I've never been in trouble in my life. I didn't even have a parking ticket, you know what I mean. I was brought up like copsure the good guys.
I didn't know what was going to happen, but I do know that everything was stacked against me. Everything like everything.
This isn't supposed to happen this way. I'm innocent. I know I'm innocent. I know I had nothing to do with this. How is this possible?
I grew up trusting systems. I've grew up believing that every human being should do the right thing. And that's why, even though I knew I was dealing with corp people, I wasn't going to break anyone to get me out of prison because I wouldn't live with the fact that I break my way out of my wife's death.
I'm not innocent, too proven guilty. I'm guilty until I prove my innocence. And that's absolutely what happened to me.
Our system.
Since I've been out ten years, it has come a little ways, but it's still broken.
I totally lost trusting humanity after what's happened to it.
This is wrongful conviction. Welcome back to wrongful Conviction with Jason Flamm. Today's episode features two extraordinary people. Steve Fishman, the journalist who was the host of Empire on Blood, which played a role in the ultimate reversal of the conviction of our other guest who was in prison for over two decades for a double murder he didn't commit. And that's Calvin Bari.
Calvin Buari was convicted of a double homicide in nineteen ninety five, but maintained he was innocent for more than two decades. He was released last year after his conviction was overturned, but prosecutors threatened to retry the case until last week.
So Steve, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me.
Jason and Calvin Welcome to Wrongful Conviction.
Thank you. Thanks for having me. Jason.
Let's get right into the story, because your story has more twists and turns than a Hollywood movie. I would say, let's go back to the beginning. Calvin, where did you grow up?
I grew up in the Bronx.
I grew up at nine to twenty two East to eleventh Street in the northeast section of the Bronx Wakefield area.
And what was that like? What was your childhood like, did you have brothers, sisters? Were your parents at home? Was it a tough neighborhood? What was the situation growing up?
That's where I was born, But I was moving around. Where was that At one time? I was staying in Brooklyn, in the Brownsville area. You know, it's very rough, especially in the seventies at that time. I was a baby when I was in the Bronx, but I came back to the Bronx because that's where my grandmother lived, and my mother ended up moving back with her mother.
Your dad wasn't around, No, my dad wasn't around.
He left me when I was about I think three or four years old.
And what about brothers and sisters.
I have one brother, one younger brother who's a year younger than me. His name is Abdull. That's just a brother on my mother's side. I have a whole lot of other siblings on my father's side as well that I just recently started getting in contact with.
Got it Okay, So you grew up in well difficult circumstances, right, dodge in trouble and ultimately getting into getting into trouble, but not the trouble that you were convicted of. Right, No, absolutely not, And that's part of the crazy story. So you were known as a fixture in the drug trade at the time that this went on, right, Yes, And you were in the crosshairs of the police as a result of the fact that you were a known dealer.
Yes.
And can you just give us a quick overview of what your life was like when you were in the game in the Bronx back then.
I mean, when I was in the game, I could say I was on top of my game, my lifestyle was good, I had money, and I was doing well, you know.
So I don't know what else I could say about that.
I mean I could have add at a little bit of a few details. Cal sometimes likes to talk about him, but you know that's not who he is now. So I understand a little shyness about it. But cal Is he once told me he was living the life. And we think of people imitating rap stars now, but rap stars back then were imitating people like cal So. He had a couple of mink coats, he had a matching
mink hat. He had two what he called black Man's wishes, which b m W. The car that let people know that he made it, and I think yeah, that was part of the great thrill of it, But in the end, that brought a lot of attention into the can all the wrong kind of attention.
I'm not judging one way or the other. I don't think anybody can unless they walk a mile in your shoes. That being said, how did this crazy situation unfold? You were convicted of a murder in nineteen ninety two, So on that faithful night of September tenth, nineteen ninety two, two brothers, Elijah and Saladin Harris, twenty four and twenty five years old, were murdered in cold blood as they sat in the car eating their food, and that's what started this whole chain of events that led to your
wrongful conviction. Yes, were you there at the time.
I wasn't on the scene where the crime happened at I was in the middle of the block. It was probably what like five hundred or one thousand feet away from where the incident actually took place when it had happened. But I was always in and around that area at all times. That was the block that I was known for selling drugs at.
Just to set the scene. One of the things that's kind of incredible Cow was a drug distributor, a very good one. I mean, he's got immense entrepreneurial talents, which also served him well when he was in prison and
managing his own case. But the thing that's incredible going back to the late eighties early nineties, is that the cops target Cow and they say it out loud, it's in the newspaper, we want Cow Buari and they go so far as to say he's not only a murderer, we believe a drug dealer who walks around flaunting his success, but he knows black magic.
Yeah, that was like the biggest propaganda in the world. I think that only happened because they figured out that I had an African last name, and instead of me knowing this black magic as they proclaimed, they were the ones that were really on the witch hunt and they just wanted me by all means necessary. And one of the things that I learned later is this is the way that Alan Caaren when he mentions how you know he utilized different tactics and angles, that was actually one
of his biggest tools. Because what happened was when I went to trial, not only did he ambush me with surprise witnesses that me or my lawyer didn't know about who was coming into wrongly accuse me. He also utilized the media, so now jurors were actually getting that article delivered in little flyers to their houses while I was on trip.
Wow, you never heard selling before?
Yeah, yeah, I think there was even like a newsletter, a co op newsletter that did this. And you know, Alan Karen's the prosecute. He works for the bronx DA, He's got a big reputation. He comes in like they're throwing their heavy hitter at it because they want Col. And you know, Cal has in their minds. I think he's you've been accused of another murder and Cal keeps eluding them, and this kind of engenders this ferocity on their part to let's get Cow.
And that's something that I talk about a lot. You know, when they take this talk about black magic like a witch hunter, they decide they're going to get Col. Right. That means, now this double murder happens, are like, how convenient, we'll pin this on you. But in the meantime, that means by definition that they're totally willing to ignore the actual killer or killers, who are then going to be free to go do it again. But I want to go back a little bit because there you are five
hundred one thousand feet away whatever shots ring out. I mean, this was a very violent time, right was there a were shootings a frequent thing in the neighborhood.
I mean in that era, murders were at an all time high. New York I think at that time was the murder capital. You know, you had two thousand and something murders a year. Looking back at that time and that age, you know, literally I knew that when I was in the lifestyle I was in. Every day that I walked out my house, I knew I was putting
my life on the line. But you know, to me, it was a sacrifice because I felt like I had to beat a man of my household because my father wasn't around and I was the oldest sibling, and my mother lost a job and she was struggling.
So even in a neighborhood where shootings were a regular occurrence, this was a double murder of two brothers, and you heard the shots, did you go to the scenes, and then how did it happen? When did the arrest happen? And when did you start to see that this was really going to be your undoing.
After that happened, I had immediately ran to the opposite end of the block, and I was with a friend of mine's, John Parris, you know may rest in PC's not here today. And then when I walked back up to the block, we walked to his house because he had drugs on him, and we started seeing police come to the corner of the block. So we wanted to know what was going on because we just heard the
shots go off. So once he had took what he had in the house, we walked up to the block and that's when I found out that two guys had got murdered.
Did you know those guys?
No? I didn't.
Were you arrested on the spot or no, I wasn't.
I was arrested six months later. I was arrested because Aldrick Griffin, he was one of the leaders of the Shower Posse, the Jamaican gang called the Shower Posse, and from the records that I had read, he had gotten locked up for inoperable or a firearm, a weapon, and I think some drugs. He already wanted to get me off the block because he was also my competition. Of course, the street so that's how I got arrested. He falsely accused me for killing the Harvest brothers.
And remember, I mean this block gets called eventually Corner on Blood, right on that corner, and you know, some years later, there's like seven eight nine shootings within the span of a month, So this becomes a very very hot block. Juliani comes in, he wants to clean it up. Calf kind of falls into that to that profile in a big way. But when they first arrest him, I think it's March of ninety three, so that's like six
months after the actual executions. It's an aspirational arrest. I mean, they got one witness who may or may not hold up in court, but they want Cal off the street. So hey, we're gonna throw him in jail for as long as we can, and we're going to try and develop a case while we're holding him, and they don't have a case. It takes some years, and the thing that comes out is that they're actually about to walk
away from this case. They're completely bluffing. Cal mentions Alan Karen, the prosecutor, and really he tells me in the podcast he had no case. He says, I was bluffing I was going to take this as far as I could and then dismiss it. And then there's a twist and a turn that intervenes three years later.
I wanted to touch on that too.
I literally have to commence Steve because I think that he did a more thorough investigation than any prosecutor, than any lawyer that I ever had, than any detective that was ever on my case. And he talked to every single individual that had anything to do with my case. And you know, with that bluff that he said that was a violation of the sixth Amendment to my speedy trial rights. He never had had a case against me. They always knew that that guy initially was lying. When
he got arrested, he immediately went back to Jamaica. He wasn't trying to cooperate with them. He just utilized me to get out of jail and possibly get back on the block to try to take over what I had going on out there, you understand. And the sad part about it is when you talk about Alan Caaron, you talk about one of Robert Johnson's leading hitman, so speak.
That Johnson's the district attorney in the Bronx for twenty five years.
Yeah, And with him, it's sad because I know that that man has a lot of individuals possibly in prison right now for cases they didn't commit. And with Robert Johnson, the reason why I brought him up is because under his tenure, the Bronx had the most Brady violation and prosbittorial misconduct violations than any other borough. And none of them ever has been chastised or punished for none of
these acts. So when they get away with doing these things, they walk around as though they are above the law, like with impunity that they have no punity. So it's just sad, you know, rather than see justice done, Alan Cameron, rather uphold the conviction. And that's who this man is.
And it's just a lot of other people that I know that are in the situation that I am, because when this God took a set on you, he was gonna go by all means to take you down, period and he showed that clearly when he spoke to Steve.
He has no impunity for that, you know.
No, it's something that we talk about unwrung for conviction a lot, which is that until we are able to get rid of prosecutorial immunity, which is almost total but probably the only profession that enjoys that type of protection. Right, almost any job that you do. If you're a doctor and you mess up, you know you're going down. I mean, it's like and there's so many exis samples of that, but they're able to get away with just insane things.
I mean, it's the most powerful position in the justice system. I think most people think that a judge has an ultimate authority, but we know, those of us who are in this business, no, definitely that the prosecutor has so much power. They can drop charges whenever they want to, for whatever reason they want to. They can throw the harshest penalties at you. In an attempt to bluff, as you said, to get you to cop a plea.
Col Is offered a plea three years, three years, and he turned it down because he's innocent. And you know, to your point about the prosecutors, one thing that happens is the system gives them, legitimately by law, enormous advantages. Now imagine six witnesses come forward and testify against cal and they're really drug dealers who have been in the scene or people who have committed crimes, and the prosecution is allowed to encouraged to hand out deals.
Sure.
And so there's actually a guy in prison and they go to him and they say how long you want to do right or you can testify against Cal. And by the way, there's a guy who's very close to Cal. This all happens. It's a kind of intimate drama. It all happens within most of it, within a circle. But the second advantage, and this is what really shocked me. I think when I looked at the transcript, you know, eleven hundred pages thick, Cal had it sent to me. This is of a trial in nineteen ninety five. As
Cal alluded to. The prosecutor goes to the judge and says, Calvin Buari black magic. Calvin Bari is so dangerous. We need in order of protection. The judge says, all right, you know, I mean the judge isn't running this. It's the prosecution that's running this. He says, Okay, I don't want to be on the front page of the New York Post if something happens. And so that means that Cal and his attorney cannot know who is going to
testify against him until the witness walks to the stand. Now, I mean imagine that kind of disadvantage and that's legal. To your point, Jason, there's a kind of immunity. Whether I don't think it's in the law, but it in practice. Prosecutors are not held to account for there. Let's give
it the best, the best interpretation. They're mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes are due to overzealousness or refusal to look at the facts, and it doesn't have an impact on a career, so you know, recidivism, that's what we're talking about, right.
They are, in fact immune in so many ways. Freedom Agenda is a proud sponsor of this episode of Wrongful Conviction. Freedom Agenda is led by people directly impacted by incarceration, and they're organizing to get Mayor Eric Adams to follow the law and shut down Rikers Island. Right now, thousands of people are awaiting trial there in life threatening conditions.
Freedom Agenda is committed to creating a safer and more just city by winning investments in long neglected communities, protecting the rights of people involved in the criminal legal system, and ending the cycle of violence that Rikers perpetuates. To learn more about the campaign to close Rikers and to sign up for Freedom Agenda's mailing list, go to campaign to close Rikers dot org, slash get involved, or follow that Freedom Agenda and why on social media. There's a
couple things that I want to highlight. One is that had they really believed that you murdered two people in cold blood, there's no possibility they would have offered you three years. That's ridiculous, right, That's just I mean that you have you really have to suspend a lot of layers of disbelief in order to try to give yourself
around that one. And what you were talking about is a legal principle that was developed in England centuries ago, which is called trial by ambush, right, which was where they would not tell the defense anything that they were going to say or do, or who they were going to bring in. Their thought was that this way they would get to the truth because they would just use this surprise tactic. But of course it's just patently unfair.
And now we have the Brady decision from nineteen sixty four in which the Supreme Court said that prosecutors have a duty, that obligation to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense, but they left it up to the prosecutors to decide
what they considered to be exculpatory. So they really they had it right, and then they sort of pulled the rugout from under their own decision, which left us in this situation where we see time and again in New York State, it's common that they sometimes they turn it over the day of the tr trial too, right, so it's like, oh, here's the stuff, and then what are you supposed to do? Like, you can't, you can't, you can't examine it.
And investigate, you can't do anything. It's absolutely what you said, it's a trial by ambush, I mean, and that's how I was ultimately sadbag and convicted because if you're looking at the ambush and you're looking at the media that was brought up against me, then you have six individuals that say they know me, and some of them I didn't know, then you got a conviction. I'm not innocent to proven guilty. I'm guilty until I prove my innocence.
And that's absolutely what happened to me. But I also think that Alan caaron to to touch more on that point that Steve brought up. He was actually promoted after all of that. He was Robert Johnson's ada top dog in that office, and he allowed him to do whatever he wanted to. That's why he has that attitude that he has. Would you believe that out of four file folders, three of those filfolders went missing and my case complete? So you know, this is the new tactic that Alan
Karon employed. He's not only gonna turn over this sculpatory evidence, he gonna make sure that the any esculpatory evidence just disappears.
Period.
So what do you do now when you have evidence that they have in their possession they possibly always knew I didn't commit the crime that you're gonna never be able to get your hands on. There's also some type of justice reform that needs to be done with that. I think that there needs to be an open case foul with the defense attorney and the prosecutor. Because there are both officers of the court, they share the same ethical duty. It shouldn't be a disadvantage where they have
all the power. And then if you have anything that can support your position and you'll never get it.
Yeah, you'll never know about it, and it is crazy. But the fact is that, as we all know, in a civil trial, everyone has to turn over everything and all you're arguing about is money. In this case, they were arguing about your life. And that's for some reason that's not true with the same level of respect by the justice system as money is, which just strikes me as Alice in Wonderland, like completely upside down and inside out.
It doesn't make any damn sense. So back to you, did you know after you go through this trial, they have these witnesses, every one of which was an incentivized witness, right, and you know, had every reason to lie. They didn't really care about you. In some cases they wanted you convicted because, as Robinson did, he wanted you off the street so he could have it to himself. So, I mean he had multiple reasons he was getting off and he was going into a better business situation, yeah, because
his main competitor was going to be behind bars. So when the jury went out, did you think you had a snowballs chance in hell of being vindicated?
I mean, truthfully, I put my faith in God and at that time, and I'm taking myself back to that time, I didn't know what was going to happen, but I do know that, you know, everything was stacked against me.
Everything like everything.
Let me just add to that, because Dwight Robinson he's a key, key character. He's a guy who he idolized cal He's four years younger. He admires Cal and then for whatever internal dynamics, he feels spurned. He's hurt. He's also at the same time really ambitious, and that results in an attempted murder of cal So. Dwight Robinson emerges as the central witness. He organizes the prosecution. The prosecutor uses the word to me. He says Dwight Robinson was
a gift. Dwight is bringing people into the prosecutor's office in the back of police cruisers. So he is not only an arm of the prosecution, he's like a lieutenant of the prosecution. They can't do it without him. He has just I think three months prior to tried to murder cal in are weeks ply three weeks pride just in a hall bullets in an ambush, right, and that information is kept from the jury in this sense, it's
brought up. Dwight denies it on the stand. At the same time, according to Dwight, and Dwight spent a lot of time talking to me. According to Dwight. It's common knowledge among the prosecutions, certainly among the cops or the detectives. And at one point I said to Dwight, I said, were you surprised that they let you commit perjury on the stand? And he said, nah, nah, I understood the game. It's dirty all around. You tell the truth, you're going to lose every time. That may be the most chilling
thing that I heard. You know, that kind of organization, that kind of organizing of the prosecution. In fact, that kind of by Dwight Robinson, that kind of utilizing of the prosecution, becoming this collaborator of the prosecution. And I think Calius phrase trying to kill Cow by other means. He failed with bullets, So now he teams up in the prosecution. And by the way, Dwight admits that he says, yeah, I wanted to get Cow off the street and I
saw this opportunity. So cal has to spend the next two decades of his life proving the Dwight Robinson, this guy once idolized him, is a liar. And that's I mean, that's a drama that shouldn't be imposed on to anybody. But it is an amazing drama to follow.
And let's get to that because that's one of the more interesting aspects of this case, I think, is that you end up being convicted. You were sentenced to fifty years of life, fifty the life, right, so that's pretty much game over. But you didn't give up. It would have been pretty easy to give up at that point, you know, I mean you have now seen the justice system at its worst, and you know what they're capable of. You know that they're they're hiding stuff, they're bringing.
On witnesses riding with his sentence to lie.
And the most nefarious characters they're bringing on to the stand, like Robinson, right, who they knew was a bad guy, right, but they didn't care. So you know what they're capable of. You know how steep of a hill you've got to climb now, because it just got one hundred times harder because now you're behind bars and you're looking at fifty to life. And then things get really interesting all of a sudden when you get a letter in the mail, right.
Yeah, I've received a foot from Dwight Robinson.
Yeah, eight years after his conviction.
And where were you serving at this point?
I was an upstate correctional facility at that.
Time, maximum security, yes, right.
And when he wrote me, he started explaining, like I've seen them, remorse in them, because you know, one of the things that or jumped out with me is the fact that he started saying, you know, Cal, I'm on the inside looking out now, you know, I know your hand and called for this, and you know, I started to say some type of remorse, you know, when it started from there.
The wait, he was in prison writing to you.
Yes, he had been convicted of a different murder under very remarkably.
Similar similar circumstances.
But so Dwight's doing twenty five to life.
Right, And let's just point out for a second that that murder didn't ever really have to happen. If they would have just arrested him when they should have in the first place, he wouldn't have been free to go kill whoever it was if he killed. But okay, so let's just put that on the side for a second. Right, So you're here in this maximum security prison. First of all, is it as bad as it sounds?
I mean, yes, I mean, especially at that time in that era, it was a whole lot of I mean, if you look at right because Alan in Upstate in the early nineties, that's when they started to have the most cutting, stabbings and all that type of stuff. So, I mean, Jill is just not a place for nobody to me.
I always wondered, Cal. You know, you're sentenced to fifty years to life for crimes you didn't do. I mean, you have to be angry, and I mean it's oh I.
Was, and I think that I had missdirected anger in the beginning, and that's what allowed me to end up in the box. But also being afraid, you know what I'm saying. I was in an environment that I felt like you couldn't show no weakness, and if you did, I seen individuals getting raped, stabbed and all type of stuff too. So that's what kind of like I had misdirected anger. So you know, I was doing what the romans to do while and wrong.
You know, yeah, I mean, you had almost nothing to lose if they could throw you in the prison within the prison, which is the box, right, but other than that, you can try to spend the rest of your life in there anyway. So how did you turn that around? Because obviously you found a different year, right, had you already gone through that shift when this letter arrived in the mail, because that's a big moment when that letter gets there.
Right, Yeah, I had already went through the shift at that point. I'm an introvert, so naturally the box was kind of like a good place for me, you know what I'm saying. Not only was I alright with myself, that I noticed that a lot of other individuals they couldn't live with themselves inside of prison. And that's why a lot of people do a lot of things.
That they do.
They want to stay on the gate, they want to get high, they want to get into fights, because you know, I do mine as a devil's playground. So that's what I kind of grew at when I was in solitary confinement. This book by James Allen called as a Man Think. If I read that book, it was a simplistic book to me. However, it kind of like related to me so well because it made me look at the glass half full of instead of half.
Empty, you know, and it.
Allowed me to even look at and messed up situations the good out of it. Even though I have fifty years to life, I know a lot of individuals that were in the grave and I still felt like I was alive, so I'm blessed regardless. And that's the mindset that I got into once I read that book, and once I started with that positive energy, that's what really gave me the sense of fied because at the time, I started to beat myself up to the point of saying,
you know, I was a drug dealer. Maybe I was belong in jail, because in the beginning, that's what I was telling about myself. You know, I never got locked up for selling drugs, so maybe this was a recompense for my actions. And once I got into the positive mind frame, it made me throw that away and say, you know, I'm in here for somebody didn't do.
If I was here for drugs, it'll be all right.
I did the crime, I'll do the time, but I'm in here for a double homicide I did not commit. And I just started getting into the books, legal books, started reading up on. I started contacting a lot of attorneys, a lot of investigators.
The Innocent Project was one of the main ones.
I was in correspondence with Barry Shek, Vanessa Pokin, Nina Morrison, and a couple of others in an Innocent Project office but at the time, even though they were corresponding with me, they were not taking cases that did not have DNA evidence at the time, So you know, they were leading me to other law firms that were taking pro bono cases that dealt with wrongful convictions that did not have DNA evidence. At that point. Is like the gears shifted for me. And once I started to dig into my case.
I'm a very determined and resilient person. Once I put my mind in something, I won't stop until I feel like.
I'm gonna get it done.
I'm not gonna hear no full answer, and I'm gonna keep pushing until I can't push no more.
I met Cal after he found that book, and that's a book that came out in like nineteen oh three something that is by a British guy. It's not a Col's World, but if you read it, what it says essentially is you can create your own reality by controlling your thoughts. And Cal probably the most disciplined person I've ever met in terms of thinking positive, and he had enormous setbacks. It is not only does he get that letter, but imagine Dwight is in one prison, Cal is in
another prison. And they are suddenly put together. They suddenly come together at which Clinton correction Clinton Correctional Institution, and they meet in the yard. So there's this guy who has maybe has been put away for something, and then there's this other guy who says, you know, I testified you and I shouldn't have. And I mean, tell about that meeting.
What made me more comfortable is the fact that I received that letter that he confessed to the crime right before I actually met him, because I don't think that I possibly would have went to the yard to meet him when he wanted to meet me. But I have received the confession letter, and I seen him in the mess hall and he told me to come to the yard, and I really wanted to hear what he had to say outside of the fact that he was now saying that,
you know, he committed the crime. And when I talked to him, I felt CONTRISTI he started crying, and he said the same thing. I'm on the tide looking out. I want to do the right thing to get you outcause you're in here for something you ain't do. And we just started talking and I just wanted to get certain answers from him on why he did what he did it, and you know that's what we talked about.
I mean, so if you can imagine Dwight actually confesses to a double murder that Cal's convicted for in this prison yard, and then what happens is on the basis of that, on the strength of that, Cal actually gets a four forty hearing. So now he's back in court and there's somebody else who's confessed to this crime. I mean, Cal has to believe he's going home.
Except that on Frank Vigiano and Detective John Wall they were very ambitious for the DA and they were not going to allow that to happen because, like I said, there was a witch hunt outpha. Me and Alan Caroon was at the driving seat of that vehicle, and they worked over time to make sure that Dwight Robinson took back that confession, right.
Which is another crazy aspect of this case, because because you probably were thinking, well, okay, that's where this thing's winding down. Now you got a written confession, he confess to you verbally in writing, and he's coming to court to the lawyer, and that should be saying this was two thousand and three, right, yes, Yeah, So two thousand and three. You've been in for ten years already, maybe eleven,
and you're going to court. And did you think when you went to court for that hearing that you were going home? Yes?
I really did?
You know?
It sounded like it to me.
Yeah.
The next best thing the DNA is a confession, you understand, And that's what I thought until he came in and you know, he got understand and he started doing what he'd do best. He started lying, So so.
You didn't know until he got on the stand that he was going to take back his confession.
I think we did find out that he did take it back. But to me, when I said I seen him and how I felt with the meeting when I met him, I didn't. I felt like I'll be the DA or the detectives were pressuring them like they did. But I felt like, still, he'll probably come to court and tell the truth, you understand.
But he didn't.
It's it's a remarkable plot twist, and then your case falls apart, right, I mean, he recants his recantation, right, so he's reversed himself again. Now his credibility is really out the window, right, because it's hard to tell when somebody is lying when they're when, you know, when they keep changing their story. I assume that they switched him to a different prison at this point. Did you have to go back to the same prison together after this?
No, before we even went to court, he had left the facility that we were I think immediately after the confession he left. And you know what's so funny about that? I don't know, man, but it just seemed like a conspiracy too, because that naturally doesn't happen where they put individuals that testify against you, with the guy, you know, that type of stuff. It just seemed kind of funny that they did that, you know, like they really wanted
me to really bury myself your father. You know, I think about that all the time.
These dirty tricks are just I just don't I really don't understand it. As we skip ahead, there were other recantations, There were twists and turns. Then twenty fifteen comes. Two decades have passed, You've went behind bars, and now things finally take a turn for the better. You've had Steve, who's here with us now, who's been investigating your case, diligently fighting for you. Do you have an innocence project helping you? You have pro bono attorneys who have taken your case.
Myron Belldock, the greatest lawyer and the planet Earth that ever woke this planet Earth.
Yeah, his name is gold. So you got Myron. I mean, you went from having the odds really stacked against you. And it's a credit to you, by the way, because it would have been really easy for you to just fold, but instead, somehow or other, from inside this darkest place, you manage to enlist literally the dream team behind you.
Absolutely.
So twenty fifteen comes what happens.
I had the investigator working on a case and he actually was able to get some new leads. And once the new leads came out with the two sisters that were actually like about ten to fifteen feet away from the crime when it happened. They lived right where the crime happened at and they actually seen Dwight Doe to crime.
There's a plot twist, no, I mean, and we've seen that again and again too, where the witness is the actual killer and there's an incentive to lie right.
Once once I got that information, I think I was in touch with Martin Tankliff at the time. I was also in contact with Jabal Collins who was working for Joe Rudin. I really wanted Joe ruden as my attorney at the time, but I wrote Myron Bell Doc, the great Myron Bell Doc, you know, who actually represented Hurricane Carter and a whole lot of other people. And when I wrote to him, he gave me his number so I could call him and talk to him. And from the initial start, man, I just loved this guy. He
treated me like family. He showed that I mattered, and I don't think that at that point, I never had an older male figure in my life that actually genuinely was, you know, acted concerned for me or my well being. And he was actually going for surgery at the time, and he didn't even know if he was would have been able to take the case. And it was so funny that, you know, I initially wanted Joe Rudin so bad,
but you know, Joe Rudin wanted his money. You know, he didn't care about nothing, no innocence of any of that. He wanted his money. But the funny thing was Myron had told me that if I take the case, if you could get somebody to assist me, then I feel better because I'm getting ready to go through the surgery. So I contacted Joel at that time, and once I once he found out that Myron Belldock was on the case, he was willing to jump on board now. So that
was kind of ironic. That's the first time that he ever stayed on the phone with me for an hour, you know. And actually Myron started to get better, he started to heal better. And once I told him that, you know, Joe Ruden would be willing to co counsel with him, he said, don't worry about we don't need him no more. I'll be alright. I got I got it, you know what I mean. And you know, that's how Myron was. And I had right after the surgery, and it was very touching for me. I had called him
in the office. I don't know as it was like eight pm and I thought he was being home recuperating.
Heling up.
Myron was still in the office working, and here it is this man he's almost eighty years old. And you know, that meant a lot to me because I never had attorney to that point that I felt like was given my case. They're old, you understand here it is. I had the best of the best when it came to the attorney and I'm calling him now and he's on my case. You understand that he should have been home recuperating. I just never met a guy like that, you know, amazing guy.
You know. I spent a little time with Myron. Cal actually never met Myron. Didn't have that good fortune. But Myron, I don't think he's too much to say. He came off his deathbed to really represent Cal. He had prostate cancer, he had heart problems. When I met him, he had a tumor behind his eye, so his left eye actually bulged. He'd look at you, but that left eye kind of veered off to the left at a forty five degree angle. It was very disorienting. He's eighty five years old, and
he says, this could be my last crusade. And I say to Myron, you're you know, you're either a fool or a hero. And his response is, I think this case is going to make me live five years longer. So myrone is that's where he gets his adrenaline from. And of course the tragedy is that it doesn't make Myron live five years longer. And Cal gets that. I guess you hear a rumor in prison, and then you call me and I have to confirm it for Cal. And you know, Cal is a extremely strong, mentally disciplined,
emotionally disciplined person. And by the way, physically he can do one hundred push ups without stopping, so you know, he's been in prison twenty years. He knows his way around physical challenges, emotional challenges. And I confirmed that Myron's dead, and you know, for Cal, and I mean, imagine, this is the guy, his savior, his savior now has has died, has passed.
And that was like the most crushing blow ever that I ever felt, because I literally felt comfortable with my life in iron hands. You know, I want you to understand, I literally felt like that. I never felt like that
with nobody, you understand. So when I lost him, it's like I didn't know where to go after that, Like I finally got the person that was the best of the best that I loved him outside of him being my lawyer, you understand, I loved him as a person, and when I lost him, I just didn't know how to take that, you know, because it was like I just came just so far and to be able to get the guy to believe in me. You know, it was just I just I couldn't help it. I just broke down.
And I was in the yard and that that really broke me down.
And you broke down on the phone with me. You called me back, and actually I never heard that kind of emotion. I mean you could. You couldn't speak exterially.
A person is not going to be able to read emotions and my feelings because in jail, I felt like I couldn't show no weakness.
That's how it was in prison.
If you showed like the people in prison, there's a lot of predators in there, and if they sense any type of fear, that's when they're coming for you. That's just how it is. It's no other way. It's a savage life in prison. I love this guy, Myron Belldock so much that I couldn't help but to break down,
you understand. And I was in the yard with hundreds of men, you understand, And that would be the last place that I would want to break down, because here I am with all of the wolves and stuff like that, and I'm in the middle of that and I'm breaking down.
So I was overcome by emotions when I lost.
My man, and actually I remember you you shouted over your shoulder. I just had a loss in the family, had a loss in the family, so that nobody you're exactly.
Also, Myron is the one that gave me the tenacity and the fortitude in order to push on. When I took you to the incident when Myron was working on my case at eight PM, and I started to read up on everything about Myron. You know, Myron was a guy that just didn't give up period, you know. And I put his pictures up and like a mural of Myron and the cell that I was in, and his spirit just came to me, like, you gotta keep pushing,
don't give up, be a fighter. And Myron actually fought for my life while he was fighting for his own, So I wasn't gonna get in a situation okay, now I lost my top guy and just lay down. And just because that's something that I felt that he would never do, so he kind of like put the tenacity in me to just continue to fight.
Cal Can you just take us through how you were able to get your conviction reversed.
When I went to the supply my second four forty, and they entertained that evidence that substantiated that Dwight Robinson actually committed a crime with the Clark sisters.
Just to expand briefly, it's a dramatic moment. And cal had always said, you know, there were a lot of people there that night, the night of the shooting, and the scene had never been canvased. Well, you know, the cops did go door to door and they knock on the door of the Clark sisters, kimber Leah and Nikiah Clark, and they don't want to get involved. These are the two eyewitnesses to the crime, to the murder. But the older sister says, no, we heard shots, that's it, and
that's what's in the police report. And why Well, years later I asked them. They didn't want it was a block full of drugs and murder. They're not going to come forward. Two decades later, through a series of circumstances, they resurface. They're in North Carolina and now they find out that cow was convicted. They didn't know that they had moved away like a year or so after the murders. They find out and their kind of heartbroken, and frankly, the younger one, who is the one on the street
twenty feet away. She feels guilty. She feels guilty that she hasn't come forward and that this man, Calvin Buari is in prison for something she knows he didn't do. So there's this dramatic moment when they walk into court, and particularly the younger one walks into court and I remember the assistant prosecutor tried to pick her apart and rattle her. Okay, it's the DA's job, and she is fiery.
She's got this nickname Evelina because when she gets challenged and pushed, there's this kind of fierce character that lives inside of her that comes out on the stand.
Thank God for that.
And there's this moment because we have the whole courtroom micd and we have a mic right up near the witness stand and you can't hear it in the courtroom, but we picked up where the the it'sistant district attorney is really prodding her and under her breath, eviliness says. And then she returns fire, and you know she doesn't give right and she says, you know, I saw who did it and it wasn't Calvin Bullar.
There you go.
Yeah, And I wanted to expand on that too, and you know that was so grateful for me too, because I always knew that after my first initial four forty when the witnesses that actually came back who lied that were criminals. You know, I knew what type of games that these prosecutors play with the detectives. And I was always adamant on Steve listen, I want these witnesses this time to have attorneys like I was not going to allow what happened to me previously happened to me again.
But it was it was overwhelming that the personality and the spirit of this witness because that is the very type of witness that I needed to stand up against these type tactics. You understand, And I just want to say too, man, when you when you believe in something, stand for it. If you feel something was wrong, stand for it. And I'm happy that she stood. She stood up, and she stood firm.
Yeah, and the cops did go to her. She was unfortunately, she was in a shelter for abused women. The cops showed up, and that caused a lot of problems in her in her life. But you know, cow was also fortunate he got another attorney warrior, a guy named Oscar Mitchellan, who really in that courtroom, I think helped her tell her story and beat back the assistant DA when she tried to replay the nineteen nineties and said, cow's a bad dude. He was a drug dealer who strolled around
and meant coats. But you know it was true. That's not what he was on trial for. He wasn't on trial for being a wealthy drug dealer. And it was Michellan who pointed it out. And Nikki who gets on the stand and fires back, who is the real killer? Who is the person who did the grind for rich Cal's servant?
Time right, the tactics will utilized on the key and KIMBERLEA Clark. She was in the shelter at the time, and when you're in the shelter, you need some place to stay. They went there and made it seem as though she was being looked into for a double homicide. You know what I'm saying. And these are the tactics that these guys employ to make you know, life hell for a person that just want to fail the truth, you understand. And she got kicked out of the shelter.
She got into an abusive relationship after I But like I said, I was so proud they had a personality that she stood up because normally with you know, average people, they're not gonna want to be bothered period. They're gonna care more about their personal situation than wanting to help somebody else that you know, Okay, I want to help them, but I don't want to go through the headaches that I'm going through with my personal life. Let me leave
that alone. That's what the person doing. And I'm so proud that this woman stood up.
Yeah, I mean, what's the question you hear today, what's the upside for me? There's no upside for her, But oh John, she stood up.
Yeah.
We end up two thousand and seventeen in Bronx State Supreme Court. Yes, and that's the day you had been waiting for since the early nineties. Absolutely, and tell me about that. Can you take us back.
To that day when the judge vacated the conviction. I had my room picture in front of me. I had an actual Innocent magazine that came out on time. And before that, the White Robinson was supposed to come in. They couldn't produce the White Robinson. And then when I went back to court, I just kept my eyes as in myself fixated on in God we trust, and like I said, I'm a firm believer in God, so that is my number one attorney, and I believe that the right thing was going to be done.
And actually that's what happened and that moment.
So it was Judge Eugene Oliver Jor And we're talking about State Supreme Court. This is a big deal, right, I mean, And how did that feel? After decades of fighting and trying to get people to listen, to have a man in that position vacates your conviction.
It didn't really hit me at first. I think when I went back to the bullpen, then it really really like really just started to sink in, like.
I made it, you know, I made it. I'm going on, Yeah, I'm going home.
And I got hit with another hurdle was I had to go back to the facility that I was in and stayed for the weekend. And those two days were the longest two days than the twenty two years that I did in prison, because I didn't sleep and it was just elate and I really felt kind of nervous because you know, you get a lot of hateration in prison, and I was kind of surprised that the people actually were more happy than upset here. So then I got the day where I came home, which was May eighth,
which is tomorrow. That's my second birthday, my rebirthday, and it was sur real. I'm still looking at it. And the nice day that we had a couple of days ago. I stayed out till I think four in the morning, just enjoying the breeze. And when I first came home, my goal wasn't just to come home. My goal was to come home and also build a legitimate entrepreneurial life for myself. So I had goals out of side of
just coming home, you understand. So even to this day, I'm still enjoying the little things and it's just still hit me because I ain't give myself a chance to breathe, you know.
No, And let's talk about that because three hundred and sixty four days as recording this podcast, as we're sitting here now, you haven't even been out a year, and what you've got going on is going to make a lot of people feel like, Wow, this is crazy. I mean, you've got multiple businesses that you started, right.
Yes, I have a van company that goes to prisons. It's number one van company by the way. You know in New York State where I had started a new concept that I felt like when I was in prison, a lot of my family members came to visit me, and a lot of the van service they had the old Yankee vans, and they wasn't clean, and they were decrepit, and you know, regardless of what their family members wanted to see their loved ones that weren't concerrated. So they
dealt with it. And I felt like our family members deserved the same quality service that a regular civilian to get out in the street. So I started the concept of the uber like prison visit services called riders. Van service is spelled ry d E r Z van service and my numbers eight four five two O four five nine three zero.
And you service. How many prisons in New York State?
I service the downstate area. Right now, I'm serving ten facilities. I'm going to downstate sing sing Shewonga, Sullivan, Walkkill, wood Burn, green Haven, what else the majorities of the facilities that are close to New York At the present time, I'm moving out further. We're supposed to be getting a bigger bus to go to Elmira, Comstock all burned and the further facilities up. I'm in the process of doing that
as I speak, and things are picking up. Doing it with the van service for the prisons to show you know how important implementing family ties are, because they have done statistics that shows that individuals when they're incarcerated and they loved ones check for them, they have a lower rate of reciticism when they come home. And I also plan to have a van go to the female facility
and beacon. I think that is for free, and I want to be able to give back to the female facilities because I feel like they don't get as much visits as the males do and they have kids and stuff like that, so things are probably much harder, and I want to be able to put it in rotation. Where is that I could go through the whole facility female facility and give each one of them female females
a visit. But I want to find a social worker that's intermediary just in case they need somebody to put their kids to be able to go see their loved ones, because I know that may be a barrier as well because of the age of the child and stuff like that. But that's another way that I plan to give back.
So you got the service, which is it's great there you are doing good while you're doing good and really making life better for those people who are able to now visit their loved ones. I wouldn't be able to otherwise, and we know what a difference that makes to people on the inside.
I think that one of the main reasons that I wanted to do that business is because I've never wanted to allow myself to forget about where I came from, and by not forgetting that will constantly keep me away from doing anything that will put me back in that place. So I want to constantly be reminded of that, and that's that's how I do it.
Yeah, well, I think your future looks really bright. I mean, you are obviously a very smart and capable and entrepreneurial guy, and you're reapplying your skills and the way that you are is extremely admirable, and I know you're going to be a big success, and I mean I'm looking forward to watching you. I know we were speaking earlier, we were talking about some innocent people that you left behind, and I want to try to bring attention to those cases.
And it's entirely possible that by highlighting these innocent people that you left behind, that you care so much about, we may be able to affect some change in their cases. So do you want to just talk about that briefly.
I'll start off with some of the brothers that I know about case that I've just left in green Haven, that we were actually working on our cases together. That's why I'm so much familiar with their facts. You got a guy named Nelson Cruz that's currently in green Haven who was actually innocent. They did a New York Times article on him. He was actually caught up in the Lewis scar Seller situation and he just recently got denied on his full forty and I believe in him innocence.
There's another guy named Paul Clark that actually has almost forty years in that was arrested by the mafia cops. So Paul Clark is one. He's currently at green Haven facility. And you know, you have another young brother that I met named Kyrie Fry who's also at green Haven, and Anthony Reid, but just recently me and Meek Mills was in correspondence with each other, and he just sent me the information of a person that he was inconcrated within Chester at the time.
This brother has.
In twenty six years in prison and the only reason that he's currently there.
His name is Eric Riddick. You can look up Eric Ridick.
He's in Pennsylvania and Chester, PA and penitentiary. And this brother is actually innocent, and the only reason he's still in concerrated is because a procedural situation whereas that you have to have evidence in at a certain time, and if you we don't have actual innocent evidence. By the way, you know, he has evidence that proves his innocent, and he has expert evidence that proves his innocence. It's just appalling that he's still in prison after twenty six years.
And this brother needs to be free.
So we will post the names of all those individuals that Cal just highlighted on the website. Get involved and maybe we can together help some of these people get justice.
So we have a tradition here on wrongful conviction, which is that at the end of the show, I like to turn the microphone over to you, I do what I don't do very well, which is that I stopped talking and just let you share any final thoughts that you have, and Steve, I'm going to start with you so that we can have Cal be our cleanup hit or here. So Steve Fishman, any final thoughts?
Well, first off, thanks for having me. It's an incredibly important issue and I spent a lot of time on it, actually sometimes bit against my will, but you know, Cal, being relentless whatever, I could never say no, even if I wasn't always saying yes. But Empire on Blood was really a work of passion and it tells Cal's story.
And I think what you get from it that you don't often get is you you get the thinking and the thoughts and the feelings of the prosecutor of Dwight Robinson, who not convicted but stands accused by eyewitness of having done this murder, of the detective who talked Twight Robinson out of his confession. So you really end up with
a sense of the criminal justice system. And I guess the last thing I'd say is, you know, yeah, I kind of took a journey with Cal, and sometimes I'm given some credit for having pushed his case forward, but you know, really all credit to Cal. I just think the kind of discipline and persistence in the face of enormous disappointment that would have not only disheartened people, but
I think broken most people. I couldn't have persisted. I mean, that kind of instinct and ability is very very rare, whether you're talking to people on the outside or people on the inside. So, you know, all credit to cal for realizing is the beginning of his future.
And now over to you, Calvin Vari, what do you got for us?
I mean, I want to thank Steve for saying that, because that means a lot to me because he didn't have to get involved with my case, but because of my diligence, and I think that, you know, he just still he wanted to do the right thing. And it's good that we have people like that, whether you're a stranger or a friend or not. It's just that I feel like people are waking up and they want the
right things to be done. I think that my last words is going to be like what Meek Mill said, it's all about justice reform, so these type of things don't happen to other individuals. I hope that I'm my example to the people that these things do occur and we just have to do something so they won't reoccur again.
That's basically what I have to say.
Well, now I just want to thank the audience for tuning in and listening. This has been an amazing journey. And thanks again to Steve Fishman and Calaboari for being a part of the show.
Thank you Jason, Thank you Jason.
Don't forget to give us a fantastic review. Wherever you get your podcasts, it really helps. And I'm a proud donor to the Innocence Project and I really hope you'll join me in supporting this very important cause and helping to prevent future wrongful convictions. Go to inisonsproject dot org to learn how to donate and get involved. I'd like to thank our production team, Connor Hall and Kevin Wartis. The music in the show is by three time OSCAR
nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast. Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flam is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association with Signal Company Number one