#345 Maggie Freleng with James Richardson

[Music] In June 2009, basketball star James Richardson was back in his hometown of Greenville, North Carolina, visiting friends and family. A few of his friends wanted to have a night out, so they hopped around and eventually wound up at a nightclub called the other place. "I'm glad I drank for pretty much everybody in the club. We haven't fine." But at some point in the evening, a scuffle got out of hand. "I don't know, push me. But when they push me, things are going on. Everything broke loose." By closing time, the scene was pandemonium, spilling out onto the sidewalk. Shots were fired and two local well-known white men were killed. Within a few days, James found himself under arrest for their murders. "When I get to police station, it's the last time that I've been out." "Do you think race had anything to do with us?" "As far as me getting convicted, I do. When they felt like a guy person killed two white individuals, I feel like people went harder. They felt like, "Okay, yeah, we got to show him, but I didn't do it." So, you know what I'm saying? You got the wrong person. My name is James Richardson. I've been incarcerated for 13 and a half years. From Lava for Good, this is wrongful conviction with Maggie Freeling. Today, James Richardson. James Richardson was born on April 30, 1977 in Greenville, North Carolina. He's the middle child of nine kids. "We grew up in the projects, but they didn't have a lot. So I lived in one of the oldest and roughest projects in Greenwood, North Carolina, which is still there." It was called Cairney Park. It opened in 1962 and it is notorious for its violence. "All night, every night, you know, gunshots and so much stuff going on. There's a kid. You come at home and you have to worry about that and you have to worry about you trying to do your homework and different stuff and so much, you know, going on." James's father wasn't really in his life growing up. He was raised by his mother, Dorothy, and Richardson, as well as his older siblings. "I have the father figure. I kind of lean on my brothers or as well as, you know, coming to some of the guys. You know, there was in the neighborhood to kind of just to help. You know, they would be there just to like, you know, give me advice on different things that I didn't know and that, you know, your father should be able to teach you." James's brother Donald taught him to play baseball. One day, Donald took him to try out for Little League. The tryouts were in a different section of town than where they lived. And for the first time, James saw what life looked like outside of the projects. "Wow, it's so different. Everything looked like grass, green grass and everything is like clean and no trash, nowhere and everything. So it was different for me and I met different people and it really just became friends with a lot of the guys." And the friends James made were from all different walks of life. "I guess for me, that was just, that was just like a turning point and something that I would just motivate and just get out. Just because I lived, you know, when I was born and I lived here in this project, right? It doesn't mean that I had to be like just being in a settle for this. So I kind of wanted to do something with myself, make it out of there because I didn't like, you know, the conditions that I was living in. I didn't like what I had to go through." James dreamed of making it up and out and not just for himself. "I looked at what my mom, you know, what she went through by raising nine kids and really having no help and I just wanted to, you know, be able to help her and move her out of the projects." James saw baseball as his ticket out until he discovered basketball. "That was my, my get away from a lot of the things that was going on around me, you know, and I was on that court, nothing else mattered to me. And I just picked the game up and I just started playing and I loved it." At six foot seven and two hundred and fifteen pounds, James was all but perfect for the court. And with his light skin and green eyes, he stands out in a crowd. James became a star high school basketball player and went on to play in college professionally. "I end up being blessed to make it out of the hood to go to college. I got a full ride scholarship." James attended slippery rock university in Pennsylvania. He went on to travel the world and play for several European countries, including Norway, Sweden, Bulgaria and Greece. "I think this is my first job, the first time I've ever been out to country. You know, I was happy because, you know, you could pay, you could pay real good overseas and I was able to go over there and, you know, do, you know, out there play a game that I love. My mom was happy I was able to send money back to my family to help." And on his first day in France, James made a new friend. "I came out with just a little kid, just like, maybe like eight years old and he was sitting on my step and when I come out, he say, basketball, basketball, right? And so, oh, night. Okay, so I'm looking around right because I didn't speak French and so I started getting it. Like, okay, he tried to sell you the basketball player." The boy waited for James every day and followed him everywhere to the store, to the gym. And James noticed that the kid were the same clothes every day. He was from one of the poor areas of town. So, what I did was I took a lighter to him and I bought him clothes, I bought him shoes, I made sure that he could bring his family, he brought his mom and then they came to the game. I just trying to just be there. That was when James knew what he wanted to do in life. I always want to get back, don't want to get back to you know, kids, I think they deserve that. So, when he returned to the States, James became a mentor for kids in his community. Coaching them one-on-one, advocating for them with a needed extra support and helping out at youth basketball camps. "I like helping, I like giving back, I think that's something big with me and I tell a lot of people that the money thing doesn't matter to me. I care about, you know, people because I feel like, you know what I'm saying, we put on this earth to help, to help others." In his early 30s, James moved to Atlanta and started working as a party promoter. He used his celebrity status to draw other players to events, attracting crowds of fans and attendees. One night he was hanging out with his cousin and some friends when he met someone. "It was really casual, we kind of just, we're hanging, you know, we're all hanging out one night. And that initial meeting, James and I had a great conversation, it was just very organic." This is Hiba, LWD. The conversation just was so fluid and so natural. And after that, we really built a strong friendship. You know, James and I used to talk about dreams and aspirations and five to ten-year plans, things that you don't usually talk about, you know, with someone that you just meet right off the bat. Hiba wasn't looking for a relationship at the time, but there was just something about James. He was unlike any other man that I had met. The conversations were always about how he wants to help people, how he wants to give back, you know, how he wants to make his mark in this world. By doing for others what, you know, maybe he didn't get or didn't have growing up. You know, his love for children is out of this world. Like every time we chat, I learned something new. The two were developing a strong friendship, but before they could explore their relationship further, something completely unexpected happened. Near the end of June, James headed back to Greenville for a visit. He was just back from overseas and didn't have a car of his own yet, so he had borrowed one, a white BMW to make the trip from Atlanta. He spent a night in Rally on the way and a friend there asked him to give a ride to a couple of guys who joined James for the ride down to Greenville. When he arrived in his hometown on June 29th, James made his rounds visiting family and friends and eventually landed at the house of a childhood friend, Darryl Powell. James's friends wanted to go clubbing and they asked him to join. I had some ball and shorts and some Nike sandals I really didn't want to go. And so everybody else was like, "Come on, let's go, let's go, let's go." So, you know, let me not want to disappoint people because that's how I am. I said, "Okay, end up going." The guys that drove from Rally with James ended up taking the BMW. So he borrowed Darryl's Cadillac to meet his brother, Andre, at Dr. Unx Club. While there, the Rally guys showed up and asked to take the Cadillac instead of the BMW. So James switched cars with them. Around midnight the group decided to move over to the other place nightclub, which was known as OP's. James arrived in the white BMW I'm buying everybody drinks we have before I'm buying drinks for pretty much everybody in the club Soon the rally guys returned with the Cadillac and gave James the key James wearing basketball shorts with no pockets Put the key in a sock and continued to party So at some point it's still bump me. I tell him, you know, can you please stop bump me? Okay, so few minutes later he'd bump me again, but he'd shrunk The club was crowded and the bumping continued He's still like he bump me stuff, and so I tell him stop You know next time he bumping like the third time a solicit man go over there By this time, you know his friends come don't go to him like that You know, I'm telling everybody let it go and be fortunate to come so it's going on somehow. No, I say it's kind of He's got so strong if he bump me, you know, I'm just telling them to go over there James remembers that one of the owners Matthew blackman then came over and asked them all to leave He's like, you know, young lady could all come back my club no more So I tell him I said man, I said I have a story thing I said, but it's fine. I ain't got to come to you club no more whatever Blackman then had bouncers escort James and his friends out in the chaos James left the BMW keys on the bar It was closing time at this point around 2 a.m. And people had started to gather on the sidewalk outside Suddenly James felt someone push him I don't know push me, but when they pushed me see like all everything broke loose A brawl ensued in the confusion blackman got punched My hit or he grabbed me and because you know, I still have one that The sandals right with the like the blood sandal Nike sandals and stuff we fall And so my hair hit the the seamen on bleeding and stuff right so the all day then after that, right? It's all a second fight People piled onto James a bouncer later testified it was kind of pandemonium So the only thing I'm trying to is just leave James eventually broke free from the melee a witness later said they saw him walking away down the street by himself James remembered the Cadillac key in his sock so I go and I get the key I get in the Cadillac and I hope you call me but I just leave This episode is underwritten by a iG a leading global insurance company A iG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making a positive difference in the lives of its employees and in the communities where they work and live In light of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance and in recognition of a iG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform The a iG pro bono program It provides free legal services and other support to underrepresented communities and individuals The brawl died down and the crowd began to disperse blackman later said that as they left Some of the guys who were kicked out with James that night were yelling we have something for you. We're going to come back and shoot you up Minutes later a white BMW tore down the street towards OPs people were still on the sidewalk when someone in the car fired at least six shots into the crowd The bullets hit two white men 21 year old to land in black Lee a popular East Carolina University student in 29 year old Andrew Kirby a well-known local business manager both men died from their injuries Connie elks was assigned as the cases lead investigator during her investigation She spoke to multiple witnesses who were outside of the club that night people remembered that a professional basketball player was among those kicked out of the club These witnesses also gave descriptions of the shooter most of the descriptions were varied but none of the witnesses descriptions match James Nevertheless elks focused on him Some witnesses were offered line-ups. They told police that while they recognized James as being at the club He was not the shooter or even one of the guys who was in the BMW when it drove by Witnesses Nicholas Golden and Brian Richards both said the person was shooting from the BMW's back passenger window And they both described the shooter as a black male wearing a black shirt a black and red baseball cap and sunglasses James remember was dressed differently I had a small issue it's in like some Nike sandals Golden and Richards were the only two witnesses who actually saw the shooting Richards immediately described what he witnessed to a bartender and she gave them both a pen and paper So they wouldn't forget the details While they gave witness statements that night Officers did not follow up with them for nearly 18 months and unlike other witnesses They were never provided any line-ups Some people also reported seeing James leave OPs in a gold Cadillac parked around the corner Regardless of all this James was immediately the main suspect His photo was blasted all over the media and he was publicly proclaimed the armed and dangerous killer Later on the day of the shooting June 30th James was back in Rally about an hour and a half away when his sister told him the police were looking for him Confused James called his friend Sean who worked with the Greenville Police Department and I asked Sean It's a Sean was going on, you know he pretty much told me nothing we just want to talk to you You know, they just want to they just want to talk to you whatever so I was like okay, like you know, that's fine I thought he was they were talking about that they just a fight about downtown At this time I don't know anything about no shooting or nothing about none of this James didn't know anyone had been killed he thought the police just wanted to know about the fight He told Sean he talked to them in a couple days when he was back in Greenville for 4th of July and they agreed to meet up then That's how my tower nothing but I'll be back in a couple days. That's fine, right? That's what he said. Something like okay Once in Greenville James told Sean to come to his grandma's house to talk So when I get over there I get out of the car. It's just keep it everywhere, right? I'm thinking like okay You know everybody ready for the cookout but at the same time I see Sean standing out there and record clothes So as I get out and then I see the police badge from out his neck so then I'm just like Um, it's a Sean what's up man? I say you know, okay, we want to talk about it like now. We got to go down to the station When James went to the Greenville precinct with his friend Sean he was immediately arrested When I get to police station That's the last time I was at I've been out A few months later he was indicted for two counts of first degree capital murder and was facing the death penalty And every since then I've been fighting for my innocent Wow man like This can't be I never been in trouble. So I don't know. I didn't know what this thing, you know people tell the truth I'm thinking that I go to trial. I'll be out, you know, you know, my you know my innocent going to bail But that's not what happened It was clear to the district attorneys at the time Probably the law enforcement officers at the time that this was a career-making case This is Don Blagrofe the executive director of a mancipate NC a North Carolina social and criminal justice reform nonprofit organization She's also a post-conviction attorney helping James's legal team And if they could convict a high profile celebrity like James They would be able to Build whole careers off of his conviction whether it was right or wrong They were going to make an example out of James Richardson for shooting and killing two white men The prosecutors were district attorney Clark Everett and ADA Kimberly Rob The prosecutor's theory was that James was the only person in the BMW and that while driving He leaned out the passenger window to shoot into the crowd Ultimately killing blackly and curvy During a pretrial hearing Everett and Rob called four bar patrons expecting them to identify James as the person driving And shooting from the BMW These witness descriptions were inconsistent They all said the shooter was a medium to dark-skinned black man But none of their differing descriptions match James a light-skinned green-eyed black man At the end of the pretrial hearing it was evident that the state's case was hanging in the balance So Detective Elk's new we've got a problem. We don't have anyone that can put James in that car This is Heather Radalade who is James's post-conviction attorney of record So one week before trial low and behold They discover a brand new eye witness and his name is Videl Thorpe He happened to be the assistant prosecutors daughter's soccer coach [MUSIC] By the time of trial, two years after the shooting, Vidal Thorpe became the state's star witness, given he was the only one who positively identified James as the shooter. Even though he was never given a lineup, he testified that he saw James' face through the passenger window. Detective Connie Elks testified under oath that one of the witnesses, Rachel Burke, saw a black man wearing a white t-shirt go to the trunk of the BMW and take out a gun. Detective Elks also said that Rachel identified James as the shooter. On the stand, however, Rachel's testimony undermined all of this. >> She pointed to the defendant and said, that's not the person I identified in the lineup. To this day, we don't know who she identified in the lineup. >> Then Corporal John Jenkins provided bombshell evidence. The only actual evidence the state had against James, a surveillance video. The video was of the white BMW racing down the street, showing only one person in the car shooting at the crowd. Officer Jenkins said the video was the original and that it hadn't been altered or modified in any way. James' attorneys Tommy Moore and Jeffrey Cutler did their best to refute the state's argument, but the video left them stymied. The court also denied the eyewitness identification expert they retained, so all they could do was point out the inconsistencies and the witness testimonies on their own. However, they were able to present an alibi witness for James, Daryl Powell. He testified that he saw James immediately after the fight that night when James returned the gold Cadillac to his house. The defense also presented Nicholas Golden and Brian Richards, the only two witnesses to describe the shooter to responding officers. They both testified that it was not James who they saw in the car. The jury went to deliberation on April 1, 2011. Most of the jurors were convinced that James was guilty, but as it turns out, there was one lone holdout. Three days into deliberations, one of the black jurors, Lamiwell Anderson, sent a note to the judge asking to be removed from the jury. He felt like James was innocent, but he was intimidated inside of the jury room. The racial tension and hostility in the jury room, Anderson said, had become intolerable. The judge has a duty at that point to take that jury out of the jury room and ask him questions about why he's requesting this. But this judge didn't do that. Instead, he brought the entire jury out and essentially admonished Mr. Anderson in front of all of his fellow jurors saying, quote, I must emphasize the fact it is your duty to reach verdict on all of the charges. Judge W. Russell Duke, Jr. went on to say, quote, "I have already instructed you that your verdicts must be unanimous. Each of you must agree on the verdicts." Now, let me be clear about what Heather is describing. What she's actually describing is the living manifestation of systemic and institutional racism. The fact that this juror raised the concerns about racial intimidation happening inside of the jury deliberation room should have given this judge a strong pause and creative, strong doubt as to whether or not a fair verdict could have been reached. It took like three, four days for them to come back with a conviction on a capital case. Their deliberation ended with a unanimous decision. Anderson later came forward to say that he believed James to be 100% innocent. But the intimidation from the other jurors had been too much. The jury declared James Richardson guilty. And I'm just like, wow, and so it's like somebody take me fizz and punch you in the stomach when you hear a guilty. James was convicted of murder on April 6, 2011. The prosecution chose not to seek the death penalty. Instead, James received two sentences of life without parole. And here's a side note. Since 1983, Pitt County, where James was tried, has sent seven men to death row. And all of them have been black. Pitt County has never sought the death penalty against a white defendant accused of killing a black man. Statistically, in North Carolina, defendants are twice as likely to be sentenced to death if they're accused of killing a white person. It was hurtful and it was just I was just stunned. I couldn't believe it. I feel like doing a felt like a black person killed two white individuals. I feel like people were harder. They feel like, okay, yeah, we got it. Show him. James filed a direct appeal in July 2012, mainly arguing that the court aired and denying his eyewitness experts testimony. The appeal was denied, but his team continued to file petitions for relief. And in the meantime, he tried to focus on staying positive by praying and continuing to do what he loved the most, mentoring. Not a big kids, man. I don't want to go back out there coming in the same way he came in. I want to go back out there to be a positive influence on someone else. You know what I'm saying? I'm trying to help people. I want people to do better. James and Hibba hadn't seen much of each other since he'd returned to the states, but he was on her mind. For a couple of months after the incident happened, I was constantly sitting. I'd say like with a heavy heart because I knew I knew I knew I might gut that James hadn't done this. And a couple months later, I ended up getting his contact information. What made you want to reach out to him? I couldn't sleep. So, you know, when you have this like just gut wrenching feeling in your stomach, that something's wrong, I wanted more answers, right? It wasn't just, okay, you know, this is a great guy. You've you've had this heavy heart. You know in your gut that he couldn't have done this, but I needed answers. So Hibba started pouring over James's case trying to understand what had happened. And every time I would look through another piece of paper, another police report, I'm like, this makes absolutely no sense, right? This makes absolutely zero sense. Finally, after nearly five years of investigating on her own, Hibba got some help from Heather. After looking it over, Heather agreed to take on James's case. Then when I looked at James's case, I couldn't believe it. I've been looking at capital murder cases in the state over 25 years. And this this case is an outlier unlike anything I've ever seen. Don also joined Heather to fight for James's innocence. She says it was obvious detective Alex had tunnel vision, focusing on James not only because he was a celebrity, but also because of his race. The undercurrent in any of these types of small towns is that Black men are scary and they have a place that they're supposed to stay in. James Richardson had made a very successful life for himself, had not stayed in that place that he was supposed to stay in was doing much better than many of the local residents. One of their main post-conviction arguments that the trial was fundamentally unfair focuses on Lamiwell Anderson. That's the juror who was intimidated into convicting James despite believing he was innocent. This happens all of the time in our judicial system. And it is at the heart of why we end up with so many so many wrongful convictions that are disproportionately impacting Black communities. It is because our systems are designed to subjugate Black voices and to amplify White voices even when those White voices are racist. Additionally, the team secured an interview with a vital Thorpe, the state's star witness, and he recanted. At trial, Thorpe had testified, quote, "I saw his face." But when questioned by the investigator, he admitted he did not see the shooter's face, that he only saw an arm and a gun coming out the back window of the car. They also argued that by the court denying expert testimony for the defense, they violated James's due process rights. The defense's expert would have explained to the jury that many of the witnesses were white, and studies have shown that cross racial identifications are often flawed because of own race bias. In James' case, white witnesses confused him with another bar patron who was a dark-skinned black male. Black witnesses, on the other hand, were able to describe James accurately. James' brother Andre also came forward and signed an affidavit stating that during the scuffle in the club, he was the one who took the BMW keys off the bar. Remember, James left them there amidst the chaos. Andre, who was never called to the witness stand during the initial trial, said he gave the keys to one of the guys from Rally, who was known as B. And finally, it turns out the key evidence against James, the surveillance video footage that showed the BMW, was not the original video. It was actually a lower-quality copy that had been altered, and the prosecution did not preserve the original copy for the defense. Heather and Dawn analyzed the video and saw that it was badly distorted. But they used to support that version of events were incredibly tainted videos. Videos that never should have been introduced into trial. The defense council had no idea that they even needed to do deep dive investigation into the validity of that video because it was never disclosed to them that that video and those images were significantly deteriorated. In other cases, district attorney Everett had been known to suppress ex-cultivatory evidence. For example, that lab tests were altered and no evidence actually linked the defendant to the crime. On September 8, 2021, James filed his second motion for appropriate relief, arguing all of this and asking the court to vacate his conviction. Today, after years of writing and visits, James and Hibba are engaged to be married. It's just me and James, like nothing else matters. We kind of get into this zone where it's just the two of us and there's nothing better than being able to see him laugh and smile for a little bit. They often talk about their plans for the future. Aside from getting married, we have collectively decided that we have a bigger purpose in this world. And that is not to just carry out his original plans of helping children in underserved communities, but hopefully God willing would love to help people in this space. People that have been wrongfully convicted families that are dealing with wrongfully convicted individuals or whether they're spouses or children, really just finding a way to take all of our experiences and help other people. James has developed widespread support for his innocence in the Greenville community, where he's known as a youth mentor and a role model. There are still people in Greenville that say, "Gosh," a lot of these kids would have turned out so much better if James was here. I know one day I'm going to get out. I know one day I'm going to get out because I know I didn't do it. I know you have to just be positive through this whole situation. You can't never give up because if you ever give up, then you're a sape. We have to stand up because that's the only way that you're going to be able to make a difference in life. If you'd like to help support James, you can sign a petition for his release at change.org. Thank you all for your time. Next time on wrongful conviction with Maggie Freeling, Amanda Bussey. It was so bad. I couldn't even go on Walmart to get diapers without him accusing me and then I would risk getting beat on and stuff like that. There was no leaving. He was going to make sure of that. Thanks for listening to wrongful conviction with Maggie Freeling. Please support your local innocence organizations and go to the links in our bio to see how you can help. I'd like to thank our executive producers, Jason Flom and Kevin Werdas, as well as our senior producer, Annie Chelsea, producer Laila Robinson and story editor Sonia Paul. The show is edited and mixed by Annie Chelsea with additional production by Jeff Clyburn and Connor Hall. The music in this production is by three time Oscar-nominated composer J. Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram @wrongfulconviction on Facebook @wrongfulconviction podcast and on Twitter @wrongconviction as well as @lavoforgood on all three platforms. You can also follow me on both Instagram and Twitter @maggyfreeling. Wrongful Conviction with Maggy Freeling is a production of Lavaforgood Podcasts in association with Signal Company #1.