WEBVTT - #275 Maggie Freleng with Kenneth Nixon 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:01.600 Hi, Maggie. 0:00:01.600 --> 0:00:03.920 How you holding up in these crazy It seems like 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:05.520 things getting crazier every day. 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:06.280 Yeah, So I'm. 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:10.240 Feeling really inspired today actually, despite all of the horrible 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:14.360 things in the news, because of these people that go 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:23.440 to prison and get activated and inspired to change for others. 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:25.680 Yeah. These are people who've been through hell and come 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:28.120 out carrying buckets of water for the people that they're 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:28.720 left behind. 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:29.600 Absolutely. 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:32.159 I mean, I don't blame people who get out and 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:34.519 say I want to forget all of it and live 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:37.760 a normal life, whatever that might be for them. But 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:41.640 I really do think that change comes from those who 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:46.360 have experienced what happened and know what goes on. And 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.680 I think that's so incredible and beautiful and inspiring. 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:56.080 If you're innocent. 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:07.440 And you're fighting, we understand you, We hear you. We're 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:16.600 going to wreck this system. 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.679 From lava for good. This is wrongful conviction with Maggie 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:27.119 Freeling today. Ken Nixon. On May nineteenth, two thousand and five, 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.600 nineteen year old Ken Nixon was having a relaxing evening 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.640 at home in Detroit with his girlfriend, LaToya and their 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:37.360 baby son. The knight slipped away as normally as it 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:40.080 could for the new parents until the early hours of 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:45.400 the morning, when suddenly the police busted in. About three 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.600 blocks away. That same night, someone had thrown a Molotov 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:51.880 cocktail at a second floor window of a home, killing 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:54.480 two children. The other people in the building were able 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:57.320 to escape, and one of them said the person he 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:02.240 saw through the homemade bomb was Ken, But Ken and 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.880 LaToya both say they were home at her house. Both 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:09.120 her aunt and her neighbor say Ken never left the 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:12.600 house that night, but regardless, Ken wound up being tried 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:15.680 for arson and for the murders of both children. 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.280 I was thinking that they're going to figure this out. 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:26.040 I was thinking logic was going to make its way 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:31.400 to the surface. I was thinking that the system was 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:33.560 going to work the way that it was supposed to. 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:39.000 Never did I imagine that the end result would be 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:40.000 a guilty verdict. 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:43.200 My name is Kenneth Nixon. 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.240 I spent sixteen years incarcerated for a crime that I 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:46.919 did not commit. 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.600 Ken Nixon was born in Lincoln Park, Michigan, to Tracy 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:04.200 Nixon and Kenneth Palmer. Ken didn't know his biological dad 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:07.200 growing up and was raised by his mom and stepdad. 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:10.160 He's the oldest of four kids. 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.560 Family was really close. I have cousins that were more 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.640 like siblings than they were actual cousins. 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:18.600 And I had a. 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:25.200 Pretty fun childhood, middle class upbringing, magnet schools. I always 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:26.359 enjoyed school. 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:27.960 Sports. 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:32.680 Playing up growing up was something that I enjoyed doing. 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:37.840 Neighborhood wasn't bad, not much violence, not in a horrible area. 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.800 We went to school as a group. We met on 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:46.840 the corner. Everybody met at the same time. It was 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:50.000 somebody's parents' responsibility to make sure that everybody made it 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:53.200 to the corner. There were checkpoints that when we passed, 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:55.440 somebody's parents reported to the other parents. 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:00.800 It was a community where every one watched out for 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:04.839 each other. And Ken appreciated that he had a fun childhood. 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.440 But growing up, Ken was also academically driven and had 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:10.360 higher ambitions. 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.440 I always wanted to be the first in my family 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:17.520 to graduate college. I learned very early on that not 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:21.840 many of my family members on either side had actually graduated, 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:26.320 and I wanted to be the first to do so. 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.120 Ken wanted to be an entrepreneur, and his mom, Tracy 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:32.480 says Ken absolutely could have achieved that dream. 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:37.560 Ken was smarter than the average kid in the neighborhood. 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:42.440 The older kids looked up to him. They respected him 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:50.599 because his mental was beyond theirs. He flourished in everything. 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.760 You know. I at two I started calling him the 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:55.520 golden child. 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.680 Ken was smart and also incredibly responsible. 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:02.240 And how was that mother that would put a candle 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:05.520 in every room of the house and time to go 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:07.880 to bed, he would blow him out. So I would 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:10.440 wake up, who blow out my candles? While my candle's 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:10.920 not burning? 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:12.799 And he would say, well, mine, that's hot. 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:15.400 If it breaks and catch on fire, then what. 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.679 By ninth grade, Ken was also doing typical teenage things 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:25.919 like dating, and he fell in love with his friend 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:30.239 from elementary school, LaToya Calford. LaToya and Ken were dating 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.000 for a few years when she got pregnant, so after 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.200 the eleventh grade, Ken dropped out of school to help LaToya. 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:39.400 Just nine days after Ken turned eighteen, the high school 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:43.520 sweethearts had their son. They named him Keion Ken. It 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:45.800 was under pressure to take care of his family, so 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:53.440 he helped start a business, a towing company. On May nineteenth, 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.479 two thousand and five, just three months after his business 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:59.160 was up and running, Ken was having a relaxing night 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:01.719 home with LaToya and they're now one year old son. 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:05.839 My son was on my chest. 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.800 We were in the bedroom and you know, I hear 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:14.640 the door smash in, and you know it's quick. Seconds 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:18.440 before you can react. The bedroom door comes swinging open 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.600 and the very first thing you see is a flashlight 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:27.839 in a shotgun, and instinctively I reach to shield him. 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:30.280 And as I reached. 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:34.760 To shield him, the first officer yells, baby, baby, baby. 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:39.440 Another officer grabs Keon off of Ken, and the next 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:42.560 thing Ken knows, he's being thrown onto the ground, handcuffed, 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:44.200 and Keon is screaming. 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.680 The most memorable moment of that night is my son 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:56.239 screaming like that. 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:55.120 That will that. 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:01.120 Come help me, scream that only a kid can give you, 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:06.360 And to be powerless in that moment as all of 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:12.200 these cops are here. I mean there's moments where I 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:15.400 still hear him screaming in my head. That's something you 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:19.200 never forget, that powerless moment where your kid is screaming 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:21.560 for your assistance and there's nothing you can do about it, 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:23.239 absolutely nothing. 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:29.720 So when you get picked up, they're saying what to you? 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:32.000 They actually didn't say anything. 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:36.880 Instead, they've raided the house and arrested both Ken and LaToya. 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:39.520 The two of them were immediately separated. 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.040 I get to the priestinct and these two detectives come 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:45.360 in and they say you're being accused of a murder. 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:49.320 And I'm like, yeah right, you can't be serious. And 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:53.840 you know, I'm thinking, you know, murder, somebody got shot, 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:57.000 you know, drive by or something. In the moment the 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:01.320 guy says fire, I'm like, yeah right, you can't be serious. Nuts, 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:04.320 And I was arrested and booked into the county jail. 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:09.520 What Ken didn't know was, at the same time he 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.280 was home with LaToya and Keon, a crime took place 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:17.200 about three blocks away. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail into 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:21.080 the second floor window of a home. Two children were killed, 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:25.240 ten year old Rayland Vaughan and his baby sister, Tamaya. 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:27.600 The other people in the building were able to escape, 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:31.800 and the police were accusing both Ken and LaToya of 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:36.160 these murders. Did you even know how to make a 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:37.040 Molotov cocktail? 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:40.320 I did not even know what the Molotov cocktail. 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:41.520 Was, Okay, so can't even say it. 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:44.679 Yeah. My trial attorney literally. 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:47.400 Spent forty five minutes trying to explain to me what 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:49.040 a Molotov cocktail. 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:57.040 Was turns out, the police had an alleged witness, thirteen 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.520 year old Brandon Vaughan, the brother of the two children 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:02.760 who were killed. Brandon told police he saw Ken throw 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.400 the Molotov cocktail through the window and that he thought 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:07.520 Ken might have done it out of anger at his 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:11.400 mother's boyfriend, ron Rico Simmons. Brandon said that Ken had 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.640 it out for ron Rico because of a fling he 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:16.920 had with LaToya while she and Ken were dating. According 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.200 to Brandon, he was on his porch that night and 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.640 saw Ken get out of a green Plymouth neon, throw 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:25.840 the bomb into the house, get back into the passenger seat, 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:29.040 and speed off, and he said that the car belonged 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:32.720 to LaToya. Ken and LaToya were both charged with two 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.760 counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder, and one 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:42.720 count of arson. So I want to ask you, you know, 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.360 when you find out that Ken is. 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:46.319 Arrested for. 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:52.080 A horrible murder of two children, what was that like 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:52.320 for you? 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:57.960 I'm the all the same your world times black. 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:00.320 I experien. 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:07.480 I couldn't see, I couldn't voss, I couldn't talk, and 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:11.520 then I started making phone calls asking questions, what's going on, 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:14.040 you know, what's the truth in this? 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:19.200 And did you think there was any possibility Ken could 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:20.040 have done something like this? 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:21.760 Absolutely not. 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:25.240 He was that kid that wouldn't let me burn a 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:29.360 candle for twenty four hours, so I know, I'm all 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:42.280 the top cantail, No way. 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:47.400 This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company. 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:51.760 AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:54.840 a positive difference in the lives of its employees and 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:57.880 in the communities where we work and live. In light 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.800 of the compelling need for pro legal assistance, and in 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:06.319 recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform, 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:10.760 the AIG Pro Bono Program provides free legal services and 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:19.160 other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. On September fifteenth, 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:21.840 two thousand and five, Ken and LaToya went to trial. 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:25.280 They were tried together, but they each had separate juries. 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:35.080 The prosecutor was Assistant prosecuting Attorney Patrick Muscat. Muskat called 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:37.600 an expert from the state crime Lab who had tested 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.520 Ken's close the night he was arrested after the police 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:43.839 had taken them as evidence. The expert testified that Ken's 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:48.480 clothes had an accelerant on them. A man named Stanley 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:52.240 January Junior testified that Ken confessed to him while they 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.960 were in the Wayne County jail together, and that Ken 0:11:55.000 --> 0:12:02.840 told him he didn't think the children were home. Muscat 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:05.640 also called the alleged witness to the crime, thirteen year 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:08.120 old Brandon Vaughan. He was one of the survivors of 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:11.079 the fire that night and the older brother of the victims. 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.200 Brandon was also the one who pointed police to Ken 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:17.600 and LaToya in the first place. At trial, Brandon said 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:20.920 he saw Ken get into the passenger side of Latoya's car, 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:23.360 but he altered his testimony a bit from what he 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:26.840 originally told police. He said that he actually wasn't on 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.079 the porch when he saw Ken get out of the car. 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:31.640 He was in his bed. The only evidence of the 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:36.079 state actually had against Ken was this altered witness testimony 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:42.040 and the alleged accelerant covered clothes. Ken and Latoya's defense 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:45.080 was weak, though their attorneys called just four witnesses to 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:48.480 the stand, two of whom were alibi witnesses, and they 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:51.800 did not present any evidence to refute the state crime lab. 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:54.000 They did not point out that Ken had worked at 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.360 the towing company earlier that night, and that since truck's 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:00.719 typically carry gasoline, it's likely that Can could have had 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:06.360 some sort of accelerant on him from that. LaToya ended 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:09.600 up being acquitted of all charges, but as for Ken, 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.520 his jury found him guilty and he was convicted of 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:16.040 one count of arson, four counts of attempted murder, and 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:19.720 two counts of murder. He was sentenced to life in 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:28.760 prison without parole. When Ken got to prison, he got 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:31.600 right to work. He's a natural achiever, and says he 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:35.319 finished getting his ged within six weeks of his conviction, 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.839 and he appealed his conviction right away. But in two 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.600 thousand and seven he was denied. He was denied again 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:46.240 in twenty ten, and then again and again. Did you 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:47.400 do any crying in prison? 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:54.080 Almost certainly? Losses are her heart, you know, the core 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:59.440 system was her heart. I absolutely cried a few times, all. 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:02.240 The while his tracy was paying for the attorneys and 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:04.360 expenses for kens appeals. 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:08.200 It's hard to continue to say, hey, I need twenty 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:12.680 grand right, that's somebody's life savings. Where where are. 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:17.360 You getting this money? That's a lot of money, Granddad. 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:19.720 Mostly I worked. 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:24.160 I had parties, you know, we did what we had 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:27.040 to do, what we saw food, we had t shirts made, 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:29.000 we sold shirts, and. 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:34.160 On a monthly basis, the money was there, but they 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.200 kept losing. Eventually, Tracy had to wonder. 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:43.040 It took me a long time to ask him, you know, 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:47.320 because I did as a mother. I asked, come on, now, 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.560 jail me something, did you And he said absolutely not? 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:53.040 And I knew in my heart he didn't. 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:58.160 And you know, she'd sacrifice so much to continue paying 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:02.000 lawyers and private investigators. The result was repeatedly the same. 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:03.880 No matter how much money we spent, no matter how 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:08.560 much time was spent, we were still losing. And when 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:16.520 that question came, I felt like her faith was waivery. 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:17.280 But it wasn't. Tracy pushed on with her son to 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:18.320 fight for his freedom. 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.920 I know my son with things, I know my good 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.840 my soul mean knowing him, I think he was vincent. 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.200 So I guess listeners might be wondering, how do you 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:40.360 have the same case and one person gets off and 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:41.440 one person gets convicted. 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:44.240 Well that's the ten million dollar question, isn't it. 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.200 This is David Williams. He's a staff attorney at the 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:53.200 Western Michigan University Cooley Innocence Project. David and the WMU 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:56.920 Cooley Innocence Project came across Ken's case back in twenty sixteen, 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.040 and they saw several factors that pointed towards his innocence. 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:04.240 The two biggest factors was the use of a jail 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:08.560 house spitch and also the testimony of the star witness, 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:12.480 Brendan Bawn, who we knew to be unreliable because he 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:15.920 told a different story about four different times. 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:22.440 They started from the beginning, they gathered all the available evidence, 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:29.160 and while reviewing it, they stumbled on something new. David says, 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:32.600 the uncovered memos that had not previously been disclosed to 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:33.440 Ken's defense. 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:38.400 So we actually had memos that we found during the 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:42.120 course of our investigation from the police and the prosecutors, 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:46.080 and they're saying, you know, this witness, this kid, Brandon, 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:49.960 he's very inconsistent. We got to get something, and all 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:53.920 of a sudden, the steelhouse snitch materializes just overnight. 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:57.920 David believes that this suggests the prosecution was worried they 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:01.240 wouldn't get a conviction on Brandan's test money alone, and 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:05.280 so the prosecution called Stanley January junior to testify. A 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.280 memo dated August third, two thousand and five, requested that 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.160 the detectives speak with Ken's cellmates to see if Ken 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:13.400 said anything to them. By the end of the month, 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:16.760 Detective Moys's he Meenez said he spoke with January, who 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:21.439 allegedly said Nixon confessed to him. Shortly after that, January 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:28.639 signed his plea agreement. Eventually, Ken's team spoke with January, 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:31.240 who admitted he had actually seen the case on TV 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:35.080 before he spoke with Ken. Another prisoner had also previously 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:38.159 reported that January admitted to him that he made up 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:40.840 a lie hoping to make a deal with the prosecutor 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:45.240 to get his own case dropped. David and the wm 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:48.720 Cooley Innocent's Project worked on Ken's case for two years 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:52.880 before they submitted it to the Conviction Integrity Unit or CiU. 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:57.119 While pending, the CiU completed a review of another case 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:01.680 which they deemed was indeed a wrongful conviction. Alexander Unsari, 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:04.399 who had been in prison since twenty twelve, had his 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:08.600 conviction vacated and guess what the common denominator with Ken. 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:13.760 Detective Moys's he Meenez was also a detective in Unsorry's case. 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:20.239 So Detective Jimenez is currently being accused of holding up 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:26.560 a couple investigations and has something to deal with cartel. 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:32.080 There has been prior misconduct from Jimenez before, and I 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.560 think at this point it's pretty easy to say that 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:38.160 Detroit doesn't consider him a reliable witness anymore. 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.400 And it wasn't just Himenez. Many of the players involved 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:47.560 in Ken's conviction have a history of misconduct. Prosecuting Attorney Muscat, 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:51.880 for example, prosecuted Devonte Sandford, who was a child when 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:56.280 he was convicted. Sanford has since been exonerated. Musqet also 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:59.680 prosecuted Felonious Sierce for murder in two thousand and four, 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:03.520 which resulted in a life without parole sentence. Searcy is 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:06.920 currently awaiting a new trial due to Muscat's alleged role 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:10.639 in hiding evidence from the jury. Lieutenant James Tolbert was 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:13.919 also involved in the DeVante Sanford case and had been 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:18.560 placed on the Wayne County Prosecutor's list of untrustworthy police officers. 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:22.040 A specialist to try and curb wrongful convictions in Detroit 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:28.280 and surrounding cities in Wayne County. Finally, after months of review. 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:32.320 The CiU ruled in Ken's case, and on February eighteenth, 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:37.840 twenty twenty one, his conviction was vacated. After sixteen years, 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:40.800 Ken Nixon walked out of prison and was reunited with 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:47.400 his family, friends and supporters. 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:52.439 It's like people just rushing to the car and you know, 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:57.359 familiar faces, some unfamiliar faces. But my son was, you know, 0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:59.679 he's a little wais back. So he caught the glimpse 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:04.639 of me comment and he just like football, and he 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:07.240 just hailed all and we just rocked back and forth 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:10.720 for a minute, and that's when the reality said. 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:23.480 Soon after Ken got out, I caught up with him 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:26.399 in his home. He was with his then girlfriend Wendy, 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:29.640 and he was having a little trouble getting the hang 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:33.920 of his cell phone. Welcome to the world of technology issues. 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:38.600 Yeah, I know. 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:39.680 So how's it going? 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:40.160 So okay? 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:41.280 What have you eaten so far? 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:42.840 Everything? 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:43.360 Everything? 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:47.080 He said, he wanted a real burger. 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:48.520 Okay, that's fair. 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:56.320 When Ken got out, the first thing he did was 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:58.879 ketch up on his eighteen year old son, Kean's life. 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:01.919 They had maintained a relationship throughout his time in prison, 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:04.320 but now he could be a hands on dad. 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:08.280 I was home in time to see his senior year 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:13.040 of ball. He is a standout football star. He just 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:16.119 accepted a full ride scholarship to Morgan State University to 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:20.639 play football. He is a straight amb kid and nothing. 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:23.120 I've never seen nothing less than a three point eight 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:25.240 with him. I'll get to see him off for college. 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:27.480 I'll get to annoy the hell out of him while 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:35.960 he's at college. Amazing, amazing timing when my exoneration came. 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:39.120 Now that he's out, Ken is actually a full time 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:42.240 dad to two boys, because while in prison, Ken found 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:44.879 out he has another son, Omar, who was born a 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:48.119 couple of years before Keon. They also built a relationship 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:50.440 while Ken was in prison and I stayed in touch. 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:55.240 Omar is now nineteen years old. In addition to fortifying 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:59.320 his relationships, Ken is now also focused on advocacy work. 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:03.800 When I came home, I didn't like the fact that 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:08.240 the people around us that have never been through what 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:12.360 we've been through were dictating how we moved in what way. 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:16.600 It's the lawyers that are telling you which financial advisors 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:20.520 to go to. It's the lawyers that are helping you 0:22:20.560 --> 0:22:24.680 get health care. It's the lawyers that are suggesting which 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:28.560 therapist you talk to that are telling you what's okay 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:34.720 and what's not okay. That bothers me because you've never 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:37.400 been where I've been. You've never seen what I've seen, 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:39.920 so it makes you feel like you're qualified to tell 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:44.600 me what's acceptable and what's not. That was a struggle 0:22:44.640 --> 0:22:48.560 for me to accept. So I laid a foundation, I 0:22:48.680 --> 0:22:50.919 poured some concrete, and now we stand there. 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:55.200 Ken is a founding member of the Organization of its Ownarees, 0:22:55.520 --> 0:23:01.560 a nonprofit whose membership, including its board, consists entirely of xounaries. 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:07.359 We work to bring awareness to wrongful convictions. There are 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:09.800 I think the latest number that I've seen is three 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:12.359 thousand xigneries in this country, and those are just the 0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:15.320 ones we know about. We work to do the best 0:23:15.359 --> 0:23:17.359 we can with re entry and making sure that people 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:19.920 have what they need. We work to be each other 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:23.720 peer counselors. We work to make sure that if there's 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:27.280 an innocent person in prison, if they don't have any supporters, 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:28.320 we are their supporters. 0:23:28.520 --> 0:23:28.679 You know. 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:31.440 We fly in, we go to court hearings, we go 0:23:31.560 --> 0:23:34.879 to parole hearings, we go to meetings with prosecutors, We 0:23:34.920 --> 0:23:38.000 go to meetings with people that don't technically understand what 0:23:38.040 --> 0:23:43.000 a wrongful conviction is. We deal with bank accounts, we 0:23:43.119 --> 0:23:49.160 deal with driver's license IDs, housing, healthcare, financial advisors. 0:23:50.119 --> 0:23:52.240 We deal with us. 0:23:53.080 --> 0:23:57.560 Our decisions are our own and the goal, the purpose 0:23:58.280 --> 0:24:02.760 our existence is based around us taking care of us. 0:24:05.280 --> 0:24:07.800 I asked Ken what he would tell other innocent people 0:24:07.880 --> 0:24:09.920 going through the same thing that he did. 0:24:12.440 --> 0:24:25.919 If you're innocent and you're fighting, don't stop fighting. No, no, 0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:31.800 that we're doing everything. We can change the system. We 0:24:32.040 --> 0:24:45.880 understand you, We hear you. We're going to wreck this system. 0:24:45.920 --> 0:24:48.440 In January of this year, can A filed a claim 0:24:48.480 --> 0:24:52.200 against the state of Michigan for compensation for his wrongful conviction. 0:24:54.640 --> 0:24:56.199 If you'd like to help support the work of the 0:24:56.320 --> 0:25:00.560 Organization of Xana Rees, go to fundly dot com organization 0:25:00.800 --> 0:25:07.719 Dash of dash exoneries. Next time on Wrongful Conviction with 0:25:07.720 --> 0:25:14.159 Maggie Freeling, Karen bows I saw fallen rang and it 0:25:14.359 --> 0:25:18.320 was my son and he said the House of fun. 0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:20.040 Fire my suppol. 0:25:20.080 --> 0:25:22.240 Where is rob And that's the biggest thing. 0:25:22.720 --> 0:25:33.439 Yeah, no, no, but it could locate. Thank you for 0:25:33.480 --> 0:25:37.040 listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. Please support your 0:25:37.040 --> 0:25:39.880 local innocence organizations and go to the links in our 0:25:39.880 --> 0:25:42.480 bio to see how you can help. I'd like to 0:25:42.480 --> 0:25:46.040 thank our executive producers Jason Flamm and Kevin Wurtis, as 0:25:46.040 --> 0:25:50.119 well as our senior producer Annie Chelsea, researcher Lila Robinson, 0:25:50.480 --> 0:25:54.600