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Speaker 1: On March eighth, nineteen ninety eight, seventeen year old Oscar

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Speaker 1: Eagle was shot in the leg in Los Angeles' Peico

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Speaker 1: Union neighborhood. Six days later, sixteen year old Benjamin Eureus

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Speaker 1: was also shot, a non fatal wound that police believed

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Speaker 1: was in retaliation for Oscar's shooting. Soon police arrested Oscar Eagle,

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Speaker 1: but the charges were dropped when Eureus failed to appear

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Speaker 1: in court. Then something changed. Eureas suddenly became confident that

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Speaker 1: Oscar was the shooter, even though he'd always said the

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Speaker 1: gunman had run to and from the car. But with

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Speaker 1: Oscar's debilitating leg injury, could he really have done that?

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Speaker 1: This is wrongful conviction. The Fox Foundation is proud to

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Speaker 1: support this episode of wrongful conviction and the work of

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Speaker 1: After Innocence, a nonprofit that helps hundreds of people nationwide

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Speaker 1: rebuild their lives after wrongful incarceration. Each year, innocent people

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Speaker 1: are released after spending years behind bars for crimes they

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Speaker 1: didn't commit. Nearly all of them leave prison with nothing

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Speaker 1: more than the clothes on their backs, with no help

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Speaker 1: or compensation from the state, as they face the steep

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Speaker 1: challenges of rebuilding their lives after wrongful imprisonment. After Innocence

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Speaker 1: is changing that After Innocence helps exoneries get and make

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Speaker 1: good use of essential services like health care, dental care,

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Speaker 1: mental health support, legal aid, financial counseling, and more. Since

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Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, they've brought that help to more than eight

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Speaker 1: hundred exoneries across forty six states, working tirelessly to ensure

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Speaker 1: that no one released after wrongful incarceration is left behind.

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Speaker 1: Learn more at After Dash Innocence Ditte and join After

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Speaker 1: Innocence to support exoneries as they rebuild their lives. Welcome

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Speaker 1: back to Wrongful Conviction. I'm your host, Lauren Bright Pacheco,

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Speaker 1: and I'm so glad to be back for another season.

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Speaker 1: And we're starting off in Los Angeles in the late

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Speaker 1: nineteen nineties, a time to find by gang hysteria and

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Speaker 1: the sweeping mass incarceration that followed. Joining me today is

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Speaker 1: someone who lived through it as a kid, Oscar Eagle.

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Speaker 1: Oscar welcome, thank you, and to help tell the story.

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Speaker 1: His attorney from California Innocence Advocates, Megan Bacha welcome, thank you.

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Speaker 1: So Oscar grew up in the eighties and the nineties

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Speaker 1: in the Peico Union area of Los Angeles.

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Speaker 2: I had two loving parents, had a sister that lived

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Speaker 2: with me, and I had a brother that was in

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Speaker 2: and out of juvenile hall camp. And she was a

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Speaker 2: lot older than me. It was about ten years older

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Speaker 2: than me. Yeah, so the family life was comfortable. My

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Speaker 2: dad after work, he came straight home and we wait

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Speaker 2: at the dinner table in the living room. It was

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Speaker 2: a good time growing up in the house. But outside

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Speaker 2: of my house was the projects in the Pickle Union.

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Speaker 1: Which was the main hangout for a gang called the

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Speaker 1: Burlington Locos.

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Speaker 2: So I wouldn't stand growing up looking out my window

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Speaker 2: watching them, you know, riding on the walls. And I

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Speaker 2: love art, you know, I love drawing, and probably like

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Speaker 2: ten years old, I got into graffiti that had to

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Speaker 2: continued when I got involved with gangs.

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Speaker 1: Oscar's graffiti tag was clown and graffiti really was the

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Speaker 1: extent of his criminal activity.

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Speaker 2: I believe that drew a lot of attention to me.

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Speaker 2: Growing up in Pickle Union, I was always getting haarressed

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Speaker 2: by these cops. At one time when I was younger,

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Speaker 2: the LPD pulled probably about five of us on in

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Speaker 2: front of my house and after the cops left. All

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Speaker 2: my friends they started to leave. I went back to

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Speaker 2: my house, but in front of how some other kids

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Speaker 2: that lived in the neighborhood that were not gang members,

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Speaker 2: they gather up like about four or five Christmas trees

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Speaker 2: and they put it on fire, and the police showed up.

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Speaker 2: They took a guest and said, oh, well, Oscar was

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Speaker 2: just hanging out in front of the house right here.

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Speaker 2: They arrested me and were saying that they watched me

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Speaker 2: from across the street burning the Christmas trees.

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Speaker 1: So this was the first time that Oscar's alleged gang

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Speaker 1: affiliation led to false charges against him. In Los Angeles,

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Speaker 1: at the time, there was a specialized unit called CRASH,

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Speaker 1: short for Community Resources against Street Hoodlums. But as we've

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Speaker 1: seen in other cities with heavy gang policing, when a

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Speaker 1: neighborhood is associated with a gang, an alleged member of

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Speaker 1: the area's gang will usually be targeted for any crime

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Speaker 1: that occurs in the area, innocent or not. And most

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Speaker 1: gang members aren't involved in violent crime at all, like

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Speaker 1: graffiti artists, but they are painted with the same bra

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Speaker 1: criminal brush.

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Speaker 3: That's absolutely right.

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Speaker 2: You know, if every game member was violent, man, it

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Speaker 2: would be super chaotic out there, but it's only a

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Speaker 2: small percentage of every gang that has these type of

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Speaker 2: individuals that are violent, like social paths or whatever you know.

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Speaker 1: All So, while on probation, Oscar was targeted again while

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Speaker 1: at his friend Victor's house. There was a party going

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Speaker 1: on outside. When LAPD raided the.

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Speaker 2: Location, an officer put the flash light on me and

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Speaker 2: I heard him say to another officer that clown is

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Speaker 2: right here. That's what they used to call me, clown.

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Speaker 2: And they cut me up and they told me that

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Speaker 2: I was being arrested for violating my probation for hanging

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Speaker 2: around with Victor, who is a bursting game member. So

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Speaker 2: they cut me up. They threw me in that cop car.

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Speaker 2: As soon as we left eighteen and Union. We headed

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Speaker 2: down towards Venice and Union, and a guy named one

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Speaker 2: Carlos and Martha Torres acrossing the street, and one Carlos

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Speaker 2: was a game member from Drifters them up. They opened

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Speaker 2: up the truck of the car and they pulled something

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Speaker 2: out of the car, but there was a bag of something.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if it was marijuana or what, but

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Speaker 2: they say you're gonna get arrested. For this, you know,

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Speaker 2: you said that shit in minds and they're like, get.

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Speaker 3: In the car.

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Speaker 2: And there was two eighty street Game members crossing the street.

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Speaker 2: They pulled up on them, chased them on foot. They

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Speaker 2: grabbed a hold of a guy named Weto and another

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Speaker 2: guy out of what the other guy's name was, and

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Speaker 2: they threw them in the car. Car with us went

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Speaker 2: to the police station. There was a lot of activity

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Speaker 2: going on that day. It was a lot of cops everywhere.

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Speaker 2: There was a lot of people in there. They were

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Speaker 2: interested on the guy from at street, the guy named Wetto,

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Speaker 2: and they started talking to him and they were bragging

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Speaker 2: about they killed somebody that looked just like him.

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Speaker 1: And then Crash Unit Officer Nino Durden threatened Oscar with

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Speaker 1: firearm charges.

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Speaker 2: Officer Durden, he threw the mem in a room and

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Speaker 2: started to tell me that I was gonna go down

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Speaker 2: for some guns and that IU. I guess he wanted

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Speaker 2: me to admit the guns or something like that. And

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Speaker 2: I was like, I'm gonna do that. Man like man,

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Speaker 2: you me for violation probation, Just take me in and ready,

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Speaker 2: and I went to juvenile hall. Actually got convicted for

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Speaker 2: the gut charge. I got out of camp around October

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Speaker 2: of nineteen ninety seven. I believe I was trying to

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Speaker 2: be more mature at that time. I kept my routine up, exercising,

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Speaker 2: going to school, going to my community service. And on

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Speaker 2: March eighth, it was my niece's birthday. We celebrated her

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Speaker 2: birthday at my house. After that party, Bortom said it

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Speaker 2: and I said, you know.

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Speaker 3: What I'm gonna. I'm gonna go to Peak Co Union.

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Speaker 2: I took the bus to Pickle Union and I started

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Speaker 2: walking looking for the guys, and I couldn't find nobody

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Speaker 2: from the neighborhood. So I started walking towards the bus

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Speaker 2: stop on Pickle and Union to go home in Easter Day.

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Speaker 2: And so when I was walking over there, a car

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Speaker 2: pulled up and started shooting at me and immediately hit

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Speaker 2: me in my calf.

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Speaker 1: Oscar turned eighteen two days after he was shot, and

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Speaker 1: the wound made it very difficult for him to walk,

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Speaker 1: let alone run, which became a very important fact on

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Speaker 1: March fourteenth, when a sixteen year old kid named Benjamin

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Speaker 1: Urius was also shot.

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Speaker 4: So Arias was a sixteen year old kid who was

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Speaker 4: just walking in the Pico Union neighborhood of Los Angeles

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Speaker 4: and a car pulled up. He says that somebody jumped

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Speaker 4: out of the back seat yelled Burlington Locals, which is

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Speaker 4: the name of the local gang and one that Oscar

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Speaker 4: was associated with. He said that the shooter took off running,

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Speaker 4: which is important, chased after Arias. Arias went to hide

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Speaker 4: under a nearby vehicle. Ultimately, several shots went off and

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Speaker 4: one grazed Arisa's chest, in another his leg, and then

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Speaker 4: the shooter ran back to the car. Again important considering

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Speaker 4: that Oscar was incapable of running.

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Speaker 1: Because you're on crutches, right it went into your calf.

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Speaker 1: The bullet was still lodged there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was still lodge right there.

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Speaker 4: And Arias originally told responding officers that the shooter was

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Speaker 4: wearing shorts. Oscar also had a drain on his legs

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Speaker 4: where the blood was draining out from the bullet wound,

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Speaker 4: and Rhea said that he didn't notice anything on the

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Speaker 4: shooter's leg on the strain would have been very visible.

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Speaker 1: But despite these disqualifying elements, they contacted Oscar under the

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Speaker 1: auspices of his own debilitating shooting.

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Speaker 2: March fifteen, I get a call from Detective Caserras. And

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Speaker 2: I told you guys already that I didn't see who

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Speaker 2: shot me. I don't have nothing else to say to

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Speaker 2: you guys. He goes, well, we need to close that

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Speaker 2: case up and we need you to pretty much like

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Speaker 2: sign off on it or something like that. And then

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Speaker 2: on March seventeen, he showed up right away. He looked

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Speaker 2: at my leg and seeing that I was on crutches,

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Speaker 2: and he's like, hey, you can't walk, and I go, nah,

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Speaker 2: could you put your foot to the floor And I

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Speaker 2: said nah, my calf locked and I wasn't able to

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Speaker 2: stretch my leg or nothing. He told me, hey, you

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Speaker 2: know Junior from at Street and I was like no,

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Speaker 2: and he goes, well, he knows you.

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Speaker 1: The guy he's calling Junior is Benjamin.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, yes, And I was like, maybe I do

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Speaker 3: know him. I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I grew up right there in people in Union. Maybe

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Speaker 2: I don't know him personally. Maybe we see each other around.

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Speaker 2: So he's like, well, he's saying that you shot up.

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Speaker 2: I go, don't know what it's talking about. So he

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Speaker 2: was like, I don't think he did, because I'm looking

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Speaker 2: at your leg and I don't think you're capable of

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Speaker 2: doing this crime.

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Speaker 1: It later became clear that neither did the victim, Benjamin Urias,

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Speaker 1: but Oscar was affiliated with the Burlington Locos, so they

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Speaker 1: brought him in anyway, and he told them exactly where

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Speaker 1: he was during the shooting at the hospital with his

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Speaker 1: friend Becky Chavez, whose friend Susie had gone into an

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Speaker 1: early and false labor.

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Speaker 2: I went to the hospital like all day. I remember

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Speaker 2: going back and forth to drink water. I remember the

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Speaker 2: camera being right above the water, found it and then

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Speaker 2: the security I remember him being a short black officer,

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Speaker 2: So I was like, go talk to that security guard,

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Speaker 2: go get the camera right there, and didn't do none

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Speaker 2: of that. They called Becky Chavis, who I was with

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Speaker 2: that night, so she got down there. They put Becky

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Speaker 2: in a room, they questioned her, and she just verified

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Speaker 2: the same thing that I told him, and they came

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Speaker 2: out and they put me in front of her and

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Speaker 2: they asked me, you better say you did it, because

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Speaker 2: if not, Becky, job is going to go down for

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Speaker 2: this tool. And I was like, man, why are you

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Speaker 2: doing this to us? She told me like, don't listen

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Speaker 2: to these cops, you know. So I told Becky, Becky, sorry,

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Speaker 2: you're gonna have to get arrested too, because you know

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Speaker 2: I didn't I didn't do this crime.

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Speaker 3: And then I've seen her walk out, and then.

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Speaker 2: It took me a week or two to get a

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Speaker 2: public defender to come visit me at the Ali County.

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Speaker 2: It's one of the first things I told him, Man,

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Speaker 2: go get the footage from the hospital. And my first

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Speaker 2: two courts, I was going in crutches. And then on

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Speaker 2: the third court day the case got.

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Speaker 1: Dismissed because Junior didn't show up.

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Speaker 3: He didn't show up.

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Speaker 1: In order to indict Oscar again, they were gonna need

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Speaker 1: the victims cooperation. But there's a record of this new

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Speaker 1: interaction with ben Urius which appears to shed light on

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Speaker 1: why he hadn't shown up to the prior court proceedings

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Speaker 1: and also why he was now open to suggestion.

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Speaker 4: So we don't have a recording of the first lineup,

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Speaker 4: and we don't know precisely what happened there, but it's

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Speaker 4: really clear from the recording of the second lineup that

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Speaker 4: police definitely pushed Areas into selecting Oscar.

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Speaker 1: Ureus also repeatedly asked if they were going to help

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Speaker 1: him on his other case, and six times the new detectives,

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Speaker 1: Muriel and Wiseman, assured him they'd get him on home

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Speaker 1: confinement instead of juvenile camp. Interestingly, these new detectives were

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Speaker 1: from the homicide unit, even though this wasn't a homicide.

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Speaker 1: They asked Ureus if he knew his shooter's name, and

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Speaker 1: Urreus said, quote, they said, Oscar Eagle. Then he's shown

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Speaker 1: a lineup with Oscar in position four. Urreus denied recognizing

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Speaker 1: his shooter. Detective Muriel urged him, quote, take a closer

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Speaker 1: look at it there. Again, Urius didn't make an identification silence.

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Speaker 1: Then Uria says, quote looks sort of looks. Murl cut

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Speaker 1: him off, quote like number four.

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Speaker 4: And then Oria says the number that they had pointed

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Speaker 4: to that the police pointed to in the lineup. I

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Speaker 4: don't know why they were so focused on Oscar or

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Speaker 4: why police didn't bother investigating other alternative suspects, but it

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Speaker 4: seems that once they had their eyes set on Oscar,

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Speaker 4: they just weren't going to take anything else other than Oscar.

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Speaker 1: So, you know, just to show how crazy this was

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Speaker 1: at the time of your trial, forget about Becky, They've

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Speaker 1: pulled in another woman randomly a young woman named Martha

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Speaker 1: Torres who's twenty years old, just happened to be from

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Speaker 1: the neighborhood. And now they're claiming that she was driving

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Speaker 1: the car that you were in the night Junior was shot.

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Speaker 1: And now they twisted so that the motive is that

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Speaker 1: you're shooting Junior in retaliation for you being shot, and

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Speaker 1: that Torres is motivated by the fact that her brother

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Speaker 1: was murdered by a member of the same rival gang,

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Speaker 1: and none of it's true.

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Speaker 2: And her brother was not even a Births and Game member.

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Speaker 2: Her brother was from another different gang called Drifters, but

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Speaker 2: they made it seem like he was from a neighborhood too,

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Speaker 2: and I was like, oh man, this guy's not even

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Speaker 2: from my neighborhood.

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Speaker 1: And then the saddest part is she, like you, is

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Speaker 1: completely innocent, but they talk her into taking a plea

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Speaker 1: deal for five years.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, Miss Torres, I think made the right decision. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 4: even though she was innocent, because she was facing life

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Speaker 4: as well, I mean, she could have ended up doing

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Speaker 4: more than twenty six years like Oscar as well. So

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Speaker 4: she began trial with Oscar. Part Way through the beginning

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Speaker 4: of trial, she separately took a plea deal, and the

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Speaker 4: judge had to instruct the jury that they weren't supposed

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Speaker 4: to draw any conclusions. By Miss Torres no longer being

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Speaker 4: part of Oscar's trial. You know, Miss Torres still maintains

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Speaker 4: her innocence and there was no evidence against her. She

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Speaker 4: had never driven, she didn't have a driver's license, she

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Speaker 4: didn't know how to drive. Her friend's father happened to

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Speaker 4: own a vehicle that looked similar to the one Areas described.

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Speaker 4: That's it.

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Speaker 1: So Martha Torres did the math and did not like

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Speaker 1: her odds. But Oscar's appointed attorney, Patrick Lake, gave him confidence.

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Speaker 2: He started to tell me that he talked to my alibis,

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Speaker 2: he talked to my doctor. He said that they all

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Speaker 2: confirm and verify my story and that we're good and

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Speaker 2: we got a strong case right here. And also the

290
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Speaker 2: joys that we're going to be in front of is

291
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Speaker 2: a band from school or something like that.

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Speaker 1: But it seems like Patrick Lake had given Oscar false confidence.

293
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Speaker 4: So a trial against Oscar. There was the test money

294
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Speaker 4: of Benjamin Arias, and by the time of trial he

295
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:07,480
Speaker 4: was much more confident that it was Oscar. He wasn't

296
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Speaker 4: cross examined thoroughly. It seems that maybe Oscar's defense council

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Speaker 4: hadn't listened to the audio recorded police interview, because if

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Speaker 4: he had, then it's inexplicable why he wouldn't have cross

299
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Speaker 4: examined him on the inconsistencies that Rias didn't originally pick

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Speaker 4: out Oscar, that the police directed him to pick out Oscar.

301
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Speaker 4: In fact, they said, how about this one.

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Speaker 2: He's the quiet, he's the quiet, and I was like,

303
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Speaker 2: the hell, Like, you're not going to speak for me.

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Speaker 2: And then I told him he is the doctor going

305
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Speaker 2: to show up and he goes, oh, he'll be here tomorrow.

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Speaker 4: There was that there was testimony from police officers, including

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Speaker 4: you know, gang investigators, which is scary for the jury

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Speaker 4: to hear about gang members in their community.

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Speaker 3: And I had all two tattoos.

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Speaker 2: So when I was in trout, they had like poster

311
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Speaker 2: size pictures and that's deftly part of the stand and

312
00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:59,320
Speaker 2: starts saying, oh, these are old English type letters, and

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Speaker 2: you know, she's start telling professional opinion. I was like, oh,

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Speaker 2: this is they're just trying to just any little things,

315
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Speaker 2: just to.

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Speaker 1: Just anything they could do to make you look.

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Speaker 2: Bad, just look like an animal. And Patrick Lake, he

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Speaker 2: doesn't talk again, and I'm like, hey, man, what's going on?

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Speaker 4: Man?

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Speaker 3: Go I'm preparing. I'm preparing. So I told me what's

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Speaker 3: up with the doctors? He's showing up?

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Speaker 2: And he said, yeah, he'll be here tomorrow and said,

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Speaker 2: you told me that yesterday. Every day he kept telling

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Speaker 2: me that, and the next thing know, the cases almost

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Speaker 2: over with and and I'm like, hey, where's the doctor

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Speaker 2: at Oh, he's not going to show up.

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Speaker 1: It sounds like your representation didn't prepare at all. You

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Speaker 1: only had one witness called in your defense, and that

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Speaker 1: was Becky. I'm gonna throw it to you, Megan. When

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Speaker 1: you looked into the witnesses that Patrick Lake claimed to

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Speaker 1: have contacted for his defense, what did you find.

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Speaker 4: Well, we spoke to the friend that had false labor

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Speaker 4: that day that Oscar went to go see in the hospital,

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Speaker 4: and she absolutely remembered this day she was in the

335
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Speaker 4: hospital for false flabor, So that's documented. She said Patrick

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Speaker 4: Lake had never interviewed her or her mother, and when

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Speaker 4: Patrick Lake said that he left a message on their

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Speaker 4: answering machine, she says they didn't even have an answering

339
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Speaker 4: machine back then. That she absolutely would have appeared at

340
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Speaker 4: trial had she been called to do so, but she

341
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Speaker 4: wasn't even interviewed. Quite simply, he didn't interview witnesses. He

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Speaker 4: didn't call these witnesses that were so crucial. And then

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Speaker 4: in fact, it's very apparent that he lied to the

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Speaker 4: court about having interviewed these witnesses. You know, he stood up,

345
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Speaker 4: he looked around court and said, I don't see them here.

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Speaker 4: I don't know why they're not here to testify. Well,

347
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Speaker 4: because he hadn't bothered to even talk to them.

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Speaker 1: And then at one point I think the judge said,

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Speaker 1: we'll give you twenty more minutes.

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Speaker 4: So even when the judge gave an additional twenty minutes,

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Speaker 4: even if Patrick had called, then she would have been

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Speaker 4: completely unprepared. She probably in LA. She wouldn't even be

353
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Speaker 4: able to get to the courthouse in that amount of time.

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Speaker 2: My mom passed me a NOE that morning. She said,

355
00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,960
Speaker 2: fire your lawyer, like this guy do nothing for you.

356
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Speaker 2: He didn't even contact your alibies. I raised my hand

357
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Speaker 2: and the judge was like, what are you doing? And

358
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Speaker 2: I said, man, I want to fire this guy. And

359
00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:08,000
Speaker 2: he's like, well, hold on, hold on, and he took

360
00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,800
Speaker 2: everybody out the court. Room, and he said, you're doing

361
00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:12,639
Speaker 2: a Marston motion or something like that, and I was like,

362
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Speaker 2: I'll go I don't know what that is. I just

363
00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:16,840
Speaker 2: want to fire this guy because he hasn't been representing me.

364
00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:19,000
Speaker 2: And he goes, Oh, you just don't like the way

365
00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:20,840
Speaker 2: your trial's going, and so you just want to get

366
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Speaker 2: rid of your lawyer. He goes, it doesn't work that way,

367
00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:24,640
Speaker 2: you know, sit back down. So I was like, man,

368
00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:26,359
Speaker 2: let me take the stand in. I was like, man,

369
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Speaker 2: at least let me show the jurors because they're going

370
00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:29,639
Speaker 2: to see the whole of my leg and they're going

371
00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:31,280
Speaker 2: to be like, oh, man, this guy wasn't able to

372
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Speaker 2: do this crime. As soon as I got up on

373
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Speaker 2: that stand, I just felt attacked by the DA and

374
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Speaker 2: then next thing you know, it was go sit back down.

375
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Speaker 2: So I turned around and told the judge, Hey, Judge,

376
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Speaker 2: I show my leg to the jurors.

377
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Speaker 3: He said, now go back and sit down.

378
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Speaker 4: Patrick Lake could have asked to show that to the jury,

379
00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:49,800
Speaker 4: but Oscar, as the witness at that time, can't just

380
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Speaker 4: turn around and ask to judge, hey, let me show

381
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Speaker 4: my leg.

382
00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:55,600
Speaker 1: And then a detective takes a stand. He holds up

383
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Speaker 1: two pictures. One is you holding a gun, no context

384
00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:02,280
Speaker 1: of where or when it was taken. The other one

385
00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:05,920
Speaker 1: is you standing next to somebody holding a gun. And

386
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Speaker 1: on March twelfth, nineteen ninety nine, you were convicted of

387
00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:16,360
Speaker 1: attempted first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison

388
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Speaker 1: plus twenty five years.

389
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Speaker 2: At that moment, you know, I was stoic and shocked.

390
00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:25,920
Speaker 2: I didn't know how to react, but I.

391
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Speaker 3: Just remember my brother. She was right behind me.

392
00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:38,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, I heard her cry. When I heard her cry,

393
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Speaker 2: I turned around. The judge was talking and I didn't

394
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Speaker 2: hear nothing at all. I just just my brother. I

395
00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:49,960
Speaker 2: was feeling double. She said, she was feeling you know,

396
00:20:50,800 --> 00:21:08,119
Speaker 2: they're separating us for life. My mom I stopped drinking

397
00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:12,160
Speaker 2: when I was probably about twelve thirteen years old.

398
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:14,520
Speaker 3: She made me a promise that she wasn't gonna drink

399
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Speaker 3: no more. And after I.

400
00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:19,760
Speaker 2: Got convicted, I started hearing that she was drinking and

401
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:23,760
Speaker 2: I was like, what the hell there? And I knew

402
00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:25,320
Speaker 2: I knew it was it was because of.

403
00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:30,440
Speaker 1: People, because of what was done to you.

404
00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:33,160
Speaker 3: Yeah.

405
00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:39,920
Speaker 1: You then ended up entering California's adult prison system as

406
00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:40,679
Speaker 1: a teenager.

407
00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:43,840
Speaker 2: I got there at nineteen years old. I didn't know

408
00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:46,160
Speaker 2: how to sell it at that time. It was twenty

409
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Speaker 2: four hour lockdown, sometimes going years and year's lockdown.

410
00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,040
Speaker 3: It was a biling. It was riots.

411
00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:53,920
Speaker 2: When I got there to Pelican Bay, there was a

412
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Speaker 2: big riots and a fair way of two thousand and

413
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Speaker 2: I ended up going to the ads say for that

414
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,040
Speaker 2: for sixteen months, and then I ended up in ire

415
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Speaker 2: Was state prison.

416
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Speaker 3: I found a good program right.

417
00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:07,880
Speaker 2: There in a completed computer class, and I started having

418
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:08,800
Speaker 2: a border job.

419
00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:11,080
Speaker 3: And I always been drawing, you know, that was my thought.

420
00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:12,720
Speaker 2: So I used to tell my mom those semi money,

421
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,600
Speaker 2: just buy me my art supplies and I'll figure out

422
00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:16,879
Speaker 2: how to get money.

423
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:21,840
Speaker 1: While Oscar's early appeals failed, the LAPD was still reeling

424
00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:25,040
Speaker 1: from what became known as the Rampart scandal. It began

425
00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:29,000
Speaker 1: with a nineteen ninety seven road rage incident, but exploded

426
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:32,800
Speaker 1: the following summer when crash unit officer Rafael Perez was

427
00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:37,080
Speaker 1: caught stealing cocaine from an evidence locker and selling it

428
00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:41,919
Speaker 1: nearly eight hundred thousand dollars worth to save himself. Perez

429
00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:47,000
Speaker 1: turned state's witness and became a whistleblower, exposing everything Oscar

430
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:53,360
Speaker 1: had already experienced and more brutality, planted evidence, perjury, drug trafficking,

431
00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:57,639
Speaker 1: bank robbery cover ups, and even ties to organized crime.

432
00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:01,800
Speaker 1: Perez also revealed the officers would gather at a bar

433
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:06,400
Speaker 1: near Dodgers Stadium to celebrate their shootings, handing out red

434
00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,359
Speaker 1: cards for a wound and black cards for a kill.

435
00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:15,919
Speaker 1: Perez implicated at least seventy officers, including crash officer Nino Durden,

436
00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:21,000
Speaker 1: and how he had engineered the false firearm charge against

437
00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:25,040
Speaker 1: then sixteen year old Oscar Eagle, but that was a

438
00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:28,959
Speaker 1: different crime, so Oscar remained behind bars for yet another

439
00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:30,639
Speaker 1: crime he did not commit.

440
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,240
Speaker 2: My mom died in two thousand and seven, and after

441
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,080
Speaker 2: her death, I went into the depression and I couldn't

442
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:40,720
Speaker 2: snap out of it. I was breeving. I started making

443
00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 2: poor decisions. Eventually, the squad unit came in and the

444
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:45,639
Speaker 2: gaffled me up. They had searched my cell and they

445
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,000
Speaker 2: found an address book. I had an address to Gigi

446
00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:51,560
Speaker 2: Gordon that was helping me in my case years prior,

447
00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:54,399
Speaker 2: and she happy to have a client that was a

448
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:55,680
Speaker 2: member of the Mexican mafia.

449
00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:57,760
Speaker 3: And they said that.

450
00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:00,639
Speaker 2: I was using her as a third part dropped to

451
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,000
Speaker 2: connect with the mesic of mafia. So they sent me

452
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:04,320
Speaker 2: to the whole You're.

453
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:09,359
Speaker 1: Again like falsely accused and you get thrown pretty much

454
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:12,520
Speaker 1: in solitary for six years.

455
00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:16,240
Speaker 2: Yes, I just would think that, man, I must be cursed.

456
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:18,320
Speaker 2: You know that that night marries got worse and worse.

457
00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:22,200
Speaker 2: And so I was like, man, you guys are just stretching.

458
00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,000
Speaker 2: You guys are just stretching to validate me or to

459
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:28,399
Speaker 2: break me or something. And I got a visit from

460
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:30,679
Speaker 2: my dad when I was in essay. That was the

461
00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:33,400
Speaker 2: last time I see them. I told me that they're

462
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:38,880
Speaker 2: trying to they're trying to break me in here, and yeah,

463
00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,520
Speaker 2: he just said, he said, oh, you know, don't break.

464
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 2: Just believe in a higher power, man, just don't break.

465
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:46,720
Speaker 1: You mentioned that that was the last time you saw

466
00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:51,840
Speaker 1: your father, because unfortunately both of your parents passed while

467
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:56,920
Speaker 1: you were incarcerated. What at that point kept you from

468
00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:58,440
Speaker 1: giving up hope completely?

469
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:01,320
Speaker 3: I was in the shoe.

470
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:04,240
Speaker 2: We end up having a hunger strike, and the result

471
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,680
Speaker 2: of the hunger strikes that we went through, they start

472
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,040
Speaker 2: to release suspect to the general population. I started to

473
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:13,160
Speaker 2: see the GP as freedom, you know, So I was like,

474
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:14,520
Speaker 2: oh shit, I'm going to go.

475
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:15,440
Speaker 3: Back to the mainline.

476
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:17,520
Speaker 2: I always loved running laps, so I was like, man,

477
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:19,520
Speaker 2: I could go out there and run again, you know,

478
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:21,880
Speaker 2: like I could get into school and try to get

479
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,119
Speaker 2: an education, and.

480
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:27,760
Speaker 1: With greater freedom of movement and access to educational materials.

481
00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:30,640
Speaker 1: He was able to submit his case to the Conviction

482
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:35,159
Speaker 1: Review Unit under Jackie Lacy, the LA District attorney at

483
00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,359
Speaker 1: the time, but citing that it was submitted with no

484
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:43,200
Speaker 1: new evidence, he was denied a reinvestigation, so Oscar had

485
00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:46,680
Speaker 1: to wait for the election of George Gascon in order

486
00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:50,800
Speaker 1: to resubmit his case, around which point Megan got involved.

487
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,720
Speaker 4: I was actually at a transitional house at an event

488
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 4: for other clients, and I was approached by a couple

489
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:02,399
Speaker 4: of Oscar's friends. They had with them an entire file

490
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,080
Speaker 4: full of things, and they sat me down and showed me.

491
00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:08,919
Speaker 4: During this party, they ended up showing me all this

492
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:14,359
Speaker 4: evidence and how Raphael Press had admitted that they had

493
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 4: essentially placed at false gun charge on Oscar to begin with.

494
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:22,760
Speaker 4: And what really drew me to his case was it

495
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:27,840
Speaker 4: doesn't seem that Arias ever really identified Oscar until the

496
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,919
Speaker 4: police pointed him to do so. So I had been

497
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:34,680
Speaker 4: working in other cases with doctor Wicksted. He's an eyewitness

498
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,199
Speaker 4: identification expert, and there is a new consensus in the

499
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:42,920
Speaker 4: eyewitness identification scientific community, and I thought that Oscar's case

500
00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:47,000
Speaker 4: fell perfectly in line with that. So I was gathering

501
00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 4: everything that we needed. I went to the offices of

502
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:53,680
Speaker 4: Gig Gordon, whose Gordon has passed away. I contacted all

503
00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:57,639
Speaker 4: of Oscar's prior council and got materials from the California

504
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,240
Speaker 4: Court of Appeal. That all takes a lot of time

505
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:04,120
Speaker 4: to gather the materials. In the meantime, the LA District

506
00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:08,040
Speaker 4: Attorney's office, well, Oscar was blessed. I'll just say that

507
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:12,000
Speaker 4: because there was a Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles

508
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:17,800
Speaker 4: who is behind I think seven exonerations. Now. She really

509
00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:24,320
Speaker 4: believed in these cases and incorporated the eyewitness identification consensus

510
00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:26,359
Speaker 4: into most of them. She has now gone on to

511
00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 4: become a judge, which is a great loss to the

512
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:32,600
Speaker 4: innocence community. But she ended up looking at the case

513
00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:35,600
Speaker 4: as well, so she and I actually ended up working

514
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:40,160
Speaker 4: on the case together. We interviewed witnesses together. I flew

515
00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:43,879
Speaker 4: to northern California to interview Benjamin Arius, who was actually

516
00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:49,480
Speaker 4: incarcerated at that time, interviewed him with some attorney investigators

517
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:51,960
Speaker 4: as well, and it just seems so clear that there

518
00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:55,240
Speaker 4: was no evidence against Oscar. The only evidence was this

519
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:59,040
Speaker 4: quote unquote identification by Arius, which never existed.

520
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:04,560
Speaker 1: Baca and the DA's Habeas Corpus litigation office together filed

521
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:09,000
Speaker 1: a joint writ arguing that Oscar's conviction was the result

522
00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:13,480
Speaker 1: of ineffective counsel for all the reasons we've already discussed.

523
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:18,199
Speaker 1: His attorney had failed to impeach Benjamin Urius or Detective Muriel,

524
00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:23,119
Speaker 1: with the audio recording of the flawed identification process, ignored

525
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:28,439
Speaker 1: the issue of Urius's unrelated criminal case, did not present

526
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 1: more alibi witnesses or supporting evidence. Most critically, the defense

527
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:38,880
Speaker 1: never introduced proof of Oscar's compromised physical condition or called

528
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 1: his doctor to testify that given his injuries, he could

529
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:45,120
Speaker 1: not have committed this crime.

530
00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:50,480
Speaker 4: So, although the ineffective assistance of counsel is what led

531
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:54,480
Speaker 4: Oscar to be wrongfully convicted in the first place, Elisa

532
00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:56,960
Speaker 4: meant that some of this evidence that we were able

533
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,680
Speaker 4: to use to prove his innocence wasn't already used in

534
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:02,880
Speaker 4: the past, so that we couldn't, you know, bring that

535
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:04,760
Speaker 4: up again post conviction.

536
00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:10,400
Speaker 1: And relatively speaking, once you got involved, it was pretty fast.

537
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,400
Speaker 4: It was really fast. And again that is thanks to

538
00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:17,520
Speaker 4: Dia Laura bazign of the LA District Attorney's office. She

539
00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,560
Speaker 4: was in the conviction integrity unit and then went over

540
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:23,680
Speaker 4: to the habeas litigation unit. And you know, if she

541
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:28,280
Speaker 4: hadn't been working with us jointly, then this would have

542
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:29,560
Speaker 4: taken years and years.

543
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:35,160
Speaker 1: On July tenth, twenty twenty five, Oscar's conviction was vacated.

544
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:37,960
Speaker 4: Once he was out, we got to meet face to

545
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,480
Speaker 4: face for the first time, and now he's my next

546
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:41,000
Speaker 4: door neighbor.

547
00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 1: That's amazing. You know, the Los Angeles Times did basically

548
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,520
Speaker 1: where are they now in terms of all the different

549
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 1: people who contributed to this wrongful conviction and the LAPD

550
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:03,680
Speaker 1: spokesperson had no comment on it. Others denied wrongdoing. You know,

551
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 1: even Patrick Lake, your attorney, who claims he doesn't even

552
00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:12,880
Speaker 1: remember your case. I want to ask about accountability. What

553
00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:15,720
Speaker 1: does accountability mean in a case like this.

554
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:20,760
Speaker 2: I just don't see them taking accountability. I should think,

555
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:24,000
Speaker 2: like man, I wonder sooner or later are they going

556
00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:26,360
Speaker 2: to step up and say, you know what, I did

557
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:28,880
Speaker 2: something wrong back then. You know, I gotta get off

558
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:31,880
Speaker 2: the streets in But I'm not the only one. There's

559
00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:34,280
Speaker 2: other guys still stuck in there from the rap par scandal.

560
00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,440
Speaker 2: I would love to see these officers have integrity and

561
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:40,480
Speaker 2: do the right things, but I don't think it's going to.

562
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,360
Speaker 4: Happen no matter how we hold the people responsible to account.

563
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:49,320
Speaker 4: Oscar lost his entire twenties and thirties to prison. He

564
00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:51,760
Speaker 4: wasn't there when either of his parents passed away, and

565
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:54,840
Speaker 4: there's absolutely nothing to get him that time back. I

566
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:58,920
Speaker 4: think that the state bar should take these cases more

567
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:04,560
Speaker 4: seriously when they is such egregious, ineffective assistance, just simply

568
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,840
Speaker 4: no evidence put on that was very apparent and readily available.

569
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:14,120
Speaker 4: I also think that qualified immunity is a huge issue.

570
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:19,840
Speaker 4: I don't see how prosecutors or police can ever really

571
00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 4: be held accountable so long as there's this immunity. I

572
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:27,880
Speaker 4: also think that even all of these years later, even

573
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:31,040
Speaker 4: when district attorney's offices are willing to do the right thing,

574
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,280
Speaker 4: and they you know, they get so much credit for me.

575
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:35,880
Speaker 4: I'm so grateful to them. You know, even in Oscar's case,

576
00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 4: the elected DA of La County showed up and appeared

577
00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:43,960
Speaker 4: on the record in his case, which is huge. However,

578
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:47,520
Speaker 4: you know, the police still aren't held to account for

579
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:52,200
Speaker 4: the wrongdoing. And the problem is the police are the

580
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:56,160
Speaker 4: investigating agency for the District Attorney's office. I mean they

581
00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,479
Speaker 4: work together, they work hand in hand. Police unions don'tate

582
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:05,800
Speaker 4: to prosecutorial elections. Aside from overhauling the system completely, I

583
00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:08,440
Speaker 4: don't know how we can ever prevent this sort of

584
00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:13,160
Speaker 4: thing from happening again, considering that they work so closely together.

585
00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:18,360
Speaker 1: And when people say, oh, well, they're settlements and there's

586
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:21,240
Speaker 1: money paid, that money is not coming from the people

587
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:28,400
Speaker 1: who caused the wrongful conviction. That's not accountability. That's society

588
00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:34,200
Speaker 1: basically trying to pay off to protect the people in power.

589
00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:38,160
Speaker 4: Right right, That's coming from the taxpayers.

590
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:42,480
Speaker 1: So with that, we're going to close out this interview

591
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:47,000
Speaker 1: by asking our audience to support Megan's organization. They're out

592
00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:50,120
Speaker 1: there doing the work necessary to finally bring about some

593
00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:53,480
Speaker 1: measure of justice in these cases. So we're going to

594
00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:58,240
Speaker 1: link California Innocent's advocates in the episode description. Please donate,

595
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:02,040
Speaker 1: follow them on social media, or otherwise get involved. And

596
00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,520
Speaker 1: now I'm just going to thank you both for sharing

597
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:07,120
Speaker 1: this story with us before I leave the floor to

598
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:09,160
Speaker 1: you for any final thoughts.

599
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:15,640
Speaker 4: Yeah, I will say that I am consistently shocked by

600
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:18,880
Speaker 4: how little evidence needs to be put on for a

601
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:23,240
Speaker 4: jury to convict. I don't think that people understand the

602
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:27,760
Speaker 4: burden of beyond a reasonable doubt. And when the crime

603
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,880
Speaker 4: is allegedly gang motivated and they have gang investigators coming

604
00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:34,600
Speaker 4: up and testifying, it just sort of scares the jury

605
00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:39,360
Speaker 4: into let's lock up whoever, because it sounds like, you know, hoodlums.

606
00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,800
Speaker 4: It's all these hoodlums out there destroying our communities, like

607
00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:43,760
Speaker 4: the crash units.

608
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:46,400
Speaker 1: I was just about to say, like the crash unit

609
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 1: street hoodlum.

610
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:51,240
Speaker 4: That's right, even though in Oscar's case, what he was

611
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:54,680
Speaker 4: doing was artwork on walls. He was doing graffiti. You know,

612
00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:58,000
Speaker 4: he wasn't out shooting people. But they lump them all

613
00:33:58,040 --> 00:33:59,960
Speaker 4: into being sort of the same, and that, you know,

614
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 4: anybody that's getting associated just having grown up in that neighborhood,

615
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,160
Speaker 4: they're necessarily evil and violent.

616
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 2: I just want to let people know that, you know,

617
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,120
Speaker 2: our system is bad, you know, like they don't need

618
00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:16,480
Speaker 2: concrete evidence or direct evidence to find you guilty. Here,

619
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:20,839
Speaker 2: it's like they don't take a human life serious, you know.

620
00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:24,759
Speaker 2: And I just tell people just to be more open

621
00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:31,799
Speaker 2: minded and look beyond somebody's image because it's easy for

622
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:36,160
Speaker 2: a district attorney, it's easy for a police officer to

623
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:38,440
Speaker 2: draw a negative image to somebody.

624
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:39,320
Speaker 3: That's understand.

625
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:43,840
Speaker 2: We take their word as gold, and they got to

626
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:47,640
Speaker 2: be able to see behind the words. When you make

627
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,600
Speaker 2: a person into a monster and an animal, it's real

628
00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:53,160
Speaker 2: easy to convict them as soon as you have that

629
00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:54,240
Speaker 2: thought in your mind.

630
00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:03,000
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. You can listen

631
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:05,759
Speaker 1: to this and all Lava for Good podcasts one week

632
00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:09,040
Speaker 1: early and add free by subscribing to Lava for Good

633
00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:12,399
Speaker 1: Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'd like to thank our production team,

634
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:15,840
Speaker 1: Connor Hall and Kathleen Fink, as well as executive producers

635
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:19,600
Speaker 1: Jason Vlahm, Jeff Kempler, Kevin Wartis, and Jeff Clyburn. The

636
00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:22,360
Speaker 1: music in this production was supplied by three time OSCAR

637
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:25,400
Speaker 1: nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us across

638
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,359
Speaker 1: all social media platforms at Lava for Good and at

639
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:31,160
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction. You can also follow me on Instagram at

640
00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:34,600
Speaker 1: Lauren Bright Pacheco. Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava

641
00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:38,160
Speaker 1: for Good Podcasts and association with Signal Company Number One.

642
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:40,600
Speaker 2: We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported

643
00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:43,480
Speaker 2: in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed

644
00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:45,839
Speaker 2: by the individuals featured in this show are their own

645
00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:48,719
Speaker 2: and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good