WEBVTT - #426 Maggie Freleng with Jason Walton 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:09.200 It was early Sunday evening in November of two thousand 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:11.520 and five, and a pop up street fair was in 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:15.600 full swing in south central Los Angeles. The neighborhood had 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:19.240 turned out to enjoy the rides, carnival games, hot dogs, 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.880 and cotton candy. Crowds of people were milling around the 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:28.040 entrance at the corner of Rodeo Road and Second Avenue. Suddenly, 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:32.040 half a dozen shots rang out and two kids fell 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.640 to the ground. Fourteen year old William Cox was shot 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.240 twice in the torso and died at the scene. His friend, 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:43.280 Edward Williams, also fourteen, was shot in the heart, but 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:47.879 somehow he survived. At the hospital. Edward gave police the 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:51.559 names of several rival gang members who might have been 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:52.080 the shootor. 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:55.720 They opened up the book of all the people that 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.840 they believed were members of the Mansfield This is Jason, 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:05.280 He's from Mansfield, whatnot. And that's where things just started 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:10.000 to snowball and I became target number one. 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.800 That night, Jason Malton had been hanging out with a 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:17.200 group of friends miles from the crime scene. His alibi 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:21.080 was solid, but once the police had fixed their sights 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:23.399 on him, the truth was meaningless. 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:27.560 I don't feel like they altoly cared about the victim 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:31.720 nor myself. It's like, okay, well, one gang members dead, 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:35.039 one gang member shot, one gang members in jail. We 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:36.120 got a three for one. 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:42.440 In a way, this is global telling. You have a 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:43.440 prepaid call. 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:46.400 From Jason Vanners and one. 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:55.000 An inmate at the California State Prison, Lancaster, California. 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.320 From Lava for Good. This is wrongful conviction with Maggie 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:59.200 Freeling today. Jason Walton. 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:20.320 My name is Jason Robert Walton. I'm from Los Angeles, California. 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:27.200 I was arrested and ultimately longfully convicted November seventeenth, two 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:28.040 thousand and five. 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:35.520 Jason was a real fun loving kid. He loved sports. 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:39.399 He collected basketball cards and things like that. 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:44.359 This is Jason's mother, Francisle Johnson. Most people call her friend. 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:49.720 She mostly raised me along that. I did sometimes go 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:53.280 and visit my father, but living with my mother was 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.240 where I was most comfortable, where I wanted to be. 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:01.680 We always had a big dinner on at my parents' house, 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:05.800 and either my mom would cook or my dad would barbecue. 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:09.880 I thought I was rich. I thought the world was perfect, 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:16.880 and I loved to play video games, collect sports cards, POGs, 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:22.000 just anything that you collect. My hobbies consisted of building 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:23.639 things and fixing things. 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:28.600 If he saw a radio or portable TV that was 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:32.600 sitting on the curb or near the alley, he would 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.360 want to take it home and try to fix it, 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:37.040 and quite often it would work. 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:42.119 As I got older, I grew a fascination with cars, 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.840 and I started with building model cars. And I realized 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:48.240 at a young age that I was good at it 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:52.200 because I can take a box, take the kid out, 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:55.640 and I would never remove the instructions from the box, 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:57.800 and I can put the whole car together. 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:04.960 Jason was a pretty typical kid, into cars, bikes, video games, 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:10.680 and sports. 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:13.600 Swimming, fishing, or anything that that involved being outside. I 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:18.440 love to push the envelope. I was somewhat of a daredevil, 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:22.360 so whether that was trying to ride a bike on 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:26.080 one wheel for the whole the lamp of the block, 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:31.080 or holding onto the ice cream truck to gain speed, 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:35.040 to try to jump over a makeshift lamp that we made. 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.760 Jason describes himself as a class clown, someone who loved 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:44.200 to make people laugh, but he also had more serious ambitions. 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.600 I wanted to be a lawyer when I was younger, 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.680 because I loved to debate. I loved just the art 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:54.760 of being able to verbally wrastle, I guess you could say. 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.600 But for Jason, school it just wasn't a big priority. 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.599 As a teenager, Jason started cutting class, hanging out with 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:10.080 his friends and smoking weed. Jason's older brother, Antoine, belonged 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:13.320 to a local gang, the Mansfield Crips, and it wasn't 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.760 long before Jason followed in his footsteps that. 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.920 Side of town. Being in a gang or being from 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:25.280 a gang, it really wasn't like we were gang bangings. 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:27.920 We just hung out together. We went to school together, 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:31.080 after school, we were just hanging out. We're just having 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.880 a good time. It wasn't consumed with oh, we're young 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:39.040 and we're selling drugs to support our family. That wasn't 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:39.719 our story. 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:43.599 As Jason remembers it, being in the Mansfield Crips was 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:46.599 a way of learning the ropes and learning about life. 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:49.320 He says, the older members of the gang were actually 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:50.159 a good influence. 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.880 They never told me anything wrong. They always encouraged me 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:58.640 to stay in school. So they're dropping me off at school, 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:01.640 they're picking me up from school, we're going on these trips. 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:05.000 We're going camping, we're going to the snow, and they're 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:08.800 encouraging me to do the right thing. When people are saying, oh, 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:12.840 gang banging is bad and gang members are bad, I'm 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.120 not saying that because these are the same people that 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:19.080 I know are gang members. But they're telling me good things. 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:21.919 Friend, you know, we were talking about how he wounds 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:24.400 up in a gang. Do you remember finding out about 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:25.760 that or what that was like. 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:31.000 Well, when you live in certain neighborhoods, there are gangs. 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:35.480 It's not a protection thing, but they know who you 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:39.320 are because you live in the neighborhood and you know 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.920 who they are, but you're not always necessarily participating. I'm 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.720 not saying he didn't associate, but he didn't have He 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:50.240 never had any problems or with the police or criminal 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:53.440 activity that involved association with a gang. 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:58.880 No, you know, we did have conflicts or verbal spats 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:03.239 or cups with other kids and whatnot. That it wasn't 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.120 so much of a violent thing. It was more of 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:11.840 a unit family, a togetherness as when we were younger. 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.480 But there was a time when Jason found himself in 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:22.240 a confrontation with someone from another gang. It was the 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:24.800 fall of two thousand and five, when Jason was around 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:28.720 twenty one, Jason was driving around South Central with his girlfriend, 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:33.280 Amber Jones, and his two young nephews. They stopped by 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.600 Amber's house on Rodeo Road, which was on the turf 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:38.880 of the Roll In Thirties, a rival. 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:44.520 Gang, and being from the gang, I was hyper alerted. 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:48.400 I was always aware of my surroundings. I had my 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:52.080 two younger nephews with me, so that made me more 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:55.920 vigilant because I couldn't afford for something to happen to 0:07:56.000 --> 0:08:00.560 these two kids. So when we pull up our and 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.720 I see the kid walking on the opposite side of 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:05.840 the street coming my direction. 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:09.880 The kid was fourteen year old Edward Williams. Ember knew 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:11.840 him through a friend of her uncle's. 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:16.040 She's like, yeah, he's a little kid. He's just big 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:20.280 for his age, so okay, no problem. When he realizes 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:24.000 that it tempers in the car, that kind of made 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:28.120 him escalate with his antics as far as preaching like 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:32.440 he had a gun and posturing and throwing up gang 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:33.720 signs or whatnot. 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:36.719 Edward was a junior member of a gang called the 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:41.319 Rolling Forties, and they were in Rollin thirties territory. Jason 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.600 knew that all Edward's showing off could lead to. 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:50.520 Trouble their direct rivals. This is a serious rivalry. He 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:53.520 was asking me where was I from at that time? 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:56.600 Even though I was young, I wasn't focused on the 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:01.760 day to day gang banking. Wanted something different in life, 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.880 so I wasn't worried about over from what color are 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:10.000 you wearing? That nonsense. I ultimately was trying to let 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.480 him know, Hey, you're on Rodeo Boulevard. This is a 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:18.320 main street that leads to the Jungles, which is a 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:23.319 predominantly blood neighborhood. And so while you're doing a gang sign, 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:27.400 zat mean from across this busy street, you don't know 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:30.400 who's driving up and down this street that might see you. 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:32.760 That you're putting a target on yourself. 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:38.120 But despite Jason's warning, Edward kept it up. Finally, Jason 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:39.439 did get out of his car. 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:42.280 When I got out of the car and I approached him, 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:44.520 I let him know that I was from Mansfield. I 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.240 didn't want no problems with him. I got back in 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:51.440 the car. That was the end of the conversation. That 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:53.880 was the end of the I guess you can call 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:57.000 it an altercation, and that was the last time I 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:57.880 had ever seen it. 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:04.280 Two weeks later, Jason was driving down Pigo Boulevard. As 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.640 he passed Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, he spotted a fellow 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.480 crip who had recently gotten out of prison. 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:15.600 So I stopped. We're talking. More people that we know 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:19.920 are starting to pull up, and we're hanging out with smoking, 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:22.680 and we were waiting for his sister. 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.280 His friend's sister was on her way with tickets to 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:29.600 a concert, but she kept calling to say she was delayed. 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:34.400 It will be one excuse after the other. Oh, we 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:39.400 stopped to get drinks and we'll be there in ten minutes. Oh, 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.400 my friend left something at her house, will be there 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:46.440 in twenty minutes. Or we stopped here, we'll be there 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:51.240 in fifteen minutes. That stretched out for over an hour 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:55.920 or so, to the point where they never ended up arriving. 0:10:56.600 --> 0:11:00.120 So ultimately we just hung out at Roscoe's for a 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:03.280 a couple hours, just doing what we did on the regular, 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:09.280 talking to people, talking to girls, smoking and just hanging out. 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:17.520 And that was Jason's entire Sunday evening, just kicking it 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:22.200 with friends in the parking lot at Roscoe's. Meanwhile, a 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:26.120 few miles away, a very different drama was unfolding. 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:31.960 And so there's carnivals in town. It's a Friday night. 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.240 It's a pop up carnival in a parking lot. It's 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:37.800 on the corner of Rodeo Road and Second Avenue in 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:40.840 Los Angeles. And there's a lot of people there. 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:45.400 This is Michael Simanchic, executive director of the Innocent Center. 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:49.640 There's cars everywhere, and there's kids, and there's there's probably 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:51.800 I think I've heard reports there might have been thirty 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:54.640 or forty people just outside the carnival gate. So on 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:57.360 the evening of November thirteenth, two thousand and five, just 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:01.720 after seven pm, and Jewel opened fire and fired six 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:05.320 five to six rounds. A couple of rounds struck a 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:08.480 child named William Cox I believe was fourteen at the time, 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:13.760 and another couple of rounds struck and injured Edward Williams. 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:16.800 The same kid from the Rolling Forties that Jason had 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:18.920 had a run in with a couple weeks before. 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:23.640 Edward Williams was transported by ambulance to the hospital shortly 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:27.120 thereafter and was in critical condition until a few days later, 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.199 and william Cox died of the scene. 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.560 And to put this incident into context, we need a 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:37.120 little background on the gang situation in South Central at 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:37.600 the time. 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:40.439 So there were two gangs that were at war at 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:44.440 the time of the crime. It's the Roland thirties and 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:48.480 the Rollin forties. The thirties and the forties were fighting 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:51.000 over the territory right where the carnival was taking place. 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:55.360 Edward Williams was part of the Baby Hustlers also known 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.160 as the Baby forties, and he had recently been jumped 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:02.000 into the forties. The thirties were comprised of this individual 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:06.280 named Jay Rock, who Edward Williams first mentioned at the hospital, 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:10.600 another individual named Terrell who was in a dispute with 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.199 Edward Williams at a Halloween party about two weeks before 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.839 this incident, and four or five other individuals that were 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:20.160 all spotted at the scene at the carnival that night. 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:22.880 So we had both a group of thirties and then 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:26.880 we had Edward Williams who was a forties self admitted member. 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:29.600 And William Cox was not claiming a gang and in 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.440 fact I believe he had actually told Edward Williams not 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:34.400 to be involved in the gangs because he thought it 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:35.120 was dangerous. 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:39.280 After the shooting occurred, police and ambulances were soon on 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.360 the scene and Edward was taken to the hospital. 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:46.240 I believe he was in critical condition when he arrives, 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:50.160 and he's on a bunch of medication, but he's jotting 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:52.439 down notes because he can't speak at this point, and 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:56.120 he writes down that it's Jay Jay Rock from Roll 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:56.679 in thirties. 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:01.040 But somehow, over the next few days, someone else entered 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.240 into Edward's narrative, and. 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.640 Two days later he then switches to saying it was 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:12.559 Amber's friend who did it. And I don't know it's 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:17.480 if it's entirely clear that we know how that shift happens, 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.120 where he goes from thinking it's somebody in the thirties 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:21.240 to thinking it's Jason. 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.400 Remember, Jason was in the Mansfield Crips, not the Roll 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:28.360 in thirties. But going back to the night of the shooting, 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.560 around ten or so, Jason left the gathering at Roscoe's 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:33.200 to go pick up Amber from work. 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.200 We came back to my mother's house and that was 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:42.880 how we ended the night. The next morning, she woke 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:48.600 up and being that her family knew the family. Her 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:52.840 mother let her know that Hey Edwards was shot last night. 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:57.080 I didn't he didn't put one in one together that 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:02.760 the kid from weeks prior was Edward until later on 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:05.640 when she had said, you know that was the kid, 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:10.640 and it's like wow that he shot on the same 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:15.000 very street that we had having what they were calling 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:19.720 an altercation week's prior for what they said was doing 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:24.360 the same thing, being out gang banging, you know, bringing 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:25.800 that attention to herself. 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:29.200 A few days later, Jason was out having lunch with 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:30.400 his two nephews. 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:35.040 I had just picked my nephews up from school. I 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:39.160 came to Poki Dogs. I ordered them something to eat. 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:41.400 I was standing at the table. 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.320 A squad car cruise by outside, and Jason recognized one 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.160 of the cops, Officer Gutierrez. 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:51.080 So when he passed by, he threw up the peace 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:56.040 sign or waved at me and beans rebellious. I believe 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:59.440 I flipped him the bird, he smiled. That was the 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:04.880 relationship between the officers in the neighborhood and the youth 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:05.840 in the neighborhood. 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:10.720 But this friendly exchange soon turned into something else. Jason 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.960 had no idea that the police were out looking for him. 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:19.240 To charge him in the carnival shooting. The squad car 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.760 swung back around and pulled up at the restaurant. Jason 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:26.080 was arrested and taken to the Wilshare Division police station. 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.880 Once I was placed in the holding tank, and I 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:34.520 guess you can say, actually charged with the crime, my 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:38.920 mind raised as to where was I because just it 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:44.400 blew my mind that I was in jail for uh homicide. 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:49.480 But so at the hospital, Edward had named several rival 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:52.640 gang members in the shooting. How did the police wind 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:53.760 up getting your name? 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:59.640 So? I don't know, because he always would shift. If 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:01.800 you get let him talk, he will say it was 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:05.600 the guys from the Rowland thirties. He even named the 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:10.600 guy multiple times. He named people that lived on his 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:15.280 street by name and begged the police go talk to them. 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:18.679 They'll tell you who the guy was that shot me. 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.080 The police never did a proper investigation. They never went 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:28.399 to go talk to anyone that had information that made sense. 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:32.399 And I figured out later one day when he was 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:36.760 in the hospital, is one of his older brothers was 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:40.200 in the hospital room when he was talking to the officers, 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:44.560 and I guess he just heard him say, oh, Amber's boyfriend, 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:48.639 or he was talking about multiple incidents. He talked about 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.160 the day that we had seen each other in front 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.560 of Amber's house. He was talking about a fight that 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:57.600 took place at a Halloween party. I had never been 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.680 to this Halloween party. But the police were jump owing 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:05.800 everything together as if there was one situation, one day, 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:10.040 one event. So I guess when the brother heard Amber's boyfriend, 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:14.600 he asked Amber's uncle, who's Amber's boyfriend? He just knew 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:18.000 that my name was Jason and that I was from Mansfield. 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:22.080 The detectives ran Jason's name by Officer Gutierrez and the 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:24.240 other officers at the Wilshire Division. 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.080 They opened up the book of all the people that 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:32.520 they believed were members of the Mansfields. They identified into 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:37.960 the detectives, this is Jason, He's from Mansfield, whatnot. And 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:43.000 that's where things just started to snowball and I became 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:45.800 target number one. 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:59.719 Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:02.600 You can listen to this and all the LoVa for 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:06.639 Good podcasts one week early and ad free by subscribing 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:15.200 to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:23.480 I didn't know what wrawful condition was I never thought 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:27.040 that that would even happen. I knew I didn't do anything, 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.000 but I didn't at the time remember where where was? 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:33.119 I have nothing in my life. Told me that I 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:36.439 had to remember where I am and what I'm doing 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.000 every second of the day, every day, every night. 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:44.640 After hours of questioning, Jason was transferred to Southwest Division 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:47.760 and placed in a holding cell. That night, he called 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:50.639 Amber to help him remember where he had been the 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:52.240 night of November thirteenth. 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:55.480 We're replaying events, saying, she let me know that was 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:59.399 the night that you were supposed to go to the concert. Okay, perfect. 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:01.119 That means I was at Rosco's. 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:05.240 Jason and Amber were able to call Roscoe's and speak 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:07.840 to the manager who had been on duty that night. 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:10.040 So he said, I asked him, you know, do you 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.800 have the surveillance cameras. He said, yeah, we still have tapes. 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:17.080 So he asked, well, around what time was it? So 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:20.480 I said a little before seven. So he fast forwarded 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:26.040 and he's watching and I remember him saying I got you, 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:30.480 I got you. When he recognized my car pulling in, 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:33.639 he said, yeah, I got you. You're you're on camera 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:37.120 and you pulled in at this time so it started 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:40.560 with the surveillance camera as an alibi. 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:44.080 And there was something else that placed Jason at Roscoe's 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:44.480 that night. 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:50.639 There was a celf On tower one block north of Roscoe's, 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:54.639 Chicken and Waffles on the Brea and San Vincentain. So 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:57.879 my calls are being picked up off of that celf 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:01.920 On towers. Okay, Well, now I feel good that I'm 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:04.560 going to end up getting out and everything's going to 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:05.840 be okay. I got proved. 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:09.480 But nine months later, in August of two thousand and six, 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:13.080 Jason went to trial in front of Judge Larry Findler. 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:17.040 The prosecutor was Deputy District Attorney Paul Kim. 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:17.640 Yeah. 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:21.160 The prosecution's theory at the time of trial was that 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:24.479 Jason had had this prior interaction about a month before 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:28.480 the crime, where he got in an argument with Edward Williams. 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:32.040 And that's the only interaction that Jason ever had with 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:36.080 Edward Williams. And so the prosecution alleged that this interaction 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:41.520 proceeded Jason seeing Edward Williams and William Cox at this 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:45.520 carnival in south central LA and when he sees these 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:49.280 two individuals, he has a gun in his hoodie pocket, 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:53.679 and he shoots through his hoodie and kills William Cox 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:57.800 and wounds Edward Williams and then flees the scene. 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:01.040 So one of the things that the prosecution said was 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:03.800 that you would have been able to go from Roscoe's 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:05.720 to this carnival. 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:10.600 Is that possible? It's not possible at all, by no 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:12.080 such of the imagination. 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:15.960 Remember, Jason was seen on the surveillance video for nearly 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:17.440 the entire evening. 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:22.560 I was only off film at Roscoe's. I believe from 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:26.200 maybe twelve to eighteen minutes. That wouldn't have been enough 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:30.879 time to make it from Roscoe's to the carnival, change 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:34.359 my clothes, lying in wait, find Edward. 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:38.320 Officers took the stand and claimed that it was possible 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:41.000 for him to make the drive, change his clothes, talk 0:22:41.040 --> 0:22:45.000 to the girls, do the shooting changes, run, change his clothes, 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:48.280 get back and get on camera. We've done time trials ourselves. 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:50.639 The quickest we've been able to do it is seven minutes. 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:53.720 The average was actually nine minutes driving. 0:22:54.520 --> 0:22:58.639 The prosecution also presented an alleged witness, a carnival worker 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:02.760 named Richard Gray. Gray had given police a statement soon 0:23:02.800 --> 0:23:05.760 after the shooting, but by the time of trial, his 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:09.000 story had already changed several times. 0:23:10.000 --> 0:23:12.800 Richard Gray says he initially says I only saw the 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:15.560 shooter fleeing, and I only saw him from behind, didn't 0:23:15.560 --> 0:23:18.320 get a chance to see his face, doesn't initially say 0:23:18.359 --> 0:23:20.560 he's able to make an identification, and then a week 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:23.159 later he picked Walton out of a six pack photo lineup. 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:26.399 At trial, he has like a soft recant, I'll call it, 0:23:26.720 --> 0:23:28.760 or says I wasn't really able to see. I'm not 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:31.360 entirely sure. But the thing about Richard Gray, and what's 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:34.800 so interesting is that Richard Gray, from the point where 0:23:34.840 --> 0:23:37.919 he says he was standing, could not have seen the 0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:38.919 shooting take place. 0:23:40.040 --> 0:23:42.800 The shooting happened on the corner of Rodeo Road and 0:23:42.880 --> 0:23:46.320 Second Avenue, in the street just outside the entrance to 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:49.680 the carnival. Richard Gray was stationed at a ride inside 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:52.800 the carnival area, a short distance back from the entrance. 0:23:54.040 --> 0:23:57.119 There was a row of poor potties that were blocking 0:23:57.320 --> 0:24:00.800 Richard Gray's view between him and where the shooting happened 0:24:00.840 --> 0:24:03.080 on just off the corner where it occurred. 0:24:03.960 --> 0:24:07.800 Edward Williams also took the stand and identified Jason, even 0:24:07.880 --> 0:24:10.679 though he admitted he hadn't seen the shooter's face and 0:24:10.760 --> 0:24:12.639 had not even seen a gun. 0:24:13.600 --> 0:24:16.639 And then they also had gang experts that identified Walton 0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:19.320 as a member of the Mansfield Crips, which at the 0:24:19.320 --> 0:24:22.480 time were allegedly allies with the Rolling Thirties gang, which 0:24:22.520 --> 0:24:24.720 was at war with the Rolling Forties. And so that's 0:24:24.720 --> 0:24:28.000 the essentially the crux of the prosecution's case. 0:24:28.760 --> 0:24:32.560 Jason's defense attorneys were Jerry Kaplan and Helene Farber. 0:24:33.680 --> 0:24:36.720 The defensive trial was that Jason Walton was in fact 0:24:36.720 --> 0:24:40.320 at the Roscoes, that there were these other individuals that 0:24:40.680 --> 0:24:44.320 could have possibly been interested in doing harm to these 0:24:44.320 --> 0:24:48.360 two individuals, and that it was an eyewitness misidentification. One 0:24:48.400 --> 0:24:51.160 of the things that Edward Williams had said was that 0:24:51.440 --> 0:24:54.800 the shooter was on the curb and Edward Williams was 0:24:54.840 --> 0:24:59.040 on the street from the curb. The shooter was still 0:24:59.520 --> 0:25:03.000 shorter than Edward Williams, so this suggested that the person 0:25:03.040 --> 0:25:06.440