WEBVTT - #174 Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions - Eric Weakley and Michael Hash 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:05.720 Welcome to Wrongful Conviction, False Confessions. I'm Laura and I 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:09.240 writer and I'm Steve Drissing. Today we'll bring you to 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.719 Culpepper County, Virginia to tell you the story of teenage 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:16.560 buddies Eric Weekly and Michael Hash. Local police solved a 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:20.760 murder case by coercing Eric into falsely confessing and into 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.960 falsely implicating his friend Michael as an accomplice. For years, 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:28.520 lawyers couldn't get justice for either of them until Michael's 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:43.840 mom found evidence that blew this case wide open. Michael 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:46.040 Hash and Eric Weekly were childhood. 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:47.919 Friends, longtime friends. 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.159 And to see the way the systems split them apart 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:51.920 in this case, it's terrible. 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:57.400 It's not uncommon for one co defendant to turn on 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:01.320 another co defendant, especially in a state where the death 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:02.320 penalty is on. 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.080 The table, and it's really understandable how that could have 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.880 destroyed Eric's relationship with Mike and Mike's whole family. But 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:13.240 that's not what happened. One of the most incredible things 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:17.560 about Wrongful Convictions work is that you encounter these pockets 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:20.520 of grace in the most unexpected places, some of the 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:24.240 most unbelievable humans. You'll ever meet. Are people like Pam 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.320 hash whose son Mike was falsely implicated by his one 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:30.480 time childhood friend. You know, that's a situation that could 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:32.600 have led to a lot of rage and a lot 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:33.959 of anger, and a lot of blame. 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:41.959 Yeah, I mean vengeance, anger, hatred. They can keep somebody stuck. 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.959 But Pam realized very early on that that was wasted 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:50.040 energy and that she needed to spend all her time 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:54.880 learning about the case, finding the right lawyers, doing her 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:58.920 own digging, and pushing the authorities to come to the 0:01:59.000 --> 0:01:59.600 right solution. 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:03.960 She turned all of that into forgiveness. That's pretty incredible. 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:12.680 Today's story starts in Culpeper County, Virginia, about ninety minutes 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:16.160 west of the Washington d C Beltway. Culpeper is a 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:19.320 popular weekend getaway spot for the d C crowd. It's 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:23.200 got bed and breakfasts, art boutiques, and plenty of fancy cafes. 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:28.840 Architectural Digest even named Culpeper the prettiest area in Virginia. 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:31.920 But for all its beauty, Culpeper is also home to 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.799 an unremedied injustice, one that stains the county to this day. 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:42.840 That injustice began back in nineteen ninety six in Lignum, 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.200 an unincorporated part of Culpeper that hadn't quite caught up 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.560 to the rest of the county's growing prosperity. Lignam was 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:52.639 where seventy four year old Thelma Scroggins had lived her 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:56.160 whole life in the same two story frame house where 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:59.600 she'd been born. Thelma was a petite, curly haired lady 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.600 who'd retired from her work as a mail carrier. She'd 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.680 been widowed years earlier, and since then she lived alone. 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.840 But Thelma's life was still full and active. She had 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:12.400 plenty of friends and liked to spend time playing the 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:15.880 organ at the Baptist church across the street. It was 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:19.520 the evening of Saturday, July thirteenth, and Thelma was on 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.680 the phone with one of her girlfriends. At about nine pm, 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:25.600 Thelma told her friend that she had to go. Someone 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:28.799 was knocking at the door. The friend called back fifteen 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:32.240 minutes later, but got no answer. She tried again the 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:36.240 next morning, still no answer. When Thelma didn't show up 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:39.280 at church that Sunday morning, her friends really started worrying. 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:42.600 One of them, Richard Hicks, went over to Thelma's house 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.800 as he pulled up outside, he could hear Thelma's TV 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:50.000 blasting at top volume. Richard let himself inside. The front 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:54.360 door wasn't locked and found pink hair curlers scattered across 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.640 the living room floor. He went in further and saw 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:01.040 Thelma slumped over in front of her bedroom door. She'd 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:04.360 been shot in the head four times. It seemed the 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:06.960 TV had been turned up to mask the sound of 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:11.800 the gunshots. Police arrived and quickly canvassed the scene. They 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.560 found that Thelma's jewelry was still sitting on her dresser, 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:17.760 but her purse was missing, along with her green Ford 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:21.479 pickup truck. A month later, a deer hunter found the 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.640 truck abandoned in a wooded area about a mile and 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.800 a half away from Thelma's home. Her purse was there too, 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.719 with its contents scattered on the ground nearby. But despite 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:35.840 this discovery, police couldn't develop any viable suspects or leads. 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:41.480 A few months later, the case went cold. Three years later, 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:44.960 in November nineteen ninety nine, a new DA was elected 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.839 in Culpeper on a promise to solve cold cases. Shortly 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:52.240 after he took office, new detectives were assigned to investigate 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:56.279 Thelma Scroggin's murder. They started off by visiting a local 0:04:56.279 --> 0:05:00.479 prison to interview a young woman named Alicia Shelton. Alisha 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:02.640 had just been convicted of shooting a man in the 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:06.799 head six times. The cops figured her crime was similar 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.440 enough to what happened to Thelma to make Alisha worth questioning. 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:15.040 On audiotape, Alicia told the investigators that she didn't know 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:19.400 anything about Thelma's murder, But then one detective offered what 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:23.000 he called a little foundation. He suggested that Alicia might 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.400 get a reduced sentence if she provided information about her 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:31.960 teenage cousin, Michael Hash Then silence. The tape was shut off, 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:35.560 supposedly for a cigarette break. When the recorder got turned 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:39.400 back on, Alicia was suddenly full of ideas. She said 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:43.680 she'd overheard her cousin Michael, discussing his involvement in Thelma's murder. 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:47.400 She said Michael did it along with his buddies Eric 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:49.159 Weekley and Jason Chlobe. 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.120 Alicia Shelton was looking at a lot of time and 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:56.120 desperate for a way to get out from underneath the 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.360 weight of a heavy sentence. I don't know what happened 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:03.520 when the camera was off, but there had to be 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:07.719 some powerful inducement to get her to change her story 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:11.280 from I don't know what you're talking about two fingering 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.080 her own cousin and his friends for this crime. 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:18.160 In nineteen ninety six, when Thelma was killed, Michael was fifteen, 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.920 Eric was sixteen, and Jason was eighteen. They had grown 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:24.880 up together, writing go karts as kids and crushing on 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:29.160 girls as teenagers. Michael and his parents, Jeff and Pam Hash, 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:33.000 lived within a mile of Thelma's house. In fact, Thelma 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:36.440 had been the Hash family's mail carrier, delivering birthday cards 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:38.920 and letters to the home with her typical friendly wave. 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:42.799 Michael was a good kid. There was no reason whatsoever 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:45.719 to suspect him and his friends of killing Thelma Scroggins. 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:49.120 It's true that Michael used to frequent a campsite near 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.960 the wooded area where Thelma's truck had been found, but 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:56.280 that was a pretty thin connection. Somehow, though, Michael Hash, 0:06:56.400 --> 0:07:00.240 Jason Chlobe, and Eric Weekley found themselves at the center 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:05.240 of a cold case murder investigation in April two thousand. 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.719 Police decide to interrogate, but they don't start with Michael 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:12.800 Hash or Jason Chlobe. They start with Eric Weekly. By 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:15.640 this time, Eric was nineteen years old with a reputation 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:19.000 as a follower, someone who could be easily intimidated. 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:24.280 Eric Weekly was a weak link. He had a little 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:27.360 daughter that he cared very much about. He had a 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:32.560 prior record, which gave interrogators leverage. They started with him 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:36.280 because they felt that he was the most likely to 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:38.000 break and it worked. 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.080 Eric's at his factory job when two detectives approach him 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:46.280 and start asking about Thelma's murder. Eric is shocked. He 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:49.080 had nothing to do with it. He tells the detectives 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:51.760 they're crazy and says he has to get back to work. 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:56.880 The cops leave, but not for long. They follow Eric everywhere, 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.720 the gas station, the grocery store. They show up at 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:01.560 Eric job over and over. 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:07.520 These detectives would not leave him alone. They hounded him, 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.200 They stalked him, They kept coming to his workplace trying 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:13.640 to question him. It got to the point where his 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:17.880 employer just was fed up and he fired Eric. And 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:20.280 Eric got worried that he would never be able to 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:24.480 get another job because everywhere he would go, these cops 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:27.760 would just show up at his work again. So he 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:31.000 gave up, and he agreed finally to go to the 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:33.599 police station and answer their questions. 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.240 Over the next several weeks, Eric and doors not one, 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.840 not two, but a whole chain of interrogations as the 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:45.880 police keep insisting he come back again and again. Some 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:50.000 of these interrogations last longer than twelve hours. Only a 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.120 few are recorded, but what did get caught on tape 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:57.559 is enough to make anyone skeptical. During the first few interrogations, 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:00.960 Eric protests his innocence over and over. He doesn't have 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.600 the mind or the heart to kill somebody, he tells police. 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:07.320 And I'm sitting here telling me no, and you're still 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:09.040 not believe I'm. 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:10.040 Sitting here telling you. 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:12.400 No, I did not shoot this one. 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.040 The police won't listen to Eric. They insist he's guilty, 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.360 and they chip away at him slowly and steadily over 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:20.360 the course of weeks. 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:24.400 You saw that woman, to you too, you saw the blood. 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:27.440 Why do you sit here and try to lie to 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:28.480 me about that today? 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:31.520 Then the police tell Eric that if he cooperates, he 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.360 can go home. If he just repeats the details they 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:37.560 feed him, the police can work with him, even help him. 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.880 But if you saw blood come from the heat, that. 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:45.280 Helps Eric, but if Eric holds back, if he refuses 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:48.040 to say he was involved, they say that'll hurt him. 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:50.640 If he doesn't confess, he might not get to see 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:55.199 his daughter anymore. These interrogations continue off and on for weeks, 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.640 but Eric still won't confess, so the cops pull out 0:09:58.679 --> 0:09:59.920 a tried and true tact. 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:04.280 Finally, they say, okay, Eric, if you have nothing to 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.840 do with this, would you at least come down and 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:10.760 take a polygraph exam? And Eric did. He took that 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:14.440 exam to get these police officers off his back, and 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.840 then they told him he failed the exam, which got 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:18.679 him talking. 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.400 The polygraph finally does it. Eric weekly realizes he'll never 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:25.440 be able to get the police to believe him, and 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:28.960 he breaks. He agrees to tell the cops a story. 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:33.199 Eric says that he, Michael, and Jason chopped Thelma's body 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.360 up with an axe. Their motive, he said, was robbery. 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.880 They stole diamond rings, vases, and necklaces from her home, 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:44.040 a king's ransom in treasure. This was a confessional, right, 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:46.960 but none of it came close to what actually happened. 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:50.920 Thelma wasn't attacked with an axe, and what little jewelry 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:54.240 she owned was found sitting on her dresser, so police 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:58.800 accused Eric of lying again. Eric's response, I'm just telling 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:00.600 you what you want to hear. I can go the 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.960 hell home. The police don't let him go the hell home. 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:07.640 They've got to clean up Eric's story and it takes hours. 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:10.240 They cut him short when he begins to describe the 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.439 jewelry because none of it had actually been taken. They 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:15.920 show him photos of the crime scene so that he 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:19.880 can see Thelma's body wasn't mutilated with an axe. In fact, 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.920 they end up straight out telling Eric that Thelma had 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:26.560 been shot, and all these details provided by the police 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.960 are what end up in Eric's confession. Eric's story becomes 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:36.200 final on May sixteenth, two thousand. He's arrested. Immediately that 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:40.720 same night, police come for Jason Chlobe and Michael Hash. 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:44.679 The night that he was arrested, it was it was 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:45.600 a total shock. 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.920 That's Pam Hash, she's Michael Hash's mom. 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.520 It was about one o'clock in the morning. Everybody had 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:57.480 gone to bed, and all of a sudden, there's barking dogs, 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:02.679 people banging on the door, yelling. My husband got up, 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.360 went to the door and they pretty much just barged 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:10.800 into the home they were wanting Michael. She had, of course, 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.200 his boxers on nothing else, and I begged them to 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:17.480 let him have at least a shirt and shoes. They 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.160 let him take it with him, and in a matter 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.559 of minutes he was loaded into the car, and all 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.920 these cars left, and we got dressed and followed them. 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:29.600 It was all so quick, it felt like it was 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:34.120 in a movie. It was just a nightmare. 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:39.280 Pam's nightmare had just begun. She would soon find out 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.199 her son, Michael, along with his buddies Eric and Jason, 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:57.680 had been charged with capital murder. Culpeper County Commonwealth Attorney 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:02.520 Gary Close prosecuted each of the boys, starting with Jason Chlobe, 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:06.440 but the prosecution had a problem. There was no evidence 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:10.640 against Jason except for Eric's statement, and prosecutors could only 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:14.280 use Eric's statement against Jason if Eric agreed to testify 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:15.840 in person against him. 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:20.440 It's not enough to simply play Eric's confession during the 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:26.160 trial of Michael and Jason, because lawyers can't cross examine 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:30.160 a confession. They need to be able to cross examine 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:34.440 Eric about what he says on that tape. It's part 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.920 of a constitutional right of criminal defendants to confront witnesses 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:41.000 the right of cross examination. 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.360 The prosecution needed Eric weekly to get up on the 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.920 witness stand and testify. To get him there, they offered 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.280 him a deal. If Eric agreed to testify against both 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:55.440 Jason and Michael, the state would reduce Eric's charges to 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.439 second degree murder. That charge carried at most twenty years 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:03.560 behind bars, sometimes much less. If Eric didn't take the deal. 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.160 On the other hand, he was facing life in prison 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:10.520 if convicted. Eric was in despair. He felt cornered by 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.440 the confession that detectives had wrung out of him. Like 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:16.679 so many people before him, Eric felt that he had 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:19.960 no real choice. He took the deal and agreed to 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:21.440 testify against his friends. 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:25.480 Once you confess, the pressure to plead guilty on these 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:29.880 suspects is even greater. Of all the exonerations in the 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:36.560 DNA database, twelve percent involve people who pledged guilty to 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.760 crimes they didn't commit, and each one of those pleas 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:44.520 involved someone who was represented by counsel and who weighed 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.600 the options and decided it was in their best interests 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:49.640 to give up all of their rights, to give up 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:53.520 their right to testify, their right to appeal, their right 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.880 to prove their innocence in order to plead guilty. 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.920 Eric was now a lock for the prosecution. In November 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:04.640 two thousand, it was time to try Jason Klobe, as 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.720 he'd agreed to do. Eric took the stand and testified 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:11.200 that Jason had participated in the murder, but Jason's defense 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:14.640 lawyers had an ace in the hole, an alibi. They 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.480 brought in several witnesses who testified that Jason had been 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.960 visiting his dad in Pennsylvania at the time of Thelma's murder. 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:23.960 It took the jury less than two hours to find 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:25.720 Jason Klobe not guilty. 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:32.600 If Jason wasn't present during this crime, then that undermines 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:38.120 Eric's entire confession because he has Jason right there being 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:41.760 a major actor along with Michael in the murder of 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:47.600 Thelmas Kroggins. Once these detectives learned that Jason had an alibi, 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:51.520 they should have walked away from this case. 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:55.400 But detectives didn't walk away. Instead, they plowed ahead with 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:57.080 the trial of Michael Hash. 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:01.440 After Chlobe was acquitted, I kept telling Mike, you're next. 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:04.400 They know the truth from Chlobe's cage you're next, You'll 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:06.320 be next, You're coming home now. 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:09.560 Michael didn't have a strong alibi like Jason did. When 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.760 Thelma died, Michael had been right there in Culpeper County, 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:16.240 hanging out with some buddies. But even though Michael's defense 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:20.000 was weaker, the prosecutors decided to leave nothing to chance. 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:24.520 They knew that Eric Weekly's testimony alone wasn't going to 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.640 be enough to get a conviction against Michael, So what 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:31.600 did they do? They manufactured more evidence. They went to 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:37.880 a seasoned serial snitch, a jailhouse informant who had worked 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:41.200 with them in the past and testified in other cases, 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:42.640 Paul Carter. 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:45.720 About a week after Michael had been arrested, he met 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.880 Paul Carter in jail. At the time, it seemed like 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.800 a random encounter. Later, at Michael's trial, Carter testified that 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:57.040 when they met, Michael had admitted to killing Thelma. During 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.800 cross examination, Eric's defense attorneys suggested Carl was getting some 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:05.639 benefit in exchange for fabricating testimony against Michael, but Carter 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.320 denied it. He said he wasn't receiving anything for his cooperation. 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.960 He was a pretty career criminal and he knew what 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.960 he was doing, even though he's up there telling the 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:18.960 jury that he is only there because this was somebody's 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:22.240 mother or grandmother. You know, he's looking for something, and 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:23.960 I thought the jury would see right through that. 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:28.040 The prosecutor backed up his witnesses claim, telling the jury that, 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:30.680 of course, the state hadn't made any deal with Carter. 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:34.840 After testimony concluded, the jury deliberated for six and a 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:38.800 half hours. As the clocks neared midnight on February ninth, 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:42.440 two thousand and one, they returned a verdict guilty. 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:47.119 It's a sound that I think I'll hear for the 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.080 rest of my life. When they came back and said 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:56.560 that they found him guilty, it's almost like you hear guilty, guilty, guilty, 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:01.639 just echoing, and quite frankly, I don't remember a whole 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:05.199 lot after that. I know that I broke down and 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.280 they took Mike immediately out of the courtroom. I remember 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:11.800 my husband putting me in the backseat of the car, 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:15.480 and don't really remember a whole lot after that Until 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:16.280 the next morning. 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:21.160 At sentencing, Michael told the judge, you've convicted an innocent person, 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:24.840 but it was too late. Michael hash was sentenced to 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:26.880 life without the possibility of parole. 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:32.560 A lot of defendants in Michael's situation might have pled guilty. 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:34.480 And accepted a much shorter sentence. 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:39.239 But Michael didn't confess. That's important. It's never wrong to 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:40.440 assert your innocence. 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:44.040 For his part, Eric Weekly had finally satisfied the state 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:46.639 he'd lived up to his end of the bargain and 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:50.800 testified against his friends. In exchange, the state reduced Eric's 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:54.320 charges to second degree murder, to which Eric formally pled 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.440 guilty on June thirteenth, two thousand and one. He would 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.879 go on to serve six years an eight months in prison. 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:06.760 Eric implicating Michael and Jason and even himself. It angered me, 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:10.920 but I would always go back to I know he's 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:16.920 not doing this. Just knowing Eric, somebody is making him 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:21.240 say these things. They're threatening him. He had a child 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:24.760 by then, a young child, and I knew that that 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:27.359 was probably his main focus was I'm going to do 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:30.119 whatever to get back to my child. And I can't 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.840 be mad at that because I'm a mom. 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:36.600 Eric Weekly served his time and was freed in two 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:40.280 thousand and six, but Michael remained behind bars, serving a 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:42.800 life sentence, even as he pursued his appeals. 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:47.119 You know, each year at Christmas time, I'd have that 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:50.160 faith he's going to be home this year, and I'd 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:53.320 buy him Christmas presents, just like I did every year. 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.720 Before i'd wrap them, i'd have them under the tree. 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.760 I'd always after Christmas take him up, pack them away 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:03.879 in a box, and add to it each Christmas that 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:05.000 he didn't come home. 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:12.720 When Michael's last appeal ended fruitlessly, Pam Hash drove to 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:15.959 the office of her son's lawyers and took his paperwork. 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:19.520 I didn't know anything about the legal system or law 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:22.919 I worked as a floral designer. 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:24.920 But she was a mother and she was going to 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:25.640 help her son. 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:29.280 I went to the office and picked up what must 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:33.520 have been a dozen legal boxes, tens of thousands of papers, 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:37.240 just thrown in a box in no particular order. And 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:40.919 that's pretty much when I started searching the internet on 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:46.280 false confessions, asking questions, looking up people that I could 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:50.119 call that I could beg for help. Steve Grison was 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:53.439 one of the first people that I contacted. I knew 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:57.240 that Eric had given a false confession, and I thought 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.800 maybe Steve could help me. I sent letters to him, 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:03.720 I made phone calls and bless his heart, I think 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:07.440 he took my call just so that maybe I would 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:08.000 shut up. 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:12.399 Pam Hash would call me, would send me information. She 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:17.760 sent me a VHS of Eric's interrogation. I reviewed those 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:22.320 transcripts and talked about the case with her. Pam was 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:28.359 a very forceful advocate for her son. She believed that 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:33.760 he was absolutely innocent and was willing to go to 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:35.639 the ends of the earth to prove it. 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:39.200 Steve put Pam in touch with several people in Virginia, 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:43.359 everyone from lawyers to exoneries like Beverly Monroe, who we 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:46.600 talked about in Emerson Stephens story. In fact, it was 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:49.720 Beverly who told Pam Hash to go to the federal 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:54.080 courthouse and pull the file on Paul Carter that jailhouse 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:56.520 snitch prosecutors had denied making a deal with. 0:21:57.000 --> 0:21:59.399 I went to the Federal court and I asked the 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:02.720 clerk of the court to look through his files. Her 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:05.720 exact remark to me was, and this is the clerk 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:09.560 of the federal court Paul Carter. She said, Oh, he 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:11.040 got the deal of the century. 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:14.480 Turns out Paul Carter had been serving a fifteen year 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:18.520 sentence on federal drug charges after he testified against Michael. 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:23.720 Though Carter was immediately released time served, he sure did 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:25.680 get the deal of the century, a get out of 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:29.440 jail free card. It also turned out that Michael had 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:32.440 been moved to a different jail for two nights for 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:35.240 no other reason than to put him together with Paul Carter. 0:22:35.960 --> 0:22:38.920 None of this had been disclosed to Michael's defense or 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:44.320 to Eric Weakley's defense. Pam may have started out as 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:47.760 a floral designer, but her legal work was pretty kick ass. 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:51.840 She had single handedly demolished Carter's value as a witness 0:22:51.880 --> 0:22:55.439 against her son. She had proven that the prosecutor lied 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:57.879 when he told the jury there was no deal with Carter. 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:11.359 The only evidence against Mia Michael that remained was Eric Weekly. 0:23:11.440 --> 0:23:14.480 A few years after Eric's release from prison, two lawyers 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:17.760 from the University of Virginia Innocence Project knocked on his door. 0:23:18.359 --> 0:23:20.960 Eric was rebuilding his life as best he could, but 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:24.520 his friend, Michael Hash was still behind bars. Did Eric 0:23:24.560 --> 0:23:27.280 want to tell them anything about his testimony against Michael? 0:23:29.000 --> 0:23:33.120 Eric nearly broke down. His false testimony against Michael had 0:23:33.200 --> 0:23:35.920 sat for years on his shoulders like a lead weight. 0:23:36.480 --> 0:23:39.359 He had been coerced into confessing by police and into 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:44.800 pleading guilty by prosecutors. But fairly or unfairly, he blamed himself. 0:23:45.400 --> 0:23:48.160 Could he really take it all back, try at last 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:49.520 to do right by his friend. 0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:55.120 Eric was at risk of being charged with perjury if 0:23:55.160 --> 0:23:59.280 he came forward and said that everything he had testified 0:23:59.320 --> 0:24:03.840 to was a lie. The sad part is that even 0:24:04.040 --> 0:24:10.639 when witnesses recant their statement, prosecutors and judges most of 0:24:10.720 --> 0:24:14.200 the time don't believe them. They think that the initial 0:24:14.240 --> 0:24:18.080 statement is the true statement and that the recantation is 0:24:18.119 --> 0:24:21.399 a lie. So Eric risked doing it all for nothing, 0:24:21.880 --> 0:24:26.399 because if the courts didn't believe him and Michael stays 0:24:26.440 --> 0:24:26.959 in prison. 0:24:27.720 --> 0:24:31.280