by Anya Bourg
COLIN WARNER HAS BEEN LIVING IN THE UNITED STATES FOR 27 YEARS, BUT HE'S BEEN A FREE MAN FOR ONLY FIVE. HE AND HIS BEST FRIEND CARL KING ARE SITTING IN A CORNER BOOTH OF A VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT IN BROOKLYN.
Amb sound comes in-
WARNER IS STILL SEARCHING TO MAKE SENSE OF THE MORE THAN TWO DECADES HE SPENT BEHIND BARS.
It felt like where is the order in life, there is no order if this
can happen. It makes you question yourself, what is life about? Are
you here just to suffer? Cause it's suffering. And you have
nothing to fall back on. I had nothing to fall back on, other than
my faith that I didn't kill this guy.
HE SAYS HE WAS ALSO ABLE TO FALL BACK ON HIS RELGIOUS FAITH. WARNER'S A RASTAFARIAN AND HE HAS LONG DREADLOCKS HE WEARS PULLED BACK. HE GLANCES OUT THE WINDOW AS HE REFLECTS ON HOW POWERLESS HE FELT DURING HIS YEARS IN PRISON.
You feel like a pawn, just a pawn being used by other people. Here you have a system and wherever they want to put you, they put you.
WARNER FOUGHT FOR HIS RELEASE THROUGH OUT HIS INCARCERATION. BUT WITHOUT MONEY, HE COULDN'T FIND AN ATTORNEY TO REINVESTIGATE HIS CASE. IN THE END IT WAS A CHILDHOOD FRIEND, CARL KING, WHO CAME TO HIS DEFENSE. THE TWO GREW UP TOGETHER IN TRINIDAD AND KING SAYS HIS LOYALTY WAS A LESSON LEARNED BACK HOME.
Where we grew up it was like a village. It was a community thing.
WARNER AND KING ARRIVED IN NEW YORK IN THE LATE SEVENTIES WHEN THE CITY'S CRIME RATES WERE AT AN ALL TIME HIGH. THEY LIVED IN THE CARRIBEAN NEIGHBORHOOD OF CROWN HEIGHTS BROOKLYN WHERE THEY REMEMBER BEING FREQUENTLY HARRASSED BY THE POLICE.
ON APRIL 10, 1980, WARNER WAS DRIVING THROUGH THE NEIGHBORHOOD LOOKING FOR A VACANT STORE IN THE HOPES OF OPENING A CANDY SHOP. AT THE SAME TIME, MARIO HAMILTON, A 16-YEAR-OLD JAMAICAN IMMIGRANT WAS SHOT AND KILLED IN FRONT OF ERASMUS HALL HIGH SCHOOL, IN BROOKLYN.
A 14 YEAR OLD EYE WITNESS IDENTIFIED WARNER OUT OF A PHOTO LINE UP AND THE NEXT MORNING HE WAS ARRESTED. HE WAS TRIED AND CONVICTED AND SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS TO LIFE. HE SAYS THE SENTENCE OFTEN FELT INTERMINABLE.
Prison time is hard. Especially at nighttime when they close the
cell and you are by yourself and all the bluster that you may have
been doing in the daytime with the other prisoners and stuff you
don't have that, now it is just you and yourself and all kinds of
thoughts come to your head, all kinds of depression.
THE NUMBER-ONE REASON FOR WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS IS MISTAKEN EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATION, ACCORDING TO THE INNOCENCE PROJECT, A NON-PROFIT LEGAL CLINIC BASED AT NEW YORK'S CARDOZO LAW SCHOOL. IN 1999, THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE REPORTED THAT MORE THAN 75,000 PEOPLE A YEAR ARE BROUGHT TO TRIAL BASED ON AN EYEWITNESS ID.
JIM DWYER IS THE CO-AUTHOR OF ACTUAL INNOCENCE, A BOOK THAT EXAMINES WRONGFUL CONVICTION. DWYER BELIEVES THE IDENTIFICATION PROCESS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION, MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVEN THE TRIAL.
Because once that identification gets made the system in effect
closes ranks lots of people are psychologically invested in
that identification from the prosecutor to the victim to police officers.
MARTELL HAMILTON, THE VICTIMS BROTHER, WAS 15 YEARS OLD WHEN HE IDENTIFIED WARNER OUT OF A PHOTO LINEUP.
TODAY HE STILL LIVES IN CROWN HIGHTS, JUST BLOCKS FROM WHERE HIS BROTHER WAS SHOT. ON A RECENT AFTERNOON HE STROLLED THROUGH THE BUSY NEIGHBORHOOD.
Amb: streets
HE STOPS TO POINT OUT THE HOUSE HIS FAMILY LIVED IN BACK IN 1980.
3:20 At the moment we are standing on parade place and the funny
thing about it we lived on Parade place on april 10, 1980.
HE PULLS OUT A 25 YEAR OLD PHOTO OF HIS BROTHER THAT HE CARRIES IN HIS WALLET. THE TEENAGE FACE IS HANDSOME AND SMILING.
HAMILTON TESTIFIED AGAINST WARNER IN COURT, BUT TODAY HE ADMITS HE FELT PRESSURED BY THE LEAD DECTECTIVE TO MAKE THE ID.
He put down 4 or 3 photos and he said to me I want you take a look
at these pictures and he said do you know any of these guys? I
said no. he said look again look real carefully. Then he took
Collin Warner's photo and he pushed his photo out above the others
and he said you don't know this guy I said NO. and he said look.
And I said well I might have seen that guy. I said it because he keep pressuring me and pressuring me.
THIS IS A TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE OF WHY MANY ARE CALLING FOR REFORM IN POLICE ID PRACTICE. ONE REFORM PROPOSED IS THAT THE OFFICERS RUNNING A LINEUP NOT KNOW WHO IS THE SUSPECT.
ANOTHER PROPOSED REFORM IS FOR THE POLICE TO USE WHAT IS CALLED SEQUENTIAL LINE-UPS, WHERE WITNESSES SEE SUSPECTS ONE BY ONE, RATHER THAN ALL TOGETHER. SO THEY DON'T MAKE COMPARATIVE JUDGEMENTS.
WARNER AND HAMILTON NOW LIVE 2 BLOCKS FROM ONE ANOTHER. THEY'RE FRIENDLY WHEN THEY SEE EACH OTHER AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. WARNER SAYS IT'S THE SYSTEM HE HOLDS RESPONSIBLE.
my life didn't mean nothing to none of these people you know all I was a statistic, I was just passed on and passed on and nobody wanted to stand up for justice.
AFTER MULTIPLE COURT APPEALS FAILED, CARL KING AND WARNER DECIDED TO TAKE JUSTICE INTO THEIR OWN HANDS. THEY BEGAN BY CAREFULLY EXAMINING THE POLICE REPORTS AND TRIAL TRANSCRIPTS.
AND 20 YEARS AFTER THE CRIME KING TRACKED DOWN THE REAL SHOOTER AND THE EYEWITNESSES WHO HAD TESTIFIED AGAINST WARNER. HE ALSO FOUND THREE PEOPLE WHO HAD WITNESSED THE MURDER BUT HAD NEVER COME FORWARD. IN COURT DEPOSITIONS EVERYONE TOLD THE SAME STORY- WARNER WAS INNOCENT. TODAY WARNER SAYS HE OWES HIS LIFE TO KING.
This man here we call him an angel
16;00 It is because of him that i am here now, if it wasn't of his determination and keeping me alive in prison, i wouldn't be here talking with you today,
WARNER WALKED OUT OF THE FISHKILL CORRECTIONAL FACILITY ON FEBRUARY 1, 2001. THE WINDOWS WERE FILLED WITH CHEERING INMATES. HE WAS GREETED BY KING, HIS LAWYER AND HIS WIFE CATHERINE, WHOM HE MET AND MARRIED WHILE IN PRISON.
TO HELP OTHERS AVIOD HIS FATE, WARNER AND KING ARE NOW TRYING TO START AN ORGANIZATION TO DEFEND THE WRONGFULLY CONVICTED.
There is a lot of guys out there that I met in prison that are in the same situation as I was and they don't have no help. Now we have a system in place, from my experience we can build on that.
THEY ARE CALLING THEMSELVES THE SUCCESS TO FREEDOM TEAM. LIKE GUMSHOE DETECTIVES THEY COMB THROUGH POLICE REPORTS AND TRAIL TRANSCRIPTS OF CASES THEY FEEL WERE WRONGLY PROSECUTED. THEY HOPE TO GET A TEAM OF YOUNG MEN WHO KNOW THE STREETS TO DO THE INVESTIGATING.
DRIVING THROUGH THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD OF CROWN HIEGHTS, KING PLAYS A SONG THAT HE SAYS SPEAKS TO THEIR STRUGGLE.
putting up resistance.
WARNER FILED A RECOMPENSION SUIT AGAINST THE STATE OF NEW YORK BUT SO FAR HE HASN'T RECEIVED A DIME. HE'S WORKING AS AN ELECTRICIAN FOR A CONSTRUCTION COMPANY. ON A RECENT AFTERNOON HE'S LEAVING WORK.
Amb: goodbye collin
ONCE IN HIS CAR HE MAKES A NOTE IN A CALENDER. HE SAYS HE LIKES TO KEEP TRACK OF HIS WHEREABOUTS. IT TOOK HIM MORE THAN A YEAR TO FEEL COMFORTABLE LEAVING THE HOUSE ALONE, BECAUSE HE WAS AFRAID IF HE DIDN'T HAVE A WITNESS HE MIGHT BE MIS IDENTIFIED AGAIN. EVEN NOW, THREE YEARS LATER HE ADMITS HE'S MORE COMFORTABLE IN SMALL AREAS, WITH THE DOOR LOCKED BEHIND HIM.
This whole thing is still weird to me still it takes a lot to get
to get used to to. Because sometimes I get up and I ask myself am
I really free? Because sometimes I don't feel free at all.
HE POINTS TO A LITTER STREWN STREET AS HE PASSES THROUGH AN INDUSTRIAL NEIGHBORHOOD. FREEDOM, HE SAYS, ISN'T ALWAYS AS IDYLLIC AS HE'D IMAGINED.
To me this area looks run down so in my thinking of freedom it
wasn't places like this. You know the streets are nice. That's a
fantasy that's what you dream about when you are locked up. One
time I had to ask myself, is this what I was fighting for? To come out to this dump? But it's still good because I'm free.
WARNER IS SETTLING IN TO HIS NEW LIFE BUT HE'S STILL GRAPPLING TO MAKE SENSE OF HIS EXPERIENCE.
I was just trying to come to some sort of understanding like why
this thing happen to me.
what did you come to?
I don't know, I still don't know.
Some questions I don't think are meant to be answered so I'm just waiting and enjoying my life and enjoying my family. Because this is what I dream about you
know, having a family.
ACROSS TOWN HE PICKS UP HIS WIFE AFTER WORK.
Amb
THEY HAVE A 2 YEAR OLD SON WHO WAS BORN ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIS FATHER'S RELEASE. WARNER WORRIES ABOUT RAISING HIM IN NEW YORK, HE SAYS AMERICAN HAS NOT BEEN GOOD TO HIM. BUT THE SUCCESS TO FREEDOM TEAM HOPES TO BE PART OF A CHANGE. THEY ARE CURRENTLY INVESTIGATING TWO CASES.
amb:
FROM COLUMBIA RADIO NEWS, I'M ANYA BOURG