All Episodes

August 25, 2022 42 mins

In early May of 1977, Keith Laborde and his 14 year old twin cousins, Karen and Sharon Sanders, allegedly picked up a hitchhiking black man at a gas station in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. About 2 weeks later, when asked about a scratch on his neck, Keith Laborde and the twins told a story about this armed hitchhiker who allegedly forced Laborde into the trunk and raped both girls. Despite not matching the description, a man with a few petty priors, Vincent Simmons, was arrested, put into a suggestive line up, and ultimately selected. When he refused to confess, police officer Robert Laborde shot him in the chest. Vincent survived, but only to have ALL discovery withheld by the state including the medical examination that proved that Sharon Sander's could not have been raped.  Simmons was convicted of two counts of attempted aggravated rape of the twin teenage sisters and given a 100-year prison sentence. 

To learn more and get involved:

https://www.change.org/p/vincent-simmons-is-innocent-and-has-been-imprisoned-in-louisiana-since-1977

https://wrongfullyconvicted.info/vincent-simmons/

The Farm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odx9NEHc17M

Shadows of Doubt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98lCNnEnxno

https://lavaforgood.com/with-jason-flom

Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Since our previous release of Vincent simmons story, an amazing
series of events has occurred. In addition to the work
of his investigator as well as his attorney, Justin Bonus,
CBS Morning's lead correspondent, David beg Now did his own investigation,
and as part of that, he did an interview that
aired in February twenty twenty two in which he spoke
with the alleged victims in this case, Karen and Sharon Sanders,

(00:23):
who made some explosive revelations. And this re release, we
will not only fill you in on the incredible developments
in this case, but also you'll hear once again from
the man himself, Vincent Simmons. In May of nineteen seventy seven,
fourteen year old white twin sisters Karen and Sharon Sanders

(00:44):
allegedly went to help their eighteen year old cousin, Keith Laboard,
clean his house in of Old Parish, Louisiana. Years later,
Keith Laborde admitted to carrying on a sexual relationship with
Karen Sanders, but back in May of seventy seven, when
asked about a scratch on his neck, Keith began to
spin a narrative supported by the twin girls that led

(01:05):
in a well tread direction. According to Keith and the twins,
they picked up a hitchhiking black man who allegedly pulled
a gun and forced Keith and Karen into the trunk
before raping Sharon, followed by Karen. Conflicting accounts and descriptions,
as well as a rape kit that confirmed that Sharon
was still a virgin, didn't stop the accusation of an

(01:25):
alleged black assailant. While police officer Robert la Board was
out searching for a potential culprit on the morning of
May ninety seven, his partner Floyd Juno spotted Vincent Simmons,
whom he knew from previous petty crimes. Despite not matching
what we're already conflicting descriptions of this imaginary black man,
they arrested Vincent for the alleged rapes. Both girls and

(01:47):
Keith picked out the only handcuffed black man in the lineup,
and when Vincent refused to confess, Officer Robert Laborde shot
him in the chest. Miraculously, Vincent survived, but only to
have all evidence, all of it exculpatory withheld from him
at trial. Condemning him to serve one years and Angol
of prison. Vincent's fight against the web of family connections

(02:09):
lies and the worst in American racism continues to this
very day. This is wrongful conviction. Welcome back to wrongful conviction.

(02:31):
I'm Jason Flam. Today's case is so troubling that I
don't know where to start. But I will tell you
this before we even get into it, and I introduced
to you the man himself, Vincent Simmons, who's still incarcerated
in Angola Penitentiary for over forty four years now for
a crime he had nothing to do with. I will

(02:52):
tell you that this case has a toxic mixture of
small town racism, false accusations, a total lack of evidence,
a police officer who was closely related to what should
have been the obvious suspect, who actually shot Mr. Simmons
in the police station when he refused to confess in

(03:15):
the chest by the way, narrowly missing his heart and
killing him. Yes, you heard that correctly. And everybody involved
basically is white except for Mr Simmonds is black. And
now that's just the freaking beginning. So first of all, Vincent,
I'm so honored that you're here today to talk to us.
I'm so sorry that you are where you are, that
we're talking to you from prison, and I'm hoping that

(03:36):
soon we'll be having a totally different conversation from the
free world. So welcome to Wrongful Conviction. Thank you. We're
very happy to have you, and we apologize to our
audience in advance for the audio quality on Vincent's phone.
It sounds like he's calling us from a time capsule,
and in many ways he really is. As Angola Penitentiary

(03:58):
was built on a literal plant Asian, which couldn't put
a finer point on what this case is all about.
And joining us today as a man who you may
be familiar with from our coverage of Nelson Cruz in
Brooklyn and Marcus Wiggins in Chicago. Now today he's fighting
for Vincent's case pro bono, flying back and forth from
New York to Louisiana. So justin bonus, thanks for coming

(04:21):
back to Wrongful Conviction. Not a problem. Jason is great
to be on here again as well. So this insane
saga goes all the way back to ninety seven. So Vincent,
before this happened and your life got turned upside down
and inside out? What was your life like before this insanity? Yeah,

(04:42):
I was bone in a ball par a place called Manilla,
Louis yea when I would live it in man Still,
I had had some involvement with sha I would involved
with compared to crime. I moved to Houston and I

(05:04):
got a job and I learned that my father and
I come back to do it. Yeah, I was backful
about a month. I would live with my sister. I'll
leave you and I was all my way to work
and I was picked up of all terrish bodye. So

(05:29):
you were a known entity to a bols Parish police
before heading to Houston for work and returning when your
father passed away, which made you available to be picked
up for what allegedly happened to these twin girls on
May night, think seventy seven and the date. I mean,
we're not even sure of that because the girls were
never really clear on a date and time. But the
narrative that comes out is a sadly familiar American tale,

(05:52):
a false accusation of a black man by an alleged
white victim or victims in this case, and the alleged
crime that took place The narrative that set this horrible
and justice against Vincent in motion is this. On May nine,
twin sisters Sharon and Karen Sanders allegedly went over to

(06:13):
the house of their eighteen year old cousin, Keith la
Board remember that last name, to help him clean, and
while driving the sister's home that night, the three allegedly
stopped for gas when Vincent Simmons allegedly approached and asked
la Board for a ride home, to which la Board
supposedly agreed. And then the claim is that six miles

(06:35):
outside of Marksville, on a deserted stretch of Little California Road,
Vincent allegedly took out a gun, forced Keith la Board
and Karen into the trunk while he allegedly raped Sharon,
and then he allegedly put Sharon in the trunk, drove
on for a bit before retrieving Karen to do the
same to her. Now afterwards, Vincent allegedly threatened them all

(06:58):
before dropping him self off to catch a bus. So
about two weeks after this alleged incident, May is when
this narrative is first reported to the Sheriff's office and
the investigation. If you can even call it that begins
justin take us through this nightmare. So there was Karen Sanders,
Sharon Sanders and then Keith la Board that were allegedly

(07:22):
basically kidnapped, thrown in a trunk. The two sisters were raped.
That's their story. So on May John la Board, Keith's
father calls the sheriff because Keith's father is the parish assessor.
What you have to understand about the la Boards is
there's like ten thousand of them in a vols parish.
This is a very strong family. He calls the chief

(07:46):
of police and he says that my twin nieces have
been raped by a black man. That's how this begins.
And then the girls are brought in. The girls don't
know what date it happens. The police give them a date, okay.
The girls provide their initial statements, which weren't turned over
at trial. Uh, they weren't turned over. They give completely

(08:08):
inconsistent statements. Sharon Sanders actually calls the suspect the N
word over and over again, says all blacks look alike, okay,
and that's why she wouldn't be able to identify him.
They don't talk to the boy. Keith Laboard until after
Vincent has already arrested. Neither of these girls give a

(08:30):
description that matches Vincent. They say short and fat, well,
Vincent is five nine. Again, their descriptions conflict. You know,
it's just one thing after another. And specifically with regard
to Karen Sanders, she talks about being raped anally orally vaginally.
When the doctor looks at her after she talks to police,

(08:52):
there is no injuries. Sharon talks about a thirty minute
rape vaginally to the point where she bled. She said
that she gave her panties to her grandmother and they
were washed, of course. And what's interesting about Sharon is
that her hyman was intact when she was examined by
the doctor in this case, So okay, inconsistent statements, conflicting descriptions,

(09:16):
and outright lies unsupported by physical reality. And the next
day at am on Vincent was just walking to work
when he was picked up off the street, arrested and
brought to the station. He was arrested on May twenty three,
nineteen seventy seven, on view for this crime. And what

(09:37):
on view means is they didn't have a named Vincent Simmons,
They had no probable cause to arrest him. They saw
him on the side of the street. When I say they,
you had mentioned a family member of one of the
alleged victims, and that was Robert la Board. And I
don't know his direct relation to Keith la Board, but
I believe it could be a cousin. So really, what

(09:58):
you have to understand with Vincent is he had a
history with the Marksville Police Department and the Vols Parish
Sheriff's office. And Floyd Juneau was driving with Robert Labourd
on the Dave Vincent got arrested on MA and he
knew Vincent, he knew who he was before, and he
knew he was a troublemaker. And he's the glue to this.
He's the person that basically points the finger at Vincent first, right, right, right,

(10:24):
And if you have the chance to watch one of
the documentaries about Vincent's story, there's the Farm and Shadows
of a Doubt. We'll have them linked in the bio,
of course, but in Shadows of a Doubt, Floyd Juneau
describes this arrest in much the same way that Justin has.
So that same morning, the sheriff sent deputies for the
twins who were picked up from school and brought to
the station along with Keith Laboard who was brought from work,

(10:47):
and told them that they were going to view a
line up with the perpetrator in it. So officers picked
out seven guys for the lineup, one of whom was white. Okay,
a few others were well over sick feet tall. But
remember the description was of this imaginary perpetrator was black,
short and fat, right, And they placed Vincent in the center.

(11:09):
And get this, Vincent is the only one who was
handcuffed out of all of them. I mean, it wasn't
like they were trying to be subtle here right as
to who they wanted them to identify. So the twins
and Keith lo and Behold all select Vincent as the perpetrator.
They claimed that I would identify and from that point

(11:30):
they took me into another room and that's when they
told me that I had to give him a confession,
and I refused to give a confession. I told him
that before I confessed to a crime that I didn't do,
I'll die for and that's when they hit me and

(11:50):
they adopted to the plow and started kicking me. And
then when I tried to get out, he kicked me again.
And when I did, you to chat, I was sitting
in to get up. Robert he see where he was
writing confession and his WelCom and shot. He shot in

(12:16):
the chat. This episode is underwritten by global law firm
Greenberg Traric. Through its pro bono program, Greenberg Traric leverages
it's more than lawyers across forty two offices to serve

(12:37):
the greater good of our communities and provide equal access
to justice for all. In the field of criminal justice,
greenbrig Triary attorneys have exonerted and freedom and in Philadelphia
represent numerous individuals previously sentenced to life for crimes committed
as juveniles and resentencing hearings, and received the American part
Association one Exceptional Service Award for Death Penalty Representation for

(12:59):
their work on five death penalty cases. GT is reimagining
what big law can be because a more just world
only happens by design. I think something that I really
want to bring to your attention here, Jason, is this

(13:20):
is that technically Vincent really should have been charged with
kidnapping Keith Labor. They didn't charge him with that. Why well,
you know, I think we know why. The other thing
is the police all said that Vincent attempted to grab
the gun of one of the officers and the safety
was on or something like that ridiculous story. They don't

(13:42):
ever charge Vincent with attempted murder of a police officer either.
And this is weird, right, because it's not like the
state typically has any issue at all with piling on charges. Right,
But there were no gun charges here either, as that
was part of the alleged kidnapping in this case as well.
So at the preliminary hearing on July seven, both twins testified,

(14:04):
but neither the alleged kidnapping victim Keith Laboard, nor the
alleged attempted murder victims the police officers participated. Yeah that's yeah, sure, Okay.
So during her testimony, Sharon has asked three consecutive times
to identify the man from the crime, and this is
the twin who states that all black people look alike.

(14:27):
She doesn't respond until the court steps in, and this
was when, for the very first time ever, she says
that the man said his name was Simmons. Now, Karen
also parroted this statement that the culprit told Keith his
name was Simmons, but then in the same preliminary hearing,
when asked why it took two weeks to come forward

(14:47):
with this story, Karen testified that, quote, we couldn't go
to the cops because we didn't know his name, unquote,
So which one is it? Karen, right, which is it?
Because both of those things can't be true. Everyone overlooked that.
That means that their testimony in the preliminary hearing that
they knew the man's name, and their testimony at trial

(15:10):
that they knew the man's name. It is false. That
kind of just got glossed over. So let's get to
the trial, and I'm gonna put trial in quotes here too.
So there's no physical evidence that these rapes ever actually happened.
Start with that. No forensic tests were done on the twins, clothing,
or the car in which the alleged rapes occurred, and

(15:31):
police reports did not include a single lead appointed to Vincent.
Doctors didn't find any sign of injury on either of
the alleged victims, including Sharon's intact him, and she was
a virgin who was, according to her statement, the victim
of a bloody rape, which of course is physically impossible.
So if you're listening to this now and going, well,

(15:54):
then there's all this evidence, right, How the hell could anyone,
even a black man in the Deep South in the seventies,
how could anyone get convicted on the basis of this. Well,
it later comes out with Vincent and his attorney received
exactly none of this. They received no discovery in this case,
but not, I mean zero. What I'm saying is all

(16:16):
of that critical exculpatory evidence that you just heard wasn't
revealed to him for another sixteen years. His lawyers never
even knew about the shady lineup with the handcuffs, you know,
which was obviously done for one reason, so that these
alleged victims would know who to pick in this imaginary crime.
There were pictures of that, the inconsistencies and conflicts in

(16:39):
initial accounts and assailant descriptions and initial statements. They said
they didn't know his name, but later testified that he
had told Keith his name was Simmons. How Karen gave
a clue to that discrepancy in her preliminary hearing testimony,
all of it. So the fix was in so justin,
can you take us through what happened at this sham trial?

(17:00):
So they take him to trial and the girls get
on the witness stand and they say they know his name.
They say a rape happened, and the defense attorneys don't
do a great job of poking holes in there because
they don't have anything to poke holes in. They don't
have any cross examination material. Okay, they have three witnesses

(17:21):
that were allegedly with this man for three hours. That's
a long time to be with somebody. Mistaken identification is
not really something you can argue when you're around somebody
for three hours unless you saw the initial statements, right,
can't really do it. I mean, the trial's a joke.

(17:43):
Eddie Nole, who was the prosecutor, and the district attorney
and his wife are the ones that tried the case,
and this was a flim flam show. They actually, on
occasion during direct examination they would interchange when they thought
the other one didn't ask enough questions, or on cross examine.
I've never seen that, and they probably could have done

(18:05):
anything they wanted because without discovery, they had nothing with
which to hold the prosecution or any of the witnesses accountable.
Then you have these racially charged elements, two white twin
sisters underage, by the way, fourteen years old, a black
guy in Louisiana in nine seven. So they could have

(18:28):
said that he took them in a spaceship, hit them
on the head with a toaster of it, and then
they went and visited, you know, talking penguins on Mars.
I mean, they could have said anything, and I could
actually picture in my mind the jury just sort of
sitting there, you know, horrified with their mouths open, hearing
about how the two young girls were brutalizing. You know,
these these poor little girls. It's hard to turn away

(18:50):
from that kind of testimony. But there were some very
significant things that still should have sowed serious doubts in
the minds of these jurors. Now, I think the biggest
thing here that we started to uncover as we investigated
is that the area that Vincent allegedly sees these three

(19:14):
at a gas station in the middle of Marksville, but
then he takes them allegedly or tells them to go
to a part of a Vols parish that's like Clan country.
So where these alleged rapes happen is in the middle
of Clan Country. It's not where the black community is.

(19:38):
That's what to me should have raised alarm bells for everybody,
including the white jury. This is not believable. What was
alleged to be a three hour long encounter with two
twin underage white girls being raped by a black man
in the middle of Clan country. I would have sooner

(19:59):
bought into the story. Worry about Mars and Vincent was
able to present something in his defense right. His attorney
called him to the stand where he said that he
was at a bar on May night and presented three
alibi witnesses who all dated that he was at the
bar with them. His alibi witnesses, they tried to discredit
these people with traffic tickets and like petty crimes because

(20:23):
they wanted to make the alibis look like they were
not law abiding citizens, even though they basically were. I mean,
one of the witnesses that testified for Vincent was a
business owner, and they attacked them using like speeding tickets
and parking tickets that he received. It was a joke.
The trial was a joke. Yeah, it was a joke,
but not not a funny one though, because eleven white

(20:44):
people and one black woman on the jury. I remember
at that time in Louisiana and all the way up
till two thousand eighteen, they didn't need a unanimous verdict
to convict. It was one of the ways that they
disenfranchised black folks. You only needed ten of the twelve
members on the jury to vote guilty. So black woman
or not, let's just call it like it is. There
was no hope in hell for Vincent. And so there

(21:05):
you are, still trying to heal from a gunshot wound
to the chest at close range and watching this ridiculous trial.
Did you still have any hope that they would see
the discrepancies in this crazy narrative and see that you
were innocent? Oh? Yeah, there was no hope because the
way that was focused. Oh what the victims were saying,

(21:32):
there was no hope of the receiving a sad trial.
And even though I was shot, they that was there
was no questions answer what happened. So Vincent, at that moment,
a lot had happened to you already. But I have
to think this would be the worst moment of anybody's
life to be wrongfully convicted of a crime they didn't commit.

(21:56):
Do you remember that moment when they declared you guilty
and sentenced you to a hundred years in prison. Yes,
I did when I heard all those lives sold and
the jury come back and condicted me. Even with my
alibi Richards telling the truth, the jury still believed their lies.

(22:22):
And it was amazing for me to believe that those
people would, Yeah, that kind of lied to the juror,
and the jury believed there. When I got the golden

(22:57):
and they claimed the doose hind me, it was like
a shot to me. And from that moment then I
would experience a nightmares at night when I went to sleep.
I tried to go to sleep, and I would have
a nightmare as a being shot and beating over and

(23:18):
over again. When I got there, even the guys in
the town, they already knew what my charge was and
I went to mulate experiences they so I bought all
you ship human ways, you know you taught um. I've

(23:39):
been called several times, you know all the skin come
over my father, but I wouldn't report it because they
would call your retire at several night nights, balls that
were from of all past. They would make it possible

(23:59):
for they didn't make out a home you the gods
heard um of all, Harry, they would intentively, well, I
can repote where how would be the repetrator of the night.
So from one lockdown to another, that's what caused me

(24:20):
to be locked down. And it's solidaires confirmed. And all
these years because I was being attacked and being transferred
to another lotdown, I said, twenty seven years and solid confined.
And I just got out in uh two thousand nineteen,

(24:44):
and that's when I got the call from Deston said,
as you would take my case. Forty four years wrongfully convicted,
and twenty seven of those were in solitary confronement because
of constant assaults from other prisners who also found ways
to believe the childish nonsensicalized that these three backwoods, redneck

(25:07):
low lifes told to cover up their dirty, disgusting little
incests secret. And I don't even know what to say
except that I'm absolutely amazed at your courage and your
strength to persevere and just even be here at all,
after all you've gone through, Vincent, you are a living miracle.

(25:29):
So justin we know that the post conviction litigation started
almost immediately back in eight and it went about as
well as the trial did. But Vincent finally got a
break of swords in can you talk us through that?
Vincent files a man Damis, and somebody in the d
a's office copies the whole file. That's how Vincent gets

(25:51):
his file. That's when he first gets the discovery. And
then Vincent got a letter from his lawyer in ninety
eight saying that we've never seen these documents before. You know,
and by the way, that lawyer ninety eight, I think
he was a judge by that point. I mean, these
are credible people that came forward and said that they
had never seen these documents before. Right, this is the

(26:12):
discovery with the details that we mentioned earlier that if
Vincent's trial attorney would have had this at the trial
in nineteen seventy seven, and of course it was totally
illegal for them not to share it, but if they
had had this discovery, it's very possible that even that
jury could have come to the right conclusion. So, in
addition to that, more exculpatory evidence has developed over time. Meanwhile,

(26:36):
Vincent is denied parole again and again and again and again.
The sisters showed up at the parole hearings and said
all sorts of awful racist things. I remember seeing this
on the video and hearing about it in one occasion
where one of the three members of the pro board
was a black gentleman, and one of the sisters actually

(26:56):
said in the parole hearing that she wouldn't feel safe
alone in the room with him. And I'm talking about
the guy who was on the parole board, the black
guy and the parole board. Am I actually right about that?
You are? You cannot make this up. So now we're
all the way at October and justin you've now joined

(27:16):
Vincent's team, and Vincent has applied for post conviction relief
based on several to process violations and newly discovered evidence
which shows that the alleged rape was a total fabrication,
and that part of the new evidence that was presented
is from a family member of the alleged victims themselves, right,
So can you tell us about that? Essentially, we have
a family member of the law boards coming forward with

(27:40):
a detailed statement about an admission that Keith gave her.
I think it was in two thousand and eleven, two
thousand twelve, and actually what happened forty four years ago was.
She was there when Keith came into her mother's house
and he had a scratch on his neck. And it
appears is that Keith is the first one that drops
the story that gets and thrown in prison, which is

(28:01):
that you know, he gave a black man a ride
home with the girls and the black man scratched his neck,
threw him in the trunk, and raped the two girls.
See the problem with that, though, if you talk to
this witness, she knows Keith Laboard. He's a total psycho.
Keith also, I believe I said two thousand eleven, two
thousand and twelve, he admitted that there was no black man.

(28:21):
We actually have Facebook messages between Keith Laborde's first cousin
and Karen where Karen admitted that Keith Laboard raped her.
Now you have to understand this same cousin, Keith Labord
actually admitted that he had what he termed to be
consensual sex with Karen and through Sharon in the trunk.

(28:42):
So that's why Sharon's hyman is attack because Key threw
her in the trunk because she didn't want to have
sex with him. But he definitely had sex with Karen. Now,
Karen says that it was a rape. He says it
was consensual sex. But at the time of the alleged
sexual act, Keith was an adult, Karen was a minor.
You know. Then we have an investigative report from our

(29:04):
investigator who spoke to Karen where Karen said she might
have made a mistake, that she doesn't want to testify
again in this case. Yeah, I think I need a shower.
I mean, this is even worse than I originally thought,
which I didn't think was possible. So where are we now?
What in the world is it going to take to

(29:24):
bring Vincent home? Where are we right now? We filed
the motion to vacate the conviction of post conviction relief
motion in October of I mean, there's Affidavid's newly discovered evidence,
there's scientific reports and here identification experts, doctors, obviously the
previous discovery that wasn't turned over when the motion was

(29:46):
initially filed. Kerry Sproul was the judge that was overseeing
the motion and Charles Riddle was the district attorney And
essentially what happened is in more arch of one, I
got my hands on a document where carry Sprul admitted

(30:07):
that he represented keith La Board's daughter in a previous
I don't know if it was a custody case or
a family court case. And so we had a hearing
to recuse Carry Sproul, and in that hearing to recuse
Carry Sproul, Carry Sprul not only admitted that he had
represented keith La Board's daughter, but also that he had

(30:29):
a close relationship with keith La Board since I guess
almost childhood, and actually hired keith La Board to work
on construction projects in his house. So he had a
longstanding relationship with keith La Board and his family. And
then after that is when we had the motion to
recuse the District Attorney's office where we took testimony from

(30:49):
Vincent's trial attorney, Mike Kelly, where Mike Kelly testified at
the hearing that the defense received no discovery, not a
ingle document. They didn't know there was a lineup, they
didn't know that there was original statements made, they didn't
know anything. We took testimony from a civil rights activist,
Alan Holmes, who heard Charles Riddle admit that Mike Kelly

(31:13):
didn't receive discovery, and then we took testimony from Charles
Riddle himself, and Charles Riddle admitted that he believed Mike
Kelly when Mike Kelly testified that they didn't have any
of the discovery in this case. That caused Judge Bennett
to recuse Charles Riddle because Charles Riddle refused to consent
to give Vincent Simmons a new trial. Essentially that Riddle

(31:37):
was basically condoning a constitutional violation. Right he knew that
there was a violation and refused to remedy it. And
a prosecutor has a duty to act fair and impartial,
and his duties are based upon the Constitution. He has
to be fair to the accused, and when there's a
due process violation like there is in this case, the

(32:00):
only way he can remedy that is by giving Vincent
another trial, and he refused to do it. We now
have an Attorney General's Office that's taken over there trying
to vacate the recusal of Charles Riddle. They're basically trying
to delay this as best as they can. No one
wants to give Vincent any relief here, and that's where
we are right now. We're in front of the Supreme

(32:21):
Court battling it out over the motion to recuse the
district attorney, and I'm in the process of filing something
to try to compel the court to do the right
thing here. After our release, Justin went to work on
just that, and back in January twenty two, I got
a call from Angola. It was Vincent thanking me and
everyone here at the Wrungful Conviction podcast, and I didn't

(32:43):
know what he was thanking us for. It turns out
that at some point between the original release in November
one and that January, Justin had won him a hearing
set for February two, in which his motion for some
re judgment was to be decided. Either the judge would
rule against him or he'd be granted a new trial,
at which point the prosecutor would have to decide whether

(33:05):
or not to go forward with this case. Knowing what
we know now, and Vincent had faith that this would
finally set him free. Now I'm ecstatic to report that
he was correct. Vincent, Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction. Thank
you man, you are so welcome. You know words will

(33:28):
never do justice to this mixture of joy and anger
that I feel about your case. But right now I'd
like to focus on that magical moment when you were
set free. You know, I saw a footage of it.
I wanted to be there in person, but I couldn't.
And I know that you knew it was coming, but
there was a look of shock and surprise on your face. Yes,

(33:52):
even though I had this vision when did manifesting, man,
I was a shock free So you know, I knew
that based on the evidence that they had den and
look at the evidence that they have now, they had nothing,

(34:14):
did nothing but the lines and then Boom thought it.
Four year later the family come forward and Boom revealed
new evidence or what they had died all these years. Yeah,
I mean not only that cousin who had come forward

(34:35):
talking about Keith Laboard, all of those damning messages that
we had already discussed on the podcast. Not to mention
that there was no discovery at all in this case.
Let me say it again, there was no discovery at all.
Nothing was turned over to the defense and all of
the things that could have been turned over and should
have been turned over in discovery or exculpatory. Then the

(34:58):
two alleged victims accusers in your case, Sharon and Karen Sanders,
went on CBS and had no good answers to explain
the wild inconsistencies and their statements, among others, to explain
the inconsistency about when they knew your name and that
they had actually known it all along. They had said

(35:19):
that they had made a pack to not say your name,
which is total horseshit. After they had identified you in
the lineup, they still didn't know your name in those
statements either, which totally contradicted themselves. Again, they also admitted
to the racist comments that one of the sisters had said,

(35:40):
quote unquote, all n words look alike. And how could
they even have identified you anyway if that was the case, right,
I mean, there's another direct contradiction there, and let alone
that you didn't even fit their bogus description that they
had made up out of thin air. This case is madness.
And in addition, Karen Sanders also admitted to a sexual

(36:02):
relationship with Keith la Board starting as early as nine
years old. Man, I mean I was watching that My
my job. I hit the floor. You were simply dragged
into their web of sadness and lies, with neither probable
cause nor having fit any description other than just being
a black man. Your case is about as disgusting as

(36:25):
any we've ever heard. So with all of this floating
in the zeitgeist, along with the mountain of Brady material,
the judge finally set you free after over forty four
years in prison, and you were reunited with your family.
Can you take us back to that night? Where'd you go?
What did you do? Well? I was taken all by

(36:49):
my family and Mr Bonus to a restaurant, you know,
a real expensive restaurant, and I'm looking about wow, you know,
and you asked me what I wanted to eat. I
say everything, everything, that's great, I will eat everything. So

(37:10):
you know, we had lovely billo. We talked, we laugh
we joked. That moment is very special. It's very special.
You know, that chills, you know, travel to your body,
all of love and arts and kisses and all that.

(37:32):
It brought a warmth to me, that something special that
was missing when you're coming out of somewhere where you've
been kidnapped and held against your will for further for
a year. I value that, you know. You know, it's
hard because I got to relearn everything, you know, but

(37:57):
it doesn't it doesn't stop us from thinking, you know,
it doesn't stop us from living and it doesn't stop
me from doing the right things too, to freedom minds,
you know, to show them that, you know, we we
have to value ourselves, you know you have. You can't

(38:18):
love somebody if you don't value who you are, if
you don't love yourself, you know, and you come first,
and then you know you show compassionate love to others.
You know, this is what our join us are, you know,
our do this for being here on it, you know,

(38:38):
is to get people to understand God law. Hey man,
get them laws in your man. You know what I'm saying.
Whatever God, you believe that. You know, everyone have a
duty to each other as humanity, you know, but yet
refighting each other. Why I'm here to deliver that message.
I'm gonna fight it. I'm gonna fight it. I'm not

(39:00):
gonna go alone. You know, I'm not gonna be all.
I'm not gonna turn a blind eye to the truth.
And that's what I'm fighting for. I have a big
family that I live beyond black and white. I'm fighting
for us. What we do? What are we here for justice?

(39:24):
You know, we're here to correct That's what Joe Jabby
is your report? What's going on? You know to the public,
to the people. I love you man. We love you too, Vincent.
And you know, all I can do is to continue
to shine a light on these injustices and helped to
be part of the team that works to correct them

(39:46):
wherever and whenever I have the power to do so.
And without you sharing your story, well we wouldn't be
able to do that here. So I'd like to just
thank you for on behalf of everyone that works on
a team, for joining us and sharing your story. And
then I'm gonna turn to the closing of our show

(40:06):
where I turned my microphone off, leave my headphones on,
kick back in my chair, and just listen to any
final passages that you have. You know, I'm I'm I'm
gonna give it to the people. How I learned it.
I learned it hardly. You know, I'm gonna give it
to anybody. Roa Yah is the only week I'm fighting

(40:31):
for the people. We're trying to fix a system that
is broken based on racism. Don't say that racism because
it do and everybody don't want to deal with it.
Why not? You know they judge is in prosecutor using

(40:54):
the sheeld of the state to do criminal activity. Is
you make all kind of laws saying that you know,
we're against this and we're against that, but you ain't
passion them. They don't have a law by the constitution
that say that the prosecutor. I can leave my employers

(41:18):
to intimidate other people to say what I want them
just saying, and if they don't say it, then I'm
gonna send them in the prison. I'm apprenticed them. No,
who are you? You're human luck, I am you representative
people and when you miss you your authorities, you're supposed

(41:40):
to be pitialized by the people that goes for judges, lawyers, das,
whoever you may be. You're a human and you supporter
a humanly use your powers wisely. Thank you for listening

(42:07):
to Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to thank our production team
Connor Hall, Justin Golden, Jeff Claverne, and Kevin Wardis. With
research by Lila Robinson. The music in this production was
supplied by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be
sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, on
Facebook at Wrongful Conviction podcast, and on Twitter at wrong Conviction,

(42:29):
as well as at Lava for Good on all three platforms.
You can also follow me on both TikTok and Instagram
at it's Jason flom Raleful Conviction is the production of
Lava for Good podcasts and association with Signal Company Number
one
Advertise With Us

Hosts And Creators

Lauren Bright Pacheco

Lauren Bright Pacheco

Maggie Freleng

Maggie Freleng

Jason Flom

Jason Flom

Popular Podcasts

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.

The Joe Rogan Experience

The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.