WEBVTT - #365 Jason Flom with Clarence Jones 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:07.440 On August twenty fifth, nineteen ninety eight, Clarence Jones was 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:10.600 caring for his infant son, Colin. According to Clarence, he 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:13.080 had fed Colin a bottle, laid him down for a nap, 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:17.079 and later discovered him sputtering formula from his mouth. Clarence 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.800 rushed him to Sinai Hospital. Colin was in respiratory distress 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.079 with an erratic heartbeat, and doctors concluded that the hemorrhages 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:26.960 that were discovered in the coverings of Colin's brain and retina, 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.240 coupled with no external injuries, could only mean that the 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.280 nine week old infant was the victim of violence shaking. 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:38.120 While Clarence denied the allegations, Colin succumbed to his complication 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:42.320 six days later, on August thirty first. At trial, medical 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:46.080 experts testified that retinal hemorrhaging defined child abuse and that 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:48.919 the bleeding in Colin's retinas were the most severe they 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.760 had ever seen. These same experts confidently ruled out any 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.560 other potential causes of Colin's death, placing the blame squarely 0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:57.840 on Clarence Jones. 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:00.840 But this is wrongful conviction. 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:21.119 Welcome back to wrongful conviction. I'm going to start this 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:24.800 episode with a question, what would be the worst thing 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:28.319 that you could imagine happening to you? Now, if you're 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:30.920 a parent, and I am, it would probably be the 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:34.320 loss of a child. There's nothing worse than anybody can imagine, 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.160 except there is what if you lost a child and 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:40.840 then we're wrongfully accused of causing the death of your 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.240 own child, and since the thirty years in prison for 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:49.800 a crime that never even happened, Well, today we're covering 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:55.680 the extraordinary saga of the man himself, Clarence Jones, the 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:59.720 third who's with us right now. Clarence, welcome to the show. 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:02.240 Thank you very much, thanks for having me. 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:04.880 You're very welcome. And joining him today is his civil 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:08.200 attorney who has joined his continued fight for justice, Lauren 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:14.680 kellaher welcome, Thanks, Jason. So this case revolves around shaking 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:17.960 baby syndrome, which is really, to me, one of the 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.960 most sickening aspects of junk science, which leads to some 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:25.359 of the most awful miscarriages of justice in our entire 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.799 criminal legal system. Claris, have you ever heard of shaking 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:33.960 baby syndrome before this awful, awful day when your child 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:35.160 was taken to the hospital. 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:38.560 I had never heard of no such thing. In fact, 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:40.320 when he was saying that, I had to look it 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:44.040 up and find out actually what was the talking about. 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:46.680 Then that day that the detectives had showed up to 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.760 my door, then I said, Oh, they going to charge 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.480 me with a crime, that's what they're trying to do. 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.320 To be honest, before I worked on this case, I 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:59.880 was not particularly familiar with the concept of shaking baby syndrome, 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.960 although in nineteen ninety eight, my understanding is that there 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.440 was quite a hysteria about shake and baby syndrome, and 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:09.400 there was this idea that is exhausted and burnt out 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:12.560 as they were parents of young babies were getting so 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:16.560 frustrated to the point of injuring them in these severe ways. 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:21.880 But as the scientific understanding of SBS has progressed, there 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:25.120 are all of these natural disease processes that occur very 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:28.639 tragically in babies like Colin that fully explain the presentation 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:33.320 with what folks in the SPS community will be familiar 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:38.480 with as the triad, which is intercranial bleeding, brain smelling, 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:39.520 and retinal hemorrhaging. 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.000 And you know, back when this case occurred in nineteen 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.160 ninety eight. The only way people really looked at it 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:47.760 was that violence shaking could be the only cause of 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:50.160 this triad of findings. But they never tested it. They 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:52.960 just assumed it. And I'm really glad we're here to 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.400 talk about it. We're going to have later on the show. 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:59.040 Kate Judson one of my personal heroes. She's the executive 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.440 director of the Set for Integrity and Forensic Sciences, and 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:06.880 she'll dive deeper into this. So, Clarence, before your life 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.080 got turned upside down by people who should have known better, 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.119 What was it like. Did you grow up in Baltimore? 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.640 Well, I did grow up in Baltimore, but I moved 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:18.440 out into the county area. 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:21.440 And how did you meet your wife Jennifer? Tell us 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:23.840 a little about when things were better. 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:27.200 I had met Jennifer doing one of the building that 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.640 she had lived in. I was a security officer at 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.520 the time, and basically that's how her and I got 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:37.760 to know one another. And I've always been into security work, 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:41.840 law enforcement work. In fact, I had my application trying 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:44.760 to become a Baltimore County Police office at the time 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:45.799 as it occurred. 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:48.960 Wow, So if this could happen to you and you 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:52.800 were working in and around law enforcement, a law abiding citizen. 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:56.360 Then would you agree that this could happen to anybody. 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.000 Yes, this could happen to anybody. You know the way 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:02.360 it came upon me. I didn't know that they was 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:04.720 trying to arrest me for something like this when I 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.400 was a kid. Loving father, very supportive. 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:10.919 So okay, So it seemed like he had everything going 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.400 in a very positive direction. You're married to the love 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:19.240 of your life, Jennifer, And was this your first child? 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:24.039 No, I have three other children. This one my son, Colin. 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:29.760 He was born with a condition called normalcytopenia PAPA or ITTP, 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:33.960 and just like his mother, Jennifer, she would could bleed easily. 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:34.640 Yeah. 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.760 ITP is a blood disorder in which your immune system 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.839 attacks to platelets, the red blood cells that are responsible 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:44.080 for clotting. So the result is easy bruising, as well 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:48.159 as potential internal bleeding and even intracranial hemorrhaging. One of 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.400 the three findings, if not the main finding associated with 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:55.520 sbs ITP, can be acute, clearing up spontaneously in six 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:58.159 months or less, or chronic like your wife, Jennifers. Now, 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.240 Colin had only lived to be just about ten weeks old. 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:04.080 It was such a short medical history, it's not clear 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:07.360 which form he had. And this wasn't the only cause 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:11.520 for concern. Upon Colin's birth, he had a pretty dramatic delivery, 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:12.240 to say the least. 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:17.320 Right, he had aspirated some maconium which his newborn stool. 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:21.320 He was in respiratory distress, all these things and he 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:23.919 had to stay and say you behind it. Then we 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:29.880 picked them Colin up and he had another episode that occurred, 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:34.560 which was July of ninety eight, which he had bleeding 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:39.560 in the lungs. What they characterized and diagnosed was pneumonia 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:40.479 at the time. 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:43.600 The thing about the diagnosis of pneumonia is pneumonia was 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.240 essentially the best guess about what was going on with Colin. 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:50.279 During his July hospitalization, they gave him a pretty heavy 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:53.200 duty course of antibiotics that they would have expected to 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.239 clear up the pneumonia if it had been pneumonia in fact, 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.640 and they didn't work within the timeframe, and Colin just 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.760 sort of appeared to be getting better on his own. 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.800 But unfortunately he was not actually getting better. Rather, his 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:10.560 medical issues appear to have gone undiagnosed and improperly treated 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:12.040 until it was just too late. 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:16.000 When you look at Collins medical files, and even if 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.480 you just look at his final hospitalization in August of 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:22.000 nineteen ninety eight, immediately upon arrival, it was noted that 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:27.320 he had symptoms that were consistent with sepsis and a 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:31.920 bleeding disorder, which includes bleeding around the brain. But I 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.600 think the underlying thing here is like, no one can 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:36.680 look at the fact that he spent more than twenty 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:39.560 five percent of his short life in the hospital and 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:42.120 conclude anything other than this was a really sick kid 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:45.440 with a number of unresolved conditions that kept cropping back up. 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.640 Yeah, this poor kid really didn't have a shot because 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:52.360 with all those problems and such a little tiny body. 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:58.120 You know, how does I mean anyway, So Clarence, this day, 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:01.280 what time did you, Jennifer go to work that day? 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:03.400 Because at the end of the day, you were targeted 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.000 because you were the one that was home. And that's 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.000 we see that again and again in these cases. 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:10.440 Right Well, you know, being and I worked at night, 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:13.840 I took care at Colin in the daytime, and Jennifer 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.360 took care of them at night. Jennifer, she left about 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:19.360 one point fifty two o'clock that. 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.920 Day, Clarence and Colin had by all accounts, a pretty 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.680 normal afternoon. Like Clarence mentioned, he worked at night. He'd 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.920 come home in the morning, he'd sleep for a little 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:31.000 bit because he was working all night. He'd get up 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:32.800 when Jennifer had to go to work at the hair 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:35.800 cuttery at the Rotunda Mall, I believe right, Clarence, like 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:40.080 you just described, and then he'd be responsible for watching 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:43.079 Colin for the rest of the afternoon. He'd feed him, 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:46.040 he'd burb him, he'd change his diaper. Colin had a 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.800 little swing that he loved to spend time in that 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.240 Clarence had set up for him, and he worked out that. 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.440 Colin took a shower and then laid back down for 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:57.719 more sleep. And when he woke up, he went to 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:01.240 check on Colin and found him the state that costs 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:03.160 to bring him to the hospital. 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:04.120 That's correct. 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:07.480 He was sputtering wing with formula coming out of aspirrating 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:11.120 from his nose and mouth, and I immediately got my son, 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:13.440 placed him in his car seat and rushed them to 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:16.920 the hospital. And there being that this is inner city 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.120 hospital with all this kind of negative stuff going on 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.440 with parents that do do these child to be things, 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.199 and they automatically looked at me and say, oh my god, 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:28.520 he's a big guy. He had to have done this. 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:32.200 And they just didn't even consider the history of what 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:34.920 my son was born with. They didn't even in fact, 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:36.840 looked at it. They just looked at me as a 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:42.640 person and went on and started making their assumptions about SBS. 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.680 And we haven't mentioned this, but Clarence, you're a black man. 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:51.840 Jennifer is white, and this is America, So who knows 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:54.439 how race played into this whole scenario. And Lauren, did 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:58.040 the investigation reveal anything unusual that could have corroborated those 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:00.319 initial assumptions about SBS. 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:04.040 Well, according to the prosecutor during the trial back in 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:07.400 nineteen ninety nine, the fact that Clarence drank a protein shake, which, 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:09.559 as she said, could have been laced with steroids was 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.080 apparently something weird that could have been going on at 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:12.600 that time. 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:13.720 That's correct. 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:15.960 You know, I'd got my own weight set so I 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.960 could be home and work out and keep my eye 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:22.160 on my son, and it just all of that backfire 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:24.080 for me trying to be a healthy man. I mean, 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:28.160 I never drank, smoke, did narcotics, No marijuana, none of 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.440 those things. And for them to take something as healthy 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.480 as working out with weights and said it was a 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.440 steroid drink or some things in that nature. And I'm saying, 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:40.680 if that was true, everybody that you see in these 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:43.640 health fitness clubs would be on steroids and they are not. 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:49.040 But cynicism about that commentary aside. You know, if you 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:51.800 look at collins medical files from when he was admitted 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:55.160 to Sinai Hospital at seven forty five pm on August 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.600 twenty fifth, nineteen ninety eight, in a matter of hours 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:02.600 after he was admitted, Mind you, those hours included suctioning 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:06.319 formula from his airways, getting him intubated because this was 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.240 a baby in severe respiratory distress who was not able 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:12.000 to breathe on his own. After that was all done, 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:14.720 not much more time elapsed, and you see the first 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:19.319 reference to SBS shaken Baby syndrome in Colin's medical file 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.200 based on the fact that at that point they had 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:28.240 identified the presence of really just one symptom of the 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:31.520 triad and the related symptom, which was the intracranial bleeding, 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:33.960 based on the CT scan Colin received not long after 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:37.560 he got to the hospital in that note, Interestingly, there's 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:41.000 a reference to what else needs to be ruled out 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:44.640 as an alternate explanation for what Colin was presenting with, 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:50.000 specifically a bleeding disorder, and blood studies were run for him, 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:52.760 and actually in the admission note, I was looking through 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.040 this just yesterday. The very first thing in Colin's file 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.480 also says rule out sepsis, which, if you know anything 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:01.320 about steps switch to be frank. I didn't know too 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:03.200 much when I started working on this case, but it 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:07.160 is a really common cause of death among infants in hospitals. 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:11.840 It wreaks havoc on the body, It destroys the organs, 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:15.000 It causes respiratory distress what Colin was experiencing when he 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:19.840 was hospitalized, and it also causes your blood clotting system 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.120 to go haywire and for your body to bleed indiscriminately 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:26.320 and in places it shouldn't, including around the brain. 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:30.600 But instead of considering this confluence of medical issues, they 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:34.080 just forged right ahead with their SBS diagnosis. 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.320 I mean, Colin was labeled pretty early on as being 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:42.119 a victim of SBS, and this sort of automatic diagnosis 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:46.240 of SBS, there's no understating how much immediate and certain weight. 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:49.160 It was given by the medical community and then as 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:52.720 a result by the law enforcement who were investigating this 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:57.880 case back in nineteen ninety eight. 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.520 The detectives came to the hospital and the next day 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:06.320 they got in touch with Jennifer and I. We was 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.520 preparing to go up to see Colin. We were, in fact, 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.120 we was gathering up a lot of materials that we need. 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:14.160 Because we were going to camp up the hospital and 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:14.720 stay there. 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:17.480 And this is early in the morning. The detective had 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:20.679 not on our door. I let him in, of course, 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.120 and I didn't even know what it was about. I 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.600 didn't had no clue. And they said, we wanted to 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:26.880 talk to you about your son. 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:29.080 You know. 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.480 I was saying, please to myself, I hope my son 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:35.200 ain't passed, and they said, no, can you follow us 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:39.319 to the station. So we followed them all the way 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.640 down to the station, and they put Jennifer in one 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:46.240 room and put myself in another room, and they used 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.360 Jennifer as a witness and used me as a suspect. 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.440 And in the course of questioning him, as Clarence has 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:58.200 recounted for us multiple times, they kept saying to him 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:00.080 and Claren's correct me if I'm getting this wrong. But 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:01.240 the doctors aren't lying. 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:02.360 The doctors aren't lying. 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:04.240 This is what the doctors are saying. 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:08.959 They just kept asking me, did I drop my son? 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.440 Did I hit my son in the head? And they 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:13.720 was getting to the point they was getting so upset. 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:16.559 They were saying, Clarence, sometimes I. 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:17.240 Get so mad. 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:19.360 Did I want to grant my child? And I want 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:20.840 to say, I say, that's what you would do to 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:23.640 your child. I said, not me, I wouldn't do. I 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:25.880 love my I was telling them. It was just a 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.520 back and forth thing. And then at the end, ultimately 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:31.680 they said, well you under rest for child abuse. 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:51.480 This episode is underwritten by global law firm Greenberg Tryig 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:54.720 through its pro bono program. Greenberg Tryig leverages it's more 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.920 than twenty six hundred lawyers across forty four offices. To 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.120 serve the greater good of our communities and provide equal 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.440 access to justice for all. In the field of criminal justice, 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:09.240 greenbrog Triwity attorneys have exonerated and freedomanded Philadelphia represent numerous 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.920 individuals previously sentenced to life for crimes committed as juveniles 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:16.960 and resentencing hearings, and receive the American Bar Association's twenty 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:20.800 twenty one Exceptional Service Award for Death Penalty Representation for 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:25.160 their work on five death penalty cases. GT is reimagining 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:27.920 what big law can be because of a more just world. 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:29.400 Only happens by design. 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:42.080 And they took me out in handcuffs. Jennifer comes running 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:44.440 up to me trying to hug me. They didn't even 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:48.400 want Jennifer near me, and they took me to the 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.840 Baltimore County's Attention Center from net where I had to 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:56.480 see a commissioner to make bail. In fact, Jennifer's mom, 0:15:56.800 --> 0:15:59.720 Missus Crocker, Oh, she was like a mother in itself 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.480 to me. Also, she had putting up her property, her 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:05.600 home for me to get out on bail. 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:11.280 And let's pause on that for a second. This was 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:14.880 your mother in law, right who was grieving with her 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:19.000 daughter over Colin, her nine week old grandson, who was 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.280 struggling in the hospital to survive. And in spite of 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.560 all that, neither her nor your wife Jennifer ever wavered 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:30.520 in their support, their steadfast belief that you could never 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:35.320 and would have never done anything to hurt this little child. 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:39.920 But their grief was just about to multiply in more 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:44.160 ways than one. Six days after Colin had been admitted 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:44.920 to the hospital. 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:48.680 That's right, Colin, my dear son, had passed on the 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:52.360 thirty first of that August nineteen ninety eight, and they 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.240 upgraded the charges to homicide. 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:58.280 So not only had they lost Colin, but now you're 0:16:58.400 --> 0:16:59.880 facing trial for murder as. 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:03.520 Well, and you don't get a bail on murder. But she, 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.960 miss Crocker, she came to court and she told the 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.280 judge why I should have bail, And she asked the 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.880 judge because she put the same deed her property up 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:18.200 to reinstate my bail, and the judge went for it, 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:22.600 and he gave me bail, and I went. 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:23.000 Right back to work. 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:26.080 In fact, my boss, they was all at that hearing, 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:29.720 telling them what kind of employee I was pending that 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:33.639 hearing that I would always have a job. So they 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:36.159 gave me my job back and I went back to 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:37.560 work after all. 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:42.040 Of that on bail, and missus Crocker's generosity didn't stop there. 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.400 She and Jennifer hired your attorney, Donald Diaman as well, 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.360 and this went to trial on March first, nineteen ninety nine. 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:51.240 And was this a jury or a bench trial. 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:54.760 It was a bench trial. It lasted just a few 0:17:54.880 --> 0:18:00.399 days this state. The prosecutor was Susan has for the 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:06.600 Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office, and the testifying experts were 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:10.119 one of collins doctors who treated him at the hospital, 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:14.320 and the medical examiner and the detectives in the case. 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:16.600 And to get a clearer picture of what was being 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:19.320 presented against Clarence back in nineteen ninety nine, I reached 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:21.840 out to the executive director of the Center for Integrity 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:24.680 and Forensic Sciences, none other than Kate Judson. 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:30.679 When Clarence Jones went to trial in nineteen ninety nine, 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:34.240 most of the challenges to SBS had only just begun, 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:39.640 so the medical establishment was firmly behind the faulty SPS hypothesis, 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:43.080 and the state's panel of five experts, which included Maryland's 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:47.320 chief medical examiner, doctor Dennis Chute, were no exception. Doctor 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:51.199 Shute performed Colin's autopsy and testified to the presence of 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:54.560 the findings associated with SBS, as well as a lack 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:59.800 of external or spinal injuries. Biomechanical studies have since shown 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:03.679 that without those injuries, shaking is an unlikely cause for 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:09.119 the injuries often associated with it. Additionally, Colin's treating physicians 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:12.800 at the hospital, doctor Aaron Zuckerberg and doctor Timothy Polk, 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:18.320 testified that retinal hemorrhaging defines child abuse and acceleration deceleration injuries, 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:21.479 and doctor Polk said that the retinal hemorrhaging in this 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:24.480 case was the most severe he had ever seen. Then, 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:29.119 doctor Polk ignored Colin's bleeding disorder history and ruled out 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:32.520 sepsis as the cause of the retinal hemorrhaging. His reasoning 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:37.040 was that sepsis would cause more quote moderate and localized bleeding. 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.760 You know, even setting aside Colin's previous bleeding disorder throm 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:43.800 beside apenia, we know that sepsis can lead to another 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:49.520 bleeding disorder, disseminated intravascular coagulation or DC, which initially consumes 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:52.080 all the blood's clotting factors and results in not only 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:57.879 potential inappropriate clotting, but also uncontrolled internal bleeding. Doctor Poke's 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.600 conclusory claimed that the bleeding from sepsis would be moderate 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:03.640 and localized. It's just not something he could accurately predict, 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:07.720 which then sheds dout and everything. Poke believed logically followed 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:11.680 that he could quote imagine no possible cause of Colin's 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:15.080 injuries other than violent shaking, and that's what the judge heard, 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:18.600 not knowing that Pok had ignored sepsis and the bleeding 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:22.320 disorder DIC for the speculative conclusion that this had been 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:23.240 violent shaking. 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:32.320 Quite honestly, reading through the transcript, it's so clear the 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:35.040 thing was a moving train from the start, this moving 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:37.720 train of SBS, and it was impossible to get off 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:42.400 of and everyone had bought into it, hook line and sinker, 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:45.560 and given sort of the understanding of the medical evidence 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:48.200 at the time, you know, Clarence's defense was just kind 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:51.720 of nibbling around the edges of it. It was really 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:55.480 really hard, if not altogether impossible in nineteen ninety nine 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:58.000 when the trial took place to really take on SBS, 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:00.480 you know, head on, because it was it was so 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:04.359 widely understood and accepted as a cause for these types 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:05.400 of injuries and babies. 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:10.040 Right, it appears that even the defense's medical expert conceded 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:14.200 that SBS had some part in Colin's death, saying, quote, 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:17.520 I thought it was shaking baby syndrome. But looking over 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:20.199 the history there are so many other medical problems that 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:23.960 I began to wonder if I could really separate the 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:27.400 medical problems from the pure traumatic part. And I don't 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:33.040 think I can. Unquote wow, So not even your own 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:37.320 expert was ready to competently defend you. Then the detective 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:40.720 Philip Marl testified about how upset you got when pressed 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.040 about hurting Colin when he said to you, the doctors 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:48.840 aren't lying, they're not making this up. I mean, you 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:51.120 never really had a chance, let's face it. So how 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:54.600 long did this awful sinister charade go on for? 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:58.080 The trial was three days? The fourth day I was 0:21:58.160 --> 0:22:03.880 found guilty March nineteen ninety nine. The state's attorney, Susan 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:08.120 Haslet she was going on in her closing testimony being 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:11.520 really harsh. She don't even know me, was saying things 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:14.560 that didn't make any sense. And then the judge went 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:20.560 on and when the case was rested, Judge Grayson Turnbull, 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:25.560 he said that the eye doctor, doctor Timothy Pope, that 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:29.399 his testimony had the greatest amount of significance to it, 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:34.639 and he wrote those words down and that's what inflamed 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:37.560 him the most to make him come up with his decision. 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:41.200 Then he convicted me right then and there. 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:45.080 Now, the conviction was for both child abuse and murder. 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:47.679 And I understand that the state's attorney, Susan Haslet she 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:49.280 wanted to throw the book at you. 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:52.960 She wanted twenty years for the child abuse, and the 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:55.560 judge said, wait, Manue, it's not twenty years, it's fifteen 0:22:55.640 --> 0:22:58.000 for that. They were just writing these numbers down like 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:00.240 it was just a yo. This man could do. This 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:03.040 is nothing I'm going to give. Okay, I'm going to 0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:06.720 take the first degree and drop it to second degree murder. 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:09.199 So I'm going to sentence him to thirty years for 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:12.280