WEBVTT - #420 Maggie Freleng with Wilson Rivera 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:09.360 In September of nineteen ninety three, Wilson Rivera and his 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:12.240 friend Roger Murfick were lying in wait to rub a 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.920 pizza delivery driver in South Detroit. They'd been tipped off 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.040 that the pizza guy was carrying a couple thousand dollars 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:23.240 in drug money, but the payoff was less than they expected, 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:27.319 only a few hundred dollars. A few nights later, two 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:31.200 masked gunmen burst into a nearby house. Twenty year old 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:35.080 Doug Williams and his mother, Lavanda were both shot and killed. 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:38.960 The investigator's theory was that Doug had known about the 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:42.879 robbery and was killed to keep him from snitching. The 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:46.280 police wasted no time in rounding up some local gang 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:50.320 members for questioning, including Wilson Rivera. 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:52.880 They are risk me at my house. I'm under the 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:55.440 assumption that they're looking for me for the robbery, and 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.200 so when they take me to homicide, I'm thinking that 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.360 this is a trick that they're playing on me, so 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:02.920 that I could go ahead and admit to the robbery. 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:07.560 Wilson had a solid alibi for that night, but one 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:10.800 by one, the other suspects were dropped from the investigation. 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:14.360 By the time Wilson went to trial, he was the 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.199 only one left. 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:20.320 My name is Wilson Rivera and for the last thirty 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:24.840 years I've been seven times for crima. Did not commit from. 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:27.720 Lava for good. This is wrongful conviction with Maggie Freeling 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:47.280 today Wilson Rivera. Wilson Rivera was born in nineteen seventy 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:49.040 four in southwest Detroit. 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:56.880 My whole family's porter. My mother was born in Chicago, 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:59.840 but my father I was born in Puerto Rico, so 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.880 we have family on both sides of the ocean, if 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:07.000 you will. I spent most of my time as a 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:10.160 teenager in Detroit, but I was raised in Puerto Rico. 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:14.000 My mother tells me that as a child, she said, 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.840 I was I was a pretty lively individu you. As 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:21.120 a child, I'm animated, hyper to a degree. Always, she said. 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:22.440 I always always smiled. 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:27.680 But the family had its troubles. Both of Wilson's parents 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:29.480 struggled with substance abuse. 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:33.640 My father was an alcoholic. He was as far as 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.160 I could remember images, I could see my father being 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:40.200 a man abuser, getting in domestical youth. My mother ended 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:44.720 up engaging drugs, drinking, and so her life at that 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:46.680 time she did. My mother had a lot of personal 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:49.880 issues and personal demons that she was struggling against that 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.480 she never could deal with at the time, so her 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:54.800 life was spiraling out of control. 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:59.120 Wilson's parents separated, and his father ended up moving back 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:02.480 to Puerto Rico. His mother did her best to care 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:04.720 for Wilson and his brother Antonio. 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.040 My mother did struggle at the time, but she may 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:10.600 do with what we had. I don't remember going hungry, 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:13.560 and we always have something to eat, whether it was 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:18.400 some wig or food stamps or focus home. I can 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.360 honestly said that we became somewhat of introverts, Me and 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.679 my brother. We could depend on each other, but that 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:27.240 was about it only because throughout our childhood it was 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:28.800 always me and hid that were together, Me and my 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:30.799 older brother. It's alway about one year Antonio. 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:34.880 For most of his childhood, Wilson went back and forth 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.600 between their mother and Detroit and their father in Puerto Rico. 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:41.960 In nineteen eighty four, when he was ten, they moved 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.080 back to Detroit, but he struggled in school. 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.720 I had the language barrier. We didn't really speak English. 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:54.440 They placed us in bilingual classes where basically we were 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.280 just put in a classroom and as far as I 0:03:57.280 --> 0:03:59.920 can remember, just left there. That you become kind of 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.840 like ostracized, and I began to resent school. I was 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:06.080 constantly getting to fight in school and get in trouble. 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.720 The trouble continued through his teens. 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:12.120 I used to be a member. We were through a 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:16.599 local street gang, Camel Boys Incorporated CBI, and consequently we 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.240 was involved in a lot of mischievous behavior as in 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:25.400 the neighborhood, and I started getting trouble shoplifting and things 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:29.520 of that nature at the time and skipping out of school. 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:34.520 But soon the neighborhood mischief was escalating into something else. 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:41.839 About nineteen eighty seven, Southwest Detroit began to receive the 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.680 influx of national gangs. There were two or three primary 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:49.240 gags for Chicago who ended up coming to Southwest Detroit 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:53.400 and they began to recruit individuals and what ends up 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:56.279 happening local street gangs in the neighborhood. We all bended 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.760 us one together and where we were constantly fighting with 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:01.479 these the gangs. 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.960 In nineteen ninety, when Wilson was sixteen, one of his 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.640 friends was shot in the face by a member of 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:11.039 a rival gang. This led to an incident that would 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:14.320 end up having deep repercussions for Wilson. 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:17.920 Basically, one of my other friends went and got a weapon, 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:22.600 a shotgun, and brought me the shotgun and I opened 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:27.719 fire at the rival gang, and as I fled the scene, 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:30.159 I came face to face with a member of the 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:34.239 Detroit Police. I pulled the webinarut and as I pulled 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:37.760 the webin out, I hope discharged it and it didn't 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:41.240 hit him. Later on the following day, I was arrested 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.520 and eventually I pled guilty to the offense. 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:49.120 He was charged with attempt to commit bodily harm on 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:50.120 a police officer. 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:52.160 That's what I want you to do, w I'm for. 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:00.800 Wilson spent over two years at the Maxie Boys Training School, 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.720 a juvenile correction facility about an hour outside of Detroit, 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:08.280 and when he was released in nineteen ninety three, he 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:12.000 still hadn't graduated high school, but he did manage to 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:13.560 find a job in a factory. 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:16.400 At the time I was working, but then I had 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.680 suffered a hand injury or gusha wound where I couldn't 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.400 really use my hand and keep up with the production. 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.039 So instead of being fired I quit the job, and 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:27.599 the way that I will survive it would be either 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.599 petty hustle or I will engage in small and I'm 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:34.039 not minimizing it, but it was what we would consider 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:36.880 small robberies in the neighborhood, and it would be dope 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.000 dealers or things of the source. 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:42.919 Wilson got by on the petty crimes and was still 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:46.279 running with the Camel Boys, but when he was around nineteen, 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.120 his girlfriend told him some news that made him want 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:50.280 to change his lifestyle. 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.760 I was excited when I found out that Sho was pregnant. 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:57.640 I wasn't I wouldn't say I was scared, but I 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:02.000 knew that I want to make like a shift in 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:05.600 my life. I wanted to be a person for my daughters, and. 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:09.039 To Wilson, that meant leaving gang life behind, but he 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.520 found that was easier said than done. 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:16.160 I had started applying for jobs. I wanted to try 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:17.440 to see if I could get back in the old 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:19.320 factory where I was working at, but maybe in a 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:22.120 different position where it then requires for me to work 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:25.440 in the machines that I had to be working on before. Unfortunately, 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:27.640 though I still live in the same environment. Though the 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:31.560 neighborhood where I lived at, like my house was smacked. 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:36.360 It in the middle of basically all the rival gangs 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.480 that I was in fights with, So there was one 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:41.800 of them things where it was kind of constantly going 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:42.440 back and forth. 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.880 Wilson was living in the neighborhood, spending his nights at 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:48.440 his girlfriend's house and leaving early in the morning to 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:50.480 try and avoid the other gangs. 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:53.520 I figured that me going home in the mornings would 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.080 be a lot safer as opposed to you know, coming 0:07:56.160 --> 0:08:00.480 home at midnight or late at night time because said 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:02.720 by that company rival gangs, because he that you're home. 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.240 Wilson had decided to give up the petty crime in 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:09.120 gang life, but he hadn't found a job yet and 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:12.000 he was still involved with the same crowd. One of 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:14.520 his friends, kal Matta, was in a gang called the 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.920 cash Flow Posse, a gang that the Camel Boys had 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:21.840 an alliance with. Cal also worked at a local pizza shop, 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.320 and one day Cal approached Wilson and his friend Roger 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:28.440 Murfk with a scheme to make some easy money. 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:31.400 What he had informed those was that there was a 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.480 guy that was delivering pizzas, but he was doing so 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.240 while at the same time challenge drugs, we were led 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.720 to believe that this person had at least two thousand 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:44.760 dollars from drug proceeds on himself. 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:51.199 On September twelfth, nineteen ninety three, Wilson and Roger were 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.160 armed and waiting to rob the pizza guy along his route, 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:57.560 but he was taking longer than they expected, so they 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:00.640 thought they might have missed him. Roger knew a guy 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:03.800 named Douglas Williams who lived across the street, and he 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:05.679 went over to Doug's house to ask if he could 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:06.360 use the phone. 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:12.360 Eventually, the piece that every guy comes and we robbed 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:16.720 the guy and he didn't have no two thousand dollars. 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:19.120 He didn't have eight hundred dollars. The individual actually only 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:21.800 had four hundred dollars. So when Kel comes to the 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.120 apartment after he gets out of work at ten o'clock 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.480 and he asked for his portion of the money, I 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:29.360 told him he wasn't going to get the money because 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:31.840 he lied about what the guy had, and so we 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:32.719 fell out over there. 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:36.720 And that should have been that robbery and a small 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:41.560 argument over a few hundred dollars, but it wasn't. Twenty 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:44.600 year old Douglas Williams lived with his parents, Lavanda and 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:48.280 Daniel Brown, and three days after the pizza man was robbed, 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:52.679 two men burst into their house wearing ski masks. One 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.840 of the intruders shot and killed both Doug and Lavanda, 0:09:56.559 --> 0:10:01.959 but Daniel, Doug's father survived. He talked with police shortly afterwards. 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:04.760 Daniel told them that Doug had known about the armed 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:06.720 robbery from a few days before. 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:13.440 Daniel Brown said that his son Doug had told him 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:17.520 that Wilson Rivera and Roger Murfick were the two individuals 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:19.840 involved in that armed robbery. 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.440 This is Wilson's post conviction attorney, Rachel Wolfe. 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.520 There was plenty there for the prosecution to latch onto 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:29.720 and for the police to investigate, because they knew exactly 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.760 who Roger Murfick and Wilson Rivera were at the time. 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:37.400 And one member of the Detroit Police Department, Officer Gerald Packard, 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:41.840 had his own reasons for focusing on Wilson. The officer 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:44.360 that Wilson had shot at back when he was sixteen. 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:48.320 Officer Ayala was Packard's partner. 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:52.840 So Officer Packard knew Wilson. He knew that he had 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.240 gotten what I imagine Packard would assume is a short 0:10:56.280 --> 0:11:01.600 sentence for something like that. He is not on the 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:06.719 homicide team. He was not part of the homicide investigation, 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:10.560 but he was the one when he heard that Roger 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:14.120 and Wilson were potentially suspects. He was the one that 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:18.880 went to Wilson's apartment knocking on the door, and then ultimately, 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:23.760 once the warrant was obtained, just busted right in to 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:24.640 the apartment. 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.240 And when they arrest me at my house, I'm under 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:30.160 the assumption that they're looking for me for the robbery. 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.440 And so when they take me, the homicide Sergeant Morell 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:36.360 tells me that he's arrested me for murder. I'm thinking 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:38.160 that this is a trick that they're playing on me 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.199 so that I could go ahead and admit to the robbery. 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.640 But Wilson knew nothing about the homicide. The night of 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.000 the shooting, he had been with his girlfriend and her 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:50.760 mother at their house. He didn't learn about the shooting 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.360 until the next day, when he found out that Roger 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:55.400 had also been arrested. 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:01.640 I've seen Roger aside, and when they put him in 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:05.080 a bulkin, and that's when I asked Rogers like what's 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.040 going on, and he explained to me what had actually 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.480 taken place with the murder with the ham size. Now again, 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:16.079 I'm operating under this concept of loads that we have 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.720 within the gang, right, so I'm not going to say nothing. 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:22.319 They're not going to say nothing, you know, and we 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:24.400 just take it out and see what happens. In my mind, 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.160 I'm assuming that eventually the facts are going to bear 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.600 me out. Since I don't have nothing to do with it, 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:34.120 it's just a matter of time before I'm clear. Unfortunately, 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:35.560 if we could see, that's not where I ended up 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:36.120 taking place. 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:50.640 Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:53.520 You can listen to this and all the Lava for 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:57.600 Good podcasts one week early and ad free by subscribing 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:10.240 to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Pods cast. In 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.839 the aftermath of the shooting, the Detroit homicide squad, headed 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:17.240 up by Officer Carrie Russell, rounded up a number of 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:20.880 local gang members and charged them with the murders. One 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.400 of the first to be arrested with cal Mata. 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:27.880 They knew they were looking for Wilson and Roger. They 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:31.439 went to this house that was a known location for 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:35.520 both the cash Flow Posse gang and the Camel Boys Gang, 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:40.280 so they they came in, they arrested Cal. At that time, 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:43.000 he was the only person in that apartment with a 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:46.960 number of firearms. They also found a ski mask and 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:50.920 a jacket inside of that apartment that they ultimately seized 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:53.040 and ended up admitting at trial as well. 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:58.200 While in custody, Cal told Officer Packard that he had 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:02.040 heard Wilson and Roger talking about Doug Williams calling him 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:04.600 a snitch. Cal took that to me and they were 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:07.120 going to take steps to make sure Doug couldn't report 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.360 them for the robbery. The police also brought in a 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:14.200 couple of other gang members for questioning, Armando Campos and 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.560 Ephram Garcia. Both of them were in the cash Flow 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:21.200 Posse and according to Wilson, Ephram was trying to climb 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:22.360 the ranks in the gang. 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.280 The way that the gang was operating was that in 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:28.840 order for an individual to move up in the ranks, 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:33.200 right to either become an enforcer or treasurer or whatever 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:36.880 other upper echeline in the gang, what they would have 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:38.360 to do is they would have to what we call 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.080 back then put in work, you know, whether it be 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.280 if you rob somebody, if you shout somebody, he jumped 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:47.240 somebody in the schools and all that. The reputation of that, 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:49.360 whatever you do, goes to the gang. So in order 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.320 for Ethom to move up in the ranks in his gang, 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.480 he wanted to put in the work, and in. 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:59.080 This case, the work was to keep Doug Williams from 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.840 snitching a about the pizza robbery. Wilson says that that 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:06.600 day at the jail, Roger told him exactly how it 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:07.360 had gone down. 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.400 And so Roger and Etham go to the house where 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:13.680 the witness of the robbery was and Ethel kicks down 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:17.400 the door and opens fire and hits Dug, and then 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.520 Roger comes from the other side and hits Doug. And 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:24.920 then as Doug's mother attempts to flee that the residence, 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:28.360 Roger opens fire on him and he hits her as well. 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:36.040 After what Roger told him, Wilson was confident that the 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:39.200 truth would come out and he'd be released. But Roger 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:43.880 never confessed to anyone else, and the homicide team continued 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:44.840 to question. 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.560 Wilson, and I told him exactly where I was at. 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:49.480 To him, I was spending the night with my daughter's 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:52.080 mother and she was at the time twenty half months pregnant. 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:54.880 In my mind, I know where I was at. So 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:56.720 I gave him to Alibi and gave him everything where 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:59.520 I was, that and everything. And my expectation was that 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:02.280 they were talk through my daughter's mother, but that never 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:02.880 took place. 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.880 When Armando compost was questioned, he told police that the 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:11.640 day after the homicide, Roger had turned up at his 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:13.760 house desperate for money. 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:19.120 Roger red, I just smoked someone. I just smoked someone. 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.440 I need as much money as possible. I got to 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.520 get out of town. And then, when questioned a little further, 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:29.600 Armando also said, yeah, he mentioned Wilson too. He mentioned 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:30.680 Wilson was there too. 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.920 Wilson and Roger were now the primary suspects, and both 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:38.760 were charged with the murders. In September of nineteen ninety three, 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.640 a joint preliminary hearing was held, at which cal and 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:47.880 Armando testified. Both repeated what they had told police, but 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:50.560 when Roger Murphick went to trial in April of nineteen 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:53.560 ninety four, Armando changed his story. 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:58.440 Armando recanted everything he had said at the preliminary examination. 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:02.160 He said, no, I never made those statements. The only 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:06.199 reason that I made those statements is because I was arrested. 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:09.480 You know, I was charged. I was threatened by the police. 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:12.480 I said exactly what they wanted me to say. Roger, 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:14.680 of course, was acquitted of all of the. 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:19.200 Charges, but Wilson remained in jail. He went to trial 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.600 a few months later on September sixth, nineteen ninety four. 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:26.440 The judge was Helen Brown and the prosecutor was Lisa Lindsay. 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:30.720 As far as physical evidence, there wasn't much for the 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:31.639 state to present. 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:36.080 We don't have fingerprints, They didn't fingerprint the shell casings 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.400 or anything in the house at the time. Obviously there's 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:41.440 no DNA or anything like that. It was a really 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:43.200 quick homicide. 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.840 Officer Packard and the homicide squad had searched Wilson's home 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:48.600 the day they arrested him. 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:54.680 And they find two firearms and two ski masks, one 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:58.000 of which was black or dark blue in color. The 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.480 other one was a multicolored. Those guns were tested against 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:04.200 some of the shell casings that were recovered in the house, 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:08.120 and the there was a bullet I believe recovered from 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:12.119 Doug's body during the autopsy, and there wasn't a match 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:16.280 so conclusively neither of the weapons found in Wilson's home 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:19.919 were involved in the homicide. They were allowed, however, to 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:23.760 admit them at trial, along with a bunch of ammunition 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.119 that they found in Wilson's home, none of which was 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:29.120 the right caliber to be involved in the homicide either. 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:32.000 But they presented it as if it could be. 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:34.879 They sure did. Yeah, they presented all of that to 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:35.399 the jury. 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:39.439 The state relied heavily on police and witness testimony to 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.680 make their case, but there wasn't much of that either. 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:48.520 Daniel Brown testified to the armed robbery and named these 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:52.800 two co defendants as perpetrators of that armed robbery, and 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:57.600 then they also had testimony from one other witness, kal Matta. 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:00.520 Cal repeated the statement he had given the police that 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:02.959 he had heard Wilson and Roger talking about getting rid 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:05.960 of Doug Williams, and that was about it for the 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:07.119 prosecution's case. 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.040 The officer in charge of the case, you know who, 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:13.080 was basically the one that was responsible for taking other 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:16.000 testimonies from all these witnesses and all that she felt 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:17.680 to shored up for my trial, even though she knew 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:20.000 my trouble set for that day, and so all of 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:23.720 these things that was taken place, I'm looking at what 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:25.600 was going on. I was like, yeah, at least in 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:28.320 my mind, I was hoping that the judge was going 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:29.960 to say, you know, I'm going to interfere in this 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:32.320 thing here and I'm going to dismiss it for the 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:34.760 lack of evidence, and because of what was going on 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.000 with the prosecute fell to produce their witnesses. 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:42.720 And not only that, Wilson had an alibi. Remember on 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.000 the night of the murders, he'd been with his girlfriend, 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:50.400 but she never testified at trial, and surprisingly Armando Compos 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:51.840 did not appear either. 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:59.359 So when my attorney at the time, mister Griffin, asked 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:03.400 to I have a due diligence hearing as to why 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.080 Armando has not shown up to testify, we find out 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:11.639 that the prosecutor at the time has failed to subpoena 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:14.400 Armando and so he never showed up to testify because 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:15.000 he never knew. 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:20.720 I think ultimately it's entirely possible that Roger was acquitted 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:24.960 and Wilson was convicted because of the absence of Armando 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:26.280 Compos's testimony. 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:30.720 On September ninth of nineteen ninety four, the jury found 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:34.600 Wilson Rivera guilty of the premeditated murders of Donald Williams 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:38.679 and Lavanda Brown. He was sentenced to life in prison 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.160 without the possibility of parole. 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:01.280 After I came to prey sat within the first year, 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:03.800 I winned for an enimy to get into a fight 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:09.200 and he got stamped. Eventually he died understad one and 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:14.320 he basically laid out, and so they locked us down, 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:16.840 and I told myself, Yeah, that's not going to happen 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:21.400 to me, you know. So I went into hope defensive postering, 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.199 and any issue that I had, I either was going 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:25.920 to get into a fight. I wasn't going to wait 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:27.359 for anybody to stab me to try to kill me 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:30.679 in prison. And so what I ended up doing I 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:32.960 started acting O first, so if I felt that we 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:36.159 had an issue, I would act first. And I actually 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:39.480 caught a couple of assault tickets in prison. I spent 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:43.400 several years in mechimum security, several years, and the whole 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:46.879 you know, I didn't care much about where I was 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:49.720 at in prison at that time, you know, and had 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:52.840 just turned twenty and being sentenced to life without parole, 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:55.040 and the only thing that kind of set me to 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:58.560 a degree. Balanced out was that I was I wanted 0:21:58.600 --> 0:21:59.280 to see my daughter. 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:03.640 While Wilson was in jail awaiting trial, his daughter, Sierra 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:04.200 was born. 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:07.040 The first time that I got a chance to see 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:10.520 her was actually doing my sentencing. So the time that 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:13.760 I'm being sentenced to life without parole, I'm actually paying 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:16.199 more so attention to my daughter, who basically was just 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:17.480 a few months old at the time. 0:22:17.520 --> 0:22:20.199 You know, he's been in prison my whole life. So 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:22.439 what I do know is from the relationship we formed 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:23.439 with him being in prison. 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:26.560 This is Wilson's daughter, Sierra Ramirez. 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:34.919 He's funny, he's intelligent, and I are a lot of like, 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:40.000 very talkative. He's an encourager. You know, it's only fifteen 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:42.960 minute phone calls at a time, but I feel pretty 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:45.960 open when I talk with him. 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:50.000 What was that like, growing up only knowing your father 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:51.840 from prison from visiting rooms. 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:54.560 I guess for me, it was a norm. I didn't 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:57.400 see it as anything weird because it was all I knew, basically, 0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:00.879