September 7, 2020 • 47 mins
On May 2nd, 1992, Marilyn Mulero was out with a friend and someone whom they had just met, Jackie Montanez, mourning the death of another friend at the hands of the Latin Kings, when they happened to meet 2 members of that very same gang. Montanez’s murderous gang life ambitions put her friends’ lives and freedom in jeopardy when they all collided with 2 of Chicago’s most corrupt detectives.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
On May eleven, Marilyn Millara was with a group of
people mourning a friend who had recently been killed by
the Latin Kings. The group split up and Marilyn went
out with a friend and another mourner who they both
had met that night, Jackie Montanez, who had her own
sordid history with that gang. At around midnight, that three
were driving near Humble Park when two guys who knew
(00:23):
Jackie called out to her at a light. They all
agreed to meet in the park to hang out. It
turned out that these two men were members of the
Latin Kings. Jackie lured one of them into the bathroom
to make out, and when he stopped to urinate, she
shot him in the back of the head. When she
emerged alone, the other man asked about his friend, and
Jackie shot him two. Marilyn and her friend were caught.
(00:46):
Completely unaware and panicked, they fled the scene. Then the
case fell into the hands of two of Chicago's now
most infamous detectives, who used incentivized snitches, false eyewitness testimony,
and coercive interrogation tactics to pull Maryland and her friend
into a case that should have rested squarely on Jackie
Manton as his shoulders. Then Maryland's hired attorney inexplicably advised
(01:10):
her to plead guilty while getting nothing in return from
the prosecutors, sending her directly to death row. News of
this case would reach then twenty nine year old law
professor Justin Brooks, and it drove him to uproot his
life and begin a two and a half decade long
quest to expose the misdeeds of those detectives and have
the evidence of Maryland's innocence finally heard. She was released
(01:34):
on April eighth, two thousand twenty. This is Wrongful Conviction
with Jason Block. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom.
(01:56):
Today we have an episode for you that is deeply
person and all to me, but it's even more personal
to our second guest today, Justin Brooks. He is the
founder and director of the California Innocence Project. Justin Welcome
back to Rowful Conviction. Always a pleasure, Jason, thank you.
And I'm about to introduce one of the most extraordinary
(02:20):
people and stories that I've ever met or heard. And
when I say that, Marilyn Mallara, who I'm going to
introduce in a second was sentenced to death in the
nineties in Illinois after pleading guilty to a crime she
didn't commit. So her attorney did such a terrible job
(02:42):
that he actually resigned from the bar after the trial
and became a priest. Marilyn, I'm so sorry that you
have to be here because of what you went through,
but I'm so happy you're here. So welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me. So this whole insane story began
around midnight on May eleventh and into May twelve, two
(03:03):
members of the Latin Kings were shot and killed in
and around a bathroom in Chicago's Humble Park. But Maryland,
I want to go back even before that. You were
just twenty one years old. What was your life like
before all of this happened. Well, I was a mother
of two. I used to work two jobs, live with
(03:26):
my brother. I saw drugs at the time to help
pay for the bills. I mean, a single woman of
mother too. It's very difficult to pay for bills on
your own, so I had to choose another method to
bring some sort of income, and spelling marijuana and um
cocaine was one of them. So you really had three jobs,
(03:46):
two legal ones and one in the shadows. But no
judgment here. I'm not a religious person, but let them
who was without sin cast the first stone, and Justin,
can you take us back to what happened and how
the hell they decided to focus on an innocent woman
when in fact they could have and probably did know
(04:07):
all along who the real perpetrator was of this awful crime. Yeah.
So I mean, this case, Jason, and we can get
into each one of these elements as we go along,
involved every cause of wrongful conviction that you discussed on
this podcast. This case involved the false confession, false informant testimony,
(04:28):
a bad identification, a bad lawyer, bad judges, and bad cops.
So pretty much all the causes of wrongful conviction occurred together.
It was the perfect storm, um which led Maryland to
spend twenty seven years in prison for a crime she
didn't commit. This case was such an insane injustice that
(04:48):
it actually led you to give up your life as
you knew it and found an innocence project. Right. Yeah,
this this case changed my life. This UM I had
heard about it. I was at the time in Michigan
teaching law school, and I read in the newspaper about
this young woman, Marilyn Mollarro, who had been sentenced to
death on a plea bargain. And when I read that,
(05:09):
I thought, how could she possibly been sentenced to death
on a plea bargain. It's it's a plea, but it's
certainly not a bargain. And you know there's supposed to
be some kind of negotiated result where you get a
lesser sentence as a result of you giving up all
the rights that you have to give up in a
plea agreement, and you're giving up your right to trial,
(05:32):
you're giving up a lot of your pellet rights, and
you know you're going directly to jail. And with her,
she went directly to death row. And uh, I was
so shocked by it that I've found out more about
her case. I ended up meeting with her um on
death row. She was a scheduled for execution, and I
remember the day vividly, um one twenty five years ago,
(05:55):
sitting across from Maryland and saying, how did you end
up here? And she told me this remarkable story about
how this lawyer, who had never handled a case like
this in the past, had no training on death penalty litigation.
Um never negotiated anything that the prosecution pled her straight
(06:15):
up to the homicide case, and the result was she
was sentenced to death. And then she said the most
amazing thing, which is and I'm innocent. And so I
went back to the law school where I was teaching,
and I told my students her story, and I said,
you know who wants to help me out on this case?
And four brave souls raved their hands and we started
(06:37):
investigating it, and everywhere we looked, we found out that
she was innocent and that her case was a complete fabrication. Yes,
of course, you know when you first told me about
this case. Where however I learned about it, I became
obsessed with it as well and kept me up many nights,
and um, I was so thrilled when it finally resolved.
(06:59):
Um it, you know, it was nice for you and
I'd have something else to talk about. Okay, So let's
go back to Maryland's out driving around with Jackie Montez
and another friend around midnight or something that the night
before a mutual friend's funeral who had been killed by
the Latin Kings. They were near Humboldt Park and they
(07:20):
met two guys who knew Jackie, Jimmy Cruise and Hector
Yas you know, these guys saw these three girls and
they started chatting at the light, and all three women
went to Humboldt Park with these two guys who remembers
the Latin King. Jackie went into the bathroom with one
of the men. They were making out in the bathroom.
He turned around to urinate and she pulled a gun
(07:43):
out and shot him in the back of the head.
She then leaves the bathroom. And then there's two stories.
The story that convicted Maryland, which we ultimately proved to
be false, was that Jackie walked over handed the gun
to Maryland and then she shot the second victim. What
we now know happened was Jackie came out of the bathroom,
(08:07):
the other guy said, you know, where's my homeboy? She
makes a joke about it. She laughs and says he's
taken a ship. He turns around, and she walks over
and shoots him in the back of the head in
the exact same manner. Wait, so I have a couple
of questions, but let's just start with this. How did
they all not hear the gunshot from inside the bathroom. Yeah,
(08:31):
we we actually had a hot former homicide detective go
to the park because I never understood why the guy
outside wouldn't be fully alerted to what happened, But apparently
because it was low caliber bullet um and it was
a contact killing, meaning the gun was actually on the
back of his head. His head actually acted as a
(08:52):
sort of silencer, so there wasn't a lot of noise
even though it was a tiled bathroom. Do we know
why Jackie did what she did? So? What Jackie has
has said over the years is her motivation was a
friend of theirs was killed by the Latin Kings, but
there's also been a lot of talk about that she
(09:13):
was doing it to rise up in the gang, to
be seen as someone who would do something like this.
So what did Marylyn do when the shooting happened, Well,
Marilyn and the other girl are in shock, they see
what happened, They run, and of course you know when
you run, it's going to be equated to guilt. Neither
Marilyn nor her other friend knew what Jackie Martinez was
(09:35):
up to that night, and then ultimately they're arrested walking
out of this funeral um that we've been talking about
for their friend who had been killed by the Latin
Kings and Maryland. Can you give us just from your perspective.
So here, you were a mother of two, you're snatched
off the street after this funeral, and you and fifteen
(09:56):
year old Jackie Monton is the woman, the girl really
who actually committed this crime were brought down to the
Latin Kings and detected. I can't believe they did this.
And detectives tell them, quote unquote, these are the two
girls that killed your homeboys, which put you at immediate
and grave risk. It threatens to make your kids into orphans.
And then the cops bring you down to the station.
(10:19):
Then now your legal representation interrogate you for around twenty
hours without any sleep, and ultimately you signed a statement
that they had prepared. It was a terrible moment. We
had just left the funeral. The detectives just came straight
and arrested Montanez and myself. Then they parked. They received
(10:40):
a phone call. Once they hung up with the phone call,
they took us to Humble Park. We sat there for
like a good ten minutes and they were questioning us.
I did not answer anything. After the ten minutes. They
took us the Beach and Spalding. They displayed us before
the Latin Kings, and that must have been terrifying in
and of itself. At that moment, all I thought it
(11:00):
was My ending was right there. You know, somebody's gonna
pull the trigger and kill us both. Then they took
us to Grant and Central, placed us in separate rooms,
and from then on that's where the interrogation began. They
took turns Detective Gorvera Halverson and kept questioning me over
and over, trying to get me to admit that I've
(11:23):
committed one of the crimes, which I kept telling him
I did not, So the interrogation kept going back and
forth between Guava and Halverson. They wanted me to say
something that I could not say. You know, they wanted
me to lie, and I didn't want to lie, but
they kept pressuring me and pressuring me, and it's just,
you know, it becomes to where you're like, what the hell,
(11:44):
Just leave me the hell alone. And you know, I
spend time just crying, and it was like they didn't care.
It's they didn't care about the tears, they didn't care
about how I felt. They didn't care about, you know,
how they were pressuring me, you know, and so mentally, emotionally,
and physically. It was very draining. So justin why was
(12:05):
Marylyn in their sights and and how did they come
to focus on her. So this case started for Maryland
with a combination of some corrupt detectives detective Guivara and Halverson,
who by the way, have been linked to now dozens
of exonerations in Chicago and more than fifty million dollars
and settlements for wrongful convictions. So you have a couple
(12:27):
of corrupt detectives and a snitch who's just making stuff
up and gave three separate statements that kept changing in
order for them to be consistent with the detective story.
And it started with her saying that Jackie Martinez had
been bragging about these killings. Then once they got Maryland
(12:51):
into the mix, then she changed the story and said
that Jackie just took credit for one of the murders.
And then once they got a confession out of Maryland
after keeping her for nearly twenty four hours in custody
and keeping her up all night, then they built this
new story where now this snitch claims to have seen
(13:11):
these girls before the shooting and had said that they
were going to go do the shooting in you know
gang vernacular, which was that apparently they said We're going
to roll on some flakes. And by the way, this
snitch had been charged with a drug crime that night,
which of course was later on dropped after they used
her testimony. And all this was to build in the
(13:33):
evidence they needed to make their case and they were
just literally just making up their case as they went along.
Um So it started with corrupt detectives and a snitch
and then it went downhill from there. Now, Maryland, you've
now gone through this unbelievable ordeal, no sleep, twenty something
hours in the police station, and you signed a statement
(13:55):
prepared by the police. At that point you probably would
have signed anything to make this torture stop, right, But
did you understand what this meant? I mean, you were
implicating yourself in both murders, one is the shooter and
the other as a conspirator. Right. Well, that was not
explained to me at that point, and at that time
I did not know the difference. You know, when they're
telling you, well, if you want to grow old and
(14:17):
see your kids and this is your best bet that
you take the blame from one of the murders and
Jackie Montaness will take the blame for the other. So
it's like they leave you with no choice because you're
going to put your children's before anything. So I just
went ahead and signed that statement. And of course there's
more insanity coming our way, right because there's a witness
who ends up testifying to seeing the murders from her
(14:38):
apartment window, even though we find out later, right, I
guess just in your investigation on coverage of interesting things
about that. Sure, so after they know use this snitch
testimony to get to Maryland, they now have to build
the case up. And this woman claimed to see the
shooting from her apartment. And the first weekend I was
working on this case, I drew to Chicago with my
(15:01):
students and stood right in front of her apartment building.
And it was crazy because all you had to do
is go to the park to realize that she was lying.
And when I measured it off, the distance between her
apartment and the bathroom with a shooting occurred in front
of it was four eight nine ft and she claimed
(15:21):
at night, in the dark, with hardly any lighting, she
saw Jackie hand this gun to Maryland and do this shooting. Now,
this is like saying you were sitting in a football
stadium behind one end zone in the dark, and you
saw someone hand somebody a hot dog behind the opposite
end zone. I'm gonna take your analogy one step further
(15:42):
because four d eighty nine ft is closer to two
football fields, and it's dark, and there was foliage in
the way, right, So I mean, they don't even have
that in a football state. I've never seen one with foliage.
So there you go with your law students, and it
takes you five minutes to realized that this whole thing
is complete horseshit. It was factually impossible for her to
(16:04):
see what she said, and nobody investigated it. Now when
we finally tracked her down. Coincidentally, the one person who
said they saw this shooting, the one person in the
city of Chicago, was in a relationship with one of
the victims, and none of that stuff was ever reported
or investigated. So that's the bad identification portion of this case.
(16:26):
So now we have bad cops, bad snitch testimony, and
bad identification. And then there's this lawyer. This lawyer in
quotes Jeremiah Lynch. So he was hired to represent Maryland.
There were friends who hired him. Um, he was paid
a retainer. I don't know if he capitulated his role
(16:49):
in this case because he figured there was no more
money coming, so why not just plead this out? Uh,
you know, a death penalty cases takes a lot of
time and energy and doing a trial very expensive and
time consuming. Um. But he took this ten tho dollar
retainer and as a result, he had a couple of
meetings with Maryland, short meetings, and he didn't meet with
(17:11):
the district attorney, and he didn't go to the crime scene,
even though later on when he was questioned he wasn't
that far away his office from the crime scene and
he'd claimed that maybe he jogged by there one time.
Just basic stuff wasn't done and he had no training
in this and this was his final case as a lawyer.
After Maryland was sentenced to death, he actually went took
(17:34):
off out of the courtroom and it took me a
year to find him, and usually lawyers are easy to
find that when I found him, he was studying to
be a priest at University of Detroit and he now
is a Catholic priest, and uh, you know, if this
was a movie, we'd have to change his name because
it would be too corny that his name was father Lynch.
(17:55):
And he literally did lynch Maryland in this case due
to his incompetence. The Pacers Foundation is a proud supporter
of this episode and of the Last Mile organization, which
provides business and tech training to help incarcerated individuals successfully
(18:18):
and permanently re enter the workforce. The Pacers Foundation is
committed to improving the lives of Hoosiers across Indiana, supporting
organizations dedicated primarily to helping young people and students. For
more information on the work of the Pacers Foundation or
the Last Mile Program, visit Pacers Foundation dot org or
the Last Mile dot org. This episode is sponsored by
(18:43):
a i G, a leading global insurance company, and Paul
Weiss Rifkin, Wharton and Garrison, a leading international law firm.
The A i G Pro Bono Program provides free legal
services and other support to many nonprofit organizations and individuals
most in need, and recently they announced that working to
reform the criminal justice system will become a key pillar
(19:04):
of the program's mission. Paul Wise has long had an
unwavering commitment to providing impactful, pro bono legal assistance to
the most vulnerable members of our society and in support
of the public interest, including extensive work in the criminal
justice area. So Maryland's lawyer, this ex lawyer who's now
(19:28):
a priest, gave her terrible and that's not even stronger
forward counsel, because when you plead guilty, there's almost always
some sort of a deal made and leniency given. But
in this case, there was no deal on the table,
so she doesn't even get a trial. And on top
of that, her right to present evidence of innocence at
(19:50):
that time and into the appellate process had been waived,
So she went straight to a sentencing hearing in front
of a jury, and it's just the prosecu cution telling
twelve normal everyday people what a terrible, violent, evil person
she is. And then there's the question of whether she
gets death or whether she gets life in prison. Now,
(20:13):
the reason there was so incompetent it's because you could
at least make an argument if the sentencing was being
done by a judge, that the judge had sort of
off the record indicated this isn't going to be a
death case, but when it's a jury, you have no
assurances of anything. So the jury now gets to hear
everything that the prosecution wants to put on, crime scene
(20:34):
photos of dead bodies, testimony from the victims family, all
these things in the sentencing phase of a death case,
and Maryland ends up getting sentenced to death. And it's
worth noting that Illinois, Um, I don't know how long ago,
it was more than ten years ago, there was a
professor at Northwestern who assigned his students to find innocent
(20:57):
people on death row, and the students on the eleven
innocent people on death row students, by the way, and
at that point, the governor Ryan, at the end of
his term, commuted the death sentences of everyone on death
row in Illinois because he realized that during his term
they'd executed ten people and hear these students had found
(21:18):
eleven innocent ones, so his you know, they weren't even
batting five hundred, even if they got it right on
the ones they executed, and it's extremely unlikely that they
didn't execute some innocent people along the way, so you know,
they were maybe getting it right about three out of
ten times. And we're talking about the death penalty for
Christ's sakes, So Maryland, can you give us some insight
(21:40):
into what it was like on death Row as a
young mother now separated from her children, thrown into this
twilight zone nightmare. Well, when I first arrived to um Dwight,
and I was taken to Cottage fifteen, where it's basically segregation,
and they have a wing where they held the death
(22:03):
Row inmates, and it's basically glass where segregation inmates can
see the death Row inmates. And they put me past
that glass into a cell and I went in the room.
They had brought me some boxes with clothing, all my
beddings and everything that's required from the institution to give
(22:24):
to you. And I wouldn't make my bed. I just
sat there and started praying. And I just kept praying
and praying out on my knees, and I'm like, Lord,
just take the reins, whatever, you know, whatever you want
me to do, I'm here and I'm gonna do it.
You know, Just let me be at ease, let me
be at peace, let me be right by you, and
let me get through this as fast as I can.
(22:45):
You know, it was a beginning of a new start
for me. Away from everybody and getting to know new people.
And the officer came back and saw me praying and
kind of disturbed me. It's like, hey, Ms Malarro, would
you like the chuckhole open? And I'm like, sure, left
the chuckhole opened. The girls came by, introduce themself to me,
(23:06):
and they sat there and they pray with me, you know,
through the chuckho and so, you know, it was like
an experience being back there on death Row. I try
to stay as active as I possibly could back there.
You know, you're not allowed to be with other offenders,
but the people they were back there, so we had
(23:26):
moments to where we were able to come out at
hour at a time, or two people at a time.
I enjoyed it for the most part, not that I
enjoy being on death row, but the way I was treated.
I was loved and cared for. I was tend to.
They would always constantly pray for me. We had lieutenants
and officers, you know, kind of stay back there with us,
(23:47):
keeping us company and praying with us. And because you
get to know these officers, if they are a part
of you, you know, they no longer become officers. You know,
some of them are compassionate and their heart goes out
to you, and they try to spend as much time
as they possibly can, you know, keeping you on a
positive note. And majority of the times I would stay
(24:10):
in my room and I would try to sleep my
days away, and the officer were like, miss Miller, get up,
get up, let's go, let's go to the yard or whatever.
And I would go just to you know, stay motivated.
I tried to do some schooling. I enrode in myself
for college. Within three months, they came back and told
us back there that we were not worthy enough to
(24:32):
take any schooling because we were deaf ral inmates. We
were you know, about to be executed, So they took
the schooling from us. And one of the ladies back
there decided that, hey, okay, so let's get some sponsors.
Let's write the church and see if they would you know,
sponsor us and pay for some schooling for us. And
that's what we did. We started writing several churches organizations
(24:55):
to try to see if we got sponsors. You know,
I was blessed to get two different sponsor serves to
get some of my education. You know, I have diploma certificates,
right now and I have like four more modules left
before I attain my Associates degree on theology. And it
hasn't been easy. It's been kind of a rough time
(25:15):
in prison because prison is not designed for you to
be comfortable. It's assigned for you to be uncomfortable, for
you to stay in trouble. But it all determines on
the individual one side, and what is it that you
want to do and accomplish while you're there. So I
was determined to do the right thing, not just by me,
but for my children and my family and from my
(25:37):
attorneys who were fighting hard to get my release. So
I owed it to everybody, not just myself. So I
pretty much stayed busy trying to stay focused on a
positive note while I was there. Do you think they
knew you were innocent? Yes, they did. They knew from
the moment that I got there, because before my arrival,
Montanez was already at Dwight Correctional Center and she was
(26:00):
always bragging about, you know, killing these guys, So they
already knew that I was innocent. And justin Jackie signed
Affid David's ad admitted verbally numerous times that she alone
planned and executed the murders. So these are the arguments
that we made for years and years and years. But
the problem was no one was willing to listen to
(26:22):
them as long as that police stood, and Maryland never
had an opportunity to present this evidence in a trial.
So the process of how the hell this thing finally
unraveled itself, it took god a better part of two
and a half decades, really, right, yeah, twenty five years
I was working on it. I mean when I started
(26:43):
this case, to put it in context, I was twenty
nine and Maryland was twenty four, and now I'm fifty five,
and I won't say how old Maryland is, but it's
been a long journey. So um. Now, that death sentence
got reversed by the Illinois Supreme Court because the prosecution
got greedy in the sentencing phase and in the prosecution's
(27:05):
closing argument to the jury actually said, you know, ladies
and gentlemen, miss Millaro filed emotion to suppress her confession
in this case, that show she has no remorse, and
that's another reason to sentence her to death. Now, the
problem with that argument is you're basically saying, because somebody
asserted a constitutional right they should be executed based on that,
(27:28):
and when it went in front of the Illinois Supreme Court,
the Illinois Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Maryland's favor to
reverse the death sentence, saying like, you cannot use a
constitutional right as an aggravating circumstance, and also we don't
even see a logical connection between a lawyer filing emotion
and then a person not having remorse. So then we
(27:48):
went back to a new sentencing. UM. I handled that
sentencing along with the Chicago Public Defender's Office. I first
tried to get in all the innocence evidence, but it
was very different cult because they didn't want to hear
it because they said, this isn't about whether she's innocent
or guilty, this is about whether she gets sentenced to death.
Because the court refused to withdraw her play, so Maryland
(28:10):
has always been stuck with this play. She then gets
sentenced to natural life, which was the best case scenario
out of that proceeding, and then we start this two
decades long odyssey trying to get her out of prison
or get her a new trial. I took the case
up on appeal. From there, we went into federal Court.
(28:31):
We argued the ineffective assistance a council Federal Court. The
oral argument with it was really frustrating. One of the
justices kept saying, well, it was her decision to plead,
and I said, your honor, this is like going to
a doctor's office and they say you're gonna be dead
in ten minutes if you don't have open heart surgery,
and you're saying, okay, you're right to effective assistance a
(28:53):
council means getting good advice, and there was no way
this advice was good. But I lost. I petition the U. S.
Supreme Court, lost petition the Governor's office three separate times
for clemency. I follow a petition in the United Nations
trying to declare Chicago's justice system as a human rights violation.
(29:14):
Would they allow people to plead guilty and get death
on a plea bargain? And due to all the incompetence
in this case, the United Nations has still not ruled
on that petition. So there's been a lot of proceedings
and ultimately the most successful one occurred just a few
months ago, and that was finally another petition to the
(29:35):
governor asking for her release. Laying the case out that
evidence had never really seen the light of day. It's madness.
I mean, the idea that she was prevented from presenting
overwhelming evidence of innocence is not It's absolutely nuts. It's
a terrible indictment of our system. There should be some
mechanism for justice to see the light of day. Of course,
(29:59):
the last resort this case was clemency from the governor.
And by the way, it wasn't just me that petition
for that, it was the Exoneration Project, the Illinois Innocence Project.
As you said, there's been a lot of innocence work
in Chicago over the past few decades since a lot
of great lawyers and organizations. They were doing it. I know,
I called so many people trying to uh get this
(30:21):
on the governor's desk. That's probably people listening were like,
you bother crap out of me on this case for
so long. But anyway, it doesn't matter because the point
is that it finally worked. So Maryland, So October nineteen,
there's a clemency hearing, and then there's a got almost
seven months go by, almost to the day until April six.
(30:44):
How did you find out that the governor had granted
you clemency. I had surgery not too long ago, and
one of the officers that sat with me at the
hospital ended up working with internal affairs and she comes
to my room. She's like, hey, Marylyn, I need to
see you. And I'm like yeah. Everybody's like, oh shucks,
(31:05):
I ace here. Hi, your contrabant, you know. So she's like, no,
come here, I need to speak to you. I'm like okay,
and she's like do you know. And I'm like, oh
my god, you're leaving me too. And she's like, oh,
you don't know. I'm like, don't know what. She whispered
in my ear and she's like, no, you're going home.
I'm like, stop playing with me. And she's like, un
(31:27):
for real and like, stop playing with my emotions. This
is not funny. I love you. You're good to me.
You were good to me then, but right now you're
kind of, you know, working a little nerve. She's like, no, no,
I'm for real. She's like, Officer Dorothy, it's up there
at the business office right now, shutting down your account
doing or your paperwork. The people for the parole Board
is coming to see you. You need to sign the
paperwork the governor sending you your release form. You need
(31:50):
to sign it. I said, I believe it when I
see it. And I looked at her and she's like,
hum for real. I'm like, Okay, I believe you. So
then there's two officers who are just they go above
and beyond. They're very compassionate and I'm very fond of
them because they break their neck to help women in there.
(32:13):
And Lamar and Hardison were like Ms. Malaro, come to
the day room right now. And I'm like, oh shucks.
And they were like, we're about to announce it on
the intercom that you're going home. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no,
please do not do that just yet. They were like why,
because I don't want the girls to be in an
uproar because once they find out that I was going home,
because they've been waiting and waiting impatiently. We were on lockdown,
(32:37):
difficult situation to where we couldn't see each other. I
felt like maybe a riot would have kicked out in
the on the unit, you know. So what we did
was we waited till next morning. So I woke up
about four o'clock in the morning and started packing my
things and giving everything I had a way. I didn't care.
I didn't want to take nothing home but my bible,
(32:58):
my pictures, my school were and my legal work. That's all.
I walked out of there with everything else was left behind,
and the lieutenant came with the paperwork. I signed it.
Parl Board came. I signed it. At seven o'clock in
the morning when count was clear. They're like, we gotta
get you out the institution so you won't be on
our eight o'clock count. I'm like, okay, So we went
(33:20):
to the b A. I took my picture, took the fingerprints,
took my stuff to property, and was headed out the
front gate and right at the sally port where the
visitors come in. Outside at the gate is where my
brothers were waiting for me, and all the wardens were there.
The administration was there, Heidi Brown and other people, and they,
(33:42):
you know, hugged me. We knew we didn't have it
the coronavirus. We hugged and said our goodbyes, you know,
shed tears, and everybody was kind of mad that I
didn't say bye to the latency institution. But I couldn't
because we were on lockdown, you know, so I mean
when the girls found out, the officers blasted it, Hey,
Malari's going home, and everybody started hollering out the window
(34:04):
trying to let the other ladies on other units know
that I was going home, and you know, they were
hollering and screaming, don't forget about us, don't forget about us.
I tell you, Maryland. When I got the call that
that you were getting out, I couldn't even speak. It's
just it's just been so long, and uh, yeah, it's heartbreaking.
(34:30):
I'm glad it's over. But I really hope we can
learn from the story, and I hope some changes are made.
Did you get a chance to see your children while
you were in prison or how what was that communication like?
(34:51):
Over all those twenty six years, I was pretty blessed.
I had a family who would take turns bringing my
kids see me constantly. So in that perspective, I, you know,
it was very grateful for my family. So throughout my
home incarceration, I was able to see them. It was
heartbreaking sometimes because my oldest son will always try to
(35:14):
undo the handcuffs to release me and stuff, you know,
and he will always be like my mom, let's go
let's go. And I'm like, no, baby, i gotta stay
here in school. He's like, Mom, You're not in school,
You're in jail, you know. So they pretty much knew.
So at that point I knew that I had to
keep it real with them and be like, yeah, I'm
I'm us in jail, you know, but not for long,
and I'll be home with you guys. You know. It
(35:36):
took them to be grown man now, but I'm blessed
to be here with them and be able to spend
time with them and my grandkids and my family. Since
I've been out here, I've been on a movement trying
to focus back on those ladies that are still there,
that are also innocent, that no one knows about, because
like myself, I've been fighting and it's been falling on
(35:58):
deaf ears and the same thing with the women that
are in there. So I am fighting hard with the
Exoneration Project to make these ladies known. So that's what
I'm working on right now. You've really hit the ground running,
and it's awesome to see that your spirit is beyond
and all I can say about that is welcome home.
And of course there was another development, which is that
in May of this year, the Cook County States Attorney's
(36:22):
Office began a comprehensive review of now retired Detective Ronaldo
Guevera's cases and what has now been called one of
the biggest policing scandals in US history. And let me
just say that again, one of the biggest policing scandals
in the US history. This is the detective, were the
two detectives that we're responsible for your wrongful conviction. But
(36:46):
but justin what about Ernest Halverson. Yeah, he's been tied
into these cases as well. Um, you know, as usual,
it's not one bad apple. There was a lot of
bad things happened in Chicago back then, and there's still
problems now. And fortunately we have organizations like the Exoneration
Project in Chicago, the Illinois Innocence Project Center Wrongful Convictions,
(37:08):
it's a it's a real hotbed of wrongful convictions in Chicago,
and they're not just letting these laid down. You know,
for a long time it's been about just getting our
clients out of prison. But we need real reform and
we need to examine these cases after they happen and
look for the people responsible and hold them accountable, and
(37:29):
then look at their other cases. I've been talking for
years about how Detective Gravara was part of Maryland's case
because people have been looking at him for a long
long time. But the problem is in our system. Getting
the truth into a format that then can get presented
within our judicial system and have a result is very,
(37:52):
very difficult. It's the greatest frustration of my life is
that often we know the truth and we have the facts,
but for some reason, the system won't allow those facts
to be presented or won't give you an opportunity to
get the right result. And and that's taken away twenty
seven years of Maryland's life. It's so remarkable to sit
(38:15):
here and listen to Maryland, and you know, it just
dawned me. She hasn't had one negative thing to say.
There hasn't been any trace of and maybe I'm just
not hearing it, but I don't think it's there of bitterness. No.
I mean, she's focused on during this interview, on the things,
the bright spots, the positive things that happened while she
was on death row, while she was in prison, in
(38:37):
maximum security prison for twenty six years, or something she
didn't do. So all I can say is you are
a blessing and it is an honor to be able
to talk to you and to be a part of
your story in some small way. Well, I kind of
knew that eventually. You know, I've always believed in God,
and I've always placed my faith in Him, and that
(39:00):
allow me to see me through that it's going to
be okay. That I was going to come through this
if I kept believing and maintaining my faith in Him.
It takes a lot to maintain faith after everything you've
been through, but more power to you. And she is extraordinary.
You know you said about how a positive an upbeat
she is. I've had times over the last couple of
decades where Maryland has tried to cheer me up about
(39:23):
the case, and you know, that's a very strange thing.
She's she's been a believer. She's an incredibly strong woman.
And that's what we see with a lot of exonorees.
They are different, and they are survivors and they are fighters,
and that's why they make it through this nightmare. Well said,
and it is um, justice delayed, But at least in
(39:46):
this case, justice was not denied. And um, there's still
fighting left to be done on Maryland's behalf, and I
know she's in the best possible hands with you and
the California Innocence Project, as well as all the other
great people that have been involved in helping to get
you home, Maryland. And I want to put a plug
(40:07):
into you've heard today about the work of the California
Innocence Project as well as the two other organizations that
helped free Maryland, the Illinois Innocence Project and the Exoneration Project.
And we're gonna have a link in our bio to
all of those wonderful organizations. Please go click on the
(40:27):
link and learn more and join us and get involved.
So this is a part of the show where I
first of all get to thank both of you for
um coming on and and sharing your thoughts and your
perspective and your spirit. And then I turned my microphone
off and kick back in my chair with my headphones on,
(40:48):
close my eyes and just listen to whatever else you
have to say. Maryland. We're gonna save you the best
for last, UM, and I'm really looking forward to that.
So now again, UM. Justin Brooks, founder and director of
the California Innocence Project, law professor and human rights fighter, extraordinaire.
(41:08):
Thank you again for being here with us today. You know,
this case changed my life. Maryland changed my life. I
was teaching law school and a nice quiet life and
the middle of Michigan with a nice little Victorian house.
And UM, I'd been a criminal defense attorney for a
number of years in Washington, d C. But when I
(41:31):
got involved in this case, I was shocked. I was
shocked at the United States of America, a twenty one
year old individual could be sentenced to death on a
police bargain with no investigation into our case. UM, a
conspiracy between the police and the lawyers and the judges.
(41:52):
Everybody let this happen. They let this twenty one year
old fall through this giant crack. And it shocked me.
And I didn't think I could be shocked as a
chrmal defense attorney. And so it just changed my life.
It caused me to leave my job in Michigan, moved
to California, start the California Innocence Project, and and this
(42:14):
case is the inspiration for the more than thirty people
we've been able to free in California. I don't think
any of that would have happened without without Maryland. Um.
And now even a few months after she's out of prison,
it's still not real to me because it's been part
of my life for so long. It's almost like I
don't know who I am if I'm not representing Marilyn
(42:36):
Molero and trying to get around of prison. So UM,
I'm really happy we could tell her story today. It's
an important story and it's certainly a big part of
who I am. Amen to that. And Wow, Carlyn, that
must be an amazing feeling to hear justin say those
(42:56):
words and to know that you are a key element
in the free of so many others who were wrongfully
convicted of thirty encounting so and now what we've all
been waiting for. UM, no pressure. Thank you again, Marilyn
Monaro for being here, for being so strong, and uh
will turn it over to you for closing arguments. I
(43:17):
want to thank you. I want to thank everybody who's
been involved in my case throughout my twenty seven plus years.
I've had a lot of good people working on my case,
and some of them are still in contact with me,
and that's a very you know, emotional thing knowing that
these people can still stay in contact, which they didn't
(43:39):
have to, but they are, you know, so I take
that to heart. Prison life was has not been easy
for me. You know. I've had some struggles, my ups
and downs, you know, my downfalls, you know, and it's
part of the struggle while you in prison. And sometimes
you have to set up a mechanism so that people won't,
you know, I think that you're vulnerable or take the
best of you. So I always had my head up
(44:01):
and always stay positive. I've always tried to do my
best to help other women. Um my experience with my
situation in my case had helped me to deal with
other women in their situations as well and help them
cope with, you know, their pain and suffering and being
able to be away from their families. And you know,
(44:23):
while I've been incarcerated, I've helped create different programs, different
groups and joined the Phoenix Rising, and as soon as
a week within joining Phoenix Rising, which is a program
from long term prisoners, I was voted in to become
a committee member, and you know, I was honored by
that because a lot of women had respect for me
(44:43):
and a lot of my ideas and we've always succeeded
in everything that we've tried to accomplish, and the wardens
would allow me to partake in a lot of the
things and be a part of what they would do
in the institution. And they asked me and tell me
fight if we would create a program for the elderly
and the disabled. And we took a whole unit, which
(45:04):
was the House Unit six, and we created that which
became a safe haven for those women so they would
not be mistreated, you know, and misled and extorted and
beat down in whatever other case could have taken place
with these women. And we've created various programs, groups, activities.
You know, we constantly always pray for the unit so
(45:25):
that the women's could get along together and not create
a lot of chaos. And I'm very grateful that I'm
here now. I'm grateful for Justin. You know, Justin always
told me, hey, Maryland, I'm never divorcing this case and
you get home. But like I told Justin, I'm home,
but you're still not divorcing me. You're stuck with me
for life. So you know, now he's got to deal
(45:47):
with me. So, you know, and Lauren and the other
Lauren and you know, Cindy, the all these people, so
I'm very grateful and at this small men I'm trying
to do me. I'm still at piece. I'm happy with
the women I've became while I was incarcerated, and I'm
(46:07):
going to continue to do what I'm doing, and that's
helping people while I'm out here and reaching back out
to the women that are still in there as well
as to the men. You know, I'm in supportive of
all the Gravarra victims and I'm just going to continue
to be me and be positive, and one day I
hope to put together my work release center to help
somebody's women that don't have places to go. And that's
(46:30):
my story as my life, and that's my dream, and
I believe I was designed to do this. Don't forget
to give us a fantastic review wherever you get your podcasts.
It really helps. And I'm a proud donor to the
Innocence Project, and I really hope you'll join me in
(46:51):
supporting this very important cause and helping to prevent future
wrong for convictions. Go to Innocence Project dot org to
learn how to donate and get involved. I'd like to
thank our production team, Connor Hall and Kevin wardis the
music in the show is by three time OSCAR nominated
composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram
at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast.
(47:15):
Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flam is a production of Lava
for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number one
On May eleven, Marilyn Millara was with a group of
people mourning a friend who had recently been killed by
the Latin Kings. The group split up and Marilyn went
out with a friend and another mourner who they both
had met that night, Jackie Montanez, who had her own
sordid history with that gang. At around midnight, that three
were driving near Humble Park when two guys who knew
(00:23):
Jackie called out to her at a light. They all
agreed to meet in the park to hang out. It
turned out that these two men were members of the
Latin Kings. Jackie lured one of them into the bathroom
to make out, and when he stopped to urinate, she
shot him in the back of the head. When she
emerged alone, the other man asked about his friend, and
Jackie shot him two. Marilyn and her friend were caught.
(00:46):
Completely unaware and panicked, they fled the scene. Then the
case fell into the hands of two of Chicago's now
most infamous detectives, who used incentivized snitches, false eyewitness testimony,
and coercive interrogation tactics to pull Maryland and her friend
into a case that should have rested squarely on Jackie
Manton as his shoulders. Then Maryland's hired attorney inexplicably advised
(01:10):
her to plead guilty while getting nothing in return from
the prosecutors, sending her directly to death row. News of
this case would reach then twenty nine year old law
professor Justin Brooks, and it drove him to uproot his
life and begin a two and a half decade long
quest to expose the misdeeds of those detectives and have
the evidence of Maryland's innocence finally heard. She was released
(01:34):
on April eighth, two thousand twenty. This is Wrongful Conviction
with Jason Block. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom.
(01:56):
Today we have an episode for you that is deeply
person and all to me, but it's even more personal
to our second guest today, Justin Brooks. He is the
founder and director of the California Innocence Project. Justin Welcome
back to Rowful Conviction. Always a pleasure, Jason, thank you.
And I'm about to introduce one of the most extraordinary
(02:20):
people and stories that I've ever met or heard. And
when I say that, Marilyn Mallara, who I'm going to
introduce in a second was sentenced to death in the
nineties in Illinois after pleading guilty to a crime she
didn't commit. So her attorney did such a terrible job
(02:42):
that he actually resigned from the bar after the trial
and became a priest. Marilyn, I'm so sorry that you
have to be here because of what you went through,
but I'm so happy you're here. So welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me. So this whole insane story began
around midnight on May eleventh and into May twelve, two
(03:03):
members of the Latin Kings were shot and killed in
and around a bathroom in Chicago's Humble Park. But Maryland,
I want to go back even before that. You were
just twenty one years old. What was your life like
before all of this happened. Well, I was a mother
of two. I used to work two jobs, live with
(03:26):
my brother. I saw drugs at the time to help
pay for the bills. I mean, a single woman of
mother too. It's very difficult to pay for bills on
your own, so I had to choose another method to
bring some sort of income, and spelling marijuana and um
cocaine was one of them. So you really had three jobs,
(03:46):
two legal ones and one in the shadows. But no
judgment here. I'm not a religious person, but let them
who was without sin cast the first stone, and Justin,
can you take us back to what happened and how
the hell they decided to focus on an innocent woman
when in fact they could have and probably did know
(04:07):
all along who the real perpetrator was of this awful crime. Yeah.
So I mean, this case, Jason, and we can get
into each one of these elements as we go along,
involved every cause of wrongful conviction that you discussed on
this podcast. This case involved the false confession, false informant testimony,
(04:28):
a bad identification, a bad lawyer, bad judges, and bad cops.
So pretty much all the causes of wrongful conviction occurred together.
It was the perfect storm, um which led Maryland to
spend twenty seven years in prison for a crime she
didn't commit. This case was such an insane injustice that
(04:48):
it actually led you to give up your life as
you knew it and found an innocence project. Right. Yeah,
this this case changed my life. This UM I had
heard about it. I was at the time in Michigan
teaching law school, and I read in the newspaper about
this young woman, Marilyn Mollarro, who had been sentenced to
death on a plea bargain. And when I read that,
(05:09):
I thought, how could she possibly been sentenced to death
on a plea bargain. It's it's a plea, but it's
certainly not a bargain. And you know there's supposed to
be some kind of negotiated result where you get a
lesser sentence as a result of you giving up all
the rights that you have to give up in a
plea agreement, and you're giving up your right to trial,
(05:32):
you're giving up a lot of your pellet rights, and
you know you're going directly to jail. And with her,
she went directly to death row. And uh, I was
so shocked by it that I've found out more about
her case. I ended up meeting with her um on
death row. She was a scheduled for execution, and I
remember the day vividly, um one twenty five years ago,
(05:55):
sitting across from Maryland and saying, how did you end
up here? And she told me this remarkable story about
how this lawyer, who had never handled a case like
this in the past, had no training on death penalty litigation.
Um never negotiated anything that the prosecution pled her straight
(06:15):
up to the homicide case, and the result was she
was sentenced to death. And then she said the most
amazing thing, which is and I'm innocent. And so I
went back to the law school where I was teaching,
and I told my students her story, and I said,
you know who wants to help me out on this case?
And four brave souls raved their hands and we started
(06:37):
investigating it, and everywhere we looked, we found out that
she was innocent and that her case was a complete fabrication. Yes,
of course, you know when you first told me about
this case. Where however I learned about it, I became
obsessed with it as well and kept me up many nights,
and um, I was so thrilled when it finally resolved.
(06:59):
Um it, you know, it was nice for you and
I'd have something else to talk about. Okay, So let's
go back to Maryland's out driving around with Jackie Montez
and another friend around midnight or something that the night
before a mutual friend's funeral who had been killed by
the Latin Kings. They were near Humboldt Park and they
(07:20):
met two guys who knew Jackie, Jimmy Cruise and Hector
Yas you know, these guys saw these three girls and
they started chatting at the light, and all three women
went to Humboldt Park with these two guys who remembers
the Latin King. Jackie went into the bathroom with one
of the men. They were making out in the bathroom.
He turned around to urinate and she pulled a gun
(07:43):
out and shot him in the back of the head.
She then leaves the bathroom. And then there's two stories.
The story that convicted Maryland, which we ultimately proved to
be false, was that Jackie walked over handed the gun
to Maryland and then she shot the second victim. What
we now know happened was Jackie came out of the bathroom,
(08:07):
the other guy said, you know, where's my homeboy? She
makes a joke about it. She laughs and says he's
taken a ship. He turns around, and she walks over
and shoots him in the back of the head in
the exact same manner. Wait, so I have a couple
of questions, but let's just start with this. How did
they all not hear the gunshot from inside the bathroom. Yeah,
(08:31):
we we actually had a hot former homicide detective go
to the park because I never understood why the guy
outside wouldn't be fully alerted to what happened, But apparently
because it was low caliber bullet um and it was
a contact killing, meaning the gun was actually on the
back of his head. His head actually acted as a
(08:52):
sort of silencer, so there wasn't a lot of noise
even though it was a tiled bathroom. Do we know
why Jackie did what she did? So? What Jackie has
has said over the years is her motivation was a
friend of theirs was killed by the Latin Kings, but
there's also been a lot of talk about that she
(09:13):
was doing it to rise up in the gang, to
be seen as someone who would do something like this.
So what did Marylyn do when the shooting happened, Well,
Marilyn and the other girl are in shock, they see
what happened, They run, and of course you know when
you run, it's going to be equated to guilt. Neither
Marilyn nor her other friend knew what Jackie Martinez was
(09:35):
up to that night, and then ultimately they're arrested walking
out of this funeral um that we've been talking about
for their friend who had been killed by the Latin
Kings and Maryland. Can you give us just from your perspective.
So here, you were a mother of two, you're snatched
off the street after this funeral, and you and fifteen
(09:56):
year old Jackie Monton is the woman, the girl really
who actually committed this crime were brought down to the
Latin Kings and detected. I can't believe they did this.
And detectives tell them, quote unquote, these are the two
girls that killed your homeboys, which put you at immediate
and grave risk. It threatens to make your kids into orphans.
And then the cops bring you down to the station.
(10:19):
Then now your legal representation interrogate you for around twenty
hours without any sleep, and ultimately you signed a statement
that they had prepared. It was a terrible moment. We
had just left the funeral. The detectives just came straight
and arrested Montanez and myself. Then they parked. They received
(10:40):
a phone call. Once they hung up with the phone call,
they took us to Humble Park. We sat there for
like a good ten minutes and they were questioning us.
I did not answer anything. After the ten minutes. They
took us the Beach and Spalding. They displayed us before
the Latin Kings, and that must have been terrifying in
and of itself. At that moment, all I thought it
(11:00):
was My ending was right there. You know, somebody's gonna
pull the trigger and kill us both. Then they took
us to Grant and Central, placed us in separate rooms,
and from then on that's where the interrogation began. They
took turns Detective Gorvera Halverson and kept questioning me over
and over, trying to get me to admit that I've
(11:23):
committed one of the crimes, which I kept telling him
I did not, So the interrogation kept going back and
forth between Guava and Halverson. They wanted me to say
something that I could not say. You know, they wanted
me to lie, and I didn't want to lie, but
they kept pressuring me and pressuring me, and it's just,
you know, it becomes to where you're like, what the hell,
(11:44):
Just leave me the hell alone. And you know, I
spend time just crying, and it was like they didn't care.
It's they didn't care about the tears, they didn't care
about how I felt. They didn't care about, you know,
how they were pressuring me, you know, and so mentally, emotionally,
and physically. It was very draining. So justin why was
(12:05):
Marylyn in their sights and and how did they come
to focus on her. So this case started for Maryland
with a combination of some corrupt detectives detective Guivara and Halverson,
who by the way, have been linked to now dozens
of exonerations in Chicago and more than fifty million dollars
and settlements for wrongful convictions. So you have a couple
(12:27):
of corrupt detectives and a snitch who's just making stuff
up and gave three separate statements that kept changing in
order for them to be consistent with the detective story.
And it started with her saying that Jackie Martinez had
been bragging about these killings. Then once they got Maryland
(12:51):
into the mix, then she changed the story and said
that Jackie just took credit for one of the murders.
And then once they got a confession out of Maryland
after keeping her for nearly twenty four hours in custody
and keeping her up all night, then they built this
new story where now this snitch claims to have seen
(13:11):
these girls before the shooting and had said that they
were going to go do the shooting in you know
gang vernacular, which was that apparently they said We're going
to roll on some flakes. And by the way, this
snitch had been charged with a drug crime that night,
which of course was later on dropped after they used
her testimony. And all this was to build in the
(13:33):
evidence they needed to make their case and they were
just literally just making up their case as they went along.
Um So it started with corrupt detectives and a snitch
and then it went downhill from there. Now, Maryland, you've
now gone through this unbelievable ordeal, no sleep, twenty something
hours in the police station, and you signed a statement
(13:55):
prepared by the police. At that point you probably would
have signed anything to make this torture stop, right, But
did you understand what this meant? I mean, you were
implicating yourself in both murders, one is the shooter and
the other as a conspirator. Right. Well, that was not
explained to me at that point, and at that time
I did not know the difference. You know, when they're
telling you, well, if you want to grow old and
(14:17):
see your kids and this is your best bet that
you take the blame from one of the murders and
Jackie Montaness will take the blame for the other. So
it's like they leave you with no choice because you're
going to put your children's before anything. So I just
went ahead and signed that statement. And of course there's
more insanity coming our way, right because there's a witness
who ends up testifying to seeing the murders from her
(14:38):
apartment window, even though we find out later, right, I
guess just in your investigation on coverage of interesting things
about that. Sure, so after they know use this snitch
testimony to get to Maryland, they now have to build
the case up. And this woman claimed to see the
shooting from her apartment. And the first weekend I was
working on this case, I drew to Chicago with my
(15:01):
students and stood right in front of her apartment building.
And it was crazy because all you had to do
is go to the park to realize that she was lying.
And when I measured it off, the distance between her
apartment and the bathroom with a shooting occurred in front
of it was four eight nine ft and she claimed
(15:21):
at night, in the dark, with hardly any lighting, she
saw Jackie hand this gun to Maryland and do this shooting. Now,
this is like saying you were sitting in a football
stadium behind one end zone in the dark, and you
saw someone hand somebody a hot dog behind the opposite
end zone. I'm gonna take your analogy one step further
(15:42):
because four d eighty nine ft is closer to two
football fields, and it's dark, and there was foliage in
the way, right, So I mean, they don't even have
that in a football state. I've never seen one with foliage.
So there you go with your law students, and it
takes you five minutes to realized that this whole thing
is complete horseshit. It was factually impossible for her to
(16:04):
see what she said, and nobody investigated it. Now when
we finally tracked her down. Coincidentally, the one person who
said they saw this shooting, the one person in the
city of Chicago, was in a relationship with one of
the victims, and none of that stuff was ever reported
or investigated. So that's the bad identification portion of this case.
(16:26):
So now we have bad cops, bad snitch testimony, and
bad identification. And then there's this lawyer. This lawyer in
quotes Jeremiah Lynch. So he was hired to represent Maryland.
There were friends who hired him. Um, he was paid
a retainer. I don't know if he capitulated his role
(16:49):
in this case because he figured there was no more
money coming, so why not just plead this out? Uh,
you know, a death penalty cases takes a lot of
time and energy and doing a trial very expensive and
time consuming. Um. But he took this ten tho dollar
retainer and as a result, he had a couple of
meetings with Maryland, short meetings, and he didn't meet with
(17:11):
the district attorney, and he didn't go to the crime scene,
even though later on when he was questioned he wasn't
that far away his office from the crime scene and
he'd claimed that maybe he jogged by there one time.
Just basic stuff wasn't done and he had no training
in this and this was his final case as a lawyer.
After Maryland was sentenced to death, he actually went took
(17:34):
off out of the courtroom and it took me a
year to find him, and usually lawyers are easy to
find that when I found him, he was studying to
be a priest at University of Detroit and he now
is a Catholic priest, and uh, you know, if this
was a movie, we'd have to change his name because
it would be too corny that his name was father Lynch.
(17:55):
And he literally did lynch Maryland in this case due
to his incompetence. The Pacers Foundation is a proud supporter
of this episode and of the Last Mile organization, which
provides business and tech training to help incarcerated individuals successfully
(18:18):
and permanently re enter the workforce. The Pacers Foundation is
committed to improving the lives of Hoosiers across Indiana, supporting
organizations dedicated primarily to helping young people and students. For
more information on the work of the Pacers Foundation or
the Last Mile Program, visit Pacers Foundation dot org or
the Last Mile dot org. This episode is sponsored by
(18:43):
a i G, a leading global insurance company, and Paul
Weiss Rifkin, Wharton and Garrison, a leading international law firm.
The A i G Pro Bono Program provides free legal
services and other support to many nonprofit organizations and individuals
most in need, and recently they announced that working to
reform the criminal justice system will become a key pillar
(19:04):
of the program's mission. Paul Wise has long had an
unwavering commitment to providing impactful, pro bono legal assistance to
the most vulnerable members of our society and in support
of the public interest, including extensive work in the criminal
justice area. So Maryland's lawyer, this ex lawyer who's now
(19:28):
a priest, gave her terrible and that's not even stronger
forward counsel, because when you plead guilty, there's almost always
some sort of a deal made and leniency given. But
in this case, there was no deal on the table,
so she doesn't even get a trial. And on top
of that, her right to present evidence of innocence at
(19:50):
that time and into the appellate process had been waived,
So she went straight to a sentencing hearing in front
of a jury, and it's just the prosecu cution telling
twelve normal everyday people what a terrible, violent, evil person
she is. And then there's the question of whether she
gets death or whether she gets life in prison. Now,
(20:13):
the reason there was so incompetent it's because you could
at least make an argument if the sentencing was being
done by a judge, that the judge had sort of
off the record indicated this isn't going to be a
death case, but when it's a jury, you have no
assurances of anything. So the jury now gets to hear
everything that the prosecution wants to put on, crime scene
(20:34):
photos of dead bodies, testimony from the victims family, all
these things in the sentencing phase of a death case,
and Maryland ends up getting sentenced to death. And it's
worth noting that Illinois, Um, I don't know how long ago,
it was more than ten years ago, there was a
professor at Northwestern who assigned his students to find innocent
(20:57):
people on death row, and the students on the eleven
innocent people on death row students, by the way, and
at that point, the governor Ryan, at the end of
his term, commuted the death sentences of everyone on death
row in Illinois because he realized that during his term
they'd executed ten people and hear these students had found
(21:18):
eleven innocent ones, so his you know, they weren't even
batting five hundred, even if they got it right on
the ones they executed, and it's extremely unlikely that they
didn't execute some innocent people along the way, so you know,
they were maybe getting it right about three out of
ten times. And we're talking about the death penalty for
Christ's sakes, So Maryland, can you give us some insight
(21:40):
into what it was like on death Row as a
young mother now separated from her children, thrown into this
twilight zone nightmare. Well, when I first arrived to um Dwight,
and I was taken to Cottage fifteen, where it's basically segregation,
and they have a wing where they held the death
(22:03):
Row inmates, and it's basically glass where segregation inmates can
see the death Row inmates. And they put me past
that glass into a cell and I went in the room.
They had brought me some boxes with clothing, all my
beddings and everything that's required from the institution to give
(22:24):
to you. And I wouldn't make my bed. I just
sat there and started praying. And I just kept praying
and praying out on my knees, and I'm like, Lord,
just take the reins, whatever, you know, whatever you want
me to do, I'm here and I'm gonna do it.
You know, Just let me be at ease, let me
be at peace, let me be right by you, and
let me get through this as fast as I can.
(22:45):
You know, it was a beginning of a new start
for me. Away from everybody and getting to know new people.
And the officer came back and saw me praying and
kind of disturbed me. It's like, hey, Ms Malarro, would
you like the chuckhole open? And I'm like, sure, left
the chuckhole opened. The girls came by, introduce themself to me,
(23:06):
and they sat there and they pray with me, you know,
through the chuckho and so, you know, it was like
an experience being back there on death Row. I try
to stay as active as I possibly could back there.
You know, you're not allowed to be with other offenders,
but the people they were back there, so we had
(23:26):
moments to where we were able to come out at
hour at a time, or two people at a time.
I enjoyed it for the most part, not that I
enjoy being on death row, but the way I was treated.
I was loved and cared for. I was tend to.
They would always constantly pray for me. We had lieutenants
and officers, you know, kind of stay back there with us,
(23:47):
keeping us company and praying with us. And because you
get to know these officers, if they are a part
of you, you know, they no longer become officers. You know,
some of them are compassionate and their heart goes out
to you, and they try to spend as much time
as they possibly can, you know, keeping you on a
positive note. And majority of the times I would stay
(24:10):
in my room and I would try to sleep my
days away, and the officer were like, miss Miller, get up,
get up, let's go, let's go to the yard or whatever.
And I would go just to you know, stay motivated.
I tried to do some schooling. I enrode in myself
for college. Within three months, they came back and told
us back there that we were not worthy enough to
(24:32):
take any schooling because we were deaf ral inmates. We
were you know, about to be executed, So they took
the schooling from us. And one of the ladies back
there decided that, hey, okay, so let's get some sponsors.
Let's write the church and see if they would you know,
sponsor us and pay for some schooling for us. And
that's what we did. We started writing several churches organizations
(24:55):
to try to see if we got sponsors. You know,
I was blessed to get two different sponsor serves to
get some of my education. You know, I have diploma certificates,
right now and I have like four more modules left
before I attain my Associates degree on theology. And it
hasn't been easy. It's been kind of a rough time
(25:15):
in prison because prison is not designed for you to
be comfortable. It's assigned for you to be uncomfortable, for
you to stay in trouble. But it all determines on
the individual one side, and what is it that you
want to do and accomplish while you're there. So I
was determined to do the right thing, not just by me,
but for my children and my family and from my
(25:37):
attorneys who were fighting hard to get my release. So
I owed it to everybody, not just myself. So I
pretty much stayed busy trying to stay focused on a
positive note while I was there. Do you think they
knew you were innocent? Yes, they did. They knew from
the moment that I got there, because before my arrival,
Montanez was already at Dwight Correctional Center and she was
(26:00):
always bragging about, you know, killing these guys, So they
already knew that I was innocent. And justin Jackie signed
Affid David's ad admitted verbally numerous times that she alone
planned and executed the murders. So these are the arguments
that we made for years and years and years. But
the problem was no one was willing to listen to
(26:22):
them as long as that police stood, and Maryland never
had an opportunity to present this evidence in a trial.
So the process of how the hell this thing finally
unraveled itself, it took god a better part of two
and a half decades, really, right, yeah, twenty five years
I was working on it. I mean when I started
(26:43):
this case, to put it in context, I was twenty
nine and Maryland was twenty four, and now I'm fifty five,
and I won't say how old Maryland is, but it's
been a long journey. So um. Now, that death sentence
got reversed by the Illinois Supreme Court because the prosecution
got greedy in the sentencing phase and in the prosecution's
(27:05):
closing argument to the jury actually said, you know, ladies
and gentlemen, miss Millaro filed emotion to suppress her confession
in this case, that show she has no remorse, and
that's another reason to sentence her to death. Now, the
problem with that argument is you're basically saying, because somebody
asserted a constitutional right they should be executed based on that,
(27:28):
and when it went in front of the Illinois Supreme Court,
the Illinois Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Maryland's favor to
reverse the death sentence, saying like, you cannot use a
constitutional right as an aggravating circumstance, and also we don't
even see a logical connection between a lawyer filing emotion
and then a person not having remorse. So then we
(27:48):
went back to a new sentencing. UM. I handled that
sentencing along with the Chicago Public Defender's Office. I first
tried to get in all the innocence evidence, but it
was very different cult because they didn't want to hear
it because they said, this isn't about whether she's innocent
or guilty, this is about whether she gets sentenced to death.
Because the court refused to withdraw her play, so Maryland
(28:10):
has always been stuck with this play. She then gets
sentenced to natural life, which was the best case scenario
out of that proceeding, and then we start this two
decades long odyssey trying to get her out of prison
or get her a new trial. I took the case
up on appeal. From there, we went into federal Court.
(28:31):
We argued the ineffective assistance a council Federal Court. The
oral argument with it was really frustrating. One of the
justices kept saying, well, it was her decision to plead,
and I said, your honor, this is like going to
a doctor's office and they say you're gonna be dead
in ten minutes if you don't have open heart surgery,
and you're saying, okay, you're right to effective assistance a
(28:53):
council means getting good advice, and there was no way
this advice was good. But I lost. I petition the U. S.
Supreme Court, lost petition the Governor's office three separate times
for clemency. I follow a petition in the United Nations
trying to declare Chicago's justice system as a human rights violation.
(29:14):
Would they allow people to plead guilty and get death
on a plea bargain? And due to all the incompetence
in this case, the United Nations has still not ruled
on that petition. So there's been a lot of proceedings
and ultimately the most successful one occurred just a few
months ago, and that was finally another petition to the
(29:35):
governor asking for her release. Laying the case out that
evidence had never really seen the light of day. It's madness.
I mean, the idea that she was prevented from presenting
overwhelming evidence of innocence is not It's absolutely nuts. It's
a terrible indictment of our system. There should be some
mechanism for justice to see the light of day. Of course,
(29:59):
the last resort this case was clemency from the governor.
And by the way, it wasn't just me that petition
for that, it was the Exoneration Project, the Illinois Innocence Project.
As you said, there's been a lot of innocence work
in Chicago over the past few decades since a lot
of great lawyers and organizations. They were doing it. I know,
I called so many people trying to uh get this
(30:21):
on the governor's desk. That's probably people listening were like,
you bother crap out of me on this case for
so long. But anyway, it doesn't matter because the point
is that it finally worked. So Maryland, So October nineteen,
there's a clemency hearing, and then there's a got almost
seven months go by, almost to the day until April six.
(30:44):
How did you find out that the governor had granted
you clemency. I had surgery not too long ago, and
one of the officers that sat with me at the
hospital ended up working with internal affairs and she comes
to my room. She's like, hey, Marylyn, I need to
see you. And I'm like yeah. Everybody's like, oh shucks,
(31:05):
I ace here. Hi, your contrabant, you know. So she's like, no,
come here, I need to speak to you. I'm like okay,
and she's like do you know. And I'm like, oh
my god, you're leaving me too. And she's like, oh,
you don't know. I'm like, don't know what. She whispered
in my ear and she's like, no, you're going home.
I'm like, stop playing with me. And she's like, un
(31:27):
for real and like, stop playing with my emotions. This
is not funny. I love you. You're good to me.
You were good to me then, but right now you're
kind of, you know, working a little nerve. She's like, no, no,
I'm for real. She's like, Officer Dorothy, it's up there
at the business office right now, shutting down your account
doing or your paperwork. The people for the parole Board
is coming to see you. You need to sign the
paperwork the governor sending you your release form. You need
(31:50):
to sign it. I said, I believe it when I
see it. And I looked at her and she's like,
hum for real. I'm like, Okay, I believe you. So
then there's two officers who are just they go above
and beyond. They're very compassionate and I'm very fond of
them because they break their neck to help women in there.
(32:13):
And Lamar and Hardison were like Ms. Malaro, come to
the day room right now. And I'm like, oh shucks.
And they were like, we're about to announce it on
the intercom that you're going home. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no,
please do not do that just yet. They were like why,
because I don't want the girls to be in an
uproar because once they find out that I was going home,
because they've been waiting and waiting impatiently. We were on lockdown,
(32:37):
difficult situation to where we couldn't see each other. I
felt like maybe a riot would have kicked out in
the on the unit, you know. So what we did
was we waited till next morning. So I woke up
about four o'clock in the morning and started packing my
things and giving everything I had a way. I didn't care.
I didn't want to take nothing home but my bible,
(32:58):
my pictures, my school were and my legal work. That's all.
I walked out of there with everything else was left behind,
and the lieutenant came with the paperwork. I signed it.
Parl Board came. I signed it. At seven o'clock in
the morning when count was clear. They're like, we gotta
get you out the institution so you won't be on
our eight o'clock count. I'm like, okay, So we went
(33:20):
to the b A. I took my picture, took the fingerprints,
took my stuff to property, and was headed out the
front gate and right at the sally port where the
visitors come in. Outside at the gate is where my
brothers were waiting for me, and all the wardens were there.
The administration was there, Heidi Brown and other people, and they,
(33:42):
you know, hugged me. We knew we didn't have it
the coronavirus. We hugged and said our goodbyes, you know,
shed tears, and everybody was kind of mad that I
didn't say bye to the latency institution. But I couldn't
because we were on lockdown, you know, so I mean
when the girls found out, the officers blasted it, Hey,
Malari's going home, and everybody started hollering out the window
(34:04):
trying to let the other ladies on other units know
that I was going home, and you know, they were
hollering and screaming, don't forget about us, don't forget about us.
I tell you, Maryland. When I got the call that
that you were getting out, I couldn't even speak. It's
just it's just been so long, and uh, yeah, it's heartbreaking.
(34:30):
I'm glad it's over. But I really hope we can
learn from the story, and I hope some changes are made.
Did you get a chance to see your children while
you were in prison or how what was that communication like?
(34:51):
Over all those twenty six years, I was pretty blessed.
I had a family who would take turns bringing my
kids see me constantly. So in that perspective, I, you know,
it was very grateful for my family. So throughout my
home incarceration, I was able to see them. It was
heartbreaking sometimes because my oldest son will always try to
(35:14):
undo the handcuffs to release me and stuff, you know,
and he will always be like my mom, let's go
let's go. And I'm like, no, baby, i gotta stay
here in school. He's like, Mom, You're not in school,
You're in jail, you know. So they pretty much knew.
So at that point I knew that I had to
keep it real with them and be like, yeah, I'm
I'm us in jail, you know, but not for long,
and I'll be home with you guys. You know. It
(35:36):
took them to be grown man now, but I'm blessed
to be here with them and be able to spend
time with them and my grandkids and my family. Since
I've been out here, I've been on a movement trying
to focus back on those ladies that are still there,
that are also innocent, that no one knows about, because
like myself, I've been fighting and it's been falling on
(35:58):
deaf ears and the same thing with the women that
are in there. So I am fighting hard with the
Exoneration Project to make these ladies known. So that's what
I'm working on right now. You've really hit the ground running,
and it's awesome to see that your spirit is beyond
and all I can say about that is welcome home.
And of course there was another development, which is that
in May of this year, the Cook County States Attorney's
(36:22):
Office began a comprehensive review of now retired Detective Ronaldo
Guevera's cases and what has now been called one of
the biggest policing scandals in US history. And let me
just say that again, one of the biggest policing scandals
in the US history. This is the detective, were the
two detectives that we're responsible for your wrongful conviction. But
(36:46):
but justin what about Ernest Halverson. Yeah, he's been tied
into these cases as well. Um, you know, as usual,
it's not one bad apple. There was a lot of
bad things happened in Chicago back then, and there's still
problems now. And fortunately we have organizations like the Exoneration
Project in Chicago, the Illinois Innocence Project Center Wrongful Convictions,
(37:08):
it's a it's a real hotbed of wrongful convictions in Chicago,
and they're not just letting these laid down. You know,
for a long time it's been about just getting our
clients out of prison. But we need real reform and
we need to examine these cases after they happen and
look for the people responsible and hold them accountable, and
(37:29):
then look at their other cases. I've been talking for
years about how Detective Gravara was part of Maryland's case
because people have been looking at him for a long
long time. But the problem is in our system. Getting
the truth into a format that then can get presented
within our judicial system and have a result is very,
(37:52):
very difficult. It's the greatest frustration of my life is
that often we know the truth and we have the facts,
but for some reason, the system won't allow those facts
to be presented or won't give you an opportunity to
get the right result. And and that's taken away twenty
seven years of Maryland's life. It's so remarkable to sit
(38:15):
here and listen to Maryland, and you know, it just
dawned me. She hasn't had one negative thing to say.
There hasn't been any trace of and maybe I'm just
not hearing it, but I don't think it's there of bitterness. No.
I mean, she's focused on during this interview, on the things,
the bright spots, the positive things that happened while she
was on death row, while she was in prison, in
(38:37):
maximum security prison for twenty six years, or something she
didn't do. So all I can say is you are
a blessing and it is an honor to be able
to talk to you and to be a part of
your story in some small way. Well, I kind of
knew that eventually. You know, I've always believed in God,
and I've always placed my faith in Him, and that
(39:00):
allow me to see me through that it's going to
be okay. That I was going to come through this
if I kept believing and maintaining my faith in Him.
It takes a lot to maintain faith after everything you've
been through, but more power to you. And she is extraordinary.
You know you said about how a positive an upbeat
she is. I've had times over the last couple of
decades where Maryland has tried to cheer me up about
(39:23):
the case, and you know, that's a very strange thing.
She's she's been a believer. She's an incredibly strong woman.
And that's what we see with a lot of exonorees.
They are different, and they are survivors and they are fighters,
and that's why they make it through this nightmare. Well said,
and it is um, justice delayed, But at least in
(39:46):
this case, justice was not denied. And um, there's still
fighting left to be done on Maryland's behalf, and I
know she's in the best possible hands with you and
the California Innocence Project, as well as all the other
great people that have been involved in helping to get
you home, Maryland. And I want to put a plug
(40:07):
into you've heard today about the work of the California
Innocence Project as well as the two other organizations that
helped free Maryland, the Illinois Innocence Project and the Exoneration Project.
And we're gonna have a link in our bio to
all of those wonderful organizations. Please go click on the
(40:27):
link and learn more and join us and get involved.
So this is a part of the show where I
first of all get to thank both of you for
um coming on and and sharing your thoughts and your
perspective and your spirit. And then I turned my microphone
off and kick back in my chair with my headphones on,
(40:48):
close my eyes and just listen to whatever else you
have to say. Maryland. We're gonna save you the best
for last, UM, and I'm really looking forward to that.
So now again, UM. Justin Brooks, founder and director of
the California Innocence Project, law professor and human rights fighter, extraordinaire.
(41:08):
Thank you again for being here with us today. You know,
this case changed my life. Maryland changed my life. I
was teaching law school and a nice quiet life and
the middle of Michigan with a nice little Victorian house.
And UM, I'd been a criminal defense attorney for a
number of years in Washington, d C. But when I
(41:31):
got involved in this case, I was shocked. I was
shocked at the United States of America, a twenty one
year old individual could be sentenced to death on a
police bargain with no investigation into our case. UM, a
conspiracy between the police and the lawyers and the judges.
(41:52):
Everybody let this happen. They let this twenty one year
old fall through this giant crack. And it shocked me.
And I didn't think I could be shocked as a
chrmal defense attorney. And so it just changed my life.
It caused me to leave my job in Michigan, moved
to California, start the California Innocence Project, and and this
(42:14):
case is the inspiration for the more than thirty people
we've been able to free in California. I don't think
any of that would have happened without without Maryland. Um.
And now even a few months after she's out of prison,
it's still not real to me because it's been part
of my life for so long. It's almost like I
don't know who I am if I'm not representing Marilyn
(42:36):
Molero and trying to get around of prison. So UM,
I'm really happy we could tell her story today. It's
an important story and it's certainly a big part of
who I am. Amen to that. And Wow, Carlyn, that
must be an amazing feeling to hear justin say those
(42:56):
words and to know that you are a key element
in the free of so many others who were wrongfully
convicted of thirty encounting so and now what we've all
been waiting for. UM, no pressure. Thank you again, Marilyn
Monaro for being here, for being so strong, and uh
will turn it over to you for closing arguments. I
(43:17):
want to thank you. I want to thank everybody who's
been involved in my case throughout my twenty seven plus years.
I've had a lot of good people working on my case,
and some of them are still in contact with me,
and that's a very you know, emotional thing knowing that
these people can still stay in contact, which they didn't
(43:39):
have to, but they are, you know, so I take
that to heart. Prison life was has not been easy
for me. You know. I've had some struggles, my ups
and downs, you know, my downfalls, you know, and it's
part of the struggle while you in prison. And sometimes
you have to set up a mechanism so that people won't,
you know, I think that you're vulnerable or take the
best of you. So I always had my head up
(44:01):
and always stay positive. I've always tried to do my
best to help other women. Um my experience with my
situation in my case had helped me to deal with
other women in their situations as well and help them
cope with, you know, their pain and suffering and being
able to be away from their families. And you know,
(44:23):
while I've been incarcerated, I've helped create different programs, different
groups and joined the Phoenix Rising, and as soon as
a week within joining Phoenix Rising, which is a program
from long term prisoners, I was voted in to become
a committee member, and you know, I was honored by
that because a lot of women had respect for me
(44:43):
and a lot of my ideas and we've always succeeded
in everything that we've tried to accomplish, and the wardens
would allow me to partake in a lot of the
things and be a part of what they would do
in the institution. And they asked me and tell me
fight if we would create a program for the elderly
and the disabled. And we took a whole unit, which
(45:04):
was the House Unit six, and we created that which
became a safe haven for those women so they would
not be mistreated, you know, and misled and extorted and
beat down in whatever other case could have taken place
with these women. And we've created various programs, groups, activities.
You know, we constantly always pray for the unit so
(45:25):
that the women's could get along together and not create
a lot of chaos. And I'm very grateful that I'm
here now. I'm grateful for Justin. You know, Justin always
told me, hey, Maryland, I'm never divorcing this case and
you get home. But like I told Justin, I'm home,
but you're still not divorcing me. You're stuck with me
for life. So you know, now he's got to deal
(45:47):
with me. So, you know, and Lauren and the other
Lauren and you know, Cindy, the all these people, so
I'm very grateful and at this small men I'm trying
to do me. I'm still at piece. I'm happy with
the women I've became while I was incarcerated, and I'm
(46:07):
going to continue to do what I'm doing, and that's
helping people while I'm out here and reaching back out
to the women that are still in there as well
as to the men. You know, I'm in supportive of
all the Gravarra victims and I'm just going to continue
to be me and be positive, and one day I
hope to put together my work release center to help
somebody's women that don't have places to go. And that's
(46:30):
my story as my life, and that's my dream, and
I believe I was designed to do this. Don't forget
to give us a fantastic review wherever you get your podcasts.
It really helps. And I'm a proud donor to the
Innocence Project, and I really hope you'll join me in
(46:51):
supporting this very important cause and helping to prevent future
wrong for convictions. Go to Innocence Project dot org to
learn how to donate and get involved. I'd like to
thank our production team, Connor Hall and Kevin wardis the
music in the show is by three time OSCAR nominated
composer Jay Ralph. Be sure to follow us on Instagram
at Wrongful Conviction and on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast.
(47:15):
Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flam is a production of Lava
for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number one
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Bright Pacheco
Maggie Freleng
Jason Flom
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