0:03

On June nineteenth, nineteen eighty eight, Vincent

0:05

Wright and his girlfriend Anisia Johnson

0:07

were parked outside a one stop convenience

0:10

store in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

0:12

While Nisi awaited in the car, Vincent

0:14

went behind it to fill the rear tire with air.

0:17

Suddenly, two armed gunmen approached,

0:19

demanding money. Vincent said he

0:21

didn't have any. Just then another

0:23

man pulled up in a brown Oldsmobile and

0:26

told the two gunmen to take Vincent's

0:28

car. Anisi had jumped out of the car, and

0:30

the two men sped off, followed by the

0:32

oldsmobile. Police had no

0:34

leads and did little to investigate until

0:37

Vincent's brother gave them the license

0:39

number of a brown Oldsmobile he'd

0:41

seen driving around. The car

0:44

belonged to twenty two year old Sydney Holmes,

0:46

who soon became the focus of the investigation,

0:49

but Sydney denied any involvement,

0:52

claiming to have been over a mile away

0:54

at the time. After viewing two

0:56

photo arrays, both of which contained

0:58

Sydney's picture, as well as a live

1:01

lineup in which Sydney participated, Vincent

1:04

identified him as the man in the brown

1:06

car. It seemed to make sense.

1:08

Why would one person be shown in

1:11

repeated lineups if the police

1:13

didn't think he was guilty? But

1:16

this is wrongful conviction. Welcome

1:35

back to Wrongful Conviction. Before

1:38

we even get into introductions

1:40

with you two, gentlemen, I just want to

1:43

give the listener a little heads

1:45

up about the insanity that

1:47

is about to unfold in their

1:49

headphones. The thing that really

1:52

gets me most about this case is that the

1:54

prosecution initially

1:56

recommended an eight hundred

1:59

and twenty five year sentence,

2:02

and even without knowing

2:04

what you were accused of,

2:07

I just want that to resonate because

2:09

I can't wrap my head around of

2:11

what kind of a heinous crime would

2:14

warrant such a long

2:16

sentence. My name is Lauren Bright

2:18

Pacheco, and I'm a broadcast journalist and

2:21

a podcaster of such series as

2:23

Murder in Oregon, Murder in Illinois, and Murder

2:26

in Miami. And I am very honored

2:28

to be sitting in this seat filling in for Jason

2:30

Flom. But I'm also very

2:33

honored to be speaking to you too,

2:35

Sydney Holmes. Welcome to Wrongful

2:37

Conviction, thanks for having this and

2:40

also joining us today is Brandon Scheck,

2:42

Staff attorney with the Innocence Project

2:44

of Florida. Welcome Brandon, Thanks

2:46

Lauren, it's great to be here. Sidney.

2:49

Can you just tell me a little bit

2:51

about your upbringing

2:54

and your family. Well,

2:57

I growed up in a household with two parents.

2:59

I have two sisters. We grew up

3:01

in a Christian household. We know, very loving

3:03

family, were very close, all kind of function,

3:06

family functions. We always coming

3:08

together Thanksgiving, you know, Christmas

3:10

and all of the other days. The thing for

3:12

me, I was always a book run I'm always,

3:15

you know, a gadgic type of guy. You

3:17

know, I always the intelligent, always want

3:20

to be the smartest guy in the inner

3:22

room. I was always that kind of guy.

3:24

And Sydney, just take me to

3:27

who you were at the age of twenty two,

3:29

the year that this happened in your

3:32

life. What were your interests,

3:34

you know, what were your hopes and plans

3:36

for the future at that age, well,

3:38

age twenty two, I was working at a hospital

3:41

and which day was going to send me to school

3:43

for a surgery technis and so you

3:45

know, I feel like my future was bright

3:47

at that time. I was highly into

3:49

the medical field. I would highly ambitions,

3:52

but it didn't happen. And

3:54

the irony is you had had two

3:57

prior incidents is run

3:59

ins with the but you had turned your life

4:01

around at that point, correct, Yes, ma'

4:04

it was a robbery case that in the

4:06

same instinct, I was taken a co worker

4:08

home and he went inside and committed

4:11

crimes without my lalits and I

4:14

was charged with the crime as well. But

4:16

as I understand it, you did

4:18

plead guilty in that case, even

4:21

though you say you had no idea the robbery

4:23

was going on. Were you offered

4:25

some kind of plea deal or were you told

4:27

that if you pled guilty it would make things easier.

4:30

Yes, that was the case. So when

4:32

all of this went down, you

4:35

were seen as a previous

4:37

prior offender, yes, ma'l. All

4:39

right, and so Brandon, can you just take

4:41

me to the time and the

4:44

place that we're talking about. This happened

4:46

in Fort Lauderdale.

4:49

But give me an idea of

4:51

what the scene was in nineteen

4:54

eighty eight when the crime occurred. Just

4:56

in terms of the relationship between the police

4:58

and the public. Well,

5:00

you know, Broward County, Florida,

5:03

has a history and it's a well documented

5:05

history. At that time

5:08

in Fort Lauderdale. There are a lot

5:10

of these types of armed robberies.

5:12

And actually the arrest

5:15

rate were police made

5:17

arrests in those cases was quite low.

5:19

It was twenty to twenty five percent.

5:22

So there are a large number of these types of

5:24

crimes happening, and you know,

5:27

not enough police a lot of cases,

5:29

had not a lot to go on, and so

5:31

there are a lot of these unsolved cases. And

5:34

so in those cases, you know, we see

5:36

shortcuts being taken, and definitely

5:39

we see shortcuts being taken here in Sydney's

5:41

case, and those shortcuts definitely

5:43

directly led to his wrongful

5:45

conviction and probably

5:48

contributed significantly to the fact that

5:50

Broward County doesn't have a great track

5:53

record when it comes to wrongful convictions.

5:55

In fact, according to the National Registry

5:58

of Exonerations, Broward County he

6:00

leads the way in Florida with thirteen

6:02

out of ninety one wrongful convictions, and

6:05

that's correct. There's definitely a long

6:07

history, and of course that history

6:09

affected a lot of folks, and

6:12

you know, there's ongoing work, you

6:15

know, still with our organization

6:17

with the State Attorney's Office to

6:20

try to assist individuals that

6:22

we can identify that were affected

6:24

by that history, and Sydney

6:27

here in this case, was definitely

6:29

one of those folks. I think it's

6:31

also important to note that a lot of

6:33

those wrongful convictions occurred

6:35

under the watch of Florida's longest

6:38

serving State Attorney, Mike

6:40

Satz. I believe SATs was in

6:42

office for almost fifty years.

6:44

Yeah, that's correct. And you know, to mister

6:47

Satz's credit, you know, one of the things that

6:49

he did on the way out was established

6:51

this conviction Review Unit,

6:54

and that has continued,

6:56

the review unit with great support

6:59

by the current State Attorney, mister Harold

7:01

Prior. But yes, it's quite

7:03

unusual, especially in such a large

7:06

jurisdiction as the seventeenth

7:08

Circuit Broward County, to have someone

7:10

with that amount of power for

7:13

that long. Okay, so now

7:15

let's talk about the crime. This occurred

7:17

on June nineteenth, nineteen eighty eight, Father's

7:20

Day. The two victims, Vincent

7:22

Wright and his girlfriend, Ansia Johnson,

7:25

were outside of a Convenient Store gas

7:27

station. Anesia was sitting in the car

7:29

and Vincent was putting air in the tires.

7:33

Yeah, so there were two perpetrators that were

7:35

armed that came up to them and demanded money

7:38

demanded possessions. The victims

7:40

didn't have anything to give them.

7:42

I think the perpetrators were kind of frustrated

7:45

by that. And you know, simultaneous

7:47

to that, a third person driving

7:50

a brown Oldsmobile kind of came

7:52

up onto the scene as it's unfolding

7:55

and told the two armed

7:57

perpetrators, Hey, you just

8:00

take their car. And so the two armed

8:02

perpetrators stole the victim's car

8:04

and drove off on the scene, and that third

8:07

individual got back into

8:09

the brown Oldsmobile and also

8:11

drove off from the scene. And

8:14

where were you Sydney At six

8:16

thirty pm that night when the crime occurred,

8:19

I was celebrating Father's Day my father,

8:22

France neighbors. We were riding up

8:24

in Downing Street on a cold car. So the

8:26

whole day I was set my parents' house celebrating

8:29

Father's Day. And multiple people

8:32

were able to confirm that. Yes,

8:34

multiple could term out where I boss the

8:36

whole day. So after

8:39

the three perpetrators sped off, an Asia

8:41

called the police and when the detective

8:44

showed up, she told him what

8:46

had happened and described the first two

8:48

men. She wasn't able to describe

8:50

the man in the brown car At this point,

8:53

Vincent had already set out with a friend

8:55

to try to chase the stolen car down

8:57

themselves, but Brandon, they

8:59

didn't have any success, did they. No,

9:02

so the perpetrators with the stolen car

9:04

had about a five minute had start. Police

9:07

actually found the stolen vehicle

9:09

the next morning and returned it back

9:12

to Vincent, But essentially

9:14

police didn't have any leads. They

9:16

didn't do much of any of their own investigation

9:19

over the next few days. But meanwhile,

9:22

Vincent had gone home that night of the crime

9:25

and had told his brother Milton what had

9:27

happened. Interestingly enough, Milton

9:30

told Vincent that earlier that same

9:33

day, a group of four people who

9:35

were also in a brown Oldsmobile

9:38

stopped his car in a street attempting

9:40

to carjack him, and

9:43

we're actually shooting at him. And

9:46

Milton believed that that same

9:48

group of folks that tried to carjack

9:50

him were the same people

9:53

that tried to or that did

9:55

rob Vincent and Ansia

9:58

earlier that same day, And so

10:00

Milton decided to

10:02

take the investigation into his own hands

10:05

over the next few days. Yeah, he

10:07

kind of kept an eye out while he was

10:09

driving, you know, the streets of Fort Lauderdale

10:12

to see if he spotted any

10:14

brown oldsmobiles.

10:16

He's basically playing citizen

10:18

detective, that's right. And so he

10:20

saw one brown oldsmobile,

10:23

wrote down that license plate, sent it

10:25

to the police. Police ran it through their

10:27

system, and came back

10:29

and told the right brothers, No, actually

10:32

that's the wrong car. Of course,

10:34

they're looking for three young

10:36

black male perpetrators. And

10:39

I can only imagine that whatever

10:41

car that brown Oldsmobile

10:43

that Milton saw was registered to was

10:45

probably not a young black man. And

10:47

so police said, no, that's not a match.

10:50

But Milton continued to drive around over

10:52

the next few days and at

10:54

one point was driving behind Sydney's

10:57

car, which was a brown Oldsmobile. So

11:00

he gave that license number to the police.

11:03

Police saw that it was registered to Sydney,

11:05

who, of course as a young black man, and

11:08

Sydney also had these prior convictions

11:11

for our robbery, and at

11:13

that point it's kind of like bingo, here's the guy

11:15

that we're looking for. And from that

11:17

point forward, I would describe police's

11:20

investigation as tunnel

11:23

vision. Essentially. That's pretty

11:25

incredible when you think of it. I mean,

11:27

what are the chances of Sydney having the

11:29

same car as the perpetrators.

11:31

So that's interesting that you mentioned that, because

11:34

in our post conviction investigation,

11:37

we consulted with a historian at

11:39

an Oldsmobile museum in Michigan who

11:42

told us, you know, you're not going to

11:44

believe this, but that car

11:47

and that precise color were

11:49

the most common car and the

11:51

most common color of the most

11:53

common car out on the streets

11:56

in the United States at that period of time,

11:58

and so I can only presume

12:01

that there were hundreds,

12:03

if not thousands, of these very

12:06

type of brown Oldsmobile

12:08

driving around the very busy streets

12:11

of for Lauderdale, Florida at that time. The

12:13

reality is is that if Milton had been

12:15

driving behind another brown

12:17

Oldsmobile register to a young black

12:20

man, then that person might have been wrongfully

12:22

convicted in this case. But even

12:25

by his own description, you

12:28

know, Sydney's car didn't match

12:30

because what he described was

12:32

a similar looking car but had

12:34

a blown out circle where the

12:37

lock would have been. That's

12:39

right, Milton is definitely the driving force of

12:41

this investigation. But you

12:44

know, there are many inconsistencies

12:47

between the car involved

12:49

in the one stop robbery

12:52

the car involved

12:54

in the attempted carjacking

12:56

of Milton and Sydney's

12:59

car. And so one of the

13:02

most significant inconsistencies is that

13:04

the car involved in the one stop crime, in

13:06

the armed robbery of Milton, was described

13:09

as having a hole in the trunk kind

13:12

of where the lock would be. It's

13:14

possible that that was a stolen car and so

13:16

the lock was popped out, but Sydney's

13:18

car didn't have that. Sydney's

13:20

car, the lock in the back was completely

13:23

intact. There was otherwise no hole

13:25

in the trunk, and the state

13:27

never provided any evidence

13:30

to suggest that that was

13:32

ever the case with Sydney's car. And

13:34

so obviously that's a very glaring inconsistency

13:38

between Sydney's car

13:40

and the perpetrator's car. That

13:42

just didn't match up. And then of course the physical

13:45

description of the perpetrator didn't match up

13:47

with Sydney either. Yes, let's

13:49

talk about their physical characteristics.

13:52

What was the description given of the

13:54

man in the brown car. So

13:57

in his first apposition, Vincent

14:01

said that the perpetrator was five ft six. Vincent

14:03

said that he himself was five ft eight and the

14:06

perpetrator was shorter than he was. He

14:08

described him as one hundred and seventy pounds,

14:11

kind of heavy set. He described

14:13

him as a little bit overweight, and that

14:16

was not Sydney at the time

14:18

of the crime. Sydney just described

14:21

to me then what your

14:23

height and weight was at

14:26

the time of the crime. When you were twenty two. I

14:29

was six ft one hundred eighty three pounds. She

14:31

were a tall, skinny guy. Yeah,

14:33

six ft three,

14:36

got it. The lead investigator

14:38

in this case was Detective Robert

14:40

Campbell, and it does seem

14:42

like he was focused on you as

14:45

the only suspect, despite

14:47

the fact that the driver of the oldsmobile was

14:49

not even one of the armed robbers.

14:52

Sydney, when did you even get

14:54

an inkling that the police were setting their

14:56

sights specifically on you?

14:59

Well, my card at the time was readished.

15:02

The address I was using at that time was my grandmother's

15:04

residence and

15:07

when they when they got to tag them Randy number

15:09

to the address, they came into the house and

15:11

left for business card. Sunday, I need to contact

15:13

them, these two detectives, in which

15:16

I did, because I have nuhing been

15:18

hide I haven't done anything. So I called them

15:21

and they came by question me and I

15:24

to take a photograph to my wreck.

15:26

I didn't think anything was too that I gave him a photograph

15:30

and that was that. That's the first time. The next

15:32

time I seen them, I was being arrested for m Robert.

15:51

Initially, the victims were sharing what we would

15:53

call muggle book, which is essentially just a

15:55

large book of photographs of people

15:57

who had previously been arrested for

16:00

similar crimes, and neither

16:02

of the victims made an identification from the

16:04

mug book. Several days later,

16:07

Sydney's license plate number was given to

16:09

the police, and that is the impetus

16:12

for him becoming a suspect in this case.

16:14

And so the police created

16:17

a six pack, a photo lineup

16:19

of six photos, including Sydney's using

16:22

his booking photo from his prior

16:24

arrest, from his prior conviction in

16:26

nineteen eighty four, which would

16:28

have been four years before this

16:31

crime occurred, and neither

16:33

of the victims identified Sydney

16:35

from that lineup. But then,

16:38

of course the photo that Sydney

16:40

just talked about, the one he freely agreed

16:42

to give the police, came into play

16:44

exactly. And so, as Sydney explained,

16:47

you know, police came to talk to him

16:50

and he told them, you know, I didn't do this.

16:52

I have nothing to hide. Yes, of course,

16:54

please take a photograph of me, you

16:57

know, expecting that that photograph is going

16:59

to help a limit him as a suspect

17:01

because he knew that he didn't commit this crime. And

17:04

so a second photo lineup was created

17:06

using that new photograph of Sydney

17:09

that he agreed to take, and five different

17:11

people than from the filler photos

17:13

in the first lineup, And so Sydney

17:16

is the only person that

17:18

was shown to the victims multiple

17:20

times. And it should

17:22

be noted that Detective Campbell

17:24

was the one who administered every one

17:26

of those lineups. The female

17:29

victim, she did not identify Sydney.

17:31

She never made an identification. In the case

17:33

Vincent, the male victim, he

17:36

identified Sydney in the second

17:38

lineup, and that's the principal

17:40

evidence used to convict him

17:42

and Sydney. You know, you were

17:45

quite willing to assist

17:48

the detectives in their initial

17:51

investigation, and turns

17:53

out there wasn't much of

17:56

an investigation because you

17:58

were arrested on October sixth

18:01

of nineteen eighty eight. That

18:03

morning of October sixth, I was sitting

18:06

at my parents' house actually talking to

18:08

my father having breakfast at the kitchen

18:10

table. Then, you know, to

18:13

the same two. The tapers came locking at the front

18:15

door, say they had a warmth of my arrest robbery

18:18

that took place at this at pass

18:20

station. I'm looking at him saying robbery.

18:23

I haven't robbed anyone, so, you know,

18:25

being a hummer guy, I am, you know, the hummer

18:27

spirit. Okay, I complied with the

18:29

law enfortune, and I was arrested.

18:34

You know, I can't even put in the world what went to my head.

18:36

I'm saying, Wise, I'm being handculled. Wise, I'm

18:38

being choked with something having done I'm

18:40

twenty two. You know what did I do?

18:43

I was speaceless go to

18:45

the kind of jail. I'm an art trying

18:48

to figure it, you know. But like I said,

18:50

you know, the resilient person am. I stayed humble

18:53

through the process, you know, praying

18:55

that you know, we got a lawyer, and hoping that

18:57

the two facts to come out. Apparently

19:00

it didn't. So a

19:03

little over six months later, on April

19:05

twenty fourth, nineteen eighty nine,

19:07

your trial began. Your defense attorney

19:10

was Mitchell Poulay, and the prosecutor

19:12

was Peter mcgrino, So Brandon,

19:15

what did the prosecution present, So

19:18

essentially it's the identification of

19:20

Sydney by one of the two victims,

19:23

and again that's only after the second

19:25

lineup that he was in, plus

19:28

whatever stock you want to put into

19:30

his car being similar, although

19:33

significantly different than that

19:35

of the perpetrator's car that

19:37

he was driving at the crime scene. I think

19:39

it's also really important to note that

19:42

Milton was critical to the investigation,

19:45

the citizens investigation that we described,

19:48

but he was never called to testify at

19:51

mister Holmes's trial, so the

19:53

jury never heard his perspective

19:55

and precisely what he did

19:58

and what he saw during his an

20:00

investigation. And that information is

20:02

critical because it's the exact reason

20:04

why Sydney became a suspect

20:07

in the first place. And without

20:09

that citizen investigation, without

20:12

what Milton did, Sydney

20:14

would never have been a suspect in this case. So

20:17

the jury never heard that. You know, Milton is

20:19

looking for what happens to

20:21

be the most common car in the United

20:23

States at that time, and you're

20:26

just kind of going about his day keeping an eye

20:28

out looking for that car,

20:30

and the jury never heard from him,

20:32

and The only thing that puts Sydney in the crosshairs

20:35

here is that he has, you know, that

20:37

type of car, and he's a young black

20:39

man with the prior

20:42

arm robbery convictions, and so again

20:45

that kind of totality of the factors

20:47

just leads police into tunnel

20:49

vision that he must have been the person who

20:51

committed this crime. I'd also

20:54

want to know that this identification was the result

20:57

of planting Sydney's image in Vincent's

20:59

mind in the first photo array

21:01

in which he was not identified, followed

21:04

by an identification in the second

21:06

after the seed had been planted. Nevertheless,

21:09

that was the state's case. So

21:12

what did the defense present? So

21:14

the defense's case was that this was a misidentification,

21:17

that essentially the state got

21:19

the wrong guy, and to bolster that

21:22

misidentification defense, the defense

21:25

presented several alibi witnesses

21:27

that, like Sidney said, he was

21:30

at this Father's Day cook out and

21:32

because he was there, he could not

21:34

have committed this crime at the one stop.

21:37

And so essentially

21:39

what it boils down to is you have on

21:41

the state side, the one

21:44

identification from Vincent.

21:46

Again that happened only after the second

21:48

time that he was shown a photo of Sydney. And

21:51

on the defensive side, you have

21:54

I believe four alibi witnesses who

21:56

came into court and testified that

21:58

Sydney was at the fathers to

22:01

cook out at his parents' house and therefore

22:03

could not have committed this crime. And

22:05

so you know, the jury chose the state's

22:07

evidence the victim's identification in

22:10

court over the hour of by witnesses

22:12

who said that Sydney couldn't have possibly been

22:14

at the crime scene. Sydney,

22:16

Can you just take me to what it

22:19

was like to sit inside that courtroom?

22:21

Well, you know it

22:24

was agony. You know, I thought show

22:26

that I was going to be going home that day

22:29

because of lack of evidence, you know, and

22:31

the Atabau witnesses and I'm alta people's

22:34

standing on the standing told the jury

22:36

were my whereabouts? But

22:39

when they deliberated, you know, came

22:42

by with a get a verdict. You know, I

22:45

was completely and giving them four hundred years sinners

22:47

at age twenty two. I

22:51

was just devastating, you know what. Wow, you

22:53

know, and then I have a six

22:55

month old child. I

23:00

had a daughter that was six months so all that was

23:02

taking away, so I say, none of her childhood she

23:06

was two days from being seven months

23:08

old when I got arrested. I've

23:12

been in prison for third or four years. My

23:36

life is just, you know, just a snap by what I

23:39

was gone, but something I haven't done. So

23:43

how can I feel I feel empty

23:45

I was, I would devastate it, you

23:47

know, So I

23:51

don't lawyers just it was just a day

23:53

that I would never forget.

23:57

But today I just want to move on from So.

24:01

Sydney was not ever

24:04

accused of being one of the guys

24:07

involved in an armed robbery. He's

24:10

accused of being a guy who drives

24:12

by and says, hey, you should

24:14

take that car and then drives away.

24:18

And based on that, prosecution recommends

24:21

eight hundred and twenty five

24:24

years, and he gets sentenced to

24:27

four hundred. Yeah,

24:29

that's correct. Four hundred was a compromise.

24:31

The prosecutor asked three hundred and twenty

24:33

five years. The defense attorney came back

24:35

and said, well, forty years would be a sufficient

24:38

sentence, that would be an effective life term.

24:40

And the judge said, well, perhaps a

24:43

hundred and twenty five is too many years.

24:45

I can only presume that he landed on four hundred

24:48

because it's somewhere in the middle of

24:51

forty and eight hundred and twenty five, and

24:54

that's the sentence that Sydney got, four hundred

24:56

years. And so I think a lot of people are

24:58

thinking, well, why four hundred, Why

25:00

hundred and twenty five? These are just kind of arbitrary

25:03

numbers. But really what it boils down to is, at

25:05

that time in Florida, a

25:08

life sentence would have made

25:10

Sydney eligible for parole after twenty

25:13

five years. A term of years sentence,

25:15

a four hundred years sentence would

25:18

mean that he would have to serve out that number

25:20

of years and he was not eligible

25:22

for parole. I know Sydney has said this multiple

25:25

times, but only God can

25:27

serve four hundred years,

25:30

right, No man can serve four hundred years.

25:32

So essentially that's the workaround to make Sydney

25:35

not eligible for parole. He would never

25:37

get out of prison. Did they ever

25:40

before it even got to court,

25:42

did they ever offer you some kind of a deal

25:44

if you could give them the names

25:47

of the two armed assailants? They

25:49

offered a deal. But why would I take a deal for

25:51

something I haven't done. Oh I'm

25:54

not taking a deal because I haven't did anything. I'm

25:56

an innocent man. And how can you name two

25:58

people you have no idea, I

26:01

don't know who they are. If

26:03

I can just elaborate on that. At Sydney's

26:05

sentencing after he was convicted, the

26:08

prosecutor said to the judge

26:10

at sentencing, and I'm looking

26:12

at the quote right now, I would point

26:14

out that this defendant was given the opportunity

26:17

to carry the keys to the prison in his

26:19

back pocket because of the factual circumstances

26:22

surrounding the robbery. And what he's

26:24

referring to is precisely, Lauren, what you

26:26

just said is that Sydney was given an

26:28

opportunity to take a plea, to

26:31

plead to a crime that he did not commit,

26:33

in exchange for giving up the two other perpetrators.

26:36

And of course, if you didn't commit a crime, how could

26:38

you possibly know who those other two perpetrators

26:40

were. He maintained his innocence

26:43

throughout and therefore he got

26:45

punished when it came to sentencing

26:47

with this very harsh sentence. Sydney,

26:51

you were in prison for thirty four years. Can

26:54

you just take me to what your

26:56

day to day was like? Yeah,

26:58

that's spent a lot of time, a lot they're trying to

27:00

research trying to find, you know, a

27:02

way to become a free you know, get this

27:05

charge of me something I didn't do. But

27:07

in the meantime, why outside

27:09

of that, I educated myself. I read

27:12

a lot. I love to read. I educated my self

27:14

computer skills. I got a social degree

27:16

in theology. I learned because

27:18

there are are skills. I learned

27:21

counseling skills. I would drug abuse

27:23

skills. Day to day. I just kept

27:25

myself busy, reading

27:27

a lot, studying a lot always,

27:29

you know, byber you know, scriptures. I did

27:32

a lot just to keep myself afloat.

27:35

Giving up wasn't an option, and my

27:37

parents and my family member

27:39

did what they weren't going to allow me to ever give up,

27:42

you know, and all the faith that we have, I

27:44

was always going to fight until I stop

27:47

breathing. And unfortunately

27:49

it was a long fight, decades

27:52

long. You filed appeals for post

27:54

conviction relief several times and

27:57

all were denied. What was the turning

27:59

point, well, twenty seventeen,

28:02

I would bless stay write application

28:05

to the Nenterprise of Florida, and you

28:07

know they have they have a screening process.

28:09

You know, they have a lot of case they have to go

28:11

through I also apply to the

28:14

CRAU and in between them, and

28:16

they collaborated with each other, and

28:19

that was the Broward County Conviction

28:21

Review Unit, headed up by Assistant

28:24

State Attorney Ariel Dembie Burger

28:27

Brandon. When you started working

28:29

with the cru on Sydney's case, what

28:32

stood out to you? What were the

28:34

biggest red flags in

28:37

Sydney's case. Unfortunately,

28:40

just like one read of the trial transcripts,

28:43

they aren't very long, and there

28:45

were all these holes, these things that didn't make

28:47

sense. It's like, how did this person even

28:49

become a suspect in the first place. It's

28:52

not until you really dig into the police reports,

28:55

of the depositions and the discovery

28:58

that's kind of behind the scenes. The jury

29:00

isn't always privy. Two. When you get down

29:02

to the bottom of the facts in Sydney's case,

29:05

the facts overwhelmingly

29:07

speak of discrepancies rather

29:10

than corroboration of guilt. And

29:13

so when you see the specific

29:15

facts in Sydney's case and how they just don't

29:18

line up right. Nothing added

29:20

up. And that's not even taking into consideration

29:22

Sydney's alibi. This crime happened

29:24

on Father's Day and he was at a father's Day

29:27

gathering that had many, many people

29:29

that corroborated that either through

29:31

trial testimony and or deposition

29:33

testimony. No physical evidence,

29:36

no other corroborating witness identifications.

29:39

All that the state had in this case was one

29:42

eyewitness identification, and

29:45

as we talked about earlier, that eye

29:47

witness identification was obviously

29:49

tainted. What did you learn when

29:52

you dug deeper into

29:54

that process. We had two

29:56

separate eyewitness identification

29:58

experts and realize everything

30:01

relevant to Sydney's identification,

30:04

and they both identified double digit

30:06

issues pertaining to the

30:09

identification, both the victim's

30:13

ability to perceive the

30:15

event at the convenience store,

30:17

but then also the way that the lineup was composed

30:19

and administered by the police. They

30:22

came back with very similar reports

30:24

citing very similar issues that have

30:26

contributed to hundreds and hundreds of people

30:29

being exonerated based

30:31

on eyewitness identification

30:33

evidence across the country. There

30:36

was no identification of Sydney

30:38

made by either of the victims in the first lineup,

30:41

and so what's problematic in the

30:43

second lineup where Sydney was identified

30:45

by one of the two victims, is

30:48

that Sydney was the only person

30:50

that's in both lineups. Because of the way

30:52

that the lineup is composed, this one

30:55

photo visa via the other five sticks

30:58

out to them and so it could be an cater

31:00

to them that police are signaling and drawing

31:02

their attention into that photo, and in

31:04

this case, that photo was Sydney's photo.

31:07

I thought it was really interesting to the

31:10

during the reinvestigation that you

31:12

interviewed Vincent Wright and Anisia

31:16

Johnson, who were the original victims

31:19

of this crime. I

31:21

think Miss Johnson and mister

31:23

Ray were very forthcoming in the information

31:26

that they provided to us. They were quite

31:28

honestly astonished that Sidney,

31:31

irrespective of whether he committed the crime, that he

31:33

was still in prison for this, and we appreciated

31:35

their willingness to speak to us and provide

31:39

that kind of context to us

31:41

to understand from their perspective what happened.

31:45

So on March ninth, twenty twenty

31:47

three, the Innocence Project of Florida

31:50

and the Conviction Review Unit

31:52

presented all of their findings and

31:54

filed emotion for post conviction relief.

31:57

And then Sidney, while you were

32:00

waiting for your hearing to come up, you get

32:02

some really great news from television

32:05

of all places, Yeah. What happened

32:07

was that by eleven thirty they came

32:09

and told me the George want to see me. So I'm

32:12

kind of baffled. Why would I just want to see me. I

32:14

knew the hearing is on Thursday, but

32:16

they took me downstairs to see the jug.

32:18

But then they said eleven thirty or too earlier because

32:20

the hearing is set for two o'clock. So they

32:23

took me back to the cell and I wouldn't

32:25

laid down on the bed. Then I heard the guy shout,

32:27

hey, I think I see your picture on TV. So I'm

32:29

saying, why I haven't pictures on TV? Or why you know? I

32:31

didn't even see it. I came out it wasn't there.

32:34

So I called her sister. Then

32:36

when I called my sisters, what is going on? Then

32:39

she just wast out crying on the phone. Then I

32:41

was like, I wasn't coordinate at two o'clock

32:43

to be released. And so on

32:46

March thirteenth, twenty twenty three, you

32:49

walked out of prison a freeman. What

32:51

did that feel like? Well, I

32:56

don't know, I can't know what to say. I was in

32:58

tears. You know, it

33:01

was a it was kind of a bit of sweet because

33:04

you know my father who went there, you

33:06

know, he died four years ago. So

33:09

other than that, that was only a bit

33:11

of sweet part of it now being released that

33:13

he wasn't there to see this happened. No,

33:16

I'm still really you know, it's only been

33:19

thirty five days I've been home, so I'm

33:21

still trying to grab too. You know, it's still

33:23

unbelievable. I am free at

33:25

the thirty four years Brandon,

33:29

as Sydney told us, he'd been working

33:31

on his appeals for a long time without success

33:34

before connecting with you and the cru

33:37

What do you think was the magic ingredient

33:39

this third time around? Well,

33:41

the magic ingredient, ironically,

33:44

is the current state

33:47

of the State Attorney's Office in Broward

33:49

County. You have R. L.

33:51

Demi Burger and her staff at the Conviction

33:54

Review Unit, and you have the elected State Attorney,

33:56

Harold Pryor, who are truly

33:58

seeking justice. I think that that is

34:01

the difference. They have an open mind

34:03

and they follow the evidence, and that's what they did

34:05

in Sydney's case. What's

34:08

next for you, Sydney, what

34:11

are your hopes and plans for the future. Well,

34:13

you know, I'm still working those things

34:16

I always want, like I have culinary skills,

34:18

and the food truck is in emminent that

34:20

I you know, prefly one day that might

34:22

happen. But you know, like I say, tape

34:25

capital with tape finance, you know, it's it's a

34:27

process. So whatever.

34:29

I just try to keep praying opportunity

34:31

come, just take it and Brandon,

34:34

I understand that under Florida law,

34:37

Sydney is unfortunately not even

34:39

eligible for compensation from

34:41

the state because he had those prior

34:44

convictions we talked about in the beginning

34:46

of this episode. That's what the

34:48

state statute says, is called the Cleanhand's

34:50

Provision as it's it's now essentially says

34:52

that if you have a prior felony conviction,

34:55

you're not eligible for compensation in

34:58

a subsequent wrongful conviction, matter

35:00

how much time or whatever

35:03

the circumstances are for that

35:05

wrongful conviction. You know, the data

35:07

says that if you have a prior conviction

35:09

of any kind, you're fifty percent more likely

35:12

to subsequently be convicted

35:14

for a crime that you didn't commit in a later

35:17

case. There's a bill pending in the

35:19

Florida legislature right now that would

35:21

eradicate that requirement

35:23

if you will. In the instance, Project Florida

35:25

is working to fix that, to

35:28

make people like Sydney who have prior

35:30

convictions eligible for compensation for the wrongful

35:33

conviction cases. Well, I understand

35:35

that the IPF has started a go fund

35:37

Me page for Sydney. We'll have a link to

35:40

that on our biopage for our listeners

35:42

who'd like to help Sydney get a new start. Who

35:44

knows, maybe start up a capital for

35:46

that food truck. And now at

35:48

the end of every podcast, we have

35:51

what's called closing arguments, just your

35:53

final thoughts, whatever you'd like to

35:55

say to listeners. Brandon,

35:58

why don't you start and then will go to

36:00

Sydney to close things out. Wrongful

36:03

convictions absolutely happen. It

36:06

takes a lot of diligence to overturn

36:09

them. It takes a lot of seeking the truth,

36:12

seeking facts. And in

36:14

Sydney's case, it was clear from the very beginning

36:17

that he was innocent, what he told

36:19

everyone all along, and the system

36:21

got it wrong thirty four years ago.

36:24

And there's no amount

36:26

of effort, no amount of money, that

36:29

can get him that time back with

36:31

his family, with his daughter, with his

36:34

mother and father and sister by

36:37

the State Attorney's office in this case

36:40

ultimately did the right thing. They ultimately pursued

36:42

justice. They themselves sought the

36:45

facts and the truth, and

36:47

with a lot of diligence and hard work, they

36:50

saw that Sydney was in fact telling the

36:52

truth all along, that he was innocent. And I

36:55

really do commend the work that State

36:57

Attorney's offices are doing across the country

37:00

to realize when they got things wrong

37:02

in the past, to take accountability for that,

37:05

and to do whatever it takes to rectify

37:07

the situation so that people like

37:09

Sydney can come home to their families and

37:12

live the rest of their life in freedom. Well,

37:16

like I say, I can't

37:18

say it enough, that fantastic

37:20

job. Like I say to say that you know the new current

37:22

state attorney it isn't tire Staff's

37:25

Burger and also Brandon self, Miller

37:28

and the whole staff of the Innocent Project. But

37:31

my clue statement that throughout this process

37:34

I would always tell the person you can never give

37:36

up hope. It's always the chance. It's always

37:39

the sam hope, a chance or anything in life

37:41

that we does. It

37:43

was a hard fault. I was twenty two, but

37:46

I'm not mad with a justice system. I can't

37:48

be mad because you know that's

37:50

something that's needed in our country. You know, it's if

37:52

it wasn't with justice system. But I think it's

37:55

broken. But I think we're on

37:57

the right track that we got

37:59

prosecuted throughout the country and justice

38:01

to throughout the country that they're trying to make

38:04

changes other states. Then you've got organizations

38:06

Innocent Project Is. You know, they're doing a lot

38:08

of hard to trying to right to find

38:11

some of these things that's going on in our great

38:13

state of Florida. It's so much that need to

38:15

be done. But you'd, like I say, I'm

38:17

just so grateful that had the opportunity to be free. It

38:19

was it was a long role. My things

38:22

help and helped people to

38:24

overcome the things that I went through,

38:26

and I hope I could be some kind of light and

38:28

I own it for them, for the youth as well, because

38:31

it's needed in our country. Thank

38:39

you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'm

38:42

your guest host Lauren Bright Pacheco. I'd

38:44

like to thank executive producers Jason Flam

38:46

and Kevin Wardace for inviting me to be here.

38:49

Special thanks also to our wonderful production

38:52

team Connor Hall, Annie Chelsea,

38:55

Lila Robinson, and Jeff Clyburne.

38:57

The music in this production comes from through

39:00

Free Time, OSCAR nominated composer

39:02

Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us

39:04

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39:09

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39:11

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39:15

Be online at Lauren Bright Pacheco, and

39:18

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39:20

Murder in Illinois and my latest Murder

39:23

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39:25

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