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#159 Jason Flom with Keyontay Ricks · Wrongful Conviction

0:02
Speaker 1: Keyante Rix had had three run ins with the law
0:05
Speaker 1: and had been wrongfully convicted twice, the first when he
0:08
Speaker 1: was four foot eleven and mistaken for a robber that
0:12
Speaker 1: was six feet tall. While on parole from Juvie, Kyante
0:15
Speaker 1: worked with a youth group mentoring troubled teens, one of
0:18
Speaker 1: whom was an illiterate wheed dealer named Kurtel Walker. One
0:22
Speaker 1: of Kurtel's customers was the manager of a rent center
0:25
Speaker 1: who handled the business's bank deposits. The pair had crafted
0:28
Speaker 1: a scheme in which the customer would settle a twenty
0:31
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars weak debt by handing over the rent
0:33
Speaker 1: to center deposit bag to Kurtel and then claiming that
0:37
Speaker 1: he had been robbed. On June twenty eight, two thousand
0:40
Speaker 1: and four, keyante Rix was on his way to Six
0:42
Speaker 1: Flags with his children's mother, a friend, and Kurtel, but
0:46
Speaker 1: before getting on the road, the group made a stop
0:49
Speaker 1: near the rent a center, where, unbeknownst to the others,
0:51
Speaker 1: Kurtel met up with his customer to follow through with
0:54
Speaker 1: their plot. Taking a bit too long, the other three
0:58
Speaker 1: almost left without him, but Kurtill caught up with them,
1:01
Speaker 1: making a big scene in the process. When the police
1:04
Speaker 1: arrived to investigate the stage robbery, a concerned passerby who
1:08
Speaker 1: saw Curtel screaming and running after the car, gave the
1:11
Speaker 1: police the license fleet number, even though Keyante had none
1:15
Speaker 1: of the money and wasn't involved in any way, one
1:19
Speaker 1: offhand remark in the interrogation room sent a racist cop
1:23
Speaker 1: on a mission to pin the entire crazy scenario on him,
1:27
Speaker 1: falsified evidence, made the mistimeter of felony, and put the
1:30
Speaker 1: money in Kiante's possession. A statement was coerced, prepared and
1:34
Speaker 1: signed by the illiterate Curtel, and even when Kurtel tried
1:38
Speaker 1: to recant and the alleged victim came forward about the
1:42
Speaker 1: stage robbery plot, both were silenced. Keante Rix was sentenced
1:47
Speaker 1: to twenty years in prison. This is Wrongful Conviction with
1:51
Speaker 1: Jason Plomm. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Foum.
2:06
Speaker 1: That's me. I'm your host, and today we're gonna share
2:09
Speaker 1: a story. It's the story of Kyante Rix. But before
2:12
Speaker 1: I even introduced Kyante, let me just run a few
2:16
Speaker 1: numbers by you. So Kyante was wrongfully arrested three times,
2:21
Speaker 1: wrongfully convicted twice, and on one occasion he was shot
2:25
Speaker 1: twice and then made into a suspect. He spent five
2:29
Speaker 1: years wrongfully incarcerated as a child from fourteen to nineteen,
2:32
Speaker 1: and then was said back to prison as an adult,
2:37
Speaker 1: where he served almost thirteen years. And the problem is
2:41
Speaker 1: he never did anything. I mean, Kyante, I'm glad you're here,
2:48
Speaker 1: but I'm sorry you have to be here man, after
2:50
Speaker 1: everything you went through.
2:51
Speaker 2: Thank you.
2:52
Speaker 1: And as you will soon see, Kyante has maintained an
2:56
Speaker 1: incredible attitude, even a sense of humor through all of this.
2:59
Speaker 1: And Chiante, let's go back to the beginning, if it's
3:02
Speaker 1: okay with you. And first of all, this is back
3:04
Speaker 1: at Buffalo.
3:04
Speaker 2: Right, Yes, sir, I grew up in Buffalo, New York.
3:08
Speaker 2: The third incident transpired in the.
3:10
Speaker 1: Amherst and Amherst is a suburb of Buffalo, where you
3:14
Speaker 1: lived with your daughter and her mother, Marina, during the
3:17
Speaker 1: time of your second wrongful conviction. But let's go back
3:20
Speaker 1: to your first wrongful conviction as a minor. You were
3:24
Speaker 1: fourteen years old fourteen? How old are you now? I'm
3:27
Speaker 1: thirty eight, so this is twenty four years ago. You're
3:30
Speaker 1: fourteen years old, four feet eleven. What's crazy about this
3:34
Speaker 1: original case was this was related to a situation. Your
3:39
Speaker 1: cousin had had some involvement in a scuffle that was
3:42
Speaker 1: forty dollars that was owed and recovered. The alleged victim
3:46
Speaker 1: claims he was robbed in stabbed, but now we know
3:48
Speaker 1: that never even happened. The victim describes his assailants to
3:52
Speaker 1: assailants as six feet and five eleven, and you were
3:56
Speaker 1: four eleven. So how did you first get involved?
4:00
Speaker 2: Well, I was actually with my cousin on his street
4:02
Speaker 2: outside and the police put up and handcuffed us and
4:06
Speaker 2: put us in a police car and then drove us
4:09
Speaker 2: to a hospital. And some guys came out and they
4:12
Speaker 2: looked in a police car and they said, yeah, that's them.
4:16
Speaker 2: And I mean that was the beginning of that right there.
4:20
Speaker 1: The only way the police could sort of rope you
4:22
Speaker 1: into this was by bringing you in as in like
4:25
Speaker 1: a show up inside of a squad car, right, which
4:28
Speaker 1: is of course going to buy us anybody. But and
4:30
Speaker 1: I guess you might look taller sitting on the seat
4:32
Speaker 1: in a squad car, but this is obviously madness. And
4:37
Speaker 1: then you go all the way to trial on this
4:38
Speaker 1: crazy thing, even though we're talking about an imaginary crime
4:42
Speaker 1: and two imaginary suspects who were a foot taller than
4:46
Speaker 1: you were, and you're fourteen years old, you're a child.
4:49
Speaker 2: Yes, and I was sentenced as an adult when I
4:51
Speaker 2: went to trial. But this is the thing, though, the
4:53
Speaker 2: things that we just spoke about, it actually came out
4:55
Speaker 2: and trial. The public defender that I had did mention
4:59
Speaker 2: it that the guy gave the description of five eleven
5:02
Speaker 2: and six foot and I was only four foot eleven.
5:05
Speaker 2: And he also mentioned that the guy did not get
5:06
Speaker 2: stabbed and had a superficial wound that required a band aid,
5:13
Speaker 2: even though the jury was constantly told that this guy
5:17
Speaker 2: got stabbed and I was sentence as an adult to
5:21
Speaker 2: three and a third to ten years in a juvenile
5:23
Speaker 2: maximum secure facility.
5:25
Speaker 1: Is it true that your lawyer was drunk at trial?
5:28
Speaker 2: Yes?
5:29
Speaker 1: And how did that come out?
5:31
Speaker 2: Well, I can see he was slurred while he was talking.
5:34
Speaker 1: Oh so he was. He was legit drunk. He wasn't
5:36
Speaker 1: a little drunk. He was like he was, yeah, okay,
5:39
Speaker 1: that's great. I mean, I'm sorry, I just have to
5:43
Speaker 1: be sarcastic because if I don't laugh, I'm gonna cry
5:45
Speaker 1: and this is not of course, that's what I do.
5:48
Speaker 1: This is not the first time we've heard this though,
5:50
Speaker 1: that a lawyer was drunken trial. So the lawyer was
5:53
Speaker 1: drunk a trial. He claimed that he appealed to charge,
5:55
Speaker 1: but we know that never even happened. I mean, this
5:58
Speaker 1: is this is disgusting, and you lived through this and
6:01
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine, Like, and you're a child at
6:05
Speaker 1: fourteen years old, they call it a teenager. That's a child.
6:08
Speaker 1: So fourteen years old you go to prison, right do
6:11
Speaker 1: they call it juvie? But your sentence is an adult?
6:14
Speaker 1: And what is that? Like?
6:17
Speaker 2: Well, I just say that, I mean you had the
6:22
Speaker 2: man up. I mean it was a serious environment. I
6:24
Speaker 2: mean all of the other kids that was in these
6:27
Speaker 2: juvenile maxes, a majority had you know, like eight the
6:30
Speaker 2: life and stuff like that. And you know, you're away
6:34
Speaker 2: from family, you can't be around your loved ones.
6:36
Speaker 1: And I mean at fourteen, a lot of kids have
6:40
Speaker 1: trouble adjusting the summer camp.
6:41
Speaker 2: I was putting the jungle when I had to survive
6:43
Speaker 2: in it. So you know that week get took an
6:45
Speaker 2: advantage of you know, and I'm not a weak person,
6:49
Speaker 2: so I mean it was a lot of fighting, and
6:51
Speaker 2: there was a lot of stress. It was depression, it
6:53
Speaker 2: was all kind of stuff you know that comes with
6:56
Speaker 2: the problems of being incarcerated period. And then as a kid,
6:59
Speaker 2: it was like, you know, I needed to be home,
7:01
Speaker 2: I needed to be around family and loved ones and
7:04
Speaker 2: you know, being deprived of that love and you know
7:07
Speaker 2: I made it through it. I just have a different attitude.
7:09
Speaker 2: I want you, I just want to say that that
7:11
Speaker 2: even though I was victimized, I don't live like a
7:13
Speaker 2: victim because I know that you re victim I yourself
7:15
Speaker 2: every day if you allow your thoughts to stay there.
7:18
Speaker 2: So that's why my attitude is more passive of saying, like,
7:20
Speaker 2: you know, I did what I had to do when
7:22
Speaker 2: I went through what I went through.
7:25
Speaker 1: I did what I had to do, and I went
7:27
Speaker 1: through what I went through. But I think everybody can
7:29
Speaker 1: use to hear that. So thank you for sharing that. So, Chante,
7:32
Speaker 1: you're parole at nineteen, you're out free, still under control
7:37
Speaker 1: of the system because you're on parole, but you started
7:41
Speaker 1: a family. Life is starting to look up. But then
7:45
Speaker 1: tragedy struck again, right, and this goes back to when
7:50
Speaker 1: you well, you were actually on your way to the
7:53
Speaker 1: hospital when this incident happened.
7:56
Speaker 2: Right, Yes, my daughter was more the day before. I
7:59
Speaker 2: couldn't stay in the hospital because I was on parole,
8:01
Speaker 2: so she wanted me to come to the hospital the
8:04
Speaker 2: next day. I was actually at my cousin's house. I
8:06
Speaker 2: left out of the house and as soon as I
8:10
Speaker 2: closed the passenger door, two guns went off. I was
8:15
Speaker 2: shot twice. They collapsed both my lungs, my ribs was broke,
8:20
Speaker 2: and I ended up in critical condition.
8:21
Speaker 1: And you were taken to the same hospital that your
8:23
Speaker 1: daughter was at.
8:24
Speaker 2: No. I was rushed to every county medical center, and
8:27
Speaker 2: a security officer testified actually at the parole preliminary hearing
8:30
Speaker 2: that the car put up the driver said the passenger
8:33
Speaker 2: was shot him and three nurses ran up to the car.
8:35
Speaker 2: They said I was slumped in the seat. They put
8:37
Speaker 2: me out of the car. See how many times I
8:39
Speaker 2: was shot. Then they put me on a stretcher pushed
8:41
Speaker 2: me into the hospital. Then later on they assumed that
8:44
Speaker 2: somebody was breaking into the car and they ran over
8:47
Speaker 2: to the car and they seen a gun in the
8:49
Speaker 2: car that was in the seat that allegedly I was
8:52
Speaker 2: sitting in.
8:53
Speaker 1: Right, I remember reading, they found a gun in the
8:57
Speaker 1: car and tried to pin it on you, and then
9:00
Speaker 1: nine months of more legal struggles and your life hanging
9:04
Speaker 1: in the balance again. Of course, charges in that case
9:07
Speaker 1: were dismissed, but your troubles weren't even over yet. Now
9:10
Speaker 1: we get to Kurtel Walker. Can you tell us about
9:14
Speaker 1: Kurtel and who he was to you?
9:16
Speaker 2: Well, Kurteil was a trouble youth. He had a lot
9:20
Speaker 2: of mens abilities, you know, he had a similar situation
9:22
Speaker 2: like his mom was on drugs and stuff like that.
9:25
Speaker 2: And I was actually working for a youth organization that
9:28
Speaker 2: was ranan by this older gentleman named fred A lamin
9:31
Speaker 2: riused to help the troubled youth, you know, to prevent
9:33
Speaker 2: them from making bad decisions and stuff like that. So
9:35
Speaker 2: Kurteil was one of them that was basically, you know,
9:38
Speaker 2: participating in the programs.
9:40
Speaker 1: So you were sort of keeping an eye on Kurtel,
9:43
Speaker 1: Is that right, Like trying to keep him out of trouble,
9:46
Speaker 1: even though he was selling weed. And you know, by
9:48
Speaker 1: the way, a lot of people are selling weed now,
9:50
Speaker 1: I mean it's like the people are getting rich off
9:53
Speaker 1: of weed legally, So that's a whole nother story. But okay,
9:56
Speaker 1: so you were trying to sort of be almost like
9:58
Speaker 1: a big brother to him, right, Yeah, I was.
10:00
Speaker 2: I mean I was a big brother to a lot
10:01
Speaker 2: of the kids because a lot of them, you know,
10:03
Speaker 2: grew up fast being into the streets, doing a lot
10:05
Speaker 2: of things they wasn't supposed to be doing. So, yes,
10:07
Speaker 2: she was one of the kids.
10:09
Speaker 1: And now we fast forward to June twenty eight, two
10:13
Speaker 1: thousand and four, and correct me if I'm wrong, But
10:16
Speaker 1: the way I understand that you and your children's mother, Marina,
10:20
Speaker 1: and this is an important part of the story because
10:23
Speaker 1: Marina is white, and we know that there's a cop
10:26
Speaker 1: who gets involved in this, and people are saying that
10:29
Speaker 1: it's because he didn't like the fact that you were
10:31
Speaker 1: a black guy dating a white girl or avage kids
10:34
Speaker 1: with her.
10:34
Speaker 2: Nonetheless, yes, Officer Brown had prior problems with them.
10:38
Speaker 1: And you were celebrating your birthday, right, yes, right, So
10:44
Speaker 1: June twenty eight, two thousand and four, you and the
10:45
Speaker 1: Marina celebrating your birthday going to six Flags and Darien
10:48
Speaker 1: Lake in her car. Your friend Tina's driving, and Kurtel
10:51
Speaker 1: was along for the ride. Yes, And so Tina had
10:55
Speaker 1: an errand to run before you went to pick up
10:59
Speaker 1: your daughter for this little day trip. Right, and the
11:02
Speaker 1: erin happened to be right near a rent a center.
11:05
Speaker 1: Unbeknownst to you, one of Kurtel's customers owed him twenty
11:11
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars for weed.
11:12
Speaker 2: Right, Yes, the manager of the Renaiscenter store. His job
11:16
Speaker 2: was to fill out the receipts and stuff like that
11:19
Speaker 2: and to put the stuff into the bank deposit bags.
11:22
Speaker 2: Then additionally take the deposit bags to the M and
11:24
Speaker 2: T bank that was located in the same plaza. But
11:28
Speaker 2: instead of him doing that, he established a plan where
11:31
Speaker 2: he would pay Kurtail the money that he owed him.
11:34
Speaker 2: So the manager put the money that he owed Kurtail
11:37
Speaker 2: in the bag, had Kurtail meet him, and then gave
11:39
Speaker 2: Kurtail the bag, and then later on faked as if
11:43
Speaker 2: Kurtail had actually robbed him because he had to have
11:45
Speaker 2: a way to cover up what he did.
11:47
Speaker 1: Right because sooner or later they would have noticed the
11:48
Speaker 1: twenty five hud dollars missing, obviously, so they staged this
11:51
Speaker 1: fake robbery. Again. It's like something out of a bad movie.
11:54
Speaker 1: But okay, So back to the car before picking up
11:58
Speaker 1: your daughter and heading the six flag, Tina stopped to
12:01
Speaker 1: run an errand near the rent to center, Tina went.
12:04
Speaker 2: To the store. I was sleeping the back seat, and
12:07
Speaker 2: Curtail told her listen, I'll be right back and hopped
12:11
Speaker 2: out of the car and left, so no one in
12:14
Speaker 2: the car knew what he was doing. When Tina came
12:16
Speaker 2: out of the store, Curtail was not back and we
12:19
Speaker 2: was about to leave him, so she put off. Curtail
12:23
Speaker 2: came running to scream stop the car, so Tina put over.
12:26
Speaker 2: Curtail came and hopped in the car and Tina in
12:29
Speaker 2: them sat there for a while. I think one of
12:31
Speaker 2: them thought that they had misplaced their keys or something,
12:33
Speaker 2: so they set there for a while. And that's when
12:36
Speaker 2: the guy, Edward Dupre, who just happened to be walking
12:39
Speaker 2: down the street, said that he thought something criminal happened
12:42
Speaker 2: when he's seen the way that Curtail ran and screamed
12:45
Speaker 2: to stop the car, and when the car remained idle,
12:48
Speaker 2: that he walked directly by the car, wrote the license
12:50
Speaker 2: plate number down and got a good look in the
12:52
Speaker 2: car and said that he's seeing the two females and
12:55
Speaker 2: Kurtail walker. But I was in the car, but he
12:57
Speaker 2: didn't see me in the car because I was sleeping
12:59
Speaker 2: in the back seat. Oh that's how that happened.
13:02
Speaker 1: And did you have any idea of all the insanity
13:05
Speaker 1: that was taking place?
13:07
Speaker 2: I did not, because I mean, you have to understand this, Jason,
13:10
Speaker 2: I got a pregnant girlfriend in the car. I'm on parole,
13:15
Speaker 2: I'm working. Of course, I would never have been around
13:19
Speaker 2: something like that. So I did not know what Kurtail
13:22
Speaker 2: Walker had did. And this was another thing that you
13:25
Speaker 2: know that came out in the transcripts. If the individuals,
13:29
Speaker 2: even if you have stupid criminals, okay, it's no way
13:32
Speaker 2: in the world that a car of criminals is going
13:35
Speaker 2: to sit less than a street away from where a
13:39
Speaker 2: fake robbery transpired.
13:41
Speaker 1: It defies all logic and common sense. You're not going
13:44
Speaker 1: to sit around and wait to get in trouble or
13:46
Speaker 1: get arrested or whatever it is. So the manager calls
13:49
Speaker 1: nine to one to one and then things go downhill
13:53
Speaker 1: from there.
13:54
Speaker 2: The guy Edward Deprido was walking through when he said
13:56
Speaker 2: that he wrote the license plate number down. When the
13:59
Speaker 2: police put up to the crime scene, he gave the
14:02
Speaker 2: police the license plate number. That's when the APB got
14:05
Speaker 2: put out for Marina's car.
14:08
Speaker 1: And then here comes this officer who becomes your tormentor.
14:14
Speaker 1: But it starts with him spotting the car.
14:16
Speaker 2: So we got off the interstate and Officer Brown was
14:19
Speaker 2: shooting radar. He began to follow Marina's car. We put
14:23
Speaker 2: in our driveway and Pheasant run. At this time, I
14:26
Speaker 2: was living in Amherst when I had prior problem with
14:28
Speaker 2: Officer Brown. Officer Brown performs a felony stop after he
14:33
Speaker 2: calls for backup. It was a lot of Amherst police
14:36
Speaker 2: that was immediately there. Officer Brown comes to me, throw
14:39
Speaker 2: me on the ground, handcuff me on my hands behind
14:42
Speaker 2: my back, search me. Find absolutely nothing on me because
14:46
Speaker 2: I did not have anything place me in the police car.
14:49
Speaker 2: The other officers, you know, check search everybody else. Walker
14:54
Speaker 2: said that he did not have handcuffs on. Walker actually
14:57
Speaker 2: took the bank deposit bags and hid it in his
15:00
Speaker 2: boxer briefs, which makes sense that the officers is not
15:04
Speaker 2: checking your area, you know. So they didn't find any
15:07
Speaker 2: of the stolen items that Kurteil had on him.
15:10
Speaker 1: They also put Marina, who as you said, was pregnant,
15:13
Speaker 1: on the ground, and the cops need her on the
15:15
Speaker 1: neck right on the pavement.
15:17
Speaker 2: No, they had their knee on her back. And then
15:19
Speaker 2: her mother ran outside with my daughter in her hand
15:23
Speaker 2: and went up and the police officers aimed the gun
15:25
Speaker 2: at her mother and told her to back up, and
15:27
Speaker 2: her mother was screaming, she's pregnant, she's pregnant Oflficer Brown
15:31
Speaker 2: then had Marina to sign a waiver and he went
15:35
Speaker 2: and searched her car. When he searched her car, he
15:38
Speaker 2: found the two purses that belonged to Marina and Tina
15:42
Speaker 2: that was in the front seat. Alficter Brown then took
15:45
Speaker 2: money out of both of those purses. Then he came back.
15:48
Speaker 2: He transported me in patrol car one o seven. Because
15:52
Speaker 2: these numbers are very very important reference to the fabrication
15:56
Speaker 2: of evidence. He transported me in his patrol car, which
16:00
Speaker 2: was Amherst patrol car one o seven, to the crime scene.
16:04
Speaker 2: He brought me out of the car. The fake victim
16:07
Speaker 2: manager came out and said, no, that's not him. He
16:10
Speaker 2: got Kurtail Walker out of Amherst patrol car one oh five.
16:14
Speaker 2: He didn't identify him as well. He then went and
16:17
Speaker 2: searched the patrol car that Kurtil Walker was in patrol
16:20
Speaker 2: car one o five found two thousand dollars that Kurtail
16:24
Speaker 2: Walker had took out of his pants. Now, based upon
16:28
Speaker 2: the testimony, Kurtail Walker said that he hid two thousand
16:31
Speaker 2: dollars at the back of patrol car one oh five
16:34
Speaker 2: and he had eighty eight dollars in his pocket. Officer
16:37
Speaker 2: Brown then made Kurtail Walker kick off his shoes and
16:40
Speaker 2: he recovered deposit bags, audit slips, and receipts that belonged
16:45
Speaker 2: to the renn A Center. So, after Thomas Brown recovered
16:49
Speaker 2: the checks, the deposit bags, and the money from Kurtail Walker,
16:52
Speaker 2: he then got back at the police car that I
16:54
Speaker 2: was in transported me to Buffalo Police headquarters. And based
16:58
Speaker 2: upon the transcript, Officer Thomas Brown stayed the Buffalo Police
17:01
Speaker 2: Headquarters for about two hours while the Buffalo Police officers
17:06
Speaker 2: conducted the investigation. So Officer Brown then asked me that
17:11
Speaker 2: I have any information about the criminals and am hearst
17:13
Speaker 2: and that if I gave him information then I wouldn't
17:16
Speaker 2: have to worry about a parole violation. And I told him, yes,
17:20
Speaker 2: I have information. You should take your handcuffs out and
17:22
Speaker 2: rest yourself. Officer Brown became very angry, and he started saying,
17:28
Speaker 2: you know, you nigger, this that and the third, ou't
17:30
Speaker 2: make sure you never get out of jail, and this,
17:32
Speaker 2: that and the third, and you know he went above
17:36
Speaker 2: and beyond after that, I'll say.
17:38
Speaker 1: That now they brought Kurtel into it, right, And so
17:43
Speaker 1: they interrogate Kurtel, who couldn't read or write, and under
17:47
Speaker 1: physical duress and under pressure of a twenty five year
17:51
Speaker 1: sentence and he was underage, they got him to sign
17:56
Speaker 1: a statement that again he couldn't have understood because he
17:59
Speaker 1: couldn't read, and say that you had planned the robbery
18:03
Speaker 1: and that he just was sort of went along with
18:06
Speaker 1: it and gave you the money.
18:07
Speaker 2: Right, Kurtail Walker. On the day of the incident, the
18:09
Speaker 2: officers basically slapped him around and did all of the
18:12
Speaker 2: stuff to him. Right, So the officer that prepared the report,
18:15
Speaker 2: Detective Mark Joseph Lauber, first of all, I will say
18:18
Speaker 2: that he got caught up in some racist stuff. I
18:21
Speaker 2: actually have the New York Times article. He got caught
18:24
Speaker 2: up in some racial text messages and stuff and killed
18:27
Speaker 2: a black guy and said that the guy aimed the
18:28
Speaker 2: gun at him and the gun got found on the roof.
18:31
Speaker 2: So this is not you know, a good police officer.
18:34
Speaker 2: Let me put it like that, even though he was
18:35
Speaker 2: able to beat these charges. Okay, now he's the one
18:37
Speaker 2: that was in the room with Kurtail that prepared the statement.
18:41
Speaker 2: Kurtil could not read, so you know, they threatened him
18:44
Speaker 2: and told his grandmother listen, if he do not sign
18:46
Speaker 2: this statement, he's gonna get twenty five years in jail.
18:48
Speaker 2: He needs to sign a statement. So the statement still
18:51
Speaker 2: stated that it wasn't a robbery. Though this is the thing,
18:54
Speaker 2: they just added my name in there. Kurtail still let
18:56
Speaker 2: him know, like listen, you know the guy gave him
18:58
Speaker 2: the money. So the very next day, when we got
19:01
Speaker 2: out on Bill, I was informed that my name was
19:04
Speaker 2: in a statement, and I was very upset. I was
19:06
Speaker 2: very upset. So the families all had a meeting, his
19:09
Speaker 2: family's grandmother, mother, father, everybody had a meeting, and that's
19:12
Speaker 2: when Kurtil told them, like, listen, this is the truth.
19:15
Speaker 2: You know the guy owe him money and that you know,
19:18
Speaker 2: basically I had no knowledge of it, nothing to do
19:20
Speaker 2: with it, and neither did the girls. So the grandmother
19:23
Speaker 2: takes Kurtail to Buffalo police station. The very next day
19:27
Speaker 2: and tells the officers, listen, Kurtil Walker wants to confess.
19:30
Speaker 2: My grandson wants to confess, to tell y'all exactly what happened,
19:33
Speaker 2: because he just told us exactly what happened. The officers
19:37
Speaker 2: refused to take the confession and documented in a police
19:41
Speaker 2: report and say, Kurtil Walker came in here the next
19:45
Speaker 2: day to the Major Crimes unit, told us that the
19:47
Speaker 2: first statement was false and that he wanted to recent
19:50
Speaker 2: the involvement of ricks and we told him to leave
19:53
Speaker 2: and have a nice day, and the officers wouldn't even
19:55
Speaker 2: take the confession from him. And I actually have the
19:57
Speaker 2: police reports to prove every single thing. You know what
20:00
Speaker 2: I'm saying.
20:01
Speaker 1: Now they start fudging more of the evidence, right because
20:06
Speaker 1: in order to charge you with a felony, they had
20:09
Speaker 1: to have over three thousand dollars that was stolen, right,
20:13
Speaker 1: And they've got all these disparate amounts of money. They've
20:17
Speaker 1: got the money that they actually stole from the girl's
20:20
Speaker 1: purses was fourteen hundred. Then they've got the two thousand
20:23
Speaker 1: that Kurtel hid in the back of squad car one
20:26
Speaker 1: oh five, which you never were in. Then they've got
20:30
Speaker 1: eighty eight dollars from Curtel's wallet. If you add all
20:32
Speaker 1: of this up, it's three four hundred and eighty eight dollars.
20:35
Speaker 1: So they needed to get to a number over three
20:38
Speaker 1: thousand dollars where they could charge you with a felony,
20:41
Speaker 1: which we know Officer Brown very much wanted to charge
20:44
Speaker 1: you with a felony. But how did they manage to
20:47
Speaker 1: end up framing you for this one?
20:49
Speaker 2: Well, the Buffalo police officers had Officer Brown writing notes
20:53
Speaker 2: of everything that transpired why he was with me, and
20:56
Speaker 2: my lawyer ended up obtaining a copy of those notes,
20:59
Speaker 2: so those notes not say anything that the police reports
21:02
Speaker 2: that Officer Brown prepared later ended up saying. After Officer
21:06
Speaker 2: Brown went back to Amherst Police station, Officer Brown prepared
21:09
Speaker 2: a statement that's called a seven ten thirty statement and
21:12
Speaker 2: stated that I'm made verbal statements to him saying that
21:17
Speaker 2: Kurtil Walker gave me the stolen money, that I hid
21:20
Speaker 2: the stolen money in my shoe, and that I basically
21:23
Speaker 2: took the money out of my shoe while my hands
21:26
Speaker 2: was cuffed behind my back and hid it inside of
21:28
Speaker 2: the police car.
21:31
Speaker 1: Right, So we got to believe that you're some sort
21:33
Speaker 1: of magician who deny David blamed somebody where you could
21:36
Speaker 1: while you're in handcuffs, magically remove the money from your
21:40
Speaker 1: shock or shoe and stick it in the other car
21:44
Speaker 1: that you never even were in. That's got to be magic.
21:46
Speaker 1: That's incredible. I mean, that's really what you have to
21:50
Speaker 1: believe if you're going to believe their story on top
21:52
Speaker 1: of all the other lives and nonsense.
21:54
Speaker 2: And then Officer Brown stated that I'm made verbal statements
21:58
Speaker 2: to him saying if he got rid of the money,
22:02
Speaker 2: then I would tell him about the criminals and Amhurst
22:05
Speaker 2: because it's going to break my parole. Now that seems crazy,
22:09
Speaker 2: because I never was charged with possession of stolen property
22:12
Speaker 2: initially until Officer Brown testified at the grand jury. The
22:17
Speaker 2: district attorney actually added the possession of stolen property charge
22:20
Speaker 2: because the Buffalo booking report shows that absolutely nothing was
22:23
Speaker 2: taken from me. It says no items was recovered from
22:25
Speaker 2: the defendant. I actually have copies of every single one
22:28
Speaker 2: of these police reports. I had one hundred and fourteen
22:30
Speaker 2: dollars that was my personal money. They put it with
22:32
Speaker 2: my property and they gave it back to me the
22:34
Speaker 2: next day. Now, what Officer Brown did this is how
22:37
Speaker 2: they pulled this off. When he came to the grand jury,
22:41
Speaker 2: he testified somewhat truthfully, he still liked and said that
22:45
Speaker 2: he recovered the whole thirty four hundred from Kurtail Walker,
22:48
Speaker 2: when in reality he only recovered two thousand dollars that
22:51
Speaker 2: Kurtail Walker had hid in the backseat of the police
22:53
Speaker 2: car and the eighty eight dollars that Kurtail Walker had
22:55
Speaker 2: in his pocket. And they added the fourteen hundred from
22:58
Speaker 2: the women to change it from a mister meanor to
23:00
Speaker 2: a felony okay. So at the Huntly Map hearing, it
23:06
Speaker 2: was a pre trial hearing. Well, the prosecution had to
23:08
Speaker 2: establish if they had probable cause or not to arrest me.
23:11
Speaker 2: So at the Huntly Map hearing, only the arrest officer
23:15
Speaker 2: could come and testify. And Officer Brown comes to this
23:17
Speaker 2: hearing and he testifies under oath that he placed me
23:21
Speaker 2: under arrest at the crime scene after he recovered the
23:25
Speaker 2: stolen money from the police card that I was in.
23:29
Speaker 2: Then he charged me himself with possession of stolen property.
23:32
Speaker 2: Then he ran me my rights after he charged me
23:35
Speaker 2: with possession of stolen property, and then I waived my
23:38
Speaker 2: right to self incrimination. And that's when I made a
23:40
Speaker 2: verbal statement. Okay, and the judge decided that Overser Brown
23:43
Speaker 2: was believable so that he can admit the physical evidence.
23:45
Speaker 1: Probably the truest thing you ever said is that he
23:47
Speaker 1: should have arrested himself. He would have been throwing us
23:49
Speaker 1: all a favor. But okay, So just to keep track,
23:53
Speaker 1: all right, So Officer Brown has now changed the details
23:57
Speaker 1: from his initial notes to Buffalo PD, to his seven
24:00
Speaker 1: ten thirty, then to his grand jury testimony, and then
24:03
Speaker 1: to the Huntly map hearing, and all the while the judge,
24:07
Speaker 1: the DA and everyone else is finding ways to find
24:12
Speaker 1: him believable. Great, now we move on to the trial.
24:17
Speaker 2: Okay. Now, during trial, Officer Brown had a complete three
24:20
Speaker 2: point sixty. Okay. Officer Brown testified that he was not
24:24
Speaker 2: the arresting officer, He was not the assisting officer. He
24:28
Speaker 2: was not present when I was placing under arrest. He
24:30
Speaker 2: did not know if I was placing under arrest. And
24:33
Speaker 2: the thing is Austin Brown also testified that he was
24:36
Speaker 2: the only officer that was with me from the initial
24:39
Speaker 2: time in Amherst where he put the car over and
24:41
Speaker 2: took me into custody. At the crime scene in at
24:43
Speaker 2: Buffalo Police station for two hours while the Buffalo officers
24:47
Speaker 2: conducted the investigation. Right then and there, the judge, the
24:52
Speaker 2: district attorney, and everyone was made aware of the fact
24:54
Speaker 2: that Officer Brown falsified everything at the Huntley map here
25:01
Speaker 2: and they just ignored it.
25:18
Speaker 1: So the victim didn't testify a trial. Courtel, Walker didn't
25:23
Speaker 1: testify a trial and Curtel Courtel.
25:27
Speaker 2: He went on a run when I went to trial.
25:29
Speaker 1: So let's talk about Michael Demko.
25:32
Speaker 2: Michael Demko was my trial attorney. He played an important
25:36
Speaker 2: role in uh me actually ended up in jail. With
25:39
Speaker 2: me getting out of jail. He didn't cause certain witnesses
25:43
Speaker 2: that I requested that he called. You know, he said
25:46
Speaker 2: that the reason why he didn't call them was because
25:48
Speaker 2: without a victim and without an eyewitness, he didn't even
25:51
Speaker 2: figure that, you know, they would go anywhere with the
25:53
Speaker 2: case because based upon the law, those charges were supposed
25:56
Speaker 2: to be dismissed. But you know, uh, with the witnesses,
26:00
Speaker 2: they subpoenat every single person. They subpoena the fake victim
26:07
Speaker 2: who was in custody on a material witness warrant, who
26:10
Speaker 2: actually provided affidavit later on, stating that he told the
26:15
Speaker 2: district attorney that I didn't have anything to do with him,
26:17
Speaker 2: that he wasn't robbed, but they didn't allow him to
26:19
Speaker 2: testify because the district attorney threatened him and told him,
26:21
Speaker 2: you better not come to court and say that Kiyante
26:23
Speaker 2: is innocent or you're gonna get twenty five years Okay,
26:26
Speaker 2: Marina and Tina was subpoena district attorney told them that,
26:29
Speaker 2: you know, he dropped charges on them, and they told
26:31
Speaker 2: him that they knew the victim and that he never
26:33
Speaker 2: got robbed, and that Kurtail never robbed him, and that
26:36
Speaker 2: we never had no knowledge of what they did with
26:38
Speaker 2: The district attorney told them the same thing. Y'all better
26:41
Speaker 2: come back with a different story. Y'all better not come
26:42
Speaker 2: and testify that Kiante is innocent, and he did not
26:45
Speaker 2: allow them to testify neither. Okay, this is crazy. The
26:50
Speaker 2: two managers was the only other two the.
26:52
Speaker 1: Two managers of the RAC which is the place where
26:56
Speaker 1: the fake robbery occurred, who weren't even there. Both testified.
27:01
Speaker 1: One testified that he was present that day and that
27:03
Speaker 1: the alleged victim had left with the bank deposit and
27:05
Speaker 1: came back out of breath claiming to have been robbed,
27:08
Speaker 1: also that he was unsure whether it was one hundred
27:11
Speaker 1: or one hundred thousand dollars that was lost. The other
27:13
Speaker 1: manager testified to establish the value at thirty four eighty eight,
27:17
Speaker 1: so somebody obviously fed him that information. So then during
27:20
Speaker 1: cross examination, it came out that the second manager that
27:23
Speaker 1: established the one who established the value, hadn't even started
27:26
Speaker 1: working at the location until almost a year after the
27:29
Speaker 1: freaking incident, so he didn't even know the allegend robbery victim.
27:33
Speaker 1: But he was an assistant manager, had a different location.
27:37
Speaker 1: He wasn't there. Like this is I can't with this shit.
27:41
Speaker 2: And like as you just said, you know, one was
27:43
Speaker 2: to establish the value of the money, which is important
27:46
Speaker 2: because you know, say an element of possession of stolen property,
27:48
Speaker 2: it has to be a value. He testified that the
27:51
Speaker 2: money took in and the money claimed to be recovered
27:53
Speaker 2: match to the penny, which was a complete lie because
27:55
Speaker 2: based upon the bank all it slips, it was not
27:57
Speaker 2: the same amount of money. And he testified during cross
28:00
Speaker 2: examination that he did not work at the store until
28:03
Speaker 2: a year after the incident. When Demico axed him. Did
28:06
Speaker 2: you did you ever hear that your your own manager
28:09
Speaker 2: actually stole the money? He said, I just heard there
28:12
Speaker 2: was an investigation and he was let go shortly after
28:15
Speaker 2: the incident, so they definitely knew that he was not robbed.
28:19
Speaker 1: No, it was a fake robbery. And I don't even
28:21
Speaker 1: know sometimes why we have perjury laws when people like
28:23
Speaker 1: this just lie at will understand and just get away
28:27
Speaker 1: with it and just move on with their lives. And yeah,
28:29
Speaker 1: this is this is some really bald faced lying going
28:32
Speaker 1: on here, and a lot of it from a lot
28:33
Speaker 1: of different people. Okay, So you ultimately get convicted in
28:38
Speaker 1: June two thousand and five of robbery and criminal possession
28:40
Speaker 1: of stolen properties, and because of your prior wrotical conviction,
28:44
Speaker 1: your sentence was enhanced to twenty years. So I mean,
28:50
Speaker 1: how did you deal with that? And what was that moment? Like?
28:53
Speaker 2: Man, it was it was terrible, man, because I had
28:56
Speaker 2: a baby on the way, man, and you know, I'm
28:58
Speaker 2: a real family man, and I had two babies that's born. Man,
29:02
Speaker 2: that's a year and like a year in like five months.
29:05
Speaker 2: So I just sat there and just watched my family.
29:08
Speaker 2: Like the whole court room went crazy because everybody knew
29:11
Speaker 2: that I was innocent. And the day that I got
29:15
Speaker 2: sentenced to twenty years, Kurtil Walker please guilty to the
29:18
Speaker 2: rapper charge.
29:19
Speaker 1: So there's a crazy piece of the story that could
29:22
Speaker 1: have turned into a real problem. In the devious move,
29:27
Speaker 1: they stuck you in the bullpen with Kurtil Walker, who
29:32
Speaker 1: was underage at the time. Shouldn't never have even been
29:35
Speaker 1: in the same place as you, and where my mind
29:38
Speaker 1: goes as a bad place. They were trying to get
29:40
Speaker 1: you to do something.
29:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, hoping that I would kill a kid. I just
29:43
Speaker 2: got fresh twenty years sentence. You know what I'm saying.
29:46
Speaker 2: No one is going to be in their right mind
29:48
Speaker 2: with a twenty year since, especially for a crime that
29:49
Speaker 2: they didn't commit. And then you put this person in
29:52
Speaker 2: there that got me in there, you know, hoping that
29:56
Speaker 2: I would do something to him, But I said, no,
29:58
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna do nothing. I know that he told
30:00
Speaker 2: them the right stuff.
30:01
Speaker 1: So you go to prison. Can you just give us
30:05
Speaker 1: some insight into what that experience was like.
30:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was real, it was critical, It was critical, man,
30:11
Speaker 2: and I went into a great state of depression and
30:15
Speaker 2: then I prayed. I prayed and it was like I
30:21
Speaker 2: just said, listen, I got to obtain my freedom. I
30:23
Speaker 2: don't got time to sit in here and be stressing
30:25
Speaker 2: about anything else. And that's what happened. I mean, my
30:30
Speaker 2: child's mother got married in like six months, so I
30:33
Speaker 2: was in It was like thig after thig after thig.
30:37
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. And it was just like
30:39
Speaker 2: I just looked in the mirror and I said, man up,
30:42
Speaker 2: that's it. I said. The only way you're gonna get
30:43
Speaker 2: your life back if you fight for it. So that's
30:45
Speaker 2: why I went into law libraries and I started learning
30:47
Speaker 2: the law. Yeah, you know, it took a long time,
30:51
Speaker 2: but you know, thanks to God, I was able to
30:54
Speaker 2: get out of there and give us most of that
30:56
Speaker 2: time back.
30:58
Speaker 1: So Kiante, there you are. You're studying law, you're praying,
31:00
Speaker 1: you're doing everything you possibly can. You're finding strength in
31:04
Speaker 1: a place where I think almost anybody else would have
31:06
Speaker 1: just collapsed, but you found this other gear. I have
31:10
Speaker 1: so much respect for you. But anyway, you filed pro
31:13
Speaker 1: say motion after pro say motion. Our listeners know that
31:16
Speaker 1: means that's when the person himself or herself files their
31:20
Speaker 1: own legal briefs. But nothing was working until a friend
31:24
Speaker 1: of your uncle came to visit you, and that's when
31:26
Speaker 1: the ball started rolling back in the right direction.
31:27
Speaker 2: Right. Yes, I had about twelve motions that I filed
31:32
Speaker 2: in the state courts, and I figured, you know, no victim,
31:35
Speaker 2: no eyewitness, with all of this evidence, these judges are
31:37
Speaker 2: going to do what they supposed to do, you know
31:39
Speaker 2: what I'm saying. And not one of them even probably
31:43
Speaker 2: reviewed those motions. So then my uncle had brought one
31:47
Speaker 2: of his friends to see me. That was Carl the Viver,
31:51
Speaker 2: and my uncle told him that I wasn't supposed to
31:53
Speaker 2: be in jail, and he came to see me and
31:55
Speaker 2: he said, listen, if the stuff that you say is true,
31:59
Speaker 2: then I'm going to be a help you get out
32:00
Speaker 2: of jail. He was connected to attorney Robert Goldstein. So
32:04
Speaker 2: basically me and Carl prepared the motion. You know, they
32:09
Speaker 2: conducted an investigation. That's when they was able to speak
32:13
Speaker 2: to my trial lawyer, Michael Demko, and they was able
32:15
Speaker 2: to speak to the fake victim and everyone else. And
32:19
Speaker 2: that's when you know, the fake victim provided an affidavit to
32:22
Speaker 2: let him know that you know, he wasn't robbed, and
32:25
Speaker 2: basically that he had told the district attorney when he
32:27
Speaker 2: was incarcerated on the material witness warrant, and that when
32:31
Speaker 2: the district attorney told him, you know, basically to leave,
32:33
Speaker 2: that he went and spoke to Michael Demico. And then
32:36
Speaker 2: Michael Demko provided an affidavit in stating that the victim
32:39
Speaker 2: did confess to him prior to my trial, told him
32:42
Speaker 2: that he was not a victim in the case, that
32:44
Speaker 2: he never was robbed, that he owed her tail Walker money,
32:47
Speaker 2: and that basically he used the money to satisfy a
32:49
Speaker 2: drug debt. And then Demko said that, and this is
32:53
Speaker 2: in his affidavit. He said that he couldn't take the
32:55
Speaker 2: statement because it will be a conflict of interest because
32:58
Speaker 2: the prosecution's office will state that he tried to co
33:00
Speaker 2: hurt him to give an affidavit that could exonerate me,
33:02
Speaker 2: being that I was his client. So he referred him
33:05
Speaker 2: to another attorney named Daniel Grasso, who's now I think
33:09
Speaker 2: a judge in Blaisdell. But he also provided an affidavit
33:13
Speaker 2: to say, yes, you know, Demko's client came, but he
33:15
Speaker 2: never retained me, so, you know, and that's what happened.
33:19
Speaker 2: So I had all of those affi Davis, the judge
33:21
Speaker 2: granted me and hearing at the four point forty hearing
33:24
Speaker 2: with Judge Burns, we had about eight affi Davis was
33:27
Speaker 2: affidavits from the victim, attorney Mike Demico, Attorney Danie Grasso,
33:32
Speaker 2: Kurteil Walker, Marina and we had an affidavit from a
33:36
Speaker 2: Bruce Barnett, Affidavid from a Dianne Barnett, and then we
33:39
Speaker 2: had my affidavit all and it never was anything that
33:44
Speaker 2: was against me but the fabrications of Officer Brown.
33:47
Speaker 1: District Attorney John Flynn said there was no robbery here.
33:51
Speaker 1: The victim was in on it. It was Grand Larson.
33:53
Speaker 1: The fact of the matter is that he was serving
33:55
Speaker 1: time for crime he did not do. And then Judge
33:57
Speaker 1: Burns said, in this court's view, the new evidence is
34:00
Speaker 1: sufficient to establish that quote, no juror acting reasonably would
34:04
Speaker 1: have voted to find it defending guilty beyond a reasonable
34:07
Speaker 1: doubt with regards to the robbery charge. So now you
34:10
Speaker 1: got this amazing statement from the DA and the judge
34:12
Speaker 1: and ultimately I know you were released on February third,
34:15
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, after serving twelve years and ten months, and
34:19
Speaker 1: probably some other days too. But how did you end
34:22
Speaker 1: up getting released? How did that work?
34:25
Speaker 2: Well, listen to it is it's pretty interested too. Okay, Well,
34:29
Speaker 2: the judge issues in order for my immediate release because
34:33
Speaker 2: they dismissed the robbery charge which held twenty years. In
34:36
Speaker 2: the possession of stolen property charge held I think it
34:39
Speaker 2: was two hunt third to seven years. So the maximum
34:41
Speaker 2: amount of time that I could have done on a
34:43
Speaker 2: possession of stolen property charge with seven years being that
34:46
Speaker 2: I did twelve years and ten months. He issued the
34:48
Speaker 2: order for my immediate release.
34:50
Speaker 1: What was that day? Like?
34:52
Speaker 2: Man, it was like finally, you know, I couldn't believe it,
34:58
Speaker 2: you know, because I mean you look at the average
35:00
Speaker 2: people in jail, and a lot of them that's innocent.
35:04
Speaker 2: It's still not coming home. You know. I got a
35:06
Speaker 2: lot of friends, like I got like thirty guys that
35:09
Speaker 2: I look out for that's in jail.
35:11
Speaker 1: You know.
35:11
Speaker 2: I do much as I can because not in the
35:13
Speaker 2: best position right now, but a lot of people ain't
35:16
Speaker 2: coming home. So I just feel fortunate enough to be
35:19
Speaker 2: able to obtain my freedom.
35:31
Speaker 1: So you come out of February third, it's probably minus
35:33
Speaker 1: thirty degrees outside of Buffalo, February third. But nonetheless it
35:36
Speaker 1: must have felt pretty warm.
35:41
Speaker 2: I wasn't think about the weather, I can say that.
35:46
Speaker 1: And meanwhile, now I'm hearing that you well, you got
35:49
Speaker 1: married a couple of years ago, so congratulations on that.
35:52
Speaker 2: Thank you.
35:54
Speaker 1: And I hear now you're doing some amazing things with
35:57
Speaker 1: a couple of my favorite people, Xanneries named Marty Tankliff
36:02
Speaker 1: and Jeffrey Deshkovic. Both have been on the show before.
36:06
Speaker 2: Well, I mean I met Marty when I was with Kean.
36:10
Speaker 2: Kean Kalabi was one of xanneries who's also an attorney,
36:13
Speaker 2: and Steve metcalf. I know who Marty's connected with then
36:16
Speaker 2: Jeffrey Deskovic. I was telling you that I assisted him
36:19
Speaker 2: with the prison reform movement and him and Bill Busnick
36:22
Speaker 2: in Pennsylvania. It was at Temple University, but all of
36:25
Speaker 2: the pa exannarees, and yeah, I mean that's that's a few.
36:29
Speaker 2: I have a lot of different attorneys that you know,
36:30
Speaker 2: I've been connected to and you know, sending them cases,
36:34
Speaker 2: and me and Carl still been doing a lot of
36:36
Speaker 2: work together. He's definitely my friend, you know, who helped
36:40
Speaker 2: me get out of prison.
36:41
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's awesome and has also been on the show.
36:45
Speaker 1: He's an incredible guy. And then you're doing amazing work
36:50
Speaker 1: with all these great people, but you're also still fighting
36:53
Speaker 1: your own wrongful conviction for the possession of stolen property charge.
36:58
Speaker 2: Yes, now this is where it gets really, really interesting.
37:04
Speaker 2: Kurtail Walker testified that he had twenty five hundred in
37:07
Speaker 2: his pans, he put five hundred in his sock, and
37:09
Speaker 2: he hit the two thousand in the police car. In
37:11
Speaker 2: the transcripts, Judge Burns had the stenographer to add that
37:15
Speaker 2: he asked Kurtail a question personally, how much money did
37:19
Speaker 2: you have? And Kurtail said three or four thousand dollars.
37:22
Speaker 2: That never was said. I really couldn't understand why Judge
37:27
Speaker 2: Burns fabricated the transcripts because whether he had three or
37:31
Speaker 2: four thousand dollars, it does not matter because I did
37:34
Speaker 2: not have any of the money. You understand what I'm saying,
37:37
Speaker 2: which it does not make sense at all. So after
37:40
Speaker 2: they fabricated the transcripts, a motion was put in to
37:43
Speaker 2: settle the transcripts, and it was eight affidavits inside of
37:46
Speaker 2: that motion as well from all of the people that
37:49
Speaker 2: was present during that hearing to say no, kurtail Walker
37:52
Speaker 2: never said that. They denied that motion. So now it
37:55
Speaker 2: goes to the twenty nineteen hearing. We file another four
37:58
Speaker 2: forty We had the evan, the police reports and stuff
38:01
Speaker 2: like that. So the lawyers presented the motion and the
38:04
Speaker 2: judge granted and hearing Judge Christopher Burns grants the hearing.
38:09
Speaker 2: He gives a specific order and says the hearing specifically
38:12
Speaker 2: revolves around the amount of money that was obtained from
38:16
Speaker 2: defending Rix during the time of his arrest. Okay, because
38:20
Speaker 2: you know, we got all of the proof saying listen,
38:22
Speaker 2: they recovered his money from Kurt to Walker and from
38:24
Speaker 2: the women pursus. You know, we have the police reports
38:27
Speaker 2: to prove this and witness affidavis the fourteen hundred dollars
38:31
Speaker 2: that Officer Brown recovered from the women's purse. Because he
38:33
Speaker 2: was the only officer in Amhurst that searched the car,
38:36
Speaker 2: so it's not like other officers could have recovered it.
38:38
Speaker 2: None of the Buffalo police officers was in Amhurst. When
38:40
Speaker 2: we went to Buffalo Police Station, Officer Brown gave the
38:44
Speaker 2: fourteen hundred dollars to another officer named Joanne Cino. This
38:49
Speaker 2: was the officer that was with Marina and Tina, and
38:52
Speaker 2: she created a police report that stated that fourteen hundred
38:55
Speaker 2: dollars of the stolen money recovered was recovered from the
39:00
Speaker 2: women's purses. The prosecutor withheld this police report, so the
39:07
Speaker 2: defense never even knew that fourteen hundred dollars of the
39:10
Speaker 2: thirty four hundred dollars actually belonged to the purses of
39:15
Speaker 2: the women. So this was a police report that I
39:17
Speaker 2: was able to obtain during a four year request. Also,
39:21
Speaker 2: when I mentioned patrol car one to five, after the
39:24
Speaker 2: officers recovered the stolen money hidden in the backseat of
39:28
Speaker 2: the police car, they took a picture. I was able
39:32
Speaker 2: to obtain a copy of the Amherst police report which
39:36
Speaker 2: shows that the only picture that they took of the
39:38
Speaker 2: money was from patrol car one to five, not patrol
39:42
Speaker 2: car one o seven where I was at. So we
39:45
Speaker 2: go to the hearing. Two things had to be established,
39:48
Speaker 2: the time of arrest and what was obtained from me
39:52
Speaker 2: during that time. Okay, based upon the judge's order. So
39:55
Speaker 2: we established that I was placed under arrest by Officer
39:58
Speaker 2: Martin Motely and Officer Johnson Loveto. We established that they
40:02
Speaker 2: never charged me with possession of stolen property. We established
40:05
Speaker 2: that the booking report proved that no stolen money was
40:09
Speaker 2: ever recovered from me. And we also had Kurtil Walker
40:12
Speaker 2: to come testified to all of the other facts that
40:14
Speaker 2: we just spoke about. And we had Marina to testify
40:17
Speaker 2: that the officers did take the money out of her purse. Okay,
40:19
Speaker 2: all of that was established. Da Flynn he had just
40:23
Speaker 2: came in office in twenty seventeen. Okay. So for the
40:27
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen hearing, Robert Goldstein, at my requests, had a
40:31
Speaker 2: meeting with DA Flint and d A. Herrity. He showed
40:35
Speaker 2: Da Flynn everything DA Flynn told him, he didn't care
40:37
Speaker 2: about it, and then told Thomas Brown everything that Attorney
40:42
Speaker 2: Goldstein has said to him in the letter. We actually
40:45
Speaker 2: prepared a letter that mentioned all of the perjuries and
40:47
Speaker 2: stuff like that. Officer Brown's testimony changed at every single
40:53
Speaker 2: court appearance. So when we had the twenty nineteen hearing,
40:57
Speaker 2: Officer Thomas Brown now comes and testifies that he never
41:03
Speaker 2: searched Kurtil Walker, he never recovered the deposit bags, he
41:07
Speaker 2: never recovered the checks, he never recovered the money. This
41:10
Speaker 2: is what he testifies to end the record, and this
41:13
Speaker 2: is why I'm pushing right now to get charge just
41:15
Speaker 2: pressed on him for this perjury right here. He knew
41:18
Speaker 2: that we had proof to prove that he fabricated that
41:21
Speaker 2: evidence in reference to that money when I was able
41:23
Speaker 2: to obtain that police report that mentioned, you know that
41:26
Speaker 2: he basically gave that money to that officer. So now
41:28
Speaker 2: he knew that we had sufficient evidence, and he said
41:31
Speaker 2: that he never recovered nothing. He said, listen, I seen
41:33
Speaker 2: the money, and I pointed out to the Buffalo Police,
41:35
Speaker 2: and they're the ones who recovered it. Listen where it
41:38
Speaker 2: gets crazy, though, because the Buffalo booking report shows that
41:41
Speaker 2: absolutely nothing was taken from me. That means that none
41:44
Speaker 2: of the prosecution witnesses ever recovered any stolen money, any
41:48
Speaker 2: stolen checks or anything. I ended up finding a police report.
41:52
Speaker 2: It was like God woke me up at six o'clock
41:54
Speaker 2: in the morning and tell me look through all my papers.
41:56
Speaker 2: And I got thousands of papers, and I found that
41:58
Speaker 2: Amherst police report with Officer Thomas Brown badge number and
42:02
Speaker 2: signature that said that he overturned the checks, the deposit
42:05
Speaker 2: bags in the thirty four hundred dollars of money combined
42:10
Speaker 2: to the Buffalo Police. So now I said, okay, I
42:13
Speaker 2: want childs pressed on officer Brown for the perjuries that
42:17
Speaker 2: he committed in the twenty nineteen hearing. I don't feel
42:20
Speaker 2: that anyone else should be held at any different standard.
42:23
Speaker 2: You know, it was perjury. It's clear perjury. We have
42:26
Speaker 2: sufficient evidence to prove it. So we file a reargument motion.
42:30
Speaker 2: Judge Burns completely ignores it, ignores it, and then on
42:33
Speaker 2: top of ignoring it, say that officer Brown was believable,
42:38
Speaker 2: and so do Da Heredy. They say, oh, all of
42:42
Speaker 2: the other witnesses, you know, basically wasn't believable, but officer
42:46
Speaker 2: Brown was. But Judge Burns did admit an order that
42:50
Speaker 2: there was a Brady violation, meaning that the officers did
42:53
Speaker 2: withhold the fourteen hundred dollars that was taken from the
42:56
Speaker 2: women's purse, and that Marina was believable when she testified
42:59
Speaker 2: that they actually took the money. But he did not
43:02
Speaker 2: dismissing that charges based upon the Brady violation when he
43:04
Speaker 2: knew the amount of money was an essential element to
43:07
Speaker 2: a possession of stolen property charge. And now I have
43:11
Speaker 2: tourney Steven Metcalf. We have an appeal in we have
43:14
Speaker 2: all of the perjuries and stuff that's being mentioned. Again
43:18
Speaker 2: going back to the Appillar.
43:19
Speaker 1: Division, there's still possibility that the perjury charges can be
43:22
Speaker 1: brought right.
43:23
Speaker 2: Oh yes, as well within the statute of limitation. And
43:25
Speaker 2: then the perjury just was committed in twenty nineteen. So
43:29
Speaker 2: as of recently, I just had meetings with Citizens' Action.
43:33
Speaker 2: You know, it's about thirty other organizations that was going
43:35
Speaker 2: to assist me in bringing the truth to DA Flynn
43:39
Speaker 2: and the mayor of Buffalo so that these charges can
43:41
Speaker 2: be brought against this racist police officer, Thomas Brown.
43:45
Speaker 1: Is there anything that anyone can do to help you?
43:48
Speaker 1: I say to it, I mean, me, my team, our audiences,
43:52
Speaker 1: so many smart capable people out there that are listeners,
43:55
Speaker 1: that are that are wanting to get involved, and I know
43:58
Speaker 1: they're going to hear your voice. They're going to say,
43:59
Speaker 1: I can't let this stand. There's got to be something.
44:02
Speaker 1: Is there something? Even if it's something as simple as
44:04
Speaker 1: writing a letter or making a phone call, but maybe
44:06
Speaker 1: there's more. I don't know. You tell me, I need.
44:08
Speaker 2: All of the assistance that I can get. I mean,
44:09
Speaker 2: you see how complicated this is, and it's bigger than me.
44:12
Speaker 2: I'm still new to this world, so it's like I'm
44:15
Speaker 2: just figuring it out. However, anybody that's willing to assist me,
44:18
Speaker 2: I'll provide all of the paperwork to show that I
44:21
Speaker 2: have sufficient evidence to support every allegation that I'm making.
44:24
Speaker 2: And yeah, I just need the people just to be
44:26
Speaker 2: with me, to support me to prove my innocence.
44:29
Speaker 1: Right. So what we're gonna do for starters is we're
44:32
Speaker 1: going to start a petition. There'll be a link in
44:34
Speaker 1: the bio so people can sign up. People can follow
44:38
Speaker 1: you as well on Instagram and social media if you
44:40
Speaker 1: can give us those handles.
44:42
Speaker 2: My Facebook, my Instagram, my YouTube, and my SoundCloud is
44:47
Speaker 2: all under Keante Rix and the correct spelling is k
44:52
Speaker 2: e yo n ty r cks.
44:57
Speaker 1: Let's follow him and keep in the know about the
45:00
Speaker 1: developments in the case by following Kyante and checking the
45:03
Speaker 1: link in our bio. And now, Kyante, what can I say? Man?
45:08
Speaker 1: I knew I was going to be in for a
45:09
Speaker 1: whirlwind when we did this interview, but I wasn't even
45:13
Speaker 1: prepared for all these twists and turns. It's an extraordinary
45:18
Speaker 1: story and it's an amazing life that you're living now.
45:22
Speaker 1: And more power to you. I wish you all the
45:24
Speaker 1: success and blessings in the world, you and your family.
45:28
Speaker 1: And now we have a thing called closing Arguments, and
45:32
Speaker 1: this is the part of the show where I first
45:35
Speaker 1: of all, thank you again Kyante for being here. And
45:39
Speaker 1: now it's up to you to share whatever thoughts you
45:43
Speaker 1: want about anything with our audience.
45:47
Speaker 2: Well, this is something that I want to put in
45:48
Speaker 2: an atmosphere because I feel that a lot of times
45:52
Speaker 2: we focus more on the problems than we focus on
45:54
Speaker 2: the solutions. And I know that this is bigger than me,
45:58
Speaker 2: so that suggests that we create something like like a
46:00
Speaker 2: motion review committee. Okay, the average exign of reason I
46:04
Speaker 2: think they said was doing about a minimum of twelve
46:06
Speaker 2: years or I don't know if that was just PA.
46:09
Speaker 2: But what I feel is that it's not just the
46:12
Speaker 2: police that's killing people in the streets. They're killing people
46:15
Speaker 2: in courts. It's the district attorneys, and it's the judges too.
46:18
Speaker 2: It's a demonic system. And what we need to do
46:22
Speaker 2: is not just focus on prosecutors or police. We need
46:25
Speaker 2: to focus on these judges as well, because if you see,
46:28
Speaker 2: you know, in my case and the evidence that I
46:30
Speaker 2: have like the judges, both of them, you know, played
46:34
Speaker 2: a major part, including their pillar judges who you know,
46:37
Speaker 2: it's my right to confront my accusers. So I mean,
46:39
Speaker 2: how do you uphold a conviction without a victim and
46:42
Speaker 2: without an eyewitness. It makes no sense based upon the
46:45
Speaker 2: United States Constitution. So what I feel is that we
46:47
Speaker 2: need to create committees, even if we had to contract
46:50
Speaker 2: with the lawyers. I know the lawyers are under attorney
46:52
Speaker 2: client privilege, but I feel that when they're putting motions
46:55
Speaker 2: in that these motions should be filed to the committees.
46:58
Speaker 2: And when the judges ignore the constitutional or procedural violations,
47:02
Speaker 2: then I think that the committee should come together to
47:04
Speaker 2: file complaints with the Judical Conduct Committee to get them
47:07
Speaker 2: judges out of office, because I mean, that will help
47:10
Speaker 2: the people get out of prison that's not supposed to
47:12
Speaker 2: be there. It will also prevent people from actually going
47:15
Speaker 2: to prison. And when you hold the head of the
47:17
Speaker 2: body accountable, the head of the body holds the rest
47:19
Speaker 2: of the body accountable. The district attorney is not the
47:22
Speaker 2: most important person or the strongest person inside of that courtroom.
47:26
Speaker 2: I believe it's the judge. Because the judge has to
47:28
Speaker 2: say so and even though they are able to withhold
47:30
Speaker 2: evidence in different things of that nature, but it's ultimately
47:34
Speaker 2: up to the judge, you know, And a lot of
47:36
Speaker 2: times the judges see the truth. I mean, one of
47:38
Speaker 2: their famous statements is get it on the pill, and
47:40
Speaker 2: a lot of people don't really pay attention to what
47:42
Speaker 2: that means. What that means is I know that it's
47:45
Speaker 2: constitutional or procedural violations in your case, but I'm not
47:49
Speaker 2: going to give you the relief that I know I'm
47:52
Speaker 2: supposed to be given to you. Let another judge give
47:54
Speaker 2: it to you, because I'm not doing it, and that's
47:56
Speaker 2: not right. It's not just the individuals a single judge
47:59
Speaker 2: or or single district attorney, or a single police officer.
48:02
Speaker 2: It's the whole system. And the only way for that
48:06
Speaker 2: system to come down is if we all get involved
48:09
Speaker 2: in it and we stop turning our face to the police,
48:12
Speaker 2: prosecutor and judicial misconduct that's transpiring on a constant basis.
48:16
Speaker 2: So that's basically all I want to say. I sincerely
48:19
Speaker 2: thank you for allowing me to be able to come
48:20
Speaker 2: on here, to be able to tell my story. I've
48:22
Speaker 2: dedicated my life to doing what I'm doing. I also
48:25
Speaker 2: work with the youth group in my church. I have
48:27
Speaker 2: a customizer shirt business. I'm on a verge of starting
48:30
Speaker 2: a young man Empowerment Academy because my wife has the
48:32
Speaker 2: Young Woman Empowerment Academy and she has like two centers
48:35
Speaker 2: in Buffalo won a Pensylvania about the start of Chapter
48:37
Speaker 2: of Virginia. We're deeply invested in the community and helping people.
48:41
Speaker 2: But like I said, the power is in numbers and
48:43
Speaker 2: the powers with the people. So we all have to
48:45
Speaker 2: come together and just figure this out because nobody's exempt.
48:49
Speaker 2: It's not just the color thing. I mean, yeah, it's
48:51
Speaker 2: happened more to blacks and Hispanics, but it's happened to everybody,
48:54
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, this system, it happens to everybody,
48:56
Speaker 2: and it's happened more so to the lower class, the
48:59
Speaker 2: people who can't afford you know, attorneys and different things
49:02
Speaker 2: in that nature. So I just say that, you know,
49:04
Speaker 2: I thank y'all, and it's all about coming together. And
49:07
Speaker 2: however I'm able to be of assistance to help with
49:10
Speaker 2: people that has their freedom in their life taken, then
49:13
Speaker 2: I'm I'm for it. So anyone can contact me. I'm
49:18
Speaker 2: wanting to assist however I can, and that's all I
49:21
Speaker 2: want to say. Thank you for allowing me to come
49:23
Speaker 2: on your show.
49:29
Speaker 1: Don't forget to give us a fantastic review wherever you
49:32
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. It really helps. And I'm a proud
49:36
Speaker 1: donor to the Nisis Project and I really hope you'll
49:38
Speaker 1: join me in supporting this very important cause and helping
49:42
Speaker 1: to prevent future wrongful convictions. Go to anesisproject dot org
49:46
Speaker 1: to learn how to donate and get involved. I'd like
49:49
Speaker 1: to thank our production team, Connor Hall and Kevin Wartis.
49:52
Speaker 1: The music in the show is by three time OSCAR
49:54
Speaker 1: nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on
49:58
Speaker 1: Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast.
50:03
Speaker 1: Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flam is a production of Lava
50:06
Speaker 1: for Good Podcasts and association with Signal Company Number one