WEBVTT - #157 Jason Flom with Kevin Dykes 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:05.400 As a child. In the late nineteen seventies, Kevin Dykes 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:07.800 accidentally killed his best friend when they were playing with 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:11.720 a gun, sending him to Juvie for involuntary manslaughter. When 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:15.400 he got out, he turned to petty drug dealing in Compton, California. 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.200 Fast forward to nineteen eighty six. After a terrible assault 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:22.160 that led to a four month hospital stint, Kevin continued 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:25.200 peddling drugs from his temporary wheelchair for two men named 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.240 Slim and Hondo. Kevin rented a bed and a trailer 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.360 home in his landlord's driveway, where Slim and Hondo occasionally 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:36.040 hit weapons. That June, two incidents occurred just days apart, 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:39.840 resulting in one murder and two attempted murders. The first 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:42.400 during a party when Kevin booted his friend Ephram for 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:46.040 being belligerently drunk. Slim and Hondo followed he from stabbing 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:49.920 him several times. A neighborhood mother, Missus Bradley, came to 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:53.720 Ephram's aid, only to get stabbed as well. Kevin intervened, 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:56.760 jumping from his wheelchair to stop the assault before it 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:00.600 turned fatal. A few days later, Slim and Honda accused 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:04.240 Kevin's friend Otis Perry of stealing their gun from Kevin's 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:08.360 trailer home, stabbing him eighty one times. Unable to stop 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.480 the murderous frenzy and fearing for his own life, Kevin 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:13.920 helped them clean up before going to the police a 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:16.840 few hours later. A few days after that, Kevin was 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:20.200 arrested for cocaine possession and put into a special holding 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:24.480 tank for state's witnesses. Then three jailhouse snitches claimed that 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:28.360 Kevin had confessed to all three attacks in exchange for 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:32.679 leniency in their own cases. Kevin Dykes is serving life 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:36.800 in prison on the word of three notorious jailhouse snitches. 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:40.559 This is Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm. 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.600 This is Global TILLNK. You have a prepaid calls from 0:01:55.000 --> 0:02:01.520 here an inmate ent to California State Prison, Los Angeles Countycaster, California. 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:05.120 This call and our telephone number will be monitored and recorded. 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:12.320 To accept this call, say or dial five now. Thank 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:14.240 you for using Globaltail Link. 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:17.880 Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flomp. Today. We 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:20.760 have an incredible story, so we're going to get right 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:22.960 into it, and I'm going to introduce you first to 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:28.919 Stephen K. Houser. He's a criminal defense attorney representing the 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:32.720 star of this episode, Kevin Dike. Stephen, Welcome to Wrongful Conviction. 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:34.480 Thank you, glad to be here. 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:37.640 And Kevin Dykes is on the phone with us from prison, 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:40.600 and I hope we'll be able to do something about 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:44.160 his situation because it is awful. Kevin. I'm sorry you're 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:46.880 here or where you are, but I'm happy you're here 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:48.639 with us today. So thank you for being here. 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:50.800 Thank you for the opportory. 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.600 This case goes back to Compton nineteen eighty six, and 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.519 it's got It's got so much that you'll think of 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.079 talking about a movie script that would be too much 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:04.119 to be believed, except for it's real. It's got gangster's 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.240 name Hondo and Slim. It's got drugs. It's got snitches 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:10.480 that ended up on sixty minutes. It's got laws that changed, 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:13.679 and victims who testified that this was not the guy 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:15.840 who did it. It's got a guy who's in prison 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.480 for three and a half decades with no evidence against 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.240 him except the testimony of jail house snitches who have 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:26.560 recanted their testimony. It is nuts, but it's true. So 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:30.080 let's get right into it, and Kevin, let's start with 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.960 you going back to your youth, because you grew up 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:35.080 in Compton. 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.000 Right, Yes, I grew up good too, Gray at home 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:41.000 in the pop Water Sport. I actually had a real 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:46.600 good up bringing. In two, I think it's actually three, 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.560 I ended up actually killing my best friend. I went 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:53.200 for a CHERI mayor flather and I will stick at. 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.280 YAS And for those of you who don't know, YA 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:58.920 or CYA is the California Youth Authority. 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:03.040 As I unders standard, your friend's death was entirely accidental, 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.160 just two kids who made a big mistake playing with 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:09.200 a gun. But they still sent you away to juvie 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:13.840 for involuntary manslaughter. And I also understand that you harbor 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:16.360 a lot of guilt about this. Even though the family 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.520 forgave you, yes, just family. 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.200 They stayed directly across the street from my family, even 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.680 to the they still feel on the same street. Although 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.280 the family had forgiven me, written me letters and will 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:31.880 come to see me. When I got out, I saw 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:36.560 what idea to that family, and I didn't know how 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:39.760 to propter. Although my mother and my father and my 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:42.200 grandmother and all kinds of people were trying to help me. 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:46.400 I didn't know how to ask for their help that 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:49.880 I actually needed, so I got de gris root de 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:50.760 grit to the game. 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:54.400 So the guilt kind of derailed your potential, it seems. 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:58.000 And after Juvie, you start dealing drugs and looking outside 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:00.320 of what seemed like a supportive home for what it 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:06.360 was that you felt you needed, acceptance, identity, whatever, out 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:09.960 in the street. So fast forward to January nineteen eighty six. 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:12.080 Some other really bad stuff happens. 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.760 January eighteenth, So I try to cheating them me. They 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:17.680 try to cheat them in front of my house. I 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:20.040 followed them. They ran me through a brick wall and 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:22.480 he both my hit and smashed my films. So I 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.720 went at the hospital eighteenth in knowledge and May forties. 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:27.560 When I got out of the hospital, I was in 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:29.680 a wheelchair and I had a walker, and I was 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:30.600 all to a therapy. 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:35.840 Yes, someone tried to kidnap Kevin, so you fought them off, 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:38.640 and they ended up hitting you with their car against 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.840 a brick wall, broke your hips, snapped your pelvis, and 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:44.680 put you in the hospital for four months. I mean, 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.360 you're lucky to even be alive, and we haven't even 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:50.960 gotten to the part that has you locked up right now. Okay, 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:55.880 so it's May nineteen eighty six. You're temporarily in this 0:05:56.000 --> 0:06:01.080 wheelchair doing physical therapy and dealing drugs for these two 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.640 mid level management drug dealers named Slim and Hondo. 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:08.280 Slim and Hondo decided that they were going to take 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:13.159 over the local drug sales. I believe they helped Kevin 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.839 and some of his friends with small amounts of cocaine 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:21.479 to sell in the neighborhood, and they would periodically show 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:26.080 up and I guess resupply the local sellers, including Kevin 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:27.159 and Kevin. 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:29.480 You were renting a place to stay from a man 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.360 named mister Bryce. You were renting a bed in this 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:34.560 mobile home that sat in his driveway, right. 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:37.640 Yes, I was a fan and mister Bryce's mobile hole. 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:39.880 We had a mobile home. They had like six days, 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:43.559 the shower and all that stuff inside. It was parked 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.760 in the driveway. Sometimes my friends us supposed to stay. 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:49.280 They had like six places, well, sleeping there. 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.840 So Oltis is coming in sleeping there, and Otis is 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:58.760 Otis Perry who occasionally stayed at mister Bryce's mobile home. 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:02.440 And he's the one that was eventually stabbed by Slim 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.640 and Hondo for taking the gun that they had left 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:09.040 in the trailer. The night that these two attempted murders 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.680 occurred outside a party at mister Bryce's house. 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.640 Yes, also, my cousin Pam was inside of the mobile home. 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:18.520 I was inside the house where the party was there 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:22.040 when the fighting. When the fight after, so I didn't 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:24.120 know this was out there at the time. And I 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.280 know Slim pulls up. They knew mister Bryce didn't allow 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:30.040 gus in his house, but they here to gun in 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:33.720 the mobile home. Well, my cousin and OSTs, but I 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:35.720 still didn't know nothing about that at that time. 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:39.800 Okay, so now the stage is finally set for these 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.200 crimes to take place. This is we're talking June nineteenth, 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:45.680 nineteen eighty six. There's a little party going on at 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.800 mister Bryce's Your friend Otis and your cousin Pam are 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.920 in the mobile home in the driveway. Slim and Hondo, 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.880 your bosses, come to hang out, but out of respect 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.240 for mister Bryce, they leave their gun in the mobile home. 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:03.480 Then your friend Ephim is at the party and he 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:08.480 is drunk. To say the least, is my older homeboy. 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:13.880 He was young beingligerate and uh messing with the females. 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:16.600 I was up in there grabbing drinks that didn't belong 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.720 to him, and I saw man go down to the 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:23.440 pool man keep back. I got and he kept on. 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.120 So I got pissed off and I hit him once. 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:30.760 And when I hit him, hand slam both of them attacking. 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:33.720 Because of them, I here's what they see it, he said. 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.160 I didn't understand why did they get involved in there? 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:40.800 Here's what they said, because I should barely walk. They 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.240 people were taking advantage of my disability. 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.679 Okay, so your drug bosses are sticking up for you, 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:52.240 but then they go way beyond what you would ever 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:53.160 want them to do. 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:57.160 Yes, So once I stuck both of them attacking, I 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:01.760 got them to stop sold instantly he left and then 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:03.920 they chased him down the street. They caught him at 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:06.600 the end of the corner. Once I got down there, 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:11.000 I saw that he was actually stabbing. When I hollered, 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:15.240 Hondo leaving alone, Hondo, He's little step and saw me. 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:18.319 But when he saw me, he saw Miss Bradley behind me. 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:21.839 Miss Bradley is my older home was mother. When she 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:24.480 looked up and saw that it was her son, she 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.320 tried to turn and run. He ran her down, grabbed 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.360 her by her dress, and saw her stabbing her. I 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:33.120 hopped my way to him and grabbed him to see 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:37.160 him off of her, and once I was holdingly, she 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:40.320 got loose. We gave you some time to get up, 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:43.520 and then I got to convinced him to get into 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:46.520 the car and drove them off. I drove off to 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:49.400 a motel, and then I came back to check on 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:51.800 Ephraim and miss Bradley, but the amlas already came in. 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:52.720 There was a hospital. 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:58.120 So you basically saved Missus Bradley and Ephraim from being 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:02.200 murdered by slimming Hondo by convincing them to stop stabbing 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.080 them and drive away from the scene. But this incident 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:10.160 on June nineteenth is what becomes two charges of attempted 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:14.439 murder that gets stuck on you. The guy confined to 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:20.199 a wheelchair at the time. Yeah, okay, So Slim and 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:24.880 Hondo stabbed both Ephraim and Missus Bradley. You drove them 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:29.040 to a motel. At some point, your friend otis back 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:31.760 at the mobile home takes the gun Slim and Hondo 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:34.040 had left behind. Not too smart, by the way, because 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.679 Slim and Hondo knew who was in the mobile home 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:40.000 when they stashed it in the first place, so they 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:41.080 come looking for Otis. 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.760 On June twenty third, June twenty thirty, he came overs 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:48.600 looking for Otis like Wilson in the morning. They said, 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.959 come outside, I'm going to go to your olds. I 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.040 didn't know Olis's out here in the motor holes. So 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:58.520 when I went up to the front, York Jordan open 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:02.439 oldest steps out, hands packed over this, say there with 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:04.280 my gun. He said, we can go get it. He 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:07.440 said too late, and then catching they started fighting. All 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:09.160 this was fighting back for they were fighting him from 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.160 the side of the mother hole. He went around the 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:13.240 garage and that was the first time I saw him 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:16.559 being stand and I came back from around there. I 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:19.599 wasn't neighboring water or whatever, so didn't say nothing, and 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:22.800 if listening to everything that was going on. And I 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:24.959 don't know how the much time passed, but gave Honolds 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:27.120 came from around there and it was no more noise. 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.560 I was wondering them, okay, now what he said, Uh, 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.800 wolves up, you got some recume And then I gave 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:36.920 him my blanket. So him was swinging, went behind the 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:41.120 fane and wrapped him up, drugged him out, and put 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:43.640 him in the car. And then instead of him a 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:46.760 slim boy, he said, you said you stay here watching 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:48.439 down all the blood that was coming from behind the 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:50.560 mother hole, and showed me to get in the car 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.040 and ride with him. So I took him over through 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.240 my own boys neighborhood by the canal, and that's where 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.480 he jumped in and I said, look, I'll be back. 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:00.920 I left the ever same day. 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:05.679 And what would you tell anyone listening now who's wondering 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:08.439 why you played any part in getting rid of the 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:09.880 body with Slim and Hondo. 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.040 I did with any reasonable person not trying to die, 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:15.959 I would have done hadn't seen what I saw. I 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.760 knew I gotta do something that made myself a part 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:22.440 of what's going on. And I wasn't a physically able 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:26.079 to do nothing to prevent myself from being killed. And 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.480 I'm swissed in that was the smartest thing that I 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:33.079 could have done at the time for myself, instead of 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:33.920 doing nothing. 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.439 If you had done nothing at all, what do you 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.440 think Slim and Hondo would have done. 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:42.120 I was a little bit too afraid to find out. 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:46.280 I was in a position where something happened to my 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:51.199 friend Donalds to know where I stood, and I did 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:53.040 what I thought was the best thing to do for 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:58.160 my film that I too for older now about saying 0:12:58.320 --> 0:12:58.760 my film. 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:12.000 This episode is sponsored by AIG, a leading global insurance company, 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:16.040 and Paul Weiss Rifkin, Wharton and Garrison, a leading international 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:19.640 law firm. The AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:24.559 services and other support to many nonprofit organizations and individuals 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:27.599 most in need, and recently they announced that working to 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.360 reform the criminal justice system will become a key pillar 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:33.880 of the program's mission. Paul Weiss has long had an 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:38.160 unwavering commitment to providing impactful pro bono legal assistance to 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:41.280 the most vulnerable members of our society and in support 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.880 of the public interest, including extensive work in the criminal 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:56.040 justice area. Otis's murderer eventually gets pinned on you, the 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.480 guy who was only able to watch or listen helplessly, 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:03.839 has your friend got stabbed to death, and then, in 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.319 order to save your own life, you did what probably 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:09.040 any of us would have done. You played along with 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.360 Slim and Hondo until you could get away. I would 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.880 not want to have been in your shoes. At that point, 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:19.760 you just lost your brand. Otis you had to contend 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:22.840 with the question of to snitch or not to snitch 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:26.400 on like a sophie's choice on these two murderous drug dealers. 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:29.840 That's when I was trying to process whatever it just 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:34.040 happened to show. Thirty seven o'clock in the morning, That's 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:36.960 when I saw the police and I told that I 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:39.560 knew who it was. Would always said, come over here 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.800 and look, I knew it was. I said, I know 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:46.760 where he lives, to his mother's house. And then when 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.000 we say back to the scene, I asked my saying, 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:52.120 look if I had any information, talk on our contract, 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:55.240 and he gave me his car. I took your car 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.040 rode Mouth two. While I was to the phone booth, 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.400 I called a police you look and I told everything 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:04.520 they need to know. It's a little while was there. 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:06.720 They came and kicked me up, shook me out to 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:10.080 the station, and I made the cap. Maybe once I 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.040 made the cake, they let me go out back home. 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.160 So you made a statement to a sergeant. Sergeant Preston 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.200 and you're going to be a witness, and Steve, maybe 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:22.400 you can tell us about the next part of the story, 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.240 which is how Kevin was picked up for cocaine possession. 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:29.640 Sometime later, and while in the state's witness holding area 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:34.360 of La County Jail, he eventually meets three guys who 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:38.200 are responsible for him being in this horrible predicament today. 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.680 What happened was Kevin got arrested for a possession of 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.440 cocaine charge, and because he was the main witness against 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.880 Slim and Hondo on a murder case, they put him 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:53.840 in with other prosecution witnesses and it's commonly called the 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:58.200 snitch Tank, which is a separate jail from the men's 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:02.320 central jail. And while Kevin was in there, he told 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:07.480 his cellmate, Willie Battle and the guy that was in 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:11.880 the next sel over, Jesse Williams. He told them what 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:15.800 actually happened because they asked, and that's very common in jail, 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.000 what are he in for? And they exchanged information, but 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:22.160 this time it only came from Kevin. He told him 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:26.440 what happened, and they twisted it around and ran with it. 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.320 And then they called the Compton Police Department and asked 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.080 them if they had a murder case where the body 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:35.920 was found by a canal. They called it a canal. 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.440 It's really a drainage ditch. And they put him in 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:44.560 contact with Detective Marvin Branscombe, who was not sergeant to Preston, 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:48.400 who Kevin gave the statement to, and they convinced Branscomb 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:51.360 that what they had to say was true, which they 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:55.200 said that Kevin confessed to these tempted murders and murder. 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:58.560 They say, we got a guy on here bragging about 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:02.440 chilling his guy with lady is telling the big time, 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:05.440 don't it. So I end up going from being the 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:09.000 actual witness to now being the actual killer. 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:13.639 So Kevin became a defendant instead of the prosecution witness, 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:15.800 and they moved him out of the snitch tank to 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:19.080 another part of the jail. So Kevin's transferred over to 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:23.159 the central jail, and then he met a very notorious 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:26.360 snitch named Leslie White. And I get a call from 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:30.600 Leslie White. I'd never heard of Leslie White. Leslie White says, 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:36.160 I understand you're defending Kevin Dyke's and that he has 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.880 been ratted out by two snitches. And I said that's 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:43.320 exactly right. He says, well, I can help you. You 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:45.719 come down here and I'm going to tell you all 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:49.879 about the snitch system and how it works. Okay, So 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:52.560 I go down to the jail. I talked to Leslie White. 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:56.080 He tells me about how inmates get a hold of 0:17:56.480 --> 0:18:01.960 paperwork and change fact and get a hold of the 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:06.760 detective or DA that's handling a particular murder case. And 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:11.520 because they know these unique facts, they can convince the 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:15.240 detective or district attorney that's handling the case that this 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.600 confession was a valid confession. So I said, well, that 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:20.800 sounds good. Okay, I'll put you on the witness list, 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:25.639 mister White. So about a week or two later, I 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:29.479 get the witness list from the district attorney and Leslie 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:33.320 White is on there as a people's witness. And not 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.760 only that, I get a report that says that Kevin 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:42.600 Dyke's confessed to Leslie White. And I'm flabbergasted because I 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:45.320 just talked to Leslie White and he was going to 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:48.159 be a witness for Kevin. So I go down to 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:51.680 the jail and I call out Leslie White and he's 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:53.480 willing to come and talk to me, and I said, 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:56.920 what do you are? You a witness for the prosecution now, 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:01.080 he says yep. I said, well, you know that Kevin's innocent. 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:03.879 Why do you do what? How can you do that? 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:07.560 And he says, well, man's got to do what he's 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:09.800 got to do. That's what he said. 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:13.320 I gotta be honest. My head is spinning. And I 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:16.040 didn't even live through this. I mean, this is Kevin. 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:18.680 I mean, I'm so sorry that you're living this is that, 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:20.639 this is your life we're talking about. 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:25.320 I didn't actually believe that what was going on was 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:28.760 even possible. I didn't think that this stuff would hold. 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:34.320 I'm like, what hold? I'm an actual eye withness. These 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:36.560 guys they don't know nothing about where I lived, but 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:39.840 nothing about what actually happened. So I didn't really believe 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:42.080 the people could do what they were what they were 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:44.639 doing to me. I had never even heard about that before. 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:47.520 I mean, this is this is like nothing. I don't 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:50.760 think we've ever heard a story like this before. So Steven, 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:51.640 what happens next? 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:55.800 When we got to court, all they had was his 0:19:56.160 --> 0:20:01.480 statement to Sergeant Preston and three snitches, and I couldn't 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:05.960 believe that they would even want to proceed with this evidence. 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:10.679 But they did, and just before the verdict was issued, 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:12.840 I told Kevin, I said, now Kevin, when you get 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:15.399 out of here, you've got to change your ways, be 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.879 a law abiding citizen and then used to society, and 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:21.240 he said, yeah, came mister Houser, I'm going to do that, 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:26.840 came back guilty. We were both floored. 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:30.040 You were sentenced to twenty four years to life. Here 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:33.280 it is now twenty twenty. You're still in Can you 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:36.400 just take us back there, put us in that courtroom 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:37.120 with you if you can. 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:43.119 I actually should not believe the verbiant. Yeah, I actually 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:47.640 in the fine. I just see how it was possible. Yeah, 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:51.680 I was askual eye witness. I came for. I gave 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:55.240 him everything they needed, all evidence to car the weather. 0:20:55.800 --> 0:21:01.280 The people from testified that I didn't attack. People will 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:05.520 stand by thirty three times at least fighter I didn't attacking, 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:09.399 And it just fires that I didn't attack Ms. Browning. 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:15.320 That was my friend mother. There was nobody here. You'll say, okay, anybody. 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:19.760 But and this is something I really need to highlight here, 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:22.800 which is that if you go in a jury box 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:25.960 and you're presented with a case where someone's life is 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:28.600 hanging into balance, just like Kevin's was, and there's no 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:32.600 evidence connecting that person's at a crime except for the 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:38.000 testimony of a snitch, you cannot vote to convict because 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:41.760 it's crazy. I mean, these are people who are clearly incentivized. 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:43.119 They may not tell you that at the time, but 0:21:43.200 --> 0:21:46.160 you have to understand that the defense can never bribe 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:48.280 a witness. That's it. That's a crime punishable by long 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:51.320 time in jail. But the government can make a deal 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:55.120 with a snitch to reduce their charges or drop their 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:58.600 charges in exchange for testimony, and that is the best 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:04.080 bribe of all. So it's the most unreliable testimony imaginable. 0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:07.440 And here you have a case where the direct evidence 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:11.800 contradicts what the snitches were saying. The evidence showed that 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:16.280 Kevin could not have committed this crime, and yet he 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:19.639 ends up getting convicted on the testimony of people who 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:23.400 were notoriously untrustworthy and were incentivised to lie. 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:27.520 Mister Holliard found evidence where they get apartments. They say, oh, 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:30.600 he's grit in my family. So the government gives him 0:22:31.280 --> 0:22:35.280 money to relocate them move in apartments. All of them 0:22:35.400 --> 0:22:38.760 ended up getting reduced sients left white ended up getting 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:41.560 out at such five and gives me, I don't know 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:45.159 if you remember this thousand. He came right back an 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:49.280 he threatened thesis attorney, if you don't bake me back out, 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:52.240 I'm gonna blow his whole case up. You remember, miss out. 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:56.560 What happened was Leslie White then went on sixty minutes 0:22:56.640 --> 0:22:58.640 when he was back in again in in the jail, 0:22:59.440 --> 0:23:03.800 and he showed on camera how he could work his 0:23:04.000 --> 0:23:08.960 magic and get favors from the DA. And then when 0:23:09.040 --> 0:23:11.800 I saw that, I went down and talked to Leslie White. 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:14.880