Latest / Wrongful Conviction / #472 Jason Flom with Kevin Dykes

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#472 Jason Flom with Kevin Dykes · Wrongful Conviction

0:05
Speaker 1: We initially released Kevin Dyk's story on September fourteenth, twenty twenty,
0:08
Speaker 1: and an update in August of twenty twenty one. Since then,
0:12
Speaker 1: our understanding is that some powerful people in the Los
0:15
Speaker 1: Angeles District Attorney's Office under the leadership of George Gascon,
0:19
Speaker 1: listened to our coverage and agreed that Kevin deserved relief.
0:25
Speaker 1: He was resentenced, paroled, and released from prison on February
0:29
Speaker 1: twenty first, twenty twenty four. We are so happy that
0:34
Speaker 1: he is finally home where he belongs, as we continue
0:38
Speaker 1: to hope for his full exoneration. Please check the episode description.
0:43
Speaker 1: There's a link to his cash ap. He needs our
0:45
Speaker 1: help as he struggles to get his life back together
0:48
Speaker 1: after thirty eight long years in prison. Here's our coverage
0:52
Speaker 1: of his story. As a child, in the late nineteen seventies,
1:00
Speaker 1: Kevin Dykes accidentally killed his best friend when they were
1:02
Speaker 1: playing with a gun, sending him to juvie for involuntary manslaughter.
1:06
Speaker 1: When he got out, he turned to petty drug dealing
1:09
Speaker 1: in Compton, California. Fast forward to nineteen eighty six. After
1:13
Speaker 1: a terrible assault that led to a four month hospital stint,
1:16
Speaker 1: Kevin continued peddling drugs from his temporary wheelchair for two
1:20
Speaker 1: men named Slim and Hondo. Kevin rented a bed and
1:23
Speaker 1: a trailer home in his landlord's driveway, where Slim and
1:25
Speaker 1: Hondo occasionally hit weapons. That June, two incidents occurred just
1:30
Speaker 1: days apart, resulting in one murder and two attempted murders.
1:34
Speaker 1: The first during a party, when Kevin booted his friend
1:37
Speaker 1: Ephram for being belligerently drunk. Slim and Hondo followed he from,
1:41
Speaker 1: stabbing him several times. A neighborhood mother, Missus Bradley, came
1:45
Speaker 1: to Ephraim's aid, only to get stabbed as well. Kevin intervened,
1:49
Speaker 1: jumping from his wheelchair to stop the assault before it
1:52
Speaker 1: turned fatal. A few days later, Slim and Hondo accused
1:56
Speaker 1: Kevin's friend Otis Perry of stealing their gun from Kevin's trailer,
2:00
Speaker 1: stabbing him eighty one times. Unable to stop the murderous
2:04
Speaker 1: frenzy and fearing for his own life, Kevin helped them
2:07
Speaker 1: clean up before going to the police a few hours later.
2:10
Speaker 1: A few days after that, Kevin was arrested for cocaine
2:13
Speaker 1: possession and put into a special holding tank for state's witnesses.
2:17
Speaker 1: Then three jailhouse snitches claimed that Kevin had confessed to
2:21
Speaker 1: all three attacks in exchange for leniency in their own cases.
2:26
Speaker 1: Kevin Dykes is serving life in prison on the word
2:29
Speaker 1: of three notorious jailhouse snitches. This is Wrongful Conviction with
2:35
Speaker 1: Jason flamm Wrongful Conviction has always given voice to innocent
2:44
Speaker 1: people in prison, and now we're expanding that voice to you.
2:48
Speaker 1: Call us at eight three three two O seven four
2:51
Speaker 1: six sixty six and tell us how these stories make
2:53
Speaker 1: you feel and what you've done to help the cause,
2:56
Speaker 1: even if it's something as simple as telling a friend
2:59
Speaker 1: or sharing out social media, and you might just hear
3:02
Speaker 1: yourself in a future episode. Call us A three three
3:06
Speaker 1: two O seven four six sixty six.
3:18
Speaker 2: This is Global taill Link. You have a prepaid call
3:21
Speaker 2: from care an inmate at the California State Prison, Los
3:25
Speaker 2: Angeles County, Lancaster, California. This call and your telephone number
3:30
Speaker 2: will be monitored and recorded. To accept this call, say
3:34
Speaker 2: or dial five now. Thank you for using globaltaill Link.
3:40
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Wrawful Conviction with Jason Flomp. Today we
3:43
Speaker 1: have an incredible story, so we're going to get right
3:46
Speaker 1: into it, and I'm going to introduce you first to
3:49
Speaker 1: Stephen K. Howser. He's a criminal defense attorney representing the
3:54
Speaker 1: star of this episode, Kevin Diyke. Stephen, Welcome to Wrongful Conviction.
3:58
Speaker 3: Thank you, glad to be here.
4:00
Speaker 1: And Kevin Dykes is on the phone with us from prison,
4:03
Speaker 1: and I hope we'll be able to do something about
4:06
Speaker 1: his situation because it is awful. Kevin. I'm sorry you're
4:09
Speaker 1: here where you are, but I'm happy you're here with
4:12
Speaker 1: us today. So thank you for.
4:13
Speaker 4: Being here, no problem, thank you for the opportunity.
4:17
Speaker 1: This case goes back to Compton nineteen eighty six, and
4:20
Speaker 1: it's got so much that you'll think I'm talking about
4:24
Speaker 1: a movie script that would be too much to be believed,
4:27
Speaker 1: except for it's real. It's got gangster's name Hondo and Slim.
4:30
Speaker 1: It's got drugs, it's got snitches that ended up on
4:33
Speaker 1: sixty minutes. It's got laws that changed, and victims who
4:37
Speaker 1: testified that this was not the guy who did it.
4:39
Speaker 1: It's got a guy who's in prison for three and
4:42
Speaker 1: a half decades with no evidence against him except the
4:44
Speaker 1: testimony of jailhouse snitches who have recanted their testimony. It
4:49
Speaker 1: is nuts, but it's true. So let's get right into it.
4:54
Speaker 1: And Kevin, let's start with you going back to your
4:58
Speaker 1: youth because you grew up in common.
5:00
Speaker 4: Right, Yes, I grew up good, two pay at homes
5:03
Speaker 4: in the pop Water Sport. I actually had a real
5:06
Speaker 4: good up bringing until I, uh, I think it's actually
5:11
Speaker 4: saying I ended up actually killing my best friend. I
5:15
Speaker 4: went for a voluntary man father, and I was sick too.
5:19
Speaker 3: And for those of you who don't know, YA or
5:22
Speaker 3: CYA is the California Youth Authority.
5:25
Speaker 1: As I understand it, your friend's death was entirely accidental,
5:28
Speaker 1: just two kids who made a big mistake playing with
5:31
Speaker 1: a gun. But they still sent your way to Julie
5:34
Speaker 1: for involuntary manslaughter. And I also understand that you harbor
5:39
Speaker 1: a lot of guilt about this. Even though the family
5:42
Speaker 1: forgave you, yes.
5:44
Speaker 4: Just family, they stayed them directly across the street from
5:46
Speaker 4: my family, even to the day, still film the same street.
5:50
Speaker 4: Although the family had for given me, written me letters
5:53
Speaker 4: and come to see me. When I got out, I
5:57
Speaker 4: saw what idea to that family, and I didn't know
6:01
Speaker 4: how to process. Although my mother and my father my
6:05
Speaker 4: grandmother and all kind of people were trying to help me.
6:08
Speaker 4: I didn't know how to ask for their help that
6:12
Speaker 4: I actually needed. So I got Digris, a little deck grid.
6:15
Speaker 5: To the King.
6:17
Speaker 1: So the guilt kind of derailed your potential, it seems.
6:20
Speaker 1: And after Juvie, you start dealing drugs and looking outside
6:23
Speaker 1: of what seemed like a supportive home for whatever it
6:26
Speaker 1: was that you felt you needed, acceptance, identity, whatever, out
6:31
Speaker 1: in the street. So fast forward to January nineteen eighty six.
6:35
Speaker 1: Some other really bad stuff happens January eighteenth.
6:39
Speaker 4: So I try to kiddingap me. They try to cheat
6:41
Speaker 4: them in front of my house. I followed. They ran
6:44
Speaker 4: me through a brick wall. They both my inter smashed
6:46
Speaker 4: my failings. So I went to the hospital January eighteenth
6:50
Speaker 4: in dollars to May twenties. When I got out of
6:52
Speaker 4: the hospital, I was in a wheelchair and I had
6:54
Speaker 4: a walker, and I was going to a therapy.
6:56
Speaker 1: Yes, someone tried to kidnap Kevin. So you fought them off,
7:01
Speaker 1: and they ended up hitting you with their car against
7:04
Speaker 1: a brick wall, broke your hips, snapped your pelvis, and
7:07
Speaker 1: put you in the hospital for four months. I mean,
7:10
Speaker 1: you're lucky to even be alive. And we haven't even
7:13
Speaker 1: gotten to the part that has you locked up right now. Okay,
7:16
Speaker 1: so it's May nineteen eighty six. You're temporarily in this
7:21
Speaker 1: wheelchair doing physical therapy and dealing drugs for these two
7:26
Speaker 1: mid level management drug dealers named Slim and Hondo.
7:31
Speaker 3: Slim and Hondo decided that they were going to take
7:33
Speaker 3: over the local drug sales. I believe they helped Kevin
7:38
Speaker 3: and some of his friends with small amounts of cocaine
7:42
Speaker 3: to sell in the neighborhood, and they would periodically show
7:47
Speaker 3: up and I guess resupply the local sellers, including Kevin
7:52
Speaker 3: and Kevin.
7:52
Speaker 1: You were renting a place to stay from a man
7:55
Speaker 1: named mister Bryce. You were renting a bed in this
7:58
Speaker 1: mobile home that's sat in his driveway right.
8:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was standing mister Bryce's mobile hole. We had
8:03
Speaker 4: a mobile home. They had like six days in a
8:06
Speaker 4: shower and all that stuff inside. It was parked in
8:09
Speaker 4: the driveway. Sometimes my friends used to places to stay.
8:12
Speaker 4: They had like six paces where he suld be sleeping there.
8:15
Speaker 4: So Otis would come in and sleeping.
8:17
Speaker 6: There, and Otis is Otis Perry, who occasionally stayed at
8:22
Speaker 6: mister Bryce's mobile home, and he's the one that was
8:25
Speaker 6: eventually stabbed like slimon Hondo for taking the gun that
8:30
Speaker 6: they had left in the trailer.
8:32
Speaker 3: The night that these two attempting murders occurred outside a
8:35
Speaker 3: party at mister Bryce's house.
8:37
Speaker 4: Yes, oldly, my cousin Pam was inside the mobile home.
8:41
Speaker 4: I was inside the house where the party was there
8:44
Speaker 4: when the fighting, when the fight after, so I didn't
8:47
Speaker 4: know this was out there at the time. And I
8:49
Speaker 4: know Slim pulled up. They knew mister Bryce didn't allow
8:52
Speaker 4: guns in his house, but they heard a gun in
8:55
Speaker 4: the mobile home with my cousin and Olsted. But I
8:59
Speaker 4: still didn't know and about that at that time.
9:02
Speaker 1: Okay, So now the stage is finally set for these
9:05
Speaker 1: crimes to take place. This is we're talking June nineteenth,
9:09
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six. There's a little party going on at
9:11
Speaker 1: mister Bryce's. Your friend Otis and your cousin Pam are
9:15
Speaker 1: in the mobile home in the driveway. Slim and Hondo,
9:18
Speaker 1: your bosses, come to hang out, but out of respect
9:22
Speaker 1: for mister Bryce, they leave their gun in the mobile home.
9:26
Speaker 1: Then your friend Ephraim is at the party and he
9:29
Speaker 1: is drunk, to say the least.
9:32
Speaker 4: Wellphim is my older homeboy. He was being religerate and
9:38
Speaker 4: wrestle with the females. I was up in there and
9:40
Speaker 4: grabbing drinks and didn't belong to him, and I told
9:43
Speaker 4: the man go down to the pool man, keep back.
9:47
Speaker 4: I got he kept home. So I got pissed off
9:50
Speaker 4: and I hate him once and when I hate him,
9:54
Speaker 4: Hondo slim. Both of them attackly be some of them.
9:57
Speaker 4: I here's what they see, he said. I didn't understand,
10:00
Speaker 4: and why did they get involved in there? Here's what
10:02
Speaker 4: they said. Because I could barely walked. They people were
10:07
Speaker 4: taking advantage of my disability.
10:10
Speaker 1: Oh okay, so your drug bosses are sticking up for you,
10:14
Speaker 1: but then they go way beyond what you would ever
10:18
Speaker 1: want them to do.
10:19
Speaker 4: Yes, So once I stuck some both of them attacking,
10:22
Speaker 4: I got them to stop. Told these communities. He left,
10:27
Speaker 4: and then they take him down the street. They caught
10:29
Speaker 4: him at the end of the corner. Once I got
10:31
Speaker 4: down there, I saw that they was actually stabbing. When
10:36
Speaker 4: I Hando leaving alone, Hondo, he looked up and saw me.
10:41
Speaker 4: But when he saw me, he saw this Bradley. Behind
10:43
Speaker 4: me was Brady as my older home was mother. When
10:47
Speaker 4: she looked up and saw that it was her son,
10:50
Speaker 4: she tried to turn it around. He ran her down,
10:52
Speaker 4: grabbed her by her address, and saw her stabbing her.
10:55
Speaker 4: I hopped my way to him and grabbed him to
10:58
Speaker 4: see him off of her, and once an hour Holy
11:02
Speaker 4: she got loose. We gave you from time to shut up,
11:06
Speaker 4: and then I got to toil that she should the
11:09
Speaker 4: call and drove them off. I drove off to a
11:12
Speaker 4: motive and then I came back to Hic and Missus Bradley.
11:16
Speaker 4: But the Amma's already came and it was the hospital.
11:18
Speaker 1: So you basically saved Missus Bradley and Ephraim from being
11:23
Speaker 1: murdered by Slim and Hondo by convincing them to stop
11:27
Speaker 1: stabbing them and drive away from the scene. But this
11:30
Speaker 1: incident on June nineteenth is what becomes two charges of
11:35
Speaker 1: attempted murder that gets stuck on you, the guy confined
11:39
Speaker 1: to a wheelchair at the time. Yeah, okay, so Slim
11:45
Speaker 1: and Hondo stabbed both Ephraim and Missus Bradley. You drove
11:50
Speaker 1: them to a motel. At some point, your friend otis
11:54
Speaker 1: back at the mobile home takes the gun Slim and
11:57
Speaker 1: Hondo had left behind. Not too smart, by the way,
11:59
Speaker 1: because Slim and knew who was in the mobile home
12:02
Speaker 1: when they stashed it in the first place, so they
12:05
Speaker 1: come looking for Otis on June twenty thirty.
12:08
Speaker 4: June twenty thirty, he came over looking for Otis like
12:12
Speaker 4: one something in the morning. They said, come outsire, I'm
12:15
Speaker 4: gonna go and kill Oldis. I didn't know Otis was
12:18
Speaker 4: out here in the motor home. So when I went
12:21
Speaker 4: out to the front yard going to the motor opened,
12:24
Speaker 4: Oldis stepped out. Hanolds attacked Otis said may with my gun.
12:28
Speaker 4: He said, we can go get it. He said, too late,
12:30
Speaker 4: and they attashing. They started fighting. ODIs was fighting back,
12:33
Speaker 4: but they were fighting him from the side of the
12:35
Speaker 4: mobile hole and went around the garage, and that was
12:37
Speaker 4: the first time I saw him being stashed. And I
12:40
Speaker 4: came back from around there. I wasn't neighboring one or
12:43
Speaker 4: whatever it's so didn't say nothing and just listener to
12:45
Speaker 4: everything that was going on. And I don't know how
12:48
Speaker 4: the much time passed, but gave Honolds came from around
12:51
Speaker 4: there and it was no more noise. I was wondering
12:53
Speaker 4: it okay, now what He said, uh woo something, you
12:57
Speaker 4: got some revenue, And then I gave him my blak
13:01
Speaker 4: so him a swim went behind the babe and wrapped
13:04
Speaker 4: him up, drugged him out and put him in the car.
13:08
Speaker 4: And instead of hear him, the slim boy, he said,
13:10
Speaker 4: you swim, you stay here watching out all the blood
13:13
Speaker 4: that was coming from behind the motherwll and showed me
13:15
Speaker 4: to get in the car and ride with him. So
13:17
Speaker 4: I took him over through my own boys neighborhood by
13:20
Speaker 4: the canail, and that's where he jumped in and I said, look,
13:23
Speaker 4: I'll be back. I left it deb came back.
13:27
Speaker 1: And what would you tell anyone listening now who's wondering
13:31
Speaker 1: why you played any part in getting rid of the
13:34
Speaker 1: body with Slim and Hondo.
13:35
Speaker 5: I did.
13:36
Speaker 4: With any reasonable person not trying to die, I would
13:38
Speaker 4: have done. I have seen what I saw. I knew
13:42
Speaker 4: I gotta do something that made myself a part of
13:45
Speaker 4: what's going on. And I wasn't as physically able to
13:48
Speaker 4: do nothing to prevent myself from being killed. And I
13:52
Speaker 4: expressed that that was the smartest thing that I could
13:55
Speaker 4: have done at the time for myself, instead of doing nothing.
14:00
Speaker 1: If you had done nothing at all. What do you
14:03
Speaker 1: think Slim and Honda would have done?
14:05
Speaker 4: I was a little bit too afraid to find out.
14:08
Speaker 4: I was in a position where something happened to my
14:12
Speaker 4: free and Donald Ross, and I knew what I thought
14:17
Speaker 4: was the best thing to do for my silks. They're
14:20
Speaker 4: not two folders now.
14:33
Speaker 1: This episode is underwritten by Paul Weiss, Rifkin, Porton and Garrison,
14:37
Speaker 1: a leading international law firm. Paul Weiss has long had
14:41
Speaker 1: an unwavering commitment to providing impactful, pro bono legal assistance
14:45
Speaker 1: to the most vulnerable members of our society and in
14:48
Speaker 1: support of the public interest, including extensive work in the
14:51
Speaker 1: criminal justice area. You're listening to Wrongful Conviction. You can
14:59
Speaker 1: listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts
15:01
Speaker 1: one week early and ad free by subscribing to Lava
15:05
Speaker 1: for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. Otis's murder eventually gets
15:17
Speaker 1: pinned on you, the guy who was only able to
15:20
Speaker 1: watch or listen helplessly as your friend got stabbed to death.
15:25
Speaker 1: And then, in order to save your own life, you
15:29
Speaker 1: did what probably any of us would have done. You
15:31
Speaker 1: played along with Slim and Hondo until you could get away.
15:34
Speaker 1: I would not want to have been in your shoes.
15:38
Speaker 1: At that point, you just lost your friend. Otis you
15:41
Speaker 1: had to contend with the question of to snitch or
15:45
Speaker 1: not to snitch on like a sophie's choice on these
15:47
Speaker 1: two murderous drug dealers.
15:49
Speaker 4: Definitely, I was sign the process. What just happened to
15:53
Speaker 4: show sixty seven o'clock in the morning. That's when I
15:57
Speaker 4: saw the police told that you got who there was?
16:01
Speaker 4: One always said come over here and look at Moved
16:03
Speaker 4: and Blake, and I knew it was. I said, I
16:05
Speaker 4: know where he lives, to the little mother's house. And
16:09
Speaker 4: then when we came back to the scene, I asked
16:11
Speaker 4: my saying, look if I had any information, talk on
16:14
Speaker 4: my contract, and he gave me his car. I took
16:17
Speaker 4: your car, rode a mile two whiles and I went
16:21
Speaker 4: to the phone boof and then I called the police
16:23
Speaker 4: to look and I told everything the thing needs to
16:26
Speaker 4: know and told him while I was there, they came
16:27
Speaker 4: and picked me up, took me out to the station
16:30
Speaker 4: and I made the tape and then once I made
16:33
Speaker 4: the take, they let me go. I went back home.
16:37
Speaker 1: So you made a statement to a sergeant Sergeant Preston,
16:40
Speaker 1: and you're going to be a witness and Steve, maybe
16:43
Speaker 1: you can tell us about the next part of the story,
16:45
Speaker 1: which is how Kevin was picked up for cocaine possessions.
16:48
Speaker 1: Sometime later and while in the state's witness holding area
16:52
Speaker 1: of La County Jail, he eventually meets three guys who
16:57
Speaker 1: are responsible for him being in this horle ruble predicament today.
17:01
Speaker 3: What happened was Kevin got arrested for a possession of
17:04
Speaker 3: cocaine charge and because he was the main witness against
17:08
Speaker 3: Slim and Hondo on a murder case, they put him
17:12
Speaker 3: in with other prosecution witnesses and it's commonly called the
17:16
Speaker 3: snitch Tank, which is a separate jail from the men's
17:21
Speaker 3: central jail. And while Kevin was in there, he told
17:25
Speaker 3: his cellmate, Willie Battle and the guy that was in
17:30
Speaker 3: the next cel over, Jesse Williams. He told them what
17:35
Speaker 3: actually happened because they asked, and that's very common in jail,
17:38
Speaker 3: what are he in for? And they exchanged information, but
17:42
Speaker 3: this time it only came from Kevin. He told him
17:45
Speaker 3: what happened, and they twisted it around and ran with it.
17:50
Speaker 3: And then they called the Compton Police Department and asked
17:53
Speaker 3: them if they had a murder case where the body
17:56
Speaker 3: was found by a canal. They called it a canal,
17:58
Speaker 3: it's really a drainage. And they put him in contact
18:03
Speaker 3: with Detective Marvin Branscombe, who was not Sergeant Preston, who
18:07
Speaker 3: Kevin gave the statement to, and they convinced Branscomb that
18:11
Speaker 3: what they had to say was true, which they said
18:14
Speaker 3: that Kevin confessed to these tempted murders and murder.
18:19
Speaker 4: They say, we got a guy out here bragging about
18:21
Speaker 4: chilling his guy and sad with lady telling this time,
18:25
Speaker 4: don't kill it. So I end up all from being
18:28
Speaker 4: the actual witness now being the actual killer.
18:33
Speaker 3: So Kevin became a defendant instead of the prosecution witness.
18:36
Speaker 3: And they moved him out of the snitch tank to
18:38
Speaker 3: another part of the jail. So Kevin's transferred over to
18:42
Speaker 3: the central jail, and then he met a very notorious
18:46
Speaker 3: nitch named Leslie White. And I get a call from
18:49
Speaker 3: Leslie White. I'd never heard of Leslie White. Leslie White says,
18:53
Speaker 3: I understand you're defending Kevin Dykes and that he has
18:59
Speaker 3: been rare it out by two snitches. And I said,
19:02
Speaker 3: that's exactly right. He says, well, I can help you.
19:06
Speaker 3: You come down here and I'm going to tell you
19:08
Speaker 3: all about the snitch system and how it works. Okay.
19:12
Speaker 3: So I go down to the jail. I talked to
19:14
Speaker 3: Leslie White. He tells me about how inmates get a
19:18
Speaker 3: hold of paperwork and change facts and get a hold
19:24
Speaker 3: of the detective or DA that's handling a particular murder case.
19:29
Speaker 3: And because they know these unique facts, they can convince
19:34
Speaker 3: the detective or district attorney that's handling the case that
19:38
Speaker 3: this confession was a valid confession. So I said, well,
19:41
Speaker 3: that sounds good, Okay, I'll put you on the witness list,
19:43
Speaker 3: mister White. So about a week or two later, I
19:48
Speaker 3: get the witness list from the district attorney and Leslie
19:52
Speaker 3: White is on there as a people's witness. And not
19:56
Speaker 3: only that, I get a report that says that Kevin
20:00
Speaker 3: Ike's confessed to Leslie White. And I'm flabbergasted because I
20:05
Speaker 3: just talked to Leslie White and he was going to
20:08
Speaker 3: be a witness for Kevin. So I go down to
20:11
Speaker 3: the jail and I call out Leslie White and he's
20:14
Speaker 3: willing to come and talk to me, and I said,
20:17
Speaker 3: what do you are? You a witness? For the prosecution. Now,
20:20
Speaker 3: he says, yep, I said, well, you know that Kevin's innocent.
20:24
Speaker 3: Why do you doing what? How can you do that?
20:27
Speaker 3: And he says, well, man's got to do what he's
20:30
Speaker 3: got to do. That's what he said.
20:33
Speaker 1: I gotta be honest. My head is spinning and I
20:36
Speaker 1: didn't even live through this. I mean, this is Kevin.
20:39
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm so sorry that you're living this is
20:41
Speaker 1: this is your life we're talking about.
20:44
Speaker 4: I didn't actually believe that what was going on was
20:48
Speaker 4: even possible. I didn't think that there's doub would hold.
20:52
Speaker 4: I'm like, what, Oh, I'm an actual eye witness. The
20:57
Speaker 4: guys they don't know none about rally, but none about
21:00
Speaker 4: what actually happened. So I didn't really believe the people
21:03
Speaker 4: could do what they were what they were doing to me.
21:05
Speaker 4: I had never even heard about that before.
21:08
Speaker 1: I mean, this is this is like nothing. I don't
21:10
Speaker 1: think we've ever heard a story like this before. So Steven,
21:13
Speaker 1: what happens next?
21:15
Speaker 3: When we got to court, all they had was his
21:19
Speaker 3: statement to Sergeant Preston and three snitches, and I couldn't
21:24
Speaker 3: believe that they would even want to proceed with this evidence.
21:29
Speaker 3: But they did, and just before the verdict was issued,
21:33
Speaker 3: I told Kevin, I said, now, Kevin, when you get
21:35
Speaker 3: out of here, you've got to change your ways, be
21:38
Speaker 3: a law abiding citizen and then used to society and
21:41
Speaker 3: he said, yeah, came mister Houser, I'm going to do that,
21:45
Speaker 3: came back guilty. We were both floored.
21:50
Speaker 1: You were sentenced to twenty four years to life. Here
21:53
Speaker 1: it is now twenty twenty. You're still in Could you
21:56
Speaker 1: just take us back there, put us in that courtroom
21:59
Speaker 1: with you if you can't.
22:01
Speaker 4: I actually could not believe the verdant. You know, I
22:05
Speaker 4: actually didn't a crime. I just see how it was possible. Yeah,
22:10
Speaker 4: I was after eyewitness. I came for I gave him
22:14
Speaker 4: everything they needed, all evidence to call, the weapons. The
22:18
Speaker 4: people he from testify that I didn't attacking. He from
22:24
Speaker 4: will stand like thirty three times and he's test fired
22:27
Speaker 4: I didn't attack him, and it testified that I didn't
22:31
Speaker 4: attack Ms. Browning. That was my friend mother. There was
22:35
Speaker 4: nobody there that said I.
22:37
Speaker 1: Can't anybody but this And this is something I really
22:41
Speaker 1: need to highlight here, which is that if you go
22:44
Speaker 1: in a jury box and you're presented with a case
22:47
Speaker 1: where someone's life is hanging in the balance, just like
22:50
Speaker 1: Kevin's was, and there's no evidence connecting that person's at
22:54
Speaker 1: a crime except for the testimony of a snitch. You
22:58
Speaker 1: cannot vote to con because it's crazy. I mean, these
23:02
Speaker 1: are people who are clearly incentivized. They may not tell
23:05
Speaker 1: you that at the time, but you have to understand
23:07
Speaker 1: that the defense can never bribe a witness. That's it.
23:09
Speaker 1: That's a crime punishable by long time in jail. But
23:12
Speaker 1: the government can make a deal with a snitch to
23:16
Speaker 1: reduce their charges or drop their charges in exchange for testimony.
23:20
Speaker 1: And that is the best bribe of all. So it's
23:24
Speaker 1: the most unreliable testimony imaginable. And here you have a
23:27
Speaker 1: case where the direct evidence contradicts what the snitches were saying.
23:32
Speaker 1: The evidence showed that Kevin could not have committed this crime,
23:38
Speaker 1: and yet he ends up getting convicted on the testimony
23:42
Speaker 1: of people who were notoriously untrustworthy and were incentivized to lie.
23:46
Speaker 4: With the evidence. Where they get apartments, they say, oh,
23:50
Speaker 4: he's grit in my family, So the government gives them
23:54
Speaker 4: money to relocate them movement apartments. All of them end
23:58
Speaker 4: up getting reduced to left white, ended up getting out
24:02
Speaker 4: at such five member. He came right back any threatened
24:08
Speaker 4: physician attorney. If you don't bake me back out, I'm
24:12
Speaker 4: gonna blow his whole case.
24:15
Speaker 3: What happened was Leslie White then went on sixty minutes
24:19
Speaker 3: when he was back in again in the jail, and
24:23
Speaker 3: he showed on camera how he could work his magic
24:27
Speaker 3: and get favors from the DA. And then when I
24:32
Speaker 3: saw that, I went down and talked to Leslie White.
24:35
Speaker 3: I said, well, now I know for sure you lied
24:37
Speaker 3: in Kevin's case, and he says, yeah, I did. And
24:40
Speaker 3: I said, well, I want you to sign an affidavit
24:43
Speaker 3: that you lied in Kevin's case because Kevin deserves a
24:46
Speaker 3: new trial. And so sure enough he signed it. But
24:52
Speaker 3: instead of giving Kevin a new trial, the DA indicted
24:55
Speaker 3: him Leslie White with a grand jury, had me come
24:59
Speaker 3: in and test, and they gave Leslie White four years
25:02
Speaker 3: for perjury. They gave Kevin Dykes nothing. And that's where
25:08
Speaker 3: it sat.
25:09
Speaker 1: It's all so backwards and upside down. And of course,
25:13
Speaker 1: you know we have two more characters that are coming up.
25:15
Speaker 1: GG Gordon, who's on the right side of this story,
25:18
Speaker 1: and Willie Battles. We can't leave him out.
25:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, when this snitch system came out thanks to Leslie White,
25:25
Speaker 3: believe it or not, Gigi Gordon was appointed. She's a
25:28
Speaker 3: defense lawyer. She's deceased now, but she was a criminal
25:32
Speaker 3: defense lawyer friend of mine, and Gigi Gordon was appointed
25:36
Speaker 3: by i think the Supreme Court to do an independent
25:40
Speaker 3: investigation on all of the snitch cases to see if
25:45
Speaker 3: justice was done. And she spent over a year on
25:49
Speaker 3: this project, being paid by the state of California. And
25:53
Speaker 3: as a result of Gigi Gordon's research and investigation, a
25:58
Speaker 3: law was introduced in the legis to require corroboration if
26:04
Speaker 3: snitch's testimony is going to be used in a case.
26:07
Speaker 3: And that happened, but.
26:09
Speaker 1: They didn't do it retroactively. Am I getting that right?
26:11
Speaker 1: Because it always drives me nuts when we change a
26:14
Speaker 1: law in this country and we don't do it retroactively.
26:17
Speaker 3: How could it be different now than it was before.
26:20
Speaker 3: It doesn't make sense. Didn't make any sense to me,
26:22
Speaker 3: and that's why I appealed it. We went to the
26:25
Speaker 3: Pellate Court in California, then the Supreme Court, and actually
26:31
Speaker 3: when we went to the Supreme Court the first time,
26:33
Speaker 3: the law had not been changed.
26:34
Speaker 1: Yet.
26:34
Speaker 3: But then we went back to the Supreme Court on
26:37
Speaker 3: another issue and the law had been changed, and in
26:41
Speaker 3: federal court, the judge actually said that Kevin might be innocent,
26:47
Speaker 3: but there's nothing I can do because this law is
26:49
Speaker 3: not retroactive or something to that effect. And I just
26:54
Speaker 3: thought that that was the most unjust result I've ever
26:58
Speaker 3: had in my whole career. Still is wow. And so
27:04
Speaker 3: if Kevin's case were tried now, they wouldn't have any
27:08
Speaker 3: evidence against him because the only incriminating evidence was from
27:13
Speaker 3: the snitch testimony.
27:14
Speaker 1: If Kevin's case were to be tried now, they would
27:18
Speaker 1: have no evidence against him. And yet it's thirty four
27:24
Speaker 1: years later and he's I can't this is nuts.
27:29
Speaker 3: I went to the district attorney with that very argument.
27:32
Speaker 3: With each new district attorney that came in, I would
27:35
Speaker 3: go talk to him and they told me that because
27:39
Speaker 3: of his statement admitting what he did pretending to go
27:43
Speaker 3: along with what is Slim and Honda were doing, because
27:47
Speaker 3: of that statement, that made him guilty. And they said, sorry,
27:52
Speaker 3: you have to present new evidence to us before we're
27:55
Speaker 3: going to recommend anything for Kevin. And I said, what's
27:59
Speaker 3: amount with these confessions by these snitches, that's new evidence
28:03
Speaker 3: at least since the trial. Two out of three Leslie
28:07
Speaker 3: White signed an affidavit that sent him put himself in prison,
28:12
Speaker 3: and Jesse Williams signed a letter saying that he lied
28:16
Speaker 3: in Kevin's case. He said, no, we want some more
28:20
Speaker 3: than that. Plus you've got one snitch that you don't have,
28:24
Speaker 3: you know, retraction from Willi Battle. We never had a
28:27
Speaker 3: retraction from him. And Willie Battle I tried to find
28:30
Speaker 3: but he's probably dead. So that's where we sit.
28:36
Speaker 1: And what is the outlook now? I mean, is there hope?
28:40
Speaker 3: I think Kevin has two hopes parole and with a
28:44
Speaker 3: new DA. I thought Jackie Lacey was very progressive and
28:48
Speaker 3: I had high hopes for Kevin when she put together
28:52
Speaker 3: her Internal Innocent project and I met with what I
28:58
Speaker 3: thought was a very ethical, fine lawyer, and I got
29:02
Speaker 3: a very unfavorable result. And I asked him during that hearing,
29:07
Speaker 3: I said, you know, as a human being, you know,
29:10
Speaker 3: do you really think that Kevin Dykes was convicted properly fairly?
29:17
Speaker 3: He wouldn't answer. He wouldn't give me an answer.
29:35
Speaker 1: Nearly a year has gone by since we originally released
29:38
Speaker 1: this episode in September twenty twenty and shortly thereafter in
29:42
Speaker 1: La County, George Gascon was elected DA, and Steve, last
29:46
Speaker 1: time we spoke, you said that one of the only
29:48
Speaker 1: avenues left for a leaf for Kevin was that very
29:51
Speaker 1: election victory. So you must have been really excited when
29:56
Speaker 1: it became clear that Jackie Lacy was on her way
29:59
Speaker 1: out and George Gascon was on his way in. I'm
30:02
Speaker 1: imagining you must have jumped right into action on the
30:06
Speaker 1: first business day of twenty twenty one.
30:08
Speaker 3: That is correct, on January fourth, twenty twenty one, I
30:12
Speaker 3: sent a letter to George Gascon, the new DA, alerting
30:16
Speaker 3: him to Kevin's situation, and I was contacted shortly thereafter
30:22
Speaker 3: by a deputy in his conviction integrity unit. She said
30:26
Speaker 3: that she had reviewed the case and she agreed with
30:30
Speaker 3: the former head of their integrity unit under Jackie Lacy
30:35
Speaker 3: that taking out all of the snitch testimony and just
30:39
Speaker 3: focusing in on Kevin's statement both to the police and
30:44
Speaker 3: what he testified to a trial, which were both consistent,
30:48
Speaker 3: that she felt that he was guilty because of what
30:51
Speaker 3: he said he shared in the criminal intent to kill
30:54
Speaker 3: his friend Otus, which I think was not reasonable. I
30:58
Speaker 3: don't understand how a deputy district attorney can look at
31:02
Speaker 3: the facts in this case, focusing on Kevin's own testimony
31:06
Speaker 3: and come to the conclusion that he intended Otis's death,
31:11
Speaker 3: that he wanted Otis to die, or that he wanted
31:17
Speaker 3: his friend Ephraim to die or Missus Bradley to die. Now,
31:23
Speaker 3: Ephram testified in court that Kevin was not a part
31:27
Speaker 3: of the assault on his person or Missus Bradley. For
31:31
Speaker 3: the district attorney to believe that Kevin convicted himself based
31:37
Speaker 3: on his testimony of both the murder and the attempted
31:41
Speaker 3: murders is beyond belief. For a second degree murder, there
31:46
Speaker 3: has to be criminal intent. You have to share in
31:49
Speaker 3: the intent of the stabbers in this case, Slim and
31:53
Speaker 3: Hondo to kill Otis, and there's no proof of that
31:59
Speaker 3: from Kevin's life. The only evidence of that is from
32:05
Speaker 3: snitch testimony, which under today's law would be inadmissible.
32:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, and with good reason. I mean, let's face it,
32:13
Speaker 1: snitch testimony for the state is almost always incentivized by
32:18
Speaker 1: leniency in the snitch's charges, making that testimony as unreliable
32:23
Speaker 1: as it could be. So this deputy in Gascon's CiU
32:27
Speaker 1: wants to preserve this conviction, saying that Kevin's testimony reaches
32:31
Speaker 1: the burden of proof for criminal intent, when in reality,
32:35
Speaker 1: Kevin was essentially a hostage of Slim and Hondo until
32:39
Speaker 1: he could finally get away. I mean, had he not
32:42
Speaker 1: gone along with everything that happened in the aftermath of
32:44
Speaker 1: Otis's death, Slim and Hondo would have been dumping both
32:48
Speaker 1: Kevin and Otis's bodies and we wouldn't even be having
32:51
Speaker 1: this conversation or know what Slim and Hondo did. So
32:56
Speaker 1: what was the end result of your discussion with Gascon's deputy.
32:59
Speaker 1: Were you able to work anything out?
33:02
Speaker 3: After several back and forth conversations, she was going to
33:06
Speaker 3: bring a motion for resentencing. This was apparently a new
33:09
Speaker 3: law where they could go back into the trial court
33:12
Speaker 3: and petitioned for a change of sentence. She said that
33:16
Speaker 3: if Kevin would agree to change his plea from murder
33:20
Speaker 3: to manslaughter, that they would go along with it, and
33:23
Speaker 3: that he could then be sentenced to whatever the maximum
33:26
Speaker 3: on manslaughter was, which is a lot less than thirty
33:28
Speaker 3: five years that he's been in. So we're still waiting
33:31
Speaker 3: for that. I don't know what's happened. But the district
33:36
Speaker 3: attorney that I was talking to called me and told
33:39
Speaker 3: me that there was some problem with them making this
33:44
Speaker 3: motion because some judge might deny it or she wasn't
33:48
Speaker 3: real clear on that, but that she invited me to
33:51
Speaker 3: think of a way to get around the judge having
33:56
Speaker 3: to make a decision to get Kevin out. So I suggested, well,
34:01
Speaker 3: how about if I file another rit of habeas corpus
34:04
Speaker 3: and if the district attorney doesn't oppose it, then the
34:08
Speaker 3: judge can grant him a new trial, and once he
34:11
Speaker 3: gets a new trial, then they can dismiss the case
34:13
Speaker 3: because they don't have any evidence. They don't have any
34:15
Speaker 3: admissible evidence, right.
34:18
Speaker 1: The only evidence they had back then was the snitch testimony,
34:22
Speaker 1: which was totally uncorroborated and therefore now inadmissible under the
34:26
Speaker 1: law that resulted from Leslie White sixty minutes and the
34:30
Speaker 1: subsequent investigation. Not to mention that Jesse Williams recanted, Leslie
34:35
Speaker 1: White took a perjury charge and four years to undo
34:38
Speaker 1: his damage to Kevin, and Willie Battles is presumed dead
34:42
Speaker 1: or he might have done the same. So are they
34:46
Speaker 1: gonna move forward with your habeas idea or are they
34:49
Speaker 1: looking for something better to hang their hat on, considering
34:52
Speaker 1: that your idea would prove that this conviction has absolutely
34:57
Speaker 1: no integrity.
34:59
Speaker 3: I'm not sure what going to happen. It seems like
35:01
Speaker 3: that they're just waiting for the parole hearing.
35:05
Speaker 1: Right, Kevin is up for parole at the beginning of
35:07
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two.
35:08
Speaker 3: And if the DA's office does not oppose parole, he
35:13
Speaker 3: will probably get released on parole. However, he will be
35:16
Speaker 3: on parole for the rest of his life for a
35:18
Speaker 3: crime that he did not commit, as well as having
35:21
Speaker 3: served thirty five years for a crime that he did
35:24
Speaker 3: not commit. I think that George Gascon himself has not
35:29
Speaker 3: heard the evidence in this case. Once he realizes exactly
35:33
Speaker 3: what went on in this case, I'm sure that he
35:35
Speaker 3: will see that justice is done and Kevin will get released.
35:39
Speaker 1: That's our hope as well, and anyone in our audience
35:42
Speaker 1: who feels the same way, and I hope all of
35:44
Speaker 1: you do, can scroll down to the link in the bio.
35:47
Speaker 1: There's a petition to George Gascon to do just that.
35:51
Speaker 1: He's a good man and he's a very reasonable person.
35:55
Speaker 1: I mean, really, I honestly like to clone George. He's
35:58
Speaker 1: that kind of guy. We hope that he and others
36:03
Speaker 1: in his office could come around to our view. Kevin
36:06
Speaker 1: would admit to anyone that he wasn't living with really
36:10
Speaker 1: honorable life at that point. But in fact, ironically, it
36:14
Speaker 1: was at this moment in his life that he did
36:17
Speaker 1: something truly honorable. He went to Otis's mother and then
36:21
Speaker 1: to the police to do the right thing. Does that
36:25
Speaker 1: sound like the actions of someone possessing criminal intent.
36:30
Speaker 4: Well, I know I need the ryting when I went
36:32
Speaker 4: to the police ten and high total food, a total
36:36
Speaker 4: food firm, and jury. Even now, I don't regret doing
36:41
Speaker 4: the riating because he was love for his life and
36:45
Speaker 4: it was important for his mother to know the food
36:48
Speaker 4: what happen to her son. Maybe I wouldn't say that
36:51
Speaker 4: while I'm in jail. He cast me a lot. I've
36:55
Speaker 4: lost like seventeen family members. My mom's hands spoken to
36:59
Speaker 4: you years ago. Now it talks me a lot. But
37:03
Speaker 4: I was should do it even all this time. I
37:06
Speaker 4: found ruin the last five years, so I'm at finding
37:09
Speaker 4: with God in myself. So now it's like, you know what,
37:12
Speaker 4: There's nothing I can do about what they've done. I'm
37:16
Speaker 4: not gonna let them take what's rest that I got
37:18
Speaker 4: in my speed and now my family is proud of me,
37:23
Speaker 4: even though I've never done nothing, because I've changed my life.
37:26
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna keep pushing. I'm gonna keep believing I
37:29
Speaker 4: got to so.
37:30
Speaker 1: I got And with that we will now go to
37:35
Speaker 1: closing arguments as they still ring true today with justice
37:39
Speaker 1: delayed in this case, I first of all, thank you both.
37:43
Speaker 1: Turn my microphone off, leave my headphones on, close my eyes,
37:47
Speaker 1: and let you both talk about whatever you want for
37:50
Speaker 1: the last few minutes of the show. Kevin, we're gonna
37:53
Speaker 1: save you for last if that's okay. And Stephen, please
37:57
Speaker 1: just share whatever it is that's on your mind.
38:00
Speaker 3: Uh well, Kevin, let's hope this is another step to
38:07
Speaker 3: get you out of prison. It's been a long, long road,
38:12
Speaker 3: but I won't give up ever.
38:17
Speaker 1: And Kevin, over to you.
38:19
Speaker 4: I'm thankful, you know. And it's taking me a long time,
38:23
Speaker 4: but I'm at peace last year, like the last five
38:25
Speaker 4: years now, and my life now still has purpose and
38:29
Speaker 4: meaning despite what they've done. I owe no feel feelings,
38:34
Speaker 4: force nobody. He is what he is, He is all
38:38
Speaker 4: I've lost, all lost in my life. I was twenty
38:41
Speaker 4: four years old. I'm fishing now. I've been seen over
38:44
Speaker 4: five years. So it's like there's nothing enough that I
38:48
Speaker 4: can't do that I don't consult it, but I won't
38:51
Speaker 4: let what they've done to me back then is something
38:54
Speaker 4: to me. Now I'm free, you know I am. I'm
38:58
Speaker 4: at pe and and even if I die in here,
39:02
Speaker 4: I'll be at peace knowing I stood for the swoop
39:05
Speaker 4: into woman. I need the right thing as an adult,
39:10
Speaker 4: so my parents were proud of. There's nothing I can
39:14
Speaker 4: do but keep my mind focusing on what's possible, what
39:18
Speaker 4: could be possible, and how to help us.
39:20
Speaker 5: It is a human opportunity to this God family in
39:23
Speaker 5: my community where I see them. You know, I won't
39:26
Speaker 5: let nothing take that from me.
39:28
Speaker 4: That's all I have. And I appreciate everything that you
39:32
Speaker 4: guys are doing, and I appreciate what support from everybody,
39:35
Speaker 4: whether it's for the governor whatever it can be done
39:38
Speaker 4: to help me. This is just the truth, the absolute
39:42
Speaker 4: in front of the people, and.
39:43
Speaker 5: They let them decide again. But I said I need
39:45
Speaker 5: to be punished for what I needed if they say so,
39:49
Speaker 5: because I pretended. But I was worried for my life
39:52
Speaker 5: star for my life at the time, but I did
39:54
Speaker 5: what I believe being was the right thing and I
39:58
Speaker 5: don't regret doing it.
40:07
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flahm.
40:10
Speaker 1: Please support your local innocence projects and go to the
40:14
Speaker 1: link in our bio to see how you can help.
40:16
Speaker 1: I'd like to thank our production team Connor Hall, Jeff
40:19
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40:23
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40:27
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40:34
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40:37
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