Speaker 1: Keith Washington was an Army lieutenant colonel, police officer, and
Speaker 1: Homeland security official in Prince George's County, Maryland. Went on
Speaker 1: January two thousand seven, he was at home having dinner
Speaker 1: with his wife and daughter while waiting for a furniture delivery.
Speaker 1: When the delivery men, Brandon Clark and Robert White, arrived,
Speaker 1: Keith invited them into his home. However, when he found
Speaker 1: White snooping around his daughter's bedroom, he asked up to leave,
Speaker 1: but they wouldn't. Overpowered by the two much larger men
Speaker 1: being kicked and stomped on, he beared for his wife
Speaker 1: and daughter's lives as well as his own, so he
Speaker 1: shot the assailants. Both were taken to the hospital, but
Speaker 1: only Robert White survived. White, a twelve time convicted felon,
Speaker 1: fabricated a story that excused him from what was just
Speaker 1: one in a string of other home invasions. It's clear
Speaker 1: which way this should have gone. With the official corruption
Speaker 1: and misconduct the Prince George's County is well documented, with
Speaker 1: the media frenzy that ensued. The prosecution team all jockey
Speaker 1: for ways to turn this justifiable shooting into an opportunity
Speaker 1: for their own career advancement with the appearance of upholding
Speaker 1: equal standards of justice for those in law enforcement. While
Speaker 1: the physical evidence from the investigation supported Keith's story of
Speaker 1: self defense, they used the inconsistent story of a career
Speaker 1: criminal to send an upstanding citizen a way for forty
Speaker 1: five years in prison. With the work of his legal
Speaker 1: team along with Georgetown Universities making an exoner reprogram, Keith
Speaker 1: is finally home after thirteen years, while he continues to
Speaker 1: fight to clear his name. This is Wrongful Conviction with
Speaker 1: Jason Flom. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction. I'm your host
Speaker 1: Jason Flom today's episode. Let me just say this before
Speaker 1: I even introduce our two incredible guests today. Our producer,
Speaker 1: Connor Hall is an excellent researcher. But when he sent
Speaker 1: me the research on this case, and I was already
Speaker 1: familiar with the case, but I read it twice and
Speaker 1: I went, now, there's gotta be mistakes here. This can't
Speaker 1: be the way it is. But it's all true, and
Speaker 1: you're going to hear the story straight from the mouth
Speaker 1: of the person who lived it. And I'm referring to
Speaker 1: Keith Washington. Keith, I'm sorry you're here because of the
Speaker 1: reason that you're here, but I'm very, very honored to
Speaker 1: have you on this show today. Well listen, just thanks
Speaker 1: for having me. I'm more than happy to be here
Speaker 1: and with the help of a lot of good people,
Speaker 1: including Marty, that's the reason I'm here right now. And
Speaker 1: speaking of Marty, Marty tank Left, my great friend and
Speaker 1: personal hero, has been on the show several times. Actually,
Speaker 1: his own story is harrowing as a story can get.
Speaker 1: He was wrongly convicted of the murder of his parents
Speaker 1: and served seventeen years in prison and now but practicing
Speaker 1: attorney and a co professor at Georgetown University. He teaches
Speaker 1: to making an exonore class, which had everything to do
Speaker 1: with helping to get Mr Washington out of prison. And
Speaker 1: Marty is now Keith Washington's attorney. It's a full circle story,
Speaker 1: but it's not over yet. But anyway, Marty, it's so
Speaker 1: fucking great to have you on the show in this role.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Jason. It's always an honor and a pleasure
Speaker 1: to come on the show as we continue to fight
Speaker 1: for justice for so many individuals out there, and when
Speaker 1: you hear Keith's story, I think people will just be floored.
Speaker 1: I couldn't have said it better. If this happened to
Speaker 1: Keith Washington, who is the very definition of an American hero,
Speaker 1: then it can happen to anyone. And when I say that,
Speaker 1: Keith was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army,
Speaker 1: served over twenty five years with honor, speaks five of languages,
Speaker 1: attended some of the foremost military schools in the country,
Speaker 1: and everyone's lost count of how many awards and citations
Speaker 1: he's received for his service to our country. Upon returning home,
Speaker 1: Keith rose up in the ranks of the police department,
Speaker 1: served as a police officer for seventeen years with distinction.
Speaker 1: Never fired your weapon. I know that you were serving
Speaker 1: as a homeland security official as well. And by the way,
Speaker 1: when this happened, the father of a six year old
Speaker 1: girl happily married. I mean, like, what am I missing here?
Speaker 1: You almost sound too good to be true. What are
Speaker 1: your flaws? Hey? Listen, you know I thank you for
Speaker 1: that introduction, and I thank you for those comments. But
Speaker 1: I was just an average guy that worked toward all
Speaker 1: his life and tried to do the right thing. So Keith,
Speaker 1: tell us about your upgringing. You came from a single mother, right,
Speaker 1: But give us a little bit of background if you
Speaker 1: don't mind. Listen. I've had a job since I was
Speaker 1: thirteen years old. My mother and father separate at it,
Speaker 1: and at that time I became the man of the house,
Speaker 1: so to speak. And so I had a paper route
Speaker 1: every morning from five am on my bicycle. My mother
Speaker 1: and I sometimes in the rain and the snow, whatever
Speaker 1: the conditions were. And so about seven thirty eight o'clock
Speaker 1: in the morning we finished and then I head off
Speaker 1: the school. At some point in time, my mother suffered
Speaker 1: at a serious illness. My three sisters had to go
Speaker 1: live with relatives. My mother spent five years in the
Speaker 1: middle institution, and so as a sixteen year old kid,
Speaker 1: I was homeless and just sleep in the cars, still
Speaker 1: going to school. Though every morning at the end of
Speaker 1: my senior year, I saw for friends of mine. I
Speaker 1: asked where they're going, and they said, hey, we're going
Speaker 1: to join the army. Just that quickly, I said, I'm
Speaker 1: going with you. And so I want to say that
Speaker 1: everything I've ever done or acquired in my life, I
Speaker 1: owe it to the Army, to the values they taught.
Speaker 1: It was the best thing that could have happened to me. Ever,
Speaker 1: from that, I grew into a man stationed over in
Speaker 1: Korea for a year and a half as a teenager,
Speaker 1: and I came back. I decided I wanted to go
Speaker 1: to college. I went to college at Northwestern State University.
Speaker 1: I joined an OVERTC program. I got commissioned as a
Speaker 1: second lieutenant. After three and a half years in the army,
Speaker 1: I graduated and I would sit to Fort Benning, Georgia
Speaker 1: home with the Infantry. Completed a few schools there, Airborne
Speaker 1: school INFT Altar Basic Course and John F. Kennedy School
Speaker 1: of Special Warfare through Terrorism Schools, and assigned in Special
Speaker 1: Operations Command. I couldn't believe my life how it within
Speaker 1: a short almost ten year period had really changed based
Speaker 1: on the opportunities that the military had provided me. Around
Speaker 1: nine eleven years later, I joined the police department on
Speaker 1: Prince George's and ultimately after nine eleven, based on my background,
Speaker 1: I was selected to be Deputy Director of propman Security
Speaker 1: for Prince George's County. And I was just willing to,
Speaker 1: you know, do what it took to accomplish whatever was
Speaker 1: before me. It's an amazing story. I mean you transcended
Speaker 1: and triumphed over it. Tough circumstances and not a strong
Speaker 1: enough way of saying it, I mean, and you ended
Speaker 1: up giving back as well, found tearing at the Caine
Speaker 1: River Children's Home. I mean, it's really inspiring and it
Speaker 1: should have played out in the way that you deserve,
Speaker 1: which was to go on and have a happy, productive
Speaker 1: life and ultimately, you know, retire and have a bunch
Speaker 1: of grandchildren maybe and then even those play some golf whatever.
Speaker 1: And then, of course, as we know, and as Marty
Speaker 1: knows intimately as well, everything can change in a second,
Speaker 1: and so it did on January thousand seven, Marty, can
Speaker 1: you take us through what happened that awful night? Sure?
Speaker 1: Absolutely so. To put it simply, Keith defended himself, his
Speaker 1: wife and daughter, and tragically, instead of being labeled a hero,
Speaker 1: he was treated like a criminal. To walk you through
Speaker 1: what happened that day, Keith had taken the day off
Speaker 1: from work to accept a furniture delivery from Marlow Furniture,
Speaker 1: and he was home with his wife's day scene, his
Speaker 1: very young daughter, Kayla. The day passed, still no furniture.
Speaker 1: He called Marlow. He assured him that the delivery would
Speaker 1: arrive that night. Only during dinner, delivery men Brandon Clark
Speaker 1: and Robert White arrived. These are furniture movers, some really
Speaker 1: big guys. And it's a misnumber to call Robert White
Speaker 1: a furniture mover to begin with, because he wasn't even
Speaker 1: employed by Maul of Furniture at all. Instead, he was
Speaker 1: Brandon Clark's cousin. But the appearance was at that time
Speaker 1: he worked for MAULA furniture delivery was meant for the
Speaker 1: master bedroom on the first floor, and at some point
Speaker 1: Keith recognized that one of the men, Robert White, is
Speaker 1: not with him anymore. And Keith was there and he
Speaker 1: can give you more of the details. Brandon Clark was
Speaker 1: distracting me while Robert White was in my daughter's bedroom.
Speaker 1: I could hear the squeaking floorboards in my daughter's bedroom
Speaker 1: because I know the sound of my house. And I
Speaker 1: asked the guys that where's your friend, and he wouldn't answer,
Speaker 1: you know, he just kept giving me a frivolous answer
Speaker 1: and tried to brush me off. And so I looked
Speaker 1: and I see him poke his head out of my
Speaker 1: daughter's bedroom, and I said, what are you doing? In there.
Speaker 1: Come out of there. He had halfway it comes out.
Speaker 1: So I walked toward him and said, hey, leave my house,
Speaker 1: you guys, get out of my house. And as I
Speaker 1: got close enough to him, the other guy punched me
Speaker 1: in the back of the head, and then White attacked
Speaker 1: me from the side. So I'm fighting two guys in
Speaker 1: my house, complete strangers, within three minutes of entering my house.
Speaker 1: You know, we were on the ground, on the floor,
Speaker 1: I should say, and the guy Clark was kicking me
Speaker 1: while I was on the floor. Clark six eight three
Speaker 1: and thirty pounds and Robert White six ft two d
Speaker 1: and eighty pounds. And so he's attacking me like kicking me.
Speaker 1: I pulled my service revolver, I fired, and I struck
Speaker 1: both of them. The assault ceased. Later Clark died and
Speaker 1: Robert White lived. And as I think about this story,
Speaker 1: and as a father myself, I mean, and I think
Speaker 1: everybody could relate to this. You would do anything to
Speaker 1: protect your kids. We all would. And I'm trying to
Speaker 1: put myself in your shoes at that moment. You're being
Speaker 1: brutally viciously attacked right there in your own home, and
Speaker 1: your wife and young daughter are right downstairs. These two
Speaker 1: men are beating you like and they're winning because you
Speaker 1: had no shot combined. They waited four times as much
Speaker 1: as you did, and they kicked you so hard that
Speaker 1: your watch broke, it flew off of your wrist. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a life and death situation, and you had
Speaker 1: a grim choice to make. Am I getting this right? No,
Speaker 1: you're right. Listen. My wife and my six year old
Speaker 1: daughter were home, and I knew that if I didn't survive,
Speaker 1: who knows what would have happened. In five minutes earlier,
Speaker 1: we were having dinner and just sitting around, laughing and joking.
Speaker 1: And five minutes later, I'm wrestling two strangers fighting two
Speaker 1: strangers on the floor in my own home. That's how
Speaker 1: quickly this thing unfolded. I mean, it's a heroin thought,
Speaker 1: but your drilling kicks in and you do what you
Speaker 1: gotta do. This episode is underwritten by a i G,
Speaker 1: a leading global insurance company, and by Accenture, a global
Speaker 1: professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security.
Speaker 1: Working to reform the criminal justice system is a key
Speaker 1: pillar of the ai G Pro Bono program, which provides
Speaker 1: free legal services and other support to many nonprofit organizations
Speaker 1: and individuals most in need. As part of Accenture's commitment
Speaker 1: to racial and civil justice, Accenture's Legal Access Program provides
Speaker 1: pro bono legal services in partnership with more than forty organizations,
Speaker 1: bringing meaningful change to people and communities worldwide. So the
Speaker 1: attack finally ceases. Both men have been shot. Your wife
Speaker 1: is called nine one one, and police and paramedics arrived.
Speaker 1: Eventually everyone's taken to the hospital. What happened? Now, So
Speaker 1: when they got to the hospital that night, I guess
Speaker 1: about fifteen or twenty cops were there alone, the detectives
Speaker 1: in charge of Homicide division, and they were trying to
Speaker 1: interview Robert White, and White play at the fifth the amendment.
Speaker 1: He refused to talk to the police, refused to give
Speaker 1: a statement, He refused to say what happened. Subsequently, what
Speaker 1: we found out is that he did not work for
Speaker 1: the French of delivery company and that he was picked
Speaker 1: up on the side of the road by Clark and
Speaker 1: brought to my house alone. A couple of other houses
Speaker 1: from best I can tell, other people said that they
Speaker 1: were casing houses. White has several burglary convictions and several
Speaker 1: convictions for fencing, stolen property, so anyway, the state attorney
Speaker 1: was aware of all that information. Also, Mr White, as
Speaker 1: I said, played the fifth and the state's attorney in
Speaker 1: charge of the case, Glenn Ivy, informed two detectives at
Speaker 1: the hospital not to arrest Robert White under any circumstances
Speaker 1: out of the blue, that they had never seen a
Speaker 1: sitting state's attorney, a sitting prosecutor come to the hospital
Speaker 1: until the police not to arrist a career criminal, a
Speaker 1: suspect in a shooting, in an assault, and they could leave,
Speaker 1: which they did after he informed them that they were
Speaker 1: not to interview Mr White or even talk to him.
Speaker 1: It's so so bizarre, I mean, because obviously Robert White
Speaker 1: had a lot to gain, first by his silence and
Speaker 1: then by lying, because if Keith was not guilty, then
Speaker 1: he and Brandon Clark were, which wouldn't be hard to
Speaker 1: believe with White's twelve that's twelve previous convictions, including assault
Speaker 1: and battery, unlawful entry, larceny, grand largely receiving stolen goods,
Speaker 1: attempted their degree, burglary, first degree burglary pointing a firearm,
Speaker 1: domestic violence, and first degree sexual assault, for which he
Speaker 1: had served ten years. He also had over twenty additional
Speaker 1: arrests for crimes ranging from peeping tom two attempted murder,
Speaker 1: but the state's attorney, Glenn Ivey, who eventually ran for Congress,
Speaker 1: purposefully turned a blind eye to all of that and
Speaker 1: instead focused on Keith. They'm trying to eke something up
Speaker 1: that they could use against Keith, analyzing DNA, fiber transfer,
Speaker 1: gunshot residue, spential casings, telephone records and that one one
Speaker 1: coal and so much more. All of the events, of course,
Speaker 1: didn't show them what they were looking for. But what
Speaker 1: it did show was that Keith and acted in self
Speaker 1: defense and he never should have been charged. And then,
Speaker 1: despite the clear nature of this incident, twelve time convicted
Speaker 1: felon Robert White's flow of inconsistent statements, let me repraise
Speaker 1: that Robert White's flow up total bullshit went totally unchecked.
Speaker 1: So they're just ignoring this career criminal who's a real
Speaker 1: menace to society. And then here comes the kicker. Robert
Speaker 1: White filed a civil action against you, Keith and Prince
Speaker 1: George's County seeking ready four hundred million dollars in damages
Speaker 1: arising out of the shooting. Wow, it was dismissed, surprise, surprise,
Speaker 1: but not before garnering a serious amount of media coverage.
Speaker 1: It also comes up later that someone else had filed
Speaker 1: that hand fisted civil action on White's behalf, perhaps someone
Speaker 1: who maybe wanted to draw a ton of media coverage,
Speaker 1: like a person who wanted to show what a bulwark
Speaker 1: of justice they were by holding a decorated veteran law
Speaker 1: enforcement officer and Homeland security official to account for what
Speaker 1: was alleged to be an unjustified shooting. And by the way,
Speaker 1: if it were the case that this was some trigger
Speaker 1: happy cop, I'd be the first one to say justice
Speaker 1: should be applied equally. But that's just not what this was,
Speaker 1: and they fucking knew it. So this media attention ramps
Speaker 1: up to public pressure, and the prosecution is aiming to
Speaker 1: score big political points and advance their careers if they
Speaker 1: bring home the win. And that's not me editorializing. Both
Speaker 1: prosecutors were overheard saying things to that effect. And I'm
Speaker 1: talking about prosecutors Joseph Wright and William Mumo, who had
Speaker 1: all the information and evidence proving Keith's use of self defense,
Speaker 1: and yet they still argued that the shootings were unprovoked
Speaker 1: and unjustified. The state allowed Robert White to create his
Speaker 1: own version of events, where Keith was unattacked, unprovoked, where
Speaker 1: you hadn't been stomped on and kicked, where you hadn't
Speaker 1: exhausted all other options before pulling out your service revolver.
Speaker 1: They used this testimony that changed every time White recounted
Speaker 1: the incident, every time Keith, Can you take us through
Speaker 1: some of the evidence that should have ended this prosecution
Speaker 1: before it started. They had the evidence. The lead Investigatortenant,
Speaker 1: Charlie Walls, briefed them. He had the DNA evidence, the
Speaker 1: gunshod residue evidence to trace fiber evidence from the clothing.
Speaker 1: They said they never touched me. Well, I said he
Speaker 1: was kicking me. I was on brown, He's kicking me.
Speaker 1: My shot him. The clothing fiber evidence showed the fibers
Speaker 1: from my shirt invest on his pants led. So they
Speaker 1: had that evidence that contradicted his statement. They had the
Speaker 1: gunshot residue. He said that they were shot from across
Speaker 1: the room. The gunshot residue test done by the A
Speaker 1: T F show that he was shot from three inches
Speaker 1: away three to twelve inches He said he shot from
Speaker 1: across the room. They resided the room and a minimum
Speaker 1: of eight feet, which wouldn't have left any gunshot resident.
Speaker 1: He said he called my house. They had the phone
Speaker 1: records that showed he never called my house before they arrived.
Speaker 1: They said that he was a delivery man from Marlo's Furniture.
Speaker 1: Mordeo's Furniture had given them a statement the human resources
Speaker 1: directed miss A Killer Rods that not only does he
Speaker 1: not work for them, that they've never heard of him
Speaker 1: or never seen him, and that Mordel's would never hire
Speaker 1: sex offenders to work on their delivery trucks because their
Speaker 1: insurance wouldn't cover. They had the toxic college report that
Speaker 1: showed that he was on cocaine. The two Stets attorneys
Speaker 1: denied that the college test was ever even given on
Speaker 1: Robert White. They proffered to the court, to the jury,
Speaker 1: and to the general public that he was an employee
Speaker 1: Mordel's Furniture, that he was not arrested sexophonic. All of
Speaker 1: these things and Moore happened in my trial by these
Speaker 1: two prosecutors. I mean, this is a litany of horrors. Right.
Speaker 1: We have a prosecution team that has hell bent on
Speaker 1: convicting an innocent man while protecting a guilty one, and
Speaker 1: they had all of the evidence pointing to Keith's version
Speaker 1: of the events, clearly contradicting what Robert White testified to.
Speaker 1: White maintained that neither he nor Clark were close enough
Speaker 1: to Keith to assault him when he shot them. Now
Speaker 1: we've mentioned the gunshot residue and what that meant, but
Speaker 1: also White's DNA was found on Keith's gun, Clark's pan
Speaker 1: fivers were found on Keith's vest from when he was
Speaker 1: kicking him. Neither of these things can happen from across
Speaker 1: the freaking room. None of the spend showcasings recovered by
Speaker 1: technicians were located even near the master bedroom, where Robert
Speaker 1: White said Keith was allegedly standing when he shot. Then instead,
Speaker 1: the casings were recovered from the middle of the upstairs
Speaker 1: whole and whole bathroom, where Keithen states had maintained the
Speaker 1: alsecution had taken place, but the prosecution doubled down on
Speaker 1: the lie. Listen to this. The prosecutors made thirty one
Speaker 1: false and misleading statements throughout the trial that were objected
Speaker 1: to and sustained. These were obviously meant to intentionally mislead
Speaker 1: throw off the jurors. There were nine objections to statements
Speaker 1: made by prosecutor Joseph Wright during his closing argument alone,
Speaker 1: including that Robert White had only one conviction and that
Speaker 1: there was no cocaine tests given to Robert White. These
Speaker 1: were just straight up lies. His criminal record and toxicology
Speaker 1: report were absolutely available, yet the jury was not made
Speaker 1: aware of them. This is just so nuts, it's so wrong.
Speaker 1: White had denied under oath to the grand jury about
Speaker 1: being a sex offender, which the prosecutors allowed him to do.
Speaker 1: The state's attorney in charge of the case knew all
Speaker 1: of this. The prosecutor, William Mumo, later said, he said,
Speaker 1: we put Robert White understand he was a witness of ours.
Speaker 1: But you'll never see me standing in front of a
Speaker 1: jury saying that this witness says the truth. Wow. Are
Speaker 1: you getting me with this ship? Wow? And certainly if
Speaker 1: the jury would have learned those things, it would have had,
Speaker 1: you know, a real impact on the outcome of the trial.
Speaker 1: But they didn't get to know these things. They weren't
Speaker 1: presented and these jurors were not mind readers. So for
Speaker 1: all the jury knew Robert White and Brandon Clark, which
Speaker 1: is too humble furniture delivery man who had the misfortune
Speaker 1: of walking into the home of a trigger happy cop.
Speaker 1: Trigger happy cop who had never used his gun before,
Speaker 1: by the way, so let's not leave that out. And
Speaker 1: on February eight, clearly the prosecution's lies and manipulations worked.
Speaker 1: The jury found you guilty, Keith. And what was that
Speaker 1: very moment, like, I mean, when you when you heard
Speaker 1: the word guilty and then when they sentence you two
Speaker 1: over two times the maximum sentence as it relates to
Speaker 1: the moment that jury came back with the conviction. I
Speaker 1: watched my wife cry. I watched my daughter cry. The
Speaker 1: guy put handcuffs on me. I watched my sister cry.
Speaker 1: I watched a lot of friends and relatives, you know,
Speaker 1: I felt bad for them. The precinence investigation came back
Speaker 1: with a minimum of five years and a maximum of
Speaker 1: twenty years, and the judge gave me a forty five
Speaker 1: year sentence. He went over past the maximum sentence that
Speaker 1: was recommended, and he went over passed the minimum sentence
Speaker 1: that was recommended, which was five years. And I don't
Speaker 1: think anyone has ever received the forty five year sentence
Speaker 1: for involuntary manslore. In prison, you're either wall for sheet,
Speaker 1: especially the maximum security state prison. And so the fights,
Speaker 1: the stabbings, the gangs, the deaths, the atrocious conditions, the
Speaker 1: mental stress, anxiety, you name it, and you know, no
Speaker 1: matter what happens to me, I'm find what what happens
Speaker 1: to me. But I knew that my family was going
Speaker 1: to go through the fire with me, because when a
Speaker 1: family member goes to prison, you know, in actuality, the
Speaker 1: whole family goes to prison. Their life stops too. It
Speaker 1: was my family that stuff listening. It was the worst
Speaker 1: feeling I've ever had, and I knew that I was
Speaker 1: gonna fight like hell to get out of prison. Every minute,
Speaker 1: every second, every hour, every day that I was just
Speaker 1: gonna fight. I didn't do anything else to do. I
Speaker 1: was gonna work on my case. I had twelve volumes
Speaker 1: of transcripts, and so I talked to my wife on
Speaker 1: the phone every day for about two years. I would
Speaker 1: dictate Robert White's testimony to her over the phone and
Speaker 1: she would type it. I would sit up at night
Speaker 1: and go over his testimony, get all the contradicting statements
Speaker 1: and putting together out of those twelve volumes, which was
Speaker 1: about almostes and then we put up a website after
Speaker 1: about two years of doing that because I wanted transparency
Speaker 1: in the case to show people that everything they said
Speaker 1: was false and that it was intentionally false. There's two
Speaker 1: attorneys in the case, William moonmu and Joseph Right. We
Speaker 1: found out nine months after my conviction they had hidden
Speaker 1: just tons of evidence and lie about the evidence that
Speaker 1: their own witnesses, their own state experts had collected and
Speaker 1: given to them. Numerous people, including the state's attorneys other
Speaker 1: prosecutors in that office, came forward with statements that they
Speaker 1: had told their boss, Hey, they falsified the evidence in
Speaker 1: Mr Washson's case, They willingly manipulated light, falsified the evidence,
Speaker 1: and that Mr White is not telling the truth on
Speaker 1: any of the issues according to the physical, forensic and
Speaker 1: the scientific evidence. Mr Ivy, he told my wife that
Speaker 1: I got a raw deal, but he told her privately
Speaker 1: that there was nothing he would do because it would
Speaker 1: affect his wife's political career, who at the time was
Speaker 1: a state delegate. Jesus Christ. And to add another insult
Speaker 1: to injury, after you were wrongfully convicted, Robert White was
Speaker 1: arrested on two more occasions for breaking into the homes
Speaker 1: of two different women and physically assaulting both of them,
Speaker 1: which should outrage all of us. These other incidents didn't
Speaker 1: have to happen, and they wouldn't have happened. They had
Speaker 1: a guy who you think that anyone in their position
Speaker 1: right should want off the street, anyone would want him
Speaker 1: off the street, But instead they chose you. I mean,
Speaker 1: why I was doing what they were supposed to do
Speaker 1: just not a cool enough story. I mean, do you
Speaker 1: have any theories at all in this well? As near
Speaker 1: as we can tell, and I believe we can factually
Speaker 1: prove and provide to the current state's attorney that we
Speaker 1: have several officers of the court who called my family
Speaker 1: and spoken with my family and they've illuminated the mode
Speaker 1: for this case where Mr Wright allegedly bragg to several
Speaker 1: other attorneys, where he and Mr Moumo were promised for
Speaker 1: bringing back a conviction. Mr Wright was promised a political
Speaker 1: endorsement to run for a state's attorney by his boss,
Speaker 1: and that Mr Mumo was promised to judge Hi. This
Speaker 1: is according to their colleagues in their very own office,
Speaker 1: that Mr Wright was bregging it. He was gonna be
Speaker 1: the next state's attorney and he had to deliver the
Speaker 1: Keith Washington conviction to do that. That his boss, Mr.
Speaker 1: Ivy used the case to run for Congress in two
Speaker 1: thousand ten, and that he was using this case as
Speaker 1: he was tough on police corruption, and he ran for
Speaker 1: Congress on that issue, using my case specifically, and even
Speaker 1: went to the police academy and spoke to numerous people,
Speaker 1: including the cadets in the police academy, about my case
Speaker 1: and police corruption and used me as a whipping boy
Speaker 1: while I was in prison. And so he ran in
Speaker 1: two thousand ten for Congress. He didn't win. He lost
Speaker 1: the primary. Joseph Wright ran for a State's attorney two
Speaker 1: thousand ten he also lost, and William Umou put in
Speaker 1: for his judge ship and didn't get it. Now, a
Speaker 1: new administration came into office in two thousand ten, and
Speaker 1: so Mr Ivy had to fulfill his promises to those
Speaker 1: two guys, and he subsequently got mom oua job as
Speaker 1: an assistant US attorney. He didn't get him his judge ship,
Speaker 1: but he got my job as assistant his attorney. From
Speaker 1: what I'm told, and that Mr Mumu's raise. The States
Speaker 1: Attorney in Princes County made about fifty five thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a year. I'm assuming the sistemt your attorney makes about
Speaker 1: one ten or one twenties somewhere around there as a
Speaker 1: g S twelve or so as a significant race. And
Speaker 1: Mr Wright was given a judge ship in two thousand ten,
Speaker 1: so his salary went from fifty five thousand to about
Speaker 1: one forty Holy actual fuck. I mean you're hearing this
Speaker 1: from the people immediately around them who were directly involved
Speaker 1: in the case. What about the investigators, I mean, they
Speaker 1: obviously knew that this case was built on bullshit and
Speaker 1: lies as well. Right well, the lead investigated, Lieutenant Walls.
Speaker 1: He put on the record that he attended at least
Speaker 1: three meetings where the whole conversation between him and Mr
Speaker 1: Wright and Mr Mumo that all they talked about was
Speaker 1: falsifying the evidence before the trial. Mr Wall says he
Speaker 1: wouldn't go along with it. After the meeting, Joseph Wright
Speaker 1: fired him from the case and told him to turn
Speaker 1: over his case files and they have no further contact
Speaker 1: with the case. After he had collected the DNA he
Speaker 1: had collected the guns at residue. Wallace had collected the
Speaker 1: statements of individuals and homeowners who had saw injuries on me. Later,
Speaker 1: the State's Attorney's officers came to him and offered him
Speaker 1: a job as an investigators at Sturney's office, that he
Speaker 1: could retire from the police department, draw his pension and
Speaker 1: come work for them, Come work for the very people
Speaker 1: who just fired him from the case. Wall says that
Speaker 1: he put in his paperwork to retire from the police
Speaker 1: department and came back and work for the States Attorney's
Speaker 1: Office as an investigator, obviously with a significant raise, and
Speaker 1: enjoy your own conclusions. But I would say it appears
Speaker 1: to be hush money. And Walter said he'll tell anybody
Speaker 1: what actually happened if he's subpoenaed, And that's those questions.
Speaker 1: Another bit of good news is that Mr Wright is
Speaker 1: no longer a judge, that he was convicted in two
Speaker 1: thousand eighteen of perjury and falsifying government documents by the
Speaker 1: Maryland Judicial Disability Board. That was clearly people with blind
Speaker 1: ambition wanting to lie. Cheater still involved in my case, Marty,
Speaker 1: in your amazing students in the making exonary program there
Speaker 1: at Georgetown investigated Keith's case and made a brilliant short
Speaker 1: documentary about it, and we're going to make sure to
Speaker 1: include a link for that in the bio. And their
Speaker 1: hard work has made such a phenomenal impact on this
Speaker 1: case and so many others. So, Marty, if you could
Speaker 1: just summarize for us how it is that Keith is
Speaker 1: sitting here with us on this show today. After extensive litigation,
Speaker 1: a retired judge was brought on to review Keith's entire matter.
Speaker 1: On May fourteen one, everyone got together and a hearing
Speaker 1: for a modification of keith sentence was conducted based on
Speaker 1: the totality of everything at that time, and it almost
Speaker 1: broke it down to time served. Within a few short
Speaker 1: weeks after the judge issuing that opinion, Keith was freed.
Speaker 1: I was there when Keith walked out. Keith, where were
Speaker 1: you an hour and a half ago? And where are
Speaker 1: you right now? I don't have to go. I was
Speaker 1: in a department corrections face after three and now at
Speaker 1: home for my family. And how does it feel stays
Speaker 1: in kla to have your husband, your dad home? Great?
Speaker 1: It feels like I've been waiting on this for thirteen years,
Speaker 1: and that right there is the sound of Keith freed
Speaker 1: from prison, finally back with his family at his home.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a beautiful sound. We sat around in
Speaker 1: his backyard and we had pizza and lemonade and enjoying
Speaker 1: the a share and we were just sitting there talking
Speaker 1: and at one point we kind of just looked at
Speaker 1: each other like, was this real? You're trying to fathom
Speaker 1: the reality that Keith had just spent over thirteen years
Speaker 1: in prison and here we were sitting in his backyard.
Speaker 1: There wasn't a bitterness about Keith about Stacy, you know,
Speaker 1: there was pure love and joy. Keith and Stacy have
Speaker 1: said to myself, Mark and the students who worked on
Speaker 1: Keith's case that if we're ever in the neighborhood and
Speaker 1: we don't stop by, they'll be offended because we are
Speaker 1: family to that, and I think that is something that
Speaker 1: just demonstrates who Keith and Stacy are. They are just
Speaker 1: truly genuine people. Their love is probably stronger than ever.
Speaker 1: But even though Keith is free, the intentional, wrongful conviction
Speaker 1: is still hanging over Keith's head, which it shouldn't be.
Speaker 1: Absolutely and Keith there's been news both a really long
Speaker 1: time ago as well as more recently. They should have
Speaker 1: a positive effect I'm bringing about justice in your case.
Speaker 1: We already mentioned that Robert White, just weeks after your
Speaker 1: trial was arrested not once but twice for breaking into
Speaker 1: homes and physically assaulting to women. And then there's been
Speaker 1: some more recent news. District Court commissioner here in Maryland
Speaker 1: issued an arrest warrant for Robert White for perjury in
Speaker 1: my criminal trial. Wow, so there's a wrest warran out
Speaker 1: for him as we speak, you know. So hopefully this
Speaker 1: will facilitate the case being overturned. And so now honest
Speaker 1: and reasonable and ethical people who are reviewing the case
Speaker 1: and looking at it can see that because there's no
Speaker 1: good explanation legally or otherwise as to how this happened.
Speaker 1: The currency is attorney miss brave Boy. She reviewed the
Speaker 1: evidence and she saw that, hey, this is an excessive
Speaker 1: sentence to say the least, notwithstanding that there are other
Speaker 1: issues as it relates to an integrity of Mr Washington's conviction.
Speaker 1: And so we believe they're gonna do the right thing. Shortly,
Speaker 1: you know, we're turning it due to the fact that
Speaker 1: Mr White now has been charged with perjury in my case,
Speaker 1: we can only be hopeful that justice will prevail in
Speaker 1: an expeditious manner because it's been thirteen years. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think justice is coming in your case. I'm glad we're
Speaker 1: able to get the word out about it through this podcast.
Speaker 1: We're going to be shouting it from the rooftops. You've
Speaker 1: got an incredible team now, so I'm sure many of
Speaker 1: our listeners are feeling the same way. I'm feeling that
Speaker 1: this is outrageous even by the standards of what we're
Speaker 1: used to hearing on the show, and that they want
Speaker 1: to help if they can. Is there a way that
Speaker 1: people can get involved? What can people do? And we'll
Speaker 1: link whatever it is in the bio so people can
Speaker 1: easily find it. A few things the listeners can do
Speaker 1: is demand that I used your brave boy and meet
Speaker 1: with us and vindicate Keithan dismisses conviction. I think people
Speaker 1: can support the making an exonery program and anything he needs,
Speaker 1: because one thing that I think we as a society
Speaker 1: fail to really address and understand is that each year,
Speaker 1: innocent men and women get released from prison by exoneration
Speaker 1: and they connect with nothing. In many cases, there is
Speaker 1: literally no programs available that help individuals reacclimate. If not
Speaker 1: for the grace of God that some of those people
Speaker 1: that get out have family and friends, I don't know
Speaker 1: what those men and women would do. Imagine being locked
Speaker 1: up for fifteen twenty years coming out and having nothing,
Speaker 1: no underwear, no soap, no shampoo, no toothbrushes, no toothpaste.
Speaker 1: And I think we as a society can do more.
Speaker 1: I think the corporations of America can do more. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: Keith does have an amazing wife and daughter, but not
Speaker 1: everyone is luck unfortunate to have that. Well. I would
Speaker 1: ask people to go to the One Innocent Man dot
Speaker 1: org website and familiarize himself with the case and the
Speaker 1: evidence and the facts. And as Marty said, to call
Speaker 1: Mrs bray Boys office hand up in Marlborough, Maryland and
Speaker 1: implore her to go ahead and overturn the case. The
Speaker 1: other thing, if you would, we'd like to give George
Speaker 1: Town all the kudos that they deserve because they're doing
Speaker 1: great work. Whatever we can do to support them, that's
Speaker 1: what we're going to do. On Keith's page one miss
Speaker 1: and Man dot org, which was created by the three
Speaker 1: students at Georgetown. There is a donate button which links
Speaker 1: directly to Keith's go fund me page. Who are the
Speaker 1: three students that worked on your case and created the website?
Speaker 1: Because I know they are party or family, Josh, Selene
Speaker 1: and Trevor. All right, Josh, Selene and Trevor shout out
Speaker 1: from the wrong for Conviction team and from the man
Speaker 1: himself or the two men themselves and um doing the
Speaker 1: great work. I'm really proud of all the kids in
Speaker 1: the making Honorary program. It's been a privilege for me
Speaker 1: to work with them and lecture at the school and stuff.
Speaker 1: So with that, we will now turn to the closing
Speaker 1: of the show, which is called Closing Arguments, and this
Speaker 1: is the part of the show that I always look
Speaker 1: forward to. First of all, thank you again Keith for
Speaker 1: your courage, for your service, for being here with us
Speaker 1: to share your incredible story. And of course, Marty Tankle,
Speaker 1: what can I say, Man, you just never ceased to
Speaker 1: amaze me. And I'm so proud to call you my friend,
Speaker 1: and I really appreciate both of you being here and
Speaker 1: now Closing Arguments works like this. I turned my microphone off,
Speaker 1: kick back in my chair, close my eyes and just
Speaker 1: listen to any final thoughts that you want to share. Marty,
Speaker 1: Let's start with you and save Keith for the closing
Speaker 1: of the closing arguments. So for me, it's remarkable that
Speaker 1: I think back to when I was sitting in the prison,
Speaker 1: my self serving fifty years to life, and finally in
Speaker 1: two thousand seven, I was freed, and now it's one
Speaker 1: and here I am an attorney at a professor at
Speaker 1: Georgetown and toward a law school, and I get to
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to pay it forward and give people
Speaker 1: back their lives. I thank Jason and I think the
Speaker 1: entire Wrongful Diviction Team because it makes people understand the
Speaker 1: criminal justice system in ways that people don't want to
Speaker 1: believe exist. We wouldn't fully grasp how many problems our
Speaker 1: system has. And Jason has been a blessing for the
Speaker 1: making axonary program at Georgetown, and for that we are grateful.
Speaker 1: And I would be remiss if I didn't say thank
Speaker 1: you Mark, who's my partner in doing this at Georgetown,
Speaker 1: Because with Mark and our amazing students, we are making
Speaker 1: a difference in people's lives. And I think it's the
Speaker 1: best thing that you can actually do. I'm always reminded
Speaker 1: by something that Joseph Flam told Jason Flam, and that's
Speaker 1: do something you love that leaves a lasting impression. It
Speaker 1: makes a difference. And if helping students get somebody out
Speaker 1: of prison doesn't fulfill that mantra, I'm not really sure
Speaker 1: what does. Keith. I learned a long time ago that
Speaker 1: we all have our cross us to bear. We all
Speaker 1: go through difficult times, were all based on certainty in
Speaker 1: our future. We all fight for a better life for
Speaker 1: ourselves and our family, and we've all been hurt and
Speaker 1: wounded and abandoned. But you can't give up. And I
Speaker 1: will tell people never give up. You're only facing a
Speaker 1: challenge in your life that other men have met, and
Speaker 1: so be a good courage, be strong of character and
Speaker 1: of will, have faith, do what you must, love your family,
Speaker 1: love your life, beautify your life. When people take your faith,
Speaker 1: they've really taken everything that you possess. When they take
Speaker 1: your courage, they've taken everything that you possess. So without
Speaker 1: faith and courage, you're just an empty vessel. All I
Speaker 1: want to leave people with is to know that there
Speaker 1: are people of good will out there. There are people
Speaker 1: who are just, who are honest. There are people who
Speaker 1: have integrity. There are people who will fight for you
Speaker 1: because they believe in what's right, and I want to
Speaker 1: applaud those people. We are kindred spirits, and so wherever
Speaker 1: you find a person like that, support them. Believe that
Speaker 1: they're gonna support you if I can help anyone, because
Speaker 1: I've been helped in my life. This has taught me
Speaker 1: a valuable lesson. No matter what myself and my family
Speaker 1: have gone through, we want to be a light to others.
Speaker 1: I appreciate everything that people at Georgetown have done. Marty,
Speaker 1: Mark Selene, Josh Trevor. I appreciate the Exoneration program. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you, Jason. I appreciate your podcast. I just want
Speaker 1: to leave the people who are listening to your program
Speaker 1: or something to think about. You are what makes this
Speaker 1: country great, all of us, and so if there's a
Speaker 1: deficit somewhere, it's up to us to fix it no
Speaker 1: matter where we find it, and try to leave a
Speaker 1: better place, a better country, a better society for the
Speaker 1: next generation. My wounds will heal, and so we'll use
Speaker 1: this as a lesson to be remembered and learned and
Speaker 1: We're gonna build from there. I thank you guys for
Speaker 1: the platform. I thank you for supporting our calls and
Speaker 1: uh we'll see you around the water cooler. Thank you
Speaker 1: for listening to Ron for Conviction. Please support your local
Speaker 1: innocence organizations and go to the links in our bio
Speaker 1: to see how you can help. I'd like to thank
Speaker 1: our production team Hunner Hall, Justin Golden, Jeff Cleiburne, and
Speaker 1: Kevin Wardis. The music on this show, as always, is
Speaker 1: by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure
Speaker 1: to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, on Twitter
Speaker 1: at wrong Conviction, and on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast.
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction is the production of Lava for Good Podcasts
Speaker 1: in association with Signal Company Number one