Ray Krone — Transcript

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1. 0:00mr. chairman members of the committee my
2. 0:02name is Ray Krone KR o ne and I
3. 0:07considered a great honor a great
4. 0:08privilege
5. 0:09I consider myself very fortunate to be
6. 0:12here because I'm a death row survivor at
7. 0:16one time I was sent to death in Arizona
8. 0:18and I'm well aware the time restraints I
9. 0:20only have a few minutes to tell you
10. 0:22about the ten years that I spent
11. 0:24fighting for my life and my Liberty my
12. 0:25freedom my family default with me if I
13. 0:28had time I'd like to tell you about my
14. 0:30background growing up south central
15. 0:32Pennsylvania small agricultural town
16. 0:33about my time into Boy Scouts my time in
17. 0:36the church choir my time in the Little
18. 0:38League graduating the top 10% of my high
19. 0:41school class I'd like to tell you about
20. 0:42the six years I spent in the US Air
21. 0:44Force out of high school the seven years
22. 0:46I spent with the US Post Office after I
23. 0:48got out of the service but what I really
24. 0:53have to talk about is what I learned
25. 0:54about the death penalty something I used
26. 0:55to support something I used to believe
27. 0:57in I found out I had opinion it was a
28. 0:59mile wide and an inch deep because I
29. 1:00didn't know what I was believing in
30. 1:01because see the day came when I was
31. 1:03arrested for a murder I had nothing to
32. 1:05do with because I'd never been in
33. 1:08trouble had nothing to worry about I was
34. 1:09home in bed had a roommate at knew I was
35. 1:11home in bed I took whatever attorney
36. 1:13they gave me a court-appointed attorney
37. 1:14that was granted $5,000 to defend me you
38. 1:18can't even get divorced for $5,000 and I
39. 1:21got what they paid for I got represented
40. 1:23very poor representation God asked to
41. 1:26take a plea bargain refused it within
42. 1:28just seven months I'm on trial for that
43. 1:30murder and because there was
44. 1:32fingerprints and footprints and hair
45. 1:33that didn't really match me they got a
46. 1:35bite mark expert and that three-day
47. 1:38trial I was convicted based on that
48. 1:40experts testimony that marks antibody
49. 1:41matched my teeth that my teeth were
50. 1:43unique and that that bite mark happened
51. 1:44at that time of the murder that made me
52. 1:46Ray Krone to murderer and during the
53. 1:50sentencing phase and I had to go before
54. 1:51the judge and I was to show remorse I
55. 1:53was to show regret I was just show
56. 1:54mitigating factors how do you mitigate
57. 1:56something you didn't do
58. 1:58how do you show remorse or regret for an
59. 2:00act you never committed I told the judge
60. 2:03you have the wrong person
61. 2:04and that prostitute called me a horrible
62. 2:06cold blooded murderer with no remorse
63. 2:08and so I was bound up and changed and
64. 2:10sent to death row
65. 2:11fortunately for me the prosecutor
66. 2:13committed a few errors I was eventually
67. 2:15my case was overturned by the Arizona
68. 2:17Supreme Court because the prosecutor
69. 2:18misconduct by now they'd executed over
70. 2:21half a dozen people in the state of
71. 2:22Arizona people that I knew I knew the
72. 2:24state couldn't would execute you and
73. 2:26didn't care about the truth didn't care
74. 2:27if you were innocent and my family
75. 2:29mortgaged their homes cashed in their
76. 2:31retirement funds friends and family
77. 2:33members got together and got enough
78. 2:34money up that I could hire a good
79. 2:35attorney my second trial lasted six and
80. 2:38a half weeks over 500 exhibits over 30
81. 2:40experts testified three bite mark
82. 2:42experts testified for the defense alone
83. 2:44my family came out and sat through that
84. 2:46trial and the truth was coming out I was
85. 2:49very proud to be there I was very proud
86. 2:51of our system cuz I still believed in
87. 2:52that system DNA off that bite mark that
88. 2:56I'm supposed to make did not match me at
89. 2:58the end of that trial that prosecutor
90. 3:00cool told the jury to ignore that DNA
91. 3:02evidence that's easy to explain it was
92. 3:03just transferred there by accident by
93. 3:05somebody else that jury came back and
94. 3:08found me guilty again and as bad as it
95. 3:11was that first time being sentenced to
96. 3:12death being charged with with guilt of a
97. 3:15murder you never committed it wasn't
98. 3:16nowhere near as horrible gut-wrenching
99. 3:20mind-numbing
100. 3:21pain that I felt when that verdict was
101. 3:24announced and hear the horrible moan the
102. 3:26scream from my mom and sister sitting
103. 3:27five feet behind me in that courtroom
104. 3:29and I look over to jury and I see him
105. 3:31wiping the tears out of their eyes and
106. 3:32the bailiff can't hardly read the
107. 3:34verdict and my attorneys hanging on my
108. 3:36shoulder saying I can't believe it it's
109. 3:37not over yet I'll fight with you to the
110. 3:38end and look over the prosecution side
111. 3:40and they're jumping up and down
112. 3:41high-five minute like they just won a
113. 3:42big ballgame I still believed in that
114. 3:45system and this time the judge ruled
115. 3:48there was lingering doubt of my guilt he
116. 3:49wasn't sure that I did it so he sends me
117. 3:52to life instead and for the next years I
118. 3:55seen people be released because of DNA
119. 3:57and I kind of had mixed emotions I said
120. 3:59that could be me one day because I'm
121. 4:00innocent too and on the other hand I
122. 4:02looked I said yeah a lot of good DNA did
123. 4:04for me and then thankfully in 2000 and
124. 4:08our zero state legislators passed a new
125. 4:09law making it easier for inmates to
126. 4:11request DNA testing make it easier to
127. 4:13have access to the courts to have DNA
128. 4:14testing done we petitioned the courts to
129. 4:16do that DNA testing
130. 4:18fortunately the police department of
131. 4:20Phoenix of Arizona had Collette kept the
132. 4:23victims pants and underwear and they
133. 4:25extracted DNA from their pants and
134. 4:26underwear
135. 4:27and they compared it to meat it wasn't
136. 4:28me and they compared it to the victim
137. 4:29and it wasn't the victim and God blessed
138. 4:32us overachiever there to crime that
139. 4:33because he took that DNA sample and he
140. 4:35put that into the nationwide DNA data
141. 4:37bank and it came back with a match I
142. 4:40matched a man and in his history of
143. 4:42sexual assaults against women and
144. 4:43children and finally after ten years
145. 4:45three months and eight days I got my
146. 4:48freedom back I got my justice my family
147. 4:50got my job that justice there's pure
148. 4:53luck the number of the number of
149. 4:55circumstantial just the number of
150. 4:59fortunate lucky breaks that we had to
151. 5:01get to ever prove my innocence to ever
152. 5:04had the chance the opportunity to
153. 5:05address you as scary as frightening for
154. 5:07somebody believed in the system somebody
155. 5:08believed in the death penalty I can't
156. 5:09support I can't believe it anymore and
157. 5:12I'll tell you this when somebody's
158. 5:15executed they say they execute in the
159. 5:16name of all the people in that state all
160. 5:17the citizens that blood would be on our
161. 5:21hands I know what it's like to be called
162. 5:23a murderer I know what it's like to feel
163. 5:25like a murderer I don't want that blow
164. 5:27to my hands and new members have an
165. 5:29opportunity now to see the data
166. 5:30injustice that blood that sense of guilt
167. 5:34can never fall and never happened in
168. 5:36this state of mind great state of
169. 5:38Montana I encourage you to review this
170. 5:40issue look into it don't just take my
171. 5:42testimony the other testimonies research
172. 5:44yourself I do believe this I do believe
173. 5:47you've come to the right conclusion and
174. 5:48see that we've made a mistake for a long
175. 5:50time and you can do had the opportunity
176. 5:52now to correct it thank you