August 29, 2024 • 40 mins
In June 1986, Kevin Dykes witnessed the attempted murder of 2 people and the actual murder of a 3rd person in his neighborhood in Compton, CA. Kevin decided to go to the police, partly out of fear of reprisals by the killers who knew he witnessed the murder. The prosecutors then used his knowledge of the crimes that he witnessed against him and charged him with all 3 crimes.
Learn more and get involved at:
https://www.change.org/free-kevin-dykes
https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason-flom
https://cash.app/$kevindykes0712
Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
We initially released Kevin Dyke's story on September fourteenth, twenty twenty,
and an update in August of twenty twenty one. Since then,
our understanding is that some powerful people in the Los
Angeles District Attorney's Office under the leadership of George Gascon,
listened to our coverage and agreed that Kevin deserved relief.
(00:25):
He was resentenced, paroled, and released from prison on February
twenty first, twenty twenty four. We are so happy that
he is finally home where it belongs, as we continue
to hope for his full exoneration. Please check the episode description.
There's a link to his cash ap. He needs our
(00:45):
help as he struggles to get his life back together
after thirty eight long years in prison. Here's our coverage
of his story. As a child, in the late nineteen seventies,
Kevin Dykes accidentally killed his best friend when they were
playing with a gun, sending him to juvie for involuntary manslaughter.
(01:06):
When he got out, he turned to petty drug dealing
in Compton, California. Fast forward to nineteen eighty six. After
a terrible assault that led to a four month hospital stint,
Kevin continued peddling drugs from his temporary wheelchair for two
men named Slim and Hondo. Kevin rented a bed and
a trailer home in his landlord's driveway, where Slim and
Hondo occasionally hit weapons. That June, two incidents occurred just
(01:30):
days apart, resulting in one murder and two attempted murders.
The first during a party, when Kevin booted his friend
Ephram for being belligerently drunk. Slim and Hondo followed he from,
stabbing him several times. A neighborhood mother, Missus Bradley, came
to Ephraim's aid, only to get stabbed as well. Kevin intervened,
jumping from his wheelchair to stop the assault before it
(01:52):
turned fatal. A few days later, Slim and Hondo accused
Kevin's friend Otis Perry of stealing their gun from Kevin's trailer,
stabbing him eighty one times. Unable to stop the murderous
frenzy and fearing for his own life, Kevin helped them
clean up before going to the police a few hours later.
A few days after that, Kevin was arrested for cocaine
(02:13):
possession and put into a special holding tank for state's witnesses.
Then three jailhouse snitches claimed that Kevin had confessed to
all three attacks in exchange for leniency in their own cases.
Kevin Dykes is serving life in prison on the word
of three notorious jailhouse snitches. This is Wrongful Conviction with
(02:35):
Jason flamm Wrongful Conviction has always given voice to innocent
people in prison, and now we're expanding that voice to you.
Call us at eight three three two O seven four
six sixty six and tell us how these stories make
you feel and what you've done to help the cause,
(02:56):
even if it's something as simple as telling a friend
or sharing out social media, and you might just hear
yourself in a future episode. Call us A three three
two O seven four six sixty six.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
This is Global taill Link. You have a prepaid call
from care an inmate at the California State Prison, Los
Angeles County, Lancaster, California. This call and your telephone number
will be monitored and recorded. To accept this call, say
or dial five now. Thank you for using globaltaill Link.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Welcome back to Wrangful Conviction with Jason Flomp. Today we
have an incredible story, so we're going to get right
into it, and I'm going to introduce you first to
Stephen K Houser. He's a criminal defense attorney representing the
star of this episode, Kevin Diyke. Stephen, Welcome to Wrongful Conviction.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Thank you, glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
And Kevin Dykes is on the phone with us from prison,
and I hope we'll be able to do something about
his situation because it is awful. Kevin. I'm sorry you're
here where you are, but I'm happy you're here with
us today. So thank you for being.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Here, no problem, Thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
This case goes back to Compton nineteen eighty six, and
it's got so much that you'll think I'm talking about
a movie script that would be too much to be believed,
except for it's real. It's got gangster's name Hondo and Slim.
It's got drugs. It's got snitches that ended up on
sixty minutes. It's got laws that changed, and victims who
(04:37):
testified that this was not the guy who did it.
It's got a guy who's in prison for three and
a half decades with no evidence against him except the
testimony of jailhouse snitches who have recanted their testimony. It
is nuts, but it's true. So let's get right into it.
And Kevin, let's start with you going back to your
(04:58):
youth because you grew up in common.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Right, Yes, I grew up good, two pay at homes
in the pop Water Sport. I actually had a real
good up bringing until I, uh, I think it's actually
saying I ended up actually killing my best friend. I
went for a voluntary manor father, and I was sick too.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
And for those of you who don't know, YA or
CYA is the California Youth Authority.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
As I understand it, your friend's death was entirely accidental,
just two kids who made a big mistake playing with
a gun. But they still sent your way to Julie
for involuntary manslaughter. And I also understand that you harbor
a lot of guilt about this. Even though the family
forgave you, yes.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Just family, they stayed them directly across the street from
my family, even to the day, still fail on the
same street. Although the family had for given me, written
me letters and come to see me. When I got out,
I saw what idea to that family, and I didn't
know how to process. Although my mother and my father,
(06:05):
my grandmother, and all kind of people were trying to
help me. I didn't know how to ask for their
help that I actually needed. So I got digs a
little deck grid to the king.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
So the guilt kind of derailed your potential, it seems.
And after Juvie, you start dealing drugs and looking outside
of what seemed like a supportive home for whatever it
was that you felt you needed, acceptance, identity, whatever, out
in the street. So fast forward to January nineteen eighty six.
Some other really bad stuff happens January eighteenth.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
So I try to kiddingap me. They try to cheat
them in front of my house. I followed. They ran
me through a brick wall. They both my inter smashed
my failings. So I went to the hospital January eighteenth
in dollars to make twenty. When I got out of
the hospital, I was in a wheelchair and I had
a walker, and I was going to a therapy.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yes, someone tried to kidnap Kevin. So you fought them off,
and they ended up hitting you with their car against
a brick wall, broke your hips, snapped your pelvis, and
put you in the hospital for four months. I mean,
you're lucky to even be alive. And we haven't even
gotten to the part that has you locked up right now. Okay,
(07:16):
so it's May nineteen eighty six. You're temporarily in this
wheelchair doing physical therapy and dealing drugs for these two
mid level management drug dealers named Slim and Hondo.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Slim and Hondo decided that they were going to take
over the local drug sales. I believe they helped Kevin
and some of his friends with small amounts of cocaine
to sell in the neighborhood, and they would periodically show
up and I guess resupply the local sellers, including Kevin
(07:52):
and Kevin.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
You were renting a place to stay from a man
named mister Bryce. You were renting a bed in this
mobile home that's sat in his driveway right.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Yeah, I was standing mister Bryce's mobile hole. We had
a mobile home. They had like six days in a shower,
had all that stuff inside. It was parked in the driveway.
Sometimes my friends used to places to stay. They had
like six paces where he suld be sleeping there. So
Otis would come in and sleeping.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
There, and Otis is Otis Perry, who occasionally stayed at
mister Bryce's mobile home, and he's the one that was
eventually stabbed like slimon Hondo for taking the gun that
they had left in the trailer.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
The night that these two attempting murders occurred outside a
party at mister Bryce's house.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
Yes, oldly, my cousin Pam was inside the mobile home.
I was inside the house where the party was there
when the fighting, when the fight after, so I didn't
know this was out there at the time. And I
know Slim pulled up. They knew mister Bryce didn't allow
guns in his house, but they heard a gun in
the mobile home with my cousin and Ostad. But I
(08:59):
still didn't know and about that at that time.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Okay, So now the stage is finally set for these
crimes to take place. This is we're talking June nineteenth,
nineteen eighty six. There's a little party going on at
mister Bryce's. Your friend Otis and your cousin Pam are
in the mobile home in the driveway. Slim and Hondo,
your bosses, come to hang out, but out of respect
(09:22):
for mister Bryce, they leave their gun in the mobile home.
Then your friend Ephraim is at the party and he
is drunk, to say the least.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Wellphim is my older homeboy. He was long beingliserate and
wrestle with the females. I was up in there and
grabbing rinks and didn't belong to him. And I saw
man go down to the pool man keep back. I
got he kept home, So I got pissed off and
I hate him once and when I hate him, Hondo slim.
(09:55):
Both of them attackly be some of them. I here's
what they see, he said. I didn't understand, and why
did they get involved in there? Here's what they said,
because I could barely walked. They people were taking advantage
of my disability.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Oh okay, so your drug bosses are sticking up for you,
but then they go way beyond what you would ever
want them to do.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yes, So once I stuck some both of them attacking,
I got them to stop. Told these communities. He left
and then they chased him down the street. They caught
him at the end of the corner. Once I got
down there, I saw that they was actually stabbing. When
I Hando leaving along Hando, he looked up and saw me.
(10:41):
But when he saw me, he saw this Bradley behind
me was Brady as my older home was mother. When
she looked up and saw that it was her son,
she tried to turn it around. He ran her down,
grabbed her by her address, and saw her stabbing her.
I hopped my way to him and grabbed him to
see him off of her, and once an hour Holy
(11:02):
she got loose. We gave you from time to shut up,
and then I got to toil that she should the
call and drove them off. I drove off to a
motive and then I came back to Hicth and Miss Bradley,
but the Amma's already came and it was the hospital.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
So you basically saved Missus Bradley and Ephraim from being
murdered by Slim and Hondo by convincing them to stop
stabbing them and drive away from the scene. But this
incident on June nineteenth is what becomes two charges of
attempted murder that gets stuck on you. The guy confined
(11:39):
to a wheelchair at the time. Yeah, okay, so Slim
and Hondo stabbed both Ephraim and Missus Bradley. You drove
them to a motel. At some point, your friend otis
back at the mobile home takes the gun Slim and
Hondo had left behind. Not too smart, by the way,
because Slim and knew who was in the mobile home
(12:02):
when they stashed it in the first place, so they
come looking for Otis on June twenty thirty.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
June twenty thirty, he came over looking for Otis, like
one something in the morning. They said, come outsire, I'm
gonna go and kill Oldis. I didn't know Otis was
out here in the motor home. So when I went
out to the front yard going to the motor opened,
Oldis stepped out. Hanolds attacked Otis said, may with my gun.
(12:28):
He said, we can go get it. He said, too late,
and they attashing. They started fighting. ODIs was fighting back,
but they were fighting him from the side of the
mobile hole and went around the garage, and that was
the first time I saw him being stashed. And I
came back from around there. I wasn't neighboring one or
whatever it's so didn't say nothing and just listener to
everything that was going on. And I don't know how
(12:48):
the much time passed, but gave Honolds came from around
there and it was no more noise. I was wondering
it okay. Now what he said, uh woo something, you
got some revenue, And then I gave him my blak
so him a swim went behind the babe and wrapped
him up, drugged him out and put him in the car.
And instead of hear him, the slim boy, he said,
(13:10):
you swim, you stay here watching out all the blood
that was coming from behind the motherall and showed me
to get in the car and ride with him. So
I took him over through my own boys neighborhood by
the canail, and that's where he jumped in and I said, look,
I'll be back. I left it deb came back.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
And what would you tell anyone listening now who's wondering
why you played any part in getting rid of the
body with Slim and Hondo.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
I did with any reasonable person not trying to die
would have done. I have seen what I saw. I
knew I gotta do something that made myself a part
of what's going on, and I wasn't as physically able
to do nothing to prevent myself from being killed. And
I expressed that that was the smartest thing that I
could have done at the time for myself instead of
(13:58):
doing nothing.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
If you had done nothing at all. What do you
think Slim and Honda would have done?
Speaker 4 (14:05):
I was a little bit too afraid to find out.
I was in a position where something happened to my
free and Donald Ross, and I knew what I thought
was the best thing to do for my silks. They're
not two folds now.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
This episode is underwritten by Paul Weiss, Rifkin, Porton and Garrison,
a leading international law firm. Paul Weiss has long had
an unwavering commitment to providing impactful, pro bono legal assistance
to the most vulnerable members of our society and in
support of the public interest, including extensive work in the
criminal justice area. You're listening to Wrongful Conviction. You can
(14:59):
listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts
one week early and ad free by subscribing to Lava
for Good Plus on Apple podcasts Otis's murder eventually gets
pinned on you, the guy who was only able to
(15:20):
watch or listen helplessly as your friend got stabbed to death.
And then, in order to save your own life, you
did what probably any of us would have done. You
played along with Slim and Hondo until you could get away.
I would not want to have been in your shoes.
At that point, you just lost your friend. Otis you
(15:41):
had to contend with the question of to snitch or
not to snitch on like a sophie's choice on these
two murderous drug dealers.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
Definitely, I was sign the process. What just happened to
show sixty seven o'clock in the morning. That's when I
saw the police told that you got who there was?
One always said come over here and look at Moved
and Blake, and I knew it was. I said, I
know where he lives, to the little mother's house. And
then when we came back to the scene, I asked
(16:11):
my saying, look if I had any information, talk on
my contract, and he gave me his car. I took
your car, rode a mile two whiles and I went
to the phone boof and then I called the police
to look and I told everything the thing needs to
know and told him while I was there, they came
and picked me up, took me out to the station
and I made the tape and then once I made
(16:33):
the take, they let me go. I went back home.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
So you made a statement to a sergeant Sergeant Preston,
and you're going to be a witness and Steve, maybe
you can tell us about the next part of the story,
which is how Kevin was picked up for cocaine possessions.
Sometime later and while in the state's witness holding area
of La County Jail, he eventually meets three guys who
(16:57):
are responsible for him being in this horle ruble predicament today.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
What happened was Kevin got arrested for a possession of
cocaine charge and because he was the main witness against
Slim and Hondo on a murder case, they put him
in with other prosecution witnesses and it's commonly called the
snitch Tank, which is a separate jail from the men's
central jail. And while Kevin was in there, he told
(17:25):
his cellmate, Willie Battle and the guy that was in
the next cel over, Jesse Williams. He told them what
actually happened because they asked, and that's very common in jail,
what are he in for? And they exchanged information, but
this time it only came from Kevin. He told him
what happened, and they twisted it around and ran with it.
(17:50):
And then they called the Compton Police Department and asked
them if they had a murder case where the body
was found by a canal. They called it a canal,
it's really a drainage. And they put him in contact
with Detective Marvin Branscombe, who was not Sergeant Preston, who
Kevin gave the statement to, and they convinced Branscomb that
(18:11):
what they had to say was true, which they said
that Kevin confessed to these tempted murders and murder.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
They say, we got a guy out here bragging about
chilling his guy and sad with lady telling this time,
don't kill it. So I end up all from being
the actual witness now being the actual killer.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
So Kevin became a defendant instead of the prosecution witness.
And they moved him out of the snitch tank to
another part of the jail. So Kevin's transferred over to
the central jail. And then he met a very notorious
snitch named Leslie White. And I get a call from
Leslie White. I'd never heard of Leslie White. Leslie White says,
(18:53):
I understand you're defending Kevin Dykes and that he has
been rare it out by two snitches. And I said,
that's exactly right. He says well, I can help you.
You come down here and I'm going to tell you
all about the snitch system and how it works. Okay.
So I go down to the jail. I talked to
(19:14):
Leslie White. He tells me about how inmates get a
hold of paperwork and change facts and get a hold
of the detective or DA that's handling a particular murder case.
And because they know these unique facts, they can convince
the detective or district attorney that's handling the case that
(19:38):
this confession was a valid confession. So I said, well,
that sounds good. Okay, I'll put you on the witness list,
mister White. So about a week or two later, I
get the witness list from the district attorney and Leslie
White is on there as a people's witness. And not
only that, I get a report that says that Kevin
(20:00):
Ike's confessed to Leslie White. And I'm flabbergasted because I
just talked to Leslie White and he was going to
be a witness for Kevin. So I go down to
the jail and I call out Leslie White and he's
willing to come and talk to me, and I said,
what do you are? You a witness for the prosecution. Now,
(20:20):
he says, yep, I said, well, you know that Kevin's innocent.
Why do you doing what? How can you do that?
And he says, well, man's got to do what he's
got to do. That's what he said.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
I gotta be honest. My head is spinning and I
didn't even live through this. I mean, this is Kevin.
I mean, I'm so sorry that you're living this is like,
this is your life we're talking about.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
I didn't actually believe that what was going on was
even possible. I didn't think that there's doub would hold.
I'm like, what, Oh, I'm an actual eye witness. The
guys they don't know none about rally, but none about
what actually happened. So I didn't really believe the people
could do what they were what they were doing to me.
(21:05):
I had never even heard about that before.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
I mean, this is this is like nothing. I don't
think we've ever heard a story like this before. So Steven,
what happens next?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
When we got to court, all they had was his
statement to Sergeant Preston and three snitches, and I couldn't
believe that they would even want to proceed with this evidence.
But they did, and just before the verdict was issued,
I told Kevin, I said, now, Kevin, when you get
(21:35):
out of here, you've got to change your ways, be
a law abiding citizen and then used to society, and
he said, yeah, came mister Houser, I'm going to do that,
came back guilty. We were both floored.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
You were sentenced to twenty four years to life. Here
it is now twenty twenty. You're still in Could you
just take us back there, put us in that courtroom
with you if you can't.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
I actually could not believe the verdant. You know, I
actually didn't a crime. I just see how it was possible. Yeah,
I was actual eyewitness. I came for I gave him
everything they needed, all evidence to call, the weapons. The
people he from testify that I didn't attacking. He from
(22:24):
will stand like thirty three times and he's test fired
I didn't attack him, and it testified that I didn't
attack Ms. Browning. That was my friend mother. There was
nobody there that said I.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Can't anybody but this And this is something I really
need to highlight here, which is that if you go
in a jury box and you're presented with a case
where someone's life is hanging in the balance, just like
Kevin's was, and there's no evidence connecting that persons to
the crime except for the testimony of a snitch. You
(22:58):
cannot vote to con because it's crazy. I mean, these
are people who are clearly incentivized. They may not tell
you that at the time, but you have to understand
that the defense can never bribe a witness. That's it.
That's a crime punishable by long time in jail. But
the government can make a deal with a snitch to
reduce their charges or drop their charges in exchange for testimony,
(23:20):
and that is the best bribe of all. So it's
the most unreliable testimony imaginable. And here you have a
case where the direct evidence contradicts what the snitches were saying.
The evidence showed that Kevin could not have committed this crime,
and yet he ends up getting convicted on the testimony
(23:42):
of people who were notoriously untrustworthy and were incentivized to lie.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
With the evidence. Where they get apartments, they say, oh,
he's grit in my family, So the government gives them
money to relocate them movement apartments. All of them end
up getting reduced to left white ended up getting out
at such five member he came right back any threatened
(24:08):
physician attorney. If you don't bake me back out, I'm
gonna blow his whole case.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
What happened was Leslie White then went on sixty minutes
when he was back in again in the jail, and
he showed on camera how he could work his magic
and get favors from the DA. And then when I
saw that, I went down and talked to Leslie White.
I said, well, now I know for sure you lied
(24:37):
in Kevin's case, and he says, yeah, I did. And
I said, well, I want you to sign an affidavit
that you lied in Kevin's case because Kevin deserves a
new trial. And so sure enough he signed it. But
instead of giving Kevin a new trial, the DA indicted
him Leslie White with a grand jury, had me come
(24:59):
in and test, and they gave Leslie White four years
for perjury. They gave Kevin Dykes nothing. And that's where
it sat.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
It's all so backwards and upside down. And of course,
you know, we have two more characters that are coming up.
GG Gordon, who's on the right side of this story,
and Willie Battles. We can't leave him out.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Yeah, when this snitch system came out thanks to Leslie White,
believe it or not, Gigi Gordon was appointed. She's a
defense lawyer. She's deceased now, but she was a criminal
defense lawyer friend of mine, and Gigi Gordon was appointed
by i think the Supreme Court to do an independent
(25:40):
investigation on all of the snitch cases to see if
justice was done. And she spent over a year on
this project, being paid by the state of California. And
as a result of Gigi Gordon's research and investigation, a
law was introduced in the legis to require corroboration if
(26:04):
snitch's testimony is going to be used in a case.
And that happened, but.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
They didn't do it retroactively. Am I getting that right?
Because it always drives me nuts when we change a
law in this country and we don't do it retroactively.
How could it be different now than it was before.
It doesn't make sense. Didn't make any sense to me,
and that's why I appealed it. We went to the
Pellate Court in California, then the Supreme Court, and actually
(26:31):
when we went to the Supreme Court the first time,
the law had not been changed yet. But then we
went back to the Supreme Court on another issue and
the law had been changed, and in federal court, the
judge actually said that Kevin might be innocent, but there's
nothing I can do because this law is not retroactive
(26:51):
or something to that effect. And I just thought that
that was the most unjust result I've ever had in
my whole career. Still is wow.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
And so if Kevin's case were tried now, they wouldn't
have any evidence against him because the only incriminating evidence
was from the snitch testimony.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
If Kevin's case were to be tried now, they would
have no evidence against him. And yet it's thirty four
years later and he's I can't this is nuts.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
I went to the district attorney with that very argument.
With each new district attorney that came in, I would
go talk to him and they told me that because
of his statement admitting what he did pretending to go
along with what is Slim and Honda were doing, because
of that statement, that made him guilty. And they said, sorry,
(27:52):
you have to present new evidence to us before we're
going to recommend anything for Kevin. And I said, what's
amount with these confessions by these snitches. That's new evidence,
at least since the trial. Two out of three Leslie
White signed an affidavit that sent him put himself in prison,
and Jesse Williams signed a letter saying that he lied
(28:16):
in Kevin's case. He said, no, we want some more
than that. Plus you've got one snitch that you don't have,
you know, retraction from Willi Battle. We never had a
retraction from him. And Willie Battle I tried to find
but he's probably dead. So that's where we sit.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
And what is the outlook now? I mean, is there hope?
Speaker 3 (28:40):
I think Kevin has two hopes parole and with a
new DA. I thought Jackie Lacey was very progressive and
I had high hopes for Kevin when she put together
her Internal Innocent Project and I met with what I
thought was a very ethical, fine lawyer, and I got
(29:02):
a very unfavorable result. And I asked him during that hearing,
I said, you know, as a human being, you know,
do you really think that Kevin Dykes was convicted properly fairly?
He wouldn't answer. He wouldn't give me an answer.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Nearly a year has gone by since we originally released
this episode. In September twenty twenty and shortly thereafter in
La County, George Gascon was elected DA, and Steve, last
time we spoke, you said that one of the only
avenues left for a leaf for Kevin was that very
election victory. So you must have been really excited when
(29:56):
it became clear that Jackie Lacy was on her way
out and George Gascon was on his way in. I'm
imagining you must have jumped right into action on the
first business day of twenty twenty one.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
That is correct, On January fourth, twenty twenty one, I
sent a letter to George Gascon, the new DA, alerting
him to Kevin's situation, and I was contacted shortly thereafter
by a deputy in his conviction integrity unit. She said
that she.
Speaker 6 (30:27):
Had reviewed the case and she agreed with the former
head of their integrity unit under Jackie Lacy that taking
out all of the snitch testimony and just focusing in
on Kevin's statement both to the police and what he
testified to a trial, which were both consistent, that she
(30:48):
felt that he was guilty because of what he said
he shared in the criminal intent to kill his friend Otus,
which I think was not reasonable. I don't understand how
a deputy district attorney can look at the facts in
this case, focusing on Kevin's own testimony and come to
the conclusion that he intended Otis's death, that he wanted
(31:12):
Otis to die, or that he wanted his friend Ephraim
to die or Missus Bradley to die. Now, Ephram testified
in court that Kevin was not a part of the
assault on his person or Missus Bradley. For the district
attorney to believe that Kevin convicted himself based on his
(31:37):
testimony of both the murder and the attempted murders is
beyond belief. For a second degree murder, there has to
be criminal intent. You have to share in the intent
of the stabbers in this case, Slim and Hondo to
kill Otis, and there's no proof of that from Kevin's life.
(32:00):
The only evidence of that is from snitch testimony, which
under today's law would be inadmissible.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Yeah, and with good reason. I mean, let's face it,
snitch testimony for the state is almost always incentivized by
leniency in the snitch's charges, making that testimony as unreliable
as it could be. So this deputy in Gascon's CiU
wants to preserve this conviction, saying that Kevin's testimony reaches
(32:31):
the burden of proof for criminal intent, when in reality,
Kevin was essentially a hostage of Slim and Hondo until
he could finally get away. I mean, had he not
gone along with everything that happened in the aftermath of
Otis's death, Slim and Hondo would have been dumping both
Kevin and Otis's bodies and we wouldn't even be having
(32:51):
this conversation or know what Slim and Hondo did. So
what was the end result of your discussion with Gascon's deputy.
Were you able to work anything out?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
After several back and forth conversations, she was going to
bring a motion for resentencing. This was apparently a new
law where they could go back into the trial court
and petitioned for a change of sentence. She said that
if Kevin would agree to change his plea from murder
to manslaughter, that they would go along with it, and
(33:23):
that he could then be sentenced to whatever the maximum
on manslaughter was, which is a lot less than thirty
five years that he's been in.
Speaker 6 (33:30):
So we're still waiting for that I don't know what's happened,
but the district attorney that I was talking to called
me and told me that there was some problem with
them making this motion because.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Some judge might deny it or she wasn't real clear
on that, but that she invited me to think of
a way to get around the judge having to make
a decision to get Kevin out. So I suggested, well,
how about if I file another rit of habeas corpus,
and if the district attorney doesn't oppose it, then the
(34:08):
judge can grant him a new trial, and once he
gets a new trial, then they can dismiss the case
because they don't have any evidence. They don't have any
admissible evidence.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Right The only evidence they had back then was the
snitch testimony, which was totally uncorroborated and therefore now inadmissible
under the law that resulted from Leslie White sixty minutes
and the subsequent investigation. Not to mention that Jesse Williams recanted,
Leslie White took a perjury charge and four years to
(34:38):
undo his damage to Kevin and Willie Battles is presumed
dead or he might have done the same. So are
they gonna move forward with your habeas idea or are
they looking for something better to hang their hat on,
considering that your idea would prove that this conviction has
absolutely no integrity.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
I'm not sure what going to happen. It seems like
that they're just waiting for the parole hearing.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Right, Kevin is up for parole at the beginning of
twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
And if the DA's office does not oppose parole, he
will probably get released on parole. However, he will be
on parole for the rest of his life for a
crime that he did not commit, as well as having
served thirty five years for a crime that he did
not commit. I think that George Gascon himself has not
(35:29):
heard the evidence in this case. Once he realizes exactly
what went on in this case, I'm sure that he
will see that justice is done and Kevin will get released.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
That's our hope as well, and anyone in our audience
who feels the same way, and I hope all of
you do, can scroll down to the link in the bio.
There's a petition to George Gascon to do just that.
He's a good man and he's a very reasonable person.
I mean, really I honestly like to clone George. He's
that kind of guy. We hope that he and others
(36:03):
in his office could come around to our view. Kevin
would admit to anyone that he wasn't living with really
honorable life at that point, But in fact, ironically it
was at this moment in his life that he did
something truly honorable. He went to Otis's mother and then
to the police to do the right thing. Does that
(36:25):
sound like the actions of someone possessing criminal intent.
Speaker 4 (36:30):
Well, I know I need the ryting when I went
to the police ten and high total food, a total
food firm, and jury. Even now, I don't regret doing
the riating because he was love for his life and
it was important for his mother to know the food
what happen to her son. Maybe I wouldn't say that
(36:51):
while I'm in jail. He cast me a lot. I've
lost like seventeen family members. My mom's hands spoken to
you years ago. It talks me a lot. But I
was still do it even all this time. I found
ruin the last five years, so I'm at finding with
God in myself. So now it's like, you know what,
(37:12):
there's nothing I can do about what they've done. I'm
not gonna let them take what's rest that I got
in my speed and now my family is proud of me,
even though I've never done nothing, because I've changed my life.
So I'm gonna keep pushing. I'm gonna keep believing I
got to so.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
I got And with that, we will now go to
closing arguments as they still ring true today with justice
delayed in this case, I first of all, thank you both.
Turn my microphone off, leave my headphones on, close my eyes,
and let you both talk about whatever you want for
(37:50):
the last few minutes of the show. Kevin, we're gonna
save you for last if that's okay. And Stephen, please
just share whatever it is that's on your mind.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
Uh well, Kevin, let's hope this is another step to
get you out of prison. It's been a long, long road,
but I won't give up ever.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
And Kevin, over to you.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
I'm thankful, you know. And it's taking me a long time,
but I'm at peace last year, like the last five
years now, and my life now still has purpose and
meaning despite what they've done. I owe no feel feelings,
force nobody. He is what he is. He is all
I've lost all lost in my life. I was twenty
(38:41):
four years old. I'm fishing now. I've been seen over
five years. So it's like there's nothing enough that I
can't do that I don't consult it, but I won't
let what they've done to me back then is something
to me.
Speaker 7 (38:54):
Now.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
I'm free, you know I am. I'm at pe and
and even if I die in here, I'll be at
peace knowing I stood for the swoop into woman. I
need the right thing as an adult, so my parents
were proud of. There's nothing I can do but keep
my mind focusing on what's possible, what could be possible,
(39:19):
and how to help us. It is a human opportunity
to this god family in my community where I see them.
You know, I won't let nothing take that from me.
That's all I have. And I appreciate everything that you
guys are doing, and I appreciate what support from everybody,
whether it's for the governor whatever it can be done
to help me. This is just the truth, the absolute
(39:42):
in front of the people, and.
Speaker 7 (39:43):
They let them decide again. But I said I need
to be punished for what I needed if they say so,
because I pretended, but I was worried for my life,
spare it for my life at the time, but I
did what I believe being was the right thing and
I don't regret doing it.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flahm.
Please support your local innocence projects and go to the
link in our bio to see how you can help.
I'd like to thank our production team Connor Hall, Jeff Cliburn,
and Kevin Warnis. The music on the show, as always,
is by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be
sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and
(40:30):
on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast. Wrongful Conviction with Jason
Flahm is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in
association with Signal Company Number one
We initially released Kevin Dyke's story on September fourteenth, twenty twenty,
and an update in August of twenty twenty one. Since then,
our understanding is that some powerful people in the Los
Angeles District Attorney's Office under the leadership of George Gascon,
listened to our coverage and agreed that Kevin deserved relief.
(00:25):
He was resentenced, paroled, and released from prison on February
twenty first, twenty twenty four. We are so happy that
he is finally home where it belongs, as we continue
to hope for his full exoneration. Please check the episode description.
There's a link to his cash ap. He needs our
(00:45):
help as he struggles to get his life back together
after thirty eight long years in prison. Here's our coverage
of his story. As a child, in the late nineteen seventies,
Kevin Dykes accidentally killed his best friend when they were
playing with a gun, sending him to juvie for involuntary manslaughter.
(01:06):
When he got out, he turned to petty drug dealing
in Compton, California. Fast forward to nineteen eighty six. After
a terrible assault that led to a four month hospital stint,
Kevin continued peddling drugs from his temporary wheelchair for two
men named Slim and Hondo. Kevin rented a bed and
a trailer home in his landlord's driveway, where Slim and
Hondo occasionally hit weapons. That June, two incidents occurred just
(01:30):
days apart, resulting in one murder and two attempted murders.
The first during a party, when Kevin booted his friend
Ephram for being belligerently drunk. Slim and Hondo followed he from,
stabbing him several times. A neighborhood mother, Missus Bradley, came
to Ephraim's aid, only to get stabbed as well. Kevin intervened,
jumping from his wheelchair to stop the assault before it
(01:52):
turned fatal. A few days later, Slim and Hondo accused
Kevin's friend Otis Perry of stealing their gun from Kevin's trailer,
stabbing him eighty one times. Unable to stop the murderous
frenzy and fearing for his own life, Kevin helped them
clean up before going to the police a few hours later.
A few days after that, Kevin was arrested for cocaine
(02:13):
possession and put into a special holding tank for state's witnesses.
Then three jailhouse snitches claimed that Kevin had confessed to
all three attacks in exchange for leniency in their own cases.
Kevin Dykes is serving life in prison on the word
of three notorious jailhouse snitches. This is Wrongful Conviction with
(02:35):
Jason flamm Wrongful Conviction has always given voice to innocent
people in prison, and now we're expanding that voice to you.
Call us at eight three three two O seven four
six sixty six and tell us how these stories make
you feel and what you've done to help the cause,
(02:56):
even if it's something as simple as telling a friend
or sharing out social media, and you might just hear
yourself in a future episode. Call us A three three
two O seven four six sixty six.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
This is Global taill Link. You have a prepaid call
from care an inmate at the California State Prison, Los
Angeles County, Lancaster, California. This call and your telephone number
will be monitored and recorded. To accept this call, say
or dial five now. Thank you for using globaltaill Link.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Welcome back to Wrangful Conviction with Jason Flomp. Today we
have an incredible story, so we're going to get right
into it, and I'm going to introduce you first to
Stephen K Houser. He's a criminal defense attorney representing the
star of this episode, Kevin Diyke. Stephen, Welcome to Wrongful Conviction.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Thank you, glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
And Kevin Dykes is on the phone with us from prison,
and I hope we'll be able to do something about
his situation because it is awful. Kevin. I'm sorry you're
here where you are, but I'm happy you're here with
us today. So thank you for being.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Here, no problem, Thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
This case goes back to Compton nineteen eighty six, and
it's got so much that you'll think I'm talking about
a movie script that would be too much to be believed,
except for it's real. It's got gangster's name Hondo and Slim.
It's got drugs. It's got snitches that ended up on
sixty minutes. It's got laws that changed, and victims who
(04:37):
testified that this was not the guy who did it.
It's got a guy who's in prison for three and
a half decades with no evidence against him except the
testimony of jailhouse snitches who have recanted their testimony. It
is nuts, but it's true. So let's get right into it.
And Kevin, let's start with you going back to your
(04:58):
youth because you grew up in common.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Right, Yes, I grew up good, two pay at homes
in the pop Water Sport. I actually had a real
good up bringing until I, uh, I think it's actually
saying I ended up actually killing my best friend. I
went for a voluntary manor father, and I was sick too.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
And for those of you who don't know, YA or
CYA is the California Youth Authority.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
As I understand it, your friend's death was entirely accidental,
just two kids who made a big mistake playing with
a gun. But they still sent your way to Julie
for involuntary manslaughter. And I also understand that you harbor
a lot of guilt about this. Even though the family
forgave you, yes.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Just family, they stayed them directly across the street from
my family, even to the day, still fail on the
same street. Although the family had for given me, written
me letters and come to see me. When I got out,
I saw what idea to that family, and I didn't
know how to process. Although my mother and my father,
(06:05):
my grandmother, and all kind of people were trying to
help me. I didn't know how to ask for their
help that I actually needed. So I got digs a
little deck grid to the king.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
So the guilt kind of derailed your potential, it seems.
And after Juvie, you start dealing drugs and looking outside
of what seemed like a supportive home for whatever it
was that you felt you needed, acceptance, identity, whatever, out
in the street. So fast forward to January nineteen eighty six.
Some other really bad stuff happens January eighteenth.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
So I try to kiddingap me. They try to cheat
them in front of my house. I followed. They ran
me through a brick wall. They both my inter smashed
my failings. So I went to the hospital January eighteenth
in dollars to make twenty. When I got out of
the hospital, I was in a wheelchair and I had
a walker, and I was going to a therapy.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yes, someone tried to kidnap Kevin. So you fought them off,
and they ended up hitting you with their car against
a brick wall, broke your hips, snapped your pelvis, and
put you in the hospital for four months. I mean,
you're lucky to even be alive. And we haven't even
gotten to the part that has you locked up right now. Okay,
(07:16):
so it's May nineteen eighty six. You're temporarily in this
wheelchair doing physical therapy and dealing drugs for these two
mid level management drug dealers named Slim and Hondo.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Slim and Hondo decided that they were going to take
over the local drug sales. I believe they helped Kevin
and some of his friends with small amounts of cocaine
to sell in the neighborhood, and they would periodically show
up and I guess resupply the local sellers, including Kevin
(07:52):
and Kevin.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
You were renting a place to stay from a man
named mister Bryce. You were renting a bed in this
mobile home that's sat in his driveway right.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Yeah, I was standing mister Bryce's mobile hole. We had
a mobile home. They had like six days in a shower,
had all that stuff inside. It was parked in the driveway.
Sometimes my friends used to places to stay. They had
like six paces where he suld be sleeping there. So
Otis would come in and sleeping.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
There, and Otis is Otis Perry, who occasionally stayed at
mister Bryce's mobile home, and he's the one that was
eventually stabbed like slimon Hondo for taking the gun that
they had left in the trailer.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
The night that these two attempting murders occurred outside a
party at mister Bryce's house.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
Yes, oldly, my cousin Pam was inside the mobile home.
I was inside the house where the party was there
when the fighting, when the fight after, so I didn't
know this was out there at the time. And I
know Slim pulled up. They knew mister Bryce didn't allow
guns in his house, but they heard a gun in
the mobile home with my cousin and Ostad. But I
(08:59):
still didn't know and about that at that time.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Okay, So now the stage is finally set for these
crimes to take place. This is we're talking June nineteenth,
nineteen eighty six. There's a little party going on at
mister Bryce's. Your friend Otis and your cousin Pam are
in the mobile home in the driveway. Slim and Hondo,
your bosses, come to hang out, but out of respect
(09:22):
for mister Bryce, they leave their gun in the mobile home.
Then your friend Ephraim is at the party and he
is drunk, to say the least.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Wellphim is my older homeboy. He was long beingliserate and
wrestle with the females. I was up in there and
grabbing rinks and didn't belong to him. And I saw
man go down to the pool man keep back. I
got he kept home, So I got pissed off and
I hate him once and when I hate him, Hondo slim.
(09:55):
Both of them attackly be some of them. I here's
what they see, he said. I didn't understand, and why
did they get involved in there? Here's what they said,
because I could barely walked. They people were taking advantage
of my disability.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Oh okay, so your drug bosses are sticking up for you,
but then they go way beyond what you would ever
want them to do.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yes, So once I stuck some both of them attacking,
I got them to stop. Told these communities. He left
and then they chased him down the street. They caught
him at the end of the corner. Once I got
down there, I saw that they was actually stabbing. When
I Hando leaving along Hando, he looked up and saw me.
(10:41):
But when he saw me, he saw this Bradley behind
me was Brady as my older home was mother. When
she looked up and saw that it was her son,
she tried to turn it around. He ran her down,
grabbed her by her address, and saw her stabbing her.
I hopped my way to him and grabbed him to
see him off of her, and once an hour Holy
(11:02):
she got loose. We gave you from time to shut up,
and then I got to toil that she should the
call and drove them off. I drove off to a
motive and then I came back to Hicth and Miss Bradley,
but the Amma's already came and it was the hospital.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
So you basically saved Missus Bradley and Ephraim from being
murdered by Slim and Hondo by convincing them to stop
stabbing them and drive away from the scene. But this
incident on June nineteenth is what becomes two charges of
attempted murder that gets stuck on you. The guy confined
(11:39):
to a wheelchair at the time. Yeah, okay, so Slim
and Hondo stabbed both Ephraim and Missus Bradley. You drove
them to a motel. At some point, your friend otis
back at the mobile home takes the gun Slim and
Hondo had left behind. Not too smart, by the way,
because Slim and knew who was in the mobile home
(12:02):
when they stashed it in the first place, so they
come looking for Otis on June twenty thirty.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
June twenty thirty, he came over looking for Otis, like
one something in the morning. They said, come outsire, I'm
gonna go and kill Oldis. I didn't know Otis was
out here in the motor home. So when I went
out to the front yard going to the motor opened,
Oldis stepped out. Hanolds attacked Otis said, may with my gun.
(12:28):
He said, we can go get it. He said, too late,
and they attashing. They started fighting. ODIs was fighting back,
but they were fighting him from the side of the
mobile hole and went around the garage, and that was
the first time I saw him being stashed. And I
came back from around there. I wasn't neighboring one or
whatever it's so didn't say nothing and just listener to
everything that was going on. And I don't know how
(12:48):
the much time passed, but gave Honolds came from around
there and it was no more noise. I was wondering
it okay. Now what he said, uh woo something, you
got some revenue, And then I gave him my blak
so him a swim went behind the babe and wrapped
him up, drugged him out and put him in the car.
And instead of hear him, the slim boy, he said,
(13:10):
you swim, you stay here watching out all the blood
that was coming from behind the motherall and showed me
to get in the car and ride with him. So
I took him over through my own boys neighborhood by
the canail, and that's where he jumped in and I said, look,
I'll be back. I left it deb came back.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
And what would you tell anyone listening now who's wondering
why you played any part in getting rid of the
body with Slim and Hondo.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
I did with any reasonable person not trying to die
would have done. I have seen what I saw. I
knew I gotta do something that made myself a part
of what's going on, and I wasn't as physically able
to do nothing to prevent myself from being killed. And
I expressed that that was the smartest thing that I
could have done at the time for myself instead of
(13:58):
doing nothing.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
If you had done nothing at all. What do you
think Slim and Honda would have done?
Speaker 4 (14:05):
I was a little bit too afraid to find out.
I was in a position where something happened to my
free and Donald Ross, and I knew what I thought
was the best thing to do for my silks. They're
not two folds now.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
This episode is underwritten by Paul Weiss, Rifkin, Porton and Garrison,
a leading international law firm. Paul Weiss has long had
an unwavering commitment to providing impactful, pro bono legal assistance
to the most vulnerable members of our society and in
support of the public interest, including extensive work in the
criminal justice area. You're listening to Wrongful Conviction. You can
(14:59):
listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts
one week early and ad free by subscribing to Lava
for Good Plus on Apple podcasts Otis's murder eventually gets
pinned on you, the guy who was only able to
(15:20):
watch or listen helplessly as your friend got stabbed to death.
And then, in order to save your own life, you
did what probably any of us would have done. You
played along with Slim and Hondo until you could get away.
I would not want to have been in your shoes.
At that point, you just lost your friend. Otis you
(15:41):
had to contend with the question of to snitch or
not to snitch on like a sophie's choice on these
two murderous drug dealers.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
Definitely, I was sign the process. What just happened to
show sixty seven o'clock in the morning. That's when I
saw the police told that you got who there was?
One always said come over here and look at Moved
and Blake, and I knew it was. I said, I
know where he lives, to the little mother's house. And
then when we came back to the scene, I asked
(16:11):
my saying, look if I had any information, talk on
my contract, and he gave me his car. I took
your car, rode a mile two whiles and I went
to the phone boof and then I called the police
to look and I told everything the thing needs to
know and told him while I was there, they came
and picked me up, took me out to the station
and I made the tape and then once I made
(16:33):
the take, they let me go. I went back home.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
So you made a statement to a sergeant Sergeant Preston,
and you're going to be a witness and Steve, maybe
you can tell us about the next part of the story,
which is how Kevin was picked up for cocaine possessions.
Sometime later and while in the state's witness holding area
of La County Jail, he eventually meets three guys who
(16:57):
are responsible for him being in this horle ruble predicament today.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
What happened was Kevin got arrested for a possession of
cocaine charge and because he was the main witness against
Slim and Hondo on a murder case, they put him
in with other prosecution witnesses and it's commonly called the
snitch Tank, which is a separate jail from the men's
central jail. And while Kevin was in there, he told
(17:25):
his cellmate, Willie Battle and the guy that was in
the next cel over, Jesse Williams. He told them what
actually happened because they asked, and that's very common in jail,
what are he in for? And they exchanged information, but
this time it only came from Kevin. He told him
what happened, and they twisted it around and ran with it.
(17:50):
And then they called the Compton Police Department and asked
them if they had a murder case where the body
was found by a canal. They called it a canal,
it's really a drainage. And they put him in contact
with Detective Marvin Branscombe, who was not Sergeant Preston, who
Kevin gave the statement to, and they convinced Branscomb that
(18:11):
what they had to say was true, which they said
that Kevin confessed to these tempted murders and murder.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
They say, we got a guy out here bragging about
chilling his guy and sad with lady telling this time,
don't kill it. So I end up all from being
the actual witness now being the actual killer.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
So Kevin became a defendant instead of the prosecution witness.
And they moved him out of the snitch tank to
another part of the jail. So Kevin's transferred over to
the central jail. And then he met a very notorious
snitch named Leslie White. And I get a call from
Leslie White. I'd never heard of Leslie White. Leslie White says,
(18:53):
I understand you're defending Kevin Dykes and that he has
been rare it out by two snitches. And I said,
that's exactly right. He says well, I can help you.
You come down here and I'm going to tell you
all about the snitch system and how it works. Okay.
So I go down to the jail. I talked to
(19:14):
Leslie White. He tells me about how inmates get a
hold of paperwork and change facts and get a hold
of the detective or DA that's handling a particular murder case.
And because they know these unique facts, they can convince
the detective or district attorney that's handling the case that
(19:38):
this confession was a valid confession. So I said, well,
that sounds good. Okay, I'll put you on the witness list,
mister White. So about a week or two later, I
get the witness list from the district attorney and Leslie
White is on there as a people's witness. And not
only that, I get a report that says that Kevin
(20:00):
Ike's confessed to Leslie White. And I'm flabbergasted because I
just talked to Leslie White and he was going to
be a witness for Kevin. So I go down to
the jail and I call out Leslie White and he's
willing to come and talk to me, and I said,
what do you are? You a witness for the prosecution. Now,
(20:20):
he says, yep, I said, well, you know that Kevin's innocent.
Why do you doing what? How can you do that?
And he says, well, man's got to do what he's
got to do. That's what he said.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
I gotta be honest. My head is spinning and I
didn't even live through this. I mean, this is Kevin.
I mean, I'm so sorry that you're living this is like,
this is your life we're talking about.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
I didn't actually believe that what was going on was
even possible. I didn't think that there's doub would hold.
I'm like, what, Oh, I'm an actual eye witness. The
guys they don't know none about rally, but none about
what actually happened. So I didn't really believe the people
could do what they were what they were doing to me.
(21:05):
I had never even heard about that before.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
I mean, this is this is like nothing. I don't
think we've ever heard a story like this before. So Steven,
what happens next?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
When we got to court, all they had was his
statement to Sergeant Preston and three snitches, and I couldn't
believe that they would even want to proceed with this evidence.
But they did, and just before the verdict was issued,
I told Kevin, I said, now, Kevin, when you get
(21:35):
out of here, you've got to change your ways, be
a law abiding citizen and then used to society, and
he said, yeah, came mister Houser, I'm going to do that,
came back guilty. We were both floored.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
You were sentenced to twenty four years to life. Here
it is now twenty twenty. You're still in Could you
just take us back there, put us in that courtroom
with you if you can't.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
I actually could not believe the verdant. You know, I
actually didn't a crime. I just see how it was possible. Yeah,
I was actual eyewitness. I came for I gave him
everything they needed, all evidence to call, the weapons. The
people he from testify that I didn't attacking. He from
(22:24):
will stand like thirty three times and he's test fired
I didn't attack him, and it testified that I didn't
attack Ms. Browning. That was my friend mother. There was
nobody there that said I.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Can't anybody but this And this is something I really
need to highlight here, which is that if you go
in a jury box and you're presented with a case
where someone's life is hanging in the balance, just like
Kevin's was, and there's no evidence connecting that persons to
the crime except for the testimony of a snitch. You
(22:58):
cannot vote to con because it's crazy. I mean, these
are people who are clearly incentivized. They may not tell
you that at the time, but you have to understand
that the defense can never bribe a witness. That's it.
That's a crime punishable by long time in jail. But
the government can make a deal with a snitch to
reduce their charges or drop their charges in exchange for testimony,
(23:20):
and that is the best bribe of all. So it's
the most unreliable testimony imaginable. And here you have a
case where the direct evidence contradicts what the snitches were saying.
The evidence showed that Kevin could not have committed this crime,
and yet he ends up getting convicted on the testimony
(23:42):
of people who were notoriously untrustworthy and were incentivized to lie.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
With the evidence. Where they get apartments, they say, oh,
he's grit in my family, So the government gives them
money to relocate them movement apartments. All of them end
up getting reduced to left white ended up getting out
at such five member he came right back any threatened
(24:08):
physician attorney. If you don't bake me back out, I'm
gonna blow his whole case.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
What happened was Leslie White then went on sixty minutes
when he was back in again in the jail, and
he showed on camera how he could work his magic
and get favors from the DA. And then when I
saw that, I went down and talked to Leslie White.
I said, well, now I know for sure you lied
(24:37):
in Kevin's case, and he says, yeah, I did. And
I said, well, I want you to sign an affidavit
that you lied in Kevin's case because Kevin deserves a
new trial. And so sure enough he signed it. But
instead of giving Kevin a new trial, the DA indicted
him Leslie White with a grand jury, had me come
(24:59):
in and test, and they gave Leslie White four years
for perjury. They gave Kevin Dykes nothing. And that's where
it sat.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
It's all so backwards and upside down. And of course,
you know, we have two more characters that are coming up.
GG Gordon, who's on the right side of this story,
and Willie Battles. We can't leave him out.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Yeah, when this snitch system came out thanks to Leslie White,
believe it or not, Gigi Gordon was appointed. She's a
defense lawyer. She's deceased now, but she was a criminal
defense lawyer friend of mine, and Gigi Gordon was appointed
by i think the Supreme Court to do an independent
(25:40):
investigation on all of the snitch cases to see if
justice was done. And she spent over a year on
this project, being paid by the state of California. And
as a result of Gigi Gordon's research and investigation, a
law was introduced in the legis to require corroboration if
(26:04):
snitch's testimony is going to be used in a case.
And that happened, but.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
They didn't do it retroactively. Am I getting that right?
Because it always drives me nuts when we change a
law in this country and we don't do it retroactively.
How could it be different now than it was before.
It doesn't make sense. Didn't make any sense to me,
and that's why I appealed it. We went to the
Pellate Court in California, then the Supreme Court, and actually
(26:31):
when we went to the Supreme Court the first time,
the law had not been changed yet. But then we
went back to the Supreme Court on another issue and
the law had been changed, and in federal court, the
judge actually said that Kevin might be innocent, but there's
nothing I can do because this law is not retroactive
(26:51):
or something to that effect. And I just thought that
that was the most unjust result I've ever had in
my whole career. Still is wow.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
And so if Kevin's case were tried now, they wouldn't
have any evidence against him because the only incriminating evidence
was from the snitch testimony.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
If Kevin's case were to be tried now, they would
have no evidence against him. And yet it's thirty four
years later and he's I can't this is nuts.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
I went to the district attorney with that very argument.
With each new district attorney that came in, I would
go talk to him and they told me that because
of his statement admitting what he did pretending to go
along with what is Slim and Honda were doing, because
of that statement, that made him guilty. And they said, sorry,
(27:52):
you have to present new evidence to us before we're
going to recommend anything for Kevin. And I said, what's
amount with these confessions by these snitches. That's new evidence,
at least since the trial. Two out of three Leslie
White signed an affidavit that sent him put himself in prison,
and Jesse Williams signed a letter saying that he lied
(28:16):
in Kevin's case. He said, no, we want some more
than that. Plus you've got one snitch that you don't have,
you know, retraction from Willi Battle. We never had a
retraction from him. And Willie Battle I tried to find
but he's probably dead. So that's where we sit.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
And what is the outlook now? I mean, is there hope?
Speaker 3 (28:40):
I think Kevin has two hopes parole and with a
new DA. I thought Jackie Lacey was very progressive and
I had high hopes for Kevin when she put together
her Internal Innocent Project and I met with what I
thought was a very ethical, fine lawyer, and I got
(29:02):
a very unfavorable result. And I asked him during that hearing,
I said, you know, as a human being, you know,
do you really think that Kevin Dykes was convicted properly fairly?
He wouldn't answer. He wouldn't give me an answer.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Nearly a year has gone by since we originally released
this episode. In September twenty twenty and shortly thereafter in
La County, George Gascon was elected DA, and Steve, last
time we spoke, you said that one of the only
avenues left for a leaf for Kevin was that very
election victory. So you must have been really excited when
(29:56):
it became clear that Jackie Lacy was on her way
out and George Gascon was on his way in. I'm
imagining you must have jumped right into action on the
first business day of twenty twenty one.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
That is correct, On January fourth, twenty twenty one, I
sent a letter to George Gascon, the new DA, alerting
him to Kevin's situation, and I was contacted shortly thereafter
by a deputy in his conviction integrity unit. She said
that she.
Speaker 6 (30:27):
Had reviewed the case and she agreed with the former
head of their integrity unit under Jackie Lacy that taking
out all of the snitch testimony and just focusing in
on Kevin's statement both to the police and what he
testified to a trial, which were both consistent, that she
(30:48):
felt that he was guilty because of what he said
he shared in the criminal intent to kill his friend Otus,
which I think was not reasonable. I don't understand how
a deputy district attorney can look at the facts in
this case, focusing on Kevin's own testimony and come to
the conclusion that he intended Otis's death, that he wanted
(31:12):
Otis to die, or that he wanted his friend Ephraim
to die or Missus Bradley to die. Now, Ephram testified
in court that Kevin was not a part of the
assault on his person or Missus Bradley. For the district
attorney to believe that Kevin convicted himself based on his
(31:37):
testimony of both the murder and the attempted murders is
beyond belief. For a second degree murder, there has to
be criminal intent. You have to share in the intent
of the stabbers in this case, Slim and Hondo to
kill Otis, and there's no proof of that from Kevin's life.
(32:00):
The only evidence of that is from snitch testimony, which
under today's law would be inadmissible.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Yeah, and with good reason. I mean, let's face it,
snitch testimony for the state is almost always incentivized by
leniency in the snitch's charges, making that testimony as unreliable
as it could be. So this deputy in Gascon's CiU
wants to preserve this conviction, saying that Kevin's testimony reaches
(32:31):
the burden of proof for criminal intent, when in reality,
Kevin was essentially a hostage of Slim and Hondo until
he could finally get away. I mean, had he not
gone along with everything that happened in the aftermath of
Otis's death, Slim and Hondo would have been dumping both
Kevin and Otis's bodies and we wouldn't even be having
(32:51):
this conversation or know what Slim and Hondo did. So
what was the end result of your discussion with Gascon's deputy.
Were you able to work anything out?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
After several back and forth conversations, she was going to
bring a motion for resentencing. This was apparently a new
law where they could go back into the trial court
and petitioned for a change of sentence. She said that
if Kevin would agree to change his plea from murder
to manslaughter, that they would go along with it, and
(33:23):
that he could then be sentenced to whatever the maximum
on manslaughter was, which is a lot less than thirty
five years that he's been in.
Speaker 6 (33:30):
So we're still waiting for that I don't know what's happened,
but the district attorney that I was talking to called
me and told me that there was some problem with
them making this motion because.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Some judge might deny it or she wasn't real clear
on that, but that she invited me to think of
a way to get around the judge having to make
a decision to get Kevin out. So I suggested, well,
how about if I file another rit of habeas corpus,
and if the district attorney doesn't oppose it, then the
(34:08):
judge can grant him a new trial, and once he
gets a new trial, then they can dismiss the case
because they don't have any evidence. They don't have any
admissible evidence.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Right The only evidence they had back then was the
snitch testimony, which was totally uncorroborated and therefore now inadmissible
under the law that resulted from Leslie White sixty minutes
and the subsequent investigation. Not to mention that Jesse Williams recanted,
Leslie White took a perjury charge and four years to
(34:38):
undo his damage to Kevin and Willie Battles is presumed
dead or he might have done the same. So are
they gonna move forward with your habeas idea or are
they looking for something better to hang their hat on,
considering that your idea would prove that this conviction has
absolutely no integrity.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
I'm not sure what going to happen. It seems like
that they're just waiting for the parole hearing.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Right, Kevin is up for parole at the beginning of
twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
And if the DA's office does not oppose parole, he
will probably get released on parole. However, he will be
on parole for the rest of his life for a
crime that he did not commit, as well as having
served thirty five years for a crime that he did
not commit. I think that George Gascon himself has not
(35:29):
heard the evidence in this case. Once he realizes exactly
what went on in this case, I'm sure that he
will see that justice is done and Kevin will get released.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
That's our hope as well, and anyone in our audience
who feels the same way, and I hope all of
you do, can scroll down to the link in the bio.
There's a petition to George Gascon to do just that.
He's a good man and he's a very reasonable person.
I mean, really I honestly like to clone George. He's
that kind of guy. We hope that he and others
(36:03):
in his office could come around to our view. Kevin
would admit to anyone that he wasn't living with really
honorable life at that point, But in fact, ironically it
was at this moment in his life that he did
something truly honorable. He went to Otis's mother and then
to the police to do the right thing. Does that
(36:25):
sound like the actions of someone possessing criminal intent.
Speaker 4 (36:30):
Well, I know I need the ryting when I went
to the police ten and high total food, a total
food firm, and jury. Even now, I don't regret doing
the riating because he was love for his life and
it was important for his mother to know the food
what happen to her son. Maybe I wouldn't say that
(36:51):
while I'm in jail. He cast me a lot. I've
lost like seventeen family members. My mom's hands spoken to
you years ago. It talks me a lot. But I
was still do it even all this time. I found
ruin the last five years, so I'm at finding with
God in myself. So now it's like, you know what,
(37:12):
there's nothing I can do about what they've done. I'm
not gonna let them take what's rest that I got
in my speed and now my family is proud of me,
even though I've never done nothing, because I've changed my life.
So I'm gonna keep pushing. I'm gonna keep believing I
got to so.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
I got And with that, we will now go to
closing arguments as they still ring true today with justice
delayed in this case, I first of all, thank you both.
Turn my microphone off, leave my headphones on, close my eyes,
and let you both talk about whatever you want for
(37:50):
the last few minutes of the show. Kevin, we're gonna
save you for last if that's okay. And Stephen, please
just share whatever it is that's on your mind.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
Uh well, Kevin, let's hope this is another step to
get you out of prison. It's been a long, long road,
but I won't give up ever.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
And Kevin, over to you.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
I'm thankful, you know. And it's taking me a long time,
but I'm at peace last year, like the last five
years now, and my life now still has purpose and
meaning despite what they've done. I owe no feel feelings,
force nobody. He is what he is. He is all
I've lost all lost in my life. I was twenty
(38:41):
four years old. I'm fishing now. I've been seen over
five years. So it's like there's nothing enough that I
can't do that I don't consult it, but I won't
let what they've done to me back then is something
to me.
Speaker 7 (38:54):
Now.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
I'm free, you know I am. I'm at pe and
and even if I die in here, I'll be at
peace knowing I stood for the swoop into woman. I
need the right thing as an adult, so my parents
were proud of. There's nothing I can do but keep
my mind focusing on what's possible, what could be possible,
(39:19):
and how to help us. It is a human opportunity
to this god family in my community where I see them.
You know, I won't let nothing take that from me.
That's all I have. And I appreciate everything that you
guys are doing, and I appreciate what support from everybody,
whether it's for the governor whatever it can be done
to help me. This is just the truth, the absolute
(39:42):
in front of the people, and.
Speaker 7 (39:43):
They let them decide again. But I said I need
to be punished for what I needed if they say so,
because I pretended, but I was worried for my life,
spare it for my life at the time, but I
did what I believe being was the right thing and
I don't regret doing it.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flahm.
Please support your local innocence projects and go to the
link in our bio to see how you can help.
I'd like to thank our production team Connor Hall, Jeff Cliburn,
and Kevin Warnis. The music on the show, as always,
is by three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Ralph. Be
sure to follow us on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction and
(40:30):
on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast. Wrongful Conviction with Jason
Flahm is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in
association with Signal Company Number one
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Bright Pacheco
Maggie Freleng
Jason Flom
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.