Speaker 1: On November two, nineteen seventy four, a Baltimore General store
Speaker 1: delivery man claimed that he was robbed by three armed men.
Speaker 1: When he and his co workers returned to the scene,
Speaker 1: they saw the three alleged assailants drive off and reported
Speaker 1: the license plate number to police, but when the car
Speaker 1: was pulled over, only two men were arrested, despite the
Speaker 1: protestations of his coworkers. The delivery driver later identified a
Speaker 1: regular at the general store, seventeen year old Leslie Vass,
Speaker 1: as the third assailant. But this is wrongful conviction. Wrongful
Speaker 1: conviction has always given voice to innocent people in prison,
Speaker 1: and now we're expanding that voice to you. Call us
Speaker 1: at eight three three two o seven four six sixty
Speaker 1: six and tell us how these stories make you feel
Speaker 1: and what you've done to help the cause, even if
Speaker 1: it's something a say boys, telling a friend or sharing
Speaker 1: on social media, and you might just hear yourself in
Speaker 1: a future episode. Call us A three three two o
Speaker 1: seven four six sixty six. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction,
Speaker 1: where we've got I believe the first wrongful conviction ever
Speaker 1: recognized by the State of Maryland, and it appears that
Speaker 1: at least some folks still have a problem with wiping
Speaker 1: the slate clean once and for all. But before we
Speaker 1: get into all that, let's introduce the man himself, Leslie
Speaker 1: vas Leslie, thank you for sharing your story.
Speaker 2: Thank you for lowing me.
Speaker 1: It's an honor to have you here with us. So
Speaker 1: let's go back and start from the beginning.
Speaker 2: I was born September seventh, nineteen fifty seven, and in
Speaker 2: the South Forma area. My mom she moved up here
Speaker 2: to Maryland from Henderson, North Carolina. I never knew anything
Speaker 2: about a personal relationship with my father, whom I had
Speaker 2: never met at that time. At the age of two
Speaker 2: years old, my mom's had allowed my guard mother, Shirly Ray,
Speaker 2: to take me and move to Brooklyn, New York, up
Speaker 2: in bed Star Breevoid Projects Ben Star Do a Die.
Speaker 2: I still remember that right, and I grew up there,
Speaker 2: attending school there, and in the summertime I would come
Speaker 2: back here Baltimore. That went on for a period of time.
Speaker 2: When I was fifteen, I had actually come back to
Speaker 2: Maryland to actually live with my mom. I moved into
Speaker 2: the projects, but my weekends was spent at my grandfather's
Speaker 2: house in the South Bahma area. So then we went
Speaker 2: forth to me playing basketball. I really became sincere about it.
Speaker 2: When I was in junior high school. When the weather
Speaker 2: was bad, I was on the court. Right when the
Speaker 2: weather was good, was on the court because I made
Speaker 2: applants for myself. I wanted to excel Earl the Pearl,
Speaker 2: Walt Frasier, Western Cell and all that. That's the era
Speaker 2: I grew up in, and that was my dream and
Speaker 2: aspirations to really become the best.
Speaker 1: The year that Leslie was arrested, he had won the
Speaker 1: city wide championship, and his skill gave him notoriety, including
Speaker 1: at the neighborhood's social hub that became part of a
Speaker 1: robbery investigation, the Westport Pharmacy.
Speaker 2: It was the only store in that community had a
Speaker 2: deli back in and back where people go sit down
Speaker 2: with stools and stuff and eat and drink sodas and
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff. That's how this place was.
Speaker 2: I come in that store regularly. I would remember going
Speaker 2: in the back of the store and speaking to the
Speaker 2: delivery drivers that I knew, Clarence mcclerk and Willie Adams.
Speaker 2: Mister Clarence was like, Leslie, how many points are you
Speaker 2: gonna give him this week. I'm saying I don't know
Speaker 2: about thirty points right, laughing and joking.
Speaker 1: In addition to Clarence McCleary and Willie Adams, another man,
Speaker 1: Joseph Chester, did deliveries on the weekends when Leslie was
Speaker 1: usually at his grandfather's house in another neighborhood, and on
Speaker 1: one particular Saturday, November two, nineteen seventy four, Joseph Chester
Speaker 1: claimed to have been robbed.
Speaker 2: I think it was supposed been around seven or something
Speaker 2: in the evening. There was a call put into the
Speaker 2: Westport Pharmacy for some kind of alcoholic beverages that they
Speaker 2: wanted to deliver it at twenty seven o seven Spellman
Speaker 2: Road on the second floor or something right. The delivery
Speaker 2: driver supposed to said that when he pulled up, he
Speaker 2: observed three men just lounging around outside. He said he
Speaker 2: went up the steps to the second floor and said
Speaker 2: that whoever the lady was to answer the door, said
Speaker 2: that she didn't call for a delivery. Said he turned
Speaker 2: around and come back downstairs. As he coming by the gods,
Speaker 2: one of the guys stepped out and told him to
Speaker 2: put his hands up. He said. The other guy put
Speaker 2: a gun to his head. He said, the other guy
Speaker 2: stood on the side and didn't say anything or do anything.
Speaker 2: Then the guy that was supposed to be me with
Speaker 2: the short cut haircut, took the money out of his
Speaker 2: pocket and told him to get him his vehicle and
Speaker 2: drive off. He said he went down to the gas
Speaker 2: station and called the robbery in. Then he called the
Speaker 2: Westport pharmacy to let them know that he had been robbed.
Speaker 2: Then mister Clarence in them. They met him over there,
Speaker 2: and they sat outside of the building in mister Clarence
Speaker 2: car and they waited and they watched three men who
Speaker 2: the victim identified as being the people who robbed him,
Speaker 2: come out the building and get into this yellow volkswagon.
Speaker 2: They followed it and used the phone to notify the
Speaker 2: police and gave them the tag number. From the reports,
Speaker 2: it showed that the vehicle was stopped. Two of these
Speaker 2: men were at the Balemas City drug program called Cash.
Speaker 2: They came home on the weekend, committed the robbery and
Speaker 2: were actually going back to the jail.
Speaker 1: At the time of his trial, Leslie was unaware of
Speaker 1: this police report, and for some reason, the report only
Speaker 1: documented these two of the three men Joseph Lewis White
Speaker 1: and Claude Knight.
Speaker 2: One man pled guilty got five years probation. The other
Speaker 2: one was found guilty and given a five year consecutive
Speaker 2: sentence to whatever sentence he was serving for a number charge.
Speaker 2: But it's three of y'all that's supposed to have been
Speaker 2: in his vehicle.
Speaker 1: Leslie discovered the third man's identity unfortunately much later. So
Speaker 1: three men were in the yellow volkswagon that night, none
Speaker 1: of them were Leslie, and only two of them were
Speaker 1: held accountable. And it appears that the alleged victim in
Speaker 1: this case, who had already id'd the third assailant in
Speaker 1: front of his coworkers, may have used that third suspect
Speaker 1: role to his own ends. On February fifteenth, nineteen seventy five.
Speaker 2: My moms woke me up on a Saturday, told me, Leslie,
Speaker 2: I want you to go to the store, get me
Speaker 2: a paper. I call in front of mine Harrison. They
Speaker 2: lived down the street from me, like a couple of
Speaker 2: doors down, asking him did he want to walk over?
Speaker 2: And we see the fellow who owns the place called Doc,
Speaker 2: and I'm said, doctor, you got any papers? He said,
Speaker 2: go out front? They had a paper dispenser chained to
Speaker 2: the poles. I went out there and got the paper.
Speaker 2: As I turn around, I heard someone say, you with
Speaker 2: the level coat on, go stand up against the wall.
Speaker 2: I turn around and looking at a police officer with
Speaker 2: his gun pointed at us. I'm like, woo me. He said, dah. Now,
Speaker 2: I'm a seventeen year old kid that ain't never been arrested.
Speaker 2: This man put his gun to the back of my
Speaker 2: head and told me face that ball. I heard him
Speaker 2: saying something to somebody and I heard a voice say
Speaker 2: it looks like him, and he said, well, you're under
Speaker 2: arrest for arm roby. I said, arm briby. I said, sir,
Speaker 2: I just came up the store, asked doc. I said,
Speaker 2: mister Clarins, saying because I ain't robbed no store. He said,
Speaker 2: shut up, you're under arrest. Tell it to the judge. Now.
Speaker 2: I was undimpression that the robbery happened the day that
Speaker 2: I was being.
Speaker 1: Arrested, and that confusion may have been cleared up if
Speaker 1: they held a hearing to bound his case over from
Speaker 1: juvenile court. But they just granted seventeen year old Leslie
Speaker 1: Bell released him to his mother and instructed him to
Speaker 1: have no contact at all with the Westport pharmacy as
Speaker 1: he waited to be tried as an adult.
Speaker 2: My mom's she entrusted my safety and well being to
Speaker 2: an attorney by the name of robber Paul Conrad. I'll
Speaker 2: never forget that name. When I went to see him
Speaker 2: the first time, the only thing he said to me was,
Speaker 2: did your mother send me an envelope? I said, sir,
Speaker 2: I said, well, what about this case? Did these people
Speaker 2: talk about? I robbed the drug store? I said, I know, doctor,
Speaker 2: don't worry about that. Let me deal with that. I
Speaker 2: know how, but I'm doing I'm the lawyer. He never
Speaker 2: gave me any information about the case whatsoever.
Speaker 1: Including the date of the robbery, the details from the
Speaker 1: police report, the identity of his two co defendants, Joe
Speaker 1: Louis White and Claude Knight, how Joseph Chester had I
Speaker 1: d'd the three assailants in front of the other deliverymen,
Speaker 1: as well as how the third man's description simply didn't
Speaker 1: match Leslie. He was older with short, cropped hair. Nothing
Speaker 1: was shared that would have helped Leslie develop an alibi
Speaker 1: defense for trial. On July second, nineteen seventy five.
Speaker 2: Now, I remember, I'm standing in the hallway and I
Speaker 2: see Clarss mccluy and Willie Adams, the two drivers for
Speaker 2: the Westport Pharmacy, and they're talking to a white guy
Speaker 2: with a suit on who I found out was the
Speaker 2: state's attorney and the case against me all right now,
Speaker 2: When they see me, they look around and they said, boy,
Speaker 2: what are you doing in here? I said they locked
Speaker 2: me up, and said I robbed And the guy was
Speaker 2: still standing there and they turned around looked at him,
Speaker 2: and he said, this kid wasn't the people that we
Speaker 2: seeing in the car that ribed that man. And I'm
Speaker 2: hearing this, but I don't understand none of it because
Speaker 2: I don't know the essence of the story. So I
Speaker 2: remember the man said to them, y'all gonna be dismissed
Speaker 2: as witnesses. So he was like, Leslie, something is wrong here.
Speaker 2: Who is your attorney? Now, as I'm saying that, he's
Speaker 2: coming up the steps. Him and the white guy they
Speaker 2: start talking. Then he comes back over to me and
Speaker 2: I said, sir, he said, I don't want to hear
Speaker 2: none of that. He said, I told you don't talk
Speaker 2: to anybody. You know. It's a lot of other things.
Speaker 2: I learned about that attorney after I was convicted. Right,
Speaker 2: come to find out the judge that my case was
Speaker 2: before was a well known racist.
Speaker 1: Leslie's hired attorney, Robert Conrad, advised him, a seventeen year
Speaker 1: old kid, to take a bench trial in front of
Speaker 1: Judge same parat, while keeping him completely in the dark
Speaker 1: about the evidence, including the star witness.
Speaker 2: They called the case. Then they say the victim, Joseph
Speaker 2: Frederick Chester. I'm like, who is that? And the lawyer
Speaker 2: turns to me and say, that's the victim. You never
Speaker 2: seen the man that you charged with robbing? I said, man,
Speaker 2: I said that man had me put my face through
Speaker 2: the wall. I never turned around, I said, I ain't
Speaker 2: never seen that man a day in my life. But
Speaker 2: he was in the hallway watching me when I was
Speaker 2: walking home with mister Clarenson. I'm coming And mister Clarinson
Speaker 2: then went to him and told him, you're wrong. He
Speaker 2: wasn't one of the people that was in that car
Speaker 2: that night.
Speaker 1: Nevertheless, something had convinced Joseph Chester to again identify Leslie
Speaker 1: as the third assailant.
Speaker 2: The victim testified that he was ribbed by three men
Speaker 2: and that I was supposed to have been the man
Speaker 2: that removed the money from his pocket. Another dude supposed
Speaker 2: to hell I got into his head, and the other
Speaker 2: guy just stood on the side. But all three of
Speaker 2: us supposed been accompliced. I said, well, where they at
Speaker 2: because I don't know them. They asked, do you know
Speaker 2: a fellow by the name of Joe Lowis talking about
Speaker 2: the boxer. No, it's a fellow named Joe Lewis that
Speaker 2: was with you when you committed I said, I don't
Speaker 2: know anyone named Joe Lawns, and I didn't commit this ribbery. Right,
Speaker 2: My testimony was consistent to what I knew that had
Speaker 2: happened up February fifteen, nineteen seventy five. I'm finding out
Speaker 2: that the robbery happened in November. The state's attorney asked me,
Speaker 2: where were you November two, nineteen seventy four. I said,
Speaker 2: I can't specifically say. I said, if it was a weekend,
Speaker 2: then I probably was at my grandfather's house.
Speaker 1: Then Leslie's attorney, Robert Conrad, I didn't call mister McCleary
Speaker 1: or mister Adams to impeach the state's only witness, leaving
Speaker 1: it all up to this judge.
Speaker 2: The judge stated that he believed him over me, and
Speaker 2: I looked at the attorney. He laughed. He looked at
Speaker 2: me and laughed, man, like the fuck It was fun,
Speaker 2: you understand. And I was tripped on and I was like,
Speaker 2: you did this? Man? You know that I had nothing
Speaker 2: to do with this, and he was like, nigga, you're
Speaker 2: gonna serve this twenty years.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Ron for Conviction. You can listen to
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Speaker 2: You laughed me up at the age of seventeen. I'm
Speaker 2: in a massive security Maryland State pen attention where people
Speaker 2: getting killed in the dining home. You understand people stabbing
Speaker 2: each other, niggas raping other boys and all that kind
Speaker 2: of stuff. While I'm in there, Death row is directly
Speaker 2: above me. The guys on death row when the article
Speaker 2: who came out about seventeen year old basketball star received
Speaker 2: twenty years sentence, they must have followed sports when I
Speaker 2: was out in the street, because when I come to
Speaker 2: the penchuchry guys who on death row taught me how
Speaker 2: to file for the freedom of information that I don't know,
Speaker 2: just God, that I've been mistaken for who he is.
Speaker 2: I don't know nothing about the people I was charged
Speaker 2: with being co defenders too. And I stayed up at night. Man,
Speaker 2: my glasses is thick, all right. I stayed up at
Speaker 2: night reading constantly of what I need to understand about
Speaker 2: the process regarding armed ribery, what it consisted of the essence,
Speaker 2: the elements and all that. And I became very adept
Speaker 2: with what I was doing, to the point I was
Speaker 2: helping other individuals get out, get their sentence reduced.
Speaker 1: And are to call Leslie's main issue an ineffective assistance
Speaker 1: of council claim is an insult, frankly to shitty lawyers.
Speaker 1: It appears that Bob Conrad actually helped this judge convict Leslie.
Speaker 2: Everybody claimed he was such a good attorney, but he
Speaker 2: was only good for those that he wanted to work for.
Speaker 2: When it comes to people of color, he made it
Speaker 2: clear how he felt about them. This man was a
Speaker 2: well known racist individual. But when I fouled complaint against
Speaker 2: him with the Attorney Grievans Commission, the Greevans Commission chairman
Speaker 2: sent me a letter back saying, Bob Conrad has been
Speaker 2: a dear friend to me for years, and I do
Speaker 2: not believe for you he's an honorary member of this
Speaker 2: Bark mission. I'm saying, well, if that's the case, then
Speaker 2: you need to outside. This is somebody else to investigate,
Speaker 2: because this ethical issue here for you. How can you
Speaker 2: investigate yourself?
Speaker 1: So there was no movement on the grievance or on
Speaker 1: his initial appeals, but those four your requests turned up
Speaker 1: the police reports, which eventually led to the the co defendants.
Speaker 1: This was the first time Leslie even knew about mister
Speaker 1: McCleary and mister Adams taking out the apartment building with
Speaker 1: mister Chester. This is when it finally made sense that
Speaker 1: they were witnesses to these three men who had gotten
Speaker 1: into the Yellow folkswagon that night.
Speaker 2: But what gives me is that when the vihkuus stopped,
Speaker 2: they lock up two people, they don't say nothing about
Speaker 2: this third dude. Then I start hearing because of me
Speaker 2: being a basketball player, being young people who used to
Speaker 2: live in that community that were in prison with me.
Speaker 2: But said man Joe Louis got a buddy, Bucky Nutt
Speaker 2: and Joe and Bucky Nutt are rat buddies. They was
Speaker 2: on charges together. A guy came to me in the
Speaker 2: Maryland House Correction and Jessa. He said, my half brother
Speaker 2: Bucky is the one that people mistake you for. So
Speaker 2: he started telling me about the robbery the girl that
Speaker 2: lived in the apartment bend them being outside the apartment
Speaker 2: waiting for the guy to come to make the delivery.
Speaker 2: Then he says, Bucky and them they had been doing
Speaker 2: this before. From what I was getting was the possibility
Speaker 2: that they were pretending that they were robbing people, and
Speaker 2: they probably took the delivery drivers money from him and
Speaker 2: they beat him out of it.
Speaker 1: It appears that not only was Joseph Chester potentially involved
Speaker 1: with his alliged assailants, but also something else made him
Speaker 1: both a disgusting human being and specially vulnerable to police coercion.
Speaker 2: Come to find out, he liked young girls, and one
Speaker 2: of the young girls that he really liked was a
Speaker 2: girl that my mother was friends with. Her mother. My
Speaker 2: mother said that she was in that lady's house playing
Speaker 2: cards on the weekend when the victim came in to
Speaker 2: make deliveries and they got into a confrontation. She told
Speaker 2: the ladies. She said, this is the man that said
Speaker 2: Leslie robbed him, and she was like, well, he messed
Speaker 2: with my daughter, Dina din know younger than Leslie.
Speaker 1: It appears there were multiple angles by which Joseph Chester's
Speaker 1: identification of Leslie could have been engineered, while Bucky Nutt
Speaker 1: aka Charles Parker was the actual third assailant. So while
Speaker 1: Leslie continued his fight, he was offered a work release
Speaker 1: program and a pathway to parole. In nineteen eighty two.
Speaker 2: They take me to pre release. It's in Balima City.
Speaker 2: They give me a push brum and they tell me
Speaker 2: to sweep from this.
Speaker 1: Corner all the way down.
Speaker 2: There to that corner right and I said, the officer
Speaker 2: gonna be with me. No, Leslie uent pre release. You
Speaker 2: ain't got worried about that no more. I couldn't wait
Speaker 2: till the morning, okay, a guy on the farm. I
Speaker 2: made a couple of phone calls and some people that
Speaker 2: I knew. I needed a bus ticket for New York.
Speaker 2: You understand, it was about eight thirty in the morning
Speaker 2: when they gave me that brum. They said they checked
Speaker 2: out there at twelve o'clock. They didn't see me they
Speaker 2: found that broom down there, lane up against the wall,
Speaker 2: and I was gone.
Speaker 1: So Leslie escaped, but before boarding a bust in New York,
Speaker 1: he made a stop in Baltimore.
Speaker 2: I went to where the fellow Joe Lord's sister lived there,
Speaker 2: and I explained to her that I was the kid
Speaker 2: that had gotten locked up for Bucky nutt Right. And
Speaker 2: she explains to me that Bucky was working with the police.
Speaker 2: He said, that's why they never locked him up. This
Speaker 2: woman sat and explaining some stuff to me. I said
Speaker 2: to myself, I don't know if I can believe everything
Speaker 2: this woman's saying, but everything she said to me proved
Speaker 2: factly because I checked everything.
Speaker 1: After a six month stint of freedom in New York,
Speaker 1: he was discovered when he returned to visit family in
Speaker 1: Baltimore for the holidays.
Speaker 2: I notified the state about the identification the problem, and
Speaker 2: all they take a year and a half to send
Speaker 2: somebody out to the victim, and he positively identify as
Speaker 2: a Bucky nutt Right, saying that the man on the
Speaker 2: picture even still had the same shirt on that he
Speaker 2: had on when they committed the robbery. So there's a
Speaker 2: new State's attorney in Baltimore that's just been elected, and
Speaker 2: everybody had high hopes that this man was an African
Speaker 2: American man and he would be more understanding of the
Speaker 2: racial issues that was faced with us all these years
Speaker 2: and all that His name was Kurt Smokes, right. I
Speaker 2: wrote him from the MARYW House Correction asking him to
Speaker 2: please take a look at my case. He wrote me
Speaker 2: back no. When the victim positively identified the photograph, then
Speaker 2: they contact me and said they would be willing to
Speaker 2: release me if I accepted a deal to plead no
Speaker 2: low contender to one count in exchange for just being released.
Speaker 2: I same, I'm not taking no deal. Man. Took them
Speaker 2: another year and a half for me to get out.
Speaker 1: Kurt Schmoke not only became the mayor of Baltimore, but
Speaker 1: then also the dean of Howard University Law School, followed
Speaker 1: by the president of the University of Baltimore and a
Speaker 1: part owner of the Baltimore Orioles. It's hard to square
Speaker 1: all of that with Leslie's experience, but nevertheless, Leslie was released.
Speaker 2: I got released October the seventeenth, nineteen eighty four, and
Speaker 2: before I even had to hear and I had written
Speaker 2: to the judge and told them about the deal that
Speaker 2: they tried to force me to accept. And they told
Speaker 2: me that the judge and Smokes was best friends and
Speaker 2: they were fraternity brothers, and if I didn't accept the deal,
Speaker 2: he was gonna have to judge dismiss my petition based
Speaker 2: on the original in court identification that was made by
Speaker 2: the victim. Then he threatened the victim and told him,
Speaker 2: if you don't say it was Leslie's, we're gonna charge
Speaker 2: you with perjury from your original in court out therefication.
Speaker 2: While in prison, I had been earning credits and all
Speaker 2: towards my bachelor's First I got my bachelor's degree in
Speaker 2: sociology from Tawson State University. I then got my certification
Speaker 2: as a prior legal right Now. In nineteen eighty six,
Speaker 2: I got a full unconditional pardon from Governor Harria Hughes.
Speaker 2: I got a court order that all records relating to
Speaker 2: that conviction was supposed to been destroyed. That was the
Speaker 2: first expansiment order. That was May of nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 2: The clerk of the court, when I tried to have
Speaker 2: them enforce it, he told me that he think the
Speaker 2: judge made a mistake and he wasn't putting no order through,
Speaker 2: so it sat dormant in their office. Everybody I went
Speaker 2: to get help in regard to it would never help me.
Speaker 1: And it appears that this one clerk's in action has
Speaker 1: repeatedly reared its ugly head multiple times throughout Lesley's life.
Speaker 1: But for now, there were other fights to win.
Speaker 2: You have to remember during that time, they didn't believe
Speaker 2: that ronful convictions happened. I petitioned the state for compensation.
Speaker 2: I had no alterney. I did interviews with the news
Speaker 2: media about what was going on and how I had
Speaker 2: been fighting with the state. I was able to get
Speaker 2: an agreement with the state that with the compensation, I
Speaker 2: supposed to god assistance with housing, education, employment. The only
Speaker 2: thing that they actually did was give me the monthly payments.
Speaker 2: I was paid a quarter million dollars over seven years
Speaker 2: by monthly checks. When I first got the first payment,
Speaker 2: I purchased a nineteen eighty seven Toyola Crest and I
Speaker 2: was going to my mom's house and it's restored, it
Speaker 2: sits there. I'll come back out the store and it's
Speaker 2: a guy propped up on the front of my car.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I ha, no chair, Yo, you got that twisted?
Speaker 2: He said, I'm Bucky Nutt. And I was like, sir, y'all,
Speaker 2: let me say something to you. As long as your
Speaker 2: butthole points to the ground. Don't you ever approached me?
Speaker 2: Don't you ever say nothing to me? Ever? And he
Speaker 2: was like, yo, I man, I ain't made no harm. Man,
Speaker 2: I was just introduced her. I said, I don't want
Speaker 2: to hear that shit about you introduce yourself to me.
Speaker 2: Don't you ever approach me?
Speaker 1: Leslie continued to try to put his wrongful conviction behind him.
Speaker 1: Things went well for a while. He worked for several
Speaker 1: different state agencies while receiving his monthly check while pursuing
Speaker 1: his record expungement, and in nineteen ninety eight, he believed
Speaker 1: he had finally been successful. Over those years, he also
Speaker 1: got married to a woman named Donna, which unfortunately brought
Speaker 1: him nothing but more heartache.
Speaker 2: After we got married, Donna had all kind of substance
Speaker 2: abuse problems. I tried to have her roll in different programs.
Speaker 2: She would disappeared. I wouldn't see her for months at
Speaker 2: a time. Come to find out her ex husband before me.
Speaker 2: She would go back to him and he would beat
Speaker 2: and bang on her. Then he would write up a
Speaker 2: report and submitted to the police for her right. She
Speaker 2: supposed he had made an accusation that she was stabbed
Speaker 2: by me, that I supposed that had pulled up on
Speaker 2: her and forced her to get into my vehicle and
Speaker 2: I tried to kidnap her. He would write up a report,
Speaker 2: they would take a charge out on me, and then
Speaker 2: she wouldn't come to court.
Speaker 1: And things went on this way unbeknownst to Leslie until
Speaker 1: two thousand and four.
Speaker 2: In two thousand and four, I was working for the
Speaker 2: Maryland Department of Labor licen Regulation as employment specialists, and
Speaker 2: I was doing extremely well. My first child was born
Speaker 2: in eighty eight and at that time I had a
Speaker 2: custody of forts I'll never forget. I went to work
Speaker 2: that morning the security officer told me that they did
Speaker 2: what they call a random check of my name. They said,
Speaker 2: it's a warrant for your arrest and the systems. So
Speaker 2: I'm like, hell right, I'm laughing cout. I know he
Speaker 2: got to be joking. He talked about Leslie Vasque got
Speaker 2: the old ward.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a joke. The charge was first degree attempted murder.
Speaker 2: And I voluntarily surrendered myself and went in there and
Speaker 2: people walked me in. Now I got before the court commission.
Speaker 2: She asked me, have you ever been convicted of a felony,
Speaker 2: mister Vasq, And I said no, could I haven't the
Speaker 2: wrong for Robbie conviction, but not show up. I got
Speaker 2: paperwork from the attorney general from the state of Mond
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety eight, said that he got ex funded
Speaker 2: all right, which was the fourth ex monthment order. Turned
Speaker 2: the computer screen around and told me, mister Vass, I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: but I can't release you on a ball because this
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy five on Robbie is still on the records.
Speaker 2: And I pulled out the expungement order, the order from
Speaker 2: the Circuit court, saying that everything was done, the certificate
Speaker 2: of compliance, all of it. She said, mister asked, I understand,
Speaker 2: She said, I'm familiar with your case. I'm so sorry
Speaker 2: that I'm the one that has to do to She said,
Speaker 2: but because of the charge being what it is, a
Speaker 2: first degree attempted murder charge, we cannot release you on
Speaker 2: bail because you have this armed robby. I contact the
Speaker 2: Attorney General from the jail, the same one that's supposedly
Speaker 2: did the expungement in ninety eight. He actually represents Public
Speaker 2: Safety and Correctional Services here in the state of Month,
Speaker 2: which is the agency that dissimilates all criminal histories. He
Speaker 2: told me, oh, no, Leslie, that's not correct. We're gonna
Speaker 2: get that taken care of and then get you released
Speaker 2: and all this stuff, okay. He never accepted another call
Speaker 2: from me from the jail.
Speaker 1: Leslie awaited trial in jail for eighteen months, and with
Speaker 1: no one to care for his four minor children, they
Speaker 1: were placed in foster care. Luckily, he was able to
Speaker 1: beat the charges, but the nineteen seventy five wrongful conviction
Speaker 1: continued to wreck havoc in his life.
Speaker 2: After the acquittal, they opposed returning my children to me
Speaker 2: and took me two and a half years to get
Speaker 2: them back because they claimed I was an habitual criminal.
Speaker 2: And I'm saying, how can you use the same criminal
Speaker 2: history that you know was a wrongful conviction to claim
Speaker 2: that I'm an habitual criminal no matter where I go
Speaker 2: at and what I do. I've left Maryland, moved all
Speaker 2: the way to Tampa, Florida, Fayetteville, Georgia, I've lived in
Speaker 2: ox Nord California in twenty twenty, was working for an
Speaker 2: re entry organization, did a live scan and hit come
Speaker 2: the same wrongful conviction and you still bringing it up
Speaker 2: at the age of sixty six. Come on, something's wrong
Speaker 2: with this.
Speaker 1: But something positive did happen for all ex honer reason.
Speaker 1: Maryland twenty one, the Walter Lomas Act was passed, which
Speaker 1: meant a new avenue for compensation for Leslie.
Speaker 2: They awarded me five hundred and seventy seven thousand dollars
Speaker 2: two years ago, and on July the fourth, they honored
Speaker 2: me at the Waterfront Festival in Cherry Hill. When I
Speaker 2: met the Controller for the State of Maryland. Her name
Speaker 2: is Brooke Lureman explained her. I said, look, I said, Brooke,
Speaker 2: I said, I'm tired all. I've asked them correct their
Speaker 2: injustice that's been going on over these years that I've
Speaker 2: been sending y'all. She's aware, but she said to me
Speaker 2: that I need to make an appointment meet the.
Speaker 1: Governor and maybe he can't trust them to finally effectively
Speaker 1: expunge his record, but we really hope that someone finally
Speaker 1: gets it right.
Speaker 2: The lesson of all this man that I hope and
Speaker 2: played at all the other exetaries recognized that, make sure
Speaker 2: they check about these background histories, make sure that it's
Speaker 2: done the way it's supposed to. That means it has
Speaker 2: to be exam it from the FBI fouls also, and
Speaker 2: that might be something that a lot of John Reeves
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 1: So an he calls to action for our audience.
Speaker 2: Call for actions for this voy Marcellus Williams. My blessings
Speaker 2: for him and prayers for his family.
Speaker 1: For those of you who aren't aware, an innocent man
Speaker 1: named Marcellus Williams is set to be executed on September
Speaker 1: twenty fourth, twenty twenty four, even though he has been
Speaker 1: excluded from every piece of physical evidence. The current Saint
Speaker 1: Louis prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell supports Marcellus's motion to vacate
Speaker 1: the conviction. Yes you heard that right, while Missouri Attorney
Speaker 1: General Andrew Bailey, on the other hand, has gone so
Speaker 1: far as to try to block recent exculpatory DNA evidence
Speaker 1: from being even heard in court. Marcellus and the Midwest
Speaker 1: Innocence Project desperately need our help, and we're going to
Speaker 1: link action steps in the episode description, and with that
Speaker 1: we turn now to my favorite part of the show,
Speaker 1: where I to have the privilege of thanking you again
Speaker 1: for being here and sharing your story. And now I'm
Speaker 1: just going to kick back in my chair, close my eyes,
Speaker 1: and you've just shared with us any other thoughts you
Speaker 1: may have.
Speaker 2: I hope this governor do what he says. That's it.
Speaker 2: There's nothing else that I can ask for. I want
Speaker 2: to be able to live. I'll be sixty seven, except
Speaker 2: telling my man. I want to be able to have peace,
Speaker 2: not just at night when I lay down and rest,
Speaker 2: but I want to have peace so that I can
Speaker 2: enjoy the remains of my days. I think I deserve that.
Speaker 2: I know I'm gonna have that. You can't never make
Speaker 2: me hold because of what happened, because you can put
Speaker 2: me to a point where I don't have to worry
Speaker 2: no more.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Wrong for Conviction. You can
Speaker 1: listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts
Speaker 1: one week early and ed free subscribing to Lava for
Speaker 1: Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I want to thank our
Speaker 1: production team, Connor Hall and Kathleen Fink, as well as
Speaker 1: my fellow executive producers Jeff Kempler, Kevin Wartis and Jeff Clyburn.
Speaker 1: The music in this production was supplied by three time
Speaker 1: OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us
Speaker 1: across all social media platforms at Lava for Good and
Speaker 1: at Wrongful Conviction. You can also follow me on Instagram
Speaker 1: at it's Jason Flamm. Wrongful Conviction is a production of
Speaker 1: Lava for Good Podcasts and association with Signal Company Number
Speaker 1: one