WEBVTT - #584 Jason Flom with Tysheem Crocker 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:08.280 Hey, it's Connor Hall, senior producer for Wrongful Conviction, back 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.720 with another case update and more behind the scenes insights. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:16.639 And this time we're talking about Taysheim Crocker and more 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:22.599 broadly about post conviction procedure in Pennsylvania. Now, Taysheim's story 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:26.120 reminds me a bit of the guy who brought us 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:30.240 his case, another previous guest, and somebody I'm lucky to 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:34.320 call a friend, Lorenzo Johnson. Both of these guys and 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:39.680 their friends were just kids who were fleeing the late 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:42.720 Crack epidemic era in the Bronx for what they were 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:46.760 hoping were safe for pastures in Pennsylvania, only to find 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.960 new threats to their lives and freedom. I'll link Lorenzo's 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:55.160 story in the episode description where in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Lorenzo 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:57.800 and the other new arrivals from the Bronx were well 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:01.040 aware of how the local law met felt about them. 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:04.760 And then there was certainly added racial motivation in his 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:08.760 story when Lorenzo's co defendant, Corey, happened to be dating 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:12.800 the daughter of the investigator in their case. Yeah, that's 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:17.200 exactly how it sounds. And then in Tyshiem's case, when 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:20.560 shots rang out at an October nineteen ninety seven dice 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:24.760 game in York, Pennsylvania. The murder of Raymond skip Clark 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:28.360 seems to have become an opportunity to again take down 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:30.720 as many kids from the Bronx as possible, when the 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:35.720 likely shooter, Danny Steele, became the state's star witness, saying 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.280 that he had planned the shooting at a motel with 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:42.080 four or five others, including Tyshiem, Crocker and Melvin Bethune, 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:45.400 who were alleged to have attended the motel meeting, pointed 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:47.360 guns at a guy named Ken du Smith at the 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:51.360 dice game, but their guns jammed, and then after everyone scattered, 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:55.240 a fictional character named Corleone and a few others chased 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:59.120 and shot Raymond skip Clark a few blocks away, and 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:03.000 that testimony got Danny Steele two to five years instead 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:06.960 of life like Melvin and Tyshem got for their role 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:11.400 in the alleged conspiracy and accomplished liability to that murder. 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.640 But in two thousand and three Tayshim discovered the deal 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:19.280 made with Danny Steele which would have impeached him, and 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:23.160 then Danny Steele recanted. In two thousand and five, but 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:26.720 that was deemed not credible, only to be corroborated ten 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:30.399 years later by Ken Duce Smith, who said that Taysheem 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:32.800 and Melvin never pointed guns at him or anyone at 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:36.480 the dice game, but there was still another witness who 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:40.200 had held that position. Another five years down the road, 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:45.000 Taysheem's team found the motel clerk who had checked them in, importantly, 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:49.640 about an hour after the shooting, so this conspiracy meeting 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:53.639 narrative fell apart. There was also a phone call from 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:57.280 their room to Melvin's girlfriend Tucker Redman, allegedly made before 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.760 the shooting. It was allegedly overheard by another girl named 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:04.400 Nicki Rhoades. The prosecution said in opening and closing statements 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.639 that Melvin had relayed the alleged plot over the phone 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:10.680 before the shooting. Neither of the girls wherever called to 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:13.280 the stand, but the existence of this phone call was 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:17.800 raised in court. It seems purposely without a time stamped 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:21.600 call log, which would have shown a time for after 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:25.160 the shooting when they were checked into this motel. Now, 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:28.120 since our coverage in twenty twenty three, the Pennsylvania Innocence 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:32.280 Project has taken over Taishiem's case, and both women have 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:35.840 sworn statements that the prosecution's assertions but the phone call 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.240 were lies, as corroborated by the motel clerk and the 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.160 time of the check in. Additionally, the remaining witness who 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.280 claimed to see Tayshim and Melvin with guns has also 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:48.240 now recanted, saying that he received a deal for himself 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:52.000 and a girlfriend in unrelated charges for that testimony. Then 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:56.880 another alleged witness, an ear witness, has also recanted, saying 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:59.480 that he had caved to pressure from police and his 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:03.000 family to say that he could identify Taysheim at the 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:06.040 scene from the sound of his voice. And you might 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:08.560 be thinking to yourself, well, who should have ever given 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:10.880 a shit about that last one? As well as why 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.040 the hell are Taishiem and Melvin still in prison? The 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:16.040 case for their innocence had already been laid out in 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:20.719 court over time, but in Pennsylvania post conviction timing is 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:25.320 everything when it comes to newly discovered evidence. For starters 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.880 in Pennsylvania to be considered newly discovered evidence and open 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.880 an avenue to a new trial, the evidence could not 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:36.360 have been discoverable with due diligence at the time of trial. 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.200 So if something was in the public record or even 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.640 in the universe at the time of trial, say a 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:45.160 witness like Kendu Smith or a motel clerk's timesheet, but 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.640 know that evidence was just simply not investigated, discovered, and 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:52.799 or raised, well, that can't be considered newly discovered evidence, 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:57.320 no matter how earth shattering it is. So okay, that's 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:00.360 the defense attorney's fault, right, And in most states one 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:03.960 could claim ineffective assistance of trial council and they open 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.360 up an avenue for a new trial. But in Pennsylvania, 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.640 if that isn't raised on direct appeal, well, then the 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:13.040 defendant's only option is to then claim ineffective assistance of 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:17.640 appellate council in their first post conviction motion. And if 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:22.960 they don't do that the ineffective assistance avenue, that's closed. Again. 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.520 No matter how earth shattering the evidence, the issue cannot 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:30.800 be raised on a successive post conviction motion, even if 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:35.040 said evidence was only discovered so many years after their 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:38.760 first post conviction motion. And then to diminish the avenues 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:42.760 further up until twenty eighteen, any evidence that passed the 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.520 other qualification for newly discovered evidence had to be filed 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:50.920 within sixty days of discovery. Now you have a whole year. 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.040 But even with the increased window of three hundred and 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:58.160 five whole days, often evidence of innocence is more impactful 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:00.880 in the context of other evidence that only comes to 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.040 light so many years later, like ken Do Smith's testimony 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:08.119 supporting Danny Steele's recantation. Without ken Do, it's pretty easy 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:11.200 to just call your own witness, Danny Steele, a liar, 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.279 especially after he changed his story from what he had 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.760 sworn in court. But what if can do Smith, the 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:20.760 motel clerk, and now two more witnesses from the scene, 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.120 as well as Tucker Redman, Nicky Rhodes and telephone call 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.760 logs that would show that the prosecution at the very 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:30.320 least didn't know what they were talking about when they 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:34.080 said that these phone calls happened before the shooting, All 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:39.000 of those things together supporting the recantation of their star witness. 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:43.520 What if that could finally be heard at one evidentiary hearing, 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:46.440 like in other states, where you can file a post 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:50.120 conviction motion based on actual innocence, and if granted, then 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:53.880 the procedural time bars are lifted and the court can 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:58.800 finally hear the preponderance of evidence of a defendant's innocence. Well, 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:02.760 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it doesn't have anything like that yet. 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.000 I think Virginia's pretty much in the same boat. So 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:12.080 guys like Taishim Melvin, in way too many others to name, 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.119 just out of options and their cases reach a point 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:20.480 of legal finality. Now, we've been talking about pardoning power 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:24.200 being the fail safe, but that can be quite a 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.320 long shot when you throw a career minded governor in 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:31.200 with a population plagued by misinformation or just low information. 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:34.360 So when you hear Taisheim and Melvin's story, I want 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:39.000 you to think about whether the concept of finality is 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:41.960 more important than bringing the right person to justice. I 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.560 guess that one's kind of obvious. And again, whether we 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:48.480 can trust career minded politicians to be the fail safe 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.520 when law enforcement and the courts reach finality without the 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:54.960 deserving party and custody. I'm not the praying type, so 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:57.960 it's strange for me that prayer feels like the only 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:01.760 option for Taisheim and Melvin for some kind of intervention. 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:04.040 And I'm just not sure what that even looks like, 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:10.720 but it feels like someone or something he's gonna have 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.320 to summon unusual courage. 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:20.280 In October nineteen ninety seven, two overlapping groups of friends 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:22.720 from New York, one known as the Cream Team and 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:25.520 the other is the Gods, were living in York, Pennsylvania. 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.080 Three of these young men were Danny Steele, Melvin Bethune, 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:33.040 and Tysheen Crocker. On October fifth, nineteen ninety seven, at 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.840 a corner dice game, Melvin and Taysheem spoke to another 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:38.600 New York guy about a previous beef when gunshots rang 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.560 out and the crowd dispersed, but no one was hurt 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:45.000 until about five minutes later and two blocks away, when 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.160 a young man named Raymond Clark had been fatally shot. 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.440 When the investigation of the murder led to Danny Steele, 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:53.640 he told the police that Raymond's death was part of 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:57.320 a larger organized action involving a disagreement between rival New 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.240 York gangs. At the dice game, that Melbourne and Taishim 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:03.400 had rounded up some muscle from back in New York, 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:07.040 including Steel and three others, to confront the opposing gang, 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.280 the Gods. In the lead up to this confrontation, they 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.800 allegedly checked into a motel and hatched a plan that 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:17.080 allegedly resulted in the death of Raymond Clarke. Clearly, local 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:21.280 law enforcement had only one choice to believe Danny Steele 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:24.240 and do their part on the front lines of America's 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:26.959 war on drugs by taking as many of these New 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:31.280 York gangsters off their streets as they possibly could. But 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:47.920 this is wrongful conviction. Welcome back to raeful conviction. Today, 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:49.880 we're going to cover a case in which the soul 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.280 assailant who is responsible for the murder got off with 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.400 less than three years for giving false testimony against two 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:57.840 innocent men. And I'm going to introduce one of those 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:00.920 men now. He's calling in from a maxim security. President 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:05.200 in Pennsylvania tayshim, Crocker, even though I hate the reason 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:08.559 why you're at where you're at, but I got to say, 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:10.640 I'm really happy and honor to have you. 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:13.840 I'm glad i'm here. Thank you, Thank you for having me. 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:17.240 You're most welcome, and with him is his post conviction 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:22.200 pro bono attorney Latsia Shaviz Free Latsia, welcome to the show. 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:23.200 Thank you for having me. 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.880 Jason, You're also very welcome, So tayshim, This crime happened 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:29.959 in Pennsylvania, but you're not from there, originally from the Bronx, right, 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:32.200 So tell me a little bit about your childhood. 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.319 I was born to a teenage mother. My mom was sixteen, 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:37.400 you know, she wasn't ready to be a mother year, 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:40.719 so she picked me in forced to kid and I 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.480 spent my first four years out in Queens. It was 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.280 like eighty one. She decided she wanted to be back. 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.040 I moved back to the Bronx. It was rough, we 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:53.200 were we were pull. I was pretty much terrified at 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:55.079 my mom. That was like the only person I was 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:58.920 scared around. The Asian twelve. I was back and forced 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:04.040 to kid out of a presidence. I just became a. 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:08.199 Sweet kid, so tayshim. He had a pretty hard life 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.319 and was living in the Bronx. You know, this is 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:13.320 at the height of the crack epidemic. Friends of his 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:15.240 are literally dying. 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:19.160 I went off the Yoka because my best friend had 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:22.679 just got cute. I was fourteen, he was fifteen when 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:25.480 he got cute. The next day, another one of my 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:28.200 closest friends got cute, and I was all for the 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:32.080 opportunity to go to York. So I jumped on the 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:32.959 bus and went out there. 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:35.559 What did you do to support yourself to survive out there? 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:39.280 I started askling. I started taking pass from people older dues. 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:41.079 So this is the sort of thing where you did 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.040 the dirty work for the older guys, because in theory, 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:45.720 at least a miner wouldn't get into that much trouble, right, 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:46.840 that's how it goes. 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.160 So it's my understanding that he's a pretty low level 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.080 drug dealer, him and a lot of the kids. He 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:56.719 also runs with a group of young people known as 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:00.360 like the Cream Team. And you know, there's several groups, 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.559 but two of them are called the Gods and the 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.800 other ones the Cream Team. The District Attorney's office tried 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:09.760 to paint this as some gang, but really Cream just 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:11.920 means cash rules everything around me. 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:15.280 So they were Wu Tang fans, yes, And I mean 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:18.000 anyone who's aware of Wu Tang Cash rules everything around 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:20.560 me is probably there could be their most iconic song 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:23.120 and terms like gods and earths. Some of the members 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:24.960 of Wu Tang are really into the theories of the 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:27.600 five percent nation where those terms come from, and we 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:30.040 could get into all of that on a totally different podcast. 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:33.080 But Wu Tang had just come out with their debut album, 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:35.720 Entered the thirty six Chambers in nineteen ninety three. So 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.920 guys like Tayshim and Melbourne that was the soundtrack of 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:39.679 their childhood. 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.960 The Cream Team and the guys were once the kids 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.640 from the block. We was rolling up together, we know, 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.480 to the same school, eat party together, and we ended 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:51.120 up in Pennsylvania. 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.000 The Hustler, So were you on the radar of the 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:56.240 York Police before all of this happened? 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:58.320 I talked about a week in prison for a couple 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:00.840 of bags in marijuana that was like eight up there. 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:01.360 It was like. 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:06.880 Fortyrand forty fucking grand for some weed. Jesus well, I mean, 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:09.560 this was the nineties when the War on drugs was 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.640 in full swing. It still is, unfortunately to a large extent. 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:15.600 And if you're listening to us right now, you might 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:17.400 want to check out our new series called The War 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:19.560 on Drugs. We're gonna have it linked in the bio. 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.160 Check it out the War on Drugs podcast. And back then, 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:24.680 as we've seen time and again on this program, even 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:26.840 involving a low level drug deal and could make that 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:30.400 person a target for a wrongful conviction. So let's get 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.480 to early October nineteen ninety seven and the lead up 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:36.360 to this dice game and the shooting. There was some 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:39.080 actual beef that had started a few days before between 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:41.840 your co defendant, Melvin Bethune and a friend of this guy, 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.280 can Do Smith, and this served as an allegend motive 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:47.720 for what happened later. But this was kind of like 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:49.240 a small time beef, right. 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.480 There was no conflict that rules to the level of 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:53.360 one and take. 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:56.679 A life, right, and Kendo Smith wasn't the victim anyway, 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.400 but rather a guy named Raymond skip Clark, who I'm 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:01.680 guessing was one of the gods as well. 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:04.920 No, he wasn't a member of the Gods. He wasn't 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:07.839 even friends with Smith that I know of that night. 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:11.439 No guys were at this dice game, makes sense, can 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:12.040 Do Smith. 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:14.920 So the states theory about a beef between the Gods 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:17.200 and the Cream team is not holding up so far. 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:21.040 It's full of holes. But this beef, however, inconsequential, was 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:23.280 something you intended to bring up with ken Do Smith 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:25.600 when you saw him at the dice game. This was 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:28.400 October fifth, nineteen ninety seven, on the corner of Maple 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:30.840 and Duke in New York, Pennsylvania, where there was a 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:33.840 regular dice game. Ken do Smith was there as well 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:37.600 as Melvin Bethune Danny Steele. You had just got back 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:39.840 from the Bronx and a bit before eleven pm you 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:42.600 arrived at the game, and Raymond Clarke was there as well. 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.600 I never saw Raymond Clark that that, but according to 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:49.040 court documents, he was at the dice game. He was 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:51.800 playing games. I got to the dice game and I 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.320 told the work I needed to talk to him. Before 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:57.360 we could talk, a shot was fired. He ran and 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:01.560 I dug No one knows who fired that shot. It 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.840 came from behind me when I ducked in a land 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:08.280 you know. It was more shotsified. No one was injured. 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.720 Approximately five to seven minutes later than two blocks away. 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:16.000 According to the shots Rush Gript, more shots we fire. 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:19.080 That is who Raymond Clark was shot at, not as 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:19.720 the Dunce game. 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:23.280 So not only had you not even seen the victim 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:24.840 at the dice game, but at this point you had 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.920 no idea that anyone had even gotten hurt. So shots 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:31.720 were fired, everyone scattered, total chaos. Did you have a clue? 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:33.880 Did anyone have a clue why this was even happening. 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:38.000 There was essentially no serious beef at the time where 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.400 they feel like they should be targeted for any reason. 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.360 But they're taking off because there's gunfire and they know 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:45.560 what gunfire. 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:48.040 Can do, so when they got a hotel. 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:50.840 But according to the state's theory, you checked into the 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:54.440 hotel before going to the dice game before Raymond Clark's death, 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.280 sometime between like ten and eleven PM. 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.320 That is what they wanted the jewry and the quote 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:04.000 they believe I kept him to the Super Eighth at 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:06.920 about twelve thirty one in the morning. I let Mel 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:09.560 know where I was going, I let Danny know where 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:12.480 I was going, and they spent the night with me. 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:14.640 And at that point, not only did you not know 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:16.920 that Skip Clark was dead, but you also didn't know 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:18.960 that your boy Danny Steele was about to use a 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:21.160 shared room at the Super eight as a premise for 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:23.840 a false statement, which really ends up being the basis 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.000 of the state's entire case. And we'll get to that 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:29.640 in a bit. But first, letitia, what did we know 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:33.000 about the initial investigation, Like how did they even end 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:34.360 up coming upon Danny? 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:40.080 So we have no idea exactly what happened Tyshim's lawyer, 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:42.560 the person who would have gotten the box of evidence 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:46.680 or whatever he's passed when we go to Melvin's attorney. 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.720 This is over twenty plus years ago. He doesn't have that. 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:53.239 Box, so the usual trough of information was not available. 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:55.840 But what we do know about this incident is that 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:58.560 there were a thought of witnesses, some of whom spoke 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:01.400 with you and your lead investigator, Kitty Haley Way later 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:02.520 in twenty twenty one. 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:06.080 Well, what we find out later is that Raymond Clark, 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:10.159 he's found with drugs on his person, and it is 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:14.159 noted that he apparently owed Danny Steele some money. 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:17.200 Turns out maybe, I think like a week after that, 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:18.960 Danny was interrogated in. 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:22.760 The lasting and at least four people have testified both 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:25.320 the trial and in post conviction that Danny Steele was 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.560 the shooter. So that should have been it, but instead 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:31.399 a story and a strategy was being concocted with Danny 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.479 Steele in order to drag more people down the rabbit 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:38.720 hole with him turning this tragedy into an opportunity for 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:42.760 the authorities to sweep the streets from those they considered 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.760 undesirable namely Melvin and Taysheen, who for months went about 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:49.200 their lives, eventually hearing about Raymond Clark's death and having 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:51.399 no idea that one of their friends, Danny, was saving 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:55.359 himself from life in prison at their expense by creating 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:57.760 this phony narrative in which members of the Cream team 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.399 met at the Super eight Motel and conspired tired to 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:02.800 confront the gods at this dice game about the beef 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:07.240 with Melvin, and This group allegedly included Taishim, Melvin, Danny, 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:09.400 and three other men from New York, one of whom 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:10.560 was named Corleone. 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.719 Coleon was a made up figure. Danny still made up 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:17.960 Coolion so he could tend this homicide on somebody. He 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:19.399 made Coleon a shooter. 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:22.080 It's like they sat around and watched The Godfather and 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.280 then went and tried a case. That's how it feels. 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:27.800 Some guy named Corleone who's never been identified, and some 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:29.679 other guys from New York, they all go to the 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:32.919 Super eight Motel and they want blood for what happened 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:36.880 to Melvin yesterday. Melvin was disrespected or something, and they 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.040 want blood. So they're all going to get guns from 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:42.240 a friend's house. And then they're going to go down 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:45.200 there and shoot up the gods at a dice game. 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.760 Now, the theory continued that in order to arrive at 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.080 the dice game before the shootings took place around eleven 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.000 thirty pm, this alleged crew of Muscle from the Bronx 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.360 had to have checked into the Super eight Motel by 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:58.960 ten thirty pm or earlier in order to have time 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:02.200 for thirty to sixty minute plotting session as well as 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.359 picking up the guns. But when they arrived at the 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:06.800 dice game, Taysheem allegedly pointed a gun at Ken Do 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.720 Smith had tried to shoot him, but the gun allegedly 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:13.400 malfunctioned and didn't fire, so the rest of this alleged 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:15.520 cream team hit squad open fire, and everyone at the 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.320 dice game ran for their lives. No one was hurt, 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:20.240 and Ken Du Smith has since gone on the record 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:23.120 saying that Taysheen never pulled a gun on him. Other 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:26.680 eyewitnesses also corroborated that the only evidence of this version 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:30.120 events is Danny Steele's statement, which continued saying that then 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:35.280 he another man and this fictitious guy named Corleone chased 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:39.840 Raymond Skip Clark, and this fictional Corleone guy, not Danny Steele, 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:43.920 allegedly shot and killed Clark. So that's how Steele shifted 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.800 total blame from himself and alleged that he was just 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:48.800 a co conspirator, not the loan shooter. 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.280 Now, Danny Steele, this is important. He is charged with 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:57.800 the exact same crimes as Melvin and Tysheen, so you 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.720 would think he'd get the exact same punishment were close. 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:06.160 For murder, for conspiracy to commit murder, he did two 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:09.800 years in the county jail, presumably because he couldn't go 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:13.640 to state prison because you know, he was a known snitch. 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:16.520 From what I understand, he had also been convicted of 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:19.040 perjury twice before. So this is the guy on whom 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.320 the entirety of the state's case rests and what they 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:24.320 used to issue arrest warrants for both Melbourne and Taysheem. 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:27.679 And at the time, Melvin had just pled guilty to 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:29.360 some unrelated drug charges. 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:32.399 Right, he takes a plea and he's getting ready to 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:35.040 go to prison, and the police come to let him 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:38.639 know that he's been indicted on these charges, and he's 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:42.960 just shocked. There's no conversation they don't take him down 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:45.920 to the police station and interview him. 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:50.160 They had all the information they wanted from Danny Steele. Now, tysheim, 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:52.320 you were back in New York at the time, and 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:56.080 during a routine traffic stop, NYPD discovered that you were 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:59.160 wanted in New York Pennsylvania. 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.080 I did that. I was a fugitive. I got picked 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:06.879 up January nineteen ninety eight, pull door one, one hundred 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:10.280 and forty fifty with twenty seventh and eighth avenual. I 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:13.200 was arrested and I haven't been on the street since. 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:16.720 And while PD picks me up, I'm extradited down to 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:19.120 York where I was charged. 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:23.160 When he gets to York and he's in the county jail, 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:27.400 there's no interview. The information and the story has already 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:33.719 been told by Danny Steele. But there's literally a fifteen 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:37.440 minute drive at one point from one drop up location 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:39.880 to the jail with the police officer. 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:43.960 Dennis Williams was the arresting detective. While he's driving me 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:47.159 to the York County prison, he said, I know you 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:50.800