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Speaker 1: On the night of January tenth, two thousand and nine,

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Speaker 1: forty three year old Jerome Loach was performing as one

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Speaker 1: of the leads in a church play in South Philadelphia.

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Speaker 1: At the same time, police were responding to a home

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Speaker 1: invasion in West Philadelphia in which two men forced themselves

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Speaker 1: into a home at gunpoint, confronting three women. Nothing was

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Speaker 1: stolen and no one was hurt. As police arrived, they

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Speaker 1: saw two men running away and arrested Sophie Batt and

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Speaker 1: Jesse Higgins. One of the victims, stated that there was

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Speaker 1: a third man involved in In Batt's original statement, he said

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Speaker 1: that he didn't know the person, but under threat of

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Speaker 1: deportation and other charges by investigators, Fat changed his story

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Speaker 1: to say that the third man was his employer at

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Speaker 1: a barber shop, Jerome Loach. Jerome was arrested when charged

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Speaker 1: with forty two counts, but prior to trial, Bat recanted

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Speaker 1: his identification, citing pressure from investigators. Despite this, the prosecution

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Speaker 1: read Bat's prior statement to the jury in light of

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Speaker 1: the actual exculpatory phone records. An investigator misled the jury

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Speaker 1: with fabricated phone records to tie Jerome into the crime.

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Speaker 1: When the defense failed to present Jerome's alibi or to

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Speaker 1: expose the fake phone records. Jerome was convicted and sentenced

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Speaker 1: to twenty five to fifty years. Jerome was able to

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Speaker 1: win an evidentiary hearing in which he was able to

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Speaker 1: present his alibi and expose the fraudulent phone records, proving

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Speaker 1: both ineffective assistance of counsel and prosecutorial misconduct, ultimately setting

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Speaker 1: himself free after a decade in prison. This is romful conviction.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to ronful Conviction. I'm your host, Jason Flomm.

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Speaker 1: Today's episode would actually be better as a comedy if

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Speaker 1: it wasn't so incredibly sinister and if the consequences were

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Speaker 1: so terror of this ridiculous frame job. And when I

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Speaker 1: say that, I'm talking about Jerome Loach. So, Jerome, first

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Speaker 1: of all, welcome to wrongful Conviction. I'm sorry you're here,

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Speaker 1: but I'm happy you're here.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, and the audience will allow me to come

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Speaker 2: before y'all and share my story.

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Speaker 1: So, Jerome, you grew up in Philadelphia, is that right?

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Speaker 3: Yes, sir?

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Speaker 1: Feel listen, what was your life like growing up and

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Speaker 1: what were your interactions with law enforcement before this crazy day?

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Speaker 2: Essentially, I grew up in a single parent household. My

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Speaker 2: father passed away when I was about ten years old.

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Speaker 2: That left my mother to raise six children. I took

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Speaker 2: to the streets at of every young age. I wound

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Speaker 2: up getting caught up in little nicknacked crimes, nothing serious,

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Speaker 2: but just getting caught up with the wrong crowd.

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Speaker 3: All my other.

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Speaker 2: Siblings they wound up growing up to become successful entrepreneurs, ministers.

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Speaker 2: My brother, he went on his served twenty five years

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Speaker 2: in the army, and so I was the only one

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Speaker 2: that made that wrong turn.

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Speaker 3: I was young at the time.

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Speaker 2: I served my time, and during my incarceration, I went

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Speaker 2: to the University of Pittsburgh, went to college.

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Speaker 3: I wound up getting a couple of trades.

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Speaker 2: One of the main trade was in barbering, and I

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Speaker 2: wound up getting my license. I transformed that and wound

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Speaker 2: up getting my manager's license, and so when I come

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Speaker 2: back home, I wound up getting into real estate and

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Speaker 2: opening up a barbershop. Once I opened up the barbershop,

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Speaker 2: I felt the need to want to give back, and

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Speaker 2: so those individuals that was returning home, ex offenders and

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Speaker 2: things of that nature who had the barbered license, I

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Speaker 2: would hire them at my barbershop, you know, give them

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Speaker 2: like a second chance, like I got a second chance,

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Speaker 2: try to get their life in order and doing this.

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Speaker 2: One individual that I wind up hiring was an individual

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Speaker 2: by the name of Sophie fat And this is how

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Speaker 2: this story in my life began to take a change.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it adds a layer of tragedy to this awful

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Speaker 1: injustice because it impacted you and your family, but also

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Speaker 1: the opportunities that you were providing for people who really

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Speaker 1: needed those opportunities. Let's go back to the case itself.

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Speaker 1: So at nine point fifteen on January tenth, two thousand

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Speaker 1: and nine, the Philadelphia Police responded to a report of

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Speaker 1: a home invasion in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood of West Philadelphia. Now,

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Speaker 1: three women were in the house, and they said that

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Speaker 1: a man knocked on their door pretending to be a

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Speaker 1: pizza delivery guy. He and another man forced their way

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Speaker 1: in at gunpoint. But here's where it gets really weird, right.

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Speaker 1: They asked one of the women where her boyfriend was.

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Speaker 1: She said she didn't know, and soon they left without

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Speaker 1: taking anything, sort of apologetically, from what I understand, they

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Speaker 1: were like, you know, sorry, we bothered you. Type of

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Speaker 1: thing I mean, And in the end, nobody was hurt

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Speaker 1: and nothing was stolen. Okay, very unusual set of circumstances here.

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Speaker 1: So then police approached the he Wow. So they saw

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Speaker 1: two guys running away, and they arrested two guys, a

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Speaker 1: guy named Sophie Fat and Jesse Higgins. They recovered a

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Speaker 1: bandana and a gun holster from Higgins at a tourist

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Speaker 1: revolver from an alley where Higgins was found running. The

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Speaker 1: women identified both of the guys as the home invaders

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Speaker 1: and said that they're in the invasion. This is an

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Speaker 1: important point. Higgins would perceive a call and turned to

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Speaker 1: Fat and said let's go right before they left Esventually,

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Speaker 1: they were both charged with Berkeley conspiracy from at Berkeley

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Speaker 1: So one of the women said there was a third person,

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Speaker 1: a black man in his twenties, about six feet tall,

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Speaker 1: with the tan jacket and jeans, who got away. Now.

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Speaker 1: She told police that one of the other women might

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Speaker 1: have known this man, implying that the home invasion had

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Speaker 1: been a setup. Sophie Fatt made a statement to Detective

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Speaker 1: John Druding on January eleventh that he didn't know who

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Speaker 1: this third man was besides that his nickname was Rome. So, Jerome,

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Speaker 1: did you match the description of that person in any

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Speaker 1: meaningful way?

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Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, I'm about twice that age number

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Speaker 2: at that particular time. I'm mid forties, my built, everything

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Speaker 2: was totally opposite. Nothing about her description match me. And

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Speaker 2: we know that to be true because afterwards, a year

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Speaker 2: or so later, when my picture was given to all

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Speaker 2: the victims, they all said they couldn't identify me, that

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Speaker 2: they didn't know who I was. Sophie Fat, in his

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Speaker 2: original statement, he never said that there was three people

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Speaker 2: that came in the house. He said that it was

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Speaker 2: another person that was involved in the planning, and that

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Speaker 2: this person came to the house but never came in

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Speaker 2: the house. Sophie Fat also stated that he was upstairs

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Speaker 2: and he came downstairs and that's when the second person, Jesse,

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Speaker 2: said we have to go. Sophie Fat never claimed in

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Speaker 2: his first statement that he heard.

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Speaker 3: A phone call. He's seen a phone call, none of that.

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Speaker 1: And Jesse, of course versus Jesse Higgins, who was Sophie

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Speaker 1: Vatt's co defendant. And in October of that year it

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Speaker 1: had been ten months since the crime, Sophie Fatt made

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Speaker 1: a deal with prosecutors, and this happens again and again,

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Speaker 1: where people receive almost an offer they can't refuse in

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Speaker 1: exchange for implicating basically anybody else. So in this new statement,

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Speaker 1: Fat now said that you, Jerome, were involved in the

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Speaker 1: invasion and were the person he had previously identified as Rome.

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Speaker 1: He said that you persuaded him to commit the home

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Speaker 1: invasion to pay off a debt, and that you had

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Speaker 1: been there during the robbery, had given Fat, who posed

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Speaker 1: as a pizza deliverer, a gun, and had texted Higgins

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Speaker 1: during the crime. So what do you think caused him

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Speaker 1: to finger you? I mean, other than the obvious, which

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Speaker 1: was that he had to pick someone out if he

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Speaker 1: wanted to take some of the heat off of himself.

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Speaker 2: Well, I don't know what was in Fat's mind, but

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Speaker 2: what I do know is that Fat came under a

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Speaker 2: lot of pressure from the police officers. They was threatening

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Speaker 2: with deportation, they was threatening with fifty years, all types

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Speaker 2: of stuff.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, it's sad because you were a guy who

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Speaker 1: had given Fat an opportunity working in your barbershop. So

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Speaker 1: it's almost like a Shakespearean twist to this whole thing

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Speaker 1: for him to come forward and implicate you. So this

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Speaker 1: crazy case began under the district Attorney Lynn Abraham, who

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Speaker 1: was wrapping up a very checkered twenty year tenure, to

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Speaker 1: say the least. But her successor was the newly elected

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Speaker 1: Seth Williams, and when he picked up this case, he

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Speaker 1: decided to make it an example of how tough on

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Speaker 1: crime he was. And so, jero on December nineteen, two

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Speaker 1: thousand and nine, you were charged with forty two counts

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Speaker 1: related to the incident, including two counts of robbery and

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Speaker 1: single counts of criminal conspiracy, burglary, falls and prisonment, terroristic

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Speaker 1: threats at attempted theft. But neither fat nor Higgins had

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Speaker 1: been charged with the majority of these alleged crimes. And

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Speaker 1: then you were arrested January fourth, twenty ten. But here's

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Speaker 1: the thing. We haven't even scratched the surface on this insanity,

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Speaker 1: because what adds another huge layer to all of this

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Speaker 1: is your alibi. Your airtight alibi. I mean, in a

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Speaker 1: world of alibis, yours was truly top tier. If someone

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Speaker 1: could get convicted with an albi like yours, then nobody

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Speaker 1: is saved from this. So tell us what you were

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Speaker 1: doing at exactly the time that this crazy situation was unfolding.

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Speaker 2: At the time that this whole thing was unfolding, I

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Speaker 2: was performing in a play called Clean Up Your Own Mess.

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Speaker 3: It was a church play.

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Speaker 2: And it had two viewings, one on the afternoon and one

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Speaker 2: doing an evening.

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Speaker 3: In time, I'm one of the lead characters in this play.

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Speaker 2: You know, billboards, paste ubs, everything showing that I'm at

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Speaker 2: this play.

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Speaker 3: And while was at this play, this crime was going on.

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Speaker 1: So how many people were there?

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Speaker 2: You know, we looking at over one hundred people, so

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Speaker 2: that was there at this play.

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Speaker 1: So again, there's not too many cases I've ever heard

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Speaker 1: of where you have over one hundred alibi witnesses. Now,

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Speaker 1: your first attorney didn't even investigate the albi, right, which

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Speaker 1: would not be a difficult alibi to investigate. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you throw a stick out there and you'd hit one

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Speaker 1: of the witnesses, so you replaced her, and the new

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Speaker 1: attorney said he would investigate it and presented a trial.

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Speaker 1: But as the case approached the time of trial, that

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Speaker 1: attorney told you and your family that he couldn't present

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Speaker 1: his alibi defense because the first attorney failed to give

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Speaker 1: adequate notice to the court. I mean, it's just unbelievable.

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Speaker 1: But there you were heading into your trial, and there's

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Speaker 1: yet another statement from Sophie Fatt. Please tell us about that.

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Speaker 2: So once he gave his statement, a month later he

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Speaker 2: gave another state and guess what. It exonerated me of

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Speaker 2: everything before I even go to trial. Before anything happens,

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Speaker 2: he said, hey, hold up, I lie. This man never

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Speaker 2: had nothing to do with this case. I made it

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Speaker 2: up because I was trying to get a better deal.

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Speaker 2: And so when we go to trial, he takes the

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Speaker 2: stand and he told them over after he was badgered

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Speaker 2: by the DA, he said, listen, this man ain't had

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Speaker 2: nothing to do with this case.

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Speaker 3: I lied, And they didn't want to believe that.

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Speaker 2: They went so far as to say that I may

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Speaker 2: have gotten somebody to get at him. Well, that didn't work,

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Speaker 2: because he wound up saying, hey, I'm the leader of

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Speaker 2: an Asian gang.

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Speaker 3: And I'm not afraid of none of this.

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Speaker 2: He hasn't been threatened, that no one had been approached.

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Speaker 3: They didn't want to believe that.

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Speaker 1: So two of the women testified and didn't identify you.

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Speaker 1: Fat came clean and said that you had nothing to

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Speaker 1: do with this, that he had lied previously, because he

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Speaker 1: was threatened with deportation. And then Higgins, who pleaded guilty,

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Speaker 1: didn't testify at all, So the prosecutors had basically nothing

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Speaker 1: to go on at this point, so they had to

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Speaker 1: make up something, right, and that's where these phantom phone

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Speaker 1: records come in. We've been doing this show for over

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Speaker 1: five years, two hundred and fifty episodes or whatever. I

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Speaker 1: don't think I've ever heard this one. Just follow along

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Speaker 1: with me for a second here. Okay, So prosecutors used

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Speaker 1: phone records to try to show that you were involved, right,

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Speaker 1: What they actually showed was that you weren't involved. The

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Speaker 1: original records they suppeeded in two thousand and nine were

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Speaker 1: almost completely exculpatory for you. Higgins's phone showed no local

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Speaker 1: calls at all on the day of the crime, so

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Speaker 1: that blows it up right there. Then the police assumed

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Speaker 1: that the records were wrong, so they weren't introduced into evidence.

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Speaker 1: Let me just say that again. Police assumed that the records,

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Speaker 1: which weren't wrong because they couldn't have been wrong, were wrong.

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Speaker 1: Then they used a digital tool called a universal Forensic

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Speaker 1: Extraction device to get records directly from the phone. But

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Speaker 1: this also showed no calls or text between Higgins and

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Speaker 1: you on the day of the crime, So okay, again,

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Speaker 1: should be case closed, But nope. So this is where

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Speaker 1: Detective Christopher ten Kellowix ended up going into Higgins's phone

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Speaker 1: and looking at the call log. Now a trial, he

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Speaker 1: testified as an expert in digital forensics, said that he

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Speaker 1: quote manually extracted twenty five calls between the phone allegedly

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Speaker 1: belonged to Higgins and a phone registered to Loach's wife.

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Speaker 1: He manually extractedly, but I'm trying to figure out what

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Speaker 1: that means. He also said he found a text from

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Speaker 1: the Loach phone to the Higgins phone, made a few

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Speaker 1: hours before the home invasion, and this info was contained

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Speaker 1: in a quote unquote supplemental report that Detective tank Kellowick's

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Speaker 1: attached to the uped report. So, I mean, drum, what

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Speaker 1: the hell.

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Speaker 3: Man this here?

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Speaker 2: It pains me to talk about it a lot of times. Essentially,

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Speaker 2: what happened was that because the young lady said that

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Speaker 2: there was a phone call, they needed something to corroborate that.

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Speaker 2: They then got Sophie Fat and then instead of Sophie

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Speaker 2: Fat saying that it was a phone call, he slips

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Speaker 2: and say that it was a text message and it's

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Speaker 2: on record now.

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Speaker 3: Has that never came out, I probably still would be

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Speaker 3: doing fifty years in prison.

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Speaker 2: Detective John Juden, he was the lead detective on this

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Speaker 2: case and he was the one who obtained the phone

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Speaker 2: records a year before I even got arrested Sophie Fat

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Speaker 2: and mister Higgins was already convicted a year before me.

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Speaker 3: And so Judy goes on this stamp.

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Speaker 2: He's talking insane things about the phone records. So we

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Speaker 2: had to get what he said then in compare to

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Speaker 2: what he's saying a year later now. And so when

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Speaker 2: he got the phone records back then, he said that

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Speaker 2: there was no local phone calls on mister Higgins's phone records.

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Speaker 2: He then looked at Sophie fat phone records and there

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Speaker 2: was again no phone calls between.

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Speaker 3: Us, so that was a problem.

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Speaker 2: He then turned around and he got with a detective

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Speaker 2: named Christopher tink Kellowists.

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Speaker 3: He was a detective.

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Speaker 2: Who moonlighted as an expert in forensics. Mister tank Kelligish

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Speaker 2: had the phone records from AT and T and Sprint,

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Speaker 2: both of these phone companies basically said there is no

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Speaker 2: phone calls during this time period. That equates it's the

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Speaker 2: Loaches phone to these phones.

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Speaker 3: None. Not only that, the phone company.

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Speaker 2: Said this phone itself do not have the capabilities to

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Speaker 2: make texts, but they withheld all of that. Tank Calliquish said,

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Speaker 2: let's use a universal for rigic distraction device. This is

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Speaker 2: the device that FBI and everybody else uses to extract

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Speaker 2: information from phones and computers. And he plugged that into

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Speaker 2: the phone and in two minutes it extracted no phone calls.

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Speaker 2: And this is what tank Calliquish testified to after the

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Speaker 2: report that none of this stuff was.

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Speaker 3: In that phone.

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Speaker 2: He then picked up the phone a day two days later,

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Speaker 2: and miraculously he sees twenty five phone calls and a

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Speaker 2: text message all around the time of this crime.

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Speaker 1: So he saw twenty five calls that AT and T

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Speaker 1: had the incontroversial evidence never happened, and a text mess

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Speaker 1: since that AT and T said the phone was incapable

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Speaker 1: of sending. I mean, this is this is really dark stuff.

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Speaker 2: And it gets crazier because we say Higgins phone, well

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Speaker 2: that was a lie.

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Speaker 3: It wasn't even his phone.

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Speaker 2: Sprint wind up sending records saying that Higgins never owned

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Speaker 2: the phone, that this phone that they looking at belongs

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Speaker 2: to someone else, and they misrepresented the facts, They concealed

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Speaker 2: the evidence, you know, and they made it all appear

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Speaker 2: to be something that it wasn't. Sprint records came back

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Speaker 2: and said those was no twenty five calls at and

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Speaker 2: T said, those wasn't twenty five calls at and T

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Speaker 2: said that phone can't even text. But that's where when

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Speaker 2: you say manually extract.

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Speaker 3: That sounds real technical.

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Speaker 2: But all he did was picked the phone up and

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Speaker 2: looked at it, a phone that supposedly been sitting in

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Speaker 2: evidence for over a year. So you saying that every

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Speaker 2: other police officer or detective before tank Calibers who had

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Speaker 2: that phone looked at this phone and they didn't see

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Speaker 2: none of this because Detective Judie said that in order

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Speaker 2: for him to get the phone number from that phone,

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Speaker 2: he had to turn it on and look through the phone,

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Speaker 2: and he said he could not find nothing in the phone.

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Speaker 1: That's because there was nothing in the phone. And it

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Speaker 1: still gets crazier from here, because the police also had

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Speaker 1: mister Fatt's phone records which showed a call at one

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Speaker 1: twenty two and nine oh seven to the phone registered

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Speaker 1: to your wife, right, because he was somebody who worked

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Speaker 1: for you and you knew him right, but equally important,

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Speaker 1: the phone continued to be used after fats arrest at

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Speaker 1: nine to twenty pm on January tenth, two thousand and nine.

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Speaker 1: So Detective Drudien testified that Fat would have had his

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Speaker 1: phone confiscated upon arrest. Of course he would, and he

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Speaker 1: was unable to explain these additionalks. That's crazy. So the

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Speaker 1: prosecutor closed by referencing the text from you to Higgins

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Speaker 1: and said that the phone records showed a coordinated effort

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Speaker 1: by the three of you. Loach Batten Higgins. He said,

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Speaker 1: quote at nine oh seven pm, the robbery is underway.

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Speaker 1: Sophie Fat is in the middle of this robbery. Who

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Speaker 1: does he call? He calls the defendant. Why would he

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Speaker 1: do that? Ladies and gentlemen, There were twenty five phone

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Speaker 1: calls that day. Now, I don't know about you, but

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Speaker 1: I can't remember the last time I called someone twenty

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Speaker 1: five times in a day. The only way that's happening,

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Speaker 1: something very important must be happening. Think about it. Something

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Speaker 1: in your life. You know a baby, you know a

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Speaker 1: job promotion, you get on the phone, you keep calling people. Well,

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Speaker 1: this robbery is important it's important to the defendant, it's

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Speaker 1: important to fat and Higgins. End quote. What a steaming

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Speaker 1: pile of bullshit that is. Oh my god, that's the

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Speaker 1: quote from the closing argument. What is wrong with these people?

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Speaker 1: So during deliberations, jurors asked to review the cell phone

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Speaker 1: records for Higgins. Prosecutors told the judge that they didn't

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Speaker 1: have the actual record us to supplemental report, So they

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Speaker 1: withheld the real records, they substituted this quote unquote supplemental report,

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Speaker 1: and that was what was given to the jurors. I

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Speaker 1: actually feel sick for the jurors because they were sitting

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Speaker 1: there having no ability to make a decision based on facts.

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Speaker 2: You absolutely hit it on the nail. I do not

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Speaker 2: fuck the jury. They only go on what's presented before them.

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Speaker 2: And the jury acts three times. We want to see

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Speaker 2: those phone records from Sprint. And that's when the DA said, yeah, no,

355
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Speaker 2: we don't have those, and the judge was kind of

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Speaker 2: like taking a back, like, huh, well, what was.

357
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Speaker 3: We using during the trial.

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Speaker 2: He said, oh, that was a report that was prepaid

359
00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:44,880
Speaker 2: by the detective.

360
00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:46,919
Speaker 3: And the judge said, well, they don't want to see that.

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Speaker 2: They want to see the actual phone records, and so

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Speaker 2: they asked the jury, listen, we don't have the phone records.

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Speaker 2: Do y'all want to see the report? That's the only

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Speaker 2: thing we have. And the jury took this and they

365
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Speaker 2: convicted me. I do not falk the jury for what

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Speaker 2: they did because they only went on what was resented

367
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Speaker 2: before them.

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Speaker 1: So the jury convicted you of criminal conspiracy on May

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00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,000
Speaker 1: twenty seven, twenty eleven, but it quitted you on all

370
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Speaker 1: the other charges. So that moment when the jury came

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Speaker 1: back in, I mean, you had seen what these people

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Speaker 1: were capable of, and you'd been through a lot of

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Speaker 1: insanity already. Did you still hold out hope that you

374
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Speaker 1: were going to be exonerated and the truth would come out?

375
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Speaker 1: And what was it like to find out that you

376
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Speaker 1: were going to prison for fifty years?

377
00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:34,920
Speaker 2: I honestly believe I was going to be exonerated because

378
00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:38,120
Speaker 2: I knew I was innocent. But when that verdict came back,

379
00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:40,919
Speaker 2: it took everything out of me. The only way that

380
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,680
Speaker 2: I can explain it, and my soul was stripped when

381
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Speaker 2: they gave me fifty years.

382
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Speaker 3: I couldn't believe it. I said, I know my life

383
00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,919
Speaker 3: ain't going in like this is y'all kidding me? Like,

384
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Speaker 3: wake me up? Is this a nightmare?

385
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Speaker 2: I went in fighting because I said, if I'm going

386
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Speaker 2: to die in here, I'm going to die fighting. And

387
00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,040
Speaker 2: twice my life almost came to it end while being

388
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Speaker 2: in prison. The psychological and physical torture that I experienced

389
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:30,359
Speaker 2: while being incarcerated. I am subjected to being in the

390
00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:34,119
Speaker 2: cell by myself because the psychological issues that I have

391
00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:38,000
Speaker 2: been dealing with, PTSD and things of that nature. And

392
00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:42,440
Speaker 2: one day I fell out and myself out completely nine

393
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Speaker 2: ten o'clock at night, I have to be rushed to

394
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Speaker 2: the hospital. Outside hospital in which I stayed for a

395
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Speaker 2: few days, my blood pressure shot to the roof. I

396
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:55,080
Speaker 2: can recall the doctor said, why is your blood pressure

397
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Speaker 2: so high? I said, why did y'all convict me? That's

398
00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:02,280
Speaker 2: why my blood pressure is so high. And so another

399
00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:05,440
Speaker 2: incident is when I couldn't walk no more than a

400
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:08,520
Speaker 2: hundred feet before I would pass out, and no one

401
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,199
Speaker 2: could understand why. I wind up being admitted to the

402
00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:14,760
Speaker 2: hospital for a couple of weeks. This time I wind

403
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,879
Speaker 2: up learning that I have a severe case of a needing.

404
00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:19,960
Speaker 2: So now I have to take medication for the rest

405
00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:22,240
Speaker 2: of my life to help me throughout the day.

406
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,439
Speaker 3: And so all these things.

407
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:28,800
Speaker 2: That I have been experienced with distress and loss of

408
00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:32,880
Speaker 2: loved ones and things this nature like it just tormented

409
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,480
Speaker 2: me beyond torment. I can't describe it now. I don't

410
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,679
Speaker 2: wish this on my worsest enemy. What they've done to me,

411
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Speaker 2: you know.

412
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Speaker 1: I can't even imagine. But during this time, you're also

413
00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:47,840
Speaker 1: pursuing your claims of innocence, and Michael Pelegi began representing

414
00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:49,840
Speaker 1: you after you had filed pro sae emotions and I

415
00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,800
Speaker 1: know you had appealed the conviction arguing that a potential

416
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:55,320
Speaker 1: juror had been dismissed due to his race, that that's

417
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:57,840
Speaker 1: out of court statement was too unreliable to be admitted

418
00:23:57,840 --> 00:23:59,680
Speaker 1: to evidence. Sounds like you became a pretty good lawyer

419
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:02,000
Speaker 1: in Print and yourself, and in fact, you went so

420
00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 1: far and I loved this part of the story to

421
00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:08,840
Speaker 1: send a subpoena to Higgins's phone company Sprint, including one

422
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:11,399
Speaker 1: way you referred to yourself as the law office of

423
00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:13,760
Speaker 1: Jerome Loja. I love that.

424
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:19,760
Speaker 2: Yes, that's how the phone records began to unravel. What

425
00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,280
Speaker 2: I did was I had the love of my family

426
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:26,680
Speaker 2: still out here in society still to this day, and

427
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:31,639
Speaker 2: my brother went down to city Hall and for five

428
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:35,800
Speaker 2: dollars he got me some subpoenas from the courthouse and

429
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,960
Speaker 2: sent them back up to the prison and I filled

430
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,840
Speaker 2: those subpoenas out and I subpoenaed the phone company. Well,

431
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,880
Speaker 2: they thought I was working with the DA's office, and

432
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:51,760
Speaker 2: they wind up sending me the phone records saying that

433
00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:55,200
Speaker 2: mister Higgins doesn't have a.

434
00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:57,800
Speaker 3: Phone registered to them.

435
00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,400
Speaker 2: That blew my mind because all through my trial transcripts,

436
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,960
Speaker 2: that's all they talked about is that the police subpoena

437
00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:08,439
Speaker 2: mister Higgins's phone records. So I said, well, hold on,

438
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:11,480
Speaker 2: if they don't have no phone records for mister Higgins,

439
00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:14,560
Speaker 2: then who is these phone records? So then I had

440
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:18,280
Speaker 2: to do another subpoena, and this time I subpoena the

441
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,240
Speaker 2: name that was used for this phone and they wound

442
00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:24,840
Speaker 2: up coming back to a female and I said, wow,

443
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,760
Speaker 2: they had this and they didn't tell me. And that's

444
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:33,479
Speaker 2: when I started learning about the twenty five phone calls

445
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:38,720
Speaker 2: that never existed, the text messages that never existed. It like,

446
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,720
Speaker 2: everything began to unravel from that point.

447
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 1: So they were making up calls from a phone that

448
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:49,600
Speaker 1: didn't exist. I mean, the layers of misconduct is a

449
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,399
Speaker 1: word I'm going to use, but it's stronger than that.

450
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,879
Speaker 1: And what eventually happened is that after all of this

451
00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:59,040
Speaker 1: stuff came to light, prosecutors tried to push back. They

452
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:02,720
Speaker 1: said that You're claims were speculative, but the state said

453
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 1: it would not oppose an evidentiary hearing about whether the

454
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,440
Speaker 1: trial attorney was ineffective for failing to secure the testimony

455
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:12,440
Speaker 1: of alibi witnesses. The little victory there At the hearing,

456
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:17,480
Speaker 1: your lawyer, Pelegi, presented evidence of your incredibly powerful alibi,

457
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:20,640
Speaker 1: including the playbill that mentioned your role in the production

458
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:22,840
Speaker 1: that was distributed to the one hundred plus people who

459
00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:25,760
Speaker 1: attended the show at the church. So there was literally

460
00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:28,600
Speaker 1: a zero percent chance you could have been in both

461
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,320
Speaker 1: places at the same time. And so on July twenty

462
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,520
Speaker 1: four to twenty twenty, Judge Tracy roman Brandeis vacated your

463
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:36,719
Speaker 1: conviction in order the new trial. She said that your

464
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:40,360
Speaker 1: attorneys had been ineffective and that the state had engaged

465
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,320
Speaker 1: in misconduct by failing to disclose accurate phone records. So

466
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:45,640
Speaker 1: this is not me saying, and this is the judge

467
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:49,560
Speaker 1: and prosecutors with the DA's Conviction Integrity Unit under the

468
00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:52,800
Speaker 1: Great Larry Krasner, agreed that there were problems with the conviction,

469
00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:55,240
Speaker 1: but they still didn't want to dismiss the case. Yet

470
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:57,520
Speaker 1: they offered you a deal to plead guilty, to reduce

471
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:00,439
Speaker 1: charge and become eligible for parole. Now I know you

472
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:02,879
Speaker 1: turned it down, but did you even give it a

473
00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:05,120
Speaker 1: second thought. That's a hard decision to make, right.

474
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:09,080
Speaker 2: Well, my lawyer, he fought with me, you know, he

475
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:14,639
Speaker 2: was very concerned about me just getting out like not

476
00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:18,120
Speaker 2: during the fifty years. And he was doing what any

477
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:20,720
Speaker 2: lawyer would do and say, hey, listen, this may be

478
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:21,280
Speaker 2: a good one.

479
00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:25,600
Speaker 3: We can roll the dice and things can have bad luck. Again.

480
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:29,560
Speaker 2: I didn't think twice because if you won't convict me,

481
00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:32,560
Speaker 2: then you're gonna have to do this again, because I

482
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,240
Speaker 2: didn't do this, and I'm ready to prove my innocence.

483
00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:40,240
Speaker 2: I think that he saw that and he was convinced,

484
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:41,960
Speaker 2: and he gave me.

485
00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:44,600
Speaker 3: His full support and said, well, let's move forward. And

486
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 3: we moved forward.

487
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:50,080
Speaker 2: The judge came back and said there was a constitutional

488
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:54,480
Speaker 2: violation in this man's case. There was a serious, egregious

489
00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:58,480
Speaker 2: Brady violation, y'all withheld these records. And not only that

490
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:03,520
Speaker 2: this man had a fight alibi defense woo.

491
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:05,000
Speaker 3: That sent me to the moon.

492
00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:10,359
Speaker 2: The main thing that I think that was so telling

493
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:15,320
Speaker 2: was how the judge came back with the Brady claim

494
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,800
Speaker 2: in the violation of the constitutional right, that this was

495
00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:23,400
Speaker 2: an unfair trap, that they can seal those phone records,

496
00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:28,280
Speaker 2: that they misrepresented those records. I think that she really

497
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:31,960
Speaker 2: gave me what I would consider justice.

498
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:36,760
Speaker 1: Wow. Listen, it's a beautiful ending to a truly miserable story.

499
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:39,400
Speaker 1: And of course, on June twenty fourth, twenty twenty one,

500
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:43,040
Speaker 1: almost a year later, the state of Pennsylvania dismissed the charges,

501
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:47,560
Speaker 1: stating that the prosecutors had admitted that they had insufficient

502
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,240
Speaker 1: evidence to move forward with a retrial. He had already

503
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:53,360
Speaker 1: been released on house arrestenced the judge's decision. But now

504
00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:57,160
Speaker 1: you're a free man. And on July thirteenth, twenty twenty one,

505
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:00,280
Speaker 1: you follow a lawsuit against the City of philed you

506
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,720
Speaker 1: as well as against Detective tech Kelowitz and Detective Druding

507
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:07,400
Speaker 1: in the US District Court seeking compensation for your wrongful

508
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:11,600
Speaker 1: conviction and Jerome, let's talk about that, because to this date,

509
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:16,320
Speaker 1: you've received exactly zero dollars in compensation. Is that right?

510
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:22,320
Speaker 2: Yes, I have you seved no compensation whatsoever. They kicked

511
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,520
Speaker 2: me out the prison and said, and you is you

512
00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:29,440
Speaker 2: got out of here after decade or more being incarcerated,

513
00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:33,479
Speaker 2: losing all my finances, lost property, things of that nature.

514
00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:37,760
Speaker 2: And now my family has put together go fund me

515
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:41,360
Speaker 2: to help me try to rebuild my life. So the

516
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:44,000
Speaker 2: only thing now that I have gone for me to

517
00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:47,320
Speaker 2: help me at this particular time, it's a go Fundme

518
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:49,960
Speaker 2: page that people, if they want, they can support me.

519
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:52,520
Speaker 1: So we're going to have the go fund me linked

520
00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:55,440
Speaker 1: in our episode bio. Please take a moment right now,

521
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,120
Speaker 1: don't wait. If you got anything you can spare, that

522
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,280
Speaker 1: would help a lot to to make it through the

523
00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:05,520
Speaker 1: next phase before Jerome hopefully wins this civil trial. But

524
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,320
Speaker 1: that's not a certainty. So please go to the blink

525
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 1: of our bio, click on the GoFundMe, and join me

526
00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:13,440
Speaker 1: and our team in donating to help Jerome and his family.

527
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:17,880
Speaker 1: So listen, you're a strong man, and I know you're

528
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:21,760
Speaker 1: a great example of the power of human redemption. You're

529
00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:24,920
Speaker 1: a courageous guy. And I know I speak for our

530
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:27,280
Speaker 1: audience and our whole team here at Ronful Conviction when

531
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:29,480
Speaker 1: I say that you have all of my respect for

532
00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:32,600
Speaker 1: standing strong and for being here with us today and

533
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 1: sharing your story so eloquently and powerfully. So now we

534
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,120
Speaker 1: have the closing of the show, which is my favorite

535
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:42,680
Speaker 1: part of the show and everybody knows it by now,

536
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:45,840
Speaker 1: and the reason is because it's called closing arguments and

537
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:48,560
Speaker 1: it works like this. I thank you again for being

538
00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 1: here and sharing your story. And then I'm going to

539
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:54,120
Speaker 1: turn my microphone off, kick back in my chair with

540
00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:56,360
Speaker 1: the headphones on, and leave your mic on so you

541
00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:59,920
Speaker 1: can share with us any other thoughts you have about

542
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,120
Speaker 1: out whatever else you want to talk about.

543
00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:05,640
Speaker 2: I would like to take this opportunity to once again

544
00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 2: thank you Offer Conviction Podcasts for allow me this opportunity

545
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,400
Speaker 2: to come before this audience. One of the things that

546
00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 2: I will hope that anyone who's listening will begin to

547
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:24,960
Speaker 2: do is focusing on phone records. Phone records is so

548
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:31,040
Speaker 2: very important and if you don't understand how this goes,

549
00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:35,680
Speaker 2: you need to start learning about phone records. They can

550
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:40,480
Speaker 2: be manipulated, they can be altered, changed, you got to

551
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:42,480
Speaker 2: make sure that.

552
00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:46,120
Speaker 3: When going in that courtroom, when a DA.

553
00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:50,000
Speaker 2: Or your lawyer or whoever it is talk about phone records,

554
00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:54,440
Speaker 2: they have to authenticate those phone records.

555
00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:57,800
Speaker 3: Make sure that those phone records are accurate.

556
00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:03,760
Speaker 2: And it's not a they poor being disguised as phone records.

557
00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 2: There's a big distinction with certification of phone records coming

558
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:12,120
Speaker 2: directly from the phone company and those records that are

559
00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:18,239
Speaker 2: being developed and created by detectives or officers who are

560
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:21,600
Speaker 2: moonlighting as expert witnesses.

561
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:28,320
Speaker 3: They still may have a gender. Thank you and God bless.

562
00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:37,240
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to

563
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:41,000
Speaker 1: thank our production team Connor Hall, Justin Golden, Jeff Cliburn,

564
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:44,480
Speaker 1: and Kevin Wartis, with research by Lyla Robinson. The music

565
00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:47,320
Speaker 1: in this production was supplied by three time OSCAR nominated

566
00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:51,040
Speaker 1: composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram

567
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:55,360
Speaker 1: at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and

568
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:58,560
Speaker 1: on Twitter at wrong Conviction, as well as at Lava

569
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:01,800
Speaker 1: for Good. On all three platforms. You can also follow

570
00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 1: me on both TikTok and Instagram at It's Jason flam Ravel.

571
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:08,600
Speaker 1: Conviction is the production of Lava for Good podcasts and

572
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:16,680
Speaker 1: association with signal Company Number one