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Speaker 1: You know, Maggie.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes we see cases where someone's almost on the verge

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Speaker 2: of being exaggerated and they die, and yet the attorneys

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Speaker 2: or the innis's projects, whoevers of all the case continue

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Speaker 2: the fight to prove their innocence. Many people must wonder

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Speaker 2: why don't they just drop it at that point the

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Speaker 2: person's gone, you.

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Speaker 3: Know, I think specifically because these people's families still exist,

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Speaker 3: and they're still around, and there's generations of kids and

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Speaker 3: grandkids that want to have justice for their loved one

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Speaker 3: and for themselves. So I think it's it's really important

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Speaker 3: to make sure that all of these wrongs are righted.

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Speaker 4: You know, as I sat there and I talked to him,

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Speaker 4: and he was just hooked up to so many machines,

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Speaker 4: and I whispered in his ear and said, how are

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Speaker 4: you going to come back in my life? And you're

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Speaker 4: just going to die on me? You can't be my

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Speaker 4: husband if you die right.

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Speaker 5: From love of for good, this wrongful conviction with Maggie

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Speaker 5: Freeling today Troy Berner. On April twenty first, nineteen ninety,

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Speaker 5: twenty seven year old Michael Wilson was walking with his

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Speaker 5: friend Joseph Kinnard when two masked gunmen suddenly ambushed them.

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Speaker 5: Joseph fled unharmed, but Michael was shot at least six times.

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Speaker 5: He passed away days later in the hospital. Although Michael

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Speaker 5: named his attackers before he died, investigators were somehow at

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Speaker 5: a loss and the case went cold for three years.

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Speaker 5: But in the years following the crime, things heated up

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Speaker 5: when police arrested multiple men looking to strike deals in

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Speaker 5: exchange for lighter sentences. Troy Berner's name was dragged into

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Speaker 5: this process. Eventually, among various conflicting statements, Troy was named

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Speaker 5: as one of the people present at Michael Wilson's shoe

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Speaker 5: ready to go with a gun in his hands. Troy

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Speaker 5: was a good kid with an impressive job a radiology

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Speaker 5: aid at George Washington University Hospital, and he had an

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Speaker 5: alibi for the time of the shooting. But Troy's career

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Speaker 5: and life trajectory unfortunately came to a quick halt when

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Speaker 5: his name got caught up in an elaborate murder plot.

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Speaker 6: You know, my whole thing was, you know, I didn't

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Speaker 6: have nothing to do with it, so, you know, and

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Speaker 6: they're not gonna be able to find nobody to say

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Speaker 6: I had nothing to do with it. So you know,

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Speaker 6: I held on to that, you know, that belief on

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Speaker 6: don't where they say the truth that you're free.

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Speaker 1: My name is Troy Burner.

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Speaker 6: I was wrongly convicted, serving twenty four years, eight months

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Speaker 6: and twenty two days.

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Speaker 5: Troy Burner was born in Southeast Washington, d C. On

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Speaker 5: August thirtieth, nineteen seventy.

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Speaker 1: Two, to Janie Berner and Janie Burner.

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Speaker 6: Know that's a joke that I do because I say

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Speaker 6: my mother is my father.

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Speaker 1: But oh, Clarence avel.

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Speaker 5: Smell, So were your parents not together?

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Speaker 1: Didn't know they know they were. I was raised by

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Speaker 1: my mom and my two grandmothers.

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Speaker 5: Troy is the oldest of five siblings. He says in

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Speaker 5: many ways he was like a father figure even within

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Speaker 5: his extended family. As a teen, Troy got into boxing

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Speaker 5: and would bring his pack of siblings, cousins, nieces, and

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Speaker 5: nephews to his matches. He remembers the times they all

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Speaker 5: hung out, and especially remembers his cousin Carlos.

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Speaker 6: You know, I used to take him to the gym

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Speaker 6: with me and he was like, man, I remember when

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Speaker 6: you was in there and you was spawned with such

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Speaker 6: and such, you was doing this man, we were so happy.

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Speaker 1: We was jumping around. Well.

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Speaker 6: I remember when you know, I came to your fight

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Speaker 6: and you know, and things of that nation. You know,

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Speaker 6: we might just be talking and I'd be just telling

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Speaker 6: him how funny he is, you know, I mean, he

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Speaker 6: might be like you say, I'm funny, you know, like

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Speaker 6: where you think I get it from, you know, and

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Speaker 6: really it don't come from me. But you know, just

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Speaker 6: the fact that you know, we think enough for me

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Speaker 6: to say that, it means a great deal.

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Speaker 5: Troy also had a lot of neighborhood friends.

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Speaker 4: I remember saying, this little kid and I would get excited,

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Speaker 4: you know, ears sticking out, little ears sticking out, socks

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Speaker 4: up to here. It's like, oh, here, come Troy.

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Speaker 5: You know this is Shari. She grew up with Troy.

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Speaker 1: You didn't have to say that.

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Speaker 6: There's no way that she would have known that my

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Speaker 6: ear is stuck out from my head if you didn't

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Speaker 6: say that.

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Speaker 5: Seri's mom and Troy's mom were friends as children.

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Speaker 4: You know, we played together. We were you know, even

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Speaker 4: back then we were we were really close. Our parents

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Speaker 4: did get together. My mom being a single mom, they

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Speaker 4: kind of kept us, you know, close together.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 4: Happenmstance and you know circumstances in life. We grew and

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Speaker 4: he went one way. I went one way.

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Speaker 5: At sixteen, Troy dropped out of school, but he wasn't

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Speaker 5: done with his education. He got his ged before his

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Speaker 5: class graduated and went on to become a radiology aid

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Speaker 5: at George Washington University Hospital.

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Speaker 6: There were a lot of things that you know, I

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Speaker 6: was doing and would have liked to have further. You

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Speaker 6: know that again, that was one of the things, like

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Speaker 6: I said in hindsight, you know, that would definitely have

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Speaker 6: been something that I could have went on and done further. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 6: I'm a I'm a man of many unfulfilled dreams.

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Speaker 5: Not long after he started his radiology job, when he

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Speaker 5: was only seventeen, Troy was pulled into the criminal legal

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Speaker 5: system and his dreams were shattered.

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Speaker 6: You know, I just think, you know, there was a

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Speaker 6: particular time, man, that there was so many things that

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Speaker 6: I could have done, and you know, the opportunities was

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Speaker 6: taken from me.

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Speaker 5: Justin heads up, there are a lot of names to

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Speaker 5: keep track of with this story, so pay careful attention.

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Speaker 5: Shortly after nine pm on April twenty first, nineteen ninety,

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Speaker 5: Michael Wilson and Joseph Kinnard, both twenty seven, were walking

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Speaker 5: down Fifteenth Street in Washington, d C. They had just

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Speaker 5: met up with Michael's girlfriend, Jerry, her brother, and their friend.

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Speaker 5: The trio left Michael and Joseph and got in their

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Speaker 5: car to leave. They had only driven half a block

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Speaker 5: before they heard gunfire. The shots were from two masked

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Speaker 5: gunmen who all of a sudden were ambushing Michael and Joseph.

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Speaker 5: Joseph fled unharmed, but Michael was shot at least six

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Speaker 5: times in the back as he was trying to escape.

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Speaker 5: At the hospital, he was fortunately able to tell his

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Speaker 5: girlfriend Jerry who shot him. On a piece of paper,

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Speaker 5: he wrote the names Lewis and Little Rick, but that

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Speaker 5: was all she would get. On May eighth, Michael succumbed

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Speaker 5: to his wounds and passed away in the hospital. Although

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Speaker 5: Michael gave the names of his attackers, investigators didn't follow

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Speaker 5: up on these leads and the case went cold for

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Speaker 5: almost three years. But in nineteen ninety one things started

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Speaker 5: to shift when police arrested a man named Antonio Johnson.

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Speaker 5: He was busted with an uzi and other guns, as

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Speaker 5: well as five hundred grams of crap cocaine. Facing serious charges,

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Speaker 5: he agreed to cooperate with the prosecution and became an informant.

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Speaker 5: Johnson eventually wound up helping prosecutors in more than three

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Speaker 5: dozen cases and earning quite a bit of money in exchange.

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Speaker 5: About a year later, in nineteen ninety two, after he

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Speaker 5: had already agreed to cooperate with the police, Johnson implicated

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Speaker 5: four people in the shooting of Michael Wilson, Louis lou

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Speaker 5: McCoy and Rick Harad, the two men who Michael named

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Speaker 5: before he died, as well as Frank Brackmoort and Troy Berner. However,

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Speaker 5: Johnson clarified that Troy did not fire his gun. Did

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Speaker 5: you know the people involved in this crime? Were you

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Speaker 5: familiar with any of them?

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Speaker 6: Well, my co defenders I know him, and that was

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Speaker 6: essentially you know how I got, you know, swept up

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Speaker 6: into the victim itself.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know.

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Speaker 6: Well, for all respect, do God blessed day. I mean,

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Speaker 6: it's not possible if you walked in my face right now,

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Speaker 6: I wouldn't know.

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Speaker 1: Who he was.

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Speaker 5: About four months later, a man named Antoine Peyton was

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Speaker 5: arrested for a murder that took place a few months

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Speaker 5: before Michael Wilson's and only two blocks away from where

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Speaker 5: Wilson was shot, and when he was arrested for that murder,

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Speaker 5: Peyton was actually already in prison for two drug convictions.

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Speaker 5: To avoid more charges, Peyton started giving information in the

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Speaker 5: Michael Wilson case, and he ended up giving the same

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Speaker 5: names that Johnson did, low Rick, Brockmoort, and Troy. Eventually,

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Speaker 5: Peyton was offered a plea deal to confess to his

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Speaker 5: murder case for a lesser charge. The deal was he

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Speaker 5: had to give a statement and testify at the Michael

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Speaker 5: Wilson murder trial. Peyton agreed.

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Speaker 6: You know, it was a particular time in DC and

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Speaker 6: they have all these collaborative law enforcement investigations going on,

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Speaker 6: and they trying to close all these cold cases, and

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Speaker 6: this case came up.

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Speaker 5: On March fifteenth, nineteen ninety three, almost exactly three years

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Speaker 5: after Michael Wilson's death, a grand jury investigation into his

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Speaker 5: murder began. The important thing about this, though, was that

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Speaker 5: Troy was not named as a subject of the investigation,

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Speaker 5: only lou Rick and Brackmoort. At this point, Troy had

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Speaker 5: not been named by the government at all. Initially, Peyton

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Speaker 5: had told police that he didn't witness the shooting, but

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Speaker 5: in front of the grand jury, he testified that he

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Speaker 5: knew about the plant hate on Michael and that he

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Speaker 5: drove to the scene and parked in an alley to watch.

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Speaker 5: Peyton said he saw lou and Rick chase down Michael

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Speaker 5: and shoot him, and that Troy was not there. He

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Speaker 5: said that after the shooting, they all went to Brackmort's apartment,

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Speaker 5: including Troy. Everyone was angry at Troy for not showing

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Speaker 5: up at the scene, and according to Peyton, Troy said

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Speaker 5: he didn't participate because there would have been crossfire. A

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Speaker 5: grandeurer followed up with a question why would Troy have

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Speaker 5: been afraid of the crossfire, and Peyton changed his story again.

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Speaker 5: He replied that Troy actually was at the scene of

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Speaker 5: the crime, but that he didn't have a gun or

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Speaker 5: do anything. This was the first time Peyton actually placed

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Speaker 5: Troy at the scene, and it sealed Troy's fate. On

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Speaker 5: April twentieth, nineteen ninety three, the gran jury indicted all

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Speaker 5: four men, lou Rick, Brackmoort, and Troy on charges of

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Speaker 5: first degree murder. So when you get charged.

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Speaker 3: What are you thinking, like, you have everything going for you,

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Speaker 3: you have a great life, You're making moves, and now

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Speaker 3: suddenly you're in the middle of a murder and you

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Speaker 3: are charged with this murder.

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Speaker 1: Well, initially, you know, I really didn't.

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Speaker 6: I really didn't have any thoughts on it because you know,

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Speaker 6: my whole thing was, you know, I didn't have nothing

200
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Speaker 6: to do with it, so you know, and they not

201
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Speaker 6: gonna beb to find nobody to say I had nothing

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Speaker 6: to do with it.

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Speaker 1: So you know, I hailed on to that.

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Speaker 6: You know that belief on't where they say the truth

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Speaker 6: sessue free.

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Speaker 5: The trial against the men started a year later. The

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Speaker 5: judge who oversaw the trial, Judge John H. Suda, denied

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Speaker 5: a request by Troy's attorney to have him tried separately

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Speaker 5: from his co defendants. At the trial, Antoine Payton testified

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Speaker 5: again and gave yet another story on what exactly happened

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Speaker 5: the night of the shooting and the days leading up

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Speaker 5: to it. In this version, he said he saw Troy

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Speaker 5: with a gun in his hands. Antonio Johnson, the first informant,

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Speaker 5: also testified that he heard Brackmoort brag about ordering the

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Speaker 5: other guys to shoot but that Troy didn't do so

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Speaker 5: because his gun was jammed, and Michael Wilson's girlfriend and

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Speaker 5: her brother also testified during the trial. They said they

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Speaker 5: only saw two attackers. Even with contradiction after contradiction by

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Speaker 5: the state's witnesses, the case against Troy and his co

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Speaker 5: defendants was enough for the jury, and just over four

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Speaker 5: years after the murder of Michael Wilson, all four men

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Speaker 5: were convicted of first degree murder. Troy was sentenced to

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Speaker 5: thirty years to life, the longest sentence of them all.

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Speaker 5: This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company.

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Speaker 5: AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making

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Speaker 5: a positive difference in the lives of its employees and

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Speaker 5: in the communities where we work and live. In light

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Speaker 5: of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and

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Speaker 5: in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform,

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Speaker 5: the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal services and

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Speaker 5: other support to underrepresented communities and individual wolves. Troy entered

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Speaker 5: prison when he was twenty one years old. A few

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Speaker 5: years went by, and then one day in two thousand

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Speaker 5: and nine, Troy was approached by a new arrival at

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Speaker 5: the prison, a.

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Speaker 6: Guy came down, you know from another institution, you know,

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Speaker 6: somebody from DC, and he was like, man, I was

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Speaker 6: out talking to this dude and he was like, man,

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Speaker 6: he said, he think he got something that belonged to you.

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Speaker 5: Troy had no idea what it was, so he made

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Speaker 5: a point to meet this person.

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Speaker 6: So, you know, we set up a time to meet

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Speaker 6: the guy on the yard, on the reck yard, and

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Speaker 6: we walked on the yard and the dude pulled out

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Speaker 6: a payment said he said, I think this you. He said,

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Speaker 6: because since I've been here, I've been hearing your name.

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Speaker 6: He said, I think this you. And it was AffA

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Speaker 6: David from Answan.

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Speaker 5: Peyton Antoine Peyton, the state star witness in Troy's trial,

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Speaker 5: had recanted. In the signed affidavit, Peyton admitted he lied

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Speaker 5: about being at the scene of the crime and lied

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Speaker 5: about Troy being there. Troy now had something he could

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Speaker 5: use to help prove his innocence, so he got to work.

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Speaker 5: For the next six years, Troy read up on law

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Speaker 5: and in twenty fifteen, without the help of a lawyer,

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Speaker 5: filed a motion for innocence. The petition included Peyton's recantation,

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Speaker 5: as well as an affidavit from Rickharrod saying that only

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Speaker 5: he and Lou chased and shot the victims, Troy was

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Speaker 5: not with them. This new account by Rick was exactly

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Speaker 5: what Michael had expressed in the first place. Also, by

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Speaker 5: this time, Antonio Johnson had admitted that the prosecutors essentially

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Speaker 5: told him what to say at trial, but the motion

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Speaker 5: was denied. Troy then reached out to the mid Atlantic

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Speaker 5: Innocence Project or MAIP.

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Speaker 7: You know, Troy had done a lot of work on

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Speaker 7: his case and presented some new evidence to us that

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Speaker 7: got us interested and had us dig deeper.

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Speaker 5: This is Francis Walters. She's the former legal director of

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Speaker 5: the mid Atlantic Innocence Project and is now an attorney

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Speaker 5: advisor at the Department of Justice Office of the Pardon Attorney.

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Speaker 5: Francis was Troy's post conviction attorney.

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Speaker 7: What stood out in Troy's case was that there was

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Speaker 7: very minimal evidence of any involvement in the crime, and

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Speaker 7: it's pretty unusual to have someone convicted on such minimal

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Speaker 7: evidence and then to have this recantation. It really it

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Speaker 7: wasn't hard to come to the conclusion that Troy was innocent.

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Speaker 5: Troy's team went out and confirmed the recantation from Peyton.

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Speaker 5: They also discovered more information about him.

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Speaker 7: One of the things that had happened was Peyton said

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Speaker 7: in an affidavit that he had expected Troy to help

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Speaker 7: him out in one of his own cases, and he

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Speaker 7: got angry when Troy did, and so he said, you

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Speaker 7: know what, I'm just going to throw him in there.

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Speaker 5: Remember, Peyton had made a deal with the police to

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Speaker 5: testify for leniency in his own murder case.

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Speaker 7: We found like an FBI memo that said he was

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Speaker 7: like the most prolific confidential informant they had ever used.

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Speaker 5: The team continued to investigate Troy's conviction and they uncovered

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Speaker 5: some alibi witnesses who could help clear his name.

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Speaker 7: A couple of people who were from the neighborhood where

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Speaker 7: the shooting took place. They learned about Troy's Andcartridge many

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Speaker 7: years later, and when they learned about it, they said,

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Speaker 7: what Troy was playing dice with us? Again, not someone

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Speaker 7: who was close to Troy, And he said, but we

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Speaker 7: were all from this laundry room and we were all

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Speaker 7: playing dice together, and so he couldn't have been there.

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Speaker 7: So all those pieces of evidence we brought to the court.

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Speaker 5: In twenty seventeen, Maip, along with attorneys Seth Rosenthal and

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Speaker 5: Laurence stock Smith from the law firm Venable, LP, filed

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Speaker 5: a new motion in twenty eighteen. They were granted an evidence.

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Speaker 5: You're hearing.

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Speaker 7: So it's Monday Tuesday. So Lou testified, Rick testified, to

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Speaker 7: alibi witnesses testified.

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Speaker 5: Usually a judge takes weeks or months to rule, but

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Speaker 5: in this case, it only took a week.

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Speaker 7: The court had called us back because he was ready

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Speaker 7: to resentence Troy to time served and let him be

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Speaker 7: released from incarceration. At that point, it was an amazing day.

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Speaker 7: I mean, we thought it would happen, but you just

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Speaker 7: never know, and so that was pretty special that the

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Speaker 7: judge did that the very week that we presented all

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Speaker 7: the evidence of innocence.

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Speaker 5: Although Troy was released on time served, he was still

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Speaker 5: not exonerated at this point, but he continued to work

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Speaker 5: on his innocence claim while out and about enjoying life.

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Speaker 5: One night he was out at a club.

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Speaker 4: I looked up and I just saw him walking through

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Speaker 4: the club, and you know, in my mind, the first

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Speaker 4: thing that flashed back was, you know, the little boy

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Speaker 4: with earsticking out, and I lugged and I said, that's Troy.

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Speaker 1: Burner And I ran.

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Speaker 4: Over there and he gave me a hug and he

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Speaker 4: was like, little Cherie, you're back. And I'm like where

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Speaker 4: you been?

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Speaker 6: And he's like, you didn't know?

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Speaker 4: I said, well, I know some, but you know, not everything.

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Speaker 5: Over the years, Troy and Shari's mothers had stayed in touch,

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Speaker 5: and so Shari had heard little bits here and there

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Speaker 5: about Troy's situation.

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Speaker 4: He you know, he sat down and we talked, and

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Speaker 4: he explained and told me everything that happened.

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Speaker 5: From that point forward, Shari says she and Troy became

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Speaker 5: close again, like the women they were kids. A romance

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Speaker 5: soon developed and they were inseparable. So what happened next?

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Speaker 7: Yeah, so he was on parole and and then Troy

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Speaker 7: got really, really sick, and.

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Speaker 1: That was.

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Speaker 7: Scary for everyone, thinking that he could die. Before even

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Speaker 7: having a decision in his innocence case.

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Speaker 5: In twenty nineteen, Troy was diagnosed with the flu and pneumonia.

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Speaker 5: His condition was so bad it looked like he might

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Speaker 5: not make it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they put me in a comb expired wife.

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Speaker 4: And his mom she called me and she she woke

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Speaker 4: me up one night and she said they lost him,

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Speaker 4: and I think I panicked, and she said, baby, calm down,

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Speaker 4: he's back. They brought him back. And you know, I

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Speaker 4: was like, man, don't do that, you know, don't call

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Speaker 4: me right away and say they lost him. But yes,

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Speaker 4: so she called and she said, well, she said, I

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Speaker 4: just want you to know. She said, he's back, you know,

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Speaker 4: just get up there and go see him, you know.

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Speaker 4: So I sat there and I talked to him, and

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Speaker 4: he was just hooked up to so many machines, and

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Speaker 4: you know, it was just kind of hard to look

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Speaker 4: at him for a little bit. But then I just

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Speaker 4: I remember leaning over him, whispering in his ear because

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Speaker 4: she said, you know, just go talk to him. You

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Speaker 4: know he can hear you.

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Speaker 1: He's just resting. Go talk to him.

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Speaker 4: And I whispered in his ear. I said, how are

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Speaker 4: you going to come back in my life? And they're

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Speaker 4: just going to die on me. You can't be my

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Speaker 4: husband if you die, right, and.

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Speaker 7: So get his eyes just pop open right then?

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Speaker 4: You know that would have that would have been yeah,

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Speaker 4: that would have been a story, you know, but surely

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Speaker 4: you know, about a month or so after that, his

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Speaker 4: mom she called me and she was just he's back.

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Speaker 5: Troy was put in rehab and Shari went to see

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Speaker 5: him there.

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Speaker 4: You know, he just gave me the biggest hug and

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Speaker 4: he told me.

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Speaker 7: He was like, you know, you're going to be my wife.

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Speaker 4: And I said, well, you must have heard what I

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Speaker 4: said to you then, huh, And he was just kind

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Speaker 4: of looking at me, like, what are you talking about. Later,

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Speaker 4: I said, you know said I whispered in your ear.

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Speaker 4: You know you must have heard what I said too.

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Speaker 5: Troy was alive and with his love, but he was

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Speaker 5: still a prisoner of the state working on his innocence claim.

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Speaker 5: On March twenty second, twenty twenty, he left rehab, but

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Speaker 5: he didn't have to wait long to hear the news

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Speaker 5: he had been waiting for.

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Speaker 1: I desgonerated in March twenty six, just four.

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Speaker 7: Days after he finished rehab, when we weren't sure he

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Speaker 7: was going to make it.

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Speaker 5: Wow, at forty eight years old, Troy was a free man. Today,

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Speaker 5: Troy is an associate with the Justice Policy Institute, helping

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Speaker 5: others who have been wrongfully convicted. He's also involved with

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Speaker 5: other organizations that help people caught up in the criminal

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Speaker 5: legal system, including the organization Changing Perceptions, which helps formally

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Speaker 5: incarcerated people adjust to life outside prison. Troy has published

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Speaker 5: multiple articles about the criminal legal system as well. In

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Speaker 5: March twenty sixth, twenty twenty one, exactly one year from

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Speaker 5: his exoneration, Troy and Shari got married.

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Speaker 7: So what are what are y'all's plans hope streams for

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Speaker 7: the future.

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Speaker 4: Well, I have four children from a previous marriage that

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Speaker 4: they've all adopted him.

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Speaker 1: So he is Polish. How's that?

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Speaker 4: Oh gosh, he's like the ultimate stepdad and pop pop.

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Speaker 4: So we you know, we have seven grandkids.

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Speaker 1: Oh, boys, you better not do it all boys.

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Speaker 3: You know you're still very young to like you're young.

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Speaker 5: You're forty?

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Speaker 1: What this big fifty this year?

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Speaker 4: Wow?

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Speaker 1: Fifty this year? Okay, I might party all fifty states?

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Speaker 1: Is city near you? Where you're at?

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Speaker 5: As for Troy, he feels like he's been given a

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Speaker 5: whole new chance at life.

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Speaker 6: Well, you just heard the story, you know, about me

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Speaker 6: being sick and the doctor told me, you know, when

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Speaker 6: I got to the rehabb he said, you know, you're

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Speaker 6: a miracle. You're not supposed to be here. And I

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Speaker 6: told him, essentially that he was a damn lie.

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Speaker 1: You know, God said otherwise wasn't my time.

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Speaker 6: And even without that, you know, I had to settle

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Speaker 6: my emotions down and find some acceptance and understanding what happened,

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Speaker 6: because if I didn't, my emotions would have took you know, control,

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Speaker 6: and just try to continue life and find, you know,

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Speaker 6: that opportunity to see society again.

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Speaker 1: Otherwise I would have been lost.

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Speaker 6: Comes to the point, man, where it just you know,

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Speaker 6: it had to be accepted, you know, to move on,

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Speaker 6: because otherwise there's nothing else I can do. And being

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Speaker 6: here and have an opportunity, you know, to speak with

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Speaker 6: you and share my story and my understanding and also

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Speaker 6: you know, on my every day, you know, with my work,

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Speaker 6: you know, I just try to pour my efforts.

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Speaker 1: Into that, and somehow I come to the.

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Speaker 6: Realization that that would allow me to make some sense out.

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Speaker 1: Of all of this.

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Speaker 5: Next time on wrongful conviction with Maggie Freeling, Marnie Yang,

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Speaker 5: there was nobody.

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Speaker 8: That could help me at that point. My parents couldn't

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Speaker 8: help my attorney couldn't seem to protect us. I couldn't

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Speaker 8: go to the police. They were the ones that were

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Speaker 8: terrorizing us. I had just decided I'm just going to

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Speaker 8: tell them whatever they want to hear.

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Speaker 5: Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling.

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Speaker 5: Please support your local innocence organizations and go to the

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Speaker 5: links in our bio to see how you can help.

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Speaker 5: I'd like to thank our executive producers Jason Flahm and

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Speaker 5: Kevin Wurtis, as well as our senior producer Annie Chelsea,

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Speaker 5: researcher Lila Robinson, story editor Sonya Paul, with additional production

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Speaker 5: by Jeff Cliburn and Connor Hall. The music in this

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Speaker 5: production is by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Rowel.

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Speaker 5: Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction,

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Speaker 5: on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at

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Speaker 5: Wrongful Conviction, as well as at Lava for Good. On

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Speaker 5: all three platforms, you can also follow me on both

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Speaker 5: Instagram and Twitter at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with Maggie

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Speaker 5: Freeling is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in

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Speaker 5: association with Signal Company Number one