Freedom Files: Wrongfully Convicted | Jeffrey Deskovic's False Confession Sends Him to Prison — Transcript

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1. 0:00more than one quarter of prisoners
2. 0:01exonerated by dna evidence
3. 0:03have been shown to have falsely
4. 0:04confessed to crimes they did not commit
5. 0:07i should know i am youssef salaam one of
6. 0:09the central park five
7. 0:12when it comes to false confessions it's
8. 0:13believed that nearly 40 percent of them
9. 0:16involved
10. 0:16teens in today's freedom files
11. 0:18wrongfully convicted
12. 0:19we chat with jeffrey deskovic who went
13. 0:21to prison
14. 0:22at 17. his story is a warning to us all
15. 0:25innocent people
16. 0:26do confess to crimes they did not commit
17. 0:29earlier eric and i caught up with him
18. 0:36november 17 1989 the two-day search for
19. 0:4015-year-old angela carrera
20. 0:42comes to an end after police find her
21. 0:45raped and beaten body
22. 0:46in a wooded area in peekskill new york i
23. 0:49just knew of angela because she was a
24. 0:51classmate but
25. 0:52we weren't friends we didn't move in any
26. 0:54of the same social circles
27. 0:56police zero in on 16 year old jeffrey
28. 0:59deskovic
29. 1:00i was kind of like a sentimental kid and
30. 1:01this was really my first brush with debt
31. 1:03but the police interpreted my being
32. 1:05emotionally some
33. 1:07outward sign that i was sorry for what i
34. 1:09had done jeffrey
35. 1:10who has his own dreams of being an
36. 1:12officer one day
37. 1:13is told by police that they need his
38. 1:15help to crack the case
39. 1:17they made me feel important they made me
40. 1:18feel the center of attention
41. 1:20without a parent or a lawyer with him
42. 1:22over a span
43. 1:23of seven hours jeffrey is interrogated
44. 1:26and given three polygraph tests they put
45. 1:29me in a small room and gave him
46. 1:31countless cups of coffee
47. 1:33this was the purpose of getting wired up
48. 1:35so he invaded my personal space
49. 1:38he raised his voice at me he kept asking
50. 1:40me the same questions uh
51. 1:42over over and over again towards the end
52. 1:44of the interrogation he said to me
53. 1:46what do you mean you didn't do it you
54. 1:48just told me through the polygraph test
55. 1:49results that you did
56. 1:51gripped by fear jeffrey lies and
57. 1:53confesses to the crime
58. 1:55by the time everything was all said and
59. 1:57done i collapsed on the floor into a
60. 1:59field position
61. 2:02he is arrested and charged with first
62. 2:04degree rape
63. 2:05and second-degree murder
64. 2:09a rape kit is presented at trial but
65. 2:11jeffrey's dna
66. 2:13isn't a match in order to explain away
67. 2:15this dna
68. 2:17the prosecutor got the medical examiner
69. 2:19to connect fraud
70. 2:20the medical examiner tells jurors that
71. 2:23he forgot to document medical evidence
72. 2:25on the autopsy
73. 2:26that shows the victim was sexually
74. 2:28active therefore the dna mismatch
75. 2:30doesn't matter and i was really shocked
76. 2:33i mean i
77. 2:34actually couldn't believe my hearing
78. 2:36jurors are told that jeffrey
79. 2:37strangled angela in a jealous rage and
80. 2:40he is found guilty
81. 2:44jeffrey earns his ged and associates
82. 2:46degree and studies his case
83. 2:48daily and i had to hold it together
84. 2:50because i knew that nobody was coming to
85. 2:52my rescue
86. 2:53his other daily struggle is keeping his
87. 2:55conviction a secret
88. 2:57from other inmates and we have that
89. 2:59tight little rapist and that's
90. 3:01considered to be the bottom of the total
91. 3:03pole and the
92. 3:04other prisoners they take on like a
93. 3:07vigil any type of mentality
94. 3:09one instance leaves jeffrey fighting for
95. 3:11his life
96. 3:12after inmates discover his true
97. 3:13conviction and beat him
98. 3:15with a 10 pound weight
99. 3:20in january of 2006 the innocence project
100. 3:23takes jeffrey's case
101. 3:24and the dna evidence is put into a new
102. 3:26database
103. 3:27months later the system matches the dna
104. 3:31to another convicted murderer so i
105. 3:34remember when i got the news i remember
106. 3:35i was in the same thing and
107. 3:37i remember the guard opened my cell and
108. 3:39told me how to visit
109. 3:41and she told me that going home tomorrow
110. 3:44after
111. 3:4416 years in prison jeffrey is released
112. 3:47and his conviction is overturned his
113. 3:50indictment is dismissed on grounds of
114. 3:52actual innocence
115. 3:54[Music]
116. 3:58jeffrey welcome to dbl thank you for
117. 4:01sharing your story now
118. 4:02i want to talk to you about your
119. 4:04confession why did you admit to
120. 4:06something
121. 4:07you know you didn't do because i was
122. 4:10threatened i was coerced
123. 4:11that was over a seven hour interrogation
124. 4:13and i was 16 years old
125. 4:15your mom didn't even know uh you said
126. 4:17that you were in a fetal position
127. 4:19underneath the desk at the end of it was
128. 4:22that the worst part of the interrogation
129. 4:24walk us through it or were there other
130. 4:25parts that when you look back in
131. 4:27hindsight as an adult
132. 4:29it makes you shudder just being attached
133. 4:31to a polygraph machine being put into a
134. 4:33small room
135. 4:34you know i wasn't used to talking to
136. 4:36adult males
137. 4:37and for just the third degree tactics
138. 4:39that the polygraph is engaged in i mean
139. 4:41invading my personal space
140. 4:43raising his voice at me asking the same
141. 4:44questions over and over again getting
142. 4:46more ferocious as
143. 4:48each hour passed and really just being
144. 4:50in fear of my life i mean the fact that
145. 4:52i didn't know where i was that nobody
146. 4:53else knew where i was either at loom
147. 4:55very
148. 4:55large in my mind so all of those things
149. 4:58were terrifying
150. 4:59you know as tragic as your story is it's
151. 5:02unfortunately incredibly
152. 5:03common what is a common misconception
153. 5:06about confessions
154. 5:08that are that an innocent person would
155. 5:10never confess
156. 5:11whereas of course false confessions have
157. 5:13been the cause of wrongful conviction
158. 5:14and 25
159. 5:15of the dna proven wrongful convictions
160. 5:18and while adults have given coerced
161. 5:19false confessions particularly
162. 5:21vulnerable populations are
163. 5:22people with uh mental health issues and
164. 5:25also youth
165. 5:26so i think that's the biggest thing the
166. 5:28second thing is that
167. 5:30i don't think the public understands
168. 5:31that a lot of times in the course of the
169. 5:33interrogations
170. 5:34the police give the suspects details of
171. 5:37the crime
172. 5:38which when the person being questioned
173. 5:40gives the false confession they
174. 5:41incorporate those details that they're
175. 5:43already given
176. 5:43into the story the prosecution turns
177. 5:46around and says well
178. 5:47look those are details that only the
179. 5:49killer would know every time the
180. 5:51wrong person is convicted it leaves the
181. 5:54actual perpetrator free to strike again
182. 5:56you know that happened in my case the
183. 5:57actual murderer committed a second crime
184. 6:00he killed a schoolteacher and
185. 6:01mother of two so i really see this as a
186. 6:03public safety issue and about accuracy
187. 6:05and justice
188. 6:06you are just an incredible human being
189. 6:08um you know throughout all of this
190. 6:10adversity
191. 6:11you have managed to persevere and we
192. 6:12understand that congratulations are in
193. 6:14order
194. 6:15because you recently got your law
195. 6:17license how are you hoping to make a
196. 6:19change
197. 6:20sure so i did start uh the non-profit
198. 6:22the jeffrey desk foundation for justice
199. 6:24using some of the compensation that i
200. 6:26got and we've been able to get eight
201. 6:28people home that are wrongfully
202. 6:29imprisoned and
203. 6:30we've been able to help pass three laws
204. 6:32i'm intending to
205. 6:34represent some of the clients of
206. 6:36foundation myself i got tired of sitting
207. 6:38in the front row
208. 6:39of the courtroom i wanted to be able to
209. 6:40sit at the defense table you know
210. 6:42wrongful conviction
211. 6:43is is a countrywide problem it's better
212. 6:46to prevent wrongful convictions as great
213. 6:47as it is to exonerate
214. 6:49so i think that the policy work is just
215. 6:51as important so i see the
216. 6:52law license and having an application in
217. 6:54that as well amen
218. 6:55wow thank you so much jeffrey uh for
219. 6:58those of you looking to learn more about
220. 7:00jeffrey's story
221. 7:01check out his documentary conviction
222. 7:03which is available on amazon
223. 7:04and if you want to help him fight for
224. 7:06others visit his non-profit
225. 7:08the deskovic foundation thank you so
226. 7:10much jeffrey thank you for having me on
227. 7:31you