September 26, 2022 • 30 mins
On January 10, 1998, a 60-year-old woman was robbed and sexually assaulted in her home in Violet, LA. Upon his arrest, Ulysses Pierre implicated his cousin, Jarvis Ballard, in the crime. After severe abuse from detectives, Ballard produced a confession and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for aggravated rape.
Patrick was wrongfully convicted for a 1993 murder in Rockford, IL, for which he spent nearly 24 years in prison. Remarkably, he ended up writing the law that set him free. Patrick and Jarvis met for the first time in person at the 2022 Innocence Network Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Their shared experience of mistreatment by the criminal justice system gave them a lot to talk about.
To learn more and get involved, visit:
https://ip-no.org/what-we-do/free-innocent-prisoners/client-profiles/jarvis-ballard/
https://www.gofundme.com/f/jarvis-ballard-freedom-fund
This episode is part of a special series in our Wrongful Conviction podcast feed of 15 episodes focused on individual cases of wrongful incarceration, guest hosted by formerly incarcerated returning citizens and leading criminal justice advocates, award-winning journalists and progressive influencers.
Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Jason Flom, host of Wrongful Conviction, and so far
we've brought you hundreds of stories of people stolen from
their lives and families for crimes they did not commit.
The sheer number of cases we've coverage speaks to the
scale of the problem, but we've yet to even scratch
the surface. To amplify this message even louder, I've invited
new voices to host the show to create interviews of
(00:21):
the system affected by the system affected. This is one
of those interviews. On January, a sixty year old woman
in the small town of Violet, Louisiana, her to knock
at the door. It was two o'clock in the morning
that night. She had been babysitting her three and a
half year old grandson, and she opened the door thinking
(00:43):
was her son to pick up the child. Instead, two
men forced their way into her home and demanded to
be taken to her safe. When she insisted she didn't
have one, they raped her and stole her stereo equipment
and of television. The next door neighbor saw the two
men walking out of the house with the stolen goods.
(01:03):
Then they saw them get into a car with a
woman at the wheel. One of those neighbors was twenty
four year old Louis Caesar, and he recognized one of
the men as Ulysses Pierre, who also went by the
name of Little Noon Lewis. Mother Yolanda called nine one
one to report the crime. Later that day, police arrested
Ulysses and brought him in for questioning. At first, he
(01:26):
claimed he acted alone, but police physically abused him until
he admitted that two others were involved. Ulysses said that
Sidney Williams and his younger cousin, Jarvis Ballard, were with him.
He also told the police where they hit the stolen items.
Jarvis was arrested later that same day. During their interrogation,
he denied taking any part of the crime, but after
(01:48):
the police threatened and beat him, Jarvis eventually signed a
false confession statement. Three men were arrested, even though the
victim and the witnesses said only who had been involved.
On July twenty one, Ulysses Pierre, Sidney Williams, and Jarvis
Ballard were sentenced to life in prison. This is wrongful conviction.
(02:23):
My name is Patrick Pursley, also known as Free Patrick Pursley.
I was previously a guest on this show to tell
the story of my own wrongful conviction today, though I'm
stepping into the host role. This April, I had the
honor to sit down with Jarvis Ballard and its lawyer
G Park at the Instance Network conference in Phoenix, Arizona.
When we spoke, Jarvis had only been out of prison
(02:45):
for eight months. It was emotional conversation for the both
of us. I want to say how grateful I am
to Jarvis for trusting me to tell his story. This
case here really, UM, it took me apart because it's
very steeped in the South and the culture and the
(03:08):
practice of treatment black men in the South. Very heavy
accusation of what you went through, what you were accused of, right,
all these things. UM, it's very to me. It resonated
with the historical harms of Deep South attitude towards black life.
It's very good for you to be here. I'm very
(03:30):
thankful to meet you. I'm sorry for what you went through. Everyone. Welcome,
Jarvis Ballot and his attorney G Park, Welcome to the show.
Good to be here. It's nice to meet so tell
us a little bit about your past. It's like growing
up in Louisiana. What you went through and what your experience. Well,
(03:51):
I grew up with a single mother of two. My
father got cute murder of shot nineteen times tendon Ai,
so I was actually three, but I always knew that
my daddy home with the wrong crowd. And I learned
that a lot old as I grew up, because he
(04:13):
was a known drug dealer and he was known for
him in New Orleans, for him having a name of
killing people. And I always didn't never want to be
like that because I always played sports. But I found
myself having his aggression towards other people, like, you know,
you don't take much to meet me. Made if I
think you're a bullet, you're not gonna bullet nobody around me.
(04:37):
So you know, always was challenging all the bullets. So
I took on the name mass a little with the
are which is my dad. And then they called him
town taker because a lot of people are scared to
mess with him. I didn't want that because I know
eventually soon on last abody holme me and take my
life like they took it, started selling drugs and smoking weeds.
I'm thirteen years old, and you know I'm in high
(05:00):
school playing bees but actually I'll playing bees ball in football.
And my suppose this is kind of will help me
get along whatever, just a little bit more than the
next person, you know, and I will get away with
a lot. I might get expelled from school. They're send
a teacher to the house, just as just coming practice
right for you. But I didn't care about school because
(05:22):
like my my my ninth going in my team gray year,
it was over it, which is having running is that
landed me and Julie Hall for two years. But I
just had it. I just had a natt for getting it.
I just like this bad peep, bad boards. You know,
you know what it is. You think you're bad. I
want to. I want to. I want to be the
one in the throne. Whatever you think you've got going on.
(05:42):
His previous interactions with the criminal justice system put him
on the police radar, and that's how Jarvis got swept
up into what's about to happen next. So in January,
a woman, she was a sixty year old white woman,
um and then all of the night there's a knock
on her door. She goes to the door. There are
(06:04):
two men who burst into her home. They rape her
viciously and then they steal things from her. And in
her home was her grandson whom she was taking care
of that night. And so right after this horrific incident
happens to her, she calls the police. She calls nine
on one, and she says, two black men came into
my home, stole my belongings, and raped me. And they
(06:26):
were in there at her home for quite some time.
And not only that, they covered her eyes where visibility
was hindered for most of this time. And as this
robbery rape is happening, as they're carrying things from this
woman's home to a car right where in which there
was a driver in the car, and that driver is
(06:48):
a woman. So it's three people total, right, two men
who go in the house, and then there's a driver
who is a woman in the car, in the getaway vehicle.
And the neighbors are seeing something happening right to their
neighbor's home. This is the mother and the son, Louis
Caesar and Yolanda Caesar, Right does his mother and son
who live next door to this woman, right, And they
(07:10):
say when they talk to the police that night or
shortly thereafter, they say to me, they see two men, right,
and they see a third person in the car, and
this is what they know, um immediately after the crime. Now,
the way Jarvis gets involved is that Louis recognizes one
of the people as Pierre. He says, oh, that's Jarvis's cousin,
(07:33):
first cousin, Yeah, Eulicie spears. So he recognizes Julysi Speer
and that's who. So Louis is the one who tells
the police. I think one of the men recognize as
Ulysses Pierre. And the next morning, at ten am, police
go to Pierre's home. Right, Pierre's the last name, right,
Ulyssi is his first name. They go to Pierre's home
(07:54):
and they begin to interrogate him, right, and Pierre gives
a really unfortunate statement he involved Jarvis. On the night
of the crime, Jarvis was out at the club in
New Orleans. Well, of course, I was out party with
my friends. You know, we're having a few drinks, getting high.
I come home, I'm so entire. The kid I my
(08:17):
friend had to put him in my coat, which is
Louis Caesar. Later on I would learn that he was
the crime will be happening right next to it to
his house Louis Caesar gave Jarvis a ride home from
the party. Jarvis slept at his grandmother's house, where he
often spent the night. I get on the next morning,
I see all I'm thinking it's around up in the round.
Up is when he come pick you up? When you said,
(08:38):
what your undercovering? Ocati? So I'm like, man, So I
go back inside and make a phone out, say many
around people up for drugs. It's let me say no.
He said, Look, let noon, which is my cousin they
just arrested for a rape. Later that morning, Jarvis went
down the street to hang out with a friend. He
noticed on the way that the police were out in
front of his cousin, Tracy's house, so he asked to
(09:00):
from what was going on. So we're like, man, something
happened there and night with knowing him, which is you list?
I already knew what you're talking about because I heard it.
He said. They said they put the stuff in her
to ship. So this what draws me to go walk
down there because I want to know what's going on
with her. This is my family. But as I'm walking,
they didn't already took the stuff out of the shade.
(09:20):
They asking out about me, do you know where job
is better? And she's pointing telling him that him coming
right there. So as I'm coming and say you joll
about and said yeah, they see, get on the ground,
which I complied. When I got there, Detective Calvin bought
arresting me. He bought me there and I was interviewed
by Scott Davis. That's who actually meant me how to do.
(09:40):
He said, you want to read old white women like
I didn't read nobody, and he spread peppers from now
I'm looking at my cousin and my cousin and fairly
light skinning, so I see where he can like he'd
been attacked. And he's like, man, just tell him what happened.
I'm like, I don't know what happened. What did you
talking about? Now this next part I have to warn
the listener it's very difficult to talk about and very
(10:02):
difficult to hear. But during their interrogation, Jarvis was subject
to a high level of brutality. He was sprayed with
pepper spray and kicked repeatedly in the groin. The injuries
he got from the police required him to have emergency
surgery and they started you know, they kicked met me
pretty much. It was very clear. I knew we did that.
(10:23):
He did it two or three times I have, and
I just like, like Jesus, I don't understand why family
put people in position. But you know, I think the
police had no right to treat you like that, all right.
I mean they didn't have to spread. I mean they
don't have They didn't have to. You know, people do
(10:43):
not They didn't have to physical. While they were interrogating Jarvis,
the police were also interrogating his cousin Ulysses and sister Quadrica.
Jarvis could actually hear his sister from the other room
and the police stay ship because I hit my sister.
They're crying and she like it wasn't you know? It
(11:04):
was me La noon. And now you were feeling protective
or vulnerable with her there as well. I didn't want
to see her get into trouble because I was like,
she didn't got herself into Finally, after all that fiscal
abuse and the instinct to protect the sister, Jarvis's will
was completely overborne and he relented and he signed a
(11:26):
false confession. And that man told my mom that she
can have our daughter. I got your son, so now
I had to play save my sister, and y'all beat me.
I'm just strong man, but I had to make a decision.
And once I signed that statement, then their kee was
(11:47):
kind of sealed for them. And the only thing I
got hope of the gold one day we had me
in this position right here. So basically a trial, what
(12:08):
was presented? What did the jury here? What's you know?
How was that broke down to the jury because obviously
they weren't apprized of all the facts, right, So the
state presented, I mean, the state relied on three pieces
of evidence. One was the positive identification of Jarvis by
the complainant about the victim in the case, right. I
mean for a sixty year old white woman to say
(12:33):
in the courtroom pointing to Jervis and saying that is
the man who raped me, that's pretty powerful evidence. Um.
The second piece of evidence was co defendant Ulysses Peers
statement right implicating Jarvis. And then Jarvis's own confession that
they took from him. So those are the three pieces
of evidence that a steep, steep, steep mountain to overcome.
(12:57):
It is because the physical evidence only link to Ulysses
Pierre and Sydney Williams, the two guys who actually committed
a cross which makes sense. And there was nothing, no
physical evidence, no DNA, nothing that connected Jarvis to the scene. Yeah.
And so after the police was called, after the victim
gave her statement, she was taken to the hospital, right,
(13:19):
and a sexual assault kid was performed on her. They
collected evidence, physical evidence, right, and they conducted DNA testing
on that too, physical on the physical evidence that was
collective on the scene and from her body. And they
were able to identify two male profiles and neither one
of those belong to Jovis. There's two male profiles they
(13:43):
developed belonged to Ulysses Pierre and also to Sydney Williams,
the two men who actually committed this crime. The jury
did not hear all the relevant evidence that they should
have heard to decide what actually happened in this case.
I mean to say, take care about to do to
efficiency more than accuracy and justice and fairness. Louisiana, you know,
(14:06):
has the highest incarceration per capita in the entire world, right, Um,
And not only that, we have the highest exoneration rate
per capita in the country. And so when you put
those numbers together, you wonder what is really going on
here in the South. The fact of the matter is,
you know, Jervis was represented by a public defender system
(14:27):
that is still falling apart in Louisiana. Right, you need
effective attorneys to investigate your cases. His attorneys didn't have
an investigator. Right. His attorney didn't know the discovery practices
in the jurisdiction that he was practicing. It you get
the file. Yeah, so attorneys, you would think that would
be the you want complete file, right right, right, right right.
(14:49):
It's your obligation, it's your duty, it's your job. And
then on the flip side, you have the prosecutor who
also has a duty to turn over, turn over everything.
I feel like once they've seen who it was, it
was old, it didn't even matter no more about how
to get this conviction. I just wanted you know, you
have an elderly white woman fifty was nine at the time,
(15:11):
six years old, she's raped. You know, I understood that
what I was up against because I under still growing
up down and how it was, so I knew that
it was dominated by white people. I learned this further
of all, I have to learn that whatever happened. I
gotta know that it was wrong. What happened to the woman.
I looked at the router problem where she got raped.
Ain't nothing right about that. Now I understand that the
(15:35):
police had to make help make me a victim. That's
when the racism come in. Look we got this black
kid that he's saying that he did this to you,
and did this here, and we want to show you
a picture. You remember seeing the me your house? Now
your points great at the picture. So I knew how
now this is one day almost like suggested to her
that there was three. Now they did they did? I
(15:57):
think it. Actually they bought this one in front of
me during a trial session and ex he told me,
see if this woman said you went in the house,
I'm gonna let you go right now. He said, this
guy right here saying that she wasn't in his house.
The woman started crying. She said, yes, you will you
reading me. I'm like, ma'am, I don't even know you.
On July one, after less than four hours of deliberation,
(16:21):
the jury convicts Jarvis Ballard and Ulysses Pierre of aggravated rape.
The next day, Sidney Williams was convicted of the same.
All three were sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Jarvis's case is particularly heartbreaking because it happened within a family, right,
(16:41):
It's about family as I turned kind of against one
another and that got one of their brother cousin right
in prison for twenty three years. And so I think
that's case. It's incredibly heartbreaking. It's more than a betrayal.
You know, I forgive me, but I would never be
able to have been with him because you didn't have
(17:02):
no reason to do that to that woman. To me,
you made two victims that laid in me. Then you
took something from me that you didn't have to do.
So I don't I don't talk years, six months and
you know him all your life. This is my We
took bath together. He was my he was my big cousin,
(17:26):
but I was you know, he's like my brother because
I always was much bigger than him. But you you know,
you heard me, and I don't hate, but I just
rather not deal with him. During his twenty three years inside,
Jarvis made a few good friends. One was Jerome Morgan
now fellow as Honery. You know, and you meet people
(17:49):
along the way, not knowing that you'll share the same
similar story, just different. It means it's just different cases
but the same situation. And I met Jerome and we
become good friends, and he actually like a man talk
to me. I loved Tom, you know, I watched him
(18:09):
countless nights up two or three days working on his
case and I'm talking. We sat up in the same
place sports together, and you know, he was preparing himself
for this date, but I wasn't. I only had hope,
you know. And it was people like him that encouraged
me to start right the Innocent Project, he said, Innocent right,
(18:31):
Innocent Project, So you know it's people like him, and
not knowing that, you know, years later, the same person
that helped him get out of president would help actually
take my case. Jarvis wrote to the Innocent Project in
New Orleans IPNO for short, and they eventually took his
case and helped him fight for his exoneration. In terms
(18:54):
of investigating this case, we began to collect all the
documents right related to this case, the d file for
police records, to court files, anything and everything we get
our hands on. And it's challenging to get access to
old records right. Sometimes they are lost, Sometimes they're misplaced.
Sometimes they give you copies that's heavily redacted. Sometimes they
(19:14):
give you copies with missing pages. Right. And so I
have to say, took us more time than we should
have for us to gather, not just for the audience,
the time that takes investigate. Oh my goodness. I mean
there has been some sort of investigation happening since two thousand,
eight thousand seventeen, right, I mean we're talking, uh nine years, right, um,
(19:37):
And so what we learned, So during trial, we already
talked about the witness Lewis Caesar, right, the neighbor who
initially stated that he saw two men leaving the house
and there's a woman in the car. Right. That was
his initial statement to the police. What he testified to
a trial was not fat though. What he testified to
(19:58):
a trial was that he saw three men. Three men.
That was his testimony a trial. So his testimony completely changed.
Joey doesn't hear that his tire and cross examined for
not because the lawyer doesn't really know either, right, lawyer
doesn't he doesn't get the file, and or he doesn't
conduct the investigation. He never went and interviewed Louis Caesar
(20:20):
before trial. He is an eyewitness in this case, and
the attorney representing Jarvis never thought it was important enough
to go talk to an eyewitness in the case. So
the lawyer doesn't know about this, right, the d ning
always probably be like the center of it, because we
know all we need to do is get all the
other pieces of evidence. I can see, all right, we
know Jovis was innocent. And actually I didn't notice. I
(20:44):
found that out recently that they didn't testimony kid. But
he tested partial pause of it, so a certain pause
that he didn't test. But basically money ran the test back.
Everything still came back. He's I don't reading. Ultimately, it
was a combination things that got Jarvis out of prison,
ipno attained affidavits from witnesses to the crime and to
Jarvis's alibi, and retesting the rape kIPS show that none
(21:08):
of jarvis DNA was present. After round of appeals, the
district attorney released Jarvis Ballard from prison and affirmed his innocence.
But before they told Jarvis he was getting out, one
of his lawyers, Charrelle Arnold, had a bit of fun
with him. Serral was about to send me a business book.
She never sent it. That's what I said, why you
(21:28):
didn't send my book? She said, I'm not to find
another way to meet it up to you because she
liked the Joe too. I said, yeah, well you you
know you said you're gonna say And she said, well,
how can I make it up to you? I said,
you can get me out here. She said, no, we're
gonna do that tomorrow. Brus See what she said, they
throw all your charges out. You're coming home to m hmm.
(22:02):
If we had a world war was one sided and
you just let crime go, probably wouldn't be here, you
and a lot of us. But they need That's the
only way this world. But rate you need to have that.
But sometimes people get arrested bad you and I in
the process of that. You know, I'm still young, I'm
(22:23):
still active. I like the work out I have, I
have fund I play with the kid. I'm like a
big old child when I go to the fair. Guess
why I met on the rise with the kids the
two and fIF upon I might can't get on this
one and they go somewhere else. Been home since for
August eight months. That's that's why I work it. I
(22:44):
work in the Federal fifth circuit, cold house remodeling Irony
listen works good. Put me in this place. I'm really
remodeling it. So I'm working with a construction people it
up and I'm getting on the elevator with guess what
judges that in prov to see my keys. But when
(23:06):
I told one of those guys my story and he
googled it, he liked, man, congratulations, you know, and I
let him know that I respect everything he's staying for.
I really, do you know, I respect everything that Ginn's
staying for. By chance, Jarvis ran into District Attorney Perry Nicosia,
(23:27):
the man who dismissed the case and allowed him to
walk free after twenty three years behind bars, and they
had an opportunity to talk. You know. I met Perry
and he was like, man, I'm very very very sorry.
I'm like, Perry, Man, you did the right thing, and
I appreciate that. That's the d I say, you did
the right thing. I say, man, I really appreciate that.
Jerome Morgan, the one who encouraged Jarvis to reach out
(23:49):
to IO in the first place. He was also there
to help him cope with this transition to free world living.
But when you come in prison. Man, it's a different
type of atmosphere. And when you meet good people like
this guy, you know, you want to hold onto them,
you know, because it's very spell it coming out that place.
(24:10):
Because the same way he smiled, and I'm smiling the
whole time, I got emotional and serious, but the whole
time I always had a legitiate, happy attitude. We don't
let what happened to us, you know, this raw so
have us to the point where we got a lot
of hate and bitterness in us. We don't do that.
We described for better and he teached me that every day,
(24:32):
and that's the journey I'm on right now. I really
want to focus on, you know, trying to you know,
get in position to where when no call us, we
can be there for those dudes. You know, it ain't
much about being financial to just being there. Any do
that basically with everybody, And that's the type of relationship
that we're trying to create for people that's coming home
(24:55):
through this program. Jerome was a previous guest on this podcast,
and now he's back to talk about how he and
Jarvis are teaming up to help other asnorees coming home
in New Orleans. Thank you for having me. I never
thought that I would be back along these lines, but
I appreciate how this has coming come about because we
went through some of the similar things by being wrongfully
(25:17):
convicted and being in prison where it don't matter if
you're guilty or not, you still get the same treatment.
You can't acclimate yourself to society how they operating, you
know now and as they were when you was in prison,
you know, so you have to, I guess self, create
a way to to to live in that space because
(25:37):
there's no road map for you. In the closest road
map for somebody's coming home to the arms of people
who have been through that situation. That's what we want
to provide now. And I'm glad that you know, Jovis
has you know, been encouraged and inspired to do that
throughout his time, even in prison. You know, it shows
that he honestly wants to be a positive despite the
(26:01):
negative things that has happened to and to me, you know,
that's some of the greatest people in the world. So
we'll have the link in the bio for IPNO as
well as your go fund me, And I really really
want thank you for trust me to tell your story.
I really do, Like I've never met you before, so
this is amazing for me. It's a process for me.
(26:22):
And just know that you can call me personally any time. Okay,
because my brother and my Deasonery brothers and exoneration, we're
at the part of the show now where um it's
called closing arguments where we turn off my might and
just kind of let you guys speak your peace and
say what's on your mind to the audience and thank
(26:44):
you so much. You know, IPNO has freed or exonerated
forty individuals who have served over nine and seventy five
years in prison for crimes they did not commit. And
that is just a drop in the bucket. You know,
there's over five thou and men and women in Louisiana
prisons doing a life sentence without the possibility of all
(27:04):
these men and women are not coming home, just like
you know Jerome and Jarvis before if NO got involved,
and so um, there's a lot to be done still,
and UM, I'm really um, I feel really privileged for
this opportunity to speak with Jerome, to speak with Jarvis,
to speak with Patrick, and for um having this moment
(27:26):
with them. So thank you, she said, I just appreciate everything,
you know, even the people that donate. You know, it's
appreciate it, you know, because like I said earlier, got
a lot of people that's not gonna be in this shoot,
a lot of innescent people gonna not made it because
(27:46):
you know, if knowing it, have the resources to do
so many cases and hopefully before this is and it
will be far closed my eyes, they'd probably be big.
And with this is now, because I think everybody has
every chance, like me and your own. Unfortunately we know
(28:07):
you don't work like that. Thank you for listening at
Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to thank our executive producers Jason
Flim and Kevin Wardis. The Senior producer for this episode
is Jackie Polly, and our producers are Lila Robinson, Connor Hall,
and Jeff Clyburne. Our editor is Roxander Guidi and special
(28:30):
thanks to Jillian Forstad for help on this episode. The
music and this production is 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, as well as Lava for
Good on all three platforms. You can also follow me
(28:53):
on Facebook and Instagram at free Patrick Pursley at I
Am Kid Culture Too, and online at i Am Kid
culture dot org. Rawful Conviction is a production of Lava
for Good Podcasts and association with Signal Company Number One.
(29:17):
On next week's guest hosted episode of Wrongful Conviction, Chris
Fabricamp will be talking to Gilbert Pool about the the
nonsensical bite mark evidence that landed Gilbert in prison for
thirty two years for a crime he had absolutely nothing
to do with. Now, Chris is a personal hero of
mine and we have a deep connection because Chris is
(29:37):
the man who kicked off and occupies the Joe Flom
chair at the Innocence Project named after my dad, and
his position as Strategic Litigation Director is so critical to
our work and our mission at the Innocence Project, And
of course what it means is that Chris not only
helps to exonerate innocent people by shining a light on
(30:00):
many of the junk sciences that are routinely accepted as
real science in court rooms across our country, but he
then uses those examples of these grotesque injustices to affect
policy and change and to change practices. Listen next Monday
(30:21):
in The Wrongful Conviction Podcast feed
I'm Jason Flom, host of Wrongful Conviction, and so far
we've brought you hundreds of stories of people stolen from
their lives and families for crimes they did not commit.
The sheer number of cases we've coverage speaks to the
scale of the problem, but we've yet to even scratch
the surface. To amplify this message even louder, I've invited
new voices to host the show to create interviews of
(00:21):
the system affected by the system affected. This is one
of those interviews. On January, a sixty year old woman
in the small town of Violet, Louisiana, her to knock
at the door. It was two o'clock in the morning
that night. She had been babysitting her three and a
half year old grandson, and she opened the door thinking
(00:43):
was her son to pick up the child. Instead, two
men forced their way into her home and demanded to
be taken to her safe. When she insisted she didn't
have one, they raped her and stole her stereo equipment
and of television. The next door neighbor saw the two
men walking out of the house with the stolen goods.
(01:03):
Then they saw them get into a car with a
woman at the wheel. One of those neighbors was twenty
four year old Louis Caesar, and he recognized one of
the men as Ulysses Pierre, who also went by the
name of Little Noon Lewis. Mother Yolanda called nine one
one to report the crime. Later that day, police arrested
Ulysses and brought him in for questioning. At first, he
(01:26):
claimed he acted alone, but police physically abused him until
he admitted that two others were involved. Ulysses said that
Sidney Williams and his younger cousin, Jarvis Ballard, were with him.
He also told the police where they hit the stolen items.
Jarvis was arrested later that same day. During their interrogation,
he denied taking any part of the crime, but after
(01:48):
the police threatened and beat him, Jarvis eventually signed a
false confession statement. Three men were arrested, even though the
victim and the witnesses said only who had been involved.
On July twenty one, Ulysses Pierre, Sidney Williams, and Jarvis
Ballard were sentenced to life in prison. This is wrongful conviction.
(02:23):
My name is Patrick Pursley, also known as Free Patrick Pursley.
I was previously a guest on this show to tell
the story of my own wrongful conviction today, though I'm
stepping into the host role. This April, I had the
honor to sit down with Jarvis Ballard and its lawyer
G Park at the Instance Network conference in Phoenix, Arizona.
When we spoke, Jarvis had only been out of prison
(02:45):
for eight months. It was emotional conversation for the both
of us. I want to say how grateful I am
to Jarvis for trusting me to tell his story. This
case here really, UM, it took me apart because it's
very steeped in the South and the culture and the
(03:08):
practice of treatment black men in the South. Very heavy
accusation of what you went through, what you were accused of, right,
all these things. UM, it's very to me. It resonated
with the historical harms of Deep South attitude towards black life.
It's very good for you to be here. I'm very
(03:30):
thankful to meet you. I'm sorry for what you went through. Everyone. Welcome,
Jarvis Ballot and his attorney G Park, Welcome to the show.
Good to be here. It's nice to meet so tell
us a little bit about your past. It's like growing
up in Louisiana. What you went through and what your experience. Well,
(03:51):
I grew up with a single mother of two. My
father got cute murder of shot nineteen times tendon Ai,
so I was actually three, but I always knew that
my daddy home with the wrong crowd. And I learned
that a lot old as I grew up, because he
(04:13):
was a known drug dealer and he was known for
him in New Orleans, for him having a name of
killing people. And I always didn't never want to be
like that because I always played sports. But I found
myself having his aggression towards other people, like, you know,
you don't take much to meet me. Made if I
think you're a bullet, you're not gonna bullet nobody around me.
(04:37):
So you know, always was challenging all the bullets. So
I took on the name mass a little with the
are which is my dad. And then they called him
town taker because a lot of people are scared to
mess with him. I didn't want that because I know
eventually soon on last abody holme me and take my
life like they took it, started selling drugs and smoking weeds.
I'm thirteen years old, and you know I'm in high
(05:00):
school playing bees but actually I'll playing bees ball in football.
And my suppose this is kind of will help me
get along whatever, just a little bit more than the
next person, you know, and I will get away with
a lot. I might get expelled from school. They're send
a teacher to the house, just as just coming practice
right for you. But I didn't care about school because
(05:22):
like my my my ninth going in my team gray year,
it was over it, which is having running is that
landed me and Julie Hall for two years. But I
just had it. I just had a natt for getting it.
I just like this bad peep, bad boards. You know,
you know what it is. You think you're bad. I
want to. I want to. I want to be the
one in the throne. Whatever you think you've got going on.
(05:42):
His previous interactions with the criminal justice system put him
on the police radar, and that's how Jarvis got swept
up into what's about to happen next. So in January,
a woman, she was a sixty year old white woman,
um and then all of the night there's a knock
on her door. She goes to the door. There are
(06:04):
two men who burst into her home. They rape her
viciously and then they steal things from her. And in
her home was her grandson whom she was taking care
of that night. And so right after this horrific incident
happens to her, she calls the police. She calls nine
on one, and she says, two black men came into
my home, stole my belongings, and raped me. And they
(06:26):
were in there at her home for quite some time.
And not only that, they covered her eyes where visibility
was hindered for most of this time. And as this
robbery rape is happening, as they're carrying things from this
woman's home to a car right where in which there
was a driver in the car, and that driver is
(06:48):
a woman. So it's three people total, right, two men
who go in the house, and then there's a driver
who is a woman in the car, in the getaway vehicle.
And the neighbors are seeing something happening right to their
neighbor's home. This is the mother and the son, Louis
Caesar and Yolanda Caesar, Right does his mother and son
who live next door to this woman, right, And they
(07:10):
say when they talk to the police that night or
shortly thereafter, they say to me, they see two men, right,
and they see a third person in the car, and
this is what they know, um immediately after the crime. Now,
the way Jarvis gets involved is that Louis recognizes one
of the people as Pierre. He says, oh, that's Jarvis's cousin,
(07:33):
first cousin, Yeah, Eulicie spears. So he recognizes Julysi Speer
and that's who. So Louis is the one who tells
the police. I think one of the men recognize as
Ulysses Pierre. And the next morning, at ten am, police
go to Pierre's home. Right, Pierre's the last name, right,
Ulyssi is his first name. They go to Pierre's home
(07:54):
and they begin to interrogate him, right, and Pierre gives
a really unfortunate statement he involved Jarvis. On the night
of the crime, Jarvis was out at the club in
New Orleans. Well, of course, I was out party with
my friends. You know, we're having a few drinks, getting high.
I come home, I'm so entire. The kid I my
(08:17):
friend had to put him in my coat, which is
Louis Caesar. Later on I would learn that he was
the crime will be happening right next to it to
his house Louis Caesar gave Jarvis a ride home from
the party. Jarvis slept at his grandmother's house, where he
often spent the night. I get on the next morning,
I see all I'm thinking it's around up in the round.
Up is when he come pick you up? When you said,
(08:38):
what your undercovering? Ocati? So I'm like, man, So I
go back inside and make a phone out, say many
around people up for drugs. It's let me say no.
He said, Look, let noon, which is my cousin they
just arrested for a rape. Later that morning, Jarvis went
down the street to hang out with a friend. He
noticed on the way that the police were out in
front of his cousin, Tracy's house, so he asked to
(09:00):
from what was going on. So we're like, man, something
happened there and night with knowing him, which is you list?
I already knew what you're talking about because I heard it.
He said. They said they put the stuff in her
to ship. So this what draws me to go walk
down there because I want to know what's going on
with her. This is my family. But as I'm walking,
they didn't already took the stuff out of the shade.
(09:20):
They asking out about me, do you know where job
is better? And she's pointing telling him that him coming
right there. So as I'm coming and say you joll
about and said yeah, they see, get on the ground,
which I complied. When I got there, Detective Calvin bought
arresting me. He bought me there and I was interviewed
by Scott Davis. That's who actually meant me how to do.
(09:40):
He said, you want to read old white women like
I didn't read nobody, and he spread peppers from now
I'm looking at my cousin and my cousin and fairly
light skinning, so I see where he can like he'd
been attacked. And he's like, man, just tell him what happened.
I'm like, I don't know what happened. What did you
talking about? Now this next part I have to warn
the listener it's very difficult to talk about and very
(10:02):
difficult to hear. But during their interrogation, Jarvis was subject
to a high level of brutality. He was sprayed with
pepper spray and kicked repeatedly in the groin. The injuries
he got from the police required him to have emergency
surgery and they started you know, they kicked met me
pretty much. It was very clear. I knew we did that.
(10:23):
He did it two or three times I have, and
I just like, like Jesus, I don't understand why family
put people in position. But you know, I think the
police had no right to treat you like that, all right.
I mean they didn't have to spread. I mean they
don't have They didn't have to. You know, people do
(10:43):
not They didn't have to physical. While they were interrogating Jarvis,
the police were also interrogating his cousin Ulysses and sister Quadrica.
Jarvis could actually hear his sister from the other room
and the police stay ship because I hit my sister.
They're crying and she like it wasn't you know? It
(11:04):
was me La noon. And now you were feeling protective
or vulnerable with her there as well. I didn't want
to see her get into trouble because I was like,
she didn't got herself into Finally, after all that fiscal
abuse and the instinct to protect the sister, Jarvis's will
was completely overborne and he relented and he signed a
(11:26):
false confession. And that man told my mom that she
can have our daughter. I got your son, so now
I had to play save my sister, and y'all beat me.
I'm just strong man, but I had to make a decision.
And once I signed that statement, then their kee was
(11:47):
kind of sealed for them. And the only thing I
got hope of the gold one day we had me
in this position right here. So basically a trial, what
(12:08):
was presented? What did the jury here? What's you know?
How was that broke down to the jury because obviously
they weren't apprized of all the facts, right, So the
state presented, I mean, the state relied on three pieces
of evidence. One was the positive identification of Jarvis by
the complainant about the victim in the case, right. I
mean for a sixty year old white woman to say
(12:33):
in the courtroom pointing to Jervis and saying that is
the man who raped me, that's pretty powerful evidence. Um.
The second piece of evidence was co defendant Ulysses Peers
statement right implicating Jarvis. And then Jarvis's own confession that
they took from him. So those are the three pieces
of evidence that a steep, steep, steep mountain to overcome.
(12:57):
It is because the physical evidence only link to Ulysses
Pierre and Sydney Williams, the two guys who actually committed
a cross which makes sense. And there was nothing, no
physical evidence, no DNA, nothing that connected Jarvis to the scene. Yeah.
And so after the police was called, after the victim
gave her statement, she was taken to the hospital, right,
(13:19):
and a sexual assault kid was performed on her. They
collected evidence, physical evidence, right, and they conducted DNA testing
on that too, physical on the physical evidence that was
collective on the scene and from her body. And they
were able to identify two male profiles and neither one
of those belong to Jovis. There's two male profiles they
(13:43):
developed belonged to Ulysses Pierre and also to Sydney Williams,
the two men who actually committed this crime. The jury
did not hear all the relevant evidence that they should
have heard to decide what actually happened in this case.
I mean to say, take care about to do to
efficiency more than accuracy and justice and fairness. Louisiana, you know,
(14:06):
has the highest incarceration per capita in the entire world, right, Um,
And not only that, we have the highest exoneration rate
per capita in the country. And so when you put
those numbers together, you wonder what is really going on
here in the South. The fact of the matter is,
you know, Jervis was represented by a public defender system
(14:27):
that is still falling apart in Louisiana. Right, you need
effective attorneys to investigate your cases. His attorneys didn't have
an investigator. Right. His attorney didn't know the discovery practices
in the jurisdiction that he was practicing. It you get
the file. Yeah, so attorneys, you would think that would
be the you want complete file, right right, right, right right.
(14:49):
It's your obligation, it's your duty, it's your job. And
then on the flip side, you have the prosecutor who
also has a duty to turn over, turn over everything.
I feel like once they've seen who it was, it
was old, it didn't even matter no more about how
to get this conviction. I just wanted you know, you
have an elderly white woman fifty was nine at the time,
(15:11):
six years old, she's raped. You know, I understood that
what I was up against because I under still growing
up down and how it was, so I knew that
it was dominated by white people. I learned this further
of all, I have to learn that whatever happened. I
gotta know that it was wrong. What happened to the woman.
I looked at the router problem where she got raped.
Ain't nothing right about that. Now I understand that the
(15:35):
police had to make help make me a victim. That's
when the racism come in. Look we got this black
kid that he's saying that he did this to you,
and did this here, and we want to show you
a picture. You remember seeing the me your house? Now
your points great at the picture. So I knew how
now this is one day almost like suggested to her
that there was three. Now they did they did? I
(15:57):
think it. Actually they bought this one in front of
me during a trial session and ex he told me,
see if this woman said you went in the house,
I'm gonna let you go right now. He said, this
guy right here saying that she wasn't in his house.
The woman started crying. She said, yes, you will you
reading me. I'm like, ma'am, I don't even know you.
On July one, after less than four hours of deliberation,
(16:21):
the jury convicts Jarvis Ballard and Ulysses Pierre of aggravated rape.
The next day, Sidney Williams was convicted of the same.
All three were sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Jarvis's case is particularly heartbreaking because it happened within a family, right,
(16:41):
It's about family as I turned kind of against one
another and that got one of their brother cousin right
in prison for twenty three years. And so I think
that's case. It's incredibly heartbreaking. It's more than a betrayal.
You know, I forgive me, but I would never be
able to have been with him because you didn't have
(17:02):
no reason to do that to that woman. To me,
you made two victims that laid in me. Then you
took something from me that you didn't have to do.
So I don't I don't talk years, six months and
you know him all your life. This is my We
took bath together. He was my he was my big cousin,
(17:26):
but I was you know, he's like my brother because
I always was much bigger than him. But you you know,
you heard me, and I don't hate, but I just
rather not deal with him. During his twenty three years inside,
Jarvis made a few good friends. One was Jerome Morgan
now fellow as Honery. You know, and you meet people
(17:49):
along the way, not knowing that you'll share the same
similar story, just different. It means it's just different cases
but the same situation. And I met Jerome and we
become good friends, and he actually like a man talk
to me. I loved Tom, you know, I watched him
(18:09):
countless nights up two or three days working on his
case and I'm talking. We sat up in the same
place sports together, and you know, he was preparing himself
for this date, but I wasn't. I only had hope,
you know. And it was people like him that encouraged
me to start right the Innocent Project, he said, Innocent right,
(18:31):
Innocent Project, So you know it's people like him, and
not knowing that, you know, years later, the same person
that helped him get out of president would help actually
take my case. Jarvis wrote to the Innocent Project in
New Orleans IPNO for short, and they eventually took his
case and helped him fight for his exoneration. In terms
(18:54):
of investigating this case, we began to collect all the
documents right related to this case, the d file for
police records, to court files, anything and everything we get
our hands on. And it's challenging to get access to
old records right. Sometimes they are lost, Sometimes they're misplaced.
Sometimes they give you copies that's heavily redacted. Sometimes they
(19:14):
give you copies with missing pages. Right. And so I
have to say, took us more time than we should
have for us to gather, not just for the audience,
the time that takes investigate. Oh my goodness. I mean
there has been some sort of investigation happening since two thousand,
eight thousand seventeen, right, I mean we're talking, uh nine years, right, um,
(19:37):
And so what we learned, So during trial, we already
talked about the witness Lewis Caesar, right, the neighbor who
initially stated that he saw two men leaving the house
and there's a woman in the car. Right. That was
his initial statement to the police. What he testified to
a trial was not fat though. What he testified to
(19:58):
a trial was that he saw three men. Three men.
That was his testimony a trial. So his testimony completely changed.
Joey doesn't hear that his tire and cross examined for
not because the lawyer doesn't really know either, right, lawyer
doesn't he doesn't get the file, and or he doesn't
conduct the investigation. He never went and interviewed Louis Caesar
(20:20):
before trial. He is an eyewitness in this case, and
the attorney representing Jarvis never thought it was important enough
to go talk to an eyewitness in the case. So
the lawyer doesn't know about this, right, the d ning
always probably be like the center of it, because we
know all we need to do is get all the
other pieces of evidence. I can see, all right, we
know Jovis was innocent. And actually I didn't notice. I
(20:44):
found that out recently that they didn't testimony kid. But
he tested partial pause of it, so a certain pause
that he didn't test. But basically money ran the test back.
Everything still came back. He's I don't reading. Ultimately, it
was a combination things that got Jarvis out of prison,
ipno attained affidavits from witnesses to the crime and to
Jarvis's alibi, and retesting the rape kIPS show that none
(21:08):
of jarvis DNA was present. After round of appeals, the
district attorney released Jarvis Ballard from prison and affirmed his innocence.
But before they told Jarvis he was getting out, one
of his lawyers, Charrelle Arnold, had a bit of fun
with him. Serral was about to send me a business book.
She never sent it. That's what I said, why you
(21:28):
didn't send my book? She said, I'm not to find
another way to meet it up to you because she
liked the Joe too. I said, yeah, well you you
know you said you're gonna say And she said, well,
how can I make it up to you? I said,
you can get me out here. She said, no, we're
gonna do that tomorrow. Brus See what she said, they
throw all your charges out. You're coming home to m hmm.
(22:02):
If we had a world war was one sided and
you just let crime go, probably wouldn't be here, you
and a lot of us. But they need That's the
only way this world. But rate you need to have that.
But sometimes people get arrested bad you and I in
the process of that. You know, I'm still young, I'm
(22:23):
still active. I like the work out I have, I
have fund I play with the kid. I'm like a
big old child when I go to the fair. Guess
why I met on the rise with the kids the
two and fIF upon I might can't get on this
one and they go somewhere else. Been home since for
August eight months. That's that's why I work it. I
(22:44):
work in the Federal fifth circuit, cold house remodeling Irony
listen works good. Put me in this place. I'm really
remodeling it. So I'm working with a construction people it
up and I'm getting on the elevator with guess what
judges that in prov to see my keys. But when
(23:06):
I told one of those guys my story and he
googled it, he liked, man, congratulations, you know, and I
let him know that I respect everything he's staying for.
I really, do you know, I respect everything that Ginn's
staying for. By chance, Jarvis ran into District Attorney Perry Nicosia,
(23:27):
the man who dismissed the case and allowed him to
walk free after twenty three years behind bars, and they
had an opportunity to talk. You know. I met Perry
and he was like, man, I'm very very very sorry.
I'm like, Perry, Man, you did the right thing, and
I appreciate that. That's the d I say, you did
the right thing. I say, man, I really appreciate that.
Jerome Morgan, the one who encouraged Jarvis to reach out
(23:49):
to IO in the first place. He was also there
to help him cope with this transition to free world living.
But when you come in prison. Man, it's a different
type of atmosphere. And when you meet good people like
this guy, you know, you want to hold onto them,
you know, because it's very spell it coming out that place.
(24:10):
Because the same way he smiled, and I'm smiling the
whole time, I got emotional and serious, but the whole
time I always had a legitiate, happy attitude. We don't
let what happened to us, you know, this raw so
have us to the point where we got a lot
of hate and bitterness in us. We don't do that.
We described for better and he teached me that every day,
(24:32):
and that's the journey I'm on right now. I really
want to focus on, you know, trying to you know,
get in position to where when no call us, we
can be there for those dudes. You know, it ain't
much about being financial to just being there. Any do
that basically with everybody, And that's the type of relationship
that we're trying to create for people that's coming home
(24:55):
through this program. Jerome was a previous guest on this podcast,
and now he's back to talk about how he and
Jarvis are teaming up to help other asnorees coming home
in New Orleans. Thank you for having me. I never
thought that I would be back along these lines, but
I appreciate how this has coming come about because we
went through some of the similar things by being wrongfully
(25:17):
convicted and being in prison where it don't matter if
you're guilty or not, you still get the same treatment.
You can't acclimate yourself to society how they operating, you
know now and as they were when you was in prison,
you know, so you have to, I guess self, create
a way to to to live in that space because
(25:37):
there's no road map for you. In the closest road
map for somebody's coming home to the arms of people
who have been through that situation. That's what we want
to provide now. And I'm glad that you know, Jovis
has you know, been encouraged and inspired to do that
throughout his time, even in prison. You know, it shows
that he honestly wants to be a positive despite the
(26:01):
negative things that has happened to and to me, you know,
that's some of the greatest people in the world. So
we'll have the link in the bio for IPNO as
well as your go fund me, And I really really
want thank you for trust me to tell your story.
I really do, Like I've never met you before, so
this is amazing for me. It's a process for me.
(26:22):
And just know that you can call me personally any time. Okay,
because my brother and my Deasonery brothers and exoneration, we're
at the part of the show now where um it's
called closing arguments where we turn off my might and
just kind of let you guys speak your peace and
say what's on your mind to the audience and thank
(26:44):
you so much. You know, IPNO has freed or exonerated
forty individuals who have served over nine and seventy five
years in prison for crimes they did not commit. And
that is just a drop in the bucket. You know,
there's over five thou and men and women in Louisiana
prisons doing a life sentence without the possibility of all
(27:04):
these men and women are not coming home, just like
you know Jerome and Jarvis before if NO got involved,
and so um, there's a lot to be done still,
and UM, I'm really um, I feel really privileged for
this opportunity to speak with Jerome, to speak with Jarvis,
to speak with Patrick, and for um having this moment
(27:26):
with them. So thank you, she said, I just appreciate everything,
you know, even the people that donate. You know, it's
appreciate it, you know, because like I said earlier, got
a lot of people that's not gonna be in this shoot,
a lot of innescent people gonna not made it because
(27:46):
you know, if knowing it, have the resources to do
so many cases and hopefully before this is and it
will be far closed my eyes, they'd probably be big.
And with this is now, because I think everybody has
every chance, like me and your own. Unfortunately we know
(28:07):
you don't work like that. Thank you for listening at
Wrongful Conviction. I'd like to thank our executive producers Jason
Flim and Kevin Wardis. The Senior producer for this episode
is Jackie Polly, and our producers are Lila Robinson, Connor Hall,
and Jeff Clyburne. Our editor is Roxander Guidi and special
(28:30):
thanks to Jillian Forstad for help on this episode. The
music and this production is 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, as well as Lava for
Good on all three platforms. You can also follow me
(28:53):
on Facebook and Instagram at free Patrick Pursley at I
Am Kid Culture Too, and online at i Am Kid
culture dot org. Rawful Conviction is a production of Lava
for Good Podcasts and association with Signal Company Number One.
(29:17):
On next week's guest hosted episode of Wrongful Conviction, Chris
Fabricamp will be talking to Gilbert Pool about the the
nonsensical bite mark evidence that landed Gilbert in prison for
thirty two years for a crime he had absolutely nothing
to do with. Now, Chris is a personal hero of
mine and we have a deep connection because Chris is
(29:37):
the man who kicked off and occupies the Joe Flom
chair at the Innocence Project named after my dad, and
his position as Strategic Litigation Director is so critical to
our work and our mission at the Innocence Project, And
of course what it means is that Chris not only
helps to exonerate innocent people by shining a light on
(30:00):
many of the junk sciences that are routinely accepted as
real science in court rooms across our country, but he
then uses those examples of these grotesque injustices to affect
policy and change and to change practices. Listen next Monday
(30:21):
in The Wrongful Conviction Podcast feed
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Bright Pacheco
Maggie Freleng
Jason Flom
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Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.