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Exoneree & Criminal Justice Advocate Jeffrey Deskovic on Long Island Backstory — Transcript

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0:00so what we're going to do is we're here
0:02to expose it let people tell their story
0:04and let them let everybody in the public
0:06see the horrors of the court system and
0:08suff County New
0:09[Music]
0:16York Long Island backstory please
0:19welcome Jeffrey
0:20[Music]
0:25Des good
0:27evening energy in the room good evening
0:31okay all right so as uh as Gary
0:33mentioned um uh I spent 16 years in
0:36prison uh in New York state for uh a
0:38murder and rape which I did not commit
0:41uh the wrongful conviction um happened
0:44in uh happened in 1990 and was caused by
0:47a coerced false confession prosecutorial
0:49misconduct fraud by the medical examiner
0:52and an inep public defender let me break
0:55each one of those things down okay so
0:57the year is 1990 and I'm 16 years old uh
1:01the victim is uh 15 and as it would turn
1:03out the actual perpetrator was 29 so for
1:07about 6 weeks the police played this cat
1:09and mouse game with me in which uh half
1:12the time they would talk to me as if I
1:13was a suspect while the other half the
1:15time they would pretend like they needed
1:17my help to solve the crime they would
1:19say things like the kids won't talk
1:21freely around us but they will around
1:23you let us know if you hear any rumors
1:26uh stop in from time to time they would
1:29ask me my opinion opinion and then
1:30congratulate me on my opinions being
1:32correct they made me the center of
1:34attention they made me feel important I
1:38came from a single parent household in
1:39which my dad was never involved in my
1:41life in any capacity and that really
1:43interacted because one of the techniques
1:45that the police used was the good cop
1:47bad cop which is also known as mutton
1:50Jeff in which one officer takes on a
1:52more aggressive role whereas his partner
1:54pretends to be against what's going on
1:56yet somehow powerless to intervene so I
2:00began to look up to the cop who is
2:02pretending to be my friend because I
2:04didn't have a father figure uh my
2:06fantasy childhood career pre- teenage
2:09years was actually to be a cop so that
2:11along with my age of 16 uh was how they
2:14were able to pull that uh absurdity uh
2:18that absurdity pull the wool over my
2:20eyes uh So eventually they got me to
2:23agree to take a polygraph test by
2:25telling me that there was some new
2:27information which had come in to the uh
2:29to the FBI file and they wanted to share
2:31that with me and that would put me in
2:33position to be even more helpful to them
2:36but in order for them to share that with
2:37me I would have to take and pass a
2:39polygraph so help us to help you to help
2:41us type of logic so the next day rather
2:44than report to school I instead went to
2:46the police station uh as I mentioned it
2:49was a school day so neither my mother
2:51nor my grandmother with whom I lived
2:52they didn't realize that anything was
2:54wrong they thought I was in school and
2:56so they didn't call around looking for
2:58me they drove me to to the town of
3:00Brewster which was in partam County
3:02whereas I was a native of pkill in
3:04Westchester County so that meant that I
3:06couldn't leave anymore on my own I was
3:09totally dependent upon the police so I
3:11had three officers there who had
3:13traveled with me from Peak Skill but
3:15then the polygraph is himself uh putham
3:17County Sheriff's investigator Daniel
3:19Stevens who was dressed as a civilian
3:21and he never identified himself as a cop
3:24I didn't have an attorney present and I
3:26wasn't given anything to eat the entire
3:28time I was there so before beginning the
3:30polygraph the polygrapher gave me
3:33countless cups of coffee in order to get
3:35me nervous that was part of the setup
3:37because of course the premise of the
3:38polygraph is that when a person lies
3:41you'll become nervous and the
3:42nervousness will result in an increased
3:44pulse rate and is the pulse rate which
3:46is actually measured by the machine
3:48other factors which would lead to an
3:49increased pulse rate though would be
3:51fear and caffeine so the coffee was part
3:53of the setup so after finishing the
3:56coffee routine he attached me to a
3:58polygraph machine and that's when he
4:01launched into his third degree tactics
4:03so he invaded my personal space he
4:06raised his voice at me he kept asking me
4:08the same questions over and over again
4:10so as each hour passed so too did my
4:12fear increase in proportion to the time
4:15he kept that up for 6 and 1 half to 7
4:19hours at the end he said what do you
4:22mean you didn't do it you just told me
4:24through the polygraph test result that
4:26you did we just want you to verbally
4:28confirm it so so that really shot my
4:30fear through the roof and at that moment
4:33who should make his Grand appearance
4:34other than the officer who had been
4:36pretending to be my friend he came in
4:38the room and told me that the other cops
4:40were going to harm me that he had been
4:41holding them off but couldn't do that
4:43any longer that I would have to help
4:45myself when he added it if I did as they
4:47wanted Not only would they stop what
4:49they were doing but that I could go home
4:50afterwards that I was not going to be
4:52arrested being young naive frightened
4:56and fear of my life I mean the fact that
4:58I didn't know where I was and that
4:59nobody else knew where I was either it
5:01really loomed kind of large in my mind
5:04being overwhelmed emotionally and
5:06psychologically and then there's the
5:08push pull dynamic because on one hand
5:10there's the possibility of harm and then
5:12on the other hand there's this false
5:13life preserver that he threw to me and I
5:15needed something to latch on to and so I
5:18made up a story based on information
5:20which they had given me in the course of
5:21that interrogation both that day and in
5:24the 6 weeks prior to that as well as
5:26certain items that had been in the
5:27newspaper
5:29by the end of the interrogation I was
5:31curled up into a fetal position on the
5:34floor I was crying
5:35uncontrollably needless to say I was
5:38arrested I was charged with a murder and
5:41rape so before I went to trial the
5:43results of the DNA test result the
5:46results of a DNA test came in from the
5:48FBI lab which showed that Sean found in
5:49the victim didn't match but rather than
5:52acknowledge they made a mistake they
5:53instead continued Prosecuting Full Speed
5:56Ahead this is where the prosecutorial
5:58misconduct and fraud by the the medical
6:00examiner comes in when the autopsy is
6:02done there's audio and there audio and
6:04written notes which are taken
6:05contemporaneously as the findings are
6:07made as a way of ensuring authenticity
6:10so it was only 6 months after doing the
6:12autopsy that suddenly for the first time
6:15this medical examiner claimed that he
6:17found medical evidence to show that the
6:19victim uh a 15-year-old immigrant from
6:22Colombia who had been in the country for
6:23about a year and a half leading a really
6:24sheltered life in which she really
6:26didn't go out anywhere unless she was
6:28accompanied by her older sister or her
6:30parents that uh she had been sexually
6:33active which is what opened the door for
6:35the prosecutor to argue that it didn't
6:36matter that the DNA didn't come from me
6:39because it could have come from somebody
6:41that she slept with close enough to the
6:42murder and rape so as to explain away
6:44the DNA basically in order to wrongfully
6:48convict me the prosecutor was willing to
6:49trash the reputation of the
6:51victim taking his lie a step further he
6:54actually named another youth by name
6:56that he claimed it had sex with a victim
6:58yet he never had a DNA test result
7:01performed in order to prove that
7:02assertion he didn't even call him as a
7:04witness to give verbal testimony he just
7:06made the unsupported argument to the
7:08jury at the same time my public defender
7:11was
7:12terrible he never interviewed nor called
7:14as a witness my alibi I was actually
7:16playing whiffle ball at the time that
7:18the crime happened when it was time to
7:21cross-examine the medical examiner and
7:22to discredit him which would have been
7:24the right move in order to make the DNA
7:26evidence stand up he instead stood up an
7:29open court and had a big smile on his
7:31face and said to the medical examiner
7:33that you're going to be pleased to know
7:35that I don't have a single question for
7:39you he never explained to the jury the
7:42significance of the DNA not matching me
7:44he never used that to argued that this
7:45so-called confession was coerced and
7:47false he very rarely met with me
7:50whenever he would meet with me and I
7:52would try to explain to him that I was
7:53innocent and what had happened in the
7:54interrogation room he was always
7:56shutting me up one time he told me he
7:58didn't care if I was guilty you're
8:00innocent he wouldn't uh allow me to
8:04testify at the pre-trial hearing see the
8:06interrogation was not video or audio
8:08taped it was um it wasn't even a signed
8:11confession it was just the cop's word
8:13and so they were able to leave out the
8:16illegal things which they had done the
8:18specifically the the threat and the
8:19false promise so I wanted to take the
8:21stand and tell the judge what it happen
8:24but my lawyer wouldn't allow me to he
8:26told me that he hadn't decided if I was
8:28going to testify at the trial or not and
8:30so uh he didn't want to have me uh under
8:33oath on the record saying what happened
8:35in interrogation room telling me that if
8:37I he decided for me to testify at the
8:38trial that the prior testimony could
8:40have been used against me but that
8:42really didn't make any sense because
8:44first of all if the judge had believed
8:46me then the statements would have been
8:48ruled as being involuntary and therefore
8:50they would have been inadmissible and
8:51lacking that there would not have been
8:52any other evidence but then if it really
8:55went that badly I didn't have to take
8:57the stand at the trial and so therefore
8:59the test testimony could not have been
9:01used but then when we got to the trial
9:03he wouldn't allow me to testify there
9:04either he told me that it wasn't his job
9:06to prove that I was innocent it was up
9:08to the prosecution and prove that I was
9:10guilty and he didn't think that that had
9:12happened you might hear that in a in a
9:15classro it's a legal Maxim but uh that's
9:17not how it works in legality if you find
9:19yourself charged with a crime you have
9:20to do everything you can to prove that
9:22you're innocent or else you run a risk
9:24of possibly being uh wrongfully
9:27convicted um my lawyer should have never
9:30represented me in the first place
9:31because of a conflict of interest in
9:33that this other youth that the
9:34prosecution was falsely claiming had had
9:36sex with the victim was represented by
9:39another member of legal aid which meant
9:41that the defense could not have asked
9:43for a DNA test and we were not able to
9:46subpoena and call him as a witness in
9:48order to explode the consensual sex
9:50Theory add it all up I guess it's not
9:53too surprising that the jury found me
9:56guilty I'll never forget the day I was
9:58found guilty at felt like I was in some
10:00sort of nightmarish alternative reality
10:02because to my way of thinking up until
10:04that point in time only the guilty were
10:06convicted yet they said what they did
10:08and I was taken into custody uh
10:11ultimately I was given a 15 to life uh
10:13sentence uh which I served in a uh men's
10:17Maximum Security Prison uh I lost uh all
10:21seven of my appeals uh I got turned down
10:24for parole ultimately I was exonerated
10:27through further DNA test with the
10:30assistance of the Innocence Project so
10:32the Innocence Project agreeing to
10:33represent me was the first uh major uh
10:36break that I got the second thing was
10:38that P left office and her successor uh
10:41Janet Fury was willing to allow me to
10:44have further testing without having to
10:45litigate over it and the third thing was
10:47that we got lucky that the actual
10:49perpetrator had committed uh a second
10:51murder uh 3 and a half years later after
10:53killing the victim of my case which
10:55resulted in his DNA being put in the
10:58data banks so that when I got the
11:00testing it matched him so he after the
11:03DNA matched him uh he confessed to both
11:06to the uh distri attorney investigator
11:08as well as to a reporter on video camera
11:12so uh that conviction was overturned
11:14September 20th
11:152016 and I went back to court November
11:182nd 2016 at which point all the evidence
11:20all the charges against me were
11:21dismissed on uh actual innocence
11:25grounds uh changing changing gears um as
11:29Gary mentioned you know my my life is um
11:31an Advocates life now and I regularly
11:34trade privacy and exchange for awareness
11:36So speaking at events like this and
11:38doing uh media interviews meeting with
11:40elected officials um really was a big
11:43part of what I did for the first uh my
11:45first 5 years of Freedom uh even while
11:48you know wrestling with trying to
11:49reintegrate back into a society that I
11:51really no longer recognized even while
11:54dealing with u the psychological after
11:56effects of my experience so after about
11:595 years I was able to receive some
12:01compensation and I started a nonprofit
12:04organization whose goal is to exonerate
12:06other wrongfully convicted people uh I
12:09named it after me just um intending for
12:11that to be a legacy uh the Jeffrey dusic
12:13foundation for justice is what it's
12:15called and I put a million and a half
12:17dollars of my own money into that we've
12:19uh exonerated two people in our four and
12:21a half years of existence uh we got
12:24three other people released uh on parole
12:26whose innocence was fairly clear from
12:27the record but uh we didn't have
12:29anything new to bring it to court so we
12:31we're not in position to um exonerate
12:33them but there's five people free as a
12:35result of the work that we do
12:38[Applause]
12:43uh so I just want to um hit on some of
12:46the deficiencies that lead to wrongful
12:48convictions and we know what those
12:50reforms are because you know this event
12:51is Americans for legal reform so it
12:54would be remiss of me not to mention
12:56some reforms it needs to be a takeaway
12:58it's not just to tell the story
12:59I actually only tell the story to get to
13:01the deficiencies and the changes that
13:03are needed to prevent this from other
13:04people um so briefly um we need uh video
13:09we need interrogations to be videotaped
13:11completely from beginning to end because
13:13Co false confessions have been the cause
13:14of wrongful convicts in 25% of the cases
13:17uh the other reforms designed to prevent
13:19wrongful conviction by coer false
13:21confession would include uh admission of
13:23false confession expert testimony into
13:25the courtroom uh that's important
13:28because um the general public think that
13:30innocent people would not falsely
13:32confess uh the experts don't give an
13:34opinion on whether a confession is false
13:36or not that's up to the jury of the
13:37court but instead they provide
13:39contextual information as to what the
13:41factors are that could lead an innocent
13:43person to confess so that the court
13:46could take that into account and
13:48determine whether a confession is is
13:49false or not uh having a pre-trial
13:52hearing where the accuracy of a
13:54confession is considered not just
13:56whether or not something was um
13:58voluntary or
14:00not in terms of uh misidentification
14:03misidentification has been the cause of
14:05wrongful convictions since 75% of the
14:07DNA proven wrongful convictions uh best
14:10practices in this area would include
14:12having everybody in the lineup or photo
14:14array resemble the description given by
14:16a witness uh telling the witness that
14:18the actual perpetrator may not
14:20necessarily be in the lineup or photo
14:21array so that there isn't a uh undue
14:24level of confidence uh taking a
14:26confident statement asking a witness
14:28while on scale of one ATT 10 how
14:29confident are you of your
14:31identification uh that that's important
14:33to collect that because by the time a
14:34trial rolls around the uh a witness
14:36would have been prepped several times
14:38and testified in several uh pre-trial
14:41proceedings uh telling
14:44um having uh the Double the usage of the
14:46double blind method so that the officer
14:48doing the lineup of photo Ray doesn't
14:50actually know who's suspected so
14:51inadvertent cues or Clues couldn't be
14:53given uh videotaping the process so that
14:56we don't have to rely just on uh just
14:59just on um testimony uh letting the
15:02witness know that if an identification
15:04is not made that the investigation will
15:06continue so that nobody feels pressed to
15:08make an identification unless the
15:10perpetrator uh Escape uh justice and
15:13lastly whoever is doing the photo array
15:15a lineup should not make a give a
15:17congratulatory statement at the end of
15:18the procedure because that has the
15:20impact of bolstering the uh confidence
15:23level of of the witness prosecutorial
15:26misconducts a major cause of uh wrongful
15:29conviction uh here I advocate for a few
15:31things uh definitely the commission on
15:33prosecutorial conduct which the uh
15:35advocacy group The Umbrella organization
15:37it can happen to you has been
15:38spearheading along with um uh the
15:41support of many other organizations and
15:43people basically there should be like a
15:45committee that's similar to the um the
15:48uh Commission on judicial conduct right
15:51now there is no independent oversight
15:53board they have ability to investigate
15:55allegations of prosecutorial misconduct
15:57they'd have subpoena power they could
15:59recommend from a a menu of consequences
16:01uh from a reprimand to actual removal uh
16:04of uh from being in office so that's one
16:07aspect of it uh removal of uh
16:09prosecutorial immunity you know uh
16:11prosecutor is one of the few professions
16:14where you can break the law and there's
16:15no consequences uh police don't have
16:17that type of immunity and they're not
16:19hindered from doing their job they just
16:21don't violate somebody's rights you
16:22don't have to worry about um being a
16:24defendant and I think when there's
16:26clear-cut intentional prosecutorial
16:28misconduct
16:29uh that should be and things like
16:32withholding evidence of Innocence
16:33threatening Witnesses either would be
16:35charges or threatening removal of kids
16:38uh working hand in glove with experts
16:39tell me what you want to prove and I'll
16:41prove it I think when that happens and
16:43an innocent person goes to prison then
16:46there should be a criminal consequence
16:48that should be a crime because as far as
16:49I'm concerned that's a kidnapping you
16:51know done under color of law using the
16:53uh using the system so um
16:59we need to have better system of Defense
17:01uh the public defender system is broken
17:04if you can afford a lawyer and you have
17:06uh political uh connections then you're
17:09okay but for most of us that's not what
17:11our reality is we need to have one
17:13Statewide system so there could be
17:15oversight and quality control we need to
17:17limit the case uh the case load It's Not
17:19Unusual for one attorney to represent
17:21100 people at the same time we need to
17:23have equal financial resources and
17:25Manpower between the public defender's
17:27office and the prosecutor's office
17:29office and um we need to have equal pay
17:32for both sides I think it's the wrong
17:33message to give a prosecutor starting
17:35salaries more than what a public
17:37defenders is I mean we're saying that
17:38they're doing a more important job it's
17:40another inequity uh we need to have um
17:43safeguards in place incentivized uh
17:46witnessing which is when someone gets a
17:47benefit for Testimony it's been a cause
17:49of wrongful convictions in 15% of the
17:51cases uh so here the reforms would be uh
17:54if we're going to allow um these
17:56so-called jail house confessions then
17:58you we need to wear uh people need to
18:00wear wires so we can be sure that these
18:03incriminating conversations actually
18:04take place as opposed to being uh
18:07fabricated uh there should be an
18:09external evidence requirement meaning
18:11that nobody should be allowed to be
18:12convicted based only on an informant
18:14there should be at least one piece of
18:16evidence uh required uh be beyond
18:20that um and so with that I'm going I'm
18:23going to end and uh tell them about your
18:26family the disassociative aspect of that
18:29many years and how it broke your family
18:31real quick okay so I'm being being asked
18:33to share just on the uh human interest
18:35side of things um one of the uh After
18:38Effects is um in terms of trying to put
18:41your life back together again there's
18:42definitely a crossover into into the
18:44family you know it's uh you know I've
18:47talked to a lot of people and then also
18:48using myself uh as example is you know
18:51it's very difficult to reconnect uh with
18:53your family after you spent really many
18:55years uh away from them with limited to
18:58no contacted in many cases uh I'm
19:01certainly a different person than what I
19:02was before and as our members of my
19:04family so uh it's hard to reconnect so
19:08when I meet up with them it's uh kind of
19:10an awkward experience at times because I
19:12know who they are intellectually and I
19:14have memories uh from when I was younger
19:17but there is a really long Gap and so
19:20it's um still kind of a somewhat of an
19:23awkward thing so there's a lot of um
19:25implications for everybody um the
19:28community was in danger then the actual
19:30criminal was left free and uh certainly
19:33that didn't bring any closure to the
19:34actual victim's uh family to have the
19:36wrong person in there and then then
19:38there's a second uh victim's family who
19:40the victim the family of the second
19:42victim who the actual criminal um killed
19:47three and a half years later so with
19:48that I'm going to um thank everybody I
19:50want to thank the Americans for legal
19:51reform for putting on this event tonight
19:53and having me back to speak
20:01[Music]
20:14[Music]
20:26[Music]
20:38[Music]
20:41Long Island
20:43backstory Chief correspondent Gary
20:46Jacobs is uncovering the truth on Long
20:49Island the family court
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21:02judges at Long Island backstory we
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21:26[Music]
21:47Todd's a great
21:50guy I mean look at
21:54him what a sweetheart
21:59ATT a
22:01boy wait Todd what are you
22:05doing how totally selfish and UNT tolike
22:09of
22:10you come on Todd come on
22:15man Long Island backstory
22:27[Music]
22:33Long Island backstory
22:47[Music]
23:09[Music]
23:23they said I couldn't
23:25dream called me a piece of trash and
23:28swore that that's all I'd ever
23:36be said a bottle couldn't see the
23:47ocean give
23:50up go back to the
23:53[Music]
23:55dumpstar but I didn't listen
24:00I made my
24:05way and
24:07now I am what I've always wanted to be
24:19[Music]

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