On November sixth, nineteen ninety one, Eric Ritick was hanging out in front of his friend's house at West Philadelphia. At the same time, just two blocks away, Eric's childhood friend, William Catlett, was fatally shot in what police believed was a drug dispute, and all eyewitnesses implicated a man named Edward Pinat Johnson. But this was Philadelphia in the nineties, where official misconduct was the norm and one shouldn't have
expected investigations to follow the actual evidence. So despite all the signs pointing toward Penut Johnson and a rock solid alibi, and Eric was charged with the unmotivated murder of his friend solely on a coerce statement from a man named Sean Stevenson. So when none of the alibi witnesses were even called to testify, the trial reached a predictable outcome,
sending Eric away for life in prison. In nineteen ninety nine, Stephenson finally recanted his bogus testimony, stating that he had been under pressure from both the victim's friends and the district attorney to maintain the lie. However, Eric was not even alerted to the recantation until two thousand and three the time elapsed made this earth shattering evidence inadmissible, With the key to his freedom rendered useless. Eric's appeals were
repeatedly denied. It took the support of meek Mill students at Georgetown, the election of a new district attorney with a real conviction integrity unit, and almost an additional two decades to finally set Eric Riddick free. This is Wrongful Conviction with Jason flamm Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flauhm. That's me, of course, I'm your host, and today, well, if there's a heaviness in my voice, it's because this is a heavy story. We're about to tell you the
story of Eric Riddick's wrongful conviction. And one of the reasons I've wanted to tell it is because so many people that I respect have for years made this a priority. This case stands out, and this person stands out. And so, without further ado, Eric Riddick, as I often say, I'm happy you're here, but I'm sorry you're here because of what it took to get your here.
Thank you for having me right off the back, I want to definitely thank you personally, you and your network for a giving voice to the voiceless, bringing light to these issues. So thank you on behalf of myself and those that are still fighting for freedom.
No.
That means the world to me and you know, for our listeners, I'm sure that you won't be surprised to hear that this is a Philadelphia case. There was an incredible pull quote in the article about Tony Wright's a wrongful conviction case in Rolling Stone Magny where it said that in the nineties, a black man had a better chance of getting justice in Philadelphia, Mississippi than Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But just quickly before this happened, What was your life like?
I was a young guy in the streets in southwest Philadelphia. I lived all my life I was living in poverty in an impoverished area. Our area that was it was a lot of good things, a lot of beautiful things, but it was also a lot of violence, a lot of drugs, a lot of mental health issues for me. Because I had both parents in the house, I was
being taught and educated from two perspectives. My parents always told me to do the right thing, always told me to go to school, but I chose to also hang out with the guys in the streets, hooky school, all those things that made me susceptible to being wrongly accused.
The fact is you didn't do this crime, and it should have been really obvious to everyone from the beginning that you didn't do it. But your case has so many of the hallmarks that we see in ronfuel conviction cases. It's incompetent defense, lying witness. I mean, there was only one accuser and no evidence, and no alibi witnesses called email. There were alibi witnesses and official misconduct. Let's go back
to it. So this crime was your friend William kat who was fatally shot in West Philadelphia November of nineteen ninety one. So take us back to that terrible night when this happened.
Well, November sixth nineteen ninety one, approximately like between five thirty and six thirty. I was on fifty eethh and Trinity Street, two blocks away from where the tragedy happened on fifty eef and Belmart During the course of that week, it was a lot of things going on with different individuals in that area dealing with the drug activities around there.
We was on fifty eth and Trinity Street, myself a guy named Louis Jordan, Jeff Dawson, and Justine Joson Timak with Jordan, all of whom was my alibi witnesses that I gave to the homicide detectives. And as I told him in my statement, once we heard the gunshots, myself, Louis Jordan, and Jeff Dawson begin to walk towards where the gunshots. Said, when we got to Bellmar, we've seen that it was a crowd on a corner fifty eth in Belmar and that William Catley was shot.
Okay, So the police began their investigation and many of the eyewitnesses were talking about this guy Edward Peanut Johnson right, which was a lead that they inexplicably ignored. I still can't understand why. But when they connected with Sean Stevenson, he went on to say that he saw the shooter up on a balcony about fifteen feet above William Catlet and he described the shooter as the skinny black mail in his early twenties, with a leather jacket like Eric Riddicks,
but he didn't see the shooter's face. A day later, though, in a second interview, he says that you were the shooter and that you were the guy that shot William Catlet from the fire escape with a rifle that was about two feet long. Now, it came out much later that he was under pressure from both friends of the victim and from the DA to implicate you in the shooting. But we'll get to that in a little while. So what happens next.
So make a long story short.
On the eighth, I heard that the homicide detectives was looking for me, so my mother and my father they drove me down to the homicide detective Eighthan Reece, and I gave a statement basically stating that I had nothing to do with the crime. I was two blocks away, and here's the people that can confirm where I was at at the exact time we actually was on the portion we heard the gunshots. A detective named Paul Rich again to try to manipulate me. He said that he
knew I didn't do it. He said that he knew who did it. He named the individuals who he said did it, but he was saying that being's door, I know them. That he wanted me to say that I knew that they did it. Basically, I was like, no, I'm not going to put myself somewhere where I wasn't. So then he got hostile. He starts saying that he's going to charge me with the murder. This after he acknowledged that he knew I didn't had nothing to do
with it. So we went back and forth. He tried to use a termination and every time he did that, he stopped recording, he stopped writing down the things that I was saying when I was coming to give a statement. So after that didn't work, I signed my statement stating where I was at, stating the people that can gratify where I'm at, and they let me go, but let
me rewind back first. One of the things that Detective Paul Rich said when he was getting hostile that I wasn't saying what he wanted me to say, and he said, before it's all over, I'm gonna charge you with this murder. He said, I don't care about the individual of God, like he said, I just need a body for a body.
This is exact words to me.
You're gonna get convicted, You're gonna peel it, but by the time your case is overturned, you're gonna be old gray and broke down.
You know. That's that's just really freaking sinister, and you know it's I mean, it's gonna stick away for a long time. The body for a body that line, it's as if they're saying, yeah, just anybody will do right. It's like, this is what gets me, right, Why wouldn't we want the person who actually committed the murder of your friend to be brought to justice, if for no other reason then that so they don't go and kill somebody else, right, I mean everyone kept saying, like the
same name, right, Edward Penut Johnson. But they followed through on their threat to you, and sure enough you were arrested.
January tenth, I was arrested on a corner fifty eighth in Trinity Street. They took me to homicide detectives and they charged me with murder.
And so we get to the trial, and I just want to give a brief summary, which I think should shock everybody and frankly should piss everybody off, because the prosecution's case, they, let's face it, they had no case. So what they do. They relied solely on Stevenson's eyewitness testimony, which by the way, had changed a number of times,
and then was eventually recanted. Stevenson said he saw you fire a rifle from a fire escape, But the medical examiner's ballistic report with the auto which breaks down each bullet wound and the trajectory of each bullet, says clearly that none of them traveled in a downward direction. So, Eric, I don't know if you're a magician, but you'd have to be in order to shoot someone who's on ground level from fifteen feet up and not have the bullets
traveling downward. I mean, it's obviously impossible. Did your lawyer bring that up at all.
Through on trial?
He didn't present the physical evidence dealing with the ballistics. He crossed examined that evidence, but he didn't pull out or extrapidly the exculpatory elements within the ballistics with the course called incontrovert evidence, which is scientific evidence that's proven this one accusation to be scientifically implausible. You know, he never brought that out. But also the greater tragedy in my lawyer was his ineffectiveness regarding the alibi witnesses and
his opening statement. Three times he promised the jury that he was going to present three alibi witnesses refute the state's one witness. So through the whole trial, the fact find this is waiting for him to keep his promise. Because opening statements are important. You set in the stage for your defense. And he told the jury in three places in this opening statement that he was gonna present three alibi witnesses, stating that I was elsewhere at the
exact time of the crime. And when the trial was over, me and him argue because he was saying he wasn't gonna present a case, and I told him to present my alibi witnesses. They was there waiting to testify. After that, me and him arguing about it, he turned to me and said, okay, okay, I'm gonna do it. And then he looked at the judge and said you're on and
we rest. I'm sitting there listening and I heard him say it, but I didn't really understand until I was handcuffed and taking back to the holding cell, and then it hit me. He just disregarded what I told him to do.
I mean, this guy, he literally just sent you down the river, just processed you in like your life didn't matter at all. And it's like, in a certain way, he bears as much blame the people who framed you in the first place, because it was up to him. Yes, so now he rests his case. He throws you to the wolves. The jury goes out. What were you thinking when they went out? Did you still think that there was still a chance that justice would be served?
Yes?
I did in my mind and my naive mind at the time. I was saying to myself, it's no way in the world that they're going to convict me on a crime that I did not do. But I didn't know the depths of the defects and the criminal justice system. But also I didn't understand the language because I actually was listening to my lawyer, and I remember going back to the holding cell saying, my lawyer, you know he
killing it because I didn't understand the language. And I still was saying to myself, it's nowhere in the world that they're going to convict me, not just for a crime that I didn't commit, but a friend of mine. I couldn't fathom that, Chris. But they deliverate for three DS. They came back in the city was dead locked and he couldn't come to a conviction. Judge Paul Ribner turned around and gave them the most corrupt instructions in his
own record. He put a burden on them outside of the facts, and he said, listen, we've been here three days deliverating on his keys. If y'all cannot come to an agreement, then it's going to cost the taxpayers more money. It's going to cost them more time and the courts, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Ten minutes later, he came back with the first to be murder conviction.
Wow. This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company, and by Accenture, a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Working to reform the criminal justice system is a key pillar of the AIG pro Bono program, which provides free legal services and other support to many nonprofit organizations and individuals most in need. As part of Eccentsure's commitment to racial and
civil justice. Accenture's Legal Access Program provides pro bono legal services in partnership with more than forty organizations, bringing meaningful change to people and communities worldwide.
This is very heavy to hold and wake up with a life sentence on your back. To use the bathroom with that life sentence on your back. To go to the shower and walk around every day all day for decades with that weight on your back, it's the heaviest feeling that a person can imagine. For me, I never experienced that personally because I never thought that I was not coming home. I said to myself, I'm a fight, I'm a fight. I'm a fight.
You know. It fueled me.
I was blessed to have strong parents and they passed their strength off to me to be able to survive in those arduous situations, hard situations. So that's what I did. I occupied my mind, I stayed in physical shape. I made a decision to learn everything that I can learn. Turned my incarceration into like a university, right. I was educated by a lot of powerful lifers that had rehability to reform themselves, and they taught me the law.
They taught me how to be a man.
But I was angry and I got into fights and I wanted to hurt people, just like these young guys out here now. And it was lifers that could still speak the language that I understood that taught me how to deal with it rationally. They gave me another option, and they taught me the law. They taught me how to understand the politics that the law was functioning in.
You know, I learnt the law, and I fought for thirty years every day when I had sell may Say said I used to wake up in the middle of my sleep talking about Commonwealth versus Santana states that when incontrovertible evidence is repugnicant to human testimony, you reject the human testimony.
They said, I used to wake up in my sleep, Lily geting.
Listen, there's so much potential. Look, every time I visit a prison, you know, I always come out feeling like there's more humanity inside those walls than I see out here. Oh Jesus, Troy Coleman's calling me on the other phone. Let me actually picked this up while we're put them on speaker hold on how I can do this guated individual at s c I Somerset.
It will be recorded and maybe monitored.
Hey, Troy, I'm actually recording a podcast with Eric Riddick right now. We were talking about you earlier, so we got you on the speakerphone through the microphone, but he can't He can hear you, but he can't talk back to the ode hell, but he says, hello, he's thinking about you. We all are, and uh, what you do? Okay? God it call me later, all right? I mean, what the fuck?
Right?
That's amazing. And I know you know Troy really well and worked on his case while you were still inside, and we actually covered his case recently, and we're we're just hoping for justice for Troy Coleman.
Can I say something real quick?
Yeah, just the thing even with Dick case right there in Troy Coleman keys the victim in his case, Kevin Jones was a friend of mine. I grew up with the whole family, very close friends of mine, and just me even offering assistance is testimony to the injustice of even that case. Some of the family probably wouldn't even like the fact that I'm helping. But at the end of the day, right is right and wrong is wrong.
Absolutely. And you know another guy that you knew inside, who we also had the privilege of interviewing here, who had spoken very highly of you in the past, is Meek mill.
I was just talking to Meek earlier when he came to prison. He was with me for those five months. He said, when I go home, I promise you I'm going to talk about your case. I'm gonna advocate for you. And when he went home, he did everything that he could. Georgetown dealt with me because he was sitting on the podcast about his case and he brought up my case. Dan Sepian and NBC. They was introduced to my case, Desiree Pereire. She took me through the whole Rock Nation.
All of these individuals is like family to me now based on Meek Mill introduced in my case and the egregiousness of it to them. You know, he's an artist here, he financially stable, but he stepped out of his comfort zone and reached back, and just his case opened the door for a lot of other cases dealing with the corrupt cast.
It wasn't just my case.
So then let's get to the post conviction litigation. Because, first of all, all the way back in nineteen ninety nine, that's a long time ago, the prosecution's only eyewitnessed Stevenson recanted his statement in an affidavit. He stated that he was under pressure from friends of the victim and from the district attorney to identify you. Now at the time, Pennsylvania law, the post conviction relief Act required that new evidence get ready for this be filed within sixty days
to be considered on a field that's insane. And you didn't physically receive a copy of the recantation affidavit for another four years after that, which was two thousand and three. So of course this meant that by the time you filed for post conviction relief, it was way too late and it couldn't even be included. Again, what the hell
where is justice in that? Okay, So his recantation continued to be an admissible which meant that you're repeated attempts to prove your innocence in the following years were routinely denied.
The PCRI statue is literally an obstruction of justice. No statue have the power to subvert the concept of justice. The foundation of the judicial system is in the preamble of the United States, Count Toru, we the people to form a more perfect union and to establish justice. So now any statue that come after that is opposed to
actualized justice, not subordinate justice. The legislation cannot pass a statue that obstruct evidence from coming in that can proves innocence, because they surely wouldn't do it if it proved guilt right right, The politics of corruption, culture corruption is nullifying those foundational principles that really can't be justified. But that's what happens. That's why people is in prison under wrong
for conviction. And that's what makes Larry Krasner administration so damn powerful, Larry Kraft and Patricia Cummings for him to get up there and identify a culture corruption. And I'm gonna say this from being in prison and seeing it with my own eyes. I'm telling you today here on the record that there are thousands of individuals in prison that can prove today that their convictions is wrongly convictions, but they can't get the evidence in that the courts know exists.
And they'll listen to it because they filed in pc of ORI's.
But the courts have their hypocritical audacity to look in people faces and say, well, we see the evidence have merit, but we don't have jurisdiction to entertain it because it's time Barr.
With me, when I was pro.
Say, litigating, I argue I gave the judge their oath of office when they said my evidence was time Barr, and I'm saying, no, you have the inherent power of the court to adjudicate any matter that served the entert of justice.
So let's go back to the post conviction litigation and how you ended up out here today, because it's kind of a miracle.
Really.
Now, I'm going to rewind a little bit. During the initial investigation, as we mentioned, most of the eyewitnesses told police that the actual perpetrator was Edward who went by the name Panut Johnson, but that lead was never followed up on, and Johnson himself was murdered in nineteen ninety seven.
So get this, everybody. In two thousand and five, Penut Johnson's father, Bruce Reese, submitted a fucking AffA David, confirming that his son and a friend were responsible for William Catlin's death for his own da head to do that, it's so freaking heavy, and Reese, the dad wrote, and
I quote this is a quote direct quote. My son had always expressed regret that mister Riddick had sat at prison for a crime that he had nothing to do with, and quote and back in twenty nineteen, all those years later, two other witnesses also signed out for David, saying that they saw Johnson shoot Williams. So that brings us almost to the president. What happens next?
So as we litigate in the court and we wind up going to the conviction and tech with unit, we had
a PCRI pending. My lawyer in Mecca Igwy came on board and worked with Georgetown professor Mark Howard and the three Georgetown students who making them Exnery, Taylor, Kendall and Alex They also worked with Desiree Pere's team, Jordan Seve from Rock Nation and the Refirm on the powerful Atturning and they just extended all their resources to work with my attorney in Mecca, Igwy and we filed the petition
in the CiU unit. They shout it down. Initially, we re argued it because they acknowledged that I was innocent, but they were saying, well, we still feel that you may have entered into a conspiracy to commit this crown, so we're not going to entertain your petition. Larry Krazen and Patricia Cummins, they still dealing with relics of that culture corruption sometimes. Patricia Cummins took on the case herself. When they turned over the files, we found out that a firearm was found in the alleyway.
Can't make this out.
A broken rifle was found in the alleyway connected to the balcony where I was accused of being, and the DA tested it back then found that it didn't work and that none of the projectiles came from his rifle, so they hit the evidence. They never turned that over to the defense. So when we found that, we amended it, and that was the means in which Patricia Comings in the DA's office agreed to release me under.
I mean, it's amazing, but it's not shocking, right because it's the same damn thing we see over and over again. Until we fix the system, that's going to keep happening.
You know.
And it's deep, like with the PCRI statue, for example, Counseling David oh who wound up being one of my greatest supporters from Philadelphia, he passed two resolutions regarding my keys, overwhelmingly one to addressed the time limitations that the PC already put on present evidence, but also he passed the resolution requested Governor Wolf depart in me things doing the record being saturated with evidence of innocence.
Listen, there's so many villains in this case, but there are even more heroes at the end of the day. Right, You've got the Georgetown students, You've got Meek Mill, you got Patricia Cummins, you got Rock Nation. Oh listen, I mean was little I had to do with it, but thank you for saying that. But Dan Selepion, I mean you went from having the D team to the A team. Right, and as a result of course, justice has finally been done, delayed, but not denied. And that's a miracle. So, okay, thirty
years you finally step out to breathe free air. What was that moment?
Like?
Oh man, well, I haven't yet found the words to explain what I felt. The greatest moment was seeing my mother's face. You know, that woman been on the front line. She did everything from going in front of the legislation Harrisburg or in front of the DA's office with bullhorns, organizing and protesting non stop. When they told me that I was going home in a half hour, that was the greatest moment seeing her face. That felt greater than the actual feeling of me going home. And since I've
been home, just seeing her enjoy the moment. What people don't know is that the burden that I had to carry all these years. Was that my father, which was one of the greatest men I ever met in my life, my situation actually took his life. He always was able to protect his family, and my mother spoke about that on an interview, how his heart couldn't take it once they convicted me and there wasn't nothing that he could
do for the first time to protect his children. She actually see him deteriorate after he watched his son get railroaded in court and he died shortly after that. He had a heart attack that took his life.
Wow. I think anyone who has a father or is a father can probably relate. And that's literally heartbreaking. I mean, it sounds like he was a great man. And all I can say is rest and power. And if you and your family can take any solace, it's in the fact that you're out here now and you've really hit the ground running. And what I mean by that is your work with the Emergency Response Foundation or the ER Foundation. For sure. Can you tell us about the amazing work that you're doing.
So I've been home three months. I'm sitting right now doing this interview, sitting in my office, the office of the Emergency Response Foundation, which is an organization that I created while I was in prison, and it's geared to address the most critical issues in two areas, criminal justice reform, stash reborn, and community development. It's amazing that nineties a guard was sitting in the cell and today I'm sitting
in the office with three rooms in law books. I'm looking at the law books right now, and the main people that's going to be working in here is Axigneries on the Horton Brothers that was commutated by Fetterman. They hit the ground running, and that's the most beautiful thing about it. Everybody's coming home. We all either on the front line helping to get other wrongly convictors out or just living normal lives.
So the Emergency Response Foundation, it's so many incredible people working to help other amazing people get the justice that they're seeking, that they deserve and that they've been waiting for for decades and decades. There's going to be I'm sure a number of our listeners reaching out for help, and there's also going to be people reaching out who want to help, who can help, and who want to
support the work of the Foundation. So the best way to reach out or get involved is through the website, which is er Foundation on nine dot com, so it's er Foundation nineteen dot com. But it'll be linked in our bio as well. So now we have a tradition on wrongful conviction which is called closing arguments, and it's the part of the show that I look forward to each and every week because it works very simply just
like this. First of all, I thank you again, Eric Riddick for just being who you are and for being an inspiration to me and so many other people both out here and on the inside. Thank you for just being here and sharing your thoughts and your incredible story. And now I'm just going to kick back in my chair, turn off my microphone, leave my headphones on, and listen to whatever else you want to share for the closing arguments of our show.
So when I walked out of the courtroom, I basically see that my freedom is a further testimony that justice is in season. Me being on this show is testimony that justice is in season. Rock Nation, Meek Mill getting involved in the cases criminal justice Reform is testimony that justice is in season. Georgetown University, the people at the Grassroot becoming dissatisfied with the institutions they're supposed to serve the people, like the judicial system, the police department, advocating
dissatisfaction and automatically compels change. So these are testimonies that justice is in season. I'm going to continue to fight on the front line as a vanguard with all those entities that I just mentioned. I want to thank everybody that was involved. I want to thank my attorney in mecha Iguy again, but I want to thank the grass
Root and the ER Foundation. Emergency Response Foundation is going to do everything in our power to help assist in liberating those that's wrongly convicted and fighting for issues that's worthy of fighting for. Our foundation is going to create documentaries on these issues. You have many men and women that's in prisons wrongly convicted, totally actually innocent of any degree of guilt. But you have some that's innocent of
the degree of culpability that they convicted for. So the ER Foundation has created what it's called an Alternative Resolution service where we find those cases, we point out the evidence that mitigate the degree of culpability, and we take it to the DA's office, the Conviction Integrity Units, and we find an alternative resolution, many of which may be a plea to a lesser degree, because that's just as much of an egregious injustice as someone that's actually complete
the innocent. So were going to try to address all the issues of injustice and we're gonna build the foundation as we go along. I want to salute again the Jason Flum Show and other shows and networks like this, because we always had a voice in prison, but we didn't have those outlets. So today the Jason Flum Show and other shows this testimony that justice is in season. And the beauty about it is the universe is bent towards justice, So we always knew that these moments was
gonna come. I want to thank the Crafts the Ministry for their courage. I was set on a panel discussion with Crafting and a mic came to me and I said, I never thought that I would be sitting comfortably next to the Phildelphy DA. But then I looked at him and I said, this is not the DA. This is the will of the people being manifested. You know, when the people is dissatisfied, the people is going to start
networking and it's going to bring about change. I want to thank everybody, all the names that we don't know, for being vanguards on the frontline, fighting for justice, fighting for community development and all of those things. And I'm available anytime if you call on the Er Foundation if our help is needed. We are here any advice that people that's listening or that's involved want to give to the Er Foundation. We are open for any suggestions and
any assistance and any help. So again, thank you for having me. Everybody have a blessed day.
Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm. Please support your local innocence organizations and go to the links in our bio now to see how you can help. I'd like to thank our amazing production team Connor Hall, Justin Golden, Jeff Clyburn, and Kevin Wardis. The music on this show, as always, is by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast.
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