WEBVTT - #216 Jason Flom with James King 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.920 While renting a room in Selinas, California, a woman named 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:08.840 ruth Anne supported her drug habit and her thirteen year 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:13.520 old daughter Jamie with welfare and prostitution. James King previously 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:15.640 rented a room in the same house, where he still 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:19.760 received mail and maintained friendships, including with ruth Anne's boyfriend 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.840 Eric Barton and the landlord Doug do Bell. James would 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.759 come by occasionally to pick up his mail and socialize, 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:29.680 as he did on August first, nineteen ninety seven, for 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:33.519 the Selena's Airshow. A few days later, while Landlord Dug 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:36.360 do Bell was in Las Vegas, James intervened when he 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:40.000 saw ruth Anne trying to sell Doug's mobed. Ruth Anne, 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:43.240 who had already pawned Doug's TV, threatened James that she 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:45.520 would get back at him if he ever told Doug. 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.320 When Doug returned from Vegas on August eleventh, James found 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.839 himself accused of stealing Doug's TV, which he firmly denied 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:55.959 while reporting the story about ruth Anne and the moped. 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:59.560 When Eric Barton confirmed that ruth Anne was the culprit, 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:02.680 James found him self accused once again, this time for 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:06.720 the alleged August first sexual assault of thirteen year old Jamie, 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:10.839 during which time he allegedly ejaculated on a tan carpet. 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:14.560 When confronted with a carpet testing negative for seamen, the 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.000 young girl said that her dog must have eaten it. 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:20.319 She later changed the story to a blue carpet that 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:25.840 Dobell confirmed did not exist. Despite these glaring red flags, 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.640 that DA used Jamie's story and a medical experts testimony 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:33.720 that has since been characterized as absurd to send James 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:38.120 away from thirty five years to life. This is Wrongful 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:56.160 Conviction with Jason Flamm. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with 0:01:56.240 --> 0:02:00.200 Jason Flamm. Today you're going to hear a story that 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:05.160 is disturbing in so many ways. This story is the 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:07.520 story of a man who's been in prison for a 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.320 quarter century for a crime that never happened. And it's 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.680 got so many lies in it that you'll you may 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:15.600 need a pen and paper to keep track of the lies. 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:20.880 I mean, it's just absolutely breathtaking the web that was 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:24.360 woven in order to not only convict, but also keep 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:28.440 this innocent man in prison for this long. The attorney 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.560 is Ian Graham. He's a civil rights attorney with Cravis 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:35.360 Graham and Zucker in California. Ian. Welcome to Ronful Conviction. 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:37.959 Thanks Jason. It's a real pleasure to be here. 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.119 And soon you'll be hearing the phone ring and we'll 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.680 be hearing from the man himself, James King, will be 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:48.000 calling in from the California Men's Colony, which is a 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:50.640 I mean, it seems like sort of a benign name 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:53.240 for a place that is no place for an innocent 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.720 man to be. Oh, and here we go. We're going 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:57.680 to our call right. 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:02.799 Now, Globe, I have a prepaid call from Jeans, an 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:07.720 inmate at the California Men's Colony, San Luis Obispo, California. 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.400 This call and your telephone number will be monitored and recorded. 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:16.280 To accept this call, say or dial five now. Thank 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:18.200 you for using Global tail Link. 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:23.400 Hello James, Hi, finally get to talk to you. Well, 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.960 I'm so glad you're here too, even though I really 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:29.720 hate why you're here or more to the point, where 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:30.119 you are. 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:30.920 Thank you. 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:34.240 So tell us a bit about your life growing up. 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:36.880 Yeah, okay, I grew up in Actually I was born 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.240 in Germany. My dad was in the army for twenty 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.040 five years and We came back to the United States 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.440 when I was like six years old, and then we 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.720 moved to California, and I've been in California all my life. 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.760 So you grew up in a military family. And we've 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:54.000 spoken with your mom, Lilyan, many times, and it sounds 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.080 like you had a relatively normal life working in the 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.840 moving business until you had a run in with the 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.680 off for burglary. Now that's a serious crime, but when 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.120 you hear the details of it, it was actually a 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:07.680 bit more benign than it sounds. 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.280 The coly three hundred dollars. So I was mad and 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.080 I shouldn't have done it, and I went in the 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:14.560 house and took a VCR. When I took it, I 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.120 even called her and told her I took your VCR 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:19.720 and she called the police call me. That's how that happened, 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:21.360 and they got me for burglary. So I had to 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:23.320 plead guilty to it. I got a year in prison 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:25.279 for that. That was all it was to it. And 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:26.359 I should never done that. 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:29.799 So, Okay, you knew this person and they owed you money, 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.680 and you obviously shouldn't have done that. You've acknowledged that 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:34.599 that was a dumb thing to do. But now you've 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:36.159 got one strike for burglary. 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:38.440 But I have no six grimes in my life at all, man, 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:40.880 not even allegations that I've done anything right. 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.800 So this was a non sexual crime. So why did 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.159 I even bring it up, you might be asking yourself. Well, 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:49.760 at the time, with the newly minted nineteen ninety four 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:52.520 crime bill, what this meant was that you had one 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.800 strike against you, so a second offense would mean doubling 0:04:55.920 --> 0:05:00.279 any sentence. But for now, you just got the one 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.880 year sentenced. So you get out, go back to the 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.520 moving business, doing odd jobs, and you're renting a room 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.560 from a man named Doug Dobell and Salinas, California. 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:10.440 Yeah, I was living in dougle Bill's out for about 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:12.520 seven months and I moved out and got my old place. 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:14.840 It was in ninety seventh and I was leaving this 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:17.760 Selenas at the time. When I moved out, I still 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:20.200 stay friends with Doug, and I had to go over 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:22.279 there and get my meal every day because I did 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:24.839 not had my male swish. I just kept it there 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:26.200 at Doug's house, all right. 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.039 So you were also doing some odd jobs for Doug. 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.000 You two guys had a mutual friend, Eric Barton, who 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.000 was dating a woman who had just begun renting a 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.880 room from Doug. And her name was ruth Ann, a 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:40.479 woman who threw her own admission had suffered from manic depression, 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:44.960 borderline multiple personality disordered drug addiction, all while struggling to 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.719 support her drug habit and her thirteen year old daughter, 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:52.240 Jamie with the help of welfare and prostitution. So, now, 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.000 ian this brings us to the summer of nineteen ninety 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:56.719 seven at Doug Dobell's house. 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:01.240 So, in the summer of nineteen ninety seven, there were 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.000 four or five people living there. In addition to Jamie 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.159 and ruth Anne, there was a woman named Bonnie Roman, 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:12.719 her husband and Bonnie's brother I believe named Eli Roman. 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:17.159 So on August first, nineteen ninety seven, James goes by 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:20.760 Dobell's house. I believe it was the day of the 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:25.800 Salinas Air Show. So he was going over to see Dobell. 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:27.840 And you know, he knew ruth Ann a little bit, 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:30.479 and you know, have a few beers for the air show. 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:34.760 And so he goes into the house and Eric Barton 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:40.080 is occupied in the bedroom with ruth Ann. 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.120 Ruthann wanted me to go to the store for her 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:45.640 and hit some beer for her. She didn't have a car, 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:48.800 her car was broke down, so nice to me. When 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:51.200 I was going to the store, Jamie asked me because 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:53.280 she'd go and get a sola pop and I say, 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:55.760 to ask your mother, and her mother sits sure. 0:06:56.120 --> 0:07:00.800 So King goes and gets some beer and comes back 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.960 to the house. Ruth Ann comes out and gets a 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:06.880 beer out of the fridge, and King's there and Jamie's there, 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:10.680 no issues, goes back into the bedroom with Barton, and 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:13.880 you know, the day goes off without a hitch. Over 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:17.120 the course of the next few days, while Doug Dobell 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:20.400 was still out of town in Las Vegas, James sees 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:26.280 ruth Ann trying to sell Dobell's mophead and intervenes and 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:29.120 stops her and tells her she can't be selling Dobell's property. 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:33.200 Ruth Anne and James got into a verbal altercation when 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:34.760 he prevented her from selling the moped. 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:38.160 I said, excuse me, sir, this is not ruth Danner's mouthped. 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:40.840 This is the owner's moped. And if you buy this, 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.400 you're buying something that is stolen. And that's when Ruth 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.360 Dan turned to me, you bastard, if you tell Doug 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:49.920 about this, she said, if we get if we getting 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.160 picked it out of here because of you, I will 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:53.680 pay you back one hundred times over. 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:57.640 She had, also, by the way, pawned Dobell's television that 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:01.320 week when he was out of town. So on August eleventh, 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.120 Dobell returns from Las Vegas to his house and he 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:08.800 notices that there's property damaged. His TV is missing, and 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:13.280 James tells Dobell that ruth Anne had pawned the TV 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:16.880 and tried to sell the moped, and this was later 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.800 confirmed by Eric Barton, who had seen ruth Anne do 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:23.880 this stuff too. So Dobell and ruth Anne get into 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.200 an argument about her conduct while she's staying at the house, 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:32.160 and the next day, ruth Ann comes to Dobell with 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:37.760 Jamie and tells Dobell that James King has molested and 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:42.440 tried to rape Jamie. Dobell, who was horrified and actually 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.400 scared that he was going to be himself accused of 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:50.720 this assault, immediately calls the police and Dobell drives Jamie 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.840 and ruth Anne to the police station for Jamie to 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.600 be interviewed and on the way to the police station. 0:08:56.840 --> 0:09:00.960 Ruth Ann is mad at Dobell because, as Bell testified, 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.120 he didn't give ruth Ann and Jamie time for them 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:05.560 to get their stories straight. 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.920 Yeah, this is just the beginning, I mean, yeah, And 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:15.600 so she is now grasping at straws because she's angry 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.800 that her scheme was sort of you know, interrupted. 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:21.880 Yeah, well, but I guess maybe should give just a 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.800 brief background. You know, Jamie's thirteen years old, and this 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.680 is her mother who's working as a prostitute and has 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:32.760 been a drug addict. And Jamie would later testify that 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.719 she was raped when she was four, and she was 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.040 raked when she was eight, and as you'll see, will 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:41.839 become relevant later a second time. She also said that 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:45.240 there was a convenience store involved, and we have fairly 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:48.240 good evidence that she was also being sexually assaulted at 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:51.520 this time that we're talking about August of nineteen ninety seven, 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:54.400 just not by James King. So I have a great 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:57.559 deal of sympathy for Jamie and her situation. He doesn't 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:00.160 change the facts that we're going to develop going for 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:02.680 but that's just the circumstances that we're dealing with here. 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:08.160 So now this awful scenario is starting to grow legs, 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:11.120 so to speak. Right, Dobell has driven them down to 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.920 the police station. What happened at that interview? 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:17.880 Jamie was taken into a room separated from her mother 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:22.200 and interviewed by detectives. She said that on that day 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:25.320 of August first, when James King came over to the house, 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:29.040 that he was going to go to the convenience store 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.880 to buy beer, and that because there was no one 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:37.280 else around, he knocked on the bedroom door, interrupted Barton 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.480 and ruth Ann and asked ruth Anne whether he should 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:41.480 take Jamie to the store with him or just leave 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:43.960 her there, And ruth Anne said, yeah, why don't you 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:47.440 take her? So, she says, she and James drove to 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:50.800 the liquor store, convenience store whatever it is. He got beer, 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:54.199 he bought Jamie a soda, and they're driving back and 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:57.080 she said that on the way back he pretended to 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:02.920 get lost and he began touching her thigh into her 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.440 private areas. And then they get back to the house. 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:09.560 Ruth Ann comes out of the bedroom, she gets a 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:12.000 beer from the fridge, goes back into the bedroom. She 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:15.720 sees Jamie. There's nothing going on no problem at that point. 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:20.280 According to Jamie, James takes her into the garage in 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.360 the house and on top of a piece of carpet 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:25.880 that's in the garage Dobell, by the ways, in the 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:29.560 carpet business, so there's a fairly large square of carpet 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:32.559 that she says that he then forced her to orally 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.480 copulate him, and that he raped her, and that he 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:38.640 ejaculated and the seamen went on the carpet. She was 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.600 actually very clear about that. The detectives asked her follow 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:44.520 up questions to make sure because they would be able 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.600 to then verify the story. So they ask her follow 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:50.600 up questions and she says, yes, it was a brown 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:53.600 or tan carpet. She told them where it was in 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:56.760 the garage. I think initially at least one of them 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.000 was slightly skeptical because for about a few things, Jamie 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:03.679 had said that the attack had lasted for seventy five minutes, 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.520 which seemed like an exceedingly long time, and there were, 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:09.800 you know, a few other details. So then they went 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:13.200 over and they interviewed ruth Ann, and ruth Ann said 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:15.960 that King had never come in and asked if he 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.960 could take Jamie to the store that had never happened. 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:21.520 That when she came out of the bedroom, you know, 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.600 she saw Jamie sitting there reading a book. No problem, 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:28.480 nothing seemed out of order. Then she said that when 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:32.000 Jamie told her about the incident, she said that King 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:34.400 had tried to rape her, but not the story that 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.040 she told the police. The detectives then went back in 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:41.640 with Jamie and said, your mom said that, you know, 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:44.080 she didn't see this and she didn't hear that, and 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:45.920 that you told her that it was only James had 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:49.040 tried something. And Jamie said, well, I don't know. I 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:51.080 don't know why my mom would say that. So there's 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.920 already discrepancy there. And so then the detectives asked Jamie, well, 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:58.439 did you tell anybody about what happened to you at 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.959 the time that it happened or days afterwards? Jamie says, 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:04.720 the only person that I told the next day was 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:09.000 my friend Erica. Erica then says, no, that didn't happen. 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:12.880 Erica says that she does remember Jamie telling her that 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:18.360 King had assaulted her, but that happened after Dobell had 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.920 gotten home, so, in other words, it had happened sometime 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.959 after August eleventh, more than ten days after the attack, 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:28.840 So there were some flags in the story just from 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:30.120 the beginning here. 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:32.240 There are a lot of flags, and the story really 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.400 is just getting started, because when you hear what happens 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:40.040 next and the way these lies start to unravel, it 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:42.080 would be comical if it wasn't tragic. 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:48.080 So when the interview concludes, Officer Hickman, he goes immediately 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.080 to Dobell's house and Dobell takes him into the garage 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:58.560 and there is a tan or brown carpet exactly in 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:02.760 the place that Jamie described it. Dobell tells the officer 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:05.120 it's been it for at least a month, and it's 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.680 the only one that's been in this garage for several months. 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:11.840 So the officer takes that carpet and they have it 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:18.240 laboratory tested for semen and it tests negative, And just 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:23.280 so they're sure, they take two other pieces of carpet, 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:27.040 not even remotely where Jamie said they were, or fitting description, 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:28.560 but they just wanted to be thorough, so they grab 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:32.720 two other pieces and they test those. They test negative. 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:37.560 The detectives then went back asked again for Jamie to 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:40.840 tell the story, and again Jamie tells a story, talks 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:43.040 about king, It talks about how we ejaculate on the 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:45.760 tan or brown carpet. So then the officer says, you know, 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:49.920 we had that carpet tested and it didn't show that 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:52.520 there was any semen on it. It didn't come back, 0:14:52.560 --> 0:15:00.120 didn't test positive. There was none. And Jamie says, that's 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.560 because my dog ate that part of the carpet. 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:08.680 That's because my dog ate that part of the carpet. 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.560 Right, And you know, these are the things that a 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:14.600 thirteen year old girl might say, which he's caught in 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:17.040 a lie. So the officer says, your dog ate it, 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:19.480 and she says, well, also, I think my mom may 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:22.840 have cut it up and maybe then also washed it. 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:27.280 And the officer says, well, the carpet doesn't look like 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:31.000 it's damaged in any way. And Jamie didn't have anything 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.480 to say to that. So that is the state of 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:38.880 the evidence that was turned over to the District Attorney's office. 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:42.320 This is where it should have ended, right, Yes, this 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.200 was a moment right where the DA had that opportunity 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:47.920 to say, you know what, none of this makes any 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:51.600 fucking sense. Yeah, so you know, unless you guys can 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:56.080 bring me something you know, some physical evidence. I witnessed 0:15:56.120 --> 0:16:01.520 testimony some something other than angled web of lies from 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:04.280 a poor child. I'm not going to prosecute this case, 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:05.320 but that's not what happened. 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:09.160 Yeah, well, they try to build some corroboration and on 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:11.680 about August I think it was nineteenth or so, almost 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:15.400 three weeks or so after this alleged attack by King, 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:20.840 they have the prosecution's medical expert, doctor Valerie Barnes, examined 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:25.360 Jamie and she says, oh, I saw a red spot 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:29.440 on Jamie's mouth, and I saw redness in her vagina 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:32.360 and a cleft on the hymen and you know, up 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:36.840 streaking here, and these are consistent with the sexual assault 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:41.240 as she described it. That's just simply false. It's false. 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:45.880 And we know it's false because when James King's conviction 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:50.080 was overturned for the first time, it was overturned because 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:54.520 his lawyer had failed to call a medical expert to 0:16:54.640 --> 0:17:00.400 rebut that testimony from Valerie Barnes. And if they called 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:02.920 a medical expert to rebut that testimony, this is a 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:06.720 federal judge talking, it would have demonstrated that it wasn't true. 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:11.520 And we know that because doctors Crawford and Coleman, and 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:16.159 they are eminently qualified in child sexual assault cases and 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:21.960 typically testify for the prosecution. Reviewed doctor Barnes's examination of 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:26.200 Jamie and did their own examination of the same pictures 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:31.320 and everything in Barnes looked at, and they concluded that Barnes' 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:37.280 findings were medically absurd to the point of showing bias, 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.280 that none of the injuries or red spots that they 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.600 saw were indicative of an assault that happened on August first, 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:48.320 or anytime around then. Acute sexual assault injuries like that 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:51.159 heal within seventy two hours, maybe a week at most. 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.280 They said that what Barnes saw were simply normal markings 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:57.439 and that there was no cleft on a hymen. They 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:01.280 could see it clearly. But those absurd findings had the 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:06.520 benefit for the prosecution of corroborating Jamie's story because they said, 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:12.080 these are consistent with the assault. So there's your corroboration. 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:14.919 Yeah, nice expert. And before we move on to the 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:18.879 inevitable in this trial, authorities had another opportunity to do 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.640 the right thing here, but it too went completely ignored. 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:27.040 Shortly after the allegations came up and the investigation started going, 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:30.800 Dobell found Jamie's diary in her room and he turned 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:34.200 it over to the police. And in that diary, Jamie 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:39.440 wrote about a man named Eli who she was in 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.720 love with and who did stuff to her, and she 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:45.639 would write things like do you really love me? Or 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:47.840 do you just want to do those things to me? 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:52.359 And this would seem like is Eli Roman, who was 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:54.800 living in the house and who was in his mid 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:58.719 to late twenties at the time, And remarkably, she wrote 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:02.639 about some sort of sexual interaction with Eli on the 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:05.560 day or within a day of when she accused King. 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.320 So in her diary there's something on August twelfth or 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:11.720 thirteenth about you know, Eli and you know, doing stuff 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:15.119 to her. So at trial she's asked about this and 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:17.960 she denies it all and she says, no, no, I 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:20.240 just write stuff in there. It didn't have anything to 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:23.640 do with with Eli. So, you know, it's even it's 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:26.560 even a bit richer here where you actually have someone 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:30.159 who is assaulting her who she professes to love in 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:31.200 her diary. 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:34.359 Right, which just adds to the total absurdity of doctor 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:38.640 Barnes examining Jamie nearly three weeks after this alleged August 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:42.200 first incident, when acute injuries like that would heal within 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:46.760 just over seventy two hours, and then testified about those 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:51.360 findings at trial, attributing them to the alleged August first incident, 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:57.280 when Jamie's diary clearly indicates that statutory rape happened within 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:02.280 days of this examination. So James, did you hire a 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:06.160 lawyer and what exactly did your lawyer do? Well? 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:08.440 At first I had a public defender. That lawyer never 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:10.960 got me an expert dispute all that right. 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:15.280 So with no expert to refute and Jamie's testimony, this 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:19.159 was basically a FATA complay. But there was still some 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:23.520 hope in that there were so many holes in Jamie's story, 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:28.480 especially about the carpet where she alleged that James deposited seamen, 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:33.000 which came up negative every time despite many efforts. Then 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:37.840 her ridiculous answer about the dog, you know, having eaten 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:40.200 the carpet. It's like my dog ate my homework, literally, 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:42.920 and then it gets even worse. The carpet in her 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:44.560 story changed colors. 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:49.119 She switched from her statement about the carpet being tan 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:52.040 or brown, which she'd said, I think three or four 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:54.560 times at this point leading up the trial to the 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:58.280 fact that the carpet was blue. In other words, no, Okay, 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:00.679 my story before about the dog chewing it, Maybe that 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:03.760 doesn't seem reasonable. So let's just say it's a blue carpet, 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:08.880 and it's a different carpet. Well, Dobell testified that there 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.679 was no blue carpet in the garage. Again, Dobell's in 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:14.439 the carpet business, which is why we're talking about carpet 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:15.919 in the garage and why he knows about it. But 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:19.720 he said that months earlier that there was a piece 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:22.000 of blue carpet in the garage, but that it had 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:25.879 been out of there for months prior to when this 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:29.600 assault allegedly occurred, and that the only piece of carpet 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:32.719 that even remotely matched the description that she's talking about, 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:35.440 and that was that piece that was taken by the police, 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:40.720 that the criminalists testified that was laboratory tested and negative 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:43.760 for semen, and that it would have tested positive if 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:46.639 there had been any fluids on there. But a jury 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:50.240 of twelve people, with all the flaws and biases that 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:53.879 twelve people bring, seeing the testimony of a thirteen year 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.720 old girl accusing this man who has a prior felony, 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:02.520 non sexual felony on his record, is very compelling testimony. 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:06.399 It's a testimony of a child talking about the abuse 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:13.000 they've suffered. And James King is convicted and he is 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:17.439 sentenced to thirty five years to life in prison. 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:21.040 It was devastating because I knew I was innocent, that 0:22:21.160 --> 0:22:23.560 I knew that this was all wrong. Man, I couldn't 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:25.600 believe it. You feel like somebody hit me with the 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:28.600 two by four right in the face. Man twenty two 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:31.000 years old. I never even had an allegation that I 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:33.760 even touched a girl in a wrong way, and he 0:22:34.040 --> 0:22:34.840 won't happen to do me. 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:53.400 This episode is underwritten by Paul Weiss, Rifkin, Porton and Garrison, 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:57.080 a leading international law firm. Paul Weiss has long had 0:22:57.119 --> 0:23:01.520 an unwavering commitment to providing impactful, robono legal assistance to 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:04.440 the most vulnerable members of our society and in support 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:08.240 of the public interest, including extensive work in the criminal 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:08.960 justice area. 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:20.440