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542: #542 Jason Flom with Nicholas Allen · Wrongful Conviction Podcasts

• 00:00:02 Speaker 1: On February sixth, twenty eleven, a party in a queen's New York basement turned violent, and when those involved were forced out into the exit stairwell, two gunshots were fired into the door, fatally striking twenty six year old Avalisa Morris. The police were soon directed toward a couple Felicia Douglas and O'Neill Mayers, whose argument allegedly ignited the fray. Even though O'Neill claims to have left before the gunshots and didn't match the initial descriptions of the likely shooter, he was arrested and tried, along with his friend Nicholas Allen, who had left the party hours before the shooting. This is wrongful Conviction. You're listening to Wrongful Conviction. You can listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts one week early and ad free subscribing to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Welcome back to Ronfuel Conviction, where our guest is calling in from the country of Jamaica to tell us about a case that happened near Jamaica Queens and started with an absolutely senseless act of violence which was then compounded by convicting at least one, if not two innocent men, one of them being Nicholas Brucky. Allen, welcome, Thank you, all right. So tell us about growing up in Jamaica and coming to the US. 00:01:37 Speaker 2: I was born in Kingston, Jamaica. I got four sisters and three brothers. Two of them was like babies, and one of them was born while I was in the States, so I didn't really actually grew up with those three. I came to the stage when I was like twelve. So I just remember where I used to live in Jamaica. It was like a soccer field next. 00:01:56 Speaker 3: To my home. Soccer was just my love. 00:02:00 Speaker 2: If my friend's playing on the street bearfooted, I will go out there and also play bearfooted. 00:02:06 Speaker 1: So where did the nickname Brockie come from? 00:02:09 Speaker 2: In Jamaican culture, we call dribble brooke when you cross somebody that's basically you brooking everybody. Basically Brookie is somebody that does just love to dribble and don't like the past. 00:02:24 Speaker 3: And it's funny because when I. 00:02:26 Speaker 2: Got to the States, my first team, Cambria Heights, it was a lady that first called me Brookie. 00:02:32 Speaker 3: I never told her that was my nickname. In Jamaica. I never told her that. She just watched me. She was like, yo, you was a Brookie and. 00:02:38 Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, that's what they called me in Jamaica. 00:02:41 Speaker 3: That's my name. 00:02:42 Speaker 1: But it wasn't soccer that brought him to New York. 00:02:44 Speaker 2: At the age of eleven, I was diagnosed with you and star a coma. It was a form of cancer. This was like around two thousand. I started off getting treatment in Jamaica, but my auntie came into the States and on the teaching program. She went to the courts with my dad and my mom did the legal guardianship. 00:03:05 Speaker 3: So the lawyer told. 00:03:06 Speaker 2: Her when you're in the States and you get your green card, he's going to get his. When you become a citizen, he will become citizen. So she had took me into the States. I did chemoturpy. I had no hair, so I used to wear a lot of door rags a lot of time. When I used to play soccer, it was like I was the sick on. Everybody was just looking at me. But that never stopped me. I play hard. I went to Automotive High School. My own was a teacher at the school. But yo, they never seen the playoff until I came. When I came, took them the playoff the whole four years. 00:03:38 Speaker 3: That I was there. I graduated. 00:03:41 Speaker 2: Then from there I got in a soccer scholarship to Globe College. Went for a year and a half and that's when I got arrested. 00:03:50 Speaker 1: And he was arrested along with another young Jamaican man named O'Neill Mayers. 00:03:55 Speaker 2: I met Mayors through guys from my soccer team. They were quit mars at Walmart. When I first met him, I never get any bad vibes. I see that he always works to take care of his son. You know, I'm on college and stuff, so I used to love parties, so you know, me and Mirors sometimes will go to parties. 00:04:18 Speaker 1: And that's what was happening at the time of this tragic shooting. O'Neill's supervisor at Walmart, Damian Skurvin, had planned a party for his wife Nikki at their friend Mary Johnson's apartment on February fifth, twenty eleven, even though there was a competing party nearby at Nicholas's friend named Pouchi Poochie's house. Both O'Neill and Nicholas were drawn to the Skurvans party to see two girls who they had met the night before, one of whom Britney Goodrich later testified. Now this previous night, February fourth, they were up really late, leading to a midday nap for O'Neil that nearly lasted through both parties on February fifth. But Nicholas was close with Poochie's boyfriend Gabby Francis, so he made sure he was at Pooci's. 00:05:00 Speaker 2: So when I got there, I was pretty much helping him decoration, helping, cooking the food, stuff like that. So around twelve midnight, I pull up my friends Cafarri, Samuel, Dwayne Right, Gabby Francis, and Dennis Cunningham, and I told him, oh, listen, Damien is having a birthday party for his wife tonight. Y'all want to go support, and they agreed. They call a cab. I got there around twelve ish and I left like early one. When we got there, I saw Brittany dancing under the light. The only spot in the basement had light was where the DJ booth was at, So I went right up to Brittany. I asked her how she's doing. I told her I'm not staying. My people have a party, so I'm leaving. She put her number with my phone and I never seen mirrors at that party. Never Me and Mirrs was not together. It was my four friends and we left in a cab back to Pucci party. For the rest of the night, we drink, dance, we took pictures. One of the girls over there took a picture with me and around the same time as. 00:06:01 Speaker 1: The incident, it was just about eight minutes after the shooting when Nicholas took a picture with Vanessa Bunton on a digital camera. Now remember this was twenty eleven when folks were still transitioning from flip phones, iPods and cameras to the all in one smartphone that's now ubiquitous. But anyway, we'll get back to Vanessa Bunton and this picture in a bit. So let's rewind to about three o'clock in the morning. 00:06:24 Speaker 2: Around three on he called me saying, yo, you just got up. He's gonna go to Damien wife's Porty Nikki on his block because the party actually kept on his block. So I said, oh yeah, I was there earlier. 00:06:36 Speaker 3: And I got Brittany number. That was it. Around a little bit before five. 00:06:41 Speaker 2: He called me back again, saying the party got shoot up, asked if I was still at Pucci I said yes, and he said I'm coming right now. When he came, he sat in the car and he told me the girl that he was talking to the day before. He was talking to her and his girlfriend came over slapped him, and out of a reflex, he slapped her back and she went outside crying and stuff. He also said he noticed the commotions at the door. He said the DJ got into it with somebody and he just pushed through the commotions and left. While he got to the front of the house, he said he heard gunshots and he just ran home, jump in his car, called me and came to me at Pouci's. 00:07:20 Speaker 1: To exit the basement, O'Neill left through the back door to a covered stairwall that led to the backyard, where his girlfriend Felicia Douglass and her friend Vanessa Edwards claimed to have seen him, which he doesn't deny. What he does deny is going back down the stairwell and shooting at the door. Now. According to the initial police reports, also known as DV five's, the guest of honor, Nicki Scurvin the host Mary Johnson, as well as the victim of Alisa Morris, pushed a group of three or four young men out into the back stairwell and slammed the door, and the group tried to force their way back in. 00:07:53 Speaker 2: I heard that she used her back to prevent the guys from coming back and said and shot fired and mis Kelly hit her in their head. When the cops had just came Mary Johnson's she identified a tall, light skin with braids in his. 00:08:07 Speaker 1: Thirties, which doesn't describe O'Neill or Nicholas. 00:08:12 Speaker 2: Also, NICKI Scurvin the morning off the crime. When the cops came in our DD five, she never mentioned O'Neill. Mayers never mentioned me at all. 00:08:19 Speaker 1: But both of those statements would change by the time of the grand jury and trial, as would pretty much everyone else's statements, including O'Neill's girlfriend Felicia Douglas and her friend Vanessa Edwards. Now. In their first statements, they said that they had seen O'Neill emerge from the coupvered stairwell, which is undisputed, but was it before or after the gunshots well? Either way, Felicia texted O'Neill after giving her statement. 00:08:46 Speaker 2: So we were still in the car, he got a text from his girlfriend saying that such and such a diet and you and your friend Brookie did it. So he showed me the texts. I'm like, what the hell is she talking about? 00:08:57 Speaker 3: You know? 00:08:58 Speaker 2: But I looked at Mayer's face. I could see like a worried look. So he tried to call her. She answered on the fifth call, and she was just crying. He said, Yo, what's going on? Why you send me that text? So she was like, they made me do it, They made me do it. So he said, why would you tell the police? 00:09:16 Speaker 3: I did nothing? Why do you tell the police? Go tell the police. I didn't do nothing. 00:09:20 Speaker 2: We had found out later on that basically the friends of the victim tell her, yo, listen, you and your man came here and mess up my party, so you better go tell the cops that he did that. That's when she had gave the police on ill number. 00:09:33 Speaker 1: But with no views through the stairwells covering the basement door or any meaningful ballistics evidence, no witnesses or experts could claim to know who pulled the trigger, and without the ever important timing aspect had O'Neil been seen before or after the gunshots, and with no other names being mentioned besides O'Neil, he became the target. 00:09:54 Speaker 3: So we were still in the car. He looked distressed. 00:09:58 Speaker 2: A few minutes later, a detective by the name of Pearson called him saying that he's a person of interest and they would like to speak with him. So he said, all right, no doubt, I'm coming in right now. So I stayed and I waited for him to come back, and he never came back. 00:10:13 Speaker 1: O'Neill was arrested, and since no one could actually see the shooting, they used the circumstances. Someone had to place a gun in his hand in the stairwell at the time of the crime. So by the grand jury, Vanessa Edwards testified that when O'Neill first emerged from the stairwell, he had a gun in his hand. Then the group went back down the covered stairwell and shots were fired. However, Felicia's story changed in a different way. 00:10:40 Speaker 2: The two statements that she gave to the cops. She was saying that she saw Onneila ran up the steps. The other statement she had said that she just said this because she was mad, because Onlyla had slapped her. She also made a statement to one's lawyer saying that she was mad and was also forced by the victim friends tell the cops that she saw on it ran up the steps, and she also made a statement to my attorney saying that she never even seen me that whole night. 00:11:13 Speaker 1: And at this point, neither Vanessa Edwards, Nicki Scurvin, nor Mary Johnson had mentioned Nicholas, only Felicia had done so in that text that she now just disavowed. Vanessa Edwards also maintained that she hadn't seen Nicholas since earlier in the evening. But Nicholas becomes involved because during the month following the shooting, O'Neil had let Nicholas his car. 00:11:37 Speaker 2: So a month later I noticed an unmarked car following me. They passed me, came in front of me, made a sound stop, forcing me to stop. Then they jumped up and it was just police everywhere, guns everywhere. 00:11:52 Speaker 3: Move Move, motherfuckers. I could shoot you. Move. So I'm like, I'm not moving. I'm not moving. 00:11:56 Speaker 2: They dragged me out of car, put my face on the ground with the knee in my face. Detective Pearson came in, got me and brought me to one thirteen. 00:12:04 Speaker 1: Percent, and this detective Timothy Pearson, recently served as a top aid to New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Apparently they go way back, and he has faced or is currently facing allegations ranging from corruption, pay the play schemes, as well as rape and other sexual misconduct. But there's no known history of wrongful convictions, that is until now. 00:12:26 Speaker 2: So when I got to one thirteen percint, they asked me, do you know why I'm here? I'm like, maybe because I was driving my friend's car and he was charged for murder. They said yes, but there is more. The car was seen leaving the scene that waitness saw me and O'Neill together that night, So I said, no, that can't be true. So he said, O'Neill said I was with him that. 00:12:45 Speaker 1: Night, which yes, they were together, but only after the shooting when they met up at Pucci's house. Now, always remember it is legal for the police to lie or mislead. I'm hoping that'll change someday, but that's the way it is. And the reality here was that Nicholas and O'Neill had been calling each other before they actually met up. 00:13:07 Speaker 3: So I'm like, I have. 00:13:08 Speaker 2: Proof in my phone that we was actually calling each other. If you check my call log, you could see recent call and only called me at three, and he called me also at five. It was like a tow way phone. It was a Walmart phone. So the only thing that phone could prove is the recent call. So I don't know if they did check or not, but my phone end up disappearing, right. I told my lawyer about the phone, and they told my lawyer in evidence. 00:13:35 Speaker 3: Right days past, my lawyer tried. 00:13:37 Speaker 2: To get the phone back again and they said the phone disappeared. The phone can be found. 00:13:43 Speaker 1: I mean, why let perfectly good exculpatory evidence get in the way of what appears to be manufactured evidence. This came in the form of another alleged partygoer, the upstairs neighbor, a guy named Richard Bennett. For the first time, he claimed to have seen the alleged sailants being pushed out of the basement back door. Never mind that from where he said he was standing, he couldn't have seen that door. Then he said he ran upstairs to his apartment. This is a two family home, so he had to go out Mary Johnson's front door outside to access his own front door, and he claimed that this is when he saw three alleged assailants. And now he was at the precinct of view a lineup featuring Nicholas. 00:14:27 Speaker 2: He was seeing a Facebook photo off me minutes before the lineup. This same guy testified at a grandjury that I have a tattoo on the right side of my neck. This same guy said that when me and Oni got to the front of the house, he said a point a gun in his face. He said, I said to him, what's you're looking at, motherfucker? And while he was looking at me, he saw a tattoo on my neck, with words, I don't have no tattoo, never have a tattoo on me. 00:14:54 Speaker 1: Ever, nevertheless, now Panessa Edwards and Richard Bennett both placed O'Neill and the at the scene with guns in their hands. 00:15:02 Speaker 2: They charged us with acting in concert. 00:15:05 Speaker 3: I was arraigned. 00:15:06 Speaker 2: I had a bunch of people in court that was there with me at Pucci house. It looked like the judge were considering to give me a bill until the district attorney jumped up and said, judge, the victim family scared for their life, and the judge was like, no bill, you know, so I was sent to rakas Allen. It was a new experience for me, so I had to adapt fast. 00:15:30 Speaker 3: I was young. I was like in the jungle. 00:15:32 Speaker 2: I was like around some wild kids that's probably been to jail more than my fingers, you know. 00:15:53 Speaker 1: Nicholas spent three long, miserable years in pre trial detention on the Notori Complex, not as Riker's Island, which is just fucking wild. I mean, from March twenty eleven to November twenty fourteen, not convicted of a freaking thing. This was around the same time that Khalif Browder, by the Way Rest in Peace was there for three years pre trial as well. We're going to link to the Kaliff Browder documentary in the episode description. Well, luckily Nicholas was able to survive this ordeal, unlike Khalif. But meanwhile, on the outside, O'Neil and Nicholas's attorneys had three years to prepare for cross examinations, and despite Nicholas's phone just magically disappearing, he still had his alibi, witnesses and the picture with Vanessa Punton, placing him a fifteen minute drive away from Mary Johnson's just about eight minutes after the shooting. The only issue was that in the digital cameras settings AM had been flipped with PM. 00:16:54 Speaker 2: Well, my lawyer was telling me that even though the time stamp it's saying PM instead of M. When it's time for trial, he would get Vanessa to come and testify for. 00:17:04 Speaker 1: The grand jury. Only the photo was entered into evidence. In addition, his friend Gabby Francis testified that he was with Nicholas all night, including when they had gone to the Scurvins party and back to Poocies, but Britney Goodrich, the girl that had traded phone numbers with him, She claimed that Nicholas had returned later on in the morning. 00:17:22 Speaker 2: There was a weakness go by the name of Larissa White. She also wrote a statement the morning of the crime. She also testified in a grand jury, and her testimony was that when the shot rang out, she was upstairs with Britney Goodrich looking for their coats to leave. So she contradicts Brittany because Brittany said she was down in the basement when the shots rang out and that's the last time she saw me. 00:17:47 Speaker 1: Vanessa Edwards also testified that the last time she saw Nicholas was earlier in the night, which also impeached Brittany, as well as Nicki Skurvin and Mary Johnson's new statements, which now aligned with the state's narrative. 00:18:00 Speaker 3: D five statement. 00:18:01 Speaker 2: As Mary Johnson, she gave to the cops she identified a tall, light skin with braids in his thirties. That was just disregarded. So my lawyer let her know that he's not tall, he's not light skin, and you know what I'm saying. 00:18:16 Speaker 3: So her thing was that it was me. I was there. 00:18:19 Speaker 2: Also, Nicki Scurvin, minutes after the situation, she never mentioned ONeill Mayors. She never mentioned me at all. It was at the Grand Jewelry when she mentioned O'Neill and me. Then in the first trial, Mary Johnson she said, my hair was basically braided up with rubber bands at the tip, wearing a jeans jacket with a gray shirt. That's was not my appearance that night. The picture that I took showed a different appearance. Everybody put me into a different clothing, earstyle. Everybody description was just off, but hers was funny and ridiculous. 00:18:52 Speaker 1: So despite photographic evidence of the contrary, Mary Johnson and Nicki Scurvin supported the state's trial narrative, which was that after O'Neill and Felicia traded slaps, that O'Neill, Nicholas, and two others were forced to leave the party by the victim, as well as Mary Johnson and Nicki Scurvin. 00:19:11 Speaker 3: Nicki's Curvin. 00:19:12 Speaker 2: She testified that she went to you gotta go because you and your girl messed up my party. 00:19:17 Speaker 3: And she said. 00:19:18 Speaker 2: One'll tell her leave me alone. And while she grabbed him, she said, he like swring her hands off him. And as he did that, she said she saw something that appears to be a gun in his waist. When she saw the gun, she said, ONeill said, yo, leave me alone. You want to mess with badman. Don't mess with badman. That's the Jamaican term saying that, don't mess with the gangster. 00:19:39 Speaker 3: So she said. 00:19:40 Speaker 2: Other people came in shove shove him out. So they asked her what I was doing. She said, I was just there. She said, she got us out, closed the door. As we're trying to bang the door to come back in, the door cracked open and she saw my face, so she put. 00:19:55 Speaker 3: Me on the scene. 00:19:56 Speaker 1: Then Vanessa Edwards stuck with her initial statement about O'Neil emerging from the stairwell, but this time she added a gun and more. 00:20:04 Speaker 2: She testified that she saw one ran up the steps with a gun in his hand with about four guys, and the four guys ran back down the steps. She heard the shots, and then the guys walked back up and ran down the driveway. So Maloya asked her, did she ever saw my face before? She said yes, she saw me that night talking to Brittany. Did you see him run up the steps with those group of guys? 00:20:29 Speaker 3: She said no. 00:20:30 Speaker 2: Last time she saw me was the time that I was talking to Brittany, and she never saw me back that. 00:20:34 Speaker 1: Night, which contradicts Mary Johnson and Nikki Scurvin, who claimed to have seen Nicholas's face when Ava Lisa Morris slammed the door shut on the four men before two gun shots were fired through the door. 00:20:46 Speaker 2: There was a hole that's higher and there's another lower hole. The ballistic detective he was trying to say, I fired the lower hole and because one was taller, he fired the higher hole. So like this is just your speculations or this is a fact. He said, no, it's just in speculating. So Maloya ax him. 00:21:09 Speaker 3: Was it one gun? Was it two gun? 00:21:11 Speaker 2: Did they fire one gun and gave it to the other one and the other one fired? 00:21:14 Speaker 3: What was it? 00:21:15 Speaker 2: So he couldn't answer, So it was just based off of his speculations. 00:21:19 Speaker 1: And what appears to be wishful thinking to nab two gunmen for the price of one, when in actuality, what they had were two forty five caliber shell cases believed to have been fired from a semi automatic weapon, which simply could have been fired from different angles. But they continued right along with the two shooter theory, putting Richard Bennett on the stand, and he proceeded to impeach himself twice, first claiming that he was at the front side of the basement about to head up the stairs when he'd seen o, Neil and Nicholas being forced out the back door, but there was a structure, a bathroom that had been built between those two points and it was blocking his view of the back door. And then came self sabotage number two, when he claimed to have gone upstairs and out the front door. 00:22:03 Speaker 2: So he said, while he was outside opening the door, he said he saw me and Onneil. He said, I said to him, what's you looking at motherfucker pointing the gun in his face. And he was asked, did you say, mister, and you saw a tattoo on his neck? 00:22:16 Speaker 3: Yes, he got a tattoo on his neck. 00:22:18 Speaker 2: So when I took the stand, my lawyer asked me to show my neck, and I don't have no tattoo, never have a tattoo on me ever, But Bennett was certain that he saw a tattoo and it was in words. 00:22:30 Speaker 1: Then Gabby Francis teestified that Nicholas had been with him all night and therefore unavailable for this crime. The picture with Vanessa Bunden was also presented, which not only impeached all the hair and clothing descriptions, but also corroborated his alibi, placing him a fifteen minute drive away right about eight minutes after the shooting. And instead of attacking the incorrect AMPM setting up the timestamp, the district attorney, Denise Tarini, took a different tact. 00:22:58 Speaker 2: She was trying to say that I did the crime and a rush to Puccios. So her argument was like, yes, judge, he knew what he was doing. He did that, and then he rushed over there and say, let me take a picture to show that I was here. 00:23:12 Speaker 1: So let's recap. Vanessa Edwards contradicted Scurvin, Johnson and Bennett, while Bennett proceeded to impeach himself even more. And then there was the worthless ballistics speculation, followed by Ada Denise Terini's own worthless speculation about the photo. But still some jurors they just wanted to believe in their guilt. 00:23:37 Speaker 2: We went for deliberation and we was in the bullpen and it was just a wall separating us from the deliberation room, so we could actually hear the juries like raising their voice cursing like I. 00:23:52 Speaker 3: Don't give a fuck. 00:23:53 Speaker 2: He did not do it, he caunnot see, he cannot see through the bathroom. 00:23:58 Speaker 3: I don't give a fuck. 00:23:59 Speaker 2: So me and Oni like we got elated because we were like damn people in there fighting for us. The verdict came back, they said, judge, we can't decide, and it was a hang jury. The child would have to go over again. 00:24:13 Speaker 3: And it was like mixed. 00:24:15 Speaker 2: Feeling because like I was happy and I was said because I was sent back to rack as Allen, and also I felt like all right, no, we know what was said. 00:24:25 Speaker 3: So next time it would be better. 00:24:27 Speaker 1: But the district attorney also observed what worked and what clearly did not. So eight months later, at the second trial, Vanessa Edwards needed to not contradict half the state's witnesses, most of whom had previously testified about how dark it had been in the basement, thereby making it difficult to see, so that part of the narrative needed to change. And then Richard Bennett needed to try to somehow deflect from his previous self sabotage and focus solely on identifying Nicholas. 00:25:00 Speaker 2: My second trial started and Richard Bennon he was the first witness call to the stand, right, so eight months later he trying to say that, you don't remember saying no tattoo. 00:25:11 Speaker 3: You don't remember saying that. 00:25:13 Speaker 2: So you know, we did read backs from the first trial and grand jury acting him, do you remember saying, yeah, witness point of gun in my face had a tattoo on his right side of his neck. And then that's when he was like, yeah, I remember saying that. But he came back in the second trial trying to say, you don't remember saying it. District attorney disregard that old tattoo. She said, first of all, Richard Bennon was not identifying a tattoo. He was identifying my face. And she was like, so what what if he thought he saw a tattoo. So she disregarded that whole thing, and she asked him about the lighting. 00:25:48 Speaker 3: He said it was dark. It was dark. 00:25:50 Speaker 2: It was dark, and she become frustrated. Now you know, in the first trial that was like a big thing for my side, were trying to prove, like, yo, is a party, it's pretty much dark. 00:26:03 Speaker 3: Like, yeah, the DJ have light. 00:26:05 Speaker 2: In the second trial, the district attorney. 00:26:07 Speaker 3: She lit up the whole place. It was so bright. 00:26:11 Speaker 2: She was like Christmas lights was in the basement. Light was shining from outside coming into the basement. 00:26:16 Speaker 3: She was lit up the whole place. 00:26:18 Speaker 2: That's why the ballistic detective came back and started testifying about lights. So Monmoy was like, Yo, you supposed to be testifying about ballistic evidence. Why are you coming here testifying about lights? You never said that in your first child. Why are you coming here talking about the light. 00:26:33 Speaker 1: So it appears that testifying about the lights was a better use of this expert than his speculations. In addition, Mary Johnson and Nicki Scurvin steered away from the erroneous hair and clothing descriptions and focused instead on making the IDs and placing a gun on O'Neill. 00:26:50 Speaker 2: In the second trial, Nickiy Scurvy she was more sturdy. Her husband actually came also in the second trial and testify on RBA testify and said she was drunk. He said one time he was trying to talk to her, she couldn't even recognize him. 00:27:05 Speaker 3: She was up in his face. So he testified that she was actually drunk. 00:27:10 Speaker 1: But that impeachment mattered a little less when Vanessa Edwards took the stand to place o'neel at the scene with a gun and was careful not to clear Nicholas again, thereby impeaching the other state's witnesses. 00:27:22 Speaker 2: My lawyer asked her the same thing again. Was I in the group? She said she don't know, because she wasn't looking at face and she was just looking at the gun that Meares had in his hand. You could tell that she was coached by the district attorney. My lawyer picked that up throughout the whole trial because they was like button heads. 00:27:40 Speaker 3: They was literally arguing. 00:27:42 Speaker 2: I remember incident my girlfriend came in and told me, oh, mister Mitchell just cursed out mister Reno. He told her that you're trying to set up my client. You're trying to send my client to jail, not over my dead body. And it was a big argument in the elevator. It was just so crazy because you sit down in your first child here thing, and then when it comes to the second child, the whole testimony just changed and flips. 00:28:05 Speaker 1: But there were at least two witnesses in addition to Gabby Francis that could have helped the defense. One was the girl from the picture, Vanessa Bunten, the second child. 00:28:14 Speaker 2: She said she was coming to testify. She was supposed to go to work and sign out and come in court. So we was in court waiting for her to come, so my lawyer called her. She told my lawyer that she's sorry, she cannot come anymore because when she got to work, she had a surprise promotional party for her, so she never came in testify. 00:28:36 Speaker 1: Another defense witness could have been Felicia Douglas, because not only had she admitted to making the statement out of anger at O'Neill and feeling pressure from the victim's friends, but also she had denied seeing Nicholas at the time of the shooting, and she was standing right next to Vanessa Edwards. 00:28:52 Speaker 2: She came to the court ready to testify, but only lawyer pulled back. He said, listen, we're not going to put her on this because with the four statement that she made, the district attorney will eat her up. So he decided not to put her on the stand. 00:29:08 Speaker 1: And let's face it, separate trials had a singularly focused strategy probably would have made a difference for Nicholas, but unfortunately he was deprived of that. And then the district attorney had one more tactic. 00:29:22 Speaker 3: She put the mom on. 00:29:23 Speaker 2: The stand, and the mom testified above for half an hour, and she cried the whole alf an hour. You know what I mean, I cried, I'm sitting over there, she cried, I can't remember that. 00:29:36 Speaker 3: This deliberation, this. 00:29:38 Speaker 2: One took three days, not like the first one that took almost two weeks. This one took three days. 00:29:45 Speaker 3: And the verdict came in. They started O'Neill. 00:29:48 Speaker 2: First, murder her in the second degree not guilty, so I. 00:29:52 Speaker 3: Was like, oh whooa. 00:29:54 Speaker 2: But then manslaughter guilty, criminal position of a weapon guilty, recklessly guilty, so now. 00:30:01 Speaker 3: It was my term. They read a murder not guilty, so no o, so they read out manslaughter. 00:30:09 Speaker 2: I was guilty, criminal position guilty, reckless endigierment guilty. 00:30:14 Speaker 3: So we got the same charges. We had to go back like. 00:30:18 Speaker 2: Three months for sentence, and I gave my condolences to the family. I told the mom, listen, your daughter blood is not on my hand. I don't know what happened, but I give you my deepest condolence. O'Neill did the same thing. I asked the judge for sympathy, but it was gotten. The mac sentence and all charges five to fifteen on the Manto fifteen flat for the criminal position of a weapon and three to seven on the reckless engagement. The fifteen flat overrides the five to fifteen. If it wasn't the fifteen flat, I think would have been home long time ago. But because fifteen flat, we had to do the whole fifteen years. When I got to five points, he was a double bunk jail, so I was like, oh my gosh, I gotta share this small space with someone. But the guy that I was bunk with, he was pretty cool. 00:31:37 Speaker 3: You know, so we become close. Then he left. 00:31:41 Speaker 2: Then no, I was worrying again and be like, oh my god, I hope I don't get a nasty bunky, you know, But I got somebody pretty decent. He was like older. He's also good in the law. His name is Paul Thompson. Actually he's also innocent in his case. Somebody had shot him and the person that shot him died later, so they're trying to say he was the one that did it. So they paid a crackhead, put him up in the hotel, make him live in luxury to testify against him that he saw him that day that shoot the guy that shot him. 00:32:15 Speaker 3: So he's good with the laws. He's still fighting right now. 00:32:19 Speaker 1: Paul Thompson, all right, we'll try to make contact somehow. 00:32:22 Speaker 2: He got twenty five to life and I got fifteen years. I saw I could never complain. I'm gonna go back out. 00:32:29 Speaker 3: He might not. 00:32:30 Speaker 1: And what's wild about Nicholas's appeal process was that since three years went by pre trial, a lot of the information that we talked about today was discovered and used by the defense, so new evidence couldn't get him the relief that he needed and deserved. At least not yet. Now. The issues that were raised on direct appeal and in his habeas related to insufficiency of evidence, as well as potentially prejudicial comments and conduct by the prosecution. Unfortunately, the time that was denied, it was already twenty twenty two, eleven long years into a maximum sentence of fifteen years. 00:33:08 Speaker 2: Because you know, when you get fifteen years, you have good time, so you don't actually do the whole fifteen years. 00:33:15 Speaker 3: You know. 00:33:15 Speaker 2: I wasn't giving no trouble inside, so I still had my good time, you know, So I actually did twelve years and ten months. My release date was January seventh, twenty twenty four, right before I came home. You know, they have a saint say in the streets talk, you know, so I waited the years to see if someone my anti prayed like, oh, the real person was going to come forward one day, and right before I came home, I called my cousin one day and she told me that she heard who did it. 00:33:53 Speaker 1: He knows the alternative suspect's name, but that would still need to be verified. And we're not going to name names here if it's not confirmed, but that could be a very promising starting point for an interested attorney who hopefully is listening right now, who might want to take up the cause of clearing Nicholas's name once and for all. It also seems that there's an ineffective council claim here for not having severed the trials. 00:34:19 Speaker 2: When I did my appeal, that was a big thing. My lawyer, Alan Feleck, he was saying, listen, you could have easily walk away from this if the child was separated. But at the time my lawyer it felt like it was best for him to team up, so you have two lawyers against one district attorney. But he was wrong because every other lawyer looked at my case they said, yeah, y'all should have been separated. 00:34:43 Speaker 1: So we'll be linking the contact information for Nicholas Brucky Allen in the episode description for any interested attorney or anyone who has it pertinent information, including the actual shooter or one of the men in the stairwell morning. But back to his release. Since his immigration status was impacted by this roundful conviction, he was sent to immigration detention. 00:35:10 Speaker 2: So I was in the immigration facility. I was deciding to fight the case, you know, But then I'm like, why would I stay any longer in prison, when I could just be free and just go back to Jamaica. I just want to live my life now. Thank God for my freedom, and that's it. But always in the back of my head saying that one day I want to clear my name, you know. And when I got to Jamaica walked out, that's when I firstly first experience freedom. On the twenty fifth January in twenty twenty four, my family here head keep a big party for me, like a welcome home party meals. 00:35:53 Speaker 3: When I came home that I was eating, it was like just delicious. It was. It was like a breath of fresh air. You know. 00:36:00 Speaker 2: It was like the actra real, authentic Jamaican taste. 00:36:05 Speaker 3: You know. 00:36:06 Speaker 1: Since Nicholas Bucky Allen has been home, he's written a book called The State of New York Versus Nicholas Allen. We're going to link to that as well. I'm going to order a copy myself. But Brucky has also connected with an old friend who has been visiting him in Jamaica and they're expecting a baby really soon. So we wish them all the best. And with that, we're going to go to closing arguments, where first of all, I thank you for sharing this incredible true story. Closing arguments, of course, is a part of the show that I really look forward to, where I'm going to turn off my microphone, leave my headphones on, just close my eyes and listen to any other thoughts you want to share. 00:36:45 Speaker 2: When it comes to like the criminals system, you know, they always say it's unjust, but as every here goes by, people becoming more aware, so a lot of laws change in and eventually, hopefully one day there will be no more wrongfully convicted person behind bars. You know, I thank people like you for just keep bringing awareness, keep doing what you're doing. The work that you're doing is not going unseen or unheard, because you got to understand a lot of the dudes in there, they don't really have a voice. So with yeah being the voice for them out here, they trust me. They would really appreciate that. Because when I used to be in jail, and I used to be in prison and I heard oh, this law is coming, this law is coming soon, that law is coming soon, I'm like, ah, it was because the people like you, like protests, people fight, people bring awareness. So I just cannot do nothing else but show y'all my gratitude like I thank y'all so much. 00:37:58 Speaker 1: Man, all of y'all, thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. You can listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts one week early and ad free 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 Kleiber. 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 Flamm. Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association with Signal Company Number One. We've worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. 00:38:49 Speaker 2: The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.