0:03

This is quite a wall here. Oh,

0:07

these are some great photos.

0:10

That's Jimmy Carter enough

0:12

for me. Uh huh, as

0:15

Leon Larenna Lynn. How

0:17

did this come about? She was

0:20

given a concert and Brown Allen uh huh carried

0:22

me backstage to lead. Look at

0:24

this suit that you have on. Maybe

0:27

you've never heard of Bill Baxley, but

0:29

here in Alabama he's a big deal.

0:33

Oh wow. Baxley is eighty two,

0:36

slightly balding, with silver hair

0:38

and eyebrows. In the pictures

0:41

he's showing me on the wall of his office,

0:43

I see him looking younger. His

0:45

hair is dark, and he's standing with

0:48

famous musicians and politicians.

0:51

That's my daddy, sweared me in for my first

0:53

term. Wow. Baxley

0:56

was elected as Alabama's Attorney General

0:58

when he was just twenty eight years old. He

1:01

later served as lieutenant governor, and he's

1:03

still practicing law today. During

1:06

his career, Baxley prosecuted

1:09

hundreds of cases and sent three

1:11

people to Alabama's death row. There

1:14

are some crimes that are so wrong

1:18

and so horrible that they

1:20

only observe one punishment.

1:23

He's a lifelong defender of the death

1:25

penalty. A true believer

1:29

like when the US Supreme Court outlawed

1:31

the death penalty in the nineteen seventies, Baxley

1:34

worked hard to bring executions back

1:37

to Alabama. He's that kind

1:39

of true believer, So

1:42

it's not surprising that Baxley was skeptical

1:44

when his son, who's also an attorney,

1:47

asked his dad to look over a case

1:49

because he believed an innocent man

1:52

was on death row. Over

1:54

the course of my long career, out

1:57

had dozens and dozens of ansances

2:01

where these I'll call him do gooders,

2:03

but they are they're good people. They

2:06

take up there's causes of people

2:08

that have been sentenced to death,

2:10

and they get interested in trying

2:13

to help them, and they all think they're always innocent.

2:16

Baxley didn't even glance at the case

2:18

file until weeks later. On an

2:21

icy winter morning, it was

2:23

too slippery to walk down the driveway

2:25

and grab the newspaper, so he picked

2:27

up the file that his son sent him and

2:30

began reading about a black man named

2:33

to Forrest Johnson, who was

2:35

sentenced to death for killing a Shaff's

2:37

deputy. I mean, mid morning,

2:40

I couldn't believe what I was reading. I wouldn't

2:42

have believed that something like this could have happened. What

2:45

was so unbelievable about it? Everything?

2:48

Everything. I don't know how the guy got indicted,

2:51

how they got I didn't see

2:53

how the jury convicted him. I would

2:55

have never believed that that could have happened in

2:57

Alabama, no question,

2:59

am I mine. This guy

3:02

was not guilty of this

3:04

crime, and I couldn't

3:07

calibrah in how this could happen. There's

3:10

only one other case where Baxley

3:12

thought the defendants were innocent, and

3:15

that case is almost a hundred years old.

3:18

So what is it about this

3:21

case to Forrest's case that

3:23

convinced Baxley that Alabama is

3:25

trying to execute an innocent man's

3:29

It's a unique absurdity

3:33

that I've never seen before. It's

3:37

too late to give him back all those years he's

3:40

been on death row, but it's not too

3:42

late to correct it today

3:45

and get him out for the future. It's

3:48

wrong, it's gone this long,

3:51

but it's still not too late to correct. My

3:55

name is Beth Shelburne. Like Bill

3:57

Baxley, I was born and raised in all

4:00

Obama. I grew up about a mile

4:02

away from where the crime at the center

4:04

of this story took place. I'm

4:07

a journalist and writer, and for the last

4:09

three years I've been investigating the

4:11

case that rocked Bill Baxley's

4:13

world. The story

4:15

begins on a hot July night in

4:18

nineteen ninety five. It unfolds

4:20

in two places at once, the

4:23

Crown Sterling Sweets Hotel and

4:25

a nightclub that's almost four miles

4:27

away called Te's Place.

4:31

By the end of the night, one man will

4:33

be shot dead and two others

4:35

will encounter someone who will put

4:38

them at the center of the murder investigation

4:42

to Forrest Johnson is still on

4:45

death row and he's running

4:47

out of time. I'm

4:52

Beth Shelburne. This is

4:55

earwitness, Chapter

4:57

one, Behind the Round

5:31

All Around Ola. Yes man,

5:34

this is very calling from Crowns Drilling

5:36

Sweet's Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama. I'm

5:38

calling because I've had several guts report

5:41

what appears out the windows. Who have been two gunshots

5:43

and people running in the parking lot. It's

5:46

twelve fifty five am on July

5:49

nineteenth, nineteen ninety five, oh

5:52

twenty three, Little Crest fight. That

5:54

is correct. I have security on the premises, which

5:57

is ship of the County Police. But I'm calling you because

6:00

I want to make sure that the Birmingham please rise. Please

6:03

all right, we'll get the hunt out, thank you very

6:05

much. Hol On. The

6:11

Crown Sterling Suits Hotel was a nine

6:14

story building in Birmingham. Today

6:16

the hotel is an embassy suites. Inside

6:20

the main entrance of the hotel, there's

6:22

a pale tiled walkway

6:24

that leads through the lobby. The

6:27

front desk is to the left, but

6:29

keep walking past it and you enter

6:31

a huge atrium, an open

6:34

space surrounded by windows with

6:37

an indoor garden of leafy green

6:39

plants and trees. The

6:42

tiled walkway leads to a coy pond

6:44

with a fountain at the center. It's

6:47

lush and humid inside,

6:49

but despite all the windows, the

6:52

field is dim and moody.

6:56

Keep walking past the koi pond and

6:58

there's a short hall that leads

7:01

to the hotel's back parking lot.

7:04

It was here outside the double

7:06

doors of the Crown Sterling Sweets Hotel

7:09

where a deputy sheriff was killed.

7:13

No one saw the murder, but a few

7:15

people heard gunshots. I

7:18

remember hearing popping noises

7:20

from the distance. Barry

7:23

Rushikoff was working at the front desk

7:25

when he made that nine call. When

7:28

I heard it, I believe that's when I tried to call

7:31

Officer Hardy on the radio with

7:33

no response. Officer

7:36

William Hardy, who went by Bill, had

7:39

been a deputy with the Jefferson County Sheriff's

7:41

Office for twenty three years. He

7:43

was also a security guard at the hotel,

7:46

where he worked the night shift to make

7:48

extra money. Hardy was

7:50

five foot ten, had a thin mustache,

7:53

and wore his hair in a Jerry curl. He

7:56

was known to be easygoing and

7:58

friendly. When Deputy

8:00

Hardy wasn't making hotel security

8:02

rounds, Barry usually saw

8:05

him wearing his brown and tan deputy

8:07

uniform, sitting at one of the tables

8:09

in the hotel's atrium, smoking

8:12

More brand menthol cigarettes

8:14

and drinking coffee. You

8:16

know, when I worked there, and when I was working nights, it was me,

8:20

you know, Officer Hardy or whatever

8:22

officer on duty, and or we

8:25

would sometimes have a houseman who is cleaning

8:27

floors or something. But very minimal group and

8:30

I never felt unsafe. Barry

8:33

wasn't the only person to hear the popping

8:35

noises. A few guests at

8:37

the hotel also heard gunshots,

8:40

including Marshall Kelly Cummings,

8:43

a guest in a fourth floor room directly

8:45

above the hotel's back exit. I

8:48

can remember like it was yesterday now as far as

8:50

the details. As I worked on this project,

8:53

I started referring to Cummings as

8:55

the Keebler cookie guy, because

8:58

in nineteen ninety five he worked for

9:00

Keebler as a truck driver midfield when

9:02

I was and I was with Keebler driving

9:04

wanted to step Lands and delivering cookies

9:06

and crackers and stuff. Cummings

9:09

was staying at the Crown Sterling for a

9:12

company training. After the workday

9:14

was over, he drank a few beers at

9:16

the hotel bar with some coworkers, and

9:19

then he and the other Keepler employee

9:21

he was rooming with turned in between

9:24

ten and eleven PM. But

9:26

Cummings was not asleep for long, but

9:29

he just I woke up and it was I

9:31

kept hearing somebody talk, kind

9:33

of talk arguing. So you heard

9:35

some voices and it sounded like they were arguing

9:38

or not really bad, but they were. They were

9:40

having a conversation. Was

9:43

it was male voices. Well,

9:45

they quit arguing and

9:47

then I didn't hear anything, so I laid back down and

9:50

it probably wasn't twenty

9:53

seconds, thirty seconds, forty five. I didn't

9:55

count the boom small

9:58

caliber gun. It wont a big calib and

10:00

I'll sudden the fume sex out the bonne about

10:04

the second time I said a man, that

10:06

was a gun, he

10:13

remembers, turning to the coworker he was

10:15

sharing a room with. Ye

10:17

I said you hear that? He says, yeah.

10:20

So I stood up and opened the blind

10:22

of getting my eyes fixed because it was

10:24

dark then it had the lights in the last week. Directly

10:27

beneath his window, Cummings sees

10:29

a four door car. It's dark

10:32

copper or light brown with the

10:34

vinyl top, parked facing

10:36

the hotel's back double doors. He

10:39

sees a tall person get into the driver's

10:41

side of the car, close the

10:43

door, and slowly pull

10:45

away with the headlights off. And

10:48

so I called down to the front desk. I said, hey, there's

10:50

been shots fired. I hear Did you hear that? I

10:53

believe I got a phone call from someone in the room

10:55

saying they heard gun shots. So

10:58

Barry makes that initial one one

11:00

call, hangs up and decides

11:02

to investigate it. Jumped

11:05

over the counter to walk back, and

11:07

I was walked back. I saw off the Hardy's

11:09

radio. Barry sees

11:11

Deputy Hardy's radio on a table

11:14

in the hotel's atrium, and right

11:16

next to it his cigarette still

11:18

burning in an ash tree. Meanwhile,

11:27

back on the fourth floor, Marshall Kelly

11:29

Cummings hangs up the phone with Barry and

11:31

goes back to the window. And

11:33

I kept looking, and I kept looking. Finally my eyes

11:37

got where I could see, and I looked

11:39

down. I could see him laying on the ground. I went,

11:41

oh, no, this ain't good. Cummings

11:44

spots a body on the ground and realizes

11:47

someone has been badly hurt. It's

11:50

right around this time Barry makes the

11:52

same terrible discovery. There's

11:55

a hallway that waits to the door that went back out

11:57

to the back of parking lot. As

11:59

I turned the corner to go down that hallway and

12:02

I looked out the door in the distance, I

12:04

saw offic the Hardy on the ground. That's

12:07

when I ran back to the front desk, made

12:10

an emergency phone call to the police.

12:18

Blah blah, and jeff Man, this aperit crowd

12:20

still exisal co he is and I

12:22

have a pit what appears to be a Jefferson

12:25

County Police officer shot in the back of our ability.

12:28

He is not moving. People in the car

12:32

drove away and you say it

12:34

and he's lying on the on the pavement. I'm

12:37

a little fraid to go out. Yes,

12:39

he is a Birmingham Police off Jefferson

12:42

County. He is a hired nighttime

12:45

security for us. Hey, do you know

12:47

if you can sign that anything like if you

12:49

bra I'm kissing

12:51

how much blood? I'm trying me in my promise.

12:54

I don't know if the people are still up there. Okay,

12:56

we we should be there showing that. You find very

12:58

much. I'm gonna go and talk to that, okay. Jackson's

13:06

Kenny Debbie has been shot on the back

13:08

entrance of the hotel Crown Strow suite. It

13:12

is one of us and we are they have got one down

13:14

who has been shot. Looks

13:18

it looks too bad? Three

13:21

three two? Do we have any information? Do

13:25

we have anything on a suspecting

13:43

After he makes the second nine one one

13:45

call, Barry walks down the

13:47

hallway to the back parking lot and

13:50

then I went back out the office. Already he

13:53

was not a good condition. He did

13:55

have a wound to his face. He

13:58

was making a gurgling gasping

14:01

noise. You know, he

14:04

was not conscious. I believe I took

14:06

my jacket off, my uniform jacket

14:08

off, to try to cover him, or put

14:10

under his head, or try to comfort him. But

14:13

fortunately officers arrived so

14:16

quickly and I was removed

14:19

from that area immediately. More

14:22

than a dozen officers from four different

14:25

agencies arrive at the hotel. One

14:28

of them is Detective Tony Richardson,

14:31

who says he'd known Deputy Hardy since

14:33

he first started working for the Jefferson County

14:35

Sheriff's Office in nineteen seventy

14:37

eight. Being black

14:40

and Bill being black, naturally

14:42

I noticed him. I

14:46

was told more than once to get a haircut.

14:49

That you know, to be a deputy sheriff, you

14:51

gotta have your hair cut. So the

14:53

reason I mentioned that is because

14:56

from the first day that I ever saw

14:58

him, his hair was out to hear, big

15:01

afro, big aff and

15:04

he would put on his hat.

15:07

He wore that hat religiously. Everybody

15:10

else at the Sheriff's office hated those hats.

15:12

They didn't want to wear him, you know, but he always

15:14

wore his hat. Deputy

15:16

Hardy often wore his traditional

15:19

broad brimmed tan smokey

15:21

the bear style sheriff's hat. It

15:24

was later entered as evidence from the crime

15:26

scene with a bullet hole through the brim,

15:30

and he would have it on his head and all

15:32

that hair would be on the side would be out

15:34

here, And I'm like, who is this

15:36

guy? How can he get away with that? And

15:39

not only that, he is in the

15:41

sheriff's office. How can

15:43

he get away with that? So

15:46

I was intrigued by him, fascinated

15:49

by but I was scared of him. I

15:51

was scared to meet him because

15:53

I I thought, in my mind, this guy's gotta

15:55

be crazy, you know, to

15:58

do that and get away with it. He's gotta be gray. I

16:00

was scattered him. But anyway, when

16:03

I first met him, I

16:05

met him and talked to him. He started

16:07

to feel better about well. I started

16:09

to feel better about him. We were

16:11

never just boosom buddies real close,

16:14

but we were close and we knew each other.

16:17

Tony Richardson and Bill Hardy had

16:20

been colleagues at the Jefferson County Sheriff's

16:22

Office for seventeen years. Richardson

16:26

remembers the last time he saw

16:28

Hardy alive. The

16:31

last day I saw Bill, my

16:34

brother and I my brother would put a sheriff's

16:36

office also, and we were

16:38

standing there smoking and Bill drove

16:41

out the alley and he

16:43

was pulling up twenty second and

16:45

he stopped in the road and he started

16:48

to talk to us and he said, hey, guys, hey,

16:50

I'll doing loan me some money, just you

16:52

know, stuff like that. And we laughed

16:54

and talked for a minute. And that was the last time I saw him.

16:57

And the next time I heard Bill's name was about two

16:59

o'clock in the morning when I got

17:01

the call seeing that he had been shot. At

17:05

that time, I was what was considered

17:08

a crimes against person's detective,

17:11

which meant that I

17:14

worked homicides. The

17:17

lieutenant felt like because it involved

17:19

a deputy sheriff, and you

17:22

know that we needed all the help that we could get,

17:24

so I got called down. Did you

17:27

go to the actual scene? Yea,

17:30

What did you encounter when you got there? Well,

17:33

by the time I got there, Bill's

17:37

body was gone. Paramedics

17:41

had already lifted Bill Hardy into

17:43

an ambulance and rushed him to the emergency

17:45

room of Birmingham's largest hospital.

17:49

He is gravely injured with two

17:51

gunshot wounds to his head, and jaw.

17:55

A medical examiner notes a bullet

17:57

wound to Hardy's finger likely

17:59

means he raised his hand in

18:01

a defensive posture when he was shot.

18:05

Police go to his house to tell his wife,

18:08

Patricia Diane Hardy, and bring her

18:10

to the hospital. Jim Woodward,

18:13

the chief deputy in Jefferson County, also

18:15

rushes over when he hears that Hardy was

18:18

shot. What do you remember

18:20

about the incident? I got the call

18:23

that Hardy had been shot, and they

18:25

told us it looked very serious. So

18:29

I got in my car and went

18:32

down to the hospital. I stood

18:34

there while they were operating on him, and then

18:36

they I just heard one say

18:39

that's it. It's over. We can't do anymore.

18:41

It's over. We can't save him. He's

18:43

gone. And what does

18:46

that feel like when you are a career

18:48

law enforcement officer and one, well, it's kind

18:50

of devastating to you. You

18:53

know, you get to know these guys, and

18:56

I knew Hardy. That's

18:58

a very devastating thing happened to Deputy

19:03

Bill. Hardy is pronounced dead seven

19:06

hours after he was shot. The

19:08

cause of death is two gunshot

19:11

wounds fired at close range. I

19:16

wanted to know more about Deputy Hardy.

19:19

So I wrote to several family members

19:21

inviting them to talk. They

19:24

never responded, and I can

19:26

only imagine his murder must

19:28

be one of the hardest things they've ever

19:30

experienced. But I

19:33

have learned a few things about Deputy

19:35

Hardy. He was married to Patricia

19:37

Diane Hardy. He had two

19:40

children and four adult step children.

19:43

Hardy started working as a deputy in

19:45

nineteen seventy two. His

19:48

duties included delivering subpoenas

19:50

and directing traffic outside the courthouse.

19:56

You know it

20:02

was rough. It was rough.

20:04

It's rough right now, it's

20:07

rough right this minute. Wow,

20:11

working homicide, I worked a bunch,

20:14

but none of them affected

20:16

me, like

20:19

the killing of a Definity Shaff. You

20:21

know, you have a bond with

20:24

the guys you work with in the uniform.

20:27

Whether you know him or not, you

20:29

have a bond. So

20:33

when I was a Definity Shaff

20:36

working another Definity Shaff's

20:38

murder, do you think that was emotional? Yes? It was

20:41

very And had

20:44

it been my decision the

20:47

day we caught the people they did it, let's

20:50

let's put him on death throat. Lead

20:58

Detective Tony Richardson and his team

21:00

of investigators have no eyewitnesses

21:03

to the shooting, and there's no known motive.

21:06

A fellow officer has just been shot,

21:09

and they have almost no evidence

21:11

to go on. At

21:22

the exact time that Deputy Bill Hardy

21:25

was shot to Forrest Johnson

21:27

and his friend ardragus Ford were

21:29

four miles away from the crime scene at

21:32

a downtown Birmingham nightclub called

21:34

T's Place, but they would

21:36

soon become the focus of Tony

21:38

Richardson's investigation. Just

21:58

a few hours before Deputy hart is

22:00

shot, ardregus Ford gets

22:02

into the passenger side of his nineteen

22:05

seventy one black Monte Carlo. It's

22:08

an old car and the driver's side

22:10

door doesn't open, so he slides

22:13

over into the driver's seat, starts

22:15

the ignition, and heads out to pick up

22:17

his friend to Forrest Johnson to

22:19

go to a club called Te's Place.

22:24

I wasn't able to interview to Forrest or

22:26

Ardregas for this podcast. The

22:29

Alabama Department of Corrections doesn't

22:31

allow people on death row to do interviews

22:33

with reporters like me, so

22:35

I was unable to talk to Forrest directly,

22:39

and ardregus died in twenty twenty

22:42

one. I didn't get a chance to interview

22:44

him. Before then I

22:47

was able to speak to Ardregus's mother,

22:49

Joyce Ford, that

22:52

particular night. They said they was going to tease

22:55

and see. He will go to teas every Tuesday.

22:58

And he had his particular the same parking

23:01

space and everything because he would

23:03

give him good tips. Ardragas

23:06

was willing to pay for a good parking space

23:08

because he was in a wheelchair. When

23:11

Ardragas was a teenager, a group

23:13

of men began shooting outside

23:16

an apartment building he was visiting. He

23:18

was shot trying to shield his

23:21

cousin and her baby from gunfire.

23:24

My son when he was got shot when

23:26

he was fifteen, I had

23:28

just gotten off of work. I was tired in the phone,

23:30

ring ring, ringg and I didn't answer the phone,

23:33

you know, And I

23:35

finally answered it and they stated

23:37

that he had gotten shot. I

23:41

need to rush to the murgency room. Who

23:44

it was. That was like a dream, you know. You

23:47

hear about things happening

23:49

to other people, but when it hit home,

23:51

you know. And then he got spile

23:54

cord injury. He got shot in the back. Yeah,

23:59

and he was paralleled last yea

24:01

from chest down T four

24:04

they call it. So

24:06

that was like a nightmare. In

24:10

his early twenties, Ardragas

24:12

outfitted his Monte Carlo with the makeshift

24:15

system so he could throw his wheelchair

24:17

in the back and drive the car using

24:19

just his upper body. He

24:22

would cut a broom you

24:24

know that broom sticks. He

24:27

would put had one to the brakes, one to

24:29

the celebrator, and he would tape it to

24:32

the car. He would tape it to it. So

24:34

he like retrofitted his Yeah, he

24:37

did, did d He

24:39

didn't buy the regular equipment

24:41

that he should have used. Ardragus

24:44

and to Forrest actually came up with this

24:46

idea together. Here's to Forrest's

24:49

cousin, Antonio green Dragus

24:52

was I guess that was a pride thing. He didn't

24:54

want the handicap accessible

24:56

pedals and stuff in his car. But far

24:59

has coming up with this great, this genius idea

25:01

where they're gonna well some metal

25:03

rods to the brake and accelerate

25:06

a pedal so he could use his hands and

25:08

drive. Well, he

25:10

get to thinking about this thing and metal

25:12

rods, well died from the brake, pedal or

25:15

the accelerator. That's not too

25:17

good of an idea in case you get in the accident.

25:19

He'd hate to see Dragon's impale through

25:21

the seat right here. So he

25:24

goes and buys two brooms out

25:26

of the little dollar store wherever, and

25:29

no measurements, no, just

25:32

nothing precise about it. He just gets the

25:34

broom and breaks him and

25:36

Duck take the sticks, one to

25:39

the accelerated pedal and one

25:41

to the brake pedal so Dragas

25:43

could drive his car. Could

25:45

he get around? Well? I mean did he go real?

25:48

Well, it's

25:56

been a while since the Forest and our Dragus

25:58

have hung out. Because to Forrest

26:00

had recently gotten out of prison. He

26:03

was arrested for driving with a suspended

26:05

license, and as officers padded

26:08

him down at the city jail, he

26:10

tossed something into a nearby trash

26:12

can. Officers reached

26:15

into the can and found a plastic

26:17

bag of cocaine. To Forrest

26:19

ended up pleading guilty to drug possession.

26:23

To Forrest served about a year in prison,

26:26

and by the night of Hardy's murder, he'd

26:28

been out about three months. To

26:31

Forrest puts on jean shorts and

26:33

a Tommy Hill figure blue and white

26:35

shirt, then gets into the passenger

26:37

side of Ardragus's car and they head

26:40

downtown. They

26:42

pull up and park outside Tea's Place,

26:45

but it's too early to go inside, so

26:47

they hang out in the parking lot flirting

26:50

with some girls who work at the car dealership

26:52

across the street. To Forrest

26:54

buys a hot dog from a cart on the sidewalk.

26:58

Regular start trickling into the club,

27:01

drinking, dancing, and catching up.

27:04

Inside. There's thumping music,

27:07

low lighting. It's Tasty

27:09

Tuesday at Tea's Place, which

27:11

means women get in free. I

27:14

used to go to Tease Tuesday, Thursday,

27:16

Friday, and Saturday. Barbetta

27:21

Hunt was one of the regulars who was there

27:23

that night. What

27:26

was your nickname back then, Mama Kid.

27:29

That's like in the world of nicknames. That's

27:33

coming from mother. It's the perkas

27:36

and my father free perks they gave me that

27:38

night when I was born. But that's my name. My

27:40

name is Mama Kid. When

27:42

she was in her early twenties, Mama

27:44

Cat spent a lot of nights hanging out at Tea's

27:47

Place. When you walk into

27:49

the door, that's my spot right there. It's it's

27:51

on the right hand side. Every time.

27:54

My God, that was my spot. I see. I

27:56

don't move from this spot. I don't

27:58

walk to the bag I don't want there, I

28:00

say right there. Me and my friend Velanique

28:02

ti Quis Sanders, we were together. We

28:05

got there before eleven because the club it's

28:07

I always free on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

28:10

before eleven for women. This

28:12

is Belanique Sanders, nicknamed

28:15

Quisy anything. I

28:17

thought eleven it was five dollars and

28:19

me and Barbetta was very cheat so

28:22

we tried to make sure we got the in free

28:24

cause the little money we had, sayd. We wanted to buy

28:26

something to eat and I love to get a

28:28

chicken plate from there, a chicken breast with some French

28:31

fries. Oh my god, did

28:33

you know to Forrest Johnson? Yes?

28:36

I did. I knew him

28:38

from hanging out in the neighborhood in

28:40

Innsley and I, oh my god, I had a crush

28:43

on him. He was the finest. Yet what

28:46

do you remember about what he looked like? He

28:50

was short, m a

28:53

nice body, Oh my god. Anyway,

28:57

he was a ladies man. I will say

28:59

that, sweet,

29:01

always kind. He was

29:04

just a nice gentleman like his mom had

29:06

raised him. Really well, did

29:08

you guys ever go out or did he know that you had

29:10

a crush on him? He

29:12

knew I had a crush on him, but we never went

29:15

out. No, we would

29:17

just see each other. I smile, be like, oh, dad,

29:19

he is I'm gonna get him. Yeah, that's

29:23

it. To

29:25

Forest mostly grew up in Birmingham's

29:27

Pratt's City neighborhood, or Pratt

29:30

for short. We grew up

29:32

together, I mean closer than

29:34

just cousins. We were like brothers, cause we were

29:37

all pretty much raised right in the same

29:39

little local community. While

29:42

to Forrest was growing up, most of

29:44

his extended family also lived in

29:46

or near Pratt, including his cousin

29:49

Antonio Green. And

29:51

uh, since we were toddlers,

29:53

i mean babies, we we were kind of together,

29:56

took out in this thing, and he was a couple

29:58

of years younger than I and so he always

30:01

kind of held on to him a shirt tail and

30:03

you know, so I've I've

30:05

been closely connected with him for our

30:08

entire life. Pretty much. To

30:10

Forrest's mom, Donna, was seventeen

30:12

when she had him, and when to Forrest was

30:15

young, she was more like a sister to

30:17

him than a mother. Donna leaned

30:20

on her parents and siblings to help

30:22

take care of to Forrest, and as to

30:24

Forrest got older, she leaned

30:26

on him to help take care of his little

30:28

brother. He started

30:31

at a very young age, much too

30:33

young to really be faced

30:35

with the type of responsibility that

30:37

he took on. He was

30:40

at an age where he was still a kid. I'm

30:42

talking about eleven twelve, you know, thirty

30:44

in nineteen years and had

30:46

to take on the responsibility of taking

30:48

kid's little brother. You know, he had a little brother

30:51

that he got ready for school, he

30:53

earned his clothes, he did, you know. He's

30:56

always been that caring little dude, you

30:58

know, and and he did that. So he had

31:00

to take on some things during that

31:03

time. You know, his mom and dad was

31:05

there, but his dad was a very

31:07

very heavy drinker. To

31:10

Forrest's father, Ronald, was an alcoholic

31:13

and would get violent when he drank, which

31:15

was every day. This made

31:17

home life extremely volatile

31:20

for to Forrest, his younger brother, little

31:22

ron and especially his mother,

31:25

Donna. She eventually

31:27

left Ronald when to Forrest was a teenager

31:29

and moved in with another man who had an

31:32

apartment and the Tuxedo projects

31:34

in Birmingham's Insley community, also

31:37

known as the Brickyard, Oh

31:40

It was called the Brickyard. Velanique

31:43

aka Quisy the one

31:46

who had a crush Onto Forrest also

31:48

grew up there. It was rough.

31:50

I dare you know. My mom had

31:52

three girls, my aunt had three and we lived

31:55

in a five bedroom project with our grandparents.

31:58

So it's just a bunch

32:00

of girls in the house. But I mean, you know, I'd

32:03

just seen people get killed right in front

32:06

of me. My cousin got shot

32:08

in his tummy. You know, a lot

32:10

of it was

32:12

rough. You had family's daddy

32:14

couldn't afford to eat. You know, kids

32:17

come to school, you

32:19

know, wearing the same clothes over and over. It

32:22

was rough. It was rough growing up in the protis.

32:25

To Forrest and his little brother moved

32:28

there when to Forrest was sixteen. When

32:30

he was seventeen, to Forrest was shot

32:33

and a drive by shooting and spent three months

32:35

in the hospital. To forrest mom

32:38

told me the bullet is still lodged

32:40

in his chest. During

32:44

this period, seven of to forrest

32:46

friends would be shot and killed. No

32:50

one was ever prosecuted for any of

32:52

these crimes, and it was

32:54

around this time that to Forrest dropped

32:56

out of school. Several

33:02

family members tell me that at twenty

33:05

two, to Forrest was somewhat

33:07

adrift he spent his time

33:09

working on old cars and playing

33:12

video games. He was having a

33:14

good time dating different women.

33:17

He had five children who he

33:19

loved, but he was also unsettled.

33:23

He hadn't yet figured out his purpose,

33:26

and he didn't know he was running

33:28

out of time. As

33:57

to Forrest and Ardrega's weight. Outside

33:59

of ardragus Is beeper

34:02

goes off a few times. The beeps

34:04

are from a girl he met a few nights

34:06

before, but he ignores her, hoping

34:09

to meet someone else inside. Teas to

34:12

Forrest walks toward the club's entrance

34:15

behind our Dragus and his wheelchair.

34:18

They're focused on meeting girls and having

34:20

a good time. They

34:22

don't know that this night will change

34:24

their lives, and the people they run

34:26

into don't know they're about to become

34:29

alibi witnesses. There

34:34

was a love before eleven, and we were standing

34:36

outside and they came up too

34:39

far as it was pishing to Dracus. One

34:41

of the first people they run into is Kenyara

34:44

Pickett, who was standing near the entrance.

34:47

I remember exactly where I was standing

34:50

right there from the club when he walked up, because

34:52

I thought I was shot that night out,

34:55

you know, back in the days it was TFC were wearing

34:57

big clothes back then, and I had on some black

35:00

some black nick jeans but shorts,

35:02

and uh had on some black and white rebox

35:04

and then I think I had on the bud. Now show my

35:07

sister. She had just got out of the hospital. She had a blood

35:10

clock and that when she got out of the hospital.

35:12

We just went down and you know the celebrate that she

35:14

came home to Forrest

35:16

and our dragas make their way past Kenyara

35:19

and go into Tease. Mama

35:21

Cat and Velanique are already inside, perched

35:24

at their table right by the front door. Tavarrus

35:28

join. I remember he was pushing uh

35:30

A Dreka's four in the wheelchair. They came together.

35:33

I had saw Tafarre's pushing a

35:35

Draka's in the club, cause

35:38

we always standing at the front by the door

35:41

so we can be nosed and see everything. You

35:43

wanted to see who was coming in and who

35:45

was leaving with who? Yes, yes,

35:49

ma'am. At eleven o'clock,

35:51

I saw the Farrest come in pushing

35:54

a Draga's in and I was excited to see him because

35:56

I hadn't seen him in year, because I had just we can got

35:58

out the military. Stanley

36:00

Chandler is also at Tease that night

36:02

to catch up with friends. He and

36:04

to Forrest knew each other as kids and

36:07

Pratt. So we stood

36:09

there and we started we talked, you know about

36:11

old times, you know, and I mean

36:13

we joked, laugh and laugh to

36:16

Forrest and our Dragas settle in at

36:18

a table chatting with people who

36:21

stopped by watching the dance

36:23

floor. I

36:26

was sitting on the back room because when you going around,

36:29

it's a like a little balcony part that

36:31

you could sit there. And so I've seen Dracus

36:34

and too far As when it came in the door because he was pushing

36:36

them in a wheelchair. This is

36:38

Dedra Carter, who was celebrating

36:40

getting released from the hospital with her

36:43

sister Kenyara. Dedra

36:45

was also at Tease that night, and

36:48

him and my cousin Mona and

36:51

my sister, all of us was just there talking.

36:53

And you know, I think to Farest like

36:56

the Mona, So you know, he was trying

36:58

to hook up with him, but she wouldn't. Nah,

37:00

she wouldn't never hook up, would 'em. We used

37:03

to laugh, talk, joking it back even

37:05

when we at the club music cleaning we still cracking

37:07

up, you know, you know, just talking and

37:09

stuff. To Forest SIPs

37:12

along island iced tea and orders

37:14

our drag is a brandy and coke. At

37:17

one point, to Forest goes back to the bar

37:19

because Dragas says his drink is too

37:21

weak, and the bartender makes him a

37:23

new one. They linger at the

37:25

club into the early hours of Wednesday

37:28

morning. When I say, we would

37:30

probably shot the club now we

37:33

was there. I know, it's probably like they

37:35

used to close about maybe one two o'clock,

37:39

so we would leave right right before

37:41

that, so I know it was like maybe one

37:44

I ain't up leaving a club roughly about Lenna

37:46

say, around about right at one. And

37:48

like I said, I he was staying on across

37:50

the club. You know you could see him because I

37:53

mean, it wasn't a big, big club, you

37:55

know. And I just started to do

37:58

signs up and I left and he

38:00

was still there, yea when I left.

38:07

There are at least ten people

38:09

who say they saw to Forrest and Ardregas

38:12

at Tea's place between eleven PM

38:15

and one thirty am. Deputy

38:17

Bill Hardy was shot right in the

38:19

middle of that time frame, around

38:21

twelve fifty am four

38:24

miles away at the Crown Sterling

38:26

Suites Hotel. People

38:29

like Kenyara, Dedre Stanley,

38:32

Quisy Mama Cat all

38:35

remember that night. Their

38:37

corroborated statements weave together

38:40

a shield. That shield

38:43

should protect to Forrest and Ardragas

38:45

from the accusations about to head

38:48

their way. But it doesn't.

38:51

The state would arrest to Forrest

38:53

and Ardragus, try them

38:55

and seek the death penalty against

38:58

both of them for Deputy Hardy's murder.

39:06

For the last three years, I've been

39:08

trying to figure out how this happened.

39:12

I've read through thousands of pages of court

39:15

transcripts and investigative documents.

39:18

I've done a full audit of all the

39:20

media coverage and interviewed

39:22

more than eighty people, including

39:24

several who were directly involved

39:27

in this investigation and prosecution,

39:30

and many who have never spoken

39:32

publicly about the case. I'm

39:35

not trying to find the real

39:38

killer of Deputy Hardy. I'm

39:40

investigating why that person

39:42

was never found. One

39:45

of the first things I tried to unwind,

39:48

how did to Forrest Johnson and

39:50

ardregus Ford end up at

39:52

the center of the investigation when

39:55

they were somewhere else at the time. Deputy

39:57

Hardy was killed. Here's

40:00

one thing everyone agrees on.

40:04

After they leave Tea's place, to

40:06

Forrest and Ardregus pick up

40:08

two girls in the Monte Carlo. One

40:11

sits in the back by Ardragus's

40:14

wheelchair, the other one sits between

40:16

Ardregus and to Forest in the front.

40:19

And that girl the one in the front seat.

40:22

What she tells police will

40:25

land to Forest and Ardregas right

40:27

at the center of the investigation. I'm

40:34

at the Sheriff's office headquarters along

40:37

with Yolanda Michelle

40:39

Chambers. Yolanda

40:42

is a lad female. She's

40:44

fifteen years of age. That's

40:47

next time. Ear

40:54

Witness is a production of Lava

40:56

for Good Podcasts in association

40:58

with Signal Company Number One. Executive

41:01

producers are Jason Flom, Jeff

41:04

Kempler, Kevin Wardis, and

41:06

me Beth Shelburne. The investigative

41:09

reporting for this series was done by Me and

41:11

Maura McNamara. Producers

41:14

are Maura McNamara, Hannah Beale,

41:17

and Jackie Pollie. Kara

41:19

Kornhaber is our senior producer. Brit

41:22

Spangler is our sound designer. Additional

41:25

story editing from Marie Sutton,

41:28

fact check help from Kathryne Newhan

41:31

and special thanks to Forrest

41:34

Johnson's legal defense team. You

41:37

can follow the show on Instagram, TikTok,

41:40

Facebook, and Twitter at Lava

41:42

for Good. To see behind the scenes

41:44

content from our investigation, visit

41:47

Lava Forgod dot com. Slash

41:49

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