WEBVTT - #294 Guest Host Patrick Pursley with Jarvis Ballard 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.880 I'm Jason Flamm, host of Bronfel Conviction, and so far 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:06.000 we've brought you hundreds of stories of people stolen from 0:00:06.040 --> 0:00:09.200 their lives and families for crimes they did not commit. 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:11.840 The sheer number of cases we've covered speaks to the 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.680 scale of the problem, but we've yet to even scratch 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:18.360 the surface. To amplify this message even louder, I've invited 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.320 new voices to host the show to create interviews of 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:25.400 the system affected by the system affected. This is one 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:26.640 of those interviews. 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:32.159 On January tenth, nineteen ninety eight, a sixty year old 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:35.600 woman in the small town of Violet, Louisiana, her to 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:37.760 knock at the door. It was two o'clock in the 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.760 morning that night. She had been babysitting her three and 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.120 a half year old grandson, and she opened the door 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:44.360 thinking was her son. 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:45.160 To pick up the child. 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.879 Instead, two men forced their way into her home and 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.120 demanded to be taken to her safe. When she insisted 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:55.480 she didn't have one, they raped her and stole her 0:00:55.560 --> 0:01:00.480 stereo equipment and of television. The next door neighbor saw 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:02.480 the two men walking out of the house with the 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:05.600 stolen goods. Then they saw them get into a car 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:08.759 with a woman at the wheel. One of those neighbors 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.919 was twenty four year old Lewis Caesar, and he recognized 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:14.959 one of the men as Ulysses Pierre, who also went 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:18.759 by the name of Little Noon. Lewis mother Yolanda, called 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:22.080 nine one one to report the crime. Later that day, 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:26.080 police arrested Ulysses and brought them in for questioning. At first, 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:30.240 he claimed he acted alone, but police physically abused him 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:34.240 until he admitted that two others were involved. Ulysses said 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.440 that Sidney Williams and his younger cousin, Jarvis Ballard, were 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:39.800 with him. He also told the police where they hit 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:43.040 the stolen items. Jarvis was arrested later. 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:43.479 That same day. 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:47.440 During their interrogation, he denied taking any part in the crime, 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.840 but after the police threatened and beat him, Jarvis eventually 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:57.320 signed a false confession statement. Three men were arrested, even 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:00.360 though the victim and the witnesses said only who had 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:05.680 been involved. On July twenty first, nineteen ninety nine, Ulysses Pierre, 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:10.000 Sidney Williams, and Jarvis Ballard were sentenced to life in prison. 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:12.840 This is wrongful conviction. 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:26.800 My name is Patrick Persley, also known as Free Patrick Persley. 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:29.359 I was previously a guest on this show to tell 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:32.840 the story of my own wrongful conviction. Today, though I'm 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:35.720 stepping into the host role. This April, I had the 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:38.720 honor to sit down with Jarvis Ballard and its lawyer 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:42.520 g Park at the Incense Network conference in Phoenix, Arizona. 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:45.519 When we spoke, Jarvis had only been out of prison 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:49.400 for eight months. It was emotional conversation for the both 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.920 of us. I want to say how grateful I am 0:02:53.040 --> 0:03:00.280 to Jarvis for trusting me to tell his story. This 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:04.880 case here, really it tore me apart because it's very 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:09.080 steeped in the South and the culture and the practice 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:13.280 of treatment black men in the South. A very heavy 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:16.680 accusation of what you went through, what you were accused 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.000 of right, all these things. 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:22.200 It's very to me. 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.880 It resonated with the historical harms of Deep South attitude 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:29.679 towards black life. It's very good for you to be here. 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:31.920 I'm very thankful to meet you. I'm sorry for what 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:37.000 you went through. Everyone welcomed Jarvis Ballard and his attorney 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:37.680 G Park. 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:39.040 Welcome to the show. 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:40.240 Good to be here. 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:42.160 It's nice to meet you. Man. 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:45.960 So tell us a little bit about your past, what 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:48.880 it's like growing up in Louisiana, what you went through, 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:50.000 and what you experienced. 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:53.360 Well, I grew up with a single mother of two. 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:58.920 My father got killed me nineteen eighty two. He was murdered, 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:01.160 shot nineteen times, ten and the eight. 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:04.360 So the word how were you wouldn't go curb. 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:08.360 I was actually about three, but I I always knew 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:10.720 that my daddy hung up the wrong crowd, and I 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:12.920 learned that a lot old day as I grew up, 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:16.359 because he was a known drug dealer and he was 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:20.400 known for in New Orleans for having the name of 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.440 killing people. And I always didn't never want to be 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:26.640 like that cause I always played sports. But I found 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:31.520 myself having his aggression towards other people, Like you know, 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:33.760 it don't take much to meet me mad If I 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:37.120 think you're a bully, you're not gonna bully nobody around me. 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.599 So you know, I always was challenging all the bullets. 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:42.200 So I took on the name ass lived with the 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:44.240 roy which is my daddy's name, and they called him 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:47.000 town Taker because a lot of people are scared to 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:49.640 mess with him. But I didn't want that cause I 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:51.640 know eventually soon or later somebody would home me and 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:54.560 take my life like they took here, started selling drugs 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:55.320 and smoking weed. 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:57.360 About how I'm thirteen years old. 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:01.000 That's common, and you know I'm in high school and 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.799 playing bee's but actually I'll playing bees ball in football, 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:07.160 and my sports is kind of would help me get 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:08.840 along with have her just a little bit more than 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:11.400 the next person, you know, and I would get away 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:13.280 with a lot. I might get expelled from school. They'll 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:16.200 send a teacher at the house. Just a good sports 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:17.600 just coming practice. 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:18.160 And ride for you. 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:23.520 But I didn't care about school because like my night 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:25.680 going in my tenth grade year was over. There was 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:29.320 just having running in that landed me in Juvet Hall 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:31.919 for two years. But I just had it. I just 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:33.960 had a net for getting it. I just like this 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.320 peep bad boys. You know, you know what it is 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:39.200 you think you're bad. I want to I want I 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:40.960 want to be the one to be throwing whatever you 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:42.080 think you got going on. 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:46.320 His previous interactions with the criminal justice system put him 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:49.400 on the police radar, and that's how Jarvis got swept 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:51.359 up into what's about to happen next. 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:56.839 So in January tenth, nineteen ninety eight. A woman. She 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:00.240 was a sixty year old white woman. In the middle 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.599 of the night, there's a knock on her door. She 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:05.080 goes to the door. There are two men who burst 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:08.360 into her home. They rape her viciously, and then they 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:12.040 steal things from her. And in her home was her 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:15.080 grandson whom she was taking care of that night. And 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.840 so right after this horrific incident happens to her, she 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:21.839 calls the police. She calls nine one one, and she says, 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:25.240 two black men came into my home, stole my belongings, 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:27.760 and raped me. And they were in there at her 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:32.560 home for quite some time. And not only that, they 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:35.800 covered her eyes or visibility was hindered for most of 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:40.840 this time. And as this robbery rape is happening, as 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:44.000 they're carrying things from this woman's home to a car 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:46.920 right wear in which there was a driver in the car, 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:50.720 and that driver is a woman. So it's three people total, right, 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:52.760 Two men who go in the house, and then there's 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:55.000 a driver who's a woman in the car in the 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:58.680 get away vehicle, and the neighbors are seeing something happening 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.719 right to their neighbor's home. This is the mother and 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:06.080 the son, Louis Caesar and Yolanda Caesar, Right, does his 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.680 mother and son who live next door to this woman, Right, 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.880 And they say when they talk to the police that 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:16.560 night or shortly thereafter, they say they see two men, right, 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:18.680 and they see a third person in the car. And 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:23.080 this is what they know immediately after the crime. Now, 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:28.400 the way Jarvis gets involved is that Lewis recognizes one 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.600 of the people as Pierre. He says, oh, that's Jarvis's 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:37.360 cousins first cousin. Yeah, Elisi's Pierre. So he recognizes Eulas's Pierre, 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.280 and that's who. So Lewis is the one who tells 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:44.120 the police. I think one of the men recognize as 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:48.240 Ulysses Pierre. And the next morning, at ten am, police 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:51.400 go to Pierre's home. Right, Pierre is the last name, Right, 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.480 Eulasi's his first name. They go to Pierre's home and 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:59.920 they begin to interrogate him, right, and Pierre gives a 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.880 really unfortunate statement he involved Jarvis. 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:06.520 On the night of the crime, Jarvis was out at 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:07.880 the club in New Orleans. 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:10.280 Well, of course, I was out partying with my friends, 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:13.920 you know, were having a few drinks, getting high. I 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:17.520 come home, I'm so entyxicated I my friend had to 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:20.480 put me in my coat, which is Lowis Caesar. Later 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:22.280 on I would learn how he the crime would be 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:23.760 happening right next door to his house. 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.200 Louis Caesar gave Jarvis a ride home from the party. 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:30.720 Jarvis slept at his grandmother's house, where he often spent 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:31.160 the night. 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.199 L I get on the next morning, I see all 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.080 these I'm thinking it's around up in the around up 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:38.480 is when they come pick you up up when you 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:41.280 say telling they covered nocadi right, So I'm like, man, 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:43.600 So I go back inside, make a phone. I say, Man, 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:45.760 they rounding people up for drugs something Me said No, 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:49.560 he said, look Little Nowon which is my cousin. They 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:50.959 just arrestident for a rape. 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:53.959 Later that morning, Jarvis went down the street to hang 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.240 out with a friend. He noticed on the way that 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:58.880 the police were out in front of his cousin, Tracy's house, 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:01.120 so he asked a friend what was going on. 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:03.880 So he like, man, something happened last night with Little 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:06.520 nowon Himsel, which is Juless. I already know what he 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:08.800 talking about, cause I heard it. He said. They say 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:11.600 he they put the stuff in her two shit. So 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:13.760 this draws me to go walk down there because I 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:15.280 want to know what's going on with Hall. This is 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:18.880 my family. But as I'm walking, they didn't already took 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.320 the stuff out the shade. They asking her about me, 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.520 do you know where jaws better at? And she's pointing, 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:28.320 telling him that him coming right there. So as I'm coming, 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:29.760 they say you jolways a bet. I said yeah. They 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.080 say get on the ground, which I complied. When I 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.640 got there, Detective Calvin bought p arrested me. He bought 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:39.160 me there and I was interviewed by Scott Davis, That's 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:41.080 who actually met me at the door. He said, you 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:43.240 wanna rape old white women, and I'm like, I ain't 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:47.160 rape nobody, and he spread pepper spray on me. Now 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:49.360 I'm looking at my cousin, and my cousin are fairly 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:52.120 light skinny, so I see where he can like he 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.000 been attacked, and he like, man, just tell him what happened. 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:56.280 I'm like, I don't know what happened. What are you 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:56.920 talking about? 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:57.520 Now? 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.520 This next part I have to warn the listener it's 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:03.679 very difficult to talk about and very difficult to hear. 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:08.720 But during the interrogation, Jarvis was subject to a high 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:12.360 level of brutality. He was sprayed with pepper spray and 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:15.920 kicked repeatedly in the groin. The injuries he got from 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:19.000 the police required him to have emergency surgery. 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.240 And you know, they kicked me in me pretty much. 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:23.640 It was very clear. I knew we did that. He 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:29.080 did it two or three times I have, and I 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:31.280 just like, like gesaid, I don't understand why our family 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:32.720 put people in those positions. 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:36.680 But you know, I think the police had no right 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:39.400 to treat you like that, all right. I mean they 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:41.640 didn't have to spread. I mean they don't have They 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:45.040 didn't have to. You know, people do not They didn't 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:45.600 have to physical. 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:53.120 While they were interrogating Jarvis, the police were also interrogating 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:58.120 his cousin Ulysses and sister Kuandrika. Jarvis could actually hear 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:01.520 his sister from the other room in the police stay because. 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:03.280 I hit my sister and they crying and she's like, 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:04.320 it wasn't you know? 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:05.720 It was me Lenoon And. 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.840 Now you were feeling protective or vulnerable with her there 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:09.680 as well. 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:11.360 I didn't want to see he'll get in no trouble 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:13.440 because I was like, man, well she ain't got herself 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:13.760 into it. 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:19.080 Finally, after all that fiscal abuse and then stink to 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:24.320 protect the sister, Jarvis's will was completely overborne, and he 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.119 relented and he signed a false confession. 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.600 Then that man told my mom that she can have 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:37.439 her daughter. I got your son. So now I had 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:41.200 to play save my sister and y'all beating me. I'm 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:43.199 this wrong man, but y'all had to make a decision, 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:47.400 and once I signed a statement, then their case was 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:49.319 kind of sealed for them. And the only thing I 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:50.880 could hope is that God one day would have me 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:51.480 in this position. 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:51.800 RIGHTO. 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:10.080 So basically a trial, what was presented? What did the 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:12.719 jury here? What's you know? How was that broke down 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:15.600 to the jury because obviously they weren't apprized of all 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:17.200 the facts, right. 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:19.600 So the state presented, I mean the state relied on 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:24.480 three pieces of evidence. One was the positive identification of 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:27.160 Jarvis by the complainant, by the victim and the case. 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:28.679 Which is all it takes, right. 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:32.559 I mean it for a sixty year old white woman 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.400 to say in the courtroom pointing to Jarvis and saying 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:39.120 that is the man who raped me, that's pretty powerful evidence. 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:44.319 The second piece of evidence was co defended Ulysses Pear's 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:49.720 statement right, implicating Jarvis, and then Jarvis's own confession that 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.319 they took from him. So those were the three pieces 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:52.720 of evidence. 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:57.079 That's a steep, steep, steep mountain to overcome. 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:02.480 It is because the physical evidence only link to Ulysses 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:05.600 Pierre and Sidney Williams, the two guys who actually committed 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:08.000 the cross which makes sense. And there was nothing, no 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:12.920 physical evidence, no DNA, nothing that connected Jarvis to the scene. Yeah, 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:16.840 And so after the police was called, after the victim 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:19.480 gave her statement, she was taken to the hospital, right, 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.040 and a sexual assault kid was performed on her. They 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:28.640 collected evidence, physical evidence, right, and they conducted DNA testing 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:31.040 on that too, physical on the physical evidence that was 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:34.120 collected from the scene and from her body, and they 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:39.360 were able to identify two male profiles, and neither one 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.520 of those belonged to join us. These two male profiles 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:48.479 they developed belonged to Ulysses Pierre and also to Sidney Williams, 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:51.000 the two men who actually committed this crime. The jury 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:54.319 did not hear all the relevant evidence that they should 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:58.120 have heard to decide what actually happened in this case. 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.440 I mean, it's a take care about to efficiency more 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:07.000 than accuracy and justice and fairness. Louisiana, you know, has 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:11.320 the highest incarceration per capita in the entire world, right, 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.520 and not only that, we have the highest exoneration rate 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:19.760 per capita in the country. And so when you put 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:22.440 those numbers together, you wonder what is really going on 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.320 here in the South. The fact of the matter is, 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:27.840 you know, Jarvis was represented by a public defender system 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:29.800 that is still falling apart in Louisiana. 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:30.400 Right. 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:34.280 You need effective attorneys to investigate your cases. His attorneys 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.440 didn't have an investigator, right. His attorney didn't know the 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.920 discovery practices in the jurisdiction that he was practicing. 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:41.960 It you get the file. 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:45.040 Yeah, so attorneys, you would think that would be the 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:47.960 you want a complete file, right. 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:51.600 Right, right, right, No, it's your obligation, it's your duty, 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:52.360 it's your job. 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.560 And then on the flip side, you have the prosecutor. 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.480 Who also has a duty to turn over turn everything. 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.040 I feel like once they seen who it was, it 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:05.160 was old, it didn't even matter no more about how 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.280 I get this conviction. I just wanted you know, you 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.600 ever elderly white woman fifty was nine at the time, 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:15.040 sixty years old, she's rape. You knew. I understood that 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.200 well what I was up against because I understood growing 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:20.520 up down and how it was, so I knew that 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:22.560 it was dominanted about white people. 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:23.360 I learned this. 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:26.200 I further of all, I have to learn that whatever happened, 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:29.240 I got to know that it was wrong. What happened 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:30.440 to the woman. I looked at the root of the 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:32.840 problem was she got rape. Ain't nothing right about that. 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:37.040 Now I understand that the police had to make call, 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.360 make me a victim. That's when the racism come in. Look, 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:42.680 we got this black head that he's saying that he 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:45.120 did this to you and did this here, and we 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:46.960 want to show you a picture. You remember seeing it 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:48.960 in your house. Now your points great at the picture. 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:51.320 So I knew how it Now. 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:55.320 This is one day almost like suggested to her that 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:56.760 there was three hours they did. 0:15:56.800 --> 0:15:59.280 They did out the gate. Actually they brought this woman 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.120 in front of me doing a trial session in Exa. 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:04.400 He told me, see if this woman said you went 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:05.840 in the house, I'm gonna let you go right now. 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:09.000 He said, this guy right here saying that you wasn't 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:12.240 in his house. The woman started crying. She said yes, 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:14.360 she was you rading me? I'm like, ma'am, I don't 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:15.080 even know you. 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.400 On July twenty first, nineteen ninety nine, after less than 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:23.440 four hours of deliberation, the jury convicts Jarvis Ballard and 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:27.720 Ulysses Pierre of aggravated rape. The next day, Sidney Williams 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:31.000 was convicted of the same All three were sentenced to 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:33.120 life in prison without parole. 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:40.920 Jarvis's case is particularly heartbreaking because it happened within a family, right. 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.320 It's about family as I turned kind of against one 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:49.880 another and that got one of their brother cousin right 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:52.720 in prison for twenty three years. And so I think 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:54.560 this case is incredibly heartbreaking. 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:57.880 It's more than a betrayal. You know, I forgive him, 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:00.440 but I would never be able to help vie with him, 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.160 right because you didn't have no reason to do that 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:07.160 to that woman or to me to You made two 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.640 victims that laid in me. Then you took something from 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:13.040 me that you didn't have to do. So I don't 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:16.640 I don't talk years twenty three years, six months, twenty 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:17.960 three seven days. 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:20.240 And you knew him all your life. 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:22.399 This is my We took baths together. 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:23.440 You knew him all your life. 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:26.399 He was my He was my big cousin, but I 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:29.320 was you know, he's like my brother because I always 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:32.600 was much bigger than all him. But you you know, 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:36.560 you hurt me. And I don't hate, but I just 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:37.720 rather than not deal with him. 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:41.920 During his twenty three years inside, Jarvis made a few 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:46.600 good friends. One was Jerome Morgan, now fellow axignery. 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:50.879 You know, and you meet people along the way, not 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:55.000 knowing that y'all said the same, similar story, just different 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:58.040 It mean, it's just different cases but the same situation. 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:03.119 And I met Jerome and we become good friends, and 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:06.359 he actually, like a man talk to me. I looked 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:11.000 to him, you know, I watched them countless nights up 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:13.760 two three days working on his case in a don't 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:15.879 I'm talking. We set up in the same play sports together, 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:21.000 and you know, he was preparing himself for this date, 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:25.919 but I wasn't. I only had hope, you know. And 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.399 it was people like him that encouraged me to start 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.720 writing The Innocent Project. He saying, all right, have you 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:31.479 said you're innocent? 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:31.639 Right? 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:35.880 Innocent Project? So you know it's people like him, and 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:40.480 not knowing that, you know, years later, the same person 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:43.199 that helped him get out of present would help actually 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:43.600 take my. 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:47.560 Case, Jarvis wrote to the Innocence Project in New Orleans, 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:51.080 Ipno for sure, and they eventually took his case and 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:52.800 helped him fight for his designeration. 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:56.679 In terms of investigating this case, we began to collect 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:00.600 all the documents right related to this case, file for 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:03.600 police records, to court files, anything and everything we get 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:07.320 our hands on. And it's challenging to get access to 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:08.120 old records. 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:08.520 Right. 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:12.320 Sometimes they're lost, sometimes they're misplaced. Sometimes they give you 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.440 copies that's heavily redacted. Sometimes they give you copies with 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:16.280 missing pages. 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:16.720 Right. 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:18.919 And so I have to say it took us more 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:22.120 time than we should have for us to gather, not. 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:25.480 Just for the audience, the time that takes investigate. 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.919 Oh my goodness. I mean there's been some sort of 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:32.480 investigation happening since two thousand and eight, two twenty seventeen, right, 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:39.080 I mean we're talking nine years, right, And so what 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:43.199 we learned, So during trial, we already talked about the 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:48.800 witness Lewis Caesar, Right, the neighbor who initially stated that 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:50.720 he saw two men leaving the house and there's a 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:52.960 woman in the car. Right, That was his initial statement 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:56.080 to the police. What he testified to a trial was 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.840 not that though. What he testified to a trial was 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:02.399 that he saw three men three men. That was his 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:06.080 testimony at trial, so his testimony completely changed. Joey doesn't 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:08.000 hear that he's wired. 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:08.960 And cross examined for. 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:12.440 Not The lawyer doesn't really know either, right. 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:14.280 The lawyer doesn't he doesn't get the file. 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:16.640 He doesn't get the file, and or he doesn't conduct 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:21.760 the investigation. He never went and interviewed Lewis Caesar before trial. 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:25.040 He is an eyewitness in this case, and the attorney 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:29.040 representing Jarvis never thought it was important enough to go 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:31.560 talk to an eyewitness in the case. So the lawyer 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:32.960 doesn't know about this, right. 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:35.560 The DNA always probably be like the center of it, 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:37.720