1 00:00:02,240 --> 00:00:05,760 Speaker 1: On December fifteenth, nineteen eighty one, Linda may Craig, a 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:08,879 Speaker 1: sales associate at the Tri State Mall in Claymont, Delaware, 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: was abducted in her car at the end of her shift. 4 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: After not arriving home hours after she was due, her 5 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:19,759 Speaker 1: husband called the police. Her body was found the following day, beaten, stabbed, 6 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: and raped in a church parking lot about a mile 7 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: and a half away from where her car had been discovered. 8 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: Nikiaris was a troubled young man with serious substance abuse 9 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: issues growing up in southwest Philadelphia. One fateful night, he 10 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:36,559 Speaker 1: was pulled over for a traffic violation in a stolen 11 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: car while high on meth, and he got into an 12 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: altercation with the arresting officer, whose gun accidentally discharged. While 13 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 1: in jail and facing a laundry list of charges, Yarras 14 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: spotted a newspaper article about Linda may Craig and tried 15 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: to trade false information for leniency. But what authorities discovered 16 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: his trickery. They turned the charges and the tables on him. 17 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: Manipulating false witness testimonies, hiding or dishing the case history, 18 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: and using some misleading rology in order to pin the 19 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: rape and murder on Nick. The biological evidence, as it 20 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: turned out, that was used to convict him, though, would 21 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: one day be the same evidence that would set him free. Now. 22 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: I'm not even going to try to summarize the rest 23 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: of Nick's story here. It's why we're splitting this episode 24 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: into two parts, which are both available now. But to 25 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 1: compare Nick's story to a roller coaster ride of twists 26 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:28,320 Speaker 1: and turns would feel like a compliment to roller coasters, 27 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,039 Speaker 1: or it would be actually under selling the story of 28 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: Nick Yaris. As one journalist put it, nick Yaris is 29 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: living one of the greatest stories ever told. And this 30 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: is wrongful conviction. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason 31 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: Flamm that's me today. I have a guest whose name 32 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 1: you will remember and whose story you won't forget. First 33 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: of all, thank you for flying all the way across 34 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: the country from the Great Northwest. Nick Yarris is here. 35 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 2: Nick welcome, Thank you everyone. I really appreciate that. 36 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: And as I always say, I'm sorry you're here, but 37 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: I'm happy you're here. So I often feel that each 38 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: time I meet someone a member of the exonerated community, 39 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: and I interview them, I feel like I thought I 40 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 1: had heard everything, but now I'll just have to reevaluate. 41 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: But Nick's story is so far off the rails. He's 42 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:28,840 Speaker 1: the only guy to start with this. He's the only 43 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 1: guy to have escaped from death row and then turned 44 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: himself in and then ultimately been exonerated. He's the first 45 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,840 Speaker 1: person in America to ever request his DNA to be 46 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: tested from death Row, and of course that's what led 47 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: to his wrongful conviction being overturned. He's got so many 48 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,640 Speaker 1: unique aspects to his story and his character. I just 49 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: want to let the interview go. So here we go. Nick. 50 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: First of all, let's go back to the beginning. Where 51 00:02:58,600 --> 00:02:59,359 Speaker 1: did you grow up? 52 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 2: I was raised in Southwest Philadelphia. 53 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:07,800 Speaker 3: My family lived in a small area of the Eastwick 54 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 3: section Southwest Philadelphia, and I was in a working class neighborhood. 55 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,919 Speaker 1: You had a difficult childhood from everything I've read. 56 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:20,080 Speaker 3: Yeah, so the problem with everything was in timing. And 57 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 3: I'm sure you're old enough to remember this. 58 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,279 Speaker 2: I was part of that wave. 59 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 3: Of children that came in the sixties, and in nineteen 60 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 3: sixty eight my entire life changed because not was it 61 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 3: related to the assassination of Martin Luther King, but I 62 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 3: always equate that because all I remember was that summer 63 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 3: was the fires and Camden and all of these upheaval 64 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 3: and I wasn't allowed to be friends with Roderick Jones, 65 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 3: my buddy from first grade, and that was the summer 66 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 3: that I had to deal with after a terrible incident 67 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 3: that spring where I was in my neighborhood and as 68 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 3: a seven year old boy, I was let out from 69 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 3: school to go to a dental appointment and I had 70 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 3: my school clothing on when my mother told me as 71 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 3: I left the house that day that she really didn't 72 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,840 Speaker 3: want me to get thirty. But I went running off 73 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 3: with my childhood friend, Jocko, who was a medium sized 74 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 3: pood on, my best friend in life, and I ended 75 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:30,239 Speaker 3: up in a small area behind my neighborhood that was wooded, 76 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 3: and as I walked down the path, I didn't notice, 77 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 3: but there was a boy there about twenty years old, 78 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:39,280 Speaker 3: and I knew. 79 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 2: Who he was. 80 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,240 Speaker 3: He was a very aggressive male. I seen him beat 81 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 3: up adults and I was very afraid of him, and 82 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 3: he knew that he played upon that. And as I 83 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 3: found myself alone with this individual, he commanded my attention 84 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:56,839 Speaker 3: and he told me to come to him and come 85 00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 3: over here, because he wanted me to stand before him, 86 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 3: and he had a cigarette in his mouth. I remember 87 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 3: distinctly how he took the cigarette from his mouth and 88 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 3: he wanted me to take a puff at his cigarette. 89 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 3: And when I did, I got all lightheaded from the 90 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 3: tobacco entering my lungs. And basically at that moment, that's 91 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 3: when he launched the sexual assault upon me. And in 92 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 3: frustration and anger, he got all scared and he picked 93 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 3: up a fieldstone and he beat my head in with it. 94 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,039 Speaker 3: I remember only bits and pieces when I came to, 95 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 3: and I was terrified. I couldn't find my dog, Jocko. 96 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:43,159 Speaker 3: I kept screaming his name over and over, and I 97 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 3: knew that I had to go back home. And I 98 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 3: remember the warm blood on the front of my head, 99 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 3: and I had this huge, huge hematoma across the front, 100 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:58,640 Speaker 3: so that it was like a porpoise head man, and 101 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:04,200 Speaker 3: I couldn't hardly see. Everything was like those frosted glasses 102 00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 3: you see when someone's close to a window and everything's 103 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:12,719 Speaker 3: all fogged up. And I stumbled home and my mother 104 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:15,839 Speaker 3: was there, and she was horrified, and she said Nikki 105 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 3: would happen, and It was then that I had to 106 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 3: recall for her the lie that he kept telling me 107 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 3: while he put his trousers on, that I should tell 108 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,359 Speaker 3: my parents I fell off a wall and a shopping 109 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:35,280 Speaker 3: cart fell on my head. I told the story to 110 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:37,600 Speaker 3: my mom, and she didn't care about any of it, 111 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 3: and I remember it. I just got rushed to the 112 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 3: Willseye Hospital in Philadelphia and they treated me there for 113 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 3: the brain swelling, and I was taken home that night. 114 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 3: And I remember the only thing that to this day 115 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:01,680 Speaker 3: this still sticks out, is that Jocko would leave me 116 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 3: alone my dog when I got home, just wouldn't stuck. 117 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: So the dog could run home, as if to try 118 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: to get help for you. Is that right? 119 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 2: It seemingly was that way to me. 120 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 1: That's a horrible, horrible story. It probably I'm going to 121 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:25,000 Speaker 1: guess that it had something to do with the fact 122 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: that you ended up getting caught up with some drugs 123 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: and alcohol. Anybody probably would having endured such a traumatic situation. 124 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 1: And so as a teenager, fast forwarding about a decade, 125 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: you were involved with some petty crimes. Is that right? 126 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:42,720 Speaker 1: I mean, you weren't. You were no angel. Let's just 127 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: say right. 128 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 3: I grew up in a neighborhood where stealing cars was 129 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 3: part of the fun. Man like it was culture. You know, 130 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 3: the seventies were different. In nineteen seventy eight, seventy nine, 131 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 3: as a long haired kid that hung out with his 132 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 3: friends and got high, because I found out that as 133 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 3: long as I got high, I wasn't afraid. And it 134 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 3: was a terrible thing that I didn't respect anything I 135 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 3: spoke guttural. I was very silly, and I think what 136 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 3: did my head in was I was eighteen years old 137 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 3: and I was standing by Cobbs Creek Park and I 138 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 3: saw my attacker. It's the first time I seen him 139 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:29,800 Speaker 3: alone since I got out of the juvenile correctional system 140 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 3: where I learned how to box and everything. Now I'm 141 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 3: six to two, I weigh close to two hundred and 142 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:42,959 Speaker 3: ten pounds. I've been trained to fight. I'm eighteen years old. Man, 143 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 3: I'm not no kid anymore. And I seen him. He's 144 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 3: coming from Darby, Pennsylvania, across the creek. He's got a 145 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 3: quart of beer in his hands, and he's walking up 146 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:02,880 Speaker 3: towards me. Now five foot eight, one hundred and fifty 147 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:07,440 Speaker 3: five pounds. Maybe he ain't no big, scary dude. 148 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:10,559 Speaker 2: So as he's. 149 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 3: Walking towards me, I'm getting angrier and angrier. I'm like man, 150 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 3: And then he saw it, he saw the anger in 151 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 3: my face, and the strangest thing happened. Man, Instead of 152 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:29,679 Speaker 3: showing me this snarling, nasty face that beat my head in, 153 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:36,680 Speaker 3: he cowered. He capitulated, and in this very milk toasting, 154 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 3: cowardly way, he started to plead with me. Nick Man, 155 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 3: I'm sorry, man, look, I'm so sorry. I kept looking 156 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 3: at him and looking at him, and then I had 157 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:59,480 Speaker 3: this horrifying realization. I turned myself into this bitter, nasty 158 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 3: person to be just like him. I hated everyone, disrespected everyone, 159 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:10,640 Speaker 3: I talked like shit. I was so screwed up in 160 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 3: my head from this incident that I stole a car 161 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:17,520 Speaker 3: and I ran off to Florida and I did a 162 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 3: bunch of drugs and I ended up in the Florida 163 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:24,400 Speaker 3: State Mental Institution over this, and for the very first time, 164 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 3: I got diagnosed with having a brain injury called a phasia. 165 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 3: And the doctor said, what kind of drugs you've been taking? 166 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:38,720 Speaker 3: When I ran through the list of them, mainly being methamphetamine, 167 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 3: he said, I want to explain something to you. If 168 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 3: you had a fire and you had napalm, would you 169 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:51,880 Speaker 3: throw the nate palm on the fire to put it out? 170 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 3: Because methamphetamine inside your brain is napalm, and you're killing yourself. 171 00:10:57,040 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 3: You can't function, you lose folkous. What you do is 172 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 3: just full of mental destruction. He said, the worst drug 173 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 3: that you can do in your life is methamphetomye. And 174 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:13,760 Speaker 3: I said, but I really don't care about myself. He said, 175 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,720 Speaker 3: it shows you arrived in a medical condition in the 176 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 3: Dade County jail. You weighed one hundred and seventy three pounds, 177 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:27,560 Speaker 3: You were malnourished, you were uncommunicated. We had to put 178 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 3: you into restraints. 179 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 2: They read it all. 180 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:36,320 Speaker 3: He said, you have a form of a phasia. You 181 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:39,960 Speaker 3: have a brain disorder in which you were brain scans 182 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 3: show that you have damage. Have you been in a 183 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 3: serious automobile accident, because this is likely to be caused 184 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:52,440 Speaker 3: by serious trauma. And I told him, I said no, 185 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:54,080 Speaker 3: someone hit me in the head when I was a 186 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:57,440 Speaker 3: boy with a rock. And then he tried to explain 187 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 3: what a PHASEA was. Get out of the medical institution. 188 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,880 Speaker 3: They send me back to Pennsylvania and in nineteen eighty one. 189 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 3: I was stable for three months. I had a girlfriend 190 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:13,319 Speaker 3: named Teresa. I was working at Spencer's Gifts. I wasn't 191 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:18,160 Speaker 3: doing meth. Everything was cool. Jay I was like, I understand, 192 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 3: I got a brain disorder. I can't do meth. So 193 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:23,280 Speaker 3: I tried my best to stay clean. But I'm twenty 194 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:27,679 Speaker 3: years old, you know. Then I get to like stressing 195 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:30,480 Speaker 3: with my brothers and fighting in the house and causing 196 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:33,560 Speaker 3: all kinds of ruckus. And my parents were stressed out 197 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:37,720 Speaker 3: because both my brothers were on drugs. So Marty's drinking, 198 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 3: Mikey's drinking, I'm drinking. We're fighting in the house, and 199 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:44,400 Speaker 3: it's just chaos. Teresa don't really want to be part 200 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:44,599 Speaker 3: of that. 201 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:45,600 Speaker 2: She steps out. 202 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 3: So I go back to stee on cars and doing 203 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 3: meth again. On December fourth, nineteen eighty one, two Philadelphia 204 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:57,240 Speaker 3: police officers pulled me over and they beat me up 205 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:00,760 Speaker 3: and mashed my mouth up with a Beaverdale blackjack. But 206 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 3: that didn't stop me. The next week, I went out 207 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 3: and stole another car. But this time it's December nineteenth, 208 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,480 Speaker 3: nineteen eighty one, and I'm driving in the city of Chester. 209 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 3: It's twelve o'clock one o'clock in the morning and I 210 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 3: went through a stop sign. The cop pulls out, and 211 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 3: my heart's racing. Man, I'm high on meth. I just 212 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:25,040 Speaker 3: took a hell of a beaten two weeks three weeks 213 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:27,400 Speaker 3: ago from the police for this same shit. 214 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 2: I don't know what to do. I just panicked. 215 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:35,520 Speaker 3: The next thing I know, this police officer comes up 216 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:38,320 Speaker 3: and starts beating on the window. I'm boom, boom, get 217 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 3: out of the car. But in my head, I swear 218 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:43,960 Speaker 3: to God, I can't make no sense to nothing. My 219 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:48,439 Speaker 3: heart's racing. I'm so high on meth I I can't move. 220 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:54,720 Speaker 3: I'm panicky. You know that's scared panicky. The dude rips 221 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:57,200 Speaker 3: the door open, and when he did, I realized the 222 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,200 Speaker 3: radio was still blasted. I'm so high on it, even 223 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,160 Speaker 3: though the radio's on it. He rips me out of 224 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:05,559 Speaker 3: the car, pushes me back. 225 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 2: Didn't you see me? Why didn't you stop all this? 226 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:09,959 Speaker 2: I can't stay. 227 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:11,960 Speaker 3: I'm trying to talk to him, and that's when he 228 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:14,760 Speaker 3: foe armed me. And he took his right forearm and 229 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,760 Speaker 3: put it under my chin and pushed my neck backwards 230 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 3: on the roof of the car so that my head's 231 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 3: now being pushed against it and I'm choking, you know, 232 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 3: And that was it, Like I snapped, and I pushed 233 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 3: his arm away with my left hand and flung it 234 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:30,560 Speaker 3: off me, and he grabbed his stick in a flash 235 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 3: my right. 236 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:33,320 Speaker 2: Hand so fast. I can't explain it. 237 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 3: When you're high on methamphetamine and your adrenal glands kick in, 238 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:42,240 Speaker 3: the things that happen are just in flashes. I reached 239 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 3: out and like a nanosecond just took a stick off him, 240 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 3: and he looked at me incredulously and he went whew. 241 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:50,840 Speaker 3: And then he reached down with his right hand and 242 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:52,480 Speaker 3: pulled his gun out. And when I seen him going 243 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 3: for the gun, I reached out with both hands and 244 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 3: put my hands on his hand and pushed downwards so 245 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:00,240 Speaker 3: that the barrel went away from us, you know. 246 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 2: And as I did that was it. Boom, big loud explosion. 247 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 3: Man, the gun goes off, and I'm just I can't 248 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 3: believe this, Jason. I went from being high in a 249 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:18,080 Speaker 3: stolen car driving down the street, thinking about how can 250 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 3: I get out of this crazy stuff at my house, 251 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:23,840 Speaker 3: and the next thing I know, his cops got his 252 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:25,760 Speaker 3: arm on my throat and his gun just went off. 253 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 3: So I put my hands up. I said, okay, okay. 254 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 3: He put the gun under my chin. He forced me 255 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 3: into the car. Then he sat down and he composed 256 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:42,520 Speaker 3: himself for a minute, and I watched as like he 257 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:46,800 Speaker 3: thought about this. Then he snatched up the microphone from 258 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:50,880 Speaker 3: within the car and he starts yelling shots, fire shots, fire, help, help. 259 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 3: He's attacking me as if I'm whipping his ass. I'm like, 260 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:58,560 Speaker 3: I can't even believe that this man is now in 261 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 3: front of my face making this up. And then he 262 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,880 Speaker 3: puts the phone down. He goes, oh, and he could 263 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:06,760 Speaker 3: sell the car, and he's waiting and a paddy wagon 264 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:08,760 Speaker 3: shows up and there's four. 265 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 2: Cops in it. 266 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:11,640 Speaker 3: They ripped me out of the backseat of the car. 267 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:15,480 Speaker 3: I ain't even in handcuffs. Boom boom, boom, boom boom 268 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:17,680 Speaker 3: to the ground, Beat me down, Stop me down. He 269 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:19,880 Speaker 3: already told him he had my gun. He tried to 270 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:23,520 Speaker 3: kill me. He beat the shit out on me, put 271 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:24,080 Speaker 3: me in jail. 272 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,280 Speaker 1: At that time, you were charged with stealing a car. 273 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 3: Right they didn't even know it was stolen. This was 274 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:35,120 Speaker 3: a traffic incident. I was originally charged with aggravated assault 275 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 3: resisting arrest. Attempted murder on a police officer, possession of 276 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:43,400 Speaker 3: a firearm by a convicted felon, and for kidnapping of 277 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 3: that police officer. 278 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: As well as reckless endangerment and robbery. I mean, it's 279 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: a lot. And so this is where things get really nuts. 280 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 1: I mean, in case your story wasn't already crazy enough 281 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 1: for three podcasts, because it is now, you come up 282 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:03,160 Speaker 1: with what must have seemed like at the time a 283 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,679 Speaker 1: good idea to get yourself out of what is an 284 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,560 Speaker 1: impossible situation. With all these charges hanging over your head. 285 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:11,280 Speaker 1: You're looking at potentially spending the rest of your life 286 00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:13,119 Speaker 1: in prison. We would have to say that it was 287 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 1: your fault you were driving high and that you were 288 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:18,440 Speaker 1: in a stolen car, But the rest of it sounds 289 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:21,080 Speaker 1: like you were basically trying to save your own life 290 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:25,880 Speaker 1: and ended up in a situation that spiraled way out 291 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:29,439 Speaker 1: of control. Adrenaline, drugs, all kinds of things. And we 292 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 1: know in those days that Philadelphia police were notorious. In fact, 293 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:38,760 Speaker 1: they were instructed, even ordered to use extreme violence against suspects. 294 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:41,880 Speaker 1: It was the era of Frank Rizzo, who was the. 295 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 3: Two weeks before I got arrested by this police officer 296 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 3: Rizzo himself. No, it was the police officers that he created, 297 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:50,920 Speaker 3: the highway patrol officers, right, the brutal ones you're talking 298 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:52,680 Speaker 3: about with the jack boots and the berets. 299 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, sort of a gestapo that used to patrol the 300 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:58,040 Speaker 1: Philadelphia area. And of course Rizzo went on to be 301 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:01,600 Speaker 1: the mayor. It's really a dark chapter and not only 302 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:19,440 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania history, but American history. On December fifteenth, nineteen eighty one, 303 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,760 Speaker 1: Linda May Craig, a sales associate the Tri State Mall 304 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:25,679 Speaker 1: in Claymont, Delaware, was abducted in her car at the 305 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:28,359 Speaker 1: end of her shift and after not arriving home, you know, 306 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:31,760 Speaker 1: hours and hours later, her husband called the police and 307 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:34,040 Speaker 1: her car was found abandoned on the side of the 308 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:39,240 Speaker 1: road in Chichester, Pennsylvania. Her body, of course, tragically, was 309 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:44,639 Speaker 1: found the following day, beaten, stabbed, and raped, and she 310 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:47,359 Speaker 1: was found in a church parking lot about a mile 311 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: and a half away from where her car had been found. 312 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,400 Speaker 1: The police report stated that she bled out from multiple 313 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: stab wounds to stained to the chest. Really an awful 314 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:58,640 Speaker 1: crime and an era when crime was high, this one 315 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:03,480 Speaker 1: would even stand out as a particularly vicious brutal assault. 316 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:08,000 Speaker 1: So tell us what happened, because you had an idea 317 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,840 Speaker 1: that would take you into a better spot in terms 318 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:14,399 Speaker 1: of your own charges that you were facing. And actually, 319 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:16,520 Speaker 1: I think when you came up with, at least on paper, 320 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:19,040 Speaker 1: must have seemed like an elegant solution, right. 321 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:24,600 Speaker 3: But that's the thing about being waylaid by a lie. 322 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 3: From this point on, I bear responsibility. I know what 323 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 3: he did to me was wrong, and a jury, yes, 324 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,920 Speaker 3: only three months later, I would be found not guilty 325 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:41,680 Speaker 3: of all the charges by that police officer. 326 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:44,440 Speaker 1: Not guilty, Wow, that's right. 327 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:50,800 Speaker 3: But before that I was facing life from his lie. 328 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 3: So in my desperation, the only thing I had in 329 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,480 Speaker 3: myself was a newspaper that had the story of Linda 330 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 3: May Craig. And I don't know if you've ever been 331 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:03,159 Speaker 3: locked in a room with a box of toothpaste, but 332 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 3: you'll read the ingredients over and over, man. And that 333 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:10,720 Speaker 3: headline kept bugging me, man. And it all started by happenstance. 334 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 3: A guard walked by and he saw me. He said, boy, 335 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:21,679 Speaker 3: you don't look right. What's going on. Before that moment, 336 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:26,440 Speaker 3: in my head, I concocted a stupid, stupid story where 337 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:30,040 Speaker 3: I was going to tell the police that I possibly 338 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 3: knew some information about this murder, and that hopes of 339 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 3: bartering my way out by saying that this guy that 340 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:39,199 Speaker 3: had died of a drug overdose did it so that 341 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:39,840 Speaker 3: I could get. 342 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 2: Out and run. 343 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 3: This is the thinking of a twenty year old junkie man, 344 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 3: but I still bear responsibility for it my own this. So, 345 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:55,440 Speaker 3: this officer standing before my cell says to me, why 346 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:59,440 Speaker 3: are you so upset? I said, I need to talk 347 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:02,919 Speaker 3: to somebody. What if I knew about this murder? And 348 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:05,640 Speaker 3: I held up the newspaper and I said, would they 349 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 3: let me out? And then he said, what do you know? 350 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:12,360 Speaker 3: And I told him my story. Oh my god. As 351 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,639 Speaker 3: soon as I finished telling my story, he ran off. 352 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,200 Speaker 3: He went to the sergeant's office and got the sergeant. 353 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:21,119 Speaker 3: And then I realized I did it. I had already 354 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 3: committed to this. I'm stuck now way out there. They 355 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:27,520 Speaker 3: came back. They took me to the warden's office. They 356 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 3: took me out of solitary confinement. They bought me a soda, 357 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:32,440 Speaker 3: They sat me down. They told me what a wonderful 358 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:35,119 Speaker 3: citizen I was, what a huge break this was. They 359 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 3: can't believe their luck. This is such a great thing 360 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 3: you're doing. Nick, Look at you. You're not a bad kid. 361 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:43,160 Speaker 3: You were doing some drugs. Let's talk to the police officer. 362 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:48,439 Speaker 3: Get the officer on the phone. Oh yeah, look, the 363 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:52,360 Speaker 3: police came, the detectives. They told me all these wonderful things. 364 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,119 Speaker 3: I told my story that this dude in Philly that 365 00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:58,080 Speaker 3: I knew named Jimmy did the murder and that they 366 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:02,080 Speaker 3: could just go get him and be all said. They 367 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,080 Speaker 3: took me out of solitary confinement. They put me in 368 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 3: general population. They told me I had a our hearing 369 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:07,560 Speaker 3: in three days. 370 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,119 Speaker 2: I was going to be released. Jason, I thought this 371 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 2: shit was real. Man. 372 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:14,720 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sitting there for three days. And they came 373 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:18,359 Speaker 3: back and they said, Jimmy Chris Boys, the man that 374 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:21,200 Speaker 3: you accused of telling you that he committed this murder, 375 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:25,760 Speaker 3: is not guilty. He has an alibi. He's at work. 376 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,320 Speaker 3: When I heard he was at an alibi, I said, what, 377 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 3: but he's dead. 378 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:32,120 Speaker 2: They said, what do you mean, he's dead? 379 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:35,239 Speaker 3: And that's when they knew that I was making up 380 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:38,120 Speaker 3: the story. And it turns out it was his brother Joey, 381 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:42,520 Speaker 3: not Jimmy, that died. The junkie that told me the 382 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:45,399 Speaker 3: story got it wrong, and I based my story on 383 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:48,280 Speaker 3: a lie, and now the cops are looking at me 384 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:51,920 Speaker 3: like you came here with a story. So we went 385 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,399 Speaker 3: and talked to your girlfriend and she said that you 386 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,240 Speaker 3: were a weirdo man, you were acting all weird. So 387 00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 3: we just we put two together and I said, what 388 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:04,640 Speaker 3: do you mean? They said, well we figured it out. 389 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 3: You went out and killed Missus Craig because she looks 390 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,679 Speaker 3: like your girlfriend. You were upset with her and you 391 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:12,800 Speaker 3: wanted to punish a woman. Isn't that why you did it? Nick? 392 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,320 Speaker 3: And I looked at him, like, are you crazy? Why 393 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:18,200 Speaker 3: would I go out and kill some lady I don't 394 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:23,120 Speaker 3: even know? And they said, well, we have an inmate 395 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:26,440 Speaker 3: back in the jail. Who's going to say to that 396 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:29,400 Speaker 3: you confessed to the rape and murder of Missus Craig. 397 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:30,600 Speaker 3: What do you got to say about that? 398 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:33,160 Speaker 2: I said what they. 399 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:37,960 Speaker 3: Said, Yeah, Charles Michael Catalino said, did you confess to him? 400 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:39,400 Speaker 2: I said, who's this guy? 401 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:45,760 Speaker 3: Charles Michael Cadlino was convicted of robbing William Ryan's house. 402 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 3: William Ryan was the first assistant prosecutor of Delaware County 403 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:52,960 Speaker 3: who was handling the Linda May. 404 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:53,960 Speaker 2: Craig murder case. 405 00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:57,560 Speaker 3: Oh Jesus, when I found out that they recruited this 406 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:01,200 Speaker 3: man and instead of giving him twenty years for burglarizing 407 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:04,399 Speaker 3: the prosecutor's home in which he abused the prosecutor's pets, 408 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:07,879 Speaker 3: I knew I was done. They charged me with the 409 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,439 Speaker 3: rape and murder of a woman I never even met, 410 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:14,680 Speaker 3: just based on an inmate's so called confession to an inmate. 411 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:20,280 Speaker 3: I'm sitting there now, I'm not only charged with attempted 412 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:22,679 Speaker 3: murder of a police officer. I'm sitting there charged with 413 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:24,560 Speaker 3: the rape and murder of a woman I never met. 414 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:26,879 Speaker 3: And this is all within weeks of landing in jail. 415 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:30,720 Speaker 3: I went and played my stupid game against a liar, 416 00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 3: thinking I could make up a lie, and I made 417 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,600 Speaker 3: it so much worse in retrospect. 418 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,159 Speaker 1: Obviously a crazy idea, but no one can walk a 419 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:41,840 Speaker 1: mile in your shoes. And I think that you came 420 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,680 Speaker 1: up with a plan that at least didn't involve implicating 421 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:48,639 Speaker 1: a live person. But it is a terrible aspect of 422 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 1: the story. And of course you know you went from 423 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:54,200 Speaker 1: being zero to hero and then back to sub zero 424 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:56,920 Speaker 1: after this because of the fact that now they go, well, 425 00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,920 Speaker 1: you know what, fuck this guy, and you know we're 426 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,399 Speaker 1: going to now make his life even more of a 427 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,040 Speaker 1: living hell. So let me just go back to the 428 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,000 Speaker 1: crime itself. So, Linda make Craig was murdered before you 429 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,479 Speaker 1: went to prison for this incident with the office. 430 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,960 Speaker 3: Yes, she was murdered on December fifteenth. I was arrested 431 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:17,320 Speaker 3: on December nineteenth in the early morning hours in a 432 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:22,479 Speaker 3: stone car in the same city, roughly twenty five miles area, 433 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:23,960 Speaker 3: just outside of Philadelphia. 434 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: Now, going back to the trial, because eventually you go 435 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 1: to trial, I'm assuming you had a public defender. 436 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:33,960 Speaker 3: No, I had private counsel come in. Samuel Stretton agreed 437 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,040 Speaker 3: to represent me for the fifteen hundred dollars inheritance I 438 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,080 Speaker 3: got from my grandfather, So he represented me on the 439 00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 3: first trial in April nineteen eighty two, in which the 440 00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:47,639 Speaker 3: only two witnesses were me and Officer Benjamin Wright. Officer 441 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 3: Benjamin Wright testified about the incident that I described, and 442 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:55,480 Speaker 3: he told the court that I jumped out of the 443 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:58,200 Speaker 3: car before he had a chance to respond, ran back 444 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,520 Speaker 3: to his vehicle, punched him, Vishes took his gun off 445 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:03,800 Speaker 3: of him, hit him across his face with it, and 446 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:06,360 Speaker 3: then proceeded to drag him back to my car when 447 00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 3: he overpowered me and the gun discharged inches from our faces. 448 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:11,439 Speaker 2: Meanings. 449 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:14,879 Speaker 3: He heroically overpowered me while I had the gun pointed 450 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:17,919 Speaker 3: at his eyes, he said, And although there was no 451 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,640 Speaker 3: powder burns on his face and he had very minimum scarring, 452 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 3: the jury took my word over his and found me 453 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,359 Speaker 3: not guilty of all charges after only twenty minutes of deliberation. 454 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:31,359 Speaker 1: So they found you not guilty after only twenty minutes. 455 00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:33,680 Speaker 1: That's a remarkable result when you have a guy who's 456 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:37,160 Speaker 1: a convicted felon and it's your word against the off 457 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,240 Speaker 1: the word of an officer of the law, it shows 458 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:43,800 Speaker 1: that the case was really a you know, and credit 459 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:45,760 Speaker 1: to the jury. By the way, and anyone who's listening. 460 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:47,679 Speaker 1: If you don't think it's important that you show up 461 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:49,920 Speaker 1: and serve on a jury, you just heard next voice, 462 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:53,879 Speaker 1: you may be in a position to save somebody else's life, 463 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,080 Speaker 1: So please do show up. You know, if you're listening 464 00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:59,120 Speaker 1: to this show, you know what's going on, so it's 465 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:03,000 Speaker 1: it's extra important that you be there. One vote can 466 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:05,560 Speaker 1: save somebody's life. Don't forget that it's a very important 467 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:07,680 Speaker 1: thing to remember. They will necessarily tell you. In certain states, 468 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:09,720 Speaker 1: they don't tell you that some people go and change 469 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 1: their vote because they think unless they can sway everybody 470 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: to their side. But no, you need one vote, and. 471 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:16,879 Speaker 2: You stop as good as no result. 472 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:20,120 Speaker 1: You can stop a terrible miscarriage of justice from happening 473 00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:23,120 Speaker 1: to an innocent person, and so please do show up. 474 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:26,119 Speaker 1: So now let's get to the trial of your life 475 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:28,520 Speaker 1: and for your life in a very real way, right 476 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 1: because you end up with the death penalty. 477 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,080 Speaker 2: Three day trial, what a joke. 478 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:36,119 Speaker 1: A three day trial, and the prosecution relied on a 479 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: number of things that don't make any damn sense. The 480 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:41,920 Speaker 1: jail house informant, who we know is getting a deal 481 00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:45,240 Speaker 1: biological materials that couldn't have implicated you because you never metter. 482 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:47,640 Speaker 1: And we know now, of course that those biological materials 483 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:51,640 Speaker 1: actually ended up exculpating you and leading to your conviction 484 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:55,840 Speaker 1: being thrown out, overturned, and you're eventually being declared actually innocent. 485 00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: Can you explain that discrepancy? 486 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:02,879 Speaker 3: In nineteen eighty two, zerology was at the forefront blood 487 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:06,680 Speaker 3: grouping and such like this. So when spermatozoa or other 488 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:10,160 Speaker 3: biological evidence was left at a crime scene. The furthest 489 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:13,320 Speaker 3: that we could go in science was blood grouping. The 490 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,800 Speaker 3: killer had be positive blood, so do I. 491 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,480 Speaker 1: And of course there was also the testimony of a 492 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,040 Speaker 1: co worker, and I'm confused about this one, Natalie Barr 493 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:26,200 Speaker 1: and a salesperson from nearby booth named Franklin Kaminski. These 494 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 1: people testified that you had been lingering around Missus Craig's 495 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: sales booth. The prosecution also introduced evidence that Missus Craig 496 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:36,000 Speaker 1: bore a significant resemblance to your former girlfriend. You brought 497 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:38,440 Speaker 1: this up before a relationship that had ended, you. 498 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 3: Know, okay to answer to both of these, The composite 499 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:44,440 Speaker 3: sketch that was made by Frank Kaminsky in nineteen eighty 500 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:48,040 Speaker 3: one described a white male five foot seven to one 501 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:51,360 Speaker 3: hundred and forty pounds, that is in the description on 502 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 3: his sketch. The band that they described had long black 503 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 3: or brown hair. It only changed because Natalie Barr began 504 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,640 Speaker 3: having personal interactions as they described it later on when 505 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 3: I went through the lawsuit stage against Pennsylvania. She was 506 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:11,400 Speaker 3: the main witness. Natalie Marie Barr, I guess had a 507 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 3: fixation with police officers and Detective Randy Martin, the lead 508 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:21,640 Speaker 3: detective who handled the matter, had very continuous personal interactions 509 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:25,360 Speaker 3: with her that led to her coming forward and saying 510 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:27,840 Speaker 3: that she saw me at the mall. Now, of course 511 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:31,160 Speaker 3: the DNA testing all proves this a lie, but this 512 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 3: is what I had to deal with at the time. 513 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,600 Speaker 1: So Natalie Barr was actually part of your lawsuit. 514 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,880 Speaker 3: Yes, when I filed a lawsuit against Pennsylvania with the 515 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,280 Speaker 3: help of Jack Beaver Esquire, she was the main witness 516 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:47,280 Speaker 3: who came forward through the help of my investigator and 517 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,640 Speaker 3: explained that she in fact had a personal relationship with 518 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:55,360 Speaker 3: Detective Martin and that she basically had too much information 519 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:57,840 Speaker 3: given to her by him and she felt obligated to 520 00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:00,200 Speaker 3: make up a story saying that she saw me at 521 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:02,800 Speaker 3: the mall. The horror of it all really is that 522 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:04,760 Speaker 3: at the time that I went to prison, everybody was 523 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:08,880 Speaker 3: convinced that I did it. So the jury took only 524 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:11,480 Speaker 3: an hour to sentence me to die because I refused 525 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 3: to admit my guilt. After they convicted me, I told 526 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,320 Speaker 3: them that I didn't want my mother to testify, and 527 00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:21,840 Speaker 3: I watched as my neighbors and people from my neighborhood 528 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:24,960 Speaker 3: made sizzling noises because I was sentenced to the electric chair. 529 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:29,520 Speaker 3: And when his honor, Robert F. Kelly sentenced me to die, 530 00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:32,320 Speaker 3: he couldn't look me in the face. The whole time 531 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:35,760 Speaker 3: he read off the perfunctory duties of his job. He 532 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:39,400 Speaker 3: had his head down like he was ashamed. So the 533 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 3: man sentenced me to death without having the courage to 534 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:45,080 Speaker 3: look me in the eyes. And when he raised his 535 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:47,680 Speaker 3: head and said if you have anything to add I said, yeah, 536 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,160 Speaker 3: you can go to hell because you just sentenced me 537 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,040 Speaker 3: to death without having the courage to look me in 538 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:52,360 Speaker 3: the face. 539 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 2: Why can't you look at me? 540 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:57,760 Speaker 3: But all he put in the newspaper was defiant death 541 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:03,360 Speaker 3: row prisoner tells judge to go to hell. So they 542 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,840 Speaker 3: sent me to hell. They sent me to Huntington Prison, 543 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,280 Speaker 3: the hardest prison in Pennsylvania, the only prison ever condemned 544 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 3: by the United Nations for its active practices of torture. 545 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:20,280 Speaker 3: And they put me through hell man, and I've spent 546 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:23,520 Speaker 3: the first two years in complete silence. I sang Happy 547 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,200 Speaker 3: Birthday to myself on my twenty second birthday, and four 548 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:29,800 Speaker 3: guards ran into my cell and the nurse stabbed me 549 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:34,160 Speaker 3: in the asked with Thorsen, that's some fucked up shit, man, 550 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,800 Speaker 3: where you can't even sing Happy Birthday to yourself. They'll 551 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:38,480 Speaker 3: beat your head in. 552 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:38,840 Speaker 2: Man. 553 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:41,760 Speaker 3: I'm like, how am I going to survive this shit? 554 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:44,040 Speaker 3: Then I meet my new lawyer and he tells me 555 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,920 Speaker 3: I'm guilty. I'm wasting his time. Don't bother trying to 556 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:52,680 Speaker 3: convince him of this. So at first I was a 557 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 3: bitter pill man. You would have opened my cell out 558 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:56,720 Speaker 3: to beat your face and I didn't care who you were. 559 00:31:57,520 --> 00:31:59,880 Speaker 3: And I'm in the mirror with all these killers, and 560 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:02,000 Speaker 3: I gotta be worse than them because I got to 561 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 3: keep them off me. This is crazy, man. I'm in 562 00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:13,000 Speaker 3: the early stages. Everything was chaos, man. And in nineteen 563 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 3: eighty three the drugs in America made the prison swell 564 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:19,520 Speaker 3: from one million to two million. So I was in 565 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:22,320 Speaker 3: a prison with eight hundred people that went to two 566 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:27,680 Speaker 3: thousand prisoners. Man, and the guards just had fun with 567 00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:34,680 Speaker 3: this man. The first dude that killed himself, I thought 568 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,160 Speaker 3: it was a mattress that somebody threw off the tier. 569 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:40,400 Speaker 3: He couldn't take. 570 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:40,880 Speaker 2: It no more. 571 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:45,960 Speaker 3: They kept torturing them, torturing them, torturing them, throwing pork 572 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:49,840 Speaker 3: in his cell, calling him nigger. He just couldn't take 573 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:54,920 Speaker 3: it no more. When I heard the body hit, because 574 00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:58,640 Speaker 3: I lived on the bottom tier and he was forty 575 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:02,160 Speaker 3: feet up on the top, I thought they had cleaned 576 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,320 Speaker 3: the sellout and they threw a mattress away. 577 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:09,480 Speaker 2: So I got up and looked out. His feet were twitching. 578 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:16,400 Speaker 3: I went back over and I said, I don't give 579 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:18,640 Speaker 3: a damn what I gotta do. I'm getting out of here, man. 580 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,560 Speaker 3: And then the torture started. They used to make us 581 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:29,680 Speaker 3: have gladiator days on Sundays when the lieutenant wasn't on 582 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 3: the block. Man early on, Jason, I had to fight men. 583 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:35,400 Speaker 2: Geeze. 584 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:39,320 Speaker 3: They were beast man like. I had no choice. And 585 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,960 Speaker 3: these dudes were being tortured, and a lot of it 586 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:46,640 Speaker 3: was just because they were Muslims and they rioted in 587 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:48,880 Speaker 3: Greater Ford Prison in Pennsylvania. 588 00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:50,880 Speaker 2: They were marked. 589 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:54,760 Speaker 3: They had a axe on him, and because I was 590 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,600 Speaker 3: a good sized kid, they decided that I. 591 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:01,440 Speaker 2: Was going to be her avenging angel and shit like that. 592 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:03,360 Speaker 2: It was sick. 593 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:03,680 Speaker 1: Man. 594 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,239 Speaker 3: I decided that I wasn't going to give up my humanity. 595 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:14,399 Speaker 3: I decided that I wasn't going to do this. 596 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:15,359 Speaker 2: But I didn't know. 597 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:19,160 Speaker 3: How some I'm walking past his cell where the guy 598 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:22,680 Speaker 3: killed himself, and the guard says to me, you go 599 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:27,120 Speaker 3: in that cell. You get them books. You start reading 600 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:28,959 Speaker 3: them books. It will stop you from being mad. 601 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,440 Speaker 1: What books were they? 602 00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:34,920 Speaker 2: I went into the corner. 603 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:38,239 Speaker 3: Out of them word this urine, the stand of water, 604 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:39,680 Speaker 3: standing damage, and shit. 605 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:42,200 Speaker 2: And I picked up. 606 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:50,000 Speaker 3: Nineteen seventy Webster's Dictionary paperback missing cover, a nineteen thirty 607 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:57,480 Speaker 3: three Tabler's Medical Encyclopedic, a nineteen eighties ged booklet with 608 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:02,200 Speaker 3: all the training courses, The Count of Monte Cristo and 609 00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:06,400 Speaker 3: the Prophet by Khalil Lebron. And I didn't even know 610 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:11,279 Speaker 3: any of these books. It took me three years, but 611 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:20,799 Speaker 3: I took the dictionary part. I was well on my 612 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:24,319 Speaker 3: way to working really hard to educating myself when my 613 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:28,880 Speaker 3: court appointed lawyer filed my mandatory appeal and the State 614 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:32,520 Speaker 3: Supreme Court remanded my case back for all of the 615 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:36,560 Speaker 3: destruction of evidence from my case because, like I described, 616 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:40,080 Speaker 3: when Frank Kaminski made a composite sketch, all of the 617 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:44,040 Speaker 3: related files in a file called eighty one ten seventy 618 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,880 Speaker 3: three were missing. Of the first thirty three pages of 619 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:53,880 Speaker 3: the initial homicide file, seventeen pages were missing, and of 620 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:57,600 Speaker 3: the remaining thirty three pages that many of them were 621 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:02,440 Speaker 3: redacted with black markings. The prosecutor deliberately went out of 622 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:06,240 Speaker 3: their way to remove all evidence of any suspect prior 623 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:09,799 Speaker 3: to my becoming a suspect while in prison, meaning any 624 00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:13,160 Speaker 3: investigative notes and everything was taken out of there. The 625 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:16,160 Speaker 3: notes related to the killer leaving the gloves in the 626 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:20,360 Speaker 3: car because they knew my hands were swollen and large 627 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:23,440 Speaker 3: that I wouldn't fit. The killer's gloves were also hidden. 628 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:29,680 Speaker 3: So I'm on my way to court in nineteen eighty five, 629 00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:33,719 Speaker 3: I'm so on pins and needles that I got a 630 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:37,040 Speaker 3: reman from the State Supreme Court with a clear mandate 631 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:41,400 Speaker 3: to answer the questions related to the destruction of evidence 632 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:46,160 Speaker 3: from pre trial files prior to trial, so that I 633 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:52,040 Speaker 3: could show exculpatory evidence. The prosecutor is up Ship's Creek. 634 00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:55,719 Speaker 3: They're going to have to produce all this evidence that 635 00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:58,759 Speaker 3: they said didn't even exist. So I get in the car. 636 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:01,760 Speaker 3: I'm driving to Philly. I'm going down there to court. 637 00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:05,280 Speaker 3: Huntington Prison is two hundred and twenty five miles away 638 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:06,400 Speaker 3: from the courthouse. 639 00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:07,760 Speaker 2: I was to attend. 640 00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:11,560 Speaker 3: So we had a five hour journey of driving down 641 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:15,440 Speaker 3: from Huntington Prison in the Central Mountains of Pennsylvania all 642 00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:18,920 Speaker 3: the way down to the Philadelphia area. It was about 643 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:21,920 Speaker 3: four and a half hours into the journey when the 644 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:25,200 Speaker 3: officers decided that we would have to take a break 645 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:27,880 Speaker 3: at either a rest stop or a gas station so 646 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:31,200 Speaker 3: that we could all relieve ourselves. And we stop in 647 00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:35,920 Speaker 3: a hest station. It's February fifteenth, nineteen eighty five. I'm 648 00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:38,040 Speaker 3: twenty four years old. I just spent three and a 649 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:40,920 Speaker 3: half years in one of the hardest prisons in the world, 650 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,040 Speaker 3: and I'm telling you I'm ready to go home. I'm 651 00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:46,000 Speaker 3: tired of this. I didn't kill nobody. I know it's 652 00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:47,959 Speaker 3: all been a mistake, and I'm ready to go home. 653 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,759 Speaker 3: I want to see my parents in court. Everything I 654 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:52,800 Speaker 3: was talking to the sheriffs, David bo said, I was 655 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:56,759 Speaker 3: very congenial and nice. We'd go to use the restroom. 656 00:37:57,080 --> 00:37:59,680 Speaker 3: The taller of the two officers holds the cubicle door 657 00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:02,839 Speaker 3: for me. The cubicle was away from the pumps. I 658 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,239 Speaker 3: used the restroom. The officers standing there by the door 659 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:09,759 Speaker 3: listen to me urinate testified at my escape trial. Later, 660 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:12,640 Speaker 3: he heard a man peeing and he had a bladder 661 00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:14,719 Speaker 3: the size of a pee, and he's almost seventy years old, 662 00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:17,240 Speaker 3: and he had to go to the toilet. He decided 663 00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:20,200 Speaker 3: to break protocol. He decided to let me run back 664 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:22,160 Speaker 3: to the car on my own so he could run 665 00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:26,960 Speaker 3: into the toilet and take a WII. That's what unraveled everything. 666 00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:30,680 Speaker 3: It's now dark, it's five point thirty pm. It's winter. 667 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:34,440 Speaker 3: I'm running back to that car. My eyeglasses are fogged 668 00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:38,120 Speaker 3: up from being in the toilet. You notice, when you're 669 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:40,920 Speaker 3: warm in the car, you go out in the cold, 670 00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:43,040 Speaker 3: go into a room. Was the first thing happened. 671 00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:45,280 Speaker 1: Jay, I wear glasses too. 672 00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:47,160 Speaker 2: And that's exactly what happened. 673 00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:49,319 Speaker 3: So when I come out of the bathroom, I got 674 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:54,319 Speaker 3: that fog and I'm running towards this silhouette. I got 675 00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:57,400 Speaker 3: handcuffs on. I'm coming to you, man. I'm freezing. I 676 00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:00,160 Speaker 3: got a prison shirt on, prison trousers. 677 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,480 Speaker 2: And that's it. Man, it's the coldest. Look it up. 678 00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:06,520 Speaker 3: February fifteenth, nineteen eighty five, the coldest night of the year. 679 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:09,479 Speaker 3: No way was I thinking anything but getting that car. 680 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:13,120 Speaker 3: Man and he pulls his gun out I'm like, whoa. 681 00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:15,160 Speaker 3: I throw my like, what are you doing? 682 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:16,560 Speaker 2: Boom? 683 00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:20,759 Speaker 3: First shot, no warning, nothing. He testified that he thought 684 00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:23,000 Speaker 3: he overpowered his partner. Man he tried to blow my 685 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,759 Speaker 3: brains out. So I did a pirouette. I run, and 686 00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:30,160 Speaker 3: because I'm handcuffed, I can't get my legs to work right. 687 00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:33,040 Speaker 3: I become a kimboed with my legs and I go down. 688 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:35,680 Speaker 3: Hard man ripped all the skin off my hands, and 689 00:39:35,719 --> 00:39:38,320 Speaker 3: it just sent this panic through me. When he fired 690 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,040 Speaker 3: the second shot, boom, That's when I started running to 691 00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:46,240 Speaker 3: the Ponderosa restaurant windows. I figure, if he's gonna take shots, 692 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:48,480 Speaker 3: he's gonna have to hit one of these people. So 693 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:50,560 Speaker 3: I'm like running like I'm gonna jump through the plate 694 00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:52,360 Speaker 3: glass window. And then I did that thing, you know, 695 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:55,200 Speaker 3: that Philly move where you run around the corner. So 696 00:39:55,239 --> 00:39:58,600 Speaker 3: I ran down to the intersection about one hundred yards. 697 00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:01,799 Speaker 3: I ran another hundred yards to my right. I ran 698 00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:04,200 Speaker 3: another one hundred yards to my right from there, and 699 00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:07,200 Speaker 3: I was right back behind the cop car, right back 700 00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:09,640 Speaker 3: where the car was where I just got out of 701 00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:12,680 Speaker 3: and I'm in the woods and I'm looking at him, 702 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:14,840 Speaker 3: and then all of a sudden, I just start throwing 703 00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:17,440 Speaker 3: up and throwing up. I can't believe, like there's no 704 00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:22,200 Speaker 3: mental process available to a human being to put perspective 705 00:40:22,239 --> 00:40:25,440 Speaker 3: on any of this. I stopped to take a piss. 706 00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:29,080 Speaker 3: The guy blows my head off. Almost I'm paranoid as 707 00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:32,000 Speaker 3: it is. I'm looking forward to going home. I don't 708 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:32,560 Speaker 3: want to run. 709 00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:33,680 Speaker 2: I'm like, what do I do? 710 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:36,959 Speaker 3: And I'm standing there panicking. I'm like, man, I gotta 711 00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:39,480 Speaker 3: do something. And I look and there's a flag and 712 00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:42,800 Speaker 3: it's a municipal building and it's a police station. I'm like, yeah, 713 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:45,520 Speaker 3: I'm gonna go hide behind the police station. Fuck this, 714 00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:46,919 Speaker 3: I'm not doing this, man. 715 00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:48,560 Speaker 2: So I went and. 716 00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:51,560 Speaker 3: Hid behind there for about thirty minutes, forty minutes until 717 00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:54,719 Speaker 3: I lost my core temperature and I come bolting out 718 00:40:54,719 --> 00:40:57,040 Speaker 3: of there, and somebody in the building saw me. 719 00:40:57,120 --> 00:41:01,239 Speaker 2: Man, that was it. Here comes to a cop. Oh 720 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:03,160 Speaker 2: my god, choppers. 721 00:41:02,719 --> 00:41:07,359 Speaker 3: ATVs over two hundred police officers in the woods of Chester, Pennsylvania. 722 00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:11,279 Speaker 3: I'm running, and I mean, I don't care if it's 723 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:12,960 Speaker 3: a tree branch or a brick wall. 724 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:14,120 Speaker 2: In this kind of. 725 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:16,920 Speaker 3: State, you just grab your glasses off your face and 726 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:22,160 Speaker 3: you run. Oh my god, I got knocked down. I 727 00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:23,359 Speaker 3: didn't care. I jumped up. 728 00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:23,839 Speaker 2: I ran. 729 00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:28,719 Speaker 3: Helicopter comes out. He's by this apartment complex and the 730 00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:31,400 Speaker 3: blades are so close to my head. He's almost whipping 731 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:34,200 Speaker 3: me with him. The snow's blowing up in my face. 732 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:38,719 Speaker 3: Everything's covered in ice. Man, and this helicopter's on me. 733 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:42,120 Speaker 3: I go behind this tractor trailer. I come out underneath it. 734 00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:45,280 Speaker 3: I roll back under he comes around it. The search 735 00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:47,480 Speaker 3: light's on me, like you would believe. He's got me 736 00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:50,120 Speaker 3: lit up. I go down over this fence and I 737 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:53,200 Speaker 3: roll down in embankment and cross the highway. But he 738 00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:55,480 Speaker 3: still thinks I'm in the parking lot, and he swings 739 00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:57,920 Speaker 3: back that way and I get away from him. I 740 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:01,440 Speaker 3: break across this big parking lot for him, and I 741 00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:03,799 Speaker 3: end up by this pizza shop. And then I go 742 00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:07,760 Speaker 3: down another embankment and then someone sees me back there. 743 00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:10,239 Speaker 2: And calls the helicopter back on me. Bam, he's on 744 00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:13,240 Speaker 2: me again. This dude was on me, like you'll believe. 745 00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:16,919 Speaker 3: Man. The only reason I got away from that way 746 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:19,480 Speaker 3: because I went into a corner of a building and 747 00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:21,680 Speaker 3: people came out the other side, and he thought that 748 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:24,200 Speaker 3: was me, and I buckled back around and went back 749 00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:28,200 Speaker 3: down these train tracks. I walked for five miles to Fraser, 750 00:42:28,239 --> 00:42:31,640 Speaker 3: Pennsylvania and broken feet. I found the nineteen sixty five 751 00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:33,680 Speaker 3: Ford Mustang in the parking lot. 752 00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:36,880 Speaker 2: I hot wired it and I drove here to New 753 00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:37,439 Speaker 2: York City. 754 00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:39,520 Speaker 1: What about the handcuffs. 755 00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:41,640 Speaker 2: I took them off with my eyeglasses. 756 00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:46,759 Speaker 3: See the same circumference of the pinhole of a pair 757 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:49,520 Speaker 3: of handcuffs. If you keep putting a human being in handcuffs, 758 00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:52,520 Speaker 3: he's going to figure them out. Well. I knew from 759 00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:56,399 Speaker 3: experience that if I take the arm off of my eyeglasses, 760 00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,640 Speaker 3: I can bend it and it's the same circumference as 761 00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:02,759 Speaker 3: the pin hole. You turn it once left to take 762 00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,040 Speaker 3: off the double lock, and then turn it once right. 763 00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:07,879 Speaker 3: You can take your handcuffs off. So while I laid 764 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:10,319 Speaker 3: there after I finished throwing up in the woods, I 765 00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:12,320 Speaker 3: took the handcuffs off and put them in my pocket. 766 00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:14,279 Speaker 3: I left them in a Bennett. 767 00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:15,719 Speaker 2: LaGuardia airport three days later. 768 00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:17,879 Speaker 1: Wow, yeah, I. 769 00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:19,759 Speaker 3: Left my handcuffs here in New York City, and the 770 00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:22,560 Speaker 3: transit authority found them. The FBI was on me here 771 00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:24,320 Speaker 3: in New York City. Man, I bet they were the 772 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:27,920 Speaker 3: found my car in Washington Square two days after the escape, 773 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:32,160 Speaker 3: February seventeenth, And that's when I was walking past Macy's 774 00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:35,760 Speaker 3: and I saw all those display windows with the TVs 775 00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:40,719 Speaker 3: with my mom's image on it. Man, oh man, they 776 00:43:40,719 --> 00:43:43,759 Speaker 3: didn't have my image up until a few seconds later, 777 00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:46,200 Speaker 3: I bet, but as soon as I saw my mom 778 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:50,640 Speaker 3: on five hundred televisions because Macy's had all them electronics, 779 00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:53,719 Speaker 3: remember back in the day, Yes, crazy Eddy man. 780 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:55,520 Speaker 1: So there was a mom on TV like saying, I 781 00:43:55,560 --> 00:43:57,680 Speaker 1: want my son to come along outside the house. 782 00:43:58,360 --> 00:43:59,200 Speaker 2: I will never forget. 783 00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:03,080 Speaker 3: WPVA, channeled six in Philadelphia was outside my parents' house 784 00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:07,120 Speaker 3: and the reporter was out there harassing my mom. I'm thinking, 785 00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:09,439 Speaker 3: oh my god, I'm on the FBI's most Wonderless because 786 00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:10,480 Speaker 3: that's what came up next. 787 00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:12,640 Speaker 1: Of course you were what did you do about the clothes? 788 00:44:12,640 --> 00:44:14,600 Speaker 1: Because what happened in the prison clothes? 789 00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:19,160 Speaker 3: Oh well, see I stopped in Philadelphia but before I left, 790 00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:21,839 Speaker 3: and a family member gave me some money and some 791 00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:24,439 Speaker 3: clothes and some bandages, and I drove to New York. 792 00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:27,080 Speaker 3: After I dropped the prison clothes in a swamp of 793 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:30,680 Speaker 3: New Jersey along the highway. So I had a pair 794 00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:32,799 Speaker 3: of thirty six trousers on. 795 00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:34,839 Speaker 2: I where thirty four is there? A bag of shit. 796 00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:38,279 Speaker 3: I had a pair of work boots on because my 797 00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:41,080 Speaker 3: feet split open in the prison shoes, and I had 798 00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:46,680 Speaker 3: socks all woven into my feet. So a Puerto Rican 799 00:44:46,760 --> 00:44:50,040 Speaker 3: girl helped me. I was in the Bowery. I paid 800 00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:51,920 Speaker 3: seven dollars a night for one of the rooms in 801 00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:55,839 Speaker 3: the old Bowery, the flophouses third Yeah, that's right right 802 00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:57,640 Speaker 3: in little Italy, down by Mott Street. 803 00:44:58,560 --> 00:44:58,759 Speaker 2: Yeah. 804 00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:01,600 Speaker 3: And I was down there and a girl went out 805 00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:03,800 Speaker 3: and got me a loaf of bread and it's baloney. 806 00:45:04,520 --> 00:45:07,319 Speaker 2: And I sat in the room just terrified. What do 807 00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:08,239 Speaker 2: I do? What do I do? 808 00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:12,520 Speaker 3: And I ended up going to Florida from here Orlando 809 00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:15,480 Speaker 3: by flight, and I thought I was going to do 810 00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:18,399 Speaker 3: that Miami vice stupid thing, Go rob me a drug 811 00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:19,799 Speaker 3: dealer and get a bunch of money and go to 812 00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:22,160 Speaker 3: Surinam and haha, I got away, you know. 813 00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:24,479 Speaker 2: But it was too hard, Jay. 814 00:45:25,239 --> 00:45:28,360 Speaker 3: I couldn't find a birth certificate to get a driver's license, 815 00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:30,240 Speaker 3: to get a passport to get out of the country. 816 00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:32,640 Speaker 3: And I wasn't as smart as I thought I was, 817 00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:35,799 Speaker 3: even though I had already started educating myself. So I 818 00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:38,959 Speaker 3: was sitting in Fort Laudadale, across from an Army Navy store, 819 00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:41,200 Speaker 3: and I decided to buy a rubber raft, a big 820 00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:43,440 Speaker 3: yellow one. I was going to get a cool full 821 00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:44,600 Speaker 3: of food, and I was going to go out in 822 00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:46,440 Speaker 3: the ocean into the shipping lanes and I was going 823 00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:48,920 Speaker 3: to have one blowout party. Then I was going to 824 00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:51,000 Speaker 3: cut my wrists and wait for the sharks to surround 825 00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:52,680 Speaker 3: the little raft, and I was going to stab the 826 00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:56,880 Speaker 3: raft and blow my brains out, never again in handcuffs. 827 00:45:56,880 --> 00:46:01,239 Speaker 2: Man. That's why I told myself. Thought about my mom on. 828 00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:04,520 Speaker 3: A TV, and I realized, I have a brother who's 829 00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:06,719 Speaker 3: only sixteen months older than me. He's gonna have to 830 00:46:06,719 --> 00:46:10,440 Speaker 3: pay for this man. He worked for the Philadelphia Police 831 00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:13,640 Speaker 3: as a hoster for their horses, and when I was 832 00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:17,080 Speaker 3: on escape, they fired him, say it was too much 833 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:20,440 Speaker 3: controversy for a man to work for the Philadelphia Police 834 00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:21,480 Speaker 3: and take care of their horses. 835 00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:22,719 Speaker 2: It broke my brother's heart. 836 00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:29,600 Speaker 3: So I manned up. I knew the beating that was 837 00:46:29,640 --> 00:46:32,120 Speaker 3: waiting on me. I knew the torture that was waiting 838 00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:35,239 Speaker 3: on me, and I turned myself in and I went 839 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:38,040 Speaker 3: back to Pennsylvania, and I faced the music because I 840 00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:39,480 Speaker 3: told a lie of missus Craig. 841 00:46:40,760 --> 00:46:42,680 Speaker 2: Jason that's never stopped bothering me. 842 00:46:42,760 --> 00:46:45,800 Speaker 3: Man. I told a lie to get out of a 843 00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:46,439 Speaker 3: cops line. 844 00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:48,080 Speaker 2: But that's only half the story. 845 00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:51,440 Speaker 3: I told a lie about a woman's murder man and 846 00:46:51,520 --> 00:46:55,799 Speaker 3: shamed her family, disrespected mine. I got to live with 847 00:46:55,840 --> 00:46:56,200 Speaker 3: that man. 848 00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:03,920 Speaker 1: So nick Yarris and now survive Gladiator Sundays, torturous guards, shotguns, 849 00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:06,600 Speaker 1: dogs and helicopter blades whipping at his face on an 850 00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:10,040 Speaker 1: accidental escape from Death Row all the way from Philly 851 00:47:10,239 --> 00:47:13,719 Speaker 1: to New York to Florida, only to shrug off suicide 852 00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:17,080 Speaker 1: to return to death Row. There's so much more in 853 00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:19,960 Speaker 1: store for part two, so start it now or save 854 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:22,880 Speaker 1: it for later. But either way, thank you for listening 855 00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:32,640 Speaker 1: to part one of nick Yarris un Wrongful Conviction. Don't 856 00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:35,239 Speaker 1: forget to give us a fantastic review wherever you get 857 00:47:35,280 --> 00:47:39,120 Speaker 1: your podcasts. It really helps. And I'm a proud donor 858 00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:41,640 Speaker 1: to the Ennosis Project, and I really hope you'll join 859 00:47:41,680 --> 00:47:45,040 Speaker 1: me in supporting this very important cause and helping to 860 00:47:45,080 --> 00:47:49,080 Speaker 1: prevent future wrongful convictions. Go to innescenceproject dot org. To 861 00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:51,880 Speaker 1: learn how to donate and get involved. I'd like to 862 00:47:51,920 --> 00:47:55,200 Speaker 1: thank our production team, Connor Hall and Kevin Wartis. The 863 00:47:55,280 --> 00:47:57,800 Speaker 1: music in the show is by three time OSCAR nominated 864 00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:01,080 Speaker 1: composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to findollow us on Instagram 865 00:48:01,080 --> 00:48:04,040 Speaker 1: at Brown and Ful Conviction and on Facebook at Brown 866 00:48:04,040 --> 00:48:07,560 Speaker 1: and Ful Conviction podcast. Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flam is 867 00:48:07,560 --> 00:48:11,040 Speaker 1: a production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association with 868 00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:12,319 Speaker 1: Signal Company Number one