Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Every crime has a story.
Every case has another side.
Real crimes uncensored and raw memoirs from an award winning criminal defense attorney.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: This is the Dodcast.
Welcome to the first episode of the dodcast. We're so excited to get started. We're going to bring you Real crime, uncensored, Raw. Nothing is rehearsed. In fact, my first guest today, I haven't seen him since he was in jail and everyone asked me, well, why am I doing a podcast? And it's very simple. I've been a criminal defense lawyer for 22 years and the first thing anyone ever asks me when they find out what I do for a living. What is your craziest case? So I decided we're going to bring crazy to you. We're going to bring it to your living room, we're going to bring it to your tablet and we're going to have real life clients, real life crime.
Nothing is rehearsed. And my client sitting here today, I haven't seen him since he's been in jail. In fact, when he pulled up in front of our studio this morning, he pulled up in the exact same car that was used in the incident, in the exact same car that was a subject of our trial. Exhibits of his car were all over the courtroom during trial. So today I have a man who I represented. He was facing 50 years to life. I represented him with my co counsel, Michelle Lefue, who's also present. He was charged with first degree murder, facing 50 to life. And the fact that he's here today is a miracle. The fact that he's here today, sitting with us out of custody is a complete miracle. It's a statistical improbability that he's here today because in the United States of America, less than 2% of individuals that are charged with first degree murder are acquitted. And he's one of those 2%.
He's here today. Thanks for coming out.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: Thanks for having me, Dom.
[00:02:05] Speaker B: So the first thing I want to talk about is a little bit of background about the case before I turn it over to him. October 22nd, I won't give a year. We're not going to talk about names, we're not going to talk about dates or any addresses or any identifying information here. But October 22nd, this man's life changed. He was charged with first degree murder. Now, you know, some of the things I say on this show are not going to be popular.
And in this case, you know, the victim in the case, and you know I've always said this, sometimes the victims have, have it coming.
And I'm sorry to say that sometimes you have it coming. So I'm not going to even call him the victim. I'm going to call him the dead guy, you know, and that might offend some of you, but we're going to call him the dead guy. Because sometimes in murder cases in this country, you can't go around terrorizing neighborhoods and acting like you own the block. And you had it coming at some point. Right? So that's kind of the case that we had here. But the dead guy in our case was dating my client's sister.
They were in a DV relationship. He was beating her. He was threatening my client's family.
He would go to my client's family. He would roll out of his car and say, I'm going to blow this place up. I'm going to air this place out.
Numerous times he made threats against my client, against his sister, against his family. He even locked his sister in a garage.
His sister had to call my client and his brothers to go rescue her from the dead guy's house.
And when they got there, she was pounding on the garage, trying to get out.
Client and brother lift up the garage as dead guy cocks his gun in the background. You remember that? Yeah, he cocks his gun. So these are all things that he. He knows about the dead guy when the incident went down. Now, what happened on the day of the incident?
Dead guy and his sister were in a vehicle.
She was stranded in the vehicle.
She was abused by him. He stole the keys, and she ran up to the church where he was working doing food distribution. At the time, his dad was the pastor of the church. He is now the pastor of the church.
So he went up there, she went up there all bruised up, crying.
He stole my keys. And what does he think at that point? You had a bunch of family in town?
[00:04:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: For a funeral?
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: This man has been threatening you for months, threatening your family, threatening your sister. He has your keys to your house now. He threatened to come to your house and blow this place up. He came, he threatened you to come and air this place out. But now he has the keys.
And you have family in town for a funeral, and you're afraid at this point, Right. That he's going to come into the house and do something.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: So
[00:05:07] Speaker B: she comes up to the church crying.
What were you doing at the time?
[00:05:13] Speaker A: We have a program where we pick up donations from certain stores that we partner with.
And I was unloading the vehicles that we had picked up food in our food donations.
And My sister just dropped off one of my cousins to assist with everything that was going on.
And I saw her drive away.
Someone was walking around outside and she kind of drove off. My cousin had told me someone tried to stop them at the gate, but my sister disappeared for maybe 20 to 30 minutes. And all of a sudden she started walking back.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: And let's talk about the importance of that.
What did your sister do in the church? She was the lead singer in the choir?
[00:05:57] Speaker A: Yeah, she was the worshiper.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: You were in the choir. Right. So I'm going to digress a little bit here because I think one of the most important parts of this trial happened when you testified. Right. And I did my direct examination of you, and I never once mentioned ever that you were in the choir because I wanted that to come out with the D.A. right. So I intentionally didn't ask you about being a choir boy, and I let the DA start asking you questions. And when you said during trial you were in the choir and you were waiting for your sister to come because she was the lead singer, I looked at Michelle, I looked at the jury, the jury was all taking notes. And the moment you said you were in the choir, they all just looked up at you and stared at you.
That was it. I. I knew at that point we won the case because not one juror took a note after that. Once they heard that you were in the choir, you were a choir boy, there was no way that you were capable of first degree murder.
What were your thoughts, Michelle?
[00:07:02] Speaker C: Watching that moment, Watching that moment, that was eye opening. Because at that moment, I would agree completely that it changed the tone. It changed the entire tone. I think the DA was also pretty shocked by that and didn't thrown off guard. It threw her off.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: Her. She was thrown off guard. It changed the whole trajectory of the case.
[00:07:19] Speaker C: Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Everyone went. Everyone was taking notes. And then all of a sudden, the moment you said that it was over, I knew we won.
Because, no, there's no way a choir boy can be guilty of murder. Right? There's no way that can happen. So let's pick up. So she comes up, she's crying, she's bruised up. You guys are about to start the choir. She's not there. She's the singer. They need her to start.
What happens?
[00:07:44] Speaker A: Yeah, she was.
She walks up, she was crying and she was bleeding. And I asked her, what's going on? Where's your car? I thought she had been in a car accident.
She looked tore up, like something like a car accident happened. So I thought, oh, where's your car? And I started looking around. She said, it's across the street. I was like, you hit somebody? And then she explained that no, the person who was walking around outside was.
They were no longer together. They. That's why he was there.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: Dead guy.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: Yeah, dead guy was no longer with her. She was trying to break away from him and he didn't, he wasn't having it. He wasn't having it. Somehow he forced his way into the car.
[00:08:26] Speaker C: Well, he had ripped out her earrings
[00:08:28] Speaker B: and ripped out her earring.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: He got into the car and they drove across the street.
She was trying to take him away from church. Cuz he was threatening, oh, I'm going to come into the church, you know, with your family there. So they ended up across the street. And that's when he started.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: When you say he was threatening to come into the church, he's done that multiple times?
[00:08:46] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: He's threatened to come into your house.
[00:08:48] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: He's threatened to air this place out. He, he even had an incident where he beat some guy up and the guy was seizing on the ground and he left the guy there seize on the ground. And you knew about all this stuff, so go ahead.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: So my sister is the one who's experienced most of his, his actions.
So in trying to stop him, you
[00:09:07] Speaker B: do all this too because your sister told you about everything, right? So that puts you on alert.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: She told me everything that her past experiences with him. But that's why she tried to keep him outside. And that's how he ended up.
She kept him across the street. But in doing so he started to beat her and ripped her earrings out and he stole her keys at that point. The keys where she had access to my parents house.
My house because at the time she was staying with me. And so now we just laid my aunt to rest the day before. And that's why you had all the
[00:09:42] Speaker B: family there from the.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: All my family was in town.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: Wasn't there an incident prior to this where you and your whole family kind of barricaded your sister to protect her? Remember that incident? What happened there?
[00:09:56] Speaker A: He showed up to the church. We just.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: This was a few months before that incident, right?
[00:10:00] Speaker A: A couple weeks, if. Couple weeks, yeah.
He showed up to the church, sat outside the gate in his car, was honking the horn, trying to get her to come outside, be disrespectful during church. We just finished and my dad at the time, he was worried for her and so she jumped in his car and in like a barricade, we all jumped in our cars. And as we were driving home, we just kept my dad's car, like, in between. Like, our cars. Like, I think my brother was in front of him. My dad's car was in between. I was behind in my car, following, and he was the whole time trying to chase us down, trying to get to the car to the point where we finally pulled into our house. He had to. To swerve around us in order not to. To. To hit us.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: So with you, your brothers, your family, basically barricading your sister and escorting her to the house, that didn't bother him at all.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: He wasn't concerned.
[00:10:55] Speaker B: He wasn't phased at all. Right. And. And he just. He was becoming crazier. And the days went right.
So, you know, that incident happens. So now, you know, there was an
[00:11:06] Speaker A: incident with my younger brother's graduation party where he was saying stuff like a.
Y' all keep playing. I'mma air this place out, where he threatened to come inside the party. He wasn't worried about the family that was down, and he was just threatening family, man.
[00:11:22] Speaker B: Big Samoan family, right?
[00:11:23] Speaker A: There's a lot of us.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: There's a lot of.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: And a big someone. Nothing. Phased him.
[00:11:27] Speaker A: Yeah, he wasn't worried about us. So when he said that to her.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: She's told him, like, oh, I got. I got six brothers. He said, I'm not worried about them.
So he. He didn't.
[00:11:37] Speaker C: Well, she's the only girl.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: Yeah, she's the only girl.
[00:11:39] Speaker C: Siblings. And.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: Yeah. And he's. He's told him multiple times, like, I got something for them. Like, he ain't worried about how big we are or how many of us there are. He had something for us. So.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: So when.
When he takes the keys, you guys were concerned.
[00:11:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: You guys were scared at that point, right?
Because not only has he threatened to come in now, he can come in.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: He can come in now. You know, he. That was the only thing stopping me is the fact that he didn't have access into the house. But he's been to our house. He's. He's driven up to the driveway, he's threatened to come inside. He wasn't worried about it. But even with my parents at the house, my dad. My dad's a pretty big guy. He wasn't worried.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: So when you. You. You get your two brothers, you get in the car, you guys start driving over there. As you're driving there, you know about his prior violent acts, right? You know about all this going on, and you're scared as you're Going there. But you're there trying to protect your family. Right. Taking the keys back. You know, you knew on your drive there that he's drove up to your house multiple times, threatening you guys. He was not afraid of you guys, not afraid of your family. No matter how many people were in your family, nothing faced him. So your primary concern, get those keys. If I don't get the keys, he has the key to my house. We have people here from a funeral. We have a lot of people here. He's going to come in our house and do something. He had just abused your sister.
[00:13:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: He's abused your sister multiple times.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: He locked her in the garage.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Tell us about that.
[00:13:15] Speaker A: He pretty much kidnapped her and she tried to leave.
And he was very controlling. There's many times where we'd be on a family outing or we'd just be sitting around at the house and she'd be on her phone whispering, saying, I'm here with my brothers or who's here at the house? And she in concern. She'd. She started naming off who's at the house. And we used to look at her like, who are you talking to? Why are you telling whoever's on the phone where you're at and who's all around?
But it's because he was very controlling. He'd always assumed she was with other people.
And this kind of leaked over to when she tried to leave the house. He. He wasn't having it. He didn't want her to go out, so he locked her in the garage and she was able to gain hold of her phone. And. And we were in church at the time. Again, we were at a. We're a very church oriented family.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: No one can convict a church choir boy, man. Nobody can convict him.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Yeah. So while we were at church, the. My other brother was given a call and then he told us and ultimately my brothers and everyone left the church and came to the house. And when we got there, me and my other brother had to try to pry the. The garage door open so that she can crawl underneath. But while we were doing that.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: This was a couple months before the incident, right?
[00:14:39] Speaker A: Yeah, While we were doing that, he was, he was just yelling off and talking, saying stuff.
He wasn't right next to the door, but you can hear him clearly yelling and telling. And that's when we heard clocks. A gun. Yeah, him clock his. His gun. And yeah, you opened the door, she
[00:14:55] Speaker B: got out, you guys took off. Right.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: We didn't wait for him to.
[00:14:58] Speaker B: So you're thinking about all this as you're driving over. Right. So let's. Let's back up a little bit.
We'll pick up there. So you moved here with your family from Hawaii.
You played football. Yeah, college football. Where'd you play college football?
[00:15:13] Speaker A: It was a small school in Oklahoma. Bacon College.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: You know, you played in the arena football. Like, who'd you play for?
[00:15:22] Speaker A: Fever up in Washington and then the Outlaws in Kansas City. No, Dodge City. Sorry.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: And then you also had. I mean, you. You were. You had dreams of going to the NFL, Right.
And then you came out to San Diego. Your dad was the pastor of the church. You started working at the church, and it was always your goal to become the pastor of the church, right? Yeah. And you're the pastor of the church now.
[00:15:46] Speaker A: I am.
[00:15:46] Speaker B: But unfortunately, you know, your father passed away.
Yeah. After the trial. I mean, I remember. I mean, he was at every single day of the trial. He was there. And unfortunately, you know, he passed away about three months after you were released. Right.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: When I finally came on. Yeah.
[00:16:03] Speaker B: But he actually got to see you as a free man, so it was. It was all meant to be. Yeah. You got out. You got to see him.
He passed away three months after you were acquitted. And just so the viewers know, not guilty. First degree murder. Not guilty. Second degree murder. Not guilty.
Voluntary manslaughter. So now he has your keys, man, and you're going there. What happened?
[00:16:29] Speaker A: Like you said, with everything that had gone on in the past, I was concerned. I had two of my brothers in the car, but they weren't there for anything other than we just finished the.
With everything at the church.
So when I was driving there, my concern was, I don't want anything to happen to them. So I got there and told him, stay in the car. I'm just going to grab the keys and then we'll leave. When I get out and he's there. He's.
The dead guy's there. He's drinking or him and one other person's with him. And when I asked for the keys, he kind of just looked at me
[00:17:04] Speaker B: with, I don't got your keys.
[00:17:05] Speaker A: He. He. He wasn't having any of that.
[00:17:07] Speaker B: None of that.
[00:17:08] Speaker A: And he ends up swinging on me and telling me to get.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: So. So what he did was this. I. He was holding a beer, right?
[00:17:16] Speaker A: Yeah, he was.
[00:17:17] Speaker B: First put that beer down, and he starts skipping around the driveway. Challenge you to a fight, like, you know, getting in a little, and you're just like, give me the keys, bro. Give me the keys. I don't got Your keys.
[00:17:28] Speaker A: Right.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: And then you know, true to form, get the fuck out or I'll shoot. So then when you got out of the car, you didn't have a gun?
[00:17:37] Speaker A: I didn't have anything, no.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: And this is the prosecution's theory on this case was that.
And they said this an opening statement. They said it in closing argument. This was an ambush style execution.
Ambush style execution. That was her whole theory. Right. So remember my closing argument? I threw it right back at him. How was this an ambush style execution? You didn't even get out of the car with the gun.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: You got out of the car to get your keys.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Right.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: And then when he came down, I'm going to fucking shoot if you don't get out of here. I don't got your fucking keys.
[00:18:09] Speaker A: Right.
[00:18:10] Speaker B: And he starts skipping around. At that point you're like, whoa, this guy's unhinged, bro. Yeah, he's unhinged. He's not going to give me the keys. Something's going to happen here. So that's when you went back.
[00:18:22] Speaker C: It was also gesturing in his. Yeah, he was also just.
[00:18:26] Speaker A: So what had happened was with all the commotion going where he's skipping around trying to. He wanted something to happen. He. I don't know if he wanted to fight or anything, but when I asked him for the keys again, him skipping around, he tried to sucker punch me and kind of ran behind another car. That's when he was skipping down the street. And that's when all of a sudden I see him reaching for something in
[00:18:47] Speaker B: his pocket and he's holding his cell phone like it's a gun. It's a shiny object. Right. And remember there was like a day of testimony about that shiny object.
[00:18:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: In his hand and he was holding that cell phone. It's a split second decision. You think he has a gun? Cuz he says he's going to shoot. So all you see is this shiny object and your brothers are back in the car. At this point, witness across the street, she says you walked up, boom, shot him within.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: That was during the trial.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: Yeah, that was during the trial.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: During the trial, her, her whole testimony changed because it wasn't the shininess, it was, it was black. I thought it was a handle, cuz he kept making it seem like it was a handle coming out of a gun coming out of his pocket. So that's when I got concerned and that's when I grabbed my gun. Yeah. And then, so then when he's walking down the street and still kind of just trying to cause attention to come to us in commotion. The neighbor across the street sees me and I'm walking. When I grabbed the gun, it wasn't like I was trying to conceal it. I just held it out to the side like, hey, bro, if you like, don't.
[00:19:51] Speaker B: Don't mess with those.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: Yeah, we're not playing those games. So I was like, you got a gun? I got a gun, like.
[00:19:57] Speaker B: And that didn't face him, man.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: It didn't phase him. He was still skipping around, talking about, get the f out of here. I don't got my business. I got no keys. He didn't say, I didn't got no kids. He was just saying, it's none of your business, like you're you. The keys aren't your business. Like, get out of here. What I do to your sister is our business. And the neighbor saw me in prelims. She testified that I was holding the gun off to the side. It was clear she saw what, 20ft away, 30ft away?
[00:20:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:26] Speaker A: She changed her story when she got real defensive. So then this.
[00:20:30] Speaker B: So this is what happens, and this was when. This is where the whole. The whole trial hinged on this. So this was self defense with a ricochet. Right, because you didn't walk up to him and boom. Yeah, shoot him in his head. You let up a warning shot, right, like, get away from me. Warning shot off the pavement. It goes into his chin, gets lodged in the back of his brain, and that's where he comes to rest.
That's it. That's where the bullet landed. And the most important part of the trial, Michelle. And Michelle and I visited the medical examiner three times.
You know, and for the young criminal lawyers out there, you better, better, better go see your medical examiner, because we saw him three times. The last time we saw the medical examiner at the medical examiner's office, we took an investigator with us because we didn't want him to weasel his way out of the testimony, because he told us when he first saw us that the bullet that was lodged in the back of his head had scrape marks and fragments on it that was consistent with it hitting off of an object before it entered.
So, you know, the main question I asked him, and I said, so if, you know, I asked you the question in trial, can you exclude the possibility of a ricocheted to any degree of medical certainty? What's going to be your answer? And what did he say? I can't. It's possible. Right. So you know, when he testified, the DA had no idea, no idea where we were going with this. And I asked him the question, and just like the, the part where you said you were in a choir.
And I looked at the jury, I was like, oh, we got this, man. You know, then this next, this next question that I asked, you know, the medical examiner, I said, can you exclude the possibility that this was a ricocheted off of the ground to any degree of medical certainty? And he sat there for like 30 seconds. I'm like, he's going to change, like
[00:22:32] Speaker C: a really long time.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: I was like, oh, man, he's going to change this, man. He's gonna change this. And he looked over at the jury.
I cannot.
[00:22:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: And I was like, game over at that point. It's over at that point.
[00:22:45] Speaker C: Well, and I remember watching the DA too, at that point, and her face was just like, what did I do?
[00:22:50] Speaker B: You know, like they were completely startled.
[00:22:52] Speaker C: She was not expecting that. Not at all.
[00:22:54] Speaker B: Completely startled. So, you know, bullet goes in, he's on the ground.
Another thing we're going to talk about.
You get back in the car, you drive by dead guy, you pull out your cell phone.
Don't play with me. And you say your sister's name and we're not going to mention her name, right?
And he's on the ground and you're videoing him. Don't play with me. He's bleeding. You don't see the blood because you're just driving, recording him, right? What did you mean by don't play with me?
Well, you didn't even know you shot him, though.
You had no idea you shot him.
[00:23:32] Speaker A: So when she, her argument was, it was just an execution. There was no fight. There was none of that. So she tried to make it seem like we were just, it was all gunplay. But I expressed her like, no, I fought him off. He tried to attack me and I defended myself. So when I hit him, that's why we don't know like the ricochet, where it came from, because everything happened so fast. And so when I was leaving, I remember I got one clean hit off of him. When he tried to sucker punch me, I ducked and I had my one hitter quitter, man.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: That's what you thought.
[00:24:08] Speaker A: I came up and I punched him in the face.
And it was up. He just lay there. So when I left and I was taking the video and I said my sister's name, it was more of, oh, you know, you could always depend on us to defend you. You don't got to worry about him beating on you. We won't let that happen. So I'm just Saying I handle.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: You even posted it on Snapchat, man. Yeah, right, like what, who's gonna kill somebody and then post it on video on a Snapchat, right? That, yeah, that didn't make any sense. And, and they try to make this huge deal about it. He even posted on a video, this was his trophy. Come on, you didn't even know that, you didn't even know that you hit him at the time, right? You didn't even know that he was dead until you were charged with murder, right? You didn't even know that you killed him until you saw us in jail, right?
I mean, you had no idea what was going on, right? So, so that's kind of where we're standing. So when we, when you saw Michelle and I in jail for that first time, the first time we saw you, what did you think to yourself?
[00:25:10] Speaker A: I was in disbelief that it was a murder. Yeah. Honestly, I thought maybe me discharging the gun in public and even though we got in a fight, that maybe this while I was picked up, but when I was charged with murder and I seen you guys, it was more of disbelief. I can't believe he died. I didn't, I didn't know I shot him. They're saying I shot him in the face. I executed him.
[00:25:33] Speaker B: And how did it, how did it feel to be sitting in, in jail facing 50 to life, man? I mean, knowing you might not ever. I mean, the fact that you're here is a miracle, man. It's a miracle. I mean, how, how did it feel just thinking like, 50 to life, 50 to life, they're trying to put you away.
[00:25:52] Speaker A: I'd be lying if I, if I said there weren't some feelings of fear. But like I said, we're involved in the church. I had to build my relationship with God up to the point where I just wanted to get the trial. I, I felt like, okay, if, if they're trying to put me away for this much time, if I start to get worried or scared, then it might happen. But I trusted in God to the point where I was just, let's get to trial. Let's, let's get out there and see what she has to say and see everything they have. Cuz I, I had mentioned to Michelle the first time we, they did the arraignment that why didn't she defend me? They were saying lies in there and things like I executed him.
So I, I trusted. After she explained like, oh no, now they gotta prove all this, Then I was like, okay, well then the truth will Come to light.
[00:26:45] Speaker B: Let me. Let me ask you this question. Did you believe in us?
[00:26:50] Speaker A: I'm gonna say this.
I.
There was some concern. Yeah. There was a lot of times where I had concerns. But at the same time, you guys did attest to this. I didn't call you guys often because I trusted in what you could do.
[00:27:06] Speaker C: No. And I can remember coming in and talking to you a couple times and letting you know about facing the 50 years to life and if you wanted us to make an offer, and you were like, nope, nope, I'm going to try.
[00:27:16] Speaker B: There was never an offer, man.
[00:27:18] Speaker C: We were. And you were always so very humble every time that I would come and talk with you. So humble. And it was, you know, we would explain things to you, and you just took it like, okay, all right.
[00:27:28] Speaker B: The DA's office was so scared of us, man, that during your testimony, remember what they did? They brought in the whole freaking office.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: Oh, man.
[00:27:38] Speaker B: And all you could hear. All they were doing is taking.
[00:27:40] Speaker A: No, I was sitting behind them. And she said that there was times where she. The da would ask, said, does anybody have any questions? And she was sitting behind one of them, just trying to type up questions. And I was like, is that allowed? Like, there's. I got two attorneys and they got like a whole office.
[00:27:58] Speaker C: I kept watching the clock, and it's getting later and later, and I'm thinking, she's gonna take this to the end so she can pick it back up tomorrow and come back.
[00:28:06] Speaker B: Remember the electricity went out in trial?
[00:28:08] Speaker A: Yes. I was on stand.
[00:28:09] Speaker B: I thought they did that on purpose.
You were on the stand.
[00:28:14] Speaker C: 18 floors. That was. Yeah.
[00:28:16] Speaker B: And then we had to walk all the way down 8, 18 floors. And all the DA's were walking like a couple flights ahead of us. And we can hear.
[00:28:23] Speaker C: We can hear everything.
[00:28:24] Speaker B: They're trying to prepare the DA for your testimony, man. So they had that whole time to prepare again. Right. Yeah, it did seem like not guilty, man.
[00:28:31] Speaker C: It did seem like it was planned. But then to know, like, half the city went out in that area, too.
[00:28:35] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it did seem. Because. Right. We were. We were in the middle of.
Me on the stand, like, she. She didn't have anything. You remember that the jury started to kind of yell at her.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: Yeah. She was asking the same question over and over.
[00:28:49] Speaker C: Because I remember you objecting, asked and answered. And she was one of the juries.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: She was so flustered.
[00:28:53] Speaker C: She says, I didn't ask that yet. And even one of the jury members goes, yes, you did.
[00:28:57] Speaker A: Yeah, that's why I Said the jury started to respond like they were getting irritated. Why are you asking the same thing? Like, you said this. You just keep rewording your question. And then the judge was just like, yeah, so what's.
[00:29:08] Speaker B: What's life like now, man?
[00:29:11] Speaker A: Life's still tough because, you know, after going through something like this, certain things stick. You know, like you said, the. Just the charge of what it was, I feel like people tend to look at you a little different.
But like I said, the relationship I had with God, where I was planning to go to before everything happened. So this is my thought process.
My first night behind the jail cell the day before, where my family was down, I had laid my aunt to rest. I was standing behind the podium, and I was talking to people about God, telling them about everything that was going on. Then just to be sitting behind the jail cell the very next day was just a drastic turn.
[00:29:59] Speaker B: That's crazy, man.
[00:30:00] Speaker A: Just to be where I was at thinking, man, I was standing behind the pulpit telling people about God, and now I'm sitting behind the jail cell thinking about what's going to happen to my life at this point. And so now that I'm here, where I'm at, I'm just blessed to be out.
It was all glory to God. And I told you guys this when we were in there. I said, I know you guys are doing your best and you're fighting for me, but it's in God's hands. Yeah, it's in God's hands, and y' all are just the tools that he's using right now.
[00:30:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: And so, yeah, like you said, did I have faith in y'? All? Yes. But my faith in God was, okay, whatever happens, these are the people he's provided to to do the work.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: Yeah, let's. Let's talk about the victim in the case a little bit. We're not going to mention his name. Do you ever think about that?
[00:30:45] Speaker A: I would say I cried for him. I cried for him when I was behind the cell. Like. Like you said, I didn't have.
There was no intention behind everything that happened other than to retrieve the keys and to protect my family.
So I prayed for him. I prayed for his family.
No one deserves to lose their life that way.
But like I said, I had no intention and no thought other than to protect my sister. There may have been some hurt behind my actions in fighting him or getting to the scuffle, but him being shot at the end of the day, I had no idea. And I remember even in court, the officer who pronounced him Dead. Had no idea on the video, you can't see.
[00:31:29] Speaker B: And I remember they couldn't find the
[00:31:31] Speaker C: entrance in the very beginning. And you telling me that you punched him and that was it. That that was all, that was all that you knew you had done was you punched him.
[00:31:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And, and that's why I was so shocked when I was telling her. I was like, they said, I, I, I executed. I shot him in the head. I didn't do none of that. I punched him in the face.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:47] Speaker A: And so it was just a shock. Like you can. The video I took, like you said, I, I didn't see the blood. Yeah, it was more of a. I was still.
[00:31:57] Speaker B: I mean, you were, you were driving.
[00:31:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:59] Speaker B: And you were recording. So you were kind of just like, don't play with me.
[00:32:02] Speaker A: Yeah. And the phone was hanging out over
[00:32:05] Speaker C: on the front of him. It's, it's on the ground. You don't see it on the front of him.
[00:32:09] Speaker A: So I initially thought, no.
[00:32:10] Speaker B: Cuz he had a big beard. Then he got that big to shave the hair.
[00:32:14] Speaker A: The coroner said that's when he seen the, the bullet entry. But before that. Yeah, that nobody knew. They were like, he shot. But where? The officer's video showed that they're like, oh, he, he was shot. And they said where? He said, I don't know, but I know he shot. And, but yeah, I'm, I'm gonna tell
[00:32:29] Speaker B: you guys a funny story because we're, we're going to end here soon.
So I don't know if you guys know this, but during the trial, I was very nervous because. Not because of the case, it's because I was wearing Invisalign at the time. And I was like, man, if I do a closing argument, I'm gonna, it's gonna sound like I'm slurring. It's not gonna sound right. What if I hurt his case because I'm wearing an Invisalign? I was like, oh, that. So I wasn't nervous about the case. I was nervous about the fact that I had to wear the Invisalign in my teeth. Right. So check this out. So last week I was looking for something in my bathroom drawer. And check this. I come across this thing right here.
These are the exact same Invisalign retainers I was wearing during your closing argument, bro. And look at it says, People v.
Your last name.
Not guilty.
January 23rd.
Not guilty.
Can you believe that? A week prior, man, that these, these were the same Invisalign that I was wearing during your closing argument. I was scared. I was like, oh, I'm going to sound like I have a lisp or whatever, but here you go, man. This thing belongs in the hall of fame, bro. Yeah, these are the hall of Fame. Invisalign. I can say I'm probably the only attorney in the country to do a closing argument with Invisalign and then writing
[00:33:45] Speaker C: not guilty on it.
[00:33:46] Speaker A: Yeah, that's.
[00:33:47] Speaker B: So thanks for coming out, man.
[00:33:49] Speaker A: Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
[00:33:50] Speaker B: Thanks, Michelle.
Thank you for joining us on our first episode of the dodcast. Join us again for the next episode. Thank you very much, everyone. Have a great day.
[00:34:00] Speaker A: When freedom's on the line, the truth matters.
[00:34:04] Speaker B: Follow, subscribe and join us next time
[00:34:08] Speaker A: on the dodcast Memoirs from an award
[00:34:12] Speaker B: winning criminal defense attorney.
