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Speaker 1: Welcome to Wrongful Conviction, False Confessions. I'm Laura and I

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Speaker 1: writer and I'm Steve Drisen. Today we're going to tell

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Speaker 1: you about a California man named Ricky Davis. In nineteen

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Speaker 1: eighty five, Ricky and his girlfriend Connie found their roommate

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Speaker 1: brutally stabbed to death. Without any leads, the case went

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Speaker 1: cold for fourteen years. That's when detectives convinced Connie that

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Speaker 1: she had repressed memories of Ricky committing the crime. Based

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Speaker 1: on Connie's false statement, Ricky spent twelve years in prison

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Speaker 1: until very recently when he and his mother Maureen, finally

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Speaker 1: had something to be thankful for.

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Speaker 2: I think it's important to realize that on the road

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Speaker 2: to a wrongful conviction, there's a lot of road killed.

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Speaker 2: There's the defendant who gets wrongfully convicted. There's the defendant's

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Speaker 2: family who has to live with the fact that their

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Speaker 2: loved one is going away for a long period of

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Speaker 2: time or sentenced to death.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: In this case, it was Ricky's mom, Maureene, who had

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Speaker 1: to bear the brunt of that pain.

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Speaker 2: And then there are witnesses sometimes who are pressured to

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Speaker 2: lie to save their own skin.

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Speaker 1: Witnesses like Connie Dahl, and they have.

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Speaker 2: To live with the guilt that accompanies that lie.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting. I mean when you think about Connie

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Speaker 1: and Maureene in that courtroom, one woman is being forced

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Speaker 1: to talk and one woman is being prevented from talking,

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Speaker 1: and of course the two of them have two very

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Speaker 1: different stories to tell about who Ricky Davis is and

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Speaker 1: what Ricky Davis did.

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Speaker 2: And so the notion of powerlessness that Maureen experienced in

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Speaker 2: this case is something that we see all the time.

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Speaker 2: I mean, while the trial is happening, there's nothing more

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Speaker 2: can do to stop the train from running over her son.

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Speaker 1: And Connie's being forced to drive that train. She's a

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Speaker 1: victim here too. Today's story starts in El Dorado Hills, California,

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Speaker 1: an upper class suburb about twenty miles east of Sacramento.

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Speaker 1: In so many ways, El Dorado Hills epitomizes the American dream.

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Speaker 1: It's filled with expensive homes that back up onto lush

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Speaker 1: golf courses. Its shopping centers are filled with luxury stores

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Speaker 1: and fancy restaurants. Its families, by and large live lives

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Speaker 1: of privilege and peace. Ricky Davis's story is still unfolding today,

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Speaker 1: but it began back in nineteen eighty five. Ricky was

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Speaker 1: twenty years old. He lived in El Dorado Hills and

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Speaker 1: a large home on Stanford Lane along with his mom, Maureen. Now,

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Speaker 1: Ricky and Maureen were pretty different from their wealthy neighbors.

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Speaker 1: Maureen had been a teenage mom by the time she

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Speaker 1: turned twenty. She was raising Ricky and his three sisters

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Speaker 1: in southern California without much support from their dad. Maureen

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Speaker 1: worked to pay the bills by waitressing. She and Ricky

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Speaker 1: had come to El Dorado Hills just a few years

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Speaker 1: before our story begins. Ricky's grandmother, a successful business woman,

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Speaker 1: had recently moved to the area, and she bought the

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Speaker 1: house on Stanford Lane for them. This family might not

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Speaker 1: have been classic El Dorado Hills, but they were close

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Speaker 1: knit and loving. No secrets, no drama, no lies. Ricky

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Speaker 1: had a nineteen year old girlfriend, Connie Dahl, who spent

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Speaker 1: plenty of nights at the Stanford Lane house. Now, Ricky's mom, Maureene,

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Speaker 1: wasn't thrilled with Ricky and Connie's relationship because Connie had

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Speaker 1: a pretty serious meth habit. Ricky smoked pot. It's true

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Speaker 1: but he wasn't into harder stuff, and Maureen worried that

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Speaker 1: Connie would drag Ricky into trouble. But unlike Ricky, Connie

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Speaker 1: didn't have a stable home. Sometimes she had no home

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Speaker 1: at all and slept in her car. Once she and

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Speaker 1: Ricky started dating, Connie often spent the night at Rickey's house,

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Speaker 1: climbing in his bedroom window after Maureen was asleep. One

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Speaker 1: Friday in nineteen eighty five, July fifth, the Stanford Lane

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Speaker 1: house gained two more residents. Ricky's grandmother was in the

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Speaker 1: real estate business, and she'd recently learned that one of

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Speaker 1: her employees needed a temporary place to stay. Fifty four

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Speaker 1: year old Jane Hilton had been fighting with her husband

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Speaker 1: over money, and those fights had apparently turned violent. When

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Speaker 1: Ricky's grandmother found out about this, she offered Jane and

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Speaker 1: her thirteen year old daughter Autumn a spare bedroom on

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Speaker 1: Stanford Lane as a safe harbor. They moved in on Friday,

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Speaker 1: July fifth, but that harbor wasn't quite as safe as

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Speaker 1: it seemed. The next day, Saturday, July sixth, the house

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Speaker 1: emptied out. At least for the most part. Ricky's mom, Maureen,

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Speaker 1: took off in the middle of the day to go

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Speaker 1: camping with her boyfriend. In the evening, Ricky and his

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Speaker 1: girlfriend Connie headed out to a party. Even thirteen year

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Speaker 1: old Autumn left the house to meet up with some

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Speaker 1: new friends, three teenage boys she'd met earlier that day.

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Speaker 1: For her part, Autumn's mom, Jane, stayed home. Ricky and

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Speaker 1: Connie got back at around three thirty Sunday morning. When

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Speaker 1: they arrived at the house, they found Autumn outside standing

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Speaker 1: alone in the front yard. Autumn told them she'd been

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Speaker 1: home for an hour, but she hadn't gone inside yet.

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Speaker 1: She was worried about getting in trouble with her mom

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Speaker 1: for being out too late, she said, and she was

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Speaker 1: hoping Ricky and Connie would go inside with her. The

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Speaker 1: three go in together. Upstairs, there's no sign of Autumn's mom, Jane,

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Speaker 1: so Ricky and Connie leave Autumn in her room and

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Speaker 1: head for bed themselves. But as they walked down the hall,

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Speaker 1: Ricky spots blood on the carpet outside the master bedroom,

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Speaker 1: where his mom, Maureen usually sleeps. She's on a camping trip,

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Speaker 1: he reminds himself. He pushes the door open and finds

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Speaker 1: a nightmare. It's not his mom, but Autumn's mom, Jane Hilton.

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Speaker 1: She's lying on the bed wearing only a nightgown, and

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Speaker 1: she's clear really dead. Jane's been stabbed thirty nine times

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Speaker 1: and is covered in blood. She's got defensive wounds up

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Speaker 1: and down her arms. One of her fingernails is missing,

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Speaker 1: and her hand is clutching a tuft of someone's hair.

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Speaker 1: There's even a bite mark on the back of her

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Speaker 1: left shoulder. Ricky and Connie were horrified. They called the police,

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Speaker 1: who arrived and interviewed both of them on the spot.

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Speaker 1: Ricky and Connie told the police they'd been at a

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Speaker 1: party all night and it was pretty easy to corroborate

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Speaker 1: their story. The hood of Ricky's car was still warm,

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Speaker 1: suggesting he and Connie were being honest about only recently

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Speaker 1: getting back to the house, and thirteen year old Autumn

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Speaker 1: told police she'd seen Ricky and Connie arrive home and

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Speaker 1: gone in with them. To these officers at the scene,

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Speaker 1: it seemed pretty clear that Ricky and Connie were innocent,

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Speaker 1: so clear that the police didn't bother to interview the

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Speaker 1: other people who'd been with them at the party. Of course,

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Speaker 1: those people would have been alibi witnesses. Instead, police moved

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Speaker 1: on to check out the obvious suspect, Jane's husband, the

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Speaker 1: guy with whom she'd been fighting, but he seemed to

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Speaker 1: have an alibi two he'd apparently spent the evening at

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Speaker 1: a local restaurant. So next the police tried to find

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Speaker 1: the three teenage boys Autumn had been hanging out with

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Speaker 1: earlier that night. Problem was, Autumn only knew first names

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Speaker 1: for two of them, Michael and Calvin. After scanning through

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Speaker 1: a few yearbooks from local high schools, the detectives came

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Speaker 1: up with nothing. Unfortunately, that was it for the investigation.

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Speaker 1: Without any suspects or solid leads, the case went cold

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Speaker 1: for fourteen years. Fast forward from July nineteen eighty five

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Speaker 1: to November nineteen ninety nine. Ricky and Connie had broken

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Speaker 1: up long ago, their relationship ended up lasting less than

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Speaker 1: a year. Since then, Connie had continued using meth off

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Speaker 1: and on. For his part, Ricky had spent those years

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Speaker 1: in and out of prison for a series of relatively

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Speaker 1: minor offenses, mostly drug related crimes and robbery, but neither

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Speaker 1: of them had ever been involved in anything close to murder.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety nine, the el Dorado County Sheriff's office

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Speaker 1: decided to reinvestigate Jane Hilton's killing. Two detectives were assigned

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Speaker 1: to this cold case, and they started by reviewing old

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Speaker 1: news coverage. Their attention was caught by a story that

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Speaker 1: had run in a local newspaper just a few days

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Speaker 1: after the murder. A reporter from the paper had shown

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Speaker 1: up at the Stanford Lane house. Connie had let her

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Speaker 1: in and shown her the room where Jane had been killed.

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Speaker 1: The reporter asked a bunch of questions about finding the body,

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Speaker 1: and that's when Connie had said something that struck these

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Speaker 1: new detectives as suspicious. Connie had told the reporter that

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Speaker 1: Jane's body had been positioned on the bed as though

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Speaker 1: she were sleeping. Whoever had killed Jane, Connie speculated, must

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Speaker 1: have moved her body onto the bed afterwards. Connie's comment

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Speaker 1: was pretty obviously a guess, but the police began wondering

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Speaker 1: if she actually might know something about the body being moved.

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Speaker 1: So over the next fifteen months, between November nineteen ninety

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Speaker 1: nine and February two thousand and one, the police decided

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Speaker 1: to interrogate Connie on three separate occasions. It was all

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Speaker 1: caught on videotape, every last word, and that videotape makes

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Speaker 1: it clear the police weren't aiming only for Connie. They

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Speaker 1: wanted her to confess to being present when Jane died,

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Speaker 1: and they wanted her to name her ex boyfriend, Ricky Davis,

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Speaker 1: as the killer.

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Speaker 2: The theory was that Jane was brutally beaten and stabbed to

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Speaker 2: death by a man, and the man that the police

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Speaker 2: officers had in mind was Ricky Davis. Police officers often

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Speaker 2: go after ex girlfriends or ex wives on the assumption

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Speaker 2: that there was a bad breakup, that there's some animists

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Speaker 2: there that may motivate the aggrieved party into revealing information

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Speaker 2: that they had been unwilling to reveal at the time

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Speaker 2: of the investigation. Hell hath no fury like a woman

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Speaker 2: scorned is the thinking here.

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Speaker 1: Connie is first brought in for questioning only days after

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Speaker 1: the new cops take over the case. At first, she

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Speaker 1: insists repeatedly that she had nothing to do with Jane's murder,

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Speaker 1: that all she remembers is coming home and finding the body.

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Speaker 1: But right away Connie is hit with a barrage of lies.

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Speaker 1: Police tell her that a witness had placed her in

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Speaker 1: Ricky at the homicide scene, although no one had. Police

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Speaker 1: tell Connie that DNA established her presence in Jane's bedroom

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Speaker 1: even though it didn't, and they tell Connie that the

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Speaker 1: hares found clenched in Jane's hand belonged to Ricky. Another lie.

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Speaker 1: Police had actually lost those hairs. They were never tested

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Speaker 1: at all.

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Speaker 3: We know that you were present in the house when

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Speaker 3: this happened.

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Speaker 2: I know I was not.

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Speaker 3: We already know that. What do you mean, Well, like

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Speaker 3: I said, you know, we've got all kinds of physical

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Speaker 3: evidence I may happened. Yes, Oh my god, there's no way.

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Speaker 1: Over time, though, the police's cascading lies begin to break

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Speaker 1: Connie down. Like most of us, Connie has no idea

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Speaker 1: that police are allowed to lie during interrogations, So after

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Speaker 1: hearing all this apparent evidence of her own involvement, Connie

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Speaker 1: starts questioning her memory of what happened all those years ago.

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Speaker 3: Okay, if I was there, I had no memory of that.

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Speaker 1: She's desperately trying to make sense of what they're saying,

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Speaker 1: and eventually tells the investigators that maybe she was there

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Speaker 1: and just couldn't remember it. The investigator suggests that Ricky

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Speaker 1: had programmed her memory so that Connie would blank out

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Speaker 1: her recollections of the crime. She agrees, maybe I have amnesia.

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Speaker 3: I couldn't have watched that happen.

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Speaker 1: That would have been.

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Speaker 3: If I've writteness for that happening, that.

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Speaker 2: At very least you would I blinted out. They are

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Speaker 2: absolutely confusing the hell out of her. They are causing

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Speaker 2: a crisis of confidence where she begins not only to

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Speaker 2: doubt her memory, but she can't really distinguish between what

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Speaker 2: she actually remembers and what she thinks she might remember.

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Speaker 1: Investigators warn Connie that if she doesn't somehow recover her memories,

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Speaker 1: they might have to interrogate her again, and they say

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Speaker 1: that could lead to her arrest. On the other hand,

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Speaker 1: they imply that Connie will receive leniency, even immunity from

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Speaker 1: prosecution if she provides them with a statement right.

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Speaker 2: Now, well, first one to jump on the bandwagon, I always.

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Speaker 3: Sisus ride right.

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Speaker 2: And so what happens here is that the police provide

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Speaker 2: incentives to adopt their preconceived theory, promises of leniency or

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Speaker 2: threats of harm, suggestions that the first person to jump

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Speaker 2: on the bandwagon is going to get the best deal,

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Speaker 2: and that If she doesn't jump on first, someone else

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Speaker 2: is going to take your spot, and she's going to

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Speaker 2: get punished more severely.

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Speaker 1: These tactics work, Connie breaks and agrees to confess, to

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Speaker 1: say that she helped Ricky kill Jane, but she has

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Speaker 1: no idea what to say about the crime. Remember, Connie

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Speaker 1: wasn't actually there to help her out. Investigators feed Connie

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Speaker 1: everything they know about Jane Hilton's murder and everything they

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Speaker 1: think happened too. Here's the story that Connie ultimately agreed

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Speaker 1: to repeat. She said she was there while Ricky and

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Speaker 1: Jane were arguing about whether Jane's daughter Autumn could go

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Speaker 1: out that night. During the argument, Connie said, Ricky punched

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Speaker 1: Jane in the face. The altercation escalated. Eventually, Connie went

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Speaker 1: downstairs and acted as a lookout while Ricky stabbed Jane.

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Speaker 1: Then Connie said she came back to the room and

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Speaker 1: helped Ricky move Jane's body onto the bed.

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Speaker 2: So, to me, what makes this case different is that

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Speaker 2: we have a sort of recipe, if you will, for

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Speaker 2: a persuaded false confession. What's unique about a persuaded false

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Speaker 2: confession is that the suspect comes to doubt their own memory,

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Speaker 2: they get to a place where they think the police

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Speaker 2: officers are telling me I committed this crime. They're telling

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Speaker 2: me they have evidence that proves that I committed this crime,

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Speaker 2: but why can't I remember it? And when a suspect

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Speaker 2: gets to that place of uncertainty, the police officers provide

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Speaker 2: an answer. The events that you saw were so traumatic

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Speaker 2: that they caused you to repress these memories, and so

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Speaker 2: the interrogation becomes an exercise in pulling these memories out

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Speaker 2: of the suspect's mind. But they're not real memories. They

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Speaker 2: don't exist.

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Speaker 1: At times, Connie's language reveals her own uncertainty. Even while

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Speaker 1: she's confessing.

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Speaker 2: I think I did that, I probably did that. I

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Speaker 2: seem to remember that. There's a tentativeness that you wouldn't

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Speaker 2: have if they were real memories, and we see that

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Speaker 2: throughout Connie's interrogation.

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Speaker 1: Telling LYE. When Connie's not fed information, she can't get

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Speaker 1: anything about the story right. She's not able to tell

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Speaker 1: the police what the murder weapon looked like, where Ricky

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Speaker 1: got it, or how he disposed of it.

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Speaker 2: The detectives are shaping her memories, they are feeding her facts,

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Speaker 2: and their final story here is really their story. It's

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Speaker 2: their preconceived theory of the crime come to life through

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Speaker 2: the words of Connie Doll.

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Speaker 1: Strangely enough, the police don't arrest anyone right away. Instead,

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Speaker 1: they leave Connie alone for a while and interview Ricky himself.

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Speaker 1: He vehemently denies any involvement whatsoever. So the police come

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Speaker 1: back to Connie in January two thousand to see if

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Speaker 1: she can give them any more information, and they remind

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Speaker 1: her that the more details she can provide, the better

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Speaker 1: off she'll be. During this interrogation, officers play Connie the

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Speaker 1: crime scene video that was recorded the night Jane died

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Speaker 1: to see if they can quote refresh her memory. Now.

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Speaker 1: I've seen this video myself, and it's horrifying. It's almost

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Speaker 1: totally silent. As the videographer walks from room to room,

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Speaker 1: ending up in the bedroom where Jane died. The camera

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Speaker 1: documents every wound, every injury, from her missing fingernail to

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Speaker 1: her eyes which were still open. It's the kind of

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Speaker 1: crime scene that makes even people who see this all

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Speaker 1: the time sick to their stomachs. Connie watches the video

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Speaker 1: and agrees to add more detail to her story. She

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Speaker 1: says she heard Jane plead for her life, but Ricky

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Speaker 1: didn't listen. She says she heard Jane make gurgling noises

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Speaker 1: as Ricky stabbed her, and after the attack, Connie says

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Speaker 1: she saw Ricky covered in blood. The police still don't

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Speaker 1: arrest Connie, but they also don't leave her alone. Instead,

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Speaker 1: they come back a third time in two thousand and

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Speaker 1: one to try to get even more details. This time,

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Speaker 1: detectives tell her that she'll either be charged with a

285
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Speaker 1: misdemeanor accessory type thing, or she'll go down as a

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Speaker 1: full blooded half partner in the murder. It all depends

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Speaker 1: on her credibility. Now, Connie's got two young children. The

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Speaker 1: police tell her that if she continues to cooperate, she'll

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Speaker 1: be able to go home to her kids. But they

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Speaker 1: warn her saying, I don't know isn't going to help

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Speaker 1: you at all.

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Speaker 2: They bring up the subject of her children repeatedly throughout

293
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Speaker 2: the interrogation, and the message to Connie is crystal clear.

294
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Speaker 2: If I don't tell them what they want to hear,

295
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Speaker 2: I'm going to lose my children. So they play on

296
00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:09,120
Speaker 2: her emotions as a mother. These kinds of tactics are

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Speaker 2: very common when a woman is a suspect to her witness,

298
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Speaker 2: because police officers know that most women would walk across

299
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Speaker 2: a field of glass in order to protect their children.

300
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Speaker 1: To satisfy her interrogators, Connie adds another detail to her story,

301
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Speaker 1: and it's a big one. She wasn't just a lookout.

302
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Speaker 1: She says she was in the room during the murder

303
00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:35,359
Speaker 1: and tried to intervene. And remember that bite mark on

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Speaker 1: the back of Jane's shoulder. Connie ends up saying she

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00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:42,280
Speaker 1: was responsible for it, that she accidentally bit Jane during

306
00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:48,480
Speaker 1: the struggle. Finally, Connie's story was good enough. On May

307
00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:52,040
Speaker 1: twenty first, two thousand and two, based only on Connie's confession,

308
00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:56,680
Speaker 1: the El Dorado County District Attorney's office filed murder charges

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Speaker 1: against Ricky Davis. And here's the thing. When those cops

310
00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:03,520
Speaker 1: told Connie she wouldn't be charged, turns out they were

311
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Speaker 1: lying again. Connie was charged with murder II as an accomplice.

312
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Speaker 1: A few months later, prosecutors told Connie that if she

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Speaker 1: agreed to testify against Ricky a trial, she could plead

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Speaker 1: guilty to manslaughter and get a huge reduction in her sentence.

315
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Speaker 1: They decide exactly how much of her reduction. After she testified.

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Speaker 1: With no good options left, Connie pled guilty and agreed

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Speaker 1: to take the stand.

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Speaker 3: I didn't like her to start with.

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Speaker 1: That's Maureen Klein, Ricky Davis's mother. Remember she's always had

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Speaker 1: an opinion about Ricky's ex girlfriend, Connie.

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Speaker 3: Ricky and I have always been very close. He had

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Speaker 3: a horrible father, so I think the closeness was because

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Speaker 3: I was all Ricky really had. Even as a teenager,

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Speaker 3: he would call me his best friend. So this situation

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Speaker 3: was extremely devastating.

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Speaker 1: In two thousand and two, Maureen learned that Ricky was

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Speaker 1: being charged with murdering Jane Hilton, based on the testimony

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Speaker 1: of a girl he dated fourteen years ago. Mariene couldn't

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Speaker 1: believe it. She knew her son was no killer, and

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00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:22,640
Speaker 1: the police had seemed to acknowledge his and Connie's innocence

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Speaker 1: years ago. As she processed the news, Maureen struggled to

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Speaker 1: understand why Connie would falsely confess.

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Speaker 3: Connie had problems obviously, and she let the detectives talk

334
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Speaker 3: her into believing that she had something to do with

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Speaker 3: the murder. I was very angry at Connie, and I

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00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:44,639
Speaker 3: couldn't believe that she was lying this out, not lying.

337
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Speaker 3: I don't understand how somebody could convince you that you

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Speaker 3: participated in a murder that you didn't.

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Speaker 2: The idea that Connie would confess to a murder she

340
00:20:55,960 --> 00:21:01,239
Speaker 2: didn't commit, it was impossible for Maureen to believe. I

341
00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:06,080
Speaker 2: understand and sympathize with Maureen about her anger towards Connie,

342
00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:10,399
Speaker 2: But Connie's a tragic victim in this too. She didn't

343
00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:14,440
Speaker 2: start out by naming Ricky Davis as a murderer, and

344
00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:18,159
Speaker 2: it was only the lies and the manipulation by the

345
00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,479
Speaker 2: detectives in that cold case squad that gave her really

346
00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:25,359
Speaker 2: no choice but to change her story in ways that

347
00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:28,480
Speaker 2: pleased them, or else she was going to lose her kids.

348
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Speaker 1: After Ricky was charged, Maureen sat down and watched Connie's

349
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Speaker 1: interrogation videos. As Maureen watched, she began to see how

350
00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:41,080
Speaker 1: police manipulated Connie. She started realizing that the problem was

351
00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:43,639
Speaker 1: much bigger than her son's ex girlfriend.

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Speaker 3: Connie did stay in the starting of one of the

353
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Speaker 3: interviews that she had been up on mess for twenty

354
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Speaker 3: four hours prior, so that in itself, I would think

355
00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:58,440
Speaker 3: they wouldn't have interviewed her at that time, but they

356
00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:02,800
Speaker 3: did anyway, she would say exactly what they sold it to.

357
00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:05,840
Speaker 3: You could tell that they would turn off the recording

358
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Speaker 3: and get her back on track. The captives did tell

359
00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:12,800
Speaker 3: Connie that once Ricky was convicted that she would go free,

360
00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,600
Speaker 3: and I guess they threatened her with her children and stuff.

361
00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:21,119
Speaker 3: I didn't believe anything would come of it because I

362
00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:23,840
Speaker 3: knew Ricky had no part of it. I knew he

363
00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:24,440
Speaker 3: was innocent.

364
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Speaker 1: Maureen was right that Ricky was innocent, but she was

365
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Speaker 1: wrong that nothing would come of Connie's story. In June

366
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Speaker 1: two thousand and five, Ricky went on trial for Jane

367
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Speaker 1: Hilton's murder. Prosecutors called Connie Dahl as their star witness.

368
00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:42,280
Speaker 1: From his seat at the defence table, Ricky watched Connie testify.

369
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Speaker 1: He hadn't seen her in almost twenty years, and he

370
00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:48,880
Speaker 1: couldn't believe what he was hearing. Connie knew he was innocent.

371
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,960
Speaker 1: The two of them had discovered Jane's body together somehow,

372
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Speaker 1: though the system had put them on opposite sides. For

373
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Speaker 1: her part, Maureen sat in the front row of the courtroom,

374
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Speaker 1: right behind Ricky as prosecutors told the jury an unthinkable

375
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Speaker 1: story about her son.

376
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Speaker 3: The way they portrayed him, like he was some vicious animal.

377
00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,960
Speaker 3: That was hard to take. I was surprised that the

378
00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:16,920
Speaker 3: jurors believed Connie. To me, she didn't sound very credible.

379
00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:20,000
Speaker 3: The way she answered was what she was told to say,

380
00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:24,880
Speaker 3: but they did believe her. Obviously, I couldn't say anything.

381
00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:28,919
Speaker 3: At times, I wanted to yell out or react, but

382
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:31,320
Speaker 3: I knew that if I did, I wouldn't be allowed

383
00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:34,640
Speaker 3: in the courtroom. So it was a helpless feelings.

384
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Speaker 1: In exchange for Connie's testimony, prosecutors agreed that her sentence

385
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:42,479
Speaker 1: should be reduced to times served. The next day, she

386
00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:47,000
Speaker 1: walked free, but Ricky Ricky wasn't as lucky. Based on

387
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:50,960
Speaker 1: Connie's false testimony, Ricky was convicted of murdering Jane Hilton.

388
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Speaker 1: He was given a sentence of sixteen years to life.

389
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Speaker 3: It was like a bad movie. I mean, no systems perfect,

390
00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:08,120
Speaker 3: but there was just no way I thought it could

391
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:14,440
Speaker 3: be convicted under the circumstances. But he was. Everything about

392
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:17,679
Speaker 3: my life changed in the moment that he was convicted.

393
00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:22,080
Speaker 3: It seemed to me my whole personality changed. I became

394
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 3: angry at everything I wish I was detecting nothing but

395
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:29,480
Speaker 3: horrible things in their life.

396
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Speaker 1: I mean, I'm.

397
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:31,520
Speaker 3: Sorry that that's the way I feel.

398
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:37,840
Speaker 1: After his two thousand and five conviction, Ricky Davis was

399
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:41,679
Speaker 1: sent to a California prison hours away from Eldorado Hills.

400
00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:45,639
Speaker 1: His ex girlfriend, Connie was free, but she never shook

401
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:50,000
Speaker 1: her math habit. In twenty fourteen, Connie died of an overdose.

402
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:53,600
Speaker 1: For her part, Maureen moved out of the Stanford Lane house.

403
00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:56,600
Speaker 1: She couldn't be there alone and started living with her mom.

404
00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:00,720
Speaker 1: Every month, Maureen drove to visit Ricky in prison year

405
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:02,560
Speaker 1: after year after year.

406
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:05,320
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of bad people and they deserve

407
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 3: to be in there, but there's seems to be a

408
00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:12,560
Speaker 3: lot that shouldn't be in there. With no money, you're

409
00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:16,000
Speaker 3: going to do time period. That was just cut and dry,

410
00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:19,720
Speaker 3: and that pretty much is the way it is. It's

411
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 3: the same with different nationalities. They don't get the same

412
00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:28,160
Speaker 3: justice that a rich white person dev and that's wrong.

413
00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:33,240
Speaker 1: Shortly before Connie's death, the Northern California Innocence Project agreed

414
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:36,680
Speaker 1: to take on Ricky Davis's case, and in twenty fourteen,

415
00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:40,479
Speaker 1: attorneys from the project sought DNA testing on a host

416
00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,680
Speaker 1: of items from Jane Hilton's murder scene. The crime labs

417
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:46,520
Speaker 1: started with that bite mark on the back of Jane's shoulder,

418
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:49,320
Speaker 1: the mark that Connie told police had been left by

419
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:53,320
Speaker 1: her teeth. Whoever left that mark bit through Jane's nightgown.

420
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:57,080
Speaker 1: Sure enough, the lab found saliva on the nightgown and

421
00:25:57,119 --> 00:26:02,119
Speaker 1: developed a full DNA profile of an unknown mail. Obviously,

422
00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:04,840
Speaker 1: the bier was not Connie Dull and it wasn't Ricky

423
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:09,080
Speaker 1: Davis either. Next, the lab tested DNA from skin cells

424
00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:12,359
Speaker 1: that were left underneath Jane's fingernails from when she'd scratched

425
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:16,320
Speaker 1: her attacker. Whose DNA was it the same unknown man

426
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:19,639
Speaker 1: who'd left his saliva on Jane's nightgown. The profile was

427
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:23,560
Speaker 1: run through the local and national DNA databases with no luck.

428
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,160
Speaker 1: The attacker couldn't be identified, but it was crystal clear

429
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:30,720
Speaker 1: that whoever had killed Jane Hilton was not Connie or Ricky.

430
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:34,399
Speaker 1: Ricky's attorneys filed a post conviction petition based on this

431
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:38,520
Speaker 1: new evidence. In twenty nineteen, the court threw out Ricky's conviction.

432
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,680
Speaker 1: That was great news, but Ricky's fight wasn't over. Even

433
00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 1: though the DNA excluded Ricky prosecutors weren't ready to drop

434
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 1: charges until they knew whose DNA it was, so they

435
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 1: began preparing to retry Ricky for Jane's murder, and Ricky

436
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:57,360
Speaker 1: had to stay behind bars. But in the meantime, prosecutors

437
00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:01,560
Speaker 1: tried a brand new method to identify the DNA genetic genealogy,

438
00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:04,840
Speaker 1: and it led investigators back to someone whose name they

439
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:07,440
Speaker 1: hadn't heard in twenty five years.

440
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:14,119
Speaker 2: Genetic genealogy searches public databases like ancestry, dot com and

441
00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:19,040
Speaker 2: twenty three in meters to look for matches to evidence

442
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:23,760
Speaker 2: that's found at a crime scene. Police officers start examining

443
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:27,359
Speaker 2: the family trees and look for people who have a

444
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 2: connection to the crime scene.

445
00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:31,879
Speaker 1: In Ricky's case, the process led the DA's office to

446
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,080
Speaker 1: fifty one year old Michael Green, who is Michael Green.

447
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,520
Speaker 1: Turns out he was one of the three teenagers that

448
00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:41,160
Speaker 1: Jane's daughter Autumn had been with the night her mother

449
00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 1: was killed at Long Last. Twenty five years after Jane's death,

450
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:50,119
Speaker 1: the authorities had found her killer. In February twenty twenty,

451
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,159
Speaker 1: Michael Green was charged with Jane's murder and was booked

452
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:56,040
Speaker 1: into the Eldorado County jail. He entered a plea of

453
00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:59,840
Speaker 1: not guilty and is awaiting trial today now. Because Green's

454
00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:03,560
Speaker 1: case is still unfolding, we don't have clear answers yet

455
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,160
Speaker 1: about why he attacked Jane or how he did it.

456
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:10,160
Speaker 1: We just know the DNA was his. That's pretty close

457
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:16,680
Speaker 1: to case closed. On February thirteenth, twenty twenty, a judge

458
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:21,040
Speaker 1: declared Ricky Davis factually innocent and dismissed the case against

459
00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,200
Speaker 1: him after serving twelve years for a murder he did

460
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,480
Speaker 1: not commit. Ricky walked out of prison right into the

461
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:28,360
Speaker 1: arms of his mom.

462
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,480
Speaker 3: The judge exonerated him, which he said that was the

463
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:39,040
Speaker 3: first time he had ever done it. That was such

464
00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:41,680
Speaker 3: a great feeling. And didn't see him walk out of

465
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:45,360
Speaker 3: the jail, it was It's the crazest thing. Everybody was

466
00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:47,920
Speaker 3: there to hear him coming down and how getting him

467
00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:50,360
Speaker 3: and stuff, to see him smiling because he was happy

468
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:52,719
Speaker 3: instead of having to go back into the sal as

469
00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 3: I was leading him. Yeah, it was fantastic Stevening.

470
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, the same couldn't happen for Connie. She remains in

471
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:08,560
Speaker 1: death a convicted participant in Jane Hilton's murder.

472
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:13,520
Speaker 2: There were two wrongful convictions here, and this DNA evidence

473
00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:20,400
Speaker 2: proved that Connie's story was false. It also proved that

474
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:25,840
Speaker 2: she didn't bite Jane Hilton, so she deserves to be

475
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:27,720
Speaker 2: exonerated posthumously.

476
00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 1: This year, Ricky Davis will be spending its first Thanksgiving

477
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:34,280
Speaker 1: in nearly twelve years with his mom Maureen.

478
00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:39,520
Speaker 3: Well, I'll make dinner back Thanksgiving Turkey as the only

479
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:43,400
Speaker 3: primal year I can afford it. But his sisters and

480
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 3: nephew will be here and that'll be nice. I'm not

481
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:52,400
Speaker 3: the best cook day, but it's more having everybody together

482
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:55,720
Speaker 3: and happy. That's the best part of it. Ricky's a

483
00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:59,240
Speaker 3: very affectionate person. When he comes in and hus me,

484
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:03,400
Speaker 3: it's the stealing in the world. I feel lucky, blessed

485
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 3: every time I look at him.

486
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:11,720
Speaker 2: Hello, Hey, Ricky, how are you?

487
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:15,040
Speaker 3: I am doing good? How are you stud good? Hi? Laura?

488
00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:17,960
Speaker 1: Tell me about those first moments of freedom, what it

489
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:18,920
Speaker 1: felt like to walk out.

490
00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:20,560
Speaker 3: Those doors longtime?

491
00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:24,080
Speaker 1: Con Yeah, I've seen the video. A lot of people

492
00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:28,160
Speaker 1: there that was I saw you eating some pizza.

493
00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:30,560
Speaker 2: You went right for the comfort food.

494
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:33,400
Speaker 1: You know, what are your toppings of choice?

495
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:37,520
Speaker 2: Saso kept burning Lagusa All the good stuff.

496
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:40,520
Speaker 1: Do you see your mom much these days?

497
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:43,520
Speaker 3: Yes? I do. Yeah, I love her very much. I

498
00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:44,280
Speaker 3: thank seeing her.

499
00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:46,720
Speaker 1: Since we're talking about food and pizza and everything else.

500
00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:50,120
Speaker 1: Is there something your mom makes for you, something she

501
00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 1: used to cook that you missed and that she can

502
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:53,560
Speaker 1: make for you again now that you're out.

503
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:55,960
Speaker 3: I have a funny story for that. You know. A

504
00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,360
Speaker 3: few days after I was out, I tell her, You know, Mama,

505
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:01,160
Speaker 3: envision waking up in the morning as you couldn't be breakfast,

506
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:03,240
Speaker 3: And she says, well, you were vision and listened, you'd

507
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:04,360
Speaker 3: vision a different mom.

508
00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:09,360
Speaker 2: There you go.

509
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:11,360
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's amazing.

510
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:12,680
Speaker 3: Strong to the end. I love it.

511
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:23,240
Speaker 1: And that's the story of Ricky Davis. Next week we'll

512
00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 1: tell you about Michael Hash and his childhood friend Eric Weekly.

513
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 1: When Eric was accused of killing an elderly woman, the

514
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:33,120
Speaker 1: pressure of the interrogation room caused him to falsely implicate Michael.

515
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:36,840
Speaker 1: Michael's parents never stopped fighting for their son's innocence, and

516
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,160
Speaker 1: now that he's been exonerated, they're fighting to clear Eric's name.

517
00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:40,360
Speaker 3: Two.

518
00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:46,600
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction, False Confessions is a production of Lava for

519
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:51,360
Speaker 1: Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company. Number one special

520
00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:55,000
Speaker 1: thanks to our executive producers Jason Flamm and Kevin Wardis.

521
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,680
Speaker 1: Our production team is headed by senior producer and Pope,

522
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:02,320
Speaker 1: along with producers Hammer and Jess Shane. Our show is

523
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:06,120
Speaker 1: mixed by Genie Montalvo. John Colbert is our intrepid intern.

524
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:09,880
Speaker 1: Our music was composed by Jay Ralph. You can follow

525
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:13,000
Speaker 1: me on Instagram or Twitter at Laura and I Wrider,

526
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:13,440
Speaker 1: and you.

527
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,240
Speaker 2: Can follow me on Twitter at s Drizzen.

528
00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:20,719
Speaker 1: For more information on the show, visit wrongfulconvictionpodcast dot com.

529
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:24,440
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow the show on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction,

530
00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:29,360
Speaker 1: on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at

531
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:30,280
Speaker 1: wrong Conviction