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Speaker 1: From the end of nineteen eighty four through the spring

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Speaker 1: of eighty five, a serial rapist preyed on the campus

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Speaker 1: of Texas Tech. Each incident was reported with eerily similar details,

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Speaker 1: including the fifth attack on a twenty year old student

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Speaker 1: who helped put together a composite sketch and underwent a

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Speaker 1: rape kit. Meanwhile, Tim Cole, a new student at Texas Tech,

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Speaker 1: arrived in the spring semester after the serial rapes had

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Speaker 1: already begun. From a passing glance, a plain closed detector

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Speaker 1: decided that Tim resembled the composite sketch. A suggestive photo

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Speaker 1: lineuplet to Tim's misidentification, arrest and sexual assault charges solely

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Speaker 1: for the fifth attack in the series. An additional rape

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Speaker 1: occurred the day after he was taken into custody. Further,

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Speaker 1: the rapist had smoked during all of the attacks, while Tim,

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Speaker 1: a chronic asthma sufferer, had never smoked. The judge refused

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Speaker 1: to admit evidence that this attack was part of a

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Speaker 1: series that was also connected to a man who was

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Speaker 1: then in custody. Without these en sculpting details, Tim was

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Speaker 1: convicted on the victim's shaky testimony of quote, I think

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Speaker 1: that's him after the statute of limitations expired, the serial

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Speaker 1: rapist confessed but was ignored. DNA testing would eventually prove

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Speaker 1: Tim's innocence, but not before complications from asthma tragically took

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Speaker 1: his life. Were joined by his brother Corey and sister Karen,

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Speaker 1: who shared their journey to posthumously exonerate Tim and restore

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Speaker 1: his honor. This is Wrongful Conviction. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction. Today.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna hear a story that is unlike any we've

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Speaker 1: ever told on this show. And I have to be honest,

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Speaker 1: as I was reviewing the research on this case that

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Speaker 1: I've known about for a long time this morning, I'm

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Speaker 1: not a very emotional guy. I was fighting back tears

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Speaker 1: and soon you'll understand why. But there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: hope in this story too, and I hope that you'll

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Speaker 1: take that away from this episode and from the extraordinary

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Speaker 1: people that we have the privilege of having on the

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Speaker 1: show with us today, and without further ado, I'm going

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Speaker 1: to introduce the brother and sister of the man who

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Speaker 1: was wrongfully convicted. His name was Tim Cole. He's not

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Speaker 1: with us anymore, but his brother and sister are very

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Speaker 1: much alive and are absolute warriors for justice. So Karen,

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Speaker 1: we're going to introduce you first. Karen Kinnard is a

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Speaker 1: shareholder in the Government Law and Policy Group at Greenbrig

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Speaker 1: Scharig and she does quite a bit of pro bono

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Speaker 1: innocence work. So Karen, welcome to Wrongful Conviction.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. Jason's great to be here today.

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Speaker 1: And we also have Tim Cole's brother here, Corey Session,

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Speaker 1: who's vice president of the Innocence Project Texas. Corey, I'm

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Speaker 1: just super happy and honored to have you on a

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Speaker 1: show today.

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Speaker 3: Oh, thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: And during our time today, we're going to get to

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Speaker 1: the extraordinary work that each of you are doing and

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Speaker 1: how much that would have meant to your brother. I

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Speaker 1: only wish he was a lot to see it, honestly.

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Speaker 1: And if we look back in time to back in

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five, your brother, Tim Cole was in his

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Speaker 1: mid twenties. He previously attended two years of college and

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Speaker 1: then join the Army, where he spent the next two

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Speaker 1: years before going back to school in nineteen eighty five,

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Speaker 1: attending Texas Tech and set to major in political science.

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Speaker 1: So first, before we go any further, can each of you.

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Speaker 1: Just tell us a little about what your childhood was

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Speaker 1: like and about your brother Tim's early life, your memories

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Speaker 1: of him growing up. Karen, let's go to you first.

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Speaker 4: Well, Tim was the oldest child in our family. We

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Speaker 4: are a blended family, mother, stepfather, seven children, six boys,

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Speaker 4: and I'm the only girl in that family. Wow, Tim's

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Speaker 4: the oldest and I'm the second oldest. My memories of

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Speaker 4: our family is that, you know, it was a happy childhood.

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Speaker 2: We were fortunate.

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Speaker 4: We had two hardworking, loving parents who tried to do

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Speaker 4: everything they could to give us what I call a

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Speaker 4: normal childhood. We grew up on a street called Hillview Drive,

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Speaker 4: and there were like two other families with seven kids

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Speaker 4: on He'll View Drive, and lots of other families with

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Speaker 4: other kids. Tim was very well liked. He loved basketball.

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Speaker 4: He took being a big brother very seriously. He was

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Speaker 4: very responsive and responsible for us. I think all of

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Speaker 4: us when he first went off to college remember receiving

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Speaker 4: letters from him. He liked to write us letters, give

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Speaker 4: us advice, check in on us, make sure we were

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Speaker 4: on the right track. And those are some of the

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Speaker 4: fondest memories I have of him, of him just being

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Speaker 4: a guardian of us and Corey.

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Speaker 1: I understand he's that he was never in any sort

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Speaker 1: of trouble, right, so he would have seemed to be

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Speaker 1: for a number of reasons. He would have seemed to

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Speaker 1: be one of the least likely people in the entire

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Speaker 1: town or maybe even the state, to have committed such

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Speaker 1: a horrific crime. Is that fair to say?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely? Tim was a quiet person. He was a peacemaker.

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Speaker 3: I'll tell you one of the memories I have. I

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Speaker 3: think I may have been six or seven years old,

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Speaker 3: but I remember this vividly, and this will tell you

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Speaker 3: the type person Tim was. It's a summer night. We

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Speaker 3: were outside in front of our house and there had

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Speaker 3: to be probably fifteen kids out there, and the topic

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Speaker 3: people were talking about was what do you have to

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Speaker 3: do to get to heaven? And they were going around

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Speaker 3: the circle, Yeah, you got to do this, you have

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Speaker 3: to do that. Well, Tim was sitting at the edge

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Speaker 3: of the driveway with his hands around his knees. Tim's

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Speaker 3: nickname was Ears, and one of the older kids said, Ears,

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Speaker 3: what you think and it was very quiet, and my

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Speaker 3: brother Tim said three things, just do right, and that

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Speaker 3: was a pause. Then all of a sudden, that was

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Speaker 3: an uproar up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, leave it

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Speaker 3: to ears to make it simple and keep it simple,

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Speaker 3: just do right.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I've never heard it said in such quiet, simple,

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Speaker 1: sort of eloquent terms. But what a good thing to

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Speaker 1: be known for or remembered by. And he lived it right.

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Speaker 1: And he was not just talking to talk. He was

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Speaker 1: walking the walk, serving his country, serving his family. I

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Speaker 1: would say, right, yeah.

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Speaker 4: Because he joined the army specifically to help our family.

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Speaker 4: I mean we were seven kids and we were starting

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Speaker 4: to have anywhere from three to four kids in college.

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Speaker 4: He called me one night and said, you know, I'm

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Speaker 4: doing this because I know I can get some college benefits.

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Speaker 4: And he said, I want to help mother and my stepdad.

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Speaker 4: He was always about trying to figure out how to

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Speaker 4: help us, how to help the family, how to.

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Speaker 2: Help all of us.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he was serving his family, his community, and his country.

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Speaker 1: And that brings us to the fall of nineteen eighty

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Speaker 1: four through eighty five, when a rapist had been terrorizing

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Speaker 1: the campus of Texas Tech and Love It, having already

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Speaker 1: victimized four women with the same mo each time.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 1: The women had been taken from parking lots near campus,

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Speaker 1: driven to desolate areas and raped. The assailant usually smoked

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Speaker 1: cigarettes during the assaults and then would flee on foot. Now,

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Speaker 1: on March twenty fourth, nineteen eighty five, the fifth abduction

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Speaker 1: and rape involved a young student named Michelle Murray Mallin,

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Speaker 1: just twenty years old at the time. Now, normally we

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Speaker 1: do not mention sexual assault survivors and names here. However,

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Speaker 1: Michelle is very vocal and open about her story. She

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Speaker 1: was parking at a lot across from her dorm when

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Speaker 1: a man approached asking for help to jumpstart his car.

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Speaker 1: When she told him that she and hevity jumper cables,

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Speaker 1: the man reached in through her window and unlocked the

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Speaker 1: car door. Miss Mallin screamed and bit his thumb, but

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Speaker 1: the man held a knife to her throat while he

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Speaker 1: moved into the driver's seat and drove her to a

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Speaker 1: vacant field outside the town, where he forced her to

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Speaker 1: perform oral sex and then raped her. He then drove

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Speaker 1: the car back to Lubbock, where he took two dollars

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Speaker 1: in cash, a ring, and a watch from Ms. Mallin

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Speaker 1: before leaving on foot, as he had done in all

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Speaker 1: the other crimes. Ms Mallan called the police to report

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Speaker 1: the attack. A rape kit was done, and she helped

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Speaker 1: investigators with a composite sketch. Now, Tim once again was

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Speaker 1: a student at Texas Tech at the time, but he

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Speaker 1: was home on the night of the attack, studying. His

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Speaker 1: brother was hosting a card game. So there were five

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Speaker 1: different alibi witnesses. All of them were there with Tim.

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Speaker 1: I mean, this story obviously should have ended right there,

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Speaker 1: but it didn't. So, Corey, were you the one that

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Speaker 1: was hosting the card game? I was not.

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Speaker 3: I was still in high school. But my brother, Reggie

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Speaker 3: was the one who was also at Texas Tech at

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Speaker 3: that time, who was hosting a card game. Like you said,

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Speaker 3: the atmosphere of Texas Tech, there's a rapist loose on camp.

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Speaker 3: Parents were withdrawing their children out of school because they

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Speaker 3: couldn't catch this person. So the temperature was high. We've

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Speaker 3: got to find someone. Tim had a car. One of

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Speaker 3: their roommates worked at the Mister Gaddy's Pizza and his

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Speaker 3: roommate called him to come pick him up, and he said, here,

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Speaker 3: I'll go pick you up. Mind you, this is daytime.

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Speaker 3: He went down there to pick him up, saw a

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Speaker 3: young lady walking outside paid no attention, went inside. His

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Speaker 3: roommate came out and said, hey, yours, I'm not going

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Speaker 3: to be able to get off right away. Can you

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Speaker 3: come back? He said yeah. Well, that time that young

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Speaker 3: lady was sitting in the restaurant, Tim got up, walked

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Speaker 3: back to his car, got in his car. That young

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Speaker 3: lady was walking down the sidewalk and she had made

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Speaker 3: eye contact with him while in the restaurant, and she

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Speaker 3: looked at him. So he let down his window and said,

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Speaker 3: do you need a ride somewhere? And she said no,

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Speaker 3: And he said are you sure and she said yes.

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Speaker 3: He said, well here, he pulled out his drivers license.

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Speaker 3: He said, my name is Tim Cole, and he showed

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Speaker 3: her his driver's license and then he went and pulled

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Speaker 3: out his Texas Tech ID. He said, you do not

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Speaker 3: be afraid of me. I go to Texas Tech. And

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Speaker 3: she said okay, and he said you sure you don't

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Speaker 3: need anything? She said no, He said okay, and he

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Speaker 3: drove off. Well, that lady was a undercover police officer

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Speaker 3: named Joanna Bagbee and she immediately reported to her supervisors

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Speaker 3: that's him. And the supervisors says, how do you know

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Speaker 3: that's him? She said, because he looks like the sketch

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Speaker 3: that was it. Now, Tim had reported his wallet being stolen,

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Speaker 3: and they had no picture of Tim in the system,

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Speaker 3: so they found his name that he had reported, so

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Speaker 3: they knew his address. So they went to his address,

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Speaker 3: knocked on the door and told him, Hey, we may

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Speaker 3: have a witness who knows who sole your wallet, but

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Speaker 3: we need to make sure that you are the person.

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Speaker 3: Can we get a picture of you? And he said sure,

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Speaker 3: So they took a polaroid picture outside of his apartment,

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Speaker 3: and that's the one that they put in the six pack.

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Speaker 3: One polaroid and five other black and white photos.

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Speaker 1: One polaroid. I just want to repeat that in five

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Speaker 1: other black and white photos. Let's just pause there for

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Speaker 1: a second, shall we, because this is one of those

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Speaker 1: techniques that police use that it's highly suggested to make

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Speaker 1: one photo stand out from the others. Other cases we've

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Speaker 1: seen there was only one person in handcuffs, or again

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Speaker 1: in another case, there was a single picture in a

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Speaker 1: photo array that was circled with red, like a red marker.

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Speaker 3: So they took the photo, they put it in the lineup,

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Speaker 3: and Michelle vividly remembers being shown the spread and she

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Speaker 3: pointed at Tim and said, I think that's him, but

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Speaker 3: the detective wrote near the photo, that's him, and that's

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Speaker 3: what they ran with. Came back to his apartment. They

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Speaker 3: arrested Tim. Reggie's as he heard Tim say, now, y'all

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Speaker 3: got the wrong person. I haven't raped anybody, and the

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Speaker 3: police took him and he told Reggie call mother that night.

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Speaker 3: My mom flew to Lovebook to bond Tim out of jail,

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Speaker 3: took him back home to Fort Worth, and she got

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Speaker 3: a phone call from the attorney she had retained, a

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Speaker 3: gentleman by the name of Mike Brown, and he said, Missession,

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Speaker 3: I was calling to see if you guys made it home. Okay.

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Speaker 3: She said, yeah, we did. He said, well, I got

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Speaker 3: some bad news. There's been another rape today and she said, oh, Mike,

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Speaker 3: I'm sorry to hear that. He said, well, not only that,

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Speaker 3: they picked out Tim again and there was no way

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Speaker 3: possible that he could have committed the rape.

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Speaker 1: Right He was either in police custody or in Fort

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Speaker 1: Worth when that day's rape had occurred, but he was

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Speaker 1: identified nonetheless.

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Speaker 3: When it comes to eyewitness identification, the best type of

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Speaker 3: eyewitness identification to perform is a double blind procedure, which

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Speaker 3: is not done at that time and is still not

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Speaker 3: done in a lot of cases.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, a double blind procedure is a very straightforward way

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Speaker 1: of removing suggestion from the process, where the person administering

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Speaker 1: the procedure will show the photos one at a time

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Speaker 1: and not say anything, not make any suggestive comments. You

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Speaker 1: simply say the person who committed the crime may or

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Speaker 1: may not be in this line that I'm about to

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Speaker 1: show you, and then show the person the photos while

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Speaker 1: keeping your mouth shut. Because even a well meaning interviewer,

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Speaker 1: if they have their own preconceived notion about who it

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Speaker 1: is they're going to steer somebody. It could be subconsciously,

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Speaker 1: and it might be something as subtle but still powerful

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Speaker 1: as well. Keep trying, or you're doing a good job.

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Speaker 1: I know how difficult is this for you, but maybe

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Speaker 1: you want to take one more shot at Anything like

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Speaker 1: that can be the difference between life and death for somebody,

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Speaker 1: and between getting the right or the wrong person or

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Speaker 1: nobody at all. And the resource has been done has

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Speaker 1: shown that simple changes like instituting double blinds drastically reduces

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Speaker 1: the incidences rompall identifications. While not and this is critical,

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Speaker 1: While not reducing the instances of correct identifications right. So

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Speaker 1: it's like there's literally only an upside here when the

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Speaker 1: Innocis Project is leading the charge to try to institute

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Speaker 1: double blind ideas as policy across the country. And for

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Speaker 1: your brother's sake, I wish this had been the policy

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Speaker 1: back then, not to mention the fact that he was

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Speaker 1: in police custody and therefore, I mean, he couldn't have

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Speaker 1: been in two places at once. He could not have

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Speaker 1: committed the sixth rape, and they knew that.

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Speaker 4: You also want to remember, the rapes happened before Tim

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Speaker 4: got to Lubbock. The rapes hap started happening in the

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Speaker 4: fall of nineteen eighty four. Tim didn't get to Lubock

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Speaker 4: until the spring semester started in mid January of nineteen

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Speaker 4: eighty five. And there were several of the victims who

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Speaker 4: did not pick him out of any photo array or

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Speaker 4: any of the live lineups. But the police wants that

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Speaker 4: undercover officer said those words of that's him, became convinced

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Speaker 4: that it was him.

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Speaker 1: You can't be in two places at the same time.

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Speaker 1: Tim could not have been either in police custody or

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Speaker 1: in transit to Fort Worth with your mom while also

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Speaker 1: out there committing the sixth rape, just like he could

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Speaker 1: not have committed the initial four rapes before even coming

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Speaker 1: to Lubbock to attend Texas Tech, or be at home

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Speaker 1: studying during your brother Reggie's card game while Michelle Mallen

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Speaker 1: was raped. And I have to say I really feel

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Speaker 1: for Reggie too, right, because imagine what that would be

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Speaker 1: like and how it must have impacted him, having known

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Speaker 1: definitively that Tim was innocent because he was right there

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Speaker 1: with him at the time.

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Speaker 2: It drastically changed Reggie's life.

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Speaker 4: He has felt responsible for a long time for everything

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Speaker 4: that happened to Tim, and it took him over twenty

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Speaker 4: five years, took him a lot of therapy to finally

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Speaker 4: recognize that it wasn't his fault. He's done fine now,

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Speaker 4: but took him a long long time.

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Speaker 1: So the investigation was a bad mockery of an investigation.

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Speaker 1: I would say the description, of course, had some glaring

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Speaker 1: errors in it as well. When I say that the

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Speaker 1: victim who's white, and we know that cross racial identifications

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Speaker 1: are the most error prone, they're less accurate than guessing.

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Speaker 1: And yes, you heard me correctly, and that's been proven

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Speaker 1: in the study after study so she was white, and

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Speaker 1: she described her attacker to police as a young African

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Speaker 1: American man with bug eyes. Did your brother have bug eyes? No? Okay?

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Speaker 1: And he was under six feet tall. The attacker, according

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Speaker 1: to her initial description, wearing yellow shirt and sandals. How

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Speaker 1: tall was Tim and did he own any kind of

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Speaker 1: clothing such as.

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Speaker 3: That Tim stood six foot one inch. The victim recounted

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Speaker 3: that the person wore a yellow terry cloth shirt, and

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Speaker 3: she remembers it because she always hated terry cloth shirts.

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Speaker 3: They did collect a yellow shirt from my brother's possessions, however,

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Speaker 3: it was not a terry cloth shirt.

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Speaker 1: And she didn't give a lot of other details. I mean,

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Speaker 1: the poor woman was obviously traumatized. But she did say,

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Speaker 1: and this piece of the identification is unmistakable, right she

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Speaker 1: said the perpetrator had smoked cigarettes throughout the attack. Now

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Speaker 1: there's something about your brother where this should have, right

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Speaker 1: now set off all kinds of warning signals, Karen, What

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Speaker 1: am I talking about?

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Speaker 4: Tim had asthma, He was born an asthmatic, had had

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Speaker 4: problems with his asthma all his life, and did not

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Speaker 4: smoke cigarettes.

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Speaker 1: So even though them was consistent throughout and police had

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Speaker 1: believed all along that the same person had committed all

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Speaker 1: six rapes. Tim was arrested and charged with the aggravated

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Speaker 1: sexual assault just of Miss Mallin and none of the

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Speaker 1: other rapes. Now here's something I'm struggling with. Consider the

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Speaker 1: nature of these crimes. Tim was offered a plea bargain

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Speaker 1: with no prison time.

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Speaker 3: Yes, the district attorney at that time, man by the

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Speaker 3: name of Jimbob Darnel, the day before trial, told him,

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Speaker 3: you were facing twenty five years in prison. We're going

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Speaker 3: to offer you probation. And Tim said, I'd rather spend

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Speaker 3: twenty five years in prison before I ever admit to

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Speaker 3: something I did not do. And mister Darnell very smugly said, well,

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Speaker 3: we aim to make sure that happens.

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Speaker 1: If they believe that your brother was responsible for even

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Speaker 1: one of these rapes. This is a black man in

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Speaker 1: Texas accused of raping a white woman. Do you think

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Speaker 1: that they would have offered him probation.

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Speaker 2: No, not a chance in hell.

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Speaker 4: There is no way they would have offered him probation.

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Speaker 4: And let me just say, unlike a lot of these cases,

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Speaker 4: my parents.

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Speaker 2: Hired a very good lawyer.

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Speaker 4: We were fortunate in that there were resources to do that.

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Speaker 4: He did a really good job of investigating, and so

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Speaker 4: we knew there was a police officer from the university

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Speaker 4: who had told them that they had the wrong person,

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Speaker 4: that Tim was not the person who had raped this

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Speaker 4: young woman, that the Texas Tech Police Department gave him

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Speaker 4: the name of who they thought the person was.

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Speaker 3: And mind you, also, when they arrested Tim, they announced

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Speaker 3: in the media, the radio, print, electronic media, that they

351
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Speaker 3: had caught the tech rapists. They just did not want

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Speaker 3: to say, oops, sorry, Tim, we got the wrong person.

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Speaker 3: The attorney, Mike Brown, was very confident that they were

354
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Speaker 3: going to drop the charges. He'd be found innocent because

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Speaker 3: they had actually arrested another guy who had committed rapes

356
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Speaker 3: with this same mo and other atturneyers were like, oh yeah,

357
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Speaker 3: that'll be taking care, but they did not want to

358
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Speaker 3: relinquish the fact that we got him and we're going

359
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Speaker 3: to keep it. When that trial started, it was a

360
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Speaker 3: media circus, and my mom brought some of the newspaper

361
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Speaker 3: clippings and things home tech rapists, called tech rapists, all

362
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Speaker 3: of these things.

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Speaker 1: Now, the trial begins in September of nineteen eighty six.

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Speaker 1: Remember this is before DNA testing, so they only had

365
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Speaker 1: erology testing, in which you can determine blood types and

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Speaker 1: whether or not the source of any bodily fluids as

367
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Speaker 1: a secretor, meaning the blood type can be identified in

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Speaker 1: all bodily fluids, not just blood. So the forensic examiners

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Speaker 1: for the state had examined the rape kit and had

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Speaker 1: identified a Type A blood secretor on the swab. However,

371
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Speaker 1: the victim was a Type A secretor and Tim also

372
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Speaker 1: had Type A blood, but his secretor's status was unknown,

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Speaker 1: so therefore the yrology offered no meaningful conclusions at all.

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Speaker 1: They also compared foreign pubic hairs collected from the victims

375
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Speaker 1: to those from Tim and said that they had similar characteristics,

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Speaker 1: but that they couldn't draw firm conclusions, so the biological

377
00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:18,240
Speaker 1: evidence really offered very little to work with Corey. What

378
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Speaker 1: else happened at trial?

379
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Speaker 3: Michelle Mallin went on the witness stand and was asked,

380
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Speaker 3: do you see the man in the courtroom that you

381
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Speaker 3: said raped you? She said, I think That'sim and Tim

382
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Speaker 3: being an asthmatic that's brought up can't smoke. She never

383
00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:39,960
Speaker 3: knew that Tim was an asthmatic and couldn't smoke. The

384
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Speaker 3: bite that she put on the actual perpetrator's phone. There

385
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Speaker 3: were no bite marks on Tim.

386
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Speaker 1: I mean, this is a woman who's literally fighting for

387
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Speaker 1: her life. She didn't know whether she was going to

388
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Speaker 1: survive this attack or not when she bit him, so

389
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Speaker 1: she probably meant to take that finger clean off. How

390
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Speaker 1: the hell would that not leave a mark?

391
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Speaker 4: And you have to remember it was one week between

392
00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:06,800
Speaker 4: when she was assaulted and when Tim was arrested. They

393
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Speaker 4: didn't find any bite marks on him.

394
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Speaker 1: So what about Tim's alibi witness testimony? Weren't there five

395
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Speaker 1: alibi witnesses at your brother Reggie's card game.

396
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Speaker 4: There was a vigorous defense with all of the alibi

397
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Speaker 4: witnesses who were very certain that Tim was there that night.

398
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Speaker 4: They were saying, you know, he was the studious one.

399
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Speaker 4: He didn't join in the card game. They said he

400
00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:29,480
Speaker 4: told him he had a test.

401
00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:34,000
Speaker 3: When my brother Reggie testified, he was very certain and

402
00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:37,800
Speaker 3: forceful that Tim did not do this. Tim was at home,

403
00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:42,200
Speaker 3: and the prosecutor said he was being very brash, He'll

404
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,840
Speaker 3: say anything to protect his brother, Well Reggie. When he

405
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,879
Speaker 3: got through testifying, Mike Brown, the attorney grabbed him and

406
00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:52,399
Speaker 3: took him outside and said, Reggie, I want you to

407
00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:55,199
Speaker 3: listen to me very carefully. I want you to go

408
00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:57,240
Speaker 3: down this hallway. I want you to go down the

409
00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,000
Speaker 3: back steps, all the way downstairs and go out the back.

410
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:03,359
Speaker 3: My secretary is waiting for you. She's going to take

411
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:05,119
Speaker 3: it to the airport. You're gonna get on the plane

412
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Speaker 3: and you're not to come back to Love the Love

413
00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:11,119
Speaker 3: of police were going to charge Reggie with one of

414
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,679
Speaker 3: the rapes of the Tech rapists.

415
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Speaker 2: Just for him defending my brother.

416
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:19,920
Speaker 3: Reggie remembers vividly tim telling him they got me, don't

417
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:20,680
Speaker 3: let them get you.

418
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Speaker 1: That is just fucking terrifying.

419
00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:25,600
Speaker 3: Michelle, when we talked to her, she told my mother

420
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,840
Speaker 3: in a session, I remember this because the rape crisis

421
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:31,480
Speaker 3: counselor told me. You know, they're going to arrest his

422
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:33,360
Speaker 3: brother too for the other rapes.

423
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Speaker 1: These people just don't give a shit about truth, justice

424
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Speaker 1: or anything. And just when you thought this couldn't get

425
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:44,480
Speaker 1: any worse. That brings us to Jerry Wayne Johnson.

426
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Speaker 3: It was a Perry Mason moment when my brother's attorney,

427
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:53,480
Speaker 3: Mike Brown said who the rapist was? Jerry Wayne Johnson.

428
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Speaker 3: Mike Brown wanted to introduce evidence showing the similarities and

429
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,760
Speaker 3: all the other but the judge denied it. He denied

430
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:05,600
Speaker 3: every time he would try and bring those things up

431
00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,120
Speaker 3: about Jerry Wayne Johnson then pretting to hold an attorney

432
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:09,240
Speaker 3: in contempt of court.

433
00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,880
Speaker 4: The judge did not allow evidence that there was this

434
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,880
Speaker 4: string of other attacks where there was this mo of

435
00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:21,359
Speaker 4: what the perpetrator was doing, approaching victims on foot, smoking

436
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:24,160
Speaker 4: in all of the attacks. The judge didn't allow evidence

437
00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,280
Speaker 4: of that into the trial. And if that evidence may

438
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:29,800
Speaker 4: have been admitted into the trial, that would have been

439
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 4: stronger evidence in my brother's favor, in addition to the

440
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:34,880
Speaker 4: alibi evidence that.

441
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,840
Speaker 1: He had absolutely not to mention if DNA testing had

442
00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:43,119
Speaker 1: been available to do what it eventually did in this case. So, Karen,

443
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,640
Speaker 1: what happened next? I mean, I can't imagine what all

444
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:49,560
Speaker 1: of this was like for you and your family.

445
00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:51,920
Speaker 4: Because Corey and I had a couple other brothers still

446
00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:54,679
Speaker 4: in school at that time. My dad stayed home with

447
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 4: them so that they could continue school.

448
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:57,000
Speaker 2: So I was the.

449
00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:00,960
Speaker 4: Only person who actually sat through that one week trial.

450
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,240
Speaker 4: Was a one week trial, a full week, and I

451
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:06,440
Speaker 4: call it the week A hell started that Monday morning

452
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:08,720
Speaker 4: and it went all the way through Friday. They came

453
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:10,800
Speaker 4: back late Friday afternoon with that verdict.

454
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:13,399
Speaker 1: So you were there for the verdict. What was that moment?

455
00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 2: Like, you know, took her breath away.

456
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:18,080
Speaker 4: They were out for a long time that day, and

457
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,200
Speaker 4: so we were hopeful because he had been offered probation,

458
00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:23,800
Speaker 4: so we thought, maybe they'd bill hung jury, maybe they'll

459
00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:25,440
Speaker 4: come back with not guilty.

460
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:27,240
Speaker 2: We knew that we.

461
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:29,879
Speaker 4: Had a good lawyer who had put on the best

462
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:33,320
Speaker 4: case he could with what the judge had allowed him

463
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:35,959
Speaker 4: to put into evidence, and that Tim had been a

464
00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:40,080
Speaker 4: good witness for himself. He was earnest, he was forthcoming,

465
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,159
Speaker 4: and we had laid it all on the table. But

466
00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:46,480
Speaker 4: when that guilty verdict came back, it was a gut punch.

467
00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:50,440
Speaker 3: I remember I was seventeen. I was a freshman at

468
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,679
Speaker 3: U T Austin, and I remember my mom calling me

469
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,439
Speaker 3: telling me they convicted Tim, and I was like how.

470
00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:02,080
Speaker 3: And that weekend we all came home except for Tim,

471
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:08,639
Speaker 3: and it was probably two am in the morning, and

472
00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:13,680
Speaker 3: it was very quiet, except for my mother walking back

473
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 3: and forth down the hallway, screaming, swinging her hands back

474
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:21,880
Speaker 3: and forth, talking to God saying why did you let

475
00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:25,040
Speaker 3: them do this to him. You know, he's not guilty,

476
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,520
Speaker 3: just back and forth, back and forth. And I got

477
00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,359
Speaker 3: up and woke my dad up, and he went to

478
00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,879
Speaker 3: the hallway and he put his arm around her and

479
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:38,320
Speaker 3: he said, come on, Ruby, and he walked her to

480
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:42,040
Speaker 3: her side of the bed, and I was standing in

481
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 3: the hallway just looking at her. She seemed to still

482
00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:51,680
Speaker 3: be in this trance even when our grandmother passed away.

483
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,760
Speaker 3: When my dad passed away, I didn't see her in

484
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:59,720
Speaker 3: that much pain. And my mother always prayed from day one,

485
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:05,480
Speaker 3: let whoever did this, let them come forward. And decades

486
00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:24,959
Speaker 3: later her prayer came true. The day Tim was sentenced

487
00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,399
Speaker 3: to twenty five years, he was taken into custody and

488
00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:33,680
Speaker 3: put in the sales in love A County, and there

489
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:36,560
Speaker 3: was a man across from him in another sale who

490
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,359
Speaker 3: heard Tim crying, I didn't do this, Why did you

491
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:44,040
Speaker 3: let this happen? Talking to God, and this man, who

492
00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:47,080
Speaker 3: happened to be Jerry Wayne Johnson said at that point

493
00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,359
Speaker 3: something in him told him one day he was going

494
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,159
Speaker 3: to have to make it right. We believe him on

495
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,560
Speaker 3: that because jail records show he was in custody and

496
00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:00,159
Speaker 3: he was in the same general area as Tim he

497
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,240
Speaker 3: could have heard him. And then ten years later he

498
00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:08,440
Speaker 3: actually writes letters to the judge, to the prosecutors, to

499
00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:12,520
Speaker 3: our defense attorney admitting his guilt and he would do

500
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:14,560
Speaker 3: whatever it took to clear Tim's name.

501
00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:20,920
Speaker 1: It's extraordinary, so Jerry Wayne Johnson. In nineteen ninety five,

502
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,320
Speaker 1: after the statute of limitations of his nineteen eighty five

503
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:29,400
Speaker 1: rape had expired, he wrote to judges and the prosecutor

504
00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:32,760
Speaker 1: the Lubblic DA we mentioned before, Jim Bob Darnell, as

505
00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:36,080
Speaker 1: well as to Mike Brown, that he had committed the

506
00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:39,360
Speaker 1: rape Tim was convicted of. Johnson by this time was

507
00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:43,040
Speaker 1: serving a life plus ninety ninety years sentence after convictions

508
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:46,680
Speaker 1: for two of the other sexual assaults, which were almost

509
00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 1: identical in terms of characteristics to the one that Tim

510
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,560
Speaker 1: was convicted of. So ultimately, even though one would think

511
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:54,560
Speaker 1: that they would admit their mistake now that the actual

512
00:28:54,560 --> 00:29:00,360
Speaker 1: perpetrator was confessing, Johnson's letters were not even acknowledged. While

513
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,560
Speaker 1: Tim remained in prison and was offered parole but only

514
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:08,000
Speaker 1: if he would admit to guilt. When he refused twice

515
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:12,240
Speaker 1: during his prison term due to his extremely serious asthma condition,

516
00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:15,040
Speaker 1: he was found unconscious in his cell. Tim was left

517
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:17,080
Speaker 1: to suffer with this condition in a place where the

518
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:21,120
Speaker 1: condition would only worsen and the symptoms would obviously be

519
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:25,760
Speaker 1: exacerbated due to the various deprivations of a Texas prison cell,

520
00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:32,400
Speaker 1: and ultimately, after thirteen long years in prison, Tim's system

521
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:35,880
Speaker 1: just couldn't take it anymore, and on December two, nineteen

522
00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:40,440
Speaker 1: ninety nine, he died in the Texas prison cell that

523
00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:43,240
Speaker 1: he never should have set foot in in the first place.

524
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:48,640
Speaker 1: I remember when it happened because it sent shockwaves through

525
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:55,400
Speaker 1: the innocence community, and I remember feeling a sense of

526
00:29:55,480 --> 00:30:00,360
Speaker 1: outrage that I had not I had not experienced thaticular

527
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:04,840
Speaker 1: emotion before, because it just struck me as so so

528
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:08,080
Speaker 1: freaking wrong. You know that I had heard of all

529
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,960
Speaker 1: sorts of wrongful convictions and all sorts of injustices, but

530
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 1: this one, I think hit a lot of us really hard.

531
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,840
Speaker 1: Still does to this day. And the year after Tim died,

532
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:23,040
Speaker 1: Johnson wrote again to a supervising judge. This time the

533
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,280
Speaker 1: case was moved to a different judge and rejected without comment,

534
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,680
Speaker 1: but eventually, in May two thousand and seven, Johnson's most

535
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:34,720
Speaker 1: recent confession letter reached the Innocence Project of Texas and

536
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:35,440
Speaker 1: your family.

537
00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:40,280
Speaker 3: At the Innocence Project, we received hundreds of letters a month,

538
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:44,720
Speaker 3: but rarely do you receive a letter from someone admitting

539
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:48,200
Speaker 3: their guilt and wanting to exonerate another party.

540
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:52,400
Speaker 1: So the Innisis Project of Texas saw posthumous DNA testing

541
00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:56,440
Speaker 1: the case, and Lublic prosecutors this time cooperated. So how

542
00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:57,800
Speaker 1: did all of this take place?

543
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:00,760
Speaker 3: A young man by the name of Elliott Blackburn, he

544
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:04,560
Speaker 3: was a government reporter with the Lubbock Avalanche Journal, took

545
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,480
Speaker 3: a call from me about a letter we had received

546
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:09,920
Speaker 3: and he said, I'm interested send it to me. And

547
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:12,960
Speaker 3: I said, just so you know, this letter is from

548
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,080
Speaker 3: the person who committed the rapes, and he was mentioned

549
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:19,120
Speaker 3: that trial. One week later he wrote a story in

550
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:24,560
Speaker 3: the Lubbock Avalanche Journal and the Reporter, as well as

551
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:28,040
Speaker 3: the Innocence Project very good attorney named Jeff Blackburn, pushed

552
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:31,600
Speaker 3: Matt Pyle, who was the then district attorney at Lubbock,

553
00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:34,880
Speaker 3: to do DNA testing, and the reporter caught him on

554
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:38,160
Speaker 3: a Saturday at a softball game for his son, and

555
00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:41,239
Speaker 3: he quoted him as saying, we will do whatever it

556
00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:46,280
Speaker 3: takes to prove Tim Cole's guilt or innocence, and we

557
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:50,880
Speaker 3: hadn't heard anything for months, and Elliott, the reporter called

558
00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:55,280
Speaker 3: and said, Corey, I got some news and it's big.

559
00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:58,720
Speaker 3: They got the DNA test back and they've been sitting

560
00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:01,160
Speaker 3: on it for over a month. I called my mother

561
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:03,720
Speaker 3: and I said, mother, Elliot's on the phone. They got

562
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:08,960
Speaker 3: the DNA test back and he said, missession. The DNA

563
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:12,600
Speaker 3: excludes Tim and it matches Jerry Wayne Johnson. And my

564
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 3: mother said, well, now you all know when they said

565
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,280
Speaker 3: they found the rape kit and there was enough to

566
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,920
Speaker 3: test back in January of two thousand and eight, we

567
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:28,440
Speaker 3: actually celebrated then because we knew, so we were a

568
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:31,520
Speaker 3: little bit subdued when they're like, Okay, well now you

569
00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:32,840
Speaker 3: know what I've always known.

570
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:37,960
Speaker 1: Get this. The victim in this case, Michelle Mallen courageously

571
00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:41,000
Speaker 1: speaks and writes about this case to raise awareness about

572
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:44,600
Speaker 1: misidentifications and wrong for convictions. A direct quote from her,

573
00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:48,200
Speaker 1: she said this at Georgetown University Law. I was positive

574
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:51,520
Speaker 1: at the time that it was him. I was shocked

575
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:53,960
Speaker 1: when I found out it wasn't him. I joined Tim's

576
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,360
Speaker 1: family and working to exonerate him because it was the

577
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:59,800
Speaker 1: right thing to do. Timothy didn't deserve what he got

578
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:05,560
Speaker 1: end quote might drop. Wow, Michelle, so much respect for you.

579
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:09,440
Speaker 3: So Matt Pyle, the district attorney, was very much well,

580
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:11,680
Speaker 3: as far as I'm concerned, he's clear. No no, no no,

581
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:14,640
Speaker 3: My mother said, I want his good name back for

582
00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:18,640
Speaker 3: the annals of Texas history to show that Tim Cole

583
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:24,320
Speaker 3: was innocent. So Jeff Blackburn requested a hearing in Lubbock,

584
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,120
Speaker 3: knowing full well they would deny it because no deceased

585
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:34,440
Speaker 3: person had ever had a exoneration hearing Texas, and Jeff

586
00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:39,520
Speaker 3: Blackburn had used his expertise and knowledge of the Texas

587
00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:43,720
Speaker 3: Constitution and statues to use a little known procedure called

588
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:47,680
Speaker 3: a court of inquiry, which allows you to seek redress

589
00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:51,360
Speaker 3: in any county in the state of Texas, regardless of

590
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:54,800
Speaker 3: your conviction, if you can show just calls that you

591
00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:57,720
Speaker 3: were wrong. And in the two ninety ninth District Court

592
00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:02,680
Speaker 3: in Travis County, judge agreed to have a hearing, and

593
00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:06,840
Speaker 3: we requested that Jerry Wayne Johnson be bench warned to

594
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:08,400
Speaker 3: the hearing.

595
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:10,920
Speaker 1: So during a two day hearing in February two thousand

596
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:13,840
Speaker 1: and nine, Johnson again confessed to the gladness time before

597
00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:17,920
Speaker 1: a judge, before your family, and before the victim.

598
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,840
Speaker 3: It was very surreal. I'll take you my brothers, A

599
00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:24,640
Speaker 3: couple of them were real angry. So there were quite

600
00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:26,799
Speaker 3: a few bailiffs in the courtroom, so there were gonna

601
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,080
Speaker 3: be some disorder in the court. And I remember my

602
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:34,360
Speaker 3: brother Kevin was sitting literally on my brother Sean because

603
00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:38,160
Speaker 3: Sean went into the military, because Tim went into the military,

604
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:41,239
Speaker 3: and he was going to jump over the bar, and

605
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,480
Speaker 3: so he had to hold Sean down because he was

606
00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:47,919
Speaker 3: visibly shaken and emotional. But as my mother said, if

607
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:50,920
Speaker 3: I'm not angry, no one can be angry, and no

608
00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:54,760
Speaker 3: one can be angry for me. She knew that Tim

609
00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:57,280
Speaker 3: had a greater purpose, and.

610
00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,640
Speaker 1: The greater purpose became clear. And I want to, of course,

611
00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:03,960
Speaker 1: mentioned the Innocence Project New York joined with the Innocence

612
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,440
Speaker 1: Project of Texas's co counsel on the case.

613
00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:08,600
Speaker 4: And let me just say that the Innocence Project of

614
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,120
Speaker 4: New York found the letter that Tim wrote to them

615
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:15,880
Speaker 4: in nineteen ninety two asking for assistance, and returned that

616
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 4: letter to my mother.

617
00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:20,840
Speaker 3: Baryshek I can't say enough about him. Yeah, took time

618
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:25,400
Speaker 3: out came and co counseled on Tim because it was

619
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:30,000
Speaker 3: so important that we have finally proven in these United

620
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:34,120
Speaker 3: States that the innocent do in fact die in prison.

621
00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:37,279
Speaker 3: But Tim, and many of his letters to us and

622
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:42,680
Speaker 3: to my mother, he always said I want three things, vindication, exoneration,

623
00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:47,320
Speaker 3: and a full pardon. The vindication came with the DNA testing.

624
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:51,600
Speaker 3: The exoneration came through the two ninety ninth District Court,

625
00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:56,960
Speaker 3: who Judge Baart said he was factually and morally innocent

626
00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:01,239
Speaker 3: and this was the worst miscap marriage of justice he

627
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:03,360
Speaker 3: had ever seen in his entire life.

628
00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:06,799
Speaker 1: And then on March first, twenty ten, Texas Governor Rick

629
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:10,879
Speaker 1: Perry pardoned your brother his third wish. And then soon

630
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:13,640
Speaker 1: after that, the State of Texas passed the Timothy Cole Act,

631
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:17,920
Speaker 1: increasing compensation paid to exanneries after their release and adding

632
00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:21,080
Speaker 1: compensation for the family of an ex honery cleared after death.

633
00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:24,400
Speaker 1: Thank you to Rodney Ellis, who was a chair of

634
00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:26,319
Speaker 1: the board of the Nison's Project of New York, who

635
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,880
Speaker 1: was instrumental in getting that passed. The state also created

636
00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 1: the Timothy Cole Advisory Panel on Wramful Convictions in two

637
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,160
Speaker 1: thousand and nine to study the prevention of wrongful convictions

638
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:39,440
Speaker 1: across the stating. Ultimately, a thirteen foot bronze statue of

639
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:44,000
Speaker 1: Tim in twenty fourteen was dedicated in Lubbock, depicting young

640
00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:47,320
Speaker 1: Tim looking toward Texas Tech University Law School, where he

641
00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:50,759
Speaker 1: almost certainly would have graduated and gone on to do

642
00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:54,800
Speaker 1: probably incredible things, and in his hands on the statue

643
00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:58,920
Speaker 1: or two books, the binding of one says, lest we

644
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:02,640
Speaker 1: forget The base of the sculpture reads and Justice for

645
00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:07,840
Speaker 1: All Wow, and Texas Tech University System regents voted in

646
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:11,040
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen to posthumously award Tim an honorary degree in

647
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:15,680
Speaker 1: law and social Justice. What an incredible ending to the story.

648
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:18,239
Speaker 1: Before we get to the closing of the show, is

649
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,560
Speaker 1: there a call to action for the audience? Is there

650
00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:23,719
Speaker 1: something that you'd like them to donate to or a

651
00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:25,040
Speaker 1: website you'd like to go to.

652
00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,720
Speaker 4: All of our work is focused on the Texas Innocence Project,

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00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:32,799
Speaker 4: So the incarcerated innocence they need all the help they

654
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:36,040
Speaker 4: can get. There are more of them than there are.

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00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:40,760
Speaker 2: People to help them. So anything you can do, anything.

656
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:43,080
Speaker 4: You feel called to do, to give to the Texas

657
00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:47,960
Speaker 4: Innocence Project is greatly appreciated. Our family's mission is to

658
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:53,160
Speaker 4: continue to work on legislation through the Texas Innocence Project

659
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:55,040
Speaker 4: because there's still some things in.

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00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:58,080
Speaker 1: The law that need to be changed, and that's Innocence

661
00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:01,319
Speaker 1: Texas dot Org. That's Innocent Texas dot Org. Will also

662
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:03,600
Speaker 1: put a link in our bio for people to donate

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00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:08,719
Speaker 1: and get involved. So now, Karen and Corey, we have

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00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:12,719
Speaker 1: a tradition here at Wrongful Conviction, which is that the

665
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:16,000
Speaker 1: end of our show is called closing Arguments. It works

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00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:18,480
Speaker 1: like this. I first of all thank each of you,

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00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:21,600
Speaker 1: not just for being here today, but for just being

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00:38:21,719 --> 00:38:27,080
Speaker 1: such incredible fighters and courageous humans. I'm proud to know

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00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,000
Speaker 1: you and honored to have had you here today, So

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00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:33,080
Speaker 1: thank you for that. And then I'm going to turn

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00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:36,880
Speaker 1: my microphone off, turn my volume on my headphones up

672
00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:39,719
Speaker 1: just a little bit, kick back in my chair, and

673
00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:44,080
Speaker 1: leave your mics on, and let's close out the show

674
00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:48,080
Speaker 1: with any final thoughts you want to share. Who wants

675
00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:50,880
Speaker 1: to go first, and then hand the mic off to

676
00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:53,960
Speaker 1: your brother or sister, whoever it is, and then you

677
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:55,800
Speaker 1: can take us out into the sunset.

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00:38:56,680 --> 00:39:00,440
Speaker 4: Well, I'll go first because my youngest brother is so eloquent.

679
00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:03,640
Speaker 4: I'll leave the final words for him. Thank you, Jason

680
00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:08,000
Speaker 4: for having us today and for continuing to elevate these issues.

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00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:11,239
Speaker 4: I'm happy to be here to represent my brother and

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00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:15,640
Speaker 4: our family and to present our story of his case.

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00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:17,480
Speaker 2: But more than.

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00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:21,080
Speaker 4: Anything, I'm happy here to just let people know that

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00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:25,920
Speaker 4: we as a family stand on the shoulders of my

686
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:32,080
Speaker 4: brother and my mother, two wonderful people who were given

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00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:38,120
Speaker 4: circumstances beyond their control but made the best of those circumstances,

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00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:40,840
Speaker 4: and I think have made a difference not just in

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00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:44,000
Speaker 4: the state of Texas, but in the nation in the

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00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:47,719
Speaker 4: criminal justice system. And so my final words to the

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00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:52,640
Speaker 4: listeners here today is that we still do have one

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00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:56,560
Speaker 4: of the best criminal justice systems, but it's just flawed

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00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:00,960
Speaker 4: and that's okay. So I ask each your listeners to

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00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:03,160
Speaker 4: take a moment and think about what is it you

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00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:07,120
Speaker 4: can do to make the system better, because there's always

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00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:09,279
Speaker 4: something that each of us can do to make it

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00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:10,200
Speaker 4: just a little better.

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00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:14,200
Speaker 3: When Tim was in prison, he received back pay from

699
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 3: the Army for some fourteen thousand dollars. It was all

700
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:24,160
Speaker 3: deposited into his inmate trust fund, and when his belongings

701
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:27,960
Speaker 3: came from prison after he had died. It was just

702
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:32,239
Speaker 3: a little box and there was a check from the

703
00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:36,719
Speaker 3: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, and it was

704
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:40,399
Speaker 3: for only thirty six dollars and some change. And some

705
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,320
Speaker 3: of my siblings were like, what in the world happened

706
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:44,200
Speaker 3: all his money?

707
00:40:44,239 --> 00:40:44,920
Speaker 1: What happened?

708
00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:49,279
Speaker 3: And I remembered a couple of days had gone by.

709
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:53,480
Speaker 3: My mother had organized all of his letters, and I

710
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:57,720
Speaker 3: was at her house and I remember her yelling, Corey, Corey,

711
00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:00,879
Speaker 3: come here, come here. And I went to room. I said,

712
00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:05,040
Speaker 3: what is it? And she was throwing some papers across

713
00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:09,840
Speaker 3: her bed, and she said, he gave it away, My

714
00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:14,000
Speaker 3: baby gave it all away. And there were receipts from

715
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:18,640
Speaker 3: the Catholic charities feed the children. He gave the bulk

716
00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:22,440
Speaker 3: of his money to those in need. He knew he

717
00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:26,560
Speaker 3: couldn't help himself, but he still had the power to

718
00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:30,960
Speaker 3: help others. There are many people like Tim who are

719
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:35,279
Speaker 3: still in prison waiting to be cleared. In Texas, there

720
00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:40,560
Speaker 3: are some one hundred plus prisons, more than sixty thousand inmates.

721
00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:46,759
Speaker 3: The Texas Prosecutor County DA's Association, they say that the

722
00:41:47,239 --> 00:41:50,640
Speaker 3: amount of innocent people in prison is as high as

723
00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:54,319
Speaker 3: ten percent. That's a lot of people. We have only

724
00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:59,160
Speaker 3: scratched the surface. My mother, when she found out that

725
00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:02,680
Speaker 3: the statue was going to be, a reporter said, Missession,

726
00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:05,720
Speaker 3: how do you feel? Did you want to suit Lubbock

727
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 3: for this? And she said, what I want no man

728
00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:12,600
Speaker 3: can give, and what I need is for them to

729
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:16,920
Speaker 3: never forget. So the baton is on us to make

730
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:19,560
Speaker 3: sure people never forget. We want to make sure that

731
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:23,960
Speaker 3: this does not happen to another family, that another man,

732
00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:28,560
Speaker 3: another woman does not go to prison after serving his country,

733
00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:34,040
Speaker 3: after just doing right, and the entire judicial system turn

734
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:39,000
Speaker 3: its back on him because they need a conviction. So

735
00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:42,440
Speaker 3: we're thankful. We are grateful that he was cleared. But

736
00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:45,640
Speaker 3: as my mom said, I never would have thought that

737
00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:49,840
Speaker 3: on July first, nineteen sixty that God would have chose

738
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:53,480
Speaker 3: me to be the vessel for change in the criminal

739
00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:58,120
Speaker 3: justice system in Texas. My mother when she first met Michelle,

740
00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:01,520
Speaker 3: the rape victim, Michelle was crying on the front steps

741
00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:05,040
Speaker 3: of my house, and my mother told her stop crying.

742
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:07,920
Speaker 3: You have nothing to be sorry for. You were a

743
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:11,920
Speaker 3: victim just as tim as they was. And Michelle admired

744
00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:14,920
Speaker 3: some heart shaped ear rings my mother had and we

745
00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:18,920
Speaker 3: had dinner at my house for about three hours and

746
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:21,640
Speaker 3: it was like we were old friends. And when Michelle

747
00:43:21,719 --> 00:43:25,239
Speaker 3: was leaving, my mother grabbed her arm and said give

748
00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:28,640
Speaker 3: me a hand, and she put her heart shaped ear

749
00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:32,319
Speaker 3: rings in Michelle's hand and she said, oh, Missession, I

750
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:35,560
Speaker 3: can't take this. She said, no, no, you give people

751
00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:39,120
Speaker 3: their flowers while they're alive. So we will try and

752
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:41,680
Speaker 3: make sure we can give as many people their flowers

753
00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:46,120
Speaker 3: in hopes of getting them exonerated, keeping them from going

754
00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:49,120
Speaker 3: into the criminal justice system as best we can.

755
00:43:55,640 --> 00:43:58,680
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to ropel Conviction. I'd like to

756
00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:02,440
Speaker 1: thank our production team Connor Hall, Justin Golden, Jeff Cliburn,

757
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:05,919
Speaker 1: and Kevin Wardis, with research by Lyla Robinson. The music

758
00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:08,760
Speaker 1: in this production was supplied by three time OSCAR nominated

759
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:12,520
Speaker 1: composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram

760
00:44:12,520 --> 00:44:16,799
Speaker 1: at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction podcast, and

761
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:20,000
Speaker 1: on Twitter at wrong Conviction, as well as at Lava

762
00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:23,240
Speaker 1: for Good. On all three platforms. You can also follow

763
00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:26,960
Speaker 1: me on both TikTok and Instagram at It's Jason Flam.

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00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:30,000
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction is the production of Lava for Good Podcasts

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00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:33,759
Speaker 1: and association with Signal Company Number one