Latest / Wrongful Conviction / #364 Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions - Eric Weakley and Michael Hash

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#364 Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions - Eric Weakley and Michael Hash · Wrongful Conviction

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, it's Laura and I writer. This week on False Confessions,
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Speaker 1: we have some great news to share with you. Back
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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, we brought you the story of Eric
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Speaker 1: Weekly and Michael Hash, childhood friends from Culpepper, Virginia who
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Speaker 1: were dragged into a decades long fight for their innocence. Now,
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Speaker 1: when we last checked in with Eric, he was out
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Speaker 1: of prison, but he still had a felony on his record.
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Speaker 1: It was something he'd have to disclose to every hiring manager,
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Speaker 1: every landlord, even though he never committed this murder. We
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Speaker 1: asked you to sign a petition to convince the Governor
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Speaker 1: of Virginia to pardon Eric, and guess what, with your support,
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Speaker 1: it worked. In twenty twenty two, Governor Ralph Northam hardened
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Speaker 1: Eric Weekly on the basis of actual innocence. Now he
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Speaker 1: too is exonerated. Eric and Michael, we are overjoyed that
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Speaker 1: at last justice has been served. Welcome to Wrongful Conviction,
1:04
Speaker 1: False Confessions. I'm Laura and I Writer, and I'm Steve Drissing.
1:08
Speaker 1: Today we'll bring you to Culpepper County, Virginia to tell
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Speaker 1: you the story of teenage buddies Eric Weekly and Michael Hash.
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Speaker 1: Local police solved a murder case by coercing Eric into
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Speaker 1: falsely confessing and into falsely implicating his friend Michael as
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Speaker 1: an accomplice. For years, lawyers couldn't get justice for either
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Speaker 1: of them until Michael's mom found evidence that blew this
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Speaker 1: case wide open. Michael Hash and Eric Weekly were childhood friends,
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Speaker 1: longtime friends, and to see the way the systems split
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Speaker 1: them apart in this case, it's terrible.
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Speaker 2: It's not uncommon for one co defendant to turn on
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Speaker 2: another co defense, especially in a state where the death
2:02
Speaker 2: penalty is on the table, and it's.
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Speaker 1: Really understandable how that could have destroyed Eric's relationship with
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Speaker 1: Mike and Mike's whole family. But that's not what happened.
2:13
Speaker 1: One of the most incredible things about wrongful convictions work
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Speaker 1: is that you encounter these pockets of grace in the
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Speaker 1: most unexpected places. Some of the most unbelievable humans you'll
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Speaker 1: ever meet are people like Pam Hash, whose son Mike
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Speaker 1: was falsely implicated by his one time childhood friend. You know,
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Speaker 1: that's a situation that could have led to a lot
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Speaker 1: of rage and a lot of anger and a lot
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Speaker 1: of blame.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean vengeance, anger, hatred they can keep somebody stuck.
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Speaker 2: But Pam realized very early on that that was wasted
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Speaker 2: energy and that she needed to spend all her time
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Speaker 2: learning about the case, finding the right lawyers, doing your
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Speaker 2: own digging, and pushing the authorities to to the right solution.
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Speaker 1: She turned all of that into forgiveness. That's pretty incredible.
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Speaker 1: Today's story starts in Culpeper County, Virginia, about ninety minutes
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Speaker 1: west of the Washington d C Beltway. Culpeper is a
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Speaker 1: popular weekend getaway spot for the d C crowd. It's
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Speaker 1: got bed and breakfasts, art boutiques, and plenty of fancy cafes.
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Speaker 1: Architectural Digest even named Culpeper the prettiest area in Virginia.
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Speaker 1: But for all its beauty, Culpeper is also home to
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Speaker 1: an unremedied injustice, one that stains the county to this day.
3:40
Speaker 1: That injustice began back in nineteen ninety six in Lignum,
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Speaker 1: an unincorporated part of Culpeper that hadn't quite caught up
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Speaker 1: to the rest of the county's growing prosperity. Lignam was
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Speaker 1: where seventy four year old Thelma Scroggins had lived her
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Speaker 1: whole life in the same two story frame house where
3:57
Speaker 1: she'd been born. Thelma was a petite, curly haired lady
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Speaker 1: who had retired from her work as a mail carrier.
4:03
Speaker 1: She'd been widowed years earlier, and since then she lived alone.
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Speaker 1: But Thelma's life was still full and active. She had
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Speaker 1: plenty of friends and liked to spend time playing the
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Speaker 1: organ at the Baptist church across the street. It was
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Speaker 1: the evening of Saturday, July thirteenth, and Thelma was on
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Speaker 1: the phone with one of her girlfriends. At about nine pm.
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Speaker 1: Thelma told her friend that she had to go. Someone
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Speaker 1: was knocking at the door. The friend called back fifteen
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Speaker 1: minutes later, but got no answer. She tried again the
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Speaker 1: next morning, still no answer. When Thelma didn't show up
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Speaker 1: at church that Sunday morning, her friends really started worrying.
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Speaker 1: One of them, Richard Hicks, went over to Thelma's house.
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Speaker 1: As he pulled up outside, he could hear Thelma's TV
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Speaker 1: blasting at top volume. Richard let himself inside. The front
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Speaker 1: door wasn't locked, and found pink hair curlers scattered across
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Speaker 1: the living room floor. He went in further and saw
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Speaker 1: Thelma slump over in front of her bedroom door. She'd
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Speaker 1: been shot in the head four times. It seemed the
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Speaker 1: TV had been turned up to mask the sound of
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Speaker 1: the gunshots. Police arrived and quickly canvassed the scene. They
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Speaker 1: found that Thelma's jewelry was still sitting on her dresser,
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Speaker 1: but her purse was missing, along with her green Ford
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Speaker 1: pickup truck. A month later, a deer hunter found the
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Speaker 1: truck abandoned in a wooded area about a mile and
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Speaker 1: a half away from Thelma's home. Her purse was there too,
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Speaker 1: with its contents scattered on the ground nearby. But despite
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Speaker 1: this discovery, police couldn't develop any viable suspects or leads.
5:37
Speaker 1: A few months later, the case went cold. Three years later,
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Speaker 1: in November nineteen ninety nine, a new DA was elected
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Speaker 1: in Culpeper on a promise to solve cold cases. Shortly
5:50
Speaker 1: after he took office, new detectives were assigned to investigate
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Speaker 1: Thelma Scroggin's murder. They started off by visiting a local
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Speaker 1: prison to interview a young woman named Alicia Shelton. Alicia
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Speaker 1: had just been convicted of shooting a man in the
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Speaker 1: head six times. The cops figured her crime was similar
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Speaker 1: enough to what happened to Thelma to make Alisha worth questioning.
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Speaker 1: On audiotape, Alicia told the investigators that she didn't know
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Speaker 1: anything about Thelma's murder. But then one detective offered what
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Speaker 1: he called a little foundation. He suggested that Alicia might
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Speaker 1: get a reduced sentence if she provided information about her
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Speaker 1: teenage cousin, Michael Hash Then silence. The tape was shut off,
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Speaker 1: supposedly for a cigarette break. When the recorder got turned
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Speaker 1: back on, Alicia was suddenly full of ideas. She said
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Speaker 1: she'd overheard her cousin Michael, discussing his involvement in Thelma's murder.
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Speaker 1: She said Michael did it along with his buddies Eric
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Speaker 1: Weekley and Jason Chlobe.
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Speaker 2: Alicia Shelton was looking at a lot of time and
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Speaker 2: desperate for a way to get out from underneath the
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Speaker 2: weight of a heavy sentence. So what happened when the
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Speaker 2: camera was off? But there had to be some powerful
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Speaker 2: inducement to get her to change her story from I
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Speaker 2: don't know what you're talking about two fingering her own
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Speaker 2: cousin and his friends for this crime.
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Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety six, when Thelma was killed, Michael was fifteen,
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Speaker 1: Eric was sixteen and Jason was eighteen. They'd grown up together,
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Speaker 1: writing go karts as kids and crushing on girls as teenagers.
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Speaker 1: Michael and his parents, Jeff and Pam Hash lived within
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Speaker 1: a mile of Thelma's house. In fact, Thelma had been
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Speaker 1: the Hash family's mail carrier, delivering birthday cards and letters
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Speaker 1: to the home with her typical friendly wave. Michael was
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Speaker 1: a good kid. There was no reason whatsoever to suspect
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Speaker 1: him and his friends of killing Thelma Scroggins. It's true
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Speaker 1: that Michael used to frequent a campsite near the wooded
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Speaker 1: area where Thelma's truck had been found, but that was
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Speaker 1: a pretty thin connection. Somehow, though, Michael Hash, Jason Chlobe,
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Speaker 1: and Eric Weekley found themselves at the center of a
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Speaker 1: cold case murder investigation in April two thousand. Police decide
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Speaker 1: to interrogate, but they don't start with Michael Hash or
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Speaker 1: Jason Chlobe. They start with Eric Weekly. By this time,
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Speaker 1: Eric was nineteen years old with a reputation as a follower,
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Speaker 1: someone who could be easily intimidated.
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Speaker 2: Eric Weekly was a weak link. He had a little
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Speaker 2: daughter that he cared very much about. He had a
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Speaker 2: prior record which gave interrogators leverage. They started with him
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Speaker 2: because they felt that he was the most likely to
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Speaker 2: break and it worked.
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Speaker 1: Eric's at his factory job when two detectives approach him
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Speaker 1: and start asking about Thelma's murder. Eric is shocked he
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Speaker 1: had nothing to do with it. He tells the detectives
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Speaker 1: they're crazy and says he has to get back to work.
8:53
Speaker 1: The cops leave, but not for long. They follow Eric everywhere,
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Speaker 1: the gas station, the grocery store. They show up at
9:01
Speaker 1: Eric's job over and over.
9:03
Speaker 2: These detectives would not leave him alone. They hounded him,
9:09
Speaker 2: they stalked him, They kept coming to his workplace trying
9:12
Speaker 2: to question him. It got to the point where his
9:15
Speaker 2: employer just was fed up and he fired Eric. And
9:19
Speaker 2: Eric got worried that he would never be able to
9:21
Speaker 2: get another job because everywhere he would go, these cops
9:25
Speaker 2: would just show up at his work again. So he
9:29
Speaker 2: gave up and he agreed finally to go to the
9:32
Speaker 2: police station and answer their questions.
9:37
Speaker 1: Over the next several weeks, Eric and Door is not one,
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Speaker 1: not two, but a whole chain of interrogations as the
9:43
Speaker 1: police keep insisting he come back again and again. Some
9:47
Speaker 1: of these interrogations last longer than twelve hours. Only a
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Speaker 1: few are recorded, but what did get caught on tape
9:54
Speaker 1: is enough to make anyone skeptical. During the first few interrogations,
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Speaker 1: Eric protests his innocence over and over. He doesn't have
10:02
Speaker 1: the mind or the heart to kill somebody, he tells police.
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Speaker 3: And I'm sitting here telling me no, and you're still
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Speaker 3: not believe I'm sitting here telling you.
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Speaker 2: No, I did not shoot this one.
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Speaker 1: The police won't listen to Eric. They insist he's guilty,
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Speaker 1: and they chip away at him slowly and steadily over
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Speaker 1: the course of weeks.
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Speaker 4: You saw that woman too, too, You saw the blood.
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Speaker 4: Why do you sit here and try to lie to
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Speaker 4: me about that today?
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Speaker 1: Then the police tell Eric that if he cooperates, he
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Speaker 1: can go home. If he just repeats the details they
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Speaker 1: feed him, the police can work with him, even help him.
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Speaker 2: But if you saw blood come from behavior, that helps Eric.
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Speaker 1: But if Eric holds back, if he refuses to say
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Speaker 1: he was involved, they say that'll hurt him. If he
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Speaker 1: doesn't confess, he might not get to see his daughter anymore.
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Speaker 1: These interrogations continue off and on for weeks, but Eric
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Speaker 1: still won't confess. So the cops pull out a tried
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Speaker 1: and true tactic.
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Speaker 2: Finally they say, okay, Eric, if you have nothing to
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Speaker 2: do with this, would you at least come down and
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Speaker 2: take a polygraph exam? And Eric did. He took that
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Speaker 2: exam to get these police officers off his back, and
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Speaker 2: then they told him he failed the exam, which got
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Speaker 2: him talking.
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Speaker 1: The polygraph finally does it. Eric weekly realizes he'll never
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Speaker 1: be able to get the police to believe him, and
11:26
Speaker 1: he breaks. He agrees to tell the cops a story.
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Speaker 1: Eric says that he, Michael, and Jason chopped Thelma's body
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Speaker 1: up with an axe. Their motive, he said, was robbery.
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Speaker 1: They stole diamond rings, vases, and necklaces from her home,
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Speaker 1: a king's ransom in treasure. This was a confessional, right,
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Speaker 1: but none of it came close to what actually happened.
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Speaker 1: Thelma wasn't attacked with an axe, and what little jewelry
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Speaker 1: she owned was found sitting on her dresser. So police
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Speaker 1: accused Eric of lying.
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Speaker 2: Again.
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Speaker 1: Eric's response, I'm just telling you what you want to hear,
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Speaker 1: so I can go the hell home. The police don't
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Speaker 1: let him go the hell home. They've got to clean
12:06
Speaker 1: up Eric's story and it takes hours. They cut him
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Speaker 1: short when he begins to describe the jewelry because none
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Speaker 1: of it had actually been taken. They show him photos
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Speaker 1: of the crime scene so that he can see Thelma's
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Speaker 1: body wasn't mutilated with an axe. In fact, they end
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Speaker 1: up straight out telling Eric that Thelma had been shot,
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Speaker 1: and all these details provided by the police are what
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Speaker 1: end up in Eric's confession. Eric's story becomes final on
12:33
Speaker 1: May sixteenth, two thousand. He's arrested. Immediately that same night,
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Speaker 1: police come for Jason Chlobe and Michael Hash.
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Speaker 3: The night that he was arrested, it was it was
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Speaker 3: a total shock.
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Speaker 1: That's Pam Hash, she's Michael Hash's mom.
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Speaker 3: It was about one o'clock in the morning. Everybody had
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Speaker 3: gone to bed, and all of a sudden, there's barking dogs,
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Speaker 3: people hanging on the door yelling. My husband got up,
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Speaker 3: went to the door, and they pretty much just barged
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Speaker 3: into the home. They were wanting Michael. She had, of course,
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Speaker 3: his boxers on nothing else, and I begged them to
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Speaker 3: let him have at least a shirt and shoes. They
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Speaker 3: let him take it with him, and in a matter
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Speaker 3: of minutes he was loaded into the car, and all
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Speaker 3: these cars left, and we got dressed and followed them.
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Speaker 3: It was all so quick, it felt like it was
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Speaker 3: in a movie. It was just a nightmare.
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Speaker 1: Pam's nightmare had just begun. She would soon find out
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Speaker 1: her son, Michael, along with his buddies Eric and Jason,
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Speaker 1: had been charged with capital murder. Culpeper County Commonwealth Attorney
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Speaker 1: Gary Close prosecuted each of the three boys, starting with
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Speaker 1: Jason Chlobe, but the prosecution had a problem. There was
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Speaker 1: no evidence against Jason except for Eric's statement, and prosecutors
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Speaker 1: could only use Eric's statement against Jason if Eric agreed
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Speaker 1: to testify in person against him.
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Speaker 2: It's not enough to simply play Eric's confession during the
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Speaker 2: trial of Michael and Jason, because lawyers can't cross examine
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Speaker 2: a confession. They need to be able to cross examine
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Speaker 2: Eric about what he says on that tape. It's part
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Speaker 2: of a constitutional right of criminal defendants to confront witnesses,
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Speaker 2: the right of cross examination.
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Speaker 1: The prosecution needed Eric Weekly to get up on the
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Speaker 1: witness stand and testify. To get him there, they offered
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Speaker 1: him a deal if Eric agreed to testify against both
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Speaker 1: Jason and Michael the state would reduce Eric's charges to
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Speaker 1: second degree murder. That charge carried at most twenty years
15:00
Speaker 1: behind bars, sometimes much less. If Eric didn't take the deal.
15:04
Speaker 1: On the other hand, he was facing life in prison
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Speaker 1: if convicted. Eric was in despair. He felt cornered by
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Speaker 1: the confession that detectives had wrung out of him. Like
15:14
Speaker 1: so many people before him, Eric felt that he had
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Speaker 1: no real choice. He took the deal and agreed to
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Speaker 1: testify against his friends.
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Speaker 2: Once you confess, the pressure to plead guilty on these
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Speaker 2: suspects is even greater. Of all the exonerations in the
15:31
Speaker 2: DNA database, twelve percent involve people who pledged guilty to
15:37
Speaker 2: crimes they didn't commit, and each one of those pleas
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Speaker 2: involved someone who was represented by counsel and who weighed
15:45
Speaker 2: the options and decided it was in their best interests
15:48
Speaker 2: to give up all of their rights, to give up
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Speaker 2: their right to testify, their right to appeal, their right
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Speaker 2: to prove their innocence, in order to plead guilty.
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Speaker 1: Eric was now a lock for the prosecution. In November
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Speaker 1: two thousand, it was time to try Jason Klobe, as
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Speaker 1: he'd agreed to do. Eric took the stand and testified
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Speaker 1: that Jason had participated in the murder, but Jason's defense
16:12
Speaker 1: lawyers had an ace in the hole, an alibi. They
16:15
Speaker 1: brought in several witnesses who testified that Jason had been
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Speaker 1: visiting his dad in Pennsylvania at the time of Thelma's murder.
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Speaker 1: It took the jury less than two hours to find
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Speaker 1: Jason Klobe not guilty.
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Speaker 2: If Jason wasn't present during this crime, then that undermines
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Speaker 2: Eric's entire confession because he has Jason right there being
16:39
Speaker 2: a major actor along with Michael in the murder of
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Speaker 2: Thelmas Kroggins. Once these detectives learned that Jason had an alibi,
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Speaker 2: they should have walked away from this case.
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Speaker 1: But detectives didn't walk away. Instead, they plowed ahead with
16:56
Speaker 1: the trial of Michael.
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Speaker 3: Hash after Chlobe was a that I kept telling Mike,
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Speaker 3: You're next. They know the truth from Chloe's cage. You're next,
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Speaker 3: You'll be next. You're coming home now.
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Speaker 1: Michael didn't have a strong alibi like Jason did. When
17:10
Speaker 1: Thelma died. Michael had been right there in Culpeper County
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Speaker 1: hanging out with some buddies. But even though Michael's defense
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Speaker 1: was weaker. The prosecutors decided to leave nothing to chance.
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Speaker 2: They knew that Eric Weekly's testimony alone wasn't going to
17:25
Speaker 2: be enough to get a conviction against Michael, So what
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Speaker 2: did they do? They manufactured more evidence. They went to
17:33
Speaker 2: a seasoned serial snitch, a jailhouse informant who had worked
17:39
Speaker 2: with them in the past and testified in other cases,
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Speaker 2: Paul Carter.
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Speaker 1: About a week after Michael had been arrested, he met
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Speaker 1: Paul Carter in jail. At the time, it seemed like
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Speaker 1: a random encounter. Later, at Michael's trial, Carter testified that
17:54
Speaker 1: when they met, Michael had admitted to killing Thelma. During
17:58
Speaker 1: cross examination, Eric's defense attorney suggested Carter was getting some
18:02
Speaker 1: benefit in exchange for fabricating testimony against Michael, but Carter
18:07
Speaker 1: denied it. He said he wasn't receiving anything for his cooperation.
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Speaker 3: He was a pretty career criminal and he knew what
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Speaker 3: he was doing, even though he's up there telling the
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Speaker 3: jury that he is only there because this was somebody's
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Speaker 3: mother or grandmother. You know, he's looking for something and
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Speaker 3: I thought the jury would see right through that.
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Speaker 1: The prosecutor backed up his witnesses claim, telling the jury that,
18:29
Speaker 1: of course, the state hadn't made any deal with Carter.
18:32
Speaker 1: After testimony concluded, the jury deliberated for six and a
18:36
Speaker 1: half hours. As the clocks neared midnight on February ninth,
18:40
Speaker 1: two thousand and one, they returned a verdict guilty.
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Speaker 3: It's a sound that I think I'll hear for the
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Speaker 3: rest of my life. When they came back and said
18:51
Speaker 3: that they found him guilty, it's almost like you hear guilty, guilty, guilty,
18:58
Speaker 3: just echoing. Quite frankly, I don't remember a whole lot
19:03
Speaker 3: after that. I know that I broke down and they
19:07
Speaker 3: took Mike immediately out of the courtroom. I remember my
19:10
Speaker 3: husband putting me in the backseat of the car, and
19:14
Speaker 3: don't really remember a whole lot after that Until the
19:17
Speaker 3: next morning.
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Speaker 1: At sentencing, Michael told the judge, you've convicted an innocent person,
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Speaker 1: but it was too late. Michael Hash was sentenced to
19:26
Speaker 1: life without the possibility of parole.
19:28
Speaker 2: A lot of defendants in Michael's situation might have pled.
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Speaker 1: Guilty and accepted a much shorter sentence.
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Speaker 2: But Michael didn't confess. That's important. It's never wrong to
19:40
Speaker 2: assert your innocence.
19:42
Speaker 1: For his part, Eric Weekly had finally satisfied the state
19:45
Speaker 1: he'd lived up to his end of the bargain and
19:48
Speaker 1: testified against his friends. In exchange, the state reduced Eric's
19:52
Speaker 1: charges to second degree murder, to which Eric formerly pled
19:55
Speaker 1: guilty on June thirteenth, two thousand and one. He would
19:58
Speaker 1: go on to serve six years and eight months in prison.
20:02
Speaker 3: Eric implicating Michael and Jason and even himself. It angered me,
20:08
Speaker 3: but I would always go back to I know he's
20:12
Speaker 3: not doing this, and just knowing Eric, somebody is making
20:17
Speaker 3: him say these things. They're threatening him. He had a
20:22
Speaker 3: child by then, a young child, and I knew that
20:25
Speaker 3: that was probably his main focus was I've got to
20:28
Speaker 3: do whatever to get back to my child. And I
20:31
Speaker 3: can't be mad at that because I'm a mom.
20:35
Speaker 1: Eric weekly served his time and was freed in two
20:37
Speaker 1: thousand and six, but Michael remained behind bars, serving a
20:41
Speaker 1: life sentence, even as he pursued his appeals.
20:45
Speaker 3: You know, each year at Christmas time, I'd have that
20:48
Speaker 3: faith he's going to be home this year, and I'd
20:51
Speaker 3: buy him Christmas presents just like I did every year.
20:54
Speaker 3: Before i'd wrap them, i'd have them under the tree.
20:58
Speaker 3: I'd always after Christmas take them up and pack them
21:01
Speaker 3: away in a box and add to it each Christmas.
21:05
Speaker 3: City didn't come home.
21:09
Speaker 1: When Michael's last appeal ended fruitlessly, Pam Hash drove to
21:14
Speaker 1: the office of her son's lawyers and took his paperwork.
21:17
Speaker 3: I didn't know anything about the legal system or law.
21:21
Speaker 3: I worked as a floral designer.
21:24
Speaker 1: But she was a mother and she was going to
21:26
Speaker 1: help her son.
21:27
Speaker 3: I went to the office and picked up what must
21:30
Speaker 3: have been a dozen legal boxes, tens of thousands of papers,
21:34
Speaker 3: just thrown in a box in no particular order. And
21:38
Speaker 3: that's pretty much when I started searching the internet on
21:42
Speaker 3: false confessions, asking questions, looking up people that I could call,
21:48
Speaker 3: that I could beg for help. Steve Grison was one
21:51
Speaker 3: of the first people that I contacted. I knew that
21:55
Speaker 3: Eric had given a false confession, and I thought maybe
21:58
Speaker 3: Steve could help me. I sent letters to him, I
22:02
Speaker 3: made phone calls, and bless his heart, I think he
22:05
Speaker 3: took my call just so that maybe I would shut up.
22:10
Speaker 2: Pam Hash would call me, would send me information. She
22:13
Speaker 2: sent me a VHS of Eric's interrogation. I reviewed those
22:19
Speaker 2: transcripts and talked about the case with her. Pam was
22:23
Speaker 2: a very forceful advocate for her son. She believed that
22:29
Speaker 2: he was absolutely innocent and was willing to go to
22:35
Speaker 2: the ends of the earth to prove it.
22:37
Speaker 1: Steve put Pam in touch with several people in Virginia,
22:40
Speaker 1: everyone from lawyers to exoneries like Beverly Monroe, who we
22:44
Speaker 1: talked about in Emerson Stephens story. In fact, it was
22:47
Speaker 1: Beverly who told Pam hash to go to the federal
22:51
Speaker 1: courthouse and pull the file on Paul Carter that jailhouse
22:55
Speaker 1: snitch prosecutors had denied making a deal with.
22:58
Speaker 3: I went to the federal court and I asked the
23:00
Speaker 3: clerk of the court to look through his files. Her
23:04
Speaker 3: exact remark to me was, and this is the clerk
23:07
Speaker 3: of the federal court Paul Carter. She said, Oh, he
23:10
Speaker 3: got the deal of the century.
23:12
Speaker 1: Turns out Paul Carter had been serving a fifteen year
23:15
Speaker 1: sentence on federal drug charges after he testified against Michael.
23:19
Speaker 1: Though Carter was immediately released time served, he sure did
23:25
Speaker 1: get the deal of the century, a get out of
23:27
Speaker 1: jail free card. It also turned out that Michael had
23:30
Speaker 1: been moved to a different jail for two nights for
23:33
Speaker 1: no other reason than to put him together with Paul Carter.
23:37
Speaker 1: None of this had been disclosed to Michael's defense or
23:40
Speaker 1: to Eric Weakley's defense. Pam may have started out as
23:45
Speaker 1: a floral designer, but her legal work was pretty kick ass.
23:49
Speaker 1: She had single handedly demolished Carter's value as a witness
23:53
Speaker 1: against her son. She had proven that the prosecutor lied
23:56
Speaker 1: when he told the jury there was no deal with Carter.
23:59
Speaker 1: The only evidence against Michael that remained was Eric Weekly.
24:13
Speaker 1: A few years after Eric's release from prison, two lawyers
24:16
Speaker 1: from the University of Virginia Innocence Project knocked on his door.
24:20
Speaker 1: Eric was rebuilding his life as best he could, but
24:23
Speaker 1: his friend, Michael Hash was still behind bars. Did Eric
24:26
Speaker 1: want to tell them anything about his testimony against Michael?
24:31
Speaker 1: Eric nearly broke down. His false testimony against Michael had
24:35
Speaker 1: sat for years on his shoulders like a lead weight.
24:38
Speaker 1: He had been coerced into confessing by police and into
24:41
Speaker 1: pleading guilty by prosecutors. But fairly or unfairly, he blamed himself.
24:47
Speaker 1: Could he really take it all back, try at last
24:50
Speaker 1: to do right by his friend?
24:53
Speaker 2: Eric was at risk of being charged with perjury if
24:57
Speaker 2: he came forward and said that every I think he
25:00
Speaker 2: had testified to was a lie. The sad part is
25:04
Speaker 2: that even when witnesses recant their statement, prosecutors and judges
25:12
Speaker 2: most of the time don't believe them. They think that
25:15
Speaker 2: the initial statement is the true statement and that the
25:18
Speaker 2: recantation is a lie. So Eric risked doing it all
25:22
Speaker 2: for nothing, because if the courts didn't believe him and
25:27
Speaker 2: Michael stays in prison.
25:29
Speaker 1: Eric decided the risk was worth it. On March twenty first,
25:33
Speaker 1: twenty eleven, he signed an affidavit recanting everything. I had
25:38
Speaker 1: nothing to do with Thelma s Groggin's murder, and neither
25:41
Speaker 1: did Michael hash He wrote, we are innocent of this crime. Instead,
25:46
Speaker 1: he explained that police had fed him information about Thelma's
25:49
Speaker 1: murder and coerced him into repeating it.
25:51
Speaker 2: This was courageous, and I think that Pam and Michael
25:56
Speaker 2: recognized it as such.
25:58
Speaker 3: I was so happy when Eric came forward because I
26:03
Speaker 3: knew how much he stood to lose, yet he was
26:07
Speaker 3: still doing this, and it just was maybe here's some
26:10
Speaker 3: more hope. Maybe this will be something that'll turn the
26:14
Speaker 3: case around.
26:15
Speaker 5: Now.
26:16
Speaker 1: Eric couldn't benefit directly from his affidavit because, as we
26:19
Speaker 1: mentioned before, when you plead guilty, you give up your
26:23
Speaker 1: right to prove your own innocence. But Michael Hash could benefit.
26:27
Speaker 1: He hadn't pled guilty, he'd been convicted at trial. That
26:30
Speaker 1: meant that legally he was still able to challenge his
26:33
Speaker 1: conviction in court. Michael's lawyers at the mid Atlantic Innocence
26:36
Speaker 1: Project snapped into action, with Pam Hash right alongside them.
26:40
Speaker 1: They filed a petition to overturn Michael's conviction, with Eric's
26:44
Speaker 1: affidavit and the secret deal with Paul Carter as the centerpieces.
26:48
Speaker 1: Pam Hash knew from day one that her son was innocent.
26:51
Speaker 1: Her investigative work, together with Eric's recantation, had proved it,
26:56
Speaker 1: but every time she'd spoken out in the past, authorities
26:59
Speaker 1: had told her to shut up, sit down, stop being
27:02
Speaker 1: so dramatic.
27:03
Speaker 3: I knew exactly what call Pepper County was capable of.
27:07
Speaker 3: It's blatant that this was a setup, that he was
27:10
Speaker 3: put in with a snitch. And I was told, missus Hash,
27:14
Speaker 3: you watch too much TV. This is real life that
27:17
Speaker 3: doesn't happen.
27:18
Speaker 1: Would this time be different? Would someone finally listen? On
27:22
Speaker 1: February twenty eighth, twenty twelve, Pam got her answer a
27:27
Speaker 1: federal judge throughout Michael's conviction. The judge ruled that Eric's
27:31
Speaker 1: recantation was more believable than his confession. As for Pam's
27:35
Speaker 1: discoveries about Paul Carter, the judge said prosecutors had out
27:38
Speaker 1: and out lied when they denied cutting Carter a deal.
27:42
Speaker 1: Real life had met real justice.
27:44
Speaker 3: It was like, yes, yes, somebody finally gets it after
27:50
Speaker 3: so many doors being shut. This was amazing. For once
27:55
Speaker 3: we won something.
27:59
Speaker 1: Two weeks later, Michael was released from prison. He'd been
28:02
Speaker 1: behind bars for nearly twelve years.
28:05
Speaker 3: It was an absolute perfect day. I hugged him and
28:09
Speaker 3: all I could think to tell him was no more
28:12
Speaker 3: chained Mike, no more change. After he came home, I
28:17
Speaker 3: gave him this huge box with all of his Christmas
28:19
Speaker 3: presents in it, and some of them were twelve years old,
28:24
Speaker 3: so the wrapping paper was faded and like a delmy.
28:27
Speaker 3: I had bought chocolate well that had melted and rehardened
28:33
Speaker 3: and melted and turned white. He started opening video games
28:38
Speaker 3: that you couldn't even get the computer to play them
28:40
Speaker 3: on anymore, but he loved it just the same. We
28:45
Speaker 3: cried a lot of sad tears and a lot of
28:48
Speaker 3: happy tears.
28:52
Speaker 1: A few months later, all charges against Michael Hash were
28:55
Speaker 1: formally dismissed. That day, Pam wrote an email to Steve
29:00
Speaker 1: just three words long.
29:01
Speaker 2: We won, Steve. I almost fell out of my chair.
29:05
Speaker 2: I was ecstatic.
29:07
Speaker 1: As for Eric Weekly, the judge's decision took a twelve
29:10
Speaker 1: year burden off his shoulders. I'm glad that man's home,
29:14
Speaker 1: Eric told the local news. I feel like I amended
29:17
Speaker 1: my wrong. Since the charges were dismissed, Michael Hash has
29:22
Speaker 1: been making the most of his freedom. In twenty fifteen,
29:25
Speaker 1: he got married. His parents were there, his lawyers were there,
29:29
Speaker 1: and you know who else was there? Eric Weekly celebrating
29:33
Speaker 1: with all his heart. All had been forgiven.
29:36
Speaker 3: It was as if nothing happened, and this was Mike's decision.
29:40
Speaker 3: But why not? We were friends then, we're still friends now.
29:44
Speaker 3: Why shouldn't I invite him to my wedding?
29:47
Speaker 1: And the prosecutor who secured Michael and Eric's convictions he
29:51
Speaker 1: resigned one day before Michael walked free. That prosecutor was
29:55
Speaker 1: later reprimanded by the Virginia bar for lying to the
29:58
Speaker 1: jury about Paul Carter get out of jail free card.
30:04
Speaker 1: As for Eric, himself. He remains convicted of second degree murder. Remember,
30:10
Speaker 1: he doesn't have access to post conviction relief because he
30:13
Speaker 1: pled guilty. Eric Weekly brought justice to Michael Hash by
30:17
Speaker 1: making right and old wrong. Now it's time to bring
30:20
Speaker 1: justice to Eric too. In twenty eighteen, Eric's attorneys filed
30:26
Speaker 1: a pardon petition with the Governor of Virginia. While he
30:29
Speaker 1: waits for an answer, Eric has to face everybody from
30:32
Speaker 1: employers to landlords, with a murder conviction on his record.
30:36
Speaker 1: A formal pardon from the governor would change that. It
30:39
Speaker 1: would exonerate Eric Weekly. And that's what Eric deserves. But
30:44
Speaker 1: don't take our word for it. Here's what Michael Hash thinks.
30:48
Speaker 4: Absolutely. I think the governorship poor and Eric I think
30:50
Speaker 4: he was made to do what he did and now
30:53
Speaker 4: he's still a part of this ordeal just as I am.
30:56
Speaker 4: So he deserves just as much as anybody else does
30:58
Speaker 4: in this case to have themself svindicated.
31:05
Speaker 1: Hello, Hey, Eric, this is Laura and Steve. How are
31:08
Speaker 1: you doing all right?
31:09
Speaker 5: Great?
31:09
Speaker 1: How are you are you spending your time these days?
31:14
Speaker 3: Living life?
31:15
Speaker 6: Spend time with my wife and kids and my grand
31:19
Speaker 6: baby and all that good stuff.
31:21
Speaker 1: Grand baby that's exciting.
31:23
Speaker 2: Oh wonderful.
31:24
Speaker 5: Yeah, how old?
31:26
Speaker 3: She's a year and a half now, Wow, that's great.
31:31
Speaker 2: I got a call from Pam hash about your case
31:35
Speaker 2: actually when she was fighting to get Michael freed.
31:38
Speaker 6: The day that Michael got released from prison was the
31:41
Speaker 6: greatest day of my life.
31:42
Speaker 3: Man.
31:43
Speaker 6: After it was all over with, me and Michael had
31:46
Speaker 6: a long conversation and we made amendsum amongst each other.
31:49
Speaker 5: That's how friends do.
31:50
Speaker 1: Man, to see my friend come.
31:52
Speaker 6: Home and just do his thing and live his life
31:55
Speaker 6: free from all of it now, and it's a great feeling.
32:00
Speaker 1: What would it mean to you to receive a pardon
32:01
Speaker 1: from the Governor of Virginia.
32:04
Speaker 6: Within only fourteen years and I went back to president,
32:07
Speaker 6: got a beautiful wife, got a fealful family, and still
32:09
Speaker 6: fighting it and not still keep my head held high,
32:13
Speaker 6: but it'd be.
32:14
Speaker 5: A life altering pain that I can actually go out
32:17
Speaker 5: and not worry about having to put down if I'm okay,
32:19
Speaker 5: Victor Sellon or not. I mean, it will mean the
32:21
Speaker 5: world for me just to solidify that, you know, me,
32:25
Speaker 5: Mike and Jason were.
32:25
Speaker 1: Innocent of all of it.
32:27
Speaker 5: I don't know how I'm going to react until I
32:29
Speaker 5: have the paper in my hand.
32:31
Speaker 6: I mean, I might just break down and cry like
32:33
Speaker 6: a little girl.
32:34
Speaker 2: You know what, I never know. The fact of the
32:44
Speaker 2: matter is that if you have a murder conviction on
32:46
Speaker 2: your record, that's an incredible yoke to have to carry
32:50
Speaker 2: with you for the rest of your life. That's right.
32:52
Speaker 1: I mean, Jason Chlobe was found to be not guilty.
32:55
Speaker 1: Michael hash now has been exonerated. Eric Weekly's this innocent.
32:59
Speaker 2: That's the and it's time for the governor to declare
33:03
Speaker 2: that Eric is actually innocent.
33:14
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction, False Confessions is a production of Lava for
33:17
Speaker 1: Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number one Special
33:22
Speaker 1: thanks to our executive producers Jason Flamm and Kevin Wardis.
33:26
Speaker 1: Our production team is headed by senior producer and Pope,
33:29
Speaker 1: along with producers Joshi Hammer and Jess Shane. Our show
33:33
Speaker 1: is mixed by Genie Montalvo. John Colbert is our intrepid intern.
33:37
Speaker 1: Our music was composed by Jay Ralph. You can follow
33:40
Speaker 1: me on Instagram or Twitter at Laura and I Wrider.
33:43
Speaker 2: And you can follow me on Twitter at s Drizzen.
33:47
Speaker 1: For more information on the show, visit Wrongful Conviction podcast
33:50
Speaker 1: dot com. Be sure to follow the show on Instagram
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Speaker 1: at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and
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Speaker 1: on Twitter at wrong Conviction
34:11
Speaker 4: HM