1 00:00:01,560 --> 00:00:04,920 Speaker 1: Welcome to Wrongful Conviction, False Confessions. I'm Laura and I writer, 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:08,559 Speaker 1: and I'm Steve Drisen. Today we'll tell you the story 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:11,960 Speaker 1: of Hugh Burton. In nineteen eighty nine, when he was 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: sixteen years old, he was charged with the murder of 5 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: his own mother at his family's home in the Bronx. 6 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,400 Speaker 1: Forget blind justice. This is a classic case of tunnel 7 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: vision because even as Hugh was bulldozed into a false confession, 8 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: the real killer was living in the apartment just one 9 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,520 Speaker 1: floor below. 10 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 2: When I was asked to look into Hugh Burton's case 11 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 2: by the Innocence Project, Laura and I were just beginning 12 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 2: the process of setting up the Center on Wrongful Convictions 13 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 2: of Youth, which was a project focus on false confessions 14 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 2: taken from young people. 15 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: Children and teenagers are between two and three times more 16 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: likely than adults to falsely confess, and we were seeing 17 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: a particularly disturbing pattern multiple cases of young people falsely 18 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:14,399 Speaker 1: confessing to the murders of their own family members. When 19 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: Hugh's story came to us, it fit that pattern. 20 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 2: To a t. What is it that could make someone 21 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 2: confessed to the most horrific crime imaginable? The murderer of 22 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 2: a parent or a loved one. 23 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,759 Speaker 1: Hugh's story begins in the Wakefield neighborhood of the Bronx, 24 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: a working class section of New York City that's home 25 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: to a thriving Jamaican American community. In nineteen eighty nine, 26 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: when our story starts, Hugh was sixteen years old and 27 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: in tenth grade. He was the only child of two 28 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: Jamaican immigrants, Kaziah and Raphael Burton. Kaziah was a nurse 29 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: and Raphael was a successful building contractor, so successful that 30 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: the family was able to buy real estate, a red 31 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: brick apartment building three stories tall on Eastchester Road. The 32 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: Burtons moved into the second floor and rented out the 33 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: rest of the building. Hugh was a good kid, and 34 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:12,840 Speaker 1: his parents were proud of him at sixteen. He was smart, 35 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: soft spoken, good looking. He did love the emerging rap scene, 36 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: and he'd cause his old school parents no end of 37 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 1: worry by hitting the dance clubs till closing time. But 38 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: the family was close, loving and prosperous. An American success story. 39 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: It's January third, nineteen eighty nine. Rafael Burton was out 40 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: of the country. He'd gone back to Jamaica to check 41 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,239 Speaker 1: on relatives who'd been hit by Hurricane Gilbert a few 42 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: months earlier. It's a Tuesday, and Hugh gets home from 43 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: school at two thirty. No sign of his mom, but 44 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: he does notice that the TV's on his mom's car 45 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,919 Speaker 1: is gone and her pocket book had been dumped out 46 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: on the living room floor, but Hugh doesn't think too 47 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: much about it. He had plans to hook up with 48 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 1: a girl after school, and off you went to her place. 49 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: At five point thirty, Hugh comes back home and makes 50 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: a horrible discovery. His mom, Kaziah, is lying on the 51 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,919 Speaker 1: bed in the master bedroom. A telephone chord is wrapped 52 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: around her wrist and her underwear has been pulled down. 53 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: A serrated steak knife is lying next to her on 54 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:23,960 Speaker 1: the bed, and there's a gaping knife wound in her neck. 55 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: Hugh called nine to one one in a panic and 56 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: tells them, I think my mother's been murdered. The police 57 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:35,560 Speaker 1: arrive and pronounce Kaziah Burton dead. They soon conclude, though, 58 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: that she hasn't actually been raped. Instead, her underwear has 59 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: been pulled down to make it look like a rape. 60 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: The real motive seems to be robbery. The attacker made 61 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,480 Speaker 1: off with her brand new nineteen eighty eight Honda Accord. 62 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 2: When the police came to the crime scene, they took 63 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 2: notice of a couple of things. One of the things 64 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:00,080 Speaker 2: was that Hugh was sitting outside and to then he 65 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 2: appeared too calm, too cool, to collected. They had heard 66 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 2: his frantic nine one one call, and his lack of 67 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 2: emotion or apparent lack of emotion at the crime scene 68 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 2: was a red flag to them. 69 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: I mean, this is a kid who had just come 70 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:18,359 Speaker 1: across his mother's stabbed body, and he is panicking on 71 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: that nine one one call. But by the time the 72 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: police arrived, shock had set in, which they read as remorselessness. 73 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:28,360 Speaker 1: So as the police are at the scene, they decide 74 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:32,720 Speaker 1: to question Hugh about his mom's murder, and that evening 75 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,119 Speaker 1: he agreed to go down with police to the forty 76 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: seventh Precinct for questioning. Even while his dad, who was 77 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: still in Jamaica, was catching the first flight back to 78 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 1: New York. 79 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 2: He had nothing to worry about. This is what he 80 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 2: wanted to do. He wanted to find out who had 81 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 2: killed his mother, and so he went down there to 82 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 2: do anything he could do to help the police find 83 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 2: and catch her killer. 84 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: The police questioned Hugh, and he gives them every detail 85 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: of his activities, from putting in a full day at 86 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:05,200 Speaker 1: school to meeting up with a girl in the afternoon, 87 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 1: right up until he discovered his mother's body in the evening. 88 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,720 Speaker 1: After they finished questioning, he spends the night at his 89 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:16,200 Speaker 1: godmother's house because his dad hasn't gotten back to. 90 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 3: New York yet. 91 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,040 Speaker 1: The next day, Hugh returns to the precinct and the 92 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:27,159 Speaker 1: same three detectives question him again for hours. Now, we 93 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:30,559 Speaker 1: don't have a videotape of the whole interrogation. Police only 94 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: turned on the cameras at the end to capture Hugh's 95 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: final confession, but Hugh says he remembers what happened in 96 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 1: that room. Hugh says he confessed because of a threat. 97 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,359 Speaker 1: Remember the girl whose house he'd gone to that afternoon, Well, 98 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,359 Speaker 1: she was fourteen, and under New York law, Hugh was 99 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:54,160 Speaker 1: potentially liable for statutory rape, even though they were consenting classmates. 100 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,239 Speaker 1: The police told him he'd go down for murder plus 101 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:03,279 Speaker 1: statutory rape and be sent to Write Island unless he confessed. Now, 102 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:07,159 Speaker 1: Hugh didn't know exactly what statutory rape was, but he 103 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:09,920 Speaker 1: knew the word rape was really bad, and he knew 104 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 1: well enough what Riker's Island was, a notorious New York 105 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: jail with a reputation for horrific violence. On the other hand, 106 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: the police told him that if he confessed, he would 107 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: go to family Court where his dad could pick him 108 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: up in a few days. 109 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:26,720 Speaker 2: Which is a blatant lie. 110 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,160 Speaker 1: It's total bullshit. The police also tell Hugh that they 111 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:33,560 Speaker 1: talked to his teacher and her records didn't confirm that 112 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: he was at school during first period. How is that possible? 113 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:40,280 Speaker 1: He knew he had been there all day, but it 114 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: was starting to be clear the detectives didn't believe him. 115 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 1: They were developing their own theory of Keziah's murder with 116 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: Hugh as the killer. 117 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 2: And of course the police said to Hugh, it was 118 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 2: an accident and everybody will see that it was an accident. 119 00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 2: So your options are murder and statutory rape and Riker's 120 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 2: Island or admitting to an accident, being sent to family court, 121 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 2: and being picked up by your father within a few 122 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:14,600 Speaker 2: hours of your first court appearance. 123 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 1: And over time, Hugh realized the only way for him 124 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: to get out of that room was to cop to 125 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: these charges. So by the early morning of January fifth, 126 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:29,040 Speaker 1: Hugh Burton found himself signing a confession to the murder 127 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: of his own mother. 128 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 2: And let me tell you, this confession is weird. 129 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: It's written in stilted formal language, and the story it 130 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: tells is all about crack cocaine. I, Hugh Burton, know 131 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: an individual by the name of Bugs, who I owed 132 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: two hundred dollars to for some crack I received from 133 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,600 Speaker 1: him to sell. Instead of selling the crack, I kept 134 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: it for my own personal use. The confession goes on 135 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: to describe Hugh getting high on crack the night before 136 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 1: his mom died. He comes home, gets into a quote 137 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: stat with his mother, and wakes up the next morning 138 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: still high. 139 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,840 Speaker 4: This time stimulated on drugs. 140 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 2: Who uses the word stimulated? How you say I was high? 141 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: I walked to the kitchen, the confession continued. 142 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 4: I got a kitchen steak knife and I came back 143 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 4: into the room. 144 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: She then asked, are you going to kill me? 145 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 4: And I said and if I was, she went to 146 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:29,040 Speaker 4: smack me and I moved. 147 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: That's when I accidentally stabbed my mother in her neck. 148 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 4: It wasn't planet purposely, you know, I just wanted to 149 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:37,840 Speaker 4: scare a little bit, see what she was going to do. 150 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 1: According to the confession, Hugh washes off the knife, leaves 151 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 1: it on the bed, and gives his mom's car to bugs. 152 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:49,239 Speaker 2: This was no accident because iad Burton had been stabbed 153 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 2: twice in the neck, very deep, violent stab wounds. And 154 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:58,040 Speaker 2: there were other parts of this confession that made no 155 00:08:58,200 --> 00:08:59,599 Speaker 2: sense whatsoever. 156 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,200 Speaker 4: Got a call from person to old money too? And 157 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 4: who's that personal? Bugs? Do you know his name? 158 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:06,320 Speaker 2: No? 159 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:06,760 Speaker 4: I don't. 160 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 2: You couldn't tell the police anything about books, who he was, 161 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 2: where he lived, or even what he did with the car. 162 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 4: Any telephone number that would have been help, I don't know. 163 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 2: Back in the day, the Jamaican immigrant community didn't use 164 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:26,000 Speaker 2: the banks a lot and used parents were no different. 165 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 2: They kept little pockets of cash and secret places throughout 166 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:35,640 Speaker 2: their home, places that you, as a kid, knew about. 167 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:38,120 Speaker 4: It was two hundred. 168 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:41,760 Speaker 2: Who gives a ten thousand dollars car to somebody to 169 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:44,559 Speaker 2: settle a two hundred dollars debt? If you needed two 170 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 2: hundred dollars, he could have found that money in a jiffy. 171 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: So none of this is making any sense. You also 172 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:53,440 Speaker 1: was not known to use crack, much less run up 173 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 1: debts with dealers or behave in a sort of depraved 174 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:58,719 Speaker 1: way that would lead a crack addict to attack his 175 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: own mom. He wasn't Hugh Burton, But it's the story 176 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: of the. 177 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,839 Speaker 4: Confession school and I left. 178 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:11,720 Speaker 1: So where did this whole crack theme come from? It 179 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:14,720 Speaker 1: came from the late nineteen eighties culture of fear about 180 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:16,599 Speaker 1: the New York City drug epidemic. 181 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 2: Between nineteen eighty six and nineteen ninety three. That time frame, 182 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 2: New York was averaging two thousand murders a year, and 183 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 2: police were attributing a significant percentage of them to crack cocaine. 184 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:35,200 Speaker 2: And think about it from the police perspective. Here you 185 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:39,680 Speaker 2: have a kid who's got no criminal background by all accounts. 186 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:43,080 Speaker 2: He has a deep and abiding love for both of 187 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:46,559 Speaker 2: his parents. He's a respectful kid when it comes to 188 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 2: his parents, and all of a sudden, he snaps and 189 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:55,960 Speaker 2: stabs his mother to death over two hundred dollars that 190 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,199 Speaker 2: she would have gladly given him. 191 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,040 Speaker 1: The crack theme came from the police, not from Hugh. 192 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 2: And there it is in the very first lines of 193 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:09,560 Speaker 2: this confession that word once this story is about a 194 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 2: kid using cracker, selling crack. Nothing else matters. 195 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:18,560 Speaker 1: Well, that's are off. Sure enough, Hugh is arrested and 196 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 1: the media headlines go for maximum shock value. 197 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 2: Crack craze teen stabs mom to death. 198 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:28,240 Speaker 1: Hugh is charged with second degree murder, and he's sent 199 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:31,600 Speaker 1: not to family court but to the place he feared most, 200 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:36,200 Speaker 1: Riker's Island. Those promises the cops made to him were 201 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:37,199 Speaker 1: nothing but lies. 202 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 2: From the minute that Hugh was charged with his offense, 203 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 2: his father knew that Hugh was innocent. He just knew it. 204 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:49,360 Speaker 1: He knew his son, his whole family stood by him, 205 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:53,560 Speaker 1: but it was too late. He'd confessed. From the depths 206 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:56,200 Speaker 1: of his jail cell, Hugh writes a eulogy for his 207 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 1: mom and mails it to a relative so it can 208 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:02,439 Speaker 1: be read out loud at her funeral, and then he 209 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:06,760 Speaker 1: grieves alone. 210 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 2: Let's stop for one second, Laura. You know when the 211 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:20,920 Speaker 2: police were questioning Hugh, they did what all police officers do. 212 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 2: Do you know anybody, Hugh who might have wanted to 213 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 2: hurt your mother? Can you give us any leads as 214 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:31,160 Speaker 2: to who might have done this? And Hugh came up blank. 215 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:34,199 Speaker 2: He said, I don't know anybody who would want to 216 00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:37,560 Speaker 2: hurt my mother. But I think what you need to 217 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 2: be focused on is what happened to my mother's car. 218 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:45,520 Speaker 2: The person who had taken my mother's car, that's the 219 00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:47,640 Speaker 2: person who probably killed her. 220 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:53,440 Speaker 1: Fast forward to January eleventh, six days after Hugh confessed 221 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: and was arrested. On the evening of January eleventh, police 222 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 1: in Mount Vernon, New York, pull over a car for 223 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,319 Speaker 1: running a stop sign. It turns out that car was 224 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 1: Kaziah Burton's missing nineteen eighty eight gray Honda Accord. So 225 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:15,400 Speaker 1: who was the driver. Emmanuel Green was the first floor 226 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:18,760 Speaker 1: tenant in the Burtons apartment building. He just moved in 227 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: there with his girlfriend Stacy. Emmanuel was twenty two years old, 228 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: five foot eleven, two hundred and thirty pounds. 229 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:27,480 Speaker 2: You should see the body on this guy. 230 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 1: He was cutting totally ripped. This guy could bench you, Steve. 231 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:35,320 Speaker 1: And he wasn't exactly a choir boy. He'd done time 232 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:38,720 Speaker 1: for a knife point rape and attempted robbery. In fact, 233 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,840 Speaker 1: Emmanuel Green was on parole at the time that Kaziah 234 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:45,280 Speaker 1: was murdered, and only a month before he'd been arrested 235 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,680 Speaker 1: for assaulting his previous landlord, Hugh. 236 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:54,199 Speaker 2: Burton, only knew Immanuel Green in passing. Their lives were 237 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 2: in completely different places. Emmanuel Green was a bouncer at 238 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:01,959 Speaker 2: a club who worked the late shift and slept during 239 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 2: the day, and Hugh was in school during the day 240 00:14:05,559 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 2: and at home most nights, and on the weekends if 241 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 2: he went out with his friend's clubbing, he went to 242 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:16,720 Speaker 2: New Jersey, not where Emmanuel Green was. These were complete strangers. 243 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 1: After police catch Emmanuel in Kezi Burton's car, they bring 244 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 1: them in for questioning, and he's interrogated by the same 245 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:28,400 Speaker 1: officers who questioned Hugh Burton. After only a few hours, 246 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:32,360 Speaker 1: Emmanuel goes on videotape to make a statement of his own. 247 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:35,840 Speaker 1: He says that on the morning of the murder January third, 248 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:39,560 Speaker 1: Hugh had knocked on his door downstairs on the first 249 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 1: floor apartment, and Hugh had told Emmanuel that he planned 250 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:46,440 Speaker 1: to steal his mom's nineteen eighty eight Honda Accord, and 251 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:48,360 Speaker 1: he asked Emmanuel if he knew how to get rid 252 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 1: of a stolen car, I'll take care of my mother, 253 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 1: Hugh supposedly said, and the two of them agreed to 254 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:57,920 Speaker 1: split the cash. Emmanuel claimed that Hugh then went back 255 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:02,400 Speaker 1: upstairs by himself and all almost immediately. Emmanuel said, I 256 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:05,880 Speaker 1: heard arguing, screaming in a thumping noise. He said he 257 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:09,120 Speaker 1: overheard Hugh yelling you won't give me the money. Fuck 258 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:12,000 Speaker 1: you bitch, I'll kill you and take it. A few 259 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: minutes later, he reappeared outside Green's apartments, supposedly distraught, and 260 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:20,200 Speaker 1: he confesses to a manual. I killed my mother. I 261 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:26,800 Speaker 1: stabbed her. I stabbed her. Emmanuel continues, my criminal mind 262 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 1: took over and I said, let's make it look like 263 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:33,120 Speaker 1: a robbery. He claimed to have gone back upstairs with 264 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:36,680 Speaker 1: Hugh to the Burton family apartment. They stole two hundred 265 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:40,040 Speaker 1: dollars from Kaziah's pocket book, and Emmanuel told Hugh to 266 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: get rid of the knife somewhere outside. Then Emmanuel took 267 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:50,720 Speaker 1: off with Kaziah's car. So we have two statements, one 268 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,240 Speaker 1: of them from a slick talking bouncer with a history 269 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:56,160 Speaker 1: of rape and robbery and attacks on his landlords, the 270 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: guy who was actually found with Kaziah Burton's car, and 271 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 1: the other one from a sixteen year old with no 272 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:02,800 Speaker 1: criminal history. 273 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 2: The train had already left the station for Hugh Burton 274 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:11,000 Speaker 2: after his arrest. The detectives who were involved in the 275 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:14,800 Speaker 2: interrogation leaked information about the case to the press, and 276 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 2: they were quoted widely in newspaper articles that grace the 277 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:22,840 Speaker 2: front page of the New York Times and the Post 278 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 2: in the Daily News. And so when Emmanuel Green shows 279 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:32,120 Speaker 2: up with Keziah Burton's car, these police officers needed to 280 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 2: figure out a way to reconcile these two very different stories. 281 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,960 Speaker 1: Remember, h Was confession never mentions Immanuel Green his downstairs 282 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 1: neighbor at all, and Green's confession never mentions crack, cocaine 283 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: or any drug debt. 284 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 2: The confession of Emmanuel Green was cooked up in the 285 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:54,280 Speaker 2: interrogation room in Mount Vernon by the same detectives who 286 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 2: took the confession of Hugh Burton. 287 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:00,440 Speaker 1: So the case against Huburton plowed forward, and before too long, 288 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:03,480 Speaker 1: Hugh found himself convicted of the murder of his own 289 00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:08,120 Speaker 1: mother and sentenced to life in prison. For his part, 290 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:12,399 Speaker 1: Emmanuel Green was never charged with Keziah's murder. He was 291 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: only ever charged with crimes relating to the theft of 292 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:19,639 Speaker 1: her automobile, but he was never convicted. Before his trial, 293 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,960 Speaker 1: Emmanuel Green was stabbed to death as part of a 294 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:25,359 Speaker 1: dispute arising out of a lover's triangle. 295 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:28,520 Speaker 2: So when the case came across my desk, it was 296 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:32,840 Speaker 2: sometime in two thousand and eight early two thousand and nine. 297 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:35,919 Speaker 2: I was sent a letter from Hugh Burton and some 298 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:38,879 Speaker 2: materials related to his case by a woman at the 299 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:40,440 Speaker 2: Innocence Project. 300 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: At the Center on Wrongful Convictions, we get referred false 301 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:46,840 Speaker 1: confession cases a lot, but when Steve looked at Hugh's case, 302 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:49,760 Speaker 1: he realized it was different than a lot of the 303 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 1: other cases we've told you about on this podcast. DNA 304 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:55,359 Speaker 1: testing wasn't an option here. 305 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:59,520 Speaker 2: There was no evidence left at the crime scene that 306 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:02,879 Speaker 2: if ten could lead to a different outcome. It was 307 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 2: really all about the confession and all about trying to 308 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,160 Speaker 2: prove the guilt of the true perpetrator and Manuel Green. 309 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:13,359 Speaker 1: As soon as we took the case in two thousand 310 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: and nine, Hugh, thank goodness, was released on parole after 311 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: almost two decades behind bars. And this was a wonderful thing. 312 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 2: Having your client out is a blessing, even before they 313 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:29,560 Speaker 2: are exonerated. We want to get them out because when 314 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 2: they're out they can help us with our investigation. 315 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:36,360 Speaker 1: It's easier to represent someone who's free. You can call 316 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:38,480 Speaker 1: them whenever you need to, and you can meet with 317 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:42,199 Speaker 1: them face to face without glass or guards or prison 318 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 1: walls between the two of you. For his part, Hugh 319 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:50,080 Speaker 1: was able to begin a new life on the outside. 320 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 1: He's always been a runner, but instead of doing laps 321 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:57,280 Speaker 1: around the prison yard, he started running long distances in 322 00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 1: the free air. And, as Hughes said his sites on 323 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,800 Speaker 1: the New York City Marathon, his legal team embarked on 324 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:08,360 Speaker 1: its own marathon investigation because even though Hugh was free, 325 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:11,879 Speaker 1: he was still a convicted murderer who needed his name cleared. 326 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:17,480 Speaker 1: Steve invited Laura Cohen, an attorney and professor at Rutgers University, 327 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:30,720 Speaker 1: to join the team, and we got to work pretty soon. 328 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:35,080 Speaker 1: We discovered powerful evidence of Hugh's innocence. Hugh had described 329 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:38,199 Speaker 1: killing his mom with a serrated steak knife found on 330 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,600 Speaker 1: the bed. That was the theory embraced by police at 331 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:45,520 Speaker 1: the time of the interrogation, But after Hughes interrogation, the 332 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:49,800 Speaker 1: autopsy showed that Keziah Burton had actually been stabbed with 333 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: a smooth edged blade. The steak knife wasn't the murder weapon. 334 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,360 Speaker 1: The fact that Hugh's confession incorporated an error that police 335 00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:01,119 Speaker 1: believed was true at the time. That's a red flag. 336 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,119 Speaker 1: The police were feeding Hugh their own theory of the crime. 337 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,600 Speaker 1: Emmanuel Green, on the other hand, had known that the 338 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:12,199 Speaker 1: steak knife wasn't the murder weapon he described, using a 339 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,959 Speaker 1: different blade, one that he told Hugh to dispose of outside. 340 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:22,000 Speaker 1: This was information only the real perpetrator would know. Months 341 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,400 Speaker 1: of investigation turned into years, and we were gathering evidence 342 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: slowly but surely, and then finally we got a couple 343 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:33,640 Speaker 1: of lucky breaks. You see, in twenty sixteen, a new 344 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,399 Speaker 1: DA got elected in the Bronx and we saw a 345 00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:40,399 Speaker 1: new opportunity to have a conversation about Hugh's case. So 346 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:42,720 Speaker 1: we got in touch with our friends at the Innocence 347 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:47,640 Speaker 1: Project in New York, Susan Friedman and Barry Sheck. Susan's 348 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,760 Speaker 1: a rock star attorney at the Innocence Project, and Barry 349 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,960 Speaker 1: co founded the project with Peter Neufeld. He's one of 350 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 1: the real ogs in the exoneration movement. And before long, 351 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:00,679 Speaker 1: Barry was able to put us in touch with a 352 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:05,000 Speaker 1: special new division of the Bronx DA's office, the Conviction 353 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 1: Integrity Unit. Here's very now. 354 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:11,560 Speaker 3: One of the things that the Innocence Project and myself 355 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 3: in particular, had been involved in a lot is the 356 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:18,800 Speaker 3: creation of what are known as conviction integrity units. The 357 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:22,919 Speaker 3: whole point of a conviction integrity process is to have 358 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:27,720 Speaker 3: a non adversarial search for the truth, where you set 359 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 3: up an investigative plan that both sides agree to go 360 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 3: forward with it, and you develop a process where you 361 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:38,199 Speaker 3: share information and go back and forth. You just forget 362 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 3: about the legal technicalities and you just look at the 363 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,399 Speaker 3: evidence and investigate it together and see where it leads. 364 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 2: And for the next three years we worked in collaboration 365 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:54,680 Speaker 2: with the Conviction Review Unit. It was an extremely cooperative experience. 366 00:21:55,240 --> 00:22:01,360 Speaker 2: We shared documents, we interviewed witnesses together, brought in experts 367 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:04,520 Speaker 2: to educate them about all of the changes that had 368 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:09,879 Speaker 2: taken place with regard to false confessions and new understandings 369 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:10,720 Speaker 2: from the science. 370 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:14,200 Speaker 1: As we started working with the Bronx Conviction Integrity Unit, 371 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: that's when we really got lucky. 372 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,600 Speaker 3: We'd all huddled at the offices of the Bronx Defender, 373 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,439 Speaker 3: who were giving us a place to stay, and Steve 374 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 3: googled one last time for something about the officers involved 375 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 3: in his case. 376 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:34,359 Speaker 2: Detectives who obtained false confessions are often serial offenders. I 377 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:38,199 Speaker 2: typed in the names of these detectives in a search 378 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,399 Speaker 2: for other cases, and I hit gold. 379 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:44,919 Speaker 3: All of a sudden, he hit for whatever reason, we 380 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 3: don't know. An opinion that appeared in the New York 381 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 3: Law Journal by Judge Steve Barrett that was quite incredible. 382 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: What Steve found was shocking a court decision describing how 383 00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: the same cops who interrogated Hugh had coerced a false 384 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,879 Speaker 1: confession out of another man in a completely different case. 385 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:07,919 Speaker 3: And by sheer chance, the evening before we're going in 386 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,959 Speaker 3: to talk to the conviction Integrity unit, we found it. 387 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:15,439 Speaker 2: Finding that these detectives had been involved in another false 388 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:20,360 Speaker 2: confession just three months earlier than you. Burton's case began 389 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:24,320 Speaker 2: to raise questions about who these detectives were and whether 390 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 2: we could trust their accounts of what happened in that 391 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:28,560 Speaker 2: interrogation room. 392 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 3: In the end, this may not have all happened if 393 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:33,880 Speaker 3: it weren't for Dennis Kossa's courage. 394 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,800 Speaker 1: Dennis koss is the man who'd falsely confessed at the 395 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: hands of the same interrogators just three months before they 396 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:44,920 Speaker 1: questioned Hugh. So Steve and Barry arranged a meeting with Dennis, 397 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:48,080 Speaker 1: and the story he told them was heartbreaking. 398 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,440 Speaker 3: We brought him in to our office at the Innocents 399 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 3: Project late at night and we began asking Dennis to 400 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:59,720 Speaker 3: recount for us what happened when he gave this confession 401 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 3: and talk about post traumatic stress disorder. I am telling 402 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,879 Speaker 3: you that this poor man went into almost a fugue state. 403 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:14,760 Speaker 3: He began shaking and sweating when he described what happened 404 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,760 Speaker 3: and how they scared the living hell out of him, 405 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:19,879 Speaker 3: and they coerced him and they wouldn't let his family 406 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:23,600 Speaker 3: come up, and it was unbelievable. I mean, you could 407 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:28,119 Speaker 3: just see him reliving it, and he was just terrified 408 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,000 Speaker 3: of these cops and what they did to him, same 409 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:33,159 Speaker 3: cops that frame you Burton. 410 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:38,240 Speaker 1: The investigation uncovered one other piece of evidence too. Remember 411 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:40,879 Speaker 1: that teacher who said that Hugh wasn't in school the 412 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 1: morning his mom was killed, well the day before Emmanuel 413 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:48,639 Speaker 1: Green was caught with Keziah Burton's car. That teacher told 414 00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:52,120 Speaker 1: the police that she'd made a mistake. Hugh actually had 415 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:55,320 Speaker 1: been in school that morning, but it seems police never 416 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:57,760 Speaker 1: shared that information with Hugh's defense team. 417 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:01,320 Speaker 2: So it's like a soup, right. You bring in new 418 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:05,600 Speaker 2: evidence and at a certain point in time, you reach 419 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:10,520 Speaker 2: a critical mass where it becomes clear that the person 420 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,479 Speaker 2: who was convicted of this crime was innocent. And in 421 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 2: our case, it became clear that Emmanuel Green was guilty. 422 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 1: The case against Hugh Burton should have fallen apart when 423 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,320 Speaker 1: the teacher retracted her mistake and the real killer was 424 00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:28,080 Speaker 1: caught with a car, But instead police doubled down on 425 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:32,399 Speaker 1: their case against Hugh. It took thirty more years until 426 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:38,879 Speaker 1: that case finally disintegrated. In the end, the tipping point 427 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: for the Bronx Conviction Integrity Unit was when Hugh came 428 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 1: in for an interview and the prosecutors actually met. 429 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:49,360 Speaker 2: Him, And when they saw Hugh separated from that sixteen 430 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:54,080 Speaker 2: year old on the videotape outside the heat of a trial, 431 00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:58,520 Speaker 2: in the tagline of a crack crazed team, When they 432 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:02,360 Speaker 2: saw who he was and how much he loved and 433 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 2: respected and revered his parents, they knew that he couldn't 434 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:13,879 Speaker 2: have committed this crime. When Hugh was in prison, he 435 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:18,639 Speaker 2: had developed a nickname. They called him wise. He had 436 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:22,760 Speaker 2: a sort of peacefulness that helped him survive in prison, 437 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:27,119 Speaker 2: but also helped him to keep other inmates on track. 438 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:33,040 Speaker 2: And that wisdom, that decency, that aura of his innocence 439 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:35,879 Speaker 2: is what really tipped the scales in his case. 440 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:39,040 Speaker 1: When you meet Hugh, you just know this is a 441 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:43,600 Speaker 1: good man. And these prosecutors saw that. They saw the 442 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:45,679 Speaker 1: human being, not the accusation. 443 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,600 Speaker 3: I'm sure you've realized this already, that you is quite 444 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:53,639 Speaker 3: an extraordinary individual. But one of the Innocence Project conferences, 445 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:56,040 Speaker 3: he got up and he told the story that was 446 00:26:56,080 --> 00:27:00,040 Speaker 3: astonishing about his father. So you know his father. I 447 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:02,239 Speaker 3: always stood by you, and he would always come up 448 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 3: and visit him. 449 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:06,040 Speaker 5: So the week leading up to the visit, I'm excited. 450 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,680 Speaker 5: I couldn't wait to tell him everything that I've been doing, 451 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:10,600 Speaker 5: how I've been developing with the case. 452 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:11,720 Speaker 2: I wanted to let. 453 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:15,320 Speaker 5: Him know how good I had gotten with playing my Pimo, 454 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:17,600 Speaker 5: and I wanted to hear everything that was going on 455 00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,200 Speaker 5: with him. I finally spot him in the visit room 456 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,160 Speaker 5: and I make a b line towards him. We embraced, 457 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:25,560 Speaker 5: I hold him for a long time and we finally 458 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 5: sit down. He came with my cousin. She brought him up. 459 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 5: As I'm asking him questions, I'm getting these kind of 460 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:36,399 Speaker 5: close ended answers, so everything was yes, no, and I realized, 461 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:38,760 Speaker 5: I said something is wrong, and then he began to 462 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,439 Speaker 5: refer to me as my brother. And I think that 463 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,600 Speaker 5: was the first time that I realized that, because of 464 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:47,720 Speaker 5: the Alzheimer's, my dad didn't know. 465 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 2: Who I was. 466 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:51,960 Speaker 4: The guy who was in every courtroom, every visit. 467 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 5: Room, my guy. He didn't know who I was. But 468 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 5: still I was just glad he was there. So as 469 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,359 Speaker 5: the as it went on, he wanted to smoke. He 470 00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:05,800 Speaker 5: wanted a cigarette, but I know he knew that if 471 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 5: he went out to smoke, that the visit was terminated. 472 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:09,639 Speaker 4: You can't come in and out. It's not an in 473 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:10,560 Speaker 4: and out policy. 474 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:14,560 Speaker 5: But he kept asking for this cigarette, and I didn't 475 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:16,479 Speaker 5: know why it was bothering me that he was asking 476 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,639 Speaker 5: for it, But then I realized it reminded me of 477 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:22,320 Speaker 5: a book that I had read, Man's Search for Meaning, 478 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:26,520 Speaker 5: a book by Victor Frankel in which he details being 479 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 5: in concentration camps, and in the concentration camps, cigarettes were 480 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:33,880 Speaker 5: a medium of exchange. So he would notice that when 481 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:37,280 Speaker 5: people would smoke their cigarettes is when they had lost 482 00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:40,560 Speaker 5: the desire to live. And it's right in that moment 483 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,760 Speaker 5: that I realized that he couldn't go on anymore. I 484 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:45,840 Speaker 5: knew that when he left that visit room that day, 485 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:47,000 Speaker 5: that was going to be the last day. 486 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:48,840 Speaker 2: That I saw him, and it was. 487 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:55,400 Speaker 5: Thankfully, however, I was exonerated this year January twenty fourth. 488 00:28:57,880 --> 00:28:58,240 Speaker 2: Thank you. 489 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:03,160 Speaker 4: And although he didn't live. 490 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 5: To see all of this come to fruition, I am 491 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:12,200 Speaker 5: glad that he's watching and making sure that the job 492 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:13,920 Speaker 5: was done and done good. 493 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:14,520 Speaker 2: Thank you. 494 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:23,280 Speaker 1: In January twenty nineteen, a court finally threw out Huburton's conviction. 495 00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:27,000 Speaker 3: I vacated provision the culvers in Burton, and is a 496 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:31,240 Speaker 3: trimedy that mister Burton's pension playing here in jail to require. 497 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 4: That A to cot from there. 498 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:36,560 Speaker 3: For this, I offer my apologize, mister Burton, of the 499 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:38,240 Speaker 3: heal of the Systom failed. 500 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: In the courtroom, seats were filled with other New Yorkers 501 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:45,200 Speaker 1: who'd been failed by the system too, who'd also been 502 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:49,600 Speaker 1: wrongly convicted as teenagers in false confession cases. They were 503 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:51,000 Speaker 1: there in solidarity. 504 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:56,680 Speaker 3: We brought in Usat Salam the Central Park five nineteen 505 00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:59,440 Speaker 3: eighty nine, Xener eighty five, we had in the front 506 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:03,440 Speaker 3: row Jet Deskovic in Westchester gave a false confession to 507 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:08,080 Speaker 3: murdering a high school classmen, Marty Tankliff. Again in nineteen 508 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:11,920 Speaker 3: eighty nine, co werced into confessing killing both of his parents, 509 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 3: and then, of course right there with them was Dennis Koss. 510 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:17,360 Speaker 3: That tells you all you need to know. 511 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:22,520 Speaker 1: It sure does. After a thirty year ordeal, Hugh joined 512 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:25,880 Speaker 1: their ranks as an exonery and he stood up in 513 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,760 Speaker 1: court and dedicated his exoneration to the memory of his mother. 514 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:45,520 Speaker 1: And that's the story of Huberton. Next week we'll tell 515 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:49,080 Speaker 1: you about Chris Tapp and Idaho man whose confession was 516 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:53,040 Speaker 1: proven false thanks to the perseverance of an unlikely champion, 517 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:58,080 Speaker 1: the victim's mother. Till then, thanks for listening to Wrongful Conviction, 518 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:09,040 Speaker 1: False Confessions. Wrongful Conviction, False Confessions is a production of 519 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:13,160 Speaker 1: Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number One. 520 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: Special thanks to our executive producer Jason Flamm and the 521 00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:20,840 Speaker 1: team at Signal Company Number one. Executive producer Kevin wardis 522 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:24,640 Speaker 1: Senior producer and Pope, and additional production and editing by 523 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 1: Connor Hall. Special thanks to Jogi Hammer for additional script editing, 524 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:30,840 Speaker 1: and for wrangling and writing like. 525 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:31,480 Speaker 4: A mad woman. 526 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:35,520 Speaker 1: Our music was composed by Jay Ralph. You can follow 527 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: me on Instagram or Twitter at Laura Nightwriter, and you. 528 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:41,720 Speaker 2: Can follow me on Twitter at s Drizzen. 529 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,840 Speaker 1: For more information on the show, visit wrongfulconvictionpodcast dot com 530 00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:48,760 Speaker 1: and be sure to follow the show on Instagram at 531 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:53,240 Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on 532 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:55,160 Speaker 1: Twitter at wrong Conviction