WEBVTT - #461 Jason Flom with Anthony Legion 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:06.440 In the early morning hours of January twenty fourth, two 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:10.039 thousand and one, gunfire erupted in front of a house 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:14.600 in Detroit, Michigan. Twenty five year old Jamon Mcatyre ran 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:20.120 toward a nearby alley, where his assailants finished the job. Initially, 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:24.520 two alleged witnesses claimed that they didn't see the assailants, 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:28.080 but a few weeks later, one of them identified three 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:34.000 men from a photo array, including Anthony Legion. Despite claims 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.280 of innocence from all three men, an alleged cellmate claimed 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:42.600 that they said differently in private, but this is wrongful conviction. 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.840 Wrongful conviction has always given voice to innocent people in prison, 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.520 and now we're expanding that voice to you. Call us 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.800 at eight three three two oh seven four six sixty 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:03.200 six and tell us how these stories make you feel 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:05.800 and what you've done to help the cause, even if 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.639 it's something as simple as telling a friend or sharing 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:11.960 on social media, and you might just hear yourself in 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:15.520 a future episode. Call us A three three two oh 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:28.080 seven four six sixty six. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction, 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:31.959 where we've got another Detroit case that involves a drug house, 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:36.280 a dirty cop playing both sides, a dead body, no 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:42.280 white witnesses, only fabrications, including a jailhouse snitch, and it 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:44.399 appears that a drug syndicate may have been pulling a 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.039 lot of the strings here and joining us, one of 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:52.600 the survivors of this insane story, Anthony Legion, Anthony, thanks 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:53.120 for doing. 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:55.680 This with us, Thanks for having me and returning. 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:57.240 To help tell this story. A guy who we met 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:00.000 in New Orleans at the twenty twenty four Innocent Network Conference, 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:04.120 civil rights attorney Wolf Muller. Wolf, welcome back to Ronful Conviction. 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:05.840 Thank you, thank you for having me. 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.200 And you may remember Wolf from Daryl Siggers's story. Another 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:12.520 case out of Detroit where it seems like police misconduct 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:17.399 was basically the norm, especially when it came to fabricating 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:21.520 witness testimony and using jailhouse snitches. 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:26.240 The Detroit Police Department and particularly the homicide section in 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:29.359 the late nineteen eighties, all through the nineteen nineties and 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:32.680 extending the early two thousands, if they had a weak case, 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:37.360 they would recruit some snitch, typically from what would be 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:39.440 the ninth floor jail, where you're only supposed to be 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:41.680 held there for about forty eight hours before you get 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.480 transferred to the county jail. But some of these guys 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.280 on a ninth floor were in the ninth floor lockup 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:51.679 for a year or more and they had sheets over 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:55.360 their cells which were off to the side. They had VCRs, 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:58.040 they had TVs, they had food, they had drink, they 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:02.080 had everything because they were regular snitches for the DPD. 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:04.720 And what three of them have said under oath is 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:08.440 we would get discovery packages from the detectives, told to 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:13.040 memorize it, a handwritten statement from the homicide detective saying 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:15.800 how this guy confessed and all you had to do 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.240 was sign it. And so they had these extra benefits 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:20.679 that nobody knew about. And then one guy got off 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.160 on a second degree murder charge which was twelve to 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:25.880 twenty five years after doing seven years, and the testimony 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:28.920 from one of the homicide detectives was he's helped us 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:31.799 out in about twenty cases. Well, there is no way 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:35.600 any reasonable juror would ever listen to something like that 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:39.480 and think twenty different people who didn't know you confessed 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:40.080 to murder. 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:42.880 It's hard to believe this is real life, but here 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:44.960 we are. And if you don't remember the case of 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:47.760 Larry Smith Junior, well, we're going to have it thinked. 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:51.040 In the episode description, the circumstances are similar to what 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.080 happened to Anthony and his co defend. It's Marvin Cotton 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.400 and DeVante Parks in the city that they all called home. 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:02.560 I grew up in a Detroit, Michigan seventies eighties. My 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.160 mother and father had been married until my father passed, 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.360 so for over thirty years. So, you know, I had 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.560 a structured home. You know, Detroit was on the rise. 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.440 You know, it was jobs, the factories. You know. I 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:18.520 had a pretty pretty good childhood. Went to school, graduated 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:22.240 from Cody High School, played sports, you know, just a 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:27.320 normal childhood life, engaged with the young ladies in the neighborhood. 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:30.400 Prior to my incarceration, I was twenty seven years old. 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:33.440 I had two children by one young lady, and right 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:37.200 before I got incarcerated, she had found out she had cancer. 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:41.200 And when she found out, our relationship wasn't on the 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:45.200 best of terms. So just imagine how that felt when 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:47.799 she found out that she had that and already wasn't 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:51.320 the best, you know, boyfriend, So it was difficult. Me 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:52.960 and her had kind of split up, but I had 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:55.480 to step up to the plate, and you know, take 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:58.479 care of my children. My son who was two and 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:00.839 my daughter was like seven at the time. So I 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:02.920 had them living with me, and you know, they would 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:06.240 go back and forth, but she was going through these treatments, 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:08.479 so I had the children with me for the most 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:10.360 of the part. And you know, I was in to 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.040 real estate, investing money in real estate and things of 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:15.359 that nature. So I was at home a lot with 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:16.080 the children. 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.279 At twenty seven years old, Dantony had a full plate 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.919 and a meaningful career with no real connection to the victim, 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:26.440 Jamon McIntyre or what became the crime scene a place 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:27.919 called the Third Street House. 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.560 From all the police reports, and what the police officers 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:36.599 knew is this was a drug house maintained and kept 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:41.880 by Jimmon McIntyre, who was related either by blood or 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:46.240 they call them plain nephews with the Johnson crime family, 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:48.400 the drug family that ran a lot of dope out 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.000 of Detroit at that time in the early two thousands, 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:54.400 late nineties. We found out later years and years later, 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:59.359 a nephew of the Johnsons, Santonian Adams, was a Detroit 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.719 police office there at the time of the crime was 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:06.400 actually running security for the Johnson crime family. As a 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:07.479 Detroit police. 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:11.359 Officer, Anthony's only connection to the Third Street house was 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:13.479 through his childhood friend Marvin Cotton. 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:16.440 I actually didn't know anything about what was going on 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:19.680 in the house or the players. Only person that I 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:24.400 knew and vaguely knew him was Jamal McIntyre. Marvin and 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:27.240 Jamon were good friends, and I had went over there 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.520 one time with Marvin. We stopped over there. Marvin and 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:34.440 Jama was having conversations and they was in their own 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.719 little circle talking. He was there for probably about fifteen 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:39.680 to twenty minutes maybe. So that's the only thing that 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:41.599 I know about the house, and I don't know how 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:46.159 much you guys knew. But prior to mcatire's death, Marvin 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:47.919 had an issue with the police department. 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.520 Cotton wasn't the cleanest guy. I think he was selling 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:55.600 guns on the side. Well, the Detroit copp lost her 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:59.400 gun and it ended up in Cotton's hands and he 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:02.720 sold it and the cops busted into his house, strung 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.000 him up to his shower naked, started braiding him, and 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.520 he filed the citizens complaint against the two cops and 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:10.320 they ended up getting disciplined. 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:12.720 And I believe one officer was fired behind it. This 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:16.400 was like a month or two before MCing Tires murder. 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:19.040 According to what Marvin had said that when he got arrested, 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:22.760 the police was talking about him filing that complaint against. 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.560 It, So he had a target on his back from 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:29.240 an unrelated matter and Legion just got caught up in it. 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.320 It probably also didn't help that Marvin arrived at the 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:35.320 third Street house shortly after the incident was over. But 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.480 let's back up to just before. It was shortly after 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:40.920 midnight on January twenty fourth, two thousand and one. Jimon 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:44.480 McIntyre was on the front porch and a man named 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.239 Kenny Lockhart was in the upstairs bedroom with his girlfriend, 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:53.720 Renee Tate, while Santonian Adams, the Johnson's police officer nephew, 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:56.840 was in a van in the driveway, and he eventually 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.960 told the story that was partially supported by McIntyre's sister. 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.800 Three guys had come up and we're hanging around on 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:08.800 the porch. Apparently McIntyre's sister comes over. This is a 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:11.880 little bit after midnight, and she's looking for some money. 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:14.080 He gives her some money, she leaves. She doesn't recognize 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:18.000 any of the three. Shortly after she leaves, Adams is 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.080 in the driveway and all of a sudden, here shots 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:24.840 being fired. Now at this time, Lockhart is in the 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:28.600 bedroom with his girlfriend, here's the shooting, doesn't see any 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:30.800 of this, closes his door because he's trying to protect 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:31.440 his girlfriend. 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.360 The only person who could really say what was going 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:36.840 on in the shooting was Santonio Adams. He said he 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:39.320 was in a van and he's seen two people on 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.480 a porch shooting. He didn't know which direction they were 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:45.560 shooting at. He said he heard Jama's voice. 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:50.840 And McIntyre calls to him Tone nicknamed Tone. As he's 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:53.600 running out of the house being chased by these guys, 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.760 runs down an alley across the street and gets gunned down. 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:03.000 No witnesses material the day it happened, nobody said who 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:03.559 it was. 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:06.560 The sole source of the initial narrative was Officer Adams, 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.679 who has to cover for why he's had a known 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:13.600 drug house to begin with. He didn't make any ideas 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:17.480 or descriptions either, but he did claim that he shot 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:18.440 at the assailants. 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:22.280 He says, I couldn't find my gun, but as I 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.120 was ducking when I heard the shots. I saw a 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:27.480 gun under the front passenger seat, so I grabbed that 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:30.200 and I got off about four shots. Well, he never 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:35.120 did turn in his official law enforcement handgun to have 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:38.000 it analyzed. When they did take a look at it, 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:41.079 they found there were four bullets missing. You have to 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:43.640 account for every bullet when you're a police officer, and 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.840 so they later found there were four bullets missing. His 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:49.280 story never added up, but they didn't pursue him. 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:53.160 In the meantime, the police collected evidence. Two guns were 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.080 found near McIntire's body in the alley, three more in 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:58.920 the house, none of which were claimed by Officer Adams 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:02.160 as the one he alleged used. Now, they dusted the 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:05.640 house for fingerprints. Then, for reasons that were revealed much later, 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:10.400 Kenny Lockhart went from ear witness to eyewitness and lead 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:14.199 detective Cues put together a carefully selected photo array for 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:16.240 Lockhart to view on February fifteenth. 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:18.720 I think it was like eight people in a photo array, 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:22.800 including me, Marvin Cotton, and Devonte Parks, who was the 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:25.280 other individual who was charged in this case as well. 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:29.040 Lockhart said that it was Cotton for sure, that he 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:32.439 knew Cotton prior to this mind you. 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.800 Lockhart first told the officers he didn't see what happened, 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:40.760 and second he knew Cotton, so if Cotton had been there, 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:42.959 he would have identified Cotton. 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:47.560 And then he said two or seven, meaning me or 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:52.720 Davonte Parks looked like the other individual. That was the identification. 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:56.120 To get around the fact that both Lockhart and his girlfriend, 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:58.679 Rene Tate had made statements that they never left the 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:02.000 bedroom and hadn't seen the assailants, the narrative was amended 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:05.280 to include the shooters returning to the house after Jaman 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:08.560 was already dead to kill Kenny Lockhart. 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:10.199 And he never said none of this. On the day 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:10.480 of the. 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:14.520 Incident, Lockhart says that the guys are in his house 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:18.640 and the guy he identifies as Cotton tells another guy 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:23.160 shoot him, shoot Lockhart. Lockhart claims he takes a shot, 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:26.520 only the problem is there are no bullet holes in 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.240 the house. Even one of the police officers wrote in 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.080 his notes, the guy's not telling the truth. I don't 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:33.319 believe what word he says. 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:36.640 And maybe there's something to that. Considering that Marvin Devonte 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:39.160 and Anthony were not arrested until a week later, on 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:41.920 February twenty second, and for Anthony, it wasn't even for 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:45.000 this incident, but rather for the murder of someone named 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:45.800 Devin Taylor. 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:49.520 I'll get arrested in an unrelated case. This was an 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.280 individual who I knew. He was killed on the East Side. 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:54.280 You know, the police, what they did back then was 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:58.559 they just rounded up people, witnesses or not witnesses, anybody 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:02.679 without even charges, without warrants or anything, and bring them 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.319 in and then threaten them, you know, to either coherse 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:08.120 them to confess to that crime or conhurse them to 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:12.120 confess to other crimes, and that process. While I'm in jail, 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:16.600 they asking me about McIntire's case, saying, if I say 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:19.520 that Marvin and Devonte Parks did it, they won't charge 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:21.280 me with that, and they won't charge me what I'm 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:23.800 already in here for. I'm like, I didn't do either 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:25.880 one of these crimes. They said, well, all you got 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:28.679 to do is say Marvin and Devonte Parks did it, 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:30.200 and we'll let you go right now. 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.679 But it appears that Anthony's refusal only led to his 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:35.480 own charges in both murders. 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:39.920 Now, this whole time, while the criminal proceedings is going on, 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:42.840 no discovery is coming out. The only evidence that they 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:45.280 claimed that they had with respect to the McIntire case 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.600 was Lockhart's photo identification, saying that me or Parks looked 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:52.000 like the individual. And then when he came to court, 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.840 you know, he made a positive identification. At the preliminary examination, 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:57.960 he said, oh no, I'm certain, I'm certain it's him. 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:01.480 He was the light skinned guy. You see me sitting here. 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:05.280 I'm definitely not light skinned. So that was his description 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:08.080 of me. I was the high yellow, light skinned guy. 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.360 And then by the time it got the trial, he said, 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:13.840 you know, he's ninety percent sure that I look like 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:16.960 one of the guys. But moving right before the trial 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:19.840 is when they came up with the jail house informant, 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:20.520 Ellis Fraser. 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.800 This snitch witness popped up five days before trial, which 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:26.720 is when it was disclosed the defense. We have a 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:31.000 witness who says that Cotton confessed and implicated legion. Now 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:34.280 that just shows how weak your case is when you 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:37.240 have to come up with something in the bottom of 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:40.439 the ninth inning to try to resurrect your case. 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:43.800 My attorney came in with Fraser's statement and he said, 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:46.600 this guy said, you guys down there and confessed to him. 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:48.760 I'm like what my lawyer said, I don't believe none 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.400 of this shit. This is what Detroit Police Department does, 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:54.640 but they're gonna use this guy. And so he filed 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:56.720 a pre trial motion not to let it in for 0:13:56.760 --> 0:14:00.000 two reasons. Number one, it was basically a trial by 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:03.200 ambush because the police department said that they had this 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:08.240 information about Fraser four months before the trial, never turned 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:10.679 it over to us till right before trial. So my 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:13.760 lawyer argued that it shouldn't come in on that ground, 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.200 And then the alternative it shouldn't come in because he's 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.800 saying that Cotton confessed to him, and therefore that evidence 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:24.560 coming in against me will violate my right to confront Cotton. 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:28.160 Cotton can't testify because he's a defendant and was going 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.800 to exercise his constitutional right to remain silent. 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:33.200 And I can't cross examine him. 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.320 To avoid violating Anthony's right to confront his accuser. His 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:40.120 and Marvin's trials should have been sabered, but they continued 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:42.800 until the same issue arose again. 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:47.440 Kenny Lockhart, the key witness who the police knew hadn't 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.800 seen anything, said that he was absolutely one hundred percent 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:54.320 certain of the three guys who were charged, Legion Cotton 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:57.840 and Avante Park. Only it turns out right before a 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:01.280 trial they verified Park said an airtight alibi. 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:04.160 Parks charges were going to be dismissed, which would have 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:08.160 destroyed Kenny Lockhart's credibility, let's face it, and therefore the 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:09.240 whole state's case. 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:13.360 If Parks gets on the stand and the agreement that 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:16.160 they're going to dismiss charges because he's got an alibi 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:19.840 is explained to the jury, well then there goes Lockhart's 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.400 whole identification because Lockhart said he is one hundred percent 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.920 certain of those three guys, and one of them has 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:28.040 an airtight alibi. 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:32.040 The day of trial, we all was in the bullp me, 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:35.320 Marvin Cotton, and DeVante Parks. But the only two people 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.160 that they brought out was me and Cotton, and they 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:39.360 left him back there. So the jury never seen him, 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.760 never heard nothing really about him, and never knew that 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:45.280 Lockhart made that identification of him. 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:48.400 And the lawyers are going where's Parks because the whole 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:50.640 case was all three of them, and all of a sudden, 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:55.240 Parks is severed from the case and Devonte Parks misidentification 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:59.560 got ruled inadmissible. It was irrelevant to this case. The 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:03.520 whole thing stinks. The gamesmanship of the prosecutor is telling 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:08.000 Devonte Parks, we will dismiss your case, but only after 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:11.560 the Cotton Legion trial, so they ensure that he does 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:12.600 not testify. 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:15.200 You know, most lawyers, they don't call the co definden 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:17.560 to the stand because they lawyer co definit the layer 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.280 gonna say, oh, no, my client ain't getting on that stand. 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:21.960 Because he was a still defendant at the time and 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.840 was going to exercise his constitutional right to remain silent. 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:27.280 And so that's why we couldn't call him. 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:32.000 So DeVante Parks's case breaking testimony was effectively hidden from 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:35.960 the jury, all while Anthony has another wrongful accusation to 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.520 fight after this trial, which began in October two thousand 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:42.640 and one. So let's start with the physical evidence. 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:47.160 Nick recovered, like five weapons, two weapons potentially is the 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:51.040 murder weapon. All these shell cases, they ran tests on 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:53.560 all of this stuff. They do fingerprints inside the house, 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:56.000 outside the house. None of this stuff come back to 0:16:56.040 --> 0:17:00.000 New York. You got a missing gun by a police officer, 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:04.639 So who's admits to firing shots? At somebody and his gun. 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.040 They don't have his gun, but we do got two 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:10.679 guns in the alley, so it's one of them. The 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.679 guns that he claimed he lost. Who knows. But you 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:17.720 got all these witnesses surrounding this house, and nobody said 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:21.320 that I committed any crime. Even if you believe Lockhart, 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.280 which you shouldn't because he changed his story from the 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:26.960 beginning to the end, but he said that I looked 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:28.440 like one of the people that was in the house. 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:33.000 The state's evidence simply came to Lockhart and being backed 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:37.720 up by a snitch witness, which then would give credibility 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:40.080 to Lockhart. Right as much as the defense tried to 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.119 punch holes in Lockhart, Lockhart could say, I knew Cotton, 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:46.000 so I knew who it was. And then this other 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:48.880 guy legion, I saw him too. And they never got 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:52.639 to hear about the Devonte Parks misidentification, which would have 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:56.040 been huge. But then Lockhart, it's backed up by Elis Fraser, 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:57.120 who's saying the same thing. 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:02.239 Fraser testified that he and someone who he thought was 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:05.639 Anthony or in one cell while Marvin Cotton was in 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.880 the one next door, and Fraser's cellmate allegedly introduced him 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:14.600 to Cotton through a brick wall, and then Cotton supposedly 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:19.000 confessed implicating the person sharing the cell with Fraser, who 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.240 he claimed was named Anthony on the witness stand. 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:24.560 And they said, well, who was Anthony? Oh, Anthony is 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.720 the person in that photograph, which was Davonte Parks. He 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:31.360 just got his names mixed up and said Parks was Anthony. 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:35.240 He didn't remember the lie enough to come into court 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:38.200 and say, oh, no, Davonte Parks is the one that. 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:42.560 Introduced Years later, Ellis Fraser finally grows a conscience and 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:47.440 says in an affidavit that the officer in charge Hughes 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:51.320 walks him into court and has to explain to him 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:54.879 who these guys are, so he makes sure that he 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:58.919 picks them out and identifies Cotton as Cotton and doesn't 0:18:58.920 --> 0:18:59.840 confuse the guys. 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:02.159 So either he got his names mixed up when the 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:05.000 police gave him the information, or he just didn't know 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:08.000 which person to pick out in the courtroom. But in 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:12.159 the jury's mind, where else would Fraser get this information? 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:15.520 Not knowing that the DPD ran a jail house snitch 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:19.720 program on the ninth floor, they provided people discovery material, 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:23.000 so that they can familiarize themselves with the facts and 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.880 then come up with a story to support the facts. 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:28.720 The jury never knew that. Had they known that, then 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:31.000 they would have new this is all put together. 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:35.439 Anthony did mount the defense, presenting alibi witnesses to swear 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.720 to his actual whereabouts, which should have included his co 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:41.480 defend at Marvin Cotton, who had arrived on the scene 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:45.960 shortly after the shooting, importantly without Anthony, But Marvin couldn't 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:48.720 testify for the same reason that kept Parks off the stand. 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:52.400 All the others were loved ones who could be explained 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:55.840 away as willing to lie, so that left their last hope. 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:58.400 Kenny Lockhart's girlfriend, Renee Tate. 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.760 If you look at her statements, she contradicts what Lockhart 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.800 was saying. She said Lockhart never left the room, never 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:08.199 seen anybody, and then somebody got to her, and she 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:10.960 was shaken and nervous at the trial, you know, and 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:12.959 we didn't know why she was, you know, while she 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.080 was acting like that, but that's what it was, and 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:18.199 we found out later she was pressured to stick to 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:19.880 the story Lockhart told her. 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:22.800 And this time it appears that the pressure wasn't even 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.840 from the police, So both Tate and Fraser supported the Lockhart, 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:29.879 whose credibility was protected by the prosecutors, who went so 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:32.600 far as to say that the Third Stread House wasn't 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:36.440 even a well known drug house. Sure why not? And 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:38.959 on October nineteen, two thousand and one, both Marvin and 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:41.960 Anthony were convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:44.000 life without the possibility of parole. 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:46.720 You know, when you hear people say, before you're about 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:50.320 to die, like your life flashes, you know, in front 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:52.280 of you, That's what it was like. It was like 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:55.359 I seen, like everything just flashed in front of me, 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:58.600 like I seen myself as a child. You know, I 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:01.480 seen myself, you know, you know, coming through the wound 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:04.919 and coming into life and seeing my life snatched. And 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:08.840 that's what happened at that split second. But walking out 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:11.480 the courtroom, I walked out of that courtroom and said, 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:13.960 I'm getting out of prison, and I'm about to go 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:18.320 in prison and learn everything about this system that did 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:20.600 this to me, and I'm gonna get myself out of prison. 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:24.399 Before I even got sentenced, you know, I started putting 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:26.600 together my strategy on what I was going to do 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:27.359 to get out of prison. 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:29.320 And if you remember, he still had to fight the 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:31.479 Devin tail, the murder charge for which he had been 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:34.399