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Speaker 1: Marty Livingstone doesn't claim he was an angel.

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Speaker 2: When he was younger, we was running around doing stupid things,

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Speaker 2: like he was running around. He was running doing doing

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Speaker 2: street stuff, just run around, acting stupid, getting into fights.

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Speaker 1: He grew up on the streets learning from other kids

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Speaker 1: like him.

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Speaker 2: So like we called ourselves wanting to be different, little

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Speaker 2: things like different or like trying to form. So I

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Speaker 2: ain't know what the heck we was talking about, So like.

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Speaker 1: A gang or like a music Like what what do

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Speaker 1: you mean by form?

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Speaker 2: Something like you know, like form something like you know,

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Speaker 2: like we're trying to like a click, like like a click, like,

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Speaker 2: oh we did we did? Like but we're trying to

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Speaker 2: find We boys, we brothers, a group.

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Speaker 1: Of friends having each other's back. Marty says he was

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Speaker 1: never part of a gang or commit any serious crimes.

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Speaker 1: He was a young dad getting his degree at the

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Speaker 1: time that his life came crashing in on him. One

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Speaker 1: day he got a phone call from his mom.

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Speaker 2: I said, mother, what's going on? She said, the US

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Speaker 2: Marshall was here. Now.

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Speaker 1: As I mentioned, Marty wasn't an angel. He admits that

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Speaker 1: he was familiar with the police. In fact, he had

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Speaker 1: been accused of a shooting before, but that was cleared up.

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Speaker 1: It hadn't been Marty. Normally he wouldn't be too worried,

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Speaker 1: but he says this time his gut told him something

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Speaker 1: was off.

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Speaker 2: Really on this one, it's like I felt something. It

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Speaker 2: was different, like this one is different. My name is

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Speaker 2: Marty Leviston. I was wrong for the convicted for fifteen years.

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Speaker 1: From Lava for Good. This is wrongful conviction with Maggie

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Speaker 1: Freeling today. Marty Levingston Marty Livingstone was born on August thirteenth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four, to Sandra and Marty d. Levingston in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Speaker 2: Life wasn't I'm not gonna say life was average. Child, No,

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Speaker 2: I got a it's eight of us WHOA So my

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Speaker 2: mama was my mama six counting me. Then my father

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Speaker 2: had two before then, so I got three brothers and well,

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Speaker 2: three brothers and three sisters. The oldest will be Telicia Evans,

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Speaker 2: Dron Levingston Darlene.

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Speaker 1: Marty is somewhere in the middle of all the siblings

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Speaker 1: then me. Growing up, Marty says he was a daddy's boy.

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Speaker 2: My mom used to tell me stories about how she

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Speaker 2: used to be trying to like feed me. Like if

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Speaker 2: she puts some in her mouth and she tried to

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Speaker 2: feed me with it, he I smack it away. No,

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Speaker 2: but she says, soon as my daddy do it, I

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Speaker 2: could eat it. I eat it. So my dad was

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Speaker 2: just like I actually like my dad to come get

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Speaker 2: me when I was seven, six, seven, eight years old

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Speaker 2: and I could just go. I used to go everywhere

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Speaker 2: with them.

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Speaker 1: So but then Marty's parents split up and his dad

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Speaker 1: moved out.

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Speaker 2: That's what shows me how powerful my mother or he

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Speaker 2: is because us like she kept us with a roof

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Speaker 2: over our head, kept food on the table, like you

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Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. I don't know how she did it,

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Speaker 2: but I used to sit back and and watch her

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Speaker 2: make miracles happen.

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Speaker 1: Not only did she make it happen, but Marty remembers

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Speaker 1: lots of good times in his busy home full of love.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes it'll be out of kids, it'll be probably about

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Speaker 2: it could be good ten of us, ten eleven, twelve

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Speaker 2: of us, because if my cousin's over there, that's counting

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Speaker 2: them too. So oh yeah, so it'll be fighting over cereal,

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Speaker 2: fighting over cereal boxes, cookies, video games, like it was

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Speaker 2: just everybody. You know, they could pete in fighting, arguing.

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Speaker 2: But when you look back at it now, it was

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Speaker 2: like that was fun.

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Speaker 1: Marty says. Life was good. But then in nineteen ninety six,

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Speaker 1: when he was in his teens, his mom moved the

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Speaker 1: family to the Hawaiian Terrace apartment complex in Mount Airy,

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Speaker 1: a neighborhood in the outskirts of Cincinnati, which at the

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Speaker 1: time was dealing with a lot of crime.

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Speaker 2: That's when I actually start you know, picking up things like,

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Speaker 2: you know, learning things and things like what, oh will

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Speaker 2: the wrong things?

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Speaker 1: Marty says. He started getting into trouble for things like

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Speaker 1: selling drugs.

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Speaker 2: I start trying to find myself at that time, Like,

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Speaker 2: you know, my father was away at the time, and

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Speaker 2: so like I'm trying to find you know, where was

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Speaker 2: your dad at the time. My dad was incarcerated.

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Speaker 1: What was he incarcerated for.

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Speaker 2: Well, he's incarcerated for you know at that time, was

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Speaker 2: probably have some drug possessions or something.

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Speaker 1: How did that affect you.

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Speaker 2: When he left me? Like when he left at that time,

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Speaker 2: like I was hurt. You know, I was hurt, and

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Speaker 2: I'm trying to find myself and and it affected me

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Speaker 2: affected me a lot.

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Speaker 1: Marty started learning how to be a man from the streets.

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Speaker 2: I was starting to get taught the wrong things at

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Speaker 2: that time, like you know about just everything about women,

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Speaker 2: by life, by everything period. I was starting to get

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Speaker 2: taught those things like you know, like this how we

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Speaker 2: should do it, This is how we should look at women,

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Speaker 2: This how we should look at people.

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Speaker 1: At sixteen, Marty had his first kid and went on

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Speaker 1: to have three more. Marty says he was aimless and

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Speaker 1: getting cues from all the wrong people. Back then, stories

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Speaker 1: of neighborhood gangs were all over the local news. Not

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Speaker 1: a story you will see only on five. You know,

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Speaker 1: you used to only hear about gangs like the Crips and.

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Speaker 3: The MS thirteen Bloods, crips living and hanging out in

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Speaker 3: areas you may least.

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Speaker 1: Expin information tonight on a local store busted for dealing

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Speaker 1: drugs officers. Marty says he wasn't part of any gang,

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Speaker 1: but he was still involved with groups of kids and

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Speaker 1: young men breaking the law.

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Speaker 2: Like I'm gonna tell you, like I wasn't no angel.

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Speaker 2: You know, it was idea live a lifestyle, so you

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Speaker 2: couldn't do that in that area. So they end up

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Speaker 2: evicting my mother about it.

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Speaker 1: There, Marty left the neighborhood, but not the lifestyle. He says.

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Speaker 1: He kept acting foolish into his twenties and eventually made

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Speaker 1: a name for himself with law enforcement.

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Speaker 2: I had running ins, I had priors, I had I

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Speaker 2: had juvenile record. Yes, I had priors. I was out

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Speaker 2: there in the streets and moving around and stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: Though in between run ins with the law, Marty spent

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Speaker 1: part of his early twenties trying to get his degree.

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Speaker 2: I was going to job court. I was going there

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Speaker 2: for to be for business business management.

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Speaker 1: What would you have wanted to do with business management?

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Speaker 1: What were you thinking?

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Speaker 2: For real? I ain't know what I was doing. I

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Speaker 2: look back now, I shouldn have went in there. I

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Speaker 2: should have went and got carpentry or something. But like so,

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Speaker 2: I'm like, I think of business managed, because at that time,

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Speaker 2: everybody that's from the streets be saying business business management.

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Speaker 1: Putting two and two together business management and Marty's lifestyle,

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Speaker 1: I can kind of guess where he was going with

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Speaker 1: that degree.

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Speaker 2: So I'm going to Cincinnight job court school at the time,

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Speaker 2: And so my dad had called me and said, I

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Speaker 2: just heard your name on the news, I say for

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Speaker 2: what on the on the on the radio, they say

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Speaker 2: he was looking for you for a shooting.

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Speaker 1: I said, huh, shooting. This was Marty's first major arrest.

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Speaker 1: It was in two thousand and six that was.

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Speaker 2: Full tempted murder Forlonius Assault.

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Speaker 1: Marty was arrested for a drive by shooting at the

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Speaker 1: University of Cincinnati. Two men had been injured, but Marty

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Speaker 1: says he hadn't been involved and the case against him

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Speaker 1: didn't go very far.

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Speaker 2: The witness that got shot he dated my little sister

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Speaker 2: at the time, and so he even coming there like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: I know who shot me. He ain't shoot me. Yeah

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Speaker 2: he was up there. I seen him up there, but

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Speaker 2: he ain't shoot me. And so that case ended up

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Speaker 2: getting dismissed.

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Speaker 1: Still, Marty was on the police's radar now more than ever.

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Speaker 1: And not long after, Marty was arrested for another shooting,

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Speaker 1: but this time there was no survivor to say it

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Speaker 1: wasn't Marty. On the evening of December twenty eighth, two

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Speaker 1: thousand and seven, two shooters opened fire at the Hawaiian

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Speaker 1: Terraces apartment complex. So do you remember when this happened?

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Speaker 2: Yes, I remember like yesterday.

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Speaker 1: Tell me what you remember.

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Speaker 2: Well, what happened was, So I'm in the house. I'm

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Speaker 2: in the house. I'm on my mother houses. Three days

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Speaker 2: after Christmas, I got my daughter with me. So I'm in.

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Speaker 2: I'm in the house. I was actually laying down because

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Speaker 2: I had a real bad migraine. I received a call

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Speaker 2: by a friend of my friend of mine name Andre.

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Speaker 2: He called me. He said, brother, I heard a lot

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Speaker 2: of gunshots out here. He go outside, he says, ambulance,

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Speaker 2: fire trucks everywhere. I say, wow, what happened? So he

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Speaker 2: ended up asking somebody. They said what happened? He said, man,

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Speaker 2: somebody just got killed.

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Speaker 1: The victim was nineteen year old Michael Grace. According to reports,

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Speaker 1: Grace had been living with his aunt at the Hawaiian

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Speaker 1: Terrorists Apartment Complex. Prosecutor said that the teenager had been

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Speaker 1: trying to escape his former connections to a gang called

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Speaker 1: the Taliband, but on December twenty eighth, that former life

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Speaker 1: caught up with him. Grace was in a car with

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Speaker 1: his friend Carlos Mayo when members of a rival gang

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Speaker 1: allegedly picked a fight with them, which ended in his

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Speaker 1: fatal shooting.

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Speaker 2: There So I got up. I went in my mother

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Speaker 2: room and I said, Mom, somebody just got killed in

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Speaker 2: Hawaiian Village because we called it Hawaiian Village too. I said, well, man,

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Speaker 2: you know they will try to put that on me.

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Speaker 1: Remember, Marty used to live at Hawaiian Terrace before his

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Speaker 1: family was evicted. He was connected there.

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Speaker 2: She said, well, you went out there, you was right here.

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Speaker 1: But Marty knew his relationship with the streets and the

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Speaker 1: police would work against him.

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Speaker 2: My name always came up when something happened, even in

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Speaker 2: why I wasn't even being in that area no more,

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Speaker 2: My nave still came up.

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Speaker 1: Why did you think they were going to try and

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Speaker 1: put it on you?

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Speaker 2: Anytime something happened, they either go questioned me, or pull

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Speaker 2: me over, or do something like that. So I knew

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Speaker 2: that area. I knew either they go try to put

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Speaker 2: this on me, they go come question me, they go

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Speaker 2: do something.

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Speaker 1: But they didn't, at least not until after the New Year,

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Speaker 1: when a witness named Savannah Sorels appeared.

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Speaker 3: So she was a young woman who lived in the area,

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Speaker 3: lived in a position where she could see the shooting

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Speaker 3: from a window in her house.

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Speaker 1: This is Donald Castor.

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Speaker 3: I'm an attorney and a professor of clinical law at

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Speaker 3: the Ohio Nissance Project at the University of Cincinnati, and

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Speaker 3: I was privileged to be one of Marty's attorneys. In

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Speaker 3: his post conviction.

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Speaker 1: Proceedings, Donald says that Sorels told police she saw Marty

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Speaker 1: and his co defendant David Johnson kill Michael Grace, and when.

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Speaker 3: They showed her a picture of Marty and out of David,

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Speaker 3: she said to each that that was them. So Marty

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Speaker 3: and David were charged.

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Speaker 1: Once in custody, Marty tried to tell the police that

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Speaker 1: he'd been home with his mom and daughter the night

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Speaker 1: of the shooting, that they were making a mistake, just

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Speaker 1: like last time, except this time friends and relatives of

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Speaker 1: Michael Grace were pointing the finger.

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Speaker 2: Now I have a whole neighborhood that's saying that they

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Speaker 2: think they thinking that I killed their cousin, brother, our friend, whoever.

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Speaker 2: And so that's what made that one different.

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Speaker 1: And this time detectives had Robert Taylor, a jail house informant.

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Speaker 3: Robert would come forward to the lead investigator on Marty's

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Speaker 3: case and say that he heard Marty and David talking

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Speaker 3: about the case through the air ducks in the Hamilton

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Speaker 3: County Justice Center.

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Speaker 1: That's the jail Marty and his co defendant David Johnson

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Speaker 1: were being held in. Robert Taylor claimed that through the

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Speaker 1: air ducks he'd heard Marty admit that he'd killed Grace,

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Speaker 1: that they were members of rival gangs and they were

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Speaker 1: fighting over stolen guns before the shooting. Marty says Taylor

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Speaker 1: was known in the jail as a snake.

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Speaker 2: They caught him white chocolate. Watch him. He is snitched.

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Speaker 2: He jumping on people's cases. He doing this and doing that.

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Speaker 1: So Marty stayed away from him, but it didn't matter.

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Speaker 2: I end up getting the a visit from my attorney

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Speaker 2: and he basically was telling me who they was using

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Speaker 2: against me on my case. And he showed me a

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Speaker 2: picture of him. Said do you know this guy? I said,

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Speaker 2: that's the jail house snitch that'd be running around here.

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Speaker 2: He's like, well, yeah, they're about to use They want

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Speaker 2: to use him as a witness on your case.

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Speaker 1: Police had an informant making serious accusations, but over the

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Speaker 1: following months, the rest of their case against Marty seemed

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Speaker 1: to fall apart. At a pre trial hearing, Savannah Sorel's

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Speaker 1: a key witness, changed her statement.

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Speaker 3: Savannah came into court and said again, Now, I said

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Speaker 3: it with Marty, but I didn't actually see Marty. She said,

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Speaker 3: I saw David.

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Speaker 1: Remember David was Marty's co defendant.

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Speaker 3: And I knew that David and Marty hung around together

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Speaker 3: a lot, so I assumed that it was Marty with him,

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Speaker 3: but I didn't actually see who was with David. I

256
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Speaker 3: could just see that there was somebody with David, and

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Speaker 3: she said that, you know, at under oath.

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Speaker 1: In a pre trial court, Procene and Carlos Mayo, the

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Speaker 1: person who was with Michael Grace during the shootout, told

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Speaker 1: the authorities that Marty hadn't been there the night of

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Speaker 1: December twenty eighth.

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Speaker 2: When he testified say he was firing and my code defended,

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Speaker 2: And they asked him like, okay, did you know do

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Speaker 2: you know more? To he said, well, I know him

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Speaker 2: enough to identify him if I if I seen if

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Speaker 2: he was there, I would have seen him. I would

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Speaker 2: have knew he was there. But no, I ain knew

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Speaker 2: of him until they put him on the news.

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Speaker 1: This sounds so crazy to me. I feel like there's

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Speaker 1: more people saying he wasn't there than he was there.

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Speaker 3: There was nobody who said he was there, besides.

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Speaker 1: Robert Taylor, the snitch, right, the snitch who turns out

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Speaker 1: was getting a pretty sweet deal for testifying.

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Speaker 3: He offered testimony to support the police because he was

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Speaker 3: facing a murder charge. It was the first major offense

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Speaker 3: he had been charged with. It's pretty clear he was

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Speaker 3: scared and didn't want to convicted, And in fact, he

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Speaker 3: got a monster plead deal from the prosecution in that case,

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Speaker 3: was allowed to plead the involuntary manslaughter only did it

280
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Speaker 3: few years in prison to testify to testify against Marty

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Speaker 3: and others. But Marty was sort of the Marty and

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Speaker 3: David was sort of the big case.

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Speaker 2: That got him that deal.

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Speaker 1: But with the pre trial testimony of Sorrels and Mayo

285
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Speaker 1: in his favor, Marty thought surely the charges against him

286
00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:21,640
Speaker 1: would be dismissed. But then the judge set a trial date.

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Speaker 2: I'm like a trial date, Like, I mean, I really

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Speaker 2: about to say the trial and is I got a

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Speaker 2: whole witness getting up here saying and I commit this crime.

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Speaker 1: Even though it might seem really weak to take to trial.

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Speaker 3: There was a lot of pressure to get this case

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Speaker 3: solved and resolved because at the time, there was an increase,

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00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,680
Speaker 3: or at least a perceived increase in gun violence in Cincinnati.

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Speaker 3: There was a lot of impetus to put somebody away

295
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Speaker 3: for this crime.

296
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Speaker 1: Amid this climate with fear of violence and constant stories

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Speaker 1: of gangs in the nightly news. Marty went to trial

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Speaker 1: in January of two thousand and nine, prosecuted by Gus

299
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Speaker 1: Leone and Anne Flanagan. So tell me about trial. So

300
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Speaker 1: in my notes, I actually don't have any kind of defense.

301
00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:18,520
Speaker 1: Really did that actually happen? Was there no defense?

302
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Speaker 3: Well, so it's it's I'm trying to remember, did help

303
00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:24,080
Speaker 3: put your family on this an ALTI?

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Speaker 1: Marty's defense attorney in two thousand and nine was Hal Arenstein.

305
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Speaker 2: No, okay, yeah, we talked. I talked to Hall about that,

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Speaker 2: and he was like, you know, putting the putting your

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Speaker 2: family up there, They go, okay, you put your mom's

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Speaker 2: up there. They go your mom? Alaugh, oh you you

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Speaker 2: put your this and that? Like but when I look

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Speaker 2: back now, I'm like, I should have put my mom

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Speaker 2: up there.

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Speaker 1: So I went up there for you.

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Speaker 2: No one, no, no one.

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Speaker 3: There was no defense presented, and that was a pretty

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Speaker 3: common defense perception that juris don't believe alibis from family members.

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Speaker 1: Sure, but how was he defense without a defense?

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Speaker 3: So I think the idea, and let me be very

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Speaker 3: clear about this, Hall is a really good attorney. I

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Speaker 3: take no issues with anything that Hal did in this case.

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Speaker 2: I think the idea that was that this case was

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Speaker 2: just so weak.

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Speaker 3: From the prosecution's point of view that no jury would convict.

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Speaker 3: And I think that if this case were tried today

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Speaker 3: on that evidence, juries were skeptical enough that they wouldn't.

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Speaker 3: But in two thousand and eight, before there was a

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Speaker 3: little bit of the more sophistication that the jury seemed

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Speaker 3: to have now, and when people in that time were

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Speaker 3: afraid of the perception of increasing gun violence, Marty was convicted.

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Speaker 1: Sentenced to thirty one years to life for murder, felonious assault,

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Speaker 1: and tampering with evidence.

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Speaker 2: When they say it guilty, I'll say, I'll say how like,

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Speaker 2: I mean like what, I'm like, I look back, my

333
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Speaker 2: mom said we'll pill it, and I'm like like wow,

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Speaker 2: So like it it ain't kick in right away because

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Speaker 2: I still ain't know the law. I still I never

336
00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:10,960
Speaker 2: been to prison before, so I ain't know how nothing

337
00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:13,440
Speaker 2: was I ain't know how the process is with these

338
00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:16,199
Speaker 2: appeals and stuff like that. I ain't know. I just

339
00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:18,440
Speaker 2: ain't know nothing. I was lost in the whole situation.

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Speaker 1: Shortly after his conviction, while he was still trying to

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Speaker 1: process everything, Marty says, his grandma sent him a passage

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Speaker 1: from the Bible.

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Speaker 2: Song twenty three The Lord is My Shepherd. Shend me

344
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Speaker 2: that scripture and she said, baby, she told me, like,

345
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Speaker 2: you ain't gonna be able to do that without God.

346
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Speaker 1: So Marty says, he continued reading the Bible and started

347
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Speaker 1: going to church.

348
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Speaker 2: I need some hope, I needed some faith, I needed

349
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Speaker 2: some beast.

350
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Speaker 1: And he started to reckon with the life he led

351
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Speaker 1: before prison.

352
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Speaker 2: I'm locked up for something I ain't do. But whow

353
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Speaker 2: I'm locked up? So I had to start looking at

354
00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:56,520
Speaker 2: looking at that something led up to this, And that's

355
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Speaker 2: when it got to show in my lifestyle. The lifestyle

356
00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,200
Speaker 2: while I was living lay it up to this. Because

357
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Speaker 2: if I wan't in the streets, if I wasn't running

358
00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:06,720
Speaker 2: around saying that don't happen to them, that happened to

359
00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:10,280
Speaker 2: people like that. But I'm if I wasn't running the streets,

360
00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,320
Speaker 2: my name would it never came up in that at all.

361
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Speaker 1: So Marty says he decided he was going to change.

362
00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:23,280
Speaker 2: So I'm like, let me, let me get me together,

363
00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,760
Speaker 2: let me let me learn how to be a father.

364
00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:29,600
Speaker 2: So I started taking classes on dad and I and

365
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:33,280
Speaker 2: you know, fatherhood classes don't how to be a father

366
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Speaker 2: or you know, like even even how to be a

367
00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:38,560
Speaker 2: husband or how to be a brother, how to be

368
00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:40,840
Speaker 2: how to beat those and what do it really mean?

369
00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:46,679
Speaker 2: Because I was taught wrong. I stay focused, and you know,

370
00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:53,399
Speaker 2: I became facilitators of programs in there, you know self,

371
00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:56,200
Speaker 2: Like we had a program called real Man where you

372
00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:57,960
Speaker 2: got guys talking to the youth that's coming and we

373
00:18:58,000 --> 00:18:59,919
Speaker 2: got guys coming there like eighteen years old. So like

374
00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:02,639
Speaker 2: I'm doing things like that through the chat pacer on

375
00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:07,199
Speaker 2: Real Man programs. Family First, I was consistent and I

376
00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:10,640
Speaker 2: worked out, exercised the lots when in the law library,

377
00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:12,960
Speaker 2: just read a lot of stuff like that, and it

378
00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:13,560
Speaker 2: changed me.

379
00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:19,439
Speaker 1: Marty put in a ton of work on himself and

380
00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:23,560
Speaker 1: his case for years. He appealed his case on issues

381
00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:28,160
Speaker 1: like suggestive witness identification because police had shown Sorels only

382
00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:32,160
Speaker 1: one photograph instead of a lineup to confirm Marty as

383
00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,960
Speaker 1: the shooter, plus another witness had come forward claiming that

384
00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,800
Speaker 1: she'd seen the shooting and Marty hadn't been involved. Also,

385
00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:43,239
Speaker 1: Marty wanted DNA testing on the shell casings found at

386
00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:48,119
Speaker 1: the scene, but all his appeals were denied. So Marty

387
00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:51,159
Speaker 1: wrote the Ohio Innocence Project. And he waited.

388
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,000
Speaker 2: So one day I'm sitting up in a bed. It

389
00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,879
Speaker 2: was twenty twelve, and so he said, levis, do you

390
00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:05,320
Speaker 2: have a visit. So I'm like, I'm like, Damn, I

391
00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:07,359
Speaker 2: wonder who this is. I ain't got no visit set up, Like,

392
00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:09,960
Speaker 2: I don't know if somebody was coming to visit me.

393
00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:12,280
Speaker 2: So I'm like, so I'm thinking, I'm like, oh, that

394
00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:14,480
Speaker 2: must be somebody important. So I went ahead and hurry

395
00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:15,320
Speaker 2: up put my stuff on.

396
00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:18,760
Speaker 1: When Marty got to the visiting room, it was Donald.

397
00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:21,040
Speaker 2: So I come in there. He got he gotta he

398
00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:23,720
Speaker 2: got a missus Donald. He got a look on his face.

399
00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:26,159
Speaker 2: Mister Donald got a serious look on his face. He

400
00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:28,600
Speaker 2: you know I'm coming in here, Like hold on, I

401
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,000
Speaker 2: know he want he won't playing no games. So I'm like,

402
00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:32,680
Speaker 2: he coming there, you know, he talking to me. I'll

403
00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,280
Speaker 2: tell him he's going though. He say he said, give

404
00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:37,320
Speaker 2: me a few days and I'm gonna talk to somebody.

405
00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:39,080
Speaker 2: I ain't telling you it's a goal yet, but I'm

406
00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:41,399
Speaker 2: gonna talk to somebody and just call me Monday and

407
00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:43,439
Speaker 2: see what's up. So I went back praying, but I

408
00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,000
Speaker 2: called my mama, like and it's a project. Can't see me.

409
00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:47,199
Speaker 2: I don't think the guy liked me.

410
00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:51,680
Speaker 1: But meanwhile, Donald couldn't wait to get started.

411
00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,000
Speaker 3: I came back to the office and I started telling

412
00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:56,480
Speaker 3: everybody either they got to senizent guy Marty Levingston, and

413
00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:57,479
Speaker 3: we gotta get him out and here.

414
00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,679
Speaker 1: So Donald and the Ohio Innocence Project to work on

415
00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:05,200
Speaker 1: Marty's case for years. They tried to find new evidence

416
00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:08,880
Speaker 1: to get Marty back in court. Then their break came

417
00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:12,160
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one. Because of developments in what's known

418
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:16,760
Speaker 1: as touch DNA testing. Donald and his team applied for

419
00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:20,359
Speaker 1: post conviction testing on all the evidence that hadn't been

420
00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:25,600
Speaker 1: analyzed for prince and DNA during the original investigation. They

421
00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:29,360
Speaker 1: were appealing to the same judge that had denied Marty's

422
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:33,240
Speaker 1: previous appeal, but this time the judge wanted to have

423
00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:37,040
Speaker 1: a hearing to find out what evidence existed that could

424
00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:39,480
Speaker 1: prove Marty's innocence, and she said.

425
00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:41,200
Speaker 3: Maybe I'll grant it, but I want to have the hearing,

426
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:44,439
Speaker 3: and I want to make this state tell us what

427
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:46,280
Speaker 3: evidence exists that could be tested.

428
00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:51,680
Speaker 1: But that never happened. Before any DNA testing could materialize,

429
00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,880
Speaker 1: prosecutors went back to Marty with a new deal, and.

430
00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:58,920
Speaker 3: At that point the prosecution was willing to offer what's

431
00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:00,320
Speaker 3: called this dark please deal.

432
00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:04,840
Speaker 4: So the key to understanding what a dark plea is

433
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:06,200
Speaker 4: is when it's offered.

434
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:09,000
Speaker 1: Okay, this is Justice Michael Donnelly.

435
00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:14,040
Speaker 4: I presently serve as an Associate Justice on the Ohio

436
00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,840
Speaker 4: Supreme Court, where I've served since two thousand and nineteen.

437
00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:22,520
Speaker 1: Justice Donnelly is an expert and a vocal critic of

438
00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:27,160
Speaker 1: what he calls dark pleas, which are deals prosecutors make

439
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:31,240
Speaker 1: behind closed doors with people who claim they've been wrongfully convicted,

440
00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:33,960
Speaker 1: who are looking for a new trial, like Marty.

441
00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:36,959
Speaker 4: When you're on the front lines of the system and

442
00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:40,280
Speaker 4: you see the injustice that occurs as a result of

443
00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:45,800
Speaker 4: a non transparent system and people being coerced into plea bargains,

444
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,960
Speaker 4: that should not I think it's an obligation on all

445
00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:50,240
Speaker 4: judges to speak.

446
00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:53,040
Speaker 1: Up but he didn't always have dreams of advocating for

447
00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:59,280
Speaker 1: justice and practicing law. He actually wanted to be a musician.

448
00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:06,080
Speaker 4: So the music career didn't work out the way I expected.

449
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,720
Speaker 4: But I've been able to incorporate my love of music

450
00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:10,680
Speaker 4: into my life.

451
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,000
Speaker 1: In his mid forties, he started a band.

452
00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:16,000
Speaker 4: We're called Faith and Whiskey, and our motto is, if

453
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,359
Speaker 4: you don't have one, you better have the other. We

454
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,360
Speaker 4: do a lot of benefits, including the Legal Aid benefit

455
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:26,200
Speaker 4: here in Cleveland, which is the legal event of the summer.

456
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,359
Speaker 4: I call it the Jam for Justice.

457
00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:31,440
Speaker 1: So you find being a rocker at night Supreme Court

458
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:33,720
Speaker 1: judge by day they work well.

459
00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:35,680
Speaker 4: Say yeah, well, my kids think it's cool.

460
00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:39,320
Speaker 1: Justice Donnelly says he used law school as a delay

461
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:42,679
Speaker 1: tactic to get his music career off the ground. But

462
00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:46,280
Speaker 1: next thing he knew, he was an assistant county prosecutor

463
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:47,119
Speaker 1: and then.

464
00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:50,480
Speaker 4: Went into civil liedication, practiced a total of twelve years

465
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,760
Speaker 4: before taking the bench as a trial court judge.

466
00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:57,719
Speaker 1: Justice Donnelly was a trial court judge for fourteen years.

467
00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:05,760
Speaker 4: So I'm fully aware through my observations during those fourteen

468
00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:14,400
Speaker 4: years of the coercive nature of plea bargaining as it exists.

469
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:18,359
Speaker 1: In the modern day please or deals where the defense, prosecution,

470
00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:21,199
Speaker 1: and judge come to an agreement on a conviction and

471
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:23,960
Speaker 1: sentencing instead of at trial.

472
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:27,480
Speaker 4: And very early on in my career, and what I

473
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:30,080
Speaker 4: describe as one of the biggest epiphanies of my career,

474
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:34,080
Speaker 4: I began the question the ethics of what takes place

475
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:34,920
Speaker 4: in that back room.

476
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,159
Speaker 1: He says, judges have outsized power when it comes to

477
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:39,920
Speaker 1: backroom negotiations.

478
00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:45,359
Speaker 4: There's no objective criteria that judges use to accept or

479
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:48,840
Speaker 4: reject a plea bargain. Like sometimes you might be in

480
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:52,080
Speaker 4: a judge's back room chambers and that you've come to

481
00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:56,879
Speaker 4: an agreed sentence with the prosecution and the defense, and

482
00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:00,600
Speaker 4: the judge might say, I don't agree with that. I

483
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:03,320
Speaker 4: think this person has to do five or ten or whatever.

484
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:07,240
Speaker 4: And this gets set in the back room and the

485
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:10,840
Speaker 4: questions never raise. You know what guides the judge to

486
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:11,320
Speaker 4: do that.

487
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,439
Speaker 1: Now, when it comes to people like Marty, people have

488
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,879
Speaker 1: been convicted but claim they're innocent, Justice Donnelly says, the

489
00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:21,000
Speaker 1: deck is even further stacked against them.

490
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:26,480
Speaker 4: It is very difficult to have the court system look

491
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:30,720
Speaker 4: at your case for a second time and reconsider.

492
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:32,720
Speaker 1: It, and judges can take their time deciding on a

493
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:34,280
Speaker 1: post conviction case.

494
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:39,000
Speaker 4: And the judges sometimes let those motions languish for years.

495
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:43,080
Speaker 4: For years, there's no speedy trial or the equivalent of

496
00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:45,120
Speaker 4: speedy trial rights for innocence claimants.

497
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,679
Speaker 1: In Marty's case, it took several rounds before a judge

498
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:52,399
Speaker 1: even agreed to allow DNA testing, which could have opened

499
00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:59,240
Speaker 1: the doors for a brand new trial. But before Marty

500
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,920
Speaker 1: got a second chance at proving his innocence, the prosecution

501
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:23,240
Speaker 1: approached him with a new deal, the dark Plea. Here's

502
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:25,359
Speaker 1: Marty's attorney, Donald Caster again.

503
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,600
Speaker 3: So what they said is, look, we will support emotion

504
00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,040
Speaker 3: for a new trial, and the basis for the motion

505
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:33,240
Speaker 3: of the new trial is just going to be we,

506
00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 3: the prosecutors, believe that Marty was over sentenced. In exchange,

507
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:41,199
Speaker 3: we will expect Marty to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

508
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,920
Speaker 3: He will be immediately eligible for release and the case

509
00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:47,520
Speaker 3: will be behind him. And it's a tough thing. I

510
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:48,480
Speaker 3: don't you.

511
00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 1: Know what was the option if you didn't take.

512
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,760
Speaker 3: That, to keep fighting over the DNA evidence, And even

513
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:57,200
Speaker 3: if everything fell perfectly into place, it would be another

514
00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 3: at least couple of years of litigation before we got

515
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:01,040
Speaker 3: a new trial order.

516
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:01,480
Speaker 2: At least.

517
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,280
Speaker 1: Donald says Marty had a tough choice to make.

518
00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:09,160
Speaker 3: Marty was was getting anxious his parents were getting older. Yes,

519
00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:11,520
Speaker 3: he wanted to see them again. His parents, his kids

520
00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:13,480
Speaker 3: are growing up without him.

521
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:17,240
Speaker 1: Justice Donnelly says, this is the crux of the dark plea.

522
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,680
Speaker 4: Do you want to take the risk of what's behind

523
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 4: door number three? You want to take the risk, you

524
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:27,200
Speaker 4: can do that, or here's the keys to your jail cell,

525
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,200
Speaker 4: which one you're gonna take. That's that's exactly what happened.

526
00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:32,080
Speaker 2: What's happening.

527
00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:36,160
Speaker 4: So I've never criticized anyone for taking the dark plea

528
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:37,640
Speaker 4: because it's so unconscionable.

529
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:41,080
Speaker 1: So even though Marty would have to forego the opportunity

530
00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:45,119
Speaker 1: to prove his innocence, he decided to take the plea.

531
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:49,640
Speaker 2: You know what, I'm gonna go a hit and take it.

532
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:53,080
Speaker 2: I know, I'm gonn probably be on parole and I'm

533
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:54,800
Speaker 2: just go I'm just get out. I'm just go get out.

534
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:56,760
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna get out and prove them wrong and

535
00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,240
Speaker 2: show them wrong. Like nah, I'm I'm no. I was

536
00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:04,199
Speaker 2: not who y'all who? I was not that, So you

537
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:05,480
Speaker 2: took it, y'all took it.

538
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:10,520
Speaker 1: On February sixteenth, twenty twenty three, Marty stood in front

539
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:12,159
Speaker 1: of Judge Wendy Cross.

540
00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:18,680
Speaker 2: So you're nervous, I'm nervous, a heart beating. That's when.

541
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,399
Speaker 2: That's when she said, it's a good day. The judge

542
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,199
Speaker 2: said that. Judge Cross said it's a good day, and

543
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:34,480
Speaker 2: they she said everything that she you know and not

544
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:36,679
Speaker 2: she said you will be going home to your family.

545
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:38,960
Speaker 2: Then I just looked up, like.

546
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:42,000
Speaker 1: What did anyone like? Did you hear anything? Was there

547
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:44,880
Speaker 1: a gas for a scream or fab Yeah?

548
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:49,040
Speaker 2: They had to quiet down yesterday. Yes you heard, I

549
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:53,560
Speaker 2: heard them. It was different than when they said guilty, guilty,

550
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:56,720
Speaker 2: it was crying and screaming. This time it was joy.

551
00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 3: Dark pleas are a really bittersweet moment for everyone. In fact,

552
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:07,080
Speaker 3: when Marty went home finally, I think what Judge Cross

553
00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 3: said exactly was it's always a good day when.

554
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:12,200
Speaker 2: Justice was done was done.

555
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 3: And that was hard for me to hear because I

556
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,239
Speaker 3: was sitting in the room, and while I was very

557
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,400
Speaker 3: happy that Marty was going home, it didn't feel to

558
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:19,480
Speaker 3: me like justice.

559
00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 2: Was happening that day.

560
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:25,720
Speaker 1: That bitter sweet feeling is one Justice Donnelly shares, which

561
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,360
Speaker 1: is why he's made it his mission to stop the

562
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:30,160
Speaker 1: practice of dark Please.

563
00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:33,120
Speaker 4: This is the way power works in the dark.

564
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:35,800
Speaker 1: If it were up to him, the judge in Marty's

565
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:39,480
Speaker 1: case wouldn't have allowed for a backroom deal with the prosecutors.

566
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:41,920
Speaker 1: She would have held a hearing out in the open.

567
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,959
Speaker 1: Let Marty's lawyers prove his case and make the prosecution

568
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:47,720
Speaker 1: stand by theirs.

569
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:50,640
Speaker 4: Because when a hearing takes place in an open court

570
00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 4: where the press contend it can attend and observe, you

571
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 4: see the merits or the lack of merits rise or

572
00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:03,120
Speaker 4: fall to that standard that the innocent advocates are trying

573
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,920
Speaker 4: to get. Hey, the theory of guilt that was told

574
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 4: to the original jury has been completely undermine and then

575
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:11,880
Speaker 4: it becomes clear to the judge you have to put

576
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:14,720
Speaker 4: the defendant or a new trial or not.

577
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:18,720
Speaker 1: As far as in his own courtroom, Justice Donnelly decided

578
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:23,479
Speaker 1: long ago to put all backroom conversations on the record.

579
00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:27,200
Speaker 4: That way, everybody's held accountable, the prosecutor of the defense,

580
00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:28,840
Speaker 4: lawyer and me, the judge.

581
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 1: Justice Donnelly actually coined the phrase dark plea because he says,

582
00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 1: if you can name it, you can fix it.

583
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:39,880
Speaker 4: If this term were to become commonplace in saying, and

584
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:42,360
Speaker 4: you could say, judge, they want to offer me a

585
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:45,320
Speaker 4: dark flea, and the judge could say, no, we're not

586
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:46,080
Speaker 4: letting that happen.

587
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:52,520
Speaker 1: Marty was released in February of last year into the

588
00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:59,960
Speaker 1: arms of his loved ones, and since getting out, Marty

589
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,920
Speaker 1: he has wasted no time catching up on life.

590
00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:09,640
Speaker 2: Everything been great. You know when I first came home.

591
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:12,600
Speaker 2: You know, I got married two months later to my wife,

592
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 2: Latoy Elevenston, and we got married April to eighth, and

593
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:30,040
Speaker 2: since then it's just been it been, it been because

594
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:33,800
Speaker 2: I'm learning now. So she she she we we kind

595
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:36,479
Speaker 2: of bump. Here is a lot because I'm I'm still learning.

596
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:37,320
Speaker 2: She been out here.

597
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:40,360
Speaker 1: So what's one of the hardest things You're learning?

598
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:43,920
Speaker 2: Patience? Like being patient with things, like being in line

599
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:48,440
Speaker 2: for something, or even even like you know, just even

600
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,400
Speaker 2: dealing with finances and stuff. It's just different little things

601
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:52,480
Speaker 2: that I have to learn.

602
00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:54,840
Speaker 1: What's what's it like being back with your kids? I

603
00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:56,600
Speaker 1: mean some of them you really didn't even see them

604
00:31:56,600 --> 00:31:57,000
Speaker 1: grow up.

605
00:31:57,200 --> 00:31:59,800
Speaker 2: I'm starting to learn how important I am and my

606
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:04,080
Speaker 2: responsibilities as a man in the house, you know, because

607
00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:06,400
Speaker 2: you gotta think I'm coming inside of the house with

608
00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:08,800
Speaker 2: some children that don't don't know me. You ain't grow

609
00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:12,480
Speaker 2: up with me. So like they gotta learn my space.

610
00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:14,760
Speaker 2: I gotta learn. I gotta learn what to say. Not

611
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:18,320
Speaker 2: they like they learning me too.

612
00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:22,000
Speaker 1: Marty works as a stationary steam engineer and has a

613
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:26,320
Speaker 1: clothing line with his cousin called Extravagant Culture Department, and

614
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:30,400
Speaker 1: he's been attending speaking engagements with Justice Donnelly and Donald

615
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:34,400
Speaker 1: at the OIP the Ohio Innocence Project to advocate against

616
00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:39,440
Speaker 1: wrongful convictions and dark Please Marty not only considers them colleagues,

617
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:41,040
Speaker 1: but family.

618
00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:43,600
Speaker 2: Or if he's been with me all the way through,

619
00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:47,440
Speaker 2: you know, like just even like if I'm going through something,

620
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:50,120
Speaker 2: I could call them for anything, Like I mean, I

621
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:52,600
Speaker 2: call him all during the day, Like I call him

622
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:56,480
Speaker 2: mister Donald, take some callum. I call anybody from down

623
00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:00,560
Speaker 2: there and they go pick up to me and it's

624
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:03,680
Speaker 2: not fake. If I need to see him, I still

625
00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:05,600
Speaker 2: go down to the office all the time down on

626
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,840
Speaker 2: the college. I think I'll come in there more to anybody.

627
00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:13,240
Speaker 3: You may be there more than I am, so I always.

628
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:16,120
Speaker 2: Go down there and check on everybody. It's my family.

629
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:27,680
Speaker 1: So thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling.

630
00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,560
Speaker 1: Please support your local innocence organization. You can go to

631
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:33,760
Speaker 1: the links in the episode description to see how you

632
00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,680
Speaker 1: can help and to read more about Justice Donnelly's work

633
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:41,160
Speaker 1: on Dark Please. This episode was written by me Maggie Freeling,

634
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,840
Speaker 1: with story editing and mixing by senior producer Rebecca Ibada.

635
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:49,200
Speaker 1: Our producer is Kathleen Fink. Our researcher Shelby Sorels, with

636
00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:52,560
Speaker 1: additional mixing by Josh Allen and additional production help by

637
00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:56,760
Speaker 1: Jeff Cliburn and Connor Hall. Executive producers are Jason Flahm,

638
00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 1: Jeff Kempler, and Kevin Wurtis. The music is by three

639
00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:03,880
Speaker 1: time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Make sure to follow

640
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:06,680
Speaker 1: us on all social media platforms at Lava for Good

641
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,279
Speaker 1: and at Wrongful Conviction. You can also follow me on

642
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:13,480
Speaker 1: all platforms at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling

643
00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:16,680
Speaker 1: is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association

644
00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:18,480
Speaker 1: with Signal Company Number one