#405 Jason Flom with Pierre Rushing - podcast episode cover

#405 Jason Flom with Pierre Rushing

Nov 09, 202339 minEp. 405
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Episode description

On April 15, 2011, Dawone Taylor was murdered in Oakland, CA over a dispute about an allegedly stolen ipod. Pierre Rushing, a promising young musician who never met Mr. Taylor, was later charged and convicted for the murder primarily on the questionable testimony of a struggling drug addict who was unable to accurately describe Pierre’s appearance. 

Learn more and get involved:
Pamela Price
[email protected]
1225 Fallon Street Suite 900
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 272-6222 

https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason-flom

Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Speaker 1

Our coverage of Pierre Rushing's case originally aired on July eighth, twenty twenty. We will now re release that episode with additional content to reflect some exciting new developments. In the early morning of April fifteenth, twenty eleven, Duwan Taylor stole an iPod for an Oakland drug dealer named C. Two of his other customers, Patrick Smith and Robert green gave Ce a ride in search of the iPod thief. They spotted mister Taylor pulled up next to him, and See

proceeded to shoot and kill him. Over this trivial slight Nearly a week would go by before Robert Green would offer cops information and an uncertain description of the shooter. A few weeks and several descriptions later, Green would claim to have seen C wearing a red hat. A few days after that, police would approach Pierre Rushing, a man who had never been known as C but wearing a red hat. They'd bring Pierre's juvie photo and his name to Robert Green, who went on to identify him as

the shooter. Despite a solid alibi, no physical evidence whatsoever or anything to corroborate Robert Greene's highly questionable identification. Pierre Rushing's burgeoning rap career and promising future were stolen by Green and the criminal legal system. He's currently serving fifty to life for a frivolous and tragic crime committed by

a drug dealer need See. Patrick Smith has since signed affidavits and testified to Pierre's innocence, and another of C's customers that night has bravely set a legal name to the culprit, and even though mister Rushing did not name See, we have censored his name from this episode for mister Rushing's safety. Meanwhile, the state of California continues to ignore evidence of Pierre's actual innocence and to fight his honest attempts to regain his freedom. This is Wrongful Conviction with

Jason Flamm. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm. That's me and today we're going to tell you about the case of Pierre Rushing. We'll speak with one of his post conviction attorneys, Marvin Lou as well as taking a call from Kern Valley Correction in California to hear from Pierre himself.

Speaker 2

This is Global's HELLNK. You have a three post call from your version.

Speaker 3

This call Angelo telephone number will be monitored and.

Speaker 2

Recruited to accept this call soon or dial five now. Thank you for using Globaltialink.

Speaker 1

Hello, good morning, Good morning. I'm glad you're here. I mean, I'm sorry you're here under these circumstances, but I'm definitely glad you're here. I know we have limited times, so let's get right into it. Today's episode, we're going to tell the story of the man we have on the phone now, Pierre Rushing, who's serving fifty years. The Nightmare starts on April fifteen, twenty eleven, at three forty five

as when there's a murder. But let's go back to your childhood, because you had a difficult upbringing and you were coming out of that and building a career in music when it all went haywire.

Speaker 2

So I grew up in Oakland, California. My father was a ascent fee in and out of prison. Smart was a digit crack cocaine. So I don't want to say like any other Oakland kid, but I mean a lot of kids in the in the that grew up in the nineties were just product of the our environment. We grew up looking at things that we believed to be right, so we as we mature, we get to see that they were really wrong.

Speaker 1

And how did you get into music?

Speaker 2

My auntie used to work for She switt her name with Tracy Rush, and she since passed in twenty thirteen. But just being around her, she took me in her wing, just taking me to the studio or her as I became addicted to you.

Speaker 1

Is it fair to say by twenty eleven things were starting to look up for you in terms of possibly building a career.

Speaker 2

And yeah, when I was arrested for this face, Actually friends of mine has said that the police were looking for me for this time, and we all laughed about it because everybody knew that I couldn't have done. And I have been wrapping and going to the studio, staying assistant, shooting videos. And actually when I was arrested, I was open up for Bay Area Ledge by the name of surname Queen, and we had a big tour van with

my pictures on and promoting my music and everything. So, yeah, it was coming up for me.

Speaker 1

Yeah, you were on exactly, You're on your way up, and then everything went completely haywire. Now let's turn the conversation to Marvin lou. Marvin is a criminal defense attorney of some repute and he has been representing Pierre for some time. Now, let's just paint a picture of what happened.

Speaker 3

The date was April fifteenth, twenty eleven, and what happened was two individuals by the name of Patrick Smith and Robert Green. We're doing crack cocaine or the day and a half leading up to this young man's killing, and Patrick Smith and Robert Green went to an apartment in Oakland to purchase more crack cocaine. Patrick Smith was driving, Robert Green stayed in the car while Patrick Smith went up to the apartment to purchase more drugs. So Patrick

Smith meets up with his drug dealer. Patrick Smith knows him as see the letter c who is the actual person responsible for the murder of Dewane Taylor. While Patrick Smith was in the apartment, there were several other people present, and mister Taylor left the apartment. Shortly after mister Taylor left, then sees iPod turned up missing and someone in the

apartment said that mister Taylor had taken sees iPod. What happened next was Patrick Smith the shooter Se and another individual who was also charged as a co defendant named Andre Morris. They all left the apartment and went and got in Patrick Smith's car to go find mister Taylor, who had allegedly taken C's iPod. Robert Green was waiting in the car, sitting in the front passenger seat. So pat Smith drives around the corner. They see mister Taylor

walking down the street and See or Andre Morris. Pat Smith wasn't sure which told him to stop the car. C and Andre Morris got out of the car, confronted mister Taylor, and Se shot and killed mister Taylor on the sidewalk in front of a fast food restaurant. They then got back into the car. Pat Smith drove a short distance. Both See and mister Morris got out of the car.

Speaker 1

And ran away.

Speaker 3

So that's the factual backdrop for this thing.

Speaker 1

Follow along here because Pierre, who were on the phone with now had no connection to viction, no knowledge of the actual perpetrator, and he was at his grandmother's at the time with a young lady named Lauren Richardson. On the time and date of the murder. Have you ever had a nickname of C for it? Never.

Speaker 2

Never, I've always went by the name of Stink or people from my neighborhoods to call me peace, thank being for my first name is Pierre. I have never never went by the Namac.

Speaker 1

So what happened? How did you end up getting wrong for convicted here?

Speaker 2

Well, one of the past is Robert Green. He goes to the police ninety five days after he allegedly seees this crime, and he tells them that a he's seen as murdering a guy named see commissed this murder. He gives the police multiple different descriptions. I believe his first description is five a light skin, one hundred and twenty pounds. I haven't been one hundred and twenty pounds since I was eighteen years old, let alone at nineteen years old,

and I'm not light skinned. The second time I believe he sees the police, he switches it up again. So allegedly he says he sees ce on April thirties, which would have been fifteen days after the crime, and he went back to the police and say, you know what, I lied again. I believe he was six foot two, brown skin, and they had on red shirt and a red hat. I'm not sure what kind of lineup they were showinging, but he still couldn't identify who they believed

to be seen. The police seen an area that he said that he had seen seeing. I believe it was May third, wearing a red hat, and they stopped me. And when they stopped me, they said, what is your name? I don't lie to the police. Year Russian is my name? I say, hey, we're looking for a guy that beat a guy up. I haven't beaten the guy up. And then they leave when they take that name back to I believe Robert Green, who was at the police station, and they show him the picture four days after he's

seen a guy with a red hat. He said, you know what, he had asked me, I'm Bessie. And that's how the whole way of his spawn them looking for a guy would have red hat four days after Robert grig because he's seen this guy and.

Speaker 1

A month after the crime. When they first questioned you, they wanted to know what you were doing on the day of the crime. But when they were asking you this question, it was already five weeks later, right, And this is a trick that they you Sometimes you're like you're supposed to remember exactly. Like I don't ask anybody in the audience right now what were you doing. Let's go back thirty five days from whatever day you're listening

to this. Tell me right now what you were doing at a particular time on that day, and I'll give you a dollar. Because that's impossible, but it is very effective because then they can say you lied, because there's no way anyone could possibly remember that unless it was their birthday or some other like really important day.

Speaker 2

Right April fifteenth, as you would have it, is my father's birthday. So without me even thinking, you say April fifteen, Hey, there's nothing I was with my dad. I seen my dad on his birthday. Not one time at any trial transcript, police evidence Torty's Germany, do they ever say where were you three forty five a m. So if they say no, you weren't with your dad. I also remember that I had a traffic shot that day, and they win shick. It showed that I was on the truth of the

say no not at that time. It took me, i believe my attorney, for about a week of jog in my memory to figure out where did I sleep at three four forty five am? That morning, and I've remembered it was my grandma. So it was because my mom came to me that morning and said, where are you going to get your dad for his birthday? That's how I was able to put the pieces and a pleazzure together. But by that time it was trial, so they looked

at it as if, oh, this is a third alibi. Well, no, I've given you everywhere I went from April fifteenth, and so that's how they played it, which is very nefarious because they see that I was trying to tell them everything at.

Speaker 1

The time that this crime was committed at three forty five in the morning. Now we know what you were doing when you were supposedly out shooting somebody who you never knew and don't know and still don't know and never will know.

Speaker 2

Well, April fourteenth, I was shooting a video and if you go on YouTube right now, the song was called you Next, Thank take a Trip. Lauren Richardson was an associate of the camera man helped shoot the video. She was also my girlfriend April fourteenth, going in table fifteen, she came to my randma talked roughly about nine fund tenn'clock and.

Speaker 1

We spent the night.

Speaker 2

We enjoyed each other's company. We deal with any other boys from the girlfriend.

Speaker 4

Hello.

Speaker 5

My name is Lauren Richardson. I am an Oakland resident and current legal apprentice. I entered the field with a lot of motivation from the tragic situation that happened with Pierre Rushing. I originally was into video. On April fourteenth, Pierre went to shoot a video. It's called take a Trip. We were super excited because he has so much support from our neighborhood. Everybody knew he was a great rapper, so when he finally shot the video, we were super excited.

We went back to his grandmother's house afterwards just to kind of recap, and we stayed up all night watching movies, laughing, making plans for the future. We you know, did what couples do late night, and I left early in the morning because I had to take my son to school. And it was some weeks after that he kind of disappeared, you know, when somebody else found me, it was like, you know, he's in jail.

Speaker 4

I'm like what.

Speaker 5

Because I was kind of mad, you know, I was. I thought he ghosted me, to be honest, So it was no way that he could have committed the crime. I have never felt as powerless as I felt in this situation to express reality and be believed, and you know this huge power structure for them to be able to create a false reality, like even with the witness, the witness is not a credible witness, nowhere near as credible as I am. Because I'm not going to go perjure myself. I'm not going to risk my life to

keep a killer out of jail. So for me to go up there in front of all of these people and for them to not take my word for it when they had no other evidence, it bothers me to this day. It's a big part of the motivation for me to go into this apprenticeship program because I want to learn how to speak up for other people who can't speak up for themselves, because this has to stop. They ruined an entire family.

Speaker 1

The idea that we in this country can send in somebody like you, a promising young man with his life ahead of him, to fifty years based on the testimony of an admitted crackhead it was up for two days or changed the story four times, really should make everybody a little scared. Yeerh, can you tell us a little bit about the trial itself. The killing is on camera.

Speaker 2

When I heard they had it on camera, I'm starting to kick my feet up and just wait for the trial days because I'm like, if it's on camera, I'm going on. I never in a million years imagined that the camera would be low quality or you really can't see anything on the camera. You see a vehicle pull up and it's just green, so you can't release anything. And I remember my heart just dropping because I knew

that that was what was supposed to exonerate me. They had no evidence, no physical They have the murdered vehicle with twelve fingerprints inside the car and say I got inten out of that car four times. None of the fingerprints mats made. One of the prosecution's witness was a lady by the name of the Carli smith Orf. She witnessed the crime her and pass men for best friends. She had been in that car a week before. When the police forensic pathologists became the call on Avery twenty second,

they tried to call his fingerprints in that car. Therefore, when she testified she hadn't been in the car seven days prior to the killing, that means that the car couldn't have possibly been wiped down. And if the car wasn't wiped down, and you found twelve to fourteenth fingerprints in that car, and per Robert Green's testimony, I got in and out of that car four times, and I killed this guy with no gloves. Why don't wear my

fingerprints on the car? Second, if Robert greenis took the leave, why would you ever call me five days light skinned one hundred and twenty pounds? Why would you ever change it to five teens one hundred and sixty pounds? In that preliminary hearing when the judge allowed me to leave the court room, they brought Robert Breen in and they said, could you please describe to killer? This guy switched it up to six to two hundred and twenty pounds. This

guy's not to be believed. He was addicted to cracking. Heroon said he had been up for two days off cracking. Araon, I had bitnessie seven time failings. Third, you have to call a smith another prosecutions with us. I didn't see him. I don't know who that is.

Speaker 1

Well, yeah, I mean our standard in this country is supposed to be reasonable doubt. And this goes way beyond that standard.

Speaker 2

I had hope that you know, I would be exaggerated.

Speaker 1

And did you have proper representation?

Speaker 2

Now, I went to a trial with a pub defender and I went speedy trial. I was arrested in May, I was convicted and all of this, And the reason I went speedy truck because I felt like I had nothing to hide. I didn't do it, So why would I wait where I see in my counting people weigh four or five years to fight the case because they're trying to wait for the better deal. The first day a trial, I remember the judge saying something like, hey, I know the DA is going to give you a deal.

She looked to your left, get a deal because I know that he's going to give you one. And I just remember shaking my head, no, no, no, because why would I take time for something if I didn't do it. They know I'm not seen, so they want to know if what we call in the urban community, if I'm going to snitch, I know a lot of seas. That's that's the one for two. It's not my job to do the police a job for them, you know, So if I wasn't there, what do you expect me to

do or maybe it could have been this guy. Maybe it could be this guy. If I do that, I'm worse than Robert Green because you were not there and they know that and they feed off that.

Speaker 1

Yeah, jailhouse snitches has just sort of become like standard operating procedure. Correct.

Speaker 2

It's a nightmare. It's a living nightmare. But that was that was the summer of the travel.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that is a nightmare scenario. So the jury goes out when they came back in what was that moment like, when they actually found you guilty of a crime you didn't commit.

Speaker 2

When they came back with it, it was It was weird because the whole trial, I had twenty to thirty people every single day of my trial, friends from the neighborhood, family, girlfriend, associates. But on that day, nobody was in the courtroom, not even the victim's family, nobody from my family. That was just like a sense of loneliness, a sense of like me against the world, because you're sitting here, convicted me for a crime that I didn't commit, and I know

that you know I didn't commit this crime. And I couldn't even look back to the look in the eyes of my mother, my father, and my grandmother, and I felt like that was already said for I'm like, why wasn't even the victims family like where? It was just a feeling that I never want to feel again.

Speaker 1

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. Marvin, take it back to how you first met Pierre, or how you first became aware of his case, and why you chose to get involved in this case. You must get hit with cases all the time.

Speaker 3

I actually came to represent Pierre after a different attorney, Stephen Bedrick, who was handling his direct appeal in state court, also filed the habeas corpus petition in the California State Court of Appeal.

Speaker 1

What is the literal interpretation of habeas corpus.

Speaker 3

Habeas corpus means to produce the body in Latin, and what that means is that it's an allegation by us that Pierre is being unlawfully incarcerated. And once I dug into the case and reviewed the evidence in Pierre's case and did some investigation of my own, that very much turned out.

Speaker 4

To be true.

Speaker 1

What went wrong here?

Speaker 3

I think a number of things went wrong, but most critically, there was evidence which could have exonerated Pierre which was not introduced. The only witness in the case, Robert Green, testified that Pierre was supposedly the person who committed this crime. That is the only evidence in the case. And in the trial against Pierre, that witness testified that the person who committed this crime was talking on his cell phone

a mirror minutes before shooting the victim. In this case, Pierre's phone records were available and that was part of the habeas petition and got him a hearing subsequently, and those phone records established conclusively that Pierre was not talking on his cell pH at the time when the perpetrator was. And if those records were introduced, I think that it would be a pretty compelling piece of evidence to establish that, in fact, Pierre is not the person responsible for this murder.

But they weren't introduced, The jury never heard of them.

Speaker 1

What about the fingerprint stuff? How did they manage to get around that? That seems like that could have been enough on its own. How did he not leave his fingerprints? Is he a ghost? Well?

Speaker 3

The fingerprint evidence was introduced by way of a stipulation or the evidence technician who actually gathered the latent fingerprints from the car that was used in the homicide. That witness did not testify. Rather, Pierre's trial attorney chose to have that evidence admitted by way of an agreement with the prosecutor, simply the conclusion that Pierre's fingerprints were not in fact recovered from that car, and had that witness been called, it would have led to another important piece

which was not introduced and known to the jury. That evidence technician also collected DNA from that car, swabbed all of the areas of that car where the killer sat just before the murder occurred. In addition, there was a cigarette but that was recovered from the floorboard of that car, which was also swabbed for DNA. That DNA evidence was not tested in time for Pierre's trial, and that was

also the subject of his subsequent Avias petition. So what happened was after we obtained an evidentiary hearing in state court to attempt to prove Pierre's innocence. As I started reviewing the case materials, I realized that this DNA evidence existed which would completely exonerate him, and no one had tested it. So there's a procedure under California law that allows the convicted individual to ask the court to now have that evidence tested because it would prove that he's innocent.

The government opposed our efforts to have that evidence tested, and ultimately the judge in this case refused to allow us to test that evidence. I then appealed that refusal, and the Court of Appeal refused to allow us to test that evidence. Why is it that they wouldn't want to have the DNA evidence in the case tested if they're so confident that, in fact, he's the perpetrator.

Speaker 1

I never can understand in any case, especially in a case as serious as this one, a murder case, why they wouldn't want to have every stone turned over and have every piece of evidence tested so that they can find out not only that in this case Pierre didn't do it, but they can find out who actually did. Marvin, Yolanda Washington, and Patrick Smith are pivotal players in this whole wrongful conviction. Can you explain their role in what went wrong here? Sure?

Speaker 3

Of course Pat Smith was a charged co defendant in the case at the time of Pierre's trial, so he did not testify at the trial. He had his fifth Amendment right. But after Pierre's trial was long over and after Patrick Smith resolved his part of the case for accessory after the fact, he then signed an Affidavid which

helped Pierre get an evidentiary hearing. He indicated both in his affidavit as well as in his testimony at the evidentiary hearing that his drug dealer is a man who goes by the name of c and that individual was not Pierre Rushing. Pat Smith at the hearing refused to name that individual because he was afraid for his life.

But one of the people who was in that apartment was a woman by the name of Yolanda Washington, and she also did not testify a trial, but after Pierre was convicted, she signed an Affidavid under penalty of perjury, indicating that she, of course, having been in that apartment, knew who C was. She obviously knew who Andre Morris was. And what she said in her affid David was that Pierre Rushing is not the drug dealer who shot and killed mister Taylor. Pierre Rushing is not C. But that's

not all. Indeed, Yolanda Washington went so far as to identify who that person was. Now, before we get into this, let me make one thing clear, which is that Pierre does not know the identity of the perpetrator of this homicide.

Yolanda Washington, in her affid David did name that individual who goes by the nickname C. In fact, his first name is his name is and of course it would make perfect sense that he would go by the nickname C because his name is Pierre Rushing, does not have a sea in his name, and she has never been Pierre's nickname. Because Pierre is not the person responsible for this killing. That affidavit was part of what enabled Pierre

to get a hearing in superior court. Unfortunately, Miss Washington was a homeless individual at that time, and my investigator was essentially unable to locate her to get her to testify in court. So I filed a motion essentially asking that her affidavit be considered because she was unavailable, and that request was denied.

Speaker 1

Wow, it's pretty courageous, even after the fact that these two people both were willing to put their own lives at risk to identify someone who they know is a killer. And I think that speaks volumes to the veracity of their statements.

Speaker 2

For me, And I don't mean to say it like it's because of the social climate that we have one on the United station right now. But growing up, I've always thoughts us because I grew up in an agent of police. But I just watch how they need those that look likely here at these we're talking about a guy give a description on April thirty of a red hat, and you see me on the dart and say, well, hey, that's a guy wearing a red hat. Let me stop him.

And now my whole life is his spending in a spider where not a thread of physical evidence links me to this crime. And if it could happen to me, it can't happen to anybody.

Speaker 1

Yeah, and I'm glad you brought that up. I mean, we you know, every day there's more information coming out, and I'm grateful that the public is starting to have really heightened awareness to the fact that black people, it's just put it right out there, are so much more likely to be victimized by not just police brutality, but by wrongful convictions, by wrongful prosecutions, being forced into taking plea bargains to things they didn't do. The whole system

is stacked. Wrongful convictions, though, do happen to people from all races all that. Now, these all different creeds, all different religions. I mean, we've had people on the show from every walk of life.

Speaker 2

I mean, you can take the case of Mayan Ferguson in a two thousand and one Columbus, Missouri killing. He was wrongfully convicted and he's a white man, you know what I mean. Like, wrathful convictions don't have a skin color. I mean, it's usually what I'm going through. I witness misidentifications, i'm valid, forensic science, false confiicients, you know, police or prosecutor misconduct. This is a slew of things on why wrathful convictions happened.

Speaker 1

Then there's just laziness too. It's like, oh, we got a guy with a red hat, good enough, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, But the idea that the justice system at every level, now we see it on video, of how the system treats people like yourself, like George Floyd, like so many others, as expendable, disposable, and yet I mean, there are very very real consequences. That's why we're on the phone with you from prison now, or you and I might be working together on a record instead of.

Speaker 2

I'm innocent. If you have any doubt in my innocence, I would actually just think on these key points, what guilty person would push for DNA testing of the materials that were sought out the vehicle if I wasn't innocent, What guilty man would push for the enhancement of the video if I wasn't innocent, Or man, I'm gonna push for the phone records. I'm minister, I didn't commit this crime. I have nothing to do with this.

Speaker 1

Crime, Pierre. Last time we spoke Dawan Taylor's actual murderer, the guy known as Sea now his co conspirator Andre Marris, as well as an accessory after the fact, Patrick Smith. They had both come forward to definitively state that you had absolutely nothing to do with the ones murder and

are not, in fact C. That's not you. You and C are different people, but for their own safety, understandably they would not name C. However, a woman named Yolanda Washington, who was prepared to do just that, she couldn't be located for your evidentiary hearing. And then Smith and Morris were just explained away. And additionally, your request for DNA

testing against items from the car was denied. And you're right, why would a guilty person, what guilty person would be seeking DNA testing on items that might contain their own DNA? What do you want to cebmit your own guilt if you were doing that, if you actually had a guilty conscience. Or why would they try to enhance crime scene video if they knew it was going to point to their guilt.

All of this in addition to how flimsy the state's evidence was to begin with the sole witness I'm talking about Robert Green, of course, the sole witness who cooperated with police to avoid being charged as well, whose description of C changed three count up three times, and one of those times, Green said that she had worn a

red hat. Again, Robert green newcy knew just how dangerous he really was, yet he felt quite comfortable identifying you, Pierre, after you were picked up while wearing a red hat.

Speaker 6

Keep in mind they stopped me two days after that description was given, So I guess this quote unquote killer was supposed to have been wearing the same clothes and hat for two days straight. I mean, like it was bananas from the beginning. I've never fitted description of being five to eight light skinned. I've never rocked the ball. It haven't been one hundred and twenty pounds since I was ten years old.

Speaker 4

I mean, it just has been bananas from the game.

Speaker 6

Nobody can convince me that he thought I was ever the guy in the car.

Speaker 1

With him, because you weren't. What you were was you were with Lauren that night at your grandmother's house, and her testimony was corroborated by the absence of your fingerprints in the vehicle. Since your episode aired in your case was picked up from Marvin lou pro bono, by the way, by one of the biggest and baddest law firms in the country, Greenberg Trauick and one of their star attorneys, Jordan Gratzinger has been hard at work. I mean that's an understatement.

Speaker 6

Yeah, he's a beast. We have a great investigator by the name of Grant Fine overturning all the stones in the case, getting Alfy Davis that wasn't gotten before, talking to witnesses that hadn't spoken before, and tracked Robert Green down. I was sitting here on my bunk and Jordan Grassinger he sent me a message and he just was saying Robert Green every candidate and I had to look at the message twice take.

Speaker 4

It all in, and I was like, damn, Like I thought it was.

Speaker 6

Like some kind of like April Fool's joke or something, and I just immediately dropped his tears. So from what I've been told, it was just like you know, weighing on his soul. He finally did the right thing, would just tell the truth. I mean, I've gotten with anybody in my position of fighting Roun forkovision as asked for the one and only witness has fully recanted.

Speaker 1

So I'm both well, very happy for you, but also i gotta admit I'm confused. Why am I? Why are we talking to you over a prison phone? It seems like that should have been it. It should have resolved the case. You should have walked out the door. And now there's actually literally zero evidence against you. So where does that leave your case.

Speaker 6

We're in court and we're trying to get this case dismissed. Speaking with a progressive da by the name of Pamela Price, and she has eyes on it. I don't have the declaration in front of me, but Robert Green says he knew the whole time that it wasn't me, and it just gave validation and what I've been saying the whole time that I didn't commit this crime and there was no way that I would have or could have committed

this crime. As well as one of the guys that were actually convicted after me, Andre Morris, he did a written declaration and said that he was a participant in the killing and that I wasn't with him.

Speaker 4

That was that. So we're just waiting in pray for good news very soon.

Speaker 1

Well, let's hope that Pamela Price doesn't just put on the progressive sort of bona fides at election time, right, but that she takes this case as what it is, which is an example of why we need prosecutors with the brains and the heart that we know she possesses. And by the way, it shouldn't take a reform minded prosecutor when we're dealing with actual innocence. Every prosecutor should want to get the innocent guy out and go after

the person that actually did it. And this is a guy whose name we know and we know they know, So what is the hold up?

Speaker 4

I believe Pamela Price is under a lot of scrutiny.

Speaker 6

She's cleaning up Alameda County, and she's being took to town by some as being too soft on crime. And really there's all type of guys walking around here in three strikes and weed and all type of just craziness.

She's by the book, and by her being by the books making her seem as if she's soft on krime if you don't have enough evidence to convict beyond a reasonable doubt, she's not taking it into some that seems if she's soft on krin in my instance, as far as my habeas petition, I haven't heard from him uch Price and Jordan hasn't either. She's aware of the situation,

she's aware of the Joe Rogan podcast. She's aware of the Wrong for Perviction podcast, She's aware of the Breakfast Club interview, and she still hasn't responded to Jordan Grassinger, and she's supposed to file some kind of rebuttal.

Speaker 4

To my release. I'm not sure where we're at.

Speaker 6

We're close to justice, but I still feel like they're trying to hold on to something that they know is wrong, because why are they not talking to us? Why are they following the rebubdle? What are you rebudding? You have every single person that was in the vehicle except to kill her yourself, that has done sworn declarations and given testimony that I did not comment the crime. Everybody has said wrong guy. There is no physical or tangible or corrob rating evidence that goes with this case.

Speaker 4

What are you rebudding?

Speaker 1

I don't get it either. I mean, are they going to say we don't find Robert Green's recantation credible? And if so, was he then credible before when he was facing accessory after the fact doing all kinds of drugs. And don't forget he changed the description of c three times, a guy who he knew to be capable of murder, yet he was brave enough to identify you a man who did not fit any one of his multiple descriptions.

You know, it's hard not to think that maybe he thought that you were the type of guy who wouldn't come after him, which leads us to believe that you were not a dangerous guy in the first place, never were, and never will be. I mean, this conviction happened well over a decade before Pam Price was elected. She could fix this. It wouldn't reflect badly on her or her office, because, after all, it was one of her predecessors that made these mistakes.

Speaker 6

It was a lady but the name of Nancy O'Malley. So I understand she has a lot to go on. It's like Jordan says, there is no case in Alameda County that is as compelling in an innocence claim as mine.

Speaker 1

So is there anything our audience can do to help? Is there a petition to sign? At a very minimum, I.

Speaker 6

Think we're past signing a petition. I believe that we have to do as CEP. Newton said, we have to agitate, We have to call, we have to email, we have to show up unannounced to the DA's office. Some might say that's hurtful sitting in jail for twelve years with a fifty to life sentence is hurtful. Dwan Taylor's family deserves justice like this is not justice, So I would ask that they call Family Prices office and ask for justice for Pierre Russian.

Speaker 1

All right, this is all hands on deck, people. We can we can do this. We put out the original coverage three and a half bucking years ago. All right, so we're gonna post her office's number, her email, her snail mail address, all of it in the bio, and remember be respectful when you call. Doesn't help anyone in or does she deserve Everyone deserves to be treated with respect in that office, whoever answers the phone, So please keep that in mind, but do call, write, email, whatever.

And with that we're going to move on to closing arguments, where I think you Pierre for calling in once again. You know you're in our thoughts here at rofuel conviction more often than you know. And now I'm just gonna sit back and listen to anything else you want to say.

Speaker 4

I would just like to speak directly to her. Yeah, go for it, Pamela Price.

Speaker 6

Robert Green get his declaration in February when he lied on me they inastially put a warrant out the same day. That's tooking longer to exonerate me than it took to convict me.

Speaker 4

There's no evidence in this case.

Speaker 6

Rely on your common sense, Rely on your your expertise and the Civil Rights Arena. Rely on your intelligence. I didn't commit this crime. You know I didn't commit this crime. Every milli second that passes by is an injustice. I could be your son. I could be your little brother. I could be your I do not deserve to continue to sit here while you and your office place politics. I have a family to get to. My little sister was murdered in twenty eighteen. My niece has no mother,

she has no father. She needs My family needs me. My mother needs me, my father needs me. The community needs me. I have a story. I can stop a lot with my story. I'm asking you to please step up and do the right thing. Give Jordan Grassen your a call, and please do the right thing.

Speaker 1

Thank you for listening to Wrong for Conviction. You can listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts one week early by subscribing to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I want to thank our production team Cutter Hall and Kathleen Fake, as well as my fellow executive producers Jeff Kempler, Kevin Warnis, and Jeff Cliber. The music in this production was supplied by three time OSCAR

nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us across all social media platforms at Lava for Good and at Wrongful Conviction. You can also follow me on Instagram at it's Jason Vlaum. Wrongful Conviction is the production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number one

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