#543 Jason Flom with Jonathan Parker

Joy is essential and it's also elusive, but now there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence. Joy 101, it's a new podcast hosted by me, Hota Kotby. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy, tune into these candid uplifting and moving on air chats. Open your free iHeartRadio app search, Joy 101 and listen now. Joy 101 with Hota Kotby is presented by CVS. Alright, listen up. The Jonas Brothers here. Our podcast is called "Hey Jonas." We've here since everyone has a podcast we wanted to as well. And we've had some incredible guests so far. And now our good friend, Nile Horn, is joining the show. How's it going boys? Hey Nile. It's the same thing with slow hands. Slow hands is not about anything else really is it? Yeah, you know, our tastes so good can be about food. You do the same Nick, but some of the stuff that you've done. You too, Joe. [laughs] Drop what you're doing and listen to "Hey Jonas" on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to your podcast. [music] Everyone sees me as a food player. But before anything else, I'm human. Every single day I'm still learning how to live with problems, mistakes, relationships, emotions, ever since I was born. This isn't a normal podcast. Everything here is just spontaneous, real and genuine. Just honest conversations about what it means to be alive. I'm Javier El Chicharito Hernandez and listen to learning to be human on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. [music] [music] On April 9, 1997, sometime before 1am, two Buffalo police officers were shot. One in the ankle, while the other was killed. The surviving officer gave a description that was echoed by two others, a light-skinned male about 5'9" in dark clothing. That morning, nearly a half mile from the scene, police found some personal effects belonging to Jonathan Parker, a local young man with a criminal record who was in the middle of fighting another case. And even though Jonathan didn't match the description, he was identified by three alleged eyewitnesses while the surviving officer would not join them. This is wrongful conviction. [music] Hey, y'all, it's Maggie. I'm here to tell you about a new show I've been working on for the past two years. It's called Graves County and it's an investigative series about the murder of a young mom in Kentucky and just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame. Here is the trailer for Graves County. [music] All I know is what I've been told and that's a half-truth is a whole lie. For almost a decade, the murder of an 18-year-old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved. Until a local homemaker, a journalist, and a handful of girls came forward with a story. I'm telling you, we know Quincy, no, we know. A story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national TV. Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran. My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, producer, and I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find. I did not know her and I did not kill her. Or rape or burn or any of that other stuff that y'all said. They literally made me say that I took a match and struck into it on her. They made me say that I poured gas on her. From Lava for Good, this is Graves County. A show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame. "Murk and y'all gonna work the hell up? Bad things happens to good people in small towns." Listen to Graves County in the Bone Valley Feed on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to binge the entire season at free, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Welcome back to Raffle Conviction World. We've got a story that's been on our radar and living rent free in my head since we interviewed Piaute Rix back in the summer of 2020. We've held back on it as we were waiting for the case to make its way through court, but we can't wait any longer. So calling in now from a prison in upstate New York, we've got the man himself, Jonathan Parker. Thank you for calling in Jonathan. "No problem, I appreciate you." And joining him we have the paralegal who worked on Piaute Rix's case, Carl D'Viver, and we're gonna link Piaute's story in the episode description. You have to hear it to believe it. Carl, thanks for being here. Thanks for being somebody willing to do something to help Jonathan. And Carl didn't start out as a paralegal. I had been a police officer 27 years. I didn't like what I saw. Wrongfully convicted people riding away in jail for crimes they did not commit and felt that I should use what energy I have to try to seek vindication so I studied law and switched into that. Also we have Jonathan's attorney, Steven Metcalfe. Steven, thanks for being here. Absolutely. So let's start by hearing about Jonathan's childhood in Buffalo. How was it going up there? I grew up on the east side of Buffalo, the projects, about the age of seven or eight years old, about the purchase of house, which was three blocks away from the projects. About the age of about 13 or 14 and I started getting into problem in school. Maybe no, just for the class. I didn't get into too many fights. Just, you know, general thing that teenage boys do. So they said it was known as Buffalo alternative school. They did more trouble with places of good homes. It was known as Lincoln Hall from 15 to 16. After being released from Lincoln Hall, again went to Buffalo alternative high school. So she do a lot of time. We return to a normal high school, South Park high school didn't want to accept me because I was a year behind. The community and I kind of dropped out of high school at which point, uh, got involved in total industry life. If anyone ever wanted to know what the phrase school to prison pipeline means, it sounds like Jonathan is the living proof of it. Being the crack epidemic, no less. This area in East Buffalo specifically on Gerard Place was an open air drug market, which came along with extreme poverty and occasional bursts of violence. It was a violent period in the city of Buffalo. A lot of crime. Young men involved in the street life shooting at each other or selling crack cocaine. They don't want to have things that I'd take to the police just because they see you on the street. Young guy held it. They would pick you up, shake you down. And I was going to frequent that neighborhood. Well, as we all know, the crack epidemic ushered in so-called tough on crime policies and politicians on legislation that instituted mandatory minimum sentences, funded task forces in the so-called high traffic areas and any means necessary attitude toward removing anyone they suspected of being involved in drug trafficking. Every time I investigate or speak to anybody about this, they've said the same thing. Jonathan Parker was someone who they wanted off the streets by any means. Apparently, that meant to them at this time. And as we've seen, that could mean framing someone for murder. And the first attempt on Jonathan came with the January 1997 murder of a man named Leroy Lewis. Listen to this. Defend the Nipelah, Jonathan Parker was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York of killing Leroy Lewis while engaged in a conspiracy to possess with the intended distribute crack. On appeal, Parker challenges the sufficiency of the government's evidence. The government produced no direct or physical evidence establishing Parker as the shooter. No eyewitness testimony to the shooting. Any statements concerning the circumstances of the shooting. No evidence was introduced as the motive. No murder weapon was found. The government's evidence was entirely circumstantial. It was a steepen piece upon a steepen upon a statement, but nothing to tie Jonathan to the murder, other than lay opinion testimony specifically, whether a small bulge in Parker's jacket viewed from a distance was a handgun. And hey, he looked a little suspicious after the fact. Basically, Jonathan got convicted and they didn't have shit. So that conviction was overturned in 2002, but they had already buried Jonathan with two other senses, only one of which was based in fact, which was a weapons possession charge and the same officers who were shot in this case. They were the ones who arrested Jonathan and he played a guilty. Yes, I have played guilty to the weapons business charges. No more bringing it after nine sentences. I believe it might have been that morning from an interview with that with a probation officer to do a probation report to prepare for my synthesis. So Jonathan had this probation officer's business card in his jacket that night, which he wore to a plate. which was about a five minute walk from the crime scene in this case. But according to both Jonathan and witnesses from the party, he had left his jacket, his hat, and his beaper at the party before leaving. - I actually had a lefty resident in the cab with my cousin to my own with the attention of returning to the resident, but I never returned to the residence because I was supposed to be meeting up with a young woman to talk my cousin left. And I came to our house in a row of corner from the incident in the cab. When I'm pulling up in the cab, they literally are scouring the neighbor. She got in the cab and we went back to my own. - By the time he was picking up this young lady around 1 a.m., the shooting had already occurred near the corner of North Hampton and East Parade. Now, according to officer Michael Martinez, at around 12.45 a.m., he and his partner Charles Skip McDougal spotted a suspicious individual who they believe might have stolen a car. They say when they held this person, that he simply opened fire on them, hit the one in the foot, and then shot McDougal and killed him. - Martinez, he actually gave the initial description that it was a light skin male approximately 5.9. Or maybe a shade removed from being dark skin. For sure, I'm nowhere near 5.9. I have to get that to the most. I'm 5, 6.5. And officer Martinez knew what Jonathan looked like from prior arrests. And we can only presume that he would have been interested in catching his own shooter. And two more witnesses, James Gaines and Yvette Fryer agreed. This shooter was a light skin guy about 5 foot 9. And they added that he wore dark clothing and white sneakers. And they said he had run up East Parade toward Fuji Ron. So police scoured the area looking for someone meeting that description as well as witnesses and evidence. And it appears that the narrative about Jonathan may have begun to emerge with the discovery of his jacket, hat, and beeper, the ones that he'd left at the party. - He said he found in a backyard somewhere. And this year, the attorney had a witness, test of 5 said that maybe an hour or two prior to this incident that I was in the house full of people, and that I left out of the house, leaving my jacket in that house and never returned. And I was located near the corner of Fuji Ron and Phil Moore. They alleged that they found in a backyard on the next street over from Fuji Ron, which is urban. - Well, no one has offered information about how these items left the house party. But Jonathan's probation officer's business card was inside the jacket. At this point, it seems the investigation steered away from whoever officer Martinez, James Gaines, and Yvette Fryer had described and focused in on Jonathan. Who had just pled guilty to weapons charges, and the Leroy Lewis charges were still looming. - I have several cases like that where they say he's an nasty street kid. Let's get him off the street. We know it didn't kill Skip, but he's a trouble. - I actually remember, I run, I was sitting in the house with one of my cutters, and we were watching the news when they first broke about the incident. And my cousin made a comment to the extent of, she felt sorry for whoever they ended up picking up for this because of the climate of things in Buffalo at the time. Just prior to this, I want to say maybe within a year, so a year or a half, but this incident happened. It had two incidents where the young black males were still being apprehended by Buffalo Police Department. - But if they were going to get Jonathan, they needed a lot more than just finding his belongings, nearly a half a mile away from the crime scene. So it was at this time that lead investigator, Andre Ortiz approached another man known to frequent the open air drug market. Now this guy was named Aaron Yarborough, and he was known to sell random items. And according to subsequent statements, he had told them that he was in the pharmacy on North Hampton and Philmore when he heard the gunshots. But something, which we're gonna get it to later, led him to tell a very different story on April 10th. - This is a statement that he gave to the police at the time. And anytime he refers to Parker, he calls him face. Well, I was on the corner of North Hampton in East Parade. When I had seen face, and I asked him if he wanted to buy a CD player. He said, "Yeah." But the price that we talked about wasn't going to fulfill. So I went up East Parade. We've seen Junior sitting in a white Chevy Caprice, and he agreed to $100. So this is a CD player. He paid me the money, and then I went down the street towards North Hampton and East Parade where I heard some shots. When I had seen face, ran past me holding a gun at his side. - Soon after that, I saw my picture on the news, saying that I was a suspect. So I got in contact with my attorney Paul Hurve. And he did have much details. It caused me to turn myself in if I had nothing to hide. I was out there having anything to hide. So I asked him to come pick me up and take me to turn myself in. I was arrested April 11, 1997, and I've been imprisoned ever since. (dramatic music) - Hey, I'm Hoda Kotby, host of the podcast, Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby. Together, we're gonna have meaningful conversations with the world's most fascinating people. Like when actress Olivia Munn shared how she overcame fierce health challenges. - 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 post-partner depression. I was not prepared for postpartum anxiety. - Listen to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. - All right, listen up. Our podcast is called, "Hey Jonas." We've got a figure since everyone has a podcast we wanted to as well. - How's it going boys? - Hey Nile. - It was the same thing with slow hands. - Yeah, you know, our tastes so good, can't be about food. - You too, Joe. (laughing) - Drop what you're doing and listen to "Hey Jonas" on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. (dramatic music) - It's part of the process because the restart is how we are teaching, read our own ideas. It's from the match, so it's gonna be interesting. - Everyone sees me as a football player, but before anything else, I'm human. - Every single day, I'm still learning how to live with problems, mistakes, relationships, emotions, ever since I was born. And I still have so many questions. Where do we come from? What happens after that? How do you deal with consolation, is the anormacy to aliens exist? What is love? Real Madrid or Barça, from everyday an ordinary to the deep and extraordinary. This isn't an normal podcast. Everything here is spontaneous, real and genuine. This podcast is like a deep talk with your closest friends, where real ability comes out from spirits and theories end up on the table and goals and lessons are shared. (speaking in Spanish) - (speaking in Spanish) - We are here to connect. - (speaking in Spanish) - And together with iHeartRadio, we're going to make the ordinary, extraordinary, stay close to the character. - Wow. - Listen to learning to be human or iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. (upbeat music) - At approximately 2015 hours, on April 18, 1997, Aaron Yarbrough stated that himself and Jonathan Parker were outside his uncle's house on Josephine Street when the police raided it. Jonathan Parker pointed to Officer McDougall and stated, "That's the guy who arrested me for the gun. "I'm going to get that motherfucker." So they used Aaron to basically show a history or a motive here. April 22, Aaron Yarbrough was put into a Buffalo Hilton hotel, room 210. This is a guy who's selling CD players, walking down the street. Now is getting put up in a hotel for, who knows how long to make a very easy statement. - And as we'll find out, this was far better treatment than he was originally offered. But a few statements from a guy with substance abuse issues is not going to cut it. So on April 28, police approached Aaron Lot and his wife Cassandra Solviness, who had an encounter with officers, McDougall and Martinez, on the night of April 8. - 1045 Aaron Lot is sitting in a parking lot without driver's license while Cassandra's in work. He gets a ticket, the car gets impounded. McDougall and Martinez are the officers on that ticket and on the impound documentation. Cassandra gets at a work at about 1115. Aaron Aaron then make their way to the police precinct. Then they never actually got the car back that night. - However, it was stated in a report that officer Martinez had recognized Lot and Solviness as they passed each other on Northampton Street moments before the shooting because they were in the same car in which Lot had been ticketed earlier. This is allegedly how they knew to approach Lot for a statement, but as an narrative goes, Aaron and Cassandra, as well as a driver, passed the scene in a Ford Explorer, not a Hyundai XL. And to top it off, the Ford Explorer had tinted windows. It's only discovered many years later that Aaron Lot was exchanging testimony for a live. leniency in his own charges. You probably saw that coming. Nevertheless, he gave a statement 19 days after the crime that as they rolled down North Hampton, he and Cassandra saw Jonathan crossing the street. He yelled, "Yo, to the car as they passed." And they turned around to witness the shooting through the Explorer's back window. - And the driver of the truck, he was never caught. We presume that since the cops had no hold on him, it wasn't facing anything, they wouldn't testify. It might even be a Brady issue. We don't know what he originally told the cops. We just know he never testified. - All the alleged witness attacks, some type of bacteria in the holder, with the exception of Cassandra Live. - Aaron Lutz' wife, she basically agrees with what Lutz had said. The stores lined up very well because it was orchestrated. - With the community and media calling for blood and the context of Jonathan's weapons possession guilty plea and other pending murder case, the district attorney sought the death penalty. And as we often see in capital cases, a ton of circumstantial evidence is produced to try to ensure a win. But without the support of a relatively small amount of consequential direct evidence, the circumstantial evidence tends to lose its meaning. For example, there was James Gaines and Yvette Fryer, who echoed officer Martinez's description and confirmed that the assailant ran in the direction of where Jonathan's belongings were discovered, granting that evidence, the scent of validity, and then along came Aaron Yarborough, without the critically important context of how his statement came to be. - He said that just prior to this incident, he was attempting to sell me, I believe he said it was some CDs, and I only think I had seen him that day. - Yarborough also said that he saw Jonathan running from the scene with a gun in the direction of where police found his belongings, again granting a scent of validity to that evidence. And then unbeknownst to the defense, Aaron Lot was trading testimony for a time cut when he paraded what he'd already said in his statement and the grand jury. Then Cassandra bolstered his credibility with what they claimed to see while being driven down North Hampton that same night. - There was the driver, which I'm still confused answer why he was never called to testify, other than maybe the fact that he wasn't being cooperative like Aaron Yarborough and Aaron Lot. - Or maybe he didn't actually exist, also possible. Then the police officer Michael Martinez testified to the narrative of the shooting, but would not positively ID Jonathan. - He wasn't sure that it was Parker. Even on the stands, he wouldn't lie and say it was definitely Parker. It could have been Parker. So he's one of the, not willing to totally purge himself cops. - And Martinez was cross-examined with his initial description. - I was positive I was gonna get a clue. I know I have any in a do it, and how I already came into the prison system for my other weapons, that's the charges, but I was confident I was gonna be leaving in that courtroom to finish my sentence and eventually be able to hold to my family. - And maybe he would have, but it seems like his attorney Jim Harrington didn't wanna take that gamble. So in closing, he tried a strategy that was not aimed at acquittal, in fact, the opposite. - Harrington was a death penalty attorney and he said so in his after-day, that his job was not so much as to acquit Jonathan, but to keep him alive. So trying to create sympathy or pity from the jury, he said Jonathan did it, but it was in the spirit of the moment. He didn't plan on doing it, which is all BS, 'cause he never did it at all. - I made him very weird that I was anything that is wrong. I'm sitting in the courtroom and it was only by sheer will that I did act a fool at the time. My defense wasn't a defense, geared towards guilt and innocence. It was geared towards life with death. I got life without the possibility of parole, which is just death by incarceration. (soft music) - Hey, I'm Hoda Kotby, host of the podcast, Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby. - I've gone through breast cancer and it helped my mother through breast cancer and that was more difficult. There's a lot of people who understand postpartum depression. - Listen to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Our podcast is called "Hey Jonas." We've here since everyone has a podcast, we wanted to as well. - How's it going, boys? - Hey, Nile. Slow hands is not about anything else, really, is it? - Yeah, you know, our tastes so good can be about food. You do the same, Nick, but some of the stuff that you've done. - You too, Joe. (laughing) - Drop what you're doing and listen to "Hey Jonas" on the I Heart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts. - And it's part of it's right here. - Because there is a new star, it's probably our teacher, we don't know what that's, it's from that stage. - It's gonna be a question. - She's just-- - Everyone sees me as a football player. How do you deal with cancellations? - Is the enormous, two aliens exist? What is love? - Real Madrid or Barça, from everyday an ordinary to the deep and extraordinary. This podcast is like a deep talk with your closest friends. Where vulnerability comes out. Conspiracy queries end up on the table and goals and lessons are shared. (speaking in Spanish) - (speaking in Spanish) We are here to connect. - (speaking in Spanish) - And together with IFA Radio, we're going to make the ordinary, extraordinary, stay close. - It is uncarracable. - Wow. - Listen to learning to be human or IFA Radio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. (soft music) - I've had close to 30 years to think about it. But when you go back to the initial description, you have a police officer who we know are trained observers who said that perpetrator in this crowd was a licensed in male five, nine. And he's not saying that a reasonable trial or fact, when you say, okay, you got a young man sitting in the courtroom in front of you who is maybe a shade removed from being dark skined, but three or four shades removed from being licensed. And again, like I said, I'm five, six, maybe five, six and a half. Then we go back to Martinez B.S. Shines on the passenger side of a car, but the suspect shooting from the driver side of the car, I don't understand how a person gets shot in the vehicle. Then you say you find a weapon that's a violation that has been used in this incident in the nine millimeter 17 block, which is the exact same weapon that police officers are issued to carry when they won't do it. The street version is that McDougal didn't want to be dirty anymore. Everybody I've spoken to says that the cops kill Skip because he wanted to go clean and they were afraid he'd reveal their antics, so they killed him. Allegedly, they took their time getting to the hospital to make sure Skip was dead allegedly. But before Carl spoke to anyone, Jonathan did his direct appeal, subsequent appeal, and federal habeas, which took about 12 years to finally all be denied. 12 long years during which time, the lead investigator on this case, Detective Andre Ortiz, was himself arrested in connection with his involvement with a local drug trafficking organization headed by an individual named Frankie Johnson. Detective Ortiz in the Western District of New York took a plea on a 2004 case. Now, this plea agreement is 10 pages. This was the most substantive document that I could find with regards to this case because everything else I search for was under seal. And the plea agreement essentially lays out what he pled to, fraud and related activity in connection with computers. Ortiz agreed to plead guilty to accessing a justice department criminal database and then sharing that information with this notorious drug kingpin Frankie Johnson. Now, who knows what it was used for? I mean, my mind doesn't go to a good place. If he's going to utilize his access as a Buffalo police officer and pass that information along to someone who's not a police officer or someone who may be in the streets and that was alleged here, there has to be a history there. And there's probably a bunch of other things that are being exchanged as well. It just so happened to be that this is-- what they caught or this what was on their radar or this is what they were able to say was ultimately passed the someone who shouldn't have gotten this information. And also in order for the feds to take on a case like this, there has to be substantial ties to criminal activity that far exceed this for this to even become an issue. In the fed world, this is a phenomenal crime that he took a plea to. According to his plea deal, he either do one year in prison, pay fine or both. A sweet deal when you think about it for his role in this drug organization for which guys like Jonathan may end up in and out of prison for life. So whatever this guy was able to really work out, it seems like it was actually a slap on the wrist. The maximum possible sentences are usually just statutory and don't actually apply. I can't honestly speak accurately to what was going on with those officers at the time. But it's evidently something was going on because I say aside from the technical work, there was a public police officer and the victims, there were also guard up on corruption charges, which begins to grant a send of validity to that street version of events that Carl was talking about. And then Aaron Yarborough came forward to shed even more light on the situation. So we're in 2012. Aaron Yarborough actually ran into a family member of mine and was saying that he had got sick and he was likely to have longer to live and he was still in guilt for you about what he had done and he just wanted to tell the truth about it. Aaron Yarborough's who now is passed away said that he was at a drug store nearby. Didn't see anything but the cops told him exactly what they wanted him to say he saw. So Yarborough actually gives a sworn statement wherever he says that testimony that I then offered was false and totally untrue. I was told what to say that I had seen. He basically says I did not see Jonathan Parker at or near the scene of the murder. I definitely did not see Jonathan Parker shoot a Buffalo police officer. I had been around the corner store a block away from the shooting. When I heard the noise I looked out to see what was happening. I saw many police cars going by so I quickly left the area. Later that evening homicide detective Andre Ortiz and a bunch of other cops captured me. He actually uses the word captured me. Detective Ortiz had threatened him that if he didn't lie and say that he saw Jonathan do the shooting that he would take him out in the cornfields and blow his head off. He said he knew the reputation of Detective Ortiz. He was afraid for his life so he agreed to say whatever they told me to say at Jonathan Parker's murder trial. Now that Detective Ortiz is no longer a Buffalo police detective and therefore can no longer kill me for telling the truth. I am now willing to tell the absolute truth. By the time Yarborough came clean Jonathan had connected with Kionte Rickson prison who put him in contact with Carl and Steven who began reinvestigating the case and recording these affidavits. So they also visited Aaron Lot. According to Aaron Lot's subsequent statement there was a fort explorer that had gone by according to the witnesses. They were all the way down to the next light on film or when they heard the shots. They didn't see anything. Aaron Lot. He was facing federal prison time for drugs. The police said we'll make it go away if you say you're a block back and saw this whole thing which he did. But now we get to how they knew to approach Aaron Lot for testimony. Remember he wasn't in the Hyundai Excel that officer Martinez had seen him in earlier that night. He was in this fort explorer with tinted windows. It appears that Aaron Lot had already been cooperating with the feds but strangely that wasn't information that was readily available. Even if trial counsel wanted to find it or anyone else for that matter. I'm looking for Aaron Lot. Why do I not find anything in Aaron Lot? Because I discovered he's going by his criminal case is Aaron Davis and I have confirmed with the district attorney's office that Aaron Davis in this case is Aaron Lot. Specifically the plea agreement that I received with regards to Aaron Lot pertains to a 1995 Western district case. But on the plea there is a actual stamp about his plea agreement being in December of 1997. So here's the entry of guilt from sometime in 1993 and continuing through September 94 defendant Aaron Davis aka Aaron Lot knowingly, intentionally and willfully agree to assist Dexter Hennings and others in purchasing, storing and selling cocaine and cocaine based crack in Buffalo, New York and elsewhere in the Western district. 41 grams of cocaine base and 130 grams of cocaine are the amounts involved in his relevant conduct. Now they were talking about mandatory minimum of five. It's the perfect time actually for me to point out the 101 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. Five grams of crack meant a minimum of five years. 50 grams carried a minimum of 10 years but compared to sentencing for powder cocaine which was more popular in wealthier and wider circles. It would take 500 grams of powder cocaine to trigger the very same mandatory five-year sentence that someone could get with just five grams of crack. Meanwhile, simple possession of even 130 grams of cocaine was just a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison. Now I'll let you make your own inferences about why this disparity existed. We spoke with Senator Dick Durbin about how he worked to correct that disparity with the bill that he proposed which was signed into law in 2010. All of this fascinating history is on the episode of righteous convictions where I interviewed Dick Durbin. We're going to link to that in the episode description. But back to Aaron Lot. It appears that he had cooperated on this 1995 case yet the plea deal was signed in December 1997 and his charges appear to completely ignore the trafficking of 130 grams of cocaine and who knows what else and instead was focused solely on the 41 grams of crack with a minimum sentence of five years. Now this talk of community or house confinement there is this understanding that he is going to get time towards his sentence by not officially going in and here's what it's based on. Check this out. There is a paragraph entitled cooperation paragraph 18. Defendant has already cooperated and will continue to cooperate with the government by providing complete and truthful information regarding his knowledge of any and all criminal activity whether undertaken by himself or others so they sprinkled all this stuff in there and what do you think he's doing during this time during this time he is cooperating on Jonathan Parker's case. In the next paragraph it stated that the feds would give him credit against his sentence for cooperation with state and local authorities as well and in federal sense in guidelines they have numerical levels that correspond to time ranges for specific charges. After his first cooperation he was at level 25 with a minimum of 60 to 71 months on a community confinement. All right so they got him at a level 25 and essentially it's saying if you provide additional assistance now we're talking about 97 grand jury testimony will knock it down five levels we'll talk about 33 to 41 months but if you provide additional assistance you get another two levels knocked down. Now you're at 18 which provides for a sentence of 27 to 33 months of incarceration. So by cooperating in Jonathan's case he was able to chip away to level 18 meaning just two years in change on community confinement with the opportunity to chip away even more with further cooperation and the deal got even sweeter for Mr. Aaron lot. Moving on paragraph 20 in exchange for defense, please have given cooperation and said for it he will not be prosecuted by the office of the United States attorney for the Westing district for any other federal criminal offenses. I mean in that world that is huge. Check this out now paragraph 21 the government will move the court at sentencing provided to guidelines 5k1.1 I don't know if you know what a 5k1.1 is but it's a downward departure that submitted in the letter format that basically says you have provided the government's up central assistance and it essentially is and can be considered as good as a to get an OJL free card without question. It is amazing what a 5K1 letter will do. So Aaron Lot was in a position to be a serial testifier, which not only would have been very useful to trial counsel, but alternatively anyone else who Aaron Lot may have cooperated against, falsely or otherwise, which makes me wonder again about what information detective Ortiz might have accessed and shared that got the feds pissed off enough to prosecute him. By Jonathan now had Yarborough, Lot, and by association Cassandra Salinas. This was powerful evidence of innocence. And then Jonathan's case got another boost in 2018 when the Supreme Court ruled in McCoy versus Louisiana affirming that a defendant has the right to choose their own defense, which for him meant that his attorney violated his rights by conceiting guilt in closing arguments. So Carl added that to a new 440 motion. I had four issues. Issue one was based on McCoy. Issue two McCoy is retroactive because at that point under Montgomery and Welch they had held it to be retroactive. Third was newly discovered evidence. Basically Aaron Yacht and Aaron Yarborough's testimony and the fourth issue, actual innocence. I did that because under federal law a claim of actual innocence cannot be time-barred. I had plenty of affidavits from Harrington, from Aaron Lot, from Aaron Yarborough, and from the lead death penalty lawyer in Rochester explaining why Harrington said what he did because his job was not to acquit Jonathan but to keep him alive. So originally the 440 lead off was McCoy. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court subsequently claimed that McCoy will not apply retroactively to many people or getting out. So that issue went out. So an amended 440 was submitted in 2022 based on all this new evidence and the actual innocence claim. I was having status conferences with the court and trying to push for an evidentiary hearing and I got everybody to agree that a hearing was warranted. Then the assigned assistant district attorney who was on the case, I believe he was fired. He was no longer on the case. A new set of district attorneys came on the case and they immediately contacted the court and said that the district attorney's office has changed their stance on whether or not an evidentiary hearing was warranted. I then asked for another status conference. At that court appearance, we actually both, I mean I addressed the court at least twice. Carl was working with Attorney Goldstein. He addressed the court and the people's position was to essentially attack the credibility of the recantations and I continued to push for a hearing and at one point the judge said that he would have a decision in 30 days whether or not we could have an evidentiary hearing. That was at the end of 2022. So we are now going on 30 days turning into three years. At first my position was let's not rock the boat because I could force a decision but enforcing a decision that's going to land us in a palli world for the next couple of years, I submitted a bunch of different subpoenas. I kept pushing this issue that I want people to testify and I am told that a decision will be issued in the month of October of this year. And we understand that they have a mass witnesses that will corroborate the recantations as well as support for the alternate theory but they can always use more help. I am asking for anybody who has any information in regards to this matter and the murder of the trial skid look do with the police, contact, carl, the driver, Stephen A. Metcalf, anybody who you feel can hear what needs to be heard for you to say what needs to be said. We are going to link contact information in the episode description. Please go there, check it out and take whatever action you are capable of and in the meantime we await Judge Bynacy's decision on the evidentiary hearing. Let's hope for a good one. With that we will go to closing arguments where I think you guys from the bottom of my heart especially you Jonathan for sharing courageously sharing your story. Now I am going to kick back in my chair with my headphones on and my eyes closed and my microphone off and just listen to anything else you guys have to say. Stephen you go first and then hand the microphone off the carl and then Jonathan will take us off into the sunset. I mean I think to summarize this with what we spoke about tonight is if it doesn't fit it just there's a reason it doesn't fit Aaron Yarborough is ultimately trying to sell CD players on the street yet he becomes one of the government's first witnesses. The guy gets thrown into the Hilton he's living his best life at this point giving statements to substantiate the investigation throughout the course of this time. When you have Aaron lot and Cassandra Aaron lot happens to be a player or drug dealer in the streets at this time has so much to gain from providing information against Jonathan Parker and in order to do that he had the rope Cassandra into it. Because ultimately Cassandra made him look more credible and ultimately you take this mixed bag of various different characters potentially two of them crack heads one of them a nice crack dealer you mix it all up and you got the witnesses they needed to put the gun in Jonathan Parker's hand. It's just nobody actually looked at it and told the additional story or the other side of the story. The streets have spoken about this the streets keep speaking about this and the 30 years that the streets have spoke about that we're looking to actually tell that real side of that story and see justice for Jonathan and I'm confident that all you got to do is get the police to give me a hearing and I can blow Jonathan Parker's case out of the water where no appellate division would ever even question it and it would just be another repeat of Jonathan Parker case with no evidence whatsoever to justify a conviction. They know Jonathan was innocent but they had a dead cop and the newspaper screaming for a perpetrator and they thought that Parker is an nasty street kid let's get him off the streets. Now he didn't kill skip but he's a trouble let's get him off the streets. I'm glad to see that somebody is finally willing to do something to get an innocent man a framed man out of jail. Well, obviously the evidence in this case shows that I didn't commit this crime and as I've said I profess my innocence from the day I turn myself into the very second with your hearing is broadcast. So I just asked the justice me sir we say we have a justice system and the justice system is supposed to be equal to everyone. This justice system was not equal to me and these circumstances surrounding this case. So now is the time to correct what needs to be corrected and hopefully the truth will come to the light and that will be set free. Thank you for listening to Ronfell Conviction. You can listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts one week early and add free by subscribing to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. 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. Rouse. Be sure to follow us across all social media platforms at Lava for Good and at Ronfell Conviction. And also follow me on Instagram at it's 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 Lava for Good. Joy is essential and it's also elusive but now there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence. Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, Hota Kotby. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy tune into these candid uplifting and moving on air chats. Open your free iHeartRadio app search Joy 101 and listen now. Alright, listen up. Our podcast is called "Hey Jonas". We've here since everyone has a podcast we wanted to as well. 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