Kiante Ricks had had three run ins with the law and had been wrongfully convicted twice, the first when he was four ft eleven and mistaken for a robber that was six ft tall. While on parole from Juvie, Kiante worked with a youth group mentoring troubled teens, one of whom was an illiterate wheat dealer named Kurtel Walker. One of Kurtell's customers was the manager of a rent center who handled the businesses bank deposits. The pair had crafted a scheme in which the customer would settle at dead by handing over the rent a center deposit bag to Kurtell and then claiming that he had been robbed. On June twenty eight, two thousand four, Kiante Rix was on his way to Six Flags with his children's mother, a friend, and Kurtel but before getting on the road, the group made a stop near the rent a Center, where, unbeknownst to the others, Kurtell met up with his customer to follow through with their plot. Taking a bit too long, the other three almost left without him, but kurt Hell caught up with them, making a big scene in the process. When the police arrived to investigate the stage robbery. A concerned passer by who saw Cartel screaming and running after the car, gave the police the license plate number, even though Kiante had none of the money and wasn't involved in any way. One off hand remark in the interrogation room sent a racist cop on a mission to pin the entire crazy scenario on him, falsified evidence, made the misdemeter of felony, and put the money in Kiante's possession. A statement was coerced, prepared and signed by the illiterate Curtel, and even when Curtel tried to recant and the alleged victim came forward about the stage robbery plot, both were silenced. Kyante Ricks was sentenced to twenty years in prison. This is wrongful Conviction with Jason Flam. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Fom. That's me. I'm your host, and today we're gonna share a story. It's the story of Kiante Rix. But before I even introduced Kiante, let me just run a few numbers by you. So Kiante was wrongfully arrested three times, wrongfully convicted twice, and on one occasion, he was shot twice and then made into a suspect. He spent five years wrongfully incarcerated as a child from fourteen to nineteen, and then but said back to prison as an adult, where he served almost thirteen years. And the problem is he never did anything. I mean, Kiante, Uh, I'm glad you're here, but I'm sorry you have to be here man, after everything you went through um and as you will soon see, Kiante has maintained an incredible attitude, even a sense of humor through all of this. And Kyanote, let's go back to the beginning, if it's okay with you. And first of all, this is back at Buffalo, right, Yes, sir, I grew up in Buffalo, New York. The third incident transpired in the Amherst and Amherst is a suburb of Buffalo, where you lived with your daughter and her mother, Marina during the time of your second wrongful conviction. But let's go back to your first wrongful conviction as a minor. You were fourteen years old fourteen? How old are you now? So this is twenty four years ago. You're fourteen years old, four ft eleven. What's crazy? About this original case was this was related to a situation. Your cousin had had some involvement in the scuffle. That was forty dollars that was owed and recovered. The alleged victim claimed he was robbed and stabbed, but now we know that never even happened. The victim describes his assailants to assailants as six ft and five eleven and you were four eleven. So how did you first get involved? Well, I was actually with my cousin on his street outside and the police put up and handcuffed us and put us in the police car and then drove us to a hospital. And some guys came out and they looked in a police car and they said, yeah, that's THEMB And I mean that was at the beginning of that right there. The only way the police could sort of rope you into this was why bringing you in as in like a show up inside of a squad car, right, which is of course gonna buas anybody. But and I guess you might look taller sitting on the seat in the squad car, but this is obviously madness. And then you go all the way to trial on this crazy thing, even though we're talking about an imaginary crime and two imaginary suspects who are a foot taller than you are, and your fourteen years old. You're a child. Yes, and I was sentenced as an a doupt when I went to trial. But this is the thing, though, the things that we just spoke about, it actually came out in trial. The public defender that I had did mention that the guy gave the description of five eleven and six ft and I was only four ft eleven. And he also mentioned that the guy did not get stabbed and had a superficial wound that required a band aid, even even even though the jury was constantly told that this guy got stabbed. And I was sentenced as an adult to three and a third to ten years in a juvenile maximum secure facility. Is it true that your lawyer was drunk at trial? Yes? And how did that come out? Well, I see he was slurred when you talk. Oh so he was. He was legit drunk. He wasn't a little drunk. He was like he was, yeah, okay, that's great. I mean, I'm sorry. I just have to be sarcastic because if I don't laugh, I'm gonna cry. And this is not, of course that this is not the first time we've heard this though, that the lawyer was drunk and trial. So the lawyer was drunk a trial. He claimed that he appealed to charge, but we know that never even happened. I mean, this is this is disgusting, and you lived through this, and I can't even imagine, Like, and you're a child, like fourteen years old and they call it a teenager. That's a child. So fourteen years old you go to prison, right do they call it juvie? But your sentences an adult? And what is that? Like? Well, I just said that. I mean you had to you had the man up. I mean it was a serious environment. I mean all of the other kids that wasn't these juvenile max as a majority had you know, like eight the life and stuff like that. And you know, you're away from family, you can't be around your loved ones. And I mean at fourteen, a lot of kids have trouble adjusting the summer camp. I was putting the jungle when I had to survive in it, so you know the week it took an advantage of you know, and I'm not I'm not a weak person, So I mean it was a lot of fighting, and there was a lot of stress. It was depression, it was all kind of stuff you know that comes with the problems of being incarcerated period. And then as a kid was like, you know, I needed to be home, I needed to be around family and loved ones and you know, being deprived of that love and you know I made it through it. I just have a different attitude. I want you, I just want to say that that even though I was victimized, I don't live a victim because I know that you read victimized yourself every day if you allow your thoughts to stay there. So that's why my attitude is more passive of saying, like, you know, I did what I had to do when I went through what I went through. I did what I had to do, and I went through what I went through. But I think everybody can use to hear that. So thank you for sharing that. So, Kane, you're paroled that nineteen, you're out free, still under control of the system because you're on parole, but you started the family life is starting to look up. But then tragedy struck again, right, and this goes back to when you were you were actually on your way to the hospital when this incident happened. Right, Yes, my daughter was more the day before. I couldn't stay in the hospital because I was on parole, so she wanted me to come to the hospital the next day. I was actually at my cousin's house. I left out of the house and as soon as I closed the passenger door, two guns went off. I was shot twice. It collapsed both of my lungs, my ribs was broke, and I ended up in critical condition. And you were taking to the same hospital that your daughter was at. No. I was rushed to Erie County Medical Center and a security officer testified actually at the parole preliminary hearing that the car put up the driver said the passenger was shot him and three nurses ran up to the car. They said I was slumped in the seat. Um, they put me out of the car. See how many times I was shot. Then they put me on the stretcher pushed me into the hospital. Then later on they assumed that somebody was breaking into the car and they ran over to the car and they seen a gun in the car that was in the seat that allegedly I was sitting here, right. I remember reading they found a gun in the car and tried to paint it on you, and then nine months of more legal struggles and your life hanging into balance again. Of course, charges in that case were dismissed, but your troubles weren't even over yet. Now we get to kurtel Walker. Can you tell us about Kurtell and who he was to you? Well, Kurtzell was a trouble youth. He had a lot of menst abilities, you know, he had a similar situation like his mom was on drugs and stuff like that. And I was actually working for youth organization that was rained by his older gentleman named fred A Lamine, who I used to help the trouble youth, you know, to prevent them from making bad decisions and stuff like that. So Kurt Tell was one of them that was basically, you know, participating in the programs. So you were sort of keeping an eye on Curtel, Is that right, like trying to keep him out of trouble even though he was selling weed. And you know, by the way, a lot of people are selling weed now, I mean it's like the people are getting rich off of weed legally, So that's a whole another story. But okay, so you were trying to be almost like a big brother to him, right, I was. I mean I was a big brother to a lot of the kids because a lot of them, you know, grew up fast, being into the streets, doing a lot of things that wasn't supposed to be doing. So, yes, he was one of the kids. And now we fast forward to June two thousand four and correct me if I'm wrong. But the way I understand that you and your children's mother, Marina, and this is an important part of the story because Marina is white, and we know that there's a cop who gets involved in this, and people are saying that it's because he didn't like the fact that you were a black eyed dating a white girl or having kids with her. Nonetheless, obviously brown um had prior problems with them. And you were celebrating your birthday, right, yes, right, So j four, you and the Marina celebrating your birthday going to six Flags and darry and Lake in her car. Your Francine is driving, and Cristel was along for the ride, and so Tina had an errand to run before you went to pick up your daughter for this little day trip, right, and the errand happened to be right near a rent a center. Unbeknownst to you, one of kurt Tell's customers owed him for weed. Right yes, the manager of the renaissenter store. His job was to fill out the receipts and stuff like that and to put the stuff into the bank deposit bags. Then additionally take the deposit bags to the MC bank that was located in the same plaza. But instead of him doing that, he established a plan where he would pay her till the money that he owed him. So the manager put the money that he owed Kurtail in the bag, had Kurtil meet him, and then gave Curtail the bag, and then later on faked as if Curtail had actually robbed him because he had to have a way to cover up what he did, right because sooner or later they would have noticed the missing obviously, so they staged his fake robbery. Again. It's like something out of a bad movie. But okay, So back to the car. Before picking up your daughter and heading the six Flags, Tina stopped to run an errand near the rent a center. Tina went to the store. I was sleeping the back seat, and Curtail told her listen, I'll be right back, and hopped out of the car and left, so no one in the car knew what he was doing. When Tina came out of the store, Curtail was not back and we was about to leave him, so she put off. Curtail came running to scream stopped the car, so Tina put over. Curtail came and hopped in the car, and Tina and them set there for a while. I think one of them thought that they had misplaced their keys or something, so they set there for a while. And that's when the guy Edward Dupre, who just happened to be walking down the street, said that he thought some criminal happened when he seen the way that Curtail ran and screamed to stop the car, and when the car remained idle, that he walked directly by the car, wrote the license plate number down and got a good look in the car and said that he's seen the two females and Curtail walker. But I was in the car, but he didn't see me in the car because I was sleeping in the back seat. Oh that's how that happened. And did you have any idea of all the insanity that was taking place. I did not because, I mean, you have to understand that Jason I got a pregnant girlfriend in the car. I'm on parole, I'm working. Of course, I would never have been around something like that. So I did not know what curtel Walker had did. And this was another thing that you know that came out in the transcripts. If the individuals, even if you have stupid criminals, okay, it's no where in the world that a car of criminals is going to sit less than a street away from where a fake robbery transpired. It defies all logic and common sense. You're not gonna sit around and wait to get in trouble and get arrested or whatever it is. So the manager calls nine one one, and then things go downhill from there. The guy Edward Deprita was walking through when he said that he wrote the license plate number down. When the police put up to the crime scene, he gave the police the license plate number. That's when the APB got put out for Marina's power. And then here comes this officer who becomes your tormentor. But it starts with him spotting the car. So we got off the Interstate and Officer Brown was shooting radar. He began to follow Marina's car. We put in our driveway in Pheasant Run. At this time, I was living in Amherst when I had prior problems with Officer Brown. Officer Brown performs a felony stop after he calls for backup. There was a lot of Amhurst police that was immediately there. Officer Brown comes to me, throw me on the ground, handcuffed me with my hands behind my back, search me. Find absolutely nothing on me because I did not have anything placed me in the police car. The other officers, you know, check search everybody else. Walker said that he did not have handcuffs on Walker actually took the bank deposit bags and hid it in his boxer briefs, which makes sense that the officers is not checking your area, you know. So they didn't find any of the stolen items that Curtill had on him. They also put Marina, who as you said, was pregnant, on the ground, and the cops need her on the neck right on the pavement. They had their knee on her back, and then her mother ran outside with my when my daughter in her hand and went up and the police officers aimed the gun at her mother and told her to back up, and she her mother was screaming, she's pregnant, She's pregnant. Officer Brown then had Marina to sign a waiver and he went and searched her car. When he searched her car, he found the two purses that belonged to Marina and Tina that was in the front seat. Avista Brown then took money out of both of those purses. Then he came back. He transported me in patrol car one oh seven, because these numbers are very very important my reference to the fabrication of evidence. He transported me and his patrol car, which was in her patrol card one oh seven, to the crime scene. He brought me out of the car. The fake victim manager came out and said, no, that's not him. He got Kurtail Walker out of in hers patrol card one oh five. He didn't identify him as well. He then went and searched the patrol car that Kurtel Walker was in patrol card one on five found two thousand dollars that Kurtell Walker had took out of his pants. Now, based upon the testimony to Kurtil Walker said that he hid two thousand dollars at the back of patrol card one O five and he had eighty eight dollars in his pocket. Officer Brown then made Kurtell Walker kick off his shoes and he recovered deposit bags, all its slips and receipts that belonged to the renaissenter so UM. After Thomas Brown recovered the checks, the deposit bags, and the money from Kurtil Walker, he then got back into police car that I was in, transported me to Buffalo Police headquarters and based upon the transcripts, Officer Thomas Brown stayed in Buffalo Police Headquarters for about two hours while the Buffalo Police officers conducted the investigation. So Officer Brown then asked me that I have any information about the criminals and m Herston that if I gave him information then I wouldn't have to worry about a parole violation. And I told him, yes, I have information. You should take your handcuffs out and rest yourself. Officer Brown became very angry and he started saying, you know, you nigger, this that in the third I'll make sure you never get out of jail, and this that in the third and you know he went above and beyond. After that, I'll say that now they brought Curtel into it, right, And so they interrogate Curtel, who couldn't read or write, and under physical durest and under pressure of a twenty five years sentence, he and he was under age. They got him to sign a statement that again he couldn't have understood because he couldn't read, and say that you had played the robbery and that he just was sort of went along with it and gave you the money. Right, Curtel Walker, On the day of the incident, the officers basically slapped him around and did all of the stuff to him. Right, So the officer that prepared the report, Detective Mark Joseph Lauber, first of all, I will say that, um, he got caught up in some racist stuff. I actually have the New York Times article. He got caught up in some ratio text messages and stuff and killed the black guy and said that the guy aimed the gun at him and the and the gun got found on the roof. So this is not, you know, a good police officer. Let me put it like that, even though he was able to beat these charges. Okay, now, he's the one that was in the room with Curteil that prepared the statement. Curteil could not read, so you know, they threatened him and told his grandmother listen, if he do not sign this statement and he's gonna get twenty five years in jail, he needs to sign a statement. So the statement still stated that it wasn't the robbery. Though this is the thing, they just added my name in their Curteil still let him know, like listen, you know the guy gave him the money. So the very next day, when we got out on bail, I was informed that my name was in a statement and the I was I was very upset. I was very upset. So the families all had a meeting. His family's grandmother and mother, father, everybody had a meeting, and that's when Kurtell told them, like listen, this is the truth. You know, the guy owe him money and that you know, basically I had no knowledge of it, nothing to do with it, and neither did the girls. So the grandmother takes Curteil to Buffalo police station the very next day and tells the officers, listen, kurtel Walker wants to confess. My grandson wants to confess to tell y'all exactly what happened. Because he just told us exactly what happened. The officers refused to take the confession and document it in a police report. Say, kurtel Walker came in here the next day to the Major Crimes unit, told us that the first statement was false and that he wanted to rekint the involvement of ricks and we told him to leave and have a nice day, and the officers wouldn't even take the confession from him. And I actually have the police reports to prove every single thing what I'm saying. Now they start fudging more of the evidence, right, because in order to charge you with the felony, they had to have over three thousand dollars that was stolen, right, And they've got all these disparate amounts of money. They've got the money that they actually stole from the girls purses was hundred. Then they've got the two thousand that Cretel hid in the back of squad car one oh five, which you never were in. Then they've got eighty eight dollars from Critel's wallet. If you had all of this up, it's three thousand dollars. So they needed to get to a number over three thousand dollars where they could charge you with a felony, which we know officers around very much wanted to charge you with a felony. But how did they managed to end up framing you for this one? Well, the Buffalo police officers had Officer Brown write notes of everything that transpired why he was with me, and the lawyer ended up obtaining a copy of those notes. So those notes not say anything that the police reports that Officer Brown prepared later ended up saying. After Officer Brown went back to Amherst Police station, Officer Brown prepared a statement that's called a seven ten thirty statement and stated that I'm a verbal statements to him saying that Curtzel Walker gave me the stolen money, that I hid the stolen money in my shoe, and that I basically took the money out of my shoe while my hands was covered behind my back and hid it inside of the police car. Right, So we gotta believe that you're some sort of magician who Deaney David Blaine somebody where you could, while you're in handcuffs, magically removed the money from your shock or shoe and and stick it in the other car that you never even were in. That's got to be magic. That's incredible. I mean, that's really what you have to believe if you're gonna believe their story. And on top of all the other lies and nonsense. And then Officer Brown stated that I'm a verbal statements to him saying if he got rid of the money, then I would tell him about the criminals and Amherst because it's going to break my parole. Now that seems crazy, because I never was charged with possession of stolen property initially until Officer Brown testified at the grand jury. The district attorney actually added the possession of stolen property charge because the Buffalo booking report shows that absolutely nothing was taken from me. It says no items was recovered from the defendant. I actually have copies of every single one of these police reports. I had a hundred fourteen dollars that was my personal money. They put it with my property, and they gave it back to me the next day. Now what Officer Brown did, this is this is how they pulled this off. When he came to the grand jury, he testified somewhat truthfully, he's still liked and said that he recovered the whole thirty four hundred from Kurt till Walker, when in reality he only recovered two thousand dollars that Kurt till Walker had hid in the back seat of the police car and the eighty eight dollars that Kurt till Walker had in his pocket. And they added the fourteen hundred from the women to change it from a Mr Meaner to a felony. Okay. So at the Huntly Map hearing, it was a pre trial hearing. Well, the prosecution had to establish if they had probable cause or not to arrest me. So at the Huntley Map hearing, only the arrest officer could come and testify. And Officer Brown comes to this hearing and he testifies under oath that he placed me under arrest at the crime scene after he recovered the stolen money from the police card that I was in. Then he charged me himself with possession of stolen property. Then he ran me my rights after he charged me with possession of stolen property, and then I waved my right to self incrimination, and that's when I made a verbal statement okay. And the judge decided that over Brown was believable, so that he can admit the physical evidence. Probably the truest thing you ever said is that he should have arrested himself. He would have been doing us all a favor. But okay, so just to keep track, all right, So Officer Brown has now changed the details from his initial notes to Buffalo PD, to his sant, then to his grand jury testimony, and then to the Huntley map hearing, and all the while the judge, the d A, and everyone else is finding ways to find him believable. Great, now we move on to the trial. Okay. Now, during trial, Officer Brown had a complete three sixty. Okay. Officer Brown testified that he was not the arresting officer, He was not the assisting officer. He was not present when I was placing under arrest. He did not know if I was placed under arrest. And the thing is Austin Brown also testified that he was the only officer that was with me from the initial time in Amhurst where he put the car over and took me the custody at the crime scene in at Buffalo Police station for two hours while the Buffalo officers conducted the investigation. Right then and there, the judge, the District attorney, and everyone was made aware of the fact that Officer Brown falsified everything at the Huntley map here and they just ignored it. So the victim didn't testify a trial, Cortel Walker didn't testify a trial, and Curtel he went on the run when I went to trial. So let's talk about Michael Demko. Michael Demko was my trial attorney. He played an important role in uh me actually ended up in jail. With me getting out of jail. He didn't cause certain witnesses that I requested that he called. You know, he said that the reason why he didn't call them was because without a victim and without an eye witness, he didn't even figure that, you know, they would go anywhere with the case because based upon the law, those charges were supposed to be dismissed. But you know, with the thesis, they subpoenaed every single person. They subpoena the fake victim who was in custody on the material witness warrant, who actually provide affidavit later on stating that he told the district attorney that I didn't have anything to do with and that he wasn't robbed, but they didn't allow him to testify because the district attorney threatened him and told him, you better not come to court and say that Kyanti is innocent or you're gonna get twenty five years Okay, Marina and Tina was subpoena district attorney told them that, you know, he dropped charges on them, and they told him that they knew the victim and that he never got robbed, and that Curtail never robbed him, and that we never had no knowledge of what they did with The district attorney told them the same thing. Y'all better come back with a different story. Y'all better not come and testify that Kyante is innocent, and he did not allow them to testify neither. Okay, this is crazy. The two managers was the only other two, the two managers of the R A C. Which is the place where the fake robbery occurred, who weren't even there. Both testified. One testified that he was present that day and that the alleged victim had left with the bank deposit and came back out of breath claiming to have been robbed. Also that he was unsure whether it was a hundred or a hundred thousand dollars that was lost. The other manager testified to establish the value at th so somebody obviously fed him that information. So then during cross examination it came out that the second manager that established, the one who established the value, hadn't even started working at the location until almost a year after the freaking incident, so he didn't even know the alleged robbery victim. But he was an assistant manager at a different location. He wasn't there like this is I can't with this ship and likes as you just said. You know. One was to establish the value of the money, which is important because you're not an element of possession of stolen property has to be a value. He testified that the money took in and the money claimed to be recovered matched to the penny, which was a complete lie because based upon the bank audits slips, it was not the same amount of money, and he testified during cross examination that he did not work at the store until a year after the incident. When Damiko XM, did you did you ever hear that your your own manager actually stole the money, he said, I just heard. There was an investigation and he was let go shortly after the incident, so they definitely knew that he was not robbed. No, it was a fake robbery. And I don't even know sometimes why we have perjury laws when people like this just lie at will understand and just get away with it and just move on with their lives. And yeah, this is this is some really tall faced line going on here, and a lot of it from a lot of different people. Okay, so you ultimately get convicted and shooting two thousand five of robbery and criminal possession of stolen properties, and because of your priorfal conviction, your sentence was enhanced to twenty years. So I mean, how did you deal with that? And what was that moment? Like, man, it was it was terrible, man, because I had a baby on the way, man, and I you know, I'm a very family man, and I had two babies that's born. Man, that's a year in like a year in like five months. So I just sat there and just watched my family. Like the whole court Mooron went crazy because everybody knew that I was innocent. And the day that I got sentenced to twenty years and kurtel Walker please guilty to the Rappid church. So there's a crazy piece of the story. That could have turned into a real problem. In the devious move, they stuck you in the bullpen with kurtel Walker, who was under age at the time, should never have even been in the same place as you. And where my mind goes is a bad place. They were trying to get you to do something, Yeah, hoping that I would kill like kid, I just got fresh twenty years sentence. You know what I'm saying. No one is gonna be in their right mind with a twenty years since, especially for a crime that they didn't commit it. And then you put this person in there that got me in there, you know, hoping that I would do something to him. But I said, no, I'm not gonna do nothing. Like I know that he told them to write stuff. So you go to present. Can you just give us some insight into what that experience was like? Yeah? It was real. It was critical. It was critical, man, and and I went into a great state of depression. And then I prayed. I prayed, and it was like I just said, listen, I gotta obtain my freedom. I don't got time this stendant here and be stressing about anything else. Um, and that's what happening. I mean, my my child's mother got married in like six months, so I was in It was like thin after thig after thig. You know what I'm saying that. It was just like I just looked in the mirror and I said, man up, that's it. I said, the only way you're gonna get your life back if you fight for it. So that's why I went in the law of libraries and I started learning the law. And yeah, you know, it took a long time, but you know, thanks to God, I was able to get out of there and give us most of that time back. So Kiante, there you are. You're studying the law, you're praying, you're doing everything you possibly can. You're you're finding strength in a place where I think almost anybody else would have just collapsed, but you found this other gear. I have so much respect for you. But anyway, you filed pro say motion after pro say motion. Our listeners know that means that's when the person himself or herself files their own legal briefs. But nothing was working until a friend of your uncle came to visit you. And that's when the ball started rolling back in the right direction. Right. Yes, I had about twelve motions that I filed in the state courts, and I figured, you know, no victim, no eye witness, with all of his evidence, these judges is gonna do what they're supposed to do, you know what I'm saying, and uh not one of them even probably review those motions. So then, um, my uncle had brought one of his friends to see me. That was Carl, and my uncle told him that I wasn't supposed to be in jail, and and he came to see me and he said, listen, if if the stuff that you say is true, then I'm going to be a to help you get out of jail. That he was connected to attorney Robert Goldsteed. So basically, uh, me and Carl prepared the motion. You know, they conducted an investigation. That's when they was able to speak to my trial lawyer, Michael Demko, and they was able to speak to the fake victim and everyone else. And that's when you know, the fake victim provided an affidavit to let him know that you know, he wasn't robbed, and basically that he had told the district attorney when he was incarcerated on the material witness warrant, and that when the district attorney told him, you know, basically to leave. That's that he went and spoke to Michael Demko, and then Michael Demko provided an affidavid In stating that the victim did confess to him prior to my trial, told him that he was not a victim in the case, that he never was robbed, that he owed hertel Walker money, and that basically he used the money to satisfy a drug debt. And then Demko said that and and this is in his affidavit. He said that he couldn't take the statement because it would be a conflict of interest because the prosecution's office will state that he tried to cohort him to give an affidavit that could exonerate me, being that was his client. So he referred him to another attorney named Daniel Grasso, who's who's now I think a judge in Blaisdell. But he also provided an affidavit to say, yes, you know, Demko's client came, but he never retained me, so, you know, and that's what happened. So I had all of those affidavits, the judge granted me and hearing at the four forty hearing with Judge Burns We had about eight Fi Davis affidavits from the victim, attorney Mike Demko, Attorney Dale Grasso, kurtel Walker, Marina, and we had an affidavit from a Bruce Burnett, affidavit from a Diane Burnett, and then we had my affidavit all and it never was anything that was against me but the fabrications of Officer Brown. Your attorney John Flynn said, there was no robbery here. The victim was in on it. It was grand largely, the fact of the matter is that he was serving time for a crime he did not do. And then Judge Burns said, in this court's view, the new evidence is sufficient to establish that quote, no juror acting reasonably would have voted to find the defending guilty beyond a reasonable doubt with regards to the robbery charge. Now you got this amazing statement from the d A and the judge and ultimately I know you were released on February third, two thousand seventeen, after serving twelve years and ten months and probably some other days too. But how did you end up getting released? How did that work? What listen to it is this is pretty interested too. Okay, Well, the judge issues in order from my immediate release because they dismissed the robbery charge which held twenty years. In a possession of stone the property charge, but I think it was two and a third to seven years. So the maximum amount of time that I could have done on a possession of stone the property charge with seven years being that I did twelve years and ten months. He issued an order from my immediate release. What was that day? Like? Man, it was like finally, you know, I couldn't believe it, you know, because I mean, you look at the average people in jail, and a lot of them that's innocent is still not coming home. You know, I got a lot of friends like I got like dirty guys that I look out for that jail. You know, I do much as I can because not in the best position right now, but a lot of people ain't coming home. So I just feelt fortunate enough to be able to obtain my freedom. So you come out of February three is probably minus thirty degrees outside in Buffalo and February third, but nonetheless it must have felt pretty warm. I wasn't think about the weather. I could say that. And meanwhile, now I'm hearing that you well, you got married a couple of years ago, so congratulations on that. Thank you, And I hear Now you're doing some amazing things with a couple of my favorite people Axonore's named Marty tank left and Jeffrey Deskovic. Both have been on the show before. Well, I mean I met Murty when I was with um Keian Kian Collabi was one of axanarees who's also an attorney, and Steve metcalf I know who Marty's connected with. Then Jeffrey Deskovic. I was telling you that I assisted him with the prison reform movement and him and Bill Bouznick in Pennsylvania was at Temple University. But all the pa Axonore's and yeah, I mean that's that's a few. I have a lot of different attorneys that you know, I've been connected two and you know, sending them cases and me and Carl still been doing a lot of work together. Um, he's definitely my friend, you know, who helped me get out of prison. So yeah, that's awesome, and has also been on the show. He's an incredible guy. Um. And then you're doing amazing work with all these great people, but you're also still fighting your own wrong for conviction for the possession of stolen property charge. Yes, Now this is where it gets really really interesting. Kurtel Walker testified that he had his pants, he put five hundred in his sock, and he hid the two thousand in the police car. In the transcripts, Judge Burns had the stenographer to add that he asked Kurtel a question personally, how much money did you have? And Curtel said three or four thousand dollars. That never was said. I really couldn't understand why Judge Burns fabricated the transcripts, because whether he had three or four thousand dollars, it does not matter because I did not have any of the money. You understand what I'm saying, which it does not make sense at all. So after they fabricated the transcripts, emotion was put in to settle the transcripts, and it was eight Affi David's inside of that motion as well from all of the people that was present during that hearing to say no, Curteil Walker never said that. They denied that motion. So now it goes to the twenty nineteen here and we file another four or forty. We had the Evans the police reports and stuff like that. So the lord's presented the motion and the judge granted hearing. Judge Christopher Burns grants the hearing. He gives a specific order and says the hearing specifically revolves around the amount of money that was obtained from defendant Ricks during the time of his arrest. Okay, because you know, we got all of the proof, saying, listen, they recovered his money from Kurt to a walker and from the women purses. You know, we have the police reports to prove this, and this affidavits the fourteen hundred dollars that Officer Brown recovered from the women's purse because he was the only officer in Amhurst that searched the cars, so it's not like other officers could have recovered it. None of the Buffalo police officers was in Hurst. When we went to Buffalo Police station, Officer Brown gave the fourteen hundred dollars to another officer named joe An Cino. This was the officer that was with Marina and Tina, and she created a police report that stated that fourteen hundred dollars of the stolen money recovered was recovered from the women's purses. The prosecutor withheld this police report, so the defense never even knew that four hundred dollars of the thirty dollars actually belonged to the purses of the women. So this was a police report that I was able to obtain during a four year request. Um Also, when I mentioned patrol car one oh five, after the officers recovered the stolen money hidden in the back seat of the police car, they took a picture. I was able to obtain a copy of the Amherst police report which shows that the only picture that they took of the money was from patrol car one oh five, not patrol car one oh seven where I was at. So we go to the hearing. Two things had to be established, the time of arrest and what was obtained from me during that time, okay, based upon the judge's order. So we established that I was placed under arrest by Officer Martin Motley and Officer Johnson Levito. We established that they never charged me with possession of stolen property. We established that the booking report proved that no stolen money was ever recovered from me. And we also had Kurtil Walker to come testify to all of the other facts. That we just spoke about, and we had Marina to testify that the officers did take the money out of her purse. Okay, all of that was established. D A. Flynn he had just came in office in Okay. So for the teen hearing, Robert Gostein at my requests, had a meeting with D. A. Flynn and D. A. Harrity. He showed D. A. Flynn everything D A. Flint on him, he didn't care about it, and then told Thomas Brown everything that Attorney Goldstein has said to him in the letter. We actually prepared a letter that mentioned all of the perjuries and stuff like that. Officer of Brown's testimony changed at every single court appearance. So when we had the hearing, Officer Thomas Brown now out comes and testifies that he never searched Kurtil Walker, he never recovered the deposit bags, he never recovered the checks, he never recovered the money. This is what he testifies to in the record, And this is why I'm pushing right now to get charged. Just pressed on him for his perjury right here. He knew that we had proof to prove that he fabricated that evidence in reference to that money. When I was able to obtain that police report that mentioned, you know that he basically gave that money to that officer. So now he knew that we had sufficient evidence, and he said that he never recovered nothing. He said, listen, I've seen the money, and I pointed out to the Buffalo Police, and they're the ones who recovered it. Listen where it gets crazy, though, because the Buffalo booking report shows that absolutely nothing was taken from me. That means that none of the prosecution witnesses ever recovered any stolen money, any stolen checks, or anything. I ended up finding a police report. It was like God woke me up at six o'clock in the morning and told me look through all my papers, and I got thousands of papers, and I found that Amherst police report with officer Thomas Brown badge, number of signature that said that he overturned the checks, the deposit bags in the of money combined to the Buffalo Police. So now I said, okay, I want you to depressed one officer Brown for the perjuries that he committed in the hearing. I don't feel that anyone else should be held at any different standard. You know, it was perjury. It's clear perjury. We have the we have sufficient evidence to prove it, so we file a reargument motion. Judge Burns completely ignores it, ignores it, and then on top of ignoring it, say that officer Brown was believable, and so do d a harrity. They say, oh, it's all of the other witnesses. You know, basically it wasn't believable, but officer Brown was. But Judge Burns did admit an order that there was a Brady violation, meaning that the officers did withhold the fourteen hundred dollars that was taken from the women's purse, and that Marina was believable when she testified that they actually took the money. But he did not dismissing that charges based upon the Brady violation when he knew the amount of money was an essential element to a possession of stolen property charge. And now I have tourney Stephen Metcalf. We have an appeal in we have all of the perjuries and stuff that's being mentioned. Again, going back to the Appello division, it's still possibility that the perjury charges can be brought right, Oh, yes, it's well within the statue of limitation um. And then the perjury just was committed in twenty nineteen. So as the recently, I just had meetings with Citizens Action. You know, it's about thirty other organizations that was going to assist me in bringing the truth to d. A. Flynn and the mayor of Buffalo so that these charges can be brought against this racist police officer, Thomas Brown. Is there anything that anyone can do to help you? You know, I say anyone. I mean me, my team, our audience is so many smart capable people out there that are listeners that are uh, they're wanting to get involved and know they're gonna hear your voice going to say I I can't let this stand. There's got to be something. Is that something? Even if it's something that's simple as writing a letter or making a phone call, but maybe there's more. I don't know. You tell me. I need all of the assistance that I can get. I mean, you see how complicated this is, and it's bigger than me. I'm still new to this world, so it's like I'm just figuring it out. However, anybody that's willing to assist me, I'll provide all of the paperwork to show that I have sufficient evidence to support every allegation that I'm making. And yeah, I just need the people just to be with me to support me prove my innocence. Al Right, So what we're gonna do for starters is we're going to start a petition to be a link in the bio. Uh So people can sign up. People can follow you as well on Instagram and social media if you can give us those handles my Facebook, my Instagram, my YouTube, and my SoundCloud. It's all under Kiante Ricks and the correct spelling is k E y O and t y r I c ks. Let's follow him and keep in the know about the elements in the case by following Kiante and checking the link in our bio. And now, Kiante, what can I say? Man? I knew I was going to be in for a whirlwind when we did this interview, but I wasn't even prepared for all these twists and turns. It's an extraordinary story and it's an amazing life that you're living now, and more power to you. I wish you all the success and blessings in the world, you and your family. And now we have a thing called closing arguments, and this is the part of the show where I first of all, thank you again Kyante for being here, and now it's up to you to share whatever thoughts you want about anything with our audience. Well, this is something that I want to put in an atmosphere because I feel that a lot of times we focus more on the problems than we focus on the solutions. And I know that this is bigger than me. So let's suggest that we create something like a motion review committee. Okay, the average axion reason I think they said was doing about a minimum of twelve years or I don't know if that was just p A. But what I feel was that it's not just the police that's killing people in the streets. They're killing people in courts. It's the district attorneys, and it's the judges too. It's a demonic system. And what we need to do is not just focus on prosecutors or police. We need to focus on these judges as well, because if you see, you know, in my my case and the evidence that I have, like the judges, both of them, you know, played a major part, including their pillot judges who you know, it's my right to confront my accusers. So I mean, how do you uphold a conviction without a victim and without the eye witness, it makes no sense based upon the United States Constitution. So what I feel is that we need to create committees, even if we had to contract with the lawyers. I know the lawyers are under attorney client privilege, but I feel that when they're putting motions in that these motions should be filed to the committees. And when the judges ignored the constitutional procedural violations, then I think that the committee should come together to foul in plaints with the Judical Conduct Committee to get them judges out of office, because I mean, that will help the people get out of prison that's not supposed to be there. It will also prevent people from actually going to prison. And when you hold the head of the body accountable, the head of the body holds the rest of the body accountable. The district attorney is not the most important person or the strongest person inside of that courtroom. I believe it's the judge because the judge has to say so. And even though they are able to withhold evidence and different things of that nature, but you know, it's ultimately up to the judge. You know, and a lot of times the judges see the truth. I mean, one of their famous statements is get it on the pill, and a lot of people don't really pay attention to what that means. What that means is, I know that it's constitutional procedural violations in your case, but I'm not going to give you the relief that I know I'm supposed to be given to you. Let another judge give it to you, because I'm not doing it, and that's not right. It's not just the individuals a single judge, or a single district attorney or a single police officer. It's the whole system. And the only way for that system to come down is if we all get involved in and then we stopped turning our face to the police, prosecutor and judicial misconduct that's transpiring on a constant basis. So that's basically all I want to say. I sincerely thank you for allowing me to be able to come on here, to be able to tell my story. I've dedicated my life to doing what I'm doing. I also work with the youth group of my church. I have a customized a shirt business. I'm on the verge of starting a young man empowerment academy because My wife has the Young Woman in Powerment Academy and she has like two sitters in Buffalo one and pens of A about to start a chapter of Virginia. We're deeply invested in the community and helping people. But like I said, the powers in numbers of the powers with the people. So we all have to come together and just figure this album because nobody's exempt. It's not just the color thing. I mean, year it's happened more to blacks in Hispanics, but it's happened to everybody, you know what I mean, this system, it happens to everybody. That's happened more so to the lower class, the people who can't afford or you know, attorneys and different things in that nature. So I just say that, you know, I think y'all and it's all about coming together. And however I'm able to be of assistance to helping people that has their freedom in their life taken that I'm I'm for it. So if anyone can contact me, I'm wanting to assist however I can. And that's all I want to say. Thank you for allowing me to come on your show. Don't forget to give us a fantastic review. Wherever you get your podcasts, it really helps. And I'm a proud donor to the Innsis Project, and I really hope you'll join me in supporting this very important cause and helping to prevent future wrongful convictions. Go to Anassis project dot org to learn how to donate and get involved. I'd like to thank our production team, Connor Hall and Kevin Wardis. The music on the show is by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast. Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flam is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number one