WEBVTT - #495 Jason Flom with Gary Benloss 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:07.240 Since we first covered the case of Gary ben Loss 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:09.440 back in October of twenty twenty two, there have been 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:14.400 some really exciting developments. Together with Gary's legal team and 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.680 other advocates, we've been able to convince the Brooklyn DA's 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:21.360 office to ask a judge to resence him from twenty 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:24.400 five to life to twenty two to life, making him 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:28.240 immediately eligible for parole. And they did this on the 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:33.640 grounds of compassion, his amazing track record in prison, various 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:37.760 advanced degrees, you know, being a leader in the Choices Program, 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:42.880 Honor Block of literally an absolute star, and they acknowledged 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:47.000 that Gary doesn't represent a threat to society. He never did. 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:51.880 So the whole team remains committed to clearing his name. 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:57.360 But in the meantime, Gary was released yesterday, November twentieth, 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:03.480 twenty twenty four, and it was beautiful, well. 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:06.360 Damn blind luck. 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:12.319 That feeling never gets old. So Gary, best of luck 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:15.479 as you continue to fight to clear your name. And 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:20.679 now please check out our original coverage of the insane 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:26.520 case of Gary ben Loss. On April tenth, two thousand 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:29.320 and two, on Linden Boulevard in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:31.560 a man named Victor Vulcan was shot and killed in 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:35.920 broad daylight just after school had let out. Fortunately, no 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.080 one else was heard as people ran to their buildings 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.279 for cover, including a young father named Gary ben Loss 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:44.840 who had had prior run ins with the police. Nine 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:48.040 one one callers and eyewitnesses described the shooter with short hair, 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:50.480 dark skin, and a similar build to the victim, who 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:53.960 was five ten and one hundred and sixty eight pounds. However, 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.760 one alleged witness, Anthony Holder, who did not give a 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.760 description of the shooter, set among other falsehoods, that the 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:04.160 saleen's nickname was Chucky. Gary Benloss was known as Chucky, 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:06.240 but he was over six three and two hundred and 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:10.320 fifty pounds with a seven inch high afro. A photo 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.160 of a much younger and slimmer Gary with short hair 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:16.760 was put into a photo array, eliciting identification from Anthony 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:20.680 Holder and one other witness. However, once that other witness 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:23.519 saw Gary a trial, she too joined all the other 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:28.040 witnesses in denying Gary's involvement. Holders pending charges for which 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:31.079 it is believed that he received leniency in exchange for cooperation, 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:35.240 were hidden by the state, and somehow the jury believed 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:38.760 his bizarre testimony that included a non existent second victim, 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:43.480 sending Gary away for twenty five to life. This is 0:02:43.560 --> 0:03:01.440 wrongful conviction. Welcome back to conviction. Today, we have a 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:04.600 Brooklyn case dating back to two thousand and two in 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:08.320 which several witnesses described a gunman that looked wildly different 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:11.800 from our guest today, Gary Benlass, a guy that I 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:14.880 came to know through my friendship with a previous guest 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:18.760 on our show, John Adrian Velasquez. Now Gary is joining 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.200 us from sing Sing and I'm glad you're here with us, 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.840 even though I hate the reason why you're here. But Gary, 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:28.160 welcome to the show. Thank you, You're very welcome. And 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:30.120 with him is a man whose voice she'll probably recognize 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:32.359 from other appearances here with us where he's been advocating 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:36.840 for Nelson Cruz, Marcus Wiggins, Vincent Simmons, and so many more. 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:38.440 Justin bonus, welcome back. 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:40.720 It's great to be back on the show. Appreciate it 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:41.160 all right. 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:43.520 So, Gary, before we get into the reason why we're 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.120 here today, can you tell us a little bit about 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:46.960 your life growing up. 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:50.720 I was born July twenty sixth, nineteen eighty to a 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:55.080 proud single mother, who migrated from the rural country area 0:03:55.360 --> 0:04:00.720 of Jamaica, West Indies, moved to America where she resided 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:02.440 in Flatbush, Brooklyn. 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.520 And your nickname was Chucky, right, how I mean, where 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:06.440 does that come from? 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:11.120 At the age of nine, I received the nickname Chuckles. 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:16.360 Being poor no farther around at school, kids could be 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:21.040 very cruel. So as a defense mechanism, I was one 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:24.000 of those kids who used to always like to joke 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:28.000 and laugh. That's how I got the moniker Chuckles. Always 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:30.240 had people laughing, always. 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:33.320 Joking, and that nickname ended up playing a part in 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:36.640 your wrongful conviction. But before all of that, in the 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.000 summer of nineteen ninety six, you had your first encounter 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:41.840 with one of the detectives on this case, Robert Reedy. 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:46.479 He knows me because on my fifteenth birthday I was 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:51.320 jump assaulted and hospitalized. He was actually the detective on 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:55.560 the case, and he wanted not just for me, you know, 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:59.280 to snitch on the guys that hospitalized me, but he 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:03.800 wanted me to become a neighborhood snatch. So the case 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:07.720 against those who are sawed me never went to court, 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.320 and I never became this snitch for a detective reading, 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:14.279 I said, it's not happening. 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:17.159 Right, So you refused to help Ready. And then the 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.240 following spring you ran into some more trouble, but this 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:21.680 time you were the assailant. 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.000 At the age of sixteen March of nineteen ninety seven, 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.880 I made a very foolish mistake, but I'm not proud. 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:31.880 It was a lesson that I needed to learn. So, 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:36.640 because of growing up being poor, I followed a friend 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:41.359 of mine into a pizzeria to rob the pizzeria. I 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:46.240 took full responsibility, and I cocked out to one to 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:53.160 three years right. And I've been haunted by the NYPD 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:53.960 ever since. 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:56.640 And I'd like the audience to take note here when 0:05:56.680 --> 0:06:00.880 guilty people usually take plea deals it makes sense. I mean, hell, 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.200 even innocent people take plea deals if it makes more sense, 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:06.240 which it often does than fighting the charges, like our 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:09.800 friend Deeter te Hata. So you did a few years 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.680 as a juvenile in a men's prison, paid your debt 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.480 to society, and after your release, you moved back in 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.520 with your mother at two eighteen Linden Boulevard and Flat Push, 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:22.200 where you remained on the NYPD's radar leading up to 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:24.760 this crime. In two thousand and two. But before we 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:28.480 get into all those details, justin we've seen this kind 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:32.000 of thing before more than once, where the cops just 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:33.840 crab a guy with a record, whether they did a 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:38.760 crime or not. And as our listeners will surely recognize, Brooklyn, 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:41.279 especially in the eighties, nineties and into the two thousands, 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.760 was fraught with wrongful conviction cases and issues like I 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:50.280 wouldn't submits identification, coerced and incentifized witnesses who made misidentifications, 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:54.200 sometimes knowingly by the way, and of course crazily corrupted 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:59.919 identification procedures. And in this case we have all the 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.479 those factors. And at the helm of the investigation we 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:06.880 had detectives Robert Reedy and John mcgerrin, as well as 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:10.640 King's County assistant DA Kyle Reeves. And I feel like 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:12.960 I've heard his name before, Kyle Reeves, right. 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:17.840 Yes, absolutely, Jabbar Washington. I believe Jabbar was exonerated in 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:22.160 twenty eighteen. Kyle Reeves in that case had withheld Brady evidence, 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:26.800 put witnesses on the stand that testified falsely. Then Reeves 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:31.320 pushed forward with prosecuting someone for murder. I believe it 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:33.760 was a fight of some sort, and it turned out 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:37.680 that the mother of the victim actually sued the hospital 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:41.880 for medical malpractice, wrongful death, that the hospital caused the death. 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.160 I know that he had some issues. He left the 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.560 DA's office in Brooklyn and he went to Staten Island, 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:50.800 and I know he had some issues in Staten Island 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.520 with witnesses and then left. And now he's in private practice. 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:58.080 So he has a history of prosecuting cases that he 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.760 shouldn't and two not turning over exculpatory material. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.120 I mean, I'd like to point out prior misconduct just 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:06.600 to give the audience an idea of who we were 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:09.679 dealing with. But to be fair, Reeves doesn't really sound 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:14.320 like an outlier. Knowingly prosecuting innocent people and heidek exculpatory 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.200 evidence to make it stick. Sounds like the usual playbook. 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:17.840 In New York. 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:19.800 It's a little different because it's a lot harder to 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:24.280 catch them, and he's been caught. New York is different 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:28.920 in that there's usually no forensic investigation, no paper right, 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.320 no paper trail, whereas a lot of other places there's 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:35.959 a lot of paper here. These are very short, choppy statements. 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:39.400 The police don't write as much down and then prosecutors 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.760 even when the case falls apart, they are able to 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:45.920 hang their hat on somebody like Anthony Holder, who's the 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:49.280 only witness that testified at trial, A Garribbin Lost committed 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:49.840 this murder. 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:52.559 And we're going to talk a lot more about this 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:56.840 alleged eyewitness, Anthony Holder. And I say alleged because his 0:08:56.960 --> 0:09:01.200 description of the crime conflicted with both real and with 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:05.520 every other eyewitness. All of them corroborated each other, and 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:10.360 none of them described or ultimately identified Gary in person. Now, 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:13.920 Anthony Holder was a building super right who were intended 0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:16.599 on Gary's block, and he's the guy who's credited with 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:20.240 throwing Gary's nickname Chucky to the cops right into the 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.480 mix after the crime. Gary, did you know this guy Holder? 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:29.160 So, Anthony Holder is the super of I believe two 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.280 of the buildings on land them Boulevard across the street 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.960 from mine. So I didn't live there, but my friends did, 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:40.040 so I'm visiting them. Anthony Holder never used to like 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:43.040 when my friends and I will hang out on the stool, 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:47.080 so in the courtyards of the building, it wasn't like 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:51.520 we was causing any disruption being disrespectful. 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:54.160 Okay, So he didn't like you, but he didn't have 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.000 a real beef with you, but maybe he didn't care 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:00.120 if he used you to stay at a prison. That's 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.080 what it seems like to me. As it becomes clear 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:05.240 much later, holder had some pending charges for which he 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:09.360 likedly received leniency for his testimony in this case, but 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:12.400 a trial. That deal was when you've heard this before, 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.400 that deal was hidden by assistant DA Kyle Reeves. And 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.440 now here we are, so let's get to the clime itself. 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.040 This was April tenth, two thousand and two, a sunny 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:25.640 spring day, on Linden Boulevard in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Now this 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.880 is a broad street with an east and westbound side, 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:31.679 a turning lane down the middle street, parking on either side, 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.440 so about five lanes of cars wide if you can 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.600 picture that. And there are apartment buildings on either side, 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.439 so tons of people in the area. It's a bustling 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.360 street scene. And the shooting happened in front of two 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:46.720 oh one Linden Boulevard where you lived, across the street 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:48.800 and down the block at number two eighteen. 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:53.720 So it's about three and afternoon, the weather extremely nice, 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:58.040 the blocks are extremely extremely busy, people are out enjoy 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:02.079 the weather. School is Latin out. As I am approaching 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:06.280 my building, the first blood shot right now, and that's 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.960 when I started seeing everybody starting to run, and I 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:11.800 ran right into my building. 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:16.000 And according to corroborating eyewitness accounts, two men, the victim 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:18.160 in this case, Victor Vulcan, and the shooter got into 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:20.760 an argument. Welcome was shot four or five times, and 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:23.320 then a mail carrier woman named Letim and Boten gave 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:27.000 police a description, as did another woman named Paula Edgehill, 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:29.520 who called nine one one and spoke to a dispatcher. 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:33.880 So you had let him in Bolton, who's the mail carrier? 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.080 And the nine one one callers, who described the shooter 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:40.800 as a dark skin five foot eight, short hair let 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:44.520 him in. Boden actually, in a statement to police, described 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:48.360 the shooter as similarly built to the victim in the case. 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:53.160 Now, the victim, Victor Vulcan, was one hundred and sixty 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:55.640 eight pounds, so the nine one one caller and Boten's 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:59.800 accounts corroborated each other. Now, Gary, what did you look 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:00.720 like at this time? 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:05.040 I was about six three, two forty years and I 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.720 had a very large afro and I'm light skinned. 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:13.199 No one describes the afro. That's the other major major issue. 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:16.880 I mean, was this like a close cropped afro? How 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:18.720 much volume are we talking about here? 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:23.120 It would have to be roughly sixty seven inches. 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.800 Okay, so that's a remarkable haird Like, I mean, people 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:31.120 aren't going to miss a seven inch i afro. But unfortunately, 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:35.120 this giant discrepancy didn't seem to matter to Anthony Holder 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:39.000 or the detectives, and later didn't matter either to the 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:42.600 prosecutor in the case. So what did Anthony Holder's statement 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:46.480 to police say? This alternate version of events. 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:52.400 And Anthony Holder says that Chucky is talking to some girls. Uh, 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:56.400 they say, get at him, Chucky. Nobody else describes this, 0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:00.320 by the way. Then he says that Chucky began to 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:02.520 argue with this guy and pulls a gun out of 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:06.439 a bag and then shoots the guy. And Anthony Holder 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:09.400 he doesn't describe Gary at all, and he never gives 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.160 a description. So all he does, Anthony Holder is drop 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:15.800 a nickname. And the police know the nickname because they're 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:16.960 familiar with Gary. 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:20.280 And we're not even sure who brought up the nickname first. 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:24.760 Perhaps Anthony Holder decided to trade information false information. Let's 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:26.920 call it what it is, about a neighborhood guy who 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:30.200 he didn't really like in exchange for leniency and his 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:34.280 pending charges, or the lead detectives who knew Gary from 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:36.839 both previous incidents when he was an assault victim who 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:40.600 refused to snitch and then the robbery. Now, of course 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.600 i'm referring to detectives Robert Reedy and John mcgerrin. 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:47.640 It was recently going over the DD fives I've come 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:52.120 across John mcgurn's DD five. He says that he was 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:58.080 at two eighteen Lyndon Boulevard when he receives information that 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:03.280 the shooter is a god by the name of Chuckles. 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:09.320 Only people that use the name Chuckles is people that 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:15.520 went to elementary school with me. Anthony Holden never said Chuckles. 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:21.920 Anthony holder says Chucky. So before John mcgarnan we see 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:26.120 any information in regards to the shooter, he was already 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:29.560 at two eighteen. The shooting happened at two o one 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:33.320 lend Him Boulevard. We have nine to one one calls 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:38.560 police reports that says the shooter ran into one eighty 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:43.600 Lendon Boulevard. It was never a police call to respond 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:49.000 to too eighteen. Why are you at two eighteen? Right? 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:51.920 The nine one one call said one eighty Linden Boulevard. 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:54.720 But McGurn went straight to your building and claimed to 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.520 hear that the assailant was named Chuckles, your original nickname 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:00.640 that had evolved into Chucky over time. 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:05.400 Exactly. Mc gurn's already knew who I was the same 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:08.280 way detective really already knew who I was. 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:11.960 So this isn't definitive proof, but it certainly looks like 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:16.480 they were immediately directing the investigation towards you without cause 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:19.480 either way. Your nickname was now part of this investigation. 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:22.880 And then they take this and they and they run 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:27.040 with it, and they put a photo array together very 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:31.760 soon after the shooting. And why the photo array was 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:37.240 really important is because the picture of Gary is of 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.760 when he was I believe eighteen years old. By the 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.080 time he was twenty one, he was much heavier than 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:46.440 he was when he was eighteen. He didn't even look 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.320 like the same person, and he had short hair when 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:50.600 he was eighteen. 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.880 Oh right, So they showed this misleading photo array with 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.760 an eighteen year old, slimmer looking Gary importantly with no 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:02.560 afro but short hair instead. Right, as the witnesses that 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:07.400 initially described the assailant, I mean it's so dirty, it's amazing. 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:11.200 And the mail carrier let him in boten looking at 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:16.040 this old photograph gave a tepid identification, right, and the 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:21.240 incentivized alleged witness, Anthony Holder, gave an idea as well. Now, 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:25.840 Anthony Holder also allegedly told him that the shooter had 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:29.520 a black duffelback. No other witnesses reported seeing this, and 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:32.800 in the continued effort to get to Gary, investigators put 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:35.560 pressure on a guy from your building, a guy named 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:38.920 Roger Isaac, who at about five eight, dark skinned with 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:42.520 short hair, better match the description of the shooter, and 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.080 so he was snatched up shortly after the shooting. 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:48.800 Roger Isaac, I feel the phone, I really do. He's 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.080 oblivious to what's going on. They jump out on him 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:55.960 and say he's being arrested with the murder. They bring 0:16:56.040 --> 0:17:00.160 him down to the stage in his DD five. He 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.720 saw me come into the building, throw a bag into 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:05.800 department and come right back out. 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:09.399 So now they have someone corroborating Holder about you and 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:13.840 the alleged black bag. And then Roger Isaac allegedly described 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:16.880 you as five foot eight two hundred pounds, but again, 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:20.879 you're over six foot three and at least two hundred 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:23.320 and forty at the time, and he said nothing about 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:27.200 your impressive afro, which is very telling because the only 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:30.840 picture that detectives McGurrin and Reedy had at that time 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.760 was from when you were eighteen years old. It looks 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:36.119 like they still thought that you were under two hundred 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:39.959 pounds was short hair. So they brought Roger Isaac down 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.800 to the precinct where he allegedly made this statement implicating 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:46.840 you carrying this non existent black Duffel bag. And we're 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:49.680 getting ahead of ourselves here, but at trial, this alleged 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:54.280 statement from the D five unravels for the prosecution exactly. 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:59.760 At trial, assistant this attorney, Kyle Reeves, is trying to 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:04.720 have Roger Isaac testify that he saw me run into 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:08.280 the building go back into the barment, so he gives 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:10.879 them the DD five and that's when the cat is 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.440 that at the bat he did the DD five. He said, 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:16.200 I don't recall saying none of this. He says that 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:19.200 he was in a cell and that the police roughed 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:21.919 them up, assaulted mister Roger Isaac. 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:24.880 It sounds like they might have just written that statement 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:26.160 up just for him to sign. 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:29.440 There was no signature. This is typed up, and then 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:33.040 you have the officer's signature. So there's no Roger Isaac 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:37.240 right in and saying I dually swear of this being authentic. 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:38.440 There's none of that. 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:41.560 So this sham statement in Roger Isaacs DD five blew 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.280 up in Kyle reaves his face at trial. But in 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:47.960 the immediate aftermath of the crime, this same DD five 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:51.280 corroborated Anthony Holder. They had already tricked led him in 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:54.280 voting into making the ID with that phony baloney photo array. 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:56.920 So now they're closing in on you, but you didn't 0:18:56.960 --> 0:18:59.719 even know it. So let's go back to the immediate 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.239 after youth shots rang out, you got to safety, and 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:05.679 after things calmed down, you went out to handle a 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:07.800 few errands before your three month old son and his 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:11.600 mother arrived later on from Queen's. Now, at that time, 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:14.399 you had gone to a friend's in Bushwick when a 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:17.359 neighborhood friend paged you to tell you that the police 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:18.360 had raided your apartment. 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:22.200 He said, Yo, the police just went into your apartment. 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.800 So I called my mother. When she goes home, the 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:29.080 police are still there. They asked her to sign a 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:33.119 consent form to search. They already searched her ready, so 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:36.920 now they're using her consent to cover their eyes. 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.679 So the police legally searched your apartment looking for this 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:44.240 alleged black double bag, but they came up empty, and 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:47.240 they got your mom to give consent to the search 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:48.439 after the fact. 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:53.040 So at this time, again, I'm not even aware that 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.840 someone even died. It wasn't until they I speak to 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:01.679 my mother, she says. Detective really gave her. Is called 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:05.280 for me to call. He said a guy was shot 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:08.320 and killed and they're looking to speak to me about it. 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:12.000 I have nothing to hide, so I called him. He said, 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:17.120 people are saying that you killed this guy. I said 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:19.399 it to him, I don't know what you're talking about. 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:23.000 I've just had a son. I have no reason to 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:27.160 be out killing anybody. He said, well, you know, let's 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:29.800 meet up somewhere. I said, that's not happening. I am 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:33.640 not comfortable meeting you guys, and you talking about y'are 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:36.280 looking for me because somebody got killed. 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:38.960 He said, oh, you know, just n cally change in mind, 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:41.280 and this is right. After nine to eleven. So the 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:45.320 police had all these sweeping new powers from the Patriot Act, 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:49.200 and they triangulated your position from the cell signal and 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:53.560 found you over at your friends in Bushwick. But what's 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:58.080 weird is that they're looking for the old version of you, right, 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:02.240 They're looking for the eighteen year old, slimmer, short haired 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:06.200 Gary from the photo array, not the fully grown out, 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:08.720 much heavier, twenty one year old Gary with a seven 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:13.600 inch high afro who looks nothing close to the Eyewinness descriptions. 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:16.960 So both you and the police are confused. Now can 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:19.720 you describe what happened during your arrest. 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:22.719 It's like one of those scenes in almost like a 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:26.399 die Hard movie. The whole block is just filled with, 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:31.359 you know, squad cars and police officers and police officers 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:34.760 on the rules and the helicopters. As they were going 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:39.960 in to the building, I was coming out, right, I'm 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:44.160 not knowing they're coming for me. All right, I'm going 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:48.720 to the store and here all these police officers. I 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:50.960 look at them, they look at me. I'll go and 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:55.360 I walk to the store, not running. Walking. As I'm 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:58.480 in the store, the door opened and then a head 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:02.080 pokes in. He said, Hey, did you just come from 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.520 and he recites to build a number, and I said yes. 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:08.719 He asked me what my name is, and I tell 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:12.560 him my name is Guy Bella. He said, please put 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:16.600 your hands behind your back. So again I ain't say, Oh, 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:21.320 my name is George Jeffrey Calvin. So I'm not evading 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:25.080 being identified. Does this sound like the actions of a 0:22:25.080 --> 0:22:25.840 guilty man. 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:29.360 Of course not. But it's crazy because you didn't think 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:32.560 they were even there for you, and they thought they 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:35.880 were looking for a guy who could potentially fit the description. 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:39.400 But as we see here in your case, the description 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:42.560 really didn't matter to them. They just move forward anyway. 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:46.920 So you're arrested. Detective Ready questioned you. You told him 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:48.920 what you're telling us here today, that you had absolutely 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:51.239 nothing to do with it, and then they put you 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:51.880 in a lineup. 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:55.880 Then that lineup was was conducted by Robert Reedy, and 0:22:56.040 --> 0:22:59.199 Robert Reedy at least one time a couple of years 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:04.840 after this case admitted to essentially taining a lineup in 0:23:04.880 --> 0:23:07.000 a photo right, and the case was thrown out on 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:11.480 that basis. So Robert Reedy knew who Gary was, and 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:14.439 he violated best practices. He shouldn't have been involved with 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:15.840 the lineup at all, but he was. 0:23:16.160 --> 0:23:18.840 So they take me out of the cell and now 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:22.320 I'm going to go for this lineup. They took the 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:26.000 clothes I was wearing, gave something else to put on, 0:23:26.520 --> 0:23:29.520 and then they told me to put on a shower 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:33.800 cap to hide my ear. And that's when I started O. 0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:36.240 I said, hell no, I said, oh, what's I doing? 0:23:36.560 --> 0:23:39.280 And I looked at Ready and I said, Rideo, you 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:42.040