In two thousand and one, at age eighteen, Clinton Young was newly released from Texas Juvenile prison and was the youngest and newest member of a group of acquaintances with David Page, Mark Ray, and Darnell McCoy. That November, Clinton was present when David Page shot and killed two men in separate incidents, Doyle Douglas and Samuel Petrie. After the second incident, Clinton split from Page, who immediately went to
the police to control the narrative. All four men were brought in, and while Clinton refused to cooperate, Ray and McCoy joined Paige in exchange for leniency. When it became clear that Clinton was being targeted for the death penalty, he made suggestions to police that turned up evidence corroborating his innocence. However, that evidence was either explained, ignored, or disappeared. The state's case the trial relied solely on the incentivized
testimonies of Paige, Ray, and McCoy. The defense failed to point out conflicting details and inconsistencies in their testimonies or the ballistics in DNA evidence that corroborated Clinton's version of events. Without access to destroyed or missing evidence that exculpated Clinton. He was convicted and sentenced to death. While Clinton's appeals
were repeatedly denied. Growing evidence of Page, Ray and McCoy's false testimony, as well as new forensic evidence exculpate and Clinton, eventually led to a stay just a week ahead of his execution date in twenty seventeen. Soon, David Page's confession on the record, along with the revelation of significant prosecutorial misconduct affecting hundreds of cases, including Clinton's, led the court to overturn his conviction. But he's not out of the
woods yet. This is wrongful conviction. Welcome back to wrongful conviction. So often since I started making this show over five years years ago, we do an episode where I go, Okay, now I've heard everything, but now maybe up to today, I can really say that because you're going to hear some stuff today that is truly mind blowing, even by the crazy standards of the rawful conviction cases that we
cover week in and week out. Because this case involves an innocent guy who ended up being sentenced to death, We've heard that story before. It involves an advocate who moved from the Netherlands to Texas, so that she could represent and try to get justice for our subject today, Clinton Young, and get ready for this one. It involves a prosecutor who was moonlighting writing opinions for the judge. Yeah,
you heard that correctly. The prosecutor was making a little extra money on the side writing rulings in his own cases. So now I can catch my breath and introduce the very woman I was just talking to you about. I'm proud to say, Attorney Meryl Pontier, welcome to wrongful conviction.
Thank you so much for having me Jason.
And now fresh out of death row. Actually, those are some crazy words you even have to say. And live from the Midland County Jail, we have our featured guest today, Clinton Young. Clinton, welcome to wronful conviction.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Now to explain this to our audience. Clinton is off the death row. Otherwise I'd be conducting this interview in person at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas, outside of Houston.
But instead he's on the phone from Midland County Jail, where he's a way to get decision about whether he will be retried or perhaps released to a weight retrial or the charges may be dropped all together considering the story that you're about to hear, And I feel like I really should give a bit of a disclaimer here. As some of our guests have exhibited criminal behavior prior to their wrongful conviction, That's definitely true for Clinton. I mean, he,
you know, who up in a very difficult environment. You know, had a history of drug use and car theft and different run ins with the law, all of which are just background that ultimately led to him being present during the commission of two murders for which he bears no culpability other than being next to someone who decided to make that grim choice to kill the same person that
ultimately pointed the finger at him. Now, by his own admission, he could have done more to bring that person to justice, But the fact is he did not plan or take part in these murders. So while you may not agree with all of Clinton's choices, first of all, you can't walk a mile in his shoes. And two, he didn't actually kill anyone. He's innocent of both murders for which he was convicted. But we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Clinton, tell us about your life growing up.
Well, I guess to still have my life and the chaotic path. My mother was seventeen, my father was thirty five. He lied about his age lot about having kid, ends up pregnant, They get married. He was very, very very abusive to her and his other children. So after she has me, he continues to beat on her, so she finally leaves. Matter of fact, my dad basically kidnapped me from my mom and only would give me back to her if she signed papers saying that she wouldn't request
child support and all this stuff. So fast forward some time he meets my stepfather and they moving together. They get married. I was hyperactive also, and eventually the school decided to put me on add medication rhythming and they didn't help anything. You know, it made me feel worse, and you know, I had problems in school beyond that growing up. You know, my stepfather unfortunately was an alcoholic
and I wasn't his son. But there's usually a dynamic that takes place with stepchildren and stepparents is usually a conflict. So then my mom and my stepfather are arguing all the time because how he acts towards me. So my home life was really.
Chaotic growing up well, that would be such a difficult situation to grow up in for anyone from that environment. You ended up with some run ins with the law, and those were minor things, relatively speaking, but such that you ended up spending two and a half years in juvenile prison in Texas.
So this all started in the Longview area in Texas. Clinton just got out of juvenile prison and I think that traumatized him heavily, and he got addicted to drugs and started hanging out with the people that you don't want your kids to hang out with. Mark Ray, David Page, and Darnell McCoy, his co defendants in this case. One day in November two thousand and one, David Page, Darnell McCoy, Mark Ray, Clinton, and Doyle Douglas were all sitting in a car and they were on their way to buy drugs.
Clinton was sitting in the passenger seat and Doyle Douglas was driving the car. It was his car, and the other three were sitting in a back And as soon as they arrived at the house where they were going to buy drugs, David Page got out of the car got up to the front door of the house. There was some confusion there was no drugs. They didn't buy drugs. And David Page walks back to the car and he's
standing on the left side of the car. Clinton is still sitting inside on the passenger seat, and at that point Doyle Douglas gets shot in the head twice. David Page has always said that Clinton was someone who did it, and Clinton has always said that no, David Page did them.
And it's important to note that it doesn't really matter what David Page said because Doyle Douglas is head wound. Support Clinton's version of advance.
All sit in the pass and see the car, though Douglas was sitting in the driver's seat of the car, and they said I saw the flakes in the head. There's no way I could have because he was shot in the left side of the head, in the back of the head. How cats she the person that lifts side of the head and over three feet away if I'm in the passioner side of the car.
It's ridiculous. So there isn't an opportunity really to agree or disagree about this gunshot when you'd have to suspend all this.
What they all agree on was that after that happened, the body of Doyle Douglas was put in a trunk and they drove to a secluded area in the woods where the body was dumped and Mark Ray shot Doyle
Douglas a third time in the head. Now after that, they all get in the car Doyle Douglas's car, and Darnell McCoy and Mark Ray are dropped off at their homes while Clinton and David Page drive off and Clint was going to go see his girlfriend who was at that time in Midland on the other side of Texas, and David Page decided to ride along with him, and after a few hours in the car, David Page didn't want to drive around in Doyle Douglas's car, so he
decides he needs a new vehicle. They stop at a Berkshire store parking lot and a man named Samuel Petrie is kidnapp and his car is taken, and, according to David Page's own most recent confession, as he walked up to Samuel Petrie's car, hold him at gunpoint and said you're coming with us?
And Clinton, did you know this was happening?
I just fee him kidnapped. I was inside the store and I walked out and David Page was sitting in the truck talked about that. What's up, and He's like, well, we needed a big and so I got back in the car and I got David Page's gun and I emptied it. And I even told mister Petrie. I said, look, man, trying to figure the situation down. I said, look, don't worry about nothing. That guns empty, man. Okay. He's like, I don't understand. I said, look, man, the situation got
out of control. We've got to just try to saw everything out. Okay, but just relax. The guns empty. And by that time Page got back in the truck and I gave the guns back the Page, but I didn't tell him it was empty. I was just trying to figure out how the best resolve it and the best way possible it. I'm not saying I made the right choices in life or anything like this, but I took effort to make there's nothing happened to this man. I
saw a sleep short after that. Right sometime period wh while I was asleep, he found out the gun was empty. I just woke up at Headland and I told David Page said, look, man, she keep pet this dude, go man, I mean, this shit needs the end. So I had to call my girlfriend on the phone and I told Page. I said, oh, man, I accidentally use the phone. I said, Look, nothing get happened to this dude. He said, they're gonna
trace it back on us. In my mind, I thought I was doing the smart thing right, trying to protect Petrie. I talked to my Eggs and she says that the police are looking for David Page. And I looked over the Page. I said, hey, they say you need to talk to your dad because the textans ringers are looking for you. And he said for what, And I said, but it start to happen, he texted her, I guess. And when I said that, the irons get big and he snaps his head and looks back at seeing of Petrie.
What I found out later was while I was asleep, he's sitting there talking to this guy about this whole life story, and he told them all kinds of stuff about him. So if I go back to sleep and I woke up with the gunshots, Clint.
Was asleep at the time that David Page pulled over at the oil field and the gunshots woke him up. And that's actually confirmed by several people who were in the Mintley County jail with David Page before trial, but also in twenty ten when Clint had an evident Sherry hearing and David Page was bragging about the murder, how he killed Samuel Petrie, and how he put all the name on Clinton, and how Clint was actually a sleep.
I woke up with the gunshots. I dumped ovand I ran back there. The pantry was laying on the ground and he was standing there, and I was like, man, what the fuck. I was tossing them out, basically saying like I gave my word, nothing's going to happen to this guy now. I said, Man, you're supposed to let him go. And he kept saying he knew too much, he knew too much, that he knew my name, he knew my name.
This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company. AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and is making a positive difference in the lives of its employees and in the communities where we work and live. In light of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform, the AIG pro bono program provides free legal services and other support to underrepresented communities and individuals.
Several hours later, unfortunately, mister Petrie is found shot dead in the head in an oil field. Data Page goes to the place, turns himself in and says that Clint was the one who did both murders, and Clinton later gets arrested in Midlands.
I mean, I don't know if anyone knows how they would react if they were in Clinton's shoes. He was dealing with somebody whom he knew to be extremely violent and capable of murdering him, murder one person ultimately a second, and I don't envy him being in that situation. And we know that so often in these situations, the person who goes and then points the finger at somebody else gets better treatment. So Page goes to the police and puts all the blame on Clinton. But neither scene was
ever really investigated. Right Minor states the cops never even went to the first crime scene.
They did not investigate the first crime scene at all. They did not go out there to check anything. The only thing that they did is they took possession of the car of Doyle Douglas and they investigated the trunk for blood traces to confirm that Doyle's body was indeed put in the trunk, and that was confirmed. After they'd done that, they destroyed the car, so they didn't test it for a gunshot resident or anything to determine from
which position shots were fired. They could have done a little bit more then, just investigate the trunk, but they destroyed the car after that, so no investigation can be done at this point. That's about as much as they did.
Okay, so they destroyed the car at any other evidence in there what remained of it anyway, And luckily the ballistics and gunshot was from the first incident exculpaid Clinton. But for the second murder they didn't really do much of an investigation either. They took a few pictures at the brookshears, but didn't obtain the surveillance video, or so they claimed, the very same surveillance video that would have
exculpated Clinton. Nor did they find the gloves that David Page wore when he shot Samuel Petrick until way later, and they only found those when Clinton told them to go back to the scene, something he did when it became clear that they were going to pursue the death penalty against him, because at first, when David Page pointed the finger at you, they brought you in Clinton, and you knew how they operated and were not going to cooperate, right,
You knew better than to cooperate, was what we always tell the audience. Don't talk to the police anyway. Tell us about that.
They put me in one room asking question. I said, I want lawyer. They put me in another room and had a female to take them coming down and talked to me. I told her my name, my security number, and my address, properly identify myself and she don't answer me questions, and like I said, hey, I told you all. I wanted an attorney, and she goes jirk. I die. I was like, yeah, you're not helping your situation like that.
Talk to me, not crazy. So she storms out and they're playing this game or they opened the door in another room diagonal. I see my ex girlfriend sitting there. They close the door. They opened the door again. I see my coldercenter sitting there. She comes back in there and she's all that, yeah, we got you, and he's telling us everything we need to know. I said, okay, I guess you don't need me. Huh. But I've dealt
with enough cops. I know what. They try to sell it, right, and I'm like, okay, whatever, lady, I said, look, I don't know what the heard you're talking about. I was asleep. Okay, I ain't killed nobody. I said, look, test my hand, take my DNA, take my hair and samples whatever. I ain't kill nobody.
So when Clint was initially arrested, he did not cooperate, but after it became clear that he was their intended target for the death penalty, he made a few suggestions to investigators that would prove his innocence, and at this point police only had taken pictures at the Berkshire's parking lot and had not obtained civilians footage that would have shown David Page kidnapping Samuel Petrie while Clint was actually inside the store, but that footage was either never obtained
or conveniently lost. David Page had also told them about a seven to eleven where they had stopped, which had an unintended effect. They obtained civilians footage that showed that Clint had not kidnapped David Page, but rather when that Page was alone in the truck with the gun and Samuel Petrie for over eleven minutes. Surprisingly, the police knew that because David Page admitted it, and this clearly impeached a state's theory at trial that Page was kidnapped and
under Clint's control. David Page could have done whatever he wanted in those eleven minutes if he was in danger from Clint, but he wasn't. Detectives to find to the existence of this footage, but the prosecution denied that it was ever handed over to them, so that was not
present that trial. Now. Clint also told them to go back to the second crime scene and find the clothes that David Page had worn when he shot Samuel Petrie and to test them for DNA, But unfortunately the gloves were not used to the way this should have been a trial right.
They could have tested them for gunshot residue and David Page's DNA, which would have corroborated Clinton's version of events.
They sent the gloves to the crime lab, and instead of testing the inside of the gloves for DNA and the altsign for GSR, they requested DNA testing on the outside of the gloves, and the DPS lab was confused by the requests, so they called up the Midland County
districturnys Off. There is a record of this. The expert at the DPS lab, the part of public said the crime lab tided, are you sure you want DNA testing on the outside of the gloves, on the inside of their gloves, and they also explained to him, look, these gloves were brand new. Who were about the gloves and the DA told them only do DNA on the outside of the gloves. So the ballistic guy was afraid to do GSR type testing because he knew the chemicals could
destroy the DNA. So basically the way they've done the requests for the gloves, it made it where no proper tests could be done on the gloves. My lawyers had to request DNA testing on the inside of the gloves and it shows David Page's DNA well. The DA's office talked to David Page about the gloves and the lead residue. So David Page got on the stand and said, oh, yeah, those are my gloves. I worked in them all the time. I used them to move scrap metal, lead pipes and
things like that. That made it with the gloves was of no value to me forensically, But the DA's office did not tell my attorneys that the expert had told them those gloves were brand new, and it just so happened. My COATA said had bought them gloves the ninth of November twenty fourth, two thousand and one, at an easy Marked gas station in Longview. Well in six my lawyers they got permission to get testing on David Bator's love and he come back saturated and got shot residue.
Right, But we're getting ahead of ourselves, So Merril, how long was it from the time of Clinton's arrest till the trial?
He got arrested in November two thousand and one, and his trials started in I believe in March two thousand and three. So Clint gets two court appointed lawyers who represented him, and the state's theory was that Clinton so badly wanted to see his girlfriend in Mittler County that he was willing killed two people in order to steal their vehicles so he could drive from Longview to Midland to go see the girlfriend. That was the state's overall theory.
And there was no DNA evidence. There's no forensic evidence, no ballistic evidence that conclusively pointed to Clint as the shooter, so all the state had to work with was witness testimony. David Page said that Clinton shot Doyle Douglas in the head in the car. Mark Ray and Dardill McCoy confirmed that, and Mark Ray also confessed to shooting Doyle Dougas in the head when they dumbed him in the isolated area.
Doyle Douglas had three gunshot wounds in his head. Two gunshot wounds came from the same gun, and then there was a third gunshot wound which came from a different gun on the right of the head. The third gunshot wound was inflicted by Mark Ray. So we're working with two gunshot wounds that were inflicted while everyone's still sitting
in the car. How is it logical for Clint to shoot Doyle Douglas on the left side of his head and the back of his head while he is sitting on his right side and David Page is standing on the outside of the car on the left side. So he was in the perfect position to shoot the victim at that point.
Right did did defense attorneys even bring that out for the jury?
They do mention it kind of vaguely, but they do not point out well enough for the jury that that was the case. They should have done a better ballistic investigation. They didn't, and I think they should have better highlighted the position Clint was in and Douglas was in and David Page was in to show that Clint could not have been the shooter in the first case. All the jury heres is David Page saying that Clint shot the victim. Darnell confirms it, Mark Ray confirms it.
Okay, So everything that they said about the initial gunshots that killed Doyle Douglas are actually confirmed to be lies by the ballistics evidence, which in turn offers an explanation as to why the rest of the narrative is so damn weak.
Mark Ray, Darnelle McCoy, and David Page all said that Clint was forcing them to do all these things. But at the same time, Darnelle McCoy says all of them had guns. Then, how is Clint able to force all three of them by himself but all three of them have guns? How does that work? It makes no sense.
Then, according to this wild narrative, Page volunteered to go and Young took Ray and McCoy. Home Page testified that Young told the group quote, if y'all squeal by the time I hear about it, your friend's going to be dead end quote, then we're supposed to go along with the narrative again, that Young called his girlfriend Amber Lynch, presumably to make arrangements to meet her and learn that
her father, Bart Lynch, was with her. Bart and Douglas knew each other, and Young thought Bart would recognize the car, so he looked for another to steal in Weatherford, but was unsuccessful. And how badly does somebody have to want to see their girlfriend that they're willing to kill two people, kidnapped three other guys, all of them are armed. I mean, if the motive was to see his girlfriend, my guess is he could have found an easier way to get there.
Absolutely, And the whole motive doesn't even make sense because you're thinking to yourself, Oh, now I'm driving in a dead person's car. Let's kill somebody else so I can get rid of this car. You could go and kill people for days on end. If that's the theory.
I don't even know what to say.
That's a crazy thing. The jury bought the state's theory, and the weird thing is. I don't think the state believed it either, because David Page at Clinton's trial said that he was kidnapped by Clinton and did nothing wrong and that he was a victim in this case. And then right after the day trial they all got plea deals. Mark Ray got a plea deal for kidnapping with a fifteen year sentence, and David Page got a plea deal for thirty years on an aggravated kidnapping charge.
Yeah. Normally kidnapping victims who witness murders don't get criminally prosecuted. Right, It's pretty clear that the state new Ray and Page were guilty, and we're just making good on a promise of leniency in exchange for their testimony. And Clinton, what was it like for you sitting there listening to all these lies?
I frustrating because they're saying that I killed two people for their vehicles to go see a girl, and they're seeing people laugh and laha they see to lie. I'm looking at my attorney saying, man, he's lyne. He can't do that. He said, well, he just done it. Can you prove his line? I was like, well, no, I guess not right. They said, Okay, thought about.
What you can prove the state did not preserve a lot of evidence. They destroyed evidence, they withheld evidence, So that makes it difficult but not undoable. And I would have gone out to the crime scenes and investigated them myself, right, like.
Think loves that David Page wore when he killed Samuel Petrick.
There were many many things that they could have done and didn't show. And there were witnesses at the time of the trial, actually at the Mintlan County Jail who hurt Paige confess to them. He confessed that he was the one who committed the murders, not Clinton. Those witnesses were initially willing to testify, but then got a visit from the DA's investigator and then decide it not to.
Like I said, it's heart when you're fighting a state like that, especially with what we discovered later on that they were so actively working towards getting him sentenced to death and executed.
Yeah, unfortunately, he was a convenience scapegoat for everybody. The prosecutors got to solve the case, right, the cops can move on, get it off their desk, and the three guys could get lesser charges for themselves. So everybody's a winner in this situation, if you could have a winner in such a situation except Clinton and so Clinton, without that evidence and with so many lies against you, you were convicted and sentenced to death.
When they convicted me, I was devastated. Go I knew my choice was reading the life or death. That real people were telling me. All that I will give you death is you're young, you're good looking, you're intelligent, people love you. You're white, and I don't kill you. I pointed towards the jury. One day I told my Lord, I said, many those white folks think I done, then they're gonna kill me. And they looked at me crazy, and they said, why do you say that you're white too?
I mean, yeah, when I'm out there white. About two or three o'clock in the morning, I woke up with hearing the sound of the chains, the leg shackles to belly, chain and handcuffed, hearing the chains rattle and drag on the concrete. The gards knocked on the door, and there was a solemn event for everybody. You could tell like
they all appreciated the severity of the situation. Right, they're shackling somebody else and center the death row and so I get in a van and as we're getting closer, we'll get to Huntsville, and he starts seeing all these prisons. And that's why I started feeling the way of the situations. Okay, I'm getting here. You know, what's this next done in my life? Going to be? Like we get to where they process everybody, and I get out the van and they know I'm going to death row. I'm walking up
the steps. The guard says, hurry up, get him in here. If I had to kill him early, man, I needed that. When I heard that guard kill me, that that shit the tone for me right there. I realized that he was just playing around, but to me, it wasn't playing So that just set my mindset for my time on them. So as I hit the unit I was in the law library, I was fighting. I lived at them as my enemy. I never was delusion that they was my friend or that they cared about me or anything like that.
You know, I always thought about what that guard said when I was walking up those steps, and so it just became a bigger motivator for me.
So you're working your case in the law library to save your own life, and eventually Merrill joined your fight about a decade later. So, Meryl, how in the world did you find out about Clinton Young who was sentenced to death. It's almost half a world away in Texas, while you're over in the Netherlands, presumably leading a relatively normal life whatever that is, probably more or less the life of your parents envision for you, which I'm guessing is probably not this one.
They definitely did not imagine I would move to Texas. In twenty fourteen, I was in law school in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and I just got back from an internship in New York City where I interned for a defense attorney who was working on white colored crimes and representing people who took a lot of money from Wall Street, for example. And I was very interested in the American
and criminal justice system. And when I got back in twenty fourteen, I did some research and I watched documentaries and I read online about anything I could get my hands on. And I saw documentary about the death penalty in Texas, and clincy Yng was interviewed about what it was like being on death row, and he said, I did not get a fair trial. I'm innocent. I didn't
kill these two people. And at the time I did not know whether or not that was true, but I saw the difference by looking at him, and he was so young, and he was sentenced to death at nineteen, and I started thinking about the clients that I helped in New York City who were very rich, would not go to prison, had a lot of money to hire the best attorneys, and Clint didn't have that, and he was on death row for a crime he said he didn't commit. And that contrast that really got to me.
I kept thinking about it and decided to write him a letter, and yeah, he wrote me back, and that's how that story started.
So let's talk about the post conviction litigation, and the story doesn't get any less crazy here.
So in twenty seventeen, Clint has been through the entire appeals process and he's lost everything, and they set his execution date for October twenty six, twenty seventeen, and that's when Clint's defense lawyers requested to do new testing on the gloves at the second crime scene. The clubs were previously tested for DNA, and they found David Page's DNA on the inside and Clinton's DNA was excluded. So we
know that David Page wore those gloves. Those clubs were found in very close proximity to the victim, and they tested it for gunshot residue. An expert wrote a report on it and he said, I found gunshot residue. And given the location and the amount of the gunshot residue that I found on these gloves, I really only have one conclusion, and that is that the person who was wearing the gloves was at the same time also firing
a gun. And the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on October eighteen stayed his execution because of possible false testimony given by David Page during Clinton's trial.
Wow, so just a week before the execution. And there's some other information you got at that time as well.
Right, Exactly a couple of days after, the Midland County DA Laura Nodolph sends an email to Clinton attorneys saying, oh, by the way, I did an interview with David Page a couple of weeks ago. It's not material to the conviction at all, but here's a copy. Good luck with it. Clint attorneys listened to the tape and discover that David Page gives a confession in that interview and he says
I was the one who kidnapped the second victim. So the Midland County DA's office withheld that tape to only give it to the defense team until after his execution got stayed. Would they have turned it over if Clinton's execution was not stayed? No, I don't think so. They wanted to bury that even though that interview alone would have given Clinton a stay of execution.
They would have buried that, and they would have buried him exactly.
The Texas scored a criminal Appeals gave Clinton an evident charry hearing finally in twenty nineteen on the possible false test money of David Page, and included in that hearing was going to be the withholding of the favorable interview and confession by David Page. Two days before that evidentiary hearing was going to take place, Laura Nodolph sends a message to Clint's defense human says, Oh, we just found
some documents. We are probably going to end up as witnesses ourselves in this case now, so it's better for we recues. The evidence shows that Ralph Petty, who was an assistant district attorney for the Midland County DA's office for seventeen years. While he was prosecuting, Clinton had also worked as a paid law clerk for the judges who were presiding over Clinton's case, and in that capacity he drafted rulings for the judges on Clint's case, He decided
on motions, he was interviewing witnesses. The list goes on and on. It's absolutely insane. So that was discuss hovered only two days before that hearing was going to take place. Very conveniently, i must say, because now no one was going to look at the withholding of that tape of
David Page. Because the evidentiary hearing got postponed. Obviously, this was huge news, and clint attorneys filed a new red application, asked associate to reopen the case based on prosecutorial misconduct, and they did, and they held a short evidentiary hearing in January this year and in April there were closing arguments.
And normally when you have closing arguments after an evident chary hearing, a trial judge is going to take a few weeks to decide on what recommendation he's going to give to the CCAP and Clint' attorneys obviously said we need a new trial. Judge, this is unheard of, this is outrageous prosecutural misconduct. Clinton never had a fair trial. The state, interestingly enough, first said well, we can kind
of see that this is not great. However, later on they said, you know what, Judge, we actually think that Ralph Petty built an ethical wall between his work for Dede's office and his work for the judge. So really we don't see anything wrong with this. We should just keep the conviction intact.
The idea that he was able to build an ethical wall in between his work as a prosecutor and his work basically judging his own work. It's like it's literally the wolf guarding the henhouse.
The beautiful thing is the trial judge. He didn't believe it either. He didn't buy any of that. During the closing arguments, everyone sat what they wanted to say, and I was about to close it off because it was on zoom, and the judge, instead of waiting a couple weeks, immediately said at the end, mister Young, I'm going to recommend that you get a new trial. And everyone was
just shocked. I was shocked. I was like, did he just really say that, but he did, so that was great, and that recommendation got sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and in September they completely vacated Clinton's conviction and death sentence, and in October he was taken off of death row and sent back to the Midland County Jail, where he is now awaiting his new trial.
So, Clinton, in September of twenty twenty one, when you heard this, after all this time on death row and coming within a week of being executed, your conviction was being overturned. What was that moment like for you?
Okay, I was sitting there talking to a friend of mine and I have been listening to the local news, but I didn't hear it. All of a sudden, Ricky Cummings are screaming at me, and he's screaming so loud I can't make it out, and I goes, what's up, man, He's got a convision over time. It is overtime, you cocas, And I was like, he already. So I was a lady that I was excited. Man, it was a great killing.
So Clinton has been speaking with us from inside Midland County Jail for most of this episode, but In January of twenty twenty two, he was released on bond while he waits a new trial. So Clinton, what can I say, buddy? Well, come home. How are you feeling.
I'm feeling good.
You know. You know.
I'm the first person in Texas history to get out on bond after getting a new trial off death row and still being under indictment for capital murder. It's never happened before. I certainly wish I could get out and do more, but being on house arrest, I'm limited to what I can do. So I must admit that this is the best jail cell I ever been in.
Everyone here at the Wrongful Fiction Podcast and so many other people are just ecstatic about this news. So what does this all mean. What's the status of your case?
Well, right now, it's in the review phase because the prosecutors they're new to everything and so they really don't know the ins and outs of the entire case. And sometimes a fresh setized is a good thing. There's also elections coming up, primaries and stuff like that to get in fact who's working on the case, and so everything's just really in limbo right now. This case is not the same case as it was in two thousand and three when I went to trial. It's not going to
be fought the same way. The evidence it was given to the has been attacked so efficiently, and new evidence has been developed, such as forensic testing, co defendants confessing in part or bragging about getting away with murder. There's so much more this known.
I think reasonable minds could agree that at this point the state should really just drop the charges. It's abundantly clear at this point that Clinton didn't kill anybody.
We still want to make sure that we do everything we can to make sure that this time he receives a fair trial. So the Clinton Young Foundation, for which I am the legal director, has made sure that Clinton now has an amazing defense team. Dick de Garin, who has decades of trial experience in Texas, and Mark White, fantastic lawyer as well, are now representing him during his new trial. So the Clinton Young Foundation will keep raising awareness.
We have to keep raising money to make sure that we can pay the legal fees because a good defense team onfortunate line. This country is not free.
And I have to say Dick de Garren is a legend in courtrooms in Texas and even around the country for people who do want to help, how do they donate? How do they sign up? How do they do whatever they need to do in order to help.
Clinton, Well, they should go to Linsayongfoundation dot com and we have a Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, you name it, we got it.
We're going to put links to all of that into bios. So please sign the petition, donate if you can, and even if you can't, spread the word okay, because together we can write this horrible wrong. And Now at Romful Conviction, as everybody knows do, we have my favorite part of the show, which is called closing Arguments. And Merril, first of all, thank you for just being a beacon of light and a force for good and for taking time to come and be here with us on Ramful Conviction today.
And you know, I've really been looking forward to this, And Clinton, thank you for being here and for sharing your important story. We're hoping to see you fully enjoying true freedom really soon. So now Closing Arguments works like this same more or less every time, I'm going to turn my microphone off, leave my headphones on, kick up the volume, and kick back in my chair and let you talk about whatever else is on your mind that we may not have already covered already. So let's Merril,
let's go with you first. Then you can just hand the mic off to Clinton and let him take us off into the sunset.
Well, Jason, thank you so much for paying attention and using your resources to highlight these wrongful convictions. Because it's not just defense lawyers who do the work. It's advocates like you who can also truly make a difference by creating awareness and spreading this news all over the country. So that is just such a huge, huge contribution and very important work. Heart this work can be and how
rare it is that we win cases. But once we do, I really hope Clinton's case can be an example to other people to never give up hope, to never never give up the fight and.
Now Clinton over the year.
So I made bad choices in my life. They put me on past I shouldn't have been on. I have suffered an injustice. But one of the saddest things about this case is the concept of closure for the victim's family. The District Attorney's office convinced them that I killed their loved ones and that I was going to be executed.
So not only have I gone through this process. The victim's family has gone through this process, and it's been traumatizing to them because they had this belief that there would be closure, that there would be this concept of justice. It's a false concept me personally, I was born into a life of chaos in many ways. I really didn't have a fair chance in life. And I say that what I want in life is that trinity of humanity. That's what I call it, to be loved, safe and free.
And so people asking what I want, you know, I wanted to be able to get out and have that basic trinity of humanity, you know, to be loved, safe and free, and to build a live life, to do something productive in life. And one of the things that Death Rows did was it actually gave me life.
Man.
I met a lot of great people down there that wrote me, a lot of people done things to help me. The documentary that was made about my case really helped highlight my story and the injustice that I went through, and it brought a lot of good people into my life. It wasn't telling me I was bad or her things. They was telling me I was good and then I could do great things. And I had this potential and it helped installed confidence in me that I had never
had in my childhood. And so it made me focus more about my legacy and what I wanted to do in this world. And I don't want to just be a good person. I want to be able to do great things. I want to shape the world around me. I have a passion for helping other people. I have a passion for justice. A lot of people get executed. It should never have been executed. I've seen how broken our system is, how it favors the rich, are the
politically connected. And so I wanted to have a family, be free, live life, and do great things in this world. If I get out today, I mean I have the life maybe that I never would have had before because of the people I've met. I mean, as crazy as it seems, people might not understand it, but worn to death Row gave me life and they made me a better person. It made me evaluate my humanity. It made me think about the people in my life that I've heard and I said. It made me want to do better,
to be better and to accomplish a great things. I've got my division overturned, and I want a step closer. So I'm will tell how everything works out, and I want to thank Jason for this opportunity. Thank you.
In addition to all that I've previously stated, now that I am out on Bond, I look forward to living up to my goals, being the man that I know I can be, and proven to society that I can be a productive member of society, and also showing the world that you don't have to throw away human beings, that we can change did twenty years later, we're not the same person. I look forward to action, not talk.
Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to thank our production team Connor Hall, Justin Golden, Jeff Cliburn, and Kevin Wardis, with research by Lyla Robinson. The music in this production was supplied by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction podcast, and on Twitter at wrong Conviction, as well as at Lava
for Good. On all three platforms. You can also follow me on both TikTok and Instagram at It's Jason Flam. Wrongful Conviction is the production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association with signal Company number one