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Speaker 1: South central Los Angeles was plagued by gang violence, and

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Speaker 1: in Kierra Newsom's neighborhood, the block Crips and the eleven

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Speaker 1: Deuce Hoovers ran the streets. Kiera avoided the gang life,

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Speaker 1: but it still took the life of her boyfriend, Marcel

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Speaker 1: Norman on December tenth, two thousand. On April sixteenth, two

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Speaker 1: thousand and one, in retaliation for another gang shooting, three

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Speaker 1: female hoovers rolled up to some block Crips and one

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Speaker 1: of the women got out and shot into the crowd,

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Speaker 1: mortally wounding Christian Hinton. She got back into the car

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Speaker 1: and shot again as she sped away, grazing the torso

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Speaker 1: of Chante Allen. The shooter was described as African American

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Speaker 1: in her twenties, with a lazy eye and a tattoo

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Speaker 1: on her upper right sigh. This incident happened at eleven

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Speaker 1: thirty am on a school day, ten miles from where

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Speaker 1: Kierra Newsom was in class. But despite this rock solid

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Speaker 1: alibi and the fact that she didn't have a car

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Speaker 1: or even a driver's license, to prosecute came up with

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Speaker 1: a theory that Kiera, in retaliation for her boyfriend's murder,

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Speaker 1: had somehow snuck out of her lockdown school, changed her clothes,

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Speaker 1: dyed her hair, drove over thirty minutes of the scene,

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Speaker 1: committed the crime, and somehow managed to return to her

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Speaker 1: desk just seven feet from her teacher, with her absence

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Speaker 1: going completely unnoticed, but with coerced eyewitnesses and the fact

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Speaker 1: that she happened to have a tattoo on her upper

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Speaker 1: right thigh, Kiera ended up serving nearly twenty years, tormented

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Speaker 1: by her co defendant Tonielle Flynn aka Astro, who is

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Speaker 1: believed to have been the actual shooter. This is Wrongful

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Speaker 1: Conviction with Jason Flamm. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction today.

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Speaker 1: I am so excited and honored because I have, first

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Speaker 1: of all, Chris Hawthorne. Chris is the founder, director and

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Speaker 1: clinical professor at the Juvenile Innocence and Fair Sentencing Clinic

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Speaker 1: at Loyola Law School. Welcome to rofl con Piction.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Jason, I appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: And with him, the featured guest on our show today

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Speaker 1: is the one and only Kiera Newsom. And Kiera, thank

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Speaker 1: you for being here. Thank you Jason and this story

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Speaker 1: it's a California story, and Kiera, you grew up in

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Speaker 1: South central LA. Can you tell us what that was

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Speaker 1: like growing.

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Speaker 3: Up in south central LA. My father grew up without

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Speaker 3: his dad, so he gravitated to the gang lifestyle, which

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Speaker 3: most young men do. And the neighborhood I grew up

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Speaker 3: in the blocks and the Hoovers are what we consider

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Speaker 3: it to be enemies. They always have gang violence. Before

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Speaker 3: I was seventeen years old, I went to so many

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Speaker 3: funerals I can't even tell you. But one thing I

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Speaker 3: can say is that my mom was always as the

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Speaker 3: type of person she really imposed education on this big

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Speaker 3: time you know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I understand you did very well at school,

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Speaker 1: and that's despite all of the violence and hardship that

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Speaker 1: surrounded you, including one murder that hit so close to home.

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Speaker 1: And that was the murder that actually started the snowball

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Speaker 1: effect that ended in your tragic, wrongful conviction. I'm referring,

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Speaker 1: of course, to the murder of your boyfriend, Markel Norman,

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Speaker 1: who at the time of his death was in fact

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Speaker 1: an eleven Duce Hoover, but he wasn't in a gang.

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Speaker 1: At age thirteen when you started.

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Speaker 3: Dating Markel, at the time was a straight a student

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Speaker 3: living with his grandmother. So when his grandmother passed away,

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Speaker 3: Markel and his sisters had to go back and live

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Speaker 3: with his mom. She was addicted to crack cocaine. So

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Speaker 3: when he went back to live with his mom, there

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Speaker 3: were times that they didn't have food to eat. So

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Speaker 3: I will sneak food out of my grandmother's house, in

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Speaker 3: my mother's house to make sure that they would be

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Speaker 3: able to eat. So one day in particular, remember him

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Speaker 3: calling me and he told me that he was gonna

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Speaker 3: be put on the gang, and I was so upset,

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Speaker 3: But then he started to explain to me the benefits

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Speaker 3: that the gang was giving him. He'll have means to

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Speaker 3: provide for his sisters and his mom, and everything was

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Speaker 3: gonna be okay. And he really believed that. He believed

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Speaker 3: this so much that he could go to school and

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Speaker 3: beat a straight A student and be a gang member

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Speaker 3: outside of school. And that's what our whole little bet

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Speaker 3: was about. And he was able to keep up that

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Speaker 3: little facade for like the first report card or so,

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Speaker 3: and I lost the bet, and that's how I ended

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Speaker 3: up with the tattoo that I have. So after that

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Speaker 3: things began to change. Markel got deeper into the gang,

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Speaker 3: and I was barely seeing them. And I will never

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Speaker 3: forget when my mom looked me in my eyes and

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Speaker 3: she said, I'm gonna end up walking you to a

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Speaker 3: jail to see this boy. I'm gonna end up you

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Speaker 3: to a gravesite to see this boy.

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Speaker 1: And of course you're talking about what happened on December

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Speaker 1: tenth of two thousand.

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Speaker 3: And that was on a Sunday. It was a church

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Speaker 3: day and it was early and I remember walking outside

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Speaker 3: and I remember seeing Markel and he had on all

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Speaker 3: black and I remember a car driving down the street

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Speaker 3: looking at us. When we turned around, these guys were

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Speaker 3: no longer in a car. One was on a sidewalk,

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Speaker 3: one was standing in the street. They both had their

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Speaker 3: arms posted to us, and they had something covering their arms,

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Speaker 3: and you can hear the gunshots. Markel pushed me out

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Speaker 3: the way and I ran into the house and I

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Speaker 3: look out the window. I see Markel laying on the ground,

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Speaker 3: and I remember when he turned his body around, he

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Speaker 3: had a gash at the top of his head, and

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Speaker 3: that's when I knew that he was shot.

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Speaker 1: I don't think many people have probably ever lived through

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Speaker 1: anything nearly as traumatic as that, and it's hard to

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Speaker 1: believe that that was just the beginning of this awful journey.

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Speaker 1: It's at this point, too, that the first hero in

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Speaker 1: the story emerges, right, and I'm talking about the principal

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Speaker 1: at Duke Ellington High School.

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Speaker 3: Yes, his name is mister maclynn. When that happened to

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Speaker 3: Marco and I became a witness, I didn't know at

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Speaker 3: the time that the gang members ran into the school

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Speaker 3: looking to kill me. Mister McLynn called my mom and

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Speaker 3: he said, no, don't bring her back here. I got

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Speaker 3: a school for her. If it wasn't for him, I

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Speaker 3: probably wouldn't be here today.

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Speaker 4: So the school Sehrter was a lockdown school, normally for

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Speaker 4: kids who were involved in the juvenile justice system. Kiera

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Speaker 4: wasn't involved in the juvenile justice system, but she was

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Speaker 4: definitely in danger and so she was safer at a

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Speaker 4: lockdown school than at a regular school.

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Speaker 1: Now things get really complicated April fifteenth, two thousand and one,

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Speaker 1: Easter Sunday, when three associates of the Hoovers were shot

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Speaker 1: in the park parking a lot of Red's Liquor store

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Speaker 1: on West Century Boulevard. That's Rudy tiny Head and another man,

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Speaker 1: and then the victims returned to a party, and police

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Speaker 1: showed up at the party to ask questions about the shooting.

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Speaker 4: One of the things about gang shootings is most people

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Speaker 4: who participate in gangs are teenagers, and they tend to

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Speaker 4: be really reactive. Most of what they do is very

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Speaker 4: impetuous and very sudden. So it makes sense that the

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Speaker 4: next day someone from the eleven Duce Hoovers would try

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Speaker 4: to take a shot at the block cribs. It's not

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Speaker 4: typical you wait around for four months before you decide

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Speaker 4: to react to a shooting. So why the police didn't

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Speaker 4: look at Red's liquor store is a mystery to me,

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Speaker 4: especially since Rudy, who was one of the guys in

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Speaker 4: the car who was shot at, was the boyfriend of

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Speaker 4: one of the women who was in the car.

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Speaker 1: The next day, Yeah, I mean this is we're talking

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Speaker 1: literally the day afterwards, at eleven thirty in the morning

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Speaker 1: on April sixteen, two thousand and one, when three young

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Speaker 1: African American women pulled up in front of fourteen thirty

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Speaker 1: five West one hundred and thirteenth Street in the Westmont

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Speaker 1: neighborhood of Los Angeles. There was a group of men outside,

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Speaker 1: all of whom were block crips. One of the women

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Speaker 1: got out of the car, and this is important, so

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Speaker 1: she was described as wearing all red tube top corduroy shorts,

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Speaker 1: sneakers and visor. One or more of the men on

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Speaker 1: the scene described her as having a lazy eye and

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Speaker 1: a name tattooed on her upper right thigh. So she

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Speaker 1: asked about someone named Nakia, but none of the men

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Speaker 1: knew who she was talking about. The young woman then

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Speaker 1: walked back to the car, turned and fired a handgun

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Speaker 1: once into the group of men, mortally wounding Christian Hinton,

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Speaker 1: and the woman got into the car. They sped off

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Speaker 1: and she fired a few more rounds, grazing Seante Allen's

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Speaker 1: tour show, but Allan luckily survived. Henton, however, died two

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Speaker 1: weeks later in the hospital.

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Speaker 4: They said that the woman who had shot Christian Hinton

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Speaker 4: was in her early twenties and fairly tall. Ki's still

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Speaker 4: looking kind of like a baby. Then she's still a teenage.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it would have seemed obvious for them to

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Speaker 1: look towards a hoover named Doniel Flynn, also known as Astro,

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Speaker 1: who would have been retaliating for the shooting of her

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Speaker 1: boyfriend and the two other hoovers the night before, right,

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Speaker 1: But one way or another, the really important part of

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Speaker 1: this is that we know exactly where Kiera was at

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Speaker 1: the time of the shooting, in my classroom. And how

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Speaker 1: do we know that you were in your classroom?

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Speaker 3: I signed in in the morning, My teacher collected hay

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Speaker 3: counts all throughout the day, and they would have noticed

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Speaker 3: if I would have left, they would have caught the

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Speaker 3: police on me, because that's what the school does.

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Speaker 1: Would you have been able to show up at school

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Speaker 1: wearing all red, No, I wear.

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Speaker 3: A uniform, white polar shirt, black pants.

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Speaker 4: A couple of other things about that school. The classroom

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Speaker 4: she was in where her teacher, Rebecca Woodruff, taught her,

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Speaker 4: is very small, and Rebecca's desk was about six to

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Speaker 4: seven feet from Kiera's desk.

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Speaker 5: H I am Rebecca Woodruff. I was Kiera Newsom's teacher

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Speaker 5: in the spring of two tho. There was only one

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Speaker 5: door to my classroom, and I always had a view

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Speaker 5: of the door whether I was at my desk or

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Speaker 5: in front of the class and my desk was actually

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Speaker 5: positioned between the door and the students. So it's just

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Speaker 5: impossible for somebody to get out and come back and

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Speaker 5: have me not notice right away, And even if somebody

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Speaker 5: were to have gotten past me, which wouldn't happen. The

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Speaker 5: front door was operated by the secretary, and she kept

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Speaker 5: it locked, and they would have to be buzzed in

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Speaker 5: or out. And the back door led to a locked

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Speaker 5: gate on top of the locked gate with barbed wire.

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Speaker 5: And it was the day after Easter that day, and

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Speaker 5: I had actually noticed that Kiera had purple hair braided

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Speaker 5: in She had said that her grandmother had done it

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Speaker 5: for her.

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Speaker 3: So everyone know what African American ladies to take braids.

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Speaker 3: Now that would have to take you anywhere from three

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Speaker 3: to six hours. It just don't make sense.

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Speaker 1: No one's going to miss the fact that you have

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Speaker 1: purple hair. Rangely enough, nobody said that in the description.

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Speaker 1: But still anyone who wanted to believe that you were

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Speaker 1: actually the shooter would have had to believe is that

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Speaker 1: somehow or other, you vanished into thin air without your teacher,

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Speaker 1: who was seven feet away from you noticing it, snuck

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Speaker 1: through multiple doors that were locked, climbed over barbed wire,

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Speaker 1: got into a car which I don't even know if

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Speaker 1: you had a car, changed your outfit, drove ten miles,

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Speaker 1: which would have been at least a thirty minute drive

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Speaker 1: because LA traffic, god knows, it could be a two

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Speaker 1: hour drive, and then killed someone calmly changed your clothes back,

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Speaker 1: dispose of the other outfit, and magically snuck back into

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Speaker 1: the thing, sat down your seat. And she also managed

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Speaker 1: to dye her hair on the way while she was

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Speaker 1: speeding through traffic. It's all so preposterous. So the state

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Speaker 1: had nothing except for three eye witnesses. These guys who

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Speaker 1: were on the lawn were definitely intimidated, not only by

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Speaker 1: members of their own gang, but also by Donielle Flynn,

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Speaker 1: who had a fearsome reputation the neighborhood. In addition to that,

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Speaker 1: they really didn't want to talk to the police. They

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Speaker 1: didn't think it was any of the police's business. I've

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Speaker 1: had local law enforcement complain to me and saying, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, the problem to talking to gang members, that

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Speaker 1: they just don't want to talk to us, And I said,

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Speaker 1: the problem is that nobody wants to talk to you.

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Speaker 1: It's never a good thing when a policeman is walking

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Speaker 1: up your front walk and appearing at your door. No

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Speaker 1: one wants to talk to police in these neighborhoods. They're

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Speaker 1: not bringers of good tidings. They're not people who help you.

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Speaker 1: They are only people who make your life more difficult.

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Speaker 1: Ryan Faust, of course, only appeared in court because the

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Speaker 1: police threatened him with an arrest in another matter. Joe Cook,

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Speaker 1: of course, didn't appear in court. After his preliminary earing.

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Speaker 1: He fled to Mississippi where they were apparently unable to

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Speaker 1: find him, and they had to arrest Bobby Johnson to

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Speaker 1: get him into court. But none of them particularly care

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Speaker 1: about telling the truth on the stand because they don't

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Speaker 1: regard this as a police thing. This is a block

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Speaker 1: crip E Love and Douce Hoover thing, And frankly, they

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Speaker 1: don't care who goes down for it. What they care

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Speaker 1: about is their own value sitem and what they're going

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Speaker 1: to do about it on the street. But talking about

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Speaker 1: the street, every person I talked to in this case

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Speaker 1: knew who actually did this crime. It's not a secret

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Speaker 1: that Kiera is innocent. So June fifth of two thousand

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Speaker 1: and one, they brought you to the precinct right under

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Speaker 1: the auspices of looking at a lineup to find your

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Speaker 1: boyfriend's killer. But that was not what they had in mind.

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Speaker 3: By this time, they already came out to my grandmother

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Speaker 3: house at least five or six times, trying to get

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Speaker 3: me to put the murder off on a block crypt member,

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Speaker 3: and I wouldn't do it. So I'm like, Okay, I'll

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Speaker 3: go see these lineups. So I remember them picking me

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Speaker 3: up and my dad said, Kiara, the longest they could

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Speaker 3: hold you with seventy two hours. And I'm thinking in

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Speaker 3: my head, like why would he say that?

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Speaker 1: You know?

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Speaker 3: When we got there, and they were like, Kiera knew

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Speaker 3: some and I'm like yes. So I walked to the

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Speaker 3: guy I'll never forget this. He has a poster in

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Speaker 3: his hand, and I was so in shocked. It's like

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Speaker 3: my soul left my body instead wanted for a murder,

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Speaker 3: and I'm like, murder, Who did I murder? And they

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Speaker 3: put the handcuffs on me. All you hear is chained.

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Speaker 3: I was placed in the hallway. The woman stripped me

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Speaker 3: down and look for tattoos in a room full of men.

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Speaker 3: I was only seventeen, and I'm not understanding why I'm here.

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Speaker 3: I believe for seventy two hours that I was arrested

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Speaker 3: for the murder of Mark Hill.

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Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by Stand Together. Stand

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Speaker 1: Together is a philanthropic community dedicated to helping people improve

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Speaker 1: their lives. For more than twenty years, Stand Together and

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Speaker 1: its partners have been on the front lines of criminal

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Speaker 1: justice reform. By empowering people to take action, supporting nonprofits,

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Speaker 1: and working with businesses, Stand Together tackles the root causes

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Speaker 1: the problems in our communities and empowers those closest to

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Speaker 1: the problems to drive solutions. Solutions like reducing unjust prison

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Speaker 1: sentences through the First Step Act, empowering community based programs

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Speaker 1: and help people reader society, and now working to bridge

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Speaker 1: divides in our communities. To learn how you may get involved,

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Speaker 1: visit standtogether dot org slash conviction. When did they reveal

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Speaker 1: to you that they were going to charge you with

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Speaker 1: a different murder? Entirely?

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Speaker 3: I walk into the room and I noticed one of

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Speaker 3: the old detectives from Markel's case and a new detective.

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Speaker 3: I remember sitting down and them starting to ask to

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Speaker 3: me about mister Christiani, Hinti and all these people. Then

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Speaker 3: they're saying all this stuff about retaliation for Markel and listen,

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Speaker 3: and I'm confused, And then they bring up now, I'm

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Speaker 3: really confused. Then when he say the day that it happened,

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Speaker 3: the time it all hit, I'm in school at that

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Speaker 3: time and now and I'm hopeful because I'm like, as

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Speaker 3: soon as he go back, he talks to my parents,

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Speaker 3: they go down to the school, they get the paperwork,

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Speaker 3: they bring it. I'm free to go.

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Speaker 4: I've seen all the investigative materials in this case, and

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Speaker 4: the police were focused on Kiera very early in this investigation,

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Speaker 4: and they didn't check her alibi out until after they

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Speaker 4: had arrested her in June. They originally had targeted Kiera

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Speaker 4: as the driver of the car in this murder, I

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Speaker 4: think because they thought that the person who was the

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Speaker 4: shooter answered the description of Douniell Flynn pretty well. But

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Speaker 4: then they discovered that Kiera couldn't drive, and so suddenly

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Speaker 4: they put her on the street shooting Christian Hinton.

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Speaker 1: Right, And so now you know she would have had

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Speaker 1: been leaving school and then driving a car that didn't

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Speaker 1: exist with a license she didn't have. They're willing to

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Speaker 1: go to just extraordinary lanes and not to serve and protect,

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Speaker 1: but to frame and destroy. Now comes the next phase,

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Speaker 1: going through the courts. And the juvenile and the jail systems.

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Speaker 1: You were a minor, so they started you off in

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Speaker 1: juvie where you were at least safe from donniel Flynn's

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Speaker 1: reach at that time. But that was temporary. It was

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Speaker 1: only until you turned eighteen, and then you were sent

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Speaker 1: to the women's jail. So now Donniel Finn has access

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Speaker 1: to you for the first time.

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Speaker 3: I've heard about her, but I've never seen her in action,

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Speaker 3: you know. So my attorney at the time, mister Tahan,

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Speaker 3: he felt that the best thing was to get me

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Speaker 3: separated from her. He did a court order. They come

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Speaker 3: through and they switch my wristband, so we were to

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Speaker 3: not even be in the same dorm as each other,

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Speaker 3: let alone the same holding tink as each other, or

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Speaker 3: the same bus. So when we went to court that day,

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Speaker 3: and that was my first time running to her seating her,

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Speaker 3: she walks into the room and she sits down next

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Speaker 3: to me. Lady, it's like the devil itself. She says, Oh,

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Speaker 3: everything is gonna be fine, It's gonna be all right.

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Speaker 3: I need you to take this one for me. I

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Speaker 3: need you to go to try with me. That's how

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Speaker 3: she does me. What do you need me to go

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Speaker 3: to try with you for because at this time we're

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Speaker 3: trying to separate this case and get far away from

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Speaker 3: her as possible.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 3: And right then and there, it was like a switch

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Speaker 3: popped off in her head and she just went crazy.

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Speaker 3: She spit on me and I jumped back, and the

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Speaker 3: officers came in, grabbed her, they took her out. That

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Speaker 3: was the first attack. So they separated us. We went

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Speaker 3: on two separate buses and everything, and then all of

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Speaker 3: a sudden, word through the jail was I was a snitch.

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Speaker 3: Don't snitches tell on people. Don't snitches know what actually happened.

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Speaker 3: I don't understand how she manipulated these people to believe

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Speaker 3: that I was a snitch. And our next court date,

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Speaker 3: the police officers put us on the same floor and

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Speaker 3: I walked past and I heard somebody go snitch. It

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Speaker 3: was her. She kicked me and she got hold of

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Speaker 3: me and it was the officer. I'll never forget this.

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Speaker 3: She jumped on top of my back and she had

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Speaker 3: me down and she said, don't do anything. We've seen everything.

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Speaker 3: So we were late for court that day.

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Speaker 1: We're talking December fourth, two thousand and two, during jury selection,

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Speaker 1: Kiera's lawyer files a nine to nine to five motion

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Speaker 1: to dismiss on the grounds of the teacher, Rebecca Woodruff's testimony.

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Speaker 1: The judge dismisses the case on the credibility of the testimony. Okay.

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Speaker 1: Then six hours later the DA reindicts and Kiera was rearrested.

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Speaker 1: So when she's alone with the detective in his car,

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Speaker 1: he drove her to a motel, the Magic Carpet, where

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Speaker 1: he offered her a deal, have sex with him and

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Speaker 1: he'll give her an hour to run. Kiera refused. He

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Speaker 1: brought her in and while booking her and taking her fingerprints,

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Speaker 1: he asked if the finger he was holding at the

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Speaker 1: time was the one she masturbated with. The room was

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Speaker 1: full of chuckles from the other officers.

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Speaker 4: I sometimes think that the police never actually wanted Kiera

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Speaker 4: to go down for this murder, but they were hoping

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Speaker 4: that if they put her in terror, in fear of

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Speaker 4: her life, that eventually Kiera would break and she would

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Speaker 4: tell them everything she knew. Unfortunately, she didn't know anything

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Speaker 4: because Kiera is not a gang member, and in part

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Speaker 4: that's why she ended up getting convicted here, because everybody

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Speaker 4: else in this case is a member of a gang

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Speaker 4: and people have their back, but no one ever had

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Speaker 4: Kiera's back because she was not a member of a gang.

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Speaker 2: She was an outsider. The police were.

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Speaker 4: Looking out for themselves, gang members are looking out for themselves.

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Speaker 2: No one's looking out for Kiera. And that's just wrong.

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Speaker 1: I mean, now we get to the trial. They put

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Speaker 1: her on trial with Donnielle Flynn, who the prosecution had

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Speaker 1: now decided was the driver on that date, and Kiera

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Speaker 1: was defended by Anthony Ta Hunnett Gran. A guy named

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Speaker 1: Larry Williams offended Flynn, and the witnesses had described this

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Speaker 1: tattoo on the upper right thigh of the shooter. The

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Speaker 1: thing is, both Kiera and Donniel Flynn have a tattoo

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Speaker 1: on their right thigh. It's a crazy coincidence, but in

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Speaker 1: a preliminary hearing something quite consequential and very shady transpired.

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Speaker 4: Kira has a tattoo on her thigh, very very high

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Speaker 4: on her thigh, almost on our hip bone. Donielle Flynn

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Speaker 4: has a tattoo much lower on the thigh, which is

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Speaker 4: quite visible when you're wearing shorts. However, at the preliminary hearing,

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Speaker 4: when Joe Cook was testifying, Doniell's lawyer did something that

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Speaker 4: I think should be in the museum of clever tricks

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Speaker 4: by defense attorneys. He said, I'd like to have my client,

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Speaker 4: Doniell Flynn, pull up her pants leg and show that

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Speaker 4: she doesn't have a tattoo on her thigh, which Donielle did,

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Speaker 4: but she only pulled it up about three or four

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Speaker 4: inches above her knee, and so the tattoo wasn't visible.

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Speaker 4: And even though this tattoo is in police reports, there

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Speaker 4: are pictures of it, that tattoo exists. And yet during

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Speaker 4: that preliminary hearing, the district attorney allowed the court to

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Speaker 4: place on the record that dauniel f Lunn didn't have

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Speaker 4: that tattoo.

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Speaker 1: So in the jury's mind, Kiera is the only one

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Speaker 1: of the two defendants with a tattoo on her right eye.

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Speaker 1: But the defense presents her alibi very well. Again, she

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Speaker 1: had signed in at eight am, again, mark President at

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Speaker 1: ten to fifteen am, and twelve fifteen am, and the

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Speaker 1: murder was at eleven thirty. Her teacher, Rebecca wood Troup,

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Speaker 1: gave testimony verifying her presence in class and presented six

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Speaker 1: dated assignments.

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Speaker 5: The way that I taught class, I would teach and

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Speaker 5: then I would give assignments. All of the assignments had

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Speaker 5: to be completed during class time. For example, you would

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Speaker 5: not be able to get a packet of assignments from

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Speaker 5: me if you had missed something from before. You'd actually

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Speaker 5: have to be there every hour of the day to

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Speaker 5: get each of the assignments. And Kiera had completed all

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Speaker 5: six assignments that day, so it just would have been

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Speaker 5: impossible for her if she had left and come back.

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Speaker 4: So this is where gang evidence plays such an important

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Speaker 4: role in this trial. A gang evidence, which is put

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Speaker 4: in evidence by a gang expert who's just a gang

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Speaker 4: policeman who works the neighborhood, is really a way to

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Speaker 4: get race into the courtroom. Gang evidence is race evidence,

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Speaker 4: and the people who are the victims of this kind

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Speaker 4: of evidence are always black and brown youth. It convinces

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Speaker 4: the jury that the person sitting at the defendant's table

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Speaker 4: is capable of anything. Kiera Newsom gang member can commit

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Speaker 4: murder and then go back and finish her civil rights

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Speaker 4: assignment that afternoon without breaking a sweat. That is what

433
00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:39,440
Speaker 4: gang evidence does to a trial. Now, in this case,

434
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,880
Speaker 4: gang evidence was appropriate for some of the people involved,

435
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:48,399
Speaker 4: Christian Hanton, Bobby Johnson, Ryan Faust, Danielle Flynn were all

436
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,520
Speaker 4: in the col gang's database and all had what we

437
00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,879
Speaker 4: call FI cards validating that they were gang members. Kiera

438
00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,880
Speaker 4: Newsom had only one thing. She had a boyfriend tattoo

439
00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:01,159
Speaker 4: on her upper thigh, and it was a tattoo so

440
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:03,080
Speaker 4: high under thigh that the only person who was going

441
00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:07,679
Speaker 4: to see that tattoo was Mark Hal. That tattoo was

442
00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,960
Speaker 4: identified as a gang tattoo by the gang expert at

443
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:15,360
Speaker 4: the trial. He said, you could not have a tattoo

444
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,679
Speaker 4: on your thigh like that unless you were a fully

445
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:20,879
Speaker 4: paid up gang member, or you would be shot on

446
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,760
Speaker 4: site on the streets of South LA. Now that's a myth.

447
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,919
Speaker 4: You don't walk around with an invisible boyfriend tattoo and

448
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,320
Speaker 4: other gang members are prowling the streets.

449
00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:31,199
Speaker 2: Looking to waste you.

450
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:33,600
Speaker 4: But that was the myth that they pushed at that trial,

451
00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:38,800
Speaker 4: and frankly, it is the myth that I think convicted

452
00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:39,560
Speaker 4: Kiera Newsom.

453
00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:42,720
Speaker 1: So Chante Allen, who was shot in the torys So,

454
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,919
Speaker 1: testified that he had gone to school with Kiera and

455
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,480
Speaker 1: knew her. He dispelled the identificases, saying that it was

456
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:51,560
Speaker 1: not her in the car at the shooting. How the

457
00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:53,920
Speaker 1: fuck could she get convicted in spite of this, Chris,

458
00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:55,360
Speaker 1: you got to help us out here.

459
00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:59,679
Speaker 4: Kiera is convicted of the murder of Christian Hinton, but

460
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:03,880
Speaker 4: she's acquitted of the attempted murder of Chante Allen, even

461
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:07,600
Speaker 4: though clearly the woman who shot Christian Hinton is also

462
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 4: the person who shoots at Chantey Allen halfway down the block.

463
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:15,879
Speaker 4: It feels irrational, but I suspect it was the jury

464
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:20,040
Speaker 4: had a momentary crisis of conscience and wondered maybe if

465
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:22,520
Speaker 4: they got the wrong person, and so they thought they'd

466
00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:26,080
Speaker 4: throw Kiera a bone, even though they convicted her of

467
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:27,360
Speaker 4: a crime she never committed.

468
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,800
Speaker 1: July two thousand and three, Carrie, You've now been through

469
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:33,520
Speaker 1: almost everything a human being can go through, and you're

470
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,560
Speaker 1: still just a kid. And now the jury goes out.

471
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,879
Speaker 3: They called Danielle Flynn, they called her Dean out first.

472
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:43,280
Speaker 3: It was like, not guilty first degree murder, not guilty

473
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 3: second arg murder, and all these not guilties, you know,

474
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:50,520
Speaker 3: And she's sitting in the courtroom and she's crying, she's

475
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:53,439
Speaker 3: happy and everything, and they're like, Kiaraen k NewsOne not

476
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,400
Speaker 3: guilty attempted murderer and guilty first degree murder and I'm

477
00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:02,680
Speaker 3: like what and I'm it's tears and she looks at

478
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:09,840
Speaker 3: me and say, that's what snitches get. It walks out with.

479
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:12,600
Speaker 4: Many wrongful convictions. The person who actually committed the murder

480
00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:15,320
Speaker 4: is still out on the street. What's even stranger is

481
00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:17,119
Speaker 4: the person who committed the murder is sitting next to

482
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:21,360
Speaker 4: Kierra at the defendant stable. Daniel Flynn stays out and

483
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:26,359
Speaker 4: years later, she's convicted of an execution style drug murder

484
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:30,119
Speaker 4: on the streets of Las Vegas. And she's now doing

485
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:34,800
Speaker 4: twenty to life in Nevada State Prison. And you could

486
00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:37,480
Speaker 4: say that that poor guy in that alleyway might be

487
00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:40,080
Speaker 4: alive today if justice were done at this trial.

488
00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:43,200
Speaker 1: So Kira sends to sixty years to late. And now

489
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,360
Speaker 1: the torture wasn't over by any stretched the imagination.

490
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,480
Speaker 3: When I had prison, not only did they have me

491
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 3: as a Hoover Crip member, but also the people that

492
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:56,479
Speaker 3: was already there had got worked. I was a snitch,

493
00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:59,280
Speaker 3: you know. So not only am I this gang member

494
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:03,479
Speaker 3: now supposedly, but I'm a snitch too. When I got

495
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:05,840
Speaker 3: up there, In my first few years, all I did

496
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:09,200
Speaker 3: was fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, And the only people

497
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:13,480
Speaker 3: that ever fought me was the hoovers. The blocks never

498
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,840
Speaker 3: fought me. They lost someone, but they knew the truth.

499
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:21,320
Speaker 3: I wasn't the best fighter, but I learned to become

500
00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:24,960
Speaker 3: good at it because I did it so much for

501
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:29,159
Speaker 3: least like three years straight. I had at least like

502
00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:31,880
Speaker 3: two fights today, if not more.

503
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,879
Speaker 1: But there were some correction officers that looked out for you.

504
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:40,320
Speaker 1: There's one named Lieutenant Norman who was one of the

505
00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:40,840
Speaker 1: good guys.

506
00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 3: Is that right, Yes, he's one of the good guys,

507
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,560
Speaker 3: you know. And Lieutenant Norman, he had me in his

508
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,400
Speaker 3: office and he told me, you gonna tell me what's

509
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:52,720
Speaker 3: going on with you now. Mind you, the other lifers

510
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,600
Speaker 3: had already told him what was going on. The fact

511
00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,560
Speaker 3: that I was innocent, they already had told him. But

512
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,040
Speaker 3: my whole perception of the law and the system and

513
00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:05,200
Speaker 3: police officers was to not talk to them about anything

514
00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:08,840
Speaker 3: because it'll get twisted. The wrong thing could happened. I

515
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,840
Speaker 3: was in fear of the justice system, you know. And

516
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,159
Speaker 3: he let me know that I can trust him. So

517
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:16,399
Speaker 3: I laid everything out to him and explained to him

518
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,120
Speaker 3: what was going on with me and what actually happened,

519
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:23,000
Speaker 3: and he reassured me that he already knew. So as

520
00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:24,959
Speaker 3: long as he was on the yard that I was on,

521
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:27,320
Speaker 3: I was okay. I didn't have to worry if he

522
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 3: started shifting people over, moving them to different yards and

523
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 3: different things to make sure that these gang members stayed

524
00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:36,200
Speaker 3: away from me. That was good for like a few years,

525
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:39,560
Speaker 3: up until the time when he moved further along up

526
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:42,040
Speaker 3: to captain and he was no longer on the yards anymore.

527
00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,360
Speaker 3: Every so many years, you'll have people coming in like, oh, yeah,

528
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 3: that's the girl that sniched on Astro, And I'm like,

529
00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:52,240
Speaker 3: are they serious? If I said something about this lady,

530
00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:56,160
Speaker 3: wouldn't this lady be incarcerated right now? It was just crazy.

531
00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:01,560
Speaker 3: So I just physically and mentally fought to approve to people, Oh,

532
00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:03,800
Speaker 3: I'm innocent, I'm innocent. I'm innocent, to the point to

533
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:05,600
Speaker 3: where I just gave up one day and said, you

534
00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:09,000
Speaker 3: know what, I'm gonna stop doing that, and I decided

535
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,360
Speaker 3: to write letters. I would write every day, and I

536
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:13,600
Speaker 3: wrote the Innocence Project. The first time they told me

537
00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 3: they had too many people, and the day that I

538
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:20,200
Speaker 3: planned my own suicide. I get a paper from the

539
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:22,720
Speaker 3: Innocence Projects saying that they accept in my case, and

540
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,800
Speaker 3: that's the only reason why I decided to live.

541
00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 1: The California Innocence Project. They did something great. They recognized

542
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,280
Speaker 1: that since you were a juvenile at the time of

543
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:47,400
Speaker 1: the alleged incident, they could reach out to the Juvenile

544
00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:50,760
Speaker 1: Innocence and Fair Sentenced in Clinic, a Loyal Law School

545
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 1: also known as Jeff's and Chris, that's when you got involved?

546
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:57,000
Speaker 1: What year did you get involved in? And then how

547
00:29:57,040 --> 00:29:58,440
Speaker 1: did things progress from there?

548
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 4: Winter twenty thirteen, Justin Brooks came up here to speak

549
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:06,840
Speaker 4: at Loyal LA Law School and he brought Kiera's file

550
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,240
Speaker 4: with him and we went out to dinner that and

551
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:11,120
Speaker 4: I do. He handed me this file, this big red

552
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:14,280
Speaker 4: weald full of random papers, and he said, we kind

553
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:16,640
Speaker 4: of reached a dead end on this case. Can you

554
00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,200
Speaker 4: put your students on this case? And we were a

555
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 4: relatively new clinic, and I said, yeah, I'll take this

556
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:24,240
Speaker 4: case on. And I just want to tell you how

557
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,600
Speaker 4: the Jeff's Clinic works. I mean, students do everything in

558
00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:30,560
Speaker 4: the jeff Clinic. So when we got the case, we

559
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:33,240
Speaker 4: noticed that CIP had interviewed a lot of people from

560
00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:35,480
Speaker 4: the school, but they hadn't been able to get to

561
00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 4: people in the neighborhood, and so we thought, well, that's

562
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:41,520
Speaker 4: where we need to start our work. So we went

563
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:44,720
Speaker 4: down to South la and with the help of Kiera's mom,

564
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,440
Speaker 4: we started fanning out and talking to people in and

565
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,360
Speaker 4: around the neighborhood. And then we caught a lucky break.

566
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,400
Speaker 4: We were able to through a documentary filmmaker who was

567
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,120
Speaker 4: making a movie about that neighborhood. We were able to

568
00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 4: get in touch with Ryan Faust, and Ryan simply said, well,

569
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:00,640
Speaker 4: you know, I know that it was and Kiera who

570
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:04,120
Speaker 4: did that. I was under pressure from my family and

571
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:07,200
Speaker 4: from the police to identify somebody. When they walked in

572
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:10,120
Speaker 4: with the six pack, they had already circled Kiera's face,

573
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:12,360
Speaker 4: and so I knew that's what they wanted. So I

574
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:15,680
Speaker 4: simply initial that photograph and that became part of my testimony.

575
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:17,680
Speaker 4: And once I had that testimony, I felt like I

576
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:19,880
Speaker 4: had to keep going into court and saying the same

577
00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:22,360
Speaker 4: thing or I was going to get arrested and sent

578
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:25,480
Speaker 4: away for this bottle of vodka he had lifted from

579
00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:29,360
Speaker 4: local Albertson's. I sent an investigator to talk to Joe Cook.

580
00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:31,480
Speaker 4: Joe Cook didn't want to help because he'd been trying

581
00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:33,400
Speaker 4: to avoid this case for I don't know how long.

582
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:35,960
Speaker 4: He said, I don't want to help anybody. I don't

583
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:38,240
Speaker 4: want to change my testimony. And then he says to

584
00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:40,600
Speaker 4: my investigator, he said, but the one thing I remember

585
00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:43,760
Speaker 4: is that woman who pulls her pant leg up at

586
00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 4: the preliminary hearing, that was the shooter. And I'm not

587
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,760
Speaker 4: even sure Joe knew that. He was saying that was

588
00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:52,400
Speaker 4: Donielle Flynn. And then we talked to somebody else who

589
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:55,479
Speaker 4: was in the neighborhood who said that Donielle Flynn had

590
00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:57,400
Speaker 4: shown up at his house the day of the murder

591
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,640
Speaker 4: and had been looking for other people to help her

592
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:03,280
Speaker 4: do this thing. And then it said to this guy,

593
00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:06,240
Speaker 4: there's going to be something going down. You better better

594
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:08,240
Speaker 4: lie low for a while. And sure enough, not long

595
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 4: after that, the sirens started going off and that.

596
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:12,120
Speaker 2: Murder took place.

597
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,480
Speaker 4: So we put together what I thought was a pretty

598
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:18,560
Speaker 4: compelling case, but we still had to deal with the

599
00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:22,560
Speaker 4: requirements of habeas corpus and the incredibly steep hill you

600
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:26,240
Speaker 4: have to climb in order to prove that in superior court,

601
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:29,720
Speaker 4: and frankly we were unable to prove it to the

602
00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:34,400
Speaker 4: satisfaction of the Torrent Superior Court, they rejected the petition.

603
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:40,120
Speaker 4: Now Luckily, in twenty thirteen, the California Innoscence Project needed

604
00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:43,520
Speaker 4: an extra person for their California twelve March, and someone

605
00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:44,440
Speaker 4: had dropped off.

606
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:46,880
Speaker 3: That Brian Banks he was exonerating.

607
00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:50,080
Speaker 1: Wow, okay, And by the way, if you haven't seen

608
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:52,479
Speaker 1: the movie by that same name, I suggest you do

609
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,200
Speaker 1: watch it tonight. I mean, Brian is a great, great guy.

610
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:58,200
Speaker 1: And for those of you who don't know what the

611
00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:02,959
Speaker 1: California twelve Innocence March was, justin Brooks, Melissa Burkal and

612
00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:05,600
Speaker 1: Mike Simanchik of the California and this is project March.

613
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:09,160
Speaker 1: Get this all the way from San Diego to Sacramento,

614
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:12,880
Speaker 1: seven hundred and twelve miles to deliver clemency petitions to

615
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:16,960
Speaker 1: Governor Brown's office for twelve clients aka the California twelve,

616
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:20,640
Speaker 1: all of whom had compelling evidence of actual innocence. The

617
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 1: march took something like fifty five days and it started

618
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,320
Speaker 1: at the end of April of twenty thirteen.

619
00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:30,200
Speaker 4: So in May twenty thirteen, they said, can we submit

620
00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:32,720
Speaker 4: a clemency petition to the governor Kira Newsom? Will you

621
00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:35,000
Speaker 4: co sign that petition? And I said absolutely, we will

622
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:38,440
Speaker 4: do that. That was early in the Jerry Brown governorship.

623
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:43,000
Speaker 4: So towards the end of Jerry Brown's governorship, I got

624
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:46,560
Speaker 4: a call from a Border Parole hearing investigator and she said,

625
00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:48,320
Speaker 4: I want to talk to you about Kiara Newsom's case.

626
00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 4: And so I sat down with my petition and the

627
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:55,880
Speaker 4: investigator sat down in Sacramento and for two hours we

628
00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:58,200
Speaker 4: went through every piece of evidence there and I made

629
00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:00,640
Speaker 4: the case that Kiara Newsom was innocent. At the end

630
00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:03,600
Speaker 4: of that then the investigators said thank you very much.

631
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:07,480
Speaker 4: And that's the last I heard until on Christmas Eve,

632
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:10,680
Speaker 4: Christina Lindquist and the Governor's office called me up and said,

633
00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:13,040
Speaker 4: I've just talked to your client. Her sentence is being

634
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,240
Speaker 4: commuted to twenty years to life. She should be eligible

635
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:15,720
Speaker 4: for parole.

636
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:19,799
Speaker 3: Immediately, I thought I was gonna be sent directly home

637
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:22,480
Speaker 3: right away. I didn't know that I was going to

638
00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:25,319
Speaker 3: have to go before the parole board, but I had

639
00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:28,240
Speaker 3: to tell myself. I said, Kara, you always said whether

640
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:30,920
Speaker 3: through the boardroom or through the court room. You was

641
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:34,359
Speaker 3: going to get out of here. You can fight another day.

642
00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:36,360
Speaker 3: Just do what you have to do. I'll do the

643
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:38,800
Speaker 3: court thing later. It's not justice all the way from me,

644
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:41,680
Speaker 3: but it's something. And like I told them, the only

645
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:45,680
Speaker 3: thing that Kara Knewsom is guilty of is dating a

646
00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:50,600
Speaker 3: gang member. I feel so bad for the victim's family.

647
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:54,160
Speaker 3: They still don't have the justice that they deserve. Okay,

648
00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:57,080
Speaker 3: this is about them. I'll have my moment one day,

649
00:34:57,480 --> 00:34:59,800
Speaker 3: and I believe that that day is coming eventually.

650
00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 1: So April seventh, twenty twenty, Yes, you walked out of

651
00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:08,319
Speaker 1: prison a free woman after serving nearly nineteen years in

652
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:10,839
Speaker 1: prison for a crime you didn't commit, you didn't know about,

653
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:13,200
Speaker 1: you had no knowledge of. And what did you do

654
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:14,560
Speaker 1: when you walked out of prison?

655
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:17,719
Speaker 3: Well, the first thing I did is run into the

656
00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:22,920
Speaker 3: arms of my fiance. But when we got out the gates,

657
00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:26,560
Speaker 3: Rebecca was right there. And I was told that Hawthorne

658
00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:28,680
Speaker 3: was not going to be there because of this pandemic.

659
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:32,520
Speaker 3: And when I seen him, even though it was a pandemic,

660
00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:35,120
Speaker 3: you know, I'm like, I'm gonna hug him anyway. I

661
00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 3: got to see my top two people outside of my

662
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:40,759
Speaker 3: family and outside of you know, my loved ones. And

663
00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:44,440
Speaker 3: then my crew was there, Marisa, all the students, everybody

664
00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:47,719
Speaker 3: was there and it was just so exciting.

665
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 1: I mean, here it is now and you're seven months pregnant, right, Yeah,

666
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:56,480
Speaker 1: that's exciting, you know. So do you know if it's

667
00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:57,200
Speaker 1: a girl or a boy.

668
00:35:57,440 --> 00:35:58,200
Speaker 3: It's a boy.

669
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:00,279
Speaker 1: Okay, do you have a name picked out?

670
00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,920
Speaker 3: I'm gonna name him Champion. I've been through a lot

671
00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:08,719
Speaker 3: as well as you know. His father has a tremendous

672
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:11,960
Speaker 3: story too. We both went to that school together, you know.

673
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:15,120
Speaker 3: So this baby deserves to be called Champion. This baby

674
00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:19,560
Speaker 3: been through a lot. Even since yeah, even since I've

675
00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:22,040
Speaker 3: been out, this baby's still been through a lot because

676
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:26,000
Speaker 3: whatever I feel, he feels. And I'm still going through

677
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,279
Speaker 3: it out here, still trying to find work. I have

678
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:31,759
Speaker 3: all these college degrees, and this big feeling just keeps

679
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:36,560
Speaker 3: popping up, you know. But eventually things is going to change.

680
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:38,799
Speaker 3: I know, something's going to happen for me.

681
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:42,600
Speaker 1: What remains to be done for Kiera Newsom? How does

682
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:46,440
Speaker 1: this eventually get truly righted? And what can people do

683
00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:50,120
Speaker 1: to help her? And help you help others.

684
00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:55,000
Speaker 4: So Kiera is out of prison, she's free, but she's

685
00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:57,799
Speaker 4: not exonerated. The next step for us, as you may

686
00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:00,279
Speaker 4: have heard, we have a new DA in town here,

687
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:05,440
Speaker 4: George Gascon, and he is going to revamp the Conviction

688
00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:08,880
Speaker 4: Integrity Unit where I hope to take this case again.

689
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:12,640
Speaker 4: We will have a petition up on change dot org.

690
00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:15,719
Speaker 4: Gierra should get the justice she's been deserving for so

691
00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:18,560
Speaker 4: long and should be able to walk around a woman

692
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:22,080
Speaker 4: without a conviction to her name, which has kept a

693
00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:24,920
Speaker 4: lot of doors closed for her so far, and it's

694
00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:28,320
Speaker 4: not fair she should be walking around without this conviction

695
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,319
Speaker 4: hanging around her neck. And so if you want to help,

696
00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:35,080
Speaker 4: please look at the change dot org petition and also

697
00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:38,480
Speaker 4: support the Juvenile Innocence and Fair Sentence and Clinic so

698
00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:41,480
Speaker 4: that we can help more kids who were convicted and

699
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:44,360
Speaker 4: sent to the California prison system, kids like Kiera.

700
00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:46,840
Speaker 1: So we will put a link in our bio to

701
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:50,760
Speaker 1: support Kiera and to support Jeff's as well. And now

702
00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,319
Speaker 1: we have what we call closing arguments. Closing arguments is

703
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:56,279
Speaker 1: the section of the show where once again I think

704
00:37:56,360 --> 00:38:01,600
Speaker 1: our two extraordinary guests Chris Hawthorn and Kiera Newsom and

705
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:04,759
Speaker 1: Chris and Kierra. Here's how this works. This is the

706
00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:08,000
Speaker 1: part of the show where I turned my microphone off,

707
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:13,200
Speaker 1: kicked back, close my eyes and just listen anything that

708
00:38:13,239 --> 00:38:16,759
Speaker 1: you want to say. It's all yours for the closeout.

709
00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:19,680
Speaker 1: So Chris Hawthorne, why don't you go first, and then

710
00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:21,920
Speaker 1: you can just hand the mic off to Kiera and

711
00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:23,240
Speaker 1: she can do the mic drop.

712
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:26,480
Speaker 4: We started the Juvenile Innocence in Fair Sentence in Clinic

713
00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:31,200
Speaker 4: in twenty twelve because Los Angeles is the capital of

714
00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:36,040
Speaker 4: juvenile over sentencing. There are so many kids during the

715
00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:39,439
Speaker 4: nineteen nineties, during the early part of this century who

716
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:43,280
Speaker 4: got sent off to California prisons to serve really long sentences,

717
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:46,240
Speaker 4: some of them wrongfully convicted, all of them over sentenced.

718
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:50,640
Speaker 4: It is so important for us as a city and

719
00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:54,360
Speaker 4: a county to live up to the ideals we believe

720
00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:57,279
Speaker 4: Los Angeles stands for, to be the city that we

721
00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:01,799
Speaker 4: say we are, this big, beautiful, diverse city which values

722
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:09,279
Speaker 4: its citizens, values every citizen. Kiara Newsom is just one

723
00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:14,480
Speaker 4: of the most egregious examples of how unjustly children are

724
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:17,840
Speaker 4: treated in the criminal justice system here in Los Angeles

725
00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:20,319
Speaker 4: and were for many many years. I have a lot

726
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,600
Speaker 4: of faith that the new District Attorney's office is going

727
00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:26,840
Speaker 4: to change that. I'm hoping that we'll be able to

728
00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:29,760
Speaker 4: continue the work we've been doing, and I'm so excited

729
00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:32,320
Speaker 4: to be able to do it with Kiara Newsom free

730
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:36,960
Speaker 4: and at the side of all of our amazing students

731
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 4: and staff who are going to keep doing this work

732
00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:41,359
Speaker 4: as long as we can possibly do it.

733
00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:44,319
Speaker 3: First of all, I would like to thank each and

734
00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:46,960
Speaker 3: every one of you guys for taking the time out

735
00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:50,800
Speaker 3: to listen to my story. I am not the first

736
00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:54,040
Speaker 3: that this what happened to, and I know that I

737
00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:56,520
Speaker 3: am not the last that this what happened to. And

738
00:39:56,600 --> 00:40:00,799
Speaker 3: I also know that where I come from, there are

739
00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:06,160
Speaker 3: many many others I was just incarcerated, and I know

740
00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:09,680
Speaker 3: at least ten more in me that's there that don't

741
00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:12,759
Speaker 3: even have the opportunities that I have right now. I

742
00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:16,880
Speaker 3: won't for anyone that ever has to do jury duty

743
00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:21,120
Speaker 3: and deal with cases that has to deal with gangs

744
00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:24,920
Speaker 3: and threats and violence and things like that, to really

745
00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:28,680
Speaker 3: really pay attention to the evidence, because one small mistake

746
00:40:29,719 --> 00:40:33,480
Speaker 3: this can happen to anyone. And I just want to

747
00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:37,480
Speaker 3: say that I blame no one for this happening to me,

748
00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:40,120
Speaker 3: and I realized that everyone had a job to do,

749
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:42,560
Speaker 3: whether it was a judge, whether it was a da

750
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:47,319
Speaker 3: whether it was the officers. In due time, God would

751
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:51,440
Speaker 3: deal with everybody accordingly. I just want everybody to have

752
00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:56,560
Speaker 3: a peaceful twenty twenty one and enjoy themselves, and each

753
00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:59,560
Speaker 3: one teach one and each one reach one and go

754
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:02,040
Speaker 3: out there and make a difference in the change in

755
00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:04,839
Speaker 3: someone else's life, because you never know who you'll touch.

756
00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:13,799
Speaker 1: Don't forget to give us a fantastic review wherever you

757
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:17,560
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. It really helps. And I'm a proud

758
00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:20,120
Speaker 1: donor to the Innocence Project and I really hope you'll

759
00:41:20,239 --> 00:41:23,640
Speaker 1: join me in supporting this very important cause and helping

760
00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:27,480
Speaker 1: to prevent future wrongful convictions. Go to Innocenceproject dot org

761
00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:30,560
Speaker 1: to learn how to donate and get involved. I'd like

762
00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:33,560
Speaker 1: to thank our production team, Connor Hall and Kevin Wartis.

763
00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:36,200
Speaker 1: The music in the show is by three time OSCAR

764
00:41:36,239 --> 00:41:39,279
Speaker 1: nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on

765
00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:44,120
Speaker 1: Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast.

766
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,520
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flahm is a production of Lava

767
00:41:47,560 --> 00:42:00,840
Speaker 1: for Good podcasts and association with signal Company Number one