WEBVTT - Episode 5: The Trial 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:32.596 Pushkin previously on Deep Cover. Greg, you gotta I can't 0:00:32.636 --> 0:00:34.676 just call a prosecutor over here and waste his time. 0:00:35.116 --> 0:00:37.996 You've got to tell us what is it we're asking 0:00:38.036 --> 0:00:43.636 the prosecutor to come for. And that's when he says, 0:00:43.716 --> 0:00:48.756 I'm not the shooter and I want immunity, and so he. 0:00:48.676 --> 0:00:51.716 Starts telling us how it went down. That basically that 0:00:51.876 --> 0:00:56.436 he and Tommy decided one night to go and find 0:00:56.476 --> 0:01:00.396 a black man to kill that black man so that 0:01:00.436 --> 0:01:03.956 they could get their spider web tattoos. As skinheads. 0:01:04.596 --> 0:01:07.356 It was definitely a different type of case. You know, 0:01:07.476 --> 0:01:12.796 a skinhead coming to fill a to kill somebody, a 0:01:12.836 --> 0:01:13.836 cowardly act. 0:01:14.796 --> 0:01:18.236 The family and I thought that this would be good 0:01:18.916 --> 0:01:21.396 if we found at least what happened to him. Can't 0:01:21.396 --> 0:01:23.396 do nothing about it, can't bring him back, but at 0:01:23.436 --> 0:01:24.796 least we would find out the truth. 0:01:32.356 --> 0:01:35.476 Aroan Wood was murdered in the spring of nineteen eighty nine. 0:01:36.156 --> 0:01:39.316 The case had been called for almost twenty years until 0:01:39.356 --> 0:01:43.276 two thousand and eight. That's when tom Guybison was put 0:01:43.316 --> 0:01:48.476 on trial. He stood accused of four charges, ethnic intimidation, 0:01:49.396 --> 0:01:53.876 carrying a firearm without a license, conspiracy to commit murder, 0:01:54.396 --> 0:01:58.436 and murder in the first degree. So far, I'd heard 0:01:58.436 --> 0:02:02.476 a great deal about the prosecution's case against him, and 0:02:02.516 --> 0:02:05.756 I wanted to hear the defense's case directly from the 0:02:05.796 --> 0:02:07.116 man who made it himself. 0:02:07.996 --> 0:02:11.956 He's scared to death, Jake. They're taking away his life. 0:02:12.796 --> 0:02:16.756 This is Mike Ferrell. He was Tom Guybison's lawyer, and 0:02:17.196 --> 0:02:20.076 he was quick to tell me just how precarious his 0:02:20.196 --> 0:02:22.636 client situation was at the time. 0:02:23.516 --> 0:02:27.916 He's facing life without parole and the only comfort he has, 0:02:28.396 --> 0:02:31.156 and he's got this crooked Irish kid who's trying to 0:02:31.196 --> 0:02:31.596 help him. 0:02:31.676 --> 0:02:35.596 Crooked Irish kid being you correct, Why do you call 0:02:35.636 --> 0:02:37.236 yourself a crooked Irish kid? 0:02:37.516 --> 0:02:38.956 Well, I have a crooked face, Jake. 0:02:39.876 --> 0:02:42.676 He means that quite literally, by the way, when he 0:02:42.756 --> 0:02:45.716 was just a baby, Mike had an operation and as 0:02:45.716 --> 0:02:48.756 a result, the left side of his face is paralyzed. 0:02:49.516 --> 0:02:53.396 It's not a parent immediately unless he smiles, and then 0:02:53.476 --> 0:02:59.276 you notice because it's really only a half smile. When 0:02:59.316 --> 0:03:02.676 I arrived at Mike's house in Philadelphia, he was prepared 0:03:02.716 --> 0:03:06.716 to retry this case. And I'm being serious here. He 0:03:06.756 --> 0:03:09.436 had his opening remarks printed and laid out on dining 0:03:09.516 --> 0:03:12.556 room table. He'd retrieved all the files from this case, 0:03:13.076 --> 0:03:16.956 boxes of it, and after a brief introduction, you know, 0:03:17.156 --> 0:03:20.636 explaining his crooked face as he called it, he launched 0:03:20.836 --> 0:03:22.756 right into his opening arguments. 0:03:23.236 --> 0:03:25.076 I believe Tom Geybison is innocent. 0:03:25.876 --> 0:03:30.356 Tom Guybison is innocent, he told me, is as if 0:03:30.396 --> 0:03:33.476 the trial were going on right now in his dining room. 0:03:33.876 --> 0:03:36.956 They had no physical evidence, they had no gun, They 0:03:36.956 --> 0:03:41.796 had nothing but the ear witnesses of scorned girlfriends and 0:03:41.996 --> 0:03:45.676 Craig Peterson, who had been made an offer he couldn't 0:03:45.716 --> 0:03:49.676 refuse to escape prosecution in return for full immunity. 0:03:50.196 --> 0:03:53.476 Mike got worked up, read in the face, raised voice, 0:03:53.676 --> 0:03:56.956 leaning in close to me. At one point he actually 0:03:56.996 --> 0:04:00.396 apologized for getting so animated, said he couldn't help it. 0:04:01.756 --> 0:04:04.636 I learned that over the course of his career, Mike 0:04:04.716 --> 0:04:08.356 had carved out a niche for himself defending what Mike 0:04:08.436 --> 0:04:13.876 calls quote, unpopular persons, people who might alienate a jury. 0:04:14.796 --> 0:04:17.876 He represented a bunch of skinheads, but also guys like 0:04:18.036 --> 0:04:21.596 Mumiya abou Jamal, a black activist who is convicted of 0:04:21.676 --> 0:04:25.476 murdering a white Philadelphia cop. Mike was on his legal 0:04:25.476 --> 0:04:26.036 team too. 0:04:27.036 --> 0:04:30.676 At cocktail parties, criminal defense attorneys are always asked, you know, 0:04:30.716 --> 0:04:34.396 how do you represent people who are accused of doing 0:04:34.436 --> 0:04:38.996 horrible things. My answer was, because I'm a sinner. 0:04:39.716 --> 0:04:42.956 When you say you're a sinner, though, what exactly do 0:04:42.996 --> 0:04:45.636 you mean by that? Do you mean that in a 0:04:45.676 --> 0:04:48.956 way that we're all sinners or you speaking specifically, or. 0:04:49.596 --> 0:04:54.996 Yes, we're all centers. I'm a sinner, and ultimately, no 0:04:55.076 --> 0:04:58.236 one is the worst thing that they've done in their life. 0:04:59.636 --> 0:05:02.876 One more thing that I should mention about Mike. Years 0:05:02.916 --> 0:05:06.556 after he defended Tom, he was convicted of money laundering 0:05:06.716 --> 0:05:11.476 and attempted witness tampering in another case involving marijuana dealers. 0:05:13.956 --> 0:05:17.716 It's safe to say Mike's entire career, start to finish 0:05:18.316 --> 0:05:25.276 defies convention. One of Mike's challenges in this case was 0:05:25.316 --> 0:05:28.756 to keep the jury from jumping to conclusions about his client, 0:05:29.076 --> 0:05:33.556 Tom Guybison. The whole skinhead thing was potentially a liability. 0:05:33.956 --> 0:05:37.556 It threatened to bias the jury against Tom from the start. 0:05:38.316 --> 0:05:43.196 To counter this, Mike described Tom in a very specific way. 0:05:43.876 --> 0:05:46.956 You might recall Tom once told a local newspaper that 0:05:47.036 --> 0:05:50.476 he was at one time a certain type of skinhead, 0:05:51.116 --> 0:05:55.436 a blue collar skinhead. Mike claimed that this was a 0:05:55.596 --> 0:05:56.916 very important distinction. 0:05:58.116 --> 0:06:02.996 Tom Geybison was a blue collar skinhead, and a blue 0:06:02.996 --> 0:06:08.836 collar skinhead did not advocate racism. He advocated, frankly, not 0:06:08.916 --> 0:06:15.756 on like our current magla, which is America First. Blue 0:06:15.756 --> 0:06:19.116 collar skinheads do not advocate racism. 0:06:19.436 --> 0:06:21.476 I had read that he had a Hitler tattoo though 0:06:22.036 --> 0:06:24.276 on his body. 0:06:24.596 --> 0:06:29.116 He did, and at some point in his younger life 0:06:29.956 --> 0:06:32.076 that was part of his ideology, but it was not 0:06:32.196 --> 0:06:35.596 his ideology when I represented him. 0:06:36.276 --> 0:06:38.756 I haven't been able to speak with Tom directly about this. 0:06:39.276 --> 0:06:42.636 He never responded to my requests for an interview. But 0:06:42.756 --> 0:06:46.156 based on the court records, Tom got the Hitler tattoo 0:06:46.436 --> 0:06:50.156 after the alleged murder. I know this because before the 0:06:50.196 --> 0:06:54.236 trial even started, his lawyer, Mike argued that the jury 0:06:54.316 --> 0:06:57.236 did not need to know about that tattoo, and the 0:06:57.316 --> 0:07:02.156 judge agreed. It was a win for the defense. Even so, 0:07:02.796 --> 0:07:04.836 it would be easy for a jury to make some 0:07:04.996 --> 0:07:09.356 snap judgments about who Tom Guybison was and what he believed. 0:07:10.116 --> 0:07:14.396 It was Mike's job to prempt these judgments. Mike hoped 0:07:14.436 --> 0:07:17.756 that he could focus the jury's attention instead on what 0:07:17.836 --> 0:07:20.796 he saw as the problems with the prosecution's case. 0:07:21.716 --> 0:07:25.996 This was a case that was absolutely backwards. Would nearly 0:07:26.036 --> 0:07:30.236 you have a murder and law enforcement searches for the murder. 0:07:31.796 --> 0:07:35.556 In this case, they started with a murderer and searched 0:07:35.596 --> 0:07:36.236 for a murder. 0:07:37.316 --> 0:07:39.916 In other words, the FEDS had taken the rumor of 0:07:39.996 --> 0:07:43.356 a killing, linked it to a cold case, and blamed 0:07:43.396 --> 0:07:49.236 his client. That was the argument. Anyhow, Mike didn't have 0:07:49.316 --> 0:07:52.356 to offer any answers. He didn't have to identify the 0:07:52.436 --> 0:07:56.276 quote real killer. All he had to do was create 0:07:56.396 --> 0:08:00.516 reasonable doubt, poked just enough holes in the prosecution's argument 0:08:00.916 --> 0:08:04.396 that jurors might start scratching their heads. And the thing 0:08:04.396 --> 0:08:08.276 about Mike is he's really good at poking holes. This 0:08:08.356 --> 0:08:11.076 became apparent to me the minute I set foot in 0:08:11.116 --> 0:08:14.836 his dining room. But of course it wasn't me. He 0:08:14.916 --> 0:08:18.716 needed to convince it was a jury of twelve Philadelphians 0:08:18.916 --> 0:08:22.476 back in two thousand and eight. His adversary was the 0:08:22.556 --> 0:08:27.756 legendary prosecutor Roger King. His audience was a courtroom packed 0:08:27.756 --> 0:08:31.236 with spectators. They included lawyers who had come to witness 0:08:31.276 --> 0:08:35.276 this showdown, a Ron Wood's family who was praying for justice, 0:08:35.836 --> 0:08:39.596 and Of course, the press was there too, because this 0:08:39.756 --> 0:08:43.476 trial would make headlines. How could it not. A cold 0:08:43.556 --> 0:08:47.596 case almost two decades old have been resuscitated in rather 0:08:47.716 --> 0:08:52.756 epic fashion, and if the prosecution was to be believed, 0:08:53.476 --> 0:09:10.436 hate itself was on trial from Jay Calburn and This 0:09:10.796 --> 0:09:29.396 is Deep Cover Season four, The Nameless Man, Episode five, 0:09:30.236 --> 0:09:43.276 the trial. The prosecutor in this case was Roger King, 0:09:43.796 --> 0:09:48.036 a legendary figure, a distant cousin of Martin Luther King Junior. 0:09:48.636 --> 0:09:51.396 He spoke with the cadence and the charisma of a 0:09:51.436 --> 0:09:55.756 big church pastor. Roger often made the papers he tried 0:09:55.836 --> 0:09:59.876 high profile cases. Back in the spring of two thousand 0:09:59.916 --> 0:10:03.716 and eight, the city's Criminal Justice Center was buzzing with 0:10:03.756 --> 0:10:07.396 the news that Roger King was trying his very last case. 0:10:08.236 --> 0:10:11.036 This drew a bunch of spectators. Then one of them 0:10:11.236 --> 0:10:16.276 was another prosecutor named Carlos Vega. Carlos says he just 0:10:16.356 --> 0:10:17.076 had to be there. 0:10:17.756 --> 0:10:20.996 It's almost like saying goodbye. You know, it's a level 0:10:21.636 --> 0:10:25.796 of respect you're giving him, but also you're watching one 0:10:25.796 --> 0:10:27.596 of the greats do his last performance. 0:10:28.276 --> 0:10:32.516 Carlos, like so many prosecutors in Philadelphia, had been mentored 0:10:32.556 --> 0:10:33.276 by King. 0:10:33.676 --> 0:10:35.876 As a baby DA. When you first came through the office, 0:10:35.916 --> 0:10:41.036 he was a legend. He had tried these really complicated murders, 0:10:41.116 --> 0:10:43.716 you know that were in the front page, and you know, 0:10:43.756 --> 0:10:44.996 they go, that's Roger King. 0:10:46.076 --> 0:10:49.956 Eventually, Carlos ended up getting involved in this case as 0:10:49.956 --> 0:10:54.556 a prosecutor, but initially he was just a spectator sitting 0:10:54.636 --> 0:10:58.836 in the gallery watching Roger King's last performance. As he 0:10:58.876 --> 0:11:04.476 put it, Roger died back in twenty sixteen. The headline 0:11:04.516 --> 0:11:10.796 to his obituary read, Roger King seventy two, Large than life, 0:11:11.036 --> 0:11:14.836 and I should tell you his legacy was complicated. In 0:11:14.876 --> 0:11:17.836 a number of other murder cases that he tried. His 0:11:17.956 --> 0:11:22.796 convictions were later overturned. There are allegations that he hid evidence, 0:11:23.236 --> 0:11:30.356 manipulated witnesses, or otherwise broke the rules. Carlos told me 0:11:30.676 --> 0:11:33.036 Roger was not the kind of guy who would have 0:11:33.036 --> 0:11:36.516 been intimidated by anyone. That he was tough, and that 0:11:36.676 --> 0:11:38.356 he was always ready for anything. 0:11:38.956 --> 0:11:43.836 A lot of homicide prosecutors are are armed. So you 0:11:43.876 --> 0:11:49.916 know Roger always carried two guns. Why two? Because Roger 0:11:49.996 --> 0:11:50.516 is Roger. 0:11:52.356 --> 0:11:56.876 And then there was Roger's opponent, Mike Ferrell. Carlos remembers 0:11:56.876 --> 0:11:59.076 how Mike carried himself in the courtroom. 0:11:59.996 --> 0:12:03.316 He was very, very intense. He's not a bully because 0:12:03.356 --> 0:12:05.556 it's very gentle, but he looks like he run up 0:12:05.596 --> 0:12:08.796 and punched you, like he really You see the veins 0:12:08.796 --> 0:12:12.076 pop in his neck and everything like that. 0:12:13.276 --> 0:12:17.316 So that was the scene in the courtroom. Larger than life. 0:12:17.396 --> 0:12:20.196 Roger King who liked to carry his two guns, and 0:12:20.276 --> 0:12:24.276 the self proclaimed crooked face irishman vains ready to pop 0:12:24.316 --> 0:12:28.916 out of his neck, two impassion lawyers getting ready prelude 0:12:29.076 --> 0:12:36.076 to an epic standoff. The trial would hinge on two 0:12:36.236 --> 0:12:41.276 fundamental questions. Number one, did it really happen? In other words, 0:12:41.636 --> 0:12:44.876 do you believe that in nineteen eighty nine, Tom Guybison 0:12:45.036 --> 0:12:49.756 went to Philadelphia and murdered a complete stranger. The answer 0:12:49.756 --> 0:12:53.276 to this question would depend on the credibility of three 0:12:53.316 --> 0:12:57.276 star witnesses. There were the two ex girlfriends, both of 0:12:57.316 --> 0:13:00.916 whom claimed that Tom had confessed to them, and there 0:13:00.996 --> 0:13:04.516 was the old friend Craig Peterson, who claimed to be 0:13:04.556 --> 0:13:08.476 the accomplice. These witnesses would have to convince the jury 0:13:08.756 --> 0:13:13.436 that Tom had committed murder back in nineteen eighty nine. 0:13:13.636 --> 0:13:17.916 Then there was question number two. Was this the correct victim. 0:13:18.356 --> 0:13:21.836 In other words, was there enough evidence to convict Tom 0:13:21.876 --> 0:13:26.916 Guybison specifically for the murder of Iran Wood? And the 0:13:27.036 --> 0:13:30.556 answer to this question would focus on the detective work 0:13:30.596 --> 0:13:35.876 performed by Scott Duffy, Terry Mortimer and the Philadelphia PD. 0:13:37.236 --> 0:13:40.196 The burden of proof was on the prosecution, and this 0:13:40.356 --> 0:13:42.756 was a point that Mike made both in his opening 0:13:42.836 --> 0:13:45.876 arguments and in the little re enactment that he did 0:13:45.916 --> 0:13:46.196 for me. 0:13:46.716 --> 0:13:49.556 Now, in a criminal case, it's very interesting in the 0:13:49.636 --> 0:13:52.636 sense that the prosecution side of the story they have 0:13:52.636 --> 0:13:55.556 to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. As to the defense 0:13:55.596 --> 0:13:59.076 side of the story, we just have to create reasonable doubt. 0:13:59.836 --> 0:14:01.556 But we did way more than that. 0:14:02.676 --> 0:14:06.236 Ultimately, Mike would present his own theory on how and 0:14:06.316 --> 0:14:10.276 why iron Wood was killed, but his job was simply 0:14:10.316 --> 0:14:13.836 to poke holes in the prosecution's case. Starting with the 0:14:13.836 --> 0:14:19.676 credibility of its three star witnesses, Let's start by talking 0:14:19.716 --> 0:14:23.956 about the testimony of the two ex girlfriends. If you recall, 0:14:24.356 --> 0:14:26.876 one of them was from high school. Her name was Jen. 0:14:27.516 --> 0:14:30.556 Tom was her prom date, and when she took the 0:14:30.596 --> 0:14:33.676 witness stand, she testified that Tom had shown off his 0:14:33.756 --> 0:14:38.036 spider web tattoo on a number of occasions, including the 0:14:38.076 --> 0:14:42.356 prom and that Tom had been very clear this tattoo 0:14:42.476 --> 0:14:45.116 was a badge of honor for killing a black man. 0:14:45.996 --> 0:14:49.516 Jen also claimed that Tom kept a newspaper article covering 0:14:49.596 --> 0:14:53.036 the man's death and boasted that this was his doing 0:14:53.396 --> 0:14:58.436 his murder. Jen testified quote, he told me that he 0:14:58.476 --> 0:15:01.836 was driving aimlessly and a man just walked out between 0:15:01.876 --> 0:15:04.636 two parked cars and he shot him in the head. 0:15:05.676 --> 0:15:09.076 Jen said her relationship with Tom ended because he was abusive. 0:15:13.276 --> 0:15:16.836 The other ex girlfriend was Patricia. She was Tom's girlfriend 0:15:16.836 --> 0:15:21.236 when he was older in his twenties. Patricia also testified 0:15:21.276 --> 0:15:23.436 to the fact that Tom liked to show off his 0:15:23.556 --> 0:15:27.196 tattoo and brag about the murder that he'd committed. She 0:15:27.276 --> 0:15:30.556 also talked about the newspaper article that Tom supposedly kept. 0:15:31.556 --> 0:15:35.036 She also alleged Tom had abused her in a brutal manner. 0:15:35.716 --> 0:15:37.956 I'm not going to get into all the details here, 0:15:38.436 --> 0:15:45.476 but the allegations were graphic, specific and disturbing. Carlos Vega, 0:15:45.676 --> 0:15:48.436 who you heard from earlier and who eventually got involved 0:15:48.436 --> 0:15:51.716 in this case as a prosecutor, said that Jen and 0:15:51.756 --> 0:15:55.716 Patricia showed real courage, not only for taking the stand, 0:15:56.116 --> 0:15:58.996 but for risking the potential consequences. 0:15:59.836 --> 0:16:02.836 Think of it. If they were intimate with him. They 0:16:02.916 --> 0:16:05.636 know who he is, They know what he is. People 0:16:05.676 --> 0:16:09.116 don't understand. It's not TV that it's cut and everybody's high. 0:16:10.076 --> 0:16:13.756 There is a life after a case, and people have 0:16:13.876 --> 0:16:17.156 to live the rest of their lives dealing with the murderer, 0:16:17.756 --> 0:16:21.556 his family, his friends, his associates. They're going to have 0:16:21.636 --> 0:16:24.916 to look behind their back for the rest of their lives. 0:16:29.596 --> 0:16:32.676 Mike, the defense lawyer, argued that both of these women 0:16:32.996 --> 0:16:36.436 had been cast aside by Tom, that they were quote 0:16:36.836 --> 0:16:43.156 scorned girlfriends. In particular, Mike attacked Patricia's credibility, noted that 0:16:43.196 --> 0:16:46.956 she'd struggled with substance abuse for years, and pointed out 0:16:47.036 --> 0:16:49.396 that Tom had cheated on her repeatedly. 0:16:50.276 --> 0:16:53.236 You know, he was not a faithful boyfriend, but he 0:16:53.356 --> 0:16:54.556 was not a murderer. 0:16:55.756 --> 0:16:59.196 Mike maintained that both ex girlfriends were lying on the 0:16:59.236 --> 0:17:03.596 stand to get back at Tom. In cross examination, Mike 0:17:03.676 --> 0:17:06.196 did his best to poke holes in the ex girlfriend's 0:17:06.196 --> 0:17:11.836 stories by pointing out inconsistencies. Over the preceding years, Jen 0:17:11.996 --> 0:17:15.956 and Patricia had told their stories multiple times to investigators 0:17:16.076 --> 0:17:20.876 and court officials, and there were some discrepancies. Patricia and 0:17:20.996 --> 0:17:25.956 Jen both testified at trial about seeing Tom's spider web tattoo, 0:17:26.276 --> 0:17:31.196 but years earlier, Patricia had originally told investigators the tattoo 0:17:31.276 --> 0:17:34.676 that Tom got for the murder was a tear drop 0:17:34.916 --> 0:17:36.236 within a spider web. 0:17:36.836 --> 0:17:40.076 Well, the theory of the girlfriends, the theory that began 0:17:40.236 --> 0:17:44.356 this whole snowball rolling down the side of a snow 0:17:44.436 --> 0:17:49.356 covered hill, was not to earn the web tattoo, but 0:17:49.476 --> 0:17:53.956 to earn a red tear drop within the web tattoo. 0:17:54.716 --> 0:17:58.596 For the record, Tom did have a web tattoo, but 0:17:58.876 --> 0:18:02.116 there was no tear drop in it. Mike found things 0:18:02.196 --> 0:18:09.476 like this, small inconsistencies and hammered away at them. In 0:18:09.556 --> 0:18:13.716 my mind, the most confounding issue that Mike raised involved 0:18:13.716 --> 0:18:16.836 the newspaper article about the murder, the one that Tom 0:18:16.876 --> 0:18:22.196 allegedly kept. This article was important because in theory, if 0:18:22.236 --> 0:18:25.316 Iran would was the victim, then this article would have 0:18:25.316 --> 0:18:28.676 Iran's name in it right because it would be about Iran. 0:18:30.356 --> 0:18:33.516 But no one, not the FEDS, or the police or 0:18:33.516 --> 0:18:36.876 the prosecutors, was able to find such an article, not 0:18:36.956 --> 0:18:41.876 at Tom's house or the library, or anywhere. It's a 0:18:41.916 --> 0:18:46.276 loose end that remains unexplained, and according to Mike Farrell, 0:18:46.796 --> 0:18:52.916 this was another hole in the prosecution's case. More on 0:18:52.956 --> 0:19:17.396 the prosecution after the break. By far the most important 0:19:17.436 --> 0:19:22.196 witness was Craig Peterson, the supposed accomplice. He was really 0:19:22.196 --> 0:19:27.076 the lynchpin to the prosecution's case. When Craig finally walked 0:19:27.076 --> 0:19:31.116 into the courtroom, it was a dramatic moment. Craig and 0:19:31.156 --> 0:19:34.476 Tom had been friends since the fourth grade. They knew 0:19:34.516 --> 0:19:37.836 each other's families, they had grown up alongside one another 0:19:37.876 --> 0:19:42.996 in Delaware, and if Craig was to be believed, they'd 0:19:43.036 --> 0:19:47.756 finished out their adolescence by committing murder together. Now, almost 0:19:47.756 --> 0:19:51.236 two decades later, the former friends were in their late thirties. 0:19:51.676 --> 0:19:55.396 One was the defendant, possibly facing life in prison, the 0:19:55.476 --> 0:19:58.236 other the star witness who had a get out of 0:19:58.356 --> 0:20:05.876 jail free card. When he took the stand, Craig described 0:20:05.916 --> 0:20:08.556 the night of the murder in detail, just as he 0:20:08.596 --> 0:20:11.356 had done with Scott and Terry, the two federal agents 0:20:11.436 --> 0:20:15.116 two years prior. It was the same story that he 0:20:15.116 --> 0:20:17.196 had helped to kill a man all because of the 0:20:17.236 --> 0:20:20.116 color of his skin, and that he had watched as 0:20:20.156 --> 0:20:24.756 Tom Guybison shot him in the head, and then, as 0:20:24.836 --> 0:20:29.236 Craig told the jury, he quote slowly drove off like 0:20:29.316 --> 0:20:36.436 nothing happened and just kept going. 0:20:39.196 --> 0:20:42.996 Craig Peterson was a liar, He was a corrupt source. Frankly, 0:20:43.276 --> 0:20:45.596 he was given an offer that no one could refuse. 0:20:46.676 --> 0:20:49.236 This is the argument that the defense made a trial 0:20:49.916 --> 0:20:53.036 that Craig lied to the federal agents Scott and Terry 0:20:53.476 --> 0:20:54.556 to save his own skin. 0:20:55.636 --> 0:20:58.596 If in fact their theory was that he was the 0:20:58.716 --> 0:21:03.236 driver of Tom Guybison to Philadelphia from Warmington to kill 0:21:03.236 --> 0:21:06.636 a black man. He's a co conspirator first degree murder, 0:21:06.996 --> 0:21:08.396 life without parole. 0:21:08.356 --> 0:21:13.276 So you can is that they explicitly threatened him or 0:21:13.276 --> 0:21:14.876 said you're going to go away from murder if you 0:21:14.876 --> 0:21:15.996 don't cooperate with us. 0:21:16.356 --> 0:21:20.476 It's not my theory, Jake, it's the truth. It's exactly 0:21:20.516 --> 0:21:25.396 what happened. You know, mister Peterson, you know, didn't Tom Guybison. 0:21:25.716 --> 0:21:28.596 Didn't you drive Tom Guybison to Philadelphia to cooble backman? 0:21:28.756 --> 0:21:28.916 No? 0:21:29.756 --> 0:21:33.236 Second time? Didn't you drive Tom Guybison to Philadelphia to 0:21:33.316 --> 0:21:33.996 cool back man? 0:21:34.196 --> 0:21:34.356 No? 0:21:34.996 --> 0:21:38.316 Third time? Well, look, you know you're facing life without parole. 0:21:38.556 --> 0:21:42.956 First degree murder co conspirator, but we'll we'll let you 0:21:42.996 --> 0:21:48.596 go scott free with total immunity if you essentially tell 0:21:48.676 --> 0:21:49.636 us what we want to hear. 0:21:51.236 --> 0:21:54.436 It is true that initially Craig denied taking part in 0:21:54.476 --> 0:21:57.716 this murder when Scott and Terry made that trip to Vermont, 0:21:58.476 --> 0:22:02.196 But it's also true that once he confessed, his story, 0:22:02.356 --> 0:22:07.316 with all its many details, remained consistent. In the courtroom, 0:22:07.476 --> 0:22:11.636 under cross examination, Craig held his own At one point, 0:22:11.796 --> 0:22:15.276 Mike asked him, pointedly, you decided to tell them what 0:22:15.316 --> 0:22:17.996 they want to hear, that you'd get immunity and not 0:22:18.076 --> 0:22:23.396 have the worry about prosecution. Correct, Craig replied, I didn't 0:22:23.436 --> 0:22:26.196 tell them what they wanted to hear. I told them 0:22:26.196 --> 0:22:34.316 what happened. It's impossible to underscore just how important Craig 0:22:34.516 --> 0:22:37.916 was as a witness. In order to convict Tom Guybison, 0:22:38.236 --> 0:22:40.356 the jury would not only have to believe that Craig 0:22:40.476 --> 0:22:43.756 was credible, they would also have to believe that Craig's 0:22:43.796 --> 0:22:48.276 memory was reliable because all the details they connected this 0:22:48.556 --> 0:22:54.436 murder to iron Wood came from Craig's confession. Scott, Terry, 0:22:54.516 --> 0:22:58.076 and Luby, the detective from the flipd All testified for 0:22:58.116 --> 0:23:01.356 the prosecution. They walked the jury through the years of 0:23:01.396 --> 0:23:03.996 work they'd done to bring this cold case out of 0:23:04.036 --> 0:23:07.756 the basement literally and into the courtroom. Talked about how 0:23:07.836 --> 0:23:12.156 several key facts from Greig's confession, the general location, the 0:23:12.196 --> 0:23:15.156 type of weapon, the nature of the wound, and the 0:23:15.196 --> 0:23:18.796 time frame spring of eighty nine led them to a 0:23:18.836 --> 0:23:26.076 single match iron Wood. But in the end, it would 0:23:26.076 --> 0:23:29.436 all come down to a gut feeling about Craig. The 0:23:29.476 --> 0:23:33.436 prosecution presented him as someone with a checkered past who'd 0:23:33.436 --> 0:23:37.916 finally redeemed himself and told the truth. The defense was 0:23:37.956 --> 0:23:41.556 calling him a liar and an opportunist. It would be 0:23:41.636 --> 0:23:50.076 up to the jury to decide. After the prosecution rested, 0:23:50.476 --> 0:23:53.756 Mike Ferrell had an opportunity to present his own witnesses 0:23:54.116 --> 0:23:57.196 to build out an alternate theory of how Iran Wood 0:23:57.276 --> 0:24:00.876 died to suggest that Tom wasn't the one who killed him. 0:24:02.076 --> 0:24:05.196 His counter narrative is a bit spotty, not all of 0:24:05.236 --> 0:24:07.916 it connects, but I'm going to walk you through it. 0:24:09.156 --> 0:24:13.076 Would it was supposedly the victim, Tom Guyvenson, didn't kill him, 0:24:13.156 --> 0:24:15.076 Drugs and guns killed him. 0:24:15.676 --> 0:24:17.796 Mike called a bunch of witnesses to build out his 0:24:17.916 --> 0:24:21.996 theory that Iran was murdered over a drug debt. One 0:24:22.036 --> 0:24:25.716 of these witnesses was an old girlfriend of Iran's. She 0:24:25.836 --> 0:24:30.196 testified that Iran sold drugs and that she'd once received 0:24:30.236 --> 0:24:32.876 a threatening phone call from a guy who was looking 0:24:32.916 --> 0:24:37.636 for Iran. In response, Roger King pointed out that this 0:24:37.756 --> 0:24:41.196 call occurred more than a year before the murder, so 0:24:41.276 --> 0:24:44.636 he argued, connecting these two events was a real stretch. 0:24:45.636 --> 0:24:49.476 Mike brought into other witnesses too, including a bartender who'd 0:24:49.556 --> 0:24:52.276 seen Iran on the night of the murder in an 0:24:52.276 --> 0:24:53.276 agitated state. 0:24:54.116 --> 0:24:57.596 We proved that Aaron Wood was in a bar, nervous, afraid, 0:24:58.316 --> 0:25:02.276 indicating that he may never come back. The bartender called 0:25:02.276 --> 0:25:06.236 Iran saying, quote, you probably won't be seeing me no 0:25:06.356 --> 0:25:07.996 more man after today. 0:25:09.236 --> 0:25:11.836 It went on like this. Mike brought in someone who 0:25:11.836 --> 0:25:14.356 had been interviewed by the police back in nineteen eighty 0:25:14.396 --> 0:25:16.236 nine at the scene of the crime. 0:25:16.636 --> 0:25:20.636 And we have an eye witness of heard the gunshot 0:25:20.676 --> 0:25:24.316 and saw three black males in hoods running from the 0:25:24.356 --> 0:25:25.756 scene of the gunshot. 0:25:26.596 --> 0:25:30.596 On cross examination, Roger asked this witness if he thought 0:25:30.676 --> 0:25:33.476 the three men in the hoods running away were involved 0:25:33.476 --> 0:25:37.636 in the crime, No, said the witness. This man also admitted, 0:25:37.676 --> 0:25:40.676 in a moment of absurdity, that he had no idea 0:25:40.756 --> 0:25:43.316 why he was being called to testify because he knew 0:25:43.396 --> 0:25:47.436 nothing about this murder. Okay, at this point, if you're 0:25:47.476 --> 0:25:50.876 scratching your head trying to keep all this straight, I 0:25:50.956 --> 0:25:55.996 hear you information overload. That, however, seemed to be part 0:25:55.996 --> 0:26:00.836 of the defense's strategy here. Mike wasn't offering complete answers 0:26:01.236 --> 0:26:04.676 or a counter narrative that made total sense, and he 0:26:04.716 --> 0:26:08.236 didn't have to. He was just trying to see doubts 0:26:08.556 --> 0:26:14.196 in the jurors minds. I should mention Tom Guybison never 0:26:14.276 --> 0:26:17.596 took the witness stand. He waved his right to testify, 0:26:18.156 --> 0:26:28.836 so the jury never heard from him. The trial would 0:26:28.916 --> 0:26:32.676 last for twelve days, and as the lawyers sparred and 0:26:32.716 --> 0:26:37.156 the witnesses testified, one man in the gallery watched on silently. 0:26:37.876 --> 0:26:41.236 He was there every day from start till finish, taking 0:26:41.236 --> 0:26:46.756 it all in. That man was Tyrone Wood, Aron's youngest brother. 0:26:47.556 --> 0:26:51.276 I felt like I had to go to trial every day, 0:26:51.396 --> 0:26:53.356 and I feel like I had to find truthful not 0:26:53.516 --> 0:26:57.836 only for the family, for my mom because she said 0:26:57.876 --> 0:27:01.636 should I go, and I said no. 0:27:00.316 --> 0:27:03.316 No, because he didn't want her hearing all the details, 0:27:03.676 --> 0:27:08.396 reliving the whole nightmare, so he went instead, though it 0:27:08.476 --> 0:27:11.356 was no easy to ask for him either. In the 0:27:11.436 --> 0:27:14.756 lead up to the trial, kind of amazingly, no one 0:27:14.796 --> 0:27:18.356 had shared any details with him, the whole story about 0:27:18.476 --> 0:27:21.836 Tom and Craig and the prom and the tattoos. That 0:27:21.956 --> 0:27:25.276 was all news to him. Tyrone intently listened to all 0:27:25.276 --> 0:27:30.476 the witnesses, especially Craig, and he found him credible. It 0:27:30.556 --> 0:27:34.516 was a tortuous situation. On the one hand, Craig's testimony 0:27:34.596 --> 0:27:37.676 is what made this whole trial possible. He was the 0:27:37.756 --> 0:27:40.636