WEBVTT - #436 Maggie Freleng with Evaristo Salas 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.719 On November fourteenth, nineteen ninety five, Jose Ariola was dropping 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:13.320 his girlfriend, Ophelia and their baby off at their apartment 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:17.080 in Sunnyside, Washington. As she was getting out of the truck, 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:21.600 Ophelia saw two figures near the driver's side window. Two 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:27.360 gunshots rang out, and Jose was dead. Detectives interviewed neighbors 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:30.880 who had witnessed the shooting, but without any forensic evidence, 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:35.800 there was little progress made on the investigation. Then five 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:40.440 months later, a police informant came forward with a name, Everisto. 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:44.160 Solace knew nothing about the crime. Was nowhere near the area. 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:46.520 Did it literally just came out of nowhere. 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:51.479 Everisto was a local teenager who had gotten into trouble before. 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:54.440 He'd been on the cops radar since he was a kid. 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.440 After the police picked him up for questioning, fifteen year 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:02.440 old Everisto was grown into an adult jail. 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.080 I look like I'm twelve. I weigh about one hundred pounds, 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.080 I'm five foot and I'm just surrounded and I'm just 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.520 like I'm scared. Hell. It says hell, like you know, 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:12.119 I mean, I know what goes on in prison. I've 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:13.559 watched movies and all those kind of things. 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.319 Six months later, Everisto was on trial for murder. 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:22.240 My name is Evadristo Salas. I was incarcerated for twenty 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:25.320 seven years three months for murder and the commit. 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.880 From Lava for good. This is wrongful conviction with Maggie 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:54.240 Freeling today, Everisto Salas. Everisto Salas was born in nineteen 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:56.200 eighty in Sunnyside, Washington. 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:00.680 It's a small farming town of about ten Another time 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:03.720 sixteen thousand. Now it was a beautiful town. The people 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:08.280 were warm. My child was really rough. My mother was 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:13.960 an alcoholic and addicted your drugs and so so chaotic, 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:17.640 and her approach to life and so undisciplined and addicted 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.760 to every vice possible that our lives were just a 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:24.160 roller coaster every day. I didn't know my biological father. 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:27.560 I knew who he was, but he didn't raise me. 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:32.000 And so my stepfather is the one that raised me 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:35.119 and kind of taught me everything about life and took 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.080 me in and to me, he's always been my father 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:40.840 because I knew nothing else. I never called him my stepfather. 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:43.200 I only do that for clarity when I'm talking to 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:47.120 other people. But he's my father. And there's no answer 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:47.679 but to buy it. 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:52.320 We always thought he was our father until we got 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:56.480 a little bit older and our biological family started coming around. 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:00.800 But he never treated us any different. He always treat 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:05.680 us the same. My name is Debbie Salas, and I 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:09.440 am Avaris So Salis's older sister, and we call him Junior. 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:13.480 Debbie was two years older than Everistow and other than 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:17.040 his stepfather, she was the only source of stability in 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:17.720 his life. 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:23.800 Me and him share the same biological father and same mother, 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:29.400 so we always had this bond since we were really little. 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:33.000 It was like me him, me him. I was always 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:36.760 protecting him regardless. It was no matter where we were 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:40.400 at a very young age till right now. I still 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:44.480 protect him. 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.600 Debbie says times weren't all bad when they were very 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:51.320 very young. She has happy memories of family outings during 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:51.880 the summer. 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:54.880 So they wished to take us to that park. I 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:57.200 forgot the name of it, but would come for the 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:01.880 day and just spend it there all day, swimming and barbecue, camping, 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.720 swimming right in the same spot our whole family did. 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:06.960 Because we have a big old family, and we'd go 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:09.240 uncles and ants or whatever and we'd go, all the 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:11.800 kids would go swimming because my brother Junior was a 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.720 fish like that kid love water. This kid could be 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:17.360 in there for like hours. 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:21.719 As the oldest, Debbie felt responsible for her younger siblings. 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:26.039 My mom had a drinking and drug problem, and so 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:30.120 that's where I had to step in for my siblings 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:34.719 to raise help raise them all. It was hard, but 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:36.760 I did the best that I could, you know, for them, 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:47.040 And that kind of still bothers me sometimes because I 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:50.480 felt like if I would have took care of him 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:54.240 a little bit better and helped raised him a little 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:58.039 bit better, he would have never went to prison. But 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.239 he'd tell tell me all the time, like it wasn't 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:04.560 my fault and I have to forgive myself. 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:11.000 And then at sixteen, Debbie became a mother herself. 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:14.320 So it was even harder for me to focus on 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.679 my child and focus on him. And when I stopped 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:21.080 focusing on him and focus on my child is when 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:27.440 I started seeing him slip. And so that's when I 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:32.440 seen him start hanging around with my boyfriend at the time, 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:37.880 and that was all the gang stuff started coming around us. 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:44.440 The town's predominant Hispanic, it was more of a mix 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:47.120 when I was younger between Caucasian and Hispanic, but now 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:51.159 it's probably ninety six nine percent of Hispanic now. And 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.280 so the culture has always been it's always it's it's 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:56.960 a real warm place growing up, and it had always 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.240 been that way until about the late eighties when the 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.359 gangs kind of kind of started coming in California in 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.080 other areas and it kind of changed the dynamic. And 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:09.440 I remember going to school and we were all friends, 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:11.280 all of us that went to school, and once the 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.880 gangs kind of arrived, that changed really really rapidly and quickly, 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.120 and the neighborhood started kind of dividing, and the town 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.920 started dividing into little small sections of different gangs, and 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:25.000 it wasn't safe to walk around anymore. That warm feeling 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:26.520 that you had kind of went away and it was 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.560 replaced with fear, and it became almost a struggle each 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:31.839 and every day, even when you were really young, to 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:34.279 just fill that piece or to go anywhere without you know, 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:37.080 either getting jumped or chase or you know, attacked. 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:41.559 Debbie's boyfriend at the time was also in a gang, 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:45.120 and she says that before long he was recruiting her 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:45.760 little brother. 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:49.159 So at first, I didn't really say anything until I 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:52.960 found out that they actually courted him, and that's when they, 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:56.040 you know, get him into the gang. They beat him 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:59.680 up for fourteen seconds or whatever. And I was really 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.320 possy off and I was yelling at my boyfriend and 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:03.919 I was yelling at my brother, and I was like, 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:04.640 what are you doing? 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:06.280 What do you think? You know, what are you thinking? 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.240 And it was already too late, because he was already 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:10.640 in there. 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:13.840 Evaristo says that once he was in the gang, there 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:17.560 was no turning back. It was a matter of survival. 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:20.920 There was gang fights. I got shot at a few times, 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:22.920 that kind of stuff. There was five of those gangs 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:25.240 that dominated the Sunnayside and it was us and we 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.320 only numbered maybe about twenty at the most, and we 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.400 had maybe a street or two, and so literally every 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.320 direction we went, we were getting targeted by this gang or 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:37.360 this gang and that gang, and so it was it 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:38.840 was really hard on us. 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:41.400 Can you kind of explain that, you know, to some 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:44.320 people who would look at your situation and be like, 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:47.640 but why would you join a gang? They're dangerous, they're bad. 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:49.960 You knew better? Can you can you kind of explain 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:50.920 what happened? 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:53.160 Well, it's hard because I mean, when I look at 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:55.040 it right now, when I have the knowledge and experience 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.680 that I have at forty two years old or you know, 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.280 but at the age of eleven and twelve, you can't 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.920 understand the dynamics of the life you're choosing, or the 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:08.400 maturity to understand that this choice you're making right now 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:10.760 is going to change the entire trajectory of your life. 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:13.800 There was a void emotionally, there was something missing in 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:17.560 my life, and I looked for another places. It wasn't 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:19.520 that I just sat down one day and said I 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:21.880 want to be a part of that gang, right. It was, 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:24.440 like I said, it was a slow, gradual process of 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.080 you know, hanging around with this family that was close 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.840 to my family, and then being targeted because of that, 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:33.559 and then thinking, oh, well I need I need my safety. 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:36.680 These provide my safety. Second, these are my brothers, you know, 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:38.079 They're all I have. You know, I don't, you know, 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:39.480 I mean, there's nobody else. 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:44.240 Part of being in a gang meant getting into trouble, 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.680 and that made Everistow a target for the local police. 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:51.840 Can you talk about some of the things you did 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:53.480 have run ins with the law about. 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:56.400 I mean, I did a lot of stupid stuff, trashpassing 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:59.280 and tagging of delinquent stuff. I broke into cars and 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.320 I tagged up those kind of things, and the law enforcement, 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:04.640 you know, they would harass me a lot on those 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.120 kinds of things. They seen us as a problem for 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.760 and as a growing problem to the town. And when 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:14.600 they approached us in aegaway, we reciprocated that and we 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:16.480 disrespected them. I used to talk bad to them all 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.600 the time, you know, and you know, they would harass me. 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:21.760 They would the would handcuff me, they would rough house me, 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:23.840 call me names, that kind of things, and I would 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:24.360 return it. 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.800 From the age of eleven or twelve. Everisto says he 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:32.040 and his friends were targeted by the local cops, but 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:35.760 it wasn't just because they were troublemakers. Everisto believes there 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:38.840 was a racial element to their hostility as well. 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.559 I would say nine percent of the polician was a Caucasian. 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:46.080 Her wife. There's a part of me that feels that 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.040 there's a few people in that department not only had 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.079 it out to be, but had it out to for 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.680 every single youthful Hispanic in our neighborhood, whether it be 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:56.880 our gang or the other gang. There was a period 0:09:56.920 --> 0:09:59.560 of probavate with four or five years of a constant harassment, 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.080 and it just got it got worse, worse, worse and worse. 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.120 If we're walking somewhere and they'd pull us over. If 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.040 I was walking somewhere by myself, they'd pull me over, 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.160 search me, pat me down, call me names, yell at me. 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:12.000 I'd have it back and forth. What are you doing? 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.520 You know, just question those kind of things, just constant harassment. 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.360 One of the officers that was involved in your case, 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:20.360 Officer Rivard. Had you had run ins with. 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.760 Him before Revard came. One time, I was walking back 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:27.880 from school and he just pulls over, passe, searches me, 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:29.760 tells me what I'm doing. And I come back from 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:34.240 school and it starts interrogating me about all these kind 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.840 of weird things and kind of yells at me, and 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:38.520 then just you know, handcustom and throws me in the 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:40.920 back of the cop carn and then he starts just 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:45.679 driving out to the country, and I'm thinking, what the 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:47.400 what is he doing? You know, where are we going? 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:49.800 You know, I mean we're going out, I mean we're going. 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:52.439 Yeah, what were you like? What did you think could 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:53.520 what could happen? 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:54.720 I thought, I thought he was gonna go out there 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:55.840 and beat the hell out of me or something, and 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:57.080 you throw me in one of the canals out there 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.520 because we're headed out way out in the country. And 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.400 he wouldn't say anything. And that even that, even I 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:04.800 was trying to get scared, you know, like, oh no, 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:06.280 this guy's what is he doing? You know? And then 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:08.360 he goes, Hey, where's your dad work at? And I 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:09.800 was like, Oh, he's gonna take me to my dad's. 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:11.960 I felt a little relief, but then I was like, 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:13.840 oh no, my dad's gonna be pissed off. You know, 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:15.040 he's gonna, you know, want the help. 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:19.480 Officer Jim Rivard drove Everisto straight to the dairy where 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:20.480 his dad was working. 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:23.640 And then he gets out and in front of my 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.120 dad's boss, he said, I found your son out there 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:28.560 doing all kinds of stuff. I literally was walking home 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:32.920 from school and I could see his boss looking and 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.280 I'm just like, and my dad gives me that look 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:39.280 like and I'm like, oh no, and I'm I'm in 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:42.040 tears already. Others, I mean, because I got the utmost 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:45.120 respect for my dad and knowing that his boss is 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:46.679 right there, that he works hard, and I'm just like, 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:47.320 oh no. 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:53.280 At first, everisto stepfather believed Rivard, but as the months 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:56.600 went by and the harassment continued, he realized that his 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:57.920 son was being targeted. 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.840 And my dad has this old, old, you know, Mexican 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.920 mindset where he they'll accept a lot and they'll accept 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:09.320 the treatment of injustice. And my dad said, oh, we 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:10.719 just got to push on, you know, we gotta do 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:12.640 what we gotta do. You know, we can't do nothing 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:13.640 about this. To keep pushing. 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:17.880 And then in November of nineteen ninety five, when Everisto 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:22.160 was fourteen years old, there was a fatal shooting in Sunnyside. 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:28.800 It happened about a mile from his house, and. 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:31.679 The person who was shot and killed. His name was 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:32.959 Jose Ariola. 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:37.839 This is Laura Shaver. She's Everisto's post conviction attorney. 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.400 He and his girlfriend had just gotten back from the 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:45.160 store and they parked in their apartment parking lot. She 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.800 got out with their baby kind of walking towards their 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.880 apartment and he stayed in the car. She saw two 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:55.319 boys kind of approaching the truck. She described them as 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:57.199 a fifteen year old and a seven or an eight 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.880 year old, and then she turned around and kept going 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.400 and next thing she heard was two gunshots. 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:06.959 Officer Rivard had been moved to the detective squad at 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.800 this point and he was put in charge of investigating 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.480 the shooting. This was his first homicide. 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:17.440 They impound the truck, They put like an evidence hold 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:20.040 on it, which is very normal, so that no one 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:23.000 can get it out, and they start, you know, following 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.080 as many leads as they can and interviewing witnesses. Probably 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:30.800 about four days after the homicide, the girlfriend, who name's Ophelia, 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.199 she went down to the impound lot and she told 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:38.080 them that the police gave her permission to retrieve the truck, 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.480 and so they gave it to her. Oh wow, and 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:46.720 they just like didn't see or disregarded the hold, the 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.080 evidence hold that was on it. So now we don't 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.640 have the truck, which is the crime scene. 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:55.800 Detective Vard spoke to several people who had witnessed the shooting, 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:58.120 including Ophelia Gonzalez. 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:03.360 Her description of the suspects didn't match really anyone else's. 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:07.000 There weren't any other eyewitnesses that were up close as 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:09.920 she was, because she was right there. But there was 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.360 a man in a neighboring apartment complex. He was on 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.480 the second floor, so he heard an argument and then 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.400 he heard gunshots, and he went out to his balcony 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:22.640 and looked down and he saw two people in their 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:26.480 late twenties thirties running to a car. And then there 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:29.880 were three kids that were playing across the street, but 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.480 they had a fence so they couldn't see, but they 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:36.240 all said that they heard a woman scream Ricardo, leave 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:39.440 him alone, and then they heard an argument and then 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:40.680 they heard gunshots. 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:45.320 With conflicting witness statements and no hard evidence to go on, 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:50.600 Rivard made little progress on the case. Five months went by. 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:55.600 And according to him, sometime in March of ninety six, 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.280 he gets in touch with one of his informants that 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:01.240 he's worked with a bunch and says, hey, you know, 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:03.880 go get go hit the pavement and see if you 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:07.000 can find out anything about this homicide. 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:09.720 The informant's name was Bill brun. 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:14.240 So he reports back and he says, yeah, I heard 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:18.120 some kids talking at a park about this homicide and 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:19.120 essentially confessing. 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.920 At the same time, Everisto was also being questioned at 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:24.920 the police station. 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:28.000 Because he was a witness and another homicide. So he's 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:32.560 in with another detective and Rivard decides to go in 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:35.160 and take pictures of him, and so he took three 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:38.200 polaroid pictures and then he went back to his office 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:41.800 where Bill was, and Rivard says he then threw the 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:46.000 pictures on his desk and Bill said, Hey, that's the guy. 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:49.760 That's the kid who was confessing at the park in 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:53.480 these polaroids. And that's how Junior gets involved in the case. 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:58.000 Ophelia Gonzalez had told police that she saw two young 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:01.960 boys near the truck just before Jose was shot. When 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:04.960 she was shown a photo lineup that included the polaroids 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:10.000 detective Revard had taken of Everisto, Ophelia identified him as 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:16.160 one of the boys she'd seen. On May twenty second, 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:19.440 nineteen ninety six, Everisto was picked up by police for 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:21.680 questioning about Jose's murder. 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:25.440 I was arrested a day after we buried my friend 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.080 who was killed a week before. He was my best friend. 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:31.240 I grew up with him and I was there when 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:32.600 he's killed. He was killed right in front of me. 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:35.440 He was seventeen years old, killed at the jackpot here 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:37.520 in sunnyside right in front of it, a rival gang. 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:41.040 I carried his casket and then we buried him the 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:42.560 next day. They can't picked me up at nine in 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:47.240 the morning and didn't tell me what they were taking. 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:50.520 Mind you, they do this all the time. So I'm 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.480 pissed off, saying, look, I've been up for a week, 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:55.400 I haven't slept. My best friend was killed the other 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:57.120 you guys know this, what do. 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:00.960 You want Everisto was questioned by Detective did jim Levard 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:04.200 and Jose Trevino. He assumed he had been picked up 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:07.080 to talk about his friend's shooting, and. 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:08.879 They're like, yeahs, where were you? Where were you at 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:12.280 in November? I was like November? What? November ninety five? 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:15.320 I was like what day? And they were like, we 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:18.679 all just November ninety five and I was like, home, 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:20.680 I don't, I don't know what do you mean? Where 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:21.200 was I at? 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:21.320 You know? 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:24.440 I mean the day? There's nothing about the day that's special. 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:28.479 It's just another day of a fifteen year old kid's life. 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:31.119 I don't have a car, I don't have parties. I 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:33.520 go to I literally sit home or go to school 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:36.160 and that's it. There's nothing special about it. And they're 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:38.879 asking me these things, and I literally like, I don't know. 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.120 I had to be home. And so when they said, well, 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:43.159 someone said you killed Jose Ariola, and I was like, 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:48.879 who the hell's Jose Ariola? And I knew him in 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:52.040 the sense that I had heard about him, but not personally, 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:55.080 but I heard his name was they called them bugs 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:59.359 and then they're like bugs and I was like, oh 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.000 my god, are you serious, and they and then I said, 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:04.480 I said, look, none of us had a part to 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:05.240 play and none of that. 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:12.480 But Detective Orvard kept pushing him. 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:13.440 If I kept telling him I didn't do it. Look, 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:15.040 even I looked at him, I said, look, you know, 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:17.919 you've known me my entire life. I mean, come on, 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:20.000 and he was just like he looks at me, and 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:21.320 he goes, you didn't think we're ever going to catch it? 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:25.960 And so this was there was a different tone this time, 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:28.520 you know, And I knew just by his tone in 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.359 the way that his decision was already made long before 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.159 I even went into that room. He had decided I 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:36.480 don't know when, but that it was going to be me. 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:40.600 It was the worst feeling in the world because by 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:44.120 that I was already crying you know. I was in tears. 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:46.680 And they allowed me to call my dad and try 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:48.440 to explain to him, and he tried to calm down, 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:51.720 calm down, I can't understand, understand, And I said, they 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:53.159 were saying I killed somebody that I don't know. I 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.119 don't know what the hell they're talking about. That they're 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:57.159 not playing. They're not playing, no man, And he's like, 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:00.400 calm down, Look, what are you talking about? I said, Dad, 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:02.920 And I couldn't even speak, you know, I just my head. 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:05.920 It was it was just spinning, and it was hysterical. 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:08.600 And because I could tell they were not playing. 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:23.520 You're listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. You can 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.640 listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:30.080 one week early and ad free by subscribing to Lava 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.360 for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:44.720 They stripped me naked and then they throw me in 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:48.080 an adult jumpsuit. It doesn't even fit me. It's like 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:52.400 a five X or something. And the jumpsuits tore from 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:54.480 the leg all the way down, so my whole leg 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:57.920 on this side is exposed. I was barefooted, I was 0:19:58.000 --> 0:19:59.320 naked under and then they throw me in the back 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:02.720 of the cop car and just carked me off and 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:04.080 they take me into it and they put me in 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.359 the booking and then the lady looks at me and 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:09.679 she goes tells the cop why are you bringing him here? 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:13.880 He's a juno clearly, and he's like, oh, it doesn't matter, 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:15.760 he's gonna come over here anyways. They're going to charge 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:18.720 him as though anyway, so he's gonna come here, and 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:21.720 almost forced her to do the booking. It was almost 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:26.879 sadistic in a way, and he didn't say it, but 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:30.119 his actions showed that, for whatever reason, he enjoyed that 0:20:30.160 --> 0:20:32.800 part of it, that that was him exercising the power 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:35.399 over me and saying, now, look, how we got you. 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:41.800 He's enjoying the fact that I'm clearly just in a 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:45.320 massive amount of distress. You know, I'm an adult jail 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:47.040 like you know, I mean, i know what goes on 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:49.040 in prison. I've watched movies and all those kind of things. 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:54.640 Everisto's sister, Debbie, got the news of his arrest from 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:56.040 their stepfather. 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:57.800 When they didn't bring them home. My dad's the one 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:00.280 that called and told me, you know, hey, they that 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:02.840 they're charging him a murder And I'm like, what. I 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:05.919 started crying like, I just bald. I'm like, what did 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:07.560 I talk y'all? Now, it's not for reals, you know. 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:11.119 We were just in shock. And then I was the 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:14.600 one that got the lawyer. A sixteen year old looking 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:16.280 for a lawyer, come on, you know what I mean. 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:18.920 I did the best that I could, and I thought 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:21.679 that his lawyer was going to get him off, but 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:23.000 he did it. 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:28.439