Highlights: A.M. “Marty” Stroud III on the wrongful conviction and exoneration of Glenn Ford — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00good morning my name is Marnie Stroud
2. 0:03I'm live in Shreveport Louisiana Caddo
3. 0:09Parish judge Donald's said the United
4. 0:11States hosts a distinction of the cost
5. 0:15rating more people per capita than any
6. 0:16other place in the world
7. 0:18well Louisiana Mike's first amongst the
8. 0:22state's an incarceration rate in Caddo
9. 0:24Parish ranks first among the parishes so
10. 0:26you may say I live in an area where more
11. 0:30people per capita are incarcerated than
12. 0:32anywhere else and you would think our
13. 0:34city would be safe but we have the same
14. 0:37crime rates and problems that every
15. 0:39other city has I want to talk a little a
16. 0:46little bit about the Glen Ford case
17. 0:48which has generated some publicity
18. 1:01Al Pacino in the movie and justice for
19. 1:04all states therein winning is everything
20. 1:10now if I ever there's a movie back in
21. 1:121992 and whites you to watch that movie
22. 1:16it has one half of an opening statement
23. 1:18that if given in reality would probably
24. 1:22cause you to lose your bar license but
25. 1:24it's still a pretty good opening
26. 1:27statement every day before I started at
27. 1:32criminal trial I would look in the
28. 1:35mirror and recite the speech given by
29. 1:39George Patton in the movie Patton back
30. 1:42in 1970 I don't know how many folks
31. 1:45weren't alive at that time or saw the
32. 1:47movie but that particular speech puts
33. 1:51this concept of winning at all cost in
34. 1:55perspective it's a movie and again I
35. 1:57hope I don't get in trouble for using
36. 1:59some bad words but it starts with the he
37. 2:03stands up and says I want to tell you
38. 2:06that no bastard ever won a war but by
39. 2:10being killed he won the war by making
40. 2:13the other poor dumb bastard die for his
41. 2:15country he ended the speech with the one
42. 2:20thing I'm gonna leave you with and you
43. 2:21can thank God for 30 years from now when
44. 2:24you're sitting around the fire with your
45. 2:25grandchild on your knee and he asked you
46. 2:28what did you do in the great world war 2
47. 2:30you won't have to tell him well I shall
48. 2:35shovel in Louisiana so in that
49. 2:40speech
50. 2:43he talks about he says americans love a
51. 2:47winner and can't cannot stand a loser
52. 2:50i'll add a price to that unless you a
53. 2:52Chicago Cubs fan Americans want to win
54. 2:59every time I wouldn't give a hoot in
55. 3:04hell for somebody who lost and laughed
56. 3:08that's why America never will nor will
57. 3:11they ever lose a war the very thought of
58. 3:14losing is hateful to Americans in the
59. 3:20Glen Ford case it was prosecuted in 1984
60. 3:26he was tried for first-degree murder
61. 3:31jury convicted him in Louisiana we do
62. 3:37have the death penalty he was sentenced
63. 3:40to death sent to Angola spent 30 years
64. 3:45in a coma cage I don't know if anybody's
65. 3:52been on death row but it's certainly not
66. 3:53of their States
67. 3:56he got out one hour a day he maintained
68. 4:01his innocence every time every day
69. 4:10thirty years later this year evidence
70. 4:13was uncovered that that showed that mr.
71. 4:15Ford had not committed the offense this
72. 4:19information was gotten from in a
73. 4:24collateral investigation and in the
74. 4:25motion to dismiss file by the state
75. 4:28there was a statement if this
76. 4:31information had been known to the state
77. 4:32at the time there wasn't even been
78. 4:34enough information enough to arrest the
79. 4:37guy much less convict the guy
80. 4:45I felt I was in my early thirties at the
81. 4:50time and at that time I was full of
82. 4:52you-know-what in vinegar I feel like I
83. 4:55was a fire-eater I went after him with
84. 4:58everything I got I was sure he was
85. 5:04guilty I believe I was we were in the
86. 5:06second part type of case that mr.
87. 5:11Toliver talked about and when that hit
88. 5:15me it hit me like a ton of rocks I just
89. 5:18I couldn't believe it
90. 5:20anyway mr. Ford was released and on top
91. 5:25of that he had developed lung cancer
92. 5:29while he was on death row and he applied
93. 5:36for compensation from the state some
94. 5:39states have compensation statutes others
95. 5:41duck donald louisiana has one when he
96. 5:44was released from angola and this is
97. 5:46probably the most the fact i remember
98. 5:50every day in my life and I will talk do
99. 5:52I die he was released from being in a
100. 5:56cage for 30 years and as he walked out
101. 5:59of Angola he was given a $20 gift card
102. 6:04along with the apology sorry for the
103. 6:07inconvenience now that is we've talked
104. 6:13about justice in this case
105. 6:16that's about the father sign from
106. 6:17justice that I can think about confined
107. 6:26as I say he something subsequently and
108. 6:30he subsequently died from lung cancer he
109. 6:33had filed a motion for compensation and
110. 6:36under Louisiana's compensation statute
111. 6:39they they take with the left and give
112. 6:40away with the right I said yeah you can
113. 6:42get compensation if number one you can
114. 6:46factually prove your innocence and
115. 6:47number two that you don't have any other
116. 6:49federal any other type of felony
117. 6:52conviction so under that statute the
118. 6:55judge ruled that this man who spent 30
119. 7:00years on death row for a crime he didn't
120. 7:02commit was not entitled to compensation
121. 7:06I was sitting at home and just hanging
122. 7:14out with my cat and there was an
123. 7:19editorial in the Shreveport Times about
124. 7:22this and I picked up a pen I and I
125. 7:26started the letter I said I've never
126. 7:28written before and I'll never probably
127. 7:30ever have occasion to write again but
128. 7:33this man deserves compensation
129. 7:37I was also also set forth that I thought
130. 7:42that the the argument that the system
131. 7:45did it we make mistakes you didn't do
132. 7:48anything wrong
133. 7:49you were just doing your job don't worry
134. 7:54about he probably did something else
135. 7:58those statements finally just I got sick
136. 8:05of hearing so in the letter I wrote I
137. 8:09told I wrote that I was the lead
138. 8:14prosecutor and as such I take
139. 8:16responsibility for the wrongful
140. 8:17conviction I take responsibility for the
141. 8:23wrongful conviction because mr. four had
142. 8:25two attorneys none of which had ever
143. 8:28tried a case and I remain silent the
144. 8:33prosecution ran over the defense like
145. 8:35when I was young I saw a paid New York
146. 8:39Post a Saturday evening coat whatever
147. 8:42they had and on the front was a picture
148. 8:45of Mussolini's tanks coming into
149. 8:50Ethiopia and in the nighties were using
150. 8:54Spears trying to stop the tanks and I
151. 8:56never forgot that picture and that's
152. 8:58what happened in this case we had
153. 8:59everything they had nothing it was an
154. 9:02unfair fight and we were we were there
155. 9:04trying an individual for capital murder
156. 9:09number two it was an all-white jury
157. 9:13now back in 1984 I think the law was on
158. 9:18using peremptory challenges was that
159. 9:21unless you could establish a systematic
160. 9:24exclusion of African Americans and then
161. 9:26you did not have calls for challenge in
162. 9:28the particular case which to me is an
163. 9:30impossible burden for the proponent to
164. 9:32meet to make while the case was on
165. 9:35appeal the Batson case came out was
166. 9:37changed and was changed the equations
167. 9:40somewhat but the judge found nothing
168. 9:42wrong with with the with the composition
169. 9:46of the cheery dark the third thing sat
170. 9:52back and did nothing about it
171. 9:54they didn't these two attorneys didn't
172. 9:57have any money
173. 9:57they didn't haven't yet know how to put
174. 10:01on a mitigation defense Glenn Ford's
175. 10:07wife showed up from California to
176. 10:09testify in the mitigation phase and this
177. 10:11company unbeknownst to me at the time a
178. 10:14bailiff outside said well it's too late
179. 10:16the mitigation cases is about over so
180. 10:20she turned around went back to
181. 10:21California I didn't find that out until
182. 10:23later and basically they put on the
183. 10:27defense Glen Ford took the stand without
184. 10:31any preparation and
185. 10:37I cross-examined him
186. 10:41and how come it was just I guess a
187. 10:44prosecutor's dream to have some money
188. 10:46you know at the time he said
189. 10:48cross-examine but he said one thing to
190. 10:50me I said well what do you want to tell
191. 10:54this jury and he said I want to tell
192. 10:56this jury that I'm not guilty and I said
193. 10:58why they just found you guilty you're
194. 11:02saying that they're a bunch of idiots I
195. 11:05some prejudice or remarked to that
196. 11:08effect and he looked at me he said no
197. 11:11sir I think they're wrong and I want
198. 11:15time to be able to prove my innocence
199. 11:20and that's another statement I really
200. 11:22remember every day because in fact his
201. 11:26innocence was established years later
202. 11:33I met mr. Ford shortly before he died we
203. 11:38had a conversation I apologized to him I
204. 11:47told him I mean I asked for forgiveness
205. 11:50and he said I can't do that just now but
206. 11:53I'm working on it
207. 11:54I said well I understand if I were in
208. 11:57your shoes I probably would couldn't
209. 11:59forgive me either because I did a lot of
210. 12:02horrible things in this case the point
211. 12:05being is that at the time I did I go out
212. 12:08to knowingly convict an innocent man
213. 12:11no I didn't think I had an innocent man
214. 12:14once I locked in I didn't worry about
215. 12:16Brady we had a case we had a solid case
216. 12:19this was an individual it should be
217. 12:22prosecuted and I had done my job
218. 12:30that was this idea of when winning at
219. 12:35all costs now Brady to me meant and I'm
220. 12:41how many of you I just happened to me
221. 12:43alot since I've been in the defense
222. 12:44attorney you asked for Brady material
223. 12:47and you get over ply from the prosecutor
224. 12:48we've looked at the file there is none I
225. 12:50get that about ninety percent of the
226. 12:53time and that means you got to you got
227. 12:54to follow up I did the same thing then
228. 12:57I'd heard rumors about others people
229. 13:00being involved I asked the investigators
230. 13:02or anything to that was told no not
231. 13:05failure there was not to follow up
232. 13:13I've had dreams about the case where I
233. 13:16stand up in the middle of the trial and
234. 13:20just scream stop this injustice
235. 13:30as I say this does not have this story
236. 13:33doesn't have a happy ending
237. 13:35I believe mr. Ford is is in a better
238. 13:41place now and I rely and I realized that
239. 13:49my mistakes of in judgment led to this
240. 13:56man being on death row Bridey
241. 14:04there you have the interplay between
242. 14:05winning all cost and Brady
243. 14:07I told when I was a first assistant when
244. 14:12somebody came in and we discussed their
245. 14:17case we never discussed Brady when you
246. 14:23were being evaluated for a raise
247. 14:25there wasn't a question about Brady on
248. 14:27there did you turn over exculpatory
249. 14:29materials nobody came in after Lawson
250. 14:33see well you know Marny tough case we
251. 14:37lost it but I got I complied with Brady
252. 14:40that didn't merit arrays and our office
253. 14:44and probably no other office I think
254. 14:49particularly in and I'm speaking for
255. 14:53come on that's the perspective of my
256. 14:56state Brady I don't believe Brady's
257. 15:01incapable of being enforced without
258. 15:05judicial intervention I think the
259. 15:11presumption that prosecutors act in good
260. 15:13faith that was the basis I think was a
261. 15:16Brady just hasn't worked a lot of
262. 15:20prosecutors have are good things we've
263. 15:23all run across and we know who those
264. 15:25people are but there are other
265. 15:27prosecutors who don't there and
266. 15:33it depends on the judge if the judge
267. 15:35doesn't want to did you ask them in
268. 15:37camera inspection does it judge look at
269. 15:40it doesn't judge not look at it and I in
270. 15:42a jurisdiction that doesn't happen that
271. 15:45often they rely on the prosecutors
272. 15:50representation actually Marnie I'm gonna
273. 15:54switch over to Lane because there's some
274. 15:57points we're gonna be able to circle
275. 15:58back and follow up website one more time
276. 16:00absolutely not in many cops see another
277. 16:03he's from Alabama and I'm from LSU and
278. 16:07we got a big bad rivalry going oh my
279. 16:11what got me though and I would recommend
280. 16:14if you've never seen the movie judgment
281. 16:18at Nuremburg was Spencer Tracy at the
282. 16:21end of the movie he's a lead judge and
283. 16:25when he comes out he says we want
284. 16:28everyone to know that the principals of
285. 16:30the district coming for this Tribunal
286. 16:32are truth justice and the individual
287. 16:39dignity of every human being and I feel
288. 16:42that in my treatment of Glenn Ford he
289. 16:45was denied that individual dignity that
290. 16:49he's entitled to under the law thank you
291. 16:52thank you