August 14, 2025 • 40 mins
On February 1, 1997, Charles Newsome, a member of the 18th Street Group was murdered while driving through the Mayfair Apartments in West Memphis, AR. The city was caught in a wave of retaliatory violence between two groups: Foxwood and 18th Street.
Kendrick Gillum, who was loosely affiliated with Foxwood, became a suspect based on inconsistent and coerced witness testimony from a single eyewitness who initially told police that he did not see anyone at the scene of the crime. The State had no evidence Kendrick was ever at the crime scene, never established motive, and had the testimony of Tarsha LeFlore who confirmed he was with her at her apartment the night of the shooting. Nevertheless, Kendrick was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
To learn more and get involved:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLX2P0bt49U
https://www.instagram.com/freekendricgillum/?hl=en
https://www.unjustandunsolved.com/post/episode-10-demarco-wilson
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/017-jason-flom-and-barry-scheck-with-jason-baldwin/
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/073-jason-flom-with-damien-echols-live-from-the-church-of-rock-and-roll/
https://lavaforgood.com/podcast/095-jason-flom-with-joe-berlinger/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
On February first, nineteen ninety seven, in West Memphis, Arkansas,
a young man named Charles Newsom was fatally shot in
his car. According to some witnesses, Charles was with two
others in his car, but only one was ever identified.
Frederick Tyrone Ellis. Ellis gave inconsistent accounts about the number, location,
(00:27):
and identities of the assailants, eventually fixing the narrative on
first four and then three men from a rival neighborhood,
Antonio Williams, DeMarco Wilson and Kendrick Gillham, who he placed
outside the vehicle for the shooting. However, the ballistics and
physical evidence say something different. This is wrathful Conviction. You're
(00:55):
listening to wrongful Conviction. You can 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. Welcome back to Wronful Conviction, where we're going
to return to West Memphis, Arkansas. Yes, the home of
(01:18):
the West Memphis three, one of whom Jason Baldwin first
told our colleague Maggie Freeling about the case we're going
to be covering today and we're going to link that
episode of unjustin Unsolved in the episode description. In this
case involves the same local legal system, as well as
three co defendants, one of whom Kendrick Gillham, is calling
(01:39):
in from an Arkansas prison. Ken, thanks for joining us,
Thank you, you're welcome. Now a second former guest, Marty Tankliffe.
It was his efforts through the making an ex reclass
at Georgetown University with Professor Mark Howard that led a
group of students to reinvestigate the case for Ken. And
we're joined by one of those former students who is
currently seeking her master's in investigative journalism, Claudia Mendeweta.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Welcome, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So let's start with Ken's life growing up in this
small and notorious city of only about twenty five thousand
people on the west side of the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee,
called West Memphis.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
My mom she haed me two that twenty fourth, nineteen
seventy one. You know, I had a pretty normal childhood.
You know, my mom, she took good care of me
and my brothers. We come from a big family and
all of us was closer the neighborhood because I said,
like from five years old, we would always get together
on the weekends, all as the summer the school was out.
(02:39):
We was always somewhere on the bikes together, played football, basketball,
collecting knes it's, cutting yards together. We had a little
long services, we hated, you know, we gave some money
in our pockets, and you know, we all just grew
up together. You know, we were basically always there for
each other.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
This group of family and friends lived in the Foxwood
area of West Memphis and then was a rival neighborhood
group from about a mile and a half away on
Eighteenth Street, and Foxwood continued to stick together as the
kids became teens and as problems became more complicated as
they were introduced to the drug trade.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I said, part of the started, I said about ninth grade.
You know, we started hanging out, chasing girls, drinking girl
not doing my mom's see. And then like like sixteen,
I was really like I was just full plays one
of the streets and I had a partner that I
used to run with and he'd be setting drugs all
night and I'd just be running around with him. And
I was like seventeen when I first got shot. Oh yeah,
(03:39):
I was like seventeen when I first got shot, So
I've been shot three other times. The front, it went
through my tophicals and it came by my shoulders, and
then I was shot in the stomach and it came
out my bank. No time I was shot in the
league in the upper part, almost by my balls. And
the last time did they take this? Watch the eighteenth
Street dudes shoot up where I was at. They came
(04:00):
through three car fee and he watched him shoot it
us and then he pulled up and shot me. And
he shot my home boy two mo pans, which added
to the eleven hands that he was already shot.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Detective Brian Ridge, who's also a big character in the
West Memphis three, shot his friend. His friend is kind
of on the side of the road. Ken is trying
to take him to the hospital and then he shoots
Kin so he can't help him.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Laying on the float bleeding and the police got a
gun to my head. They shot my mama house up
to right around the corner. He wants three cars with
its cas shoot up his house and he didn't pursuit him.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
It seems like Detective Brian Ridge and potentially others were
at the very least turning a blind eye to the
Eighteenth Street guys.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I didn't get any evidence to this, but it was
something that everyone told me when I was in West Memphis,
like the people in the A. Treen Street group were
working with the police to sell drugs. One woman sat
down at me and she was like, how do you
think drugs get into West Memphis? Like we don't have
a port. Police will do a drug bust, and you
think they're throwing those drugs away, they're not. They're putting
(05:08):
them right back in circulation.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
The girl I was going with but I had the
kids buy they pulled upon her brother over at the
gas station one day and he was saying that they
pulled up on him and said, Hey, you need to
go talk to Kendrick. We got something for you, and
y'all ain't got to worry about us twin now, as
long as y'all keep you down over there, y'all ain't
got to worry about us the rest nobody. But if
(05:31):
you don't, we'll be to see you. So what happened
was he came told me and I refused to say
a dope.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
On him, and it appears that perhaps one of the
more prominent Eighteenth Street guys, Terrence Robinson, may have taken
this deal while Foxwood suffered the consequences.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
The girl I was going with her brother, they gave
him the datment. They got my brother on the diapers,
They got Chuck Kirkwood, they got my whole neighborhood on
the diapers. The all the walk probably was left that
didn't get in the diaper with me almoose.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So Terrence Robinson, he's the person who, like we said,
so drugs with the police. He had a cousin called
Daryl Robertson. Darryl gets shot and that's what they try
to put on Ken, but that fails.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
He gird order. He got to go write their statement
on me was lyons in kis who had to drop
the jobs. The one was investigated, the same one they
shot me, Brian Reid.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
And with the context of this unholy alliance between the
police and Foxwood rivals on Eighteenth Street, tensions flared further
over a dice game in nineteen ninety six involving Ken's
friend Chuck and Terrence Robinson, who was with James Newsom,
the cousin of the victim in this case.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
They had a nice game going on in the neighborhood,
Dames Gruesom and Terrence Robinson style Shuton guys Woodhelm. Anyway,
chue k b Terrence Alley's money, so Chump took off
the Wolkin. They pulled up Scot out the car and
hit truck in the face and tried to go on
his pockets and take it money. So this when the
fighter started. And after that we ended up seeing them
(07:10):
at the skating ring. We was going to the back
and they was coming away from the bank, and we
all got to fight New and answered the first justice,
Sire New.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And this kicked off a series of incidents of retaliatory
gun violence leading up to the incident in question on
February first, nineteen ninety seven, which occurred at nine hundred
West McCauley Drive, the Mayfair Apartment complex, which unfortunately was
no stranger to gunfights, and with this ongoing feud between
eighteenth Street and Foxwood, the likely assumption was that someone
(07:44):
from Foxwood was involved in the shooting. Now, the victim
in this case, Charles Newsom, lived there with his parents,
and according to some witnesses, Charles left home with Terrence
Robinson and Frederick Tyrone.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Ellis Caroli said that he was old Charles Newson house
in phil Paul. That's waiting on Charle to take a
shot down and take a bail, and there was the
only way to minches. They walked into the car and
they drove pay us by the manager's office and he
said that he's seen four people out there and they
began shoot this out of the car.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
No one is very certain about how many shots were
fired or when the shot hit, but it was basically
a shootout happening. Someone took their hand out of the
windows started shooting back barely.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Said that Chaul made a right old McCarley and he
hit another car and he said chall that he couldn't breathe,
and so ca Ronald said that he scowed it over.
It stuck his leg onder the hands field up and
he drove from the passenger side all the way back
round to the front of the building where he went
and can't help it.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
So the cops arrived and according to some witness says,
Terrence Robinson should have been with Ellis to give an account,
but no account has ever been found. Now. Initially Ellis
had said that three or four black males who he
couldn't identify, were shooting from the passenger's side, and that
when Charles was hit, he reached his foot over to
hit the gas to try to flee. But according to
(09:03):
a document that was just recently found, the body was
discovered in a position that really doesn't match his story.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
We've gotten various accounts of how the body was found,
but never this one that Charles Newsom was basically turned
back and he was lunged over the driver's seat.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
One week with she Seed, somebody had opened the door
and looked at his car, so it was cussin and
he jumped back in the car and.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Drove around the bend, which makes you think that whoever
drove the car out of there made room for himself
by pushing Charles over the seat, or perhaps Charles had
even lunged back there, since the shot may well have
come from inside the car, But unfortunately the state of
the physical evidence hasn't made anything clearer. It appears, in fact,
(09:53):
that Charles Dusom's car had been involved in previous shootouts
and plenty of damage to the out side of the car.
Two bullets were pulled from the car ceiling that aren't
part of the record in this case, as well as
two bullet holes the police claimed had penetrated the interior
and were related to this particular shooting. Now, how did
they know that, We don't know. We have no idea.
(10:15):
But maybe they said that because Charles Newsom was only
shot twice, once in the right forearm and once in
the right upper back.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
They said on a two bullet hole put an interior
to the car, the one that hate him in the
foot hall. People said to have come through the wandle,
the very top, the back windle. You supposed in they
head one. They went to the trunk. They said that
a blizzard went to the trunk, went to the back seat,
to the back of the drama seat, kicked him in
(10:45):
the right upper side of his back.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
But a picture of the open trunk showed no damage
at all to the car stereo speakers that covered the seatbacks.
So the prosecutor actually motioned to have that photo barred
from evidence. I'm just gonna pause there for a second. Ah, Yeah,
which you know, my spidy senses are telling me that
(11:10):
an independent investigation of the vehicle would have been prudent
and necessary.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
So the car gets sold immediately that.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
We used to call it through the marble, And I
guess she got rid of it because Hassan got killed
in it. The dude that bought the car, he said
there was no bullet hole in the back of the
drive of seat this compa.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
But I spoke to someone who spoke to the guy
who bought the car, and he says there were no
back seats.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
So no driver's seat, bullet hole, no back seats to
even confirm or deny the alleged trunk bullet path. Somebody
had gotten rid of them, right. But the state's theory
becomes even more unbelievable when you consider the bullet's trajectory
through Charles Newsom's body.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
They said it a bullet What do the prong? What
do the back seat went through the back of the drivers,
hit him in the right upper side, open back, and
terminated in the lower left front.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
It's a downward trajectory, Pully.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Wouldn't they hate him? They put no down will pay him?
Would would have would break to a person.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
In my eyes, the fatal shot has to have come
from inside the car based on the ballistics. There is
no other way it could have happened.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
The ongoing inter neighborhood gun violence had both the police
and alleged witnesses speculating about Foxwood, specifically about Ken Gillum
and Antonio Williams, which wasn't that wild of an idea,
can considering Ken's alibi because Ken was at his girlfriend,
Tarshalla Flores, his home with his two kids, one of
(13:07):
whom was nicknamed Pooh, and sometime before the shooting took place,
some Foxwood guys that stop by.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
So Ken's girlfriend her two brothers are the big drug
dealers in West Memphis. They were Flores, so that house
was kind of where they all hang out. That's where
they sold drugs from. It was kind of like the
meeting point. So that's why these people came over.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
They were come, roll Waters over, We're going to get Charles.
Tasha dude like no, you better come get your dad.
And stupid dad trying to go a wag to jail.
So he running there, grabbed my lead, hold on my lead,
was like, Mane, look, man I'm street. I ain't gonna
I'm sorry cute my partners called me. He was like, hey, Mane,
(13:50):
they can't shot Nane and know your name the firm name.
Come home. He said, you might want to get your
keys and stuff I have to have. I'm here and
it's going to be for shooting.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
So you might be thinking, wait a minute, does Ken
actually know who did it?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
See the parties? They didn't do it.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Now, Remember, the bullet trajectory supports that the fatal shot
had to have come from inside the car, and soon
after the shooting, the police had more support for a
close range gunshot. According to a report summarizing the Arkansas
Crime Labs gunshot residue analysis that was entered into evidence
of trial, Charles Newsom's jacket had quote one perforating hole
(14:33):
in the upper right back with residues relating to a
firearm discharge end quote.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
The only way that Newsom would have residue on the
jacket was that if the shot had come from close range.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
But despite that, the state continued to build this sort
of wild narrative about shooters outside the car, which centered
and relied on l his statements.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Carol Ali said that I don't know who did it.
That's the first statement. The second statement was gave a
couple of hours a capt there, and he said that
Gilby and Williams did it. Five days later, he gave
a third statement saying four people did gil them Willison, Willis,
and Jackson. But Ronald Jackson was found out to be
(15:23):
in Kentucky, so they know that was another lie.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
So the mention of Ronald Jackson was just ignored while
the focus remained on the other three. And it seems
to Marco Wilson, who happens to be Ken's cousin, by
the way, was seen at Mayfair that night by a
man named Mark Welch.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Oh my god. The Marco is like, that's the whole
other thing, Like he's not even in this friend group.
He was in his girlfriend's apartment because they had a
newborn child, and he just walked down because he heard shots.
So Mark Welsh how he plays into the story. He
just goes like, I was there, I was in the
apartments and I saw the Marco was standing outside. He
looked at you take it. So that's how de Marco
(16:01):
comes into the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
So DeMarco's name was added to Ellis's third statement, and
they picked up Ken a few days later, but he
was in charged yet.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
They took me the Jones brou to take a lot
to take the cares. But the man said exploit. You
said no, you paid to answer. Did you have anything
to do with it? You said no, you paid answer me.
Do you know anything about it? And you said no,
and until you were sure, you lying. So I said,
you said, I passed on not being there, and I
(16:30):
passed not having anything new with it, right? He said, yes,
said well I did. I'm innocent, so may leave me
along because I need shit. But it's you one that
you know something about it. I said that ain't my job.
I don't work for the police.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
You don't want to mess with these people. So he
was not going to start pointing fingers and get potentially
retaliation from someone.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
He ended up let me go.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Since Ken was not going to give them any information,
especially since he hadn't actually seen anything, they continue to
build the narrative. In his third statement, Ellis mentioned two
alleged witnesses who he said were just happened to be
driving by, Darnell Troop and Kevin Johnson. Troop gave a
statement about having heard the shots, while Johnson said that
he saw Antonio DeMarco and Ken by the manager's office
(17:17):
and that one of them had had a rifle.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
It's funny to read their interrogation transcript because the police goes,
you saw these people standing on Wes McCauley, right. Kevin
Johnson goes, right, it sounded like a rifle, right, yes, right.
So the police is literally the way they're framing their
questions is with the information they need.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
And this Johnson and three of the witnesses and say, hey,
all three of them, Hey, they job just dismissed. Ten
years after apposition.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
These three witnesses got their charges dropped on February two
thousand and eight, all of them, and all of them
but one has now come forward and basically said I
was lying and I was offered something to lie. Kevin
Johnson said that he got drugs in exchange for that testimony.
So they all have their charges dropped the same month,
(18:11):
the same year, and some even the same day. You know,
and for people who are not like super familiar with
what this means, like this highly suggests they were cop informants,
because cops were holding these convictions over their heads until
they didn't need them anymore.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
This endless get out in an abandoned house Will fifty
seven thousand, three ninety seven dollars two ketos and what
if I am a second or two or three gone?
He got five years of total c which he had
to do ten months, and he could get out on it.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
So Ellis, for example, he testified in like five or
six criminal cases, like a bunch of them, always saying
whatever the police needed him to say.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
And those weren't the only deals to be had. Ken
was offered ten years with just two years to the
parole board. Now, call me crazy, but it sounds to
me like they may not have really thought he did
it if they're offering him two years for a crime
this serious but okay. But Ken refused the deal. What
guilty guy refuses that deal, that's the best deal they're
(19:13):
ever going to get. But Ken refused, So they bolstered
their case with a jail house snitch named Jeff Cayton. Now,
fun fact, one of the investigators in West Memphis at
the time, a guy named Mike Allen. Well, he's the
current sheriff of Crittendon County and he's now married to
Jeff's sister. Anyway, Jeff gave a statement saying that in
(19:35):
jail he's actually married to the jail house nitch's sister.
Just when you think you've heard everything on the wrongful
conviction that you can hear it, then you hear stuff
like this. Anyway. Jeff gave a statement saying that in
jail he'd overheard Ken just rambling on and on about
the shooting.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Jeff Kate says that the prosecutor, fran Thorne want to
him to say it. He's hurt me and tay you
saying that I killed somebody and he's saying the people.
And they said they wouldn't send him to the penitentiary.
They sent him to boot camp on ninety They put
under the head like a little army thing and they
get help. So they sent him to boot camp two
(20:11):
weeks prior to trial. We went to trial November fourth
through November nineteen ninety seven, and on the sand he
said he didn't get a deal. He said that he
heard me say that I shot the gas car with
a shotgun. It wasn't no shotgun.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Fair saying, you know it's wild that with all of
the shellcasings from this incident and others at Mayfair, they
still couldn't find one shotgun shell that would have made
Caton's testimony make sense. And by the way. He later
recanted his statement as well, in case this wasn't screwed
(20:48):
up enough. Next up, Darnell Troop said he had heard
the shots while he drove by with Kevin Johnson, who
took the stand as well.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
He said that him had done their troop in the
car together passing by, and he said, we shooting a
noosel white car with nucl Carl Purple and he seeing
me Williams Willison and Jarry Johnson and the man duke officer.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
So Kevin Johnson, who later recanted, offered an entirely new
person into the narrative, just out of thin air. A
guy named Jerry Johnson appears in this narrative who also
ended up having a solid alibi like Ronald Jackson had
had from Elis's third statement.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Now and it's his first two statements. They were with
hal from us until the first day of trial. I mean,
they caught that man in so many lines. They tell
me your first statement, why didn't you just kill them?
Who did it? Oh Man? I just want to saying
that to me. You know what I'm saying. It wasn't
not your second statement you said kill them Williams eating
(21:48):
oh Man? I just gave him a little some some
Come on, man, do you remember sitting you've seen him
up at the passengers? No, I ain't say it for
they be a video statement said, yes about the passage
of the one. But what kind of guns did you see?
Two them head night rifle, pink kaylight guns that one
of them made the head guns. Do you remember saying
that you see they hey cawon guns. No, I don't know.
(22:11):
So they pade a video statement, ye say, hey, holme guns.
Then what about the fourth person? I'm just probably mistinking
about deal? But so you for sure about these three? Yeah,
I'm sure who had what guns? Oh? Man, I couldn't
feel it was too dull.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
For the record, it was eight pm in February, the
area wasn't well lit, so it probably was too dark
for anyone to have seen what they claimed to have seen.
But at this point, despite the inconsistencies and discrepancies, the
jury heard three witnesses named the three co defendants without
any context of the deals they'd made with the prosecutor's office,
and in addition, they were able to keep Ken's alibi
(22:47):
witness Tarshalla Flores, off the stand.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
They come in with two bullet pips did they said
they found and Tasha mulg House is doing a drug
grade six months after the murder, and they said that
these bullets had the same lot number on them as
the one found that the scene. So she didn't testify
for me because they were trying to act like I
had something to do that I had and I had
(23:12):
something to do with anything. I was in jail for
six months, So y'all raided their house. Lot number on
the back of the bullets don't mean nothing. This just
a year that there was manufactured. And I can bet
you this, if you had any other ak shootings or
sk shooting jails frown, you gonna have the same lot
number because all the drug dealers went to the same
place and bought the bullets. And that was Red Barn.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Again, this is important context that the jury never heard. Now.
The prosecutors also called Detective Brian Ridge to discuss his
magic curving bullet theory, and he came.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
In with a homemade picture that he drew up. He
took a box car, a juvenile picture that a five
year old could have drew and it had the diresion
that he think says that the bullet went, bullet hole
hit the car on the tube. The hole was supposedly
gonna traded the inuitor. The picct them was hit in
(24:09):
the right four hall. Now, bullet people said to have come.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Through the window, which is plausible. The bullet could have
struck his forearm as he held the steering wheel, or
perhaps he raised his arm defensively at some point and
it was struck. But then the only other possible entry
point that they claimed was through the trunk, which they
said traveled through the back seat and driver's seat to
hit Charles. And remember we mentioned that the prosecutor already
(24:37):
objected to admitting the picture of the open trunk into evidence.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
They come into court with the photos showing a bulletholes
of the car. Right, So now they come to the
bullet hole in the back of the driver's seat. Guess
what it can't be found. And two it was like, well,
they said, well you had this morning, didn't He said, yeah, hey,
but you've seen the lost from the police station.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
The cool This is now like the dog ate my homework.
And then, to make matters worse, the state's next witness,
Kevin Mainhardt, testified about the gun that was alleged to
have been used, in this case an sk rifle, which
was helpful with demonstrating that the bullet could have made
it through all of those different objects, but not with
(25:20):
the downward trajectory.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Easy, it will go straight through them, hold over them.
So I wanted to hit some redit and take them down.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Will pay up?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
This can't make confense.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
So through their own witnesses, the state had just contradicted
their own narrative and they were about to do it again.
While presenting the medical evidence, they entered a number of
documents into evidence, including a report summarizing the Arkansas Crime
Labs gunshot residue analysis. Now, importantly, the gunshot residue of
the victim's hands was not submitted, and we'll get to
(25:53):
that in a minute. So at trial, one of the
things this summary report said was that Newsom's hands negative
for gunshot residue, and they put the medical examiner, doctor
Frank Peretti, on the stand.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Probably the most insane part of this trial is that
they never get a ballistics expert to come testify. They
get a medical examiner, and this was a doctor that
infamously also testified in the West Memphis three trial. So
he's testifying in Ken's case, and he says, basically, I
don't have qualifications to do this. The just says it's okay,
go on, go on. And what he says in trial
(26:29):
is that there was no close range firing because he
didn't see residue on the.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Victim, and he specifically mentions the victim's skin, and this
is something he can speak to as an expert. There
are ways to optically examine for residue or that can
be stippling, which is the burn pattern one can expect
with close range gunshots. But the victim was wearing three
layers that night, remember it was February, a shirt, an undershirt,
and a jacket. And the report from the Arkansas Crime
(26:59):
Lab says that is residue relating to firearm discharge around
the hole in the right upper back.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
But the medical examiner is literally saying the shot was
coming from fifteen twenty minutes away, like the bullet came
from outside the car. While there's information that there's primer
residue on the victim, and this is pointed out by
either Antonio or DeMarco's lawyer and they were like, look,
this is impossible. There's an inconsistency. The state is saying
(27:27):
that there's primary residue on the victim, and yet the
medical examiner is saying that there's no evidence of close
range shooting. This is impossible, But that juror who's not
an expert on ballistics doesn't understand that. I mean, I
had to study this to understand it. If it was
just said to me like this, I would't understand it either.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
And it seems that this case required at least a
ballistics expert to further explain this to the jury, but
that didn't happen before they went to deliberate.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Grandma sheen howl in the bathroom. Oh wait, it needs
out security chamber. So he was gonna help to the prosecutors,
and they said he told the prosecutors. He said, hey, man,
y'all cases, y'all need to do something. Now.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
We've gotten a hold of one of those jurors. And
he said it's a long time ago, man, I don't remember,
but he's he was very clear. He was like, when
the jurors were deliberating, one of the prosecutors walks into
the jury room and they say something to the jurors
that's tempering with their decision, and then.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Those jurors returned with their verdict. All three men were
convicted of first degree murder and given life sentences without
the possibility of parole.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
There's a lot of mind and a lot of disbelieve.
It was like it was like took my life? Did't know?
Do I just you know? It's that you just game
his plain because you need to make you feel so mad.
You'll be like talking him to make rail. You know
(29:01):
what I'm saying in the politration. You have to sit
here and wait and wait and hold some chime. And
(29:24):
now I gotta try to find a lawyer that'll take you.
I need help. It's hard, man, it is hard. You
don't know the feeling. Man. I lost my brother, my all,
my grandpa was gone. I even lost some grandchild since
up in the hero my brother was murdered, my grandma
(29:46):
died in the same man that help put me here
preached to help her. What kind of shit is this?
What kind of sh is this?
Speaker 1 (29:56):
One of the investigators on this case, Detective On, became
a preacher and as luck would have it, or fate
or whatever irony whatever you want to call this, when
Ken was allowed to attend her funeral. Who the fuck
do you think he saw there?
Speaker 3 (30:14):
He couldn't even look at me. I was sitting on
the part road. Every time he looked over there, and
he put his head down. He put his head down.
I wanted to get up, but I had respect for
my grandmama. I wanted to get up, and may y'all
get this bitch about the art, because the bitch lined
on me and got me here this pen attention, and
they put my grandmoma need the car and I walked
(30:36):
up to him. I said, you lying, talk ass bitch.
My mama put him away from him. They do this
shit to you because they could do it. The only
thing this shit is it's criminals to heal us and
motherfuckles up.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
The three co defendants had an alleged confession back in
nineteen ninety nine, but that fell apart before it even
went to an evidentiary hearing oh.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Hey hanging down here and told him that he said
there and took the job, that they were going to
send him to the road, but that what dude changed took.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
The moment following that, Kevin Johnson came forward in two
thousand and one claiming that he was offered drugs by
one of the victim's friends in exchange for this testimony,
and the team went back to court in two thousand
and three.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
All two to them the issues was raised. It was
the same thing they got the Wistmavis three free was
the same appeal that they used due to the.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Scientific casting, so they filed a seventeen eighty six years.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Later in Discovery, they received a hidden gun shot residue.
Exam of Charles Newsom's hands.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Turns out there's primar residue in Newsom's hands. The only
way that Newsom would have primar residue in his hands
was that if the shot had come from close range.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
But that Charles was in close proximity to gunfire.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
But that didn't go with their story that the shooters
were from outside the car, so there could have been
no power anywhere. The evidence would have proven otherwise.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
They denied it because they said that there was no
new scientific case thing it would have helped us look
that some of the cases I read. They saying that
it is not just for real reversal to be game
when the scene is convicted normally or not normally of
(32:24):
false evidence, and they know that they conveted me on false.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Evidence, and so did Jason Baldwin of the West Memphis Three,
who knew DeMarco Wilson while he was in prison. We'll
have their stories linked in the episode description, so check
them out. But upon his release in twenty eleven, he
eventually began a nonprofit to reinvestigate innocent's claims, and this
was their very first case. They tracked down witnesses and
(32:49):
tried to access the old case evidence to test for
DNA fingerprints, to reconstruct the crime scene, anything, and DeMarco
went back to court in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
They was trying to find out what the evidence was.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
It and the deck on all of it is missing
and all of the reports are missing too. So not
only don't we have the shirt, the jacket and the
car any of that, which is already huge misconduct because
you're meant to keep evidence from murder case forever, we
don't even have pictures of it. And when we bring
(33:21):
Mike Allen to court, they're like, hey, what happened to
this evidence? He's like it says, I checked it out,
but it wasn't me. Someone else done it. Someone else
mus have written my name.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I don't know where it is so someone just checked
the evidence out in nineteen ninety seven and it's just gone.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
So I mean very convenient that because if we had
got evidence, if we could prove that can didn't do it,
you could do all types of testing. You could test
the pother again, you could test for DNA, you could
test all types of things.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Jason's team made contact with another potential confessor around twenty
twenty who had contacted law enforcement as early as twenty seventeen,
who was finally saying something that aligned with the evidence.
But that person took their own life before swearing under oath.
Now perhaps this wasn't even the right person, but it
was a similar tale to the nineteen ninety nine confessor
(34:09):
that three individuals, potentially the same guys that had stopped
by Ken's girlfriend Tarsha's earlier that night, had driven up
next to Newsom's car and opened fire, and then the
person in the backseat of Newsom's car pulled a gun
to return fire, and they believed that's how Newsom was
shot from close range. Maybe that's what Ken meant by
they didn't do it. Meanwhile, after years of outreach, Ken
(34:32):
had finally got a response from the making xannery class
at Georgetown.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
First we got the primer residue analysis, and then we
finally sent it over to a ballistic expert and he
was like, this is primary residue, like that shot came
from inside the car. And then we also have what
five hundred pages worth of documents. I'm trying to reach
out to Ken's original attorney, but I sent them to
Ken and we talked and he was like, I don't
have any of this, like I never got any of this.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
And they also looked up Jeff Cayton.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
He's been trying to come forward for a while because
he's dying now with cirrhosis, and now he called us
and he goes, I need to clear my consciousness, like
I need to right this wrong. And he had years
in prison and he basically said, the officers told me
a story, and they said, you tell that on the
stand and you'll go to boot camp. You get off
with this up on the wrist, like you're good. So
(35:21):
that's exactly what happened to him. Kevin Johnson, Jeff Kayton
have recanted, and someone else, Paul Hunt, has come forward
and said I was jeff cell mate, and he confessed
to me many times to falsely testifying in that trial.
So that's corroborated. And then we have someone who has
now come forward and said the people who actually were
shooting at Newsom drove the car to my house and
(35:43):
confessed to me. Him and the three other guys confessed
to her, And that was not Ken Gillim. And this
woman had never spoken until I called her a few
months ago because someone gave me her name.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
So potentially there's a connection between Ken's story, this witness
and the three men from the other confessions. In the meantime,
Claudia and the team which includes TOMMYA. Hayes and Brandon T.
Ham while they're not giving up.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
We're in touch with the crime scene reconstruction expert and
also a handwriting expert because we believe some of the
signatures about medical reports and ballistics reports and all of
that has been forged from the beginning. The one thing
can always said to me is look at the ballistics.
It doesn't make sense. It does not make sense. It
could not have happened like that. So they were looking
(36:29):
for the shirt, the jacket, and the car, any of that.
So in the West Memphis Street trial, they also said
it was all gone, and then it was actually all
in the West Memphis Police Department. So when I was
in Arkansas, I went there. I mean my two colleagues,
we drove there and we asked for it. But you
can only access that type of evidence if you're a lawyer.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
No, perhaps a lawyer or a crime scene reconstruction expert.
Anyone listening would like to offer their help, anyone out
there who would like to speak, it's never too late,
And if so, we're going to leave ways that you
can contact Claudia in the episode description, where you can
also find the documentary that they made for Ken's case.
And with that we're going to go to closing arguments.
(37:12):
This is the part of the show that I always
look forward to, where first of all, I thank you
from the bottom of my heart on behalf of our
whole team. And now I'm going to kick back in
my chair with my headphones on, just close my eyes
and listen to anything else you want to share with
me and our incredible audience. So Claudia, why don't you
go first and then just hand the mic off to Ken.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Ken was guilty way before he ever stepped foot in
that court. The police wanted a conviction, and they went
to any lengths until they got it. And there's just
no way that physically, the ballistics makes sense. There is
no way that shot came from outside of the car.
And there is no testimony still holding that hasn't been
(37:56):
recanted or proven to be coerced except the testimony of
someone who has a personal stake in this case, someone
who gave various different testimonies that don't corroborate with each other.
Ken has been in jail for twenty nine years, and
twenty nine years later, there is the testimony of one
person who's a cop informant, and that's what's keeping him
in jail, and we just got to get him out.
(38:19):
It's time. He hasn't seen his kids in early thirty years.
He's fifty six now, he hasn't had a life. He
went to jail when he was in his twenties. And
he's not guilty, and everyone knows he's not guilty. He's
a victim of a town and a system that has
never been held accountable for what they've done. And it's enough.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Well, like I said, it's just how he did about it,
because they can't for getting away with it. I'm wondering
why Alcatol doesn't have a CiU unit. He may he
of me that you can. Don't think that Alkassol has
also convicted people. Come on, man, I only know maybe
(39:08):
two people. They had been cleared of it, of crime
they didn't committed. That's the one thing I've ever heard of.
I know John Brown, and if I'm not mistaken, it
was Rodney break. Yeah. I'm not going to say. You know,
I'm looking forward to turn it into the help of
this case and take this case because I know Arkansas
(39:28):
needs to be exposed to this. You know, they need
to really be exposed.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Thank you for listening to Ron for Conviction. You can
listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts
one week early and ed free by subscribing to Lava
for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I want to thank
our production team, Connor Hall and Kathleen Fink, as well
as my fellow executive producers Jeff Kempler, Kevin Watis, and
Jeff Cleiber. The music in this production was supplied by
three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Rowse. Be sure to
(40:00):
follow us across all social media platforms at Lava for
Good and at Wrongful Conviction. You can also follow me
on Instagram at it's Jason Flamm. Wrongful Conviction is a
production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association with Signal
Company Number One. We have worked hard to ensure that
all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views
and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show
(40:20):
are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of
Lava for Good.
On February first, nineteen ninety seven, in West Memphis, Arkansas,
a young man named Charles Newsom was fatally shot in
his car. According to some witnesses, Charles was with two
others in his car, but only one was ever identified.
Frederick Tyrone Ellis. Ellis gave inconsistent accounts about the number, location,
(00:27):
and identities of the assailants, eventually fixing the narrative on
first four and then three men from a rival neighborhood,
Antonio Williams, DeMarco Wilson and Kendrick Gillham, who he placed
outside the vehicle for the shooting. However, the ballistics and
physical evidence say something different. This is wrathful Conviction. You're
(00:55):
listening to wrongful Conviction. You can 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. Welcome back to Wronful Conviction, where we're going
to return to West Memphis, Arkansas. Yes, the home of
(01:18):
the West Memphis three, one of whom Jason Baldwin first
told our colleague Maggie Freeling about the case we're going
to be covering today and we're going to link that
episode of unjustin Unsolved in the episode description. In this
case involves the same local legal system, as well as
three co defendants, one of whom Kendrick Gillham, is calling
(01:39):
in from an Arkansas prison. Ken, thanks for joining us,
Thank you, you're welcome. Now a second former guest, Marty Tankliffe.
It was his efforts through the making an ex reclass
at Georgetown University with Professor Mark Howard that led a
group of students to reinvestigate the case for Ken. And
we're joined by one of those former students who is
currently seeking her master's in investigative journalism, Claudia Mendeweta.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Welcome, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So let's start with Ken's life growing up in this
small and notorious city of only about twenty five thousand
people on the west side of the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee,
called West Memphis.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
My mom she haed me two that twenty fourth, nineteen
seventy one. You know, I had a pretty normal childhood.
You know, my mom, she took good care of me
and my brothers. We come from a big family and
all of us was closer the neighborhood because I said,
like from five years old, we would always get together
on the weekends, all as the summer the school was out.
(02:39):
We was always somewhere on the bikes together, played football, basketball,
collecting knes it's, cutting yards together. We had a little
long services, we hated, you know, we gave some money
in our pockets, and you know, we all just grew
up together. You know, we were basically always there for
each other.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
This group of family and friends lived in the Foxwood
area of West Memphis and then was a rival neighborhood
group from about a mile and a half away on
Eighteenth Street, and Foxwood continued to stick together as the
kids became teens and as problems became more complicated as
they were introduced to the drug trade.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I said, part of the started, I said about ninth grade.
You know, we started hanging out, chasing girls, drinking girl
not doing my mom's see. And then like like sixteen,
I was really like I was just full plays one
of the streets and I had a partner that I
used to run with and he'd be setting drugs all
night and I'd just be running around with him. And
I was like seventeen when I first got shot. Oh yeah,
(03:39):
I was like seventeen when I first got shot, So
I've been shot three other times. The front, it went
through my tophicals and it came by my shoulders, and
then I was shot in the stomach and it came
out my bank. No time I was shot in the
league in the upper part, almost by my balls. And
the last time did they take this? Watch the eighteenth
Street dudes shoot up where I was at. They came
(04:00):
through three car fee and he watched him shoot it
us and then he pulled up and shot me. And
he shot my home boy two mo pans, which added
to the eleven hands that he was already shot.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Detective Brian Ridge, who's also a big character in the
West Memphis three, shot his friend. His friend is kind
of on the side of the road. Ken is trying
to take him to the hospital and then he shoots
Kin so he can't help him.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Laying on the float bleeding and the police got a
gun to my head. They shot my mama house up
to right around the corner. He wants three cars with
its cas shoot up his house and he didn't pursuit him.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
It seems like Detective Brian Ridge and potentially others were
at the very least turning a blind eye to the
Eighteenth Street guys.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I didn't get any evidence to this, but it was
something that everyone told me when I was in West Memphis,
like the people in the A. Treen Street group were
working with the police to sell drugs. One woman sat
down at me and she was like, how do you
think drugs get into West Memphis? Like we don't have
a port. Police will do a drug bust, and you
think they're throwing those drugs away, they're not. They're putting
(05:08):
them right back in circulation.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
The girl I was going with but I had the
kids buy they pulled upon her brother over at the
gas station one day and he was saying that they
pulled up on him and said, Hey, you need to
go talk to Kendrick. We got something for you, and
y'all ain't got to worry about us twin now, as
long as y'all keep you down over there, y'all ain't
got to worry about us the rest nobody. But if
(05:31):
you don't, we'll be to see you. So what happened
was he came told me and I refused to say
a dope.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
On him, and it appears that perhaps one of the
more prominent Eighteenth Street guys, Terrence Robinson, may have taken
this deal while Foxwood suffered the consequences.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
The girl I was going with her brother, they gave
him the datment. They got my brother on the diapers,
They got Chuck Kirkwood, they got my whole neighborhood on
the diapers. The all the walk probably was left that
didn't get in the diaper with me almoose.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So Terrence Robinson, he's the person who, like we said,
so drugs with the police. He had a cousin called
Daryl Robertson. Darryl gets shot and that's what they try
to put on Ken, but that fails.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
He gird order. He got to go write their statement
on me was lyons in kis who had to drop
the jobs. The one was investigated, the same one they
shot me, Brian Reid.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
And with the context of this unholy alliance between the
police and Foxwood rivals on Eighteenth Street, tensions flared further
over a dice game in nineteen ninety six involving Ken's
friend Chuck and Terrence Robinson, who was with James Newsom,
the cousin of the victim in this case.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
They had a nice game going on in the neighborhood,
Dames Gruesom and Terrence Robinson style Shuton guys Woodhelm. Anyway,
chue k b Terrence Alley's money, so Chump took off
the Wolkin. They pulled up Scot out the car and
hit truck in the face and tried to go on
his pockets and take it money. So this when the
fighter started. And after that we ended up seeing them
(07:10):
at the skating ring. We was going to the back
and they was coming away from the bank, and we
all got to fight New and answered the first justice,
Sire New.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And this kicked off a series of incidents of retaliatory
gun violence leading up to the incident in question on
February first, nineteen ninety seven, which occurred at nine hundred
West McCauley Drive, the Mayfair Apartment complex, which unfortunately was
no stranger to gunfights, and with this ongoing feud between
eighteenth Street and Foxwood, the likely assumption was that someone
(07:44):
from Foxwood was involved in the shooting. Now, the victim
in this case, Charles Newsom, lived there with his parents,
and according to some witnesses, Charles left home with Terrence
Robinson and Frederick Tyrone.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Ellis Caroli said that he was old Charles Newson house
in phil Paul. That's waiting on Charle to take a
shot down and take a bail, and there was the
only way to minches. They walked into the car and
they drove pay us by the manager's office and he
said that he's seen four people out there and they
began shoot this out of the car.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
No one is very certain about how many shots were
fired or when the shot hit, but it was basically
a shootout happening. Someone took their hand out of the
windows started shooting back barely.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Said that Chaul made a right old McCarley and he
hit another car and he said chall that he couldn't breathe,
and so ca Ronald said that he scowed it over.
It stuck his leg onder the hands field up and
he drove from the passenger side all the way back
round to the front of the building where he went
and can't help it.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
So the cops arrived and according to some witness says,
Terrence Robinson should have been with Ellis to give an account,
but no account has ever been found. Now. Initially Ellis
had said that three or four black males who he
couldn't identify, were shooting from the passenger's side, and that
when Charles was hit, he reached his foot over to
hit the gas to try to flee. But according to
(09:03):
a document that was just recently found, the body was
discovered in a position that really doesn't match his story.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
We've gotten various accounts of how the body was found,
but never this one that Charles Newsom was basically turned
back and he was lunged over the driver's seat.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
One week with she Seed, somebody had opened the door
and looked at his car, so it was cussin and
he jumped back in the car and.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Drove around the bend, which makes you think that whoever
drove the car out of there made room for himself
by pushing Charles over the seat, or perhaps Charles had
even lunged back there, since the shot may well have
come from inside the car, But unfortunately the state of
the physical evidence hasn't made anything clearer. It appears, in fact,
(09:53):
that Charles Dusom's car had been involved in previous shootouts
and plenty of damage to the out side of the car.
Two bullets were pulled from the car ceiling that aren't
part of the record in this case, as well as
two bullet holes the police claimed had penetrated the interior
and were related to this particular shooting. Now, how did
they know that, We don't know. We have no idea.
(10:15):
But maybe they said that because Charles Newsom was only
shot twice, once in the right forearm and once in
the right upper back.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
They said on a two bullet hole put an interior
to the car, the one that hate him in the
foot hall. People said to have come through the wandle,
the very top, the back windle. You supposed in they
head one. They went to the trunk. They said that
a blizzard went to the trunk, went to the back seat,
to the back of the drama seat, kicked him in
(10:45):
the right upper side of his back.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
But a picture of the open trunk showed no damage
at all to the car stereo speakers that covered the seatbacks.
So the prosecutor actually motioned to have that photo barred
from evidence. I'm just gonna pause there for a second. Ah, Yeah,
which you know, my spidy senses are telling me that
(11:10):
an independent investigation of the vehicle would have been prudent
and necessary.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
So the car gets sold immediately that.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
We used to call it through the marble, And I
guess she got rid of it because Hassan got killed
in it. The dude that bought the car, he said
there was no bullet hole in the back of the
drive of seat this compa.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
But I spoke to someone who spoke to the guy
who bought the car, and he says there were no
back seats.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
So no driver's seat, bullet hole, no back seats to
even confirm or deny the alleged trunk bullet path. Somebody
had gotten rid of them, right. But the state's theory
becomes even more unbelievable when you consider the bullet's trajectory
through Charles Newsom's body.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
They said it a bullet What do the prong? What
do the back seat went through the back of the drivers,
hit him in the right upper side, open back, and
terminated in the lower left front.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
It's a downward trajectory, Pully.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Wouldn't they hate him? They put no down will pay him?
Would would have would break to a person.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
In my eyes, the fatal shot has to have come
from inside the car based on the ballistics. There is
no other way it could have happened.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
The ongoing inter neighborhood gun violence had both the police
and alleged witnesses speculating about Foxwood, specifically about Ken Gillum
and Antonio Williams, which wasn't that wild of an idea,
can considering Ken's alibi because Ken was at his girlfriend,
Tarshalla Flores, his home with his two kids, one of
(13:07):
whom was nicknamed Pooh, and sometime before the shooting took place,
some Foxwood guys that stop by.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
So Ken's girlfriend her two brothers are the big drug
dealers in West Memphis. They were Flores, so that house
was kind of where they all hang out. That's where
they sold drugs from. It was kind of like the
meeting point. So that's why these people came over.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
They were come, roll Waters over, We're going to get Charles.
Tasha dude like no, you better come get your dad.
And stupid dad trying to go a wag to jail.
So he running there, grabbed my lead, hold on my lead,
was like, Mane, look, man I'm street. I ain't gonna
I'm sorry cute my partners called me. He was like, hey, Mane,
(13:50):
they can't shot Nane and know your name the firm name.
Come home. He said, you might want to get your
keys and stuff I have to have. I'm here and
it's going to be for shooting.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
So you might be thinking, wait a minute, does Ken
actually know who did it?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
See the parties? They didn't do it.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Now, Remember, the bullet trajectory supports that the fatal shot
had to have come from inside the car, and soon
after the shooting, the police had more support for a
close range gunshot. According to a report summarizing the Arkansas
Crime Labs gunshot residue analysis that was entered into evidence
of trial, Charles Newsom's jacket had quote one perforating hole
(14:33):
in the upper right back with residues relating to a
firearm discharge end quote.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
The only way that Newsom would have residue on the
jacket was that if the shot had come from close range.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
But despite that, the state continued to build this sort
of wild narrative about shooters outside the car, which centered
and relied on l his statements.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Carol Ali said that I don't know who did it.
That's the first statement. The second statement was gave a
couple of hours a capt there, and he said that
Gilby and Williams did it. Five days later, he gave
a third statement saying four people did gil them Willison, Willis,
and Jackson. But Ronald Jackson was found out to be
(15:23):
in Kentucky, so they know that was another lie.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
So the mention of Ronald Jackson was just ignored while
the focus remained on the other three. And it seems
to Marco Wilson, who happens to be Ken's cousin, by
the way, was seen at Mayfair that night by a
man named Mark Welch.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Oh my god. The Marco is like, that's the whole
other thing, Like he's not even in this friend group.
He was in his girlfriend's apartment because they had a
newborn child, and he just walked down because he heard shots.
So Mark Welsh how he plays into the story. He
just goes like, I was there, I was in the
apartments and I saw the Marco was standing outside. He
looked at you take it. So that's how de Marco
(16:01):
comes into the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
So DeMarco's name was added to Ellis's third statement, and
they picked up Ken a few days later, but he
was in charged yet.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
They took me the Jones brou to take a lot
to take the cares. But the man said exploit. You
said no, you paid to answer. Did you have anything
to do with it? You said no, you paid answer me.
Do you know anything about it? And you said no,
and until you were sure, you lying. So I said,
you said, I passed on not being there, and I
(16:30):
passed not having anything new with it, right? He said, yes,
said well I did. I'm innocent, so may leave me
along because I need shit. But it's you one that
you know something about it. I said that ain't my job.
I don't work for the police.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
You don't want to mess with these people. So he
was not going to start pointing fingers and get potentially
retaliation from someone.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
He ended up let me go.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Since Ken was not going to give them any information,
especially since he hadn't actually seen anything, they continue to
build the narrative. In his third statement, Ellis mentioned two
alleged witnesses who he said were just happened to be
driving by, Darnell Troop and Kevin Johnson. Troop gave a
statement about having heard the shots, while Johnson said that
he saw Antonio DeMarco and Ken by the manager's office
(17:17):
and that one of them had had a rifle.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
It's funny to read their interrogation transcript because the police goes,
you saw these people standing on Wes McCauley, right. Kevin
Johnson goes, right, it sounded like a rifle, right, yes, right.
So the police is literally the way they're framing their
questions is with the information they need.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
And this Johnson and three of the witnesses and say, hey,
all three of them, Hey, they job just dismissed. Ten
years after apposition.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
These three witnesses got their charges dropped on February two
thousand and eight, all of them, and all of them
but one has now come forward and basically said I
was lying and I was offered something to lie. Kevin
Johnson said that he got drugs in exchange for that testimony.
So they all have their charges dropped the same month,
(18:11):
the same year, and some even the same day. You know,
and for people who are not like super familiar with
what this means, like this highly suggests they were cop informants,
because cops were holding these convictions over their heads until
they didn't need them anymore.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
This endless get out in an abandoned house Will fifty
seven thousand, three ninety seven dollars two ketos and what
if I am a second or two or three gone?
He got five years of total c which he had
to do ten months, and he could get out on it.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
So Ellis, for example, he testified in like five or
six criminal cases, like a bunch of them, always saying
whatever the police needed him to say.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
And those weren't the only deals to be had. Ken
was offered ten years with just two years to the
parole board. Now, call me crazy, but it sounds to
me like they may not have really thought he did
it if they're offering him two years for a crime
this serious but okay. But Ken refused the deal. What
guilty guy refuses that deal, that's the best deal they're
(19:13):
ever going to get. But Ken refused, So they bolstered
their case with a jail house snitch named Jeff Cayton. Now,
fun fact, one of the investigators in West Memphis at
the time, a guy named Mike Allen. Well, he's the
current sheriff of Crittendon County and he's now married to
Jeff's sister. Anyway, Jeff gave a statement saying that in
(19:35):
jail he's actually married to the jail house nitch's sister.
Just when you think you've heard everything on the wrongful
conviction that you can hear it, then you hear stuff
like this. Anyway. Jeff gave a statement saying that in
jail he'd overheard Ken just rambling on and on about
the shooting.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Jeff Kate says that the prosecutor, fran Thorne want to
him to say it. He's hurt me and tay you
saying that I killed somebody and he's saying the people.
And they said they wouldn't send him to the penitentiary.
They sent him to boot camp on ninety They put
under the head like a little army thing and they
get help. So they sent him to boot camp two
(20:11):
weeks prior to trial. We went to trial November fourth
through November nineteen ninety seven, and on the sand he
said he didn't get a deal. He said that he
heard me say that I shot the gas car with
a shotgun. It wasn't no shotgun.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Fair saying, you know it's wild that with all of
the shellcasings from this incident and others at Mayfair, they
still couldn't find one shotgun shell that would have made
Caton's testimony make sense. And by the way. He later
recanted his statement as well, in case this wasn't screwed
(20:48):
up enough. Next up, Darnell Troop said he had heard
the shots while he drove by with Kevin Johnson, who
took the stand as well.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
He said that him had done their troop in the
car together passing by, and he said, we shooting a
noosel white car with nucl Carl Purple and he seeing
me Williams Willison and Jarry Johnson and the man duke officer.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
So Kevin Johnson, who later recanted, offered an entirely new
person into the narrative, just out of thin air. A
guy named Jerry Johnson appears in this narrative who also
ended up having a solid alibi like Ronald Jackson had
had from Elis's third statement.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Now and it's his first two statements. They were with
hal from us until the first day of trial. I mean,
they caught that man in so many lines. They tell
me your first statement, why didn't you just kill them?
Who did it? Oh Man? I just want to saying
that to me. You know what I'm saying. It wasn't
not your second statement you said kill them Williams eating
(21:48):
oh Man? I just gave him a little some some
Come on, man, do you remember sitting you've seen him
up at the passengers? No, I ain't say it for
they be a video statement said, yes about the passage
of the one. But what kind of guns did you see?
Two them head night rifle, pink kaylight guns that one
of them made the head guns. Do you remember saying
that you see they hey cawon guns. No, I don't know.
(22:11):
So they pade a video statement, ye say, hey, holme guns.
Then what about the fourth person? I'm just probably mistinking
about deal? But so you for sure about these three? Yeah,
I'm sure who had what guns? Oh? Man, I couldn't
feel it was too dull.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
For the record, it was eight pm in February, the
area wasn't well lit, so it probably was too dark
for anyone to have seen what they claimed to have seen.
But at this point, despite the inconsistencies and discrepancies, the
jury heard three witnesses named the three co defendants without
any context of the deals they'd made with the prosecutor's office,
and in addition, they were able to keep Ken's alibi
(22:47):
witness Tarshalla Flores, off the stand.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
They come in with two bullet pips did they said
they found and Tasha mulg House is doing a drug
grade six months after the murder, and they said that
these bullets had the same lot number on them as
the one found that the scene. So she didn't testify
for me because they were trying to act like I
had something to do that I had and I had
(23:12):
something to do with anything. I was in jail for
six months, So y'all raided their house. Lot number on
the back of the bullets don't mean nothing. This just
a year that there was manufactured. And I can bet
you this, if you had any other ak shootings or
sk shooting jails frown, you gonna have the same lot
number because all the drug dealers went to the same
place and bought the bullets. And that was Red Barn.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Again, this is important context that the jury never heard. Now.
The prosecutors also called Detective Brian Ridge to discuss his
magic curving bullet theory, and he came.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
In with a homemade picture that he drew up. He
took a box car, a juvenile picture that a five
year old could have drew and it had the diresion
that he think says that the bullet went, bullet hole
hit the car on the tube. The hole was supposedly
gonna traded the inuitor. The picct them was hit in
(24:09):
the right four hall. Now, bullet people said to have come.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Through the window, which is plausible. The bullet could have
struck his forearm as he held the steering wheel, or
perhaps he raised his arm defensively at some point and
it was struck. But then the only other possible entry
point that they claimed was through the trunk, which they
said traveled through the back seat and driver's seat to
hit Charles. And remember we mentioned that the prosecutor already
(24:37):
objected to admitting the picture of the open trunk into evidence.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
They come into court with the photos showing a bulletholes
of the car. Right, So now they come to the
bullet hole in the back of the driver's seat. Guess
what it can't be found. And two it was like, well,
they said, well you had this morning, didn't He said, yeah, hey,
but you've seen the lost from the police station.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
The cool This is now like the dog ate my homework.
And then, to make matters worse, the state's next witness,
Kevin Mainhardt, testified about the gun that was alleged to
have been used, in this case an sk rifle, which
was helpful with demonstrating that the bullet could have made
it through all of those different objects, but not with
(25:20):
the downward trajectory.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Easy, it will go straight through them, hold over them.
So I wanted to hit some redit and take them down.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Will pay up?
Speaker 3 (25:29):
This can't make confense.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
So through their own witnesses, the state had just contradicted
their own narrative and they were about to do it again.
While presenting the medical evidence, they entered a number of
documents into evidence, including a report summarizing the Arkansas Crime
Labs gunshot residue analysis. Now, importantly, the gunshot residue of
the victim's hands was not submitted, and we'll get to
(25:53):
that in a minute. So at trial, one of the
things this summary report said was that Newsom's hands negative
for gunshot residue, and they put the medical examiner, doctor
Frank Peretti, on the stand.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Probably the most insane part of this trial is that
they never get a ballistics expert to come testify. They
get a medical examiner, and this was a doctor that
infamously also testified in the West Memphis three trial. So
he's testifying in Ken's case, and he says, basically, I
don't have qualifications to do this. The just says it's okay,
go on, go on. And what he says in trial
(26:29):
is that there was no close range firing because he
didn't see residue on the.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Victim, and he specifically mentions the victim's skin, and this
is something he can speak to as an expert. There
are ways to optically examine for residue or that can
be stippling, which is the burn pattern one can expect
with close range gunshots. But the victim was wearing three
layers that night, remember it was February, a shirt, an undershirt,
and a jacket. And the report from the Arkansas Crime
(26:59):
Lab says that is residue relating to firearm discharge around
the hole in the right upper back.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
But the medical examiner is literally saying the shot was
coming from fifteen twenty minutes away, like the bullet came
from outside the car. While there's information that there's primer
residue on the victim, and this is pointed out by
either Antonio or DeMarco's lawyer and they were like, look,
this is impossible. There's an inconsistency. The state is saying
(27:27):
that there's primary residue on the victim, and yet the
medical examiner is saying that there's no evidence of close
range shooting. This is impossible, But that juror who's not
an expert on ballistics doesn't understand that. I mean, I
had to study this to understand it. If it was
just said to me like this, I would't understand it either.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
And it seems that this case required at least a
ballistics expert to further explain this to the jury, but
that didn't happen before they went to deliberate.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Grandma sheen howl in the bathroom. Oh wait, it needs
out security chamber. So he was gonna help to the prosecutors,
and they said he told the prosecutors. He said, hey, man,
y'all cases, y'all need to do something. Now.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
We've gotten a hold of one of those jurors. And
he said it's a long time ago, man, I don't remember,
but he's he was very clear. He was like, when
the jurors were deliberating, one of the prosecutors walks into
the jury room and they say something to the jurors
that's tempering with their decision, and then.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Those jurors returned with their verdict. All three men were
convicted of first degree murder and given life sentences without
the possibility of parole.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
There's a lot of mind and a lot of disbelieve.
It was like it was like took my life? Did't know?
Do I just you know? It's that you just game
his plain because you need to make you feel so mad.
You'll be like talking him to make rail. You know
(29:01):
what I'm saying in the politration. You have to sit
here and wait and wait and hold some chime. And
(29:24):
now I gotta try to find a lawyer that'll take you.
I need help. It's hard, man, it is hard. You
don't know the feeling. Man. I lost my brother, my all,
my grandpa was gone. I even lost some grandchild since
up in the hero my brother was murdered, my grandma
(29:46):
died in the same man that help put me here
preached to help her. What kind of shit is this?
What kind of sh is this?
Speaker 1 (29:56):
One of the investigators on this case, Detective On, became
a preacher and as luck would have it, or fate
or whatever irony whatever you want to call this, when
Ken was allowed to attend her funeral. Who the fuck
do you think he saw there?
Speaker 3 (30:14):
He couldn't even look at me. I was sitting on
the part road. Every time he looked over there, and
he put his head down. He put his head down.
I wanted to get up, but I had respect for
my grandmama. I wanted to get up, and may y'all
get this bitch about the art, because the bitch lined
on me and got me here this pen attention, and
they put my grandmoma need the car and I walked
(30:36):
up to him. I said, you lying, talk ass bitch.
My mama put him away from him. They do this
shit to you because they could do it. The only
thing this shit is it's criminals to heal us and
motherfuckles up.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
The three co defendants had an alleged confession back in
nineteen ninety nine, but that fell apart before it even
went to an evidentiary hearing oh.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Hey hanging down here and told him that he said
there and took the job, that they were going to
send him to the road, but that what dude changed took.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
The moment following that, Kevin Johnson came forward in two
thousand and one claiming that he was offered drugs by
one of the victim's friends in exchange for this testimony,
and the team went back to court in two thousand
and three.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
All two to them the issues was raised. It was
the same thing they got the Wistmavis three free was
the same appeal that they used due to the.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Scientific casting, so they filed a seventeen eighty six years.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Later in Discovery, they received a hidden gun shot residue.
Exam of Charles Newsom's hands.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Turns out there's primar residue in Newsom's hands. The only
way that Newsom would have primar residue in his hands
was that if the shot had come from close range.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
But that Charles was in close proximity to gunfire.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
But that didn't go with their story that the shooters
were from outside the car, so there could have been
no power anywhere. The evidence would have proven otherwise.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
They denied it because they said that there was no
new scientific case thing it would have helped us look
that some of the cases I read. They saying that
it is not just for real reversal to be game
when the scene is convicted normally or not normally of
(32:24):
false evidence, and they know that they conveted me on false.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Evidence, and so did Jason Baldwin of the West Memphis Three,
who knew DeMarco Wilson while he was in prison. We'll
have their stories linked in the episode description, so check
them out. But upon his release in twenty eleven, he
eventually began a nonprofit to reinvestigate innocent's claims, and this
was their very first case. They tracked down witnesses and
(32:49):
tried to access the old case evidence to test for
DNA fingerprints, to reconstruct the crime scene, anything, and DeMarco
went back to court in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
They was trying to find out what the evidence was.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
It and the deck on all of it is missing
and all of the reports are missing too. So not
only don't we have the shirt, the jacket and the
car any of that, which is already huge misconduct because
you're meant to keep evidence from murder case forever, we
don't even have pictures of it. And when we bring
(33:21):
Mike Allen to court, they're like, hey, what happened to
this evidence? He's like it says, I checked it out,
but it wasn't me. Someone else done it. Someone else
mus have written my name.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I don't know where it is so someone just checked
the evidence out in nineteen ninety seven and it's just gone.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
So I mean very convenient that because if we had
got evidence, if we could prove that can didn't do it,
you could do all types of testing. You could test
the pother again, you could test for DNA, you could
test all types of things.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Jason's team made contact with another potential confessor around twenty
twenty who had contacted law enforcement as early as twenty seventeen,
who was finally saying something that aligned with the evidence.
But that person took their own life before swearing under oath.
Now perhaps this wasn't even the right person, but it
was a similar tale to the nineteen ninety nine confessor
(34:09):
that three individuals, potentially the same guys that had stopped
by Ken's girlfriend Tarsha's earlier that night, had driven up
next to Newsom's car and opened fire, and then the
person in the backseat of Newsom's car pulled a gun
to return fire, and they believed that's how Newsom was
shot from close range. Maybe that's what Ken meant by
they didn't do it. Meanwhile, after years of outreach, Ken
(34:32):
had finally got a response from the making xannery class
at Georgetown.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
First we got the primer residue analysis, and then we
finally sent it over to a ballistic expert and he
was like, this is primary residue, like that shot came
from inside the car. And then we also have what
five hundred pages worth of documents. I'm trying to reach
out to Ken's original attorney, but I sent them to
Ken and we talked and he was like, I don't
have any of this, like I never got any of this.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
And they also looked up Jeff Cayton.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
He's been trying to come forward for a while because
he's dying now with cirrhosis, and now he called us
and he goes, I need to clear my consciousness, like
I need to right this wrong. And he had years
in prison and he basically said, the officers told me
a story, and they said, you tell that on the
stand and you'll go to boot camp. You get off
with this up on the wrist, like you're good. So
(35:21):
that's exactly what happened to him. Kevin Johnson, Jeff Kayton
have recanted, and someone else, Paul Hunt, has come forward
and said I was jeff cell mate, and he confessed
to me many times to falsely testifying in that trial.
So that's corroborated. And then we have someone who has
now come forward and said the people who actually were
shooting at Newsom drove the car to my house and
(35:43):
confessed to me. Him and the three other guys confessed
to her, And that was not Ken Gillim. And this
woman had never spoken until I called her a few
months ago because someone gave me her name.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
So potentially there's a connection between Ken's story, this witness
and the three men from the other confessions. In the meantime,
Claudia and the team which includes TOMMYA. Hayes and Brandon T.
Ham while they're not giving up.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
We're in touch with the crime scene reconstruction expert and
also a handwriting expert because we believe some of the
signatures about medical reports and ballistics reports and all of
that has been forged from the beginning. The one thing
can always said to me is look at the ballistics.
It doesn't make sense. It does not make sense. It
could not have happened like that. So they were looking
(36:29):
for the shirt, the jacket, and the car, any of that.
So in the West Memphis Street trial, they also said
it was all gone, and then it was actually all
in the West Memphis Police Department. So when I was
in Arkansas, I went there. I mean my two colleagues,
we drove there and we asked for it. But you
can only access that type of evidence if you're a lawyer.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
No, perhaps a lawyer or a crime scene reconstruction expert.
Anyone listening would like to offer their help, anyone out
there who would like to speak, it's never too late,
And if so, we're going to leave ways that you
can contact Claudia in the episode description, where you can
also find the documentary that they made for Ken's case.
And with that we're going to go to closing arguments.
(37:12):
This is the part of the show that I always
look forward to, where first of all, I thank you
from the bottom of my heart on behalf of our
whole team. And now I'm going to kick back in
my chair with my headphones on, just close my eyes
and listen to anything else you want to share with
me and our incredible audience. So Claudia, why don't you
go first and then just hand the mic off to Ken.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Ken was guilty way before he ever stepped foot in
that court. The police wanted a conviction, and they went
to any lengths until they got it. And there's just
no way that physically, the ballistics makes sense. There is
no way that shot came from outside of the car.
And there is no testimony still holding that hasn't been
(37:56):
recanted or proven to be coerced except the testimony of
someone who has a personal stake in this case, someone
who gave various different testimonies that don't corroborate with each other.
Ken has been in jail for twenty nine years, and
twenty nine years later, there is the testimony of one
person who's a cop informant, and that's what's keeping him
in jail, and we just got to get him out.
(38:19):
It's time. He hasn't seen his kids in early thirty years.
He's fifty six now, he hasn't had a life. He
went to jail when he was in his twenties. And
he's not guilty, and everyone knows he's not guilty. He's
a victim of a town and a system that has
never been held accountable for what they've done. And it's enough.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Well, like I said, it's just how he did about it,
because they can't for getting away with it. I'm wondering
why Alcatol doesn't have a CiU unit. He may he
of me that you can. Don't think that Alkassol has
also convicted people. Come on, man, I only know maybe
(39:08):
two people. They had been cleared of it, of crime
they didn't committed. That's the one thing I've ever heard of.
I know John Brown, and if I'm not mistaken, it
was Rodney break. Yeah. I'm not going to say. You know,
I'm looking forward to turn it into the help of
this case and take this case because I know Arkansas
(39:28):
needs to be exposed to this. You know, they need
to really be exposed.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Thank you for listening to Ron for Conviction. You can
listen to this and all the Lava for Good podcasts
one week early and ed free by subscribing to Lava
for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I want to thank
our production team, Connor Hall and Kathleen Fink, as well
as my fellow executive producers Jeff Kempler, Kevin Watis, and
Jeff Cleiber. The music in this production was supplied by
three time OSCAR nominated composer Jay Rowse. Be sure to
(40:00):
follow us across all social media platforms at Lava for
Good and at Wrongful Conviction. You can also follow me
on Instagram at it's Jason Flamm. Wrongful Conviction is a
production of Lava for Good Podcasts and association with Signal
Company Number One. We have worked hard to ensure that
all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views
and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show
(40:20):
are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of
Lava for Good.
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Bright Pacheco
Maggie Freleng
Jason Flom
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