#510 Jason Flom with Pedro Reynoso

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Listen to Hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My first guest is Paris Tolton. Shakira. Luke and Yerin. I have surprises. Many surprises. Welcome to the sweet 305 podcast where the new tech comes to life. You're the only person I know that loves the yellow starbursts. Lemonade. This is Sweet 305. Here, for sharing is encouraged. Listen to Sweet 305 with Lela Ponds on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In July 1991 in North Philadelphia, two drug houses on the same street were feuding and two young men were fatally shot. According to witnesses, the assailants were known as Chuito and Papadito. But arrest ones were issued for two men who did not go by those names, Falo Garcia and Pedro Renoso. Moreover, Pedro Renoso had been in the Dominican Republic since 10 days before the shooting. Yet, upon his return to the U.S. nearly three years later, he was arrested, tried and convicted with the help of two witnesses who were willing to testify that Pedro was Papadito and Falo Garcia was some guy named Marciano. So where's Chuito? Not serving life in prison? This is Ronfell Conviction. You're listening to Ronfell Conviction. You can listen to this in all the Lava for Good Podcasts one week early and add free by subscribing to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Welcome back to Ronfell Conviction, where we've got a Philadelphia story that literally makes me insane. This story involves a man named Pedro Renoso from the Dominican Republic and it's a story that we began covering with now this back before the pandemic. And in fact, some of this audio represents the last in-person interviews we did in March 2020. So joining us now is Pedro's attorney, Craig Cooley. Craig Bacchol. I appreciate you have talked about Pedro's case. It's truth or the Schraderian infection and this is a case that exemplifies that point. It really does. This murder occurred in Philadelphia while Pedro was undeniably in the Dominican Republic. Again, all of this while police were actually aware of the real killer. But somehow, Pedro still, all these years later, is calling in from a Pennsylvania correctional facility and at Pedro, thank you for calling in. Thank you and I appreciate you man. So Pedro chose to speak in Spanish for our interview. So our workaround was to have his wife, Evelyn Translate and our producer, Connor Hall, recorded the translation in English. Unfortunately, the live translation process shortened what was already a tight time slot. So we focused on the heavier stuff with Pedro and had to lean on Craig a little bit to hear how Pedro's story began. He was born in the Dominican Republic. In the late 70s or early 80s, he came to the US with the intent of gaining citizenship. And by 1991, he had obtained a temporary visa based on my conversations with him and other family members. He was doing odd jobs and doing something at the quote unquote drughouse on Darian Street. Pedro worked at 3042 North Darian Street, which was owned by a heavy-set Dominican guy named Desio. And he ran the spot with Rafael Vigdal, aka Cheuito. And that house was involved in an ongoing dispute with the drughouse across the street at 3045 North Darian, which was operated by a Puerto Rican family. Juan Andino, his wife Marisol Torres Cologne, whose brother, by the way, was one of the victims, Carlos Torres, followed by 17-year-old Charles Rivera. I knew Carlos Torres for about a week, but I have no idea who the other person was. I never knew the other person. But before this dispute came to that terrible end, Pedro's family, back in the Dominican Republic, requested that he and his newborn son, Juan Alexander, return to the DR. And they arrived on July 13, 1991, ten full days before the crime. I went to visit my mother who was sick, very sick. And I stayed there until she died in 1993. In 1994, I tried to come back, and that's when I ran into this. So this being the aftermath of the inter-drug house dispute, and there's evidence in the homicide files or age files that Craig Cooley obtained in 2019 that the police were well aware of this dispute, particularly from an interview with a man named Marcus James. James explained how he got to the Dominican drughouse on July 20, 1991 to purchase cocaine. While at the drug house, James encountered this heavy-set Dominican who "raned the drug operation." James didn't know this Dominican's name, but said, "You can't miss him." Because this Dominican weighed between 250 and 300 pounds. James, wherever said this Dominican, asked him, James, if he'd seen Charles Rivera, I either poured a reakin' because Rivera owed him $10,000. This witness is telling the cops like, "This is what happened." There was a hit placed on Riviera, because he supposedly ripped off 10 grand in cast and drugs. The age file and the DA file both contained evidence that Carlos Torres and his brother-in-law, Juan Indino, had also stolen drugs from the Dominican. Right? No, Juan Indino's married to Marisol. Both files also contained evidence that Charles Rivera, Carlos Torres and Juan Indino had an ongoing dispute with the Dominicans, and that they shot at the Dominican's, particularly Tweedo, and the DA's leading up to this shooting. So there's this back and forth. In back, both Juan and Indino and Marisol Torres Cologne told the police about run-ins that they'd had with Tweedo earlier on the day of the shooting. Indino said he was hiding in an abandoned house for the cops, and Tweedo forced him to turn himself in with a 357 magnum. Then, Tweedo came to 3045 North Area and looking for Carlos Torres. And his sister Marisol didn't get a chance to warn him before he and Charles Rivera were killed just around the corner at around 1.15 pm on July 23rd of 1991. And we're going to give you the details of this shooting. From the point of view of both the state's star trial witnesses, all right? Sarah Robinson and Sam Wilkerson, as testified to either in post-conviction hearings or in front of the Philadelphia Conviction Integrity Unit. So let's start with Wilkerson, who saw this from the angle of the victims. Wilkerson said Carlos Torres stopped his Toyota on the corner where Wilkerson and others were standing. Charles Rivera was in the front passenger seat. Torres complained about the Dominican's, particularly Tweedo, because Tweedo had ratted out Tweedo's brother-in-law, Juan and Indino earlier that morning, which allowed the police department to confiscate many of Juan's guns. Now Robinson, who was across from Wilkerson, Torres and Rivera, saw Tweedo come onto the scene. Robinson said at the time of double-marble-murder, Robinson was selling fake bags of marijuana on the corner of ninth street and clear-field street while on the corner, a car pulled up alongside her with two brown skinned men in the front seat. She approached the car and offered to sell them fake marijuana, but when she saw Tweedo driving, she backed up and said, quote, oh, it's you. End quote. And didn't try selling Tweedo anything. She recognized the other car occupant as one other Dominican drug dealers from the Daren Street House, but didn't know his name. She was certain, though, it wasn't Pedro Wanozo. The witnesses described the assailants as clean-shaven while Pedro had a thick mustache at the time. Robinson then saw Tweedo's car pulled up alongside Carlos Torres's car, which wasn't far from where she was standing. She saw Tweedo open fire into Carlos Torres's car killing Charles River Era, who was the front passenger seat and Tweedo. Sam Wilkerson and Sarah Robinson knew him as Tweedo. I don't know if they knew his real, his actual name, but, you know, the Dominicans who lived in that area from our investigation knew his first name. Rafael Vidal, everybody refers to him as Tweedo, though. And Marisol Cologne was still hoping at this point to warn her brother about Tweedo when her children came running down the street screaming that something had happened to their uncle. She ran to Clearfield at 9, saw that Rivera was already dead, and tried to push her brother back into the car to drive. drive him to the hospital. Instead, the police took both men to Temple University hospital where they were pronounced dead. And according to a 2011 affidavit and a 2018 Philadelphia inquiry interview, when Marisol returned from the hospital to 3045 North Darien, Chewito was there waiting for her. - At some point she had this confrontation with Chewito. And it was at this point when Chewito confessed, I think it's the best word to use to be the guy committed to double murder. And she's adamant that she told the detectives like it's Chewito. I mean, he told me in no uncertain terms that I did you a favor by killing your brother. - And Marisol replied, quote, "You better kill me too, because I'm gonna make sure that you're locked up." And quote, "To which he replied whatever," as he left. So it appears that Chewito knew somehow that he'd get away with this. Perhaps he had a special relationship with the police. I mean, after all, he was named in the initial homicide summary along with a man named Papa Dito. But as the police began compiling a list of names associated with the Dominican drug house, which included Pedro and his co-defendant, fellow Garcia, they obtained a rest warrant, none of which were for Rafael Vidal, as documented in this homicide summary that was buried until 2019. - So there's a paragraph that basically says on July 23rd, 1991, they describe what happened and the next sentence, it says, quote, "As a result of investigation, two males who identified as Chewito and Papa Dito were the persons responsible for the murders of the two males." And it says, "Worrants of arrests were issued in Falo Garcia was arrested on July 27th, 1991." Okay, no, the third sentence says, "A male identified as Papa Dito is presently listed as a fugitive." But Falo, everybody knew Falo Garcia wasn't Chewito. And more importantly, if you wanna divert attention away from Chewito, and you're going through that list, and you're like, okay, where's Pedro? And somebody says, oh, he left the country. And I mean, there it is. (soft music) This episode of "Romphal Conviction" is proudly sponsored by E.Race PTSD now. Every day, countless individuals face the invisible wounds trauma and PTSD. Your support empowers us to provide life-changing treatments like the stale ganglion block SGB, which inhibits nerve impulses and helps to restore hope, reclaim lives, and save lives after incarceration. Together, we can ensure that those wrongfully convicted receive the care they need to heal and reintegrate into society. Join us in this mission to erase PTSD and uplift our communities. Visit erasebtsdnow.org. That's erasebtsdnow.org for more information and ways to get involved. - Hey, I'm Hota Kotby, host of the podcast, Joy 101 with Hota Kotby. Okay, if you know me, you know this. I'm always searching for inspiration, for support, and useful tools to help maximize joy. So this podcast lets us uncover all of that together. We're gonna have these meaningful conversations with the world's most fascinating people. Like when actress Olivia Munn shared how she overcame fierce health challenges that she never saw coming. - I've gone through breast cancer and then helped my mother through breast cancer and that was more difficult. There's a lot of people who understand postpartum depression. I was not prepared for postpartum anxiety. - Olympic champ, Sean Johnson, revealed why she had no choice, but to be a gymnast. - There was something about gymnastics that was intoxicating to me. It's given me a belief that we all have one of those treasures inside of us. We just have to find it. - Listen to Joy 101 with Hota Kotby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. - My husband is currently on vacation with his mistress and I'm confronting them. - Tell me, Sophia, how did she even catch them? - One Amazon shopping receipt. He accidentally sent her a photo of the kid's Christmas gifts with a delivery to another woman at the bottom. - He exposed himself? That's a rookie move. - Couples massages, monogrammed bath robes, and lingerie, he met motor for. So she spent four weeks gathering evidence and taped a 10 page letter inside his luggage before he flew out. - In his luggage, she came to play. - And the second he landed, he blocked her. So she called the hotel room directly and got the mistress on the phone. - Ooh, she got the mistress live on the phone. That is a bold move. Let's see if it pays off. - That it gets worse. He took the mistress on the Bahamas honeymoon trip. He had planned with his wife and then the mistress tagged him on Facebook, outing the fare to her entire family. - That's like a whole public confession. - And spoiler two years later, Karma hit some so hard. He's calling his ex-wife, in tears, saying about the mistress, "What a mistake that was." To find out what happened, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. - Hey everybody, it's the Jonas Brothers. This week on the podcast, Hey Jonas, we're so excited to be hanging out with Mika Abdallah from the hit show Off Campus. Congratulations on the massive show and massive success. Got through about episode five. I left the next morning to go meet the guys. Came back, was like, cool, let's pick up where we left off and that series have been completed without me. - Oh no, that's like the number one rule of watching some basically-- - Yeah, it's literally cheating, that's crazy. - We talk about what it's been like watching the show to become such a massive hit, what's next for season two, and just how close the off-campus cast really is. - We're genuinely so close. - What's the group chat called? If you can say, if it's allowed to be set on the on-pot, it's a great question. - One of them is off-campus Brazil. - Okay, love it. Shout out Brazil. - Shout out Brazil. - And then the boys have their own group chat called Dean's (beep) (laughing) - Our conversation with Mika Abdallah is out now. Go check it out. - Listen to Hey Jonas and the iHeartRadio app. - Appal podcast or wherever you get your podcast. (upbeat music) - Pedro Reno so left the US on July 13th, 1991. 10 days before the crime. And Pedro believes that Tuito may have even stoked interest in him. - It could have been that Tuito, I knew him. We didn't have a good relationship at the time. Since I was in San Diego, they did it as a cover-up to store the investigation of the case. That's what I think. - Initially the name Tuito was assigned to fellow Garcia and Pedro was identified as Papa Deto by Sarah Robinson who explained herself in 2021 to the Philadelphia CIO. - Robinson said she had a pre-existing relationship with these detectives. They often provided her with money and other rewards, such as drugs confiscated from others. They dropped these items from their car and leave them for her to pick up. In return for these rewards, Robinson signed whatever statements they asked her to sign in different cases. She said this is what she did in Pedro's case. At the time back in 1991, she found no remorse for falsity identifying Pedro because she didn't like him very much and she was more concerned with her own wellbeing. - Robinson said she's detectives. She didn't know their real names. She recognized them as either Tom and Jerry or Sarge. - Sarge. - Our listeners may recall from our coverage of Man for the Younger's case, that Sarge is actually Detective Martin Devlin's nickname. He and his partner, Chuck Bentham, had retired from Philly to work for Camden County by the time of Man for the Younger's 2007 case. But back in 1991, Chuck Bentham was the guy signing most of the Philadelphia police reports in Pedro's case. So their presence might explain how the initial homicide summary naming Tuita was buried while the suspects nicknames morphed. Initially, Falo was Tuito and Papadito was effugitive. But that's not what it says, unfalos arrest report. - If you go through the HFOW, they identify Falo as Papadito on his arrest report. And then there's a second document in the HFOW. It's the Municipal Court hearing list. Again, it lists his name and there's an alias section that says Papadito. And again, those documents from our understanding were not provided to trial council. And then Falo Garcia's attorney, trial council brought a photograph of Pedro to the police department. And then once they had this photograph, oh, like this is Papadito. - Which perhaps they were trying to clear Falo from this case, but instead Tuito was dropped from suspicion altogether. Pedro was once again assigned the role of the fugitive Papadito and Falo Garcia was dubbed the previously unmentioned Marciano and Bentham and Devlin had their regular informant, Sara Robinson, support this twisted narrative. - Sara Robinson, she says that she saw a K.A. Pedro at the drug house on the morning of July 26, 1991. And she says that once they're at the drug house, they stay there all day, right? So like around nine o'clock. So if you take her word of what she's saying in her statement, Pedro was in Philly on July 26, 1991 all day. And that's significant because what happens the next day? - On September 27, Pedro's son was baptized in the Dominican Republic, which posed a great deal of issues for that narrative, like alibi witnesses, including a priest, as well as photographs of the event. Now Pedro also had purchased property in the Dominican Republic around the 20th, leaving a very narrow window. in which he could have possibly snuck back into the US and snuck back out completely undetected. Nevertheless, the state was locked in with Sarah Robinson's statement, which we later found out really bothered Sam Wilkerson. Wilkerson, explain how two detectives had detained him and took him to homicide in July 30th because he confronted Sarah Robinson on the street as he spoke with two detectives about the fact she'd fallce identified Papadito as the gunman. Once at homicide, the detectives not only threatened to charge him with obstructing justice, but they also handcuffed him to a chair, beat him through M&M's at him and didn't give him water. Now, the fact he threw in the M&M's, that's a fact that this actually happened because I would, why would I make that up? When Wilkerson woke up the next morning, July 31st, he was still handcuffed to the chair, read the hammer and statement. It contained the narrative that ultimately appeared in the July 31st 1991 homicide statement. So now Robinson and Wilkerson were singing the same tune in fellow Garcia was taken to trial. He had a different trial in 1992. He's convicted, fellow is convicted. He was convicted too, so he's another innocent man in prison. Correct. Meanwhile, Pedro was unaware of how perilous his eventual return to the US might be, as he took care of his ailing mother and met a new woman in the DR. While I was in Santo Domingo, she ended up pregnant and I had a daughter with her in Santo Domingo. For me, it was a big deal to leave my small son and daughter over there without knowing what was waiting for me. So after his mother passed in late 1993, he tied up some loose ends and planned a return flight to the US. But staying outside the US from 1991 to 1994 violated the terms of his temporary visa, because he was only supposed to have left for two or three weeks at a time, not two or three years. So March 94, he goes to the airport and he has an initial ticket, but the American Airlines folks are like, no, you don't have the appropriate documents like you've been here for three years. So they wouldn't let him board. So according to Pedro, there were people in the DR who knew the immigration policy of the US and they knew there are many Dominicans who had this temporary visa. So there are people at the airport in the DR that would make money by fabricating passport stamps. And so Pedro, according to what he's told us, is he met this person at the airport. And Pedro tells him, like, yes, I've been here since July 13, 1991. Now it's March 23rd, 24th, 1994. And the fabricator, I call him the fabricator in my pleadings. The fabricator knows the policy. Goes back to the July 13th, 1991 date. So you have to have an exit date, two or three weeks after that. You have to be leaving the DR and back into the US. So they pick of all dates, July 27th, 1991. Again, that's the exact date of his son's baptism, which was critical to his alibi. Not exactly a day that you'd expect him to be traveling internationally. The fabricator fabricates an exit stamp dated July 27th, 1991. So the fabricator says it's March 23rd, 1994. Let's make a fabricated entry stamp into the DR for March 10th. Because today's the 23rd, 24th, it's only two weeks. You're going back to the US. It looks like you were only in the DR for two weeks. So those fabricated stamps had a purpose. And the purpose was not to get away with murder, but to convince the US immigration folks that he was, in fact, in the US from July 27th, 1991 until March 10th of 1994. So he, A, can get back into the states and B, maintain this status he has in the US. When he arrived at Newark Airport, he was immediately arrested and he had to hire an attorney. We got a lawyer and he left me at the county jail for nearly two and a half years, telling me that the case would never go to trial, but that he would pick up the case because he could get enough evidence before the trial to say this never happened. Pedro's attorney may have been confident in light of the passport stamps, despite the two fabrications of which the attorney was unaware. The stamps still exonerated Pedro. Plus, the September 27th exit stamp from the Dominican Republic was really problematic for Sarah Robinson statement that she allegedly seen Pedro in Philadelphia, on July 26th, 1991. So the district attorney's office had to get really creative about Pedro's possible James Bondesque travel itinerary to skirt US customs. Based on the DAO's quote, "Pageo took a ferry boat narrative." After Pedro left the Daren Street drughouse at 9.30 p.m. on July 26th, 1991, he did the following. One, traveled to either Philadelphia's airport or Newark's airport. Two, took a flight to presumably San Juan Puerto Rico. Three, once in San Juan, Pedro left the airport and traveled to a boat. Four, Pedro then took said boat from San Juan to somewhere along the DR's eastern coast, maybe Semana. And five, once in Semana, Pedro drove to Pimental the town and the DR where his family lives, where he arrived in time for his son's late morning, early afternoon, baptism on July 27th, 1991. And I believe the travel time between Semana and Pimental is two hours. So I suppose it's not impossible, but certainly highly unlikely. I mean, he'd need bake and believable ID to get on the flight to San Juan. Then flawlessly make every connection. And he also had to have made the trip both ways undetected. So it appears his attorney thought the passport was enough to overcome this ridiculous theory since he didn't bother to subpoena any of the many alibi witnesses. We told him everything. We told him about all the witnesses in Santo Domingo. He never subpoenaed anyone because he said it wasn't necessary because he said the case would be closed before getting to trial. But he never called any of the witnesses, never subpoenaed. They came because they were part of the family. Nevertheless, his family showed up to the July 1996 trial to testify with photographs from the baptism and a priest. Since my family brought them the DA asked, who subpoenaed you? And since they came to favor me, he used that against me because no one subpoenaed them to court. Plus the exit stamp on the same date of the baptism didn't do Pedro any favors, not that Sarah Robinson and Sam Wilkerson were that convincing either. Sarah Robinson accused me and she had already accused someone else. And Samuel Wilkerson, the second witness, couldn't identify me in court. The judge had to send him inside and when he came back, he accused me. But only after the prosecutor pointed at me. So Wilkerson needed guidance while Sarah Robinson had the baggage of placing Pedro in Philadelphia on September 26th, which then in turn made the state have to sell this undetected mission and possible journey from Dominican Republic to Philly and back all set against Pedro's passport, which placed him in the DR during the crime. So Pedro used the passport as a defense. But then the DA's office had somebody from the INS, a document examiner review, the stamps. And she was adamant that in her opinion, the July 27th stamp was fabricated. And I think she also believed that the entry stamp on March 10th, '94 was fabricated. Having that testimony suggesting that why would you fabricate them? This is where Pedro dug his hole though. Had he been up front with Luis Savino, his trial attorney and said, "Look dude, this is what happened." I was in the DR the whole time. Luis a good trial attorney. When there's a fact that kid be viewed through two different lenses. One is in a bad light, one is in a good light. If you're a defense attorney, you take control of that. Right? In your opening statement, like, "My client fabricated his passport, it stands for but he did not murder these people." That's your first statement in opening statement. Minimizing any aggravating theme the government can give to those fabricated stamps. You've bursted it yourself by saying, "Yeah, he was in the DR the whole time." Like, "Why would my client. how could he leave?" He was at his son's baptism on July 27th, 1991. That is fabricated. We are admitting that. But here's why he fabricated them. Because that fabrication was created three years later when he was trying to return to the United States because he was in the DR from July 13th, 1991 to March 24th, 1994. But instead, he gambled that the fabricated stamps would go unnoticed. He lost that gamble, turning exonerating evidence into a liability. Leaving the jury asking, "Why are you fabricating passport stamps?" From what I remember, deliberation lasted three or four days. When I was found guilty, at that time, my eyes blocked. I suddenly couldn't see it. I went blind. I went blind, court. I got very sick. For me, that moment was the worst in my life. [Music] and cover all of that together. - Olympic champ Sean Johnson revealed why she had no choice but to be a gymnast. - Listen to Joy 101 with HotaCotby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. - Couples massages, monogrammed bath robes, and lingerie he'd that motor for. That is a bold move. - And spoiler two years later, karma hit some so hardies calling his ex-wife into years saying about the mistress. What a mistake that was. To find out what happened, listen to the okay story time podcast on the iHAR Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on the podcast, hey Jonas, we're so excited to be hanging out with Mika Abdullah from the hit show Off Campus. Came back was like, "Cool, let's pick up where we left off." And that series have been completed without me. - Oh no, that's like the number one rule of watching some kids. - Basically, literally cheating, that's crazy. - We talk about what it's been like watching the show become such a massive hit. What's next for season two? And just how close the Off Campus cast really is. If you can say, if it's allowed to be said on the on pod, it's a great question. - One of them is Off Campus Brazil. - Okay, love it. Shout out Brazil. - Shout out Brazil. And then the boys have their own group chat called Deem's (beep) (laughing) - Our conversation with Mika Abdullah is out now. - Go check it out. Listen to hey Jonas in the iHAR Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. (soft music) - Once convicted of a Capitol crime in a death penalty state, Pedro was faced with a dire sentencing phase. - I had to defend myself. I took the stand and told the lawyer that I wanted to defend my life. The lawyer told me not to, but I wanted to defend my life. I told him, I respect his decisions, but I wanted to defend my life for my kids and my family. And ultimately they ruled life in prison, is that was that the final decision? - Yeah. - My innocence has kept me a bit calm, but there are days and nights in which I don't even know where I am, but my innocence is what keeps me calm. I've always been a very friendly and compassionate person. When I was out in the streets, I like to share with people. I like to get to know others. That's what keeps me safe in here. I don't get into trouble with others and not nosy about what people do. I never do anything bad. I've always been like that since I was out in the streets. - And we hope that spirit has continued to serve him as this injustice continues to flinger and really shame all of us. And Pedro was denied on his direct appeal, as well as his initial post-conviction motions in which the focus was ineffective assistance of trial council, considering the number of alibi witnesses that were available, but not presented. However, the post-conviction attorney didn't attach the affidavits from these alibi witnesses to the filing in 1999-2000, then they were procedurally barred. And then a new attorney entered the picture named Michael Farrell. - Michael was a good trial attorney, but post-conviction is a different type of law because everything's about deadlines. If you don't get something timely found, you're screwed. And we talked about how Marishel gave an affidavit in 2011 and in Pennsylvania at the time. They've now changed the thank God, but in Pennsylvania, once you said you had new evidence, you had 60 days to file a petition and present that new evidence to the court, which is ridiculous because I can get a new piece of evidence that might get me to where I want to get, but it's not gonna get me relief. So why am I gonna present it to the court when I know I'm gonna lose, but that new piece of evidence might lead me to more evidence. So over time, I can develop a claim. But long story short, Michael Farrell did not present that affidavit, he didn't present. Sarah Robinson's affidavit, it just was a, again, a cascade of horrible. - As we mentioned, Marishel's 2011 affidavit was about her run-ins with Chewito before and after the shooting. How he admitted it to her and establishing that Chewito was Rafael Vidal. Sarah Robinson also gave an affidavit in 2010 where she recanted her trial testimony and said that she was incentivized with drugs as well as the detectives making some assault charges magically go away. Unfortunately, and that's not a strong enough word, Farrell did not file them in time, but Sam Wilkerson was a different story. - So he gave a statement on March 1st of 2012 and then Mike Farrell uses that statement to get a PCRA hearing July 12th of 2013. Wilkerson testified, yes, his testimony was false because he knew Pedro was not one of the men who did any shooting. Quote, "Pager did not shoot anybody." And Mike Farrell just jumped right into the primary issue. Quote, " Were you on that corner at the time of the shooting?" Answer, yes. Question, "Did you see who shot Popo and Charlie Chan?" Answer, yes. Question, "Who was it?" Answer, Chewito. Mike Farrell confirmed Chewito's real name is Rafael Vidal. And then the state called Chuck Bentham in Rebuttal. Now remember, the homicide file doc that could have impeached Bentham were not available until 2019. - The DA's office calls Bentham and Mike Farrell asked him, like, "What do you know about Chewito?" Now keep in mind, the very first page of that homicide file has Chewito identified as one of the two perpetrators. And Bentham's like, "Nah, name may be Sam from Mayor. I don't know." Which is, I mean, which just drives me up a fucking wall because there are situations where the Philly Police Department will collect ex-copatory evidence and not give it to the DA's office. Under Brady, that doesn't matter. It's imputed. In this case, though, the DA's office had multiple copies of the homicide summary in their own case file. - Wilkerson also testified about how he was forced into signing on to Sarah Robinson's narrative on July 31, 1991, you know, the whole M&M's ordeal. But without the homicide file to impeach Bentham, I guess the judge found Bentham more credible, denying the motion in 2014 and then Craig took on the case, filing his federal habeas in which he tried to admit the alibi evidence and witnesses as new evidence. - So when I got the case in 2016, and I found his federal petition, which was 13 years late, and thankfully, the federal courts has an actual innocence exception, where if your petition is untimely, but you have substantial evidence that you are, in fact, actually innocent, they'll overlook the untiminess, take jurisdiction of your petition and review it. But what the district court judge said was, "Wow, because trial council knew about these witnesses, it's not new evidence." So he was defining new evidence as evidence that's something that had to be outside the realm of what trial council knew. And there was a great case that had just come down from the third circuit court of appeals that said, "No, new evidence is any evidence that the juridant here." - And so I convinced the third circuit in January of '19 to take the appeal, but that wasn't the only avenue of relief that Craig sought. - By late 2019, Federman's doing these commutation hearings. - I went to the board of partners to try and get out that way. I don't know if you know this, but I got four unanimous votes and the attorney general held me under advisement. - Federman reached out to me 'cause he learned about Pedro's case, and so Neil and I went up to SCI Phoenix to meet with him to go over everything. And it's at that point, I was under the impression that those passport stamps were legitimate. Federman, he's like, they're fabricated. And Neil and I just were like, one of those, fuck moments. - But this isn't a deal breaker. Like we said earlier, when the story behind the fabrications is understood, there's no longer a liability. Meanwhile, Neil and Sangre from the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, along with Craig, not only asked Pedro for an explanation, but they also hired an expert to look into the fabricated stamps. - Neil and I were able to talk to Tom Griffin and experienced immigration attorney who knows the immigration policies even back in the 80s and have him go through all the documents, immigration documents, and explain to us why Pedro would get the fabricated exit stamp from the DR on July 30th. 27th, 1991, and then why he would get a fabricated entry stamp to the DR on March 10th, 1994. While they were investigating Pedro's passport, Larry Crazner had been elected DA in Philadelphia, and he formed their conviction integrity unit under Patricia Cummings. The accepted Pedro's case for re-investigation and Tom Gato was assigned the case, and importantly, he handed over the homicide file, which contained many illuminating documents that exhibited how the nicknames had morphed over time, as well as the document that named Chujito and Papadito, the homicide summary. They had multiple copies of it because when we went to the DA's office and looked at that with the stuff, like, "Oh, here's another copy of the homicide summary." Oh, another one, and another one. And copies of fellow Garcia's arrest report identifying him as Papadito. And none of this was ever disclosed either a trial or during the PCRA proceedings back in like 2010 to 2014. So they poured over these previously hidden documents, as well as heard testimony from witnesses starting with the cadre of alibi witnesses from the DR. So in August of 2020, Neum was able to get all the family in the DR into one room. And we did zoom in of views with Patricia Cummings and Tom Gayada, where these individuals, all these individuals said, "Yes, he never left. He came in on this date and he never left." So we even provided them with live testimony or live statements explaining what the documents and the photographic evidence already proved. Right. There were tons of photographs of the baptism. And importantly, Pedro had a thick mustache at the time while the assailant had always been described as clean shavon. Then they moved on to the eyewitnesses. By this time, Marisol had passed away, but Sam Wilkerson and Sarah Robinson told their stories about Bentham and Devlin and how they had both initially identified Chujito, but were either coerced or incentivized to lie. But the C.I.U. hit a snag on the passport stamps. It's frustrating because there is an easy and reasonable explanation for these dates and why he would do what he did. This went on from August of 2020 to August of 2021. I think January of 2022. Mike Garmisa is named the new head of the C.I.U. I like Mike. We had a call with Mike. Mike's just like, "Yeah, we don't see what you see." So we're just going to send it over to the Fed lit, like the Federal Habiest Unit at the DA's office. So after seeing all of the ex-culpatory evidence, alibi witnesses, dates witness recantations, as well as the police coercion and misconduct that led to the false statements, not to mention the Brady material. The C.I.U. chose to get stuck on Pedro's fabricated passport stamps and the reasonable story of maintaining his immigration status while taking care of his sick mother. So they resumed the Federal Habiest proceedings. There's two primary federal claims. You know, Trial Council was ineffective for not presenting more alibi witnesses. Only two alibi witnesses testified. And the other one, the more significant one, I believe, at this point is the Brady claim of all the suppressed evidence regarding Tweeto and documents identifying Falo Garcia as Papadito. In addition to that, there's also the procedural argument about what constitutes new evidence and whether or not the Federal court can assume jurisdiction over that as new evidence under the actual innocent standard. And that is a high standard that no juror would vote to convict. To win a Brady claim, you simply have to prove one. One juror, you know, it's a reason why it would have impacted their vote. Here it's all of them collectively would say, "We're not buying what they're selling, we're going to acquit them." And I think we'd meet that, but it's a hard standard. Then there's the actual claims and evidence themselves. And with the homicide file, there's so much more support for his claims. I filed 180 page supplemental amended Federal Habits petition July 5th of 2022. And then the DA's office filed a 25 page response. They're putting up a fight, but they're not putting up a fight. It's the James Bond argument that he was capable of entering and entering multiple countries undetected. My argument, and I made this in my pleadings, is Occam's razor, what's easier to believe? There's two narratives. One is the one I just presented you, right? He's in the DR the whole time and these are why he fabricated these stamps. The other one is the DA's is that we flew into the DR on July 13th, 1991. He somehow gets back to Philadelphia through two countries, customs, the DR in the US, undetected, right? So he has to be back in Philly, July 23rd, then commit the murder, and then leave Philadelphia, July 26th, 1991. So you're leaving one country, entering another undetected, where he's at his son's baptism on July 27th in the DR. All within the tight time frame, as per Sarah Robinson's now recanted statement. So what's easier to believe? Occam's razor would say, well, obviously it's the first one. He's been down there. We have all these documents, photographs, birth certificates, and an experience immigration attorney explaining the dates and why they're significant. And what is there to collaborate the DA's narrative? Like he's like James Bond. And remember, he only has to be James Bond to satisfy David, Sarah Robinson now maintains came from two disgraced Philadelphia detectives. I mean, these guys are notorious. They're in the cases of many of our guests. Tony Wright, Jimmy Dennis, Walter O'Grady, Troy Coleman, manfred younger, and of course, Pedro Renoso. So where is the case at now? It's in front of a magistrate judge right now because in the Eastern District, once you file federal habeas petition, the district court will assign a magistrate judge to review the petition into draft and file. What's called a report and recommendation? And it sounds just like what it is. It's a report of the case. And it's a recommendation to the district court as to what the district court should do regarding each claim or the petition in general. Like say, the magistrate judge and a report recommendation saying, no, it's untimely. You didn't meet the actually, when it's in standard for these reasons, the losing side can file objections to the report recommendation. And then the district court would decide what to do. And for the most part, whatever happens in the report recommendation is ultimately adopted into a final order by the district court. Well, let's hope the magistrate judge sees what we see. So what can our audience do to help? Just spread the word or donate to other innocence projects that do this work. People need representation. So donate to the innocence projects local or national. And so people like Pedro can have attorneys. And with that, we're going to go to closing arguments. And this is my favorite part of the show. It's where I first thank you, Craig Pedro for sharing this Pedro, your hero to all of us. So now I'm going to turn my microphone off and hand it over to Craig for any final thoughts you want to share. And then Craig, you just hand it off to microphone over to Pedro. And he'll take us off into the sunset. I just end on the Occam's razor principle. Like what's there's two narratives here. And the simplest narrative is usually the correct narrative. And that narrative is Pedro Renoso flew into the DR on July 13th, 1991. Stay there till March 24th, 1994. And while returning, he figured out he needed to fabricate two passport stamps to maintain his visa status in the US. He wasn't doing it to cover up a double murder because we have substantial evidence that places him in the DR all those years. So that's the straightforward narrative. The other narrative is he enters the DR on July 13th, 1991. And he somehow returns to Philadelphia by July 22nd because the murder is on July 23rd. So he's leaving the DR entering the US undetected, leaving the US coming back into the DR undetected. And that's how he's at his son's baptism on July 27th, 1991. But again, this begs this question, if he's so good at entering and exiting these countries in 1991 undetected, why didn't he just go undetected in March of 1994? Those are your two narratives. I was at the audience figure out which ones the simplest one to believe. I want to live with my family and tranquility. I want to make up for lost time. I want to take care of my health above all and spend time with my brackets. I want to thank you for this and I would like to meet you in the future so I can give you a hug and thank you in person. I want to speak in English. No thank you and thank you for your warm and boiling ritual. This matter. God bless you all. Thank you for listening to Ronfell Conviction. I want to thank our production team Connor Hall and Kathleen Fink as well as my fellow executive producers Jeff Campler, Kevin Wartus and Jeff Clyburn. The music in this production was supplied by three time Oscar nominated composer J Ralph. Be sure to follow us across all social media platforms at Lava for Good and at Ronfell Conviction. You can also follow me on Instagram at its Jason Flom. Ronfell Conviction is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association with signal company number one. We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own, and do not necessarily reflect those of love for good. Tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on air chats. Joy 101 with HotaCotpe is presented by CVS. Hey everyone, it's the Jonas Brothers. If you haven't heard, Arnie Podcasts is called "Hey Jonas." And this week we're hanging out with someone we're really big fans of. Millie Bobby Brown. We talk about her new movie and all of home's three family life and all the amazing things she has going on right now. Plus we find out what she really feels about the stranger things ending. You have over 60 animals. I don't know where the number 60 I've really got to figure that out. There have been plenty of sheep in my bed. To be good. Literally sleeping in the bed. My first guest is Paris Totten. Shakira. Luke and Yerine. I have surprises. Many surprises. Welcome! Lemonade. This is Sweet 305. Here, oversharing is encouraged. Listen to Sweet 305 with Lille Ponds on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.