Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety six, a man by the name of
Speaker 1: Hulan Bernard Howard allowed separate dealers to sell crack from
Speaker 1: the front porch and basement of his home in the
Speaker 1: crime ridden neighborhood of West Philadelphia, while his girlfriend Lena
Speaker 1: Laws would buy crack from anyone she could. At around
Speaker 1: ten thirty pm on August sixth, Miss Laws invited small
Speaker 1: time dealer Jamar Gladden over to buy some crack. Just then,
Speaker 1: another of mister Howard's dealers, Jamel Lawson, along with a
Speaker 1: man known as Stink, entered the home, both armed to
Speaker 1: settle a drug dead. They shot and killed mister Howard
Speaker 1: and robbed their small time rival Jamar Gladden in the process.
Speaker 1: With the eyewitness testimony of his Laws, who had just
Speaker 1: smoked crack, investigators would manufacture a theory of events that
Speaker 1: would place Jamar Gladden as acting along with the two
Speaker 1: armed robbers Jamel Lawson and Stink. But who was Stink Well,
Speaker 1: Jamar's childhood friend, Terence Lewis was known as Stink, and
Speaker 1: an anonymous tip would name Terrence as the other arm robber. Surprise,
Speaker 1: it didn't quite matter to the Philadelphia police that he
Speaker 1: wasn't the right one. All three men were sent to
Speaker 1: life without parole on the word of miss Laws. Eventually,
Speaker 1: those several eyewitnesses, including both of his co defendants, would
Speaker 1: come forward to deny Terrence's involvement. Two Supreme Court rulings
Speaker 1: would also aid his cause, and then, working together, Terrence's
Speaker 1: lawyers along with the Philadelphia Conviction Integrity Unit led by
Speaker 1: Patricia Cummings, would uncover a serious Brady violation, revealing that
Speaker 1: the police knew the real identity of Stink all the
Speaker 1: way back in nineteen ninety six. This is Wrongful Conviction
Speaker 1: with Jason Flamm. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm.
Speaker 1: Today you're going to hear the story of Terence Lewis Terrence.
Speaker 1: First of all, welcome to the show. I always say
Speaker 1: I'm happier here, but I'm sorry you had to be
Speaker 1: here in the first place.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you, Jason.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Man, I'm really excited to be able to share
Speaker 1: your remarkable story and your humanity and your spirit with
Speaker 1: our audience. So let's get right into it. So, first
Speaker 1: of all, you grew up in.
Speaker 2: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PI.
Speaker 1: Yes, I mean I know, having spoken with Meek Mill
Speaker 1: on another episode of the show. Of course he's younger
Speaker 1: than you are, but he talks about growing up in
Speaker 1: the streets of Philadelphia and how trying to stay alive
Speaker 1: was a challenge in and of itself.
Speaker 2: You know, being exposed at a young age to murder,
Speaker 2: the current police brutality that was norm you know for
Speaker 2: those who are under privileged or come from you know,
Speaker 2: all our poor neighborhoods.
Speaker 1: You were as a young man subject to dodging not
Speaker 1: only bullets from gangs, but also trying to avoid the
Speaker 1: confrontations that have now become so much a part of
Speaker 1: the public consciousness as we see in the era and
Speaker 1: now where everyone has a video camera in their pocket.
Speaker 1: But back then it was in the shadows. True, And
Speaker 1: we're talking about the nineties when things were pretty crazy,
Speaker 1: well everywhere, but in Philadelphia, especially especially as a young
Speaker 1: black man growing up there. What was that like?
Speaker 2: You know, in West Philadelphia where I grew up, it
Speaker 2: was crime infested, you know, the war on drugs, and
Speaker 2: the streets was in dis array. Me growing up in
Speaker 2: a single parent household. My father was you know, overseas
Speaker 2: and the military dedicated his life so I grew up
Speaker 2: with me and my siblings underneath the care of my mother,
Speaker 2: who was no other than a high school the Phona,
Speaker 2: you know, tried to struggle and you know, and keep
Speaker 2: a roof over our head. You know, I've been working
Speaker 2: since nineteen ninety four, the legal age, with the consent
Speaker 2: of my mother to be able to work as a
Speaker 2: youth counselor so from ninety four all the way up
Speaker 2: to my abduction, you know, I always work.
Speaker 1: Let's fast forward to ten thirty pm, around ten thirty
Speaker 1: pm on August sixth of nineteen ninety six. Is that
Speaker 1: on that night, three young men entered the home of
Speaker 1: a guy named Hulan Howard, and according to Howard's girlfriend,
Speaker 1: Lena Laws, they were there to settle a drug debt.
Speaker 1: One of the men fired a shotgun into the ceiling.
Speaker 1: Again this is her version of events, before shooting and
Speaker 1: killing mister Howard when he couldn't pay what he owed.
Speaker 1: So she later changed that story because there were no
Speaker 1: holes found in the ceiling and she changed the story
Speaker 1: to that the man had loaded a shotgun shell. Then
Speaker 1: another one of the men shot mister Howard with a
Speaker 1: handgun and they stole twenty dollars from his Laws and
Speaker 1: fled the scene.
Speaker 2: You're right in regards to you know, her version of events,
Speaker 2: whichever one, because there were many. One of her narratives
Speaker 2: is that three guys arrived together. That's not true. One
Speaker 2: of the three men, Jamar Gladden, is a victim himself,
Speaker 2: and the record reflects this that when Jamar Gladden was
Speaker 2: summoned by Lena Laws to come near, unfortunately Jamel Laws
Speaker 2: and his cohort also arrived there. Freak chance, right, but
Speaker 2: nonetheless true story, and the Philadelphia Police Department intertwined and
Speaker 2: weave a whole case together and killed three birds with
Speaker 2: one stone.
Speaker 1: Although you know you were the bird that wasn't even
Speaker 1: in the nest. Exactly so, Miss Laws. According to her,
Speaker 1: she knew one of the men, a guy named Jamel
Speaker 1: Lawson you mentioned as Mellow. His nickname was Melo, and
Speaker 1: he had dell drugs out of the basement of the
Speaker 1: guy who was murdered, mister Howard. She also knew the
Speaker 1: guy with the shotgun by his nickname, which was Stink.
Speaker 2: Exactly when Lena Laws was telling the police what happened
Speaker 2: at night, what transpired, she didn't want to tell the
Speaker 2: narrative that I called Jamar Gladden and it come. She
Speaker 2: just said, hey, look, three guys came and she said
Speaker 2: who was Jamar Gladden? Jamel Lawson? And then they say
Speaker 2: who is this third other individual? They said goes by
Speaker 2: the name of State, who we come to find and
Speaker 2: know was a day Muhammad and the cops knew this
Speaker 2: the second day after the interviewing.
Speaker 1: Lena last, did you know any of these people?
Speaker 2: Jamar Gladden is a childhood friend of mine who, sad
Speaker 2: to say, but true, was a petty drug dealer back then.
Speaker 2: Him and Lena Laws had a personal drug relation, and
Speaker 2: unfortunately for him, he so happened to get involved with
Speaker 2: that crack house mister Howard home. He was running like
Speaker 2: a crack enterprise and he had some individual sell from
Speaker 2: the porch and he had Jamel Laws and sell from
Speaker 2: the basement, and that created a rivalry. So when Jamel
Speaker 2: Lawson heard that Jamar was also peddling drugs out of
Speaker 2: what he deemed to be his enterprise because he had
Speaker 2: more drugs and he was the neighborhood drug dealer, an aggressor,
Speaker 2: he came there with another armed individual to confront mister
Speaker 2: Howard and Jamel lost and then his coht you know,
Speaker 2: robbed everybody.
Speaker 1: This scenario that you just painted is given me like
Speaker 1: anxiety just thinking about it. You have the two different
Speaker 1: guys showing up at the same time, one of them
Speaker 1: brings another guy with him in this drug den, there's
Speaker 1: all sorts of different tensions. There's a competition for the
Speaker 1: drug trade at the time. There's money that's owed, there's guns.
Speaker 1: There's the woman who's almost certainly high at the time.
Speaker 2: And the record reflects that she smoked crack cocaine fifteen
Speaker 2: minutes prior to the actual murderers up.
Speaker 1: You know, I can remember being drunk or high at
Speaker 1: different times, but how high do you have to be
Speaker 1: to mix up whether or not somebody shot a shotgun
Speaker 1: into the ceiling.
Speaker 2: That was one of the statements that was made. Remember
Speaker 2: I was the guy allegedly with the shotgun, But she
Speaker 2: had told a different officer at the time, Sergeant Mandela,
Speaker 2: that the guy who fired the shotgun in the air,
Speaker 2: he turned and he shot mister Howard and the guy.
Speaker 1: Was named Mellow.
Speaker 2: This is a whole other different version of events in
Speaker 2: regards to what happened in one. Like you said, never
Speaker 2: was no shotgun fired in the ceiling, nor was mister
Speaker 2: Howard killed from a shotgun from his back. Now, mind you.
Speaker 2: Lena Laws also said that she don't know one gun
Speaker 2: from another. However, when it come to find out it's
Speaker 2: no shotgun in the ceiling, she said, oh no, he
Speaker 2: didn't fire it. Stinkthdened fire. Terrence didn't fire it. He
Speaker 2: racked it. So my lawyer was smart enough and wise
Speaker 2: enough to say, well, where did you learn the term rat,
Speaker 2: because prior to that you believe he fired it, right,
Speaker 2: She said, yeah, yeah, I learned the term rat from
Speaker 2: the detectives. This is all in the record. This is
Speaker 2: in the trial transcripts.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So they just scripted it like a play. They
Speaker 1: gave her the lines to say, and she said them exactly.
Speaker 2: So it's obvious that she lied. But we don't know
Speaker 2: the details in regards to why or to what extent
Speaker 2: the Philadelphia Police Department to hersty but we do know
Speaker 2: for effect they help her piece together a story. Why,
Speaker 2: we don't know, I mean, other than to close the case.
Speaker 1: Over the summer of nineteen ninety seven, so this is
Speaker 1: sometime after the crime police arrested Jamar Gladden, who was
Speaker 1: nineteen and Jamel Lawson, who was twenty two, And the
Speaker 1: investigation grew cold after that until an anonymous tip came
Speaker 1: into the Pennsylvania Crime Commission and that's where you got
Speaker 1: wrapped up in at seventeen years old. Somebody called in
Speaker 1: and said that you were sometimes known by the nickname
Speaker 1: of Stink, and you were arrested. Now this is almost
Speaker 1: a year and a half after the crime on December
Speaker 1: twentieth of nineteen ninety seven. Had you ever been known
Speaker 1: as Stink?
Speaker 2: My grandma there said as a child, I used to
Speaker 2: stink my diaper. So this those thinks think, but yeah,
Speaker 2: I was. That was my name. So the police say,
Speaker 2: you know what, Jamar knows a guy named Stink as well.
Speaker 2: And that's how I was involved because they said, well, hey, Terrence,
Speaker 2: he knows Jamar Gladden. So if he's from amongst that neighborhood,
Speaker 2: and if he knows of individuals that do wrong, then
Speaker 2: he is an evil seed himself. And it was an
Speaker 2: open shed case for the Philadelphia Police Department.
Speaker 1: It took a lot of people to sort of go
Speaker 1: along with this, and any one of them could have
Speaker 1: stood up and said, wait a minute, this doesn't make
Speaker 1: any damn sense. Why are we listening to this woman?
Speaker 1: And do you have an anonymous tip that maybe or
Speaker 1: maybe not you were called stink? But was there any
Speaker 1: other evidence connecting you to this crime?
Speaker 2: No other evidence whatsoever. My life hinged on testimony of
Speaker 2: admitted crack user who was high literally fifteen moments before
Speaker 2: it happened. But in addition to that, like you know,
Speaker 2: we can't forget, what added to, you know, my wrong
Speaker 2: incarceration The fact that at that time, Jason, the culture
Speaker 2: of Philadelphia DA Office as well as police department, it
Speaker 2: was the war on drugs. They was at war. They
Speaker 2: was at war, so I became a casualty of war.
Speaker 2: The evidence pointed to something other, but generally speaking, the
Speaker 2: Philadelphia Police department it was getting over time to solve cases.
Speaker 2: And the more cases they saw, the more overtime they get,
Speaker 2: so it made sense to flip cases quicker. And this
Speaker 2: was what they did up until this day, what we
Speaker 2: witnessing now. I was poor, I was it was nothing.
Speaker 2: I was a peon, I was black. I can be discarded,
Speaker 2: But forgive me for dropping off. Like I said, I
Speaker 2: getting emotional when I think of how they just destroyed
Speaker 2: my life you know, growing up in the projects. I
Speaker 2: remember how the police used to swarm the neighborhood drug
Speaker 2: dealers and beat them senseless. There was no cameras at
Speaker 2: that time. When they left after they got finished kicking
Speaker 2: a hole and they were trying to kick a hole
Speaker 2: in the head, they just sometimes they wrest them and
Speaker 2: sometimes they used to just leave him here. And I
Speaker 2: said that to say, because I used to witness this,
Speaker 2: you know, a couple of times a week. And you know, Jason,
Speaker 2: this was the way and culture at that time of
Speaker 2: the Philadelphia Police Department. If they wasn't bashing the guys
Speaker 2: heads in, then they was definitely penny cases on them
Speaker 2: and locking them up. So when I look back in retrospect,
Speaker 2: all I can do now still is to shake my head.
Speaker 2: And when I look, you know, at what's going on
Speaker 2: around us with George Floyd. This has it's been going
Speaker 2: on forever, you know. Mind you A whole case was
Speaker 2: manufactured against me at the age of seventeen and spent
Speaker 2: twenty one years of my life. So this is why
Speaker 2: I want to tell my story now.
Speaker 1: The arrests happened, and the charges are extremely serious. Lawson
Speaker 1: and Gladden were both charged with first degree murder, armed robbery,
Speaker 1: and criminal conspiracy, and you were charged with second degree murder,
Speaker 1: arm robbery, and criminal conspiracy.
Speaker 2: When my attorney came to visit me, he only visited
Speaker 2: me twice doing this, and again I was facing second
Speaker 2: degree murder and I already been sitting, I believe for
Speaker 2: seventeen maybe nineteen months at the county jail, and I
Speaker 2: got a whole case. They said that I was there
Speaker 2: and I racked the shot and said when myway finally
Speaker 2: came to see me one of the two times, he said, hey,
Speaker 2: look they got nothing on you. And I'm letting them know,
Speaker 2: like yet this is made up. This lady is lying,
Speaker 2: He says. The defense were going to show that, with
Speaker 2: all her numerous inconsistencies, that this is impossible. Whichever version
Speaker 2: of jury so choose to believe. So okay, fine, and.
Speaker 1: They put you all on trial together in May of
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine. Basically you had a snowballs chance in
Speaker 1: hell of proving your innocence.
Speaker 2: That's where the monkey wrench came in, I believe, is
Speaker 2: that they tried me, you know, I mean with Jamal Lawson.
Speaker 2: They had it right with one of the guys. You
Speaker 2: know what I mean that he was actually there. He
Speaker 2: was a drug dealer. You know what I mean, he
Speaker 2: was the trigger man.
Speaker 1: The state's case, and this is important, rested entirely on
Speaker 1: the testimony of his laws at trials. She identified you,
Speaker 1: Glad and Lawson as the three arm and that entered
Speaker 1: the home to settle the drug debt with Hulan Howard. Initially,
Speaker 1: again she had said that the shotgun was carried by Stink,
Speaker 1: was fired into the ceiling and then used to kill Howard.
Speaker 1: Then at this point she changed her account of events,
Speaker 1: You holding the shotgun, loading the shotgun shell but not firing,
Speaker 1: and then she fingered lost and with a handgun as
Speaker 1: to shoot her. I mean, she couldn't keep her gun straight,
Speaker 1: her story straight, her people straight. And she also testified
Speaker 1: that the three of you had sold cocaine from the
Speaker 1: home for the fifty days leading up to the shooting.
Speaker 1: Now again this is important, right, no weapons were ever
Speaker 1: recovered and no forensic evidence linked you to this scene.
Speaker 1: But nonetheless, on May twenty fourth and nineteen ninety nine,
Speaker 1: all of you were saying to life in prison without parole,
Speaker 1: what the hell was that? Like? I mean, here you
Speaker 1: are You're still a kid?
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, I'm still a kid. I'm still a kid reliving.
Speaker 2: That is definitely troublesome, to say the least. I'm sitting there.
Speaker 2: The verdict came down guilty, guilty of all charges, second
Speaker 2: degree murder, and it's like like my soul, my soul
Speaker 2: had lifted out of my body, like my soul had
Speaker 2: hovered because I knew for being in the county for
Speaker 2: seventeen months or I think it was nineteen excuse me.
Speaker 2: One of the two that I seen guys, they was
Speaker 2: just sending them away. This is why now due to
Speaker 2: the rushing of the DA office with the Conviction Integrity Unit,
Speaker 2: Miss Patricia Cummins, you know, she's right in a lot
Speaker 2: of wrongs, I seen a lot of individuals go to
Speaker 2: jail for life, literally for crimes that they didn't commit.
Speaker 2: Right once they said guilty, I knew that I had
Speaker 2: an uphill battle. I knew I had an uphill battle.
Speaker 1: So nineteen months in jail and that's just jail before
Speaker 1: the trial, and then of course twenty one and a
Speaker 1: half years in prison. Can you explain to us, though
Speaker 1: Terrence jail in prison, what was life like in the jail,
Speaker 1: first of all as a teenager and then spending you know,
Speaker 1: really half your life in prison.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and thank you too for that, Jason, because it's
Speaker 2: definitely a difference. When I was in jail during the
Speaker 2: nineteen months, it was the most miserable time of my life.
Speaker 2: My son was my son was just born. I had
Speaker 2: to watch, you know, all them sunny days, true sunny days.
Speaker 2: They would gloomy for me, especially after, like I said,
Speaker 2: witness and everybody else be railroaded, anticipating like then, what
Speaker 2: is my fate as a child like you said I was,
Speaker 2: You know, I was a kid by then. I was
Speaker 2: nineteen years old, you know, never had a brush in
Speaker 2: with the law. I ain't. No, I ain't know nothing
Speaker 2: from nothing. I ain't and I didn't. I ain't know
Speaker 2: who to trust in there, you know. And I was
Speaker 2: facing a life sentence, and I was taken away from
Speaker 2: you know, my son, I was taking away from my family,
Speaker 2: taking away from my mother. I was just empty. That
Speaker 2: was jail. That's the best way I can describe jail.
Speaker 2: When I went to prison. After I went in prison,
Speaker 2: they already put a hole in my heart, taking me
Speaker 2: away from my baby boy, you know, when I went
Speaker 2: to prison. Yeah, it was jail put a hole in
Speaker 2: my heart. Prison took it, took it. Prison took it,
Speaker 2: and it could have destroyed me, but it didn't. You know,
Speaker 2: I still have a level of grease with me. But
Speaker 2: the trauma and the experience of prison, you can't google
Speaker 2: that for me to be able to tell it to
Speaker 2: where you can actually fill me and relate. It was
Speaker 2: every negative emotion that you can possibly think of. I
Speaker 2: experienced it in prison, you know, true, true resentment, true anger.
Speaker 2: They were real emotions that I was introduced to in prison,
Speaker 2: you know, because of the people, you know, staff of
Speaker 2: you know, see out here, we have police in prison,
Speaker 2: they called CEOs, but they are police. Same thing goes
Speaker 2: on what goes on out here, and I had to
Speaker 2: navigate through that at a young age. So yeah, I
Speaker 2: guess I'm not an average Joe because there isn't like
Speaker 2: a layer of my soul. It desensitized me to a lot.
Speaker 2: But due to my natural disposition, I am who I am,
Speaker 2: you know before I got here and before I went
Speaker 2: in there, you know. So that's what prison was. It
Speaker 2: was a horrible experience. Damn prison.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up because I've been saying
Speaker 1: anybody that will listen that while we are all experiencing
Speaker 1: the same anger and grief and outrage at these killings
Speaker 1: that we see on video, the George Floyd's and all
Speaker 1: the others, we can't forget that there's all the other
Speaker 1: ones that are taking place behind the walls, and that
Speaker 1: we can't see those they're not on video. But we
Speaker 1: know that approximately five thousand people die in our jails
Speaker 1: in prisons in America every year, and not a lot
Speaker 1: of those are from old age.
Speaker 2: I remember working the Mr Shop maintenance repair shot. This
Speaker 2: is when I was at sci Pittsburgh and the jail
Speaker 2: was closing down two thousand and four, and it was
Speaker 2: a box of photos. It's a box of photos and
Speaker 2: I'm cleaning this out, so I'm looking at I'm looking
Speaker 2: at a box to see what it is. It could be anything,
Speaker 2: you know. I want to see how heavy it is.
Speaker 2: And it was a bunch of pictures. It was Polaroid pictures,
Speaker 2: pictures from back in the day, the eighties, pictures from
Speaker 2: the seventies. Was a box and all these photos were
Speaker 2: pictures of dead bodies. I can't make this ship up. Well,
Speaker 2: it was pictures of dead bodies either with some sheets
Speaker 2: wrapped around their net as if they hung themselves. I
Speaker 2: don't know. I wasn't there, right, so maybe they did,
Speaker 2: maybe they didn't. I don't know, although I'm just telling
Speaker 2: you what I've seen. I seen the sheets wrapped around
Speaker 2: these guys. Next, of course, you know there were pictures,
Speaker 2: you know. I mean, we're all types of wounds, you know,
Speaker 2: some stab wombs and stuff like that. But a lot
Speaker 2: of that from the history with the institutions, the penitentiaries,
Speaker 2: you know, which some of the guys in there called
Speaker 2: the modern day plantations, right, and they got an argument
Speaker 2: to stand on with calling it that that there. Jason
Speaker 2: just reminded me of it. Yeah, them holes in them
Speaker 2: individuals wasn't due to old age. And the sheets wrapped
Speaker 2: around their neck wasn't due to old age, you know.
Speaker 2: And I remember when I was there, the guards, it
Speaker 2: was like some back in the day Colosmo type stuff.
Speaker 2: The guards, if they didn't like you, they ain't like
Speaker 2: I'm glad I navigated successfully through that experience that I
Speaker 2: went through. If the guards ain't like you, and you
Speaker 2: was a smart ass, he was hard up. They pay
Speaker 2: someone give them extra whatever, extra pisa to do what
Speaker 2: I've seen on those pictures. I know for a fact
Speaker 2: because when I was there, the guards were still you know,
Speaker 2: from amongst their culture, their tradition, that they wanted some
Speaker 2: entertainment and they ain't like a guy or they'd put
Speaker 2: his case out there. This guy raped such and such,
Speaker 2: this guy did this, and they're turn a blind eye
Speaker 2: and the guys that get I'm talking about the work
Speaker 2: that was. I seen a guy get his head split
Speaker 2: wide open with a lock and sock. You'd be amazed
Speaker 2: at what a lock and sock can do. So, yeah, Jason,
Speaker 2: you're right. This is the stuff that goes on behind
Speaker 2: them walls that falls on the deaf ears out here.
Speaker 2: Up until now with the recent injustice that's being exposed.
Speaker 1: It's a slow moving tragedy, disaster, human rights catastrophe that
Speaker 1: you know, we treat people behind bars as if they're
Speaker 1: not human. In fact that as soon as they get arrested,
Speaker 1: you become something else other than just a regular person.
Speaker 2: And mind you, this is nothing new. You know, if
Speaker 2: you trace it back the origin of what's now mass incarceration,
Speaker 2: it go all the way back to you know, the
Speaker 2: Black Colds, and convict lease. And you know, slavery then
Speaker 2: literally it morphed, you know it morphed or it was
Speaker 2: given a different name, but arose by any other name
Speaker 2: is still a rose. The thirteenth Amendment made an exception
Speaker 2: to the rule. The rule is that slavery has been abolished,
Speaker 2: with the exception if you was duly convicted of a crime.
Speaker 2: And although you know, in my case, I wasn't duly convicted.
Speaker 2: I was wrongfully convicted of crime. But to made it
Speaker 2: to model. But the colds, the black colds, you know,
Speaker 2: which are now on the mandatory sentences, the draconial policies,
Speaker 2: you know, I mean, that's still in place. That's literally
Speaker 2: designed to keep and to entrap free labor. And I
Speaker 2: worked for nineteen cents an hour for twenty one and
Speaker 2: a half years, and I had to fly straight, of course,
Speaker 2: you know, that's who I was as a person, regardless
Speaker 2: of my circumstances. But yeah, nineteen son and hour, I
Speaker 2: worked for that. And had I didn't, you know, I
Speaker 2: would have been penalized for that. What do that sound like?
Speaker 2: And if I ain't, like, you know, the first level
Speaker 2: of punishment could have got bad. It would have got bad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it. That's exactly nineteen cents away from free.
Speaker 1: So nineteen cents an hour is for lack of a
Speaker 1: better well, no, let's just call it slave labor. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about it, this crazy appellent process. Try to follow
Speaker 1: along with this and imagine you being in Terrence's shoes
Speaker 1: for this insane journey I'm about to take you through.
Speaker 1: So January two thousand and two, the first petition is
Speaker 1: filed under the Pennsylvania Post Conviction Review Act for inadequate
Speaker 1: council because Terrence's attorney failed to call the officer who
Speaker 1: took Law's initial statement that contradicted her trial testimony. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know a pre law student would know to do that. Okay.
Speaker 1: It was dismissed in two thousand and three, and the
Speaker 1: appeal was rejected in two thousand and four, and the
Speaker 1: Supreme Court refused any further appeal in two thousand and five. Okay,
Speaker 1: Now we go to September two thousand and five. Second
Speaker 1: petition on the inadequate council because the attorney failed to
Speaker 1: investigate alibi witnesses. The petition was also based on a
Speaker 1: signed affidavit by Jamara Gladden admitting his presence at the
Speaker 1: crime scene and denying Terrence's involvement. That should be enough.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, sorry, Terrence wild a state. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: Jews if you're not here. But Terrence filed a state
Speaker 1: havevious corpus petition days after that second petition, but the
Speaker 1: havieas was put on hold while the petition was being pursued.
Speaker 1: March two thousand and six, now, Terrence's younger sister was
Speaker 1: working at a bar called the Jack of Heart's Lounge.
Speaker 1: This is amazing. She struck up a conversation with a
Speaker 1: patron named Kizzie Baker, who happened to be on the
Speaker 1: street that night and witnessed the three men leaving Howard's
Speaker 1: house after hearing a gunshot. Incredible. Baker knew Terrence and
Speaker 1: said that he was not one of the three men.
Speaker 1: And Terrence had a lawyer now who filed an the
Speaker 1: mended state petition for a new trial. It was dismissed,
Speaker 1: though as untimely filed. A technical whatever you want to
Speaker 1: call it, right, a procedural problem right there has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with guilty of it's posidual. But the nile
Speaker 1: was upheld anyway on appeal because why let justice get
Speaker 1: in the way of a procedural error anyway. Then an
Speaker 1: attorney named David was appointed to represent Terrence in his
Speaker 1: federal Habeas Corpus petition, with a signed after David from
Speaker 1: Jamel Lawson saying that the first time he ever met
Speaker 1: they ever met was at the trial. So I mean,
Speaker 1: now things are getting like it's just mounting. So on
Speaker 1: April twenty ninth, two thousand and nine, at the federal
Speaker 1: Habeas hearing, both Kissie Baker and Terrence's sister Tanisha Thornton testified.
Speaker 1: Jamar Gladden also testified that he told his defense lawyer
Speaker 1: about Terrence, but was advised to keep that information to
Speaker 1: himself because it was an admission of kuilt. March twenty ten,
Speaker 1: Magistrate Wells denied the petition on get ready procedural grounds,
Speaker 1: and I'm quoting now, based upon credible testimony, the court
Speaker 1: believes that Lewis may not have been present at or
Speaker 1: participated in the tragic events of August sixth, nineteen ninety six.
Speaker 1: He may be actually innocent end quote, And Magistrate Wells
Speaker 1: went on to say that it was quote unquote frustrating
Speaker 1: to have to recommend to the US district judge assigned
Speaker 1: to the case that Lewis's petition be denied frustrating.
Speaker 2: That's how she felt, right, oh wow, Right.
Speaker 1: So meanwhile, you're still sitting there in prison and just
Speaker 1: you know, trying to stay alive. And then in June
Speaker 1: twenty ten, US District Judge Burl Schiller accepted the magistrate's
Speaker 1: recommendation and denied the habeas petition. But now comes the
Speaker 1: turning point. This is where that starts to be a
Speaker 1: little light at the end of the tunnel, but it
Speaker 1: was really a long tunnel. And what I'm talking about
Speaker 1: is in June twenty twelve, the US Supreme Court decided
Speaker 1: Miller versus Alabama, holding that the mandatory imposition of life
Speaker 1: without parole for juvenile convicted of murder was unconstitutional. The
Speaker 1: legendary Brian Stevenson argued that case Terrence was seventeen at
Speaker 1: the time of the murder, so it fit into this,
Speaker 1: you know, into this group.
Speaker 2: However, at first, when Miller came out, mind you, it
Speaker 2: wasn't retroactive in my state, so that wasn't nothing that
Speaker 2: you know, I could depend on. Miller versus Alibama was
Speaker 2: not applied retroactively until twenty sixteen when Montgomery versus. Louisiana
Speaker 2: came out. You know, I was real appreciative that I
Speaker 2: fell amongst that class that now I don't have to
Speaker 2: entertain the thought that perhaps I gotta die in jail.
Speaker 2: Pennsylvania in order to get the benefits of the Miller
Speaker 2: Versus Alabama ruined. I had to withdrew my innocent claims
Speaker 2: as well as you gotta have to make up a
Speaker 2: story now and concede into our narrative in order for
Speaker 2: you to get paroleed. I didn't have it in me mentally.
Speaker 2: I couldn't wrap my head around that. So I'm like, damn,
Speaker 2: I might gotta do an extra ten years until you
Speaker 2: really see that. No, I'm standing on my principal. I'm
Speaker 2: standing on the truth. So twenty sixteen came. I seen
Speaker 2: a lot of guys who I helped raise go home
Speaker 2: for crimes that they actually committed. They committed their crimes.
Speaker 2: So I had to tussle with the fact that I
Speaker 2: had to concede to a lie. That's what the system
Speaker 2: was accing from me, as opposed to honoring what the
Speaker 2: evidence had already been pointing to since day one. Right.
Speaker 2: So twenty sixteen, I was convinced to withdraw my innocent claims.
Speaker 2: I was going to court to get resentenced, and that
Speaker 2: strategically we can refile when I'm home on the streets
Speaker 2: and the deal will be twenty to life. This is
Speaker 2: the sentence as an innocent man. This is what I
Speaker 2: had to rejoice upon. So I signed on to have
Speaker 2: the twenty the life. However, when we went to the
Speaker 2: re sentence and hearing, and again I gotta highlight this fact, Jason,
Speaker 2: it wasn't the system that got it right. It was
Speaker 2: a lone judge, Judge Barbara McDermott, being honorable, having some nobility.
Speaker 2: She's seen the order of Judge Wells, my magistrate judge,
Speaker 2: and the adoption of the District Court saying that I
Speaker 2: was innocent, and she refused despite whatever draconial policy was
Speaker 2: in place. She was uncomfortable with moving forward with my resentencing.
Speaker 2: She said, I'm not resentencing you. What sentence is appropriate
Speaker 2: to give to an innocent man. So my resentencing hearing
Speaker 2: had turned into an exoneration hearing. It was a blessing, literally,
Speaker 2: like I feel as though the heavens literally was cracked open,
Speaker 2: and I was shockered, you know what I mean with
Speaker 2: unlimited blessings that day because just so happened. Barbara McDermott
Speaker 2: had got in touch with the supervisor of the Conviction
Speaker 2: Integrity Unit down at the Philadelphia District Attorney Office, Patricia Cummings,
Speaker 2: and they had already completed their investmenttigation, but due to
Speaker 2: the procedural hurdles of the law, they felt as though
Speaker 2: they couldn't do anything until after my resentence, because remember
Speaker 2: the goal now on the mission was just to get
Speaker 2: Terrence home and then we had figured everything else out later.
Speaker 1: What was it that the CiU found in their investigation?
Speaker 2: They had at the request of my attorney, David leje
Speaker 2: and Kevin Harten, they came across documents which was called
Speaker 2: sixt year Street Notes, and there was an interview of
Speaker 2: Lionel Laws wherein she had told the Philadelphia Police Department
Speaker 2: that the guy who she believed to be the perpetrator,
Speaker 2: and this was literally days after the crime occurred, that
Speaker 2: his name was Hakeem Sadai Mohammet. And not only did
Speaker 2: she stop there, she was very descriptive and he had
Speaker 2: an ankle bracelet on and he drove a blue car.
Speaker 2: Now one, my name is not Kim today, Muhammad. I
Speaker 2: never ever in life prior to this, had a brushing
Speaker 2: with the law. So I never was on house arrest or,
Speaker 2: I never wore an ankle bracelet, and nor did I
Speaker 2: ever own a blue car. So once the CiU seeing
Speaker 2: this document among others, they being honorable being who they are,
Speaker 2: exhubing nothing but integrity, they turned this over to my
Speaker 2: defense team, which we know for a fact everyone who
Speaker 2: has a legal eye or air or understanding this was
Speaker 2: a clear brad eviolation. This right here could have been
Speaker 2: the piece of evidence, not that I needed it, you know,
Speaker 2: to prove that the witness you know, was lying and
Speaker 2: that she was conhearsed to make up a story for
Speaker 2: whatever reasons to this day we don't know, you know.
Speaker 2: But nonetheless, stink is today, Mohammed.
Speaker 1: What was that moment like when the judge said you're innocent.
Speaker 2: When Judge Barbara McDermott turned and she looked me in
Speaker 2: my eyes and said I was innocent. You are a
Speaker 2: free man, so you are free to go. I'm still
Speaker 2: feeling the echo of her words, those particular words, that
Speaker 2: phrase she used, you are free to go. You are free.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: I'm still feeling, you know, the vibration in my heart
Speaker 2: and in my soul and my blood stream to be
Speaker 2: able to step out of them doors. It was surreal, Jason.
Speaker 2: You know that was just a little over a year ago,
Speaker 2: you know, so I'm still appreciating and witnessing and then
Speaker 2: feeling the effects of walking out after being confined. A
Speaker 2: mountain had lifted off of my shoulders, you know, despite
Speaker 2: the fact the world that I had came home to
Speaker 2: after a couple of months later, you know, it was
Speaker 2: falling apart COVID as well as what has taken place
Speaker 2: with the George Floyd, the feelings from a year from
Speaker 2: from coming from captivity for twenty one and a half years.
Speaker 2: That's a long time, my friend. That's a long time
Speaker 2: because each year it's like compounded when you're behind that wall.
Speaker 2: So you know, a year out here, and I'm just
Speaker 2: telling from experience, this year went past so fast. I've
Speaker 2: been home a year.
Speaker 1: Year.
Speaker 2: This year won passed so fast. But in there a
Speaker 2: year is like freaking ten years.
Speaker 1: First of all, yeah, it's been It's hard to believe
Speaker 1: it's only been a year since I read that article
Speaker 1: on the newspaper and it's been, you know, a real
Speaker 1: blessing for me to get to know you. And we
Speaker 1: had some microwives, some good meals together and stuff as
Speaker 1: we have, and they're gonna have a lot more. And
Speaker 1: now I'm really really happy to announce that as we're
Speaker 1: recording this now, just a couple of days ago, a
Speaker 1: few days ago, Terrence filed a civil suit against the
Speaker 1: detectives and the City of Philadelphia last year, and just
Speaker 1: a few days ago, as we're talking now, they settled
Speaker 1: the suit for six point two five million dollars. And
Speaker 1: amen to that, I mean, you deserve more.
Speaker 2: I'm still allowing it to register that I am now
Speaker 2: well off. I'm privileged. I'm privileged, and I'm gonna be
Speaker 2: able to live a comfortable, secure life. I don't know
Speaker 2: what that looked like, so I got an idea. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm still processing this because you know, I'm still high,
Speaker 2: for lack of a better term, with this euphoria off
Speaker 2: my exoneration just being home period. So now not only
Speaker 2: am I a free man, I'm a wealthy free man.
Speaker 2: I'm a free man. So the new found gift that
Speaker 2: I have received, as far as this restitution this compensation,
Speaker 2: this gift. And I say that because after going through
Speaker 2: my journey, I literally can say everything that has come
Speaker 2: my way Jason is in fact a blessing slash a
Speaker 2: gift from the heavens above man, because you know, my
Speaker 2: cries felled on death, ears from amongst you know, mankind,
Speaker 2: so all I everything was taken from me. Everything. The
Speaker 2: only thing that I did have was you know, my
Speaker 2: belief and my faith that it got to get better
Speaker 2: than this, God Almighty. That's the only thing that I
Speaker 2: had to cope with to continue on, you know, and navigating,
Speaker 2: you know, through the trials and the tribulations and all
Speaker 2: the adversities that I underwent. Like I said, my tests
Speaker 2: and trials started very early in life. So that's why
Speaker 2: I attributed as a blessing a gift that the city
Speaker 2: is our agent of where the actual gift came from,
Speaker 2: God Almighty.
Speaker 1: Regular listeners of our show have come to, I think
Speaker 1: expect at the part of the show that I always
Speaker 1: talk about how much I enjoy, which is our closing arguments,
Speaker 1: And this is where I turned my microphone off. First,
Speaker 1: I'll thank you Terrence Lewis for taking your time out
Speaker 1: to be here with us you and I'm going to
Speaker 1: make a special request, and I've never done this before,
Speaker 1: but as you take us through the closing arguments, which
Speaker 1: is just the final thoughts on any topic you want,
Speaker 1: I'm going to specifically ask if you wouldn't mind if
Speaker 1: you could talk about the work that you're doing now,
Speaker 1: which I think is so meaningful and it's going to
Speaker 1: help so many other wrongfully convicted people. And we're going
Speaker 1: to put a link so you can follow Terrence's work
Speaker 1: and get involved in helping others through his incredible new organization,
Speaker 1: which I am a proud supporter of. By the way,
Speaker 1: there'll be a link in the episode description. Go to
Speaker 1: the link, click on it, Join.
Speaker 2: Us absolutely, and I thank you again, my friend, thank you.
Speaker 2: Since I've been home, and let me put it in
Speaker 2: this context real quick, I've been locked up for seven
Speaker 2: eight hundred and twenty three days, and since I've been home,
Speaker 2: which has been over a little over three hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty five days, I was successful in establishing the Liberation Foundation.
Speaker 2: And the Liberation Foundation is a nonprofit organization which is
Speaker 2: aimed at helping navigate through the legal system, provide advocacy
Speaker 2: work as well as support work for those who have
Speaker 2: been wrongfully convicted and those who are subjugated and under
Speaker 2: a disproportionate sentence. My belief is because of what I experienced,
Speaker 2: because of what I've had seen with my own truthful eyes.
Speaker 2: I believe in the model. The mantra is that when
Speaker 2: you know better, you do better. So, based upon sincerity
Speaker 2: I have, as well as those who share my belief,
Speaker 2: we have a moral obligation to right wrongs and be
Speaker 2: courageous and be sincere and say what we mean and
Speaker 2: mean what we say and be sincere about it. So
Speaker 2: I ask that I get the support and help from
Speaker 2: anyone who wants to be involved in supporting the Liberation Foundation,
Speaker 2: and we can be founded at Tlawsfoundation dot com. Is
Speaker 2: advocacy work for those who have been wrongfully convicted. The
Speaker 2: primary goal is to secure freedom and justice for those innocent.
Speaker 2: They deserve liberation as well.
Speaker 1: Don't forget to give us a fantastic review wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. It really helps. And I'm a proud
Speaker 1: donor to the Innocence Project, and I really hope you'll
Speaker 1: join me in supporting this very important cause and helping
Speaker 1: to prevent future wrongful convictions. Go to Innocence Project dot
Speaker 1: org to learn how to donate and get involved. I'd
Speaker 1: like to thank our production team, Connor Hall and Kevin Wartis.
Speaker 1: The music in the show is by three time OSCAR
Speaker 1: nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on
Speaker 1: Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast.
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm is a production of Lava
Speaker 1: for Good Podcasts and association with Signal Company Number one