May 4, 2023 • 44 mins
On September 13, 1983, Delbert Baker was found dead – shot and with his throat slashed – in Auburndale, FL. Witnesses gave the police a lead on two suspects but they quickly dismissed it since one of the suspects was working as a police informant. A few months later, after a $5,000 reward was offered for information, another individual came forward and said that Juan Roberto Melendez was responsible. This person was known to dislike Juan, and on more than one occasion declared that he would “get” Juan. At trial, this individual’s testimony was the primary evidence against Juan, and despite a solid alibi and the complete lack of inculpatory physical evidence, Juan was convicted and sentenced to death. Over a decade later, a transcribed confession of one of the original suspects was re-discovered, in which he took responsibility for the murder, and declared Juan’s innocence. Gilbert King talks to Juan Roberto Melendez and Linda McDermott, Juan's attorney.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
On the evening of September thirteenth, nineteen eighty three, beauty
school owner Delbert Baker, known to his friends and customers
as mister Dell, was found dead in the back room
of his school in Auburndale, Florida. He had been shot,
his throat was slashed, and the place was covered in blood.
Witnesses gave police the names of a couple of locals
(00:24):
whom they had seen with mister Dell that evening, but
the case eventually went cold. A few months later, a
man named David Luna Falcon told police that an acquaintance,
Juan Melendez, had allegedly bragged about committing the murder with
two accomplices. One of them, a man named John Berrion,
admitted to police that he had been the accessory after
(00:46):
the fact, giving him the vantage point to name the
other accomplice and Juan Melendez as well. Law enforcement caught
up with Juan in Pennsylvania, extradited him to Florida, and
charged him with first degree murder. At trial, David Falcon
and John Berrion testified that Juan shot mister Dell and
stole a watch, a gold bracelet, four diamond rings, and
(01:10):
fifty dollars in cash before fleeing the scene. When one
of the original suspects who had been seen with mister
Dell that night was called by the defense at trial,
he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights not to testify. Clearly
he had nothing important to add. But this is wrongful conviction.
(01:42):
Welcome back to wrongful conviction. I'm Gilbert King and I'm
filling in for Jason Flahm, and today we have a
case out of Polk County, Florida, where I've spent so
much time doing research for the last like four or
five years, researching other cases, and so I'm very familiar
with that prosecutor's office as well as some of the
judges in that area. And these are the very same
(02:04):
folks that sent Juan Melendez to death row. They kept
them there for over seventeen years. So this is in
a state. You know, Florida, for the last one hundred
and two executions, has exonerated thirty people from death row.
So you just doing the math on that Florida has
admitted to condemning one innocent person at least every fifth
(02:27):
time that they seek the death penalty. And you know,
we're just so glad that our guest today survived and
he's here with us now. Juan Melendez, welcome one.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Jan thanks so much for joining me today. I really
really appreciate it. And joining us is also Juan's habeas attorney,
who at the time was with Florida's Office of the
Capitol Collateral Representative and she eventually went on to private
practice and she co founded the National Habeas Institute. Linda McDermott, Linda,
(02:58):
welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I became familiar with Polk County when I was digging
into a really troubling case for my podcast Bone Valley.
This is the story where myself and co host Kelsey
Decker and I we covered the wrongful conviction of Leo Schofield,
and you know, we continue obviously to hope for justice there.
Leo's prosecutor, John Aguero rose up in the ranks with
(03:24):
Wan's prosecutor Hardy Pickard. And by the end of this interview,
I think that our audience is going to get a
glimpse of what I've seen. But before we get to that,
you know, one, can you just tell us about your
life before you ever even knew who Hardy Pickard was.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I'm born in Brooklyn, New York, but I was facing
the island of Puerto Rico. It took back when I
was just a little kid. But when I went to
it to Florida. I went in nineteen seventy, it's still segreation,
blacks in one side, white in another side. And I
had the biggest outfro in town. So you know where
(04:00):
they're gonna put me in the black side. And I
loved it. I love every bitder of it, so I
was happy. My work was mostly picking fruit, the gray fruits,
the tanierines, the orange, all citral fruit. So that's what
I used to do, mostly pick fruit. Migrate from Florida
to the state of Pennsylvania and do some more, get
(04:23):
the apples and the beaches and stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Now what the victim in this case Delbert Baker. He
was known to many of his customers and friends as
mister Dell. He owned a cosmetology school in Auburndale, Florida,
which is right in Paul County. What have you ever
been to Auburndale? Ever ever run into Dell? I mean
maybe wenting there for a haircut or something.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
First of all, I had to tell you, I've never
been in a Cote mestology school, you know where their
fits hair and all that stuff. I never been in
one of them. I've seen them in TV. I've been
in in Abunda, in the little town where that crime happened.
Like I told you, picking foot, that's it. Never know
that man was Knittin and heal who he.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Was, and mister Dell. He had been brutally attacked on
the evening of September thirteenth, nineteen eighty three. He was
discovered in the back room of his hair salon by
his own sister. His throat had been slashed, he'd been shot.
Blood obviously was everywhere. Linda, what do we know about
the initial investigation? Were there any leads or any obvious
(05:28):
motivations into this crime.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
The investigation started that next day and it appeared the
motivation may be a robbery because jewelry was missing, money
was missing from his workplace. It was unclear if there
was a motive beyond the robbery, and there were quickly
some leads.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Now from what I've read, one of those leads was
a man named Vernon James.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
That right, there was an individual named Terry Barber, who
had told law enforcement he had seen Vernon James with
another man named Harold Lamb at mister Dell's place of
business on the evening of the crime. However, according to
law enforcement, they checked with Harold Landrum's employer and he
had an alibi for that evening, so the James and
(06:14):
Landrum lead didn't get pursued.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, what strikes me funny about that is this You
mentioned Landrum's alibi, but not one for Vernon James. And
we've seen even like rock solid alibis get completely ignored
by police and prosecutors. Well, let's take wand for instance.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I had an alibi and I had three people corribo
raving the alibi. All I know that Bena James was
a police informer. I think Landrow was two.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So potentially these were both police informants. We know that
Vernon James was for sure. And then the police ignored
your alibi, but not Landrums, whose alibi was apparently strong
enough to cover for Vernon James as well. And then
the case went cold allegedly until five thousand dollars was
offered for information. And this is five thousand dollars in
(07:04):
nineteen eighty four, you know, February nineteen eighty four to
be exact. Just like that, the police received a tip.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
One individual came forward and his name was David Luna Falcon,
and he said that in January of nineteen eighty four,
he and mister Melendez had been you know, drinking and
enjoying themselves in a nightclub, and mister Melendez had been
very you know, specific detail told mister Falcon what had
happened that night. Falcon had said that someone had taken
(07:37):
mister Melendez and another individual to the hair salon, and
he mentioned the name John in his original statement to police,
but he didn't have any particular names, and that mister
Melendez and another individual went to mister Dell's and robbed him.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
And from crime scene photos we know that whoever actually
did this had slashed Delbert Baker's throat and shot him
in the head. And although Falcon was not clear about
who was wielding the knife, he alleged that Wan had
claimed to have pulled the trigger.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
And there was this odd detail in his testimony that
before mister Melendez allegedly shot mister Baker, mister Baker had
started throwing blood at mister Melendez and this other unknown
person and begging, begging mister Melendez to take him to
the hospital. And at that point, allegedly mister Melendez said
(08:33):
that he shot mister Baker.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
And now Linda Wan wasn't even a suspect until he
came forward, Is that correct? Correct?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
I mean, there was no evidence linking Wan at all
to this crime.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Now, Wan, did you know this David Luna Falcon gentleman.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yes, I did I know him. I know he was
a paid police informan. I know it was some kind
of guns against me and him.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yeah, that's what I read. In addition to receiving five
thousand dollars, it was known that David Falcon did not
like you. In fact, several witnesses they later testified a
trial that they had overheard Falcons say that he would
quote get you. But at this point the police, I guess,
looked you up and they must have seen that you
had an armed robbery charge on your record.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
And I'm not gonna lie to you. I had a
prior rikle and.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Even though that had nothing to do with what happened
to mister Dell, it's really not out of the ordinary
for that a criminal record can act as a motivator
for police to focus on someone. But what about these
two other men, the alleged accomplices. Falcon had only said
the name John, and then a friend of yours named
(09:41):
John Berryon was arrested. So other than his friendship with you,
there doesn't appear to be anything else that led them
to this particular John now Linda in Florida with felony murder.
The threat of the death penalty was looming over John Berrion,
and he agreed to implicate one as well as his cousin,
George Barrion. But to even have this alleged firsthand knowledge,
(10:06):
he had to implicate himself to some degree.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
He implicates himself to the extent that he says he
drove George barrion friend mister Melendez to the studio, but
he also says I didn't know anything that was going
to happen. And so John Barron is originally charged with
first degree murder and ultimately agrees to testify against Juan
in exchange for a nolo contendre plea to accessory after
(10:32):
the fact, which would immediately allow him to be released
from jail and to have served any sentence that he
would have with that particular charge.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
So John Baryon escaped the electric chair in exchange for
a story in which he was an accessory after the fact.
Now Falcon had said mister Dell had allegedly thrown blood
at Wan in his accomplice, but that didn't match up
with John Berrion's story.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
It certainly didn't match up in that John Barrion said
that mister Melendez and George Baron left the hair salon
without any blood on them. You know, there was nothing
unusual about them other than he started suggesting that they
had some jewelry and things that could have been obtained
during this robbery. And then he goes on to tell
another piece of the story where he says the next
(11:18):
day or two days later, he gives George Barrion a
ride to the train station, mister Melendez is again with them,
and at that point he sees mister Melendez give George
Barrion a watch and some rings and tell him to
take them to Delaware and to pawn those and obtain
money for them. And the law enforcement did find out
(11:41):
that mister Barry and George Barrion did in fact purchase
a ticket to go to Delaware within a day or
two after the Baker homicide. So John Baryon's story did
have some pieces that the law enforcement believed could corroborate
what he was saying.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
It actually only corroborated that George Barrion's children lived in Wilmington, Delaware.
Now George Barrion he later testified that he'd only met
Wan once at John Berrion's house and denied any involvement
in mister Dell's murder or this alleged train station jewelry handoff.
And ultimately George Barrion was never charged with anything, but
(12:21):
the police continued with these two conflicting statements from Falcon
and John Barrion that did match up on the one
detail that they needed that Wan was involved. And so
they found out that you were in Pennsylvania working in
the fruit orchards, which was misconstrued as fleeing. Had you
like ever heard that this you know, murder had even taken.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Place, never heard about.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So you were completely unaware that you were a suspect,
you know, let alone about to be arrested.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
And I never forget this day made a second nineteen
eighty four, why we was working it was by a
police card and they stopped in front of us and
they told us to hit put a weapon on us.
Then they ordered me to get up. Then they said
you are on the arrest for first degree murder and
i'm robbery in the state of Florida.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
You were then extradited back to Florida. And at the
time I understand you could not even speak that much English.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
The true is I know at that time, if I
say five words in English, believe in my friends, three
of them would because words. So they brought interpreted to
explain to me what es tradition mean. And all he
told me in Spanish was you either wave it or
(13:38):
fight it. They can take you back anyway. I start thinking,
I'm not a killer. My mama did not raise no killers.
I'm going to wave it. As soon they see this
ugly face in Florida, they will let me go. But
I was wrong. When I go back, they took me
in front of the George, and the George he read
the charges to me. He said, you being be indicted
(14:00):
for first degree murder and I'm bravri in the state
of Florida is sinking the death penalty against you. The
elected chair.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
This episode is underwritten by global law firm Greenberg Trawig
through its pro bono program. Greenberg Trowig leverages its more
than twenty six hundred lawyers across forty four offices to
serve the greater good of our communities and provide equal
access to justice for all. In the field of criminal justice,
Greenberg Trowrig attorneys have exonerated and free demanded Philadelphia represent
(14:40):
numerous individuals previously sentenced to life for crimes committed as
juveniles and resentencing hearings, and receive the American Bar Association's
twenty twenty one Exceptional Service Award for Death Penalty Representation
for their work on five death penalty cases. GT is
reimagining what big law can be because of a more
just world. Only happens by design.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
So, meanwhile, in that same month, from what I've read,
it appears that in order to ensure that your prosecution
went smoothly, the lead detective, Gary Glisten, chose to go
to these extraordinary lengths to protect the initial informant in
this case, David Falcon, from himself from damaging his own credibility.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
When Falcon committed a home invasion in I believe it
was in May of nineteen eighty four, Glisten went to
the victims of that home invasion and put pressure on
them not to prosecute. According to one of those victims,
the woman who had been at the house, she was
told that if we arrest Falcon, all that's going to
(15:51):
happen is he's going to make bail and he's going
to come back and he's going to harm you. And
so rather than protecting her, they were basically telling her
the only way she could protect herself was to waive
prosecution and then they would sort of tell Falcon to
back off.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Which seems, you know, completely antithetical to his duty as
a police officer. He chose to protect the credibility of
the state's dubious star witness, David Falcon instead of Falcons
victims both you know, past and future. So did Hardy Picker?
Did he know about this home invasion cover up?
Speaker 3 (16:27):
His response to that was to tell Detective Glisson and
others to stop using Falcon for the time being as
your informant, because he didn't want to have any more
of these types of issues occur before the trial.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
So he was willing to accept Falcons were you know
just this once though, so Wan's court, a pointed attorney
Roger Alcott did not have the benefit of this impeachment evidence.
And now there's just four months to prepare for a
death penalty trial.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Mister Alcott and his trial investigator, Cody Smith, they started
to follow up on some of the leads that law
enforcement didn't find fruitful when they were following up on things,
and mister Elcott sent his investigator to speak to Vernon James,
and ultimately mister Elcott lists mister James as a witness
(17:16):
for the defense, and he tells the state that mister
James is going to come in and say that he
committed the murderer or that he was there and that
mister Melendez was not there.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
My attorney used to pat me in the back. You say, no,
what about it, mister Melendez? You going home and I
soon go home. I did not commit the crime.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
You know, perhaps Pickard should have looked at this evidence,
the Vernon James interview, as well as the home invasion
cover up for star witness, and just let you go home.
But instead Falcon and James were free to commit more
crimes while Wand's prosecution went on as scheduled, and that happened.
In September nineteen eighty four, the state had what we
now know to be the false, incentivized or coerced testimonies
(18:06):
of David Luna Falcon and John Berrion. To recap this,
Falcon alleged that you had bragged that a man named
John dropped you and another man off at Delbert Baker's salon.
Baker's throat had been slashed. According to Falcon, mister Dell
got blood on you. He begged you for help, but
you shot him. Then John Berrion corroborated Falcon's allegation that
(18:32):
he had dropped you and his cousin, George Barrion at
the salon. But Barrion, you know, in contrast to Falcon,
when he picked you up, neither of you were covered
in blood. So your attorney pointed out that inconsistency, which
implies that at least you know, one of them was
lying or mistaken, and then all caught. Put George Berrion
(18:52):
on the stand.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
George Berry tessify. He said that I only met won once,
And Mike colsun Is said, Patoloco Liah, I know way
he lies all the time.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
So mister Elcott had put together an alibi defense with
several witnesses, mister Melendez's girlfriend and her family, and they
had been together that evening. And then in addition to that, though,
mister Elcott had Vernon James to undermine the credibility of
John Barrion and David Luna Falcon Right.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
But what happened when Vernon James is called to the stand.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
He takes the fit amendment. And it's an interesting sort
of legal maneuver that the state makes because they tell
trial council just a few days before the trial that
Vernon James has made some statements that he committed the
crime to his cellmate named Roger Mims. And so at
that point they say, Vernon James needs to be advised
(19:52):
of his rights because there's this other individual pointing to
him as the person who committed the crime. So had
they not had Roger Mimms and mister Elcott just put
James on the stand, he could have extracted the information
that he wanted to extract without having this weird fitth
amendment issue be raised and James essentially being able to
(20:14):
absent himself from the trial and not have to confess
in front of the jury, and then sort of the
dominoes fall, because then after Mims testifies, the state undermines
his credibility by saying, oh, isn't this fortunate? You come
forward a week before the trial and suddenly you know,
this guy supposedly confesses to you.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
But unlike so many other police or jailhouse informants, Roger
Mims wasn't testifying in exchange for anything. He said that
Vernon James had said that he and Delbert Baker were
lovers and had he was involved in his death. But
since James had pleaded the fifth and he was a
defense witness, Alcott could not offer the recordings or transcripts
(20:58):
of the conversations with Vernon James, so the jury only
heard this from Mims.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Clearly, they were not finding mister Mims credible because of
this sort of he's so late to the game. And
it was a really effective way to make sure that
the jury didn't hear a confession from the actual the
person who was actually saying that he had committed the crime.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
So it appears that you know, without Vernon James, and
despite witnesses that testified the Falcon's grudge against you. Falcon
had not been sufficiently impeached. So one, I understand you
decided to take the stand in your own defense.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Probably the worst mistake I made in my life, and
it was against my attorney. He told me, one, if
you take this stand, prior REGOs will come. But I said, Alca,
I did not do this. I wanted you just to
know from my mouth that I didn't commit this crime.
Since I didn't do it, everything that Ahka come to
(21:57):
me is going to be no that you ever been
done in de place? No, did you know me to
deb No?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
All right? But what did the prosecutor ask across you say?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Did you committed i'm robbery before? Yes? I had. Did
you ever carry going before?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
I had. But that don't mean that I killed in
the debble.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
You know. Certainly, not having a prior conviction for robbery,
having having been in possession of a firearm, those types
of things certainly hurt him.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I got real scared and I failed that I was
in trouble. When I was in Trout and they showed
the bloody crime scene photographs, And when the juniors saw
that crime scene them pictures, they look straight to me,
and I can see that hate in their eyes, and
(22:48):
I know right then and then that I wasn't so big,
big trouble.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
After mister Melendez was exonerated and some of the jurors
were spoken to, you realize that there were some considerations
in that jury room that don't appear in the transcript.
Seeing those horrific pictures looking at Wan, he doesn't look
like them, he doesn't speak their language, has a two
foot high afro, and all of his witnesses are people
(23:17):
of color. Someone specifically pointed out Juan's afro and how
that influenced their verdict.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Yeah, I mean, that's a really great point, lind And
I think if you look at the history of Polk County,
I mean, one year after this trial they elect a
known white supremacist as Sheriff Dan Daniels. This was a
big problem in Polk County. So you finished the trial,
do you remember when you heard that verdict?
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Ah me, that was something there, Betty, Betty, Betty inglidh
that the whole will But at the same time, I
was scared that same man, these people can kill me.
And then I go back in the sale, I'm talking
to it to all the dudes there, and then they
(24:01):
telling me one with the dead enity. You might get
publicity and you can show you innocent and get out
of there. I may go. I will not give that
advice to nobody.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Some prison law. So after the verdict, you come out,
you address the jury.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
I did make their judos angry because I literally called
them racists right there. And I mean they've gone in
there to both for life and death. That as I'm
making angry a person that cooked for you, you can
you can put some post in the food. You said
what I'm saying. So I should never say what I said,
(24:41):
as I told the judus say I know the reason
why do people found me guilt because all my witnesses
were black. But I be back because I mean say,
and in the name of Jesus, I be back. I
was playing with my life, let's put it like that.
(25:11):
It was the worst day in my life. I never
forget the day. It was on a Tuesday, November the second,
nineteen eighty four. I got in there the nest jerday
they executed the ten person. Now I'm super scared. I
do not know the language that well, I do not
know the process. I do not know anything about law.
(25:33):
So I'm thinking they're kidding people here every week how
long it's going to be before they take me. The
first ten years, right, it was very rough. I'm telling
your mammy. A lot of people have hanged themselves in there,
what I was in there. So when my friend named
Simon Rivera, he just hang himself and that hit me
(25:55):
Rayal real real bear amago, thinking if he can do it,
I can do it. So I'm going to tell you
how they do it, exactly how they do it. The
guy they call it Rona e Verna said, hey, may
he's doing time in prison population, but he's not sending
it to death. They get him out of there so
(26:15):
he can do the work in the devil place. He's
the one that suppliers with the two page, the two bros,
the map in the boom, so you can clean yourself.
But he also can supply you will the two that
you can take your life with. And he knows it.
All you got to do is give him four post
stamps or a packaging can, rolling paper, tobacco the cheap kind,
(26:36):
and he will give you this tool. Maybe he do
it because he needs these items, or maybe he do
it because he called himself assisting you, helping you he
knows you when out of there, he knows that the
road is hell. The two is real simple, he said,
guy is plastic bag. You give him four stamps, and
when the garden looking, he will swing that bag inside
(26:58):
the cell. Take that bag, you twist it up. You
make a rope, put the noose in it, Put the
noose in your neck, throw yourself down, your dead, put
you free. And this is what the demons used to
tell me. Why why you don't why you got to
go to all of this? You're supposed to be a
Puerto Rican man as real match your man. Don't satisfy
(27:20):
damn satisfy yourself. You say you didn't do it. So
now I want to take this trip. So I tell
the rona to give me that gob is bad again
four stamps. And when the guy would look, its wing
the bag inside myself. I twisted, made the rope, put
the noose, put the news in the rope, and I
(27:44):
say to myself, I better lay loving think about this
a little bit more. When I lay down, I may go.
Almost immediately I fell in a deep de sleep, and
then I started dreaming. Then I'm a little kid again
that was raising the island of Puerto Rico. So here
I am dreaming. Then I'm swimming in the beautiful Caribbean
(28:05):
sea and believing, my friend, the water is warm, the
sun was so bright, the sky was so blue, and
the palm trees looked so good. It's a beautiful day.
Then in this dream, I see four dolphins coming to me,
A pair got on one side and a pear gant
(28:27):
in another one. Then they start flipping and jumping like
dolphins too. Amygo, I'm having a boat in there. Then
I looked to the shore and he said, beautiful lady
waving at me, throwing kisses at me, and she seems
so happy. She's happy because I'm happy. That's my mother.
Then I wake up and that was one of the
(28:49):
most beautiful dreams in my life. And right today, if
I'm depressed or I get kind of angry about something,
I started thinking about the dreaming in this go away.
Every time I got kind of depressed, and every time
I think that the war was going to end up
on me, they created the beautiful dream. And I was wise,
God them, that's a sign and hope that everything is
(29:12):
going to be all right.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I don't even know what to say other than to
recognize that eventually everything was all right. And even though
it took a long while, long enough for you to
learn English from your fellow inmates, we're all so grateful
that you decided to fight your case. Linda, Can you
tell us a little bit about the fight that was
ahead of him?
Speaker 3 (29:35):
In Florida? At the time when mister Melendez arrived on
death row, there was no state funded defense system. It
was all run through volunteers, and so there were tended
to be delays and getting people attorneys, and if there
were delays in starting the process, there were going to
be delays in executing people. So that seemed to be
(29:58):
a big motivator for the Florida lifelegislature to actually fund
an agency to represent people like mister Melendez.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
And that agency was called the Office of the Capital
Collateral Representative, where you eventually worked. Now, given what we
know about the evidence in this case, can you give
me some kind of idea about why they were able
to deny his appeals?
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Sure, so, the attorneys at that time did what they
believed they needed to do. They requested records, they spoke
to the trial attorney. They put together what's called the
thirty eight to fifty motion, which is a motion to vacate.
And at that time they had some fairly good information.
They certainly did indicate that Vernon James was a suspect
(30:41):
in the crime, but they didn't have anything all that
different or new from what was presented at the trial
through Roger Mimms, So that appeal ended up in a
summary denial. What is also remarkable on direct appeal is
that Justice Rosemary Barquette, in her dissent, believed that the
death penalty should be dismissed because she thought the evidence
(31:04):
of guilt was so weak that it shouldn't substantiate a
death penalty. So I do think that that is also
really telling that when that justice reviewed his case that
she made that comment.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
But unfortunately, the lack of strength in this evidence wasn't
enough to make a difference. And there's another problem. Wand's
appellet attorneys didn't have the recording or transcript of the
trial investigator's interview with Vernon James, and he had passed
away by then, right.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
He was maurder two or three years after I was
in dev.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Roue, you know. But it does seem that all roads
still led to Vernon James. So there was more investigation
done and an evident Sherry hearing was held in May
of nineteen ninety six. So what happened there?
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Five different witnesses testified at that Evidentry hearing, four of
whom said that Vernon James had confessed to the crime.
And then also John Barrant testified at that hearing and
said that what he had said at trial wasn't true.
All of those witnesses, other than one who was John
Barrion's attorney at the time of his trial, all four
(32:12):
of the witnesses were dismissed as being not credible.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
You know, this has just got to be so frustrating.
I mean, it seems like an arbitrary and very subjective
way to be denied, you know, especially in light of
what was about to be revealed in this case. Linda,
you're now working Jan's case along with Martin McLain, who
you later opened to practice with, and in two thousand
you were preparing for a federal habeas When there was
(32:38):
a pretty significant discovery.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Made, we decided we were going to just start talking
to witnesses again, and one of those individuals was the
trial investigator Cody Smith, and we also wanted to speak
to mister Alcott, who at that time was a judge,
and so we contacted Judge Alcott and it was during
that conversation where he said that he may have some
(33:02):
files that had not been disclosed previously to counsel, and
so Judge Alcott allowed Cody Smith to go to his
storage center and lo and behold. Within that storage center
surfaced four tapes sort of those old cassette tapes, and
a paper copy of a transcript of an interview with
(33:24):
Vernon James back in nineteen eighty four, and mister James
had stated that he was president at the time mister
Baker was killed, and it was two other individuals that
had actually done the killing and the robbery, and mister
Melendez was not one of those people. So we started
really taking from that information a whole new investigation about
(33:47):
Vernon James.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Right, and that led you to Marty Lake, the man
who had been convicted of killing Vernon James, which then,
of course led you to five more witnesses.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Two of whom saw mister James on the night of
the murder at a motel the Scottish Inn in Auburndale,
and one of whom saw Vernon James almost immediately after
the murder and said he was covered in blood, and
she helped him find clothes he could wear, took him
over to the motel, and to both her and another individual,
he confessed that he had been involved in the murder
(34:18):
of mister Baker. Ultimately, what we found out was that
not only did Vernon James confess to multiple individuals with
whom he was friends related to dating things like that,
he also confessed to several people in law enforcement, including
the state Attorney investigator who had seen him the week
before mister Melendez his trial, and he had actually told
(34:41):
him that he had been there when the murder was committed.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
So it's hard to imagine a world in which Hardy
Pickard didn't know this while he was trying to send
Wand to death row, or while he fought to keep
him there. I mean, he didn't retire until two thousand
and nine.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
Well, Hardy Pickard had remained with the case all of
the post conviction proceedings, so he was present at the
second post conviction proceeding when John barry And testified and
the various witnesses, and ultimately what he testified to at
our proceeding in two thousand and one was that he
had had a copy of this statement at the time
(35:17):
of that hearing, and he did not reveal that to
the court, and he did not reveal that to defense counsel.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Right, So he was admonished by that, but by the
judge later on. And he also said something that you know,
David Lunafalcon had nothing to gain by his testimony, when
that wasn't true either, right, correct.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
You know, it became clear that he had been working
with law enforcement. They were using him quite extensively in
drug transactions. He was paid for his testimony. He had
a grudge against Swan and mister Pickard had made it
seem at the trial like if he was getting paid,
it wasn't a significant amount. And the fact that they
protected Falcon in relation to his criminal conduct, you know,
(35:57):
it just kept coming out a little little piece. But
by the end of this it was very clear that
Falcon was not a credible witness. He had quite a
lot of motive to be involved in this case and
to testify against mister Melendez.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Yeah, and really there's like zero accountability for this obviously.
I mean, Hardy Pickard went on to continue to prosecute
people still had similar problems Brady violations that he was
dealing with in later cases, and yet there's never anything
done about these prosecutors.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
I mean, as Judge Fleischer, who was the judge at
our hearing, found, there was quite a bit of evidence
that was suppressed, but there was also rules that were violated,
discovery rules, cases that were clear black letter law that
mister Pickard was calling in witnesses and to his office,
taking swarm statements from individuals, and then not disclosing his notes,
(36:50):
even though those notes may have had exculpatory information, they
may have had impeachment evidence in them, which Judge Fleischer found.
And so when I look at Fleischer's order, it's clear
to me that there's more going on here than just
an inadvertent I forgot to, you know, disclose a particular
piece of documentation. It just seemed like, even from the
(37:13):
way that Mims, Roger Mims surfaces on the eve of
the trial, there was just a pattern of behavior that
was designed to me to win this case rather than
to see that justice was done here.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
But the good news is that eventually justice was done.
On December fifth, two thousand and one Judge, Barbara Fleischer,
vacated Wan's conviction and granted a new trial, and then
the state decided to drop the charges.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
They took the handkofs off of me, the chains over
my foot. They offered me sola, and they offered me
a hamburger. I don't want to hamburger. I mean, I
just want to go back to myself, back eying up
and get the hell out of here, That's what I
told her. So I want to say bye to my friend.
His name is Cladden here. So I got tear this
running down. I got to smile. He smile and me, see,
(38:06):
don't forget about us. And now I'm gonna lie you, amigo.
I hit a clap, then I hit another clap, and
then they start bagging the bars and whistling. The gods
got angry, told them to shut up, to be quiet.
They didn't stop. Who I got out of there. They
was real happy to see me go.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Well, I just want to talk about you know, what's
life like for you? Now? How is this whole experience,
because it had to be life affecting, How has it
changed your life?
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Well, man, mago, I feel right today that my time
got is spending their role, all the suffering and pain.
It was not for nothing. He's a purpose for it.
And I still got this trench to go around and
speak against it their penalty. And the reason I do
it is because what happened to me, I don't want
it to happen to nobody else. We don't need a
(38:55):
law like that. We know better, we can do better.
We don't need it.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Can you just talk about like where listeners can go
who care about wrongful conviction, who care about the death
penalty to support these kind of causes. There any places
that you recommend.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Old inzations like winness do in and saying any anything
type of little organization they need help. That's good to help.
But the main thing is to talk to lays. Later,
teach people to talk to the lay. He's label the law.
Make us they're the one that can change these things.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Well, we'll have witness to Innocent linked in the bio.
And now we've come to the portion of the show
called closing arguments, where I first thank you both for
joining us today, and now I'm just going to ask
you for your final thoughts. So let's start with you, Linda,
and we'll close it out with Wan today.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Well, I would just say that I think that generally
people should understand that there can be things that happen
in the criminal justice system that need to be fixed
or repaired. Those things do happen, and we have to
take steps to fix them and not feel so sort
of entrenched in the injustice that we can't say that
(40:08):
that was wrong or this mistake was made, because I
do think that unfortunately, as an example in Wan's case,
that may have been part of the reason why no
one wanted to say that there was a problem here.
So I would just ask people to keep that perspective
that mistakes do happen, and you have to be open
minded enough and we have to have the law be
(40:30):
flexible enough to fix those mistakes.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
First of all, I want to thank all of you
for doing this, and one thing for inviting Linda to
do it. I go around and speaking about against it
the penity, because like I said before, I want this
will happen to nobody. I also want people to understand
that when they execute someone, then executing the same person
(40:55):
that committed the crime the secuting somebody else. I learned
this when I was in their role, because I've been
with them, and I saw how they change. And believe
me me, amigo, people do change. I've seen it. It
changed for the good. They got some people in there
that I'm not going to say, let them out. It's
some people there that could meit some crime that you
(41:18):
cannot forget the victims, the family, but you don't have
to kill them. The same people that I'm talking about
that the community's crime can also become mentors because they
can teach others not to become like there was. They
can teach the ones that we know we got to
let them go to become a better man in the outside.
(41:42):
The penalty, like they say in Puerto Rico, it's just
a waste. Don't bring nothing. There's more pain, more parable
damage all over. One of the worst things for me
when when I was in their row, is when they
secused someone. I'm in the sale next to me. It's
another person that I know for ten or fifteen years.
He cries in my shoulder, I cries in his his
(42:05):
share with me and him was intimatus. I share mine
with him. And one day they snatch him over there,
and I know exactly what's going to happen. And my
time was the electric chair. They kill forty two before
I left. They got to generate the share with electricity
because it's two ten bulls. They got to go to
the body in order to getting killed. So we can
(42:26):
hear the nosy sound. And we know precisely the time
when they kill him, because the light bulbs they go
off and off. It's no movie. They do go off
and off because all that power got to go and
that share. And now I'm telling you me a migo.
When that happened, nobody saying nothing. It's just like a
(42:50):
side like going to it that you're going to buy
yourself in the cemetery. That's the only time is quiet
there when that happened. They they're penalty is racist, It
don't deter crime. It's quel and unnecessary. It costs too much.
But the most important thing that people need to learn
is this. Any state that have any contrue that have it,
(43:13):
it always will be a risk to execute an innocent one.
We always can release an innocent man from prison, but
you cannot, and I repeat, you can never release an
innocent man from their grade.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'm your guest host,
Gilbert King. I'd like to thank executive producers Jason Flohm
and Kevin Wurders for inviting me to be here. I'd
also like to thank our production team Connor Hall, Annie Chelsea,
Lyla Robinson, and Jeff Cliburn. The music in this production
comes from three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be
sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, on
(43:58):
Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Po, and on Twitter at wrong Conviction,
as well as Lava for Good. On all three platforms,
you can find me on Twitter at Gilbert Underscore King,
and you can listen to my podcast Bone Valley from
Lava for Good wherever you listen to podcasts. Wrongful Conviction
is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association
(44:18):
with Signal Company Number one
On the evening of September thirteenth, nineteen eighty three, beauty
school owner Delbert Baker, known to his friends and customers
as mister Dell, was found dead in the back room
of his school in Auburndale, Florida. He had been shot,
his throat was slashed, and the place was covered in blood.
Witnesses gave police the names of a couple of locals
(00:24):
whom they had seen with mister Dell that evening, but
the case eventually went cold. A few months later, a
man named David Luna Falcon told police that an acquaintance,
Juan Melendez, had allegedly bragged about committing the murder with
two accomplices. One of them, a man named John Berrion,
admitted to police that he had been the accessory after
(00:46):
the fact, giving him the vantage point to name the
other accomplice and Juan Melendez as well. Law enforcement caught
up with Juan in Pennsylvania, extradited him to Florida, and
charged him with first degree murder. At trial, David Falcon
and John Berrion testified that Juan shot mister Dell and
stole a watch, a gold bracelet, four diamond rings, and
(01:10):
fifty dollars in cash before fleeing the scene. When one
of the original suspects who had been seen with mister
Dell that night was called by the defense at trial,
he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights not to testify. Clearly
he had nothing important to add. But this is wrongful conviction.
(01:42):
Welcome back to wrongful conviction. I'm Gilbert King and I'm
filling in for Jason Flahm, and today we have a
case out of Polk County, Florida, where I've spent so
much time doing research for the last like four or
five years, researching other cases, and so I'm very familiar
with that prosecutor's office as well as some of the
judges in that area. And these are the very same
(02:04):
folks that sent Juan Melendez to death row. They kept
them there for over seventeen years. So this is in
a state. You know, Florida, for the last one hundred
and two executions, has exonerated thirty people from death row.
So you just doing the math on that Florida has
admitted to condemning one innocent person at least every fifth
(02:27):
time that they seek the death penalty. And you know,
we're just so glad that our guest today survived and
he's here with us now. Juan Melendez, welcome one.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Jan thanks so much for joining me today. I really
really appreciate it. And joining us is also Juan's habeas attorney,
who at the time was with Florida's Office of the
Capitol Collateral Representative and she eventually went on to private
practice and she co founded the National Habeas Institute. Linda McDermott, Linda,
(02:58):
welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I became familiar with Polk County when I was digging
into a really troubling case for my podcast Bone Valley.
This is the story where myself and co host Kelsey
Decker and I we covered the wrongful conviction of Leo Schofield,
and you know, we continue obviously to hope for justice there.
Leo's prosecutor, John Aguero rose up in the ranks with
(03:24):
Wan's prosecutor Hardy Pickard. And by the end of this interview,
I think that our audience is going to get a
glimpse of what I've seen. But before we get to that,
you know, one, can you just tell us about your
life before you ever even knew who Hardy Pickard was.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I'm born in Brooklyn, New York, but I was facing
the island of Puerto Rico. It took back when I
was just a little kid. But when I went to
it to Florida. I went in nineteen seventy, it's still segreation,
blacks in one side, white in another side. And I
had the biggest outfro in town. So you know where
(04:00):
they're gonna put me in the black side. And I
loved it. I love every bitder of it, so I
was happy. My work was mostly picking fruit, the gray fruits,
the tanierines, the orange, all citral fruit. So that's what
I used to do, mostly pick fruit. Migrate from Florida
to the state of Pennsylvania and do some more, get
(04:23):
the apples and the beaches and stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Now what the victim in this case Delbert Baker. He
was known to many of his customers and friends as
mister Dell. He owned a cosmetology school in Auburndale, Florida,
which is right in Paul County. What have you ever
been to Auburndale? Ever ever run into Dell? I mean
maybe wenting there for a haircut or something.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
First of all, I had to tell you, I've never
been in a Cote mestology school, you know where their
fits hair and all that stuff. I never been in
one of them. I've seen them in TV. I've been
in in Abunda, in the little town where that crime happened.
Like I told you, picking foot, that's it. Never know
that man was Knittin and heal who he.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Was, and mister Dell. He had been brutally attacked on
the evening of September thirteenth, nineteen eighty three. He was
discovered in the back room of his hair salon by
his own sister. His throat had been slashed, he'd been shot.
Blood obviously was everywhere. Linda, what do we know about
the initial investigation? Were there any leads or any obvious
(05:28):
motivations into this crime.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
The investigation started that next day and it appeared the
motivation may be a robbery because jewelry was missing, money
was missing from his workplace. It was unclear if there
was a motive beyond the robbery, and there were quickly
some leads.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Now from what I've read, one of those leads was
a man named Vernon James.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
That right, there was an individual named Terry Barber, who
had told law enforcement he had seen Vernon James with
another man named Harold Lamb at mister Dell's place of
business on the evening of the crime. However, according to
law enforcement, they checked with Harold Landrum's employer and he
had an alibi for that evening, so the James and
(06:14):
Landrum lead didn't get pursued.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, what strikes me funny about that is this You
mentioned Landrum's alibi, but not one for Vernon James. And
we've seen even like rock solid alibis get completely ignored
by police and prosecutors. Well, let's take wand for instance.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I had an alibi and I had three people corribo
raving the alibi. All I know that Bena James was
a police informer. I think Landrow was two.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So potentially these were both police informants. We know that
Vernon James was for sure. And then the police ignored
your alibi, but not Landrums, whose alibi was apparently strong
enough to cover for Vernon James as well. And then
the case went cold allegedly until five thousand dollars was
offered for information. And this is five thousand dollars in
(07:04):
nineteen eighty four, you know, February nineteen eighty four to
be exact. Just like that, the police received a tip.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
One individual came forward and his name was David Luna Falcon,
and he said that in January of nineteen eighty four,
he and mister Melendez had been you know, drinking and
enjoying themselves in a nightclub, and mister Melendez had been
very you know, specific detail told mister Falcon what had
happened that night. Falcon had said that someone had taken
(07:37):
mister Melendez and another individual to the hair salon, and
he mentioned the name John in his original statement to police,
but he didn't have any particular names, and that mister
Melendez and another individual went to mister Dell's and robbed him.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
And from crime scene photos we know that whoever actually
did this had slashed Delbert Baker's throat and shot him
in the head. And although Falcon was not clear about
who was wielding the knife, he alleged that Wan had
claimed to have pulled the trigger.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
And there was this odd detail in his testimony that
before mister Melendez allegedly shot mister Baker, mister Baker had
started throwing blood at mister Melendez and this other unknown
person and begging, begging mister Melendez to take him to
the hospital. And at that point, allegedly mister Melendez said
(08:33):
that he shot mister Baker.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
And now Linda Wan wasn't even a suspect until he
came forward, Is that correct? Correct?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
I mean, there was no evidence linking Wan at all
to this crime.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Now, Wan, did you know this David Luna Falcon gentleman.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yes, I did I know him. I know he was
a paid police informan. I know it was some kind
of guns against me and him.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yeah, that's what I read. In addition to receiving five
thousand dollars, it was known that David Falcon did not
like you. In fact, several witnesses they later testified a
trial that they had overheard Falcons say that he would
quote get you. But at this point the police, I guess,
looked you up and they must have seen that you
had an armed robbery charge on your record.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
And I'm not gonna lie to you. I had a
prior rikle and.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Even though that had nothing to do with what happened
to mister Dell, it's really not out of the ordinary
for that a criminal record can act as a motivator
for police to focus on someone. But what about these
two other men, the alleged accomplices. Falcon had only said
the name John, and then a friend of yours named
(09:41):
John Berryon was arrested. So other than his friendship with you,
there doesn't appear to be anything else that led them
to this particular John now Linda in Florida with felony murder.
The threat of the death penalty was looming over John Berrion,
and he agreed to implicate one as well as his cousin,
George Barrion. But to even have this alleged firsthand knowledge,
(10:06):
he had to implicate himself to some degree.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
He implicates himself to the extent that he says he
drove George barrion friend mister Melendez to the studio, but
he also says I didn't know anything that was going
to happen. And so John Barron is originally charged with
first degree murder and ultimately agrees to testify against Juan
in exchange for a nolo contendre plea to accessory after
(10:32):
the fact, which would immediately allow him to be released
from jail and to have served any sentence that he
would have with that particular charge.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
So John Baryon escaped the electric chair in exchange for
a story in which he was an accessory after the fact.
Now Falcon had said mister Dell had allegedly thrown blood
at Wan in his accomplice, but that didn't match up
with John Berrion's story.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
It certainly didn't match up in that John Barrion said
that mister Melendez and George Baron left the hair salon
without any blood on them. You know, there was nothing
unusual about them other than he started suggesting that they
had some jewelry and things that could have been obtained
during this robbery. And then he goes on to tell
another piece of the story where he says the next
(11:18):
day or two days later, he gives George Barrion a
ride to the train station, mister Melendez is again with them,
and at that point he sees mister Melendez give George
Barrion a watch and some rings and tell him to
take them to Delaware and to pawn those and obtain
money for them. And the law enforcement did find out
(11:41):
that mister Barry and George Barrion did in fact purchase
a ticket to go to Delaware within a day or
two after the Baker homicide. So John Baryon's story did
have some pieces that the law enforcement believed could corroborate
what he was saying.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
It actually only corroborated that George Barrion's children lived in Wilmington, Delaware.
Now George Barrion he later testified that he'd only met
Wan once at John Berrion's house and denied any involvement
in mister Dell's murder or this alleged train station jewelry handoff.
And ultimately George Barrion was never charged with anything, but
(12:21):
the police continued with these two conflicting statements from Falcon
and John Barrion that did match up on the one
detail that they needed that Wan was involved. And so
they found out that you were in Pennsylvania working in
the fruit orchards, which was misconstrued as fleeing. Had you
like ever heard that this you know, murder had even taken.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Place, never heard about.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So you were completely unaware that you were a suspect,
you know, let alone about to be arrested.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
And I never forget this day made a second nineteen
eighty four, why we was working it was by a
police card and they stopped in front of us and
they told us to hit put a weapon on us.
Then they ordered me to get up. Then they said
you are on the arrest for first degree murder and
i'm robbery in the state of Florida.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
You were then extradited back to Florida. And at the
time I understand you could not even speak that much English.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
The true is I know at that time, if I
say five words in English, believe in my friends, three
of them would because words. So they brought interpreted to
explain to me what es tradition mean. And all he
told me in Spanish was you either wave it or
(13:38):
fight it. They can take you back anyway. I start thinking,
I'm not a killer. My mama did not raise no killers.
I'm going to wave it. As soon they see this
ugly face in Florida, they will let me go. But
I was wrong. When I go back, they took me
in front of the George, and the George he read
the charges to me. He said, you being be indicted
(14:00):
for first degree murder and I'm bravri in the state
of Florida is sinking the death penalty against you. The
elected chair.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
This episode is underwritten by global law firm Greenberg Trawig
through its pro bono program. Greenberg Trowig leverages its more
than twenty six hundred lawyers across forty four offices to
serve the greater good of our communities and provide equal
access to justice for all. In the field of criminal justice,
Greenberg Trowrig attorneys have exonerated and free demanded Philadelphia represent
(14:40):
numerous individuals previously sentenced to life for crimes committed as
juveniles and resentencing hearings, and receive the American Bar Association's
twenty twenty one Exceptional Service Award for Death Penalty Representation
for their work on five death penalty cases. GT is
reimagining what big law can be because of a more
just world. Only happens by design.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
So, meanwhile, in that same month, from what I've read,
it appears that in order to ensure that your prosecution
went smoothly, the lead detective, Gary Glisten, chose to go
to these extraordinary lengths to protect the initial informant in
this case, David Falcon, from himself from damaging his own credibility.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
When Falcon committed a home invasion in I believe it
was in May of nineteen eighty four, Glisten went to
the victims of that home invasion and put pressure on
them not to prosecute. According to one of those victims,
the woman who had been at the house, she was
told that if we arrest Falcon, all that's going to
(15:51):
happen is he's going to make bail and he's going
to come back and he's going to harm you. And
so rather than protecting her, they were basically telling her
the only way she could protect herself was to waive
prosecution and then they would sort of tell Falcon to
back off.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Which seems, you know, completely antithetical to his duty as
a police officer. He chose to protect the credibility of
the state's dubious star witness, David Falcon instead of Falcons
victims both you know, past and future. So did Hardy Picker?
Did he know about this home invasion cover up?
Speaker 3 (16:27):
His response to that was to tell Detective Glisson and
others to stop using Falcon for the time being as
your informant, because he didn't want to have any more
of these types of issues occur before the trial.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
So he was willing to accept Falcons were you know
just this once though, so Wan's court, a pointed attorney
Roger Alcott did not have the benefit of this impeachment evidence.
And now there's just four months to prepare for a
death penalty trial.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Mister Alcott and his trial investigator, Cody Smith, they started
to follow up on some of the leads that law
enforcement didn't find fruitful when they were following up on things,
and mister Elcott sent his investigator to speak to Vernon James,
and ultimately mister Elcott lists mister James as a witness
(17:16):
for the defense, and he tells the state that mister
James is going to come in and say that he
committed the murderer or that he was there and that
mister Melendez was not there.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
My attorney used to pat me in the back. You say, no,
what about it, mister Melendez? You going home and I
soon go home. I did not commit the crime.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
You know, perhaps Pickard should have looked at this evidence,
the Vernon James interview, as well as the home invasion
cover up for star witness, and just let you go home.
But instead Falcon and James were free to commit more
crimes while Wand's prosecution went on as scheduled, and that happened.
In September nineteen eighty four, the state had what we
now know to be the false, incentivized or coerced testimonies
(18:06):
of David Luna Falcon and John Berrion. To recap this,
Falcon alleged that you had bragged that a man named
John dropped you and another man off at Delbert Baker's salon.
Baker's throat had been slashed. According to Falcon, mister Dell
got blood on you. He begged you for help, but
you shot him. Then John Berrion corroborated Falcon's allegation that
(18:32):
he had dropped you and his cousin, George Barrion at
the salon. But Barrion, you know, in contrast to Falcon,
when he picked you up, neither of you were covered
in blood. So your attorney pointed out that inconsistency, which
implies that at least you know, one of them was
lying or mistaken, and then all caught. Put George Berrion
(18:52):
on the stand.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
George Berry tessify. He said that I only met won once,
And Mike colsun Is said, Patoloco Liah, I know way
he lies all the time.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
So mister Elcott had put together an alibi defense with
several witnesses, mister Melendez's girlfriend and her family, and they
had been together that evening. And then in addition to that, though,
mister Elcott had Vernon James to undermine the credibility of
John Barrion and David Luna Falcon Right.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
But what happened when Vernon James is called to the stand.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
He takes the fit amendment. And it's an interesting sort
of legal maneuver that the state makes because they tell
trial council just a few days before the trial that
Vernon James has made some statements that he committed the
crime to his cellmate named Roger Mims. And so at
that point they say, Vernon James needs to be advised
(19:52):
of his rights because there's this other individual pointing to
him as the person who committed the crime. So had
they not had Roger Mimms and mister Elcott just put
James on the stand, he could have extracted the information
that he wanted to extract without having this weird fitth
amendment issue be raised and James essentially being able to
(20:14):
absent himself from the trial and not have to confess
in front of the jury, and then sort of the
dominoes fall, because then after Mims testifies, the state undermines
his credibility by saying, oh, isn't this fortunate? You come
forward a week before the trial and suddenly you know,
this guy supposedly confesses to you.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
But unlike so many other police or jailhouse informants, Roger
Mims wasn't testifying in exchange for anything. He said that
Vernon James had said that he and Delbert Baker were
lovers and had he was involved in his death. But
since James had pleaded the fifth and he was a
defense witness, Alcott could not offer the recordings or transcripts
(20:58):
of the conversations with Vernon James, so the jury only
heard this from Mims.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Clearly, they were not finding mister Mims credible because of
this sort of he's so late to the game. And
it was a really effective way to make sure that
the jury didn't hear a confession from the actual the
person who was actually saying that he had committed the crime.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
So it appears that you know, without Vernon James, and
despite witnesses that testified the Falcon's grudge against you. Falcon
had not been sufficiently impeached. So one, I understand you
decided to take the stand in your own defense.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Probably the worst mistake I made in my life, and
it was against my attorney. He told me, one, if
you take this stand, prior REGOs will come. But I said, Alca,
I did not do this. I wanted you just to
know from my mouth that I didn't commit this crime.
Since I didn't do it, everything that Ahka come to
(21:57):
me is going to be no that you ever been
done in de place? No, did you know me to
deb No?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
All right? But what did the prosecutor ask across you say?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Did you committed i'm robbery before? Yes? I had. Did
you ever carry going before?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
I had. But that don't mean that I killed in
the debble.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
You know. Certainly, not having a prior conviction for robbery,
having having been in possession of a firearm, those types
of things certainly hurt him.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I got real scared and I failed that I was
in trouble. When I was in Trout and they showed
the bloody crime scene photographs, And when the juniors saw
that crime scene them pictures, they look straight to me,
and I can see that hate in their eyes, and
(22:48):
I know right then and then that I wasn't so big,
big trouble.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
After mister Melendez was exonerated and some of the jurors
were spoken to, you realize that there were some considerations
in that jury room that don't appear in the transcript.
Seeing those horrific pictures looking at Wan, he doesn't look
like them, he doesn't speak their language, has a two
foot high afro, and all of his witnesses are people
(23:17):
of color. Someone specifically pointed out Juan's afro and how
that influenced their verdict.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Yeah, I mean, that's a really great point, lind And
I think if you look at the history of Polk County,
I mean, one year after this trial they elect a
known white supremacist as Sheriff Dan Daniels. This was a
big problem in Polk County. So you finished the trial,
do you remember when you heard that verdict?
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Ah me, that was something there, Betty, Betty, Betty inglidh
that the whole will But at the same time, I
was scared that same man, these people can kill me.
And then I go back in the sale, I'm talking
to it to all the dudes there, and then they
(24:01):
telling me one with the dead enity. You might get
publicity and you can show you innocent and get out
of there. I may go. I will not give that
advice to nobody.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Some prison law. So after the verdict, you come out,
you address the jury.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
I did make their judos angry because I literally called
them racists right there. And I mean they've gone in
there to both for life and death. That as I'm
making angry a person that cooked for you, you can
you can put some post in the food. You said
what I'm saying. So I should never say what I said,
(24:41):
as I told the judus say I know the reason
why do people found me guilt because all my witnesses
were black. But I be back because I mean say,
and in the name of Jesus, I be back. I
was playing with my life, let's put it like that.
(25:11):
It was the worst day in my life. I never
forget the day. It was on a Tuesday, November the second,
nineteen eighty four. I got in there the nest jerday
they executed the ten person. Now I'm super scared. I
do not know the language that well, I do not
know the process. I do not know anything about law.
(25:33):
So I'm thinking they're kidding people here every week how
long it's going to be before they take me. The
first ten years, right, it was very rough. I'm telling
your mammy. A lot of people have hanged themselves in there,
what I was in there. So when my friend named
Simon Rivera, he just hang himself and that hit me
(25:55):
Rayal real real bear amago, thinking if he can do it,
I can do it. So I'm going to tell you
how they do it, exactly how they do it. The
guy they call it Rona e Verna said, hey, may
he's doing time in prison population, but he's not sending
it to death. They get him out of there so
(26:15):
he can do the work in the devil place. He's
the one that suppliers with the two page, the two bros,
the map in the boom, so you can clean yourself.
But he also can supply you will the two that
you can take your life with. And he knows it.
All you got to do is give him four post
stamps or a packaging can, rolling paper, tobacco the cheap kind,
(26:36):
and he will give you this tool. Maybe he do
it because he needs these items, or maybe he do
it because he called himself assisting you, helping you he
knows you when out of there, he knows that the
road is hell. The two is real simple, he said,
guy is plastic bag. You give him four stamps, and
when the garden looking, he will swing that bag inside
(26:58):
the cell. Take that bag, you twist it up. You
make a rope, put the noose in it, Put the
noose in your neck, throw yourself down, your dead, put
you free. And this is what the demons used to
tell me. Why why you don't why you got to
go to all of this? You're supposed to be a
Puerto Rican man as real match your man. Don't satisfy
(27:20):
damn satisfy yourself. You say you didn't do it. So
now I want to take this trip. So I tell
the rona to give me that gob is bad again
four stamps. And when the guy would look, its wing
the bag inside myself. I twisted, made the rope, put
the noose, put the news in the rope, and I
(27:44):
say to myself, I better lay loving think about this
a little bit more. When I lay down, I may go.
Almost immediately I fell in a deep de sleep, and
then I started dreaming. Then I'm a little kid again
that was raising the island of Puerto Rico. So here
I am dreaming. Then I'm swimming in the beautiful Caribbean
(28:05):
sea and believing, my friend, the water is warm, the
sun was so bright, the sky was so blue, and
the palm trees looked so good. It's a beautiful day.
Then in this dream, I see four dolphins coming to me,
A pair got on one side and a pear gant
(28:27):
in another one. Then they start flipping and jumping like
dolphins too. Amygo, I'm having a boat in there. Then
I looked to the shore and he said, beautiful lady
waving at me, throwing kisses at me, and she seems
so happy. She's happy because I'm happy. That's my mother.
Then I wake up and that was one of the
(28:49):
most beautiful dreams in my life. And right today, if
I'm depressed or I get kind of angry about something,
I started thinking about the dreaming in this go away.
Every time I got kind of depressed, and every time
I think that the war was going to end up
on me, they created the beautiful dream. And I was wise,
God them, that's a sign and hope that everything is
(29:12):
going to be all right.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I don't even know what to say other than to
recognize that eventually everything was all right. And even though
it took a long while, long enough for you to
learn English from your fellow inmates, we're all so grateful
that you decided to fight your case. Linda, Can you
tell us a little bit about the fight that was
ahead of him?
Speaker 3 (29:35):
In Florida? At the time when mister Melendez arrived on
death row, there was no state funded defense system. It
was all run through volunteers, and so there were tended
to be delays and getting people attorneys, and if there
were delays in starting the process, there were going to
be delays in executing people. So that seemed to be
(29:58):
a big motivator for the Florida lifelegislature to actually fund
an agency to represent people like mister Melendez.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
And that agency was called the Office of the Capital
Collateral Representative, where you eventually worked. Now, given what we
know about the evidence in this case, can you give
me some kind of idea about why they were able
to deny his appeals?
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Sure, so, the attorneys at that time did what they
believed they needed to do. They requested records, they spoke
to the trial attorney. They put together what's called the
thirty eight to fifty motion, which is a motion to vacate.
And at that time they had some fairly good information.
They certainly did indicate that Vernon James was a suspect
(30:41):
in the crime, but they didn't have anything all that
different or new from what was presented at the trial
through Roger Mimms, So that appeal ended up in a
summary denial. What is also remarkable on direct appeal is
that Justice Rosemary Barquette, in her dissent, believed that the
death penalty should be dismissed because she thought the evidence
(31:04):
of guilt was so weak that it shouldn't substantiate a
death penalty. So I do think that that is also
really telling that when that justice reviewed his case that
she made that comment.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
But unfortunately, the lack of strength in this evidence wasn't
enough to make a difference. And there's another problem. Wand's
appellet attorneys didn't have the recording or transcript of the
trial investigator's interview with Vernon James, and he had passed
away by then, right.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
He was maurder two or three years after I was
in dev.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Roue, you know. But it does seem that all roads
still led to Vernon James. So there was more investigation
done and an evident Sherry hearing was held in May
of nineteen ninety six. So what happened there?
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Five different witnesses testified at that Evidentry hearing, four of
whom said that Vernon James had confessed to the crime.
And then also John Barrant testified at that hearing and
said that what he had said at trial wasn't true.
All of those witnesses, other than one who was John
Barrion's attorney at the time of his trial, all four
(32:12):
of the witnesses were dismissed as being not credible.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
You know, this has just got to be so frustrating.
I mean, it seems like an arbitrary and very subjective
way to be denied, you know, especially in light of
what was about to be revealed in this case. Linda,
you're now working Jan's case along with Martin McLain, who
you later opened to practice with, and in two thousand
you were preparing for a federal habeas When there was
(32:38):
a pretty significant discovery.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Made, we decided we were going to just start talking
to witnesses again, and one of those individuals was the
trial investigator Cody Smith, and we also wanted to speak
to mister Alcott, who at that time was a judge,
and so we contacted Judge Alcott and it was during
that conversation where he said that he may have some
(33:02):
files that had not been disclosed previously to counsel, and
so Judge Alcott allowed Cody Smith to go to his
storage center and lo and behold. Within that storage center
surfaced four tapes sort of those old cassette tapes, and
a paper copy of a transcript of an interview with
(33:24):
Vernon James back in nineteen eighty four, and mister James
had stated that he was president at the time mister
Baker was killed, and it was two other individuals that
had actually done the killing and the robbery, and mister
Melendez was not one of those people. So we started
really taking from that information a whole new investigation about
(33:47):
Vernon James.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Right, and that led you to Marty Lake, the man
who had been convicted of killing Vernon James, which then,
of course led you to five more witnesses.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Two of whom saw mister James on the night of
the murder at a motel the Scottish Inn in Auburndale,
and one of whom saw Vernon James almost immediately after
the murder and said he was covered in blood, and
she helped him find clothes he could wear, took him
over to the motel, and to both her and another individual,
he confessed that he had been involved in the murder
(34:18):
of mister Baker. Ultimately, what we found out was that
not only did Vernon James confess to multiple individuals with
whom he was friends related to dating things like that,
he also confessed to several people in law enforcement, including
the state Attorney investigator who had seen him the week
before mister Melendez his trial, and he had actually told
(34:41):
him that he had been there when the murder was committed.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
So it's hard to imagine a world in which Hardy
Pickard didn't know this while he was trying to send
Wand to death row, or while he fought to keep
him there. I mean, he didn't retire until two thousand
and nine.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
Well, Hardy Pickard had remained with the case all of
the post conviction proceedings, so he was present at the
second post conviction proceeding when John barry And testified and
the various witnesses, and ultimately what he testified to at
our proceeding in two thousand and one was that he
had had a copy of this statement at the time
(35:17):
of that hearing, and he did not reveal that to
the court, and he did not reveal that to defense counsel.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Right, So he was admonished by that, but by the
judge later on. And he also said something that you know,
David Lunafalcon had nothing to gain by his testimony, when
that wasn't true either, right, correct.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
You know, it became clear that he had been working
with law enforcement. They were using him quite extensively in
drug transactions. He was paid for his testimony. He had
a grudge against Swan and mister Pickard had made it
seem at the trial like if he was getting paid,
it wasn't a significant amount. And the fact that they
protected Falcon in relation to his criminal conduct, you know,
(35:57):
it just kept coming out a little little piece. But
by the end of this it was very clear that
Falcon was not a credible witness. He had quite a
lot of motive to be involved in this case and
to testify against mister Melendez.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Yeah, and really there's like zero accountability for this obviously.
I mean, Hardy Pickard went on to continue to prosecute
people still had similar problems Brady violations that he was
dealing with in later cases, and yet there's never anything
done about these prosecutors.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
I mean, as Judge Fleischer, who was the judge at
our hearing, found, there was quite a bit of evidence
that was suppressed, but there was also rules that were violated,
discovery rules, cases that were clear black letter law that
mister Pickard was calling in witnesses and to his office,
taking swarm statements from individuals, and then not disclosing his notes,
(36:50):
even though those notes may have had exculpatory information, they
may have had impeachment evidence in them, which Judge Fleischer found.
And so when I look at Fleischer's order, it's clear
to me that there's more going on here than just
an inadvertent I forgot to, you know, disclose a particular
piece of documentation. It just seemed like, even from the
(37:13):
way that Mims, Roger Mims surfaces on the eve of
the trial, there was just a pattern of behavior that
was designed to me to win this case rather than
to see that justice was done here.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
But the good news is that eventually justice was done.
On December fifth, two thousand and one Judge, Barbara Fleischer,
vacated Wan's conviction and granted a new trial, and then
the state decided to drop the charges.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
They took the handkofs off of me, the chains over
my foot. They offered me sola, and they offered me
a hamburger. I don't want to hamburger. I mean, I
just want to go back to myself, back eying up
and get the hell out of here, That's what I
told her. So I want to say bye to my friend.
His name is Cladden here. So I got tear this
running down. I got to smile. He smile and me, see,
(38:06):
don't forget about us. And now I'm gonna lie you, amigo.
I hit a clap, then I hit another clap, and
then they start bagging the bars and whistling. The gods
got angry, told them to shut up, to be quiet.
They didn't stop. Who I got out of there. They
was real happy to see me go.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Well, I just want to talk about you know, what's
life like for you? Now? How is this whole experience,
because it had to be life affecting, How has it
changed your life?
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Well, man, mago, I feel right today that my time
got is spending their role, all the suffering and pain.
It was not for nothing. He's a purpose for it.
And I still got this trench to go around and
speak against it their penalty. And the reason I do
it is because what happened to me, I don't want
it to happen to nobody else. We don't need a
(38:55):
law like that. We know better, we can do better.
We don't need it.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Can you just talk about like where listeners can go
who care about wrongful conviction, who care about the death
penalty to support these kind of causes. There any places
that you recommend.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Old inzations like winness do in and saying any anything
type of little organization they need help. That's good to help.
But the main thing is to talk to lays. Later,
teach people to talk to the lay. He's label the law.
Make us they're the one that can change these things.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Well, we'll have witness to Innocent linked in the bio.
And now we've come to the portion of the show
called closing arguments, where I first thank you both for
joining us today, and now I'm just going to ask
you for your final thoughts. So let's start with you, Linda,
and we'll close it out with Wan today.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Well, I would just say that I think that generally
people should understand that there can be things that happen
in the criminal justice system that need to be fixed
or repaired. Those things do happen, and we have to
take steps to fix them and not feel so sort
of entrenched in the injustice that we can't say that
(40:08):
that was wrong or this mistake was made, because I
do think that unfortunately, as an example in Wan's case,
that may have been part of the reason why no
one wanted to say that there was a problem here.
So I would just ask people to keep that perspective
that mistakes do happen, and you have to be open
minded enough and we have to have the law be
(40:30):
flexible enough to fix those mistakes.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
First of all, I want to thank all of you
for doing this, and one thing for inviting Linda to
do it. I go around and speaking about against it
the penity, because like I said before, I want this
will happen to nobody. I also want people to understand
that when they execute someone, then executing the same person
(40:55):
that committed the crime the secuting somebody else. I learned
this when I was in their role, because I've been
with them, and I saw how they change. And believe
me me, amigo, people do change. I've seen it. It
changed for the good. They got some people in there
that I'm not going to say, let them out. It's
some people there that could meit some crime that you
(41:18):
cannot forget the victims, the family, but you don't have
to kill them. The same people that I'm talking about
that the community's crime can also become mentors because they
can teach others not to become like there was. They
can teach the ones that we know we got to
let them go to become a better man in the outside.
(41:42):
The penalty, like they say in Puerto Rico, it's just
a waste. Don't bring nothing. There's more pain, more parable
damage all over. One of the worst things for me
when when I was in their row, is when they
secused someone. I'm in the sale next to me. It's
another person that I know for ten or fifteen years.
He cries in my shoulder, I cries in his his
(42:05):
share with me and him was intimatus. I share mine
with him. And one day they snatch him over there,
and I know exactly what's going to happen. And my
time was the electric chair. They kill forty two before
I left. They got to generate the share with electricity
because it's two ten bulls. They got to go to
the body in order to getting killed. So we can
(42:26):
hear the nosy sound. And we know precisely the time
when they kill him, because the light bulbs they go
off and off. It's no movie. They do go off
and off because all that power got to go and
that share. And now I'm telling you me a migo.
When that happened, nobody saying nothing. It's just like a
(42:50):
side like going to it that you're going to buy
yourself in the cemetery. That's the only time is quiet
there when that happened. They they're penalty is racist, It
don't deter crime. It's quel and unnecessary. It costs too much.
But the most important thing that people need to learn
is this. Any state that have any contrue that have it,
(43:13):
it always will be a risk to execute an innocent one.
We always can release an innocent man from prison, but
you cannot, and I repeat, you can never release an
innocent man from their grade.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'm your guest host,
Gilbert King. I'd like to thank executive producers Jason Flohm
and Kevin Wurders for inviting me to be here. I'd
also like to thank our production team Connor Hall, Annie Chelsea,
Lyla Robinson, and Jeff Cliburn. The music in this production
comes from three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be
sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, on
(43:58):
Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Po, and on Twitter at wrong Conviction,
as well as Lava for Good. On all three platforms,
you can find me on Twitter at Gilbert Underscore King,
and you can listen to my podcast Bone Valley from
Lava for Good wherever you listen to podcasts. Wrongful Conviction
is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association
(44:18):
with Signal Company Number one
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Bright Pacheco
Maggie Freleng
Jason Flom
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