WEBVTT - #330 Jason Flom with Tysheem Crocker 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:06.840 In October nineteen ninety seven, two overlapping groups of friends 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:09.360 from New York, one known as the Cream Team, the 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:13.039 other is the Gods, were living in York, Pennsylvania. Three 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:15.760 of these young men were Danny Steele, Melvin Bethune, and 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:19.639 Taysheen Crocker. On October fifth, nineteen ninety seven, at a 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:22.520 corner dice game, Melvin and Taisheim spoke to another New 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:25.320 York guy about a previous beef when gunshots rang out 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:28.600 and the crowd dispersed, but no one was hurt until 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.639 about five minutes later and two blocks away, when a 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:35.959 young man named Raymond Clark had been fatally shot. When 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:38.440 the investigation of the murder led to Danny Steele, he 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:40.600 told the police that Raymond's death was part of a 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:44.760 larger organized action involving a disagreement between rival New York gangs. 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.760 At the dice game, he alleged that Melvin and Taysheem 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:49.960 had rounded up some muscle from back in New York, 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.560 including Steel and three others, to confront the opposing gang, 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:56.800 the Gods. In the lead up to this confrontation, they 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:59.280 allegedly checked into a motel and hatched a plan that 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:03.080 allegedly was resulted in the death of Raymond Clark. Clearly, 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:07.440 local law enforcement had only one choice to believe Danny 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:10.200 Steele and do their part on the front lines of 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:13.240 America's war on drugs by taking as many of these 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:16.639 New York gangsters off their streets as they possibly could. 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:34.440 But this is wrongful conviction. Welcome back to ronful Conviction. Today, 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:36.399 we're going to cover a case in which the soul 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:38.800 assailant who is responsible for the murder got off with 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:41.920 less than three years for giving false testimony against two 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.360 innocent men. And I'm going to introduce one of those 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.360 men now. He's calling in from a maximum security prison 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:51.760 in Pennsylvania. Tayshim, Crocker, even though I hate the reason 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:55.120 why you're at where you're at, but I got to say, 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:57.200 I'm really happy and honored to have you. 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:00.240 I'm glad i'm here. Thank you, Thank you for having me. 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.800 You're most welcome. And with him is his post conviction 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:08.360 pro bono attorney, the Tsia Shaviz Free Latsia. Welcome to 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:08.720 the show. 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:09.720 Thank you for having me. 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:13.400 Jason, You're also very welcome, so tayshim. This crime happened 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:16.520 in Pennsylvania, but you're not from there, originally from the Bronx, right, 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:18.760 So tell me a little bit about your childhood. 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:21.880 I was born to a teenage mother. My mom was sixteen. 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:24.400 You know, she wasn't ready to be a mother yet, 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.280 so she picked me in, forced a kid, and I 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:31.040 spent my first four years out in Queens. It was 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:33.760 like eighty one. She decided she wanted to be back. 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:36.480 I moved back to the Bronx. It was rough, we 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.080 were poor. I was pretty much terrified at my mom. 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:42.000 That was like the only person I was scared of. 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.519 Around the ages twelve, I was back and forced to 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:50.520 kid and out of her presidence. I just became a. 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:54.680 Street kid, so tayshim. He had a pretty hard life 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:56.880 and was living in the Bronx. You know, this is 0:02:56.880 --> 0:03:00.240 at the height of the epidemic. Friends of his are 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:01.720 literally dying. 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:05.680 I went after Yo Kia because my best friend has 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:09.120 just got cute. I was fourteen, he was fifteen, and 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:12.000 he got cute. The next day, another one of my 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.720 closest friends got cute, and I was off for the 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:18.600 opportunity to go to York. So I jumped on the 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:19.480 bus and went out there. 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:22.119 What did you do to support yourself to survive out there. 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.799 I started hustling. I started taking pass from people older gous. 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:27.560 So this is the sort of thing where you did 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:29.560 the dirty work for the older guys because in theory, 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:32.400 at least a miner wouldn't get into that much trouble, right. 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:33.360 That's how it goes. 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:37.400 So it's my understanding that's a pretty low level drug dealer. 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.400 Him and a lot of the kids. He also runs 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:43.520 with a group of young people known as like the 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:47.240 Cream Team. And you know, there's several groups, but two 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:49.600 of them are called the Gods and the other one's 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:52.720 the Cream Team. The District Attorney's office tried to paint 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:57.040 this as some gang, but really Cream just means cash 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:58.440 rules everything around me. 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.840 So they were Wu Tang fans, yes, And I mean 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:04.520 anyone who's aware of Wu Tang Cash rules everything around 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.080 me is probably there could be their most iconic song 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:09.640 and terms like gods and earths. Some of the members 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:11.520 of Wu Tang are really into the theories of the 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:14.120 five percent nation where those terms come from. And we 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:16.560 could get into all of that on a totally different podcast. 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.599 But Wu Tang had just come out with their debut album, 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:22.240 entered the thirty six Chambers in nineteen ninety three. So 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:25.479 guys like Tayshim and Melbourne that was the soundtrack of 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:26.200 their childhood. 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:29.480 The Cream Team and the guys were once of kids 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.280 from the Bronx. We was rolling up together. We went 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:36.000 to the same schools, Eat pautied together, and we ended 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:38.719 up in Pennsylvania hustling. 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:41.320 So were you on the radar of the York Police 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:42.760 before all of this happened. 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:44.839 I talked about a week in prison for a couple 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.400 backs in marijuana, and I was like eighteen up there. 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:48.520 It was like forty. 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:53.200 Grand, forty fucking grand for some weed. Jesus well, I 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:55.880 mean this was the nineties when the War on drugs 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:59.520 was in full swing. It still is, unfortunately with the 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:01.800 large ETI and if you're listening to us right now, 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:03.640 you might want to check out our new series called 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:05.760 The War on Drugs. We're gonna have it linked in 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:07.799 the bio. Check it out the War on Drugs podcast. 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:10.359 And back then, as we've seen time and again on 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:12.880 this program, even involving a low level drug deal and 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:15.200 could make that person a target for a wrongful conviction. 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:19.400 So let's get to early October nineteen ninety seven and 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.600 the lead up to this dice game and the shooting, 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:24.480 there was some actual beef that had started a few 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:27.640 days before between your co defendant, Melvin Bethune and a 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.760 friend of this guy can Do Smith, and this served 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.320 as an a legend motive for what happened later. But 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:35.760 this was kind of like a small time beef, right. 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.960 There was no conflict that rose to the level of 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:39.920 want to take. 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:43.200 A life right, and Kendo Smith wasn't the victim anyway, 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.960 but rather a guy named Raymond skip Clark, who I'm 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.200 guessing was one of the gods as well. 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.440 No, he wasn't a member of the gods. He wasn't 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:54.360 even flims with Smith that I know of. Got night. 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:58.560 No guys were at this dice game except can Do Smith. 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.440 So the states there about a beef between the Gods 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:03.719 and the Cream team is not holding up so far. 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.560 It's full of holes. But this beef, however, inconsequential, was 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:09.799 something you intended to bring up with Ken du Smith 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.120 when you saw him at the dice game. This was 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:14.960 October fifth, nineteen ninety seven, on the corner of Maple 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:17.359 and Duke in New York, Pennsylvania, where there was a 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.400 regular dice game. Kend Do Smith was there as well 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:24.120 as Melvin Bethune Danny Steele. You had just got back 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:26.359 from the Bronx and a bit before eleven pm you 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:29.119 arrived at the game and Raymond Clarke was there as well. 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.080 I never saw Raymond Clark that man, but according to 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.560 court documents, he was at the dice game. He was 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:38.320 playing games. I got to the dice game and I 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:40.840 told the work I needed to talk to him. Before 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:43.919 we could talk, a shot was fired. He ran and 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:48.080 I ducked. No one knows who fired that shot. It 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:51.359 came from behind me. When I ducked and I land, 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:54.839 you know it was more shots fired. No one was injured. 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:58.279 Approximately five to ten minutes later and two blocks away, 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:03.359 according to shots Rush script, bore shots were fire. That 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:05.719 is who Raymond Clark was shot at out at the 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:06.240 dunt game. 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:09.800 So not only had you not even seen the victim 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:11.360 at the dice game, but at this point you had 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:14.440 no idea that anyone had even gotten hurt. So shots 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:18.239 were fired, everyone scattered, total chaos. Did you have a clue? 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:20.400 Did anyone have a clue why this was even happening? 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:24.520 There is essentially no serious beef at the time where 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:27.920 they feel like they should be targeted for any reason. 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:30.880 But they're taking off because there's gunfire and they know 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:32.000 what gunfire can do. 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:34.560 So when they got a hotel. 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.400 But according to the state's theory, you checked into the 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:41.000 hotel before going to the dice game before Raymond Clark's death, 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:43.800 sometime between like ten and eleven PM. 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:46.840 That is what they wanted the jury in the court 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:50.880 to believe. I checked into the Super eight at about 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.600 twelve thirty one in the morning. I let Mel know 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:56.080 where I was going, I left there and even where 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.040 I was going, and they spent the night with me. 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:01.200 And at that point, not only did you not know 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:03.440 that Skip Clark was dead, but you also didn't know 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:05.520 that your boy Danny Steele was about to use a 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:07.680 shared room at the Super eight as a premise for 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:10.360 a false statement, which really ends up being the basis 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:12.520 of the state's entire case. And we'll get to that 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:16.200 in a bit. But first, letitia, what do we know 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:19.560 about the initial investigation, Like how did they even end 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:20.880 up coming upon Danny? 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:26.600 So we have no idea exactly what happened. Ty Shim's lawyer, 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:29.080 the person who would have gotten the box of evidence 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:33.240 or whatever he's passed. When we go to Melvin's attorney, 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:35.200 this is over twenty plus years ago. 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.280 He doesn't have that box, so the usual trough of 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.520 information was not available. But what we do know about 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:43.800 this incident is that there were a thought of witnesses, 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:46.640 some of whom spoke with you and your lead investigator, 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.040 Kitty Haley way later in twenty twenty one. 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:52.600 Well, what we find out later is that Raymond Clark 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:56.679 he's found with drugs on his person, and it is 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:00.720 noted that he apparently owed Danny Steele some money. 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:03.720 Turns out maybe I think like a week after that, 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:05.480 Danny was interrogated, and. 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:10.000 At least four people have testified both the trial and 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.960 in post conviction that Danny Steele was the shooter. So 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:15.800 that should have been it, but instead a story at 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.800 a strategy was being concocted with Danny Steele in order 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:21.800 to drag more people down the rabbit hole with him, 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:26.520 turning this tragedy into an opportunity for the authorities to 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:31.600 sweep the streets from those they considered undesirable, namely Melvin 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:34.199 and Taysheen, who for months went about their lives eventually 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:36.400 hearing about Raymond Clark's death and having no idea that 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:38.840 one of their friends, Danny, was saving himself from life 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.880 in prison at their expense by creating this phony narrative 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:44.880 in which members of the Cream team met at the 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.920 Super eight Motel and conspired to confront the Gods at 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:50.959 this dice game about the beef with Melvin. And this 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:54.440 group allegedly included Tayshim, Melvin, Danny, and three other men 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.080 from New York, one of whom was named Corleone. 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.240 Coleon was a made up figure Danny Steele made up 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:04.800 so he could tend this homicide on somebody he made 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:05.920 on a shooter. 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:08.640 It's like they sat around and watched The Godfather and 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:10.800 then went and tried a case. That's how it feels. 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:14.320 Some guy named Corleone who's never been identified, and some 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:16.200 other guys from New York, they all go to the 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:19.480 Super eight Motel and they want blood for what happened 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.440 to Melvin yesterday. Melvin was disrespected or something, and they 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:26.520 want blood. So they're all going to get guns from 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:28.800 a friend's house and then they're going to go down 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.720 there and shoot up the Gods at a dice game. 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:35.320 Now, The theory continued that in order to arrive at 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:37.600 the Dice Game before the shootings took place around eleven 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:40.520 thirty pm, this alleged crew of Muscle from the Bronx 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:42.920 had to have checked into the Super eight Motel by 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:45.480 ten thirty PM or earlier in order to have time 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:48.560 for a thirty to sixty minute plotting session as well 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:50.839 as picking up the guns. But when they arrived at 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:53.400 the Dice Game, Tayshim allegedly pointed a gun to Kendu 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:56.240 Smith and tried to shoot him, but the gun allegedly 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:59.920 malfunctioned and didn't fire, so the rest of this alleged 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:02.320 team hit squad open fire and everyone at the Dice 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.000 Game ran for their lives. No one was hurt, and 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:07.080 Ken Dusmith has since gone on the record saying that 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.679 Tayshen never pulled a gun on him. Other eyewitnesses also 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.719 corroborated that the only evidence of this version events is 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:18.080 Danny Steele's statement, which continued saying that then he another 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:23.000 man and this fictitious guy named Corleone chased Raymond skip Clark, 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:27.480 and this fictional Corleone guy, not Danny Steele, allegedly shot 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:31.160 and killed Clark. So that's how Steele shifted total blame 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:34.280 from himself and alleged that he was just a co conspirator, 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:35.320 not the loan shooter. 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.800 Now, Danny Steele, this is important. He has charged with 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:44.360 the exact same crimes as Melvin and Tysheen, so you 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:47.240 would think he'd get the exact same punishment or close 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:52.679 for murder. For conspiracy to commit murder, he did two 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:56.320 years in the county jail, presumably because he couldn't go 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.960 to state prison because you know, he was a known snip. 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:03.040 From what I understand, he had also been convicted of 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:05.600 perjury twice before. So this is the guy on whom 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:07.839 the entirety of the state's case rests and what they 0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:10.880 used to issue arrest warrants for both Melbourne and Taysheem. 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.200 And at the time, Melvin had just pled guilty to 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:15.960 some unrelated drug charges. 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.959 Correct. He takes a plea and he's getting ready to 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:21.559 go to prison, and the police come to let him 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:25.160 know that he's been indicted on these charges, and he's 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:29.480 just shocked. There's no conversation. They don't take him down 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:32.440 to the police station and interview him. 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:36.719 They had all the information they wanted from Danny Steele. Now, tyshim, 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:38.880 you were back in New York at the time, and 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:42.600 during a routine traffic stop, NYPD discovered that you were 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:44.120 wanted in New York, Pennsylvania. 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:48.959 No Manchila got arrested, that I was a fugitive. I 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:54.120 got picked up January nineteen ninety eight and forty fifth 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.640 feet with twenty seventh and eighth Avenue. I was arrested 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:00.840 and I haven't been on a street service. And while 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:04.360 PD picks me up, I'm extradited down to York where 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:05.640 I was charged. 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:09.679 When he gets to York and he's in the County jail, 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:13.960 there's no interview. The information and the story has already 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:20.240 been told by Danny Steele. But there's literally a fifteen 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:24.000 minute drive at one point from one drop off location 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:26.400 to the jail with a police officer. 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.480 Dennis Williams was the arresting detective. While he's driving me 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:33.679 to the York County prison, he said, I know you 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:37.320 didn't kill Rainey Clock, but I do know you're part 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:39.520 of the Cream team. I can get you a deal 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:43.680 if you cooperate, And I told him I didn't know 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:48.400 nothing innocent. A few months after that, They offered me 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:51.400 another deal five to ten, and I turned that down. 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.400 The day trial started, they offered me another deal if 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:58.120 they were going to dismiss all degrees of homicide if 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:01.960 I played guilty's in aggravated, and so chunk that down. 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:07.280 Dennis Williams Bull should be the deal. A dandy deal 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:08.079 ended up kidting. 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:27.080 Danny Steele did less than three years in the county jail. 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:29.880 That's jail, right, not prison, And that was part of 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.560 his deal to avoid running into other people who he 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:35.440 had flipped on previously. And so no one was ever 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:39.720 charged with being skipped. Clark's shooter Corleone certainly wasn't. It's 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:42.400 hard to charge a ghost after all. And now all 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:45.080 three of you had been charged with murder, but only 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:47.720 by way of conspiracy and accomplished liability. And this is 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:49.960 why your arrival time at the Super eight motel is 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:52.400 so important to the state's theory, as is the part 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:55.560 of Danny Steele's testilize where he alleged that you drew 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:58.280 a gun on Kendo Smith that never did fire. 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:03.000 So conspiracy liability requires proof of an agreement or a 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:06.560 common design to commit the lawful act for which the 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.840 person is convicted. So a person cannot be convicted of 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:13.200 conspiracy from merely being present during the commission of a crime. 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:18.080 There has to be some step taken, some proof of 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:22.000 the agreement, you know, and then obviously the crime. For 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:26.480 accomplass liability, it requires more than mere presence during the 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:30.360 commission of a criminal act, even if the accused knew 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:33.200 that the crime was to be committed. So we see 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:36.800 like accomplss liability like after the fact, you know, someone 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:40.000 who's helping to conceal or clean something up. So these 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:45.560 are really what tayshim as well as Melvin were convicted under. Also, 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.640 you know, a lot of that prosecutorial case led on 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:53.880 something called transferred intent, which basically means if I pull 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:57.320 out a gun and I'm trying to shoot you, but 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:00.960 I accidentally shoot your friend or someone's standing next to you, 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.200 you know, it would have been attempted murder because I 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:07.800 purposefully knowingly was aiming at you. But it's still first 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.000 degree murder even though I had no intention of killing 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:14.680 your friend, because the intention had already formed. And so 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:18.560 throughout the trial we'll hear of transferred intent in those transcripts. 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.680 So because you were alleged to have met beforehand, establishing 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.000 the intent, and then followed through with your part of 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.760 the supposed conspiracy by allegedly pulling a gun on Ken 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:31.200 du Smith that then made you, in turn responsible in 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:34.120 some degree for the murder of Skip Clark, the alleged 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:38.920 end result of this alleged organized confrontation. 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:42.520 I do, I end it. I didn't realize what conspiracy 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:46.080 laws accomplished liability was. I didn't realize when you moved 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.080 pieces on a chessboard to Atlanta, the way you want 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:51.520 it to be seen, you can make something look like 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:54.880 something that it wasn't. We were kids, you know, in 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:58.160 our adversary we used for chrome, men seasoned, you know, 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:03.440 politicians prosecuted. And I did not realize what was going 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:04.600 on until it was too. 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:07.959 Late, that they had fabricated a narrative with Danny Steele 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:11.320 to convict you through these conspiracy and accomplished liability laws 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.399 that you were unaware of. So Melvin was already in 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.200 prison for the unrelated drug charges, so he didn't bond out, 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.520 but neither did you. You both were being held separately 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:23.120 from Danny Steele, but at this point you didn't even 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:25.640 know about what he had done. Right, So when did 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:27.600 you first realize what he was doing to you? 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.040 The first time I see him is at my preliminary here, 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:33.159 and he's testifying against me. You know, he's saying that 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:35.879 I'm the leader of the Cream team that prior to 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.719 the Dice Game shooting, that we met at a motel 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:42.040 and agreed to kill someone. Actually at the preliminary here 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:44.520 when he said we agreed to step to these guys 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:48.760 to try to squash this beef. With the proceedings, his testimony, 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:52.760 you know, would constantly change and get more dramatic and 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:54.040 more incriminating. 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:58.800 There were a lot of inconsistencies in the telling of 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:05.120 these various stories by Danny Steele, but there wasn't necessarily 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:11.320 a rigorous, vigorous defense from Taishim's counsel. Melvin's council, when 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.879 looking at the transcript, tended to do a better job right. 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:17.840 Both families had hired counsel prior to the January ninety 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.440 nine trial, but only Melvin's family was able to pay 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:21.600 and maintain counsel. 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:24.680 So this attorney that was representing me at the time, 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:28.200 Allen Smith, you know, he was never paid him full 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:32.119 and he thought the motion to withdraws council. I didn't 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:35.719 know that. I could have still been getting counsel by 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:38.119 the state, which probably would have been a bad attorney anyway, 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.680 as bad as he was. But he never did nothing 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.560 after that, after the judge told him the motion was denied, 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:48.080 we countinue to proceed to trial without an investigation of 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:48.840 what going on. 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:51.520 So it sounds like you didn't even have an attorney. 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:54.080 Absolutely, I didn't have an attorney. I didn't have a suit, 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:56.359 I didn't have shoes, I didn't have family, I didn't 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:57.080 have an attorney. 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:01.040 Tayshiem would come to the courthouse not a suit, but 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:04.560 in an orange jumpsuit. So this was not, you know, 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:08.280 someone being able to put forth their best defense, and. 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:10.280 In order to combat the state, especially with what we 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:12.719 now know that they were willing to hide, you were 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:17.560 going to need a vigorous investigation from zealous attorneys and 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:19.520 a whole team that would have done things like carul 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.000 Ken do Smith to the stand. He has since gone 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.040 on the record that you did not, in fact point 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:27.199 to gun at him, which directly contradicts the state's narratives. Now, 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.240 how your counsel didn't at least contact can do is 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:33.760 just it's irresponsible and desire it. It's disgusting, actually. But 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:36.359 even more bizarre is how Danny Steele did something on 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:38.720 the stand that even I've never heard of before. 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:43.560 Throughout the trial, he kept mentioning that, you know, he 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:49.000 was incentivized, that he's hoping, he's hoping that the prosecutors 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:51.000 do right by him and only give him two to 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:54.199 five years in the county. And that's exactly what they 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:54.640 give him. 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:57.720 He literally told the judge and jury why his own 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:01.760 statement was unreliable. He's like, I'm receiving a benefit for 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.639 lying here. He's spelling it out. Now, how are they 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.639 supposed to trust anything he said? But they did. I 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:09.879 can't get over this, and we already went over what 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.960 Steele said before the shooting At the dice game, he 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.879 plays Taysheem Melvin, himself and three other guys, including this 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:19.000 Corleone character, at the Super eight motel between ten and 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:21.600 eleven PM for this conspiracy meeting, and the manager of 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:26.080 the Super eight guy named Alfred Milburn, corroborated this. Why 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:30.160 we're not sure because the clerk who actually checked Taysheim 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:33.120 into the hotel, the person who actually knew this information 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:35.879 was a woman named Terry Flinch boss Siler and what 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:42.440 she told police directly and totally contradicted Albert Milburn's phony narrative. 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.720 She's the one who checks Tyshi Min. She knows this now. 0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:49.480 Raymond Clark dies at eleven thirty pm that night, That's 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:51.919 when he's shot. We know this for a fact. She 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:54.199 doesn't come on until eleven pm. 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:56.640 Right. The state spoke to her, but they didn't want 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:58.880 to hear about how Tayshiim checked it at twelve thirty 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:01.840 one o'clock in the morning at this conspiracy meeting. In fact, 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:02.960