July 24, 2023 • 31 mins
How could anyone believe a confession about 1,000 pole-vaulting terrorists all dressed like Ninja Turtles?
This week, Laura Nirider and Steve Drizin tell us a story with some of the most outlandish false confessions ever heard. And yet, California native, Hamid Hayat, was wrongfully convicted of terrorism in the years following the horrific 9/11 attacks. Investigators thought Hamid was part of a terrorist sleeper cell, though eventually they learned no such terrorist cell ever existed.
This updated episode shares how Hamid is rebuilding his life, and how his support system continues to grow.
To learn more and get involved, visit:
https://www.centeronwrongfulconvictions.org/
Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions 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 (00:04):
Hey guys, it's Laura and I writer. This week, it's
the story of Hamed Hyatt, a US citizen who was
charged with terrorism in the frenzied time after the nine
to eleven attacks. Hamed was one of the Muslim Men
that were targeted by the FBI during its frantic search
for terrorists still at large. But the story the FBI
concocted about Hamed was full of crazy imagery and drama,
(00:29):
almost like a movie or a comic strip. And that's
because it wasn't true. Hamed Hyatt was innocent, but he
served years behind bars before being exonerated. Now since we
aired this episode, Hamed has gotten a new job with
Amazon and he's working to rebuild his life. His new
coworkers are often surprised to learn that he's been through
(00:49):
the worst of the wrongful conviction stories and how well
known his story is online. In fact, Hamed's story was
featured prominently on comedian Hassan Minaja's Netflix special Patriot Act.
Hasan Manaj even cited Hamed's story as the inspiration for
the title of the show. While we wish that none
of us had ever happened to Hamid, we're so glad
(01:09):
his message is reaching a larger audience, and we wish
him all the best. Welcome to Wrongful Conviction, False Confessions.
I'm Laura and I.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Writer and I'm Steve Drisin.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
In the wake of nine to eleven, keeping America safe
was everyone's priority. But what happens when an innocent man
gets accused of terrorism based on a false confession. Today's
case includes one of the most outlandish confessions I've ever heard.
A thousand pole vaulting terrorists, all dressed up like Ninja turtles.
(01:46):
It's a story that sounds like the punchline of a
joke instead of the path to a conviction. But for
US citizen Hamid Hyatt, the verdict was no joke at all.
Usually we start each episode by telling you about a crime,
(02:09):
but in today's story, there was both a crime on
a scale we'd never seen before and no crime at all.
You see, this case took place right after the horrific
nine to eleven attacks. Thousands of Americans had died, and
pressure was building on our government to prevent more attacks.
Make no mistake, there was a lot of good police
(02:29):
work done to keep us all safe, but sometimes fear
started to override good decision making. Some law enforcement efforts
became driven by panic and even prejudice, not proof. This
story is one of the times we got it wrong.
In two thousand and five, California native and US citizen
(02:50):
Hamid Hyatt was accused of being part of a homegrown
terrorist sleeper cell. Years later, the government admitted that no
such sleeper cell ever existed, but Hamid had falsely confessed.
He spent more than a decade in prison before being cleared.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
As prosecutors prepare for trial, they review the evidence that
the FBI agents obtain in the case, and they look
at the interrogation tapes, and you have to wonder what
the prosecutors in this case were thinking when they saw
these tapes. What were they thinking when the corroboration of
(03:30):
this case was so thin.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Hammed is one of the first post nine to eleven
terrorism defendants to be exonerated, and he probably won't be
the last. His story is a caution to us all
when we're talking about our national security, there's nothing more
important than getting it right. Hamid's story takes place in Lodi, California,
(03:55):
a medium sized town halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento.
Lodi's downtown looks like the set of an old Western,
complete with a train depot from gold rush days. But
if you go south a mile, you'll find a large
Pakistani American community where families wear traditional clothing and center
their lives around the local mosque. We'll get to Lodi
(04:18):
in a minute, but our story starts in Oregon. That's
where FBI agents traveled in October two thousand and one
looking for a suspected terrorist named Nasim Khan. The Nasin
Khan they've found was a twenty eight year old convenience
store employee. The FBI quickly realized this guy had nothing
(04:39):
to do with terrorism. He simply had the same name
as their suspect. But with the FBI at his door,
Nasim smelled an opportunity. He gave the agents the biggest
tip he could conjure up. He claimed to have seen
i'm In al Zawahiri, one of the most wanted terrorists
in the world, at a mosque in Lodai, Colorlifornia.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
It's ludicrous, absolutely ludicrous that Osama bin Lan's number two
person would make it into the United States without detection,
and of all places, settle in Lodie, California.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
The FBI, to its credit, didn't believe Nasim. They figured
out soon enough that he had a reputation for lying.
Even his own mother later called Nasim a bag full
of lies, air and deceit. But this was a month
after nine to eleven, and the government was desperate to
recruit informants who could infiltrate Muslim American communities and expose
(05:35):
any sleeper cells. Somehow, they decided Nasim was their guy.
Being hired as an informant was a pretty big deal
for Nasem. He went from working in a convenience store
to getting a cool FBI nickname Wildcat. He earned hundreds
of thousands of dollars on the US government payroll. The
(05:55):
FEDS even paid for his car washes in exchange. They
asked him to target the Lodi, California community. By early
two thousand and two, Nassim wormed his way into Lodei's
Pakistani neighborhoods. He started befriending people looking for any information
the FBI might consider useful, and pretty soon Nissin began
(06:16):
focusing on the Hyatt family, especially nineteen year old Hamid.
Now the Hyatt family was well known in Lodi. They
had no history of political involvement or extremism whatsoever. Hahmad's dad, Umer,
was the local ice cream truck driver.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
The pairing of Nassim and Hahmed was a strange pairing
from the get go. Nassim was ten years older than Hamid,
and Hamid nineteen or so at the time, acted much
more immaturely than his age. He had suffered a terrible
batt of meningitis years earlier, which left him cognitively and
(06:55):
physically slower.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
As a child, Hamad had split his time between his
home and the US and his relative's home in Pakistan.
Because of all the travel, he'd only finished elementary school,
and he didn't have many friends in the States. So
when Nassim, the informant, befriended him, Hamed couldn't believe his luck.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Nassim was paying attention to Hamid, and very few people
in the community in lord I paid much attention to Hamid.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Nasim was older, he had a fancy car, and apparently
endless money. This is the guy who wanted to chat
up Hamed. Hamed was in Nasim Andhmmed became friends, or
at least so Hamid thought. Over the next year or two,
Nasim and Hahmed started having hours of phone conversations that
Nassim was secretly recording. On those calls, Nasim portrayed himself
(07:47):
as an extremist and told Hamed he'd been involved in
jihadi activities for years. Pretty Soon, hapless Hamed started trying
to impress Nasim by making up fake stories about his
own exploits. Once, Hamed said he participated in a Taliban attack,
another time he claimed he'd been held in a Pakistani jail.
(08:07):
And when Nasim said that he wanted to go to
a terrorist training camp, Hamad said that sounded cool. Fast
forward a year to two thousand and three, Hamid's twenty
one and his parents take him to Pakistan to find
a bride for Nasim. This trip was a chance to
up the ante to bully Hamed into actually going to
(08:29):
a terrorist training camp. He starts telling Hamed that he's
going to come to Pakistan himself and force Hamed into
Jihati training, but Hamid refuses. He fends Nasim off with
one excuse after another. It's too hot to go to
a training camp, it's too difficult. I need to stay
with my sick mother. It's pretty obvious Hammad has zero
(08:51):
interest in becoming a terrorist. Finally, he straight out tells
Nasim he's never going to a camp. It was their
last phone call. Hamed gets married in Pakistan and ends
up staying there for two years until June two thousand
and five, when he decides to go back to the
United States. He boards a plane in Pakistan.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
With his whole family, but the.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Plane gets diverted to Tokyo because it turns out Hamit
is on the no fly list. The whole Hyatt family
is ushered off the plane and the FBI questions them
about why they were overseas and who they were with.
They even ask if the men Hamid was hanging out
with had facial hair. Eventually, the family is allowed to
get back on the plane and fly to California, but
(09:35):
a day or two later, the FBI shows up again
at the Hyatt family home and brings Hamed in to
the Sacramento office for more questioning. Now, let's step back
for a minute. By June two thousand and five, there'd
been a three year multi agency Federal Terrorism Task Force
investigation that revolved around Nasim Khan and his stories. None
(09:59):
of seems claims yielded any real information about terrorism despite
all the money he'd been paid. So by mid two
thousand and five, the FBI was feeling pressure to show
results in the worst way, and they got results from
the Hyatt family in the worst way.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Hamud's interrogation begins on June third, two thousand and five,
at about eleven thirty in the morning, and it would
go on for hours and hours before the agents turned
on the video cameras.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
They start taping at five o'clock in the afternoon. You
can see skinny little Hamed, very nervous, sitting in a
chair that's pushed against the wall of a small windowless room.
He's facing two FBI agents who are staring him down.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
The policy of the FBI at this time was that
the decision to record interrogations was left in the discretion
of agents, so it was unusual that they would record
these interrogations. But thank god they did, because otherwise we
wouldn't have the record that we do have about how
(11:17):
at least some of Hamid's interrogation went down as.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Soon as the tapes rolling. The agents accuse Hamid of
spending between three and six months at a terrorist training
camp in Pakistan and then come to lies. First they
say he failed a polygraph that he apparently took earlier
that day. Second, they claimed to have satellite photographs of
(11:42):
a camp, implying Hamid's in those photos. Neither was true.
And then the agents offer him help. As long as
he talks over and over and over, they promise that
they're there to help him. Hamid looks desperate to please
these guys. He says he wants to cooperate for my country.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
From my country, I do anything, you know, because you know,
these guys are hurting our country about well.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I mean it's important because you know, every day in
and as we see her, you know, our troops rook,
they're very hard for you know, making peace in the
whole world.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Why they're making peace, They're making peace for us so
we can live together, all of us. Yeah. And what
do they do with these camps.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
What they're doing is to teaching people out to how
to kill American truth of course, right, that's what the.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Camps are all about.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
The interrogation goes on for hours into the night, until
Hamid starts breaking. He tells the agents he did go
to a camp in Pakistan for several months. But his
story makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
It's laughable.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
They ask him when he'd gone to the camp. At
first Hamad said it was during the hot season, but
then he says it was during the cold season. When
they ask him to describe the camp, Hammud's answer is
just pathetic. He says the whole place had only four
weapons in it, a shotgun, two pistols, and a machine gun.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
He said the only weapon that he had handled was
actually a pistol, and he'd only shot it three or
four times. What kind of training is that?
Speaker 1 (13:10):
The agents ask comed where the camp was, and he
keeps switching his story there too. First it was in
rural Afghanistan, then it was in rural Pakistan.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
You're all over the map here, oh yeah, and yeah,
helping yourself out it by doing that, you know, Okay,
when one minute you're saying Northwest Frontier, next minue you're saying.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Cash from you, you're saying where this building was? Which
city was it? Yes, yeah, I'll say about court.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
It's not that you will say you know where it is,
you know where the building is? Tell me where was it?
Gon a gourd and the BFP in NWFP.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Calling for and of course, remember Hamad had said none
of this to Nassm Khan despite years of recorded phone calls. Instead,
he told Nasim he'd never go to a training camp.
It's only after this interrogation that Hamad starts saying whatever
he thinks the agents want to hear, and piece by piece,
(14:02):
the agents feed him nearly all the information in his confession,
down to the types of buildings he was supposedly going
to attack in the United States.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
There are certain kinds of targets that you know, are
are good targets. You know, if you're gonna be worth
your salt as a gid, you to know about his targets,
like buildings, And I'll say buildings. What kind of buildings
you take your big bis you know, okay, financial buildings,
uh are private buildings, commercial buildings, bank of the Unity's
(14:31):
commercial arctics and like those kind of buildings.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
I see, all right, y, you're not yeah, but I'm
not sure about the buildings.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
You guys are talking about the big ones that will see.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
Him, you know, finance.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Let's say, And what else?
Speaker 3 (14:46):
What else did they tell you about coscuds.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Maybe Hammid's confession is not very believable, so the FBI
needs corroboration. While those agents are questioning Hamid, other agents
bring in his dad, Umer, the ice cream truck driver,
and start questioning him too. They tell Umer that Hamid
admitted going to a training camp in Pakistan, and they
start pressuring Umer to say he also went to visit Hamid,
(15:12):
just like a parent would check out his kids college. Eventually,
Umer agrees that he had gone to visit Hamid, but
his story is totally wild. Hamid had described a rural
camp in a forested area, but Umer says the camp's
in rawal Pindi, a two million persons city. And Umer's description, well,
(15:32):
he says he saw one thousand fighters at this camp
and they're all in a huge underground basement practicing pole vaulting.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Do you know how high a ceiling has to be
in order to pole vault?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I'll take shit you don't do in a basement for
five hundred alex. And it gets even crazier because, according
to Umer, those pole vaulters are dressed up like Ninja turtles.
Umer later explained that he lifted this story from the
movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He'd recently we've seen it
on TV. All this goes on and on. Both men
(16:07):
keep spinning stories and the agents aren't really getting anywhere.
At three am, Hahmed starts complaining that his head hurts.
He asks to go home and gets in sleep.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
You tell me Kashmir, you tell me Afghan, stand northwest
seeing playing it on whatever you want to play on.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
But what's goind of happening?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
That he's ran up the rest of you?
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Okay, so I beg here to over.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
No, you're not leaving here tonight now, No, I mean tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I'm going to be here tonight, staying here in that evening.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
You're going to go to jail.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
And jed so to get a place.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
To sleep older like that.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Instead, the agents arrest him and charge him with lending
material support to terrorism. Suddenly he's facing up to thirty
years in prison for his part. Umer's also arrested based
on the crazy Ninja Turtle statement. He's charged with two
counts of lying to federal agents. The Hyat's arrest was
(17:04):
a huge news story. Now, some media outlets were skeptical.
They ran stories highlighting the pole vaulting and the Ninja
turtles and the crazy mismatch between what Hamad and his
dad had said, but other media bought it all hook
line and sinker. They covered the story as proof that
domestic sleeper cells existed.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
You throw a word out there, you throw the word terror,
you throw the word martyr, you throw the word gihad
out into public space, and people will believe almost anything
because the fear is so great.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
There's a federal trial to get ready for, and the
Hyatt family hires lawyers. But while the lawyer that Umer
hires is very experienced, Hamed gets a novice. She'd never
gone before a jury before. The plan was for her
to imitate whatever Umer's lawyer did, but that was no
plan at all. The cases were totally different, very different charges,
(18:00):
very different confessions. Hamid needed his own defense, but he
didn't get one, or at least not a very good one.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I mean, I've had some trial experience in my career.
I know my way around a criminal court room. We've
had contested hearings in our own post conviction cases, and
I know more about false confessions than a lot of
other attorneys who practice in this area. But there is
no way that I would ever take a case like this.
(18:29):
This case required a trial lawyer and one who had
worked with a security clearance and had done cases in
federal court against the FBI.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Hammid's lawyer had some of the best false confession experts
in her backyard, including doctor Richard Leo at the University
of San Francisco, but when Hahmed's trial rolled around in
two thousand and six, his lawyer didn't call doctor Leo
to testify. Hamed's lawyer also didn't adequately challenge the government's
claim that he carried a Jihati prayer in his wallet.
(19:03):
Hamed did carry a note a tauiz, a standard Pakistani
Muslim prayer for good health and protection. It was a
gift from Hamed's uncle after the meningitis, but Hamed's lawyer
didn't clearly explain that the note had nothing to do
with terrorism, and the jury was left to think the worst.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I mean, it's a travel prayer. You know, Jews travel
with eighteen cents in their front pocket when they go
on an airplane.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
All right, well, I feel comfortable traveling with you, Steve,
if you're going to be covered spiritually.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
No, I kind of elapsed jew, okay, But people have
these prayers with regard to travel, and that's what my
understanding of this Taouis was. Yeah, I mean the language
that that expert use makes it sound very ominous, but
I'm not sure that that was the right translation.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Despite a pretty weak defense, Hamed's conviction was far from guaranteed.
Even after hearing his confession, the jury still took nine
days to reach a decision, but in the end they're
verdict guilty. Later it came out that there had been
instances of jury misconduct during deliberations. The jury foreman himself
(20:09):
had said that if you put all Muslims in the
same costume, they all look alike. Umer Hyatt's trial, on
the other hand, ended in a mistrial, no verdict at all.
He ended up pleading guilty to some minor customs violations
and was released but hamid. On September tenth, two thousand
and seven, Hamed Hyatt was sentenced to twenty four years
(20:32):
in prison. It was one day before the sixth anniversary
of the nine to eleven attacks. Federal prison is no
picnic for anyone, especially not a young Muslim man who's
been convicted of terrorism. Most inmates are allowed only a
limited number of visits, something like once a week. Hamed
(20:53):
was allowed only one visit per year from his family members.
His dad Umer didn't get permission to see him for
more than eight years. But even while Hamad endured prison,
he grew up. For the first time. He was meeting
people of different faiths and backgrounds, albeit behind bars, and
he began to realize that those things he'd said to
(21:15):
impress Naseem about terrorism being cool or toxic. When a
reporter interviewed him in twenty sixteen, Hamad retracted everything. He
told the reporter. It was wrong what I said. I
totally disagree with myself. I didn't know much then. I
wasn't open minded about a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
So Hammed is in prison, and he's doing his time,
and his case is winding its weight through the system.
He's losing at every stage. And then Hahmad gets.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
A new lawyer, a great lawyer by the name of
Dennis rear And for those of you who are real
true crime junkies, you might remember Dennis Reardon as one
of the leading lawyers on the team that freed the
West Memphis three.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
For us.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
Of course, the important thing about the case is that
this was not about just a bad trial. You can
have cases like that where someone's rights are violated, we
passionately believe and knew we knew it was an actual
innocence case.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
So Dennis starts investigating the time that Hamid spent in
Pakistan between two thousand and three and two thousand and five. Remember,
the government said that during those two years, Hamad went
off for three months to a training camp. And what
does Dennis discover alibi witnesses, eighteen of them.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
They described in great detail his daily routine. He was
generally almost every day in the native village, except for
the time when he took two trips to ral Pindi
with his mother. So there were witnesses from wyl Pindi,
there were witnesses from the village of Babuti. He had
never been out of their site for more than at
(23:05):
most a couple of days, and had never attended at
camp as the government alleged, for three to six months.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Person after person comes forward to say that when Hamad
was in Pakistan, he was living with family and friends
the whole time. There were no three month unexplained absences.
He spent his days playing soccer, not training for jihad.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Hamad was no terrorist. He was totally innocent.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Dennis prepares an appeal based on these alibis. He's granted
a hearing a chance to make the case for Hahmad's innocence.
The alibi witnesses testify at the hearing over a live
video feed from Pakistan. Dennis also calls that false confession
expert to the stand doctor Richard Leo.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
And doctor Leo testified that this confession was useless. It
wasn't worth the tape that it was recorded on.
Speaker 6 (23:55):
And of course, if you look at the interrogation itself,
one of the oly humorous aspects of it was that
he was painfully thin and hardly looked like someone who
had trained for terrorist activities, and in fact gave this
description during this marathon interrogation where he's trying very hard
(24:16):
to please them and give them answers. Well, I was
in the camp. Well did you ever do arms trading? Well,
they gave me a rifle once, but it was too
heavy for me, so they never gave it to me again,
and so what they had me do was peel vegetables
in the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
The media is following all of this. A PBS Frontline
episode had been made questioning Hamid's conviction. A written piece
in the intercept did the same thing, and while the
hearing was going on an episode of the Netflix series
The Confession Tapes also pointed to Hammid's innocence. His case
was attracting supporters, momentum was building fast. So what does
(24:53):
the government do. They offer Hamid his freedom, but he's
got to plead guilty.
Speaker 6 (24:59):
As a lawyer, robl to go to Calient and say,
the government is still talking about potentially helping you out
if you provide him with information about Pakistan, and he said,
I have nothing to provide them with.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Now, we've heard the story way too often. As soon
as a case starts falling apart, the government offers a deal.
It lets prosecutors save face, and it's pretty hard for
any defendant to turn down.
Speaker 6 (25:21):
But Hamad, he said, I've gone through all of that
and I am not going to stand up and say
that I did something I didn't do. And we said,
you know, we have a very strong case, but there's
no way we can guarantee you that it will succeed,
and he said, I'm prepared to see this through.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Years ago, he refused to go to a camp when
a scene pressured him. Now he refuses to say he
went to a camp. He turns down the deal. Instead,
he bets that the truth will set him free.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Turns out he was right to take that bet.
Speaker 6 (25:56):
You just see before you click on it, there's an
order of the District Court, and you know you're talking
about ten seconds of absolute terror. And then I clicked
on it and the conviction is overturned. I'll admit it.
I wept, I really did.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
On July thirtieth, twenty nineteen, after fourteen years behind bars,
hamit Hyatt's conviction was thrown out based on his trial
attorney's ineffectiveness. If Hamid's lawyer had called those alibi witnesses,
the court found, he would have been acquitted.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
So where's Hamid today?
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Laura Hamid was freed on August ninth, twenty nineteen, and
formally exonerated just a few months ago. On Valentine's Day
twenty twenty, the government dismissed all charges against him. He's
the first post nine to eleven international terrorism defendant to
be officially cleared of any wrongdoing.
Speaker 6 (26:53):
And his family knew that he had been freed, but
they didn't know what was the next step. Family was
brought to the Council on American Islamic Relations, not knowing
that he would be there, and the video of his
mother seeing him for the first time in fourteen years
(27:15):
because she was never able to visit him, and then
the same with his father.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
Jeremy Jeremah Jeremah.
Speaker 6 (27:27):
It was extraordinary. Everyone wept just watching it.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Since his exoneration, Hama's been taking life one day at
a time. He's living in California, although not in Lodi,
and he's reconnecting with his family, including nieces and nephews
who were born while he was locked up. But like
all exoneries, he's struggling to navigate a world that's really
different than the one he was taken from in two
thousand and five. When I saw him a few months ago,
(28:01):
I asked him if he was okay. He looked at
me for a long time and simply said, no, I'm not.
Hammed's got a lot of healing to do. But the
good news he's got an enormous number of supporters who
believe in him, and Hamad, we're here to support you too.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
Hey, Hammed, is that you?
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Hey? Laura?
Speaker 4 (28:24):
How you doing good?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Good?
Speaker 4 (28:26):
What are you up to today, not much. Where are
you stand the day you sand with your family? Yes,
I'm with my family.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
What's it like to be back with your family after
so many years away?
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Surely a blessing.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
They always believed in you.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
My family was there, my legal team was there, all
my supporters. That was my hope, my parent.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Where do you see yourself five years from them?
Speaker 4 (28:47):
I just want to go back to school and get
my ice school the phone line did, and go to
college after that. I hope you'll find a good job.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I see you on social media posting pictures of you
with your nieces and nephews.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
It's amazing.
Speaker 5 (28:59):
You've been out since August and you're already way better
than me at Instagram. So the checks.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
And balances in our criminal justice system failed miserably in
this case. And I think it's not because these are
bad people or they were trying to frame Hamid Hyad
and his father. I think it's because they were operating
in the panic and fear that everybody in this country
(29:34):
was living under in the wake of nine to eleven,
And in that context, I think standards for what a
good case is sometimes get ignored.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Standards start being cut short. And the results is the
taking of more innocent life right in this case, fourteen
years from the life of Hamed Hyad. When Hamad was released,
he said, I still think this is a dream. I
wake up and I still think I'm in prison. I'll
(30:07):
never be able to pay back my sisters and brothers,
none of my supporters. I'm your servant until the day
of judgment. Wrongful Conviction, False Confessions is a production of
Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number One.
(30:29):
Special thanks to our executive producer Jason Flamm and the
team at Signal Company Number one. Executive producer Kevin wardis
Senior producer and Pope, and additional production and editing by
Connor Hall. Special thanks to Jogi Hammer for additional script
editing and for wrangling and writing like a mad woman.
Our music was composed by Jay Ralph. You can follow
(30:51):
me on Instagram or Twitter at Laura Nywriter, and you.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Can follow me on Twitter at s Drisen.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
For more information on the show, visit Conviction podcast dot
com and be sure to follow the show on Instagram
at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and
on Twitter at wrong Conviction
Hey guys, it's Laura and I writer. This week, it's
the story of Hamed Hyatt, a US citizen who was
charged with terrorism in the frenzied time after the nine
to eleven attacks. Hamed was one of the Muslim Men
that were targeted by the FBI during its frantic search
for terrorists still at large. But the story the FBI
concocted about Hamed was full of crazy imagery and drama,
(00:29):
almost like a movie or a comic strip. And that's
because it wasn't true. Hamed Hyatt was innocent, but he
served years behind bars before being exonerated. Now since we
aired this episode, Hamed has gotten a new job with
Amazon and he's working to rebuild his life. His new
coworkers are often surprised to learn that he's been through
(00:49):
the worst of the wrongful conviction stories and how well
known his story is online. In fact, Hamed's story was
featured prominently on comedian Hassan Minaja's Netflix special Patriot Act.
Hasan Manaj even cited Hamed's story as the inspiration for
the title of the show. While we wish that none
of us had ever happened to Hamid, we're so glad
(01:09):
his message is reaching a larger audience, and we wish
him all the best. Welcome to Wrongful Conviction, False Confessions.
I'm Laura and I.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Writer and I'm Steve Drisin.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
In the wake of nine to eleven, keeping America safe
was everyone's priority. But what happens when an innocent man
gets accused of terrorism based on a false confession. Today's
case includes one of the most outlandish confessions I've ever heard.
A thousand pole vaulting terrorists, all dressed up like Ninja turtles.
(01:46):
It's a story that sounds like the punchline of a
joke instead of the path to a conviction. But for
US citizen Hamid Hyatt, the verdict was no joke at all.
Usually we start each episode by telling you about a crime,
(02:09):
but in today's story, there was both a crime on
a scale we'd never seen before and no crime at all.
You see, this case took place right after the horrific
nine to eleven attacks. Thousands of Americans had died, and
pressure was building on our government to prevent more attacks.
Make no mistake, there was a lot of good police
(02:29):
work done to keep us all safe, but sometimes fear
started to override good decision making. Some law enforcement efforts
became driven by panic and even prejudice, not proof. This
story is one of the times we got it wrong.
In two thousand and five, California native and US citizen
(02:50):
Hamid Hyatt was accused of being part of a homegrown
terrorist sleeper cell. Years later, the government admitted that no
such sleeper cell ever existed, but Hamid had falsely confessed.
He spent more than a decade in prison before being cleared.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
As prosecutors prepare for trial, they review the evidence that
the FBI agents obtain in the case, and they look
at the interrogation tapes, and you have to wonder what
the prosecutors in this case were thinking when they saw
these tapes. What were they thinking when the corroboration of
(03:30):
this case was so thin.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Hammed is one of the first post nine to eleven
terrorism defendants to be exonerated, and he probably won't be
the last. His story is a caution to us all
when we're talking about our national security, there's nothing more
important than getting it right. Hamid's story takes place in Lodi, California,
(03:55):
a medium sized town halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento.
Lodi's downtown looks like the set of an old Western,
complete with a train depot from gold rush days. But
if you go south a mile, you'll find a large
Pakistani American community where families wear traditional clothing and center
their lives around the local mosque. We'll get to Lodi
(04:18):
in a minute, but our story starts in Oregon. That's
where FBI agents traveled in October two thousand and one
looking for a suspected terrorist named Nasim Khan. The Nasin
Khan they've found was a twenty eight year old convenience
store employee. The FBI quickly realized this guy had nothing
(04:39):
to do with terrorism. He simply had the same name
as their suspect. But with the FBI at his door,
Nasim smelled an opportunity. He gave the agents the biggest
tip he could conjure up. He claimed to have seen
i'm In al Zawahiri, one of the most wanted terrorists
in the world, at a mosque in Lodai, Colorlifornia.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
It's ludicrous, absolutely ludicrous that Osama bin Lan's number two
person would make it into the United States without detection,
and of all places, settle in Lodie, California.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
The FBI, to its credit, didn't believe Nasim. They figured
out soon enough that he had a reputation for lying.
Even his own mother later called Nasim a bag full
of lies, air and deceit. But this was a month
after nine to eleven, and the government was desperate to
recruit informants who could infiltrate Muslim American communities and expose
(05:35):
any sleeper cells. Somehow, they decided Nasim was their guy.
Being hired as an informant was a pretty big deal
for Nasem. He went from working in a convenience store
to getting a cool FBI nickname Wildcat. He earned hundreds
of thousands of dollars on the US government payroll. The
(05:55):
FEDS even paid for his car washes in exchange. They
asked him to target the Lodi, California community. By early
two thousand and two, Nassim wormed his way into Lodei's
Pakistani neighborhoods. He started befriending people looking for any information
the FBI might consider useful, and pretty soon Nissin began
(06:16):
focusing on the Hyatt family, especially nineteen year old Hamid.
Now the Hyatt family was well known in Lodi. They
had no history of political involvement or extremism whatsoever. Hahmad's dad, Umer,
was the local ice cream truck driver.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
The pairing of Nassim and Hahmed was a strange pairing
from the get go. Nassim was ten years older than Hamid,
and Hamid nineteen or so at the time, acted much
more immaturely than his age. He had suffered a terrible
batt of meningitis years earlier, which left him cognitively and
(06:55):
physically slower.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
As a child, Hamad had split his time between his
home and the US and his relative's home in Pakistan.
Because of all the travel, he'd only finished elementary school,
and he didn't have many friends in the States. So
when Nassim, the informant, befriended him, Hamed couldn't believe his luck.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Nassim was paying attention to Hamid, and very few people
in the community in lord I paid much attention to Hamid.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Nasim was older, he had a fancy car, and apparently
endless money. This is the guy who wanted to chat
up Hamed. Hamed was in Nasim Andhmmed became friends, or
at least so Hamid thought. Over the next year or two,
Nasim and Hahmed started having hours of phone conversations that
Nassim was secretly recording. On those calls, Nasim portrayed himself
(07:47):
as an extremist and told Hamed he'd been involved in
jihadi activities for years. Pretty Soon, hapless Hamed started trying
to impress Nasim by making up fake stories about his
own exploits. Once, Hamed said he participated in a Taliban attack,
another time he claimed he'd been held in a Pakistani jail.
(08:07):
And when Nasim said that he wanted to go to
a terrorist training camp, Hamad said that sounded cool. Fast
forward a year to two thousand and three, Hamid's twenty
one and his parents take him to Pakistan to find
a bride for Nasim. This trip was a chance to
up the ante to bully Hamed into actually going to
(08:29):
a terrorist training camp. He starts telling Hamed that he's
going to come to Pakistan himself and force Hamed into
Jihati training, but Hamid refuses. He fends Nasim off with
one excuse after another. It's too hot to go to
a training camp, it's too difficult. I need to stay
with my sick mother. It's pretty obvious Hammad has zero
(08:51):
interest in becoming a terrorist. Finally, he straight out tells
Nasim he's never going to a camp. It was their
last phone call. Hamed gets married in Pakistan and ends
up staying there for two years until June two thousand
and five, when he decides to go back to the
United States. He boards a plane in Pakistan.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
With his whole family, but the.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Plane gets diverted to Tokyo because it turns out Hamit
is on the no fly list. The whole Hyatt family
is ushered off the plane and the FBI questions them
about why they were overseas and who they were with.
They even ask if the men Hamid was hanging out
with had facial hair. Eventually, the family is allowed to
get back on the plane and fly to California, but
(09:35):
a day or two later, the FBI shows up again
at the Hyatt family home and brings Hamed in to
the Sacramento office for more questioning. Now, let's step back
for a minute. By June two thousand and five, there'd
been a three year multi agency Federal Terrorism Task Force
investigation that revolved around Nasim Khan and his stories. None
(09:59):
of seems claims yielded any real information about terrorism despite
all the money he'd been paid. So by mid two
thousand and five, the FBI was feeling pressure to show
results in the worst way, and they got results from
the Hyatt family in the worst way.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Hamud's interrogation begins on June third, two thousand and five,
at about eleven thirty in the morning, and it would
go on for hours and hours before the agents turned
on the video cameras.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
They start taping at five o'clock in the afternoon. You
can see skinny little Hamed, very nervous, sitting in a
chair that's pushed against the wall of a small windowless room.
He's facing two FBI agents who are staring him down.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
The policy of the FBI at this time was that
the decision to record interrogations was left in the discretion
of agents, so it was unusual that they would record
these interrogations. But thank god they did, because otherwise we
wouldn't have the record that we do have about how
(11:17):
at least some of Hamid's interrogation went down as.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Soon as the tapes rolling. The agents accuse Hamid of
spending between three and six months at a terrorist training
camp in Pakistan and then come to lies. First they
say he failed a polygraph that he apparently took earlier
that day. Second, they claimed to have satellite photographs of
(11:42):
a camp, implying Hamid's in those photos. Neither was true.
And then the agents offer him help. As long as
he talks over and over and over, they promise that
they're there to help him. Hamid looks desperate to please
these guys. He says he wants to cooperate for my country.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
From my country, I do anything, you know, because you know,
these guys are hurting our country about well.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I mean it's important because you know, every day in
and as we see her, you know, our troops rook,
they're very hard for you know, making peace in the
whole world.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Why they're making peace, They're making peace for us so
we can live together, all of us. Yeah. And what
do they do with these camps.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
What they're doing is to teaching people out to how
to kill American truth of course, right, that's what the.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Camps are all about.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
The interrogation goes on for hours into the night, until
Hamid starts breaking. He tells the agents he did go
to a camp in Pakistan for several months. But his
story makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
It's laughable.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
They ask him when he'd gone to the camp. At
first Hamad said it was during the hot season, but
then he says it was during the cold season. When
they ask him to describe the camp, Hammud's answer is
just pathetic. He says the whole place had only four
weapons in it, a shotgun, two pistols, and a machine gun.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
He said the only weapon that he had handled was
actually a pistol, and he'd only shot it three or
four times. What kind of training is that?
Speaker 1 (13:10):
The agents ask comed where the camp was, and he
keeps switching his story there too. First it was in
rural Afghanistan, then it was in rural Pakistan.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
You're all over the map here, oh yeah, and yeah,
helping yourself out it by doing that, you know, Okay,
when one minute you're saying Northwest Frontier, next minue you're saying.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Cash from you, you're saying where this building was? Which
city was it? Yes, yeah, I'll say about court.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
It's not that you will say you know where it is,
you know where the building is? Tell me where was it?
Gon a gourd and the BFP in NWFP.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Calling for and of course, remember Hamad had said none
of this to Nassm Khan despite years of recorded phone calls. Instead,
he told Nasim he'd never go to a training camp.
It's only after this interrogation that Hamad starts saying whatever
he thinks the agents want to hear, and piece by piece,
(14:02):
the agents feed him nearly all the information in his confession,
down to the types of buildings he was supposedly going
to attack in the United States.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
There are certain kinds of targets that you know, are
are good targets. You know, if you're gonna be worth
your salt as a gid, you to know about his targets,
like buildings, And I'll say buildings. What kind of buildings
you take your big bis you know, okay, financial buildings,
uh are private buildings, commercial buildings, bank of the Unity's
(14:31):
commercial arctics and like those kind of buildings.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
I see, all right, y, you're not yeah, but I'm
not sure about the buildings.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
You guys are talking about the big ones that will see.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
Him, you know, finance.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Let's say, And what else?
Speaker 3 (14:46):
What else did they tell you about coscuds.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Maybe Hammid's confession is not very believable, so the FBI
needs corroboration. While those agents are questioning Hamid, other agents
bring in his dad, Umer, the ice cream truck driver,
and start questioning him too. They tell Umer that Hamid
admitted going to a training camp in Pakistan, and they
start pressuring Umer to say he also went to visit Hamid,
(15:12):
just like a parent would check out his kids college. Eventually,
Umer agrees that he had gone to visit Hamid, but
his story is totally wild. Hamid had described a rural
camp in a forested area, but Umer says the camp's
in rawal Pindi, a two million persons city. And Umer's description, well,
(15:32):
he says he saw one thousand fighters at this camp
and they're all in a huge underground basement practicing pole vaulting.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Do you know how high a ceiling has to be
in order to pole vault?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I'll take shit you don't do in a basement for
five hundred alex. And it gets even crazier because, according
to Umer, those pole vaulters are dressed up like Ninja turtles.
Umer later explained that he lifted this story from the
movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He'd recently we've seen it
on TV. All this goes on and on. Both men
(16:07):
keep spinning stories and the agents aren't really getting anywhere.
At three am, Hahmed starts complaining that his head hurts.
He asks to go home and gets in sleep.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
You tell me Kashmir, you tell me Afghan, stand northwest
seeing playing it on whatever you want to play on.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
But what's goind of happening?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
That he's ran up the rest of you?
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Okay, so I beg here to over.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
No, you're not leaving here tonight now, No, I mean tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I'm going to be here tonight, staying here in that evening.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
You're going to go to jail.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
And jed so to get a place.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
To sleep older like that.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Instead, the agents arrest him and charge him with lending
material support to terrorism. Suddenly he's facing up to thirty
years in prison for his part. Umer's also arrested based
on the crazy Ninja Turtle statement. He's charged with two
counts of lying to federal agents. The Hyat's arrest was
(17:04):
a huge news story. Now, some media outlets were skeptical.
They ran stories highlighting the pole vaulting and the Ninja
turtles and the crazy mismatch between what Hamad and his
dad had said, but other media bought it all hook
line and sinker. They covered the story as proof that
domestic sleeper cells existed.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
You throw a word out there, you throw the word terror,
you throw the word martyr, you throw the word gihad
out into public space, and people will believe almost anything
because the fear is so great.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
There's a federal trial to get ready for, and the
Hyatt family hires lawyers. But while the lawyer that Umer
hires is very experienced, Hamed gets a novice. She'd never
gone before a jury before. The plan was for her
to imitate whatever Umer's lawyer did, but that was no
plan at all. The cases were totally different, very different charges,
(18:00):
very different confessions. Hamid needed his own defense, but he
didn't get one, or at least not a very good one.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I mean, I've had some trial experience in my career.
I know my way around a criminal court room. We've
had contested hearings in our own post conviction cases, and
I know more about false confessions than a lot of
other attorneys who practice in this area. But there is
no way that I would ever take a case like this.
(18:29):
This case required a trial lawyer and one who had
worked with a security clearance and had done cases in
federal court against the FBI.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Hammid's lawyer had some of the best false confession experts
in her backyard, including doctor Richard Leo at the University
of San Francisco, but when Hahmed's trial rolled around in
two thousand and six, his lawyer didn't call doctor Leo
to testify. Hamed's lawyer also didn't adequately challenge the government's
claim that he carried a Jihati prayer in his wallet.
(19:03):
Hamed did carry a note a tauiz, a standard Pakistani
Muslim prayer for good health and protection. It was a
gift from Hamed's uncle after the meningitis, but Hamed's lawyer
didn't clearly explain that the note had nothing to do
with terrorism, and the jury was left to think the worst.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I mean, it's a travel prayer. You know, Jews travel
with eighteen cents in their front pocket when they go
on an airplane.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
All right, well, I feel comfortable traveling with you, Steve,
if you're going to be covered spiritually.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
No, I kind of elapsed jew, okay, But people have
these prayers with regard to travel, and that's what my
understanding of this Taouis was. Yeah, I mean the language
that that expert use makes it sound very ominous, but
I'm not sure that that was the right translation.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Despite a pretty weak defense, Hamed's conviction was far from guaranteed.
Even after hearing his confession, the jury still took nine
days to reach a decision, but in the end they're
verdict guilty. Later it came out that there had been
instances of jury misconduct during deliberations. The jury foreman himself
(20:09):
had said that if you put all Muslims in the
same costume, they all look alike. Umer Hyatt's trial, on
the other hand, ended in a mistrial, no verdict at all.
He ended up pleading guilty to some minor customs violations
and was released but hamid. On September tenth, two thousand
and seven, Hamed Hyatt was sentenced to twenty four years
(20:32):
in prison. It was one day before the sixth anniversary
of the nine to eleven attacks. Federal prison is no
picnic for anyone, especially not a young Muslim man who's
been convicted of terrorism. Most inmates are allowed only a
limited number of visits, something like once a week. Hamed
(20:53):
was allowed only one visit per year from his family members.
His dad Umer didn't get permission to see him for
more than eight years. But even while Hamad endured prison,
he grew up. For the first time. He was meeting
people of different faiths and backgrounds, albeit behind bars, and
he began to realize that those things he'd said to
(21:15):
impress Naseem about terrorism being cool or toxic. When a
reporter interviewed him in twenty sixteen, Hamad retracted everything. He
told the reporter. It was wrong what I said. I
totally disagree with myself. I didn't know much then. I
wasn't open minded about a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
So Hammed is in prison, and he's doing his time,
and his case is winding its weight through the system.
He's losing at every stage. And then Hahmad gets.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
A new lawyer, a great lawyer by the name of
Dennis rear And for those of you who are real
true crime junkies, you might remember Dennis Reardon as one
of the leading lawyers on the team that freed the
West Memphis three.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
For us.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
Of course, the important thing about the case is that
this was not about just a bad trial. You can
have cases like that where someone's rights are violated, we
passionately believe and knew we knew it was an actual
innocence case.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
So Dennis starts investigating the time that Hamid spent in
Pakistan between two thousand and three and two thousand and five. Remember,
the government said that during those two years, Hamad went
off for three months to a training camp. And what
does Dennis discover alibi witnesses, eighteen of them.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
They described in great detail his daily routine. He was
generally almost every day in the native village, except for
the time when he took two trips to ral Pindi
with his mother. So there were witnesses from wyl Pindi,
there were witnesses from the village of Babuti. He had
never been out of their site for more than at
(23:05):
most a couple of days, and had never attended at
camp as the government alleged, for three to six months.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Person after person comes forward to say that when Hamad
was in Pakistan, he was living with family and friends
the whole time. There were no three month unexplained absences.
He spent his days playing soccer, not training for jihad.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Hamad was no terrorist. He was totally innocent.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Dennis prepares an appeal based on these alibis. He's granted
a hearing a chance to make the case for Hahmad's innocence.
The alibi witnesses testify at the hearing over a live
video feed from Pakistan. Dennis also calls that false confession
expert to the stand doctor Richard Leo.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
And doctor Leo testified that this confession was useless. It
wasn't worth the tape that it was recorded on.
Speaker 6 (23:55):
And of course, if you look at the interrogation itself,
one of the oly humorous aspects of it was that
he was painfully thin and hardly looked like someone who
had trained for terrorist activities, and in fact gave this
description during this marathon interrogation where he's trying very hard
(24:16):
to please them and give them answers. Well, I was
in the camp. Well did you ever do arms trading? Well,
they gave me a rifle once, but it was too
heavy for me, so they never gave it to me again,
and so what they had me do was peel vegetables
in the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
The media is following all of this. A PBS Frontline
episode had been made questioning Hamid's conviction. A written piece
in the intercept did the same thing, and while the
hearing was going on an episode of the Netflix series
The Confession Tapes also pointed to Hammid's innocence. His case
was attracting supporters, momentum was building fast. So what does
(24:53):
the government do. They offer Hamid his freedom, but he's
got to plead guilty.
Speaker 6 (24:59):
As a lawyer, robl to go to Calient and say,
the government is still talking about potentially helping you out
if you provide him with information about Pakistan, and he said,
I have nothing to provide them with.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Now, we've heard the story way too often. As soon
as a case starts falling apart, the government offers a deal.
It lets prosecutors save face, and it's pretty hard for
any defendant to turn down.
Speaker 6 (25:21):
But Hamad, he said, I've gone through all of that
and I am not going to stand up and say
that I did something I didn't do. And we said,
you know, we have a very strong case, but there's
no way we can guarantee you that it will succeed,
and he said, I'm prepared to see this through.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Years ago, he refused to go to a camp when
a scene pressured him. Now he refuses to say he
went to a camp. He turns down the deal. Instead,
he bets that the truth will set him free.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Turns out he was right to take that bet.
Speaker 6 (25:56):
You just see before you click on it, there's an
order of the District Court, and you know you're talking
about ten seconds of absolute terror. And then I clicked
on it and the conviction is overturned. I'll admit it.
I wept, I really did.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
On July thirtieth, twenty nineteen, after fourteen years behind bars,
hamit Hyatt's conviction was thrown out based on his trial
attorney's ineffectiveness. If Hamid's lawyer had called those alibi witnesses,
the court found, he would have been acquitted.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
So where's Hamid today?
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Laura Hamid was freed on August ninth, twenty nineteen, and
formally exonerated just a few months ago. On Valentine's Day
twenty twenty, the government dismissed all charges against him. He's
the first post nine to eleven international terrorism defendant to
be officially cleared of any wrongdoing.
Speaker 6 (26:53):
And his family knew that he had been freed, but
they didn't know what was the next step. Family was
brought to the Council on American Islamic Relations, not knowing
that he would be there, and the video of his
mother seeing him for the first time in fourteen years
(27:15):
because she was never able to visit him, and then
the same with his father.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
Jeremy Jeremah Jeremah.
Speaker 6 (27:27):
It was extraordinary. Everyone wept just watching it.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Since his exoneration, Hama's been taking life one day at
a time. He's living in California, although not in Lodi,
and he's reconnecting with his family, including nieces and nephews
who were born while he was locked up. But like
all exoneries, he's struggling to navigate a world that's really
different than the one he was taken from in two
thousand and five. When I saw him a few months ago,
(28:01):
I asked him if he was okay. He looked at
me for a long time and simply said, no, I'm not.
Hammed's got a lot of healing to do. But the
good news he's got an enormous number of supporters who
believe in him, and Hamad, we're here to support you too.
Speaker 6 (28:22):
Hey, Hammed, is that you?
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Hey? Laura?
Speaker 4 (28:24):
How you doing good?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Good?
Speaker 4 (28:26):
What are you up to today, not much. Where are
you stand the day you sand with your family? Yes,
I'm with my family.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
What's it like to be back with your family after
so many years away?
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Surely a blessing.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
They always believed in you.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
My family was there, my legal team was there, all
my supporters. That was my hope, my parent.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Where do you see yourself five years from them?
Speaker 4 (28:47):
I just want to go back to school and get
my ice school the phone line did, and go to
college after that. I hope you'll find a good job.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I see you on social media posting pictures of you
with your nieces and nephews.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
It's amazing.
Speaker 5 (28:59):
You've been out since August and you're already way better
than me at Instagram. So the checks.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
And balances in our criminal justice system failed miserably in
this case. And I think it's not because these are
bad people or they were trying to frame Hamid Hyad
and his father. I think it's because they were operating
in the panic and fear that everybody in this country
(29:34):
was living under in the wake of nine to eleven,
And in that context, I think standards for what a
good case is sometimes get ignored.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Standards start being cut short. And the results is the
taking of more innocent life right in this case, fourteen
years from the life of Hamed Hyad. When Hamad was released,
he said, I still think this is a dream. I
wake up and I still think I'm in prison. I'll
(30:07):
never be able to pay back my sisters and brothers,
none of my supporters. I'm your servant until the day
of judgment. Wrongful Conviction, False Confessions is a production of
Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number One.
(30:29):
Special thanks to our executive producer Jason Flamm and the
team at Signal Company Number one. Executive producer Kevin wardis
Senior producer and Pope, and additional production and editing by
Connor Hall. Special thanks to Jogi Hammer for additional script
editing and for wrangling and writing like a mad woman.
Our music was composed by Jay Ralph. You can follow
(30:51):
me on Instagram or Twitter at Laura Nywriter, and you.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Can follow me on Twitter at s Drisen.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
For more information on the show, visit Conviction podcast dot
com and be sure to follow the show on Instagram
at Wrongful Conviction, on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and
on Twitter at wrong Conviction
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Bright Pacheco
Maggie Freleng
Jason Flom
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