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Surviving Death Row: Travis Richey Interviews Nick Yarris 🎙️⚖️ — Transcript

by Travis Richey · 13,105 words · 1,781 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00oh yeah Vicky had me sitting there at
0:02her mom's dinner table with her sister
0:04and family well I'm thinking to myself
0:06this is [ __ ] crazy Y is looking for
0:18me now more than ever is the beacon of
0:22being Ultra strong this is why you're
0:25for this moment man I was I was so
0:29blessed to meet you because of what
0:31happened yesterday with Jimmy
0:34Rex you see within just a a few minutes
0:38of hearing of my story you dug deep and
0:42reached in in heart love soul and
0:45support right yeah so that that's true
0:49about you then you need to be that for
0:51everyone in every situation now around
0:53you because people are deriving so much
0:55strength from you no one's got time for
0:58you to take your cape off little brother
1:01when you do that you darken the room but
1:05when you hold yourself up like a candle
1:07man how much brighter on the Block where
1:09you inside how many dudes did you lift
1:12up off their mattress man what did you
1:15do that for so that you could do it for
1:17that moment but that's not
1:19you look before we begin today I just
1:21want to say one thing to you Travis you
1:25have the empathy Gene it's what draws us
1:28together it may makes you feel deeply
1:32learn how to protect yourself from
1:35you all
1:37right know when to be kind to yourself
1:40and say no I can't burden myself look
1:43what I'm doing to my loved ones to my
1:45family to
1:47myself yeah I've learned that in the
1:50darkest moments brother I swear to God I
1:53picked my dead six-month old baby up in
1:56my arms and I came back from that moment
1:58where I never thought I would stop
2:01having the night terrors but here I am
2:03before you seven years later telling you
2:07you can come back from any form of PTSD
2:09or struggling as long as you believe in
2:12your gift because that's what really I
2:15started shaping my life
2:17around I read this quote by Pablo
2:20Picasso who said the meaning of the of
2:24your life is to find your gift and the
2:29purpose of your life is to give that
2:31gift
2:32away when you can find what your gift is
2:36God bless me I found what m is and you
2:40give that away to others you help a dude
2:43in Romania who's got a stuttering
2:45problem you help a guy in England who
2:47just had a baby you help men who are
2:50struggling elsewhere because that's your
2:53gift and what you paid for to be that
2:56person is that gift when I figured that
2:59all all out I realized it didn't matter
3:02that I'm sitting with you right now
3:03talking while I'm in a car homeless in
3:06England just starting off life again it
3:09doesn't matter where I am it really
3:12doesn't the good that I've done
3:14outweighs all of the hardships all of
3:17those moments you just
3:19felt be careful about indulging that
3:22feeling you almost went to when we first
3:25began speaking and I'll tell you why
3:30you have a very strong ego that got you
3:33out of the toughest situations yes you
3:37need a very strong ego to get through
3:39the uh prison situation without being
3:41mentally messed up from it but that same
3:45ego is just as powerful enough to make
3:48you want to break down and cry and spill
3:51out all of this
3:53feeling that aren't even real that are
3:57manufactured from childhood and other
4:00environmental inputs along the way from
4:02when we developed and we use them in the
4:05past to get that gratifying feeling and
4:07the after effects of the tears we get a
4:10high this is all when I realized I was
4:13wasting my time because I I live by this
4:17Creed I realize now I only have so many
4:21heartbeats left right I don't want to
4:24waste them on tears and anger
4:27anymore I went through all that
4:33appreciate you
4:35brother thank you for that and that's a
4:38that's a beautiful segue
4:41because everybody's wondering what you
4:44have lived through they don't know you
4:45like I know
4:47you but I'd like the world to know
4:50you so would you tell the people who is
4:53Nick
4:55yarus
4:58sure I have fascinating thing about my
5:03life I remember only a lot of scattered
5:07fleeting moments from my
5:09childhood but one of them
5:13was when I was a little boy living in
5:15southwest Philadelphia in 1968 in that
5:21era I had a orning on the front of my
5:25house a green fiberglass awning
5:30and out front under that awning on this
5:32row home on a little Street there was a
5:35lounge chair that I was allowed to sit
5:38on during the rain with my dog Joo and I
5:43would make these forts by turning the
5:46lounge chair sideways and throwing a big
5:49green blanket over it and crawling
5:51inside of it with my dog I would go on
5:54all of these Amazing Adventures in my
5:58mind
6:00I had a farm I had all these animals I
6:06went on sea adventures and land
6:08Adventures I went all into a childhood
6:12dreamlike
6:14State and at the core of that thing that
6:17I was doing I had this unbelievable
6:21feeling that my life was meant to be on
6:24a
6:25journey I don't know how it came to be
6:29but
6:30in the beginning I couldn't have
6:33foreseen what was about to unfold
6:36because I ended up having this
6:40amazing tragic start where I was a
6:43seven-year-old boy in my neighborhood in
6:46Philadelphia who had the day off in
6:49school when I was in my school clothes
6:52and playing with my dog Joo in the
6:55neighborhood there was some field and
6:57overgrowth behind the neighborhood and
7:00there was a fortress made of plywood and
7:04scraps of wood that were gathered by
7:05children back
7:08there there was a boy from my
7:10neighborhood who I'd seen as a a child
7:15be very aggressive and nasty and violent
7:19with adults so he was one of those scary
7:22ones I was very timid I everyone thought
7:25I was going to be short like my father
7:28who was only 5 fo8
7:32so I remember he made me take a puff of
7:37his cigarette that he was
7:39smoking and when I inhaled I got
7:43intoxicated from the
7:45tobacco and I lost Consciousness nearly
7:49and the next thing I
7:50remember he was raping me and he got
7:54finished and he started hitting me in
7:56the head with the field stone that he
7:58had in his
8:00this and
8:03I remember while he was putting his
8:06clothes on how he told me a story to
8:08tell everyone how there was a shopping
8:11cart
8:12nearby and that I was to say that there
8:14was a shopping cart that fell off a wall
8:16and landed on my head and that's why I
8:19have a a big bruise in the front of my
8:21head and when he said that I touched
8:23myself and there was an enormous giant
8:27thing on my head
8:30I remember running up the streets
8:32looking for my
8:34dog and screaming in Terror because he
8:37kept saying he was gonna kill
8:39Joo and I ran home and my mother was
8:43just horrified by what had happened to
8:45me and I got rushed to the will Eye
8:48Hospital in central
8:50Philadelphia where
8:52the contusion on the front of my
8:55forehead was causing my eyesight to shut
8:59down and narrow and I was losing the
9:02ability to have any sight so the doctors
9:06put all this ice on my head and tried to
9:08get swelling down but it was giving me
9:09enormous
9:11headaches
9:13in my Terror I kept it a secret I didn't
9:16tell my parents what had happened to
9:19me in that one bonding terrible
9:24way I Unleashed all of the things that
9:28can happen to a little
9:30boy I went through the self-doubt and
9:33the
9:34hatred the questioning of my
9:37own uh like reasoning by why would a man
9:43want to [ __ ] me why would he do that to
9:46a little boy you know and I was so
9:50horrified that I kept questioning was
9:53there's something about me that made me
9:55so vulnerable and all these mental
9:57things while inal Ing and keeping it a
10:01secret and I ended up having to wear
10:04corrective lenses on my eyes and I
10:07became really destructive in class I was
10:10always angry I used to hide in my
10:13basement and punch myself in the legs
10:16because I was afraid that if I stopped
10:18being angry I was going to get attacked
10:20again and I wouldn't talk to anyone I
10:24was very nasty and then I started
10:26drinking I was 10 years old and by the
10:29time I was 13 years old I was drunk
10:32every night after school get kicked out
10:35of school I got arrested many times as a
10:38juvenile for petty theft and things like
10:40that and I ended up going into the
10:43juvenile violent uh offender Center uh
10:46centers in Philadelphia and in
10:48particular they put me in Cornwall
10:50Heights which was the forensics maximum
10:53security unit for ultraviolent teens
10:57because I stabbed my teacher in high
10:59school school by accident taking a pen
11:01out of my back and stabbing another
11:03student but I missed and stabbed my
11:06teacher my whole life kept getting worse
11:09and worse I was in
11:12embarrassment Travis I hated myself so
11:15much that I kept fighting with dudes a
11:17lot bigger than me and while I was in
11:19juvenile I got trained by the Joe
11:22Frasier Jims professional instructors
11:26and they became Golden Glove level 6
11:28foot to 210 pounds when I got released
11:32at the age of
11:3318 I went back to Philadelphia and I
11:36just started doing drugs smashing
11:38everything up that I could I was out of
11:41control I was carrying a
11:43gun three men that I was sharing an
11:46apartment with on Woodland Avenue waited
11:49for me to come home one night to the
11:51apartment I got hid in the side of the
11:53head with a 357 Magnum by a man named
11:56Albert
11:57mcdevit it was my own gun so I knew if
12:00he pulled the hammer back he was going
12:02to blow my brains out I begged him not
12:04to do that TV movie thing I just said
12:07just take whatever you want while I laid
12:08on the floor or they were picking me
12:11they rolled me in the Rob and took me
12:13and threw me in a pickup truck and
12:15through me next to the river down in
12:18Philadelphia so the late ring linger of
12:21all of that was a guy named
12:25Jimmy so for two years I went on a
12:28destructive Mission trying to find these
12:29guys and all that I was really out of my
12:32mind and the only thing that stopped me
12:34from finding them and killing them is
12:37that when I was 19 years old at that
12:42time I saw my
12:45attacker in a secluded area when he was
12:49coming off with some train tracks
12:51towards Southwest Philadelphia across
12:54Darby Creek I was standing on a cement
12:58raised platform
13:00that had me about 8 feet up in the
13:04air as he walked towards me he suddenly
13:07saw was me he had a quart of beer in his
13:10hand and he was [ __ ]
13:13himself here he is now 5 foot 10 maybe
13:17160 pounds I'm 35 pounds heavier than
13:21five inches taller than they guy almost
13:24I'm going to crush him like he knows
13:28what I been doing the guys in the
13:30neighborhood he knows my reputation and
13:33right at that moment when I'm about to
13:36unleash on him because I jump down off
13:38the cement platform and I'm like yeah
13:40I'm like I'm geed like I want this guy
13:43like you wouldn't believe I'm like yes I
13:45finally got you
13:47alone he turns into the most milk toast
13:51cowardly person you could have imagine
13:54he started trying to get me to
13:56understand his problems and he started
13:58going into this lit of issues he had
14:00about why he didn't like himself and
14:02he's so sorry and that's why he never
14:05had a girlfriend because they all knew
14:07he was gay or he thought he was gay and
14:09he wasn't sure I'm like shut the [ __ ] up
14:12shut the [ __ ] up about your problems
14:15about why you beat my [ __ ] head in
14:18with a
14:19rock you know I was stuck on the fight
14:22like I wasn't
14:24there thinking that way I was thinking
14:26about what he did to me with that rock
14:29hell when he used to catch me in the
14:31neighborhood Travis that [ __ ] used
14:34to nail me up against a wall and tell me
14:37how he's gonna kill my family and my
14:39little dog you know and that's what I
14:41used to want to get revenge
14:47for and standing there in that moment I
14:50realized I was him I was the jerkov the
14:54[ __ ] the bully the guy that always
14:57attacked everyone had to start [ __ ] him
15:00I became him so I freaked out didn't I I
15:04swear to God I ran like I had just been
15:08shot home to this I was living on Milan
15:12Street
15:12again I got all my belongings I got in
15:15the 1971 Cadillac and I drove to
15:19Florida and three days later I got put
15:22into a mental institution for the next
15:25eight months because I lost my mind
15:29it broke me it just crushed me
15:33so I get sober and I get diagnosed with
15:37a fasia by the doctors who are treating
15:39me and they sat me down and explained
15:42over eight months of treatment in the
15:44south Florida State mental
15:47institution how the drug methampetamine
15:50that I was shooting in my bra and arms
15:54was just pulverizing my brain and as
15:59long and they showed me as long as I
16:01stayed off of the drug methampetamine my
16:05brain could heal and I could progress
16:08and I was like what like I I don't mind
16:11smoking weed I kept telling myself they
16:13were like no no we're we don't to
16:14telling you that but the one thing you
16:17can never do is any kind of thing that
16:20causes excitement in your brain like
16:22caffeine or amphetamine because you're
16:25already
16:26hyp so I go go back home to Philadelphia
16:30it's 1981 I'm 20 years old I get a job
16:33at Spencer's Gifts I start dating this
16:36girl everything's cool for the first
16:38time in my childhood I'm living with my
16:41parents on Elwood Avenue I'm happy I
16:44swear to God this was unbelievable I
16:46used to get up early in the morning get
16:47on a trolley car go to work I had it man
16:51the girl was working at a hotel down
16:53there I pulled she was gorgeous
16:55everything was I'm telling you I
16:57couldn't believe it it was all right
17:00and then I found out she was [ __ ] her
17:02supervisor and I got all pissed off like
17:04a young dude does and I told her all
17:06kind of stupid [ __ ] then hung out with
17:08this dude Eddie Peterson and now I got H
17:11didn't I I used it as an excuse to go
17:15back getting high and I stole a 1973
17:19Camaro and I was driving around Philly
17:21high as [ __ ] and I get pulled over by
17:24this uh very specialized unit in
17:27Philadelphia called the highway vrol
17:29they wear the police Beret with the Jack
17:32Boots and they are [ __ ] Next Level
17:35they were all exmilitary
17:37they start chasing me at Center City and
17:40I run all the way to Written House
17:42Square 11 blocks away before a Patty
17:45wagon catches me by use of radio
17:48assistance and they hold me there until
17:50the arresting officer who chased me that
17:52far comes up and punches me in the mouth
17:55with a beaver tail Blackjack and bust my
17:57mouth open I'm taking to jail I get
18:00bailed out because they don't want me in
18:01their jail with all them sutures in my
18:03mouth so I'm I'm serious like I don't
18:06want to grost anybody out but I still
18:08have all the scars so that's December
18:124th
18:131981 I go back to my parents home start
18:16drinking because the drinking is helping
18:18with my bloody mouth and I'm doing drugs
18:20in my parents basement and I'm getting
18:23high I'm getting
18:25angry and then December 19th Christmas
18:28is going to be [ __ ] I don't want to talk
18:30to anybody my mouth's all busted up that
18:32girl's gone I steal a car and go out and
18:34get high and I get stopped in Chester
18:38Pennsylvania and it's two o'clock in the
18:40morning and I am terrified to move the a
18:44phasia in my brain from the childhood
18:47attack because I'm on methamphetamine
18:50again and I just got a beaten from the
18:51Philly cops has me Frozen I don't want
18:55to move in this car the cops standing
18:57next to me because I went through a stop
18:59light a stop sign actually over the I95
19:04ey pass right in
19:06Chester he Yanks the door open the music
19:09that was playing on the radio starts
19:11blaring out he grabs me out of the car
19:14puts his forearm on my throat and starts
19:16choking me and I can't breathe and I
19:18knock his arm away and I'm like whoa
19:21then I see him reaching for his night
19:23stick and I reach forward and I take the
19:26night stick off him he gets really
19:28pissed off and starts reaching for his
19:30gun that's when I reached forward I
19:32grabbed his gun and the gun went off and
19:35that was the last day of my life at the
19:38age of
19:4620 you
19:49ready that Journey that I told you that
19:52began on that street and that feeling
19:55under the blankets so real because I go
19:58to jail now I'm 20 years old and I end
20:01up going and facing all of these lies
20:05where this officer is now Twisted it
20:06around and I'm standing before a judge
20:09and I'm being held for attempted murder
20:12kidnapping of a police officer reckless
20:15endangerment and possession of a firearm
20:17because he said when he pulled me over I
20:21jumped immediately out of my car ran 20
20:24yards behind me to reap him out of his
20:26car punch him in his face break his ey
20:28glasses and take his gun off of him was
20:31dragging him on his belly back to the
20:33car I was driving before he heroically
20:36sprung to his feet overpowered me and
20:38took the gun off
20:41me yeah I'm done I'm so angry I can't
20:46believe this is how it's going to all
20:48end 3 o'clock in the morning the judge
20:51sentence uh gives me sets my bail at
20:54100,000 cash and they put me in solitary
20:57confinement and broad Moto prison in
20:59Delaware County Pennsylvania and I
21:02collapsed it's four days before
21:05Christmas I'm high on drugs and I just
21:08got a life sentence handed to me there
21:12ain't no way out of this they're all
21:13going to believe this police officer I
21:16went to sleep and I tried to sleep at
21:19off I remember on Christmas morning I
21:22woke up and the only thing in my cell
21:25was the
21:27newspaper the December
21:3015th Delaware County Daily Times
21:33newspaper and it had the story of the
21:35murder of Linda M Craig in the newspaper
21:38glaring at me a mystery woman abducted
21:43leaving work car found in Pennsylvania
21:46can you
21:47help and it just kept going over and
21:50over my head like when you're stuck in a
21:52toilet when you can't stop reading the
21:54labels on the deodorant can it's just
22:00something called to me and then as I was
22:02laying there in my misery going through
22:04drug withdrawals thinking about I'm here
22:07from a lie this is all a lie that's why
22:10I kept saying to myself this is all just
22:12a
22:13lie then I came to me I said well what
22:17if I make up a lie and play their game
22:19and get out of
22:20here how would they like that then I
22:23turned and looked at that newspaper
22:27laying on the floor and I said said I
22:28know what to do I'm going tell him that
22:30the guys that rolled me up in a rug and
22:33tried to murder me killed that woman and
22:35I'm going to get out of here because I
22:38found out one of them died of drugs and
22:42I'm I'm going to blame it on the guy
22:44that's dead anyway so no one's going to
22:46be hurt by this trick but I'm going to
22:48give them their same
22:50medicine I couldn't believe how stupid I
22:52was
22:53because they took me to the warden's
22:56office and they bought me a Coca-Cola
22:58and they told me I was doing an amazing
22:59thing helping them solve this mystery
23:01murder and how they knew that this would
23:05be something that had to be helped and
23:07um they called the arresting officer
23:10Benjamin Wright on the phone in front of
23:12me and he agreed to reduce my charges to
23:15resisting arrest and I would be dealt
23:18with with a stolen car from Philadelphia
23:20in that jurisdiction but I would be
23:21released on my own
23:23recognizance and I started getting all
23:25emotional I could believe this was over
23:27they were going to do
23:28this amazing thing you know there's the
23:31officer admitting that he was going to
23:33let me go you know
23:36so they put me back in my cell and three
23:39days later they came back and the guy
23:42that I was told that died of a drug
23:44overdose was alive it was his brother
23:48his nearly twin brother who died of drug
23:50overdose and
23:52so I'm left up the shitz creek without a
23:55paddle because the police are looking at
23:57me like the guy you said told you he did
24:00the murder was at work he's offer drugs
24:03for the last two years because he's
24:04scared of death you're going to kill him
24:06and oh by the way we went through all
24:08your childhood records and we know that
24:09you're mentally Disturbed and we know
24:11you want to confess to the rape and
24:13murder of Mrs Craig
24:15because you're sick and
24:18deviant you broke up with your
24:20girlfriend Terry and that upset you and
24:23because you're upset because you no
24:24longer have a girlfriend you went out
24:27and found another woman at like her and
24:29you murdered her didn't you I was like
24:31what the [ __ ] are you saying man I said
24:35didn't you see when the officer admitted
24:38he it was a lie I just made up a lie and
24:41this one I told him I said look a
24:43prosecute me I throw my hands up I made
24:46up a lie to try to get out of your lie
24:49he said there's no lies here this is a
24:51desperate plea for help you're going to
24:54be charged with the rape and murder of
24:56Mrs Craig we're going to see to it I was
24:59like please you're making a mistake
25:01you're ruining a chance to find a real
25:03killer by hurting me I understand you're
25:05angry at me I even will let you whip my
25:08ass I get it Philly cops did it all my
25:10life but please don't think I did this
25:13crime and they were like we don't give a
25:15[ __ ] about your childhood or whatever's
25:18been done to you we don't care about
25:20you so they take me back to the county
25:23jail and he did the most Sinister thing
25:26ever
25:27done detective Martin was taking my
25:29chains off in the county jail holding
25:34cells while members of the pegin
25:36motorcycle gang were being processed
25:38into the
25:39jail he gave me a hug and he said thanks
25:44Nick we're going to go kick some doors
25:45in now I'm like what right in front of
25:49these dudes that are across the holding
25:50cells from me making it looked like I
25:53just gave it up on it's an informant
25:56right Travis I go back to my cell and
25:59nothing happens right the next morning
26:02the guy tries to put my eye out with a
26:04sharpen broom followed by a dude with
26:07urine and cleanser bleach thrown in my
26:10face the guy's throwing piss and [ __ ] at
26:12me I got to put my mattress up you know
26:14what I'm talking about and I gotta hold
26:17my mattress up against my bars for hours
26:19while dudes are pelting me telling me
26:22they're going to kill me so whenever
26:25they open the door up whoever was
26:27outside by cell
26:28I fought my way to the shower to clean
26:30off man and that went on like three and
26:34a half solid days of that [ __ ] every
26:38section in this restrictive unit gets
26:40two hours of walking around 50 guys at a
26:44time 200 on the Block so 50 guys are out
26:48there throwing things at me and when I
26:49come out I'm getting beat up I'm getting
26:51[ __ ] up and I'm [ __ ] people up
26:52because I didn't care who was standing
26:54there
26:56okay that didn't
26:59work so Thursday night this guy Angel
27:04headed the president of the uh gang
27:08called for
27:09silence and he came up to his bars and
27:11you know exactly what I'm talking about
27:14man and he said my name and his sing
27:17song
27:18voice so I came to my
27:21door he said ain't nobody going to
27:23attack you no
27:25more you're going to kill yourself by
27:27the end of this week we're going to send
27:29people to your house clear your family
27:31your mother's GNA be raped and beaten
27:33just like that woman you [ __ ] piece
27:35of [ __ ] if you don't kill yourself we
27:39sending people to your house you're
27:41[ __ ]
27:44rat so Sunday night I hung
27:47myself and uh I'll never forget this
27:50guard had white hair but he was young
27:54know some genetic thing
27:58but he had dark eyebrows really
28:03fascinating and it was about medication
28:06time you know they're changing out about
28:0710 o'clock you know I caught them going
28:09down the teer they just left with the
28:11medication with the nurse I'm clear so I
28:15hang
28:16myself and he [ __ ] messed up with the
28:19nurse and passed by a cell and forgot to
28:22give them medication two P cells pass me
28:26and was walking back to give that dude
28:27his [ __ ] and saw me hanging from the top
28:31part of the radiator so he came in the
28:34cell cut me down and I remember him
28:36slapped me around saying oh no I'm not
28:38cheating the state of Pennsylvania out
28:40of my [ __ ] part instrument that I had
28:42a lot more to give so they took me up to
28:45the hospital and put me in fourpoint
28:48Restraint you know like they
28:49do and dudes was coming up and getting
28:52her medication when I had to have my
28:53visitation up there with my mom and
28:56dudes was coming up there getting her
28:58medication and grabbing their dicks and
28:59[ __ ] telling me in front of them you
29:02know all kind of horrible [ __ ] so my mom
29:05said look I don't care what these people
29:07put you through don't hurt
29:09yourself come home to me I don't know
29:13what this is all about you won't talk to
29:17me just come home with me so I haven't
29:20been charged with the murder yet right
29:23so they put me back on the
29:25Block they put me in the front cell and
29:28they put a guard 24 hours a day right in
29:30front of
29:33myself
29:35then they take him out of there and they
29:37move this guy right next to me who's
29:39named Charles patalino and he
29:42burglarized the prosecutor's home of
29:44Delware County the first district
29:46assistant District Attorney's home and
29:48even abused the man's pets during the
29:52burglary and was found guilty by a jury
29:55already waiting to go to the state
29:57peniten for 20
30:00years they went to him we have it in
30:02writing and they made him a deal he was
30:05going to be
30:07allowed seven sex visits with his
30:10partner in the district attorney's
30:12office he was going to be given no time
30:16from Delaware County for the burglary of
30:18the prosecutor's home and he was going
30:21to be sent to the State
30:23Penitentiary with a good time credit
30:26added producing his sentence an
30:29additional one
30:30year Charles catalino's only needed Duty
30:35was go into the cell next to mine for
30:37one night so that he could say that I
30:39confess to him of the rape and murder of
30:41Mrs Linda M Craig and that's all the
30:43evidence that they used to charge me
30:45with this
30:48crime insane at the age of 21 I'm now
30:53sitting there facing kidnapping right
30:58robbery
31:00murder kidnapp kidnapping of a police
31:04officer attempted murder there's no way
31:07I'm walking out of these doors do you
31:09understand me Travis this is over man
31:11this is
31:12done
31:14so in April of 1982 I go to trial for
31:18the officer Benjamin right charges and
31:21it's my word against him there's only
31:23two witnesses it was a on day trial it
31:27was a total of about three hours and the
31:30jury found me not guilty of all charge
31:33within 20
31:34minutes when they came back with a
31:36verdict that quick the sheriff was like
31:38done you're done out of here they was
31:41all sure of it when I walked in that
31:44courtroom the jury said not guilty and
31:47all hell broke loose officer Benjamin
31:50Wright had to be held by the sheriff's
31:52because he's reaching for his pistol
31:54while being hustled past the district
31:56attorney was yelling [ __ ] you're
31:58never leaving this County alive his name
32:00is Barry gross he takes the file throws
32:02it against the wall right in front of my
32:04parents and everybody like my mom made
32:07documentaries of all this [ __ ] and then
32:10Barry gross gets so incensed by that
32:13loss he then takes over the murder
32:16prosecution of Linda May Craig where he
32:18had nothing to do the very next week and
32:20starts seeking the death hle nothing had
32:23changed by the time I've been charged by
32:25Charles catalino's confession to that
32:27point except for me being found not
32:30guilty by a jury s [ __ ] I know they're
32:33going to line me up what do they do they
32:36Pi the Four of July holiday weekend to
32:38set my trial up three days before the
32:42judge you know you I know you can't stop
32:45shaking your head but you know exactly
32:47what I mean this is cleverness okay
32:50everyone listening
32:52this what was my biggest challenge not
32:55the murder charges facing me and the
32:57rape charges now that I had the other
32:59charges off my back it's the fact that
33:01John W Henley shot President [ __ ]
33:03Reagan and impressed a actress so
33:07anybody charged with any kind of
33:09psychological crime was no longer going
33:11to be benefited with any kind of uh Not
33:15Guilty by reason of insanity that was
33:18going down and going down hard so
33:21anybody charged like me with a
33:23psychological crime you're [ __ ] so
33:26what happens
33:27judge tells the jury thanks for uh
33:30assembling and he tells them don't worry
33:33about being sequestered and you're not
33:35missing the Fourth of July holiday
33:37weekend which starts Friday because his
33:39trial is going to be over by then and he
33:41told him that Tuesday afternoon after he
33:43assembled them so I knew I had three
33:46days left in my life right I know how
33:48it's going to play out the only way they
33:51could get the jury to go along with this
33:53was to make them stop seeing me as a
33:54human being and the way that they
33:57accomplished was a beautiful Act of
34:02disgustingness they showed the victim's
34:04husband author Craig's series of
34:06photographs that started with a portrait
34:08of his wife followed by a portrait I
34:11mean a picture of his wife on the
34:14autopsy table and then a picture of her
34:17being found in the snow by the two
34:19children and when they ran from the dead
34:21body it made it look like an angel in
34:23the snow and they got away with all this
34:25because it was all black and white and
34:27did didn't show any actual blood oh my
34:31[ __ ] god when that jury looked at
34:32those that [ __ ] they looked over at me
34:35and they put their heads down didn't
34:36they you know it's real when people are
34:40convinced that you're evil they can't
34:42even look at
34:43you so what happens just like a
34:47Hollywood
34:48movie boom a giant bout lightning hits
34:53the courthouse right then and knocks all
34:55the power out [ __ ] your movie and all
34:57your little evilness this is some [ __ ]
35:00I'm telling you I still get chills when
35:03I think about this moment the sheriff's
35:05grabb me they pull guns on me like I got
35:07something to do with this [ __ ] they
35:08hustled me out of the courtroom and they
35:10put me in this big holding cell above
35:12the courthouse it's in late afternoon
35:14there's not a sound in the building
35:17because there's no power in the whole
35:19town streets
35:21everything and it's raining lightly but
35:24not
35:26heavy the window is open in the holding
35:29cell but there's a metal gra and a set
35:31of bars and I can smell it all you know
35:35I'm looking down and all the people that
35:38got evacuated from the courthouse are
35:40gathered in the courtyard below me like
35:43300 yard wide C Courtyard yeah and
35:47somebody looked up and saw me in the
35:50window and they were all pointing up at
35:52me and [ __ ] and it was people that
35:55babysat me people people from my
35:58childhood you know that's [ __ ] me up
36:01so I didn't know what to do you know
36:04like this is freaking me out I I'm in
36:07the middle of a trial and the next thing
36:09I know I get thrown out of there like I
36:11had something to do with
36:12this so then I kept hearing this thing
36:15in my voice and
36:18I it wasn't so much a
36:22voice I felt and heard this enormous
36:26energy out coming at
36:29me and the messaging was something to do
36:34with me looking them in the
36:36eyes yeah so I went back downstairs and
36:40they found me guilty and I went through
36:41all this and when judge Robert Kelly was
36:44sentenced me to death the whole time he
36:46did it he had his head down just like
36:48the jury did when they read to ver they
36:51were asham
36:52man you know they had dessert while they
36:55decided my fate they went hit a wagon
36:58reil restaurant and decided my fate
37:00first because things were running late
37:03holiday is coming so they had dessert I
37:06mean they had dinner at The Wagon Wheel
37:08restaurant while they decided my fate in
37:11a club room and then after they found me
37:14guilty they came back and had
37:17dessert so I'm going through all this
37:20madness and still no one could look me
37:22in the ey so he's passing on sentence
37:25now so it's crazy
37:27uh I remember how he boldly told me I I
37:30was being taken to rock view State
37:33Penitentiary where 2200 volts of
37:36electricity would be introduced to my B
37:40body causing my death and I thought okay
37:43fine but he still hadn't looked at me so
37:45in the end I told him he and I knew that
37:48this was all I that I couldn't have
37:51possibly have killed this woman because
37:53I was home eating dinner with my mother
37:56and that for these
37:58individuals to come in here and make up
37:59lies to get out of their own trouble
38:02it's just a joke when that's all I tried
38:05to do and I said him look at me you
38:08can't even look at me in the eye and
38:10you're about to sentence me to die and
38:13he said well do you have anything else
38:15to say and I said yes sir you go to hell
38:18but all they put in the newspaper was
38:20defiant killer tells judge to go to hell
38:22didn't
38:24so he got back at me and he sent me to
38:27Huntington prison the worst prison in
38:29America at that time and I did my first
38:33two years in silence and if I broke that
38:36silence code they beat me and stuck a
38:39needle in my ass with drugs and if I
38:42defied them again they put me in a glass
38:45bubble and kept the lights on 24 hours a
38:48day and made me do a head count every 15
38:53minutes and you know this this is crazy
38:55I'm talking to somebody who actually
38:56gets this dude you got to do head count
38:59every 15 minutes with the lights on
39:01through glass bricks so you can't hide
39:04anything and you can't stop being scen
39:06for a week let me see you do that one
39:10it's a lot of psychological
39:13trauma it took us years to get that unit
39:16shut down the United Nations actually
39:18passed a resolution in the 80s
39:20condemning it for its active practices
39:22of torture this is long get this is long
39:27for Pelican Bay in fact Joseph lhan
39:29brought Pelican Bay from Pennsylvania he
39:32was the commissioner of Pennsylvania's
39:34prison system they love the shoe program
39:38baby it all came from Pennsylvania I'll
39:40explain why all of America's penology
39:44began in
39:45Philadelphia the very first penitentiary
39:48in America was developed at Eastern
39:51State Penitentiary still standing in
39:54Philadelphia because every major crime
39:58of any form in America was punishable by
40:01death our founding fathers made a deal
40:04with the Quakers that we would have an
40:06alternative to the death penalty called
40:10prison in which a person would be put
40:13into a cell for a limited time to show
40:16Penance he would bow his head by
40:18entering a cell with a low entrance and
40:22he would reflect upon his crimes upon
40:26society and then come back a new
40:29person that's actually what the deal was
40:32prisons are meant to be the alternative
40:35to the death penalty and yet it still
40:37goes on because we gave up our broker
40:39deal
40:41okay I was in a unit that was built in
40:44189
40:451856 and it was forly used for mentally
40:49ill prisoners I was in a unit three
40:52tiers High and the average rate of surv
40:57in my unit which was a punishment unit
41:00people don't remember this I was put in
41:03the punishment unit because there was no
41:05death row at that time in 1982 there was
41:08only 27 men in Pennsylvania sentenced to
41:11die I was the second
41:14youngest I was placed in Huntington
41:17State Prison at a time when they were
41:19using the acts of torture and silence to
41:23break people if you rape someone in
41:25another jail you send to Huntington B
41:28Block and they break you behind the
41:30glass door you get it that's why I had
41:33to live not because I violated any rule
41:37so the guards didn't differentiate they
41:39didn't give me a break in fact they made
41:42it worse on me because I killed that
41:43woman they said what I kept saying man
41:47and look there's a tag system in America
41:52not just my number am
41:546841 but it's a blue tag meaning I'm put
41:57to death and there's a red R in the top
42:00right
42:01corner the worst one is
42:04CR do you know what that CR
42:08is do you know what that R is Travis I
42:13don't
42:14rapist child rapist or rapist CR is
42:19child rapist on death row that means you
42:22raped a child and murdered that child
42:24you're on death row for that rap means
42:27you raped a woman and killed her you're
42:29on death row those are the only ones
42:33they did that to so every time that
42:36prick officer came in in a bad mood and
42:38booze on his breath and he looked up and
42:40seen r on my
42:42tag he was choosing me to go in the
42:45cages and do the dog fight man see they
42:49had this weird thing up there where they
42:51were making guys just Gladiator man just
42:55for man
42:58the worst problem was I was big and
43:01strong wasn't I man I was gifted as a
43:04boxer too and when they saw me [ __ ] a
43:06few guys up that was it they were making
43:08money off my white [ __ ] ass that's
43:11horrible
43:12man
43:14dude there was this one guard who was
43:17fixated on me for like a two-year period
43:20man his whole motto was I'mma break you
43:24or Bank you [ __ ]
43:30[ __ ] came in all high boasting about him
43:33and his wife [ __ ] real good because
43:35he won $1,800 off me when he could have
43:38sworn that the bear was gonna kill me a
43:41[ __ ] that took a whole family
43:43and held him hostage for fast food they
43:45threw me in a cage against weighing 290
43:48Pounds
43:49man six something man like 63 6'4 that
43:53neck that just doesn't end I yeah oh
43:56they all thought I was getting smeared
43:58that they didn't so I kicked him in the
43:59ankle dislocated that [ __ ] then went to
44:02work on his face my [ __ ] elbows
44:04because I decided I didn't kill nobody
44:06but I ain't let these guys [ __ ] me
44:09man I wasn't going that way I had to be
44:13thank God I was raised in a hard ass
44:15City like Philly man thank God they put
44:17me through the juvenile system and I
44:20could take a
44:21punch cuz a lot of them counselors in
44:23there were rough man they were straight
44:26from the [ __ ]
44:29gy
44:32so I can't believe it I get a [ __ ]
44:36notice from the Pennsylvania state
44:38supreme court 2000 in 1984 saying that I
44:42got a remand back to the uh the trial
44:45court for all of these mistakes made at
44:47my trial they weren't even to let my
44:50full appeal go forward they were sending
44:52me back for an evidentiary hearing
44:54because there were 33 Pages missing from
44:57the homicide file there was
44:59identification of another individual had
45:02nothing to do with me when it was all
45:03hidden so I'm going back for a new trial
45:06in 1985 in the back of a sheriff's car
45:09with two older sheriffs who get that
45:12great gig of driving up to the
45:13penitentiary for the day picking
45:15somebody up slapping some cuffs on them
45:17and driving back right it goes wrong we
45:21stopped to use a urinol at a gas station
45:24in Pennsylvania's
45:27um East yeah it was like um Exton Exton
45:32Pennsylvania just about 2030 miles away
45:36from the prison but we've been driving
45:38all day and the freezing cold because
45:41it's snowing we stopped to use the
45:43toilets and I'm wearing prison
45:44eyeglasses and I can't see [ __ ] because
45:46I just got out of the car and I'm
45:48running over to the cubicle to piss the
45:51officers with me one of them stays at
45:54the car and puts fuel in the car the
45:56other comes over with me and he's
45:57holding the door while I'm paying and my
46:00eyeglasses fed up even worse being
46:03inside the cubicle now you know what
46:05it's like looking down at your dick
46:07while you're trying to piss it's just
46:08going to get all back in your face
46:12so I can't believe that this is all what
46:15really just unfolded next I turn from
46:18taking a piss I can see the guy standing
46:22there holding the door he's like six5 no
46:24problems for him to hold the top of the
46:26door I go under his arm I start trotting
46:30into the dark in the night back to the
46:32car it's all illuminated with the
46:34florescent lights from the gas pumps and
46:36I'm running towards him and he in his
46:38silhouette and he has his back towards
46:41me because when I turn when he turned
46:44around and saw me running at him he
46:46didn't see his partner at the cubicle no
46:48more and thought I had overpowered him
46:50he said that's why he pulled his gun out
46:52without hesitation and fired the first
46:54of Two Shots Point Lank
46:57P was a wake up brother when those two
47:00bullets went past me I said [ __ ] this
47:03man I'm going so I started running
47:05towards a Ponderosa restaurant after I
47:07got up off the ground when I fell and I
47:10was running towards a plate glass window
47:12like I'm going right through that [ __ ]
47:14making him believe that he couldn't
47:15shoot at me because there was people
47:17inside the restaurant ducking down so I
47:20went past the restaurant I went straight
47:24for a good 100 yards and then I turned
47:26right when another 100 yards turned
47:28right and I came back and I started
47:30hiding behind that car where I just got
47:32out of man the old Philly boy trick
47:35they're off running and looking for
47:37where I am I'm hiding behind them and
47:39when I watched them come back to the car
47:40I just laid down I just kept throwing up
47:43and just couldn't stop vomiting from the
47:46shock and the trauma what just happened
47:48my hands were all ripped at bits and
47:50[ __ ] from falling because when you run
47:52with handcuffs you can't get your legs
47:54right you know so I bit my uh
47:59eyeglasses uh earpiece off and I use
48:02that to pick my handcuffs I put them in
48:05my pocket I was like what the [ __ ] do I
48:07do all the sirens in the world are
48:09coming man I got to get up out of the
48:12snow and I got to get going it's
48:14February 15
48:161985 and they're on me so I got up and I
48:21saw a flag for a municipal building and
48:24I went and hid behind the a police
48:26station
48:27and I was back there for a couple maybe
48:29hour or so until I lost all my body heat
48:32I got my ass going I knew I had to move
48:35so I did the smart thing and got out of
48:37there but someone saw me in the
48:38helicopter came in and that was the most
48:43dangerous craziest Chase of my life man
48:47this dude was a former Vietnam v h pilot
48:50he was gifted and only thing that made
48:53it fair was there's snow
48:57everywhere and it was
48:59subzero temperatures so when he came
49:03over top of me he blew up so much snow
49:05he was losing vision and his infrared
49:08had so much ice kicked on the front of
49:10it he couldn't use it so he was down to
49:13a million candle wat power search light
49:17and that was it and I had as much
49:19advantage in the snow as he did above
49:23because I kept going under his belly and
49:26at one point after a couple hours after
49:28running through the woods and getting
49:29all ripped up I end up facing a 10- foot
49:33fence that had this pile of snow in
49:36front of it there ain't no [ __ ] way
49:37I'm climbing this after running in
49:39prison shoes a pair of trousers and a
49:41shirt because I've been running hard and
49:43there ain't no way I'm making over this
49:45thing but I gotta keep trying right and
49:48just at the last minute before I would
49:51hit the fence and start having a climb I
49:54stumbled and fell on my face and I
49:56literally slalomed on my face right
49:59under the fence that had been pushed
50:01back by the snow plows so there was a
50:03gap there and just like a like a
50:06children's magical ride I then went 240
50:10feet down a railroad embankment on my
50:12face without getting hurt and landed in
50:15this big CH pile of snow with the
50:18chopper going right past me and he can't
50:20see me now he's lost me and he's
50:24hovering up there he's looking for me
50:25but he can't hear me and just laid still
50:28I can't believe I'm not injured first
50:30and foremost and I know I'm stuck in
50:32snow like you would believe it's down my
50:34neck my face everything right so I stand
50:38up out the snow about five minutes and I
50:42can't believe that I'm now standing on
50:44railroad tracks so I just turned left
50:47and started walking and I walked all the
50:49way to the end of Fraser Pennsylvania
50:51where I stole a 1965 Mustang and I drove
50:54to New York City man it was [ __ ]
50:57crazy I went from being a a 20-year-old
51:01kid who found out he had a mental
51:03problem and he was happy and he had a
51:05job and a girlfriend to being accused of
51:07being a rapist murder of woman I never
51:09met and now I just escaped from death
51:12row and they're gonna blow my [ __ ]
51:13brains out like they're not going to
51:18stop I went to New York
51:21City I tried my best to really disguise
51:25myself was
51:27I knew that I could do this looking like
51:30I just got lashed with 50 lashes my face
51:35had scratches all over my neck my hands
51:37everything you
51:39know
51:41so I don't know how it happened I was
51:44walking past a gay hair salon and I saw
51:46the two men in there who were running it
51:49standing there by themselves talking I
51:52just burst in the [ __ ] door and
51:53pretended that my boyfriend was beating
51:55me up and I put on on this giant show of
51:58being a gay young man who's being
52:00terrorized by an older rich white guy in
52:03from New York who led me there from Utah
52:06I started telling them all the story
52:08they burst into tears and sat me down in
52:10the chair Travis three and a half hours
52:13later I walked out of her my my hair
52:15burned dyed black pancake makeup
52:19perfectly put on they got a friend of
52:21theirs who owned an optometry shop
52:25nearby to get get me a brand new pair of
52:27glasses grus and they made me walk out
52:31of there feeling like I was brand
52:33[ __ ] new they were so proud of
52:35themselves they were thank God for gay
52:38men I love you guys I swear to God that
52:40that was the coolest that they were so
52:43sympathetic they were telling me their
52:45own histories with violent boyfriends
52:47and don't worry I've seen worse than
52:49this building me up and oh don't worry
52:52we'll hide the so I now look completely
52:55different I got a pair of nice
52:57eyeglasses on my hair is tight permed
53:01black I don't look like the six foot2
53:04blond hair guy that just escaped the
53:06death row with you know weirdo glasses
53:09on so I go down into uh Manhattan and I
53:14pulled the Philly boy trick on the hat
53:17check Girl by making sure I was talking
53:19to her supervisor and nodding my head
53:22vigorously and turning to her and say
53:24look I just talked to your boss and
53:25listen back coat down at the end the fur
53:28one that's my dad's coat and we just in
53:29the car the Taxi's already running she
53:31already said you could give it to me and
53:33I ConEd her out of the [ __ ] coat so a
53:35men's fox fur jacket gotta be worth 10
53:38grand right so I walk out of there but
53:40even better dude had his wallet his car
53:43keys and his house keys in the coat so I
53:46looked at his address and I used his
53:49credit cards and I bought a a ticket
53:51from the Guardia and I went to his house
53:53and Burgis his house while he was in New
53:55York
53:58my
54:00gosh wow you're on the FBI's most
54:03wantedness what do you do you up your
54:07game or you get gunned down I was 24
54:10years old I didn't kill anybody I don't
54:12belong in this situation I'm not trying
54:15to hurt anybody I'm trying to get out of
54:18America so my idea was I was going to
54:20try and find a drug dealer in Miami and
54:23I was going to rub a drug dealer for
54:24loads and loads of cash and I was going
54:26to go Surinam on the northeast coast of
54:29South America where they speak American
54:31or English and their average yearly
54:34income was like $300 at that time and
54:36I'm thinking [ __ ] yeah hide out you know
54:39I didn't do this run that's some
54:41[ __ ] I lasted 25 days and I can tell
54:47you right now when you pick a girl up
54:48take her back to her mom's real estate
54:51office and has sex with her and she says
54:53come pick me up will you drop me off
54:55tonight the next day at 5 o'clock you
54:58better be prepared for a dinner invite
55:01you walk in and start having death row
55:03dating oh yeah Vicky had me sitting
55:06there at her mom's dinner table with her
55:08sister and family while I'm thinking to
55:10myself this is [ __ ] crazy ybi is
55:12looking for me do you know what I mean
55:15so when they found her phone number in
55:17my possession when I turned myself in
55:20the FBI rang her mom didn't they they're
55:22like is your daughter okay yes your
55:26daughter's still alive this serial kill
55:29like they made me out to beat this her
55:31she said first and foremost he was the
55:33most polite nicest young man she ever
55:36brought home I highly recommend that man
55:40so there you go right death row dating
55:43is that what you call
55:46it yeah literally I found this all right
55:50I'm it I'm 24 years old I'm in Fort
55:53larda Dale it's spring break it's uh
55:59bike week and it's the daytime of 500
56:02all within two weeks right I ran away
56:05from prison in February and I was in uh
56:09there in March February and March in uh
56:13Florida while this is all going on I
56:16pull this girl on the strip down in Fort
56:18artdale and she takes me back to her
56:20mom's real estate little strip mall
56:23business where she did the rentals and
56:25the vacation rentals
56:26and we went at it in her mom's office
56:29you know it was wonderful I was like
56:32ain't touching myself tonight [ __ ]
56:35you know I was thinking it was [ __ ]
56:37full on for hours we went at it right so
56:40she was like can you meet me tomorrow
56:42night like she like I dropped her off at
56:45her house like two in the morning I
56:46thought I was GNA never see her again
56:48but I she told me come back at 5:00 that
56:51night and then after dinner she said I
56:54felt like after dinner when we we were
56:57out she said after dinner we can [ __ ]
56:59some more so when you're 24 years old
57:02and you just got your first in four
57:04years yeah you didn't you didn't hear
57:07the dinner part yeah so I show up at the
57:10door and I knock and her sister comes to
57:13the door and she goes who are you I said
57:15I'm Justin she goes oh like that she
57:18goes
57:20mom Justin's here the one that had her
57:23out all night I'm like oh this is
57:25[ __ ] great so now Mom comes to the
57:27door she's this typical House mom you
57:31know what I mean she you know 80s Mom
57:34this is 1985 you know what I mean we're
57:36talking the mom from That 70s Show kind
57:39of like lady you know I mean the apron
57:42sweet as can be Southern gal you know
57:44what I mean well y'all come on in here
57:47where you from Justin I said I'm from
57:49New York man I'm trying to put on you
57:51know well what you doing I'm just down
57:53here on vacation with my family oh well
57:55that's lovely would you like some sweet
57:58tea all that sit yourself down I'm like
58:01what what what well yeah you having
58:04dinner with the family just please let
58:07it grace us with the pleasure of I'm
58:10like this is [ __ ] up I wanted to a
58:13lady I'm on the run for the FBI because
58:15I'm on the 10 most wanted list and I
58:18[ __ ] your daughter last night your
58:19business but I need to get no but I got
58:22so for the next excruciating two and a
58:24half hours of my life
58:26I sat there and learned their family
58:28history and passed the butter beans and
58:31had to squash and yeah the Fried Chicken
58:35was all that
58:37man have you um I don't want to jump
58:41forward too far have you had any contact
58:43with that family re like no that would
58:47be crazy Vicki if you're out there and
58:49you hear this that was a good
58:51[Laughter]
58:54baby damn so yeah that's crazy how I
58:58remember it was it was weird I got
59:01sucked up into it at one point and after
59:05dinner like I gave Mom a big old juicy
59:08hug or sister gave me a peck on the
59:10cheek and I W out the house in the
59:13stolen car that's been out front all
59:15time I put the girl in the car she likes
59:19to do be up she got some weed off her
59:21girlfriend we go to her mom's business
59:26smacking boots man and so this is crazy
59:29like that's just what you have to
59:33be anyway I couldn't take it anymore I
59:36was going to kill myself I decided I
59:38would rather go back so I turned myself
59:41back in they added 35 years to my
59:44sentence in
59:45Florida and I end up sitting on death
59:49row on the East Unit A Stark unit next
59:52to [ __ ] Ted Bundy for the next eight
59:53months man so I got my ass actually died
59:56home so i' go back to Pennsylvania they
1:00:00the [ __ ] out of me what was that like
1:00:02next to Ted Bundy any experiences with
1:00:04him because I know over years yeah so
1:00:08all right yeah it's even well written in
1:00:10my first book so this isn't made up
1:00:12everyone I hate when people say I'm name
1:00:14dropping but in my first book Seven Days
1:00:17to
1:00:17Live written in
1:00:202005 go all the way back to at fart and
1:00:23even in my records anyway so Teddy
1:00:26wanted to sell me some hope Teddy was a
1:00:29jail house lawyer and found out I this
1:00:32like Philadelphia Pennsylvania just like
1:00:34him and he was going to help me and save
1:00:36me and he signed us both up for the Law
1:00:38Library without even asking me so when I
1:00:40get taken out of my cell in Stark
1:00:42Florida East unit
1:00:461985 while he was next to me by about
1:00:49150 yards because he was on the other
1:00:51side behind me you know so it's like the
1:00:54back end of the block right you can hear
1:00:56everybody through the vents you know
1:00:58what I mean you know who's on your block
1:01:00so Teddy's sitting around already in the
1:01:03law library which is those metal cages
1:01:05with the books in it and they're
1:01:07separated by the metal grate so there's
1:01:10one cage there and there's one cage
1:01:11there in the hallway That's the Law
1:01:15Library so he's sitting there and he's
1:01:18like leaning back like waiting for him
1:01:19to take my cuffs off he's going to
1:01:20deliver the lion ating so he's going to
1:01:24tell me how he was is going to get me
1:01:26off of being extradited back to
1:01:28Pennsylvania and he knew the law and he
1:01:31and soon he started his [ __ ] I said hold
1:01:33up Teddy I got news for you homie I
1:01:36don't get off on killing little
1:01:39children know and thinking about my
1:01:41mommy and he went [ __ ] nuts he went
1:01:44with all this biblical [ __ ] he was like
1:01:46and then God will [ __ ] ring there
1:01:48that's why I talking to you because
1:01:50you're like the rest of these beond
1:01:51[ __ ] God doesn't have time like
1:01:54he was talking all this crazy [ __ ] and
1:01:55starting kicking off in the hallway and
1:01:57I'm holding my folder up like laughing
1:01:59at him and mocking him and [ __ ] cuz he
1:02:01spit up me a couple times and [ __ ] you
1:02:03know what happens next you know this
1:02:06here come the clinging and the clanging
1:02:07and the guards came and I was like say
1:02:09that [ __ ] again I got them all riled up
1:02:11one last time and that was it guards
1:02:13came in and smashed him and Drug him the
1:02:15[ __ ] out I was like yes
1:02:19so golly man you did some time with some
1:02:23uh some interesting characters now I'm
1:02:26sure way more interesting than the
1:02:27majority of the world knows about but I
1:02:29mean from Ted Bundy I mean Buffalo Bill
1:02:34the Buffalo Bill yeah the real one not
1:02:36the one that was in the fictionalized
1:02:39one no people know that he's a real
1:02:43human yeah his name's Gary heidnik and
1:02:46he's dead now the state of Pennsylvania
1:02:48executed him
1:02:50but wow Gary loved to boast about what
1:02:54he did to others man and I know we're
1:02:57segueing away from everything so I'm
1:02:59going to catch everyone up on this
1:03:01fantastic Journey right I go back from
1:03:03the Escape I get ass whing of all ass
1:03:08weapons for running and they break my
1:03:10teeth and [ __ ] my face up and all that
1:03:12[ __ ] and I get Hepatitis C from the
1:03:15dentist they didn't do the cleaner on
1:03:17the return sleeve did they they didn't
1:03:20change that
1:03:22sleeve so they got eight like 18 of us
1:03:25with the same viral strain remember it
1:03:27was going through the prison systems
1:03:29right and I was I had to listen to all
1:03:32these dudes around me because now I'm in
1:03:35Green County
1:03:36supermax and I'm in level five out there
1:03:38near Pittsburgh and uh Dale Carter was
1:03:42right underneath me dying of hepatitis C
1:03:45and impa impacted bow syndrome and the
1:03:48nurses were [ __ ] with him because
1:03:51what was on his card a red arm man
1:03:56but he used to come to his cell like and
1:03:58you know the routine Mr Carter Mr Carter
1:04:04medication oh please help me I'm dying I
1:04:07can't take it no more yes Mr Carter
1:04:09would you like a medication um we have
1:04:11some aspirin would you like some aspirin
1:04:14Mr Carter because you didn't offer your
1:04:16victim any [ __ ] medication did you
1:04:20and then the guard would say the routine
1:04:22thing that they always did and you
1:04:23notice One inmate refuses
1:04:27medication that's it once the guard
1:04:29makes that announcement nurse rolls
1:04:30along with the game don't she yeah
1:04:33that's some cold [ __ ] man so I was
1:04:36laying there myself thinking [ __ ] I
1:04:39can't taste anything they Blinded Me in
1:04:42My stealth in the
1:04:43medication and and Dale Carter died
1:04:46screaming into the night man they rolled
1:04:49them past my cell underneath you know
1:04:51what it's like to see the gurnie go by
1:04:53right so it's horrible man when they
1:04:58when they rolling past the tier they all
1:05:00laughing and [ __ ] I'm thinking that's
1:05:02what they're going to do to me man so I
1:05:05wrote a letter to the federal court and
1:05:07I asked to dismiss my lawyers so that I
1:05:09could be put to
1:05:11death I said [ __ ] this this is enough
1:05:13man 20 years of solitary confinement
1:05:16every day and then I blind me in myself
1:05:19no man I took the the brilliant way out
1:05:23I used the Dead Man's right to S to Bex
1:05:25excuted and they had to honor that [ __ ]
1:05:28hold the hearing right away and they
1:05:29started [ __ ] themselves because why
1:05:31would a dude that asked for DNA testing
1:05:33for the last 15 years the very first man
1:05:37in America to file for DNA application
1:05:40to prove his innocence in February of
1:05:441988 wants to now be
1:05:47executed so the federal court stepped in
1:05:49and ordered that any remaining DNA that
1:05:51was available be tested and they got
1:05:55results back in the blut her mind they
1:05:58couldn't believe it
1:06:00so yeah they couldn't believe it you
1:06:02were one of the first that actually took
1:06:04that
1:06:05DNA you know idea or evidence start to
1:06:09finish in the in the
1:06:11late the first long before bloodsworth
1:06:16or anybody else I filed my first motion
1:06:20in Delaware County court in February
1:06:231988
1:06:26an application for the use of DNA
1:06:29exoneration testing it was called
1:06:33rflp I then became pen pals with sir
1:06:37Alec Jeff from Lester University for 12
1:06:41years who taught me everything I needed
1:06:43to know to stay alive long enough while
1:06:45the advancements of DNA went from rflp
1:06:50to PCR mitochondrial DNA and then single
1:06:54cell EXT fraction
1:06:56DNA and I lived through it all and I was
1:07:00dying and I didn't like it and they got
1:07:03shock when the DNA testing came back and
1:07:06proved me innocent so what did they do
1:07:08they up their game little brother they
1:07:11take me out of super max death row Strip
1:07:14Me of every book newspaper article
1:07:18anything I owned all my artwork
1:07:20everything and put me in the psych unit
1:07:22man the 24hour watch you strip down to
1:07:26boxer shorts and a mil cart and strip
1:07:29down cell why they sat me down in the in
1:07:33the program Review Committee and they
1:07:34told me that because I was a martial
1:07:37arts expert who could easily kill one of
1:07:40them in Revenge for what they did
1:07:43torturing me they didn't believe that I
1:07:46couldn't get out of there without
1:07:47killing one of them so they were going
1:07:50to Lead Me In level five super max Ultra
1:07:53Max holding until the moment they let me
1:07:55out the
1:07:57doors January 16th 2004 they finally let
1:08:02me go after botching my release getting
1:08:04the paperwork long at 8 o00 while
1:08:06driving me up to the last uh sallyport
1:08:10gate swear to God made it through the
1:08:12first sallyport gate they actually
1:08:13stopped the vehicle in between the two
1:08:15gates me living in the prison and said
1:08:18we [ __ ] up Florida hasn't signed your
1:08:20paperwork you got to go back inside my
1:08:22parents are outside with media yeah
1:08:26so what do they do 1:00 comes and they
1:08:27let me whirl out of there I stood
1:08:30outside of Green County supermax prison
1:08:33and I began fighting for Walter ogod and
1:08:36Ernie Simmons the two innocent men that
1:08:38I believed in behind me and I got them
1:08:40both out eventually then I went back to
1:08:43my home in Philadelphia and realized my
1:08:48life as I knew it was over and I had to
1:08:50start over with a brand new identity
1:08:53while my brother was in the hospital
1:08:55most of my family were all alcoholics or
1:08:58on drugs and I had nothing coming to me
1:09:02they set me free with
1:09:03$57 of my own money and told me to get
1:09:06the [ __ ] out that's
1:09:08it that was it there was no you know you
1:09:12hear all the time I mean you spent
1:09:14decades on death row wrongfully accused
1:09:18wrongfully convicted and you hear all
1:09:21the time there's multi-million dollar
1:09:23settlements
1:09:26all
1:09:29right they didn't even want to find the
1:09:31real
1:09:32killer do you know what I had to do I
1:09:36was first told that I had liver damage
1:09:38so bad that I had a liver transplant
1:09:41where I wasn't going to make it more
1:09:42than three years that was it so I'm
1:09:44thinking [ __ ] I just got my life back
1:09:46I'm 42 years old and I only got three
1:09:49years that hurt but my mom said [ __ ] she
1:09:53never used that word but she said excuse
1:09:55me
1:09:55those doctors know their books they know
1:09:57their medicine they don't know my son
1:10:00you don't listen to them you eat my food
1:10:03you exercise and you get yourself
1:10:05together young man there's a lot to do
1:10:08that's amazing right six months later I
1:10:10get my health back and I'm living in
1:10:13Philadelphia man I'm walking the streets
1:10:15at night it's look man my parents are 7
1:10:19years old and they were going to bed at
1:10:20like 8:00 9:00 and I didn't know anybody
1:10:23and nobody wanted to be my friend and
1:10:25everybody was treating me like I'm a
1:10:26freak just because I spent 23 years in a
1:10:29Cell doesn't mean I'm a freak and I
1:10:32wasn't the one torching me I was having
1:10:34it done to me so I used to walk the
1:10:37streets at night and they called me the
1:10:40white ghost so I had a black hoodie and
1:10:43I wore it everywhere and I couldn't help
1:10:44it and I got confronted one night these
1:10:47Street kids who pulled a pistol on me
1:10:50they rolled up on me with a SUV and they
1:10:52was like why are you freaking our boys
1:10:54out making them run off when they
1:10:55slinging it's like no I don't care what
1:10:59you do I'm not here to reclaim my
1:11:02neighborhood or clean up the streets I
1:11:04don't give a [ __ ] my parents are old
1:11:07it's hot as [ __ ] I got nowhere to be I
1:11:10just want to walk can I just please walk
1:11:12the streets like I started pleading with
1:11:15him I I didn't get nasty with him I
1:11:19spoke to him with love I said look just
1:11:24cause my skin ain't black don't mean I
1:11:26don't love like I'm I'm you look at me
1:11:29they did this to me I'm you
1:11:33man so they let me alone gave me a bag
1:11:36of weed threw it on the on the ground at
1:11:38my feet let me roll out you
1:11:41know and I had to leave Philly I had to
1:11:43get out of there man was too much
1:11:46couldn't do that to
1:11:47myself so I sat down with nothing and
1:11:51with the help of the University of
1:11:53Pennsylvania's student
1:11:56I organized a five Country
1:11:59tour within months I addressed a
1:12:02combined session of the lower House of
1:12:04Commons in Parliament London I spoke to
1:12:07the league the national in Paris I spoke
1:12:10in Italy to all of the local Governor
1:12:14governments and performed at the
1:12:17Coliseum I went to Sweden and did the
1:12:19same thing and you know what I was doing
1:12:22I was going after Pennsylvania's money
1:12:25they had a ship building project that
1:12:27Sweden was going to build a Philadelphia
1:12:29Navy Yard into a private ship building
1:12:31company and I went over there and asked
1:12:33them not to do it as long as
1:12:34Pennsylvania had the death penalty yeah
1:12:36I picked out Pennsylvania's five biggest
1:12:38trade partners and I went over there and
1:12:40[ __ ] with their money didn't I by the
1:12:42time I got off of an airplane in
1:12:44November of n
1:12:462004 this is 10 months the same Governor
1:12:50Ed Randell who was going to sign my
1:12:53death warrant called my father's house
1:12:55wanted to speak to me and my father said
1:12:57no my son is speaking to you and H
1:13:01up that's come back
1:13:05yeah when you're standing on stage at
1:13:08the Coliseum in Rome with 20,000 people
1:13:12and you are there to help them celebrate
1:13:15being the first European country to
1:13:17declare the death penal and Abomination
1:13:21and you walk on stage with children
1:13:23releasing white doves from boxes and
1:13:26they fly overhead while you're standing
1:13:28in an Immaculate suit and you tell them
1:13:31how happy you are and then you turn
1:13:33around and walk off that
1:13:36stage you leave it there whatever the
1:13:39[ __ ] they did to you in that prison so I
1:13:41left right at that moment man and I kept
1:13:43going so here I am 19 years free I've
1:13:47been through everything as you know
1:13:49Travis and one of the things that I did
1:13:52was I developed my mind in prison and I
1:13:55learned about neuroplasticity healing
1:13:58and how I have the ability to erase
1:14:01PTSD that is really the core greatest
1:14:05gift I was ever given and it all came to
1:14:08me by my mother simply asking me to be a
1:14:10polite man when I got released to show
1:14:13respect for what was done to her family
1:14:17not me yeah so I teamed up with Robin
1:14:21Sharma and I wrote the book uh the
1:14:25kindness
1:14:26approach um back now in England after
1:14:29leaving the United States um after I did
1:14:32the podcast soft white underbelly and I
1:14:35decided to move on and I'm now in
1:14:38England rebuilding my life because I
1:14:41like you Travis am a comeback I am
1:14:44actually literally in the midst of my
1:14:47comeback whing on your show that is
1:14:51crazy because I left America in March I
1:14:55gave away my RV this is all true to a
1:14:59family that has an autistic child in
1:15:01Oregon that was living on the farm where
1:15:04I was living in the woods I gave my car
1:15:06to my friend and he drove me to Seattle
1:15:10so that I could get on a plane and come
1:15:12here to England and start over and since
1:15:15March of this year I've reached over a
1:15:18hundred million people online so far
1:15:21with this message of healing and I keep
1:15:23rocking it
1:15:25I'm having meetings set up going forward
1:15:28where I'm having a new TV series come
1:15:30out another documentary I'm making a
1:15:32documentary about my friend with cancer
1:15:34and I'm doing a speaking tour I can't be
1:15:37[ __ ] stopped want to know why because
1:15:39I paid all my
1:15:40dues I believe in myself because of that
1:15:43one thing I don't care what day today is
1:15:47it ain't the day I sat down and asked to
1:15:49be executed is
1:15:50it no this final bit is for everyone
1:15:54listening
1:15:56I know what it's like to be in that cell
1:16:00for
1:16:028,000 57 days 23 hours or more every one
1:16:07of those
1:16:10days I know it's never the same and it
1:16:14changes and you have periods where you
1:16:17master it and then you feel like you're
1:16:19losing it and it comes back again that's
1:16:22part of your growth please listen to me
1:16:27find your nature in that
1:16:29cell if you're a loving
1:16:33person you can't turn away from your
1:16:35nature the thing that got me through 23
1:16:37years of solitary confinement I started
1:16:39helping dudes around me and loving other
1:16:41people because I couldn't stop being a
1:16:42loving person and once I stopped
1:16:45fighting against my nature I had dudes
1:16:48that were so grateful I was writing
1:16:50letters to their mom or writing legal
1:16:52briefs for them and yes I got my friends
1:16:55off a death row Walter ogron's been set
1:16:57free Ernie Simmons is free I helped a
1:17:00lot of dudes you know why because that's
1:17:03who I realized I was and if that's who I
1:17:06am then I'm fake being a badass I'm fake
1:17:09being hard I'm fake being mean I'm fake
1:17:12being all the other parts that wasn't
1:17:16me Travis I love you for let me come on
1:17:19here and share this with your audience
1:17:21because I'm living proof you can get out
1:17:23of that cell and shake that [ __ ] off man
1:17:27what they're doing to you isn't nothing
1:17:29it's what you're doing to you in that
1:17:31cell that's going to be determined of
1:17:35you being sane enough to get through it
1:17:37without mental scars and be productive
1:17:40and find your
1:17:41purpose at the beginning when I was
1:17:43speaking to Travis I told him ever since
1:17:46I learned Pablo Picasso saying to find a
1:17:50meaning in
1:17:51life the meaning of your life is to find
1:17:55your gift and the purpose of your life
1:17:57is to give that gift away ever since I
1:18:00learned that lesson I realized I was
1:18:03meant to take this enormous Journey so
1:18:06that there would be a gift of me in it
1:18:09that could connect with other men or
1:18:11others in a way that helps them that's
1:18:15my greatest gift the one I paid for
1:18:19most thank you so much Travis for
1:18:22letting me speak today man you're a kind
1:18:25strong man and if I catch you weak again
1:18:28I'm going to shout at you just like I
1:18:29did today with love and affection and
1:18:31tell you you're not allowed that
1:18:35luxury you know you're not allowed
1:18:38that's a luxury don't indulge no matter
1:18:41how hard things are be harder than life
1:18:45you have no hope to be kinder than love
1:18:50otherwise man I love you brother
1:18:53incredible
1:18:56yes sir I wish every prisoner uh reading
1:19:00this and hearing this or gets any
1:19:02exposure to this recognizes something it
1:19:06don't matter where you come from or what
1:19:07you did no one's got a right to judge
1:19:09you if you paid for what you've done or
1:19:13if you're paying for what you haven't
1:19:15done let that be the driving force what
1:19:18makes you a beautiful man don't be
1:19:21ashamed of that man I am an exceedingly
1:19:25polite person and I deserve to look at
1:19:27myself that way if no one else gives you
1:19:30that give you that
1:19:32man love you brother have a good day man
1:19:35you too brother be
1:19:39well peace and love man peace and love
1:19:42right back at you bro

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This page contains the full transcript of Surviving Death Row: Travis Richey Interviews Nick Yarris 🎙️⚖️ by Travis Richey , generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 13,105 words across 1,781 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

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