WEBVTT - #251 Jason Flom on Tim Cole 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.160 From the end of nineteen eighty four through the spring 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:08.080 of eighty five, a serial rapist preyed on the campus 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:12.840 of Texas Tech. Each incident was reported with eerily similar details, 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.400 including the fifth attack on a twenty year old student 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:18.640 who helped put together a composite sketch and underwent a 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:22.880 rape kit. Meanwhile, Tim Cole, a new student at Texas Tech, 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:25.840 arrived in the spring semester after the serial rapes had 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:29.600 already begun. From a passing glance, a plain closed detector 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:33.760 decided that Tim resembled the composite sketch. A suggestive photo 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:39.320 lineuplet to Tim's misidentification, arrest and sexual assault charges solely 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.479 for the fifth attack in the series. An additional rape 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:45.600 occurred the day after he was taken into custody. Further, 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:49.000 the rapist had smoked during all of the attacks, while Tim, 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:52.919 a chronic asthma sufferer, had never smoked. The judge refused 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:54.920 to admit evidence that this attack was part of a 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:57.360 series that was also connected to a man who was 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:01.600 then in custody. Without these en sculpting details, Tim was 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.240 convicted on the victim's shaky testimony of quote, I think 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:09.160 that's him after the statute of limitations expired, the serial 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:13.360 rapist confessed but was ignored. DNA testing would eventually prove 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:17.560 Tim's innocence, but not before complications from asthma tragically took 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:21.479 his life. Were joined by his brother Corey and sister Karen, 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:25.880 who shared their journey to posthumously exonerate Tim and restore 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:44.400 his honor. This is Wrongful Conviction. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction. Today. 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:48.600 You're gonna hear a story that is unlike any we've 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:52.760 ever told on this show. And I have to be honest, 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:56.560 as I was reviewing the research on this case that 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:58.560 I've known about for a long time this morning, I'm 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:01.400 not a very emotional guy. I was fighting back tears 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:05.880 and soon you'll understand why. But there's a lot of 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:09.160 hope in this story too, and I hope that you'll 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:13.000 take that away from this episode and from the extraordinary 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.440 people that we have the privilege of having on the 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:21.919 show with us today, and without further ado, I'm going 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:26.639 to introduce the brother and sister of the man who 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:30.320 was wrongfully convicted. His name was Tim Cole. He's not 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.680 with us anymore, but his brother and sister are very 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:39.200 much alive and are absolute warriors for justice. So Karen, 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:42.200 we're going to introduce you first. Karen Kinnard is a 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:45.480 shareholder in the Government Law and Policy Group at Greenbrig 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:47.400 Scharig and she does quite a bit of pro bono 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:51.160 innocence work. So Karen, welcome to Wrongful Conviction. 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.079 Thank you. Jason's great to be here today. 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.520 And we also have Tim Cole's brother here, Corey Session, 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:02.400 who's vice president of the Innocence Project Texas. Corey, I'm 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:04.679 just super happy and honored to have you on a 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:05.239 show today. 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:06.800 Oh, thank you for having me. 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:09.240 And during our time today, we're going to get to 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:11.680 the extraordinary work that each of you are doing and 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:13.600 how much that would have meant to your brother. I 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:15.480 only wish he was a lot to see it, honestly. 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:17.880 And if we look back in time to back in 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:19.920 nineteen eighty five, your brother, Tim Cole was in his 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:22.440 mid twenties. He previously attended two years of college and 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:23.920 then join the Army, where he spent the next two 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.560 years before going back to school in nineteen eighty five, 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:30.200 attending Texas Tech and set to major in political science. 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:34.800 So first, before we go any further, can each of you. 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:37.240 Just tell us a little about what your childhood was 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:39.960 like and about your brother Tim's early life, your memories 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.400 of him growing up. Karen, let's go to you first. 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:46.240 Well, Tim was the oldest child in our family. We 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:51.440 are a blended family, mother, stepfather, seven children, six boys, 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:57.240 and I'm the only girl in that family. Wow, Tim's 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:00.640 the oldest and I'm the second oldest. My memories of 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:03.440 our family is that, you know, it was a happy childhood. 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:04.360 We were fortunate. 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:11.640 We had two hardworking, loving parents who tried to do 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.480 everything they could to give us what I call a 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:18.119 normal childhood. We grew up on a street called Hillview Drive, 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:22.640 and there were like two other families with seven kids 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:25.000 on He'll View Drive, and lots of other families with 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:29.680 other kids. Tim was very well liked. He loved basketball. 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.800 He took being a big brother very seriously. He was 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:39.400 very responsive and responsible for us. I think all of 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:43.080 us when he first went off to college remember receiving 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.360 letters from him. He liked to write us letters, give 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:49.720 us advice, check in on us, make sure we were 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.520 on the right track. And those are some of the 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:55.560 fondest memories I have of him, of him just being 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:58.920 a guardian of us and Corey. 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:01.479 I understand he's that he was never in any sort 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:03.160 of trouble, right, so he would have seemed to be 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:04.880 for a number of reasons. He would have seemed to 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:08.240 be one of the least likely people in the entire 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:11.400 town or maybe even the state, to have committed such 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:13.760 a horrific crime. Is that fair to say? 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:18.880 Absolutely? Tim was a quiet person. He was a peacemaker. 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.640 I'll tell you one of the memories I have. I 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:25.279 think I may have been six or seven years old, 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:27.560 but I remember this vividly, and this will tell you 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:31.080 the type person Tim was. It's a summer night. We 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:33.880 were outside in front of our house and there had 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:37.320 to be probably fifteen kids out there, and the topic 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:39.760 people were talking about was what do you have to 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:43.360 do to get to heaven? And they were going around 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:45.479 the circle, Yeah, you got to do this, you have 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.160 to do that. Well, Tim was sitting at the edge 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.799 of the driveway with his hands around his knees. Tim's 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:56.440 nickname was Ears, and one of the older kids said, Ears, 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.640 what you think and it was very quiet, and my 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:05.840 brother Tim said three things, just do right, and that 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.520 was a pause. Then all of a sudden, that was 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:12.160 an uproar up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, leave it 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.520 to ears to make it simple and keep it simple, 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:16.520 just do right. 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.600 Yeah. I've never heard it said in such quiet, simple, 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:23.080 sort of eloquent terms. But what a good thing to 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.320 be known for or remembered by. And he lived it right. 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:28.719 And he was not just talking to talk. He was 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:32.360 walking the walk, serving his country, serving his family. I 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:34.080 would say, right, yeah. 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:37.320 Because he joined the army specifically to help our family. 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:40.320 I mean we were seven kids and we were starting 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:42.520 to have anywhere from three to four kids in college. 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.320 He called me one night and said, you know, I'm 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:49.279 doing this because I know I can get some college benefits. 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:52.479 And he said, I want to help mother and my stepdad. 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:56.040 He was always about trying to figure out how to 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:57.800 help us, how to help the family, how to. 0:06:57.760 --> 0:06:58.919 Help all of us. 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:03.360 Yeah, he was serving his family, his community, and his country. 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:05.480 And that brings us to the fall of nineteen eighty 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:08.120 four through eighty five, when a rapist had been terrorizing 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.840 the campus of Texas Tech and Love It, having already 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.240 victimized four women with the same mo each time. 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:14.480 Right. 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:18.080 The women had been taken from parking lots near campus, 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:22.520 driven to desolate areas and raped. The assailant usually smoked 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:25.840 cigarettes during the assaults and then would flee on foot. Now, 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:28.880 on March twenty fourth, nineteen eighty five, the fifth abduction 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:32.080 and rape involved a young student named Michelle Murray Mallin, 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:34.480 just twenty years old at the time. Now, normally we 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:39.000 do not mention sexual assault survivors and names here. However, 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:44.760 Michelle is very vocal and open about her story. She 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:46.840 was parking at a lot across from her dorm when 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.760 a man approached asking for help to jumpstart his car. 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.440 When she told him that she and hevity jumper cables, 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:54.800 the man reached in through her window and unlocked the 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:58.120 car door. Miss Mallin screamed and bit his thumb, but 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:00.320 the man held a knife to her throat while he 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.360 moved into the driver's seat and drove her to a 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:05.720 vacant field outside the town, where he forced her to 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.560 perform oral sex and then raped her. He then drove 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:10.560 the car back to Lubbock, where he took two dollars 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:12.640 in cash, a ring, and a watch from Ms. Mallin 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.880 before leaving on foot, as he had done in all 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:19.080 the other crimes. Ms Mallan called the police to report 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:21.560 the attack. A rape kit was done, and she helped 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:27.160 investigators with a composite sketch. Now, Tim once again was 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.800 a student at Texas Tech at the time, but he 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.600 was home on the night of the attack, studying. His 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.840 brother was hosting a card game. So there were five 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:39.320 different alibi witnesses. All of them were there with Tim. 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:42.720 I mean, this story obviously should have ended right there, 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:45.720 but it didn't. So, Corey, were you the one that 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:47.640 was hosting the card game? I was not. 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:50.439 I was still in high school. But my brother, Reggie 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:52.600 was the one who was also at Texas Tech at 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:56.120 that time, who was hosting a card game. Like you said, 0:08:56.160 --> 0:09:00.199 the atmosphere of Texas Tech, there's a rapist loose on camp. 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.240 Parents were withdrawing their children out of school because they 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:06.079 couldn't catch this person. So the temperature was high. We've 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:09.199 got to find someone. Tim had a car. One of 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:13.240 their roommates worked at the Mister Gaddy's Pizza and his 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:17.000 roommate called him to come pick him up, and he said, here, 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:19.199 I'll go pick you up. Mind you, this is daytime. 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:21.640 He went down there to pick him up, saw a 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.280 young lady walking outside paid no attention, went inside. His 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.880 roommate came out and said, hey, yours, I'm not going 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:30.280 to be able to get off right away. Can you 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:32.960 come back? He said yeah. Well, that time that young 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:37.040 lady was sitting in the restaurant, Tim got up, walked 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:39.560 back to his car, got in his car. That young 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.320 lady was walking down the sidewalk and she had made 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:46.120 eye contact with him while in the restaurant, and she 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.640 looked at him. So he let down his window and said, 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.120 do you need a ride somewhere? And she said no, 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:56.800 And he said are you sure and she said yes. 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:00.520 He said, well here, he pulled out his drivers license. 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:03.560 He said, my name is Tim Cole, and he showed 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.559 her his driver's license and then he went and pulled 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:08.439 out his Texas Tech ID. He said, you do not 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.280 be afraid of me. I go to Texas Tech. And 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.960 she said okay, and he said you sure you don't 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.040 need anything? She said no, He said okay, and he 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:22.880 drove off. Well, that lady was a undercover police officer 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:28.680 named Joanna Bagbee and she immediately reported to her supervisors 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.960 that's him. And the supervisors says, how do you know 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:36.520 that's him? She said, because he looks like the sketch 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:40.920 that was it. Now, Tim had reported his wallet being stolen, 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:44.439 and they had no picture of Tim in the system, 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.360 so they found his name that he had reported, so 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:50.720 they knew his address. So they went to his address, 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:53.680 knocked on the door and told him, Hey, we may 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:57.720 have a witness who knows who sole your wallet, but 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:00.400 we need to make sure that you are the person. 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:03.000 Can we get a picture of you? And he said sure, 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.559 So they took a polaroid picture outside of his apartment, 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:09.640 and that's the one that they put in the six pack. 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:14.320 One polaroid and five other black and white photos. 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.720 One polaroid. I just want to repeat that in five 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.240 other black and white photos. Let's just pause there for 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:23.360 a second, shall we, because this is one of those 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:27.199 techniques that police use that it's highly suggested to make 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.520 one photo stand out from the others. Other cases we've 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.080 seen there was only one person in handcuffs, or again 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:35.320 in another case, there was a single picture in a 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:38.640 photo array that was circled with red, like a red marker. 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:41.640 So they took the photo, they put it in the lineup, 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:46.800 and Michelle vividly remembers being shown the spread and she 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:51.560 pointed at Tim and said, I think that's him, but 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:55.800 the detective wrote near the photo, that's him, and that's 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.160 what they ran with. Came back to his apartment. They 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:02.640 arrested Tim. Reggie's as he heard Tim say, now, y'all 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.360 got the wrong person. I haven't raped anybody, and the 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:10.520 police took him and he told Reggie call mother that night. 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:14.760 My mom flew to Lovebook to bond Tim out of jail, 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:17.880 took him back home to Fort Worth, and she got 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:21.360 a phone call from the attorney she had retained, a 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:25.080 gentleman by the name of Mike Brown, and he said, Missession, 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.080 I was calling to see if you guys made it home. Okay. 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:30.200 She said, yeah, we did. He said, well, I got 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:34.080 some bad news. There's been another rape today and she said, oh, Mike, 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:37.040 I'm sorry to hear that. He said, well, not only that, 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:40.320 they picked out Tim again and there was no way 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.920 possible that he could have committed the rape. 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.800 Right He was either in police custody or in Fort 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:49.720 Worth when that day's rape had occurred, but he was 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:51.040 identified nonetheless. 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:55.200 When it comes to eyewitness identification, the best type of 0:12:55.320 --> 0:13:00.120 eyewitness identification to perform is a double blind procedure, which 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.520 is not done at that time and is still not 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:04.000 done in a lot of cases. 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.559 Yeah, a double blind procedure is a very straightforward way 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:11.920 of removing suggestion from the process, where the person administering 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:14.360 the procedure will show the photos one at a time 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:18.760 and not say anything, not make any suggestive comments. You 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:21.040 simply say the person who committed the crime may or 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:23.160 may not be in this line that I'm about to 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.360 show you, and then show the person the photos while 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:30.360 keeping your mouth shut. Because even a well meaning interviewer, 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:32.360 if they have their own preconceived notion about who it 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:35.920 is they're going to steer somebody. It could be subconsciously, 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.880 and it might be something as subtle but still powerful 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:41.800 as well. Keep trying, or you're doing a good job. 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:43.480 I know how difficult is this for you, but maybe 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:46.160 you want to take one more shot at Anything like 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:49.080 that can be the difference between life and death for somebody, 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:51.880 and between getting the right or the wrong person or 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:54.480 nobody at all. And the resource has been done has 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:59.280 shown that simple changes like instituting double blinds drastically reduces 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:03.680 the incidences rompall identifications. While not and this is critical, 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:08.840 While not reducing the instances of correct identifications right. So 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:12.600 it's like there's literally only an upside here when the 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:15.200 Innocis Project is leading the charge to try to institute 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.280 double blind ideas as policy across the country. And for 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.440 your brother's sake, I wish this had been the policy 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.840 back then, not to mention the fact that he was 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:30.320 in police custody and therefore, I mean, he couldn't have 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:32.520 been in two places at once. He could not have 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.600 committed the sixth rape, and they knew that. 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.240 You also want to remember, the rapes happened before Tim 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:41.760 got to Lubbock. The rapes hap started happening in the 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:45.040 fall of nineteen eighty four. Tim didn't get to Lubock 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.520 until the spring semester started in mid January of nineteen 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:52.760 eighty five. And there were several of the victims who 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:56.760 did not pick him out of any photo array or 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:00.840 any of the live lineups. But the police wants that 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:07.320 undercover officer said those words of that's him, became convinced 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:21.480 that it was him. 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:24.200 You can't be in two places at the same time. 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:28.120 Tim could not have been either in police custody or 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:31.440 in transit to Fort Worth with your mom while also 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:35.280 out there committing the sixth rape, just like he could 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:39.320 not have committed the initial four rapes before even coming 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.920 to Lubbock to attend Texas Tech, or be at home 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:47.240 studying during your brother Reggie's card game while Michelle Mallen 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.600 was raped. And I have to say I really feel 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:54.960 for Reggie too, right, because imagine what that would be 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.520 like and how it must have impacted him, having known 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:01.560 definitively that Tim was innocent because he was right there 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:02.520 with him at the time. 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:05.560 It drastically changed Reggie's life. 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:08.800 He has felt responsible for a long time for everything 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:11.200 that happened to Tim, and it took him over twenty 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:14.320 five years, took him a lot of therapy to finally 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.800 recognize that it wasn't his fault. He's done fine now, 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:19.880 but took him a long long time. 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:25.800 So the investigation was a bad mockery of an investigation. 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:29.760 I would say the description, of course, had some glaring 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:32.520 errors in it as well. When I say that the 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:36.480 victim who's white, and we know that cross racial identifications 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:41.000 are the most error prone, they're less accurate than guessing. 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.240 And yes, you heard me correctly, and that's been proven 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:47.920 in the study after study so she was white, and 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:50.320 she described her attacker to police as a young African 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:55.040 American man with bug eyes. Did your brother have bug eyes? No? Okay? 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:58.000 And he was under six feet tall. The attacker, according 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:02.760 to her initial description, wearing yellow shirt and sandals. How 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:04.840 tall was Tim and did he own any kind of 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:06.200 clothing such as. 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:11.280 That Tim stood six foot one inch. The victim recounted 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:15.680 that the person wore a yellow terry cloth shirt, and 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:19.960 she remembers it because she always hated terry cloth shirts. 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:24.000 They did collect a yellow shirt from my brother's possessions, however, 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:26.080 it was not a terry cloth shirt. 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:29.520 And she didn't give a lot of other details. I mean, 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:33.480 the poor woman was obviously traumatized. But she did say, 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:38.359 and this piece of the identification is unmistakable, right she 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:43.359 said the perpetrator had smoked cigarettes throughout the attack. Now 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:47.080 there's something about your brother where this should have, right 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.560 now set off all kinds of warning signals, Karen, What 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:50.800 am I talking about? 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.480 Tim had asthma, He was born an asthmatic, had had 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.040 problems with his asthma all his life, and did not 0:17:57.160 --> 0:17:58.119 smoke cigarettes. 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:02.280 So even though them was consistent throughout and police had 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:05.199 believed all along that the same person had committed all 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:08.280 six rapes. Tim was arrested and charged with the aggravated 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:12.080 sexual assault just of Miss Mallin and none of the 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:16.439 other rapes. Now here's something I'm struggling with. Consider the 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.800 nature of these crimes. Tim was offered a plea bargain 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:21.600 with no prison time. 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.720 Yes, the district attorney at that time, man by the 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:29.200 name of Jimbob Darnel, the day before trial, told him, 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:31.520 you were facing twenty five years in prison. We're going 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:36.000 to offer you probation. And Tim said, I'd rather spend 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.919 twenty five years in prison before I ever admit to 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:45.280 something I did not do. And mister Darnell very smugly said, well, 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:48.360 we aim to make sure that happens. 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:52.200 If they believe that your brother was responsible for even 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:55.640 one of these rapes. This is a black man in 0:18:55.720 --> 0:19:00.640 Texas accused of raping a white woman. Do you think 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:02.240 that they would have offered him probation. 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:04.600 No, not a chance in hell. 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:07.240 There is no way they would have offered him probation. 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:10.720 And let me just say, unlike a lot of these cases, 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:11.919 my parents. 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:13.280 Hired a very good lawyer. 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:17.320 We were fortunate in that there were resources to do that. 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:21.760 He did a really good job of investigating, and so 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:25.120 we knew there was a police officer from the university 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:28.160 who had told them that they had the wrong person, 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:32.480 that Tim was not the person who had raped this 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:36.400 young woman, that the Texas Tech Police Department gave him 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:38.119 the name of who they thought the person was. 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:42.119 And mind you, also, when they arrested Tim, they announced 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:45.800 in the media, the radio, print, electronic media, that they 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:48.760 had caught the tech rapists. They just did not want 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:51.919 to say, oops, sorry, Tim, we got the wrong person. 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:56.679 The attorney, Mike Brown, was very confident that they were 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:59.480 going to drop the charges. He'd be found innocent because 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:04.440 they had actually arrested another guy who had committed rapes 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:08.480 with this same mo and other atturneyers were like, oh yeah, 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:11.159 that'll be taking care, but they did not want to 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:14.399 relinquish the fact that we got him and we're going 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:16.800 to keep it. When that trial started, it was a 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:19.919 media circus, and my mom brought some of the newspaper 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:25.000 clippings and things home tech rapists, called tech rapists, all 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:25.800 of these things. 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:28.520 Now, the trial begins in September of nineteen eighty six. 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:31.560 Remember this is before DNA testing, so they only had 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.879 erology testing, in which you can determine blood types and 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:37.760 whether or not the source of any bodily fluids as 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:41.119 a secretor, meaning the blood type can be identified in 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:45.439 all bodily fluids, not just blood. So the forensic examiners 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.160 for the state had examined the rape kit and had 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:52.520 identified a Type A blood secretor on the swab. However, 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:56.639 the victim was a Type A secretor and Tim also 0:20:56.680 --> 0:20:59.640 had Type A blood, but his secretor's status was unknown, 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.200 so therefore the yrology offered no meaningful conclusions at all. 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:07.199 They also compared foreign pubic hairs collected from the victims 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.720 to those from Tim and said that they had similar characteristics, 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:14.359 but that they couldn't draw firm conclusions, so the biological 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:18.240 evidence really offered very little to work with Corey. What 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:19.399 else happened at trial? 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:24.000 Michelle Mallin went on the witness stand and was asked, 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:27.320 do you see the man in the courtroom that you 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:32.520 said raped you? She said, I think That'sim and Tim 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:36.480 being an asthmatic that's brought up can't smoke. She never 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:39.960 knew that Tim was an asthmatic and couldn't smoke. The 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:44.800 bite that she put on the actual perpetrator's phone. There 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:46.160 were no bite marks on Tim. 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:49.399 I mean, this is a woman who's literally fighting for 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:52.240 her life. She didn't know whether she was going to 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:54.919 survive this attack or not when she bit him, so 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:58.480 she probably meant to take that finger clean off. How 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:00.440 the hell would that not leave a mark? 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:03.520 And you have to remember it was one week between 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:06.800 when she was assaulted and when Tim was arrested. They 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:08.600 didn't find any bite marks on him. 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:13.280 So what about Tim's alibi witness testimony? Weren't there five 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:16.280 alibi witnesses at your brother Reggie's card game. 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:19.200 There was a vigorous defense with all of the alibi 0:22:19.240 --> 0:22:24.040 witnesses who were very certain that Tim was there that night. 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:26.000 They were saying, you know, he was the studious one. 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:28.119 He didn't join in the card game. They said he 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:29.480 told him he had a test. 0:22:29.680 --> 0:22:34.000