WEBVTT - #019 Jason Flom with Franky Carrillo 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:08.879 With the police banging on the door open up. 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:12.319 The choice to be in that lineup was the last 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:13.760 choice I made as a free man. 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:18.000 A year later, I ended up writing the system. 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:20.240 I'm going to be one of those people who everyone 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:21.840 in the world is going to think as a monster 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:24.000 or suspect as a monster for the rest of my life, 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:25.319 and I'm just going to have to come to peace 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:25.599 with that. 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:29.520 Somebody was able to look at my picture in the 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:33.080 database and say that I was somewhere where I definitely wasn't. 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:37.479 I overheard three of the jailers discussing what part they 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:39.720 might have to play in my hanging. They had been 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:42.920 told that two prison officers would have to participate in 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:47.159 my execution. Now I walked back inside that prison for 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:49.560 the last time. Man, all help broke loose. 0:00:49.560 --> 0:01:06.319 But welcome to another episode of Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm. 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:10.440 Today we have a very incredible person as our guest. 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.240 Our featured exonery today is Frankie Correo. 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:17.440 Korea was sixteen. In nineteen ninety one, fifteen sheriff's deputies 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:20.360 with guns drawn storm through the front door. Korea was 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:23.520 convicted of murder and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:25.000 Frankie was released. 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:27.840 From jail in downtown LA this afternoon after spending twenty 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.640 years in prison. Rio was released after the court found 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.080 evidence that Korea was framed through coerced testimony for a 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:37.240 fatal drive by shooting. The gang of corrupt LA Sheriff's 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:40.839 deputies known as the Linwood Vikings co wer six witnesses 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:43.280 into identifying him in a photo lineup. 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:47.280 Frankie, welcome, Jason's good to be here. 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:51.640 So Frankie, your story begins when you were really just 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.400 a child and the baby man. Let's go back to 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.880 the beginning. You grew up in La, right, that's correct, 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:02.120 Southern California, and you had a pretty happy upbringing, right, Yeah, 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:04.960 I would say that. Yeah, everything was going along more 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.880 or less. Okay, nothing's easy about being a sixteen year 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:08.960 old boy, that's right. 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:12.639 Then one day it almost turned upside down. That day 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:16.200 was January twenty fourth, nineteen ninety one. I was just 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:17.960 a little color there. I was a high school student. 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.240 I was a child of a divorce family, four siblings. 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:23.840 My father had raised us in stage of nine, so 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:27.040 it's a very male dominated household. Dad and two boys. 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:29.279 It was what I'd known for the past seven years. 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:30.960 And you had a sort of a unique situation too. 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:32.359 It was is that your mom had did one day 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:33.840 just decided to check out. 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:34.840 That's it. Yeah. 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:37.240 It wasn't like it got separated and you spent half 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:37.720 the time. 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.160 With her or she just left. That was it. Yeah, 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:42.520 I mean, it's an unfortunate story, but that's what happened. 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:45.480 Yeah, so you had been abandoned in a very real 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:51.400 way and experienced something that's obviously going to affect any 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:54.720 young man for the rest of his life. But that 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.079 wasn't the worst of what was to come by far. 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.919 And again, sixteen is really not a child, but you're 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:02.639 closer to a child than an adult. 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:04.799 Right even though it was my age, I was sixteen, 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:07.840 Psychologically you're you're still a kid, you know, maybe operating 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:11.079 at thirteen fourteen level, not to minimize it, but I'm 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:11.839 a boy, I'm a kid. 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:14.760 We were in tenth grade, tenth grader, tenth grade exactly, 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:17.320 So I'm saying tenth grade, you're you know, yeah, you're 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:19.800 closer to middle school than you are to college. And 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:20.640 they hadn't been shaved. 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:22.120 So it's like a good A good reference is that 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:23.840 you're at the point where like facial hair is sort 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:26.480 of developing, but you're not there yet, Frankie, like, hold 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:26.919 off right. 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.640 And then one night, fifteen cops bust in your house. 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:33.399 What a surreal situation. You were asleep? 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:36.240 I was asleep, just a normal night. Yeah. Actually it 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:38.040 was early morning, so it was dark, but it was 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:40.440 it was six in the morning. This happened, and my 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:42.600 father and I went home and they couldn't get in. 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.160 They were pounding away, and ultimately I opened the door, 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:47.920 looked out the window and new was them. They were 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.120 screaming who they were, and they stormed in, stormed in, 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:53.280 ordered my father and I to the floor, And that's 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:54.600 the beginning of the nightmare. 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.880 Really, so they already it to the floor. Did they 0:03:57.920 --> 0:03:59.160 tell you what was going on? 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:01.920 I wish it did? You know? It was pretty strategic 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:03.920 in all business, so they wanted to, like ram sack. 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.600 The home was their main objective. And you know, my 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:08.840 father and I really my dad was trying to exert 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:12.320 his position. This is my home, what are you doing here? 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:14.720 And he was being ignored. So he's telling me, like, 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:16.400 what's happening. I'm like I don't know, Like I have 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.240 no idea whither're here? Soon after, on the ride to 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:21.760 the sheriff station is when I learned that I had 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.560 been accused and ultimately now being arrested for a murderer 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:25.279 I hadn't committed. 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:29.600 So you get to the sheriff's station and what happens next. 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.240 Really, I was expecting my father to show up, but 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:34.800 what happened was I was placing into an interrogation room. 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.320 The people who showed up instead were these two sort 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:40.120 of cowboy detectives ready to play the good call bad 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.480 cop on me, and I played along. You know. They 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:45.559 said what they're arrested me for and if I would 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.080 willing to talk, and I said, sure, I'll talk like 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:49.200 I have nothing to hide. 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:52.039 Right, And so you waved your Marana, right I did. 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:54.800 And that's such a crazy thing, Frankie, because I think 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:59.040 it's hard for most people to understand why someone would 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:01.960 wave their miranda rights when you have the right to 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:04.520 a lawyer who is going to give that up. But 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:07.359 the fact is in your case, I think it's fairly typical, 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.200 which is that if you're innocent, and this is an 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:12.200 ironic thing, right, if you're innocent, a lot of people 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:14.640 go in they think, well, why do I need a lawyer. 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:16.680 I'm just going to answer some questions, and the justice 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.440 system is going to work because I'm an innocent person 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.039 who abides by the law, and then they'll see that 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.120 they made a mistake and then they'll go catch the 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:24.800 real guy. 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:25.599 Exactly right. 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:29.640 Unfortunately, it's going to take stories like yours to help 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:33.080 educate people so that they don't do that. You do 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.320 not give up any information without getting a lawyer. 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:38.640 But I will adjason that when you're in that code 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:43.159 room and the power imbalance is obvious, you are in 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:46.880 a detention facility. Basically, you're in the stronghold, you're in 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:50.240 the sheriff's departments space, and you're there as a visitor. 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:52.880 You're there obviously being charged with this crime, in my case, 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:55.880 being wrongfully charged. And so to some degree, as a 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:57.680 young boy, you want these are adults. I'm looking at 0:05:57.680 --> 0:05:59.800 these men and you want to cooperate. You want it 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:01.840 like I'll talk to you. I have nothing to hide. 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.920 It is sort of my position looking back now. Obviously 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:07.440 I wish I wish there was a Civics class that 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:10.479 would have said, you know what, no matter what, innocent, guilty, whatever, 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.520 the situation is just wait for your parents or wait 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:14.560 for a lawyer. 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.960 Yes, it's a tragic twist or irony that when you're 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:20.719 innocent and you go into the situation, you're more likely 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:22.839 to waive your Miranda rights and if you're guilty, exactly, 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:24.240 we're in that interrogation room. 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:25.520 How long were you interrogated for? 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:25.960 Do you even know? 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:28.480 You know? Surprisingly, I think back of that fived him 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:31.440 in interrogation, and I sort of left that room thinking, 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:33.480 you know, where was the lamp? You know, where were 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:35.719 these guys punching on me? Like, you know, you watch 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.920 enough TV to understand that this is supposed to unfold 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:40.600 a little bit differently than it did in my case. 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.000 At least, they were very quick to just say, there's 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:45.880 a young boy who witnessed a crime, who was adamant 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:47.240 that you were the guy who did it. So we 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.160 got you. Let's talk about you just confessing to it. 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:53.280 So it was really very brief, very precise on their end, 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:55.839 and I think I'm on a chuckle not to be 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.920 silly here, but it was just like so unreal, like 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.160 one you're are you sure you're talking to me? I'm 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.080 adamant that it was in me obviously, and their position 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:07.599 was like, we're beyond if you did it or not. 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:10.360 We just want you to just come clean, just confess 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:13.400 that you did it. And I was like, I can't 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:13.680 do that. 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:15.680 It ended after ten minutes. 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:18.120 That's it. Like they weren't trying to press me and 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.640 starve me out anything. They were just like, okay, well 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:23.880 we'll see you in court, like we're going to jail now, 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:24.920 Like that was it. 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.080 Hearing that and that's an unusual interrogation, and that it 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:29.920 went on for such a short period of time, it 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.280 sounds to me like at that point they actually did 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:34.280 think they had the right guy, because they were like, Okay, 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:35.480 well this guy's not gonna give it up, but we 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:37.120 got the right guy, so it's okay, We're we're gonna 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:40.920 get him no matter what. But as things unraveled, they 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:45.920 took steps that were corrupt and illegal. How did they 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:48.240 end up managing to convict you when you were so 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:49.200 obviously not the guy? 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.520 So you know, in Los Angeles at least, there's a 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:56.480 very familiar story about misconduct with the LAPD SO Rampart 0:07:56.480 --> 0:08:00.520 Division scandal. It's more readily available knowledge. But my case 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:04.520 didn't involve laped involve the li Sheriff's Department, and there's 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:08.520 a well known at least locally of the Linwood Vikings. 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:11.080 So Lindwood is where this crime happened and where my 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:15.120 arrest was ultimately investigated. And the Linwood Vikings had become 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.640 a rogue police gang. So what I thought is a 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.720 naive boy, that I was dealing with law enforcement who 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:25.080 were abidened by the constitution and their policies in the department. 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:27.680 Some of the people on this investigation team were these 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:30.720 bad cops sort of fast forward in here of information 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.120 I knew, not at the time, but as the case developed. 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.360 And so when this young boy who was used to 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:40.000 identify me, who was shown a line of photo six 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.679 pack to ultimately say this is the guy who committed 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:46.200 the crime, the case sounded pretty cut and dry. There's 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.160 a witness, there's a heshoe was showing a photographic lineup. 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:52.760 He quickly identified the shooter. We got in the rest 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:55.600 slammed duck. And so there was a trial when I 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:57.560 was tried as an adult and move forward to a conviction. 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:00.680 But at some point it was discovered that this young 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.280 boy wasn't as innocent as you know. He was more 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:06.640 than just a witness. It was revealed that he was 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:10.520 an informant for one specific law enforcement officer, Deputy Ditch. 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:14.800 And so Deputy Ditch, Ditch, Deputy of all things, Deputy Ditch. Right, 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:16.760 I mean what a name, right, Craig Ditch is the 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:19.240 guy's name. He's now retired. The guy had this boy 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.439 under his wing as an informant, and he happened to 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:24.520 be at this crime scene, and so it was very 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.360 very easy to say, I'm your go to guy here. 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.800 So the story later was discovered that this young boy 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:34.480 was showing photographs after he'd been interviewed five times by 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:38.079 other investigators with no results. They realized Ditch had a 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:41.760 relationship with this boy. Ditch shows up cases over. The 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.480 case was solved once Stitch arrived in less than eight hours, 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.480 and the story that was revealed that the young boy 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:49.760 was showing the photographs as what was in the report, 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.080 and so he picks a random picture just to play along, 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:56.480 and Ditch says, that's the wrong guy. He's in jail 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.400 right now, try again. You know, I'm sure he's feeling 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:01.520 like an idiot. Point. You know, you're trying to help, 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:04.400 You're young, you're scared, so he picks another photograph, and 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.440 the deputy says, this guy's dead. What about this guy here? 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:09.360 We think he's trying to come up in the rankings 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:11.680 or whatever, And so the boy just says, yeah, I 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.000 guess that makes sense. I guess I guess that's the guy. 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:15.000 And this is the story. 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:16.760 He was looking at six photographs. 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:18.920 Yep, he was over too exactly. 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:21.280 He picked he picked very badly. He picked a guy 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:23.480 who was in jail and a guy who was dead. 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:23.880 Right. 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:26.439 That's yeah, really hard to make a case against those guys. 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:26.760 Right. 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:28.719 And by the way, it's sort of odd that there 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:30.600 was a guy in the sixth pack who was dead. 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:32.040 Give me a break, right, Well, I mean you would 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:33.600 think they would take that guy out. Just I mean, 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:35.960 let me jump in here and say, well, you know, Frankie, 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.040 what's up. You're coming off as this high school student, 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.360 nice guy. What's your photograph doing in the sheriff's apartment? Like, 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:42.520 tell us about that. 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:44.600 I'm sure that was your next question, right, I'm getting 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:47.040 to that what happened in this environment is so nineteen 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:50.360 ninety nineteen ninety one is over referencing here that specific 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:53.360 sheriff's department's policy was that if there was any anyone 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:55.720 that you thought was a potential bad kid or bad 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:59.400 guy or bad anything, let's do some racial profiling at 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:02.640 this point, right, gather intel. And so the photograph was 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.600 obtained in the summer between my sixth grade and seventh 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.840 grade vacation block. There, me and some of my buddies 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.240 just riding our BMX spikes through a local park, no 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:14.480 big deal, summertime, and this deputy Dept. Luna, I remember 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:17.000 the guy's name, sort of just rolls up next to us. 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.079 He's it's done, the official lights on pull over. He stops, 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:22.720 We stop, start talking about who has a girlfriend, and 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:25.360 where do you live? And what's up with to you? Whatever? Right, 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:28.200 just pretty cool talking to a cop, No big deal. 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:30.199 Then the guy says, do you mind if I take 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.840 your photograph to the group? I don't remember us looking 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.520 around saying what do you think? Guys? We just like, 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.120 I guess like you're a cop, right, Like what do 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:38.520 we say? 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:38.640 No? 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:41.439 And so this is the time when you had polaroad camera. 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:43.800 So the guy got out of his car, went into 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:46.520 the trunk and pulled out the little manual polaroid camera, 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:48.640 and one by one he just came to write where 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.920 we were on our bike standing and just snapped a photograph. 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.400 And so that photograph that was taken in a park 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:58.480 with trees in the background and whatever else was in 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:02.199 the background, I was smiling them picture. That photograph ended 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:04.679 up in the sixth pack. So talk about like a 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:07.080 chain of events here that fucks your life up, right, 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:07.600 Oh my. 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.400 God, I mean, that's really the most I've heard all 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:12.040 types of different stories, and you're right, that is a 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.600 question that people often ask, why was this picture? Now? 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:16.960 What we know is that if you live in a 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:20.920 poor neighborhood speticularly a poor minority neighborhood, the cops do 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:24.280 sweeps and they'll pick up everybody, right, and so your 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.200 picture could be in there because you had a joint, 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:28.520 or any other thing could be in there because you 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.680 were trespassing, right, I have air quotes under that one 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:35.200 or whatever. And so it's really true that a lot 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.600 of people have records for the most minor misdemeanors. In 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:42.720 your case, you had no record whatsoever. Actually, it was 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:44.800 probably I mean, thinking back to when I was in 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:46.440 sixth or seventh grade, if a cop would have asked 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:48.840 to take my picture, I would have felt good, right, like, Wow, 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:50.960 this guy wants to take my picture. I'm pretty cool kid. 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:06.480 So your picture was in the lineup because this cop had, 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:10.520 in a sneaky way, racially profiled you as a thirteen 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:13.400 year old boy riding his bike in the park, which 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:15.360 is exactly as far as I can tell, what thirteen 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:17.040 year old boys are supposed to be doing. You were 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:21.000 identified in this insane process, right, which is literally like 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:24.080 it would be funny, except the results are so tragic. 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:27.080 So he eventually managed to come up with the answer 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:29.079 that the cop wanted, which he could have saved himself 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:31.360 to trouble by just saying initially to the kid, hey, 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:33.640 this is the guy we want identify him. That would 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:35.440 have been simple, exactly. I would have saved five minutes. 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:37.760 So you're identified, you go to trial. 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:39.240 Well, I'm pre as an adult, I'm going to keep 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.480 parking this, but I'm a kid. So there's a process 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:44.320 here in California that determines if you're worthy of juvenile 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:46.760 court or you have to go with the big boys. Right, 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.000 And so this was a murderer and they felt that 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:52.360 it deserved it a higher punishment, and so ultimately went 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:55.240 to trial. Had an assigned attorney that the county who 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.120 wasn't a public defenders like a panel attorney. I have 0:13:58.160 --> 0:13:59.640 to say this part here is when I walked into 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:01.720 the court and I was chained to you know, the 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.839 chain gang there everyone's ever being arraigned, all adults, and 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:06.800 then was looking like what did you do, like steal 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:09.160 some candy and blah blah blah, and you know, they're 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:11.880 just ragging on me, these adults who had obviously been 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:15.520 there before. And so I'm the last guy to be arraigned, 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:17.720 and so everyone's freaking out like, oh shit, we weren't 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.800 expecting that charge for this kid, right And prior to that, 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:22.600 I will say that, and it's and it kind of 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.720 goes to just me being so naive here is that 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:30.320 I heard someone call my name and I'm like, I'm 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:32.440 so little. I'm like raising my hand like I'm over here. 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.000 And I looked over and I saw this good looking 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.840 white man with this amazing suit on, just like tanned suit, 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:41.720 walking towards me with the file and I was like, 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:43.800 oh my god, David, you have signed me the best 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:45.880 fucker in the room, man, Like this is all going 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:47.960 to be worked out, Like this is it? I got 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:50.760 the very sheck of the world. Sadly, it's just an 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.680 example of like where my mentality was, even my perception 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:57.080 of this new world. This courtroom was like sadly, like 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:59.760 a white guy come into your rescue, had like such 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:02.480 an impact from living in a society where the majority 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:04.960 of people around you are people who look like you 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:08.360 and who you know than the teacher or whatever, and 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:10.120 so I thought it was a sort of funny and 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:12.600 looking back at that moment, getting me so excited about 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:15.640 everything's going to be okay now right obviously. 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.760 Not obviously not. I mean the odds, the odds were 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:21.120 stacked against you. The government was willing to lie to 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:24.800 get the conviction. They were willing to use an incentivized witness, 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:28.120 and they convicted you, they did, and now you get 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:30.360 sent to maximum security prison. 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:32.560 At the time, they had a juvenile facility, so it 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:34.800 was like the Youth Authority for young adults. So I 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.920 went there and the sentence was thirty years to life, 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.880 with an additional six life sentences attached to that. So 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:43.840 I'll say that when I heard those words coming to 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:47.440 the judge's mouth, I couldn't imagine or perceive like a 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:50.440 week or a few months in my life. So now 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:54.280 to imagine thirty years to life plus life, I couldn't 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.480 even comprehend that. For someone wants to be sort of 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:58.680 funny and sort of mess with me, it meant like, 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:02.720 do thirty years to life die and then you're back 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:04.600 in prison, like even if you ever come back, right, 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:05.000 And it. 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:07.400 Was like, you mean, like if you get reincarnated. 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.720 I suppose, right, like you're you're setting you up for 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:12.400 your next life. It doesn't make any sense, right, and 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:14.440 none of this makes any sense. But that in particular 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:16.600 doesn't make any sense just in terms of the semantics 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:18.640 of it. It's interesting too, write because there was a 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:22.680 witness who actually wanted to come forward and who had 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:25.680 information that could have prevented you from being convicted in 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:28.000 the first place. There was, so he wasn't just a witness. 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:30.560 This guy that you're referring to was the actual killer. 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.560 So as a bizarre twist in this case, the investigator 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:40.000 had discovered who the murderer was, and your instigator there is. 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:42.080 It's a bizarre twist all this, And it's not to 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:44.640 minimize the bad police work here, but now it's also 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:48.400 bad defense work here. My defense attorney had an investigator 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:52.360 who had went out and become the world's best investigator 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.200 by tracking down who excumented the crime. Turns out he 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:58.280 knew the murderer, and so there was just this conflict 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.920 of interest of either get off the case or reveal 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:04.040 that this is the guy who did it. He had 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:07.520 this young man, the actual murderer, confessed to the crime. 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:10.240 There's a six page confession that he took from this man. 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:13.119 And what he tried to do. To his credit, he 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:15.160 tried to convince this guy to come to the court 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:17.679 and just say, look, frank didn't do it, it was me. 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.320 And he arrived with an attorney. You would assume that 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:23.520 the judge would say, well, wait a minute here, before 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.320 Frankie goes down and he's sentenced, let's hear about this 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:29.520 guy in the hallway. And lo and behold, the judge says, 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:32.720 you're too late. You've been convicted by jury. All this 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.920 sort of like blast information that's apparently in the hallway. 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:37.600 Just deal with it in your appeal. 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:40.760 So after the jury renders you guilty and the guy 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:44.200 standing outside the doors of the courtroom exactly who's actually 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:45.640 holding the cards to your freedom? 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:48.400 Well, I mean it would have shed light. If someone 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:50.359 cared about truth, right, it would have been like, well, 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:52.720 let's bring this guy in. And so it failed me 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:55.880 even again at that point, that's such a crazy it's 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:57.080 a bizarre man. 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:59.879 You were like thirty feet from freedom sort of right, 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:01.680 the doors would have opened and this guy would have 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:04.840 been allowed to walk in and provided he actually came clean, true, 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:06.720 because he might have changed his mind. People do that. 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:11.520 But you had a real opportunity to avoid this most 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:15.520