Speaker 1: Since the initial release of our coverage of Troy Coleman's case,
Speaker 1: attorney Joseph Moron has joined Troy's team and was able
Speaker 1: to gain access to the original homicide filer h file
Speaker 1: and the Brady material. It's so significant that we had
Speaker 1: to rearrange this episode to accommodate the new evidence, which
Speaker 1: is inserted throughout. Troy has always maintained his innocence, but
Speaker 1: has never said a word about Darren Johnson and Byron
Speaker 1: Johnson's involvement in this case until they themselves came forward
Speaker 1: supporting his claims at the time of our first release. Now,
Speaker 1: with their admissions, as well as previously discovered Brady material
Speaker 1: and this new homicide file evidence, we can finally see
Speaker 1: a clearer picture of what really happened to Kevin Jones,
Speaker 1: as well as subsequently what happened to mister Troy Coleman.
Speaker 1: Troy Coleman split his formative years between California and the
Speaker 1: middle class Philadelphia neighborhood of Mount Airy, but while in Philly,
Speaker 1: he attended a poor high school in Germantown, where he
Speaker 1: met Byron Johnson, Kareem Nobles, and Darren Keith Johnson. After
Speaker 1: Troy graduated Byron and Kareem with a muscle behind a
Speaker 1: cocaine operation that they all ran out of Troy's apartment. However,
Speaker 1: a drug drought in the summer of nine gave way
Speaker 1: to desperate behavior all over Philly. While Troy was away
Speaker 1: in Atlantic City on September nine, Kareem set up a
Speaker 1: deal with two men, Kevin Jones and Arthur Sanders. Sanders
Speaker 1: claimed to have waited down the block while Kevin Jones
Speaker 1: drove the Troy's apartment in his gray Dodge with forty
Speaker 1: dollars to buy cocaine. Then, after about ninety minutes to
Speaker 1: other men allegedly drove past Sanders in Jones's gray Dodge,
Speaker 1: a light skin driver and a dark skinned passenger wearing
Speaker 1: a hat with the brim pole down bow. There's new
Speaker 1: evidence that indicates that the victim was alive at this time.
Speaker 1: Nearly two months later, Jones's body was discovered in the
Speaker 1: gray Dodge, beaten, found and shot. Arthur Sanders agreed the
Speaker 1: Troy Coleman's photo looked like the passenger who allegedly drove
Speaker 1: by him two months earlier. This Shaky I d along
Speaker 1: with Darren Keith Johnson's coerced and incentivized false testimony sent
Speaker 1: Troy away for life. Despite Darren's recantation, Byron Johnson's confession
Speaker 1: to being the actual passenger that day, and some explosive
Speaker 1: New Brady material, Troy continues to serve life for a
Speaker 1: crime which he was not even in Philadelphia to commit.
Speaker 1: This is wrongful conviction. Welcome back to wrongful conviction with
Speaker 1: Jason Flom. That's me. And today we have a story
Speaker 1: that I think is going to rock your world in
Speaker 1: an in a different kind of way, right because the
Speaker 1: person that we're interviewing today, Troy Coleman, has been in
Speaker 1: carcetrated for thirty one years in Pennsylvania for a crime
Speaker 1: he didn't commit it. That being said, he wasn't a
Speaker 1: choir boy, not some of the people we have on
Speaker 1: a show where literal acchoire people before they were arrested.
Speaker 1: But he is innocent of this crime. He wasn't even
Speaker 1: the same city when it happened, or state for that matter.
Speaker 1: So Troy's on the phone from prison, Troy, I'm glad
Speaker 1: you're here, but I'm sorry you have to be under
Speaker 1: these circumstances. Good afternoon, how are you. I'm good Thank you,
Speaker 1: And with Troy is Jerry Brown, not the former governor
Speaker 1: of California, but an esteemed attorney from Philadelphia. Thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us on the show today. Jason my pleasures.
Speaker 1: Let's go back, Troy. You grew up in a middle
Speaker 1: class environment, right, because I grew up in Mount A, Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: which is a middle class neighborhood, and I was less
Speaker 1: to live with my grandmother, who was well off. We
Speaker 1: had a beautiful, whole bedroom home, and you know, everyone
Speaker 1: who came from that home came to be very successful,
Speaker 1: although went to private school, even my father. My father
Speaker 1: moved to California, and when he moved to California, I
Speaker 1: was going back and forth from California to Philadelphia from
Speaker 1: my grandma house, which California school curriculum are junior high
Speaker 1: curriculum was equal to a high school curriculum here in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: But you know when I came back to high school
Speaker 1: here in Philaphia, Germany Town High School, I was looked
Speaker 1: at this kind of dirty. I guess, you know, because
Speaker 1: the academics. I guess that we came with versus we
Speaker 1: was over here in Philadelphia. And you know, you try
Speaker 1: your best to fit in that you want to be accepted.
Speaker 1: That's where a lot of my demise came from when
Speaker 1: I got involved with drugs, not needing to, didn't have to,
Speaker 1: you know. Again, my family was well to do. However,
Speaker 1: you know, just to sit in and be a part
Speaker 1: of this particular neighborhood that was in German Town, which
Speaker 1: is a little bit um much of a good lifestyle.
Speaker 1: I did in Bounty. It was Lord Moore, Lord Class
Speaker 1: look At from Mount Area. So when I started boxing
Speaker 1: the day of routine being down there and then she
Speaker 1: him That's how I been a couple of them guys
Speaker 1: from Brandon neighborhood after that subsequently got in cloud with
Speaker 1: them with the about the age of seventeen sixteen. We
Speaker 1: started out one of the the quarters. So that's when it began.
Speaker 1: So this must have put you on the radar of
Speaker 1: the local police. And we know that in that time
Speaker 1: and place, this was a culture that it started with
Speaker 1: Frank Rizzo, who as the police chief in Philadelphia from
Speaker 1: six to seventy one. The legacy of brutality and corruption
Speaker 1: is widely known and it thrived in the police department
Speaker 1: after he became mayor. Just really crazy that that guy
Speaker 1: became mayor, but seventy eight, and they were just beating
Speaker 1: the ship out of everybody back then. And it's really, uh,
Speaker 1: it's crazy that this was a major American city. So, Jerry,
Speaker 1: you were a college student at the University of Pennsylvania
Speaker 1: at that time, and you experienced or at least aware
Speaker 1: of this. Right, this is not hyperbole. Right, if you
Speaker 1: had a little bit of long hair like I did,
Speaker 1: time you walk down the street at night, you were
Speaker 1: afraid that you were going to stop and hassled by
Speaker 1: the police. And I'm sure for people of color it
Speaker 1: was much worse. In my research, I mean, these were
Speaker 1: in the thirty ninth districts, right, a section of North Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: which was a working class, poor black neighborhood. Police routinely
Speaker 1: made false arrest, planted drugs, robbed victims, and filed bogus
Speaker 1: reports to cover up their actions. So all of this
Speaker 1: is known now, it's been documented. This is not us
Speaker 1: just having a This is a trip down a very
Speaker 1: ugly memory lane right here. In fact, there were fourteen
Speaker 1: hundred convictions that were overturned due to the thirty ninth district.
Speaker 1: But they're not the only ones there. There was the
Speaker 1: one Squad cases, the Five Squad cases. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: been a history in Philadelphia, you know, and then in
Speaker 1: the nineties you have one of the cops that was
Speaker 1: involved in this case, Mortin Devlin. The number of cases
Speaker 1: have been overturned because of him. It's a very sorted history, right.
Speaker 1: So this of course brings me back to another person
Speaker 1: who was Romphick Victor has been on our show, Tony
Speaker 1: right when, which was ironically the same cop that was
Speaker 1: involved in Troy's case, Martin Devlin. And in the article
Speaker 1: in Rolling Stone magazine about Tony's case, there was a
Speaker 1: poll quote that said that in the nineteen eighties or
Speaker 1: nineties black man had a better chance again injustice in Philadelphia, Mississippi,
Speaker 1: than in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. So let's go to that. And
Speaker 1: of course, Troy, this of course, what led up to this,
Speaker 1: I think indirectly is the fact that you were involved,
Speaker 1: as you've been very honest about, in the cocaine business.
Speaker 1: Can you tell us about that and the people that
Speaker 1: we're working under you at the time, because they come
Speaker 1: to play a role in your wrongful conviction. Well, when
Speaker 1: we got involved, there was a couple of guys from
Speaker 1: that neighborhood, particularly down Grocer Street. And this is as
Speaker 1: She's called the jungle. Some of the guys that's involved,
Speaker 1: Barack Johnson, Garry Kieth Johnson in his street me was
Speaker 1: green my street me, but the town was tossin his
Speaker 1: was with our his Kareem So he was an older guy.
Speaker 1: He just got out of jail and all this time
Speaker 1: everybody looked up to him as a tough ghighs and
Speaker 1: so forth. To me, it was like comparative that I
Speaker 1: get him involved and someone for the muscle as well
Speaker 1: as Byron. So you had Byron Johnson, Darren Johnson and
Speaker 1: Kareem Nobles where your under links they worked for you. Yes,
Speaker 1: I guess my little untile being involved in that allowed
Speaker 1: me to shoot up fast. So I had a little
Speaker 1: apartment down in mar Street. Plashki Town is what they
Speaker 1: called Aaron. But we had apartment in Polaski Town. There
Speaker 1: was just for you know, fun, dealing with the drug stuff,
Speaker 1: girls and all that. The Raymond Nobles Kareem was actually
Speaker 1: staying in my apartment. Why this is in Mount Area.
Speaker 1: I still had that place in Byron the keys to
Speaker 1: the apartment, Kareem at keys to the apartment, so people
Speaker 1: have access to it at that time, and I was
Speaker 1: driving BMW's had a nice amount of money, and I
Speaker 1: was okay. However, these guys that were working for me,
Speaker 1: they okay until a drought came in nineteen eighty nine.
Speaker 1: That's route is when there's those drugs, particularly cocaine, develople
Speaker 1: at that time. And this was a well known time
Speaker 1: because homicidally rose significantly at that time. So when this
Speaker 1: drought came about, I was okay. These guys, I didn't
Speaker 1: have anything for him, so they asked the ran them
Speaker 1: up for lack of a letter flae. They just ran
Speaker 1: them up. It was just no all kinds of play stuff.
Speaker 1: And this day in particularly was this ground happened myself
Speaker 1: and another gentleman by the name of Richard Crawford. That
Speaker 1: morning of September twenty six, we went to Atlantic City.
Speaker 1: And when I was in Atlantic City, I think I
Speaker 1: had no more than nine ounces of cocaine left, and
Speaker 1: I asked the you know, trusted queen to deal with
Speaker 1: that when I was gone. And when I left on
Speaker 1: the twenty six we get to Atlantic City that morning
Speaker 1: was gettably in taking insights, you know, shopping talking to
Speaker 1: all that other stuff to girls whatever. So I was
Speaker 1: very incousticated. I wasn't wily drive back to the city,
Speaker 1: so that night we checked the two hotel. Okay, so
Speaker 1: you're in Atlantic City having fun, intoxicated, so drunk in fact,
Speaker 1: that you had a hard time even remembering where you
Speaker 1: had checked in and under what name. And then eventually
Speaker 1: the prosecution presented evidence that you had stated Bally's under
Speaker 1: your own name, using your shaky memory to impeach your alibi,
Speaker 1: which makes no sense. They impeach your memory of your
Speaker 1: alibi with evidence of your alibi, But why let evidence
Speaker 1: of your innocence stop them from prosecuting you? Right? In fact,
Speaker 1: what we now know is that the state was in
Speaker 1: possession of even more exculpatory evidence, but we'll get to
Speaker 1: that in just a bit. So anyway, the crime itself
Speaker 1: while you're in Atlantic City. Back at the apartment in
Speaker 1: Philadelphia in September, Kareem had set up a deal with
Speaker 1: Kevin Jones and Arthur Sanders. Now, according to Sanders, he
Speaker 1: and Jones. Kevin Jones arrived in the area of the
Speaker 1: apartment of separate cars around one thirty PM with forty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars to buy cocaine. According to Sanders, while he
Speaker 1: waited down the block, Jones continued alone to the apartment
Speaker 1: in a gray Dodge. Then, about an hour and a
Speaker 1: half later, Sanders allegedly saw two men driving the gray
Speaker 1: Dodge passed him. A light skinned man driving in a
Speaker 1: darker skin man with the brim of his hat pulled
Speaker 1: down lower the passenger seat. This is who Sanders misidentified
Speaker 1: as being Troy. However, in Byron Johnson admitted to being
Speaker 1: that passenger right that Kareem had hired him to move
Speaker 1: a body back. At this point in it is unclear
Speaker 1: whether Kareem or Byron even knew that Kevin Jones was
Speaker 1: still alive in the trunk, And we'll get to how
Speaker 1: we know that in just a bit. It's dramatic, so
Speaker 1: stay tuned. That night, though the Jones family came to
Speaker 1: Troy's apartment armed looking for Kevin Jones. They threatened Troy's girlfriend,
Speaker 1: searched the apartment, but no sign of Kevin at this point. Troy, well,
Speaker 1: you had no way of knowing it yet, but you
Speaker 1: were in a lot of trouble and not I'm not
Speaker 1: talking about what the cops the cops actually kind of
Speaker 1: ironically inadvertently saved you. That next day, I was stop
Speaker 1: by the police. You had my license and registration, everything
Speaker 1: was leg but they found a bag of marijuana in
Speaker 1: the car, and that might have been a good thing,
Speaker 1: because I got arrested that evening when I called home,
Speaker 1: and that's when I heard everything, everybody saying, these guys
Speaker 1: are looking for you. You stay there and when it
Speaker 1: came it so when I was built out, my girlfriend
Speaker 1: at the time as well as my mother had bags
Speaker 1: in the car in a ticket for me, and that's
Speaker 1: that that That very next day, I was in California.
Speaker 1: Even though you had nothing to do with this, You've
Speaker 1: got to leave town for California just to be safe
Speaker 1: from the Joneses. So you bailed out and hopped on
Speaker 1: a flight in September twenty nine. Now, between the time
Speaker 1: of the abduction and when the body was discovered, Kareem
Speaker 1: a k A. Raymond Nobles died. Call me crazy, but
Speaker 1: it might have had something to do with the Joneses anyway.
Speaker 1: So now November, the police discovered Kevin Jones's body and
Speaker 1: the trunk of the Great Dodge and the John want
Speaker 1: to make her parking lot of Abington Township. Now by
Speaker 1: that time the body was badly decomposing, but it was
Speaker 1: clear that his ace was struck with a blunt objects
Speaker 1: several times and then one, and this is important, one
Speaker 1: hard contact, high velocity gunshot wound was the cause of death.
Speaker 1: And we'll get to why that's important in a little bit.
Speaker 1: The body was bound with electrical cord, blankets, sheets, and
Speaker 1: some insulation. The police chemists Louis Joka, later testified matched
Speaker 1: items from Troy's apartment. So the investigation began, and initially
Speaker 1: while under pressure from both the Jones family and the
Speaker 1: notoriously like unbelievably like hopelessly terrifyingly corrupt Detective Martin Devlin,
Speaker 1: Arthur Sanders was the first to implicate Troy. According to him,
Speaker 1: never seen Troy before, and he's sitting there waiting for
Speaker 1: now and have suddenly a car comes by. Now when
Speaker 1: you I mean just logically, when you think about it,
Speaker 1: the suddenly you see a car. First of let you go,
Speaker 1: you know, that car looks familiar, and then in your
Speaker 1: mind you go, oh, yeah, that looks like it's Kevin's car.
Speaker 1: And then he looks at the driver and says that's
Speaker 1: not Kevin. It's a light skinned guy. And then he
Speaker 1: looks at the passenger who has his hat over his head,
Speaker 1: and he's able to identify him. Now, all this is
Speaker 1: happening in two or three seconds. According to Sanders testimony,
Speaker 1: officer to say that the passenger he said he had
Speaker 1: a baseball cap one pulled down over his forehead, spouts
Speaker 1: to the seat in a photo where he said, I
Speaker 1: look like the passenger putting me in the city at
Speaker 1: the time. However, I'm in Atlantic City. There's a possible
Speaker 1: actification to me. Devlin certainly was willing to do something
Speaker 1: like this to create false evidence, because he's done it
Speaker 1: on multiple occasions, as you all know. And so he
Speaker 1: probably said, isn't this the guy. He's being pressured by
Speaker 1: the police to give up somebody on the one hand,
Speaker 1: he's being pressured by the family on the other, and
Speaker 1: you know, he says, yeah, that looks like the guy.
Speaker 1: And you know, Sanders is pretty scared to death anyway,
Speaker 1: because the family is really upset with him. This is
Speaker 1: an element that's not unwilling to use gunplay if necessary.
Speaker 1: That's kind of the background of all this and part
Speaker 1: of the reason why Arthur Sanders statement is so flaky,
Speaker 1: if you will, And from what I understand, Sanders had
Speaker 1: Kevin Jones Page rin Keys in his possession when Kevin
Speaker 1: went missing, so he probably wanted to direct the tension
Speaker 1: away from himself. Now, I've been saying allegedly every time
Speaker 1: I mentioned this passing great dodge side because it may
Speaker 1: never have actually happened. But even if it did, there's
Speaker 1: an explanation for the misidentification. Troy and Byron look somewhat similar. Now,
Speaker 1: let me be clear, I'm not just some white dude
Speaker 1: over here giving cross racial misidentification. Troy, you can back
Speaker 1: me up here right now. You two don't look exactly alike,
Speaker 1: and not twins, but enough to say they look like
Speaker 1: one another. And that's what Arthur Sanders ended up saying.
Speaker 1: And that's when he's trying to identify someone with his
Speaker 1: hat pulled down load for less than three seconds behind
Speaker 1: glass in a car that's passing by over twenty miles
Speaker 1: an hour. That's if we even accept that this passing
Speaker 1: grade dodge identification even ever happened. It's also entirely possible
Speaker 1: that this was just a complete fabrication from either Devlin
Speaker 1: Sanders or both to direct the attention steer the attention
Speaker 1: Troy Troy, who was a known entity to police and
Speaker 1: whose apartment was involved. But they knew he was in
Speaker 1: Atlantic City, and then they knew he went to California
Speaker 1: as well. Now, according to police, Byron Johnson was a
Speaker 1: prime suspect from day one, and they maybe I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe they thought they could get Troy to flip on him.
Speaker 1: We're not sure and we'll probably never know, but that
Speaker 1: would never happen. Troy was not flipping on anybody in anyway.
Speaker 1: Troy was in California, so he wasn't even available to
Speaker 1: be pressured to give up his friends. But that didn't
Speaker 1: change when he came back either or for the following
Speaker 1: thirty long years. But back in with only Arthur Sanders
Speaker 1: is shaky, I d the police needed something more for
Speaker 1: probable cause to arrest Troy. Now that they were focusing
Speaker 1: on Troy Coleman, they start of focusing on his associates,
Speaker 1: one of whom is Darren Keith Johnson, who was a
Speaker 1: eighteen year old five ft three d and pounds soaking
Speaker 1: wet youth essentially who's brought into homicide, who and who
Speaker 1: first says I don't know anything about anything, and then
Speaker 1: they proceed to scare the hell out of him by saying,
Speaker 1: we know you do. And the homicide cops pressured him
Speaker 1: to give a statement. They told him that if he
Speaker 1: didn't give a statement, that he was going to go
Speaker 1: to jail, that he wouldn't see his mother again. I'm
Speaker 1: sure they told him that if he went to prison
Speaker 1: that he would be molested there because he was so small.
Speaker 1: He told him that they didn't want the dead guy
Speaker 1: Kareem Nobles. Detective Cohen said, we think that he was involved,
Speaker 1: but we want Troy because this apartment was rented by Troy.
Speaker 1: He said, he's scared to death, and he finally gives
Speaker 1: up Troy. Darren Johnson says, yeah, Troy admitted to be
Speaker 1: had to lay somebody down. Those two pieces of evidence.
Speaker 1: Arthur Sanders sort of I d and Darren Johnson now
Speaker 1: they have enough to get an arrest. Weren't. And this
Speaker 1: is from Darren Johnson's statement about what Troy allegedly told him.
Speaker 1: And now I'm gonna quote, okay ready, quote I had
Speaker 1: to lay somebody down over some drugs. Let me tell
Speaker 1: you how I did it. I put my gun up
Speaker 1: to him and told him to give it up. I
Speaker 1: shot him two to the head end quote. Now, not
Speaker 1: only is this statement not specific to the victim, Kevin Jones,
Speaker 1: but it also has a very important hallmark of false statements,
Speaker 1: which is factually inaccurate information. As I mentioned earlier, Kevin
Speaker 1: Jones was shot once according to the medical exam or trial,
Speaker 1: not twice. And from what I understand, they used both
Speaker 1: the carrot and the stick to get this statement from
Speaker 1: Darren and subsequently, and this will surprise exactly no one
Speaker 1: in our audience, he received lean and see for multiple
Speaker 1: drug charges and this quid pro quo and the fact
Speaker 1: that it was hidden from the defense. It's something that
Speaker 1: Troy litigated through pro se post conviction motions but unfortunately
Speaker 1: no avail. But the point ends up being moved here
Speaker 1: as Darren Keith Johnson has signed multiple affidavits starting in
Speaker 1: to recant his testimony for which the prosecutor had not
Speaker 1: only threatened him with perjury, but we find out later
Speaker 1: that Darren and his mother received ominous threats from the
Speaker 1: police to stick to the original statement. However, back in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety, with Arthur Sanders and Darren Johnson. They moved
Speaker 1: forward with your arrest Troy, and and onto what ends
Speaker 1: up being really interesting preliminary hearing. Yes it was. It
Speaker 1: was murder, robberty, conspiracy, and possessional. He was equal twelve
Speaker 1: nine and at this splimber here in alto Sanders rightfully,
Speaker 1: I guess he slipped up because he said that we
Speaker 1: were going to see Kareem. And this is throughout the
Speaker 1: eliminate unity. We were going to see Kareem, Kareem in
Speaker 1: his Raymond Nobles. My name was not mining right. He
Speaker 1: was going to see Kareem, not Troy or your street
Speaker 1: name Kassim, but Kareem, which is probably why Judge Merryweather
Speaker 1: was a decent judge, decided to dismiss the case because
Speaker 1: if you're going to see Kareem, that's not him. Right,
Speaker 1: Sanders accidentally told the truth even though he had been
Speaker 1: pressured to lie. But they're not nearly done with you yet.
Speaker 1: So after Judge Marywell dismissed the case, then it was
Speaker 1: about a week or two and he re arrested me. Again.
Speaker 1: Was the same as that information in the switch the
Speaker 1: judges and he put it before another man. I think
Speaker 1: they was judge, and he held it all for trial,
Speaker 1: and it may have ended in a not guilty verdict
Speaker 1: if you hadn't been screwed over by Ed Geiger, a
Speaker 1: private investigator who your family had hired. Now, this guy
Speaker 1: was supposed to have gone down to Atlantic City and
Speaker 1: gathered up your alibi to Vents, which would literally been
Speaker 1: the easiest job ever for a private investigator, just as
Speaker 1: the hotel. But instead we now believe that he never
Speaker 1: even went to Atletics say, or bothered to speak with
Speaker 1: Richard Crawford, your alibi witness. Otherwise he would have bound
Speaker 1: out what the state had already discovered, that you had
Speaker 1: stayed at Bally's under your own name, and another item
Speaker 1: that was hidden from the defense that Crawford had called
Speaker 1: home several times from the room. Geiger failed to gather
Speaker 1: this critical alibi evidence and further told you that Crawford
Speaker 1: wasn't willing to testify in your behalf, which was another lie.
Speaker 1: Richard Crawford was more than willing, but you didn't find
Speaker 1: that out until two thousand and nine, almost two decades later. Instead,
Speaker 1: with your fuzzy, drunken memory of a c you thought
Speaker 1: that you had stayed at the ridgemont In under the
Speaker 1: name Robert Irving. So when the state presented Marlene Smith,
Speaker 1: a Bally's clerk who testified to you staying at Bally's
Speaker 1: under your own name, it really hurt the credibility of
Speaker 1: your memory. But it still doesn't place you in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: not to mention your heartment. You're in a different city,
Speaker 1: in a different state, and they knew it anyway. What's
Speaker 1: much worse than this private investigator doing essentially nothing is
Speaker 1: what was hidden by the state in order to ensure
Speaker 1: your roulengful conviction. And now, in in light of this
Speaker 1: new evidence from the homicide file, you are being an
Speaker 1: a c only makes you unavailable for Kevin Jones's abduction.
Speaker 1: My name is Joseph Moron. I represent Troy Coleman in
Speaker 1: his ongoing pc r A matters. I'm lead counsel on
Speaker 1: the case. I continue to consult with Jerome Brown. Recently,
Speaker 1: we were able to access Troy Coleman's homicide file with
Speaker 1: the assistance of the courts, which has information or evidence
Speaker 1: in there that the prosecutor possessed during the course of
Speaker 1: his case. We went through this entire file and we
Speaker 1: found critical pieces of evidence that further substantiate Troy Coleman's innocence.
Speaker 1: We found a search warrant and affidavit of probable cause
Speaker 1: where the police are trying to get phone records because
Speaker 1: the mother of the victim, Kevin Jones, contacted the police
Speaker 1: and gave them some pretty astonishing information that she spoke
Speaker 1: to her son on September nine, eighty nine, that he
Speaker 1: told her that he was in fear of the Junior
Speaker 1: Black Mothy or the JBM, that he suspected some type
Speaker 1: of foul play. She did not see him since September nineteen.
Speaker 1: Subsequent to that, on October nineteenth, a little over three
Speaker 1: weeks after the alleged date of death in this case,
Speaker 1: she told the police that she got a phone call.
Speaker 1: She got a collect call from an individual who indicated
Speaker 1: he was a member of the j b M and
Speaker 1: that they had her son, Kevin Jones, in their custody,
Speaker 1: that he was basically kidnapped and they were holding him ransom,
Speaker 1: presumably about ten thousand dollars. She was initially skeptical. An
Speaker 1: individual got on the phone, she indicates it sounded like
Speaker 1: her son, and then the son referred to a pet
Speaker 1: name of the mother, which further in her mind solidified
Speaker 1: that it was him. They said that they would call back.
Speaker 1: They called act. She asked for more information. She wanted
Speaker 1: a piece of clothing. They thought that was fair, But
Speaker 1: they were basically working out a deal the hold to
Speaker 1: get money because they were holding in ransom. The bottom
Speaker 1: line is this evidence, this information was indicating that Kevin
Speaker 1: Jones was still alive, which completely contradicts the entire prosecution theory.
Speaker 1: This information was known to the police was a critical
Speaker 1: and crucial piece of exculpatory evidence that the prosecution and
Speaker 1: the detectives and police, with help you, should have also
Speaker 1: been able to show the jury that not only were
Speaker 1: you not at your apartment on September twenty six, but
Speaker 1: also that you weren't even on the freaking East Coast
Speaker 1: from September, passed this phone call on October nine, and
Speaker 1: passed the discovery of the body on November twenty one,
Speaker 1: all the way to the following year. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: all the way to January four. Kevin Jones was still alive,
Speaker 1: that he was killed, that he was found all while
Speaker 1: you were proved dobably in California, which proves that the
Speaker 1: prosecution presented a case that they knew was horseshit, but
Speaker 1: at trial in d attacked your alibi with this differing
Speaker 1: alibi evidence, which seems like a crazy misdirection plans pretty weak,
Speaker 1: But so tell us what else they presented to trick
Speaker 1: the jury to believe you were guilty. Well, I believe
Speaker 1: it was the testimony of Derreki Johnson, coupled with the
Speaker 1: testimony of all the centators. However, one of the things
Speaker 1: that were said in closing was that testimony pay seventh
Speaker 1: fifty one by the prosecutor. He said, it's in fact
Speaker 1: Troy was in Atlantic City, and you believe that he
Speaker 1: was still involved or he put these guys up to it.
Speaker 1: And this is that there's something that was said to
Speaker 1: the jury. You can find them guilty of conspiracy and
Speaker 1: you know, secondary murder so or so forth, and then
Speaker 1: undefelony murder is actually saying that as a result of
Speaker 1: that robbery a death occurred. We don't believe that he
Speaker 1: had the intent to kill, right, and that's what secondly
Speaker 1: we murdered is here. Uh, Well, there's certain enumerated felonies,
Speaker 1: one of which is robbery. If you during a robbery,
Speaker 1: if murder occurs that becomes felony murder, which is unfortunately
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania, even if you're convicted of second degree murder,
Speaker 1: it's life. Troy, can you describe for us that awful
Speaker 1: and probably, I mean, I'm guessing must have been the
Speaker 1: worst moment of your life when the jury came back in.
Speaker 1: I found you guilty, he said, guilty. Was like I
Speaker 1: was just slight shocked. I was. It was so shocking
Speaker 1: to me that the first couple of years, I believe
Speaker 1: we only mentally, you know, we lost a lot of family.
Speaker 1: My mother died, and my grandmom and my grand mamad
Speaker 1: a domino effective pain and what happened the little I
Speaker 1: just couldn't believe it. Normally, yea, we are doing were
Speaker 1: usually first and get all prattiest to our career, getting
Speaker 1: me through this and constantly having that hope, uh that
Speaker 1: you know it will come to it. However, it was
Speaker 1: a time, and to actually be honest with you, was
Speaker 1: just recently when I uh, they said I was next
Speaker 1: to it, but I know I was positive. I was
Speaker 1: an intermity with COVID and I was I was deadly sick.
Speaker 1: I never ever felt no pain like that at that time,
Speaker 1: and this is once ago. I prayed. I asked the Lord,
Speaker 1: I said, if this is, I rangna go now. And
Speaker 1: I don't even thought it's no more. Just see if
Speaker 1: you feel I wasn't, you know, suicidal. But I was like,
Speaker 1: I was okay with I was okay with nine. I
Speaker 1: just prayed, this is the time and I'm not going
Speaker 1: in if I'm not on a go, I'm revery. And
Speaker 1: that was my prayer. And subsequently, um, you know, all
Speaker 1: this happened the store of little hope for me. But yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, you're hiring other people not to give up hope.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad you're here to talk about this, and
Speaker 1: I'm glad you're fighting. And I think now in Pennsylvania
Speaker 1: there's you know, the progress and and and that should
Speaker 1: give hope to hopefully to you and many many other
Speaker 1: people who need relief in the Pennsylvania criminal system. Talk
Speaker 1: a little about the post conviction litigation, because this is
Speaker 1: a crazy I mean, like a lot of these cases are.
Speaker 1: When they go on this long. I mean, it should
Speaker 1: have been reversed and you should have been freed back
Speaker 1: in that conspiracy conviction has since been reversed. The Superior
Speaker 1: Court of Pennsylvania, that in it of the self, was
Speaker 1: a reason to overturned this case and be trying me
Speaker 1: or to let me, you know, let me go. However,
Speaker 1: that hasn't been the case, which is just insane to me.
Speaker 1: I mean, without the conspiracy and being in Atlantic City
Speaker 1: for the abduction and California for the murder in the
Speaker 1: body dump, how are you involved in the murder in
Speaker 1: any way? Well, they continued to try to square that
Speaker 1: circle with the two Boga witnesses, Arthur Sanders saying you're
Speaker 1: in the car and Darren Johnson saying that you confess
Speaker 1: to having to quote lay somebody down over some drugs
Speaker 1: and quote so in Darren Johnson wanted to come clean
Speaker 1: and finally recanted and did so in an affic David,
Speaker 1: But as we find out later, he and his mother
Speaker 1: were threatened by the police and the prosecutor openly threatened
Speaker 1: him with perjury. So when he here, if we had
Speaker 1: this too much, it makes me sick. So when he
Speaker 1: came to court affirm this recantation, he was appointed counsel
Speaker 1: who told him to plead the fifth in order to
Speaker 1: avoid perjury charges, and he did. But obviously he would
Speaker 1: not need to plead the fifth. If he was just
Speaker 1: coming to repeat the lies he had told that Troy's
Speaker 1: trial right, he wouldn't have been there at all. So, Troy,
Speaker 1: you did most of your post conviction litigation pro say
Speaker 1: meaning by yourself from prison, trying to undermine Darren Johnson's
Speaker 1: trial testimony by proving that he was incentivized by a
Speaker 1: deal for leniency in his own drug charges and that
Speaker 1: the defense was never notified about any such deals. And
Speaker 1: the prosecution got around this by promising Darren a deal
Speaker 1: unofficially okay and suspending the charges until after Troy's trial,
Speaker 1: So they weren't technically hiding a deal in exchange for
Speaker 1: Darren's testimony, they were just dangling one, and Darren later
Speaker 1: supported that in your post conviction motions. When Darren he
Speaker 1: was asked by the prosecutor David Desideriol, do you have
Speaker 1: any open cases at this time? Darren Kieth Johnson said yes,
Speaker 1: one five years pullbation. That's a direct quote. It's a
Speaker 1: testimony based three thirty seven. However, unbeknownst us, that was
Speaker 1: a lie made all his criminal streat What he'd never
Speaker 1: spent on five years of the jury is listening to this,
Speaker 1: the jury say, oh, okay, he has five years for
Speaker 1: which okay, so he don't have any incentive to testify
Speaker 1: falsely against this guy because he's already been sentenced. Again,
Speaker 1: I'm gonnas to us that was a lie. Darren actually
Speaker 1: had an open case at that time, which was resolved
Speaker 1: sixty nine days after I got convicted. But unfortunately, so
Speaker 1: far post conviction litigation on the matter has been ignored.
Speaker 1: The court sided with the d A, finding him more
Speaker 1: credible than Darren Johnson. However, that's not the last we're
Speaker 1: going to hear from Darren Johnson. But first, two thousand nine,
Speaker 1: you find out what I had mentioned earlier, that your
Speaker 1: investigator at the time of trial lied to you about
Speaker 1: not being able to find any alibi evidence in a
Speaker 1: c and your alibi witness, Richard Crawford, being unwilling to testify.
Speaker 1: He lied about both of those two things. But you
Speaker 1: hired another private investigator later on that named Walter P. Lee,
Speaker 1: and in two thousand nine he caught up with Richard Crawford.
Speaker 1: What my private investigator Walter Lee went to school, interviewed
Speaker 1: rich crawl He said, that's something that he never said
Speaker 1: to edguy said no, one never came to see me
Speaker 1: until you mean nothing much. I was witting the Atlantic City,
Speaker 1: and I would have said I was waiting to Atlantic City,
Speaker 1: and we had his statement now, but he said that
Speaker 1: never happened, so that theself was probably for me. But
Speaker 1: now Wizard is wont cified, and this is something that's
Speaker 1: also significant. Crawford called from the hotel. He called home
Speaker 1: to his wife's shrill. The project you to had the
Speaker 1: phone numbers and those phone calls, and a couple of
Speaker 1: the phone calls was too Richard Crawford's address or mcnaight
Speaker 1: Street in Philadelphia. They never before. What weren't they hiding?
Speaker 1: The only things David Desiderio was presenting was the evidence
Speaker 1: that he and Martin Devon had fabricated, and even that
Speaker 1: was falling apart. Darren Johnson re can't they don't want
Speaker 1: to hear it. Your investigator, Walter Lee unearthed your alibi
Speaker 1: witness shedding more light on the States miss deeds, hiding
Speaker 1: that exculpatory evidence and ambushing you with it to undermine
Speaker 1: the truth which they already knew, which was that you
Speaker 1: were in Atlantic City on September and they also knew
Speaker 1: that Kevin Jones was still alive while you were in
Speaker 1: California through until the end of the year or until
Speaker 1: the beginning of next year. However, if that Albi wasn't
Speaker 1: enough for them to stop pursuing you in nine ninety,
Speaker 1: why would it stopped them in or two thousand nine
Speaker 1: or or ever. Right, So, another ten years go passed,
Speaker 1: and Byron Johnson, who everyone is scared of and wouldn't
Speaker 1: even think of snitching on in two thousand nineteen, had
Speaker 1: suffered a non fatal gunshot wound, and I guess he
Speaker 1: didn't want to die without having told the truth. He
Speaker 1: didn't die, and he came forward to confess to the
Speaker 1: part that he played with Kareem. And there was a
Speaker 1: felon named Herb Hartison who was with Byron Johnson who
Speaker 1: had just been shot, and he said, get me to somebody,
Speaker 1: because I want to be able to tell the truth
Speaker 1: about this. And he came and he gave a statement.
Speaker 1: Walter Lee took the statement from Byron Johnson. Byron did that.
Speaker 1: Kareem Nobles called them. He said something about moving some
Speaker 1: furniture or something like that, and he went over and
Speaker 1: the solid body and Creem said, look, you help me
Speaker 1: get rid of his body, 'll give you five thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: So the two men in the gray didges at Sanders
Speaker 1: allegedly saw where Kareem Nobles and Byron Johnson. The cops
Speaker 1: knew the Kareem was involved, and it's believed that the
Speaker 1: Joneses did too, since he wound up dead before the
Speaker 1: police had a chance to nab him. Byron's confession and
Speaker 1: Darren's recantation impeached Sanders the shaky idea of Troy and
Speaker 1: directly at Byron. This murder happened in Troy's apartment while
Speaker 1: he was partying in a c so other than letting
Speaker 1: his friends use his apartment while he was out of town,
Speaker 1: there's nothing else that connected Troy to the abduction on September,
Speaker 1: and certainly not the murder sometime after October ninete, while
Speaker 1: he was in a essay again California, three thousand miles away.
Speaker 1: But the conflict between Byron's confession when he talks about
Speaker 1: moving a body and Miss Jones's statement about the phone
Speaker 1: call that she received. We just assumed that Byron and
Speaker 1: perhaps Kareem didn't know Kevin was still alive. When you
Speaker 1: look at Byron Johnson's confession indicating that he was contacted
Speaker 1: by Kareem Nobles to come to the house to move
Speaker 1: a body, specifically the body being Kevin Jones. Nobody really
Speaker 1: gets into the fact of whether Kevin Jones is still
Speaker 1: alive or not. In neither of this heat what could
Speaker 1: have potentially happened. I mean, Byron Johnson was arrested the
Speaker 1: end of September September twenty nine for an unrelated robbery.
Speaker 1: He was technically out of the loop sort of speak.
Speaker 1: So the fact that Kevin Jones could have been still alive,
Speaker 1: he may not have known that. And when he ultimately
Speaker 1: confessed back in nineteen, he is just trying to be
Speaker 1: truthful and telling what he knows. That he was called
Speaker 1: by Kareen to move a body and he did so,
Speaker 1: and he was the one in the car with Kareen.
Speaker 1: It further substantiates that Troy had nothing to do with this.
Speaker 1: When Byron Johnson confessed, Darren Keith Johnson could finally speak
Speaker 1: freely and he gave a sworn affid David to Walter
Speaker 1: Peely and Jerry Brown, which was very powerful but has
Speaker 1: never been heard to this very day in open court.
Speaker 1: So we reached out to Darren to give him a
Speaker 1: chance to finally speak publicly. When they first came and
Speaker 1: got me, they laid out some pictures and I picked
Speaker 1: out Kareem and they should know, but did makeingntil you
Speaker 1: know who did it? And they kept pointing at Troy.
Speaker 1: She and he did it. He did it. So they
Speaker 1: kept saying, I said, no, this man right here. Then
Speaker 1: he had kicked the chair, and you know, they was
Speaker 1: getting mad, and they kept taking my hand and putting
Speaker 1: my finger at his picture and that. Then when they
Speaker 1: let me go, I was like, no, he's just guy.
Speaker 1: And then you know, one was behind me and the
Speaker 1: other one was that that's type. And and they said
Speaker 1: we know who did it, and they started typing stuff
Speaker 1: up and they made me sign it, and so they
Speaker 1: bade me say that he confessed to me. And then
Speaker 1: after that I wasn't going to court. And then they
Speaker 1: kept arrashing my mother. She said, well, they said that
Speaker 1: they're going to rescue if you don't come in the court.
Speaker 1: And uh, the fat d a, I know, he's a
Speaker 1: fat white guy. I don't remember his name. He said, well, well,
Speaker 1: we could give you approbation if you testify with the
Speaker 1: detectives told you, and they always allied Troy was in
Speaker 1: Atlantic City because I remember because I said, YO, bring
Speaker 1: their pair Gucci sneaks back and he started laughing and
Speaker 1: he was like, I got you and I see YO.
Speaker 1: When I get back, I said, are you got anything? Then?
Speaker 1: In jail for something he didn't do? You know, I've
Speaker 1: been carrying that guilt for a long time. Other than
Speaker 1: the testimony of these two people, there's not one shred
Speaker 1: of physical evidence that ties Troy Coleman too this crime.
Speaker 1: Nothing And to hear the words of Darren Keith Johnson,
Speaker 1: along with Byron Johnson's confession in which he completely nullified
Speaker 1: Arthur Sanders and Shaky I d that should end the
Speaker 1: state's case right there, full stop. Then there's this newly
Speaker 1: discovered evidence from the homicide Filer H file that indicates
Speaker 1: that Kevin Jones died sometime after October nine, while Troy
Speaker 1: was most certainly on the West Coast, Coupled with all
Speaker 1: of the exculpatory monseral that this prosecutor would help, and
Speaker 1: the fact that Byron may not have been clear on
Speaker 1: whether Kevin Jones was actually dead when he moved him, well,
Speaker 1: he was arrested on September. It didn't see the outside
Speaker 1: until well after Kareema died and couldn't tell him the
Speaker 1: rest of the story. So with that said, we're going
Speaker 1: to go to Joe Maron for the current status of
Speaker 1: Troy's case. So we now have submitted and amended pcr
Speaker 1: A outlining this critical information that we found in the
Speaker 1: homicide file. We have served a copy of this petition
Speaker 1: to the District Attorney. We are waiting for the District
Speaker 1: Attorney to tell us when they will respond. But there
Speaker 1: is a hearing date on July seven, and based on
Speaker 1: this information that we have now found and the previous information,
Speaker 1: we are going to ask for some form of intervention
Speaker 1: from the court, from the judge to force the District
Speaker 1: Attorney's hands to either have a evidentiary hearing immediately on
Speaker 1: these issues or to respond to our amendate petition so
Speaker 1: that the judge can make a ruling regarding Mr Coleman's innocence.
Speaker 1: Our concern is we're caught into the system of procedure
Speaker 1: in the courts, and and that being said, it's not
Speaker 1: unlikely that the d A's office will ask for a
Speaker 1: sixty and ninety day extension to answer a respond to
Speaker 1: our amendate petition, and that I believe is unfair. So
Speaker 1: what we're trying to do is push the process through
Speaker 1: through the judge, by the judge, really forcing them to
Speaker 1: kind of respond. Now, well, we've previously been seeing some
Speaker 1: really great things out of the Philadelphia CiU, and we
Speaker 1: hear at wrong from conviction, and I personally want to
Speaker 1: encourage them to end this particular injustice as swiftly as
Speaker 1: it possibly can. We understand that the task of researching
Speaker 1: and relitigating the last thirty fifty years worth of corrupt
Speaker 1: cases in a place like Philadelphia, you know, trying to
Speaker 1: write any percentage of those wrongs is a tall, tall order.
Speaker 1: So I just want to say that every one of
Speaker 1: the hard working people at the PHILD obviously you your
Speaker 1: hard work is not going to appreciated here. But also
Speaker 1: we originally released this story a year ago. It's pastime
Speaker 1: to end this nightmare, and we hope they will join
Speaker 1: our call for freedom and justice. And with that, we're
Speaker 1: not going to go to my favorite part of the show,
Speaker 1: which of course is where I first thank all three
Speaker 1: of you for joining me here today and sharing your
Speaker 1: your incredible harrowing story. And now I'm gonna kick back
Speaker 1: in my chair and turn off my mic and just
Speaker 1: listen to whatever else you guys would like to say. Jerry,
Speaker 1: and then Joe, why don't you guys lead off and
Speaker 1: then hand the mic off to Troy and he'll take
Speaker 1: us out into the sunset. Well, thank you Jason for
Speaker 1: giving me this opportunity to address Troy's case. Obviously, there
Speaker 1: is a lot of facts and circumstances here that are
Speaker 1: extremely troubling. One of the problems is back when Troy
Speaker 1: was arrested, Philadelphia was in the midst of one of
Speaker 1: its worst homicide waves and its history. Homicide police wanted
Speaker 1: to clear cases and do it in the most convenient
Speaker 1: way because they were being pressured to do so, and
Speaker 1: therefore they used some of the cases I've seen some
Speaker 1: shortcuts in order to achieve that goal, and one of
Speaker 1: the shortcuts is that they would pressure witnesses, and in
Speaker 1: this case, they had two very good subjects that they
Speaker 1: could pressurize. So these are the only two pieces of
Speaker 1: evidence that were the part and soul of the Commonwell's case.
Speaker 1: Once they've been debunked, which I believe they have been,
Speaker 1: it is pretty clear that Troy Coleman is not guilty
Speaker 1: based on Troy's case and its entirety. And if you
Speaker 1: look back from the day that he was initially arrested,
Speaker 1: and you start to take apart all the evidence in
Speaker 1: the case, and you start to realize how the prosecutor
Speaker 1: the d A in this case handled the case, and
Speaker 1: you look at all the evidence that was withheld throughout
Speaker 1: the process, key witnesses, criminal history, phone records. It goes
Speaker 1: on and on and on, and I think at some
Speaker 1: point now that we found this additional information, we're hoping
Speaker 1: that the courts will see through this and some immediate
Speaker 1: intervention will happen to help expedite the process of exonerating
Speaker 1: an innocent man who's been sitting in prison for well
Speaker 1: over thirty years. At this time, I would like to
Speaker 1: say how to be never guy to meet all precedures
Speaker 1: to our with Lord. I don't think any thing just
Speaker 1: want to come to pluition in regards to this case
Speaker 1: except by the will of our creative God. More time,
Speaker 1: I would like to thank Jason and my attorney and
Speaker 1: uh Connor and all that was involved in this, my
Speaker 1: family who has been supported me through this, and my
Speaker 1: message you know at this time what got me through
Speaker 1: these years. I want to push education and vocational skills
Speaker 1: that's needed. I'm a founder and facilitator of a group
Speaker 1: entitled Use It's the acronimic young offenders understanding the happitual
Speaker 1: shackles which unous facilitated by myself, Kept Moment and Tracy Watts,
Speaker 1: and we pushed forward to try to help the youth
Speaker 1: of public between eighteen and through this enhancing and are
Speaker 1: holding their education and vocational skills. But I'm very grateful
Speaker 1: for everyone and God willing I can be speaking for
Speaker 1: about this on the street as opposed to from the penitatary.
Speaker 1: God will. Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'd
Speaker 1: like to thank our production team Connor Hall, Jeff Claver,
Speaker 1: and Kevin Wardis, with research by Lila Robinson. The music
Speaker 1: in this production was supplied by three time OSCAR nominated
Speaker 1: composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram
Speaker 1: at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and
Speaker 1: on Twitter at wrong Conviction, as well as at Lava
Speaker 1: for Good. On all three platforms, you can also follow
Speaker 1: me on both TikTok and Instagram at it's Jason Flom.
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good podcasts
Speaker 1: in association with Signal Company Number one