#294 Guest Host Patrick Pursley with Jarvis Ballard

of those interviews. On January, a sixty year old woman in the small town of Violet, Louisiana, her to knock at the door. It was two o'clock in the morning that night. She had been babysitting her three and a half year old grandson, and she opened the door thinking was her son to pick up the child. Instead, two men forced their way into her home and demanded to be taken to her safe. When she insisted she didn't have one, they raped her and stole her stereo equipment

and of television. The next door neighbor saw the two men walking out of the house with the stolen goods. Then they saw them get into a car with a woman at the wheel. One of those neighbors was twenty four year old Louis Caesar, and he recognized one of the men as Ulysses Pierre, who also went by the name of Little Noon Lewis. Mother Yolanda called nine one one to report the crime. Later that day, police arrested

Ulysses and brought him in for questioning. At first, he claimed he acted alone, but police physically abused him until he admitted that two others were involved. Ulysses said that Sidney Williams and his younger cousin, Jarvis Ballard, were with him. He also told the police where they hit the stolen items. Jarvis was arrested later that same day. During their interrogation, he denied taking any part of the crime, but after the police threatened and beat him, Jarvis eventually signed a

false confession statement. Three men were arrested, even though the victim and the witnesses said only who had been involved. On July twenty one, Ulysses Pierre, Sidney Williams, and Jarvis Ballard were sentenced to life in prison. This is wrongful conviction. My name is Patrick Pursley, also known as Free Patrick Pursley. I was previously a guest on this show to tell the story of my own wrongful conviction today, though I'm

stepping into the host role. This April, I had the honor to sit down with Jarvis Ballard and its lawyer G Park at the Instance Network conference in Phoenix, Arizona. When we spoke, Jarvis had only been out of prison for eight months. It was emotional conversation for the both of us. I want to say how grateful I am to Jarvis for trusting me to tell his story. This case here really, UM, it took me apart because it's very steeped in the South and the culture and the

practice of treatment black men in the South. Very heavy accusation of what you went through, what you were accused of, right, all these things. UM, it's very to me. It resonated with the historical harms of Deep South attitude towards black life. It's very good for you to be here. I'm very thankful to meet you. I'm sorry for what you went through. Everyone. Welcome, Jarvis Ballot and his attorney G Park, Welcome to the show. Good to be here. It's nice to meet so tell

us a little bit about your past. It's like growing up in Louisiana. What you went through and what your experience. Well, I grew up with a single mother of two. My father got cute murder of shot nineteen times tendon Ai, so I was actually three, but I always knew that my daddy home with the wrong crowd. And I learned that a lot old as I grew up, because he was a known drug dealer and he was known for him in New Orleans, for him having a name of

killing people. And I always didn't never want to be like that because I always played sports. But I found myself having his aggression towards other people, like, you know, you don't take much to meet me. Made if I think you're a bullet, you're not gonna bullet nobody around me. So you know, always was challenging all the bullets. So I took on the name mass a little with the are which is my dad. And then they called him town taker because a lot of people are scared to

mess with him. I didn't want that because I know eventually soon on last abody holme me and take my life like they took it, started selling drugs and smoking weeds. I'm thirteen years old, and you know I'm in high school playing bees but actually I'll playing bees ball in football. And my suppose this is kind of will help me get along whatever, just a little bit more than the next person, you know, and I will get away with

a lot. I might get expelled from school. They're send a teacher to the house, just as just coming practice right for you. But I didn't care about school because like my my my ninth going in my team gray year, it was over it, which is having running is that landed me and Julie Hall for two years. But I just had it. I just had a natt for getting it. I just like this bad peep, bad boards. You know, you know what it is. You think you're bad. I want to. I want to. I want to be the

one in the throne. Whatever you think you've got going on. His previous interactions with the criminal justice system put him on the police radar, and that's how Jarvis got swept up into what's about to happen next. So in January, a woman, she was a sixty year old white woman, um and then all of the night there's a knock on her door. She goes to the door. There are two men who burst into her home. They rape her

viciously and then they steal things from her. And in her home was her grandson whom she was taking care of that night. And so right after this horrific incident happens to her, she calls the police. She calls nine on one, and she says, two black men came into my home, stole my belongings, and raped me. And they were in there at her home for quite some time. And not only that, they covered her eyes where visibility

was hindered for most of this time. And as this robbery rape is happening, as they're carrying things from this woman's home to a car right where in which there was a driver in the car, and that driver is a woman. So it's three people total, right, two men who go in the house, and then there's a driver who is a woman in the car, in the getaway vehicle. And the neighbors are seeing something happening right to their

neighbor's home. This is the mother and the son, Louis Caesar and Yolanda Caesar, Right does his mother and son who live next door to this woman, right, And they say when they talk to the police that night or shortly thereafter, they say to me, they see two men, right, and they see a third person in the car, and this is what they know, um immediately after the crime. Now, the way Jarvis gets involved is that Louis recognizes one of the people as Pierre. He says, oh, that's Jarvis's cousin,

first cousin, Yeah, Eulicie spears. So he recognizes Julysi Speer and that's who. So Louis is the one who tells the police. I think one of the men recognize as Ulysses Pierre. And the next morning, at ten am, police go to Pierre's home. Right, Pierre's the last name, right, Ulyssi is his first name. They go to Pierre's home and they begin to interrogate him, right, and Pierre gives a really unfortunate statement he involved Jarvis. On the night of the crime, Jarvis was out at the club in

New Orleans. Well, of course, I was out party with my friends. You know, we're having a few drinks, getting high. I come home, I'm so entire. The kid I my friend had to put him in my coat, which is Louis Caesar. Later on I would learn that he was the crime will be happening right next to it to his house Louis Caesar gave Jarvis a ride home from the party. Jarvis slept at his grandmother's house, where he

often spent the night. I get on the next morning, I see all I'm thinking it's around up in the round. Up is when he come pick you up? When you said, what your undercovering? Ocati? So I'm like, man, So I go back inside and make a phone out, say many around people up for drugs. It's let me say no. He said, Look, let noon, which is my cousin they just arrested for a rape. Later that morning, Jarvis went

down the street to hang out with a friend. He noticed on the way that the police were out in front of his cousin, Tracy's house, so he asked to from what was going on. So we're like, man, something happened there and night with knowing him, which is you list? I already knew what you're talking about because I heard it. He said. They said they put the stuff in her to ship. So this what draws me to go walk down there because I want to know what's going on

with her. This is my family. But as I'm walking, they didn't already took the stuff out of the shade. They asking out about me, do you know where job is better? And she's pointing telling him that him coming right there. So as I'm coming and say you joll about and said yeah, they see, get on the ground, which I complied. When I got there, Detective Calvin bought arresting me. He bought me there and I was interviewed by Scott Davis. That's who actually meant me how to do.

He said, you want to read old white women like I didn't read nobody, and he spread peppers from now I'm looking at my cousin and my cousin and fairly light skinning, so I see where he can like he'd been attacked. And he's like, man, just tell him what happened. I'm like, I don't know what happened. What did you talking about? Now this next part I have to warn the listener it's very difficult to talk about and very difficult to hear. But during their interrogation, Jarvis was subject

to a high level of brutality. He was sprayed with pepper spray and kicked repeatedly in the groin. The injuries he got from the police required him to have emergency surgery and they started you know, they kicked met me pretty much. It was very clear. I knew we did that. He did it two or three times I have, and I just like, like Jesus, I don't understand why family put people in position. But you know, I think the police had no right to treat you like that, all right.

I mean they didn't have to spread. I mean they don't have They didn't have to. You know, people do not They didn't have to physical. While they were interrogating Jarvis, the police were also interrogating his cousin Ulysses and sister Quadrica. Jarvis could actually hear his sister from the other room and the police stay ship because I hit my sister. They're crying and she like it wasn't you know? It was me La noon. And now you were feeling protective

or vulnerable with her there as well. I didn't want to see her get into trouble because I was like, she didn't got herself into Finally, after all that fiscal abuse and the instinct to protect the sister, Jarvis's will was completely overborne and he relented and he signed a false confession. And that man told my mom that she can have our daughter. I got your son, so now I had to play save my sister, and y'all beat me. I'm just strong man, but I had to make a decision.

And once I signed that statement, then their kee was kind of sealed for them. And the only thing I got hope of the gold one day we had me in this position right here. So basically a trial, what was presented? What did the jury here? What's you know? How was that broke down to the jury because obviously they weren't apprized of all the facts, right, So the state presented, I mean, the state relied on three pieces of evidence. One was the positive identification of Jarvis by

the complainant about the victim in the case, right. I mean for a sixty year old white woman to say in the courtroom pointing to Jervis and saying that is the man who raped me, that's pretty powerful evidence. Um. The second piece of evidence was co defendant Ulysses Peers statement right implicating Jarvis. And then Jarvis's own confession that they took from him. So those are the three pieces of evidence that a steep, steep, steep mountain to overcome.

It is because the physical evidence only link to Ulysses Pierre and Sydney Williams, the two guys who actually committed a cross which makes sense. And there was nothing, no physical evidence, no DNA, nothing that connected Jarvis to the scene. Yeah. And so after the police was called, after the victim gave her statement, she was taken to the hospital, right,

and a sexual assault kid was performed on her. They collected evidence, physical evidence, right, and they conducted DNA testing on that too, physical on the physical evidence that was collective on the scene and from her body. And they were able to identify two male profiles and neither one of those belong to Jovis. There's two male profiles they developed belonged to Ulysses Pierre and also to Sydney Williams,

the two men who actually committed this crime. The jury did not hear all the relevant evidence that they should have heard to decide what actually happened in this case. I mean to say, take care about to do to efficiency more than accuracy and justice and fairness. Louisiana, you know, has the highest incarceration per capita in the entire world, right, Um, And not only that, we have the highest exoneration rate

per capita in the country. And so when you put those numbers together, you wonder what is really going on here in the South. The fact of the matter is, you know, Jervis was represented by a public defender system that is still falling apart in Louisiana. Right, you need effective attorneys to investigate your cases. His attorneys didn't have an investigator. Right. His attorney didn't know the discovery practices in the jurisdiction that he was practicing. It you get

the file. Yeah, so attorneys, you would think that would be the you want complete file, right right, right, right right. It's your obligation, it's your duty, it's your job. And then on the flip side, you have the prosecutor who also has a duty to turn over, turn over everything. I feel like once they've seen who it was, it was old, it didn't even matter no more about how to get this conviction. I just wanted you know, you have an elderly white woman fifty was nine at the time,

six years old, she's raped. You know, I understood that what I was up against because I under still growing up down and how it was, so I knew that it was dominated by white people. I learned this further of all, I have to learn that whatever happened. I gotta know that it was wrong. What happened to the woman. I looked at the router problem where she got raped. Ain't nothing right about that. Now I understand that the police had to make help make me a victim. That's

when the racism come in. Look we got this black kid that he's saying that he did this to you, and did this here, and we want to show you a picture. You remember seeing the me your house? Now your points great at the picture. So I knew how now this is one day almost like suggested to her that there was three. Now they did they did? I think it. Actually they bought this one in front of me during a trial session and ex he told me, see if this woman said you went in the house,

I'm gonna let you go right now. He said, this guy right here saying that she wasn't in his house. The woman started crying. She said, yes, you will you reading me. I'm like, ma'am, I don't even know you. On July one, after less than four hours of deliberation, the jury convicts Jarvis Ballard and Ulysses Pierre of aggravated rape. The next day, Sidney Williams was convicted of the same. All three were sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Jarvis's case is particularly heartbreaking because it happened within a family, right, It's about family as I turned kind of against one another and that got one of their brother cousin right in prison for twenty three years. And so I think that's case. It's incredibly heartbreaking. It's more than a betrayal. You know, I forgive me, but I would never be able to have been with him because you didn't have no reason to do that to that woman. To me,

you made two victims that laid in me. Then you took something from me that you didn't have to do. So I don't I don't talk years, six months and you know him all your life. This is my We took bath together. He was my he was my big cousin, but I was you know, he's like my brother because I always was much bigger than him. But you you know, you heard me, and I don't hate, but I just rather not deal with him. During his twenty three years inside, Jarvis made a few good friends. One was Jerome Morgan

now fellow as Honery. You know, and you meet people along the way, not knowing that you'll share the same similar story, just different. It means it's just different cases but the same situation. And I met Jerome and we become good friends, and he actually like a man talk to me. I loved Tom, you know, I watched him countless nights up two or three days working on his case and I'm talking. We sat up in the same place sports together, and you know, he was preparing himself

for this date, but I wasn't. I only had hope, you know. And it was people like him that encouraged me to start right the Innocent Project, he said, Innocent right, Innocent Project, So you know it's people like him, and not knowing that, you know, years later, the same person that helped him get out of president would help actually take my case. Jarvis wrote to the Innocent Project in New Orleans IPNO for short, and they eventually took his

case and helped him fight for his exoneration. In terms of investigating this case, we began to collect all the documents right related to this case, the d file for police records, to court files, anything and everything we get our hands on. And it's challenging to get access to old records right. Sometimes they are lost, Sometimes they're misplaced. Sometimes they give you copies that's heavily redacted. Sometimes they

give you copies with missing pages. Right. And so I have to say, took us more time than we should have for us to gather, not just for the audience,

the time that takes investigate. Oh my goodness. I mean there has been some sort of investigation happening since two thousand, eight thousand seventeen, right, I mean we're talking, uh nine years, right, um, And so what we learned, So during trial, we already talked about the witness Lewis Caesar, right, the neighbor who initially stated that he saw two men leaving the house and there's a woman in the car. Right. That was his initial statement to the police. What he testified to

a trial was not fat though. What he testified to a trial was that he saw three men. Three men. That was his testimony a trial. So his testimony completely changed. Joey doesn't hear that his tire and cross examined for not because the lawyer doesn't really know either, right, lawyer doesn't he doesn't get the file, and or he doesn't conduct the investigation. He never went and interviewed Louis Caesar

before trial. He is an eyewitness in this case, and the attorney representing Jarvis never thought it was important enough to go talk to an eyewitness in the case. So the lawyer doesn't know about this, right, the d ning always probably be like the center of it, because we know all we need to do is get all the other pieces of evidence. I can see, all right, we know Jovis was innocent. And actually I didn't notice. I

found that out recently that they didn't testimony kid. But he tested partial pause of it, so a certain pause that he didn't test. But basically money ran the test back. Everything still came back. He's I don't reading. Ultimately, it was a combination things that got Jarvis out of prison, ipno attained affidavits from witnesses to the crime and to Jarvis's alibi, and retesting the rape kIPS show that none

of jarvis DNA was present. After round of appeals, the district attorney released Jarvis Ballard from prison and affirmed his innocence. But before they told Jarvis he was getting out, one of his lawyers, Charrelle Arnold, had a bit of fun with him. Serral was about to send me a business book. She never sent it. That's what I said, why you didn't send my book? She said, I'm not to find another way to meet it up to you because she

liked the Joe too. I said, yeah, well you you know you said you're gonna say And she said, well, how can I make it up to you? I said, you can get me out here. She said, no, we're gonna do that tomorrow. Brus See what she said, they throw all your charges out. You're coming home to m hmm. If we had a world war was one sided and you just let crime go, probably wouldn't be here, you and a lot of us. But they need That's the only way this world. But rate you need to have that.

But sometimes people get arrested bad you and I in the process of that. You know, I'm still young, I'm still active. I like the work out I have, I have fund I play with the kid. I'm like a big old child when I go to the fair. Guess why I met on the rise with the kids the two and fIF upon I might can't get on this one and they go somewhere else. Been home since for August eight months. That's that's why I work it. I work in the Federal fifth circuit, cold house remodeling Irony

listen works good. Put me in this place. I'm really remodeling it. So I'm working with a construction people it up and I'm getting on the elevator with guess what judges that in prov to see my keys. But when I told one of those guys my story and he googled it, he liked, man, congratulations, you know, and I let him know that I respect everything he's staying for. I really, do you know, I respect everything that Ginn's

staying for. By chance, Jarvis ran into District Attorney Perry Nicosia, the man who dismissed the case and allowed him to walk free after twenty three years behind bars, and they had an opportunity to talk. You know. I met Perry and he was like, man, I'm very very very sorry. I'm like, Perry, Man, you did the right thing, and I appreciate that. That's the d I say, you did the right thing. I say, man, I really appreciate that. Jerome Morgan, the one who encouraged Jarvis to reach out

to IO in the first place. He was also there to help him cope with this transition to free world living. But when you come in prison. Man, it's a different type of atmosphere. And when you meet good people like this guy, you know, you want to hold onto them, you know, because it's very spell it coming out that place. Because the same way he smiled, and I'm smiling the whole time, I got emotional and serious, but the whole

time I always had a legitiate, happy attitude. We don't let what happened to us, you know, this raw so have us to the point where we got a lot of hate and bitterness in us. We don't do that. We described for better and he teached me that every day, and that's the journey I'm on right now. I really want to focus on, you know, trying to you know, get in position to where when no call us, we can be there for those dudes. You know, it ain't

much about being financial to just being there. Any do that basically with everybody, And that's the type of relationship that we're trying to create for people that's coming home through this program. Jerome was a previous guest on this podcast, and now he's back to talk about how he and Jarvis are teaming up to help other asnorees coming home

in New Orleans. Thank you for having me. I never thought that I would be back along these lines, but I appreciate how this has coming come about because we went through some of the similar things by being wrongfully convicted and being in prison where it don't matter if you're guilty or not, you still get the same treatment.

You can't acclimate yourself to society how they operating, you know now and as they were when you was in prison, you know, so you have to, I guess self, create a way to to to live in that space because there's no road map for you. In the closest road map for somebody's coming home to the arms of people who have been through that situation. That's what we want to provide now. And I'm glad that you know, Jovis has you know, been encouraged and inspired to do that

throughout his time, even in prison. You know, it shows that he honestly wants to be a positive despite the negative things that has happened to and to me, you know, that's some of the greatest people in the world. So we'll have the link in the bio for IPNO as well as your go fund me, And I really really want thank you for trust me to tell your story. I really do, Like I've never met you before, so this is amazing for me. It's a process for me.

And just know that you can call me personally any time. Okay, because my brother and my Deasonery brothers and exoneration, we're at the part of the show now where um it's called closing arguments where we turn off my might and just kind of let you guys speak your peace and say what's on your mind to the audience and thank you so much. You know, IPNO has freed or exonerated forty individuals who have served over nine and seventy five years in prison for crimes they did not commit. And

that is just a drop in the bucket. You know, there's over five thou and men and women in Louisiana prisons doing a life sentence without the possibility of all these men and women are not coming home, just like you know Jerome and Jarvis before if NO got involved, and so um, there's a lot to be done still, and UM, I'm really um, I feel really privileged for this opportunity to speak with Jerome, to speak with Jarvis, to speak with Patrick, and for um having this moment

with them. So thank you, she said, I just appreciate everything, you know, even the people that donate. You know, it's appreciate it, you know, because like I said earlier, got a lot of people that's not gonna be in this shoot, a lot of innescent people gonna not made it because you know, if knowing it, have the resources to do so many cases and hopefully before this is and it will be far closed my eyes, they'd probably be big. And with this is now, because I think everybody has

every chance, like me and your own. Unfortunately we know you don't work like that. Thank you for listening at Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to thank our executive producers Jason Flim and Kevin Wardis. The Senior producer for this episode is Jackie Polly, and our producers are Lila Robinson, Connor Hall, and Jeff Clyburne. Our editor is Roxander Guidi and special thanks to Jillian Forstad for help on this episode. The music and this production is 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 Lava for Good on all three platforms. You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram at free Patrick Pursley at I Am Kid Culture Too, and online at i Am Kid culture dot org. Rawful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association with Signal Company Number One.

On next week's guest hosted episode of Wrongful Conviction, Chris Fabricamp will be talking to Gilbert Pool about the the nonsensical bite mark evidence that landed Gilbert in prison for thirty two years for a crime he had absolutely nothing

to do with. Now, Chris is a personal hero of mine and we have a deep connection because Chris is the man who kicked off and occupies the Joe Flom chair at the Innocence Project named after my dad, and his position as Strategic Litigation Director is so critical to our work and our mission at the Innocence Project, And of course what it means is that Chris not only helps to exonerate innocent people by shining a light on many of the junk sciences that are routinely accepted as

real science in court rooms across our country, but he then uses those examples of these grotesque injustices to affect policy and change and to change practices. Listen next Monday in The Wrongful Conviction Podcast feed