Speaker 1: On March fourteenth, nineteen ninety eight, the body of nineteen
Speaker 1: year old Anthony Golotti was found alongside a desolate stretch
Speaker 1: of road outside of Sacramento, California. The case remained cold
Speaker 1: for over a year until a young man named Israel
Speaker 1: Sept went to prison on a gun charge and offered
Speaker 1: authorities information about the murder. According to Sept, he was
Speaker 1: at an apartment when two others, Angela Devorski and Jeremy Pucket, assaulted, robbed,
Speaker 1: and abducted Anthony Golotti. Then, according to Sept, he got
Speaker 1: into Anthony's car with them to keep him safe from
Speaker 1: further violence, but failed when they arrived at that stretch
Speaker 1: of road where Golotti was fatally shot. In the weeks
Speaker 1: following the murder, Angelo Devorski also turned up dead, leaving
Speaker 1: only Jeremy Pucket to stay a trial where Scept made
Speaker 1: good on his plea deal and sent Jeremy away for life.
Speaker 1: But this is wrongful conviction. Wrongful conviction has always given
Speaker 1: voice to innocent people in prison. Now we're expanding that
Speaker 1: voice to you. Call us at eight three three, two
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Speaker 1: A three three two oh seven, four six sixty six.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Rafel Conviction. Today, we have a story
Speaker 1: out of Northern California in the years following legislation that
Speaker 1: had been passed to stop ironically prosecutions just like this
Speaker 1: one that use snitch testimony that is not corroborated by
Speaker 1: independent evidence. Nevertheless, a path was made with the help
Speaker 1: of other incentivized witnesses, to let that happened. And here
Speaker 1: to help tell this story as an attorney with the
Speaker 1: Northern California Inisons Project, Karen Sanu, New Tower, Karen, Welcome
Speaker 1: to the show.
Speaker 2: Thank you, and our.
Speaker 1: Guest of honor today, the man who lived and somehow
Speaker 1: survived this night, mayre Jeremy Pucket. Jeremy welcome, thank you.
Speaker 1: And this crime took place in a place called Rancho
Speaker 1: Cordova kind of outside of Sacramento anyway. Is that where
Speaker 1: you grew up and what was your family life like?
Speaker 2: Well, I grew up in Sacramento, California, pretty much all
Speaker 2: over the place, mainly ranch cordova'sself, and we moved around
Speaker 2: a lot, you know, and didn't have the most money
Speaker 2: or anything. But you know, my parents they did the
Speaker 2: best they could and gave me, my brother and my
Speaker 2: sister the best life that we could have. So I
Speaker 2: had a great childhood. It was good. It was really good.
Speaker 1: In the late eighties and early nineties, the crack epidemic
Speaker 1: affected many of Jeremy's friends, but not him. Instead, Jeremy
Speaker 1: became a father who's clear head served him well. One night,
Speaker 1: when his young family faced a situation.
Speaker 2: The house call on fire while me and my son's mother,
Speaker 2: Carl were sleeping, and as I woke up, I opened
Speaker 2: up the door and there was just smoke coming up
Speaker 2: the stairs. So I went across the hall grabbed my son,
Speaker 2: and because of all the smoke and everything's coming from downstairs,
Speaker 2: I knew we had to jump out the window. When
Speaker 2: we jumped out the window, at that time, I knew
Speaker 2: that her sister would sleep downstairs, and so I kicked
Speaker 2: in the door to get her out. However, when her
Speaker 2: sister was coming out the door, that's when she told
Speaker 2: me that one of my good friends was sleeping. My
Speaker 2: son's Auntie's room basically, and by that time the house
Speaker 2: was up in flames and there's nothing we can do
Speaker 2: to save them.
Speaker 1: Oh man, what was his name?
Speaker 2: Benny Campbell? And I think the worst part of it
Speaker 2: was is I heard her scream as he was trying
Speaker 2: to get out, and like, this is like not just
Speaker 2: a friend, Like he was like one of my best friends.
Speaker 2: So just to not be able to save him, you know,
Speaker 2: And it still affects me, I guess you could say,
Speaker 2: and it's just and still miss him to this day.
Speaker 1: Jeremy displayed true heroism that night, but unbeknownst to him,
Speaker 1: his friend Israel Scept harbored some resentments over Benny's death.
Speaker 2: I believe I met him through Benny. I thought we
Speaker 2: had a good relationship. I thought we were good friends.
Speaker 2: You know, he came to my house, I would go
Speaker 2: to his house. But yeah, I guess we were as
Speaker 2: good as friends as I thought thought we were.
Speaker 1: Israel Scept became integral to Jeremy's wrongful conviction for a
Speaker 1: murder that in part began at the apartment of a
Speaker 1: young man named William van Hill.
Speaker 3: This was a small, one bedroom apartment in the heart
Speaker 3: of Rancho Cordova, and William van Hill would let people
Speaker 3: come to the house and deal drugs and he would
Speaker 3: get some drugs through that, and he also was letting
Speaker 3: a guy named Larry Biddlebrooks crash there every once in
Speaker 3: a while, and so on the particular night in March
Speaker 3: nineteen ninety eight, Larry middle brook Brooks was there. Van
Speaker 3: Hill was pretty much in his bedroom. A woman named
Speaker 3: Patty Scott Bostik was there. She and Larry Middlebrooks were
Speaker 3: heavily using crack cocaine that night and drinking a lot.
Speaker 3: And then Israel Sep was there.
Speaker 1: Jeremy planned to hang out with Israel step that night
Speaker 1: after a family gathering.
Speaker 2: Had a little get together. It was no part or nothing,
Speaker 2: and we had a little barbecue. It was me, my
Speaker 2: sister's friend, Chante, my son's mother, Akara, my mom was there,
Speaker 2: my dad was there. There was a few people there
Speaker 2: that could all testify to my whereabouts this night. Prior
Speaker 2: to my leaving and coming back, I remember talking to Israel.
Speaker 2: He told me what was going to be at. I
Speaker 2: showed up and as I seen how things were progressing
Speaker 2: at the apartment where he was at, I pulled myself
Speaker 2: out of that and went back home.
Speaker 3: The victim of the murder, Anthony Glotti, showed up wanting
Speaker 3: to buy some drugs to celebrate his nineteenth birthday. He
Speaker 3: was by himself.
Speaker 2: The Goliath didn't looked like the usual crack I guess
Speaker 2: she would say, so he showed up. I was like,
Speaker 2: this guy looks like he might be the police. And
Speaker 2: I told Scept this, and Set was still intent on
Speaker 2: selling this guy drugs. And that's when I decided to
Speaker 2: pull myself out of that situation and leave because I
Speaker 2: was not gonna be involved in something that got myself
Speaker 2: in trouble.
Speaker 3: With and Galotti was a young, young god yeah guy
Speaker 3: that everyone called the preppy because he didn't look like
Speaker 3: anyone else in the apartment.
Speaker 2: It's not to judge anybody, but just look out of place.
Speaker 3: But he saw this young attractive woman, Angela Devorski, and
Speaker 3: he left the apartment, but then told his friends he
Speaker 3: wanted to go back and meet up with the girl.
Speaker 2: I didn't know Andrew Devorski. The only people, I guess
Speaker 2: you really knew it was Israel and Larry. That's about it.
Speaker 1: According to all accounts, Angela Davorski was there with her
Speaker 1: boyfriend James Reeves, also referred to as Jamo, but the
Speaker 1: accounts diverge on what happened between the time Jeremy left
Speaker 1: the apartment that night and when Anthony glotti body was
Speaker 1: found on March fourteenth, nineteen ninety eight, on White Rock Road.
Speaker 3: Just a driver going down the road spotted him and
Speaker 3: called it in to police. He was at the side
Speaker 3: of the road in an unincorporated area of Sacramento County.
Speaker 3: It appeared that he had been shot out there. His
Speaker 3: hands were tied behind his back. Really an assassination type murder.
Speaker 3: Originally they thought he had one bullet wound to the head,
Speaker 3: but after autopsy, they realized he had been shot twice
Speaker 3: in the head.
Speaker 1: The medical examiner later testified that the time of death
Speaker 1: was likely between five and seven am on Saturday, March fourteenth.
Speaker 1: Two days later, an I think Alotti's Pontiac fireberg was
Speaker 1: found set ablaze in a parking lot, and then, as
Speaker 1: police continued to question non associates, Angela Devoorski's body washed
Speaker 1: up in the American River on May first of ninety eight.
Speaker 1: She had been stabbed twelve times. Her case remains cold
Speaker 1: to this day, but Galotti's investigation was reinvigorated when Israel's
Speaker 1: SEPT was victed an unlawful discharge of a firearm in
Speaker 1: October of ninety nine.
Speaker 3: As soon as you are taken to prison, your DNA
Speaker 3: is taken. In California, Israel believed that his DNA was
Speaker 3: going to implicate him in the murder of Anthony Gollotti,
Speaker 3: so he contacted the Sheriff's office to tell a story
Speaker 3: that would take the focus away from him and onto
Speaker 3: someone else. He then was interviewed by the Sacramento Sheriff's
Speaker 3: office three or four times, and each story was inconsistent.
Speaker 1: Jeremy's jury never heard about Sept's motivation. Nevertheless, it appears
Speaker 1: that SEPT bounced inconsistent stories off the Sacramento Sheriff's department
Speaker 1: until they landed on a narrative which Anthony Gollotti came
Speaker 1: to William Van Hill's apartment to buy some drugs, and
Speaker 1: Scept alleged that Jeremy Pistol whipped and tied up Anthony
Speaker 1: with the help of Angela Devorski. Scept said that he
Speaker 1: followed them out to Anthony's car, where he allegedly told
Speaker 1: Anthony that he would come along and keep him safe.
Speaker 1: Then Jeremy allegedly drove them all out to White Rock Road,
Speaker 1: took Anthony out of the car, shot him, and drove off,
Speaker 1: dropping sept at a motel. Shortly after this account, Jeremy
Speaker 1: was brought in for questioning.
Speaker 2: They were just asking me questions about a murder that happened,
Speaker 2: Like I have to know something about this, because you know,
Speaker 2: I'm from the neighborhood or whatever, and I don't have
Speaker 2: no idea what they're talking about. I believe they mentioned Israel,
Speaker 2: and that's when I started trying like peaceful things agein.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, this is what's going on, But
Speaker 2: I still had no idea of what happened after I
Speaker 2: had left the apartment where he was at this night.
Speaker 1: Curiously, only Scept was charged in June of two thousand
Speaker 1: and taken to trial in March two thousand and.
Speaker 3: One, because all they have is this so called confession
Speaker 3: by Israel, and so they have to try them separately
Speaker 3: because Israel will have the opportunity to take the Fifth
Speaker 3: Amendment and then there'd be no case. And they can't
Speaker 3: just use this statement because Jeremy wouldn't have had a
Speaker 3: chance to cross exam Israel, so they had to try
Speaker 3: them separately, and so they started with Israel and then
Speaker 3: of course he folded after opening statement. But he cut
Speaker 3: a deal. I mean, he went from life without the
Speaker 3: possibility of parole to what eleven years eight months. But
Speaker 3: when he was actually sentenced, he even got a better deal.
Speaker 1: Shortly after steps leaning a plea deal for robbery and
Speaker 1: accessory to murder, they arrested Jeremy.
Speaker 2: All our members being at work and I was called
Speaker 2: to the office and I had a feeling that something
Speaker 2: might goals, like something just wasn't right. I walked into
Speaker 2: the office. That's when I was basically surrounded by officers
Speaker 2: placed in handcuffs, placed in the car, and I was like,
Speaker 2: you gotta have the wrong person, because I ain't hurt nobody.
Speaker 2: I didn't kill nobody, Like I don't know what you
Speaker 2: guys are talking about, Like you got to have the
Speaker 2: wrong person, And they're like, no, got you with this
Speaker 2: and now whatever. I'm trying to convince them, you know,
Speaker 2: but they didn't want to hear nothing. I had to say.
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Speaker 2: I pretty much preached together that something was being pinned
Speaker 2: on me from Israel. I believed during the initial interview
Speaker 2: with my investigator, he was still sticking to his story
Speaker 2: that it was all me, and then during the second
Speaker 2: one that's when he recanted his story.
Speaker 1: Prior to trial, Israel set recanted in an interview with
Speaker 1: Jeremy's private investigator and gave some version of the truth,
Speaker 1: saying something about Middlebrooks having set up Anthony Allotti for
Speaker 1: a robbery and quote, Jeremy not involved. Jeremy knew nothing
Speaker 1: about robbing anyone. That's the God's truth end quote. Wow.
Speaker 1: Sept never said who was responsible, though, but with this
Speaker 1: recantation in the bag, it appears that Jeremy's attorney didn't
Speaker 1: feel the need to develop an alibi defense or look
Speaker 1: into any of the state's evidence, including Israel SEP's motel
Speaker 1: receipt that was alleged to a line with the morning
Speaker 1: of March fourteenth.
Speaker 3: The motel receipt shows that Sepp registered at this motel
Speaker 3: at four to twenty am and there was a number
Speaker 3: on the receipt six seven one eight. The receipt was messy,
Speaker 3: but if you look at the next receipt six seven
Speaker 3: nine with a totally independent party registering at six ten am,
Speaker 3: you realize it was on the morning of the thirteenth.
Speaker 2: And there was one part as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and the one prior to it. That's correct. So
Speaker 3: there's no doubt that this hotel entry was on the thirteenth.
Speaker 3: But however, the Sacramento DA just said it's on the fourteenth.
Speaker 3: She talked about it as though he registered the mourning
Speaker 3: of the fourteenth.
Speaker 1: This could mean one of a few things. Perhaps the
Speaker 1: medical examiner was mistaken about the time of death between
Speaker 1: five and seven am on the fourteenth, or perhaps the
Speaker 1: state glossed over the discrepancy in order to align the
Speaker 1: findings of the autopsy with the morning after Jeremy had
Speaker 1: actually made an appearance at Van Hill's apartment March twelfth
Speaker 1: and to the thirteenth. This could have been uncovered by
Speaker 1: Jeremy's attorney had he just bothered to look at his alibi.
Speaker 1: In addition, it's important to note that, according to nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety one California legislation, jail house inform and testimony has
Speaker 1: to be corroborated by independent evidence. Perhaps the prosecutor, Marjorie Kohler,
Speaker 1: used this motel receipt from the thirteenth to check that
Speaker 1: box for a crime that occurred on the fourteenth.
Speaker 2: None of the witnesses or anybody testified to the thirteenth.
Speaker 2: They were told from the prosecution of what day this happened.
Speaker 3: Jeremy's right. The prosecution would just say, let me draw
Speaker 3: your attention to the night of the thirteenth or the
Speaker 3: morning of the fourteenth, So witnesses just went along with that.
Speaker 3: No one said, oh, wait a minute, this happened on
Speaker 3: a Thursday night.
Speaker 1: And this wasn't the only dirty trick. In her opening statements,
Speaker 1: Kohler raised the specter of the fire that killed Benny
Speaker 1: Campbell as well as the murderer of Angela divorce key.
Speaker 3: They tried to implicate Jeremy in that murder.
Speaker 2: She already knew she had a week case, so she's
Speaker 2: trying to throw everything in to make me look bad
Speaker 2: from the get go.
Speaker 1: Anyway, Jeremy's attorney asked the judge to Clara misstrial, and
Speaker 1: when the judge asked Kohler if she had the evidence
Speaker 1: to corroborate her implications. She said that there was evidence
Speaker 1: linking Jeremy, but just not enough to charge him.
Speaker 3: But that wasn't true, and she was admonished by the
Speaker 3: judge that this wasn't proper.
Speaker 2: She was actually told to tell the jerry that I
Speaker 2: had nothing to do with that, and she said no, yeah,
Speaker 2: so the judge himself had to do it.
Speaker 1: The judge instructed the jury that the prosecutor could not
Speaker 1: corroborate her implications, and then the trial proceeded.
Speaker 3: The state presents middle Brooks. Middlebrooks said he was in
Speaker 3: the bathroom doing cocaine with Patty Scott Bostick and that
Speaker 3: he didn't think that Jeremy was there, and Patty Scott
Speaker 3: Bostick always said that she never looked out the door.
Speaker 3: And then she got on the stand and then she
Speaker 3: said she heard Jeremy yelling. She had never testified to
Speaker 3: that before, but we found out later that she wanted
Speaker 3: to testify favorably because she was on probation at the
Speaker 3: time she testified, and the jury was never told this. Again.
Speaker 3: The jury has to hear if a witness has a
Speaker 3: motive to make an entirely new statement that had never
Speaker 3: been made before, so that's what Patty said. And then
Speaker 3: van Hill said he saw Anthony Glotti being removed by
Speaker 3: two black men and based on their height difference, he
Speaker 3: thought it might be Israel and Jeremy. Again, that was
Speaker 3: a new statement made it.
Speaker 1: In his earlier statements, van Hill said that the two
Speaker 1: black men were about the same height. Then at trial,
Speaker 1: he said that his memory had improved since his first
Speaker 1: interview just after the crime. In addition, he described Israel
Speaker 1: Scept as being five to four, much shorter than his
Speaker 1: actual height five to ten, which notably is not much
Speaker 1: shorter than Jeremy at six foot one.
Speaker 2: His stores all over the place.
Speaker 3: We learned during our investigation, unfortunately, that mister van Hill
Speaker 3: had many psychological problems, but of course the jury never
Speaker 3: heard that.
Speaker 1: But of course none of the supporting testimony mattered as
Speaker 1: much as Israel Scept. And we don't know what happened
Speaker 1: between his recantation and trial, but perhaps the prosecutor reminded
Speaker 1: him about the deal they had made.
Speaker 2: Either testify against me and say it was all me,
Speaker 2: or there's going to take his deal back. And he
Speaker 2: was face to life without the possibility to role. He
Speaker 2: just went back to the script he was given when
Speaker 2: he took the deal. What was crazy about that is
Speaker 2: that prior to being into the courtroom, we were in
Speaker 2: separate sales, like basically across from each other. And now
Speaker 2: I ask them personally, like what are you doing? Like
Speaker 2: why you doing this to me? I still remember him
Speaker 2: saying like, I know, I'm sorry, And when I get
Speaker 2: back in there, I'm gonna go in there and tell
Speaker 2: them the truth that you have nothing to do with it. Right.
Speaker 2: But well, soon we get back into the courtroom, it
Speaker 2: was like everything that was just said he completely forgot,
Speaker 2: and then he's just got the back to pointing the
Speaker 2: finger right back at me.
Speaker 1: Jeremy's attorney was able to cross Examinecept with not only
Speaker 1: inconsistencies with his prior statements, but also his recantation.
Speaker 2: A course Scept denied it. And that's why I was
Speaker 2: shot that my trial attorney didn't call their investigator to
Speaker 2: rebut his role.
Speaker 1: Wait wait wait, wait, so he didn't even bother to
Speaker 1: call the investigator to present the recantation.
Speaker 3: It's unbelievable. It's absolutely I tell people this story that
Speaker 3: the attorney had a recantation he didn't put on it,
Speaker 3: and they can't believe it, let alone the data the
Speaker 3: murder is even wrong. It's just unbelievable.
Speaker 1: The jury had not heard the motivations of those testifying,
Speaker 1: as well as the full recantation by this state star witness,
Speaker 1: so they predictably returned a guilty verdict for first degree
Speaker 1: murder robbery, but curiously not guilty for unlawful use of
Speaker 1: a firearmy.
Speaker 2: All I remember is hearing is I was guilty of
Speaker 2: murder and everything else I didn't hear. I blacked out.
Speaker 2: It wasn't until my mother came and visited me that
Speaker 2: she's the one who told me that I was found
Speaker 2: not guilty of the gun, and that kind of shot
Speaker 2: me because I thought once I heard guilty murder, I
Speaker 2: felt I was guilty of everything. Everything just blacked out.
Speaker 2: I heard nothing else, and I just especially see my
Speaker 2: life just washed away like it was nothing. You walked
Speaker 2: into the yard and all you see is these big
Speaker 2: brick walls and you just realize like you're really imprisoned,
Speaker 2: like they're going to rest your life here for something
Speaker 2: you didn't do. It was heartbreaking. I couldn't sleep for
Speaker 2: the first couple of nights because I couldn't even believe
Speaker 2: I was in the situation I was even in. It's
Speaker 2: a doggy doll world in there. You know, it's a
Speaker 2: battle of the fitness. It's a survival instinct that you
Speaker 2: must have in prison to make it through. I've seen
Speaker 2: people come in prison and not make it at all,
Speaker 2: and I've seen people commit suicide before. I've seen people
Speaker 2: get killed in prison. I've seen all type of things happen.
Speaker 2: I've seen people overdose. I've seen basically just about everything
Speaker 2: in there. And thank God that I was able to
Speaker 2: put my faith in God and keep fighting. And I
Speaker 2: guess it is always frustrating to know that you're doing
Speaker 2: everything you can, but knowing it is not enough.
Speaker 1: After his initial appeal, Jeremy fought his case pro sae,
Speaker 1: meaning on his own, without an attorney, from inside of
Speaker 1: his prison cell.
Speaker 3: And of course it was so hard for Jeremy because
Speaker 3: he doesn't have anyone to find that the evidence has
Speaker 3: been suppressed. He's banging up against a brick wall because
Speaker 3: he can't get into the DA file, into his own file,
Speaker 3: into the file of Angela divorce. KI out on the
Speaker 3: street to interview people.
Speaker 2: I was almost ready to give up because I was
Speaker 2: tired of getting all the denials on my own and
Speaker 2: to thank god, I had my sister and my mom,
Speaker 2: my cousins and everybody, a strong core in my family
Speaker 2: that still believed in me no matter what. And I
Speaker 2: look back on it and I think it was my daughter,
Speaker 2: and my daughter saved my life. I'll never forget that
Speaker 2: day she came to saw me and I think, my
Speaker 2: sister's gonna get something to eat for us, and my
Speaker 2: son and my niece. They went to a player and
Speaker 2: I was telling my daughter, like, oh, I want you
Speaker 2: go play with your brother and your cousin, and she's like, no,
Speaker 2: I want to stay here with you. And I remember
Speaker 2: her looking at me and she was like, when you
Speaker 2: wait you excuse me. She said, when you come home,
Speaker 2: when you're gonna come home, because I want you home.
Speaker 2: And that's what I knew right there. I had to
Speaker 2: keep fighting, not for myself, for my kids. I couldn't
Speaker 2: give up.
Speaker 1: After about fourteen long years of denials, and appellate Cord
Speaker 1: Karen and the Northern California Indoston's Project took on Jeremy's
Speaker 1: case and were able to un what Jeremy never could
Speaker 1: have from the inside.
Speaker 3: Sepp told the detectives that a man with the nickname
Speaker 3: Jamo brought Angela Devorski to the apartment, and that was
Speaker 3: a very important sentence that he said that. I don't
Speaker 3: think Jeremy's trial attorney appreciated the importance of it at
Speaker 3: the time. Because the Sheriff's detectives had suppressed the evidence
Speaker 3: related to Angela Devorski.
Speaker 1: Much of the discovery that should have come to Jeremy's
Speaker 1: defense attorney remained hidden in the Angela Davorski murder file.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about seven hundred pages worth.
Speaker 3: Pages and pages of evidence, witness after witness saying Jamo
Speaker 3: had control over Angela Devorski, and Angela's diary talked about
Speaker 3: the control that Jamo had over her, and that Jamo
Speaker 3: and Angela Devorski did set up robberies. They would use
Speaker 3: her as a lure for young men who wanted to
Speaker 3: spend some time with her, to put it nicely, and
Speaker 3: instead they would rob the young man. In the suppressed evidence,
Speaker 3: we learned that there were two witnesses that actually saw
Speaker 3: the set up robberies going on. And once you know
Speaker 3: that and know that Jamo is controlling her, then the
Speaker 3: story starts to make sense. The story Step told didn't
Speaker 3: make any sense. But this is a robbery gone bad
Speaker 3: and they've set up Anthony Golotti. We learned that Jamo
Speaker 3: went to an apartment where a gun was later found,
Speaker 3: and we believe that is the gun used to pistol
Speaker 3: whip Anthony Golotti. And the investigating detective had said that
Speaker 3: this gun was connected to the Glotti murder, and yet
Speaker 3: that information was never turned over to Jeremy's attorney.
Speaker 1: So they hid not only the motives of all of
Speaker 1: the trial witnesses who testified falsely, but now it was
Speaker 1: also discovered that they'd hidden a way more compelling suspect,
Speaker 1: James Reeves or Jamo, Who's estranged wife, Connie Goins, gave
Speaker 1: a statement sworn statement in twenty fifteen in which she
Speaker 1: said that Jamo had always said that Jeremy had nothing
Speaker 1: to do with Anthony Glotti's robbery and murder, and he
Speaker 1: knew that because he was there at the time of
Speaker 1: the crime. Moreover, this is supported by the fact that
Speaker 1: Angela Davorski's diary contained the names of one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty one men, and get this, not one of them
Speaker 1: is Jeremy.
Speaker 3: There's no evidence that they knew one another, and during
Speaker 3: the investigation of the Divorski murder, many witnesses were shown
Speaker 3: Jeremy's picture friends of hers. No one could identify Jeremy.
Speaker 3: They ran in completely separate and disc circles.
Speaker 1: The choice to pursue Jeremy over Jamo made me wonder
Speaker 1: if perhaps investigators were protecting Jamo. Maybe he was cooperating
Speaker 1: in other cases, but that doesn't seem to fit here.
Speaker 3: The sheriff never interviewed Jamo. This is investigation one oh one.
Speaker 3: You interview everyone who was there that night. They never
Speaker 3: interviewed him. My theory is that the police were negligent.
Speaker 3: I think Sepp was protecting Jamo. That's my theory of
Speaker 3: the case. What do you think, Jeremy.
Speaker 2: I think they were so solely focused on me that
Speaker 2: they didn't care about anybody else.
Speaker 3: That was an easy prosecution. We don't have to do
Speaker 3: any more work. If you accuse Jeremy, how can he
Speaker 3: defend himself other than just say I had nothing to
Speaker 3: do with it. By the time he's interviewed, he can
Speaker 3: hardly remember that night. You know, it's a year and
Speaker 3: a half later.
Speaker 1: The Northern California, and this projects, along with attorneys from Simpson,
Speaker 1: Thatcher and Bartlett, filed a state which they had to
Speaker 1: fight all the way up to the state Supreme Court
Speaker 1: to finally get a hearing, where they presented there's absolute
Speaker 1: mountain of Brady material, the recantation evidence, the statement from
Speaker 1: Connie Goins as well as an expert to point out
Speaker 1: the discrepancy between dates in the state's narrative and the
Speaker 1: time of death.
Speaker 3: Doctor Melanik was incredible. There was no question by the
Speaker 3: time she was done testifying that they had the date
Speaker 3: of the murder wrong, and they actually conceded that finally,
Speaker 3: finally correct. At the very end of the hearing, they
Speaker 3: conceded that the gun evidence came in that they had suppressed.
Speaker 3: Jamo had made this statement by the time of the
Speaker 3: hearing to one of our investigators, and so he said, no,
Speaker 3: Jeremy had nothing to do with the murder. I was there.
Speaker 3: So everything went right in the hearing. I think we
Speaker 3: were feeling positive.
Speaker 2: I mean I felt good, but of course, you just
Speaker 2: never know where it's going to go. And then the
Speaker 2: day that I found out was one of the most
Speaker 2: happiest and craziest days. Ever, I finally got my case overturned.
Speaker 3: It was pretty emotional, and of course it was the
Speaker 3: day that California is shut down, like.
Speaker 2: A few days.
Speaker 3: So the good news is you're gonna get out. The
Speaker 3: good news is it's a shutdown.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Friday thirteenth. At that well, it was crazy. Everybody
Speaker 2: else is losing their minds, and I'm like, oh, y'all
Speaker 2: think you this is nothing.
Speaker 3: When we're all home crying in our soup that we
Speaker 3: can't go out. Jeremy gets a driver's license, a passport,
Speaker 3: a job, a car, housing, He lived life and it
Speaker 3: was just amazing. And you know, we needed to get
Speaker 3: his record cleared and all that and everything now was
Speaker 3: slowed down because of COVID the hearing for factual innocence
Speaker 3: that didn't come till the following January.
Speaker 2: It's kind of shocking when we had the factual innocence
Speaker 2: because she told me it's going to be like two
Speaker 2: or three days and he's only there for like fifteen
Speaker 2: twenty minutes. And when he finally said what he said,
Speaker 2: I had to turn through us. I didn't know what happened.
Speaker 2: I was like, what just happened? She's like, you won
Speaker 2: you're actually insigt now and it was just a shock
Speaker 2: for everybody.
Speaker 1: Jeremy was awarded statutory compensation from California just under a
Speaker 1: million dollars, and as of February twenty twenty two, he's
Speaker 1: been pursuing civil litigation.
Speaker 3: I'm playing a small role again, Simpson Thatcher. The law
Speaker 3: firm is working on it and Jeremy has just inspired
Speaker 3: everyone in that firm to get behind him, and we're
Speaker 3: very hopeful that will be successful. But again Sacramento, they
Speaker 3: continued to fight us, even though Jeremy was wrongfully convicted,
Speaker 3: served nineteen years for a crime he didn't commit, and
Speaker 3: has been found factionally innocent.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, life goes on, and Jeremy has been
Speaker 1: doing his best to adjust to life on the outside.
Speaker 2: I have a job. I've officially bought me a house
Speaker 2: seven months ago. I had my grandkids. Building my relationship
Speaker 2: with my kids who were just My kids were two
Speaker 2: and one when I initially got locked up and I
Speaker 2: came out, they were grown. So trying to rebuild that
Speaker 2: relationship has been ongoing. It's a little bumpy sometimes, but
Speaker 2: you know where the loved you can see the love
Speaker 2: is there. Or really see in a relationship now. So
Speaker 2: that's going good. So life's been pretty good so far,
Speaker 2: and I'm just looking forward to continue to grow every
Speaker 2: day and make life even better.
Speaker 1: Jeremy's freedom would not have been possible without the dedication
Speaker 1: of Karen's new new tower and the other great folks
Speaker 1: at the Northern California Innocence Project, which we will link
Speaker 1: in the episode of description. Please support them and follow
Speaker 1: their work, as there are countless people like Jeremy who
Speaker 1: still need their help. And with that, I want to
Speaker 1: turn into closing arguments, where, of course, you know, I
Speaker 1: get the privilege of thanking each of you first of all,
Speaker 1: Karen and Jeremy, and then turning off my microphone, kicking
Speaker 1: back in my chair with my eyes closed and my
Speaker 1: headphones on, and just listening to anything else you want
Speaker 1: to share with me and with our fantastic audience. So Karen,
Speaker 1: it's traditional you go first and then just sort of
Speaker 1: hand the mic off to Jeremy and he'll take us
Speaker 1: off into the sunset.
Speaker 3: Well, I feel very honored to have been on the
Speaker 3: journey to justice with Jeremy Puckett. I've gained a friend
Speaker 3: and learned a lot through his ordeal, and he's let
Speaker 3: me enter his life, He's shared his most intimate details,
Speaker 3: and I believe we've built a friendship out of this
Speaker 3: crazy situation. How the two of us came together is
Speaker 3: the stuff stories are made of. But it's been my
Speaker 3: honor to work with Jeremy, and I look forward to
Speaker 3: wrapping up the civil suit and still maintaining that friendship.
Speaker 2: And I just want to thank you for having me
Speaker 2: here and being able to tell my story. And I
Speaker 2: also want to just think people like like Karen, the
Speaker 2: whole NCIP organization and the whole project organization in itself,
Speaker 2: as well as Buzz and everybody from a team, from
Speaker 2: the Cents and Thatsher, from Don, everybody who helped me
Speaker 2: with my case. And then I think most importantly I
Speaker 2: think I would like to say is that if there
Speaker 2: is somebody listening to this who is innocent, locked up
Speaker 2: to keep fighting, to keep going. I don't care who
Speaker 2: says what If you know you're innocent, keep going because
Speaker 2: your day will come. I don't know when. I can't
Speaker 2: tell you how, but your day will come. The truth
Speaker 2: always fulvails.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Ron for conviction you can
Speaker 1: listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts
Speaker 1: one week early by subscribing to Lava for Good Plus
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts. I want to thank our production team
Speaker 1: Connor Hall and Kathleen Fink, as well as my fellow
Speaker 1: executive producers Jeff Kempler, Kevin Wartis, and Jeff Clyburn. The
Speaker 1: music in this production was three time OSCAR nominated composer
Speaker 1: Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us across all social
Speaker 1: media platforms at Lava for Good and at Wrongful Conviction.
Speaker 1: You can also follow me on Instagram at It's Jason Flamm.
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts
Speaker 1: and association with Signal Company Number one