#445 Jason Flom with Donte West

On March eight, twenty sixteen, Dante West and four friends from California were traveling across country in two separate cars with different final destinations. The last stop they planned to make together was in Manhattan, Kansas, at the apartment of a mutual friend named Jacob Gadwood. As they neared the apartment, a police officer on High seventy spotted the pair of out of state cars and immediately suspected them of drug trafficking.

Yeah, thank you, Jason. It's incredible just to be on this platform.

We also have an attorney named Chris Biggs who's been practicing law for over forty years, who was a Secretary of State of the State of Kansas. So Chris, thanks for being here with us today.

It's a pleasure. I appreciate the opportunity to share the story.

And it is a crazy, freaking story. It involves the misguided, disastrous social policy known as the War on drugs, it has over policing elements to it. It's got snitches, and it happened in Kansas, but it could have happened almost anywhere. And in fact, it could have happened to me when I was growing up different being, I wouldn't have been innocent. Full disclosure. So Dante, let's start with you. You didn't grow up in Kansas, right.

No, I'm from a place called Stockton, California, right between Oakland and Sacramento.

And this happened when you were a college student, right.

Yeah, this happened a couple of years after my high school graduation.

You know.

I graduated twenty thirteen, went out there a few years later. Like I mentioned before, just being from Stockton, California, Jason and living with my grandmother was the sole provider of two younger brothers that were eight nine years old at the time. My grandmother really encouraged me just to say, hey, you've been taking care of me, you should definitely just go out there on a leap of faith and check out,

Dante Deshaun sat out on the road in a Hundai. Well, three friends of theirs, Victor Lara, Enrique Hinejosa and Jose Jimenez joined them in their Alexus.

Yeah.

No, I've definitely knew the guys went to high school with those guys friends for sure. They were going the same direction, but different destinations.

And they had a different agenda.

I had like sbecsacpos, a couple pounds of marijuana. I'm not too sure what was in there, and nothing ever left the vehicle. Like I said, same direction, different destinations.

Well, unaware of the contents of the Alexis, Dante and Deshaun planned on visiting a few colleges on their way to Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas, a state that hadn't yet adopted its neighbors use on cannabis.

Kansas is surrounded by Colorado, which has recreational use, Oklahoma, which has medicinal use. Missouri now has been medicinal use and recreational use, and we're in between all those states, and we still have very conservative state laws about using or delivering marijuana. And there's also a lot of enforcement that happens on the interstate highway. Profiling is not allowed. The issue is whether the officers had an independent reason

On March eighth, twenty sixteen, Dante Deshaun were traveling down Ice seventy in their Hyundai with Nimbata plates, while the Lexus had only one California plate on the front. Officer Nicholas Blake later testified that he believed that the two cars were working in tandem to transport drugs, with one car carrying the load while the other played the decoy meant to draw law enforcement away from the drugs, but

Getting pulled over for having dirt on a license plate on Ice seventy right, just actual rod grid dirt on a license plate is pretty wild. I was a passenger in the v the driver he got a ticket for small amount of marijuana and a Swisher wrapper.

Simple possession of marijuana and Kansas as a misdemeanor. The officer suspected that the particular vehicle was connected to another vehicle, and rather than arrest them, they let him go and with.

The state alleged.

Right, it was a decoy load car, right, And when you think a decoy load car, you think it like smoky in a bandit, Right, You kind of think of something that's someone that's going to deviate off to kind of let the drugs go. But really, when we got put over by the officer, you told us to exit off the next exit. We got off, went to the Shell gas station and I started to clean my license plate off, and then we glanced up. We just see these troopers just kind of staring down at us.

Right, Perhaps they were alerted to a potential drug bust, only to be sorely disappointed. And if there was anything to this decoy load car, theory, wouldn't Dantean Deshaun's car have had something deliberately wrong with it.

They could read the licen plate to see who the car was registered. You think the decoy car? What were they saying that we put dirt on the license plate in order to get pulled over so the drugs could get away?

Is that?

I don't know.

The missing rear license plate on the Lexus seems like a way more compelling reason to pull someone over. It would stand to reason, after all, that the officer believed that the Lexus was the decoy. But when the officer found no load in the alleged load car to Shaun's Hunday,

Ultimately, we get near Kansas State University going to meet a guy that I thought was someone I knew right and just went upstairs and the twenty minutes later I came down the stairs to kind of greet the guys that I traveled with. They went upstairs. As soon as I get down to the parking lot, this guy pops out and playing clothes and was like, hey, you're being I was like being detained for what We just got put over over the freeway for having the dirt on our license plate.

So it turned out that although Dante and Deshaun had no idea, there was reason to suspect. Victor Lara, Enriquehnejosa and Jose Jimenez, who was skated out of a back window of Goadwood's apartment, left in their Lexus and later were captured in Tapeka, Kansas, with a small amount of methamphetamine and over six and a half pounds of cannabis. Meanwhile, the police searched Jacob Godwood's apartment.

The owner of the apartment the allegation was had his own drugs at the apartment. They basically got that individual to identify Dante as being involved, even though the drugs were found in another car that he was not in.

The person at the apartment said, Hey, I was going to buy a pound a weed off Dante.

Right.

It wasn't like, oh, text messages or wasn't any any other evidence, right, and we ended up going to jail and the fight began.

In Kansas for certain drug offence is there all the way up to level one, which is the same as first degree murder, And if you're charge of the level through drag offens for marijuana, you can get a presumptive sentence of up to one hundred and three months. And if you'll also happen to be within a thousand feet of a school, and often in the Midwest almost everything is within the thousand feet of school property somewhere, and

Laws like these make it so that the smartest play for the guys in the Lexus is taking a plea deal.

Victor Lauri ed up going to prison a couple of those guys got probation. They took plea deals right because they didn't want to go to a jury trial.

People cannot be punished by exercising the right to a jury trial in theory, But what happens is people who take a deal can get a bit a fit and the person that goes to trial, even though they're theoretically not being punished for going to trial, the end result often is the person that goes to trial and get convicted will get a longer sentence than the person that inners a plea.

With these dynamics at play, taking a plea can also be the most practical move. Brendan is a person like the Shawn Perkins.

He ended up going to prison for three years and he lost his scholarship and has a beautiful family now great dudes still stay in contact with him, and which is so fortunate. Man like, and I'm the only defendant that went to a jury trial. It's not like I had any good offers or anything like that. And quite frankly, I didn't even want to take anything. I'd rather just take my chances at the jury trial.

With Gadwood's word as the sole evidence against him, Dante was charged with possession and conspiracy to distribute the small amount of methamphetamine and one of the pounds of marijuana that were found in the lexus, and of course, his grandmother and younger brothers were absolutely devastated.

All I can think about is my two younger brothers that were back home eight nine years old at the time. Had to make an unfortunate call to my grandmother and I literally just told her I was locked up, and she couldn't believe it, broke down crying. She was from Texas and she was just really worried about what could happen because growing up she's seen so many people, including

Your grandmother died during the trial, Yeah, yeah, I during the trial of a broken heart. Yeah, of a.

Broken heart had a heart attack, and my world just crashed. And I think that's the biggest issue, just people that get separated, for the families. I was fortunate enough to get out on bail and get back to my younger brothers, and just to see all the things that they're going through. It really just woke my mind up. How you'll never

Some lawyers operate on what they call flat fee. You pay me X amount of money all representing in this case. Other lawyers do it by the hour. Contingency fees are not legal in a criminal case in Kansas. But the problem with the flat fee is the lawyer's getting X amount of money regardless of how much time's put in.

End up going to that motion hearing with that attorney, and that motion ultimately got denied and I had to go to trial the next day when not so prepared counsel. And it was super unfortunate on that.

I've never heard that before, either a doctor's note, Your lawyer's got a doctor's note? What is he missing gym class? And then the judge doesn't bother to give a continuance.

And his reason was that he had the case out for a year and you didn't read any of it. It's just not excuse and had to go to jury trial.

And so trial went forward with what appears to be a built in violation of Dante's right to effective council. Meanwhile, the state presented several officers that claimed packaging material from inside Godwod's apartment match materials found inside the lexis And even though Godwould escaped any kind of accountability, officers and the prosecutor claimed that Godwould had not received leniency in exchange for testimony. And then Godwood took the stand.

The state's aformant went on standard testified that he was going to buy a pound of marijuana from me, and I eventually got found guilty of the pound of marijuana.

And also, do you weren't called selling it? This is only that this character said that you were planning to sell it to him, right, right, So it's a thought crime.

And on the way to sentencing, fifteen minutes from the airport, just seeing my younger brothers crying in the back seat and feel like they lost everybody. That kind of just woke my brain up. And going out there to that sentencing learning that ninety five percent of people across the state of Kansas cape probation and I had a host of people support me, you know's no criminal history, and ultimately many just sentenced me to seven years a months for a first time offense.

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As I got into the reception area of Valdeto and other prisoners I went to, we would see these lifers and they had various crimes that they allegedly committed, and they would fight for their innocence and it was just so inspiring to see. And I said, if I could put that fight towards the cannabis offense and whether it be the pill, I try to work on the pill end up losing it. But if I could put that effort in time and those lifers, I felt like, if I fought my way as much as I could, I

They were just young kids, right, What were there nine ten years old when this happened.

Yeah, there were babies at the time that happened. You know, I had to pick a foster family form. It happens across America all the time.

Man.

People just get separated from their families. And I think that gave me that motivation every day to kind of get up five thirty breakfasts, get to the law library early in the morning, and to try to educate myself, just like those lifer guys would do. Then, after I lost that direct appeal, and I was thinking, like, I'm going to get this clemency. I wrote one hundred and

Pound of marijuana that you didn't touch, didn't have, and didn't sell.

Yeah, yeah, it didn't say I mean allegedly there was no money found. Right, someone said they were going to buy a pound of marijuana. But it wasn't even no money found in the house. It was in another car. I mean, even my code offend and admitted to later on in Affidavid that you know I had no knowledge of it.

Victor Lara wrote in an affid David, and this is a direct quote. Dante at no point had knowledge of the marijuana that was in my car. Dante and I were on separate trips in the same direction. The only reason I stopped at Gadwood's house was to take a shower before I went to my final destination. End quote. And this became part of a habeas petition that Dante wrote but had yet to file, just as Chris Biggs was being assigned as his counsel.

Thank god, man he was appointed to me. Even asked me, you put this together right, And he was surprised and he was like, man, I got to put my law degree on it and fix some errors on it as well, but you have a chance to go home. And I was like, man, I didn't believe you. And Chris told me Kyleie, he said, I'm an older guy. I wouldn't drive this far. I could have just sent you a letter if I didn't think you had a chance.

In addition to the obvious ineffective assistants claim, Chris was also able to uncover a Brady violation.

When I read through the transcripts, it was obvious to me when this informant testified that it was peculiar because he had drugs in the apartment. He testified freely, he did not have a lawyer. There was no grant of immunity that was presented to the defense by the state to show what kind of immunity he got, and there was no plea agreement to show what kind of deal

Then at least one of the cops got on the stand and swore under oath that no deal was made.

If by saying there was no deal, he got no formal plea agreement, that may be true, because he never did.

It's more like a wink and a nod. Huh.

Well, And in my motion I said, we have a right to know of any deal, whether it's just a wink in or nod or a tacit understanding. But currently the confidential informant agreement had been destroyed, so we didn't have the contract with the police department and see what the specifics were, but we knew that he had a confidential informant number, which meant that there was some kind of agreement. And if the case was that he got something for testifying, there's a special instruction you get in

Then Chris asked the newly elected prosecutor to look into what kind of a deal Gad would have gotten.

I called the prosecutor's office. I didn't tell him initially, I had already talked to the informant. But when they did a check, they found out that he had an informant number. They disclosed that. To me, I think it says a lot about the elected official that he was

I know we don't hear these kind of things happen often enough on the show, but occasionally the right thing is done without years or decades of unnecessary, pig headed and cruel pushback. So, as a result, Dante was released on October fifteenth, twenty twenty.

I just want to command Chris Man. He really went in there, worked hard with the DA. He did't even think he was going to happen, right, because he'll talk about how rarely the step happens. My outdated was twenty twenty five. I'm not even supposed to be on this podcast, right, But I'm just super thankful for this integrity of the prosecution and definitely Chris just kind of working hard.

Man.

You got to have the right people in a position of authority that can make good decisions. I was a prosecutor for a lot of years and my motto was kind of I'd rather lose for the right reasons than win for the wrong ones, and I always considered a fair trial to be the goal. This prosecutor clearly wanted to follow the law and do the right thing, and they released him from prison based on our allegations in

Which would have meant cautioning the jury about the credibility of the only witness in this case. So Dante was finally able to be the big brother again.

Yeah, just being released it was just life changing, man, and just being home, finally get to fly back and hug my brothers for the first time.

They cried.

It was just a sense of relief. Man, just while you're in prison, it really makes you appreciate every single day time accept that you can't get back. So when I got out, my brothers were in high school. Once a senior now playing football, trying to get him a scholarship he wants to continue to play defensive back. And my other one I was able to fortunate enough to work really hard and put him through college. He's a

Yes, the irony is real. Dante was wrong, hopefully incarcerated for cannabis, only to emerge and succeed in a business that is now legal and completely new to him.

I met a guy, like I said before, named Nate Ruby. He's the owner of Elissa Gardens from the Earth Dispensaries out here in Kansas City, Missouri. And he hit me in a DM and knew the guy that told ONMI. And he said, man, come work for me, be one of the first employees, and I would get up every morning with them, bright and early. He would just tag

Right, And this isn't the only way Dante's getting involved.

Yeah, man I a key associated for the Last Purvisoner Project, and we really just work on passing legislation for cannabis, go on to state level and kind of work with key stakeholders on trying to get people released, getting letters, a recommendation of a shorter sentence, working with the attorneys, whether it's presentation at the parole board, filing for the executive clemency, or testifying on the state or federal level, which is why legislations should be passed.

And by the way, Dante and I were working on a case together in Louisiana with Kevin Allen who's was sentenced to life without parole for possession of the two grams of marijuana, which just you know, for people, that's one joint. If it's a decent sized joint, that's incredible.

Jason mentioning Kevin Allen, kind of guy in Kansas day Antonio Whatt serving nearly twelve years in prison for a few pounds of marijuana is traveling through the interstate.

There's still forty thousand people plus, I believe to this day in a stealing concrete cage right now in America for pot.

Good thing about the time. Now, we have a great governor in Kansas, Laura Kelly, and she's made mentioned of people shouldn't be in prison more than you and I for cannabis. Right, So this is our last term and just looking forward to her taking a second look at somebody these cases and making a time that fits the crime. I feel like times are changing and we're looking forward to helping more people.

So we will be linking Last Prisoner Project as well as your line of Cannabis where part of the proceeds go to prisoners who are still casualties, still serving time, casualties of the War on drugs. And with that we're going to go to closing arguments. Well, first, I'm going to thank you both for joining us here today, and now I'm just going to kick back in my chair and listen to anything else. Do you feel as left to be said? Let's start with Chris and then Dante you close it out.

Well, I would just point out kind of big picture that in society, we make choices every day about what society is supposed to look like, and sometimes legislators and the government's a little slow to respect. I mean, we had prohibition, which tells me at some point in time there was enough political support to control the distribution of alcohol.

I just want to encourage whoever's listening to it is the same people that are wealthy that pay for these lobbyists in each state that make cannabis legal so they can own a retail and cultivation and manufacturing facilities should be the same people lobbying to get re sentencing for people that are locked up for a significant amount of

Thank you for listening to Wrongful 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, Connor Hall and Kathleen Fink, as well as my fellow executive producers Jeff Kempler, Kevin Wartis, and Jeff Cliburn. The music in this production was supplied by three time OSCAR nominated