YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz 2/24/21 - Robert DuBoise

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz 2/24/21 - Robert DuBoise — Transcript

by Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz · 11,886 words · 1,986 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:04hello and welcome to south beach
0:06sessions this is dan levitar doing it a
0:08little differently this week not just
0:10talking to
0:11a random person from sports or outside
0:14of sports but talking about somebody
0:16who is a bit of a vessel for a cause
0:19robert dubois
0:20has been wrongly convicted dna evidence
0:23since the 80s has gotten much stronger
0:25and he was wrongly convicted and on
0:27death row for a crime he did not commit
0:30murder and rape dna evidence bears that
0:32out the innocence project after 35 years
0:35wrongly convicted in prison
0:38the innocence project got involved and
0:40rescued this man
0:41from a crime he didn't commit so i
0:44wanted to talk to robert dubois about
0:46both the legislation that denies him 50
0:50000 a year for every year that he spent
0:53wrongly convicted in prison
0:55which means he'd get nearly 2 million
0:57dollars for
0:58at least obviously a systemic wrong but
1:01because he committed a crime when he was
1:0317 years old
1:04involving some car parts he is stuck in
1:06the system now
1:08he already got stuck in the system not
1:10being able to get out on probation
1:12or get anyone to hear his cries for help
1:14while he was in prison for 35 years but
1:17then the innocent project got involved
1:19and they do a lot of good work like this
1:20and if you want
1:21to help along these grounds you can do
1:24so by getting involved and helping
1:26legislation pass that can change some of
1:28the restrictive laws in florida and in
1:30other parts of the country you just text
1:33the word innocent to the number 52886 or
1:37you can visit
1:38innocenceproject.org but here is the
1:40story of robert dubois he was wrongly
1:43convicted
1:44of a crime of murder and rape and dna
1:47evidence exonerated him
1:49this is his story the tampa bay bucks
1:52are involved in the story because they
1:53have helped him since he is not being
1:55paid
1:56this is a piece of his story here's
1:58robert dubois
2:00[Music]
2:02so robert where is your level of
2:05bitterness i imagine that anyone
2:07spending nearly four decades in prison
2:11without freedom for something they
2:13didn't do
2:14would have a great deal of trouble
2:16finding some sort of peace or
2:17tranquility in terms of quieting
2:20their anger about what had happened to
2:22them no
2:23i don't have bitterness i'm not bitter
2:25about the whole thing
2:26i just want to see change for everybody
2:30you know i would like to see the
2:32wrongful incarceration stop completely
2:34of course
2:35but in the meantime i would at least
2:37like to see these people
2:38like myself be able to get on with our
2:41lives you know
2:42well how do you arrive at a place though
2:44where you're not carrying around in
2:45anger or hostility or i've been wronged
2:48like how how long did it take you to get
2:50there well i guess it took me some years
2:54i really wasn't bitter
2:56i'm more i'm more less concentrated on
2:59just trying to prove my innocence i
3:01didn't have time for bitterness
3:03and anger and all that stuff you know i
3:06hit a lot of roadblocks of course i had
3:07a lot of disappointments
3:10you know every time i tried to prove my
3:12innocence get dna testing whatever and
3:15i would run into roadblocks i couldn't
3:17get it accomplished
3:19so you know at times you know it seemed
3:22kind of futile and
3:25maybe hopeless even but i just kept my
3:28faith and kept pushing forward
3:30take us back to when you're being
3:32wrongly accused and you realize
3:35that your innocence is not only in
3:37question your innocence is now going to
3:39be legally lost you are not innocent you
3:41are someone who is guilty of this crime
3:43and you are losing your freedom
3:44yeah when i said in the trial i mean you
3:47could see through the old videos i would
3:49sit there
3:50and i was pretty well dumbfounded i mean
3:53i didn't understand how it could be
3:54happening
3:56and yet it did you know i sat there
3:59every day
4:00slowly being convicted of something i
4:02didn't do so i had to listen to all this
4:05nonsense from them in the courtroom
4:08you know accusing me of murder and
4:10sexual battery
4:11and i knew i didn't do it but now
4:15the whole country thought i did because
4:18of what happened
4:19and so what do you remember about your
4:21first
4:22day with freedom lost you're in prison
4:26and you're thinking to yourself how the
4:28hell does this happen to me and how do i
4:30fix this
4:31yeah that's pretty much the case and you
4:34know at that point
4:36you know people say they would kick and
4:37scream and do all this other stuff
4:39guess what you're locked in a cell now
4:42all that kicking and screaming ain't
4:43going to help you at all
4:44so the only thing you can do at this
4:46point is try to focus on trying to prove
4:48your innocence
4:49which i did my best to do i mean i
4:52offered
4:53polygraph tests i wanted to do dna
4:55testing i never asked for a loophole
4:57in the law i just asked him to test the
5:00evidence
5:01so i could prove my innocence so what
5:03lengths did you go to can you explain to
5:05us because i can imagine
5:07in this situation robert this would be
5:10something that would lead someone to
5:11literally
5:12go mad go crazy like they don't know
5:15what is real or what is the truth
5:17anymore
5:17when this happens to them yeah like i
5:20said it did feel hopeless
5:22you know for a long time especially when
5:23i first went on death row
5:25so after a short while
5:29you know i just had to start
5:30concentrating on
5:32doing whatever i could to prove my
5:33innocence so i would see these uh
5:36shows like 20 20 60 minutes 48 hours
5:41and stuff like this on death row and i
5:43would say you know
5:44maybe they could help so i wrote
5:48many many letters to all kind of news
5:51outlets
5:52and other people that might be
5:54interested in helping and i never even
5:55got a response
5:58never to nothing no not not a letter you
6:01wrote so how many letters are you
6:02writing you're
6:03because you have a lot of time correct
6:04can you explain to us what the death row
6:06explain to us the death row existence
6:09so it's like the only thing i did every
6:11day is i would write letters like
6:1428 page letters sometimes you know
6:17and try to get 48 hours 60 minutes 20 20
6:21anybody
6:23interested in putting my story out there
6:26and
6:26not one of them responded or said they
6:28couldn't help or nothing they just never
6:30responded
6:32so i pretty much spent my days like
6:36um either trying to exercise to keep my
6:39mind focused
6:40or writing letters to my family and
6:43friends
6:44and like doing a little bit of artwork
6:46or something just anything to keep my
6:48mind occupied
6:50any interaction with others oh yeah um i
6:53mean
6:54everybody on death rows locked in their
6:56own sale
6:58but at times up to 22 23 people
7:02at the same time can actually go outside
7:04into a small
7:05caged area twice a week other than that
7:09you only come out of yourself three
7:10times a week for a five minute shower
7:12that's
7:12it so is there a way for you to describe
7:16the loneliness of nearly four decades
7:20spent within that kind of space
7:23man that is something i don't think
7:25words could adequate
7:26adequately describe i mean
7:30you know it's like a feeling of complete
7:32despair at times
7:34you know it's like you're sitting there
7:3724 hours a day you know you didn't do it
7:40you know you're around other people that
7:42may or may
7:43not have done what they're accused of i
7:45don't know
7:46but you know you're just stuck
7:50and it's like i said it's a feeling of
7:52despair
7:53do you remember when you were most
7:55hopeful because that's a long time how
7:57many how many years was it just on death
8:00row
8:01on death row it was three plus a little
8:03over three maybe
8:05there was a couple of times i it seemed
8:07hopeful like when i went back for
8:09an evidentiary hearing i thought i was
8:11actually going to get dna testing done
8:14but instead i ran into another roadblock
8:17so
8:17the only time that i was ever truly
8:20hopeful
8:22was the day i got a letter from susan
8:24friedman
8:25okay that's the innocence project
8:27correct yes all right we'll get back to
8:29that in just a second but before we get
8:31to the innocence project i sort of want
8:33to wander through some of this space
8:36with you
8:36on before you get to 2019
8:40you are spending nearly four decades
8:43wrongly convicted of a crime you know
8:46you did not commit
8:47and from within that you're saying to
8:51yourself
8:51i'm going to get out some point how
8:55yeah i'm just trying to stay focused on
8:57proving my innocence any way i can i
8:59volunteered for
9:02true serm even though they said it would
9:03be dangerous
9:05but of course they wouldn't give it to
9:06me i offered polygraph tests
9:09i offered any tests they wanted to do
9:14you know so basically
9:17my existence after coming off death row
9:19ironically enough
9:20i came straight from death row to being
9:22the prison electrician
9:25so from that point on all my days was
9:29pretty much
9:30consumed with doing maintenance in the
9:33prison
9:34and just trying to write letters and do
9:37whatever i could
9:38to prove my innocence i didn't even have
9:40access to telephones or anything
9:42so what happened with the innocence
9:44project how did they come into your life
9:47well i wrote to them first i wrote to
9:50the one in florida
9:52and they were working on the case for
9:55quite a while and unfortunately they
9:59didn't have the resources
10:01that it took to to really delve into
10:04this
10:06so they sent my files over to new york
10:10and then new york got involved so
10:14i really became hopeful like i said when
10:17i got a letter from susan friedman
10:19because she found she sounded like
10:22she was really she had a positive
10:25attitude about the whole thing
10:26she says we read your case and we're
10:29accepting it
10:30you know so pretty much sign these
10:32documents because we're going to be
10:34representing you
10:35and why did she say she was doing that
10:39because they they've read my transcripts
10:41and they believe i'm innocent
10:44and you've been sending those over
10:46non-stop right over many many years you
10:48for over decades you've been sending
10:50that and never gotten
10:51any other response other than that one
10:53in 2018 or 2019.
10:57um 2019. think
11:00it might have been 18 i'm not really
11:02sure about dates
11:04is there anything that is more
11:06frustrating through this
11:08uh robert beyond obviously being wrongly
11:12convicted of something
11:13then running up against the
11:15imperfections
11:16in a legal system that almost made it
11:19easier to keep you
11:20imprisoned wrongly than to get you
11:24out rightly because that when when we
11:26talked to maya moore around here on the
11:28south beach sessions and she's trying to
11:29change
11:30you know doing as you are trying to do
11:32substantive criminal reform
11:34i can't imagine the exasperation in
11:36there seemed to be
11:38no effort by the system whatsoever to
11:41drag out
11:42the innocent because it was just easier
11:44to keep you guilty
11:46exactly you know and like i say a lot of
11:48people become better inside but
11:51you know they become hateful towards the
11:53correctional officers and the prison
11:55system well they're not the ones that
11:56did it
11:57the state did it the state convicted you
11:59so their job is to keep you in prison
12:01once you get there
12:02after all these years went by my goal at
12:0425 years
12:06i was sentenced to 25 years mandatory
12:09life sentence
12:11so which means that you have to do a
12:14minimum of 25 years before you can see
12:16the parole board
12:18well i've seen the parole board three
12:19times and they were very negative
12:22every time so at this point i was
12:24thinking
12:26even if i can get parole then i can go
12:29out and prove my own innocence
12:31but even that didn't happen that was
12:32another roadblock after my last parole
12:35hearing
12:35actually the last parole hearing i had
12:38was the day before i received susan's
12:40letter
12:42you know so i just said god i put it in
12:44your hands cause
12:46i mean i just couldn't do nothing with
12:47them you can't talk to them they don't
12:49want to hear it they don't look at
12:52um the kind of person you are they don't
12:54look at
12:55what you've done while you were in
12:56prison i've been working maintenance all
12:58these years in prison
13:00so not stabbing nobody or doing nothing
13:04stupid in there like a lot of people
13:06so the parole commission never looked at
13:09that once
13:10so there weren't my hope of trying to
13:13get parole just so i could go prove my
13:14innocence
13:16why do you imagine the parole
13:17experiences were so negative
13:20i don't know this one the last lady that
13:23came
13:24the the guy before her he was really
13:26nasty but
13:27the last lady that came she says okay
13:30tell me a little bit about the crime
13:32so i said well i said i know what you're
13:34looking for you're looking for remorse
13:35i said but i can't sit here and tell you
13:38that i'm remorseful for something i
13:40didn't do
13:41so she slapped the desk she said this
13:44meeting's over with
13:45i'll see you later i said well have a
13:47nice day and drive careful
13:49and then the following day i got a
13:51letter from susan
13:53did you consider faking remorse
13:56no no i told her i said
13:59i said i'm not going to see him tell you
14:01i'm remorseful for something i didn't do
14:03i said am i sorry for the victim's
14:05family i said yes and i'm sorry for my
14:08family and myself as well
14:10i said but i didn't do it so she just
14:13abruptly ended the meeting and that was
14:14it
14:18finding great candidates to hire can be
14:19like trying to find a needle in a
14:21haystack
14:22sure you can post your job to some job
14:24board then all you can do is hope that
14:25the right person comes along
14:27which is why you should try zip
14:28recruiter for free at ziprecruiter.com
14:31beach zip recruiter does the work for
14:33you when you post a job on zip recruiter
14:35it gets sent out to over 100 top job
14:38sites with just one click
14:40then zip recruiters matching technology
14:42finds the person with the right skills
14:43and experience
14:44for your job and actively invites them
14:46to apply
14:48you get qualified candidates fast so
14:50while other services may overwhelm you
14:52with applications to sift through
14:54zip recruiter finds what you are looking
14:56for the needle in the haystack
14:59in fact zip recruiter is so effective
15:00that four out of five employers who post
15:02on zip recruiter get a quality candidate
15:04through the site within the first day
15:06and right now you can try zip recruiter
15:07for free at zip recruiter.com
15:10beach that's ziprecruiter.com b-e-a-c-h
15:14just go to ziprecruiter.com beach zip
15:17recruiter
15:18the smartest way to hire
15:20[Music]
15:22so that was one of three hearings that
15:24you got and those are going to be the
15:25most hopeful moments that you have right
15:27you are
15:28you are preparing to be able to tell
15:30your story the most meticulously because
15:32you might not
15:33well hell you haven't gotten audiences
15:35with anybody for two and a half
15:37decades so exactly you're trying to
15:39you're trying to present your
15:41best case and that third one was over
15:44and how long
15:45oh it was over in less than five minutes
15:49i mean how do you not consider harming
15:51yourself how do you not get so hopeless
15:54that you are thinking of ending your
15:55life no
15:57i mean it felt pretty hopeless many many
15:59times but i had to consider my family
16:01too
16:03and so that's what that's another thing
16:06i've actually seen people lose their
16:07mind in there
16:09and even on death row i've seen people
16:11lose their mind
16:12i've seen people come in with all black
16:16hair
16:16in less than a year they had a full head
16:18of gray hair
16:19you know just constant worry and i've
16:22seen what this
16:23bitterness and stuff can do to you i
16:25just don't understand how you were able
16:26to navigate that there is profound
16:28wisdom in you being able to stay alive
16:30during a bitterness and a resentment
16:32that would have been poison and a lot of
16:34other
16:34in a lot of other bodies yeah i just had
16:37to
16:38stay focused like i said to try to prove
16:40my innocence that's really all i wanted
16:43can you explain to us what the innocence
16:46project
16:46did how they did it for you well i can't
16:49really say
16:49how they did it i mean you'd have to
16:51talk to susan she's
16:52very very meticulous in everything she
16:55does
16:56but i know that
16:59she explained everything to me as we
17:01went we had many many phone calls she
17:04even came to visit me from new york
17:06so she just let me know she would show
17:09me the documentation that she
17:11put together and slowly as the case
17:15moved forward
17:16she finally said you know that
17:19we're gonna push for dna testing she
17:22said they already know i didn't do it
17:24they can tell by all the records they've
17:25already read but the dna
17:28thank god really sealed the whole
17:31bargain
17:32you know how would you articulate your
17:36gratitude for the work that susan did
17:40oh man i'm very thankful to them and i'm
17:42gonna do everything i can
17:44to support and help bring support to
17:48them
17:48because i'm not the only one they've
17:50helped and i'm not the only one they're
17:52going to help
17:53they're still doing it even as we speak
17:55she's working on cases right now
17:57one of the things they're working on the
17:59current law restricts
18:00most wrongfully convicted people from
18:03being compensated but there is a bill in
18:05the state legislature that could fix
18:07that law
18:08in this session if you want to get
18:10involved or help legislation like that
18:12pass in florida and
18:14in other parts of the country you text
18:15innocent to
18:185286 or you can visit the
18:21innocenceproject.org but if you just
18:23want to type
18:24it's the easiest way possible you can
18:26help if you're moved by this story and
18:27you simply want
18:29to correct some wrongs 52886
18:33text innocent to 52886
18:37help us with the exit from prison when
18:42you leave
18:42prison the day that you're leaving
18:45prison
18:46you are filled with what so i was filled
18:48with complete
18:49joy i mean just to finally
18:52be at this point where everybody knows
18:55i'm innocent
18:57you know you don't you don't know all
18:58the looks you get over the years you
19:00know and
19:02when someone talks to you whether it be
19:04a staff member
19:05officer whatever and
19:09they look at you because they see on
19:11paper that
19:12you're a murderer rapist so that
19:14automatically
19:15makes you pretty much an animal to
19:17everybody
19:19so when they see you
19:22and you say you're innocent they say
19:24yeah everybody says that
19:26i said yeah i said everybody might say
19:28it but everybody ain't telling you the
19:29truth
19:30i said i am innocent so
19:33many people in there that knows me will
19:35tell you exactly those words because
19:36i've always told them
19:38that i'm innocent i said i know you're
19:40not going to believe it and i don't
19:41really expect you to
19:42i said because you're used to looking at
19:44black and white and
19:46what you see in writing is what you
19:47believe so
19:50i said you know sooner or later i said
19:52hopefully i'll be able to prove this
19:54so now they all see that i was telling
19:57the truth and some of them have even
19:58reached out
20:00you know and they said you always said
20:01you were innocent you know
20:03so how many of them have reached out
20:07oh manny like at least like 15 or so
20:11and that's all like employees from
20:13different prisons
20:15what is the most gratifying thing that
20:17you have felt since leaving prison
20:20oh man i think like when the the
20:23buccaneers reached out
20:24i had a zoom meeting with them and that
20:26was really shocking to me i didn't know
20:29that we were going to have it so when
20:32they reached out to me i just
20:34you know i was kind of overwhelmed by
20:36the uh
20:38the caring you know but
20:41between the buccaneers and the innocence
20:43project
20:44you know they've kept me afloat you know
20:48i mean i have to work you know because i
20:51come out
20:52you know you're not eligible for
20:53compensation at this time
20:55so um they're they're fighting for it
20:59but you know in the meantime i have to
21:02work and i have to make a living you
21:03know
21:05so each one of them have helped me get
21:07on my feet
21:08enough to do this you know but without
21:11them
21:12i would have had nothing well let's walk
21:15through this
21:16because this is one of the reasons that
21:17i wanted to talk to you in terms of
21:19fixing some of this legislation
21:21and actually helping people who have
21:22been so clearly wrong
21:25florida is one of 35 states that does
21:27have a compensation law
21:29but it is one of the most restrictive
21:32laws in the country and so there have
21:33been
21:3431 people like robert who have been
21:37innocent
21:37and been freed but only five of those
21:41have been paid so why are you not
21:43eligible
21:45what they're saying because of a past
21:47offense they have what they call a clean
21:48hands bill
21:50so for some dumb stuff i did non-violent
21:53stuff by the way
21:54when i was 17 and i got probation for
21:58i'm still being punished for it and what
22:01was that dumb stuff
22:02well they're saying it's like car parts
22:07you know so now they're they're saying
22:09i'm ineligible they're not going to
22:11um the state is not going to
22:17admit the wrong and try to
22:20compensate me after all these years
22:23because of this
22:24because there were some car parts you
22:25stole when you were 17 or some crime
22:27yeah that's what
22:28that's what they're saying yeah okay and
22:30so how did the bucks help you explain to
22:32me
22:32they get on a zoom call and who's on
22:34there and why are they taking up your
22:35cause
22:36is it it's not just merely because
22:38you've been convicted when you're
22:39innocent
22:40it's because of the unfairness of you
22:41want to work you've been wronged and
22:43you're not being allowed to you you
22:45can't be compensated you're having
22:46trouble
22:47finding work right so the buccaneers got
22:51involved and they said you know ally
22:53marpad
22:54donovan smith and alice kappa sarah
22:57evans and a couple of other people
23:01so we had a zoom meeting in the
23:02buccaneers allie marpett led the way he
23:05says
23:06that we was reading your story
23:09and we're really touched by this and um
23:12we want to give you some money to try to
23:14help you get on your feet a little bit
23:15you know at least help you
23:17and so they gave me some money and they
23:20invited me to the buccaneers game
23:23and then later even invited me to the
23:25super bowl you know
23:28so it must have felt good to have
23:30someone just trying to help you i don't
23:31know if you're a football fan or if
23:33you're a buccaneer fan
23:34but just yes like i said well i didn't
23:36get to watch football all these years i
23:38mean some people in prison do
23:40but um i was one of the ones that did a
23:43lot of work
23:44so i worked every day doing maintenance
23:47and stuff
23:48so i really never got a chance to watch
23:50a game
23:51i never went to a game in my whole life
23:54so when i went to the buccaneer rams
23:56game that's the very first game i've
23:57ever been to
23:58so then the super bowl they invited me
24:00to the super bowl and i was just you
24:02know i was just happy
24:04that they were in the super bowl to
24:05begin with and making history by being
24:07in their own city
24:09while they're playing in a super bowl
24:11you know i was just
24:12elated for them and then they invited me
24:15to the super bowl which i did not expect
24:18i've got to imagine robert that the work
24:21is what kept you sane or helped keep you
24:23sane the fact that you were doing
24:25physical work that could allow your mind
24:27to be occupied
24:29on doing work was that taken away with
24:31death row did you go three years without
24:33being able to work
24:34oh yeah yeah i went straight from death
24:37row to being a prison electrician but on
24:39death row you're locked into sale 24
24:41hours a day
24:42so that was the worst that was the worst
24:44of it correct it didn't it didn't get
24:46any worse than there it felt a little
24:48more like freedom outside of those three
24:50years
24:50right oh yeah yeah i mean at least you
24:53could move around you know
24:55i mean i was in the most dangerous
24:57prison in the whole state
24:59but the only reason i was in the whole
25:01the dangerous prison
25:03was the fact that back in the in the 80s
25:06if you came off of death row
25:08the only place you could go was fsp
25:11which is the worst prison in the whole
25:13state that's where they send everybody
25:15that
25:15uh stabs other inmates at other prisons
25:18or whatever
25:19or assault staff so anyway you had a
25:23pretty rowdy prison i've always gotten
25:25along good with everybody
25:27but you know you you're in a dangerous
25:28situation you got guys going around
25:30stabbing each other every day
25:32you know so i focused on doing
25:35electrical work plumbing work or
25:37whatever and just kept my mind occupied
25:39how did you navigate the most dangerous
25:42prison though how did you navigate all
25:43of the
25:44nonsense that can happen there well you
25:47know i was really blessed in that
25:48respect because
25:49i mean like i said i'm in a dangerous
25:52situation a lot of guys got killed
25:54and stabbed and uh me i just went
25:58to work every morning i would get my
26:00tools i would go into the wings
26:02with all these guys and pretty much i
26:05was the guy that
26:06fixed all their stuff you know so
26:10everybody got to know me pretty quick
26:12and you know i had a good relationship
26:16with most
26:17you made yourself useful that's the best
26:19way to do it right
26:20you're you are and so how helpful were
26:22you in that regard how how
26:24good were you with mechanics oh no i
26:27always
26:27i always did the job i always fix lights
26:29uh plumbing
26:31air conditioning all of this plus it's
26:33not just that it's a matter of
26:35how you carry yourself and how you
26:38treat others as well you know it doesn't
26:40matter that we're in prison you still
26:42have to treat each other with respect
26:45you know that's the key issue what
26:48difficulties have there been
26:49in transitioning into freedom oh man
26:53it's like going in
26:54i don't i'm not sure you could even
26:56imagine this
26:57but it's like going into um
27:01pretty much a whole nother country that
27:03you're not familiar with at all
27:06because i came out before i went in
27:08there was no there were no cell phones
27:10and computers
27:12so i've never used a cell phone until i
27:14came out
27:16so um self
27:19in stores i didn't know nothing about it
27:21the stores are
27:22bigger than they used to be there's more
27:25products
27:26um all the
27:29streets have changed the whole city's
27:31changed
27:32and it's really been difficult to
27:36navigate a lot of this stuff
27:38and without the help i've had through
27:41the innocence project
27:42and sunny center and the buccaneers you
27:45know
27:46i would have had a lot of issues can you
27:49tell us some more of the things you get
27:51out
27:51and what's different i mean you
27:52mentioned several of them there but i
27:54imagine
27:55something every day is different where
27:56you're you're basically coming out of
27:591980
28:00right you're coming out you're it's like
28:02you left miami in 1980 miami was an
28:05entirely different city in 1980
28:07yeah it's basically like i went forward
28:09in a time machine
28:10give me some of the details on that what
28:12you're talking about things that
28:14represent culture shock uh computers
28:16just things that you run into where
28:18you're like
28:18this is not something that i was
28:20prepared for in prison
28:22yeah the computers the telephones even
28:24the tv
28:25i gotta i have a roku tv and that was
28:28hard to navigate
28:29um because before you had the little
28:31channels you uhf
28:33and vhf so um
28:38um just seeing things like when i'm
28:40driving down the street
28:42i think the first thing that caught my
28:44attention basically when
28:46my attorney and i were driving
28:49was the amount of homeless people i seen
28:52so that really disturbed me so then uh
28:55she took me into my first store
28:57the night i got out so then i learned
29:00about self-checkout which took a while
29:03and um i had to learn to kind of
29:07navigate the stores again
29:10you know to find different items and
29:13at times it was very overwhelming i mean
29:15i didn't even stay in a store for 10
29:17minutes
29:18because i would just be overwhelmed you
29:20know kind of
29:22just so much to take in at one time i
29:24would think that you would have
29:26some post-traumatic stress disorder i
29:28don't know what your sleep is like i
29:30don't know how restful
29:31uh your nights are but there is some
29:33really hard stuff
29:34you've endured i don't know where you
29:36put it i don't know how it is
29:38not something that's soaked into every
29:40part of your being
29:41well i don't sleep much but i didn't
29:43really put it to that
29:46but maybe that is an issue but yeah i
29:49usually sleep like
29:50maybe three hours i mean you have to be
29:53carrying a great deal of stress robert i
29:55don't know how much of this stuff
29:57uh is too painful to navigate i do
30:00imagine you've
30:01put up a lot of coping mechanisms in
30:04because survival is the greatest
30:06instinct but what you have endured is
30:08beyond unspeakably horrific anyone
30:11listening to this
30:12can't possibly understand what your hell
30:15has been because you have been alive for
30:1835 years
30:19and you've had something on you that
30:21none of us can ever understand it's
30:24it's the worst nightmare yeah it is that
30:27in fact many years i kept waking up
30:29hoping i would find out it was just a
30:31bad dream
30:32does that still happen to you like with
30:34with this freedom can you believe
30:36that you can now just go outside like
30:38what are some of the simple pleasures
30:40that you are able to experience that
30:42many of us probably don't appreciate
30:44every day
30:45yeah that kind of for the first few
30:48nights or the first weeks at least
30:50i used to get up like even two in the
30:51morning just go outside
30:54you know just to be able to go outside
30:55and look up at the moon
30:57and just the sky and have some peace of
31:00mind
31:01you know so i think the
31:06dad kind of going to the beach or even
31:08going down like bay shore boulevard
31:10seeing the waterfront
31:12all of those things are relaxing to me
31:15and i know
31:16some people come out in the morning um
31:19they're in a rush to get to work or to
31:20the store or whatever and they never
31:22take the time to
31:24look at the sunrise or the sunset or the
31:26sky
31:27or whatever and you know these are
31:29things i don't take for granted
31:31is there anything you miss about prison
31:33because you just got so used to that
31:35life
31:36no no i never got used to it
31:40the reason i asked that question it may
31:42be a dumb one is because i remember mike
31:44tyson
31:44saying that sometimes he felt he didn't
31:46want to leave prison
31:48on his last day in prison because it
31:50felt safer in some ways than
31:52everything that was waiting for him out
31:55there
31:55and so i don't know when you walk into
31:57that store and feel overwhelmed if life
31:59has
32:00uh you know any of those shawshank
32:02redemption qualities where
32:04it's so hard on the outside and you get
32:06so used to what it's like on the inside
32:08or you're saying
32:09you don't get used to it but that the
32:11life becomes so familiar to you that you
32:13just don't know any other way when you
32:14get to freedom
32:15yeah that's pretty much true i mean it's
32:18human nature
32:19to adapt to whatever situation they put
32:21you're put in you know
32:22i never miss prison at all i do um
32:26understand that there's people in there
32:27that need help you know even
32:29some of the guilty ones you know there's
32:31some people that need help just to be
32:32able to
32:34be treated more more respectful or with
32:36more dignity without being
32:38judged i mean most of the guys are sent
32:41to prison are already judged by a court
32:43and then they get in there and you have
32:45these officers
32:47who feel like they're going to keep
32:49judging them forever you know
32:51so robert if you hadn't at 17
32:54taken some car parts what kind of money
32:56would you be entitled to right now
32:59well it would be 50 000 for every year
33:04so 50 000 times 37
33:07correct 37 years um and you're not
33:10entitled to any of that money now
33:12because of that
33:14no but thank god they're they are filing
33:17a bill in my behalf
33:20for us a compensation bill so
33:23they're working on that now so if you'd
33:25like to get involved or help legislation
33:27like that pass in florida
33:29and in other parts of the country all
33:30you have to do right now you just go to
33:32your phone
33:33text 5286 text the word
33:37innocent or you could go to the
33:38innocence project.org robert thank you
33:42for
33:42the time i appreciate you sharing your
33:45story with us i hope that this works out
33:47for you in a way
33:48that offers some peace because this
33:50sounds like a special kind of hell
33:51you've had to live through
33:53thank you very much if that particular
33:55nightmare
33:56spoke to you you can help in the easiest
33:59of ways
33:59just text the word innocent to 52886 if
34:03that's something
34:04that bare minimum you want to help with
34:06so that maybe somewhere down the line
34:09someone does not get wronged like that a
34:11reminder that while we are the pirate
34:13ship
34:14we continue to need your support in
34:15every way rate subscribe
34:17and review for all of the levitard and
34:20friends properties you've got mystery
34:22crate you've got
34:23south beach sessions you've got
34:24stupidity you've got the levitard show
34:26with stu gods
34:28and you've got the levitard network the
34:30podcast feed
34:31take care of us there thank you we'll
34:33talk to you again next week
34:42hello and welcome to south beach
34:44sessions this is dan levitar doing it a
34:46little differently this week not just
34:49talking to
34:50a random person from sports or outside
34:52of sports but talking about somebody
34:54who is a bit of a vessel for a cause
34:57robert dubois
34:58has been wrongly convicted dna evidence
35:02since the 80s has gotten much stronger
35:04and he was wrongly convicted and on
35:06death row for a crime he did not commit
35:08murder and rape dna evidence bears that
35:11out the innocence project after 35 years
35:14wrongly convicted in prison the
35:16innocence project got involved and
35:18rescued this man from a crime he didn't
35:21commit so i wanted to talk to robert
35:23dubois
35:24about both the legislation that denies
35:27him
35:2750 000 a year for every year that he
35:31spent
35:31wrongly convicted in prison which means
35:33he'd get near
35:34two million dollars for at least
35:37obviously a systemic wrong
35:39but because he committed a crime when he
35:41was 17 years old
35:42involving some car parts he is stuck in
35:45the system now
35:46he already got stuck in the system not
35:48being able to get out on probation or
35:50get anyone to hear his cries for help
35:53while he was in prison for 35 years but
35:55then the innocence project got involved
35:57and they do a lot
35:58of good work like this and if you want
36:00to help along these grounds you can do
36:02so by getting involved and helping
36:04legislation pass
36:06that can change some of the restrictive
36:07laws in florida and in other parts of
36:09the country you just
36:10text the word innocent to the number
36:1452886 or you can visit
36:17innocenceproject.org but here is the
36:19story of robert dubois he was wrongly
36:21convicted
36:22of a crime of murder and rape and dna
36:26evidence exonerated him
36:28this is his story the tampa bay bucks
36:30are involved in the story because they
36:32have helped him since he is not being
36:34paid
36:34this is a piece of his story here's
36:36robert dubois
36:41so robert where is your level of
36:43bitterness i
36:44imagine that anyone spending nearly four
36:47decades
36:48in prison without freedom for something
36:51they didn't do
36:52would have a great deal of trouble
36:54finding some sort of peace or
36:56tranquility in terms of quieting
36:58their anger about what had happened to
37:00them
37:01no i don't have bitterness i'm not
37:03bitter about the whole thing
37:05i just want to see change for everybody
37:08you know i would like to see the
37:10wrongful incarceration stop completely
37:12of course
37:13but in the meantime i would at least
37:15like to see these people
37:16like myself be able to get on with our
37:20lives you know
37:21well how do you arrive at a place though
37:22where you're not carrying around in
37:24anger or
37:24hostility or i've been wronged like how
37:27how long did it take you to get there
37:30well i guess it took me some years i
37:33really wasn't bitter
37:35i'm more i'm more less concentrated on
37:38just trying to prove my innocence i
37:40didn't have time for bitterness and
37:41anger and all that stuff
37:44you know i hit a lot of roadblocks of
37:45course i had a lot of disappointments
37:48you know every time i tried to prove my
37:50innocence get dna testing whatever
37:53and i would run into roadblocks i
37:55couldn't get it accomplished
37:57so you know at times you know it seemed
38:00kind of futile and
38:03maybe hopeless even but i just kept my
38:07faith and kept pushing forward
38:09take us back to when you're being
38:11wrongly accused and you realize
38:13that your innocence is not only in
38:15question your innocence is now going to
38:17be
38:18legally lost you are not innocent you
38:20are someone who is guilty of this crime
38:21and you are losing your freedom
38:23yeah when i said in the trial i mean you
38:25could see through the old videos i would
38:27sit there
38:29and i was pretty well dumbfounded i mean
38:31i didn't understand how it could be
38:33happening
38:34and yet it did you know i sat there
38:38every day
38:39slowly being convicted of something i
38:40didn't do
38:42so i had to listen to all this nonsense
38:44from them in the courtroom
38:46you know accusing me of murder and
38:48sexual battery
38:50and i knew i didn't do it but now
38:54the whole country thought i did because
38:56of what happened
38:57and so what do you remember about your
39:00first
39:01day with freedom lost you're in prison
39:05and you're thinking to yourself how the
39:07hell does this happen to me and how do i
39:08fix this
39:10yeah that's pretty much the case and you
39:13know
39:13at that point you know people say they
39:15would kick and scream and do all this
39:17other stuff
39:18guess what you're locked in a cell now
39:20all that kicking and screaming ain't
39:21going to help you at all
39:23so the only thing you can do at this
39:24point is try to focus on trying to prove
39:26your innocence which i did my best to do
39:29i mean i offered polygraph tests i
39:32wanted to do dna testing
39:34i never asked for a loophole in the law
39:37i just asked him to test the evidence
39:39so i could prove my innocence so what
39:42lengths did you go to can you explain to
39:44us because i can imagine
39:45in this situation robert this would be
39:48something that would lead someone to
39:50literally go mad
39:52go crazy like they don't know what is
39:54real or what is the truth anymore
39:56when this happens to them yeah like i
39:58said
39:59it did feel hopeless you know for a long
40:01time especially when i first went on
40:02death row
40:04so after a short while
40:07you know i just had to start
40:08concentrating on
40:10doing whatever i could to prove my
40:12innocence so i would see these
40:13uh shows like 20 20 60 minutes
40:1748 hours and stuff like this on death
40:21row and i would say you know
40:23maybe they could help so i wrote
40:26many many letters to all kind of news
40:29outlets
40:30and other people that might be
40:32interested in helping and i never even
40:34got a response
40:36never to nothing no not not a letter you
40:39wrote so how many letters are you
40:40writing you're
40:41because you have a lot of time correct
40:43can you explain to us what the death row
40:45explain to us the death row existence
40:47so it's like the only thing i did every
40:50day is i would write letters like
40:5228 page letters sometimes you know
40:55and try to get 48 hours 60 minutes 20 20
41:00anybody
41:01interested in putting my story out there
41:04and
41:05not one of them responded or said they
41:07couldn't help or nothing they just never
41:09responded
41:10so i pretty much spent my days like
41:14um either trying to exercise to keep my
41:18mind focused
41:19or writing letters to my family and
41:21friends
41:22and like doing a little bit of artwork
41:25or something just
41:26anything to keep my mind occupied any
41:28interaction with others
41:30oh yeah um i mean everybody on death row
41:33is
41:34locked in their own sale but at times
41:38up to 22 23 people at the same time can
41:42actually go outside into a small caged
41:44area
41:45twice a week other than that you only
41:48come out of yourself three times a week
41:49for a five minute shower that's it
41:52so is there a way for you to describe
41:55the loneliness of nearly four decades
41:58spent within that kind of space man that
42:02is something i don't think
42:03words could adequate adequately describe
42:06i mean you know it's like a feeling of
42:10complete despair at times
42:13you know it's like you're sitting there
42:1524 hours a day you know you didn't do it
42:18you know you're around other people that
42:20may or may not have done what they're
42:22accused of i don't know
42:25but you know you're just stubbed
42:28and it's like i said it's a feeling of
42:30despair
42:31do you remember when you were most
42:33hopeful because that's a long time how
42:36many how many years was it just on death
42:38row
42:39on death row it was three plus a little
42:42over three maybe
42:43there was a couple times i it seemed
42:45hopeful like when i went back for
42:47an evidentiary hearing i thought i was
42:50actually going to get dna testing done
42:52but instead i ran into another roadblock
42:55so
42:56the only time that i was ever truly
42:59hopeful
43:00was the day i got a letter from susan
43:02friedman
43:03okay that's the innocence project
43:05correct yes all right we'll get back to
43:07that in just a second but before we get
43:09to the innocence project i sort of want
43:12to wander through some of this space
43:14with you on
43:15before you get to 2019
43:19you are spending nearly four decades
43:22wrongly convicted of a crime you know
43:24you did not commit and
43:26from within that you're saying to
43:29yourself
43:30i'm going to get out some point how
43:33yeah i'm just trying to stay focused on
43:36proving my innocence any way i can i
43:38volunteered for
43:40true cern even though they said it would
43:42be dangerous
43:43but of course they wouldn't give it to
43:44me um i offered polygraph tests
43:48i offered any tests they wanted to do
43:52you know so basically
43:55my existence after coming off death row
43:57ironically enough
43:59i came straight from death row to being
44:01the prison electrician
44:03so from that point on all my days was
44:07pretty much
44:08consumed with doing maintenance in the
44:12prison
44:12and just trying to write letters and do
44:15whatever i could to prove my innocence
44:18i didn't even have access to telephones
44:20or anything so what happened with the
44:22innocence
44:22project how did they come into your life
44:25well i wrote to them first i wrote to
44:29the one in florida
44:31and they were working on the case for
44:34quite a while and unfortunately they
44:38didn't have the resources
44:39that it took to to really delve into
44:43this
44:44so they sent my files over to new york
44:49and then new york got involved so
44:52i really became hopeful like i said when
44:55i got a letter from susan friedman
44:57because she found she sounded like
45:00she was really she had a positive
45:03attitude about the whole thing she says
45:05we read your case
45:07and we're accepting it you know so
45:10pretty much
45:10sign these documents because we're going
45:12to be representing you
45:14and why did she say she was doing that
45:17because they they've read my transcripts
45:20and they believe i'm innocent
45:22and you've been sending those over
45:24non-stop right over many many years you
45:26for over decades you've been sending
45:28that and never gotten
45:29any other response other than that one
45:32in 2018 or 2019
45:35um 2019 i think
45:38it might have been 18 i'm not really
45:40sure about dates
45:42is there anything that is more
45:44frustrating through this
45:46robert beyond obviously being wrongly
45:50convicted of something
45:52then running up against the
45:54imperfections
45:55in a legal system that almost made it
45:58easier to keep you
45:59imprisoned wrongly than to get you out
46:02rightly
46:03because that that when we talk to maya
46:05moore around here on a south beach
46:06sessions and she's trying to change
46:08you know doing as you are trying to do
46:10substantive criminal reform
46:12i can't imagine the exasperation in
46:15there seemed to be
46:16no effort by the system whatsoever to
46:19drag
46:20out the innocent because it was just
46:22easier to keep you guilty
46:24exactly you know and like i say a lot of
46:26people become
46:27bitter inside but you know they become
46:30hateful towards the correctional
46:32officers and the prison system well
46:34they're not the ones that did it
46:35the state did it the state convicted you
46:37so their job is to keep you in prison
46:39once you get there
46:40after all these years went by my goal at
46:4325 years
46:44i was sentenced to 25 years mandatory
46:47life sentence
46:49so which means that you have to do a
46:52minimum of 25 years before you can see
46:54the parole board
46:56well i seen the parole board three times
46:59and they were
46:59very negative every time so at this
47:02point i was thinking
47:04even if i can get parole then i can go
47:07out and prove my own innocence
47:09but even that didn't happen that was
47:11another roadblock after my last parole
47:13hearing
47:14actually the last parole hearing i had
47:17was the day before i received susan's
47:19letter
47:20you know so i just said god i put it in
47:23your hands cause
47:24i mean i just couldn't do nothing with
47:26them you can't talk to them they don't
47:28want to hear it they don't look at
47:30um the kind of person you are they don't
47:32look at
47:33what you've done while you were in
47:35prison i've been working maintenance all
47:37these years in prison
47:38so not stabbing nobody or doing nothing
47:42stupid in there like a lot of people
47:45so the parole commission never looked at
47:47that once
47:48so there went my hope of trying to get
47:51parole
47:52just so i could go prove my innocence
47:54why do you imagine the parole
47:55experiences were so negative
47:59i don't know this one the last lady that
48:01came
48:02the the guy before her he was really
48:04nasty but
48:06the last lady that came she says okay
48:08tell me a little bit about the crime
48:10so i said well i said i know what you're
48:12looking for you're looking for remorse
48:14i said but i can't sit here and tell you
48:16that i'm remorseful for something i
48:18didn't do
48:20so she slapped the desk she said this
48:22meeting's over with
48:23i'll see you later i said well have a
48:25nice day and drive careful
48:27and then the following day i got a
48:29letter from susan
48:31did you consider faking remorse
48:34no no i told her i said
48:38i said i'm not going to see him tell you
48:39i'm remorseful for something i didn't do
48:41i said am i sorry for the victim's
48:43family i said yes
48:45and i'm sorry for my family and myself
48:47as well i said but i didn't do it
48:50so she just abruptly ended the meeting
48:52and that was it
48:54[Music]
48:56finding great candidates to hire can be
48:58like trying to find a needle in a
48:59haystack
49:00sure you can post your job to some job
49:02board but then all you can do is hope
49:04that the right person comes along
49:05which is why you should try ziprecruiter
49:07for free at ziprecruiter.com
49:09beach ziprecruiter does the work for you
49:12when you post a job on ziprecruiter
49:14it gets sent out to over 100 top job
49:16sites with just one click
49:18then zip recruiters matching technology
49:20finds the person with the right skills
49:21and experience
49:22for your job and actively invites them
49:25to apply
49:26you get qualified candidates fast so
49:29while other services may overwhelm you
49:31with applications to sift through
49:33ziprecruiter finds what you are looking
49:35for the needle in the haystack
49:37in fact zip recruiter is so effective
49:39that four out of five employers who post
49:40on zip recruiter get a quality candidate
49:42through the site within the first day
49:44and right now you can try ziprecruiter
49:46for free at ziprecruiter.com
49:48beach that's ziprecruiter.com b-e-a-c-h
49:53just go to ziprecruiter.com beach
49:55ziprecruiter
49:56the smartest way to hire
50:00so that was one of three hearings that
50:02you got and those are going to be the
50:04most hopeful moments that you have right
50:06you are
50:06you are preparing to be able to tell
50:09your story the most meticulously because
50:11you might not well hell you haven't
50:12gotten
50:13audiences with anybody for two and a
50:15half decades
50:16so exactly you're trying to you're
50:18trying to present your
50:20best case and that third one was over
50:22and how long
50:24oh it was over in less than five minutes
50:28i mean how do you not consider harming
50:30yourself how do you not get so hopeless
50:32that you are thinking of ending your
50:34life no
50:35i mean it felt pretty hopeless many many
50:38times but i had to consider my family
50:40too and so that's what that's another
50:43thing
50:44i've i've actually seen people lose
50:46their mind in there
50:47and even on death row i've seen people
50:50lose their mind i've seen people come in
50:53with all black hair in less than a year
50:55they had a full head of gray hair
50:58you know just constant worry and i've
51:00seen what this
51:01bitterness and stuff can do to you i
51:03just don't understand how you were able
51:05to navigate that there is profound
51:07wisdom in you being
51:08able to stay alive during a bitterness
51:10and a resentment that would have been
51:11poison and a lot of other
51:13in a lot of other bodies yeah i just had
51:16to
51:16stay focused like i said to try to prove
51:18my innocence that's really all i wanted
51:21can you explain to us what the innocence
51:24project
51:25did how they did it for you well i can't
51:27really say
51:28how they did it i mean you'd have to
51:29talk to susan she's
51:31very very meticulous in everything she
51:33does
51:34but i know that
51:37she explained everything to me as we
51:39went we had many many phone calls
51:42she even came to visit me from new york
51:45so she just let me know she would show
51:47me the documentation that she put
51:50together
51:51and slowly as the case moved forward
51:54she finally said you know that
51:58we're going to push for dna testing she
52:00said they already know i didn't do it
52:02they can tell by all the records they've
52:04already read
52:05but the dna thank god really
52:09sealed the whole bargain you know
52:12how would you articulate your gratitude
52:15for the work that susan did
52:18oh man i'm very thankful to them and i'm
52:21going to do everything i can
52:23to support and help bring support to
52:26them
52:26because i'm not the only one they've
52:29helped and i'm not the only one they're
52:30going to help
52:31they're still doing it even as we speak
52:33she's working on cases right now
52:36one of the things they're working on the
52:38current law restricts most
52:39wrongfully convicted people from being
52:42compensated but there is a bill in the
52:44state legislature that could fix that
52:46law
52:47in this session if you want to get
52:48involved or help legislation like that
52:51pass in florida and in other parts of
52:53the country you text
52:54innocent to 5286
52:57or you can visit the
52:59innocenceproject.org but if you just
53:01want to type
53:02it's the easiest way possible you can
53:04help if you're moved by this story and
53:06you simply want
53:07to correct some wrongs 52886
53:11text innocent to 52886
53:16help us with the exit from prison
53:20when you leave prison the day that
53:22you're leaving
53:23prison you are filled with what so i was
53:26dealing with complete
53:28joy i mean just to finally
53:31be at this point where everybody knows
53:33i'm innocent
53:36you know you don't you don't know all
53:37the looks you get over the years you
53:39know and
53:40when someone talks to you whether it be
53:42a staff member
53:43officer whatever and
53:47they look at you because they see on
53:49paper that
53:50you're a murderer and rapist so that
53:53automatically
53:54makes you pretty much an animal to
53:56everybody
53:57so when they see you
54:01and you say you're innocent they say
54:02yeah everybody says that
54:04i said yeah i said everybody might say
54:06it but everybody ain't telling you the
54:08truth
54:08i said i am innocent so many people in
54:12there that knows me will tell you
54:13exactly those words because i've always
54:15told them
54:16that i'm innocent i said i know you're
54:18not going to believe it and i don't
54:19really expect you to
54:21i said because you're used to looking at
54:23black and white and
54:24what you see in writing is what you
54:26believe so
54:28i said you know sooner or later i said
54:30hopefully i'll be able to prove this
54:32so now they all see that i was telling
54:35the truth and some of them have even
54:37reached out
54:38you know and they said you always said
54:39you were innocent you know
54:41so how many of them have reached out
54:45oh manny like at least like 15 or so
54:49and that's all like employees from
54:51different prisons
54:53what is the most gratifying thing that
54:56you have felt
54:57since leaving prison oh man i think like
55:00when the
55:01the buccaneers reached out i had a zoom
55:03meeting with them and that was
55:06really shocking to me i didn't know that
55:08we were going to have it
55:10so when they reached out to me i just
55:12you know i was kind of overwhelmed
55:15by the uh the caring
55:18you know but between the buccaneers and
55:21the innocence project
55:22you know they've kept me afloat you know
55:26i mean i've i have to work
55:28you know because i come out you know
55:30you're not eligible for compensation at
55:33this time
55:34so um they're they're fighting for it
55:37but you know in the meantime i have to
55:40work and i have to make a living you
55:42know
55:43so each one of them have helped me get
55:45on my feet
55:46enough to do this you know but without
55:50them
55:51i would have had nothing well let's walk
55:53through this because this is one of the
55:55reasons that i wanted to talk to you in
55:57terms of fixing some of this legislation
55:59and actually helping people who have
56:01been
56:02so clearly wrong florida is one of 35
56:05states that does have a compensation law
56:08but it is one of the most restrictive
56:10laws in the country and so there have
56:12been
56:1231 people like robert who have been
56:15innocent
56:16and been freed but only five of those
56:19have been paid so why are you not
56:21eligible
56:23but they're saying because of a past
56:25defense they have what they call a clean
56:27hands bill so for some dumb stuff i did
56:31non-violent stuff by the way when i was
56:3317
56:34and i got probation for i'm still being
56:37punished for it
56:39and what was that dumb stuff well
56:41they're saying it's like
56:42car parts you know so
56:46now they're they're saying i'm
56:48ineligible they're not going to
56:50um the state is not going to
56:55admit the wrong and try to
56:58compensate me after all these years
57:01because of this
57:02because there were some car parts you
57:04stole when you were 17 or some crime
57:06yeah that's what the
57:06that's what they're saying yeah okay and
57:08so how did the bucks help you
57:10explain to me they get on a zoom call
57:12and who's on there and why are they
57:13taking up your cause
57:15is it it's not just merely because
57:16you've been convicted when you're
57:17innocent it's because of the unfairness
57:19of you wanna work you've been wronged
57:22and you're not being allowed to you
57:23can't be compensated you're having
57:25trouble
57:25finding work right so the buccaneers got
57:29involved and they said you know allie
57:31marpat
57:32donovan smith and alice kappa sarah
57:35evans
57:36and a couple of other people so we had a
57:40zoom meeting and the buccaneers alley
57:41marpette
57:42led the way he says that
57:45we was reading your story and we're
57:48really touched by this
57:49and um we want to give you some money to
57:52try to help you get on your feet a
57:53little bit
57:54you know at least help you and so they
57:57gave me some money
57:58and they invited me to the buccaneers
58:00game
58:01and then later even invited me to the
58:04super bowl you know
58:06so it must have felt good to have
58:08someone just trying to help you i don't
58:10know if you're a football fan or if
58:11you're a buccaneer fan
58:12but just yes like i said well i didn't
58:15get to watch football all these years i
58:16mean
58:17some people in prison do but um
58:20i was one of the ones that did a lot of
58:22work so
58:23i worked every day doing maintenance and
58:25stuff
58:26so i really never got a chance to watch
58:29a game
58:30i never went to a game in my whole life
58:32so when i went to the buccaneer rams
58:34game that's the very first game
58:36i've ever been to so then the super bowl
58:38they invited me to the super bowl and i
58:40was just you know i was just happy
58:42that they were in the super bowl to
58:44begin with and making history by being
58:46in their own city
58:47while they're playing in a super bowl
58:49you know i was just
58:50elated for them and then they invited me
58:53to the super bowl
58:54which i did not expect i've got to
58:56imagine robert
58:58that the work is what kept you sane or
59:01helped keep you sane the fact that you
59:03were doing physical
59:04work that could allow your mind to be
59:06occupied on doing work was that taken
59:09away with death row did you go
59:11three years without being able to work
59:13oh yeah
59:14yeah i went straight from death row to
59:16being a prison electrician but on death
59:17row you're locked in the cell 24 hours a
59:19day
59:21so that was the worst that was the worst
59:22of it correct
59:24it didn't get any worse than there it
59:26felt a little more like freedom outside
59:28of those three years
59:29right oh yeah yeah i mean at least you
59:32could move around you know
59:33i mean i was in the most dangerous
59:36prison in the whole state
59:37but the only reason i was in the whole
59:39the dangerous prison
59:41was the fact that back in the in the 80s
59:44if you came off of death row
59:47the only place you could go was fsp
59:50which is the worst prison in the whole
59:51state that's where they send everybody
59:53that
59:54uh stabs other inmates at other prisons
59:56or whatever
59:57or assault staff so anyway you had a
1:00:01pretty rowdy prison i've always gotten
1:00:04along good with everybody but
1:00:05you know you you're in a dangerous
1:00:07situation you got guys going around
1:00:09stabbing each other every day
1:00:11you know so i focused on doing
1:00:13electrical work plumbing work or
1:00:15whatever and just kept my mind occupied
1:00:18how did you navigate the most dangerous
1:00:20prison though how did you navigate all
1:00:22of the
1:00:23nonsense that can happen there well you
1:00:25know i was really blessed in that
1:00:26respect because
1:00:28i mean like i said i'm in a dangerous
1:00:30situation a lot of guys got killed
1:00:33and stabbed and uh me i just went
1:00:36to work every morning i would get my
1:00:39tools i would go into the wings with all
1:00:41these guys
1:00:42and pretty much i was the guy that fixed
1:00:45all their stuff
1:00:46you know so everybody got to know me
1:00:49pretty quick
1:00:50and you know i had a good relationship
1:00:54with most
1:00:55you made yourself useful that's the best
1:00:57way to do it right
1:00:58you're you are and so how helpful were
1:01:01you in that regard how
1:01:02how good were you with mechanics oh no i
1:01:05always
1:01:05i always did the job i always fix lights
1:01:08uh plumbing
1:01:09air conditioning all of this plus it's
1:01:12not just that it's a matter of
1:01:13how you carry yourself and how you
1:01:16treat others as well you know it doesn't
1:01:19matter that we're in prison you still
1:01:20have to treat each other with respect
1:01:23you know that's the key issue what
1:01:26difficulties have there been
1:01:28in transitioning into freedom oh man
1:01:31it's like going in
1:01:32i don't i'm not sure you could even
1:01:34imagine this but
1:01:36it's like going into um
1:01:40pretty much a whole nother country that
1:01:41you're not familiar with at all
1:01:44because i came out before i went in
1:01:46there was no there were no cell phones
1:01:48and computers
1:01:50so i've never used a cell phone until i
1:01:53came out
1:01:54so um self-checkout in stores i didn't
1:01:59know nothing about it the stores are
1:02:01bigger than they used to be there's more
1:02:03products
1:02:04um all the streets have changed the
1:02:08whole city's changed
1:02:11and it's really been difficult to
1:02:14navigate a lot of this stuff
1:02:17and without the help i've had through
1:02:19the innocence project
1:02:21and sunny center and the buccaneers you
1:02:24know
1:02:24i would have had a lot of issues can you
1:02:27tell us some more of the things you get
1:02:29out and what's different i mean you
1:02:31mentioned several of them there but i
1:02:32imagine
1:02:33something every day is different where
1:02:35you are you're basically coming out of
1:02:371980 right you're coming out
1:02:40you're it's like you left miami in 1980
1:02:42miami was an entirely different city in
1:02:441980
1:02:45yeah it's basically like i went forward
1:02:47in a time machine
1:02:49give me some of the details on that what
1:02:50you're talking about things that
1:02:52represent culture shock uh computers
1:02:55just things that you run into where
1:02:56you're like
1:02:57this is not something that i was
1:02:58prepared for in prison
1:03:00yeah the computers the telephones even
1:03:03the tv i got a
1:03:04i have a roku tv and that was hard to
1:03:06navigate
1:03:08um because before you had the little
1:03:09channels you uhf
1:03:11and vhf so um
1:03:16um just seeing things like when i'm
1:03:19driving down the street
1:03:20i think the first thing that caught my
1:03:22attention basically when
1:03:24my attorney and i were driving
1:03:27was the amount of homeless people i seen
1:03:30so that really disturbed me so then uh
1:03:33she took me into my first store the
1:03:35night i got out
1:03:37so then i learned about self-checkout
1:03:39which took a while
1:03:41and um i had to learn to
1:03:45to kind of navigate the stores again
1:03:48you know to find different items and
1:03:51at times it was very overwhelming i mean
1:03:54i didn't even stay in the store for 10
1:03:56minutes
1:03:57because i would just be overwhelmed you
1:03:58know kind of
1:04:00just so much to take in at one time i
1:04:03would think that you would have some
1:04:04post-traumatic stress disorder i don't
1:04:06know what your sleep is like i don't
1:04:08know how restful
1:04:10your nights are but there is some really
1:04:12hard stuff you've endured i don't know
1:04:14where you put it i don't know how it is
1:04:17not something that's soaked into every
1:04:18part of your being
1:04:20well i don't sleep much but i didn't
1:04:22really put it to that
1:04:24but maybe that is an issue but yeah i
1:04:27usually sleep like
1:04:28maybe three hours i mean you have to be
1:04:32carrying a great deal of stress robert i
1:04:34don't know how much of this stuff
1:04:36uh is too painful to navigate i do
1:04:39imagine you've
1:04:40put a lot of coping mechanisms in
1:04:42because survival is the greatest
1:04:44instinct but what you have endured
1:04:46is beyond unspeakably horrific anyone
1:04:49listening to this
1:04:50can't possibly understand what your hell
1:04:53has been because
1:04:55you have been alive for 35 years and
1:04:57you've had something
1:04:59on you that none of us can ever
1:05:01understand it's
1:05:02it's the worst nightmare yeah it is that
1:05:05in fact many years i kept waking up
1:05:07hoping i would find out it was just a
1:05:09bad dream
1:05:10does that still happen to you like with
1:05:12with this freedom can you believe that
1:05:14you can now
1:05:15just go outside like what are some of
1:05:17the simple pleasures
1:05:18that you are able to experience that
1:05:20many of us probably don't appreciate
1:05:22every day
1:05:23yeah that kind of for the first few
1:05:26nights or the first weeks at least
1:05:28i used to get up like even two in the
1:05:30morning just go outside
1:05:32you know just to be able to go outside
1:05:34and look up at the moon and
1:05:36just the sky and have some peace of mind
1:05:40you know so i think the
1:05:44dad kind of going to the beach or even
1:05:47going down like bayshore boulevard
1:05:49seeing the waterfront
1:05:51all of those things are relaxing to me
1:05:53and i know
1:05:54some people come out in the morning um
1:05:57they're in the rush to get to work or to
1:05:59the store or whatever and they never
1:06:00take the time
1:06:01to look at the sunrise or the sunset
1:06:04or the sky or whatever and you know
1:06:07these
1:06:07things i don't take for granted is there
1:06:10anything you miss about prison
1:06:11because you just got so used to that
1:06:13life no no
1:06:16i never got used to it the reason i
1:06:19asked that question it may be a dumb one
1:06:21is because i remember mike tyson saying
1:06:23that sometimes he felt
1:06:25he didn't want to leave prison on his
1:06:27last day in prison because it felt safer
1:06:29in some ways than everything that was
1:06:31waiting for him
1:06:33out there and so i don't know when you
1:06:35walk into that store and feel
1:06:36overwhelmed if life has
1:06:39you know any of those shawshank
1:06:40redemption qualities where
1:06:42it's so hard on the outside and you get
1:06:45so used to what it's like on the inside
1:06:46or you're saying
1:06:47you don't get used to it but that the
1:06:49life becomes so familiar to you that you
1:06:51just don't know any other way when you
1:06:52get to freedom
1:06:54yeah that's pretty much true i mean just
1:06:56human nature
1:06:57to adapt to whatever situation they put
1:06:59you're put in you know
1:07:01i never miss prison at all i do um
1:07:04understand that there's people in there
1:07:05that need help you know even
1:07:08some of the guilty ones you know there's
1:07:09some people that need help just to be
1:07:11able to
1:07:12be treated more more respectful or with
1:07:15more dignity without being
1:07:16judged i mean most of the guys are sent
1:07:19to prison are already judged by a court
1:07:22and then they get in there and you have
1:07:23these officers
1:07:25who feel like they're going to keep
1:07:27judging them forever you know
1:07:29so robert if you hadn't at 17
1:07:33taken some car parts what kind of money
1:07:35would you be entitled to right now
1:07:38well it would be 50 000 for every year
1:07:42so fifty thousand dollars times 37
1:07:45correct 37 years um and you're not
1:07:49entitled to any of that money now
1:07:51because of that
1:07:52no but thank god there they are filing a
1:07:56bill
1:07:56in my behalf for us a compensation bill
1:08:01so they're working on that now so if
1:08:03you'd like to get involved or help
1:08:05legislation like that pass in florida
1:08:07and in other parts of the country all
1:08:09you have to do right now you just go to
1:08:10your phone
1:08:11text 5286 text the word
1:08:15innocent or you could go to the
1:08:17innocence project.org robert
1:08:20thank you for the time i appreciate you
1:08:22sharing your story with
1:08:24us i hope that this works out for you in
1:08:26a way that offers some peace because
1:08:28this sounds like a special kind of hell
1:08:30you've had to live through
1:08:31thank you very much if that particular
1:08:34nightmare spoke to you
1:08:35you can help in the easiest of ways just
1:08:38text the word
1:08:39innocent to 52886 if that's something
1:08:43that bare minimum you want to help with
1:08:45so that maybe somewhere down the line
1:08:47someone does not get wronged like that a
1:08:49reminder that while we are the pirate
1:08:52ship we continue to need your support in
1:08:54every way rate subscribe and review for
1:08:56all of the levitard and friends
1:08:58properties you've got mystery crate
1:09:01you've got south beach sessions you've
1:09:02got stupidity you've got the levitard
1:09:05show with stu gods
1:09:06and you've got the levitard network the
1:09:08podcast feed
1:09:09take care of us there thank you we'll
1:09:11talk to you again next week

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz 2/24/21 - Robert DuBoise by Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 11,886 words across 1,986 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.