On April tenth, two thousand and two, on Lynden Boulevard in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, a man named Victor Vulcan was shot and killed in broad daylight just after school had let out. Fortunately, no one else was heard as people ran to their buildings for cover, including a young father named Gary Benloss who had had prior run ins with the police. Nine one one callers and eyewitnesses described the shooter with short hair, dark skin, and a similar build to the victim, who was five ten and
one hundred and sixty eight pounds. However, one alleged witness, Anthony Holder, who did not give a description of the shooter, set among other falsehoods, that the assailant's nickname was Chuckie. Gary ben Loss was known as Chucky, but he was over six three and two hundred and fifty pounds with a seven inch high afro. A photo of a much younger and slimmer Gary with short hair was put into a photo array, eliciting an identification from Anthony Holder and
one other witness. However, once that other witness saw Gary a trial, she too joined and all the other witnesses in denying Gary's involvement. Holders. Pending charges for which it is believed that he received leniency in exchange for cooperation, were hidden by the state, and somehow the jury believed his bizarre testimony that included a non existent second victim, sending Gary away for twenty five to life. This is
wrongful conviction. Welcome back to wrawful conviction. Today we have a Brooklyn case dating back to two thousand and two in which several witnesses described a gunman that looked wildly different from our guest today, Gary Benlass, a guy that I came to know through my friendship with a previous guest on our show, John Adrian Velasquez. Now Gary is joining us from Sing Sing and I'm glad you're here with us, even though I hate the reason and why
you're here. But Gary, welcome to the show. Thank you, You're very welcome. And with him as a man whose voice you'll probably recognize for other appearances here with us where he's been advocating for Nelson Cruz, Marcus Wiggins, Vincent Simmons, and so many more. Justin bonus, welcome back.
It's great to be back on the show. Appreciate it all.
Right, So Gary, before we get into the reason why we're here today. Can you tell us a little bit about your life growing up.
I was born July twenty sixth, nineteen eighty to a proud single mother who migrated from the rural country area of Jamaica, West Indies, moved to America where she resided in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
And your nickname was Chucky, right, how I mean, where does that come from?
At the age of nine, I received the nickname Chuckles. Being poor no farther around at school, kids could be very cruel, so as a defense mechanism, I was one of those kids who used to old, like to joke and laugh. That's how I got the moniker Chuckles. Always had people laughing, always.
Joking, and that nickname ended up playing a part in your wrong for conviction. But before all of that, in the summer of nineteen ninety six, you had your first encounter with one of the detectives on this case, Robert Reedy.
He knows me because on my fifteenth birthday I was jump assaulted and hospitalized. He was actually the detective on the case, and he wanted not just for me, you know, to snitch on the guys that hospitalized me, but he wanted me to become a neighborhood that snitched, so the case against those who assaulted me never went to court, and I never became the snitch. For a detective reading, I said, it's not happening.
Right, So you refused to help ready, and then the following spring you ran into some more trouble, but this time you were the assailant.
At the age of it's to months of manche in ninety seven, I made a very foolish mistake, but I'm not proud. It was a lesson that I needed to learn. So, because of growing up being poor, I followed a friend of mine into a pizzeria to rob the pizzeria. I took full responsibility and I copped out to one to three years, right. And I've been haunted by the NYPD ever since.
And I'd like the audience to take note here when guilty people usually take plea deals it makes sense. I mean, hell, even innocent people take plea deals if it makes more sense, which it often does than fighting the charges, like our friend Dieter te Hada. So you did a few years as a juvenile in a men's present, paid your debt to society, and after your release, you moved back in with your mother at two eighteen Linden Boulevard and Flat Push, where you remained on the NYPD's radar leading up to
this crime in two thousand and two. But before we get into all those details, justin we've seen this kind of thing before more than once, where the cops just grab a guy with a record, whether they did the climb or not. And as our listeners will surely recognize, Brooklyn, especially in the eighties, nineties and into the two thousands, was fraught with wrongful conviction cases and issues like I
wouldn't smits. Identification coerced and incentifies witnesses who made misidentifications, sometimes knowingly by the way, and of course crazily corrupted identification procedures. And in this case we have all of those factors. And at the helm of the investigation we had detectives Robert Reedy and John mcgurrit, as well as King's County assistant DA Kyle Reeves. And I feel like I've heard his name before Kyle Reeves, right.
Yes, absolutely, Jabbar Washington. I believe Jabbar was exonerated in twenty eighteen. Kyle Reeves in that case had withheld Brady evidence witness is on the stand that testified falsely, then Reeves push forward with prosecuting someone for murder. I believe it was a fight of some sort, and it turned out that the mother of the victim actually sued the hospital for medical malpractice, wrongful death, that the hospital caused
the death. I know that he had some issues. He left the DA's office in Brooklyn and he went to Staten Island, and I know he had some issues in Staten Island with witnesses and then left. And now he's in private practice. So he has a history of prosecuting cases that he shouldn't and two not turning over exculpatory material.
I mean, I'd like to point out prior misconduct just to give the audience an idea of who we were dealing with. But to be fair, Reeves doesn't really sound like an outlier. Knowingly prosecuting innocent people and heidek exculpatory evidence to make it stick sounds like the usual playbook in New York.
It's a little different because it's a lot harder to catch them, and he's been caught. New York is different in that there's usually no forensic investigation, no paper, right, no paper trail, whereas a lot of other places, there's a lot of paper here. These are very short, choppy statements.
The police don't write as much down. And then prosecutors, even when the case falls apart, they are able to hang their hat on somebody like Anthony Holder, who's the only witness that testified at trial A Garribin Lost committed this murder.
And we're going to talk a lot more about this alleged eyewitness, Anthony Holder. And I say alleged because his description of the crime conflicted with both reality and with every other eyewitness, all of whom corroborated each other, and none of whom described or ultimately identified Gary in person. Now, Anthony Holder was a building super right who were intended on Gary's block, And he's the guy who's credited with throwing Gary's nickname Chucky to the cops right into the
mix after the crime. Gary, did you know this guy Holder?
So Anthony Holder is the super of I believe two of the buildings on Linden Boulevard across the street from my So I didn't live there, but my friends did, so I'm visiting them. Anthony Holder never used to like when my friends and I will hang out on the stool. So in the courtyards of the building, it wasn't like we was causing any disruption being disrespectful.
Okay, so he didn't like you, but he didn't have a real beef with you, but maybe he didn't care if he used you to stay at of prison. That's what it seems like to me. As it becomes clear much later, Holder had some pending charges for which he likedly received leniency for his testimony in this case, but a trial, that deal was when you've heard this before, that deal was hidden by assistant DA Kyle Reeves. And now here we are, so let's get to the climate itself.
This was April tenth, two thousand and two, a sunny spring day, on Linden Boulevard in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Now this is a broad street with an east and westbound side, a turning lane down the middle street, parking on either side, so about five lanes of cars, wife, you can picture that, and there are apartment buildings on either side, so tons of people in the area. It's a bustling street scene.
And the shooting happened in front of two h one Linden Boulevard where you lived, across the street and down the block at number two eighteen.
So it's about three and a afternoon. The weather extremely nice, the blocks are extremely extremely busy. People are out enjoying the weather. School is letting out. As I am approaching my building, the first blunch shot right now, and that's when I started seeing everybody starting to run, and I ran right into my building.
And according to corroborating eyewitness accounts, two men, the victim in this case, Victor Vulcan, and the shooter got into an argument welcome was shot four or five times, and then a mail carrier, a woman named let them in. Voten gave police a description, as did another woman named Paula Edgehill, who called nine one one and spoke to a dispatcher.
So you had let him and Boltsen, who's the mail carrier, and the nine one one callers, who described the shooter as a dark skin five foot eight short hair let him and Boden actually, in a statement to police, described the shooter as similarly built to the victim in the case.
Now, the victim, Victor Vulcan, was one hundred and sixty eight pounds, so the nine one one call, and Boten's accounts corroborated each other. Now, Gary, what did you look like at this time?
I was about six three two fortys and I had a very large afro and I'm light skinned.
No one describes the afro. That's the other major major issue.
I mean, was this like a close cropped afro? How much volume are we talking about here?
It would have to be roughly.
Okay, So that's a remarkable haird like. I mean, people aren't gonna miss a seven inch i afro. But unfortunately, this giant discrepancy didn't seem to matter to Anthony Holder or the detectives, and later didn't matter either to the prosecutor in the case. So what did Anthony Holder's statement to police say? This alternate version of events.
And Anthony Holder says that Chucky is talking to some girls. They say, get at him, Chucky. Nobody else describes this, by the way. Then he says that Chucky begins to argue with this guy and pulls a gun out of a bag and then shoots the guy and Anthony Holder he doesn't describe Gary at all, and he never gives a description. See all he does, Anthony Holder is drop a nickname, and the police know the nickname because they're familiar with Gary.
And we're not even sure who brought up the nickname first. Perhaps Anthony Holder decided to trace information false information, let's call it what it is, about a neighborhood guy who he didn't really like in exchange for leniency and his pending charges, or the lead detectives who knew Gary from both previous incidents when he was an assault victim who refused to snitch and then the robbery. Now, of course I'm referring to detectives Robert Reedy and John mcgerrin.
It was recently going over the DD fives I've come across John mcgurn's DD five. He says that he was at two eighteen Lyndon Boulevard when he received information that the shooter is a guy by the name of Chuckles. Only people that use the name Chuckles is people that went to elementary school with me. Anthony Holden never said Chuckles.
Anthony Holder says Chucky. So before John mcgarran we see any information in regards to the shooter, he was already at two eighteen the shooting ALFM at two oh one. Lend En Boulevard. We have nine to one one calls police reports. It says the shooter ran into one eighty Lendon Boulevard. It was never a police call to respond to too eighteen. Why are you at two eighteen? Right?
The nine one one call said one eighty Linden Boulevard. But McGurn went straight to your building and claimed to hear that the assailant was named Chuckles, your original nickname that had evolved into Chucky over time.
Exactly, McGurn already knew who I was the same way detective really already knew who I was.
So this isn't definitive proof, but it certainly looks like they were immediately directing the investigation towards you without cause either way. Your nickname was now part of this investigation.
And then they take this and they and they with it, and they put a photo array together very soon after the shooting. And why the photo array was really important is because the picture of Gary is of when he was I believe eighteen years old. By the time he was twenty one, he was much heavier than he was when he was eighteen. He didn't even look like the same person, and he had short hair when he was eighteen.
Oh, right, So they showed this misleading photo array with an eighteen year old slimmer looking Gary importantly with no afro but short hair instead. Right, as the witnesses that initially described the assailant, I mean, it's it's so dirty, it's amazing. And the mail carrier let him in boten looking at this old photograph gave a tepid identification, right, and the incentivized alleged witness, Anthony Holder, gave an idea as well. Now, Anthony Holder also allegedly told him that
the shooter had a black Duffel back. No other witnesses reported seeing this, and in the continued effort to get to Gary, investigators put pressure on a guy from your building, a guy named Roger Isaac, who at about five eight, dark skinned with short hair, better match the description of the shooter, and so he was snatched up shortly after the shooting.
Roger Isaac, I feel the phone, I really do. He's oblivious to what's going on. They jump out on him and say he's being arrested with a murder. They bring him down to the station in his DD five. He saw me come into the building throw a bag into the apartment and come right back out.
So now they have someone corroborating holder about you and the alleged black bag. And then Roger Isaac allegedly described you as five foot eight two hundred pounds, but again, you're over six foot three and at least two hundred and forty at the time, and he said no thing about your impressive afro, which is very telling because the only picture that detectas McGurrin and Reedy had at that time was from when you were eighteen years old. It looks like they still thought that you were under two
hundred pounds was short hair. So they brought Roger Isaac down to the precinct where he allegedly made this statement implicating you carrying this non existent black tuffel bag. And we're getting ahead of ourselves here, but at trial, this alleged statement from the DD five unravels for the prosecution exactly.
At trial, Assistant disc Attorney Kyle Reeves is trying to have Roger Isaac testify that he saw me run into the building build back into the bomment, so he gives them the DD five and that's when the cat is that at the bat he did the DD five. He said, I don't recall saying none of this. He says that he was in a cell and that the police roughed them up, assaulted mister Roger Isaenc.
It sounds like they might have just written that statement up just for him to sign.
There was no citilature. This is typed up, and then you have the officer's citizature, So there's no Rajah Isaac right in and saying I dually swear of this being authentic. There's none of that.
So this sham statement in Roger Isaac's DD five blew up in Kyle Reeves's face at trial. But in the immediate aftermath of the crime, this same DD five corroborated Anthony Holder. They had already trick led him in voting into making the ID with that phony baloney photo array. So now they're closing in on you, but you didn't even know it. So let's go back to the immediate aftermath.
Shots rang out, you got to safety, and after things calmed down, you went out to handle a few errands before your three month old son and his mother arrived later on from Queen's. Now, at that time you had gone to a friend's in Bushwick, when a neighborhood friend paged you to tell you that the police had raided your apartment.
He say, yo, the police just went into the apartment. So I called my mother. When she goes home, the police are still there. They asked her to sign a consent for him to search. They already searched her ready, so now they're using her consent to cover their eyes.
So the police legally searched your apartment looking for this alleged black tuppel bag, but they came up empty, and they got your mom to give consent to the search after the fact.
So at this time, again, I'm not even aware that someone even died. It wasn't until I speak to my mother. She said. Detective really gave her his card for me to call. He said, a guy was shot and killed and they're looking to speak to me about it. I have nothing to hide, so I called him. He said, people are saying that you killed this guy. I said it to him, I don't know what you're talking about. I've just had a son. I have no reason to be out killing anybody. He said, well, you know, let's
meet up somewhere. I said, that's not happening. I am not comfortable meeting you guys and talk them out. Y'all looking for me because somebody got killed. He said, oh, you know, just nick holity, change in mind.
And this is right after nine to eleven. So the police had all these sweeping new powers from the Patriot Act, and they triangulated your position from the cell signal and
found you over at your friends in Bushwick. But what's weird is that they're looking for the old version of you, right, They're looking for the eighteen year old, slimmer, short haired Gary from the photo array, not the fully grown out, much heavier, twenty one year old Gary with the seven inch high afro who looks nothing close to the Eyewinness descriptions. So both you and the police are confused. Now, can you describe what happened during your arrest.
It's like one of those scenes, almost like the die Hard movie. The whole block is just filled with you know, squad cars and police officers and police officers on the rules and the helicopters. As they were going in to the building, I was coming out right, I'm not knowing they're coming for me. All right, I'm going to the store, and here go all these police officers I look at them, they look at me. I'll go and I walk to
the store, not running. Walking. As I'm in the store, the door opened and then a head pokes in and he said, hey, did you just come from and he recites the building number and I said yes. He asked me what my name is, and I tell them my name is Gay Bella. He said, I can please put your hands behind your back. So again I ain't said, Oh, my name is George Jeffrey Calvin, so I'm not evading being identified. Does this sound like the actions of a guilty man.
Of course not. But it's crazy because you didn't think they were even there for you, and they thought they were looking for a guy who could potentially fit the description. But as we see here in your case, the description really didn't matter to them. They just move forward anyway. So you're arrested. Detective Reedy questioned you. You told him what you're telling us here today, that you had absolutely nothing to do with it, and then they put you in a lineup.
But that lineup was conducted by Robert Reedy and Robert Reedy at least one time a couple of years after this case, admitted to essentially taining a lineup in a photo ray and a case was thrown out on that basis. So Robert Reedy knew who Gary was and he violated best practices. He shouldn't have been involved with the lineup at all, but he was.
So they take me out of the cell and now I'm going to go for this lineup. They took the cold I was wearing, gave me something else to put on, and then they told me to put on a shower cap to hide my ear. And that's when I started o. I said hell no, I say, well, what's I doing? And I looked at reading and I said, Ridio, you ain't right and he just like held down his head. At that time, I already knew what they was doing, that they was dressing me up to fit the description
of this person that they're looking for. They gave me a jacket. I'm like, hold on, this is not my clothes. Oh you got you gotta put it on, and then you're hiding my hair, Like what reason would you have to hide my hear?
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. So they corrupted that lineup, and ultimately both Anthony Holder big surprise, and then the mail carrier let him in vote and identified you. So you spent eighteen long months awaiting trial at Rikers, away from your family and your baby son. Your lawyer, Daniel F. Lynch got discovery, and the machinations of that lineup started to become even clearer, confirming what you had feared.
And I said, I notices why they wanted me to change my clothes. They wanted me to hide my head. These witnesses are saying X, Y and Z. If this witness says short here, they cannot put me in the lineup with this large afro, so they have me hide it. But now the particular witness let him in. Broughton, I'm gonna pick her first at the grand jury. And they was questioned and let him in Broughton, she stops for a second to say as if she wasn't sure she picked out the right guy. So fast forward to two
thousand and three. While I'm at trial, they asked her, did you see the shooter in the courtroom? Let him in Broughton Unequipancies says no. So she says no at trial and at the grand jury she wasn't sure. But then at the time of when she's viewing the lineup, I am presented with the shower cap hide in my ear and with some clothing that's close enough to what the shooter had on the day of the crime. Is there any reason why she wouldn't have picked me out?
Two witnesses identified Gary in a lineup, and of those two witnesses, only one of them identify him betrot, which is Anthony Holder.
So let Himan Boten was supposed to be a prosecution witness but ended up working in favor of Gary's defense, just like Roger Isaac. So at that point, as this case was crumbling in front of their eyes, all they had left was Anthony Holder, who ended up being totally unreliable. And we're going to get to his testimony in a minute, but it doesn't seem like your attorney should have had to work very hard to discredit Holder with what was available to him.
On assistant this attorney Kyle Reeve's witness list, they had Paula Edschel, that was the witness that I wanted my attorney to call on my behalf. Her phone call, the nine one one call, as well as her DD five and her after David at the sixty seventh pist is very much as fuld sorry and cruel's third party culpability. The description that she gave Paula Edshell states that she looked through her window and she saw the shooter and
the shooter was a medium height, dark skinned male. No affro, So that's not me right.
But neither the prosecution nor your attorney called her as a witness. But even without Paula Edgshell, you still had Letterman Boten and Roger Isaac blow up their part of the state's case. So all this left is Anthony Holder, who never actually described the shooter. He just used your nickname Chucky, saying that some girls were encouraging you to get after him, meaning Victor Vulcan. And none of those girls ever surfaced, nor did this alleged black duffle bag.
What other should your defense have poked?
In Holder's testimony, the inconsistencies are abound with Anthony Holder. He says, the guy shot with the thirty eight, guy's not shot with the thirty eight. I believe the slugs were consistent with the twenty five. Forensically, the description that he gives does not match up to the wounds that the man suffers. And to be honest with you, I don't really think anybody gives a very consistent description of
what actually happened because of how fast it happened. We don't know if Vulcan was standing upright when the first shots ring out right, But what we do know is that there was stippling on one of the shots on the chest, which would indicate that the shooter was very close within twenty four inches. Anthony Holder says that the shooter was four feet away.
So it would have been helpful if these wild inconsistencies were pointed out to impeach the one the only state's witness here was in fact their only piece of evidence, but your attorney was not prepared to do that. However, your attorney did present one very powerful witness Augustin Hinkson, who had called nine to one one and corroborated let him in voting, and Paula Edgehill's descriptions and versions of events.
Augustin Hinson states that the shooter and the victim is the same height. The medical examiner at trials stated that Victor Volcane sustained a gunshot wound to his chest and there was no vertical for ponderance when asked what can cause that? Is that whoever shot him with the same height ass him. So Augustin Hinton is right on that. Now, another part of his testimony is he states that when the shoot in was going on, that he he was
ushering some young children away from the crime. Now, when you get to Anthony Holder, Anthony Holder is a legend that he was the one that was ushering a young children away from the crime. But he goes on to also say that the shooter also is responsible for shooting one of those young children.
What I think is important about Holder is there's nothing about his testimony that's true. The fact that he says a little girl was shot at the scene, when there's absolutely no NYPD record of a small, younger girl being shot at the scene, a little girl was not. This is like if a child was shot at the scene, Gary been lost to be doing a lot more than twenty five the life.
That's testimony had never surfaced at any time prior to trial. That false testimony only came about when assisted just the attorney Kyle Reeves elicited that false and inflammatory testimony from Anthony Holder and then later turned around and vouched for the authenticity of that testimony. He also presented Anthony Holder as this super righteous citizen of society.
I mean, not only should his shaky testimony have been seen through, but also they were hiding something, which was that this guy had a powerful incentive to lie or to say what the authorities wanted him to say, which is that he was facing pending charges himself. And we know that in a lot of these cases where these eyewitnesses suddenly are able to make an identification, those charges that they're facing magically go away and they're sort of
making it deal with the devil. Is that what happened here?
Yes, absolutely absolutely he had pending charges, and from our investigation, those charges are sealed, which means at some point they were dismissed, but they were pending while he testified, And interestingly enough, Kyle Reeves, when asked if the man had any pending charges, said that he'd never been arrested before.
So that sounds carefully worded. And why would any prosecutor lie or mislead the jury about a witness's criminal history or pending charges if not to hide a potential deal for leniency. And when Holder's testimony is the only piece of evidence against you, stacked up against all of the independent witnesses whose testimony was in favor of Gary's innocence. Plus Anthony Holder made an unfounded charge that a little
girl had been shot as well. If that's true, then why wasn't Gary charged with the attempted murder of a child.
It's just.
It's just hard to see how the jury could get this so wrong. You had Roger Isaac let him in voting, and even without Paula Edgehill, you then had Augustin Hinkson. I mean, was the prosecution able to say that Hinkson was a friend of Gary's or something anything to impeach him.
I think Augustin Hickson was the most reliable person that testified. Augustin Hinkson's relations to Gary's is just an acquaintance. Hainkston had no dog in the race. I believe actually Hankson is a nine to one one caller. That's how they get to Hankson. Hankson is a real world person that's there that they know is there from the gate that gives a statement to them. Hinkson is adamant that Gary
was not there. I don't understand how Gary loses other than the fact that maybe the jury believed that he shot a little girl. I don't know. I mean that a little girl that definitely wasn't a shot.
There's a miracle that no kids were shot, but the fact remains that no kid was shot. But they just made up this story, and it seems to me there's at least a good chance that they were doing that in order to cast this terrible light on Gary, so that if the jury saw through the nonsense that they were being fed, they would still say, well, this guy's a terrible guy because he shot a child. So even if the evidence is shaky as hell, we're still going
to go ahead and convict him. Am I am I off base here?
No, No, not at all.
No.
I think you're one hundred percent right. Holder was a terrible witness, but he was enough, you know, he was enough to sink Gary unfortunately, and that's the problem with the American justice system, is that a single witness like this could actually send a man in prison for twenty five a life.
Gary was convicted of second agree murder on November twenty, two, thousand and three. So Gary, take us inside the courtroom and inside your heart and soul. At that moment, it was.
It was unbelievable, it was heartbreaking, It was so shattering. My life and my world came to a halt at that moment. The day I was sentenced, my family has also been sentenced to twenty five years to life. You're pretty much stripped of everything I was given. You know, this new identity, the identity that the Department of Correction wished to know me by. They don't care to know who Gary ben Loss is. And if Gary ben Loss
is wrongfully convicted, they don't care about that. I'm known to the Department of Corrections at zero three eight for one five. But I'm here to tell everyone that's not who I am talking about. A young man who was stripped away from his family. There's a void in the lives of my mother, or my sister, the mother of my son, for my grandmother, my uncles, my aunts, my cousins.
So I'm not carrying this sentence alone. There's a void that's in the life of my son, who had to grow up without me there that I had dreams of his father coming home, but he will never see that because he had passed away before that actually happen.
This tragedy. It's almost hard to even process this right, but I know when I was visiting you, Gary, you showed me a letter you had gotten for your son. Your son grew up without his dad through no fault of yours, a no fault of his own, and yet you managed to be a good father, a great father from prison, as good as any could be, and he
turned out to be a fantastic kid. I saw a letter that he wrote to you, that was a letter that any father would love to get from their child, where he basically said, I love you and I wish things were different, but we're going to make up for lost time when you come home. You're my inspiration, You're
my hero. And that letter, which I could almost not read knowing what happened next, was just so beautiful and powerful and The awful truth is that the day after that you received that letter, he was killed in a writing in an uber, just a passenger and an uber and a random hit and run accident. I think we should really dedicate this episode to his memory.
Yeah, you know, you talk him out a very very dark moment, and I had to find first within me strength.
It's a tremendous weight that I cannot imagine lifting, considering the weight you had already lifted. Perhaps it's the strength that you built over all that time leading up to this even heavier moment.
Now, I had to find that light of redemption first within me to guide me through this perilous place so I can get to that plateau where I can say, listen, I'm not gonna let my time in here go to ways. I'm not going to allow my wrong for conviction to stop me from being the man that I'm supposed to be. I'm gonna fight this, I'm going to win, and I'm also going to make sure that I'm in position where I can of bupers.
And I've read a bit about some of the good things that you've done with your time on the inside. In fact, I've witnessed some of them in person. I mean, I've been up there and seen you doing your thing making a difference. Can you tell us a little bit about your work.
So in two thousand and six I went and I actually obtained my GED Now I'm helping other individuals to achieve their GEDs. I became a facilitator for a cultural awareness class through the CAAU organization, which is a Caribbean afric community. I've partaked an alternative violence program where you help to mentor people to find a way to allegate situations without the meanings of violence. Twenty twelve, I was in the Electrical Trade program. I actually advanced and became
an IT which is called inmate program assistant. It was an assistant to the teacher, so I became a facilitator and through that also allowed me the opportunity to gain my apprenticeship through the NCCER course, where I was able to take the same type of tests and courses that a person on the outside would so they could become electrician. When I came to since immediately signed up for the Mercy College Hustling program that they have here where I
am actually going for my bachelor's in Behavioral Science. I wasn't allowing my state of mind incarceration to hold me back, and I was setting down the stones for my future. And I have a look back.
No, you have not. And you've brought that same proactive and incredibly positive spirit to the work that you've done inside with a group of guys called the AI Team, the Actual Innocence Team, good name. Longtime listeners of the show will remember other members of this New York based crew, of whom are already out. I'm talking about Derek Hamilton, Shabaka Shakur, and of course Nelson Cruz, Danny rin Khan
and yourself still remain inside. You also were friendly with another great friend of the show and great personal friend of mine, personal hero, I would say, I'm talking about JJ Velasquez, who is another just incredibly inspirational man.
Being around these individuals also help to give me a sense of hope and courage because now you no longer feel alone. And we'll go to law a lotberries weill research cases and we'll see what we can find will be able to help us. Oh, that idea is a batchling issue, that's a strictly versus Washington issue. Oh, that's the way the issue and that's how I started to learn the law. Interestinctly. You know, it's not supposed to happen,
but now you can put legal theory to it. Now it's more than just going into a call, submitting a piece of paper and saying I didn't do it.
So you fought your case for a while this way, and eventually Derek, Shabaka and JJ got out, and slowly but surely you got your case in front of our friend Justin here. So Justin, what has happened so far in Gary's post conviction fight and where does his case stand?
Now? Okay?
Well, Gary, you know, of course he filed a direct appeal. And what's very interesting about Gary's direct appeal is that he's we're saying the same thing that we're saying now, right, Gary has been consistent since day one. He filed a motion to vacate his conviction back in two thousand and two. One of the issues was the fact that Anthony Holder had a criminal charge that was pending during the trial
that was never disclosed. Actually, Kyle Reeves, as per usual, I should say, Kyle Reeves, failed to turn that over and actually indicated that Anthony Holder had never been arrested in his life, which was totally untrue. That just goes
along with Kyle Reeves's theme. But as of right now, you know, we are really reinvestigating the forensics at the scene and pulling all the files from the NYPD and the District Attorney's office to prepare for another four point forty or to go to the conviction Review Unit, which I do think would be very interested in this case based upon how unreliable the evidence is here that convicted
Gary and the evidence of innocence. You know, Jason, I think the biggest thing is what makes a case like Gary's very strong is the evidence that's in the possession of the prosecutor. And when you look at that, including Augustin Hinkson let him in Bolton and then a nine to one one caller, three people all say that Gary beIN Lost is not the shooter here, He's not the person that killed Victor Vulcan. And I think that that's
overwhelming evidence of innocence in comparison to any holder. And that's what we're working on right now is tying that all together, both forensically and through our investigation and to see if there's any more Brady evidence out there because there was at least one witness that was interviewed that was friends with Victor Vulcan that stated that Victor Vulcan had beef with people from his own block. He was not from the block where he was found murdered at.
So you know, we are investigating all these claims before we do anything, but we're evaluating whether we go forward with another motion to vacate or go to Brooklyn's Conviction Review Unit.
Justin what can people do? And I'm sure people are listening, heartbroken and angry and motivated. So what can people do to help bring some semblance of justice for Gary?
I would say start off by reaching out to Ari Gonzales, Brooklyn DA's office, and also Gary has a change dot org page, and support the petition and continue to support people who are like Gary. I think that's the biggest problem. There needs to be more support from a broader base in the country.
Right.
It has to be more than just the people that have been affected by roomful convictions. It has to be people that are just regular, average American citizens because they need to understand that this could be you, Because it could be you, it could be your son, it could be your daughter. It could it could be anybody, it could be you, and people need to stop acting like that that's not a fact.
We will link in the bio to the petition and to other information about the case. Please do click on the link in the bio, sign the petition and get involved, and we'll hopefully be able to publish an update to this episode sometime and then not to distant future where we get to speak with Gary from the outside. And now, of course it's time to turn to the closing of our show, which everyone knows is called closing arguments, and
this is where I thank you guys again. I'm going to turn over to you first, justin for your thoughts, any other thoughts you want to share, and then of course hand off to Gary and he'll take us off into the sunset.
The first thing that we really need to consider in this case is because it happens over and over and over again in identification cases, is where there's a description that does not match the person that they end up arrestling. Obviously, common sense says that the suspect should match the description that the witnesses say was the perpetrator, and Gary's case is very typical, especially in a place like New York City where the police don't care. They just don't care.
They get a name, they focus on the name. They don't care that the person that is this name doesn't match the description of the perpetrator given by the witnesses. That just goes right out the window. People don't think that that's true. But Gary is evident to that. And I can tell you as an attorney that practices in New York City every day, that that happens all the time, and it's still has happens in twenty twenty two. And Gary is a He's a spot on case of where
the police didn't care. And the police didn't care because they knew his name, they knew who he was. They focused in on him. They put him in a photo ray with a photo that didn't match anything that looked like him. It matched more the description of what the witnesses said the perpetrator looked like. And what I mean by that is obviously a photo array. All you really have is the head. The person had short hair in the photo ray, right, so that at least matched more
the description of the perpetrator. They went and they arrested Gary. Then they put him in a lineup where he looks nothing like he looked in the photo ray and Robert Reedy is the one that handles the identification and the witnesses somehow identify him in the lineup. The person that's running these procedures should not be involved with the investigation and they should not know who the subject is. And
Robert Reedy has done this before. He's gotten called out, cases have been thrown out because he suggested and tainted identification procedures. And then who does Robert Reed? He hand the case off to Kyle Reeves, who's framed numerous men, scumback of the highest order. And people need to understand what is the DA's job. The DA's job is to vet the police's investigation. Kyle Reeves doesn't vet an investigation. He takes the investigation and he fixes it. He does
the opposite of what you're supposed to do. And even in the face of descriptions of a perpetrator that are eighty pounds less and half a foot shorter than Gary ben Lost and having a haircut that doesn't match the afro that Gary ben Loss says, there's nothing about the shooter in this case that matches the description of gary Ben Lost. Kyle Reeves still takes this to trial. He puts let him In Bolton on the stand. She stands up in courtiess, and you see the guy that shot
the victim, Victor Vulcan here. She says no. She says no. Her testimony matches her initial description of the shoe, which it was not gary Ben Lost. That's a non identification. He puts Anthony Holder on the witness stand. Anthony Holder gives a ridiculous testimony that is not consistent at all with the evidence of the scene, not consistent at all with the other witnesses at the scene. Says that a little girl was shot at the scene. There is no
NYPD record of a little girl being shot. And let me tell you, if a little if a child was shot at the scene, Gary beIN Loss to be doing a lot more than twenty five to life, Okay, he would be, and there would be absolutely police reports indicating that medical reports indicating there wasn't. Anthony Holder completely lies. There's not one shred of his testimony that is true. And then another witness comes in and says that it
wasn't gary Ben Lost. That the defense calls. But what the defense failed to do here, which they often do, is they failed to put on the nine to one to one caller that described the shooter as five foot eight, dark skin with short hair. The defense failed to cross examine let him in Bolton, even though she said that Gary ben Loss wasn't the person that she saw fining
the weapon that day. The jury never heard the description of let him in Bolten that the shooter matched the description and body type of the victim, who was five ft ten, one hundred and sixty eight pounds. That could have definitively proved to the jury. It would have overridden the terrible testimony of Anthony Holder. I don't even really need to do a reinvestigation here. It's clear Gary is innocent. He's been in jail for over twenty years at this point.
It's a travestyjustice. But it's all too often of a story, especially in a place like New York York City. Eyewitness identification is a real problem in New York City. It's all too often of a story. And it is just tragic with Gary because he should have never been arrested, should have never been charged, and he was just railroaded.
The traumatic and irreparable effects of wrongful conviction just don't affect those wrongfully convicted. It also impacts the lives of their families, their communities, and the fabric of our nation. To ed explain what I mean, I will let you share this letter with you are. It was written by my beloved son, Isaiah Benloss, who was seventeen years old at the time. It reads, Dear Sir Madam, I'm writing
on behalf of my father, Gary Benloss. When I was a baby, I never really got the chance to spend time and bond with my father until I got older. This situation really got to me while I was growing up without him. He wasn't there when I first picked up a basketball and when I first rode a bike. Also, he wasn't there when I graduated elementary and middle school. All I wish is for me and him to go out and bond with each other. Even though he wasn't
there for my elementary in middle school years. I hope he can be there when I graduated from high school in twenty twenty. I hope whoever is reading this you find it in your heart to give my father early parole. Please thank you in advance. Ceceili Isaiah Benloss that was written in April twenty second of twenty nineteen, and as you see, I'm still in prison, so he never got that wish for me to be there for his graduation.
In June of twenty twenty, the month following his graduation, he sent me a car for my birthday and it reads, happy birthday to the real O Gie. I just want to say thank you for being real with me, believing in me when no one did it, still being real and never switching up and sticking it through even in
these hard times. I know you can't be out here with me and wishing things could have been different, but I always reminded myself and never regret what I have, because then I wouldn't have you and my amazing girlfriend and family that I loved daily. I appreciate and love you that Hopefully when you get out you can make up for lost times. I love your pops can sell your son, Isaiah Benlos again. Those wishes would never be manifested.
But just a day after receiving this card from my son, he was in a tragic car accident that lay to claim this life. So as I leave you all here with these final thoughts, as I studied before the state of wrongful conviction doesn't just impact those wrongfully convicted, it also affects the families.
Thank you, Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to thank our production team Connor Hall, 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 flamm. Conviction is the production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association with Signal Company Number one