WEBVTT - Episode 5 | Anybody Will Do 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:14.280 Last time on ear witness. 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:17.799 You are in a position now to be one of 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:18.439 two things. 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:22.600 Okay, you can either be a witness or you can 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.079 be a defendant. R. 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.920 Dregus was in his wheelchair sitting there, and he looked 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:32.000 at me and he said, listen, I'm not gonna lie 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:37.000 for anybody. I would happy to give to Forrest up 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:39.640 in a heartbeat, except it would be a lie, and 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:42.120 I'm not gonna lie. I said, all right, well, they're 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:44.240 going to wheel you to jail and they're gonna charge 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:47.880 you with capital murder, which is definitely offense. And he goes, 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:50.560 I wasn't there, tell him to take me to jail, 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:51.760 and they did. 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:56.480 Charged with capital murder of a law enforcement officer. Our 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.760 twenty two year old toward Forrest Johnson, twenty one year 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:02.720 old Our drag Us Ford, twenty three year old oh 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.680 Min Berry, and twenty one year old Quinn tes Wilson. 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:07.760 They are held without bond. 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:14.800 Evidence wise, well, we had visually no evidence. We had 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:20.320 the word of a fifteen year old who told lies, 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:21.600 a lot of. 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.319 Lies, Alie outline a FLA. 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:28.840 We had this table empty, wasn't nothing on it, and 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:31.160 we were still trying to try the case, and we 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:32.720 were like, man, what we gonna do. 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:33.640 I'm gonna win this. 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:55.120 It's nineteen ninety seven, two years after Deputy Bill Hardy 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:59.840 was killed to Forrest Johnson and Ardregis Ford are headed 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:03.559 to trial for the murder, and so far, the only 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:06.800 evidence the state has presented connecting them to the crime 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:12.040 is the changing story of Yolanda Chambers. But there was 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:18.040 something else, something detectives had known about for two years, 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.720 something they kept quiet until now. 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:25.239 This is sorry to Tom saw for Jeffson County Sheriff's 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:28.600 firmat President of the Room, or sorry to Tony Richson 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:35.160 and missus Violet Ellison and her daughter, Katrina Ellison. 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:39.880 Violet Ellison, a fifty three year old black woman, and 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.880 her sixteen year old daughter Katrina, met with detectives Tony 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:48.840 Richardson and Tom Salter at the Sheriff's office. Violet Ellison, 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:53.480 who knew Deputy Hardy, came forward a few weeks after 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:58.480 Hardy's murder. She called investigators seven days after the governor 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:02.000 announced an additional ten t one thousand dollars for information, 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:06.480 bringing the total reward offered in the case to twenty 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:11.359 thousand dollars. Her recorded interview with detectives is less than 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:12.440 seven minutes long. 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.920 Mis Ellison, would you tell us about the information that 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:18.240 you have for us? 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:22.840 You got a name Fred, I'm not sure of his 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:23.440 last name. 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:24.679 Call my daughter. 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:26.240 Katrina Ellison home. 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.880 Violet Ellison says some guys in the jail were asking 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:34.040 Katrina to make three way calls for them so they'd 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:37.040 only have to pay for the original call to Katrina. 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:41.200 They didn't want to keep feeding quarters into the payphone. 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:44.880 One of those guys was named Fred, and he. 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:49.800 Asked my daughter to use her three way to call for. 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.800 His homeboy, and he named the fellow's name is Tamars Johnson. 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:58.000 Violet Ellison says her daughter dialed the number of a 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:02.280 girl named Daisy to create a three way call. In 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:06.160 the jail, Fred handed the phone to Forest so that 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:10.200 he could talk to Daisy back in the Ellison house. 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.120 Once Katrina heard the three way call go through, she 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:17.440 put the phone down and walked away, but her mom, 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:20.840 Violet Ellison, picked it up and listened in. 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:24.320 He said that on the night of the. 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:26.359 Ancident. 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:31.720 Violet Ellison tells detectives that she heard to Forest Johnson 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:36.000 telling Daisy what happened the night of Deputy Bill Hardy's murder. 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:41.000 I've listened to this recording over a dozen times and 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:46.320 it's not easy to follow, but in summary, Violet says 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:50.599 that to Forest described following a man. They planned to 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:53.160 rob a man. 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:55.640 And they had been following this man. 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:58.520 This man had a girl with him, and the girl 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:02.440 had a gun gone a shot was fired. 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.120 It was one shot that was fired. 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:09.520 And Deputy Hardy heard the commotion and came out to investigate. 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.880 Investigate, and that's when. 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:20.160 Tavars Johnson shot one time and he named another guy, 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:20.920 which was. 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.880 Quin to your tas both. 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:34.000 Of them shot, She says she overheard to Forrest Johnson 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:38.320 say that he and quint Has Wilson each fired one 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:42.960 shot at Deputy Hardy. At this point, quint Has Wilson 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:47.600 was also in jail, charged with Hardy's murder. The story 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:51.920 Violet Ellison tells police is disjointed. There are a lot 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:54.920 of details that are similar to the facts about the 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.760 case that were reported in the news, but others that 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:02.839 don't fit the evidence at the crime scene, and after 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.760 less than seven minutes, detectives say they have no further 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.680 questions for Violet Ellison and her daughter. 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:10.800 That makes a lot of sense. 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:12.760 Do you think they say that? 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:15.679 Okay? 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:28.719 Two years after Violet Ellison first comes to police, the 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:32.040 state is preparing to put Ardregis Ford and to Forrest 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:37.520 Johnson on trial. But Yolanda Chambers is falling apart. She's 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:41.479 recanted her testimony under oath, and she doesn't always show 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:45.560 up to court when she's supposed to be there. It's then, 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:51.040 in their time of need two years later, that detectives 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:54.160 suddenly remember Violet Ellison's statements. 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:57.880 BALI that was k marking that door. You stand up 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:01.000 on his dail and say what she said? We got 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:06.599 a full taber. Now we got all the evidence we need. Well, 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:08.640 not that we need, we'd like to have a lot more, 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:10.120 but we got evidence. 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:16.320 Violet Ellison would become the state's star witness and the 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:21.120 trial against Forrest Johnson, and her ear witness testimony would 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:25.160 be the key evidence linking him to Deputy Hardy's murder. 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:28.840 But there wouldn't be just one trial for the murder 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:34.480 of Deputy Hardy, or two or even three. The state 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:39.600 will pursue four capital murder trials, and at each of 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:44.680 these four trials, the state will present separate mutually exclusive 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:53.040 theories about who pulled the trigger and fired the fatal shots. 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:59.920 I'm Beth Shelburne. This is ear witness, Chapter five. Anybody 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:32.720 will do If Tony Richardson was initially enthusiastic about Violet 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:38.000 Ellison's revelations, I can't tell by the investigative file. He 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:40.440 wrote a report about the meeting he had with her. 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:47.280 It's just seven sentences long, concluding the conversation concerned the crime. 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:54.080 That's it. Detectives and prosecutors do not publicly mention Violet 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:58.400 Ellison or her claims for the next two years. It's 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:03.440 like they just forgot about her. The most glaring example 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:09.520 of this, Detective Richardson testifies at a grand jury hearing 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:14.240 five months after his conversation with Violet Ellison. He says 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:18.400 under oath that all four men charged with capital murder 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:21.040 were in the back parking lot of the Crown Sterling 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:25.760 Suites when Hardy was killed, but he says Omar Berry 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:34.720 and ardregis Ford were the shooters. This story is based 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:39.120 on one of his conversations with Yolanda Chambers, and Detective 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:43.760 Richardson tells the grand jury there is no doubt that 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:49.440 Yolanda Chambers is telling us the truth. There is no 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:53.320 mention of Violet Ellison and tel To Forest is on trial, 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.640 but the state puts ardregas Ford on trial. 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:15.240 First, my grandmother spent everything she had, everything that a 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:19.560 poor woman had. She spent our money to defend him, 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:21.680 you know, to get him the best. 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:22.640 Representation she could. 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:27.960 Ardregas's cousin, Nicole Blunt Kerksey, comes to my house to 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:31.240 talk to me about the case. She's wearing a patterned 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:35.000 dress and cowboy boots. Her hair is pulled back into 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:38.960 a high bun. For many years, she grew up in 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:42.920 the same house as ar Dregas. Their mothers are sisters. 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:45.440 It was a lot of money for a poor family. 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:49.200 It really was a lot of My grandmother had a 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:51.560 lot of money saved back then. Even poor people like 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:54.240 she didn't spend everything she had. She always put money back. 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.920 She worked for a Union Envelope, which was like a 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.960 factory over in Press City for years, and then she 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:07.360 used to wash clothes and clean houses for people, and 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:09.480 so she just tucked a lot of that money, she 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:13.280 just tucked it away, and she exhausted just about everything 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:17.040 to try to get him the representation that he needed 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:20.360 for that trial other than my grandmother's money. I mean, 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:24.280 we had barbecues and just you know, things to raise 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.319 money so that we could pay the attorney. 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:32.600 Ardregas's mom, Joyce, tells me the same thing. So you 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:35.760 had to raise some of the money, some of it. Yeah, 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:38.520 do you remember how much you ended up paying? 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:46.120 Looked like, I don't know, might have been over for 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:47.280 the thousand or something. 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:51.800 Mother, it's a lot of money. 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:52.640 It was. 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:59.040 Ar Dregas's family hires Richard Jaffe, a renowned defense attorney 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:02.120 who would represent it dozens of people facing the death 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:08.120 penalty to Forrest. Johnson's cousin, Antonio Green remembers trying to 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:10.920 figure out what his family could do to get to 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:13.719 Forrest the best legal defense available. 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:18.520 One of the prominent attorneys during that time. 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:20.640 Me and my uncle went and talked to him about 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.880 taking this case for the forest during that time, and 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:27.319 he told us it's right, that's in his office. He said, 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:31.080 bring him a ten thousand dollars retainer and he'll bring 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:35.880 our love one home. Of course, ten thousand dollars, he 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.680 might well say ten million at that time to me, 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:42.120 you know, and you know, we just we just didn't 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:42.880 have it, couldn't do it. 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:45.160 Everybody scratching to make it and feed the family. 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:48.320 And we all understood that because I'm thinking, Okay, I 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:50.040 got to get a loan, I got to do you 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:53.520 know something. But that was what was amazing too. Bell 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.440 to fires he understood that. He was like, because don't 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:58.240 worry about that. I'm gonna be all right. I didn't 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.679 do this, that this old thing. They're not gonna lock 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:03.160 me up because I didn't do this. 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:15.760 Judge Alfred Bayhackle appoints two attorneys to represent to forrest, 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.600 a sharply dressed thirty two year old black man named 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:24.600 Darryl Bender. And Erskine mathis a white, middle aged former 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:29.920 police officer with a thick mustache. In nineteen ninety seven, 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:34.520 Alabama paid appointed defense attorneys just twenty dollars an hour 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.200 for work outside the courtroom, with a cap of one 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:43.400 thousand dollars. Most appointed lawyers can't afford to work for free, 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:47.320 so this very low cap limited how well they could 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:58.480 prepare for trial. Ardregis Ford is first to go to 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:02.320 trial in November of no nineteen ninety seven. There's a 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:05.400 photo of him in the newspaper He's sitting in his 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:10.440 wheelchair in court wearing a starched collared shirt and dark blazer. 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:14.480 The junior prosecutor on the case is a thirty four 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:19.360 year old black man named Theo Lawson. Jeff Wallace is 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:24.560 the lead prosecutor. He's tall, white, a commanding figure in 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:29.320 the courtroom, forty three years old, twelve years into his career. 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:34.280 I think my reputation was of being a tough prosecutor, 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:37.480 meaning if I had the case, I pushed it toose limits. 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:40.960 And I think my reputation might be that I was 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.600 maybe a little too tough. Sometimes I hope that's not true, 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:46.200 but I'm afraid it might be true. 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:51.640 Jeff Wallace was assigned to major cases and aggressively sought 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:55.360 to please his boss, DA David Barber, who was a 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:59.840 tough on crime leader focused on getting convictions, and this 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:04.480 the case was personal for Jeff Wallace. He knew the victim. 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:11.480 Every prosecutor who is diligent works closely with the police, 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:15.120 and when something happens to one of them, you're not 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:17.800 one of the boys in blue, as they say, but 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:22.680 they're your friends. So when this happened at Deputy Hardy, 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:24.040 he got my attention. 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:28.920 The trial against Ar dregas Ford starts at one fifty 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:33.400 pm on November fifth. In a short opening statement, the 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:37.440 prosecution summarizes the crime for the jury, arguing that Ar 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:41.600 dregas Ford is guilty of capital murder. They don't mention 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:46.760 a motive. Afterwards, Jeff Wallace calls the county's chief medical 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:51.360 examiner to the stand. He explains that Hardy's wounds were 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:56.000 at an upward angle through his head. Jeff Wallace argues 0:15:56.520 --> 0:16:00.480 this would be consistent with Ardregis firing the show shots 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:06.480 from his wheelchair. Prosecutors also call Yolanda Chambers as a witness, 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:11.040 even though she recanted her story in court a year ago. 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:14.800 Since then, she's gone back to saying that she was 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:18.960 there when Hardy was killed. She now says she saw 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:25.200 ardregas Ford fire at least one shot Richard. Jeffy. Ardregas's 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:29.960 lawyer argues that if the hotel witnesses had seen ardregas 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:32.960 Ford commit the crime, they would have seen this. 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:38.840 Ur dregas Ford wheeling up about thirty feet of an 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:45.800 incline in his wheelchair, somehow finding an ability to shoot 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:52.800 two shots into Deputy Hardy then be wheeled down by 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:58.080 someone all the way back to their car. The wheelchair 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.200 would have had to been put in Theregas. That's what 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:03.160 I had to have been physically put into the driver's seat. 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:06.439 DeForrest would have had to have gotten back into the 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:08.840 passenger seat, and then they would have driven off, and 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:12.440 that would have taken at least a minute or two minimum. 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:16.800 Of course, no one at the hotel saw anything like that. 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:22.320 The only thing they had on our Dregas forward was 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:23.280 Yolanda Chambers. 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:28.520 Jaffe calls witnesses to the stand who saw Ardregas at 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:31.840 Tea's place at the same time that Deputy Hardy was shot. 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:37.520 We didn't call any witnesses other than alibi witnesses. 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:42.120 The key decision the jury has to make. Do they 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:47.280 believe Yolanda chambers testimony that Ardregas killed Deputy Hardy behind 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:51.480 the Crown Sterling suites, or do they believe the three 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.960 alibi witnesses who say he was at Tea's place at 0:17:54.960 --> 0:18:07.840 the same time that Deputy Hardy was murdered. The jury 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:12.120 votes ten to two to acquit Ardragas Ford, but that's 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:17.520 not enough. Murder trials require a unanimous verdict. Since this 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:23.320 decision was split. Judge bay Haackle declares a mistrial, but 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:27.800 ardregas Ford is not set free. The state plans to 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:53.560 try him a second time. Two weeks later, the first 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:58.200 trial against to Forest Johnson begins. Here's to Forrest's cousin, 0:18:58.280 --> 0:18:59.200 Antonio Green. 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:04.760 I remember me personally myself. I was very optimistic. I 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:09.640 was very optimistic simply because I knew what they had, 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:13.880 which was nothing as far as evidence goes. I'm like, Okay, well, 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:15.800 it's just a part of the process. They'll hear the 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:20.080 evidence or like thereof, and we'll be going home, you know, 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:23.160 and this is all over. But as the days went on, 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:26.399 from the first couple of days of the trial, you 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:32.080 could see a really different environment in the courtroom. 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:35.439 The only video from the trial I've seen is a 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:39.119 short TV news clip. It's filmed through a window on 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:43.880 the courtroom door, and to Forrest looks so young, much 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:49.000 younger than twenty four. He's clean shaven, baby faced, dressed 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:52.000 for court in a striped button down shirt and tie 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:56.600 with a gray blazer. He looks around the courtroom, maybe 0:19:56.600 --> 0:20:00.399 he's nervous, but then he lights up with the huge 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:03.000 smile when he sees a family member who comes over 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:08.000 to speak with him. The state's lead prosecutor, Jeff Wallace, 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:11.440 gets up in front of the jury. Just two weeks earlier, 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:16.320 he argued that our Dregis Ford shot Deputy Hardy, but 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:20.159 now he tells a completely different story. He says that 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:24.200 to Forrest Johnson shot Hardy. The theory that the shooter 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:28.160 was seated in a wheelchair is never mentioned, and Yolanda 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:33.719 Chambers never sets foot in the courtroom. Instead, the prosecution 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:36.800 tells the jury in opening statements that they will hear 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:40.840 evidence that will convince them beyond a reasonable doubt that 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:46.240 to Forrest shot and killed Deputy Hardy. Then Jeff Wallace 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:52.720 introduces the state's new star witness, Violet Ellison. She tells 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:56.920 the jury she evesdropped on several three way calls because 0:20:56.960 --> 0:20:59.600 she was concerned about her daughter talking to people at 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:04.439 the jail and because she's naturally nosy. She says she 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:08.560 contacted detectives six days after she listened in on the 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:13.200 first call because she couldn't sleep after hearing information about 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:18.240 the murder of Deputy Bill Hardy. On the stand, Violet 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:21.760 Ellison tells the jury that she overheard to Forrest say 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:26.199 these words, I shot the fucker in the head, and 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:29.840 I saw his head go back and he fell, and 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:33.520 he shouldn't have got in my business messing up my shit. 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:46.439 There was no mention of I shot the fucker in 0:21:46.480 --> 0:21:50.720 the head or anything like that. And Violet Ellison's original 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:55.920 recorded statement to police, she did write the statement down 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:58.879 in notes on the back of an envelope that she 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:03.080 submitted to police, but she gave them these notes six 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:10.600 weeks after her first recorded statement on the stand. She 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:14.080 says she jotted down the notes while she listened in 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:17.480 on the call between to Forest and Daisy, and then 0:22:17.520 --> 0:22:22.160 copied the notes onto a sheet of paper. But it's 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:24.840 hard for me to believe that these notes were written 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:29.720 during the phone call she claims she overheard. For example, 0:22:30.240 --> 0:22:33.640 Violet Ellison is adamant in her testimony that she heard 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:38.320 to Forest only use his first name, but her notes 0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:42.040 refer to him as Johnson. If she was just writing 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:45.840 down what she heard while she heard it, why wouldn't 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:49.200 she have written to Forest? How would she have known 0:22:49.280 --> 0:22:57.720 his last name to Forrest's attorneys also say that what 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:01.480 Violet Ellison heard was just one side of a conversation. 0:23:02.400 --> 0:23:05.720 They say to Forest was telling Daisy what he was 0:23:05.760 --> 0:23:09.800 accused of doing, not what he did. He was responding 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:13.920 to her question, why are you in jail? But when 0:23:14.040 --> 0:23:18.800 Darryl Bender questions Violet Ellison, she tells him she's positive 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:22.720 that Daisy never asked to Forest why he was in jail. 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:26.080 But then she also says that she didn't pay any 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:29.919 attention to Daisy's side of the conversation because she was 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:35.240 only interested in what to Forest had to say. If 0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:39.119 this feels confusing to you, welcome, I've been trying to 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:43.320 make this make sense for two years. How can Violet 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:47.920 Ellison insist that she knows what Daisy did or did 0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:52.040 not say, while also admitting that she only listened to 0:23:52.160 --> 0:23:57.320 one side of the conversation. Antonio Green, to Forest's cousin, 0:23:57.680 --> 0:24:00.399 remembers watching Violet Ellison on this stand. 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:05.520 The only evidence supposedly they had against was this ear witness, 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:09.159 who had never heard him speak before, who had no 0:24:09.280 --> 0:24:12.640 idea who he was. But to sit in there and 0:24:12.680 --> 0:24:17.600 see how the system from you know, the judge, the 0:24:17.680 --> 0:24:22.879 prosecutors and all that pushed that case towards him. I 0:24:22.920 --> 0:24:25.520 mean constantly it was he did it. We got the 0:24:25.600 --> 0:24:26.040 right one. 0:24:26.160 --> 0:24:26.679 He did it. 0:24:26.760 --> 0:24:29.560 And forget the evidence. Don't worry about that. We're just 0:24:29.720 --> 0:24:32.920 telling you he did it. It's pretty much it's all 0:24:33.000 --> 0:24:33.520 they had. 0:24:34.880 --> 0:24:39.359 When Violet Ellison finishes testifying, Daisy Williams takes the stand. 0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:43.760 She says to Forrest did not admit to the murder 0:24:43.760 --> 0:24:47.119 on that phone call, and she never heard him say 0:24:47.200 --> 0:24:54.800 the things Violet Ellison claimed to overhear. So Violet Ellison, 0:24:55.000 --> 0:24:57.720 a friend of the victim, says she heard one thing. 0:24:58.800 --> 0:25:02.600 Daisy Williams, friend of the accused, says she heard another. 0:25:03.920 --> 0:25:07.679 The case comes down to who the jury will believe. 0:25:18.920 --> 0:25:23.840 After five days of testimony to Forrest's supporters nervously wait 0:25:24.000 --> 0:25:28.159 as the jury begins to deliberate, and once again, the 0:25:28.280 --> 0:25:34.480 jury cannot reach a unanimous decision. Nine jurors vote to convict, 0:25:34.920 --> 0:25:39.560 but three others are not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. 0:25:39.640 --> 0:25:42.000 The judge declares a mistrial. 0:25:45.160 --> 0:25:49.000 They deliberated and they couldn't come to a verdict, so 0:25:49.160 --> 0:25:52.040 they took him back to kept him locked up, and 0:25:52.560 --> 0:25:56.440 immediately pretty much scheduled another date for a second trial. 0:25:56.960 --> 0:25:59.040 So there wasn't really any time to celebrate. 0:25:59.280 --> 0:26:01.840 No, no, oh no, no, it wasn't any of that, 0:26:02.119 --> 0:26:04.680 and then even then I didn't think. I didn't look 0:26:04.680 --> 0:26:10.000 at it as any type of victory, because an innocent 0:26:10.080 --> 0:26:11.560 man should be found innocent. 0:26:34.800 --> 0:26:39.080 It later on, Yeah, I'm nice to see you, Jeff. 0:26:39.119 --> 0:26:42.199 I'm at Shelburn. You can call me back, Can I 0:26:42.200 --> 0:26:42.480 call you? 0:26:42.560 --> 0:26:42.879 Jeff? 0:26:43.320 --> 0:26:43.960 Okay? Great. 0:26:44.400 --> 0:26:49.080 Jeff Wallace prosecuted both to Forrest and Ardregis. When I 0:26:49.119 --> 0:26:51.679 emailed him to set up an interview, he asked me 0:26:51.880 --> 0:26:54.760 to meet him at the large Methodist church he attends 0:26:54.760 --> 0:26:58.720 in a Birmingham suburb. He's now retired, but spent twenty 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:01.399 five years as a pro in Jefferson County. 0:27:01.480 --> 0:27:01.960 Beautiful. 0:27:02.040 --> 0:27:06.120 Sure, we record the interview in the church's empty sanctuary. 0:27:06.760 --> 0:27:09.760 He tells me he prefers to do interviews standing up 0:27:09.960 --> 0:27:14.280 because of all of his courtroom experience. So we're standing 0:27:14.400 --> 0:27:19.359 in this sanctuary at the altar, facing each other, having 0:27:19.400 --> 0:27:23.320 this conversation in front of a giant pipe organ. The 0:27:23.359 --> 0:27:26.080 way we're set up, it feels like we're either here 0:27:26.119 --> 0:27:31.439 to debate or get married. Anyway. This is why the 0:27:31.520 --> 0:27:33.080 recording sounds a little echoey. 0:27:34.080 --> 0:27:36.879 We had a weak case. It's placed on testimony of one. 0:27:36.760 --> 0:27:41.720 Witness, Jeff Wallace remembers that the case against to Forrest 0:27:41.800 --> 0:27:44.840 Johnson hinged on the testimony of Violet Ellison. 0:27:45.800 --> 0:27:48.720 That is extremely strong evidence if it's believed. Of course, 0:27:48.760 --> 0:27:51.879 the question becomes, so you believe that evidence? Well? To 0:27:51.880 --> 0:27:54.679 believe that evidence, you have to believe mis Ellison. To 0:27:54.720 --> 0:27:57.240 believe mis Ellison, you have to look at the facts 0:27:57.920 --> 0:27:59.040 how she said it happened. 0:28:00.560 --> 0:28:04.560 To Forrest's second trial begins eight months after the first 0:28:04.600 --> 0:28:09.959 one ends in a mistrial. Jeff Wallace is the lead prosecutor. Again. 0:28:10.320 --> 0:28:13.920 He calls Violet Ellison to the stand, where she testifies 0:28:14.160 --> 0:28:17.600 that she overheard to Forrest admit to Hardy's murder on 0:28:17.680 --> 0:28:22.120 a three way phone call. Jeff Wallace says Violet Ellison 0:28:22.320 --> 0:28:25.919 listened in on the calls because she was concerned about 0:28:25.920 --> 0:28:31.719 her daughter, and once again, to Forrest's attorneys call Daisy Williams, 0:28:31.920 --> 0:28:35.719 who maintains that to Forest never confessed to the murder. 0:28:37.040 --> 0:28:41.560 To Forest's lawyer, Darryl Bender asks Daisy, did he describe 0:28:41.560 --> 0:28:45.520 to you the series of events that he said had occurred? Daisy? 0:28:45.840 --> 0:28:50.920 No Bender? Did he tell you where this happened again, 0:28:51.080 --> 0:28:55.240 Daisy No Bender? Did he tell you that he had 0:28:55.320 --> 0:29:02.040 killed somebody? Daisy, No, Sir. Jeff Wallace tries to cast 0:29:02.200 --> 0:29:07.080 doubt on Daisy's testimony. He says, maybe Daisy is testifying 0:29:07.120 --> 0:29:12.480 about a different call, or maybe she's just the wrong Daisy. 0:29:13.880 --> 0:29:19.160