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(dramatic music)

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Forensic science begins at the end

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of someone else's story,

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scrutinizing a violent moment in time.

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Samples are collected and preserved.

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The scene exhaustively photographed,

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evidence prepared for forensic experts to examine.

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Television and movies fuel blind faith

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in the power of crime scene investigations or "CSI."

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But since the emergence of DNA analysis,

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a disturbing trend has emerged.

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DNA pulled from evidence that spent decades

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gathering dust has revealed a surprising number

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of wrongful convictions.

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In fact, in hundreds of exoneration cases,

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DNA did more than free the innocent,

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it proved that the forensic evidence

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that convicted them was wrong.

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It's time to put "CSI" on trial

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to find out what's real science,

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what has scientific potential and what's just junk?

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The stakes couldn't be higher.

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Got two death sentences and a life without parole.

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I've been 17 and a half years on death row

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plus 11 months in the county jail.

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(dramatic music)

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(children hollering)
(dog barking)

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Bye, Mom

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(mysterious music)

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On the morning of February 24th, 1982,

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nine-year-old Daralyn Johnson left her home

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in Nampa, Idaho for her daily walk

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to Lincoln Elementary School.

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Daralyn's school was just six blocks away.

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Hi.
But she

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would never arrive.

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At that time there wasn't a reporting system

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where the school would contact the parents.

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She didn't come home from school

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and her mother thought, well she's playing with friends,

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didn't make it for dinner, her mother was concerned,

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made some calls and they couldn't find her.

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(dramatic music)

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A search party fanned out across Canyon County.

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Three days later, the Nampa community was confronted

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with a shocking discovery.

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Daralyn's lifeless body was found near the Snake River

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beaten and raped.

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The cause of death drowning.

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An examination of the crime scene

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by the Canyon County Sheriff's Office

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revealed physical evidence, both hair and a footprint.

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But the investigation stalled.

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Attorney and former director of the Idaho Innocence Project,

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Rick Visser recalls the mounting public pressure.

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When you have a crime like that, a heinous crime,

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there's a real zeal to get it solved.

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After months of fruitless investigation,

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detectives turned to leads from local school children.

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One of the children saw a car in the area.

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Law enforcement took the DMV records

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and then they weeded through them.

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Police discovered that 34-year-old Vietnam vet,

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Charles Fain owned a similar car.

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He had a prior conviction for robbing a laundry mat

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and his hair color matched hairs found at the crime scene.

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So, I went down there and they started talking about

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this murder of this nine-year-old girl

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and I give them some hairs like they asked and left,

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figured it was no big deal, hadn't done nothing,

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so, I walked out.

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Like a typical innocent person, he was happy to cooperate,

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he took a lie detector test and passed it.

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Six weeks later they called me back down there

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and said, "The FBI says the hair matches ones found

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on the victim."

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And on March 7th, 1983, Charles was arrested

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for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Daralyn Johnson.

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His sister, Terry Shumway recalls that fateful day.

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I was flabbergasted, I couldn't even imagine.

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He had been in central Oregon, he wasn't even over there

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when that happened.

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Charles wasn't in Idaho

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on the day of the murder.

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He was over 300 miles away visited his parents

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in Redmond, Oregon.

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But prosecutors asserted he drove five hours to Nampa

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murdered Daralyn and drove back to his parent's house

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without anyone noticing.

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Everybody is like, "You gotta be kidding, he was here,

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when that happened he was here."

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We just thought it was so bizarre

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and we went right to work trying to find things

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to prove he was there.

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I mean, I can't tell you how many hours we spent on this

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and nothing seemed to work.

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(dramatic music)

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You don't know what to do,

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you just sit there and go through it

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and hope it comes out right and it didn't.

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(dramatic music)

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Two jailhouse informants testified

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that Charles had confessed to them

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while he was awaiting trial.

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And the prosecution argued that shoes belonging to Charles

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matched the shoe print found at the crime scene.

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Prosecutors like to present as much evidence as possible.

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They lay the bricks out so they can get a solid wall

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of evidence and footprint impressions

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really took off in the early 80s.

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So one of the pieces of evidence that an FBI expert

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presented at trial was a footprint impression

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at the crime scene.

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This is where the FBI really bungled,

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they were gathering this evidence

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and the footprint they were comparing it to

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was all bungled up.

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They had stepped on it and it wasn't a good print

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in the first place.

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But a forensic examiner from the FBI

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testified that the wear pattern on the impression

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corresponded exactly to Charles' shoe.

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I found, therefore, that the show which made

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this impression, and this left shoe which made

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this impression, and this left shoe had sustained wear

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in the same area to a shoe print examiner,

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this would indicated that the individual

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walked with these shoes has the same walking gait.

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But the shoes they were comparing it to

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he didn't even own when the crime was committed.

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Charles insisted that he bought the shoes

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after the crime was committed.

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But this was 1983 and he paid cash,

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so there was no way to prove it.

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Thank you, have a good one.
You have no receipt,

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why would you keep a receipt for a pair of six dollar shoes?

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They were just desperate to solve the case

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and they were gonna do whatever it took

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to get a conviction, that's all there was to it.

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(dramatic music)

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After 13 hours of deliberation

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and despite his alibi, the jury found Charles Fain guilty.

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(dramatic music)

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Got two death sentences and a life without parole.

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On the day of his sentencing,

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the judge ordered his execution for the following month.

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Footprint evidence helped send Charles Fain

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to death row.

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They said it was similar in tread print.

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And the jury, that's all they needed to hear.

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But how did footprints

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become court room evidence in the first place?

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(dramatic music)

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It started with another very young victim.

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The earliest reference that I'm aware of

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is a 1786 case that involved the murder

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of a little girl in Scotland.

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The investigator noticed that when the suspect fled

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he left footwear impressions in mud

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and was able to cast those impressions.

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Later at the funeral, he was able to take impressions

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of the people that showed up

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and was able to establish the identity of the murderer.

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Two centuries later, in the late 1970s,

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an anthropologist garnered worldwide attention

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with the discovery

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of a 3.6 million-year-old fossilized footprint.

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Louise Robbins was on a study in Tanzania

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and a footprint was discovered.

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And Mrs. Robbins concluded that it was made

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by a medium height young woman

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that was five and a half months pregnant.

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Mrs. Robbins took off thinking that she could be

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an expert witness, published a book

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and sure enough people started coming to her.

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Professor Robbins went on to serve

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as a footwear expert in more than 20 criminal cases.

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Her testimony helped send at least a dozen people

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to prison and one man to death row.

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(dramatic rock music)

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By the mid-1980s, footwear evidence was seen

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as an effective prosecutorial tool

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and commonly used in criminal cases.

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So common that Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski

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wore shoes with smaller soles attacked

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to trick investigators.

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(intriguing music)

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Since the 1990s, forensic expert, Jon Byrd

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has examined and analyzed countless shoe prints.

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It originates typically

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with the crime scene investigation unit.

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Shoe prints found at a crime scene.

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Those impressions are either visible

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or they have to be processed in order to capture them.

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When investigators obtain a shoe

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from a subject, that becomes the known shoe.

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That shoe is photographed and then processed.

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We typically powder the bottom of the shoe

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and then transfer that powder from the bottom

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of the shoe onto an adhesive contrasting surface.

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The result is a comparison print

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called the known standard.

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Then we can compare that standard

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against the questioned imaged from the scene.

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If investigators are comparing

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a suspect's known shoe to three dimensional imprint

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made from a print in mud, for instance,

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they create a cast of the imprint.

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And then we produce a three dimensional image

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of the known shoe in the laboratory

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so that we're comparing apples to apples.

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With footwear analysis there's two types

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of evaluation that is done.

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The first is called a class characteristic

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where these are the characteristics

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that come from the shoe from the manufacturer.

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Melissa Giggenbach is a law professor

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and director of the West Virginia Innocence Project.

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So shoe size, tread, designs

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and then different shoes have different molds that are made

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and each of those molds

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might have a specific characteristic.

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So those come from the manufacturing process.

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Class characteristics do not provide a basis

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for identification but they do lessen the number

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of possible donors of a specific impression.

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(dramatic music)

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Perhaps the best example

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of class characteristics narrowing the pool

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of potential donors occurred in the OJ Simpson civil trial.

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When a bloody shoe print was found at the scene,

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an FBI footwear analyst determined it was created

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by an Italian-made shoe, a Bruno Magli Lorenzo model

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in size 12.

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At the time only 299 pairs had been sold

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in the United States.

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At his criminal trial, Simpson, who wore a size 12

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denied owning what he described as the ugly-ass shoes.

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But during the civil case,

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more than 30 newly discovered photos

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showing him wearing a pair of Bruno Magli Lorenzo's

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were shared with the jury.

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Footwear evidence was a turning point in the case

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and Simpson was responsible for the murders.

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(dramatic music)

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In most cases a class characteristic match

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is only the first step in making an identification.

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If the suspect's shoe cannot be eliminated,

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then they move on to what's called

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randomly acquired characteristics.

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And these are things that happen to shoes

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just for normal wear and tear.

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You may step on a piece of glass, a nail,

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a piece of jagged metal or a pointed rock

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and these introduce characteristics to the bottom

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of the shoe in the form of cuts, scrapes, tears,

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gauges or even holes.

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The theory is is that

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these randomly acquired characteristics or RACs

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are unique to an individual's shoe, like a fingerprint.

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And according to the FBI, RACs are powerful evidence

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that can help identify a perpetrator.

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In here you can see the randomly acquired characteristics

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on the standard actually reproduced with the known shoe

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and we look to see if

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those randomly acquired characteristics

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are present and in the same locations

268
00:14:17,983 --> 00:14:20,757
in order to establish an identification.

269
00:14:20,757 --> 00:14:22,570
(dramatic music)

270
00:14:22,570 --> 00:14:25,903
It was a RAQ on Charles Fain's shoe

271
00:14:25,903 --> 00:14:29,296
that prosecutors claimed connected him to the crime.

272
00:14:30,463 --> 00:14:32,713
There was a slight impression of a nail

273
00:14:32,713 --> 00:14:34,993
on the heel of the one footprint.

274
00:14:34,993 --> 00:14:37,093
So that was one of the pieces of evidence

275
00:14:37,093 --> 00:14:40,303
that led to Charles' conviction.

276
00:14:40,303 --> 00:14:42,493
But can analysts really identify

277
00:14:42,493 --> 00:14:45,526
a slight impression of a nail in a shoe print?

278
00:14:46,483 --> 00:14:49,093
Often when prints are made at a crime scene,

279
00:14:49,093 --> 00:14:50,203
they're not perfect.

280
00:14:50,203 --> 00:14:51,523
You're gonna get a partial print.

281
00:14:51,523 --> 00:14:53,713
Very rarely are you gonna have that perfect,

282
00:14:53,713 --> 00:14:56,893
beautiful print in order to try to make some kind

283
00:14:56,893 --> 00:14:57,883
of comparison.

284
00:14:57,883 --> 00:14:59,953
And if the mold isn't done correctly,

285
00:14:59,953 --> 00:15:03,313
then there could be issues with trying to determine

286
00:15:03,313 --> 00:15:05,773
and use that for comparison.

287
00:15:05,773 --> 00:15:08,263
Third year law student, Eric Lasky

288
00:15:08,263 --> 00:15:11,243
got firsthand experience working with shoe prints

289
00:15:12,448 --> 00:15:14,517
when he was a forensic science undergraduate.

290
00:15:14,517 --> 00:15:19,517
Personally I have done casting of a shoe print

291
00:15:19,903 --> 00:15:20,836
out of mud.

292
00:15:22,409 --> 00:15:24,883
And let me tell you, it's not as detailed

293
00:15:24,883 --> 00:15:29,472
as the TV shows, to get individualizing characteristic

294
00:15:29,472 --> 00:15:34,472
off a mold is very hit and miss what you're gonna get.

295
00:15:35,113 --> 00:15:38,113
Some analysts may identify a specific spot

296
00:15:38,113 --> 00:15:41,283
in the print as a RAQ, while others simply chalk it up

297
00:15:41,283 --> 00:15:44,773
as an artifact of the print creation process.

298
00:15:44,773 --> 00:15:47,136
One examiner may think this bump

299
00:15:47,136 --> 00:15:49,824
is a randomly acquired characteristic

300
00:15:49,824 --> 00:15:52,126
and another examiner might not.

301
00:15:53,653 --> 00:15:57,163
A 2020 study revealed that given the same sets

302
00:15:57,163 --> 00:16:00,553
of prints to examine, a significant number of analysts

303
00:16:00,553 --> 00:16:03,076
came up with opposite conclusions.

304
00:16:06,140 --> 00:16:09,493
So there is no objectivity of this right now.

305
00:16:09,493 --> 00:16:13,423
And there's no standardization of what makes a match

306
00:16:13,423 --> 00:16:15,463
versus what is a nonmatch.

307
00:16:15,463 --> 00:16:18,323
That means that there's no checklist

308
00:16:19,157 --> 00:16:20,457
for an analyst to look at.

309
00:16:21,418 --> 00:16:23,547
Even if identifying a match was reliable and valid,

310
00:16:23,547 --> 00:16:27,242
a lot of shoes could have created the same print.

311
00:16:27,242 --> 00:16:31,783
Unlike OJ Simpson's Bruno Magli's,

312
00:16:31,783 --> 00:16:34,456
many shoes are very, very common.

313
00:16:37,461 --> 00:16:39,493
One national well-known shoe company

314
00:16:39,493 --> 00:16:42,133
claimed that they sold 10 million pairs

315
00:16:42,133 --> 00:16:46,456
of one specific type of shoe in a particular year.

316
00:16:47,383 --> 00:16:49,153
Fledgling attempts have been made

317
00:16:49,153 --> 00:16:53,173
to create databases and calculate statistical probabilities

318
00:16:53,173 --> 00:16:55,096
around the frequency of RAQs.

319
00:16:56,053 --> 00:16:59,392
But collecting that data is impractical if not impossible.

320
00:16:59,392 --> 00:17:03,703
It is a vast, vast number of variables.

321
00:17:03,703 --> 00:17:06,069
And there may be variables within variables.

322
00:17:06,069 --> 00:17:10,573
There might be a problem with the rubber

323
00:17:10,573 --> 00:17:12,823
on a sole of a particular type of shoe

324
00:17:12,823 --> 00:17:16,123
and so the shoe cracks in exactly the same way

325
00:17:16,123 --> 00:17:20,503
in every single shoe that was made by manufacturer,

326
00:17:20,503 --> 00:17:22,483
you know, in that batch.

327
00:17:22,483 --> 00:17:24,913
Scientists have discovered another reason

328
00:17:24,913 --> 00:17:27,916
why identifying a match may be problematic.

329
00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:35,113
At La Jolla's Salk Institute, vision center lab director,

330
00:17:35,113 --> 00:17:38,271
Thomas Albright studies visual perception.

331
00:17:38,271 --> 00:17:42,163
I thought about the problem of forensics for a long time

332
00:17:42,163 --> 00:17:44,941
and I've always been suspicious of the whole enterprise

333
00:17:44,941 --> 00:17:47,597
because I know how vision works.

334
00:17:47,597 --> 00:17:49,709
(dramatic music)

335
00:17:49,709 --> 00:17:50,953
While eyes capture information,

336
00:17:50,953 --> 00:17:54,189
the brain processes what we see.

337
00:17:54,189 --> 00:17:59,189
The visual brain is largely the cerebral cortex,

338
00:17:59,563 --> 00:18:03,213
it's about three-quarters of the total human brain volume.

339
00:18:03,213 --> 00:18:04,753
It's an enormous part of your brain

340
00:18:04,753 --> 00:18:09,753
and that visual brain depends very heavily upon context.

341
00:18:10,147 --> 00:18:11,773
Context includes

342
00:18:11,773 --> 00:18:14,113
the observer's motivational state,

343
00:18:14,113 --> 00:18:16,216
like hoping to solve a crime.

344
00:18:17,563 --> 00:18:19,813
The natural human tendency

345
00:18:19,813 --> 00:18:21,613
to look at these abstract things

346
00:18:21,613 --> 00:18:24,373
and find stuff, to find visual patterns,

347
00:18:24,373 --> 00:18:27,493
we can't help it because that improvisational ability

348
00:18:27,493 --> 00:18:31,336
of our visual system is fundamental to human survival.

349
00:18:32,547 --> 00:18:34,248
There are enormous contextual factors

350
00:18:34,248 --> 00:18:37,576
that can bias people one direction or the other.

351
00:18:38,503 --> 00:18:41,251
Professor Albright's research

352
00:18:41,251 --> 00:18:44,923
shows how our brain is wired to visual fill in the gaps

353
00:18:44,923 --> 00:18:47,236
between patterns that may not match.

354
00:18:48,193 --> 00:18:50,263
If you have a print from the crime scene

355
00:18:50,263 --> 00:18:54,026
which is noisy for a whole variety of reasons,

356
00:18:54,026 --> 00:18:56,083
it's blurry and missing pieces and so forth

357
00:18:56,083 --> 00:18:58,213
and then you have what's called an exemplar,

358
00:18:58,213 --> 00:19:00,223
you'll look at the exemplar first

359
00:19:00,223 --> 00:19:04,003
and have that in your head, then you will find that pattern

360
00:19:04,003 --> 00:19:06,583
in the noisy thing and you won't even be aware of this

361
00:19:06,583 --> 00:19:07,633
when you're doing it.

362
00:19:08,472 --> 00:19:09,973
We've come to the point of realizing

363
00:19:09,973 --> 00:19:13,003
that we're sending innocent people to jail

364
00:19:13,003 --> 00:19:16,373
and we have to find better techniques that reduce

365
00:19:17,368 --> 00:19:19,693
the probability of wrongful conviction.

366
00:19:19,693 --> 00:19:22,110
(slow music)

367
00:19:23,829 --> 00:19:25,183
For Charles Fain the consequences

368
00:19:25,183 --> 00:19:28,276
of flawed forensic methods were profound.

369
00:19:31,085 --> 00:19:33,913
Charles spent 23 hours of every day in a cell

370
00:19:33,913 --> 00:19:34,966
by himself.

371
00:19:36,696 --> 00:19:40,186
23 hours a day for over 17 years.

372
00:19:42,115 --> 00:19:43,915
His newfound faith helped him endure

373
00:19:45,208 --> 00:19:46,041
the crushing isolation.

374
00:19:46,915 --> 00:19:48,313
He became a Christian just five days

375
00:19:48,313 --> 00:19:50,353
after he went to the penitentiary

376
00:19:50,353 --> 00:19:52,246
and that sustained him.

377
00:19:53,973 --> 00:19:56,555
But he lived under the constant threat

378
00:19:56,555 --> 00:19:57,605
of his own execution.

379
00:19:58,513 --> 00:20:01,393
They always had a stay like right at the ninth hour

380
00:20:01,393 --> 00:20:04,153
but it would be hours before that he would be granted

381
00:20:04,153 --> 00:20:05,653
another stay.

382
00:20:05,653 --> 00:20:08,386
And this went on, I can't tell you how many times.

383
00:20:09,583 --> 00:20:11,443
You don't become immune to it, you know,

384
00:20:11,443 --> 00:20:12,916
you think it's gonna happen.

385
00:20:15,193 --> 00:20:17,820
And my mom, I mean, she'd have nightmares about it

386
00:20:17,820 --> 00:20:20,476
and it was awful, really awful.

387
00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:24,913
Charles was on death row when he learned

388
00:20:24,913 --> 00:20:26,356
of his mother's passing.

389
00:20:28,937 --> 00:20:30,876
He wasn't allowed to attend her funeral.

390
00:20:39,416 --> 00:20:43,573
But years later, scientific breakthroughs in DNA analysis

391
00:20:43,573 --> 00:20:45,856
offered new hope for his case.

392
00:20:48,184 --> 00:20:49,333
The hairs found at the crime scene

393
00:20:49,333 --> 00:20:51,811
now held the potential to reveal information

394
00:20:51,811 --> 00:20:54,523
about the real perpetrator.

395
00:20:54,523 --> 00:20:57,013
There is a nucleus in the root of a hair.

396
00:20:57,013 --> 00:20:59,023
It does have these little organisms going around

397
00:20:59,023 --> 00:21:00,286
called mitochondria.

398
00:21:01,243 --> 00:21:05,353
And mitochondria could be used to test for DNA.

399
00:21:05,353 --> 00:21:08,173
And in 2001, the prosecutor

400
00:21:08,173 --> 00:21:10,843
and the Charles' federal defense attorney

401
00:21:10,843 --> 00:21:12,376
agreed to do the testing.

402
00:21:14,019 --> 00:21:15,661
The prosecutors were confident

403
00:21:15,661 --> 00:21:17,711
the results would confirm Charles' guilt.

404
00:21:18,853 --> 00:21:23,203
The DNA test was done and the prosecution was sure

405
00:21:23,203 --> 00:21:24,916
that it would seal the case.

406
00:21:26,733 --> 00:21:27,636
But they were wrong.

407
00:21:29,379 --> 00:21:31,873
The test conclusively prove that the hairs

408
00:21:31,873 --> 00:21:34,216
did not belong to Charles Fain.

409
00:21:35,651 --> 00:21:37,933
The prosecutor's jaw dropped and they had a problem,

410
00:21:37,933 --> 00:21:39,783
they said, "Well, let's do it again."

411
00:21:41,048 --> 00:21:43,548
They sent another hair off, again it excluded him.

412
00:21:44,413 --> 00:21:46,513
After that first DNA test, they did three more

413
00:21:46,513 --> 00:21:48,676
and all three of them, they all cleared me.

414
00:21:50,179 --> 00:21:51,012
The prosecutor made a motion

415
00:21:51,012 --> 00:21:53,443
for another lab to do it and the judge denied it,

416
00:21:53,443 --> 00:21:57,091
said enough is enough, you need to decide within 60 days

417
00:21:57,091 --> 00:22:01,273
to release or retry Charles Fain.

418
00:22:01,273 --> 00:22:06,273
57 days later, the prosecutor decided to release him.

419
00:22:07,949 --> 00:22:10,979
(dramatic music)

420
00:22:10,979 --> 00:22:12,943
Charles found out like everyone else,

421
00:22:12,943 --> 00:22:14,416
he saw it on TV.

422
00:22:16,397 --> 00:22:17,923
I was in my room reading the Bible

423
00:22:17,923 --> 00:22:20,203
and I had my TV on but the volume was down,

424
00:22:20,203 --> 00:22:22,520
I saw my picture on the television

425
00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:23,526
and by the time I go over there and turned it on,

426
00:22:24,611 --> 00:22:25,573
it was over with, so I went back to reading my Bible

427
00:22:26,531 --> 00:22:28,451
and about a half hour later, guards came and took me

428
00:22:28,451 --> 00:22:30,302
out of my cell and gave me some clothes,

429
00:22:30,302 --> 00:22:32,736
three sets of pants, shirts, T-shirts, underwear, socks.

430
00:22:33,868 --> 00:22:35,405
I left there at four o'clock in the afternoon

431
00:22:35,405 --> 00:22:38,976
on August 23rd, 2001.

432
00:22:40,303 --> 00:22:42,433
I'd been 17 and a half years on death row

433
00:22:42,433 --> 00:22:44,863
plus 11 months in the county jail.

434
00:22:44,863 --> 00:22:47,613
I'd moved on, I'd moved on when I was in the jail cell.

435
00:22:48,952 --> 00:22:52,226
If you grow negative on it, why they're winning and not you.

436
00:22:52,226 --> 00:22:53,926
I started thanking God for DNA.

437
00:22:54,947 --> 00:22:56,383
He said, I'd always felt I'd be freed.

438
00:22:56,383 --> 00:23:00,103
I just knew somehow, somewhere an answer would come.

439
00:23:00,103 --> 00:23:03,523
His attitude is so unbelievable to this day

440
00:23:03,523 --> 00:23:06,787
that he has no anger about it.

441
00:23:06,787 --> 00:23:08,713
He's the only one out of the whole thing

442
00:23:08,713 --> 00:23:11,352
that wasn't really angry about it.

443
00:23:11,352 --> 00:23:12,493
The DNA evidence proved,

444
00:23:12,493 --> 00:23:14,473
not just beyond a reasonable doubt

445
00:23:14,473 --> 00:23:18,073
but beyond all doubt that Charles Fain

446
00:23:18,073 --> 00:23:20,266
was not the perpetrator of that crime.

447
00:23:21,613 --> 00:23:25,303
Even in the face of irrefutable DNA evidence,

448
00:23:25,303 --> 00:23:29,053
the prosecutor and judge who sent Charles to death row

449
00:23:29,053 --> 00:23:31,636
refused to acknowledge his innocence.

450
00:23:32,563 --> 00:23:35,323
And at the time of his release, Idaho did not have

451
00:23:35,323 --> 00:23:37,066
a compensation statute.

452
00:23:38,039 --> 00:23:41,893
Charles had not worked in almost two decades

453
00:23:41,893 --> 00:23:43,816
and struggled to make ends meet.

454
00:23:45,073 --> 00:23:48,291
But his fate was about to intersect

455
00:23:48,291 --> 00:23:51,793
with one of America's leading DNA experts,

456
00:23:51,793 --> 00:23:53,566
Dr. Greg Hampikian.

457
00:23:54,973 --> 00:23:57,923
In 2004, Hampikian relocated to Idaho

458
00:23:57,923 --> 00:24:00,673
to teach at Boise State University

459
00:24:00,673 --> 00:24:02,986
and run the Idaho Innocence Project.

460
00:24:05,325 --> 00:24:06,553
My first interest in Charles' case

461
00:24:06,553 --> 00:24:09,253
was to find out if he got compensated.

462
00:24:09,253 --> 00:24:12,163
So when I got out here, I'm like, oh we should do something

463
00:24:12,163 --> 00:24:13,066
for this guy.

464
00:24:14,947 --> 00:24:15,943
He hired attorney, Rick Visser

465
00:24:15,943 --> 00:24:18,226
to pursue compensation for Fain.

466
00:24:19,555 --> 00:24:23,837
It was probably one of the most life changing jobs

467
00:24:23,837 --> 00:24:28,213
I've ever had to meet truly innocent people

468
00:24:28,213 --> 00:24:31,333
that had been wrongfully convicted.

469
00:24:31,333 --> 00:24:34,453
Rick got on the case, was very conscientious about it,

470
00:24:34,453 --> 00:24:36,853
he thought we were going somewhere with this.

471
00:24:36,853 --> 00:24:39,403
We met with some of the legislators

472
00:24:39,403 --> 00:24:42,206
and then it turned out there was opposition.

473
00:24:42,206 --> 00:24:46,813
I went to the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee

474
00:24:46,813 --> 00:24:51,373
and said, "This is about justice, this is a serious problem

475
00:24:51,373 --> 00:24:54,763
that's happened to this man he's never been compensated."

476
00:24:54,763 --> 00:24:57,523
And the abrupt response was, "That's not gonna happen

477
00:24:57,523 --> 00:25:01,750
in Idaho and I'm never gonna let it get to my committee."

478
00:25:02,904 --> 00:25:04,120
(dramatic music)

479
00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:05,653
The compensation efforts hit a wall

480
00:25:05,653 --> 00:25:08,365
but over the years, Dr. Hampikian forged connections,

481
00:25:08,365 --> 00:25:12,166
educating local police about DNA.

482
00:25:13,483 --> 00:25:16,536
I was training these police officers, see,

483
00:25:16,536 --> 00:25:18,073
they'd come in, we'd talk, I'd bring them in the lab

484
00:25:18,073 --> 00:25:20,533
and then they started asking me, "Well, look,

485
00:25:20,533 --> 00:25:22,810
we're interested in closing this case."

486
00:25:23,653 --> 00:25:25,933
Charlie Fain was fully exonerated

487
00:25:25,933 --> 00:25:29,416
but Daralyn Johnson's real killer was still unknown.

488
00:25:32,195 --> 00:25:34,573
They would bring samples to the lab

489
00:25:34,573 --> 00:25:37,573
where they would get a sample from someone they thought

490
00:25:37,573 --> 00:25:41,476
was the actual rapist/murderer in the young girl's death.

491
00:25:42,947 --> 00:25:45,043
They tested samples for over eight years

492
00:25:45,043 --> 00:25:46,636
without finding a match.

493
00:25:48,064 --> 00:25:49,153
We were stymied because that's all the evidence

494
00:25:49,153 --> 00:25:52,736
was left was this very precious small amount of pubic hair.

495
00:25:52,736 --> 00:25:56,364
Hampikian reached out to a paleobiologist

496
00:25:56,364 --> 00:25:59,983
doing cutting edge research on ancient DNA

497
00:25:59,983 --> 00:26:01,756
found on dinosaur bones.

498
00:26:04,323 --> 00:26:06,283
I was like, "Wow, is there a way that you could get

499
00:26:06,283 --> 00:26:09,226
more information like you do with these tusks,

500
00:26:10,786 --> 00:26:11,875
you know, for mastodons and such?"

501
00:26:11,875 --> 00:26:13,723
And he said, "Yeah, I think I could get

502
00:26:13,723 --> 00:26:16,969
single nucleotide polymorphisms what's used for genealogy

503
00:26:16,969 --> 00:26:21,969
and low and behold, some of the hair owner's relatives

504
00:26:22,933 --> 00:26:25,273
had contributed to genealogy data bases

505
00:26:25,273 --> 00:26:27,701
that were available to the police.

506
00:26:27,701 --> 00:26:32,293
An FBI team did the analysis of genealogy

507
00:26:32,293 --> 00:26:36,313
and they came down the trail of ancestors and so forth.

508
00:26:36,313 --> 00:26:40,963
And they got a last name, they reopened the case,

509
00:26:40,963 --> 00:26:43,003
they found a suspect.

510
00:26:43,003 --> 00:26:43,836
Hi.

511
00:26:45,304 --> 00:26:47,533
Hey, excuse me, do you live around here?

512
00:26:47,533 --> 00:26:50,381
No surprise to me, the individual's already in prison

513
00:26:50,381 --> 00:26:55,381
serving a life sentence for sexual assault of a child.

514
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,733
Exactly 38 years

515
00:27:00,733 --> 00:27:02,923
after Daralyn Johnson's murder,

516
00:27:02,923 --> 00:27:05,173
investigators obtained a court order

517
00:27:05,173 --> 00:27:08,236
to test the DNA of David Dalrymple.

518
00:27:11,352 --> 00:27:13,183
And it proved that David Dalrymple

519
00:27:13,183 --> 00:27:16,259
was the true perpetrator and the only perpetrator

520
00:27:16,259 --> 00:27:19,513
of the kidnap, rape and murder

521
00:27:19,513 --> 00:27:21,886
of nine-year-old Daralyn Johnson.

522
00:27:25,492 --> 00:27:27,349
Although he lived on the route Daralyn

523
00:27:27,349 --> 00:27:29,686
took to school, Dalrymple was never a suspect.

524
00:27:31,619 --> 00:27:33,812
When the DNA match identified him, he was already in prison

525
00:27:33,812 --> 00:27:38,383
serving 20 to life for kidnapping and sexually abusing

526
00:27:38,383 --> 00:27:42,226
a different child after the murder of Daralyn Johnson,

527
00:27:43,732 --> 00:27:45,682
a crime that could have been prevented.

528
00:27:46,979 --> 00:27:49,183
The new charges may result in the death penalty

529
00:27:49,183 --> 00:27:51,288
for David Dalrymple.

530
00:27:51,288 --> 00:27:53,229
(dramatic music)

531
00:27:53,229 --> 00:27:56,533
Charles was so excited that they finally caught somebody

532
00:27:56,533 --> 00:27:59,839
met more to him than the day he got out to know that.

533
00:27:59,839 --> 00:28:04,006
That was a happy, happy moment for all of us.

534
00:28:04,963 --> 00:28:08,440
We can't give you 20 years back, we can't.

535
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:10,843
And there was another reason to celebrate.

536
00:28:10,843 --> 00:28:15,073
But we can do is say we are paving a path forward.

537
00:28:15,073 --> 00:28:16,995
The media attention

538
00:28:16,995 --> 00:28:18,253
surrounding Dalrymple's indictment

539
00:28:18,253 --> 00:28:22,115
helped shift public opinion regarding compensation.

540
00:28:22,115 --> 00:28:26,653
Not only did Fain receive over a million dollars,

541
00:28:26,653 --> 00:28:29,713
Idaho passed the Wrongful Conviction Act,

542
00:28:29,713 --> 00:28:33,266
providing state compensation for others like him.

543
00:28:33,266 --> 00:28:36,195
I bought me a house, a pickup, got me a pup.

544
00:28:36,195 --> 00:28:38,926
I've been doing a lot of fishing since then.

545
00:28:39,907 --> 00:28:43,006
A little rough at times but I got through it.

546
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:46,627
And that's another thing you need to know,

547
00:28:46,627 --> 00:28:47,646
you'll get through it, one way or the other,

548
00:28:48,696 --> 00:28:49,592
you'll get through it.

549
00:28:49,592 --> 00:28:52,009
(slow music)

550
00:28:55,459 --> 00:28:57,373
Charles Fain is one of thousands exonerated

551
00:28:57,373 --> 00:28:59,146
through DNA analysis.

552
00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:05,083
In the early 90s, DNA technology becomes ripe enough

553
00:29:05,083 --> 00:29:08,749
for us to use in criminal cases.

554
00:29:08,749 --> 00:29:09,853
We didn't have this ability before.

555
00:29:09,853 --> 00:29:12,923
We can go back and test samples that have never been tested

556
00:29:14,099 --> 00:29:16,045
and what they've learned was that actually

557
00:29:16,045 --> 00:29:17,923
we have convicted a lot of innocent people

558
00:29:17,923 --> 00:29:21,165
and one of the major contributing factors they found

559
00:29:21,165 --> 00:29:24,343
was some sort of shotty forensic evidence

560
00:29:24,343 --> 00:29:25,993
that was used in the first place.

561
00:29:27,373 --> 00:29:28,633
Assistant professor at the Maryland School

562
00:29:28,633 --> 00:29:32,623
of Law, Maneka Sinha studies how forensic science

563
00:29:32,623 --> 00:29:35,386
can contribute to wrongful convictions.

564
00:29:36,553 --> 00:29:38,953
And in the wake of these growing numbers

565
00:29:38,953 --> 00:29:43,303
of finding people who are innocent having been convicted,

566
00:29:43,303 --> 00:29:45,856
people start to worry about forensics.

567
00:29:47,384 --> 00:29:49,027
(dramatic music)

568
00:29:49,027 --> 00:29:50,353
In 2009, Congress founded a study

569
00:29:50,353 --> 00:29:52,723
by the National Academy of Sciences

570
00:29:52,723 --> 00:29:56,146
to look at the state of forensic science in America.

571
00:29:57,073 --> 00:30:00,717
This central recommendation is that we need

572
00:30:00,717 --> 00:30:03,768
to establish a national institute of forensic science,

573
00:30:03,768 --> 00:30:06,943
a sort of national governing body that's going to

574
00:30:06,943 --> 00:30:09,793
make sure that we're using forensics in ways

575
00:30:09,793 --> 00:30:13,633
that are legitimate and ethical and reliable.

576
00:30:13,633 --> 00:30:16,333
But the Department of Justice fought hard

577
00:30:17,421 --> 00:30:19,571
against an independent, scientist-led body.

578
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:24,632
This report came out in 2009, it's many, many years

579
00:30:24,632 --> 00:30:28,663
after that and there's no national governing forensic body,

580
00:30:28,663 --> 00:30:31,606
it never happened, it never got off the ground.

581
00:30:33,677 --> 00:30:35,533
Seven years later, the Obama Administration

582
00:30:35,533 --> 00:30:38,326
picked up where the congressional study left off.

583
00:30:39,733 --> 00:30:41,503
The President's Council of Advisors

584
00:30:41,503 --> 00:30:45,553
on Science and Technology or PCAST dug deeper

585
00:30:45,553 --> 00:30:48,256
into specific forensic science areas.

586
00:30:49,603 --> 00:30:53,411
PCAST was made up of the nation's top scientific talent.

587
00:30:53,411 --> 00:30:57,163
Brown University's Physic Professor Jim Gates

588
00:30:57,163 --> 00:30:58,516
was a principle author.

589
00:31:00,109 --> 00:31:01,880
Science is all about measurement.

590
00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:04,633
The PCAST report said we are going to look out

591
00:31:04,633 --> 00:31:07,813
that parts of forensic science that are based on measurement

592
00:31:07,813 --> 00:31:10,543
or matching and unfortunately

593
00:31:10,543 --> 00:31:13,393
not much improvement had occurred.

594
00:31:13,393 --> 00:31:15,583
Professor Albright also contributed

595
00:31:15,583 --> 00:31:16,456
to the report.

596
00:31:18,797 --> 00:31:23,623
The PCAST report broadly condemned a particular category

597
00:31:23,623 --> 00:31:25,093
of forensic practice known

598
00:31:25,093 --> 00:31:27,416
as the feature comparison techniques.

599
00:31:27,416 --> 00:31:30,023
The kind of forensic techniques used

600
00:31:30,957 --> 00:31:32,707
to wrongfully convict Charles Fain.

601
00:31:34,819 --> 00:31:37,393
It pointed out a number of serious failures

602
00:31:37,393 --> 00:31:40,543
with the forensic sciences, just to put it bluntly

603
00:31:40,543 --> 00:31:42,523
that many of these so-called forensic sciences

604
00:31:42,523 --> 00:31:43,936
weren't really sciences.

605
00:31:45,421 --> 00:31:46,254
As an outside scientist we simply ask

606
00:31:46,254 --> 00:31:49,993
where is the scientific study upon which this is based?

607
00:31:49,993 --> 00:31:51,943
Someone's gotta do the measurements,

608
00:31:51,943 --> 00:31:54,193
someone's gotta quantify error bars

609
00:31:54,193 --> 00:31:56,686
and then you can say it's science.

610
00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:01,190
Error bars represents error rates.

611
00:32:02,869 --> 00:32:04,626
How many times an analyst gets the wrong answer.

612
00:32:05,645 --> 00:32:06,943
The PCAST report was clear.

613
00:32:06,943 --> 00:32:09,853
We don't know about errors in footwear analysis

614
00:32:09,853 --> 00:32:13,933
because there are no studies to support it's validity.

615
00:32:13,933 --> 00:32:16,269
They took a very hard line on it.

616
00:32:16,269 --> 00:32:17,805
They literally said it means nothing

617
00:32:17,805 --> 00:32:19,917
until you test the expert, I wanna see how often

618
00:32:19,917 --> 00:32:22,317
you get it right and how often you get it wrong.

619
00:32:23,688 --> 00:32:25,243
But once again, the Department of Justice

620
00:32:25,243 --> 00:32:28,096
refused to acknowledge the need for change.

621
00:32:30,669 --> 00:32:31,502
And on the day of it's release,

622
00:32:31,502 --> 00:32:34,670
Attorney General Loretta Lynch says,

623
00:32:34,670 --> 00:32:38,833
"No, thank you PCAST, we appreciate your efforts

624
00:32:38,833 --> 00:32:42,136
but we are not going to adopt your recommendations.

625
00:32:45,283 --> 00:32:47,053
Advocates point to a pro-law enforcement,

626
00:32:47,053 --> 00:32:50,506
anti-science culture driving the resistant.

627
00:32:51,343 --> 00:32:54,665
A large part of the push back are

628
00:32:54,665 --> 00:32:56,653
that it comes from prosecuting attorneys.

629
00:32:56,653 --> 00:32:59,353
Forensic science is a tool that basically they can use

630
00:32:59,353 --> 00:33:00,556
to get convictions.

631
00:33:01,667 --> 00:33:04,291
And so to have any challenge to the quality of that science

632
00:33:04,291 --> 00:33:09,291
is for them a threat to achieving convictions.

633
00:33:09,645 --> 00:33:13,813
Of course the counter argument is if you're using

634
00:33:13,813 --> 00:33:15,192
a faulty technique you might have teeth

635
00:33:15,192 --> 00:33:17,304
but you're gonna lock up the wrong people

636
00:33:17,304 --> 00:33:20,291
some fraction of the time.

637
00:33:20,291 --> 00:33:22,763
(dramatic music)

638
00:33:22,763 --> 00:33:23,773
Scientific studies reveal

639
00:33:23,773 --> 00:33:26,925
that forensic science testimony has outsized influence

640
00:33:26,925 --> 00:33:28,576
on juries.

641
00:33:30,223 --> 00:33:33,603
Jay Koehler teaches at Northwestern's Pritzker School of Law

642
00:33:33,603 --> 00:33:36,736
and studies behavioral decision theory.

643
00:33:38,723 --> 00:33:40,933
Because this testimony is often technical in nature,

644
00:33:40,933 --> 00:33:43,033
jurors tend to rely on the expert's credentials

645
00:33:43,033 --> 00:33:44,923
and experience when deciding how much weight

646
00:33:44,923 --> 00:33:46,543
to give to the testimony.

647
00:33:46,543 --> 00:33:48,433
If the expert appears to be well-trained

648
00:33:48,433 --> 00:33:50,173
and has sufficient experience,

649
00:33:50,173 --> 00:33:53,003
jurors will defer to the expert's conclusions.

650
00:33:53,003 --> 00:33:56,593
Sometimes you have experts who come in in lab coats

651
00:33:56,593 --> 00:33:59,683
and it feels really scientific even when it's not.

652
00:33:59,683 --> 00:34:04,633
It can have this affect of making other aspects

653
00:34:04,633 --> 00:34:07,813
of a case that are questionable,

654
00:34:07,813 --> 00:34:10,197
just sort of wash them away

655
00:34:10,197 --> 00:34:11,925
because oh I have this forensic evidence

656
00:34:11,925 --> 00:34:14,476
and it feels super reliable and super accurate.

657
00:34:16,017 --> 00:34:18,883
And unfortunately science and the word scientist

658
00:34:18,883 --> 00:34:20,443
has totemic power.

659
00:34:20,443 --> 00:34:23,473
So when they hear the word science or scientist

660
00:34:23,473 --> 00:34:26,326
they think that's it, that word is the truth.

661
00:34:27,313 --> 00:34:29,113
And that's a fundamental problem

662
00:34:29,113 --> 00:34:33,013
because jurors don't know about the criticism

663
00:34:33,013 --> 00:34:36,390
and the scrutiny that these disciplines have received

664
00:34:36,390 --> 00:34:39,313
for failing to really shore up the scientific underpinnings.

665
00:34:39,313 --> 00:34:41,233
Many of us outside the field say

666
00:34:41,233 --> 00:34:42,553
you're using the power of science

667
00:34:42,553 --> 00:34:46,003
but you're not doing science and this is a deep moral

668
00:34:46,003 --> 00:34:47,836
as well as practical problem.

669
00:34:50,963 --> 00:34:53,355
(dramatic music)

670
00:34:53,355 --> 00:34:55,783
In March of 2020, a North Carolina commission

671
00:34:55,783 --> 00:34:59,063
dedicated in reviewing potential wrongful convictions

672
00:35:00,243 --> 00:35:02,483
met to grapple with these moral and practical problems

673
00:35:02,483 --> 00:35:05,386
in another landmark case.

674
00:35:06,223 --> 00:35:10,333
Almost 20 years ago five boys were convicted of a murder

675
00:35:10,333 --> 00:35:12,526
they claimed they did not commit.

676
00:35:13,621 --> 00:35:17,083
Rayshawn Banner, Nathaniel Cauthen Christopher Bryant,

677
00:35:17,083 --> 00:35:21,823
Jermal Tolliver and Durrel Brayboy were all between the ages

678
00:35:21,823 --> 00:35:24,853
of 14 and 15 years old.

679
00:35:24,853 --> 00:35:27,373
The Innocence Inquiry Commission is the first

680
00:35:27,373 --> 00:35:29,026
of it's kind in the country.

681
00:35:31,883 --> 00:35:35,173
Since 2007 it's reviewed over 3,000 cases

682
00:35:35,173 --> 00:35:37,816
resulting in 15 exonerations.

683
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:41,904
Sir, do you solemnly.

684
00:35:41,904 --> 00:35:43,633
In 2022 the commission met to examine

685
00:35:43,633 --> 00:35:47,861
the case of the boys now men in their 30s.

686
00:35:47,861 --> 00:35:51,595
Christopher, Jermal and Dorrell were released in 2017

687
00:35:51,595 --> 00:35:56,139
for time served but Rayshawn and Nathaniel

688
00:35:56,139 --> 00:35:58,513
remain in prison.

689
00:35:58,513 --> 00:36:02,146
They have all maintained their innocence since 2002.

690
00:36:03,712 --> 00:36:05,077
Good morning Mr. Banner.
Good morning.

691
00:36:05,077 --> 00:36:06,357
My name's Lindsey Guise Smith,

692
00:36:06,357 --> 00:36:07,531
I'm the executive director

693
00:36:07,531 --> 00:36:09,193
of the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission.

694
00:36:09,193 --> 00:36:11,243
I've got several questions for you today.

695
00:36:11,243 --> 00:36:14,802
Did you rob Nathaniel Jones?
No ma'am.

696
00:36:14,802 --> 00:36:18,453
Did you kill Nathaniel Jones?

697
00:36:18,453 --> 00:36:19,286
No ma'am.

698
00:36:19,286 --> 00:36:21,743
Were you involved in any way in the robbery

699
00:36:23,659 --> 00:36:24,492
and death of Mr. Jones?
No, ma'am.

700
00:36:25,835 --> 00:36:28,393
Were you present when Mr. Jones was robbed, tied up

701
00:36:28,393 --> 00:36:30,163
and killed?
No ma'am.

702
00:36:30,163 --> 00:36:32,203
Are you aware of who committed the crime?

703
00:36:32,203 --> 00:36:33,036
No ma'am.

704
00:36:36,703 --> 00:36:38,413
As part of their investigation,

705
00:36:38,413 --> 00:36:41,383
the Innocence Commission reviewed thousands of pages

706
00:36:41,383 --> 00:36:43,883
of police reports and trial documents

707
00:36:45,649 --> 00:36:48,510
to determine what really happened on November 15th, 2002

708
00:36:48,510 --> 00:36:53,510
when 61-year-old Nathaniel Jones was murdered.

709
00:36:56,085 --> 00:36:58,835
(dramatic music)

710
00:37:04,807 --> 00:37:07,703
7:45 p.m. in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

711
00:37:08,885 --> 00:37:13,603
Mr. Jones is found unconscious laying facedown

712
00:37:13,603 --> 00:37:16,276
in his carport bloody and gagged.

713
00:37:17,675 --> 00:37:19,275
His hands bound behind his back.

714
00:37:21,876 --> 00:37:23,776
A neighbor makes a frantic 911 call.

715
00:37:25,717 --> 00:37:26,820
911 what's your emergency?

716
00:37:26,820 --> 00:37:29,195
I need an ambulance quickly

717
00:37:29,195 --> 00:37:31,537
to 905 Robby Street.
(sirens blaring)

718
00:37:31,537 --> 00:37:36,537
(radio chattering)
(dramatic music)

719
00:37:38,266 --> 00:37:40,331
EMTs attempt to revive Jones

720
00:37:40,331 --> 00:37:43,486
but he is already gone.

721
00:37:44,427 --> 00:37:46,151
(dramatic music)

722
00:37:46,151 --> 00:37:47,893
The cause of death cardiac arrhythmia

723
00:37:47,893 --> 00:37:49,606
from the stress of the assault.

724
00:37:51,292 --> 00:37:53,899
(dramatic music)

725
00:37:53,899 --> 00:37:55,648
Detectives process the gruesome scene.

726
00:37:55,648 --> 00:38:00,413
Blood is found on the concrete floor

727
00:38:01,472 --> 00:38:03,666
and smeared across the driver's side door of Mr. Jones' car

728
00:38:03,666 --> 00:38:06,316
indicating a struggle.

729
00:38:08,683 --> 00:38:11,797
Two partial shoe prints are found on the hood of the car.

730
00:38:11,797 --> 00:38:16,797
Investigators theorize the perpetrators stood on the car

731
00:38:17,473 --> 00:38:20,026
to unscrew the carport light bulb.

732
00:38:22,505 --> 00:38:26,113
The shoe prints are photographed and two cardboard boxes

733
00:38:26,113 --> 00:38:29,053
are taped to the hood to protect them

734
00:38:29,053 --> 00:38:30,738
for further processing.

735
00:38:30,738 --> 00:38:33,488
(dramatic music)

736
00:38:35,645 --> 00:38:36,966
Police canvass the neighborhood.

737
00:38:38,353 --> 00:38:41,563
An eyewitness reports seeing a Hispanic man

738
00:38:41,563 --> 00:38:45,106
running away from the carport around the time of the crime.

739
00:38:46,482 --> 00:38:49,232
(dramatic music)

740
00:38:52,711 --> 00:38:55,033
According to police reports, four days later

741
00:38:55,033 --> 00:38:59,053
local mom, Arlene Tolliver calls a detective she knows

742
00:38:59,053 --> 00:39:02,806
with a tip, her son might know who was responsible.

743
00:39:04,393 --> 00:39:08,206
15-year-old Jermal Tolliver is picked up for questioning.

744
00:39:13,255 --> 00:39:16,306
Jermal, I need you to tell me a little bit

745
00:39:16,306 --> 00:39:19,306
about what happened Friday the 15th.

746
00:39:20,487 --> 00:39:22,557
I didn't do it.

747
00:39:22,557 --> 00:39:24,253
Initially Jermal denies any knowledge of

748
00:39:24,253 --> 00:39:26,416
or involvement in the murder.

749
00:39:27,570 --> 00:39:29,679
But after hours of interrogation.

750
00:39:29,679 --> 00:39:31,576
Did you see somebody assault this man

751
00:39:31,576 --> 00:39:33,479
who lives in this house?
Yes.

752
00:39:33,479 --> 00:39:37,633
He implicates his friends, Christopher,

753
00:39:37,633 --> 00:39:40,246
Dorrell, Rayshawn and Nathaniel.

754
00:39:46,365 --> 00:39:49,093
Rayshawn and Nathaniel's mother, Teresa Ingram

755
00:39:49,093 --> 00:39:51,136
recalls that pivotal day.

756
00:39:53,277 --> 00:39:54,433
Rayshawn called me at work.

757
00:39:54,433 --> 00:39:57,074
He said that, "Momma the police is wanting

758
00:39:57,074 --> 00:40:02,074
to take us downtown and question us about Mr. Jones."

759
00:40:03,133 --> 00:40:05,143
Rayshawn refused to comply

760
00:40:05,143 --> 00:40:08,113
but his older brother Nathaniel, nicknamed Stinky

761
00:40:08,113 --> 00:40:09,046
went willingly.

762
00:40:10,603 --> 00:40:13,115
He said, "Stinky went with them,

763
00:40:13,115 --> 00:40:14,759
'cause he said he didn't have nothing to hide,

764
00:40:14,759 --> 00:40:15,869
so he went with them."

765
00:40:15,869 --> 00:40:17,443
He didn't think nothing of it, the kid didn't do anything.

766
00:40:17,443 --> 00:40:20,473
He said he didn't do anything so, I felt like

767
00:40:20,473 --> 00:40:23,463
he would be all right.

768
00:40:23,463 --> 00:40:25,663
But after hours passed, Teresa knew something

769
00:40:25,663 --> 00:40:27,166
was seriously wrong.

770
00:40:30,333 --> 00:40:31,166
Okay, well, I'm looking at my watch,

771
00:40:31,166 --> 00:40:35,090
okay, so this has been since you know, 3:30, 4:30,

772
00:40:35,090 --> 00:40:36,925
5:30, 6:30, 7:30, okay now

773
00:40:36,925 --> 00:40:38,263
we're till four and a half hours.

774
00:40:38,263 --> 00:40:41,743
Okay, so now I go down to the station there

775
00:40:41,743 --> 00:40:42,826
on Cherry Street.

776
00:40:43,993 --> 00:40:45,913
A detective investigating the murder

777
00:40:45,913 --> 00:40:47,926
came out to speak to Teresa.

778
00:40:49,639 --> 00:40:50,962
And he asked me did I know Nathaniel Jones,

779
00:40:50,962 --> 00:40:53,833
then did I know he had been murdered

780
00:40:53,833 --> 00:40:55,843
and I said, "I seen it on the news."

781
00:40:55,843 --> 00:40:57,883
And he said, "Yeah, your sons are dead smack

782
00:40:57,883 --> 00:40:59,113
in the middle of it."

783
00:40:59,113 --> 00:41:00,320
Those were the words he used,

784
00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:01,970
"dead smack in the middle of it."

785
00:41:03,527 --> 00:41:06,156
But her son Nathaniel maintained his innocence.

786
00:41:07,580 --> 00:41:10,156
He requested and was denied a lie detector test.

787
00:41:11,293 --> 00:41:13,723
I went into the interrogation room and spoke

788
00:41:13,723 --> 00:41:15,763
with Nathaniel trying to get him,

789
00:41:15,763 --> 00:41:18,193
you know, "Son if you know anything about this,

790
00:41:18,193 --> 00:41:20,953
please tell these people, please let them know,

791
00:41:20,953 --> 00:41:23,773
if you know anybody that had anything to do with it,

792
00:41:23,773 --> 00:41:25,993
let them know, just tell the truth."

793
00:41:25,993 --> 00:41:30,012
And my son got up in his seat, he threw the seat down,

794
00:41:30,012 --> 00:41:33,084
and he said, "I ain't killed no f'ing body."

795
00:41:33,084 --> 00:41:35,600
He still kept saying the same thing.

796
00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:37,693
"I ain't killed nobody."

797
00:41:37,693 --> 00:41:40,082
So they escorted me back out the room

798
00:41:40,082 --> 00:41:42,583
and then about 10 minutes after that,

799
00:41:42,583 --> 00:41:46,310
Detective Byron, he came in and he said,

800
00:41:46,310 --> 00:41:48,679
"I need for you to go tell your son,

801
00:41:48,679 --> 00:41:51,340
I love you and goodbye."

802
00:41:52,753 --> 00:41:53,853
And that's what I did.

803
00:41:56,615 --> 00:41:57,895
Distraught, Teresa returned home.

804
00:41:57,895 --> 00:42:02,886
At around 10:30 p.m., two detectives came for Rayshawn.

805
00:42:02,886 --> 00:42:06,193
(dramatic music)

806
00:42:06,193 --> 00:42:07,243
And Rayshawn said, "What do you mean,

807
00:42:07,243 --> 00:42:09,373
I haven't done anything, we ain't have nothing to do

808
00:42:09,373 --> 00:42:10,822
with that.

809
00:42:10,822 --> 00:42:11,655
Why are you all still bothering us?"

810
00:42:11,655 --> 00:42:14,383
And Rayshawn just got really upset

811
00:42:14,383 --> 00:42:17,023
and I was trying to tell Rayshawn, Rayshawn, please

812
00:42:17,023 --> 00:42:20,170
just calm down, just go ahead, just go ahead.

813
00:42:20,170 --> 00:42:22,393
And he's all, "So, you all gonna put, you know, handcuffs

814
00:42:22,393 --> 00:42:23,743
on me in front of my mother"

815
00:42:23,743 --> 00:42:27,613
and yeah he was really hysterical.

816
00:42:27,613 --> 00:42:31,393
We read you a juvenile rights waiver.

817
00:42:31,393 --> 00:42:33,526
You signed this rights waiver acknowledging

818
00:42:33,526 --> 00:42:35,286
that you understood your rights

819
00:42:36,530 --> 00:42:39,065
and agreed to talk to us, is that correct?

820
00:42:39,065 --> 00:42:40,148
Yes.
Okay.

821
00:42:41,143 --> 00:42:43,933
Questioned for hours, all five boys

822
00:42:43,933 --> 00:42:47,713
claim interrogators threatened them with the death penalty

823
00:42:47,713 --> 00:42:51,193
and lethal injection when they denied involvement.

824
00:42:51,193 --> 00:42:53,233
They was like, "You know you get the death penalty

825
00:42:53,233 --> 00:42:56,680
for this so just tell us what you wanna know so you can go."

826
00:42:57,823 --> 00:42:59,053
And how old were you at the time.

827
00:42:59,053 --> 00:43:01,123
14.
You were 14 years old.

828
00:43:01,123 --> 00:43:01,956
Yes, sir.

829
00:43:04,348 --> 00:43:05,436
The US Supreme Court prohibits the execution

830
00:43:05,436 --> 00:43:10,063
of 14 year olds but lying to a suspect of any age

831
00:43:10,063 --> 00:43:11,633
is legal in most states

832
00:43:12,622 --> 00:43:14,743
and an accepted interrogation tactic.

833
00:43:14,743 --> 00:43:18,883
As the hours passed all five boys claimed they were told

834
00:43:18,883 --> 00:43:23,053
they go home if they just confessed to the crime.

835
00:43:23,053 --> 00:43:25,634
He still wanna tell you that you

836
00:43:25,634 --> 00:43:26,467
would go home?
Yes, ma'am.

837
00:43:26,467 --> 00:43:27,300
They actually told you

838
00:43:27,300 --> 00:43:28,135
that you would go home?

839
00:43:28,135 --> 00:43:29,287
Yes, ma'am.

840
00:43:29,287 --> 00:43:30,913
Nathaniel, so you're 15 years old right?

841
00:43:30,913 --> 00:43:31,746
Yeah.

842
00:43:32,781 --> 00:43:35,538
Ray Shawn is spelled R-A-Y S-H-A-W.

843
00:43:35,538 --> 00:43:38,293
Same statement with Christopher Levon Bryant.

844
00:43:38,293 --> 00:43:41,143
Dorrell Brayboy.
Hmm-mm.

845
00:43:41,143 --> 00:43:43,723
When I first came in and talked with you,

846
00:43:43,723 --> 00:43:46,247
we didn't get very far with our conversation, did we?

847
00:43:46,247 --> 00:43:47,719
No.

848
00:43:47,719 --> 00:43:49,254
And then we started talking about

849
00:43:49,254 --> 00:43:51,073
what the truth was, correct?

850
00:43:51,073 --> 00:43:52,573
Is that right?
Yes.

851
00:43:52,573 --> 00:43:53,743
And then you said that everybody

852
00:43:53,743 --> 00:43:55,932
was beating him, I believe that was the words out

853
00:43:55,932 --> 00:43:56,773
of your mouth, correct?
Yeah.

854
00:43:56,773 --> 00:43:58,556
Who all are you talking about

855
00:43:58,556 --> 00:43:59,389
when you said everybody?

856
00:43:59,389 --> 00:44:02,983
Me, Bubba, Dorrell, Rayshawn and that's it.

857
00:44:02,983 --> 00:44:06,353
By midnight, all gave what they now claim

858
00:44:07,495 --> 00:44:08,328
were false confessions.

859
00:44:08,328 --> 00:44:09,970
So you beat him down and stole his money?

860
00:44:09,970 --> 00:44:10,996
I did.

861
00:44:11,996 --> 00:44:13,255
Did you hit him four or five times

862
00:44:13,255 --> 00:44:14,407
in the stomach?
Yeah.

863
00:44:14,407 --> 00:44:15,240
Okay, so you beat him?

864
00:44:15,240 --> 00:44:16,073
Yeah.
Huh?

865
00:44:17,006 --> 00:44:17,839
Yeah.

866
00:44:17,839 --> 00:44:18,672
Rayshawn dropped him with a punch

867
00:44:18,672 --> 00:44:21,147
to the face, correct?
Guess so.

868
00:44:21,147 --> 00:44:22,151
Dorrell hit him in the head with a pole?

869
00:44:22,151 --> 00:44:23,495
Guess so.

870
00:44:23,495 --> 00:44:24,328
No, I'm not asking for you to guess,

871
00:44:24,328 --> 00:44:26,588
I'm asking what your answer is.

872
00:44:26,588 --> 00:44:27,826
Yes.

873
00:44:27,826 --> 00:44:28,978
That's what you told me earlier, correct?

874
00:44:28,978 --> 00:44:30,535
Is that the truth?
Yes.

875
00:44:30,535 --> 00:44:35,036
By 3 a.m. on November 20th, 2002,

876
00:44:35,036 --> 00:44:40,033
all five boys were charged with first degree murder.

877
00:44:40,033 --> 00:44:41,653
Although they admitted guilt

878
00:44:41,653 --> 00:44:45,013
each told a different contradictory story

879
00:44:45,013 --> 00:44:47,596
inconsistent with the known facts.

880
00:44:49,010 --> 00:44:51,760
(dramatic music)

881
00:44:53,490 --> 00:44:54,620
With confessions in hand, the hunt

882
00:44:54,620 --> 00:44:57,223
for corroborating evidence began.

883
00:44:57,223 --> 00:45:01,873
The law says you can't just have a confession,

884
00:45:01,873 --> 00:45:05,394
you have to have some type of corroborating evidence.

885
00:45:05,394 --> 00:45:08,023
Investigators had footprints,

886
00:45:08,023 --> 00:45:10,486
so they went looking for a matching shoe.

887
00:45:12,433 --> 00:45:16,603
That same particular night, they took a bunch of shoes.

888
00:45:16,603 --> 00:45:19,687
Rayshawn told detectives he was wearing

889
00:45:19,687 --> 00:45:21,887
Nike Air Force Ones the night of the murder.

890
00:45:22,951 --> 00:45:25,936
Police seized four pair of Nike shoes from his home.

891
00:45:28,391 --> 00:45:31,933
(dramatic music)

892
00:45:31,933 --> 00:45:35,237
That same month the case received national attention

893
00:45:35,237 --> 00:45:39,313
when the victim's grandson and rising basketball star,

894
00:45:39,313 --> 00:45:43,813
Chris Paul scored 61 points in a high school game.

895
00:45:43,813 --> 00:45:47,836
One point for each year of his grandfather's life cut short.

896
00:45:48,871 --> 00:45:50,620
The state's star witness.
Attorney and Fox News

897
00:45:50,620 --> 00:45:53,287
chief legal correspondent, Seema Iyer

898
00:45:53,287 --> 00:45:57,084
reported extensively on the story.

899
00:45:57,084 --> 00:46:02,084
Chris Paul, famous basketball player, hometown hero,

900
00:46:02,738 --> 00:46:06,313
absolutely beloved in the state of North Carolina

901
00:46:06,313 --> 00:46:09,763
and of course Winston-Salem, he's from Winston-Salem.

902
00:46:09,763 --> 00:46:12,914
The day before his grandfather's murder,

903
00:46:12,914 --> 00:46:15,163
Chris Paul had signed with basketball powerhouse

904
00:46:15,163 --> 00:46:17,413
Wake Forest University.

905
00:46:17,413 --> 00:46:20,386
He would eventually be drafted to the NBA.

906
00:46:23,258 --> 00:46:25,258
The five boys were now in the spotlight.

907
00:46:26,233 --> 00:46:31,233
And in August of 2004, the brothers now 16 and 17 years old

908
00:46:31,903 --> 00:46:33,676
were tried as adults.

909
00:46:36,530 --> 00:46:39,133
Nathaniel's attorney tried to suppress what all five boys

910
00:46:39,133 --> 00:46:41,243
claimed were coerced confessions

911
00:46:42,887 --> 00:46:44,187
but the motion was denied.

912
00:46:45,980 --> 00:46:48,533
Prosecutors offered a second degree murder plea

913
00:46:49,820 --> 00:46:51,006
with 15 years in prison.

914
00:46:51,972 --> 00:46:53,022
The brothers refused.

915
00:46:55,451 --> 00:46:57,490
I said Stinky, "Are you sure?"

916
00:46:58,566 --> 00:47:00,722
He said, "Yes, ma'am."

917
00:47:00,722 --> 00:47:02,323
I said, "Okay."

918
00:47:02,323 --> 00:47:05,480
Went in to talk to Rayshawn, Rayshawn saying,

919
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:09,490
"No mama, he say I ain't taking a plea bargain."

920
00:47:09,490 --> 00:47:12,593
And he said, "He will sit in this prison and he will rot

921
00:47:13,991 --> 00:47:15,240
before he say he done something that he didn't do."

922
00:47:18,257 --> 00:47:20,368
At trial the jury heard that none

923
00:47:20,368 --> 00:47:22,453
of the 12 latent fingerprints found at the scene

924
00:47:22,453 --> 00:47:24,586
matched any of the five boys.

925
00:47:27,086 --> 00:47:29,948
Blood and fibers from the scene didn't match them either,

926
00:47:29,948 --> 00:47:33,073
only the two partial footwear impressions

927
00:47:33,073 --> 00:47:36,163
from the hood of the car tied any of the boys

928
00:47:36,163 --> 00:47:37,546
to the scene of the crime.

929
00:47:40,764 --> 00:47:43,756
Forensic print analyst, Joyce Peska took the stand.

930
00:47:44,803 --> 00:47:47,323
I've testified approximately 85 times

931
00:47:47,323 --> 00:47:50,386
in fingerprints and approximately 39 in footwear.

932
00:47:51,964 --> 00:47:54,914
Peska outlined her process in exacting detail.

933
00:47:56,989 --> 00:47:58,194
I received four different pair

934
00:47:58,194 --> 00:47:59,027
of Nike athletic shoes.

935
00:47:59,027 --> 00:48:01,843
I also received 58 different photographic frames

936
00:48:01,843 --> 00:48:03,946
and I received 39 photographs.

937
00:48:05,426 --> 00:48:07,474
She then created a known standard

938
00:48:07,474 --> 00:48:09,013
from the suspect's shoe to compare

939
00:48:09,013 --> 00:48:10,576
with the questioned impression.

940
00:48:13,532 --> 00:48:15,043
I determined that one of the impressions

941
00:48:15,043 --> 00:48:18,643
was consistent in design, size and wear

942
00:48:18,643 --> 00:48:19,666
with the right shoe.

943
00:48:21,890 --> 00:48:23,815
And one of the impressions was consistent in design,

944
00:48:23,815 --> 00:48:25,446
size and wear with the left shoe.

945
00:48:27,655 --> 00:48:28,663
The shoes presented as evidence

946
00:48:28,663 --> 00:48:30,046
belonged to Rayshawn,

947
00:48:31,175 --> 00:48:33,778
a pair of size nine Nike Air Force Ones.

948
00:48:33,778 --> 00:48:36,828
But during cross examination, Peska conceded

949
00:48:36,828 --> 00:48:40,603
that both the model and size of the shoes

950
00:48:40,603 --> 00:48:42,493
were very common.

951
00:48:42,493 --> 00:48:46,023
I think at the time, those sneakers were worn

952
00:48:46,023 --> 00:48:47,776
by a lot of kids.

953
00:48:48,626 --> 00:48:50,247
(upbeat hip hop music)

954
00:48:50,247 --> 00:48:51,726
A lot might be an understatement.

955
00:48:52,742 --> 00:48:54,823
Nike Air Force Ones are the number one seller

956
00:48:54,823 --> 00:48:57,286
in the history of athletic footwear.

957
00:48:58,273 --> 00:49:01,003
Just days before the murder, rap star Nelly

958
00:49:01,003 --> 00:49:03,913
released the hit single, "Air Force Ones,"

959
00:49:03,913 --> 00:49:05,956
a tribute to the shoe's popularity.

960
00:49:08,826 --> 00:49:10,492
(upbeat hip hop music) The song eventually hit number three

961
00:49:10,492 --> 00:49:14,396
on Billboard's top 100.

962
00:49:14,396 --> 00:49:17,033
The year of the trial, an estimated 10 million pairs

963
00:49:18,492 --> 00:49:19,325
were sold.

964
00:49:20,327 --> 00:49:21,313
They got so popular and I thought they were cute

965
00:49:21,313 --> 00:49:22,546
and I even wanted some.

966
00:49:23,634 --> 00:49:25,603
They were just a popular shoe and they had them,

967
00:49:25,603 --> 00:49:28,450
even they friends had them, they shared shoes, you know?

968
00:49:28,450 --> 00:49:31,846
They swapped shoes and clothes all the time.

969
00:49:32,923 --> 00:49:35,383
Given the limited detail of the impressions

970
00:49:35,383 --> 00:49:37,483
and popularity of the shoe,

971
00:49:37,483 --> 00:49:39,763
Agent Peska admitted under oath

972
00:49:39,763 --> 00:49:42,253
that another pair of Nike Air Force Ones

973
00:49:42,253 --> 00:49:44,446
could have produced the impression.

974
00:49:47,165 --> 00:49:48,291
(dramatic music)

975
00:49:48,291 --> 00:49:50,773
We don't know how many pairs of a specific shoe

976
00:49:50,773 --> 00:49:52,456
are currently walking around.

977
00:49:54,258 --> 00:49:56,808
There might be 50 of the same shoe for all we know.

978
00:49:58,034 --> 00:49:59,653
The jury wasn't warned that scientists

979
00:49:59,653 --> 00:50:02,151
consider partial footprints

980
00:50:02,151 --> 00:50:04,251
to be an unreliable identification method.

981
00:50:05,353 --> 00:50:07,640
You get a lot of testimony that says something like,

982
00:50:07,640 --> 00:50:09,943
"Well, I've looked at the shoe print

983
00:50:09,943 --> 00:50:11,293
and I've looked at the shoe

984
00:50:12,604 --> 00:50:14,854
and there are some areas here of similarity."

985
00:50:16,273 --> 00:50:18,673
What does that mean? So a jury's kind of left to say,

986
00:50:18,673 --> 00:50:21,103
oh, so there's some areas of similarity

987
00:50:21,103 --> 00:50:23,932
but they don't think, well, wait a minute,

988
00:50:23,932 --> 00:50:25,483
that means, that there's areas of dissimilarity.

989
00:50:25,483 --> 00:50:28,333
So is there something that possible could have eliminated

990
00:50:28,333 --> 00:50:29,176
this print?

991
00:50:30,692 --> 00:50:31,933
And you're just kind of left with the jury hearing

992
00:50:31,933 --> 00:50:34,490
a bunch of words without having any context

993
00:50:34,490 --> 00:50:36,286
for what that means.

994
00:50:38,396 --> 00:50:39,913
In closing arguments the prosecution

995
00:50:39,913 --> 00:50:43,903
went even further repeatedly arguing Rayshawn's shoe

996
00:50:43,903 --> 00:50:45,646
was a match to the imprint,

997
00:50:46,610 --> 00:50:49,060
even though their own expert conceded it was not.

998
00:50:50,745 --> 00:50:51,846
But the damage was done.

999
00:50:54,588 --> 00:50:55,458
The jury came back in a little of no time,

1000
00:50:55,458 --> 00:50:59,233
good gracious, I would say it probably

1001
00:50:59,233 --> 00:51:02,893
wasn't even 45 minutes before they came back.

1002
00:51:05,250 --> 00:51:09,870
The verdict guilty of first degree murder.

1003
00:51:11,740 --> 00:51:14,490
(dramatic music)

1004
00:51:17,180 --> 00:51:18,553
Rayshawn Banner and Nathaniel Cauthen

1005
00:51:18,553 --> 00:51:22,426
were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

1006
00:51:24,924 --> 00:51:28,963
Rayshawn just dropped his head,

1007
00:51:28,963 --> 00:51:32,266
Nathaniel just started crying.

1008
00:51:34,363 --> 00:51:37,936
He stood up and he addressed the Paul's family.

1009
00:51:39,751 --> 00:51:41,773
You know, he don't know what happened to this man.

1010
00:51:41,773 --> 00:51:45,646
He's sorry for what has happened to your father.

1011
00:51:47,516 --> 00:51:49,086
Then he addressed the jury and said,

1012
00:51:50,140 --> 00:51:51,216
"You all got all my clothes, my shoes,

1013
00:51:51,216 --> 00:51:54,043
you all got everything down here

1014
00:51:54,043 --> 00:51:56,370
and you all don't have anything on it."

1015
00:51:58,204 --> 00:52:01,193
And that's all he said, that's what he said.

1016
00:52:03,653 --> 00:52:05,746
And I held back the tears.

1017
00:52:05,746 --> 00:52:08,163
(slow music)

1018
00:52:11,783 --> 00:52:13,453
Rayshawn and Nathaniel have been in prison

1019
00:52:13,453 --> 00:52:15,016
for 18 years.

1020
00:52:18,133 --> 00:52:19,906
Nathaniel calls a lot.

1021
00:52:20,803 --> 00:52:22,186
That boy so handsome.

1022
00:52:23,330 --> 00:52:28,003
Rayshawn, he calls probably about every two to three weeks,

1023
00:52:28,003 --> 00:52:31,693
he's not as dependent as Nathaniel is.

1024
00:52:31,693 --> 00:52:33,583
Always thought Rayshawn was the momma's boy

1025
00:52:33,583 --> 00:52:35,446
but I think Nathaniel is.

1026
00:52:37,101 --> 00:52:39,103
The family bond remains strong.

1027
00:52:39,103 --> 00:52:40,783
We used to hang out all the time.

1028
00:52:40,783 --> 00:52:44,653
I was always getting off work and going down

1029
00:52:44,653 --> 00:52:45,913
to the recreation centers.

1030
00:52:45,913 --> 00:52:48,133
They would be just in their gym playing basketball,

1031
00:52:48,133 --> 00:52:49,243
running around.

1032
00:52:49,243 --> 00:52:52,824
This was every single day, every single day,

1033
00:52:52,824 --> 00:52:55,336
I hung out with my boys.

1034
00:52:58,303 --> 00:52:59,888
Teresa has never stopped supporting

1035
00:52:59,888 --> 00:53:03,325
and advocating for her boys.

1036
00:53:03,325 --> 00:53:06,613
I done a lot with them, you know,

1037
00:53:06,613 --> 00:53:09,554
to try to keep them strong, keep them engaged.

1038
00:53:09,554 --> 00:53:14,554
I ain't gonna say they accepted the life they got dealt with

1039
00:53:15,943 --> 00:53:17,893
but one certainly can deal with it

1040
00:53:17,893 --> 00:53:20,116
a lot better than the other.

1041
00:53:21,845 --> 00:53:24,295
Rayshawn dealt with it better than Nathaniel did.

1042
00:53:26,026 --> 00:53:28,753
In 2014, Nathaniel wrote a suicide note

1043
00:53:28,753 --> 00:53:32,113
to his mother and brother maintaining his innocence

1044
00:53:32,113 --> 00:53:33,916
before trying to end his life.

1045
00:53:37,141 --> 00:53:39,366
According to prison records, it was his third attempt.

1046
00:53:41,642 --> 00:53:44,095
But in 2020, the family was offered a ray of hope

1047
00:53:44,095 --> 00:53:46,513
when the Innocence Inquiry Commission

1048
00:53:46,513 --> 00:53:48,346
agreed to hear their case.

1049
00:53:50,794 --> 00:53:52,901
It was 2020, going right out of 2019 to 2020

1050
00:53:52,901 --> 00:53:57,471
is when I learned they were getting ready to get some help.

1051
00:53:57,471 --> 00:54:02,471
But I never thought it would lead to where we are now.

1052
00:54:05,574 --> 00:54:07,562
If the commission exonerates Rayshawn

1053
00:54:07,562 --> 00:54:09,262
and Nathaniel, they will be freed.

1054
00:54:15,519 --> 00:54:16,873
Over the years, the public has learned more

1055
00:54:16,873 --> 00:54:21,044
about false confessions and Rayshawn, Nathaniel

1056
00:54:21,044 --> 00:54:22,894
and their co-defendants are now known

1057
00:54:24,010 --> 00:54:25,310
as the Winston-Salem five.

1058
00:54:27,295 --> 00:54:30,239
They're named that after the famous case

1059
00:54:30,239 --> 00:54:33,316
known as the Central Park five.

1060
00:54:34,813 --> 00:54:37,753
Five other boys, also wrongfully convicted

1061
00:54:37,753 --> 00:54:42,013
who spent 11 years in prison because of coerced confessions.

1062
00:54:42,013 --> 00:54:44,866
The similarities are striking.

1063
00:54:46,153 --> 00:54:50,233
As time goes by more and more people

1064
00:54:50,233 --> 00:54:53,116
believe this could be a wrongful conviction.

1065
00:54:54,133 --> 00:54:55,963
It is difficult to comprehend

1066
00:54:55,963 --> 00:55:00,283
why someone would admit to something they simply did not do

1067
00:55:00,283 --> 00:55:03,613
even Rayshawn and Nathaniel's mom initially struggled

1068
00:55:03,613 --> 00:55:04,726
to understand.

1069
00:55:05,623 --> 00:55:08,300
Though the boys have always said that you know,

1070
00:55:08,300 --> 00:55:10,603
"Momma, they didn't do this, they made us say that,"

1071
00:55:10,603 --> 00:55:13,573
and I questioned that, you know,

1072
00:55:13,573 --> 00:55:16,170
why would you confess to something you didn't do?

1073
00:55:16,170 --> 00:55:19,290
That's when I learned they were coerced into saying

1074
00:55:19,290 --> 00:55:20,326
what they said.

1075
00:55:22,723 --> 00:55:24,703
Studies show that juveniles

1076
00:55:24,703 --> 00:55:26,473
are especially vulnerable to what

1077
00:55:26,473 --> 00:55:29,053
are called maximization techniques

1078
00:55:29,053 --> 00:55:31,366
designed to illicit confessions.

1079
00:55:32,953 --> 00:55:35,833
This is after the police had already threatened me

1080
00:55:35,833 --> 00:55:36,886
several times.

1081
00:55:37,723 --> 00:55:39,978
What you want me to do I'm 15 years old,

1082
00:55:39,978 --> 00:55:43,260
I can't read or write, I know no better.

1083
00:55:43,260 --> 00:55:46,813
Only thing I know is my momma's at home,

1084
00:55:46,813 --> 00:55:50,533
I don't know where I'm at, what you want me to say?

1085
00:55:50,533 --> 00:55:51,943
Any kid would do that,

1086
00:55:51,943 --> 00:55:55,093
any kid would actually sit right here and lie

1087
00:55:55,093 --> 00:55:57,796
to make the situation better so they can go home.

1088
00:55:59,113 --> 00:56:01,213
Seema Iyer has reported on the issues

1089
00:56:01,213 --> 00:56:03,313
of false confessions.

1090
00:56:03,313 --> 00:56:07,093
Number one the male brain, sorry to disappoint

1091
00:56:07,093 --> 00:56:11,416
you fellows is not fully formed until the age of 25.

1092
00:56:12,463 --> 00:56:14,913
That's the first hurdle when you're talking about

1093
00:56:15,793 --> 00:56:18,946
young men who falsely confess.

1094
00:56:20,085 --> 00:56:23,771
You're also having to factor in the law which states

1095
00:56:23,771 --> 00:56:26,746
law enforcement can trick people.

1096
00:56:28,059 --> 00:56:29,833
Two detectives who interrogated the boys

1097
00:56:29,833 --> 00:56:33,343
threatened them with execution even though they knew

1098
00:56:33,343 --> 00:56:34,336
it was a lie.

1099
00:56:36,426 --> 00:56:40,813
If you're 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, how do you know any better?

1100
00:56:40,813 --> 00:56:43,003
You don't the justice system,

1101
00:56:43,003 --> 00:56:48,003
so you think I have to just say this

1102
00:56:48,103 --> 00:56:49,456
and then I get to go home.

1103
00:56:51,146 --> 00:56:54,373
But Rayshawn and Nathaniel never got home.

1104
00:56:54,373 --> 00:56:56,863
The interrogation techniques also worked

1105
00:56:56,863 --> 00:57:00,493
on a friend of the boys who confessed to driving them

1106
00:57:00,493 --> 00:57:01,906
to the scene of the crime.

1107
00:57:03,370 --> 00:57:04,963
So it would Bubba, Rayshawn, Stinky

1108
00:57:04,963 --> 00:57:07,765
and Dorrell in your car?

1109
00:57:07,765 --> 00:57:08,959
Yes sir.

1110
00:57:08,959 --> 00:57:09,846
And you drove?
Yes sir.

1111
00:57:10,792 --> 00:57:12,673
But 18 years later Jessicah Black

1112
00:57:12,673 --> 00:57:16,393
came forward to admit she lied because she was afraid

1113
00:57:16,393 --> 00:57:17,896
she would be sent to prison.

1114
00:57:19,273 --> 00:57:24,273
Everything I said on the stand, I can tell you, them,

1115
00:57:24,793 --> 00:57:28,606
anybody, all that shit's not true.

1116
00:57:29,503 --> 00:57:34,503
But I said what I said because I scared to death

1117
00:57:34,933 --> 00:57:37,433
I was getting charged and going to jail.

1118
00:57:37,433 --> 00:57:39,916
I was scared I was going to jail.

1119
00:57:41,663 --> 00:57:43,327
And nothing that I said was right

1120
00:57:43,327 --> 00:57:48,327
and they weren't satisfied until like I gave them the answer

1121
00:57:50,653 --> 00:57:51,503
that they wanted.

1122
00:57:53,034 --> 00:57:54,357
(dramatic music)

1123
00:57:54,357 --> 00:57:55,243
Without the confessions

1124
00:57:56,191 --> 00:57:57,024
and the footwear evidence,

1125
00:57:58,747 --> 00:57:59,580
there wouldn't have been a case against the boys.

1126
00:57:59,580 --> 00:58:02,386
Both were now being called into question.

1127
00:58:03,483 --> 00:58:05,855
In the case of State versus Nathaniel Cauthen

1128
00:58:05,855 --> 00:58:08,533
Melissa Ethery, yes.

1129
00:58:08,533 --> 00:58:10,903
On March 13, 2020,

1130
00:58:10,903 --> 00:58:13,943
five of the eight commission members concluded

1131
00:58:15,477 --> 00:58:17,743
that there was sufficient evidence of factual innocence

1132
00:58:18,630 --> 00:58:19,476
to merit judicial review.

1133
00:58:21,479 --> 00:58:22,397
Johnson Pritt, yes.
(dramatic music)

1134
00:58:22,397 --> 00:58:25,033
And in April, 2022,

1135
00:58:25,033 --> 00:58:27,103
Rayshawn and Nathaniel's case went

1136
00:58:27,103 --> 00:58:30,223
before a three judge panel who had the power

1137
00:58:30,223 --> 00:58:31,546
to exonerate them.

1138
00:58:34,023 --> 00:58:36,523
But the burden of proof was set extremely high

1139
00:58:36,523 --> 00:58:40,551
clear and convincing evidence of innocence.

1140
00:58:40,551 --> 00:58:44,353
Footwear evidence again took center stage

1141
00:58:44,353 --> 00:58:47,953
with testimony clarifying that Rayshawn's Air Force Ones

1142
00:58:47,953 --> 00:58:52,546
were very common and to claim a match was very misleading.

1143
00:58:54,588 --> 00:58:57,676
But after 20 years, Teresa barely dared to hope.

1144
00:58:59,453 --> 00:59:02,303
In the back of my mind, something still could go wrong.

1145
00:59:03,997 --> 00:59:05,773
So I don't put all the eggs in one basket and say,

1146
00:59:05,773 --> 00:59:07,173
oh yeah, they're coming home

1147
00:59:08,143 --> 00:59:10,309
because at the end of the day,

1148
00:59:10,309 --> 00:59:15,282
those three judges still gotta have an unanimous vote,

1149
00:59:15,282 --> 00:59:16,993
yeah.

1150
00:59:16,993 --> 00:59:19,543
And with the victim's grandson, Chris Paul

1151
00:59:19,543 --> 00:59:23,986
an NBA star, media frenzy added to the scrutiny.

1152
00:59:25,010 --> 00:59:27,760
(dramatic music)

1153
00:59:29,083 --> 00:59:32,723
On April 28, 2022 the three judge panel

1154
00:59:33,584 --> 00:59:35,323
voted to deny their claim

1155
00:59:35,323 --> 00:59:37,753
on the grounds that revealing flaws in the case

1156
00:59:37,753 --> 00:59:40,243
against them isn't the same thing

1157
00:59:40,243 --> 00:59:42,016
as proving their innocence.

1158
00:59:44,935 --> 00:59:46,706
So the fight goes on.

1159
00:59:46,706 --> 00:59:49,757
(slow music)

1160
00:59:49,757 --> 00:59:51,733
A reward is on offer for information leading

1161
00:59:51,733 --> 00:59:52,846
to the real killer.

1162
00:59:56,349 --> 00:59:59,461
Nathaniel and Rayshawn's attorney is seeking a retrial

1163
00:59:59,461 --> 01:00:03,646
and Teresa can only stay strong for her boys.

1164
01:00:06,159 --> 01:00:08,313
They've been away now for 20 years, for 20 years,

1165
01:00:08,313 --> 01:00:10,535
20 long years.

1166
01:00:10,535 --> 01:00:14,443
They could have been home by now if they'd agree

1167
01:00:14,443 --> 01:00:16,840
to the plea deal but they didn't do it

1168
01:00:16,840 --> 01:00:19,663
and they wasn't gonna say they did it.

1169
01:00:19,663 --> 01:00:22,516
So we're gonna have to just remain strong together,

1170
01:00:23,975 --> 01:00:26,375
how hard it's gonna be and it has been some days

1171
01:00:27,858 --> 01:00:29,708
and years but you still stand strong.

1172
01:00:31,012 --> 01:00:33,962
17, 18, 20 years later, still fighting for innocence, yeah.

1173
01:00:42,343 --> 01:00:45,093
(dramatic music)

1174
01:01:01,167 --> 01:01:03,812
(dramatic music)