Speaker 1: Good.
Speaker 2: Just before nine o'clock last night, the jury returned guilty
Speaker 2: verdicts against all three defendants. It was absolutely shambles, to
Speaker 2: tell you the truth, just actually really hating blood on
Speaker 2: his clothing the day after the alleged a.
Speaker 1: Top on a shallow mud bank and it fits through
Speaker 1: a river.
Speaker 3: Basically, I think most of the people are used to
Speaker 3: me are good people.
Speaker 1: I think a really important question we need to ask
Speaker 1: is how many Indigenous prisoners in Australia are innocent.
Speaker 2: This is Curtain, a podcast where we pulled back the
Speaker 2: blinds to shine a light on the darkest parts of
Speaker 2: our justice system and ask who are the victims. I'm
Speaker 2: Amy Maguire and.
Speaker 1: I'm Martin Hodgson, a senior advocate for the Foreign Prisoner
Speaker 1: Support Service. And a warning, this series contains the names
Speaker 1: of deceased peoples and has distressing content that might upset
Speaker 1: some listeners.
Speaker 3: Welcome to Curtain the podcast. This week, I'm going to
Speaker 3: bring you a couple of updates. It's about Kevin Henry's
Speaker 3: case and where we're up to with that. Also going
Speaker 3: to update you on the case of Rodney Reid in
Speaker 3: Texas in the United States, and also just talk briefly
Speaker 3: about what is happening in the US with the executions
Speaker 3: that are ongoing at the moment, and of course there
Speaker 3: was one in the news today that we've seen well
Speaker 3: publicized first in regards to Kevin Henry's case and where
Speaker 3: we're up to. So we've had a few people messaging,
Speaker 3: emailing and contacting me and asking what's happening with Curtain's case.
Speaker 3: As we discussed in previous episodes, Kevin is out of
Speaker 3: prison and doing very well. And the final step we
Speaker 3: have is preparing and submitting Kevin's application or petition for
Speaker 3: a pardon to the Governor General. And I just want
Speaker 3: to give a little bit of clarity because not many
Speaker 3: people understandably know about the pardons process in Australia. There's
Speaker 3: been very very few, and even less in the State
Speaker 3: of Queensland. For those who would like to look into
Speaker 3: it further, you can go on to Google and if
Speaker 3: you search the State of Queensland and the Criminal Code
Speaker 3: of eighteen ninety nine, the section that deals with pardons
Speaker 3: is section six seven to two A. And I'll just
Speaker 3: give you a quick rundown of what that says, which
Speaker 3: is that it basically bestows upon the Governor the ability
Speaker 3: to refer the whole case to the Court of Criminal
Speaker 3: Appeal and the case shall be heard and determined by
Speaker 3: the court, as in the case of any person who's
Speaker 3: been convicted who has submitted an appeal alternity. What we
Speaker 3: saw in the case of Billy Kipper that was well
Speaker 3: publicized is that the Governor can also seek the assistance
Speaker 3: of the Crown Law Officer and so that is the
Speaker 3: Crown Solicitor Office in the State of Queensland, and they
Speaker 3: sort of act like a private law firm, except that
Speaker 3: they work for the State of Queensland independently and provide
Speaker 3: advice to the Queensland Government, the government's agencies and other
Speaker 3: areas where the government has responsibility, and they also are
Speaker 3: able to provide advice to the Governor General on issues.
Speaker 3: So we we're up to basically is ensuring that we
Speaker 3: have all the evidence that shows Kevin's innocence and that
Speaker 3: that's present, dinner, easy to read, easy to understand way
Speaker 3: for the Governor and for the Crown Solicitor if they
Speaker 3: should need further advice. So that includes everything from all
Speaker 3: the forensic material, the witness statements, the issues in regards
Speaker 3: to the trial itself as well as the appeal and
Speaker 3: also as regular listeners would know the conduct of Queensland police,
Speaker 3: and we hope in the future to also discuss more
Speaker 3: about forced confessions and coersion. And anyone who's watching all
Speaker 3: these new true crime documentaries on Netflix listening to the
Speaker 3: podcast will be hearing that this is becoming a bigger
Speaker 3: and bigger issue, and just in the state of Queensland.
Speaker 3: In recent weeks we've heard of an Aboriginal man who
Speaker 3: was convicted of a crime even though there was CCTV
Speaker 3: showing he didn't do it. Now thankfully he has been released.
Speaker 3: But again you have serious police misconduct leading to the
Speaker 3: imprisonment of Aboriginal people and this is something we'll go
Speaker 3: into further. So I hope in the next month to
Speaker 3: six weeks i'll be able to give you an update
Speaker 3: as to exactly what the petition says and that it's
Speaker 3: been submitted to the Governor. But in the meantime, Kevin
Speaker 3: is doing very well and once again we want to
Speaker 3: thank everyone for their support of his continuing struggle to
Speaker 3: completely free his name, and I also want to pay
Speaker 3: my respects to the elders of his family and of
Speaker 3: the Rockhampton and Worabinda communities. In a case that we've
Speaker 3: spoken about previously on the podcast and number of times.
Speaker 3: That's the case of Rodney Reid, who's on death row
Speaker 3: for a crime didn't commit in Texas. And I should
Speaker 3: also mention that both Kevin and Rodney are aware of
Speaker 3: one another and ask how each other are doing and
Speaker 3: aware of each other's cases. Obviously very similar circumstances, police corruption, complete,
Speaker 3: no evidence against either of them, and yet they've lost
Speaker 3: years of their lives in prison for crimes they didn't commit. Now,
Speaker 3: Rodney read, as you will know, is still on death
Speaker 3: row in the US, and he was due for a
Speaker 3: new hearing in September of this year. Now, unfortunately, that
Speaker 3: appeal hearing was then pushed back to February next year,
Speaker 3: and today we've just had the news that the twenty
Speaker 3: first District Court has now pushed that appeal hearing back
Speaker 3: to May seventeen. Now, the court's reasoning behind that is
Speaker 3: because of the COVID nineteen pandemic. And what I need
Speaker 3: to explain to people is that given the sheer numbers
Speaker 3: of COVID deaths and infections in the United States, it
Speaker 3: shouldn't come as a surprise that this has spread like
Speaker 3: wildfire through the prisons right across the United States, and
Speaker 3: hundreds and hundreds of prisoners have died as a result
Speaker 3: of this mismanagement of the pandemic in the United States,
Speaker 3: and the prison where Rodney is held is no different.
Speaker 3: Many prisoners have died and Rodney's just doing his very
Speaker 3: best to stay well and stay positive. Now again, Kim Kardashian,
Speaker 3: who I think everyone will know, has been providing support
Speaker 3: to Rodney and keeping his case known. And in the
Speaker 3: United States. Today Friday, we are the eleventh of December.
Speaker 3: The ABC program called twenty twenty, which is in a
Speaker 3: current affairs style program and an investigative program, will spend
Speaker 3: their entire episode looking at Rodney Reid's case and what
Speaker 3: exactly has happened to Rodney Now. To give you an
Speaker 3: idea of how popular that show is in the United States,
Speaker 3: previous hosts have been people like Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer,
Speaker 3: John Stossel, Chris Cuomo, who you might have seen on
Speaker 3: CNN now who works for CNN, Katie Couric, the news anchor,
Speaker 3: Heraldo Rivera, Chris Wallace who's a well known journalist, Martin Basheer,
Speaker 3: who is known you would have seen him do interviews
Speaker 3: with people like Lady Die before she passed away. So
Speaker 3: this is a very big program in the United States
Speaker 3: and we do believe that it will be repeated in Australia.
Speaker 3: So when that happens, I'll post to the Curtain the podcast,
Speaker 3: Facebook page and Twitter account and get the word out
Speaker 3: so that you can see that program for yourselves. And
Speaker 3: I'll also find a link where it's available to watch
Speaker 3: online for those who aren't able to see it as
Speaker 3: it goes to air. So this is going to be
Speaker 3: a really important time for Rodney's case where you have
Speaker 3: tens of millions of Americans tuning in, and once again
Speaker 3: the evidence will point to Stacy's fiance, the ex police
Speaker 3: officer who was already found guilty of kidnap and sexual assault,
Speaker 3: the man who was with Stacy when she was murdered,
Speaker 3: and as we've mentioned before, all the forensic evidence, the DNA,
Speaker 3: everything points to him, and there is no forensic evidence
Speaker 3: whatsoever pointing to Rodney Reid and this police officer who
Speaker 3: was in a relationship. There's now more witnesses have come
Speaker 3: forward to say that he'd threatened to kill Stacy in
Speaker 3: the past that he'd lied about his whereabouts, and as
Speaker 3: we've exposed on this podcast before, he also had assistance
Speaker 3: of other police officers to help him cover up the crime,
Speaker 3: and this again will be shown in the documentary. One
Speaker 3: of those police officers, it's believed, was going to blow
Speaker 3: the whistle on what happened, and it's alleged that he
Speaker 3: killed himself and took his own life and his family
Speaker 3: believes that that was a result of this case. And
Speaker 3: the other officer who was investigating the matter was mysteriously
Speaker 3: killed in Texas, and the Texas authorities say that it
Speaker 3: was a Mexican drug cartel who killed him, even though
Speaker 3: at the time he was looking at other avenues of
Speaker 3: who might have killed Stacy because it was obvious Rodney
Speaker 3: didn't do it. So you make your own mind up
Speaker 3: whether you believe the police version of events, and if
Speaker 3: you want to know more about this case, please feel
Speaker 3: free to go back through the archives of Curtain, whether
Speaker 3: it's on the Apple podcast app, on Spotify, on our website,
Speaker 3: and you'll see the episodes with Rodney Reid's name in
Speaker 3: the title, and you can excuse me, and you can
Speaker 3: hear all of those episodes and all of the information
Speaker 3: that shows the police corruption and the evidence of Rodney
Speaker 3: Reid's innocence. Finally, in this update episode, I just want
Speaker 3: to touch on the execution that took place in the
Speaker 3: United States today of Brandon Bernard. Brandon was forty years old.
Speaker 3: He was eighteen when the crime he was involved in
Speaker 3: took place. Brandon was an African American man, again from Texas.
Speaker 3: He never denied that he was there when the crime happened,
Speaker 3: but that he didn't commit the crime. And there's two
Speaker 3: things pointing towards his innocence, Both that he didn't carry
Speaker 3: out the murder and there was no direct evidence to
Speaker 3: show that he did, and that he also had a
Speaker 3: terrible defense attorney who failed to call expert witnesses, who
Speaker 3: failed to examine areas of appeal that were open at
Speaker 3: the time, who failed to analyze some of the evidence
Speaker 3: that was available to show that Brandon wasn't involved in
Speaker 3: the murder itself, and didn't call the appropriate witnesses that
Speaker 3: were available and were as obvious as anything. Unfortunately, as
Speaker 3: I say, Brandon was only eighteen years old when this happened.
Speaker 3: He was a changed man by the own words of
Speaker 3: the governor of the prison he was in. He was
Speaker 3: a reformed individual and doing a lot of good work
Speaker 3: with other inmates and helping others to reform and change
Speaker 3: and turn their lives around to But what's quite different
Speaker 3: about this case is that it was a federal crime
Speaker 3: in the United States. Now, not to complicate issues too much,
Speaker 3: but the vast, vast majority of executions that are carried
Speaker 3: out by the hundreds over the last few decades in
Speaker 3: the United States are carried out by individual states, predominantly
Speaker 3: places like Texas and Florida. Brandon's execution, being a federal crime,
Speaker 3: was carried out by the federal government. And what makes
Speaker 3: this both appalling and interesting for people and important for
Speaker 3: people to know is that since nineteen sixty three, only
Speaker 3: a handful of Americans have been executed by the federal government.
Speaker 3: So we went the entire terms of Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, Ford,
Speaker 3: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill
Speaker 3: Clinton with not a single American citizen being executed by
Speaker 3: the federal US government. Then under George W. Bush, three
Speaker 3: people were executed, and they included Timothy McVeigh, who carried
Speaker 3: out the Oklahoma bombing that killed one hundred and sixty
Speaker 3: eight people and injured more than six hundred and eighty others,
Speaker 3: and there was absolutely no doubt about his guilt. One
Speaker 3: of the others executed by George W. Bush was a
Speaker 3: serial killer who had taken countless lives. It's believed more
Speaker 3: than ten. That was early on in the presidency of
Speaker 3: George W. Bush, and he didn't execute anyone in his
Speaker 3: second term. Throughout both terms of President Obama, nobody was executed,
Speaker 3: and then until recently under President Trump, nobody had been
Speaker 3: executed either. So there'd only been three executioners until this
Speaker 3: year since nineteen sixty three, and as I say, they
Speaker 3: included the real killers and the White Supreme White supremaist
Speaker 3: terrorist Timothy McVeigh, who killed over one hundred and sixty people.
Speaker 3: Since then, Donald Trump has been on an executing spree
Speaker 3: this year, primarily since the polls drifted against him and
Speaker 3: since he lost the election, and he has executed eight
Speaker 3: people and plans to execute at least five more. So
Speaker 3: he is executing more individuals than George W. Bush ever
Speaker 3: did by a long margin. And as I say, no
Speaker 3: one else had ever been executed since nineteen sixty three.
Speaker 3: It won't come as any surprise that all of these
Speaker 3: prisoners are either black, Native American or poor white people.
Speaker 3: These are all people who had very poor defenses. Now,
Speaker 3: some of them are guilty, some of them are innocent,
Speaker 3: but the fact that these cases are being rushed through
Speaker 3: should be alarming to anyone. The fact that presidents Democrat,
Speaker 3: Republican of all different stripes, and we know the records
Speaker 3: of those other presidents, they were not good guys. So
Speaker 3: you can see what sort of extreme crime you had
Speaker 3: to commit for decades and decades and decades to be
Speaker 3: executed by the federal government in the United States. And
Speaker 3: now Donald Trump, having lost the election, is ordering the
Speaker 3: mass execution of federal prisoners. There is never in the
Speaker 3: history of the United States since the Civil War been
Speaker 3: so many scheduled federal executions and executions having already taken place.
Speaker 3: As I say, there's already been eight and there's many
Speaker 3: more planned. So this is something I would encourage everyone
Speaker 3: to keep an eye out and share information about. This
Speaker 3: can't just happen under this media frenzy around the election
Speaker 3: and Donald Trump claiming that it was rigged. The coronavirus
Speaker 3: pandemic that's got a lot of people understandably glued to
Speaker 3: their TVs. And it's under this cover that Trump is
Speaker 3: using to execute people who are not getting the appeals
Speaker 3: and the revisions of their cases that they are due.
Speaker 3: And by no means is he executing the worst of
Speaker 3: the worst. He has not executed a single serial killer
Speaker 3: under these planned executions, and yet he's happy to carry
Speaker 3: out executions of black men who committed crimes when they
Speaker 3: were eighteen years old, barely adults, who are reformed and
Speaker 3: testified to that fact by the governors of the prison
Speaker 3: they're held in, and they are being excuted without the
Speaker 3: Supreme Court having any time to really look at their convictions. So,
Speaker 3: as I say, please keep an eye out for future
Speaker 3: updates on Kevin Henry's case, make sure you're supporting the
Speaker 3: Black Lives Matter movement in Australia, make sure you're supporting
Speaker 3: the families of those who have lost loved ones to
Speaker 3: deaths in custody in Australia, and look out for the
Speaker 3: Rodney Reeds special on ABC twenty twenty. And as I say,
Speaker 3: it's also really important to keep an eye on what
Speaker 3: is happening in the United States, because, as we've spoken
Speaker 3: about in the past, whether it's interrogation techniques, whether it's
Speaker 3: the kind of weapons that are used, whether it's the
Speaker 3: behavior of police, our police forces in Australia are heavily
Speaker 3: influenced by the United States. In fact, much of the
Speaker 3: everything from the chokeholds they use to the interrogations techniques
Speaker 3: they use as well come directly from the US and
Speaker 3: the FBI, So this is really important stuff for everyone
Speaker 3: to know. Thank you for tuning in to this update
Speaker 3: and look out for an all new episode of Curtain
Speaker 3: the podcast coming very soon.