1 00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:03,720 Speaker 1: I've never been in trouble in my life. I didn't 2 00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:05,360 Speaker 1: even have a parking ticket, you know what I mean. 3 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:08,960 Speaker 1: I was brought up like cops are the good guys. 4 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:11,640 Speaker 1: I didn't know what was going to happen, but I 5 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: do know that everything was stacked against me. Everything like everything. 6 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 2: This isn't supposed to happen this way. 7 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:21,800 Speaker 1: I'm innocent. 8 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 2: I know I'm innocent. 9 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: I know I had nothing to do with this. 10 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 2: How is this possible? 11 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 3: I grew up trusting the systems. I've grew up believing 12 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:33,639 Speaker 3: that every human being should do the right thing. And 13 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:35,559 Speaker 3: that's why, even though I knew I was dealing with 14 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 3: Coreugh people, I wasn't going to break anyone to get 15 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 3: me out of prison because I wouldn't live with the 16 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:42,840 Speaker 3: fact that I break my way out of my wife's death. 17 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,479 Speaker 1: I'm not innocent, too proven guilty. I'm guilty until I 18 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: prove my innocence. And that's absolutely what happened to me. 19 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:51,839 Speaker 1: Our system. 20 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 4: Since I've been out ten years, it has come a 21 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 4: little ways, but it's still broken. 22 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 3: I totally lot trusting humanity after what's happened to me. 23 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 4: This is wrongful conviction. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with 24 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 4: Jason Flamm. Today's episode features two extraordinary people. Steve Fishman, 25 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 4: the journalist who was the host of Empire on Blood, 26 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 4: which played a role in the ultimate reversal of the 27 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:36,560 Speaker 4: conviction of our other guest who was in prison for 28 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 4: over two decades for a double murder he didn't commit. 29 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:41,400 Speaker 4: And that's Calvin. 30 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 5: Bar Calvin Buari was convicted of a double homicide in 31 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 5: nineteen ninety five, but maintained he was innocent for more 32 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 5: than two decades. He was released last year after his 33 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 5: conviction was overturned, but prosecutors threatened to retry the case 34 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 5: until last week. 35 00:01:58,240 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 4: So Steve, welcome to the show. 36 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 2: Thanks for having me. 37 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 4: Jason and Calvin Welcome to Wrongful Conviction. 38 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 1: Thank you. Thanks for having me. 39 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 4: Jason, Let's get right into the story, because your story 40 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:12,840 Speaker 4: has more twists and turns than a Hollywood movie. I 41 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 4: would say, let's go back to the beginning. Calvin, where 42 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 4: did you grow up? 43 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 1: I grew up in the Bronx. I grew up at 44 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: nine to twenty two East to eleventh Street in the 45 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:25,960 Speaker 1: northeast section of the Bronx Wakefield area. 46 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 4: And what was that like? What was your childhood, Like, 47 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 4: did you have brothers, sisters? Were your parents at home? 48 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 4: Was it a tough neighborhood? What was the situation growing up? 49 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: That's where I was born, But I was moving around. 50 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: Where was that At one time? I was staying in Brooklyn, 51 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:44,919 Speaker 1: in the Brownsville area. You know, it's very rough, especially 52 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: in the seventies at that time. I was a baby 53 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 1: when I was in the Bronx, but I came back 54 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,359 Speaker 1: to the Bronx because that's where my grandmother lived and 55 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: my mother ended up moving back with her mother. 56 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 4: Your dad wasn't around, No, my. 57 00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: Dad wasn't around. He left me when I was about 58 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: I think three or four years old. 59 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:03,919 Speaker 4: And what about brothers and sisters. 60 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: I have one brother, one younger brother who's a year 61 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: younger than me. His name is Abdul b That's just 62 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,080 Speaker 1: a brother on my mother's side. I have a whole 63 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: lot of other siblings on my father's side as well 64 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: that I just recently started getting in contact with. 65 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:27,639 Speaker 4: Got it, Okay, So you grew up in well difficult circumstances, right, 66 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 4: dodge in trouble and ultimately getting into getting into trouble, 67 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 4: but not the trouble that you were convicted of right. No, 68 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 4: absolutely not, and that's part of the crazy story. So 69 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 4: you were known as a fixture in the drug trade 70 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 4: at the time that this went on, right, Yes, And 71 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 4: you were in the crosshairs of the police as a 72 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 4: result of the fact that you were a known dealer. 73 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: Yes. 74 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 4: And can you just give us a quick overview of 75 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 4: what your life was like when you were in the 76 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 4: game in the Bronx back then. 77 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: I mean, when I was in the game, I could 78 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: say I was on top of my game, my lifestyle 79 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: was good, I had money, and I was doing well, 80 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,480 Speaker 1: you know. So I don't know what else I could 81 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: say about that. 82 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:17,080 Speaker 6: I mean I could have add at a little bit 83 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:22,040 Speaker 6: of few details. Cal sometimes likes to talk about him, 84 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 6: but you know that's not who he is now. So 85 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 6: I understand a little shyness about it. But Cal is 86 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 6: he most told me he was living the life. And 87 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 6: we think of people imitating rap stars now, but rap 88 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 6: stars back then were imitating people like Cal So. He 89 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:39,480 Speaker 6: had a couple of mink coats, he had a matching 90 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 6: mink hat. He had two what he called black Man's wishes, 91 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 6: which b m W. The car that let people know 92 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:55,360 Speaker 6: that he made it and I think, yeah, that was 93 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 6: part of the great thrill of it. But in the end, 94 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 6: that brought a lot of attention into the can at 95 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:01,719 Speaker 6: the wrong kind of attention. 96 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 4: I'm not judging one way or the other. I don't 97 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 4: think anybody can unless they walk a mile in your shoes. 98 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:13,279 Speaker 4: That being said, how did this crazy situation unfold? You 99 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 4: were convicted of a murder in nineteen ninety two, So 100 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 4: on that faithful night of September tenth, nineteen ninety two, 101 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 4: two brothers, Elijah and Saladin Harris, twenty four and twenty 102 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:27,720 Speaker 4: five years old, were murdered in cold blood as they 103 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 4: sat in the car eating their food. And that's what 104 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:35,280 Speaker 4: started this whole chain of events that led to your 105 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 4: wrong for conviction. Yes, were you there at the time. 106 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: I wasn't on the scene where the crime happened at 107 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: I was in the middle of the block. It was 108 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:50,119 Speaker 1: probably what like five hundred or one thousand feet away 109 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: from where the incident actually took place when it had happened. 110 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: But I was always in and around that area at 111 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: all times. That was the block that I was known 112 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:02,480 Speaker 1: for selling drugs at. 113 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 6: Just to set the scene. One of the things that's 114 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 6: kind of incredible. Cow was a drug distributor, a very 115 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 6: good one. I mean, he's got immense entrepreneurial talents, which 116 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 6: also served him well when he was in prison and 117 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:19,039 Speaker 6: managing his own case. 118 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:21,800 Speaker 2: But the thing that's incredible. 119 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 6: Going back to the late eighties early nineties, is that 120 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 6: the cops target Cow and they say it out loud. 121 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:34,840 Speaker 6: It's in the newspaper, we want Cow Buari and they 122 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:39,039 Speaker 6: go so far as to say he's not only a murderer, 123 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:43,919 Speaker 6: we believe a drug dealer who walks around flaunting his success, 124 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 6: but he knows black magic. 125 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, that was like the biggest propaganda in the world. 126 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: I think that only happened because they figured out that 127 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 1: I had an African last name, and instead of me 128 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: knowing this black magic as they proclaimed, they were the 129 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: ones that were really on the witch hunt and they 130 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,800 Speaker 1: just wanted me by all means necessary. And one of 131 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,680 Speaker 1: the things that I learned later is this is the 132 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: way that Alan Caren when he mentions how you know, 133 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 1: he utilized different tactics and angles, that was actually one 134 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 1: of his biggest tools. Because what happened was when I 135 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 1: went to trial, not only did he ambush me with surprise, 136 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: witnesses that me or my lawyer didn't know about who 137 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 1: was coming into wrongly accuse me. He also utilized the media, 138 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:47,240 Speaker 1: so now jurors were actually getting that article delivered in 139 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: little flyers to their houses while I was on trial. 140 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 4: Wow, you never heard telling before? 141 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 2: Yeah? 142 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 6: Yeah, I think there was even like a newsletter, a 143 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 6: co op newsletter. 144 00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 2: That did this. 145 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 6: And you know, Alan Karen's the prosecute. He works for 146 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 6: the bronx DA, He's got a big reputation. He comes 147 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:07,080 Speaker 6: in like they're throwing their heavy hitter at it because 148 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:12,000 Speaker 6: they want Col. And you know Cal has in their minds. 149 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 6: I think he's you've been accused of another murder and 150 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 6: Cal keeps eluding them, and this kind of engenders this 151 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:25,679 Speaker 6: ferocity on their part to let's get Cow. 152 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 4: And that's something that I talk about a lot. You know, 153 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:32,959 Speaker 4: when they take this talk about black magic like a 154 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,240 Speaker 4: witch hunter, they decide they're going to get Col. Right. 155 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:39,680 Speaker 4: That means, now this double murder happens, are like, how convenient, 156 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 4: we'll pin this on you. But in the meantime, that 157 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 4: means by definition that they're totally willing to ignore the 158 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 4: actual killer or killers, who are then going to be 159 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 4: free to go do it again. But I want to 160 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 4: go back a little bit because there you are five 161 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 4: hundred one thousand feet away whatever shots ring out. I mean, 162 00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 4: this was a very violent time, right was there a 163 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 4: were shootings a frequent thing in the neighborhood. 164 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:07,680 Speaker 1: I mean in that era, murders were at an all 165 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:09,800 Speaker 1: time high in New York. I think at that time 166 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:12,959 Speaker 1: was the murder capital. You know, you had two thousand 167 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:16,560 Speaker 1: and something murders a year. Looking back at that time 168 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:19,840 Speaker 1: and that age, you know, literally I knew that when 169 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:22,680 Speaker 1: I was in the lifestyle I was in. Every day 170 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:24,839 Speaker 1: that I walked out my house, I knew I was 171 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:27,760 Speaker 1: putting my life on the line. But you know, to me, 172 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 1: it was a sacrifice because I felt like I had 173 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 1: to beat the man of my household because my father 174 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:37,080 Speaker 1: wasn't around and I was the oldest sibling, and my 175 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 1: mother lost a job and she was struggling. 176 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:45,119 Speaker 4: So even in a neighborhood where shootings were a regular occurrence, 177 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:49,280 Speaker 4: this was a double murder of two brothers, and you 178 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:51,000 Speaker 4: heard the shots. Did you go to the scenes, and 179 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:53,599 Speaker 4: then how did it happen? When did the arrest happen, 180 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:55,760 Speaker 4: and when did you start to see that this was 181 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:57,120 Speaker 4: really going to be your undoing. 182 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: After that happened, I had immediately ran to the opposite 183 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:04,440 Speaker 1: end of the block and I was with a friend 184 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,480 Speaker 1: of mine's, John Parris, you know may rest in Piec's 185 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 1: not here today. And then when I walked back up 186 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,360 Speaker 1: to the block, we walked to his house because he 187 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: had drugs on him, and we started seeing police come 188 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:20,160 Speaker 1: to the corner of the block, so we wanted to 189 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 1: know what was going on because we just heard the 190 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:25,400 Speaker 1: shots go off. So once he had took what he 191 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:27,480 Speaker 1: had in the house, we walked up to the block 192 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:29,959 Speaker 1: and that's when I found out that two guys had 193 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:30,600 Speaker 1: got murdered. 194 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 4: Did you know those guys? No? 195 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:33,160 Speaker 1: I didn't. 196 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 4: Were you arrested on the spot or no, I wasn't. 197 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 1: I was arrested six months later. I was arrested because 198 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:44,680 Speaker 1: Aldrick Griffin, he was one of the leaders of the 199 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 1: Shower Posse, the Jamaican gang called the Shower Posse, and 200 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 1: from the records that I had read, he had gotten 201 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:55,600 Speaker 1: locked up for inoperable or a firearm, a weapon, and 202 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:58,960 Speaker 1: I think some drugs. He already wanted to get me 203 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:01,960 Speaker 1: off the block because he was also my competition of 204 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: course the street. So that's how I got arrested. He 205 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: falsely accused me for killing the Harvest brothers. 206 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 6: And remember, I mean this block gets called eventually Corner 207 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:16,960 Speaker 6: on Blood, right on that corner, and you know, some 208 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 6: years later, there's like seven eight nine shootings within the 209 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:23,920 Speaker 6: span of a month, so this becomes a very very 210 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:27,480 Speaker 6: hot block. Juliani comes in, he wants to clean it up. 211 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 6: Calf kind of falls into that to that profile in 212 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 6: a big way. But when they first arrest him, I 213 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 6: think it's March of ninety three, so that's like six 214 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 6: months after the actual executions. It's an aspirational arrest. I mean, 215 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:49,160 Speaker 6: they got one witness who may or may not hold 216 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 6: up in court, but they want Cal off the street. 217 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 6: So hey, we're gonna throw him in jail for as 218 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:56,600 Speaker 6: long as we can, and we're going to try and 219 00:11:56,679 --> 00:12:01,080 Speaker 6: develop a case while we're holding him, and they don't 220 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:04,040 Speaker 6: have a case. It takes some years, and the thing 221 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:07,240 Speaker 6: that comes out is that they're actually about to walk 222 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 6: away from this case. They're completely bluffing. Cal mentions Alan Karen, 223 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:17,480 Speaker 6: the prosecutor, and really he tells me in the podcast 224 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:21,280 Speaker 6: he had no case. He says I was bluffing. I 225 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 6: was going to take this as far as I could 226 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 6: and then dismiss it. And then there's a twist and 227 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:30,960 Speaker 6: a turn that intervenes three years later. 228 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:35,360 Speaker 1: I wanted to touch on that too. I literally have 229 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 1: to commence Steve because I think that he did a 230 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 1: more thorough investigation than any prosecutor, than any lawyer that 231 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:46,480 Speaker 1: I ever had, than any detective that was ever on 232 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:50,400 Speaker 1: my case. And he talked to every single individual that 233 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:53,559 Speaker 1: had anything to do with my case. And you know, 234 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:56,400 Speaker 1: with that bluff that he said, that was a violation 235 00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:59,600 Speaker 1: of the sixth Amendment to my speedy trial rights. He 236 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:01,920 Speaker 1: never had had a case against me. They always knew 237 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:06,000 Speaker 1: that that guy initially was lying. When he got arrested, 238 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:09,200 Speaker 1: he immediately went back to Jamaica. He wasn't trying to 239 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: cooperate with them. He just utilized me to get out 240 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:15,320 Speaker 1: of jail and possibly get back on the block to 241 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:17,960 Speaker 1: try to take over what I had going on out there, 242 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:22,560 Speaker 1: you understand. And the sad part about it is when 243 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:26,160 Speaker 1: you talk about Alan Caaren, you talk about one of 244 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:29,480 Speaker 1: Robert Johnson's leading hitman, so speak. 245 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:32,840 Speaker 6: That Johnson's the district attorney in the Bronx for twenty 246 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:33,560 Speaker 6: five years. 247 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, and with him it's sad because I know that 248 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:43,520 Speaker 1: that man has a lot of individuals possibly in prison 249 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:47,720 Speaker 1: right now for cases they didn't commit. And with Robert Johnson, 250 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 1: the reason why I brought him up is because under 251 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:54,120 Speaker 1: his tenure, the Bronx had the most Brady violation and 252 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: prosbittorial misconduct violations than any other borough and none of 253 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,440 Speaker 1: them ever has been chastised or punished for none of 254 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 1: these acts. So when they get away with doing these things, 255 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:08,960 Speaker 1: they walk around as though they are above the law, 256 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 1: like with impunity that they have no punity. So it's 257 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:17,360 Speaker 1: just sad, you know, rather than see justice done, Alan Cameron, 258 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: rather uphold the conviction. And that's who this man is. 259 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: And it's just a lot of other people that I 260 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:27,440 Speaker 1: know that are in the situation that I am, because 261 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:30,320 Speaker 1: when this God took a set on you, he was 262 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:32,920 Speaker 1: gonna go by all means to take you down, period 263 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 1: and he showed that clearly when he spoke to Steve. 264 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: He has no impunity for that, you know. 265 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 4: No, it's something that we talk about unwrungful conviction a lot, 266 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,960 Speaker 4: which is that until we are able to get rid 267 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:50,720 Speaker 4: of prosecutorial immunity, which is almost total but probably the 268 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 4: only profession that enjoys that type of protection. Right almost 269 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:56,360 Speaker 4: any job that you do. If you're a doctor and 270 00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:58,240 Speaker 4: you mess up, you know you're going down. I mean, 271 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:00,600 Speaker 4: it's like and there's so many exis samples of that, 272 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:05,760 Speaker 4: but they're able to get away with just insane things. 273 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:09,120 Speaker 4: I mean, it's the most powerful position in the justice system. 274 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 4: I think most people think that a judge has an 275 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:14,560 Speaker 4: ultimate authority, but we know, those of us who are 276 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 4: in this business know that the prosecutor has so much power. 277 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 4: They can drop charges whenever they want to, for whatever 278 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:25,240 Speaker 4: reason they want to. They can throw the harshest penalties 279 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:28,560 Speaker 4: at you. In an attempt to bluff, as you said, 280 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:30,320 Speaker 4: to get you to cop a plea. 281 00:15:30,360 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 6: Cal Is offered a plea three years, three years, and 282 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 6: he turned it down because he's innocent. And you know, 283 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:41,120 Speaker 6: to your point about the prosecutors, one thing that happens 284 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:47,479 Speaker 6: is the system gives them, legitimately by law, enormous advantages. 285 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:53,320 Speaker 6: Now imagine six witnesses come forward and testify against cal 286 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 6: and they're really drug dealers who have been in the 287 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:01,600 Speaker 6: scene or people who have committed crimes, and the prosecution 288 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,680 Speaker 6: is allowed to encouraged to hand out deals. 289 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 4: Sure. 290 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:05,800 Speaker 2: And so. 291 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 6: There's actually a guy in prison and they go to 292 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 6: him and they say how long you want to do 293 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:16,840 Speaker 6: right or you can testify against Cal. By the way, 294 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 6: there's a guy who's very close to Cal. This all happens. 295 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:22,600 Speaker 6: It's a kind of intimate drama. It all happens within 296 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 6: most of it, within a circle. But the second advantage, 297 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 6: and this is what really shocked me. I think when 298 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:33,400 Speaker 6: I looked at the transcript, you know, eleven hundred pages thick, 299 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:36,080 Speaker 6: Cal had it sent to me. This is of a 300 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 6: trial in nineteen ninety five. As Cal alluded to. The 301 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 6: prosecutor goes to the judge and says, Calvin Buwari black magic, 302 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 6: Calvin Bari is so dangerous. We need an order of protection. 303 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,920 Speaker 6: The judge says, all right, you know, I mean the 304 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:55,720 Speaker 6: judge isn't running this. It's the prosecution that's running this. 305 00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:58,000 Speaker 6: He says, okay, I don't want to be on the 306 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:00,000 Speaker 6: front page of the New York Post if something happened. 307 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 6: And so that means that Cal and his attorney cannot 308 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 6: know who is going to testify against him until the 309 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:13,119 Speaker 6: witness walks to the stand. Now, I mean, imagine that 310 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 6: kind of disadvantage, and that's legal. To your point, Jason, 311 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:21,600 Speaker 6: there's a kind of immunity. Whether I don't think it's 312 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:25,919 Speaker 6: in the law, but it in practice. Prosecutors are not 313 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 6: held to account for there. Let's give it the best, 314 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 6: the best interpretation. They're mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes are due 315 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:38,919 Speaker 6: to overzealousness or refusal to look at the facts, and 316 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 6: it doesn't have an impact on a career, so you know, recidivism, 317 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 6: that's what we're talking about, right. 318 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 4: They are in fact immune in so many ways. There's 319 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,200 Speaker 4: a things that I want to highlight. One is that 320 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:06,800 Speaker 4: had they really believed that you murdered two people in 321 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 4: cold blood, there's no possibility they would have offered you 322 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 4: three years. That's ridiculous, right, That's just I mean that 323 00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:16,159 Speaker 4: you have you really have to suspend a lot of 324 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 4: layers of disbelief in order to try to give yourself 325 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:22,439 Speaker 4: around that one. And what you were talking about is 326 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:25,960 Speaker 4: a legal principle that was developed in England centuries ago, 327 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,920 Speaker 4: which is called trial by ambush, right, which was where 328 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,600 Speaker 4: they would not tell the defense anything that they were 329 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 4: going to say or do. Or who they were going 330 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 4: to bring in. Their thought was that this way they 331 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,120 Speaker 4: would get to the truth because they would just use 332 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 4: this surprise tactic that but of course it's just patently unfair. 333 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:45,439 Speaker 4: And now we have, you know, the Brady decision from 334 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:49,000 Speaker 4: nineteen sixty four, in which the Supreme Court said that 335 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:54,800 Speaker 4: prosecutors have a duty, that obligation to disclose exculpatory evidence 336 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:57,320 Speaker 4: to the defense. But they left it up to the 337 00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:00,760 Speaker 4: prosecutors to decide what they considered to be operatory. So 338 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:03,200 Speaker 4: they really they had it right, and then they sort 339 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:06,040 Speaker 4: of pulled the rugout from under their own decision, which 340 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:08,800 Speaker 4: left us in this situation where we see time and 341 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:11,880 Speaker 4: again in New York State, it's common that they sometimes 342 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:13,959 Speaker 4: they turn it over the day of the trial too, right, 343 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:15,760 Speaker 4: so it's like, oh, here's the stuff, and then what 344 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:18,480 Speaker 4: are you supposed to do? Like, you can't, you can't, 345 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:19,520 Speaker 4: you can't examine it. 346 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:23,120 Speaker 1: And investigate, you can't do anything. It's absolutely what you said, 347 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:25,600 Speaker 1: it's a trial by ambush, I mean, and that's how 348 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: it was ultimately sambag and convicted. Because if you're looking 349 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:31,560 Speaker 1: at the ambush and you're looking at the media that 350 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:34,919 Speaker 1: was brought up against me. Then you have six individuals 351 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:37,159 Speaker 1: that say they know me and some of them I 352 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:40,959 Speaker 1: didn't know. Then you got a conviction. I'm not innocent, 353 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 1: too proven guilty. I'm guilty until I prove my innocence. 354 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:46,960 Speaker 1: And that's absolutely what happened to me. But I also 355 00:19:47,119 --> 00:19:50,320 Speaker 1: think that Alan caeron to to touch more on that 356 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:54,439 Speaker 1: point that Steve brought up. He was actually promoted after 357 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:59,040 Speaker 1: all of that. He was Robert Johnson's ADA top dog 358 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:02,359 Speaker 1: in that off and he allowed him to do whatever 359 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,600 Speaker 1: he wanted to. That's why he has that attitude that 360 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:09,520 Speaker 1: he has. Would you believe that out of four file folders, 361 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:13,440 Speaker 1: three of those filefolders went missing in my case completely? 362 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,800 Speaker 1: So you know this is the new tactic that Alan 363 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:20,879 Speaker 1: Karon employed. He's not only gonna turn over the sculpatory evidence, 364 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: he gonna make sure that any esculpatory evidence just disappears, period. 365 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:28,680 Speaker 1: So what do you do now when you have evidence 366 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,800 Speaker 1: that they have in their possession they possibly always knew 367 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,359 Speaker 1: I didn't commit the crime that you're gonna never be 368 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 1: able to get your hands on. There's also some type 369 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:39,520 Speaker 1: of justice reform that needs to be done with that. 370 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:42,480 Speaker 1: I think that there needs to be an open case 371 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:46,880 Speaker 1: file with the defense attorney and the prosecutor. Because there 372 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,640 Speaker 1: are both officers of the court, they share the same 373 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,960 Speaker 1: ethical duty. It shouldn't be a disadvantage where they have 374 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:56,480 Speaker 1: all the power. And then if you have anything that 375 00:20:56,520 --> 00:21:00,080 Speaker 1: can support your position and you'll never get it. 376 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:02,439 Speaker 4: Yeah, you'll never know about it, and it is crazy. 377 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 4: But the fact is that, as we all know, in 378 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,720 Speaker 4: a civil trial, everyone has to turn over everything and 379 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 4: all you're arguing about is money. In this case, they 380 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,480 Speaker 4: were arguing about your life and that's for some reason 381 00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 4: that's not treated with the same level of respect by 382 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 4: the justice system as money is, which just strikes me 383 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,719 Speaker 4: as Alice in Wonderland, like completely upside down and inside out. 384 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:24,240 Speaker 4: It doesn't make any damn sense. So back to you, 385 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 4: did you know after you go through this trial, they 386 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:30,920 Speaker 4: have these witnesses, every one of which was an incentivized witness, right, 387 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,399 Speaker 4: and you know, had every reason to lie. They didn't 388 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:36,360 Speaker 4: really care about you. In some cases they wanted you 389 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,119 Speaker 4: convicted because, as Robinson did, he wanted you off the 390 00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:41,640 Speaker 4: street so he could have it to himself. So, I mean, 391 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:45,600 Speaker 4: he had multiple reasons he was getting off and he 392 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 4: was going into a better business situation. Yeah, because his 393 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:51,119 Speaker 4: main competitor was going to be behind bars. So when 394 00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:53,080 Speaker 4: the jury went out, did you think you had a 395 00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:55,600 Speaker 4: snowballs chance in hell of being vindicated? 396 00:21:55,880 --> 00:22:01,080 Speaker 1: I mean, truthfully, I put them even God and at 397 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:03,399 Speaker 1: that time, and I'm taking myself back to that time, 398 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,000 Speaker 1: I didn't know what was gonna happen, but I do 399 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,920 Speaker 1: know that, you know, everything was stacked against me, everything 400 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: like everything. 401 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:14,480 Speaker 6: Let me just add to that because Dwight Robinson, he's 402 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:19,200 Speaker 6: a key, key character. He's a guy who he idolized 403 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:24,080 Speaker 6: cal He's four years younger. He admires Cal and then 404 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:28,200 Speaker 6: for whatever internal dynamics, he feels spurned. 405 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:28,879 Speaker 2: He's hurt. 406 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:32,719 Speaker 6: He's also at the same time really ambitious, and that 407 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:39,360 Speaker 6: results in an attempted murder of cal So. Dwight Robinson 408 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:44,560 Speaker 6: emerges as the central witness. He organizes the prosecution. The 409 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:48,000 Speaker 6: prosecutor uses the word to me. He says, Dwight Robinson 410 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:52,960 Speaker 6: was a gift. Dwight is bringing people into the prosecutor's 411 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,959 Speaker 6: office in the back of police cruisers, so he is 412 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,159 Speaker 6: not only an arm of the prosecution, he's like a 413 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:03,760 Speaker 6: lieutenant of the prosecution. They can't do it without him. 414 00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 6: He has just I think three months prior, tried to 415 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 6: murder cow in a week's pro three weeks prior, just 416 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:16,160 Speaker 6: in a halle of bullets in an ambush, right, And 417 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:21,439 Speaker 6: that information it's kept from the jury in this sense, 418 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:26,280 Speaker 6: it's brought up. Dwight denies it on the stand. At 419 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:28,960 Speaker 6: the same time, according to Dwight, and Dwight spent a 420 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:31,040 Speaker 6: lot of time talking to me. According to Dwight, it's 421 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:35,679 Speaker 6: common knowledge among the prosecutions, certainly among the cops or 422 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:39,160 Speaker 6: the detectives. And at one point I said to Dwight, 423 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 6: I said, were you surprised that they let you commit 424 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:45,959 Speaker 6: perjury on the stand? And he said, nah, nah, I 425 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:49,840 Speaker 6: understood the game. It's dirty all around. You tell the truth, 426 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:53,520 Speaker 6: you're going to lose every time. That may be the 427 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:57,080 Speaker 6: most chilling thing that I heard, you know, that kind 428 00:23:57,119 --> 00:24:01,879 Speaker 6: of organization, that kind of organing of the prosecution. 429 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:05,680 Speaker 2: In fact, that kind of by Dwight Robinson, that kind. 430 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:11,280 Speaker 6: Of utilizing of the prosecution, becoming this collaborator of the prosecution. 431 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:14,680 Speaker 6: And I think cal used the phrase trying to kill 432 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,640 Speaker 6: cow by other means. He failed with bullets, So now 433 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 6: he teams up in the prosecution. And by the way, 434 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,240 Speaker 6: Dwight admits that he says, yeah, I wanted to get 435 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:28,560 Speaker 6: Cal off the street, and I saw this opportunity. So 436 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 6: Cal has to spend the next two decades of his 437 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 6: life proving the Dwight Robinson, this guy once idolized him. 438 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:35,959 Speaker 2: Is a liar. 439 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,800 Speaker 6: And that's I mean, that's a drama that shouldn't be 440 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:40,080 Speaker 6: imposed on to anybody. 441 00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:42,440 Speaker 2: But it is an amazing drama to follow. 442 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:44,159 Speaker 4: And let's get to that because that's one of the 443 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:47,360 Speaker 4: more interesting aspects of this case, I think, is that 444 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:51,240 Speaker 4: you end up being convicted. Yes, you were sentenced to 445 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:54,720 Speaker 4: fifty years of life, fifty the life, right, so that's 446 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:58,680 Speaker 4: pretty much game over. But he didn't give up. It 447 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:00,560 Speaker 4: would have been pretty easy to give up that point, 448 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,400 Speaker 4: you know, I mean, you have now seen the justice 449 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,320 Speaker 4: system at its worst, and you know what they're capable of. 450 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:12,119 Speaker 4: You know that they're they're hiding stuff, they're bringing on witnesses. 451 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:14,800 Speaker 1: I was cooperating with his sentence to lie. 452 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:18,439 Speaker 4: And the most nefarious characters they're bringing onto the stand, 453 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 4: like Robinson, right, who they knew was a bad guy, right, 454 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:24,480 Speaker 4: but they didn't care. So you know what they're capable 455 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:27,480 Speaker 4: of you know, how steep of a hill you've got 456 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,679 Speaker 4: to climb now, because it just got one hundred times 457 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,439 Speaker 4: harder because now you're behind bars and you're looking at 458 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:38,000 Speaker 4: fifty to life. And then things get really interesting all 459 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 4: of a sudden when you get a letter in the mail, right. 460 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, I've received a foot from Dwight Robinson. 461 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:46,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, eight years after his conviction. 462 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:48,119 Speaker 4: And where were you serving at this point? 463 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:51,120 Speaker 1: I was an upstate correctional facility at that. 464 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 4: Time, maximum security, yes, right. 465 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:58,200 Speaker 1: And when he wrote me, he started explaining, like I've 466 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:00,919 Speaker 1: seen them remorse in them, because you know, one of 467 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,199 Speaker 1: the things that or jumped out with me is the 468 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: fact that he started saying, you know, Cal, I'm on 469 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:09,400 Speaker 1: the inside looking out now. You know, I know your 470 00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:12,360 Speaker 1: hand and called for this, and you know, I started 471 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:15,159 Speaker 1: to sense some type of remorse, you know, when it 472 00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 1: started from. 473 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,080 Speaker 4: There to wait, he was in prison writing to you. 474 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:22,359 Speaker 6: Yes, he had been convicted of a different murder under 475 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:27,359 Speaker 6: very remarkably similar circumstances. But so Dwight's doing twenty five 476 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 6: to life. 477 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:30,560 Speaker 4: Right, And let's just point out for a second that 478 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:33,320 Speaker 4: that murder didn't ever really have to happen. If they 479 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:35,199 Speaker 4: would have just arrested him when they should have in 480 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:37,320 Speaker 4: the first place. He wouldn't have been free to go 481 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,119 Speaker 4: kill whoever it was if he killed. But okay, so 482 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,479 Speaker 4: let's just put that on the side for a second. Right, 483 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:47,040 Speaker 4: So you're here in this maximum security prison. First of all, 484 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:49,040 Speaker 4: is it as bad as it sounds? 485 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,719 Speaker 1: I mean yes, I mean, especially at that time, in 486 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:55,440 Speaker 1: that era, it was a whole lot of I mean, 487 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,040 Speaker 1: if you look at right, because Alan and Upstate in 488 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:00,600 Speaker 1: the early nineties, that's when they started to have the 489 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:04,600 Speaker 1: most cutting, stabbings and all that type of stuff. So, 490 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:08,720 Speaker 1: I mean, jail is just not a place for nobody. 491 00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:11,640 Speaker 6: To me, I always wondered, cal you know, you're sentenced 492 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:14,879 Speaker 6: to fifty years to life for crimes you didn't do. 493 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:19,680 Speaker 2: I mean, you have to be angry, And I mean 494 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 2: it's true. 495 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,200 Speaker 1: Oh I was, and I think that I had misdirected 496 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:26,600 Speaker 1: anger in the beginning and that's what allowed me to 497 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:30,560 Speaker 1: end up in the box. But also being afraid, you 498 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,440 Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. I was in an environment that 499 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:36,800 Speaker 1: I felt like you couldn't show no weakness, and if 500 00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 1: you did, I seen individuals getting raped, stabbed and all 501 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:45,240 Speaker 1: types of stuff too. So that's what kind of like 502 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: I had misdirected anger. So you know, I was doing 503 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:51,560 Speaker 1: what the Romans do while and wrong, you know. 504 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean you had almost nothing to lose if 505 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:55,960 Speaker 4: they could throw you in the prison within the prison, 506 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:57,879 Speaker 4: which is the box, right, But other than that, you 507 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,800 Speaker 4: can to spend the rest of your life in there anyway. 508 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,760 Speaker 4: So how did you turn that around? Because obviously you 509 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,960 Speaker 4: found a different year, right, had you already gone through 510 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:09,359 Speaker 4: that shift when this letter arrived in the mail, because 511 00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:11,520 Speaker 4: that's a big moment when that letter gets there, right. 512 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:15,159 Speaker 1: Yeah, I had already went through the shift that point. 513 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:20,000 Speaker 1: I'm an introvert, so naturally the box was kind of 514 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 1: like a good place for me, you know what I'm saying. 515 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,800 Speaker 1: Not only was I alright with myself, that I noticed 516 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: that a lot of other individuals they couldn't live with 517 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,439 Speaker 1: themselves inside of prison. And that's why a lot of 518 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,199 Speaker 1: people do a lot of things that they do. They 519 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 1: want to stay on the gate, they want to get high, 520 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:38,960 Speaker 1: they want to get into fights. Because you know, I 521 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:43,520 Speaker 1: do mine as a devil's playground. So that's what I 522 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:46,800 Speaker 1: kind of grew at when I was in solitary confinement. 523 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,200 Speaker 1: This book by James Allen called as a Man Think. 524 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:52,720 Speaker 1: If I read that book, it was a simplistic book 525 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:57,600 Speaker 1: to me. However, it kind of like related to me 526 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:01,240 Speaker 1: so well because it made me look at the glass 527 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:03,719 Speaker 1: half full of instead of half empty, you know, and 528 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:08,200 Speaker 1: it allowed me to even look at and messed up 529 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:10,600 Speaker 1: situations the good out of it. Even though I have 530 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,120 Speaker 1: fifty years the life, I knew a lot of individuals 531 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:16,560 Speaker 1: that were in the grave, and I still felt like 532 00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 1: I was alive. So I'm blessed regardless. And that's the 533 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:25,480 Speaker 1: mindset that I got into once I read that book, 534 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:29,720 Speaker 1: and once I started with that positive energy, that's what 535 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 1: really gave me the sensified because at a time I 536 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:34,880 Speaker 1: started to beat myself up to the point of saying, 537 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:37,200 Speaker 1: you know, I was a drug dealer. Maybe I belong 538 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:39,400 Speaker 1: in jail, because in the beginning, that's what I was 539 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:41,959 Speaker 1: telling about myself. You know, I never got locked up 540 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,480 Speaker 1: for selling drugs, so maybe this was a recompense for 541 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:50,880 Speaker 1: my actions. And once I got into the positive mind frame, 542 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:54,120 Speaker 1: it made me throw that away and say, you know, 543 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: I'm in here for somebody didn't do. If I was 544 00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 1: here for drugs, it'll be all right. I did the crime. 545 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: I'll do the time, but I'm in here for a 546 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:05,840 Speaker 1: double homicide I did not commit. And I just started 547 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:10,120 Speaker 1: getting into the books, legal books, started reading up on IM, 548 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:14,120 Speaker 1: started contacting a lot of attorneys, a lot of investigators. 549 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:16,920 Speaker 1: The Innocent Project was one of the main ones. I 550 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:21,360 Speaker 1: was in correspondence with Barry Shek, with Vanessa Pokin, Nina Morrison, 551 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 1: and a couple of others in an Innocent Project office. 552 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,760 Speaker 1: But at the time, even though they were corresponding with me, 553 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,800 Speaker 1: they were not taking cases that did not have DNA 554 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:35,840 Speaker 1: evidence at the time, So you know, they were leading 555 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,600 Speaker 1: me to other law firms that were taking pro bono 556 00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:43,120 Speaker 1: cases that dealt with wrongful convictions that did not have 557 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:47,360 Speaker 1: DNA evidence. At that point, is like the gears shifted 558 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 1: for me. And once I started to dig into my case. 559 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:53,160 Speaker 1: I'm a very determined and resilient person. Once I put 560 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:56,400 Speaker 1: my mind in something, i won't stop until I feel 561 00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:58,800 Speaker 1: like I'm gonna get it done. I'm not gonna hear 562 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 1: no for a answer, and I'm gonna keep pushing until 563 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:03,160 Speaker 1: i can't push no more. 564 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,800 Speaker 2: I met cal after he found that book, and that's 565 00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 2: a book that came out in like nineteen oh three, 566 00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:27,000 Speaker 2: something that's by a British guy. 567 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:30,080 Speaker 6: It's not a Col's world, but if you read it, 568 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:32,680 Speaker 6: what it says essentially is you can create your own 569 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:37,680 Speaker 6: reality by controlling your thoughts. And Cal probably the most 570 00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:43,440 Speaker 6: disciplined person I've ever met in terms of thinking positive, 571 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:48,280 Speaker 6: and he had enormous setbacks. It is not only does 572 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 6: he get that letter, but imagine Dwight is in one prison, 573 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:58,240 Speaker 6: Cal is in another prison, and they are suddenly put together. 574 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,240 Speaker 6: They suddenly come together at. 575 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:03,320 Speaker 1: Which Clinton Correctional Clinton. 576 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:07,760 Speaker 6: Correctional Institution, and they meet in the yard. So there's 577 00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:12,840 Speaker 6: this guy who has maybe has been put away for something, 578 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:15,240 Speaker 6: and then there's this other guy who says, you know, 579 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:19,040 Speaker 6: I testified you and I shouldn't have, and I mean 580 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:20,520 Speaker 6: tell about that meeting. 581 00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:24,960 Speaker 1: What made me more comfortable is the fact that I 582 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:29,120 Speaker 1: received that letter that he confessed to the crime right 583 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,840 Speaker 1: before I actually met him, because I don't think that 584 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:35,760 Speaker 1: I possibly would have went to the yard to meet 585 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:38,440 Speaker 1: him when he wanted to meet me. But I have 586 00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:41,480 Speaker 1: received the confession letter, and I seen him in the 587 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:44,840 Speaker 1: mess hall and he told me to come to the yard, 588 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:49,640 Speaker 1: and I really wanted to hear what he had to 589 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:53,040 Speaker 1: say outside of the fact that he was now saying that, 590 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,560 Speaker 1: you know, he committed the crime. And when I talked 591 00:32:55,640 --> 00:33:00,600 Speaker 1: to him, I felt contrition. He started crying and he 592 00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:02,480 Speaker 1: said the same thing. I'm on the side looking out. 593 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:04,360 Speaker 1: I want to do the right thing to get you 594 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaker 1: off because you went here for something you ain't do. 595 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:10,160 Speaker 1: And we just started talking and I just wanted to 596 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 1: get certain answers from him on why he did what 597 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,520 Speaker 1: he did, and you know, that's what we talked about. 598 00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:19,680 Speaker 6: I mean, so if you can imagine Dwight actually confesses 599 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:24,080 Speaker 6: to a double murder that Cal's convicted for in this 600 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:29,200 Speaker 6: prison yard, and then what happens is on the basis 601 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,120 Speaker 6: of that, on the strength of that, Cal actually gets 602 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:35,560 Speaker 6: a four forty hearing. So now he's back in court 603 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 6: and there's somebody else who's confessed to this crime. I mean, 604 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:42,960 Speaker 6: Cal has to believe he's going home. 605 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 1: Except that on Frank Vigiano and Detective John Wall they 606 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,200 Speaker 1: were very ambitious for the DA and they were not 607 00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:56,800 Speaker 1: going to allow that to happen because, like I said, 608 00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:59,280 Speaker 1: there was a witch hunt out for me and Alan 609 00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:03,480 Speaker 1: Caroon was at the driving seat of that vehicle and 610 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:08,840 Speaker 1: they worked over time to make sure that Dwight Robinson 611 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:10,719 Speaker 1: took back that confession. 612 00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:13,320 Speaker 4: Right, Which is another crazy aspect of this case, because 613 00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 4: you probably were thinking, well, okay, that's where this thing's 614 00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:21,120 Speaker 4: winding down. Now you got a written confession, he confessed 615 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 4: to you verbally in writing, and he's coming to court 616 00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:27,960 Speaker 4: to the lawyer, and that should be This was two 617 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,719 Speaker 4: thousand and three, right, Yes, yeah, so two thousand and three, 618 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:33,840 Speaker 4: you've been in for ten years already, maybe eleven, and 619 00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:36,040 Speaker 4: you're going to court. And did you think when you 620 00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:39,319 Speaker 4: went to court for that hearing that you were going home? Yes? 621 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:40,719 Speaker 1: I really did? You know? 622 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:42,120 Speaker 4: It sounded like it to me. 623 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:45,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, the next best thing the DNA is a confession, 624 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:49,960 Speaker 1: you understand, And that's what I thought until he came 625 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:53,640 Speaker 1: in and you know, he got understand and he started 626 00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:56,759 Speaker 1: doing what he'd do best. He started lying, So so. 627 00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 6: You didn't know until he got on the stand that 628 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:00,840 Speaker 6: he was going to take back his condition. 629 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:04,439 Speaker 1: I think we did find out that he did take 630 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:07,960 Speaker 1: it back. But to me, when I said I seen 631 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:11,080 Speaker 1: him and how I felt with the meeting when I 632 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:13,839 Speaker 1: met him, I didn't. I felt like probably the DA 633 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:17,359 Speaker 1: or the detectives were pressuring them like they did. But 634 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:19,880 Speaker 1: I felt like, still, he'll probably come to court and 635 00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:23,719 Speaker 1: tell the truth, you understand, But he didn't. 636 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:27,960 Speaker 4: It's it's a remarkable plot twist, and then your case 637 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:31,680 Speaker 4: falls apart, right, I mean, he recants his recantation, right, 638 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 4: so he's reversed himself again. Now his credibility is really 639 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 4: out the window, right, because he's hard to tell when 640 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:39,399 Speaker 4: somebody is lying when they're oh, when you know, when 641 00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:43,080 Speaker 4: they keep changing their story. I assume that they switched 642 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:44,759 Speaker 4: him to a different prison at this point. Did you 643 00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:46,880 Speaker 4: have to go back to the same prison together after this? 644 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:51,680 Speaker 1: No, before we even went to court, he had left 645 00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:55,279 Speaker 1: the facility that we were I think immediately after the 646 00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:58,480 Speaker 1: confession he left. And you know what's so funny about that? 647 00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:00,920 Speaker 1: I don't know, man, but it just seemed like a 648 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:04,359 Speaker 1: conspiracy too, because that naturally doesn't happen where they put 649 00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:08,719 Speaker 1: individuals that testify against you with the god, you know, 650 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:11,239 Speaker 1: that type of stuff. It does just seem kind of 651 00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:15,240 Speaker 1: funny that they did that, you know, like they really 652 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:18,319 Speaker 1: wanted me to really bury myself your father, you know, 653 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:20,080 Speaker 1: I think about that all the time. 654 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:24,359 Speaker 4: These dirty tricks are just I just don't I really 655 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:27,920 Speaker 4: don't understand that. As we skip ahead, there were other recantations, 656 00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:31,560 Speaker 4: There were twists and turns. Then twenty fifteen comes. Two 657 00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:35,960 Speaker 4: decades have passed, even behind bars, and now things finally 658 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,759 Speaker 4: take a turn for the better. You've had Steve what's 659 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:42,440 Speaker 4: here with us now? Who's been investigating your case diligently 660 00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:47,800 Speaker 4: fighting for you. You have the Innocence Project helping you. 661 00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:50,160 Speaker 4: You have pro bono attorneys who have taken your case. 662 00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,960 Speaker 1: Myron Bell Duck, the greatest lawyer and the planet Earth 663 00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:55,600 Speaker 1: that ever woke this planet Earth. 664 00:36:56,239 --> 00:36:59,719 Speaker 4: Yea, his name is gold. So you got Myron. I mean, 665 00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:03,080 Speaker 4: you went from having the odds really stacked against you. 666 00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 4: And it's a credit to you, by the way, because 667 00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:07,520 Speaker 4: it would have been really easy for you to just fold. 668 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:11,640 Speaker 4: But instead, somehow or other, from inside this darkest place, 669 00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:17,279 Speaker 4: you managed to enlist literally the dream team behind you. 670 00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:18,000 Speaker 1: Absolutely. 671 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:20,200 Speaker 4: So twenty fifteen comes. What happens. 672 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:25,359 Speaker 1: I had the investigator working on a case, and he 673 00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:29,600 Speaker 1: actually was able to get some new leads. And once 674 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,719 Speaker 1: the new leads came out with the two sisters that 675 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:36,440 Speaker 1: were actually like about ten to fifteen feet away from 676 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:38,759 Speaker 1: the crime when it happened, they lived right where the 677 00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:41,680 Speaker 1: crime happened at and they actually seen Dwight. 678 00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:45,400 Speaker 4: Due to crime, there's a plot twist, no, I mean, 679 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:47,200 Speaker 4: and we've seen that again and again too, where the 680 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:50,640 Speaker 4: witness is the actual killer and there's an incentive to 681 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:51,759 Speaker 4: lie right Once. 682 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,920 Speaker 1: Once I got that information, I think I was in 683 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,840 Speaker 1: touch with more in Tankliff at the time. I was 684 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:02,040 Speaker 1: also in contact with Jabal Collins, who was working for 685 00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:05,680 Speaker 1: Joe Rudin. I really wanted Joe Rudin as my attorney 686 00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:11,000 Speaker 1: at the time, but I wrote Myron Bell doc, the 687 00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:15,400 Speaker 1: great Mayron Bell Doc, you know, who actually represented Hurricane 688 00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:18,799 Speaker 1: Carter and a whole lot of other people. And when 689 00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:21,200 Speaker 1: I wrote to him, he gave me his number so 690 00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:23,960 Speaker 1: I could call him and talk to him. And from 691 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,880 Speaker 1: the initial start, man, I just loved this guy. He 692 00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:31,400 Speaker 1: treated me like family. He showed that I mattered, and 693 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:34,759 Speaker 1: I don't think that at that point, I never had 694 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:40,200 Speaker 1: an older male figure in my life that actually genuinely was, 695 00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:44,240 Speaker 1: you know, acted concerned for me or my well being. 696 00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:48,719 Speaker 1: And he was actually going for a surgery at the time, 697 00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:50,920 Speaker 1: and he didn't even know if he was would have 698 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:53,480 Speaker 1: been able to take the case. And it was so 699 00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:59,319 Speaker 1: funny that. You know, I initially wanted Joe rudin so bad, 700 00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:01,560 Speaker 1: but you know, Joe Ruden wanted his money. You know, 701 00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:04,759 Speaker 1: he didn't care about nothing, no innocence or any of that. 702 00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:08,960 Speaker 1: He wanted his money. But the funny thing was, Myron 703 00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:11,960 Speaker 1: had told me that if I take the case, if 704 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:15,200 Speaker 1: you could get somebody to assist me, then I'll feel 705 00:39:15,239 --> 00:39:17,280 Speaker 1: better because I'm getting ready to go through the surgery. 706 00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:21,279 Speaker 1: So I contacted Joel at that time, and once I 707 00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:23,959 Speaker 1: once he found out that Myron Belldock was on the case, 708 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:26,560 Speaker 1: he was willing to jump on board now, so that 709 00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:28,840 Speaker 1: was kind of ironic. That's the first time that he 710 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:31,080 Speaker 1: ever stayed on the phone with me for an hour, 711 00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:36,919 Speaker 1: you know. And actually Myron started to get better, he 712 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:39,399 Speaker 1: started to heal better. And once I told him that, 713 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:42,120 Speaker 1: you know, Joe Ruden would be willing to co counsel 714 00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:44,000 Speaker 1: with him, he said, don't worry about we don't need 715 00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:45,960 Speaker 1: him no more. I'll be all right. I got I 716 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:47,759 Speaker 1: got it, you know what I mean. And you know 717 00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:51,640 Speaker 1: that's how Myron was and I had right after the surgery, 718 00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:54,520 Speaker 1: and it was very touching for me. I had called 719 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:56,759 Speaker 1: him in the office. I don't know as it was 720 00:39:56,840 --> 00:39:59,560 Speaker 1: like eight pm, and I thought he was being home 721 00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:03,480 Speaker 1: reco helling up. Myron was still in the office working, 722 00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:06,680 Speaker 1: And here it is this man. He's almost eighty years old. 723 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:09,560 Speaker 1: And you know that meant a lot to me because 724 00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:13,120 Speaker 1: I never had attorney to that point that I felt 725 00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:17,719 Speaker 1: like was given my case. There all you understand here 726 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:19,520 Speaker 1: it is I had the best of the best when 727 00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:22,719 Speaker 1: it came to the attorney and I'm calling him now 728 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:26,080 Speaker 1: and he's on my case. You understand that he should 729 00:40:26,080 --> 00:40:29,640 Speaker 1: have been home recuperating. I just never met a guy 730 00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:31,680 Speaker 1: like that, you know, amazing guy. 731 00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:34,719 Speaker 6: You know I spent a little time with Myron. Cal 732 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:39,160 Speaker 6: actually never met Myron. Didn't have that good fortune. But Myron, 733 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:41,200 Speaker 6: I don't think he's too much to say. He came 734 00:40:41,239 --> 00:40:45,400 Speaker 6: off his deathbed to really represent Cal. He had prostate cancer, 735 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:47,200 Speaker 6: he had heart problems. He when I met him, he 736 00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:50,200 Speaker 6: had a tumor behind his eye, so his left eye 737 00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:53,439 Speaker 6: actually bulged. He'd looked at you, but that left eye 738 00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:56,160 Speaker 6: kind of veered off to the to the left at 739 00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:59,719 Speaker 6: a forty five degree angle. It was very disorienting. He's 740 00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:03,279 Speaker 6: five years old, and he says, this could be my 741 00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:07,279 Speaker 6: last crusade. And I say to Myron, you're you know, 742 00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:10,279 Speaker 6: you're either a fool or a hero. And his response is, 743 00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:13,160 Speaker 6: I think this case is going to make me live 744 00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:17,040 Speaker 6: five years longer. So myrone is that's where he gets 745 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:20,759 Speaker 6: his adrenaline from. And of course the tragedy is that 746 00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:25,760 Speaker 6: it doesn't make Myron live five years longer. And Cal 747 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:28,680 Speaker 6: gets that. I guess you hear a rumor in prison 748 00:41:28,719 --> 00:41:32,840 Speaker 6: and then you call me and I have to confirm 749 00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:37,640 Speaker 6: it for call. And you know, Cal is a extremely strong, 750 00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:43,520 Speaker 6: mentally disciplined, emotionally disciplined person. And by the way, physically 751 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:46,520 Speaker 6: he can do one hundred push ups without stopping, so 752 00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:49,399 Speaker 6: you know, he's been in prison twenty years. He knows 753 00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:54,960 Speaker 6: his way around physical challenges, emotional challenges. And I confirm 754 00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,800 Speaker 6: that Myron's dead, and you know, for Cal, and I mean, imagine, 755 00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:03,360 Speaker 6: this is the guy, his savior, his savior now has died, 756 00:42:03,480 --> 00:42:04,520 Speaker 6: has passed it. 757 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:08,799 Speaker 1: And that was like the most crushing blow ever that 758 00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:12,440 Speaker 1: I ever felt, because I literally felt comfortable with my 759 00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:15,960 Speaker 1: life ind Myron hands. You know, I want you to understand, 760 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,719 Speaker 1: I literally felt like that. I never felt like that 761 00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:22,960 Speaker 1: with nobody, you understand, So when I lost him, It's 762 00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:26,279 Speaker 1: like I didn't know where to go after that, Like 763 00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:30,000 Speaker 1: I finally got the person that was the best of 764 00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:34,600 Speaker 1: the best that I loved him outside of him being 765 00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:37,360 Speaker 1: my lawyer, you understand, I loved him as a person, 766 00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:42,439 Speaker 1: and when I lost him, I just didn't know how 767 00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:44,839 Speaker 1: to take that, you know, because it was like I 768 00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:49,000 Speaker 1: just came just so far and to be able to 769 00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:53,279 Speaker 1: get the guy to believe in me, you know, it 770 00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:56,319 Speaker 1: was just I just I couldn't help it. I've just 771 00:42:56,400 --> 00:43:00,080 Speaker 1: broke down and I was in the yard and that 772 00:43:00,160 --> 00:43:01,080 Speaker 1: really broke me down. 773 00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:03,239 Speaker 6: And you broke down on the phone with me. You 774 00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:06,359 Speaker 6: called me back, and actually I'd never heard that kind 775 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:07,640 Speaker 6: of emotion. 776 00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:10,200 Speaker 2: I mean you could you couldn't speak exterially. 777 00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:12,400 Speaker 1: A person is not going to be able to read 778 00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:16,160 Speaker 1: my emotions and my feelings because in jail, I felt 779 00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:19,719 Speaker 1: like I couldn't show no weakness. That's how it was 780 00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:23,120 Speaker 1: in prison. If you showed like the people in prison, 781 00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:26,440 Speaker 1: there's a lot of predators in there, and if they 782 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:29,360 Speaker 1: sense any type of fear, that's when they're coming for you. 783 00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:32,160 Speaker 1: That's just how it is. It's no other way. It's 784 00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:35,240 Speaker 1: a savage life in prison. I love this guy, Myron 785 00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:38,879 Speaker 1: Belldoc so much that I couldn't help but to break down, 786 00:43:39,239 --> 00:43:42,240 Speaker 1: you understand. And I was in the yard with hundreds 787 00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:45,120 Speaker 1: of men, you understand, And that would be the last 788 00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:48,080 Speaker 1: place that I would want to break down, because here 789 00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:51,160 Speaker 1: I am with all of the wolves and stuff like that, 790 00:43:51,239 --> 00:43:54,120 Speaker 1: and I'm in the middle of that, and I'm breaking down. 791 00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:57,839 Speaker 1: So I was overcome by emotions when I lost mym and. 792 00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:00,920 Speaker 6: Actually I remember you you shouted your shoulder. I just 793 00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:02,920 Speaker 6: had a loss in the family, had a lost in 794 00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:05,680 Speaker 6: the family, so that nobody with exactly. 795 00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:09,719 Speaker 1: Also, Myron is the one that gave me the tenacity 796 00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:13,520 Speaker 1: and the fortitude in order to push on. When I 797 00:44:13,560 --> 00:44:16,080 Speaker 1: took you to the incident when Myron was working on 798 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:19,520 Speaker 1: my case at eight PM, and I started to read 799 00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:23,440 Speaker 1: up on everything about Myron. You know, Myron was a 800 00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:26,759 Speaker 1: guy that just didn't give up, period, you know. And 801 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:29,880 Speaker 1: I put his pictures up and like a mural of 802 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:33,640 Speaker 1: Myron and the cell that I was in, and his 803 00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:37,400 Speaker 1: spirit just came to me, like you gotta keep pushing, 804 00:44:37,760 --> 00:44:41,760 Speaker 1: don't give up, be a fighter. And Myron actually fought 805 00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:44,880 Speaker 1: for my life while he was fighting for his own. 806 00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:50,319 Speaker 1: So I wasn't gonna get in a situation. Okay, now 807 00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:54,319 Speaker 1: I lost my top guy and just lay down and 808 00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:56,600 Speaker 1: just because that's something that I felt that he would 809 00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:59,920 Speaker 1: never do, so he kind of like put the tenat 810 00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:02,040 Speaker 1: and me to just continue to fight. 811 00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:04,759 Speaker 4: Cal, can you just take us through how you were 812 00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:07,400 Speaker 4: able to get your conviction reversed. 813 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:10,920 Speaker 1: When I went to the supply my arm second four 814 00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:15,880 Speaker 1: forty and they entertained the evidence that substantiated that Dwight 815 00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:19,640 Speaker 1: Robinson actually committed a crime with the Clark sisters. 816 00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:23,880 Speaker 6: Just to expand briefly, it's a dramatic moment. And Cal 817 00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:26,799 Speaker 6: had always said, you know, there were a lot of 818 00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:28,920 Speaker 6: people there that night, the night of the shooting, and 819 00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:31,960 Speaker 6: the scene had never been canvas. Well, you know, the 820 00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:34,080 Speaker 6: cops did go door to door and they knock on 821 00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:39,880 Speaker 6: the door of the Clark sisters, kimber Leah and Nikiah Clark, 822 00:45:40,200 --> 00:45:43,080 Speaker 6: and they don't want to get involved. These are the 823 00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:47,160 Speaker 6: two eyewitnesses to the crime, to the murder. But the 824 00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:50,920 Speaker 6: older sister says, no, we heard shots, that's it, and 825 00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:52,520 Speaker 6: that's what's in the police report. 826 00:45:52,960 --> 00:45:53,719 Speaker 2: And why. 827 00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:56,399 Speaker 6: Well, years later I asked them they didn't want it 828 00:45:56,480 --> 00:45:58,799 Speaker 6: was a block full of drugs and murder, they're not 829 00:45:58,840 --> 00:46:03,480 Speaker 6: going to come farar. Two decades later, through a series 830 00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:09,000 Speaker 6: of circumstances, they resurface. They're in North Carolina, and now 831 00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:12,360 Speaker 6: they find out that cow was convicted. They didn't know 832 00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:14,800 Speaker 6: that they had moved away like a year or so 833 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:19,160 Speaker 6: after the murders. They find out, and their kind of heartbroken, 834 00:46:19,239 --> 00:46:21,920 Speaker 6: and frankly, the younger one, who is the one on 835 00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:25,760 Speaker 6: the street twenty feet away, she feels guilty. She feels 836 00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:28,680 Speaker 6: guilty that she hasn't come forward and that this man, 837 00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:31,520 Speaker 6: Calvin Buari, is in prison for something she knows he 838 00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:35,040 Speaker 6: didn't do. So there's this dramatic moment when they walk 839 00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:38,920 Speaker 6: into court, and particularly the younger one walks into court 840 00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:44,240 Speaker 6: and I remember the assistant prosecutor tried to pick. 841 00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:45,319 Speaker 2: Her apart and rattle her. 842 00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:50,600 Speaker 6: Okay, it's the DA's job, and she is fiery. She's 843 00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:55,479 Speaker 6: got this nickname Evelina because when she gets challenged and pushed, 844 00:46:55,520 --> 00:46:58,640 Speaker 6: there's this kind of fierce character that lives inside of 845 00:46:58,680 --> 00:47:00,960 Speaker 6: her that comes out out on the stand. 846 00:47:01,120 --> 00:47:02,200 Speaker 1: And thank God for that. 847 00:47:03,719 --> 00:47:04,359 Speaker 2: And there's this. 848 00:47:04,320 --> 00:47:06,719 Speaker 6: Moment because we have the whole courtroom micd and we 849 00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:09,120 Speaker 6: have a mic right up near the witness stand and 850 00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:12,000 Speaker 6: you can't hear it in the courtroom, but we picked 851 00:47:12,080 --> 00:47:16,600 Speaker 6: up where the it'sistant district attorney is really prodding her, 852 00:47:17,040 --> 00:47:19,160 Speaker 6: and under her breath, eviliness. 853 00:47:18,600 --> 00:47:19,880 Speaker 1: Says that bit. 854 00:47:22,239 --> 00:47:25,200 Speaker 6: And then she returns fire and you know she doesn't 855 00:47:25,239 --> 00:47:29,480 Speaker 6: give and she says, you know, I saw who did 856 00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:31,920 Speaker 6: it and it wasn't Calvin barn There you go. 857 00:47:32,200 --> 00:47:34,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I wanted to spend on that too, And 858 00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:37,040 Speaker 1: you know that was so grateful for me too, because 859 00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:41,080 Speaker 1: I always knew that after my first initial four forty 860 00:47:41,440 --> 00:47:44,320 Speaker 1: when the witnesses that actually came back who lied that 861 00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:47,360 Speaker 1: were criminals. You know, I knew what type of games 862 00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:50,520 Speaker 1: that these prosecutors play with the detectives. And I was 863 00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:54,040 Speaker 1: always adamant on Steve, listen, I want these witnesses this 864 00:47:54,160 --> 00:47:56,880 Speaker 1: time to have attorneys like I was not going to 865 00:47:56,960 --> 00:48:00,400 Speaker 1: allow what happened to me previously happened to me again. 866 00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:05,279 Speaker 1: But it was it was overwhelming that the personality in 867 00:48:05,320 --> 00:48:08,120 Speaker 1: the spirit of this witness, because that is the very 868 00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:11,719 Speaker 1: type of witness that I needed to stand up against 869 00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:16,319 Speaker 1: these type of tactics, you understand, And I just want 870 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:18,560 Speaker 1: to say too, man, when you when you believe in 871 00:48:18,680 --> 00:48:21,280 Speaker 1: something stand for it. If you feel something is wrong, 872 00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:24,799 Speaker 1: stand for it. And I'm happy that she stood. She 873 00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:26,320 Speaker 1: stood up and she stood firm. 874 00:48:26,800 --> 00:48:30,240 Speaker 6: Yeah, and the cops did go to her. She was unfortunately, 875 00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:33,160 Speaker 6: she was in a shelter for abused women and the 876 00:48:33,239 --> 00:48:35,920 Speaker 6: cops showed up, and that caused a lot of problems 877 00:48:35,920 --> 00:48:38,799 Speaker 6: in her in her life. But you know, Cal was 878 00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:42,680 Speaker 6: also fortunate. He got another attorney warrior, a guy named 879 00:48:42,719 --> 00:48:47,920 Speaker 6: Oscar Mitchellan who really in that courtroom I think helped 880 00:48:47,920 --> 00:48:52,680 Speaker 6: her tell her story and beat back the assistant DA 881 00:48:52,840 --> 00:48:56,200 Speaker 6: when she tried to replay the nineteen nineties and said 882 00:48:56,400 --> 00:48:58,880 Speaker 6: Cal's a bad dude. He was a drug dealer who 883 00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:03,000 Speaker 6: strolled around and been cut. But you know it was true. 884 00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:05,759 Speaker 6: That's not what he was on trial for. He wasn't 885 00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:10,239 Speaker 6: on trial for being a wealthy drug dealer. And it 886 00:49:10,400 --> 00:49:14,520 Speaker 6: was Michellan who pointed it out. And Nikki who gets 887 00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:17,560 Speaker 6: on the stand and fires back. 888 00:49:17,560 --> 00:49:18,880 Speaker 2: Who is the real killer? 889 00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:21,520 Speaker 6: Who is the person who did the grind for Rich 890 00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:23,799 Speaker 6: Coal's servant time the. 891 00:49:23,800 --> 00:49:28,000 Speaker 1: Tactics were utilized on the key and KIMBERLEA Clark, she 892 00:49:28,160 --> 00:49:31,120 Speaker 1: was in the shelter at the time, and when you 893 00:49:31,160 --> 00:49:33,040 Speaker 1: were in a shelter, you need some place to stay. 894 00:49:33,160 --> 00:49:36,520 Speaker 1: They went there and made it seem as though she 895 00:49:37,040 --> 00:49:40,279 Speaker 1: was being looked into for a double homicide. You know 896 00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:42,359 Speaker 1: what I'm saying. And these are the tactics that these 897 00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:46,560 Speaker 1: guys employed to make, you know, life hell for a 898 00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:49,800 Speaker 1: person that just want to fail the truth, you understand. 899 00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:53,000 Speaker 1: And she got kicked out of the shelter. She got 900 00:49:53,040 --> 00:49:56,479 Speaker 1: into an abusive relationship after I But like I said, 901 00:49:56,719 --> 00:49:59,560 Speaker 1: I was so proud they had a personality that she 902 00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:04,799 Speaker 1: stud up because normally with you know, average people, they're 903 00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:07,479 Speaker 1: not going to want to be bothered period. They're gonna 904 00:50:07,520 --> 00:50:11,000 Speaker 1: care more about their personal situation than wanting to help 905 00:50:11,040 --> 00:50:15,000 Speaker 1: somebody else that you know, Okay, I want to help them, 906 00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:16,480 Speaker 1: but I don't want to go through the headaches that 907 00:50:16,520 --> 00:50:19,000 Speaker 1: I'm going through in my personal life. Let me leave 908 00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:22,279 Speaker 1: that alone. That's what the person doing. And I'm so 909 00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:23,879 Speaker 1: proud that this woman stood up. 910 00:50:24,239 --> 00:50:26,960 Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, what's the question you hear today, what's 911 00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:28,360 Speaker 6: the upside for me? 912 00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:30,799 Speaker 2: There's no upside for her, but. 913 00:50:30,960 --> 00:50:32,560 Speaker 4: Oh John, she stood up. 914 00:50:32,800 --> 00:50:33,440 Speaker 1: Yeah. 915 00:50:33,640 --> 00:50:38,120 Speaker 4: We end up two thousand and seventeen in Bronx State 916 00:50:38,160 --> 00:50:42,200 Speaker 4: Supreme Court. Yes, and that's the day you had been 917 00:50:42,239 --> 00:50:46,719 Speaker 4: waiting for since the early nineties. Absolutely, and tell me 918 00:50:46,760 --> 00:50:49,000 Speaker 4: about that. Can you take us back to that day. 919 00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:54,279 Speaker 1: When the judge vacated the conviction. I had my Ron 920 00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:56,920 Speaker 1: picture in front of me. I had an actual Innocent 921 00:50:57,160 --> 00:51:01,600 Speaker 1: magazine that came out on time. And before that, the 922 00:51:01,719 --> 00:51:05,200 Speaker 1: White Robinson was supposed to come in. They couldn't produce 923 00:51:05,560 --> 00:51:10,080 Speaker 1: the White Robinson. And then when I went back to court, 924 00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:16,080 Speaker 1: I just kept my eyes and myself fixated on in 925 00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:18,520 Speaker 1: God we trust. And like I said, I'm a firm 926 00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:22,640 Speaker 1: believer in God, so that is my number one attorney, 927 00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:25,759 Speaker 1: and I believe that the right thing was going to 928 00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:28,560 Speaker 1: be done. And actually that's what happened and. 929 00:51:28,640 --> 00:51:35,239 Speaker 4: That moment, so it was Judge Eugene Oliver Jor And 930 00:51:35,280 --> 00:51:39,960 Speaker 4: we're talking about State Supreme Court. This is a big deal, right, 931 00:51:40,080 --> 00:51:45,680 Speaker 4: I mean, And how did that feel? After decades of 932 00:51:46,080 --> 00:51:48,640 Speaker 4: fighting and trying to get people to listen, to have 933 00:51:48,840 --> 00:51:52,360 Speaker 4: a man in that position vacate your conviction. 934 00:51:55,360 --> 00:51:58,759 Speaker 1: It didn't really hit me at first. I think when 935 00:51:58,800 --> 00:52:03,120 Speaker 1: I went back to the bullpen, then it really really 936 00:52:03,200 --> 00:52:07,640 Speaker 1: like really just started to sink in. Like I made it, 937 00:52:07,840 --> 00:52:11,480 Speaker 1: you know, I made it. But yeah, I'm going home, 938 00:52:11,560 --> 00:52:16,319 Speaker 1: and I got hit with another hurdle I was I 939 00:52:16,360 --> 00:52:19,000 Speaker 1: had to go back to the facility that I was 940 00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:22,240 Speaker 1: in and stay for the weekend. And those two days 941 00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:25,560 Speaker 1: were the longest two days than the twenty two years 942 00:52:25,560 --> 00:52:28,880 Speaker 1: that I did in prison, because I didn't sleep and 943 00:52:28,960 --> 00:52:32,160 Speaker 1: it was just elate, and I really felt kind of 944 00:52:32,200 --> 00:52:35,279 Speaker 1: nervous because you know, you get a lot of hateration 945 00:52:35,520 --> 00:52:39,040 Speaker 1: in prison, and I was kind of surprised that the 946 00:52:39,160 --> 00:52:45,520 Speaker 1: people actually were more happy than upset. Yeah. So then 947 00:52:45,560 --> 00:52:47,560 Speaker 1: I got the day where I came home, which was 948 00:52:47,600 --> 00:52:51,359 Speaker 1: May eighth, which is tomorrow. That's my second birthday, my rebirthday, 949 00:52:52,400 --> 00:52:57,000 Speaker 1: and it was sur real. I'm still looking at it. 950 00:52:57,080 --> 00:53:00,680 Speaker 1: And the nice day that we had a couple days ago, 951 00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:03,240 Speaker 1: I stayed out till I think four in the morning, 952 00:53:03,760 --> 00:53:06,840 Speaker 1: just enjoying the breeze. When I first came home, my 953 00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:09,799 Speaker 1: goal wasn't just to come home. My goal was to 954 00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:15,000 Speaker 1: come home and also build a legitimate entrepreneurial life for myself. 955 00:53:15,080 --> 00:53:19,480 Speaker 1: So I had goals out of side of just coming home, 956 00:53:19,800 --> 00:53:24,200 Speaker 1: you understand. So even to this day, I'm still enjoying 957 00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:26,720 Speaker 1: the little things and it's just still hit me because 958 00:53:27,040 --> 00:53:29,920 Speaker 1: I ain't give myself a chance to breathe, you know, no, 959 00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:30,760 Speaker 1: And let's talk. 960 00:53:30,600 --> 00:53:33,680 Speaker 4: About that because three hundred and sixty four days as 961 00:53:33,880 --> 00:53:36,800 Speaker 4: recording this podcast, as we're sitting here now, you haven't 962 00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:39,640 Speaker 4: even been out a year, and what you've got going 963 00:53:39,680 --> 00:53:43,800 Speaker 4: on is going to make a lot of people feel like, Wow, 964 00:53:43,960 --> 00:53:46,680 Speaker 4: this is crazy. I mean, you've got multiple businesses that 965 00:53:46,719 --> 00:53:47,880 Speaker 4: you started, right. 966 00:53:47,800 --> 00:53:50,960 Speaker 1: Yes, I have a van company that goes to prisons's 967 00:53:51,080 --> 00:53:53,440 Speaker 1: number one van company by the way, you know in 968 00:53:53,480 --> 00:53:56,879 Speaker 1: New York State, where I had started a new concept 969 00:53:57,239 --> 00:53:59,279 Speaker 1: that I felt like when I was in prison, a 970 00:53:59,320 --> 00:54:02,240 Speaker 1: lot of my family members came to visit me, and 971 00:54:02,480 --> 00:54:04,920 Speaker 1: a lot of the van service they had the old 972 00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:09,319 Speaker 1: Yankee vans and they wasn't clean, and they were decrepit, 973 00:54:09,640 --> 00:54:12,680 Speaker 1: and you know, regardless of what their family members wanted 974 00:54:12,719 --> 00:54:15,759 Speaker 1: to see their loved ones that weren't concerrated. So they 975 00:54:15,800 --> 00:54:19,440 Speaker 1: dealt with it. And I felt like our family members 976 00:54:19,560 --> 00:54:24,080 Speaker 1: deserved the same quality service that a regular civilian to 977 00:54:24,120 --> 00:54:28,120 Speaker 1: get out in the street. So I started the concept 978 00:54:28,160 --> 00:54:32,040 Speaker 1: of the uber like prison visit services called Riders. Van 979 00:54:32,600 --> 00:54:37,440 Speaker 1: Service is spelled ry d e r Z Van Service 980 00:54:37,600 --> 00:54:40,040 Speaker 1: and my numbers eight four five two O four five 981 00:54:40,200 --> 00:54:41,279 Speaker 1: nine three zero. 982 00:54:41,239 --> 00:54:43,319 Speaker 4: And you service how many prisons in New York State? 983 00:54:43,440 --> 00:54:48,200 Speaker 1: I serviced the Downstate area. Right now, I'm serving ten facilities. 984 00:54:48,880 --> 00:54:54,759 Speaker 1: I'm going to Downstate sing Sing, she Wonga, Sullivan, Walkkill, Woodburn, 985 00:54:54,880 --> 00:55:00,799 Speaker 1: green Haven, what else the majorities of the facility that 986 00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:03,920 Speaker 1: are close to New York At the present time, I'm 987 00:55:03,960 --> 00:55:07,200 Speaker 1: moving out further. We're supposed to be getting a bigger 988 00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:11,560 Speaker 1: bus to go to Elmira, Comstock or Burned and a 989 00:55:11,760 --> 00:55:14,399 Speaker 1: further facilities up where I'm in the process of doing 990 00:55:14,440 --> 00:55:17,960 Speaker 1: that as I speak, and things are picking up. We're 991 00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:20,920 Speaker 1: doing it with the van service for the prisons to 992 00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:25,640 Speaker 1: show you know how important implementing family ties are, because 993 00:55:25,680 --> 00:55:29,359 Speaker 1: they had done statistics that shows that individuals when they're 994 00:55:29,360 --> 00:55:32,000 Speaker 1: incarcerated and they loved ones check for them, they have 995 00:55:32,120 --> 00:55:35,399 Speaker 1: a lower rate of reciticism when they come home. And 996 00:55:35,440 --> 00:55:39,480 Speaker 1: I also plan to have a van go to the 997 00:55:39,560 --> 00:55:43,680 Speaker 1: female facility and Beacon. I think that is for free, 998 00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:46,480 Speaker 1: and I want to be able to give back to 999 00:55:46,480 --> 00:55:49,000 Speaker 1: the female facilities because I feel like they don't get 1000 00:55:49,680 --> 00:55:52,440 Speaker 1: as much visits as the males do and they have 1001 00:55:52,600 --> 00:55:56,239 Speaker 1: kids and stuff like that, so things are probably much 1002 00:55:56,280 --> 00:55:58,520 Speaker 1: harder and I want to be able to put it 1003 00:55:58,560 --> 00:56:01,800 Speaker 1: in rotation. Where's that I could go through the whole 1004 00:56:01,840 --> 00:56:05,520 Speaker 1: facility female facility and give each one of them female 1005 00:56:06,040 --> 00:56:08,920 Speaker 1: females a visit. But I want to find a social worker. 1006 00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:12,680 Speaker 1: It's a mediary just in case they need somebody to 1007 00:56:12,880 --> 00:56:15,879 Speaker 1: transport their kids to be able to go see their 1008 00:56:15,880 --> 00:56:18,360 Speaker 1: loved ones, because I know that may be a barrier 1009 00:56:18,400 --> 00:56:20,880 Speaker 1: as well because of the age of the child and 1010 00:56:20,920 --> 00:56:23,960 Speaker 1: stuff like that. But that's another way that I plan 1011 00:56:24,040 --> 00:56:24,680 Speaker 1: to give back. 1012 00:56:24,960 --> 00:56:27,839 Speaker 4: So you got the service, which is it's great there 1013 00:56:27,880 --> 00:56:30,800 Speaker 4: you are doing good while you're doing good and really 1014 00:56:30,800 --> 00:56:33,759 Speaker 4: making life better for those people who are able to 1015 00:56:33,800 --> 00:56:36,040 Speaker 4: now visit their loved ones that wouldn't be able to otherwise. 1016 00:56:36,080 --> 00:56:38,160 Speaker 4: And we know what a difference that makes to people 1017 00:56:38,160 --> 00:56:39,000 Speaker 4: on the inside. 1018 00:56:39,080 --> 00:56:41,239 Speaker 1: I think that one of the main reasons that I 1019 00:56:41,320 --> 00:56:44,160 Speaker 1: wanted to do that business is because I never wanted 1020 00:56:44,160 --> 00:56:46,680 Speaker 1: to allow myself to forget about where I came from, 1021 00:56:47,200 --> 00:56:52,200 Speaker 1: and by not forgetting that will constantly keep me away 1022 00:56:52,200 --> 00:56:55,480 Speaker 1: from doing anything that will put me back in that place. 1023 00:56:56,160 --> 00:56:59,120 Speaker 1: So I want to constantly be reminded of that, and 1024 00:56:59,160 --> 00:57:00,520 Speaker 1: that's how I do it. 1025 00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:04,960 Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, I think your future looks really bright. I mean, 1026 00:57:05,040 --> 00:57:10,239 Speaker 4: you are obviously a very smart and capable and entrepreneurial guy, 1027 00:57:10,920 --> 00:57:13,480 Speaker 4: and you know, reapplying your skills and the way that 1028 00:57:13,520 --> 00:57:16,000 Speaker 4: you are is extremely admirable, and I know you're going 1029 00:57:16,080 --> 00:57:18,000 Speaker 4: to be a big success, and I mean, I'm looking 1030 00:57:18,000 --> 00:57:21,520 Speaker 4: forward to watching you. I know we were speaking earlier, 1031 00:57:21,680 --> 00:57:25,000 Speaker 4: we were talking about some innocent people that you left behind, 1032 00:57:25,160 --> 00:57:28,040 Speaker 4: and I want to try to bring attention to those cases. 1033 00:57:28,080 --> 00:57:32,960 Speaker 4: And it's entirely possible that by highlighting these innocent people 1034 00:57:32,960 --> 00:57:34,960 Speaker 4: that you left behind that you care so much about, 1035 00:57:35,400 --> 00:57:39,040 Speaker 4: we may be able to affect some change in their cases. 1036 00:57:39,080 --> 00:57:41,280 Speaker 4: So do you want to just talk about that briefly. 1037 00:57:41,680 --> 00:57:44,440 Speaker 1: I'll start off with some of the brothers that I 1038 00:57:44,560 --> 00:57:47,440 Speaker 1: know about case that I've just left in green Haven, 1039 00:57:47,520 --> 00:57:51,440 Speaker 1: that we were actually working on our cases together. That's 1040 00:57:51,480 --> 00:57:54,800 Speaker 1: why I'm so much familiar with their facts. You've got 1041 00:57:54,800 --> 00:57:58,840 Speaker 1: a guy named Nelson Cruz that's currently in green Haven 1042 00:57:58,840 --> 00:58:01,200 Speaker 1: who was actually in a and they did a New 1043 00:58:01,280 --> 00:58:04,480 Speaker 1: York Times article on him. He was actually caught up 1044 00:58:04,520 --> 00:58:09,200 Speaker 1: in the Lewis scar Seller situation and he just recently 1045 00:58:09,320 --> 00:58:13,040 Speaker 1: got denied on his full forty and I believe in 1046 00:58:13,080 --> 00:58:17,040 Speaker 1: his innocence. There's another guy named Paul Clark that actually 1047 00:58:17,040 --> 00:58:21,160 Speaker 1: has almost forty years in that was arrested by the 1048 00:58:21,280 --> 00:58:25,240 Speaker 1: mafia cops. So Paul Clark is one. He's currently at 1049 00:58:25,280 --> 00:58:29,040 Speaker 1: green Haven facility. And you know, you have another young 1050 00:58:29,160 --> 00:58:32,120 Speaker 1: brother that I met named Kyrie Frye who's also at 1051 00:58:32,160 --> 00:58:36,000 Speaker 1: green Haven and Anthony Reid. But just recently me and 1052 00:58:36,080 --> 00:58:39,520 Speaker 1: Meek Mills was in correspondence with each other and he 1053 00:58:39,760 --> 00:58:42,320 Speaker 1: just sent me the information of a person that he 1054 00:58:42,560 --> 00:58:47,680 Speaker 1: was inconcerated within Chester at the time. This brother has 1055 00:58:47,720 --> 00:58:50,760 Speaker 1: in twenty six years in prison and the only reason 1056 00:58:50,800 --> 00:58:54,480 Speaker 1: that he's currently there. His name is Eric Riddick. You 1057 00:58:54,520 --> 00:58:57,760 Speaker 1: can look up Eric Ridick. He's in Pennsylvania and Chester, 1058 00:58:57,920 --> 00:59:02,280 Speaker 1: PA and the penitentiary. And this brother is actually innocent, 1059 00:59:02,320 --> 00:59:05,360 Speaker 1: and the only reason he's still in conserrated is because 1060 00:59:05,400 --> 00:59:10,680 Speaker 1: a procedural situation whereas that you have to have evidence 1061 00:59:10,800 --> 00:59:13,760 Speaker 1: in at a certain time, and if you don't have 1062 00:59:14,320 --> 00:59:17,720 Speaker 1: actual innocent evidence. By the way, you know, he has 1063 00:59:17,800 --> 00:59:21,480 Speaker 1: evidence that proves his innocent, and he has expert evidence 1064 00:59:21,480 --> 00:59:24,520 Speaker 1: that proves his innocence. It's just appalling that he's still 1065 00:59:24,520 --> 00:59:27,600 Speaker 1: in prison after twenty six years and this brother needs 1066 00:59:27,800 --> 00:59:28,560 Speaker 1: to be free. 1067 00:59:28,640 --> 00:59:31,840 Speaker 4: So we will post the names of all those individuals 1068 00:59:31,880 --> 00:59:35,880 Speaker 4: that Cal just highlighted on the website. Get involved and 1069 00:59:35,960 --> 00:59:40,120 Speaker 4: maybe we can together help some of these people get justice. 1070 00:59:40,600 --> 00:59:44,560 Speaker 4: So we have a tradition here on wrongful Conviction, which 1071 00:59:44,600 --> 00:59:47,040 Speaker 4: is that at the end of the show, I like 1072 00:59:47,080 --> 00:59:50,080 Speaker 4: to turn the microphone over to you. I do what 1073 00:59:50,320 --> 00:59:52,120 Speaker 4: I don't do very well, which is that I stopped 1074 00:59:52,160 --> 00:59:56,840 Speaker 4: talking and just let you share any final thoughts that 1075 00:59:56,920 --> 01:00:00,240 Speaker 4: you have, and Steve, I'm going to start with you 1076 01:00:00,480 --> 01:00:03,560 Speaker 4: so that we can have Cal be our cleanup hitter here. 1077 01:00:03,640 --> 01:00:07,120 Speaker 4: So Steve Fishman, any final thoughts. 1078 01:00:07,960 --> 01:00:10,360 Speaker 2: Well, first off, thanks for having me. 1079 01:00:10,400 --> 01:00:13,120 Speaker 6: It's an incredibly important issue and I spent a lot 1080 01:00:13,160 --> 01:00:16,360 Speaker 6: of time on it, actually sometimes bit against my will, 1081 01:00:16,400 --> 01:00:21,880 Speaker 6: but you know, Cal being relentless whichever I could never 1082 01:00:22,120 --> 01:00:24,600 Speaker 6: say no, even if I wasn't always saying yes. But 1083 01:00:25,200 --> 01:00:29,480 Speaker 6: Empire on Blood was really a work of passion and 1084 01:00:29,520 --> 01:00:32,880 Speaker 6: it tells Cal's story, and I think what you get 1085 01:00:32,920 --> 01:00:35,040 Speaker 6: from it that you don't often get is you you 1086 01:00:35,080 --> 01:00:39,920 Speaker 6: get the thinking and the thoughts and feelings of the 1087 01:00:40,000 --> 01:00:46,280 Speaker 6: prosecutor of Dwight Robinson, who not convicted but Stan's accused 1088 01:00:46,320 --> 01:00:50,480 Speaker 6: by eyewitness of having done this murder of the detective 1089 01:00:50,520 --> 01:00:55,280 Speaker 6: who talked Dwight Robinson out of his confession. So you 1090 01:00:55,400 --> 01:00:58,920 Speaker 6: really end up with a sense of the criminal justice system. 1091 01:00:59,600 --> 01:01:02,680 Speaker 6: And I guess the last thing I'd say is, you know, yeah, 1092 01:01:02,840 --> 01:01:06,280 Speaker 6: I kind of took a journey with Cal and sometimes 1093 01:01:06,320 --> 01:01:10,160 Speaker 6: I'm giving some credit for having pushed his case forward, 1094 01:01:10,240 --> 01:01:14,080 Speaker 6: but you know, really all credit to Cal. I just 1095 01:01:14,200 --> 01:01:19,960 Speaker 6: think the kind of discipline and persistence in the face 1096 01:01:20,040 --> 01:01:25,040 Speaker 6: of enormous disappointment that would have not only disheartened people, 1097 01:01:25,080 --> 01:01:29,520 Speaker 6: but I think broken most people. I couldn't have persisted. 1098 01:01:29,880 --> 01:01:35,160 Speaker 6: I mean, that kind of instinct and ability is very 1099 01:01:35,680 --> 01:01:39,040 Speaker 6: very rare, whether you're talking to people on the outside 1100 01:01:39,080 --> 01:01:42,480 Speaker 6: or people on the inside. So you know, all credit 1101 01:01:42,520 --> 01:01:46,480 Speaker 6: to Cal for realizing is the beginning of his future. 1102 01:01:47,000 --> 01:01:50,160 Speaker 4: And now over to you, Calvin Bari, what do you 1103 01:01:50,240 --> 01:01:51,080 Speaker 4: got for us? 1104 01:01:51,520 --> 01:01:53,520 Speaker 1: I mean, I want to thank Steve for saying that, 1105 01:01:53,720 --> 01:01:56,880 Speaker 1: because that means a lot to me because he didn't 1106 01:01:56,920 --> 01:02:01,040 Speaker 1: have to get involved with my case but my diligence 1107 01:02:01,360 --> 01:02:04,440 Speaker 1: and I think that, you know, he still he wanted 1108 01:02:04,480 --> 01:02:06,720 Speaker 1: to do the right thing, and it's good that we 1109 01:02:06,840 --> 01:02:09,720 Speaker 1: have people like that. Whether you're a stranger or a 1110 01:02:09,760 --> 01:02:13,240 Speaker 1: friend or not. It's just that I feel like people 1111 01:02:13,320 --> 01:02:15,640 Speaker 1: are waking up and they want the right things to 1112 01:02:15,720 --> 01:02:19,520 Speaker 1: be done. I think that my last words is going 1113 01:02:19,600 --> 01:02:21,840 Speaker 1: to be like what Meek Mill said, It's all about 1114 01:02:21,920 --> 01:02:25,240 Speaker 1: justice reform so these type of things don't happen to 1115 01:02:25,320 --> 01:02:28,960 Speaker 1: other individuals. I hope that I'm an example to the 1116 01:02:29,000 --> 01:02:33,080 Speaker 1: people that these things do occur, and we just have 1117 01:02:33,160 --> 01:02:37,680 Speaker 1: to do something so they won't reoccur again. That's basically 1118 01:02:37,680 --> 01:02:38,520 Speaker 1: what I have to say. 1119 01:02:39,920 --> 01:02:43,080 Speaker 4: Well, now I just want to thank the audience for 1120 01:02:43,160 --> 01:02:47,120 Speaker 4: tuning in and listening. This has been an amazing journey, 1121 01:02:47,720 --> 01:02:51,520 Speaker 4: and thanks again to Steve Fishman and Calaboari for being 1122 01:02:51,560 --> 01:02:52,400 Speaker 4: a part of the show. 1123 01:02:52,560 --> 01:02:53,400 Speaker 1: Thank you Jason. 1124 01:02:53,640 --> 01:03:02,800 Speaker 4: Thank you Jason, don't forget to give us a fantastic review. 1125 01:03:02,840 --> 01:03:06,520 Speaker 4: Wherever you get your podcasts, it really helps. And I'm 1126 01:03:06,560 --> 01:03:09,200 Speaker 4: a proud donor to the Enniscence Project, and I really 1127 01:03:09,240 --> 01:03:12,360 Speaker 4: hope you'll join me in supporting this very important cause 1128 01:03:12,520 --> 01:03:16,600 Speaker 4: and helping to prevent future wrongful convictions. Go to Innocenceproject 1129 01:03:16,640 --> 01:03:19,360 Speaker 4: dot org to learn how to donate and get involved. 1130 01:03:19,760 --> 01:03:22,240 Speaker 4: I'd like to thank our production team, Connor Hall and 1131 01:03:22,360 --> 01:03:25,080 Speaker 4: Kevin wartis. The music in the show is by three 1132 01:03:25,080 --> 01:03:28,480 Speaker 4: time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow 1133 01:03:28,560 --> 01:03:32,040 Speaker 4: us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at 1134 01:03:32,160 --> 01:03:35,960 Speaker 4: Wrongful Conviction Podcast. Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flahm is a 1135 01:03:36,000 --> 01:03:39,800 Speaker 4: production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association with Signal 1136 01:03:39,840 --> 01:03:42,000 Speaker 4: Company Number one