WEBVTT - #581 Jason Flom with Pierre Rushing 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:07.600 Hi, It's Connor Hall, the senior producer for Wrongful Conviction, 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:11.039 with another update and more behind the scenes insights. And 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:15.120 this one is another that we've been involved with for 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:22.040 far too long with not enough movement. Pierre Rushing. The 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:25.000 first time I'd even heard about him was December twenty nineteen, 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:27.560 and by the time I was approved to speak with 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:30.760 him on the phone, COVID was in full swing and 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:33.880 we were rapidly trying to figure out how to keep 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:37.800 the podcast going. But it turned out that remote recording 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:40.760 made it way easier to cover more stories and we 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:44.199 ended up like nearly doubling our annual output. But I 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:48.400 digress Pierre, And I mean we were talking on the 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:51.519 phone so much that my wife would just like come 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:52.920 into the room and see me on the phone and 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:57.000 you'd be like, who are you talking to? Pierre uh Man? 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:00.880 You know, And we still talk less. Oh, but you know, 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:02.920 every few months or so, he'll give me a ring 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:05.880 and I'll see that California prison number that I have 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.360 saved as him in my phone, and every time there's 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:12.240 like a mix of hope and despair, and you know, 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:16.840 is he finally calling with that good news? Anyway? I 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:20.160 pick up and just in the sound of his voice, 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:22.679 I can tell that it's just another Tuesday. So we 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.920 talk about, you know, what new information he's found out 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:29.600 or new strategies that, you know, we could try. For 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.720 a while, I was trolling everything. The Almada County DA's 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:36.520 social media account was posting with hashtag free Pierre Rushing 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:39.280 and like when are you gonna do something now? Obviously 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:42.319 that wasn't very effective, but you know, there were rallies 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:46.919 and protests and Jason went on the Breakfast Club Joe Rogan. 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:50.880 Whoever would lend their ear and their platform. There's even 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:54.680 a movie Undefeated the wrongful conviction of Pierre Rushing. In 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.800 this case, it's you know, an Oakland drug dealer named 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:01.160 c who killed one of his customers, want Taylor Dwan 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:05.040 had allegedly pocketed an iPod from Sea's apartment during a 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.639 drug deal. So once he figured that out, he went 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.040 with three others in a car to chase down Dewan 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:14.720 and shot him. One of the three in the car, 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.799 a guy named Robert Green, eventually told the police, who 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:19.320 knows why, I mean, maybe he was picked up for 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.120 something else, but he named the two others in the 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:26.480 car while not naming C, and then gave varying descriptions 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:30.160 of C over time, like wildly different right. And then 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:32.959 two weeks after the murder, Robert Green comes forward again 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:35.000 and says, oh, I saw Sea at a BART station 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:37.720 wearing a red hat. And around that same time, Pierre 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.440 Rushing was stopped at a bart station. He tells you 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:42.720 about it in the episode, and he was wearing a 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.639 red hat. And despite not matching any of Robert Green's 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:51.520 varying descriptions, Green picked Pierre out of a photo lineup 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:55.119 as C. Now, at the time of our initial coverage, 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:59.359 the other two named accomplices had already sworn in affidavits 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.680 that Pierre was not C, and another witness went as 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:06.320 far as to name C. Then, by the time of 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.400 our twenty twenty three coverage, the star witness, Robert Green, 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:13.200 had recanted his testimony clearing Pierre's name, so they had 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.920 nothing left in this case. We thought the Almeda County DA, 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:19.480 Pamela Price, might do the right thing, but at that 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:24.000 time she was another alleged progressive DA who had become 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:28.440 the target of a so called tough on crime recall campaign, 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.120 so she chose to not rock the vote with an exoneration, 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.080 but she still got voted out in a twenty twenty 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:39.560 four special election. Now since that time, Pierre's team has 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:42.920 uncovered even more. They finally were allowed to test crime 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:46.720 scene biological evidence, namely the car seat where C sat, 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.640 as well as cigarette butts said to have belonged to him, 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:52.960 all of which cleared Pierre. And I'm gonna guess it 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.680 would match C if they just knew who he was. 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:59.480 Oh wait, it turns out that Pierre's team discovered that 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.360 a whit and This had named C for investigators before 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.560 Pierre went to trial, the same name that Pier's team 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:10.120 had during our initial coverage. But that report of an 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.480 alternate suspect that appears to be quite consequential, that was 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.480 hidden from the defense at trial. You gotta wonder why 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.760 they'd hide that information. This guy was known to operate 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.360 out of the building from which this whole saga began. 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.440 Maybe they were just so far out over their skis 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:28.400 and this investigation and prosecution that they just buried it 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:31.040 and plodded ahead. Maybe it was tunnel vision. Maybe they 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:35.640 actually believed, well, this is inconsequential, Or maybe C was 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:39.240 more useful to police on the outside will never know. 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.520 I understand he went away for something else not too 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:47.440 long after, while Pierre is still serving a sentence that 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:51.280 most likely belongs to him. And I just want you 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.000 to keep that in mind, that he's still in there 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.239 serving someone else's time while you listen to this coverage, 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:00.039 some of which is from twenty twenty and then the 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.440 final segment most of it it's from twenty twenty three. 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:05.200 There's even you know, the call to action is outdated 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:08.520 because Bamela Price isn't in an office anymore. But I'd 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:11.880 like you to renew the effort to reach out to 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.000 the new DA. We're going to have contact information listed 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:18.880 in the episode description, So please keep making noise because 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:22.000 here it is twenty twenty six. He's still in there, 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:24.680 and I mean, wouldn't it be even more tragic if 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:29.440 I was back here again in three more years. 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.919 In the early morning of April fifteenth, twenty eleven, Dwan 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:36.800 Taylor stole an iPod for an Oakland drug dealer named c. 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:40.880 Two of his other customers, Patrick Smith and Robert Green, 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:43.800 gave Ce a ride in search of the iPod thief 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:47.280 they spotted. Mister Taylor pulled up next to him, and 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:51.039 See proceeded to shoot and kill him over this trivial slight. 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:54.080 Nearly a week we'ld go by before Robert Green would 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.279 offer cops information and an uncertain description of the shooter. 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:01.080 A few weeks and several descriptions later, Green would claim 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.920 to have seen c wearing a red hat. A few 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:07.280 days after that, police would approach Pierre Rushing, a man 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:09.839 who had never been known as Sea, but wearing a 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.840 red hat. They'd bring Pierre's juvie photo and his name 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.640 to Robert Green, who went on to identify him as 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:21.560 the shooter, despite a solid alibi, no physical evidence whatsoever 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:27.359 or anything to corroborate Robert Green's highly questionable identification. Pierre 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:31.760 Rushing's burgeoning rap career and promising future were stolen by 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:36.240 Green and the criminal legal system. He's currently serving fifty 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:39.080 to life for a frivolous and tragic crime committed by 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:42.640 a drug dealer named C. Patrick Smith has since signed 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:46.760 affidavits and testified to Pierre's innocence, and another of C's 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:50.080 customers that night has bravely set a legal name to 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:53.560 the culprit, and even though mister Rushing did not name Se, 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:56.560 we have censored his name from this episode for mister 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:00.560 Rushing's safety. Meanwhile, the state of California and used to 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:04.719 ignore evidence of Pierre's actual innocence and to fight his 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:09.520 honest attempts to regain his freedom. This is Wrongful Conviction 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:23.480 with Jason Flamm. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm. 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.000 That's me and today we're going to tell you about 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.960 the case of Pierre Rushing. We'll speak with one of 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:31.800 his post conviction attorneys, Marvin Lou as well as taking 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:34.960 a call from Kern Valley Correction in California to hear 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:36.160 from Pierre himself. 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:38.600 This is Global tail Lenge. 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.560 You have a free post call from you. 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.720 This call ANGELA telephone number will be monitored and recorded. 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.000 To accept this call, say or. 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:54.560 Dial five now. Thank you for using Global tail Link. 0:07:55.960 --> 0:08:00.600 Hello, good morning, good morning. I'm glad you're here. I mean, 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:03.280 I'm sorry you're here under these circumstances, but I'm definitely 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:05.480 glad you're here. And I know we have limited time, 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.800 so let's get right into it. Today's episode, we're going 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:10.560 to tell the story of the man we have on 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.240 the phone now, Pierre Rushing, who's serving fifty years. The 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:17.760 nightmare starts on April fifteen, twenty eleven, at three forty 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:21.280 five am, when there's a murder. But let's go back 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:23.840 to your childhood, because you had a difficult upbringing and 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:26.560 you were coming out of that and building a career 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:28.320 in music when it all went haywire. 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:30.720 So I grew up in Oakland, California. My father was 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:34.880 a passentee and then out of prison smug with a 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:37.600 dig crack cocaine. So I don't want to say like 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.480 any other Oakland kid, but I mean a lot lot 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:42.360 of kids in the in the that grew up in 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:46.120 the nineties were just products of our environment. We grew 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:48.760 up looking at things that we believed to be right, 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:50.440 so we as we mature, we get to see that 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:51.480 they were really wrong. 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:53.120 And how did you get into music? 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:56.679 My auntie used to work for Keith Switt her name 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.720 with Tracy Rush. She since passed in twenty thirteen. But 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.960 just being around her, she took me in her wing, 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:05.520 just taking me to the studio whor her as I 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:07.680 became a big contribute. 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:11.520 Is it fair to say by twenty eleven, things were 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:14.760 starting to look up for you in terms of possibly 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:16.680 building a career, and yeah. 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:19.960 When I was arrested for this case, actually friends of 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:23.160 mine has said that the police were looking for me 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:25.720 for this time, and we all laughed about it because 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:27.600 everybody knew that I couldn't have done. And I had 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:31.760 been wrapping and going to the studio state assistant shooting videos. 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:34.080 And actually when I was arrested, I was open enough 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:36.840 for Bay Area Leegen by the name of Saint Quinn, 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:41.199 and we had a big black tour van with my 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:45.000 pictures on and promoting my music and everything. So, yeah, 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:46.320 it was coming up for me. 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:48.559 Yeah, you were exactly You're on your way up. And 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:57.319 then everything went completely haywire. Now let's turn the conversation 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:01.080 to Marvin Lou. Marvin is a criminal defense attorney of 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:06.200 some repute and he has been representing Pierre for some time. Now, 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:08.319 let's just paint a picture of what happened. 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:12.040 The date was April fifteenth, twenty eleven, and what happened 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.120 was two individuals by the name of Patrick Smith and 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:18.920 Robert Green. We're doing crack cocaine for the day and 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:22.120 a half leading up to this young man's killing. And 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:25.720 Patrick Smith and Robert Green went to an apartment in 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:30.400 Oakland to purchase more crack cocaine. Patrick Smith was driving. 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.600 Robert Green stayed in the car while Patrick Smith went 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:37.959 up to the apartment to purchase more drugs. So Patrick 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.000 Smith meets up with his drug dealer. Patrick Smith knows 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:44.600 him as see the letter C who is the actual 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:49.360 person responsible for the murder of Dewane Taylor. While Patrick 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:52.520 Smith was in the apartment, there were several other people 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:57.040 present and mister Taylor left the apartment. Shortly after mister 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:02.360 Taylor left, then sees iPod turned up missing and someone 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:07.280 in the apartment said that mister Taylor had taken sees iPod. 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:12.920 What happened next was Patrick Smith, the shooter, SE and 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:16.040 another individual who was also charged as a co defendant 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:19.360 named Andre Morris. They all left the apartment and went 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:23.040 and got in Patrick Smith's car to go find mister Taylor, 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:28.520 who had allegedly taken SE's iPod. Robert Green was waiting 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:31.320 in the car sitting in the front passenger seat, so 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:35.200 pat Smith drives around the corner. They see mister Taylor 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:39.520 walking down the street and see or Andre Morris. Pat 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:42.520 Smith wasn't sure which told him to stop the car. 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:46.120 She and Andre Morris got out of the car, confronted 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:49.960 mister Taylor, and s shot and killed mister Taylor on 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:53.559 the sidewalk in front of a fast food restaurant. They 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:56.160 then got back into the car. Pat Smith drove a 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.719 short distance. Both See and mister Morris got out of 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:03.520 the car and ran away. So that's the factual backdrop 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:04.160 for this thing. 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:07.440 Follow along here because Pierre, who were on the phone 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.040 with now had no connection to viction, no knowledge of 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.520 the actual perpetrator, and he was at his grandmother's at 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:16.680 the time with a young lady named Lauren Richardson on 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:19.640 the time and date of the murder. Have you ever 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:21.120 had a nickname of ce before it? 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.680 Never? Never, I've always went by the name of Stink 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:28.400 or people from my neighborhoods to call me peace, thank beer. 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.560 For my first name is Pierre. I have never ever 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:33.280 went by the namacy. 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:37.040 So what happened? How did you end up getting wrongfully 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:37.720 convicted here? 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:40.280 Well, one of the pastors, Robert Greed, he goes to 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:43.880 the police n five days after he allegedly seated this time, 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.400 and he tells them that he's seen as murdered. A 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.520 guy named Seca missed this murder. He gives the police 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.839 multiple different descriptions. I believe his first description is five eight, 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:56.080 light skinned, one hundred and twenty pounds. I haven't been 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:58.360 one hundred and twenty pounds since I was eighteen years old, 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:01.079 let alone at nineteen years old. I'm not light skinned. 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.040 The second time I believe sees the police, he switches 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:07.400 it up again. So allegedly he says he sees se 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.439 on April thirty, which would have been fifteen days after 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:13.680 the crime, and he went back to the police and said, 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:16.000 you know what, I lied again. I believe he was 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:20.720 six foot two, brown skin, and they had on red 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.079 shirt and a red hat. I'm not sure what kind 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:25.520 of lineup they were showing it, but he still couldn't 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.480 identify who they believed to be seen. The police seen 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.480 in an area that he said that he had seen seeing. 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:37.199 I believe it was May third, wearing a red hat. 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:39.000 And they stopped me. And when they stopped me and 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:40.680 they said, what is your name? I don't lie to 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:43.880 the police. Here, Russian is my man. I say, hey, 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:45.640 we're looking for a guy that beat the guy up. 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.040 I haven't beaten the guy up. And then they leave. 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:52.000 When they take that name back to I believe Robert Green, 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:53.960 who was at the police station, and they show him 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.440 a picture four days after he's seen a guy with 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:58.199 a red hat. He said, you know what, Yeah, that's me. 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:00.520 I'm past see. And that's how the whole way of 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:04.720 respond would have red had four days after the Barbara 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:06.199 grid Fife seen this guy. 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:10.199 And a month after the crime. When they first questioned you, 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:12.160 they wanted to know what you were doing on the 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:13.840 day of the crime. But when they were asking you 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:16.960 this question, it was already five weeks later, right, And 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.800 this is a trick that they use. Sometimes you're like, 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:22.800 you're supposed to remember exactly. Like I'll ask anybody in 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:25.400 the audience right now, what were you doing. Let's go 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:28.440 back thirty five days from whatever day you're listening to this. 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:30.480 Tell me right now what you were doing at a 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:32.840 particular time on that day, and I'll give you a dollar. 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:36.400 Because that's impossible, but it is very effective because then 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:39.440 they can say you lied, because there's no way anyone 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:42.280 could possibly remember that unless it was their birthday or 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:44.160 some other like really important day. 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:48.040 Right April fifteenth, you would have it is my father's birthday. 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.840 So without me even thinking you say April fifteen, Hey, 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:52.840 there's nothing I was with my dad? I say, my 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:57.359 dad on his birthday? Not one time at any trial transcript, 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:59.840 Police ADVA Torti's theermory. Do they ever say where were 0:14:59.880 --> 0:15:03.200 you three forty five a m. So if they said no, 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:05.600 you weren't with your dad. I also remember that I 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.040 had a traffic stop that day and they went chick 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:10.480 and it showed that I was untruth for they say no, 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:14.040 not at that time. It took me, I believe my attorney, 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:16.120 for about a week of jog in my memory to 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:18.720 figure out where did I sleep at three forty five 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.040 a m. That morning? And I remembered it was my grandma. 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:24.240 So was because my mom came to me that morning 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:26.080 and said, where are you going to get your dad 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:28.440 for his birthday? That's how I was. They able to 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:30.760 put the pieces of a puzzle together, but by that 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:35.000 time it was trial, so they looked at it as if, oh, 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:37.720 this is a third alibi. Well, no, I've given you 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.240 everywhere I went from April fifteenth, and so that's how 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.320 they played it, which is very nefarious because they see 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:46.000 that I was trying to tell them. 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.200 Everything at the time that This crime was committed at 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:51.840 three forty five in the morning. Now we know what 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.760 you were doing when you were supposedly out shooting somebody 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.440 who you never knew and don't know and still don't 0:15:57.440 --> 0:15:58.280 know and never will know. 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:01.880 Well, height belfourteenth shooting a video. Thank you go on 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:03.960 YouTube right now. The song is called young Stink Take 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:08.120 a Trip. Lauren Richerson was associate of the camera man 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:15.600 helped shoot the video. She was also my girlfriend April fourteenth, 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:19.440 going in table fifteen. She came to my grandma talk 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:22.840 roughly about nine forty five round timmy clock, and we 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:26.720 spent the night. We enjoy each other's company. We deal 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:28.680 with any other boy for their girlfriend. 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:34.680 Hello. My name is Lauren Richardson. I am an Oakland 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:40.040 resident and current legal apprentice. I entered the field with 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:43.400 a lot of motivation from the tragic situation that happened 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:49.720 with Pierre Rushing. I originally was into video. On April fourteenth, 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:52.880 Pierre went to shoot a video. It's called take a Trip. 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:56.360 We were super excited because he had so much support 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.400 from our neighborhood. Everybody knew he was a great rapper. 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.560 When he finally shot the video, we were super excited. 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.320 We went back to his grandmother's house afterwards, just to 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:09.800 kind of recap, and we stayed up all night watching movies, laughing, 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:12.960 making plans for the future. We you know, did what 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:16.240 couples do late night, and I left early in the 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.280 morning because I had to take my son to school. 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:23.080 And it was some weeks after that he kind of disappeared, 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:26.919 you know, when somebody else found me and was like, 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:31.919 you know, he's in jail. I'm like, what, because I 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.560 was kind of mad, you know I was. I thought 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:38.480 he ghosted me, to be honest, so it was no 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.600 way that he could have committed the crime. I have 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:48.280 never felt as powerless as I felt in this situation 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:54.280 to express reality and be believed, and you know, this 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.600 huge power structure for them to be able to create 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:00.879 a false reality, like even with the witness, the witness 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.720 is not a credible witness, nowhere near as credible as 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:06.360 I am. Because I'm not going to go perjure myself. 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:08.840 I'm not going to risk my life to keep a 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:11.760 killer out of jail. So for me to go up 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.320 there in front of all of these people and for 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:16.800 them to not take my word for it when they 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:19.480 had no other evidence. It bothers me to this day. 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:21.919 It's a big part of the motivation for me to 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:26.200 go into this apprenticeship program because I want to learn 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.200 how to speak up for other people who can't speak 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.760 up for themselves, because this has to stop. They ruined 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:32.800 an entire family. 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:39.720 The idea that we in this country can sent in 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:43.720 somebody like you, a promising young man with his life 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.600 ahead of him, to fifty years based on the testimony 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:48.840 of an admitted crackhead. It was up for two days 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.800 or changed the story four times really should make everybody 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:56.240 a little scared. Yeah, can you tell us a little 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:58.159 bit about the trial itself? 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:01.240 And killing it on camera. When I heard they had 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:03.560 it on camera, I started to kick my feet up 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:05.720 and just wait for the trold days because I'm like, 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.480 if it's on camera, I'm going home. I never in 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:11.760 a million years imagined that the camera would be low 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:15.399 quality or you really can't see anything on the camera. 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:18.080 You see a vehicle pull up and it's just draining, 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:21.080 so you can't really see anything. And I remember my 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:25.520 heart just dropping because I knew that that was what 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:29.480 was supposed to exonerate music. They had no evidence, no 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:32.800 corrupt no, no physicals. They have the murder vehicle with 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:36.040 twelve fingerprints inside the car, and say I got in 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:37.560 and out of that car a four time. None of 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.560 the fingerprints Mats Mott. One of the prosecution's witness was 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:42.440 a lady by the name of the Carls Smith or so. 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:44.440 She witnessed the crime her and pass s meth for 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:46.720 best friends. She had been in that car a week 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:50.399 before when the police forensic pathologists became the call on 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:52.760 every twenty second they found to call this fingerprints in 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:55.879 that car. Therefore, when she testified she hadn't been in 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:59.000 the car seven days prior to the killing, that means 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:01.159 that the car couldn't have actually been wiped down. And 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:03.440 if the car wasn't wiped down, and you count twelve 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:07.399 to fourteenth fingerprints in that car, per Robert Greene's testimony, 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:09.760 I got in and out of that car four times, 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:11.760 and I killed this guy with no glove. Why don't 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:15.439 wear my fingerprints on the car? Second, if Robert greens 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.000 took the leave, why would you ever call me five 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:20.600 day light skinning one hundred and twenty pounds? Why would 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:23.600 you ever change it to five ten one hundred and 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:26.639 sixty pounds? In that preliminary hearing, when the judge allowed 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:28.440 me to leave the court room, they brought Robert Green in. 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:31.240 They said, could compleatly describe to kill it. This guy 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:34.600 switched it up to six to two hundred and twenty pounds. 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:37.399 This guy's not to be believed. It was addicted to cracking. 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:41.080 Aroon said he had been up for two days off cracking. Aroon, 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:45.159 I hadn't been initially seven times failing. Third, you have 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:48.200 to call the smith another prosecutions with us. I didn't 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:49.680 see him. I don't know who that is. 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:52.480 Well, yeah, I mean our standard in this country is 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:55.920 supposed to be reasonable doubt, and this goes way beyond 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:56.800 that standard. 0:20:57.080 --> 0:20:59.520 I had hoped that, you know, I would I would 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:00.280 be exacted. 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:02.040 And did you have proper representation? 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:04.520 Now I went to a trial with a posite defender 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:07.040 and I went speedy trial. I was arrested in May, 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:09.639 I was convicted and all of this. And the reason 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:11.400 I went Steed Troup because I feel like I had 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:14.200 nothing to add I didn't do it. So why would 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:16.200 I wait? Where I see in my counting people wait 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:18.400 four or five years to fight the case because they're 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:20.639 trying to wait for the better deal. The first day 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:23.960 of trial, I remember the judge saying something like, hey, 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:25.720 I know the DA is going to give you a deal. 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:27.879 She looked to your left, get a deal because I 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:29.600 know that he's going to give you one. And I 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:32.400