1
00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:05,000
Speaker 1: In the late eighties and early nineties, the crack epidemic

2
00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:07,280
Speaker 1: was in full swing, and one of New York's most

3
00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:11,400
Speaker 1: powerful drug gangs was Lenny and Nelson Sepulvida's Wild Cowboys

4
00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:15,160
Speaker 1: aka the Red Top Crew. Red Top referred to the

5
00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:17,880
Speaker 1: color of the caps on their crackpiles, and their less

6
00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:22,200
Speaker 1: powerful competitors were called Orange Top and Yellow Top. Yellowtop

7
00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:24,599
Speaker 1: began selling out of an alleyway on Beakman Avenue in

8
00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:28,320
Speaker 1: the Bronx, which was Red Top territory. On December sixteenth,

9
00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:31,600
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one, in an incident that became known as

10
00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:35,680
Speaker 1: the Quad Murders, Nelson Sepulvida and three others rolled up

11
00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:40,639
Speaker 1: with semi automatics indiscriminately spraying sixty bullets into the alleyway

12
00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:45,199
Speaker 1: on Beakman, killing four and wounding one. Detective Mark Tebins

13
00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:48,320
Speaker 1: was under intense pressure to bring order to the dangerous area,

14
00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,360
Speaker 1: and he indicted forty one people as co defendants for

15
00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:56,040
Speaker 1: several drug related incidents, including the Quad murders. Teppens's street

16
00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:59,480
Speaker 1: sweep turned suspects into witnesses, and nine of the forty

17
00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,160
Speaker 1: one in dit it went to trial. Five of the

18
00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:04,920
Speaker 1: codependants were blamed for the quad riders, four of whom

19
00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:08,280
Speaker 1: are innocent, and one of those poor souls is Danny

20
00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:12,040
Speaker 1: rin Khone. Alibi witnesses placed Danny on the other side

21
00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:14,280
Speaker 1: of a large city block at the time of the shooting,

22
00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:18,760
Speaker 1: including a victim's mother and brother, but the jury could

23
00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,040
Speaker 1: not see through the trial's circus atmosphere. Danny was convicted

24
00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:25,840
Speaker 1: and sentenced to one hundred and fifty eight and a

25
00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,840
Speaker 1: third to life. Glenn Garber and Farah Rossner from the

26
00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:33,240
Speaker 1: Exoneration Initiative joined Danny rin Kon calling it from Attica

27
00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,080
Speaker 1: Prison to tell us about the case that they've built

28
00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:40,759
Speaker 1: for Danny's freedom. This is Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm.

29
00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:53,040
Speaker 2: Hello.

30
00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:57,960
Speaker 1: This is a prepaid collect cast an inmate at New

31
00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:02,120
Speaker 1: York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. This call

32
00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:04,080
Speaker 1: is subject to recording and monitoring.

33
00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:06,320
Speaker 3: To accept charges. Press one.

34
00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:08,800
Speaker 1: Thank you, Producing Sekurus.

35
00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,000
Speaker 3: You may start the conversation now.

36
00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,680
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm. Before I

37
00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:18,680
Speaker 1: introduce Danny ring Kahn, who's calling in from prison where

38
00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:22,440
Speaker 1: he's been for a very long time, where he doesn't belong. First,

39
00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:26,120
Speaker 1: I'm going to introduce his legal team. Sarah Rossner Farah

40
00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:28,760
Speaker 1: is an attorney with the Exoneration Initiative.

41
00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:30,600
Speaker 2: Thank you for having us and.

42
00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:34,720
Speaker 1: With us today as well is Glenn Garber. And Glenn

43
00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:39,000
Speaker 1: has been responsible for a large number of exonerations as

44
00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,200
Speaker 1: the founder and director of the Exoneration Initiative. And it's

45
00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,320
Speaker 1: so great that you're here and so great that you're

46
00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:46,320
Speaker 1: working on Danny's case that I know that you'll be

47
00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:48,080
Speaker 1: the first one to greet him when he gets out,

48
00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:49,720
Speaker 1: because I know how much this case meets you. So

49
00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,280
Speaker 1: Glenn Garber, welcome to wrongful Conviction. Thank you.

50
00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:53,720
Speaker 4: Jason happy to be here.

51
00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:58,200
Speaker 1: And Danny ring Khon calling in from Attica. So Danny,

52
00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:00,239
Speaker 1: welcome to wrongful Conviction.

53
00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:02,720
Speaker 5: Thank you so much, Jason, thank you for the opportunity.

54
00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,240
Speaker 1: Danny is serving what I think a lot of people

55
00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,520
Speaker 1: will agree is an absurd sentence. He's serving one hundred

56
00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:11,400
Speaker 1: and fifty eight and a third years to life. But

57
00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,720
Speaker 1: let's not start there. Let's start at the beginning. Danny,

58
00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,520
Speaker 1: you grew up in Washington Heights in the height of

59
00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,040
Speaker 1: the crack epidemic. Can you tell us a little bit

60
00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:21,040
Speaker 1: about what it.

61
00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:25,240
Speaker 5: Was like It was certainly a volatile neighborhood, a troubled

62
00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:27,320
Speaker 5: timed in New York City. There was a you know,

63
00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,480
Speaker 5: war on drugs. There was a high crime and murder rate.

64
00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,440
Speaker 5: Drugs were prevalent, particularly crack cocaine. And I'm not going

65
00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:37,720
Speaker 5: to say that I am innocent of being involved in drugs,

66
00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,760
Speaker 5: but I would never do what I am wrongly convicted of.

67
00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,040
Speaker 5: You know, my parents were working people. My dad worked

68
00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:50,160
Speaker 5: at Columbia Presbyteria Medical Center for twenty seven years. My

69
00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:56,720
Speaker 5: mom makes you rest in peace. Excuse me. My mom

70
00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:02,440
Speaker 5: worked thirty three years at a ghost and my parents

71
00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:06,520
Speaker 5: worked hard to provide for my brothers and me. My

72
00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:11,040
Speaker 5: parents are still values in US. And I made a

73
00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,160
Speaker 5: poor decision in those years to take to the streets,

74
00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:18,640
Speaker 5: which brought nothing but shame, embarrassment, and humiliation of my

75
00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:21,600
Speaker 5: parents and my family. But you know, we were blessed

76
00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:24,800
Speaker 5: in many ways because my parents provided and we had

77
00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:26,640
Speaker 5: what we needed, my brothers and I and we went

78
00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:29,400
Speaker 5: to school and we had a great upbringing, despite the

79
00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:31,719
Speaker 5: fact that we grew up in a poor neighborhood that

80
00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,200
Speaker 5: was flooded and riddled with violence and drugs. But that

81
00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:36,400
Speaker 5: was Washington Heights.

82
00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:37,000
Speaker 4: In those days.

83
00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:38,520
Speaker 5: The South Bronx was no different.

84
00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:38,840
Speaker 1: You know.

85
00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:42,039
Speaker 5: I ventured over to the South Bronx at the age

86
00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,400
Speaker 5: of maybe fourteen fifteen years old, and what I saw

87
00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:49,440
Speaker 5: there was not much different than what I seen in

88
00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:51,760
Speaker 5: my own neighborhood in Washington Heights.

89
00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:56,560
Speaker 1: Even for the violent insanity that was taking place in

90
00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:59,400
Speaker 1: the South Bronx and Washington Heights, that whole section of

91
00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:02,800
Speaker 1: the city in those days. This was a particularly violent

92
00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:06,160
Speaker 1: crime though. This was a crime that became known as

93
00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:07,240
Speaker 1: the Quad murders.

94
00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,880
Speaker 3: So there were rival drug organizations at the time in

95
00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:13,839
Speaker 3: the area in mod Haven, and there were three that

96
00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:16,560
Speaker 3: we can discuss which were actually relevant to this incident.

97
00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,560
Speaker 3: There was the Red Top organization, which was led by

98
00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,240
Speaker 3: two brothers, Lenny and Nelson Seppovita, and then there was

99
00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,760
Speaker 3: another organization, the Orange Top, which Danny was affiliated with,

100
00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:29,640
Speaker 3: and then there was the Yellow Top. Each of these

101
00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,599
Speaker 3: organizations had a separate location where they would sell drugs.

102
00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:35,600
Speaker 3: They had different people that worked for each of the groups.

103
00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:38,159
Speaker 3: They were stepping on each other's toes. They were fighting

104
00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,120
Speaker 3: over territory, they were fighting over pricing for each of

105
00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:43,159
Speaker 3: the vials that they were selling, trying to undercut the

106
00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:45,560
Speaker 3: other to take over some territory. So it was a

107
00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:47,800
Speaker 3: drug war so to speak, that was going on between

108
00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:49,080
Speaker 3: these three organizations.

109
00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:51,240
Speaker 1: This was not some small time drug dealing. I mean

110
00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:54,240
Speaker 1: they were making between ten and twenty million dollars a

111
00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:56,479
Speaker 1: year just the Red Top Gang itself, right.

112
00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,799
Speaker 3: The Sepovetas were sort of the drug kingpins, if you will,

113
00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:02,359
Speaker 3: and they were the ones who were actually ruling most

114
00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:03,240
Speaker 3: in that area.

115
00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:07,279
Speaker 5: BigMan Avenue is a small street between Saint Mary's Park

116
00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:09,719
Speaker 5: and one hundred and forty fourth Street in the Bronx,

117
00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,560
Speaker 5: New York. Let me Supervador basically ruled Big Maan Avenue

118
00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:15,919
Speaker 5: with a nine and fifth Let me Supervada. At the

119
00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:19,000
Speaker 5: time of the murders was in prison. A good friend

120
00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:22,440
Speaker 5: of mine, Gerard Herd, opened up a spot on BigMan

121
00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:27,000
Speaker 5: Avenue and was selling yellow time. Nelson Sepervador apparently took

122
00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,919
Speaker 5: over while his brother Lenny was in prison and felt

123
00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:34,960
Speaker 5: that Gerard her was encrouching on BigMan Avenue. So in

124
00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,000
Speaker 5: an act of force or discipline or what have you,

125
00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:44,119
Speaker 5: he decided to unleash these individuals, include himself, to shoot

126
00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:45,599
Speaker 5: up this corner, killing four people.

127
00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:47,000
Speaker 1: So what happens is.

128
00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:49,640
Speaker 4: First of all, it was a freezing called night. It

129
00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:53,520
Speaker 4: was about ten fifteen ten twenty on December sixteenth, and

130
00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:57,600
Speaker 4: Nelson Saipolvite, who was the architect of the quad murders,

131
00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:02,880
Speaker 4: arrives on the scene with Francisco Medina or Freddy Krueger,

132
00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:06,840
Speaker 4: a guy named Platino who is Wilfredo de los Angeles

133
00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:11,400
Speaker 4: Tezo or Rafael Perez, and an individual known as Crazy

134
00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:17,200
Speaker 4: Ray converge and start opening fire into that alleyway at

135
00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,120
Speaker 4: three forty eight Peakman Avenue.

136
00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:21,400
Speaker 1: These guys, two of them jump out of a car

137
00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:26,120
Speaker 1: two run up on foot Nelson Sepulvido, Wilfredo de los Angeles,

138
00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:29,960
Speaker 1: Rafael Perez and a guy named Crazy Ray. They roll

139
00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:34,440
Speaker 1: up spray the alleyway with sixty rounds from semi automatics,

140
00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:40,040
Speaker 1: wounding one person Janice Brewington, and killing four Cynthia Cassada,

141
00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:44,800
Speaker 1: Emmanuel Vieira, one unidentified manned Anthony Green and Danny. You

142
00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,640
Speaker 1: knew Anthony Green and his family, his brother Benjamin and

143
00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:52,640
Speaker 1: his mother Irene. I mean, in fact, they're part of

144
00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:56,120
Speaker 1: your alibi. I mean again, this is the mother and

145
00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:59,760
Speaker 1: the brother of a victim. It just doesn't get more

146
00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:01,120
Speaker 1: so that right.

147
00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:04,600
Speaker 5: What we learned later was that the shooters left the

148
00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:08,440
Speaker 5: apartment of Terrell Blair and Brenda Blair on Beekman Avenue.

149
00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,440
Speaker 5: Sorel Blair leaves his apartment and runs up to the

150
00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:14,160
Speaker 5: Greens apartment to tell Benjamin that something's gonna happen to

151
00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:17,640
Speaker 5: his brother down the block because these guys were leaving

152
00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:21,200
Speaker 5: his apartment and he knew they were discussing. Jera heard

153
00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:25,600
Speaker 5: his brother and those individuals around Yellow Chop there, so

154
00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,720
Speaker 5: he was headed up there to warn Benjamin to go

155
00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:30,520
Speaker 5: get his brother out of the way because something was

156
00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:35,600
Speaker 5: gonna happen there. Cyrel Blair has refused to get involved

157
00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,600
Speaker 5: in this matter for whatever his reasons are.

158
00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,400
Speaker 1: Can you tell us about that night? Like, what were

159
00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:42,680
Speaker 1: you actually.

160
00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:46,640
Speaker 5: Doing that evening? I was on Cyprus Avenue in Building

161
00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:49,240
Speaker 5: three seventy, an apartment in one gene while I was

162
00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:52,560
Speaker 5: sickond in a bedroom talking to my brother. May he

163
00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:56,280
Speaker 5: also rest in peace. He was incarcerrated in Raking's Island

164
00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:58,480
Speaker 5: at the time. He had made a phone call. Prior

165
00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:00,800
Speaker 5: to me taking the call, I was inside Apartment one

166
00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:03,599
Speaker 5: B in the adjacent building three point fifty four and

167
00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:06,800
Speaker 5: mide Ya Beenurecour's apartment. While my brother and I were

168
00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:09,800
Speaker 5: on the phone. I her shooting, and it appeared to

169
00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:12,040
Speaker 5: me that the shooting was coming from right out front.

170
00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:15,760
Speaker 5: I raised the shade from the window and I see

171
00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:17,920
Speaker 5: a girl standing right in front of the window by

172
00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:20,880
Speaker 5: the name of Pamela Fortune. I bang on the window.

173
00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:23,600
Speaker 5: I tell her, don't you hear those people shooting? Get

174
00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:26,720
Speaker 5: in the building. Moments later, within minutes, I'm getting ready

175
00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,160
Speaker 5: to walk out the building. In the vestibule of the building,

176
00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:35,160
Speaker 5: I run into Pam Lena Patten Irene Green, who's crying uncontrollably.

177
00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:38,480
Speaker 5: I know Irene Green because she is the mother of

178
00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:41,520
Speaker 5: two friends of mine, Benjamin Green and Anthony Green. She

179
00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:44,560
Speaker 5: tells me that her boy got shot. I offered to

180
00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:48,040
Speaker 5: help her up to her apartment. Lena Patten and Pam

181
00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:50,600
Speaker 5: Fortune said that they were going to take upstairs, so

182
00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:52,920
Speaker 5: I took her to the front of the elevator and

183
00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:56,319
Speaker 5: I left him there. I immediately walk outside. I noticed

184
00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:59,280
Speaker 5: that Benjamin Green was standing in front of the building.

185
00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:01,400
Speaker 5: In my mind, and when she said my boy got shot,

186
00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:03,600
Speaker 5: I thought that it was Benjamin because I knew at

187
00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:05,880
Speaker 5: the time Benjamin was running the streets in those days.

188
00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,960
Speaker 5: Never had it occurred to me that it was Anthony.

189
00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:12,040
Speaker 5: So I approached Benjamin. I said to him, Hey, your

190
00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:14,040
Speaker 5: mother doesn't seem well. You need to go in there

191
00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:16,480
Speaker 5: and check on your mother. He tells me my brother

192
00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:19,000
Speaker 5: got shot. He goes in the building to assist his mother.

193
00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:23,360
Speaker 5: I leave the neighborhood that night. The very next day,

194
00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:26,360
Speaker 5: I was back on Cyprus Avenue about ten to eleven in

195
00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:29,480
Speaker 5: the morning, and I see that the neighborhood is flooded

196
00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:33,120
Speaker 5: with investigators and cops. Canda seeing that whole entire.

197
00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:35,360
Speaker 1: Area, Yeah, I guess you would have a lot of

198
00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:38,480
Speaker 1: investigators and a lot of pressure to get the killers

199
00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:40,840
Speaker 1: off the streets or to get somebody just to make

200
00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:43,200
Speaker 1: the pressure go away, right, And I imagined that had

201
00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:45,720
Speaker 1: a lot to do with how they ended up targeting you, Right.

202
00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:50,440
Speaker 5: Absolutely, Mark Tepans was pressure to make an arrest in

203
00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:52,560
Speaker 5: this case and he didn't have anything.

204
00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:55,680
Speaker 3: Tippins was a member of the fortieth Precinct Detective Squad

205
00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:57,760
Speaker 3: and he had several open cases in the Mount Haven

206
00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:01,640
Speaker 3: area during that time too. After the Quad murders, he

207
00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:04,199
Speaker 3: was assigned to the bronx DA's office to help make

208
00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:06,400
Speaker 3: the case on the Quad. He was under a lot

209
00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:08,880
Speaker 3: of pressure to close all of these cases, and so

210
00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:11,080
Speaker 3: he used a lot of the same witnesses over and

211
00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:14,000
Speaker 3: over again, sort of a witness for higher situation, if

212
00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,280
Speaker 3: you will. These witnesses would offer false testimony in exchange

213
00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:20,480
Speaker 3: for money and reduced charges or sentences for their own crimes.

214
00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:23,280
Speaker 3: In the Quad murder case, many of the witnesses he

215
00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:26,320
Speaker 3: used to implicate Danny and his co defendants were members

216
00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,360
Speaker 3: of the Red Top, the rivals to Danny's Orange Tops

217
00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:31,360
Speaker 3: and to those Yellow Tops who were the targets of

218
00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:34,080
Speaker 3: the Quad. They had all had a vested interest in

219
00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:35,800
Speaker 3: Danny getting off the street, so they were more than

220
00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:37,360
Speaker 3: willing to place them at the scene.

221
00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:38,840
Speaker 2: So let me give you an example.

222
00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:42,480
Speaker 3: In April of nineteen ninety two, Tebens received a call

223
00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:46,000
Speaker 3: from a woman named Elizabeth Morales. Morales, who by the way,

224
00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:48,240
Speaker 3: had worked for the Red Top organization, claimed that she

225
00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:51,160
Speaker 3: and her family were in fear for their lives because

226
00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:54,360
Speaker 3: the Sepulvedas were after them because they'd stolen drugs from them.

227
00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:58,120
Speaker 3: So Elizabeth Morales said she needed help, and in exchange

228
00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:00,839
Speaker 3: for that help, she's told Tebans conveniently that she could

229
00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:03,600
Speaker 3: provide help and give him information on a lot of

230
00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,600
Speaker 3: the violence that took place on Beakman Avenue. So Tebbins

231
00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:10,160
Speaker 3: remember under so much pressure, he went immediately to the

232
00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:12,240
Speaker 3: shelter to where she and her three children were and

233
00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:15,240
Speaker 3: started talking to them, and she said that they could

234
00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:17,600
Speaker 3: give them names of the alleged perpetrators of the quad,

235
00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,319
Speaker 3: as well as several other homicides that had taken place

236
00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:23,760
Speaker 3: in the area over time. So he calls them down

237
00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:26,600
Speaker 3: to the DA's office and they give statements. Meanwhile, he's

238
00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:30,280
Speaker 3: providing them protection, he's helping them to relocate to a motel.

239
00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,080
Speaker 3: He gives them money for living expenses and food, and

240
00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:35,160
Speaker 3: he later moves them to an apartment and starts to

241
00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,040
Speaker 3: pay for their rent. So each of them happily gives

242
00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:41,000
Speaker 3: a statement. One of Elizabeth's daughters, Iris Cruise, what they

243
00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:43,560
Speaker 3: used to call their little Iris. She was fourteen years

244
00:12:43,559 --> 00:12:45,680
Speaker 3: old at the time of the quad, and she also

245
00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:48,240
Speaker 3: was an employee of the Red Top. She can even

246
00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:50,559
Speaker 3: read English at the time, but she signed a statement

247
00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,839
Speaker 3: he handed her that she saw Danny from her fourth

248
00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:57,120
Speaker 3: floor apartment window at the opposite end of Beakman Avenue,

249
00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:59,800
Speaker 3: which is where the alley was located, and she said

250
00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,840
Speaker 3: she heard fireworks. So she leaned out of her window

251
00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:05,080
Speaker 3: and looks down the road through a fire escape and

252
00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:07,560
Speaker 3: says she can see what was going on. Now, if

253
00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:10,520
Speaker 3: you picture a city block, it's pretty long. She can

254
00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:12,240
Speaker 3: see all the way down to the other end of

255
00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:14,400
Speaker 3: the block in the dark because the lights have been

256
00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:16,319
Speaker 3: blown out, and can see that Danny's sitting in a

257
00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:19,640
Speaker 3: car shooting from the car. I mean that sounds a

258
00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:20,760
Speaker 3: little bit sketchy to me.

259
00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:24,079
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I would like to actually go to that apartment,

260
00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:26,120
Speaker 1: and I have a funny feeling we would know maybe

261
00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:26,880
Speaker 1: you've already done that.

262
00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:30,200
Speaker 3: So we actually did do that, Jason, and we stood

263
00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:32,800
Speaker 3: on the street and looked down the block and there's

264
00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:34,160
Speaker 3: absolutely no And we did.

265
00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:34,880
Speaker 2: It in broad daylight.

266
00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:37,400
Speaker 3: There's no way in the dark of night you could

267
00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:38,559
Speaker 3: see all the way down there.

268
00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:41,840
Speaker 1: We see cases like this over and over again where

269
00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:45,040
Speaker 1: these witness statements are so easily proven to be not

270
00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:47,120
Speaker 1: a false, but could not be true. It's a different

271
00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:49,200
Speaker 1: category from false, right could not be true because you

272
00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:51,960
Speaker 1: cannot see from where they said they were to where

273
00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:55,760
Speaker 1: the thing took place. But that gets pretty easily glossed

274
00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:59,480
Speaker 1: over in the course to these proceedings somehow and eliciteth.

275
00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:02,840
Speaker 3: Morales also had a son named Joey Morales who was

276
00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:06,040
Speaker 3: thirteen at the time of the quad and he allegedly

277
00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:08,480
Speaker 3: saw the shooting as well. And he, by the way,

278
00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:11,959
Speaker 3: was a witness in six other cases in which Teppens

279
00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:12,600
Speaker 3: was the detective.

280
00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:15,920
Speaker 5: Let me tell you something about the incredible Joy Morales.

281
00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:18,680
Speaker 5: Joey Morales claims that he went to buy a gallon

282
00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:22,080
Speaker 5: of milk at ten thirty in the evening and witnessed

283
00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:25,640
Speaker 5: the quad murders. In another case, he went to buy

284
00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:29,160
Speaker 5: milk at three point thirty in the morning and witnessed

285
00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:31,680
Speaker 5: a guy by the name of Rashi Rice and Angel

286
00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:33,960
Speaker 5: kinyone is committed a robbery and a murder at three

287
00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:36,000
Speaker 5: thirty in the morning that his mother sent him to

288
00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:40,160
Speaker 5: go buy some milk. In another matter, Marion Frasier's case,

289
00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:43,120
Speaker 5: the Incredible Joey Morales claims that he left his house

290
00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,840
Speaker 5: to go hang out in the neighborhood at fort the

291
00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:50,320
Speaker 5: afternoons and wondered the neighborhood to six o'clock in the

292
00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:54,160
Speaker 5: morning without going home. Thirteen year old kid wandered that

293
00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:57,280
Speaker 5: neighborhood in those years to six o'clock in the morning.

294
00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,760
Speaker 5: We're at five point thirty in the morning. He allegedly

295
00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:04,320
Speaker 5: observes Madamia Frasier, I'm bitter murder one hundred and forty pressure.

296
00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:06,280
Speaker 1: And these people were just so lucky that they have

297
00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:08,440
Speaker 1: to witness one murder after another. That sounds like some

298
00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:09,760
Speaker 1: Scarcella type of stuff.

299
00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:11,960
Speaker 5: It seems that Evans has got sell as the one

300
00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:12,440
Speaker 5: in the same.

301
00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:25,640
Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by Stand Together. Stand

302
00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:29,400
Speaker 1: Together is a philanthropic community dedicated to helping people improve

303
00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:32,440
Speaker 1: their lives. For more than twenty years, Stand Together and

304
00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:34,800
Speaker 1: its partners have been on the front lines of criminal

305
00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:39,359
Speaker 1: justice reform. By empowering people to take action, supporting nonprofits,

306
00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:43,160
Speaker 1: and working with businesses. Stand Together tackles the root causes

307
00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:46,080
Speaker 1: of problems in our communities and empowers those closest to

308
00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:50,520
Speaker 1: the problems to drive solutions. Solutions like reducing unjust prison

309
00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:54,480
Speaker 1: sentences through the First Step Act, empowering community based programs

310
00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:57,680
Speaker 1: and help people re enter society, and now working to

311
00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:01,120
Speaker 1: bridge divides in our communities. To learn how you may

312
00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:10,640
Speaker 1: get involved, visit standtogether dot org, slash conviction. Danny, when

313
00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:11,480
Speaker 1: did you get arrested?

314
00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:14,680
Speaker 5: It was almost a summer day, like it was June sixth,

315
00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:17,720
Speaker 5: nineteen ninety two. I was on the same street that

316
00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:19,880
Speaker 5: I was on the night of the murders, on Typer's Avenue.

317
00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:21,600
Speaker 5: As I look up, I see Mark Tebans and he

318
00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:23,680
Speaker 5: tells me that he needed to talk to me, And

319
00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:25,480
Speaker 5: I said, to talk to me about what. He said, well,

320
00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:27,640
Speaker 5: somebody said you robbed them. When I get to the

321
00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:30,240
Speaker 5: priest and he tells me that I'm there for Big Monamue.

322
00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:31,640
Speaker 5: I said, what do you mean Big Minavenue. He said,

323
00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:34,920
Speaker 5: we got information that you was driving the car the

324
00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:38,640
Speaker 5: night of the murders. That said me, impossible. There's thirty

325
00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:40,440
Speaker 5: forty people that can tell you I was on Cyper's

326
00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:44,080
Speaker 5: Avenue that evening. That's impossible. I was processed. I was

327
00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:47,720
Speaker 5: taken down to Central Booking and charged with killing four

328
00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:51,960
Speaker 5: people and wounding someone else, and Judge Ira Growboman granted

329
00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,640
Speaker 5: me the bill was said at one hundred thousand dollars.

330
00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:57,120
Speaker 1: That's kind of low bail for someone who they think

331
00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:59,600
Speaker 1: committed this horrific crime.

332
00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:03,200
Speaker 5: I was able to get bailed out because Benjamin Green

333
00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:06,359
Speaker 5: and his mother Irene Green, were at my arrangement, and

334
00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:08,840
Speaker 5: as you know, Benjamin is the brother of Irene is

335
00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:11,280
Speaker 5: the mother of one of the deceased, Anthony Green. And

336
00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:14,119
Speaker 5: so their statement was to quote an open statement that

337
00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:16,320
Speaker 5: I was on Cyprus Avenue in their building and that

338
00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:18,800
Speaker 5: I assisted her that evening, and that I couldn't have

339
00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:22,000
Speaker 5: been involved. The judge, I guess, took that in consideration

340
00:17:22,119 --> 00:17:24,560
Speaker 5: and granted me the bail. Even while I was out

341
00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:26,480
Speaker 5: on bail, I visited the Green house.

342
00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:28,600
Speaker 1: So how long were you out before the trial?

343
00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:30,880
Speaker 5: So I got arrested in ninety two, I got out

344
00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:34,600
Speaker 5: on bail. I initially started trial in the Bronx, well,

345
00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:37,960
Speaker 5: at least the co defendants did, and just Ira Globerman,

346
00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:40,239
Speaker 5: a Supreme Court justice in the Bronx, who granted me

347
00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:44,119
Speaker 5: the bail. By the way, Ira Globerman did not believe

348
00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:46,320
Speaker 5: that I was guilty of these murders. He's told the

349
00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:49,280
Speaker 5: prosecution and a hearing he said that he's seen the

350
00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:52,320
Speaker 5: evidence of prosecution has and he's not persuaded that I

351
00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:54,760
Speaker 5: am guilty of these murders, and that for those reasons

352
00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:57,840
Speaker 5: he's going to separate my case from that of the

353
00:17:57,840 --> 00:17:59,600
Speaker 5: Code offantas he said, the cod defenders will go on

354
00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:02,520
Speaker 5: trial first, and mister rincomm because he is out on bail,

355
00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:06,200
Speaker 5: he'll go on trial's second. That never happened. Obviously, we

356
00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:09,040
Speaker 5: was indicted in the superseding indictment in New York County.

357
00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:11,720
Speaker 5: All the charges were later dismissed in the Bronx and

358
00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:14,840
Speaker 5: reindicted in New York County, and I was remanded by Snyder,

359
00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:20,280
Speaker 5: and that was in ninety three, and the trial that

360
00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:21,400
Speaker 5: had starts a year later.

361
00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:24,080
Speaker 1: We went before Snyder and Leslie Crocker.

362
00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:27,280
Speaker 4: Schneider, you know, was an animal judge. I mean, she

363
00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:31,840
Speaker 4: was notorious for doing out the harshness of sentences and

364
00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:34,600
Speaker 4: wrote the book twenty five to Life, which focused on

365
00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:35,600
Speaker 4: the Wild Cowboys.

366
00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:37,240
Speaker 1: Yes, she was notorious.

367
00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,639
Speaker 3: Little did anyone know that this tough judge would not

368
00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:43,959
Speaker 3: be Danny's biggest problem. It's important to note that in

369
00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:47,159
Speaker 3: November of ninety three they found an indictment with forty

370
00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,840
Speaker 3: one defendants co defendants, and they called it the Wild

371
00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:53,560
Speaker 3: Cowboy Trial. But it was like all the crimes that

372
00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:55,520
Speaker 3: had taken place in that area. So there was a

373
00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,399
Speaker 3: big blanket of an indictment that they issued and all

374
00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:00,960
Speaker 3: that the crowd murders was just one of them, and

375
00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:03,640
Speaker 3: thirty two of those individuals of the forty one play

376
00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:06,959
Speaker 3: out they pled guilty and nine, Danny being one of them,

377
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,119
Speaker 3: proceeded to go to trial, and of those, five of

378
00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:11,480
Speaker 3: them were convicted of the quad.

379
00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:13,720
Speaker 4: I can tell you that the wrong people that they

380
00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:19,400
Speaker 4: focused on were Stanley Tukes, Russell Harris, Daniel Gonzalez, and

381
00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:22,040
Speaker 4: Danny ron Cone, and those people are all innocent, by

382
00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:24,520
Speaker 4: the way. In addition to Danny ron Cone, there was

383
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:27,959
Speaker 4: one guy, Wilfredo de Los Angeles, who we believe was

384
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:32,080
Speaker 4: an actual perpetrator of the quad. But the theory that

385
00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:34,119
Speaker 4: they went with was clearly wrong.

386
00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:37,560
Speaker 1: How did they come to land all five of them?

387
00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, So the prosecution came up with this theory that

388
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:44,679
Speaker 4: Orange Top teamed up with Red Top in an effort

389
00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:49,680
Speaker 4: to off Yellow Top, which was totally false. I mean,

390
00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:53,280
Speaker 4: in fact, Red Top and Orange Top did not get

391
00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:56,040
Speaker 4: along and Red Top had put a hit at we

392
00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,120
Speaker 4: actually shot Danny in.

393
00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:02,719
Speaker 5: Nineteen ninety was the subject of a similar shooting at

394
00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:04,920
Speaker 5: the hands of Lenny Separvator, where I was shot six

395
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,800
Speaker 5: times on that same corner where the quad happened. Just

396
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,600
Speaker 5: a year before for the same reasons, because I was

397
00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:15,119
Speaker 5: associated with Orisa. As we know that the murders happened

398
00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:19,040
Speaker 5: on December sixteen, nineteen ninety one. Two weeks later, I

399
00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:22,440
Speaker 5: held a New Year's party at Cyprus Avenue. I invited

400
00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:25,760
Speaker 5: the whole Yellow Top crew to about her. Benjamin Green,

401
00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:29,439
Speaker 5: whose brother had just been killed two weeks earlier, was

402
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:31,840
Speaker 5: in a party with me, So you know, it just

403
00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:34,440
Speaker 5: the sized logic that you know, I would try to

404
00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:36,920
Speaker 5: ambush these guys and then be partying with them two

405
00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,600
Speaker 5: weeks later. But ironically, the people that were actually now

406
00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:44,800
Speaker 5: known to be responsible for the Quad were not present

407
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:47,680
Speaker 5: or invited to the party. Again, as I said, a

408
00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:49,160
Speaker 5: decise logic, So.

409
00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:53,040
Speaker 4: There was really a clear divide between Redtop and Orange Top.

410
00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:55,840
Speaker 4: But the prosecution just blew through that because they needed

411
00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:57,119
Speaker 4: to join them for their case.

412
00:20:57,840 --> 00:20:59,920
Speaker 1: So you end up a trial and how did that

413
00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:01,040
Speaker 1: whole thing play out?

414
00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:05,440
Speaker 5: So the trial began in nineteen ninety four September ninety four,

415
00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:07,879
Speaker 5: But I never, for the life of me, believed that

416
00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:10,440
Speaker 5: the Quad was something that I get convicted of for

417
00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,679
Speaker 5: many reasons. The alleged witnesses stories were all over the place.

418
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:16,080
Speaker 5: You know, their narratives changed from one telling to the next,

419
00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:18,800
Speaker 5: and I knew that there was just so many people

420
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:21,280
Speaker 5: that can place me on Cyprus Avenue. But as the

421
00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:25,920
Speaker 5: trial moved along, I realized that the waste sneider was

422
00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:29,399
Speaker 5: pushing this trial forward, and the way she was denying stuff,

423
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:33,080
Speaker 5: you know, my hopes dwindled more and more that I

424
00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:35,119
Speaker 5: can get a fair trial in front of this woman.

425
00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:39,200
Speaker 5: And so the witnesses got up, understand and they all testified,

426
00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:41,560
Speaker 5: and one after the other, the lawyers tried their best

427
00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:44,400
Speaker 5: to try to show that these witnesses were all lying

428
00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:46,960
Speaker 5: for a favor and providing testimony and to try to

429
00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:50,359
Speaker 5: get legacy from the prosecutor's officer for you know, whatever reasons.

430
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:54,119
Speaker 5: But I predominantly wanted to hear the Cruise Morales family

431
00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:56,800
Speaker 5: because I knew I didn't know these people. I knew

432
00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:59,639
Speaker 5: that we weren't friends, I knew that these people were lying,

433
00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:02,119
Speaker 5: and I just knew that at some point, you know,

434
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:03,600
Speaker 5: it's going to come out, this is going to come

435
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,600
Speaker 5: out during this trial that these people did not witness this,

436
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,320
Speaker 5: and these people just implicating individuals here wrongfully. That was

437
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:13,040
Speaker 5: my aspiration, but it didn't play out. That way they testified,

438
00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:16,359
Speaker 5: they gave the conflicting narratives that they gave, and the

439
00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:18,960
Speaker 5: jury still accepted it. But I believe that the jury

440
00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:22,919
Speaker 5: accepted the narratives that these witnesses provided simply because the

441
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:25,960
Speaker 5: way the trial was held. They sat us in this courtroom,

442
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,840
Speaker 5: eight individuals at a defense table. So try to picture

443
00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:32,600
Speaker 5: these guys in your mind. There's three defense attorneys. There's

444
00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:36,600
Speaker 5: an armed camp of court officers and investigators and police

445
00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:40,719
Speaker 5: all surrounding the courtroom, media all over the place. There's

446
00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,439
Speaker 5: eight defense attorneys. A couple of the defense attorneys had

447
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:47,160
Speaker 5: either a paralegal or second chair, and there's just this

448
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:51,160
Speaker 5: big show going on about how these guys were one

449
00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:54,760
Speaker 5: of the worst groups of individuals that committed all these

450
00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:57,920
Speaker 5: hangs acts during the course of seven years.

451
00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:02,000
Speaker 1: It sounds like a circus. I mean, with that many people,

452
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:06,440
Speaker 1: how could you even begin to present the cohesive defense.

453
00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:09,240
Speaker 4: It's very unusual that they would do more than five

454
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:14,919
Speaker 4: defendants together in a trial. Anything over five becomes super unwieldy.

455
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:18,480
Speaker 4: And this was way beyond that. It was a circus.

456
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:22,640
Speaker 5: And the jury, not hearing from any of the defendants,

457
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:26,280
Speaker 5: in their mind, must have said that They're all guilty,

458
00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:28,400
Speaker 5: they all did it. Why aren't they getting up there

459
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:33,040
Speaker 5: and defending themselves. I wanted to testify. I was prepared

460
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,000
Speaker 5: to tell this jury. Look, I was on Cyprus Avenue.

461
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:39,200
Speaker 4: And Irene Green and Benjamin Green had provided information to

462
00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:44,560
Speaker 4: Donald Tucker, Danny's lawyer, about that alibi. Donald Tucker failed

463
00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:48,280
Speaker 4: to do anything with that alibi. Investigated further and put

464
00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:50,399
Speaker 4: on alibi witnesses on Danny's behalf.

465
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:54,080
Speaker 5: The lawyer Donald Tuckle at the time, who was disbarred

466
00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:56,760
Speaker 5: by the way six months seven months after my trial,

467
00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,360
Speaker 5: told me that if I forced any witness to come

468
00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:01,879
Speaker 5: into the court to testify that doesn't want to testify.

469
00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:05,240
Speaker 5: Whenever I needed them to testify, they won't testify for me.

470
00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:08,960
Speaker 5: And I was explained to that if I do testify,

471
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:11,600
Speaker 5: will not be in my best interest. So I decided

472
00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:13,679
Speaker 5: to not to testify, which I think is one of

473
00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:16,480
Speaker 5: the worst mistakes I've made in my life. But the

474
00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:17,960
Speaker 5: trial was a font.

475
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:21,879
Speaker 1: You have a circus trial with an impossible number of

476
00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 1: people at the defense table in and around defendants, lawyers, paralegals.

477
00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:28,560
Speaker 1: You had a lawyer who was on his way to

478
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,960
Speaker 1: being disbarred. But the moment, the moment when you were convicted.

479
00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:34,040
Speaker 1: What was that like.

480
00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:39,160
Speaker 5: I got to tell you that it was probably one

481
00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:42,000
Speaker 5: of the worst days of my life. I mean absently

482
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,720
Speaker 5: my mother's passing and my brother. I think that that

483
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,680
Speaker 5: was one of the most worst days of my life.

484
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:48,080
Speaker 1: You know.

485
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:50,679
Speaker 5: I sat there and looked at I stared at the

486
00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:56,359
Speaker 5: jury like a blank stare, and I'm trying to just

487
00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 5: make sense of how did they come to the conclusion

488
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:01,400
Speaker 5: that I was guilty of Quad. The reason we sat

489
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 5: there was because of that Quad murder, and I knew

490
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:08,480
Speaker 5: I wasn't guilty. I never, never, never would have imagined

491
00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:11,240
Speaker 5: that maybe it's twenty eight years later and I'm still

492
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,760
Speaker 5: sitting here. I knew that. At some point I said

493
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:18,479
Speaker 5: to myself, you know, Benjamin Green's family would come forward

494
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,200
Speaker 5: and fortune will come forward and tell these people I'm

495
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:23,679
Speaker 5: not responsible for this. They can bear witness to the

496
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:28,360
Speaker 5: fact that I didn't do this, and that day hasn't come.

497
00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:30,560
Speaker 1: You got sent to president.

498
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:33,040
Speaker 5: On the day of sentencing, I was taken up to

499
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:35,679
Speaker 5: downstair from the bullpen. I didn't make it back to

500
00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:39,719
Speaker 5: Raga's Island. I was processing downstate. Within the next two

501
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,760
Speaker 5: three days. I was on a bus headed towards Western

502
00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:46,520
Speaker 5: New York. I found myself in Wendy Correctional Facility. I

503
00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,600
Speaker 5: stayed at Wendy for about roughly seventy days. I had

504
00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:52,560
Speaker 5: an opportunity at least to see my mother. My mother

505
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,040
Speaker 5: tracked me down and made her way up there, and

506
00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:59,480
Speaker 5: I saw my mother's and thereafter seventy some days later,

507
00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 5: I found myself where I am today at Attica Correctional Facility,

508
00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 5: and I'm looking for a familiar faith and I run

509
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,560
Speaker 5: into Derek Hamilton, who I had known from Rykers Island

510
00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:13,080
Speaker 5: and who actually was a friend of my brother when

511
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,120
Speaker 5: he rested peace. So I've seen Derek and he tells me, listen,

512
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,040
Speaker 5: you got to go to the Law Library. But back

513
00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,360
Speaker 5: then I didn't have a crew of what the law

514
00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:22,440
Speaker 5: Library was or what the low Library was going to

515
00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,440
Speaker 5: do for me, and I just didn't go. So five

516
00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:28,919
Speaker 5: years later, I leave Attica and I find myself at

517
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:31,159
Speaker 5: green Haven. I decided that I needed to go to

518
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:34,280
Speaker 5: the Law Library because they was offering a legal research class,

519
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,639
Speaker 5: and I ended up getting a legal research certificate. Almost

520
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:39,680
Speaker 5: four years later, I leave green Haven and I find

521
00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:42,320
Speaker 5: myself in Auburn and I run into a good friend

522
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,080
Speaker 5: of min named Shabaka Chakourt, who introduced me to other

523
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:47,640
Speaker 5: individuals that are working in the law library of doing

524
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,840
Speaker 5: things that were constructive. And I just made a decision

525
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,000
Speaker 5: that that's what I was going to do. That I

526
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 5: had to teach myself how to research, understand, how to

527
00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 5: seek evidence, obtain evidence, and present it. I find it

528
00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:01,919
Speaker 5: to get a job in the law library around two

529
00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:03,879
Speaker 5: thousand and seven, two thousand and eight, and then another

530
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:06,240
Speaker 5: guy comes into the library that I hadn't the privilege

531
00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:09,159
Speaker 5: to meet then, Nelson Cruz, talking about his case. He

532
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:12,119
Speaker 5: was talking about how he had a wrongful conviction and

533
00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:15,880
Speaker 5: he had actually an officer who can substantiate that he

534
00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:18,560
Speaker 5: was not the shooter in his case. Law and behold,

535
00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:20,960
Speaker 5: Derek Hamilton arrives to the facility, but he's at the

536
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:23,159
Speaker 5: shoe now and he sent me a message because he

537
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:25,040
Speaker 5: heard that I was a clerk in the law libraries.

538
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:27,679
Speaker 5: And so Derek gets down to the law library. Now

539
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:30,879
Speaker 5: we're all together. We were all wrongfully convicted, and because

540
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:33,879
Speaker 5: we were all arguing actual witniicsens, we namely grouped the

541
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:36,960
Speaker 5: AI team the actually Wittidens team. So what we would

542
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 5: do is brainstorm different cases. One of the cases that

543
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 5: we brainstorm was Innrie Davis. It was a Supreme Court

544
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,840
Speaker 5: case where the guy was convicted wrongfully we believe as well,

545
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:50,520
Speaker 5: for shooting a police officer down in Georgia somewhere. And

546
00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,720
Speaker 5: interestingly in the decision, one of the judges stated was

547
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:56,400
Speaker 5: that the guy had some alibi winners who weren't given

548
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:59,600
Speaker 5: the opportunity to testify, and it should be afforded that opportunity.

549
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:04,360
Speaker 5: When I read that that like gave me energy, gave

550
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:07,880
Speaker 5: me hope that the witnesses that I have that can

551
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,160
Speaker 5: place me on Cyper's avenue hadn't been given that opportunity

552
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:26,840
Speaker 5: to testify and should be given that opportunity to testify.

553
00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:31,440
Speaker 4: So Danny actually had a number of post conviction motions after.

554
00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:34,000
Speaker 2: He got sentenced to one hundred and fifty eight to

555
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:34,480
Speaker 2: third to.

556
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:39,200
Speaker 4: Life, and the first motion was a Brady violation the

557
00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 4: suppression of exculpatory evidence, which he lost. It was another

558
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:47,360
Speaker 4: one that was brought based on Leslie Krocker Snyder's failure

559
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:51,040
Speaker 4: to accuse herself because she had conflicts associated with the case.

560
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:55,000
Speaker 4: They lost that there was a habeas corpus petition brought

561
00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:00,960
Speaker 4: in federal court based on the theory of prosecution, which

562
00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:04,280
Speaker 4: was that it was one single conspiracy, which was the

563
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:09,920
Speaker 4: Red Top Orange Top combined, when in reality was multiple conspiracies.

564
00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 2: They lost that.

565
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,840
Speaker 5: So during those years, you know, the people that I

566
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:18,840
Speaker 5: would write frequently write was Glenn Garber, John Elstein, Ron Cooby,

567
00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:22,280
Speaker 5: pleading with them to help me with my situation. But

568
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 5: unbeknownst to me, there was an attorney who believed in

569
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:28,560
Speaker 5: my innocence. Was David Taber and David Goldstein who were

570
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:30,640
Speaker 5: actually speaking to Glenn for me.

571
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:34,600
Speaker 4: David Tagar, who was the lawyer for Rafael Perez and

572
00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 4: was co counsel to Donald Tucker, Danny's lawyer, came to

573
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:42,440
Speaker 4: me and said, you got to get involved in Danny's case.

574
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,760
Speaker 4: We actually went me and David Tager up to see

575
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 4: Tezo Rafael Perez to talk to him because David was

576
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 4: saying that Danny was innocent, and the affid David that

577
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,360
Speaker 4: Tezo signed came about either when I went with him

578
00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:02,200
Speaker 4: or maybe shortly thereafter. In any event, in twenty fourteen,

579
00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:05,760
Speaker 4: I teamed up with two other lawyers to do what

580
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:09,400
Speaker 4: was a very substantive post conviction motion of also called

581
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:12,520
Speaker 4: a four to forty motion, and the lawyers were Jonathan

582
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 4: Eedelstein and Patrick Joyce. And in that motion in twenty fourteen,

583
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,800
Speaker 4: we had an affidavit from Rafael Perez Tezo who came

584
00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:25,000
Speaker 4: forward and said that he was a shooter in the

585
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:28,480
Speaker 4: quad murder. Now, mind you, Teso was not one of

586
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:32,040
Speaker 4: the prosecution defendants for the quad murder. He was actually

587
00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:35,520
Speaker 4: at that joint trial, but the prosecution did not claim

588
00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:38,680
Speaker 4: he was associated in any way with the quad shooting.

589
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:42,200
Speaker 4: But it turns out that Tezo was a shooter. And

590
00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:47,560
Speaker 4: Francisco Medina also came forward aka Freddy Krueger, and he

591
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 4: also signed an affid David and said that he was

592
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:54,800
Speaker 4: a shooter in the quad murder. Also, somebody the prosecution

593
00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:58,400
Speaker 4: did not target as a defendant for the quad murder.

594
00:30:58,440 --> 00:30:59,800
Speaker 5: I also want to put something out of that. I

595
00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:02,120
Speaker 5: think it's very interesting. In nineteen ninety five, there was

596
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 5: an individual by the name of Raoul Vaugis who was

597
00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:07,320
Speaker 5: indicted by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New

598
00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:11,959
Speaker 5: York along with several others. They charged seventeen murders. Freddy Krueger,

599
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:14,280
Speaker 5: who was actually one of the participants in this quad

600
00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:17,240
Speaker 5: was charged in that indictment as well. In nineteen ninety five,

601
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:19,760
Speaker 5: the federal government had yet to declare whether or not

602
00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:21,840
Speaker 5: they was going to seek the death penalty in that case,

603
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:26,080
Speaker 5: Raoul Vagas decided to become a federal cooperator. In nineteen

604
00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:28,560
Speaker 5: ninety five, he admits of the federal government that he

605
00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:30,440
Speaker 5: was involved in the quad murders.

606
00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:34,920
Speaker 4: And in that trial, Raoul Vargas testified about being the

607
00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:38,360
Speaker 4: driver and being in the neighborhood and around the corner

608
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:42,120
Speaker 4: when the shooting took place, and was aware of the

609
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:45,440
Speaker 4: details of it, and knew that Freddy Krueger was involved,

610
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:49,400
Speaker 4: knew that Teza was involved, knew that Nelson said Pulvido

611
00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:53,680
Speaker 4: was involved, and knew that Platineau was also involved, and

612
00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:56,560
Speaker 4: says that Danny had nothing to do with the quad murder.

613
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,520
Speaker 4: So we had those three people who were all involved

614
00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:02,560
Speaker 4: in the quad murder, all people the prosecution did not

615
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,760
Speaker 4: target as defendants in the quad murder, and they came

616
00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:09,560
Speaker 4: forward and they said unequivocally that Danny was not involved.

617
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:13,560
Speaker 4: That really should have been enough to get either an

618
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:18,600
Speaker 4: exoneration or a hearing where they could have testified in

619
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:20,240
Speaker 4: front of the court and the court could have heard

620
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,560
Speaker 4: from them. The judge actually denied us even hearing on

621
00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:26,760
Speaker 4: that motion. There was other things also that were raised

622
00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:29,560
Speaker 4: in that motion that were very powerful. There were six

623
00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 4: alibi witnesses that came forward, and just to harken back

624
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,080
Speaker 4: to what Danny was saying a bit, those were witnesses

625
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:40,280
Speaker 4: that placed him at that apartment one G on Cyprus Avenue,

626
00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:41,960
Speaker 4: over a block and a half away from where the

627
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:45,840
Speaker 4: quad murder took place at the time that the shooting occurred,

628
00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 4: and those witnesses prepared Affi Davids and we filed those

629
00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 4: with our four to forty motion as well. Some interesting

630
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,560
Speaker 4: features also, as David Towger wrote an affid David and

631
00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:02,280
Speaker 4: said that Tezo Rafael Perez had been telling him all

632
00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:05,960
Speaker 4: along from the beginning that he was involved in the

633
00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 4: quad murders and that Danny was innocent. But David Tower

634
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:14,240
Speaker 4: couldn't reveal that information because he was defending Tezo, and

635
00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:18,080
Speaker 4: he obviously couldn't raise that information and implicate him on

636
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:20,560
Speaker 4: something that's client did that he was in charge with.

637
00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 4: But Tezo ultimately allowed David Tager to come forward with

638
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:29,640
Speaker 4: this information because Justice demanded it, and that gives you

639
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,160
Speaker 4: a sense of why David Tager was up in arms

640
00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:35,040
Speaker 4: about this, the fact that Danny was erroneously placed in

641
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,280
Speaker 4: the quad murders, not only you know, during the trial,

642
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:41,240
Speaker 4: but also afterwards, why he came to me and why

643
00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:44,280
Speaker 4: he's so adamant that this injustice happened that Danny needed

644
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:48,360
Speaker 4: to be exonerated. David Goldstein also filled out an affid

645
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:51,480
Speaker 4: David that was submitted in that four to forty motion

646
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:56,400
Speaker 4: and talked about Donald Tucker, who was Danny's lawyer, and

647
00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:00,000
Speaker 4: said that he had revealed to Tucker that there was

648
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:03,959
Speaker 4: an alibi, and Irene Green and Benjamin Green had provided

649
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:07,920
Speaker 4: information to him about that alibi, and Donald Tucker never

650
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:10,960
Speaker 4: brought that evidence forward. And one of the claims in

651
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:12,640
Speaker 4: that four to forty motion, by the way, was in

652
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:17,640
Speaker 4: effective assistance of counsel for Tucker's failure to do anything

653
00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:21,480
Speaker 4: with that alibi. Investigated further and put on alibi witnesses

654
00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:27,160
Speaker 4: on Danny's behalf. So unfortunately, in twenty fifteen, Judge Fitzgerald,

655
00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:31,040
Speaker 4: who got assigned to the case, wrote a very bad decision,

656
00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:34,480
Speaker 4: denying us on all grounds and not even giving us

657
00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,960
Speaker 4: our day in court, and that's where we're basically at now,

658
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:41,680
Speaker 4: where we're continuing our investigation. We're trying to shore up

659
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:46,399
Speaker 4: additional aspects of the alibi, we're looking into Tebbans, and

660
00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:48,080
Speaker 4: we're at a place right now where we're trying to

661
00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:50,200
Speaker 4: get him back into court with new stuff.

662
00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:52,520
Speaker 3: And I think one of the most important parts of

663
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:55,000
Speaker 3: this whole case has been the targeting of Danny, basically

664
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:57,160
Speaker 3: to get him off the street. And I think the

665
00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:59,960
Speaker 3: witnesses they've used, I mean, the judge never seemed to

666
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,560
Speaker 3: knowledge the fact that all of these people had invested

667
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 3: interest in having him put away, and that was something

668
00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 3: that just was never brought to light. And I think

669
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:09,799
Speaker 3: that that's sort of our goal going forward, is to

670
00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:12,440
Speaker 3: show that they all had a motive. We have people

671
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,200
Speaker 3: with no incentive to lie that have cleared him. So

672
00:35:15,239 --> 00:35:17,279
Speaker 3: I think we just need to sort of parse out

673
00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:20,359
Speaker 3: the facts and separate them chronologically and logically to see

674
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:21,480
Speaker 3: why we're in the situation.

675
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:23,400
Speaker 2: It just doesn't make any sense.

676
00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:28,480
Speaker 1: It just doesn't make any freaking sense. And so many

677
00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:30,680
Speaker 1: of the people that Danny referenced are people that we've

678
00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:32,560
Speaker 1: had on the show, people that I consider to be

679
00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:35,600
Speaker 1: friends and most of them have been exonerated by now

680
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:39,400
Speaker 1: or at a minimum freed, and yet he continues to

681
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:43,719
Speaker 1: go on with Danny, I mean, what an inspirational guy

682
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 1: you are. You were convicted of a horrible crime that

683
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:49,640
Speaker 1: you didn't commit. The killers were allowed to remain free,

684
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,880
Speaker 1: and New York City suffered as a result. Taxpayers continue

685
00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:57,160
Speaker 1: to pay for your wrongful incarceration, and you continue to

686
00:35:57,160 --> 00:35:59,359
Speaker 1: pay with your very life. And all of it is

687
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:03,040
Speaker 1: something that you outrage everybody of good conscience. So the

688
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:06,400
Speaker 1: good news is we're here, we're shining a light on it.

689
00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:10,360
Speaker 1: We have Glenn and Farah and a whole team of people,

690
00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:12,759
Speaker 1: and I think hopefully we'll build a new legion of

691
00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,960
Speaker 1: people with some of the information that we've shared today.

692
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:18,400
Speaker 1: And how can people get involved?

693
00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:20,719
Speaker 4: First of all, they can write letters to the Manhattan

694
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,719
Speaker 4: District Attorney's office to say vance Junior and ask that

695
00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:26,799
Speaker 4: they'd be sent to the Integrity Unit and that they

696
00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:30,080
Speaker 4: reevaluate the case. We went to the integraty Unit, by

697
00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 4: the way, and they didn't give a shit. They can

698
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:36,600
Speaker 4: go to their local government representatives and their districts and

699
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:38,520
Speaker 4: they can say that this is a case that bothers

700
00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:41,279
Speaker 4: them and ask those people to get involved and maybe

701
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:43,640
Speaker 4: write letters to the DA's office on their behalf.

702
00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:47,000
Speaker 1: There's also a petition that you can sign on change

703
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:50,960
Speaker 1: dot org, so please scroll down to the bio and

704
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:54,120
Speaker 1: get involved. Now we turn to the portion of the

705
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:57,920
Speaker 1: show that we call closing arguments. First of all, I

706
00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:03,440
Speaker 1: think our distinguished guests, all three of you for our roster,

707
00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:04,720
Speaker 1: thanks again for being.

708
00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:06,879
Speaker 2: Here, Thanks for having us, Jason, thank you.

709
00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:10,160
Speaker 4: And Glenn Garber my pleasure and I'm glad that you're

710
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 4: featuring this case. We really appreciate it.

711
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:14,520
Speaker 1: And of course, Danny, you know we're going to get

712
00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:16,879
Speaker 1: to you last, because that's how closing arguments works here

713
00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:18,880
Speaker 1: at the show, is that we always save the bets

714
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,759
Speaker 1: for last. But first of all, like I said, I

715
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:24,520
Speaker 1: just want to thank you for being here, Thank you

716
00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:26,680
Speaker 1: so much, and we're going to keep fighting for you.

717
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:30,520
Speaker 1: So now closing Arguments is where I turned my microphone off,

718
00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:33,359
Speaker 1: I kicked back in my chair, and I ask each

719
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:37,240
Speaker 1: of you to share your final thoughts with our audience.

720
00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:39,640
Speaker 6: First of all, thank you so much Jason for having us,

721
00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:41,920
Speaker 6: and thank you for taking the time to hear's Danny's

722
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:44,560
Speaker 6: story and getting to know him. And learning as many

723
00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:47,800
Speaker 6: people as possible to hear about the injustice he has suffered. Already,

724
00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:50,040
Speaker 6: He's spent twenty five years in prison for a crime

725
00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:52,719
Speaker 6: he did not commit. As you've heard, there's so much

726
00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:55,680
Speaker 6: evidence supporting his claim of innocence, from statements of the

727
00:37:55,719 --> 00:37:58,080
Speaker 6: actual perpetrators of the quad to the people who are

728
00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:00,360
Speaker 6: with him at the exact time of the shooting. Is

729
00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:02,680
Speaker 6: clear that he was not near or in the alley

730
00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:04,759
Speaker 6: when the shooting occurred. In fact, he was on the

731
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:07,120
Speaker 6: phone with his brother, who was incarcerated at the moment

732
00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:09,400
Speaker 6: the shots were fired, and he ran to see what

733
00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:12,160
Speaker 6: had happened. He yelled to his friends to come inside,

734
00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:13,520
Speaker 6: and then he saw the mother of one of the

735
00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:15,319
Speaker 6: victims and actually hugged and consoled her.

736
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:17,000
Speaker 2: Of these six.

737
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:19,799
Speaker 6: People have signed affidavit stating that Danny was with them

738
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:22,359
Speaker 6: when the shots were fired. They all signed statements saying

739
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:24,880
Speaker 6: that he did not commit the quad murder. He had

740
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:26,960
Speaker 6: the misfortune of having a lawyer who did not call

741
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:31,000
Speaker 6: these witnesses as alibi witnesses at trial, despite his repeated requests.

742
00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:33,600
Speaker 6: He also had the misfortune of being tried in front

743
00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:35,920
Speaker 6: of a judge who was predisposed in not liking him,

744
00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:38,400
Speaker 6: As we later found out in a book she authored

745
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:40,719
Speaker 6: after the trial with no evidence, she blamed him and

746
00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:43,440
Speaker 6: his co defendants for death threats she and her family

747
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:46,879
Speaker 6: received during the trial. He had the misfortune of being

748
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:49,280
Speaker 6: targeted by detective who was determined to close his cases

749
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:52,120
Speaker 6: as quickly as possible. And as we've discussed, we have

750
00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:55,000
Speaker 6: concerns about the detective's use of witnesses in this case

751
00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:57,439
Speaker 6: and have found a pattern of him misusing the same

752
00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:00,520
Speaker 6: witnesses over and over. He's made promises to the witnesses

753
00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:03,040
Speaker 6: and they often received reduced penalties for their own crimes

754
00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:06,320
Speaker 6: in exchange for their false testimony. Most of these witnesses

755
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:09,080
Speaker 6: were members of the rival Red Top drug organization, and

756
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:11,560
Speaker 6: they had interested in getting them off the street. So

757
00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:13,720
Speaker 6: Glenn and I are really committed to helping him uncover

758
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:16,719
Speaker 6: the truth in this case and giving Danny as well

759
00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:19,560
Speaker 6: as the families of the victims the justice they deserve.

760
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:24,439
Speaker 4: So this case is a debacle of justice, and there's

761
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:29,280
Speaker 4: exceptionally strong evidence of innocence that normally would be enough

762
00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:33,000
Speaker 4: to at least get an evidentiary hearing to be able

763
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,799
Speaker 4: to open the door to the court and establish through

764
00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 4: live testimony the exonerating evidence. And we unfortunately had a

765
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,760
Speaker 4: judge who didn't care when we brought the evidence forward

766
00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:49,240
Speaker 4: in our post conviction motion in twenty fourteen. The decision

767
00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:52,640
Speaker 4: that the judge wrote was basically focusing on non substantive

768
00:39:52,719 --> 00:39:56,200
Speaker 4: matters to deny us even the hearing that we needed

769
00:39:56,440 --> 00:40:02,279
Speaker 4: to establish Danny's innocence. We are hopeful that maybe with

770
00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:06,799
Speaker 4: a new DA in Manhattan, or with additional evidence which

771
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,160
Speaker 4: we're developing right now and getting back into court, we

772
00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:12,799
Speaker 4: will get a fair hearing if we have to go

773
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:15,319
Speaker 4: that far, and we'll get a judge who's actually going

774
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:18,439
Speaker 4: to care and hear the evidence. Because we do think

775
00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:21,799
Speaker 4: that once we ultimately get our day in court, well

776
00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:25,279
Speaker 4: we can bring those witnesses forward, those true killers who

777
00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:29,120
Speaker 4: actually admit to the crime, and the alibi witnesses who've

778
00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:32,279
Speaker 4: never been heard by a fact finder. Once we're able

779
00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:36,400
Speaker 4: to bring those forward in a fair environment, we're optimistic

780
00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:39,040
Speaker 4: that Danny is finally going to get exonerated.

781
00:40:39,320 --> 00:40:43,520
Speaker 1: Amen, and now Danny over to you for closing arguments.

782
00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:45,719
Speaker 5: Thank you so much, Thank you so much, Jason for

783
00:40:45,719 --> 00:40:49,320
Speaker 5: giving me the opportunity I want to thank Glengaba, Cybara Rosina,

784
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:52,240
Speaker 5: the Exageration Initiative, for giving me this opportunity, for believing

785
00:40:52,239 --> 00:40:55,200
Speaker 5: in my innocence, but not giving up on me while

786
00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:56,920
Speaker 5: you know, I fight for my life here. You know,

787
00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:01,799
Speaker 5: this is a difficult situation. Being in prison is hard

788
00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:03,520
Speaker 5: enough of being in prison for a crime that you

789
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:06,520
Speaker 5: didn't commit, and do a life or a crime that

790
00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:08,360
Speaker 5: you didn't commit, and you know that you look in

791
00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:10,360
Speaker 5: the mirrory morning and you don't have a date to

792
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:12,960
Speaker 5: be relief from this hell. It's pretty it's a pretty

793
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:13,800
Speaker 5: hard pill to swallow.

794
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:14,480
Speaker 1: You know.

795
00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:16,719
Speaker 5: It weighs on my conscience. It makes me make bad

796
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:19,880
Speaker 5: decisions at times, It makes me lose my temper, and

797
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:24,399
Speaker 5: you know, it testes my faith, It testes my mental fortitude.

798
00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:27,720
Speaker 5: It really, you know, doesn't umber mean, and it affects

799
00:41:27,719 --> 00:41:29,919
Speaker 5: a lot of you know, other aspects of my life

800
00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:32,759
Speaker 5: and you know, my personal relationship, my friends, relationship with

801
00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,080
Speaker 5: my family and friends, and it's just not right. And

802
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:38,040
Speaker 5: I know that most of the decisions that I make

803
00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:43,120
Speaker 5: obviously are influenced by this incarceration. But my aim is

804
00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:45,959
Speaker 5: to prove that ultimately one day, that I didn't commit

805
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:49,080
Speaker 5: this crime, and that there is more than enough evidence

806
00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:51,200
Speaker 5: to substantiate the fact that I didn't commit this crime.

807
00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:54,840
Speaker 5: And I ast encourage those who have that evidence to please,

808
00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:58,320
Speaker 5: you know, come forward, come forward and provide that evidence.

809
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:00,359
Speaker 5: You know, you know, think about what it would be

810
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:02,440
Speaker 5: for you sit in prison for twenty eight years for

811
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:05,400
Speaker 5: a crime and commitment. Think about what it would be

812
00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:08,080
Speaker 5: for a relative of yours, a brother or sister, sibling,

813
00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:10,680
Speaker 5: anybody that you may know that's close to you, to

814
00:42:10,719 --> 00:42:13,719
Speaker 5: sit in prison for twenty eight years knowing that that

815
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:16,239
Speaker 5: person is innocent, while that person withers away is in

816
00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:19,799
Speaker 5: rots in prison. That's not an easy thing. It's not fair.

817
00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:21,920
Speaker 5: I don't think it's fair on anybody. It's not something

818
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:24,960
Speaker 5: that anybody should go through. And you know, this is

819
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,719
Speaker 5: a difficult system. The justice system is not just you know,

820
00:42:27,719 --> 00:42:31,000
Speaker 5: the justice system is about who has the wherewithal to

821
00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:34,040
Speaker 5: navigate the system. If you have the money, you can

822
00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:36,520
Speaker 5: locate what you want to need. It appears to be

823
00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:38,799
Speaker 5: in this system. But if you have the evidence, you know,

824
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:42,359
Speaker 5: the system for some reason sense to undermining and look

825
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:46,160
Speaker 5: for ways to discredit the evidence. Something that I faced

826
00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:49,880
Speaker 5: in twenty fourteen when Emotion was filed that might behalf

827
00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:52,800
Speaker 5: based on actual The sistant adjudged by the name of

828
00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:57,719
Speaker 5: Daniel sits Gerald, undermine the evidence, overlook the fact that

829
00:42:57,760 --> 00:42:59,680
Speaker 5: I was sitting in prison for a crime that I

830
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:03,000
Speaker 5: can and get away with me, you know, and that

831
00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:06,240
Speaker 5: was wrong and for those reasons, you know, among others,

832
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:09,000
Speaker 5: I fight as hard as I fight to prove that,

833
00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:11,960
Speaker 5: you know, I do along around my family and friends

834
00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:14,399
Speaker 5: and out in prison to ride away for something that.

835
00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:22,759
Speaker 1: I didn't do. Don't forget to give us a fantastic

836
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:26,359
Speaker 1: review wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps. And

837
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:29,160
Speaker 1: I'm a proud donor to the Ennocence Project, and I

838
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:32,360
Speaker 1: really hope you'll join me in supporting this very important

839
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:36,000
Speaker 1: cause and helping to prevent future wrongful convictions. Go to

840
00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:39,680
Speaker 1: Innocenceproject dot org to learn how to donate and get involved.

841
00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:42,600
Speaker 1: I'd like to thank our production team, Connor Hall and

842
00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:45,399
Speaker 1: Kevin Wartis. The music in the show is by three

843
00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:48,800
Speaker 1: time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow

844
00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:52,359
Speaker 1: us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at

845
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:56,279
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction Podcast. Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm is a

846
00:43:56,320 --> 00:44:00,120
Speaker 1: production of Lava for Good Podcasts. And association with Sick no.

847
00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:04,480
Speaker 1: Company number one