WEBVTT - #183 Jason Flom with Kiera Newsome 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:05.400 South central Los Angeles was plagued by gang violence, and 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:08.480 in Kierra Newsom's neighborhood, the block Crips and the eleven 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:12.200 Deuce Hoovers ran the streets. Kiera avoided the gang life, 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:14.960 but it still took the life of her boyfriend, Marcel 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:19.560 Norman on December tenth, two thousand. On April sixteenth, two 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:23.520 thousand and one, in retaliation for another gang shooting, three 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:26.400 female hoovers rolled up to some block Crips and one 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:29.080 of the women got out and shot into the crowd, 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:33.120 mortally wounding Christian Hinton. She got back into the car 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:36.519 and shot again as she sped away, grazing the torso 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:40.800 of Chante Allen. The shooter was described as African American 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:43.839 in her twenties, with a lazy eye and a tattoo 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:47.320 on her upper right sigh. This incident happened at eleven 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.680 thirty am on a school day, ten miles from where 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:54.840 Kierra Newsom was in class. But despite this rock solid 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:57.560 alibi and the fact that she didn't have a car 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:01.000 or even a driver's license, to prosecute came up with 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:05.120 a theory that Kiera, in retaliation for her boyfriend's murder, 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:09.400 had somehow snuck out of her lockdown school, changed her clothes, 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.559 dyed her hair, drove over thirty minutes of the scene, 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:16.039 committed the crime, and somehow managed to return to her 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.520 desk just seven feet from her teacher, with her absence 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:24.280 going completely unnoticed, but with coerced eyewitnesses and the fact 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:26.559 that she happened to have a tattoo on her upper 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:31.120 right thigh, Kiera ended up serving nearly twenty years, tormented 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:35.399 by her co defendant Tonielle Flynn aka Astro, who is 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:39.560 believed to have been the actual shooter. This is Wrongful 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:55.240 Conviction with Jason Flamm. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction today. 0:01:55.520 --> 0:02:00.919 I am so excited and honored because I have, first 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:06.520 of all, Chris Hawthorne. Chris is the founder, director and 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:11.000 clinical professor at the Juvenile Innocence and Fair Sentencing Clinic 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:13.560 at Loyola Law School. Welcome to rofl con Piction. 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:15.160 Thanks Jason, I appreciate it. 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:18.440 And with him, the featured guest on our show today 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:22.600 is the one and only Kiera Newsom. And Kiera, thank 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:26.320 you for being here. Thank you Jason and this story 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:30.200 it's a California story, and Kiera, you grew up in 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.560 South central LA. Can you tell us what that was 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:33.680 like growing. 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.680 Up in south central LA. My father grew up without 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:40.560 his dad, so he gravitated to the gang lifestyle, which 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:44.080 most young men do. And the neighborhood I grew up 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:47.280 in the blocks and the Hoovers are what we consider 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:51.520 it to be enemies. They always have gang violence. Before 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.440 I was seventeen years old, I went to so many 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.120 funerals I can't even tell you. But one thing I 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.240 can say is that my mom was always as the 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:04.480 type of person she really imposed education on this big 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:05.280 time you know. 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.880 Yeah, and I understand you did very well at school, 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.760 and that's despite all of the violence and hardship that 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:16.480 surrounded you, including one murder that hit so close to home. 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.880 And that was the murder that actually started the snowball 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.880 effect that ended in your tragic, wrongful conviction. I'm referring, 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:26.880 of course, to the murder of your boyfriend, Markel Norman, 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:29.360 who at the time of his death was in fact 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.040 an eleven Duce Hoover, but he wasn't in a gang. 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:34.960 At age thirteen when you started. 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:37.680 Dating Markel, at the time was a straight a student 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.160 living with his grandmother. So when his grandmother passed away, 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:44.400 Markel and his sisters had to go back and live 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:48.360 with his mom. She was addicted to crack cocaine. So 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:50.280 when he went back to live with his mom, there 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:54.200 were times that they didn't have food to eat. So 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:56.840 I will sneak food out of my grandmother's house, in 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:59.240 my mother's house to make sure that they would be 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:03.640 able to eat. So one day in particular, remember him 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.520 calling me and he told me that he was gonna 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:09.760 be put on the gang, and I was so upset, 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:13.440 But then he started to explain to me the benefits 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.240 that the gang was giving him. He'll have means to 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.599 provide for his sisters and his mom, and everything was 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:23.320 gonna be okay. And he really believed that. He believed 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:26.080 this so much that he could go to school and 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:28.840 beat a straight A student and be a gang member 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:33.039 outside of school. And that's what our whole little bet 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:35.120 was about. And he was able to keep up that 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.359 little facade for like the first report card or so, 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:40.280 and I lost the bet, and that's how I ended 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:44.480 up with the tattoo that I have. So after that 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.479 things began to change. Markel got deeper into the gang, 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.240 and I was barely seeing them. And I will never 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:53.400 forget when my mom looked me in my eyes and 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:57.359 she said, I'm gonna end up walking you to a 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.400 jail to see this boy. I'm gonna end up you 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.400 to a gravesite to see this boy. 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.560 And of course you're talking about what happened on December 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:07.240 tenth of two thousand. 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:09.040 And that was on a Sunday. It was a church 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.920 day and it was early and I remember walking outside 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:15.560 and I remember seeing Markel and he had on all 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.159 black and I remember a car driving down the street 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:22.640 looking at us. When we turned around, these guys were 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.880 no longer in a car. One was on a sidewalk, 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.120 one was standing in the street. They both had their 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:32.520 arms posted to us, and they had something covering their arms, 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:37.880 and you can hear the gunshots. Markel pushed me out 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.520 the way and I ran into the house and I 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.120 look out the window. I see Markel laying on the ground, 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:47.719 and I remember when he turned his body around, he 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:51.240 had a gash at the top of his head, and 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:53.279 that's when I knew that he was shot. 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:56.560 I don't think many people have probably ever lived through 0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:59.560 anything nearly as traumatic as that, and it's hard to 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:03.760 believe that that was just the beginning of this awful journey. 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:06.440 It's at this point, too, that the first hero in 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.640 the story emerges, right, and I'm talking about the principal 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:11.360 at Duke Ellington High School. 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:15.680 Yes, his name is mister maclynn. When that happened to 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:20.000 Marco and I became a witness, I didn't know at 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.360 the time that the gang members ran into the school 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:26.359 looking to kill me. Mister McLynn called my mom and 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.520 he said, no, don't bring her back here. I got 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.039 a school for her. If it wasn't for him, I 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:33.400 probably wouldn't be here today. 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:38.000 So the school Sehrter was a lockdown school, normally for 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.520 kids who were involved in the juvenile justice system. Kiera 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:44.240 wasn't involved in the juvenile justice system, but she was 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:47.159 definitely in danger and so she was safer at a 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:49.800 lockdown school than at a regular school. 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:55.159 Now things get really complicated April fifteenth, two thousand and one, 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:59.640 Easter Sunday, when three associates of the Hoovers were shot 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:01.640 in the park parking a lot of Red's Liquor store 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:05.599 on West Century Boulevard. That's Rudy tiny Head and another man, 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.080 and then the victims returned to a party, and police 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.360 showed up at the party to ask questions about the shooting. 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:14.760 One of the things about gang shootings is most people 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:17.440 who participate in gangs are teenagers, and they tend to 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:20.040 be really reactive. Most of what they do is very 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.320 impetuous and very sudden. So it makes sense that the 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:25.760 next day someone from the eleven Duce Hoovers would try 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.120 to take a shot at the block cribs. It's not 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:32.160 typical you wait around for four months before you decide 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:35.640 to react to a shooting. So why the police didn't 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:37.760 look at Red's liquor store is a mystery to me, 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:41.320 especially since Rudy, who was one of the guys in 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:45.200 the car who was shot at, was the boyfriend of 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:47.560 one of the women who was in the car. 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:50.000 The next day, Yeah, I mean this is we're talking 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:53.280 literally the day afterwards, at eleven thirty in the morning 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.400 on April sixteen, two thousand and one, when three young 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:58.000 African American women pulled up in front of fourteen thirty 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:00.640 five West one hundred and thirteenth Street in the Westmont 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:04.280 neighborhood of Los Angeles. There was a group of men outside, 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:06.760 all of whom were block crips. One of the women 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:10.040 got out of the car, and this is important, so 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:14.840 she was described as wearing all red tube top corduroy shorts, 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.440 sneakers and visor. One or more of the men on 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.880 the scene described her as having a lazy eye and 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:24.800 a name tattooed on her upper right thigh. So she 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.960 asked about someone named Nakia, but none of the men 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:30.280 knew who she was talking about. The young woman then 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:33.240 walked back to the car, turned and fired a handgun 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.800 once into the group of men, mortally wounding Christian Hinton, 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:39.520 and the woman got into the car. They sped off 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:43.160 and she fired a few more rounds, grazing Seante Allen's 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:47.440 tour show, but Allan luckily survived. Henton, however, died two 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:49.679 weeks later in the hospital. 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.040 They said that the woman who had shot Christian Hinton 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.840 was in her early twenties and fairly tall. Ki's still 0:08:56.840 --> 0:09:00.360 looking kind of like a baby. Then she's still a teenage. 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.600 I mean, it would have seemed obvious for them to 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:07.200 look towards a hoover named Doniel Flynn, also known as Astro, 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:09.840 who would have been retaliating for the shooting of her 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.520 boyfriend and the two other hoovers the night before, right, 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.280 But one way or another, the really important part of 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.920 this is that we know exactly where Kiera was at 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.719 the time of the shooting, in my classroom. And how 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:24.640 do we know that you were in your classroom? 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:28.440 I signed in in the morning, My teacher collected hay 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.560 counts all throughout the day, and they would have noticed 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:33.360 if I would have left, they would have caught the 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:35.600 police on me, because that's what the school does. 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:37.559 Would you have been able to show up at school 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:39.680 wearing all red, No, I wear. 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:41.679 A uniform, white polar shirt, black pants. 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.679 A couple of other things about that school. The classroom 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.959 she was in where her teacher, Rebecca Woodruff, taught her, 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:52.880 is very small, and Rebecca's desk was about six to 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:54.480 seven feet from Kiera's desk. 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:58.959 H I am Rebecca Woodruff. I was Kiera Newsom's teacher 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:02.000 in the spring of two tho. There was only one 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.880 door to my classroom, and I always had a view 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:08.560 of the door whether I was at my desk or 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.040 in front of the class and my desk was actually 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:14.280 positioned between the door and the students. So it's just 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.400 impossible for somebody to get out and come back and 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:20.360 have me not notice right away, And even if somebody 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.280 were to have gotten past me, which wouldn't happen. The 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:26.200 front door was operated by the secretary, and she kept 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:28.360 it locked, and they would have to be buzzed in 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:31.959 or out. And the back door led to a locked 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.720 gate on top of the locked gate with barbed wire. 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.079 And it was the day after Easter that day, and 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:42.080 I had actually noticed that Kiera had purple hair braided 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:44.400 in She had said that her grandmother had done it 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:44.760 for her. 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.600 So everyone know what African American ladies to take braids. 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:52.920 Now that would have to take you anywhere from three 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:56.199 to six hours. It just don't make sense. 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:58.440 No one's going to miss the fact that you have 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:02.320 purple hair. Rangely enough, nobody said that in the description. 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:06.000 But still anyone who wanted to believe that you were 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:09.040 actually the shooter would have had to believe is that 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:13.000 somehow or other, you vanished into thin air without your teacher, 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:15.840 who was seven feet away from you noticing it, snuck 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:19.920 through multiple doors that were locked, climbed over barbed wire, 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:21.839 got into a car which I don't even know if 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:25.800 you had a car, changed your outfit, drove ten miles, 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:27.840 which would have been at least a thirty minute drive 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.040 because LA traffic, god knows, it could be a two 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:33.600 hour drive, and then killed someone calmly changed your clothes back, 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:37.640 dispose of the other outfit, and magically snuck back into 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.800 the thing, sat down your seat. And she also managed 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:42.760 to dye her hair on the way while she was 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:46.280 speeding through traffic. It's all so preposterous. So the state 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:52.280 had nothing except for three eye witnesses. These guys who 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.240 were on the lawn were definitely intimidated, not only by 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:57.800 members of their own gang, but also by Donielle Flynn, 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.880 who had a fearsome reputation the neighborhood. In addition to that, 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:04.160 they really didn't want to talk to the police. They 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:06.800 didn't think it was any of the police's business. I've 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.520 had local law enforcement complain to me and saying, like, 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:11.319 you know, the problem to talking to gang members, that 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:12.840 they just don't want to talk to us, And I said, 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:14.480 the problem is that nobody wants to talk to you. 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:16.920 It's never a good thing when a policeman is walking 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.440 up your front walk and appearing at your door. No 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:21.679 one wants to talk to police in these neighborhoods. They're 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:24.480 not bringers of good tidings. They're not people who help you. 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:27.880 They are only people who make your life more difficult. 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.840 Ryan Faust, of course, only appeared in court because the 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:36.000 police threatened him with an arrest in another matter. Joe Cook, 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:38.640 of course, didn't appear in court. After his preliminary earing. 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.240 He fled to Mississippi where they were apparently unable to 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:43.439 find him, and they had to arrest Bobby Johnson to 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:46.959 get him into court. But none of them particularly care 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:50.200 about telling the truth on the stand because they don't 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:53.280 regard this as a police thing. This is a block 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:56.520 crip E Love and Douce Hoover thing, And frankly, they 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:58.920 don't care who goes down for it. What they care 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:01.920 about is their own value sitem and what they're going 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:05.160 to do about it on the street. But talking about 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:07.360 the street, every person I talked to in this case 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:11.240 knew who actually did this crime. It's not a secret 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:15.319 that Kiera is innocent. So June fifth of two thousand 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:18.040 and one, they brought you to the precinct right under 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.000 the auspices of looking at a lineup to find your 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:23.840 boyfriend's killer. But that was not what they had in mind. 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:26.680 By this time, they already came out to my grandmother 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.559 house at least five or six times, trying to get 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:33.240 me to put the murder off on a block crypt member, 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.679 and I wouldn't do it. So I'm like, Okay, I'll 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:40.880 go see these lineups. So I remember them picking me 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:43.480 up and my dad said, Kiara, the longest they could 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:46.480 hold you with seventy two hours. And I'm thinking in 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:49.520 my head, like why would he say that? 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:49.960 You know? 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:53.959 When we got there, and they were like, Kiera knew 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:56.560 some and I'm like yes. So I walked to the 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.520 guy I'll never forget this. He has a poster in 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:03.280 his hand, and I was so in shocked. It's like 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.480 my soul left my body instead wanted for a murder, 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:13.120 and I'm like, murder, Who did I murder? And they 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:16.000 put the handcuffs on me. All you hear is chained. 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:20.240 I was placed in the hallway. The woman stripped me 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.800 down and look for tattoos in a room full of men. 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:28.720 I was only seventeen, and I'm not understanding why I'm here. 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:33.560 I believe for seventy two hours that I was arrested 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:35.080 for the murder of Mark Hill. 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.920 This episode is brought to you by Stand Together. Stand 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:48.680 Together is a philanthropic community dedicated to helping people improve 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.720 their lives. For more than twenty years, Stand Together and 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:54.080 its partners have been on the front lines of criminal 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:58.640 justice reform. By empowering people to take action, supporting nonprofits, 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.440 and working with businesses, Stand Together tackles the root causes 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.360 the problems in our communities and empowers those closest to 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:09.800 the problems to drive solutions. Solutions like reducing unjust prison 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:13.760 sentences through the First Step Act, empowering community based programs 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:17.360 and help people reader society, and now working to bridge 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:21.160 divides in our communities. To learn how you may get involved, 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:32.080 visit standtogether dot org slash conviction. When did they reveal 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:33.600 to you that they were going to charge you with 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:34.960 a different murder? Entirely? 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:38.320 I walk into the room and I noticed one of 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.760 the old detectives from Markel's case and a new detective. 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:46.240 I remember sitting down and them starting to ask to 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:50.960 me about mister Christiani, Hinti and all these people. Then 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:55.560 they're saying all this stuff about retaliation for Markel and listen, 0:15:56.240 --> 0:16:01.200 and I'm confused, And then they bring up now, I'm 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:04.960 really confused. Then when he say the day that it happened, 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:09.840 the time it all hit, I'm in school at that 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:13.840 time and now and I'm hopeful because I'm like, as 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.600 soon as he go back, he talks to my parents, 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:19.440 they go down to the school, they get the paperwork, 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:21.360 they bring it. I'm free to go. 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:25.400 I've seen all the investigative materials in this case, and 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:29.080 the police were focused on Kiera very early in this investigation, 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:33.520 and they didn't check her alibi out until after they 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:37.640 had arrested her in June. They originally had targeted Kiera 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.600 as the driver of the car in this murder, I 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.720 think because they thought that the person who was the 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.040 shooter answered the description of Douniell Flynn pretty well. But 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:50.080 then they discovered that Kiera couldn't drive, and so suddenly 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:52.520 they put her on the street shooting Christian Hinton. 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:54.320 Right, And so now you know she would have had 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:57.160 been leaving school and then driving a car that didn't 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.600 exist with a license she didn't have. They're willing to 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:03.680 go to just extraordinary lanes and not to serve and protect, 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:07.560 but to frame and destroy. Now comes the next phase, 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.080 going through the courts. And the juvenile and the jail systems. 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:13.960 You were a minor, so they started you off in 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:18.000 juvie where you were at least safe from donniel Flynn's 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:20.080 reach at that time. But that was temporary. It was 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:22.800 only until you turned eighteen, and then you were sent 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.680 to the women's jail. So now Donniel Finn has access 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:26.800 to you for the first time. 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:30.679 I've heard about her, but I've never seen her in action, 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:35.200 you know. So my attorney at the time, mister Tahan, 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:38.800 he felt that the best thing was to get me 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:41.400 separated from her. He did a court order. They come 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:44.200 through and they switch my wristband, so we were to 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:46.760 not even be in the same dorm as each other, 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:49.520 let alone the same holding tink as each other, or 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:53.840 the same bus. So when we went to court that day, 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:55.760 and that was my first time running to her seating her, 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.480 she walks into the room and she sits down next 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:05.280 to me. Lady, it's like the devil itself. She says, Oh, 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:07.840 everything is gonna be fine, It's gonna be all right. 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:10.359 I need you to take this one for me. I 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:12.560 need you to go to try with me. That's how 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.600 she does me. What do you need me to go 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:18.160 to try with you for because at this time we're 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:20.360 trying to separate this case and get far away from 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:21.640 her as possible. 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:21.800 You know. 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:25.520 And right then and there, it was like a switch 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.199 popped off in her head and she just went crazy. 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:31.920 She spit on me and I jumped back, and the 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:35.199 officers came in, grabbed her, they took her out. That 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:38.679 was the first attack. So they separated us. We went 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.639 on two separate buses and everything, and then all of 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:44.120 a sudden, word through the jail was I was a snitch. 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:50.600 Don't snitches tell on people. Don't snitches know what actually happened. 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:54.320 I don't understand how she manipulated these people to believe 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.520 that I was a snitch. And our next court date, 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:00.760 the police officers put us on the same floor and 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:04.720 I walked past and I heard somebody go snitch. It 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:08.040 was her. She kicked me and she got hold of 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:10.479 me and it was the officer. I'll never forget this. 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:12.480 She jumped on top of my back and she had 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:15.520 me down and she said, don't do anything. We've seen everything. 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:17.960 So we were late for court that day. 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:22.240 We're talking December fourth, two thousand and two, during jury selection, 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:24.960 Kiera's lawyer files a nine to nine to five motion 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:29.159 to dismiss on the grounds of the teacher, Rebecca Woodruff's testimony. 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:33.600 The judge dismisses the case on the credibility of the testimony. Okay. 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:38.760 Then six hours later the DA reindicts and Kiera was rearrested. 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:42.359 So when she's alone with the detective in his car, 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:46.040 he drove her to a motel, the Magic Carpet, where 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.239 he offered her a deal, have sex with him and 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:53.480 he'll give her an hour to run. Kiera refused. He 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:56.560 brought her in and while booking her and taking her fingerprints, 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:59.199 he asked if the finger he was holding at the 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:02.359 time was the one she masturbated with. The room was 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:05.080 full of chuckles from the other officers. 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:10.879 I sometimes think that the police never actually wanted Kiera 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:13.159 to go down for this murder, but they were hoping 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.119 that if they put her in terror, in fear of 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:19.440 her life, that eventually Kiera would break and she would 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:23.400 tell them everything she knew. Unfortunately, she didn't know anything 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:27.160 because Kiera is not a gang member, and in part 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:31.080 that's why she ended up getting convicted here, because everybody 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:33.439 else in this case is a member of a gang 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:36.760 and people have their back, but no one ever had 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:39.960 Kiera's back because she was not a member of a gang. 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:41.760 She was an outsider. The police were. 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:44.879 Looking out for themselves, gang members are looking out for themselves. 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:47.720 No one's looking out for Kiera. And that's just wrong. 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:49.680 I mean, now we get to the trial. They put 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:53.040 her on trial with Donnielle Flynn, who the prosecution had 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:55.560 now decided was the driver on that date, and Kiera 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:58.120 was defended by Anthony Ta Hunnett Gran. A guy named 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:02.000 Larry Williams offended Flynn, and the witnesses had described this 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:04.760 tattoo on the upper right thigh of the shooter. The 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:08.680 thing is, both Kiera and Donniel Flynn have a tattoo 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:11.879 on their right thigh. It's a crazy coincidence, but in 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:18.480 a preliminary hearing something quite consequential and very shady transpired. 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:21.320 Kira has a tattoo on her thigh, very very high 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:23.679 on her thigh, almost on our hip bone. Donielle Flynn 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:26.399 has a tattoo much lower on the thigh, which is 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:29.800 quite visible when you're wearing shorts. However, at the preliminary hearing, 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:33.879 when Joe Cook was testifying, Doniell's lawyer did something that 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:37.080 I think should be in the museum of clever tricks 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:41.200 by defense attorneys. He said, I'd like to have my client, 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:43.840 Doniell Flynn, pull up her pants leg and show that 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:46.880 she doesn't have a tattoo on her thigh, which Donielle did, 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:48.640 but she only pulled it up about three or four 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.200 inches above her knee, and so the tattoo wasn't visible. 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:54.920 And even though this tattoo is in police reports, there 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:58.600