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The true injustice of wrongful conviction | Jeffrey Deskovic | TEDxMarthasVineyard — Transcript

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0:05[Music]
0:07[Applause]
0:10in 1989 a classmate of mine was found
0:13murdered and raped pill was a small city
0:15with a population of approximately
0:1725,000 people murders were very rare So
0:20when this murder happened and understand
0:21be created an atmosphere of fear rumor
0:23paranoia parents were concerned with
0:25their own safety as well as the safety
0:27of their children in high school I was
0:29quiet I was telling my myself I didn't
0:30participate in very many organized
0:32Sports this made me seem strange to the
0:34kids in the high school in the course of
0:37the police investigation the police
0:38interviewed many students from the
0:40school some of those students told the
0:42police that they might want to talk to
0:43me because I seem strange to them this
0:45is what the police said initially
0:47attracted them to me the other factor
0:49which they said attracted them to me was
0:50they claim that I was overly upset at
0:52the victim having been murdered yet
0:54there were mental health facilities set
0:55up all throughout the city of Peak Skill
0:57to help people process what it happened
0:59again keep keeping in mind that murders
1:01were very rare for about 6 weeks the
1:03police played this game with me in which
1:06our interactions took on the following
1:08Dynamic half the time they would talk to
1:10me as if I was a suspect while the other
1:12half the time they would talk to me as
1:13if they needed my help to solve the
1:15crime they would say things like the
1:17kids won't talk freely around us but
1:19they will around you let us know if you
1:21hear any rumors they would ask me
1:23opinion questions and then congratulate
1:25me on my opinion they would tell me stop
1:27in from time to time of eventually they
1:31got me to agree to take a polygraph test
1:33telling me that there was some new
1:34information in the police file that they
1:36wanted to share with me but that the
1:37only way they could do that would be if
1:39I took and pass the polygraph
1:41examination so the next day rather than
1:43report to school I instead went to the
1:45police station for this test thinking
1:47that it was going to happen at the
1:48police station as I had heard had
1:50happened during other polygraphs in
1:52connection with this case instead they
1:54drove me to the town of Brewster which
1:56was in putam County whereas I was a
1:58native of pig skill in Westchester
2:00County it was 40 minutes away the
2:02significance of my sharing that with you
2:04does that meant I was no longer able to
2:06leave on my own I was instead dependent
2:08upon the police they put me in a small
2:10room I did not have an attorney present
2:13I wasn't given anything to eat the
2:14entire time I was there there were three
2:17police officers there who I knew were
2:18police officers and then there was the
2:21polygraphist who actually was a putham
2:23county sherff investigator dressed as a
2:25civilian who was pretending not to be a
2:27cop I never learned of his status
2:31they strapped me to the polygraph
2:32machine and before beginning the
2:34polygraph examination they gave me
2:36countless cups of coffee the purpose of
2:37which was to get me
2:39nervous so after about 20 minutes of
2:41pretending to align the machine with the
2:43biof feedback of my body the polygrapher
2:46then begins interrogating me using third
2:48deegree tactics he invaded my personal
2:51space he raised his voice at me he kept
2:53asking me the same questions over and
2:55over again as each hour passed so too
2:58did my fear increase in proportion to
3:00the time towards the end of the
3:02examination the polygrapher made a
3:03statement he said what do you mean you
3:06didn't do it you just told me through
3:08the polygraph test result that you did
3:10we just want you to verbally confirm it
3:13when he said that to me that really shot
3:15my fear through the roof at that point
3:17who should make his Grand appearance
3:19other than the police officer who was
3:20pretending to be my friend he informed
3:22me that the other officers were going to
3:24harm me but that he was holding them off
3:25but could not do so indefinitely you
3:28have to help yourself here you
3:29understand considering that I had
3:31maintained my innocence for the previous
3:336 and 1 half to 7 hours it was clear
3:36what he meant by that they wanted me to
3:38confess when it was added that if I did
3:40as they wanted Not only would they stop
3:42what they were doing but that I could go
3:43home afterwards being young naive
3:46frightened 16 years old not thinking
3:49about the long-term implications just
3:51being concerned my safety right then
3:54right there in fear of my life painfully
3:56conscious of the fact that I knew that
3:58nobody knew where I I was and then with
4:01this Push Pull Dynamic of on one hand
4:04the officer is threatening me with harm
4:06but on the other he's throwing me this
4:08false life preserver telling me that I'm
4:10not going to be arrested being totally
4:12overwhelmed emotionally and
4:14psychologically I took the out which
4:16they offered and I made up a story based
4:18upon information which they had given me
4:19in the course of their
4:21interrogation by the end of the
4:23interrogation I was on the floor in a
4:24fetal position crying uncontrollably
4:27needless to say I was arrested I was
4:29charged with a murder and rape this is
4:33what I looked like when I was
4:35charged now before I went to trial the
4:38results of an of a DNA test came in from
4:40the FBI lab showing that Seaman found in
4:43the victim did not match but rather than
4:45acknowledge they made a mistake they
4:46instead continued to prosecute Full
4:48Speed Ahead the prosecutor got the
4:50medical examiner to commit fraud and to
4:52commit perjury by falsely telling the
4:54jury that he found medical evidence to
4:56show that the victim a 15-year-old
5:00immigrant from Colombia who' been in the
5:01country for a mere year and a half
5:03leading a really sheltered life in which
5:05she never went outside save accompanied
5:07by her older sister or her parents that
5:09she had been sexually active which is
5:11what opened the door for the prosecutor
5:13to argue that it didn't matter that the
5:14DNA didn't match me because the seen
5:16could have come from consensual sex
5:19basically in order to wrongfully convict
5:21me the prosecutor was willing to trash
5:23the reputation of the victim who had
5:24already had lost her life my defense
5:27attorney was terrible he never called as
5:30a witness my alibi I was actually
5:32playing Wiffle ball at the time that the
5:33crime happened he never cross-examined
5:35the medical examiner he never explained
5:37to the jury the significance of the DNA
5:39not matching me he never used the DNA to
5:42argue that this so-called confession was
5:44coerced and false and when I wanted to
5:46take the stand to explain to the jury
5:48that the cops had threatened threatened
5:51me and given me the false promise which
5:53they had conveniently left out of their
5:54testimony my attorney wouldn't allow me
5:56to testify he told me rather naively
5:59that it wasn't his job to prove that I
6:01was innocent that instead it was up to
6:03the prosecution to prove that I was
6:04guilty and he didn't think that happened
6:06that might that's a naive legal Maxim
6:08that you might hear in a law school but
6:11in reality if you find yourself charged
6:12with a crime you didn't commit you
6:14better do everything you can in your
6:15power to prove that you're innocent or
6:16else you run a risk of being wrongfully
6:19convicted now before the jury verdict uh
6:22came in the one of the jurors sent out a
6:25note asking whether or not the jury
6:27would be sequestered over the Christmas
6:29holiday if they couldn't reach a vote if
6:31they couldn't reach unanimous decision
6:33by that point I didn't know at the time
6:34but I've learned since that the count
6:37was 11 to one to for conviction but the
6:40holdout juror was convinced of my
6:41innocence but upon learning that they
6:44would in fact be sequestered over the
6:45Christmas holiday out of expedience he
6:48switched his vote so that they could
6:50rush out of there and get to Christmas
6:52dinner and meanwhile I got home 16 years
6:54later as a result of that decision I'd
6:57like to share with you what it is I
6:59looked like just before they reached a
7:01verdict that's me in the courtroom they
7:03had announced they reached a verdict but
7:05the actual decision hadn't been reached
7:06and obviously I'm praying that it went
7:09the right way which it did not this is
7:11what I looked like when I was sentenced
7:13to a term of imprisonment of 15 to
7:16life I'd like to share I want to share
7:19with you that when I was convicted I
7:21felt like I was in some sort of
7:22nightmareish sh turn of reality because
7:24to my way of thinking at least up until
7:26that point in time only the guilty were
7:29convicted did yet they said what they
7:31did and I was taken into custody on the
7:33day of the sentencing I begged the judge
7:35to overturn the verdict because I was
7:36innocent and I referenced the DNA to
7:38support my contention he actually told
7:40me on the record maybe you are innocent
7:44conceding that there was a doubt that
7:46didn't lead him to step up for justice
7:47though and exercise his discretion by
7:49overturning the conviction he instead
7:51took the easy politically expedient way
7:53out which was to sentence me to a term
7:55of imprisonment of 15 to
7:58life I'd like to share everybody just a
8:01short super short glimpse of what it was
8:03like to be in prison it was very violent
8:06there there were stabbings and cuting
8:08every day plenty of violence that did
8:10not involve weapons there were a lot of
8:12gangs uh the food was terrible often it
8:15wasn't fully cooked and while at other
8:17times it was burned one time I nearly
8:20lost my life because I got hit on both
8:21sides of my head near the temple
8:23repeatedly with 10B weight plates
8:25because the inmates thought that I was a
8:27rapist since I had been convicted
8:30I'd like to share everybody how it was
8:32that I came to be proven innocent I
8:35naively thought that the higher up in
8:36the court system one went the more
8:38accurate that the rulings became I was
8:41soon disabused of that I went to the
8:43first court in which my lawyer argued my
8:47innocence based on the DNA not matching
8:48me and that my fifth amendment rights
8:50had been violated the court found
8:52nothing wrong with the way I've been
8:53questioned and furthermore they wrote
8:55that there was overwhelming evidence of
8:57guilt which I really still don't
8:58understand that ruling to this day
9:00because the DNA didn't match me they
9:02ruled against me five to nothing I never
9:06after that point received a substance of
9:07ruling on the merits my lawyer moved to
9:10reargue the case in front of them but
9:12the reargument motion was denied the
9:14court of appeals my state's highest
9:16court declined to give me permission to
9:18appeal to them so I lost there as well
9:21then I lost in federal court because the
9:23court clerk gave my lawyer the wrong
9:24information regarding the filing
9:26procedure and the fact that my petition
9:28was 4 days too late was judged to be
9:31more important than the fact that I was
9:32arguing my innocence and therefore that
9:35was I was I lost there as well I
9:38challenged that ruling in front of the
9:40in front of the federal court of appeals
9:41where the judge there was future United
9:43States Supreme Court Justice Sonia sod
9:45mayor she saw fit to uphold that ruling
9:48not once but twice and then the United
9:50States Supreme Court declined to give me
9:52permission to appeal to them that marked
9:54the end of my appeals and the end of
9:56legal representation I wrote letters for
9:58the next four years trying to find a
10:00lawyer and an attor and an investigator
10:01who take my case for free for neither I
10:04nor my family had any funds with which
10:05to hire one unless I could come up with
10:07some previously unknown evidence of
10:09Innocence the court was no longer
10:10willing to hear from me so after writing
10:12letters for about four years and very
10:14rarely hearing getting any responses I
10:16then got turned down for parole by the
10:18port by the parole board in part because
10:20of the fact that I asserted my innocence
10:22rather than expressing remorse and
10:24taking responsibility it was at that
10:26point that I felt fairly certain that I
10:28was going to die in prison for a crime
10:30that I did not commit in the end the
10:32Innocence Project agreed to represent me
10:35by this time the district attorney who
10:37had fought all of my efforts at appeals
10:39and in getting further testing had left
10:41office and her successor voluntarily
10:43allowed me to have further testing they
10:45took the crime scene DNA evidence which
10:46already didn't match me and compared it
10:48to the data bank and it matched the
10:50actual perpetrator my conviction was
10:52reversed and I was exonerated I'd like
10:55to share with you a brief photo of my
10:58being released
11:02it was very difficult to put my life
11:03back together again after that traumatic
11:05experience I had to learn to new new
11:08technology cell phones GPS these
11:10different methods of banking the
11:11internet didn't exist I had to put
11:14together uh relations with my immediate
11:16and extended family for they had become
11:18strangers to me the culture was much
11:20different I had lost track with of all
11:22of my uh of all my friends and so I had
11:24to try to rebuild a Social Circle except
11:27that proved rather difficult because
11:28while I did spend 16 years in prison
11:30wrongfully yes you I did spend the 16
11:33years there how much of that actually
11:35rubbed off on me is it safe to be around
11:37me I was never able to obtain gainful
11:40employment because I didn't have the
11:41same level of job experience other
11:43applicants had and so I was always
11:45passed
11:46up combining that fact with the fact
11:48that when one is released you're
11:49released with nothing I struggled
11:51greatly I very nearly ended up into a
11:53homeless shelter and I was not above
11:55putting cereal in a bowl and putting it
11:57on a backpack if I had to travel for
11:59about an hour because I had no funds
12:01with which to purchase anything to eat
12:04this photo I'm going to share with you
12:06is an accurate depiction of my struggles
12:08post post
12:11exoneration I saw mental health and
12:13still see uh mental health professionals
12:15and dealing with the psychological after
12:17effects of my
12:20experience I'd like to share with you
12:22briefly as illustrated by my case what
12:24are the things that lead to wrongful
12:26conviction well coerced false
12:27confessions have been the cause of wrong
12:29convictions in 25% of the cases what
12:32would lead an innocent person to confess
12:34a lengthy interrogation coupled by food
12:36deprivation threats F threats false prom
12:40threats and false promises particularly
12:41vulnerable populations are youth and
12:43those with mental health problems what
12:45is the solution let's videotape
12:47interrogations for beginning to end it
12:49would make clear if a suspect was
12:51coerced whether they really knew
12:53non-public facts whether they were
12:55whether the police engaged in threats
12:57and false promises it would protect
12:59honest cops from false allegations of
13:00coercion and it would uh it would make
13:03for better evidence basically it's a
13:05win-win what's the push back well costs
13:08of the recording equipment are cited
13:09which is ridiculous because when you
13:11think about how much money is spent on
13:13the back on the back end through uh
13:15having to defend lawsuits and uh make
13:18large payouts by way of compensation it
13:20pays for itself if you stop just one
13:22case we have to have an oversight board
13:24a commission on prosecutor conduct so
13:26that that can investigate and punish
13:28prosecutors who to engage in clear-cut
13:30intentional misconduct right now there's
13:32nothing what is the push back
13:34prosecutors claim that politically
13:36motivated false charges will be leveled
13:39against them but just as a society we
13:41would never consider repealing rape out
13:43of concern that some people might be
13:45falsely charged and convicted of it and
13:47we would not entertain that argument to
13:49repeal it so too should we not listen to
13:51the prosecutors who want the Rogues
13:53amongst their profession and continue to
13:54get away with it we need to have better
13:57system of public defense for the poor
13:59both sides need to receive more
14:01resources so that they can focus more on
14:03cases but then there needs to be a
14:04Manpower and financial parody between
14:06the two we need to limit the case loads
14:08because it's not unusual for one public
14:10defender to simultaneously represent 100
14:12people at the same time we need to have
14:14one Statewide system so that there could
14:16be uh oversight and quality
14:19control what is the actual T percentage
14:22of people who are wrongfully convicted
14:24well considering that the National
14:26Registry of exonerations uh has its
14:28documents wrong convictions has
14:30documented from 1989 forward more than
14:331600 wrongful convictions and that a
14:35Wayne State University study estimates
14:3710,000 new people are wrongfully
14:38convicted each year and that there's
14:40there's articles that say that as many
14:42as 120,000 people are wrongfully
14:43convicted I would say that the wrongful
14:46conviction percentage is 15 to
14:4820% in order to address the issue uh I
14:52started an organization called the
14:54Jeffrey dusic foundation for justice
14:56named after me committing a million and
14:57a half dollars to be a part of the
15:00overall effort towards fighting wrongful
15:02convictions through trying to prevent
15:03that from happening through raising
15:04awareness and seeking changes in the law
15:07working to exonerate the wrongfully
15:09convicted and helping exonerates back
15:11into society I'm here because of the
15:13great work of the Innocence Project but
15:15they're not the sole answer for one
15:17thing they don't have unlimited
15:18resources for another they'll only take
15:20on cases that have DNA in it which is
15:23only 5 to 12% of the total amount of
15:26cases when I need everybody to assist
15:31think about learn learning more about
15:33wrongful convictions sharing that
15:35information with with your friends your
15:37neighbors think about supporting some of
15:39the organizations in the field doing
15:40this critical work think about offering
15:42pro bono uh assistance think about
15:45contacting your elected officials to
15:47insist that changes be made to make the
15:48system more accurate when thinking about
15:51whether or not you wish to take any
15:53action at all on any of these levels
15:54that I've mentioned or some more that
15:56I'm leaving out as opposed to this just
15:58simply being a memorable tedex talk that
16:01you talk about for a day or two and then
16:03forget think about this I had never been
16:06arrested for so much as a
16:09violation I was not a high school
16:11dropout in fact I was on my way to
16:14school at the time in which I was
16:17initially intercepted by the police it
16:20happened to me it could happen to you
16:24your son your daughter your neighbor
16:28your best
16:30friend thank you very much for listening
16:32to me

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