WEBVTT - #531 Ben Bowlin with Trevor Mattis 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:07.720 On September fifteenth, nineteen eighty eight, there was an argument 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:14.440 inside of Philadelphia rowhouse. As one party tried to leave, 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:19.320 the other man followed, making threats that left him fatally shot. 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.640 The victim's brother only knew one man in that party, 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:31.520 Trevor Mattis, but Trevor maintained that he was just a bystander. 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:39.120 Then another eyewitness corroborated that story. Yet this eyewitness said 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:45.080 something else at Trevor's trial, This is wrongful conviction. 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:55.880 You're listening to Wrongful Conviction. You can listen to this 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:58.680 and all the Lava for Good podcasts one week early 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:02.480 and ad free subscribing to Lava for Good Plus on 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:06.080 Apple Podcasts. 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.880 Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction. I'm Ben Bollen from The 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.400 Stuff They Don't Want You to Know, and once again 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.520 I'm excited to be hosting the show. In this episode, 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:25.200 we're speaking with our guest, Trevor Matis, who was calling 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:30.080 in from a Pennsylvania correctional facility to share a story. Trevor, 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:34.320 thanks for joining us, Aware and folks. If we're detecting 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:38.360 an accent here, that's because Trevor originally traveled to the 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:41.160 US as a student from Jamaica, right. 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:45.559 I came from a backgrown of working class single Pearan 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:49.800 household and she had her brothers, so I had an 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:53.440 extended family. You just run into anybody else. That's just 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:56.720 how it is in the community that came from properties, 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:00.880 almost like a community property. With Winni Switchers growing up 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:02.920 as an only child, a lot of times I was 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:06.280 with my grandmother, who was a retired teacher who I 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:09.679 think she instilled in me from a very early age 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:15.079 the love of knowledge, reading specifically, but I was drawn 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:20.080 to the sciences as I grew up, specifically biology. Then 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:25.400 I was always achieving in school without any extra. 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:30.800 Promping, and Trevor's academic achievement continued. His high scores on 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:33.799 placement tests put him in the best high school in 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.400 all of Jamaica, and soon it came time to take 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:39.880 the Jamaican equivalent to the SATs. 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:42.800 I know my mom at a single appearance. She always 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:46.359 told me to shoot for it without really being a 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:49.119 conviction that I was achieving, and in one day sure 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:52.440 enough came back. You have been accepted to City University 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.520 and your college. So when I got accepted, I was 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:02.360 another check caused a financial commitment that she wasn't really 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:05.520 prepared for tuition is like twice the amount of the 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:08.720 regular tuition when you be coming from a foreign country 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.240 or whatever. Because she always told me there's one man, 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:14.200 so she always had she said, I'm not rich, i 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:16.280 can't leave your riches, but I'm going to make sure 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.119 you get a good education. At that point in time, 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:21.239 because the promise was made, she found that we do 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:25.640 not miss a point with that note. This scramble was on, well, 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:29.040 who you gonna stay with housing arrangement blah blah blah, 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:33.200 and just extended friends and family and netwhek somewhere was 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.240 found to me that was in Queen's village. So I 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.160 ended up in Queen's going to your college. 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:43.960 So at this point Trevor is a pre med biology 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:48.240 major and he ended up graduating with honors. He is 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:52.000 planning to become a dentist, and he can pretty much 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.240 go to any school he wishes. 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:58.240 For this after I finished, was interested in one of 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:02.000 those schools in Philly like temp Law, University of pen 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:07.320 and Afferent from the neighborhood. He was actually resided in 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.680 Philadevasys to come back and forth. So he said, well, 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:12.920 whenever already actually should come up with him, and then 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:15.200 I could see with him in his apartment, and then 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:19.960 he was part of this community of Jamaican guys, young guys, 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:21.960 and I think it was doing his spring and the 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.520 summer's like somewhere around here when the weather was nice. 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:30.080 So usially screaming Soka dominos and as a nine young person, 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:32.600 initially to me, it was almost like a boys camp 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:35.520 because there are all these young guys, young Jamaicans, palier, 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:39.400 cohesive little unit and it was just a bold, fun 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:43.479 flirt with girls or whatever, just being a young man. 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:47.359 For some quick context here, it was the summer of 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:52.800 nineteen eighty eight, and while Trevor was enjoying this coming 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:58.400 of age experience, the crack epidemic had swept across many 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:03.359 American cities, and this also applied to Philadelphia. It appears 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.560 that some of the young men we've mentioned were involved. 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:09.599 I got to realize that they were involved in the 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:13.360 joke game, but was not right where we were seeing it. 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:15.920 There was just like an old hangover spot because it 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.680 was well kept. Us at one bad Jamika and elder 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:23.159 to us, and so we used to hang upstairs. But 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.480 jokes would be so from the base then, and. 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.719 It was soon discovered that this house on Louis Street 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:34.839 in Philadelphia was already under federal surveillance. The focus was 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:38.800 on a man named Franklin Watson. He was present on 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:43.200 the night of the incident September fourteenth into the fifteenth, 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:46.640 nineteen eighty eight, when the crew selling drugs out the 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:50.440 basement included a man named Kirk Crump, as well as 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:55.640 two brothers, Paul White and Everton Mead Johnson. Trevor showed 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:58.880 up with a man named Mikey Donovan who was visiting 0:05:59.000 --> 0:05:59.799 from out of town. 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:04.560 He was basically new to Philadelphia, not somebody I really 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:08.880 had no extensive long term relationship with. We've made each 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:12.680 other to somebody, and he said he wanted to what 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.440 phil it was like. We had a good Rahore at 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:15.840 that time. 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:19.840 So Trevor took Mikey Donovan to this hangout spot that 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:22.640 doubled as a drug house to see the owner of 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:26.640 the place, Rudy, but they spoke to Kirk Crump instead. 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:29.800 When I arrived, it was early in the morning, like 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:33.719 twif thirty one name, and I was surprised to see 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:36.279 a lot of the other guys upstairs in the living room. 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:38.719 But these are guys that I know. The guy I'm with, 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:42.240 Mike Donovan doesn't know them. So when I spoke to 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:45.880 her indication, he said something like, oh, so many people 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:48.320 in the house. Why so many people know? Something like that. 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:51.679 But it was a basically generalized conversation, not about whether 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.880 someone should be here or not. So Johnson in the 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:59.200 basements and stuff her he must have phone was offended 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:02.080 and that I don't know. And he found up the steps, 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.520 was like boom, boom, boom, flung the door open. That 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:08.039 it his lamp, and then his first words was, by 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:10.360 the fuck you want to know? So why so much 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:13.600 people know? Something like that very barely cooes his manner. 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:16.600 He liked to intimidate because he was kind of big, 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:19.760 but that's just his personality and how he acts. Mike 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:21.920 had done but who was right beside me? He don't 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.400 know the spurs and so he just basically he asked 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:26.880 me in a low tone, he asked me, who is 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:31.240 this guy? Why is he talking so rough? That further 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:36.320 inside chance, So he basically was like pussue you, oh, 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.240 the blue pursue you you know me and the code 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:42.720 up the streets at that time, a remark like that 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:48.560 basically that declaration of war, So that immediately escalated things. 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.400 I could not understand where's all of that coming from. 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:55.200 I was like, what can I be done? The deed escalated, 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:58.520 that was my first thought. He was like stepping towards 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:02.040 an aggressive times step. So I basically put myself in 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.760 between both of them, and I was pleading, minimisea listen, 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:08.000 calm don, what's this all about? That's uncalled for. So 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.920 I basically got him to step back and take a 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.560 seat on the stool. And he was in a steering 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.400 countest now with Michael donabout behind me. So it's a 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:20.160 hardcore great locked in this real tunnel vision with anger. 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:23.160 Yeah me, it's clearing at him, and I have no 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.320 clue what the reaction is going to be from Mikil 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.800 Japan who is behind me. And so I looked towards 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:30.760 the guy that was in the kitchen I was speaking 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:33.800 to and I said that where is really just all 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:37.920 the blue basically the giant change something? And he said 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:39.760 he just left. He went to the bus stop to 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:44.360 escort his daughter to work. So that basically gave me 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.160 an opportunity to know to a right, let me go 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.240 find him. So I'm just trying to divert that said 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:52.480 come let's go or something to that. I'm trying to 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.160 back down up and come, and took two more steps 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.080 towards the front doors. If you know me, this is 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.800 not big something like that. And when I look back 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:02.960 on more than I see him like a stepped back relax. 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:06.240 And therefore I figured that the game did worked because 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.360 that looked like nothing further gong go. So I hate 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:12.360 my step towards the front door, over the front door, 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:14.760 and I was ahead by a couple of steps. I 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.480 looked back and I was seeing Mikey Donner was just 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:20.240 emerging on the front door. So while I'm thinking that 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:23.360 I'm taking these steps towards the bust, I hear the 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:28.319 screen door clang again. I mean somebody had come out 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:30.760 by the time it shut. When I turned around on 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:34.080 the streets, Johnson was buying his car jump and his 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.400 car trunk was already opened and he was reaching in. 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:43.600 Mike Donovan was on the sidewalk. Johnson said something. Most 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:48.200 likely it would have been something intimidating, and the moment 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:51.920 he said something, Mikey Donovan pulled I've gone out of 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:53.960 his ways and hop fire immediately. 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:15.920 Everton Meet Johnson was shot fatally. According to the autopsy report, 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:18.679 the bullet entered from the back of his body toward 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:23.800 the front. Perhaps Mikey Donovan didn't wait for me Johnson 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:27.040 to turn around and fire, and since the scene of 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.480 the crime was in front of a drug house, it 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:33.320 appears no one stuck around to speak to the police, 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:39.040 except for the victim's brother, Paul White. According to others, 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:42.840 Paul had tried to stop his brother from following Donovan 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.800 and then he ran to the basement to get help 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:49.599 during the shooting, but he told police something else. 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.600 Because he had never seen Mike Donovan in his life. 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.480 He immediately told them he saw two people shoot his 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:03.959 brother find me along with this unknown Jamaican me that 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.440 you know. He said, I had a Tech nine, a 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.439 big machine gun and mine and a handgun. And he 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:12.640 said both the bos basically ambushim at the corner of 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:15.400 the car, and I was shooting and Danavan was shooting. 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:18.559 The seven shot fat. So that was basically what he 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:20.640 told them at the scene of the cramp what the 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:23.560 state is now because it happened at a joke host the 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:28.120 state really created this narrative of a joke curve for 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.240 r peer. So they took that and said, well, it 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.040 was a dispute of who was supposed to sell jokes 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:36.880 of the hose now me and just have friends from 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:39.400 back then, you know what I mean we had. Anyways, that's 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:42.240 not all we operate. If he wanted to sell jokes 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:44.120 or the house he had, all right, Kirk is one 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:47.280 selling know, so anybody could make some type of arrangement 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:51.719 with Kirk or whatever. So it wasn't no circumstance that 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.640 we would be in competition or anything like that. It 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:59.800 just a third story. But the state basically said I 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.160 took it upon myself to eliminate my arrivals. 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:08.960 So Trevor was arrested and over time, this unknown Jamaican 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:10.959 is eliminated from the. 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.960 Narrative, so nobody could identify, nobody knew where he was. 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:20.160 So basically, after I was made to target, the state 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:24.120 and everyone does didn't even try to final anything. Thirred 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:27.319 about the microdynamo that that's just how it works. They 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:30.000 had to target that they wanted, and everything was gear 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:33.080 to get this targeted regardless. What is my turn up? 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:37.680 Speaking of? While Trevor sat in pre trial detention for 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:42.480 nearly two years. The separate federal investigation of the drug 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:46.440 house closed in on Franklin Watson, who was present on 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.679 the night of the murder and tried to trade information 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:54.640 for leniency, And this was three weeks before trial in 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:59.560 January nineteen ninety. The Feds told the prosecution about this witness, 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:04.480 but for reasons that we'll discuss later, the defense remained 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:08.959 in the dark about this and a number of other things, including, 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.440 for instance, why the state wanted a bench trial. 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:15.480 When I got to the court room, I requested the 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.400 jury trial, and then my lawyer got very old rage 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.960 and told me that he had an agreement with the 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.040 prosecute that's did not seek the head penalty if I 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.400 took a non jury trial. But I still was trying 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:31.720 to be adamant. So a couple of minutes before the 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:34.720 trial started, my mom was there and she came to 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:38.320 me in tears and distraughts, telling me that I should 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:40.920 listen to the lawyer because he told her that they 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:44.319 don't like Jamaicans in Philadelphia at that time, and I'm 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.120 going to try in the electric cheer and she was 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:50.240 so broken that that broke me. Just to see her 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:54.560 so distraught, So I rel ended and basically went along. 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:59.160 So perhaps the state was confident that the assigned judge 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:03.880 would give them their desired result, as would Franklin Watson. 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.480 The morning of the trial, the prosecutor announced as a 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:11.040 surprise witness just walked into his office five minutes before 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.960 the trial started and said he was there, and this 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:14.880 is how he announced it. 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:15.360 Rotson. 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:19.800 So when he puts him understand, Watson testifies that he 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:23.520 was present. What is the first person ever said that 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.520 there was an argument in the house in the kitchen 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:31.960 between Johnson and I over who should sell jokes from 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:35.600 that location. And then he said for the first time 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:39.760 also that I brandished a weapon in the house and 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.960 had to be restrained by others. Then I walked out, 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:47.320 Johnson followed me out. We began to fight outside for 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.120 one minute by the car trump and then I got 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:53.800 the better of Johnson, pulled the weapon and shot him 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:58.320 multiple times from close range, and no one else was involved. 0:14:58.600 --> 0:14:59.880 Blah blah blah. 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:04.720 So, in contrast to Paul White's original statement about two shooters, 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:09.880 Watson named Trevor as the loan shooter, and on cross examination, 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:14.560 Trevor's attorney was able to expose Watson's vulnerability. 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:17.800 He got the fact that Watson was a federal informant. 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:20.680 I understand, but the lawyer he never followed up the 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.400 final what was happening? What did he say to defense? 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:25.840 It was just less that that just came out. So 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:29.200 basically that was how he impeached the credibility. And as 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:33.200 soon as he finished testifying, the prosecutor arrested their case. 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.000 They were like, well, we're not going to call the 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:39.200 original White now no more. Werested my lawyer objective. He 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:43.240 requested a mistrial, saying, Yeerona, it's a child by ambush. 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:46.360 We have been waiting for this case for over two years. 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:50.640 We have all this discovery. Nowhere in the entire discovery 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.640 was a Watson mention. They brought this person at the 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.320 twelfth hour claiming that he is a surprise waitness and 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.240 now they want to rest the case. They had the sidebar, 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.320 and then prosecutor relented and said our year and postponed 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:05.600 the case for one day and then we will bring 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:07.000 White the following him. 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:12.120 Additionally, and this is absent from the record, Watson escaped 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:17.160 a potential thirty year sentence in exchange for this testimony 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:19.080 and then came Paul White. 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:22.000 So the next day he brought White to the standard 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:25.880 and the White entire testimony was radically different and it 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:31.840 mimicked almost play by play, what Watson said. So initially 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:35.080 White was talking about two people shooting. Now he changed 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.960 and he said there was only one person and that 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:41.560 was me. And he also added an altercation because it 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:44.680 was never an adducation mentioned anywhere at the scene of 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:46.440 the crime or at the preliminary year and. 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:47.480 A year after. 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:50.600 But at the trial he testified it was an altercation, 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:53.320 but he said it didn't last a minute. He said 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:56.880 it lasted a few seconds before a brandish a weapon 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:01.840 and Shaq Johnson. So that's how his testimony changed to 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:05.560 mimic what Watson said, but he did not repeat the 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.640 allegation of it was an argument over job. 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:14.439 Unfortunately, the inconsistencies between White statements as well as how 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:19.440 they were inconsistent with Watson's, these issues are never pointed 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:20.320 out to the judge. 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:24.200 Well, I him in the head with a gun. You 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:25.960 know you hit somebody in the head with a gun. 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:28.840 Be authors to going to show us a specific mark 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:31.560 that I've gone with. Leave And then White after what 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:34.960 he said the federal informant was not there to weakness, 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:37.879 and the federal informant said White was not there. He 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:40.720 said White was in the basement, and a federal informant 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:44.560 said I had a chrome nine millimeter. White said first 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:47.359 it was a Tick nine machine handgun, and then at 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:49.639 the child testimony he said it was a nine milimeter 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:50.480 but it was grown. 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:55.920 So without these glaring inconsistencies pointed out or what else 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:58.919 was hidden from the court at the time the judge 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:03.720 made his decision on the first degree murder, criminal conspiracy, 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:05.680 and weapons charges. 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:09.359 He basically summarized the case and said it was a straightforward, 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:13.840 clear cut case of joke urs dispute, and I did 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.959 defend and took it upon myself to eliminate my rival 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:21.040 once and for all by gunning him down in cold 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:23.679 and within less than sixty seconds. 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:28.360 I was sawing it with the automatic sendments of life, 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:32.560 but of the passability of broad and my mom was there, 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:48.280 so I know that basically broker Art. When I'm looking 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:52.560 back to the whole scenario, it was basically a present 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:58.320 with a foregun conclusion. Maybe two months after I was convicted, 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:02.879 I received a statement that was made three weeks before 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:07.000 matrial by what to the federal authorities, which was a 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:11.359 part of his pleats to the federal authorities. And in 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:15.600 the statement it was Excotory specifically stated that he was 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:19.520 present at the chance to shooting, that Johnson was shot 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:24.080 by Mikey Dana Vlan and I was merely a bystander, 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:26.800 and that was just three weeks before my child. And 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:31.080 he spoke to the faith and told him basically actual 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.800 version of events, and then came into the stage and 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:38.440 gave a own separate contra victory statement. 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:39.560 For state prosecutor. 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:45.600 This was clearly a Brady violation. It upended the state's case. 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.840 So this one Trevor an evidentiary hearing on direct appeal. 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:52.960 The same judge that convicted me had an evidential here 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.720 in five six months after I was convicted. The federal 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:01.879 prosecutors would understand when they carrabber the authenticity of the 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:05.760 Watson Pree Deal statement that I had. So when they 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:08.760 saw that I was able able to trial the case, 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:13.520 they contacted this prosecutor and conveyed the information that he 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:15.920 might have the wrong perpetrator. And that is how this 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:20.560 prosecutor became aware of Franklin Watson and made arrangements to 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:25.480 interview was one of the federal prosecutors said he specifically 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:29.600 recall that name sax because the saxophone or something that 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:30.160 that is saying. 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:34.680 So it appears that Trevor's prosecutor, Richard Sachs, received this 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:40.000 information that Trevor was indeed an innocent bystander, but somehow 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:44.080 on the eve of the trial, Watson changed his story. 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:48.200 This allowed Sacks to forge ahead with the prosecution anyway, 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.040 in spite of the federal prosecutor's efforts. 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:55.280 They gave it to him orally over the phone, Prosecutor 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.920 Toulist and also he said he didn't receive a specific 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:02.639 information that he might have the wrong perpetrator. So they 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:05.920 contradicted each other. But the judge said he found both 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:06.879 bodies to be. 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:11.600 Truthful, even though these testimonies are indirect contradiction. 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:15.120 And then the judge it meantal gymnastics by saying, since 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:20.320 the federal arts or conveyed the information orally over the 0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:24.399 telephone and not in writing, the information would not amount 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:28.600 to really because of state prosecutor had nothing physically to 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:31.879 turn over to the defense. Wow. Yeah, But then he 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:34.720 went even Further, I guess he knows that wouldn't pass 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:37.720 the smell this, so he came up with this rational. 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:40.240 He said, well, even if the document was available and 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:43.879 turned over to the defense and the federal informal testified 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:48.800 exactly the exculpulary statement he made in that document, he 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:52.720 would still have found me guilty, not as a perpetrate 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:56.119 at this time, but as a co con spirit and 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:00.480 the laws at that time it will be sentenced exactly 0:22:00.680 --> 0:22:02.960 the same way of mandatory life with oparole. 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:07.280 Even though the only witness, Watson, who even said anything 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:11.159 about a criminal conspiracy, the Trevor had allegedly killed me 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:14.640 Johnson to take out a rival dealer. That witness had 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:17.440 just been clearly proven to lie. 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:21.040 So I told my lawyer immediately, as we have to 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:23.680 appeal this, and he was like, of course, So he 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:26.920 agreed to file an appeal, and they sent me off 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:29.280 state note and I was absolutely in the hole at 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:32.359 that time. And weeks went by and then let us 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:34.919 never got real response, never weeks and weeks went by, 0:22:34.960 --> 0:22:37.879 and then I reached over to my family, contact this 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:40.879 lawyer and they find out what's going on with my appeal. 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:44.760 He informed them that did not file an appeal within 0:22:44.840 --> 0:22:48.000 the timeframe. The thurnit the window to find the notice 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:52.600 of appeal, so the issue became waved. According to the 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:57.520 legal language, was basically I gave up on that issue, and. 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:01.800 With that failure is barred from raising the issue again 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:05.000 in state court. So he tries federal court. 0:23:05.320 --> 0:23:08.680 There's a federal magistrate that the case and he ordered 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:11.320 that I be retried within one hundred and twenty days 0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:15.480 are re released. The state appeal his decision, and the 0:23:15.640 --> 0:23:22.200 district judge reversed the magistrates and uphel the conviction, maintaining 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:26.320 that there was a procedural default. Therefore, the federal courts 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:32.240 cannot entertain this issue whatsoever because the state did not 0:23:32.359 --> 0:23:36.680 get full opportunity to reverse their own mistake or their 0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:40.240 own issue. And I appeal that to the appellate court 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:43.240 at the federal level. They ruled that they were very 0:23:43.320 --> 0:23:47.760 troubled by the circumstances of this case and they clearly 0:23:48.480 --> 0:23:52.760 articulated that they will not decide this case on the merits. 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:56.560 Whether or not this judge is ruling that oral communication 0:23:56.960 --> 0:24:01.280 is not pretty. However, they could not welcome the procedural 0:24:01.480 --> 0:24:04.520 default the issue, but that claimed to be entertained in 0:24:04.600 --> 0:24:09.639 the federal courts. So as a result, they upheld the conviction, 0:24:10.160 --> 0:24:14.720 with the astering that they were very troubled by the circumstances. 0:24:15.600 --> 0:24:19.320 So the case breaking evidence that surfaced back in nineteen 0:24:19.480 --> 0:24:24.160 ninety has effectively been newter by the system since nineteen 0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:28.800 ninety one. The fight was fortunately revived in twenty eleven. 0:24:29.160 --> 0:24:31.080 This is when the man who was in the kitchen 0:24:31.200 --> 0:24:34.720 that night, Kurt Crump, sent Trevor an affidavit. 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:41.159 The affidavit basically clarified that he operated residence and that 0:24:41.440 --> 0:24:44.320 it is the victim. Johnson was one of his friends. 0:24:44.359 --> 0:24:47.560