EXONERATED after Wrongful Conviction I 38 years in prison - Malcolm Alexander — Transcript

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1. 0:00so where I'm going now
2. 0:07I'm really really here it's like given
3. 0:10the chance
4. 0:11to live
5. 0:13a life I have been denied over 3 000
6. 0:16exonerations have been granted since
7. 0:181989 for people that were wrongfully
8. 0:21convicted this is the case of Malcolm
9. 0:23Alexander who has spent 38 years in
10. 0:26prison for a crime he did not commit how
11. 0:29was that possible let's dive in and see
12. 0:31what happened on November 8 1979 at
13. 0:35around 11 30 a.m a black man entered the
14. 0:38recently opened antique shop in Gretna
15. 0:40Louisiana the 39 year old white female
16. 0:43owner BN started to feel uneasy he
17. 0:46grabbed her from behind and hit her in
18. 0:48the head with a revolver as she
19. 0:50approached the front door in an effort
20. 0:52to divert him to outdoor Furnishings
21. 0:54then while holding a gun to her head he
22. 0:57raped her in a bathroom at the back of
23. 0:59the store he assaulted her and them
24. 1:01walked her to the phone that had been
25. 1:03ringing all during the event bien
26. 1:06finished the call without alerting the
27. 1:08caller while he had her in a Chokehold
28. 1:10and threatened to shoot her the
29. 1:12perpetrator then compelled her to enter
30. 1:15the restroom once more and rape her
31. 1:17again she was told not to move and the
32. 1:20man ran away bien called the police
33. 1:22while cleaning herself with a towel
34. 1:24three hairs were discovered by the
35. 1:26police on the bathroom floor and they
36. 1:28also took the towel as evidence bien
37. 1:31described the attacker to be a black man
38. 1:33with medium complexion in his early 20s
39. 1:36six feet tall weighing between
40. 1:39165 to 170 pounds he was reportedly
41. 1:43wearing a pair of blue pants a dark
42. 1:46windbreaker and a navy watch cap the
43. 1:49female claimed that he arrived at the
44. 1:51shop riding a 10-speed dark orange
45. 1:53English racing bike police released the
46. 1:55description and 10 minutes later they
47. 1:58stopped the black male riding on orange
48. 2:0010-speed bicycle with his pants unzipped
49. 2:02the man was brought outside of the
50. 2:04antique shop as bien stood inside and
51. 2:07looked out the front window at him she
52. 2:09claimed that that man wasn't her
53. 2:11resilient the woman was taken to the
54. 2:13hospital for medical care and there a
55. 2:16rape kit was taken a few days later on
56. 2:18November 30th 1979 BN spotted the man
57. 2:22who she believed could be her resilient
58. 2:24when the police looked into him they
59. 2:27discovered that he was employed at the
60. 2:29car business Superior Pontiac his
61. 2:31co-workers described him as being a very
62. 2:34hard-working man that could never engage
63. 2:36in sexual assault police presented a
64. 2:39photographic lineup which featured the
65. 2:41man from Superior Pontiacs to BN on
66. 2:43December 18 1979 but she was unable to
67. 2:47identify anyone as her resilient two
68. 2:49months later in February 1980 Malcolm
69. 2:53Alexander then 20 years old was detained
70. 2:56by the police because a woman accused
71. 2:58him of allegedly assaulting her
72. 2:59Alexander a black male told the police
73. 3:02that this encounter was actually
74. 3:04consensual and that it happened only
75. 3:07after he handed the woman money for it
76. 3:09despite being only 5 feet 9 inches tall
77. 3:12a detective thought that Alexander might
78. 3:15be exactly the person that attacked bien
79. 3:18even if he was not charged on the
80. 3:20accusation for which he was originally
81. 3:22brought in on March 24 1980 detective
82. 3:25O'Neill the new Junior of the Jefferson
83. 3:27Parish Sheriff's Department requested
84. 3:30that BN view a different lineup of
85. 3:32photographs that featured Alexander
86. 3:34according to the new bien recognized
87. 3:37Alexander although her recognition was
88. 3:40just tentative on March 27 three days
89. 3:42later bien watched a live lineup that
90. 3:46featured Alexander he was the only
91. 3:48person in both lineups which is
92. 3:50considered improper and suggestive since
93. 3:53someone can unconsciously associate
94. 3:56someone that was saw in the first lineup
95. 3:58with the crime that they were accused of
96. 4:00committing detective Mark nuzolilo ran
97. 4:02the lineup because detective they knew
98. 4:04was in court and could not be there in
99. 4:07his report muzolilo crossed out possible
100. 4:09and typed tentative next to it the new
101. 4:12conduct did a private interview with
102. 4:14bien after returning from Court three
103. 4:16hours after the lineup he said that bien
104. 4:19was now over 98 percent certain that
105. 4:22Alexander was her attacker when he
106. 4:24reappeared Alexander was taken into
107. 4:26custody and accused of aggravated rape
108. 4:29on November 5th 1980 he was put on trial
109. 4:32the entire trial took place over the
110. 4:35course of a day from jury selection
111. 4:37until the verdict that Alexander was
112. 4:40guilty the trials transcript was barely
113. 4:4387 pages long and Joseph Tosh his
114. 4:46attorney did very little to defend him
115. 4:48it wasn't the first time in which Tosh
116. 4:51let his clients down though in 1999 he
117. 4:54actually lost his license due to more
118. 4:57than 50 instances in which he accepted
119. 4:59fees accomplished next to nothing or
120. 5:02actually nothing at all and refused to
121. 5:04return the money no forensic testing
122. 5:06were carried out despite the presence of
123. 5:08a rape kid a towel that contained
124. 5:10genetic material and three hairs this
125. 5:12covered on the floor where bien was
126. 5:14raped neither the defense nor the
127. 5:16prosecution asked for any testing of
128. 5:19evidence the new informed the jury that
129. 5:21BM without hesitation identified the
130. 5:24photograph of Malcolm Alexander as the
131. 5:26guy who performed the rape on her
132. 5:28despite the fact that his report on the
133. 5:31March 24 1980 photographic lineup said
134. 5:34that bn's identification of Alexander
135. 5:36was tentative detective nuzolilo who
136. 5:39oversaw the lineup on the 27th of March
137. 5:421980 and completed the report with
138. 5:44designations possible and tentative just
139. 5:47stated in court that BM recognized
140. 5:50Alexander on cross-examination
141. 5:52Alexander's attorney didn't bring up
142. 5:54those descriptions at all years later
143. 5:56Alexander's attorneys would not be able
144. 5:59to ascertain whether the prosecution
145. 6:01concealed the reports describing the
146. 6:03identifications as tentative or if
147. 6:06Alexander's lawyer had the reports but
148. 6:09was so enough that he failed to
149. 6:11understand their importance as Alexander
150. 6:13was named as bm's attacker during her
151. 6:16testimony once more it was not mentioned
152. 6:19at all that her identification was just
153. 6:22tentative Alexander who was employed
154. 6:24steadily by a contractor at the time of
155. 6:26the rape was not represented by any of
156. 6:29the defense Witnesses Tosh his lawyer
157. 6:31never even looked at the possibility of
158. 6:34him having an alibi Tash didn't address
159. 6:36the jury in his opening statement and
160. 6:39the trial record only contains four
161. 6:41pages of his closing remarks at 5 20 PM
162. 6:45the jury was led outside to deliberate
163. 6:47they had already decided to convict
164. 6:49Alexander at 6 16 PM return to make the
165. 6:53announcement and were then dismissed
166. 6:55just 56 minutes later the judge gave
167. 6:58Alexander a life sentence without the
168. 7:01possibility of parole Alexander and his
169. 7:03family were persuaded by Tosh that they
170. 7:06should appeal but Tosh never did submit
171. 7:08the appeal after learning that Taj did
172. 7:11not do anything in this situation the
173. 7:13family decided to turn to another
174. 7:14attorney though the appeal filing time
175. 7:17had passed that attorney was still
176. 7:19permitted to do so the Louisiana court
177. 7:21of appeal however rejected it after
178. 7:24reading the news article on DNA testing
179. 7:26in 1996 Alexander contacted the new
180. 7:29york-based Innocence Project for
181. 7:31assistance the physical evidence was
182. 7:34never found however as Court authorities
183. 7:36informed the Innocence Project that it
184. 7:38was accidentally destroyed in 1984 when
185. 7:41several hundred boxes of evidence from
186. 7:43closed cases were Mass dismantled the
187. 7:46destruction was attributed to human
188. 7:48mistake which should not have happened
189. 7:50by a deputy clerk the Innocence Project
190. 7:52ended the investigation but Alexander
191. 7:55did not he submitted the motion for
192. 7:57testing after in 2004 Louisiana passed a
193. 8:01law required post-conviction DNA testing
194. 8:04in the hopes that it would prompt more
195. 8:06investigations for evidence additionally
196. 8:08he submitted a federal writ of habeas
197. 8:11corpus petition his efforts paid out in
198. 8:142013 when the hairs that were recovered
199. 8:16from the bathroom floor where bien was
200. 8:18raped were found in the crime lab of the
201. 8:21Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department
202. 8:22Innocence Project and the prosecution
203. 8:25agreed in 2015 to test the hairs for DNA
204. 8:28and the procedure was carried out in
205. 8:302016. according to the testing all three
206. 8:33originated from the same person
207. 8:35Alexander was disqualified as the hairs
208. 8:38originator Innocence Project submitted a
209. 8:40request in 2017 asking for the
210. 8:42conviction of Alexander to be overturned
211. 8:45they cited DNA evidence as well as the
212. 8:47ineffectiveness of Alexander's trial
213. 8:49defense lawyer the petition stated the
214. 8:52most logical conclusion is that the
215. 8:54hairs originate from the man who
216. 8:56repeatedly sexually assaulted bien from
217. 8:58behind on the floor in the same spot
218. 9:01where these hairs were collected the
219. 9:03conviction of Alexander was overturned
220. 9:05on January 30 2018 after nearly 38 years
221. 9:09in jail Alexander was released after the
222. 9:11charge was dropped by judge June Barry
223. 9:14derensburg Barry Scheck and Vanessa
224. 9:16potkin of the Innocence Project
225. 9:17expressed gratitude to the prosecution
226. 9:19and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's
227. 9:21Office Sheikh noted that the District
228. 9:23Attorney's office and the Sheriff's
229. 9:25Office were quite Cooperative in trying
230. 9:27to see what transpired after a total
231. 9:30investigation over the past two and a
232. 9:32half years I agree with Mr Alexander's
233. 9:34post-conviction attorneys that the
234. 9:36defense attorney during the day-long
235. 9:38trial 37 years ago provided ineffective
236. 9:41representation and violation of his
237. 9:43constitutional rights said Orleans
238. 9:45Parish district attorney Paul Connick Jr
239. 9:48Alexander didn't leave jail
240. 9:50unaccompanied he reunited with the puppy
241. 9:52he had reared while in prison the day
242. 9:54after being let free innocent or simply
243. 9:57in was the name of the nine-month-old
244. 10:00puppy I named her in because I was
245. 10:02innocent and she was innocent Alexander
246. 10:05told the CBS affiliate on April 22nd
247. 10:082016 according to Alexander Ian was born
248. 10:11he admitted to the day I wrote the date
249. 10:14on my heart I can remember her birthday
250. 10:16better than I can remember my own in
251. 10:18spite of the fact that there are more
252. 10:19and more programs allowing offenders to
253. 10:22train and nurture dogs in and her mother
254. 10:24weren't part of one they were Companions
255. 10:27and pets which certain prisoners are
256. 10:29allowed to retain she was the runt of a
257. 10:31litter of 10 according to Alexander he
258. 10:34picked her because he believed she was
259. 10:36the one who required his love the most
260. 10:38he remembers telling Yen back then one
261. 10:41day we'll be out of here just be patient
262. 10:43in resided that Alexander's fabrication
263. 10:46facilities the metal and wood shops
264. 10:48during the interim period leading up to
265. 10:50their release there he fed her and took
266. 10:53care of her having a dog is a privilege
267. 10:55declared Alexander it makes the world
268. 10:57different his mother and sister his son
269. 11:00and his grandson both named Malcolm all
270. 11:03the way to the Alexander Alexander
271. 11:05submitted the claim for compensation
272. 11:06from the state of Louisiana in May 2019
273. 11:09a ruling in Alexander's favor from the
274. 11:12Louisiana fifth Circuit Court of Appeal
275. 11:14would entitle him to four hundred
276. 11:16thousand dollars forty thousand for each
277. 11:18year of wrongful imprisonment capped at
278. 11:2110 years according to Alexander's
279. 11:23attorney Zachary Crawford personally I
280. 11:25feel like four hundred thousand dollars
281. 11:27is not nearly enough to compensate an
282. 11:30entire life Behind Bars the system
283. 11:32definitely failed him he spent more time
284. 11:34in prison than outside of it at the time
285. 11:37of his release he was basically robbed
286. 11:39of his life but yeah that's all for
287. 11:41today guys please let me know in the
288. 11:43comment section what do you guys think
289. 11:44about the case please hit that like
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291. 11:48you like the video I will post more
292. 11:50videos like this because the harsh
293. 11:52reality is that it happens way more than
294. 11:54we would like to believe it does for now
295. 11:56go watch the video on the screen right
296. 11:58now to learn what were the last words of
297. 12:01all the women executed by the us see you
298. 12:03next time bye bye