#345 Maggie Freleng with James Richardson

out of hand. I don't know who pushed me, but when they pushed me, seeing like, oh everything, he broke those By closing time, the scene was pandemonium, spilling out onto the sidewalk, shots were fired, and two local, well known white men were killed. Within a few days, James found himself under arrest for their murders. When I get to police pass, i've been out. Do you think race had anything to do with us as far as me

getting convicted? I do. And when they felt like a gag person killed two white individuals, I feel like people went harder. They feel like, okay, yeah, we gotta show him. But I didn't do it. So you know what I'm saying, you got the wrong person. My name is James richard said, I've been incarcerated for thirteen and a half years from Love of for Good This is Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling today. James Richardson. James Richardson was born on April thirtieth,

nineteen seventy seven, in Greenville, North Carolina. He's the middle child of nine kids. You know, we grew up into projects, but they didn't have a lot, So I would live in one of like the oldest and roughest like projects in Greenville, North Carolina, which is still there. It was called Kearney Park. It opened in nineteen sixty two and is notorious for its violence all night every night, you know,

gunshots and so much stuff going on it. As a kid, you're coming home and you got to worry about that, and you had to worry about You're trying to do your homework and different stuff, and there's so much, you know, going on. James's father wasn't really in his life growing up. He was raised by his mother, Dorothy and Richardson as well as his older siblings. Why you're not having a

father figure. I kind of leaned on my brothers as well as you know, could come to some of the guys, that's you know there was in a neighborhood to kind of just to help, you know, that would be there adjusted that you know, give me advice, so different things that I didn't know, and that you know, she're like a father should be able to strategue you. James's brother, Donald, taught him to play baseball. One day, Donald took him

to try out for a little league. The tryouts were in a different section of town than where they lived, and for the first time James saw what life looked like outside of the projects. Right, Wow, it's so different. Everything over there was just like grass, green grass, and everything is like clean and no trash nowear and everything. So it was different from me, and I met different people and really just became friends. But a lot of the guys and the friends James made were from all

different walks of life. I guess for me that was just like a turning point in something. I would just motivated and just get out. Just because I lived, you know, and I was born and I live here in this projects, right, doesn't mean that I had to they just be here and settle for this. So I kind of wanted to do something with myself, make it out of there because I didn't like, you know, the conditions that I was living in. I didn't like what I had to go through.

James dreamed of making it up and out, and not just for himself. I looked at what my mom, you know, what she went through by raising nine kids and really having no help, and I just wanted to, you know, be able to help her and move her out of the projects. James saw baseball as his ticket out until he discovered basketball. That was my getaway from a lot of the things that was going on around me. You know, when I was on that court, nothing else mattered to me.

And I just picked the game up and I just started playing, and I loved it. At six foot seven and two hundred and fifteen pounds, James was all but perfect for the court, and with his light skin and green eyes, he stands out in the crowd. James became a star high school basketball player and went on to in college professionally. I end up, you know, saying, being blessed to make get out of the hood to go to college. I got our full ride scholarship. James attended

Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. He went on to travel the world and play for several European countries, including Norway, Sweden, Bulgaria, and Greece. France was my first job. That the first time I've ever been out of the country. You know, I was happy because you know, you get paid, you paid real good old season. I was able to go over there and you know, do you know out there played a game that I love. My mom was happy. I was able to send money back to my family

to help. And on his first day in France, James made a new friend. I came out with this little kid just like they played eight years old, and he was sitting on my step and when I come out, he say basketball, basketball right, and so night, okay, tell him looking around right? Because I didn't speak French, and so I started to get it, like okay, he tried to sail, you're the basketball player. The boy waited for James every day and followed him everywhere to the store,

to the gym. And James noticed that the kid were the same clothes every day. He was from one of the poor areas of town. So what I did was I took the lighter to him and I bought him clothes. I bought him shoes, I made should he could bring his family. He brought his mom and them, they came to the game. I ain't just trying to just beat him. That was when James knew what he wanted to do in life. I always wanted to get back. Don't want to get back to you know kids. I think they

deserved that. So when he returned to the States, James became a mentor for kids in his community, coaching them when on one, advocating for them where they needed extra support, and helping out at youth basketball camps. I like helping. I like you giving back. I think that's something big with me. And I tell a lot of people that the money thing doesn't matter to me. I care about you know, people because I feel like, you know, I'm saying, we put on this earth to help to help others.

In his early thirties, James moved to Atlanta and started working as a party promoter. He used his celebrity status to draw other players to events, attracting crowds of fans and attendees. One night, he was hanging out with his cousin and some friends when he met someone. It was really casual. We kind of just we're hanging you know, We're all hanging out one night, and that initial meeting, James and I had like great conversation. It was just

very organic. This is Hibba lawad. The conversation was so fluid and so natural, and after that we really built a strong friendship. You know, James and I used to talk about dreams and aspirations and five to ten year plans, things that you don't usually talk about, you know, with someone that you just meet right off the bat. Hibbo wasn't looking for a relationship at the time, but there was just something about James. He was unlike any other

man that I had met. The conversations were always about how he wants to help people, how he wants to give back, you know, how he wants to make his mark in this world by doing for others what you know, maybe he didn't get or didn't have growing up. You know, his love for children is out of this world. Like every time we chatted, I learned something new. The two were developing a strong friendship, but before they could explore

their relationship further, something completely unexpected happened. Near the end of June, James headed back to Greenville for a visit. He was just back from overseas and didn't have a car of his own yet, so he had borrowed one, a white BMW to make the trip from Atlanta. He spent a night in Rally on the way, and a friend there asked him to give a ride to a couple of guys who joined James for the ride down

to Greenville. When he arrived in his hometown on June twenty ninth, James made his rounds visiting family and friends, and eventually landed at the house of a childhood friend, Darryl Powell. James's friends wanted to go clubbing, and they asked him to join. I had on some ball in shorts and like them, you know, Nike sandals out William want to go, and so everybody else like, oh man, let's go, let's go, let's go. So, you know, not me. Not want to disappoint people, because that's how I am.

I said, Okay, end up going. The guys that drove from Rally with James ended up taking the BMW, so he borrowed Garl's Cadillac to meet his brother Andre at Doctor Unk's Club. While there, the Rally guys showed up and asked to take the Cadillac instead of the BMW, so James switched cars with them. Around midnight, the group decided to move over to the Other Place nightclub, which was known as Ops. James arrived in the white BMW. I'm buying everybody drinks. We have them, fine, I'm buying drinks.

Were pretty much everybody in the club. Soon the rally guys returned with the Cadillac and gave James the key. James, wearing basketball shorts with no pockets, put the key in his sock and continue to party. So at some point it's still bump me. I tell him, you know, can you sleep? Stopped buff me? Okay, so hi, miss Lay. He buffed me again, but he trunk. The club was crowded and the bumping continued. He still he bumping me stuff,

and so I tell him stop. You know, next time he bumping night the third time, I said, listen, man, go over there. By this time, you know, his friends come told him like that. You know, I'm telling everybody let it go and be Barton to come to what's going on. I don't know. I say, it's got it right here. I guess he's drunk. He bumped me. You know,

I'm just telling to go over there. James remembers that one of the owners, Matthew Blackman, then came over and asked them all to leave, even you know, young lady club, don't come back to my club. The more so I tell him, I said, Man, I said, I haven't started anything. I said, but that's fine. I ain't gotta come key club the more whatever. Blackman then had bouncers escort James and his friends out. In the chaos, James left the

bmwks on the bar. It was closing time at this point, around two am, and people had started to gather on the sidewalk outside. Suddenly, James felt someone push him. I don't know, pushed me. Oh when they pushed messing like oh everything he broke those A brawl ensued. In the confusion, Blackman got punched, somebody hit owner, he grabbed me and because you know I still other have one day. Yeah, the sandals right with the like the left sand, the Nike sandals and stuff. We fall because some of my

head hit the seaman. I'm bleeding and stuff. Right, so an all day after that, right, it's all a second fight. People piled onto James. A bouncer later testified it was kind of pandemonium. Thanks for the one day. I'm trying to just leave. James eventually broke free from the melee. A witness later said they saw him walking away down the street by himself. James remembered the Cadillac key in his sack, so I go and I get the key again into Cadillac and I hope you're calling me, but

I just leave. This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company. AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making a positive difference in the lives of its employees and in the communities where they 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. The brawl died down and the crowd began to disperse. Black men later said that as they left, some of the guys who were kicked out with James that night were yelling, we have something for you. We're going to come back and shoot you up. Minutes later, a white BMW tore down the street towards Op's. People were still on the sidewalk when someone in the car

fired at least six shots into the crowd. The bullets hit two white men, twenty one year old to land In Blackly, a popular East Carolina University student, in twenty nine year old Andrew Kirby, a well known local business manager. Both men died from their injuries. Connie Elks was assigned as the case's lead investigator. During her investigation, she spoke to multiple witnesses who were outside of the club that night. People remembered that a professional basketball player was among those

kicked out of the club. These witnesses also gave descriptions of the shooter. Most of the descriptions were varied, but none of the witnesses descriptions match James. Nevertheless, Elks focused on him. Some witnesses were offered lineups. They told police that while they recognized James as being at the club, he was not the shooter or even one of the guys who was in the BMW when it drove by.

Witnesses Nicholas Golden and Brian Richards both said the person was shooting from the BMW's back passenger window, and they both described the shooter as a black male wearing a black shirt, a black and red baseball cap, and sunglasses. James remember was dressed differently. I had no Nike's sandals. Golden and Richards were the only two witnesses who actually saw the shooting. Richards immediately described what he witnessed to a bartender and she gave them both a pen and

paper so they wouldn't forget the details. While they gave witness statements that night, officers did not follow up with them for nearly eighteen months, and unlike other witnesses, they were never provided any lineups. Some people also reported seeing James Levops in a gold Cadillac parked around the corner. Regardless of all this, James was immediately the main suspect. His photo was blasted all over the media, and he

was publicly proclaimed the armed and dangerous killer. Later on the day of the shooting, June thirtieth, James was back in rally about an hour and a half away when his sister told him the police were looking for him. Confused, James called his friend Sean, who worked with the Greenville Police Department, and I asked Sean, that's the Sean was going on. You know, he pretty much told me nothing, we just want to talk to you. You know, they just wanted they just want to talk to you whatever.

So I was like, okay, like you know, that's fine. I thought he was. They were talking about that, just the fight about downtown. At this time, I don't know anything about no shoe, no, no, nothing about none of this. James didn't know anyone had been killed. He thought the police just wanted to know about the fight. He told Sean he'd talked to them in a couple of days when he was back in Greenville for Fourth of July, and they agreed to meet up. Then that's my town, right,

that's it. But I'll be back in a couple he said. That's fine, right, that's where you said. So I'm like okay. Once in Greenville, James told Sean to come to his grandma's house to talk. So when I get over there, I get out of the car. It's deeper everywhere, right, I'm thinking, like, okay, you know, everybody ready for the cook out. But at the same time, I see Sean standing out that is regular host. So as I get out, and then I see the police badge around his neck.

So then I'm just like, um, I said, Shaw, what's up man? I said, you know, okay, we want to talk about He was like, nah, we got to go down to the station. When James went to the Greenville precinct with his friend Sean, he was immediately arrested. When I get to police station, that's last time I was. I've been out. A few months later, he was indicted for two counts of first degree capital murder and was facing the death penalty. And every since then, I've been

fighting for my innocent Wow. Man, like, this can't be now. I've never been in trouble, so I don't know. I didn't know what this space. You know, people tell the truth. I'm thinking that I go to trial and I'll be out, you know, if you know my innes isn't gonna prevail. But that's not what happened. It was clear to the district attorneys at the time, probably the law enforcement officers at the time, that this was a career making kase.

This is don Blair Grove, the executive director of Emancipate NC, a North Carolina social and criminal justice reform nonprofit organization. She's also a post conviction attorney helping James's legal team, and if they could convict a high profile celebrity like James, they would be able to build whole careers off of his conviction. Whether it was right or wrong. They were going to make an example out of James Richardson for shooting and killing two white men. The prosecutors were District

Attorney Clark Everett and Ada Kimberly Rob. The prosecutor's theory was that James was the only person in the BMW and that wild he leaned out the passenger window to shoot into the crowd, ultimately killing Blackley and Kirby. During a pre trial hearing, Everett and Rob called four bar patrons, expecting them to identify James as the person driving and

shooting from the BMW. These witness descriptions were inconsistent. They all said the shooter was a medium to dark skinned black man, but none of their differing descriptions matched James, a light skinned, green eyed black man. At the end of the pre trial hearing, it was evident that the States case was hanging in the balance. So Detective Alps new, We've got a problem. We don't have anyone that can put James in that car. This is Heather Radelaide, who

is James's post conviction attorney of record. So one week before trial, low and behold, they discover a brand new eyewitness and his name is Fidel Thorpe. He happened to be the assistant prosecutor's daughter's soccer coach. By the time of trial, two years after the shooting, Vidal Thorpe became the state's star witness, given he was the only one who positively identified James as the shooter, even though he was never given a lineup. He testified that he saw

James's face through the passenger window. Detective Connie Elks testified under oath that one of the witnesses, Rachel Burke, saw a black man wearing a white tshirt go to the trunk of the BMW and take out a gun. Detective Elks also said that Rachel identified James as the shooter on the stand. However, Rachel's testimony undermined all of this. She pointed to the defendant, so that's not the person identified in the lineup. To this day, we don't know

who she identified in the lineup. Then, Corporal John Jenkins provided bombshell evidence, the only actual evidence the state had against James a surveillance video. The video was of the white BMW racing down the street, showing only one person in the car shooting at the crowd. Officer Jenkins said the video was the original and that it hadn't been altered or modified in any way. James's attorneys, Tommy Moore and Jeffrey Cutler, did their best to refute the state's argument,

but the video left them stymied. The court also denied the eyewitness identification expert they retained, so all they could do was point out the inconsistencies and the witness testimonies on their own. However, they were able to present an alibi witness for James, Daryl Powell. He testified that he saw James immediately after the fight that night, when James returned the gold Cadillac to his house. The defense also presented Nicholas Golden and Brian Richards, the only two witnesses

to describe the shooter to responding officers. They both testified that it was not James who they saw in the call. The jury went to deliberation on April first, twenty eleven. Most of the jurors were convinced that James was guilty, but as it turns out, there was one loan holdout. Three days into deliberations, one of the black jurors, Lamuel Anderson, sent a note to the judge asking to be removed from the jury. He felt like James will Sendison, but

he was intimidated inside of the jury room. The racial tension and hostility in the jury room, Anderson said, had become intolerable. The judge has a duty at that point to take that juror out of the jury room and ask him questions about why he's requesting this. But this judge didn't do that. Instead, he brought the entire jury out and essentially admonished mister Anderson in front of all of his fellow jurors, say quote, I must emphasize the fact it is your duty to reach a verdict on

all of the charges. Judge W. Russell Duke Junior went on to say, quote, I have already instructed you that your verdicts must be unanimous. Each of you must agree on the verdicts. Now, let me be clear about what Heather is described. What she's actually describing is the living

manifestation of systemic and institutional racism. The fact that this drawer raised the concerns about racial intimidation happening inside of the jury deliberation room should have given this judge a strong pause and created strong doubt as to whether or not a fair verdict could have been reached. It took like three four days for them to come back with a conviction on a capital key. Their deliberation ended with

a unanimous decision. Anderson later came forward to say that he believed James to be one hundred per scent innocent, but the intimidation from the other jurors had been too much. The jury declared James Richardson guilty and I'm just like wow, and so it's like, somebody take peace. It isn't punch him in the stomach when you hear a guilty James was convicted of murder on April sixth, twenty eleven. The prosecution chose not to seek the death penalty. Instead, James

received two sentences of life without parole. And here's a side note. Since nineteen eighty three, Pitt County, or James was tried, has sent seven men to death row, and all of them have been black. Pitt County has never sought the death penalty. Against a white defended accused of killing a black man. Statistically, in North Carolina, defendants are twice as likely to be sentenced to death if they're accused of killing a white person. It was hurtful and

it was just I was just stunning. I couldn't believe it. I feel like a like a gag person kill two white individuals. I feel like people were harder. They feel like, okay, yeah, we gotta show him. James filed a direct appeal in July twenty twelve, mainly arguing that the court aired in

denying his eyewitness experts testimony. The appeal was denied, but his team continued to file petitions for relief, and in the meantime, he tried to focus on staying positive by praying and continuing to do what he loved the most, mentoring a lot of the kids. Man, I don't want him to go back out there coming in the same the same way to Camy. I want him to go back out there to be a positive influence on someone else. You know what I'm saying. I'm trying to help people.

I want people to do better. James and Hibba hadn't seen much of each other since he'd returned to the States, but he was on her mind for a couple of months after the incident happened. You know, I was constantly sitting I'd say, like with a heavy heart because I knew I knew, I knew in my gut that James hadn't done this. And a couple of months later I ended up getting you know, his contact information. What made

you want to reach out to him? I couldn't sleep. So, you know, when you have this like just gut wrenching feeling in your stomach that something's wrong, I wanted more answer. Right, It wasn't just okay, you know this is a great guy. You've had this heavy heart, you know in your gut that he couldn't have done this. But I needed answers.

So Hibba started pouring over James's case, trying to understand what had happened, and every time I would look through another piece of paper or another police report, I'm like, this makes absolutely no sense, right, this makes absolutely zero sense. Finally, after nearly five years of investigating on her own, Hibba got some help from Heather. After looking it over, Heather agreed to take on James's case. Then, when I looked

at James's case, I couldn't believe it. I've been looking at capital murder chases in the state for were twenty five years, and this case is an outlier. I don'tlike anything I've ever seen. Dawn also joined Heather to fight for James's innocence. She says it was obvious detective Elks had tunnel vision focusing on James, not only because he was a celebrity, but also because of his race. The undercurrent in any of these types of small towns is that black men are scary and they have a place

that they're supposed to stay in. James Richardson had made a very successful life for himself, had not stayed in that place that he was supposed to stay in, was doing much better than many of the local residents. One of their main post conviction arguments that the trial was fundamentally unfair focuses on Lamuel Anderson. That's the juror who was intimidated into convicting James despite believing he was innocent.

This happens all of the time in our judicial system, and it is at the heart of why we end up with so many, so manyful convictions that are disproportionately impact in black communities. It is because our systems are designed to subjugate black voices and to amplify white voices, even when those white voices are racist. Additionally, the team secured an interview with a. Vital Thorpe, the state's star witness,

and he recanted. At trial, Thorpe had testified quote I saw his face, but when questioned by the investigator, he admitted he did not see the shooter's face, that he only saw an arm and a gun coming out the back window of the car. They also argued that by the court denying expert testimony for the defense, they violated

James's due process rights. The defenses expert would have explained to the jury that many of the witnesses were white, and studies have shown that cross racial identifications are often flawed because of own race by In James's case, white witnesses confused him with another bar patron who was a dark skinned blackmail Black witnesses, on the other hand, were

able to describe James accurately. James's brother, Andrea, also came forward and signed an affidavit stating that during the scuffle in the club, he was the one who took the BMW keys off the bar. Remember, James left them there amidst the chaos. Andre, who was never called to the witness stand during the initial trial, said he gave the keys to one of the guys from Raleigh who was known as B. And Finally, it turns out the key evidence against James, the surveillance video footage that showed the

BMW was not the original video. It was actually a lower quality copy that had been altered, and the prosecution did not preserve the original copy For the defense, Heather and Dawn analyzed the video and saw that it was badly distorted. What they used to support that version of events were incredibly tainted videos, videos that never should have

been introduced into trial. The defense council had no idea that they even needed to do deep dive investigation into the validity of that video, because it was never disclosed to them that that video and those images were significantly deteriorated. In other cases, District Attorney Everett had been known to suppress exculpatory evidence, for example, that lab tests were altered and no evidence actually linked the defendant to the crime.

On September eighth, twenty twenty one, James filed his second motion for appropriate relief, arguing all of this and asking the court to vacate his conviction. Today, after years of writing and visits, James and Hibba are engaged to be married. It's just me and James, like nothing else matters, Like we kind of get into this zone where it's just the two of us and there's nothing better than being able to see him, like laugh and smile for a little bit. They often talk about their plans for the

future aside from you know, getting married. We have collectively decided that, you know, we have a bigger purpose in this world, and that is, you know, not to just kind of carry out his original plans of helping you know, children in underserved communities, but hopefully, you know, God willing would love to help people in this space, you know, people that have been wrongfully convicted, families that are dealing with wrongfully convicted individuals or you know, whether they're spouses

or children, and um, you know, really just finding a way to take all of our experiences and help other people. James has developed widespread support for his innocence in the Greenville community, where he's known as a youth mentor and a role model. There are still people in Greenville that say, gosh, a lot of these kids would have turned out so much better if James was here. I know one day I'm gonna get out. I know one day I'm gonna get out to kind of know I didn't do it.

So you have to just stay positive through this whole situation. You can't never give up, because if you ever give up, day your accepting. We have to stand up, you know, because that's the only way that you're gonna be able to They're gonna make a difference in life. If you'd like to help support James, you can sign a petition for his release at change dot org. Special thanks to Lisa Spees for her tireless efforts and work on James's case.

Next time Unwrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling Amanda Bussey. It was so bad, like I couldn't even go in Walmart to get divers without him accusing me, and then I would risk, you know, getting beat on and stuff like that. There was no Laban's. She was going to make sure of that. Thanks for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling. Please support your local innocence organizations and go to the links in our bio to see how you can help.

I'd like to thank our executive producers Jason Flam and Kevin Wurdis, as well as our senior producer, Annie Chelsea, producer Lila Robinson, and story editor Sonya Paul. The show is edited and mixed by Annie Chelsey, with additional production by Jeff Cleber and Connor Hall. The music in 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 at Lava for Good. On all three platforms, you can also follow me on both Instagram and Twitter at Maggie Freeling. Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number one