Episode 17 John Edwards and the Ohio 4 — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02Dear listeners, I have so much to tell
2. 0:05you [music] and I often don't know where
3. 0:06to start. It seems the world doesn't
4. 0:08want to admit that sometimes [music] we
5. 0:10make mistakes and that sometimes the
6. 0:12wrong person gets punished for something
7. 0:14they didn't do. Not all of us have been
8. 0:16personally affected, but many of us have
9. 0:19been impacted by this reality. [music]
10. 0:21And I feel like it's my responsibility
11. 0:23to share these stories with you and to
12. 0:24tell you what I've learned about
13. 0:26wrongful convictions. [music]
14. 0:30Welcome back to Wrongfully Yours. Before
15. 0:32we begin, I want to let you know that
16. 0:34today's episode is a little different.
17. 0:37The conversation you're about to hear
18. 0:38was recorded through a series of phone
19. 0:40calls I received from John Edwards, who
20. 0:43is currently incarcerated in Ohio.
21. 0:46Because of that, you'll hear call
22. 0:48prompts, interruptions, and the
23. 0:50unmistakable sound of prison phone lines
24. 0:52throughout this episode. I've chosen to
25. 0:55leave those in because they are part of
26. 0:58the reality of John's story. John has
27. 1:02been incarcerated for more than three
28. 1:04decades for a double homicide he
29. 1:06consistently maintains he did not
30. 1:09commit. As will become clear over the
31. 1:12course of our conversation, there is no
32. 1:15physical evidence tying Jon or his
33. 1:17codefendants to the crime. The case
34. 1:20against them relied entirely on the
35. 1:23testimony of a single informant whose
36. 1:25story repeatedly changed and was later
37. 1:28recanted.
38. 1:30Importantly,
39. 1:31this is not simply a claim of innocence.
40. 1:35A previous Ohio prosecutorial
41. 1:37administration formally acknowledged
42. 1:40that these convictions should be
43. 1:42dismissed, effectively admitting that a
44. 1:45grave injustice had occurred. That
45. 1:48motion, however, was later withdrawn
46. 1:50under a new administration, and this
47. 1:53left Jon and the others still fighting
48. 1:57for their exoneration today.
49. 2:00Despite being incarcerated, Jon has
50. 2:02remained remarkably resilient. He's a
51. 2:05writer, a mentor, and an advocate for at
52. 2:08risk youth. And he continues to fight
53. 2:10not only for his own freedom, but for
54. 2:13accountability within a system that too
55. 2:15often resists correcting its own
56. 2:17mistakes. This conversation is raw,
57. 2:21unfiltered, and at times it may be
58. 2:23difficult to hear, but it is essential.
59. 2:28And so this is a conversation about
60. 2:31wrongful conviction, prosecutorial
61. 2:33power, and what happens when the justice
62. 2:36system refuses to correct its own
63. 2:39mistakes even when the truth is known.
64. 2:44>> My my phone calls is 15 minutes, but I
65. 2:47can repeatedly call back.
66. 2:48>> That's not a problem. So let's just dive
67. 2:51right into it and we'll go from there.
68. 2:53So um how about you tell me all about
69. 2:57how you have been brought into this
70. 3:00world of wrongful convictions.
71. 3:04>> Okay. Well, how it started was I'm from
72. 3:07New York City. I'm from Queens, New York
73. 3:10Rockway, Queens. And you know, I grew up
74. 3:13in a in a in an environment. I come from
75. 3:16a good family and all, but you know, I I
76. 3:20was kind of like a I was selling drugs.
77. 3:23I was chasing money, like fast money at
78. 3:26the time. So, I was selling drugs in New
79. 3:29York City and me and some friends
80. 3:32decided to come to Ohio.
81. 3:34So, I came to Ohio because the uh crack
82. 3:39cocaine that we was selling in New York,
83. 3:42it was worth way more. Like what we sold
84. 3:45for $5 was like $50 in Ohio.
85. 3:49>> Okay.
86. 3:50>> So, we had the let's get rich scheme.
87. 3:53This is in the late 80s. Let's get rich
88. 3:56scheme. So I came to Ohio with a group
89. 3:59of friends and I ended up staying down
90. 4:02here for a little while and I invited
91. 4:05some other friends down here too. So you
92. 4:07know we was down here getting money and
93. 4:10it it it it was to a point where you
94. 4:13know we was doing wrong
95. 4:15selling drugs but you know we you know
96. 4:18we was living a life you know at that
97. 4:19time you know I was young. I came out
98. 4:21here when I was 18 and I stayed till I
99. 4:24was 21. I lived in Ohio about three
100. 4:26years of going back and forth bringing
101. 4:29drugs friends down and making money and
102. 4:32stuff like that. So I became uh why can
103. 4:36I say I became a fixer in the
104. 4:39neighborhood where we was supplying
105. 4:42drugs and I was very popular
106. 4:45>> in in like in the projects and
107. 4:48>> the neighborhoods. I was very very
108. 4:49popular. I was, you know, was city dude
109. 4:52and you know I wore jewelry and you know
110. 4:55I was different.
111. 4:56>> Yep.
112. 4:57>> So at this time
113. 4:59>> we was a problem to the police. We was
114. 5:02know I got arrested down here before and
115. 5:04I ended up doing some time but it it you
116. 5:07know it was some short time. So it it
117. 5:11was but this the juice was worth the
118. 5:13squeeze back then. So it's like doing
119. 5:15six, seven months in jail, but when you
120. 5:17could make 20, $30,000 a day, it was to
121. 5:21me it was worth it, you know, because,
122. 5:23you know, I was young and I wasn't
123. 5:24thinking. I ain't know that this wasn't
124. 5:26going to last.
125. 5:27>> Yeah.
126. 5:28>> So we became a problem to the police,
127. 5:30you know what I'm saying? And they
128. 5:32couldn't get rid of the drug problem cuz
129. 5:35they already had a drug problem. We
130. 5:36wasn't like the only problem down here,
131. 5:39>> of course,
132. 5:40>> but we but we was more we was very very
133. 5:43noticeable cuz you know we made you know
134. 5:46we made it accessible and we was in the
135. 5:49in the in the in the projects. We was
136. 5:52everywhere. So anyway,
137. 5:54it was a a murder. It was a double
138. 5:56homicide that happened down in Lraine,
139. 5:59Ohio. And stuff like that don't happen
140. 6:02back then. Stuff like that don't happen.
141. 6:04>> Right. So they was looking for who
142. 6:06whoever was responsible and I don't know
143. 6:10how but we became suspects.
144. 6:13We didn't come down here with violence.
145. 6:15You know what I'm saying? We came down
146. 6:16here getting money having fun. No
147. 6:20partying no being romancing women. And
148. 6:24then at that time I had a son out here
149. 6:27in Lorraine Ohio cuz we done Lraine Ohio
150. 6:29that's like 45 minutes outside of
151. 6:31Cleveland.
152. 6:32>> Okay. And you know, I had a son, so I'm
153. 6:35I had a son. So, you know, I was I was
154. 6:37more or less living out here. So, you
155. 6:40know, we getting money and it was a
156. 6:42vicious murder that happened. A female
157. 6:44named Marshall Blakeley got killed and a
158. 6:48male named Floyd eps got killed. And it
159. 6:51was a how they was related was Marshall
160. 6:54Brley sometimes living with Floyd EPS.
161. 6:58So, they found Floyd EPS body first,
162. 7:01>> right? and they said he was ran over by
163. 7:04a car. Then they found Marsha Bakeley
164. 7:08body later on or it could have been the
165. 7:09other way around where they find
166. 7:11Marshall By first. But anyway, they had
167. 7:14no clues of what happened, who did it,
168. 7:17who was involved and the police asked
169. 7:21for uh help. They asked the community
170. 7:23for help. And so what happened was it
171. 7:26was an informant named William Agory. He
172. 7:30came to the police and he came with a
173. 7:33story and the story was a secondhand
174. 7:37story. So the police couldn't use the
175. 7:39story because it was secondhand. So they
176. 7:41asked him to bring in whoever he got
177. 7:43that story from. It so happened that he
178. 7:46got the story from the son. So it was
179. 7:48like a father and son informant
180. 7:51>> they had going on. So this
181. 7:53>> Yeah. So this dude has an amazing story
182. 7:56how he owed some money to a New York
183. 7:58dude and he wanted to work the money off
184. 8:01by beating people up and my code Alfred
185. 8:06Cleveland allegedly brought him to Floyd
186. 8:10F's apartment to beat up Marsha Bakeley
187. 8:13who owed some money he refused and he's
188. 8:16saying that me and two other dudes
189. 8:20attacked her beat her unconscious
190. 8:23uh kidnapped him, took her behind the
191. 8:26bar and allegedly killed her. So that
192. 8:29was the story.
193. 8:31>> And
194. 8:32>> was this what happened?
195. 8:33>> Was was he a customer of yours?
196. 8:37>> I I never dealt with with with the dude.
197. 8:40He dealt with one of my codefenders.
198. 8:42>> Okay.
199. 8:43>> Like I never I never really dealt Yeah.
200. 8:46So I know I know only know me is just
201. 8:48that I just had an instinct where I
202. 8:50never liked the dude,
203. 8:51>> right?
204. 8:51>> You know what I'm saying? I I I kind of
205. 8:54>> I I never liked him, right? And so what
206. 8:57happened is this story gets
207. 9:01um then that's my codependent. It gets
208. 9:05him arrested. So, you know, at first we
209. 9:07ain't take this like cuz it's so many
210. 9:10people that's out here selling drugs and
211. 9:12we we never really took it serious that
212. 9:15the police is like really looking for
213. 9:18us. They really suspect that we did it
214. 9:20cuz we got we getting money. We ain't we
215. 9:22ain't thinking about that.
216. 9:24>> But then we start seeing how serious it
217. 9:26was when Lenny got convicted. Like when
218. 9:29Lenny got arrested and then we seen we
219. 9:31saw I still stayed around. Maybe about a
220. 9:34couple weeks later we got out the dodge.
221. 9:37We I left Ohio.
222. 9:38>> Sure.
223. 9:39>> You know what I'm saying? But
224. 9:41>> so you weren't you weren't all arrested
225. 9:43at the same time?
226. 9:46>> No. Um, Le Edwards was arrested maybe
227. 9:50about two weeks after the murder,
228. 9:53>> right?
229. 9:53>> Maybe about two weeks after the murder.
230. 9:56>> Uh, Benson Davis was arrested
231. 9:59probably uh maybe a year to 18 months
232. 10:03after the murder.
233. 10:04>> Okay.
234. 10:05>> Alfred Cleveland was arrested
235. 10:09uh let me see in 1994.
236. 10:13I got arrested December of 1993. So I
237. 10:16got arrested like two years, two and a
238. 10:18half years after the murder.
239. 10:21>> Got arrested.
240. 10:22>> And what was connecting all of you guys?
241. 10:24Like why were you all arrested? And you
242. 10:27were all arrested on the same crime,
243. 10:29correct? Like on the same murder?
244. 10:31>> Yes. Yes. Yes.
245. 10:33>> And so how did you all get pulled in at
246. 10:36different times?
247. 10:39Because I got arrested in South
248. 10:42Carolina. Alfred Cleveland got arrested
249. 10:44in New York. Um Benson Davis got
250. 10:47arrested in Lraine, Ohio and they came
251. 10:49to New York and got Ben Vincent Davis.
252. 10:52>> Okay.
253. 10:53>> Wait. Yeah. So we all got arrested at
254. 10:56different at different moments,
255. 10:58different times.
256. 11:00>> But but you were all identified
257. 11:02>> when you were all identified at the same
258. 11:05time.
259. 11:08Uh yes, William Avery is the one that
260. 11:11that places us there. He's see we got
261. 11:14this is what's crazy. He places there is
262. 11:16no murder weapon, no hair, no blood, no
263. 11:19fiber, nothing to tie us to the crime
264. 11:22but William Agri and he keeps
265. 11:25continuously changing his story.
266. 11:28>> Wow.
267. 11:29>> He just repeatedly changes his story.
268. 11:32So, you know, it just it just got to the
269. 11:34point that when he went to the first
270. 11:36trial, which was Land of Edwards, the
271. 11:40story that he had, he tried to um cuz
272. 11:43they gave him award money cuz it was
273. 11:45awful the war money. He tried to swindle
274. 11:47the prosecutor for $10,000 more and they
275. 11:51when they refused to give it to him, he
276. 11:53got on the stand and said that he lied.
277. 11:55Everything was a lie. He only did it for
278. 11:57the money. So he he uh retain it and
279. 12:01they ended up locking him up.
280. 12:03>> Wow.
281. 12:04>> So while he was locked up Yeah. while he
282. 12:08was locked up with attempted court, why
283. 12:10he was in jail, he changed the story
284. 12:12again. Now he changed the story to
285. 12:15actually being there to witness the
286. 12:17murder because he never said that he
287. 12:18witnessed the murder in the beginning.
288. 12:20In the beginning he said that he
289. 12:22witnessed the phonorous assault. He he
290. 12:24witnessed the beatdown.
291. 12:26>> Right. So now he comes with a new story
292. 12:30saying that he seen the murder. So not
293. 12:32only do he involve me, Alfred, Benson,
294. 12:36and and Lenny, he also involved two
295. 12:39other New York dudes that never been
296. 12:41arrested.
297. 12:42>> Oh my goodness.
298. 12:42>> He involved two two other all together.
299. 12:45Six of us, but only four of us got
300. 12:47locked up.
301. 12:49>> So now he has that story.
302. 12:52>> Yeah. So now he testifies against Lem
303. 12:54Edwards. Len would get found guilty and
304. 12:57I think they gave him 28 years to life
305. 13:00on the murder and I forgot on the
306. 13:03assault cuz Len Edwards is out now. He
307. 13:05made parole.
308. 13:06>> Okay.
309. 13:07>> The next one that went to trial was
310. 13:09Benson Davis. When Benson went to trial
311. 13:12again, the only witness is is William
312. 13:16Avery. He gets on the stand. He got the
313. 13:20the the inconsistent testimony of
314. 13:22exactly what happened. They find him
315. 13:24guilty. Then he went to trial with with
316. 13:27with um Alfred Clay the inconsistent
317. 13:31testimony. Then I'm the last one to go
318. 13:32to trial. I went to trial in 1997.
319. 13:37>> 1997 and more inconsistencies.
320. 13:40>> So it's like I'm going say like probably
321. 13:43like 200
322. 13:46five 2006 William Avery came back again
323. 13:50and he recanted again.
324. 13:52>> Oh my goodness. He live for the money
325. 13:54that Yes. Yes. It's all It's all there.
326. 13:57If you go to freedo4.org
327. 14:00or freedo4.com,
328. 14:03everything is there. Everything is
329. 14:04there. He meant it. He said he lied for
330. 14:07the money. He did. It was a scheme for
331. 14:10him and his father to get the war money
332. 14:12that we didn't do it. He just lied for
333. 14:15the money. He's saying that the
334. 14:16prosecutor knew that that he lied
335. 14:19because there's nothing there at the
336. 14:20time. It's to the crime. But this
337. 14:22testimony is no murder weapon, no hair,
338. 14:26no blood, no fiber, nothing that ties to
339. 14:28this crime. This is the only eyewitness
340. 14:31and he's saying that he lied. Then on
341. 14:34top of that, Alfred Cleveland was on
342. 14:37probation at the time. He went to see
343. 14:40his probation officer all the way in New
344. 14:42York. This is the same time, the same
345. 14:44day that the alleged victim got killed.
346. 14:47>> Wow.
347. 14:47>> Dr. was in New York
348. 14:50>> and they still found him guilty.
349. 14:51>> And he's got a pretty good alibi if he's
350. 14:53with his probation officer.
351. 14:55>> Yeah.
352. 14:57And not only that, he had another um
353. 15:01alibi with his Damon John from Shark
354. 15:04Tank from the Damon John the
355. 15:07entrepreneur. He testified in in the
356. 15:10behalf of Albert Cleveland placing him
357. 15:12in New York cuz they was in New York
358. 15:14together.
359. 15:16>> Wow. But I don't know how they still
360. 15:19found him guilty.
361. 15:20>> And that's and and none of none of you
362. 15:24confess like made a false confession.
363. 15:26There's no forensics. The only
364. 15:28eyewitness you have is this guy.
365. 15:30>> You have one minute remaining.
366. 15:33>> There's nothing to say this crime. But
367. 15:35William,
368. 15:36>> unbelievable.
369. 15:40>> Yes. Okay. I'mma call you right back.
370. 15:42>> Sounds good. I'll be
371. 15:43>> I'mma call you right back.
372. 15:44>> I'll be here. I'mma call right back.
373. 15:46>> Okay.
374. 15:47>> Thank you for using GT.
375. 15:48>> We're recording now.
376. 15:50>> Okay. Okay. So, now the story gets even
377. 15:53better because William Avery recanned
378. 15:57twice. He came with Alpha David the last
379. 16:00time. And what happens is when Alfa
380. 16:02Cleveland goes back to court and he has
381. 16:05an evidentiary hearing, they scare
382. 16:07William Avery by saying that if they
383. 16:11find him in that he's lying, that he's
384. 16:14going to get five years for every trial
385. 16:15that he testified in. And the first
386. 16:18trial was was a uh a mistrial, but it
387. 16:22was all four of us. So he testified in
388. 16:23five trials. So he's not trying to do 25
389. 16:26years. So he pleads the fifth. He pleads
390. 16:29the fifth. Wow.
391. 16:30>> So now this is in 2000 2005
392. 16:342006. So evidentiary was 2008. Now
393. 16:38what's crazy is at this time later on
394. 16:42that it's it's we I didn't I didn't find
395. 16:45this out till later on in 2010 that it
396. 16:49was an anominous tip where they got two
397. 16:52alternative suspects
398. 16:55for his with his mother. So Tony Cello
399. 16:59is a relation between the Lraine Police
400. 17:02Department and the Lraine Prosecuting
401. 17:04Office. He goes and interviews these two
402. 17:09um suspects. He never brought this up to
403. 17:13my lawyers or to any of my codependents.
404. 17:16We never knew about this. We never ever
405. 17:19knew about that they had information.
406. 17:22This is after my conviction. This is 13
407. 17:25years after my conviction.
408. 17:26And this is like this is 16 years after
409. 17:30actual crime that they got anonymous
410. 17:32check that we didn't do it and who
411. 17:34actually did it. So the dude um
412. 17:37interviewed him never let us know
413. 17:40anything. And so now 2024 come around my
414. 17:45lawyer is Josh Dubin and he know he has
415. 17:49amazing team. He goes and talks to JD
416. 17:53Thomas because you know my case was
417. 17:55twice on on the Joe Rogan show. I know
418. 17:57you're familiar with Joe Rogan.
419. 17:59>> Yes, I am.
420. 18:00>> Was mentioned twice on it was on Joe
421. 18:03Rogan's twice. So my lawyer sits down
422. 18:06with JD Thomasson the prosecutor. He
423. 18:10sits down with his team and they showed
424. 18:14all the all the evidence showing our our
425. 18:16innocence that we cannot is it possible
426. 18:19for us to do this crime that we didn't
427. 18:20do the crime. So JD Thomasson agrees
428. 18:24with my lawyer. So what do he do? He
429. 18:27turns around and does his own
430. 18:29investigation. He did his own
431. 18:31investigation. He went through the the
432. 18:33the all the evidence. He went through
433. 18:36all the transcripts. He went through all
434. 18:38the reports. He went back to the crime
435. 18:40scene. He talked to police. You know, JD
436. 18:44Thompson does what a lawyer does, but
437. 18:45because he's a prosecute.
438. 18:46>> Sure.
439. 18:47>> So on January, no on December 2nd,
440. 18:50rather December 2nd, 2024, he puts in a
441. 18:54motion to dismiss the convictions
442. 18:58against us. But the but the only thing
443. 19:00is he on his way out of the door because
444. 19:03he lost the election,
445. 19:05>> right? So he's on his way out the door.
446. 19:07So on his way out the door, he put in a
447. 19:09motion to dismiss our conviction. Tony
448. 19:12Cello, who won the election, he for some
449. 19:16reason some way somehow was able to get
450. 19:19in contact with the state attorney
451. 19:21general to put a freeze on it until he
452. 19:24sworn in.
453. 19:25>> First thing he do when he sworn in,
454. 19:28>> he gets the motion withdrawn. Now get
455. 19:31the cast. Tony Cello, that's the new
456. 19:34prosecutor, also is the same dude that
457. 19:38interviewed the two alternative
458. 19:40suspects.
459. 19:42>> Oh my goodness.
460. 19:43>> So,
461. 19:44>> yeah. So, this this is
462. 19:47>> the plot just keeps thickening on this.
463. 19:51>> Yeah. Because I never I never even knew
464. 19:54about two attorney suspects until
465. 19:56recently when my lawyer told me about
466. 19:59it.
467. 20:00>> Wow.
468. 20:00>> Yeah. So he goes he now he did sit back
469. 20:04down with the new prosecutor. So
470. 20:06everything is in the air right now. So I
471. 20:10don't you know I'm still fighting know
472. 20:13Sunday will be 32 years I've been
473. 20:15incarcerated. I'm incarcerated for a
474. 20:17murder I did not commit
475. 20:21home last year.
476. 20:23>> How do you deal with that? How do you
477. 20:25fight every single day knowing that
478. 20:29there is so much
479. 20:32garbage going on behind the scenes?
480. 20:36>> Yeah, but I got no other option but to
481. 20:38play. I can't I can't give up. No, I've
482. 20:41been locked up 32 years. I fell when I
483. 20:43was 23. I'm 55 years old now. I I can't
484. 20:48give up. I got to stay strong and stand
485. 20:50tall. So I got no other choice but to
486. 20:52keep biting cuz I know if if I don't
487. 20:55fight for myself who's going to know I
488. 20:57got lawyers and people that love me and
489. 20:59stuff like that. But you nobody going to
490. 21:01know your case better than you and I you
491. 21:03know people that know me know I'm not
492. 21:05this type of person.
493. 21:06>> Sure.
494. 21:07>> So no I'm in here too.
495. 21:09>> Yeah. No. No. I
496. 21:11>> the evidence the evidence prove that we
497. 21:13innocent.
498. 21:14>> Yeah. Well, I mean, you have the the
499. 21:17prosecutor who was going to dismiss the
500. 21:20like ask for the case to be dismissed.
501. 21:22So, I mean, it's clearly a miscarriage
502. 21:25of justice
503. 21:28and now it seems that politics are
504. 21:30getting in the way.
505. 21:33>> Yeah. And everything everything I'm
506. 21:34telling you is on free Ohio.com
507. 21:38and freed Ohio.org. It's there. And um
508. 21:42my lawyer Josh Duden, he even went back
509. 21:45to Joe Rogan show and took JD Thomasson.
510. 21:48That's the prosecutor who put in a
511. 21:50motion to dismiss the conviction.
512. 21:53>> He was on the show on Joe Rogan show
513. 21:56about it. So if you go on on
514. 21:58freedom.org,
515. 22:00all that's there. All the links is there
516. 22:02so you could see it for yourself.
517. 22:04Everything is there.
518. 22:05>> So it's not nothing I'm making up.
519. 22:07>> No, this is not Hollywood. This is not
520. 22:10AI. This is No, this is everything
521. 22:13that's there.
522. 22:14>> No. Abs. Absolutely. And I And I know
523. 22:17for I know for sure that, you know,
524. 22:19nothing is made up. But this is the
525. 22:21thing that gets me with every case of
526. 22:24wrongful conviction. Everyone seems like
527. 22:28it is a Hollywood story because there's
528. 22:30so much here that you can't believe. And
529. 22:35I mean that it's just it's so absurd
530. 22:38that this is what's going on in our
531. 22:40justice system. You know, if you wrote
532. 22:43this as a movie script, Hollywood would
533. 22:45reject it.
534. 22:48>> Yeah. Cuz they don't think it's not even
535. 22:50possible.
536. 22:50>> THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.
537. 22:52>> Happening every day.
538. 22:53>> And and exactly happens every day.
539. 22:56>> Yeah. Sadly, right. And and the thing is
540. 22:58a lot of people don't know that. And
541. 23:00that's why I want to give you a platform
542. 23:03to share your story and others to share
543. 23:05their story because I think we need to
544. 23:08make it very clear that this does happen
545. 23:12in our justice system every day.
546. 23:16>> One minute remaining.
547. 23:19>> I'm going call right back.
548. 23:20>> Sounds good.
549. 23:21>> I'll call you right back.
550. 23:23In many ways, John's story is unique,
551. 23:26but in many ways, it's all too familiar
552. 23:29because it represents a pattern we see
553. 23:31far too often. It's a case built without
554. 23:34physical evidence, with a witness who
555. 23:37recantss repeatedly. It's a case where
556. 23:41information that could have changed
557. 23:42everything was kept hidden. And as a
558. 23:45result, we're left with a man who has
559. 23:48now spent over 30 years incarcerated for
560. 23:51a crime that even a former prosecutor
561. 23:53acknowledged should be dismissed. Make
562. 23:56no mistake, this isn't a Hollywood
563. 23:59script. It isn't exaggerated, and sadly,
564. 24:03it isn't rare. Cases like this exist
565. 24:07because accountability in the justice
566. 24:08system all too often seems to be
567. 24:11optional. And because once a conviction
568. 24:13is secured, truth becomes inconvenient.
569. 24:17With that said, we should all follow J's
570. 24:20lead and keep fighting. In our next
571. 24:22episode, I'll continue the conversation
572. 24:25with John, and we'll talk about what
573. 24:27accountability actually looks like, why
574. 24:29freedom without exoneration isn't
575. 24:31justice, and what everyday people can do
576. 24:34when the truth is already on the table,
577. 24:37but action still hasn't followed. As
578. 24:40John mentioned, if you want to learn
579. 24:42more about this case, see the
580. 24:44documentation for yourself, or
581. 24:46understand how you can help, I strongly
582. 24:49encourage you to visit freethe
583. 24:51ohiofor.org
584. 24:53and free the ohio4.com.
585. 24:55The records, the recantations, the
586. 24:58timelines, they're all there for you to
587. 25:01review.
588. 25:04And while today's letter may have piqu
589. 25:05your [music] interest, this is only part
590. 25:07of the story. There's still so much more
591. 25:09to tell. The effects of wrongful
592. 25:11convictions are farreaching. They touch
593. 25:14us all. I'll write to you again soon as
594. 25:16I continue my conversations with those
595. 25:18whose lives have been impacted [music]
596. 25:19by a wrongful conviction. But until
597. 25:22then, I remain wrongfully yours.
598. 25:26And so, if you were moved by this
599. 25:28episode, please consider sharing it with
600. 25:31others, liking and reviewing us, and
601. 25:33following the podcast [music] on your
602. 25:35favorite platform so you don't miss what
603. 25:37comes next. And as always, thanks for
604. 25:40listening to Wrongfully Yours, where we
605. 25:42believe that telling these stories is
606. 25:43the first step towards [music]
607. 25:45preventing the next injustice.
608. 25:47And until next time, stay curious, stay
609. 25:50hopeful, and keep [music] fighting for
610. 25:53justice.
611. 25:55If you have something that you want to
612. 25:56talk about with me, [music] or even if
613. 25:58you want to just send me some words of
614. 25:59encouragement, you can drop me a line at
615. 26:02wrongfully [email protected].
616. 26:05You can also check out my website,
617. 26:06kellyloon.ca,
618. 26:08for more information about me and the
619. 26:10kinds of things that I do.