WEBVTT - #287 Jason Flom with Vincent Simmons 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.480 Since our previous release of Vincent Simmons' story, an amazing 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:06.560 series of events has occurred. In addition to the work 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:09.680 of his investigator as well as his attorney, Justin Bonus, 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:14.360 CBS Morning's lead correspondent David Begmow did his own investigation, 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:16.959 and as part of that, he did an interview that 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:20.120 aired in February twenty twenty two in which he spoke 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.800 with the alleged victims in this case, Karen and Sharon Sanders, 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:27.600 who made some explosive revelations. In this re release, we 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:30.320 will not only fill you in on the incredible developments 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.400 in this case, but also you'll hear once again from 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:40.560 the man himself, Vincent Simmons. In May of nineteen seventy seven, 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:44.440 fourteen year old white twin sisters Karen and Sharon Sanders 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:47.320 allegedly went to help their eighteen year old cousin, Keith 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.760 la Board clean his house in of Olds Parish, Louisiana. 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:54.720 Years later, Keith Laboord admitted to carrying on a sexual 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:58.360 relationship with Karen Sanders, but back in May of seventy seven, 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.560 when asked about a scratch on his Keith began to 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:04.920 spin a narrative supported by the twin girls, that led 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:09.000 in a well tread direction. According to Keith and the twins, 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.160 they picked up a hitchhiking black man who allegedly pulled 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:14.840 a gun and forced Keith and Karen into the trunk 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:19.720 before raping Sharon, followed by Karen. Conflicting accounts and descriptions, 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:22.000 as well as a rape kit that confirmed that Sharon 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.400 was still a virgin, didn't stop the accusation of an 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:29.680 alleged black assailant. While police officer Robert Laboord was out 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:32.000 searching for a potential culprit on the morning of May 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:35.679 twenty third, nineteen seventy seven, his partner Floyd Juno spotted 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:39.760 Vincent Simmons, whom he knew from previous petty crimes. Despite 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:43.440 not matching what were already conflicting descriptions of this imaginary 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:47.240 black man, they arrested Vincent for the alleged rapes. Both 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:50.560 girls and Keith picked out the only handcuffed black man 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:53.760 in the lineup, and when Vincent refused to confess, Officer 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:57.920 Robert Leboard shot him in the chest. Miraculously, Vincent survived, 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.320 but only to have all evidence, all of it exculpatory 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.760 withheld from him at trial, condemning him to serve one 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:08.520 hundred years in Angola Prison. Vincent's fight against a web 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:12.320 of family connections lies and the worst in American racism 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:30.160 continues to this very day. This is wrongful conviction. Welcome 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:32.520 back to wrongful conviction. I'm Jason Flopp. 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:36.760 Today's case is so troubling that I don't know where 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:39.520 to start. But I will tell you this before we 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:42.440 even get into it, and I introduce to you the 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:48.160 man himself, Vinctent Simmons, who's still incarcerated in Angola Penitentiary 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:50.359 for over forty four years now for a crime he 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:52.800 had nothing to do with. I will tell you that 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:58.160 this case has a toxic mixture of small town racism, 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:03.919 false accusations, a total lack of evidence. A police officer 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:08.000 who was closely related to what should have been the 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:13.000 obvious suspect, who actually shot mister Simmons in the police 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.799 station when he refused to confess in the chest by 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:19.200 the way, narrowly missing his heart and killing him. 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:23.000 Yes, you heard that correctly. And everybody involved basically is 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:25.760 white except for mister Simmons, who's black. And now that's 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:30.280 just the freaking beginning. So first of all, Vincent, I'm 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:32.920 so honored that you're here today to talk to us. 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:34.920 I'm so sorry that you are where you are, that 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:36.840 we're talking to you from prison, and I'm hoping that 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:40.560 soon we'll be having a totally different conversation from the 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:42.960 free world. So welcome to Wrongful Conviction. 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:45.160 Thank you, I haven't me. 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:48.760 We're very happy to have you, and we apologize to 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:51.760 our audience in advance for the audio quality on Vincent's phone. 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:54.200 It sounds like he's calling us from a time capsule, 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:57.960 and in many ways he really is. And Gola Penitentiary 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:02.360 was built on a literal plant, which couldn't put a 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:05.320 finer point on what this case is all about. And 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:07.280 joining us today as a man who you may be 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.000 familiar with from our coverage of Nelson Cruz in Brooklyn 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:14.040 and Marcus Wiggins in Chicago. Now today he's fighting for 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:17.320 Vincent's case pro bono, flying back and forth from New 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:21.440 York to Louisiana. So justin bonus, thanks for coming back 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:22.600 to Wrongful Conviction. 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:24.840 Not a problem, Jason. It's great to be on here 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:25.520 again as well. 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:30.080 So this insane saga goes all the way back to 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:35.360 nineteen seventy seven. So, Vincent, before this happened and your 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.719 life got turned upside down and inside out, what was 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.200 your life like before this insanity? 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.800 Yeah, I was born in a bald parish, a place 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:49.719 called man Philah Lewis there. When I was living in 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:56.320 man Phila, I had had some involved with a bald parent. 0:04:56.600 --> 0:05:01.760 Share of DePaul I was involved with compared to crime. 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:06.479 I moved to Houston and I got a job and 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:11.360 I learned that my father had that and I come 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:15.800 back to do with Yeah, I was back for out 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:16.279 a month. 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.679 I was live with my sister leave. 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:24.520 You, and I was on my way to work and 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:27.960 I was picked up a vol parish bodice. 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.480 So you were a known entity to a Bowls Parish 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:34.600 police before heading to Houston for work and returning when 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:38.040 your father passed away, which made you available to be 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.520 picked up for what allegedly happened to these twin girls 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:43.880 on May nine, nineteen seventy seven. And the date, I mean, 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:45.800 we're not even sure of that because the girls were 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:48.080 never really clear on a date and time. But the 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:52.400 narrative that comes out is a sadly familiar American tale, 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.719 a false accusation of a black man by an alleged 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:59.160 white victim or victims in this case, and the alleged 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:02.200 crime that took place. The narrative that set this horrible 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:07.560 and justice against Vincent in motion is this. On May ninth, 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:12.960 nineteen seventy seven, twin sisters Sharon and Karen Sanders allegedly 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:15.560 went over to the house of their eighteen year old cousin, 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.279 Keith Leboard remember that last name, to help him clean, 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.719 and while driving the sisters home that night, the three 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:27.680 allegedly stopped for gas when Vincent Simmons allegedly approached and 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:30.640 asked the Board for a ride home, to which the 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:35.159 Board supposedly agreed. And then the claim is that six 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:38.679 miles outside of Marksville, on a deserted stretch of Little 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:43.480 California Road, Vincent allegedly took out a gun, forced Keith 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.680 le Board and Karen into the trunk while he allegedly 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:51.279 raped Sharon, and then he allegedly put Sharon in the trunk, 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:54.640 drove on for a bit before retrieving Karen to do 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.280 the same to her. Now Afterwards, Vincent allegedly threatened them 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:02.440 all before dropping himself off to catch a bus, so 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:06.800 about two weeks after this alleged incident. May twenty second 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:09.600 is when this narrative is first reported to the sheriff's 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.960 office and the investigation, if you can even call it, 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:16.440 that begins. Justin take us through this nightmare. 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:20.280 So there was Karen Sanders, Sharon Sanders, and then Keith 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:25.440 the Board that were allegedly basically kidnapped, thrown in a trunk. 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:29.400 The two sisters were raped. That's their story. So on 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:35.040 May twenty second, John Leboard, Keith's father, calls the sheriff 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:38.480 because Keith's father is the parish assessor. What you have 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:40.680 to understand about the the boards is there's like ten 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:42.920 thousand of them in a Voles parish. This is a 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:47.000 very strong family. He calls the chief of police and 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:50.240 he says that my twin nieces have been raped by 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:54.280 a black man. That's how this begins. And then the 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:57.320 girls are brought in. The girls don't know what date 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:01.120 it happens. The police give them a date. The girls 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:04.480 provide their initial statements, which weren't turned over a trial. 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:07.840 They weren't turned over till nineteen ninety three. They give 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:13.600 completely inconsistent statements. Sharon Sanders actually calls the suspect the 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:17.920 N word over and over again, says all blacks look alike, okay, 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.600 and that's why she wouldn't be able to identify him. 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.880 They don't talk to the boy Keith Leboard until after 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:30.280 Vincent is already arrested. Neither of these girls give a 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:33.920 description that matches Vincent. They say short and fat, well, 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:38.320 Vincent is five nine one point fifty. Again, their descriptions conflict. 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:42.319 You know, it's just one thing after another, and specifically 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:46.320 with regard to Karen Sanders, she talks about being raped 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:51.240 anally orally vaginally. When the doctor looks at her after 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:56.079 she talks to police, there is no injuries. Sharon talks 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.120 about a thirty minute rape vaginally to the point where 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:02.120 she bled. She said that she gave her panties to 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:06.600 her grandmother and they were washed, of course. And what's 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:09.679 interesting about Sharon is that her hymen was intact when 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.480 she was examined by the doctor in this case. 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:18.400 So okay, Inconsistent statements, conflicting descriptions, and outright lies unsupported 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.559 by physical reality. And the next day, at nine to 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:24.440 twenty am on May twenty third, Vincent was just walking 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:26.920 to work when he was picked up off the street, 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:29.079 arrested and brought to the station. 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:33.200 He was arrested on May twenty third of nineteen seventy 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:37.839 seven on view for this crime. And what on view 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.720 means is they didn't have a name Vincent Simmons, They 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:44.199 had no probable cause to arrest him. They saw him 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:46.080 on the side of the street. When I say they, 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.000 you had mentioned a family member of one of the 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.560 alleged victims, and that was Robert Leboard. And I don't 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.679 know his direct relation to Keith Leboard, but I believe 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.599 it could be a cousin. So really, what you have 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:00.760 to understand with Vincent is he out of history with 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:04.000 the Marksville Police Department and the Voles Parish Sheriff's office. 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:08.480 And Floyd Juno was driving with Robert Leboard on the 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.719 Dave Vincent got arrested on May twenty second, and he 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:14.959 knew Vincent, he knew who he was before, and he 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:17.640 knew he was a troublemaker. And he's the glue to this. 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:23.479 He's the person that basically points the finger at Vincent first. 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:25.719 Right, right right, And if you have the chance to 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.520 watch one of the documentaries about Vincent's story, there's the 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:31.720 farm and shadows of a Doubt, we'll have them linked 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:33.960 in to buy, of course. But in Shadows of a Doubt, 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:37.400 Floyd Juno describes this arrest in much the same way 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:40.880 that Justin has. So that same morning, the sheriff sent 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:43.439 deputies for the twins, who were picked up from school 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.240 and brought to the station along with Keith Lebord, who 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.640 was brought from work, and told them that they were 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:51.480 going to view a lineup with the perpetrator in it. 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:55.000 So officers picked out seven guys for the lineup, one 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:59.559 of whom was white, Okay, a few others were well 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:00.520 over six feet tall. 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:01.520 I remember. 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:05.800 The description was of this imaginary perpetrator was black, short 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:09.240 and fat, right, And they placed Vincent in the center. 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:12.599 And get this, Vincent is the only one who was 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.160 handcuffed out of all of them. I mean, it wasn't 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:16.840 like they were trying to be subtle here right as 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:20.600 to who they wanted them to identify. So the twins 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:25.240 and Keith lo and Behold all select Vincent as the perpetrator. 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:30.440 They claimed that I was identified, and from that point 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:35.600 they took me into another loan and that's when they 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.400 told me that I had to give him a confession, 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.320 and I refused to give a confession. I told him 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:45.839 that before I confessed to a crime that I didn't do, 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:50.520 I'll die first. And that's when they hit me. And 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:55.280 they knocked to a cloth and started kicking me. And 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:58.880 then when I tried to get out, he kicked me again. 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:03.520 And when I did you to chair I was sitting 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:08.000 in to get up Robert Lopol he d his death 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:11.520 from his seat where he would righting to a confression 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:14.760 and pull his weapon and shot. 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:17.120 He shot, then a check. 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:31.120 This episode is underwritten by global law firm Greenberg Traig 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.679 through its pro bono program. Greenberg Traig leverages it's more 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.559 than twenty four hundred lawyers across forty two offices to 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.520 serve the greater good of our communities and provide equal 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.040 access to justice for all. In the field of criminal justice, 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:48.280 Greenberg Trowerg attorneys have exonerated and Freedoman in Philadelphia represent 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.520 numerous individuals previously sentenced to life for crimes committed as 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:55.560 juveniles and resentencing hearings, and received the American Bar Association's 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:59.040 twenty twenty one Exceptional Service Award for death penalty representation 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:02.839 for their work on five death penalty cases. GT is 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:06.319 reimagining what big law can be because a more just 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:08.400 world only happens by design. 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:18.199 I think something that I really want to bring to 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:21.199 your attention, to your Jason, is this is that technically 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:25.400 Vincent really should have been charged with kidnapping Keith Lebor. 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:29.360 They didn't charge him with that. Why, well, you know, 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:32.240 I think we know why. The other thing is the 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:36.280 police all said that Vincent attempted to grab the gun 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:39.719 of one of the officers and the safety was on 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.400 or something like that ridiculous story. They don't ever charge 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:46.160 Vincent with attempted murder of a police officer either. 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:48.920 And this is weird, right because it's not like the 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:53.000 state typically has any issue at all with piling on charges, right, 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.319 But there were no gun charges here either, as that 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:58.600 was part of the alleged kidnapping in this case as well. 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:03.840 So at the preliminary hearing on July seventh, both twins testified, 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:08.679 but neither the alleged kidnapping victim Keithlipboard, nor the alleged 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:15.040 attempted murder victims the police officers participated. Yeah that's yeah, sure, okay, 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:20.680 So during her testimony, Sharon is asked three consecutive times 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:22.960 to identify the man from the crime, and this is 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.640 the twin who states that all black people look alike. 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:30.960 She doesn't respond until the court steps in, and this 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:34.400 was when, for the very first time ever, she says 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:38.680 that the man said his name was Simmons. Now, Karen 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:42.240 also parroted this statement that the culpert told Keith his 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:45.400 name was Simmons. But then in the same preliminary hearing, 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:47.960 when asked why it took two weeks to come forward 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:51.800 with this story, Karen testified that, quote, we couldn't go 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:56.360 to the cops because we didn't know his name, unquote, 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:59.840 So which one is it? Karen, right, which is it? 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:01.720 Because both of those things can't be true. 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:06.560 Everyone overlooked that. That means that their testimony and the 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.440 preliminary hearing that they knew the man's name, and their 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:13.520 testimony a trial that they knew the man's name is false. 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:15.840 That kind of just got glossed over. 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:18.560 So let's get to the trial. And I'm going to 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.720 put trial in quotes here too. So there's no physical 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:25.240 evidence that these rapes ever actually happened. Start with that 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:28.360 no forensic tests were done on the twins, clothing, or 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.400 the car in which the alleged rapes occurred, and police 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:34.520 reports did not include a single lead that pointed the Vincent. 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.640 Doctors didn't find any signs of injury on either of 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:41.560 the alleged victims, including Sharon's intact hymen. She was a 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.840 virgin who was, according to her statement, the victim of 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:50.760 a bloody rape, which of course is physically impossible. So 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.720 if you're listening to this now and going, well, then 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:58.760 there's all this evidence, right, how the hell could anyone, 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:02.200 even a black man in the Deep South in the seventies, 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:06.360 how could anyone get convicted on the basis of this. Well, 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:08.880 it later comes out to Vincent and his attorney received 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:13.320 exactly none of this. They received no discovery in this case. 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:15.960 By no, I mean zero. What I'm saying is all 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:20.640 of that critical exculpatory evidence that you just heard wasn't 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:25.280 revealed to him for another sixteen years. His lawyers never 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:28.480 even knew about the shady lineup with the handcuffs, you know, 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:31.320 which was obviously done for one reason, so that these 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:35.200 alleged victims would know who to pick in this imaginary crime. 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:39.080 There were pictures of that the inconsistencies and conflicts in 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:42.920 the initial accounts and assail of descriptions and initial statements. 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:45.440 They said they didn't know his name, but later testified 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:48.440 that he had told Keith his name was Simmons. How 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.720 Karen gave a clue to that discrepancy in her preliminary 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:55.720 hearing testimony, all of it. So the fix was in, 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:58.880 So justin, can you take us through what happened at 0:16:58.920 --> 0:16:59.840 this sham trial? 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:04.000 So they take him the trial and the girls get 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:07.120 on the witness stand and they say they know his name. 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:12.440 They say a rape happened. And the defense attorneys don't 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:14.760 do a great job of poking holes in there because 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:17.120 they don't have anything to poke holes in. They don't 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:21.600 have any cross examination material. Okay, they have three witnesses 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:26.800 that were allegedly with this man for three hours. That's 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:31.639 a long time to be with somebody. Mistaken identification is 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.560 not really something you can argue when you're around somebody 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:38.200 for three hours unless you saw the initial statements, right, 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:43.200 can't really do it. I mean, the trial's a joke. 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:46.880 Eddie Nole, who was the prosecutor, and the district attorney 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.520 and his wife are the ones that tried the case, 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:54.000 and this was a flim flam show. They actually on 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:58.760 occasion during direct examination they would interchange when they thought 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:02.000 the other one didn't ask enough questions, or on cross exam. 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:05.840 I've never seen that, And they probably could have done 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:09.879 anything they wanted because without discovery, they had nothing with 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:13.800 which to hold the prosecution or any of the witnesses accountable. 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:18.520 Then you have these racially charged elements, two white twin 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:21.840 sisters under age, by the way, fourteen years old, a 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:28.000 black guy in Louisiana in nineteen seventy seven, So they 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:30.600 could have said that he took them in a spaceship, 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:32.440 hit them on the head with a toaster oven, and 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:35.679 then they went and visited, you know, talking penguins on Mars. 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:38.880 I mean, they could have said anything, and I could 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:40.879 actually picture in my mind the jury just sort of 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:43.840 sitting there, you know, horrified, with their mouths open, hearing 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:46.800 about how these two young girls were brutalizing, you know, 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:51.000 these poor little girls. It's hard to turn away from 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:54.960 that kind of testimony. But there were some very significant 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:58.320 things that still should have sowed serious doubts in the 0:18:58.400 --> 0:18:59.560 minds of these jurors. 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:04.520 I think the biggest thing here that we started to 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:11.240 uncover as we investigated, is that the area that Vincent 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:16.000 allegedly sees these three at a gas station in the 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:20.480 middle of Marksville, but then he takes them allegedly or 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:23.840 tells them to go to a part of a Voles 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:30.399 parish that's like Clan country. So where these alleged rapes 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:34.879 happen is in the middle of Clan country. It's not 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:40.879 where the black community is. That's what to me should 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:45.639 have raised alarm bells for everybody, including the white jury. 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:47.439 This is not believable. 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:50.919 What was alleged to be a three hour long encounter 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:54.200 with two twin underage white girls being raped by a 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:58.160 black man in the middle of Clan country. I would 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:01.480 have sooner bought into the store worry about Mars and 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.840 Vincent was able to present something in his defense right 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:08.120 His attorney called him to the stand where he said 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:10.320 that he was at a bar on May ninth and 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:14.119 presented three alibi witnesses who all dated that he was 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:15.200 at the bar with them. 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:19.800 His alibi witnesses, they tried to discredit these people with 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:24.200 traffic tickets and like petty crimes because they wanted to 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:28.080 make the alibis look like they were not law abiding citizens, 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:30.000 even though they basically were. I mean, one of the 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:33.639 witnesses that testified for Vincent was a business owner, and 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:36.960 they attacked them using like speeding tickets and parking tickets 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:37.480 that he received. 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:38.120 It was a joke. 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:39.760 The trial was a joke. 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:42.959 Yeah, it was a joke. But not a funny one though, 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:46.600 because eleven white people and one black woman on the jury. 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:48.720 I remember at that time in Louisiana and all the 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:51.800 way up till twenty eighteen, they didn't need a unanimous 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.080 verdict to convict. It was one of the ways that 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:57.600 they disenfranchised black folks. You only needed ten of the 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:00.640 twelve members on the jury to vote guilty. So black 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:02.720 woman or not, let's just call it like it is. 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:04.800 There was no hope in hell for Vincent. And so 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:08.160 there you are, still trying to heal from a gunshot 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:11.680 wound to the chest at close range and watching this 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:16.159 ridiculous trial. Did you still have any hope that they 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:19.600 would see the discrepancies in this crazy narrative and see 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:21.280 that you were innocent? Oh? 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:27.520 Yeah, there was no hope because the greatest virror was focused. 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:33.280 Oh what the victims were saying, there was no hope 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:37.960 of receiving a fan trial, and you would know I 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:41.760 was shot. They at that I was shut. There was 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:44.280 no question answer to what happened. 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:49.320 So vincent that moment, a lot had happened to you already. 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:50.880 But I have to think this would be the worst 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.840 moment of anybody's life to be wrongfully convicted of a 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:58.240 crime they didn't commit. Do you remember that moment when 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:01.280 they declared you guilty, and since you two one hundred 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:02.280 years in prison. 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:04.120 Yes, I did. 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:10.240 When I heard all those lies told and the jury 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:15.359 come back and condicted me, even with my alibi, with 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:22.320 telling the children, the jurors still believed their lives. And 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:26.960 it was amazing for me to believe that those people 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:30.800 would tell that kind of lie to the juror, and 0:22:30.960 --> 0:22:57.280 the juror believed that. When I got to a gola 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:02.000 and they slam to those behind me, it was like 0:23:02.160 --> 0:23:06.720 a shot for me. And from that moment then I 0:23:06.920 --> 0:23:11.840 was experiencing nightmares at night. When I went to sleep, 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:13.960 or tried to go to sleep, I would have a 0:23:14.119 --> 0:23:19.040 nightmare or be a shot and beat over and over again. 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:21.160 When I got down. 0:23:22.160 --> 0:23:25.480 Even the guys in the town, they already knew what 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:29.320 my job was, and I went through the New Aid 0:23:30.160 --> 0:23:36.159 Experiences day, so I bought all you ship human waste. 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:43.000 You know your torture. I've been stalled several times, you 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:45.800 know all the skin come off my bady, But I 0:23:45.880 --> 0:23:50.000 wouldn't report it because they would call your rack heear. 0:23:50.880 --> 0:23:56.280 I had several night night falls that was from the 0:23:56.440 --> 0:24:01.000 ball town. They would make it possible for they didn't 0:24:01.040 --> 0:24:06.520 may got a home year the gods hearing of all family. 0:24:07.200 --> 0:24:13.240 They would intentionally like the remote where I would be 0:24:13.400 --> 0:24:19.119 the repartrator of the night. So from one lockdown to another, 0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:23.960 that's what caused me to be lockdown and a solitary 0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:28.800 confinement in all these years because I was being attacked 0:24:29.359 --> 0:24:34.440 and being transferred to another lockdown. I've step twenty some 0:24:34.760 --> 0:24:40.920 years in silentary confinements and I just got out in 0:24:42.080 --> 0:24:46.160 two thousand nineteen, and that's when I got the call 0:24:46.320 --> 0:24:50.560 from Justin say that he was go take my case. 0:24:51.440 --> 0:24:55.560 Forty four years wrongfully convicted, and twenty seven of those 0:24:55.640 --> 0:24:59.760 were in solitary confinement because of constant assaults from other 0:25:00.520 --> 0:25:05.439 who also found ways to believe the childish, nonsensical lie 0:25:05.520 --> 0:25:09.840 that these three backwoods redneck low lifes told to cover 0:25:10.040 --> 0:25:14.440 up their dirty, disgusting, little incest secret. And I don't 0:25:14.440 --> 0:25:17.760