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Speaker 1: CFP professional. You know what I realized. Let's say you're
Speaker 1: always very concerned about my year bamte consumption, but I
Speaker 1: realized I don't drink coffee. One morning, my producer Austin
Speaker 1: and I are in the studio getting jacked up on caffeine.
Speaker 1: Both sound a little froggy when Austin hits me with
Speaker 1: a surprise. The reason that I sound so bad today
Speaker 1: is that I was up very late last night um
Speaker 1: and go to bed until after two am because I
Speaker 1: was working with Amanda to file for the death certificate.
Speaker 1: She texted me at midnight saying that she was starting
Speaker 1: the process, and I was like, all right, I'm here
Speaker 1: with you. Oh my god. It happened, and it happened,
Speaker 1: and it's the death certificate application has been filed. I
Speaker 1: don't want to get too hopeful yet, but what I
Speaker 1: hope is on the death certificate. What we requested is
Speaker 1: not just you know, the date of death and all that,
Speaker 1: but the cause of death, which can only be released
Speaker 1: to the next of kin. And so she'll receive it
Speaker 1: in about three or four weeks, barring any type of complication.
Speaker 1: Then about three or four weeks later. Okay, what day.
Speaker 1: It's well, Austin was working with our editor, Zack. What happened?
Speaker 1: Get close to my iPhone. He got a message. I
Speaker 1: just got a text from Amanda. It says, hey, I
Speaker 1: received the death certificate. It's pretty fucking shocking. Oh man,
Speaker 1: my heart's pounding. Many we don't know what we're gonna
Speaker 1: find out, So, uh yeah, you're staring at something. What
Speaker 1: do you what? What's in front of your face? Right now?
Speaker 1: I'm looking at Billy's death certificate, which I just really
Speaker 1: am struggling to believe that we have. This is really creepy,
Speaker 1: This is really, really, really intense. This is real, This
Speaker 1: is really real. Certificate of death. Name of deceased William
Speaker 1: Heightsman Police of Death, New York City, Burrow Manhattan Homicide
Speaker 1: from Crimetown. I'm io till it right, and this is
Speaker 1: the ballad of Billy Balls. It was a drug deal
Speaker 1: gone bad, That's what I had heard. Any impression of
Speaker 1: who had shot him undercutter cop. I mean, if we're
Speaker 1: making ship up based on no evidence, we can make
Speaker 1: up any ship we want, and it's all consistent with
Speaker 1: the no evidence that we have crime. Some paper, and
Speaker 1: then we'll see what we can make of the pieces
Speaker 1: of paper. I want to think about it like a lawyer,
Speaker 1: where I just want to see the evidence. Now Chapter seven,
Speaker 1: the Hunt for Paper. Look how pretty New York is?
Speaker 1: Right now, it's not so bad. I love when the
Speaker 1: lights low like this. Let's back it up for one second.
Speaker 1: Last winter, before we got Billy's death certificate, before we
Speaker 1: met Amanda, Austin and I started our hunt for paper
Speaker 1: in the East Village, just a few blocks from where
Speaker 1: Billy and my mom lived. So we're on Fifth Street
Speaker 1: between First and Second Avenue. It's freezing cold and crystal
Speaker 1: clear outside, and the sun is blasting in from the side,
Speaker 1: and the trees are all barren and on the north
Speaker 1: side of the street is the ninth precinct Um, which
Speaker 1: is the police station. That police is the neighborhood I've
Speaker 1: grown up in my whole life, and a place that
Speaker 1: my mom always spits on the ground outside of because
Speaker 1: as far as she understands, they're the one that murdered Billy.
Speaker 1: We're searching for the police files from Billy's shooting. Well,
Speaker 1: what do we want to find out? I would like
Speaker 1: to hear if they still have records from two and
Speaker 1: where they would be and how one could get them released. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's good. Yeah, I'm with you. All right, let's go,
Speaker 1: let's go. Thank you. The station is bustling with uniformed police.
Speaker 1: A small area near the front is filled with people waiting.
Speaker 1: A pretty French girl is filing a report about her
Speaker 1: stolen bite. We walk up to an information desk staffed
Speaker 1: by a smiling cop. I'm good, I'm looking into an
Speaker 1: incident that happened in Third Avenue, which is definitely The
Speaker 1: cop looks young, like real young. But I'm wondering, do
Speaker 1: you guys have records going back that far incident reports
Speaker 1: and things. It would probably have to go through one
Speaker 1: police plaza because the only record said, we have access
Speaker 1: to was everything that's computerized and yeah, a phone number, yeah,
Speaker 1: as he writes down the number, and older cops saunterers
Speaker 1: over just the heads of folks. Nothing is recording right now.
Speaker 1: I'm recording right now, So I'm so sorry. Oh well,
Speaker 1: if you want to get information out of the police
Speaker 1: on recording, go for the young one who blushes when
Speaker 1: you stick a microphone in his face. He looked like
Speaker 1: if you put a police uniform on a toddler. He
Speaker 1: looked like a toddler was going trick or treating. As
Speaker 1: they were actually much nicer than I expected, or much
Speaker 1: more willing to help. I think that has to do
Speaker 1: with the fact that they don't know what we're doing.
Speaker 1: You have reached the New York City Police Department. We
Speaker 1: call one Police Plaza, the headquarters of the n y
Speaker 1: p D, and ask them where we can find police
Speaker 1: records from a while ago, from eight three on. We
Speaker 1: have everything on our computer, and then everything prior is
Speaker 1: on microfilm. Oh it is, so you could still request it. Yes,
Speaker 1: we just have to go up and get the archives. Martha,
Speaker 1: how can I help you there? I'm calling regarding a
Speaker 1: foil request that I've said so we filed something called
Speaker 1: a FOIL request, which stands for Freedom of information law.
Speaker 1: It's a way for members of the public to access
Speaker 1: New York State government records. Hold on. The problem was
Speaker 1: my mom didn't remember the exact date of the shooting,
Speaker 1: so we gave the n y p D a week
Speaker 1: long range. The first week of June, the NYPD sent
Speaker 1: a letter back saying that they needed more information or
Speaker 1: they would close the request. I was speaking to help you.
Speaker 1: Principal Ellis was the person in the records department assigned
Speaker 1: to our request. Yes, it's a it's a very busy day, sir. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: I received a letter in the mail that said I
Speaker 1: needed to provide additional information about the request in order
Speaker 1: for it to go forward, and if I didn't provide
Speaker 1: additional information then it would be closed. Yes, okay, hold on,
Speaker 1: let me let me see if I can pull up
Speaker 1: the file. Hold on, please, now, let's see. Yes, we
Speaker 1: need the exact date of occurrence and the complaint number.
Speaker 1: So I don't know either of those things, which is
Speaker 1: why I'm calling. Okay. If that's the case, you know,
Speaker 1: you know we can't help you. I talked to somebody
Speaker 1: else in your office last week who said otherwise. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but but sir, sir, yes, uh yeah, but I mean really,
Speaker 1: I know the exact location for twenty years. I know
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. Okay, No, I believe you. I'm
Speaker 1: just wondering if there's any way that we can work
Speaker 1: together to actually search this out because I don't know
Speaker 1: the exact date. I know arrange. Oh well, look, I
Speaker 1: know they're not going to be they well, they are
Speaker 1: not going to be happy about this upstairs and clearly
Speaker 1: records searching because they did not like the idea and
Speaker 1: they go through tons and tons on microphone for nothing,
Speaker 1: which is why I asked for a specific date. Who
Speaker 1: I can do with in the meantime, I'll do this
Speaker 1: in pieces. I'll just take the time pard and divided
Speaker 1: in the half. If I do find something, okay, I'll
Speaker 1: go for it. If not, and they'll go go to
Speaker 1: the second half of that time period. That Thank you
Speaker 1: so much. I wish I had better in information for you,
Speaker 1: but I want to work with you is as much
Speaker 1: as possible on this, Okay. But I'm not planeting any miracle,
Speaker 1: of course, I mean will definitely you know, Okay, Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. Well, we'll see all right, good day, sir.
Speaker 1: All right, Um, I need to grab some food and
Speaker 1: then I wanna Then just a week later, are you
Speaker 1: fucking kidding me? I just got an email that said
Speaker 1: the FOIL request for the police report was closed, saying,
Speaker 1: in regard to the documents which you requested, I must
Speaker 1: deny access to these records on the basis of public
Speaker 1: Officers Law section blah blah, and that such records consist
Speaker 1: of police officers personnel records and are therefore exempt from
Speaker 1: disclosure under the provisions of civil rights law section blah
Speaker 1: blah blah. You know, sometimes they close these things because
Speaker 1: they didn't find them. They clearly found something. Yeah, they're
Speaker 1: telling us that they found and they're not going to
Speaker 1: give it to us. Leakal Bureau Principle Ellis speaking to
Speaker 1: help you. So we called Principal Ellis to see if
Speaker 1: he could clarify the reason our request had been denied.
Speaker 1: I got an email this morning saying that it was closed, okay,
Speaker 1: and it says that it was closed because the records
Speaker 1: consist of police officers personnel records. It's related to personnel
Speaker 1: records of a police officer. That's usually exemption to a
Speaker 1: foil request. But what does a personnel record? What does
Speaker 1: that mean? And what it supposed to me that the
Speaker 1: employment record the implotment history of an officer. M. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess I'm just a little confused, only because I
Speaker 1: was I was asking for the incident report and not
Speaker 1: personnel records. Well, that would be considered part of it.
Speaker 1: But sir, you do have do have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: file an appeal. You do have that, Okay. I really
Speaker 1: appreciate as well. You you're putting the request in up
Speaker 1: there to them to search for it. Um, thank you
Speaker 1: for doing that, all right? Can I just asked before
Speaker 1: I go, is there any other information that you can
Speaker 1: tell me about this that doesn't involve going into whatever
Speaker 1: is denied? Um? Let me see okay, Um, well, let
Speaker 1: me see the original data. The instant was June. Well,
Speaker 1: it happened late at night June third, two the Heightsman
Speaker 1: incidents here eleven pm June two. Billy was shot around
Speaker 1: eleven pm on June three. It was a police involved shooting.
Speaker 1: And also there's another reason why you may not be
Speaker 1: able to get access in particular record, because the officer
Speaker 1: was working undercover. There was definitely a police officer involved,
Speaker 1: and the police officer was working undercover, and for obvious reasons,
Speaker 1: we have to we have to block any information regarding
Speaker 1: the identity of the officer. So that's another rope block
Speaker 1: right there. So I'm declaring to know. I'm just going
Speaker 1: you know why it this was denied and that was
Speaker 1: all Principle Ellis would tell us, it's out of our
Speaker 1: hands at this point. You have to make a case
Speaker 1: that you know, for for getting access to those documents. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, all right, thank you so much, Principle Ellis,
Speaker 1: all right, goodbye. There was no way that we weren't
Speaker 1: going to appeal, so we reached out to our legal muscle. Hey, Ron,
Speaker 1: it's Ron Koby. I I your name came up on
Speaker 1: my Phonemafalaffele is here. Okay, So you got an email
Speaker 1: from the FOYL people Austin. Do you want to read
Speaker 1: him that. We explain to Ron that our request had
Speaker 1: been denied because somewhere in the files where police officers
Speaker 1: personnel records experience with this type of stuff. Fortunately do
Speaker 1: Ron said he dealt with this before. Generally speaking, civil
Speaker 1: rights Law fifty A protects the personnel records of members
Speaker 1: of the uniform services and others. That is to say,
Speaker 1: I can't get the cops file. I can't see when
Speaker 1: he took vacation days, or whether she tested HIV positive,
Speaker 1: or whether he's But in this case, he said, the
Speaker 1: NYPD seemed to be interpreting the term personnel records in
Speaker 1: a broadway. This now reads. The way this reads is
Speaker 1: anything that has to do with police officer is like, oh,
Speaker 1: here's camera footage of a police officer beating a demonstrator
Speaker 1: over the head. Nope, sorry, personnel. Yeah, so so this
Speaker 1: makes zero sense. So so anyway, okay, just just just
Speaker 1: send me all that ship and I'll try to get
Speaker 1: something out in the next few days. I won't send
Speaker 1: it out until you you look it over. Oh wait,
Speaker 1: what do you mean you get something back to the
Speaker 1: end way, I didn't intend. What caused work is to
Speaker 1: submit a fresh foil. Um. My office will do that.
Speaker 1: We're requesting the records and we'll add a little more detail,
Speaker 1: like there's there's specific categories of documents that you would
Speaker 1: not know about. Is a lay person, thank you, thank you?
Speaker 1: They left out Holmas? How did you leave out hommasi?
Speaker 1: By so Ron Koby is in our corner and he
Speaker 1: is dope. Ron Coobi is the man, Ron the saint
Speaker 1: that he is submitted a new foil request to the
Speaker 1: NYPD on our behalf. It's three pages long on his stationary,
Speaker 1: and it says that it is going to be submitted
Speaker 1: online and hand delivered to the record center. And then
Speaker 1: he has a list of thirteen separate, very specific forms.
Speaker 1: Oh it's an epic, sprawling request. It's because he knows
Speaker 1: what the police paperwork looks like. You know, we don't.
Speaker 1: We're like, we want a piece of paper to say
Speaker 1: what happened. And he's like, well, okay, so I need this, this, this,
Speaker 1: and this. So for the police files, all we could
Speaker 1: do was cross our finger and wait, Herry Austin, Hey,
Speaker 1: I know it's round Koby. I spoke with the detective
Speaker 1: assigned to the foil request. Really nice guys. Um. He
Speaker 1: said that the big issue is trapping down where the
Speaker 1: files are physically located, because they're from nine two. But
Speaker 1: he said this should be done the next couple of
Speaker 1: weeks and we should have whatever we're going to get
Speaker 1: by then, all right, take care. So we waited. A
Speaker 1: couple of weeks turned into three than four. We tracked
Speaker 1: down Amanda and got Billy's death certificate, which said he
Speaker 1: died from homicide, and it's said a lot more. That's
Speaker 1: after the break. I didn't fully get that. The death
Speaker 1: certificate is literally just a list of the facts. It's
Speaker 1: just back in the studio with Austin looking over Billie's
Speaker 1: death certificate. So could you read it? Uh? I guess,
Speaker 1: just read through the whole thing and then we can
Speaker 1: talk about it. Certificate of death date filed eight two
Speaker 1: June seven, forty five am. Name of deceased William Heightsman,
Speaker 1: Sex is male. Approximate ages thirty seven years. Place of
Speaker 1: death New York City, Burrow, Manhattan, Cabrini Hospital, where he
Speaker 1: was an impatient, month day year, June two oh three am.
Speaker 1: So he died on June at two oh three am.
Speaker 1: He died in the middle of the night, which is
Speaker 1: extra creepy to me, and for some reason my brain
Speaker 1: immediately jumps to the other probably six seven eight hours
Speaker 1: of that night, during which my mom was sleeping and
Speaker 1: didn't know yet he was dead that whole night, and
Speaker 1: she was sleeping thinking that she was going to wake
Speaker 1: up and fight the case again and woke up and
Speaker 1: probably got that call. And she said she got the
Speaker 1: call in the morning. Right that morning, the hospital called
Speaker 1: and the dude told me to come down to identify
Speaker 1: the body, a William Heisman. It was around my mother's birthday,
Speaker 1: which is June. I. Further certified from the investigation and
Speaker 1: post mortem examination that in my opinion, death occurred on
Speaker 1: the date and at the hour stated above, which again
Speaker 1: is June two or three am, and resulted from And
Speaker 1: then there are six empty boxes. One of them says
Speaker 1: natural causes. Then there's accident, suicide, homicide, undetermined circumstances or
Speaker 1: pending further investigation. And in our case or in Billy's case,
Speaker 1: homicide is checked, which is chilling. My animal instinct was
Speaker 1: he got murdered him. But homicide is when somebody causes
Speaker 1: the death of another person in any situation. All murders
Speaker 1: are homicides, but not all homicides are murders. And so
Speaker 1: then it goes on and it says and that the
Speaker 1: causes of death were and now this is the really
Speaker 1: heavy duty part. Immediate cause. Multiple gunshot wounds of back,
Speaker 1: back is the first thing listed. Multiple gunshot wounds of back, chest, liver,
Speaker 1: spleen colon and arms with internal hemorrhage, survival twelve days
Speaker 1: shot by police homicide. I came into this questioning everything.
Speaker 1: I came into this process knowing that the only way
Speaker 1: to actually do a fair and balanced assessment of the
Speaker 1: situation was to question everything. So the assertion that he
Speaker 1: was killed by the police was also a question mark
Speaker 1: for me, because a rumor on the street doesn't mean
Speaker 1: shipped to me. I want evidence. So now we have paper,
Speaker 1: and the first place that piece of paper says that
Speaker 1: he was shot was in the back. If Billy was
Speaker 1: shot in the back, it at least opens the door
Speaker 1: for serious questions about whether or not the police officer
Speaker 1: who shot him shot Billy and self defense. It makes
Speaker 1: me take the stories more seriously that we've heard from
Speaker 1: my mom about what she says. Billy says in the hospital,
Speaker 1: he told me he walked to the back of his
Speaker 1: store to make a phone call. He says, du broke
Speaker 1: down the front door, and it came and shooting and
Speaker 1: shot him cold blood, starting in the back five times.
Speaker 1: And the question was did you have a gun? No?
Speaker 1: And that's all that you need to know. I now
Speaker 1: believe that more we know for sure that William Heightsman
Speaker 1: Billy Balls was killed by the police. It was in
Speaker 1: this month of this year at this location, and he
Speaker 1: died in this hospital and then was processed by this
Speaker 1: medical Examiner's office. So all of the circumstances have now
Speaker 1: been corroborated. The only thing we have no idea of
Speaker 1: is motivation. Motive, Why now I want the police report
Speaker 1: who shot him? Why? What were the circumstances? What's the
Speaker 1: story that they give? Hey, Austin, it's Ron Kobe. It's Saturday,
Speaker 1: a little after one. I'm pleased to report that Zeno's
Speaker 1: paradox has been resolved and the arrow indeed has at
Speaker 1: the target, and so amazingly, at eight fifty three out
Speaker 1: on a Saturday morning, the NYPD has sent us a
Speaker 1: traun if you will, of records, including um all the
Speaker 1: crime scene unit stuff including photos and the arrest report
Speaker 1: and other what we call d D five's, that is,
Speaker 1: statements of the police about the investigation. And there certainly
Speaker 1: is enough more than enough here to to put together
Speaker 1: a narrative of what happened, whether people choose to accept
Speaker 1: that narrative or not. But but there is a story
Speaker 1: that the police tell here, uh, and it can be
Speaker 1: teased out from the documents. So I'm I'm fording them
Speaker 1: to you, and I'm fording them to Io and we'll
Speaker 1: talk to take care. Hey man, it's I was just
Speaker 1: looking at the police support. That could be from all
Speaker 1: the photos are haunting. Second of all, there's something fishy, man.
Speaker 1: There's something something's not right that's coming up in two weeks. Sorry.
Speaker 1: Crimetown is Zack Stewart Pontier and Mark Smirling. The Ballad
Speaker 1: of Billy Balls is hosted by me Io Till It
Speaker 1: Right and made in partnership with Caden's thirteen. You can
Speaker 1: find me on the internet. Um Io loves you on everything.
Speaker 1: Say hello. I love seeing all you guys, And if
Speaker 1: you want to know more about my story, pick up
Speaker 1: my memoir Darling Days. I love to hear what you
Speaker 1: think of it. We also want to hear from you.
Speaker 1: We have a voicemail set up for you to call us.
Speaker 1: This one is from an anonymous listener. It's highly annoying
Speaker 1: that you guys don't go ahead and just at least
Speaker 1: let us know what the police records say about the events.
Speaker 1: We know you have them and you're just hiding them.
Speaker 1: Episode after episode, you're hiding what happens. You know, we
Speaker 1: didn't actually have them until we did. If there's something
Speaker 1: on your mind, thoughts, feelings, complaints, outbursts of love and joy,
Speaker 1: call us and leave us a voicemail at five seven
Speaker 1: oh three zero. I'm serious. Just call us right now,
Speaker 1: just say whatever. You can also get into our discussion
Speaker 1: forum on our website, The Ballad of Billy Balls dot com.
Speaker 1: The show is produced by Me, Kevin Sheppard and Ryan Swigert.
Speaker 1: Our senior producers Austin Mitchell, Who's Rapidly Becoming My Best Friend?
Speaker 1: Editing by Zack Stewart Contier and Mark Smirling. Fact checking
Speaker 1: by Jennifer Blackman. This episode was mixed and sound designed
Speaker 1: by Sam Bear. Music by Kenny qcach. Our title track
Speaker 1: is Dark Allies by Light Asylum. Thank You, Shannon. Archival
Speaker 1: research by Brennan Reese. Thanks to Daniella Aria, Rachel Lee Wright,
Speaker 1: Emily Weiderman, Green Card Pictures, Alessandro Centauro, Bill Clegg, Ben Davis,
Speaker 1: Orn Rosenbaum and the team at Cadence thirteen, and of course,
Speaker 1: as always, my Mom, without whom none of this would
Speaker 1: be possible.