WEBVTT - #448 Jason Flom with Chris Miller 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.160 On the night of April twenty eighth, two thousand and one, 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:08.719 a young woman returned to her apartment in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:12.680 When two men approached. She got a brief look at 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:16.720 one of their faces before being forced inside at gunpoint. 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:21.000 They covered her face and both men raped her. They 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:25.320 also stole her purse and cell phone before fleeing the scene. 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:27.920 A rape kit was performed and the victim described the 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:30.639 one assailant she had seen, as well as his clothing. 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:34.519 Two days later, investigators tracked down the cell phone to 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:36.879 a man named Chris Smith, who had clothing that was 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:40.640 similar to what the victim described. Even though Chris claimed 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.800 that he bought the phone second hand, he was arrested 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:54.279 and identified. But this is wrongful conviction. Wrongful conviction has 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.000 always given voice to innocent people in prison, and now 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:01.680 we're expanding that voice to you us at eight three, three, 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.479 two oh seven, four six sixty six, and tell us 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.080 how these stories make you feel and what you've done 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:09.560 to help the cause, even if it's something as simple 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:13.120 as telling a friend or sharing on social media. We've 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:15.959 really appreciated hearing from our audience so much so that 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:18.280 we've included one of the messages at the end of 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:20.640 this episode, So stick around for that, and if you 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:23.400 have something to say, we definitely want to hear it, 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.120 and you might just hear yourself in a future episode. 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.360 Call us eight three three, two oh seven four six 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:42.560 sixty six. Welcome back to Ronful Conviction, where we have 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:46.640 yet another case out of Cuyahoga County on the east 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:50.040 side of Cleveland, Ohio, where it appears that there was 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:53.040 evidence that should have kept our guest, Chris Miller, from 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:57.000 ever having been even brought to trial, much less convicted 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:00.800 and sentenced to sixty years. So Chris, first, let me 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:02.560 just say how glad I am that you're here with 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:06.160 us today rather than back inside where you never should 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.320 have been in the first place. Thank you and joining 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:11.480 him as a partner at FG and G and a 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:13.360 proud member of his legal team. 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:16.320 Jack one Green, absolutely a proud member. Thanks for having 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:17.360 me here of course. 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.440 Now, Chris, let's talk about your life before prison. Where'd 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.359 you grow up, what was your family life like? Give 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:24.800 us the whole background. 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.359 I grew up in the east side of Cleveland, Saint Claire. 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.480 I was raised ball women, my great grandmother Auntie, my mom, 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:32.639 and my girl cousin. My grandfather dad when I was 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:34.800 ten years old, so he was the only man at 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:36.360 the house. So eleven years old, I was the man 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:38.680 at the house, you know, dealing with with women and boyfriend. 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:41.160 And I'm fighting grown me when I was eleven years old. 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:43.120 I had to grew up kind of fast because my 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.120 grandfather when he dad, everything got tight. No, he was 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:48.760 the money. My grandfather was a mechanic, you know. So 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:50.840 eleven years old, I was in the streets. Then I 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:52.760 was in the streets some drugs. 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.560 Chris helped to keep the family afloat until about the 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.840 time of this crime. He was twenty four years old, 0:02:57.880 --> 0:02:59.640 had two kids of his own and one on the way, 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:02.000 and he and his girlfriend needed a phone for the 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:04.560 new place they were moving into. And it appears that 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:06.959 a chance encounter one morning with a man named Dwayne 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:11.440 Collins had devastating effects on Chris's life. Collins approached Chris 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:13.760 and a man named Desmond Fletcher on a street corner 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:15.799 with a phone to trade for drugs. 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.320 It was a Sunday morning that with Fletcher. He gave 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:20.120 him the drugs. I just gave him the money. He 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:22.240 gave it. Due to drugs I didn't know all this 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:22.960 was coming with it. 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.160 By it, he means the phone which belonged to a 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:29.760 white woman who will refer to as LB. She had 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:33.359 survived the rape the previous night in Cleveland Heights. 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:36.280 April twenty eight, two thousand and one. LB. She's out. 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:38.400 She's returning home at the end of the night. She's 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:40.840 got a ground floor apartment in a building with a 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:43.400 number of units. It's a little after eleven o'clock. She 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:46.200 comes in through this exterior door. There's like a half 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.040 flight of stairs that goes down from kind of a 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:50.520 parking area, and you know, her doors down the hall 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:52.920 of it. So she goes to close the door to 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.880 apartment and she hears some voices like up, I think 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.000 on the flight of the stairs, and she turns. She 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:00.520 calls out. Two guys appear at the top the landing, 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:01.960 and of course she doesn't know who they are at 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:04.839 the time. One of them comes down, grabs her arm, 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:07.000 holds a gun to her neck, and they force her 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.520 into the apartment at gunpoint. They put something over her 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:11.880 face during these events, so she only really saw one 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:14.600 guy briefly of the two. Then they sectually assault her, 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:18.000 both of them before leaving. One of them tells her, 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:20.320 you know, don't report the attack. They take her purse, 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:22.680 they take her cell phone, they take other items, and 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:25.919 they leave. That night. LB does go to the hospital. 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:28.240 There is an examination and a rape kit done, so 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.960 there are specimens obtained for the purpose later of testing 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:34.240 that is done. We end up learning there's a mixture. 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:35.960 There are two contributors, and she. 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:38.760 Did get a brief look at one of the assailants. 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.279 There are a couple different early reports that came to light. 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.040 The first description from LB is quote first mail as 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.320 a black mail about five eleven, one hundred and fifty 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:49.520 to one hundred and seventy pounds, eighteen to twenty two 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:52.800 years old, no facial hair, wearing a white T shirt 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.760 possibly with a black circle on the chest, blue jeans 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:56.599 and a green coat. 0:04:57.040 --> 0:04:59.159 Six one. When I got arrested, I was like one. 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:01.200 Night, so Chris is or now he's taller and he's 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:01.839 brought her right. 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:04.040 I mean, it's hard to mix up one hundred and 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.240 fifty and one hundred and ninety pounds man. But then 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:12.960 somehow the clothing took on a more important role, especially 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:15.560 the circular pattern on his shirt. And we'll get back 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.320 to that in a bit. As the investigators moved beyond 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:19.960 the victim and the crime. 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.479 Scene, Detective Mark shit Schmid, I'm gonna say that again. 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.760 Detective Mark Schmidt of the Cleveland Heights Police Department. He comes. 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:30.120 He's now the lead detective on this case. And Schmidt 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.000 focuses on this cell phone. And there had been some 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:35.520 calls made from the phone overnight and then earlier in 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:37.880 the morning to like a number stored in the phone, 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:40.400 to a number from LB's little date book that was 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:42.960 in her purse. And then round eight o'clock in the 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:45.760 morning or so, the phone starts getting used pretty steadily. 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:47.960 And this is when Chris has the phone. 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.280 It's Sunday. I shouldn't even been on the corner anyway. 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:54.279 They guy walk up. You got then I got a phone. 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.000 I'm annoying. Hedn't found the phone down the street in 0:05:57.040 --> 0:05:59.159 the field. So the dudes was after they did what 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:02.120 they Didaturday night, they rolled down through my neighborhood and 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:04.320 through the phone in the field. He was one in 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:06.840 the field to use the bathroom and heard the phone 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:08.480 ring it, so he picked it up and came up 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:09.919 on nine nine Saint Clear and sold it to me 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.640 for five dollars, So you know, I was using the phone. 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:15.479 It was charged up, had the phone for probably a 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:16.400 day and a. 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.640 Half, And sometime during that day and a half, Detective 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:22.240 Schmidt started visiting the people who had received calls from 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:24.520 the phone, including Chris's girlfriend. 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:26.640 When I pull off for my mother's apartment building, I 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:28.760 look at the riview she following me. I'm like, so 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:30.839 I pulled over. She said, the police came to my 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:33.240 house talking about you robbed somebody for a phone. She's like, 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:34.840 get rid of that phone. Now. They don't say nothing 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:36.719 about the rape. Then they just sayd I robbed somebody. 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:38.039 When I got home, I just put it in sewer 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:39.359 right front the house when in the house. 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:42.520 But by then, Detective Schmid had already figured out that 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:45.440 Chris was the person who had this phone, which was 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:48.840 enough for him to obtain an arrest warrant on April thirtieth. 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.080 So I went home. I'll get my son in a bath. 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.400 I take a bath. I'll fall asleep a couple hours. 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:55.599 Then I hear somebody just dog in my mother doorbill. 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:58.920 I wake up on my sleep, I'm like, who is this? 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:02.640 I go down there. It's just like fifty cops. I'm like, 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:05.040 and my aunts was at the door with them and 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:06.680 was letting them in that I was coming to open 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:08.640 the door to see who they was. So they come 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:10.680 in the house. He like he had a warrant, so 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:12.480 I signed war let him search. I ain't got an 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:14.840 ass so I let him search. I was draws, no shirt, 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:15.480 no socks on. 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:17.360 How'd you get the clothes to wear to go to 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:17.960 the police station. 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:19.560 They dug him out the dirty clothes and made me 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:19.960 put them on. 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:20.800 Who gave them to you? 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:21.280 Schmidt? 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:24.360 So Mark Schmitt himself is the one who gives these 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:26.680 clothing items to Chris to wear. Remember, Mark Schmidt is 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:30.760 the person who had previously interviewed LB. We know about 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:32.560 that later on in the story, but at this time 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:35.960 Schmidt has information. He finds clothes for Chris to wear 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:37.440 out of the house for the arrest. 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:40.200 She said, I had a white T shirt with Circle 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:42.320 of Emotions. They went there and took a white jersey 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:47.200 with pinky purple letters Toronto Raper's jersey, Vince Carter jersey. Yeah, 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:48.880 made me put it on and said it that's that's 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.080 what I had on. Like, I ain't have on that, bro. 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:52.920 They just found anything and just tried to put it 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:54.000 on the Fifth Day theory. 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.840 Since Chris didn't have a green jacket like LB had described, 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.400 they chose as black one. I guess they figured that's 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:05.040 close enough. Now they've got Chris dressed up prime for identification, 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.000 and they dragged him from his house for what he 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.160 believes was the stolen cell phone at. 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:11.520 The MARTIALISTMS take me out of the house and put 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:14.480 me in the car. I'm so half sleep, I don't 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:16.160 even know my mother and the man even in the house. 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:18.000 My mother and Shark my daughter and walked to the 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.160 corner store. So by the time they come out of 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:21.760 the store, I'm in the beckseat of the police car. 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:24.240 The cop come to the car like, hey, turn your 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:26.400 legs out. He said, your daughter wants you. She was 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.080 five years old. Said she comes, she gets betray my 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.160 legs and she said, dad, what's going on? Said? They said, 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.200 I robbed somebody, so I shouldn't be back. You know, 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:36.400 they figure out when. 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:49.240 Me you're listening to Ron for Conviction. You can listen 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:51.720 to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts one 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.960 week early and ed free by subscribing to Lava for 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:57.160 Good plus on Apple podcasts. 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:03.880 The night is going to happen, Me and two of 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:06.280 my friends rode to Harvard and leave. 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:06.800 There. 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:08.959 Used to be a restaurant there, a seafood restaurant called 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:10.480 Dave Servant Turf. We used to come all the way 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:13.319 across down to go there, and they had cameras in there. 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:15.280 I got to telling her, I said, man, do is 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:17.520 go to the day Surf. I'm on the cameras when 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:19.880 you walk in till the clock. I told him everything 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:21.440 I ordered, because I went in and ordered for all 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:22.200 three of us. 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:25.000 However, this camera footage from the time of the crime 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:28.200 never surfaced. Meanwhile, back at the police station, Chris was 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:30.880 photographed in the outfit they had chosen for him, and 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:32.800 his interrogation continued. 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:35.640 This goes through the nighttime. Detective Schmidt keeps coming to you, 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.360 Chris right, and trying to question you, question you repeatedly 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:40.440 over the course of the night. Every time you told 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:42.600 me before Right you were about to fall asleep, he'd 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:44.080 come back in and pull you out to question you 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:47.040 some more, you know, just trying to wear Chris down, 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:49.920 trying to get him to say something, you know, that 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:50.959 would implicate him. 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:52.800 I didn't have no tell him I didn't do nothing 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:53.880 like a ball the phone. 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:57.040 The following day, the victim came in to make an identification, 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:01.560 but curiously, instead of viewing a liveline, investigators chose to 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:02.800 show her a photo array. 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.679 So the photo array contains a photograph of Chris from 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:10.480 his arrest, wearing this shirt that Schmidt has handed to 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:13.600 him that has this, you know, kind of design on it. 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:16.160 But I also think everybody else in Atlanta had on 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:17.280 County orange. 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:19.960 Yeah, you look different than the other pictures. So that's 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.720 another piece of the puzzle here, right. So LB looks 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:27.280 at this array of photos for like four or five minutes, 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:29.200 is what the record show. That's a while, you know, 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:33.480 to look and think. Eventually she ends up picking out Chris. 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.720 Chris is arrested based on the phone, but then on 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.599 the identification. This is what leads to him being charged 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:44.520 with multiple counts of rape, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, kidnapping, 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:46.240 intimidation of Filoniu's assault, the. 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.240 Saying they put me in a Cleveland Heights. It was 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:50.640 a board outside the window, so anytime I looked up 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:53.160 out the window, you got all my name and all 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:55.079 them charges. I'm like when I see what I was 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:57.679 in there because they said robbery, I see the try. 0:10:57.679 --> 0:10:59.440 I'm like man with a rape and all that come for. 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:04.400 This identification from Schmidt to LB is the through line 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:06.160 to how Chris then ends up wrapped up in this 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:07.680 criminal case he had nothing to do with. 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:12.760 Not only was this a cross racial misidentification, which study 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:16.719 after study after study have shown are less accurate than 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:21.160 guessing yeah, you heard that right, but then further suggestion 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:27.000 was added through this careful selection of clothing by detective Shit, don't. 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:28.640 Please, don't put that on you. That was an accident? 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:29.200 Was it? 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:34.160 I can't help my subconscious, okay, but really accident. 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:36.960 At this point, the case was as good as closed. 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:40.480 Except for the rape kit. So far, we just know 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.360 that there had been two contributors. 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:46.280 At the time, they use what was new technology is 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:50.640 str DNA testing. That's primitive compared to what we've got 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:54.400 available as technology at the current. So they test the 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:56.640 samples in the rape kit. There's a mixture. There are 0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:01.800 two contributors, and only one contributor could be identified at 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.640 the times with the str DNA testing. What we knew 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:07.760 is the contributor was a single mail profile Chris was 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.760 excluded from being that particular contributor, so he's not that guy. 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:14.800 There is another contributor, though, right, and that second contributor 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:18.680 was determined to have been an azospermatic contributor. 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.080 So the guy had a low sperm count. 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.640 Chris doesn't have that problem. Chris, you know, gave his 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:24.800 DNA to write for comparison. 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:29.080 He was excluded from the spermatic contributor by the DNA 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:34.120 testing and then excluded as the other contributor by logic. 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:36.920 He didn't have a low sperm count, so this should 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.120 have ended the madness right then and there, but instead 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:41.959 they tried to square the circle. 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:44.760 Said they found DNA on my jersey didn't match her. 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:47.360 They tried to test your clothes for cat hairs, hoping 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:49.040 they would match Elbie's cats. 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:53.200 Right, because my mother had cats that didn't match. Dude, 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:54.760 I don't know this lady. He wasn't me. 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:58.080 You can hear about hair comparison on Wrongful Conviction Junk 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:00.960 Science that'll be linked in the episode description. So while 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:05.040 they were tinkering around with fucking cat hair, Chris awaited 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.640 trial from jail for a year and a half and 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.800 then in Walks's public defender who instead of trying to 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:14.760 track down the restaurant camera footage or hiring an expert 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:17.360 to explain that Chris was ruled out of being a 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:21.880 contributor in the rape kit, she relayed the prosecutions deal 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:25.559 cop out an idea, you're alleged accomplice. 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:27.360 She just kept trying to give me to come out 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:29.280 to seven years. I'm like, I'm not coming on those 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:30.760 sel years. They want to give you a long time. 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:32.079 I said, well, they give me all of it. I 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:34.640 ain't about scoping those seven years. I ain't do I said, man, 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:35.120 get out of here. 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:37.360 You were not going to stand down. And at a 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:40.320 certain point, you know, before you're getting ready to go 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:43.400 to trial, your lawyer puts on the record she's told 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:45.920 you about the plea deal, right, and you've refused it. 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:49.360 You're continuing to say you're innocent. The court talked to 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:51.599 you right and wanted to make sure you understood the 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:52.720 risks to go into trial. 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:54.679 I mean, they was trying to take my life for 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.200 somebody to do something. But I'm like, I got a fight. 0:13:57.320 --> 0:13:59.600 I can't lay down like that. Man. I couldn't. Then 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:01.400 it was too much time. I'm like, hey, and I 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:03.000 didn't do nothing like I'm not gonna see here just 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.000 copp out to something. At least if I go to 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.240 trial Va Louse, I could still fight it. You know 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:07.880 what I'm saying. 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:10.560 That's the fucked up math that Chris and so many 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:13.280 other men and women are forced to do. I mean, 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:17.480 deciding whether or not to roll the dice on what 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.200 could happen as a result of taking a case to trial. 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:22.440 And for Chris, this was a trial that should have 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.320 never even happened. If he was azospermatic, maybe they could 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:28.720 have said he was the second contributor, but he didn't 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:32.960 have a low sperm count. Nevertheless, trial began in January 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:35.920 two thousand and two, and this is what the state 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:36.600 had to present. 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.320 It was made in the phone and the id ID 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:41.120 and that was it right. 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.880 Everything they did. It wasn't nothing from my fingerprints. K here. 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:47.840 I really can't with this. I mean the fucking cat 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:48.520 hair like. 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.960 So no physical evidence connecting Chris to the crime whatsoever. 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:54.800 Then it appears that maybe the prosecutor knew the case 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.400 was weak considering how he argued the case. 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:00.520 I'm going to just read a quote from the prosecutor 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:03.080 from the opening statements. He goes several days later when 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.320 he's arrested with some of the same clothing on that 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:07.920 she had described to Detective Schmidt that he had on 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.600 that night. And listen carefully. She will describe for you 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:12.560 the clothing that he was wearing and some of that 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:14.640 same clothing he had on a couple days later when 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.320 he was arrested, and the prosecutor tells the jury that 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.000 LB will talk to you very specifically about what she 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:21.760 saw with regard to the clothing. 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.720 Up until this point, we've been referring to LB's initial 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:28.120 description of the clothes blue jeans, white T shirt with 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:31.440 a circular pattern in black, and a green jacket. However, 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:34.760 this initial description was not shared with the defense, so 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.240 they didn't have it in order to impeach her trial testimony, and. 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:43.240 So in the trial, LB identifies this black jean jacket 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.040 as the one that the perpetrator wore that night. LB 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:49.880 describes the attacker who had the gun right in this duo. 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:52.920 She describes him as having now a V neck shirt 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:56.320 with a half circle. The writing she testified was his 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:58.600 half circle, and it looked to be like what she 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:02.640 said was the state's exhibit, which was your Raptor's jersey, 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:06.800 albeit admits that she's only seen one of the attackers briefly, 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:09.560 but she testified at the trial she was confident that 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:11.440 her identification of Chris was right. 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:13.680 Yeah, she got up there and point me on. He 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:15.440 was on top of me. I'm like wow. 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:18.920 But Chris was excluded by the DNA evidence as one 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:23.760 contributor as well as the azospermatic designation of the second. 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:27.240 So forensic asper testify there's no physical evidence, including Danna 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:30.120 her figure Princess, specifically tie Chris to this crime. Lena 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.720 testifies she saw Chris at home that night. 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.800 Lena was Chris's girlfriend, and then two more alibi witnesses 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.080 were presented, starting with the guy he was with when 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.200 he got the phone, Desman Fletcher. 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:45.360 But there were some little discrepancies in his story from 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:46.320 what really happened. 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.360 He let the the texts them scare him, like he 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:51.640 don't remember what due had on. He had them all black, Dude, 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:53.400 you don't remember what he had on? The say that 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:55.440 he had MUNI already knew he gonna come here and 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:58.440 say something like he messed up, like he don't remember, 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:00.520 all right, knew that I said, cause lit Yes, him 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.160 Munity Rustling walked down the al I'm like, fuck, you 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:05.920 got muney phone five piece? What is gonna plump his 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.520 stomach for a five dollar piece? Of eighteen's ago. 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.000 Since the official story went that Fletcher sold Dwayne Collins 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.840 crack after Colin sold Chris the phone, it appears that 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.359 they were holding drug charges over Fletcher's head while he testified, 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:22.920 and who knows what effect that had on his truthfulness 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:26.119 or his appearance to the jury. However, they were able 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:27.439 to locate Dwayne Collins. 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:29.320 I'll say, if I would have never met him, I 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:31.680 wouldn't be here. Man. He had to fall first, so 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:33.719 y'all should have him here. When they brought him in there, 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:36.200 Dwayne Kylas told him that he sold me the phone 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:38.720 and everything. I'm going home, And. 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.320 It appears the jury didn't have an easy time with it. 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:44.760 On one hand, you had a definitive identification from the victim, 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:47.320 who also said that the clothes Chris was wearing when 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:49.520 he was arrested with a clothes worn by the assailant. 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.720 But then there was a plausible story about the phone 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:56.400 as well as DNA testing and the azos pramatic contributor 0:17:56.440 --> 0:18:01.200 that excluded Chris, but maybe that was just about confusing 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.360 enough for the jury to totally misunderstand. 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.119 The jury deliberated for three days in this case. It's 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.440 a long time. There was clearly a struggle to determine 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:12.800 what the outcome was going to be in this case. 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.239 But eventually they came to a verdict aggravated burglary, two 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:19.119