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Speaker 1: On a hot day in June, I drove to a

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Speaker 1: quiet residential neighborhood just outside of Austin, Texas to visit

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Speaker 1: Andre Causey. Although the house is large and spacious, Andrea

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Speaker 1: doesn't need much to be happy. He enjoys the little

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Speaker 1: things in life, like his fish aquarium.

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Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, I got that fish aquaria

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Speaker 2: off side road.

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Speaker 1: The aquarium sits right at the entrance of his house.

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Speaker 1: You'll probably hear it bubbling throughout our interview. It's adorned

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Speaker 1: with artificial plants and a little sign that says no fishing.

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Speaker 2: The big one in that goldfish is the first one

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Speaker 2: that I got there my wife. When it got they

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Speaker 2: didn't want to set it to her because she said

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Speaker 2: I was going to try to see if they were

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Speaker 2: going to live. And they say, oh, we can't see you,

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Speaker 2: no fish if you can't kill them. But yeah, but

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Speaker 2: I got damn And when we ended up going back

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Speaker 2: and buying some more, I got some more. Allergy's my

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Speaker 2: first fish to quid. So I think I'm doing pretty

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Speaker 2: good today.

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Speaker 1: Andre is doing pretty good. He takes pride in raising

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Speaker 1: his fish. He's nicknamed them his grand babies. Since he

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Speaker 1: doesn't have any of his own yet.

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Speaker 2: Because a solid grand kids we have, yeah, you all

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Speaker 2: the grand kids we have our tears and doesn't have

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Speaker 2: any kids.

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Speaker 1: Andre spent decades in prison for murder. He told me

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Speaker 1: on beautiful days like today, he'd look outside and daydream

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Speaker 1: about a life like this, one simple with the people

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Speaker 1: and fish he loves.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. My name is Alan Andre Causey, and I was

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Speaker 2: convicted of fifty years for this crime. I end up

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Speaker 2: doing thirty one years and four months before I released on.

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Speaker 1: Parole from love of for Good. This is wrongful conviction

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Speaker 1: with Maggie Freeling today, Andre Causey and Andre Cousey, who

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Speaker 1: goes by Andre was born on March twenty sixth, nineteen

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Speaker 1: sixty five.

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Speaker 2: I got four brothers and a sister. I'm the third

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Speaker 2: oldest out of six kids as five boys and one girl.

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Speaker 1: At an early age, Andre's parents divorced and his mom

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Speaker 1: moved the kids to Austin, Texas.

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Speaker 2: We come up here in seventy three, so seventy three

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Speaker 2: out by eight years old. Because I was born in

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Speaker 2: sixty five, I used to go back home and stay

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Speaker 2: a year six months and spend time down there with

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Speaker 2: I was still one of my mama's sisters and spend

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Speaker 2: time with my daddy and all them on that end

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Speaker 2: down there. But you know, me and my dad and

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Speaker 2: that we got along good. I don't actually know what

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Speaker 2: happened between him and my mom because we were young,

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Speaker 2: but we moved here and my mama moved us up

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Speaker 2: here to give us a better life, get us out

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Speaker 2: of the country because we country boy.

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Speaker 1: You know, Austin was very different from his home in Louisiana.

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Speaker 1: Not better or worse, just more to do well.

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Speaker 2: I mean, if we were young, so you know, it

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Speaker 2: was just it was all new, but you know, if

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Speaker 2: we had a more wide and broad space to move around,

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Speaker 2: you know, and we met friends and you.

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Speaker 1: Know, Andre's mom was a beautician and worked hard to

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Speaker 1: support five kids. Eventually she opened up her own shop,

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Speaker 1: leaving Andre and his siblings exploring the new city on

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Speaker 1: their own. Andre says they eventually made friends and met

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Speaker 1: a particularly influential older lady.

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Speaker 2: We met this old lady. Her name was missus Johnna,

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Speaker 2: but we called a honey, but she told us a lot.

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Speaker 1: Honey was sort of a stand in mom. What were

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Speaker 1: some things that you remember her teaching you.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, she taught us to always work for

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Speaker 2: what we want. You know, don't expect nobody to just

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Speaker 2: give you in and you know, give you something, you

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Speaker 2: know always, you know, work. You know, people gonna people

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Speaker 2: gonna help you if you try to help yourself.

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Speaker 1: Andre says that Honey initially hired him and his siblings

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Speaker 1: to help her out with things like yardwork.

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Speaker 2: She had a garage were she do garage sales, and

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Speaker 2: she go around to other garage and buy stuff, and

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Speaker 2: Brian to hers, and she taught us how to get

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Speaker 2: around also and all that.

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Speaker 1: And Honey treated the kids as her own.

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Speaker 2: We would ever wear at her favorite place that heat

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Speaker 2: was long John silbl So that's why I'm not crazy

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Speaker 2: about lawn John Sila, because that's all she fed us. Wow.

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Speaker 1: Andre was a hard worker from an early age. It

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Speaker 1: was really all he knew. When Andre was in tenth grade,

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Speaker 1: he dropped out of high school and started working a

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Speaker 1: variety of jobs, he says, including at ut Austin in

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Speaker 1: the kitchen as a dishwasher. He also did some construction work.

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Speaker 1: Andres's life was simple, just how we liked it.

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Speaker 2: You know, because I was just I having fun.

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Speaker 1: What was having fun?

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Speaker 2: I just like to go out and just enjoy people

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Speaker 2: and have fun. You know people that I knew. You know,

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Speaker 2: we sit around, drank beer and just have fun.

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Speaker 1: No, were you getting in any kind of trouble, No, ma'am,

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Speaker 1: No run into the law. Andre says, around eighteen or nineteen,

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Speaker 1: he got a girl pregnant.

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Speaker 2: At that time that we were doing our thing. It

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Speaker 2: was just a lust thing on both our behalves, you know,

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Speaker 2: So it wasn't any.

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Speaker 1: Feelings, Andre says, because the relationship wasn't serious, you know,

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Speaker 1: no feelings. He wasn't allowed in his son's life.

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Speaker 2: Last time I seen him was like maybe two days

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Speaker 2: before I got arrested, and he was like three or

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Speaker 2: four years old. Then.

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Speaker 1: Andre never had a relationship with his own son.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if he knows me. I don't know

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Speaker 2: what his mama told me about him.

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Speaker 1: But a few years later he became a step dad

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Speaker 1: to a baby girl with a woman he'd love for

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Speaker 1: decades to come. How would you describe him?

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Speaker 3: Sexy?

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Speaker 4: He was sexy.

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Speaker 3: This is DeLanda, DeLanda Harold Consey, and I'm the wife

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Speaker 3: of Alan Andre Consey.

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Speaker 1: How do y'all meet?

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Speaker 3: We met in some apartment compact on the East Side

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Speaker 3: I used to go be to Miami in the summertime

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Speaker 3: and I met Andrew.

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Speaker 2: Anna stayed next door to my mother, and that's how

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Speaker 2: we met. As matter of fact, my little brother bandon

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Speaker 2: Me is married to her first cousin, oh way Man.

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Speaker 2: They used to come visit her. That's how we met.

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Speaker 1: What stood out to you, like did you just see

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Speaker 1: him across the college?

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Speaker 4: Was cute.

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Speaker 3: He was cute and he knew and I always told him,

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Speaker 3: I know, you know, you're cute. He was just an

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Speaker 3: outgoing person. He had some little bow legs, he was fine,

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Speaker 3: had Woch's wet shorts, and he played basketball at the

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Speaker 3: basketball court. So I would sit up there and watch him.

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Speaker 2: On the steps.

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Speaker 1: DeLanda watched Andre for years.

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Speaker 3: When I first met him, I was like fifteen sixteen,

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Speaker 3: Oh wow, Yeah, I was still in high school, you know,

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Speaker 3: during the summer time, like when I would come home

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Speaker 3: or go over to him see my aunt and visit her.

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Speaker 3: I would always see him. But then I left him,

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Speaker 3: went to college, and then I came back. And then

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Speaker 3: when I actually graduated from college, I think that's when

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Speaker 3: we really got seriously. I came out of the beauty

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Speaker 3: shop one.

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Speaker 1: Day Andre's mom was actually DeLanda's beautician. So she comes

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Speaker 1: out of the beauty shop one day to Andrea and

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Speaker 1: he's like.

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Speaker 3: My wife, I'm not your wife. And then we just

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Speaker 3: connected and been together ever since.

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Speaker 1: DeLanda had just given birth to her daughter, Rhonesha, when

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Speaker 1: they got serious, and.

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Speaker 3: He came in and stepped in and was a father

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Speaker 3: figure to my daughter. I say, he had my daughter

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Speaker 3: more than I had her. And he just came in

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Speaker 3: and it became a help meet to me.

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Speaker 1: That's amazing. So he was a good dad.

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Speaker 3: He's very good with kids.

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Speaker 2: I always been a family type of person. I love

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Speaker 2: being with family. I love spending time with my family.

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Speaker 1: Unfortunately, DeLanda and Andrea would never be able to have

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Speaker 1: their own kid together. Just about a year after they

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Speaker 1: officially started dating, Andrea would be arrested for murder. On

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Speaker 1: Monday evening, August twelfth, nineteen ninety one, Andre was at

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Speaker 1: home with his nine month old daughter and DeLanda was

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Speaker 1: cooking dinner.

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Speaker 2: She feel to fixed some talk I never we'll forget it.

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Speaker 2: She fixed some tacos. That was my last meal. And

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Speaker 2: I was sitting outside talking to some of the guys

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Speaker 2: that stay while in the same apartments, and we were

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Speaker 2: just talking and listening to music and two guys walk

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Speaker 2: up in suits and we looking and they said, well

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Speaker 2: they walk up, they look at the back of the

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Speaker 2: car and we just looked at them. They said, well,

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Speaker 2: whore driving this car? I said, I am sir.

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Speaker 1: It was a maroon Oldsmobile Toronado.

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Speaker 2: And he said, well, we need to talk to you.

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Speaker 2: I said, okay, Well let me take my daughter in

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Speaker 2: the house.

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Speaker 1: DeLanda asked what was going on?

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Speaker 2: She asked, he said, who is that? I say, it's

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Speaker 2: the police. They wanted to talk to me, so they said, well,

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Speaker 2: can you go down to the police station. I say yes.

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Speaker 1: Officers Mike Huckabay and Bruce Boardman took Andre to the station.

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Speaker 4: He was taken in for questioning and endured a seven

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Speaker 4: hour coercive interrogation by a Huctor Polonko led Austin Police

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Speaker 4: Department Homicide Unit.

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Speaker 1: This is Jesse Freud, senior staff attorney at the Innocence

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Speaker 1: Project of Texas.

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Speaker 4: Forty five minutes into what they initially call an interview,

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Speaker 4: two officers tell him that they don't believe this story

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Speaker 4: he gives about why he's driving this car.

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Speaker 1: Remember when the police showed up at Andre's house. They

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Speaker 1: asked him about a car parked outside a maroon Oldsmobile Toronado.

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Speaker 1: That's because at a taped up murder scene in Andre's

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Speaker 1: apartment complex the day before, a bystander had told the

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Speaker 1: police they'd seen the exact car rubbernecking or driving past

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Speaker 1: the crime scene, apparently acting suspiciously. So the police tracked

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Speaker 1: the car down and it led them to Andre.

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Speaker 4: And pretty quickly they are asking him to retell the

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Speaker 4: story over and over and over again.

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Speaker 1: Over and over. Andre told the police he'd borrowed the

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Speaker 1: car from a friend. He went out that night and

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Speaker 1: on the drive home, he slowed down at the crime

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Speaker 1: scene because he was curious. There were cops and bystanders,

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Speaker 1: so he just looked and drove away. The police weren't

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Speaker 1: having it, and every time he gives a version, they

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Speaker 1: tell him, we don't like that version. We think you're lying.

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Speaker 1: Tell it to us again, and were you You've never

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Speaker 1: been in trouble with the law. I feel like that's

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Speaker 1: like the Twilight Zone.

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Speaker 5: It was.

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Speaker 1: I could tell me I didn't do nothing, Andre insisted.

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Speaker 1: The night they were asking about, he'd been with DeLanda's brother,

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Speaker 1: Bobby Harold junior partying at a nearby apartment, but that

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Speaker 1: same night someone had been brutally killed nearby. Twenty one

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Speaker 1: year old Anita Buyington. So she was a college student.

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Speaker 4: She lived in I believe San Marcus, which is just

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Speaker 4: south of Austin, and she was in town with two

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Speaker 4: of her girlfriends, one of whom was her cousin, and

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Speaker 4: they met up with a group of three guys that

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Speaker 4: they had recently met to go out on Sixth Street

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Speaker 4: and go drinking, and she had called it a night

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Speaker 4: a little bit earlier than the rest of the group, leaves.

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Speaker 1: The bar, goes to her car, and from there we

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Speaker 1: don't know for sure what happened, but in the early

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Speaker 1: morning hours of Sunday, August eleventh, nineteen ninety one, Anita

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Speaker 1: was found beaten to death with a heavy slab of concrete.

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Speaker 1: Her car, a nineteen eighty nine brown Honda, was found

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Speaker 1: parked five miles away. A day later, Andre was taken

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Speaker 1: in for what was initially billed as a police interview.

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Speaker 4: And then from there the interview when I'm using quotes,

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Speaker 4: I don't nobody can see me, but I'm using quotes

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Speaker 4: quickly transitions to an interrogation and that becomes a very extended,

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Speaker 4: about six to six and a half hour overnight process

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Speaker 4: of going in and having two officers eventually one officer

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Speaker 4: interrogate him back and forth, then leave him alone for

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Speaker 4: a long period of time, not letting him really sleep,

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Speaker 4: though having somebody come back in and out.

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Speaker 1: Often these are common tactics meant to break people down.

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Speaker 1: They also brought in to Landa's brother who'd been hanging

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Speaker 1: out with Andrea the day of the murder, and questioned

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Speaker 1: him to.

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Speaker 4: Their interviewing him in another room, coming back in and

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Speaker 4: telling him, hey, your brother in law is saying the

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Speaker 4: alibi that you're giving us isn't true. Your mom's denying it.

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Speaker 4: We call that he wouldn't have known this at the time,

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Speaker 4: but we call that in this field false evidence ploise.

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Speaker 4: So that's making a suspect think that something is true

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Speaker 4: when it's not, to gauge the reaction, and then of

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Speaker 4: course to try and get them to confess to what

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Speaker 4: they think is going on.

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Speaker 1: But Andre kept saying he had no idea what was

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Speaker 1: going on.

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Speaker 4: And then as Andre testified to a trial, there was

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Speaker 4: a really critical part of the interrogation where he is

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Speaker 4: alone with one of the main officers who threatens him

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Speaker 4: with the death penalty. Was that Polanco or that was Polanco?

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Speaker 1: Hector Polanco. Hector Polanco was an Austin Police Department patrolman

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Speaker 1: and homicide detective with a reputation for getting a confession.

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Speaker 1: After more than six hours of interrogation at the hands

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Speaker 1: of Hukkabe, Boardman and Polanco, they typed up a statement

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Speaker 1: and handed it to Andre at the time. Did you

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Speaker 1: know what that was?

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Speaker 5: No?

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Speaker 2: I didn't. They told me. They said, well, this is

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Speaker 2: your alibi. You signed this, you can go on leave

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Speaker 2: and go home. That's what I was, and that's what

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Speaker 2: I did.

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Speaker 1: He signed the document what he thought was his ticket home.

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Speaker 4: He had been partying over the weekend, so he's exhausted

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Speaker 4: and he just wanted to end the madness and get

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Speaker 4: it over with.

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Speaker 1: But the statement wasn't Andrea's alibi, as police had told him.

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Speaker 1: What it actually said was that Andrea and DeLanda's brother

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Speaker 1: had beaten Anita to death after a drug deal gone wrong.

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Speaker 1: Did you ask them to read it to you?

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Speaker 2: I didn't even think about it. No, I didn't.

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Speaker 1: You just trusted them. So he signed without reading the document.

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Speaker 2: Because my reason was poor at the time. There poor.

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Speaker 2: I had to take special classes and reason was my worst.

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Speaker 1: So you signed it and then you can't go home,

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Speaker 1: and I.

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Speaker 2: Can't go home. They locked me up tried me with

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Speaker 2: a murder.

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Speaker 1: Andre went to trial on July fourteenth, nineteen ninety two.

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Speaker 4: There were two prosecutors. One was Terry Keel and the

285
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Speaker 4: second was a gentleman by the name of Reuben Young,

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Speaker 4: and their trial theory was that the victim had approached

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Speaker 4: Andrea's brother in law for drugs and that they were

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Speaker 4: about to trade drugs for sex before the victim quote

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Speaker 4: unquote cheats him out of drugs and proceeds to get away,

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Speaker 4: at which point, the statement says, Andre's brother in law

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Speaker 4: tells him, Hey, she just tried to beat me for drugs,

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Speaker 4: Let's go get her, and that Andrea subdues her, and

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Speaker 4: that his brother law assaults her with the rain diverter

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Speaker 4: to the point where it causes her death.

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Speaker 1: Was there any evidence of this? There also wasn't any

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Speaker 1: evidence that Anita Byington had any history of drug use.

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Speaker 1: At trial, Andre testified that he'd been tricked into signing

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Speaker 1: a false confession, but the prosecutor said he was a

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Speaker 1: liar and a criminal, and they put law enforcement on

300
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Speaker 1: the stand to back their theory up, cops who Andre

301
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Speaker 1: says he'd never met before Anita's murder.

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Speaker 2: It was crazy. It was really crazy. The picture they

303
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Speaker 2: pleasure of me was really crazy. What was that picture?

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Speaker 2: We had a police sauce center uniform that took the

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Speaker 2: stands and so he stated my full name, and he'd asked, well,

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Speaker 2: how did you know him? And he said, well, I

307
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Speaker 2: know him from drug gang banging and all type of things.

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Speaker 2: And I'm like, nah my, you look at me and

309
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Speaker 2: said that's not true. I said, that's not true. I

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Speaker 2: ain't never had no run in with the cops. No.

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Speaker 1: The other witnesses for the prosecution were people who said

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Speaker 1: they'd seen Andre at the crime scene, driving the oldsmobile suspiciously, rubbernecking.

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Speaker 4: Driving by slowly looking interested.

314
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Speaker 1: As a normal person probably would when there's police around.

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Speaker 4: But literally every single person does in traffic when they

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Speaker 4: see a car accident that causes you know, miles of

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Speaker 4: backup for no reason, literally human nature. So he has

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00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,880
Speaker 4: a human reaction to seeing law enforcement and a big

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00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:29,800
Speaker 4: crowd of folks at a place that doesn't seem like

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Speaker 4: that would be happening for any reason he's aware of, so.

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Speaker 1: He looks that along with Andre's signature on a confession

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00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:41,560
Speaker 1: written by police. Sealed his conviction. Andre was sentenced to

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Speaker 1: fifty years in prison for the murder of Anita Byington.

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Speaker 1: He was shocked.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I wouldn't do that. I'm the type of person

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Speaker 2: that I don't believe and nobody hurt nobody, especially women.

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Speaker 2: I'm not if i'm I'm not gonna let you. I'm

328
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Speaker 2: not just gonna let you hurt no one. I'm not

329
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Speaker 2: gonna do that. That's not right.

330
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Speaker 1: His family and friends were too. DeLanda couldn't believe her

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Speaker 1: Andre had been convicted of murder.

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Speaker 3: Cause he didn't have an angry bone in his body.

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Speaker 3: That couldn't be possible. I was like, how could that

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Speaker 3: possibly happen? So, yeah, it was hard.

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Speaker 1: Now, prosecutors didn't just charge Andre. Remember, they'd accused him

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Speaker 1: and DeLanda's brother, Bobby Harold, of killing Anita Byington. But

337
00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:40,600
Speaker 1: almost nine months after Andre's conviction, prosecutors dropped the chargers

338
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Speaker 1: against Bobby because they didn't have the evidence to take

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00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,960
Speaker 1: him to trial. Yet there was Andre convicted of being

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Speaker 1: Bobby's accomplice, staring down a natural life sentence for a

341
00:17:52,680 --> 00:18:06,040
Speaker 1: crime he said from day one he didn't commit. When

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00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:07,280
Speaker 1: did it feel real?

343
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Speaker 2: When I got the prison, When I got the prison,

344
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Speaker 2: when I got off that bus in Midway, Texas?

345
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Speaker 1: Yeah, what was that like?

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Speaker 2: It was like, Man, I'm in I'm in a world

347
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Speaker 2: that I know nothing about. I'm dying here for something

348
00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:29,520
Speaker 2: I didn't do. I don't know what the outcome or

349
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Speaker 2: what I'm faced with right now because I don't even

350
00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:37,000
Speaker 2: know what I'm walking into. Most people, you got to

351
00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:39,200
Speaker 2: be down with a gang. You gotta be down with this,

352
00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:41,040
Speaker 2: you gotta be down with that, you gotta do this.

353
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Speaker 1: But but Andre says he was lucky. He got sent

354
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Speaker 1: to a unit with a lot of young people. At

355
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Speaker 1: twenty seven, he was one of the oldest there.

356
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Speaker 2: It was a relief because they looked they when they

357
00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:56,960
Speaker 2: found out how old I was, they all respected me.

358
00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:01,040
Speaker 2: They all start calling me on and all this said

359
00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:03,440
Speaker 2: in that day, I'll respect me. I don't worry about that.

360
00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:03,800
Speaker 1: Man.

361
00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:05,760
Speaker 2: We got you. You ain't got you, Just do you.

362
00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:09,560
Speaker 1: Andre kept to himself and passed the time working and

363
00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:13,000
Speaker 1: talking to DeLanda. How come you chose to stay with him?

364
00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:15,280
Speaker 1: After the conviction. I mean, you could have moved on

365
00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:17,159
Speaker 1: with your life and not dealt with any of this.

366
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Speaker 3: Well, I know he was innocent, and I know he

367
00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,320
Speaker 3: needed a support system, and I know I could give

368
00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:26,560
Speaker 3: him that support. So I just stayed in that fight

369
00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:27,000
Speaker 3: with him.

370
00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:28,880
Speaker 2: I know he was innocent.

371
00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:32,119
Speaker 1: In the years Andre was in prison, DeLanda had a

372
00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:35,840
Speaker 1: child with another man, but her heart was always with Andrea,

373
00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:39,400
Speaker 1: and just like he'd done with her daughter, Andre would

374
00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:41,720
Speaker 1: go on to love her little boy as his own.

375
00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:47,160
Speaker 1: In two thousand Andrea and DeLanda got married, and Andre

376
00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:50,680
Speaker 1: eventually got his ge D. After teaching himself how to

377
00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:51,600
Speaker 1: read and write.

378
00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:55,280
Speaker 2: I would go to the to the library and get

379
00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:57,960
Speaker 2: a palm books and stuff like that.

380
00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,480
Speaker 1: He would copy love poem and send them to DeLanda,

381
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:02,240
Speaker 1: but I.

382
00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,000
Speaker 2: Wouldn't cop them identical. I would try to make it

383
00:20:05,119 --> 00:20:07,880
Speaker 2: my own. I would try it best I could.

384
00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:10,920
Speaker 1: Andre also tried the best he could to be a

385
00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:12,040
Speaker 1: dad to his kids.

386
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,480
Speaker 2: Every Christmas, we had this thing called Angil Tree down

387
00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,520
Speaker 2: in prison, and as long as your kids was under sixteen,

388
00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:22,920
Speaker 2: you can always you put the application in and a

389
00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:27,560
Speaker 2: local church work supplme Christmas presents and stuff, and that's

390
00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:28,640
Speaker 2: what I would do every year.

391
00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:31,840
Speaker 1: As the years went on, Andre fought to get back

392
00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:35,040
Speaker 1: home to his family, but he was denied parole at

393
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:41,120
Speaker 1: least fifteen times. And every time he'd think of DeLanda.

394
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I just had to be strong for her. Every

395
00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:45,800
Speaker 2: time I got to set off, I'd tell her, it's

396
00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:47,720
Speaker 2: gonna be alright. It's gonna be alright. You know, we

397
00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:50,359
Speaker 2: just got to keep moving forward. You know, we're not

398
00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:57,280
Speaker 2: in control. You know, eventually we're gonna get what we deserve.

399
00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:02,040
Speaker 2: You know, we just got to keep going. No, but

400
00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:04,920
Speaker 2: you know, it was rough. I wanted to be home,

401
00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:06,920
Speaker 2: and you know, like days like this and I'd be

402
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:09,800
Speaker 2: looking outside of the grasses pridgeon Grien You're like, man,

403
00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:11,440
Speaker 2: it's just beautiful. I need to be at home.

404
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:12,880
Speaker 1: I need to be at home.

405
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:15,920
Speaker 2: This is a beautiful day. You know. We all sit

406
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:17,159
Speaker 2: there and we'd be just sitting at the talking of

407
00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:18,760
Speaker 2: my man. We said, what would you be doing if

408
00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:20,560
Speaker 2: you was at home? I said, I'd be with my family.

409
00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:25,880
Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, Andre wrote the Innocence Project of Texas,

410
00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:29,320
Speaker 1: and a year later they wrote him back, I got it.

411
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:33,359
Speaker 2: He got a lot of back, like the fourth or

412
00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,600
Speaker 2: the fifth of twenty nineteen cent they had sept at

413
00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:38,560
Speaker 2: the case and I just, you know, I like, thank

414
00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:39,040
Speaker 2: you Lord.

415
00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:42,680
Speaker 1: So what stood out to you guys?

416
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,120
Speaker 4: The fact that there was nothing else besides the confession,

417
00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:49,760
Speaker 4: I think was the first really big thing. Secondly, also,

418
00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:52,480
Speaker 4: a client with no criminal history that you know, just

419
00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:56,480
Speaker 4: all of a sudden is accused of murder, convicted of murder,

420
00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:00,480
Speaker 4: and has a true narrative of innocence. Of course, once

421
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:03,160
Speaker 4: we get into it, we also start to learn about

422
00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:05,800
Speaker 4: the law enforcement actors involved. So that was probably the

423
00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,800
Speaker 4: third thing, which is Andre's story in hindsight with what

424
00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:15,760
Speaker 4: we know now, the red flags were just incredibly loud.

425
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:20,040
Speaker 1: Law enforcement officers like Hector Polanco, the detective I mentioned earlier.

426
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,119
Speaker 1: Polanco had been with the APD since the seventies and

427
00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:28,920
Speaker 1: eventually became one of the department's star homicide investigators. But

428
00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:32,879
Speaker 1: by the early nineties, several of his infamous case solving

429
00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:37,520
Speaker 1: confessions were coming under scrutiny. They just seemed too good

430
00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:41,879
Speaker 1: to be true, and city officials started asking, Hey.

431
00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:45,600
Speaker 4: What's going on at APD homicide. They're getting some really

432
00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:50,920
Speaker 4: inexplicable quote unquote confessions from people where it's the only evidence,

433
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:53,320
Speaker 4: and then we're going back to check them and they

434
00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:54,040
Speaker 4: don't look right.

435
00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:58,399
Speaker 1: In one case, Polonko interrogated a guy for two days

436
00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:01,520
Speaker 1: and got him to confess to killing his girlfriend, except

437
00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:05,520
Speaker 1: the woman showed up alive a few days later. She'd

438
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:09,800
Speaker 1: just been away. Two more of those infamous false confessions

439
00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:13,600
Speaker 1: were elicited during the investigation of the quadruple homicide of

440
00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:16,879
Speaker 1: four teenage girls in an Austin yogurt shop, the so

441
00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:20,040
Speaker 1: called Yogurt Shop Murders of nineteen ninety one.

442
00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:24,160
Speaker 4: One of the yogurt shop purported confessions is what ended

443
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,240
Speaker 4: up leading to the formation of the task force that

444
00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 4: ultimately revealed what was going on at the time. The

445
00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:35,200
Speaker 4: thread between all of these are you have Polanco getting

446
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:40,320
Speaker 4: these confessions from murder suspects and there's no other evidence

447
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:44,480
Speaker 4: to support that this person's confession is a true confession.

448
00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 1: Jesse says that task force uncovered.

449
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:54,320
Speaker 4: Extended interrogations, false evidence, Ploise authorizing other officers to role

450
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:59,280
Speaker 4: play to confuse suspects and essentially trick suspects into thinking

451
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:03,000
Speaker 4: that they're circumstances are something different than they are. Threatening

452
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:06,040
Speaker 4: suspects with in custody sexual assault, saying also, when we

453
00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:07,440
Speaker 4: throw you in prison for the rest of your life,

454
00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:09,000
Speaker 4: we're going to make sure there's somebody there to turn

455
00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:13,399
Speaker 4: you out. Making threats of the death penalty to suspects.

456
00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:16,520
Speaker 1: This is one of those suspects, Chris Ochoa.

457
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:19,119
Speaker 5: That was if you know who did it and you

458
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:21,920
Speaker 5: don't tell us, you can get to death penalty. That

459
00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:24,480
Speaker 5: was I mean, I was like, immediately within ten minutes

460
00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,600
Speaker 5: the death penalty, You get the death penalty. If you

461
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:29,199
Speaker 5: know any scene you don't tell us, then we're going

462
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:30,240
Speaker 5: to go for the death penalty.

463
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,640
Speaker 1: He was interrogated by Polanco in nineteen eighty eight.

464
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:36,520
Speaker 5: It was a good cop back cooper team. The bad

465
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:41,480
Speaker 5: cop came in and grabbed my arm and kept the bain.

466
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:43,680
Speaker 5: Oh my, so this is where the needle's going to

467
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:43,919
Speaker 5: go up.

468
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,040
Speaker 2: You don't cooperate and tell us like this is I'm

469
00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:46,400
Speaker 2: going to make.

470
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:47,200
Speaker 5: Sure I'm there to watch.

471
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:51,440
Speaker 1: Ochoa spoke to the Innocence Project in twenty seventeen, and

472
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,920
Speaker 1: he'd eventually testify at one of Andre's evidentiary hearings. Jesse

473
00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,640
Speaker 1: says most of what happened to suspects like Ochoa happened

474
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:00,359
Speaker 1: to Andre.

475
00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:03,399
Speaker 4: We now know from the other cases that we now

476
00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:07,159
Speaker 4: know about where innocent murder suspects were coerced by this

477
00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:11,760
Speaker 4: unit to confess. We know that that was APD's pattern

478
00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:14,080
Speaker 4: in practice at the time, which was Polanka would get

479
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:17,200
Speaker 4: a suspect alone and then magically, you know, after that

480
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:21,200
Speaker 4: person is alone with him quote unquote confess. In Andre's case,

481
00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:25,400
Speaker 4: his confession is ultimately given by his signature.

482
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:40,320
Speaker 1: Believing in Andre's innocence, the team went back to the

483
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:45,920
Speaker 1: beginning the evidence. There were three prints in Anita's car

484
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,280
Speaker 1: and semen found on her shirt and underwear. It didn't

485
00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:53,679
Speaker 1: match Andre, but there was one person who couldn't be eliminated, a.

486
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:56,359
Speaker 4: Member of the male group named Kevin Harris.

487
00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:59,760
Speaker 1: Remember, Anita was with her girlfriends having fun on Sixth Street,

488
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:04,000
Speaker 1: one of Austin's known partying strips. They were also hanging

489
00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:07,720
Speaker 1: with some guys. One of them was Kevin Harris, reportedly

490
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:11,359
Speaker 1: the last person to see her alive. Was he a

491
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 1: person of interest from the beginning.

492
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:17,639
Speaker 4: So he was, but he was very very responsible in

493
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:19,880
Speaker 4: terms of he knew not to interact with law enforcement

494
00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:22,720
Speaker 4: without a lawyer, so he went to the police department

495
00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:27,280
Speaker 4: lawyered up, which was obviously very different from Andrea's circumstances.

496
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:31,600
Speaker 4: He goes in three lawyers deep and gives a narrative

497
00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:36,560
Speaker 4: that essentially accounts for what would otherwise make him look

498
00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,440
Speaker 4: like he is the person who did this. He gives

499
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:43,320
Speaker 4: an account eventually that they had consensual sex that night.

500
00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,639
Speaker 4: He has a visible injury on his arm that he

501
00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:52,439
Speaker 4: gives a I burned my arm making breakfast this morning story,

502
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,600
Speaker 4: all things that again absent coming in. Lawyered up that

503
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:01,240
Speaker 4: if he were to give those accounts, that everybody would

504
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,920
Speaker 4: think that this is just not true.

505
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:07,080
Speaker 1: We reached out to Kevin Harris through his attorney, who

506
00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,640
Speaker 1: says Harris fully cooperated with the investigation thirty years ago,

507
00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:16,760
Speaker 1: and he respectfully declines a request for comment. Jesse says,

508
00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:20,159
Speaker 1: instead of doing the actual legwork and investigating such an

509
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:24,399
Speaker 1: obvious suspect in Anita's murder, the police honed in on

510
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:28,119
Speaker 1: the easiest target. What did you think about the police

511
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:28,359
Speaker 1: at the.

512
00:27:28,359 --> 00:27:30,920
Speaker 2: Time, may I just thought they was there to help

513
00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:33,520
Speaker 2: the people, you know, to do the right things. I

514
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:35,359
Speaker 2: just thought they was there to do what they supposed

515
00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:38,560
Speaker 2: to do, you know, get the bag guys, you know,

516
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:43,240
Speaker 2: but they they are to just solve a case. In

517
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:44,040
Speaker 2: a way they can.

518
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:47,560
Speaker 1: While looking into Harris as the possible killer of Anita,

519
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:51,040
Speaker 1: Jesse and her team discovered that in nineteen ninety nine,

520
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,119
Speaker 1: he had been arrested for burglary with the intent to

521
00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:58,440
Speaker 1: commit assault against another woman, and in that file was

522
00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:01,480
Speaker 1: the name of a witness his on and off again girlfriend,

523
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:05,000
Speaker 1: so they contacted her. They had a pretty toxic relationship

524
00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,600
Speaker 1: that ultimately escalated to an abusive relationship, and during that

525
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:10,879
Speaker 1: period where she was trying to break it off but

526
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:13,560
Speaker 1: they were kind of coming back together, he had contacted

527
00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:16,600
Speaker 1: her overnight and asked her for help moving a car,

528
00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,840
Speaker 1: and she was able to identify the victim's car. Most

529
00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:23,680
Speaker 1: and perhaps most importantly, though, she was also able to

530
00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:27,040
Speaker 1: give a detail that law enforcement didn't know at the time,

531
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,480
Speaker 1: and that is also not accounted for in this statement,

532
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:33,879
Speaker 1: and it's that she saw a purse in the possession

533
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:37,000
Speaker 1: of the alternate suspect during the course of them moving

534
00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:40,080
Speaker 1: this vehicle. And that was really important because the victim's

535
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,560
Speaker 1: purse was separated from her vehicle at some point and

536
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:46,880
Speaker 1: not recovered until months later by a good Samaritan. So

537
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:51,320
Speaker 1: she was credible, she was truthful, and again, most importantly,

538
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,000
Speaker 1: she had information that she could only have had or

539
00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:57,320
Speaker 1: known had she actually done what she told us she did,

540
00:28:57,360 --> 00:28:59,760
Speaker 1: which was helped the alternate suspect to move the vehicle.

541
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,480
Speaker 1: With all of this evidence pointing away from Andrea, a

542
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:07,360
Speaker 1: judge ordered an evidentiary hearing. One of the world's foremost

543
00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:12,760
Speaker 1: experts on false confessions, Richard Leo, testified that Andre's confession

544
00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:18,800
Speaker 1: was quote extremely likely a false confession. He also noted

545
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 1: that Andrea has a low IQ, making him susceptible to manipulation.

546
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,640
Speaker 1: With that and the pattern of misconduct by the APD,

547
00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:31,360
Speaker 1: particularly of Hector Polanco, Andre was released on parole in

548
00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:33,160
Speaker 1: October of twenty twenty two.

549
00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:39,520
Speaker 2: My first knew when I got out was it tacos

550
00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:46,920
Speaker 2: begar was tacos, Yes, tacos. That's what I wanted, tacos.

551
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 4: He just loved my touch and cook.

552
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:49,760
Speaker 2: And that's what it is.

553
00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:59,600
Speaker 1: That's great. Although her husband is out, it's bittersweet for DeLanda,

554
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:02,240
Speaker 1: who has spent years defending Andre.

555
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:05,760
Speaker 3: People need to hear his side and the story because

556
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 3: you've tried to scandalize his name and he's been innocent

557
00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:09,680
Speaker 3: all the time.

558
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:14,440
Speaker 1: I imagine that doesn't feel great to have your husband's name.

559
00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,360
Speaker 3: No, it doesn't and it doesn't, but you know what,

560
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:22,000
Speaker 3: we smile with grace and keep moving and you know,

561
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,920
Speaker 3: we do feel sorry for the bias and family, but

562
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,640
Speaker 3: they have the wrong person and at some point you're

563
00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:31,520
Speaker 3: gonna have to accept it and move on. And I

564
00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:32,760
Speaker 3: think they owe you an apology.

565
00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:36,000
Speaker 1: But Andre just wants to focus on the things he's

566
00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:40,400
Speaker 1: most cared about all along, his family. Andre tried to

567
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,600
Speaker 1: reach out to his biological son, who was four when

568
00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,000
Speaker 1: he went to prison, but he hasn't heard back.

569
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:48,480
Speaker 2: So my wile said, we don't worry about it. Just

570
00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:52,000
Speaker 2: gets yourself together and then time, you know, you'll try

571
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,560
Speaker 2: later on and reach out. Said, and that's what I've

572
00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:55,920
Speaker 2: just been waiting for the right time.

573
00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:58,680
Speaker 1: In the meantime, he puts his love in the family

574
00:30:58,800 --> 00:30:59,200
Speaker 1: he has.

575
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:03,200
Speaker 3: June sixteenth, which was on a Friday, we renewed our

576
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:05,760
Speaker 3: vows our wedding valve because when we first got married,

577
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:08,200
Speaker 3: we got got married at the courthouse and I wanted

578
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 3: to have my dream wedding and she did.

579
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:13,240
Speaker 2: Everybody, thank you so much for meeting here on the

580
00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:16,480
Speaker 2: evening as we were coming together to witness the vale

581
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:18,600
Speaker 2: of this amazing color.

582
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:23,760
Speaker 1: On their twenty third wedding anniversary, Andre and DeLanda had

583
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:25,000
Speaker 1: their dream wedding.

584
00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:30,000
Speaker 2: For where you go, I will go, where you live,

585
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:33,800
Speaker 2: I will live. Well, we just do a lot of

586
00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:36,120
Speaker 2: family things, you know. We go to a lot of

587
00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:38,360
Speaker 2: her family togetherers. We go to a lot of my

588
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,560
Speaker 2: family gatherings. And since we moved here, we start having

589
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:45,040
Speaker 2: family dinners and family days, you know, just enjoying the

590
00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:50,960
Speaker 2: family and the fish firs, the grand.

591
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:56,440
Speaker 1: Babies, Yeah, and the grand babies. Because of people like Andre,

592
00:31:56,800 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 1: the Texas Innocence Project helped pass a state law in

593
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:04,960
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen making sure the police always record interrogations for

594
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 1: cases like murder. Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction

595
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:15,400
Speaker 1: with Maggie Freeling. Please support your local innocence organizations and

596
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 1: go to the links in the episode description to see

597
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,720
Speaker 1: how you can help. This episode was written by me

598
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,479
Speaker 1: Maggie Freeling, with story editing and mixing by senior producer

599
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:28,360
Speaker 1: Rebecca Ibada. Our producer is Kathleen Fink. Our researcher is

600
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:32,320
Speaker 1: Halle Dolce, with additional mixing by Josh Allen and additional

601
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:36,440
Speaker 1: production help by Jeff Cleiburn. Executive producers are Jason Flam,

602
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,720
Speaker 1: Jeff Kempler, and Kevin Wurtis. The music is by three

603
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,880
Speaker 1: time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Make sure to follow

604
00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:46,720
Speaker 1: us on all social media platforms at Lava for Good

605
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:49,720
Speaker 1: and at Wrongful Conviction. You can also follow me on

606
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:53,880
Speaker 1: all platforms at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling

607
00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:56,880
Speaker 1: is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association

608
00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:58,920
Speaker 1: with Signal Company Number one