WEBVTT - #553 Lauren Bright Pacheco with Jeff Smith 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:06.000 On July ninth, two thousand and six, a shooting ripped 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:11.280 through a Waterloo, Iowa nightclub. Tanye Jackson was fatally shot. 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:16.160 Panicked clubgoers flooded nine one one with calls, and in 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:20.759 the chaos, one name came out, local rapper Jeff Smith. 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:25.800 The problem Jeff didn't match the description, his car wasn't 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:29.960 the getaway car. None of it lined up. Yet police 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:36.040 produced statements that corroborated that initial identification and contradicted the 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:46.400 facts they already had. This is wrongful conviction. The Fox 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:50.120 Foundation is proud to support this episode of wrongful conviction 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:53.880 and the work of After Innocence, a nonprofit that helps 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:58.200 hundreds of people nationwide rebuild their lives after wrongful incarceration. 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:02.440 Each year, innocent people are released after spending years behind 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:05.800 bars for crimes they didn't commit. Nearly all of them 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:08.800 leave prison with nothing more than the clothes on their backs, 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:11.760 with no help or compensation from the state as they 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:16.280 face the steep challenges of rebuilding their lives after wrongful imprisonment. 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:21.679 After Innocence is changing that After Innocence helps exoneries get 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:25.119 and make good use of essential services like health care, 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:30.240 dental care, mental health support, legal aid, financial counseling, and more. 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:32.840 Since twenty sixteen, they've brought. 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:36.600 That help to more than eight hundred exoneries across forty 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:40.520 six states, working tirelessly to ensure that no one released 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:45.200 after wrongful incarceration is left behind. Learn more at after 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:49.360 dash innocence dot org and join after Innocence to support 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:50.680 exoneries as they. 0:01:50.600 --> 0:02:03.680 Rebuild their lives. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction. I'm Lauren 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:07.559 Bright Pacheco. Today we're joined again by Tom Freerricks, who 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:11.399 our audience might recall from our coverage of Jeff Bouprey, 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:15.880 and during that coverage, Tom brought us another case, a 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:19.760 man out of Waterloo, Iowa named Jeff Smith, who was 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.680 just released in October twenty twenty five. We couldn't be 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:26.840 happier for you to be home as the fight continues, 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.240 and we're going to get into all of that right now. 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:32.880 So Tom, welcome back, and Jeff welcome home. 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:33.720 Thank you. 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:39.160 So just tell me a little bit about you before 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:40.040 all this happened. 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:44.280 Growing up, I could say I was always one of 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:47.600 the favorites by of my family because I always had 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:51.240 the huge smile and full of joy, and it was 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:55.800 like no money or anything mattered. It was just the love, 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:58.280 you know, I mean, you give me a hug, and 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:00.720 it was sincere than that meant more than meeting the 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:04.240 new pair of shoes. I was staying in des Morning, 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.280 Iowa with my mom and dad, my younger sister, my 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:10.560 older sister, and I have two older brothers that were 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:13.760 for me, and we were staying in these apartments called 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:18.280 Oak Ridge, a very rough neighborhood, and my mom ended 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.560 up catching a drug case. My grandmother came from km 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.360 Mississippi and took back me, my youngest sister and my 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.399 oldest sister, and we were staying in this apartment complex 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.280 called Joe Preacher Homes Public Housing Authority. 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:34.600 Yeah, I'm pretty notorious too. 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.920 So growing up there it was rough, the lowest of 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:41.400 the lows and the highest of the highest. But that 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:46.520 was also a place where you also learned to appreciate 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:50.320 what you did have minus what you didn't have. And 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.680 I ended up taking a passion for music because it 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:58.240 was an outlet. Like even growing up my grandmother when 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:01.840 she was always cooking dinner, Sunday dinner or whatever, cooking 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:06.160 and she would always just be humming. You know, you 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:08.680 know what I mean, And it always just sounded soful 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:10.760 to me, and I'm like I just cop see at 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:13.440 the table and look at her and listen. I learned 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:16.200 that through music I could tell my story and I 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.120 was able to write. And then like ten eleven twelve, 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:22.799 like a lot of my friends was like, yo, wrap 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.560 that again. You know what I mean. You're good, You're great, 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:29.039 and then I continue to push with the music. But 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:32.040 growing up in Catton, it was rough for my project. 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.200 So it was like I was nine years old and 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:40.320 I was going to the school called MacNeil Elementary and 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:42.840 at that time we were wearing the uniforms. It was 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:45.800 kaki pants and white shirts. And I was nine years old, 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:47.880 I remember this. So I was in third grade. So 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:51.200 I was ironing my clothes and I was looking out 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:55.680 my window. Now, my grandmother she sold pops candy stuff 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:57.800 like that. She was a neighborhood Stuart, you know what 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.560 I mean. And there was this guy named Etli and 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:02.640 I saw him and he walked through and he was like, hey, 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:04.320 give me one of them pops ready, And I'm talking 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:06.640 through him through the window. So okay, all right, I 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:09.720 got you. And it was like ten minutes later, it 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:12.000 was just like the fourth of July and this guy 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.960 gets shot like sixteen times. And seeing this at the 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:18.480 age of nine was like, wow. 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:22.760 Oh, I'm just thinking of you nine years old, Yes, 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:28.520 ironing your clothing, trying to put your best foot forward 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:30.400 and being exposed to that. 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:35.279 Yeah. So growing up I had family in Waterloo, Isla. 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:38.479 And it was like, you know what, I don't want 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:42.479 to be around here that much longer because my neighborhood 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:46.080 was just filled with drugs and game bangers. And the 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.600 older you get, the more you're gonna get into the 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:52.280 being a product of your environment. 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:57.680 So Jeff took the initiative to improve his life, but unfortunately, 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:03.000 a similar environment existed in Waterloo, Iowa, like rival gangs 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:07.080 and drug trafficking, And while Jeff pursued his music career, 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:08.960 he was not immune. 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.719 You can dibble and dab in certain things because it 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:16.600 was around you, and that doesn't make you a bad person. 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:20.080 You're still at that age figuring out who you are 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:20.960 as a person. 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:26.200 But an officer named Bose had already decided what sort 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:30.760 of person Jeff was. Yes, Officer bos, how many times 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.480 had he pulled you over? Before all this happened? 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:38.200 Woo oh. I gotta say it was like constant harassment, 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.440 like I know you're out here doing this illegal. I 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:43.440 know you're doing something and I'm gonna get you. 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:47.000 But Jeff didn't have the criminal record of others in 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:50.880 his social circle, like Jeff's fiance's cousin, the victim in 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:55.480 this case, Kanye Jackson, who had just gotten out of prison, 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.719 which brings us to July ninth, two thousand and six. 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.680 Tanye had a minor argument with Jeff earlier in the 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.960 day and then later that night, Tanye went to a 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:09.800 club called Chrystyles Club. 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.200 Chris Styles didn't have the greatest reputation. I think there 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:16.040 were more than one shooting that had occurred, there, regular 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:19.160 run ins with the police. I think they always kind 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:23.000 of rode that razor's edge of getting shut down because 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.880 of too much activity. As a result a particular, for 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:29.320 two thousand and six, they put in one of the 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:37.360 most spectacular systems of cameras pointing everywhere everywhere. There really 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:39.880 was matt a square foot of that bar, and they 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.240 did that at the pause of the Waterloo Police Department. Okay, 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:48.679 there was an adult summer basketball league on a Sunday 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:53.080 night that was finishing and Club Crys Styles was generally 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:55.520 not open on a Sunday, and a gentleman butt the 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.600 name of Bud Dunn called the owners and said, look 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:01.600 open up on Sunday night. We'll get some people here, okay, 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.760 So they opened up the bar. There were varying stories 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:08.280 of fifteen twenty twenty five different people present at the bar, 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:13.320 but the standard story of those who saw something say 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.280 that a tall guy six foot one hundred and eighty 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:20.760 pounds opened up the door of the bar, had a 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:25.200 handgun with a laser sight on it, scanned the bar 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.960 until they got to Tony A. Jackson Boom boom boom, 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:32.040 put three bullets in him and then runs from the scene, 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:35.520 gets into the passenger side of a purple Aurora and 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:36.199 speeds up. 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:41.200 Interestingly, during the shooting, bud dune sister Chilandra was on 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:44.640 the phone with her boyfriend Marlon ERSII, who was in 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:49.440 jail facing federal drug charges. So that call was recorded 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:53.760 and there's audio of three shots, as well as Bud 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.439 Dunn naming the shooter with Jeff's stage name Jay Rich. 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:02.160 Then Bud Dunn called nine to one one, gave a 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:07.080 fake name and named j Rich again. Then while leaving 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:10.000 the club, he gave the same fake name but didn't 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:16.280 identify j Rich. Pretty strange, but he did mention seeing 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:17.480 the Purple Aurora. 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.840 The police at the scene knew that there was some 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:25.040 people that might potentially be the type of people that 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.080 would be involved into shooting that were connected to a 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:31.320 Purple Aurora. Some of the cops speed off to that 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:35.920 house check the Purple aura sitting outside hot muffler. Good 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:41.000 people bolt outdoors. They don't catch everybody. They eventually go 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:46.000 into the house. They find drugs, ammunition, nine millimeter ammunition. Importantly, 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:47.880 they don't do anything with that. 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:52.120 Officer Bose was part of that mission to track down 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.520 the Purple Aurora. 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:55.760 A lead that curiously went. 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.880 Cold as tunnel vision set in over the mention of 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:03.720 j Rich on the call, and soon the Purple Aurora 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:08.360 morphed into Jeff's blue Monte Carlo. In the police narrative. 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:10.280 Jeff is well known to have a blue Monty Carlo. 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:14.040 Right, and on the tenth the police ransacked your apartment. 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:17.080 Actually it was people who ransacked at first and then 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:22.120 the police, so it was like a burglary slash search. 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:27.160 They find some drugs and a coat that's about four 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:28.280 sizes too big for. 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:32.760 Jeff, and by some drugs cocaine. Can we reiterate the 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:33.800 amount we're talking about? 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:40.080 Zero point three, not a gram, not an ounce, not 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:42.760 a key, not none of this. It's not even a ram. 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:46.320 It's zero point three. And all of this took place 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:49.000 with not me knowing and me not being there. 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:55.160 So, Jeff, a friend of yours is killed in a nightclub. Yes, 0:10:56.320 --> 0:11:01.000 tell me when you first heard what went down that night. 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:06.400 When I got that news, it wasn't like they were saying, hey, 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.360 one of your friends got killed. It was hey, people 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:10.959 trying to say that you killed. 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:13.080 Somebody, and you turned yourself. 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.439 In because I know I didn't, So, Jeff, you. 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:18.120 Thought that you could just walk in and clear it up. 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:21.520 And clear it up, and that was not the case. 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:25.880 I came in with the attorney and Robert Montgomery. They asked, 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:28.400 do we have a warrant for me? And they say yes. 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:31.080 And I looked at my lawyer and he said, don't 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:33.480 talk to no one. Just sit tight. You're gonna be 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:35.800 all right and get you out of here. And so 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.240 at that time, they still didn't tell me what the 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:42.840 warrant was for. And once I go to booking and 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.520 I'm in there and then the officer comes in and 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:48.040 he says, yeah, you're being charged with a tempt to 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:51.640 deliver crack cocaine violation of the drug tax stamp. And 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.720 I'm like, this isn't what I heard I was accused of. 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:59.320 But now something's really fishy because I didn't have any drugs. 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:05.080 The police allegedly found these drugs after the apartment had 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:09.120 already been ransacked, in a coat that was four sizes 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:13.559 too big for Jeff, and in Iowa, point three grams 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:18.239 for a first possession offense is typically treated as a misdemeanor. 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:23.320 The warrant was for attempt to deliver crack cocaine, and 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:27.760 they hailed me on a one hundred and fifty thousand 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:31.160 dollars bun so you would need fifteen thousand dollars to 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:31.760 bun out. 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:35.160 The possession arrest allowed them to hold Jeff while they 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.120 built a case that was stronger than just hearing his 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:41.280 stage name from Bud Dunn using a fake name on 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.240 a nine to one one call. And at this time, 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:49.680 Schilandra Dunn's boyfriend Marlon Ursie, who was facing federal drug charges, 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:54.680 alerted investigators to his recorded jail phone call, which gave 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:58.280 them the exact time of the shooting. They also subpoenaed 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:02.160 Jeff's cell phone record and located Jeff was last on 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.560 the phone with a girl named Tasha Alexander from nine 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:08.720 to eight to nine ten PM, a few miles away 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:12.600 from the scene, but in the official narrative, the time 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:16.760 of the shooting became nine to seventeen PM, theoretically giving 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:20.400 Jeff enough time to speed over to club Christiles, kill 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:25.200 Tanye Jackson, and be identified by Bud Dunn, who they 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:29.800 now have overheard naming Jay Rich on this jail phone recording, 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:35.439 so they visit Bud and Chilandra remember neither had subsequently 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:39.760 identified Jeff to police as they left the club that night. 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:44.920 At the scene, nobody tells the police Jay Rich. Nobody 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:49.240 tells the police anything. They didn't really get any stories 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:53.160 from any of the people that supposedly identified Jeff Smith 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:57.080 and tell about three days later when they basically were 0:13:57.080 --> 0:13:59.640 going yanking people off the streets and telling them that 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.240 you need to tell your story you may face charges. 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:06.200 Police spoke with Bud and Schilandra, as well as Lawanda Simpson, 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.719 all of whom we're now willing to name Jeff as 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:14.719 the shooter. But maybe the contradictory initial statements or what 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:20.120 they individually stood to gain made them impeachable. So investigators 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:24.600 turned to jel house snitches like Rayshawn mcclarity, who had 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:28.320 just informed on his co defendants in an armed assault 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:29.640 and robbery case. 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:34.000 This guy, Rayshaw mcclarity tells them, I'm going to cooperate 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:37.040 with you against my code defendants. Right, So it went 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.680 from twenty five years with a seventeen and a half 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:44.240 year mandatory to ten years with a seven year mandatory. 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.960 So he got his case dropped it there till hey, 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:49.960 you know what I want some even better. I'm going 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:53.760 to testify against Jay Rich Jeff Smith. He says that 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:57.200 we work together for one day at High V in 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:00.040 the meat department, which we did. He did quit. He 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:04.360 had worked there for one day, so no other hanging 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.040 out with each other, know each other, calling each other. 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.800 And he says, for this one day of working at 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:12.960 the meat department, we went outside on lunch break and 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:15.200 he said that I told him, hey, you want to 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:18.160 see a gun. I don't know you, never even met you, 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:20.680 just working with you for this one day, he says, 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.000 I said, hey, you want to see a gun, and 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:25.440 I showed him the same kind of gun that they 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:26.600 said killed my friend. 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:29.560 And it seems that placing a gun like the one 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.880 used to kill Tanya on Jeff was enough to win 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:38.280 his release. They also found another jailhouse informant named Jeffrey Grafton, who, 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:44.040 during his recorded interview, was repeatedly prompted with the answers 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:48.680 to investigators questions. But it appears that the dodgy statement 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:52.280 gathering went far beyond jailhouse snitches. 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:56.320 There's even claims from people who Jeff didn't know, saying 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:58.680 they were telling people, look, if you got something to say, 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.400 we might have something to pay. Officially, there was never 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:05.320 any reward money. There's claims pet Jeff went to the 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:08.560 house of a guy named Ira Harrington that people saw 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:10.000 him with a gun. 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:14.720 And those were the grandchildren of Harrington's neighbors, the outlaws, 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:18.160 and the kids were brought in to give statements. 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:22.920 When you go into the investigation room, there's a camera 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:25.600 sitting in the corner. Most people don't know that, so 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:28.440 when an investigator is in there with the grandfather and 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:31.080 his granddaughter, he says, I need to take a break 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:33.360 right quick. I'll be right back, And he left the 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:38.160 grandfather and the granddaughter in there, and the grandfather says, hey, 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:40.360 you gotta say you saw a blue car, not a 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:44.520 green car, so your story can match your cousins. She said, Grandpa, 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:45.600 I know what I saw. 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:46.200 I saw. 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.640 No, I told you, you have to say you saw 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.680 a blue car the match up with your cousins. And 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:56.560 she's quiet because it's their grandfather. And this investigator comes 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:58.720 back in his room. Now don't forget that camera is 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:01.720 still rolling, and he's is, oh, yeah, she would like 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:04.200 to tell you that something else you want to clear up. 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:08.400 And then the story changes. And even though this is recorded, 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:12.000 and we take this to the judge, it just says, well, 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:13.760 that's not up to me to decide. We'll leave that 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:15.360 up to a jury to the side. 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.240 But at least his attorney was privy to this exculpatory 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:24.720 video evidence. Meanwhile, there should have been dashcam footage from 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:29.840 the thirteen police cars that arrived on scene that night. 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:33.720 Every police car that arrived at the scene arrived with 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:36.240 the lights and sirens, and in fact, in two thousand 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:39.240 and three, it was the official policy that the fact 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:44.600 that the lights and sirens on, automatically turns on their cameras. 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:48.239 And yet not a single dashboard cam is rolling when 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:48.920 they pull up. 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:51.679 And you can come up with a number of potential 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.840 theories of why that might be okay, because as they're 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.439 speeding to the scene, there might have been a purple 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:01.760 aurora speeding away from the seat, okay. 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:05.800 Or the dashcam footage just conflicted with their narrative in 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:10.840 some other monumental way, which we'll discuss later. Now, also 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:14.520 when available to the defense, there's surveillance footage from Club 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:19.200 Chris Styles fancy news security system. So fast forward three 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.680 years and Jeff was finally taken to trial in two 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:27.480 thousand and nine, facing these poor manipulated children as well 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:29.399 as the incentivized witnesses. 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:32.600 Slandra Dunn looked at me and they said, you see 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:34.960 the person who did the shooting, And then she looked 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:36.639 at me and he was like, yeah, he's right there, 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:39.480 And I'm like, how are you gonna put me somewhere? 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:42.600 I was never there and I didn't understand it, and 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:44.880 I just looked and I was just praying in my head, 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:47.840 like wow, you know. 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:53.760 Then there were the jailhouse snitches, like mclarity, who had 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:56.640 walked Scott free from his violent crime. 0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:00.840 Went home free after shooting someone with a shaw offsotgod 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.720 who had a bright future and crippling it. But all 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:06.840 of that didn't matter as long as he was able 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:07.879 to testify against me. 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:11.960 A lot just wash the slate clean by setting you up. Yes, 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:17.200 it so. Without a fuller investigation into the narrative that 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:20.399 the state had built, the time of the shooting was 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:26.160 accepted to be nine seventeen PM, neutering Jeff's alibi, the 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:31.480 purple Aurora became the blue Monte Carlo, A shooter over 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:35.520 six foot became five foot seven, and a well known 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:38.600 local rapper who was not named by witnesses at the 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:43.399 club that night was now identified from those same witnesses 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:44.320 from the stand. 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:49.480 The worst part about that whole thing, when they read 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:52.760 that verdict, it was like I didn't hear nothing else 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:57.080 in that courtroom except for my mom breaking down crying. 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:02.520 I didn't hear the victim's family celebrating. I didn't hear 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:06.159 my friend saying anything to me. The only thing that 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.720 I heard was my mom breaking down crime. Everything else 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:12.200 was silent. I couldn't even hold my mom. I couldn't 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:15.159 even tell her it's okay. I couldn't kiss her on 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:19.040 the forehead, and she just broke down and it was 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:35.880 just all now, my baby, my baby, my baby. If 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:40.679 you don't have faith, you better find it and you 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:44.640 better hold on to it and never lose it. If 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:47.719 it wasn't for my mom. And keep in mind, my 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:51.840 mom had a drug addiction for almost my whole life. 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:55.560 So when I caught this case and she came to Iowa, 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:59.320 she came on a mission, as if God called her 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:01.440 and say, you missed a lot of time in your 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:03.399 son's life, but I need you to get on your 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:07.520 job now. And she put her boots on and grabbed 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:11.720 her shield and her armor, and man, she was there, 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:16.000 and she said, pick your head up. Don't you be mad, 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:19.320 don't be angry, don't be bitter. Pick your head up 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:24.399 and smile that same smile that's so beautiful. You better smile. 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:27.840 And I'll just be like I'm going through the most, 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:31.480 you know, like I have a right to be angry. 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:35.439 I didn't do nothing. They got me stuck here, and 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:37.960 she just said, don't worry about that. Baby. God got you, 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:40.080 And she said I talk to him every night. I 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:42.280 know he got you, and I would just look at 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:44.840 her and I said, Mom, sometimes it hurts the smile. 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.400 And she said, if you acknowledge that pain, and you said, 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:51.960 it hurts the smile. You letting them win. Your smile 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:55.920 is the joy. And if you let somebody else take 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:59.520 your joy away from you, what do you have left? 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:06.080 But days turned to weeks, turned two months, turned to years, 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:08.119 turned to two decades. 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:13.040 I held on to knowing that I was innocent. Eventually 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:16.320 someone's gonna see this. Eventually the right thing is gonna 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:19.960 be done. And my mom always reassured me that I'm 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:22.399 gonna stay on this journey with you because I believe 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:24.600 in you too, and I too know that you didn't 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:26.760 do this, and we're gonna get through this. 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:30.920 But before he could even begin fighting the murder conviction, 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:34.440 he still had to fight the possession of zero point 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:38.439 three grams, for which they charged him with intent to sell, 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:41.919 offering him a plea deal for ten years. 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:46.199 Catherine Mahoney, she represented me on this drug case and 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:50.240 we beat this drug case. And she was like, something 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:52.639 is wrong, and she's seen the same thing that I said. 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:55.639 If you did everything by the book, why would you 0:22:55.680 --> 0:22:57.359 be trying to give me more time when I have 0:22:57.560 --> 0:23:01.320 life without the possibility of parole, and she went through 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:02.400 those records. 0:23:02.800 --> 0:23:06.200 She and the drug case hired a private investigator named 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:11.840 Scott Gracious, and they then did the very difficult work 0:23:11.880 --> 0:23:15.320 that a lot of lawyers don't do and dove through 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:18.679 every shred of paper in the case. There were a 0:23:18.680 --> 0:23:22.240 ton of search warrants for cell phone records at that time, 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:27.560 but Jeff's was unlike the other warrants. Jeff's sought location 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:31.240 information as well, the others didn't. 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:34.160 Jeff was last on the phone from nine to eight 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:37.639 to nine ten PM, a few miles away from the scene. 0:23:38.119 --> 0:23:43.040 And this is a really unique instance where there was 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:46.520 a recording somebody in the jail talking to their girlfriend 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:51.040 and you literally hear clearly the three shots. 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:54.240 The state had claimed that the shooting and all the 0:23:54.280 --> 0:23:57.760 subsequent nine to one one calls happened from nine to 0:23:57.880 --> 0:24:03.320 seventeen to nine twenty one, but the recorded jail phone 0:24:03.359 --> 0:24:07.040 call began at nine oh one and thirty five seconds, 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:11.440 and there were three gunshots heard six minutes and fifty 0:24:11.520 --> 0:24:15.720