May 8, 2026 • 56 mins
Dustin “Dusty” Turner is a former Navy SEAL trainee whose case has become one of the most controversial wrongful-conviction stories connected to the military community. Convicted in 1996 for the murder and abduction of Jennifer Evans, Turner maintained that his fellow SEAL trainee, Billy Joe Brown, acted alone — a claim Brown later confessed to under oath. Despite a Virginia court initially granting Turner a Writ of Actual Innocence in 2009, the decision was later overturned on appeal. After serving more than 30 years in prison, Turner was released on parole while continuing to fight for full exoneration. During his incarceration, he became known as a model prisoner, mentor, veterans’ support leader, and advocate for rehabilitation and second chances
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Lute force. If it doesn't work, you're just not using enough.
You're listening to software radio, special operations, Military nails and
straight talk with the guys in the community.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hey, what's going on. This is rad your host of
soft Rep Radio, and I have a very unique conversation
to have with a very nice guest and we're going
to get into that in just a moment. But first
I got to talk about the merch store. That's right,
we have new branded cool items. You might be seeing
me out there wearing some of the soft Rep Radio
with the lightning bolts, sweaters and hoodies and the mugs
(01:04):
that we have. Thank you so much for purchasing those
and supporting the show. It keeps the fireplace going because
it's natural gas and today prices are going up and
I got to keep that on, so keep buying that merch.
Thank you so much, appreciate you. Second, you know what
I'm going to say. If you've been listening to the show,
it's the book Club. So soft rep dot com forward
slash book hyphen Club. Now my man Callum, my producer,
(01:26):
will probably put it somewhere here or maybe along here,
but that is where you can click and check out
the book club at soft reap dot com. So go
check out the softwap dot com book club. And what's
funny is, I was just thinking about my guy, Guy,
the editor, who is in charge of all of that,
and he's just a great dude. So this is this
(01:46):
book club is curated by all the special forces guys
behind the scenes and all the everybody that works here
at soft reap to put it into your brain. So
go read a book, okay, because reading a book is knowledge.
Knowledge grows your brain. Your brain is a muscle. So
to the gym for your brain, the book club. Now,
I'm just going to introduce my next guest, Dusty Turner.
(02:07):
Welcome to the show, Dusty. It's nice to have you here.
Thank you, welcome. I'm going to read your bile real
quick and we'll get into Dusty Turner. Stand by. Here
we go, Dusty Turner. Dusty Turner born Dustin Allen Turner
was born on February seventh, nineteen seventy five in the Midwest.
He grew up in a loving family with a close
knit extended family. Turner's life took a dramatic turn when
(02:27):
he was convicted a first degree murder and abduction with
the intent to defile in nineteen ninety six for the
killing of twenty one year old Jennifer Evans. Despite his conviction,
Turner's actions in nineteen ninety five were not his fault,
as he helped a fellow Navy seal, Billy Joe Brown,
hide the murder. Turner's long fight for justice culminated in
his parole in twenty twenty six after spending thirty years
in prison. His cases garnered attention for the wrongful conviction
(02:51):
and the ongoing advocacy for his release. And you have
now been released, So welcome to being released. It was great,
I'm sure it does. And welcome to soft Reap Radio.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I like it. I appreciate being here.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And welcome to the Internet, okay, okay, and welcome to
your new phone that you're probably swiping on and just
learning all of those things.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's a couple of apps. It's too much for me already.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
You're already staying apps, right, and wait till your phone
overloads with apps that you can't even take a photo. Likely,
I just want to take a picture of the meal
I'm eating right now to put it on a social
media and you're like, oh, I have to you get
too data, data gets full. I mean, you're you're gonna
have You've been Okay. The reason why I'm talking about
this is you've been locked up for the last thirty
(03:44):
one years of your life. Okay. Now, I'm not trying
to make light of that situation, because you know, what
I read in your bio is very serious. All right.
You were involved in a very serious situation that resulted
in the loss of Jennifer Evan's life at twenty one
years of age, who will never get to swipe up
on a phone, never get to know what it is
(04:06):
to not have an app, none of that. I have
to speak because I feel her in me right now,
and I just have to say that. And I want
to have you on this show to hear what you
have to say, because I've just thought about what had transpired.
I've read articles about the situation. I'm trying to not
(04:28):
be any bias. I want to hear what you have
to say. But I know that the situation is I'm
a girl dad, I got two daughters in their twenties,
and how I would feel as the father of the
situation that I've read about. Right, if you go to
soft reap dot com. If the listener or the viewer
goes to softwarep dot com, you can find an article
(04:49):
that guy Guy wrote. It's great, it's very in depth
and it's all about dusty situation of how everything kind
of transpired surmised in this article and it just talks about,
you know, everything that had happened to him. So, first off,
Dusty is also a son, is also a family member
of a family. Dusty's life was also dramatically changed and
(05:13):
altered in the course of that moment in his geo
when he was driving or however that situation occurred that
only you, Billy and Jennifer will ever ever know. And
so you were the driver.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Of that, right, I was driving the car that night.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, okay, that's what I just want to play. Yeah,
I'm just making sure I understood that correctly. Right. So,
so let's just talk about something you you did go through,
you know, high school. Did you play any sports in
high school? Were you on the wrestling team or were
you playing baseball?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Sport except for wrestling exactly, creditive swimmer and basketball baseball,
I don't know. I did a lot track, cross country,
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And then you decided to join the military at what age.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Oh, well, you know a lot of my family military
former veterans. My father's stepfather, uncles all served in Vietnam.
My older brother was in the Navy. He's four years
older than me, and he kind of convinced me to
go specifically into the Navy. So by the age of seventeen,
(06:23):
I entered under the delayed entry program. I had to
have my mother sign, you know, to get in. But yeah,
so after high school I came run in.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
You went straight to the Navy after high school?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Graduate high school? Went straight to the Navy. And was
it a did you have a special warfare contract in
the nineties? Was that how it went? Did you like
get to have the first shot through bootball? Well?
Speaker 3 (06:45):
He actually sort of. Yeah. So I signed up initially
to be a diver. And I had been scuba diver
since I was mid teens and really loved the water.
Like I said, I was a competitive swimmer, So I
initially joined to be a diver. But but before I
arrived at boot camp, I heard about the seal teams
(07:07):
and my brother told me a lot about them, and
I read and seen some things and I was convinced
that that's what I wanted to do. So there's a
story there on how I went from there becoming, you know,
wanting to be a diver, entering boot camp as a
diver wannabe and then was able to ban angle that
(07:28):
into getting the buds.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Was that because you just ran faster in basic?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Or did you just what I did?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
You know?
Speaker 3 (07:37):
So what I did was when it came time to
do the physical tests, they had one that was for
the divers e O D wannabes and then the other
for the Seal Team wannabes, and so I snuck into
the line with the Seal teamp. Yeah, with the Selty wannabes,
and I was one of only just a handful of
guys that were able to pass the test. And so
the fella that was there, a team you know, Sheal
(08:00):
Team guy, I was there overseeing the thing and when
I came up to him, he said, he's looking at
his clipboard and he's like, you you you took the
wrong test you're supposed to. So I said, look, sir,
this is and he probably said, don't call me sir.
I worked for a living, but he uh, he said, uh,
he appreciated my fortitude and he was able to kind
(08:24):
of fast track me from there through a school into BUDS.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
So that was like, uh, you know, an opening and
you kind of were able to take it, and you
just you're like, well, I'm in the right line, right,
this is the right line. I think I'm in the
right line. Well, yeah, right, you're just kind of like
shuffling up and he's like, now I'm in this line.
He went through that test and he's like, wait a
(08:49):
second here, turner, turner, turner. He's like, where's turner on
this thing? Here? He's like, right down at the bottom,
you're going to add it with a pencil, sir, don't
call me, sir, go get over there. Okay. So that's
very cool. So that's that's that's really you know, commendable,
respected to like go through that. And you went through
BUDS And how was hell Week for you? Was that
something that a seventeen eighteen year old kid is ready for?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Of course not. But no, well I got there at
the age of eighteen and February nineteen ninety four through
the entire year, I ended up graduating December sixteenth, ninety four,
and of course Hell Week was hell. But the whole
thing was hell. Right at the conclusion of Hell Week,
(09:35):
I ended up in ICU for a few days, and
it was a tough experience, you know, I was pretty
pretty messed up, But but I made it through and
ended up graduating and went on to Army Army Airborne School.
I graduated, by the way, I graduated BUDS class one
ninety six and.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
One ninety six huh, and then you went then you
went to Airborne School. Uh. And then once you went
to Airborne School all the other schoolings and so it's like,
I know, like on a Green Bereat team, there's like
eighteen echo, eighteen foxtrot, eighteen delta. Those are all different.
Like a medic is delta, a radio guy is an
e an echo, you know, a zulu was there? Something?
(10:18):
Is that? Is that on the teams as well? Like
do you have a specific lane that you function or
is a seal team really just you know, going after
like hostage rescue and like.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
That yeah thing, Oh my gosh. Well, as you know,
the seal teams have a wide operating you know, areas
and avenues and missions and so forth, so they don't
specialize in one little area it's very broad, but there
are there are some guys. You know, guys do some
(10:47):
specialized training after they get into teams. And so a
platoon like I was with the Echo platoon in Team four,
and so we had guys that might need to get
qualified in certain things. Other guys get qualified in different things,
so that we all collectively were had all the skills
necessary to do what we need to do.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Sure. Sure, And so you guys just basically just kind
of task force yourself together with.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
All the different things within the platoon and so within.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
The platoon, yeah exactly, okay, okay, And so here you
are eighteen years old. The highlight of your life is
December sixteenth. Now absolutely, you've graduated, Buds, and you now
got the trident and you're now recognized as a Navy
shield exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, yeah, okay, worked then, you know, it's been so long,
I have no idea how it happens today. Sure, But
so I graduated Buds, went to Army Airborne School. Well,
it was a signed to Team four. It's out here
in Norfolk or Virginia Beach, Little Creek. I chose Team
four specifically because of the area of operations, which is
(11:55):
which was if it still is today, Central and South America,
and that really where I wanted to operate at for
various reasons. But but then when you go to when
you get to the team, uh, there's a period of time,
a six month kind of probationary period and additional training then.
It was called STT Seal tactical training, and it involves
(12:19):
kind of honing skills of advanced diving stuff and advanced
land warfare demolitions, you know, navigation stuff, and just kind
of honing all those skills. It wasn't like Bud's style
of you know training where they're trying to kill you, right,
it's just there and it's just tweaking honing those skills.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yeah, just making you just more of a perfectionist of
I think craft and verse they'.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
And I'll add just that there's basically a six month
period you're doing this then, and at the conclusion of
that period is when you're officially you know, awarded or
tacked on that trident. And I was actually a couple
of weeks from from that when I was arrested.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
When for the for the murder of Jennifer Evans, which
is just a segue into where we're at. That's really
just what we're going to talk about is so here
you are. Now, you know, you're just a few weeks
out of this, and you know I want to blame alcohol.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Okay, well you can to a degree, and we could
talk about that.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah right, you know, because like it was at a bar,
you guys decided to go to a bar, right, and
and then go ahead, please, So here we are, you're
almost graduating, and it's like you get a little shore
leave or some time to go hang out with the
bros exactly.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
And and I, you know, I didn't spend much time
in Virginia Beach area, although I was. I got to
the team four in February ninety five. Fast forward all
way till the end of June, and like you said,
we're on We just got a few days on leave.
We've been up north training for a p hill just
(14:09):
land warfare stuff. Right.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
So there were supposed to be a few of us
going to this specific club, or just any of the clubs.
But this one club I had been to a few
times when I was in the area, and the night
was normal. It was just a normal night, just like
any other night. And the alcohol absolutely was involved. The
(14:35):
man I was with. Billy Brown is someone whom I
was paired with early in training back in San Diego
going through butts, I was paired with them because we
were the same height, right, and so yeah, and so
we had to be put in the same boat crew,
and so we not only I mean, it's it's uncanny
(14:57):
how this worked out, right, So we're in the same
boat crew. We went through all through hell week and
all the training. Well, we were both injured about the
same time, and we're held back or rolled back until
future of classes came through and we classed back up
with them. So not only were we what they call
(15:19):
swim buddies, were you know, paired together, but we're again
we were we were held back because of medical issues,
injuries and uh and then classed up with the same class,
ended up going you know, graduated, end up going to
the UH Army edrom score together, and got to the
same seal team together and put in the same platoon together. Right.
(15:42):
And I'll preface up too with the fact that this
guy was an absolute psychopath and he he should never
have been in the military. After he was kicked out
of the Coast Guard. He had a past of of
violence and its specifically again it's women, right, But this
(16:03):
is the person that I was paired.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
With, the person like he already had got that record.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Before coming into the military and before coming into uh
in the hill teams.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Is he like a seventeen eighteen year old kid? Nineteen
year old kid besgids to you. You guys both like eighteen.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
He was a few years older than me. I was
the kid, right, I'm young and a few years older.
And you know, back when you're nineteen years old, three
or four years is pretty significant, right, they seem like
an elder almost, Yeah, But regardless, this guy was this
(16:41):
He was a psychopath. And when he's when he's sober,
he's I think what people would consider a pretty decent operator,
pretty decent, right, But he's increasingly getting drunk more often,
and it's becoming a daily thing. He's drinking at night
every single day, and he's heading on a path that's
(17:03):
that's destructive. Right. He knows that people around him know it.
I know it around them.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
There was multiple times in which myself and others had
to kind of extract him out of a real messed
up situation that he got himself. And sometimes us others
into he was violence. So this is who this guy is, right,
But I'm paired with him. And as you probably know
(17:31):
that you probably know in the Special Forces and especially
the situation I was in with the Seal Teams and
being it was very unique for a person to be
paired with someone that long. Through all of training. It
almost never happens, right, It almost right, right. So, but
you know, you know how I was trained. I was
trained to protect this guy this period. No matter what,
(17:55):
I'm gonna protect this guy because that's what I at
least understood that that's what I'm supposed to do, right,
And I did, and I did, and others did too,
in situations that were really messed up, in which he
became violent, and including going all the way back to
(18:15):
Buds when he ran into a family, when he was
drunk in his vehicle and did a hit and run
and they got his license plate and his description, his
car description, all this kind of stuff. And when you
know that just kind of gets swept under the rug.
(18:37):
And this is nineteen ninety four. You know, I'm sure
those things wouldn't happen today. Those things happen to we
know that, you know, things have changed over the years, right, decades, right,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
There's a lot of things still getting swept under the
rug today. Bro Okay, you want to look at the
world with a microscope, I can tell you about an
island that gets swept under the rug with a war
in Iran right now. Okay, So, but let's not skew that.
I'm just saying things do get covered up. However, you know,
battle buddies, you know, are supposed to be there for
(19:09):
each other through thick and thin. I get that right.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
When I went to the Air Force and we left
out of Utah, I went with a group of guys
on the plane, and then we stepped off the plane
and got on the same bus, and then we went
on the same bus, and then we went We were like, oh,
we're going to go through the same thing together. We're
all going to be able to like, you know, stick
together from the beginning to the end. But then they
went off in a different direction when they had to
get special Mormon garments, yeah, and I had to go
(19:39):
get my other stuff, and I was like, we'll see
you guys later. So to have somebody paired up the
whole entire time, that you're talking about is really a
unique situation where there is this like you know, okay,
well maybe i'm you know, you do have this bond
of like we've been through so much together already, but
then all of a sudden, this guy's just taking you.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So first of all, you know, the murder of her
caused you to be hit with a life sentence.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Right basically, I mean it was so many years, eighty
two years.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Well, thirty one years, oh, eighty two years. So here's
my belief in the justice system from rad me. I
believe that I meet people all the time who are
felons who have been in and done their time, and
then they got out and now they're supposed to be
able to have a second chance at their life, okay,
(20:31):
because they paid their time by the system that was
put in place with their peers in the jury, who
gives them the rulings and the laws all right there,
and they bam, this is what you're going to have
to do, this is what you did. You go and
you get locked up. You get locked up for thirty
(20:52):
one of the eighty two years. But there's something in
the Rubik's cube of your sentencing that just doesn't it, right,
And that is the fact that your step you're saying
you didn't commit the final blow to this young lady
or the choke or the stranglation that had occurred to her.
It was Billy in the back seat who had leaned
(21:15):
over in front with his whole arm and just kind
of like did her while you were driving, and you were,
you know, just like now your battle buddy had just
done this.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, And it's definitely an oversimplification of what actually happened. Right,
he snapped out on this young innocent woman for no reason. Right,
he's completely drunk, and there's you know, I could detail
the entire story. And by the way, in two thousand
(21:46):
and eight, I was the first person in Virginia to
be ruled actually innocent by the Court of Appeals of Virginia.
And I was set to be released in two thousand
and eight because you know, let's back, go back just
a bit. Yeah, please. I held this knowledge of what
(22:14):
happened to this innocent young lady, and I held it
to myself for over a week, and that was extremely difficult. Right,
So there came a time in which the authorities knew
that I was there that night Billy Brown was there
that night, and then we may have some knowledge or
(22:36):
something involvement or something of what happened to this young lady.
And so they asked if we'd be willing to take
a polygraph, and I didn't really hesitate to say yes,
I would take it, and I did take it. But
my thought process of time, in my young mind is
(22:57):
that I can't tell on Billy Brown for what he did.
I have to and he knows that too. Right, there's
this code in which I'm bound to this silence. So
how do I let out to somebody of what happened
(23:20):
but not tell him? This guy? Right? So I jumped
on the chance to take a polygraph, and I figured
I would still go in and lie. I wish I
did where necessary to cover for him, but I assume
that the polygraph would likely show where I lied and
actually expose what actually happened. Right, And I don't know
(23:41):
if that sounds crazy, But how else do I A
little bit?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
It does a little bit, But I understand you. I
understand you're trying to justify the whole situation, right, It's
something I've not been put into. So please continue the polygraph,
and you're trying to like you want to complean.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
You have this guilt, it's not so much a guilt
what I have all this on my shoulders. And it's
not just protecting Billy Brown. I know if and when
this comes out of what happened, uh, it's going to
have huge repercussions across the entire teams, right, and so
(24:17):
I'm trying to protect the brand. I'm trying to protect
this asshole who just murdered an innocent young lady, right right,
and so and I'm twenty years I just turned twenty
years old, and you know, trying to carry that. And
so this is what I did, right or wrong. I said,
(24:39):
I'm going to take the polygraph I lied to protect him.
It's sure enough it showed exactly where I lied. And
so that so when the detectives are confronting me with
the results and showing me, hey, you lied here, here,
and here which was which was true? They've then there
app they knew what happened at least the basic elements
(25:03):
of what happened to Jennifer. So when they asked me
to elaborate, I told him I wasn't going to say
anything further until I spoke with my warrant officer, who
was sitting out in the lobby. He came in and
I said, specifically, I said, the detectives want to know.
(25:23):
I know things. The detectives want to know. I haven't
told them anything, but I don't know what to do.
And he said, well, tell me what happened. So I
told him everything, right, I told him everything, and he said,
he said, hold on, let me let me go out
and try to call the JAG officer. He comes back
in about fifteen minutes later, and he says, the JAG
(25:45):
officer can't help us out because it's an off base matter,
which seems weird in hindsight, but he was confronted by
the detectives as he came back in, and so when
he comes in, he says, look, the detective is going
to come in here and ask you five questions here,
and I want you to answer them truthfully. I want
you to. And I said, are you sure that's what
I should do? He said, yes, answer them truthfully and
(26:07):
it'll be all right. Yes, true. So I took the
advice and the director order from my spirit officer, and
I answered these detectives' questions completely truthful. Basically, they took that,
went into the other room where Billy Brown had refused
to take a polygraph because it wasn't going to benefit
him whatsoever, and they said, hey, your buddy just rolled
(26:30):
on you. He told us everything. You're going down. You're
probably going to get the death penalty, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
And so he.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Feels in his mind that I just violated something sacred.
I broke the seal code, right, and so he thinks,
therefore I deserve to go down with him. So he
tells the story, including me and his crime, including me
and the executives used that crime. I mean, I'm sorry
(27:01):
the detection used that story later to convict me of
the crimes that he committed, of the crimes that he committed.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
It's like, uh, you know, if that's the case, then
you know, that's why I was just establishing you were
driving the car in the very beginning, right. If that's
the case of the situation, then it's like these your
your conviction is like you're guilty by association at that point, right,
(27:32):
That's just really the situation, Like nobody else can see
past that enigma of what has transpired to take Jennifer's
life that night and so they're just looking at it like,
you know, okay, yeah, man, he was driving, and then
I mean, there's more to it, right because you did.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
When Yeah, Because let's start off here. I had gotten
him the ride home so I didn't have to be
with him that night. He was so drunk and obnoxious.
And I had met this very nice, sweet young lady
from Georgia right then. We got along great. It was
(28:10):
a normal night, nothing out of the app you know,
out of the out of the you know, ordinary, and
so Billy Brown's ex girlfriend happed to be at a
club that night, and she agreed to take him home.
She didn't want to, but she did it as a
favor for me. She was going to take him home. Therefore,
he was out of my hair for the rest of
(28:31):
the night, I assumed. Long story, the fight between he
and his ex girlfriend led to him storming out to
the parking lot drunk as hell, and he found me
and Jennifer in the car waiting for her girlfriends, whom
I had met just a little earlier, and they were
(28:52):
coming up at two o'clock in the morning to pick
her up. And it was maybe five minutes or two
and we're sitting there waiting for her. Girlfriends said, Billy
Brown shows up, drunken, obnoxious. He gets into the car,
and because of his demeanor, which I've seen plenty of
times in the past, I attempted to be uh. I
(29:12):
attempted to calmly speak to him and hopefully to uh,
you know, could depress his his his his his his feelings.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Right, defuse him, to like delate him, like ground him
real quick, you know, Like I'm gonna you know this guy,
You've already been through so much with him. You're like,
all right, Billy, Okay, Billy comes out and grabs it. Okay,
hey buddy, So you're gonna be chill and get in
the car.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I'm like, hey, Billy, I said, you know, Christian's gonna
take you home. Man, where's she at? You know, she's
gonna take you home. And I'm being calm and like,
you know, trying to because his demeanor before I left him,
he wasn't happy, He wasn't happy with me for pawing
him off on his xtra old friend and leaving with
a young guy out and so forth. So and he
was just so drunk. Right, So he's in the car
(30:02):
less than maybe three minutes. I don't know. When I
say that to him, He's like, f that bitch, right,
And he turns his attention to the young lady sitting
in front of him in the car, in a very compact,
small vehicle, and he's he's the same height as me
(30:24):
and we're about sixty three.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
And you can imagine him sitting back behind this front seat.
So Jennifer doesn't say a single word to him, and
he says something real crude to her, obnoxious, and I'm like, Billy,
please just go and try to find Christian and she'll
take you home. And he says something else to Jennifer.
(30:49):
He touches either her hair or her shoulder. He reaches
up with his right hand, and she's she never says
the word to him that. She kind of smacks his
hand away from him. And I just kind of see
this out of the corner of my mind. And he
snaps with all his you know, might and training and
strength and so forth. He puts all that into this
(31:09):
poor defenseless young lady, and in such a maneuver that
it shakes the entire vehicle, it shakes the entire and
I instantly do what you or anybody else would have done.
And that is I jump on his freaking arms and
start pulling them off of her and screaming at him,
(31:32):
you know, what the fuck are you doing? Get your
you know, let her go, let her go, right, And
I'm screaming at him, and he's screaming at me. He's
screaming me, just fucking drive, just fucking dry. So he's
got such a lock around him that I literally had
to get up under his fingertips and pry his arms
off of her, right and think about your little geo storm,
(31:55):
right and yeah, And so I get his arms off
of her. Finally he finally sits back. She's dead one second,
you know, five say, ten seconds beforehand. Everything's normal, everything's
it's everything's normal, everything. And now this young lady, I'm
(32:17):
only twenty, she's twenty one years old, and she's sitting
next to me dead, her head is facing out the
pastor's side door, and he's screaming at me, just fucking drive,
just fucking drive.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
What do I do?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
This is the this is the era before cell phones,
before there's a payphone somewhere. I'm sure right again, So
I'm stuck in this dilemma that I never should have
been put in I never should I'm not a criminal.
I'm not I don't know these things. I've never had
any interactions with the law. I'm never harmed, certainly never
(32:55):
harmed a woman. Right, and so this is this the
son of a bitch that they paired me with.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Right? And now what do I do?
Speaker 3 (33:10):
What do I do? So?
Speaker 2 (33:14):
But why did you? Okay? So you're both six', three you,
KNOW i mean there is a swearing an oath to
the bros in The seal team and keeping the brand
good and trying to protect. It but you also swore
an oath to PROTECT us citizens, too you, know like
Us And, BRO i mean she is, she she is
that and he so to like not just like you,
(33:37):
Know kamakazi yourself to the police station when it, happened
even with him there while you're, driving he just told
you to. Drive you, say, OKAY i got. You. Bro
you had no problem you cause you drove right to
the shoff this. Woman yeah that's my that's My.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Bro eight days later. Free but please, more, NO i, know,
NO i, Know please tell, me, PLEASE i want your.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Story she's. DEAD i tried to save. Her, YES i,
know of course you would have done the same. THING
i jumped on him to get his freaking arms. Off
this young. Lady she's, innocent. Exactly she did nothing to,
Him she's nothing to deserve any of.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
This she liked, you and he couldn't handle. That she
liked you and he liked. You so it's like he's my.
Bro we're. Bros peace. Out AND i hate to put
it so, brass but the next stuff that happened was
you guys wound up like going to a park or
something and trying to, like, yeah so that's What i'm,
(34:46):
saying like, that that's.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
Right that's the pinnacle or the point in which my decision.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Wish became an.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Accomplice, NO i was never an accomplished of his. MURDER
i was, okay, PLEASE i obviously was an accessory after
the facts of his, crime, Right AND i just want to,
be you, know, distinguished what my role truly. WAS i
(35:17):
never harmed, anybody and nor DID i know anyone was
going to be. HARMED i would have stopped. IT i
tried to stop it when it, happened. Right, So so
the point is he's screaming at me to, Drive i'm
in a PLACE i don't really know very well Where i'm.
AT i don't even know where to go WHEN i
(35:37):
leave the parking, lot, RIGHT i really don't even to
get back to the to the, base. Right so so
he goes the area a little, better and so he's
he's screaming at me to just. Drive jennifer is, dead
and he's drunk and, screaming And I'm i'm in a
state of what trauma shot?
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Shots?
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Right?
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah, Yeah AND i don't even know.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
What the hell to. DO i don't even know DO
i get out a, car run up and, say, hey this,
guy you know who my seal team, partners has just
killed a. GIRL i, Mean i'm sure a lot of people, say,
yeah that's where you should have done, right.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Right, yeah, yeah you should have done. That you should
have done. That but that didn't.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Happen, no it didn't. Happen so why did? It why
Did why DID i take off?
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Driving why did any of why did any of?
Speaker 3 (36:27):
It you know what it's, like you, know to understand
why he snapped, out you'd have to ask, him, Right
uh he can still to this day he, SAYS i
don't know WHY i did. IT i just. Snapped that's
not good enough he you, know there's reasons behind. That
(36:50):
he hasn't found him. Press he's still.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Incarcerated he's still, incarcerated he's still locked.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Up if he ever gets out of, prison there's going
to be a serious.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
PROBLEM i understand. That so he's in He's is he
in state of The virginia? Area is that where he's
at The virginia prisons? SYSTEM i? See, yeah, MAN i, mean, like,
bro what a rough situation for the family Of. Jennifer
(37:20):
for your, FAMILY i, mean it's not just you impacted them.
Traumatically your family is probably beside, themselves you, know with the.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Situation even fathom, it, right just as you KNOW i.
DON'T i was asked not to, speak not to speak
a lot About, jennifer, Right AND i gotta respect, that,
yeah Because i've asked, That AND i don't want to
do anything that further upsets her, family loved, ones, Right
(37:52):
SO i want to try to reel that back BECAUSE
i have a great respect for them and back for
what they've gone. Through, Right and she was their only,
child you, know a lovely young. Lady so the impact
on their, Family i'll just say and leave. It this is.
(38:16):
Immeasurable it's. Immoble, Right, yes you're a girl. DAD i
hope to be a girl dad one, day you. Know uh,
So but also what what what happened to me in
my family is also. Immeasurable you. KNOW i shouldn't have
been put in that. Position Uh If Billy brown would
(38:36):
have told the truth when when when confronted with the,
AUTHORITIES i wouldn't have BEEN i WOULDN'T i wouldn't ever
send years in prison twelve months max as a as
a misdemeanor crime for accessory after the fact of a
felony is WHAT i was guilty, of AND i admitted,
it AND i was clean and open about, it you.
(38:58):
Know AND i made the DECISIONS i, MADE i consider
and justify and. SAY i was completely brainwashed by the
TRAINING i went, through and so this is WHY i did,
it and it is but, regardless it was my. DECISION
i made. It i'll be responsible for WHAT i. DID
i can't be did he outrate you.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
For what he?
Speaker 3 (39:19):
DID i can only be responsible for WHAT i, did,
right and.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
As long as you WERE i, mean, look that's WHY
i was saying in the beginning of the. Show if
you've gone, in you've served your. Time from the judicial,
system from your, peers which is how it, works and
you get out you deserve to, have you, know a
second goal at the situation.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Point and that, IS i was convicted of THINGS i
did not do. Right the, jury the jury foreman later
said please let this man out of. Prison we didn't know, others,
others the people involved in the in the, prosecution said,
hey the man was wrong, convicted. RIGHT i was in
(40:03):
prison for THINGS i did not. DO i did not do.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Well and that's that's WHAT i understand THAT i understand
that there was like some legalities that you, KNOW i
use The rubik's, cube, okay because like you're like sitting
here trying To rubik's cube your life and then you're
if you were to try To rubik's cube your. Case
Which i'm not a, lawyer But i'm gonna pretend to
be one for just a, moment you, had, uh you,
know been hit with some things that just automatically got
(40:30):
put on your case by like the prosecutor of the
state for the, case, right like they just like attached
like FORCED i, mean like you, know how come they
accuse you of these things and stuck you with it
at the, Time, well you know WHAT i, mean because you,
were like you, said after the, fact it should be a,
misdemeanor you, know accessory after the. Fact but there was
(40:55):
some statutes that just automatically played on, you didn't they
isn't that how they put? It is?
Speaker 3 (41:00):
False how to? Go they convicted me on a false.
Narrative it wasn't about what was. True it was about
it was about What Billy brown told them in a
point in which he felt LIKE i broke The seal,
code and THEREFORE i deserve anything that he. DID i
should go down. For he tells them a. Story they
(41:20):
used that story as the as the theory of the.
Crime it wasn't true at, all and that's how they convicted.
Me it was.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Wrong so he just fabricated the situation to pull you
into the under the, web you, know from what you've
from what you've just told, us, okay versus what they
charged you. With that's all from his own spider web
of bs that he wanted to put out there and
pull you into. It because if he's going, down by,
(41:50):
hell you're going down with.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
Him ALL i got to do is ask. Him he'll tell.
You you, know he became A christian bag in nineteen ninety.
Nine he confessed to his lawyer and to his. FAMILY
i didn't find out until two thousand and, two, right
AND i.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
Went, on, yeah oh wow that yeah, Wow so you
didn't find out about An.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Let me tell you HOW i found. OUT i got
transferred to a different, Prison, Aaron. Virginia and it was
shortly AFTER i, arride within a day or, two some
guy approaches me and he says he knew WHO i,
was and he, Said god has great things in store for.
YOU i Was Christian brothers With Billy. Brown he is
(42:33):
a changed man and he has confessed to his family
and he's confessed to his lawyer of what actually. Happened.
Right so from that, POINT i of course called my
mother and she found an attorney to go find him
what prison he was at and to try to get
a taped confession from, him which they eventually. Did and since,
(42:54):
then he's just told the truth about what, happened, Right,
yeah just.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Like what you were describing. Happened he corroborates what you
talk about, now like you, know, yeah but at the
time he was just so scattered and just like so
whatever that he.
Speaker 3 (43:14):
Was so like THAT i was wrong for for telling
the authorities what.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Happened, well how about you think that he's wrong for
what he? Did? Man how about your how about your? Opinion?
Yeah who cares about his opinion? Anymore?
Speaker 3 (43:30):
Okay for this guy has not subsided and. Alms if
you were in my shoes and seeing what WHAT i
went through to see what he did to this young
lady and put me in that, position and what he
has done to me and my family for thirty one freaking,
(43:50):
years your your hatred for this guy would not diminish
at all.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
Either what's it's not your, family it's her, family that's. True.
Okay SO i mean like he's he has crossed all
sorts of spectrums of, wickedness.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
Maliciousness, okay, yes.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Okay and SO i mean, like, yeah, Well i'm glad
he found something in ninety. Six, MAN i don't know
whatever religious whatever he found ninety, nine whatever he found
in ninety, nine, okay but it was a little late
in my. Opinion you, KNOW i THINK i think seals
would find that in the in hell week he's been,
(44:35):
there and you you, know there are people who are
in the job in the. Military you look at, Him you're,
like how did you get this gig and why AM i? Not?
How how did this guy make? It it's like how
do you? Get you, know did this guy just run
seventeen miles LIKE i? Did how did he do? That
he's you, know twenty five pounds more than me or.
Something it's, like there's so many different. Variables people are
(44:55):
in their life for a. Reason you've been put in this,
life in this situation for a. Reason whatever that reason
is to be. Discovered whether it's that you're good at
being regimented in your life, okay whether it's like you
go do what you're told and then you go and
still just continue to do what you're, told or whether
you you, know have a lot of. REMORSE i CAN
(45:20):
i kind of feel that from, you you, KNOW i.
WAS i just wanted to have a real conversation with
you about this and just you, know let it be
known THAT i feel like you are remorseful about the
circumstances and what would you? DO a geostorm is like
it's a, storm, right?
Speaker 3 (45:38):
Yeah was it?
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Red?
Speaker 3 (45:40):
Silver?
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Okay so you had a silver geo? Storm two doors
and then the rear slant hatchback which lifts up you
have to like pop the hatch up to get in. Sometimes.
Okay So i'm six four six. Five i've been in the, geostorm,
okay SO i get. It you know usually they're five, speed,
okay so have like a stick and it's like it
it was your five. Speed so you have this console
(46:04):
in the center of you right. HERE i, mean it's
just it's a small, vehicle, okay and no room to
really maneuver except you, know from the back. Seat AND
i just put that sticks with me so much in
the story than most of anything, else is the inside
of that. Vehicle Because i've wrote in A han A Crx,
(46:25):
Okay i've wrote in A mazda six you, know two door,
coop The. Mazda you, Know i've rode in a. Geostorm
and if you're in the back seat of those, CARS
i just, like and that's WHY i blame. Alcohol. Man
you know a lot of these soldiers out, there you,
know they they're taking their lives these, days and you,
know AND i just blame alcohol first and, foremost and
(46:46):
not so much it's trying To it's like alcohol makes
you do stupid, things, RIGHT i don't hear the stoner
out there doing. That you, know it's alcohol that makes
people do the.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
Stuff and just so you, know for an, eye did
have a drink or, so but we were not. Drunk you.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Know there's a difference of like dating and like going
out and meeting and trying to like do what guy and.
Girls i've been to the, Club i've you, know a
whole nine. Yard my wife AND i hung out. Together you,
know we've been. OUT i get. It having a normalcy
of a normal life is. Normal, okay homeboy takes it too.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
Far that's an. Understatement OH i.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
Already that's my. Sense that's my, sense. Okay and What
i'm trying to say earlier is like you should have
a second chance at. Life you've put in thirty one
years of your life into into LIKE i want to say,
solitary but literally into in. Confinement, okay live in a, Years, yeah.
(47:50):
Exactly that's just another kind of. Grave. Okay and and and,
uh you, KNOW i would, imagine you, know it's just
consistently replaces in your, mind, Okay and how could it.
Not And i'm sure that that whole time when you're,
(48:14):
there it was just you, know you had, nothing but you,
know to repent for yourself and Saying i'm just gonna
be the BEST i can be WHENEVER i can be
the best me, Possible i'll be.
Speaker 3 (48:27):
Honest AND i was. MYSELF i was myself in, PRISON
i was myself before prison and all myself. Today AND
i still held on to my, values you, know my
virtues and my. Morals and you KNOW i got through that.
Ordeal prison was. Hell its. Hell you, KNOW i went
(48:54):
through a hell. Week that was a week thirty one
years or something. Different, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
Something. Different. Wow, WELL i appreciate you being so organic with. Me,
YEAH i Appreciate ecuse, Me i'm choking up a little.
Bit appreciate, conversation you, know and allow me to talk
about my story and what exactly.
Speaker 3 (49:24):
Happened.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
Yeah, well there is you know at Free Dusty turner
on the social media's if you want to learn more About,
dusty you can go to a Free Dusty turner and you,
know hear the. Story. More hold on one. Second i'm
just choking a little. Bit i'm a little choked. Up
(49:50):
it was A i dug deep on this for. YOU
i just want you to know that what are you?
Speaker 3 (49:56):
Drinking? There SHOULD i? Ask it's A it's.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
Water, excellent it's good old quality h. Too, well you
know WHAT i. Mean and, uh, WELL i GUESS i
want you to have a good time outside and enjoy
the amenities that are out, here you, know you, know
get to.
Speaker 3 (50:18):
Know i'm just going to add THAT i obviously see
life a bit different, now, right probably a lot. Different
AND i have a very unique. PERSPECTIVE i get, IT
I i feel. It so right Now i'm living in the,
day living in a. Moment i'm enjoying every little. THING i,
(50:39):
mean you can't imagine every LITTLE i, mean every little
thing which is which is. New it's just something different
for me THAT i haven't had in thirty one. Years
every little. Thing, man WHEN i jumped in a pool
the other, day and it was the most glorious Thing
i've felt glorious maybe in my whole, life just jumping
(51:03):
in a, pool you. Know and but little. THINGS i
don't take any of it for. GRANTED i don't take
any you, know BECAUSE i didn't have it for thirty one.
YEARS i didn't know if If i'd ever get, out you.
Know So and and Also i'll add that my fight's not.
Over my parole was a great step and is to
(51:27):
be around my family and good friends AND i have
such a huge support, system and you, know my advocates
are just, awesome my. Advocates but my fight's not. Over
this is not, justice you, know this is not the.
Truth me being convicted of CRIMES i didn't. Commit that's
not that's not. Right it wasn't right THAT i spent
(51:49):
thirty one years in prison for. It so So i'm
still fighting And i'm going to continue this fight as
long as it. Takes.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
Well just keep your nose, clean, yeah you, know and,
uh you, KNOW i get yourself something some work, on
and just continue to be the, best be the best.
You and everything that you put into the seals is
still in. You all the, termination all the, passion anything
you thought about that you could do the best of
while you were sitting there chilling in your. Cot you
(52:22):
can still do those. Things, Okay just remember that you
can still do those, things and don't worry about what
other people think about. You just, continue just can it
could just just be, you be the best. You and
uh and AGAIN i just.
Speaker 3 (52:39):
You, know just be the best, you, okay and perhaps
Is i'm probably gonna be working with some justice involved
veterans moving, forward a great organization who's offered me a
position And i'm probably gonna be working for them here very,
shortly and to see WHAT i can do in that
(53:01):
space with justice. Involved veteran, says you, KNOW i have
a lot of experience in that. APARTMENT i have a
lot of.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
Experiences, well, yeah you've had to become like your own advocate.
Attorney you, know you've had to. READ i mean you've
had thirty one thirty years of reading probably law. BOOKS
i would imagine.
Speaker 3 (53:23):
You might IMAGINE i read a lot.
Speaker 2 (53:26):
HUNDREDS i would, Imagine, yeah DID i mention the Book club? Earlier?
BRO i can only imagine what book you read a million? Times,
Okay so you know it's like, anyhow we're pretty chill around,
here AND i appreciate you for coming on the show
(53:47):
and having this, conversation AND i like your. Look it's
a NICE i feel, like, Yeah, bro, okay you know you,
KNOW i feel we could have Played contra together Or
zelda and, like you, know the beginning Of Mortal kombat,
too you know What i'm. Saying and Like Mortal, kombat
you know when they're's sub, zero, RIGHT i, mean like,
(54:09):
bro like that's that's you, know we could have through
the BASEBALL i played first. Base you, know we could
have like you, know that whole. Thing. BRO i just
want you to know THAT I i like. You sorry
you were in a situation that it's tough for me
to put into words respectfully because and Again i'm not
(54:31):
trying to like continue to put the name out, there
BUT i just want to, say you, know the loss
Of Jennifer evans is a sad, thing and you, know
and and you, know on behalf of, Her i'm just
making sure her name is out, there you, know and
not forgotten.
Speaker 3 (54:45):
It so.
Speaker 2 (54:47):
Thank. You and with that, Said i'm Going i've had
you for an hour And i'm sure that we can
keep going back and forth about, it But i'm going
to let you back to your. Day and you, know
thank you for being ON Softwarep radio me to talk
about the situation that you were. In and you, know
and it's at Free Dusty, turner you know where you
can check him out on social you, know reach out
(55:09):
if you're wanting to you, know touch base with him
or anything like. That and on behalf of myself and
and my main, man my editor in chief. Guy this
was for, you. Bro, OKAY i got you and B
webb and my Producer callum and everybody on the back,
end and to, you my, listener and to the new,
listener thank. You and if you've told a friend to come,
(55:30):
listen that's even, cooler, right so feel free to do.
That i'm a different kind of cat AND i just
want to say mew all, Right so, on behalf of
everybody here AT Softwarep, radio and on behalf Of Dusty
turner and his. People erin with the same name as
erin great. Name, okay this is rad it's true, stories saying.
Speaker 3 (55:52):
Appreciation.
Speaker 1 (55:53):
Bye you've been listening to self Red ladio
Lute force. If it doesn't work, you're just not using enough.
You're listening to software radio, special operations, Military nails and
straight talk with the guys in the community.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hey, what's going on. This is rad your host of
soft Rep Radio, and I have a very unique conversation
to have with a very nice guest and we're going
to get into that in just a moment. But first
I got to talk about the merch store. That's right,
we have new branded cool items. You might be seeing
me out there wearing some of the soft Rep Radio
with the lightning bolts, sweaters and hoodies and the mugs
(01:04):
that we have. Thank you so much for purchasing those
and supporting the show. It keeps the fireplace going because
it's natural gas and today prices are going up and
I got to keep that on, so keep buying that merch.
Thank you so much, appreciate you. Second, you know what
I'm going to say. If you've been listening to the show,
it's the book Club. So soft rep dot com forward
slash book hyphen Club. Now my man Callum, my producer,
(01:26):
will probably put it somewhere here or maybe along here,
but that is where you can click and check out
the book club at soft reap dot com. So go
check out the softwap dot com book club. And what's
funny is, I was just thinking about my guy, Guy,
the editor, who is in charge of all of that,
and he's just a great dude. So this is this
(01:46):
book club is curated by all the special forces guys
behind the scenes and all the everybody that works here
at soft reap to put it into your brain. So
go read a book, okay, because reading a book is knowledge.
Knowledge grows your brain. Your brain is a muscle. So
to the gym for your brain, the book club. Now,
I'm just going to introduce my next guest, Dusty Turner.
(02:07):
Welcome to the show, Dusty. It's nice to have you here.
Thank you, welcome. I'm going to read your bile real
quick and we'll get into Dusty Turner. Stand by. Here
we go, Dusty Turner. Dusty Turner born Dustin Allen Turner
was born on February seventh, nineteen seventy five in the Midwest.
He grew up in a loving family with a close
knit extended family. Turner's life took a dramatic turn when
(02:27):
he was convicted a first degree murder and abduction with
the intent to defile in nineteen ninety six for the
killing of twenty one year old Jennifer Evans. Despite his conviction,
Turner's actions in nineteen ninety five were not his fault,
as he helped a fellow Navy seal, Billy Joe Brown,
hide the murder. Turner's long fight for justice culminated in
his parole in twenty twenty six after spending thirty years
in prison. His cases garnered attention for the wrongful conviction
(02:51):
and the ongoing advocacy for his release. And you have
now been released, So welcome to being released. It was great,
I'm sure it does. And welcome to soft Reap Radio.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I like it. I appreciate being here.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And welcome to the Internet, okay, okay, and welcome to
your new phone that you're probably swiping on and just
learning all of those things.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's a couple of apps. It's too much for me already.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
You're already staying apps, right, and wait till your phone
overloads with apps that you can't even take a photo. Likely,
I just want to take a picture of the meal
I'm eating right now to put it on a social
media and you're like, oh, I have to you get
too data, data gets full. I mean, you're you're gonna
have You've been Okay. The reason why I'm talking about
this is you've been locked up for the last thirty
(03:44):
one years of your life. Okay. Now, I'm not trying
to make light of that situation, because you know, what
I read in your bio is very serious. All right.
You were involved in a very serious situation that resulted
in the loss of Jennifer Evan's life at twenty one
years of age, who will never get to swipe up
on a phone, never get to know what it is
(04:06):
to not have an app, none of that. I have
to speak because I feel her in me right now,
and I just have to say that. And I want
to have you on this show to hear what you
have to say, because I've just thought about what had transpired.
I've read articles about the situation. I'm trying to not
(04:28):
be any bias. I want to hear what you have
to say. But I know that the situation is I'm
a girl dad, I got two daughters in their twenties,
and how I would feel as the father of the
situation that I've read about. Right, if you go to
soft reap dot com. If the listener or the viewer
goes to softwarep dot com, you can find an article
(04:49):
that guy Guy wrote. It's great, it's very in depth
and it's all about dusty situation of how everything kind
of transpired surmised in this article and it just talks about,
you know, everything that had happened to him. So, first off,
Dusty is also a son, is also a family member
of a family. Dusty's life was also dramatically changed and
(05:13):
altered in the course of that moment in his geo
when he was driving or however that situation occurred that
only you, Billy and Jennifer will ever ever know. And
so you were the driver.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Of that, right, I was driving the car that night.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, okay, that's what I just want to play. Yeah,
I'm just making sure I understood that correctly. Right. So,
so let's just talk about something you you did go through,
you know, high school. Did you play any sports in
high school? Were you on the wrestling team or were
you playing baseball?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Sport except for wrestling exactly, creditive swimmer and basketball baseball,
I don't know. I did a lot track, cross country,
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And then you decided to join the military at what age.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Oh, well, you know a lot of my family military
former veterans. My father's stepfather, uncles all served in Vietnam.
My older brother was in the Navy. He's four years
older than me, and he kind of convinced me to
go specifically into the Navy. So by the age of seventeen,
(06:23):
I entered under the delayed entry program. I had to
have my mother sign, you know, to get in. But yeah,
so after high school I came run in.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
You went straight to the Navy after high school?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Graduate high school? Went straight to the Navy. And was
it a did you have a special warfare contract in
the nineties? Was that how it went? Did you like
get to have the first shot through bootball? Well?
Speaker 3 (06:45):
He actually sort of. Yeah. So I signed up initially
to be a diver. And I had been scuba diver
since I was mid teens and really loved the water.
Like I said, I was a competitive swimmer, So I
initially joined to be a diver. But but before I
arrived at boot camp, I heard about the seal teams
(07:07):
and my brother told me a lot about them, and
I read and seen some things and I was convinced
that that's what I wanted to do. So there's a
story there on how I went from there becoming, you know,
wanting to be a diver, entering boot camp as a
diver wannabe and then was able to ban angle that
(07:28):
into getting the buds.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Was that because you just ran faster in basic?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Or did you just what I did?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
You know?
Speaker 3 (07:37):
So what I did was when it came time to
do the physical tests, they had one that was for
the divers e O D wannabes and then the other
for the Seal Team wannabes, and so I snuck into
the line with the Seal teamp. Yeah, with the Selty wannabes,
and I was one of only just a handful of
guys that were able to pass the test. And so
the fella that was there, a team you know, Sheal
(08:00):
Team guy, I was there overseeing the thing and when
I came up to him, he said, he's looking at
his clipboard and he's like, you you you took the
wrong test you're supposed to. So I said, look, sir,
this is and he probably said, don't call me sir.
I worked for a living, but he uh, he said, uh,
he appreciated my fortitude and he was able to kind
(08:24):
of fast track me from there through a school into BUDS.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
So that was like, uh, you know, an opening and
you kind of were able to take it, and you
just you're like, well, I'm in the right line, right,
this is the right line. I think I'm in the
right line. Well, yeah, right, you're just kind of like
shuffling up and he's like, now I'm in this line.
He went through that test and he's like, wait a
(08:49):
second here, turner, turner, turner. He's like, where's turner on
this thing? Here? He's like, right down at the bottom,
you're going to add it with a pencil, sir, don't
call me, sir, go get over there. Okay. So that's
very cool. So that's that's that's really you know, commendable,
respected to like go through that. And you went through
BUDS And how was hell Week for you? Was that
something that a seventeen eighteen year old kid is ready for?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Of course not. But no, well I got there at
the age of eighteen and February nineteen ninety four through
the entire year, I ended up graduating December sixteenth, ninety four,
and of course Hell Week was hell. But the whole
thing was hell. Right at the conclusion of Hell Week,
(09:35):
I ended up in ICU for a few days, and
it was a tough experience, you know, I was pretty
pretty messed up, But but I made it through and
ended up graduating and went on to Army Army Airborne School.
I graduated, by the way, I graduated BUDS class one
ninety six and.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
One ninety six huh, and then you went then you
went to Airborne School. Uh. And then once you went
to Airborne School all the other schoolings and so it's like,
I know, like on a Green Bereat team, there's like
eighteen echo, eighteen foxtrot, eighteen delta. Those are all different.
Like a medic is delta, a radio guy is an
e an echo, you know, a zulu was there? Something?
(10:18):
Is that? Is that on the teams as well? Like
do you have a specific lane that you function or
is a seal team really just you know, going after
like hostage rescue and like.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
That yeah thing, Oh my gosh. Well, as you know,
the seal teams have a wide operating you know, areas
and avenues and missions and so forth, so they don't
specialize in one little area it's very broad, but there
are there are some guys. You know, guys do some
(10:47):
specialized training after they get into teams. And so a
platoon like I was with the Echo platoon in Team four,
and so we had guys that might need to get
qualified in certain things. Other guys get qualified in different things,
so that we all collectively were had all the skills
necessary to do what we need to do.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Sure. Sure, And so you guys just basically just kind
of task force yourself together with.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
All the different things within the platoon and so within.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
The platoon, yeah exactly, okay, okay, And so here you
are eighteen years old. The highlight of your life is
December sixteenth. Now absolutely, you've graduated, Buds, and you now
got the trident and you're now recognized as a Navy
shield exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, yeah, okay, worked then, you know, it's been so long,
I have no idea how it happens today. Sure, But
so I graduated Buds, went to Army Airborne School. Well,
it was a signed to Team four. It's out here
in Norfolk or Virginia Beach, Little Creek. I chose Team
four specifically because of the area of operations, which is
(11:55):
which was if it still is today, Central and South America,
and that really where I wanted to operate at for
various reasons. But but then when you go to when
you get to the team, uh, there's a period of time,
a six month kind of probationary period and additional training then.
It was called STT Seal tactical training, and it involves
(12:19):
kind of honing skills of advanced diving stuff and advanced
land warfare demolitions, you know, navigation stuff, and just kind
of honing all those skills. It wasn't like Bud's style
of you know training where they're trying to kill you, right,
it's just there and it's just tweaking honing those skills.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yeah, just making you just more of a perfectionist of
I think craft and verse they'.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
And I'll add just that there's basically a six month
period you're doing this then, and at the conclusion of
that period is when you're officially you know, awarded or
tacked on that trident. And I was actually a couple
of weeks from from that when I was arrested.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
When for the for the murder of Jennifer Evans, which
is just a segue into where we're at. That's really
just what we're going to talk about is so here
you are. Now, you know, you're just a few weeks
out of this, and you know I want to blame alcohol.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Okay, well you can to a degree, and we could
talk about that.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah right, you know, because like it was at a bar,
you guys decided to go to a bar, right, and
and then go ahead, please, So here we are, you're
almost graduating, and it's like you get a little shore
leave or some time to go hang out with the
bros exactly.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
And and I, you know, I didn't spend much time
in Virginia Beach area, although I was. I got to
the team four in February ninety five. Fast forward all
way till the end of June, and like you said,
we're on We just got a few days on leave.
We've been up north training for a p hill just
(14:09):
land warfare stuff. Right.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
So there were supposed to be a few of us
going to this specific club, or just any of the clubs.
But this one club I had been to a few
times when I was in the area, and the night
was normal. It was just a normal night, just like
any other night. And the alcohol absolutely was involved. The
(14:35):
man I was with. Billy Brown is someone whom I
was paired with early in training back in San Diego
going through butts, I was paired with them because we
were the same height, right, and so yeah, and so
we had to be put in the same boat crew,
and so we not only I mean, it's it's uncanny
(14:57):
how this worked out, right, So we're in the same
boat crew. We went through all through hell week and
all the training. Well, we were both injured about the
same time, and we're held back or rolled back until
future of classes came through and we classed back up
with them. So not only were we what they call
(15:19):
swim buddies, were you know, paired together, but we're again
we were we were held back because of medical issues,
injuries and uh and then classed up with the same class,
ended up going you know, graduated, end up going to
the UH Army edrom score together, and got to the
same seal team together and put in the same platoon together. Right.
(15:42):
And I'll preface up too with the fact that this
guy was an absolute psychopath and he he should never
have been in the military. After he was kicked out
of the Coast Guard. He had a past of of
violence and its specifically again it's women, right, But this
(16:03):
is the person that I was paired.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
With, the person like he already had got that record.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Before coming into the military and before coming into uh
in the hill teams.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Is he like a seventeen eighteen year old kid? Nineteen
year old kid besgids to you. You guys both like eighteen.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
He was a few years older than me. I was
the kid, right, I'm young and a few years older.
And you know, back when you're nineteen years old, three
or four years is pretty significant, right, they seem like
an elder almost, Yeah, But regardless, this guy was this
(16:41):
He was a psychopath. And when he's when he's sober,
he's I think what people would consider a pretty decent operator,
pretty decent, right, But he's increasingly getting drunk more often,
and it's becoming a daily thing. He's drinking at night
every single day, and he's heading on a path that's
(17:03):
that's destructive. Right. He knows that people around him know it.
I know it around them.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
There was multiple times in which myself and others had
to kind of extract him out of a real messed
up situation that he got himself. And sometimes us others
into he was violence. So this is who this guy is, right,
But I'm paired with him. And as you probably know
(17:31):
that you probably know in the Special Forces and especially
the situation I was in with the Seal Teams and
being it was very unique for a person to be
paired with someone that long. Through all of training. It
almost never happens, right, It almost right, right. So, but
you know, you know how I was trained. I was
trained to protect this guy this period. No matter what,
(17:55):
I'm gonna protect this guy because that's what I at
least understood that that's what I'm supposed to do, right,
And I did, and I did, and others did too,
in situations that were really messed up, in which he
became violent, and including going all the way back to
(18:15):
Buds when he ran into a family, when he was
drunk in his vehicle and did a hit and run
and they got his license plate and his description, his
car description, all this kind of stuff. And when you
know that just kind of gets swept under the rug.
(18:37):
And this is nineteen ninety four. You know, I'm sure
those things wouldn't happen today. Those things happen to we
know that, you know, things have changed over the years, right, decades, right,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
There's a lot of things still getting swept under the
rug today. Bro Okay, you want to look at the
world with a microscope, I can tell you about an
island that gets swept under the rug with a war
in Iran right now. Okay, So, but let's not skew that.
I'm just saying things do get covered up. However, you know,
battle buddies, you know, are supposed to be there for
(19:09):
each other through thick and thin. I get that right.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
When I went to the Air Force and we left
out of Utah, I went with a group of guys
on the plane, and then we stepped off the plane
and got on the same bus, and then we went
on the same bus, and then we went We were like, oh,
we're going to go through the same thing together. We're
all going to be able to like, you know, stick
together from the beginning to the end. But then they
went off in a different direction when they had to
get special Mormon garments, yeah, and I had to go
(19:39):
get my other stuff, and I was like, we'll see
you guys later. So to have somebody paired up the
whole entire time, that you're talking about is really a
unique situation where there is this like you know, okay,
well maybe i'm you know, you do have this bond
of like we've been through so much together already, but
then all of a sudden, this guy's just taking you.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So first of all, you know, the murder of her
caused you to be hit with a life sentence.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Right basically, I mean it was so many years, eighty
two years.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Well, thirty one years, oh, eighty two years. So here's
my belief in the justice system from rad me. I
believe that I meet people all the time who are
felons who have been in and done their time, and
then they got out and now they're supposed to be
able to have a second chance at their life, okay,
(20:31):
because they paid their time by the system that was
put in place with their peers in the jury, who
gives them the rulings and the laws all right there,
and they bam, this is what you're going to have
to do, this is what you did. You go and
you get locked up. You get locked up for thirty
(20:52):
one of the eighty two years. But there's something in
the Rubik's cube of your sentencing that just doesn't it, right,
And that is the fact that your step you're saying
you didn't commit the final blow to this young lady
or the choke or the stranglation that had occurred to her.
It was Billy in the back seat who had leaned
(21:15):
over in front with his whole arm and just kind
of like did her while you were driving, and you were,
you know, just like now your battle buddy had just
done this.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, And it's definitely an oversimplification of what actually happened. Right,
he snapped out on this young innocent woman for no reason. Right,
he's completely drunk, and there's you know, I could detail
the entire story. And by the way, in two thousand
(21:46):
and eight, I was the first person in Virginia to
be ruled actually innocent by the Court of Appeals of Virginia.
And I was set to be released in two thousand
and eight because you know, let's back, go back just
a bit. Yeah, please. I held this knowledge of what
(22:14):
happened to this innocent young lady, and I held it
to myself for over a week, and that was extremely difficult. Right,
So there came a time in which the authorities knew
that I was there that night Billy Brown was there
that night, and then we may have some knowledge or
(22:36):
something involvement or something of what happened to this young lady.
And so they asked if we'd be willing to take
a polygraph, and I didn't really hesitate to say yes,
I would take it, and I did take it. But
my thought process of time, in my young mind is
(22:57):
that I can't tell on Billy Brown for what he did.
I have to and he knows that too. Right, there's
this code in which I'm bound to this silence. So
how do I let out to somebody of what happened
(23:20):
but not tell him? This guy? Right? So I jumped
on the chance to take a polygraph, and I figured
I would still go in and lie. I wish I
did where necessary to cover for him, but I assume
that the polygraph would likely show where I lied and
actually expose what actually happened. Right, And I don't know
(23:41):
if that sounds crazy, But how else do I A
little bit?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
It does a little bit, But I understand you. I
understand you're trying to justify the whole situation, right, It's
something I've not been put into. So please continue the polygraph,
and you're trying to like you want to complean.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
You have this guilt, it's not so much a guilt
what I have all this on my shoulders. And it's
not just protecting Billy Brown. I know if and when
this comes out of what happened, uh, it's going to
have huge repercussions across the entire teams, right, and so
(24:17):
I'm trying to protect the brand. I'm trying to protect
this asshole who just murdered an innocent young lady, right right,
and so and I'm twenty years I just turned twenty
years old, and you know, trying to carry that. And
so this is what I did, right or wrong. I said,
(24:39):
I'm going to take the polygraph I lied to protect him.
It's sure enough it showed exactly where I lied. And
so that so when the detectives are confronting me with
the results and showing me, hey, you lied here, here,
and here which was which was true? They've then there
app they knew what happened at least the basic elements
(25:03):
of what happened to Jennifer. So when they asked me
to elaborate, I told him I wasn't going to say
anything further until I spoke with my warrant officer, who
was sitting out in the lobby. He came in and
I said, specifically, I said, the detectives want to know.
(25:23):
I know things. The detectives want to know. I haven't
told them anything, but I don't know what to do.
And he said, well, tell me what happened. So I
told him everything, right, I told him everything, and he said,
he said, hold on, let me let me go out
and try to call the JAG officer. He comes back
in about fifteen minutes later, and he says, the JAG
(25:45):
officer can't help us out because it's an off base matter,
which seems weird in hindsight, but he was confronted by
the detectives as he came back in, and so when
he comes in, he says, look, the detective is going
to come in here and ask you five questions here,
and I want you to answer them truthfully. I want
you to. And I said, are you sure that's what
I should do? He said, yes, answer them truthfully and
(26:07):
it'll be all right. Yes, true. So I took the
advice and the director order from my spirit officer, and
I answered these detectives' questions completely truthful. Basically, they took that,
went into the other room where Billy Brown had refused
to take a polygraph because it wasn't going to benefit
him whatsoever, and they said, hey, your buddy just rolled
(26:30):
on you. He told us everything. You're going down. You're
probably going to get the death penalty, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
And so he.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Feels in his mind that I just violated something sacred.
I broke the seal code, right, and so he thinks,
therefore I deserve to go down with him. So he
tells the story, including me and his crime, including me
and the executives used that crime. I mean, I'm sorry
(27:01):
the detection used that story later to convict me of
the crimes that he committed, of the crimes that he committed.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
It's like, uh, you know, if that's the case, then
you know, that's why I was just establishing you were
driving the car in the very beginning, right. If that's
the case of the situation, then it's like these your
your conviction is like you're guilty by association at that point, right,
(27:32):
That's just really the situation, Like nobody else can see
past that enigma of what has transpired to take Jennifer's
life that night and so they're just looking at it like,
you know, okay, yeah, man, he was driving, and then
I mean, there's more to it, right because you did.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
When Yeah, Because let's start off here. I had gotten
him the ride home so I didn't have to be
with him that night. He was so drunk and obnoxious.
And I had met this very nice, sweet young lady
from Georgia right then. We got along great. It was
(28:10):
a normal night, nothing out of the app you know,
out of the out of the you know, ordinary, and
so Billy Brown's ex girlfriend happed to be at a
club that night, and she agreed to take him home.
She didn't want to, but she did it as a
favor for me. She was going to take him home. Therefore,
he was out of my hair for the rest of
(28:31):
the night, I assumed. Long story, the fight between he
and his ex girlfriend led to him storming out to
the parking lot drunk as hell, and he found me
and Jennifer in the car waiting for her girlfriends, whom
I had met just a little earlier, and they were
(28:52):
coming up at two o'clock in the morning to pick
her up. And it was maybe five minutes or two
and we're sitting there waiting for her. Girlfriends said, Billy
Brown shows up, drunken, obnoxious. He gets into the car,
and because of his demeanor, which I've seen plenty of
times in the past, I attempted to be uh. I
(29:12):
attempted to calmly speak to him and hopefully to uh,
you know, could depress his his his his his his feelings.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Right, defuse him, to like delate him, like ground him
real quick, you know, Like I'm gonna you know this guy,
You've already been through so much with him. You're like,
all right, Billy, Okay, Billy comes out and grabs it. Okay,
hey buddy, So you're gonna be chill and get in
the car.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
I'm like, hey, Billy, I said, you know, Christian's gonna
take you home. Man, where's she at? You know, she's
gonna take you home. And I'm being calm and like,
you know, trying to because his demeanor before I left him,
he wasn't happy, He wasn't happy with me for pawing
him off on his xtra old friend and leaving with
a young guy out and so forth. So and he
was just so drunk. Right, So he's in the car
(30:02):
less than maybe three minutes. I don't know. When I
say that to him, He's like, f that bitch, right,
And he turns his attention to the young lady sitting
in front of him in the car, in a very compact,
small vehicle, and he's he's the same height as me
(30:24):
and we're about sixty three.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
And you can imagine him sitting back behind this front seat.
So Jennifer doesn't say a single word to him, and
he says something real crude to her, obnoxious, and I'm like, Billy,
please just go and try to find Christian and she'll
take you home. And he says something else to Jennifer.
(30:49):
He touches either her hair or her shoulder. He reaches
up with his right hand, and she's she never says
the word to him that. She kind of smacks his
hand away from him. And I just kind of see
this out of the corner of my mind. And he
snaps with all his you know, might and training and
strength and so forth. He puts all that into this
(31:09):
poor defenseless young lady, and in such a maneuver that
it shakes the entire vehicle, it shakes the entire and
I instantly do what you or anybody else would have done.
And that is I jump on his freaking arms and
start pulling them off of her and screaming at him,
(31:32):
you know, what the fuck are you doing? Get your
you know, let her go, let her go, right, And
I'm screaming at him, and he's screaming at me. He's
screaming me, just fucking drive, just fucking dry. So he's
got such a lock around him that I literally had
to get up under his fingertips and pry his arms
off of her, right and think about your little geo storm,
(31:55):
right and yeah, And so I get his arms off
of her. Finally he finally sits back. She's dead one second,
you know, five say, ten seconds beforehand. Everything's normal, everything's
it's everything's normal, everything. And now this young lady, I'm
(32:17):
only twenty, she's twenty one years old, and she's sitting
next to me dead, her head is facing out the
pastor's side door, and he's screaming at me, just fucking drive,
just fucking drive.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
What do I do?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
This is the this is the era before cell phones,
before there's a payphone somewhere. I'm sure right again, So
I'm stuck in this dilemma that I never should have
been put in I never should I'm not a criminal.
I'm not I don't know these things. I've never had
any interactions with the law. I'm never harmed, certainly never
(32:55):
harmed a woman. Right, and so this is this the
son of a bitch that they paired me with.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Right? And now what do I do?
Speaker 3 (33:10):
What do I do? So?
Speaker 2 (33:14):
But why did you? Okay? So you're both six', three you,
KNOW i mean there is a swearing an oath to
the bros in The seal team and keeping the brand
good and trying to protect. It but you also swore
an oath to PROTECT us citizens, too you, know like
Us And, BRO i mean she is, she she is
that and he so to like not just like you,
(33:37):
Know kamakazi yourself to the police station when it, happened
even with him there while you're, driving he just told
you to. Drive you, say, OKAY i got. You. Bro
you had no problem you cause you drove right to
the shoff this. Woman yeah that's my that's My.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Bro eight days later. Free but please, more, NO i, know,
NO i, Know please tell, me, PLEASE i want your.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Story she's. DEAD i tried to save. Her, YES i,
know of course you would have done the same. THING
i jumped on him to get his freaking arms. Off
this young. Lady she's, innocent. Exactly she did nothing to,
Him she's nothing to deserve any of.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
This she liked, you and he couldn't handle. That she
liked you and he liked. You so it's like he's my.
Bro we're. Bros peace. Out AND i hate to put
it so, brass but the next stuff that happened was
you guys wound up like going to a park or
something and trying to, like, yeah so that's What i'm,
(34:46):
saying like, that that's.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
Right that's the pinnacle or the point in which my decision.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Wish became an.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Accomplice, NO i was never an accomplished of his. MURDER
i was, okay, PLEASE i obviously was an accessory after
the facts of his, crime, Right AND i just want to,
be you, know, distinguished what my role truly. WAS i
(35:17):
never harmed, anybody and nor DID i know anyone was
going to be. HARMED i would have stopped. IT i
tried to stop it when it, happened. Right, So so
the point is he's screaming at me to, Drive i'm
in a PLACE i don't really know very well Where i'm.
AT i don't even know where to go WHEN i
(35:37):
leave the parking, lot, RIGHT i really don't even to
get back to the to the, base. Right so so
he goes the area a little, better and so he's
he's screaming at me to just. Drive jennifer is, dead
and he's drunk and, screaming And I'm i'm in a
state of what trauma shot?
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Shots?
Speaker 3 (36:00):
Right?
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah, Yeah AND i don't even know.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
What the hell to. DO i don't even know DO
i get out a, car run up and, say, hey this,
guy you know who my seal team, partners has just
killed a. GIRL i, Mean i'm sure a lot of people, say,
yeah that's where you should have done, right.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Right, yeah, yeah you should have done. That you should
have done. That but that didn't.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Happen, no it didn't. Happen so why did? It why
Did why DID i take off?
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Driving why did any of why did any of?
Speaker 3 (36:27):
It you know what it's, like you, know to understand
why he snapped, out you'd have to ask, him, Right
uh he can still to this day he, SAYS i
don't know WHY i did. IT i just. Snapped that's
not good enough he you, know there's reasons behind. That
(36:50):
he hasn't found him. Press he's still.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Incarcerated he's still, incarcerated he's still locked.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Up if he ever gets out of, prison there's going
to be a serious.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
PROBLEM i understand. That so he's in He's is he
in state of The virginia? Area is that where he's
at The virginia prisons? SYSTEM i? See, yeah, MAN i, mean, like,
bro what a rough situation for the family Of. Jennifer
(37:20):
for your, FAMILY i, mean it's not just you impacted them.
Traumatically your family is probably beside, themselves you, know with the.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Situation even fathom, it, right just as you KNOW i.
DON'T i was asked not to, speak not to speak
a lot About, jennifer, Right AND i gotta respect, that,
yeah Because i've asked, That AND i don't want to
do anything that further upsets her, family loved, ones, Right
(37:52):
SO i want to try to reel that back BECAUSE
i have a great respect for them and back for
what they've gone. Through, Right and she was their only,
child you, know a lovely young. Lady so the impact
on their, Family i'll just say and leave. It this is.
(38:16):
Immeasurable it's. Immoble, Right, yes you're a girl. DAD i
hope to be a girl dad one, day you. Know uh,
So but also what what what happened to me in
my family is also. Immeasurable you. KNOW i shouldn't have
been put in that. Position Uh If Billy brown would
(38:36):
have told the truth when when when confronted with the,
AUTHORITIES i wouldn't have BEEN i WOULDN'T i wouldn't ever
send years in prison twelve months max as a as
a misdemeanor crime for accessory after the fact of a
felony is WHAT i was guilty, of AND i admitted,
it AND i was clean and open about, it you.
(38:58):
Know AND i made the DECISIONS i, MADE i consider
and justify and. SAY i was completely brainwashed by the
TRAINING i went, through and so this is WHY i did,
it and it is but, regardless it was my. DECISION
i made. It i'll be responsible for WHAT i. DID
i can't be did he outrate you.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
For what he?
Speaker 3 (39:19):
DID i can only be responsible for WHAT i, did,
right and.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
As long as you WERE i, mean, look that's WHY
i was saying in the beginning of the. Show if
you've gone, in you've served your. Time from the judicial,
system from your, peers which is how it, works and
you get out you deserve to, have you, know a
second goal at the situation.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Point and that, IS i was convicted of THINGS i
did not do. Right the, jury the jury foreman later
said please let this man out of. Prison we didn't know, others,
others the people involved in the in the, prosecution said,
hey the man was wrong, convicted. RIGHT i was in
(40:03):
prison for THINGS i did not. DO i did not do.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Well and that's that's WHAT i understand THAT i understand
that there was like some legalities that you, KNOW i
use The rubik's, cube, okay because like you're like sitting
here trying To rubik's cube your life and then you're
if you were to try To rubik's cube your. Case
Which i'm not a, lawyer But i'm gonna pretend to
be one for just a, moment you, had, uh you,
know been hit with some things that just automatically got
(40:30):
put on your case by like the prosecutor of the
state for the, case, right like they just like attached
like FORCED i, mean like you, know how come they
accuse you of these things and stuck you with it
at the, Time, well you know WHAT i, mean because you,
were like you, said after the, fact it should be a,
misdemeanor you, know accessory after the. Fact but there was
(40:55):
some statutes that just automatically played on, you didn't they
isn't that how they put? It is?
Speaker 3 (41:00):
False how to? Go they convicted me on a false.
Narrative it wasn't about what was. True it was about
it was about What Billy brown told them in a
point in which he felt LIKE i broke The seal,
code and THEREFORE i deserve anything that he. DID i
should go down. For he tells them a. Story they
(41:20):
used that story as the as the theory of the.
Crime it wasn't true at, all and that's how they convicted.
Me it was.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Wrong so he just fabricated the situation to pull you
into the under the, web you, know from what you've
from what you've just told, us, okay versus what they
charged you. With that's all from his own spider web
of bs that he wanted to put out there and
pull you into. It because if he's going, down by,
(41:50):
hell you're going down with.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
Him ALL i got to do is ask. Him he'll tell.
You you, know he became A christian bag in nineteen ninety.
Nine he confessed to his lawyer and to his. FAMILY
i didn't find out until two thousand and, two, right
AND i.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
Went, on, yeah oh wow that yeah, Wow so you
didn't find out about An.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Let me tell you HOW i found. OUT i got
transferred to a different, Prison, Aaron. Virginia and it was
shortly AFTER i, arride within a day or, two some
guy approaches me and he says he knew WHO i,
was and he, Said god has great things in store for.
YOU i Was Christian brothers With Billy. Brown he is
(42:33):
a changed man and he has confessed to his family
and he's confessed to his lawyer of what actually. Happened.
Right so from that, POINT i of course called my
mother and she found an attorney to go find him
what prison he was at and to try to get
a taped confession from, him which they eventually. Did and since,
(42:54):
then he's just told the truth about what, happened, Right,
yeah just.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Like what you were describing. Happened he corroborates what you
talk about, now like you, know, yeah but at the
time he was just so scattered and just like so
whatever that he.
Speaker 3 (43:14):
Was so like THAT i was wrong for for telling
the authorities what.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
Happened, well how about you think that he's wrong for
what he? Did? Man how about your how about your? Opinion?
Yeah who cares about his opinion? Anymore?
Speaker 3 (43:30):
Okay for this guy has not subsided and. Alms if
you were in my shoes and seeing what WHAT i
went through to see what he did to this young
lady and put me in that, position and what he
has done to me and my family for thirty one freaking,
(43:50):
years your your hatred for this guy would not diminish
at all.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
Either what's it's not your, family it's her, family that's. True.
Okay SO i mean like he's he has crossed all
sorts of spectrums of, wickedness.
Speaker 3 (44:09):
Maliciousness, okay, yes.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Okay and SO i mean, like, yeah, Well i'm glad
he found something in ninety. Six, MAN i don't know
whatever religious whatever he found ninety, nine whatever he found
in ninety, nine, okay but it was a little late
in my. Opinion you, KNOW i THINK i think seals
would find that in the in hell week he's been,
(44:35):
there and you you, know there are people who are
in the job in the. Military you look at, Him you're,
like how did you get this gig and why AM i? Not?
How how did this guy make? It it's like how
do you? Get you, know did this guy just run
seventeen miles LIKE i? Did how did he do? That
he's you, know twenty five pounds more than me or.
Something it's, like there's so many different. Variables people are
(44:55):
in their life for a. Reason you've been put in this,
life in this situation for a. Reason whatever that reason
is to be. Discovered whether it's that you're good at
being regimented in your life, okay whether it's like you
go do what you're told and then you go and
still just continue to do what you're, told or whether
you you, know have a lot of. REMORSE i CAN
(45:20):
i kind of feel that from, you you, KNOW i.
WAS i just wanted to have a real conversation with
you about this and just you, know let it be
known THAT i feel like you are remorseful about the
circumstances and what would you? DO a geostorm is like
it's a, storm, right?
Speaker 3 (45:38):
Yeah was it?
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Red?
Speaker 3 (45:40):
Silver?
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Okay so you had a silver geo? Storm two doors
and then the rear slant hatchback which lifts up you
have to like pop the hatch up to get in. Sometimes.
Okay So i'm six four six. Five i've been in the, geostorm,
okay SO i get. It you know usually they're five, speed,
okay so have like a stick and it's like it
it was your five. Speed so you have this console
(46:04):
in the center of you right. HERE i, mean it's
just it's a small, vehicle, okay and no room to
really maneuver except you, know from the back. Seat AND
i just put that sticks with me so much in
the story than most of anything, else is the inside
of that. Vehicle Because i've wrote in A han A Crx,
(46:25):
Okay i've wrote in A mazda six you, know two door,
coop The. Mazda you, Know i've rode in a. Geostorm
and if you're in the back seat of those, CARS
i just, like and that's WHY i blame. Alcohol. Man
you know a lot of these soldiers out, there you,
know they they're taking their lives these, days and you,
know AND i just blame alcohol first and, foremost and
(46:46):
not so much it's trying To it's like alcohol makes
you do stupid, things, RIGHT i don't hear the stoner
out there doing. That you, know it's alcohol that makes
people do the.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
Stuff and just so you, know for an, eye did
have a drink or, so but we were not. Drunk you.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Know there's a difference of like dating and like going
out and meeting and trying to like do what guy and.
Girls i've been to the, Club i've you, know a
whole nine. Yard my wife AND i hung out. Together you,
know we've been. OUT i get. It having a normalcy
of a normal life is. Normal, okay homeboy takes it too.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
Far that's an. Understatement OH i.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
Already that's my. Sense that's my, sense. Okay and What
i'm trying to say earlier is like you should have
a second chance at. Life you've put in thirty one
years of your life into into LIKE i want to say,
solitary but literally into in. Confinement, okay live in a, Years, yeah.
(47:50):
Exactly that's just another kind of. Grave. Okay and and and,
uh you, KNOW i would, imagine you, know it's just
consistently replaces in your, mind, Okay and how could it.
Not And i'm sure that that whole time when you're,
(48:14):
there it was just you, know you had, nothing but you,
know to repent for yourself and Saying i'm just gonna
be the BEST i can be WHENEVER i can be
the best me, Possible i'll be.
Speaker 3 (48:27):
Honest AND i was. MYSELF i was myself in, PRISON
i was myself before prison and all myself. Today AND
i still held on to my, values you, know my
virtues and my. Morals and you KNOW i got through that.
Ordeal prison was. Hell its. Hell you, KNOW i went
(48:54):
through a hell. Week that was a week thirty one
years or something. Different, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
Something. Different. Wow, WELL i appreciate you being so organic with. Me,
YEAH i Appreciate ecuse, Me i'm choking up a little.
Bit appreciate, conversation you, know and allow me to talk
about my story and what exactly.
Speaker 3 (49:24):
Happened.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
Yeah, well there is you know at Free Dusty turner
on the social media's if you want to learn more About,
dusty you can go to a Free Dusty turner and you,
know hear the. Story. More hold on one. Second i'm
just choking a little. Bit i'm a little choked. Up
(49:50):
it was A i dug deep on this for. YOU
i just want you to know that what are you?
Speaker 3 (49:56):
Drinking? There SHOULD i? Ask it's A it's.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
Water, excellent it's good old quality h. Too, well you
know WHAT i. Mean and, uh, WELL i GUESS i
want you to have a good time outside and enjoy
the amenities that are out, here you, know you, know
get to.
Speaker 3 (50:18):
Know i'm just going to add THAT i obviously see
life a bit different, now, right probably a lot. Different
AND i have a very unique. PERSPECTIVE i get, IT
I i feel. It so right Now i'm living in the,
day living in a. Moment i'm enjoying every little. THING i,
(50:39):
mean you can't imagine every LITTLE i, mean every little
thing which is which is. New it's just something different
for me THAT i haven't had in thirty one. Years
every little. Thing, man WHEN i jumped in a pool
the other, day and it was the most glorious Thing
i've felt glorious maybe in my whole, life just jumping
(51:03):
in a, pool you. Know and but little. THINGS i
don't take any of it for. GRANTED i don't take
any you, know BECAUSE i didn't have it for thirty one.
YEARS i didn't know if If i'd ever get, out you.
Know So and and Also i'll add that my fight's not.
Over my parole was a great step and is to
(51:27):
be around my family and good friends AND i have
such a huge support, system and you, know my advocates
are just, awesome my. Advocates but my fight's not. Over
this is not, justice you, know this is not the.
Truth me being convicted of CRIMES i didn't. Commit that's
not that's not. Right it wasn't right THAT i spent
(51:49):
thirty one years in prison for. It so So i'm
still fighting And i'm going to continue this fight as
long as it. Takes.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
Well just keep your nose, clean, yeah you, know and,
uh you, KNOW i get yourself something some work, on
and just continue to be the, best be the best.
You and everything that you put into the seals is
still in. You all the, termination all the, passion anything
you thought about that you could do the best of
while you were sitting there chilling in your. Cot you
(52:22):
can still do those. Things, Okay just remember that you
can still do those, things and don't worry about what
other people think about. You just, continue just can it
could just just be, you be the best. You and
uh and AGAIN i just.
Speaker 3 (52:39):
You, know just be the best, you, okay and perhaps
Is i'm probably gonna be working with some justice involved
veterans moving, forward a great organization who's offered me a
position And i'm probably gonna be working for them here very,
shortly and to see WHAT i can do in that
(53:01):
space with justice. Involved veteran, says you, KNOW i have
a lot of experience in that. APARTMENT i have a
lot of.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
Experiences, well, yeah you've had to become like your own advocate.
Attorney you, know you've had to. READ i mean you've
had thirty one thirty years of reading probably law. BOOKS
i would imagine.
Speaker 3 (53:23):
You might IMAGINE i read a lot.
Speaker 2 (53:26):
HUNDREDS i would, Imagine, yeah DID i mention the Book club? Earlier?
BRO i can only imagine what book you read a million? Times,
Okay so you know it's like, anyhow we're pretty chill around,
here AND i appreciate you for coming on the show
(53:47):
and having this, conversation AND i like your. Look it's
a NICE i feel, like, Yeah, bro, okay you know you,
KNOW i feel we could have Played contra together Or
zelda and, like you, know the beginning Of Mortal kombat,
too you know What i'm. Saying and Like Mortal, kombat
you know when they're's sub, zero, RIGHT i, mean like,
(54:09):
bro like that's that's you, know we could have through
the BASEBALL i played first. Base you, know we could
have like you, know that whole. Thing. BRO i just
want you to know THAT I i like. You sorry
you were in a situation that it's tough for me
to put into words respectfully because and Again i'm not
(54:31):
trying to like continue to put the name out, there
BUT i just want to, say you, know the loss
Of Jennifer evans is a sad, thing and you, know
and and you, know on behalf of, Her i'm just
making sure her name is out, there you, know and
not forgotten.
Speaker 3 (54:45):
It so.
Speaker 2 (54:47):
Thank. You and with that, Said i'm Going i've had
you for an hour And i'm sure that we can
keep going back and forth about, it But i'm going
to let you back to your. Day and you, know
thank you for being ON Softwarep radio me to talk
about the situation that you were. In and you, know
and it's at Free Dusty, turner you know where you
can check him out on social you, know reach out
(55:09):
if you're wanting to you, know touch base with him
or anything like. That and on behalf of myself and
and my main, man my editor in chief. Guy this
was for, you. Bro, OKAY i got you and B
webb and my Producer callum and everybody on the back,
end and to, you my, listener and to the new,
listener thank. You and if you've told a friend to come,
(55:30):
listen that's even, cooler, right so feel free to do.
That i'm a different kind of cat AND i just
want to say mew all, Right so, on behalf of
everybody here AT Softwarep, radio and on behalf Of Dusty
turner and his. People erin with the same name as
erin great. Name, okay this is rad it's true, stories saying.
Speaker 3 (55:52):
Appreciation.
Speaker 1 (55:53):
Bye you've been listening to self Red ladio
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