WEBVTT - #259 Jason Flom with Alan Newton 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:06.520 On June twenty third, nineteen eighty four, at around four am, 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:09.440 at a bodega in the Bronx, a male customer bought 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:12.240 beer and a twenty five year old woman bought cigarettes. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:16.360 It's unclear whether they knew one another. The store clerk 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.480 said that the woman willingly got into the male customer's 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:23.160 blue and white sedan. However, according to the woman, she 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:27.400 was abducted upon leaving the store. Then she was dragged 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:31.400 into a park, raped, sodomized, and robbed before chasing the 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:35.240 man down and getting her money back. Then, while waiting 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:37.960 for a cab, the same man dragged her into an 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:41.080 abandoned building where he again assaulted her, but this time 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:43.760 he cut her face with a razor blade, blinding her 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:46.080 in her left eye and threatening to kill her if 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:49.360 she went to the police. When she awoke, she called 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:51.960 first responders and went to the hospital, where she underwent 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.360 surgery and a rape kit. Police showed her a mugshot 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:57.520 book and she chose the picture of a man named 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:01.480 Alan Newton. The store clerk identified Alan as well from 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:04.160 a photo array, but on the night of the crime, 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:08.040 Alan had stayed with his fiance's family in Queens, all 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.080 of whom had said that no one had left in 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:14.080 the middle of the night. Curiously, no zerology was presented 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:17.760 at trial, only two very shaky IDAs from the witness 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:20.080 and the victim, who could not agree on whether the 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:24.080 victim knew her assailant or not. Advances in DNA testing 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:27.720 would be all that Allan needed to eventually disprove his accusers, 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:30.840 but only if the police could be bothered to locate 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:33.640 the rape kit right where it had always been for 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:51.720 twenty two long years. This is Wrongful Conviction. Welcome back 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:56.600 to Wrongful Conviction today. Well, this is long overdue because 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:59.000 ever since I started doing this podcast back in two 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:03.520 thousand and six, team, I've thought a lot about this 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:08.240 case of the man you're about to hear from in person, 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:12.560 Alan Newton, and I don't know why we haven't gotten 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:15.079 around to it till now, but I'm so glad we're 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:17.680 going to do it today because this is a story 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:22.440 that needs to be heard, and it's a hard one 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:26.720 to hear, by the way, and I'm very, very excited 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:30.880 and honored to have you here today, Alan Newton, Welcome 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:31.920 to Wronful Conviction. 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:34.960 Thank you. Jason. Definitely appreciate what y'all, guy is doing 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:36.639 as far as getting our story out there. 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:41.960 So let's go back before this happened, and before you 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.680 were exposed to the worst that our criminal legal system 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:49.280 has to offer. Your life was pretty good, right. 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:53.880 Fairy decent. I was working, had graduated high school, and 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:56.920 my mind, you know, back in nineteen eighty four, living 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.320 my best life and appearing when to go to college 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:01.400 in a couple of years is and that's an ordinary 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:03.920 young guy just living my life. 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:06.600 I mean, you're working for the New York Telephone Company 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:09.520 obviously a name that doesn't exist anymore, but New York 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:12.120 Telephone Company for people who remember that far back, was 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:15.240 a big company in New York, obviously, and you were 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:19.120 going to hip hop dance parties in the Bronx, which 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:21.240 was again like that was the popular thing to do 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:23.720 back then. And if I understand correctly, you were also 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:25.680 engaged at the time, right. 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:28.960 Yes, I was living in the Bronx. My fiance was 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:32.960 living in Queens, so I was working in Manhattan. So 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:37.000 I was basically traveling around New York City through the 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:39.720 bows and parties. 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.000 Just making your way, right like any other twenty three 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:44.360 year old guy would be doing at the time. And 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:48.920 so you had one previous incident that I guess put 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:51.480 you on the radar of the authorities, right, Can you 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:52.360 tell us about that? 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.640 It was the year in nineteen seventy nine, two three 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:58.600 months before I graduated high school, and I was at 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:01.440 a party and got in a fight with another young 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:05.440 teenager at my age and got a battery charge. And unfortunately, 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:09.520 it was the photographs and the police mug shot books 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.520 that the victim supposedly picked out to connect me to 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:15.280 this longful conviction of us. 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:17.960 Yeah. I mean we've heard that story before, whether it's 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:20.240 with the John Asier Velasque's case or so many other 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.880 cases where some minor infraction for which somebody in a 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:27.360 different zip code probably wouldn't have been arrested or charged. 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:31.159 But you know, a little high school incident, a fight. 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:32.920 I'm not saying a fight isn't a serious thing, but 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:36.040 it was a fight among two teenage boys, which happens 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:40.400 every day in different cities all over the country, and 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.359 ninety nine percent of the time no charges are filed. 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:47.240 But you know, in the poorer communities, people of color, 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:49.240 you can end up with a record that could end 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:51.040 up with a mugshot in a book that can end 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.799 up in a wrongful conviction, and it happens time and again, 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:56.599 and that's exactly what happened in this case. 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:00.200 And you're absolutely right because you know later on on 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.839 learning about the case and all that the other guy 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:05.120 that had to fight with wasn't coming to court. So 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.920 it really wasn't anybody, you know, pushing the case along 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.359 through the justice system. But in my ignorance, not knowing 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:14.839 better and just wanting to move on because I was 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:17.880 working and losing days at work, you know, coming back 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:20.360 and forth to court, I decided just to take a bleed. 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:24.680 And like you said, under different circumstances and another zip code, 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:26.839 the case with it. Just like you said, it's just 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.960 a fight between teenagers at a party. But that's not 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.039 the way the justice system, like the dol out punishment 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.360 when it comes to certain communities, it's more so about 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.839 putting people through the criminal justice system and making sure 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:42.640 that they have a record for the rest of their lives. 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.080 So that brings us right up to the time of 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:47.960 the crime. Now. At four am on June twenty third, 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.479 nineteen eighty four, a twenty five year old woman stopped 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.400 at a convenience during the bronze to buy cigarettes, and 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:54.920 there are some conflicts in the narrative between the victim 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:57.159 and the store clerk that had an impact later in 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:59.919 the compromised way in which the jury decided the case. 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:03.200 So back to the night of the crime, the store 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.080 clerk said that the assailant also came into the store 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:09.120 at that time and bought a beer before returning to 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.839 his car, a blue and white Sadan, where he was 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:14.520 honking his horn for the victim. In this case, the 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.440 store clerk said that the victim went to the car voluntarily. 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:21.160 The victim, while maintained when she exited the store that 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:25.080 this other customer, the assailant grabbed her from behind, put 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.240 a box cutter to her throat, and threw her into 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:29.320 the blue and white sedan and it drove off. Now, 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.400 after a few minutes, the car stalled, and when the 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:35.600 assailant got out to check the engine, allegedly the passenger 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.440 side door handle was broken off so the victim couldn't 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.000 get out of the car. The assailant then dragged her 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.320 to a nearby park where he orally sodomized and raped 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:46.720 her and attempted to take her money in cigarettes. 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.120 Yes, she said the guy took her money. She says 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:51.520 she ran after the guy, and the guy gave her 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:53.760 money back. When she claimed that she asked some kids 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:56.080 to feed. He didn't say she was going to caught 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.560 a cop at this time anything. She says she was 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:01.320 waiting for a cab. She said the guy came and 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:06.200 abducted her again. This time he took her an abandoned building, 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:10.960 raped her again, robbed again, and this time he'd cut. 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.160 Her in case it wasn't horrible enough, he'd cut her 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:17.040 face with a razor to prevent her from identifying. He 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.920 actually blinded her in one eye, and he told her 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:21.960 that if she called the police, he would come back 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:26.640 and kill her. She saw his back as he ran away, 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:28.600 and then she passed out. But when she came to 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:33.080 and regained consciousness, she went to a call box. He 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.480 used to have these police call boxes around the city, 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:37.440 and she called the police. Let me ask you. She 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:39.960 described the victim as five to seven or five eight, 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:43.040 one hundred and sixty pounds, with a short afro, had 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:46.960 a mustache, but she said she couldn't tell if he 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:49.920 was darker light skinned because it was the middle of 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:52.160 the night. Obviously it was very dark out, and she 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:56.160 told the detective at the hospital that he was physically 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:58.680 large and that his name was Willy. Did any of 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:00.280 this stuff match up with you? 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:03.520 It didn't match up with me. It wasn't anything that 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:06.840 connected me to the crime. I was in Queens that 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:10.920 weekend with my fiance, had the ticket steps from going 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:13.400 to see Ghostbusters Saturday, and. 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.520 Yeah, wow, Ghostbusters. You know, I'm just thinking about that 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.400 movie was like such a huge thing. It can't It 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:21.040 was like the only thing we were talking about that 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:25.760 summer of eighty four, which has other implications, specifically that 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:28.720 there was no DNA testing back in nineteen eighty four 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:30.960 at the hospital. They did do a rape kit and 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:34.280 sperm was gathered, but without the DNA testing that eventually 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:38.240 would exonerate you. Alan, all they had was zerology. So, 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:40.880 to the best of your knowledge, did they do any 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.720 testing about blood types at all of this evidence that 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:44.440 they had collected. 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:47.240 Not to my knowledge, I didn't find any paperwork. But 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.719 I have to believe they had an idea because when 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.040 I got arrested, I went through Rikers Allen and back 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:55.480 then they was taking blood from you. But as far 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:58.120 as I know, they never did any soology testing, even 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:00.679 though they had my blood type and they had a 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:03.000 solology evidence that was in the rape kit. 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:06.120 So soroology testing was standard protocol back then in a 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:08.960 case like this. If they had something to use against you, 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:11.600 I'm sure you know that they would have. But the 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.360 only evidence from the rape kit that the DAUS was 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:19.280 that spermitozoa were present, proving that a sexual interaction had occurred, 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:23.360 but nothing about blood types, which is very suspicious. And meanwhile, 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:25.920 the detectives brought their mug book down to the hospital 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:28.120 and the victim, who had remember just gotten out of 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:32.559 eye surgery, was shown a dizzying amount of pictures. Who 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.160 knows what was going on during this process as far 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.040 as the suggestive nature of it or the pressure they 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:41.160 put on her when she was in an extremely fragile state. 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.160 But then eventually she picked out your picture from that 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:47.640 arrest back in high school. Then they brought a photo 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:50.199 lineup to the store clerk who also picked you. 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:52.640 Out, and even what they have the stalk clerk. The 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:57.240 stalk clerk said the reason why she recognized me. This 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.160 is what she claimed on a stand I was the 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.200 only guy that I came into the establishment and the 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:05.120 last twelve hours that she didn't know. 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.520 And again we don't know how suggestive they were being 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.880 with either of these identifications, and then both of them 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.679 having already seen your picture. It's not surprising at all 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:17.840 that both women picked you out of a live lineup, 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.559 so you were arrested. But something about this idea and 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:23.120 the whole situation should have stuck out to everyone involved. 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:27.360 The clerk maintained that the victim knew the assailant, but 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:29.480 the victim didn't know you at all, right, I mean, 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:31.480 did you know the victim. 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:34.679 Not at all? Never seen her, never met her, never 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:35.480 knew right. 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.560 Plus you had a solid alibi. Your fiance and her 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:41.120 daughter bouch for you. You've got the movie ticket stubs, 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:43.319 you had stayed up late watching TV with her family 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:45.480 and Queens before spending the night there. I mean, you 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:47.520 were in an entirely different borough. 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:49.680 I wasn't in the brongs that weekend. I was in 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.400 Queens and Bookman. And it gets even better now. When 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:56.360 I first got arrested, my fiance, you know, intended father 0:10:56.360 --> 0:11:00.679 in law. He was a retired correction officer. He went 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:04.600 to the Bronx District Attorney's office and said, listen, I 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:07.080 don't know what this case is about, but I know 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.760 this man was at my house in Queen's and they 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:12.600 try to ask, well, do we have a key? Do 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:14.480 he be coming in three four in the morning. They 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.600 was like, listen, he don't move like that. It wasn't 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.040 no urgency to try to get to the truth, to 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.720 find out what really happened. And like I said, the 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.960 victim also told the cops this guy named was some 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:28.800 guy named Willy. Later on, I found out that the 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.360 cops was investigating some guy named Willy, and paperwork that 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.520 I was able to get years later showed that they 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:38.120 was doing investigation into somebody. Matter of fact, there was 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:41.240 a series of rapes going on in the community and 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.640 it was fitting a similar description, a similar mo and 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:45.800 that just stopped. 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:48.439 I mean, it sounds like maybe this guy could have 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:50.960 been an informant, or they were protecting him in some way. 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.839 I don't know, because otherwise, why would anybody want to 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:57.320 let a serial rapist remain free. It's insane, but that's 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.800 what happened, and I can only speculate because I have 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:02.640 no idea what was going on behind the scenes. And 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.120 it's crazy when you talk about your father in law 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.000 to be, you know. I mean, this is a guy 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.840 you would think would have some credibility, you know, in 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:13.160 that system especially, And they didn't care what he had 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:14.880 to say. They didn't care what you had to say, 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:16.800 they didn't care about your fiance. In fact, they were 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:21.800 aggressively disinterested, no question. They were fighting against the truth 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:23.440 and they won. 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:26.480 They said, when they can't to stand. Well, once we 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.960 focused on mister Newton, everything else ceased in regards to 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:33.440 another suspect. And a lot of these cases, the person 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.720 that committed these crimes go on to commit multiple crimes. Okay, 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:40.920 I'm not caught. They don't stop and like check themselves, right. 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.320 And this is a guy who was so depraved that 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.600 he also took a box cutter to her face. I mean, 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:48.760 like this is like, this is a person that we 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:51.560 should all want off the streets, you know what I mean. 0:12:52.160 --> 0:13:08.000 Jesus Christ. This episode is underwritten by global law firm 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:12.040 Greenberg Traig through its pro bono program. Greenberg Traig leverages 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.719 its more than twenty four hundred lawyers across forty two 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:17.360 offices to serve the greater good of our communities and 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:21.000 provide equal access to justice for all in the field 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:24.480 of criminal justice. Greenberg Triwerg attorneys have exonerated and freedomand 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:28.360 in Philadelphia represent numerous individuals previously sentenced to life for 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:31.960 crimes committed as juveniles and resentencing hearings, and received the 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:35.439 American Bar Association's twenty twenty one Exceptional Service Award for 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:39.320 Death Penalty Representation for their work on five death penalty cases. 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:43.560 GT is reimagining what big law can be because a 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:48.000 more just world only happens by design. 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.640 They offered me three years, Jason, they offered me three 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:59.800 to ten years in a plea deal, and I couldn't 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.200 take debt saw. I made a constant decision to go 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.440 to trial and fight this all the way through. 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:05.880 How long did the trial take? 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:07.560 Five to six days altogether? 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:11.120 So Trialy only used the rate kit and other biological 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.199 evidence to determine that a sexual act had occurred, but 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:17.320 no zerological evidence was presented, So we don't know what 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.080 they found out, if anything, at all. And I'd only 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:22.760 be speculating to say that since they had identifications from 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:25.800 the victim and the witness, they may have ignored or 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:29.600 hidden inconvenient exculpatory evidence, like if the blood type didn't 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:34.080 match Allen, And of course many years later DNA testing 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:40.160 absolutely excluded Allan and proved that these two misidentifications were 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:45.240 just that totally unreliable. And that's really all this trial 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.160 came down to. The two misidentifications. 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:50.440 They had to line up. They had to line up. 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:53.560 I was picked out by the victim and this witness. 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.520 But when they both came to court a year later 0:14:56.920 --> 0:15:00.280 and saw me again, neither one of them initially picked 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:04.480 me out in court, neither one of them, and then 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:07.080 the district attorney I was on the case at the time. 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:10.840 The ABA had a discussion with the victim and the 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:13.800 store clerk, and they both came up with an excuse 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:15.600 of why I'm now the guy. 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:19.560 So the only evidence they had was shaky, but somehow 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:23.200 that was still enough to overcome your defense. What if 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:24.960 anything was presented in your favor. 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:29.720 I mean, not only did my fiance testify, her daughter testified. 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:32.680 My fiance also took a lot of detective tests, see 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:35.040 passed it. You know, the court was informed, the district 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:38.080 attorney was informed about this. And unlike you see on 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:41.760 CSI or one of these other law and order shows 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:44.480 where okay, somebody passed a lot of detective tests. Let's 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:46.880 try to do a little more research. The only thing 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:49.960 the judge did he turned to my fiance while she 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:52.320 was on the stand and said, listen, if you say 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:55.160 anything about that lie of detective tests, I'm gonna hold 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:55.840 you in contempt. 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:59.000 Right, and obviously lie. Detective test results are inadmissible because 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.960 the testing is super were subjective. But back in nineteen 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:05.520 eighty four, polygraph results were still admissible in court. So 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:10.640 it's interesting and confusing that this judge seemed keen on 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.680 keeping that information from the jury, which brings us to 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:16.600 this very odd verdict. You were acquitted of all the 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:20.600 charges stemming from the incident at the park, but convicted 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:23.280 of the charges related to the victim's attack in the 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:26.040 abandoned building, which I had to read that like three 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:28.680 times because I was like, but wait a minute, it 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:31.600 was known at the time directly from the victim that 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:32.800 it was the same person. 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:34.200 Correct, So. 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.120 Can you I mean, that's a great question. I just 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.200 helped me out here because I don't understand I. 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:45.840 Got to answer for that. Remember, now, the victim and 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:49.720 the clerk had different testimony in regards to how the 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:53.600 victim got into the car. The victim says she was abducted. 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:58.240 The clerk says she randomly walked into the call. So 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:02.080 the jury submided is that these two people knew each other. 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:06.120 And then to hear what the jury told my lawyer 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:11.720 about why they made that decision, it was like, oh, yeah, well, 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:16.000 they called the girl a liar about being abducted coming 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:19.480 out the store. They went with the store clerk's testimony 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.960 that she walked into the car on her own, which 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.320 means they were saying the girl and the guy was together. 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:29.320 But we believed something went wrong after the park, so 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:33.920 they believed the victim when she says she got assaulted 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.280 in the building, but they thought she was lying about 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:40.160 the park and that came out because she got cut. 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:44.479 If this woman did not get cut, I truly believed 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:47.960 I wouldn't got convicted because they attitude was, well, this 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:51.480 was a consensual relationship, even though that wasn't the testimony 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:54.600 outside of what the clerk said about the guy beeping 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:57.239 the horn and the victim walking into the car. So 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:01.600 that's called to be pugnant verdict because it's the same victim, 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:06.000 it's the same evidence, and a judge legally don't supposed 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.080 to allow because it's inconsistent. 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.040 I mean, the jury was presented with this conflicting evidence, 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:12.919 and maybe in the interest of public safety or so, 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:15.879 they thought, they were very willing to come up with 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:18.160 their own narrative of the events to come to this verdict, 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:20.720 which of course isn't what they're supposed to do. They'd 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:24.200 accepted the store clerk's testimony, in effect, calling the victim's 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:28.280 testimony about not knowing her attacker, they called that a lie. Meanwhile, 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.320 it was undisputed that she didn't know you at all, 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:36.040 yet she identified you anyway. That means if the store 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:39.280 clerk was right, the victim must have been protecting her 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.199 actual attacker when talking to the police and fingered you 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:45.080 in his place. On the other hand, if the store 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:48.200 clerk was wrong, maybe she was abducted by a stranger. 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:51.639 But then the jury should have believed her about both assaults. 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:56.000 They just chose to believe half of the victim's story 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.399 about the building, and we don't believe what happened in 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:01.760 the park. And they said, well, we're going to go 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.800 with the store clerk because supposedly she's an independent witness. 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:10.000 But it was also testimony from the victim herself, now 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.040 that she had got assaulted about less than a month 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:15.680 before by an ex boyfriend. So it was a lot 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:18.720 of things that came out. But I also believed the 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:22.960 judge played a big part in my trial because the 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:26.199 ADA in my case was kind of new, fresh out 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:28.520 of law school. You know, she wasn't up the park 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.800 when it came to trying to question witnesses. The judge 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:36.480 was taken over across examination and direct examination. It was 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.320 like you're supposed to be, you know, the arbitrator, not 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:43.560 make the case for the ADA. Unfortunately passed away before 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:46.679 my case got overturned, because I would have really liked 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:48.440 to show him that I was really innocent. 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:51.200 I'm sure that would have been satisfying. Considering what you're 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:53.720 telling us now, and also what we know this judge 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:56.440 had already said to your fiance by being held in contempt, 0:19:56.640 --> 0:20:00.000 it sounds like he was really, for all intents and purposes, 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:03.880 just another prosecutor, like an adjunct prosecutor, which obviously totally 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:07.280 tilts the scale, and not in your favor at all. 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.760 So at this point, did you expect the jury would 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:12.240 see past the nonsense? 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:14.320 I mean, when you're telling the truth, you believe in 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:17.000 your heart, it's gonna stand up. You believe it's enough. 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:20.560 It came as a real shot. I wanted to prove 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:24.120 my innocence and say, hey, I got the wrong guy here. 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:27.960 You know, this can't go on. And I didn't think 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:30.800 it was gonna last twenty two years. And I mean 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:33.119 I didn't think I was gonna get convicted either. So 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:51.520 the first thing I did once I got of state, 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:55.359 the first motion I put in the post say motion 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:59.440 was trying to get psylology testing. That's the first motion 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:01.640 I put in. I wanted to try to get that 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:04.520 rape kit and try to test it, you know, and 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:06.919 this was pre DNA. I just want to test it 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:10.240 for blood typing. Judge Einstein all through the years when 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:13.320 I was founding motions on my behalf, he just he 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:16.639 would shoot me down. He just disregarded all my motions. 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:19.240 Even I was trying to find the rape kit and 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:24.960 presenting you know, the republic verdict, everything got dismissed. And 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:28.159 it was hard, man, you know, it was rough. I 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:34.320