Speaker 1: We initially released Stephen Carrington's story on June tenth, twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: Last we spoke, Stephan had been paroled while fighting to
Speaker 1: clear his name in the King's County Conviction Reviewing Unit. Finally,
Speaker 1: four years later, they concluded that we and all of
Speaker 1: you already knew that Stephan is innocent, and the DA
Speaker 1: agreed to support his motion to vacate the conviction and
Speaker 1: dismissed all charges. Here's our original coverage.
Speaker 2: It was a new year, nineteen ninety five, and Stephen
Speaker 2: Carrington was a young man with a short criminal history
Speaker 2: who had just gotten out of prison. He had recently
Speaker 2: gotten married, a young father, was training to be an emt.
Speaker 2: After having paid his debt to society. His life was
Speaker 2: getting back on track. On the morning of January second,
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety five, Stephan's brother Mark stood outside out of
Speaker 2: a lumberyard in Brooklyn as Shannon France and another man arrived.
Speaker 2: Mister Franz pulled the twenty five, announcing a stick up
Speaker 2: as the other man, Rob's customer, Hugh Keys, the store clerk,
Speaker 2: tries to grab mister France's weapon and was shot. Mister
Speaker 2: Franz loots the strong box and the two men fled,
Speaker 2: leaving mister Keyes alive. A confidential informant would tell the
Speaker 2: lead investigator, Detective Calabreeze, the names of three men who
Speaker 2: were seen by the lumberyard at the time of the crime,
Speaker 2: Shannon France, Eddie West, and Mark Carrington. However, when he
Speaker 2: searched for Mark Carrington, Stephan popped up at the same address,
Speaker 2: and with his criminal record, Calabrizzi added his photo into
Speaker 2: an array. Hugh Keys gave a shaky identification, and in
Speaker 2: the absence of any physical evidence whatsoever connecting him to
Speaker 2: the crime, Stephan went to trial right next to the
Speaker 2: trigger man, Shannon France. The Carringtons hired a lawyer to
Speaker 2: protect both of their sons, but it turned out to
Speaker 2: be to the detriment of one of them. Was never
Speaker 2: called to testify a trial, and twenty years later, finally
Speaker 2: free Stephen Carrington is out on parole but still fighting
Speaker 2: to clear his name of a crime that he simply
Speaker 2: didn't commit. This is wrongful conviction with Jason Flamm. Wrongful
Speaker 2: conviction has always given voice to innocent people in prison,
Speaker 2: and now we're expanding that voice to you. Call us
Speaker 2: at eight three three two oh seven, four six sixty six,
Speaker 2: and tell us how these stories make you feel and
Speaker 2: what you've done to help the cause, even if it's
Speaker 2: something as simple as telling a friend or sharing on
Speaker 2: social media, and you might just hear yourself in a
Speaker 2: future episode. Call us eight three three two oh seven
Speaker 2: four six sixty six. Welcome back to Wrong for Conviction
Speaker 2: with Jason Flum. That's me, I'm your host, and today
Speaker 2: we have a story and an outcome that we're gonna
Speaker 2: hope that who knows, maybe somebody out there can be
Speaker 2: helpful with because we are fighting to prove the innocence
Speaker 2: of the man who's sitting right in front of me now,
Speaker 2: Stephan Carrington. Stepan as I always say, I'm sorry you're here,
Speaker 2: but I'm happy you're here.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you, but I'm happy that I'm here having
Speaker 3: an opportunity to set the record straight and probably clear
Speaker 3: my name.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what we're here for. Let's go back to
Speaker 2: that original faithful day, January second, nineteen ninety five. What
Speaker 2: happened that day in the lumber store.
Speaker 3: Basically, all my knowledge of this saga story that took
Speaker 3: place I learned through reading trial minutes, from hearing from
Speaker 3: people in the street and things of that nature, because
Speaker 3: you know, I wasn't dead when.
Speaker 4: It took place.
Speaker 3: On that day, they said that two individuals into the
Speaker 3: lumber yard at a parent robbery which resulted to a homicide.
Speaker 3: One of the employees at the lumberyard try to take
Speaker 3: a weapon from this individual and subsequently this guy shot
Speaker 3: him twice and ultimately he died. Eventually he died. The
Speaker 3: two individuals fled the scene. My brother was the lookout
Speaker 3: and subsequently the person that is my co defendant, Shannon,
Speaker 3: his girlfriend best friend is the one that gave his name,
Speaker 3: photos and everything to the police. There's a third individual
Speaker 3: who name was Eddie West. And I have to say
Speaker 3: that neither my brother or Eddie West was ever interviewed, questioned,
Speaker 3: sought after by the police department.
Speaker 2: So Eddie West was the other guy in the store.
Speaker 3: Now, Eddie West was one of the individuals that they
Speaker 3: mentioned that was out on the corner during the time
Speaker 3: the robbery was committed.
Speaker 2: Okay, Shannon France though, was he had some involvement in
Speaker 2: the crime? Is that right?
Speaker 3: They found his fingerprints on the cash box inside the lumberyard.
Speaker 2: That's not a good sign. No, they didn't find yours.
Speaker 3: No, they have no physical evidence or anything linking me
Speaker 3: to the crime, besides having a sibling who was mentioned
Speaker 3: to be outside with the individuals who was involved.
Speaker 2: So these guys go, they robbed the lumberyard, and they
Speaker 2: shot a clerk named Lloyd Campbell. Yes, both in the
Speaker 2: head and in the back.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 2: And then they found the strong box, they looted it.
Speaker 2: The two guys fled the scene. Your brother was either
Speaker 2: there or not as a lookout whatever he was doing.
Speaker 2: He was apparently not in the store, that is correct.
Speaker 2: So how did your name come to be associated because
Speaker 2: it's sort of a leap to say, Okay, well they
Speaker 2: got your brother, now they're going to just go after you.
Speaker 3: Well, I could tell you from the police reports the
Speaker 3: officers during the investigation when they received these names and
Speaker 3: photos of these individuals. There was an address on the photo,
Speaker 3: which was a promotional photo. At the time, I had
Speaker 3: a recording studio and we used to you know, wrench
Speaker 3: studio time out to individuals. One of the group, Shannon,
Speaker 3: my co defendant. He was an individual who was in
Speaker 3: the rap group which my brother was affiliated with a
Speaker 3: part of, and they had promotional photos up and down
Speaker 3: the avenue, the same avenue that these guys went and
Speaker 3: committed this crime on. It so happened that they committed
Speaker 3: a crime across the street from his girlfriend's business, and
Speaker 3: his girlfriend best friend is the one that saw him
Speaker 3: out there and eventually gave his name in the photos
Speaker 3: to the police, to the detective Calabrise. When Calabrese was
Speaker 3: doing his investigation, all he did was run the address
Speaker 3: through the police system, and my name came back because
Speaker 3: I was parole to that address. So when they discovered
Speaker 3: that I was on parole, the whole case shifted to me.
Speaker 3: Detective Calibres is quoted as saying that he had a
Speaker 3: gut feeling I was involved. He felt that I matched
Speaker 3: the description my brother was involved. He felt that if
Speaker 3: I wasn't involved, I knew something about it. And because
Speaker 3: I had a prior and I was on parole, they
Speaker 3: came for me.
Speaker 2: But you matched the description of the actual shooter, No
Speaker 2: or the lookout. No, whose description did you match?
Speaker 3: He said? I matched the individual who robbed another patron
Speaker 3: of this lumber yard, mister yu Keys. I didn't know
Speaker 3: what he was talking about. In my mind, I believed
Speaker 3: that eventually, whatever they were trying to do with, you know,
Speaker 3: resolve itself. Because I didn't have I had nothing to
Speaker 3: do with any crime. This situation, you know, had me
Speaker 3: think about this one phrase, you know, and it always
Speaker 3: stuck with me that you never get a second chance
Speaker 3: to make a first impression. And because of my past
Speaker 3: is why I'm here today now. I'm not a goodie
Speaker 3: two shoe. I wasn't and that is only because I
Speaker 3: try to fit in with individuals I wanted, you know,
Speaker 3: to be down. I brought up my father's a pastor.
Speaker 3: I brought up in church. I went to church majority
Speaker 3: of my life and I wouldn't lie, you know, I
Speaker 3: hated church. I was forced to go every day. I
Speaker 3: wouldn't say a worse experience, but just not to do
Speaker 3: what normal kids do was kind of tough for me
Speaker 3: because I was a free spirit. I like, so when
Speaker 3: I was like seventeen, I try to move out and
Speaker 3: so I started selling drugs with my best friend and
Speaker 3: that's how I got into the life of criminality and
Speaker 3: things of that nature. And subsequently I did get rested
Speaker 3: for drug seale robbery and I went to Rackas Island
Speaker 3: and I had a traumatic experience. I got jumped, got stabbed,
Speaker 3: got robbed, and as time went on, I knew that
Speaker 3: this wasn't for me. Prison wasn't something that I wanted
Speaker 3: to do. It wasn't a lifestyle that I wanted to live.
Speaker 3: And if you know, selling drugs all these other stuff
Speaker 3: was going to lead me to prison, then I had
Speaker 3: to do away with that, and not just those activities,
Speaker 3: but also the people that I used to associate with.
Speaker 3: And that's what I did.
Speaker 2: You were really putting your life on track at this time,
Speaker 2: which is sort of an added element of tragedy. You
Speaker 2: had gone through some training to be an EMT right, Yes,
Speaker 2: that's correct, your young father, that's correct, and basically married,
Speaker 2: recently married. Yeah, so you had your whole life in
Speaker 2: front of you.
Speaker 3: I had changed my life. I'd cut off all my friends.
Speaker 3: You know. I had a newborn, my daughter. She was
Speaker 3: only seven months when they took me from home.
Speaker 2: It's sickening, I mean, and let's set the record straight
Speaker 2: by talking about your alibi, which is a bit of
Speaker 2: a sensitive topic. I mean, you were a married man,
Speaker 2: but your alibi involves another woman, right.
Speaker 3: Sad to saying, unfortunately, the day that they accused me
Speaker 3: of committing this crime, I was in the hospital with
Speaker 3: my wife, and I was also with another female friend
Speaker 3: before I was in the hospital with my wife.
Speaker 2: Right, like you said earlier, you had a recording studio
Speaker 2: set up in your parents' basement. A young lady came
Speaker 2: to visit you there and spent the night. Yes, Now,
Speaker 2: unbeknownst to you, your daughter had developed an ear infection.
Speaker 2: I was taken to the hospital that morning. Now there's
Speaker 2: no cell phones back then. Your wife was calling around
Speaker 2: looking for you, and she gets a hold of your mother,
Speaker 2: who walks the phone to you downstairs.
Speaker 4: That's correct.
Speaker 2: You spoke with your wife, assured her that you were
Speaker 2: at your way, and then you shower and get the help.
Speaker 3: When I got there, you know, basically, my wife is
Speaker 3: just like here, she's your responsibility. Now I had all
Speaker 3: and so you know, I did everything with her till
Speaker 3: the doctors wanted to come in. She had an air affection,
Speaker 3: so they wanted to do an X ray. Now, this
Speaker 3: is one of the things that baffled me even to
Speaker 3: today with all the technology and stuff that they have,
Speaker 3: my hands got captured in this X ray. When people
Speaker 3: read this case, really sit down and read this case,
Speaker 3: they wonder, how did you get convicted.
Speaker 2: You had a solid alibi.
Speaker 4: I trial.
Speaker 3: One person testified against me, and I had four or
Speaker 3: five alibi witnesses that testified. The one person that testified
Speaker 3: against me mister Yu Keys, And I feel for him
Speaker 3: because I know that he's been duped because he told
Speaker 3: the nine one one operator when he called them during
Speaker 3: the day, that the crime was committed, about being robbed,
Speaker 3: about the individual being shot, what have you, And when
Speaker 3: they asked him to give a description enough the individual,
Speaker 3: he told him that he couldn't. He said he never
Speaker 3: looked at the individual, that he never looked at the
Speaker 3: person that robbed them. Wow, because he was afraid too,
Speaker 3: because he seeing what happened to the guy that got shot,
Speaker 3: he was afraid for his life. He also told that
Speaker 3: to the first police that came on the scene. But
Speaker 3: yet here it is Detective Calabrese is saying that this
Speaker 3: individual picked my picture up and said, this is the
Speaker 3: guy that robbed me. The district attorney is saying that
Speaker 3: the witness didn't say that. The witness said that I
Speaker 3: looked like the individual that robbed them. But in all
Speaker 3: the police reports it's saying that the witness said that
Speaker 3: I'm the guy that robbed them. But in court, the
Speaker 3: district attorney is saying that the witness said that I
Speaker 3: looked like the guy that robbed them, and if he
Speaker 3: sent me in person, he would be able to identify me.
Speaker 4: But here's the catch.
Speaker 3: The witness get on the stand and said that he
Speaker 3: never made no identification of me prior to my arrest.
Speaker 3: So how did I become a suspect?
Speaker 2: Right? Which one is it?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 3: Three different opinions about one identification? Now, who should you
Speaker 3: believe the detective who was saying that he positively identified
Speaker 3: me as the person that robbed them. The district attorney
Speaker 3: who was saying that the witness said I looked like
Speaker 3: the individual, but he will be able to identify me
Speaker 3: if he see me in person. Or the witness who
Speaker 3: said that he never made no identification when the police
Speaker 3: came to his house on numerous occasions.
Speaker 4: Who should we believe this guy? He didn't know me.
Speaker 3: The only thing that he knew, which he told the police,
Speaker 3: was that the guy.
Speaker 4: Was dark skinned and stocky.
Speaker 2: That described half of your neighborhood.
Speaker 3: When they ask him, well how tall is this guy?
Speaker 4: He don't know. Is he taller than you? I don't know?
Speaker 4: Is he shorter than you? I don't know.
Speaker 3: Did he have a bed, I don't know. Did he
Speaker 3: have a mustache?
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 2: But he didn't see him.
Speaker 4: What do you know?
Speaker 3: He was dark skinned and stocky. They showed him the tape,
Speaker 3: and on the tape, you can't make the features out
Speaker 3: of the individuals, the two perpetrators. You can't really make
Speaker 3: facial features out of anybody on the tape. But the
Speaker 3: perpetrators had on hats and hoodies and three quarter length copes.
Speaker 3: And he stated that he couldn't see these individuals. He
Speaker 3: didn't know what the person looked like. He don't know
Speaker 3: if they had a bed, mustache anything. He was just
Speaker 3: dusking and stocky. So when you look at the tape,
Speaker 3: all you see is shapes and sizes.
Speaker 2: That's not enough.
Speaker 3: He couldn't even identify hisself on the tape. During trial,
Speaker 3: the district attorney had to reference something of what he
Speaker 3: had on.
Speaker 2: Wait, hold on the witness. This tape was so grainy
Speaker 2: that the guy couldn't identify himself.
Speaker 3: Yes, when the district attorney asked him to point to
Speaker 3: himself on the tape, he pointed to someone else. Wow,
Speaker 3: And then the disc attorney says something like this, is
Speaker 3: that you with the checkerboard shirt or who's in the
Speaker 3: checkerboard shirt or something of that effect, right led him
Speaker 3: to basically say, oh, and then that's me standing right here.
Speaker 2: Okay, I've heard enough about that. Now we know that's
Speaker 2: completely unreliable and out. That should have been out the
Speaker 2: window right off the bat. One of the things that
Speaker 2: sticks with me is the idea that detective Calibreeds claimed
Speaker 2: that he could recognize you from a security tape because
Speaker 2: he could recognize your walk.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I believe that was the lynch pin that's that sealed
Speaker 3: my fate because he got understanding and he pointed me
Speaker 3: out in court and he said this is the guy
Speaker 3: and they asked him how he knows and he says
Speaker 3: that he could tell that it was me because of
Speaker 3: how I walked. And the tape doesn't show the perpetrator
Speaker 3: from his waist down, and they showed this tape in court.
Speaker 3: But yet, you know, I believe that that was the
Speaker 3: nail in the coffin for me because he's an officer.
Speaker 3: They have a tape, and people believe even when I
Speaker 3: was appealing, and I know that these judge never viewed
Speaker 3: the tape, but because of the language and the dialogue
Speaker 3: in the trial transcript, they even denied certain of my
Speaker 3: appeals because they saying you were clearly sint on the tape.
Speaker 2: The idea that anyone could identify anyone else short of
Speaker 2: someone who does have a physical, you know, impairment for
Speaker 2: war impairment exactly that's what I was looking for, is preposterous.
Speaker 2: I mean, the fact that they would even present that
Speaker 2: as evidence, it's ridiculous. But they did, and the consequences
Speaker 2: are not funny at all. They're very real. So there's
Speaker 2: there's that, and then there's the fact that you know,
Speaker 2: we know, we know what happened at the trial. That
Speaker 2: you know your brother was not allowed to testify. That
Speaker 2: is correct because your lawyer didn't submit his name on
Speaker 2: the witness list.
Speaker 4: That is right.
Speaker 2: Had he been able to, we don't. We never will
Speaker 2: never know what he would have said in the moment,
Speaker 2: but there's a realistic chance that he might have said
Speaker 2: something that could have exonerated you.
Speaker 3: Well, well, at that time, my opinion and believe is
Speaker 3: that he wanted to come forward, and he did come
Speaker 3: to court to testify. And what I realized later is
Speaker 3: that my lawyer sent them home. When they started to
Speaker 3: question my parents about my brother and his whereabouts, they
Speaker 3: answered truthfully that he was here. Came to court today
Speaker 3: to testify, and the district attorney stopped the proceeding and
Speaker 3: asked for a sidebar so they can discuss certain things
Speaker 3: which the sonographer records. And at this sidebar, the district
Speaker 3: attorney wanted to bring up my lawyer on charges for
Speaker 3: lyon about the whereabouts of my brother, because early that
Speaker 3: morning he said he don't know where my brother was.
Speaker 3: He never seen them, he never met him. And then
Speaker 3: it was discovered later the same day that my brother
Speaker 3: was at his office that morning and he sent them home.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's a big lie.
Speaker 3: And it's in the trial transcripts taking it up.
Speaker 2: And he didn't forget that he saw your brother that day.
Speaker 3: No, No, I mean because it was right. It was
Speaker 3: early that morning and trial was on and my brother
Speaker 3: came to testify.
Speaker 4: At that time.
Speaker 3: I believe the best. Now, I understand why a person
Speaker 3: would be apprehensive for coming forward and trying to tell
Speaker 3: the truth about what really took place or who was
Speaker 3: involved on things of that nature.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, he's your little brother. You know, he
Speaker 2: must have had a lot of conflicted emotions. I can't
Speaker 2: imagine being in his place. He's trying to save his
Speaker 2: own life at the same time. You know, he's got
Speaker 2: I'm sure a lot of guilt about putting you in
Speaker 2: this situation in the first place, because you talk about
Speaker 2: how you never would have been in the system if
Speaker 2: you hadn't have done certain things when you were younger.
Speaker 2: But you also would have never been in this situation
Speaker 2: if your brother hadn't have been involved in this thing
Speaker 2: in the first place.
Speaker 3: I think that I had set a bad president for
Speaker 3: my brother. I believe I was part of the influence.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 3: I don't know if he looked up to me, but
Speaker 3: I believe that some of my actions are friends that
Speaker 3: I had that was around probably also roughed off on him. Unfortunately,
Speaker 3: I wasn't around for him when he started to engage
Speaker 3: in activities and pick certain people as friends that I
Speaker 3: could have probably said, you know, those are the guys
Speaker 3: you shouldn't thing, because what I try to do was
Speaker 3: distance myself from everyone that was in my neighborhood at
Speaker 3: that point in time when I started to clear my
Speaker 3: life up.
Speaker 2: I mean, you basically took the fall for your brother.
Speaker 3: Well, I wouldn't say that I took the fall. They
Speaker 3: gave it to me, right.
Speaker 2: Your last hope was that your lawyer was going to
Speaker 2: do a good job representing you and that the truth
Speaker 2: was going to come out. That's correct, and you were
Speaker 2: going to go back and get a hold your life.
Speaker 2: But in fact your lawyer was compromised.
Speaker 4: Yes, as it seems.
Speaker 3: I mean, he was kind of like conflicted in between
Speaker 3: his duties as a lawyer to me and also to
Speaker 3: the people that were paying him to represent me.
Speaker 2: And the people that were paying him were your parents. Yes,
Speaker 2: it's almost like they had a Sophie's choice. They had
Speaker 2: to choose what they did choose and if they had
Speaker 2: to choose to save one child for me.
Speaker 3: It is basically and this was never spoken. This is
Speaker 3: just my thoughts as I got a little older and
Speaker 3: probably start to piece things together that you know, he
Speaker 3: had to pass.
Speaker 4: You know, he was in trouble before.
Speaker 3: Maybe he could handle this and we would support him.
Speaker 3: But my brother, he's the baby, and you know, the
Speaker 3: cops wasn't looking for him. They already gave him a
Speaker 3: clean slave and said they didn't want him. Even the
Speaker 3: district attorney said that they had nothing to convict him on,
Speaker 3: so they look for the easy choice, the person that
Speaker 3: had the record. If we can't get his brother, then
Speaker 3: we're going to get him.
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Speaker 3: You served twenty three years.
Speaker 2: Twenty three years in maximum security prisons in New York State. Yes,
Speaker 2: was there a worst moment and was there a best moment?
Speaker 3: I mean I had a lot of not a lot
Speaker 3: of bad moments, but this.
Speaker 4: A few.
Speaker 3: One of my worst moments was when I was in
Speaker 3: green Haven in two thousand and nine ten. I was
Speaker 3: in college. I was taking Christian Ministry Human Services theology course.
Speaker 3: I was working in the barbershop and this particular day,
Speaker 3: I was coming from study hall that I have my
Speaker 3: books and I'm going back to my cell. I saw
Speaker 3: a crate and I was like, let me take the
Speaker 3: crate and put my school books in because if anything
Speaker 3: happened to the school books, I have to pay for him.
Speaker 4: This is an old.
Speaker 3: Maximum security prison, so they have leaks and waters dripping all.
Speaker 4: Over the place.
Speaker 3: Sometimes your toilet overfloor, your sink overfloor. So long story
Speaker 3: short of officers see me with the crate, tell me
Speaker 3: to put it back. I can't have it, and I complied.
Speaker 3: Supposedly he must have spoke to another officer because another
Speaker 3: officer calls me back and started going crazy on me,
Speaker 3: like what are you touching here? You know, don't eff
Speaker 3: in this, don't eff in that. And you know, I
Speaker 3: just stood there. I figured, you know, okay, he got
Speaker 3: his buddies here, I'm gonna just listen to him, you know,
Speaker 3: comply and you know, hopefully, you know, I can go
Speaker 3: to my cell and lock in. And that wasn't the case,
Speaker 3: you know. So after he started to berate me about
Speaker 3: you know, touching stuff and his un and all this
Speaker 3: other stuff, I said, okay, you know, I'm sorry. You know,
Speaker 3: here's the create and I turned to leave. And I
Speaker 3: think at this point in time he felt like I
Speaker 3: was dismissing him, you know, or I left without his authority,
Speaker 3: saying okay, you go, and he took offense to me
Speaker 3: turning to leave, and he jumped on me.
Speaker 4: They beat me up.
Speaker 3: You see my elbow, I left elbow.
Speaker 2: Yep, got a giant nodding it right.
Speaker 3: My shoulders still hurt to this day. They beat up
Speaker 3: my elbows, they beat up my shoulders, they beat me up,
Speaker 3: They dragged me to the box, and they tried to
Speaker 3: charge me with assault. And that was like for me,
Speaker 3: the worst day because everything that I was doing, I
Speaker 3: never had no physical altercations while I was in with inmates,
Speaker 3: all officers, anything of that nature. And I'm fighting my
Speaker 3: case and the only thing that's coming to my mind
Speaker 3: is that maybe I have an opportunity to get out
Speaker 3: of the prison for my case. But if they try
Speaker 3: to convict me for assault on the staff, which mostly
Speaker 3: everybody gets convicted of, you know, I just seen my
Speaker 3: lights go out. It's your word against officer words. And
Speaker 3: more than one officer is gonna say that you didn't
Speaker 3: what you didn't do. And it's funny to me because
Speaker 3: it's like I'm saying to myself, like, God, how does
Speaker 3: stuff and keep happening to me? And my parents. They're
Speaker 3: so religious that you know they would hit you with
Speaker 3: you haven't submitted to God yet, you haven't let go.
Speaker 3: You're being tested, You're going through the fire. And you know,
Speaker 3: I cried like a baby, because I seen my lights
Speaker 3: go out. And maybe this was also the opportunity that
Speaker 3: I seen God working in my life because subsequently, guys
Speaker 3: that knew me, that le locked on the company with me,
Speaker 3: they had wrote this Attorney's General Office, they inspect the General.
Speaker 3: They had wrote prison Legal Services, and I never knew
Speaker 3: that people probably watched me or cared about me like
Speaker 3: that I'm talking about inmates, HEARDing, criminals or whatever, and
Speaker 3: they inspect the general. When the inspect the generals came
Speaker 3: to see me, and I had written to them again
Speaker 3: cause one of the guys inside the shoe area had
Speaker 3: told me, listen, you need to write these people. You
Speaker 3: need to write this person.
Speaker 4: Da da da da dad.
Speaker 3: So I was getting advice from individuals or who I
Speaker 3: have to write, who I have to contact to try
Speaker 3: to get from underneath this, and so I wrote them
Speaker 3: as well. And when they came to see me, you know,
Speaker 3: we talk. He says, well, we have to do our
Speaker 3: investigation and stuff of that nature.
Speaker 4: And then they came to see me, and.
Speaker 3: I guess this is the first time in my life
Speaker 3: that I could say that I've seen the hand of God, because.
Speaker 4: When he called me and they interviewed me.
Speaker 3: He says, I have good news and bad news. The
Speaker 3: good news is that we're not going to charge you
Speaker 3: with assault on staff because I've read all the reports
Speaker 3: that came in. I read the police reports, and I
Speaker 3: read not just your report, but I got several letters
Speaker 3: written from other inmates who have witnessed what took place.
Speaker 3: And I know that you didn't have contact with these
Speaker 3: individuals because they brought you to the box and it
Speaker 3: says your story and their story adds up, and none
Speaker 3: of the police stories adds up. But you have to
Speaker 3: go through the format I still had the hearing to
Speaker 3: go to, and this is how corrupt the Department of
Speaker 3: Corrections is. I remember the officer that had the altercation
Speaker 3: with me, that smacked me in my face and hit
Speaker 3: me with the sticks and all that. And there was
Speaker 3: two other officers there, but I didn't remember the two.
Speaker 3: And the reason why I remember the one is because
Speaker 3: he was my company officer.
Speaker 4: He's there every day.
Speaker 3: The officer that comes in the hearing was in the
Speaker 3: officer that hit me or I had the altercation with
Speaker 3: It was somebody else. And we're going through the formalities
Speaker 3: and questioning the officer and stuff like that. So the
Speaker 3: officer said that we were standing the right shoulder, the
Speaker 3: right shoulder, and I took my left hand and punched
Speaker 3: them on the left side of his face. That caused
Speaker 3: him to bust his head on the pipes and bust
Speaker 3: his head open. And when I started to play if
Speaker 3: we stand the right shoulder to shoulder and I hit
Speaker 3: him with my left hand on the left side of
Speaker 3: his face, how is that possible. I would have to
Speaker 3: go over It's not come back and hit him. And
Speaker 3: you know so, so I asked the officer to demonstrate
Speaker 3: this punch. Can you demonstrate how I hit you with
Speaker 3: my left hand on the left side of your face?
Speaker 3: If we stand the right shoulder the right shoulder, I
Speaker 3: would like for you to demonstrate this. And the hearing
Speaker 3: officer said that there will be no demonstrations in here,
Speaker 3: so he never got to demonstrate, and I, you know, objected,
Speaker 3: and I told him that it's impossible that that can
Speaker 3: take place. Long story short, the officer that wrote the
Speaker 3: report or that they brought in that said he wrote
Speaker 3: the report. I asked him did he see the police
Speaker 3: hit me? And he said yes. So then I asked him, then,
Speaker 3: why is it not written in the report that the
Speaker 3: police struck me. The lieutenant looks and he's like, I said,
Speaker 3: it's not in the ticket, it is not in the
Speaker 3: two firm reports. It's not in any document that was
Speaker 3: given to me. So the lieutenant asked the CEO, why
Speaker 3: is that? And maybe at this time he was afraid.
Speaker 3: I don't know what it is, but I believe that
Speaker 3: at this point in time, this is when I've seen
Speaker 3: God worked in my life. And he tells the truth.
Speaker 3: He says, I didn't write the report. The lieutenant said,
Speaker 3: you didn't write the report. He said, no, I didn't
Speaker 3: write the report. He said, who wrote the report? He said,
Speaker 3: a sergeant such and such wrote the report? He said,
Speaker 3: where was the sergeant when the incident happened. He wasn't there.
Speaker 3: The sergeant wrote the report, made another officer sign it
Speaker 3: and sit in the hearing as the officer who witnessed
Speaker 3: what took place and knew nothing about it, and they
Speaker 3: dismissed the case.
Speaker 2: Amen to that, or you might not be here now
Speaker 2: so and we know now that you paroled. And I
Speaker 2: want to get to that, because that's a really extraordinary
Speaker 2: story in and of itself. I think it says a
Speaker 2: lot about what the parole board really thought about your
Speaker 2: claims of innocence. But before we get to that, I
Speaker 2: want to talk about what was going on on the outside.
Speaker 2: Because there was a guy in the neighborhood. I mean,
Speaker 2: can we mention his name?
Speaker 3: Well, for legal purposes, you know, I wouldn't like to
Speaker 3: mention his name. It called my case is still being
Speaker 3: reviewed by the Convention Review Unit. So, but this individual
Speaker 3: was a childhood friend of mine. We haven't seen each
Speaker 3: other in years, and he had moved away from the neighborhood.
Speaker 3: And when he came back to the neighborhood, he was looking,
Speaker 3: you know for old friends, and you know, subsequently he
Speaker 3: was looking for me and heard that I was in prison.
Speaker 4: So he wanted to.
Speaker 3: Know why, and the whole story came out and he
Speaker 3: couldn't believe it. You know, he took it upon himself
Speaker 3: to try to help me.
Speaker 4: How do you do that?
Speaker 3: Well, the individual who actually committed a crime used to
Speaker 3: see him all the time, and because he's still living
Speaker 3: in the neighborhood, mostly people that knew both of us,
Speaker 3: He would ask them, you know, how they felt about him.
Speaker 3: It was he still you know, like welcome, or they
Speaker 3: still had love for him, knowing that I was in
Speaker 3: prison serving time for a crime that he committed. And
Speaker 3: my friend, he was like, he couldn't believe this, and
Speaker 3: he's like, this guy just keep saying that he did it.
Speaker 3: He did it, and he's the reason why you in prison.
Speaker 3: You know, he wrote me a letter. I showed you
Speaker 3: the letter that he wrote. And he took it upon
Speaker 3: himself too to record this individual, to tape them saying
Speaker 3: the same things about me being in prison for a
Speaker 3: crime he committed, and even went as far as that
Speaker 3: he used to he does security bouncing work because he's
Speaker 3: six eight, three hundred and something pounds, and this is
Speaker 3: God again in my life. He so happened to be
Speaker 3: working doing security at a spot where detective Calibri's, the
Speaker 3: leading detective in my case, was also working. What's the
Speaker 3: odds of that?
Speaker 2: Pretty long?
Speaker 3: And he spoke to Calibres about the case and told
Speaker 3: him that he had the wrong person in prison for
Speaker 3: the crime. What Calbri's say, Calabri's just told him tell
Speaker 3: his brother to come forward and he can get out.
Speaker 4: That was his words.
Speaker 3: See, because Calabri's knew and he had told me as
Speaker 3: much when he brought me in, you know, because he
Speaker 3: was like, where's your brother weighs his friends, and I'm like,
Speaker 3: I don't know. I'm not my brother's keeper. You know,
Speaker 3: I don't live with my brother. I live with my wife.
Speaker 3: But he didn't care about that. And you know, once
Speaker 3: things start to unravel in the conviction review unit and
Speaker 3: they start to review my case, they reached out to
Speaker 3: him two to three weeks after they reviewed my case
Speaker 3: and next thing, you know, self inflicted wound somewhere in
Speaker 3: his car. You know, he took his own life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems like his conscience may have gotten to him.
Speaker 2: And we'll never know because he didn't leave a note
Speaker 2: or anything, right, but the timing seems.
Speaker 4: Really to be suspicious.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the conviction review unit starts looking into
Speaker 2: your case, it's inevitable that they're going to find out
Speaker 2: what happened. Because the conviction Review Unit in Brooklyn, I
Speaker 2: can say this, they don't fuck around. But these guys
Speaker 2: are under the leadership of American Zales and before that
Speaker 2: Ken Thompson. They are committed to finding and identifying and
Speaker 2: resolving wrong for conviction cases. And they've been doing it
Speaker 2: and walking the walk and so once they took over
Speaker 2: investigating your case. Yeah, Detective Calabrizi must have known that
Speaker 2: some of his misdeeds were going to become public.
Speaker 3: Yes, he did everything from interviewing the witnesses to getting
Speaker 3: the fillers for the lineups, conducting the lineup. I mean,
Speaker 3: nobody else did anything. His name is on all the reports.
Speaker 2: So the guy who holds the key is dead. Now
Speaker 2: you went to the parole board, Yes, and you did
Speaker 2: exactly the opposite of what All the smartest people you
Speaker 2: knew were the most the wisest people, I should say,
Speaker 2: were advising you to do right.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna lie, you know. I was very apprehensive
Speaker 3: and rustle with it.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: As my wife was here, she would tell you, you know,
Speaker 3: because knowing what I know now, I had told her
Speaker 3: and I told her.
Speaker 4: Before that if.
Speaker 3: I had a chance to do this all over again,
Speaker 3: I probably would have copped out to something less right.
Speaker 2: So I was gonna say is when you go to
Speaker 2: the parole board, the general rule, and this is with
Speaker 2: very very rare exceptions, the parole board wants to hear
Speaker 2: you express remorse for the time, whether you committed it
Speaker 2: or not. They don't know whether you committed it, they
Speaker 2: don't have time to reinvestigate it. In New York State,
Speaker 2: the parole Board is reviewing ten thousand cases, around ten
Speaker 2: thousand cases a year, and there's only somewhere between twelve
Speaker 2: and nineteen people for the entire state in panels of three.
Speaker 2: So they have a few minutes to look into your case.
Speaker 2: They don't have time to go through it, even like
Speaker 2: we're doing now. So it would be great if they did,
Speaker 2: but they don't. They're only human beings, They only you know,
Speaker 2: they don't have so much time in the day. So
Speaker 2: the logical thing to do for somebody like you who's
Speaker 2: desperate to get out and get back with your family
Speaker 2: and get back on, you know, to your life, is
Speaker 2: to just plead guilty. And then they're most likely going
Speaker 2: to say, okay, well you've served twenty three years and
Speaker 2: you've done you know, ministry and all that. There's other
Speaker 2: stuff in prison. Yeah you can go home now. But
Speaker 2: you didn't know.
Speaker 3: And I mean I wrestled with it. I prayed about
Speaker 3: it because I want to go home. You know, what
Speaker 3: should I do? I mean, even though all these years
Speaker 3: I'm telling them I didn't commit the crime. Now I'm
Speaker 3: up for parole. What do I do Do I go
Speaker 3: in there and put on a show and say that
Speaker 3: I'm remorse and I'm sorry and that you know, you know,
Speaker 3: I don't know what to say but the truth. And
Speaker 3: I wrestle with it. And I mean, like people is
Speaker 3: telling me, don't go in there and tell them that
Speaker 3: you didn't do it. They're going to hit you, They're
Speaker 3: going to give you more time. And I say, well,
Speaker 3: I'm going in there and I'm going to tell them
Speaker 3: what I've been telling them since the beginning. I didn't
Speaker 3: commit the crime, but I understand why it's possible for
Speaker 3: individual like me to be considered for a crime such
Speaker 3: as this, you know. And I'm gonna give them my
Speaker 3: story about my past, how I came to be here today,
Speaker 3: and what I've done since I was incarcerated, and what
Speaker 3: I plan to do when.
Speaker 4: I get out.
Speaker 3: And for that whole ten days after that, I had
Speaker 3: to wait to get the results, seven to ten days.
Speaker 3: It was the worst week of my life. No sleep,
Speaker 3: no sleep, because that whole week I already felt because
Speaker 3: the way that they spoke to me inside the parole board,
Speaker 3: I felt that there wasn't going to release me.
Speaker 4: My counselor gives me the envelope.
Speaker 3: I opened it, and to be honest, my eyes are
Speaker 3: teared up because I'm and I'm looking for the worst.
Speaker 3: And it's sad to say I'm looking for denial. I'm
Speaker 3: just looking for any word with a D for denial, refuse, whatever.
Speaker 3: And I didn't see and my counselors like you okay,
Speaker 3: I said, yeah, I just I can't find the decision.
Speaker 3: So he's like, well, give it to me, and he
Speaker 3: highlights it he knew before and he gave it back
Speaker 3: to me, and I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 4: They let me go.
Speaker 3: And I'll be lying out of there, you know, call
Speaker 3: my family and told him and there was overjoyed.
Speaker 4: But it was it's still a lot now just thinking
Speaker 4: about it.
Speaker 2: I can't imagine. Nobody can't imagine that hasn't been through it.
Speaker 4: You know, that was the best moment for me in prison.
Speaker 3: That and learning some stuff about myself because you know,
Speaker 3: like I became the director of that used as system
Speaker 3: program and I used to mentor teens that used to
Speaker 3: bring high school kids in and I used to speak
Speaker 3: to them about my life, life story, about how I
Speaker 3: end up serving a life scientist for a kroim I
Speaker 3: didn't commit and how easy it is full you to
Speaker 3: find yourself in situations like this by the company that
Speaker 3: you keep in, the choices that you make, and the
Speaker 3: bro shure that I penned had the title. You know,
Speaker 3: you never get a second chance for first impression.
Speaker 2: It's been an extraordinary experience for me getting to know
Speaker 2: you and learning about your story. Of course, you know,
Speaker 2: I thank you for coming in and sharing it, and
Speaker 2: I think that through your words it's going to inspire
Speaker 2: a lot of people to keep fighting whatever they're up against.
Speaker 2: And now it's time for my favorite part of the show.
Speaker 2: Fans of the podcast know that this is the time
Speaker 2: when I turn off my microphone and just sit back
Speaker 2: and leave your microphone on. For closing arguments.
Speaker 3: I guess the one of the most things that I
Speaker 3: could possibly say is for jurors, because district attorneys is
Speaker 3: going to be them. They trying to win cases. Officers
Speaker 3: are trying to lock people up. But as a juror,
Speaker 3: it is your job.
Speaker 5: To discern the truth, to find the truth, and sometimes
Speaker 5: I guess they get more clouded by what took place
Speaker 5: as opposed to what.
Speaker 4: Is the truth and so emotions.
Speaker 3: Come into play with everything as opposed to rational and
Speaker 3: that's why you can find individuals such as myself in
Speaker 3: positions like this where you can do time for a
Speaker 3: crime you didn't commit, because people's emotions are more tied
Speaker 3: up in the event, but not trying to find the
Speaker 3: actual truth when they sit.
Speaker 4: On jerors on jury.
Speaker 3: I believe part of that outside of what the district
Speaker 3: attorney did it detective did, the jurors are the ones
Speaker 3: who has the final say, and if they don't use
Speaker 3: rationale to decipher the truth from the garbage that is
Speaker 3: being spewed out there, that's why there's so many of
Speaker 3: us in prison. Ruefully, anyone out there that is going
Speaker 3: through a situation such as this, just continue fighting. No
Speaker 3: one knows what the future holds, and its hope.
Speaker 2: Don't forget to give us a fantastic review wherever you
Speaker 2: get your podcasts. It really helps. And I'm a proud
Speaker 2: donor to the Innocence Project and I really hope you'll
Speaker 2: join me in supporting this very important cause and helping
Speaker 2: to prevent future wrongful convictions. Go to Innocence Project dot
Speaker 2: org to learn how to donate and get involved. I'd
Speaker 2: like to thank our production team Connor Hall and Kevin Wartis.
Speaker 2: The music in the show is by three I'm Oscar
Speaker 2: nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on
Speaker 2: Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast.
Speaker 2: Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flam is a production of Lava
Speaker 2: for Good Podcasts and association with Signal Company Number one