WEBVTT - #205 Jason Flom with James Davis 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.000 Since our initial release of James Davis's story, there have 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:06.200 been some incredible developments. This is a re release of 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:11.360 that story with new content outlining the great news. On 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:14.720 January twenty fourth, two thousand and four, James J. Davis 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:17.000 went to a big party at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:20.599 to celebrate his little brother, Daniel's birthday. James's night was 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:23.799 cut short when he drank too much and vomited several times. 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:26.159 Daniel put him in a cab to meet with his 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:30.880 girlfriend Kneed Johnson. Two hours later, a big fight broke 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:33.320 out in the club, resulting in their friend Jamel Black, 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:37.280 being stabbed and another man, Blake Harper, being shot and killed. 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:40.239 Police would interview people at the scene to get a 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:43.800 description of the shooter, a light skinned black man with braids, 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:46.800 but James didn't have braids at the time. He had 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:51.280 short hair with waves. Police then called stabbing victim Jammel 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:54.360 Black's home and spoke to his sister, who happened to 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:58.280 be James's spurned ex, Tina Black, who casually named James 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.120 as the shooter, even though she had never even been 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:04.160 at the party in the first place. Police found Jamel 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.200 at the hospital, who told them the identity of the 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:12.240 real shooter Tay Hall, so was it Tay or Jay? 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:16.040 Two weeks later, Jose Machakote, who was at the club 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.920 that night, would enter the precinct and second Tina Black's identification. 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:23.880 About six weeks after that, James found himself the target 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:28.360 of an interrogation, a sham lineup, and a murder charge. 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:30.640 Only after his case was picked up by the Legal 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:34.319 Aid Society was it revealed that Jose Machakote was actually 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:36.600 one of the most dangerous drug dealers in Brooklyn and 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:41.560 the subject of a joint FBI NYPD investigation. Machakote was 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:45.400 murdered five months after his false testimony that sent James 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.720 to prison for the rest of his life. This is 0:01:48.760 --> 0:02:01.800 Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flammer. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:05.000 with Jason flamm That's me. I'm your host, and today 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:07.200 you're going to hear a story that when they write 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.200 the History of Wrongful Convictions they could put this on 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.679 the cover, because this story is so outrageous that well, 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:16.280 you're just going to have to hear it for yourself. 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:20.320 Hello, Lucy is a prepaid correct call from Sure an 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:24.960 inmate ed New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:27.760 This call the subject of recording and monitoring. 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:32.040 To accept charges, Press one to refuse charges, Press two 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:35.000 if you would like, thank you for using Securius. You 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:36.560 may start the conversation now. 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.639 On the phone from prison where he's been for almost 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:44.720 twenty years, we have James J. Davis. Hello, Jay, thanks 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.040 for calling in and I hope that we'll be able 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:49.760 to make a difference. And with us today we have 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.200 Elizabeth Felber, who is the supervising attorney in the Wrongful 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:55.080 Conviction Unit of the Legal Aid Society. 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:56.200 Thank you for having us. 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:58.880 Let's go back to the beginning. James, you had a 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:03.560 rough child a growing up in Brownsville and Brooklyn, right, Yeah, very. 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:07.360 My mother and my father weren't really in my life. 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:10.800 It was small. My grandmother and my brother. My father 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:14.960 died when I was in fourth grade. Roughly two years later, 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:18.120 my mother passed away. The year before that, my brother 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:20.959 father passed away, so both of us had no parent 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:23.640 by the time I reached sixth grade. I had to 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.440 keep people from picking on him outside as well as 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:29.160 keep people from picking on me and bullying me. So 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:32.760 that's when the fight started happening. I started getting into 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.200 a lot of trouble. I was doing a lot of 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.720 stupid stuff. I was young. I was robbing people, I 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:40.160 was selling weed. 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:42.720 And that's when you ended up in juvie. 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:46.880 Yes, when I make it the juvie. I'm going to 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:51.120 school and I met this teacher, a guy named mister Bliss, 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:55.000 and he convinced me to take my TV and I 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.160 ended up passing. After I passed, he was like, you 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:00.839 can go to community college and get going to high 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:02.640 school now for re education. 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:05.840 So I understand you accepted the CAPE for your community 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:08.440 college in North Carolina, near where your aunt lived, no 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:12.640 small feat considering your record, but your probation officer wouldn't 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.000 transfer your supervision out of state, so you were trying 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:18.880 to get yourself into some computer science classes locally. 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.400 Around that time, I found out that my brother was 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:26.599 into the streets, and that's pretty much where I got 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:29.960 back involved in the streets, selling weed and being there 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:30.640 for this case. 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.840 Elizabeth, take us back to January twenty fourth, two thousand 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:37.240 and four. What happened that faithful night? 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:42.200 Okay, So January twenty fourth was his brother Daniel's birthday, 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.080 and Daniel wanted to go to a party that was 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:49.560 being held at a Masonic temple lodge where they hosted events. 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:52.240 It was a party for people with January birthdays. 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:56.960 We all grew up in the projects. Bio is an 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:00.240 older guy from the neighborhood that he's like a well 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:04.400 like god. He does parties. He knew my brother as well. 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:06.800 My brother he been talking about his birthday for a 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.640 long time, so they put him on the fly I 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.240 guess on my brother birthday. My plan was to like, 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:14.960 we just going chill, maybe call up some girls to 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:17.520 come hang out at the projects with us. He was 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:19.960 bent throwing going to the party because his name was 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.719 on the flyers. So it comes to be almost twelve 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:27.240 o'clock and I wanted to surprise my brother, so I 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:29.720 walked to the liquor store before it closed to get 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:31.880 a bottle on my weet and a bottle of Hennessy. 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.240 And when I got back, my brother was like, oh, 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:37.080 I forgot the party. 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:39.800 So by the time he got to the party, he 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:42.479 had had a few already, and then he proceeded to 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.360 have a few more drinks in the bathroom because they 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:47.279 told him, okay, you can have your own drink, but 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:49.040 you have to put some shade on. 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:51.839 It before you know it. I was trying to rush 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:54.920 my drinks so that we can actually get out the bathroom. 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:57.120 I wanted to see what the party was really like 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:01.240 in the Hennessy, and the moat turned my stomach over. 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:03.560 That was the start of the end of the night. 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.640 I threw up maybe once or twice in the bathroom, 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.800 and before I know it, through the laughing, I hear 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:14.320 my brother pretty much like, come on, man, now, I 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:16.440 got to take you back home. We just got here. 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:18.560 We ain't even fully been in the club long enough. 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:23.520 Through negotiation, I just told them I just woke me outside, 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:26.279 I catch a cab and I go to my girlfriend house. 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.799 So they went outside. They got a cab and James 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:34.800 called his girlfriend, Canine Johnson, and took the cab to 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:39.440 her place and she met him outside. Her mother didn't 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:41.719 like James, so they would stay with her aunt. 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.480 I got there two forty five maybe three. So when 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.120 I got there, she's sitting on the steps already. I 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:49.200 step out the cab. 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:50.480 They I threw up in. 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:53.640 Between cars before I even tested the sidewalk. She came 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:56.440 running down the steps, rubbed my back I think, and 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:00.920 walked to our house, stop at the store and went. 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:05.720 Into our house, so he was long gone before anything happened. 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.040 At the party, which was around four in the morning, 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:12.720 a fight broke out and somebody was seriously stabbed. We 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:16.240 now know that was Jammel Black and Blake Harper was 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:18.720 shot and killed. A couple other people were shot, but 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:22.440 not seriously. James had already left the party hours earlier. 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.080 So you wake up the next morning at your girlfriend 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.000 Kneen's her aunt's house. Really, and one of the guys 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:30.880 you were with, Jamel Black, had been stabbed the night before. 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:33.000 How did you hear that news? 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:37.160 Well, both of us up. The news is on. It's 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:41.960 about the Masonic temple. Immediately I called my house on 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.000 the landline in my aunt is like it Jamel got 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:48.600 stabbed and somebody got killed, but nobody knew who the 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:50.920 guy was that got killed. So I'm like, I'm coming 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:54.240 over there. I got there. My brother pretty much told 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:56.720 me I wasn't really involved in it, but it was 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:01.080 crazy in it, a fight broke out, people shooting, girls screaming, 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:02.480 and everybody run in. 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.160 Police had responded to the scene and they interviewed a 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:08.760 number of people at the club, and no one that 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:10.840 they interviewed knew the identity of the shooter. But he 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:14.200 was described as a young, light skinned Blackmail with braids 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:16.200 on the back of his head. Now, James, is that 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:18.120 an accurate description of you at that time? 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:21.960 No, I actually did have raids at the time. I 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:24.920 had a low season like waves. 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.120 So police have already interviewed witnesses at the scene the 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:30.640 night before. You're a friend who has stabbed Jamel Black. 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.200 They call his house, but they get his sister on 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:33.840 the phone. 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:37.880 Instead, Tina Black, like the first girlfriend I ever had. 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:42.120 What we learned was that Tina Black still harbored a 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:45.360 flame for him and was hugely jealous when she found 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.560 out that he had a new girlfriend, and out of spite, 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:52.760 she told the police that James did the shooting, even 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.280 though you can tell by the only police record on 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:57.760 her she wasn't at the party that night. She was 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:01.280 very sick with juvenile diabete, too sick to go to 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:03.640 a party. The police should have known that she wasn't 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:06.760 at the party, and yet they just focused on him. 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:10.080 The second page of the detective notebook says Purp James 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:13.600 Davis Jay, So it's just tunnel vision from then on out. 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:16.679 Right, So the people that were there couldn't identify the suspect. 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.720 The woman who wasn't there does identify a suspect, And 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:23.200 of course we know that Tina later on confessed to 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:25.720 her mother and to others as she had lied to 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.240 the police. Now we're up to the park where the 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:31.000 detectives went to the hospital, right, and the interviewed Jammel Black. 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.800 So the detectives actually went to the hospital the day 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:37.240 of the incident and they were told he was just 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.200 coming out of surgery. He was too out of it. 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:43.120 The doctors wouldn't let him interview Jamel. Jammel testified out 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:46.720 her hearing and he told the court that what happened 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:50.960 was those detectives came back later and Jammel told them 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:53.720 he had been stabbed by the guy who was subsequently 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:57.280 killed and this guy named Tay Hall was helping him 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:02.200 out of the party when he says, oh shit, pushes 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.640 Jamel to the ground and you hear shots fired. Jamel 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.400 looks up and he sees Tay putting a gun back 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:10.319 in his pocket and saying, I got to get out 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:12.800 of here. The police are coming. But there was no 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:16.520 written report about that conversation and it never came out. 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:18.440 At the hearing, the judge said, Oh, it's just not 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:21.200 credible that they wouldn't have a report about it. Well, 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.120 it's also not credible that you wouldn't interview the person 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.040 who was stabbed, because they would most likely have the 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:28.240 most relevant information. 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:31.720 So let's fast forward then to a couple of months 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:35.640 after the shooting, right, and that's when the warrant squad came. 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:38.480 They were actually looking for your younger brother when they 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.120 arrested you, and you weren't even aware that they were 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:42.959 looking for you because you knew that you didn't have 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:45.120 anything to do with this and there was no reason 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:47.840 to suspect you of anything other than being drunk and 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:49.000 throwing up on the sidewalk. 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:51.120 They took me from my house under the guys that 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:53.560 I had a warrant, which I did. I did have 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:57.800 a warrant for disorderly conducting do community service, But they 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:00.600 never took me to the court building, took me down 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:05.640 to like homicide headquarters where I'm at Detective Hutchinson for 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.160 the first time before they took me to the precinct. 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:12.600 At the precinct, they pretty much was asking me do 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.320 I know Jamail Black? And do I know what happened 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:18.640 to Jamail Black? So I explained to them the same 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.320 thing that I just was telling you about getting drunk 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:24.480 and leaving. Who actually walked me to the door, whatever 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:27.680 where I went after I left the party. From there, 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.040 I don't remember exactly the rest of the questions, but 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:33.200 it was pretty much all about the shooting there. So 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.000 I'm like, when am I going to court? I'm supposed 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.280 to be going to court. They're like, no, what we're 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:39.920 going to do is we're going to put you in 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:43.640 the lineup. I'm like, a lineup. I need a lawyer. 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:46.000 It's like, do you have a lawyer? I'm like, no, 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:48.000 I don't have a lawyer, but I have a lawyer 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:51.240 in my family who can come and represent me. But 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.439 he tells me if I don't have a number for him, 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:55.560 then he can't call him. Then they just took me 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:58.240 back to the room, left me in the room, and 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:02.640 from there it went to the lineup and he came 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.760 back with four guys. Three of them is dog skinned, 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.000 two of them have He said, nobody looks like me, 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.600 Nobody favors me in no way, shape or form, But 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.480 I'm like, this can't be Did he bring two more 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:20.760 guys in, like Indian looking guys. I'm like, nah, this 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:22.160 is a six. 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:25.800 Can you tell us a little bit about this lineup 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:27.280 and how things went so wrong? 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:30.880 So the lineup in itself was already suggestive, but there 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.920 were three people who viewed the lineup. One of them 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.960 was jose Machakodi. He was the first witness that they 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:40.400 brought into view a photo spread about six weeks earlier, 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.120 and it was unclear why he was called. He was 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:46.640 the brother in law of the man who died, but 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:48.280 he was not one of the people that had been 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:51.680 originally interviewed. It's pretty common knowledge that when you've picked 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.079 someone out of a photograph, you pick them again in 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:56.600 the lineup because you recognize them as the person. But 0:12:57.000 --> 0:13:00.320 the lineup happened six weeks later. At the lineup, the 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.520 two other witnesses, Harold Poe and Sean Velton. They were 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.600 brought there by the mother of the deceased, and according 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:09.120 to their testimony, she called them and said, they have 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:11.080 the guy they think did it at the precinct, and 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:12.680 they want you to just come to see if you 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:16.160 can you identify him or something. To that effect that's 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.880 already contaminating the lineup because there's a pressure put on 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:22.480 them that this is the person they have, the person 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:26.480 they feel compelled to pick one person, especially especially when 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:29.240 the mother of the deceased has chauffeur driven you to 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:32.560 the precincts. So they picked James. But one of them 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:36.160 said always from the beginning, well he resembles him except 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:38.920 for the braids, because when James got arrested, his hair 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:41.760 was short. And the other guy, Sean Velton, Now originally 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:43.760 he had said I didn't see anything when the police 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:45.840 spoke to him. Now he said, oh, I just said 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:48.280 that because I was afraid. But the description he gave 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:51.240 before he viewed him was someone wearing a Scully cap 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:54.480 and that's nowhere in any description. And also five ten 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:57.200 and James was like five seven, so we didn't even 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:59.880 describe someone that looked like James. So that's how they 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.840 picked him. There was a fourth person at the lineup 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:05.880 who did not testify at the trial or the hearings, 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:08.960 and what Detective Hutchinson said about him was, oh, he 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.720 picked him out. He just wouldn't sign the sheet saying 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:14.920 he had again, you know some things just your alarm 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:18.320 goes off. That smells fishy, So we caught up with him. 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:20.680 He did not want to be involved. He made that 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:22.800 one hundred and fifty percent clear. But what he told 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:25.800 us was Noah, I never said that was the guy. 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:28.280 That's why I wouldn't sign. And what I said to 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.120 them was if you say that's the guy, that's the guy. 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.920 So to me, that says they were being prompted to 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.120 pick James, and I should just add that. Sean Belton 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:41.400 at the second trial recanted again and said I just 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:45.160 glanced at him. He gave four separate statements, so that 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.360 was him, and the other guy always only said he 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.280 resembled him. So essentially it really came down to hosely 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:50.880 matcha cody. 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:55.240 When you think about the convenience of Tina Black Junior 0:14:56.040 --> 0:15:00.400 given my name to the detective, and then a week later, 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:06.000 jose Machakodi, the drug building, violent robber who's a humble bober, 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:09.760 now just happens to walk into the precinct. Though he 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:13.160 didn't stay at the crime scene when everything happened, he 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:16.960 fled the crime scene. He walks into the precinct and 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:20.440 he picks my picture. He's the only one that goes 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.760 to the precinct and it just so happens that he's 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:28.400 known in this neighborhood. To me, the whole case is 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.160 weird from beginning to end. I think that this was 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:37.080 a misunderstanding, maybe from speaking to Jamel Black and him 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.320 telling them the story he told him about Kay send 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:47.600 them asking his sister about pay and she telling them Shane, 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:50.880 and they just went from there with the easiest thing 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:54.480 that they could do to close the case, and it 0:15:54.640 --> 0:16:03.640 just so happened to be that I was convenience for them. 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:08.120 This episode is underwritten by Paul Weiss, Rifkin, Porton and Garrison. 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.800 A leading international law fer. Paul Weiss has long had 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:16.080 an unwavering commitment to providing impactful, pro bono legal assistance 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:18.640 to the most vulnerable members of our society and in 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:22.480 support of the public interest, including extensive work in the 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:23.640 criminal justice area. 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:33.640 After the line up, they told me I was being 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:36.920 charged with murder, and he offered me a deal pretty 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:41.160 much to take the questions and asked me to tell 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.760 him that I did it because he already heard about 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.960 the story of what happened. Somebody told him that two 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:51.040 groups of guys was fighting and the guy in one 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:53.000 of the groups had a knife, and the guy and 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:55.800 the other group had a gun, and he shot the 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:58.560 guy with the knife to defend himself. But I can 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.360 tell me that I can help you. I speak to 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:03.640 the daight. I'm like, what the hell kind of shit 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:05.440 is there? Why the fuck would I tell you I 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:07.720 did that. I'm telling you I wasn't even aware of 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:11.239 I wasn't there for it. He's like, you know, if 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:12.800 I was you, I would have did the same thing. 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:14.679 If it was me a guy comes at me with 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:16.600 a knife and I got a gun, I would have 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:19.359 shot him too. You ain't doing nothing wrong. I was like, 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:21.520 but you want me to admit to something I didn't do. 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:22.120 That's wrong? 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:25.320 Right there, the fingerprinted me and put me in a 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:27.040 holding cell for the rest of the night. 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:32.560 Now things go from bad to worse right the trial. 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:36.679 There's a number of problems at both trials, although the 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.399 first trial, amazingly, in spite of the fact that you 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:45.720 had substandard defense, you still ended up with an eleven 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.200 to one hungury in favor of a quittle. 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:53.280 You have this this one guy, Jose Machikoti, who's laying 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:56.240 the cause of this fight on his brother in law. Well, 0:17:56.280 --> 0:18:00.280 the two prosecutors witnesses beside him, I say and that 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:03.199 he started the whole fight, and he's saying that I 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:05.439 had nothing to do with it. I'm a humble barber. 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:09.399 I never committed a crime again after I was locked 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:12.720 up all of those years ago. You have a conflict 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:14.320 between your own witnesses. 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:18.040 Canein Johnson. His girlfriend did testify at the first trial. 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:21.040 She's explaining to them how I came to her aunt's 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:23.800 place while we didn't stay at her mother's house because 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:27.119 some of us was like a CEO or x CEO 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:29.280 at the time. I guess she didn't think I was 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:30.320 good enough for her daughter. 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:33.960 I think that, in part was part of what led 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:35.679 to the eleven to one Equila that she was a 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:37.120 very persuasive witness. 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:41.880 But at the second trial, the DA is saying that 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:46.440 I threatened. One of the witnesses. Sean Belton recants, but 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:50.440 it's I can't really consider that recanting because he went 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:53.200 back to the initial statement that he never seen anything. 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:57.440 Havel Poe. We had his testimony read into the record 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:01.720 because throughout the whole thing he never identified me. He 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.600 only referred to me as looking similar to one of 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:07.119 the guys. The other person that they say picked me 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:09.440 out of a photo or Ratey never signed on none 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:12.720 of the pictures. But the detective is saying I made 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:15.640 a mank next to the picture that he picked out 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:19.120 because he wouldn't sign it. It's like that don't even 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:22.520 make sense. The only only witness that they had was 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:26.840 jose Manchakoti that actually positively picked. 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.919 Me out of a lineup, And all you needed was 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:33.720 your star witness Kenean Johnson to show up and counter Machakot, 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:35.359 just like she did at the first trial. 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:39.920 But at the second trial, I'm not with my girlfriend anymore, 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:44.200 so our contact is kind of really touching. Go is 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:47.400 you know that I'm only calling to notify her court 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.399 dates and what's going on with my life, which she's 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:53.080 trying to avoid. I guess I don't know. My lawyers 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:55.159 said he spoke to her and she was supposed to 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:58.840 be coming in and then she didn't show up, but 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:01.000 she was still being nice to him on the phone. 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:05.280 He called her again and then she cursed him out. 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:08.159 She told him that he sent police to her house 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:11.560 that like one in the morning. But we learned that 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:15.679 day in the courtroom that it wasn't actually my lawyer 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:18.240 that sent the police, that it was the district attorney 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:22.919 who subpoenaed her, even though in court she said, I 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:25.520 never planned on calling this girl as a witness because 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:28.280 I don't know what she's gonna say, even though she 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:31.359 heard what my witness said at the first trial. But 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:36.360 they still mistubpoened at her and sent police to her 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:40.280 house at one in the morning, which actually infuriated her 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:44.840 mother and caused her mother to kick her out. That 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:48.760 right there pretty much stealed the deal as far as 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:52.600 her coming to court and tell me guilty. 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:57.719 Anyone who's listening is probably wondering right now, Well, if 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:02.639 I was representing him back then, I would have checked 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:04.919 to cell phone records, or I would have checked the 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:07.800 cab records. You could have gotten hold of a cab 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:10.000 company and see if anybody because you took a cab right, 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:13.840 And none of that stuff was done right. 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:16.640 The weird thing is, out of all of the easy 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:18.960