WEBVTT - Adnan Khan on changing the law from a California prison cell 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:09.520 Welcome to Righteous Convictions with Jason Flam the podcast where 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:11.960 I have the privilege of speaking with people who see 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:14.160 the wrong in the world and are driven to make 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:17.680 it right. At the age of eighteen, today's guest was 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:21.360 convicted under California's felony murder statute for a crime in 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:24.239 which he was not the killer. Nonetheless, he was given 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:27.040 a sense of twenty five years to life. But he 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:31.880 managed to free himself after sixteen long years. How did 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:36.920 he do it by getting a new law passed. And 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:39.239 so this law was created from in prison, from an 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:42.760 organization that was created in prison, and was passed essentially 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.479 from inside. And so that part I really want to 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:47.600 like to tell people who have been incarge rated or 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:50.160 are incars rated, or people who are working with encourage 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:54.120 rated people like the energy, the labor of love that 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:56.760 was behind this. You can't put tangibility to that right 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:59.440 that that's just something that comes from a deep space 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:03.200 of of love and and this never giving up spirit. 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:08.920 Since his release, he's continued to advocate for reform and 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:14.679 promote restorative justice through the organization Restored Justice. Add non 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:37.120 con Right Now on Righteous Convictions. Welcome back to Righteous Convictions. 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.679 With Jason Flang. You know, when I started this podcast, 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:41.360 I had a general idea of the type of guests 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:42.920 I wanted to interview in the type of work I 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:46.000 wanted to highlight, and today's guests Odd non Kan is 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.040 like he's a bull's eye is the epitome of what 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:52.040 I had in mind. I mean, you talk about transformation, 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:56.320 you talk about channeling tragedy into triumph, and you've got 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:58.600 to come back around to buy friend dot non con 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:02.120 so add I'm so ei. You're here, Welcome to Righteous Convictions. 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.200 Thank you, thank you for having me, and I'm really 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:07.760 thrilled that we're here to talk about this because we're 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.200 going to take our listeners on a journey today. And 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:12.200 this one goes back to a crime that you were 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.440 involved in. Don't make any bones about that, but when 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:20.040 you were just eighteen years old right now, this is 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.120 not a pure innocen's case. You were involved in the 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:25.040 robbery of a guy who was going to sell you 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:27.480 some marijuana, and it's important that we make that distinction. 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.560 But in the process of this robbery, the young man 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.320 was unfortunately killed by the person that you were with, 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:37.560 not by you. Now, under belly murder laws, as they 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.880 were in California at that time, and as they still 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:44.320 are in most states. You're considered just as guilty as 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:46.840 the person who actually committed the murder, although that was 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:49.679 not your intention and you weren't the person that did devied. 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:53.280 So we'll get to that story in the circumstances surrounding 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:55.840 that incident and the trajectory it started you on. But 0:02:56.040 --> 0:03:00.000 first let's rewind a little further. What was your life 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:03.680 growing up? You know, in the first like seventeen plus 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:07.080 years before this thing happened. Um, yeah, growing up, man, 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:09.680 I felt like, um, well, growing up, I was a 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.880 happy kid. I love to laugh. Comedy was a big 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:18.600 thing for me. Cartoons obviously, what kid doesn't cartoons and cereal, right, um? 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.160 But also there were a lot of challenges my father. 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:23.040 My parents divorce when I was eight years old, and 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.639 I think the beginning of my challenges started when, um 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:30.760 my father was absent basically, so he was in and 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:33.320 out of my life. And I always wondered while I 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:36.160 was during my incarceration, what my life would have been 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:38.560 like if my father was all the way in my life, 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:40.760 or what my life would have been like if my 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.600 father was all the way out, but for me, because 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.000 he was in and out, UM, it created more of 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:49.920 a tease for a need for a positive male role model, UM, 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:55.000 place of belonging. And so that really contributed to UM 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.120 kind of resenting home, not wanting to be home. Seeking 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:01.360 UM my father seeing where he was, I would literally 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.600 take the bus or take the subway of what it's 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:07.840 called bart in California or northern California, and I will 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:11.360 go look for him, UM different places, asked some of 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:13.560 his friends where he would be at. So that desire 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:17.200 for me really contributed to a lot of my behaviors 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:20.239 of of needing and wanting a positive male role model 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:24.000 and friendships. UM. And then after that, my mom remarried 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:26.320 and I was twelve years old at this time, and 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:29.960 that's where a lot of the abuse started from my stepfather. UM. 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:32.719 He would grab me, throw me on the ground, UM, 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:34.280 throw me in the car and tell me I'm gonna 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:36.880 throw you over the bridge. UM. One time he tried 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.480 to put something in my eye which really burns. It 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.440 was some type of acid poison. I'm not sure, but 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.000 a little bit of drop guy into my right eye. UM. 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:48.080 He paid my best friend ten dollars to try to 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.520 beat me up. He would have he would steal things 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:52.359 from my mom, or have my step brothers or his 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:54.360 kids steal things from a mom, put in my jacket 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:57.479 in coat pocket and say that I was stealing. Um 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.159 effectively took me out of my little league baseball that 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:03.680 I loved. One thing that baseball provided for me was 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.080 UM that positive male role model. I had other peers 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:09.320 that were just like me. So I had I felt 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:11.560 like I had a place of belonging in sports, and 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.680 he knew that. So Um, I was effectively taken out 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.520 of baseball, and I just didn't want to be in 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:19.920 the home anymore. So I would at twelve years or 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.640 I'll run away or not come home, or stay outside 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:27.120 as much as possible, playing basketball or just swinging a bat. Um. 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.640 And then after that, in my teens, I started smoking weed, drinking, 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:34.320 and cutting school. Even though I was a good student. Uh. 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.039 I remember getting straight a's in sixth grade and straight 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:41.680 a's in ninth grade. Um, So school wasn't UM, It's difficult, 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:46.120 just I couldn't continue with all emotional baggage. So during 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:48.720 my teens, UM I was kind of in and out 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:51.040 of school. I went to about seven different high schools, 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:55.640 just getting in fights, moving. I haven't seen my dad 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:58.440 since I was fourteen. Actually that's when he fully disappeared. 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.479 And by the time I was seven teen, my mom 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:04.039 remarried for the third time and moved out of state. 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:07.360 UM and about a month later, my uncle kicked me 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:09.600 out of the house at the age of seventeen. So 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:12.599 I lived homeless for about a year, slept in cars, parks, 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:18.279 friends houses, couches, um tennis courts, on the porch of 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:21.080 my cousin's house because I wasn't allowed in there, just 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:23.479 anywhere I could. And that lasted for almost about a year. 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:25.120 But then I tried to get a job, but I 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:27.279 was a high school drop out at that time. By then, 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:31.280 UM I had turned eighteen under those conditions, and I 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:33.440 even enrolled myself into adult school, but I didn't have 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.640 enough money for transportation to go to adult school. UM 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:39.240 and there's things look really bad and ugly. And so 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.039 one day I was um with a group of friends, 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.080 which where I was introduced to another friend and he 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:47.280 found out my situation. UM I was eighteen by now 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:49.440 he was twenty two, and he asked me to come, 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:51.919 you know, whenever I want to come stay with him. 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.400 So I lived with him for about almost two months 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.000 on and off, and UH, one night when I was 0:06:57.040 --> 0:07:00.200 with him and his friends, that's when they UM said, Hey, 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.120 there's a guy that has a thousand dollars worth of weed. 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.840 He doesn't have guns, knives, weapons. I've never had guns, 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:09.320 knives and weapons on me either, And they said, in 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:12.520 a fake drug deal, take this thousand dollars worth of weed, 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:15.560 run into a car and the driver will drive off. 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:19.160 And so immediately and impulsively agreed to that. My goal 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:22.680 was to take my portions of it sell it. And 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:24.720 I told myself, if I'm going to be homeless in 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:26.840 the Bay Area, I'd rather be homeless in l A. 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.960 And I want to actually, um try to pursue a 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:31.920 comedy career. I don't know what I was gonna do, 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:34.240 but it was definitely comedy because my whole life it 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:37.920 was comedy that that got me by. But UM, that 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.360 night is when my life changed and that's when I 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:46.000 was incarcerated from that night. Okay, so you've agreed to 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.120 help these dudes robbed the guy with the marijuana. So 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:51.760 the big night comes. What was the plan and what 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:55.880 were you supposed to do? Um? And So that night 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:58.360 when this young man came down, we my friends who 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.360 I was with call the Bagetta Way driver. They set 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:02.200 up the fake drug deal because they knew him and 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.080 I didn't, and so that's why I was a person 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:06.560 to act like I was buying it from him. Once 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:08.520 he handed it to me, sprint into a car and 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.320 the driver would drive off. So this getaway driver, who 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:12.960 I hardly knew, I met him one time, like in 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:16.560 passing that I remembered later. So when the young man 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.400 handed me the weed, the getaway driver was on the 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.760 passenger side of the car and pulled out this young 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:24.840 man out of the car and appeared to me that 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.080 they were fighting in the middle of the road, and 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:29.160 so I started yelling and screaming like get back in 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.560 the car, what are you doing? What are you doing? Um? 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:33.319 And then that's when he ran back into the car. 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.040 We sped off and the next morning I was arrested 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:37.920 at two am. I didn't know what I was being 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:40.719 arrested for. They don't They didn't remember Miranda rights. Um. 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:42.600 I asked the officer who was taking me to the 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:44.840 police station what my charges were, and he wouldn't answer. 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:47.880 I get to the police station, they take all my clothes, 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:50.600 strip search to all the forensics, and finally I was 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:53.400 taken into the interrogation room, um, and that's when they 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.240 told me that we're charging you with robbery and murder. 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.360 And at first it didn't computing. They said that this 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.200 young man had us his life, and that's when I 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:04.240 remembered just breaking down and crying. It didn't make any 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:05.600 sense to me. I want to want to know how 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:08.880 it happened, and they said that the that they have 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:13.680 evidence that um, he was stabbed. And so find out. 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:16.480 I find out that my getaway driver who became my 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.320 co defendant, he was a young black male years old, 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:22.720 bipolar schizophrenic, had a list of like eight pills that 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:27.920 he wasn't taking um from his bipolar schizophrenia, and from 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.760 those eight pills, apparently because of his schizophrenia and his paranoia, 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:33.760 he had a concealed knife that he didn't tell any 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.480 one of us about. And so that night he what 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:39.000 the court paper said, he snapped where he snaps in 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.360 and out of reality and and blacks out and has 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:45.000 a violent outburst. And so that's what ended up happening 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:48.920 and very unfortunately took this young man's life and so 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.000 that's when I learned about my involvement. And then the 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:54.079 felony murder rule where it said that that I'm equally 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:57.079 guilty of the murder because I committed a felony. So 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:00.040 what that would look like in trial? If if the 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.920 the audience, so the listeners here are the jurors, your 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:06.760 job was only to find me guilty of an intent 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.840 to commit a robbery. And so literally my trial started 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:13.439 off with the district attorney saying, ladies and gentlemen of 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:15.960 the jury, UM, I'm gonna tell you right now that 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:18.720 Mr Khan did not commit a murder. Um, that's not 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:21.319 why we're here. Your only job is to prove with 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:24.720 the reasonable doubt that Mr Khan had an intent to 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:28.400 commit a robbery. So basically the jury's job was done. 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:31.400 They found me guilty. I was guilty, um of an 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.040 intent to commit a robbery. I still am. And so 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:36.800 once they found me guilty, their job was done. They 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:39.480 went home to their families and the next phase was 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:42.199 the judge's phase. Several months later, and the judge had 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:45.560 to sentence me to a mandatory twenty life sentence under 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.800 the Feildy murder rule. After my convince the jury found 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:51.679 me guilty, and before the judge here comes these a 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.720 couple of forensic psychologists. They do all sorts of test 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:57.240 over a period of one week, and when the report 0:10:57.320 --> 0:10:59.599 came back, it said in the report that had it 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.920 not then for this mandatory sentence, we would recommend probation 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:08.680 for Mr Khan. And so after all of that, just 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:12.040 being found guilty of a robbery murder, they still said 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:15.280 that we would recommend probation, but obviously they couldn't because 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.680 of the mandatory sentence. But you had never intended on 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:21.480 anyone getting killed. You were just a kid who was 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:23.880 gonna go help rip this guy off for some pot 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:27.800 doing something you know, unquestionably stupid, like a lot of 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:31.400 kids do at that age. What were you thinking when 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:35.800 you heard that prison sentence come down? Were you like, WHOA, 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:40.320 this is like not only unfair but unreal. You know, 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:41.920 I do I do still, I want to add like, 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.800 I do still take responsibility for like what I did. 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:47.280 And there's a big part of me. I mean yeah, 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:49.360 you know, being being locked up and and you sit there. 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:52.080 A lot of people will see the cessationalized part of prison, right, 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.880 and that's the most common thing about you know the fights, 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:57.320 the riots, But the truth is the fights and the 0:11:57.400 --> 0:11:59.960 riots the last matter of seconds. And so with society 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.560 doesn't see or think about is what we do the 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:04.559 rest of the What is it twenty three hours and 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.199 fifty nine minutes right, What those conversations are, what those 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:10.960 self reflections are. Um. We talk about remorse and and 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:14.280 we have victim awareness. We we think about mortality. Um, 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:16.240 if we're not forgiven in this life, and if we're 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:18.280 going to die in this life, then what is the 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.160 next life? Like? How can I make up? How can 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:25.480 I do a living amends here? And so even though 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:28.480 yes I did not intend nor did I kill a 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.960 victim in in my case, I still hold myself responsible. UM, 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.320 I do understand like there is someone that UM, a 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:37.200 mother who has lost the child, a father who has 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:39.440 lost the child, the sister and brother who have lost 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.520 a sibling, and that never leaves me, you know. And 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.679 so even though I'm not, I guess fully I live 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:49.760 in this awkward um space of what people say. And 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.680 I don't like to use the word innocent, but I 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:55.679 guess for the sake of this conversation innocent and then guilty. 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:57.040 And I feel like I'm in the middle of that, 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.160 Like my whole incarceration, even up until this day, I 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:02.480 did do something wrong. I didn't do it to the 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:04.280 extent that they're saying in or did I intend to. 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:09.280 But I hold myself responsible internally with the remorse and 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:29.640 in the active making of amends righteous convictions with Jason 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.920 flam is super excited and honored to have the support 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:37.040 of a great organization like Galaxy Gives. Galaxy Gives leads 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:41.840 the filanthropic efforts of the Novograds family. They invest in organizations, campaigns, 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.520 and leaders who are directly impacted by and working to 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:48.720 dismantle the current punitive justice system. Galaxy Gives also builds 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.880 power for the community's most harmed by mass incarceration and 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:55.760 forges transformative solutions for responding to that harm. They envision 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:59.400 a society where the structural barriers created by racism, poverty, 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.320 and inequali here and no more, where instead all people 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:13.840 have the dignity, freedom and rights needed to thrive. So 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.600 you go from that eighteen year old with the twenty 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:19.920 five to life sentence to somebody who was primarily responsible 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:23.320 for legislation that ended up not only leading to your freedom, 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:25.960 but to the freedom of countless other deserving people who 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:28.440 were sentenced under the felty murder rule in California. I'm 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:32.840 talking about Senate Bill fourteen thirty seven, which you initiated 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:35.000 and fought for and which was passed into law in 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:38.360 two thousand eighteen. And not only that, you did this 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:44.560 from the inside, from behind the big walls, those intimidating 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.520 walls of San Quentin Prison. I mean, that's incredible, It's 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:51.640 absolutely heroic. So I mean, how did this happen? Take 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:55.480 us through that journey? Yeah, definitely. Um, you know my 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:57.600 first four years while I was I was in County 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.720 jail fighting this case. Um so it was eighteen years 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.600 eighteen to twenty two years old, and um, I just 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:07.240 remember like becoming I guess, this little young Dale House lawyer. 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:10.440 I studied the crap out of the felony murder rule 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.520 and and robbery and all sorts of murder. Just that's 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:17.120 all I was doing, exhausting myself with educating myself, learning 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:19.760 learning about the law as much as I can, and 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:21.800 to a point where when I was found guilty, I 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:23.520 was just I knew that the only way for me 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.280 to go home was if the felony murder rule changed. 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:29.160 So when I was sentenced and take into state prison, 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:31.600 though I did appeal in my case, but I just 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.000 I did it out of formality, I guess, Um. I 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:38.360 knew that the by law, the court had not made 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.640 an error, and that's what would help me in my appeal. Like, Okay, 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:43.920 we we have findings that the court made an error, 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:46.520 but the court didn't. They did everything right under that law. 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:49.360 So I knew that eventually if I were to go home, 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:51.920 would be either in twenty five years and then at 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:54.160 the Pearl Board if they find me suitable in twenty 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:56.080 five years. But I knew that the only way for 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:58.640 me to go home any sooner would be if this 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.800 law changed. And you've founded a nonprofit organization from insight, 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:04.560 I believe the original goal of that was just to 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.920 change this law and try to get yourself released, right. Yeah, 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:12.000 So I found it Restore Justice officially in when we 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:15.480 got our nonprofit five one three status, but uh, we're 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:18.440 actually doing a lot of this work in and that's 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:21.720 when the law started to kind of take traction. Um. 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.560 We got a legislator behind it, um to say the 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.680 injustices of it. I used my story, other stories across 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:31.360 the nation, across the state women's stories who were the 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:34.400 non killer in the in in the um in those crimes, 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:38.280 as well as our own data and statistics. The legislature 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:41.520 wanted some datas, wanted some statistics around these issues who 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:43.880 are the non killers and felt the murder cases. But 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:47.520 under California prison system, they didn't have that. They classified 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:50.040 all of us as the actual killer under murder robbery. 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:52.640 They didn't make a distinction of who was the killer 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:54.880 who was a non killer, And so when we asked 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.040 to do a survey, um if they could help us 0:16:57.040 --> 0:16:59.080 with the survey, this is the Department of Corrections, they 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:01.560 said no or put us through a bunch of loopholes. 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:03.440 So what we did was a very um, I guess 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:08.160 it clever um work around. I made a questionnaire inside 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:11.560 as simple as possible under trying to um make it 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:13.840 as simple for the people, for myself and people inside 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:17.080 to see if they fit under that law. And we 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.959 had a bunch of chaplains, rabbis uh I moms throughout 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.520 the prison system kind of like sneak it in and 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:25.399 then kind of handed to the people inside. Then they 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:27.840 would make copies through the through their own methods and 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:31.359 means and ways inside and next thing, you know, um, 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:35.160 in our mailbox outside, we started getting a bunch of letters, 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.240 a bunch of surveys back, and then we had a 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:40.720 whole team to make sure that that was accurate, if 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:42.879 in there, if their cases did actually fit that. And 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:45.760 you know, that's when we found out that seventy women 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:48.520 under under this law where the non killer UM doing 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:51.440 time in California. We found out over two thousand people 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.639 were affected by this law that were the non killer 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.359 in this felony murder law. And that's statistic, by the way, 0:17:57.560 --> 0:17:59.960 is to call it what it is, it's just out 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.600 it is. It is crazy, it is And that was 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:05.440 even like, you know, for me to read that while 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:08.280 I was incarcerated, to read that statistic was mind blowing 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.440 for me. I didn't think about it. I'm a lot 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:13.159 you know, obviously a lot of times women issues are 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:16.320 left behind, um and when we talk about incarceration, and 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:18.320 so that was a huge eye opener for me as 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:21.040 an incarcerated person serving life under felt the murder as 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:24.879 a male serving life under felony murder. And you know, 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:28.200 another thing was that we saw the different cases where 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:32.000 guys commit a burglary and there's a high speech chase 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:35.240 and an officer loses his or her life, loses their 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:38.280 life from an accident, not from a murder, and then 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:40.760 they both would get life. Um. There was a case 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:45.200 where two young kids, teenagers were about to burglarize a house, 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:49.560 which is wrong. The person inside starts shooting at them 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:53.040 and one of them passes away, and so the other 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:57.200 one gets the life sentence and conviction for his friend's death. 0:18:57.480 --> 0:18:59.920 You know. So those those types of cases were sold 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.040 also so common and normal, um, And a lot of 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:06.439 youth do things in groups, whether it's to find camaraderie, 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:09.159 whether it's gangs, whether it's whatever, whatever it may be. 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:11.400 A lot of youth do things in groups. So this law, 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:14.600 what it did was kind of take a bunch of 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:17.080 people at one time and throw them all in prison 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:20.280 and for life. So like the success of this law 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:22.159 was kind of two fold, the front end and the 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:25.680 back end. The back end is the bill is retroactive 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:28.680 and so people are going to are getting out of prison. 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:30.960 So through this law, we're decarcerating people, and not only 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:35.120 just decarcerating, but specifically people sentence to life. And then 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:37.000 on the front end is no one else will be 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:39.639 in Kanada, state of California will be charged with this 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:43.480 law and be sentenced to life moving forward. So and 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:48.000 that is truly miraculous. And this law is going to 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:51.040 help a lot of people, and in fact it already has. 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:53.160 But let's back up for just a second. Let's talk 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:57.560 about the Moment of truth. Spe was passed in August 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:01.680 and in January two only nineteen. It goes into a 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:06.280 fact what happened next? So um it was. I remember 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:08.400 it was like the second third week of January. It's 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:12.040 like January sevent I remember going to bed like eleven 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:14.680 o'clock at night, actually falling asleep, I mean around eleven 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:18.119 o'clock at night. And then around twelve thirty, twelve forty, 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:21.320 a correctional officer wakes me up and slides two clear 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:23.880 trash bags under my cell and he says, hey, pack 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:26.639 your stuff. County Jails coming and pick you up. And 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:28.399 I remember like waking up my sleep and kind of 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:30.920 frustrated anger. I'm like, hey, this is a clerical error, 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:33.480 this is a mistake. I don't know why they're coming 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:35.800 to pick me up. Um, and so I just in 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:37.720 a frustrating way, I pack all my stuff in these 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:41.760 clear trash bags. Uh. Longer story short, they transport me 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:45.720 to county jail. They finally put me in in a 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:50.159 jumpsuit and I didn't sleep for almost a day, ate 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:53.120 maybe a carton of milk, drank a carton of milk, 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:55.240 and ate one piece of blowny sandwich and the intake. 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:58.000