1
00:00:01,240 --> 00:00:04,480
Speaker 1: Last year, I spoke to Iron Shellman, who served almost

2
00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:07,080
Speaker 1: thirty one years in prison for a crime he did

3
00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:11,160
Speaker 1: not commit. When we spoke, prosecutors in Wayne County, Michigan

4
00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:14,920
Speaker 1: were appealing the court's decision to grant him a new trial,

5
00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:17,799
Speaker 1: and Eiron didn't know if he would have to go

6
00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:22,080
Speaker 1: back to prison. Well, I have great news. Earlier this month,

7
00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:24,480
Speaker 1: Ereon was officially exonerated.

8
00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:27,880
Speaker 2: It's hard to put in the words how I felt.

9
00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:32,680
Speaker 2: It actually took a few days to like, let's start sleeping.

10
00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:37,560
Speaker 2: Then I began to come to the realization, Dad, it's

11
00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:42,040
Speaker 2: really open. Thirty years later, free.

12
00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:45,080
Speaker 1: And today we're going to re air my conversation with Eiron.

13
00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,120
Speaker 1: May fourteenth, nineteen ninety two started as a normal Thursday

14
00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:57,640
Speaker 1: for Iroon Shellman. He called up a few of his

15
00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:02,640
Speaker 1: buddies to hang, Andre, Floyd and Antonio. Floyd came buying

16
00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:05,240
Speaker 1: his car, and they all headed out to get haircuts,

17
00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:08,040
Speaker 1: pick up some liquor, and bounce around Detroit.

18
00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:12,720
Speaker 3: We had fun, we laughed, we joked. All of those

19
00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:13,759
Speaker 3: things happened.

20
00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,760
Speaker 1: Eron was driving Floyd's car, with Antonio beside him in

21
00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,880
Speaker 1: the passenger seat and Floyd and Andre in the back.

22
00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,160
Speaker 1: Suddenly he heard a loud.

23
00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:27,200
Speaker 3: Bang and it startled me to a degree where I

24
00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:30,600
Speaker 3: almost crashed the car. And as I was trying to

25
00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:36,119
Speaker 3: stop the car and gain that back, Antonio leaned over

26
00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:40,280
Speaker 3: and fell into my lap. I had my dearest friend

27
00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:43,839
Speaker 3: laying in my lap bleeding out the back of his head.

28
00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:47,840
Speaker 1: Antonio was dead. The man who shot him confessed to

29
00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:50,600
Speaker 1: police and gave a full statement.

30
00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:53,760
Speaker 4: And he said, you know, I just I just lost it.

31
00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:55,480
Speaker 4: I didn't even think about it. I just took the

32
00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,840
Speaker 4: gun and I just shot him.

33
00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,000
Speaker 1: But Ieron was arrested, charged and tried for his murder,

34
00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,880
Speaker 1: and in the end Iran was the one who was convicted.

35
00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:12,080
Speaker 3: I'm Iron Shelman. I've served thirty years nine months in

36
00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,800
Speaker 3: prison for a first degree murder that I didn't do.

37
00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:20,720
Speaker 1: From LVA for good. This is wrongful conviction with Maggie

38
00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:36,000
Speaker 1: Freeling today, Iaron Shellman. Iaron Shellman was born in Detroit

39
00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:37,880
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy two.

40
00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:42,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, I grew up on the inner city Detroit, Michigan.

41
00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:46,640
Speaker 3: Mother was a Desiree Salman and my father was a

42
00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,880
Speaker 3: Theodore Right. My mother did a bunch of stuff early on.

43
00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,040
Speaker 3: She worked at at and T for a spell, and

44
00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,239
Speaker 3: she worked at Blue Crossing Blue Shield for a spell.

45
00:02:57,400 --> 00:02:59,800
Speaker 3: My father was in and out of correctional facilities.

46
00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:02,480
Speaker 5: So your mom pretty much raised you by herself.

47
00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:06,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, with a handful of cousins and family members

48
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,680
Speaker 3: and stuff that you know also participated in the rearing

49
00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:16,440
Speaker 3: of me. I have one sibling, she's ten years younger

50
00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:20,400
Speaker 3: than I am. I have a host of cousins. They

51
00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,800
Speaker 3: all think that they're my brothers and sisters.

52
00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:29,040
Speaker 5: How would you describe Aeron overall?

53
00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:31,040
Speaker 6: I would say, if I had to give it words,

54
00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:32,320
Speaker 6: gentle giant.

55
00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:36,880
Speaker 1: Right, this is Eeron's cousin, Sonya Shulman. She's nine years

56
00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:37,760
Speaker 1: younger than Aaron.

57
00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:43,240
Speaker 6: Sometimes when you see people who are larger in stature,

58
00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,760
Speaker 6: you have a sense of intimidation, and that has never

59
00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:50,600
Speaker 6: been that with him because he's always had a very

60
00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:54,000
Speaker 6: soft voice, and so his words always came out really

61
00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,800
Speaker 6: soft and graceful and kind. But when it was time

62
00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,880
Speaker 6: to be protective, you could hear change, Right, don't do that,

63
00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:03,840
Speaker 6: put that down. You're gonna get in trouble, you know,

64
00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:07,480
Speaker 6: those sorts of things. Growing up, it was just like that.

65
00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:10,520
Speaker 6: So because we have a small yet close knit family,

66
00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:15,600
Speaker 6: everyone operated in a way that felt in a protective.

67
00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:16,000
Speaker 3: Measure sort of way.

68
00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,880
Speaker 6: So the older cousins or you know, of that nature

69
00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:22,960
Speaker 6: hovered over all of the younger ones such as myself,

70
00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:26,760
Speaker 6: in a way that felt very brotherly and sisterly.

71
00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:32,039
Speaker 3: Yeah. My grandfather, you know, he would give us a

72
00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:35,440
Speaker 3: few dollars every weekend and we would all pile into

73
00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:38,960
Speaker 3: city bus and catch the bus downtown and watch kom

74
00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:40,600
Speaker 3: Fu movies when we were children.

75
00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:42,880
Speaker 5: What movies do you remember, Oh.

76
00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,600
Speaker 3: We watched all of all of the Komfu movies at

77
00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,880
Speaker 3: the Fox. You know, we were kids, like late seventies,

78
00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,240
Speaker 3: early eighties. It was fans of the guys with the

79
00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:53,960
Speaker 3: rings firstly.

80
00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:55,680
Speaker 5: That's who it was, right, Okay.

81
00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:57,040
Speaker 3: Yes, there you go.

82
00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:04,560
Speaker 1: Although his extended family was always there for him, Iron's

83
00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:06,200
Speaker 1: home life was unstable.

84
00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:10,400
Speaker 3: You know, again, I'm pretty young, but you know, all

85
00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:14,240
Speaker 3: signs showed that, you know, it was drug abuse and

86
00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:16,520
Speaker 3: those types of things that were happening in the home.

87
00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,320
Speaker 1: Aron spent less and less time at home, more and

88
00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,719
Speaker 1: more time out in the streets. Before long he was

89
00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:25,840
Speaker 1: starting to get in trouble.

90
00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:31,400
Speaker 3: You know, typical story as as a household deteriorates and

91
00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:36,320
Speaker 3: you know, it's no real real person that's making you

92
00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:38,760
Speaker 3: do this or making you do that. You know, so

93
00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:42,160
Speaker 3: you tend to start running with people that you should.

94
00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:45,359
Speaker 5: And so what was that in your neighborhood? What was

95
00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:47,680
Speaker 5: going on? It was?

96
00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:50,479
Speaker 3: It was a lot. It just was. It was, you know,

97
00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,960
Speaker 3: guys that did this and guys that did that, drug dealing,

98
00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:58,080
Speaker 3: you know, breaking in houses. I was away a lot,

99
00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:05,120
Speaker 3: you know, juve our delinquency, youth homes, training schools and such.

100
00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:08,039
Speaker 5: How much of your childhood do you think you spent

101
00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:11,480
Speaker 5: in some sort of facility or incarceration.

102
00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:18,160
Speaker 3: I'm fifty one years old, and last I tried to

103
00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:21,800
Speaker 3: do the math. I think I may have spent maybe

104
00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:24,000
Speaker 3: fourteen years free.

105
00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:27,040
Speaker 1: Do you think growing up with your dad in prison

106
00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:31,120
Speaker 1: had any effective on how you kind of chose to

107
00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:31,839
Speaker 1: live your life?

108
00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:36,240
Speaker 3: Must have, right, Like you know, like my grandfather, he

109
00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:38,680
Speaker 3: chipped in, he did the best he could. He worked

110
00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:40,840
Speaker 3: a lot and such, but he come by every day

111
00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:43,400
Speaker 3: and check on me and spend a few minutes with

112
00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:46,240
Speaker 3: me a day. But for a child like me, and

113
00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:48,440
Speaker 3: you know that was going through all that type of

114
00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:53,720
Speaker 3: family drama, you kind of want a strong individual. You

115
00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:58,480
Speaker 3: long for a father figure right to teach you, you know,

116
00:06:58,680 --> 00:06:59,880
Speaker 3: what not to do and what to do.

117
00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,000
Speaker 5: So you have these friends, you're kind of living this

118
00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:07,960
Speaker 5: little bit of street life getting into some trouble. Can

119
00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,520
Speaker 5: you tell me about your relationship with Andre Rice and

120
00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:11,400
Speaker 5: Antonio Knight?

121
00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:15,680
Speaker 3: Both of them was real good friends of mine personally,

122
00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:19,000
Speaker 3: Like we grew up as like really really good friends

123
00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:24,600
Speaker 3: at those ages. At the thirteen and fourteen, I lived

124
00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:29,520
Speaker 3: on a street with Antonio from the age of twelve thirteen.

125
00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:32,640
Speaker 3: We caught the same bus to school for like many years,

126
00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:36,400
Speaker 3: I spent I spent nights over their house. I ate

127
00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:39,080
Speaker 3: at their house, you know, when my mother was kind

128
00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:44,600
Speaker 3: of going through her things, you know, and we weren't

129
00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:47,680
Speaker 3: guaranteed to have a home cooked meal there. I would

130
00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:51,400
Speaker 3: go over Antonio's house and his mother Darlene, and his

131
00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,120
Speaker 3: kind grandmother and them. They would feed me all the time.

132
00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:55,720
Speaker 5: What was Antonio like?

133
00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:00,600
Speaker 3: Early on? He was like us pretty much, you know,

134
00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:04,440
Speaker 3: kid trying to find his way right, trying to figure

135
00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:07,280
Speaker 3: out which side of the tracks he's going to fall on,

136
00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:12,000
Speaker 3: you know. And as I would come back to the neighborhood,

137
00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:15,920
Speaker 3: as I was released from this facility, or I would

138
00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,800
Speaker 3: get a break from that Foster home. I seen the

139
00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:23,160
Speaker 3: change in it that it shifts. It was never really wholesome,

140
00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:28,280
Speaker 3: but it stopped being that and more street.

141
00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,160
Speaker 5: And then tell me about Andre. You said you were

142
00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:32,160
Speaker 5: really close with him.

143
00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:34,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was kind of like a kid brother. You know.

144
00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:37,800
Speaker 3: We would go out and dance and like a little

145
00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:42,520
Speaker 3: like partying and such. You know, nothing really crazy, but

146
00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:44,560
Speaker 3: you know, he went to school every day and he

147
00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:49,280
Speaker 3: had a strong mother influence wouldn't allow him. Yeah. Yeah,

148
00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:52,560
Speaker 3: she was really you know, big with church and you know,

149
00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:54,760
Speaker 3: and that type of stuff, so she really wouldn't let

150
00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:56,559
Speaker 3: him veer off too much.

151
00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:04,920
Speaker 1: In May of nineteen ninety two, Ieron was nineteen years old.

152
00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:08,600
Speaker 1: He was still hanging out with Andre and Antonio, who

153
00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:10,960
Speaker 1: also went by the name Tone, as well as some

154
00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:15,360
Speaker 1: of the other neighborhood guys. One Thursday morning, Aaron decided

155
00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:18,600
Speaker 1: he needed a haircut and Tone wanted to come along.

156
00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:22,280
Speaker 1: Eron called up his friend Ken, who ran a barber

157
00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:25,120
Speaker 1: shop at his house, and Ken said, sure, come on by.

158
00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,439
Speaker 3: So we called Floyd, which was my buddy you know

159
00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:31,880
Speaker 3: what I'm saying, and he would drive us. So he

160
00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:35,720
Speaker 3: pulled up and picked me up and we started to

161
00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:39,240
Speaker 3: accumulate more and more people Ieron.

162
00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:42,640
Speaker 1: Floyd, Pennington and Andre headed over to Antonio's to pick

163
00:09:42,679 --> 00:09:45,800
Speaker 1: him up, and Eeron went inside to get him. While

164
00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,200
Speaker 1: he waited, he chatted with Tone's grandmother and little sister.

165
00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:54,640
Speaker 3: It was really just me being goofy with the kid's sister,

166
00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:58,280
Speaker 3: and grandmother said something or another to me. You know,

167
00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:00,920
Speaker 3: y'all be careful, y'all, you know, stay out of trouble.

168
00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:03,560
Speaker 3: You know. She was big on that type.

169
00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:06,200
Speaker 1: Of The four of them went over to Ken's and

170
00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,560
Speaker 1: got haircuts, then drove around in Floyd's dodge for most

171
00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:10,080
Speaker 1: of the day.

172
00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:14,239
Speaker 3: I don't recall who was sitting where first, but I

173
00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:18,400
Speaker 3: drove because I didn't drink as much as them. Throughout

174
00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:23,320
Speaker 3: the day, there was shifting in the seats. We made

175
00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,840
Speaker 3: a couple of stops, including like liquor stores, the barbershop,

176
00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:28,880
Speaker 3: something to.

177
00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:33,880
Speaker 4: Eat, and they did at one point stop at Montese

178
00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:39,320
Speaker 4: Bell's house, so that's Aaron's cousin. They stopped there and

179
00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:40,920
Speaker 4: chatted for a couple of minutes.

180
00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:44,240
Speaker 1: This is Rachel Wolf, Aaron's post conviction attorney.

181
00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:47,520
Speaker 4: Montes said at this time, like hey, guys, like what

182
00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:50,200
Speaker 4: are you doing? Like where are you going, And that's

183
00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:54,360
Speaker 4: when Aaron apparently said, we're you take Tone out or

184
00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:56,120
Speaker 4: we're going to take Tone out.

185
00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:00,240
Speaker 1: At some point that day, Andre and Antonio they have

186
00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:02,840
Speaker 1: gotten into some kind of disagreement. But if there was

187
00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:06,240
Speaker 1: anything wrong between them, Eron was unaware of it.

188
00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,400
Speaker 3: I was in and out of a car, going in

189
00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:12,880
Speaker 3: and out of cousins house, talked to him back in,

190
00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:17,280
Speaker 3: so I don't know the full between those two. When

191
00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:21,679
Speaker 3: we traveled back up towards Antonio's house, it was kind

192
00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:25,520
Speaker 3: of quiet from Andre, but everyone else was still in

193
00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:28,760
Speaker 3: the mold that they were in. We laughed, we joked,

194
00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:31,480
Speaker 3: you know, all of those things happened.

195
00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:35,800
Speaker 1: Eron was driving with Antonio in the passenger seat beside him,

196
00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,280
Speaker 1: Floyd was sitting in the back seat behind Tone, and

197
00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:44,160
Speaker 1: Andre was sitting behind Iron. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Ieron

198
00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:46,320
Speaker 1: heard a loud bang.

199
00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:54,280
Speaker 3: And it startled me to a degree where I almost

200
00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:57,760
Speaker 3: crashed the car. And as I was trying to stop

201
00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:02,040
Speaker 3: the car and gain that back, Antonio leaned over and

202
00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:06,680
Speaker 3: fell into my lap. I looked back, I seen the

203
00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:11,079
Speaker 3: faces of Floyd and Andre, and I had my my

204
00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:14,480
Speaker 3: my dearest friend laying in my lap, bleeding out the

205
00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:15,280
Speaker 3: back of his head.

206
00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:18,400
Speaker 5: Do you remember if anyone was like, what the hell

207
00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:20,160
Speaker 5: just happened? Like what did you do?

208
00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:24,199
Speaker 3: I don't know if anyone really screamed out. I really don't.

209
00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,960
Speaker 3: I think it was what now, right? I think I

210
00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:32,920
Speaker 3: think that that's that's the emotion. What now? Like you

211
00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:36,640
Speaker 3: know what to do? What what happens? Now? Right?

212
00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:38,079
Speaker 5: So what did you do?

213
00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:44,640
Speaker 3: I drove? I stopped here. I stopped there, and before

214
00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:50,480
Speaker 3: long we were in an alley, uh like maybe two

215
00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:53,640
Speaker 3: three blocks away. They told me to stop. The gun

216
00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:55,719
Speaker 3: was still in his hand, you know, it was pull

217
00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:57,760
Speaker 3: over here. Stopped the car.

218
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:03,080
Speaker 4: Andre and Floyd pulled Antonio's body out of the car

219
00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:08,520
Speaker 4: and left it there in the alley, and then Eron drove.

220
00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:13,960
Speaker 3: I was just so scared, you know. I didn't want

221
00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,320
Speaker 3: to be the one that was labeled to snitch or

222
00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:17,760
Speaker 3: any of that.

223
00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:23,440
Speaker 4: So they found the body in the alleyway. I believe

224
00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,880
Speaker 4: somebody who ran a shop nearby in the area found

225
00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:30,840
Speaker 4: the body in the alley and called the police.

226
00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:33,959
Speaker 1: An autopsy showed that Tone had died of a single

227
00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:37,839
Speaker 1: gunshot wound to the back of his head. Almost immediately,

228
00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:41,000
Speaker 1: the Detroit police were out looking for the killer, and

229
00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:43,800
Speaker 1: a number of suspects were rounded up for questioning.

230
00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:51,360
Speaker 4: I do know that they arrested at least three people

231
00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:56,560
Speaker 4: who were, you know, maybe witnesses. They suspected that these

232
00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:59,960
Speaker 4: three individuals, as Montes Bell and then this other woman,

233
00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:03,559
Speaker 4: Barbara Meyer and her boyfriend William Logan were all arrested,

234
00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:07,120
Speaker 4: charged with the homicide, and then held for many hours

235
00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:12,960
Speaker 4: before they ultimately gave statements. I don't know exactly how

236
00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:18,079
Speaker 4: Iron and Andre initially became suspects, but I can wager

237
00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:23,320
Speaker 4: I guess that they spoke to Antonio Knight's grandmother, who

238
00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:25,720
Speaker 4: ultimately did come in and testify at trial, because she

239
00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:29,520
Speaker 4: had seen these four men in the car together hours

240
00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:30,880
Speaker 4: before Tone died.

241
00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:35,080
Speaker 1: A few weeks later, Andre Rice was arrested as well.

242
00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:37,360
Speaker 1: Uron was still laying low.

243
00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,280
Speaker 3: You know, I'm nineteen years old. I'm ducking in the

244
00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,320
Speaker 3: dodge and I only really came out once I found

245
00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:51,320
Speaker 3: out that they had arrested Andre, so I kind of

246
00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:54,080
Speaker 3: let my guard down after that. I'm like, oh, okay,

247
00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:57,960
Speaker 3: police arrested it, like you know, it's over with, right,

248
00:14:59,320 --> 00:14:59,800
Speaker 3: But it wasn't.

249
00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:04,880
Speaker 1: The statements from Montez, William and Barbara along with Tone's

250
00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:08,880
Speaker 1: grandmother had placed Iran in the car when Tone was shot,

251
00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:13,080
Speaker 1: and the investigation was now focused on him and Andre.

252
00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:17,160
Speaker 1: Before long, the police found him at his cousin's house

253
00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:18,520
Speaker 1: and took him down to the station.

254
00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:22,120
Speaker 3: I didn't speak to him. They took me back to

255
00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:25,880
Speaker 3: the sale for hours. When I come back down, they

256
00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:30,160
Speaker 3: had a confession from Andre Sweat. He told me he

257
00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:33,840
Speaker 3: showed me a paper with a signature on it, said

258
00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:36,720
Speaker 3: he had everything he needed. And I said, well, if

259
00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:39,320
Speaker 3: you got everything you needed, you got a confession, surely

260
00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:43,040
Speaker 3: I can go, right. Was it the case? They said

261
00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:47,400
Speaker 3: they needed me to put some nails in the coffin

262
00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:53,240
Speaker 3: of him and to pull Floyd into it. I said,

263
00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:54,120
Speaker 3: I don't know nothing.

264
00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:59,280
Speaker 1: On June thirteenth, nineteen ninety two, Andre Rice confessed to

265
00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:02,440
Speaker 1: shooting in to He told the police that Aeron and

266
00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:05,560
Speaker 1: Floyd had no idea it was going to happen, and

267
00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:07,440
Speaker 1: they had nothing to do with it.

268
00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:14,160
Speaker 4: What Andrea says is that Tone had been threatening him

269
00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:18,480
Speaker 4: and threatening his family, and so Andre says he had

270
00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:21,440
Speaker 4: been drinking and he said he was sitting there and thinking,

271
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,280
Speaker 4: this guy's going to hurt my family. It's totally unprovoked.

272
00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:28,640
Speaker 4: You know, I just lost it. I didn't even think

273
00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:30,040
Speaker 4: about it. I just took the gun and I just

274
00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:30,520
Speaker 4: shot him.

275
00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:37,120
Speaker 5: So you stay quiet, he confesses, How do you think

276
00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:38,880
Speaker 5: you got involved in this?

277
00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:44,200
Speaker 3: I was tied to it either way, right, So I

278
00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,240
Speaker 3: just assumed that since I didn't help anybody, and I

279
00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:52,360
Speaker 3: didn't help the investigation, I would be thrown in somehow, right,

280
00:16:52,920 --> 00:17:02,560
Speaker 3: That's what I was thinking. I don't know, you know,

281
00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:04,439
Speaker 3: at the time, I didn't. I surely didn't think that

282
00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:07,800
Speaker 3: it would garner me a first degree murder conviction and

283
00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:22,680
Speaker 3: send me away for thirty plus years.

284
00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:27,640
Speaker 1: You're listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. You can

285
00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:30,720
Speaker 1: listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts

286
00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,200
Speaker 1: one week early and ad free by subscribing to Lava

287
00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:48,520
Speaker 1: for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. On June seventeenth, nineteen

288
00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:52,880
Speaker 1: ninety two, Ivon Shellman and Andre Rice were both charged

289
00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:57,840
Speaker 1: with first degree premeditated murder. Their trial started six months later.

290
00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:06,560
Speaker 4: The trial was actually pretty short. It ran over the

291
00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:10,720
Speaker 4: course of five days December seventeenth through the twenty third

292
00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:15,679
Speaker 4: of nineteen ninety two. They were tried together, Andre and Ieron,

293
00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:17,360
Speaker 4: but they had separate juries.

294
00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:22,119
Speaker 1: The judge was Vera Massey Jones and the prosecutor was

295
00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:27,160
Speaker 1: Lisa Lindsay. Ireon's defense attorney was Paul Curtis and Andre's

296
00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:29,159
Speaker 1: attorney was Jeffrey Edison.

297
00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:34,480
Speaker 4: He was partners with Paul Curtis. They were law partners.

298
00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:36,960
Speaker 4: They were operating out of the same office. There is

299
00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:38,960
Speaker 4: a potential conflict of interest there.

300
00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,840
Speaker 1: But the trial moved forward with very little to go on.

301
00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:46,000
Speaker 1: There was no physical evidence for the state to present.

302
00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,400
Speaker 4: They never found a murder weapon in the case. According

303
00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:54,800
Speaker 4: to the police, they never found the car. Floyd went

304
00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:57,479
Speaker 4: away with the car. The car was never seen again,

305
00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:00,120
Speaker 4: so they couldn't fingerprint it or do anything like that.

306
00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:00,199
Speaker 3: That.

307
00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:05,440
Speaker 1: The prosecution's few witnesses included a medical examiner and one

308
00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:06,919
Speaker 1: of the police officers.

309
00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:11,879
Speaker 4: And then there was Antonio. Knight's grandmother came in and

310
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:16,560
Speaker 4: testified about what had happened when they came to pick Antonio.

311
00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:16,640
Speaker 6: Up that day.

312
00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:21,360
Speaker 4: In what she saw, there were three people in the vehicle,

313
00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:24,600
Speaker 4: well for if you count Antonio himself. One of them

314
00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:27,920
Speaker 4: was never charged, never arrested, never interviewed.

315
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,840
Speaker 1: That was Floyd Pennington, the owner of the car.

316
00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:33,680
Speaker 4: He was the one white man in the car, which

317
00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:39,560
Speaker 4: I also find interesting. You know, so their only evidence

318
00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:43,399
Speaker 4: that Iran was guilty was this testimony of his cousin.

319
00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:53,000
Speaker 1: Montes Bell was the state star witness. He was the

320
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:55,679
Speaker 1: one who said Iran had told him they were going

321
00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:57,480
Speaker 1: to take tone out.

322
00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:00,560
Speaker 4: He was the one that was going to make it difference,

323
00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,920
Speaker 4: and his testimony was incredible. There were lots of ways

324
00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:09,240
Speaker 4: to impeach him and discredit him, just using conflicts in

325
00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:12,600
Speaker 4: his own testimony, conflicts between what he said at trial

326
00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:15,280
Speaker 4: and at the exam, the fact that he had charges pending,

327
00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:18,200
Speaker 4: the fact that he was facing the homicide charge initially,

328
00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:22,120
Speaker 4: so he just the trial attorney really just focused on

329
00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:23,240
Speaker 4: cross examination.

330
00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:26,680
Speaker 1: Did the police convince anyone to testify against him that

331
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:28,080
Speaker 1: maybe made something up?

332
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:29,239
Speaker 6: I don't know.

333
00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,400
Speaker 4: I will say that one of the investigators on the case,

334
00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:36,960
Speaker 4: her name was Barbara Simon, has been alleged in several

335
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:46,280
Speaker 4: other cases of pressuring witnesses eliciting fabricated testimony. So it's possible,

336
00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,959
Speaker 4: and especially knowing what we do about the Detroit Police

337
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:55,280
Speaker 4: department at that time, it's possible. Barbara Meyer said straight

338
00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:58,560
Speaker 4: up that she gave them seven different statements and they

339
00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:01,439
Speaker 4: would not release her until she gave the one that

340
00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:04,440
Speaker 4: they wanted her to and she said, at that point,

341
00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:06,360
Speaker 4: I would have done anything to get out of there.

342
00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:08,720
Speaker 4: It's one of the worst places I've ever been, and

343
00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:09,840
Speaker 4: I hear that a lot.

344
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:12,800
Speaker 6: Now.

345
00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,800
Speaker 1: To understand what happened next, it's important to know how

346
00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:19,760
Speaker 1: the trial was conducted. Ivon and Andre were co defendants

347
00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:23,520
Speaker 1: and they were tried together before the same judge and prosecutor.

348
00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:28,360
Speaker 1: But they had two separate defense attorneys and two separate juries.

349
00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:31,160
Speaker 4: So the way they do that is, you know, they'll

350
00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:35,680
Speaker 4: do partial testimony from one witness. They'll present the things

351
00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,359
Speaker 4: in front of each jury while the other jury is

352
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,639
Speaker 4: out of the courtroom, and anything that pertains to both cases,

353
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:44,880
Speaker 4: they'll have both juries in the courtroom. It's something they

354
00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:46,840
Speaker 4: do a lot to save time.

355
00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:51,520
Speaker 1: This means that potentially each jury could get a very

356
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,720
Speaker 1: different picture of this same set of events.

357
00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,399
Speaker 4: Andre didn't testify at the trial, but they had a

358
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,680
Speaker 4: police office or take the stand and read his initial

359
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:06,040
Speaker 4: statement into the record. This is the very first version

360
00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:09,680
Speaker 4: of events he told police. You know, he went in there,

361
00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:12,520
Speaker 4: they interviewed him. He said, we were all in the car.

362
00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:15,560
Speaker 4: I shot him. The other two people in the car

363
00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:18,280
Speaker 4: with me didn't know anything about it. I didn't even

364
00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:23,040
Speaker 4: think about it. I just acted right. That same evidence

365
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,800
Speaker 4: was not presented to mister Shelman's jury, ever.

366
00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:31,080
Speaker 3: He was convicted. First, he was charged with first degree

367
00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:35,000
Speaker 3: murder and felony firearm. They reduced his to second degree

368
00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:38,479
Speaker 3: murder with felony firearm, and they just left me at

369
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:39,480
Speaker 3: first degree murder.

370
00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:43,680
Speaker 4: And in this case, Andre I believe got twenty five

371
00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:46,720
Speaker 4: to sixty years was his sentence.

372
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,040
Speaker 1: I just I'm just still wondering how that happened, because

373
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,199
Speaker 1: it isn't it true that Andre also said like you

374
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:58,520
Speaker 1: were not involved, you didn't know anything.

375
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:04,960
Speaker 3: That information was never read in my trial. Jury never

376
00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,679
Speaker 3: heard that. The jury only heard that I was a

377
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,520
Speaker 3: bad kid and I went picked my buddy up and

378
00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:16,080
Speaker 3: something terrible happened to him. If you only hear a

379
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:18,919
Speaker 3: certain side, it's all you can make your opinion. And

380
00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:21,400
Speaker 3: so I don't blame him at all.

381
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:28,119
Speaker 4: So, because the jury had not heard the evidence that

382
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,840
Speaker 4: allowed Andre Rice's jury to say, oh, there was no

383
00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:36,679
Speaker 4: premeditation and deliberation, Ieron Shulman's jury did not have any idea.

384
00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:41,080
Speaker 4: They didn't hear Andre's statement. So if they believed that

385
00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 4: he was involved, even in the slightest they believed they

386
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,199
Speaker 4: were looking at something that was the first degree homicide.

387
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:51,239
Speaker 4: That's the charge that was put to them, right, and

388
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:57,360
Speaker 4: they found him guilty of it. In Michigan, if you're

389
00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:01,959
Speaker 4: convicted of homicide, either as the principle or as an

390
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:05,639
Speaker 4: aider and a better there is a mandatory life without

391
00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:09,119
Speaker 4: parole sentence, and you're going to die. You're going to

392
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:11,560
Speaker 4: die in prison. It means life in Michigan.

393
00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:14,040
Speaker 5: So Rice got a lesser sentence.

394
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:15,760
Speaker 1: I know that you explained a little bit of that

395
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:20,080
Speaker 1: because of the testimony that was not allowed into Eeron's trial.

396
00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,359
Speaker 1: But that was not a Brady violation, correct, It was

397
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:25,639
Speaker 1: not hidden. The defense attorney just did not.

398
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:29,240
Speaker 4: The defense attorney knew about it, you know, and it's

399
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,879
Speaker 4: I don't know, you know. We interviewed Paul Curtis, We

400
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:36,320
Speaker 4: called him at the evidentiary hearing to explain his reasoning,

401
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,440
Speaker 4: and the only reason he gave was that he assumed

402
00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:44,480
Speaker 4: Andre Rice would plead the fifth and just refuse to testify,

403
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 4: and so what was the point of talking to him?

404
00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:49,920
Speaker 4: And when I asked him, well, why wouldn't you use

405
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:54,560
Speaker 4: this statement. He didn't need Andre, he really didn't have

406
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:55,200
Speaker 4: an answer.

407
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:00,080
Speaker 5: When you're sitting at try.

408
00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:06,520
Speaker 1: And they present this for Andre and then not for you,

409
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:08,639
Speaker 1: did you say to your defense attorney, like, what is

410
00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:09,000
Speaker 1: going on?

411
00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:10,960
Speaker 5: Why isn't this coming into my trial?

412
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:15,639
Speaker 3: I didn't have a clue. I didn't have a clue. No, No,

413
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:21,320
Speaker 3: nineteen year old No. I really believed that like someone

414
00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:26,360
Speaker 3: would see the truth. Right, that's what you hope, right,

415
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:29,000
Speaker 3: You hoped it like like you know, you got me

416
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:33,919
Speaker 3: down for a murder. I don't have a gun possession

417
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,119
Speaker 3: to nothing, it's just a murder, right, and you have

418
00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,000
Speaker 3: the other guy down for the murder and the gun,

419
00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:42,919
Speaker 3: and you're assuming that like someone will say, like, because

420
00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:44,520
Speaker 3: what was his involvement then?

421
00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 5: Right?

422
00:25:45,400 --> 00:26:07,040
Speaker 3: You know, so it just didn't happen for me. Prison

423
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:09,919
Speaker 3: is like a microcosm of like the worst of the worst.

424
00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:15,399
Speaker 3: That's what I think prison is. It's, you know, you

425
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:20,200
Speaker 3: got your elements that's really bad and terrible, and then

426
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:25,680
Speaker 3: you got maybe a little bit of a sentil of goodness, right,

427
00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:28,960
Speaker 3: and it's up to you which side you want to

428
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:36,240
Speaker 3: you know, attach yourself to when you go to prison.

429
00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:39,440
Speaker 3: The older guys that tell you it's sheeping, its wolves

430
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:44,199
Speaker 3: in here? Which one you want to be? Right? So,

431
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:48,120
Speaker 3: you know, nineteen twenty year olds, I was twenty after

432
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:50,760
Speaker 3: by the time I was sentenced, I was twenty years old.

433
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 3: I'm in prison. I have a life sentence. So I

434
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:58,720
Speaker 3: didn't make the best decisions early on. Right, I fought

435
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:02,679
Speaker 3: a lot. I wanted to prove myself a lot. I

436
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 3: found myself in those head spaces. Right.

437
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:17,120
Speaker 1: Sonya was just ten years old when her beloved cousin Aeron,

438
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,639
Speaker 1: the gentle giant who watched over her, went to prison.

439
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,119
Speaker 6: It was a milestone, and not in a good way

440
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:28,440
Speaker 6: for our family. The impact was felt through the entire

441
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:32,320
Speaker 6: family unit and it was visceral. You could see it.

442
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:37,480
Speaker 6: People changed, things changed. It was a loss. It was

443
00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,480
Speaker 6: a grief and loss experience for the family.

444
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:45,040
Speaker 1: And you know, he mentioned we talked about how he

445
00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:48,080
Speaker 1: was in and out of some foster homes, juvenile detention.

446
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,600
Speaker 5: He got in a lot of trouble. When he gets

447
00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:55,920
Speaker 5: charged with murder. Was that surprising to everyone?

448
00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:56,879
Speaker 3: It was?

449
00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:59,560
Speaker 6: It was he was nineteen we went to prison, right,

450
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:04,520
Speaker 6: there were teenage things, you know, joy riding or you know,

451
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:06,760
Speaker 6: running away from home or we can't find you for

452
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:08,560
Speaker 6: a week because you're hiding with a lady or a

453
00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,720
Speaker 6: girl or whatever. You know, you never heard of violence,

454
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:15,879
Speaker 6: not from the gentle giant, right, So that was that

455
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:17,560
Speaker 6: was a major shock to our family.

456
00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:20,919
Speaker 5: Did everyone believe in his innocence at first? Or was

457
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:21,880
Speaker 5: there everyone did?

458
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 6: Yes? That was it was clear because we know him,

459
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,439
Speaker 6: we know him. So part of that grief and loss

460
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,480
Speaker 6: also included that charge and persons were not able to

461
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:37,520
Speaker 6: articulate what that meant and how we disagreed or how

462
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:40,200
Speaker 6: we couldn't even imagine something like that could happen. We

463
00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,720
Speaker 6: didn't have a skill set. The adults lost their ability

464
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 6: to rationally behave emotionally. You saw lots of crying and

465
00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,240
Speaker 6: anger and who missed court and who went to court?

466
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:57,760
Speaker 6: And who should be finding money? And what should we

467
00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:02,160
Speaker 6: be doing? It became a different family dynamic altogether. How

468
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:02,920
Speaker 6: do you pay for this?

469
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:04,080
Speaker 3: What do you do? Where do we go?

470
00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:08,560
Speaker 6: That shift was painful to watch.

471
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:09,520
Speaker 3: Wow.

472
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:14,960
Speaker 1: After the initial shock, the family rallied together to support Eron,

473
00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:18,240
Speaker 1: and as Sonia grew older, she took on more of

474
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:20,040
Speaker 1: a role in his fight for innocence.

475
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:24,840
Speaker 6: Our relationship began to get very strong. In my teen years,

476
00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,760
Speaker 6: and so I would ask him questions and he would

477
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,760
Speaker 6: say things like, you're smart enough to handle this. And

478
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:33,400
Speaker 6: so he would like tell me what he was doing

479
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:35,240
Speaker 6: in appeals and send me what he had and I

480
00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:39,720
Speaker 6: would read and so I knew early on about the confession.

481
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:50,240
Speaker 7: Yeah, So, at what point did things start to change

482
00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:51,000
Speaker 7: for you in prison?

483
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:52,000
Speaker 5: Do you remember when that.

484
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 3: Was my last like seventeen eighteen years were without incident?

485
00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 5: Right?

486
00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:59,360
Speaker 3: In fact, my last eleven years and three months. I

487
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:03,680
Speaker 3: was a member of the TGIA Dog program where I

488
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:06,440
Speaker 3: helped train rescue greyhounds.

489
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:07,280
Speaker 5: Wow.

490
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:11,920
Speaker 3: So I did that, but it allowed me time to

491
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 3: really get back into my case and research some other

492
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,760
Speaker 3: avenues of my case. And that's what we did, me

493
00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:21,480
Speaker 3: and a fellow inmate, you know, we started going back

494
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,440
Speaker 3: through it and kind of looking at it from a

495
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:27,640
Speaker 3: different vantage point, and we kind of stumble up on

496
00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:28,600
Speaker 3: a couple of things.

497
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 4: So he filed his post conviction motion for a leaf

498
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:38,680
Speaker 4: from judgment in twenty seventeen. He had written it himself

499
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:40,520
Speaker 4: and maybe he had the help of a legal writer

500
00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:43,560
Speaker 4: or something. He had written it. They held his cases

501
00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:46,440
Speaker 4: called in abeyance. The judge didn't decide it. They referred

502
00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 4: it to the Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit, that's the

503
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:54,720
Speaker 4: Prosecutor's office's own division to review these cases.

504
00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:58,880
Speaker 1: Around that time, Aaron heard about Rachel from a fellow

505
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:02,520
Speaker 1: prisoner reached out to her. She had just started her

506
00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:03,800
Speaker 1: own practice.

507
00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:08,120
Speaker 4: So Ereon's case was one of my very first cases.

508
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:12,000
Speaker 4: It was the first case that I filed in the

509
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:15,240
Speaker 4: Wayne County Circuit Court under the name Wolf Law. So

510
00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:18,480
Speaker 4: it's been a long road together for both of us.

511
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:21,840
Speaker 1: The first thing that Rachel did was to sit down

512
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:24,560
Speaker 1: and go through Eiron's trial transcripts to see if she

513
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:26,719
Speaker 1: could uncover a basis for a new trial.

514
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:31,000
Speaker 4: So when I read a trial transcript, I'm looking for

515
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 4: all of the things the jury would have been looking at,

516
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:37,200
Speaker 4: all the things the prosecutor argued to prove guilt. And

517
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,680
Speaker 4: in some cases there is a ton of evidence. You know,

518
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 4: there's video evidence, there's DNA evidence, there's multiple eyewitnesses. In

519
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:49,719
Speaker 4: this case, we have none of those. There's zero physical

520
00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:55,560
Speaker 4: evidence in this case. So their only evidence that Iran

521
00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:59,760
Speaker 4: was guilty was this testimony of his cousin, Montes Bell,

522
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 4: and his testimony itself was about hearsay statements. He said, oh,

523
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:08,360
Speaker 4: Iran told me.

524
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:09,200
Speaker 6: That he was there.

525
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:14,080
Speaker 4: Earon said we're going to take Tone out. So yes,

526
00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:16,800
Speaker 4: he testified on the stand. I took that to mean

527
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:22,160
Speaker 4: they were going to kill him. So the prosecutor's case

528
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:25,400
Speaker 4: was an aiding and a betting theory. So they argued

529
00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:28,840
Speaker 4: throughout that Andre was the shooter. There was never really

530
00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:34,240
Speaker 4: any question about that. Their argument was that Iran took

531
00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,040
Speaker 4: part in the planning of the operation.

532
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:41,040
Speaker 1: Is that because he said we're going to take Tone out? Yes, yes,

533
00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:42,080
Speaker 1: oh my god.

534
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:45,760
Speaker 4: Okay, which Iran later explained at the He testified at

535
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:48,800
Speaker 4: the evidentiary hearing we had later and explained He's like, no,

536
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:52,240
Speaker 4: I you know, we're going to take Tone out, like

537
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:54,720
Speaker 4: we're going to go do something. We're going to go

538
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:57,200
Speaker 4: to the club, you know, something like that. So the

539
00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 4: two statements they had that Iran apparently made that montes

540
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:05,200
Speaker 4: Bell said he made were both also ambiguous.

541
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:08,840
Speaker 1: Rachel filed a motion for a new trial based on

542
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:13,880
Speaker 1: actual innocence, ineffective assistance of counsel, and newly discovered evidence.

543
00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:18,680
Speaker 1: Their investigation had uncovered several new witnesses who testified on

544
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,560
Speaker 1: Eiron's behalf. One was a woman named Jennifer Palmer.

545
00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:27,280
Speaker 4: She had had several conversations with Montesbell in which he

546
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:31,920
Speaker 4: admitted that he knew Iran had not been involved, and

547
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,720
Speaker 4: he knew that Iron wasn't going to be convicted because

548
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:39,840
Speaker 4: Eron never had anything to do with it. So direct

549
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,760
Speaker 4: impeachment evidence against Montesbell their main witness.

550
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:47,800
Speaker 1: And there's someone else who testified on Eiron's behalf, someone

551
00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:53,040
Speaker 1: who knows the truth about what happened that day, Andre Rice. Andre,

552
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 1: you remember, had gotten a lesser sentence twenty five to

553
00:33:56,360 --> 00:34:00,000
Speaker 1: sixty years, and thanks to good behavior, he was relieved

554
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,480
Speaker 1: after serving less than twenty five years of that and

555
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:05,560
Speaker 1: he had already tried to help Eron.

556
00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,359
Speaker 4: Andre Rice has been out for over a decade. After

557
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:12,520
Speaker 4: he was released, he wrote up an affidavit. So when

558
00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:15,799
Speaker 4: Eiron filed his own motion and wrote it himself, it

559
00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:20,319
Speaker 4: was based on Andrea's affidavit. And Andrea is also the

560
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:23,680
Speaker 4: one that went to the Wayne County Conviction Integrity Unit

561
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:26,360
Speaker 4: and said, hey, you know, I know this man is

562
00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:29,040
Speaker 4: in prison. I'm the one that committed this crime. Please

563
00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:34,600
Speaker 4: look into this case. The challenge for Andre is that

564
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:37,759
Speaker 4: in order to get a new trial, you have to

565
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:40,000
Speaker 4: have new evidence.

566
00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:44,160
Speaker 1: Since Andre's confession had been presented at the time of trial.

567
00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:48,280
Speaker 1: It was not considered new evidence when Eiron filed his appeal.

568
00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:54,400
Speaker 4: If there is a new trial, Andre's testimony can and

569
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:58,080
Speaker 4: will be presented at that new trial. And so when

570
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:01,480
Speaker 4: the judge is looking at, Okay, what's the evidence we're

571
00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:03,680
Speaker 4: going to have on retrial? Is there a chance that

572
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:07,320
Speaker 4: the outcome will be different? She does get to consider

573
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:11,040
Speaker 4: what Andre has to say, but his testimony alone was

574
00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:15,680
Speaker 4: not going to be enough legally for us to argue

575
00:35:15,719 --> 00:35:19,560
Speaker 4: that Aaron was innocent deserved a new trial. He'd been

576
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:20,600
Speaker 4: wrongfully convicted.

577
00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:25,400
Speaker 1: Fortunately, when she reviewed the new evidence, Judge Shannon Walker

578
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,800
Speaker 1: found it credible, and in January of twenty twenty three,

579
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:33,560
Speaker 1: she vacated Eiron's conviction and ordered a new trial. Two

580
00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:37,560
Speaker 1: months later, Aaron was officially released from prison after nearly

581
00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:44,800
Speaker 1: three decades. Eiron soon found work at a chemical plant

582
00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:47,239
Speaker 1: and got his own apartment. He still has to wear

583
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:50,520
Speaker 1: a GPS monitor and stick to a curfew, but he's

584
00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:53,960
Speaker 1: been enjoying getting to know his three adult children and

585
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:54,799
Speaker 1: their families.

586
00:35:56,640 --> 00:35:59,640
Speaker 3: They're all Gobris Dan. When I went to prison, one

587
00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:04,880
Speaker 3: was barely what six months, and that was my youngest

588
00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:10,920
Speaker 3: son Aaron, and his sister Alex and my oldest son Xavier.

589
00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 3: They were like almost three four when I went to president.

590
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:18,839
Speaker 3: I went in when I was nineteen years old. I

591
00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:22,200
Speaker 3: was a kid, like I'm fifty one years old now, right.

592
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:26,640
Speaker 3: It's crazy sometimes when I look at myself in the

593
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:31,320
Speaker 3: mirror and I see my grandfather right, Like, I'm gray

594
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:36,839
Speaker 3: now and I'm more laid back. It's just a different experience,

595
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:40,759
Speaker 3: you know, I'm looking at life through different lenses.

596
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:47,200
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, Eeron's journey isn't over yet. In August of twenty

597
00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:51,520
Speaker 1: twenty three, Wayne County prosecutors appealed to the court's decision

598
00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:53,080
Speaker 1: to grant him a new trial.

599
00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:57,080
Speaker 4: What happens in these cases that are thirty years old

600
00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:00,840
Speaker 4: is that when a new trial is granted, you know,

601
00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:06,360
Speaker 4: they lose witnesses. Monteese Bell is deceased, Antonio Knight's grandmother

602
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:10,319
Speaker 4: is no longer available, And what happens is the prosecutor's

603
00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:14,600
Speaker 4: office is facing the possibility that they won't be able

604
00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:17,440
Speaker 4: to retry him at all.

605
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:20,160
Speaker 1: But if the court order is reversed and the conviction

606
00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:24,880
Speaker 1: is reinstated, there's still the possibility that Ireon could be

607
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:25,760
Speaker 1: sent back.

608
00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:31,839
Speaker 4: And it's terrifying. We're terrified. It is extremely likely that

609
00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:36,200
Speaker 4: they will order mister Shellman to report to the Michigan

610
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:40,799
Speaker 4: Department of Corrections and go back to incarceration, while we

611
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:45,040
Speaker 4: then would need to file another motion for a leaf

612
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:48,600
Speaker 4: from judgment or ask the court to reconsider the issues

613
00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:51,080
Speaker 4: that she didn't address in her first ruling.

614
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:57,880
Speaker 5: Are you worried about potentially going back.

615
00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:01,640
Speaker 3: I'm of the mindset now that if this all turns

616
00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:05,560
Speaker 3: out to be like a great vacation from what I

617
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:09,280
Speaker 3: had been living for almost thirty one years, I'm okay

618
00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:13,120
Speaker 3: with that too. It sent God's chans to me, so

619
00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:16,080
Speaker 3: I don't stress anymore about it as much as I

620
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:20,560
Speaker 3: did early on. And again, I'm thankful for the opportunity

621
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:24,680
Speaker 3: to come out and rejoin society at this later stage

622
00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:27,319
Speaker 3: and get to know my kids and my grandkids in

623
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:31,919
Speaker 3: a way that I couldn't from behind those bars. Right.

624
00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:38,560
Speaker 6: The blessing of having him out alone is just his

625
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:46,360
Speaker 6: presence is absolutely breathtaking. It's almost like a butterfly, you know,

626
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:52,160
Speaker 6: coming from a caterpillar. Yeah. I enjoy watching him pay bills.

627
00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:56,920
Speaker 6: I enjoy watching him ask about budgets. He enjoys it.

628
00:38:57,160 --> 00:38:59,560
Speaker 6: He was like, this is a grown up bill. Look

629
00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:01,440
Speaker 6: how I got my budget. I just want him to

630
00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:04,200
Speaker 6: enjoy these things. I don't know anybody. I don't know

631
00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:06,680
Speaker 6: any other humans who enjoy paying paying bills.

632
00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:09,759
Speaker 3: I'm a big proponent of you know, I look for

633
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:13,160
Speaker 3: the little blessings as much as I look for the

634
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:16,600
Speaker 3: big ones. Right, You're more likely to stumble across the

635
00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:19,680
Speaker 3: little ones than the big ones. You sit around and

636
00:39:19,719 --> 00:39:22,840
Speaker 3: wait for that big one you know may not never come.

637
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:28,279
Speaker 5: But I'm okay, you are very graceful. I'm always so

638
00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:34,000
Speaker 5: shocked that, after spending thirty years in a horrible place,

639
00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:37,960
Speaker 5: that you guys are all just so so graceful and

640
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:41,000
Speaker 5: have such humility. And you're kind of breaking my heart

641
00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:41,479
Speaker 5: right now.

642
00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:45,560
Speaker 3: No, listen, once you meet me, you kind of can

643
00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:52,080
Speaker 3: see that. You know, I'm much more than just my case, right,

644
00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:55,920
Speaker 3: It's just the truth of the matter. My case happened

645
00:39:56,360 --> 00:40:00,000
Speaker 3: a very long time ago. I'm sure for that family

646
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:04,000
Speaker 3: that you know, every year is a reminder of that, right,

647
00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:11,760
Speaker 3: you know, it was traumatic. I'm a victim of something, right,

648
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:16,000
Speaker 3: But I'm not the victim. I'm just not the victim.

649
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:21,200
Speaker 3: Isn't here anymore, Maggie and so I tell people all

650
00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:24,000
Speaker 3: the time, like pray for them, pray for that family.

651
00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:53,680
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freelink.

652
00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:57,040
Speaker 1: Please support your local innocence organizations and go to the

653
00:40:57,080 --> 00:40:59,800
Speaker 1: links in the episode description to see how you can help.

654
00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:03,840
Speaker 1: I'd like to thank our executive producers Jason Flam, Jeff Kempler,

655
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:07,120
Speaker 1: and Kevin Wortis, as well as senior producer Annie Chelsea,

656
00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:12,800
Speaker 1: producer Kathleen Fink, story editor Hannah Beal, and researcher Shelby Sorels.

657
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:16,600
Speaker 1: Mixing and sound design are by Jackie Pauley, with additional

658
00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:20,360
Speaker 1: production by Jeff Cleiburn and Connor Hall. The music in

659
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:24,520
Speaker 1: this production is by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph.

660
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:28,000
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow us on all social media platforms

661
00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:31,279
Speaker 1: at Lava for Good and at Wrongful Conviction. You can

662
00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:35,120
Speaker 1: also follow me on all platforms at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful

663
00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:37,920
Speaker 1: Conviction with Maggie Freeling is a production of Lava for

664
00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:41,680
Speaker 1: Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number one