When we first released this episode on September eighth, twenty twenty one, Anthony Simms had already spent twenty two years in prison and was hoping to bring some much needed attention to this horrendous injustice. At the time his passed, the freedom were uncertain. Since then, some monumental changes have occurred. For this updated episode, we spoke again with Anthony and his legal team. You'll hear this episode as it was originally released, but with brand new content to pick up
where we left off. On eighteenth, nineteen ninety eight, a woman named Rachel claims to have seen her neighbors Julius Graves and Charlie Winbush talking. Charleiku was telling her fiance Graves about how a man named Lee run Chen, who worked at the Chinese restaurant up the block, mister Hings, had touched her inappropriately. Graves replied that he would scare him. Later that day, Julius Graves, his fiance's cousin, and another younger friend had a few drinks with Graves's friend, Anthony
Simms as they listened music by Anthony's car. As the evening wrapped up, Graves asked Anthony to drive him down the block to mister Hinks. Oblivious to any issue with Chen, Anthony agreed they went into the restaurant when it is
believed that Graves shot and killed Lee run Chen. In shock, Anthony fled alone while Graves and the two younger guys returned to Graves's apartment, wiped the gun clean, figured out where to stash it, and began to conjure up a story to deflect blame from Graves and onto Anthony Simms. With Graves at a number of his friends and family supporting this phony narrative, investigators set their sights on Anthony.
Only one witness came forward independently who was neither coerced nor friends and family of Julius Graves, Graves's neighbor Rachel, who was on the phone outside of mister Hinks during the shooting and saw Graves running from the restaurant with a soft off shotgun in his hand. Yet her statement was ignored by investigators and hidden from the defense, and as a result, Anthony Simms continues to serve twenty five years to life. This is wrongful conviction with Jason Flamm.
Welcome back to wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm. That's me, and today if you hear my voice sounds sort of down. I mean, this is one of the most troubling wrongful conviction cases that I've ever seen in twenty eight years of doing this work, which is almost as long as Anthony Simms has been locked up for a crime he obviously didn't commit. First of all, I want to introduce the two attorneys who are so devoted to this case
and to this man, Jonathan Hiles and Thomas Hoffman. Thank you both for being here.
Thank you, Thank you for doing this Jason.
And now of course saving the best for last. And I'm just so sorry that you're here under these circumstances, but I'm honestly honored that you're here with us today on the podcast. So Anthony Simms, welcome to Rafel Conviction.
Thank you.
And Anthony, of course, is now a forty five year old man, twenty four years into a twenty five to life sentence for a murder he didn't commit. Now, this began back in nineteen ninety eight, but I want to go back even further than that. Anthony, where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Was it a happy childhood?
Yes, I grew up in Brooklyn, York, and I grow of a mother, father and my two older brothers, and we had was a very happy, loving family. We would do a lot of fun activities together, go on vacations. I remember every Sunday was family day.
And leading up to when this awful crime occurred, you had kids of Beyonce at that time. What was life like for you?
I live what I thought was a normal life. I worked for Bell Atlantic Telephone company. You know, he stole a phone lines and provided doubts on the customers. I live with my fiance Keisha and my two sons at the town.
So this brings us to May eighteenth, nineteen ninety eight, when you, Anthony, witnessed a terrible crime. There was a Chinese restaurant, Mister Hings, which was down the block from where your former friend Julius Grace lived, and around ten o'clock that night, a man named Lee Runschen, who worked
at Mister Hings, was shot and killed. But earlier that day, before any of that happened, you thought you were just going to swing by Graves's apartment to show him this new car you bought your fiance Keisha.
Julius Graves was at that time my best friend. I wanted to show him the car, and I bought my wife this a process, So I drove to his house at that town. He asked me to drive him to the liquor store. I went to the regular store and bought some beer. We was talking. I was letting the music play from my car radio, and then his two friends came over, his fiance's cousin Derek and then later on his friend Louis, and they was listening to music with us. And I want to say, like around ten o'clock,
it was getting late. I wanted to go home show my wife the cause, and I wanted to be home with my sons. So Julius asked me to drive him to them Chinese restaurant. So I thought this is a weird request because he lived down around a corner from the restaurant, and I thought he could have just walked. So I said, I listen, I was drinking a couple of beers. Let me go to the thought about some breast minds, because I don't like driving around like that.
I remember Julius saying, listen, and I'm going to the house. I'm gonna go check with Charlie, which is his girlfriend at the time, to see if she wanted anything from the store as well. So I said, all right, so I can only assun him. That's the time that he got the weapon. And when I got back to my car, Julius was sitting in my passenger seat and his two
little friends were sitting in the back. They know that I didn't expect him to be in a car because they looked at me with this look like, all right, well, we're just going to go to this restaurant with you. So I didn't think nothing. I very I got in the car and I drove him to them Chinese restaurant. When I got it out of the restaurant, I started looking around for the menus and stuff to see what
I was going to purchase for my wife. The next thing I know, I saw Julius come in the store with like a weird expression on his face, and almost immediately he resent his fans and pulled out a soda sode gun, and I remember thinking like, what the hell was going on and where did he even get that gun from? I asked, I said, what the hell are
you doing? Are you crazy? Julius said, he said no, approached the counter, pointed the gun out one of the workers and pulled the trigger and I couldn't believe it. I fell to blood rush for my body and all I remember at that time just running out the store, getting in my car. Julius jumped in there too, and I said get out. I kicked everybody. I said, everybody, get out of my car, and I Joe Hooman told Keisha what happened. That was the worst night of my life.
Yeah, it would be the worst night of almost anyone's life to witness something like that.
I got home, I got on the phone and I called them and I, so, what the hell is wrong with you? Probably curts him. I said some other things following, Basically, I want to know why did he put me in that situation? Why did he allow me to walk into that? Why didn't he come in? What was going on? Maybe he thought I would talk him out of it. I don't know, but he just kept apologizing and definitely told me that you know the person that he found out. I can't believe it. And I said, Julius, don't ever
call me again. I don't want to hear from you no more. I just wanted to try to separate my cell phone.
So it turns out that Julius Graves had a motive, and that is that Graves was upset that mister Chen, who worked at the Chinese restaurant, had reportedly touched the hand of Graves's Beyonce Sharlee earlier in the day of the murder, that he had touched her hand inappropriately. She was upset about this, she told Graves, and Graves said that he would go to the restaurant and scare the victim. We know he did a lot more than that, but that appears to have been the motive that we didn't
find out until many years later. Now, what was known at the time is that after the murder, after Anthony got Graves and his two friends, Derek Dollop and Louis Cologne, to leave the car, it is undisputed that Graves took the shotgun used in the murder, went back to the apartment where he was staying, feverishly wiped off the shotgun to get his fingerprints off of it, and then gave the gun to his friend Louis Cologne to hide from police. And Louis, by the way, was only fourteen years old
at the time. Graves's excuse for doing this is that he wasn't thinking. That was his only justification.
Now.
Furthermore, this murder weapon, the sawed off shotgun, had previously been kept in a lock box in the apartment where Graves was staying, and Graves and his friend Derek Dollop, who was also his fiance's cousin, admitted even that they knew the shotgun was kept there and had seen it there before. So all the evidence suggested that the shotgun belonged to Graves, and it is undisputed he had handled it right after the murder.
Occurred, right and the physical evidence from the scene later proved that this sought off shotgun from Graves' apartment was used in the murder. So this is where we start seeing a narrative being formed from the Graves camp to try to deflect responsibility for this murder away from Graves and toward Anthony. And initially it will seem like a lot of witnesses came forward to support what was really just coming straight from Graves's imagination and what later became
the prosecution's narrative. But it will become clear as we move along here that none of these witnesses were to be believed, they should have been believed for two reasons. One, it's discovered later that these eyewitness accounts are initially riddled with glaring inconsistencies and contradictions that were then changed to fit a cohesive narrative in time for trial, which is, it's just not typical what a group of people are telling the truths obviously right. And two, most of the
witnesses are friends and family of Graves. There are only two witnesses, two who are not Graves's friends or family, one of whom was coerced by police into an ambiguous statement that nonetheless helped the prosecution's case at the time of trial, and the other is the only independent witness who bravely came forward to tell the truth about Graves's motive and having seen him running from the restaurant with
a gun. However, none of this info about these two witnesses was known to the defensive trial, but we'll get to that later. Now. Right now, let's focus on the dubious narrative coming from the Graves camp. So, the day after the murder, Sharleek's brother, William Robertson told police a second hand story from Sharleek that Sharleek had said that Anthony had come by earlier the day of the murder and taken the shotgun out of the apartment. Then comes
the narrative from Graves about the night of the murder. Okay, ready, so, according to Graves, Anthony dropped by the apartment around six pm and they had a few drinks. Anthony allegedly showed Graves a shotgun that he had in his trunk, a shotgun that Graves should have recognized as the one from his apartment. Now, at some point, Anthony and Graves are joined by Sharleik's cousin, Derek Dallup and another younger friend,
Luis Cologne. According to Graves, Anthony had a previous altercation with the victim, Lee run Chen, who worked at the Chinese restaurant down the block, Mister Hings. The reason behind this disagreement and the timing changed between initial interviews and trial.
In this farcical version of events, Anthony allegedly had refused to pay for something at Mister Hings because it was either something he hadn't ordered, or some chicken was undercooked, or it didn't look right, you know, lying is tricky that way, right, It gets hard to keep track of your own bullshit anyway. At the time of this alleged problem and refusal of payment, Lee run Chen allegedly pulled a gun on Anthony, to which Anthony allegedly responded that
he would get Chen for this. According to Graves, that night, in the lead up to the murder, Anthony brought up this two to three week old and then later four to five month old beef several times and was getting heated up about it before they headed to mister Hings, where Anthony was the one who allegedly shot Lee run Chen, not Graves, whose fiance had complained to him about Chen's
inappropriate touching earlier that day. So this just super believable narrative is what became the prosecution's theory.
It just feels liberated to hear you retell that story because it sounded crazy to me, and from you saying how crazy it sounds to you, that means a lot. Because I've always believed down the line that the truth was going to come out. I didn't know that it would be in prison twenty three years before this truth came out, and it's.
Going to be out there now finally for everyone to hear it, and Jonathan, there's even more to know about Graves's ridiculous narrative.
The story against Anthony was not only ridiculous, but as he alluded to, it was so inconsistent. Graves first actually told police Anthony and Graves's other two friends had gone to the Chinese restaurant earlier on that evening and then come back and Anthony was heated about an argument with the victim. But Graves's two friends never said they went
to the Chinese restaurant. It was just made up. So Graves had to change his story and say that he had witnessed an argument between Anthony and the victim months earlier over a food order, and that Anthony was still fuming about this months later on the night of the murder. Again Graves's friends right who were trying to back him up. They never said that Anthony had any beef with a victim or was fuming about it in the car that evening,
So the story never really made sense. But what was important to police and prosecutors, unfortunately, was clear the case. And once they had Graves and his two friends who were willing to point the finger at Anthony as a scapegoat the train had left the station.
Okay, so they've got their site set on you, Anthony. Initially they show up at your job, but you were out that day. This tipped you off though that they were at least looking to talk to you, and eventually you went involuntarily. I mean, you were an innocent man. So did you think, well, I'll just go in there, clear this up and head on home.
I did, And a big key as being left out was there was a camera inside of that restaurant. So I thought, regardless that somebody would at one point in time review the tape and that I had nothing to worry about. The tape would clear everything up for me. So yes, drove of myself to the precinct, and that's why I been ever since talked away.
You never walked out of there again, never walked out. Now what happened with the videotape from the Chinese restaurant?
They said that the tape wasn't recalling.
Do you believe that?
To be honest, I don't know what to believe anymore. I used to have a lot of faith in the conditional system, but from being a crossert to myself and listening to some of the other harves stories from people in here with me, I don't know what to believe.
Now.
They had their man, and any other evidence that existed then were emerged later that suggested Anthony was innocent or that Grace was guilty was just an inconvenience to the prosecution's case, and so it was not disclosed to the defense.
And of course listeners of this show will know that when the authorities withhold exculpatory evidence, it's called a Brady violation. Brady violations are illegal, but as our listeners also know, Brady violations rarely seem to be any actual ramifications for the people who commit them. So it just keeps fucking
happening in case after case. And in this case, I believe the worst Brady violation, the worst one among so many, is the sole independent witness who came forward in this case that I alluded to earlier, whose statement was hidden from the defense. Will refer to her only as Rachel.
So Rachel was right outside the Chinese restaurant where the murder occurred, talking on a payphone. This was an undisputed fact, and police spoke to her and initially she said that she had heard the shot and seen people running from the Chinese restaurant, but she didn't have her contacts in and so she couldn't identify who those people were. That was what she said. Now, this was not a neighborhood where it was easy to report to police who you had seen involved in a murder, much less if that
person was your neighbor. And actually Rachel, who was seventeen at the time, she neighbors with Julius Graves. Now, a couple of weeks went by and Rachel had kept this information to herself, but her conscience was gnawing away at her. She learned that Anthony had been wrongfully arrested for the crime, and she actually received a call from Anthony's wife at the time, Keisha, who said to Rachel, I hear you were present at the scene and that you may have
seen something. Please just talk to police, tell them what you saw, whatever you saw, Please just tell them the truth. Now, at around the same time, Rachel actually had an exchange with Graves and his fiance outside of their brownstone. During that exchange, Rachel said, I know what you did. I
saw what you did. In truth, she had seen Julius Graves running from the Chinese restaurant with a shotgun right after the shot was fired, and she said, I know what you did, and you're trying to put it on somebody else us and Graves said, you talk too much and if you keep talking, I'm going to shut you up. And so she called police spoke to a detective and she said, I saw Julius Graves running from the Chinese restaurant with a big, long gun. I know it was him.
He's my neighbor. And the detective said, we already have another guy. It was the taller guy. Anthony is six', Three graves is five to. Nine rachel, said, NO i, know they look completely. DIFFERENT i know that it Was graves who was running with a. Shotgun and the detective basically, said, well thank you for your time and hung up the.
Phone Shaw leek had anticipated That rachel could go to the, police so ShW leek reports that as. Harassment they had that. Report but IF i can complete that, incredibly even Though rachel lived next door To, sharlie they did not Question rachel at all about that police.
Report they didn't have to go across the country to interview somebody or across the, state right they'd go across the. Street across the. Street somebody who actually had begged to be, interviewed even though she had been threatened by a really dangerous, guy was, like, No i'm going to do the right. Thing but instead she just got shut down by those who are supposed to protect, us which Left graves out on the streets to potentially commit more violent, crimes While
anthony was stripped of his freedom and civil. Rights so back to this. Investigation if you want to call it, that the grandmother Of graves's, children you, know Char leak's, mom signs on to parrot some of the. Narrative this Is Dorothy, bolding whose story changed from her initial interview when she didn't Mention Anthony graves or even having been
at Mister hings at. All this. Interview critical information here was hidden from the, defense and by the time the grand jury and the trial roll, around she's changed her, story now claiming to be able to Implicate anthony in the. Murder but still the investigators needed to get someone outside Of graves's inner circle in order to strengthen the. Case and AS i alluded to, earlier this is the only other witness Besides rachel who was not directly related To.
Graves she was a single mom who certainly appears to have been coerced into giving an ambiguous statement that helped the prosecution's case a, trial and will refer to this witness As, shalima.
Now shalima as we have since. Learned she initially told police that, she when visiting her friend's apartment across the street from the, murder had heard this loud, bang had looked out the window from a second floor on a dark night and had seen a couple of men ran out of The chinese, restaurant but she couldn't describe them at. All she'd seemed that one of them appeared to be holding a long, done but she couldn't make any sort of, description and they, said, well let's take you in and
see if we can refresh your. Memory they took her, in they separated her from her young, child and they interrogated her for hours and wouldn't tell her where her child, was which she kept, asking and then eventually they emerged with a report saying that she identified the taller man as being the one holding the, gun which was something that was clearly fed to her because she told police that she couldn't describe the men she had, seen including the person who was running with the. Gun we first
learned that in the past. Year shalima, SAID i don't know HOW i could have testified THAT i saw the taller man running with the. SHOTGUN i couldn't have made a, description and that's WHAT i told, Detectives and their response was to take me in for basically a full day of, interrogation separated from my, child until they had pressured her to give them what they.
Wanted, Right, so now they finally had someone as this idea was to corroborate what The graves camp was. Saying So july, second nineteen ninety, eight they charged, You, anthony with two counts of murder in the second degree intentional and depraved, indifference and one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth, degree a weapon that you had never even held in your, Hand and before trial even began In april nineteen ninety, Nine graves attempted to.
Disappear graves didn't want to. Testify he wanted to get himself off of the, hook but even he perhaps had some pangs of conscience about falsely implicating someone who had formerly been his, friend and so he went underground before the trials, started and he was on probation at the, time actually on a weapons possession, charge and he hadn't been reporting to his probation officer for three, years and so The District attorney's office actually initiated proceedings to Revoke graves's.
Probation he would be remanded to prison.
Potentially this one's really. MYSTIFYING i, mean do you have a guy who has a propensity to, violence who knows his way around with, weapons who was a possession of the, gun who had a previous weapons, violation and it's, like, yeah now we're just gonna ignore.
That julius was asked, directly have you reported to your probation officer often and? Regularly he answered, yes when he hadn't reported for three, years and that why was not. Corrected and clearly the credibility Of graves was. Critical we did not know that he had not reported till last.
Year so at, trial the state Presented shalima along With graves's cadre of liars Right graves, himself of, course and is fiance's Cousin Derek, dallap his Friend Luis, cologne and the grandmother Of graves' two, Children Dorothy. Bolding Now bolding's story changed. Twice in her initial, interview she didn't mention Seeing,
Graves anthony or even having been At Mister. Hings and then at the grand jury she testified that while drinking outside Of Mister hings she Saw anthony enter with a long gun and heard a shot fired Before graves entered the. Restaurant then at, TRIAL i don't, know maybe she had some pangs of conscience either, way, though she testified that she Saw anthony go, in followed By, graves then heard a gunshot but never saw a.
Gun Miss bolding for initial report would have really discredited her as a prosecution witness was not. Disclosed also not disclosed or bias given her relation To Julius.
Graves, okay so now There's. Shalima she also testified against, You. Anthony she said that on the night of the, shooting she was visiting a friend who lived on the second floor in an apartment across the street From Mister. Hings she said that she heard a gunshot and looked out the window to see two black men running from the, restaurant and that quote the tall guy had.
A Gun this was helpful for the prosecution Because anthony was taller Than. Graves, now the prosecutor tried to get her to Identify. Anthony you, know look around the. Courtroom is the person you saw running with the gun? Here she, SAID i don't, KNOW i can't. Say and also she testified that of the two men she saw, running it was the person who was running, second who was behind who was running with the. Shotgun graves testified that he
was running, second that he was Behind. Anthony so actually her testimony was very, ambiguous but it was really the only thing the prosecution had that came outside Of graves's inner. Circle and as a, result the failure to disclose What shalima had had told detectives from the beginning that she couldn't describe anything was a very Damaging brady violation For anthony's.
Defense was there any real defense mounted in your, Case? Anthony, no.
We didn't even call any witnesses them on, behalf ALTHOUGH i asked my, lawyer cannot testify and he said. No he was really confident that there was no need for them because the case was a weak case and they'll eventually be able to, say you, Know julia did or, whatever and that was. That SO i didn't really have a.
Defense so after hearing From graves's network of liars And shalema's ambiguous, testimony and then importantly the absence Of, rachel did you still hold out any hope at all that you'd be?
VINDICATED i did only because it was a time during the deliberations or the jury came back into the courtroom and they passed to note the sitting were, deadlocked and the jet, said, well, Listen i'm going to give you a brief allent. Charge he was basically, SAYING i don't know what the problem. Is it's not like he's facing the death on.
It go give me a.
Verdict and they needed some, rebacks some questions and. STUFF i was still, hopeful although hopeless slipping away.
At that, point but they came back and found you. Guilty what was that moment was that if you can just take us inside that courtroom and inside your mind and your. Soul at that, MOMENT.
I was, shocked, CONFUSED i was, hurt, devastated. GNOSIS i, MEAN i was. ANGRY i remember trying to stand, up BUT i didn't have any feeling in my laity because it's so. Weak, ironically what was going through my mind at that point was my son's because they were so, young and every NIGHT i would tell them crazy bedtime, stories either one THAT i read from a book OR i used to make up some. Stories and he looked forward to going to sleep just about could come in
the room and telling them. Stories AND i said to, Myself i'm not going to be able to do that for a. While as you can, imagine for the first couple of, YEARS i was very. BETTER i WAS i was, MAD i was, angry AND i was almost like a walking dommie so to. SPEAK i, MEAN i was always trying to do programs and stuff and trying to help myself and help other people as, well but INSIDE i
was really messed. Up AND i remember going on the visit one day and my, son Little Anthony, junior WHICH i loved to do all of both my, sons he was. Crying he just broke out one day crying on a visit and he, Said, daddy don't, Worry i'm Gonna i'm gonna Get julius doing this to, you because he had known at that Point julius as his uncle because we were so. Close AND i looked at him AND i, said, No, anthony don't ever say that. AGAIN i, SAID i don't
ever say. That, No AND i was very let them know that the law will mentally prevail and there to work it self, out and in them saying. Tis he looked at me and he, says lord and, dad and you got to promise me that you would never do anything to him Linger AND i, SAID i. WON'T i promise you. That and it was that point THAT i forgave you is AND i continue to live my life as a life give for, them but also trying to help any and everybody out because in a sense helping
me as. Well but that was my turning. Point that's WHEN i forgave him for doing what he.
Did, wow sounds like you did a hell of a, job even in the brief time you had with your, sons raising them and teaching them.
Right, unfortunately prison has a way to divine, families as you can only. Imagine so my son's, mother which is my wife at the, town her name is Also, keisher this prison vi became too much for us and it felt LIKE i was holding her back from living her. Life so we both came to the agreement that we should just Divorce sympara so that she can live the life of the. Speak And god always has a way of making things. Happen but my wife, today which is
also Named, keisha it is my junior high school. Girlfriend she was my cheerleader WHEN i was the captain of the basketball. Team So jesus started to write me and one thing turned into. Another all of the old feelings came, back and we decided to try one more time to get. Married and that was prond of the best decision of my.
Life my name Is Keisha simms AND i Am Anthony simmons's, wife and it is it's the best decision that we've ever made THAT i have ever. Made anthony AND i, were you, know junior high school. Sweethearts you, know people in the situation always think that the people in, prison you, know they should be grateful that someone makes a type of commitment to them under these. Circumstances but for, Me anthony has brought just so much to my. Life he hasn't riched my life so. Much i've grown so much
as a person because of. Him this situation in particular has made me, stronger and So i'm just grateful that he chose me to go on this journey with him and to fight for his.
Innocence one, DAY i was reading the newspaper from a friend of mine Named Kevin. Jenkins he asked me to read this article because the articles involved the person that we both knew From greenhavins And Manuel. Cooper devin suggested THAT i try to get in touch With Tom, hoffman the lawyer that got this guy. Out SO i talked to my wife and she said that night it was all for her to sleep because she worked around a
lot of. Lawyers she knew that she only had one shot at this and she was making with a bullet. Points she was rehearsing what she would saying because she knew that it was really important to Obtain Thomas. Hoffman she, said the first Thing tom wanted to knows wasn't, anything because he would not represent anybody who was not. Innocent And keisha, told, yes he, is But i'm going to send you some information so that you can see it for.
Yourself at that, POINT i had all Of anthony's legal work because his son had kept all of his, documentation and he, said, well send me everything that you. Have So i'm working from. Home ALL i have is An adobe scanned app on my phone which can only scan one page at a. Time one Of anthony's transcripts is four hundred and some are. Pages that's just only one.
Transcript AND i did that for, days you, know trying to get all the information to, him and he saw all of the, discrepancies you, know and all the violations and things that we had always. Seen tom knew That anthony was, innocent and it was just astounding evidence to support.
That in The rest Is, HISTORY i Got Tom hoffin And hanton have page for.
Bono it's an amazing, STORY i, mean a tale of two keishas which eventually resulted in these two, attorneys which of course brings us to the post. Conviction and it looks like before you both got, involved there were some filings surrounding an inappropriate remark by the, prosecutor ineffective assistant, claims trial court, errors discriminatory jury, challenges all of which were serious points but ultimately. Failed there was some new,
evidence a recantation of trial testimony From. Graves we know he was feeling remorseful for Throwing anthony under the, bus but he didn't want to come. Clean so THIS Affi david really is reflective of, that meaning he doesn't tell the whole. Truths he basically says That anthony went inside Mister hings and, He Julius, graves did. Not he continued that he didn't see who Shot chen and was coerced
to testify that he had Seen anthony do. It so it takes the onus off Of, anthony but it's definitely not the exonerating evidence that one would hope, for as were the other filings in this.
Case everything that sort of happened in those initial post trial proceeds was sort of skirmishes around secondary, issues which unfortunately is often the best you can do for a convicted person until you get A Tom hoffman to fully reinvestigate the case like a.
Detective right Without, tom we wouldn't know the context Around shalima's, testimony which is what passed for a corroborating witness For graves and his whole network of, liars and then the Major brady violation in Hiding rachel for all of these. Years, remember she Witnessed charlik And graves talking about the inappropriate, touching which established the. Motive she Saw graves running from Mister hings with a. Gun then when she Confronted charleick And,
graves she was, threatened you talk too. Much you keep, Talking i'm gonna shut you, up was the. Quote not to even mention all of the previously unknown or ignored holes and shifts And graves's. Narrative and, finally we haven't even talked about this, yet but there was a cook at Mister hings who had a view of the shooter and described his complexion as quote not. Black this is consistent With graves's light brown, skin While anthony importantly has
a dark. Complexion, So, tom what is being done with all of these sculpatory evidence that you've?
Compiled the year four point forty was initially filed In, december and we Attach rachel's Affidavit shulima's. Statement we also found this documentation That graves had lied about reporting to his probation officer often and. Regularly we also found Additional brady, violations and as the case was, preceding we then get even more documents FROM, foil including That graves on the day of his, testimony received, money received housing together with his,
girlfriend his girlfriend's, brother and the brother's. Girlfriend and then he eventually gets twenty five thousand dollars in. Benefits all this comes, out so we then amend. Ourition we also found out That cologne had told one of his friends that it was his friend who committed the. Shooting, well his friend Was Julius. Graves that was only recently, ascertained as with, others AND i should, say look the current four forty eightyas in their, response they did not address
any of our. Allegations Did Julius graves lie or did he not? Lie not? Addressed they, said you could have a. Hearing, well the hearing's gonna take quite a, while And anthony should be home. Now the evidence is. Overwhelming the resistance on undoing a wrongful conviction is, you.
Yeah, absolutely it is even under normal. Circumstances but here In brooklyn there's been an even more obstinate than usual obstacle in this. Case anthony brought his case to The Brooklyn Conviction Review unit in twenty, seventeen and one would think that the good folks there would take one look At graves's bullshit and do something about. It but the man tasked with running THE CiU In brooklyn since twenty fourteen Was Mark, hale who just so happens to be the man who Prosecuted anthony's.
Case H.
But and this is a big. Butt Mark hale just retired at the beginning Of july twenty twenty. One so while this is good news For, anthony there are still plenty of ways that this might not work. Out even With Mark hale out of the. Way brooklyn Da Er gonzalez continued to oppose throwing out his wrongful, conviction knowing That anthony only had two other, options his four to forty motion in front Of Judge Jenny, chun who had never granted a single four to forty motion in his lengthy,
career or going in front of the par. Board both were dubious. Avenues so they went in front of this, judge And Julius graves not only admitted to perjuring himself at, trial also continued to say things that contradicted what he had previously said under. Oath, Meanwhile Mark hale also took the stand and claimed over and over again to have no memory of this Case Julius, graves or the Egregious brady.
Violations the emotion is still. Pending, meanwhile the summer of twenty twenty, Two anthony was eligible for, parole and the board was much more reasonable releasing him on his first. Try So, anthony welcome.
Back thank you for having me.
Again, Well i'm sure your, Family keisha and everyone is just ecstatic to have you. Home so tell me about your first moments on the outside with.
Them it was.
SURREAL i couldn't believe. It december, FIRST i was. RELEASED i walked through the, DOORS i put my different clothes on that my wife sent, me AND i stood outside AND i was Met byha with his big hug and smiles of. Joy ALTHOUGH i was, outside it didn't seem. Real nothing at that moment seemed. Real and we drove
to a Nearby. Dinah she just wanted to make sure THAT i had something good to eat for a. CHANGE i had sunnyside of, eggs hash brown Answer whole fries and it had some, toast and we ate and we. Talked she held my, HAND i held, hers AND i just tried to take it all.
IN i gotta imagine that all of this has been, amazing but. BITTERSWEET i, mean you're finally, free but only after all of those. Years years you can't get, Back and there must be a lot of mixed, emotions and it's got to just be a burning desire to just clear your.
Name that's the main. Thing because Although i'm, Free i'm still technically award to the. State i'm on parole right. NOW i have to report to a parole, officer so WHENEVER i need to go, SOMEWHERE i have to call and get permission to. GO i thank god that the parole officer that was designed to me is a cool parole.
Officer he's.
Decent you, know he does his, job but he's not one of those sticklers to just try to mess with, people so he's. Fair but, Yeah i'm Still i'm still a water to. State thing that could. Happen go for, BIT i get pulled, over somebody has a rough. Day he could just throw me right back in.
There so what are the plans going? Forward right?
Now it's a waiting.
Game it's nothing.
More we could do everything now rest in the hands of the, judge any chunk which is optimistic and hopeful that you know he'll he'll do the right day and exonerate. Me if, he as an exonerators, did then of course we're gonna put an Appealing, well you.
Have all of our support and your quest to lay claims your actual, innocence and with that we're gonna go to closing, arguments where first of, All i'm gonna thank you, AGAIN i mean just for being, you because you inspire the fuck out of. Me, HONESTLY i know you don't, curse BUT i. Do you inspire me to want to work harder and smarter and longer hours to help the
other countless number Of Anthony simmons out. There and Now i'm gonna sit back in my, chair turn my mic, off and just listen to any closing thoughts that you may want to. Share i'm really excited that you're. Here i'm really excited that you're. Free So jonathan And thomas will, go and then we're going to save you for.
LAST i think it's important to look at the broader picture and how this injustice, occurred and it's because the system did not value the life Of Anthony, simms and it also did not value the life Of lee Run.
Chun what we're fighting to do is to make sure that justice is served For anthony and also for the, victim for the truth to, emerge and every ounce of help we can get to ensure that happens is deeply appreciated because the truth has been clear from the start That Julius graves was the perpetrator of this awful, crime Not Anthony. Simms so thank you, Again, jason.
Thank you again for doing. THIS i believe you have had one hundred and forty five podcasts of people who were wontfully. CONVICTED i have listened to. Many while the facts, vary the stories are all the. SAME a horrific crime is, committed drawing wide media and public, attention perpetrators need to be taken off the street and held to. Account, however the concern of the police and the prosecutors is not to find the actual, perpetrator but to give the public
the perception that the case was. Solved it did not matter whether the right person was brought to, justice as long as the conviction was secured and the public fear. Allayed As jonathan, said neither the victim nor the defendant's life is valued as long as the cases were so to the public is not, valued as the police did not care whether the actual perpetrator remained loose and posed
the danger to the. Public also common in order to win these, cases favorable evidence pointing away from defendants guilt is disregarded, and in contravention of the prosecutor's constitutional, duty is hidden from the. Defender, meanwhile husband's, wives, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and sons and daughters are, destroyed all in the interest of winning at all. Courts people ask me why DO i do? THIS i Now i'm giving it. AWAY am A holocaust. SURVIVOR i was born in nineteen forty.
Four basically my, family extensive family was wiped, down and That holocaust was caused by people remaining. Silent undo this horrific, Injustice.
ANTHONY i just want to say thank you again for all the.
Supporters definitely to you for taking the Time i'll actually hear our stories and give us a platform or give me a platform to talk about these wrongful. Convictions Since i've been, Out i've been doing a lot of things to try to bring awareness a criminal. Justice i've been very supportive in different venues to speaking, engagements AND i will always try to lend a voice to the people who can't be. HEARD i just pray and hope that
you know this nightmare is over with. SOON i pray and hope That Danny tune just does the right thing and go over the material and review everything and then exonerate me so THAT i could live my. LIFE i Know i'll never be able to get those years. BACK i know That i'll never be able to get the scar off of me of, prison you know What i'm. Saying BUT i just want a fresh start AND i just pray for that. Opportunity and, AGAIN i thank you for to support and. Everything and of COURSE i thank
my beautiful wife because she's the. Truth that's my better half right. There so thanks, again.
Thank you for listening to Rapel. Conviction i'd like to thank our production Team Connor, Hall Jeff, cliburn And Kevin, artist 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
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