0:06

It was early Sunday evening in November

0:08

of two thousand and five, and a pop up street

0:10

fair was in full swing in south central

0:13

Los Angeles. The neighborhood

0:15

had turned out to enjoy the rides, carnival

0:17

games, hot dogs, and cotton candy.

0:21

Crowds of people were milling around the entrance

0:23

at the corner of Rodeo Road and

0:25

Second Avenue. Suddenly,

0:28

half a dozen shots rang out and

0:30

two kids fell to the ground. Fourteen

0:33

year old William Cox was shot twice

0:36

in the torso and died at the scene.

0:38

His friend, Edward Williams, also fourteen,

0:41

was shot in the heart, but somehow

0:44

he survived. At the hospital.

0:46

Edward gave police the names of several

0:49

rival gang members who might have

0:51

been the shootor.

0:53

They opened up the book of all the

0:55

people that they believed were members

0:57

of the Mansfield This is Jason,

1:00

He's from Mansfield, whatnot. And

1:03

that's where things just started

1:05

to snowball and I became

1:08

target number one.

1:10

That night, Jason Malton had been hanging

1:12

out with a group of friends miles

1:14

from the crime scene. His alibi

1:17

was solid, but once the police

1:20

had fixed their sights on him, the truth

1:22

was meaningless.

1:24

I don't feel like they altoly cared

1:26

about the victim nor myself.

1:28

It's like, okay, well, one gang

1:30

members dead, one gang member shot,

1:33

one gang members in jail. We got a three

1:35

for one.

1:36

In a way, this

1:40

is grooble telling you have a

1:42

prepaid call from Jason

1:45

Vanners and one an inmate at

1:47

the California State Prison, Lancaster,

1:50

California.

1:53

From Lava for Good. This is wrongful

1:55

conviction with Maggie Freeling today.

1:58

Jason Walton, my

2:15

name is Jason Robert Walton.

2:18

I'm from Los Angeles, California.

2:21

I was arrested and ultimately

2:23

longfully convicted November seventeenth,

2:26

two thousand and five.

2:31

Jason was a real fun loving

2:33

kid. He loved sports.

2:35

He collected basketball cards

2:37

and things like that.

2:40

This is Jason's mother, Francisle Johnson.

2:43

Most people call her friend.

2:45

She mostly raised me along that.

2:48

I did sometimes go and visit

2:50

my father, but living with

2:52

my mother was where I was most

2:54

comfortable, where I wanted to be.

2:58

We always had a big dinner on at

3:00

my parents' house, and either

3:03

my mom would cook or my dad would barbecue.

3:06

I thought I was rich. I thought the world

3:09

was perfect, and I

3:11

loved to play video games,

3:13

collect sports cards,

3:16

POGs, just anything that you collect.

3:19

My hobbies consisted of building

3:22

things and fixing things.

3:24

If he saw a radio or

3:26

portable TV that was sitting

3:29

on the curb or near the alley,

3:32

he would want to take it home and try

3:34

to fix it, and quite often

3:36

it would work.

3:38

As I got older, I grew

3:40

a fascination with cars, and I

3:42

started with building model cars.

3:44

And I realized at a young age

3:47

that I was good at it because

3:49

I can take a box, take

3:51

the kid out, and I would never

3:53

remove the instructions from the box,

3:56

and I can put the whole car together.

4:00

Jason was a pretty typical kid, into

4:02

cars, bikes, video games,

4:05

and sports.

4:08

Swimming, fishing, or anything

4:10

that that involved being outside.

4:13

I love to push the envelope.

4:16

I was somewhat of a daredevil,

4:19

so whether that was trying to

4:21

ride a bike on one wheel for

4:23

the whole the lamp of the

4:25

block, or holding

4:28

onto the ice cream truck to gain

4:30

speed to try to jump

4:32

over a makeshift lamp that we made.

4:36

Jason describes himself as a class clown,

4:38

someone who loved to make people laugh,

4:41

but he also had more serious ambitions.

4:44

I wanted to be a lawyer when I

4:46

was younger, because I loved to debate. I

4:49

loved just the art of being able

4:51

to verbally wrastle, I

4:53

guess you could say.

4:58

But for Jason, school it just wasn't

5:00

a big priority. As a teenager,

5:03

Jason started cutting class, hanging

5:05

out with his friends and smoking weed.

5:07

Jason's older brother, Antoine, belonged

5:10

to a local gang, the Mansfield Crips,

5:12

and it wasn't long before Jason followed

5:15

in his footsteps that.

5:16

Side of town. Being

5:19

in a gang or being from a gang,

5:21

it really wasn't like we

5:23

were gang banging. We just hung

5:26

out together. We went to school together, after

5:28

school, we were just hanging out. We're just

5:30

having a good time. It wasn't consumed with

5:33

oh, we're young and we're selling

5:35

drugs to support our

5:38

family. That wasn't our story.

5:40

As Jason remembers it, being in the

5:42

Mansfield Crips was a way of learning the ropes

5:45

and learning about life. He says, the

5:47

older members of the gang were actually

5:49

a good influence.

5:51

They never told me anything

5:53

wrong. They always encouraged me to stay

5:55

in school. So they're dropping

5:57

me off at school, they're picking me up from school,

6:00

we're going on these trips. We're going camping,

6:02

we're going to the snow, and

6:04

they're encouraging me to do the right thing.

6:07

When people are saying, oh, gang banging

6:09

is bad and gang members are bad, I'm

6:12

not saying that because these are the same people

6:15

that I know are gang members. But they're

6:17

telling me good things.

6:19

Friend, you know, we were talking about how he wounds

6:22

up in a gang. Do you remember finding out

6:24

about that or what that was like.

6:26

Well, when you live in certain

6:29

neighborhoods, there are gangs. It's

6:31

not a protection thing, but they

6:34

know who you are because you live in the neighborhood

6:38

and you know who they are, but

6:40

you're not always necessarily participating.

6:42

I'm not saying he didn't associate,

6:45

but he didn't have He never had any problems

6:48

or with the police or criminal activity

6:50

that involved association with

6:53

a gang.

6:53

No, you know, we did

6:56

have conflicts or verbal

6:58

spats or cups

7:00

with other kids and whatnot. That

7:02

it wasn't so much of

7:05

a violent thing. It was more of a

7:08

unit family, a togetherness

7:10

as when we were younger.

7:12

But there was a time when Jason found

7:14

himself in a confrontation with someone

7:17

from another gang. It

7:22

was the fall of two thousand and five, when Jason

7:24

was around twenty one, Jason was

7:26

driving around South Central with his girlfriend,

7:28

Amber Jones, and his two young nephews.

7:32

They stopped by Amber's house on Rodeo

7:34

Road, which was on the turf of the

7:36

Roll In Thirties, a rival.

7:38

Gang, and

7:41

being from the gang, I was

7:43

hyper alerted. I was always

7:45

aware of my surroundings. I

7:48

had my two younger nephews with me,

7:50

so that made me more vigilant

7:52

because I couldn't afford for

7:55

something to happen to these two kids.

7:57

So when we pull up our

8:00

and I see the kid walking on

8:02

the opposite side of the street coming

8:05

my direction.

8:06

The kid was fourteen year old Edward Williams.

8:09

Ember knew him through a friend of her uncle's.

8:13

She's like, yeah, he's a little kid. He's just

8:15

big for his age, so okay,

8:18

no problem. When he realizes

8:20

that it Pembers in the car, that

8:22

kind of made him escalate

8:25

with his antics as far as preaching

8:28

like he had a gun and posturing

8:30

and throwing up gang signs

8:33

or whatnot.

8:34

Edward was a junior member of a gang called

8:36

the Rolling Forties, and they were

8:38

in Rollin thirties territory. Jason

8:41

knew that all Edward's showing off could

8:44

lead to.

8:44

Trouble their direct

8:47

rivals. This is a serious

8:49

rivalry. He was asking me where was

8:51

I from? At that time? Even though

8:54

I was young, I wasn't focused

8:56

on the day to day gang

8:58

banking. I wanted something

9:00

different in life, so I wasn't

9:03

worried about over from what color

9:05

are you wearing? That nonsense.

9:08

I ultimately was trying to let him know, Hey,

9:11

you're on Rodeo Boulevard. This is a

9:13

main street that leads to

9:16

the Jungles, which is a predominantly

9:19

blood neighborhood. And so while

9:21

you're doing a gang signs, that mean

9:24

from across this busy

9:26

street, you don't know who's driving up

9:28

and down this street that might see you.

9:30

That you're putting a target on yourself.

9:33

But despite Jason's warning, Edward kept

9:35

it up. Finally, Jason

9:38

did get out of his car.

9:40

When I got out of the car and I approached him,

9:42

I let him know that I was from Mansfield. I

9:44

didn't want no problems with him. I

9:46

got back in the car. That was the end

9:49

of the conversation.

9:51

That was the end of the I guess

9:53

you can call it an altercation, and

9:55

that was the last time I had ever seen it.

10:00

Two weeks later, Jason was driving

10:02

down Pigo Boulevard. As he passed

10:04

Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, he spotted

10:07

a fellow crip who had recently gotten

10:09

out of prison.

10:11

So I stopped. We're

10:13

talking. More people that we

10:15

know are starting to pull up, and

10:18

we're hanging out with smoking, and

10:21

we were waiting for his sister.

10:23

His friend's sister was on her way with tickets

10:26

to a concert, but she kept calling

10:28

to say she was delayed.

10:30

It will be one excuse after the

10:32

other. Oh, we stopped

10:34

to get drinks and

10:37

we'll be there in ten minutes. Oh

10:39

my friend left something at her house,

10:41

will be there in twenty minutes. Or

10:44

we stopped here, we'll be

10:46

there in fifteen minutes. That

10:48

stretched out for over

10:50

an hour or so, to the point

10:53

where they never ended

10:55

up arriving. So ultimately

10:57

we just hung out at Roscoe's for a

11:00

a couple hours, just doing what

11:02

we did on the regular, talking to

11:04

people, talking to girls,

11:07

smoking and just hanging out.

11:13

And that was Jason's entire Sunday

11:16

evening, just kicking it with friends

11:18

in the parking lot. At Roscoe's.

11:21

Meanwhile, a few miles away, a very

11:24

different drama was unfolding.

11:29

And so there's carnivals in town. It's a Friday

11:31

night. It's a pop up carnival in a parking lot.

11:34

It's on the corner of Rodeo Road

11:36

and Second Avenue in Los Angeles.

11:39

And there's a lot of people there.

11:41

This is Michael Simanchic, executive

11:43

director of the Innocent Center.

11:46

There's cars everywhere, and there's kids,

11:48

and there's there's probably I

11:50

think I've heard reports there might have been thirty or forty

11:52

people just outside the carnival gate. So

11:54

on the evening of November thirteenth, two thousand

11:56

and five, just after seven pm,

11:59

and Jewel opened fire and fired

12:01

six five to six rounds. A

12:03

couple of rounds struck a child

12:05

named William Cox I believe was fourteen

12:07

at the time, and another couple

12:10

of rounds struck and injured

12:12

Edward Williams.

12:14

The same kid from the Rolling Forties that Jason

12:16

had had to run in with a couple weeks before.

12:19

Edward Williams was transported by ambulance

12:22

to the hospital shortly thereafter

12:24

and was in critical condition until a few days

12:26

later, and william Cox

12:29

died of the scene.

12:30

And to put this incident into context,

12:32

we need a little background on the gang

12:35

situation in South Central at the

12:37

time.

12:37

So there were two gangs that were at war

12:40

at the time of the crime. It's the Roland

12:42

thirties and the Rollin

12:45

forties. The thirties and the

12:47

forties were fighting over the territory

12:49

right where the carnival was taking place. Edward

12:51

Williams was part of the Baby

12:54

Hustlers also known as the Baby forties,

12:56

and he had recently been jumped into the forties.

12:59

The thirties were comprised of this

13:01

individual named Jay Rock, who Edward

13:03

Williams first mentioned at the hospital,

13:06

another individual named Terrell who

13:09

was in a dispute with Edward Williams at a Halloween

13:12

party about two weeks before this incident, and

13:15

four or five other individuals that were all

13:17

spotted at the scene at the

13:19

carnival that night. So we had both

13:21

a group of thirties and then we had Edward

13:23

Williams who was a forties self

13:26

admitted member. And William Cox was

13:28

not claiming a gang and in fact I believe

13:30

he had actually told Edward Williams not

13:32

to be involved in the gangs because he thought it was dangerous.

13:35

After the shooting occurred, police and ambulances

13:38

were soon on the scene and Edward

13:41

was taken to the hospital.

13:42

I believe he was in critical condition

13:45

when he arrives, and he's on a bunch

13:47

of medication, but

13:49

he's jotting down notes because he can't speak at this point,

13:52

and he writes down that it's Jay

13:55

Jay Rock from Roll in thirties.

13:57

But somehow, over the next few days, someone

14:00

else entered into Edward's narrative,

14:02

and.

14:03

Two days later he then switches

14:05

to saying it was Amber's friend

14:07

who did it. And

14:12

I don't know it's if it's entirely clear that

14:14

we know how that shift

14:16

happens, where he goes from thinking

14:19

it's somebody in the thirties to thinking it's Jason.

14:22

Remember, Jason was in the Mansfield Crips,

14:24

not the Roll in thirties. But

14:26

going back to the night of the shooting, around

14:29

ten or so, Jason left the gathering at Roscoe's

14:31

to go pick up Amber from work.

14:35

We came back to my mother's house and

14:37

that was how we ended the night. The

14:40

next morning, she woke

14:43

up and being that her

14:46

family knew the family.

14:48

Her mother let her know that

14:50

Hey Edwards was shot last night.

14:53

I didn't he didn't put one

14:55

in one together that the

14:58

kid from weeks prior was

15:00

Edward until later on

15:03

when she had said, you know that was

15:05

the kid, and it's like wow

15:08

that he shot on

15:10

the same very street that

15:12

we had having what they

15:14

were calling an altercation week's

15:16

prior for what they

15:18

said was doing the same thing, being

15:21

out gang banging, you know,

15:23

bringing that attention to herself.

15:26

A few days later, Jason was out having lunch

15:29

with his two nephews.

15:31

I had just picked my nephews up

15:33

from school. I came to Poki

15:36

Dogs. I ordered them something to eat.

15:39

I was standing at the table.

15:41

A squad car cruise by outside, and

15:44

Jason recognized one of the cops, Officer

15:46

Gutierrez.

15:48

So when he passed by, he threw

15:50

up the peace sign or waved at me

15:52

and beans rebellious.

15:55

I believe I flipped him the bird, he

15:58

smiled. That was the relationship

16:00

between the officers in the

16:02

neighborhood and the

16:04

youth in the neighborhood.

16:06

But this friendly exchange soon turned

16:08

into something else. Jason had

16:11

no idea that the police were out

16:13

looking for him. To charge him in the carnival

16:15

shooting. The

16:18

squad car swung back around and pulled up at

16:20

the restaurant. Jason was

16:22

arrested and taken to the Wilshare Division

16:25

police station.

16:27

Once I was placed in the holding tank, and

16:30

I guess you can say, actually charged

16:33

with the crime, my mind raised

16:35

as to where was I because just

16:39

it blew my mind that I was in

16:41

jail for uh homicide.

16:45

But so at the hospital, Edward had

16:48

named several rival gang members in

16:50

the shooting. How did the police

16:52

wind up getting your name?

16:54

So? I don't know, because he always

16:57

would shift. If you get

17:00

let him talk, he will say it was the guys

17:02

from the Rowland thirties. He even

17:05

named the guy multiple

17:07

times. He named people that

17:09

lived on his street by

17:11

name and begged the police

17:14

go talk to them. They'll tell you who

17:16

the guy was that shot me.

17:19

The police never did a proper investigation.

17:21

They never went to go talk to anyone

17:24

that had information

17:27

that made sense. And I figured

17:29

out later one day

17:31

when he was in the hospital,

17:34

is one of his older brothers was

17:37

in the hospital room when he was talking

17:39

to the officers, and I

17:41

guess he just heard him say, oh,

17:43

Amber's boyfriend, or he was

17:45

talking about multiple incidents.

17:47

He talked about the day that we had

17:50

seen each other in front of Amber's house.

17:52

He was talking about a fight that took place

17:54

at a Halloween party.

17:56

I had never been to this Halloween party. But

17:59

the police were jump owing everything

18:01

together as if there was one situation,

18:05

one day, one event. So I

18:07

guess when the brother heard Amber's

18:09

boyfriend, he asked Amber's

18:11

uncle, who's Amber's boyfriend? He

18:14

just knew that my name was Jason and

18:16

that I was from Mansfield.

18:18

The detectives ran Jason's name by Officer

18:20

Gutierrez and the other officers

18:23

at the Wilshire Division.

18:25

They opened up the book of all the

18:27

people that they believed were members

18:29

of the Mansfields. They identified

18:32

into the detectives, this is Jason,

18:35

He's from Mansfield, whatnot.

18:37

And that's where things

18:40

just started to snowball and I

18:42

became target number one.

18:56

Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with

18:59

Maggie Freeling. You can listen to this

19:01

and all the LoVa for Good podcasts

19:03

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19:06

subscribing to Lava for Good Plus

19:08

on Apple Podcasts.

19:20

I didn't know what wrawful condition was I

19:22

never thought that that would even

19:24

happen. I knew I didn't do anything,

19:27

but I didn't at the time remember

19:29

where where was? I have nothing

19:31

in my life. Told me that I had to remember

19:34

where I am and what I'm doing every

19:36

second of the day, every day, every night.

19:40

After hours of questioning, Jason

19:42

was transferred to Southwest Division and

19:44

placed in a holding cell. That

19:47

night, he called Amber to help him remember

19:49

where he had been the night of November

19:51

thirteenth.

19:52

We're replaying events, saying, she let

19:54

me know that was the night that you were supposed

19:57

to go to the concert. Okay, perfect.

19:59

That means I was at Rosco's.

20:02

Jason and Amber were able to call Roscoe's

20:04

and speak to the manager who had been

20:06

on duty that night.

20:08

So he said, I asked him, you know, do you have the surveillance

20:10

cameras. He said, yeah, we still have tapes. So

20:13

he asked, well, around

20:15

what time was it? So I said a little

20:17

before seven. So he fast

20:20

forwarded and he's

20:22

watching and I remember

20:24

him saying I got you, I got you.

20:27

When he recognized my

20:29

car pulling in, he said, yeah,

20:31

I got you. You're you're on camera and

20:33

you pulled in at this time so

20:36

it started with the surveillance camera as

20:39

an alibi.

20:40

And there was something else that placed Jason

20:43

at Roscoe's that night.

20:45

There was a celf On tower one

20:47

block north of

20:50

Roscoe's, Chicken and Waffles

20:52

on the Brea and San Vincentain.

20:54

So my calls are being picked up

20:56

off of that celf On towers.

20:58

Okay, Well, now I feel good that

21:01

I'm going to end up getting out and

21:03

everything's going to be okay. I got proved.

21:06

But nine months later, in August of two

21:08

thousand and six, Jason went to trial

21:11

in front of Judge Larry Findler. The

21:13

prosecutor was Deputy District Attorney

21:16

Paul Kim.

21:17

Yeah.

21:17

The prosecution's theory at the time

21:19

of trial was that Jason

21:21

had had this prior interaction about a

21:23

month before the crime, where

21:26

he got in an argument with Edward Williams.

21:29

And that's the only interaction that Jason

21:31

ever had with Edward Williams. And so the

21:33

prosecution alleged that this interaction

21:36

proceeded Jason seeing Edward

21:38

Williams and William Cox at

21:41

this carnival in south central LA

21:44

and when he sees these two individuals,

21:46

he has a gun in his hoodie

21:48

pocket, and he shoots through

21:51

his hoodie and kills William

21:53

Cox and wounds Edward

21:55

Williams and then flees the scene.

21:59

So one of the things that the prosecution said was

22:01

that you would have been able to go from Roscoe's

22:04

to this carnival.

22:06

Is that possible?

22:07

It's not possible at all, by

22:10

no such of the imagination.

22:12

Remember, Jason was seen on the surveillance

22:14

video for nearly the entire evening.

22:18

I was only off film at

22:21

Roscoe's. I believe from maybe

22:23

twelve to eighteen minutes. That wouldn't

22:25

have been enough time to make it

22:27

from Roscoe's to the carnival, change

22:30

my clothes, lying in wait, find

22:34

Edward.

22:35

Officers took the stand and claimed

22:37

that it was possible for him to make

22:39

the drive, change his clothes, talk to the girls,

22:42

do the shooting, changes his run, change

22:44

his clothes, get back and get on camera. We've

22:47

done time trials ourselves. The quickest we've been

22:49

able to do it is seven minutes. The

22:51

average was actually nine minutes driving.

22:54

The prosecution also presented an alleged

22:56

witness, a carnival worker named

22:59

Richard Gray. Gray had

23:01

given police a statement soon after the shooting,

23:03

but by the time of trial, his story

23:06

had already changed several

23:08

times.

23:10

Richard Gray says he initially says I

23:12

only saw the shooter fleeing, and I

23:14

only saw him from behind, didn't get a chance to see

23:16

his face, doesn't initially say he's

23:18

able to make an identification, and then a week

23:20

later he picked Walton out of a six pack photo

23:22

lineup. At trial, he has like

23:24

a soft recant, I'll call it, or says

23:27

I wasn't really able to see. I'm not entirely

23:29

sure. But the thing about Richard Gray, and what's

23:31

so interesting is that Richard Gray,

23:33

from the point where he says he was standing,

23:36

could not have seen the shooting take

23:38

place.

23:40

The shooting happened on the corner of Rodeo

23:42

Road and Second Avenue, in the

23:44

street just outside the entrance to the

23:46

carnival. Richard Gray was stationed

23:48

at a ride inside the carnival area, a

23:50

short distance back from the entrance.

23:54

There was a row of poor potties

23:56

that were blocking Richard Gray's view

23:58

between him and where the shooting happened on

24:01

just off the corner where it occurred.

24:03

Edward Williams also took the stand and

24:06

identified Jason, even though he

24:08

admitted he hadn't seen the shooter's face

24:10

and had not even seen a gun.

24:13

And then they also had gang experts

24:15

that identified Walton as a member of the Mansfield

24:18

Crips, which at the time were allegedly

24:20

allies with the Rolling Thirties gang, which

24:22

was at war with the Rolling Forties. And so

24:24

that's the essentially the crux

24:26

of the prosecution's case.

24:28

Jason's defense attorneys were Jerry Kaplan

24:31

and Helene Farber.

24:33

The defensive trial was that Jason Walton

24:36

was in fact at the Roscoes, that

24:38

there were these other individuals that

24:40

could have possibly been interested

24:43

in doing harm to these two individuals, and

24:45

that it was an eyewitness misidentification. One

24:48

of the things that Edward Williams had

24:50

said was that the shooter was on

24:52

the curb and Edward Williams

24:54

was on the street from the curb.

24:57

The shooter was still shorter

25:00

than Edward Williams, so this suggested

25:02

that the person that was the shooter was probably

25:04

five four to five six. Now, Jason

25:06

Walton at the time of the crime was six foot one.

25:09

And then the witnesses who saw

25:12

Jason at Roscoe's, did they testify at

25:15

trial?

25:16

Yeah, I believe the two that testified at trial.

25:18

There was an individual named Nico who

25:21

was a gang intervention specialist

25:23

who recognized Jason and

25:25

saw him at the seat at Roscoe's,

25:28

and then I believe it was the manager of

25:30

Roscoe's testified to the security camera

25:32

footage and then confirmed

25:34

that he saw Jason at Roscoe's

25:37

from six ' six something until

25:39

after eight o'clock that.

25:40

Night, but that wasn't

25:43

enough to convince the jury. In

25:45

August fourteenth, two thousand and six, Jason

25:48

was convicted of the first degree murder of William

25:51

Cox an attempted murder of Edward

25:53

Williams. He was sentenced

25:55

to fifty years to life.

25:57

He was twenty one years old.

26:03

I was confused. I was heartbroken,

26:07

I was lost, and it

26:09

just wasn't real to me that I

26:13

was convicted. I just knew

26:15

in my mind that something

26:17

is going to happen. They're going to realize a mistake

26:20

was made and I'm

26:22

going to get out. It

26:25

took years of

26:27

even being in prison to realize

26:30

that, hey, this is real,

26:33

Like my life doesn't mean anything. They don't care.

26:54

I was put in Salinas Valley Maximum

26:56

Security Prison on the one

26:59

eighty yard been my first

27:01

twenty four hours there. I've

27:03

seen an officer attacked

27:05

and beaten. Within the first

27:08

week, I witnessed the first

27:10

person of many people, unfortunately

27:14

stabbed and murdered

27:16

in prison. The first time

27:19

that I've ever seen certain

27:21

levels of violence, the first time I

27:24

seen death, the first time I've seen

27:27

savage beatings and stabberings and

27:29

people just normalized it was

27:31

in prison, and this is where I was dropped

27:34

off and I'm expected to walk

27:36

on eggshells.

27:39

To be honest with you, I only went

27:41

to trial maybe once or twice. I

27:43

just couldn't do it. It was too devastating

27:46

for me.

27:47

When her son went to prison, Fran was

27:50

grief stricken.

27:51

I still have a lot of anxiety. I

27:54

might wake up at four o'clock in the morning, unable

27:57

to sleep, heart pounding, stressed.

28:01

I'm his mom, his best

28:03

friend, and he knew

28:05

how I felt because we we cried about

28:07

it. He said, Mom, I'm not

28:10

gonna He said, I didn't do this, and

28:12

I'm not going to be able to make it.

28:19

I ultimately felt that in order

28:22

to get out, I would have to advocate

28:24

for myself. I would have to have my family

28:26

and friends advocate me for me to

28:28

getting the attention and awareness

28:31

from people that are advocates and that

28:33

are fighting for justice, so people would understand,

28:35

how does a young man have a surveillance

28:38

camera or cell phone records, how

28:40

does he have an alibi like this

28:42

and ultimately still be

28:45

found guilty.

28:47

Jason appealed his conviction to the trial

28:49

court numerous times, but

28:51

it seemed no one wanted to listen

28:53

to the truth.

28:55

They would deny me time

28:57

after time with anything and everything

28:59

that was submitted in my favor.

29:02

After maybe seven to ten years,

29:04

I felt like my life didn't matter. I'm

29:07

just another black kid from

29:09

the streets and a gang member. I

29:11

don't feel like they ultimately cared about

29:14

the victim nor myself. It's

29:16

like, okay, well, one gang members

29:19

dead, one gang member shot, one

29:21

gang members in jail. We got a three for one.

29:24

In a way, it started during

29:26

trial where all

29:28

the evidence it just seemed like everyone

29:31

was against us. No one was in Jason's favor.

29:33

The original lawyer, he left

29:36

a little bit to be desired. We

29:38

also had an appeals attorney he

29:41

didn't follow through. So yes, there

29:44

were so many things that did

29:46

not appear to be in our favor.

29:51

Just a few days after Jason was convicted,

29:54

his son, Tyler was born.

29:58

I was determined to be a good

30:01

father. That meant something

30:03

to me, to make sure

30:05

that I was a part of my son's life.

30:07

And the choices that I had made

30:10

that led me to prison, or the

30:12

things that I had been through that put me in prison,

30:14

didn't affect my son as

30:17

far as oh, I don't have a father, So

30:20

his first steps, his first

30:22

words, were captured on a cell

30:24

phone and sent to me. He

30:27

would call me when he wanted something,

30:29

and if I had to sacrifice getting

30:32

the package or going the commissary this

30:34

month, so I can use

30:36

that money to buy him the things that

30:38

he wanted or that he needed, That's

30:40

what I did.

30:42

He's great, He's really great. He's

30:44

on top of school and activities,

30:48

things that Tyler may have going on

30:50

on the weekends. He's a good dad.

30:53

How did you describe things to Tyler when

30:55

he wondered, you know what happened with his dad

30:57

when he was a kid.

31:00

Explained exactly what happened, and

31:03

his mom had newspaper clippings.

31:06

He knows what took place, he

31:08

knows the accusations. He

31:10

knows that his dad went to court. He

31:12

knows that his dad was found guilty

31:15

and there was no need to

31:17

sugarcoat it or lie or make stories

31:19

or excuses. He needed to

31:21

know. He's a young man.

31:24

I'm very proud of my son. I tell him

31:26

all the time. He's an amazing kid. He's

31:28

just turned seventeen in August. His name

31:31

is Tyler Walton. I'm nick

31:33

name some King Tyler.

31:38

At first, I was as a kid that I wasn't

31:40

nervous, But when

31:42

I finally you know, sat down

31:45

and you know, it was face to face, it was really more of a

31:47

kind of like a wow woman, like dang, you

31:49

know this

31:52

is this is whom my dad is really

31:55

an amazing person.

31:56

Yeah, do you tell people your dad's

31:58

in prison occasionally?

32:00

Know if I, if I know them, I'll

32:02

be like, yeah, this is you know what I go

32:04

through. This is what I have to suffer with. But

32:07

it's something that I know I can I can handle

32:10

because I know it's you know, it's not forever obviously.

32:12

What is that that you go through.

32:14

A lot of stuff, well, a lot a lot

32:17

of thoughts, memories, emotions

32:19

that I feel within myself. But

32:22

I have learned to kind of have

32:25

an understanding of them and accept

32:28

them and use

32:30

them as a

32:32

way of motivation. And I've

32:35

taken more as a learning opportunity and if

32:37

anything, so it's like I really

32:39

have to make something of it, and I

32:42

have to do something that would

32:44

you know, show some light more than light has

32:46

already been drown and really kind

32:49

of prove to everyone that

32:52

even with these circumstances you can still do

32:54

great. I plan on having

32:57

a very bright future.

32:58

You know, when we spoke with Frann

33:00

and Tyler over a video chat, they were

33:02

wearing identical T shirts. I

33:05

couldn't read them from the screen, so I asked them what

33:07

they said.

33:08

Yeah, it says Jason Walton was wrongfully

33:10

convicted from murder evidence used to

33:12

give some him proof that he was innocent of.

33:19

How did Jason's case come to you?

33:22

Jason wrote to us in the late

33:25

two thousands, claiming

33:27

innocence and saying that he

33:30

was not involved in any way in

33:32

the case and that he was at Roscoe's

33:34

Chicken and Waffles when the shooting occurred.

33:36

So what made you really dive in

33:39

and want to look at this? What was it about his case?

33:42

Jason was on security camera footage

33:44

at the Roscoe's chicken and waffles.

33:47

And you know what's interesting about

33:49

that is that the security camera footage

33:51

was available at the time of trial. So from

33:54

the start, it was like he had this awesome

33:56

alibi and for some reason it

33:58

just didn't play to the jury.

34:01

So that's really what sold me on

34:03

this case. On top of that, as

34:06

we dug into the case, we found all

34:08

of these inconsistencies throughout the investigation,

34:11

as well as uncovered some

34:13

incredibly motivated third party

34:15

suspects that more likely committed

34:18

this crime.

34:19

One important key to unraveling the case

34:22

was a man named Christopher Green, one

34:24

of the witnesses who spoke to investigators

34:27

after the shooting. Strangely,

34:29

his statement was never brought up

34:31

at trial.

34:32

Christopher Green was a

34:35

carnival ride operator. Him

34:37

and Richard Gray were actually coworkers at

34:39

this carnival and what Green told investigators

34:42

this he went and left to go to a convenience store

34:44

across the street.

34:45

In twenty sixteen, Michael and the Innocent

34:47

Center sent their own investigator

34:49

to interview Christopher. He told

34:52

them everything he had told the police, and

34:54

as it turns out, Christopher Green

34:56

may have been the only witness who

34:58

was close enough to you see what actually

35:01

happened.

35:03

On his walk back as he's making his

35:05

way around the corner to go back into

35:07

the carnival, essentially right where the porta

35:09

potties are that are blocking Richard Gray's view.

35:12

Green's coming around the corner and

35:15

he sees an arm extended essentially

35:17

over his shoulder, and he

35:20

sees a gun. And it's this

35:22

gun that ends up firing five to six

35:24

rounds and shooting

35:27

and wounding Edward Williams and

35:29

striking and killing William Cox.

35:32

And he gets a look at the shooter, but

35:34

says he doesn't think he'd be able to identify the

35:36

shooter because the shooter had a black hoodie

35:39

on and the hood was up. Christopher

35:41

Green is the only witness at the

35:43

scene that's told police

35:45

that he saw a gun. Edward Williams

35:47

said he didn't see a gun. He thought the shooting happened

35:50

from allegedly Jason Walton

35:52

firing through a hoodie.

35:54

So if Christopher Green actually saw the shooting,

35:56

how did Richard Gray become

35:58

the prosecution star witness?

36:01

So in our subsequent post conviction

36:03

investigation, what we learned is that Green

36:06

went and told Gray everything that

36:08

he saw and Gray then,

36:11

either trying to be the savior or being pressured

36:14

by police because of his own criminal

36:16

liability that might have existed in other cases,

36:19

agrees to cooperate and takes

36:22

parts of Christopher Green's story as

36:24

his own, tells police and

36:27

makes this sort of soft identification.

36:29

But if you talk to Green, Green's

36:32

unable to make the identification because the hoodie

36:34

is pulled up over this shooter's head,

36:37

and he also describes having seen the gun,

36:39

totally inconsistent with what Edward Williams

36:41

says. Immediately after

36:44

Edward Williams is shot, Green

36:46

runs up to Williams and he gets

36:48

down and he's like, hey, there's an ambulance

36:51

coming. Someone's just called nine to one one,

36:54

And Edward Williams spontaneously

36:56

says, I don't know who did this. I don't know who

36:58

would want to do this. So that's

37:01

a crucial piece of information because

37:03

if Edward Williams knew who

37:05

it was, then he would

37:07

have said it in that moment, and

37:10

he doesn't. He says he didn't know who did it.

37:12

Well, if the police had all this information

37:14

from Christopher Green, why

37:17

didn't they use it at trial?

37:20

Yeah?

37:20

I mean I think the most important things were that Christopher

37:23

Green probably had the best vantage point

37:25

for seeing the shooter and didn't play a part

37:27

in the prosecution's case because it didn't fit

37:29

their theory. Richard

37:32

Gray wasn't able to see

37:35

anything, and yet he played a major

37:37

part of the prosecution's case because

37:39

he had made that tentative identification prior

37:42

to trial. And so it was kind of

37:43

a situation in which the prosecution was

37:46

cherry picking the information they were presenting

37:49

in order to make it fit their theory, and

37:51

I think that resulted in Jason's wrongful conviction.

37:56

Michael believes the most likely scenario is

37:58

that Edward Williams was being targe by

38:00

a rival gang.

38:03

There was a witness named Drew Maxwell who

38:06

told police at the time that Edward

38:08

Williams had actually been shot at in the

38:10

week's leading up to this, and Edward

38:12

Williams being this new jumped in member of the

38:14

Baby forties certainly made

38:16

him a target. And the graffiti

38:19

and the fact that

38:22

a number of people at the scene said they

38:24

saw Jay Rock and another

38:26

individual from the thirties named Terrell who

38:28

had been at the Halloween party. In gang

38:31

cases like this, it's often difficult to

38:33

get people to talk and let

38:35

us know who actually committed the crime. I'm

38:37

hopeful that we're able to develop at

38:39

least a little bit more evidence that suggest it

38:42

wasn't Jason and in fact it was another individual.

38:44

It was somebody that is you

38:46

know, is still out there or is

38:48

in prison or whatever.

38:50

Yeah, so what kind of evidence are you looking for?

38:53

So in Jason's case, we've attempted to get

38:55

DNA testing on the shell casings at

38:57

the scene and failed. Rejected

39:00

that because Edward Williams

39:03

knew Jason Walton and said

39:05

that Jason was the shooter, so it wasn't

39:07

an eyewitness misidentification. In the court's minds,

39:11

there was no confusion. My position is that

39:13

Edward Williams was mistaken that it wasn't actually

39:15

Jason, and so DNA testing the shell casings would

39:18

help us to figure out who at least loaded the

39:20

gun that night.

39:22

When that happens, Michael believes it

39:24

will be a turning point in their efforts

39:26

to prove Jason's innocence. Fran

39:33

remains hopeful to She says Jason's

39:36

positive attitude has helped her gain

39:38

perspective on the situation.

39:40

He had told me that I should not feel

39:42

like I'm the only mom that

39:45

has a son who's been incarcerated

39:48

or is incarcerated or accused of

39:50

committing a crime that they did not commit,

39:53

because I was so afraid of what

39:56

would be said or how people would

39:58

feel about me, how they would feel

40:00

about the family, and how they

40:02

would feel about my son. And

40:06

as we're finding out, wrongful

40:09

convictions is everywhere all

40:11

over the world.

40:14

My mother, my grandmother, who's

40:16

ninety two years old, tells

40:18

me she misses me and Harry up they come home

40:21

and my son that those are

40:23

my motivating factors and ultimately

40:26

to clear my name.

40:28

Friend Tyler and Jason's grandmother are

40:30

all waiting to welcome him home and

40:33

to cook some of his favorite meals.

40:36

Bake salmon, bakchoi,

40:40

saffron, rice, steam, vegetables,

40:42

and fried chicken, chicken

40:45

and dumplings, all

40:47

that good hearty stuff.

40:49

And there's someone else who will be there for Jason

40:52

when he's finally released.

40:55

My wife's name is Diamond Walton.

40:59

We were friends for since

41:02

maybe two thousand and twelve.

41:05

Our relationship grew from

41:08

friendships and to a

41:11

desire to be with each other, a

41:13

love for each other. It came from

41:16

her always motivating me, praying

41:19

over me, praying with me, speaking

41:21

life into me at times when I

41:25

was feeling defeated. And see, she motivates

41:27

me a lot to stay

41:29

focused, to believe in myself

41:32

and know that I can achieve

41:35

the things that I want to achieve, and ultimately

41:38

that is clearing my name

41:41

and being exonerated. I've

41:44

never done anything like this, and I

41:46

hope that people relate to me

41:49

and understand that I'm

41:51

more than a number. I'm more

41:53

than a gang banker. I'm more than a

41:58

prisoner, an innate, and

42:00

ultimately I'm more than someone that was

42:02

wrongfully convicted.

42:04

And Jason has lots of plans to get started

42:07

on when that happens, including

42:09

reviving one of his childhood dreams.

42:13

I would love to still be an

42:15

attorney. I would love to be

42:17

a part of an organization

42:20

that I can give back. I can help

42:23

bring hope to people that

42:25

are in this position, that don't

42:27

have hope, that don't believe that they're going

42:29

to get out, that don't trust the

42:32

system. I don't want that just

42:34

to be the story of my life

42:36

where all I can say is, Hey,

42:38

I'm someone that was wrongfully convicted. Hopefully

42:41

I can turn this negative

42:43

into something positive, or I can take something

42:46

positive from it where people

42:48

can learn. I want to be

42:50

a part of making sure that wrongful

42:53

conviction ultimately becomes something

42:55

that doesn't exist. I'm

42:57

sorry if I have to put us all out of business.

43:00

We have else to interview with

43:02

Adam. Be a good day.

43:09

To learn more and see any updates about

43:11

Jason's case, Visit the Innocencenter

43:14

dot org. We'll have that link in the

43:16

episode description, and please

43:18

consider making a donation to support the

43:20

Innocent Center and the important work

43:22

they're doing. Thank

43:30

you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Maggie

43:32

Freelink. Please support your local innocence

43:34

organizations and go to the links in the episode

43:36

description to see how you can help. I'd

43:39

like to thank our executive producers Jason

43:41

Flam, Jeff Kempler, and Kevin Wortis,

43:43

as well as senior producer Annie Chelsea,

43:46

producer Kathleen Fink, story

43:48

editor Hannah Beal, and researcher

43:50

Shelby Sorels. Mixing and

43:52

sound design are by Jackie Pauley, with

43:55

additional production by Jeff Cliburn

43:57

and Connor Hall. The music in

43:59

this production is by three time OSCAR

44:01

nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be

44:04

sure to follow us on all social media

44:06

platforms at Lava for Good and

44:08

at Wrongful Conviction. You can also follow

44:10

me on all platforms at Maggie Freeling.

44:13

Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freeling is a

44:15

production of Lava for Good Podcasts

44:17

in association with Signal Company

44:19

Number one