amazing one of the things you just said. I have five judges coming on my podcast over the next couple of months. I asked one of them a question. He took about a minute to think it over. And then his answer that he came back with, common sense.
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Chapter 7: What are Rita Williams' future goals in criminal justice reform?
What she tries to do is divert all the young kids out of the court system so if they follow the rules, they have a good chance of having a future with their lives. She does have an autistic child, but it didn't start because of that. It started because she had an opening and they had an autistic person that needed some calmness, so they put that kid in her court. Then another person saw that
and wound up getting another autistic child in her court. And then it just evolved from there into a system that is unlike any other court system in the country. So if she can do it, why aren't others? Unfortunately, this just leaves us a huge hill to climb for those that are autistic.
There is. And the sad part is that judges and prosecutors, they have the most power and they don't even either don't realize it or they don't want to realize it because there unfortunately is a lot of money and punishment. But if you have diversion programs for adults, which there are places, I'm lucky that the county I live in has phenomenal diversion programs. They do have mental health court.
They have treatment or substance abuse treatment courts. They have access to those things for people to divert them away because diversion ends up saving the taxpayer money.
It saves the taxpayers huge money.
millions. And not just that, but it also creates jobs in those other sectors, and it creates just a more holistic and equitable environment overall. So if you're going to do that for adults, why not do that for juveniles? Now, I will say to you, Tack onto that, which is really fascinating of how far behind not just the country, but Michigan is when it comes to juvenile court.
We just recently this year made it so juvenile defendants have access to court appointed attorneys that are paid for. That is so backward of like, you have these kids that you're basically saddling debt. And it was up until a couple months ago, completely okay to do it. It's bonkers. Like the common sense does not exist in the system or just empathy sometimes.
Yeah. And unfortunately, the more issues a person has, the worse that it gets.
Absolutely. One thing that they say, especially for people who are neurodivergent or if you're like me, and you have ADHD, the joke is that ADHD brings friends to the party. Usually there's coexisting things that go along with it. Like for me, I struggle with math. I have dyscalculia, but I also have anxiety. So I have these things that I have to deal with in addition to my ADHD.
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