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I'm back with Raymond Hicks, highly decorated deputy with the Broward County Sheriff's Department, framed by his crooked colleagues for a dope dealing and went to prison for about sixteen and a half months while he was awaiting his day in court. And we'll get to all of that. His book is I'm Still Standing, and he's got a website. We've hooked up to it at Coast tocoastam dot com. So just go to tonight's show and click on Raymond's name and it'll take you right there and you can
order the book there as well. It's a remarkable story. So before the break, Raymond, we were talking about the actual bust where you're at home, minding your own business and all of a sudden, this swat team, some sixty cops with their guns drawn, burst into the house. They're pointing guns at you and your small children, and I mean, you know these guys, right, and they're pretending like like, uh, you know, you're you're some criminal and you and they
won't tell you what they what. They're arresting you for.
That is correct, mister Richard. They never told me what they was arrested me for, and it's a and it's a good thing that they didn't tell me because they probably would have killed me that day, because you know, I ain't never been in trouble in my entire life, and I endeavored it. Never tried drugs in my entire life, never tried a marijuana cigarette or a joint, which is what they referred to as the marijuana cigarette. I never took a drink a day in my life, and it's
just amazing to me how all this stuff unfold. So of course Dave Robshaw said, we're gonna play Shawing suspension, pining the outcome of this case. I said, what case? And they still wouldn't discuss anything with me. So of course this black gentman named Bernard Brown took me and put me in the cruiser and transported me over to Dishrect five. When I ride at District five, I'm still asking questions, you know, what did I do? Why am I here? Well, I, well, we can't discuss it, and
of course they booked me in there. They later took me over to the city jail. So when I rived to the city jail, from the county, from the district, from the county. I'm still asking questions about why the booking me in. I'm like, you know, what are you guys booking me for? What did I do? So they placed me in solitary confinement and I was there for twenty four hours. Max.
Wait a second, you're in solitary confinement twenty four hours? Have they have they given you your phone call? Have they read you your Miranda rights?
Well, first of all, no, they never read me my brand. They never mirandazed me when they came to my house and when I got there as they was looking me in, they never gave me no phone call. And they put me in solitary confinements for almost twenty four hours. And it wasn't until the next morning the marshal shows up and I said, whoa, the marshals, what are you guys here for? We're here to take you to court. I said for what what did I do? Well, you know,
we can't discuss. So they handcuffed me and shackled me and transported me. They put me in an unmarked cruiser and they transported me over to the federal courthouse. And when I got there, my wife and my mom was in the courtroom sitting there waiting, you know, as I'm being rained, and the prosecutor the DA she said, well, mister Hickson, is that work. He's in the top ten percent of his department. But when he's not at work,
he's into the other correctly activity. So I'm looking at my mother and my wife's not like, what is this woman talking about? And that's when she proffered to the courts. She said, I went to the I went to Barra States to live in three hundred and fifty kilograms of cocaine. That was according to seven hundred and fifty million dollars. So the judge said, well, mister Hicks, you know you're not a flight risk because I didn't have a passport at the time. But she said, I'm I'm a minister society.
She called you a menace to society, highly graded officer, You're a menaceter society.
I'm a minister society. So you know, I literally busted in the court and my mom she was trying to get me to come down and come down, and I said, mom, did you So she slammed the gap and said, you know, I'm going to give you no bun home and you'll and you'll stay at the Federal the Center Center, Miami. So the Marsians came in. They escorted me back down to the court and when I get to the holdness there, there's about five other guys that was arrested along with
me that I found out later. And all these guys we all used to work out together at the gym. And I'm thinking that they said something that caused me to be there, mister Richard, I'm I'm on the head about it, you know.
So what they they accused you. The charge was that you had across state lines, you had sold three hundred and fifty kilos of cocaine with a street value of did you say seventy five million?
No, seven hundred and fifty million dollars.
Seven and fifty million. Now when when they did?
You know?
At that very moment, I'm being I'm being like, this is no mistake. I'm being set up by my crooked colleagues.
But I thought, I thought the guys that was arrested with me said something that, you know, that caused me to be there, and I'm getting ready to fight with all of them. And they was like no, man, big kicks you wrong. Man? You ready, you're ready to fight with us? Man, We haven't did nothing this this is your department. And I come to find out later that
what they were saying was true. So what happened? If I back up for one second, mister Richard in Tonto, faars has a fiduciary duty, sir, and you can act anyone that's in law enforcement. They have to call you in and give you a gavage statement to determine whether or not you committed any crimes. So they swear you in. It's audio, it's an audio and video recording. And at no time did the Briar Sheriff Office in Toronto Pairs They ever called me in and asked me anything related
to me going to all these varied states. And you're going to learn later that I didn't go to these battered states. I'm at work, sir, So of course there I am locked up at the Federal Detention Center in Miami, faced for natural life imprisonment.
You're facing natural life imprisonment. What you get a public you get a court appointed attorney and he wants you to he wants you to plea right.
Yes, So they give me one attorney. You know, for the point of the attorney, He said, ray you know this is affairs. He says, got a ninety eight point eight percent convictorate. I told him, I said, God got a convictorate of zero percent. And I told him, I said, Man, I'm not going to admit to something that I did not do. And I told him, I said, well, where's the evidence. Well, I don't know, Ray. I said, well, then you need to go check and get back with me. Man.
So, of course, if you had compt the plea, excuse me, Raymond, if you had, if you had accepted the plea deal, what would the sentence have been.
If I accepted. Well, they came to me and offered me a plea, and I told him, I said, no, I'm not. That was after being a concentrate for almost eleven eleven eleven and a half months, mister Richard. But but me taking the plea would admit that I was guilty of what they accused me of, and my life would have been ruined.
Man.
And I told him, I said, no, I'm like, I'd rather take life imprisonment. I'm not going to go in there and admit the something that I didn't do. My mother told him. She said, I put my head up on a chopping block, and you can take my head off if you can show me that that young man committed these crimes. He ain't never did, he ain't never been in trouble before. And of course they could have told the court point attorney. He decided that he was
going to get off the case. He says, ray on the manuscript, write down everything that happened to you, because this could possibly be a best seller book, may do a movie. And he told the judge, you said you, honor, I don't want nothing else to do with this case. Then they gave me another quarter point of the attorney. He tried to force me to take time on the comhersion rage. This is the fairs. I told him, I say the same thing I told the previous quarter point
of attorney. I'm gonna tell you the same thing. I'm not taking anything man. And there was time that I really wanted to come across that table at tear his head off his body, mister Richard, because he was trying to force me to take time, you know, for something
that I didn't do. And what people don't realize, there's so many people that are forced a plea bargain to avoid fatally increase me hearted sentence because they cannot afford these high powered lawyers, and they take a plea because especially when you at the fans, sir, this fairs got a ninety eight point eight percent conviction rate. That means that it's only two percent of one point five percent of the individuess that's locked up. It's probably gonna see the streets man.
So we don't have a much time here. So eventually, though you got rid of this, you fixed his wagon as well. You got rid of this court appointed attorney and your I guess your wife had some savings and she managed to hire you finally, a competent, accomplished defense lawyer.
Yes, well, my wife went through her first savings and she got a former prosecutor, you know, and who had never lost a case in fifteen years. And when he came to visit me, he said, if I've never seen an innocent man, you one of them, and you shouldn't be here. But I must mention to you, mister Richard,
but I was there, incncrated man. They put me in a hole for five months, total darkness, twenty three hours a day in solitary confinement, and then they later placed me down in general population, which is a death threat to an officer.
And I put you in general population hoping that somebody would take a run at you.
Exactly. You can't take a cop and put him in GP. You can't put him in general population. That's a death threat, you know. And I literally tried to beat this one black guy to death. Man, he saw my pitcher parade over the Newscapta and say he hated Ethan cops. And one of my one of the guys that knew me from the hood, he said, man, you know what that is. That's Dick Hicks. Man. You're tripping man. He gonna thump man.
He come from where we come from. And I literally tried to kill him, mister Richard, I tried to put my fist through his brains.
Man, you saved another prisoner's life while you were in prison. You saved another prisoner's life while you were in prison. Tell me about that.
Yeah, that's correct. So what happened was there was a black gentleman who who was shot in his head. Many years proud of him being arrested, but and you know, serving time with me and of course, I'm in my room and I heard somebody say, dig homean dig homie, come come, and I ran outside, you know, ran out in the reckyard. And when I ran out there, they're this black dude is he had really bad seizure where
he had done swallow his tongue. And the officer, who was actually man in the unit, he had walked out to go use the bathroom, and he let he left the unit unattended. And there I was, you know, taking my thing of going into his throat, pulling his tongue, you know, turning him on the side, pulling his song up from you know, from from that that lawns in the back of his throat to keep him from choking. And next thing, you know, medical staff he the officer
came running. The medical staff came in and they took the gentleman out man, and they gave me a life, saving a war while I was an inmate the water of the institution. Don't take my word. When you go to my book title, I'm still standing, you'll you'll see, you'll see the right up it they gave me that I put put as appendix in the back of the book.
So the the corrupt cops, the dirty cops with the Broward County Sheriff's Department that framed you. Was it their intention to have you killed in prison? They didn't want this to go to trial. Is that your understanding?
Oh? They really they wanted missus Richard. You can't take a cop and put him in general population. I was there with eight guys that I was over when I worked in the jail, or I arrested when I was working out on the street. Eight of them. Can't. You can't take a cop and put him in GP. That's a death threat, that's a.
But you survived, and you got your day in court eventually, after what sixteen and a half months.
After sixteen and a half months, I took my case to trial in federal court and they chose eleven whites, one black and one black out to They all business people, and they found out through testimony. The chief just said, what are drugs? No drugs? What of money? No money? So he said, so he slammed the gabble and called for sidebar. He said, for impeacement purposes, you better come back in here with the same information that brought this young man in here. So why did you hear it?
So then they lied and said said I gave confidence so law enforcement information f c I n c I S. So my attorney, subpeating the communication operator, she came and testified. She said, miss I worked in this capacity to twenty five years. Mister Hicks has not ran this information. And the way that you run f c I S is through your SoC security number, mister Richard, And she said Hicks wasn't running this information. Then they lied and said I was on the audio team when they played the
tape for the Jerman the judge. You don't have to take my word. Go to Google and type and missing documents turned up in deputy lawsuit and you can read it word for verbatim. And they found out that it wasn't my voice on the tape, but in fact it was the same deputy who arrested me. All those individuals that was involved in my arrest were promoted to a higher rank. Some of them still work at the brow Sheriff Office to this day.
Except okay, so right now, I just want to back up though for a second, and we're going to take a break here in a in a few moments. But for the first time, you discover the entire basis of the case is based on the say so or the hearsay rather of one individual who, as it turns out, is a career criminal and a police informant. Tell me about.
Him, you're talking you referred to and sell Pratt. Sol Pratt was arrested January first of two thousand and he was arrested for accravated salt with the firearm where he chased the j gentimate down the street, mister Eddie Fraser, because mister Fraser went to his house to collect money that he had dumped his trash, and of course Pratt chased this man down the street with a gun and
he was arrested by the bron Sheaff office. But that's the same individual that the bron Shaff office tried to use and allow me so when they didn't have any drugs or money, they tried to use him as an informant on me to say that I committed. He was the one who actually lied and said all these things about what I'm just what I'm actually explaining to you now.
He also said that on December twenty fourth and nineteen ninety nine, that him and his wife was at a red light and I motion I saw the two of them and I motioned with my finger that I was gonna shoot them. Well, my attorney subpoena his wife, who worked for the Postal service, and she came in she testified. My attorney said, have you ever seen this my client sit next to me. She said no, I've never seen
this man a day in my life. He said, I want you to take a good look at him, and she looked at me a second time and she said, no, I've never seen him. So my attorney said, well, your husband just testified to the jury and the judge that on December twenty fourth to nineteen ninety nine, mister Hicks saw the two of you at a red light and he motioned that he was gonna shoot you. She said, my husband tell him a lie because him and I
we were not even together. And she said, and furthermore, he's a compulsive.
Liar I ever met Did you ever hear of ensel Prout or meet ensel Pratt prior to this? No, sir, So it's just some random career criminal that they pull off the street. And what did they do pay him to testify?
That's correct. They gave him fifteen thousand, and they gave him twenty thousand dollars.
To lie to lie, and that's their case.
That's their case. That's their case. That's their case.
And it sounds like they it sounds like they weren't expecting it. It sounds like they weren't expecting it to go to trial. They were hoping that you were going to get murdered in prison and it never would have had to go to trial.
They were hoping that either I get either either I get hurt while I was there concerrated, or take a plea. That's what they was making on mister Richard. They thought I was going to take a plea. So when I decided to go to trial, you know, because when I received my discovery, this this is what I learned, all this stuff about what I'm explaining to you now.
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