Latest / NO FILTER / Episode 18_ Made it Home. Two GA men exonerated after podcast uncovers new evidence(M4A_128K)

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Episode 18_ Made it Home. Two GA men exonerated after podcast uncovers new evidence(M4A_128K) · NO FILTER

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Not long before season one of this podcasts first aired,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Lee Clark faced a tough decision. When I met Lee
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and when I began working on this podcast, he didn't
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: have any legal representation.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Then.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Last year, the Georgia Innocence Project took on his case,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: and as his attorneys, they had concerns about whether being
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: on the podcast could carry serious consequences for him. Their concerns, unfortunately,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: were not unfounded. For people in prison, appearing on media
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: like this can carry huge risks, both for their court
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: cases and for the lives they have to leave behind bars.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: I was told that after talking through the possible dangers
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: to him for being on the podcast, Lee didn't think
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: it was a good idea. That evening Lee called, I
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: thought he was calling to tell me that he couldn't
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: be on the show.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Oh, I thought about how Walker angry if I told
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: him I always going to hear you not to put
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: it on there.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: And then I thought about it and got mold.
• 1:00
  Speaker 5: I want fished off. Got a body I'm working about,
• 1:03
  Speaker 5: somebody give him information to book the truth out there
• 1:05
  Speaker 5: about my damn life. I mean, Jesus crush, I mean
• 1:09
  Speaker 5: you fished in it over with your damn foot on
• 1:12
  Speaker 5: Monday for twenty five years.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: How about you get you put on Monday.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: Let me breathe.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I couldn't promise Lee that the podcast would help his
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: case in any way. I couldn't promise him that the
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: podcast wouldn't hurt his case in some way. But what
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: I could promise was that with the podcast, his story
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: would be heard, that he would have the chance to
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: tell his own story.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: I want my bark out their attentions.
• 1:34
  Speaker 5: I won't people to know it. You go ahead and
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: do what you do, and I'll do man, I won't
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: go away and get it out there. And I'm so
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: worried about it. Probably go we made me about it. No,
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: I'm not gonna blame you.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to do that.
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: I don't put blame the mode. I'm won't put it
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: worth I won't try it my fate.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: I dosed my decision.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Lee decided that he would be on the podcast, whatever
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: the consequences might be, and it was that decision I
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: think that ultimately made what happened in Rome, Georgia last
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: week possible.
• 2:11
  Speaker 6: Hi.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: My name is Susan Simpson. I'm an attorney and podcaster
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: and previously I hosted the Undisclosed Podcast.
• 2:18
  Speaker 7: Hi, I'm Justina Davis and I'm a True Crime TV producer.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: This is episode eighteen, Made It Home. It is the
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: final episode of season one of Proof. After you listen,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: don't forget to go to our YouTube channel at prove
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Crime Pod to check out videos at accompany this episode.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: At the time of our previous final episode, Lee and
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Kane were once again serving time together at the same prison.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: After Kin got transferred to the same place Lee was at.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: For the first time in many years, they saw each
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: other in person again. That didn't last long, though. Shortly
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: after they were both again and Lee ended up at
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: the same prison that Joey Watkins is at. It had
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: been Joey who introduced me to Lee back when I
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: was working on his case for the Undisclosed Podcast. Joey
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: called me one day when Lee just happened to be nearby,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: and Joey started telling me about Lee's case, apparently guessing
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: that if I already hear the story of the Freebird Gang,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: I'd get curious and want to hear more. Joey's plan worked.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: Hello, Hey, Hey Lee.
• 3:26
  Speaker 8: He goes by the name Lee's He's over here, you
• 3:30
  Speaker 8: know the two of us have been to one suit
• 3:33
  Speaker 8: three different prisons together. We've been in the same dorm
• 3:36
  Speaker 8: in every prison. His case is super messed up.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Can I talk to him?
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: See?
• 3:41
  Speaker 8: Yeah, hold on one second, let me get him hold
• 3:45
  Speaker 8: on one thing.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: Hello, Hey, Lee?
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: He so that conversation happened nearly five years ago now,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: and all the time since then, Joey's case still hasn't
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: been resolved. His attorney's fouled a habeus on his behalf
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: back in twenty sixteen, when the last episode in our
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: season on his case aired, But since then his case
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: has been up and down and up again through the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Pelt system, and years later, we're still awaiting a final ruling. So,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: if Joey's case is any example of how much time
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: these things can take, Lee and Kane had a very
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: long road ahead of them.
• 4:22
  Speaker 7: But Lee and Kane had something Joey did not. After
• 4:26
  Speaker 7: listening to our podcast, the family of Brian Bulling had
• 4:29
  Speaker 7: become Lee and Kane's biggest advocates. They began contacting anyone
• 4:34
  Speaker 7: who might listen and wrote letters to the parole Board
• 4:37
  Speaker 7: in their support. Then Brian's uncle, Michael Baker, tried to
• 4:42
  Speaker 7: contact the Floyd County District Attorney's.
• 4:44
  Speaker 9: Office call and the lady there, you know, I tell
• 4:49
  Speaker 9: her that Brian Buller case from ninety six and I
• 4:51
  Speaker 9: was the uncle Fred and wanted sense for information to
• 4:55
  Speaker 9: the DA's office to review. And she would not give
• 4:59
  Speaker 9: me the email address, told me out wasn't allowed to
• 5:01
  Speaker 9: have it and can't mail anything or it would be
• 5:04
  Speaker 9: returned like a while. You know, I think what I
• 5:07
  Speaker 9: do now.
• 5:08
  Speaker 7: The woman who answered the film told him he couldn't
• 5:11
  Speaker 7: submit any materials to the District Attorney's office, but she
• 5:16
  Speaker 7: did offer Brian's uncle one option he could try.
• 5:20
  Speaker 9: The lady was coming nice, all of hef because she
• 5:22
  Speaker 9: did say this one thing I can do. I'll transfer
• 5:24
  Speaker 9: you over to to the DA's officer. You know, maybe
• 5:27
  Speaker 9: she'll call you back or maybe not.
• 5:32
  Speaker 7: Michael was transferred to the District attorney's voicemail and he
• 5:35
  Speaker 7: left a message.
• 5:39
  Speaker 9: I didn't really think i'd hear back, but probably ten
• 5:41
  Speaker 9: minutes later she called back. But yes, she said that
• 5:45
  Speaker 9: she would not be reopening the case. That's just telling me,
• 5:49
  Speaker 9: you know that I do not believe podcasters all stuff
• 5:53
  Speaker 9: A bunch of liars. She had, they saying that she
• 5:55
  Speaker 9: had so much trouble with so many podcasters coming in,
• 5:58
  Speaker 9: you know, wanting to information that we shouldn't talk to podcasters.
• 6:03
  Speaker 9: Matter of fact, she said, you're the family family should
• 6:07
  Speaker 9: have never talked to them, ever been interviewed. And she said,
• 6:11
  Speaker 9: a matter of fact, if they call you back, call
• 6:13
  Speaker 9: me immediately and I'll handle it. But I'm like, you know,
• 6:16
  Speaker 9: we talked to them volunteerily. So you know, I'm not
• 6:19
  Speaker 9: asking you to do anything, you know, to the podcasters
• 6:21
  Speaker 9: or anything like that. But she told me straight up
• 6:24
  Speaker 9: that she would not take a letter from me, would
• 6:28
  Speaker 9: not give me the email address, and said anything that
• 6:31
  Speaker 9: the sentiel would be returned, but they definitely would not
• 6:34
  Speaker 9: re up to that case. You could tell every boy
• 6:37
  Speaker 9: she did very very is it. You know, She's like,
• 6:40
  Speaker 9: we got the conviction for you and your family. You
• 6:44
  Speaker 9: guys should be glad that we got the conviction for them,
• 6:47
  Speaker 9: you know, and the boys are really should be wow.
• 6:51
  Speaker 9: You know, I just want you to listen and you know,
• 6:54
  Speaker 9: review the case is all I'm asking, you know, just
• 6:56
  Speaker 9: to listen and review it. She said, absolutely not.
• 7:00
  Speaker 7: It was not a promising start, but Lee's attorneys at
• 7:04
  Speaker 7: the Georgia Innocence Project were already busy pursuing claims on
• 7:07
  Speaker 7: his behalf. They filed a habeas petition in Coffee County, Georgia,
• 7:12
  Speaker 7: and also an extraordinary motion for a new trial in
• 7:15
  Speaker 7: Floyd County itself. There was a real concern, though, about
• 7:20
  Speaker 7: the strength of those legal claims. There was, of course,
• 7:27
  Speaker 7: Angela Bruce's recantation. Angela Bruce's testimony was the backbone of
• 7:32
  Speaker 7: the state's entire case, and we now know that that
• 7:35
  Speaker 7: testimony had been coerced by the detective's threats to take
• 7:38
  Speaker 7: away her children if she didn't cooperate. But under Georgia law,
• 7:43
  Speaker 7: Angela's recantation held no legal weight, not unless and until
• 7:48
  Speaker 7: she was first prosecuted and convicted of perjury and then
• 7:51
  Speaker 7: sentenced to life in prison, because that's the penalty that
• 7:55
  Speaker 7: conviction would hold in a first degree murder case. And
• 7:59
  Speaker 7: then there's Charlie Childers. What happened with Charlie's testimony was
• 8:02
  Speaker 7: a gross injustice of some kind, but it defies any
• 8:07
  Speaker 7: easy characterization. We think it likely could be shown to
• 8:10
  Speaker 7: be a constitutional violation of some sort. There are a
• 8:14
  Speaker 7: few possible options there, but it's the sort of muddy
• 8:17
  Speaker 7: legal issue that would undoubtedly take years of litigation and
• 8:21
  Speaker 7: appeals for the course to ever resolve.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: And that Lee would indeed face years and years of litigation.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Here became clear when the Attorney General's Office moved to
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: dismiss Lee's habees's petition. The AG's office argued that Lee
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: should have discovered all the problems in this case within
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: four years of his conviction becoming final. It was a
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Lee's failure to exercise due diligence that cause these issues
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: to not be discovered sooner. Therefore, Lee is prohibited from
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: ever complaining about them again. In its motion to dismiss,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: the Age's Office took the position that so what if
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Angela Bruce was coerced by police to falsely implicate Lee
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: and Kane by threatening to take her children, Because, quote
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: the AG's brief, there is no reason why Angela Bruce
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: could not have been interviewed either before trial or before
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the motion for a new trial was denied, especially since
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Angela was testifying witness a trial. Same thing for Charlie Childers,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: there is no reason The Age's Office argued that Lee
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: could not as simply interviewed Charlie back then at the
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: time of trial and discover then that he never saw
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Lee running from the bowlings trailer. As for any documents
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: that proved Polase misconduct, quote, petitioner could have obtained any
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: such investigative notes pursued to the Open Records Act once
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: his conviction came final on July twelfth, nineteen ninety nine.
• 9:33
  Speaker 7: But when we tried to obtain the records through an
• 9:36
  Speaker 7: Open Records Act in Floyd County, we were told they
• 9:39
  Speaker 7: couldn't be found. There are exceptions sometimes to this rule
• 9:43
  Speaker 7: that says inmates only have four years to discover misconduct
• 9:47
  Speaker 7: in their cases. It was the twenty nineteen decision from
• 9:50
  Speaker 7: the Supreme Court of Georgia in the Joey Watkins case
• 9:53
  Speaker 7: that showed that, but finding out if Lee's case would
• 9:57
  Speaker 7: be one of those exceptions would take years of a
• 10:00
  Speaker 7: heels and hearings. So while Lee had lawyers from the
• 10:04
  Speaker 7: Georgia Innocence Project who were willing to fight a long
• 10:07
  Speaker 7: drawn out battle, Cain's story still had no representation. In
• 10:12
  Speaker 7: our last regular episode of season one, we put out
• 10:16
  Speaker 7: a call for any attorneys who might be interested in
• 10:19
  Speaker 7: representing Kan. The next day we received an email, if
• 10:24
  Speaker 7: Kin still needs an attorney, I'd like to offer to
• 10:26
  Speaker 7: represent him. The email was from a Rome criminal defense
• 10:30
  Speaker 7: attorney named Luke Martin.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: This episode of Proof is sponsored by Betterhelp. Sometimes you
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: just wish life came with the user manual, that there
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  Speaker 7: I totally agree. Navigating life's challenges can make you feel unsure,
• 11:01
  Speaker 7: whether it's a career change, a new relationship, becoming a parent,
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  Speaker 7: even getting out of prison after twenty five years.
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  Speaker 1: at betterhelp dot com slash proof. That's better Help h
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: e lp dot com slash proof. The first time I
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: spoke to Luke, he told me his thoughts on Canes
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: and Lee's case, impossible strategies they could use. Afterwards, I
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: got in touch with Kane. There's an attorney interested in
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: helping you. I told him, I really think you should
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: get in touch with him. Caine did, and Luke became
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: his attorney, along with co counsel Ross Hamrick. Ross was
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: actually an attorney with the Floyd County Public Defender's Office,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: but he was loaned out to assist with Kaine's case,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: and in November, Ross and Luke filed their own extraordinary
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: motion for a new trial in Floyd County.
• 13:00
  Speaker 7: Nearly two years now, the Floyd County DA's office had
• 13:02
  Speaker 7: insisted to us that their file in Lee and Kaine's
• 13:05
  Speaker 7: case could no longer be located. Then Lee's extraordinary motion
• 13:11
  Speaker 7: for a new trial was filed, and mysteriously, the very
• 13:14
  Speaker 7: next day, the DA's case file turned up. Apparently the
• 13:19
  Speaker 7: file had been in a room called the Big Box Room,
• 13:22
  Speaker 7: and perhaps because we never specifically asked them to check
• 13:25
  Speaker 7: the Big Box Room for the file, because we didn't
• 13:28
  Speaker 7: know a thing called the Big Box Room existed, the
• 13:31
  Speaker 7: DA's office never realized that that's where it was. So
• 13:34
  Speaker 7: when we found out the file existed, we were thrilled.
• 13:38
  Speaker 7: Now this file was not the complete case file. There's
• 13:41
  Speaker 7: still a lot of material that remains missing. But in
• 13:44
  Speaker 7: the DA's file there were some recordings for some of
• 13:47
  Speaker 7: the interviews police had done, including the party hostess Angela Bruce.
• 13:53
  Speaker 7: That's how we finally got to hear Angela's original statement
• 13:56
  Speaker 7: to the police, the one that helped send two boys
• 13:59
  Speaker 7: to prison for twenty five years.
• 14:07
  Speaker 10: The young guy was in his bedroom. They walked in.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: There and they put a pill.
• 14:13
  Speaker 8: Over his head.
• 14:13
  Speaker 10: They were arguing and scuffling, and he fell on the
• 14:17
  Speaker 10: bed and put the pill over his head and shot him.
• 14:18
  Speaker 7: In the head and also how Lee Clark had confessed
• 14:22
  Speaker 7: his role in the crime.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Did he bribe about any detail about it?
• 14:27
  Speaker 7: He just said it was done execution style.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Did he give a raisin why the boy was shot?
• 14:33
  Speaker 10: They said he knew too much?
• 14:35
  Speaker 7: And how it was because of their membership in a
• 14:38
  Speaker 7: gang that they had to kill Brian.
• 14:41
  Speaker 11: They're in the Freebork game.
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: What did they say about Freebrook that they don't.
• 14:46
  Speaker 7: Let nobody out alive if they know too much?
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: Did they talk about their rules? If they talked to
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: the police or pigs. Yes, if you talked to the pigs,
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: you're dead.
• 14:58
  Speaker 12: That's straight up.
• 15:00
  Speaker 7: We also finally got to hear Angela, in her own words,
• 15:04
  Speaker 7: tell her three different explanations of how Cain and Lee
• 15:07
  Speaker 7: left her party that night. Version one, how.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: About how long did Kane stand at this party? So
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: it was over till about four o'clock in the morning?
• 15:18
  Speaker 7: And version two, I made him leave. I actually got
• 15:23
  Speaker 7: a knight after because they didn't want to leave.
• 15:26
  Speaker 9: And I made them leave.
• 15:28
  Speaker 7: In version three, the priest came up to my door
• 15:32
  Speaker 7: and asked for she has blonde hair?
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Did she hang around with Leeke Clark or Josh Grey, Yes.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: She did.
• 15:39
  Speaker 10: She went they left with her Okay and another copse.
• 15:43
  Speaker 10: I don't know what the other ury.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: It was this interview that started it all. Lee and
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Kan were arrested a few days later. And as for
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: that blue pillow that Angela was talking about, the one
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: that convinced the jury of Lee's and Kine's guilt, well
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: we have finally seen that too. Ross Hamrick was able
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: to dig it up from the evidence Locker had and
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: lost in and it was just as underwhelming as expected.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: There is no bullet hole in the pillow. There's barely
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: even a hole at all. There is a tiny, tiny
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: burnmark on one side of it, but it's barely the
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: size of the head of a ballpin pin. I remember
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: when a photo of the pillow was finally texted to me,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: I looked out at my phone and just started laughing.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: It was truly that absurd, and then I remembered that
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: this is what put two boys in prison for two
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: and a half decades, and it stopped being so funny.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: At the same time all this was going on, there
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: was another investigation happening too. Although the Floyd County DA
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: had promised Brian's family that the case would never be reopened,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: the DA's office had no choice but to look again
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: at it when the extraordinary motions for new trial were filed.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: That's when the assistant prosecutor assigned to the case and
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: a DEA investigator began their own investigation. They reviewed filings,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: examined the case file, talked Way and Says, and a
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: few months later they came back to Luke and Ross
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: with some important news about their plans for the case.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: I couldn't wait for Lee to hear about it. The
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: next day, Lee called me, thinking that he was going
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: to be the bearer of bad news. He'd gotten word
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: that unfortunately, it would be quite a while longer before
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: hearing could be held on his motion for a new trial.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: Evidently they've done checked the court calendar and there's nothing
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: available before the end of the year. So we're probably
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: not going to be in there to the next year sometime.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure exacting one that a.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Be Yeah, that's what you heard.
• 17:38
  Speaker 8: That's what.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: No coordinations available before the end of the year.
• 17:42
  Speaker 13: And so that's not entirely the case though, because you're
• 17:46
  Speaker 13: on the docket for December six Now you're on the
• 17:51
  Speaker 13: docket December sixth, I'm already planning my flight down there.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's fine, Tomain. How this works right here is?
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: What does it mean to here? What are we doing here?
• 18:00
  Speaker 14: So?
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: I talked to Luke last night. Right now, the plan
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: is for you and Kin to walk out that day.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: That day.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: That's that's the plan.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: I hope, I hope. I haven't have a surgeon, but
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: I just I don't want to put my host too
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: much on that right there.
• 18:19
  Speaker 13: I know, And I wouldn't be telling you this unless
• 18:22
  Speaker 13: I felt really good about it.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: You really could be coming home in four weeks.
• 18:28
  Speaker 13: And it's not a done deal.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you it's a done deal, but it's
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: so close, I tell you.
• 18:37
  Speaker 13: Oh god, mh you sound like a man getting bad
• 18:43
  Speaker 13: news not being told.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: Michael Free No, No, it's it's not that.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: It's not glad. He's just great usage And I just
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: don't know. My mind is, my mind is racing on me.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: It's rising a thousand miles an hour, right. I think
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: about all the possibilities that all the stuff that I've
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: been dreaming about, uh for decades now, that might actually
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: get around of building.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: As much as Lee wanted to believe what I was
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: telling him, he was skeptical.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: I just assume just keep fishing between us. I just
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: not involved my bad in it because I just don't
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: want to get his hopes, hopes really high, because if
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: how many everybodies have way to go through the devastation,
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: I don't want to put him through it too.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Cain called me as well, after he'd gotten the news
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: from his attorneys. By the upcoming hearing, If you got
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: released on the sixth, you have somewhere to go?
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: Uh yeah, I'm going now? No I do. I mean
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: I can get some person to do. I mean, if
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: I'm a free man, I don't go anywhere. In a matter.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: For decades, Kine had never needed to plan for anything.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: He knew what all of his tomorrows would look like,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: sitting in prison, watching the years roll by. Now, for
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: the first time in a very long time, his future
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: was uncertain.
• 20:02
  Speaker 7: In the end, Lee's skepticism turned out to have been warranted.
• 20:06
  Speaker 7: In cases like this, complications have a habit of arising,
• 20:10
  Speaker 7: and this case was no exception. In late November, Lee's
• 20:14
  Speaker 7: attorneys came down to meet with him and gave him
• 20:17
  Speaker 7: the bad news. The hearing on the extraordinary Motions for
• 20:21
  Speaker 7: new trial had been canceled and I helped me about
• 20:24
  Speaker 7: it life you.
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: Oh, well, yeah, it's not over yet.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: But yeah, I didn't tell them, but I don't feel
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: too hot about none of them. I'm sorry Lee, Yep,
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: I've been doing it all with.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: It.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Instead of a hearing on Can's and Lee's motions to
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: overturn their conviction, there would now be a meeting with
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: the CORD to discuss when another hearing might be scheduled
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: sometime in the spring maybe, and neither Lee nor Caine
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: would be able to attend in person. I told Lee
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: that despite the setback, Kevin and Jacinda and I were
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: still playing to be there in Rome for the scheduling conference.
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: I don't think you have to come down here. I
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: don't believe you have to come boy.
• 21:17
  Speaker 11: Go.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: I told him we'll be there anyway, and he responded,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: I don't see a point in that. Well, we do,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I told him. Later that night, Joey Watkins called me.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I told him what had happened with Lee's case.
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: Man, I'm going to game UPRT and do him with me.
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: I got him, no word. He's like a brother to me.
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: You know that.
• 21:43
  Speaker 13: Yeah, I was just getting worried.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: But he seemed more down than I've heard.
• 21:46
  Speaker 6: Him before I got him.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: How'd you wor bod he's there?
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: Yep, don't be just fine. You haven't been in the
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: road he's going on.
• 21:57
  Speaker 13: You certainly have.
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: Oh it's gonna be okay.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: If there's anyone who knows about the setbacks and crushed
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: hopes that are encountered along the way towards the generation,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: it's Joy Watkins. I hated that I'd help get Lee's
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: hopes up only to have them crushed again, but I
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: felt better knowing Joy was nearby to help him throw it.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: And even though the hearing had been canceled last week, Jacinda,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Kevin and I made the trek down to Rome, Georgia,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: you know, just in case. All right, Well, we are
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: back in Rome.
• 22:35
  Speaker 7: Sitting at the Hawthorn, which has become a home away
• 22:38
  Speaker 7: from home, waiting for Kine's attorney Luke to come meet us.
• 22:42
  Speaker 14: Yeah.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: I was just thinking that we've pulled up to the Hawthorne, like, oh,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: like I've lived here in the past year.
• 22:47
  Speaker 7: It does feel like we lived here.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: We are currently awaiting news about a hearing that is
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, the.
• 22:56
  Speaker 7: Sixth, back before the hearing had been canceled switched to
• 23:00
  Speaker 7: a status hearing. We made plans to meet with Kane's
• 23:03
  Speaker 7: attorneys Luke and Ross the day before so that we
• 23:06
  Speaker 7: could finally meet them in person for the first time.
• 23:10
  Speaker 15: And they've been on the case since basically July. Is
• 23:13
  Speaker 15: that right, yep? And in that time they've made an
• 23:16
  Speaker 15: extraordinary amount of progress to get this case for Kin,
• 23:19
  Speaker 15: which was sort of non existent, into a courtroom.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Yes, Luke has been in touch with the District Attorney's office.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: We are hopeful that then maybe we can that would
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: hope he's here. Luke had texted me earlier saying that
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: he came bearing news, but we weren't sure exactly what.
• 23:39
  Speaker 16: Well we are here with Luke, who is Kaine's attorney, Yes,
• 23:43
  Speaker 16: who has had some sort of meeting today.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: How about your Billisen, because we've.
• 23:46
  Speaker 17: Been right sure so you know, we filed our extraordinary
• 23:49
  Speaker 17: motion for new trial a little while back. So the
• 23:52
  Speaker 17: actual prosecutor on the case, Emily Johnson, she asked me
• 23:57
  Speaker 17: to come over there just to give it kind of
• 23:59
  Speaker 17: the update of what is going on there, and she
• 24:02
  Speaker 17: said that they are going to consent to our emotion
• 24:04
  Speaker 17: for new trial.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Oh, this is happening.
• 24:06
  Speaker 17: Yeah, it's happening, and you know they're not going to
• 24:09
  Speaker 17: be here Tuesday. So what we did is I called
• 24:13
  Speaker 17: the sheriff and asked him if he could go pick
• 24:15
  Speaker 17: them up, if we could have the hearing on Thursday,
• 24:18
  Speaker 17: and he said yes. So we're getting judging back to
• 24:20
  Speaker 17: sign the or asking him to sign the production order
• 24:25
  Speaker 17: today tonight, and then we'll give that to the Georgias
• 24:28
  Speaker 17: Parker of Corrections tomorrow morning and the Sheriff's office and
• 24:30
  Speaker 17: they're they're going to send deputies to go get them,
• 24:32
  Speaker 17: so they'll be here for a hearing to exonerate them
• 24:35
  Speaker 17: at two pm Thursday.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Wait, so what happened? How does this all evolve?
• 24:43
  Speaker 17: Well, you know, they've been pretty silent for a couple
• 24:46
  Speaker 17: of weeks about it. I talked to them a bunch,
• 24:47
  Speaker 17: the DA's office a bunch throughout the process. I kind
• 24:50
  Speaker 17: of got a feel for it that this is what
• 24:51
  Speaker 17: they were going to do. But then they've started doing
• 24:55
  Speaker 17: their own research. They had a chief investigator on the case,
• 24:58
  Speaker 17: the line prosecutor on the case. They both listen to
• 25:00
  Speaker 17: the podcast. They interviewed witnesses, They brought in David Stewart
• 25:04
  Speaker 17: and chief in Mescator. Scott went to meet with Angela
• 25:06
  Speaker 17: Bruce and he's and apparently he did meet with her
• 25:08
  Speaker 17: and talked to her last Monday.
• 25:11
  Speaker 11: Wow.
• 25:11
  Speaker 17: So so they've been doing their own homework on it
• 25:15
  Speaker 17: and you know, double checking everything and checking your work
• 25:18
  Speaker 17: and uh yeah, just came to the conclusions the right
• 25:21
  Speaker 17: thing to do, I guess.
• 25:25
  Speaker 7: So they could walk out on Thursday.
• 25:30
  Speaker 15: They as r as you understand that they will walk
• 25:32
  Speaker 15: out yes Thursday. And so have you spoken to Keane
• 25:36
  Speaker 15: about No.
• 25:36
  Speaker 17: I just learned I and I learned, you know, right
• 25:39
  Speaker 17: before I walked over here, so about five minutes ago.
• 25:41
  Speaker 17: Ross doesn't even know he's he's walking over. Now here's
• 25:45
  Speaker 17: Ross coming now? Like I said, he doesn't even know.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: So yeah, everybody in trot so you you don't even
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: know what he knows.
• 25:58
  Speaker 14: No, he was actually he was texting me. I was like,
• 26:01
  Speaker 14: here's what's going on.
• 26:02
  Speaker 18: Yeah.
• 26:03
  Speaker 17: So in Emily's office, she said that they are going
• 26:06
  Speaker 17: to consent.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: To the motion.
• 26:07
  Speaker 17: So I called the sheriff and he's willing to go
• 26:09
  Speaker 17: get them so that they can be here in person Thursday.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: It's happening for real this time sheriff's cars would soon
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: be dispatched to pick up Lean Kine and take them
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: back to Floyd County for the hearing.
• 26:25
  Speaker 7: Kane, you know, at least when you started this project,
• 26:28
  Speaker 7: I don't think he ever thought he will get out.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I think he's resigned himself to this.
• 26:33
  Speaker 7: So this is all kind of new for him, and
• 26:35
  Speaker 7: he's always held out.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Hope can't agree to do it because he thought.
• 26:39
  Speaker 11: He might help Lee.
• 26:40
  Speaker 17: He keeps saying that he's gonna he's getting out of Georgia,
• 26:43
  Speaker 17: He's getting out of Floyd County.
• 26:44
  Speaker 7: I don't think he.
• 26:44
  Speaker 14: Knows what he's gonna do, but he's gonna be a
• 26:46
  Speaker 14: rock star.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I hope.
• 26:48
  Speaker 17: So, I don't know. I mean he's he got his
• 26:51
  Speaker 17: parent leer certificate. I mean he's really really good. He's
• 26:54
  Speaker 17: unusually good.
• 26:55
  Speaker 11: At the log his his edge argument.
• 26:59
  Speaker 17: Yeah, he's his his original extraordinary emotion for your trial
• 27:03
  Speaker 17: that was never technically filed. It was actually pretty good.
• 27:06
  Speaker 11: Yeah.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: On the phone alert today, he was telling me about
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: his ideas for federal habeas to get around to my galvitations.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: But I'm like, hey, we can discuss this later. Luckily,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: no plans for a federal habeas would be needed. Later
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: that night, Lee called me from prison for the last time.
• 27:24
  Speaker 10: Ever to accept charges, Press one to refuse charges. Press
• 27:33
  Speaker 10: you may start the conversation now.
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: Hey, Hey, I've been crying.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: I know you.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: Lee had called his father earlier that evening, not expecting
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: going to be any news, and then his dad had
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: told him, Son, you're coming home.
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: I find have got working on this so long soon.
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: Mm hmm, I've never thought of las day.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what did dad tell you?
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: Hey, I broke up crowd. Luck to you, old Toby Due.
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: Oh wait, the long say right.
• 28:09
  Speaker 7: Meanwhile, Kane hadn't called anyone that evening and no one
• 28:13
  Speaker 7: had any way of getting in touch with him, so
• 28:16
  Speaker 7: it wasn't until he got in touch with Luke the
• 28:18
  Speaker 7: next day that he got to hear the news.
• 28:21
  Speaker 6: Tonight, last night in prison, buddy, what we did it?
• 28:25
  Speaker 7: It was Kane's last night in prison, but not his
• 28:28
  Speaker 7: last night behind bars. Cain and Lee were both transported
• 28:32
  Speaker 7: to the Floyd County jail, where they would spend the
• 28:35
  Speaker 7: night waiting for Thursday's hearing.
• 28:38
  Speaker 6: So you'll be in the Floyd County Sheriff's Office patrol
• 28:40
  Speaker 6: car tomorrow morning around this time headed back to the
• 28:43
  Speaker 6: county jail. The state has reviewed the file, reviewed our motions.
• 28:48
  Speaker 6: They agreed that there was fatal errors in your case.
• 28:51
  Speaker 6: So they have consented to our motion for new trial
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: and they are not preceding on murder charges. So you're
• 28:57
  Speaker 6: going to walk out.
• 28:58
  Speaker 7: Thursday afternoon, King gave us a call right after he
• 29:01
  Speaker 7: got the news. He was still trying to process it. Hi, Kane,
• 29:06
  Speaker 7: I cannot wait to meet you in person on Thursday.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: Appreciate it.
• 29:11
  Speaker 11: Thank you.
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: I don't know what I don't know.
• 29:27
  Speaker 7: That Thursday, the courtroom was packed with Lee's and Kane supporters.
• 29:33
  Speaker 11: All ros, please closs be record. Is not a session
• 29:36
  Speaker 11: with Honible Jack need Rag presiding.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: Get out and then you please be seen it.
• 29:45
  Speaker 19: We call this case State of Georgia versus Darrow, La
• 29:50
  Speaker 19: Clark and Kane Joshua story for here today both dependents
• 29:55
  Speaker 19: have filed extraordinary emotions for they try what does the
• 30:00
  Speaker 19: State's position on these motions.
• 30:03
  Speaker 20: Uh there are in this case obviously presents unusual.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: And rare so circumstances.
• 30:08
  Speaker 11: UH.
• 30:08
  Speaker 20: After thoroughly investigating the newly found evidence presented and its motions, UH,
• 30:13
  Speaker 20: the state is consenting to the extraordinary emotion for control.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: What is the theres in your summary?
• 30:19
  Speaker 10: Is it?
• 30:20
  Speaker 11: Yeah?
• 30:20
  Speaker 20: Certain be the testimony of ANGELA groups and that the
• 30:24
  Speaker 20: charming childers.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: There's something in there about press of defects coming in
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: and taking to Mean's children. Yes, so that how to
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: do with ANGELA groups.
• 30:34
  Speaker 19: Well, these defendants have spent the last twenty five years
• 30:37
  Speaker 19: in custody.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: I think this occurred when they were both teenagers. Is
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: that correct?
• 30:42
  Speaker 19: And now it's you're in your forties, sir, yes, sir, yeah,
• 30:48
  Speaker 19: Sidney Saws.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: I wish I was in my forties still, but like so,
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: you have what many years ahead of you and uh
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: so that you will and a productive er. It's amazing
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: to see amount of support that you have.
• 31:14
  Speaker 7: An order had been prepared that would dismiss the convictions
• 31:17
  Speaker 7: of both Lee and Kane. There was a catch, though,
• 31:21
  Speaker 7: and a pretty big one. After Lee's conviction was dismissed,
• 31:25
  Speaker 7: the prosecution null prost the case against him. They would
• 31:28
  Speaker 7: not attempt to retry him. But for Kane, the Floyd
• 31:32
  Speaker 7: County DA's office wanted something different. Yes, the prosecution agreed
• 31:36
  Speaker 7: he should not have been convicted of murder. They were
• 31:39
  Speaker 7: willing to have that conviction dismissed, but only if a
• 31:43
  Speaker 7: new conviction was entered to replace it.
• 31:47
  Speaker 20: The ansigny prepared, I can send order to that effect.
• 31:50
  Speaker 20: We would ask the corporal side that order, and then
• 31:53
  Speaker 20: after that we would ask the port to allow Kane
• 31:55
  Speaker 20: Story to get or a plea to a lesser included
• 31:58
  Speaker 20: of one of ina nslaughter.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: The plea deal was for one count of involuntary manslaughter,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: predicated on the fact that Cain had committed a misdemeanor
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: and the knight Brian died. Cain was seventeen, a juvenile,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: and he brought his father's pistol to Brian's house, which
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: means he violated Georgia's statue that prohibits him under eighteen
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: from having a handgun. And because this misdemeanor set off
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: the chain of events that led to Brian's death, the
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: state one came to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter. If
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: he'd been eighteen at the time, there will be no
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: crime here at all. It's only because he was seventeen
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: that the state was able to craft an involuntary manslaughter
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: charge against him. So Cain had a choice. Either he
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: and Lee could remain in prison serving life sentences for
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: a crime that the prosecution now fully acknowledged they were
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: innocent of, or I could go ahead and take the
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: plea they were demanding. He agreed to take the plea.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: Do you understand your charge in this case that you're
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: playing too?
• 32:52
  Speaker 11: Yes?
• 32:52
  Speaker 21: And do you understand that upon your plate to this charge,
• 32:54
  Speaker 21: the maximum sentence is ten years.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: Yes, and obviously this already even deserve until that's so,
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: you'll have no further sentence as you leave today. So
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: how do you play to the charge? Guilty or not guilty?
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: And voluntary mansault? How'm guilty?
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: As part of his plea, Kin was given an opportunity
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: to a dress the court. He started by saying that
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: going forward, he wanted to be known as Josh, the
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: name that Brian had known him as. That's why, although
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: we've referred to him as Kane in this episode and
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: previously recorded audio, going forward from here he'll be known
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: as Josh.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: For the record.
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: Almost say when he's king Josh for story, we're hearing
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: up how to report to college?
• 33:36
  Speaker 16: Josh or Josh?
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: How would came to be? For over two decades, I've
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: said the reson for a prime that never happened. And
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: today we gave the Gimpson.
• 33:48
  Speaker 12: And for that I have a lot of picturing his
• 33:50
  Speaker 12: office for a knowledge, and our instant and evolving family
• 33:53
  Speaker 12: for their gross Nami Ken.
• 33:56
  Speaker 19: Thank y'all for all cloth support the Canadist throughout his process.
• 34:02
  Speaker 6: I fly admit the breaking the gun down there that night,
• 34:05
  Speaker 6: but I.
• 34:05
  Speaker 11: Had no intention to cause anyone any harm, especially my
• 34:08
  Speaker 11: best friend.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: But I do understand and if I had not taken
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: you going to Brian's house, Miss.
• 34:15
  Speaker 12: I was the bested when I was seventeen years old
• 34:17
  Speaker 12: and now I'm forty three, I've missed most of my life.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: But even though I lost twenty five years of my life.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: Today I'm going home to get back to the life
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: that I lost. But what hurts me is Brian never
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: will because of my own nations. That night, I lost
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: my best friend, and that's my hurst. The most office
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: is that Brian new got you.
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: I love it.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: Thank y'all.
• 34:44
  Speaker 11: There, You're gonna miss you very risk.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: The DA's demand that Josh plead guilty to something was
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: frustrating and sad. The criminal justice system has already stolen
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: decades of was life from him, and he's now starting
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: his life from scratch at forty three years old. Why
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: go to such links to make that even harder for
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: him still by settling him with a felony record. But
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: even this sour note to the proceedings had a happier
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: result than expected.
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: Has he qualified for first defender?
• 35:15
  Speaker 11: Yes?
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: Are you requesting first offender?
• 35:18
  Speaker 22: Yes, mister story first offender sadness means if you successfully
• 35:22
  Speaker 22: complete your sentence, which you will do automatically upon the
• 35:25
  Speaker 22: completion as core proceeding today, you'll be discharged without any
• 35:29
  Speaker 22: munication of guild.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 35:37
  Speaker 7: Judge Kneedrack, who presided over the hearing, applied Georgia's first
• 35:41
  Speaker 7: Offender Statute to Josh as guilty plea under which a
• 35:45
  Speaker 7: conviction for a first time offender is suspended until any
• 35:49
  Speaker 7: sentence is successfully served, at which point the conviction is
• 35:53
  Speaker 7: erased as if it never existed in the first place.
• 35:57
  Speaker 7: And since Josh already finished serving even the worst sentence
• 36:00
  Speaker 7: he could have received on the involuntary manslaughter charge well
• 36:04
  Speaker 7: over a decade and a half ago, that means his
• 36:07
  Speaker 7: conviction ceased to exist the moment the plea was entered.
• 36:11
  Speaker 7: In effect, Josh was exonerated twice in one day and
• 36:15
  Speaker 7: going forward, he likely has no criminal record. At Lee
• 36:23
  Speaker 7: and Josh's hearing, something else happened that was really remarkable,
• 36:28
  Speaker 7: something you don't see often in exoneration proceedings. Bryan's family,
• 36:33
  Speaker 7: his uncle and sister stood before the court and made
• 36:36
  Speaker 7: statements in support of the two men who had once
• 36:39
  Speaker 7: been convicted of murdering him, Michael later at.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: The uncle of Brad Bowen.
• 36:47
  Speaker 12: The Full Atlantic Horse, of course, made this process of
• 36:51
  Speaker 12: the office for efficient to the early last, for it
• 36:54
  Speaker 12: was a project vulnablympart is made all that season a
• 36:58
  Speaker 12: descendive for review. This podcast open up the case where
• 37:01
  Speaker 12: we see a different lot on the case. We did
• 37:05
  Speaker 12: leave with the boys or against. They've been on there
• 37:07
  Speaker 12: way too long, and we do appreciate you guys. They
• 37:10
  Speaker 12: want to fast let these boys out and we wish
• 37:14
  Speaker 12: you guys the best life. Oh yo, good prosperous life.
• 37:18
  Speaker 12: And God is the reason we're here.
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: And ning's Amanda Floyd, did you have a room though,
• 37:26
  Speaker 4: I just wanna say thank y'all for everything.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: The children speaking process.
• 37:33
  Speaker 16: I want y'all too to.
• 37:34
  Speaker 7: Know they don't believe y'all right, inasent y'all spend two
• 37:38
  Speaker 7: of all in there, and I'm sorry for that, y'all.
• 37:43
  Speaker 13: Y'all know that y'all are gonna be okay.
• 37:46
  Speaker 7: Thanks is gonna work out for y'all, and we love y'all.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: Also, my mom's dad and my brother would be very
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: happy about.
• 37:56
  Speaker 20: The situation now for that, and we help Yap had
• 38:00
  Speaker 20: to come home today, all right now, I.
• 38:04
  Speaker 22: Know that Again, there are a lot of family and
• 38:06
  Speaker 22: friends in here, and I ordinarily wouldn't do this, but.
• 38:09
  Speaker 21: If you want to applaud the defendants and all involved,
• 38:12
  Speaker 21: you may do that at this time.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: It's the story.
• 38:22
  Speaker 21: And mister Clark, again, I wasn't there in nineteen ninety
• 38:25
  Speaker 21: eight during the earlier proceeding, but today, on the face
• 38:29
  Speaker 21: of the judicial system here and on behalf of the
• 38:32
  Speaker 21: judicial system, I regret earlier verdict.
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: And wish you the best for the rest of your lives.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: Thank you all for being here. I would pad the
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: matter where you charm.
• 38:51
  Speaker 7: Josh and Lee were exonerated. They were now free men,
• 38:55
  Speaker 7: well almost anyway. Before they could be released, they had
• 38:59
  Speaker 7: to be sent back to the county jail so that
• 39:01
  Speaker 7: they could be booked out.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: I rode with Lee's father, Glenn, over to the Floyd
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: County Jail where we expecting Lee and Josh to soon
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: be released.
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: I'm allowed nine, I'll tell you, y'all can't imagine, but I.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: Tell you I'm letting to you. I cry. I locking you,
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: bod baby.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: It was just before you arrived with the jail that
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: I got a text message from Josh's attorneys. Well, hate
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: to be the bearer of that news, but the jail
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: is now saying they won't be able to lease them
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: till the morning.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, pes, come on, little bark not doing nothing.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: You're working on it.
• 39:46
  Speaker 6: That's wrong.
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: Why can't they jege do so?
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: That's wrong?
• 39:50
  Speaker 11: Right there?
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: That's wrong?
• 39:54
  Speaker 11: Hey, why are you gonna ne freight men?
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: Good in the morning?
• 40:03
  Speaker 11: Hey, lowton lows and there.
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: Right now trying to rattle a cage.
• 40:09
  Speaker 14: Somebody's got start to open my double right over there
• 40:11
  Speaker 14: and let them go.
• 40:12
  Speaker 12: They don't they already?
• 40:14
  Speaker 11: Joe, don't tell her?
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: Maight, Okay, Well, we are at Foyd County Jail. We
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: are hoping that Lee came to stop from home tonight.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: But because of some paperwork gerers, they were not looked
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: out before five pm and some part of the process
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: did not get complete. They need to be and they
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: may not be coming home tonight, which you know, they're
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: free men.
• 40:42
  Speaker 13: That's that's what matters.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: But it would have been really nice if they got
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: to start the freedom tonight and not tomorrow morning. It's
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: not over yet. Everyone's still here. I know that Lee's
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: Han's attorneys are inside working on it.
• 41:00
  Speaker 7: We later found out that it took nearly two hours
• 41:02
  Speaker 7: of cross agency negotiations and conference calls. But it was
• 41:07
  Speaker 7: the Floyd County DA who was finally able to get
• 41:10
  Speaker 7: the bureaucratic mess untangled. Some poor employee at the Georgia
• 41:14
  Speaker 7: Department of Corrections was on his way home from work
• 41:17
  Speaker 7: when he received a call asking him to turn around
• 41:19
  Speaker 7: and go back to the office and click the one
• 41:22
  Speaker 7: last computer button that was in between Cain and Lee
• 41:25
  Speaker 7: and their freedom. Finally, at the jail, the door opened
• 41:30
  Speaker 7: and Kin and Lee stepped out to greet their family
• 41:33
  Speaker 7: in the entrance room of the County jail.
• 41:49
  Speaker 11: Thank god, it wasna love.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: The rest of their lives be guess right now. They
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: were teenagers when they went in, so it's gonna be
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: a real adjustment. After being slowly hugged atat by friends
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: and family, Lee and Josh eventually made their way outside
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: of the actual jail itself, and I was able to
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: catch up with Luke and Ross, Josh's attorneys. Well, they're free.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: They had made it a full ten steps out of
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: the jails by the morning. It should be like in
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: the parking lot.
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I told Heim when they were in.
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: There're still in jail, like y'all.
• 42:49
  Speaker 19: Yeah.
• 42:49
  Speaker 17: The deputies led Lee and Kane Press the last unlocked.
• 42:53
  Speaker 7: But for the last or so, Susan, Kevin and I
• 43:11
  Speaker 7: were able to spend some time with Lie and Josh
• 43:13
  Speaker 7: in the days following their release.
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's really shocked.
• 43:20
  Speaker 23: Been behind persian walls for twenty five years and walk
• 43:24
  Speaker 23: out in and see how the world has changed the Wade.
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: Hass in twenty five years. I'm trying to just the
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: whole look. He's telling me all the way over here,
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: he said, he's pretty impressed. I've seen him. We adjust
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: him pretty quick.
• 43:35
  Speaker 23: But inside got a little bit of nervous going.
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to stay focused and just had this one
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: day at a time.
• 43:45
  Speaker 7: Lee and Josh are still learning to adjust to their
• 43:47
  Speaker 7: newfound freedom, but had.
• 43:49
  Speaker 16: Your first whole day, Let's see, It's.
• 43:54
  Speaker 23: It's a shock. I just went to pulled up at
• 43:57
  Speaker 23: the service station with my dad.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: He said, I'm going in.
• 44:01
  Speaker 14: He said, uh, you wanna go in here and get
• 44:02
  Speaker 14: you something?
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: I should just get me something. Man, I ain't even
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: going in. He said, you sure.
• 44:05
  Speaker 23: I said, I'm positive.
• 44:07
  Speaker 11: Why not?
• 44:08
  Speaker 14: I said, it's still in shot, it's still alright. That's
• 44:10
  Speaker 14: another reason I didn't wanna go to sleep. Really now,
• 44:12
  Speaker 14: I was afraid I might go to sleep wake up.
• 44:14
  Speaker 7: And in all of their dreams, they are taking it
• 44:17
  Speaker 7: one day at a time, the same way they made
• 44:20
  Speaker 7: it through the past twenty five years.
• 44:23
  Speaker 23: I'm gonna tell you something. I don't know how I
• 44:24
  Speaker 23: stayed as headstrong as I did over the years. I
• 44:27
  Speaker 23: really don't. I mean, I have my dad support me,
• 44:30
  Speaker 23: but it's not like he was there with me doing it.
• 44:33
  Speaker 23: I'm having to do this by myself in some real
• 44:35
  Speaker 23: slaughter house prisons too. I'm watching him roll him out
• 44:39
  Speaker 23: of there every day.
• 44:42
  Speaker 16: Okay, haw it worse than you in a lot of ways.
• 44:46
  Speaker 23: Yeah, and then, uh, we don't get mad at me
• 44:50
  Speaker 23: for telling y'all this, But I imagine when y'all talk
• 44:53
  Speaker 23: to him, you notice this score tissue in the side
• 44:55
  Speaker 23: of his eye right here, that's where God took a
• 44:58
  Speaker 23: knife and hit him in his eye with it, cut
• 45:00
  Speaker 23: his eye open. He's got cut marks all the way
• 45:02
  Speaker 23: up his legs from shank. There's horse the stuff that
• 45:07
  Speaker 23: goes home behind prison walls.
• 45:10
  Speaker 16: It's not like you're just sent away and it's happened
• 45:13
  Speaker 16: of empty blank room for twenty five, twenty six years years.
• 45:19
  Speaker 23: Oh, I was stole right into the midst of all
• 45:21
  Speaker 23: of it, right through the gates the.
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: Hill I walked.
• 45:31
  Speaker 7: And now Lee has walked out of those gates and
• 45:33
  Speaker 7: into a world that has changed immeasurably since he was
• 45:37
  Speaker 7: last part of it. He spent his years on the
• 45:39
  Speaker 7: chain gang preparing for this day.
• 45:42
  Speaker 16: Do you think you're ready for the the daily grind
• 45:45
  Speaker 16: of the nine to five? Like in prison, you're not
• 45:47
  Speaker 16: responsible for anything other that's surviving.
• 45:50
  Speaker 23: Oh yeah, but I'm gonna get enough shape I can
• 45:51
  Speaker 23: get out there and work. Yeah, that's why I keep
• 45:54
  Speaker 23: myself working out, keep myself in good shape, try to
• 45:57
  Speaker 23: eat ripe foods, stuff like that. In nine to five,
• 46:00
  Speaker 23: I'm gonna love it. Put money in my pocket. If
• 46:04
  Speaker 23: my money I'm making, though, I'm gonna love it.
• 46:06
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 46:07
  Speaker 7: For Josh, though, this new reality has been a much
• 46:10
  Speaker 7: more unexpected twist of fate.
• 46:13
  Speaker 14: I thought I'm gonna die in prison. How betta do?
• 46:17
  Speaker 14: I never thought I would ever see the freeward again.
• 46:23
  Speaker 7: Lee's attorneys and Josh's attorneys have all started online fundraisers
• 46:26
  Speaker 7: for them. Josh and Lee literally walked out with nothing,
• 46:30
  Speaker 7: only the clothes they had borrowed for the hearing. Check
• 46:33
  Speaker 7: out the story notes for this episode, as well as
• 46:36
  Speaker 7: our social media for links to those fundraisers.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: One year ago, when I first started speaking to Josh,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: if I ever asked him about his plans for the future,
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: he'd shy away from the question. I don't like to
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: think about that, he'd tell me, or sometimes he'd say
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: I think I finally like to go out and see
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: the world. It wasn't until recent months that it seemed
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: to sink in for him that wait, this really might happen,
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: And now that it finally has. One of the first
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: things that Josh wanted to do was to go play
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: guitar again, so we took him to a guitar shop
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: in Rome.
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah that's nice, that is.
• 47:23
  Speaker 11: Mm hmm.
• 47:25
  Speaker 14: Yeah, I need to pick.
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: S well they need me.
• 47:35
  Speaker 7: Like this is pretty good? See how this is.
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: It needs to be to.
• 47:49
  Speaker 14: Hey, I can sing field song with this.
• 47:53
  Speaker 18: Well, Limonema had a dollar down and I here Texas.
• 48:05
  Speaker 11: And I've been.
• 48:08
  Speaker 14: The only thing I was before him. Look out wrong, John, dude,
• 48:16
  Speaker 14: I'm coming home.
• 48:18
  Speaker 11: Look y'all wrong with GEORGEO. Never more our home hopping
• 48:24
  Speaker 11: up to jail? How get ready upon me?
• 48:28
  Speaker 14: Look ill wrong, George, I'm here.
• 48:33
  Speaker 23: I can't lose.
• 48:34
  Speaker 18: He had Mississippi bound, the Bound, the Obama and Cedary Town.
• 48:44
  Speaker 14: Enough doing the en up my room, and I'm so
• 48:50
  Speaker 14: happy I'm meeting home. You don't know I know all that,
• 48:58
  Speaker 14: he goes.
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: He wrote while at the guitar shop, I got a
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: call from a Georgia prison. It used to be when
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: I got these calls. I never knew who it was
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: calling me until I answered. But with Josh and Lee
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: now out, there was only one person that could be
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: Joey to accept this call.
• 49:18
  Speaker 14: Hey boy, Hey, what you're doing?
• 49:24
  Speaker 4: Not much?
• 49:25
  Speaker 14: Look sitting here playing this guitar. Yeah yeah, I can
• 49:31
  Speaker 14: still play.
• 49:32
  Speaker 4: That's a good thing.
• 49:33
  Speaker 14: Hey, look, bro, I appreciate what you did for us. Listen,
• 49:36
  Speaker 14: we're gonna meet at that car house, all right. We
• 49:39
  Speaker 14: want you out and look here, We're going to that
• 49:42
  Speaker 14: Georgia Florida game next year. Now it's the last one
• 49:45
  Speaker 14: in Jacksonville. Now, Okay, got out there.
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: You're gonna be there.
• 49:50
  Speaker 14: You're gonna be there cause we got to get out
• 49:52
  Speaker 14: and play guitar together. Yeah, I'm gonna teach you how
• 49:56
  Speaker 14: to do.
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: This thing right.
• 49:58
  Speaker 11: Man.
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: I can only imagine how bitter Sweets must have been
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: for Joey. I knew how excited he'd been for Li
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: and Josh when he heard about their release. I was
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: one who told him about it. But Joey plays guitar too,
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: and hearing Josh out there in the free world playing
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: a guitar again could not have been easy. Because Joey's
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: court claims have been pending for the better part of
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: a decade now, while Lie and Josh, who filed their
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: own motions just a few months ago, are now home
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: two very different outcomes, even though their cases have so
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: much in common. The prosecutor who convicted Joey also helped
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: convict Lian Josh. It was Sergeant Dallas Battle whose testimony
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: was used at Joy's trial to convince the jury that
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: he was a liar, And it was Sergeant Battle and
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: investigator David Stewart, both who interviewed the alternate suspect in
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: Joey's case and accepted him at his word when he
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: denied any involvement. So, yeah, Lee Clark knows what it's
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: like to be where Joy Watkins is now.
• 51:03
  Speaker 23: I'll tell you though it Uh it breaks my heart
• 51:06
  Speaker 23: sitting here cause I know where he's at right now,
• 51:10
  Speaker 23: what he's going through. Because if anybody knows his pain,
• 51:13
  Speaker 23: feels his pain, I feel it cause I was there
• 51:17
  Speaker 23: and that's not a good place to be cause, uh,
• 51:21
  Speaker 23: you sit there and.
• 51:24
  Speaker 7: It's like.
• 51:25
  Speaker 23: It's just like it's total darkness, no light. It's hard
• 51:30
  Speaker 23: to find any hope in it. And they's easy to
• 51:33
  Speaker 23: lose hope, real lazy, real lazy, to lose.
• 51:38
  Speaker 8: Shot of things.
• 51:41
  Speaker 23: But I do want him to know those he don't
• 51:44
  Speaker 23: need to lose shot. It's all gonna work out.
• 51:49
  Speaker 7: Any day now. The Supreme Court of Georgia will issue
• 51:52
  Speaker 7: are ruling on his case and what they do. If
• 51:55
  Speaker 7: they find in his favor, his conviction will be overturned
• 51:59
  Speaker 7: and Joey will be heading back to Floyd County, where
• 52:02
  Speaker 7: he will face trial once again for a crime he
• 52:04
  Speaker 7: could not impossibly committed and when he does, Proof will
• 52:09
  Speaker 7: be there too. That's all for this season of Proof.
• 52:20
  Speaker 7: We'd like to give a special shout out to a
• 52:22
  Speaker 7: few people who helped make it all possible. Thank you
• 52:24
  Speaker 7: to Skuylar Park, our social media manager, who worked tirelessly
• 52:28
  Speaker 7: to promote and share Proof the Special Things. To Mitchen
• 52:31
  Speaker 7: Reeves and his wife Linda, who hosted us for countless
• 52:34
  Speaker 7: meals while we were in Rome, and to the front
• 52:37
  Speaker 7: desk staff at the Hawthorne, as well as Ryan and
• 52:40
  Speaker 7: his crew at off Broad who took such good care
• 52:42
  Speaker 7: of us. To Donnie at Giggoty's, who won't make you
• 52:45
  Speaker 7: a cocktail but will make you laugh. And to Austin,
• 52:49
  Speaker 7: who we met on our very first trip to Rome.
• 52:52
  Speaker 7: And to our families back home who supported and encouraged
• 52:55
  Speaker 7: us along the way. Thank you. And it goes without
• 52:59
  Speaker 7: saying to Amanda and Michael and Josh and Lee who
• 53:03
  Speaker 7: opened their hearts to us and trusted us to take
• 53:05
  Speaker 7: another look at this case. A very special thank you
• 53:09
  Speaker 7: to the Georgia Innocence Project and to Rome attorneys Luke
• 53:13
  Speaker 7: Martin and Ross Hambrick. We are forever grateful. And to
• 53:17
  Speaker 7: the Floyd County DIA's office, who agreed to dismiss their convictions.
• 53:21
  Speaker 7: Thank you. We'll be back in April twenty twenty three
• 53:25
  Speaker 7: with season two, a Case out of Arizona. This time,
• 53:35
  Speaker 7: you've been listening to Proof, a podcast by Red Marvel Media.
• 53:39
  Speaker 7: Kevin Fitzpatrick is our executive producer. Our logo was designed
• 53:43
  Speaker 7: by True Hussoski and our theme music is by Ramiro Marquez.
• 53:47
  Speaker 7: Audio production for this episode is by George Panos and
• 53:51
  Speaker 7: Michael Yulatowski. Production assistants provided by Jude Slava. Our social
• 53:56
  Speaker 7: media manager is Skylar Park. Thank you to our sponsors
• 54:00
  Speaker 7: for making Proof possible. Follow us everywhere with the handle
• 54:03
  Speaker 7: at Proofcrimepod and on our website proofcrimepod dot com. Thanks
• 54:08
  Speaker 7: for listening and welcome home, Lee and Josh. We're so
• 54:11
  Speaker 7: happy you're free.