WEBVTT - #297 Jason Flom with Gary Benloss 0:00:02.440 --> 0:00:05.119 On April tenth, two thousand and two, on Lynden Boulevard 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:07.560 in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, a man named Victor 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:10.440 Vulcan was shot and killed in broad daylight just after 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:14.040 school had let out. Fortunately, no one else was heard 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:16.880 as people ran to their buildings for cover, including a 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:19.960 young father named Gary Benloss who had had prior run 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.680 ins with the police. Nine one one callers and eyewitnesses 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:26.400 described the shooter with short hair, dark skin, and a 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:28.560 similar build to the victim, who was five ten and 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:32.519 one hundred and sixty eight pounds. However, one alleged witness, 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:34.960 Anthony Holder, who did not give a description of the shooter, 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:38.760 set among other falsehoods, that the assailant's nickname was Chuckie. 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:42.000 Gary ben Loss was known as Chucky, but he was 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:44.440 over six three and two hundred and fifty pounds with 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:48.200 a seven inch high afro. A photo of a much 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:51.040 younger and slimmer Gary with short hair was put into 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:54.600 a photo array, eliciting an identification from Anthony Holder and 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.480 one other witness. However, once that other witness saw Gary 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.480 a trial, she too joined and all the other witnesses 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:05.480 in denying Gary's involvement. Holders. Pending charges for which it 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:08.440 is believed that he received leniency in exchange for cooperation, 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:12.600 were hidden by the state, and somehow the jury believed 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.120 his bizarre testimony that included a non existent second victim, 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:20.800 sending Gary away for twenty five to life. This is 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:38.600 wrongful conviction. Welcome back to wrawful conviction. Today we have 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:41.200 a Brooklyn case dating back to two thousand and two 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:45.200 in which several witnesses described a gunman that looked wildly 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:48.840 different from our guest today, Gary Benlass, a guy that 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:51.920 I came to know through my friendship with a previous 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.800 guest on our show, John Adrian Velasquez. Now Gary is 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:58.200 joining us from Sing Sing and I'm glad you're here 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:00.400 with us, even though I hate the reason and why 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:04.600 you're here. But Gary, welcome to the show. Thank you, 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:06.320 You're very welcome. And with him as a man whose 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:08.799 voice you'll probably recognize for other appearances here with us 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.639 where he's been advocating for Nelson Cruz, Marcus Wiggins, Vincent Simmons, 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:15.760 and so many more. Justin bonus, welcome back. 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.280 It's great to be back on the show. Appreciate it all. 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:20.679 Right, So Gary, before we get into the reason why 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:23.200 we're here today. Can you tell us a little bit 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:24.320 about your life growing up. 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.040 I was born July twenty sixth, nineteen eighty to a 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:32.400 proud single mother who migrated from the rural country area 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:38.040 of Jamaica, West Indies, moved to America where she resided 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:39.760 in Flatbush, Brooklyn. 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:42.880 And your nickname was Chucky, right, how I mean, where 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:43.680 does that come from? 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:48.840 At the age of nine, I received the nickname Chuckles. 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:53.680 Being poor no farther around at school, kids could be 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:58.359 very cruel, so as a defense mechanism, I was one 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:01.320 of those kids who used to old, like to joke 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:05.280 and laugh. That's how I got the moniker Chuckles. Always 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:07.639 had people laughing, always. 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:10.640 Joking, and that nickname ended up playing a part in 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:13.880 your wrong for conviction. But before all of that, in 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:15.880 the summer of nineteen ninety six, you had your first 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.160 encounter with one of the detectives on this case, Robert Reedy. 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:23.800 He knows me because on my fifteenth birthday I was 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:28.680 jump assaulted and hospitalized. He was actually the detective on 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:32.880 the case, and he wanted not just for me, you know, 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:36.640 to snitch on the guys that hospitalized me, but he 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:40.760 wanted me to become a neighborhood that snitched, so the 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:45.080 case against those who assaulted me never went to court, 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:48.640 and I never became the snitch. For a detective reading, 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:51.560 I said, it's not happening. 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:54.480 Right, So you refused to help ready, and then the 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.560 following spring you ran into some more trouble, but this 0:03:57.680 --> 0:03:58.960 time you were the assailant. 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.640 At the age of it's to months of manche in 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:05.520 ninety seven, I made a very foolish mistake, but I'm 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:09.240 not proud. It was a lesson that I needed to learn. So, 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:13.920 because of growing up being poor, I followed a friend 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:18.720 of mine into a pizzeria to rob the pizzeria. I 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:23.599 took full responsibility and I copped out to one to 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:30.480 three years, right. And I've been haunted by the NYPD 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:31.320 ever since. 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.000 And I'd like the audience to take note here when 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:38.200 guilty people usually take plea deals it makes sense. I mean, hell, 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.520 even innocent people take plea deals if it makes more sense, 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:43.560 which it often does than fighting the charges, like our 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:47.159 friend Dieter te Hada. So you did a few years 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:50.000 as a juvenile in a men's present, paid your debt 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:52.840 to society, and after your release, you moved back in 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.640 with your mother at two eighteen Linden Boulevard and Flat Push, 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:59.520 where you remained on the NYPD's radar leading up to 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.080 this crime in two thousand and two. But before we 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:05.839 get into all those details, justin we've seen this kind 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:09.320 of thing before more than once, where the cops just 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:11.160 grab a guy with a record, whether they did the 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:16.080 climb or not. And as our listeners will surely recognize, Brooklyn, 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:18.640 especially in the eighties, nineties and into the two thousands, 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:22.080 was fraught with wrongful conviction cases and issues like I 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:27.640 wouldn't smits. Identification coerced and incentifies witnesses who made misidentifications, 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:31.560 sometimes knowingly by the way, and of course crazily corrupted 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:37.320 identification procedures. And in this case we have all of 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:40.800 those factors. And at the helm of the investigation we 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:44.200 had detectives Robert Reedy and John mcgurrit, as well as 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:47.960 King's County assistant DA Kyle Reeves. And I feel like 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.320 I've heard his name before Kyle Reeves, right. 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:55.159 Yes, absolutely, Jabbar Washington. I believe Jabbar was exonerated in 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:59.040 twenty eighteen. Kyle Reeves in that case had withheld Brady 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:03.360 evidence witness is on the stand that testified falsely, then 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:08.560 Reeves push forward with prosecuting someone for murder. I believe 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:10.880 it was a fight of some sort, and it turned 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:14.360 out that the mother of the victim actually sued the 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:18.760 hospital for medical malpractice, wrongful death, that the hospital caused 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:21.839 the death. I know that he had some issues. He 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:25.080 left the DA's office in Brooklyn and he went to 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.279 Staten Island, and I know he had some issues in 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.880 Staten Island with witnesses and then left. And now he's 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:34.680 in private practice. So he has a history of prosecuting 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:39.080 cases that he shouldn't and two not turning over exculpatory material. 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:42.440 I mean, I'd like to point out prior misconduct just 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:43.920 to give the audience an idea of who we were 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:47.000 dealing with. But to be fair, Reeves doesn't really sound 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:51.640 like an outlier. Knowingly prosecuting innocent people and heidek exculpatory 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:54.560 evidence to make it stick sounds like the usual playbook 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:55.159 in New York. 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.159 It's a little different because it's a lot harder to 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:01.600 catch them, and he's been caught. New York is different 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:06.280 in that there's usually no forensic investigation, no paper, right, 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:08.640 no paper trail, whereas a lot of other places, there's 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:13.280 a lot of paper here. These are very short, choppy statements. 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:16.760 The police don't write as much down. And then prosecutors, 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.120 even when the case falls apart, they are able to 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:23.280 hang their hat on somebody like Anthony Holder, who's the 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:26.600 only witness that testified at trial A Garribin Lost committed 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:27.200 this murder. 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:29.880 And we're going to talk a lot more about this 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:34.160 alleged eyewitness, Anthony Holder. And I say alleged because his 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:38.480 description of the crime conflicted with both reality and with 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.880 every other eyewitness, all of whom corroborated each other, and 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:47.680 none of whom described or ultimately identified Gary in person. Now, 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:51.240 Anthony Holder was a building super right who were intended 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:53.960 on Gary's block, And he's the guy who's credited with 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:57.560 throwing Gary's nickname Chucky to the cops right into the 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:00.760 mix after the crime. Gary, did you know this guy Holder? 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:06.560 So Anthony Holder is the super of I believe two 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.800 of the buildings on Linden Boulevard across the street from 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:13.280 my So I didn't live there, but my friends did, 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:17.400 so I'm visiting them. Anthony Holder never used to like 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:20.360 when my friends and I will hang out on the stool. 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:24.400 So in the courtyards of the building, it wasn't like 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:28.040 we was causing any disruption being disrespectful. 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:31.480 Okay, so he didn't like you, but he didn't have 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.360 a real beef with you, but maybe he didn't care 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.360 if he used you to stay at of prison. That's 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:39.440 what it seems like to me. As it becomes clear 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.599 much later, Holder had some pending charges for which he 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:46.720 likedly received leniency for his testimony in this case, but 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.720 a trial, that deal was when you've heard this before, 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:52.719 that deal was hidden by assistant DA Kyle Reeves. And 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.720 now here we are, so let's get to the climate itself. 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:58.360 This was April tenth, two thousand and two, a sunny 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:02.959 spring day, on Linden Boulevard in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Now this 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:06.240 is a broad street with an east and westbound side, 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.000 a turning lane down the middle street, parking on either side, 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:12.280 so about five lanes of cars, wife, you can picture that, 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.560 and there are apartment buildings on either side, so tons 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:18.520 of people in the area. It's a bustling street scene. 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:20.960 And the shooting happened in front of two h one 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:24.720 Linden Boulevard where you lived, across the street and down 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:26.120 the block at number two eighteen. 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:31.040 So it's about three and a afternoon. The weather extremely nice, 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:35.440 the blocks are extremely extremely busy. People are out enjoying 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:39.440 the weather. School is letting out. As I am approaching 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:43.600 my building, the first blunch shot right now, and that's 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:47.280 when I started seeing everybody starting to run, and I 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:49.120 ran right into my building. 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:53.320 And according to corroborating eyewitness accounts, two men, the victim 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:55.480 in this case, Victor Vulcan, and the shooter got into 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.120 an argument welcome was shot four or five times, and 0:09:58.120 --> 0:09:59.880 then a mail carrier, a woman named let them in. 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.520 Voten gave police a description, as did another woman named 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.200 Paula Edgehill, who called nine one one and spoke to 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:06.840 a dispatcher. 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:11.200 So you had let him and Boltsen, who's the mail carrier, 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.400 and the nine one one callers, who described the shooter 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:18.160 as a dark skin five foot eight short hair let 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:21.880 him and Boden actually, in a statement to police, described 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:25.679 the shooter as similarly built to the victim in the case. 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:30.520 Now, the victim, Victor Vulcan, was one hundred and sixty 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:33.000 eight pounds, so the nine one one call, and Boten's 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:37.160 accounts corroborated each other. Now, Gary, what did you look 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:38.000 like at this time? 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:42.600 I was about six three two fortys and I had 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:46.080 a very large afro and I'm light skinned. 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:50.520 No one describes the afro. That's the other major major issue. 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:54.240 I mean, was this like a close cropped afro? How 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:56.040 much volume are we talking about here? 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:59.040 It would have to be roughly. 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.160 Okay, So that's a remarkable haird like. I mean, people 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:08.440 aren't gonna miss a seven inch i afro. But unfortunately, 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:12.440 this giant discrepancy didn't seem to matter to Anthony Holder 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:16.319 or the detectives, and later didn't matter either to the 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:19.960 prosecutor in the case. So what did Anthony Holder's statement 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.640 to police say? This alternate version of events. 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:28.800 And Anthony Holder says that Chucky is talking to some girls. 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:33.800 They say, get at him, Chucky. Nobody else describes this, 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:37.560 by the way. Then he says that Chucky begins to 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:39.840 argue with this guy and pulls a gun out of 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.800 a bag and then shoots the guy and Anthony Holder 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:46.720 he doesn't describe Gary at all, and he never gives 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:49.480 a description. See all he does, Anthony Holder is drop 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:53.120 a nickname, and the police know the nickname because they're 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:54.640 familiar with Gary. 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.600 And we're not even sure who brought up the nickname first. 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:02.080 Perhaps Anthony Holder decided to trace information false information, let's 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.280 call it what it is, about a neighborhood guy who 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:07.560 he didn't really like in exchange for leniency and his 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:11.600 pending charges, or the lead detectives who knew Gary from 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.160 both previous incidents when he was an assault victim who 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:17.920 refused to snitch and then the robbery. Now, of course 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.920 I'm referring to detectives Robert Reedy and John mcgerrin. 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:25.000 It was recently going over the DD fives I've come 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:29.480 across John mcgurn's DD five. He says that he was 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:35.440 at two eighteen Lyndon Boulevard when he received information that 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:40.320 the shooter is a guy by the name of Chuckles. 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:46.680 Only people that use the name Chuckles is people that 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:52.839 went to elementary school with me. Anthony Holden never said Chuckles. 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:59.280 Anthony Holder says Chucky. So before John mcgarran we see 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:03.440 any information in regards to the shooter, he was already 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.920 at two eighteen the shooting ALFM at two oh one. 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.680 Lend En Boulevard. We have nine to one one calls 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:15.880 police reports. It says the shooter ran into one eighty 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:20.920 Lendon Boulevard. It was never a police call to respond 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:26.320 to too eighteen. Why are you at two eighteen? Right? 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.240 The nine one one call said one eighty Linden Boulevard. 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:32.040 But McGurn went straight to your building and claimed to 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:35.840 hear that the assailant was named Chuckles, your original nickname 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:37.960 that had evolved into Chucky over time. 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:43.000 Exactly, McGurn already knew who I was the same way 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:45.640 detective really already knew who I was. 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.280 So this isn't definitive proof, but it certainly looks like 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:53.800 they were immediately directing the investigation towards you without cause 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.800 either way. Your nickname was now part of this investigation. 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.600 And then they take this and they and they with it, 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:05.280 and they put a photo array together very soon after 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:10.480 the shooting. And why the photo array was really important 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:15.000 is because the picture of Gary is of when he 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:18.520 was I believe eighteen years old. By the time he 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:21.720 was twenty one, he was much heavier than he was 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:24.160 when he was eighteen. He didn't even look like the 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.880 same person, and he had short hair when he was eighteen. 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.240 Oh, right, So they showed this misleading photo array with 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:35.080 an eighteen year old slimmer looking Gary importantly with no 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:39.880 afro but short hair instead. Right, as the witnesses that 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:43.920 initially described the assailant, I mean, it's it's so dirty, 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:47.640 it's amazing. And the mail carrier let him in boten 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:53.080 looking at this old photograph gave a tepid identification, right, 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:57.400 and the incentivized alleged witness, Anthony Holder, gave an idea 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:02.080 as well. Now, Anthony Holder also allegedly told him that 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.320 the shooter had a black Duffel back. No other witnesses 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:08.320 reported seeing this, and in the continued effort to get 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.880 to Gary, investigators put pressure on a guy from your building, 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:14.920 a guy named Roger Isaac, who at about five eight, 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:19.160 dark skinned with short hair, better match the description of 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:21.920 the shooter, and so he was snatched up shortly after 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:22.400 the shooting. 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.120 Roger Isaac, I feel the phone, I really do. He's 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:29.400 oblivious to what's going on. They jump out on him 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:33.280 and say he's being arrested with a murder. They bring 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:37.440 him down to the station in his DD five. He 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:41.000 saw me come into the building throw a bag into 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:43.080 the apartment and come right back out. 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:46.720 So now they have someone corroborating holder about you and 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:51.200 the alleged black bag. And then Roger Isaac allegedly described 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.280 you as five foot eight two hundred pounds, but again, 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.200 you're over six foot three and at least two hundred 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:00.320 and forty at the time, and he said no thing 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:04.200 about your impressive afro, which is very telling because the 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.840 only picture that detectas McGurrin and Reedy had at that 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:10.800 time was from when you were eighteen years old. It 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:13.120 looks like they still thought that you were under two 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:17.120 hundred pounds was short hair. So they brought Roger Isaac 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:19.440 down to the precinct where he allegedly made this statement 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:23.920 implicating you carrying this non existent black tuffel bag. And 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:26.480 we're getting ahead of ourselves here, but at trial, this 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:31.600 alleged statement from the DD five unravels for the prosecution exactly. 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:37.160 At trial, Assistant disc Attorney Kyle Reeves is trying to 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:42.040 have Roger Isaac testify that he saw me run into 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:45.600 the building build back into the bomment, so he gives 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.200 them the DD five and that's when the cat is 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.760 that at the bat he did the DD five. He said, 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.560 I don't recall saying none of this. He says that 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:56.520 he was in a cell and that the police roughed 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.240 them up, assaulted mister Roger Isaenc. 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.200 It sounds like they might have just written that statement 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:03.480 up just for him to sign. 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:06.760 There was no citilature. This is typed up, and then 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:10.360 you have the officer's citizature, So there's no Rajah Isaac 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:14.560 right in and saying I dually swear of this being authentic. 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:15.720 There's none of that. 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:18.880 So this sham statement in Roger Isaac's DD five blew 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:21.720 up in Kyle Reeves's face at trial. But in the 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:26.040 immediate aftermath of the crime, this same DD five corroborated 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:28.920 Anthony Holder. They had already trick led him in voting 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.640 into making the ID with that phony baloney photo array. 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.280 So now they're closing in on you, but you didn't 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.800 even know it. So let's go back to the immediate aftermath. 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.600 Shots rang out, you got to safety, and after things 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:43.560 calmed down, you went out to handle a few errands 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:45.840 before your three month old son and his mother arrived 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:49.879 later on from Queen's. Now, at that time you had 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:52.560 gone to a friend's in Bushwick, when a neighborhood friend 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.120 paged you to tell you that the police had raided 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:55.720 your apartment. 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.520 He say, yo, the police just went into the apartment. 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:03.119 So I called my mother. When she goes home, the 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:06.359 police are still there. They asked her to sign a 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:10.160 consent for him to search. They already searched her ready, 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:14.280 so now they're using her consent to cover their eyes. 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:18.000 So the police legally searched your apartment looking for this 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.960 alleged black tuppel bag, but they came up empty, and 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:24.560 they got your mom to give consent to the search 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:26.080 after the fact. 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:30.360 So at this time, again, I'm not even aware that 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:34.640 someone even died. It wasn't until I speak to my mother. 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:39.320 She said. Detective really gave her his card for me 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:43.280 to call. He said, a guy was shot and killed 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:46.159 and they're looking to speak to me about it. I 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.200 have nothing to hide, so I called him. He said, 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:54.440 people are saying that you killed this guy. I said 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:56.720 it to him, I don't know what you're talking about. 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:00.320 I've just had a son. I have no reason to 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:04.480 be out killing anybody. He said, well, you know, let's 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:07.160 meet up somewhere. I said, that's not happening. I am 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:11.000 not comfortable meeting you guys and talk them out. Y'all 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:14.440 looking for me because somebody got killed. He said, oh, 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:16.280 you know, just nick holity, change in mind. 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:18.600 And this is right after nine to eleven. So the 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:23.000 police had all these sweeping new powers from the Patriot Act, 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:26.520 and they triangulated your position from the cell signal and 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:30.880 found you over at your friends in Bushwick. But what's 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:35.400 weird is that they're looking for the old version of you, right, 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:39.560 They're looking for the eighteen year old, slimmer, short haired 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:43.520 Gary from the photo array, not the fully grown out, 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:46.040 much heavier, twenty one year old Gary with the seven 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:51.080 inch high afro who looks nothing close to the Eyewinness descriptions. 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:54.280 So both you and the police are confused. Now, can 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:57.040 you describe what happened during your arrest. 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:00.320 It's like one of those scenes, almost like the die 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:04.399 Hard movie. The whole block is just filled with you know, 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:08.960 squad cars and police officers and police officers on the 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:13.280 rules and the helicopters. As they were going in to 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:17.879 the building, I was coming out right, I'm not knowing 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:22.800 they're coming for me. All right, I'm going to the store, 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:26.680 and here go all these police officers I look at them, 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:28.800 they look at me. I'll go and I walk to 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:33.520 the store, not running. Walking. As I'm in the store, 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:37.320 the door opened and then a head pokes in and 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:40.040 he said, hey, did you just come from and he 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:43.760 recites the building number and I said yes. He asked 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:46.320 me what my name is, and I tell them my 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:49.920 name is Gay Bella. He said, I can please put 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:53.920 your hands behind your back. So again I ain't said, Oh, 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:58.639 my name is George Jeffrey Calvin, so I'm not evading 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:02.399 being identified. Does this sound like the actions of a 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:03.160 guilty man. 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:06.720 Of course not. But it's crazy because you didn't think 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:09.880 they were even there for you, and they thought they 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:13.240 were looking for a guy who could potentially fit the description. 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:16.720 But as we see here in your case, the description 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:19.920 really didn't matter to them. They just move forward anyway. 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:24.240 So you're arrested. Detective Reedy questioned you. You told him 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:26.240 what you're telling us here today, that you had absolutely 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:28.560 nothing to do with it, and then they put you 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:29.240 in a lineup. 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:33.679 But that lineup was conducted by Robert Reedy and Robert 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:37.000 Reedy at least one time a couple of years after 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:42.280 this case, admitted to essentially taining a lineup in a 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:45.040 photo ray and a case was thrown out on that basis. 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:49.719 So Robert Reedy knew who Gary was and he violated 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:52.280 best practices. He shouldn't have been involved with the lineup 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:53.159 at all, but he was. 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:56.159 So they take me out of the cell and now 0:21:56.200 --> 0:21:59.560 I'm going to go for this lineup. They took the 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:03.360 cold I was wearing, gave me something else to put on, 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:06.840 and then they told me to put on a shower 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:11.119 cap to hide my ear. And that's when I started o. 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:13.560 I said hell no, I say, well, what's I doing? 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:16.639 And I looked at reading and I said, Ridio, you 0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:19.399 ain't right and he just like held down his head. 0:22:20.080 --> 0:22:22.480 At that time, I already knew what they was doing, 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:26.639 that they was dressing me up to fit the description 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:30.199 of this person that they're looking for. They gave me 0:22:30.240 --> 0:22:33.920 a jacket. I'm like, hold on, this is not my clothes. 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:38.040 Oh you got you gotta put it on, and then 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:43.000 you're hiding my hair, Like what reason would you have 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:44.040 to hide my hear? 0:22:55.760 --> 0:22:59.960 This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company. 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:03.800 AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and is making 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:06.639 a positive difference in the lives of its employees and 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:09.359 in the communities where we work and live. In light 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:12.199 of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and 0:23:12.240 --> 0:23:16.080 in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform, 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:20.280 the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal services and 0:23:20.440 --> 0:23:31.920 other support to underrepresented communities and individuals. So they corrupted 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:35.679 that lineup, and ultimately both Anthony Holder big surprise, and 0:23:35.720 --> 0:23:38.399 then the mail carrier let him in vote and identified you. 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:43.080