WEBVTT - Episode 7 | Messy 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:13.560 Last time on ear witness. 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:18.080 We knew the reward was offered because it was all 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.400 over the papers, but we didn't know who got it 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:23.120 or if I let Ellison got it. 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.880 She was a very credible witness. We believed her. Obviously, 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:29.920 we believed her because we convicted him, and it was 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:30.880 on her testimony. 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:33.800 When I showed up at her house, she said I 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:34.839 didn't get a reward. 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:36.880 I was like, oh, well, that's funny. 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:38.560 I was like, well, I have some paperwork here that 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:39.839 says you got a reward. 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:45.080 We got an email that said we found these documents, 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:49.120 they had been misfiled, and here they are. 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:54.240 Does that sound strange to you or do you have 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:56.000 any idea how that could have happened? 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.240 AG's office just they said he got misfiled. Then I 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:02.040 guess it got misfiled error. 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:03.600 I guess, I don't know. 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.399 Do you think that your impression of her would have 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.199 been different had you known she was being paid five 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:12.000 thousand dollars. 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:18.440 I definitely believe we would have as a jury talked 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:22.640 about that, like, how credible is this testimony? 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:39.280 She's being paid for it? 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:41.920 Like I had never been in trouble a day in 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:46.640 my life ever before the end. I'm going to jail 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:49.560 and I've never been to jail to day in my 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:54.040 life ever, ever, ever, never had got any trouble anything. 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:57.800 I'm sitting on the couch in a tiny one bedroom 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:02.639 apartment in Birmingham. It's warm outside. The door is open 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:07.160 to let in a breeze. I'm talking with Marika Wilson, 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.880 who's telling me and my producer Mara about a defining 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:15.320 experience of her life being charged with attempted murder in 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.919 nineteen ninety seven when she was twenty years old, a 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:23.720 crime she did not commit. The crime happened late at 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:27.120 night when one woman and two men tried to rob 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:30.880 a man in Birmingham. They broke into his house and 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:35.760 shot him. He almost died. Marika was accused of being 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:39.120 the woman who participated in the crime, but she says 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:42.000 she wasn't there. It was someone else. 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:45.799 Albu and tatno plead. They offered me twenty two years 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:48.640 of my life for something that I didn't even do, 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.880 and I said no. I fought to the bitter end. 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:57.560 A jury found Marika not guilty, but the ordeal left 0:02:57.720 --> 0:02:59.280 life long scars. 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:02.720 It has still just bothered me all these years about 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:06.200 what I went through. You know what I'm saying. Every 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:09.720 time I applied for a job, even though I was 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:12.880 a quitty, I couldn't get a job, a decent job 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:15.120 to take care of my kids. I lost my place. 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:16.480 I didn't have a shirt to put on my back. 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:20.440 Then I lost custody of my kids behind that. I 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:23.760 was up against our type of odds in that situation, 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:29.040 something that I didn't even do. But she, she did. 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:31.160 Not that woman stick it up there and say she's 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:31.600 seen me. 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:36.119 The woman Marika is referring to is the witness who 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.920 testified against her, a neighbor of the victim, who said 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:43.520 she'd seen the crime unfold from her living room window 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:49.200 at two am. She told the jury she saw Marika 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.560 and two other people break down the victim's door and 0:03:52.640 --> 0:04:05.920 assault him. The woman's name Violet Ellison. So do you 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:08.000 remember Violet Ellison. 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:10.840 I remember her getting up there saying she's seen me 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:16.359 through the window. She was wrong, she was wrong, Yes, ma'am, 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:21.800 it wasn't me. They discredited her at my trial. They 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:25.000 made her in the corribor. I remember her like she 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:26.599 just got up there and pointing at me. 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:32.880 Marika's attorneys showed the jury that Violet Ellison's view from 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:37.360 her living room window was blocked by a tree. There 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:40.839 was no possible way she could have seen Marika or 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:43.040 anyone else on her neighbor's porch. 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:46.920 So she was a big part of the case against. 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.880 You, and she. 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:56.920 Lied under oath, literally literally lied under oath. 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:10.000 Violet Ellison testified against Marika less than four months after 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:13.680 she served as the star witness against to Forrest Johnson. 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:18.480 Their trials happened in the same year, in the same courthouse, 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:25.080 prosecuted by the same DA's office. In both cases, Violet 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:29.720 Ellison knew the victim, spoke to detectives, and became a 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:42.760 lead witness. Mara and I find ourselves in Marika Wilson's 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:45.920 living room a few weeks after I made a lucky 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:51.880 discovery in Alabama's database of online court records. One afternoon, 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:55.080 I'm sitting in my office poking around in the database. 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.800 It's a clunky website with all these different drop down menus. 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:05.320 I'm running searches on Violet Ellison's name, trying her name 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:08.640 in a bunch of different ways, getting the same results. 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:13.520 When all of a sudden, I hit enter and boop, 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:18.800 a new list pops up criminal cases, all naming Violet 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:24.040 Ellison as a state's witness. So, in addition to t 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:28.159 Forest's case, I discover that Violet Ellison has been a 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:33.839 witness for the state in four other criminal cases. Marika 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.880 Wilson was the first person that we tracked down who 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:42.000 Violet Ellison had testified against. When I first called Marika, 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:45.880 I told her about the four other cases Violet was 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:51.120 involved in as a witness. Right, we know of five 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:52.599 different criminal cases. 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:56.159 Is these folks convicted because. 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:57.480 For her several of them? 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:03.760 Yeah? Oh wow, oh wow, Oh man, y'all need to 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:09.000 help them people, because she's not credible. I said that 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:11.960 to my husband about that woman. I said, baby, he said, 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:15.080 this woman don't been involved in several cases, Like is 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:18.680 she on a payroll or something? It just sounds like 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:20.760 something crooked going on with me, because how does she 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:24.360 keep popping up in all these serious cases and being witnesses? 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:30.080 Like that's so, that don't sound right. I'm sorry, it doesn't. Wow, 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.880 and new boy on de rol because of this lady. 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:40.120 Oh wow, it's something going on with that, y'all. 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.960 In order to believe and to forrest Johnson's conviction, you 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:47.760 have to believe that Violet Ellison was truthful when she 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:52.119 said that she overheard to Forrest talk about killing Deputy Hardy, 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:56.840 that she wasn't after the reward money because she didn't 0:07:56.880 --> 0:08:01.320 know about it. You have to believe that Violet Ellison 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:06.280 is credible. So we need to know everything we can 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:12.640 about Violet Ellison because without her, without her credibility, there 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:20.960 is no case against to Forrest Johnson. I'm Beth Shelburne. 0:08:21.640 --> 0:09:16.440 This is ear witness, Chapter seven MESSI. In January of 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:20.160 twenty twenty two, Mara and I start trying to track 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:25.240 down the other people Violet Ellison testified against. We spend 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.959 a lot of time in my car full days. Sometimes 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:34.280 I pack mom snacks, healthy stuff like hummus and baby carrots, 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:38.920 raw almonds, maybe a diet doctor pepper on a hard day. 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:42.960 Marika was the first person we were able to find. 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.400 The second case that listed Violet Ellison as a witness 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:51.240 was a second degree assault between two men who got 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:54.079 in a fight. The case ended in a plea deal, 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:58.800 so she never actually testified. We weren't able to figure 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:02.160 out exactly why she was listed as a witness. We 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.560 tried very hard to talk to the man charged in 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:10.319 the case, but never could reach him. And then there 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.880 was the third case. It involved a local pastor named 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:18.760 Bishop James Johnson, who was accused of inappropriately touching and 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:22.640 kissing three teenaged girls at his church run school in 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:27.880 nineteen ninety three. Violet Ellison was a school employee who 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:32.679 testified about the alleged abuse, but Bishop Johnson maintained he 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:37.400 was falsely accused and that Violet Ellison was lying. The 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:41.960 charges against him were eventually dropped by the state. We 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:45.640 talked to Bishop Johnson, who's now in his late eighties, 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.960 at his house in a suburb of Birmingham, and he 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:53.080 told us Violet Ellison made up the accusations in an 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.360 effort to get rid of him because she wanted to 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:57.280 run the school. 0:10:58.160 --> 0:10:59.400 Yes, she was called my church. 0:10:59.440 --> 0:10:59.640 She was. 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:05.280 We talked to one other school employee who corroborated what 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:09.960 Bishop Johnson told us that Violet Ellison made up the allegations. 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:13.360 I tried to find some of the alleged victims in 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.240 this case, but I wasn't able to track them down. 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:21.480 Bishop Johnson said he's forgiven Violet Ellison. 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:26.000 That's over, Thank God for over. I have nothing Mahall 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:33.000 against her. I forgave her. Ever Ladhams told I'm free, but. 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:36.480 He said she is not a trustworthy person. 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:38.520 I don't trust her. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:40.240 She's not a personal trust. 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:56.160 George Holloway is the next person on our list of 0:11:56.240 --> 0:12:01.040 people that Violet Ellison testified against. What we know from 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.720 court records is this. Between two thousand and eight and 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:09.760 twenty sixteen, George Holloway was charged in several domestic violence 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:15.319 incidents involving his girlfriend. But unlike Marika Wilson and Bishop 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:20.280 James Johnson, George Holloway pleaded guilty to his charges, which 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:25.320 included violating a protective order twice. He was sentenced to 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:30.400 three years in prison. The documents don't show why Violet 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:49.080 Ellison was a witness against George Holloway. So Mara and 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:52.559 I get in the car and drive around for hours, 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.520 knocking on doors with a list of possible home addresses, 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:01.080 with no luck. I need to turn around. Finally, we 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:04.520 pull up to the last address on our list around Sunset, 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:06.960 a small brick house in Bessemer. 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:09.200 We're here. 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.240 You know, it's always a gamble, but we'll just give 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:17.360 it a whirl. At the same time, a truck stops 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:21.640 at the top of the house's driveway. Can you are 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:25.600 we blocking you? And out hops a man wearing grass 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:30.880 stained work clothes and a neon green shirt. Are you 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.920 going to this house we're looking for mister George Holloway. 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:36.400 Is that you? 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:40.760 That's okay, George, I'm sorry to show up here like this. 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:44.960 We are journalists and we are working on a story 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:50.160 about a case. And I launch into a spiel about 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:54.559 what we're up to, and George Holloway listens quietly as 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:58.360 we stand next to his mailbox. And so we're trying 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:02.480 to get information on her. Her name, Violet Ellison. Do 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:05.920 you know her? Do you have an opinion about her? 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.559 Or have any any information that you could give us 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:10.439 about her. 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:14.160 I know she's very corendicted. 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.800 She's I like to be involved in a lot of 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:27.080 stuff that doesn't involve her. She's very She's a very 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.960 messy lady, very messy. 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.440 George Holloway invites us into his living room to talk 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.520 more about his relationship with Violet Ellison. 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:51.480 She's not a reliable person that you would trust, that 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:54.760 you will put your faith in. And I would tell 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:59.960 anybody whatever you have to say, do not say it 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:01.840 in front of her. Because it is going to get 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:07.320 turned totally backwards. Is not gonna be said the way 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:11.920 that you said. My opinion, stay away from that woman 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:13.560 because she's troubled. 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:18.000 He tells us that he met Violet Ellison through his 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:22.760 ex girlfriend. It gets a little complicated, but it's like this. 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:27.560 George Holloway used to date a woman we'll call Sharon. 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:32.880 Before she was with George. Sharon dated Violet Ellison's son, 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:37.480 Reginald Smith, who's known as Red. George tells us that 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:40.760 when Sharon broke up with Red, she remained friends with 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:46.400 Violet Ellison, but he tells us Violet Ellison wanted Sharon 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:49.520 and her son Red to get back together, and she 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:53.720 thought George was in the way. George admits that he 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:56.880 and Sharon had a volatile relationship and because of that, 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.120 Sharon had a protective order against him. He says that 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:04.840 one night, he and Sharon had an argument in person, 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:09.840 violating the protective order. George says he left after the 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:14.440 argument and Sharon called police, but Violet Ellison later testified 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:18.560 that she heard and saw the whole thing firsthand. 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.640 She has said that you know she was there, she 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:30.840 witnessed it, but she was not there. She showed up 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:35.320 after everything had happened, and the pulviase was there on 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:36.880 the scene. 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:40.480 George tells us he decided to plead guilty to breaking 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:44.680 Sharon's protective order to wash his hands of the whole situation. 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:49.360 He says he hasn't seen Sharon, Violet Ellison, or her 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:55.280 son Read in years. George admits to physical fights with Sharon, 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:59.640 but it seems like his descriptions of these fights minimize 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:03.760 the vibe violence. We know there is another side to 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:08.720 the story, but Sharon doesn't respond to our interview requests. 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:14.240 I tell George about Violet Ellison's involvement into Forrest Johnson's 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:18.439 conviction and the five thousand dollars reward she was paid 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:19.280 in secret. 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:25.359 She would do anything possible that she can if money 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:29.119 is involved, even go to this extent to lie. 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:33.840 But he says Violet Ellison has an even stronger motivation 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.720 than money. Her son read. 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:44.760 She would do anything possible, anything and go to any 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:48.159 extent to keep us so out of trouble. 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.600 Multiple sources tell me that Red is a longtime drug user, 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:58.600 and court records show that he's been in and out 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:03.359 of jail. George says that Violet Ellison enabled her son. 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:05.840 She would cover up for. 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:08.879 Him, whether he was right of whether he was wrong. 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.160 You know, she knew he was doing things out there 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:16.879 in the street. But you know, if the police come, 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:20.080 she would lie and say he's not there. You know, 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:28.159 she would give police's informations leading to drug buses, people 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:33.640 that did robberies, and favor for them to drop charges 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:39.000 against Reginal, get the charges downgraded, you know, to keep 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:40.240 him from going to jail. 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:48.680 I leave the interview with George Holloway wondering could Red's 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:53.200 legal issues have motivated Violet Ellison to get involved with police. 0:18:54.720 --> 0:19:03.800 Was she after leniency for her son. A search of 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:07.760 public court records shows that Red has a lengthy list 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:12.200 of misdemeanor and felony convictions on his record going back 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:16.040 to nineteen eighty But I checked with the Alabama Department 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.320 of Corrections and they have no record of him ever 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:23.320 serving time in prison. This tracks with what one of 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:28.080 Violet Ellison's neighbors told me that Red is often in trouble, 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:34.639 but he's like teflon, nothing sticks. For example, in nineteen 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:39.040 ninety seven, Red was charged with robbery and theft when 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.959 he stole five watches from a department store. He pleaded 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:47.840 guilty and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, but 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:52.400 then the judge amended read sentence and granted him probation 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:56.800 instead of prison time. But there's no information about why 0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:00.960 his sentence was downgraded, and this happened less than a 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:06.000 month before the start of to Forrest's second trial. That 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:10.719 timing gets my attention. I wonder if it's possible that 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:15.520 Violet Ellison testified into Forrest's case in exchange for preferential 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:20.679 treatment for her son, But on further examination, that seems 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:24.600 like a long shot. The charges against Red in nineteen 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:28.560 ninety seven were in Bessemer, not Jefferson County, where to 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:33.720 Forest was tried, with different prosecutors and judges. But I 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:37.399 do know that Violet Ellison was involved in her son's 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:43.280 criminal defense. In a two thousand and seven burglary case. 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:48.440 Records show that Red's attorney met with the defendant and 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:54.320 his mother for three hours in two separate meetings. Red 0:20:54.320 --> 0:21:01.600 pleaded guilty in that case and got probation. Is read 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:05.360 getting preferential treatment because his mother has been a witness 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:10.720 for the state in multiple cases. I find no documentation 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:15.240 to support this, But then again, are deals like that 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:47.200 ever spelled out in court records? While looking through Red's files, 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:51.240 I notice an especially violent assault and battery from nineteen 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:55.840 ninety four. He was sentenced to supervised probation. I was 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:58.600 able to dig up a report of the incident, in 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:02.920 which police say Read spits on a woman, grabs her 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:06.919 by the neck and hair, and pulls her around a room. 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:11.520 A child is listed as a witness. The victim's name 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:15.240 is Anita Davis, and her most likely addresses are all 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:19.639 in central Georgia. So Mara and I get back in 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:23.240 the car and make the four hour drive to try 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:30.400 to find her. Hi, we're looking for Anita Davis. 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:32.200 She passed away. 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:33.840 Oh, I'm so sorry. 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:37.040 Are you her daughter? My name is Beth. 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:41.600 This is Maa. We are writers and we're working on 0:22:41.640 --> 0:22:45.600 a story about the wrongful conviction, and we're reaching out 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:48.440 to people that may know the great witness. Her name 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:49.560 is Violet Ellison. 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:54.960 Oh, I know who's my grandma? 0:22:55.080 --> 0:22:57.920 Oh okay, so Violet Ellison is your grandmother? 0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:00.000 Okay do you? 0:23:00.280 --> 0:23:06.439 Unexpectedly we find ourselves talking to Violet Ellison's granddaughter, Tyse Davis, 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:09.480 is in her fifties, but doesn't look a day over forty. 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:14.240 When I mentioned her grandmother, Violet Ellison, Tyise comes out 0:23:14.240 --> 0:23:17.560 from behind the screen door. She keeps her earbuds in 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:19.720 while we stand on the porch and talk. 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:23.159 What kind of grandmother was she? Was she involved in 0:23:23.200 --> 0:23:23.639 your life? 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:27.720 No? No, she told my day, Yo, kids ain't an 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:32.120 never mountain there. But then we're the kids that's been successful. 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:35.520 And now she's trying to come back around. 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:38.400 Yeah, so there's not like warm feelings. 0:23:38.680 --> 0:23:41.200 Yeah. 0:23:41.320 --> 0:23:44.600 So far, most of the people I've contacted about Violet 0:23:44.640 --> 0:23:48.320 Ellison had good reason to say negative things about her. 0:23:48.880 --> 0:23:53.640 Those were people who she testified against. But this feels different. 0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:58.280 We're hearing from a blood relative, a person connected to 0:23:58.359 --> 0:24:03.600 Violet Ellison through family. Tyist tells us she's retired from 0:24:03.640 --> 0:24:06.840 the Air Force. She moved to Georgia with her mom, 0:24:07.040 --> 0:24:10.159 Anita Davis, and her two brothers when they were kids. 0:24:11.080 --> 0:24:14.439 Tyis says it was to get away from the chaos 0:24:14.680 --> 0:24:18.199 surrounding her father's side of the family. We asked her 0:24:18.280 --> 0:24:22.040 about Red, what's the deal with Red? Her son? 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:26.800 Uh So that's my dad. Okay, I really know how 0:24:26.800 --> 0:24:29.159 to do him because he's been on drugs since I 0:24:29.359 --> 0:24:33.560 was nine eight or nine, Okay, he stayed with her, 0:24:33.640 --> 0:24:36.159 So you know you had a parents where you know, 0:24:36.200 --> 0:24:39.240 you know your child doing stuff, but you uphold it first. 0:24:39.359 --> 0:24:42.879 Is letting them know you wrong. Yeah, she upholds everything 0:24:42.920 --> 0:24:43.159 you did. 0:24:43.880 --> 0:24:48.720 That's exactly. Tys corroborates the picture already painted by George 0:24:48.720 --> 0:24:52.640 Holloway and a neighbor of Violet Ellison, telling us that 0:24:53.119 --> 0:24:57.480 she readily involves herself and other people's criminal issues, but 0:24:57.640 --> 0:25:01.480 does whatever she can to protect her sl read when 0:25:01.560 --> 0:25:02.679 he gets into trouble. 0:25:03.960 --> 0:25:05.879 You don't need neighborhood to watch with her. But she 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:08.520 only if she only noticed what she wanted notice, Because 0:25:08.520 --> 0:25:10.760 if her son was breaking into somebody house but steriously, 0:25:10.760 --> 0:25:13.560 she didn't see that, but anything else she would see. 0:25:13.640 --> 0:25:15.480 So yeah, that type of stuff. 0:25:15.800 --> 0:25:19.600 We explained why we're interested in Violet Ellison and her son, 0:25:20.320 --> 0:25:23.520 and Tys tells us she had recently heard about her 0:25:23.560 --> 0:25:27.320 grandmother's involvement into Forrest Johnson's case. 0:25:27.800 --> 0:25:31.320 So I wasn't surprised when I heard it because if 0:25:31.359 --> 0:25:35.280 it involved money, I wouldn't be surprised. 0:25:35.480 --> 0:25:37.840 Well, and it did. I mean she was paid five 0:25:37.920 --> 0:25:38.720 thousand dollars. 0:25:38.800 --> 0:25:41.120 Yeah, so I wouldn't be surprised. Like when I heard 0:25:41.160 --> 0:25:43.600 the story, I was like, Yeah, I'm not surprised at all. 0:25:44.480 --> 0:25:50.399 She's money homer. So that's the issue that would, like 0:25:50.440 --> 0:25:52.199 I said, will say anything to get money. 0:25:52.280 --> 0:25:54.000 Why is she like that any idea? 0:25:54.400 --> 0:25:58.359 No, even like I said, growing up, I had nothing 0:25:58.400 --> 0:26:01.439 to do with them. For instance, I'm gonna give you 0:26:01.440 --> 0:26:02.040 an example. 0:26:03.080 --> 0:26:06.600 Ty East tells us that Violet Ellison was distant when 0:26:06.600 --> 0:26:10.600 she was a child, but then right after Tyst joined 0:26:10.640 --> 0:26:13.720 the Air Force, she got a call from her grandmother. 0:26:14.440 --> 0:26:17.440 Haven't done nothing for me, her gray child, haven't done 0:26:17.480 --> 0:26:20.920 nothing for me. When I joined the military, she said, hey, 0:26:20.920 --> 0:26:22.880 I need your Social Security number so I can get insurance. 0:26:22.880 --> 0:26:25.760 Po this on you just in case you know, something 0:26:25.800 --> 0:26:26.199 happened to. 0:26:26.200 --> 0:26:27.199 You and we can bury you. 0:26:28.040 --> 0:26:30.680 I'm fine with the military got me covered and that 0:26:30.760 --> 0:26:32.400 stuff and go to my mom. So why you need 0:26:32.400 --> 0:26:36.040 my social But you ain't never decide to do that before. 0:26:36.880 --> 0:26:37.800 So stuff like that. 0:26:38.920 --> 0:26:42.080 But I'm not surprised with the money thing. And I 0:26:42.119 --> 0:26:46.720 hate that this man could be innocent and for five 0:26:46.720 --> 0:26:50.360 thousand dollars he's on did he for five thousand dollars? 0:26:50.680 --> 0:26:53.200 But she testified under oath that she did not know 0:26:53.240 --> 0:26:56.480 about the reward. She didn't know that any money was involved. 0:27:00.040 --> 0:27:06.680 So exactly, my brother said, she ain't testified against nentheless 0:27:06.720 --> 0:27:07.600 is money involved. 0:27:08.640 --> 0:27:12.520 All of a sudden, we realize that Tyss has earbuds 0:27:12.560 --> 0:27:17.800 in because she's on the phone with someone. It's her brother, Tony. 0:27:17.840 --> 0:27:19.280 Oh okay, is he here? 0:27:19.720 --> 0:27:19.960 Yeah? 0:27:20.040 --> 0:27:22.359 Do you think he would talk to us? Would it 0:27:22.359 --> 0:27:24.360 be possible for us to come see him too? 0:27:25.040 --> 0:27:31.919 You're fine with that, Tony, Okay, he would just have 0:27:32.000 --> 0:27:32.239 to Ki. 0:27:34.240 --> 0:27:38.200 Violet Ellison's grandson, Tony lives about ten minutes away from 0:27:38.240 --> 0:27:41.679 his sister Tye. We get to his house and the 0:27:41.680 --> 0:27:45.640 front yard is filled with cars in various states of repair. 0:27:46.160 --> 0:27:47.879 He's waiting for us on the porch. 0:27:49.520 --> 0:27:53.000 Hello, Hi, how are you are you? 0:27:53.040 --> 0:27:53.359 Tony? 0:27:54.480 --> 0:27:58.520 After he finishes extracting an old bird's nest from the rafters, 0:27:59.119 --> 0:28:01.080 Tony talks to us us for forty minutes. 0:28:02.000 --> 0:28:03.760 I can tell you one thing about my grandma. She 0:28:03.920 --> 0:28:06.320 is a that's a true scam artist. 0:28:06.760 --> 0:28:07.320 That's the truth. 0:28:07.359 --> 0:28:07.960 I hate to see it. 0:28:08.000 --> 0:28:10.199 I know that's my grandmother, but that's a true scam 0:28:10.240 --> 0:28:12.840 audi deal any way she can get a dollar telling 0:28:12.800 --> 0:28:14.840 you she ain't that type that's just gonna help him out, 0:28:14.880 --> 0:28:15.920 just to help them. 0:28:16.480 --> 0:28:18.560 It gotta have money, it got it. 0:28:18.640 --> 0:28:21.520 Gotta have money involved. Wow, it just had it. It 0:28:21.560 --> 0:28:23.200 gotta have You ain't got money involved. 0:28:25.440 --> 0:28:29.080